The First Suggestion To Come Out Of His Mouth, "The City Could Sell The Hospital."

[WillyT]

Don't know if you've been following the movings and shakings in Colorado Springs...

Background: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=7703565

But I guess David Sirota had Colorado Springs Councilman Sean Paige on his radio program for a debate, to which Sean Paige (Libertarian) responds on Huffington Post...

Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sean-paige/dueling-with-this-david-m_b_459464.html

Which I found through here (which has a link to the audio): http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2010/02/david_sirota_makes_a_monkey_ou.php

Anywho... MSNBC had this councilman on for a few minutes this morning, and he kept telling the anchor how much she was misinformed about the situation in Colorado Springs. When she mentioned that the police helicopters were up for sale, his response was that they hadn't sold a thing yet. AND... that they could easily sell the city's hospital!

Because he was being annoyingly rude and unresponsive, the anchor shut down the interview while he kept lobbing talking points.

This is what the future will look like if these teabagging Neanderthals somehow get in charge.

********************************************************************************

Another story on this...

National Media Focusing On Springs Budget Cuts
February 11, 2010 6:22 PM
DANIEL CHACÓN
THE GAZETTE

<snip>

The national media are turning Colorado Springs into a poster child of government cutbacks, with reports of brown park grass, dark street lights, shuttered police helicopters and buses on scaled-down schedules.

The media spotlight is already causing headaches for the city’s chief tourism promoter — and it could get worse, as Colorado Springs announced another budget casualty Thursday.

The city government eliminated a 10-year-old program that calms traffic in neighborhoods by installing speed bumps and other devices to discourage motorists from using residential streets to avoid busier thoroughfares.

Six projects were cut because of a lack of funding and staff, 35 neighborhood applications for traffic help won’t be processed, and new applications will no longer be accepted, the city said.

The city said residents concerned about traffic safety still have options, including paying “for police overtime for targeted enforcement in their neighborhoods.”

The end of the neighborhood traffic program is the latest in a series of budget cuts.

The city, which let go nearly 200 employees through layoffs and an early retirement program, isn’t filling public safety jobs. The city put its two police helicopters up for sale. It turned off 8,000-10,000 streetlights to save $1.2 million. The City Clerk’s office and the Parks Department cut their office hours, and four local community centers face closure in April unless they can come up with the money to keep them open.

The cuts haven’t gone unnoticed.

ABC News, for example, recently featured the city in a report about what it called “extreme” budget cuts.

<snip>

More: http://www.gazette.com/articles/media-94050-springs-national.html

BTW - Sean Paige spent 5 years as the Gazette's Editorial Page editor.

:shrug: