Thursday, May 12, 2005

May 2005 PNP Meeting Report

Observations on the monthly meeting of the Pueblo Neighborhood Partnership (PNP).

A number of interesting things were discussed at this meeting. Here is the gist of what caught my attention:

Code Enforcement

We have a new chief of code enforcement in Pueblo. Her name is Grace. And, the department is horribly understaffed. It has only three of the eight people it should have.

She WE need the department for code enforcement properly staffed. It’ll take action on our part to get the City Fathers to do the necessary hiring. So we need to communicate our interest in this department to them in order to have that accomplished.

Bessemer Clean-Up Day

The annual effort to get the trash that tends to accumulate in Bessemer over the course of the year OUT of there by staging a massive effort on the part of the city was a great success this year. Over twice as many trash containers were filled and hauled away. The previous iteration had been 21 containers. This year it was reported to be 45.

This brings up a concern of whether people are taking unfair advantage of the system. If they (1) are not required to use a trash service that they have to pay $13 a month for and (2) know they can have a lot of trash hauled away for $3 a truck-load, why not hang on to the big stuff until the annual clean-up day?

Sounds like a classic example of an ‘unexpected consequence’ or perhaps letting no good deed going unpunished. As the old saying goes, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions”.

Community Development Grants

Know as Community Outreach Partnership Center (COPC) grants, these are funds allocated by our rich Uncle Sam to promote coordination of institutions of higher education with local communities—government, neighborhood and business activities—to foment growth and stability. Colorado State University-Pueblo, is contending for some of these funds in order to establish a closer relationship with the people who live and work in Pueblo. I think it’s a great idea. I’m always willing to accept help, especially if its from a bunch of bright ‘kids’ (all things are ‘relative’). I learn so much from them. [As you are, I once was. As I am, you shall become.]

The idea is to have the university campus provide educational opportunities for members of the community who are interested in organizing their neighborhood to do something, starting a small business, reducing crime or a number of other community-motiviation/improvement activities where education is the first major step.

The efforts will focus, primarily on the Y-Zone neighborhoods. But, even for OHNO, this can be a benefit. OHNO is not Y-Zone. But parts of Northside, where OHNO lives and works, is in the ‘zone’. So certain government folks are looking to us to provide assistance in helping those folks. And I can think of some businesses that would benefit from that kind of helping of our neighbors and our neighborhood.

As with many government assistance activities, this is going to require matching effort. However, that does not necessarily mean money. From what I understand, and I am no expert, it can mean some time on our part to provide a helping hand. I hope we can see our way clear to do that, as I think it would benefit our neighborhood.

The details of what the CSU-P is planning will be made available a bit later this year. We’ll try to keep eveyone apprised.

Friday, April 29, 2005

We Have a Candidate!

Someone is throwing their hat in the ring for 1st District of the Pueblo City Council.

This monday, 2 May 2005, Steve Nawrocki is intending to announce his candidacy for the position on the City Council that is currently held by Robert Schilling.

Here is the text of the press release that was passed to us.

Press Release
April 29, 2005

You are invited to attend a Press Conference on Monday, May 2, 2005 at 12:15pm in the Pueblo City Hall Council Chambers.

Steve Nawrocki will be announcing his candidacy for Pueblo City Council, District One.  Steve has been a resident of Pueblo County for over 25 years; he received his undergraduate degree from Southern Colorado State College (CSU-Pueblo) and his Masters degree from the University of Oklahoma. 

Steve chose to raise his family in Pueblo. His daughter, Louisa Nawrocki Rodriguez graduated from Centennial High School in 1989 where she was an active student and athlete.

For the past 17 years, Steve has been the Executive Director of the Senior Resource Development Agency (SRDA).  He was Chair of the 2010 Commission in both 2001 and 2002.  Through the years he has had the experience of serving on committees and boards at both state and local levels. Steve continues his support of both the Latino and Greater Pueblo Chambers in their efforts to assist local business. In more recent years, he has been active in promoting ballot issues for building new police and fire stations and the ½ cent sales tax for primary jobs.

