Fort Collins City Council has placed three items on the November 8, 2022 ballot: Moving the municipal election cycle to November of odd-numbered years; Increasing Council compensation; and Ranked Choice Voting. All three issues would change our City Charter.
After in-depth review by staff, the Local Legislative Affairs Committee (LLAC) and the Board, the Fort Collins Area Chamber has elected to take NO POSITION on changing the election cycle and compensation as the impact to business is co...
I’ve been thinking a lot about trolls the last three weeks. And I don’t mean those cute, fuzzy trolls that sing and dance in the movies. I’m talking about the online, anonymous individuals that post intentionally inflammatory, rude, or upsetting statements to elicit strong emotional responses in people or to steer the conversation off-topic.
Unfortunately, we saw a tremendous amount of trolling to push a specific agenda during the 2021 City of Fort Collins elections. As a self-descr...
The sun is shining outside my window and I can’t wait for Spring to arrive. If you are like me, you can’t wait to be able to spend time outside, soaking up the beautiful northern Colorado sunshine. I’m already making my list of “things to do,” to get ready for and to embrace spring – and want to make sure you have filling out your ballot for the City of Fort Collins Municipal Election on that list.
The 2021 Election is on April 6. The City of Fort Collins conducts its electi...
Sound policy, consistency and predictability help businesses thrive. That’s why the Fort Collins Area Chamber examines policy issues in depth and takes a stand to protect the interests of businesses and their employees. This year, we are taking a stance on one critical ballot issue. Below is what you need to know about this ballot issue and why it matters to the business community.
Proposed Citizen-Initiated Ordinance
(relating to the former Hughes Stadium property)
On Election Day last Tuesday I made the safest non-prediction prediction ever made when I wrote “The sun will come up tomorrow, and it will seem brighter for about half the population and darker for the other half.” In a sharply divided country, that was a pretty safe bet for the presidential election but most of the other results were mixed.
A few observations about last week’s elections.
The presidential race was (and still is) a mess. A week later President Trump still has not c...
“My wife called down from upstairs with a question: ‘Do you ever get a shooting pain across your body, like someone’s got a voodoo doll of you and they’re stabbing you?’
Sounding concerned, I replied, ‘No….’
She responded, ‘How about now?’”
Ha! That’s pretty funny! Somebody sent this to me recently, and I had a good laugh.
Maybe it’s not all that funny, maybe I just needed to laugh, but it worked.
Happy belated 4th of July! I hope you had a great weekend. For my part, I enjoyed a quiet weekend that included grilling and a hike.
More than I should have, I also enjoyed watching video clips of alarmed newscasters in places like Los Angeles showing massive displays of illegal fireworks going off. People were going to celebrate their country in their own way regardless of what some state and local governments had to say about it. (Note to governors and mayors all across the nation: You can�...
With the financial model for the news media, particularly newspapers, under duress, good local journalism is hard to maintain. Credit the Coloradoan for a recent story about the performance of the City Council elected in April. The article by Jacy Marmaduke is titled “Progressive Pivot” and can be found in the Sunday, December 1 edition.
It’s worth reading. There’s a lot to unpack in the article. One obvious takeaway is the disinterest in business and the local economy by the Council....
During the 2019 Legislative Session, Democratic state leaders referred Proposition CC to the fall ballot.
Proposition CC would override the part of the provision in the state constitution in the Taxpayers Bill of Rights (TABOR) that requires the state to reimburse taxpayers when state revenues exceed population growth and inflation. The retained monies would be used for transportation, public schools, and higher education.
The measure is partisan in nature being referred by the Democrat-co...
Change can be good, but change for change sake can be foolhardy. Take the Citizen-Initiated Charter Amendment No. 1 on your Fort Collins City ballot. It calls for the creation of a full-time city council with commensurate compensation.
Before getting to the main reasons why this is ill-advised, let’s address the fact that the main proponent of this measure is also running for city council. Is the objective here really to fix something that’s broken or provide a known community activist wi...