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Side Streets ~ Neighborhood people and issues

THEY SHOOT BEARS, DON’T THEY?

September 4th, 2010, 11:22 pm by Bill Vogrin

Before moving here in 1994, I’d always lived in very urban neighborhoods in cities to the east. I was shocked to see all the wildlife that lives among the neighborhoods of Colorado Springs.

For 13 years, we’ve lived next to an open space in Rockrimmon and have a front-row seat for watching deer, coyote (I spotted this one on Christmas morning 2007), bobcat, fox.  I’m still hoping to see a rare mountain lion.

What I enjoy the most is seeing the bears. Typically, they emerge from the open space at night and trigger our security lights.

This cinammon black bear has been a regular visitor to our backyard for years. Usually, she has a cub or two following behind her.

I’ve always considered it a privilege to live so close to nature. I never considered calling the Division of Wildlife when the bears came and knocked down the neighbors’ birdfeeders or tossed open trash cans. I just shrugg it off.

I didn’t consider calling DOW after a bobcat raided my kids’ rabbit hutch and attacked my dog. I was upset but shrugged if off as the price of living among wild animals.

Last fall, I was lucky enough to watch the old, cinammon bear turn on one of her cubs, a young adult, and angrily chase him up a tree.

He had been following her and I believe she was tired of him competing with her for food and let him know it. The confrontation was dramatic and the young adult was unhappy.

Luckily, he ran up a tree just off our bedroom and we were eye-to-eye. He huffed and barked at us from the branches.

 This spring, she showed as usual with three new cubs, foraging at night mostly. The young adult came around, too. But he avoided her and made his rounds in the daytime.

We’ve spotted him in the mornings, crossing the street or digging in a neighbor’s trash which had been set at the curb for pickup.

I met  him twice this summer. The first time, I had opened my garage in the early morning to load luggage into my car for a trip. He happened to wander into the garage while I was inside the house getting our bags.

I came out and he was trying to open a refrigerator deep inside my garage in a mud room. We were both startled. I ran back inside and pounded on the walls to chase him out of the garage.

I met him again a few weeks ago. Earlier in the day, he came right up to one neighbor, chasing her into her house. He walked up the stairs to her front door before sauntering off. He was not scared of her.

That evening, he came in my garage while I was unloading groceries. He got the fridge in my mud room open and drained a gallon of juice. Then he went after a plastic trash can full of dog food.

He would not leave no matter how much I yelled at him, or threw brooms and other objects. He just glared at me and ate dog food. Finally, I ran to my car and blasted the horn until he retreated.

He came back a few minutes later, even jumped on a small wooden fence and huffed at me as I swept up the dog food. He scared me.

So I think I understand how those folks felt last week when they were confronted in their homes by bears. It’s sad six died in three days. I wish there was another solution.

 But I’m convinced this young adult is not afraid of humans and has identified houses as a source of food. He’s dangerous, in my book. Especially to my 11-year-old son.

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NEIGHBORS TRYING TO KEEP HOPE ALIVE FOR VENEZIA PARK

September 1st, 2010, 1:18 pm by Bill Vogrin

 At the corner of Briargate Parkway and Union Boulevard sits 108 acres of rolling prairie meadow . It’s mostly grasses and a few trees. The south fork of Pine Creek meanders through it.

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For 20 years, it has been envisioned as a community park with pavilions, sports fields, courts and other amenities.

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It was billed as a place where people from the region would gather, as compared to neighborhood parks designed to serve a limited area.

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But for now, and the forseeable future, it will remain a field — a place for joggers, for watching birds and other wildlife, for dogs to run.

Cathy Post, librarian at the Academy International Elementary School, is flanked by the undeveloped 108-acre Venezia Park. Post has worked since 1991 to get the park developed.

And it will remain a huge  disappointment to people like Cathy Post, a librarian at Academy International Elementary School, who moved to the surrounding neighborhood 12 years ago thinking her family would enjoy the huge park.

She even got her students involved in the planning process. They wrote letters, drew pictures and even attended a City Council meeting to urge approval of the park. When it finally given the go-ahead, she raced back to school and made an announcement over the PA system to celebrate. Her students, she said, were so happy.

The park was so close to becoming a reality it started showing up on maps as “John Venezia Park” — named for the developer of the area. But it’s just a field.

