Bill & Tom are holding a Town hall meeting 10/26 6:00 pm at city hall. The two astute city councilors discuss the recent Hillside community meeting with subjects that included public safety, code enforcement, and marijuana use on the public streets. “Is there an ordinance against that?” asked several members of the audience. Does the city have the resources to satisfy the citizens at the Hillside community center? Tune-in and find out. Should we close parks or sell them to developers? Do we need targeted taxes? How will all the community needs be satisfied? (Episode #50, Recorded 2017 10 13)
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How did I miss this? (Oct 23 is my birthday, that’s how). So there’s a point here that’s being ignored. Open spaces and parks are essential for the health, both mental and physical, of the citizenry. Close them down and you are exacerbating the very problem you seek to mitigate. Shutting down a park and building houses in its place is not the answer for the inability of our parks department to keep our parklands safe and well cared for, that’s for sure. It literally makes my blood run cold to hear it said that a solution that bad is being spoken aloud. How in the world did this city’s priorities become so horrifically skewed? True story gentlemen. I set up a table at Blodgett Park to seek donations for the legal fund for Strawberry Fields and to help the people of Colorado Springs know that the land swap is not a “done deal.” Midway through the afternoon comes a late-teens young man who literally reeked of alcohol. Says he to me, “I have got to go out here and walk right now. I’ve been drinking too much lately and I need this to get my head on straight.” Please, if you haven’t already, read Richard Louv’s book Last Child in the Woods. I gave a copy to the parks board last year during the Strawberry meetings, but the wisdom fell upon deaf ears.