Pueblog USa
Friday, February 20, 2009
Back to Politics — BRPoCG - 1
Getting back into local politics, vis-a-vis the Blue Ribbon Panel on City Government (BRPoCG)
I had the opportunity to attend the first public meeting of the recently appointed Blue Ribbon Panel on City Government, as it met last Wednesday, 18 February 2009, in City Council Chambers.
It was rather interesting. For a number of reasons. Some of which I doubt the City Council will appreciate exposure. And, just to be honest, others won’t appreciate these insights either.
The audience in chambers was an interesting mixture of the usual as well as the unusual suspects.
We had, not only the appointees to this panel, but members of the City Council, the appointed interim City Manager, the 30+ year contracted city attorney, some people from the Pueblo County Republican Party, the obligatory coverage from the Pueblo Chieftain…and one other….as well as at least one representative from CALM…an attorney in the community, himself.
The opening comments by the panel and the temporary chair were optimistic. Lots of promises about (1) open minds and (2) discussion of advantages and disadvantages. But, as my 58+ year sojourn in this venue has proven….verbal promises aren’t worth the paper they’re written on. And I think those of us with more than two synapses to rub together are recognizing that in a more vivid manner at the federal level these last few weeks.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
I Am REALLY….
...getting TIRED of auto accidents ending up in my front yard.
For the self-serving purpose of having a minor convenience during funeral services, or so it seems, Ascension Episcopal Church has arranged for 18th Street to be one-way going West.
In a suburban setting such as ours, this is a grave mistake and we almost had another grave in Pueblo just a few minutes ago.
The problem is that people don’t expect a one-way street in a suburban setting such as ours.
So here I am typing at my work and I hear the squeal of tires and a loud CRUMP! and loss things skittering down the street.
I don’t need to look outside. All I need to do is reach for the phone and punch up 911 and tell them there’s a traffic accident at 18th and Greenwood. Send emergency services vehicles immediately. And I mean NOW! DAMMIT NOW!
This is the second time this scenario has been played out…..
Someone going the wrong way East on 18th Street from Elizabeth; thinking it’s your standard suburban two-way street. And, there being no Stop sign at the intersection with Greenwood; after all it IS the wrong way, they drive into the traffic on Greenwood.
No serious injuries THIS time, but it’s only a matter of time before we have that or much, much worse.
The previous incident, two years ago, involved an SUV full of children that wound up in my yard upside down.
As I said, it’s convenient for the church to manage funerals. But do they REALLY need to be drumming up additional business of that sort? It’s time for the City Traffic Managers to make 18th Street a two-way.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Thoughts on Governance — 080810
An interesting perspective.
Last month there was an article published in the Denver Post. One that has not appeared in our own Pueblo Chieftain. And I have to wonder just why that is. But I won’t go into that…..yet. Here is the link
to the article.
What follows are my comments, i.e., some fisking, of said same….
Monday, July 14, 2008
Governor’s Commission on Community Service (GCCS)
A chance to speak your mind.
This week—Wednesday, Thursday and Friday—there will be representatives from our friends in Denver, i.e., the Governor’s office, asking us what we think needs to be done to help Pueblo.
The meetings are to be held:
Place: First Nazarene Church
Date/Time:
- Wednesday, 16 Jul, 12:00 - 1:30
- Thursday, 17 Jul, 10:30 - 12:00
- Thursday, 17 Jul, 12:00 - 1:30
- Thursday, 17 Jul, 2:30 - 4:00
- Friday, 18 Jul, 9:00 - 10:30
- Friday, 18 Jul, 1:30 - 3:00
All are invited to attend one of the forums, at your convenience.
Please RSVP to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), stating the date and time you’ll be attending. I think they’re offering lunch for certain forums.
Personally?
I’m intending to go and tell them that in order for Pueblo and the rest of the state of Colorado to get what they need, on a par with what Denver needs, we need to return to the balance of legislative power we enjoyed before the Supreme Court overthrew our state constitution; Reynolds v. Simms (1964). The place where the state senate was elected based on geographic areas instead of population, as the state house of representatives is. As it is now, the state senate is just an over-paid version of the state house of representatives. And Denver controls the most votes in both.
As it is right now, the Denver metroplex holds 17 of the 35 state senate seats. This is an egregious concentration of power that allows the Denver area to dominate state law-making and the appointment of judges and commissioners.
Until that balance, as we enjoy at the Federal level, is restored, Denver rules Colorado.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Speaking of Initiatives
Going pro-active.
