Jo Wilson is watching over her Wolf Ranch neighborhood. Not just from the windows of her home.

 That’s Wilson’s eyes peering from the new Neighborhood Watch signs created by Nor’wood Development Group, which is building Wolf Ranch.

Wolf Ranch is a 1,982-acre, new sudivision located in northeastern of Colorado Springs at Powers Boulevard and Research Parkway.

 It boasts panoramic views of the mountains and its master plan calls for a 14-acre lake with parks, 300-acres of open space, and 10 miles of trails. Already, it has an outdoor pool, sprayground and clubhouse. And its Gateway Park has a large pavilion, small pond with a waterfall, picnic tables, benches. It’s the site of summer concerts and, on Tuesday night, will host a National Night Out cookout.

 Wolf Ranch residents can thank Wilson for the Neighborhood Watch, its cool new signs and the Night Out festivities.

  During 44 years living outside Los Angeles, Wilson and her husband were victims of crime. They moved to Colorado Springs to be closer to their family in 2006. At a Wolf Ranch Homeowners Association meeting, Wilson heard a Colorado Springs Police officer urge residents to start a Neighborhood Watch  program. Wilson took up the challenge.

The idea was embraced by several neighbors, including Rigo Garcia, who is hosting a National Night Out cookout.

Some think of Neighborhood Watch programs as being necessary in older, more established neighborhoods. But police say new neighborhoods like the upscale Wolf Ranch need the programs too.

They are designed to introduce neighbors to each other and create a sense of community. Folks are less likely to ignore suspicious activity at a neighbor’s house if they know those people and are concerned for them.

Here are  few more of the custom Neighborhood Watch signs created for Wolf Ranch by  Nor’wood.

Here is a link to the Wolf Ranch neighborhood.

================================

Platte Avenue between Hancock Avenue and Union Boulevard has seen 116 wrecks in the past three years, according to Colorado Springs traffic engineers.

Here is an aerial photo from www.GoogleEarth.com

Platte resident Kim Polomka has seen many of the wrecks and photographed dozens of them. Here are a few of his best shots.

Polomka has urged the city for years to do something to slow traffic on Platte. Dave Krauth, principal traffic engineer for Colorado Springs, said his department will spend the next year studying the stretch of road and determining the best way to calm down drivers and reduce the accident rate.

===========================

Folks on Garlock Way are cotton pickin’ mad. Really. A cottonwood tree in the front yard of Ruben Gonzales is shedding little balls of the white stuff all over the neighborhood.

Here is the tree. It’s pretty obvious where Gonzales trimmed branches to try to reduce the fallout on his neighbor’s yard.

Snow in summer! Actually, those are huge clumps of cotton covering the yards on Garlock Way. 

Experts say it is common for cottonwood trees to go into hyper-production mode. There doesn’t seem to be a reason. One tree will pump it out like dandruff while others nearby do nothing. The production last for a couple weeks and subsides.

Anyway, here is a map of Garlock Way.

The towering tree is visible from far above, as seen in this aerial photo from www.FlashEarth.com:

You can’t tell it today, but when Springs founder, Gen. William Jackson Palmer, arrived in 1869, tree dandruff wasn’t a problem. Mostly, the land was a treeless prairie.

In the years after Palmer’s men drove the first stake to plat Colorado Springs in 1871, the town company started planting the first of 10,000 trees which would become the urban forest we now enjoy. 

 Check out these photos taken from a city forestry presentation which show Colorado Springs as it looked before Palmer embarked on his aggressive tree-planting program.

Actually, Colorado Springs forestry folks don’t recommend anyone plant cottonwood trees.

Here are some more slides from the city forestry presentation.

More detailed information about recommended tress is available on the Colorado Springs city Web site at www.SpringsGov.com. Go there and click on ”Parks, Recreation & Cultural Services” on the left column. Then go to “Forestry” where you will find an assortment of topics.

Under “Colorado Springs Trees” you will find a “Suitable Tree Matrix” which offers lists of trees deemed, well, suitable for the city.

================================

Residents of Pilot Knob Avenue managed to get a decades-old manure dump cleaned up but nearly killed the Leg Up Therapeutic Riding Center in the process.

But founders Debra Rose and Deb Steddom were determined to open their riding center to help troubled girls who are residential clients of the Children’s ARK program in Green Mountain Falls.

So they surrendered rather than continue the Manitou Manure War. In fact, they abandoned Manitou altogether and relocated to the Academy Riding Stables on El Paso Boulevard on the west side of Colorado Springs. Here is a view from FlashEarth.com:

Here is a link: www.arsriding.com/

The stable offers one- and two-hour rides into the nearby Garden of the Gods. And co-owner Bruce Armstrong said he had plenty of room in his corrals for the riding center program. Here is a map of the area:

So every Monday through Thursday, Rose and Steddom take four girls and four horses into a back lot for two hours of therapy. The girls learn how to care for horses and ride them. In the process, they learn teamwork and cooperation, trust and self-confidence.

Academy Riding Stables co-owner Bruce Armstrong says the horses love the attention from the girls and hopes the program becomes permanent.

