Hello,

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

Good morning,

The Manitou Incline Task Force was commissioned by the city of Colorado Springs and the city of Manitou Springs together and they operated in part using money from a state grant.

I'm pretty sure they lied, witheld facts from the public and rigged the entire process.

I thought that the Task Force was supposed to study every issue and determine if it was possible to legally open the Incline as well if it was desirable.

In my opinion an honest report would have stated “Unless steel rails are reinstalled on the ties of the Incline it will never become stable again”.

The Forest Service would not have issued a special use permit and no entity would have provided grant money for repairs.

Would our City Council and Parks Dept. consider preparing an amendment to the final report of the Task Force with this information now, please?

We were told of an alternate route down from the Incline yet no commitment is made in the final report from the Task Force.

I do not believe that this was an accident or an oversight.

Note that the promised alternate route down does not exist to this day and too many Incline users are still ruining the Barr Trail even with the limitations imposed by the reservation system.

It taught me that 25 Incline hikers coming down the Barr Trail in a half an hour is too many, it ruins the hike up for Barr Trail hikers.

The Mayors and City Councils of both cities are liable for any mistakes, omissions or crimes of the Manitou Incline Task Force.

The land swap between the city and the Broadmoor took the revocable license away from the private entity and upset the balance between the Cog Railway and the Manitou Incline.

It is harmful to this day.

My opinion is that the first step to the necessary permanent closure of the Manitou Incline is to reverse the land swap.

I will ask our city council: Why has the Broadmoor not built stables at Strawberry Fields?

Why don't you ask them and then act on what you learn?

Why is the city refusing to tell me the total estimated cost of the needed repairs on the land that is supposed to be owned by the Cog Railway?

If we keep snakes and decaying corpses in our closet bad things are likely to happen sooner or later.

A little spring cleaning is healthy for us all.

Thank you, Carl Strow