February 28, 2025 • 30 mins
Engaging with the importance of local politics, Maryah Lauer shares her journey and insights as a candidate for city council in Colorado Springs. She addresses the lack of representation and the need for meaningful democratic engagement within civic life. Through her firsthand experiences, we uncover how local decisions affect our daily lives.
• Introduction of Maryah Lauer and her background
• Motivation for running for city council amid anti-democratic measures
• Discussion of the challenges in local governance structures
• Advocacy for fair pay among city council members and equitable representation
• Importance of using tax revenue for community programs
• Call to action for citizen engagement in upcoming elections
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello everyone and welcome to Left Face.
My name is Adam Gillard.
I am your co-host along withDick Wilkinson.
How you doing, Dick?
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I'm doing great, Adam .
Thanks for having us.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Yeah, today we have Mariah Lauer with us.
She is a city council candidatefor District 3 here in Colorado
Springs.
Thanks for joining us today.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
Thank you so much for having me on.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
So tell us a little bit about yourself, Like how did
you land here in ColoradoSprings?
Speaker 3 (00:24):
So tell us a little bit about yourself.
How did you land here inColorado Springs?
So I decided to move out toColorado.
I grew up mostly in Texas andthen came out here for college
and just really fell in lovewith Colorado Springs.
I ended up graduating from UCCSand went to grad school abroad
and then, after my husband and Iwere deciding where we really
(00:44):
wanted to end up, we realizedthat Colorado Springs was home,
and this is where we've stuckaround and where we plan to make
our long-term home.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Okay, I've got to ask what part of Texas Because I'm
from Texas.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
It's a new place.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
True.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Well, I did.
I mean that's.
I lived in Corpus Christi, inAustin, san Antonio and Houston,
but grew up.
I consider San Antonio like myhometown.
That's where I spent the mosttime.
All right, that'll work, yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
What's the biggest San Antonio stereotype that you
hear?
Oh, San Antonio stereotype Imean.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Well, I mean, this is where the Air Force base.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Oh yeah that's right.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
I mean, yeah, I don't know if a San Antonio
stereotype?
Speaker 2 (01:28):
really no.
I mean the Alamo's there and Ijust remember the Alamo.
It's a really weird thing inTexas history because everybody
died and we got our asses handed.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Yeah, davy Crockett or Daniel Boone.
Daniel Boone died there.
Both of them, both of them.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
They killed each other there.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Oh really, yeah, Horrific, horrific, friendly
fire, first practice.
I in that war.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Well, thanks for joining us had to take us around
the block.
Yeah, absolutely yeah, I'm oneof those Texans that moved here
that everybody likes to complainabout.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Well, I guess I am too now Right.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
Yeah, we're all transplants now.
So what made you want to runfor city council?
Just increasinglyanti-democratic measures, most
recently with the recreationalweed sales issue, but also, you
know, just the way that they'vebeen really trying to like
thwart the will of the voters,and it felt like a really
(02:38):
important time.
Also, just the need to investin local politics.
There is such disaffection withwhat is happening nationally
and I think it's reallyimportant that we are investing
in local politics because it'salso just that's what really
touches our lives in a reallymaterial way on a daily basis,
and I think a lot of peoplearen't aware about that.
(03:00):
And so, yeah, I thought it waslike you know what People have
been encouraging me to run foroffice for years and I have
always been like, absolutely not, this is not something I have
any interest in, but it reallyfelt like the best way that I
could show up and serve mycommunity.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
So yeah, the city council has definitely been
troublesome, you know, for abunch of different views for a
long time.
You know, if you get elected toa position like this, some of
those folks are still going tobe up there.
How do you work across theaisle with some folks that you
just diametrically oppose eachother?
Speaker 3 (03:35):
Yeah, I mean, I think it's going to be a real
challenge.
There are a lot of impedimentsto, I think, real functioning
democracy, like within citycouncil and the way it actually
operates, like some of this getsinto kind of niche procedural
stuff.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Right.
So I think one of the thingsthat we really need to be
pursuing um, because, yeah, justrecognizing I'm like I'm going
to be, you know, I'm probablygoing to be one of a very slim
minority, and so our ability toactually affect a lot of change
is going to be like we're goingto meet a lot of blockades from
from the jump.
But one of the things I reallythink we ought to pursue is
(04:18):
changing how, how even issuesget to a like city council
general meeting.
So in the state legislature,their operating rules are that
every single legislator gets tointroduce a certain number of
bills every session and they allhave to have their day in a
hearing, a committee, yeah, acommittee hearing, and that way
(04:41):
it provides opportunity forpublic input.
But with city council, itrequires a majority of five, and
so, I think, really changingthat rule so that way we have,
you know, more opportunity toactually receive feedback and,
you know, shine some light onwhat's actually happening and
the kind of ordinances thatdifferent city counselors are,
you know, trying to put forward.
I think changing that procedure,rule, rule will have a huge
(05:03):
impact and even just makingpeople aware of, like, the work
that people are trying to do,but I honestly I think a lot of
what I'm going to end up havingto do on city council is
actually just like working withthe public on ballot initiatives
and trying to get those, youknow, get those on the ballot so
people can actually have likedirect input.
Um, because, yeah, otherwiseit's like it's so structurally
(05:26):
undemocratic and that's one ofthe things that we really need
to change.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And in this last council, youknow, it was a seven to two,
every vote, exactly.
So there's just no way for youknow, a good chunk of our
population to be heard.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Yeah, the agenda is totally one side as well.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Right heard.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Yeah, the agenda is totally one-sided as well.
Right, Absolutely the waythings make it to the agenda
right.
It's.
The minority seat holders arejust not able to get things on
the agenda.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
One thing I saw on your website is about trying to
get fair pay for city councilmembers, and that's something
that is such a roadblock.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
It's a weird debate that happens at different levels
all over the country, rightthere's different.
Yeah, and so I moved here fromNew Mexico recently and the New
Mexico state legislature isunpaid, it's a volunteer
workforce and they are not fulltime and that is the kind of
thing that they work with.
Is that, hey, you're in sessionfor two months in one year and
one month in the other year andyou get per diem on committee
(06:28):
days.
Well, as what you I think yourcampaign mentions is that that
excludes a significant amount ofcitizens because they have to
be full-time workers that earnsome kind of wage, yeah, and
they can't participate ingovernment that way if they're
not independently wealthy ordon't have some sort of pension
or some.
You know right, there's a fewcategories of people that get to
participate and there's a lotof categories that don't, and
that's at the state legislaturelevel.
