.I encourage Julian to be forthcoming with what events he is considerring moving out of the downtown area. Would it be the Marti Gras parade? Would it be the Emma Crawford races. Julian knows that I am a recent member of the Manitou Springs City Council, a past president of the Manit
ou Springs Economic Development Council and currently sit on the Manitou Springs Forward executive committee. I have a long history of supporting all on the residents of Manitou Springs.

I do not believe that Julian is a “heartless developer”, I do believe that he does want to profit from his ventures and I do not fault him for that. I think Julian is a nice person, but I do not support an outdoor ampitheater in Manitou Springs due to the negative impact I believe it will have on all of our residents.

I encourage Julian to seek a different venue for his dream.

Rick I’m glad you raise this issue. As you know quite well, our current plan includes 9-12 outdoor events, some of which are existing in Maniou today. Unlike events today, this plan would include new parking to accomidate events thereby actually reducing the existing conjestion. This sounds more like a “not in my backyard” issue, as your ok with Non “westside” residents dealing with the noise and congestion of existing events, but spin it to quality of life when a facility that would lower impact for 80% of the residents, while increasing your personal impact is proposed.

I think the best guage of how sensitive I would be to the residents would be based upon the existing event I hold in Manitou. I allow Manitou non-profits booths for free (to enable their own fundraising), I hold the event during the day to mitigate the impact on the “bedroom community”, most years, I’ve left the playground open to not impact family’s. When this project started, I first offered it to the city to get involved as a potential method to solve several of their problems with revenue & parking. Rick may want you to believe I’m a “heartless developer”, but I believe you’ll find quite the opposite to be true if you take the time to ask.

One Correction however… the current plan has up to aprox.130 events per year, not 200 with most planned for inside so as not to disrupt the residential life of Manitou. I only point that out because a big goal would be to be a strong community partner and certainly part of that is having considered our impact on quality of life for the west end.