Pueblog USa
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Pueblo Free Speech Initiative to be On the November Ballot!
Pueblo voters will have a chance to vote to return televised public comments to Pueblo City Council Meetings!
Pueblo Citizens for Open Government has met the required number of signatures to force the Pueblo City Council to place the item on the November ballot. The council voted 7-0 Monday night to place the item on the ballot, as required by the city charter.
The ballot item will ask city voters to return the public forum to the already televised regular council sessions. The Pueblo City Council removed public comments from the televised meetings in September of 2007, without so much as a public hearing. Public comments were moved into the non-televised work sessions, which does not allow citizens viewing the meetings on television to hear the comments of their fellow citizens.
Supporters of the effort are calling the ballot question the “Pueblo Free Speech Initiative”.
Join our campaign to bring back televised free speech to the Pueblo City Council Meetings. If you value open government are interested in getting involved contact us at: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
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
Fighting for on-air comments - Denver Post 8-10-08
Here is the Denver Post coverage of Pueblo Citizens for Open Government effort to
return televised free speech to the Pueblo City Council meetings.
Fighting for on-air comments - Denver Post 8-10-08
A Pueblo group wants opinions at council sessions back on TV.
By Steve Graff
http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_10146063
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….
Friday, August 08, 2008
City Clerk Certifies Televised Public Forum Petitions!
PUEBLO – The Pueblo City Clerk’s office completed the validation of signatures submitted by Pueblo Citizens for Open Government in their effort to return the televised public forum to Pueblo City Council meetings.
The City Clerk’s office had completed their review by noon on Friday when they contacted the group’s organizers by telephone to notify them that they had verified the necessary 1,359 valid signatures.
City Clerk Gina Dutcher has placed the item on the Pueblo City Council’s agenda for their upcoming August 25th regular meeting. The Pueblo City Charter requires that council take action within thirty days to either pass the ordinance without alterations or refer it to city voters in the upcoming November election.
Pueblo Citizens for Positive Change(PCPC) meeting
We need a City Government that will listen to the people
Pueblo Citizens for Positive Change(PCPC)
PCPC will hold their monthly meeting on August 13th, at 6:30PM.
The location is the: Barkman Library
1300 Jerry Murphy and Bonforte
Opposition to the expansion of the Convention Center and other issues
facing Pueblo will be discussed. The Public is welcome.
For more information contact;
Ted Freeman, 544-4479 or 369-4469
Saturday, August 02, 2008
GROUP SUBMITS PETITIONS TO RETURN TELEVISED PUBLIC FORUM
PUEBLO – A citizens group working to roll back last year’s decision by the Pueblo City Council to do away with the televised public forum during regular council meetings turned in their petitions Friday to make the August 1st deadline set by the Pueblo City Clerk’s office.
The effort has been named the Pueblo Free Speech Initiative by its organizers and seeks to reestablish public forum prior to the commencement of any business at regular Pueblo City Council meetings. The measure would also require that the public forum be included as part of the televised portion of the regular meeting and allow up to six people to address the City Council on camera for five minutes each.
The Pueblo City Council voted last September to do away with the televised public forum by moving it into the non-televised work session meetings. The rule change has drawn criticism from members of the community who are concerned that the move eliminates the public’s ability to voice concerns to the community, especially on nights when the council is taking action by resolution. The council is not required to hold a public hearing before voting on resolutions.
The group calling themselves Pueblo Citizens for Open Government turned in 2,003 signatures. The petitions contain 644 signatures over and above the 1,359 signatures necessary for a citizen’s imitative. Both state law and the city charter require the group to have obtained signatures totaling at least five percent of the votes cast in the most recent municipal election in order to move their issue forward. The City Clerk must determine if the group has submitted enough valid signatures to force an action by the council.
If successful, the City Council will be required to take action within 30 days. The City Charter requires that council either pass the ordinance without alterations or they must refer the proposed ordinance to city voters in the upcoming November election.
The measure would not cost the city any additional funds since the regular meetings are already being televised. The petitions were submitted by Pueblo resident Chris Nicoll and former District 4 City Council member Ted Lopez Jr. The circulation of petitions was a collaborative effort of approximately twenty of Pueblo’s citizens.
Pueblo Citizens for Open Government was formed shortly after the Pueblo City Council voted to eliminate the televised public forum in September of 2007. Comments made by former City Council President Judy Weaver to the Pueblo Chieftain alarmed many people in the community. Weaver was quoted saying “People have to understand this is our meeting being held in public; it’s not a public meeting.”