Hello,

I encountered a man Monday afternoon representing “Your Choice Colorado Springs” outside of the Walmart on Union near Constitution.

He was collecting signatures.

I asked him how much the city of Manitou Springs would lose from their annual budget if our city began selling recreational Marijuana.

He said, “I think about $10 million”.

I told him that their total annual budget is only $11 million.

He seemed to have been coached to create the impression that the city of Manitou Springs is greedy.

He brought up their parking enterprise.

I told him that I used to think that they made a lot on parking, but I looked at their budget and they make less than a million a year.

He asked me in a challenging way why they won't allow a third store.

I said that maybe they don't like Marijuana, like me.
I would imagine that it is legal for them to paint a picture that Manitou Springs is greedy, but at some point can it become defamation?

I am offended by them insulting people who I care about.

Is the content of their coaching of signature collectors available to the public?

I assume that he was implying that Manitou Springs is making ten million dollars a year on recreational Marijuana sales and that Denver and Pueblo are making an additional five million dollars a year in tax revenue from people from our city buying recreational marijuana in their cities.

Manitou Springs would lose $10 million a year in tax revenue.

Are the signature collectors being trained to provide untrue information to the public?

I asked the group via messenger on their Facebook page a month ago how they arrived at the claim on their website that our city has lost $150,000,000 over the last ten years because of our ban on sales of recreational Marijuana.

They did not answer.

I estimate that Manitou Springs is making perhaps up to about $4 million a year from recreational Marijuana sales.

I reached this deduction by observing the annual increase in their total sales tax revenue.

They say that some people from our city are buying recreational Marijuana in Denver or Pueblo.

I doubt that many people are making that long trip solely to purchase Marijuana. Might many of them be doing that because they are already visiting that city for some reason, and therefore would continue to buy it there out of habit or convenience?

Who would I complain to about what I believe is an unrealistic and exaggerated claim of $15 million a year?

Do their deductions have to be based on facts, and be sincere?

Does anyone else feel that this claim is greatly exaggerated?

Can the City Attorney's office learn how much Manitou Springs is making each year from recreational Marijuana sales to determine if the public is being misled?

Thank you, Carl Strow