Comments on: Taxophobia got us here, we know where it will take us

By: FactFinder

FactFinder — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 04:51:33 +0000

The Denver light rail system is in HUGE financial trouble. They are having desperate hearings about this right now. All of their cost estimates were badly low. All of their rider projections were vastly too high. It appears that the costs and benefits projections were manipulated to get the answer they wanted. From the Denver Post, just three days ago….

RTD faces huge additional deficits in the years beyond 2011
unless a plan for financial sustainability can be formed, agency officials say.

Read more: RTD begins rate-hike hearings Monday – The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_16037369?source=rss#ixzz0zf8Ew8GE

The train in New Mexico will fail. The train system in Europe is in HUGE trouble. The Great Brittain train/subway system has to be subsidized 3 to 1 versus their revenue. The people paying the subsidy are real mad about it. It is a political bomb about to blow sky high.

The Colorado Springs Street Car System was a failure.

There is not one significant train system in the world that is making money.

Yeah. Let’s do a train. Let’s go backwards. Let’s fail. Just use your money, not mine.

By: Bettina Swigger

Bettina Swigger — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 15:39:52 +0000

Hear, hear. I, too, was in Albuquerque, my hometown, over Labor Day weekend and as usual, was impressed by the way the city is thriving and totally enamored of the Railrunner. As a teenager in the early nineties in Albuquerque, I couldn’t wait to get out of there. While I’m sure that is a normal sentiment for a teen to have about the place they live, it is interesting to me that as I was experiencing the usual teen angst, Albuquerque leaders were laying the groundwork for the city it is today. Their bustling downtown didn’t happen overnight; that was a decades-long process. Their arts scene is just now coming into its own, and the businesses that now thrive there (not to mention the TV and film industry) is dependent on tax incentives that were put into place and fought for for many, many years.
I believe this is a turning point for Colorado Springs. The changes we make now could make today’s teenagers feel proud of their hometown of Colorado Springs a they enter their thirties!

By: jeff cloutier

jeff cloutier — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 04:32:20 +0000

I agree! I’ve lived here for a little over four years and have never lived in a city that moves backwards so much. Like many, I struggle to stay afloat. Now I know why this town is so transient! It is a difficult city to survive in if you weren’t born with or already relocated here with wealth.

By: Ed Ward

Ed Ward — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 21:02:29 +0000

John Hazelhust is right. The \taxophobics\ are content to see our city toying with the infrastructure and maintence of a thrid world country.

By: Bruce Hutcheon

Bruce Hutcheon — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 20:51:52 +0000

Right on John H…

Being an East Coast transplant circa 1985 Colorado Springs has had every opportunity to be a leader not a whiner. Yet opportunities for national leadership have gone lacking because of leadership and complacency of purpose and vision the city and region have suffered and are well behind the curve.

Knowledge base economy balanced with our military opportunities gives us every reason to hope. Operation 6035 is working hard to bring leadership and vision together to serve our county and city.

We should have light rail connection to the Lincoln Ave station. We should boast our airport carriers so that one can fly direct to west coast Chicago and Dallas every hour of the day.

We need to be able to provide adequate services of protection of our homes and neighborhoods because those who take know no one is going to hold them accountable.

We need to ensure that the city and county provides for the single mom and those who are homeless. It is everyone’s job to create an environment of well being and security with a robust economical foundation.

Easy heck no, impossible not at all. It is a matter of choice and vision.