Today, we face ongoing critical issues that affect our quality of life within Pueblo.
Our quality of life must be preserved. As a candidate for City Council, District One, Steve will focus on the following issues on behalf of his constituents of the West and North Sides of Pueblo:

We must preserve the water in our basin for Pueblo and its neighbors.
We must grow our employment opportunities for our citizens, the goal being decent paying jobs with benefits.
We must support children, families, senior citizens and the disabled through support for our non-profits.
We must sustain and enhance our city services, (i.e. police, fire, parks and public works).
We must maintain the ½ cent sales tax for new job development
We must support local business—“Shop Pueblo”.
We must support local developers and contractors—we need to grow to survive.
We must support our diverse neighborhoods and respond to their particular needs.

Our community must come together to preserve our quality of life and speak with one voice on water, jobs and services for our citizens. VOTE FOR STEVE NAWROCKI, CITY COUNCIL, DISTRICT ONE.  A Leader…for a change.

Steve lives in the OHNO area. He ‘comments’ on how my security light ‘distracts’ him as he walks his dog. [Note: I had the same sort of ‘distractions’ while doing my morning constitutionals jogging through Cherry Hills Village up in Denver.] I’m working on a way to make mine a bit less of a distraction for passers by. It really should only come on when they venture closer than the sidewalk.

We’ll be keeping a close eye on this. I’m sure we’ll have lots of questions to ask of Steve over the next few months. Hopefully, we can get him to answer them for us here.

Monday, March 28, 2005

Oops!?!?!!!???

Be careful about what you pray for….

I have been informed that I have been appointed to the Pueblo Area Council Of Governments (PACOG) Citizens Advisory Council (CAC) for Transportation.

I received the notification of my appointment by the council last Friday.

I’ve been in something of a state of bemusement since then, as I gave my chances of appointment a probabilty of less than .1. [Note: For the non-math-inclined less than 10%; closer to 1-in-100.

I do love practicing the skills necessary to put things in their proper place at the proper time. That’s what logistics is all about. The military teaches it with a certain sense of ‘fervor’. It gives you a sense that peoples’ lives might, actually, heaven forefend…depend upon it.

So be it….

...I’m appointed. I’ll serve here for the duration; a year. I’ll find it educational and an interesting exercise of all the skills, that ALL of you, whether you, like-it-or-not, have paid to equip me. [Note: I have to admit that I thoroughly enjoyed the Army’s Logistics Executive Development Course (LEDC). I got so bent out of shape that whatever it was that came out of it was so much better than what went in.]

I hope to apply everything I’ve been given, by the Army and authorities higher than that, is exorcised, properly….

Regards….

Friday, March 18, 2005

A Good Place to Meet

Well met, indeed….

An unexpected bonus from the city-sponsored presentation of Historitecture’s Adam Thomas to the city the other night.

Dave Cockrell introduced me to Michael Atlas-Acuña. He is involved with Temple Emanuel near 13th and Grand. It came up that we were looking for another place to meet and Mike was kind enough to offer their facilities. We haven’t seen their place ourselves, yet. But we hear it is great. Looking forward to getting to know Mike et al better.

Thanks Mike. And thanks, Dave.

Tuesday, March 15, 2005

CDOT I-25 Alternate Thoughts

A difference of opinion on the necessity to widen I-25 through Pueblo.

Nice article in the Pueblo Chieftain today; thanks to James Amos. It announces that CDOT has begun its Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) development for the effort to widen I-25 through Pueblo.

The part I tend to disagree with is towards the end where Dave Miller, the project chief at CDOT, says….

The proposed Super Slab toll road won’t affect the I-25 project, Miller said. That project would be privately funded and operated, offering a limited-access expressway east of I-25 between Pueblo and Fort Collins.

An estimated 75 percent of the traffic on I-25 in Pueblo are local motorists, Miller said, so the slab won’t change the need to widen I-25.

Seventy-five percent of the vehicles travelling on I-25 could well be local motorists. However, I don’t think they’re all driving 18-wheelers. At least I don’t see that many on neighborhood streets. Lots of diesel-fueled full-sized pick-ups. But not 5-ton diesel tractors. Let alone those massive trailers.

If we talk about ‘footprint’, an 18-wheeler takes up a LOT more space than does a pick-up truck. Let alone a standard passenger car. If a lot of that 18-wheeler traffic moves to the proposed Super-Slab, then that is going to have a rather ‘signficiant’ impact on the amount of traffic flowing through Pueblo. There will be more room for the four-wheel variety. Not to mention less noise from some fool trucker jack-braking as he approaches the curve.

But we might want to think ahead on how much interstate highway we might need in the longer run.

Mr. Miller goes on to say…

“We would still need the three lanes in each directions to accommodate future traffic,” he said.

