Lines drawn on growth ballot issue

The Eye will admit that the proposed growth control initiative known as Amendment 24 can be as hard to understand as a baby’s first words. So when the Boulder Chamber of Commerce hosted a panel discussion Sept. 14 to try to clarify it for the public, the Eye didn’t need to be asked twice.

Former Boulder Mayor Leslie Durgin moderated between proponents Paul Danish, Boulder County commissioner, and Elise Jones of the Colorado Environmental Coalition, one of the drafters of the initiative, and opponents Earl McLaughlin of Boulder Tomorrow and Rick Reiter, campaign manager for Coloradans for Responsible Reform, the initiative’s most public detractor.

Somebody should’ve changed the place cards. Reiter and Jones, close enough to rub elbows, looked as if they were sitting on tacks. The two were predictably the lead speakers on the issue, bouncing back and forth interpretations of the initiative.

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Still, it wasn’t hard to see where Danish and McLaughlin stood on the issue, either. Danish pitched the idea that something must be done to stop sprawl in the metro area before the big employers in the county run off to escape a diminishing quality of life and increasing traffic congestion.

“The environment, which makes Colorado a great place to live and created the economy we all enjoy, will be destroyed,” Danish said, adding that the sprawl problem won’t go away if the initiative isn’t passed.

McLaughlin said Boulder Tomorrow, a group of Boulder business professionals, opposes the amendment because housing rates would skyrocket because of a limited supply and it would impede development so much as to sour companies from locating here.

In response to Danish’s comments that Boulder was a perfect example of policy in action for the type of restrictions imposed by the amendment, McLaughlin said it is unrealistic to hold Boulder up as a sterling example because the city has one of the largest gaps between affordable and high-end housing prices in the state.

“Boulder had the advantage of using Louisville, Lafayette and Longmont as housing stock,” he said, saying it was something many communities can’t count on.

Good deeds on the links! Boulder Commercial Interiors sponsored its fifth annual Drive Away Domestic Abuse Invitational on Aug. 25 with 152 players raising $13,500 for the Boulder County Safehouse. The event sold out for the third year in a row as golfers competed with the added benefit of funding Safehouse programs.

Boulder County Safehouse provides shelter and help to battered women and their children. To find out more, call BCI President Chris Mabbitt at (303) 443-3666. He’s also handing out information on next year’s event. Get a good head start.

This town was made for walkin’. A 5-year program to make Boulder one of the safest cities in the country for pedestrians is going so well, the city is going big time.

Two current demonstrations of safety devices at two Boulder intersections (Ninth Street and Walnut Avenue and 11th Street and Canyon Boulevard) have resulted in increased yielding of up to 95 percent.

The safety devices include signs and flashing lights reminding drivers to watch for pedestrians. The city is looking to expand the program to other locations, as well.

Good work on looking out for pedestrians Boulder, especially considering that there are other cars, giant trash trucks, rollerbladers, bicyclists, baby jogging strollers and other travelers in this highly active town.

Wheelchair users now have a spot to angle for bass, carp, sunfish and tiger muskies on city of Boulder Open Space thanks to Toyota Motor Sales and its affiliates.

Toyota’s Denver region volunteers wielded picks and shovels Sept. 15 to build a smooth path from the parking lot at the Teller Farm North Trailhead on the south side of Valmont Road west of 95th Street to a fishing deck at Teller Lake No. 5.

“We think this is a unique opportunity to give something back to the public,´ said Bruce Papich, customer relations manager at Toyota’s Denver Regional Office. “Our associates are excited about Toyota’s commitment to serving our community.”

All the questions you ever had about how to start a business but were too afraid to ask can now be answered in the latest course to be offered by the Boulder Chamber of Commerce’s Small Business Development Center (SBDC).

Called “Business Basics,” the nine-week course is designed to help start-up and existing businesses turn questions into knowledge that will help them run better businesses. Headed by nationally recognized author and business expert Ira Nottonson, the course provides realistic insight into the legal, financial and marketing aspects necessary to make a successful business out of a great idea.

Coloradans are obsessed with the weather. The weather channel is not just informative, it’s entertainment. Not only can we tune in for every nuance of weather here, we now can cast our Eye to Australia during the Olympics to see what conditions our athletes are enduring in Sydney.

Every five minutes weather channel junkies will be able to check the weather thanks to the Auto-nowcaster, an automated forecaster developed at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder. The system, using 30 mathematical procedures, predicts the life of thunderstorms.

Auto-nowcaster was installed in Sydney last year to see how much help the system can provide to real-life forecasters. The program will run until Nov. 21.