(06:49):
You also get a lot of mixedconflict of interest.
That's just blaring, you know,right in your face Cannabis
lawyer that's in the statelegislature making rules about
the cannabis industry and thentaking cases to court.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
You know, that happens all day down there at
the state Senate, you know soyeah.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
I can see how you're on that same.
I think the same bend is openup the category of people who
can participate.
Is that kind of what you're?
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Oh, absolutely yeah.
I mean, if you look at othersimilarly sized US cities, I
mean it's a huge disparity.
I mean Atlanta pays, atlanta isconsidered part-time city
council and they are still paidover $70,000 a year.
In Minneapolis, which is asmaller city than like a
population size than ColoradoSprings, they pay over $100,000
(07:36):
a year.
And you know Denver pays over$100,000 a year to their city
council.
And I was also even looking atother municipalities in Colorado
, and Durango, which has apopulation of 20,000 people,
still pays and it's a trulypart-time job, not full-time
like here in Colorado Springs,but it still pays over $10,000 a
(07:58):
year.
Plus they get medical, visionand dental benefits and even
there we need to increase thepay because it doesn't really
work for working class people.
So the fact that even in a tinytown like that they are
realizing the limitations of payand how it allows or doesn't
allow for actual diverserepresentation on city council.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Because it's just over like 6,000 here.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
It's $6,250.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Yeah, for like half a million people almost.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
And that's taxed, it's still6,250.
Yeah, for like half a millionpeople almost, and that's taxed
it's still taxed.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Well, luckily you're in the poverty bracket, so it's
pretty low it's a low taxbracket Right, get a little
return at the end of the year.
Yeah, that $6,000 is actually$8,000 once you get your federal
money.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
You're so broke.
Yeah, I mean I'm fortunate thatthe person who I work with so
I'm currently actually workingas, like a landscaper because
the job market is so rough outthere, and I'm just really lucky
(09:06):
that the person who I work withand who able to do the job as
much as I really want to do thatand really be engaging, you
know, engaging citizens,engaging the community, and also
be able to just survive and paymy bills.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Yeah, yeah, cause I mean every Tuesday.
Those meetings run for eight to12 hours every week, and then
there's always action itemscoming out of those meetings.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
So, so, yeah, it's an absolute full-time plus job.
So, yeah, yeah, that pay isjust ridiculous for us here.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
And also not even like we also have the really
kind of unique situation of citycouncil being the governing
board for the utilities, whichis also, like you know, a
billion dollar enterprise, andso it's like they're doing two
full-time jobs really.
That's actually a separatecommission altogether, exactly,
yeah, so it's like really twofull-time jobs that city council
(09:52):
is expected to do for PITNs.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Yeah, and they've been talking about, like you
know, bringing nuclear in andstuff like that.
So they're having to dive intosome pretty technical things too
and understand a whole otherenterprise.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
That body of people is not really qualified for
those types of decisions, orwhatever, right, yeah, so yeah,
hopefully we can get somechanges there.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
And we do have money coming in to the city now thanks
to the cannabis legalizationfor recreational.
We'll be getting some tax moneyand keeping jobs here and
things like that, so we're goingto have some more revenue
coming to the cannabislegalization for recreational.
We'll be getting some tax moneyand keeping jobs here and
things like that, so we're goingto have some more revenue
coming to the city.
Hopefully we can put somethingtowards something like that.
But as a city council member,you'll also have a large play in
where that tax money goes.
(10:38):
What are some of your ideas onwhat we can do with that money
to help vets, help homelessness?
Just address the issues aroundour city.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
Well, yeah, first, I want to say that one of the
things I really am strongly infavor of is actually introducing
participatory budgeting, likesome kind of mechanism for that
within our city.
I think that would mean we hadreal meaningful democracy,
because we should be able tohave like some kind of influence
in the way our tax dollars aresent, are spent, before the
(11:09):
budget is totally baked in.
You know, being able to show itto a budget hearing when it's
already like pretty much set instone is not really meaningful
input.
So I'm all in favor ofimplementing something like that
because I think we really, Ithink citizens deserve to have
the ability to really have a sayin where their tax dollars are
(11:30):
spent.
But, yeah, I think the moneycoming in from recreational
marijuana sales it needs.
I think we need to really beprioritizing it for mental
health programs and especiallylike support for veterans.
You know, asking thosecommunities or asking mental
(11:52):
health people who are in themental health profession, who
are, you know, responsible forprograms.
You know the fire departmentjust started a whole new opioid
response team.
So looking at initiatives likethat and how we can really kind
of be expanding the reallyimportant like crisis response
work that we need in this city,I think, is what should be a
(12:12):
priority work that we need inthis city, I think, is what
should be a priority.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
I think the sheriff's office here has a crisis
response team that you know whenyou call, except I've had you
know people call me up where I'dhave to make phone calls and
they would send out.
You know an officer, a socialworker and you know somebody to
talk to and just make sure thatyou know they didn't have their
guns and things like that.
But those programs are alwaysthe first things to get cut when
(12:36):
there's budget restraint.
So hopefully this influx ofmoney will keep feeding those
programs because they definitelyget used out there.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Yeah, and you know I'll make a little bit of a
suggestion or a statement assomeone who you know is a
customer of some of thoseservices.
The handoff, I think, is wherewhat we call wraparound services
, right, when somebody makescontact with medical or justice,
you know, whether it be lawenforcement or whatever they get
that hit of Narcan, theysurvive the night, they get
(13:04):
taken back to wherever they werefound and maybe there's one
phone call sometime in the nextfew days from somebody in that
stack of agencies that was incontact with that person maybe
maybe not, and odds are maybenot, yeah, and then it's only a
matter of time before thatperson is going to be right back
in the same situation, maybeeven days before they're back in
(13:26):
the same hospital with the samepolice officer, sheriff, you
know deputy standing there going.
I know this guy.
I did, we just did this, yeah,right.
And so the bridge to services.
There's a lot of groups outthere that are designed to do
that, but somehow there's stilljust massive cracks.
So if there's any way for thecity to use some of that money
to ensure that those wraparoundservices really come to bear for
(13:48):
that person, I feel like that'sone spot that a little bit, a
large return on investment for alittle bit of effort and a
little bit of funding, yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
I think we need to look at using some of this
funding for, like, the policeacademy, instead of building
that out.
That's something that the mayorkeeps pushing, and the mayor
obviously is against thecannabis legalization things.
