IN THE MUNDANE WITH MINIMALIST ART BY CANNON TAYLOR +IN THIS ISSUE | DARK MONEY FLOWS INTO CITY COUNCIL RACES | AUTO STRIPS: THE DIRTY OLD MAN OF THE URBAN SCENE | INTERVIEW: JUDY COLLINS ON HER COLORADO HOMECOMING | ON STAGE: A BALL FOR THE ODD
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OPINION .
By JW ROTH
Editor’s note: JW Roth is co-owner of The Colorado Springs Independent. His opinions are his own and do not influence The Independent’s news coverage.
In just 10 short days, Springs residents in six districts will choose City Council members to represent them for the next four years.
It’s not a decision to take lightly. Local officials determine appointments and policies that affect our daily lives — things like wildfire preparedness and evacuation routes, public safety funding, library services and affordable housing.
As a Colorado Springs native and business owner, I expect my representatives to be reliable, consistent and knowledgeable. One candidate, in particular, fails on all three fronts.
Colorado Springs, beware District 1’s Dave Donelson.
A self-styled man of the people, Mr. Donelson’s erratic voting record is best described as “he is … until he isn’t.”
He is for the people … until he tries to overturn a ballot measure he opposes.
He is for public safety … until he votes against budget proposals allocating money to first responders.
He is for responsible development … until he opposes building affordable housing.
Donelson’s inconsistent and ill-informed votes in these three crucial policy areas should disqualify him from receiving your vote this April.
Not for the People
Donelson routinely conflates the will of the people with his own opinion, a dangerous oversight reflected in some of his most baffling crusades.
‘He is … until he isn’t’ The dysfunctional legacy of Dave Donelson
When he lobbied for height restrictions downtown, which would have nixed a proposed apartment building, Donelson did so in the name of the people.
He told KRCC, “I strongly believe there’s more than 50% [citizen] support for a height limit.”
His evidence? A change.org petition that, as of March 6, has 6,793 signatures — just 2% of registered voters in Colorado Springs.
More recently, Donelson tried to overturn a ballot measure legalizing recreational marijuana sales, which 54% of voters approved in November.
Donelson lobbied to put the issue back on the ballot, claiming citizens had confused pro-marijuana and anti-marijuana ballot measures. He hypothesized, with no apparent evidence, that a new vote could change the outcome.
Notably, Donelson opposed the contested measure.
Not for Public Safety
Donelson won voters’ favor in 2021 by taking a hard line on crime. He’s since voted against at least two annual budget proposals benefiting first responders.
He voted no on the city’s budget for 2024, which the Colorado Springs Police Department supported. The proposal he opposed included a 4% pay raise for first responders and funding to hire and train more police officers.
It also set aside $250,000 to create school zones around local middle and high schools, a safety measure benefiting one of District 1’s biggest schools, Coronado High School.
Donelson voted no on the city’s 2025 budget because it did not include money to keep the Rockrimmon Library open for another year.
His vociferous defense of his doomed district library is particularly ironic given he confirmed two of the board members who voted to close it down.
Lee Lehmkuhl, Donelson’s opponent, pushed on this issue in February’s can-
didate forum. According to The Gazette, Donelson replied, “[I] wouldn’t have supported the board members if [I] had known they would vote to close the library.”
Call me a hard case, but I prefer my representatives to vet bureaucratic appointees before they close my local library.
Regardless, Donelson’s rigidity caused him to vote against a budget increasing funding for police and police support staff, paying for first responders’ annual raise and allocating $4 million to cover their pensions and medical care.
Not for Development
Donelson is a staunch opponent of development — from building houses to expanding parks to creating bike lanes. He dislikes admitting it aloud, claiming instead to support “logical growth.” He fends off developments on the west side, for instance, by arguing they increase wildfire hazards.
Lehmkuhl, for his part, believes Colorado Springs must conduct additional studies to more accurately pinpoint District 1’s fire risk.
Donelson’s objections might ring true if he supported development elsewhere. But he opposes that, too.
In 2021, he told The Gazette he would support managed growth through “planned annexation expansions.” In the past two years, he’s voted against two such developments — Amara and Karman Line.
Donelson initially voted in favor of Amara, which could have supported 9,500 houses. He changed his vote, and killed the development, after hearing from farmers alleging the project would pull too much water from the Arkansas River.
Donelson’s abrupt flip-flop further belies his ignorance about some our city’s most important issues. Amara would not have compromised our water supply.
Colorado Springs sources upwards
of 70% of its water from the Colorado River, not the Arkansas River. When developers proposed Amara, Colorado Springs had more than enough water to sustain the development.
In fact, as of March 6, our network has enough stored water to cover three years of use.
That’s partly because our city’s water consumption is so efficient. Colorado Springs Utilities water conservation supervisor Julia Gallucci told News 5 that Colorado Springs’ water use decreased 40% between 2004 and 2024, despite our population growing 92% in the same period.
Donelson’s reluctance to build is not without consequence. Home prices skyrocketed between 2019 and 2023 as the Springs’ population outgrew its housing supply.
The Housing Opportunity Index measures housing affordability for average families. In 2019, according to this metric, 74% of median income households could afford a home in Colorado Springs.
As of March 2023, less than 1 in 5 (18%) could afford a home in the city.
As I explained in my previous column, healthy cities are growing cities. Economic and physical expansion are crucial to increasing citizens’ purchasing power and quality of life.
Donelson’s failure to connect his policy decisions with middle class hardships only further convinces me he should not serve a second term.
Outside Donelson’s inadequacies, Lehmkuhl, a veteran and former teacher, has proven himself a data-driven man interested in transparency, collaboration and truly responsible growth.
That’s something I’m excited to put my vote behind.
Dave Donelson is neither knowledgeable nor consistent enough to take care of District 1 for the next four years. Please think carefully before you cast your vote this April. n
By KEVIN O’NEIL
Editor’s note: Kevin O’Neil is co-owner of The Colorado Springs Independent. His opinions are his own and do not influence The Independent’s news coverage.
Colorado Springs is debating an existential question: should we allow our city to grow and develop?
The specter of traffic, construction and other daily inconveniences has convinced some Colorado Springs citizens that growth isn’t worth the hassle. They’d like their neighborhood to stay exactly the same.
But as a lifelong entrepreneur, Colorado Springs native and former member of the Colorado Springs Economic Development Council, I can confidently attest that the key to improving our citizens’ quality of life for decades to come is not freezing in place — it’s embracing growth.
More specifically, embracing business. Cities cannot survive without commerce. Only businesses provide the three nonnegotiable ingredients cities need to thrive — job opportunities, amenities and a strong middle class.
As economics reporter Jim Tankersley explains in The Atlantic, middle-class families have enough disposable income to purchase inessential goods and services, and enough of a stake in government projects and programs to invest in infrastructure, education and other engines of human productivity.
That makes them reliable sources of revenue to private businesses and governments alike, and an invaluable part of any economy.
Businesses attract middle-class workers with the remaining two ingredients cities
Pro-business, pro-competition
Simple answers to Colorado Springs’ fundamental question
need to survive — job opportunities and amenities.
People move to cities with jobs. Research from economist David Albouy suggests they’re more likely to look for opportunities — and shell out for expensive housing — in cities with entertainment and other nonessential businesses.
Cities can’t do away with businesses, and successful businesses catalyze growth. The quickest, most lucrative way for Colorado Springs to capitalize on companies’ success is incentivizing them to put down roots.
Unlike franchises or outposts, these headquartered businesses pay to develop and maintain their communities.
Take University City — a once impoverished area of West Philadelphia now experiencing a renaissance on the coattails of a life science industry boom.
Gene therapy and biotech companies poured more than $710 billion into University City’s development in 2023, City Journal reports, constructing more than 2.23 million square feet of offices, apartments and labs.
In the same year, Spark Therapeutics, dubbed “the biggest player in Philadelphia’s gene therapeutics realm,” started construction on a $575 million “innovation center” expected to double the size of the city.
University City’s growth puts it in direct competition with Center City, a former Philly business hub suffering under the post-COVID decline of its office sector.
“For every law firm downsizing its skyscraper footprint in Center City, there’s a new office occupant in University City, from start-ups to laboratories, often tied to the life-sciences,” City Journal writes. “All this was unthinkable even a decade ago, when a westward stroll from Amtrak’s [30th Street Station] involved passing little but parking lots and a Firestone auto shop on Market Street; the area was barren and unsafe.”
Now, the city is renovating the station to the tune of more than $550 million.
Improvements to University City and its infrastructure would have been impossible without the largesse of headquartered businesses. Center City, on the other hand, illustrates what happens to communities when businesses skip town.
Walmart did to Bentonville, Arkansas, in 1970 what the life science industry is doing to West Philly today. More than a half-century later, Walmart’s fortune is still pouring into the Bentonville area.
“Walmart has spent a ton of energy making this a very recruitable place,” Kaala House, managing partner at The Agency Bentonville, told Fox Business, noting that the city has since become home base for J.B. Hunt and Tyson.
One of the area’s biggest draws, according to The Agency, is its mountain biking. The Walton Foundation is almost solely responsible for transforming Northwest Arkansas into “the mountain biking capital of the United States.” The industry generated an estimated “$137 million in economic benefits” in 2017.
The Walton Foundation also invests in improvements to Bentonville’s housing and public transportation, helping local officials ease growing pains associated with rapid recruitment.
Cities that don’t harvest the generative power of headquartered business tend to try bolstering depressed economies with taxes.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson campaigned on taxing businesses — a strategy meant to cover the city’s billion-dollar budget deficit without burdening taxpayers.
But even at Johnson’s most popular, local legislators resisted his economic proposals because they “[recognized] the economic peril of overburdening Chicago’s already-struggling businesses,” City Journal reported in October.
They were right to be cautious. Cities cannot maintain public infrastructure and utilities, fund social programs or run the hundreds of other services governments provide on taxes alone.
Overtaxing and overregulating busi-
nesses doesn’t bridge this gap. Quite the opposite — it decreases wages and private money invested in the community, increases the price of goods and, sometimes, drives businesses away altogether.
California found this out the hard way. More than 350 headquartered businesses left the Golden State between 2018 and 2021, according to a 2022 study from Stanford’s Hoover Institution, taking approximately $391 billion in income with them.
This number, though startling, doesn’t begin to capture the cumulative economic impact of the evacuation.