I have to admit that Chris Nicoll’s initiative has been an inspiration. So much so that the Pueblo Neighborhood Partnership (PNP) is going to emulate it as part of its efforts to improve the quality of living in the city and county of Pueblo.
Last Tuesday, I proposed five possible items to put forward as citizens’ initiatives for the city ordinances on the 2009 odd-year City-County election. These were:
[1] Require the city to provide public notices and publish all documentation relating to a proposed action 45 days prior to any hearing on such actions on their web-site.
[2] Establish a sidewalk utility for the regular maintenance of sidewalks in the city limits.
[3] City recognition and work with organized neighborhood associations, requiring that changes in statutes or zoning or other activities that impacted on neighborhoods would have to have said neighborhoods input.
[4] Oaths at Meetings would require Staff as well as citizens to swear to the honesty of their report under pain of perjury at meetings where witnesses are required to swear or affirm such.
[5] That the city’s legal department should be employees of the city government and not a private firm contracted to do such work for the city.
This list is not locked in concrete. I invite any other possible ideas to modify the City Ordinances or City Charter that would improve our governance by making it more open to the citizens and/or provide better service to them. If you think you have a good idea, let’s hear it. Just click on the word Comments in the box immediately below and say your piece.
Over the course of the next few months we’ll discuss each of the options provided to thrash out their advantages and disadvantages.
Thursday, July 03, 2008
Pueblo Springs Ranch — Part 1
Why?
Ever since the suggestion that Pueblo annex a large chunk of land north of the CSU-P campus and east of I-25, people have been making comments, questioning the ‘why’ of this effort.
Sitting on the City Planning and Zoning Commission, ALL of the ‘pros’ and ‘cons’ of the issue intrigue me. Therefore, I open this thread to solicit the opinions of anyone who cares to comment about the project.
I’ll provide more information, from my perspective, on this effort as time goes on. But after touring the area of the proposed annex I think it’s time we began serious public discussion of this idea.
All you need to do is click on the word “Comments”, in the block below, and enter what you think. You don’t need to be registered. You don’t even need to use your REAL name. But we would like to hear from you if you live in Pueblo or El Paso counties. And…maybe…if you live in the Denver metroplex, as it is impacting on this matter as well, vis-a-vis water.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Of Floods and Levees — 2
Others are taking notice.
With the increasing number of levees that are failing along the Mississippi, it is become more and more apparent that someone has grossly underestimated the potential for disaster. Even our own Pueblo Chieftain has noticed.
What’s caught our notice is that some levees built along the Mississippi River and its tributaries have been breached, letting floodwaters pour into areas that otherwise might have been considered safe. And we’ve heard an echo of this right here in Pueblo.
Considering what we’ve witnessed of late vis-a-vis the disasters in Peppersauce Bottoms, we look at the Fountain and have to wonder just how safe our system is.
This is especially true when we look at the I-25 overpass at 13th Street, as the Fountain flows by a few yards to the east. There is NO levee there. Just as there was no levee on the road running beside a river as it flowed past Cedar Rapids. I captured a photo from the Fox News article. I wish I could provide it here, but I’m concerned about copyright violations. Suffice it to say that someone piled up heaps of dirt and some sandbags at a low point in the highway, in an act of desperation, to keep the river within it’s banks. The photograph shows the river having breached the makeshift levee and flowing across the road.
It’s pathetic. It’s the quintessential example of the Six Ps; Army Staff puke axiom about Piss Poor Planning.
This brings me to my forthcoming query to the Pueblo County Emergency Management Department. As a member of the Pueblo Area Council Of Governments (PACOG) Environmental Policy Advisory Committee (EPAC), at their next regular meeting I will call for the County emergency management people to explain the following:
[1] What are the levees along the Arkansas and Fountain rated to withstand?
[2] What data and/or parameters were used in the formulation of the 100-year and 500-year flood estimates?
[3] How do those parameters match up against the event in Iowa and Illinois of the last few weeks?
[4] What were the levees that failed in Iowa and Illinois rated to withstand?
[5] What are the written plans to deal with flooding in the Arkansas and Fountain?
I think we need to see how our County government is prepared to deal with this sort of crisis. After all….we’re getting into the range of another 100-year event. The flood of 1921’s 100-year anniversary is not that far off.
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Saturday, June 14, 2008
Of Floods and Levees
How safe are our levees?
Over the last few years, we’ve heard some reports of serious problems with our system of levees. We have the disaster in New Orleans where the levees—which had not been properly upgraded—were demolished by Hurricane Katrina. Now we see Cedar Rapids and Des Moines experiencing similar disasters because the levees were not up to the task.
