Pueblog USa
Thursday, July 10, 2008
In Praise of Small Cities I
Sometimes smaller is better.
Those of you who check in with The Drudge Report may have seen this article a couple of days ago about Guerrilla Gardeners. You may have wondered if the flower bed on Abriendo Avenue at the intersection with Tyler and Gale a block south of Lincoln was a guerrilla gardening effort.
I am proud to announce that that garden plot is fully sanctioned by the City of Pueblo. All the group, Flower Fad Garden Club, needed was insurance and a willingness to put out cones and wear City provided orange vests while working. Our (becoming) fair(er) City did not have a problem granting the group permission to garden there. Unlike bigger cities cited in the article (Los Angeles and London), it was possible to find out who to go to for permission. Flower Fad, therefore, is not flying under the radar, and not having to do its work in the middle of the night, risking intervention from the police. While the police have stopped by, it was to verify that a broken elbow joint in the water system was not the result of vandalism.
So, kudos to the City for giving the group permission, and kudos to Flower Fad for doing the work, which the City could no longer afford to do under the constraints of TABOR.
Return of the Public Forums at Televised City Council Meetings — 1
A Petition Drive
Chris Nicoll has received permission from the City Clerk’s office to collect signatures on a citizens’ initiative change to the Pueblo City Ordinances to require City Council to have televised Public Forums during regular sessions.
As you remember, up until September of last year, such Public Forums allowed citizens to address their concerns, grievances and suggestions to the members of the City Council. These were televised for everyone who cared to watch to see. However, the City Council, arbitrarily discontinued this practice; without the benefit of public comment on said change.
In many peoples’ opinion, their decision was reprehensible. Therefore, some citizens got together, drafted a proposed change to the City Ordinances, had it reviewed and are now gathering signatures to get a proposed change before the electorate as part of the November 2008 General Election.
It is important to get 1400 signatures of bona fide registered voters who live within the Pueblo city limits by 31 July, so they can be turned into the City Clerk’s office on 1 August.
Petition forms are available from .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), he needs to keep a register of who has each set of petition forms for accountability purposes. You can download the instructions HERE
.
Additionally, I’m interested in forming a team of people to cover the northside Sam’s Club and WalMart stores. If you’ve got two hours to spare for this, please contact me so that we can coordinate our activities. Just click on my name in the box below.
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Pueblo Neighborhood Partnership Bylaws — 080708
For your consideration…..
Click on THIS LINK to download the PDF formated copy of the draft bylaws for the Pueblo Neighborhood Partnership.
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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Tuesday, May 06, 2008
City-Wide Leadership Development Conference
Getting involved once more. This time with feeling!
This Friday evening and Saturday, the Colorado State University—Pueblo Center for Leadership and Community Development will be hosting a city-wide conference on the issues confronting the neighborhoods of Pueblo. The purpose of which is to develop neighborhood leaders to the point that they can become active players in the community politics; engaging the City, and where applicable the County, government in efforts to deal with the issues facing each of them in a more effective manner.
Friday evening’s activities begin at 7 pm in the Life Science Building Auditorium on the CSU-P campus. It will focus on the studies of the Pueblo Poverty Study Group. Members of that group will explain their evaluation of the situations faced by people living in Pueblo, based on their series of articles published in the Pueblo Chieftain. To read their consolidated efforts, you can download their monograph. It’s PDF formated.
Saturday, all day, will begin at 9 am and run til 5 pm. It will be held in the Occhiato Center. This days activities will be to provide useful information on how the city government is organized and how neighborhoods can work within the system to get things done. Or, that having failed, work AROUND the system, to get where they feel they need to be.
If you have already registered, great.
If you have not already registered, please contact Dr. Gayle Berardi (.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)) or Dr. Colette Carter (.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)) to make a reservation. TODAY!!!!! Especially if you’re going to be there all-day Saturday.
Thursday, May 01, 2008
Have We Jumped into Cactus?
More on Parks and Recreation.
Today I attended a focus group discussion on Parks and Recreation in the community. It was sponsored by the City, but the consultants leading the discussion considered all of the recreational opportunities in the community, not just those sponsored by the City department.
I do not object to the City hiring outside consultants for something this specialized. We aren’t quite big enough to have a need for someone on staff for this, and it is good to get outside views, especially, as several participants noted, Pueblo tends to be “territorial.”
