Pueblog USa
Sunday, November 01, 2009
What To Do about Pueblo
Thoughts on the problems of our City.
Up front, I’m not voting for the ‘Strong Mayor’ in this Tuesday’s referendum.
I don’t think having a strong mayor will solve the current problems we experience in Pueblo.
And I commented as much in reply to a one-over-the-world e-mail from one of the advocates of such a change in our city government.
We got into a discussion in a back-and-forth exchange via e-mails. But I thought this discussion should be brought out into the open, the better to educate others on what is going wrong in our city and allow them more information with which to reach the best possible decision.
I realize that many people have made up their minds already, lacking more information, and have sent in their ‘mail-in’ ballots. But nevertheless, here is the discussion….
TO: Family, FRIENDS and Those Fighting for the little guy…
Please note how our small $7,000 (individual contributors) campaign budget is taking on the $53,000 budget of the developers, special interest and elitist status quo that has run this community to their benefit under the guise of doing what is best for Pueblo. Ask yourself two logical questions: If this current form of government (city council/city manager) which has been in place since 1955 is so good for Pueblo how come we have dropped from 2nd largest city down to the ninth in 2009? How come our city population of 100,000 is the same for the past fifty years? The answer; [sic] its (sic) a lot more managable [sic] for the GOOD OL’ BOYS to take advantage and abuse things large mmoney scams like TIF (Tax INcrement Financing) and to divert funds from true blighted areas to their coffers. An audit for Pueblo is long overdue and I suspect not only will they dscover TIF Abuse but they may find out that portions of CDBG (Community Development Block Grant funds may have been diverted to these “good ol’ boys” as well…
IF YOU FOLLOW THE MONEY, IT WILL LEAD TO THE TRUTH…L
The campaign to change the form of government in the City of Pueblo is one that began several years ago and QAT really got down to studying cities across the U.S. that have had, and have changed to, the Mayor form of local government. There were many meetings, involving many individuals and countless more hours of work devoted to making the changes to the Pueblo City Charter from the City Manager form to the Mayor form. A lot of leg work to gather signatures to get the issue on the November ballot so the citizenry can make a choice. More leg work and many hours to hand out literature, to walk door-to-door and to debate the issue at public forums.The Committee to Assess Local Mayorship (C.A.L.M.) invited and received many views and valuable input from a diverse section of local citizens. CALM, during the assessment phase, the signature gathering, literature dissemination and public forums, did it’s best to educate the larger Public about the reasons for advocating for a Strong Mayor and issues of our City that have not been properly addressed by our current form of city government. This outreach also included a hot dog fund raiser in May 2009 at which a large segment of the Public turned out to hear CALM’s message and to support the campaign.
With less than 30 days before election day, now comes a group that refers to itself as “ Citizens for Pueblo ” who’s intent is to maintain the Status Quo ! Who are these “citizens?” Below you will find a list of the contributions/contributors reported on the campaign report submitted to the Pueblo City Clerk by this “citizen” committee formed to defeat the Strong Mayor issue. Judge for yourself! Does this group represent ALL of the Citizens of our City or does this group represent a narrow, well-heeled, monied sector who feel that they need to maintain the status quo because they feel that the system “ if it aint broke, don’t fix it. ” However, from looking at the contributor’s list, one can’t help but feel that what this group of citizens really means is “ Pueblo ’s current system is working great for US so don’t fix it!! ”
CALM and the Citizens of Pueblo can’t compete with this group in terms of money. Below is a list of those who have contributed to the CALM campaign over the last 10 months. It’s difficult in these times for individuals to simply write a check for $1,000 or $5,000! But, CALM can provide information so you can make an informed decision about this campaign to change to a Strong Mayor for the People of the City of Pueblo. Information that will counter the campaign of fear-mongering, distortions, misinformation and lies coming from this group, aided and abetted by some on City Council, especially the President of City Council! See the attachment for an example of the lies and an attempt to put a stop to it.
This message is meant to be delivered and read by as many Citizens as possible. So, PASS IT ON! Put it on “Facebook!” Broadcast it on “Twitter!” —r———-
To which I replied….
Have you considered the possibility that YOUR effort is on the part of “elitists”? Just a different group of them.
[Rebel, n., One who has yet to establish his own form of misrule.—Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary]—myself
And the thread goes….
