Remarks by David Leinweber
89 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 3 of 4
“Yeah, I want to kind of follow up. I think Dave's question is actually pretty good, but I just wanted to highlight or get your comments on one particular area, and that's really around infrastructure. Because a lot of these things, when we compete, they're looking at, well, can you actually host this volleyball tournament? Or can you do this trail run? Or is it gonna be exciting enough to pull people in? I know like the Apex, which you did have listed, you actually have dropped away from, you're just going, you're not gonna run it, but you're gonna support it, I guess is what you're saying.…”
“Well, thanks for that. We're actually going to go over the Parks Master Plan a little bit later today. And I think it really speaks to that a little bit, that we really don't have the infrastructure. We haven't really kept up like what other communities have done. And it really kind of sets us back a little bit. Yes, we have a beautiful landscape that we can look at. That's all amazing. But we don't have the access to the trail systems that we need to make iconic, you know, events that people really gravitate to. So I think I wanted to really highlight that. Thank you.”
“Yeah, I think the piece here is that all races are considered commercial use. And so sometimes when we think of commercial use, we think of a business, but we're not really understanding that often it's just allowing visitors to have greater access in a kind of group environment so thank you and the other thing that's interesting that just to kind of since you're proud enough is all those people that are part of that are insured and the public would not have been insured no”
“Yes, I just want to have a better understanding about what offerings are different between the Y and Deerfield Community Center, which is a little over two miles, about seven minutes apart. When you're looking, are we apples and oranges, or are there similarities, are there things that kind of happen, or how do they, I'm trying to understand different types of facilities, because I think some things are overlapping, but I just wanted to understand that a little bit more.”
“Yeah, and Deerfield is free to the community, correct?”
“Okay, so I'm trying to get the two, because the other thing that I kind of looked at, I've really been looking at with the Parks Master Plan coming up, the Trust for Public Land report, and one of the things that they came out with was how poorly we've really done with aquatics, you know, like spray pads and pools and stuff like that. Do you think they're considering our relationship with the YMCA in their report? Or, I mean, why do they downgrade us so much in that particular area?”
“Yeah, because I, you know, the... For my fellow councilmen, we were ranked 52nd, and they dropped us to 66 out of 100 cities. So our ranking dropped considerably last year. And one of the areas that they highlighted was around aquatics. And so I'm just trying to... I think that makes this very, very important in that we really try to... uplift those particular areas for sure, and even look to how do we address that issue across the city. So anyway, thank you.”
“Yeah, I wanted to just follow up on that question because, you know, one of the things that I always get concerned about is when we take something away from a part of our community, it usually gets redistributed in other things or whatever. And it... I would like to see us not only say that it goes to parks, but that it goes back to this particular community. Like it goes into some kind of development of some park that still exists there, or some kind of feature. So that community doesn't have a net loss. That can be reinvested in that community. neighborhood um and and so my my ask and i…”
“Okay. So, I mean, my plan is to ask my fellow board members to consider that this community had a loss, and we shouldn't redistribute these funds to other portions of the city. We need to kind of heal it, and to do that, say, we're going to keep the asset in that neighborhood, but it just will look different. And find some way to improve that neighborhood. And I would rely on, I'm sure there's plenty of projects that you could figure out or whatever, what could we do to enhance that neighborhood? So I just making known that that's kind of what my push is gonna be. Not only that the money…”
“I think you've done a really good job of really pulling together a lot of essential elements, and it tells a really positive story, but also a very kind of dark story, I think. When the first priority is trying to establish sustainable funding, That is clearly where we're at. We've got to identify sustainable funding. I think we really need to kind of look at how do we take our parks seriously? And I know our residents do. I mean, 80%, right? That's kind of what it is. And so, Emily's got a slide for me. And when I take what you've written here and then actually look at the budget that we're…”
“I would agree, but they didn't include them in 2025 also.”
“Right, so. Oh, sure, I see. So they're out of both, right? So the change wouldn't have changed because they didn't include them in 2025 or 2026.”
