Strangely, most of our feedback so far has come from people who will miss one of the enterprises that Ent is displacing: the car wash. It was at least 50 years old, and even I recall a time or two there, soapy car in the sun, worried that my quarters would run out. But come on, folks. There are other Westside places for that. Besides, it had become a flat-out eyesore, rivaled only by the weedy Subway and stark 7-Eleven across the street...
And there's bad news on the business front. When Junior Achievement of Southern Colorado announced in early 2014 that it was buying the big Goodwill building on the north side of the 2300 block, it was cause for optimism - especially after Kum and Go came and went in 2013 in the wake of local criticism of its plans for the south side.
But now, with JA changing its strategy and moving on (see article, Page 4), that north-side building is once again on the market. Here's an idea not everybody will like: How about marketing it to some manufacturing company? That's the kind of operation Goodwill had when it was there, and such would fit right in with the Westside's working-class tradition...
A term we're all going to be hearing more frequently is "supportive housing." That stands for the apartments the city and Continuum of Care will be providing to the especially needful, coupled with counseling and other assistance - part of the city's growing investment in such aid.
I delve into this issue more fully in a recent column at westsidepioneer.com, but the gist of it is that while supportive housing is surely a godsend for people seeking to escape homelessness, it's optional (repeat, optional) and will scarcely touch the problems the Westside faces from willfully homeless vagrants whose numbers - and boldness - keep growing. Especially when the Continuum's answers are looking for new and better ways to support anyone claiming they have needs - accountability be damned...
I had a chance recently to watch some of the upgrade work at the Colorado Springs Utilities water-treatment plant on the Mesa (see article, Page 7). We're fortunate here, to be the first users of water diverted from the high mountains (imagine how many times the drinking water has been re-treated in, say, Kansas?), and it was heartening to see how seriously the Mesa staff take their jobs. Cheers...
Lastly, good luck to Jonathan Neely and the Special Improvement Main-tenance District on creating an action plan for Old Colo-rado City's next revitalization (see article, Page 1) that will be affordable and that all can agree on. Harder things have been accomplished in the world, but not many.
- K.J.