Notified: Let’s explain Pueblo City Council’s public safety tax counterproposal
Also, Colorado is not Wyoming, MJ money funds bus vouchers for the homeless and two food spots worth visiting.
Pueblo city and county leaders have been looking for a public safety fix. At least two agencies are hoping they have the answer this election season. Pueblo City Council is the latest to propose a ballot question that would allow the city to collect more sales tax for police… but they didn’t stop there. Council wants to fund other projects that wouldn’t otherwise receive money to the mix.
That plan and what it means for Pueblo this week in Notified. Read on for what marijuana is paying for in Pueblo County this week and why can’t anybody get Colorado right on the map.
Six things Pueblo will get with city council’s half-cent sales tax proposal
Monday night Pueblo City Manager Sam Azad revealed the plan city council directed he put together for a half-cent sales tax ballot question. But not all of the council members were exactly raving about the holistic plan.
Larry Attencio, the East Side’s council member, said the plan was a reactive approach and he’d like to see a proactive approach, such as parks. More specifically, the baseball field he has been lobbying for recently.
Here’s what Pueblo would get under the proposal:
A tax hike
Okay, maybe this is obvious. The proposal would mean a half-cent sales tax increase for the city of Pueblo. Anybody shopping within the city would pay a half-cent more. The estimated $7 million collected each year would be very specifically spent. Council members say this covers Pueblo’s three p’s: Police, parks and projects (but projects mostly means road improvement). The sales tax would only be in effect for five years. In 2021 the city could ask voters if they want to reauthorize the tax.
Azad said sales tax revenue has been rising in Pueblo for the last couple of years, but has built some contingency into this plan. So from a financial point of view, Azad believes the increased sales tax would be a solid plan for Pueblo.
Because of a reoccurring budget deficit, Steve Nawrocki, the council’s president, has said besides a tax increase there is no money for the three p’s.
More police officers, though member-at-large Lori Winner has her doubts
The city wanted the money to most importantly cover the stressed and understaffed Pueblo Police Department. If this ballot question passes in November and what Azad has proposed stays in tact, then Pueblo PD would see 15 new officers and three sergeants in 2017 (that’s to the tune of about $2.3 million).
In 2018, the city would spend $1.8 million on police staffing. And between $2 million and $3 million until 2021 when the tax sunsets.
Councilwoman Lori Winner questions whether this would actually help the police department that has a goal of being staffed at 217+ officers. It’s currently at 190. Of the 13 new recruitments this year four have resigned. Winner pointed out the force is expecting some retires, too.
Azad said this is what the the police department identified as their needs.
An 18-acre park in Eagleridge
There’s no park in this part of the city, the land isn’t being used and residents have been hinting a park would be nice in the area, Azad said.
Under this plan the park would be constructed in 2019 and run $8 million.
Probably a fight about whether to give the District Attorney’s office money
District Attorney Jeff Chostner made a half-cent sales tax proposal earlier this year as well. His plan really only included one ‘p’: The police, and he doesn’t think the money should go to other areas of city improvement. So when it was revealed this plan would provide the DA’s office with $1 million over the course of the five years, the majority of council said “not so fast.”
It is technically the role of the county to provide dollars to the DA’s office. But Nawrocki pointed out that this too was at the recommendation of the police department, as putting more criminals away would require more work for the DA’s office.
Council does not favor putting two measures on the ballot, but Chostner thinks it should be up to voters to decide who has a better plan, but he hasn’t started collecting signatures yet.
Better fire stations
Pueblo’s fire stations 1, 2, 3, 5 and 8 will receive a facelift under the proposal — that would take up around $1.6 million of the half-cent sales tax.
Fire station 6 on the East Side would be relocated and rebuilt in 2018, costing $1.8 million.
A better city aesthetic
Over the course of five years the city would spend more than $11 million on fixing roads, which would include resurfacing parts of Jerry Murphy Road, Greenwood Ave. and Main Street.
The plan also accounts for the demolition of blighted properties in 2017 and 2020. The budget allows for $400,000 worth of demolition between the two years. It’s unclear how many houses that would be at this point.
