Treating enforcement as optional

Colorado Springs does not have a shortage of noise laws. It has a shortage of follow-through.

Excessive vehicle noise is already prohibited under both Colorado state law and Colorado Springs municipal code. State law requires adequate mufflers and prohibits exhaust modifications that make vehicles louder than the original muffler. City code also prohibits excessive or unusually loud noise from stopped, parked, or moving vehicles.

So this is not a matter of taste. It is not about hating motorcycles, fun, engines, or whatever heroic personal journey requires revving through downtown like a leaf blower with abandonment issues. It is about a city passing rules and then treating enforcement as optional.

Anyone who spends time downtown knows the problem. Excessively loud motorcycles and modified exhaust vehicles are not rare exceptions. They are frequent, predictable, and directly observable.

Downtown should be lively. It should have music, patios, foot traffic, conversation, and people spending money at local businesses. But sitting on a patio downtown should not feel like trying to eat dinner from the infield at the Indy 500.

Small businesses are expected to follow every rule placed in front of us. We pay taxes, collect sales tax, comply with inspections, navigate permitting, and absorb rising costs. The city should be expected to do something radical in return: enforce the laws it already passed.

This is not difficult. It does not require a task force, consultant, six-month study, or another public meeting where concerns go to die under fluorescent lighting. It requires targeted enforcement in known problem areas at known problem times. Place an officer where the violations occur and let sound do what sound does.

If Colorado Springs can write the ordinance, it can enforce the ordinance. If the city will not enforce its own laws, then residents deserve honesty, not excuses. A law that exists only on paper is not a public safety measure. It is a municipal theater with worse lighting.

Thanks,

Sam Lang

Colorado Springs

More details on equality

It is always a pleasure to read and think about Willie Breazell’s letters in the Gazette. Often I agree; often I don’t.

With respect to his May 26 letter, I must suggest that you give a little more thought to your conclusions.

First, while Alexander Hamilton was a brilliant man who played an important part in the founding of our country and in its government under the new and unique Constitution, his beliefs concerning slavery were naturally those of a man from the North, where slavery was illegal and socially opposed. In addition, he may have agreed that “all men are created equal”, a phrase originating in the writings of the political thinkers from whom most of the Founders drew inspiration, and referenced in the Declaration of Independence, a document written largely by Thomas Jefferson, and signed by 56 members of Congress in 1776.

But Hamilton was not a Democrat, but rather a Monarchist, who wanted our new government to be such, after the Articles of Confederation was found wanting. He would have been unlikely to believe that “all men are created equal”, even if speaking of White men.

Secondly, and of greater importance, many of the other Founders opposed slavery on moral grounds, including not only Northerners such as the two Adams, John and Samuel, who both opposed slavery, but also Abolitionists. The three most prominent Southern Founders, Jefferson, Madison and Washington, also opposed slavery, even though they held slaves. Jefferson even entered a bill before the Virginia House of Burgesses to greatly ease the legal process for emancipation. It failed to pass, which speaks to the legal, social and practical problems surrounding the elimination of slavery in the new Republic, which were thoroughly debated in the Constitutional Convention. Those conditions in the South of 1788 were such that only the compromises made by the Founders could have allowed for the actual formation of a Republic of thirteen such diverse former colonies.

This in no way excuses slavery as an institution, but there was at that time no practical alternative. It took, as you know, at least 620,000 deaths, maybe 750,000, mostly from the South, to achieve a result which law, good intentions and intense negotiation could not.

Marshall McLuhan warned us:

“The medium is the message.”

He just didn’t warn us the message would eventually be “u ok bro lol.”

Kirk Messinger

Colorado Springs

The importance of the SAVE Act

   Obtaining a voter ID is not impossible or overly difficult for eligible American citizens.  In fact, many forms of identification and citizenship documents can already be used to verify voter eligibility.

  Acceptable documents may include:

**  A valid U.S. passport

**  A REAL ID–compliant identification that specifically confirms U.S.  citizenship

**  A government-issued photo ID  showing a U.S. birthplace

**  A military ID together with military service records showing a U.S.   

     birthplace

**  A regular government-issued photo ID combined with supporting    

     citizenship documents, such as:

..   A certified U.S. birth certificate

..   A naturalization certificate

..   A certificate of citizenship

..   A Consular Report of Birth Abroad

..  Certain tribal documents

      The SAVE Act may also help many voters identify potential documentation problems before Election Day. 

     This is especially important for some married women whose birth certificates contain different last names, elderly citizens who may not have certified birth records readily available, and Americans who do not currently possess passports.

      Before these issues are discovered too late, voters now have the opportunity to correct registration problems in advance and ensure their votes are properly counted and officially recognized. 

This can help prevent confusion, rejected registrations, unnecessary delay, wasted time and resources.

     If you discover that your documents or voter registration information do not match, simply contact or visit your local Board of Elections and request assistance with updating your voter registration records.

     In addition, many major U.S. post offices provide passport application services to help citizens obtain additional identification documents when needed.

     Every eligible American citizen deserves both secure elections and a fair opportunity to participate in the democratic process through proper preparation and accurate voter registration.

Josephine Snow Lynn

Colorado Springs