Here It Is: The Glade EIS
Let the debate begin. Check out the difference in these two headlines:
"Glade would slurp up Poudre River" (Coloradoan)
"Water study arrives" (Reporter-Herald)
Now which do you think is going to be the more straightforward, unbiased news story?
How do the ledes compare?
Coloradoan:
The proposed Glade Reservoir would reduce the Poudre River's flow through Fort Collins by 71 percent in May and more than half as runoff peaks in June, according to an in-depth federal environmental analysis of the project.
Reporter-Herald:
Northern Colorado will face harmful effects caused by growth in the coming 50 years with or without a new reservoir northwest of Fort Collins, a federal report issued late Tuesday states.
By all means, read both articles.
Here are dueling op-eds in the Coloradoan, pro and con.
Scary
I noted yesterday that the recent dismissal of three-unrelated charges in a Fort Collins case offered a blueprint for fighting the law. Now the City offers us a bit of a counter-argument: "Ruling won't alter enforcement of Fort Collins' 3-unrelated law."
Well, they can try to enforce it, but I wouldn't let anyone from the city into my house without a warrant.
Check out the following quotes from the article. Does this sound a bit big-brotherish to you?
"Sure, it's a concern," said Felix Lee, director of Neighborhood and Building Services, which oversees occupancy code enforcement. "I think that we have to look at our procedures and look at additional ways to get other types of evidence."
..."We will explore other ways to prove the case beyond simple vehicle logs but we will still probably have to rely on credible observations by neighbors as our primary evidence," Lee said.
"We could attempt to try for a warrant (to search a house) and we're not ruling that out. We're going to keep going until we are directed otherwise and told not to, but I don't see that that is going to come anytime soon. It's one of those things that limit our capacity to make a case."
Let me try to paraphrase what's going on in Fort Collins: If your spying neighbors don't gather enough "evidence" against you, we'll go get a warrant to search your bedroom. De-Brucing
It may be time to de-Bruce, say some Colorado Springs-area Republicans.
In fact, Mark Waller, who is running against state Rep. Douglas Bruce in the GOP primary, is betting that months of Bruce's name-calling and attention-getting antics have worn down voters — including those who originally supported Bruce.
127
There have been 127 ballot initiatives filed in Colorado this year (only a handful will go to the ballot). The Post editorializes: "Clearly, changes to the process are long overdue."
Straight from the Department of Really Bad Ideas
Rep. John Kefalas is pushing a bill that would allow "instant-runoff" voting. In a multi-candidate race, voters would "rank" the candidates by preference. If no one received a majority, the lowest vote getter's votes would be discarded and those voters' second-choice votes would then count.
It would drive up the cost of holding campaigns (think of the cost of overhauling the election equipment and software).
It would drive up the cost of the campaigns themselves. Instead of saying "Vote for Me", candidates would be spending money to say "Vote for Me", "Mark Him Second Just In Case" and "Be Sure to Rank Him Last". (Remember, these are the same people who want to limit the amount of money candidates can raise and spend to get their message out.)
Finally, I don't even want to think of the potential for gamesmanship and misdirection. How about just sticking with the novel concept of "whoever gets the most votes wins"?
