Leveraging technology to improve public safety headlines Colorado Springs Mayor Yemi’s 2025 strategic plan. In the first of two parts, Al and Dave dissect the Mayor’s new Strategic Action Doing Items. Wildfire mitigation, evacuation planning, transportation and infill development also get some attention.

Also:

Golf carts instead of buses?

Who benefits from the city’s strong-mayor form of government? Take a guess. And Dave and Al aren’t crazy about it.

Banning-Lewis Ranch and other annexation issues

“Complete Streets” and “Complete Creeks”

A pay raise for city council? Dave and Al discuss the issue, in light of a January 18 Community Conversation hosted by the League of Women Voters of the Pikes Peak Region. See links below for video of that event, or hear it on the Making Democracy Work podcast.

LINKS:

Community Conversation: City Council Pay – video and Making Democracy Work podcast

https://studio809podcasts.com/community-conversation-council-pay/

Colorado Springs Strategic Plan

https://coloradosprings.gov/StrategicPlan

Strategic Doing Action Items

https://coloradosprings.gov/document/2025strategicdoingactions.pdf

The Future of Fountain Creek - Panel and Community Discussion – March 19, 2025

Hybrid Event – noon to 1:30 at Fountain Creek Nature Center (doors open 11:30)

RSVP to attend virtually

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/5RNjoPyYRGCLUQ86pcZzJQ

Loving the Springs celebrates the best of Colorado Springs and elevates the rest.

Plug into what’s happening in the Pikes Peak region, learn about awesome people, places and happenings, and explore opportunities to make life here even better. Local gadflies Al Brody and Dave Gardner love our two springs – Colorado and Manitou, so they give them the mic in this twice-monthly podcast. Nothing’s off the table – recreation, the arts, government, business, politics – if it touches your life, they'll talk about it. We’ll invite the movers and shakers, conspiracy theorists, NIMBYs, YIMBYs, yaysayers and naysayers to join them.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts, and give us feedback and suggestions via comments at https://studio809podcasts.com/loving-the-springs or lovingthespringspodcast at gmail.com

We learn about a unique up-and-coming nonprofit working to “navigate communities towards wellness,” plus Dave fact-checks Al on driving the speed limit (and loses). We’re joined in this spirited episode by Jennaya Colóns, executive director of Highroots Wellness & Consulting. She’s also a Physical Therapist Assistant, Certified Brain Injury Specialist, and outreach liaison at CommonSpirit. Community health is her passion, and when she saw gaps that needed to be satisfied in the city she loves, she founded Highroots Wellness & Consulting.

We were struck by Jennaya’s statement, “Everybody does matter, every single last one of us.” Jennaya served as co-chair of Common Spirit's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council. She is currently Chair of the Patient Navigation Taskforce for the Colorado Cancer Coalition, Chair of the Healthy Community Collaborative's Barriers to Accessing Healthcare Workgroup, sits on the advisory board for the Pikes Peak Business and Education Alliance (PPBEA), and is a recent Mayor's Civic Leader Fellowship graduate.

Later in the episode we learn about the “5-Car Rule” on two-lane highways, and about “normalized deviance,” as Dave continues his crusade to “re-normalize” driving the speed limit – for safety and reduced CO2 emissions.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• Peak Education
• Stompin’ Groundz
• Widefield Recreation Center
• Panorama Park
• RISE Southeast
• Yolanda Avila
• Alan Beauchamp
• Mayor’s Fellowship Program
• Amy’s Donuts
• Closure of libraries
• Denver Broncos

LINKS:

Highroots Wellness & Consulting

https://www.highrootswellness.org/

Colorado Revised Statutes Title 42. Vehicles and Traffic § 42-4-1103. Minimum speed regulation

https://codes.findlaw.com/co/title-42-vehicles-and-traffic/co-rev-st-sect-42-4-1103/

Road Rules: The five-car rule

http://pointroberts.staging.communityq.com/stories/road-rules-the-five-car-rule,22803

Loving the Springs celebrates the best of Colorado Springs and elevates the rest.

Plug into what’s happening in the Pikes Peak region, learn about awesome people, places and happenings, and explore opportunities to make life here even better. Local gadflies Al Brody and Dave Gardner love our two springs – Colorado and Manitou, so they give them the mic in this twice-monthly podcast. Nothing’s off the table – recreation, the arts, government, business, politics – if it touches your life, they'll talk about it. We’ll invite the movers and shakers, conspiracy theorists, NIMBYs, YIMBYs, yaysayers and naysayers to join them.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts, and give us feedback and suggestions via comments at https://studio809podcasts.com/loving-the-springs or lovingthespringspodcast at gmail.com

Dave is on a crusade to tame the trend of more speeding, red-light running, and aggressive driving on our streets. Observing the speed limit and driving courteously will make our streets safer for other motorists, pedestrians and bicyclists. It will also save gas (and money), and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Al debates Dave on the pros and cons of his plan to “normalize” driving civilly by recruiting motorists who care – to start a trend of driving the speed limit. Dave wants to be the leader of the pack, but will he end up being the weirdo in the pack? Al notes Dave is NOT “the blonde in the T-bird.” So, perhaps we need all the “cool people” to lead the charge?

In this episode we discuss:

• Speeding
• Aggressive driving
• Avoiding a road rage incident
• Reporting aggressive drivers (dial *CSP)
• Usage-based auto insurance (that monitors your driving habits)
• Do you have an obligation to pull off the road to let speeders go by if you’re holding them up?
• 2C is slowing down the rate at which our roads are deteriorating
• How bicycle-friendly are our streets?
• Can the extended 2C PPRTA tax improve road conditions in the Springs?

LINKS:

Effective Cycling – by John Forester

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/349449.Effective_Cycling

Requiem for a Heavyweight - John-Forester-1929-2020

https://cyclingsavvy.org/2020/06/john-forester/

Loving the Springs celebrates the best of Colorado Springs and elevates the rest.

Plug into what’s happening in the Pikes Peak region, learn about awesome people, places and happenings, and explore opportunities to make life here even better. Local gadflies Al Brody and Dave Gardner love our two springs – Colorado and Manitou, so they give them the mic in this twice-monthly podcast. Nothing’s off the table – recreation, the arts, government, business, politics – if it touches your life, they'll talk about it. We’ll invite the movers and shakers, conspiracy theorists, NIMBYs, YIMBYs, yaysayers and naysayers to join them.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts, and give us feedback and suggestions via comments at https://studio809podcasts.com/loving-the-springs or lovingthespringspodcast at gmail.com