“These exits negatively impact the state and particularly the local communities that lose these headquarters,” study authors Lee E. Ohanian and Joseph Vranich explain. “Employees also leave, reducing demand within their former communities and reducing economic vibrancy. There is also the loss of corporate income tax revenues, business property taxes, rents to property owners, payments to contractors and fees to companies in the travel industry such as hotels and rental car companies.”
Art Laffer and James Doti contend California wouldn’t be bleeding headquartered businesses had California Gov. Gavin Newsom refrained from levying astronomical taxes. The economists told the Orange County Register, “[Newsom] doesn’t appear to see [businesses’ flight] is the deleterious long-term effects of a highly progressive tax system. Case in point: the ‘one-percenters’ who pay 50% of the tax are voting with their feet by leaving California in droves.”
Successful businesses invite growth, and what’s good for businesses is good for cities. The most important thing Colorado Springs can do today is adopt pro-business, pro-competition policies that invite the Walmarts of the world to invest money in our city and compete for our citizens’ time and business.
Locals will reap the rewards for generations to come. n
.
ON THE MONEY TRAIL
What campaign
contributions and contributors
tell us about our slate of City Council candidates
STAFF REPORT
Money, as the Supreme Court of the United States instructed us in the 2010 Citizens United v. FEC ruling, is speech. Speech cannot be restricted under the First Amendment. And money speaks volumes not only about who supports our politicians, but about who our politicians may support if elected. Rather than give you a traditional breakdown of what the many candidates in the April 1, 2025, Colorado Springs City Council election say their views on city issues are, we decided to look at what the contributions that candidates have received as of March 12, 2025, or in previous elections, say about where they might stand on various issues if elected.
Caveat emptor: While the Citizens United decision lifted restrictions on the amounts of money an individual or corporation can give to political campaigns, it did not allow them to do so in secret. Direct contributions to
municipal political campaigns still have to be disclosed and reported. To enable anonymous political contributions, 501(c)4 social welfare organizations, aka “dark money” political groups, began to collect donations from donors who wished to remain anonymous. Those 501(c)4s are not legally required to disclose their donors. However, they are allowed to contribute revenue to issue-awareness campaigns that a candidate for public office may or may not support, as long as that 501(c)4 does not coordinate directly with a candidate’s political campaign. Those 501(c)4s are also allowed to contribute up to 49.9% of their money to super PACs, aka independent expenditure committees (IECs), which are allowed to directly advocate for or against a candidate to whatever extent they wish, as long as they don’t coordinate directly with a candidate or campaign. Yes, it’s incredibly confusing! According to one political insider
who asked not to be named to protect relationships, “ What the influence of Citizens United and dark money has done is you find yourself in a place where for every dollar that’s spent directly by a candidate in a local election, you may have anywhere between five to 10 dollars being spent by an independent expenditure committee that can spend their money supporting candidates, but they don’t have to declare who their donors are.”
For example, when you receive a flyer in your mailbox during a political campaign that makes claims about a candidate, positive or negative, be sure to pay attention to the small print and who paid for that flyer. Oftentimes that mailer was paid for by an IEC/super PAC that may have received significant anonymous funding from a 501(c)4, or it might be paid for by a 501(c)4 directly if it’s advocating for an issue rather than a candidate.
What we can see clearly and directly
are the campaign finance reports that all candidates for City Council are required to file with the city when a campaign contribution in any amount above $20 is given, and the names of those who gave it.
We have combed through the reports submitted as of March 12, 2025, and highlighted any significant campaign contributions or contributors that may shed light on significant political affiliations, or where a candidate might be influenced to vote if elected.
This analysis in no way suggests that reported campaign contributions are in any way illegal, or that they are an accurate predictor of how a candidate will vote in the future. These connections are being drawn out to help voters better understand the candidates and their supporters.
(Note: We’ve listed the candidates in numerical ascending order by district, and alphabetical ascending order by last name.)
Dave Donelson
Total Raised to Date: $10,563.73
Thus far in 2025, District 1 incumbent
Dave Donelson has reported mostly small individual donations of up to $400. Donors include past City Council members, including Bernie Herpin, who went on to replace Democratic Sen. John Morse after he was recalled in 2013.
Donelson has also received a $400 donation from current El Paso County Treasurer Chuck Broerman and $100 from Colorado State Sen. Larry Liston. Though Donelson often states that he doesn’t take money from developers — and calls out his colleagues who do, chiding them to recuse themselves from votes on issues pertaining to their donors who have business before council — he took contributions from at least two local developers during his campaign to represent Colorado House District 16 in 2022 (while on City Council), which he lost to Stephanie Vigil.
DISTRICT 2
Tom Bailey
Total Raised to Date: $18,314.79
Newcomer Tom Bailey has two major contributions to his campaign thus far: $2,500 from Robert Fitzgerald, president and CEO of Antenna Products in Mineral Wells, Texas; and $5,000 from Doug Stimple, CEO of Classic Homes.
Franklin Chrisinger
Total Raised to Date: $105
As of his last available report on Feb. 18, 2025, Franklin Chrisinger had received a single contribution of $105.
DISTRICT 1
Records from the Colorado Secretary of State’s website show that he received donations from Doug Quimby ($400), Mike Ruebenson ($400) and Donald Gravette ($200) of La Plata Communities, the developers behind Briargate and the failed Amara annexation. He also received $250 each from David Jenkins and Chris Jenkins of Norwood Development Group, developers of Banning Lewis Ranch, Wolf Ranch, Percheron and many others.
Filings also show that Donelson received $2,000 from the Homes for All Coloradoans Committee, an IEC that lists Ted Leighty of the Colorado Association of Homebuilders as one of the registered agents, among other IEC’s advocating for real estate, the insurance and medical industries, mortgage lenders, oil and gas, and law enforcement. He also received $400 from Comcast Corp. and NBC Universal PAC — Federal.
In filings for his 2021 City Council campaign, Donelson is listed as one of three beneficiaries of $128,000 of dark money given to the Springs
Rick Gillit
Total Raised to Date: $29,464.38
Opportunity Fund IEC by Colorado Dawn, a 501(c)4 nonprofit with the same address as Cole Communications and Victor’s Canvassing (100 E. St. Vrain St., Suite 105) that has close ties to Norwood Development — as demonstrated by a 2023 KRDO Channel 13 investigation, which uncovered an email from David Jenkins of Norwood to his colleagues encouraging them to make anonymous donations of $10,000 to Colorado Dawn to support Wayne Williams during the 2023 mayoral race.
Though there are no explicit connections to any developers in the $128,000 from Colorado Dawn via Springs Opportunity Fund in support of Donelson’s successful 2021 campaign for City Council, filings with the state show that the money is earmarked specifically for “campaign management and consulting and advertising supporting Dave Donelson, Randy Helms and Mary Elizabeth Fabian.”
Donelson also loaned himself $15,000 for his 2021 council campaign.
DISTRICT3
Gillit is another newcomer to politics but already has the money of some big names behind him. Former Republican Colorado House District 14 Rep. Bob Gardner gave him $100. Susan Pattee, a major supporter of Yemi Mobolade’s campaign for mayor, has given him $1,000. Doug Stimple of Classic Homes gave him $2,500. And members of the Bucher family, which owns Update Printing, have given him close to $10,000. Unlike many candidates in this year’s election, who are not only retired but have many donations from fellow retirees, most of Gillit’s contributions have come from fellow business owners and friends in the Pikes Peak region.
Maryah Lauer
Total Raised to Date: $4,477.71
Most of newcomer Maryah Lauer’s contributions are small individual donations of $25 to $50. She has three larger contributions: $1,500 from El Paso County Democratic Party; $350 from librarian and former candidate for El Paso County Commissioner John Jarrell; $250 from community organizer Shaun Walls of the Chinook Center; and $250 from local activist Cynthia Kulp.
Christopher Metzgar
Total Raised to Date: $0
Greg Thornton
Total Raised to Date: $1,670.82
Newcomer Greg Thornton has only two contributions above $100. Kathy Perry of Colorado Springs contributed $250, and Patrick Cassidy of Houston, TX gave $500.
Lee Lehmkuhl
Total Raised to Date: $18,299.92
Political newcomer
Lee Lehmkuhl only has his current campaign contributions from which to analyze his base of support. Lehmkuhl gave $10,000 of his own money to his campaign. Beyond that, most of his current supporter base, as of the March 12 reporting deadline, are primarily smaller donors, many of them retired, with a few big names among them.
Most significantly, JW Roth, co-owner of The Colorado Springs Independent and The Colorado Springs Business Journal, as well as the CEO and Founder of the Ford Amphitheater, took out a full-page ad in The Business Journal for $1,740 denouncing Donelson and endorsing Lehmkuhl.
Lehmkuhl has also received contributions from Pam Shockley-Zalabak, chancellor emeritus of UCCS, who gave $100. Wayne Bland, retired vice president of mortgage management at Kirkpatrick Bank and a volunteer with the homeless youth housing project The Place, gave $1,000.
Brandy Williams
Total Raised to Date: $12,727.20
Brandy Williams served on Colorado Springs City Council from 2011 to 2013. Though we were unable to obtain her campaign finance reports from her 2011 campaign for this article, she has a number of notable contributors and contributions in her Feb. 12 filing: $2,500 from Classic Homes CEO Doug Stimple; $200 from Janet Suthers, wife of former Mayor John Suthers; $250 from Russell Tutt of the El Pomar Foundation; $150 from former City Council member Scott Hente; $103.48 from former City Council member Jan Martin; a nonmonetary contribution of $1,573.21 from The Picnic Basket, owned in part by outgoing District 3 council member Michelle Talarico; a nonmonetary contribution of $1,200 for event space from Gold Hill Mesa, as well as a $1,000 monetary contribution from Barry Brinton, development director of Gold Hill Mesa. She also has a $1,500 contribution from real estate agent Edward Behr and a $4,000 contribution from herself.
NEWS .
The future of District 4 Colorado Springs City Council race holds high stakes for the southeast, community leaders say
by NICK SMITH
Special to The Independent
Historically known as the impoverished part of Colorado Springs, the southeast has trailed behind the rest of the city for years economically. But community leaders have been pushing for change, and many are looking to the hallways of City Hall for solutions.
The southeast, residing in District 4, is one of the six districts in the city that will soon be electing a City Council member to represent them. Residents can vote for the three candidates — Kimberly Gold, Chauncy Johnson and Sherrea Elliott-Sterling — via mail-in ballots until April 1.