Plans are impressive. They call for 30 acres to be developed and the remaining 78 or so to be left as open space to protect habitat for the endangered Preble’s meadow jumping mouse. Here’s a look at the blueprints.

The city was poised to begin construction in 2008. It’s first plan was to use $1.7 million to launch work on the infrastructure – electrical, plumbing, curbs and gutter.

 The money was a combination of $700,000 from the Trails, Open Space and Parks tax and $1 million from a fund created by fees developers pay in lieu of building neighborhood parks, says Sarah Bryarly of the cityparks department.

Rather than build it in phases, the city decided to use a funding mechanism called “Certificates of Participation.” They are sold to investors and paid off over several years, like bonds.

But before the COPs could be sold, the nation’s economy crashed and financing evaporated.

Now, no money exists for new parks. The city’s sales tax revenues have collapsed, forcing City Council to slash the parks department budget, along with others.

But not everyone is ready to give up. Cathy is determined to keep hope alive for Venezia Park. 

She is attending meeting and lobbying for officials to find money, somewhere, to get the park built.

Prospects for the park are not good.

Bryarly said construction could start immediately if money was available.

But Kurt Schroeder, a parks department official, said even if the city could find $9.5 million to build it, there’s no money for ongoing maintenance.

His agency’s budget has been slashed by 80 percent and it’s not likely to be restored anytime soon. Absent a windfall, Venezia will remain on the shelf.

“It doesn’t make a lot of sense to add facilities if we don’t have maintenance money,” Schroeder said.

Here’s a link to the city’s community parks web site for more information.

And here’s a Feb. 26, 2007 column I wrote on the park.

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TEJON STREET NEIGHBORS OK WITH BARS, PEEP SHOW BUT NOT SODO

August 29th, 2010, 12:00 pm by Bill Vogrin

It’s not often that businesses line up to take shots at one of their neighbors.

 There’s usually a comradery among businesses. They work together to advertise and attract customers or to fight issues of mutual concern. Remember how Westside businesses rallied to take on the homeless issue in Colorado Springs last winter?

 Neighboring businesses on South Tejon Street are rallying, too. Against one of their own. SoDo nightclub.

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The SoDo nightclub sits across the street from Southside Johnny's at South Tejon Street and East Moreno Avenue in this 2006 file photo by The Gazette's Kevin Kreck.

Owners of a couple bars, a coffee shop, bank, motel, computer technology business and law firm are fighting SoDo, an 18-and-older hip-hoppy dance club at the corner of Tejon and Moreno Avenue.

This isn’t a place where everybody knows your name. But they might know your bra size. Here’s a look at its web site.

SoDo is a more than just a dance joint, although check out the go-go dancer from a photo on its website.

Besides the barely dressed girls, there is loud music and DJs and body painting and  loud music and booty shaking contests and loud music and, well, you get the picture.

A $10 cover charge gains entry to all the fun.

But neighbors say it’s not much fun for them after midnight most weekends.

They describe an ugly mix of alcohol-fueled, testosterone-charged men brawling regularly.

Young people urinate freely in the streets, alleys and parking lots around the club, witnesses say. Vomiting patrons are a common sight, they say.

Perhaps most troublesome, gunfire is regularly heard, neighbors say.

That’s why a dozen or so businesses lined up at Liquor and Beer Licensing Board on July 15 to oppose SoDo’s request to install a rooftop beer garden. Here’s a look at the neighborhood from FlashEarth.com.

Neighbors say SoDo’s is bad enough already. They can’t imagine how bad it would get if the club’s mayhem was raining down from the rooftop.

SoDo owner Tim Rose of Summit Commercial Group declined to talk to me about his club. Neighbors say he is similarly unresponsive to complaints they lodge about violence, trash, noise and the rest.

These are not prudish neighbors. They already tolerate an X-rated movie house and bookstore, New Eros, in the block. (In the age of streaming, high-definition Internet porn, it’s amazing anyone still needs a peep house. But that’s another column.)

And neighbors insist this isn’t about competition between bar owners. Johnny Nolan, owner of Southside Johnny’s, said he doesn’t compete for customers with SoDo’s 18-and-up dance crowd. It’s a much different demographic.

Although the neighbors convinced the liquor board to reject the rooftop beer garden, the fight is not over. SoDo has sued to overturn the decision claiming the board exceeded its jurisdiction, abused its discretion and acted in an aribtrary and capricious manner.

