councilor.org
| Source | D. Ohmans |
| Date | 15/09/05/11:01 |
| www.chieftain.com
Wilson wants more done for the East Side She�s one of five candidates in District 2 council race BY PETER ROPER Janet Wilson came to Pueblo in 2012 and was startled by the number of boarded-up houses on the East Side. �How can a community feel good about itself when it�s boarded up?� the 60-year-old Wilson said this week in explaining her run for the District 2 seat on City Council. That district represents the East Side and there are four other candidates running. Wilson may be a newcomer, but she�s been active, starting the East Side Action Support Team. She got a municipal court summons earlier this year for conducting a Cinco de Mayo parade without a city permit, but that�s not really a problem when Wilson is complaining that the East Side is being neglected. �The city should be doing more,� she said. �We need our parks improved. We�ve got blight and gangs and illegal dumping. All the problems are concentrated on the East Side.� Wilson runs the nonprofit Pueblo House organization, which tries to give young people opportunities to be creative. "We need a rec center here," she said. "Young people say all the time that there's nothing to do here in Pueblo." On two major issues--renewing the half-cent sales tax for job recruitment and licensing retail marijuana stores in the city--Wilson is happy to let voters decide. The half-cent tax is on the November ballot and the pot question is expected to be on the 2016 ballot. "When people talk to me about the problems with marijuana, I wonder why they're not talking about alcohol, too," she said. "I see empty bottles all over the East Side. That's a big problem too." Also running in DIstrict 2 are former Councilman Larry Atencio and Al Gurule; Arnold Montoya, the chief electric inspector for the Regional Building Department; and Joe Latino, a retired educator. [email protected] |
Copyright (c) 1998, Joongpil Cho