Side Streets ~ Neighborhood people and issues

Archive for May, 2011

NEIGHBORHOODS TURN TO SOCIAL MEDIA

May 29th, 2011, 10:06 am by

Ethan Beute

Ethan Beute and Stephanie Weber had the same idea.

Both thought Facebook would be a great way to connect with their neighbors.

So Ethan built a Facebook page for his neighborhood, Ivywild, south of downtown Colorado Springs.

Stephanie Weber

And Stephanie built one for her Stetson Hills neighborhood of Ridgeview on the city’s eastern edge.

Ethan spent a day walking around Ivywild, taking photos of homes, parks and businesses. He wrote a brief description of the historic neighborhood with precise boundaries and directions and launched his page.

Stephanie created an even more elaborate page for Ridgeview with a mission statement, names of homeowners association officials, links to neighborhood covenants, helpful phone numbers and more.

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Ethan said he built Ivywild’s for fun and to promote his neighborhood because he thinks others would share his enthusiasm for its old homes with their character and the cool businesses in the neighborhood.

Stephanie wanted to build the kind of community she remembered, growing up in Kansas. With so many people using Facebook, she considered it a natural way to reach out and find new friends.

And it makes a lot of sense. A Facebook page is easier to create and maintain than an individual website. People can chat more easily than via email. And they can share photos and things like covenants and newsletters more easily on a Facebook page.

Stephanie also had a sense of urgency. She wanted to use the Facebook page to promote a neighborhood picnic last August.

Today, the pages have gone in different directions.

Ethan managed to recruit a couple other enthusiastic neighbors who have joined him as administrators, feeding the Ivywild page with content.

Some of the content is current events — updates on the effort to create an urban renewal zone in Ivywild and transform the beautiful old elementary school into a  business center.

Some are links to newspaper columns about the neighborhood.

More often, the posts relate to wine tastings and brewpub specials or discounts at the neighborhood spa.

There’s even talk about restoring the neighborhood sign.

An architect's drawing of the Ivywild school. Plans call for it to become a brewery and bakery.

It appears the Ivywild Facebook page is updated every few days and it has 175 fans.

But the Stetson Hills Ridgeview page is not enjoying the same success.

After the picnic last August, Stephanie moved overseas. The page has gone dormant.

The last posts were photos of the picnic. It looked like fun. Families enjoying inflatable slides, face-painting, games and food.

Then silence.

Stephanie is disappointed that all her work seems to have been wasted.

Stetson Hills' Ridgeview neighborhood enjoys panoramic views of Pikes Peak.

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NATIONAL HISTORIC DISTRICT TO MOST IS JUST HOME TO SOME

May 22nd, 2011, 11:04 am by

Chances are, you have heard about the mysterious Keithley Log Cabin National Historic District in Manitou Springs but you’ve never seen it much less toured its cabins, which date to 1919.  

Well now is your chance to see it.  

It’s a living history museum. Hand-built log cabins in a hilly valley and on a ridge with spectacular views of the Garden of the Gods.  

  

Everard Keithley in a photocopy of a 1937 newspaper clipping.

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The district was created in 1983 because folks deemed valuable the collection of cabins built by legendary Pike National Forest superintendent Everard Keithley.  

After working summer jobs for the Forest Service, Keithley came to Colorado and took a fulltime appointment in Durango in January 1912.   

He moved to the Pike in 1913 to oversee planting trees among other duties.  

In 1919, he paid $1,700 for 10 acres on the eastern edge of Manitou Springs and started building a cabin.  

Eventually he would own 16 acres and by 1956 there were seven cabins on the property.  

 

Nancy Galles Bower owns 8.6 acres and six cabins that make up the bulk of the Keithley Log Cabin National Historic District in Manitou Springs. They were built by her grandfather, Everard Keithley, over a span of 1919 to 1956. Keithley was supervisor of the Pike National Forest for 20 years who became a legend for his efforts to plant trees, build roads and protect the forest.