Southeast leaders said the person sitting in the seat will help shape the
future of the area, and it’s a critical time for that person to be a strong leader who can make change in an underrepresented community happen.
Data from the El Paso County Clerk and Recorder’s Office shows that the southeast side of Colorado Springs had the lowest turnout in the 2024 election compared with the rest of the county.
In 2023, House District 17 in southeast Colorado Springs had the third-lowest voter turnout in the state, according to a KOAA report.
Yolanda Avila, the district’s sitting councilwoman, is term limited after serving eight years in the position. In 2017, the councilwoman started her role realizing the city had left the southeast behind, causing many residents to give up on their local government.
Throughout her tenure on council, Avila said she has aimed to restore faith in southeast residents, and she hopes the next person will continue what she started. “I’ve been able to gain trust. I’ve been able to show results, but we’ve still got to do so much more,” she said.
Avila, who endorsed Johnson, said the district needs a councilperson who lives in the southeast, understands the “good, the bad and the ugly” and knows how to use what they learn to take action.
“There’s got to be constant engagement. Letting people know that you’re there, you’re listening, that you’re accessible [and] that you can return those phone calls,” she said.
Longinos Gonzalez Jr., District 4’s former El Paso County commissioner,
said the appointed councilperson also needs to encourage the public to participate on local boards and committees. As a person who has served on multiple boards, he said he does not see many other southeast residents on them despite it being a great way to influence issues in the area.
Many issues facing the southeast stem from public safety, economic vitality and transportation, according to Avila, who said she gets many requests from residents asking about fixing roads, sidewalks, broken streetlights and other “basic city things.”
Executive Director of Thrive Networks Heather McBroom has lived in the southeast for around 25 years. She has helped promote small businesses within the southeast through entrepreneurial
Around 40 community members gathered for a District 4 candidate forum. | Credit: Nick Smith
Located by Panorama Middle School in southeast Colorado Springs, Panorama Park was renovated in 2022. The $9 million makeover is one of the projects sitting District 4 councilwoman Yolanda Avila worked on. | Credit: Nick Smith education and networking. McBroom, who was speaking on behalf of herself and not her organization, said there’s no good lighting or cameras around shopping centers, which makes them vulnerable to theft and other crimes.
“We are going to other areas to purchase goods because we are missing a whole number of types of businesses … and it’s because of the lack of public safety in our shopping centers. People don’t want to put their businesses there,” McBroom said.
McBroom said members of local government want to help but don’t know how. Many are looking to Peak Innovation Park as one way to build economic growth for the southeast. At the entrance to the Colorado Springs Airport, the 1,600 acres of land are zoned for development opportunities that are available for sale, lease or build-to-suit. The park is home to businesses such as Amazon and FritoLay.
The sites are designed for multiple uses, including office, industrial, retail, entertainment, recreation and hospitality. The park is estimated to accommodate about 25,000 employees over the next 20 to 30 years, with the possibility of constructing 10 million
to 15 million more square feet of space on the remaining land, according to a 2023 announcement from the city of Colorado Springs.
“Peak Innovation Park is one of the hottest areas being looked at by large corporations right now to bring jobs here. The problem is they come here and look at this area and they go, ‘This is the bad side of town,’” McBroom said.
Many leaders and community members like McBroom and Gonzalez believe projects like these will rebuild trust with the community and change the narrative around the southeast. But both said the community needs a strong advocate in City Hall to do it.
“Our local officials can affect what happens in our communities to a greater level than anything else, so it’s vital that District 4 gets a strong leader,” Gonzalez said.
Mail ballots for the general municipal election for the six City Council district seats started being mailed on March 7. Residents have until 7 p.m. on April 1 to vote.
Mail ballot dropoff locations can be found on the Colorado Springs website.
Apathy at the polls
Colorado Springs April elections see drastic drops in turnout
by NICK SMITH • Special to the Independent
Like many Colorado Springs residents, 23-year-old Xavier Ayala hasn’t voted in April’s local elections. Mainly, they just haven’t been on his radar. This year, however, he plans to participate.
“I’m only voting on it now that I’ve been informed about it, but I wouldn’t have looked out for it of my own free will,” he said.
Every odd year, Colorado Springs holds a general municipal election in April for the city to vote on local issues and candidates for local government. In these municipal elections, the turnout drops dramatically compared with national elections, with numbers often below 40%, according to data from the City Clerk’s Office.
None of the past four municipal elections reached above 40% turnout, with the lowest at 26.87% in 2021. Over two decades, the highest turnout for general municipal elections was 59.81% in 2011.
“[Turnout] is typically very low unless there’s an important issue for people to pay attention to on the ballot,” said Shelly Roehrs, a spokesperson for the League of Women Voters of the Pikes Peak Region. She said the city would be lucky to get 30% of voters for the upcoming election in April, where people will vote for six City Council members, because there’s no issue to spark interest.
Colorado Springs is one of three municipalities in the state that does not hold its local elections in November. Roehrs said turnout would improve if it did because many people don’t know there’s an election in April.
Low voter turnout is a problem across the nation, especially in off-cycle local elections. According to a study from Christopher Berry, a professor at the University of Chicago, syncing local elections to coincide with higherlevel elections in November roughly
Polling station at Centennial Hall | Courtesy: The Independent
doubles the turnout, and candidates in synced elections are more likely to hold positions that align with their constituents.
To change the election time, the League of Women Voters of the Pikes Peak Region and three other local organizations are suing the city of Colorado Springs with the help of the Election Law Clinic at Harvard Law School.
Citizens Project v. Colorado Springs, filed in 2022, alleges that the “unusual” timing of the election disproportionately impacts nonwhite voters. According to a document created by the Harvard Law Election Clinic, nonwhite voters are half as likely to vote in the April elections compared with white voters in Colorado Springs, which makes the City Council less responsive to the needs of minority communities.
The plaintiffs argue the off-cycle election violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act because there is a disparate racial impact on populations of color due to the disparity in turnout and the lack of representation in City Council and on city boards and commissions. According to the local League of Women Voters website, 32 of 34 successful City Council candidates were white over the past decade, and over 84% of the members of appointed city boards and commissions were white at the time of filing.
The lawsuit was dismissed by District Judge Shane Kato Crews in 2024, but a motion for reconsideration was filed in August.
Roehrs said the city fighting the move of the election to November shows they don’t have much urgency about increasing turnout. “They [City of Colorado Springs] like low voter turnout,” she said.
Zooming outward, turnout in El Paso County has decreased in federal
elections. Despite the 2020 election having the highest turnout in the 21st century, voting in the county has decreased in the past four presidential election cycles, even though the number of registered voters increased each time, according to data from the El Paso County Clerk & Recorder’s Office. In 2024, the county saw a 7% decrease in turnout from 2020.
Roehrs said another reason why people don’t vote is because they haven’t had a government act impact them, so they haven’t felt the need to vote.
“People take the opinion with regard to local elections as, ‘Eh, it doesn’t really matter — my vote doesn’t matter.’
The thing that we have to get across to people is that your vote matters most in these elections,” Roehrs said.
On the flip side, other people don’t vote because they feel abandoned.
Many residents in the southeast side of town don’t vote because they feel the city has ignored them, said Chineta Davis, a longtime southeast resident and community activist. While she noted representation for minorities has improved, Davis said Black people in the southeast have especially felt unheard.
“Looking at the history and composition of City Council, it’s been mainly white people. And they have not made their decisions with the interest of Black people in mind,” she said.
Because of this, Davis said many Black people in the southeast have become turned off to voting, and it’s been difficult to restore trust within that community.
To Roehrs, the bottom line is that people need to start paying more attention.
“We’re in trouble. When only 30% of the people vote, those 30% are holding the weight for the rest of the city. And that is not fair to those 30%,” she said.
SITES UNSEEN
By JOHN HARNER
Editor’s note: This is the third installment of a column from John Harner, professor of geography at University of Colorado Colorado Springs and the author of “Profiting From the Peak: Landscape and Liberty in Colorado Springs.” In each installment, Harner will explore the hidden, “relict” history of our fair city. As William Faulkner once wrote, “The past is never dead. It's not even past.”
How car culture transformed the Colorado Springs landscape The rise and fall of the auto strip
There is a part of nearly every city that few like — the seedy, gaudy, unstructured, messy and sometimes dangerous old strips that developed along highways in the early 20th century at the entrances to cities. Often characterized today as urban blight, landscape observer Grady Clay called these zones “The dirty old man of the urban scene.” Derided by many, these landscapes are composed of haphazard arrangements of chaotic architectural styles, glaring signs and ugly parking lots. Why do we build such places in urban America?
Henry Ford’s assembly-line massproduction methods made car ownership a possibility for the average American by the 1920s. In conjunction with a growing level of affluence, family vacations arose as an American tradition, and the Rocky Mountain West — including Colorado Springs — loomed in the public imagination. In response to the growth of car-oriented vacationing and travel, American cities developed totally new landscapes to deal with the automobile,
and Colorado Springs was no exception. Brand-new functions arose: gas stations, car sales and mechanical services; drive-up lodgings with restaurants and tea rooms, diners, then fast food joints, plus other
types of drive-in conveniences. Often complementary functions evolved together in one business location.
The classic commercial strip was the result, an incubator of new building types, a new frontier beyond the established urban core. The commercial strip was usually characterized by small, privately owned businesses with local financing, where personal relationships between small businesses and their local bankers enabled more experimentation than with nationally financed franchises that would come to expect “proven” returns on investment through a standard product. The emerging strip became the place to get business started with reduced barriers to entry. The strip served a vital commercial function and often became the place where new building designs and advertising gimmicks could be tested. They were, in fact, incubators of new ideas about commerce, land use, transportation and architecture.
In Denver, midcentury Colfax Avenue exemplified the classic strip. Where did we see these develop in Colorado Springs? Along the four entryways to town, conveniently beyond city limits, with its more restrictive rules and regulations about liquor laws, zoning and architectural conformity. North and South Nevada Avenue were on the main highway to Denver and Pueblo, the Knob
South Nevada Avenue, 1998, illustrating a typical auto strip landscape | Credit: John Harner
PeakView
Campground, North Nevada Avenue, 1998. This was destroyed to build the University Center shopping strip mall. | Credit: John Harner
Odd one out
Experiencing Colorado Springs’ variety show for the weird
By CANNON TAYLOR cannon.taylor@ppmc.live
"Yeast is alive,” explained Martha Stewart from onstage. And truly, it was. Stewart (played by tattoo artist Austin Kennedy Living in a blond wig) reached under the table and, with Herculean strength, lifted the body of someone in a tan skinsuit, curled up into a ball.
