There's lots of money riding on the Super Bowl and billionaire Bill Gates is ponying up the money. Well, sort of.
The Gates Foundation offered up a $255 million challenge grant to Rotary Club...
...read the rest of the story at Examiner.com
Friday, January 30, 2009
Inspire Your Heart with Art Day in Longmont
Longmont is filled with many places to celebrate Inspire Your Heart with Art Day and also get some ideas for Valentines Day. We have at least forty public art pieces all over town (with more upcoming) as well as ten Art Galleries in our Downtown District.I've written a lot about the music and performing arts in town and these are a few of my favorite visual ones. Many current and former city council members also hold these dear to their hearts and can be found enjoying them as well.
Read the rest of the story at Examiner.com...
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Community service? Just ask LifeBridge
The recent (Longmont) National Day of Service put on by local Democrats was admirable, except perhaps for the suspicious "write letters in support of change" activity.
However, as Chris Rodriguez and others have noted, our Progressive friends should be careful when gloating about their newfound service to the community. These are some of the same people (not all) who have unmercifully demonized the motives of LifeBridge Christian Church throughout the entire Union annexation saga--first with Longmont and now with Firestone.
The truth is, LifeBridge is all about community and always has been. The goal since the beginning of the Union project has been to diminish the barrier between a church and the surrounding community. LBCC does far more community service time and number of projects than our local Hope and Change crowd can ever "hope" to achieve.
For example, the annual Time to Serve campaign carried out by LifeBridge members for two weeks each December produced the following results in 2008: Volunteers numbering about 450; service for an average of two to eight hours on 53 different project opportunities with 28 organizations and agencies. LBCC also had projects at their other sites in the Tri-Towns area and in Johnstown.
LifeBridge will again be a major force in the annual Community Food Share drive to be conducted April 8 through 21 this year. See the Jan. 29 Times-Call editorial: Food Share helps take edge off hunger
Local Progressives are certainly welcome to continue their service to the community, the more the better. But what makes their efforts so laudable toward "change" when LifeBridge has been the essence of community service in Longmont for decades?
However, as Chris Rodriguez and others have noted, our Progressive friends should be careful when gloating about their newfound service to the community. These are some of the same people (not all) who have unmercifully demonized the motives of LifeBridge Christian Church throughout the entire Union annexation saga--first with Longmont and now with Firestone.
The truth is, LifeBridge is all about community and always has been. The goal since the beginning of the Union project has been to diminish the barrier between a church and the surrounding community. LBCC does far more community service time and number of projects than our local Hope and Change crowd can ever "hope" to achieve.
For example, the annual Time to Serve campaign carried out by LifeBridge members for two weeks each December produced the following results in 2008: Volunteers numbering about 450; service for an average of two to eight hours on 53 different project opportunities with 28 organizations and agencies. LBCC also had projects at their other sites in the Tri-Towns area and in Johnstown.
LifeBridge will again be a major force in the annual Community Food Share drive to be conducted April 8 through 21 this year. See the Jan. 29 Times-Call editorial: Food Share helps take edge off hunger
Local Progressives are certainly welcome to continue their service to the community, the more the better. But what makes their efforts so laudable toward "change" when LifeBridge has been the essence of community service in Longmont for decades?
Hopenchange™, Longmont style
Just when you thought you’d had enough to lose your lunch on, Longmont has it’s own helping of Hopenchange™. Granted, it’s not nearly as eloquent as the real thing, but witness the gushing (and reading with the hands) of our city’s version of President Obama’s inaugural speech, courtesy of councilmember (and rumored Mayoral candidate) Sean McCoy.
Were you moved? Or was that just part of your digested food shifting around? But Mr. McCoy is right in some respects; some change is needed here closer to home. He asked, via Obama’s speech, whether our government works. The local version doesn’t seem to be working so well. He also mentioned “does it help people find jobs”? This coming from one of the most anti-business, anti-growth councils, where open fields (aka “green fields”) don’t pay building permit fees or much in the way of property taxes. All things to keep in mind as services are cut, wages are frozen, and city workers laid off.