  

He became Pike superintendent in 1925,  three years after the Forest Service had moved its headquarters to Colorado Springs.  

By the time he retired in 1946, Keithley was credited with overseeing the planting of 30 million trees across the Pike. It was a massive job to reclaim the land, which had been stripped by loggers, miners, homesteaders and wildfires.  

In addition, he is credited for building the Rampart Range Road, fighting to open Gold Camp Road to the public and developing tree nurseries used to reforest mountain ranges.  

Keithley practiced what he preached. Besides building cabins on his land, he created a tree nursery and planted trees all over his land, which had been a goat pasture.  

Each cabin was named for a type of tree, such as Blue Spruce.  

In this image from GoogleEarth, the Keithley Log Cabin National Historic District can been seen. On the north end is a tree nursery planted by Everard Keithley, legendary Pike National Forest supervisor. Millions of trees were planted in the forest during his 33 years with Pike National Forest, the last 20 as supervisor. His efforts reclaimed land descimated by logging and wildfire. He also built seven cabins from 1919 to 1956 designated a historic district in 1983.

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Keithley died in 1973 and the homestead passed to his son, Joseph.  

 However, his son didn’t have the same passion for trees and the property was neglected, says his daughter, Nancy Galles Bower. 

Still, in 1983 the property was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.  

Joseph Keithley loved trains and built a small-gauge track around the property. He even built an exact replica of a coal-fired steam engine which he rode around the tracks.  

 By the time he died in 1999, the nursery was overgrown and most of the fruit trees on the property were gone.  

Nancy Galles Bower and her son, Doug Edmundson, stand on the porch of a cabin built by her grandfather, Everard Keithley.

 Today, Nancy Galles Bower is matriarch of the property. When Joseph died, she was able to keep 8.6 acres and six cabins.  

She and her 44-year-old son, Doug Edmundson, live in cabins on the property and they rent the other four. They also share a passion for restoring the property and preserving the legacy of Everard Keithley. 

Nancy Galles Bower looks at the coal-fired steam locomotive and tender her father, Joseph Keithley, designed and built as an exact replica of an actual train. He used to ride it around the family homestead.

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Doug Edmundson stands on the old narrow-gauge railroad tracks built by his grandfather, Joseph Keithley. He hopes to restore the train.

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One of the first cabins built by Everard Keithley, supervisor of the Pike National Forest from 1926-46. He built a group of cabins that were placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

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This is a photo of a plaque erected on a boulder near Balanced Rock in the Garden of the Gods honoring Nancy Galles Bower's grandfather, Everard Keithley.

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The U.S. Forest Service brand is visible in the logs of the cabins.

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EX-MARINE LIVING MILITARY CREED: NO FALLEN COMRADE LEFT BEHIND

May 18th, 2011, 12:36 pm by
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Tena Quackenbush and Scott Burns

Tena Quackenbush, 44, spend four years in the Marine Corps and learned her lessons well.

Especially the soldier’s creed that no fallen comrade is ever left behind.

She’s living that creed in her care for Scott Burns, a disabled Navy veteran.

Tena and Scott were neighbors five years in a low-income apartment complex on Colorado Springs‘ southeast side.

As veterans, they bonded quickly. Tena said Scott was just a nice guy and she had special sympathy for his disability, linked to his exposure to Agent Orange during his Vietnam War-era service.

It’s a tough neighborhood and Scott watched out for Tena and others, giving them rides and cooking for them on his beloved barbecue grill. He gave Tena a ride to her bartending  job almost every night.

When Scott became ill about a year ago, and could no longer drive himself to the doctor, Tena stepped up to help. He didn’t have any family and she said it only right that she should return his many favors.

The news from the doctors was not good. A year ago, Scott was diagnosed with ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, an incurable degenerative disease that slowly cripples its victims and ends in death. It’s also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

As his condition rapidly deteriorated, Tena did what she learned in the Marines. She hoisted her fallen comrade.

“There was nobody else,” she said with a shrug.