Plopping the sourdough (played by flexible aerialist Stabigail Jones) on the table, Stewart commented on its “wonderful gluten structures” in a highpitched voice. Then, she began the slapand-fold kneading technique, slapping the person’s rear end and folding their limbs in on themselves. Whenever the yeast made a humanlike noise, refused to cooperate or fell off the demonstration
table, Stewart placated the audience with, “That’s OK. That happens. It’s a good thing.”
But, of course, she had to cut the dough eventually. Stewart grabbed a knife and started from the spine. When the dough let out a scream of red-hot pain, Stewart unceremoniously bashed its head with a rolling pin.
I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from The Odd Show when I walked through the door, but it certainly wasn’t this.
Now in its fifth or sixth iteration, The Odd Show is a variety show for the weird held every few years. The idea came to Yves Sturdevant when she learned that her friend Alicia Cover-Vanlandingham, best-known as a dancer, was taking tuba lessons on the side.
evening of March 8, I wandered around What’s Left Records and quickly stumbled across “Sofette,” a couch swing made to look like the gaping maw of a purple monster. I almost sat down in it when a blond kid in a devil mask ran up and gave me a catlike hiss, as if defending territory.
As the soothing jazz and mood lighting dimmed, I turned my attention to the stage and its backdrop: silver stars and colorful, cut-out letters spelling “ODD SHOW.”
The night began with a tribute to the late Vanessa Little, founder of Lil’ Miss Story Hour and Odd Show regular.
“We hope that you will see and feel some of her spirit in the insaneness that you might see tonight, and in the power of being yourself,” said poet Jené Jackson in her introduction.
The insanity began instantly as dance troupe The Luddites took the stage. Several dancers represented insects through antennae and fuzzy legwarmers.
"SOMETIMES PEOPLE WOULD PAY MORE TO SEE THE PERFORMER PUT THEIR CLOTHES ON."
“I thought, ‘I’m going to have a show so you can play the tuba onstage, and we’re going to call it The Odd Show because no one’s going to expect it,’” Sturdevant said. “Musicians will try stand-up comedy, or dancers will teach a math equation. So, it’s odd in the way that people aren’t doing what they’re usually expected to do.”
Cover-Vanlandingham still hasn’t done a tuba performance at The Odd Show, though she has done other acts. One year, she performed an operatic cover of “Bodies” by Drowning Pool while cosplaying as Marie Antoinette. Another year, she alternated between haiku and didgeridoo performance while a friend in a banana costume danced in a wicker basket.
Before The Odd Show began on the
One wore an oversized, angler fish Halloween costume, not dissimilar in appearance to the iconic “Left Shark” of Super Bowl halftime fame. The animals came to life, partied hard and died over the course of an EDM track.
Afterward, Nik Emerick introduced himself as host, then brought a hostage onstage. Removing a burlap sack revealed the bearded face of filmmaker Michael Lee. Lee somehow managed to open and sip a beer with his wrists duct-taped together; then, as thanks for paying the suggested donation to Prism Community Collective (an LGBTQ+ charity serving the Pikes Peak region) at the door, Lee passed out Jell-O shots to the audience.
The Odd Show continued with a hurdygurdy performance, a Robert Smith
Performers onstage at The Odd Show | Credit: Bryan Oller
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impersonation, poetry readings and more. But the most memorable act of the night began when the venue’s co-owner, Bryan Ostrow, came onstage in colorful boxer briefs.
“Sometimes people would pay more to see the performer put their clothes on,” had been Emerick’s introduction.
And pay they did. People catcalled and threw dollar bills onstage as Ostrow seductively put on pants. Biting a bill between his teeth, he strutted around to “Like a G6” as he put a shirt on. Once he was mostly clothed, he revealed something red and shiny. Was it a thong? No, it was a What’s Left Records fanny pack that Ostrow saucily affixed around his waist.
Not long after Ostrow’s reverse striptease was an intermission, during which I noticed a posse of labcoated scientists transporting what looked like NASA equipment to the stage.
When we returned, MEGACORP: Earth Division (the same group that made the monster chair “Sofette”) used the equipment to visualize the audio frequencies of live music, a science called cymatics. To say that I understood what was happening would be an exaggeration, but I was mesmerized.
Later, musician Dead Hawk gave a sensory warning, then turned the lights out and played what sounded like a greatest hits compilation of electronic feedback sounds, making the floor shake. Several in the audience made faces of restrained pain, while others left the room so they wouldn’t have to take aspirin later. But some seemed to enjoy it, including a guy near me who stimmed to the
sounds, then clapped enthusiastically at the end of the performance.
There were two spoken-word pieces by the end of the night. Susan Rose excelled as Lady Macbeth, though she must have had something stuck in her throat because, throughout the performance, she switched in and out of Gollum- and Alvin-and-the-Chipmunks-esque vocal deliveries. Bryan Ostrow (clothed) returned to the stage
with his daughter, Mahé, for a melodramatic reading of Limp Bizkit’s “Break Stuff.”
Bryan’s brother, Sean Ostrow, was the final act, performing terrible, impromptu rap. Just a minute into his performance, Ostrow modulated his voice to a Darth Vader tone and berated himself as a manager character called “Bosstrow.”
The criticism continued until Bosstrow was finally satisfied with Ostrow’s performance. By that point, Ostrow had donned a psychedelic vest and a shirt reading, “TWERK IT.” And twerk it he did, doing a handstand against the wall as he shook his glutes, accidentally knocking down the “S” from the “ODD SHOW” sign in the process.
“Odd How!” Ostrow exclaimed, bewildered and out of breath, as he got back to his feet. “Odd How!”
The room then erupted into dance.
As I returned to my car, I reflected on the night, which had left me baffled and exhausted. The Odd Show had been more than simply odd. It had been stupid, heartfelt, raunchy, overstimulating and even a little beautiful. At times, it felt like I had unwittingly walked in on a bizarre orgy and was unable to leave. But I felt community togetherness I’d never felt when I was laughing, cringing and gawking at the acts with the rest of the audience. Though it’s true that each of us can undergo massive character development over the course of a few years, I very much doubt that I’ll want to join The Odd Show’s ranks next time it rolls around. I will, however, be in the audience, eagerly waiting for the performers to one-up a reverse striptease, an angler fish dance party and a sourdough comedy act.
Chris Mandile plays the hurdy-gurdy | Credit: Bryan Oller
Backstage at The Odd Show | Credit: Bryan Oller
Holy, Ordinary Ashley Andersen imbues the mundane with holiness in minimalist art
By CANNON TAYLOR cannon.taylor@ppmc.live
Ashley Andersen suffered a severe concussion near the end of 2014. Unable to walk much or drive, she spent several months in bed, being taken care of by her family. Eventually, she gained a sundial-like precision in estimating the time of day by the light cast on her bedroom wall.
When she was back on her feet, Andersen found herself inspired by the stillness that had tortured her during her recovery period. When washing the dishes, she found herself fascinated by the tiny rainbows sprouting from soap bubbles in the sink. She found herself tuning into the daily lives of ants and slugs existing in the microcosm of her backyard.
“When we’re given time to actually be still, we don’t know what being still is,” said Andersen. “A lot of people think being still is being quiet. … It has very little to do with being quiet, but ‘quiet’ is the access point to figuring out what stillness is. It is quieting your heart to actually notice things.”
Andersen was no longer simply getting through life; she was finally living it.
When Andersen returned to university after her recovery, the representational drawing she had always excelled at gave way to artistic experimentation.
“I realized that if I was to talk about the
human condition, it very often didn’t have anything to do with me drawing them,”
Andersen explained. “I was so interested in the essence of a thing or a moment or a human or idea. I didn’t know what minimalism was, and I found myself there, making it.”
Andersen fell in love with the way minimalist art refuses to provide obvious points of entry, forcing the viewer to look inward and create their own interpretation.
As Andersen dove into minimalism, she found herself scavenging for increasingly unorthodox art materials, from grocery store eggs to her grandmother’s hand-medown cutting board.
She even collected charcoal from burntdown, abandoned homes. Rest assured, Andersen’s not an arsonist — she discovered the scorch sites while searching for abandoned homes in which to do a series of art instillations.
“During one of those journeys, I drove past a house that had been there, but when I drove past it, it wasn’t there anymore. It was just this black scorch mark on
the earth,” Andersen recalled. “Being someone who obviously doesn’t deal with shame whatsoever, I was like, ‘I need to come back when it’s dark and no one knows what I’m out here doing.’ And so, I leave and I come back, dragging one of my brothers with me.”
Collecting the charcoal in 5-gallon buckets was a success, though the siblings did have to provide a made-up excuse of what
they were doing to one confused passerby. Andersen later pulverized the charcoal into a pigment she mixed with sumi ink. The material was used throughout her 2022 exhibit, “view from my bed.”
Her latest exhibit, “ordinary hours,” makes use of peculiar yet intentionally chosen materials.
A few pieces place ordinary objects like spindles from 200-year-old chairs behind frosted glass panels, in a fashion not dissimilar to the readymades of Marcel Duchamp.
Andersen’s fascination with disused chairs stems from a question of worth. “Value and utility are not synonymous for me,” Andersen said. “That’s why art’s important, because it reminds us why we’re human. We’re not about our function. You can be the least functional person in the world and have as much value as the person next to you.”
One sculpture is a copper sheet lodged in a chunk of alabaster. The pattern of deterioration on the copper was accomplished by leaving it in a corner of a garden for a summer.
The bulk of the exhibit was made by impressing Dutch gold leaf, beeswax and cleaning products on wood. The resulting look is a sort of glimmering decay you might find under the wallpaper of a rundown motel. There are etchings, too, including one of a sink that appears only from some angles and under certain
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lighting conditions.
The exhibit’s title, “ordinary hours,” refers both to the hours of a work week and the Liturgy of the Hours, a daily prayer routine followed by adherents of certain Christian denominations.
Inspired by the idea that, daily, people across the world utter the exact same prayers at the exact same moments, Andersen worked on the exhibit pieces during only these hours.
From the title to the use of cleaning products as art materials, “ordinary hours” is the manifestation of Andersen’s artistic mission statement: to baptize the mundane with holiness, allowing us to gain an appreciation of what we take for granted.