“And those of us who manage the public dollars…(pause)…will be held to account”, you got that right. I would’ve paused too at that point given this council’s propensity for procrastination when it comes to making serious decisions, chicken’s not withstanding. If this council wants to “put people at ease”, as Mr. McCoy put it, how about putting their political career where their mouth is and make some kind of pledge of self term limiting or stepping down for their performance, or lack thereof? I know, not likely.
The other form of Hopenchange™ that’s getting a little old is the weekly gloating about “service”. Doing things for charity or good causes loses some of its luster when you go around bragging about it. Most people I know who donate food, clothes, money, and time do it because they want to, and don’t have to be forced or reminded to by a group of people. They also don’t wear it like a tiara in public, “hey, look what I did, did you?” I’m not sure what the mindset is here, do they think it’s a small minority of people who give, in whatever form that is? Do they think because they maybe don’t give year-round as much as they should, the rest of us are like that, or feel some guilt?
Ironically, these are the same types who relentlessly tear into organizations that donate on a level that dwarfs their own once in a decade events – oh, like Lifebridge. The only time I heard someone from Lifebridge go through the long list of community services they provide was when one of these other people asked, in their usual snotty way. Otherwise, Lifebridge, like the majority of people, don’t need a “call to service” to serve. They just do it, and they don’t constantly remind everyone about it.
Were you moved? Or was that just part of your digested food shifting around? But Mr. McCoy is right in some respects; some change is needed here closer to home. He asked, via Obama’s speech, whether our government works. The local version doesn’t seem to be working so well. He also mentioned “does it help people find jobs”? This coming from one of the most anti-business, anti-growth councils, where open fields (aka “green fields”) don’t pay building permit fees or much in the way of property taxes. All things to keep in mind as services are cut, wages are frozen, and city workers laid off.
“And those of us who manage the public dollars…(pause)…will be held to account”, you got that right. I would’ve paused too at that point given this council’s propensity for procrastination when it comes to making serious decisions, chicken’s not withstanding. If this council wants to “put people at ease”, as Mr. McCoy put it, how about putting their political career where their mouth is and make some kind of pledge of self term limiting or stepping down for their performance, or lack thereof? I know, not likely.
The other form of Hopenchange™ that’s getting a little old is the weekly gloating about “service”. Doing things for charity or good causes loses some of its luster when you go around bragging about it. Most people I know who donate food, clothes, money, and time do it because they want to, and don’t have to be forced or reminded to by a group of people. They also don’t wear it like a tiara in public, “hey, look what I did, did you?” I’m not sure what the mindset is here, do they think it’s a small minority of people who give, in whatever form that is? Do they think because they maybe don’t give year-round as much as they should, the rest of us are like that, or feel some guilt?
Ironically, these are the same types who relentlessly tear into organizations that donate on a level that dwarfs their own once in a decade events – oh, like Lifebridge. The only time I heard someone from Lifebridge go through the long list of community services they provide was when one of these other people asked, in their usual snotty way. Otherwise, Lifebridge, like the majority of people, don’t need a “call to service” to serve. They just do it, and they don’t constantly remind everyone about it.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Woman shows up in chicken costume to 'cluck' at City Council
Our backyard chicken story continues to entertain the world. Want to see why we've been talking about chicken poop for almost a year now?
...rest of article at Examiner.com
...rest of article at Examiner.com
Friday, January 23, 2009
Longmont DOES Have Live Music
I'm growing tired of hearing the complaints that there are no venues in Longmont that feature bands or live music, when I know there are. One such place I've written about before and if it's still considered a city secret...it shouldn't be...
Read the rest of the story at Examiner.com
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
City adds insult to injury in ongoing dispute
Today is "I'm Not Going to Take it Anymore Day" and the recent developments in the case of one local man is showing the city of Longmont that he's tired of taking it...
...rest of the story at Examiner.Com
...rest of the story at Examiner.Com
Monday, January 5, 2009
Ouch! $66.6 Million for Boulder County Open Space in 2009
That's right, while everyone else is cutting back in tough economic times, the enviro-crazed Boulder County commissioners have designated $66.6 million toward open space expenditures in the 2009 county budget.
