Bill Simpson's May 13, 1999 City Council Comments

My name is Bill Simpson and I live at 815 9th Street. I am the District 2 representative on the Golden Shadow City Council....

In an April 26th (1999) memo to City Council by Steve Glueck through Mike Bestor Golden City Staff formally requested Council's direction regarding the city's short term economic strategies. In the words of the memo:

"In order to facilitate this discussion [of short term economic strategies] and communication, staff has requested the opportunity to update council on May 6th 1999 about recent discussions and to request directions about recent discussions and to request direction from council as a whole for these continued discussions. . . .We look forward to the continued discussion and council direction."

Whether or not the City of Golden continues subsidizing development and private enterprise will have profound ramifications for our community's future, and we on the Shadow Council are pleased that the city staff are seeking direction in this matter.

The city's economic strategy will effect every single member of the community, and this is why we on the Shadow City Council want to provoke a thorough and open dialogue about the value of what is being created through the economic strategy currently in place. We want to maximize citizen participation in such a dialogue.

We, therefore, support the following amendment to the Golden City Charter:

The City shall neither pay, pay back, defer, nor reimburse any tax or fee to any developer or other entity, unless a specific agreement is approved by the voters. The applicant requesting the agreement must pay the costs for any special election.

We request that the Golden City Council consult with the authors of the charter amendment and, after such consultation, place the proposed amendment on the ballot for a vote of the people.