The Westside may be the best side. But that will get you an argument.

There are few neighborhoods in Colorado Springs, however, as well-documented for historic value than the Westside, otherwise known as Old Colorado City.

True, the Old North End is right up there, along with the Weber-Wahsatch historic area.

But imagine this: Westsiders spent $4,000 to photograph all 3,600 homes. Then dozens of volunteers spent years studying the photos, cataloguing each house, its architectural style, unique characteristics, its El Paso County Assessor’s property number and more to create a database.

Now, based on that research, the city has issued a 127-page document, the Historic Westside Design Guidelines.

 It is part history book, part architectural text and a how-to manual for anyone remodeling a house built before about 1955.

 There is page after page of photos showing how to enlarge a house and stay true to the historic nature of the neighborhood. It shows tips on reroofing historic houses. Or adding gables. Or porches. You get the idea.

Dave Hughes in a 2007 file photo.

 Kudos for the document go to Dave Hughes and Old Colorado City Historical Society .

Also, Kristine Van Wert and the Organization of Westside Neighbors.

I’ve written several Side Streets columns about the effort. Here’s a link to my first column on the subject in 2004.

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WESTSIDE IS THE BEST-DOCUMENTED SIDE is a post from: Side Streets

L’Aura Montgomery came to Colorado Springs in May 2005 for a week-long business trip.

She took a drive up Pikes Peak and on the way down, she pulled of U.S. Highway 24 to use her cell phone. Her exit happened to be along Fountain Creek near Rainbow Falls and it led her into Manitou Springs.

“I thought: ‘Omigosh, where am I?’ ” Montgomery recalled. “There was such an energy about Manitou. I couldn’t stop thinking about it.”

She was so enthralled that when she got back home to Lancaster, Pa., she sold or gave away everything that wouldn’t fit in her car and headed back to Manitou.

“I cut all my ties and drove out here,” she said. I left my two adult boys, my ex-husband, mom and dad, brother.

“I came here without knowing a soul here. But it called to me.”

It didn’t take long for L’Aura, 49, to immerse herself in the community. The jeweler and photographer made friends, was joined by her sons and eventually found love in Lane Williams. Here is a photo of L’Aura and Lane:

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An activist by nature, she was quick to take up the cause of Rainbow Falls, a postcard-beautiful waterfall. Here it is on a historic postcard .

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I love the hype used in describing the falls. Actually, I’m surprised they got away with the “largest falls in Colorado” line since it is only a fraction as high as Seven Falls, a few miles away.

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Still, it was a popular tourist destination a century ago.

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 But the falls had become a sad joke in recent years, known as “Graffiti Falls.” Here’s how it looked Wednesday. Snow covered much of the graffiti near the falls.

It’s trouble started in the 1930s when the state built a bridge across it, obscuring its view. In recent years, it has become the favorite canvas of juvenile delinquents with spray paint.

Then came the taggers.

They clearly like the location, in a remote canyon accessible only by foot along a historic wagon road to the gold fields of Cripple Creek and South Park. Here’s a look at the location from FlashEarth.com.

The taggers spare nothing in their quest for fresh canvas. Here is the sign erected at the canyon entrance to alert people to the historic nature of the road.

The short hike to the falls is more of the same:

Then you reach the bridge.

Not only is it ugly, but it is deteriorating. If it needs repair, maybe it ought to be removed altogether, daylighting the falls!

Not only did the state obscure scenic beauty, it created an environmental nightmare of gravel fill that continually slides into Fountain Creek below the falls.

 The hillside has pumped tons of silt and sediment into the creek over the years. Colorado Department of Transportation crews have made the situation worse trying to stabilize the hillside by dumping huge boulders down the hillside. Many rolled right into the creek, actually changing the course of the creek and causing even worse erosion to the tow of the hill.

In this photo, boulders are strewn down the hillside and in the creek.

For decades, the falls have been privately owned. Recently, the owners, Mansfield Development Co., which also owns the Cave of the Winds, agreed to give the property to El Paso County. Already, a preliminary rainbow falls master plan has been drafted addressing all the issues and goals for the property.