In become Scott’s primary caregiver, Tena lost her own boyfriend: “He said he couldn’t handle it.”

Tena has soldiered on. She had to get Scott out of the cramped apartment, so she found a place in the Monument Creek Mobile Home Park and they moved in. She said it’s wide hallways and open floor plan accommodate his wheelchair.

And it seems to suit his three black cats: Liberty, Freedom and Justice.

Tena is living with him in the new place, providing around-the-clock care.

To make Scott comfortable, she hung his American flag on his bedroom wall. Then she searched the Internet for train buffs to help her build a model train she bought him.

“He loves trains and I wanted to put them around the house for him,” Tena said.

Ray Hoppes adjusts a train he helped build along the walls of Scott Burns' bedroom in this May 17, 2011, photo.

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So she tracked down some train clubs — the Rocky Mountain G Scalers and the Slimrail Model Railway Club — whose members came running when she asked.

A team led by Ray Hoppes built an elevated train that runs the perimeter of Scott’s bedroom and Margaret Barber painted a scenic mural on the wall. They also built a table-top set that Scott can see from his bed.

As Tena praised them for their kindness, giving up their evenings to build Scott’s trains, Margaret turned the praise back on her.

“Tena is the hero here,” she said. “Not us. Make sure Tena is the hero of this story.”

Margaret Barber worked atop a ladder to paint a pastel mural on the wall of Scott Burns' bedroom. The mural is a scenic backdrop for the train that runs the perimeter of the room.

Margaret Barber used pastels and cutouts of buildings to create a scenic mural backdrop for a train her Rocky Mountain G Scalers model train club erected in Scott Burns' bedroom.

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‘ROGUE’ HIKER TICKETED FOR GOING OFF-TRAIL

May 15th, 2011, 12:00 pm by
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Signs like this are posted in Stratton Open Space to keep hikers out of reclamation areas. Rick Bergles said the signs are illegal and has been ticketed for ignoring them and walking past them onto closed trails.

Rick Bergles says it’s a crime what the Colorado Springs Parks Department is doing in Stratton Open Space.

So why is Bergles the one facing trial?

Kurt Schroeder, manager of city parks, trails and open spaces, says Bergles is a rogue hiker who ignores signs warning people to stay off reclamation areas.

Schroeder said Bergles refuses to stay off closed trails and even removes brush barricading the closed areas.

After repeated reports of Bergles going off-trail and removing brush barricades, parks officials ticketed Bergles. He has asked for a trial in municipal court, perhaps later this month.

We’re talking signs and barricades like these:

Colorado Springs Parks Department trail builders have piled tree branches across social trails in Stratton Open Space and buried limbs in paths that have turned into gullies in an effort to stop erosion and reclaim the paths. Hiker Rick Bergles objects to the piles and has been ticketed for ignoring the signs and walking on reclamation areas.

Winfield Scott Stratton struck gold in Victor, Colo., and used his wealth to benefit Colorado Springs

Bergles insists the signs are illegal. He said the city has no right to restrict his movement inside an open space.

He fears the pilies of slash dramatically increase the danger of wilfire in the park, creating what he calls “fire highways” that will intensify any blaze that occurs.

It outrages him to see the trees that have been cut and used to block the social paths and fill the gullies that criss-cross the 318-acre park.

There is anger in the cutlines of the photos he posted online.

You can hear the anger in his voice when he talks about it on a couple videos he has posted online in his effort to plead his case.

One video shows the slash piles and another takes viewers on a hike in Stratton with Bergles up to an area where a wildfire burned in March.

In this image from FlashEarth.com, a spider web or social trials is visible in Stratton Open Space. xxx Tree branches are piled in a deep gully to catch soil and gravel that washed downhill in rainstorms on the Stratton Open Space. Parks officials buried the slash in the gully, angering Rick Bergles who said it was unnecessary.

