Thursday, April 23, 2020
During the past month, I have been bombarded by political ads for an issue for which most of the people exposed to the ads are not able to cast a vote. Pueblo is a city consisting of approximately 110,000 residents. Colorado Spring, however, consists of nearly 500,000 residents. There may be up to 400,000 more residents in each city’s metropolitan and rural areas served by our local television stations. Pueblo has a contentious ballot question scheduled for their May 5th election. The May 5th election will continue as planned because the state of Colorado had the good sense to switch to mail-in ballots for all elections several years ago.
Residents of Colorado can still vote in person if we choose to, but most people simply mail or drop off their ballots. I saw a news report, probably slightly before the Wisconsin primary election last month, that mentioned the only way to successfully implement a mail-in election was to include postage-paid reply envelopes. I do not think postage-paid reply envelopes are necessary. We do not receive postage-paid reply envelopes in Colorado, and it was reported that Colorado had the second highest percentage of voter turnout for the 2018 mid-term elections. We have drop-off boxes located in many locations across the state. There were at least 20 drop-off boxes in Colorado Springs for the presidential primary vote earlier this year.
The contentious ballot question the city of Pueblo has coming up is about whether the city should have a municipally owned utility company. Pueblo does not currently have a municipally owned utility company. I have heard utility horror stories from the residents serviced by the company that provides Pueblo’s (and the surrounding areas) utilities about the company’s bad policies and service. I do not know which decision is best for Pueblo residents. Since 1924, Colorado Springs has had a municipally owned utility company.
I have a separate water and sewer company because I do not technically live in Colorado Springs. The section of town I live in has its own water and sewer company established in1956. Colorado Springs has since annexed most of the city to the north, east, and west of my area, but our little section has apparently resisted. I have lived here almost 13 years and annexation has never come up at any time. Colorado Springs Utilities does provide my electricity and gas, so we get the best of both worlds as far as I am concerned.
The contentious ballot question basically asks, should Pueblo create their own municipally owned utility company or stick with the for-profit company. Living in a municipally owned utility company area, I would advise someone to make that choice, however it is complicated. I consider myself to be politically conservative and socially liberal, yet I also strongly believe in government services/programs that benefit the greater good. I support paying taxes for roads, schools, and recreation areas, and I think there is a point where the open market is not the best choice for our citizens and government should step in.
Every week at least four trash companies drive big trucks through my neighborhood damaging my streets. I have not researched it so I could very well be completely wrong, but I feel it would be better for the streets and environment if the city were divided into areas and only one company serviced an area each week. We could vote every four years for the company instead of creating a bidding process to make it more “open market” if necessary. Trash removal does not need to be a government entity, but it might be nice to have it government regulated.
My piece of advice to you is to go with your gut. No matter what the citizens of Pueblo decide, there will be good parts and bad parts, and nobody will be entirely happy. Personally, I am going to be happy on May 5th when the ads finally stop running and I do not have to deal with the repercussions of the decision.
Until next time,
Susanne
Please check out my GoFundMe page.
During the past month, I have been bombarded by political ads for an issue for which most of the people exposed to the ads are not able to cast a vote. Pueblo is a city consisting of approximately 110,000 residents. Colorado Spring, however, consists of nearly 500,000 residents. There may be up to 400,000 more residents in each city’s metropolitan and rural areas served by our local television stations. Pueblo has a contentious ballot question scheduled for their May 5th election. The May 5th election will continue as planned because the state of Colorado had the good sense to switch to mail-in ballots for all elections several years ago.
Residents of Colorado can still vote in person if we choose to, but most people simply mail or drop off their ballots. I saw a news report, probably slightly before the Wisconsin primary election last month, that mentioned the only way to successfully implement a mail-in election was to include postage-paid reply envelopes. I do not think postage-paid reply envelopes are necessary. We do not receive postage-paid reply envelopes in Colorado, and it was reported that Colorado had the second highest percentage of voter turnout for the 2018 mid-term elections. We have drop-off boxes located in many locations across the state. There were at least 20 drop-off boxes in Colorado Springs for the presidential primary vote earlier this year.
The contentious ballot question the city of Pueblo has coming up is about whether the city should have a municipally owned utility company. Pueblo does not currently have a municipally owned utility company. I have heard utility horror stories from the residents serviced by the company that provides Pueblo’s (and the surrounding areas) utilities about the company’s bad policies and service. I do not know which decision is best for Pueblo residents. Since 1924, Colorado Springs has had a municipally owned utility company.
I have a separate water and sewer company because I do not technically live in Colorado Springs. The section of town I live in has its own water and sewer company established in1956. Colorado Springs has since annexed most of the city to the north, east, and west of my area, but our little section has apparently resisted. I have lived here almost 13 years and annexation has never come up at any time. Colorado Springs Utilities does provide my electricity and gas, so we get the best of both worlds as far as I am concerned.
The contentious ballot question basically asks, should Pueblo create their own municipally owned utility company or stick with the for-profit company. Living in a municipally owned utility company area, I would advise someone to make that choice, however it is complicated. I consider myself to be politically conservative and socially liberal, yet I also strongly believe in government services/programs that benefit the greater good. I support paying taxes for roads, schools, and recreation areas, and I think there is a point where the open market is not the best choice for our citizens and government should step in.
Every week at least four trash companies drive big trucks through my neighborhood damaging my streets. I have not researched it so I could very well be completely wrong, but I feel it would be better for the streets and environment if the city were divided into areas and only one company serviced an area each week. We could vote every four years for the company instead of creating a bidding process to make it more “open market” if necessary. Trash removal does not need to be a government entity, but it might be nice to have it government regulated.
My piece of advice to you is to go with your gut. No matter what the citizens of Pueblo decide, there will be good parts and bad parts, and nobody will be entirely happy. Personally, I am going to be happy on May 5th when the ads finally stop running and I do not have to deal with the repercussions of the decision.
Until next time,
Susanne
Please check out my GoFundMe page.