highways
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It’s time for Colorado to come up with a tax reform of its own
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Tax policy is a conversation that makes taxpayers’ eyes glaze over, especially when the politicians responsible for protecting them against runaway confiscation demonstrate a weak comprehension of economic realities. Academic tax debates examine concepts like efficiency, suppression, avoidance and tax fairness. When “sin” taxes grow too onerous, for example, black markets emerge for cigarettes, alcohol…
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Colorado’s highways are crumbling, gridlocked and unsafe
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For several years, the Colorado Contractors Association, along with other community leaders, elected officials and concerned citizens, has been sounding the alarm about the state of our transportation infrastructure. The facts are clear: our roads are crumbling; safety is at risk, and our highways cannot handle the volume of growth. Our challenge in 2018 remains…
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Colorado House speaker outraged over Republican leader’s allegations of a ‘plan’ to destroy roads
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House Speaker Crisanta Duran is outraged over recent comments by her Republican counterpart suggesting that Democrats have a “plan” to destroy Colorado’s roads. Calling the comments from House Republican Leader Patrick Neville of Castle Rock “absurd,” Duran, a Democrat from Denver, pointed out that she worked this year for a bipartisan solution to come up…
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Have a beef with our highways? (Who doesn’t?) Here’s the new lineup for the Colorado Transportation Commission
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The Colorado Department of Transportation, which builds, patches and plows the state’s highways, isn’t just some faceless bureaucracy in Denver. It answers to a board that, in turn, answers to the motoring public. The Colorado Transportation Commission‘s 11 members represent distinct districts across the state and are supposed to ensure the entire transportation grid –…
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Should yesterday’s jail tax fund today’s transportation needs? DougCo voters won’t get a chance to say
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We put the question a bit differently earlier this week: Can a community spend too much on law enforcement when there are underfunded, competing needs? Perhaps not – at least, for the two Douglas County commissioners who nixed a proposal by the commission’s third member late Wednesday to ask voters to shift some of the…
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How to fund better highways without a tax hike? Douglas County’s Lora Thomas has an idea
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A proposal now on the table in Douglas County attempts to find a balance between two perennial public-policy priorities: law enforcement and transportation. Freshman County Commissioner Lora Thomas wants to ask burgeoning DougCo’s voters to shift some county revenue from the former to the latter. Her pragmatic solution, up for consideration by the commission on Tuesday: Reconfigure a long-standing county sales tax that…
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YESTERYEAR: Legislator’s party flip infuriates local union
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Thirty Years Ago this Week in the Colorado Statesman … State Rep. Faye Fleming, D-Thornton, switched her party affiliation from Democratic to Republican Feb. 14, 1987, only six weeks after she took office. One of her campaign contributors, United Steel Workers Local 8031, threatened to sue her for misrepresentation. The influential union also took to the…
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New highway bill already has one influential critic: Denver chamber
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This just came over the transom from the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce: The Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce announced its position on one bill working its way through the Colorado General Assembly. The Chamber opposes: The chamber is of course a key barometer of the state’s business community — which badly wants better roads…
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YESTERYEAR: Owens talks economy on West Slope, Romer and JBC butt heads, ADL condemns David Duke
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… Fifteen Years Ago this week in The Colorado Statesman … Politicos and policy wonks from Denver braved the treacherous mountain passes on I-70 to visit the Western Slope for an economic roundtable, featuring Colorado’s chief executive, Gov. Bill Owens. The Republican governor stated that allowing businesses and consumers to buy “Chevrolet instead of Cadillac” health insurance plans would…