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Rick Bergles calls this pile of tree branches a “fire highway” and fears a wildfire in Stratton Open Space will be fueled by similar piles used by the Colorado Springs Parks Department to close social trails and eroding gullies.
I talked to Christina Randall about the piles of slash used to block social paths in Stratton. She is the wildfire mitigation administrator for the city. She said the piles of slash do represent “jackpots of fuel” to a wildfire. But the piles are not near fences or any structures. So they pose little risk.
Rick Bergles is shown in an interview with KOAA News First 5 after the March wildfire in Stratton Open Space.

 And Randall said the benefit created by using brush to plug gullies and catch soil and sediment in reclaiming the area outweigh any risk of intensifying a possible wildfire.

Bergles was cited under a couple city ordinances dealing with destruction and damage to city parks. Here is a link to them.

This link gives some good information about sustainable trails and why social paths that follow the most direct route up a hillside, or along a “fall line,” are bad and contribute to erosion.

A new trail biult at Stratton Open Space is seen parallel to a closed trail that has been filled with buried slash.

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IVYWILD IN THE TRENCHES IN BATTLE AGAINST BLIGHT

May 11th, 2011, 12:55 pm by

Ivywild is a neighborhood south of downtown Colorado Springs and northeast of the Broadmoor area.

Ivywild is a hard-luck neighborhood south of downtown Colorado Springs where folks have been struggling to combat encroaching blight and crime.

It’s been a working-class neighborhood for years. But recently it has suffered as a home to drug dealers, prostitutes, other criminals and homeless people.

It’s elementary school has closed and businesses have left as the neighborhood deteriorated.

In recent weeks, Ivywild has been declared blighted and qualified for an urban renewal designation, which would help spur economic revitalization by allowing tax revenue from future development to be used for public improvements.

One improvement residents want is the elimination of homeless camps like this one at South Cascade and St. Elmo avenues.

This pretty little creekside meadow actually is a homeless camp at South Cascade and St. Elmo avenues in Ivywild, south of downtown Colorado Springs.

The property is among 25 or so owned by On the Ivy, a company founded by developer Mark Morley, downtown club owner Sam Guadagnoli and real estate broker Robert Aertker.

On the Ivy amassed about 12 acres of land in Ivywild along Cheyenne Creek in 2007 with plans to develop an upscale urban region similar to Cherry Creek in Denver.

A closer look at a homeless camp in Ivywild, on property owned by On the Ivy development group. City code enforcement officers have been trying to close the camp since February.

But the economy went bust and all the big plans were shelved. Meanwhile, On the Ivy’s property in Ivywild continued to deteriorate.

Neighbors are upset because the homeless have dragged a lot of trash to the site and build fires in the brush.

Colorado Springs Code Enforcement officers have tried to clean up homeless camps in Ivywild, but Administrator Ken Lewis said On the Ivy has not cooperated with his team’s efforts.

In fact, Lewis said On the Ivy mostly ignores requests to cooperate.

Now, a small group of business owners including Martin Harper, a certified public accountant, is taking action. They are planning to clean up the worst of On the Ivy’s overgrown lots and try to keep the homeless from flopping there.

Neighbors are tired of the trash dragged to the area by homeless and they fear the fires they build at the camp.

And Lewis said he’s going to dedicate a couple of his team to working with Ivywild to address the blight.

Here's a view of On the Ivy's vacant lot at South Cascade and St. Elmo avenues in Ivywild. The photo is from FlashEarth.com.

I’ve written about Ivywild a couple times in recent years. Here’s a piece I wrote in 2009 after the Ivywild school closed. And this is the blog that accompanied the column.

A more controversial column was related to racist covenants filed with the original Ivywild development plans and attached to every property. Here’s the blog for that column with photos of the covenants.

For an in-depth story about developer plans for Ivywild, I recommend this excellent piece, published Aug. 3, 2008, by Gazette business writer extraodinaire Rich Laden.

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INDEPENDENCE PLACE OR ANIMAL HOUSE?

May 8th, 2011, 8:00 am by
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Stratmoor Hills is an unincorporated neighborhood of 540 homes built in the 1950s & ’60s on a hilly tract outside the entrance of Fort Carson just south of Colorado Springs. 

