Some say gold prices have shot up so much recently , they are due for a fall. Others say the gold price will continue to surge. As of Tuesday it was $1,118 an ounce. Lately it has not been unusual for the price of gold to rise or fall $20 an ounce in a day, so gold investors need to have strong stomachs.
Colorado treasurers always get to brag that their investments made money for the state. One reason for that is we don't allow them to take chances. They are limited to modest gains.
Circulating petitions for ballot initiatives is increasingly popular, and as the practice grows, so have concerns about how signatures are gathered. Several states, including Colorado, have passed laws aimed at stopping fraudulent practices. One way states have tried to protect the process is by establishing residency requirements, but some of these laws have been ruled unconstitutional because they are too stringent. The Colorado General Assembly passed such a law in 2008, but it was vetoed by Gov. Bill Ritter, who felt it would be found unconstitutional.
Disallowing paid petition circulators has been found unconstitutional under the First Amendment. That's a good thing -- we shouldn't hinder citizens' access to the ballot. Doug Bruce was well within his rights when he hired petition circulators. But a complaint has been filed with the state in this case and it seems sure we haven't heard the last of it.
In trying to justify blocking the Ring-the-Peak Trail, Springs Utilities is trying to cast itself as an environmental champion, the staunch defender of bighorn sheep lambing grounds, high-altitude wetlands and alpine tundra. Given the utility's long record, this is pretty amusing.
For a look at the utility's record concerning high-altitude wetlands, check out the sorts of arguments it was making when it wanted to build the Homestake II water project. It never got built, but it would have drained water from -- you guessed it -- alpine wetlands. The city was being opposed by wilderness advocates who didn't want the wetlands ruined. What a difference 20 years makes, eh? Now Colorado springs is the defender of alpine wetlands.
The city's concern for alpine tundra and wetlands was brought into focus some more when it was forced to settle a Sierra Club lawsuit filed to stop the city from degrading Pikes Peak through its mismanagement of the Pikes Peak Highway.
Of course, those of us who get out a bit know that temporary trail closures to protect wildlife are routine. In Rocky Mountain National Park the National Park Service closes trails during bighorn lambing season and protects other species with trail closures as well. A trail is closed in Mueller State Park to protect a bighorn lambing area, and that place is not far away at all from the south slope of Pikes Peak. There isn't any doubt that hiking trails can be built and used responsibly in high-alttitude terrain as well as in bighorn sheep lambing areas -- it is done all the time in Colorado.
Recall elections are popular with some people, and there's no doubt they are more popular now than they used to be. Direct government through the ballot box has been the rage in states such as Colorado and California in recent decades. But to me, it seems the more we use the direct government through voting method, the less happy we've become. There are more and more contentious issues every election year, including recall elections, which tend to be the most polarizing kinds of elections you can have.
How much impact recalls have, especially when you are talking about non-paid of low-paid positions such as schools boards and city councils, also is debatable. Few of the people who hold those offices go on to any high political office. Most do the job out of a sense of community service, so they're going to be harder to influence by threatening them with recall. In the recent case of the attempted recall of Mayor Lionel Rivera and Vice Mayor Larry Small, it is fair to say neither man took the recall effort seriously, and neither did anyone else.
Aside from the sound and fury of a single news conference, the recall effort led by Patrick Ayers came to nothing. It certainly didn't threaten the officeholders, nor did it cause them to take action of any kind.
We keep throwing a lot of furniture into the Colorado Constitution, and it's becoming a crowded house. We approved a cigarette tax in the constitution, although sales taxes for everything else or simply part of state statutes. Of course, because of the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights, we cannot increase any tax without an election, and that's a popular provision in state law that has forced officials at every level of government to justify tax increases to voters.
But consider: If we wanted to DECREASE the cigarette tax, we couldn't do it without a constitutional amendment. That's stupid.
