We are recovering from our trip to NY city and a very busy week. I will get back into form next week with PBJ. For now, Laura and Rebecca are awesome. Here are some of their local political and issue concerns this week. Connect with them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for up-to-the-minute news.
The choice for voting to allow government to supply school lunches for all children, at taxpayer expense, will be on the November ballot. So, if this passes, even if you supply lunch for your school children, you will also be paying the government to supply lunch for them. This hardly seems fair. Also, it would be easy to see how companies will lobby government to get their products into schools, as politics and profit trump healthy eating. Government doesn’t even do the things it’s supposed to do well. It seems like it would make a poor parent as well. Let’s hope this gets defeated at the ballot box.
Mayor John Suthers is working to eliminate sales tax on the new $.27 delivery fee passed by the legislature. However, you are still paying a sales tax on deliveries in Colorado Springs, they just call it the Public Improvement Fee. You’ll notice they can never get enough of your money. Ever.
The City of Colorado Springs parking director, who we’ve written about before, is hearing complaints from residents about parking spaces being lost to accommodate all the new development downtown. Is this part of the larger government plan to force people out of their personal automobiles and into government-run mass transit? We suspect it is.
Last year, Colorado Springs School District 20 gave out millions in bonuses to staff. This year, they were considering asking for a tax increase to give raises to teachers. They even spent $29,500 for a telephone poll to see if this mill levy override, or tax, would be feasible. They have now decided that this new tax would likely not pass, but district taxpayers are still out $29,500 for the polling attempt.
Fighting back: Food truck owners, who were forced out of downtown Denver as some bizarre response to rising crime in the area, are fighting back. They are starting a petition to lift the ban on their businesses.
In November, voters will get to decide if they would like to give less to the Colorado state government. Initiative #31,which would lower the state income tax rate to 4.4%, could save taxpayers $1.6 billion over 5 years, if it passes. We know how we will vote, because despite what government bureaucrats believe, we work for ourselves, not for government largesse.
Governor Jared Polis has extended his COVID Disaster Declaration executive order. Apparently, the power he enjoys from this is too good to give up, because pretty much everyone has gotten back to normal now. Does this have something to do with the November election?
Landlords in Denver are now required to get a “safety license” to verify their properties meet government approval for cleanliness and safety. Think of this as being guilty until proven innocent. Compliance, so far, is extremely low. One interesting question: since people are allowed to poop and pee on the sidewalk in Toilet City, and litter the ground with used drug needles and broken liquor bottles, is there a safety license being considered for Denver city government? Just how deep is Denver city government’s concern for safety and cleanliness? Our guess is, only as deep as the landlord’s pockets.
Also in Denver, business groups are sounding the alarm on a minimum wage law, passed in 2019, that ties minimum wage increases to inflation, which is rising. See the problem? As a reminder, government bureaucrats can pretend all they want, but the real minimum wage is zero.
Friday, August 19, is the final day you can give your input on the Colorado Springs location for a passenger rail station for the Front Range Rail boondoggle. The survey is geared to accept zero negative input, so they really don’t want your opinion if you are not in agreement with their choice for you. But feel free to participate anyway if you wish.
If you live in Colorado, owning a vehicle is more expensive than the national average. Insurance, maintenance, and fuel costs are primary drivers of this high cost.
If you are in Colorado Springs, expect your water, sewer, gas, and electricity costs to increase in 2023. The hits just keep on coming.
Jeff Chostner, District Attorney for the 10th Judicial District in Colorado, specifically blames soft-on-crime laws, passed by the legislature in 2021 and 2022, for the spike in crime he’s seeing in Pueblo. When you make the consequences of committing crimes less severe, criminals are emboldened, and citizens suffer. It’s as simple as that.
The Olympic Museum received a $500,000 taxpayer-funded donation last summer in exchange for free museum passes for county employees. Only 4 months later, a political action committee, headed up by the CEO of the Olympic Museum, gave sizeable campaign contributions to two El Paso County Commissioners. Coincidence? We will find out shortly. The issue is headed to court.
The Colorado Department of Motor Vehicles has launched a mobile driver’s license office for some reason. No word on how much this is costing.
Six new city council members have been sworn in in Florence, Colorado. This comes after the historic mass resignation of the prior city council a few months ago. We wish this new crew good fortune.
The frequency and volume of violent crime in Denver is hurting the restaurant businesses there. Some suspect that trend could duplicate itself in Colorado Springs. Remember, this is a direct result of the Colorado legislature’s soft on crime policies.
Also in Colorado crime wave news, since possession of fentanyl has been essentially decriminalized, Colorado law enforcement agencies have seized more fentanyl this year than they have in any of the previous ten years. Colorado has also seen one of the highest increases in fentanyl deaths in the country.
Additionally, move over, Florida. Colorado is now the nation’s number one state for cocaine usage.
Taxpayer dollars, in the form of grants, will be used to build a large solar array near Fountain. This will cost $1.3 million, and should allow the City of Fountain to purchase less electricity from Colorado Springs Utilities.
The federal government is making plans for water conservation measures in the Colorado River Basin. Around 40 million people in several states depend on this water.
Looks like Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold used your money to create an ad promoting herself. Just in time for campaigning.
The City of Colorado Springs is aggressively pursuing folks who owe unpaid parking tickets.
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