Of course, Fort Carson just keeps growing. The mountain post is home today of 26,500 soldiers. 

Of those, about 7,000 are deployed. The 1st Brigade Combat Team is in Afghanistan. Elements of the 43rd Sustainment Brigade and 71st Ordinance Group are in Iraq. The 4th Infantry Division headquarters is in Tikrit and the 10th Special Forces Group is working in Mosul. 

But soldiers are returning. About 2,000 are expected to return by September, mostly 4th Infantry folks. 

Then, in 2013, the post will grow some more with the arival of a new combat helicopter brigade with 2,800 soldiers. By 2014, the post will host 30,000 troops. 

And they all gotta live somewhere. That’s where Place Properties of Atlanta comes in. Since 1995, Place has developed 33,000 beds nationwide. At first, it specialized in college housing. But in recent years it has gotten into military housing with a twist. 

Instead of just renting apartments, Place will rent rooms — private rooms and bathrooms — targeting soldiers who are subject to quick deployments. 

Artist's rendering of Independence Place at Cheyenne Mountain

Now, Place wants to build Independence Place at Cheyenne Mountain, a $30 million, 240-unit complex on Venetucci Boulevard on 16 acres across from World Arena. 

It would resemble a similar complex at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas. 

Entrance to Independence Place at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas.

About four years ago, Place began planning to spend $30 million to build Independence Place  in Fountain, on the east edge of Fort Carson. But it never got built. 

Now it’s eyeing land that fell into foreclosure after developer Ray Marshall defaulted on it. 

At Independence Place, most utilities are included in the rent, so there are no steep utility deposits. At the Fort Benning Independence Place project, rents range from $558 per bedroom in a four-bedroom unit up to $875 for a one-bedroom unit. 

Floor plans for an Independence Place four-bedroom unit at Fort Hood. Each unit includes a community living area, kitchen and laundry plus a private, locking bedroom and bathroom for each resident.

Each bedroom has its own bathroom, and the units can come furnished. The developments are gated and feature a clubhouse, fitness center, computer rooms, game rooms and swimming pools. Like most apartment complexes, it will have a clubhouse, pool, volleyball court, and basketball court. 

 Place already has built ”Independence Place” complexes for Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas, Fort Sill in Lawton, Okla., Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, Fort Stewart in Hinesville, Ga., Fort Benning in Columbus, Ga., and Goodfellow AFB in San Angelo, Texas. 

Approximate boundaries of the 16-acre Independence Place at Cheyenne Mountain project.

Folks in Stratmoor Hills are not thrilled about the prospect of Independence Place in their backyard. 

They view it as a big party place. An “animal house” fraternity type place. 

That’s certainly not what developer Fred Abrahamson envisioned when he bought 800 acres from Sinton Dairy Farm in 1955 and began designing his suburban utopia. 

He wanted custom homes on big lots. Houses would be a minimum 1,400 square feet and use stone or brick in their construction. 

To attract high end buyers, he built a nine-hole golf course and a private swimming pool for the neighborhood. And he developed a water and sanitation district to serve the area. 

But things have change dramatically since then. Stratmoor Hills has lost its exclusivity, its golf course and its pool. The pool was filled in 1978 and the clubhouse converted to a private home in 1983. And a strip club now occupies the old golf course clubhouse on B Street. 

The Stratmoor Hills Swimming Pool was on Catalina Circle until closed in 1978. The pool was filled in and the clubhouse converted to a home in 1983. It sits in the shadow of a water tower in this Google Earth image.

The neighborhood plans to ask the El Paso County Commission to reject plans for Independence Place at Cheyenne Mountain when the project comes up at its Thursday meeting. 

Read the 100-page packet of materials submitted to the El Paso County Planning Commission. 

I wrote about the Independence Place project in 2009 when it was planned for construction in Fountain. 

Here’s a link to the Independence Place complex near Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas. 

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SUV INCOMING! LOOK OUT BELOW!!!