Since 1992, incidents involving black bears have increased in Colorado. This is partly due to the fact that in 1992, voters approved a constitutional amendment that outlawed the spring bear hunt. Such regulations don't belong in the constitution. We have wildlife biologists who are much more qualified than the average citizen to determine whether more hunting permits should be issued to help control the bear population. The spring hunt was only one such tool, but whether or not it was the right one to use should not be regulated in the state constitution.
The current raging debate is over medicinal marijuana -- another dubious addition to the constitution. I think medicinal pot should be allowed, but putting it in the constitution means that almost any bill the Legislature approves this year concerning medicinal pot will be open to more judicial review that it would have otherwise. Again, it is the only medication regulated by our state constitution.
The Donala Water and Sanitation District has other water supply plans beyond what I wrote about today, and the construction of Colorado springs' Southern Delivery System could play a role. Donala is eyeing water-leasing arrangments with ditch companies on the lower Arkansas River. Theoretically, Donala could sign contracts and buy water from farmers who would agree to allow their land to remain fallow. Instead of flowing to the farmers' ditches, the water would be stored in Pueblo Reservoir. Then, for a price, Donala could have the water moved through the SDS pipeline, 43 miles northward.
There are potential pitfalls with this strategy, as Donala is well aware. For one thing, leasing by definition means temporary use of the resource. A large municipal user which has a way to move water away from the Arkansas River (Colorado Springs and Aurora, for example) theoretically could out-bid Donala, or even put up the money to buy permanent rights to water Donala is leasing. Thus, becoming too dependent on leased water is risky. Eventually, and this still could be quite a ways into the future, a feverish bidding war could ensue on the lower Arkansas. Bringing more West Slope water to the Front Range is starting to look like a political impossibility. Building a lengthy pipe
line from the Green River in Wyoming to metro Denver is another idea, but that water would be very expensive.The idea is in its infancy, also, which means many people do not yet take it seriously. If it reaches the point that it is taken seriously, the political pressure against it will become more apparent. People should remember that most of the major projects proposed in the last 30 years never got built. Colorado Springs' Homestake II, Denver's Two Forks Dam, and the so-called Union Park project, which would take water from the Taylor River drainage west of Buena Vista.
By being aggressive about obtaining surface water supplies, Donala is doing the smart thing. It is well ahead of many other groundwater-dependent water districts. Historically speaking, it is late in the game, but not as late as it is going to be when dramatic depletions of the Denver Basin aquifer occur.
Right now the state is grappling with a huge budget problem and is looking for ways to trim costs in the Department of Corrections. Gov. Bill Ritter announced his plan in August to save $19 million by releasing some inmates early. This was met with a lot of criticism and by mid-December DOC had released more than 200 inmates, but saved only about $5 million in doing so.
Neva Nolan, former owner of Nolan Funeral Home in Colorado Springs, did some bad things, all right. Despicable things. She hurt people and took their money. They can never made made whole. She'll likely get out of prison Nov. 10, 2010, but that's bound to be too soon for some of her victims. The trouble for the rest of us, and the trouble for the state budget, is that we don't have an emotional attachment to Nolan's crimes and we have little to gain from keeping her in prsion. It will cost us thousands of dollars and when she gets out, whether it is tomorrow or 10 months from now, none of us will be any less safe. It costs about $20,000 a year to keep an inmate in prison in Colorado.
A few years ago, the stated goal of Homeward Pikes Peak was to end all homelessness in the city of Colorado Springs. In February 2009, it issued a blueprint for the next 10 years and admitted, "It is unrealistic to believe that homelessness can be eliminated."
For some who have seen the complexity and difficulty of the problem of homelessness, this may seem an obvious point. But sometimes, taking the trouble to express the obvious has some value. It was nice, but also pollyannish, for the agency ever to have as a goal the elimination of homelessness in the first place. You can't end homelessness any more than you can attain full employment. 
We've seen tremendous growth in the homeless camps along the creeks downtown this year. There are steps that can be taken to wipe out the camps, but there will still be homelessness and it is foolish not to see that. In Minneapolis there has been a concerted effort.
