Pueblog USa
Friday, February 20, 2009
Back to Politics — BRPoCG - 1
Getting back into local politics, vis-a-vis the Blue Ribbon Panel on City Government (BRPoCG)
I had the opportunity to attend the first public meeting of the recently appointed Blue Ribbon Panel on City Government, as it met last Wednesday, 18 February 2009, in City Council Chambers.
It was rather interesting. For a number of reasons. Some of which I doubt the City Council will appreciate exposure. And, just to be honest, others won’t appreciate these insights either.
The audience in chambers was an interesting mixture of the usual as well as the unusual suspects.
We had, not only the appointees to this panel, but members of the City Council, the appointed interim City Manager, the 30+ year contracted city attorney, some people from the Pueblo County Republican Party, the obligatory coverage from the Pueblo Chieftain…and one other….as well as at least one representative from CALM…an attorney in the community, himself.
The opening comments by the panel and the temporary chair were optimistic. Lots of promises about (1) open minds and (2) discussion of advantages and disadvantages. But, as my 58+ year sojourn in this venue has proven….verbal promises aren’t worth the paper they’re written on. And I think those of us with more than two synapses to rub together are recognizing that in a more vivid manner at the federal level these last few weeks.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Demonstration for PNP
This is a demo…..
Hi there everyone….
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
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….
Monday, July 14, 2008
Governor’s Commission on Community Service (GCCS)
A chance to speak your mind.
This week—Wednesday, Thursday and Friday—there will be representatives from our friends in Denver, i.e., the Governor’s office, asking us what we think needs to be done to help Pueblo.
The meetings are to be held:
Place: First Nazarene Church
Date/Time:
- Wednesday, 16 Jul, 12:00 - 1:30
- Thursday, 17 Jul, 10:30 - 12:00
- Thursday, 17 Jul, 12:00 - 1:30
- Thursday, 17 Jul, 2:30 - 4:00
- Friday, 18 Jul, 9:00 - 10:30
- Friday, 18 Jul, 1:30 - 3:00
All are invited to attend one of the forums, at your convenience.
Please RSVP to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), stating the date and time you’ll be attending. I think they’re offering lunch for certain forums.
Personally?
I’m intending to go and tell them that in order for Pueblo and the rest of the state of Colorado to get what they need, on a par with what Denver needs, we need to return to the balance of legislative power we enjoyed before the Supreme Court overthrew our state constitution; Reynolds v. Simms (1964). The place where the state senate was elected based on geographic areas instead of population, as the state house of representatives is. As it is now, the state senate is just an over-paid version of the state house of representatives. And Denver controls the most votes in both.
As it is right now, the Denver metroplex holds 17 of the 35 state senate seats. This is an egregious concentration of power that allows the Denver area to dominate state law-making and the appointment of judges and commissioners.
Until that balance, as we enjoy at the Federal level, is restored, Denver rules Colorado.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Speaking of Initiatives
Going pro-active.
I have to admit that Chris Nicoll’s initiative has been an inspiration. So much so that the Pueblo Neighborhood Partnership (PNP) is going to emulate it as part of its efforts to improve the quality of living in the city and county of Pueblo.
Last Tuesday, I proposed five possible items to put forward as citizens’ initiatives for the city ordinances on the 2009 odd-year City-County election. These were:
[1] Require the city to provide public notices and publish all documentation relating to a proposed action 45 days prior to any hearing on such actions on their web-site.
[2] Establish a sidewalk utility for the regular maintenance of sidewalks in the city limits.
[3] City recognition and work with organized neighborhood associations, requiring that changes in statutes or zoning or other activities that impacted on neighborhoods would have to have said neighborhoods input.
[4] Oaths at Meetings would require Staff as well as citizens to swear to the honesty of their report under pain of perjury at meetings where witnesses are required to swear or affirm such.
[5] That the city’s legal department should be employees of the city government and not a private firm contracted to do such work for the city.
This list is not locked in concrete. I invite any other possible ideas to modify the City Ordinances or City Charter that would improve our governance by making it more open to the citizens and/or provide better service to them. If you think you have a good idea, let’s hear it. Just click on the word Comments in the box immediately below and say your piece.
Over the course of the next few months we’ll discuss each of the options provided to thrash out their advantages and disadvantages.
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.