“Our homes are like churches in ways. And
when you honor that, it gives you dignity,” Andersen enthused. “It brings so much density into your moments. … You start learning how to make your moments stretch longer by going deeper into them. It allows you to understand how sacred your life, that’s very ordinary, is.”
IF YOU GO
“ordinary hours” by Ashley Andersen
WHEN: Through Friday, March 28
WHERE: Surface Gallery, 2752 W. Colorado Ave.
WEBSITE: surfacegallerycos.com
"Held time" by Ashley Andersen | Credit: Ashley Andersen
"Misty Prayer no. 3 (a prayer for community)" by Ashley Andersen | Credit: Ashley Andersen
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TEDDY RUXPIN AND OWSLEY ACID
W.I.P. IT
By LAUREN CIBOROWSKI
On top of a pile of amps, next to a jukebox and behind a keyboard, lies a Teddy Ruxpin, well-loved and face down. A workbench features neatly organized tools and thoughtfully coiled cords. And vintage sound equipment of every kind imaginable is piled nearly to the ceiling. I had come to Rosstronics, a professional audio repair shop off Oro Blanco Drive, to pick up my fixed 1978 Technics receiver and do a quick interview. A full hour and 45 minutes and three cigarettes later (not on my part, Mom, don’t worry), I left with my head spinning with information about owner Ross Sickbert’s fascinating life, Ohm’s law, audiophiles and Owsley acid, among other things.
I wouldn’t call myself an audiophile necessarily, but I cobbled together my vintage sound system over 20 years ago, sometime near the end of my college days. With help from a knowledgeable friend, I got some old speakers and a decent receiver, and I sprang for an ’80s-era Technics linear tracking tonearm phonograph from The Leechpit. I then proceeded, like lots of 20-somethings I knew, to bounce around several different rentals in downtown Colorado Springs over the years, lugging increasingly more boxes of ponderous records in each move. Most of my collection is classical, with a small section of novelty records from thrift stores and some Billie Holiday thrown in for good measure. All these years later, I’m sure I’ve only played a small percentage of the hundreds of records I have, but I’ve never regretted having them.
In recent years, I have neglected the record player a bit, having fallen prey to the convenience of my Sonos system — that is, until this Christmas, when my 4-year-old discovered his late grandfather’s Gene Autry Rudolph album. The system was down to one working speaker input, and my boy would carefully put on the record, and then go sit next to the functioning speaker and stare deeply into its mesh-covered depths. It was so adorable that I couldn’t bear to let my child experience the wonder of “Here Comes Santa Claus” in mono. It was time to get this thing fixed!
On my first visit to Rosstronics to drop off the faulty receiver, I mentioned to Sickbert that I was motivated to fix it for my little one. You and everyone else, he said, more or less. I was not
surprised to hear that he’s seen a big resurgence of parents like me in the past five years, bringing in their own or their grandparents’ equipment to get repaired. Records and tape, that’s what’s trending now. It sounds like a good portion of his business is parents-with-nostalgia or wealthy audiophiles wanting tube amps because the sound is “warmer.” “Bullcrap!” exclaimed Sickbert at this notion and launched into a lengthy explanation of the pros and cons of such equipment, his tone alternating between reverential and irascible.
This lecture involved some background on his childhood (ham radio license at age 11, gifted and talented program at Taylor Elementary, school in Boulder, eventually a touring band called The Public Frog). Skip ahead to his military service, and suddenly he’s explaining a wilder time of his life and the color organs he built in the ’60s, which were basically cabinets of Christmas lights behind layers of textured plastic that were color coordinated to high, low and mid frequencies. So a drumbeat could elicit a red hue, a guitar riff, blue, and a bass, green, for example. A grin on his face, he described turning all of Mammoth Gardens in Denver into a giant color organ for two consecutive nights of The Grateful Dead in 1970. The band was so taken by his efforts that he was ushered backstage after the first night, where he was shown a wooden crate filled with nickel Coke bottles, the normal lids replaced by red lids with peace signs, and the normal contents replaced with Owsley acid. Sounds like quite the after-party. It’s hard to do justice to this conversation, which flitted through space and time and at one point involved a listening session of a tape of a band he recorded in the ’90s in Durango, at another time touched on the relevance of Philo Farnsworth and the invention of the television, and then briefly meandered to Tesla. “[He is] my hero. We won’t even start on that; I could go for hours.”
Sickbert opened Rosstronics in Durango in 1982, moving it to the Springs in 1993 and working six days a week all the while. Now 75, he has unfortunately been dealing with some health issues. “I wish I could pass on a lot of what I’ve learned over the years,” he says somewhat ruefully, but then he describes some of the younger people who have shown interest in his work. When they didn’t know how to answer his question of “What’s Ohm’s Law?” he quickly showed them the door. Thankfully, there is a potential business partner in the wings, so this is hopefully not the end.
Ultimately, Sickbert is grateful for the robust business he’s had, even from doting, nostalgia-prone mothers like me. “I approve heartily,” he said. “I think it’s great that people are finally realizing it sounds better, bottom line; forget all the technical crap.”
You need art. Art needs you.
Lauren Ciborowski writes about the arts and music in every issue. W.I.P. stands for Works in Progress.
full events listings, visit
3 UNCHARTED WATERS
Thursday, April 3, through Sunday, April 6, Ent Center for the Arts, 5225 N. Nevada Ave. Times vary. entcenterforthearts.org
Chuck Wilt finds inspiration in the flowing movement of water. Rosely Conz characterizes the fragility of democracy through contemporary, Afro-Brazilian and tap dance. Janet Johnson takes the personal stories of immigrants and refugees to the stage, giving them new audiences. “uncharted” is an empathetic, thought-provoking night of dance brought to you by UCCS Theatre and Dance and Ormao Dance Company. “This collaboration fosters community and creates powerful performances that resonate beyond the stage,” said Conz.
7GRACING THE SHEEP
Sunday, April 6, The Black Sheep, 2106 E. Platte Ave., 8 p.m. blacksheeprocks.com
You might know her from punk band Against Me’s “Reinventing Axl Rose” or “Transgender Dysphoria Blues,” but these days, vocalist Laura Jane Grace is busy embarking on a solo career beholden to no rules. The punk rock earnestness is still there, but with forays into alt-country and a veneer of snarkiness and irreverence that manifests in odes to introversion, apathy and middle-aged exhaustion. One recent track takes inspiration from BTS, except instead of being smooth like butter, Grace compares herself to bread, “stale and crusty.”
APRIL SHOWERS
From Friday, March 28, Hillside Gardens, 1006 S. Institute St., 9 a.m.–2 p.m. hillsidecolorado.com/gardencenter
As the grayish chill of winter takes its leave and the sun finally starts to set at a reasonable time, you may be looking at the grass and flowers emerging from the melty, white slush and find inspiration to take up the trowel. Hillside Gardens has your back — their garden center will be open daily starting on March 28. Don’t forget to sip a drink from one of Hillside’s many minibars while you’re there.
4 CHOCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS
Saturday, April 5, Norris Penrose Event Center, 1045 Lower Gold Camp Road, 11 a.m. cochocolatefests.com
On April 5, I’ll be drawn to the Pikes Peak Chocolate & Cheese Fest like a vampire to a blood drive. Anyone who’s ever eaten shredded cheese out of a Ziploc bag at 2 a.m. knows what I’m talking about. The fest’s chocolate and cheese come from both local and national artisans, but the real draw, for me, is the bizarre lineup of activities: a cheese roll race, a chocolate pudding eating contest and chocolate and coffee pairings with a dubiously licensed “Chocolate Therapist.”
HISTORY ALIVE COLORADO SPRINGS
8
Tuesdays through Saturdays, Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum, 215 S. Tejon St. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. cspm.org
What better way is there to celebrate Women’s History Month than by visiting Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum? The most obvious recommendation is the “50% of the Story” exhibit, a collection of artwork by local women. Beyond that, the museum offers the opportunity to learn about trailblazers like Fannie Mae Duncan, who opened an integrated jazz club called the Cotton Club in 1948, and Bee Vradenburg, philanthropist and general manager of the Colorado Springs Symphony Orchestra for four decades.
12 NAKED AND AFRAID
Through Sunday, March 30, Fine Arts Center, 30 W. Dale St. Times vary. fac.coloradocollege.edu Parents, don’t be concerned when bringing your kids to “Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed: The Rock Experience” — there is no actual nudity in this musical. Written by Mo Willems of “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!” fame, this tale follows Wilbur, a rock and roll rodent who becomes a fashionista. As always, going against the grain leads to social rejection, but much like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Wilbur’s peers come around eventually
THE STAGING OF BLY MANOR
Through Sunday, April 6, Ent Center for the Arts, 5225 N. Nevada Ave. Times vary. entcenterforthearts.org
Henry James’ “The Turn of the Screw” has seen many adaptations since its initial publication in 1898. The draw of experiencing it live is the immersion. Theatreworks’ production is staged in the round, meaning the audience will be the walls of the manor, enclosing the actors. Annie Barbour will play the governess, with Bradley Allan Zarr performing every other role in the play. James’ novella and its subsequent adaptations have been analyzed from a variety of lenses, but according to director Kristin Skye Hoffman, a return to the Gilded Age — a time of exterior shininess and interior rot as tensions between progress and traditionalism came to a head — may be particularly relevant.
5 KICKING BUTT, TAKING NAMES
Saturday, April 5, Sangre de Cristo Arts Center, 210 N. Santa Fe Ave., Pueblo. Times vary. kickassfilmfest.com
Over the first weekend of March, over 20 Coloradan film teams were given a prop, line of dialogue and character to include in an original short film conceived and created over a 72-hour-period. The trial would drive many insane. But somehow, Safe Haven Collaborationz, one of many Colorado Springs film teams, managed to pull off the task with “The Gamble He Left Us,” a crime thriller that won 2024’s Kickass Film Fest. Though teams hail from all over Colorado, perhaps a local team can win again.
9 DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE
Saturday, March 29, Old Colorado City, Colorado Avenue west of I-25 to 28th Street, noon. shopoldcoloradocity.com
There are basic picks for “Alice in Wonderland” cosplay. The White Rabbit. The Cheshire Cat. The Queen of Hearts. Get a little more creative at Mad Hatter Saturday in Old Colorado City. Try dressing up as the Dodo. The Mock Turtle. Bill the Lizard. These are iconic characters, I tell you! You just might win the costume contest at the Mad Hatter tea party in Bancroft Park. The day will feature live music, a poker run, a hatdecorating station and more.
