Thursday, February 28, 2008

PUEBLO DEMOCRATS APPROVE PLATFORM RESOLUTION CALLING FOR RETURN OF TELEVISED PUBLIC FORUM

Pueblo Dems Weigh In on Free Speech at City Council Meetings

PUEBLO – Pueblo County Democrats weighed in on the decision by Pueblo City Council to remove the televised public forum from their meetings during Saturday’s Democratic Assembly.

Democratic delegates approved a platform resolution in favor of reinstating televised public comments. The resolution reads: “Resolution # 3: Be it resolved that the Pueblo Democratic Party ask that all City Council meetings will be televised for public access and include public comment for all Pueblo County residents.”

The measure was submitted by members of Pueblo Citizens for Open Government at their neighborhood precincts during the recent February 5th Democratic Caucus. Once approved at the precinct level, the resolution then moved on to Saturday’s County Assembly where it was voted on and approved by the County Assembly Delegates.

“I think there are many voters in our city who are really upset that their right to speak and be heard has been taken away by this council. We plan to ask the voters of Pueblo to bring back free speech at City Hall,” said Chris Nicoll, organizer of Pueblo Citizens for Open Government. The group is currently organizing a petition drive for a November ballot initiative that would ask the voters to approve a new city ordinance requiring televised public comment at City Council meetings. The group also held a Freedom Rally at City Hall in October to protest the rule change and the fact that it occurred without any public input.

Pueblo City Council voted to remove televised public comment from their meetings last September, one month before the municipal election. The council had just placed several questions on the ballot, including the expansion of the Pueblo Convention Center. The move to stop televised public comment before the election has some citizens questioning the timing of events and if this was an attempt by council to silence their critics before the election.

“This council doesn’t want the people to speak on camera where their comments and criticisms will be heard by the public watching from home. Our tax dollars pay for televised open meetings and the people should be allowed to take part in that process on camera,” Nicoll said. The rule change has also raised concerns that the council has limited the access for disabled citizens and the elderly who have a harder time attending the council meetings in person.

Posted by Chris Nicoll - Pueblo Citizens for Open Government
http://www.pueblofreespeech.org

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Someone Should Tell Parkview

to make sure everyone’s on the same page.

Yesterday, The Pueblo Chieftain announced that all of Parkview’s beds were filled. Which is a problem, of course. However, the article said,” She (hospital spokeswoman Michelle Peulen) said that a new Pueblo West emergency room set to open in the fall and expansion of the hospital’s space in town should alleviate the problem.”

Except, of course, that the new expansion will not add any beds to Parkview Medical Center. The purpose of the expansion is to add single patient rooms, allowing the conversion of some double-occupancy rooms to single rooms. This was clearly stated by Parkview officials at the Parkview Planned Unit Development (PUD) public comment sessions held a few months ago. Now we have another official, further down in the food chain, saying the expansion will alleviate the problem of being full to capacity. 

Let’s get our stories straight. While the Pueblo West emergency room may add beds, the expansion to the existing hospital won’t, unless Parkview’s plans have changed.

Thursday, February 07, 2008

Why is the Pueblo City Council so opposed to letting people speak on camera?

Pueblo City Council Continues to Restrict Free Speech

Why is the Pueblo City Council so opposed to letting people speak on camera? During a recent council meeting a local resident was repeatedly cut off by City Council President Barbara Vidmar when he tried to testify during a public hearing on the zoning of a new development. Our new Council President would not allow the man to speak about the project saying that his points were not germane to the public discussion.

If this development is requesting public funding to pay for part of the project then the citizens of Pueblo should be able to ask questions and make comments at any point throughout this process. It is interesting to note that he was also prevented from speaking on camera since this was a regular televised council meeting. The citizens at home were not allowed to hear his public testimony either. It sure seems like this council only wants free speech to occur during the work session meetings, when the cameras are turned off.

Don’t forget, this is the same council that shut down the public’s right to televised free speech a month before our municipal election, when they had three major ballot questions pending. The free exchange of ideas in the days leading up to the election was never allowed to occur.

During our last few elections everyone has been saying we need more civility on City Council. I didn’t realize that a vote for civility was a vote against a fair and democratic process. I long for the days when we had a few dissenting views on City Council and the people still had a right to free speech!

Chris Nicoll

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.