Letter to the Editor: Open Comments Respond to South Boulder Rec Center Shutdown

This letter was sent to Yellow Scene Magazine. As with all Letters to the Editor, the views expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the publication. We value providing space for community voices.

The folks trying to stop the City from shutting down the South Boulder Rec Center have attended the last four or so Council meetings in force. Their petition has almost 3,800 signatures.

It’s rare that so many people are paying attention to a local issue, so I took advantage of the moment to help them understand what is going on at City Hall. This was my Open Comment to Council—but mostly to the audience:

It’s amazing that this Council, famous for planning growth for eventually 50,000 new residents, would be reducing rec centers from three to two and Iris Avenue from four lanes to three, etc. Any 10-year-old knows that more people require more rec centers and more transportation. How did things get so whack?

A big reason was that the city manager, city attorney, city clerk, and city IT director were “replaced” some five years ago after all but the clerk lied to Council and the public to obstruct the online petitioning system for ballot initiatives we have, only in Boulder, at petitions.bouldercolorado.gov. If it worked correctly, an initiative to preserve the Rec Center would be easy to get on the ballot. I was on the city’s Campaign Finance and Elections Working Group that got online petitioning on the 2018 ballot, which passed with 71%.

The system is almost unusable. Top politicians in the state had the details butchered. I documented top staff lying and cheating with video and audio, so they had to be replaced. See and hear it at tinyurl.com/petitionstory.

The incompetence due to the replacements is why public relations staff grew from 12 in 2018 to 30-something now. [According to Jan Burton, former council member.]

Confirm this with other members of the city working group, like long-time council members Steve Pomerance and Allyn Feinberg, Planning Board member Mark McIntyre, and attorney Ed Byrne. People should have the power.

Photo by Nathan Nowack, Nathan Nowack Photography LLC

Several Council members, after Open Comments, tried to tell us we can’t criticize city staff at meetings. This was my email to them in response:

Ryan Schuchard: You made it clear to me in person that you were talking about me, not the multitudes tonight who implicitly criticized current staff who consistently misrepresent what the people want in order to force on us what staff—and apparently you—want. You said, “This is not a place to be criticizing individuals, former or current.” We are addressing you, their employers. We are not going to help you hush up these problems by talking with you privately. This is public business.

City Atty Tate: Please cite any law that stops me! You know that truth is an absolute defense against defamation charges. The documents and recordings of the past staff I called out tonight tell the truth and are an absolute defense against City lawfare. Remember, you have your job because I documented in that file the lying and cheating of your predecessor, Tom Carr, and therefore, he was a liability and was “moved on.”

Attorney Matt Simonsen (left) presents Yellow Scene’s argument to Court of Appeals judges (left to right) Stephanie Dunn, Gilbert Román, and Craig Welling. (Credit: John Eisele, Colorado State University)

The City is losing its lawfare cases, including against Yellow Scene Magazine [which sued for the bodycam video of the police killing of Jeanette Allatore and got it without having to pay thousands] and Save CU South [the city sued them for legal expenses in their appealed attempt to stop the city from paying at least $66 million to raise the CU South property out of the floodplain to maximize building space, etc.]. Your vengeful suit against council candidate Aaron Stone for $375 is obviously a waste of far more of our money.

All: If you’re thinking of having the police evict me for telling the truth about past or present staff, let me remind you that the only time there has ever been violence in City Hall in my 48 years here was in 2010, when the mayor had police arrest Seth Brigham, who stripped down to his boxers to call attention to then-councilman George Karakehian leaving out of his financial disclosure that he was partners with Steve Tebo. David Lane took his case, and the city settled by giving Seth $10,000.

Here’s the best context article I could find:

Is City Council above the law?

If you’re “thinking” of passing a law to prevent us from criticizing you and/or your staff, think again. I’ve already started talking to the ACLU about all the limits you’ve put on open comments, by far the most restrictive limits of all large Colorado cities. And David Lane has represented me before.

As you can see from the text of my comment above, I never said the current staff was incompetent. Your defensiveness does say it, though! My sentence in question is: “The incompetence due to the replacements is why public relations staff grew from 12 in 2018 to 30-something now.” It’s unclear how much incompetence is from the ~2020 regime change, how much from current staff, how much from Council, and how much from the money and power people you mostly serve.

I suggest you stop your threatening behavior and get your shit together. Start by instructing staff to be honest—and consider representing those of us who pay your salaries. Three people stopped me on my way home this evening to thank me for explaining why so much coming from your organization is whack, one of them talking with me at length. Imitating Trump’s bullying will backfire on you, too, much faster.

You can contact the Council at:

https://bouldercolorado.gov/contact-city-council-and-staff

You can register to speak in person or virtually at:

https://bouldercolorado.gov/services/participate-city-council-meetings

“Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

Evan