Drake continues to drain economy

Yet another plague has surfaced on the Martin Drake Power Plant that will cause more millions to be drained from our pockets.

On March 30, The Gazette informed the citizens of Colorado Springs that WildEarth Guardians has filed an intent to sue Colorado Springs Utilities, due to opacity monitoring violations at the Martin Drake coal plant. Opacity levels show whether harmful particulates are present and, by their records, Utilities has violated their monitoring requirements from the Clean Air Act at least 3,155 times over the past five years, making us liable for at least $118 million in civil penalties.

What we haven’t heard yet is how Utilities plans to deal with this situation.

Here are some questions for them when they finally get around to letting us know:

Why was this negligence permitted? Who is responsible for ignoring it for so long?

How does Utilities justify simply turning its back on our clean air laws?

When will they admit that dumping hundreds of millions of more money into making this very old, polluting and unsafe plant is a bad use of the community’s money, especially when cheaper, cleaner energy alternatives are now available?

Monitoring Drake’s air pollution is critical to ensuring the health of the citizens, and these lapses in monitoring are a disturbing sign that there may be something to hide, and that we are breathing polluted air.

More than ever before, it is time for Utilities to come clean and stop pumping endless amounts of money into this plant that has long outlived its welcome.

Nicole Rosa

Colorado Springs

Poor customer service everywhere

I have noticed recently that some businesses are really lacking in the service department. Sometimes I stop at Sonic Drive-In for something to drink before I go to work. They have happy hour from 2-4 (and no it’s not that kind of drink). The last two times I have received free product because these people were slacking in the delivery department.

I guess I shouldn’t complain, at least I’m getting free stuff – but it makes me wonder how many other people are getting free stuff because they’re not doing their jobs inside?

Then there’s Walgreens and Walmart’s photo departments. I ordered photo magnets from Walgreens, and the magnets didn’t even stick to the refrigerator. Photo cards from Walmart were unevenly cropped with part of the photo bleeding onto the back side. I’m like, really?

Another experience with Gazette’s Deal of the Day where the woman ignores my voicemails when I’m trying to set up an appointment. So, I go there personally to make sure the place really exists and say, “Well, I’m here now so I’d like to make an appointment” and she tells me to go to her website. Really? So, reluctantly she books an appointment for the following Tuesday and guess what?! She’s a no-show.

The business that I am impressed with is King Soopers. They have online surveys where you can earn extra gas points and if you sign up with their website you get free Friday downloads in your email. And just because I am a loyal customer they have given me free groceries. Now that keeps me coming back.

Jody Davis

Colorado Springs

Mire, muck of social engineering

Is there no end to what the president can do at whim? How can one man just say he will withhold federal funds from schools that do not open their women’s or men’s bathrooms to anyone who feels they struggle with gender identity? The solution would be so simple, just provide a neutral bathroom they could use instead of making the majority of students to have to be confronted with their personal sexuality issues.

Schools are the mire and muck of social engineering, not the halls of education they should be. This is not where the debate should occur. What say do we the taxpayers have? This is taxation without representation. We can not withhold paying our taxes! No wonder people are angry. Decisions are forced on us and this is the epitome of insanity.

Wendy Smith

Colorado Springs

Getting tangled in politics

I was disappointed to learn that the bill to make the hospital provider fee an enterprise was killed last week on a 3-2 vote along party lines. The change the bill was supporting seemed to offer tremendous benefits to the state, mainly in the form of future funding for transportation infrastructure and education – and it didn’t involve taxes. Seemed like a win-win scenario to me.

Why does it seem so hard for elected officials to step up and look at opportunities to help make Colorado a great state without getting tangled in politics and never pushing ahead?

The influx of new residents has been taking a toll on transportation, increased traffic and adding more students to our schools. Do any of our elected officials look at these bills with a long-term lens? Do they listen to what their constituents want? Everyone I talked to thought this was a good idea. It is my understanding that most of the legislators were flooded with communications in favor of this bill. Hopefully, those same people who communicated their support for this bill will remember in November who killed it.

It is my understanding that there are thousands of good jobs not filled in Colorado because there are not qualified candidates. Making higher education more affordable would certainly go a long way toward filling those jobs.

Also companies thinking of relocating to our state can take one look at our transportation infrastructure and realize it is a state that does not care. This bill could have helped alleviate both of these problems.

We have a booming population, which likely will continue to grow, and we have no way to pay for our roads, bridges, increased enrollment at K-12 and an investment to keep higher education affordable. Here was a way to pay for these necessities without raising taxes. What were our legislators thinking?

Jane Dillon

Colorado Springs