Ill-conceived assumptions and stereotypes demonize developers during citywide elections. This year is no exception, and it is past time to challenge the fiction.

Long disparaged by myths and conspiracy theories, developers are essential to advancing important social justice, inclusion and diversity goals that require buildings and affordable homes.

Politicians and wise consultants smear developers for a reason. They know typical out-of-state transplants – most of the electorate – would like to close the door behind them. It is the boom-state politics of “I got mine, to heck with anyone else.”

Older baby boomers and younger members of The Greatest Generation (World War II) tell of a romantically different Colorado Springs. In 1950, the population was 45,000. The Air Force Academy, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs and Pikes Peak State College did not exist. The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee resided in New York.

The Colorado Springs of 2023 consists of nearly 500,000 residents surrounded by a growing metro area. It ranks just below Atlanta among America’s 50-largest cities. As a well-run city – not the small town of the mid-20th century – Colorado Springs offers fine arts, 4-and-5-star dining, leading-edge life-saving health care, high-end educational institutions, competitive commerce and more.

Thank the visions and capital risks of developers – more than the magic wands of politicians and activists – for our high standard of living.

Those who want the benefits and burdens of Mayberry and a scarcity of developers can easily find them. Ninety minutes away, we have Limon, population 2,000. Garden City, on the plains of neighboring Kansas, offers small-city conveniences with 28,000 residents and an economy driven by cattle.

Love or loath a century of robust growth, Springs residents should credit developers for facilitating clean industries, homes large and small, hospitals, roads and parks that attracted them and play key roles in their everyday lives.

Thankfully, anti-developer feelings have no legitimate place in this year’s election, despite negative ads and fliers. The Gazette’s editorial board met with the three top mayoral contenders based on fundraising – Wayne Williams, Sallie Clark and Yemi Mobolade. All wisely support development and understand its role in maintaining and improving a vibrant city. Developers have contributed to a variety of candidate campaigns, as have business leaders in other economic sectors. That is typical in every election cycle.

The question is which contender would best maximize the communal value of development within an honest framework of water limitations and environmental preservation. With those as priority concerns, The Gazette endorsed Williams – a City Council member, chair of Colorado Springs Utilities, former County Clerk and Recorder and former Colorado secretary of state. A 30-year resident of Colorado Springs, Williams knows the pros and cons of development and how to make the best of it for people of all backgrounds and circumstances – rich and poor, young and old, white, black, Hispanic and more.

Colorado Springs appears at or near the top of rankings for “best-of” places to live, start businesses, raise dogs, find employment and visit. A 2023 study by SmartAsset ranked Colorado Springs the ninth-best large city in which Black Americans succeed economically. It ranks high among the “best-of” cities by offering an enviable climate, a chunk of nature’s greatest topographic creations, stable local governance and an assortment of housing and commercial assets provided by developers.

The city’s greatest natural and manufactured assets, everything that makes it attractive, add to a nagging problem: a lack of “affordable housing.”

As the city’s desirability climbs, so does demand for housing. The high demand, relative to the housing supply, has caused a scarcity of homes within the price ranges of young professionals, athletes, artists, the working class and disproportionate numbers defined as “people of color.”

We want all-the-above demographics, so we must stop pricing them out. Anyone willing to work and play by the rules should have the option to reside in Olympic City USA without the hardships of ultra-high-priced housing. City government is devising incentives and regulations to encourage lower-priced housing, but only developers and builders can make it happen.

Though it might feel good, anti-developer sentiment inadvertently contradicts our egalitarian visions of high-wage employment, diversity, inclusion, education for all and a competitive market of arts, culture, commerce and housing.

Keep Colorado Springs among the best of big cities. In this and future elections, study all candidates. Vote for those who most value responsible – key word responsible – development for quality living and justice at the base of mountain majesty.

Colorado Springs Gazette Editorial Board