I just got off the horn with a South DaCola foot soldier, and I had a revealing conversation with her.
FIRST, the City Survey. She told me she received the survey, (images soon) but what I found surprising and wasteful was that the survey company sent a postcard to her a week ago alerting her she would be receiving the survey, then she received the survey today. What’s the point? The postcard and survey couldn’t fit into the same envelope? That, and the results are sent to New Jersey, not Colorado (the supposed location of the company that does the survey).
While we are at it, let’s talk about this survey. Remember, it only goes to aproximately 3,000 people, but the city found it necessary to do a commercial alerting the public about the survey. So you would assume this commercial would be on public radio and on CityLink 16 TV. Nope. Cable television. In fact I have seen the commercial twice on MSNBC during primetime political shows. Last week at the informational meeting, councilor Staggers brought up the conflict of interest council chair Costello has by being in the commercial, since he is running for mayor (essentially a taxpayer funded mayoral endorsement). But kiddies, it gets better. While half of the councilors think it is ‘much to do about nothing’, Beninga’s comment, and Knudson said, she ‘just shakes her head’. The other half oppose the commercial. (Anderson, Jamison, Brown and Staggers did not defend the commercial). I remained on the fence about the commercial until I saw it last night. It features Costello and Munson in separate frame shots talking about the survey (in slick suits and silk ties) The commercial ends with Costello saying this (verbatim) “And thank you for allowing us to lead this great city.” If that isn’t a freebee mayoral commercial, I don’t know what is. While I think it is okay for the mayor to be talking about the city survey, I can’t understand why the whole council was not included in the commericial? Trust me, this was no freaking accident. That, and Pat Costello plays stupid when asked about it. I may disagree with Pat on several issues, but their is one thing I know about him, he isn’t stupid. He knew exactly what he was doing.
SECOND, Junk Cleanup. As the Gargoyle Leader reported a few weeks ago (image above) some residents in the city had to have their garbage cleaned up. While I agree the city was in the right to cleanup this rat hole, I am in disagreement with them about who has to pay for the mess; you and me. See, the way code enforcement is setup, the city has no legal right to take someone to court over owing them money for cleanup, and vice versa, the defendant can’t defend themselves in court, which of course leaves us holding the f’ing bag. But this is where the story gets more interesting. The same foot soldier who told me about the survey, also told me that she lives near the pack-rats, and said the yard is in the exact same shape it was before the city cleaned it up a year ago (pictures coming soon). So while the city brags about the job they did, they really have accomplished nothing, except forcing the taxpayers to continue to clean up this shit. It is time the city’s code enforcement laws have changed. If someone wants to be a junk collector, fine, tell a judge about your used mattress storage in your backyard or face the consequences.