Libertarian paradise getting hit by wild fires.

[bobalot]

Wildfire Tests Police in Colorado Tax Movement’s Home

As Colorado Springs battles a rash of burglaries after a wildfire that still licks at its boundaries, it does so with fewer police and firefighters.

The city where the Waldo Canyon fire destroyed 346 homes and forced more than 34,000 residents to evacuate turned off one-third of its streetlights two years ago, halted park maintenance and cut services to close a $28 million budget gap after sales-tax revenue plummeted and voters rejected a property-tax increase.

The municipality, at 416,000 the state’s second-largest, auctioned both its police helicopters and shrank public-safety ranks through attrition by about 8 percent; it has 50 fewer police and 39 fewer firefighters than five years ago. More than 180 National Guard troops have been mobilized to secure the city after the state’s most destructive fire. At least 32 evacuated homes were burglarized and dozens of evacuees’ cars were broken into, said Police Chief Pete Carey.

“It has impacted the response,” said Karin White, a 54- year-old accountant, who returned home June 28 to a looted and vandalized house, with a treasured, century-old family heirloom smashed.

“They did above and beyond what they could do with the resources they had,” she said. “If there were more officers, there could have been more manpower in the evacuated areas.”

Taxpayer Revolt

Since the start of the 18-month recession in December 2007, U.S. cities have faced shrinking revenue and diminishing state support, leading to budget cuts and reductions in services and workforces. Cities faced a fifth-straight year of revenue declines in 2011, according to the National League of Cities, which estimated that municipalities would have to fill budget gaps of as much as $83 billion from 2010-2012.

Colorado Springs, which depends on sales tax for about half of its revenue, was hit harder than most. The city -- the birthplace 20 years ago of the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, which later passed statewide and has been pushed around the country to restrict government spending -- became a high-profile example of cost-cutting. The law restricts government spending to the previous year’s revenue, adjusted only for population growth and inflation.

“People are going to be looking at the aftermath of this disaster to see what is possible,” said Josh Dunn, an associate professor of political science at University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. “How far can you go in cutting the size of city government?”

Pre-Tea

The city, home of the evangelical Christian group Focus on the Family, is known for being conservative and libertarian. It “was the Tea Party before the Tea Party was cool,” Dunn said.

Six of the nine candidates in last year’s nonpartisan mayoral election, including the victor, Mayor Steve Bach, signed a pledge to oppose any tax increases.

Richard Skorman, one candidate who didn’t, was flooded with angry e-mails after saying in a debate why he opposed such a pledge. What, he asked, if the city got hit by a major wildfire?

“Resources have been very stretched, and we were always worried,” Skorman, a 60-year-old small business owner and former city councilman who lost to Bach in an April 2011 run- off, said in a telephone interview.

On Edge

The costs of rebuilding combined with lost revenue from business closings and tourism could again push the city to the point where it doesn’t have money for essential services, he said.

“It is really going to make it difficult to deal with these things and all the reconstruction and things that are going to have to occur in this community,” Skorman said.

Bach said the city is on the path toward financial implosion anyway because of overly generous pensions and too many parks.

“Forget the fire,” said the mayor, whose office has an easel with a chart depicting Colorado Springs’s financial status, after a briefing on the blaze June 30. “At our current cost curve, we’ll be insolvent in eight years.”

Bach said the financial situation “certainly has affected our ability to take care of other things like parks and keeping the streetlights on.”

It hasn’t affected the handling of the wildfire, he said.

Heading Home

The Waldo Canyon blaze has killed two, engulfed a 29- square-mile (75-square-kilometer) area the size of Manhattan, has cost $11.1 million to fight so far and is now 55 percent contained. All but 3,000 residents have been allowed to return home, according to the Incident Information System, an interagency effort to track and provide wildfire information.

Such emergencies are why Bach’s administration has focused on increasing the city’s unrestricted general fund balance, which is now at 17 percent, said Steve Cox, the city’s chief of economic vitality and innovation.

Carey and Fire Chief Rich Brown said they are facing the same kind of cuts and budget restrictions as public-safety forces across the country. The reduction in manpower hasn’t affected their ability to respond to the wildfire, they said in interviews this weekend.

On June 26, when near-hurricane force winds caused a firestorm that swept into the city, “I don’t care if we had 2,000 people, there’s nothing we could have done,” Brown said. The city has 413 firefighters and recently graduated its first new class of recruits in five years, he said.

