Since I have the district 3 race locked up, a lot of questions and the news media are focusing on controversial ballot question 1A. 1A would extend a sunsetting capital improvements tax and allocate about $50 million over 16 years to fund stepped up economic development activity in Colorado Springs.

I’ve announced that I oppose 1A, and I expect you may want to know why. It makes no sense to take money local businesses could use to make payroll, expand or innovate, and use it instead to gamble that stealing businesses from other cities will provide a big payoff to our community.

One of the keys to my opposition: studies by the Upjohn Institute for Employment Research and the University of Iowa indicate only 1 in 5 newly attracted jobs go to local residents.  Proponents of 1A, in their materials, have claimed either that 95% or 93% of new jobs go to local residents. I’ve challenged them to provide a study and data to back up those statements. So far, no response. You’d think they could at least make up their mind which shade of lipstick they’re going to put on this pig. Is the official spin 95% or 93%?

My point, and that of these studies, is the hidden purpose of 1A is to drive migration of new residents (following the flow of jobs) to Colorado Springs to boost the real estate development and homebuilding industries. Our 8.1% unemployment rate today is similar to the rate in 1992, only today that means we have over 25,000 unemployed vs. 16,000 in 1992. So 17 years of economic development efforts and rampant city growth have not improved a citizen’s employment picture, but simply increased the size of our unemployment problem.

I wish we could snap our fingers and put our unemployed to work. But the citizens deserve the truth. 1A is not an effective way to get you a job. It will attract people to move to our city and compete with you for any new jobs.

The growth industry is attempting to exploit your fears and sentiment about the economy and unemployment. Builders/developers conceived 1A and are the ones heavily promoting it. It represents a great deal for the growth industry. They invest $100,000 today promoting 1A and convincing citizens this will put them or their neighbors to work, and in return they get the citizens to fund $50 million of growth industry ad campaigns, junkets, and incentives designed to keep the market of new home buyers expanding. If their goal truly was to help our local economy, you have to wonder why their issues committee is banking in Denver and has spent significant sums with non-local firms.

If you want the details, just ask and I’ll send them to you. In a nutshell, the list of contributors to the pro-1A issues committee (”Jobs Now”) is DOMINATED by developers and construction companies. Proof positive that the brand of “economic development” contemplated by 1A is more of what we’ve been getting from the developer-dominated Economic Development Corporation - a program designed to grow the market for developers and homebuilders. 1A was brought to the Sustainable Funding Committee by a developer/homebuilder, written by that developer, and presented to Council by that developer. The chair of the issues committee promoting 1A has an accounting firm with developer Classic Companies as a client. (Interesting note: my opponent’s election committee chair is a partner in that same accounting firm).

Let’s defeat 1A. Then, under my leadership we’ll assemble an advisory committee that doesn’t need $50 million. This group will be committed to true prosperity for our community rather than simply subsidizing the homebuilders. This committee should include a teacher, a police officer, a retiree, and local business-owners, rather than homebuilders, to investigate more modern approaches to economic development that truly support our local economy and don’t simply add to our local population and increase our number of unemployed.

If you want to be a millionaire, then perhaps you should become a developer and join the effort to dupe our community into funding your advertising and marketing costs. If you want to have real community and true community-wide prosperity, vote no on 1A.

Also see Economic Development Incentives - Words of Wisdom