GUEST COLUMN: When voters decide, special interests and newspaper win
Many folks are taking a look at our future and what we will look like when we grow up. Some folks are dreaming, some are lamenting the lack of leadership and some are doing a study using the city’s altitude as the name of the project. All are painting a picture of a wonderful community in the future and none are discussing how we get from where we are to where the groups would like us to be. It is almost like the groups are planning all of the future itineraries and destinations for the Titanic just after it left home port on its first voyage. Make no mistake, there is an iceberg in the path of our city and we must find a way to avoid hitting it.
So far, even with the significant cuts by the city and county governments, relatively few folks have been inconvenienced or heavily impacted in their personal lives. Unless you depend on handicapped transportation or have called 911 for help or if you don’t use our parks, most citizens probably believe the constant talk of reduced services is just that, talk. I am sure many believe all of this talk is just to persuade folks to vote for more taxes and that we really have a huge stash of funds hidden that we don’t want to let people know about so they will demand higher taxes and fees. With all elected folks being residents and taxpayers themselves, what possible motivation would there be to raise taxes and hide facts from the public?
We have a serious problem funding the services this city has provided for many, many years. Now, that revenue is not there and not on the horizon, we must cut back to meet our legal mandate of a balanced budget. That means more cutbacks and service reductions and/or elimination. To concentrate on 2020 is fun, a nice exercise and good for the mind and soul; however, it assumes that the base from which these dreams will be realized is the base of today’s and yesterday’s level of services. And, none of these studies talks about how to get to the dream from the current nightmare.
It is time we find a way to hear from the voice of the people, not the one-third of the folks who vote, but a majority of the people.
It is easy for the limited-government folks and tax cutters to get an audience during a time when all of us are suffering financially. But, we should not plan our future based solely on the views of a newspaper and anti-tax crusaders.
The real issue is how does the public feel about government services? Two thirds of the people were not even willing to spend a 42 cent stamp to elect candidates or vote on issues in the last election. That means one third of the people are dictating how we are governed and what will happen to services. That is utopia for the special interest groups as they only have to get a relatively few voters out since the majority of the folks are not speaking up.
How about a referendum on a ballot that asks the people to check a box to indicate what level of services from local government they want and need and what level they will support with their tax dollars. Will they demand public safety, good roads, parks, transit, and identify other services they feel are must haves? And, will they or will they not support those demands with the funds necessary to achieve them?
Many assumptions are being made by various groups as to how much government is too much, but no effort is being made to identify how much government the people want and will support. And, if such a referendum is put in front of the people for a vote, all who will try to influence the vote must take the high road and present only facts to the people to help them decide on how they will vote.
Faced with reduced services and in all honesty a quality of life at risk, would those who moved here in the past few years still opt to retire here? Would those who have lived here all of their lives still stay here? Would the military folks who served here at one of our bases still want to come back for their retirement years? Would those who grew up here and were educated here and began their working lives here, still do so?
It is time for the majority of citizens to be heard and time for the majority to help chart our course for the future. We need to find a way to get them to speak up.
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Jerry Heimlicher has been a Colorado Springs city councilman since 2003. His e-mail address is jheimlicher@springsgov.com
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