Author: Sean Paige
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TABOR is a beautiful law and a definite game changer
The question routinely asked in Colorado Springs is whether it’s time to do away with our city’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, which, by the way, predates the state version. Some critics call it redundancy. But my belief is that the city’s version, while imperfect, continues to serve the taxpayers well. It’s more needed now than…
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It’s an issue of freedom, states’ rights
I support allowing retail sales of marijuana in Colorado Springs for many of the same reasons I supported allowing medical marijuana dispensaries when I was on City Council. It’s always been an issue of freedom for me, and of states’ rights. Prohibition obviously has been a disaster. And we so rarely see an expansion of…
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GUEST COLUMN: Council that can’t make the tough calls doesn’t need a raise
Some on city council are sad because they don’t make the big bucks. That’s why there’s an outrageous, 600 percent city council pay hike on the ballot right now. But you sometimes have to wonder whether councilors are earning the pay they make now, given their refusal to make the tough but correct calls that…
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PAIGE: City Council should schedule meetings at night
I have a one word rebuttal to those who believe higher City Council pay will result in a better quality of leadership: Congress. Congress isn’t any less a circus because each of the clowns now makes $174,000 per year (plus a benefits and pension package fit for a king). There is no correlation between performance…
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GUEST OPINION: Memorial task force process not transparent or professional
After months of looking on patiently while the Memorial Health System Task Force made a mess of the bidding process for potential leases, Americans for Prosperity decided a few weeks back to step off the sideline and into the fray, with a radio and grass roots letter campaign aimed at calling the task force to…
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LETTERS: Sad county ballot conundrum; Water the trees; and EDC oversight
Sad county ballot conundrum While I personally support the proposal to have El Paso County Commissioners put the 0.15 percent sales tax for parks maintenance on the November ballot, voters need to know that their probable refusal to do so is simply a straw man for an entirely different issue. Last November the commissioners put…
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GUEST COLUMN: Why I’ll vote ‘no’ on rushing Memorial vote
A lot of time and effort has been put into a proposed ballot measure City Council will consider next week, which would spin off Memorial Health System as an independent nonprofit. But it’s not been enough time or effort to allay my doubts about what’s being proposed, which is why I’ll be voting “no.” I…
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GUEST COLUMN: City has right to an independent oversight of public funds
Sorry, Gazette, but I won’t “let it go.” And I’m surprised that you would ask me to, given this editorial page’s long support for limited, transparent, accountable government. I’m referring to the Sept. 4 editorial asking me to drop my request for a city audit of the Economic Development Corporation, a private organization that has…
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Columnist: Ethics watchdogs go from snarling to snoozing
The ethics inquiry into past business dealings of Mayor Lionel Rivera has plodded along in virtual silence and secrecy, even as city insiders (including the mayor), secretly negotiated how much more money it might cost the rest of us to salvage the USOC deal. There has been no hurry on the one hand, and too…
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City doesn’t need jobs ‘slush fund’
I agree with Jerry Biggs’ recent column, “JOBS referendum would give city means to promote job growth,” on one point: “Colorado Springs is at a crossroads.” Where we differ is on which path the city should take to achieve long-term economic health. He and other supporters of measure 1A want to take shortcuts, by putting…