But we can help you build apolice academy Like go do it.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
If you want to address a lot of these things
and train this generation offirst responders on how to you
know help with the handoff it'snot their job to do the handoff,
but they're there you know sothere's no harm in, you know, if
you had to do this type of caseand respond with Narcan.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
This is the next step you know, and I'm sure that
probably doesn't exist right now.
See, I will say I actuallydisagree, um, specifically too,
about the the police academy.
So actually, pikes Peak statecollege has a number of programs
for like for different firstresponders, but they the fire
department and the policedepartment won't hire them
(14:50):
because they only do training inhouse.
But it means that we have allthese especially younger people
who are locals to ColoradoSprings who want to serve their
community, but they can'tactually get hired after they go
through these programs.
So I think that's something weneed to actually be working with
Pikes Peak State College andmaking sure that there is a
pathway from those who arelearning how to become medics,
(15:14):
emts and all this stuff and andreally yeah, provide an actual
like pathway to employment forthem, and I think that would
have a much better, I think thatwould have a much better impact
, um, or efficacy rate than, youknow, just relying so much on
the police department to meetall these like needs.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Cause I mean that's, that's the whole thing is like
we.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
I mean, I've seen, you know, I've seen interviews
with police from across thecountry and they're they say
themselves that they're likewe're not equipped to meet all
the demands.
Yeah, and so I think it'simportant that we really have
that we invest in alternativeresponse teams for crises that
(15:57):
don't include police, because Imean, frankly, like who's the
best person to deal with amental health crisis?
A mental health professional ora social worker?
Like that's who we really need.
And when we look at othercities who've implemented those
kinds of programs, like the STARprogram in Denver it has saved
the city millions of dollars.
Like it's, it's far moreeffective.
(16:18):
And then there's not thepotential for use of force,
civil lawsuits against the city,which is a huge issue We've had
yeah, tens of millions ofdollars have been paid out from
those just since 2020.
So, yeah, I really think thoseare the kinds of things that we
need to be doing instead andjust realizing that, yeah, like
you said, the scope of what thepolice are, the scope of duty
(16:39):
for police, is unreasonable andthat there are other people who
are better equipped to do that,and also looking at as an
opportunity for to really creategood jobs for for a lot of
people in the community.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Yeah, you can definitely do that too, but with
the police they're short, like80 uniformed officers right now,
80, okay.
And that's going.
That's why we don't have a hugepolice presence anywhere.
Really, you don't really havethem until they come there, and
the only way that you like fixmanning numbers is by being able
to train more here locally, orbe able to bring people in or
(17:12):
generate yeah, you have togenerate your own, and the
current situation is they havelike four or five places around
the city where they have to goout and train and that doesn't
allow them to put the throughputthat they need to keep up with
the numbers, so it just affectseverything.
So now, instead of having aproperly man-pleased force, you
(17:36):
have people who are workingdouble overtime shifts, getting
just PTSD situations stacked ontop of PTSD situations, and then
they do something stupid.
All these things feed into eachother.
We can't just ignore our policeforce.
They need help, they need aplace to train, they need a
(17:57):
place to bring people in andactually just help serve the
city better, because, at the endof the day, they've raised
their hand to serve thecommunity.
I think we need to give someback to them too.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
I mean I will say, though, if you look at funding,
if you look at the city budgetfor the past years, I mean we've
seen every year it's likepolice funding goes up and up
and up and up.
I mean the breakdown forspending, for salary spending,
it's almost half of it goes topolice.
So that means the other half issplit between all these other
(18:29):
really like essential services,like fire, like parks and public
works and all these otherthings that would really help
serve our community.
So I think it's time that weactually try a new approach,
because we've been doing thesame thing and yet we continue
to have these problems.
We continue to have a crisis ofhomelessness, we continue to
(18:49):
have communities that have beenhave really haven't been
properly invested in, and yeah,so I think that's why it's it's
really important to me that weactually we stopped doing the
thing that we've been doing.
That clearly isn't working,because all of these problems
continue to exist, no matter howmuch money we've been throwing
at the police department.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
So this is where I give my plug for how great
Colorado Springs is, because Imoved here from Albuquerque and
so I just was there.
And I'm not throwingAlbuquerque under the bus, but I
was there in January and, um,and I remember I was quickly
reminded that when I lived inAlbuquerque and I would come to
Colorado, there was always thisfeeling of like other than
(19:33):
there's grass and trees whichhas an impact on you.
Down there there's notAlbuquerque.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
And but other than green.
Um, it was the like.
I'm not going to get harassed,panhandled, threatened,
assaulted.
I'm not going to see anybodyopenly using drugs or have it to
explain to my child what is it,what I?
Why is that?
in that dude's neck InAlbuquerque.
That's every day, I mean, andjust living life, you're going
(20:01):
to run into that more than onceevery single day.
And so this is my plug forColorado Springs, to say
problems are relative and theproblems here are actually in
pretty freaking good shapecompared to some other places.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Yeah, yeah, I would agree with that, yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Let's always keep working to improve Right, but I
want to, I just like to.
There's a breath of fresh airaround here sometimes and other
places there's not.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
So yeah, yeah, yeah, growing up going down to Detroit
, yeah, there's definitely someworse places to walk around at
night.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
I mean I will say, though, I think definitely the
approach or the way I look at itis like if there's a single
person who's homeless, like thatis a policy failure and that
really points to a failure ofelected leadership.
So I mean, yeah, I know thereare places that are worse, but
there's also places that arebetter.
(20:52):
And you know, we could beadopting something like housing
first policy that, you know,just puts people in housing that
provides those wraparoundservices that you were talking
about earlier, because that isthe only way that people really
can deal with mental healthproblems.
Also, you know, avoids themental health problems that
homelessness causes, becauseit's incredibly traumatic and
(21:16):
would just make our not tomention, it's the more
compassionate option, it's themore cost-effective one over
$31,000 per person because thecost of emergency response,
(21:37):
emergency treatments,incarceration, is so much more
than just, like you know,getting somebody into an
apartment and making sure thatthey have substance abuse
support, mental health support,maybe some vocational training.
So, yeah, I think there's likereally good options out there
that we haven't reallyeffectively tried and we know
(21:59):
from other places that they workreally well, and so it's like,
yeah, there's essentially like aton of money on the table that
we could be saving to the tuneof tens of millions of dollars.
And, yeah, I think we need tobe investing in those kinds of
solutions as a city.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
The elections April 1st, you get sworn in.
What's the first thing thatyou're looking to do as a city
council member?
Speaker 2 (22:21):
Well, I want to pause there.
