Something rather strange took place during the Great Recession, between 2008 and 2013. Colorado saw a significant drop in our crime rate, and a correlated drop in the number of citizens locked up…
Author: Bill Hudson
Bill Hudson began sharing his opinions in the Pagosa Daily Post in 2004 and can't seem to break the habit. He claims that, in Pagosa Springs, opinions are like pickup trucks: everybody has one.
EDITORIAL: Go To Jail, Do Not Pass Go, Part One
“WHEREAS, the County Sheriff and County Commissioners have consulted relevant data sources and detention experts regarding daily inmate census counts, segregation requirements, growth projections, and cost considerations regarding the present and future spaces needs for a detention facility…”
EDITORIAL: Designing Development Strategies That Kill Small Towns, Part Four
The slide show for that February 2009 public meeting began with photo of a modified “Wanted” poster, tacked to a fence post…
EDITORIAL: Designing Development Strategies That Kill Small Towns, Part Three
Urban America was doing pretty well in 1992, if you didn’t look too closely at the rate of violent crime and the growing homelessness. But how about a quiet, small town with a lot of churches, instead?
EDITORIAL: Designing Development Strategies That Kill Small Towns, Part Two
The presentation was hosted by a new community group, ‘Resilient Archuleta’ and it attracted about 40 people…
EDITORIAL: Designing Development Strategies That Kill Small Towns, Part One
Many people might rank Aspen Colorado, in 2019, as an economic, recreational, and cultural paradise. Some of us might have a different take…
EDITORIAL: Rush to Judgement? Part Five
Local activist — and former Town Council member — Mark Weiler has spent the past year developing an alternative plan that would allow the Archuleta County government to build a new jail without putting the taxpayers deeply in debt…
EDITORIAL: Rush to Judgement? Part Four
There’s an obvious alternative that isn’t rushed, does not create a poorly-funded debt burden, and allows the County government to build something modest and then expand the jail as needed…
EDITORIAL: Rush to Judgement? Part Three
Let’s run through that again. In January 2016, the cost for the Jail was $7.9 million. In November 2016, it was $5.7 million. In January 2017, it was $7.6 million. In December 2018, it was $13 million…
EDITORIAL: Rush to Judgement? Part Two
“One. We have a fixed budget. We understand that we have a fixed budget. Every month that goes by, we’re probably losing $50,000 to cost escalation…”
EDITORIAL: Rush to Judgement? Part One
“And right now, the direction I’ve been given, is we are now working on a jail — 54-beds, located in Harman Park, and estimated at $13 million….”
EDITORIAL: Roadmap to an Affordable Future? Part Five
The official AMI is around $54,000, so these would be families and individuals living on as little as $16,000 a year. Rents might be in the $600-$900 a month range…
EDITORIAL: Roadmap to an Affordable Future? Part Four
“During that same period, vacation rental websites like AirBnB.com and HomeAway.com attracted many property owners, and a thriving vacation rental market developed…”
EDITORIAL: Roadmap to an Affordable Future? Part Three
But donations of a few thousand dollars, here and there, will not solve this crisis. Even donations of vacant public land cannot solve the crisis…
EDITORIAL: Roadmap to an Affordable Future? Part Two
“This Plan will comprehensively address workforce-housing needs through a combination of strategies on a near, mid- and long-term basis…”
EDITORIAL: Roadmap to an Affordable Future? Part One
As we move around the clock from the upper right, we start the investment process with one crucial detail: “Employees Can Find Homes…”
SNAP Benefits on the ‘Shutdown’ Chopping Block?
“If more food resources are needed during the partial government shutdown, we encourage clients to reach out to a local food bank or community agency…”
EDITORIAL: A Lack of Shared Love at the ACRW Luncheon, Part Five
“Priorities are one thing. Refusing to think how you’ll pay for those priorities, that is quite another. No one really cares any more….”
EDITORIAL: A Lack of Shared Love at the ACRW Luncheon, Part Four
By 2007, the imprisonment rate in the US had gone … to being “three times that of any fully developed nation at any point in the post-World War II era…”