I am writing in response to the opinion piece published on February 2 where former mayors Ken Jaray and John Graham try to justify the City of Manitou Springs’ demand for property and money managed by the Manitou Springs Metropolitan Parking District (MSMPD).  I have specialized information about the subject because I am a business owner and a board member of the MSMPD.  However, I am not writing as a member of the board.  I am writing on my own behalf.

Jaray and Graham both want a unified vision for parking in downtown Manitou Springs.  So do I.  I want the City to stop charging $96.00 per day to park like they have charged in the past.  That is much too expensive of a price to pay to park and shop, eat and enjoy the creek or mineral springs. The MSMPD has two parking lots and our rate is $3 per hour or $20 for all day.  That is approximately one-third of what the City charges. 

The former mayors want to end the confusion caused by two parking systems that operate at different rates and schedules.  They want one payment system and one set of rules. 

The facts indicate that the City is the source of the confusion.  The City changes the parking rates twice every week.  They have weekend rates and then they have weekday rates.  If you park on Wednesday do not expect to pay the same rate on Saturday.  They also change the rates for the higher season and the lower season.  The price you pay to park for the first hour is not the price that you pay for hour 4 or hour 7.  The rates change every few hours if you remain parked for over 3 hours.  The City also changes its Parking Directors on a regular basis.  In 2025 the City had three different Parking Directors.  The people are well paid but two of them quit and we had a third one come on.

The former mayors wrote that they wanted to address the “stealing” claim.  They say the MSMPD holds assets in trust for the public and that by law when the MSMPD dissolves, those assets transfer to the City to ensure they stay in public hands.  This could be possibly true under different circumstances.  But it is not true here. 

The law the City used to prosecute the MSMPD in District Court was created to solve the problem of when a special district fails.  The MSMPD is not failing.  For instance, if the Business Improvement District (BID) in Manitou Springs doesn’t have enough resources to continue, i.e., if they were failing, then they could go to the City and ask them to take over the Business Improvement District responsibilities.  They could also ask another special district rather than the City to take over.  The law is clearly written that the district in question is failing and they can ask for the other entity to take over.  The MSMPD is not failing.  It is thriving.  And at no cost to the general population of the City. And only a minor cost to the properties located within the MSMPD boundaries.  Misusing the law to take $8 million in real estate and $800,000.00 in cash is clearly stealing.

Let’s talk about Ken Jaray.  Ken was mayor for one term.  He made the worst deal of all time for Manitou Springs when he forced through a tax refund deal benefiting the Cog Railway.  A maximum possible refund back to the railroad of $50 million over 50 years.  So far this has been more closely half a million per year.  This was unfair to the entire City and for anyone who joins the City for the next 45 years. 

Even though Ken made a bad deal the City should have honored that.  But Mayor Graham and City Council decided to break the deal and have withheld the refunds to the Cog Railway causing the railroad to file suit in court.  This all costs money to defend the City and the money being spent is taxpayer money.

If you can vote please vote NO on 5A.  And if possible come meet us at the NO on 5A forum held at the Manitou Springs Library on February 15 at 5 pm.

Mike Graham owns and operates Ruxton’s Trading Post in Manitou Springs, a renowned dealer in Western memorabilia and antiques.