Is NURA a retirement home?

Mayor Novak did what President Roosevelt could not do; she packed NURA. At the last meeting of the Council she nominated two former members of the Council to fill positions as Advisors. The positions did not previously exist. What’s the motive?
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The Urban Renewal Authority has a member of the Council on the Board; Michael Martin. The Board also has former Council members, Carney, Blankenship and Downing already serving. Now you can add Carlow and Tichy to the retirement Board/home.
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I suspect her motive is to “eliminate” a couple of the members who do not instantly embrace the staff’s and Council’s ideas. Remember, she refused to reappoint me because of my involvement in combating the recreation center expansion project in January of 2005. I would suggest that the “thinking” members of the Board be aware of the consequences of their comments, questions and positions. Very soon NURA will be asked to commit all of its current revenues on another pet project. Perhaps that is the motive. I’ll have more on the next gamble later.
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There is another solution available to Mayor Novak and her oligarchy. Do what a former Northglenn Council did; abolish NURA. State law allows the Council to constitute itself as the urban renewal authority. Just abolish the present body and reinstitute it with the members of the Council as its members. The elected officials will have total control without the need to pretend that a separate, autonomous body exists. When I prepared a recommendation on an urban renewal authority for the Federal Heights Council, I did just that for the same reason; keep the power with the elected officials. Save the administrative overhead and cut down on the legal costs.

On a personal note

Some of you have known that my Mother has been waging a war against cancer since last July. My sister and I have been taking turns staying with her during the chemotherapy and radiation in Mesa, AZ.

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We are all extremely pleased to report that she has conqured it and has been told she is cancer free. Next month she will celebrate her 86 birthday with hope and thanks to the Creator.

The Open Source Blunder

The City Manager went for the publicity in 2004 by dumping Microsoft in favor of open source operating systems and software. The Post commended him and other "innovative" types that December.

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It seems that he forgot something due to a lack of understanding in what he was really doing besides wasting hundreds of thousands of you dollars. Your people need to be able to use the available software. Microsoft made billions because it put the end user first. The Linux operating system is technically better but only our life saving "geeks" are comfortable using it.

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To avoid total embarrassment, the Manager is going to keep Linux on the servers while switching back to Microsoft programs. It's time for our elected leaders to demand an accounting of all the dollars wasted. I wonder if they would have given him a higher percentage raise than other employees if this debacle had been considered?

Theater Update

It is time to update you on the proposed Century Theater. You may remember that the twice scheduled groundbreaking occurred in October; in time for the election. You may also remember that the City touted the event in the Connection and through articles particularly in the Post and Sentinel. I in turn posted several articles stating that the groundbreaking was an election ploy in that they were in no way sufficiently far enough along for the “event”.
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In response to my postings, the City claimed the actual construction would begin in December or January and I countered that it would not occur until February at the earliest if at all. I have to retract my statement and say March, not February, if at all. If the City and Century start telling you the truth they will be able to claim some underground utility work only in February.
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As of the current date, the staff still has to finish the review of the building’s construction plans and those of an engineering firm for the utilities and intersection improvements. It will then be time for Century’s consultant to respond to the City review. The next step will require Century to finalize the plans for an additional review. That could result in the issuances of the necessary building permits; finally. Maybe March is too early. More later.