In the former, it was a major storm lashing the works. In this iteration, it’s just an awful lot of water that is higher than the Corps of Engineers seem to have anticipated. And this is supposedly the proverbial 500-year flood.
It makes me wonder whether or not our levees, along the Fountain are up to this sort of flood. Or are they, as appears in Iowa, only built for the 100-year sort of flood.
There’s a picture up on Fox News showing where one of the two ‘breaks’ in levees occurred in Des Moines. And guess what….there WAS no levee there. Except for the few piles of pathetic dirt someone tried to shove on the edge of the road. Personally, I’m seeing what local Emergency Management might attempt at the I25 overpass at 13th Street, vis-a-vis the Fountain. Some dirt piled up to face a 100-year flood and it not holding up to the challenge of the moment. Let alone a 500-year deluge. And it makes me wonder….what would happen to the Northside neighborhoods and businesses. Or downtown business for that matter.
I’d like to see the Pueblo County Emergency Management Department plans to deal with such an emergency.
Hopefully, they’re a bit more comprehensive than sending the police through the neighborhood telling people to get out over a bullhorn pointed out the window of their cruiser…..
UPDATE Another One Busted [141616 Jun 08]: Fox News reports another levee, this one on the Mississippi River as it passes Illinois, has busted.
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Thursday, April 24, 2008
The ‘Virtue’ of Unintended Consequences
Selling one’s ‘birthright’ to Aurora.
Interesting report in the Chieftain today.
It seems that the recent fire out in Ordway—the one that claimed the lives of firefighters and destroyed a number of buildings—it appears that one of the contributing factors was that some farmers and/or ranchers had been selling their water to Aurora. Raking in the the cash while their fields withered from lack of water.
Then…some how a fire started and raced through the parched land causing the loss of property and life.
I hope these farmers are on good terms with forgiving neighbors.
However, I’ve seen a larger problem looming on the horizon….
Monday, February 04, 2008
Is It Just ME?
Or who else….
....is aware that the County Clerk/Recorder’s on-line Voter Registration Search system is DOWN????!?
I stumbled upon this odd freak of information management systems by virtue of the fact that I’m co-chair of my party’s county precinct.
We were looking for a back-up system to validate attendees at tomorrow nights state-wide county caucus….if they showed up at our door and their name was NOT on the print-out list provided by Mr. Ortiz on/or-about December 19, 2007.
Oddly enough the Colorado Secretary of State’s Election Division says the data should be based on a point in time 28 days prior to the ‘event’; in this case the caucus of February 5, 2008.
That would make the data on the printout considerably older than the Colorado Revised Statutes require.
So….WHY the change-over to a new system—blacking out the current system—over the time-frame of the County Caucuses?
Is someone ‘stupid’ or what? And if the former….or the latter….or, worse, BOTH….why the heck are they holding office?
Saturday, February 02, 2008
Chieftain, My Chieftain X
Remedial geography lessons…..
....are available.
There’s an article in the Pueblo Chieftain today. It’s about some person, who was elected by the citizens of Colorado to represent them, behaving badly. He has, apparently in the face of overwhelming evidence—that has not been described in the article—decided to resign his high position in the Colorado Assembly, as a result of this reputed misconduct.
That’s not my point, here.
Rather, I’m concerned how the people who run the Chieftain, can’t seem to differentiate between Regional, i.e., Colorado, issues and National ones.
The article is listed in the National section of the paper; hard-copy and on-line.
Where did these people learn ‘geography’? Or is it a problem with their understanding of ‘English’?
Friday, February 01, 2008
Caveat Emptor — Cable Service
Another great reason to kill your television.
The other day, someone made comment about my life-style choice; regarding no television. Implied it was my own fault I wasn’t getting certain forms of information; specifically being able to record City Council sessions on my VCR via cable channel 17.
I didn’t go into much detail as to WHY I made that choice, about ten years ago. I didn’t think it relevant. Besides I didn’t want to drag out the meeting any longer than it was already going to go.
And the only reason I mention it now is because of THIS article.
A $2000 bill for equipment the cable service user lost during a tornado??!?!?!?
We’re talking about some SERIOUS ‘windfall’ profits here. And the Time-Warner Cable legal department must be expecting some serious bonus packages this year if it flies.
Who know that that stupid box was worth that much.
So…if some wind storm or fire or flooding or burglars damage, destroy or steal your cable box, be prepared…...
Personally? I still suggest killing your television.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Analyzing the Y Zone Analysis
The poor you will always have with you,—Matthew 26:11.
