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December 18, 2009
by Tim Okey
Sean, I consider you as a wise man, a person that someone like myself can listen to and learn from. You have countered my thoughts and my writings on this blog very effectively. I have always considered myself a dyed in the wool conservative. I registered as a Republican when I turned 21 and have only strayed once when I changed my affilliation to Independant, but came quickly back to the fold. But our dialog over the term "intent" has caused me to think more than I normally would. I want to thank you for that. I looked up "intent" in the dictionary and found a legal sense in which that term is used. And guess what? it is an open term when used in that respect. So when your friend and mine, Doug Bruce, publicly announced that his 300 amendment was to stop "Stormwater" his misuse of "hereafter" was nullified as he expressly announced publicly that his intent was to kill the stormwater fee and that is what the public voted for. So while his wording did not meet your standards his public admission met the standards of the average voter. Any way you personally play it, you lose. But the real reason I am writing is to tell you that you have awakened a side of me that I did not know exisited. That side is one of moderation and consideration. I am against abortion as a rule, but also understand that there are cases which demand a different approach. After all, when the Constitution of this Nation was written I don't suppose any of the writers had been exposed to what we expect today. But they did stipulate "freedom and liberty for all". There was a standing Army when the Constitution was written but they still included the right to bear arms. So when you play the liberal vs conservative supreme court judge with me I now chuckle. You know where I have decided to put my tent?, as a result of your writings, squarely in the moderate Republican camp. So I guess I am your liberal friend. You redundantly write about how you oppose the way the stormwater tax was imposed, but you then go on to express why it should be continued. You talk about SDS and folks being washed by a flood and the waste associated with that tax if all is stopped. What you do not address is that the people of Colorado Springs simply want to vote on tax issues. And because of your bullheaded attitude, the same attitude expressed by City Council, you label the average voter as some kind of unlearned person. But the truth is all we want is to vote and approve or diapprove an issue. It really is that simple, include us, the tax payer in the solution. If we say no, respect that. If we say yes, rejoice! But do not exclude us as has been the practice. Lionel and company believe, or believed they had a mandate to do what they felt best. When the heat was turned up, Heimlicher split. They do not have a mandate and neither do you. We the folks want to vote! If I were Doug Bruce I would be drafting a document to kill SDS. Why?, because no one has asked me if I want to shoulder the bill for the project. No one asked me if I thought making Colorado Springs Utilities an Enterprise vs a city owned facility was a good idea. All this was done with SDS in mind. But the bill payer was never considered or allowed to participate, not in the last twenty years I have been here. When I came here this was a city of 250,000 plus. It was a nice place. There was no open talk of SDS. The Banning Lewis Ranch was an after thought. Powers Blvd was a dark strech of road that was to be a ByPss. Today it is a major corridore created by development. Never once were we the citizens asked to give our opinion. Big bucks and City Council did their thing in the dark. If we did not have 4000 plus new homes a year we missed the mark. And then Pueblo began to sound off because the Fountain Creek was polluteing the Arkansas river. From there things began to go downhill. And yet our Council did nothing to improve the situation and the tax payers was expected to pay more and more. Never a vote, simply give it up! No more! You want our money, let us vote. Stop the end around of TABOR. To hell with development and with California investment. The money wasted by the stormwater fiasco is a drop in the bucket. Council has wasted 100 times that much. You want my support, earn it. tim
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