"Crime and vice generally require darkness for prowling. They disappear when light plays upon them." - Mahatma Gandhi The literal and figurative meaning of Gandhi's wisdom may not be more poignant than in the North Cheyenne Canon Master Plan's original toolbox items. Though it would have been ideal for that plan to have been denied, given the widespread opposition to it, we all now are required to be the light as the process begins to implement elements of this plan. We understand more than anyone how fatiguing it is to have to constantly write emails and place calls, but apathy guarantees failure now. Your voices collectively did make a difference enabling key modifications to the plan requiring public processes. The emails you wrote were referenced by several; so, now it is time to write more. There are several current pushes right now: 1. To close the park at night. The reason for this one is to curb criminal activity in the park at dark. Most of this is occurring around Gold Camp road. Some think that closing the park will stop this activity because cars will not be able to access the area; while it may stop some of it, many believe it will attract more -- and it will be worse as there will be no lights to shine on this darkness (i.e. normal traffic to interrupt criminal activity and report suspicious behavior to be investigated). Instead, it will be a dark, empty park. Whereas previously cars might be detected parked on road, now these people will go in on foot or by bike and be easily hidden by the night. Here is a real potential scenario: group bikes or hikes to a secluded spot and drinking or drugs are involved around a campfire. Fire spreads. There will be no normal traffic to potentially detect this early, but rather just dark, empty park. Fearful of getting in trouble, these people do not call it in and flee....and that is a recipe for disaster of epic proportions as the fuels in this area are dense. There are countless scenarios where a car driving by might itself disrupt activity or see something suspicious they call in. Normal traffic and police patrols are the answer. An empty dark park with no eyes on the streets/trails is a haven for criminal behaviors. A month of issuing tickets by police along Gold Camp Road would do wonders to push away these elements -- and the word will spread. Make it inhospitable for criminal behaviors to occur or go undetected. To close that road, the US Forest Service needs to agree. The US National Parks do not close at night. So, there is a good chance they understand this issue well. Here is your chance to shine a light on the issue. Take a second and send an email to Oscar Martinez and Jeff Hovermale and be sure to copy City Council and the press for transparency. Takes very little time to do this, and it makes a big impact. This is being actively pursued now; so, if you fear the outcome of an empty, dark park, then send that email now. Arson would be the biggest concern, and we, sadly, have had plenty of it here as well as around the state. To: omartinez@fs.fed.us, jhovermale@fs.fed.us Copy: jsuthers@springsgov.com, AllCouncil@springsgov.com, savecheyennemountain@gmail.com, news@csindy.com zubeck@csindy.com, krdonews@krdo.com, mike.rausch@krdo.com, news@kktv.com, lmartin@kktv.com, news@koaa.com, kduffy@koaa.com, news@fox21news.com, jcole@kxrm.com, jpaul@denverpost.com, info@krcc.com, jim.alexee@sierraclub.org, friendsofcheyennecanon@gmail.com 2. The current 7 Falls bus traffic is creating quite a stir amongst residents. There are two issues here. The traffic back ups and safety concerns from loading and unloading passengers outside the 7 Falls gates at the intersection of Mesa Avenue and S. Cheyenne Loop. Here is one thread which discusses this issue: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tDmZWKLx8B-mRExpnY1sXSlLPD606tgU1skDae3PL7M/edit?usp=sharing And, the second concern is quantity of traffic, size of buses (there are full size buses being used) as well as the speed of buses going down Cheyenne Blvd. Going to community meetings with police is great and everyone should participate, but the most powerful and effective tool is your email and phone. Every time you see a concern, you should try to video or photograph it and send that via email to City Council and copy the press, AND you should call in a complaint to the Gold Hill police, 719-385-2100. Program it into your phone. The police department has encouraged the public to do this as the more complaints they record, (i.e. the more light shined on an issue), the more likely that solutions will be found. The reason sending an email to City Council and the press matters is that this needs to be documented to public officials and public officials pay more attention when the press is included. Here are the emails for the bus issues: To: AllCouncil@springsgov.com CC: jsuthers@springsgov.com, savecheyennemountain@gmail.com, news@csindy.com zubeck@csindy.com, krdonews@krdo.com, mike.rausch@krdo.com, news@kktv.com, lmartin@kktv.com, news@koaa.com, kduffy@koaa.com, news@fox21news.com, jcole@kxrm.com, jpaul@denverpost.com, info@krcc.com, jim.alexee@sierraclub.org, friendsofcheyennecanon@gmail.com