DREAM CITY 2020: Enrich city with major university, bullet train

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the 15th in a series of columns about the future of the Pikes Peak region written by community leaders and visionaries. It's part of the ongoing community initiative Dream City: Vision 2020. Share your vision at www.dreamcity2020.com.

If we get behind the following initiatives in the next 11 years, by 2020 the Pikes Peak region could be poised to thrive for the remainder of the 21st century.

Dream 1: Imagine a world-class university

Colorado Springs deserves a major research university on par with the University of Colorado at Boulder. That would mean 30,000 full-time students attending the Beth-El Medical School and Teaching Hospital, El Pomar School of Nonprofit Management, Tim Gill Institute of Cyber Science, Broadmoor School of Hotel Management, Steve Handen School of Theology, and dozens of other programs to support our region's strengths in tourism, sports, military, aerospace and satellite technology.

Because of its military focus and location, the city's most prominent institution of higher learning, the Air Force Academy, does not have the impact that a major university usually brings to a community. Pikes Peak Community College and the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs are still both largely commuter schools. And with just 2,000 students, Colorado College, my alma mater, is just not large enough to be the creative hub for a city our size.

Fortunately, this dream still can succeed. State leaders already have designated UCCS as the CU system's "growth campus." If our city's fathers and mothers unite to champion UCCS, by 2020 we could be well on our way toward having an institution that would not only catalyze the launch of job-creating businesses, but also help bolster our community's diversity and artistic climate.

Dream 2: Nurture an eco-city and eco-tourism

Tourism is the world's largest private-sector economic engine, in terms of earnings and number of people employed. Colorado Springs is the Rocky Mountain region's largest metropolitan area nestled next to a national park. We need to build on this competitive strength.

Thanks to our scenery and wonderful weather, the Pikes Peak region could become a huge eco-tourist destination - with nearby camping, fishing, hunting, hiking, climbing, kayaking and biking during the day, and cultural activities, dining and shopping by night.
But we also need to walk the eco walk. By 2020, Colorado Springs should (a) sustain a thriving alternative-energy sector; (b) follow Tucson's lead and enact "dark skies" policies to eliminate light pollution, so we can once again enjoy stars at night; (c) mandate curbside recycling programs; and (d) extend the Trails, Open Space and Parks (TOPS) sales tax - which will expire in 2025 - to continue to protect and build on what makes this such a great place to live and raise our families.

Dream 3: Build a bullet-train system

Government-financed bullet trains are a reality in Japan and France, whisking passengers at 160-plus mph between cities. A high-speed bullet train network from Pueblo to Fort Collins should be in our future. Technology exists to make the Colorado Springs-to-Denver trip in just half an hour.

To help jump-start our economy, the Obama administration will soon endorse massive investments in the nation's infrastructure. In this vein, last month Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., introduced legislation that would authorize tax-exempt bonding for 11 high-speed rail projects around the country.

Colorado's elected and civic leaders should support this bipartisan proposal and also work to ensure the Front Range, by 2020, will be connected via bullet-trains.

Dream 4: Increase council pay

The nine members of our City Council oversee more than 6,000 employees and a $2 billion annual budget, including those of Colorado Springs Utilities, Memorial Hospital and the other smaller enterprises. It is a huge job - and our best councilors put in 40-plus hours per week. Council pay is less than $125 a week, or less than $4 an hour. As a result, only retirees and the wealthy can afford to serve.

We need more diverse and the most talented people on City Council. You get what you pay for. Regular people cannot afford to run until we pay our leaders a living wage.

Citizens should vote on increased City Council compensation. Few voters in Colorado Springs would support a pay hike for today's councilors, in part because those elected leaders sought the office knowing they would be paid below the minimum wage.

To solve this problem, we must take a longer-term view. Citizens in April 2009 or 2011 should vote to increase council pay to $40,000 a year, about half of what El Paso County commissioners earn. This increase in compensation would not go into effect until sometime in the distant future, say 2016 or 2020. And the cost of dramatically increasing the number of people who could serve on Council is minimal - less than 2 cents per week for every citizen of Colorado Springs.

It is largely up to us, the citizens of this great city, to decide if we want more of the same, or we want to take control our destiny. All of the above changes are within our reach if we can muster the most important attribute, a belief of our president-elect: Yes, we can ... and yes, we will.

In closing, let me applaud the Dream City: Vision 2020 project. Getting folks to focus on and celebrate Colorado Springs' future will make us a wiser, stronger community.