Chuck; God Love Ya’
Definition: elitism -
The position that society depends on a particular class in order to flourish. Classes might include intellectual, social, or cultural categories.If you don’t recognize the strangle hold the Deroses and their pals have on this community than this no growth, non progressive, backward community deserves exactly what it deserves; to be led like sheep to slaughter…
the real elitists want this community to remain barefoot and pregnant and have no input on the future of their own community… JUST FOLLOW THE MONEY!
I know you are playing devils advocate but I would rather concentrate helping those who lack the drive, resources and education to help themselves… this is not republican vs. democrat, this right versus wrong and I choose to do something about it rather than hide my head in my nice comfortable couch while people in this community are literally living in the sewer and storm water that floods their basements every time it rains… Don’t believe me come on over to the restaurant and I will introduce you my neighbors who fight mold crawling in their crawl spaces…
Come’on Chuck, use that good brain of yours and energy to help balance the playing field… its okay for conservatives to help out those less fortunate.. I am a new breed of Republican and I intend to bring our party from the country club to the street, where the real problems occurring… I know you care so JOIN ME… —r———-
Think upon the ‘elitism’ being manifested by a certain political party in power in Washington. And contemplate it having the same power in Pueblo.
As I said in my tag-line of the previous missive….[Note: Rebel, n., One who has yet to establish his own form of misrule.—Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary]
I don’t think the best way to deal with the situation in Pueblo is taking power from one elitist group and giving it to another. A strong mayor in Pueblo would be like what is in the Oval Office. They don’t have to listen to the people any more than Obama is listening to the people.
Rather, I suggest another course of action. One in which NEITHER party nor ‘group’ can dominate the political and economic development of Pueblo. Just as we did last year with the return of the televised public forums….changing the rules by which the city government works at the root level. Specifically, how Planning & Development interacts with the neighborhoods, how procurements are accomplished and bringing the city’s legal activities INTO the city government itself.—myself
pueblo may be the exception ... how do you explain a town with 3 to 1 voting edge;dems over repubs
that has a council with a repub margin? Look my job is not to keep repubs in control…my goal is to take care of people and let the repubs work to recruit new repubs on their own… ya know’ having control of this council only helps the dems blame the repubs for the failure and neglect that has been pepetrated aginst their own constituency… I say let the the dems have full control and let them take the full blame…the slow destruction of this democracy is happening at the national level and it is becoming more and more evident to the masses that it is the dems and their socialist buddies that are to blame… I hope we can get some of our conservative friends to cancel a couple of tee times and get in the hood and start fighting where the problems really are…
always your friend… no matter what…—r———-
And just in time….
“We’re Governed by Callous Children
Americans feel increasingly disheartened, and our leaders don’t even notice”—@ http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703363704574503631430926354.html—myself
At this point another chimed in with this comment….
I don’t see how those who are living in the true blighted areas, those that need help in their neighborhoods and with their flooding problems, are a different group of elitists. Since when are the “underdogs” considered elite? My view….........—d———-
To which I replied with this…..
Those people can be ignored as easily by a strong mayor as by no mayor. Look at what’s happening in Washington as an example.
Here’s a link to a video that proves my point….
Heck! Not only does Obama ignore the plight of underprivileged children in the town where he is the biggest cheese therein. He tries to have his main legal man suppress knowledge of his ignoring them.—myself
At this point, I asked r———- whether or not we should take this obviously important discussion into the public venue. And he agreed.
Look….
....our city has ‘issues’. And I’m well aware of many of them. Not all. Just many.
I think it is essential that all of US get involved in the discussion of these issues in order to determine the best course of action to resolve them to our mutual benefit. Not the benefit of a particular group or party or cartel. But, as I mentioned in an earlier item on this blog, we cannot do it without good, honest, open discussion.
SO! Here is an opportunity and a venue for US to discuss them.
I’m particularly interested in hearing about this Deroses cartel.
And I KNOW that there is potential danger in such a discussion and I’ll keep identities STRICTLY confidential. As some patriot once put it….
If I had to choose between betraying my government and betraying my friend, I hope I should have the guts to betray my government.
By the way….
....my ‘friends’ are those who uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
I’ve got quite a few of them. They all swore to do the same. And they abide by their oath.
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