While we wait for the case to surface in court, how about a couple body shots! And shake that booty!

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WATER METER UPDATE with reader suggestions

August 26th, 2010, 10:30 am by Bill Vogrin

In response to all the calls and e-mails I’m getting about water meters, I want to pass along a few things I’ve heard.

Readers insist meters, and their automated remote reader systems, are not infallible.

Here’s what they suggest if you suspect a discrepancy.

Look for a leak. Start by looking for wet spots in your yard, basement or crawl space. You can also hire a water leak detection expert, although you may need to go to Denver to find one.

Look for a thief. If you live near a construction area, there’s a chance someone simply hooked up a hose to your outdoor faucet and filled a tank. I’ve written about that type of theft. It’s more common than you’d think.

Ask to have the meter tested. It maycost you a service charge. But it’s worth the effort if the bill is high enough. Send the meter to an independent party, such as another utility, for calibration. Or ask your utililty to conduct a side-by-side test installing a second meter next to your original.

Finally, several people warn me about the remote reader systems. Generally, they are reliable in transmitting the meter numbers to the utility. But there are famous incidents where they failed. In Houston in 2007 there was a huge problem and thousands were replaced.

A Side Streets reader in Fountain says the wires of her remote transmitter became frayed and when the bare wires touched, her meter reading surged by 100 gallons.

Others warn than very low flows through the meter can cause them to malfunction. Still others say tiny particles of sand can get into the paddle that turns the meter and cause meter malfunction until the sand becomes dislodged and the meter returns to normal.

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CIMARRON HILLS: The meter must be wrong!

August 25th, 2010, 4:10 pm by Bill Vogrin

The meter doesn’t lie. 

That’s what most utility companies well tell you when it comes to water meters. They are too simple to fail. Water flows in. The meter spins.

Here’s a look at a typical meter I found at www.FlowMeterDirectory.com.

Want to check it? Turn off all the water in your house. Watch the meter. If it stops, it’s working. If it keeps spinning, you have a leak.

If you still think you’ve been billed for too much water and you are convinced you don’t have a leak, they will tell you there must be a thief hooking up a hose to your faucet and stealing water.

Actually, that was the subject of an earlier Side Streets. It happens more than you might think.

But in this case we’re talking about a meter at the Cimarron Hills Townhouse complex on the eastern edge of Colorado Springs in an unincorporated area north of the airport.

It is served by the Cherokee Metro District.

Folks there on the homeowners association were shocked when they got the bill for May. It was $10,000 above normal.

And it wasn’t because someone’s bathtub overflowed. The meter wasn’t attached to a living space.

Cimarron Hills Townhouse complex

Map of the Cimarron Hills Townhouse complex

 The 90-unit complex has 16 buildings, including a clubhouse.

And it has 16 water meters.

For May, the clubhouse meter showed the massive amount of water usage. Enough to fill the complex swimming pool 10 times. The only problem, the pool has been closed three years.

Typically, the clubhouse doesn’t use much water.

However, it does have an irrigation system attached to it and it has been known to leak.

But HOA official Janet Shelinbarger insists the leaky sprinkler heads are on other meters. Not the clubhouse.

Cherokee general Manager Sean Chambers said the townhouse HOA folks are confused. The meters and their remote transmitters are new — installed in 2009.

His crews have checked and double-checked the meter and transmitter in question. Both are working properly, he said.

Chambers also points out the history of the Cimarron Hills sprinklers.

Cimarron Hills Townhouse complex backflow valve and shutoff above a buried water meter.

In May, the billing period in question, Cherokee crews twice responded to reports of “water main breaks” at the townhouse complex.

Both times, his crews found sprinklers leaking and gushing water.

I talked to Mark Cuchiara, a Cherokee water foreman who responded to reports. He told me it looked like a river running down the curb and gutter into Cree Drive.

He found the leaking sprinkler and went to the shutoff at the backflow valve and turned the water off.

Shelinbarger knows the sprinklers have leaked. But she insists the leaky heads are on different meters than the clubhouse. The HOA only paid a fraction of the bill and Cherokee threatened to turn off the water to the clubhouse.

 The HOA filed a temporary restraining order against Cherokee. The order has expired and Cherokee is still threatening to shut off the water.