Working Together

Carey said the reduction in manpower has forced police to work more closely with the fire department and other agencies.

“That’s the emerging trend of public safety,” Carey said. “We can’t afford to have a surge capacity, maximum capacity every day for these kinds of situations. You have to think meaner and leaner, and have a plan that includes asking for outside help.”

The city has been aggressive in applying for federal grants, too, which have funded wildfire mitigation efforts, said Bret Waters, emergency management director.

Dunn notes that the city, where there is strong anti- federal government sentiment, is now turning to the U.S. for assistance. Before visiting Colorado on June 29, President Barack Obama declared the state a disaster area, which frees aid for communities affected by the wildfires.

“Ironically, Colorado Springs is going to rely heavily on federal funds for rebuilding,” Dunn said. “But it won’t cover everything.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Amanda J. Crawford in Phoenix at acrawford24@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephen Merelman at smerelman@bloomberg.net

Fire public workers --> hinder response time to wildfires + mass crime --> call national guard --> scoff at federal government handouts while applying for Federal assistance -->Libertarianism in action.

[Grumman]

Libertarianism in action.

Anarchism in action. The difference between an anarchist and a libertarian is that a libertarian recognises that unified threats justify a unified response.

[General Zod]

Libertarianism in action.

Anarchism in action. The difference between an anarchist and a libertarian is that a libertarian recognises that unified threats justify a unified response.

As long as it doesn't require them to pay taxes for it.

[bobalot]

Libertarianism in action.

Anarchism in action. The difference between an anarchist and a libertarian is that a libertarian recognises that unified threats justify a unified response.

As long as it doesn't require them to pay taxes for it.

Which in practice results in anarchism because no wants to pay for public service until the shit hits the fan, which is usually too late.

[The Yosemite Bear]

prevention is cheaper than cure folks

[Sidewinder]

My empathetic side says, "The poor people! I hope they learned something from this, namely, some sacrifices must be made (taxes must be paid) to prepare for emergencies like this." My cynical side- the one that's a borderline Fascist- says, "Ha! They got what they deserved. I can hope they learned something from this, but I know these libertarian idiots will learn NOTHING, and continue to scream, 'Big government is big evil!' until the next emergency bites them in the ass."

[Darth Wong]

Libertarianism in action.

Anarchism in action. The difference between an anarchist and a libertarian is that a libertarian recognises that unified threats justify a unified response.

Libertarianism: anarchism without the honesty.

[Surlethe]

Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-0 ... -home.html

[The Yosemite Bear]

yes and it's the big bad federal government that keeps pulling their teaparty, fat out of the fire (This time quite literially)

[Darth Wong]

Tea Partiers are like petulant teenagers, who shout "you're not the boss of me!" and then expect you to pay their bills.

[The Yosemite Bear]

yup, they barely pay for any federal taxes, many of the pols that represent ttheir movement go on about how it's unconsittional, and oh yeah the primary source of income The AIRFORCE ACADAMY, the same one that's been getting over run with fundy chaplins due to these same people, their police have been seriously cut to the point that the Airforce and the National guard had to intervine over a year ago, and while they moan about the evil's of Obamacare, did I mention most of the population of cologrado springs area gets medicare.....

and they call folks like me who pay payroll taxes and work parasites....

[The Yosemite Bear]

It should also be noted from a year or more ago Rolling Stone did an article on the crime problem in colorado springs being directly related to US troops with PTSD, and no employment being dumped into the community because the Airforce base (hold over from NORAD days) happens to house the largest psychiatric facility for VA west of the Missisippi. resulting in a lot of Soldiers staying in the area for medical treatment, being unable to get employment due to discrimination, and turning to crime particularly on the increase were home invasion style robberies and burgleries....

[Brother-Captain Gaius]

As a Coloradan, I can't help but feel no small amount of schadenfreude. Colorado has way too many of these exurb assholes. Maybe this will knock some sense into some of them.

[General Zod]

As a Coloradan, I can't help but feel no small amount of schadenfreude. Colorado has way too many of these exurb assholes. Maybe this will knock some sense into some of them.

Fat chance, they're already rationalizing it in the article. Of course I just lump them together with all the other fuckwads in this state I can't stand.