Once the change of ownership is official, a new round of public meeting will be held to update and formalize the master plan. Money will need to be raised and work will begin to clean up the area, build a trail, picnic areas and more.

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RAINBOW FALLS: years of work rewarded; years of work remain is a post from: Side Streets

State Rep. Amy Stephens, R-Monument

Rep. Amy Stephens, a Monument Republican, has introduced a little bill in the 2010 Colorado General Assembly that would have a big impact on small homeowners associations.

Stephens’ bill, House Bill 1290, would allow small HOAs to exempt themselves from the Colorado Common Interest Ownership Act, a law enacted in 1992 to govern condominium and townhome complexes as well as large neighborhoods that have jointly owned parks, trails, open space and covenants.

She calls it a matter of “common sense” because large condos and townhome

Jan Doran

complexes and sprawling subdivisions like Woodmoor with its 3,000 homes have much different issues than small single-family neighborhoods that were commonly build in the 1970s and ’80s.

To Jan Doran, administrator of the Discovery neighborhood homeowners association in Rockrimmon, it’s a matter of fairness.

Her HOA collects just $30 a year in dues from its 329 homeowners. That’s not even $10,000 in annual revenue. She said the HOA can’t afford all the government mandates handed down in recent years by the General Assembly.

It maintains a Web site where it posts all its covenants, bylaws, budgets, audits, reports and meeting minutes. But then there are the reports the HOA must produce for real estate agents and prospective buyers in addition to Discovery residents.

Attorney Lenard Rioth says an oversight in 1992 led to older, smaller HOAs to remain under the rule of CCIOA while newer, smaller HOAs were exempt. He said it’s time to allow the older, smaller HOAs like Discovery to opt out, too, if they like.

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SMALL HOAS SEEK FAIRNESS FROM COLORADO LAWMAKERS is a post from: Side Streets

Rose Ella Scott Arveson Simmons

In life, Rose Arveson was a woman who raised two daughters and endured hardships with grace and loved her namesake flower.

In death, the diminutive brunette became larger than life thanks to her devoted daughters, Pauline and Dorothy.

The sisters never married and lived together at the family home at 3540 W. Pikes Peak Ave., on Colorado Springs‘ west side.

They devoted their lives to preserving the memory of their mother and the miracles they attributed to her.

In fact, they claim six roses placed on Rose Arveson’s funeral casket in August 1963, wilted, dried and then rebloomed 10 days later. More miraculous than the resurrected roses were the healing powers of the rose petals.

The sisters became convinced their mother was a saint and petitioned the Vatican to have her recognized as a saint by the Catholic Church. Sainthood was denied. But the sisters were undeterred. They  built a shrine to her in their yard and declared her a saint, anyway.

The centerpiece is a large, open-air sanctuary featuring a marble-framed, hand-carved wood etching of Rose, seen below.

The etching and sanctuary sit at the top of the driveway, next to the modest ranch house where Rose lived with her daughters. Here’s another view of it.

You can reach the sanctuary by walking through the iron gate on Pikes Peak, past the statue of Christ with the plaque describing Rose and up the path.

Here’s the plaque on the statue:

People started coming to the shrine to pray and seeking healing. Here’s are a couple views of the neighborhood from FlashEarth:

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The shrine became world famous, thanks in part to publicity in tabloid newspapers like Weekly World News. Below is a story the tabloid ran in 1991:

The shrine’s popularity probably peaked in the 1980s, during the Reagan administration. Below is a letter the sisters received from the White House.

Today, the shrine is crumbling. The sisters have not been seen by neighbors for years. Only a man who is known as Jim is regularly seen around the place. But pilgrams still come and pray for help. A plastic tub holds literature written by Dorothy and Pauline as well as prayer requests from faithful.

Here is a seriously deteriorating statue along the path.+

Neighbors say they have not seen the sisters in several years.