I agree. I’d like to be a bit proactive and anticipate the sort of fiascos we’ve seen going on in burgs to the north of us; Denver’s T-Rex, Colorado Springs long suffering with widening it’s segment of I-25. Supposedly, I’ve heard tell that Pueblo is to be the next growth community along the Front Range. I think that is correct. Especially considering how expensive and exasperating life is in places north of us. We should prepare, accordingly.

But, if the Super-Slab IS going to happen, and confidence is ‘high’, we might want to rethink what sort of work will best suit Pueblo.

Do we need to merely widen the interstate? Or, would it be better, more esthetic and more becoming our desires to make Pueblo a more attractive city to live and work in?

There were other plans offered on how to expand the interstate through town a few years ago. Not only a widened interstate, but a freeway or, better yet, a parkway. These latter would be much more pleasant to drive on, for local traffic. And, it would reduce, even further, the desire for 18-wheelers to use this particular stretch of highway. It would make the Super-Slab much more attractive to their commercial efforts.

I think we should re-visit the idea of making I-25 through Pueblo, a Business I-25, i.e., a parkway.

Wednesday, March 02, 2005

March 2005 Pueblo Neighborhood Partnership Meeting

An After Action Report.

Attended the monthly meeting of the Pueblo Neighborhood Partnership (PNP) yesterday, before heading home to put together the rest of the food and stuff for last nights OHNO Quarterly General Meeting.

Lots of interesting information was being passed around by the PNP group. And a very informative presentation by representatives of the Colorado Springs Utilities regarding the planned Southern Delivery System (SDS).

Points to keep in mind….

  • This saturday, 5 Mar 05, at 10:00 am, at the public library there will be one of a few public forums on the plans to implement mandatory curb-side recycling throughout Pueblo. This will be one of the few opportunities to give your opinion on this proposal.

As I understand it, there will be a panel of people from the city government and possibly some recyclers. They will speak on the matter and field questions from the public. Each member of the public attending the meeting who wishes to speak, will be alloted about 3 minutes in which to express themselves. Three minutes is not a whole lot of time. So if there are complicated issues, and what ISN’T complicated about this, people should coordinate their presentation in order to avoid stealing each others’ thunder and providing the planners and decision makers with the most complete set of concerns.

  • As a result of last month’s Human Relations Commission (HRC) meeting over on the Eastside, regarding the untimely shooting death of Daniel Pino, the Pueblo Police Department is going over into a PR blitz. Part of this will be a “Citizens Academy”. It is intended to “enhance your knowledge on the everyday efforts of the Police Department!”

It is scheduled to take place every Tuesday and Thursday between 6 and 29 April 2005. It starts at 6:00 pm and runs to 10:00 pm at the Pueblo Police Department’s Training facilities. The classes will cover history of the police department, patrol function, arrest control [UP AGAINST THE CAR! HANDS ON THE HOOD!], Firearms, SWAT, Bomb Squad, Police Driving, K-9s [Niiiiiice doggieeee….] and building searches. There will be additional information on various departments such as investigations, Gangs, Narcotics and D.A.R.E.

Sounds interesting. Can I repell with the SWAT team? Pat Heine likes the Australian repell technique best. I think it’s highly useful myself. Especially since you have your weapon at the ready with your free hand. However, my favorite is the free repell, i.e., no wall for foot support, as in descent from a hovering heliocopter. [Note: Just try to avoid carrying the heavy radio. I wound up coming in head-down on that occassion. Fortunately the pilot didn’t bob me into the ground.]

When I asked if Steve Guttenberg, of the infamous Police Academy movie series, was going to put in a guest appearance I got an evil look. And, please, don’t ask them about Citizens on Patrol….

  • A follow-up meeting to the HRC meeting mentioned immediately above, is planned, but the date is not set. Probably later this month. It is requested that each neighborhood should send someone to represent them on a panel to be composed of the neighborhoods. Personally? I think this is a great idea. If there are issues, they are not limited to any one neighborhood, as the police patrol all of Pueblo. Additional information will be forthcoming.

  • The Southern Delivery System (SDS) was presented by a team from Colorado Springs.

They provided a lot of useful information about their perspective on the project. Here are my observations:

[1] They think that they have been misrepresented in the Pueblo Chieftain. That some articles in the paper are giving ‘misinformation’. I’m not sure which ones, as they did not ennumerate the perceived misinformations published there.