13
LES IS MORE
Sunday, March 30, Lulu’s Downtown, 32 S. Tejon St., 8 p.m. lulusmusic.co
Despite a Grammy nomination, a collaboration with the renowned Jackson Browne and over 15 years in the scene, Leslie Mendelson remains mostly unknown. With a voice like morning coffee and harmonica featured on most of her tracks, what’s not to love? Mendelson’s latest album, “After the Party,” evokes the feel-good simplicity of early 2010s folk-pop (“Rock and Roll on the Radio”) and pensive, melancholy songwriting (“Signs of Life”) all at once.
PANDEMIC PLAYS
Through Sunday, March 23, Millibo Art Theatre, 1626 S. Tejon St. Times vary. themat.org
One weekend remains to see “The Lost Years,” a short play festival commemorating five years of the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s right, it’s been five years — a period that seems to have passed in an eternity and the blink of an eye. The short plays featured in “The Lost Years” are Colorado-specific and brimming with creativity. There’s a “Rocky” spoof, a coming-of-age drama, an almost operatic monologue and many, many comedies. Beyond the plays, there will be other pandemic-inspired artwork on display, including photography slideshows by two local photographers, Allison Daniell and Lauren McKenzie. Read a full article about “The Lost Years” at csindy.com.
Friday, April 4, through Friday, April 25, Surface Gallery, 2752 W. Colorado Ave. Times vary. surfacegallerycos.com Lee Krasner. Elaine de Kooning. Grace Hartigan. Joan Mitchell. Helen Frankenthaler. These artists were among the first women to engrave their names in the history of abstract art, as written about in Mary Gabriel’s “Ninth Street Women.” Last year, Surface Gallery hosted an exhibit called “FIVE,” which contained works inspired by these five artists. This year, Surface Gallery brings you “FIVE: raw,” an exhibit that artistically interprets the word “raw” from the viewpoints of five of Colorado Springs women.
10 ANY FRIES WITH THAT?
Sunday, March 30, Vultures, 2100 E. Platte Ave., 8 p.m. vulturesrocks.com
The Hamburglar. Fries in a bag. A van full of smuggled ketchup packets. These are the mental images that come to mind when I hear the band name “Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol.” They’re a self-described “Doom Wop,” a genre which only raises questions and can’t possibly prepare you for Leo Lydon’s crooning, weaselly vocal delivery. The riffs are thick and fuzzy, like any good doom metal. Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol is sonic vinegar, overwhelming you with a whiff of sourness before drawing you in with its punchy taste.
Courtesy: Wildwood Enterprises, Inc
14
‘SOULS’ SCREENING
Tuesday, April 1, Old Colorado City History Center, 1 S. 24th St., 6 p.m. occhs.org
Courtesy: lesliemendelson.com
In 2016, Jane Fonda and Robert Redford visited Colorado Springs and Florence to film romantic drama “Our Souls at Night.” The resulting setting, Holt, will look and feel familiar to anyone who’s visited a small mountain town: Most residents are retired, and rumors spread quickly. That gossip is a challenge for two widows who begin nonintimately sleeping together to combat their loneliness and, in their twilight years, find joy they had lost decades ago.
When she was a girl in Colorado Singer-songwriter Judy Collins remembers Antonia Brico, school dances and “Little Red Riding Hood”
by CANNON TAYLOR cannon.taylor@ppmc.live
Judy Collins was Leonard Cohen’s sounding board as he performed some of his earliest songs in the privacy of her living room in 1966. A writer and poet, Cohen insisted that musicianship wasn’t in his wheelhouse — and besides, he had stage fright. But Collins encouraged Cohen, and when he performed “Suzanne,” Collins begged for permission to record a cover of it. Collins’ softly yearning voice brought “Suzanne” to the world one year before Cohen released the song as his debut single. The next year, they would sing the tune together during Cohen’s first performance at a benefit concert in New York City.
Around the same time, Cohen encouraged Collins to branch out into songwriting.
Though covers remained Collins’ bread and butter — “Amazing Grace,” Stephen Sondheim’s “Send in the Clowns,” Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides, Now” — she wrote original tracks here and there throughout her career. In 2022, she released the Grammy-nominated “Spellbound,” her first album of completely original material.
But Collins’ songwriting journey began seven decades ago, performing an original production of “Little Red Riding Hood” on the Front Range with her lifelong friends Carol and Marsha.
“There was a long time, decades, when I did not remember that I had written songs for this play. And of course, nobody knew the songs. The girls couldn’t remember them. And we’re all 85, so we can’t remember much,” Collins jested over the phone. “But, anyway, yes, I wrote the songs for ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ — just like Sondheim.”
Between their performances at The Brown Palace, men’s clubs, children’s hospitals and Lowry Air Force Base, Collins, Carol and Marsha probably spent more time together outside of
school than they did in class.
The Collins family had moved to Denver in 1949, when Judy was 10 years old. Not long after the move, she contracted polio and spent several months in the hospital, causing her to be held back a year in school.
As soon as she recovered, her father, Chuck, a musician and radio show host, put her in piano lessons with Antonia Brico, one of the first women to achieve recognition as an orchestra conductor.
“When I was there on the second or third lesson … [Brico] handed me the
score of this Mozart piano concerto and said, ‘I want you to start memorizing that right now,’” Collins recalled.
“And I said, ‘Well, I can’t. I have to go to Seattle and hang out with my grandparents.’ And she said, ‘Oh, it’s OK.’ And then, she went back in the closet or something and then came out and handed me a cardboard keyboard.
And she said, ‘You can start in the car. You can stretch this out between your brothers, and you can start learning the piano concerto on the road.’”
Collins made her debut as a pianist at 13 years old. Over 20 years later, she co-
directed an Academy Award-nominated documentary about her mentor called “Antonia: A Portrait of the Woman.”
Much to Brico’s chagrin, Collins discovered folk music and gave up the piano.
“She’d come to see me at Carnegie Hall, where she had her own orchestra in the ’30s and ’40s,” Collins said. “She’d pick up my hands, and she’d say, ‘Little Judy, you really could have gone places.’”
But before Carnegie Hall, Collins’ first gigs were at Michael’s Pub in Boulder. Despite the owner’s hatred for folk music, Collins was hired for six weeks, making $100 a week, plus a benefits package of free pizza and beer.
“It was Coors beer, and it wasn’t very good,” Collins chuckled. “I was already drinking whiskey, so I knew the difference.”
Later, Collins worked at the Exodus club in Denver, where she met an early career Bob Dylan. Collins described Dylan as “badly dressed, even for the ’60s,” performing a “boring,” tired repertoire of old Woody Guthrie blues. But when Dylan started writing his own material, Collins was the first on the bandwagon recording his songs — though she still gives him a hard time for ripping the melody of “Bob Dylan’s Dream” from the traditional folk ballad “Lady Franklin’s Lament.”
“I thought it was crooked,” Collins joked. “Song filching didn’t have a good name in my family.”
Collins would soon move east with her first husband, Peter Taylor, and young son, Clark. At 85, she still looks back on her upbringing on the Front Range with warm wistfulness — even though Colorado was where she attempted suicide at 14 years old, worked herself to the bone as a young mother and began a 23-year struggle with alcoholism.
“When I was a girl in Colorado, I could conquer anything. I could fly with wings of silver,” Collins warbles on the lead
Judy Collins | Credit: Shervin Lainez, courtesy Shore Fire Media
single of the “Spellbound” album. “Will you take me to the mountains before another summer ends?”
Collins remains creatively active, continually adding to her vast discography and embarking on new artistic pursuits. Her latest pet project is a book of poetry, “Sometimes It’s Heaven.” The poems were written as part of a challenge posed by her late husband, Louis Nelson, in 2016: Write a poem a day for a year.
“He wasn’t a jokester. … He was quite serious. And I did it,” Collins said. “I’ll never do it again, but it was fun.”
The photo on the cover shows a 13-year-old Collins at her debut concert in Denver, standing onstage with the orchestra in a white organdy dress.
“It’s a dress that I wore to the concert,
March 20 - April 2 | 21
MUSIC .
IF YOU GO
WHEN: Monday, April 7, 7:30 p.m.
WHERE: Pikes Peak Center, 190 S. Cascade Ave.
WEBSITE: pikespeakcenter.com/events
of course, but I also wore a couple of years later, when I went to the sweetheart dance with Randy Robinson, who was the best dancer in our class. I was not a dancer,” Collins laughed. “He dragged me around the floor for a couple of hours and then sent me home.”
Collins will be returning to the Rocky Mountains on April 7 at the Pikes Peak Center as part of her 85th birthday tour.
BEST BITES
128 S Tejon St. (Historic Alamo Building) 719-635-3536
326 N Tejon St. 719-228-6566
MacKenzie’s Chop House
Voted Best Power Lunch, Steakhouse, and Martini! Downtown’s choice for quality meats and mixed drinks. Open Monday-Friday 11:30am-3:00pm for lunch and 5pm every day for dinner.
MackenziesChopHouse.com
Tony’s Downtown Bar
Winners of 80+ Independent “Best Of” Awards in 25 years. A great Midwestern Tavern with warm beer, lousy food & poor service!!! Pabst, Leinenkugel’s, fried cheese curds, , walleye fish fry, cocktails, burgers, and more. 11am-2am daily. Happy Hour 3-6pm. GO PACK GO!
TonysDowntownBar.com
34 E. Ramona Ave. (S. Nevada & Tejon) 719-633-2220
Edelweiss
For 55 years Edelweiss has brought Bavaria to Colorado Springs! Using fresh ingredients, the menu invites you to visit Germany. Voted Gold Best German, Silver Dessert Menu, and Bronze Best Patio by Indy readers! Reservations and the menu can be found online at EdelweissRest.com
222 N Tejon St. 719-636-2311
112 N Nevada Ave. 719-377-5444
7140 N. Academy Blvd. 719-698-7002
Celebrating 50 years! Authentic Tex-Mex & Mexican fare in a contemporary Santa Fe-styled establishment. Across from Acacia Park Downtown. Award-winning queso, chili rellenos, and mean green chili. JoseMuldoons.com
& BRUNCH
Burnt Toast
Elevate your brunch with us. Local, non GMO and plenty of Gluten Free options. Soon to be world renowned Huevos Rancheros and favorites. Full breakfast cocktail menu and mimosa flights. GoBurntToast.com
José Muldoons
EXPLORING THREE INFLUENCES ON
ANNA GRACE Triple Take
by KANDACE LYTLE
Anna Grace, local singer-songwriter with the je ne sais quoi of a magical woodland fairy from Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” — “though she be but little, she is fierce” — never stops creating. With the recent release of her song, “Honey,” and her forthcoming book of poetry “Ghost,” Anna expresses the most raw and vulnerable parts of herself. Her poems connect the natural world to the human condition, not unlike the writings of Mary Oliver and Marianne Moore. As a songwriter, Anna blends the tragic and the romantic by observing her own painful experiences and finding beauty in the brokenness. Here, she shares three key musical influences that have shaped her as an artist.
