Hello,

This is my contribution to Citizen's Discussion at Monday's City Council meeting:

Good morning,

The city got the new summit house on Pikes Peak through the public comment process by telling everyone that the fire Marshall would allow 1031 people inside at a time.

This was bizarre because that many people in that size of facility would be much more crowded than the old facility.

Does the city now have to pay off the bonds that helped to fund the project?

Are you going to tell the public about this mistake and it's consequences?

When does the city expect to pay them off?

Does the land swap with the Broadmoor have to be reversed because the appraisal submitted for the land that was owned by the Cog Railway  failed to consider the needed repairs to the Barr Trail?

We wont mention the conservation easement for Strawberry Fields because it would be too hard to convince anyone that it was an accident.

It is sad that we resolved to build a world class facility on the top of America's Mountain and ended up with so many flaws.

The fact that we sought to deceive the public about it's size indicates that we knew it was going to be too small all along.

We brag quite a bit about its design and placement while it was built in the wrong spot and is too small.

Everything on the summit is now out of balance compared to before the new facility was built.

The images I saw placed the Cog Railway trains right in front of the facility.

At some point they moved the parking area for the trains way over there.

This is doing great harm to the Cog Railway and their passengers, especially in the winter.

For some reason Aramark now refuses to send their employees up on the trains when the toll road is closed.

On these days the Cog Railway is denied access to restrooms or a warm facility for their passengers.

Is it true that because of this the Cog Railway does not even travel to the summit when the toll road is closed?

Refunding 30% of fares!

I do acknowledge that in many ways the new facility is a great improvement over the old one, but the flaws are shocking.

Why was the old facility torn down?

The energy on the summit would be much more balanced if we still had the old summit house.

The new one is too small for summer use, the trains could have rotated between the new facility and the old one.

The city was pushing the concept that the new one was around four times larger than the old one.

A false claim.

Is it true that the food being served on the top of America's Mountain is terrible?

So much for the Proud Stewards of America's Mountain.

I recommend giving the contract for gifts and concessions to the Manitou and Pikes Peak Cog Railway instead of Aramark, they would make us  proud.

Thank you, Carl Strow