[2] It IS ‘their water’, in accordance with court rulings. Therefore they have rights under the law to use it.

[3] As most of the water in question comes from the Western Slope, it is not managed as water that is what I’d call ‘native’ to the Arkansas River. Therefore, Colorado Springs has the right, by court ruling, to ‘use to extinction’. This gives me pause for concern. Extinction is a serious word. It means use it all up and return nothing.

My question here is what is the impact on the people in the lower Arkansas River area? The people from Colorado Springs said their action would not dry up the Arkansas, but if they take their share and use it to extinction, as they have the legal authority to, I don’t see any of that water helping people downstream from here. I’m looking forward to seeing the Environmental Impact Statement on this matter. Will it address that?

[4] Phase I of the SDS will take 10-50 million gallons of water per day from the Arkansas and re-route it through Colorado Springs and, if any is left, back to the Arkansas River via Fountain Creek. The speaker said that about 50% would be returned. The report is not out on what the impact of pumping an additional 25 million gallons of water per day down the Fountain will do vis-a-vis increased potential for flooding. That’ll be part of the Environmental Impact Statement.

It’s an interesting project. And a complicated one. My personal opinion is that part of the project’s flood mitigation program should be to build a dam on the Fountain in the vicinity of I-25 mile marker 115. Such a structure would eliminate the chance of a major flood on the Fountain through Pueblo. It would also provide a great recreational opportunity.

There was a comment that the Fountain is not a good place to build a dam due to soil conditions. Well, that would not outweigh the need for a dam to avoid flooding. All we need is a good cloud-burst in Ute Pass, above Manitou Springs, and we’d see parts of Colorado Springs washing past the Target store. Followed shortly thereafter by the Target store itself…the Union Pacific rail line to the east of I-25 at 13th, then parts of I-25’s 13th Street interchange…..etc., etc., etc.

What would be the cost of all that damage repair, direct and indirect, as opposed to building a good dam?

The Day After(math) Part II

More information on last night’s meeting.

Courtesy of James Amos and the Pueblo Chieftain, there’s a follow-up article, in today’s Chieftain.

James caught and reports some great information in his observations of last nights meeting. I highly recommend following the link (above in bold) to read him.

Mo Betta Coverage

Getting the newsletta out betta.

We have some gaps in our canvasing of the neighborhood with the quarterly newsletter, OHNOtes.

If you live on West or in the area between 13th and 17th and would like an excuse to walk around and possibly meet new people who live near you, have we got a deal for you!

Help us distribute the newsletter in your area. A side benefit, besides exercise on a great day, is the odd chance of a quick home tour of some darling older home. One of our couriers got to see a gorgeous green marble fireplace when the owner, who saw them delivering the newsletter opened the door and struck up a conversation. Then invited them in to show off their home.

This town is so much more friendly than what I was used to in Denver.

If you’d like to help us and yourself, please contact me by e-mail. Just click on my name, below this item on the blog.

The Day After(math)

Great Party! A fine time was had by all.

The smoked salmon was a hit. Not to mention the Somerset (cheese) and chocolate fondues.

Sorry not to have posted much over the last few days but we were rather busy getting the place ready for last night.

Contrary to initial concerns when a Chieftain article indicated the meeting was open to the public, it was not 400 people trying to cram themselves into the house. It was only verging on SRO. But some of them made use of the big pillows to rest themselves at the feet of their significant other, who had a sofa or chair seat.

The clean-up is going well. Everyone was extremely neat. The only thing we’ve had to do was put away leftovers and wash a few serving dishes and utensils. Thanks to everyone who attended.

I finally got to meet Adam, who will be managing the whole business and likely doing a lot of the grunt work for the historical survey. At first impression, a personable and intelligent gentleman. Very familiar with his chosen field and living what he practices; he’s restoring an early 1900 hotel in Pennsylvania he and his wife purchased. Interesting stories there.

His presentation was excellent. It provided a good representation of what, if it were a military mission brief, would pass for the Rules of Engagement. He told us what he could and would do, under any of a number of circumstances. All of which were based on what the owner of a property or the law would allow. For example, pictures can be taken from an public walk or street, but he will not enter the yard or take precise measurements on the property without the owners expressed permission.

[Note: It was interesting to see the guage he uses to measure the angle on side shingles. I had no idea that the angle on the shingle could be a clue as to the style and/or year of construction.]

