Here's the Problem

For years I have maintainned Colorado Springs needs to figure out if its a small city or a big town. At times it seems like the latter, especially with a one-time but now shrinking hard core group of conservatives. I remember in the early 90's when former mayor Bob Issac pushed for a new airport. All these old farts came out of the woodwork and didn't want to see it happen. I thought it was a good idea and publicly supported it when I did a 1 hour talk show on KVOR. Fast forward to today. Our part-time Mayor is under scrutiny for his efforts to keep the USOC in Colorado Springs. (Yes I said part time). And our part-time city council is trying to unravel, and make sense of, and put back together that same deal the USOC walked away from with the city several weeks ago. It all brings me to this conclusion-Colorado Springs needs to grow up and have a real Mayor and City Council with full time salaries. This is not a knock at all on Mayor Riveria and City Council Members. I admire the work they do on less that 10 Thousand dollars a year. But that's the point-How much can they get done while trying to keep their own jobs and provide for their families? Its a joke that we still have a city manager form of government. Its not about the people who have these jobs-its the system. We may be one of the largest cities in the country with a city manager form of government. We as a city and its citizens deserve more.
These men and women must make time during their work day to deal with the business of running a small city-or are we a big town? It's time we grow up.