OUR VIEW: Grass in parks must die by midnight (vote in poll)

What are activist reporters to do when city leaders spend money with reckless abandon, causing a projected $100 million crisis?

In Denver, they look to a slightly smaller, conservative neighbor with a much, much smaller budget problem and criticize its budget. Seriously. If the reporters have no good material, they criticize our grass and make things up. Never forget this fairy tale , by reporter Douglas Brown: “What’s a city to do when its museums are struggling to stay open and there aren’t enough police officers to investigate crimes?”

The cops are still waiting for a correction, Mr. Brown. They investigate big and small crimes all day every day, and their efforts have made the Springs among the safest of America’s 50 largest cities.

A correction would also be nice regarding Post reporter Michael Booth ’s fabrication in a Jan. 31 story , which ignited a media pack frenzy to make Colorado Springs the cautionary tale against conservative fiscal policy. The catchiest part of the attack said this: “Water cutbacks mean most parks will be dead, brown turf by July.” Who knew this? Michael Booth, of course. The mythical assumption was repeated throughout the country by media big and small. Prospective tourists canceled trips. City leaders throughout the country spoke of dead grass in Colorado Springs to justify their spending sprees. If we don’t spend, by golly, we’ll end up like poor dumb Colorado Springs — the place of rampant crime, where children play on dead grass. Just this week, Durango City Councilman Doug Lyon spoke of fiscal “disarray” in Colorado Springs — even though Denver is in budget crisis and the Springs has been frugal.

Mr. Booth, you stated as fact the grass would die by July. We’ll be gracious and give you until the end of July. That means you had better hope the grass dries out and dies before the stroke of midnight Saturday. As it stood late Friday, things didn’t look good for you. It was the second-to-last day of July, rain was falling for the umpteenth time this month, and all municipal grass was green and plush. Most cities would envy it. At this point, it will be nearly impossible for the grass to go brown and die before it naturally goes dormant for winter, and this is the second year the city reduced irrigation. So the story was fiction, Booth, and you should write a correction.

(Please vote in poll to the right in red type. Must vote to see results. Thanks!)

There is no smoke-filled room where “the media” conspire against conservative policies. Most reporters and editors are thoughtful, intelligent and honest. Media organizations all over the country repeated the dead-grass/city-in-shambles story because a handful of activist reporters played follow-the-leader. The sloppy journalism was exacerbated by a collectivist mentality that says things fall apart if taxpayers reject new taxes and more spending.

In a saner world, one of those reporters would write a correction and confess that the stories about dead grass, general mayhem and do-nothing cops were pretend. The pack would follow suit, and we’d see stories about Colorado Springs enjoying beautiful parks, a below-average crime rate, astute water conservation, above-average volunteerism and a manageable budget in the wake of wise fiscal restraint. Don’t hold out hope.

— Wayne Laugesen , editorial page editor, for the editorial board. Friend him on Facebook