May 4th, 2011, 12:56 pm by

Centennial Boulevard climbs north toward the exclusive Peregrine neighborhood past Mountain Shadows, Pinon Valley, Ute Valley Park, Oak Valley Ranch and includes sweeping curves and steep drop-offs in places.

See the missing section of fence in the photo? The house behind is owned by Jeff Pitus. 

 On Good Friday, his house was knocked off its foundation by an SUV that roared off Centennial Boulevard, smashed through his neighbor’s fence, became airborne and plowed into his deck and retaining wall. 

Two unidentified Colorado Springs firefighters study an SUV that wrecked behind the home of Jeff Pitus on Rising Moon Drive in the Oak Valley Ranch neighborhood. His house backs up to Centennial Boulevard and this SUV is not the first motorist to leave the road.

Check out the rubble left behind after the SUV was winched out of the yard. 

After the SUV was winched out of the yard, Jeff Pitus was left with the aftermath. The damage inside his home is much worse.

Not what you want to see from your bedroom window! 

The SUV is winched up and out of Jeff Pitus' backyard and back onto Centennial Boulevard.

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Jeff and his neighbor Bryan Bruce say this was not the first time a car smashed through a fence and landed in a yard.

They worry that someone will be killed by a maniacal driver. Their situation is especially dangerous because their houses sit so far below Centennial.

Before tragedy strikes, they want the city to install a guardrail or concrete barrier to deflect traffic back onto Centennial.

Both sides of Centennial have guardrails about 500 yards to the north.

Dave Krauth, city traffic engineer, said guardrail typically costs about $30 a foot and could be an option to protect the neighbors.

The remants of Jeff Pitus' fence along Centennial Boulevard after an SUV was winched out of his backyard. To the left, a new section of fence shows where the SUV left the road behind a neighbor's home. Farther down the road, another new section of fence indicates where another car crashed through about 18 months ago.

The path of a marauding SUV is visible from the smashed fence on the left, the damaged retaining wall and deck on the back of Jeff Pitus' home.

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A LIFETIME OF FAITH AND GRATITUTE

May 1st, 2011, 5:00 am by

Dennis Murphy stands outside the home he bought in 1956. Next door is Morgan Memorial Chapel. Murphy, 91, credits prayers from the congregation with protecting him on D Day and as he served in Patton's army as it defeated Hitler's Third Reich. Photo taken April 28, 2011.

Mary Etta and Dennis Murphy in an undated portrait. They were married "63 years, seven months, 12 days and 3 and a half hours" until her death in 2006.

 Dennis Murphy believes in God and the power of prayer. 

And he believes in showing gratitude and repaying debts. 

It’s how he has lived his life and why, at 91, he lovingly tends Morgan Memorial Chapel, shovels snow from its sidewalks and parking lot in winter, keeps it grounds immaculate in summer and performs other daily chores around the tiny west-side First Church of God in Christ at the corner of Spruce Street and Willamette Avenue. 

Murphy believes prayers offered by the chapel’s congregation, including his wife Mary Etta,  protected him, a master sergeant, and his 200 soldiers, as they landed on Omaha Beach in the second wave of the Normandy invasion in June 1944. 

The constant prayers kept him safe, Murphy insists, as he and his men in a combat support outfit followed Gen. George Patton across France and Germany, defeating Hitler’s Third Reich. 

Dennis Murphy holds the Bible he carried on D Day and as he accompanied Patton's army across Europe.

 

Dennis Murphy reflects inside the Morgan Memorial Chapel where he has volunteered since returning from World War II.

Since his return from World War II, Murphy’s life has revolved around his faith, family and church.

He has stayed true to his word. He shovels snow in winter and keeps the grounds of the chapel immaculate in summer. He’s a senior deacon in the church and attends sits in the front pew during services.

“God has been good to me,” he said. “I’ve had a great life.

“As long as I have breath, I’m going to take care of this church.” 

Walk with Dennis Murphy to the chapel in this video. 

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