Much of this money is going to service the massive open space bond debt that has accumulated over decades, now some $200 million. Another $12 million is discreetly earmarked to come from the General Fund--as if the millions of dollars the county takes in from three open space sales taxes isn't enough.
While I've railed against local open space programs for years, I am not some kind of anti-environmental heretic. I enjoy greenery and scenery as much as the next guy, and I could live with a single, small county sales tax if it went solely for parks, greenways, and select nature areas.
But let's face it, Boulder County is using its open space extravaganza as a political weapon to stop growth. We're at 90,000+ acres of county open space and counting. To show how obsessed the commissioners have become with the open space program, last month they spent $1 million for a parcel in the Indian Peaks Wilderness Area of all places. What, were they afraid of a Wal-Mart going up in the high mountain wilderness?
I've always argued that it's not government's business in the first place to be using taxpayer money to buy private lands to stop development. It reeks of enviro-socialism, not the free enterprise system on which this country has historically prospered.
The city of Boulder, champion of liberal open space programs since the 1960s, serves as a direct example of why this artificial engineering of the landscape doesn't work.
Development has been so restricted in Boulder that home prices have soared to easily the highest in the Denver metro area. The average sale price of a home in Boulder remains near $500,000, even in the current housing slump. How is the quality of life enhanced if a typical family can't afford to buy a home? Traffic is also terrible in Boulder because so many workers can't afford to live there and are commuting in and out. The local enviros shoot themselves in the foot, so to speak, with the resultant greater carbon footprint.
There is also the matter of the negative impact of high sales taxes on local economies. Longmonters currently pay four different open space sales taxes (three to Boulder County) adding up to a huge 0.65%. Total sales tax in Longmont has soared to over 8.0% in the last couple of years. Remember, you pay this total on every retail purchase, restaurant meal, and phone bill. No wonder people are attracted to tax-free Internet sales--and city coffers suffer.
Piece by piece, tax by tax, it's time to start dismantling the colossal open space machine that has a vise grip on the natural flow of the Boulder County economy--and may yet lead to its financial ruin.
Much of this money is going to service the massive open space bond debt that has accumulated over decades, now some $200 million. Another $12 million is discreetly earmarked to come from the General Fund--as if the millions of dollars the county takes in from three open space sales taxes isn't enough.
While I've railed against local open space programs for years, I am not some kind of anti-environmental heretic. I enjoy greenery and scenery as much as the next guy, and I could live with a single, small county sales tax if it went solely for parks, greenways, and select nature areas.
But let's face it, Boulder County is using its open space extravaganza as a political weapon to stop growth. We're at 90,000+ acres of county open space and counting. To show how obsessed the commissioners have become with the open space program, last month they spent $1 million for a parcel in the Indian Peaks Wilderness Area of all places. What, were they afraid of a Wal-Mart going up in the high mountain wilderness?
I've always argued that it's not government's business in the first place to be using taxpayer money to buy private lands to stop development. It reeks of enviro-socialism, not the free enterprise system on which this country has historically prospered.
The city of Boulder, champion of liberal open space programs since the 1960s, serves as a direct example of why this artificial engineering of the landscape doesn't work.
Development has been so restricted in Boulder that home prices have soared to easily the highest in the Denver metro area. The average sale price of a home in Boulder remains near $500,000, even in the current housing slump. How is the quality of life enhanced if a typical family can't afford to buy a home? Traffic is also terrible in Boulder because so many workers can't afford to live there and are commuting in and out. The local enviros shoot themselves in the foot, so to speak, with the resultant greater carbon footprint.
There is also the matter of the negative impact of high sales taxes on local economies. Longmonters currently pay four different open space sales taxes (three to Boulder County) adding up to a huge 0.65%. Total sales tax in Longmont has soared to over 8.0% in the last couple of years. Remember, you pay this total on every retail purchase, restaurant meal, and phone bill. No wonder people are attracted to tax-free Internet sales--and city coffers suffer.
Piece by piece, tax by tax, it's time to start dismantling the colossal open space machine that has a vise grip on the natural flow of the Boulder County economy--and may yet lead to its financial ruin.
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