Boulder Supporters for Clean Energy
Aug 4th
by Donna Marek, Cultural Affairs Reporter
UPDATE: August 4 11:00 am
It Had to Happen
The City of Boulder will not renew the Xcel Energy Franchise Agreement according to a 6-2 vote at the Council meeting last night. City Manager Jane Brautigam’s stand was like a song ” let the contract go.”
Voters will be asked to vote in November for a special tax which, of course, would be passed on to consumers using Xcel energy. Looks like yellow shirt
Boulder Yellow Shirts Took the Street Corners Tonight!
All you have to do is put a piece of coal in your stocking…twirl around three times…and make a wish that Xcel Energy will go away and the City of Boulder will take over the community energy problems! Oh, my goodness! What did I say?
Well, on Tuesday, August 3 at about 5:30pm in front of Boulder’s Municipal Building, a crowd of supporters for the City’s taking on the energy issue, buying Xcel energy and making it environmentally politically correct took place with about 200 people on the corners of Broadway and Canyon.
I talked to two gentlemen who support the City’s stance. Tyler said, “I support the city for not renewing the Xcel franchise.” He said he was supporting renewable energy as an option. While Ken said he saw Boulder aggressively decreasing the carbonizing “but not as much as we’d like for Xcel. This is a “groundswell” with two paths,” he said. One is with Xcel committing to clean energy and the second looks at monopolizing energy! Anyway, there were children, parents, grandparents and they even held a press conference.
When I asked these two supporters about the City’s already stretched budget, Ken said “The City can afford it because citizens are already paying for it!”
So…
Boulder Supporters of City’s Stand on Xcel Energy and clean energy
It was a lovely, peaceful gathering with horns tooting and people waving signs. The weather was phenomenal!
I dare not say more!
Boulders High Rent District
Aug 1st
It’s not Beverly Hills, Folks!
The Downtown Boulder Pearl Street Mall has become a desirable location for various retail and other businesses. But, as buildings change ownership, the rents change, too. Out-of-area landlords may expect higher rent from retailers which, in many recent cases, causes the retailers to close and move shop!
Recently there have been several Pearl Street Mall businesses closing and moving because the rents topped at 10% increases or more. Some have opted to move to 29th Street. Several are still in their current locations with “for rent” signs glaring in their windows.
As to the outcome, we’ll wait and see. The cute boutique Chelsea near 10th Street on Pearl Street is moving and so is the T-Bar, upscale lingerie which moved from its original location on 9th Street and is now located on Pearl near 15th Street ! Some stores with internet sales can survive. Others can’t.
While out of town visitors may spend more here, residents are struggling along just like others in other parts of the country.
Increasing prices won’t gain more customers. So, anything on Pearl Street had better be a big “seller” or they won’t be here long. Restaurants, too, come and go for the same reasons.
What is the downtown management doing about it? Stimulating the economy in a secret way that brings additional retailers and customers to town? When so many events take up the spaces on the Mall and nearby streets, people do not frequent the shops more. Instead, they come for the events and leave.
So, Boulder’s high rent district is just that. It doesn’t seem to want to go away!
Six Boulder reporters join Boulder Channel 1 News blog
Jul 31st
Boulder July 24, 2010
Boulder Channel 1 News blog has really taken off these past two months. First Ron Baird, former Colorado Daily reporter and assistant editor joined us back in June. Ron is our news editor. He over sees all the news releases which comes into our virtual news room. He posts approximately 2-5 news stories a day.
Donna Marek writes approximately 3 to 5 stories a week. She joined us in July as our Boulder Cultural affairs editor. Donna is a longtime Boulder reporter, talk show host and film maker. She worked for the Daily Camera and Denver Post.
Rob Smoke covers politics in the city and county. He was a Daily Camera reporter and can be seen weekly at boulder city council meetings.
Seth Brigham is a Boulder writer and talk show host. Seth is known as a Boulder gadfly and often finds himself making the news more than he writes about it.
Jon Graham writes about “Tech”. He has worked for Boulder Channel 1 for 20 years. He worked for Bell labs and the University of Colorado. He begins writing for BC1 news this month.