Chambers said it is not fair to the districts other water uses to force them to subsidize Cimarron Hills’ leaky sprinkler system. He said the district is willing to take payment installments spread over several months. And it is only charging for actual costs incurred in producing and delivering the water.

I’m guessing this one ends up back in court.

Map of the Cherokee Metro District service area.

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FISH MARKET STINKS UP NEIGHBORHOOD

August 22nd, 2010, 12:00 pm by Bill Vogrin

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There’s something rotten on top of  West Bijou Street and neighbors say it is stinking up the neighborhood.

The vacant building has been several restaurants since it was built in 1989. According to a 2006 Gazette story, it opened in 1990 as Chicago Joe’s and was owned by SpecialtyRestaurants of Anaheim, Calif.

 The company also owns the Sunbird restaurant on a hillside overlooking Rusina Road and I-25 in Pinecliff, north of Garden of the Gods Road.

The Bijou Street building was known in it’s last incarnation as the Fish Market, the name it still bears.

It was a popular place to sit, eat and enjoy panoramic views of downtown Colorado Springs. You can see it in the center of this image from FlashEarth.

But today, those views are only visible through holes punched in plywood and jagged shards of broken glass. The restaurant closed for renovation in 2001 and never reopened.

Today, the Fish Market is more of a drug market patronized by homeless and vandals who use it as a place to flop and party. Its interior has been gutted by thieves who stripped its wiring to sell for its copper value. Most of the windows have been broken.

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Colorado Springs Code Enforcement Administrator Ken Lewis, below, surveyed the damage on Friday as he and his assistant, Mark Davis, hauled out trash, painted graffiti and boarded windows.

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The property was bought in May 2008 by the Pinery, a wedding and events center in Black Forest. Its owners paid $1.75 million and announced plans for a $7 million wedding and events facility on the site.

The nation’s economy cratered before they could get financing and the project has stalled ever since.

Eric Allen, vice president of operations at the Pinery, said the project remains alive. Eventually, it will be a huge asset to the neighborhood, he said.

In the meantime, Allen promised to ensure the building is secured and the site patrolled by security to reduce the vandalism and dissuade the vagrants attracted to the building.

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NEIGHBORS RALLY AROUND COMMUNITY PARK

August 18th, 2010, 4:30 pm by Bill Vogrin

If you visit Pinon Valley Park on Mule Deer Drive in northwest Colorado Springs and agree with me that it’s looking good, tell the neighbors. They’ll appreciate hearing that you admire their work.  

If you like the way the basketball court is free of weeds. Or that the volleyball pit is nicely maintained. Or that the picnic tables and benches look great with their fresh paint. Tell the neighbors.  

Maybe you used the portable toilet before running in the lush grass or tossed some trash in the can. Tell the neighbors.  

They paid for the bags in the trash cans. They collect the bags and pay for the trash to be collected. They pay for the toilet. And they pay for the grass to get extra seed, fertilizer and water.  

Here’s a look at the area from GoogleEarth:  

  

  

Several surrounding neighborhood groups have come together to preserve Pinon Valley Park until the city can resume its normal maintenance.  

And the person credited for rallying everyone is Jeanette Givens, seen in a photo by Julie Hutton.  

Jeanette Givens, president of the Pinon Valley Neighborhood Assocation, took a break during a neighborhood cleanup effort on Saturday, Aug. 14, 2010.

 

 When Jeanette heard the news that trash cans were being removed from city parks due to budget cuts, she realized it would be a long, filthy summer at the busy little Pinon Valley Park, which sits on Mule Deer Drive at the base of Ute Valley Park.  

She called together the Pinon Valley Neighborhood Association to brainstorm ideas for the park. The association is an umbrella group for small neighborhood groups including the Green Valley Ranch, Pinon Ranch, Pinon Glen.  

The association called the Parks & Recreation Department and invited Kurt Schroeder to a meeting where he explained the dire financial situation. The neighborhood leaders decided drastic action was necessary and got busy.  

They raised money - $8,500 to date – and awareness by circulating fliers recruiting volunteers and donations.  

One group paid for trash bags and garbage pick-up. One paid for a portable toilet. Another for a large trash dumper. Money raised was used to pay for extra water, seed and fertilizer.  

Their efforts climaxed Saturday when dozens of neighbors showed up for a clean-up day. Folks cut trees, painted picnic tables and benches, weeded, worked on the basketball courts and volleyball pit.  

