The electronic monoliths

Thank you, El Paso County Commissioners, Carrie Geitner, Cory Applegate and Lauren Nelson for voting to approve not one, but two electronic billboards on west Highway 24.

Your decision will greatly improve the driving experience through scenic Ute Pass. Who needs to see tree-covered, mountain hillsides when you can see brightly lit advertising instead?

A shout-out also to Lamar Advertising for being such a good neighbor. I’m confident the affected businesses and homeowners will appreciate the LED colors in their windows 24/7.

The billboard will change advertisers every eight seconds, enhancing the experience. While driving at highway speeds, I look forward to viewing the constantly changing billboard, versus the winding road in front of me. What could go wrong?

During the meeting, Commissioner Geitner, the most vocal proponent of this project, said the following words to an opposing Manitou Springs resident: “Manitou allows the sale of marijuana, correct?” she asked. “We don’t here in El Paso County, [safety is] probably one of the strongest reasons. I’m interested in your reasoning then on why the city [of Manitou Springs] would allow such a dangerous thing.”

Apparently, by allowing the billboard on the edge of Manitou Springs, Manitou is being punished for selling pot. Side note: El Paso County, the self-proclaimed bastion of safety, allows the sale of fireworks and recreational pot.

According to the county’s website, Commissioner Geitner “believes our collective responsibility is to build our community to fulfill the needs of one another”. Congratulations, Commissioner Geitner. An electronic billboard, that literally will be despised by 99% of the population will most certainly build community.

So, Commissioners Geitner, Applegate and Nelson, the next time you are returning to Colorado Springs via highway 24 and you see the electronic monolith from a mile away, each of you can proudly say to yourselves, “I did this … I am responsible”. Drive safe.

Mike Casey

Manitou Springs

The only fair solution

When I purchased my solar system in 2008, I signed a ‘contract’ with CSU that allowed me to generate as much solar energy as I could. CSU did this to encourage people to add solar to their homes.

Any excess energy I generated would be ‘put’ on the grid for me to utilize whenever the solar system wasn’t generating power.

Now, CSU wants to ‘change’ our contract.

They say solar customers are putting a ‘strain’ on the grid in the late afternoon hours.

What about the relief all the solar systems are putting on the grid, on those extremely hot days in the summer? When every home and business is using the highest amount of electricity to cool their establishments, the solar systems are working at the most efficient time period. So, during that time period the ‘dreaded’ solar systems are actually reducing the strain! I can run my AC and my meter still is running backwards. Instead of taking advantage of this situation, CSU is selectively pulling out data points that only support their position.

Also, the utility discourages their biggest users to not add solar systems. For example, a company that is the fifth largest user of electricity considered installing solar to offset its usage. But if they had done so, because they no longer would have been fifth largest user, their rate would have gone up!

So any existing solar customers should consider joining together in a class action suit to ‘grandfather’ their systems to the original agreement.

Any new customers would be under the new policy. That is the only fair solution.

Mark Stahl

Colorado Springs

Step Springs program is promising

Sunday’s editorial was certainly a breath of fresh air for the Springs. The “Step Springs” program sounds as if some, if not many, of our homeless population might be helped to become reformed and productive citizens again.

For many years I was on the board of directors of a 50-year-old homeless veterans program based in Philadelphia called the Veterans Multi-Service Center. Its success rate is almost exactly as wonderful as the “Step Denver” program. If the “Step Springs” program can duplicate “Step Denver,” we will all be better off. I await with bated breath.

John Wear

Black Forest

Right to speak our minds

It is an absolute irony that late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel has been silenced by ABC for exercising his free speech rights protected by the United States Constitution, in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination. If Charlie Kirk stood for one very positive contribution to American political discourse, it was his stated belief, over and over again, in the right to free and robust political debate and expression.

On air, Kimmel expressed his opinion, among other things, about how the Trump administration could be using Kirk’s death to advance its political agenda. Kimmel’s speech and opinion is explicitly protected under our Constitution.

Let’s respect Kirk’s life and untimely death by continuing to uphold the precious First Amendment to the Constitution and not allow any entity, whether the U.S. President, or the FCC Chair, or corporate interests, to suppress or infringe on what all Americans hold dear — our right to disagree, peacefully, and to express these disagreements in speech, writing, and peaceful assembly.

ABC should judiciously reinstate the airing of Jimmy Kimmel Live! immediately. In America, we need and honor differing voices.

Robin Izer

Colorado Springs

Say what you think

Whatever happened to freedom of speech? People are afraid to speak their minds. thinking what happened to Jimmy Kimmel might happen to them. Kimmel’s late night talk show was taken off the air by ABC after Jimmy’s comedy routine about Charlie Kirk’s suspected killer. The show was pulled amid pressure from FCC Chair Brendan Carr and ABC affiliates.

Freedom of speech is guaranteed under the Constitution’s First Amendment. It gives me the right to call Donald Trump an egomaniacal, bigoted ignoramus, and for anyone to call me anything they wish. While speech has its limits, such as slander, the right to say what you want can’t be prevented by any person or government authority.

In the interests of political correctness and not wanting to hurt peoples’ feelings, we have become afraid to say what we really think. We’re scared that we might get fired or become unpopular if we say the wrong thing, so we use words that hide our true feelings, or say nothing at all.

Come on, everybody, say what you really mean. That Colorado Springs is a right-wing militaristic town. That the USA is a murdering, money-obsessed nation. That this writer is a cynical, persnickety bore.

David J. Baker

Colorado Springs