Author: Pam Zubeck
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Colorado Springs will cut 90 jobs in 2009
The gloomy economy darkened Colorado Springs’ City Hall today, when officials began notifying dozens of city employees they’ll lose their jobs next year. The 2009 budget assumes the elimination of 90 jobs. Of those, 28 were announced in early September. Another 62 will be sliced in January, 50 of which are filled. It’s the biggest…
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Bruce loses round 2 on ballot mailings
A District Court judge on Thursday rejected Douglas Bruce’s bid to force the city of Colorado Springs to mail to voters statements he provided in favor of his two Nov. 4 ballot initiatives that could eliminate the Stormwater Enterprise. Fourth Judicial District Judge Thomas Kane upheld City Clerk Kathryn Young’s decision that pro and con…
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THE SPYGLASS: City gumshoes hot on the trail of businesses not paying tax
With cash short and every penny a gem, the city of Colorado Springs is checking the sofa cushions and tracking people down who owe money. So this week the city decided to hire four new employees. For good reason. In the corporate world, they’d be called “producers,” workers who generate new sales, i.e., income. These…
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City hits the wall on police barrier
The Colorado Springs Police Department’s plans to protect its headquarters south of downtown from terrorist attacks by surrounding it with a stone and metal barricade have hit a wall. The city said Wednesday that no contractor has submitted a bid to build the $175,000 wall around the Police Operations Center at Rio Grande Street and…
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City sent notices in past, Bruce says
Colorado Springs’ refusal this week to mail out state Rep. Douglas Bruce’s arguments supporting his ballot proposals that take aim at the city’s Stormwater Enterprise is an about-face from the city’s past policy on sending out statements supporting and opposing ballot measures, Bruce said Wednesday. Since 1991 when the notices first were required, the city…
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Hurdle cleared for SDS’s north route
Colorado Springs Utilities got the green light from the City Council on Tuesday to start making deals for the Southern Delivery System’s north route in El Paso County. Of the roughly 80 tracts, at least 10 are owned by Banning Lewis Ranch LLC. The 23,000-acre Banning Lewis Ranch, which has just recently started to be…
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City won’t publish Bruce statements on ballot measures
The Colorado Springs city clerk has refused to publish statements favoring two measures on the November 4 ballot, claiming they aren’t covered by state law requiring that the arguments for and against a proposal be mailed to voters ahead of elections. Douglas Bruce, who wrote and gathered signatures to place two questions on the ballot…
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Monthly utility bills up by 72% in 10 years, Utilities forecasts
Monthly residential utility bills will increase by 72 percent in the next 10 years, according to the latest long-range forecasting conducted by Colorado Springs Utilities.The forecast, which includes all four services — water, wastewater, gas and power — also predicts the typical commercial bill will go up by 57 percent. An industrial bill will grow…
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POLITIGAB: Deadline for mail-in ballot applications drawing close
El Paso County voters are mad for mail-in ballots. As of Friday, 101,044 people had requested a mail ballot for the Nov. 4 election. That’s a 56 percent increase from 2004, when 64,934 people requested them. Mail ballot requests this year are even higher than in 2001, when the county held an election using only…
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Military plans to review security risks at Peterson
In an about-face from three months ago, the military has agreed to review security threats to NORAD after a government oversight agency found vulnerabilities hadn’t been fully assessed before the U.S. and Canadian air, space and maritime warning command was moved from Cheyenne Mountain to Peterson Air Force Base. The change in the military’s stance…