Due to huge demand from the reading public– or maybe just a journalistic itch I need to scratch– we’re bringing back the Fort Collins Enquirer for fun and prophet. Hold on to your hat.
One of my local heroes is Scott Skogerboe, the genius tree guy at Fort Collins Wholesale Nursery. I first saw him, heard him, when he gave a talk many years back at Fort Collins Nursery (my go-to nursery, when I can afford them). Scott was sharing his encyclopedic knowledge of the selection and care of fruit bearing trees for northern Colorado via a slide show of the various trees. Every time a new tree would come up, he would say, “I LOVE this tree.” He said it as if he meant it, and had forgot he said the exact same thing about the previous tree.
After a while, I realized I like this guy. He’s the real McCoy. He really does love these trees, and knows how to care for them.
Recently, on Facebook, Scott shared how he was voting in the current election. I thought his insights were spot on, and that sharing his ballot choices was a generous thing to do. It struck me his post would be a timely, appropriate, (and easy) way to resurrect the Fort Collins Enquirer. So without further ado, Scott’s Facebook post:
Just filled out my Ballot. And thought I’d let people know why I voted the way I did. It’s a small ballot (at least where I live in Larimer county outside of Ft Collins city limits)
School board. D.J. Anderson. I liked his progressive ideas including better pay for our teachers. His opponent wants guards in every school. Nuff said
Prop CC. YES! This allows us to better fund schools and roads without any new taxes by neutering the damaging effects we’ve had to suffer through by the TABOR law which hampered our ability to keep our education system one we are proud of. An easy decision for me.
Prop DD. A lukewarm Yes. This allows repairs to our water storage systems by taxing Casinos sports betting. It’s not a tax on us unless you are a gambler or a casino. It’s limited to $29 million a year so it can’t be a back door way to build Glade but rather do things like dredge existing reservoirs to optimize existing water storage.
Larimer Ballot issue 1A. Yes. This is a .5 cent tax increase ( 50 cents on $100) that sunsets in 20 years. It provides $10 million to match funds to repair and improve our counties roads including I-25 ($2 million in each of the first 5 years) Plus a plethora of other worthy projects to prepare our county for the future when our population is set to double. Public transportation, Health and Veterans services, and to fund other projects listed in Larimer counties master plan. In my view we need to fund our commonwealth. We don’t live in a cave and taxes pay for improvements in our civilization.
Remember if you don’t mail your ballot today you’ll have to drop it off at the county building on Mountain and Howes. Don’t forget to sign your envelope to make your vote count.