Dottie Weir wanted a place to put her beloved loom – the wooden device she uses to weave her hand-dyed yarn into award-winning tapestries and fabrics.

Here’s a photo of Dottie and her loom:

But there simply wasn’t room in her tiny cottage where she moved after her husband’s death in 2004.

The cottage is a converted two-car garage behind her modest century-old bungalow on North Weber Street in Colorado Springs. To generate income to supplement her Social Security and make ends meet, financially, Weir rented her house, sold most of her furniture and moved into the cottage.

Take a look at the cottage:

In February 2007, Weir enclosed a small porch to create her weaving room. Now, she could weave, year-round, out of the cold and rain. It is barely visible on the back of the cottage, above.

The owner of the rental property next-door, Becky Fuller, was upset that Weir didn’t get the proper permits and variances necessary and called the city.

Here’s a look from www.FlashEarth.com at the neighborhood:

The long rectangular building at the bottom, facing Espanola Street, is Becky Fuller’s duplex with its attached two-car garage and large, detached two-car garage on the alley.

Weir’s tiny house and cottage are barely visible behind the fences, trees and surrounding structures.

After being notified she was in violation of city code, Weir immediately filed for the variance but was rejected because her porch was deemed to be no longer a porch but a room on her cottage. The total square footage of the original house, the cottage and the new porch/room exceeded the maximum coverage rules for the lot by about 100 square feet.

The city said the weaving room must go. If you like, you can read all the appeal documents.

Weir appealed to the Planning Commission, the City Council and even sued in District Court. But she lost each time. Doesn’t matter that houses all around her are wildly out of compliance with city codes. And her cottage barely violates code, if you consider it a room and not an enclosed porch.

So Weir is asking the Colorado Court of Appeals to define just what constitutes a porch.

Google “porch” and look at what comes up. OK. I know that is far from scientific or legal or definitive. But it’s interesting to see what some call a porch.

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Unless you’ve been a victim of crime, you might think the world is a pretty safe place. Or it only occurs in certain parts of town and you don’t have to worry.

Take a gander at the weekly crime maps posted online by the Colorado Springs Police and you may be shocked to learn just how much crime is reported in the city. In fact, crime is all around and no neighborhood is immune.

Take a look at this map from the Police Department’s Web site  map center and see for yourself:

This map shows calls for help in five major categories of crime for one week. Project that over a full year, and include all categories of crimes, and the total number of calls is around 300,000.

Molly Miles, supervisor in analytical services for the police crime analysis unit, wants to make the maps more helpful and interactive. She wants to be able to distinguish which calls for service resulted in a case report or arrest. She’d like to be able for users to identify hot spots over time. 

And she is inviting the public to give her feedback. Tell her what you think about her maps. What do you find useful?

The police Crime Prevention Officers also stand ready to help folks interested in learning more. They welcome invitations to speak at neighborhood meetings, church groups, Neighborhood Watch gatherings.

Here are the crime prevention officers and their substations:

Officer Robert Harris, Gold Hill division, 385-2117

Officer David Gilman, Stetson Hills division, 444-3168

Officer Dave Husted, Falcon division, 444-7246

Officer Lori Torrini, Sand Creek, 444-7276

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Ghost bikes are a new twist on the white crosses we’ve come to see along our highways and at dangerous intersections, marking the spot where people died.

Mourners take old bikes, paint them a stark white, and erect them near the spot where bicyclists are killed. Sadly, two ghost bikes now appear on 26th Street at Westend Avenue.

The bikes, plus a hand-made wooden case in the foreground, are a tribute to Edgar “E.J.” Juarez, 30, and Jayson Kilroy, 28, who died Aug. 6, 2008, as they were riding north down 26th Street with three friends. The victims suffered massive internal injuries when, Colorado Springs Police say, Barbara Thomas plowed into them in her pickup truck. Here is a mug shot of Thomas.

Police say Thomas was driving under the influence of an illegal cocktail of morphine and barbiturates when she turned into the oncoming bicyclists. She goes to trial March 2 on charges of DUI and vehicular homicide.

Friends of the victims created the roadside shrine to Juarez and Kilroy.

Jon Csakany built the wooden case to hold photos and mementos of the men. Chris Fiedler designed a stencil with both of their names and painted it on the asphalt at the site.

The ghost bikes replaced the white crosses that normally highlight such a memorial.

Here is a closer look at the wood case Csakany built to honor his friends.

There is an assortment of bike-related items at the shrine:

Here is a www.FlashEarth.com map of the area where the bikers were killed and the memorial now stands. It is south of U.S. Highway 24 and a popular route for bikers on their way to Gold Camp Road and Cheyenne Canon.

Neighbors say they were not surprised by the wreck. They have long feared bikers would be killed because of the speeds reached by drivers and bikers alike as they fly north down 26th Street. Mix speed with the funky diaganol intersection at Westend Avenue and you have the makings of a tragedy.

Below is a look at the intersection, facing north toward U.S. 24.

Neighbors say speed humps, a flashing caution sign or speed indicator, and a stop sign are needed to prevent future tragedies.

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CLARIFICATION: The Lennox House may be able to erect a sign. But it will have to jump through numerous bureaucratic hoops and convince neighbors, some of whom are determined to oppose it. The rules do allow the owners to request an amendment to the 1997 development plan to drop the ban on a free-standing sign. And the Historic Preservation Board will consider allowing the sign, if the owners and innkeepers decide to petition for it.

You can have a business in Colorado Springs’ Old North End. But don’t think about advertising it. Unless you are a day care center or home furnishing business or apartment building.

There seems to be no rhyme or reason to the city rules that allow some businesses lighted signs while denying others simple, wooden signs.

That’s the case with Lennox House Bed & Breakfast at 1339 N. Nevada Avenue.