Hey everybody, there's anelection coming up.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
I wanted to make sure you'd say that in this episode.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
People are going to be like what are they talking
about?
Is she running?
Speaker 1 (22:31):
next year.
What is this?
Oh yeah, April 1st.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
April 1st.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
no joke, You're going to need to vote and this
woman's name is going to bethere we're good.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Thanks, so day one.
What do you want to do?
Speaker 3 (22:43):
Day one.
I really I think, as I wasspeaking to you earlier, like we
need to be really trying toinstitutionalize democracy in a
meaningful way and the way thatcity council operates.
So that will absolutely be oneof my first, I think one of the
first big battles I'm going topick.
I also think we need to just beas I said on my website.
(23:04):
We need to actually havecouncil meeting times at when
working class people canactually attend and show up,
like you shouldn't have to takeoff work to go provide feedback
to what the decisions that yourcity council is making.
You know it's.
I think it's a very rare thingthat there's not very many
cities that have it on like aTuesday at 9am.
(23:27):
You know most people work a lotof people work in nine to five.
So I think that's probably oneof the going to be the first
things that I really agitatearound, but I'm going to be
relentlessly focused on actuallybeing Not just like waiting for
people to come talk to me, butgoing out and asking people,
like actively seeking theirinput, because I think people
(23:50):
are kind of a lot of people havesort of thrown their hands up
because they're like well, Ican't do anything about this
anyway, because the city councildoesn't listen, it doesn't care
, it's so clearly captured bydevelopers and corporate
interests so, like, why bother?
And I want to make it reallyclear to people that no, I mean,
I will grab coffee with you.
I want to hear about your life,I want to hear about what you
(24:12):
need, I want to hear about thethings that you wish the city
was doing, or also maybe helpconnect you with resources that
do currently exist and areavailable, because there's a lot
of good legislation that'shappening at the state capitol
that I think a lot of in, likeprograms that I think a lot of
people like aren't even aware of, like mediation for, like,
(24:35):
pre-eviction mediation to helppeople, you know, to work with
their landlords and hopefullyprevents eviction and then
possibly homelessness.
So, yeah, I think really bothconnecting people with resources
and actually just getting abetter understanding of what
they are really seeking in theirrepresentation.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
Yeah, for listeners out there, for vets locally
Rocky Mountain Human Servicesprovide pre-eviction,
post-eviction lawyer servicesand things like that.
So, yeah, any vets out therecan always reach out to Rocky
Mountain Human Services too.
But yeah, making sure that getsextended to everybody will be
(25:14):
huge.
You know you talk about tryingto bring democracy back to the
city council.
Members of the city councilhave been on hot mics saying
that this isn't a democracy,it's a constitutional republic.
Sure, which that's aninteresting take on what we have
(25:35):
going on here.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
They're city councilors anyway.
Like we're not talking, youknow like that's a federal, you
know construct.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
Well, it's still here because they still have a
constitution and they areelected officials.
But, like you're still on theguide rails of that constitution
, when you step out of that, youget caught.
It's what happened with thecannabis thing.
You know, like you clearlyviolated your constitution.
You, you have to listen.
Yeah, um, they're doing itagain with the, the e-bike thing
.
The e-bike thing should go to aballot initiative.
(26:06):
It shouldn't be decided by them.
But they're clearly ignoringthat.
What are some of the just?
What are your thoughts ontrying to work around that?
Where you see deliberateviolations within your own
council, how do you stop thatwhen you're the minority?
Speaker 3 (26:27):
Absolutely.
Yeah, that's where I'm like Idon't, it won't be because I
have a background doing likecommunity work.
I know it's it's not I.
I'm not capable of juststopping it by myself, and
that's why I'm going to be doingeverything I can to really open
the doors to the residents ofthis city so that they can fight
(26:47):
back with me, because, yeah,I'm like a single person, we
can't do anything alone, buttogether we can do a lot.
And so I think, really takingthat approach and making it
clear that I am not somebody whothinks that it's okay to look
down on the same voters whoelected you and make those kinds
of claims like, oh well, we'rea constitutional republic, so
(27:10):
therefore you don't get realdemocracy I think that is
absolutely absurd and, quitefrankly, the audacity of them to
say that after people put themthere and voted for them, it's
maddening.
And so, yeah, I think that'sdefinitely going to be my
approach is just like, hey, I'min this fight with you, like
let's you know, let's really dothis together and even just
(27:33):
trying to.
I think calling that out,calling out that behavior from
the dais, is going to be reallyimportant and making sure that
people are at least aware ofwhat is going on behind the
scenes, because I think there'sgoing to.
I think there's a lot of stuffthat we don't even know about.
That is, quite frankly,incredibly nefarious, and so I
think, really, just again tryingto shine a light on what is
(27:55):
happening and using my positionon city council to make sure
that people are as aware aspossible and then, you know,
bringing them in so we canreally push back against all
that together, cool All right?
Speaker 1 (28:09):
Well, thanks for joining us today.
Uh, we're about to head out forour progressive vets lunch.
Uh, you're going to be joiningus there so you get to meet some
of the?
Uh, the vets in the community.
Um, but we look forward tohearing more from you.
Uh, what was your website thatpeople can go to?
Speaker (28:25):
Mariahfordistrict3.com .
Speaker 1 (28:28):
Okay, yeah, so go there.
There's a donate link on thebottom.
These local races they're wonby not many votes, so every
dollar that you can give reallymatters and it'll go to good use
.
So if you can donate, if youknock on doors, help out.
Just reach out through ourwebsite.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
And, most of all, open your ballot.
Put a bubble on it.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
Yes, yeah because these elections have like a 40%
turnout rate.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
And even it's lower in some districts and it's a
broad field of candidates, soyour margin to win is totally
different than when it's ahead-to-head race.
So, man talking about everyvote counts when you're
splitting that up against abroad field.
It really does, yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
Yeah, so every dollar counts, every phone call vote
type situation yeah.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
Yeah, absolutely.
And if I can just plug as wellto make it clear, kind of my
politics is that I have beenendorsed by the El Paso County
Democratic Party.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
So yeah, because these are unaffiliated races.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
They are.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
I'm glad that our bylaws have changed, that we can
actually talk about candidatesand actually help the community
make decisions.
That's what the party is hereto do is help the community make
decisions.
So I'm glad that they took thatrestraint off themselves.
So congratulations on yourendorsement from the El Paso.
County Democratic Party.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
I was going to say.
And then, as of last night,well, I might be a little early
to be announcing it because Idon't know if it's publicly
official, but I was alsoendorsed by the Pikes Peak Area
Labor Council.
Oh sweet, yeah, really lovingall the union support that I've
been getting as well.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
That's a good deal Cool, all right.
Well, thanks everybody forjoining us Again.
This was Left Face.
I'm Adam Gillard here with DickWilkinson.
Tune in next week.
Bye.
Hello everyone and welcome to Left Face.
My name is Adam Gillard.
I am your co-host along withDick Wilkinson.
How you doing, Dick?
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I'm doing great, Adam .
Thanks for having us.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Yeah, today we have Mariah Lauer with us.
She is a city council candidatefor District 3 here in Colorado
Springs.
Thanks for joining us today.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
Thank you so much for having me on.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
So tell us a little bit about yourself, Like how did
you land here in ColoradoSprings?
Speaker 3 (00:24):
So tell us a little bit about yourself.
How did you land here inColorado Springs?
So I decided to move out toColorado.
I grew up mostly in Texas andthen came out here for college
and just really fell in lovewith Colorado Springs.
I ended up graduating from UCCSand went to grad school abroad
and then, after my husband and Iwere deciding where we really
(00:44):
wanted to end up, we realizedthat Colorado Springs was home,
and this is where we've stuckaround and where we plan to make
our long-term home.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Okay, I've got to ask what part of Texas Because I'm
from Texas.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
It's a new place.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
True.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Well, I did.
I mean that's.
I lived in Corpus Christi, inAustin, san Antonio and Houston,
but grew up.
I consider San Antonio like myhometown.
That's where I spent the mosttime.
All right, that'll work, yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
What's the biggest San Antonio stereotype that you
hear?
Oh, San Antonio stereotype Imean.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Well, I mean, this is where the Air Force base.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Oh yeah that's right.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
I mean, yeah, I don't know if a San Antonio
stereotype?
Speaker 2 (01:28):
really no.
I mean the Alamo's there and Ijust remember the Alamo.
It's a really weird thing inTexas history because everybody
died and we got our asses handed.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Yeah, davy Crockett or Daniel Boone.
Daniel Boone died there.
Both of them, both of them.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
They killed each other there.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Oh really, yeah, Horrific, horrific, friendly
fire, first practice.
I in that war.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Well, thanks for joining us had to take us around
the block.
Yeah, absolutely yeah, I'm oneof those Texans that moved here
that everybody likes to complainabout.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Well, I guess I am too now Right.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
Yeah, we're all transplants now.
So what made you want to runfor city council?
Just increasinglyanti-democratic measures, most
recently with the recreationalweed sales issue, but also, you
know, just the way that they'vebeen really trying to like
thwart the will of the voters,and it felt like a really
(02:38):
important time.
Also, just the need to investin local politics.
There is such disaffection withwhat is happening nationally
and I think it's reallyimportant that we are investing
in local politics because it'salso just that's what really
touches our lives in a reallymaterial way on a daily basis,
and I think a lot of peoplearen't aware about that.
(03:00):
And so, yeah, I thought it waslike you know what People have
been encouraging me to run foroffice for years and I have
always been like, absolutely not, this is not something I have
any interest in, but it reallyfelt like the best way that I
could show up and serve mycommunity.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
So yeah, the city council has definitely been
troublesome, you know, for abunch of different views for a
long time.
You know, if you get elected toa position like this, some of
those folks are still going tobe up there.
How do you work across theaisle with some folks that you
just diametrically oppose eachother?
Speaker 3 (03:35):
Yeah, I mean, I think it's going to be a real
challenge.
There are a lot of impedimentsto, I think, real functioning
democracy, like within citycouncil and the way it actually
operates, like some of this getsinto kind of niche procedural
stuff.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Right.
So I think one of the thingsthat we really need to be
pursuing um, because, yeah, justrecognizing I'm like I'm going
to be, you know, I'm probablygoing to be one of a very slim
minority, and so our ability toactually affect a lot of change
is going to be like we're goingto meet a lot of blockades from
from the jump.
But one of the things I reallythink we ought to pursue is
(04:18):
changing how, how even issuesget to a like city council
general meeting.
So in the state legislature,their operating rules are that
every single legislator gets tointroduce a certain number of
bills every session and they allhave to have their day in a
hearing, a committee, yeah, acommittee hearing, and that way
(04:41):
it provides opportunity forpublic input.
But with city council, itrequires a majority of five, and
so, I think, really changingthat rule so that way we have,
you know, more opportunity toactually receive feedback and,
you know, shine some light onwhat's actually happening and
the kind of ordinances thatdifferent city counselors are,
you know, trying to put forward.
I think changing that procedure,rule, rule will have a huge
(05:03):
impact and even just makingpeople aware of, like, the work
that people are trying to do,but I honestly I think a lot of
what I'm going to end up havingto do on city council is
actually just like working withthe public on ballot initiatives
and trying to get those, youknow, get those on the ballot so
people can actually have likedirect input.
Um, because, yeah, otherwiseit's like it's so structurally
(05:26):
undemocratic and that's one ofthe things that we really need
to change.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And in this last council, youknow, it was a seven to two,
every vote, exactly.
So there's just no way for youknow, a good chunk of our
population to be heard.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Yeah, the agenda is totally one side as well.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Right heard.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Yeah, the agenda is totally one-sided as well.
Right, Absolutely the waythings make it to the agenda
right.
It's.
The minority seat holders arejust not able to get things on
the agenda.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
One thing I saw on your website is about trying to
get fair pay for city councilmembers, and that's something
that is such a roadblock.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
It's a weird debate that happens at different levels
all over the country, rightthere's different.
Yeah, and so I moved here fromNew Mexico recently and the New
Mexico state legislature isunpaid, it's a volunteer
workforce and they are not fulltime and that is the kind of
thing that they work with.
Is that, hey, you're in sessionfor two months in one year and
one month in the other year andyou get per diem on committee
(06:28):
days.
Well, as what you I think yourcampaign mentions is that that
excludes a significant amount ofcitizens because they have to
be full-time workers that earnsome kind of wage, yeah, and
they can't participate ingovernment that way if they're
not independently wealthy ordon't have some sort of pension
or some.
You know right, there's a fewcategories of people that get to
participate and there's a lotof categories that don't, and
that's at the state legislaturelevel.
(06:49):
You also get a lot of mixedconflict of interest.
That's just blaring, you know,right in your face Cannabis
lawyer that's in the statelegislature making rules about
the cannabis industry and thentaking cases to court.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
You know, that happens all day down there at
the state Senate, you know soyeah.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
I can see how you're on that same.
