To the editor:
I have started a petition at change.org titled “Don’t Take Manitou’s Money” because I am concerned that great harm will be done to the people of Manitou Springs if recreational marijuana is sold in Colorado Springs.
The purpose of this petition is to raise public awareness. I believe that if people in Colorado Springs understand the issue they will not approve it.
The group that is seeking to legalize the sale of recreational marijuana in Colorado Springs are painting a rosy picture, and leaving out the fact that their proposal would take a huge chunk of the annual budget of our next-door neighbors.
Although it is impossible to be sure how much money Manitou Springs gets from taxing recreational pot sales, I have looked at the annual budgets and I estimate that it is somewhere around $4 million a year.
That amount of money will do very little good in Colorado Springs because their annual budget is already $400 million.
Please check out my petition at www.change.org/p/don-t-take-manitou-s-money, sign it and share it on Facebook and Twitter.
If it gets enough signatures the media will talk about it, and this will enlighten the people of Colorado Springs, who I believe will not want to harm the good people of Manitou.
Carl Strow,
Colorado Springs