Pueblo’s homeless get a little help thanks to weed
Marijuana has helped pay for Pueblo parks, scholarships and it’s now boarding Pueblo’s homeless on Greyhound buses. Wedensday Pueblo County Commissioners approved a grant of $25,000 that would pay for greyhound bus tickets for some of Pueblo’s homeless population.
The grant, which comes as unexpected revenue from county marijuana ordinance enforcement fines, was made out to the Pueblo Area Law Enforcement Chaplain’s Corp, which will get the bus tickets at a discounted price. In 2015, Pueblo County recieved an additional $100,000 in revenue due to the county fines.
“Reverend Doug Cox and the Chaplain’s Corp. aren’t just putting people on a bus and sending them 300 miles away from here,” county commissioner Sal Pace said in a statement. “They are working with stranded individuals to help reunite them with family members that have the resources to support them and get them back on their feet.”
The money is a drop in the bucket compared to what is needed to aid the homeless in Pueblo, said Posada Executive Director Anne Stattelman. Posada provides housing and supportive resources to Pueblo’s homeless. You may recall Stattelman claiming Pueblo has seen an increase in homelessness due to the marijuana industry and Pueblo’s cheap cost of living. Hard statistics are hard to find that support that claim, but some Denver homeless shelters have been saying the same thing.
Stattelman also pointed out that the bus tickets aren’t a technique unique to Pueblo. She called it Greyhound therapy. Communities all over are doing it, and Stattelman said Posada has experienced instances where the homeless in Denver and Colorado Springs were given bus tickets to Pueblo.
Does anybody know where Colorado is?
You know, I don’t think so.
Last week ABC’s 20/20 featured the unresolved Kelsie Schelling case, but when they went to point out the dramatic geographic difference between two cases that were only connected by a scam the show got it wrong highlighting Wyoming instead.
20/20 didn’t uncover any major break throughs in Schelling’s disappearance. She was last seen in Pueblo. The show did report that the Colorado Bureau of Investigations will be taking over the investigation, which has become controversial in the community. Many have said the Pueblo Police Department dropped the ball on the case.
But wait, then’s there USA Today
States are allegedly paying the price for Colorado’s legal marijuana. Or, wait. Is it Wyoming? USA Today doesn’t know. The newspaper featured a story last week with a map showcasing all the states where Colorado marijuana is being exported to on the black market.
The newspaper has since fixed the graphic. And some are saying it was just a really bad joke. No evidence of that, though ‘marjijuana’ seems like it could be a joke.
The main takeaway here was that smugglers are going all out, guys. They’re even skydiving illegal mary-jane over other states.
Actually, let’s just let them all think Colorado is Wyoming. Neither of these stories were scores for our state.
#gopack
Two CSU-Pueblo football standouts to the NFL
Former Pack wide receiver Kieren Duncan signed a three-year contract with the Chicago Bears Sunday, making him the second CSU-Pueblo football player to earn a spot in the NFL this month.
Defensive lineman Morgan Fox signed with the Los Angeles Rams on May 4.
The two join two other Thunderwolves currently on NFL rosters: Ryan Jensen, a sixth round draft pick playing for the Baltimore Ravens, and Mike Pennel, on Green Bay’s roster.
Out of Range
Manitou’s Good Karma Coffee comes to Pueblo
5th Street’s shopping center is the new home for Pueblo newcomers Good Karma Coffee. The owners first set up shop in Manitou and have expanded right across from the Pueblo Justice Center.
The patio provides more dining space than the cafe, so warm days at Good Karma are extra good. There’s also a loft filled with antique couches and obscure coffee table books such as Parisian Interiors. Bonus: The shop is gearing up to get a liquor license.
Good Karma is open Mon-Fri from 7 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
I’ll have the special
Modern Market: Farm-to-Table Goodness
The farm-to-table culinary movement (in which a restaurant opts to procure locally and produce the food they use in-house) is an ever-expanding market. It has come a long way from its humble beginnings at the famed Chez Panisse Cafe in Berkeley, California, to the ubiquitous locales readily available for ‘localvores’ in every major metropolitan area in America. Slow food is in.
And Modern Market, based out of Boulder, Colorado (with locations spread throughout four states) understands this well.
This month in PULP John Bueno explores farm-to-table eats. The full story here:
