Archive | December, 2012
We’ve become a Regulation Nation, like it or not
Monday mornings aren’t much fun, as every employed person knows. The tasks you decided not to tackle Friday afternoon are suddenly urgent, your boss is full of manic energy, your co-workers are sullen and unsympathetic, and you wonder why the president doesn’t declare Monday a national holiday. You long for something to break the monotony. [...]
Continue reading...City sitting in neutral, not sure of next direction
28. December 2012
Colorado Springs in the 1950s wasn’t much like today’s straight-laced, rule-bound, bureaucratic city, especially if you were an adventurous teenager. Did you want to go to a downtown bar and have a couple of beers after high school? No problem, even if the bar owner, the beat cop and everyone else in the bar knew [...]
Continue reading...A peculiar invitation from the Business Alliance
27. December 2012
The Colorado Springs Regional Business Alliance (ReBA) is hosting Gov. John Hickenlooper at a free event from 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. Friday Jan. 11 at the Fine Arts Center. Here’s the text of the email regarding the proposed wing-ding. “2013 State of the State Address – Governor John Hickenlooper Date 1/11/2013 Time 8:30 AM [...]
Continue reading...State wants mandatory life jackets for Labradors
17. December 2012
In what may qualify as the single most absurd government regulation ever proposed, the Colorado Department of Agriculture proposes to require dog boarding and training facilities that have in-ground pools to equip dogs with “flotation devices” before they enter the water. You may think that this is just an early April Fools story – but [...]
Continue reading...Dougan, Leigh ditch Utility Board to interview with HBA
14. December 2012
Although there may be candidates for City Council who have yet to announce, the Housing and Building Association has decided to go ahead and interview the ones that have. On Thursday, the organization interviewed at least four announced candidates: Jim Bensberg (District 3), Tim Leigh (District 1), Angela Dougan (District 2) and Jill Gaebler (District [...]
Continue reading...Utilities board meets to discuss Sierra Club suit
14. December 2012
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Remember the old adage, attributed variously to Otto von Bismarck and to a 19th-century Illinois legislator? “I have come to the conclusion that the making of laws is like the making of sausages—the less you know about the process the more you respect the result.” That quotation seemed apt yesterday afternoon during a particularly dismal [...]
Continue reading...Councilors hem, haw – do nothing
14. December 2012
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Remember the old adage, attributed variously to Otto von Bismarck and to a 19th-century Illinois legislator? “I have come to the conclusion that the making of laws is like the making of sausages—the less you know about the process the more you respect the result.” That quotation seemed apt yesterday afternoon during a particularly dismal [...]
Continue reading...Finding a way to understand government budgets
14. December 2012
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As winter deepens, an older man’s fancy turns to — the Poincaré conjecture. Most readers will, I’m sure, be familiar with the classic problem in topology first posed by Henri de Poincaré in 1908. It states: Every simply connected, closed 3-manifold is homeomorphic to the 3-sphere. So absurdly simple! And yet, it baffled mathematicians for [...]
Continue reading...Bensberg announces Council candidacy
11. December 2012
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Former El Paso County Commissioner Jim Bensberg has announced his candidacy for Colorado Springs City Council, in District 3. The election will be April 2. Bensberg, 58, served from 2003 to 2011 on the El Paso County Board of Commissioners representing District 5. Previously, he was the Area Director for U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard. [...]
Continue reading...Get ready for ‘Everybody Welcome’ election in April
10. December 2012
The sign on Fannie Mae Duncan’s legendary Colorado Avenue establishment was simple and to the point: “Everybody Welcome.” Get ready for an “everybody welcome” election in April, when six seats on our powerful, ill-paid, and mildly fractious council will be up for grabs. It’s easy to run. You don’t have to persuade the suspicious grandees [...]
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28. December 2012
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