FORUM LETTERS: Sunday
A very different city
Today, I had the displeasure of watching Colorado Springs Utilities turn off our streetlight. A sure sign of the times.
When we chose to make Colorado Springs our home over 18 years ago, this was a different city. It felt like a good safe place to live. A city alive with community spirit and pride. Most people with a modicum of common sense know that there is no perfect city or town, but we saw something special about this place and we made it our home.
Now, we no longer feel safe to walk downtown, day or night. Crime is on the rise even in mall parking lots. Just read The Gazette or watch any daily news broadcast if you are in doubt about this fact. Our beautiful green parks will soon turn to dust and be without something as simple as trash cans. Our street hasn’t been plowed in two years. The list of items for a city in financial ruin and on the decline grows every day.
Yet amidst all or the city’s growing financial problems, the City Council insists on spending money it doesn’t have to keep an organization like the USOC here. Why, for what reason? And please don’t insult us with the marketing tool pitch. How much did it cost to redo the city stationery to put Olympic rings on it? Could it be the price of keeping trash cans in the parks? What a joke, Mr. Mayor!
I strongly suggest that council members read the Denver Post article about how bad Colorado Springs has become!
How will the USOC being here help overcome this kind of bad public image? It won’t! How sad, how sad, indeed. Maybe Councilman Heimlicher, who left Colorado Springs abruptly, knew something the rest of us are just now learning.
Drew Alexa
Colorado Springs
Cluttered with litter
What’s next in the future of Colorado Springs? It seems the latest move to save money is to remove all the trash barrels from the parks. Seriously, how much money is the city going to save especially when the alternative is going to be litter throughout the parks. Maybe a simple solution is to put chain link fences around the parks. The parks will stay cleaner, even though no one will be able to use them.
Maybe another simple solution would be to use low-level inmates to do litter patrol throughout the parks. It has worked well on the beaches, where I once lived on the East Coast. Then again, using inmates to do manual labor may be similar to the chain gangs once used throughout the South. Can’t have that.
I moved here because of the beauty of Colorado, never mind 25 percent cheaper property taxes, 60 percent cheaper car insurance, friendlier people. I think the beauty may be disappearing. America the Beautiful Park, without trash barrels, will not be beautiful. It will be cluttered with litter. Oh, I think it may already be, thanks to the tent city.
Larry Guerin
Colorado Springs
Effects no tax increase
ABC news ran a piece on Colorado Springs (Monday, Feb. 1), commenting on our lack of funding. They pointed out that our street lights are being turned off, and residents are encouraged to take their lawn mowers to the parks, since the city cannot afford to maintain our parks.
The “City Beautiful”? Good thing we didn’t approve an increase in our property taxes. Think your property value might go down? Think maybe new companies will look elsewhere?
Boy, am I going to love my $20 a month tax savings!
David Barber
Colorado Springs
Cut nonessential services
Fixing the city’s/state’s financial shortfall is very easy. In the last 10 years every government agency, almost without exception, has doubled its spending. All the while city and states where awash in new found money from the expansion of our economy not one penny was saved and no consideration was ever made to planning for the future and the inevitable slow down. During that time inflation was almost non existent and since I didn’t see the police, fire dept. or park services get doubled. This explosion of spending went into non-critical services.
Now that we have a shortfall the first thing our illustrious leaders want to cut is, ta-da, critical services. Any individual in the private sector would have been fired for malfeasance if they managed a private company as our elected officials have managed the public money. If we acted like stockholders in a private company and demanded they balance the budget on the back of non-essential services within 30 days or be removed from office who wants to bet there would be a different tune playing at City Hall ?
Craig Walcott
Palmer Lake
Eliminate tax exemptions
Thank you so much for your thoughtful column, “City government can’t be a cocoon, Gazette, Feb. 3.”
I suspect that city employees wage cuts will ultimately translate into no wage increases, or frozen wages for a year or two. That has happened to many during this recession and I for one have dealt with it. However, it does not appear (at least from reading The Gazette) that the city is exploring all options with regard to enhancing its reduced budget. We appear to have a lot of tax exemptions here and at state level and maybe some of those need to be eliminated. I realize many will whine and call that a tax increase. It is not. Eliminating tax exemptions simply puts everyone back on a level playing field. Some of these tax exemptions are by state statute and I would push our state representatives to fix that little problem. The state managed to eliminate tax exemptions for seniors recently. I suspect they could handle other exemptions.