We’ve invited him to be a co-author on the blog, to help keep everyone involved apprised of what it going on. Hopefully, in this manner, he can alert us when he is planning on working a particular area and we might expect a visit and make ourselves more readily available. Or inform him that we’ll be out of town so he can reschedule.

Lots of good discussion followed his presentation. Good questions asked. Some of the more touchy ones not directly related to the historical survey itself, e.g., the possibility of enhancing property values of a building or the neighborhood and the repurcussions if the city decides to raise our rate, of taxation, accordingly. But that’s another and very convoluted story.

My thanks to James Amos who did the original Chieftain article. It really ‘stirred the pot’. The monday after the article our phone was ringing off the hook with people telling us they were coming, they weren’t able to make it but wanted to read about it on the blog, that their property was older than the Rosemount and ALREADY on the national register, but wasn’t listed in the article.

This is the sort of thing we’re looking for, interest in the project that generates motivation. Also finding out about properties that may have been missed. This place is great.

Friday, February 25, 2005

March 2005 General Meeting

God, and the City Fathers, willing….we can celebrate!

This Quarterly General Meeting will be held at our place; 425 W. 18th Street.

The date is Tuesday, March 1, 2005.

It starts at 6:30 pm. Doors open an half-hour before.

The agenda:

• Status of Mineral Palace Park
   - Historical District Status
   - Resolution Regarding I-25 ‘Improvemment’ Plans
• Historic Tours and Activities
• Administrative Matters
• The Northside Historic Survey (Main Presentation)

The last item (above) will be provided by Adam Thomas, a principle with Historitecture, the company that is expected to be contracted to perform the Northside Historic Survey. You’ll have a chance to hear what is expected to happen, how you can help and what we can hope from it.

We’ve got a lot to celebrate and/or discuss, one way or another, regardless of what the City Council decides the night before.

We invite your participation. Dress is whatever….as long as no laws are broken.

Thursday, February 24, 2005

Northside Historic Survey Funding Decision

You are cordially invited….

...to attend next Monday night’s regularly scheduled meeting of the Pueblo City Council. It will happen in the City Council chambers starting at 7 pm.

One of the items for consideration is the matter of agreeing to sign and fund a contract with an organization to conduct a survey of the history and architecture of the Northside area. The information gathered from this activity will go to support claims of historical landmarking certain buildings in the area.

We invite your attendance and solicit your support of this noble endeavor.

If the City Fathers agree to sign the contract, we’ll party at our place afterwards. [Note: Brandy and cigars on the veranda, while the ladies sip champagn in the parlor.]

Wednesday, February 02, 2005

Northiside Might Qualify for CDBG Funds?

A ray of hope in an otherwise frowning sky.

If you’re not aware of it, the Northside neighborhood, where OHNO lives, is apparently eligible to apply and possibly even get Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) funds.

These are large wads of money showered down by the gods of Housing and Human Development or some other dieties from Washington DC to help communities deal with certain situations.

BAND got something like $10K, as I understand it, to publish their very well done newsletter. I could be wrong about the figure, but I’m NOT wrong that they turn out a very professionally done product and from whence the money to do the printing came.

But we here in the Northside are generally too well off to qualify for such largess. However, at the latest Pueblo Neighborhood Partnership meeting, it came out that we can submit requests for such funding and the city’s offices that manage it would consider the applications. This does NOT mean they will grant the funding. But if the project does capture their imagination and would be a boon to the city, especially the neighborhoods that they usually try to target for such funding, it could possibly happen.

It might be in our interest to seriously consider doing the work to request such funds. Usually, we’re talking what is termed ‘mortar and brick’, i.e., construction, efforts. I can think of some sidewalks that could benefit from such work. If we did it right, we might be able to get a lot of places fixed. And, if we dovetailed such a one-time-shot with a longer term effort, say the establishment of a special district for a low-low tax for sidewalk repair, it would be maintainable.

The reason this came up was that I got the distinct impression that the city is looking for ways to finish obligating the funds it has received from Olympus on the Potomac. I was getting the idea that if they did not obligate all the funds they have by the end of the year, that the gods on high were going to take their manna back and give it to other people who could consume it.

This looks to me like it ‘might’ be an opportunity.

However, I’m sure there is LOTS of paperwork to be done in order to ask…..

Yo! Chris! You reading this?

The Super Slab Is Coming

And what shall we do?