Attempts to talk to Dorothy and Pauline were rebuffed by the mystery man. He said Dorothy was not able to talk at the time and suggested calling back. But he didn’t know when she might be able to talk.

He did not respond to questions about Pauline.

Based on past stories about the shrine, Dorothy is 79 today and Pauline is 81.

Unfortunately, records of births and deaths in Colorado are not open to the public so it was impossible to determine whether either woman is still alive. El Paso County property records show the property remains owned by Rose Arveson Simmons Shrine Inc.

There is evidence Pauline died April 10, 2008. The Social Security Administration’s online death registry reports Pauline R. Arveson died in El Paso County on that day.

And the Colorado Springs Police were called to the house the next day on a report of a body found, Lt. David Whitlock said. He described it as routine in the death of an elderly person.

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SAINT ROSE ARVESON – still a mystery a half-century later is a post from: Side Streets

Maybe you always wanted to be a writer.

Or you just have something you want to get off your chest.

Perhaps you just want a place to share your photos with your neighbors and friends.

Then check out CSFreshInk.com. You’re gonna love it.

It’s kind of like Facebook, but rather than connecting you with old college roommates or childhood friends, CSFreshInk is a place to hang out with your neighbors and folks you do business with, or see at church or your kids’ school.

The Web site is broken into 16 communities in Colorado Springs, El Paso and Teller counties. Once you sign up — it’s painless — then you can choose which communities you want to join.

Here’s a look at the page:

You can belong to one or more. On each community page, you’ll find stories posted by other members. Blog commentaries. Photos. And a listing of community events.

People like Ted Robertson use it to tell stories of people he encounters in his business life and elsewhere. Here’s his page in the Briargate community:

Ted has written stories and posted photos.

In fact, his photo recently won the weekly contest sponsored by FreshInk. He was awarded with movie passes. All he had to do was upload it.

Here’s his winning photo:

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FRESH*INK: an opportunity to tell your stories is a post from: Side Streets

 Hey all you citizen scientists. Time to get outside and help the professionals figure out just what’s going on in the bird world!

That’s right. It’s time for the 13th annual Great Backyard Bird Count.

For four days every February, thousands of citizen scientists fan out across North America and count birds. Doesn’t take hours. In fact, just 15 minutes 0f counting birds will help.

It can be an individual count in the backyard. Or a family activity on a nature walk. Or a classroom event with students and their teachers.

Ken Pals, retired supervisor of the Fountain Creek Nature Center, has been counting birds for the project for years. And he will participate this year. Here’s a look at Ken, in the green jacket, on a recent hawk field trip.

Ken said there’s a wide variety of birds that you can see in the Colorado Springs region. He’s recently seen a winter wren, a black-capped chickadee, an American robin, a red-winged blackbird as well as magpies, dark-eyed juncos and pine siskins.

Heres a few photos of birds he has seen on recent outings: an American goldfinch, left, and a Western bluebird.

This guy as a Northern flicker. 

 At the Great Backyard Bird Count Web site, you can dig into data going back to 1998. For example, there is a page on Colorado and even a breakdown of what was reported from Colorado Springs. Here’s a link to the Citizen Scientist reports from out area last year.

In my backyard in Rockrimmon, we get a variety of birds including this Northern Goshawk that chose a tree in our backyard to rest one morning.

We also get Stellar’s Jays like this one:

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We also see Blue Jays like this little corn thief:

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CALLING ALL CITIZEN SCIENTISTS: off to your backyards! is a post from: Side Streets

What would Katharine Lee Bates think?

The  Wellesley College English professor spent the summer of 1893 in Colorado Springs teaching at Colorado College.

During that summer, she and some other teachers rode a wagon to the summit of Pikes Peak.

The trip inspired her to later write the words to “America the Beautful” and the poem was first published July 4, 1895, in a church magazine in Boston.

It was later set to music and became the unofficial national anthem. A bronze of Bates was commissioned and unveiled in 2002. It sits outside the Pioneers Museum, positioned so Bates appears to be gazing at the El Paso County Courthouse. Oops. Actually, she was facing Pikes Peak until the courthouse additional nearly blocked her view. But that’s another blog.

