On the 15th of July, 2010 the Glenwood Springs City Council approved Ordinance #12, Series of 2010. Placing control over the largest public revenue base the citizens of the 81601 and 81602 zip codes have; back into the hands of the people.
smalltown7, privately thanked City Council after this unanimous vote.
We also expressed our thanks at the obvious upbeat feeling shown by council at this meeting. The energy and tone of knowing that a historic impact was being made by their vote, was noted. Unified with an underlying current of hope and excitement; council moved Glenwood Springs forward.
smalltown7 then made a conscious choice, to stand down and let a community torn apart and somewhat shell shocked after the past year; begin the healing process. That was a good choice.
Also a very wise one, as it turned out.
True to form, just as soon as one or two others, with tentative voices, began to speak up and encourage individuals to sit the new board; they were viciously attacked in public print media. Accused of everything from being false to conspiracy. And worse, they were not protected by this local publication.
smalltown7 defended those voices in public. In private, we have given them a safe haven to voice should they ever choose to do so again. http://www.sandboxcomments.blogspot.com/ is now another SafePlaceBlog, launched last weekend.
It is noted, by smalltown7, that behind the scenes, the excitement and creative plans for the new board seem to be thriving. When the application comes out on August 2nd in the Current Council Packet (can be found at www.ci.glenwood-springs.co.us/ , in the News In A Flash box and right under animated kayak guy); it goes in front of council for approval on the night of August 5th, 2010. Schedule for appointments will be set that evening. The application ready for immediate release to the public once approved. We've been hearing a lot of names being dropped out there and are really pleased at the caliber of individual talent potential.
This is the people's board now. Glenwood Springs can only thrive from this point forward.
It is also noted by smalltown7 that we have received seriously concerned mails and calls from citizens who would like to either publically support this board or sit this board, and are beginning to again feel intimidated to do either. We have passed our concern about this forward to council.
Our public statement about this unfortunate turn, is this:
Keep talking. If you want to sit this board and feel you can bring something of worth to the table, then go get an application, fill it out and take it to council. If you do not feel safe or experience any backlash from any source; take it to authorities, who are aware of the problem.
There's a lot of work to be done to pull us out of the hole we're in financially.
smalltown7 notes that the City of Glenwood Springs has not posted sales tax revenues for either 1st or 2nd Quarter as of yet. Tourism revenues remain down 30% from 2009 and are reported in now as down another 5.4% for a total of 35.4%.
Over one third of our accommodations tax needs to be recovered before we can even hope to begin to build again.
Budgets, immediate 2011 RFP to be crafted, issued and awarded, audit of resources owned, forensic audit of all monies to date. Creative workshops for future goal setting.
And the list goes on. This is an exciting opportunity for Glenwood Springs.
smalltown8 congratulates the City of Glenwood Springs and publically extends their thanks to City Council.
Many times now, we have tried to move on past the "Current Watch on the Glenwood Springs Chamber Resort Association".
Each time, the energy of what we have been up against has not let us do that. With the city's hands on the wheel and fully alert; we feel we can finally move on to other Current Watches and other endeavors.
We've decided to change this site to simply "Safe Place to Whistleblow" in order to accommodate the wide variety of topics and needs being sent to us.
Until this board is seated and there is a good flow of movement with no more backlash to individuals, we'll keep this site as it is, for now.
That good flow should be in place by this Fall.
smalltown7 looks forward.