“Yeah, and I think you're right, the 92%, there's probably an element of that also. So in the city, so our spending in 2025 was $118 per resident, and it's gonna go down in our current budget to $112. So we're gonna go down $6 per resident. But yet in the average, just the average of these 100 cities, they were at $133 and they're actually gonna go up to $154. That's plus $21 in how we compare. I'm curious to see how our 2027 numbers with Trust for Pumble Vans look, because I'm not very hopeful. And I do believe and make a note that metro districts are excluded in both of these years. So,…”
“So funding, that is front and center. But not far behind funding is this really disturbing statistic that 51% of your survey weren't feeling safe in their parks. That's most of our residents, barely, but that is most of our residents. And that's, a national average is 12%. So we're three times less safe than the national average. That's not good either. So I'm going to propose that we develop a strategic plan and I'm looking to actually kind of call it Safe and Welcoming Parks Strategic Plan. And we look at how do we address this issue head on. I feel like we just keep kicking it down the…”
“I'd love to, because I brought this up. I've given you a heads up that I was going to bring this.”
“Well, thank you for that because I mean, you basically support. my comments of what I'm gonna launch into because we've got a lot of these issues and we have been addressing them, but I don't think we've really looked at it in a strategic plan that measures outcomes and really put together something that can really fit. When we look at last year, we removed 1,600 camps. We now have 11 rangers covering over 13,000 acres. My question is public safety should always be first. And so when we look at, you know, page 11, your first steps, I'm, this is my next ask, my ask is that you place public…”
“And what do you think the economic impact to our sales tax is for all the tourists that come because of Garden of the Gods? Have you ever looked at that? Have you ever separated that out?”
“contribute to the stormwater in that location fuels mitigation that we put in but i can go on but it's very very i think impactful and i think that's a big part of what defines our city is really tourism and how we really grow and develop that piece um because we can we put more people into garden of the gods what's our numbers now”
“So we probably should develop like a tourism strategic plan, kind of look at the larger scale of how do we provide, point number three, how do we create exceptional experiences for the people that come and visit our community? That's what we really kind of need to look at because we've got Garden of the Gods, which is great, but the reality is I'm not sure we can squeeze in 5 million people. So the growth of, you know, it's not going to be there. And the quality of the experience is going to be diminished as we, if we add another million people to Garden of the Gods, it's not going to be the…”
“So who actually helped bring that group together, just as a selfish plug?”
“So Pikes Peak Outdoors developed the Outdoor Pikes Peak Initiative. And that's kind of set a framework for the three county system. So Pikes Peak Outdoor is the regional partner that represents this region for the state. and a lot of funding is gonna be coming through that plan, and they set a series of goals, and one of those goals was how do we take on management, how do we work better together in partnerships and stuff like that, and so that's what they've been kind of driving for. I do think we have a better relationship, and I think it's improved, but I think we still need to keep…”
“And how much of that trail were we able to develop? None, right? So now it's just a free for all to get to the top of the mountain. There's no design trail. It's something that we need to be working on to kind of do better, I think, for our entire community. So I want to just close by just saying that I really want to see a safety strategic plan in the first steps. Safety should be prioritized. I also want to see a five-year capital list with funding and dates. I'd like to see a strategic plan around working with our number one partner, the Forest Service. Like what can we actually start…”
“So I just wanted to update everyone on an interesting situation. I received a, about a month ago, received a ticket in the mail of me speeding, and I was told that I would need to pay $80 for that amount, which is more than what's allowed. And so I did go online and I went to make the payment, but when I made the payment, it said I only needed to pay $40. So FYI, it didn't actually adjust it. And then I did receive a follow-up letter to confirm that I do not need to pay the $80. And if I did, that I would get a refund and that they made a problem, that there was a problem with it and that…”
“Yes, I was just, well, just curiosity, really. I was under the impression that you could use water to try to, like smaller devices and stuff like that, if they're overheating, to try to cool them. But I don't, I'm no expert, but I'm just, that's what I'm thinking, there's a cooling process. So, I mean, there's probably different stages for what you may or may not do to prevent something that you think is, if something's smoking or something along those lines, what is recommended, like for an iPhone versus a scooter or whatever? And even a scooter, it might be that you drag it out away from…”
“The other thing I think I remember from our talk is where you actually charge and considering the surrounding materials and stuff in that area. I mean, obviously not close to gasoline, but I mean, just thinking about, do you have a wood structure above your chargers right now? Or do you have, I mean, how are you charging? I mean, that was probably some thought that our residents should think about because these you know, like particularly power tools, those batteries that get a lot of abuse. And I actually know of a commercial building that burned down from a power tool battery. And so that…”