I think the same bend is openup the category of people who
can participate.
Is that kind of what you're?
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Oh, absolutely yeah.
I mean, if you look at othersimilarly sized US cities, I
mean it's a huge disparity.
I mean Atlanta pays, atlanta isconsidered part-time city
council and they are still paidover $70,000 a year.
In Minneapolis, which is asmaller city than like a
population size than ColoradoSprings, they pay over $100,000
(07:36):
a year.
And you know Denver pays over$100,000 a year to their city
council.
And I was also even looking atother municipalities in Colorado
, and Durango, which has apopulation of 20,000 people,
still pays and it's a trulypart-time job, not full-time
like here in Colorado Springs,but it still pays over $10,000 a
(07:58):
year.
Plus they get medical, visionand dental benefits and even
there we need to increase thepay because it doesn't really
work for working class people.
So the fact that even in a tinytown like that they are
realizing the limitations of payand how it allows or doesn't
allow for actual diverserepresentation on city council.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Because it's just over like 6,000 here.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
It's $6,250.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Yeah, for like half a million people almost.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
And that's taxed, it's still6,250.
Yeah, for like half a millionpeople almost, and that's taxed
it's still taxed.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Well, luckily you're in the poverty bracket, so it's
pretty low it's a low taxbracket Right, get a little
return at the end of the year.
Yeah, that $6,000 is actually$8,000 once you get your federal
money.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
You're so broke.
Yeah, I mean I'm fortunate thatthe person who I work with so
I'm currently actually workingas, like a landscaper because
the job market is so rough outthere, and I'm just really lucky
(09:06):
that the person who I work withand who able to do the job as
much as I really want to do thatand really be engaging, you
know, engaging citizens,engaging the community, and also
be able to just survive and paymy bills.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Yeah, yeah, cause I mean every Tuesday.
Those meetings run for eight to12 hours every week, and then
there's always action itemscoming out of those meetings.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
So, so, yeah, it's an absolute full-time plus job.
So, yeah, yeah, that pay isjust ridiculous for us here.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
And also not even like we also have the really
kind of unique situation of citycouncil being the governing
board for the utilities, whichis also, like you know, a
billion dollar enterprise, andso it's like they're doing two
full-time jobs really.
That's actually a separatecommission altogether, exactly,
yeah, so it's like really twofull-time jobs that city council
(09:52):
is expected to do for PITNs.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Yeah, and they've been talking about, like you
know, bringing nuclear in andstuff like that.
So they're having to dive intosome pretty technical things too
and understand a whole otherenterprise.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
That body of people is not really qualified for
those types of decisions, orwhatever, right, yeah, so yeah,
hopefully we can get somechanges there.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
And we do have money coming in to the city now thanks
to the cannabis legalizationfor recreational.
We'll be getting some tax moneyand keeping jobs here and
things like that, so we're goingto have some more revenue
coming to the cannabislegalization for recreational.
We'll be getting some tax moneyand keeping jobs here and
things like that, so we're goingto have some more revenue
coming to the city.
Hopefully we can put somethingtowards something like that.
But as a city council member,you'll also have a large play in
where that tax money goes.
(10:38):
What are some of your ideas onwhat we can do with that money
to help vets, help homelessness?
Just address the issues aroundour city.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
Well, yeah, first, I want to say that one of the
things I really am strongly infavor of is actually introducing
participatory budgeting, likesome kind of mechanism for that
within our city.
I think that would mean we hadreal meaningful democracy,
because we should be able tohave like some kind of influence
in the way our tax dollars aresent, are spent, before the
(11:09):
budget is totally baked in.
You know, being able to show itto a budget hearing when it's
already like pretty much set instone is not really meaningful
input.
So I'm all in favor ofimplementing something like that
because I think we really, Ithink citizens deserve to have
the ability to really have a sayin where their tax dollars are
(11:30):
spent.
But, yeah, I think the moneycoming in from recreational
marijuana sales it needs.
I think we need to really beprioritizing it for mental
health programs and especiallylike support for veterans.
You know, asking thosecommunities or asking mental
(11:52):
health people who are in themental health profession, who
are, you know, responsible forprograms.
You know the fire departmentjust started a whole new opioid
response team.
So looking at initiatives likethat and how we can really kind
of be expanding the reallyimportant like crisis response
work that we need in this city,I think, is what should be a
(12:12):
priority work that we need inthis city, I think, is what
should be a priority.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
I think the sheriff's office here has a crisis
response team that you know whenyou call, except I've had you
know people call me up where I'dhave to make phone calls and
they would send out.
You know an officer, a socialworker and you know somebody to
talk to and just make sure thatyou know they didn't have their
guns and things like that.
But those programs are alwaysthe first things to get cut when
(12:36):
there's budget restraint.
So hopefully this influx ofmoney will keep feeding those
programs because they definitelyget used out there.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Yeah, and you know I'll make a little bit of a
suggestion or a statement assomeone who you know is a
customer of some of thoseservices.
The handoff, I think, is wherewhat we call wraparound services
, right, when somebody makescontact with medical or justice,
you know, whether it be lawenforcement or whatever they get
that hit of Narcan, theysurvive the night, they get
(13:04):
taken back to wherever they werefound and maybe there's one
phone call sometime in the nextfew days from somebody in that
stack of agencies that was incontact with that person maybe
maybe not, and odds are maybenot, yeah, and then it's only a
matter of time before thatperson is going to be right back
in the same situation, maybeeven days before they're back in
(13:26):
the same hospital with the samepolice officer, sheriff, you
know deputy standing there going.
I know this guy.
I did, we just did this, yeah,right.
And so the bridge to services.
There's a lot of groups outthere that are designed to do
that, but somehow there's stilljust massive cracks.
So if there's any way for thecity to use some of that money
to ensure that those wraparoundservices really come to bear for
(13:48):
that person, I feel like that'sone spot that a little bit, a
large return on investment for alittle bit of effort and a
little bit of funding, yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
I think we need to look at using some of this
funding for, like, the policeacademy, instead of building
that out.
That's something that the mayorkeeps pushing, and the mayor
obviously is against thecannabis legalization things.
But we can help you build apolice academy Like go do it.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
If you want to address a lot of these things
and train this generation offirst responders on how to you
know help with the handoff it'snot their job to do the handoff,
but they're there you know sothere's no harm in, you know, if
you had to do this type of caseand respond with Narcan.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
This is the next step you know, and I'm sure that
probably doesn't exist right now.
See, I will say I actuallydisagree, um, specifically too,
about the the police academy.