However, I do find it odd that the City is hiring a consultant on Parks and Recreation after it has made some huge and rather long-lasting commitments in this area. It has already signed contracts with the Y concerning management of the City pools and citizen use of the new Y campus. It has already bought a park from the Catholic archdiocese. It has also started planning for the Lake Minnequa recreation area. Has it found itself in the position of the man who jumped in the cactus, who said “it seemed like a good idea at the time?” Are they now wondering if they’re in cactus, and how to get out? It seems to me the planning and the studies should have happened before these financial commitments were made.
While I will not maintain that city government is obliged to offer parks and recreational opportunities to its residents, those things are highly prized by businesses moving into a community and they are, along with streets, one of the most visible signs of how well city government is managed. Up until now, there hasn’t been much of a plan, other than basic maintenance, so we’re happy to see some planning occurring. However, we have also seen consultants shot from their saddles because Council members didn’t like what they were hearing. Let’s hope the City is sincere about getting the information and recommendations.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Parks & Rec Public Forum
Have YOUR say about how they’re doing and what they’re doing in the future.
There’s going to be a city-wide Open House/Public Forum on the future of the Pueblo City Parks & Recreation Department.
It is to be held tomorrow at the Convention Center, starting at 6:30 PM.
If you are concerned with our parks and other recreational facilities in the city, you should go.
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’?
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
I’m SOOOO Confused!
Is it too much to ask that it make sense?
An article in the Pueblo Chieftain today says that a developer is going to get a tax break for remodeling some apartments.
The Pueblo City Council and County Board of Commissioners both approved a measure this week that will give a private developer a break on property taxes in exchange for remodeling the Bethlehem Square apartments.
On Monday, council approved an agreement with Lucky Star LLLP that allows the company to make payments to the city and county in lieu of property taxes.
How, exactly, are “payments” different from property tax payments?
February 2008 PNP Meeting
The 2008 Neighborhood Clean-Up Summit
This Tuesday, 5 February, will see the monthly Pueblo Neighborhood Partnership meeting.
We’ll be meeting and eating at 11:30 am, in the Pueblo County Conference Center at Santa Fe and 10th St.
The agenda is as follows:
• Brief Introductions
• Announcements by Officials (who have to get back to work quickly)
- TBD
• Primary Topic
- 2008 Neighborhood Clean-Up Summit
• Adjournment
Food and beverages for a working lunch will be available through the offices of the Pueblo City-County Health Department
Please call or e-mail Susan Finzel-Aldred at 583-4309 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) to RSVP. Fee for lunch is $6 per person.
If you cannot attend, I suggest you send a representative.
Send announcements for the newsletter to Sandy Daff by e-mail at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Friday, January 25, 2008
It’s That Time Again
The political processes begin once again.
Within a fortnight—specifically on Tuesday, 5 February 2008—we’ll see Colorado’s state-wide caucusing.
It is a simple affair, as opposed to the monstrosities we’ve been witnessing in places like Iowa. You go some place. You talk to some people. You listen to others. You come up with some ideas. You vote, in your group, about this and that. You go home.
If your precinct isn’t well-organized, it’s probably because YOU didn’t decide to do something. You’ll go to some dreary school and mingle with a bunch of other political ‘waifs’.
If your precinct IS well-organized, you’ll likely go to someone’s home and have cookies and coffee….maybe even something bit stronger. [Note: After all, we’re talking heady stuff here.]
The point is that this isn’t Monday Night Football. This is something that (1) happens only once ever two years, not ever week, (2) it requires personal participation, not being a couch potato and (3) the results are far longer lasting than the next days squabble on MVP in the break-room.
I get VERY frustrated with people who are self-defeating. You know the type. They’re the ones who say thinks like, “It’s government. I can’t do anything about it.”
That’s a mind-set that your run-of-the-mill politicians LOVE to hear. It means they don’t have to ‘worry’ or worse, ‘do anything’ about you. You’ve defeated yourself for them.
So, (1) stop whining about what you think is wrong in your community, city, county, state, and/or nation, (2) get up off of your fourth-point-of-contact and (3) get in the ‘game’.
As the adage goes….
Politics is the entertainment branch of industry.
And football season will be over in a couple of weeks anyway. You’ll need something to replace it.