Shryke Posted February 9, 2010 Share Posted February 9, 2010 Colorado Springs, den of Conservative Mega-Church iniquity, is having a TINY problem.Money magazine's "Best Places to Live" for 2006 is headed for Somalia-light.This tax-averse city is about to learn what it looks and feels like when budget cuts slash services most Americans consider part of the urban fabric.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.It's like a tiny experimental version of the standard "Cut Taxes!!!!!" Republican-style "Fiscal Conservatism".Hilarious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timmet Posted February 10, 2010 Share Posted February 10, 2010 Colorado Springs, den of Conservative Mega-Church iniquity, is having a TINY problem.Money magazine's "Best Places to Live" for 2006 is headed for Somalia-light.It's like a tiny experimental version of the standard "Cut Taxes!!!!!" Republican-style "Fiscal Conservatism".Hilarious.I'm no fan of Colorado Springs or of the no-taxation crowd in general. But stripping cops of their SWAT toys of which they are altogether too fond, dark skies, letting streets genteely decline, and communal lawnmowing days ... sounds pretty nice, actually. I wish Laramie would turn off its fackin mercury vapor lamps; we used to have spectacular skies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaime L Posted February 10, 2010 Share Posted February 10, 2010 Does this also mean they shutdown the power to NORAD too? And without Sarah Palin manning the Alaskan outpost to keep the Russkies at bay anymore this could be disastrous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IheartTesla Posted February 10, 2010 Share Posted February 10, 2010 On the plus side, the heat death of the universe has been postponed just a little bit. The inexorable tide of our globe's warming delayed a fraction. On the minus, no cops and firefighters means a lot of crime..in the dark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sologdin Posted February 10, 2010 Share Posted February 10, 2010 colorado springs is...of the night, then? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanteGabriel Posted February 10, 2010 Share Posted February 10, 2010 The free market will fix this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IheartTesla Posted February 10, 2010 Share Posted February 10, 2010 colorado springs is...of the night, then?Apart from being a hotbed of christian conservatives, Colorado Springs also ironically happened to be the place where Tesla did a lot of his experiments. Some of you may recall such movies as The Prestige where his wizardry relating to electric phenomena were depicted. What a said state of affairs where the good citizens of Colorado Springs have devolved to spending their nights in the dark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Progressive Posted February 10, 2010 Share Posted February 10, 2010 It should be fun to see if any of the fiscally conservative citizens of the city would cough up some money for street paving and snow removal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aemon Stark Posted February 10, 2010 Share Posted February 10, 2010 Does this also mean they shutdown the power to NORAD too? And without Sarah Palin manning the Alaskan outpost to keep the Russkies at bay anymore this could be disastrous.But what are the implications for Stargate Command? Is this merely a cover for the diversion of resources there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sologdin Posted February 10, 2010 Share Posted February 10, 2010 i suspect they'll hire unlawful alens at $2 per hour plus a shoddy milton friedman pamphet and invitation to the next espanol solamente mass at the local megajesushouse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tormund Ukrainesbane Posted February 10, 2010 Share Posted February 10, 2010 Fewer cops, no swat team, fewer streetlights, and the community themselves being responsible for the upkeep of their community? I'm looking for the downside here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shryke Posted February 10, 2010 Author Share Posted February 10, 2010 Fewer cops, no swat team, fewer streetlights, and the community themselves being responsible for the upkeep of their community? I'm looking for the downside here.Pools, Museums, Community Centres, etc closing?No lighting in the streets at night?No garbage pickup in public places?Less public transit?Streets not being paved?So basically, making the place less safe and fucking over the poor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tormund Ukrainesbane Posted February 10, 2010 Share Posted February 10, 2010 BTW the free market did fix this. Less money = less services. That's how its supposed to work. To say that the market will "fix" it assumes its broke. It isn't broken, they're getting what they pay for.The test of their commitment to fiscal conservatism comes when they:1. Do without2. Pay for it themselves3. Raise taxes 4. Borrow to cover the differencePresented in order of most conservative to least. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aemon Stark Posted February 10, 2010 Share Posted February 10, 2010 Fewer cops, no swat team, fewer streetlights, and the community themselves being responsible for the upkeep of their community? I'm looking for the downside here.What a marvellous tragedy of the commons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThinkerX Posted February 10, 2010 Share Posted February 10, 2010 It oughta be interesting when LA, New York, and other really big metro areas follow suit in the next ten or twelve months here, give or take. Of course, given how nasty things are starting to get, they might be forced to take even more draconian measures... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gryphon strike Posted February 10, 2010 Share Posted February 10, 2010 ok I seem to be the first to ask this so here goes, where did the money go?I mean it seems safe to beleive that they did at one time have the money to pay for these things so why don't thay have that much anymore? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brude Posted February 10, 2010 Share Posted February 10, 2010 The free market will fix this.Heh! :laugh: Biggest laugh I've had all week.It should be fun to see if any of the fiscally conservative citizens of the city would cough up some money for street paving and snow removal.What a marvellous tragedy of the commons.This.It oughta be interesting when LA, New York, and other really big metro areas follow suit in the next ten or twelve months here, give or take. Of course, given how nasty things are starting to get, they might be forced to take even more draconian measures...You think that will happen in NYC? I mean, even with the downturn, it's not like the tax base is drying up too significantly - it's still a rich, rich city. Have we cut our city taxes? The big problem in NYC, as I see it, is graft. They've been repairing the damn Jay St. station on the F line since I moved to Park Slope in 2001 and it's only now just starting to look like it's nearing completion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shryke Posted February 10, 2010 Author Share Posted February 10, 2010 ok I seem to be the first to ask this so here goes, where did the money go?I mean it seems safe to beleive that they did at one time have the money to pay for these things so why don't thay have that much anymore?AFAIK they kept cutting taxes. I believe the property taxes there are ridiculously low.Also, it could be the slowdown of the construction industry. A staggering number of towns and cities survive only via building permit fees from developers. (Most of these towns turn to poorly serviced shitholes once expansion slows down though) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Datepalm Posted February 10, 2010 Share Posted February 10, 2010 BTW the free market did fix this. Less money = less services. That's how its supposed to work. To say that the market will "fix" it assumes its broke. It isn't broken, they're getting what they pay for.The test of their commitment to fiscal conservatism comes when they:1. Do without2. Pay for it themselves3. Raise taxes 4. Borrow to cover the differencePresented in order of most conservative to least.So 'doing without' is the ultimate conservative ideal? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MinDonner Posted February 10, 2010 Share Posted February 10, 2010 BTW the free market did fix this. Less money = less services. That's how its supposed to work. To say that the market will "fix" it assumes its broke. It isn't broken, they're getting what they pay for.The test of their commitment to fiscal conservatism comes when they:1. Do without2. Pay for it themselves3. Raise taxes 4. Borrow to cover the differencePresented in order of most conservative to least.My money's going on "6. Blame Obama and then beg the government to step in" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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