So actually, pikes Peak statecollege has a number of programs
for like for different firstresponders, but they the fire
department and the policedepartment won't hire them
(14:50):
because they only do training inhouse.
But it means that we have allthese especially younger people
who are locals to ColoradoSprings who want to serve their
community, but they can'tactually get hired after they go
through these programs.
So I think that's something weneed to actually be working with
Pikes Peak State College andmaking sure that there is a
pathway from those who arelearning how to become medics,
(15:14):
emts and all this stuff and andreally yeah, provide an actual
like pathway to employment forthem, and I think that would
have a much better, I think thatwould have a much better impact
, um, or efficacy rate than, youknow, just relying so much on
the police department to meetall these like needs.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Cause I mean that's, that's the whole thing is like
we.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
I mean, I've seen, you know, I've seen interviews
with police from across thecountry and they're they say
themselves that they're likewe're not equipped to meet all
the demands.
Yeah, and so I think it'simportant that we really have
that we invest in alternativeresponse teams for crises that
(15:57):
don't include police, because Imean, frankly, like who's the
best person to deal with amental health crisis?
A mental health professional ora social worker?
Like that's who we really need.
And when we look at othercities who've implemented those
kinds of programs, like the STARprogram in Denver it has saved
the city millions of dollars.
Like it's, it's far moreeffective.
(16:18):
And then there's not thepotential for use of force,
civil lawsuits against the city,which is a huge issue We've had
yeah, tens of millions ofdollars have been paid out from
those just since 2020.
So, yeah, I really think thoseare the kinds of things that we
need to be doing instead andjust realizing that, yeah, like
you said, the scope of what thepolice are, the scope of duty
(16:39):
for police, is unreasonable andthat there are other people who
are better equipped to do that,and also looking at as an
opportunity for to really creategood jobs for for a lot of
people in the community.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Yeah, you can definitely do that too, but with
the police they're short, like80 uniformed officers right now,
80, okay.
And that's going.
That's why we don't have a hugepolice presence anywhere.
Really, you don't really havethem until they come there, and
the only way that you like fixmanning numbers is by being able
to train more here locally, orbe able to bring people in or
(17:12):
generate yeah, you have togenerate your own, and the
current situation is they havelike four or five places around
the city where they have to goout and train and that doesn't
allow them to put the throughputthat they need to keep up with
the numbers, so it just affectseverything.
So now, instead of having aproperly man-pleased force, you
(17:36):
have people who are workingdouble overtime shifts, getting
just PTSD situations stacked ontop of PTSD situations, and then
they do something stupid.
All these things feed into eachother.
We can't just ignore our policeforce.
They need help, they need aplace to train, they need a
(17:57):
place to bring people in andactually just help serve the
city better, because, at the endof the day, they've raised
their hand to serve thecommunity.
I think we need to give someback to them too.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
I mean I will say, though, if you look at funding,
if you look at the city budgetfor the past years, I mean we've
seen every year it's likepolice funding goes up and up
and up and up.
I mean the breakdown forspending, for salary spending,
it's almost half of it goes topolice.
So that means the other half issplit between all these other
(18:29):
really like essential services,like fire, like parks and public
works and all these otherthings that would really help
serve our community.
So I think it's time that weactually try a new approach,
because we've been doing thesame thing and yet we continue
to have these problems.
We continue to have a crisis ofhomelessness, we continue to
(18:49):
have communities that have beenhave really haven't been
properly invested in, and yeah,so I think that's why it's it's
really important to me that weactually we stopped doing the
thing that we've been doing.
That clearly isn't working,because all of these problems
continue to exist, no matter howmuch money we've been throwing
at the police department.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
So this is where I give my plug for how great
Colorado Springs is, because Imoved here from Albuquerque and
so I just was there.
And I'm not throwingAlbuquerque under the bus, but I
was there in January and, um,and I remember I was quickly
reminded that when I lived inAlbuquerque and I would come to
Colorado, there was always thisfeeling of like other than
(19:33):
there's grass and trees whichhas an impact on you.
Down there there's notAlbuquerque.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
And but other than green.
Um, it was the like.
I'm not going to get harassed,panhandled, threatened,
assaulted.
I'm not going to see anybodyopenly using drugs or have it to
explain to my child what is it,what I?
Why is that?
in that dude's neck InAlbuquerque.
That's every day, I mean, andjust living life, you're going
(20:01):
to run into that more than onceevery single day.
And so this is my plug forColorado Springs, to say
problems are relative and theproblems here are actually in
pretty freaking good shapecompared to some other places.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Yeah, yeah, I would agree with that, yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Let's always keep working to improve Right, but I
want to, I just like to.
There's a breath of fresh airaround here sometimes and other
places there's not.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
So yeah, yeah, yeah, growing up going down to Detroit
, yeah, there's definitely someworse places to walk around at
night.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
I mean I will say, though, I think definitely the
approach or the way I look at itis like if there's a single
person who's homeless, like thatis a policy failure and that
really points to a failure ofelected leadership.
So I mean, yeah, I know thereare places that are worse, but
there's also places that arebetter.
(20:52):
And you know, we could beadopting something like housing
first policy that, you know,just puts people in housing that
provides those wraparoundservices that you were talking
about earlier, because that isthe only way that people really
can deal with mental healthproblems.
Also, you know, avoids themental health problems that
homelessness causes, becauseit's incredibly traumatic and
(21:16):
would just make our not tomention, it's the more
compassionate option, it's themore cost-effective one over
$31,000 per person because thecost of emergency response,
(21:37):
emergency treatments,incarceration, is so much more
than just, like you know,getting somebody into an
apartment and making sure thatthey have substance abuse
support, mental health support,maybe some vocational training.
So, yeah, I think there's likereally good options out there
that we haven't reallyeffectively tried and we know
(21:59):
from other places that they workreally well, and so it's like,
yeah, there's essentially like aton of money on the table that
we could be saving to the tuneof tens of millions of dollars.
And, yeah, I think we need tobe investing in those kinds of
solutions as a city.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
The elections April 1st, you get sworn in.
What's the first thing thatyou're looking to do as a city
council member?
Speaker 2 (22:21):
Well, I want to pause there.
Hey everybody, there's anelection coming up.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
I wanted to make sure you'd say that in this episode.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
People are going to be like what are they talking
about?
Is she running?
Speaker 1 (22:31):
next year.
What is this?
Oh yeah, April 1st.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
April 1st.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
no joke, You're going to need to vote and this
woman's name is going to bethere we're good.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Thanks, so day one.
