Opinion: Voting in this crazy election

 Given the pressing need for real change and reform in how Boulder’s government runs, here are some specific recommendations for how to vote.

The budget situation is a mess — way too many staff hired over the last decade, using up financial resources that are necessary for long-term maintenance of our buildings; overly expensive projects like Alpine-Balsam and the South Boulder Creek dam; etc.

The policy process is also in need of real reform. The current approach of using staff memos that have had no critical review plus lengthy council member comments with no real integration leaves the decisions under-informed. This is because the council’s agenda committee provides essentially no input to structure the information ahead of time.

The public input process is fatally flawed. Surveys are hopelessly biased; public comments at meetings are ignored; and community experts are almost never invited to participate directly.

All this (and much more) demands that we get new blood on the council who can bring some needed change to how our city runs.

A mayoral candidate with experience on boards and commissions and an understanding of the need for reorganization is key.

On the Council, we need real financial experience and problem solvers, not the status quo.

Regarding City Ballot Issue 2K, the $400 million bond issue (about $650 million with interest) — vote “no”! This being on the ballot is a result of long-term negligence by both the city council and city staff in failing to face up to the need for maintenance and possible replacement of city buildings. Instead, the council, at the behest of staff, kept adding on more and more personnel, around a couple of hundred over the last 10 years, to satisfy various interests.

In my opinion, it’s time to cut way back on staffing, save maybe $50 million or so each year, and spend this on doing this necessary work on these buildings. This may seem like a big deal, but as I’ve pointed out before, most of the additional staff seemingly haven’t made a significant change in our basic service levels.

City Ballot Issue 2J, the Residential vacancy tax, vote “no.” The argument for this is that it will reduce the number of vacant homes, thus increasing the supply. Of course, the few homes that would come onto the market would be expensive, so not really addressing the issue. And there will be all sorts of schemes to get around the tax, because it will be difficult and complex to administer.

Boulder County Ballot Measure 200, regarding the question of three versus five county commissioners, I find that there are pretty good arguments on both sides. So I still haven’t made up my own mind on this one.

Boulder County Issue 1A: This is a tax increase to fund childhood care and education. These are certainly worthwhile objectives. But it’s yet another tax increase. So again, I’m of two minds on this one.

At the state level, we have some really crazy ones:

Amendment 81 requires state law enforcement to cooperate with DHS(!) regarding notifications of certain crimes by possible illegal immigrants.

Amendment 82 creates a right to buy and sell natural gas, right in the face of fossil fuel-induced global warming.

Amendment 83 grants a “constitutional right” to hunt and fish, which directly conflicts with the right of the state, also granted, to regulate those activities as necessary for wildlife conservation.

Amendment 84 requires voters using mail-in ballots to include some ID number on the outside of their ballot, increasing fraud potential in Colorado’s highly successful voting process that currently has almost zero fraud.

Amendment 87 creates a graduated income tax, but fails to deal with inflation, which will lead to people’s income gradually shifting to higher brackets over time.

For more great recommendations on how to vote, check out former state Senator Steve Fenberg’s endorsements: tinyurl.com/5yyzamz8.

 

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