Frankly, if I were Ritter, in addition to taxing soft drinks and candy (which really benefit no one), I would re-evaluate corporations like Gateway, HP, and others throughout Colorado to see if they were living up to their tax exempt agreements; if not, I would take away their Colorado tax exemptions, grants , etc., or require repayment should agreements be shown to have been broken. We have all been conned by corporations in this regard. They move here, promise good jobs, get their tax breaks and after a couple of years shut down. What agreements does Colorado Springs have with corporations that should be examined and renegotiated?
I would also take a closer look at nonprofit tax exemptions. For example, in Colorado Springs there are currently 2,823 nonprofit organizations (taxexemptworld.com) with income revenues of $4,106,640,993. Currently, many (if not all) are exempted from property tax by state statute. One of the statutes is 39-3-108. I have not had time to research the others.
The statute I have mentioned, I believe, may cover the USOC which was recently provided a significant amount of money ($50-plus million for facilities) to stay in Colorado Springs. For additional clarification you can find a short, but not particularly detailed, summary of Colorado Springs taxes at www.coloradosprings.org.
We are all paying for the exemptions a few get. In my humble opinion all should pay, and all will then benefit in the form of police, fire, parks and roads. All pay, all benefit. No exemptions.
Neil L. Talbott
Colorado Springs
More secret meetings?
City Council, not yet even beginning to scratch the surface in rebuilding the lack of trust and strong disdain in which they are held by the public, are again engaged in ‘secret meetings’ to determine the fate of Memorial Hospital.
USOC. Anybody remember that? And now, the selection process for the eleven members of the commission to recommend the fate of Memorial Hospital is being held in closed meetings. Memorial is far more important to the public than the USOC and directly impacts public health and safety.
These meetings need to be held in open public session and the details published as soon as the meetings adjourn. Those requesting appointment to this board have submitted their names voluntarily and should expect to be held to close examination by not only the council but by the public at large. It is time for the talk about ‘transparency’ to turn into real action.
Rick Wehner
Colorado Springs
Third-World realities
After reading of the apparently extreme measures Colorado Springs will implement to counter a large budget shortfall (diminution in street maintenance, police, fire, parks; what’s next?), it occurred to me that the city has at last been forced to live in its own soiled nest. After all, it was one of the ‘Springs’ favorite sons — Doug Bruce — who concocted TABOR.
At the least, you are showing us the future, coming soon to a Colorado city near anyone. Hope you like Third-World living.
Greg Iwan
Longmont
Reap the whirlwind
“Whatever you sow, that shall you reap.” (Galatians, 6:7 ).
Voters in Colorado Springs have sown the conservative philosophy that says, “Taxes are evil. Like weeds, they must be cut whenever possible, and raising taxes is the unforgivable sin.”
As a result, citizens will harvest a crop of horrendous cuts in necessary services: criminals released before their sentences are up, emergency services reduced, trash uncollected, streets not repaired, and education suffering even more. El Paso County residents still believe Ronald Regan’s lie: “You can get something for nothing.”
Most Coloradans did the same thing when, in their infinite wisdom, they voted for TABOR. Because the state couldn’t keep surplus funds, you and I received refunds of several hundred dollars, but now that the state’s income is drastically reduced because of the Bush recession, it has no surplus to fall back on.
When you act as if you’ll get something for nothing, you end up getting nothing.
Allen Peacock
Berthoud
Commission out of touch
It’s hard to believe that the county commissioners can be so out of step with their community. In giving the huge sand and gravel company permission to destroy what has been deemed a pristine site in a prime location and close to a major highway, the commissioners have proven that they have short memories and are indeed out of touch.
I can only imagine that the County Planning Commission and the District Board that voted to deny permission must feel like “chopped liver.”
Why would anyone want to voluntarily serve on such boards if the time they have spent analyzing and investigating a proposal is all for nought.
Surely a more remote site could be found that would do less damage to the pristine land.