A group called the National Alliance to End Homelessness has been trying to roll the proverbial rock up the hill for years.
Near the end of January we should have a new head count for the homeless in the city. It won't be precise, there are bound to be a few who are not counted, but it will be a good barometer.
One trip to our homeless camps in Colorado Springs and you will be impressed with many things beyond the ugliness of the litter. The people are pretty friendly and generally, they tend to be generous with the little that they have. They are not the meanest people you will find in the city, not by a long shot.
Gov. Bill Ritter's surprise decision not to run for re-election was the latest in a long line of Colorado political bombshells. It was indeed surprising, but it does not rank at the top -- at least in my view.
Remember Gary Hart? He barely won a Senate race in Colorado in 1980, then began to have presidential aspirations. To at least stay in the presidential hunt, it was assumed Hart would run for re-election in 1986, but he announced he would not. If he had run for the Senate and lost, he could not have run for the presidency in 1988. His announcement that he would not seek re-election to his Senate seat was a huge surprise. Later on, of course, he created a national firestorm when it was revealed he had a dalliance with a much younger woman. This was the end for Hart, who announced his departure from politics with his wife dutifully at his side. The young woman's name wasw Donna rice and the little boat she and hart were photgraphed on was called, aptly enough, Monkey Business.
In 2004, then-Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell announced he would not seek re-election. This was somewhat surprising, but it was quickly followed by another bombshell when Colorado Gov. Bill Owens said he would not run for the vacant seat. Owens was quite popular at the time and it was presumed he would be a strong candidate. When he backed out, then-Attorney General Ken Salazar waded right in. Salazar was elected but did not complete his term because he was appointed as Interior secretary by President Barack Obama.
Former Sen. Hank Brown was elected to the U.S. Senate from Colorado in 1990, but announced he would not run for re-election in 1996. There was no scandal, he didn't have health problems. It was thought at the time he had a great chance to be re-elected. Brown didn't want to be in Washington any more and he meant it. Ulitmately he served as president of the University of Northern Colorado and the University of Colorado. He also ran the Daniels fund for a time.
Similarly, former Sen. Tim Wirth decided against running for a second term in 1992. Wirth's path to re-election might have been tougher than Brown's, but Wirth would have been a strong contender so his departure was a surprise.
A misconception some folks may have about selling the Memorial health care system is that it could bring bring big money right away to alleviate the city's budget woes.
"I think this is a multi-year discussion," said Councilman Sean Paige, who seems as supportive as anyone of the notion of seeling the hospital. The first step, he said, is to "have a citywide discussion" about the idea. That's going to have to include a number of players. Eventually, selling the hospital would mean a city election. It is doubtful that would happen this year. If it did occur, any ballot measure would have to be worded to allow the city to sell the hopsital system by a certain date -- perhaps as much as two more years into the future. That makes sense because if we forced the city to sell the hospital within, say, six months, we'd get taken to the cleaners.
Even if the city waited three years to sell the hospital, there has to be some chance the city could be out-negotiated by a hospital chain that knows the ropes.
The city's Sustainable Funding Committee made the follwoing recommendations in August:
Changes to the governance and ownership of MHS should be explored to accomplish at least the reduction of risk to the general fund. It is recommended that the Council initiate a process to examine the options in more detail toward an end of changing the ownership.
The process should go as quickly as possible with a deadline established in order to minimize disruption to current employees and to the market place.
Significant capital ($250 – 400,000,000) could be realized from an outright sale of the system, but there are many complicated health, community and other issues that need further study and community discussion.
You know, the really big money among the city's entejjrrpises is in utilities, which has $3 billion (that's right, the B word) in assets. But the Sustainable Funding Committee pretty much skimmed over that. It concluded that by the time bonded indebtedness was figured in, there would be no profit at all by selling Colorado Springs Utilities infrastructure. That's really hard to swallow, given that the city's electric company, for instance, has a m0nopoly. Memorial Hospital must compete with Penrose and most experts say Memorial has only a little more than half the market.