Here’s some more photos snapped by neighbor Julie Hutton at the event:  

  

Bart Givens lugs a trash bag at the neighborhood clean-up Aug. 14, 2010, at Pinon Valley Park.

 

Neighbor Tom Hutton pitched in at the Pinon Valley Park neighborhood cleanup on Aug. 14, 2010.

 

Neighbor Melissa Lyby had plenty of help pushing her wheelbarrow at the Pinon Valley Park neighborhood cleanup Aug. 14, 2010.

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WITH HOMEOWNERS AWAY, THIS REAL ESTATE AGENT PLAYED

August 17th, 2010, 7:27 am by Bill Vogrin

This is a cautionary tale for anyone who puts a house on the market and leaves town.

Luckily, this couple had vigilant neighbors who recognized something unusual was going on and reported it to the homeowners.

Still, it’s a scary story that shows the value of neighbors watching out for each other.

It comes from Maple Grove, Minn., via an Aug. 13 story in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

The story describes how an attorney, Adam Bunge, and his wife, Sarah Bunge, a Lutheran pastor, put their home up for sale and left for a four-month working vacation in London.

In a lawsuit filed earlier this month, the Bunges allege their real esate agent engaged in “unauthorized sexual escapades” in their home while they were gone.

Yikes!

Ex-real estate agent Steven Curtis Skar is accused of "unauthorized sexual escapades" in the home he had listed for sale. Minneapolis Star-Tribune photo.

Worse, the alleged gay sex activities of agent Steven Curtis Skar left nasty stains on their sheets, couch, carpet and furniture, the lawsuit alleges.

Yuck.

If that wasn’t bad enough, the couple said in the lawsuit, their home computer was violated as well and credit card information stolen and used to run up $1,300 in unauthorized purchases online.

Yeeesh!

Skar’s employer, Coldwell Banker Burnet, fired Skar in May after spending more than $7,000 to clean the couple’s home and replace soiled furniture, linens. The agency even had to replace their robes and her nightgowns.

In June, Skar’s real estate license was revoked by state regulators.

Skar denies the allegations. Maple Grove police are investigating the claims.

You can read the entire story at this link from the StarTribune.com.

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THE GRASS IS ALWAYS MEANER ON THE CITY RIGHT-OF-WAY

August 15th, 2010, 12:00 pm by Bill Vogrin

Fred Van Antwerp wants to walk his neighborhood in peace and out of the way of traffic.

In the Broadmoor area of Colorado Springs where he lives, that’s a trick because there are no sidewalks and few curbs and gutters.

Fred Van Antwerp stands on the spot where his property ends and the city's 9-foot public right-of-way begins outside his Broadmoor neighborhood home.

So Fred walks on the grass along the streets. Lots of people in his neighborhood do the same thing.

In many places, as on Oak Avenue in the photo above, folks respect the public 9-foot right-of-way that runs along every street in Colorado Springs. Their landscaping and fences set back from the road.

But more and more homeowners are laying claim to the right-of-way, Fred says.

It’s getting hard to stay out of the street because he encounters so many fences, or large boulders or hysterical homeowners all intent on shooing him off “their” property.

Some even erect walls and thick shrubs to keep people off the right-of-way.

Often, the landscaping looks very nice. But is it legal for homeowners to take control of the right-of-way?

No, says Ken Lewis, city code enforcement administrator.

He said the adjacent property owners are responsible for maintaining the adjacent right-of-way in what the city code calls an “aesthetically pleasing” manner. But they don’t own it and can’t keep people off it.

Some even try to control the street in front of their homes. They put up fences to discourage walkers from straying on the grass and motorists from parking on the streets.

Nice try. But definitely not legal.

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TAKE A CLASS, PROTECT YOURSELF AND NEIGHBORS

August 11th, 2010, 6:29 pm by Bill Vogrin

For all you Law and Order fans, here’s your chance to learn how to protect yourself and your neighbors and dig deep into the workings of the prosecutor’s office.

You can choose a one-day REFUSE TO BE A VICTIM seminar sponsored by Colorado Springs Police.

Or go for the 10-week Citizen’s Academy offered by the 4th Judicial District Attorney’s office. Here’s a link to the application.

These are great ways to get involved and learn how the system works. You’ll also learn some things that might protect you in the future.

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