Dear Santa,
It was great to see you a couple of days ago! Spending time with you never grows old. Say, speaking of old, I seem to grow older every year, but you never do. You really are magical!
With the post-Christmas stories about how hard it was for the Postal and delivery services to get packages delivered on time, I thought I’d resend my list just on the chance that you, too, had issues. So, here you go:
•An additional lane each way on Interstate 25 between Colorado Highway 14 in Fort Collins and Colorado Highway 66 just north of Longmont. And make 2016 ‘The Year of Transportation’ in the Colorado Legislature, so they step up to their responsibility to maintain and expand Colorado’s highway system.
•A flood of money to the United Way to help area residents in need.
•A gift of insight and restraint to city government leaders as they consider imposing a half-billion dollar climate action plan on residents and utility ratepayers. Embellish this gift with a big bow of openness and honesty so they can explain what every regulation will cost, who will pay for it and exactly what it will do for the environment and to the economy. Add a wish that they spend more time on housing affordability and working on our severe underemployment problem.
•A deep run through the NCAA tournament for Colorado State University volleyball coach Tom Hilbert and his players. A Final Four would look great under their tree.
•Civil and insightful discourse for all as proponents of government-run health care try to convince Colorado voters to double the size of state government next year.
•A perfect 2016 season for CSU’s football team — OK, that might be too big for even your sleigh, so how about two four-star offensive linemen and two four-star defensive linemen? Just leave them on Coach Bobo’s porch. Nobody would dare to try to steal them!
•A gift to the local economy and jobseekers by cutting in half the time it takes to get a development project approved in Fort Collins. Twelve to 18 months is too long.
•The gift of moderation to city government staffers who are pondering all kinds of new fees and taxes that they want to extract from us. The city is operating at a significant surplus, but they want more? It may be a good idea to double up on this gift.
•A big surge of blood donations to the Garth Englund Blood Donation Center. It is the gift of life that any of us may need at any time.
•Profits for all companies in Northern Colorado and a universal understanding that a strong local economy pays for public quality of life amenities that make the community special.
•Courage, grace and blessings to the men and women in our armed services and their families. While might does not make right, might does keep us safe in our beds from those who would do us harm.
That’s it, Santa. Have a great 2016!
Your pal,
David
This column was originally published in the Fort Collins Coloradoan on December 26, 2015