It makes for a rare look into what happens when you finally elect the "just run government like a business" candidate. Whoops, turns out there's a reason we have different words for those two things. OTOH, that hospital deal, man, someone on the city council better have been getting some kickbacks if only to excuse such poor negotiating.
Colorado Springs resident here. I think the article provided a pretty fair assessment of things, considering it addressed how [previous Mayor] Bach identified bad deals such as the Memorial Hospital deal and the power plant scrubber. This town's leadership in general has been dysfunctional for a long time; Bach wasn't the cure-all that many had hoped he would be.<p>Couple of additional thoughts:<p>Regarding the (new) Mayor's success in getting $250M for roads: what isn't mentioned is that the roads in this town are <i>abysmal</i>. When I lived in Northern Virginia many moons ago, I joked that I could always tell when I drove into DC by the effect on my car's handling. Having just come back from a vacation to that area, I can affirm that Colorado Springs has surpassed DC in this respect.<p>The neglect of the roads was another petulant move by the City towards voters, just like the streetlights.<p>Secondly, despite so often being painted as an arch-conservative western extension to the bible belt, Colorado Springs is a pretty tolerant, open-minded city. I'd suggest checking out the /r/ColoradoSprings section on Reddit, especially where people ask about how LGBT-friendly, etc the place is, and read the answers from some of the other locals. It isn't the town out of "Footloose".
A good read despite the ridiculous headline.<p>Colorado is an amazing place.<p>The article quotes a journalist:<p>>> “This town is so easily scammed,” says John Hazlehurst, himself a former councilmember and now a columnist with the Colorado Springs Business Journal. “Why? Because we’re hicks. It’s really that simple.”<p>No, I don't think that's fair. The people are nice, that's all.
Usually I down-vote political articles on HN but this one I like. It's balanced, good analysis, and really discusses government theory and management, as opposed to the usual partisan stuff we see.
While the article was kind of inconclusive, I found the pictures of 'notable people' inside quite amusing. I guess 'a guy in a business suit standing on the side of the road' is a good image for small town mayor.