What do you want to do?
Speaker 3 (22:43):
Day one.
I really I think, as I wasspeaking to you earlier, like we
need to be really trying toinstitutionalize democracy in a
meaningful way and the way thatcity council operates.
So that will absolutely be oneof my first, I think one of the
first big battles I'm going topick.
I also think we need to just beas I said on my website.
(23:04):
We need to actually havecouncil meeting times at when
working class people canactually attend and show up,
like you shouldn't have to takeoff work to go provide feedback
to what the decisions that yourcity council is making.
You know it's.
I think it's a very rare thingthat there's not very many
cities that have it on like aTuesday at 9am.
(23:27):
You know most people work a lotof people work in nine to five.
So I think that's probably oneof the going to be the first
things that I really agitatearound, but I'm going to be
relentlessly focused on actuallybeing Not just like waiting for
people to come talk to me, butgoing out and asking people,
like actively seeking theirinput, because I think people
(23:50):
are kind of a lot of people havesort of thrown their hands up
because they're like well, Ican't do anything about this
anyway, because the city councildoesn't listen, it doesn't care
, it's so clearly captured bydevelopers and corporate
interests so, like, why bother?
And I want to make it reallyclear to people that no, I mean,
I will grab coffee with you.
I want to hear about your life,I want to hear about what you
(24:12):
need, I want to hear about thethings that you wish the city
was doing, or also maybe helpconnect you with resources that
do currently exist and areavailable, because there's a lot
of good legislation that'shappening at the state capitol
that I think a lot of in, likeprograms that I think a lot of
people like aren't even aware of, like mediation for, like,
(24:35):
pre-eviction mediation to helppeople, you know, to work with
their landlords and hopefullyprevents eviction and then
possibly homelessness.
So, yeah, I think really bothconnecting people with resources
and actually just getting abetter understanding of what
they are really seeking in theirrepresentation.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
Yeah, for listeners out there, for vets locally
Rocky Mountain Human Servicesprovide pre-eviction,
post-eviction lawyer servicesand things like that.
So, yeah, any vets out therecan always reach out to Rocky
Mountain Human Services too.
But yeah, making sure that getsextended to everybody will be
(25:14):
huge.
You know you talk about tryingto bring democracy back to the
city council.
Members of the city councilhave been on hot mics saying
that this isn't a democracy,it's a constitutional republic.
Sure, which that's aninteresting take on what we have
(25:35):
going on here.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
They're city councilors anyway.
Like we're not talking, youknow like that's a federal, you
know construct.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
Well, it's still here because they still have a
constitution and they areelected officials.
But, like you're still on theguide rails of that constitution
, when you step out of that, youget caught.
It's what happened with thecannabis thing.
You know, like you clearlyviolated your constitution.
You, you have to listen.
Yeah, um, they're doing itagain with the, the e-bike thing
.
The e-bike thing should go to aballot initiative.
(26:06):
It shouldn't be decided by them.
But they're clearly ignoringthat.
What are some of the just?
What are your thoughts ontrying to work around that?
Where you see deliberateviolations within your own
council, how do you stop thatwhen you're the minority?
Speaker 3 (26:27):
Absolutely.
Yeah, that's where I'm like Idon't, it won't be because I
have a background doing likecommunity work.
I know it's it's not I.
I'm not capable of juststopping it by myself, and
that's why I'm going to be doingeverything I can to really open
the doors to the residents ofthis city so that they can fight
(26:47):
back with me, because, yeah,I'm like a single person, we
can't do anything alone, buttogether we can do a lot.
And so I think, really takingthat approach and making it
clear that I am not somebody whothinks that it's okay to look
down on the same voters whoelected you and make those kinds
of claims like, oh well, we'rea constitutional republic, so
(27:10):
therefore you don't get realdemocracy I think that is
absolutely absurd and, quitefrankly, the audacity of them to
say that after people put themthere and voted for them, it's
maddening.
And so, yeah, I think that'sdefinitely going to be my
approach is just like, hey, I'min this fight with you, like
let's you know, let's really dothis together and even just
(27:33):
trying to.
I think calling that out,calling out that behavior from
the dais, is going to be reallyimportant and making sure that
people are at least aware ofwhat is going on behind the
scenes, because I think there'sgoing to.
I think there's a lot of stuffthat we don't even know about.
That is, quite frankly,incredibly nefarious, and so I
think, really, just again tryingto shine a light on what is
(27:55):
happening and using my positionon city council to make sure
that people are as aware aspossible and then, you know,
bringing them in so we canreally push back against all
that together, cool All right?
Speaker 1 (28:09):
Well, thanks for joining us today.
Uh, we're about to head out forour progressive vets lunch.
Uh, you're going to be joiningus there so you get to meet some
of the?
Uh, the vets in the community.
Um, but we look forward tohearing more from you.
Uh, what was your website thatpeople can go to?
Speaker (28:25):
Mariahfordistrict3.com .
Speaker 1 (28:28):
Okay, yeah, so go there.
There's a donate link on thebottom.
These local races they're wonby not many votes, so every
dollar that you can give reallymatters and it'll go to good use
.
So if you can donate, if youknock on doors, help out.
Just reach out through ourwebsite.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
And, most of all, open your ballot.
Put a bubble on it.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
Yes, yeah because these elections have like a 40%
turnout rate.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
And even it's lower in some districts and it's a
broad field of candidates, soyour margin to win is totally
different than when it's ahead-to-head race.
So, man talking about everyvote counts when you're
splitting that up against abroad field.
It really does, yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
Yeah, so every dollar counts, every phone call vote
type situation yeah.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
Yeah, absolutely.
And if I can just plug as wellto make it clear, kind of my
politics is that I have beenendorsed by the El Paso County
Democratic Party.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
So yeah, because these are unaffiliated races.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
They are.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
I'm glad that our bylaws have changed, that we can
actually talk about candidatesand actually help the community
make decisions.
That's what the party is hereto do is help the community make
decisions.
So I'm glad that they took thatrestraint off themselves.
So congratulations on yourendorsement from the El Paso.
County Democratic Party.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
I was going to say.
And then, as of last night,well, I might be a little early
to be announcing it because Idon't know if it's publicly
official, but I was alsoendorsed by the Pikes Peak Area
Labor Council.
Oh sweet, yeah, really lovingall the union support that I've
been getting as well.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
That's a good deal Cool, all right.
Well, thanks everybody forjoining us Again.
This was Left Face.
I'm Adam Gillard here with DickWilkinson.
Tune in next week.
Bye.
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