Thursday election diary

Weird event at Trilogy last night -- weird, kind of fun, kind of weird, weirdly fun --
drunk audience -- barely sober candidates -- sort of a neat guy hosting -- Waylon the Elephant man -- not fat, not physically grotesque, not even especially drunk --

The problem with the whole shebang was that it opened with Mark Ruzzin hijacking the stage for ten minutes and crowing about all the wonderful things he's done on council --

his wife and infant child were there, which is great -- I think the kid was drinking mai tais

anyway, NO ONE had the opportunity to rebut the b.s. Ruzzin laid down -- and the crowd cheered because...well, what do they know? they're drunkass

Forgive me, but I can think and chew gum at the same time and I happen to regard Ruzzin as a total con artist. Let me give you a recent example --

at the first August meeting of the Boulder city council, Ruzzin put a apresentation by RTD before the citizen participation portion of the meeting -- which pretty much always comes first on the agenda, at least until Ruzzin took office and started inserting PR presentations from Ball Aerospace or anything else he thinks is more important than Boulder's citizenry, which is pretty much anything that happens to please him --

I took issue -- I commented at the meeting after two people had to leave to take care of family business -- (one of the people leaving was Lisa Morzel) --

I wrote a letter to the Camera, which they published -- in turn, Mark Ruzzin wrote an even longer letter attacking me and saying I was trying to manufacture credibility for my candidacy --
what a jerk -- manufacture credibility? -- I'm sticking up for citizens who get disrespected every time they come down to council and are made to feel intimidated and as if they didn't belong --

that bothers me a lot --

in Ruzzin's attack, he picked out the 'straw man' argument -- he said that I knew full well the item was announced on the agenda (I had said there was an unannounced agenda adjustment)

well, technically, he was right! big deal! RTD was listed on the agenda -- I hadn't looked, because the staff signing people up will generally fill people in on unusual details -- for instance -- the fact that people who are expecting to speak in the first hour of the meeting but will unfortunately be delayed is an unusual detail that staff would normally share -- but they didn't!!!

and on other occasions, the presentations inserted prior to citizen participation have not been inserted into the agenda -- in any case, that's not the issue! the issue is the unadulterated lack of respect for people who take the time to come down and give voice to their -- very often -- unique and quite serious concerns ---

I've had enough. Haven't you? I walked High Street, Sunset, and a piece of Mapleton and Pine today -- a couple of people who didn't even know me at all invited me right in -- another several people wanted to discuss issues with me and had really important things to say --

I was particularly interested in the downzoning that occurred on Uni Hill and the 3-unrelated rule problems as related to me from a landlord's perspective --

I may not support every landlord's request, but I do think application of the 3-unrelated rule is very poor thinking --- also, the guilt-by-association of our nuisance ordinance -- I'm all in favor of the city stopping bad behavior by tenants -- I don't think the landlords necessarily foster it --
if they do specifically foster it, then perhaps they are culpable -- just the fact of renting to young tenants does not make them culpable if the young tenants make a mess or behave poorly

The discussion regards this went on forever at council and council came up with a plan to penalize anyone who rents to someone who might act badly -- so...we're talking about young people who rent, people who may not have an incredible track record, people who may show up to sign a lease looking a little scruffy or badass -- well, the city council is telling landlords not to rent to people who even look like they might cause a bit of trouble because the landlords can end up paying for it -- essentially it works out to another gentrification scheme --

in the big picture, it may not be the number one issue this season -- but still...when we come up with rules and regulations we have to make sure they're fair, otherwise we're just encouraging people to find ways to defy unfair laws.

That's how I see it.

I really enjoyed walking today -- it was a beautiful day -- some people just instantly said, "I will vote for you" -- and every time that happens it just makes me feel fantastic --

I may not pull the upset this go-round -- but then again I might --
if you think you can vote for me -- do so, but tell a friend as well

Mercury hits retrograde the day before the ballots are mailed --
astrologically, that indicates a time for big upsets --

I was posted at 100-to-1 by David Thielen, who many of the candidates are coming to understand is sort of a jerk --- to be polite

I wish I could visit every doorstep -- however, if I am elected, I promise to be available to everyone who has a doorstep -- how's that?

I'd insert the link for the Colorado Daily profile of me -- however, it wasn't working just now, so I'll wait to see if they get the glitch ironed out -- it was in the Thursday October 4th edition

it reads well


rs