Pueblog USa
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Politicians should run in the districts in which they truly live.
Politicians should run in the districts in which they truly live.
I find it interesting that so many of our political hopefuls can’t seem to follow the basic rules of the election process. We continually have candidates who do not live in the right district trying to skirt the residency rules. They continually try to claim at the last moment that they own property in an area where they don’t truly live. The residency requirements are there to allow people who genuinely live in the district to represent their neighborhoods or region. I find any politician who tries to falsely claim he or she lives in an area where they do not truly reside to be disingenuous and not worthy of being elected to public office.
We have seen this in recent elections for School Board, City Council and now the race for County Commissioner. Now Mr. Jim Brewer has the audacity to sue the Pueblo County Clerk and waste our precious tax dollars claiming he didn’t get due process, when he openly admits he doesn’t live in the right district. What a joke! The answer Mr. Brewer is to plan ahead and move to the right area and establish residency within the guidelines. Unfortunately, that would mean that you would actually have to follow the rules and not attempt manipulate the system.
We also seem to have a bunch of politicians who can’t seem to follow the rules on the distribution of political signs. Many of our candidates have violated the rules by putting up signs and parking semi-trailers months before they are legally permitted to do so. My plan is to not vote for any candidate who posted their signs too early and openly violated the rules after being told to take them down.
If our political candidates can’t follow our simple election rules during the race, why should we expect them follow the rules once they are in office. Mr. Brewer should do the ethical thing and drop his lawsuit. He can always run next time from the district in which he truly lives. Otherwise, we can only hope for a judge that believes that candidates should follow the election rules.
Chris Nicoll
No Justification of Convention Center Expansion
This is the third year the expansion of the Convention Center will have been placed on the ballot and still no varifiable justification.
June 20, 2008
Mike Tedesco, Executive Director
Urban Renewal Authority (URA) of Pueblo
126 N. Mechanic Street
Pueblo, CO 81003
Re: Justification of Convention Center Expansion
Dear Mr. Tedesco,
The Pueblo Citizens for Positive Change (PCPC) has requested verifiable lost business reports and booked business reports on a number of occasions. The first responses from the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) indicated that the information was proprietary and not available to the public(Oct. 12,2007, Nov. 19, 2007, Nov.21,2007). More recently several more requests were presented to the URA for verifiable lost business information (Jan.16, 2008, Feb.7, 2008, Mar.5,2008) This time the URA responded with a list of 110 mixed type of events which you claim were not held at the Convention Center for the following reason: No Space available on requested day and time. Since the report is missing the verifiable information requested to document your claim for expansion, we question the premise in which you make such false claims. Consequently, unless other information exists that you have not yet provided, the lost business report supplied does not and should not be used to justify the Convention Expansion.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Minutes of May General Meeting of OHNO
Jenny Kedward, Pueblo City-County Health Depatment, spoke to us about the potential for elevated radan levels in our homes. Committee reports were made.
Old Historic Northside Organization - General Membership Meeting
May 13, 2008, Yolanda Butler’s home, 321 W. 18th Street
I. Welcome/Introductions at 7:15 PM
A. Each attendee gave their name, address, and stated what they thought was a good way to meet the neighbors
B. Responses included: sitting on the porch, gardening out front, doing yard work, delivering the newsletter, just getting out and talking, common interests, walking around the neighborhood with dogs
II. Program – 7:30 to 7:45 PM
A. Jenny Kedward, Environmental Coordinator, Pueblo City-County Health Dept.
1. Ms. Kedward works with the Pueblo Cares Project (Margaret Barber, coordinator, spoke to us last year)
2. Pueblo has a higher than average risk for elevated radon levels
3. A radon fact sheet was passed out and radon test kits were distributed to those interested in using one
III. Treasurer’s Report – Lamar Trant
A. Balance as of 4-1-08 = $1,016.65
B. Membership dues and donations collected in April/May = $140
C. Printing of newsletter cost $51.55
D. Filing fee for OHNO registration with Colorado Sect. Of State = $10
E. Balance as of 5-13-08 = $1,105.10
IV. Minutes of last meeting – Janet Dash
A. Copies of minutes provided to members.
B. Minutes also posted on the Pueblog web site.
C. No comments or changes made to minutes
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, June 12, 2008
Testimony to City Council to Opose Convention Center Expansion, June 9, 2008
Expansion to the Convention Center has been defeated twice and again the advocates have failed to justify the expansion
Testimony to City Council to Oppose
Convention Center Expansion
June 9, 2008
Alvin Rivera
Citizen
City Council Members,
What part of “No” does the Convention Center Expansion advocate group fail to understand?” I wish to remind the Council this ballot issue was defeated by the people just last year. How many bites of the “same apple” does this convention group get at taking the taxpayers money for questionable purposes?
I believe it was President John Kennedy who said if you want to know what a person can do, find out what they have done? The Urban Renewal Authority is the group overseeing the Convention Center activities and the advocate for this ballot expansion, along with the other business interests of the city, and the city developers. As a group, they never saw a development they couldn’t support. Such is the case here as well.
So, for a closer look at this proposed ballot initiative, one has to see what the track record URA has regarding the governance of the Convention Center. It is for this reason, that I have prepared the eight (8) points below to oppose any expansion of the Convention Center Ballot initiative.
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Convention Center cost of operations
Urban Renewal Authority/Global Spectrum contracts
Urban Renewal Authority/Global Spectrum Contracts
It is the Urban Renewal Authority’s and City Council’s belief that the expansion to the Convention Center will have a major impact on Pueblo’s economy. History indicates differently as their own paid for report shows there was a significant decrease in the number of trade shows and conferences and attendance at these events.
The Global Spectrum, managing company of the Convention Center, under the terms of the contract in force through December 31, 2006 had no specific incentive to market and contract for trade shows and conferences that would bring to Pueblo “new money”. The compensation plan to Global Spectrum was;
The management fee was $60,000 annually, payable in twelve(12) equal monthly payments of $5,000 each. The management fee was to be increased annually by the percentage increase of the Consumer Price Index.
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Monthly meeting of Pueblo Citizens for Positive Change(PCPC)
Important meeting for PCPC
Pueblo Citizens for Positive Change(PCPC)
PCPC will hold their monthly meeting on Wednesday, June 11, 6:30PM
The meeting will be held at the Barkman Library
1300 Jerry Murphy and Bonforte
The purpose of the organization is to improve the quality of life in Pueblo
The meeting is open to the public
Contact: Ted Freeman(544-4479), Alvin Rivera(566-0069)