News

As family and friends of The Maverick Observer, we want to extend our thoughts and prayers to our community as we battle the Coronavirus COVID-19.

To minimize the “bad publicity” on Colorado Special Districts, the Special District Association is offering myriad presentations about the value of these local-quasi governments. They are trying to polish the tarnished image of various districts recently highlighted in the Denver Post.

Tim Hoiles, former owner of The Colorado Springs Gazette, sits down with Jon Caldara to talk about the unique danger that 'special taxing districts' pose to Colorado taxpayers. Also, they talk about the new project that Tim has been working on - The Maverick Observer.

David Migoya, Denver Post, recently wrote a series of articles on Special Districts and their impact on our communities, homeowners and business owners. The articles are well-written and researched, easy to understand and aptly described the issues and concerns all of us should have when dealing with Special Districts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3saU5racsGE On March 6, 2016, John Oliver had a great video on Special Districts that still holds true today.

Have you recently noticed a “PIF” on your sales receipt while shopping or dining around town? It does not stand for “Paid in Full” if you were wondering. Instead it stands for “Public Improvement Fee”. The city of Colorado Springs’ website, under Sales Tax FAQs states:

“I went underneath the pickup truck and was dragged until the driver realized there was somebody underneath,” recalls the Colorado Springs cyclist, who declines to be named due to an ongoing court case. He was just one of 98 cyclists injured or killed in a motor-vehicle vs. bicycle accident in Colorado Springs last year, at a time when the U.S. is seeing a national rise in casualties associated with increases in “road-sharing.”

State Senator Bob Gardner (R-Colorado Springs) says he proposed a short-term rental tax-increase at the General Assembly in order to “start a conversation.” And on that score he succeeded, by creating one of the most heated early debates of the 2020 legislative session.

The Maverick Observer is doing a two-part series on bike lanes. This video is the first part of our series. Reporter Anna Brown digs into the statistics surrounding bike lanes in Colorado Springs. As the city continues to expand bike lanes and remove traffic lanes our research shows ridership remains at an all-time low of just 0.6%. Below is our Community Report Card from the League of American Bicyclists, gathered from the 2017 American Community Survey. The information is a 5-year estimate of our data found in the B08006 Table-Means of Transportation to Work by Sex provided by the Census Bureau.

Highlights from Monday’s City Council Work Session, February 24, 2020:

HomeCOS: Housing our future, a comprehensive affordable and attainable housing plan for the city of Colorado Springs, Colorado.