Notified: A heroin plan finally in place. Kind of.
It was a week of meetings in Pueblo that took on the city’s biggest issues: substance abuse and jobs. The real talk? Only time will tell if the two meetings accomplished anything. This week we feature a new Haunted Windchimes video, a digital-esque photo of downtown and what we’re reading.
Trying to solve heroin in Pueblo
Heroin overdoses resulted in nine deaths in both 2014 and 2015. That has led to (what many call unfair) national media attention, informal community meetings and little headway in fighting the epidemic. Until now. Maybe. We’ll see in the fall.
Pueblo Triple Aim Corp. and other Pueblo organizations hosted its third forum and brainstorming session Tuesday night to set a plan. This is what they concluded as goals:
- Educating students on the dangers of heroin use
- Focusing away from punishing heroin users as criminals while seeking more resources for addiction treatment
- Increasing resources for family members of an addict
- Increasing availability in treatment programs
Eileen Dennis, a Pueblo Triple Aim Corp. member, said progress won’t be as fast as the community would like, but the time to start is now. The 80 or so people that participated in the meeting will regroup in September to see if they’re on the right track.
PULP reached out to Triple Aim Corp. to ask if there are any specific benchmarks or plans to accomplish the goals, but our calls weren’t returned.
So, where does local government fall into all of this?
Councilman Chris Nicoll told PULP he has been pushing for an investigative task force for heroin-related issues. While there isn’t any money from the city that can be used to fight the problem, Nicoll said organizations that receive city money could possibly play a role in fighting the epidemic.
When asked how the city prioritizes heroin (9 deaths last year) and homicides (13 deaths last year), Nicoll said he’s not entirely convinced the two aren’t related, and better-staffing the police force could make a dent in both statistics. Nicoll said he would be in favor of expanding the narcotics squad at Pueblo PD as the city reaches its goal of staffing 207+ officers.
The Pueblo City-County Health Department had staff present at the meeting, but the long-term issues the department is emphasizing are obesity and teen pregnancy. Why? That story is in this month’s PULP.
PEDCO wants 500 jobs and transparency
In an effort to better communicate with residents, the Pueblo Economic Development Corporation held a town hall at Risely Middle School Tuesday night. East side city council member Larry Atencio hosted the event, which had no agenda except for to take questions from attendees. In the event of about 25 people more than half were PEDCO board members, PEDCO staff or public officials.
PEDCO is trying to be ‘confidential, not secretive,’ said PEDCO CEO Jeff Shaw.
What does that even mean?
Shaw told PULP the group will disclose more information on how companies are vetted and more about the clusters PEDCO is trying to attract. Most notably, Shaw said he wants PEDCO to be up front about the jobs that are lost in Pueblo.
“Why can’t we talk about the companies we lose?” he said.
PEDCO set a target of 500 jobs for 2016. While it’s the first time PEDCO has set a public goal, the end of the year will be even more telling on the transparency front depending on what information is released on why the goal was or was not met.
The organization revealed its new vision for the first time at the meeting: “A Pueblo that provides opportunities for all.” But some attendees quetioned if that was really the case.
One East Side resident said there was no mobility in Pueblo and there needs to be a focus on improving education.
“You have a big salary? It must be nice,” he went on to tell PEDCO representatives answering questions. “I’m poorer than dirt and surviving."
Mic drop.
Pueblo in national news, again
What we’re reading
Spoiler: You’re probably not going to like this one either. This VICE News piece highlights Pueblo, its illegal marijuana grows west of the city and the connection to a growing black market in Florida.
We broke down the grow busts for you in last week’s Notified.
#instagood
Photographing Pueblo’s grid
Photographer Jeramiah Gonzales is capturing Pueblo in a light that kind of makes downtown look like a scene out of a video game. Gonzales took the photo from above Main Street. That’s Main and Second intersecting in the photo. He features other iconic parts of Pueblo on his Instagram along side Denver and some of his other travels. Followed.
Go. See. Do.
Hey, millennials, we are meeting up at our place tonight (120 S. Union Ave.) for the relaunch of Pueblo’s Young Professional group. There will be good networking and door prizes. And drinks. Find the event and details here.
ICYMI
The Haunted Windchimes expanding their sound
The Chime’s kept us guessing with #WhoIsCactusMan, well it looks like it’s the band’s own Mike Clark. Folk Radio UK premiered the music video last week. May 13 is the release date for the new album Rattle Your Bones. The band is playing a release show at the Sangre de Cristo Arts Center that night. Tickets on sale here.
PULP’s John Bueno interviewed the band recently, and he asked the question we’re all thinking… The Haunted Windchimes sound has shifted a little bit, yeah?
“We want to stretch the limits of the genres that we and our audiences have put us in. It isn’t that we have anything against those genres, it just feels really good to open up a bit.” — Desirae Garcia
