First, thanks to Kent Obee, Richard Skorman and Councilman Bill Murray. Bravo & well done! Parks Board met for 9 hours today. The public wasn't allowed to comment until about 6.5 hours into the torturous process. Team Broadmoor, again, had the bulk of the air time. Incredibly, the Parks Board voted 6-3 to submit this monster to City Council. It seems things like accuracy in trail claims (i.e. Daniels Pass, Barr Trail, Incline, etc -- we already have them), environmental and economic impact assessments (we don't have those), Master Plans first (why bother?), Development and Site Plans (only the public has to submit such details when building), disclosure to the public of appraisal assumptions of our land (we should just trust in the force), ordering Title work in advance and identifying things like the land being a part of the original 640 acres voted on by the people in 1885 -- not to mention precedent setting commercialization of historic parkland doesn't matter. It is anticipated to go to vote on 5/10/2016. Mark your calendar -- that's an important one. So, let's see, a few updates....citizens pointed out this: On Monday, April 11th, during the City Council Working Session, there was some discussion about the 1885 Vote. In response to a question from Councilman Knight regarding the vote, Renee Congdon, City attorney, responded, "We have done research in our records. We have no indication that this property was acquired by vote. We were not able to find anything that supports that allegation. We actually did look and weren't able to find it. Um, now, there was a vote in 1910 that was related to bonds to purchase properties in this general area which failed. Um, but this property - the deed is dated 1885; so, it wouldn't be for this specific parcel. We don't have any records of an election occurring related to this particular parcel." 1. 5 sentences devoted to them looking and doing their research, but yet unable to find this information. We were already aware of this vote, and, in fact, it's described in detail on page 8 of the Master Plan for North Cheyenne Cañon on the Parks portion of the City website. https://parks.coloradosprings.gov/sites/default/files/parks_recreation_and_cultural_services/parks/north_cheyenne_canon_master_plan.pdf 2. A quick online search brings up enough information to indicate a vote, and a short trip to the Pioneer's museum produced numerous articles from the Gazette which you will find interesting on the details of the vote as well as the minutes from the Council meeting in which you can read the intent at the time was to acquire this land for the public to avoid fees/tolls forever and not allow improvements -- all those pesky little details. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByaB2U0Lp1oUN0thYXU5NWl0REU/view?usp=sharing 3. The deed for the Mesa Picnic area land was pulled for the National Historic registration done 7 years ago by Missye Bonds. It's the same deed as the Strawberry parcels. Same date. Same bank. Same deed. 4. As an added step, we had both a cartographer evaluate the maps of the area and a land archaeologist walk and confirm that Strawberry Fields was, in fact, part of the 640 acres voted on by the public in 1885. What do you know? Ms. Congdon, today, was able to confirm that, yes, Strawberry Fields is part of the original 640 acres which Helen Hunt along with the GAZETTE lobbied to create North Cheyenne Canon park BY A VOTE OF THE PEOPLE to avoid the TOLLS/FEES of private ownership in 1885 -- one of the earliest parks created following Yellowstone. Yes, we knew this. Jack Damioli got a pass on standing up and interrupting Richard Skorman who was answering a question -- screaming and accusing him of lying. He was allowed to stand up and interrupt a second time - this time to Councilman Murray. Classy. Now, that's some power right there. No other citizens get this latitude. The issue with Skorman centered around the Broadmoor's ownership of 5,000 acres of land which Richard misspoke and said in Cheyenne when it's really across the City -- Jack was right that it was also in Manitou (the Incline land they so desperately want to unload on the taxpayers of Colorado Springs). Jack missed the point in his outburst. So, we'll clarify. Attached is a map of the approximate ownership (COG land is excluded, data from El Paso County records) of the Broadmoor ownership/control in the Cheyenne area. You can be a judge for yourself. One thing is clear -- it's a bunch. To try and deny their massive ownership, well, that's like denying the world is round. We also heard that while this meeting was going on today, trees were being cut down in Strawberry Fields...Wow. Hope they didn't step on the piles and piles of dog poo. Gotta say, giving away historic parkland over assertions of trash and dog poo neither of which we agree with is about the most mind boggling experience imaginable. Life is filled with disappointments, and today, certainly was one, but one thing is for sure, we will never prevail if we don't take the shot. So, chin up. It's a big world out there filled with possibilities. Have you asked that Mayor of the People, John Suthers, to Stop the Swap? Do it. Email jsuthers@springsgov.com and be sure to copy these people for transparency (this is important): AllCouncil@springsgov.com, news@csindy.com,news@kktv.com,foxnews@fox21news.com,news@koaa.com,krdonews@krdo.com, friendsofcheyennecanon@gmail.com,cory@medwheel.org, savecheyennemountain@gmail.com,jpaul@denverpost.com,miguel.bustillo@wsj.com,jim.carlton@wsj.com,news-tips@nytimes.com,scoop@huffingtonpost.com,lryckman@denverpost.com