Local tourist official Terry Sullivan, right, worries what Bates might write today, if she were to witness the effects of budget cuts on city parks and institutions.

What would she think of unwatered grass in our parks? No trash cans? Pools and neighborhood community centers boarded up? Streets dark because the city turned off 10,000 streetlights.

Sullivan is president of Experience Colorado Springs, the area’s convention and visitors bureau. Tourism is his life.

 Even worse, he worries what folks across America think after word of the crisis made national news last week.

 It started with a story in the Denver Post and spread across the Internet, finding its way onto blogs and network television newscasts.

 Read the entire Denver Post story.

The biggest blow, in Sullivan’s eyes, was , including a 28-second sound bite by ABC News anchorwoman Diane Sawyer on the evening news. Here’s a link to the ABC News report . 

It really wasn’t a huge story for Sawyer and ABC.

Just a brief mention of the problems.

But it was enough to get the attention of folks like Sullivan, who knows just how important a tourist destination’s reputation is to its success or failure.

Some in Colorado Springs caution against overreacting to the bad-mouthing.

Mike Kazmierski, right, president of the Colorado Springs Reginal Economic Development Corp. counters that the harsh headlines are a sign of the times.

Hardly a city in the United States isn’t suffering in this historically bad economy, Kazmierski said.

And he is quick to point to three pages of accolades in 2009 from magazines on Web sites that praised the Pikes Peak region.

 In each, Colorado Springs is rated one of the healthiest, happiest, smartest places to live and do business in America.

 ”Our problems are transient,” Kazmierski said. “The mountains, our quality of life, will be here forever.

“We’re all i na tough time. But we live here for a reason. It’s a wonderful community. We’ll get through this. We always have.”

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WHAT WOULD KATHARINE LEE BATES THINK? is a post from: Side Streets

Fourth Judicial District Judge Timothy Simmons, below, wasn’t buying what Holger and Sally Christiansen were selling.

Simmons presided over a three-day bench trial last month in the case of Colorado Springs vs. the Christiansens and their coutersuit over their construction of a massive red brick wall around the compound of their Old North End Neighborhood mansion on North Cascade Avenue.

The city accused the Christiansens — he’s an architect and she’s a real estate agent — of building their wall without proper permits, without necessary Historic Preservation approval, and in violation of codes governing height, public easements and setbacks.

They started construction in June 2007 and continued work even after the city issued a “stop work order” and warned them it was not in compliance.

In other words, it was too tall, sat too close to property lines and encroached on city property by straying about two feet into an alleyway. Here’s a look at the wall in a photo I took in May 2008 when I first wrote about it. I’ve also blogged about it several times. Here’s my most recent postings.

 Simmons rejected their arguments in an 11-page verdict which ended by giving the Christiansens 90 days to lower the wall to 72 inches. Here’s a link to the verdict so you can read it for yourself: simmons-verdict

It’s a “very big victory” for the city, said Will Bain, senior city attorney, because it affirmed his argument that city codes, permitting procedures and appeals processes must be followed and not short-circuited by a trip to court.

“We argued to the judge that this is not something the court can determine,” Bain said. “The city’s process has to be honored.”

In his closing arguments, Bain actually argued that the Christiansens were asking for special treatment.

“The case comes down to whether the city is a city of laws or a city of men,” Bain told Simmons. The Gazette’s John Ensslin reported on the trial at his excellent Sidebar blog on Gazette.com.

The couple had maintained they were singled out for selective enforcement, denied due process and had their constitutional rights violated. They claimed they could not get a fair hearing before the Historic Preservation Board.

The Christiansens have 45 days to file an appeal and 90 days to lower the wall.

I called Holger at his architect office to see what he planned to do.

He hung up on me.

Fire up another bowl of popcorn. This could be a double feature!

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JUDICIAL BULLDOZER AIMED AT CASCADE WALL is a post from: Side Streets