In Colorado Springs, Dennis Moore is Mr. Neighborhood Watch.

He is one of those people who simply like helping others. Even if it requires hours of work every week on their own time.

In 1991, Moore organized a Neighborhood Watch group in his Bandelier Drive neighborhood in southeast Colorado Springs.

Then, a year ago, Moore began donating hours and hours of his retirement time to help similar groups across the city as the volunteer Neighborhood Watch program coordinator in the Sand Creek division of the Colorado Springs Police Department. He works closely with Crime Prevention Officer Lori Torrini. In fact, they share a cramped office at the Sand Creek police station.

Here’s a photo of Moore, left, and Torrini at a recent quarterly meeting of Sand Creek area block captains.

Starting Jan. 12, Moore will take an ever higher-profile role as CSPD launches a three-month project to train all Neighborhood Watch block captains. It’s part of the agency’s year-long goal of re-energizing the city’s Neighborhood Watch program and fighting crime on a block-by-block basis.

Moore was instrumental in rewriting the Neighborhood Watch Block Captain Handbook - the book at the heart of the upcoming training. Here is a schedule for the training sessions.

Moore devotes his evenings and weekends to helping his neighbors. Here is a photo of Moore, left, and  in 2006 during a neighborhood cleanup effort.

Moore will go anywhere, talk to anyone to promote Neighborhood Watch. Here he is being chatted up by a TV news crew.

No blog about Moore would be complete if I didn’t include some of the information he feels is important for every neighbor in the Springs area. So here is part of his list.

First, how to reach Moore: 719-444-7206 or moorede@ci.colospgs.co.us

Important Phone Numbers 

Emergency                          911

Non-Emergency                 444-7000

Poison Control       1-800-332-3073

Falcon Division

General Info                          444-7240

Duty Desk                             444-7249

Crime Prevention                444-7246

Investigations                       444-7245

Gold Hill Division

General Info                          385-2100

Duty Desk                             385-2125

Crime Prevention                385-2117

Investigations                       385-2128

Sand Creek Division

General Info                          444-7270

Duty Desk                             444-7282

Crime Prevention                444-7276

Investigations                       444-7275

Stetson Hills Division

General Info                          444-3140

Duty Desk                             444-3144

Crime Prevention                444-3168

Investigations                       444-3146

General Police Units

Airport Security                     550-1976

Community Relations         444-7410

Crime Stoppers                    444-STOP

                                                634-STOP

Detective Major Crimes      444-7564

Metro Vice / Narcotics         444-7766

Park Police                            444-7708

Vehicle Impound                 578-6754

 Numbers for Your Information

Better Business Bureau     636-1155

Chamber of Commerce      635-1551

Code Enforcement              444-7891

County Clerk & Recorder   520-6202

Colorado Springs Utilities  448-4800

Court

            District / County        448-7700

Municipal                  385-5922

Dept. Human Services       636-0000

            Child Abuse 24hr    444-5700

Domestic Violence Hotline            633-3819

Drivers License (Dept. of Rev.)

            4420 Austin Bluffs   594-8701

Drug Hotline                         444-3111

Explorer Program                 444-7843

Fingerprint Info                    444-7464

Fire Dept. Admin.                 385-5950

Graffiti Removal Hotline     634-5713

Humane Society                  473-1741

Jail – CJC                              390-2000

License Plates                      520-6240

Mayor                                     385-5986

Neighborhood Justice        520-6016

Police Athletic League        444-7618

Parking Enforcement          444-7706

CSPD Records                     444-7464

CSPD Recruiting                 444-7555

Traffic Engineering             385-5908

Victim Assistance (DA)       520-6049

Volunteer Program              444-7441

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At first blush, the topic of truck routes through Colorado Springs sounded like a SNORE.

A closer look revealed just how important this map really is to neighborhoods.

How would you like to live on Pikes Peak Avenue and have to back out of the driveway of your modest bungalow into the path of an 18-wheel semi barreling down the street?

Here’s a look at the existing truck map for Colorado Springs:

For a better look, go to SpringsGov.com and work your way to the Transportation Planning site and click on the Citizens Transportation Advisory Board then to the TISC Truck Route Review. Or follow this link to the map.