The girls are from Children’s ARK, a residential treatment program for troubled boys and girls ages 10-18 years of age.  The program is intended to treat non-violent juveniles who have failed in other foster home environments.

Here are photos from one of last week’s Leg Up therapy sessions courtesy of Rose. Steddom is on the left in the photos. The girls have their backs to the camera. Rose is in a pink shirt on the right:

Here is a link to the program’s Web site: http://childrens-ark.org

 Jedd Hafer, director of development, said the program is working wonders for the girls who are participating. He invites calls at 719-684-8001 or 719-325-5244.

This is an excerpt from a 2002 story in The Gazette about Children’s ARK:

Eric and Jean Ann West started the group in 1994. A lumberyard manager and stay-at-home-mom, the couple sold their house in California for seed money. Now the nonprofit has 120 full-time employees and a $4.3 million budget made up mostly of Medicaid, state and local government money.

The youth who come to Children’s ARK, typically for nine to 12 months, are among the hardest of the hard cases.

They’re Coloradans, referred by social service agencies from counties statewide and two Indian tribes. They range in age from 10 to 18.

Most kids have three or four mental problems, such as bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder, executive director Valita Speedie said.

Those terms do little to describe what they’ve been through, she said: A boy whose father sexually abused him and passed him around to his male friends. A boy chained to the toilet by his parents. A girl whose mother sold her into prostitution.

Youth attend an on-site school, see a psychiatrist and get group and individual treatment from therapists.

The group doesn’t use padded rooms or mechanical restraints. The goal, Speedie said, is to give unconditional love.

 =========================================

Residents of Parker Street long suspected trouble was brewing at the Shrap Metal Tattoo parlor on the corner of Parker and Fillmore streets.

Their suspicions were confirmed June 13 when 100 law enforcement officers – city, county and federal agents – swept in and raided the store. Six people – employees and associates – were arrested and accused of selling machine guns and drugs.

Read about the bust here:

gunsdrugsbust.pdf

Now, the neighbors want the store evicted from the small commercial building it occupies. Here is a map of the area and a closeup view from FlashEarth.com of the parlor.

Neighbors say the parlor and its clients represent a verified menace to the community.

But the owner of the commercial building, Philip Delluomo, refuses to evict Shrap Metal.

Here is a look at the parlor and the Delluomo’s building.

Delluomo said Shrap Metal pays its rent on time each month and is one of his best tenants. He said police must prove its charges before he would take action against them. He also said he received threats that the building would be burned down if he evicted the parlor. Delluomo did not say who made the threat.

====================================

The city of Colorado Springs and the Village Seven neighborhood can’t agree who is legally liable for a tunnel under West Carefree Circle. It is one of eight tunnels built along the perimeter of the neighborhood during its development 35 years ago. Five were designed to protect pedestrians from having to cross busy arterial streets and they are lighted. Three carry drainage water.

Here is a map of Village Seven.

 `

Here is a map of the Village Seven greenbelt.

Here are aerial photos of some of the tunnels taken from FlashEarth.com.

Colorado College wanted a place for students to plant a garden and learn about sustainable agricultural practices, organic farming methods and the food chain. But a 3-acre plot on the Venetucci Farm near Security was too far away for many students.

 So CC President Richard Celeste offered the students use of the rear portion of the three-acre yard behind Stewart House, the school-owned mansion on Wood Avenue, where he lives with his family.

 Four students, under the supervision of Professor Miro Kummel, cleared the brush, tilled the property by hand and planted about a half-acre of vegetables. They also built a small coop for nine chickens and put in a beehive so they can study pollination and harvest honey.

 Several neighbors love the garden. One was concerned about losing privacy in their backyard when students were in the garden. So Kummel offered to plant bushes to shield their yard.

 Another neighbor across Wood, Libby Pitman, just doesn’t like the idea of CC having  a “farm” on the property. She said she likes the students and the school. And it’s not a matter of her being bothered by the activity. She can’t see the garden or the students from her home.

She contacted the city to report a possible zoning code violation.

Here is an aerial photo from FlashEarth.com of the property.

 Dick Anderwald, the city’s land use review manager, toured the property Wednesday with one of his staff, Ryan Tefertiller, to see what the CC students are doing. Kummel led the tour. Here are some photos of the tour:

Students park their bikes under the trees, above, near the garden. Pitman was upset that students were parking in front of her house so Kummel ordered them to walk or bike to the garden from campus.

Miro Kummel, left, shows the main garden to Ryan Tefertiller and Dick Anderwald of the city land use review department. The two huts in the background are small greenhouses.

Tefertiller and Anderwald inspect the chicken coop. Nine chicks were huddled in the corner.

Kummel describes how a smaller garden is being used for research by a student studying the interaction between tomatoes and lettuce for a senior thesis.

Anderwald said he would study city codes to see if there were any restrictions on the school using the property as a garden or to bring classes over for field work. He also suggested the college meet with the Old North End Neighborhood Association to explain what is going on with the garden and mediate any disputes.