LISTEN NOW Anna Grace, annagracemusic.com
READ SOON “Ghost” (April 6) on Amazon
THE BAND Sleeping at Last
“I’ve been a fan since about 2014; Ryan O’Neil, he writes with such honesty and love at the same time. His songs sound like they are coated in a warm hug, even the painful ones. Ryan has this soothing, rich voice, and his lyrics articulate things I’ve felt but that I didn’t know how to say myself. He’s able to express heavy and complex topics with love, and I feel like I become a better person listening to his music.”
THE
SONG “Thread” by
Hunter Metts
“I never thought that I could lose you / So I tried / To hallucinate a love that never comes true.”
“I feel the most profound songs aren’t the ones with the best voice or instruments, but the ones that make you feel deeply. Hunter opens up and explores heavy spaces — that’s what I’m drawn to as an artist. I feel like I get to excavate the pain alongside him when I listen to this song. We’re exploring a tragic epitome of a broken heart and devoted love, which I can relate to. It’s soulful. It’s emotional. It’s haunting. It comes from an earnest place that sidetracks the mind and transcends into the heart, where the pain is most present. I listened to this song repeatedly, in the midst of experiencing the pain fully, which is exactly how I feel music helps me face my own feelings.”
“‘Wendigo’ is a concept album that takes on themes like fear and mortality in an honest way. Musically, the instrumentation is gorgeous, the lyrics and singing are raw and inhibited. It gave me permission to write freely, without having limits on how creative I can be. The lyrics include some unique concepts, for instance. Some of the songs are written from the perspective of Death. The album makes me look into areas that I’m afraid of long enough that I realize I don’t need to be afraid; I need to be vulnerable and have an open heart. I can be soft during hard times without giving in to avoidance or dissociation. I can just sit in the pain, experience it and grieve.”
Anna Grace | Courtesy: Anna Grace
ALBUM “Wendigo” by Penny & Sparrow
The Bobbi Price Team - The Platinum Group Realtors
MUSIC .
Local Live Music, March 20 through April 2
Special offers and discounts at many partner businesses throughout Colorado Springs with your annual subscription to the Independent
20% off at Ephemera Dinners, Piglatin Cocina, Coati Uprise, OLA Juice Bar, Brakeman’s Burger Bar, Anju, Arepapi, Green Freak, Toasted Bunz
Buy One Get One breakfast cocktails at Notes Eatery
15% discount at Camera Master for photography package
$10 off every $40 at Bourbon Brothers
3D printed item from Space Foundation Discovery Center 10% discount at Rock Bottom Restaurant and Brewing
THURSDAY, MARCH 20
The Local Honeys, The Canary Initiative | Folk. The Basement at Oskar Blues. 118 N. Tejon St. 7:30 p.m.
Paisley Fields, Super Sonic Sludge Scorpions, Solar Point | Country, rock. What’s Left Records. 2217 E. Platte Ave. 7:30 p.m.
The Local Honeys play The Basement at Oskar Blues on March 20 | Courtesy: The Basement at Oskar Blues
CHAYCE BECKHAM
THURSDAY, APRIL 3RD
Chayce Beckham is a country singersongwriter who rose to fame after winning American Idol in 2021, known for his raw storytelling and gritty voice.
His breakout hit “23,” a deeply personal song about struggle and redemption, topped the iTunes country charts and solidified his place in the genre.
Sustainable, AFFORDABLE,
HISTORY.
Hill neighborhood on East Platte Avenue evolved around the highway coming from Kansas, and West Colorado Avenue was the entrance to tourist-oriented Manitou Springs and the mountains.
Building forms were designed for easy accessibility to cars. Buildings became set back from the street to allow for parking lots, and stand-alone signs grew increasingly large to attract the attention of people speeding past at over 30 miles per hour. By the late 1920s, signature architecture developed, where the buildings themselves became the sign: giant chickens, hot dogs or, in Colorado Springs, a giant sombrero and a Navajo Hogan on North Nevada. Exaggerated regional architecture in the form of tipis, cactuses, mountain chalets or Spanish forts became prevalent in the West. Art deco, such as seen by Murphy’s Tavern on North Nevada, was popular during the Depression, followed by the International Style midcentury, then large trapezoidal and abstract shapes (think of the McDonald’s golden arches). And, of course, neon made its splash in strip architecture.
The motel best illustrates the evolution
of new landscapes. Prior to the rise of the middle class vacationer, where did people stay when visiting? The big, downtown hotel, which for us was the Antlers. Originally geared to arrival via railroad at the adjacent D&RG Depot, the Antlers was plush, complete with many services, formal and expensive, and clearly not appropriate for families with young children on a limited budget. In response, the main land use increasingly sought by tourists was affordable lodging for the entire family. To snag consumer income from these travelers, Colorado Springs, like many other towns, set aside free camping zones. By the mid-1920s, campgrounds became largely commercialized with entrance fees to inhibit transients living free for long term at city expense as private businesses grew to serve the tourist market. City business directories in 1932 list 19 auto tourist camps: 10 at the eastern entrance to Manitou Springs, two on North Nevada, two on East Platte, one on South Nevada, and the rest dispersed at other locations. Prospect Lake in Memorial Park had a popular campground, with thousands camping there each year. Remnants of these RV parks are still found on West Highway 24; tourist campgrounds were
20 - April 2 | 27
also located on both South and North Nevada Avenue into the 21st century. The early auto camps evolved to cabins and eventually to the new creation, “motels,” a hybrid of “motor-hotel,” first coined in 1926 after competing terms, such as “autel,” “motor court,” “tourist court,” “auto court,” “Tour-o-tel” and “Motor inn” vied for supremacy. Lodging forms evolved from auto camps to cabin camps by the 1930s, cottage courts with more permanent structures, motor courts that joined the cabins under a single roofline by midcentury, motor inns with multiple stories, and eventually to highway hotels, usually national chains near interstates. Simple naming schemes were also used to appeal to Western and mountain place imagery: Buffalo Lodge, High Country Lodge, Apache Court, Trails End Motel, Hacienda Motel, Silver Saddle Court, Log Cabin Camp, Sky-Hi Lodge, Frontier Motel. Names also appealed to specific geographic clientele: Kansas Court, Okla-Texas Courts, Oklahoma Cottages, the Illinois Lodge. National sponsorship of motels through groups such as Duncan Hines, Best Western and the AAA gave a stamp of legitimacy to businesses whose reputation was unknown to families wishing to avoid lodging with lax ethical standards.
In 1965, there were 145 camp, cabin or motel-type lodgings in our four auto strips. But with incessant urban development in response to technological, economic and cultural innovations, eventually our old auto strips declined. They were too congested, not wide and large enough to
handle the high-volume traffic seen today. Interstate 25 bypassed North Nevada by 1961, and the Citadel Mall internalized commerce to the detriment of Knob Hill shops. We slowly saw a conversion of motels to short rental apartments adapted to transient housing. Given the continued popularity of Manitou Springs as a tourism site, West Colorado/Manitou Avenue was always the leader in motel lodging, and has maintained many motels and cabin courts, such as the El Colorado Lodge, better than the other three strips, which have all seen extensive redevelopment that often erased the older structures. But a look at the relict landscapes that remain tell us stories of cultural innovation at the fringes of Colorado Springs.
Despite decline, the classic automobile strips today are not dead, they merely serve new functions. Often, we also see rebirth and revitalization. This is particularly true for ethnic communities seeking the American dream — the strips remain incubator areas for new immigrant groups. Knob Hill has long served the Hispanic community with restaurants, money transfer services, music venues and other functions, and South Asian immigrants dominate independent motel ownership in America. Just look at Federal Boulevard in Denver to see a hyper-thriving Asian and Hispanic commercial landscape! So next time you pass through one of our zones of seeming urban chaos, stop and appreciate the opportunities these spaces provide, the services they perform and the story they tell. Buy a taco and a beer to support smallbusiness owners!
Chief Hotel, South Nevada Avenue, 1998, making abundant use of neon and sponsored by AAA | Credit: John Harner
By TIFFANY WISMER
Playing dress-up THE DRESS CODE
Alone among the art forms, fashion carries a stigma of being silly, shallow and extravagant. When compared with other types of artistic expression, it is assumed not to have the same depth or meaning, despite the fact that it carries all the same elements: color, form, perspective and symbolism. Why the disrespect? Maybe it has something to do with the fact that fashion is inextricably linked to the human body. A person (no matter how statuesque) is never a blank canvas.
This personal aspect of fashion — the fact that it is art wrapped around a human — might be just what makes it beautiful, or repulsive, or controversial, or affecting. A piece of art hanging on a wall is external to us. We are here; it is over there. We can observe it, label it, form opinions. A piece of art hanging on a person is different. There’s something vulnerable about it.
Recently I got a front-row seat for the House of GOCA: Psychedelic Garden fashion show at the Ent Center for the Arts. It featured nine local fashion designers who came together to pay homage to the art of Patrick Shearn, whose “Psycullescence” exhibit was on
display earlier this month. The models took to the runway wearing designs that used colorful, organic, mythological elements. I was reminded strongly of Titania’s court in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Emcees Josh Franklin and John Wolfe, owners of local nightclub Icons, described the scene as whimsical, a return to childhood.
My reaction to the world of runway models and fashion designers falls somewhere on the fascination spectrum between delighted awe and embarrassed shyness. Most of all, I feel a sort of misplaced amusement, like an impulse to laugh before it’s tempered by beauty or respect. In short, it makes me feel like a child. No other type of art gives me that feeling.
Maybe a return to childhood is at the heart of fashion, and why the most creative styles can make us feel joy, or wrinkle our noses, or even burst out laughing. Children are the best at fashion, really, because they are uninhibited, experimenting wildly with whatever’s in the dress-up box.
