![\"PBC](\"http:\/\/www.boulderblueline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/county-commish-PBC-forum-2016.jpg\")
PBC Forum, L-R: Candidates Paul Danish, Deb Gardner, Elise Jones, Kevin Sipple and Moderator Bruce Goldstein<\/p><\/div>\n
In District 1, Democratic incumbent Elise Jones is being challenged by Republican Kevin Sipple, one of the founders of the Eldorado Springs Water Company; while in District 2 Democratic incumbent Deb Gardner is trying to fend off an election bid by Republican Paul Danish, a former Democrat who has served as both County Commissioner and Boulder City Council member in the past.<\/p>\n
Roads and buses<\/h2>\n
Danish and Sipple both declared that they would re-allocate existing county funds to maintain and re-build roads that the county accepted in subdivisions in unincorporated areas during the late 20th<\/sup> century. \u201cIt [the county] should quit trying to welsh on the deal and do the work. It should quit trying to pretend that it doesn\u2019t have the money,\u201d Danish exclaimed.<\/p>\n Gardner claimed that funds which might otherwise be spent on road re-construction were needed for flood recovery efforts and other programs. Jones contended that Danish and the other County Commissioners in 1995 had \u201ckicked the can down the road\u201d by accepting the subdivision roads but not identifying a source of money for their eventual rehabilitation. \u00a0Jones asserted that both the current commissioners and many residents of unincorporated Boulder County believe that Ballot Issue 1A, which would increase property taxes modestly to pay for subdivision road reconstruction, is a reasonable way to resolve the impasse.<\/p>\n In more general terms, Danish called for robust maintenance and perhaps expansion of existing arterial roads to accommodate the increased population of the county, which, he implied, depends and will depend on cars for transportation. Sipple categorized good roads as a basic county service that it should emphasize instead of, for instance, efforts to reduce climate change, which both Jones and Gardner listed as top county priorities.<\/p>\n Danish attacked the concept of implementing a county-wide Eco Pass as unappealing to most of the public. He remarked that there are 200,000 cars in Boulder County. \u201cPeople have voted with their wheels in terms of how they get around,\u201d he claimed. He contended that subsidizing rides for people on Uber and Lyft would \u201cprovide more bang for the buck\u201d than a county-wide Eco-Pass. Sipple said he would support a county-wide EcoPass, but only if riders with the means to paid some or all of the cost of their trips.<\/p>\n Gardner and Jones both lauded the idea of a county-wide Eco-Pass. \u201cIt will revolutionize how we travel in our county,\u201d Jones exclaimed. Gardner asserted that people with an Eco-Pass are nine times more likely to ride a bus than those without one. However, both Gardner and Jones admitted that financing of a county-wide Eco-Pass would be difficult, and Jones acknowledged that recent polling of county residents did not show enough support to put a funding measure on the ballot this year.<\/p>\n \u201cIt would be hard to imagine a worse place to build a public housing project. It should be junked immediately,\u201d Danish fulminated. Sipple maintained that the site is \u201cvirtually a swamp\u201d and that the closest bus stop is \u00be of a mile distant. He proposed that low-income housing be built instead in the Gunbarrel business center, which enjoys many more municipal services, including bus transit.<\/p>\n Gardner and Jones, in contrast, defended the County Commissioners\u2019 recent decision to approve the Twin Lakes site land use change in advance of annexation by the City of Boulder as part of the periodic revision of the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan. Jones lamented that citizens commonly declare, \u201c\u2019I\u2019m all for affordable housing, but just not here.\u2019 We all want it somewhere else,\u201d she said. \u201cWhere is somewhere else?\u201d<\/p>\n Jones claimed that the Boulder County Housing Authority, which has championed the project (and which the County Commissioners chair), has pledged not to build more than 12 dwelling units per acre at Twin Lakes. She also contended that it has agreed to create wildlife corridors, Open Space buffers, and other environmentally-friendly features. She and Gardner said that the Twin Lakes development would resemble several attractive projects which the County Housing Authority has recently completed or started elsewhere, although they admitted that those other complexes are located in incorporated municipalities.<\/p>\n While acknowledging that affordable housing seems to be in short supply throughout the northern Front Range, Danish observed that the scarcity is particularly acute in Boulder County, because we have largely succeeded in protecting the environment. \u201cAs a result a lot of people want to live here,\u201d he said. He contended that there is nothing that Boulder County could do to significantly relieve the affordable housing crunch, short of abandoning the Open Space program, as well as various environmental protections\u2014which, he said, he is unwilling to do. \u201cAll it can do is nibble around the edges,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n Gardner and Jones seemed to believe that the County Housing Authority\u2019s projects are doing more than just \u201cnibbling around the edges.\u201d They decried a recent study claiming that 40,000 Boulder County residents spend more than half of their income on housing and spoke glowingly of the work of two of the county\u2019s departments to prevent and reduce poverty.<\/p>\n Gardner opined that a regional solution is needed for the affordable housing crisis and also advocated more land-banking. Jones commented that preservation of existing affordable housing should be given serious consideration. Both incumbents seemed receptive to the suggestion that the county might require the majority of units in new developments to be permanently affordable for low or moderate income residents, while Sipple called that idea \u201cridiculous.\u201d Danish cautioned that permanently affordable housing can be hard to sell and may unwisely limit their owners\u2019 ability to accumulate equity.<\/p>\n Sipple vehemently denounced the county\u2019s land use department. It has become \u201cvery arrogant and abusive to private citizens,\u201d he charged. He claimed that the land use department maintains a waiting list of people to be placed on its waiting list and that the county\u2019s review of proposed construction projects usually takes six months or more.<\/p>\n Danish decried what he called the county\u2019s \u201cwon\u2019t do, don\u2019t do, can\u2019t do\u201d attitude. He accused the current commissioners of\u00a0 \u2018kicking the can down the road.\u2019 Both he and Sipple cited the tripling of the county\u2019s budget in the last 20 years as evidence that it is poorly managed. Danish called for the implementation of the \u201cSix Sigma\u201d and\/or \u201cLean Process\u201d management techniques as the way to control spending and promote efficiency.<\/p>\n Gardner and Jones, not surprisingly, insisted that Boulder County is generally well managed. They attributed much of the recent increase in spending to recovery efforts from the 2013 flood. Both commissioners expressed a desire for more transparency with respect to budget decisions and financial transactions and more public engagement in On various other subjects\u2014the potential expansion of Gross Reservoir, the possible intrusion of the Eldora ski area into two riparian drainages, the value of intergovernmental agreements in reducing urban sprawl, the need to prepare for future floods, wildfires and droughts, the merit of the strict energy conservation requirements of the county\u2019s building code, and \u00a0concern about the wisdom of putting a bicycle trail through a part of the\u00a0 Rocky Flats wildlife refuge\u2014the candidates\u2019 positions were much more closely aligned. Danish, though, went out of his way to assail the commissioners\u2019 2016 prohibition of the use of GMOs on county land and asserted that a large group of Nobel laureates have declared a ban on GMOs constitutes \u201ca crime against humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n WATCH a video of the forum here<\/a>.<\/p>\nProposed Twin Lakes low-income housing project<\/h2>\n
Affordable housing in general<\/h2>\n
Government management<\/h2>\n
\nthe budgeting process. \u201cNo one shows up at budget hearings,\u201d Jones observed. Gardner and Jones both expressed hope that a new county website will provide much better\u00a0 information to the public about the county\u2019s finances.<\/p>\n