Colorado Springs: Tea party paradise

by David Safier

Colorado Springs residents don't like taxes much. So here's what's happening in the town.

More than a third of the streetlights in Colorado Springs will go dark Monday. The police helicopters are for sale on the Internet. The city is dumping firefighting jobs, a vice team, burglary investigators, beat cops — dozens of police and fire positions will go unfilled.

The parks department removed trash cans last week, replacing them with signs urging users to pack out their own litter.

Neighbors are encouraged to bring their own lawn mowers to local green spaces, because parks workers will mow them only once every two weeks. If that.

Water cutbacks mean most parks will be dead, brown turf by July; the flower and fertilizer budget is zero.

City recreation centers, indoor and outdoor pools, and a handful of museums will close for good March 31 unless they find private funding to stay open. Buses no longer run on evenings and weekends. The city won't pay for any street paving, relying instead on a regional authority that can meet only about 10 percent of the need.

Once the grass dies, it will have to be replanted if the town wants its parks back. Parents will be facing mounting day care costs without the community centers. The town had better hope there isn't a crime wave or any big fires.

But at least they won't have to pay all those nasty taxes.

Welcome to tea party paradise.