Folks at the University of Colorado’s Colorado Springs campus are upset about big trucks pounding up and down Austin Bluffs Parkway between Nevada Avenue and Union Boulevard. But map proponents say it only makes sense to fill in the gap in the east-west grid.

Here is a look at the section of Austin Bluffs that would become a truck route:

The parkway is too steep with 6 percent grades on the west, too winding for trucks and with its nearby schools it would be too dangerous, critics say.

Members of the map-making committee say the missing link is necessary, especially now that an overpass has been built at Union and Austin Bluffs and the roadway elevated and straightened a bit.

Moreover, map-makers say their proposal would create a logical grid of truck routes, eliminating several that are too close together and moving others away from residential areas.

Here are some of the biggest changes the new map would make:

It would remove truck routes from:

-8th Street

-21st Street

-Lake Avenue

-Cheyenne Boulevard

-Circle Drive from Constitution Avenue to Fountain Boulevard

- Galley Road from Circle to Powers Boulevard

- Pikes Peak Avenue from Union Boulevard to Printers Parkway

- Airport Road from Circle to Powers

- Templeton Gap from Austin Bluffs to Powers

- Space Village Avenue east from Platte to 94

- Cheyenne Meadows Road

- Drennan Road, once Milton Proby Parkway is completed

- Astrozon Boulevard, when Proby is completed

- Austin Bluffs from Barnes Road north to Powers

A public hearing is scheduled at 6 p.m.,  Jan. 6 in the Carnegie Room of the Penrose Library downtown to debate the map.

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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 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 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 it’s sign. But it will have to jump through numerous bureacratic hoops and convince neighbors, some of whom are determined to oppose it. I want to make it clear that 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:

Tom DeKalb comes eye-to-eye with the nation’s economic meltdown every day as he delivers mail in the heart of the Old Colorado City shopping district along West Colorado Avenue.

Here is a view of the area from FlashEarth.com:

 DeKalb has been delivering mail in Colorado Springs since 1986 and what he sees as he makes his daily rounds to 300 businesses along the avenue is like nothing he’s ever seen before. Here is DeKalb as he made his rounds one day last week.

Unlike residential carriers who drive from mailbox to mailbox, DeKalb is not an anonymous as he goes door-to-door, handing shopkeepers their mail and picking up letters and packages for shipping.

In fact, DeKalb knows most of his customers by their first names. He has become a friend to many and, as a result, he hears the horror stories of the business owners who goes days at a time without making a sale. He sees the concern in their faces. He knows which shops are simply trying to hang on in hopes the Christmas shopping season will keep the afloat.

For those who don’t know the history of the neighborhood, I’ll try to summarize it, borrowing liberally from a 1997 Gazette story by Jane Turnis:

The neighborhood originally was its own town: Colorado City. It was founded in 1859 near Fountain Creek and served as a mining supply center for prospectors heading into the gold camps of South Park. Gen. William Jackson Palmer wouldn’t come along for another 10 years to begin building Colorado Springs to the east.

Colorado City suffered boom and bust cycles. For example, in 1862 it vyed to become the capital of the Colorado Territory. But by the time Palmer arrived in 1869, he described a mostly abandoned town, according to Marshall Sprague’s history, Newport in the Rockies.

Eventually, Colorado City even lost its name and became referred to as Old Town when it was annexed into Colorado Springs in 1917.

In the 1950s and ’60s, it nearly lost all hope, too. 

With the building of Interstate 25 to the east and the Highway 24 bypass to the south, cars sailed on past the isolated business district. Many of the old historic buildings were empty, and most were run down. Merchants couldn’t get affordable loans; local banks had red-lined the area.

The future looked bleak for Old Town - a seven-square-block area between 24th and 28th streets, most of it along West Colorado Avenue. By 1976, Old Town had only 30 businesses - a hardware store, a couple of bars, a gun shop, a restaurant and a laundry, to name a few. The area was 45 percent vacant.

Today, it is a thriving business and shopping district. One of the most successful collaborations of public and private interests in Colorado Springs’ history revitalized the depressed area and put many people in business.

Business leaders united and created a self-taxing commercial district to create free parking lots and maintain special improvements. Using a creative funding program, they helped businesses open, obtained park funds and traffic lights and made the area a national historic district.