I think fashion designers are people who have never lost that imaginative, carefree instinct. They are the people who still know how to play dress-up.
Tiffany Wismer is the owner of Luna’s Sustainable Fashion Boutique. In every issue, she will investigate the driving forces behind fashion in our city, and the narratives and values that are communicated through style.
Model Aoi Koenig, dressed in a design by Aaron Graves, part of his Awake In A Dream (AKA Midnight Voyage) collection created for the House of GOCA: Psychedelic Garden fashion show on February 28, 2025 at the Ent Center for the Arts. | Credit: Tiffany Wismer
As of March 12, Sherrea ElliotStirling had raised $5,000 from a single contribution from Classic Homes CEO Doug Stimple.
Kimberly Gold
Total Raised to Date: $13,629.14
The majority of Kimberly Gold’s contributions are in the $25 to $50 range, many of them with connections to the military, with a few notable exceptions: $1,000 from Doug Stimple of Classic Homes and several contributions from community leaders including City Council member Nancy Henjum, nonprofit leader Amber Ptak, and philanthropists CJ Moore and Lisa Tessarowicz.
Chauncy Johnson
Total Raised to Date: $6,055.74
Outgoing District 4 council member Yolanda Avila, state Sen. Tony Exum, and Colorado state Rep. Regina English each gave $100; state Sen. Marc Snyder gave $500; 2024 U.S. Congressional District 5 candidate River Gassen gave $250.
Jeannie Orozco Lira
Total Raised to Date: No filings
LEARN MORE
Scan the QR code to read about Colorado Springs City Council candidates’ views on economic development, business and housing in the city.
DISTRICT 5
Nancy Henjum
Christopher Burns
Total Raised to Date: $9,126.08
According to his three filings, Christopher Burns has loaned himself $6,100 and contributed $3,026.08 to himself.
Total Raised to Date: $33,897.97
Along with Dave Donelson, Nancy Henjum is the only other incumbent in the April 1 City Council race. And she also a long record of fundraising. And like Donelson, she received significant contributions from local developers and homebuilders. Henjum does not appear to have benefited from any dark money. In 2021, she received $2,500 from Doug Stimple of Classic Homes; $5,000 from Norwood; $2,000 from Kevin O’Neil of the O’Neil Group, co-owner of The Independent’s parent company, Pikes Peak Media Co.; $5,000 from the Home Builders Association; $1,000 from Chuck Murphy; and $1,000 from Kathy Loo.
Thus far in the 2025 election cycle, Henjum has not received any contributions from developers or homebuilders. But many of her other individual contributors from 2021 overlap. The list is very much a who’s who of the Old North End neighborhood and downtown, which Henjum represents: Tim Boddington for $1,000; restauranteur Joe Coleman for $1,000; former City Council member Richard Skorman for $250; Pam Shockley-Zalabak for $150; the mayor’s wife, Abbey Mobolade, for $100; and many more. Julie Ott, School District 11 board member, gave $200. Outgoing council member Yolanda Avila gave $100.
Henjum has also received $1,000 from COS Professional Firefighters Local 5, and $300 from Ruth Lehmkuhl, wife of District 1 council candidate Lee Lehmkuhl.
Miller
Total Raised to Date: $551.32
Newcomer Jim Miller has received two $100 contributions: one from former City Council member and 2023 mayoral candidate Tom Strand, and one from Heidi Ganahl, the Republican nominee for Colorado governor in 2022, who lost to Jared Polis.
Cass R. Melin
Total Raised to Date: $0
DISTRICT 6
Roland Rainey Jr.
Total Raised to Date: $3,597.60
Roland Rainey Jr. ran unsuccessfully for an at-large council seat in 2023 and didn’t raise a lot of money. He did, however, receive one $1,000 contribution from Gary Erickson, developer of Polaris Pointe in northern Colorado Springs.
During this cycle, his notable contributors thus far are the ultraconservative former Colorado House Rep. Gordon Klingenschmitt for $100; El Paso County Sheriff Joe Roybal for $100; El Paso County Commissioner Cory Applegate for $100; and El Paso County Treasurer Chuck Broerman for $200.
Aaron Schick
Total Raised to Date: $229.18
Though his filings aren’t entirely clear, it appears Aaron Schick has given himself $105 in cash and $124.18 in nonmonetary contributions.
Parth Melpakam
Total Raised to Date: $2,978.27
Though School District 11 board member Parth Melpakam hasn’t yet reported many significant donations toward his campaign for City Council, he and three others — Jason Jorgenson, Jill Haffley and Thomas James Carey — were the beneficiaries of $575,627.32 in dark money spent on their behalf by Springs Opportunity Fund IEC, which received all of its contributions from Colorado Dawn, both of which contributed to Dave Donelson’s 2021 campaign for City Council as outlined above.
The largest campaign contribution to Melpakam’s 2025 City Council campaign thus far came from his now-terminated candidate committee for D-11 School Board, Elect Parth Melpakam, in the amount of $1,978.27.
In 2023, Melpakam’s D-11 candidate committee received $2,500 from CLCS Action 527, which supports charter schools; $2,500 each from Bart and Cathy Holaday of the Dakota Foundation; and $1,000 from Vance Brown at Exponential Impact. He also accepted a contribution of $500 from Stephen Joel Sorensen of Victor’s Canvassing; and $250 contributions from Chris Jenkins of Norwood and several of his other family members. He also received $500 from conservative real estate agent Steve Schuck; and $100 from Joshua Hosler, who lists himself as podcast manager for Focus on the Family.
*As of the writing of this article, there are four IECs registered with the city of Colorado Springs that will likely contribute to candidate campaigns, but none have made any filings.
We will update this story online at csindy.com as more reports are filed on the mandatory filing dates of March 17, March 28 and May 1.
Jim
THE BEST VIEW: EVERY SHOW, EVERY
PUZZLES!
“As both an advertiser and
the
for anyone looking to stay
the Pikes Peak area” -- Reanna Werner, founder HR Branches
BY THE EDITORS AT ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION
BRANCHING OUT
Looking for love? If you're in Dodauer Forest in northern Germany, you're in luck. The Associated Press reported on March 4 about the Bridegroom's Oak, a 500-year-old tree that has served as a mailbox for the lovelorn for over a century. The custom originated with a couple whose relationship was opposed by the woman's father; they left messages for each other in the tree's knothole and eventually married in 1892. Here's how it works: People send a letter (address: Brautigamseiche, Dodauer Forest, 23701 Eutin, Germany), and the postmaster delivers it to the tree. Visitors can climb a 10-foot ladder to retrieve a few letters, leaf through them and choose a pen pal. "The resulting pen pal relationships have even led to a few marriages," noted the postal service.
THE HOLE STORY
James Coxall, 42, of Castle Camps, a village in Cambridgeshire, England, was sick of driving around -- and sometimes driving into -- an 8-footlong, 4-inch-deep pothole that had been in the road for more than a year, The Washington Post reported. So Coxall, a carpenter, repurposed a pair of jeans his daughter had grown out of, filling the legs with wood and old shirts and attaching some shoes at the hems. Then he fashioned an anchor to hold the contraption upright -- or upside down, as it were -- and put it in the pothole, so that it looked like someone was head-down in the hole. He thought it might spur some action on the hole, and indeed, on Feb. 27, the county filled the hole. "They fixed the hole," Coxall said. "They just got another several million to do in Cambridgeshire."
IRONY
CTV News reported that three framed paintings were stolen from St. Andrew's Church in Little Steeping, England, on Feb. 23. One was a painting of the Lord's Prayer; the second depicted Moses delivering the Ten Commandments; and the third illustrated the commandments -- including "Thou Shalt Not Steal." While the church was unclear about the value of the paintings, they held "sentimental" value to the parishioners.
NOT ON PORPOISE
Dean Harrison and two of his friends were fishing on his open-top boat on Feb. 28 when a 900-pound bottlenose dolphin crashed onto the 16-foot vessel, the Associated Press reported. The men were along the far north coast of New Zealand's North Island when they saw dolphins playing nearby. "This one decided to jump on board and say hello," Harrison said. The 11-foot-long dolphin's wild movements snapped "every single fishing rod we had in the boat," Harrison said, and severely damaged the
bow. The animal was stuck, so the men alerted New Zealand's conservation agency, which directed them to a boat ramp an hour away. While they motored toward help, they kept the dolphin wet with a hose and a towel. At the ramp, members of the Maori tribe prayed for the dolphin, which they named Tohu, which means "sign." Harrison has also renamed his boat Tohu.
NOW THAT'S A STICKY SITUATION
Newsweek reported on March 5 that a Reddit post has blown up. The post details a stunt that landed a man and his brother-in-law in small claims court over medical bills of more than $2,000. While the poster was napping in a hammock with his shirt off, his BIL filled his navel with super glue, he said. When he awoke, the glue was dry, and he was hesitant to aggressively try to remove it because of scars from an earlier gall bladder surgery. The BIL "thought it was funny right up until we left for the emergency room," the poster wrote. But after the BIL wouldn't cover his medical bills, the poster won in court. "This has caused a major rift in my family," he wrote. "My wife is upset, and her family thinks I overreacted." But Redditers are on his side: "This was straight-up malicious. This wasn't a prank," one wrote.
MIGHTY MICE
Li Zhang, a professor of physiology and neuroscience at the University of Southern California, has authored a study showing that laboratory mice would leap into action to help their companions who were incapacitated, NPR reported on March 2. Their behavior included biting the unconscious mouse, biting its tongue and licking its eyes -- and "eventually pulling the tongue out of the mouth of this unconscious one" to clear its airway, Zhang said. The response was much stronger for mice that had been caged together for a long time, he said.
THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS
Aimee Preece of Carrick, Australia, got up from bed to let her dogs out in early March, then decided to make a bathroom stop, ABC News reported on March 5. But while she was relieving herself, a Tasmanian devil ran into the bathroom, chased by the dogs, and hid behind the toilet. "I've never seen one that close," Preece said. She trapped the animal in the bathroom, then got on social media for help. Olivia Dykstra, a catcher of snakes (and other critters), responded, using a snake bag and a broom to wrangle the devil. The bathroom didn't fare so well: "There was nothing in that bathroom that had not been upset, kicked off shelves, you name it," Dykstra said. She delivered the devil to an area where they're often sighted.
GROW YOUR OWN THOUGHTS
BREAKING OUR OWN RECORDS
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