On a bright and cheerful morning last week, I drove a few blocks from our Westside house to the Old Colorado City History Center at 1 S. 24th St.
It’s an all-volunteer organization, so it’s open only 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. Over the years, the OCC History Society has published/sponsored several books about Colorado City before Colorado Springs annexed it in 1917.
I wanted to borrow or buy a copy of Suzanne Schorsch’s 2020 book, “Through the Eyes of The Iris.” I’d been busily engaged in writing this week’s piece about historic newspapers and needed information.
The streets were quiet; I parked a few steps away and wandered in. Four volunteers sat around a table waiting to help visitors. I recognized a couple of them, and asked Leo Knudson if they had a copy of Schorsch’s book in the lending library. All four burst into laughter.
“We can do better than that,” said Leo. “Let me introduce you to the author herself, sitting right here at the table.” It was great to meet Suzanne — what an unexpected treat!
We’d have to be bold and unafraid
That started 15 or 20 minutes of cheerful gossip, fond memories of the neighborhood and our unanimous belief that Colorado City should never have consented to being annexed by Colorado Springs in 1917.
“Remember when we had an informal community-wide vote about that annexation about 10 years ago?” Leo reminded us. “It was 2 to 1 against annexation. We had a lot of fun with that one!”
That was for fun, but why not take it seriously? Manitou Springs has done just fine as a small city abutting the Monster of the Plains — why not us?
Here’s a potential path to freedom:
First, create an OCC/Westside de-annexation committee of residents, business owners and policy advocates to examine the pluses and minuses of such a path.
If it seems feasible, form a nonprofit to raise money to fund a complete prospectus for New Colorado City — its boundaries, its revenue sources, the taxes and fees that would have to be levied and the structure of local government.
We’d have to be bold and unafraid. We might unilaterally legalize casino gambling, notifying the namby-pamby bureaucrats in Denver that we’ll do what we damn please (or we might team up to build one with the Utes, who were ejected from their ancestral lands near Pikes Peak in the 1860s).
Our overall goals would be simple: a small city government with an intimate understanding of what residents and businesses need, financial transparency and self-determination. Our city budget would be simple, stable and determined by our elected officials, our employees and our own needs.
Again, look at Manitou Springs — its elected officials are knowledgeable, devoted to their community and not in it for personal gain.
New Colorado City could include the Westside up to the Manitou Springs, the Mesa, Pleasant Valley, Gold Hill Mesa and Fairview Cemetery. If we really wanted to make good trouble, we could include the Garden of the Gods! (That might be a bridge too far.)
Is de-annexation even remotely possible? My guess is that we’d need a reliable non-tax revenue source. Manitou has marijuana, Cripple Creek has casinos, so why shouldn’t New Colorado City have both? The cash would roll in, taxes would roll back, jobs would be well-paid and abundant, and we’ll all rejoice … unless Colorado Springs Utilities doubles the cost of water, electricity and natural gas.
Don’t worry, though — NCC will have a volunteer Territorial Militia to protect our rights. Our city motto: “Out with the Old, in with the New.”
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