Heimlicher declines invitation

Please mark your calendar and join activated citizens from across the community for a State of the Community Town Hall this Saturday, March 7. Your attendance is critical to the success of this event. It’s designed for you to have an active voice in the present and future of Colorado Springs. Whether your thinking is inside the box or out, my fellow citizens and I want to hear from you.

I’ve invited every City Council candidate to join us, as I’ve found the current Councilors’ minds and ears to be most open to citizen input around election time. Unfortunately, my opponent - Councilmember Jerry Heimlicher - has declined my invitation. I’m going to keep the welcome mat out, however, and hope he has a change of heart. It appeared his schedule was open, as he initially indicated some interest and wanted to know “who will select the questions and from whom?” I explained to him that my vision is for a free and open discussion - an interactive dialogue in which no one is screening questions and the candidates listen as much or more than they speak.

This style of truly interactive community discussion is exactly what this community needs. In fact I was motivated to organize this town hall because I find the rules for citizen participation in City Council meetings to be frustrating and counter-productive:

1. Citizens limited to 3 minutes. The Mayor exercises wide discretion on this, but in my experience if Councilors feel the comment doesn’t align with their thinking, the 3-minute limit is pretty strict. Meanwhile millionaire real estate developers and their hired guns are rarely time-limited, and are even invited to make long presentations at informal Council meetings where citizen comments are not allowed at all.

2. No dialogue allowed. The Mayor insists citizens sit down immediately following their comment (unless they fit that special millionaire developer category). At that point Councilors are free to rebut and refute the citizen’s comments and end of story. There is no interactive dialogue that might result in a better understanding for all. And since Councilors get the last word, the public and news media can be left with a false impression - because the citizen had no opportunity to offer supporting evidence to rebut misstatements made by Councilors. Yes, perhaps you can tell, I’ve experienced this.

If this is the way Council meetings must be conducted, then at least our community should be holding town hall meetings that encourage more open, respectful, two-way discussion. If this were taking place today, perhaps this City Council would be a little less stuck in its 1950s-era approach to managing our city.

Of the other candidates, Bernie Herpin declined due to the wedding of his daughter, Scott Hente declined with no explanation, Darryl Glenn has not responded, and Tony Carpenter has indicated he will attend. Please encourage your representative to attend, and plan to join us yourself! I look forward to hearing what you have to say.

STATE OF THE COMMUNITY TOWN HALL
Saturday, March 7
2 to 4 p.m.
Penrose Library (downtown Colorado Springs)
Carnegie Reading Room
20 North Cascade Ave
Colorado Springs, CO 80903
Public, City Council Candidates, and News Media are welcome

Thanks for reading,

Dave