Hazlehurst's Blog » 2012

Ideas for downtown’s future won’t happen too fast

30. November 2012

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Mais où sont les neiges d’antan? Francois Villon, 1461. That’s the final line of Villon’s “Ballade des dames du temps jadis,” an elegaic meditation upon the transience of beauty. Pre-Raphaelite poet/artist/girlfriend collector Dante Gabriel Rossetti translated it as “Where are the snows of yesteryear?” The translation is particularly apt and impressive since Rossetti invented the [...]

Stage appears set for Anschutz purchase of Gazette

21. November 2012

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He owns hotels, railroads, newspapers, sports teams, arenas, movie theaters and ticket brokers. He has interests in at least 150 companies. His family foundation, created in 1964, has more than $2 billion in assets. He gave $100 million to the University of Colorado Medical Campus, which was renamed to recognize his generosity. His net worth [...]

Stage appears set for Anschutz to buy Gazette

21. November 2012

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He owns hotels, railroads, newspapers, sports teams, arenas, movie theaters and ticket brokers. He has interests in at least 150 companies. His family foundation, created in 1964, has more than $2 billion in assets. He gave $100 million to the University of Colorado Medical Campus, which was renamed to recognize his generosity. His net worth [...]

City Clerk’s redistricting decision firm and solid

15. November 2012

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The neighborhood activists and earnest community builders who thought they could substitute their own redistricting plans for those proposed by City Clerk Sarah Johnson might have not bothered to do so had they downloaded “Steel Magnolias” from Netflix. Johnson is one of those polite, soft-spoken southern women who have no problem making decisions, and no [...]

This election could be the Baby Boomers’ swan song

9. November 2012

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Eighteen years ago, as I sat on the City Council dais with eight other petty elected officials, one of the City Hall regulars came forward to speak on whatever issue was before us at the time. We were used to him, and to the dozen or so aging know-it-alls who had nothing better to do [...]

Romney flipped 2012 primary? You decide.

6. November 2012

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Hate to rain on your parade, Obama supporters, but it looks as if the election results may be very different from what you happily anticipate. According to this analysis, the Romney campaign managed to successfully manipulate the 2012 Republican primary results. As the mathematician who sent me the link noted, “This paper might be a [...]

City attorney to ask for money to settle Carrier lawsuit

6. November 2012

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Here’s the full text of a press release from Mayor Steve Bach’s office this morning. “On Tuesday, November 13, 2012, City Attorney Chris Melcher will propose to Colorado Springs City Council, an ordinance for a supplemental appropriation to the General Fund Administration Department in the amount of $3,400,000 for the settlement of certain litigation claims [...]

When five is more than 50,000

5. November 2012

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I save stuff – old coins, letters, stamps, campaign signs, newspapers and anything else that seems interesting. I enjoy my unintended and untended “collections,” but it’s dismaying to think that my spouse and/or kids will have to sort through all this junk when I shuffle off this mortal plane. Hoping to dispose of some [...]

Will zombies rule on Election Day?

5. November 2012

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If you’re a cynical, sourly non-partisan journalist, nothing can delight you more than the prospect of what New York Magazine’s John Heilemann calls a “zombie election.” Zombie scenarios include: -Obama wins popular vote, Romney wins electoral vote, or vice versa. A replay of 2000, which would be especially juicy if the Dems were the ones [...]

Here’s a different peer city for Springs to emulate

2. November 2012

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We love to compare ourselves with other cities, don’t we? Austin, Portland, Oklahoma City, Huntsville — line ‘em up! Let’s send delegations of businesspeople, politicians and nonprofit execs to visit with their counterparts, and let’s try to learn from the successes of our peer cities. Oh that’s right — we’ve already done that. Our teams [...]

Archive | November, 2012