An editorial in the Pueblo Chieftain on Sunday discusses the so-called “Y Zone” and compares it to the rest of the city. The editorial is written by The Poverty Study Group, and the names of several well-known citizens and officials are given. The PSG is “an informal consortium of community leaders committed to understanding and reversing intergenerational poverty in Pueblo.”
First, let me say the article does present some interesting data, but data are not necessarily the same things as information. The article cites three sources for the data: the 2000 Census, data from the state Department of Public Health and Environment, and a book called “Missing Class” by Katherine S. Newman and Victor Tan Chen. The “progressive” nature of the book is signaled when the PSG says “the “Missing Link” {sic} authors, Newman and Chen, see universal, high-quality, early childhood education as key to improving the situation of the working poor. They also advocate universal health care. Also on their list is maintaining access to higher education, something we work hard at in Pueblo.”
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Thanksgiving Casa Pelto Pueblo 2007
Miscellaneous thoughts on the holiday as I’m preparing the feast.
Sitting here at the kitchen counter, listening to great music [I Will Be There], while the guest of ‘honor’ has been thrust into the oven and all the sides are prepared for cooking, diddling on the laptop….I’m reviewing what’s in the Pueblo Chieftain and I was struck by a juxtaposition of todays editorial and other thinks that had come to mind over the last few days. [Ed. Note: Thank God for the internet and the [current] ability to see so much in so little time….without the filtering of the so-called ‘Major Media’.]
I am struck by the idea that the Chieftain thinks it is important to remark on the words of US Supreme Court Associate Justice Joseph Story. Especially his words to the young of this country….
Let the American youth never forget that they possess a noble inheritance bought by the toils, and sufferings, and blood of their ancestors; and capacity, if wisely improved, and faithfully guarded, of transmitting to ... posterity all the substantial blessings of life, and the peaceful enjoyment of liberty, property, religion, and independence.
What’s going on?
Is the vaunted American Public Education system failing to teach this message?
I wonder…..if I were to ask some high school student, in a man-on-the-street approach, something about Justice Story’s remark….what would I hear in reply?
Get this. I am a judge of Colorado high school debate. I specialize in Cross-Examination, Lincoln-Douglas, Public Forum and One-on-One Value debates.
Admittedly, I’m very much impressed with the skills, thought processes and command of the English language of many of the contestants I judge in a round at an event. However, I have this niggling concern that these few that participate in high school forensics are a few ‘rare birds’, indeed. A problematic ‘minority’....in more ways than one.
The BIG problem, as my concerns point, is not that we are not raising up successors with the mental discernment that I and my contemporaries and peers enjoy today. I am certain that many I’ve heard over the last few years will surpass me. Seriously. I’ve heard some stunners just a couple of weeks ago. And I’m gladdened with the thought.
However, I have serious concerns that not ENOUGH young, future-voting citizens are as well instructed. [Note: The process has been referred to, over the last two decades, as the dumbing-down of America.]
Half of the time I sit in on the Pueblo 2010 Commission, I hear ‘concerns’ about how Colorado State University-Pueblo (CSU-P) has problems retaining students. They seem to drop out rather early and never complete higher education.
Ever time I’ve heard that, I’ve looked at the respresentative from Pueblo School District 60….if they are in attendance.
I get the distinct impression that most people think it is the fault of CSU-P that these aspiring young adults fail. I see it as a totally different problem…..something in the realm of K-12, i.e,. District 60.
And this Chieftain article makes me want to ask the D60 rep, “What is taught in civics, these days?” With follow-on questions about Math, English, Life Sciences, Hard Sciences, Art, Theater, etc., etc., etc…..?
TO: Kitty Kennedy
RE: Next Time….
....I hear comments at 2010 Commission about CSU-P and drop-outs….‘Be Prepared’. [Note: Yeah….I know….It’s a Boy Scout, i.e., guy, think. But still and all…..]
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Who’s the Boss
The answers, such as they are, are in….
The “Open Questions to the Pueblo City Administration” were not specifically directed to Mr. Galli, the City Manager, though it appears he has taken it upon himself to answer the questions. Is it possible the City council doesn’t know the answers because he does not keep them informed or is it that Council doesn’t care to know the answers. Who’s the boss the City Council or the City Manager? The City Council must follow their own “Core Values” to gain and maintain public trust. The City Council should not leave such sensitive issues such as the City/YMCA deal in the hands of the City Manager and not be informed about all aspects of deal. The City Council should consider one of two options:
Have the funding for the YMCA deal made as a separate line item on the budget. Maybe after looking at the facts the Council might change their minds.
Put the issue on the November ballot and let the voters decide.