Intrusive cable installations

What is going on in our neighborhoods in the name of fiber-optic progress? First, there were spray-painted graffiti (construction markings) that will scar our neighborhoods for the next 4-5 years. They last that long, unless they are removed, which Colorado Springs contracts seem to ignore. Then came crews digging up major portions of the sidewalks. These will be replaced with concrete that does not match the existing concrete (of course). Now, large black junction boxes, as large as large dog houses (and half as large as a modern refrigerator-size nuclear power generating plant), are being installed on every block on front lawns. What happened to micro devices? Earlier fiber-optic cable installations were much less intrusive.

These damages degrade the curb appeal and the value of our homes, as does the ancient, worn-out street paving. This street should have been repaved about the time it was 15 years old. It is now almost 30 years old. Potholes, bad pavement and innumerable patches over patches also degrade the investment value of our homes.

Why is it that Colorado Springs city administrations seem to have no sense of stewardship of taxpayers’ investments in their homes and in the condition of the streets that service them? Curb appeal and esthetic value of our neighborhoods are major components of actual investment value and are part of the sales/purchase price of our homes. “Pothole slaloms” degrade our neighborhoods.

For whom shall we vote to make significant progress to rectify this? This has been ongoing for decades.

Arthur B. Cyphers

Colorado Springs

The pain does not stop

What the result of this liberal radicalized whack job did besides trying to kill an idea (which won’t die) and killing Charlie Kirk is to deprive a family of a husband, a father and a son. Two young children will grow up without their father. Every day until they are old enough to understand, they will ask: Where’s daddy? Being the father of a young son who was killed in Iraq 18 years ago when he was only 33, I understand the unbearable grief of losing a loved one. And, like Charlie Kirk, my son had young children who grew up without a father, a wife without a husband and my wife and I without a son.

So, he was not there for his children’s special moments, school graduations, marriages, and just being a mentor. The pain does not stop even 18 years later.

The killer may have killed a young man but Charlie Kirk’s idea will never die. What this horrible act has done will make Turning Point USA and Charlie Kirk’s message even stronger. So, in a senseless attempt to silence one individual, the 22-year-old lunatic just did exactly the opposite. A sleeping giant has awakened.

Barry S. Oswell

Colorado Springs

Near the point of no return

We are being divided into class warfare between each other by all the algorithms that run wild in social media, and we should have seen this coming when social media first started up. But our elected leaders were not paying attention and so there were no safeguards in place to protect us from the events to come. And now the algorithms are running wild with much hate being directed to anyone. And our enemies are very much happy to help this along, and they can sit back and watch the USA self-destruct and not have to fire a shot to take over the world.

So now we are not yet past the point of no return, and to stop the social media with all the algorithms and get back to where we as a people can talk to each other and come to a conclusion without hating each other or wanting to kill the other because of what we read in social media and the algorithms. The first step is to get social media out of our schools completely and then put in safeguards for what can be shown that is not verified content. Social media has a place in society, but not a controlling place in society. One has only to look at all the mass shootings to know just what social media and its algorithms are doing to our society. How much more of this do you want to continue?

Walter Taylor

Colorado Springs

We need action, not words

Sunday, CSU wrote the Gazette to say “the Energy Wise program is designed to be revenue-neutral”. How can we believe CSU when they are consistently wrong? They spent $113 million on the Neumann Newstream process to make cheap coal clean. It didn’t. They replaced the Martin Drake coal plant with gas generators because clean gas was cheap. It’s not. Now they say increasing electric rates and taxing solar providers won’t cost more? It will. When will we wake up and recognize that Colorado’s mandate to cut greenhouse gas emissions 100% by 2050 is, what the Gazette itself reported in June, “unsustainable”? These are exactly the actions that make Colorado unaffordable. Enough is enough! Tell our politicians “no more!” Write your city and state representatives. Organize your friends and neighbors and use your power to vote. We need to turn this around. We need actions, not words.

Rick White

Colorado Springs

A rift in public trust

I am responding to the Dr. Keith Roach column of Sept. 9: In it, he affirms to a reader his belief in the trustworthiness of public health institutions such as the CDC, the World Health Organization, and the American College of Physicians. However, since Covid, it seems to me that the priorities of these public health institutions have been altered by political considerations.

During the pandemic, with the endorsement of the leading voices of the public health institutions, many Americans had to say goodbye to dying loved ones from behind a glass window or Zoom screen for fear of transmitting Covid. In schools, kids were sent home to attend Zoom meetings.

The learning and mental health impacts were enormous. Meanwhile, Black Lives Matter protesters were gathering in crowds of thousands. “Science” had determined that the public health benefits of these protests outweighed the dangers of getting Covid.

This was hugely inconsistent.

Five years ago, to raise the question of whether Covid might have been caused by a lab leak in Wuhan, China, was quickly shut down with accusations of xenophobia. “Science” had determined that Covid came from natural origins — enough said. Yet, recently, the CIA said they do believe Covid came from a lab leak.

All this has contributed to a rift in public trust. I am definitely going to trust my doctors for advice but given these recent events and current actions from RFK Jr., skepticism for all directives coming from public health institutions might be in order.

Benjamin Fromuth Sr.

Colorado Springs