The Lennox House was allowed to open in 1997 but not to put a sign in the yard. The only thing identifying it as different from surrounding Victorians in the Old North End is a small plaque on the wall. See it there? Next to the window? DIdn’t think so. Me neither. I drove right past the place.

Here’s a better look at it.

Here’s the sign Innkeeper Mike Beck erected in his front yard.

Here’s a map from FlashEarth.com of the Lennox House:

 Beck learned that adding a sign in the yard wasn’t as simple as digging a hole. There are bureaucracies to deal with it. Doesn’t matter nearby businesses have signs. With lights. They are grandfathered in.

Even though a neighbor or two complained and Beck’s first attempt to put up his sign was denied, he still has a chance to get it approved. It will require applications and permits and public meetings and time off work for hearings.

Guess it is a sign of the times.

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Folks living along South Chelton Road, on the southeast side of Colorado Springs, find themselves wishing motorists driving by would stay in their lane. Or any lane. Just on the dang road!

For years, cars have managed to lose control, fly off Chelton and into the backyards of neighbors. Especially folks on Younger Court in Spring Lane at Valley Hi neighborhood. Maybe Chelton should be renamed Spring Lane the way cars launch themselves airborne off the road.

Folks along Chelton have installed huge boulders to create a sort of nature’s guardrail to discourage off-road travel. But it hasn’t stopped the mayhem, smashed fences, destroyed sheds, ruined decks and more.

Here is a look at the neighborhood and some of the aftermath of wrecks there the past eight years. Below is Bill Miera’s house on the right. He’s had six cars in his yard in the past eight years.

This is a view of Chelton, looking south and uphill toward Fountain Boulevard. Motorists regularly loose control on the curve and go crashing into the fence on the left.

Below is a view looking north, toward Spring Creek and Valley Hi Golf Course, at the boulders lined up along Chelton in hopes of keeps cars on the road.

The latest wreck, on Nov. 1, caused typical havoc in the yards, smashing a brick column and crushing a shed in Miera’s yard. Here’s a photo Bill Miera took immedately after the wreck.

This photo was taken by neighbor Elke Dickinson.

Weeks later, shards of fence board remains scattered near the sidewalk.

In the next photo, Miera’s house is on the right. On the left, the elevated deck of Shelley Danielson is visible. It had to be rebuilt after an October 2001 wreck destoyed the deck and hot tub, just minutes after she stepped out of it.

Here are more of neighbor Elke Dickinson’s photos of the aftermath of the 2001 wreck:

Here are maps of the neighborhood from FlashEarth.com.

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What happens when a neighborhood business starts alienating the very neighbors it depends on to survive?

Bolo Bistro is finding out. Life can get rough.

Residents of the Prestwick Village near downtown are trying to drive Larry Lafferty and his bistro right out of the neighborhood, which is part of a mixed-use development in the urban renewal area around the old Lowell neighborhood.

They say they like mixed-use zoning, which brings together retail, commercial and residential land uses. The like the idea of walking to work, or the neighborhood deli or pub.

The problem, neighbors say, is Lafferty’s use of the Bistro to host loud, late-night karaoke events and parties.

Here is a look at the neighborhood.

Here is a look at the Bolo Bistro from FlashEarth.com:

The Bolo Bistro occupies the corner space on the first floor of the building in the photo below, directly under the pyramid roofed tower. The top floor of the building is an unsold penthouse. To the right, the lower, red-brick three story building is the start of the Prestwick Townhomes. 

Below is a photo of the neighborhood facing west. On a clear day, Pikes Peak is visible. On the left is the building housing the Bolo Bistro. On the right is the Westwood Townhomes, where residents object to the noise of the Bistro’s late-night parties and karaoke events.

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Remember Sierra Pointe Condominiums? The place where property manager Robert Bleck called some of the owners “toothless trailer trash” and “punks” and described his critics as frustrated women who wanted to have sex with him?

It’s a 282-unit condo complex where owners have been at war over covenant enforcement and stuggled for control of the association board. Here’s a map of the place.

After months of bickering, new HOA board president Randy Pech took over and vowed to restore order and clean up Sierra Pointe. Among his initiatives was having a retaining wall power-washed to remove the chalk art of a nearby resident. Here is the wall before it was wash and after.

Many, however, objected to Pech’s all-business style and the wall was a good example. They also objected to Bleck’s abrasive personality. And when they learned of an audit that showed financial irregularities in the handling of HOA dues and other payments ending up in Bleck’s Premier Management account, even more residents became upset.

Now, Pech and Bleck are gone. A new board president, Cindy Snyder, is trying to restore calm and many residents are hopeful the HOA is headed in the right direction.

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Now, for Stetson Hills and its furor over whether residents can park on the street overnight.The Ridgeview at Stetson Hills hired a security guard and started handing out tickets like these:

Some residents became anrgy and demanded the board change the rules to allow overnight parking on the street. The board opted to put it to a vote of the neighborhood’s 3,200 owners.

Bad news for those favoring overnight street parking. Only 562 owners bothered to vote, far fewer than the 2,100 votes were needed to change the covenants. Of those who cast ballots, 326 voted to allow street parking while 236 opposed any change in the covenants.

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Finally, the Great Wall of Cascade Avenue. There is no resolution of the controversy between Colorado Springs and Holger and Sally Christiansen, who built a $200,000-plus wall around their Old North End mansion.

The city sued the couple alleging they built the wall without all the necessary approvals from the city and the Historic Preservation Board.

Now, the couple has filed a countersuit claiming damages in excess of $100,000. Among their claims, the Christiansens say the city has caused them “severe emotional distress which has put a severe strain on their marriage.” Read the lawsuit here: christiansenlawsuit

The wall is just north of Uintah Street on Cascade. Here are some photos of it: