Side Streets ~ Neighborhood people and issues

Archive for April, 2011

JOSIE TRUJILLO’S HOUSE NO LONGER SYMBOLIZES BLIGHT

April 27th, 2011, 1:27 pm by
 
 

Josie Trujillo at the window of her house in Cragmor. The swimming pool, once filled with mud, cattails, weeds and trees, now only holds a little dirty water from the winter.

Josie Trujillo is no slumlord who accumulates properties for rent and neglects them. 

She is not like some who simply are content to let her property sit and rot and the neighbors be damned. 

Josie is someone whose life spun out of control and her house in Cragmor suffered. Along with her neighbors. 

But now, 12 years later, the house is improving even if Josie is still struggling. 

Here’s how it appeared in the July 18, 2002, edition of The Gazette when it was featured in the first Side Streets and came to symbolize blight in Colorado Springs. 

 

Here’s how the house looks today. 

Neighbors are much happier to see a freshly painted house with new windows and neat landscaping. 

Josie Trujillo's house as it appeared April 27, 2011.

I’m glad to be able to report the progress Josie has made on the house. 

But her story is so sad and she has a long way to go before she’s able to live in the place again. 

Her first goal is to complete the exterior. 

The eaves along the back and over a small rear deck still must be repaired. 

Then she can pull permits from the city and start concentrating on the interior. 

It will be a huge chore. 

The inside is bare studs and plywood. She has insulation in about half the house. But the amount of work needed is staggering. 

Electrical wiring. Plumbing. A furnace. Water heater. 

Her needs are great. 

But she’s determined to get it done, even if it takes many more years. 

The repairs Josie Trujillo has made on her house can be seen. She is working her way around the place. Only a small deck on the rear, remains to be fixed before the exterior is finished.

Here's a closer look at the deck. A new sliding glass door has been installed. Next, the eaves, ceiling and siding will be replaced.

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Josie Trujillo walks through the remains of her living room.

Her house was featured in the first Side Streets on July 18, 2002, along with the Joseph O’Brien house on the west side, which has been condemned since 1973.

Neighbor frustration with similarly blighted houses led the Colorado Springs Code Enforcement office to campaign for an ordinance to combat blight.

The O’Brien house became “exhibit A” for neglect when the City Council adopted a blight ordinance in 2006. Josie’s neighbors also testified on behalf of the ordinance.

Here’s a look at that very first Side Streets on July 18, 2002:

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HOA BOARDS GET ADVICE FOR SURVIVING ECONOMIC TURMOIL

April 26th, 2011, 5:38 pm by

The Rocky Mountain chapter of the Community Associations Institute, an umbrella group for homeowners association boards and management companies, is offering an educational seminar Friday, April 29, for HOA boards and professionals focusing on surviving the economic downturn.

It’s open to the public and will provide tips for HOAs facing declining dues and experiencing neighborhood foreclosures, delinquencies and bankruptcies

“Running an HOA is like running a business,” said Brian Terhark, president of the Community Associations Institute – Rocky Mountain chapter.  “HOA boards and managers are trying to understand what the impact is to their bottom line.”

CAI reports a recent national survey found that more than half of the nation’s estimated 310,000 HOAs are enduring financial strain and 54 percent of the responding HOAs described their problems as “serious” or “severe.”

The conference Friday is designed to address questions including:

  •  What is the role of the new Division of Regulatory Agencies HOA Information Office?
  •  How can you secure a loan for your community?
  •  What is the best way to collect delinquent assessments?
  •  How should an HOA plan for natural disasters like a tornado, flood or hail storm?

The conference is part of  CAI-RMC’s annual Spring Showcase Conference.  Open to the public, this is the largest conference of its kind for Colorado HOAs and offers educational sessions to HOA managers, volunteer board members, homeowners and industry professionals who face increased challenges from the recession. 

The HOA conference is scheduled for 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday, at the Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum,    7711 East Academy Boulevard, Denver, 80230,  in Denver’s Lowry neighborhood.

For more information, go to www.hoa-colorado.org or call 303-951-4973.

Events Schedule – $70 registration fee includes:

  • Breakfast and lunch
  • Nine education sessions on:
  • Delinquencies, Foreclosures and Deficits – Best practices for dealing with these issues
  • Strategic Planning for an Emergency – How to prepare your HOA for a disaster
  • 60 Questions in 60 Minutes – Free legal advice from leading HOA attorneys
  • DORA Panel Discussion – Insight on the new HOA Information and Resource Office
  • Managing the Basics of an HOA
  • What I Wish I Would Have Known – Senior HOA managers share lessons learned
  • Asbestos/Mold/Lead – How to identify and manage these hazards
  • How to Build a Sense of Community Within Your HOA
  • Close Encounters of a Dangerous Kind – How to handle fair housing requests
  • Admission to the exhibit hall
  • Complimentary conference bag and prizes

 

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DOEWOOD GATE DECISION SURE TO MAKE FOLKS MAD

April 24th, 2011, 12:01 pm by

The controversial Doewood Drive gate in Woodmoor, east of Monument. Erected in 1996, it has been the subject of heated debate in recent years between nearby residents who want the road closed permanently and surrounding residents who want it open to through traffic as originally intended.

Folks in Woodmoor are upset. The focus of the snit is 350 feet of dirt with a big steel gate in the middle.

This is no small time quarrel. Woodmoor is one of the largest unincorporated communities in Colorado with 3,000 homes, a lake and golf course. Traffic is a big deal.

And so is the Doewood Gate.

The strip of dirt connects the northern and southern sections of Doewood Drive. It’s a right-of-way established in 1996 when the area was developing.

The dirt and the gate were built to allow Doewood to be completed as a north-south through road once the neighborhood was fully built and traffic volumes made the connection necessary.

In November 2009, the county transportation folks took ownership of the roads as the Doewood Estates was deemed completed. And they started making plans to complete Doewood and open it.

Whoa!

The folks who live on Doewood were not happy. They don’t want the estimated 650 cars a day traffic engineers say would use Doewood once it is opened.

They collected 118 signatures on a petition to convince the El Paso County Commission to keep Doewood as is. In fact, they want the gate removed, the dirt plowed and seeded and the land deeded to adjacent neighbors, forever ending the Doewood Gate Debate.

Folks who live on the streets around Doewood are equally passionate about the gate.

They want the dirt paved and the gate removed. They are tired of commuters using their side streets to reach County Line Road on their way to Interstate 25.

They circulated their own petition and collected 160 signatures.

Experts who studied the question for the county concluded the road should be opened. They say emergency vehicles will have quicker response times to crimes, fires and medical emergencies.

And access will make increase the safety on surrounding streets they say were not designed for all that traffic.

They also recommend Doewood be smoothed of a dangerous curve and that it be widened and resurfaced. Cost estimates are around $600,000.

A look at the closed section of Doewood Drive in Woodmoor as seen from Google Earth.

The county will take up the issue during an informal work session and then before the formal board in May.

I’m expecting fireworks.

WHAT: Board of County Commission work session

WHEN: 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., May 17

WHERE: County Office Building, 27 E. Vermijo Ave. downtown, Third Floor, Commission Hearing Room

NOTE: No formal action is taken during work sessions. The commission is scheduled to formally consider the Doewood Gate issue at its May 24 meeting.

The Doewood Drive gate is visible to the north from Ridgeview Circle.

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In 1996, the El Paso County Planning Commission made provivisions for the completion of Doewood Drive. But it held out the possibility it might never be built as a through-street:

Click here to read a 16-page report prepared in March.

Read an extensive study of the traffic patterns and the impact of opening the gate.

In January 2010, the county hosted a standing-room-only public meeting. Here is the presentation made at the meeting.

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WHEELBARROW BRIGADE TO HELP HEALING

April 20th, 2011, 12:08 pm by

It makes perfect sense that professional landscapers would celebrate Earth Day.

After all, landscapers are all about protecting the environment.

Planting trees and shrubs and flowers is not just a fad with these folks. It’s their lives.

And it makes perfect sense that landscapers, under the leadership of PLANET — the Professional Landcare Network — decided to launch a National Day of Service on Earth Day.

What better day to promote their profession, to reach out and remind everyone there are plenty of certified professional landscapers out there who care about their communities and their customers.

After all, we’ve all heard stories — I’ve written a few myself — about crooks claiming to be landscapers who take half your downpayment and disappear.

In our area on Friday, professional landscapers from around the Pikes Peak region will be volunteering their time and using donated materials to build a healing garden at Memorial Hospital for Children on Boulder Street east of downtown Colorado Springs.

If you have any doubts about the sincerity of these landscapers and their commitment to this day of service, consider this:

They are taking on a project that the hospital had budgeted $100,000 to complete.

And they will be moving all the materials — 50 tons of dirt, 5 tons of sand, 24 tons of sand/gravel roadbase, 2.5 tons of drainage rock, and uncounted tons of flagstone, boulders, pavers, trees and shrubs — by wheelbarrow to the site.

It will take volunteers a day just to haul all the stuff the length of a football field down a narrow ramp to reach the place they will build the healing garden.

I’d say that qualifies as a true day of service for these members of the Associated Landscape Contractors of Colorado.

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Here’s a look at the $110 million Memorial Hospital for Children on Boulder Street. The seven-story east tower opened at Memorial Health Systems’ downtown campus in December 2007.

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Volunteers from the Associated Landscape Contractors of Colorado's southern chapter will build a healing garden using donated materials on Earth Day, April 22, 2011, at the base of the Memorial Hospital for Children east tower. The garden will be built behind the retaining wall and railing.

The garden will feature three large circular patios, a fountain, benches and tables and a variety of plants.

The patios represent hope, life and healing. The area will be a retreat for children and their families as well as Memorial employees.

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CAN ART SAVE THE WORLD? STEVE WOOD THINKS SO!

April 17th, 2011, 12:01 pm by

Steve Wood is a Manitou Springs artist who is convinced the creation of public art, involving children and adults from across a region can foster better communication and lead to a deeper understanding and strong overall community.

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Wood, pictured with a whimsical bear sculpture, is such a strong believer art can change the world that he founded “Concrete Couch” to pursue his passion.

This week, he’s going even farther by hosting “Off the Couch” — a regional conference to bring people together across the Pikes Peak region to create public art as a way to build a better community.

And he wants you and your friends to participate for free in any of five workshops.

WORKSHOPS:

1) Art Bench Workshop at Fort Carson: military and civilians work together to make a concrete and ceramic tile bench for a playground on post (10 a.m. to 1 p.m. weekdays, with a Sunday session)

2) Environmental Restoration Workshop: Manitou teens and community work with Rocky Mountain Field Institute on several Manitou trails (3 to 5 p.m. weekdays)

3) Mosaic Workshop: community works with mosaic experts on a direct project in downtown Colorado Springs (1 to 4 p.m. weekdays)

4) Design Workshop: community works with design professionals to develop public art models and schematic drawings for a site in downtown Colorado Springs (9 a.m. to noon weekdays)

5) Marimba Workshop: Ute Pass Elementary students and community work with musical playground professional to make a marimba at their school (3 to 5 p.m. weekdays)

His conference is under the umbrella of the national Community Built Association, a California-based nonprofit founded in 1989.

To get involved, just email Steve at conference@concretecouch.org

Here’s a look at a couple Concrete Couch public art creations:

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RESIDENTS SAFE AS METRO DISTRICT DEFAULT LOOMS

April 10th, 2011, 12:00 pm by

Forest Meadows in like a lot of subdivisions started in the mid-2000s in Colorado Springs. 

No one expected the nation’s economy to collapse, leaving developers sitting on thousands of lots with no buyers. 

 

Developer Jim Morley

Forest Meadows developer Jim Morley has been a poster child for the plight of developers. The size of the foreclosures linked to him are absolutely staggering. 

He has laid off all 20 of his employees and watched his porfolio of properties disintegrate. 

Today, he said his company is on “life support” and he’s trying to stay afloat with his few remaining projects. 

Not only is he broke, Morley said the same is true of the Woodmen Heights Metro District, a quasi-governmental umbrella organzation to oversee infrastructure in subdivisions planned for a 1,070-acre swath on the city’s northern edges.

Woodmen Heights was created by a group of the city’s most prominent developers — Morley, City Councilman Scott Hente, brothers Randy and Lindsay Case, and Les Krohnfeldt – to finance the subdivision’s infrastructure and amenities and oversee future maintenance. 

The district sold $22 million in bonds in 2005 to build roads, water, sewer and drainage, parks and trails, retaining walls, entranceways and landscaping. To repay the debt, it is authorized to collect a special property tax on the homes and businesses in the district.

 Of course, the housing market crashed in 2007 and the number of houses built have not generated enough property tax to service the bonds.

An audit of the 2009 district financial statement produced a dire warning: its expenses exceeded income by $1.56 million and the auditor doubted “its ability to continue as a going concern.”

The district’s attorney, Sean Allen, confirmed that cash-flow projections show the district will be in default of its December interest payment unless bondholders agree to refinance the district’s $30 million debt.

Forest Meadows subdivision as seen from FlashEarth.com prior to construction in 2007.

 

Forest Meadows at the intersection of Black Forest Road and Vollmer Road just north of Woodmen Road in Colorado Springs.

The good news, Morley said, is that the city capped the district’s ability to raise property taxes at 40 mills for residential property and 50 mills for commercial.

As a result, homeowners will not be asked to pay exhorbitant property taxes to repay the debt.

That’s exactly what happened in 1989 in Colorado Centre in the Banning-Lewis Ranch development when its metro district went into default. To avert homeowners facing property tax bills of $30,000 or more, the district declared bankruptcy.

Here’s a related story about Banning-Lewis Ranch financial troubles.

And read the more recent saga of the Metex Metro District.

To understand how fast things deteriorated, Morley offered these numbers:

In 2005, when Woodmen Heights was conceived, he sold 906 lots.

In 2006, he sold 881 lots.

And in the first seven months of 2007, he sold 360 lots.

Then everything crashed.

Over the next five months he sold just 24 lots.

It wasn’t much better in 2008 when he sold just 59 lots.

Sales bottomed out in 2009 when his sales were just 42 lots.

Things rebounded mildly in 2010 with 81 lots and he said 2011 is shaping up about the same.

In fact, he’s seeing more activity at Forest Meadows, which he started in 2007. In the first phase he developed 532 lots. Of that total, 330 have sold and most have houses built. Plans call for 550 single family homes and 220 multifamily lots with commercial parcels in the next phase, which is on indefinite hold. 

What is built at Forest Meadows is pretty nice. It looks like a typical new subdivision with tidy lawns, porches with swings and even a park with a playground. 

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One park in Forest Meadows is finished. Another awaits completion.

But there are obvious signs of problems like the sagging retaining wall. There are plenty of vacant lots, some overgrown with weeds, and large sections of missing sidewalk. A second planned park is unfinished, as well, to the frustration of some residents. 

A sagging retaining wall is one of the infrastructure issues that needs to be addressed. But the Woodmen Heights Metro District doesn't have the money to make improvements and developer Jim Morley said his company "is on life support."

Morley said he’s trying to stay on top of issues like the wall. Neighbors have voluntarily pulled weeds from the entrance median to improve appearances. 

A developer's blueprint for various phases and land-use plans in Forest Meadows.

Others complain the neighborhood is being allowed to deteriorate by allowing some residents to forgo landscaping and to let their fences and yards deteriorate. 

Some neighbors worry that ugly, deteriorating fences like this one are an indication the neighborhood is already in decline.

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VOTERS WANT A VOICE; WILL MINORITIES GET THEIRS FINALLY?

April 6th, 2011, 4:52 pm by

Colorado Springs City Council District Map/courtesy Colorado Springs

For years, the Colorado Springs City Council has included four representatives elected from specific districts and four members elected at-large or on a citywide basis.

Voters on Tuesday decided add two new districts to the map. When the change takes effect in 2013, the nine-member council will feature six district representatives and just three at-large representatives.

Experts say the change is a victory for neighborhoods. By anchoring councilmembers to specific districts, it ensures accountability.

And be creating more districts, each representative has fewer constituents. That gives folks greater access to their individual council representative.

Some warn the change could lead to more parochial fights on the Council. Representatives of older, established neighborhoods, for example, might find themselves pitted against newer, faster growing suburan neighborhoods with different infrastructure needs.

Some are especially excited because the change creates the potential for the city’s first “majority minority” district — a place where Hispanics, blacks and other minority residents outnumber whites.

Prior to the 2013 vote, the map above will be redrawn to carve out the new districts. The racially diverse south and southeast areas of the city could find themselves with their own seat on council.

“Symbolically, it would be quite significant,” said Josh Dunn, a political science professor at the University of Colorado’s campus here. “It would be a positive development if it creates a sense the council really is more representative of all peoples’ interests.”

Here’s a story the Gazette’s excellent political reporter Daniel Chacon wrote prior to the election.

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RED LIGHT CAMERAS NEVER LIE

April 3rd, 2011, 11:59 am by

Red light cameras have been busting motorists in Colorado Springs for nearly six months now.

Perhaps they will come to your neighborhood someday.

For now, the cops-on-a-pole operate at four intersections:

  • North Nevada Avenue and East Bijou Street
  • East Platte Avenue and North Circle Drive
  • East Platte Avenue and North Murray Boulevard
  • Barnes Road and Oro Blanco Drive.

And folks are not happy about them.

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One reader believes the city has shaved a second off the yellow light cycle to catch more cars in the intersection.

Pat Miller said she was shocked how quickly the light at Nevada and Bijou changed from green to yellow to red.

And she was not happy when she got a letter from the city with a photo showing her car exiting the intersection. The photo was attached to a $75 ticket for a red light violation.

So Miller, a retired school teacher, went back and timed all the lights visible along Nevada. She concluded the yellow cycle at Bijou was 25 percent shorter than any other intersection in sight.

Most traffic signals had a four-second yellow cycle while the Bijou yellow shined just three seconds.

The city invested $5,800 per intersection to install the cameras. As of March 21, two officers supervised by a sergeant have issued 5,366 tickets using the red-light cameras.

 If every motorist received a $75 as Pat Miller did, the cameras were a good investment for the city, generating $402,450.

The cameras were installed to combat red light runners, said Dave Krauth, city trraffic engineer.

“I would love to see everyone stop running red lights so we can tear them out,” Krauth said. “Red light runners cause the most serious accidents.”

Consider the hearse I photographed Thursday evening as it drove north on Nevada.

The hearse approached the intersection as the signal was turning red and pedestrians were crossing.

Clearly, the traffic light was  red as the hearse accelerated into the intersection.

Not a problem for our hyper-aggressive hearse driver. Maybe he was trying to drum up business as he made a hard left onto Bijou, lurching wildly. I can only imagine a casket doing a death-roll in the back.

The red light cameras must have gotten a good shot of the hearse because the system’s lights lit the intersection as if it was high noon.

The brain-dead driver never slowed and went roaring west down Bijou.

Here’s a link to a story about a new van the Colorado Springs Police bought to combat speeding.

And here’s an earlier story on the red light cameras.

Got questions about driving? Read for yourself the Rules of the Road in Colorado.

Or read the law: Colorado Revised Statues 42-4-603.

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