The commissioners have also “thumbed their noses” at the huge 15-year effort that Colorado Mountain Reclamation Foundation made to restore the beauty of our mountain backdrop which was done with major help from the quarry owners, 21,000-plus volunteers and financial support from major corporate citizens. El Paso County is known the world over for the beauty of its environs. Can’t we learn from our history instead of repeating it?
Wanda L. Reaves, Project ManagerColorado Mountain Reclamation Foundation
Colorado Springs
A wake-up call needed
I read with sadness this morning an article in the Denver Post about the extensive city services and recreation cuts that are being made in Colorado Springs due to budget issues and lack of tax funding.
In your city of family values with the dichotomy of influence from Douglas Bruce and others like him, these cuts demonstrate which side is winning. I grew up in Colorado Springs and still have family there. It is sad to know that summer park recreation programs like that I attended at Westmoor Park will be cut. Rock Ledge Ranch has been closed already. The summer Tot Lots program that I taught and loved during my high school summers has likely hit the chopping block. A brand new recreation center near my brother’s house will probably never open ... interesting use of tax dollars.
Will my mom be safe going to the grocery store in the evening with 1/3 of your street lights darkened?
While the social atmosphere in Colorado Springs has changed since I grew up there in the ‘60s and ‘70s, I am always overwhelmed at the beauty as I drive up and over the hill on Fillmore. Up the street from my mom, the Garden of the Gods will probably be spared in this round of budget cuts as it’s a crown jewel for the city.
But no watering, flowers, trash cans and infrequent mowing of the many city parks will surely change the beauty of your city and it will also affect the quality of life for your residents.
I hope that the changes that your residents will see with this round of harsh budget cuts provide a wake-up call. The residents of Colorado Springs can not continue to vote down every tax increase for city services, parks and schools.
Michelle Bergen
Denver
City has failed to act
I am a native of Colorado Springs and have a big problem with the way our city fathers are handling the homeless problem.
I was born and raised in the Colorado Springs area. I have always been very proud of our city. That has recently changed.
I can not believe that our city fathers would allow that homeless to pollute our town the way they have. I can not believe that the down town area by Fountain Creek and off of Cimarron Expressway has became a tent city for these people.
How do the visitors to Colorado Springs view this disgrace. I will tell you how. They say it looks like the slums of New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Chicago. How can the citizen of Colorado Springs stand for this? We are proud of our city or at least we were until our city fathers failed to act on a matter that should never have been allowed to start in the first place.
If the do gooders of Colorado Springs would have left them alone and not given them all the free things, food, clothing, supplies, etc., then they probably would have moved along when the police kicked them out in the first place.
Why did the police not enforce the laws of camping when they should have?
I see my home town going down the drain and no one cares.
Joseph Behrman
Colorado Springs
Where does the money go?
In the first place, the USOC was to go to Chicago — Mayor Rivera wanted it here in Colorado Springs to drum up more business. Now we have to cough up more money for taxes.
It’s not fair to us tax payers. It’s all about money. So where does it all go? It has to go in someone’s pocket. It sure is not mine.
Recall? I say yes. Rivera is a crook, along with the City Council. We need fresh meat, not the stangnation we have now.
Rosemary Landez
Colorado Springs
Help came when needed
This is about Good Samaritans, firemen and police. I know God is in control but the decisions we make in life are important. I see the police and firemen in our area several times a month.
On Jan. 24 my wife and I were at church and she started to lower her head and she dropped her Bible. I nudged her and there was no response. Barbara M. was sitting in the pew with us and came to our rescue. She couldn’t get a pulse on my wife and handed her telephone to someone to call 911. Barb gave CPR to my wife and in a few moments she opened her eyes as the firemen were coming down the aisle.
The firemen took over and directed the others on my wife’s needs. The ambulance arrived and the firemen still gave advice. They took my wife to Penrose Hospital and she received medical attention for three days. I want to thank the Good Samaritan Barb, the firemen, ambulance crew, Penrose crew and my church family.
As a citizen I have this thought for City Council, the public and those in authority about the safety and needs of others: a solution is to have a small tax for firemen and the police like there is for the public library. Time is important and I thank God for another day with my wife of 56 years.
One never knows when they will be served. My hope is that when we need services someone will be there. Life is not an accident (Psalm 139) and we are born to serve.
Dwayne A. Anderson
Colorado Springs