So much to write about today. Where to begin? Ah. Yes…..the Pueblo Chieftain’s article on the super-slab project.

Seems like that massive project to re-route the heavy road and rail traffic to the flatter lands to the east of town is going to come true in the not-too-distant-future after all. This years legislative session is taking up the issue today.

Personally, I think it’s a great idea and its time has just about come. During the, what I called TRANSPLAN 2030, meetings I kibbutzed last Spring it was talked about in almost hushed tones, but I could see the necessity of it. Especially after hearing the reps from the railroads expressing what they had to contend with in moving trains up and down the Front Range, through burgs like Colorado Springs. It sounded like a logistical nightmare to me.

[Hystorical Note: I even had a glimpse of the sort of masstyeria the Imperial German General Staff had to contend with in their planning mobilization for World War I. It was a running joke with them that their best young minds graduating from their military academy went into the railroad planning division and from there into an insane asylum.]

At any rate, the most interesting impacts of this project, when it comes to pass, are going to be as follows:

[1] The new Wal-Mart distribution center. Is it REALLY smart to build the center so far away from the planned route of the super-slab? Doesn’t look like it to me. It’ll just cause the trucks to travel so much farther, if they are coming from out of state. It would be much smarter to build the distrubtion center at the municipal airport industrial park, where it will be conveniently located for both the truck and rail loads.

[2] The plans to widen I-25 through Pueblo proper to ease traffic. The planned super-slab puts all of this planning on its proverbial ear. The need will not be to build a wider and faster road through Pueblo. It will be to build a better connection from the super-slab to the northern part of town. This is because the southern part of town would be serviced by the proposed connection at Stem Beach. So, looks like CH2MHill will have more time on the contract as they re-write their plans to accomodate something any rational person could see coming last year.

[3] Expansion of the industrial park at the municipal airport. Here’s a great thing for the city. And something that will bring in more business as well. As commented earlier, the Wal-Mart distribution center would work better out there. So it will need to be expanded. Maybe for no better reason than to make it inconvenient for the people at the Target distribution center to get into a turf war with their competitors.

[4] Speaking of expanding the industrial park. I understand that Denver doesn’t want any stenkeng piggy-back railcar transfer facilities anymore. The railroad built a huge activity south of C-470 off Santa Fe some time back and the word at the TRANSPLAN 2030 meeting was they didn’t want it there anymore. Here’s a great opportunity for the city. Expand the industrial park, near the super-slab, and get the facility to be moved there. After all, if we don’t know railroads, we don’t know jack.

This thing has great potential, if we have the vision to see it and the courage to seize it.

Monday, January 31, 2005

The Northside Neighborhood Survey

We’ve got it!

David Cockrell, the city’s Senior Neighborhood Planner, has passed me a limited number of copies of the finished survey.

We’ve asked him for the document in PDF format so we could pass it to anyone who wanted it electronically. If we have to, we’ll scan the document in and generate something that way. However, it would be best if we could have that done via Acrobat, just to make it easy to search it for words and terms.

We’ll keep you apprised.

Friday, January 28, 2005

OHNO Victories

The Night of January 24th.

It’s an Ayn Rand classic, come to life!

Last Monday night, at the regularly scheduled meeting of the City Council, the Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) and Old Historic Northside Organization (OHNO), inadvertantly combined forces in order to give the City Fathers an opportunity to do the proverbial ‘right thing’, vis a vis a proposed modification to the city ordinance regarding historic landmarks and the establishment of Mineral Palace Park as an historic district.

It’s rather interesting that the two items came up together like this and the story is certainly worth telling of how that happened. But we’ve got a lot of other things to do before this day is over; so maybe another time. Suffice it to say that these two matters were related. The fun part is trying to understand the why’s and wherefore’s. But, as I said, that’s another, rather long and ‘paranoid’ story. And one better described over fine scotch and tobacco.

So, back on track. The people won a good fight last Monday night. The City Fathers wisely chose to amend the proposed ordinance so that the City Council would not be ‘above the law’, vis-a-vis other private and/or corporate entities. It also agreed to declare Mineral Palace Park an historic district. Both of these decisions will go far in maintaining a quality of life for the general population, well above that realized on Gedi Prime (see classic science ficition series by Frank Herbert).

A round of applause and drinks for all those who participated, either by communicating to the City Fathers via phone or e-mail, attending the meeting itself, and testifying on the matters.

THIS is what makes this land and this community a great place to live.