Difference between Polis' soundbites and reality. Housing two ways: the state stepping in to tell you how to do it, and another tax (oops, "fee") to fix the problem
The wide gulf between campaign soundbites and reality.
In between the 30 second snippets our elected officials give and the press obligingly (and all too often thoughtlessly) and the fruition of those snippets is implementation. And that implementation is not always smooth.
One of the big things that Polis has promised and the media have lauded him for (see the screenshot from the 11/1/2022 Sun article linked second below) is free preschool.
Well, it turns out that there are some, let's say, "issues" with the rollout.
I do not expect perfection. I completely understand that any new program, by anyone (including myself) is going to have some problems.
That is partly the case here: there are some problems with parents understanding how to fill out the forms, and delays in getting info into the state are causing some problems.
There are some problems, however, which our state government (and no matter what he says, as the one who beat the drum about this mercilessly and as the state's chief executive) and Jared Polis own. End of story.
If you are going to promise something, you'd better make sure you have money enough to back it up. I gather that our state doesn't.
If you are going to promise something, you'd better have a computer system robust enough to handle the requests. You'd better have dedicated staff enough to handle the load. I, again, gather that our state hasn't.
That's a shame.
Now I'm going to dig out my crystal ball here. Looking into the future, if this program has struggles beyond this year and/or funds fall short, expect the Progressives running this state to start yelling about how government needs to hurry up and step in ... to fix the problem that they just created.
All you will need to do is just fork over more money.
https://coloradosun.com/2023/03/29/universal-preschool-matching-coloradoo/
https://coloradosun.com/2022/11/01/jared-polis-promises-2022-reelection-bid/
Like the idea of local control? Dislike having people along the Front Range tell you how to live?
I do too. Polis recently made a big splash with his ideas on how to help Colorado get more affordable housing by essentially making land use a state-level decision.
This isn't just someone who doesn't like Polis that much talking. Municipal leaders who have appeared at his side in press conferences (like the Mayor of Colorado Springs) are saying so--see the Denver Post article linked first below. Other people who have praised him in the past (and continue to do so today) are also speaking up--see the op ed linked second below.
If you don't want a select group of people (mostly from the Front Range--if you want a sense of the politics of those that think this is a good idea, look no further than the sponsors on the bill in the attached screenshot) telling you how to live, the bill that has irked all these people is linked third below.
https://www.denverpost.com/2023/03/26/colorado-polis-housing-affordability-zoning-reform/
https://www.coloradopolitics.com/opinion/stop-this-egregious-assault-on-home-rule-opinion/article_d1dd87dc-ce83-11ed-874b-fbc38098ec9b.html
https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb23-213
An update on the Affordable Housing "Fee" initiative
I posted some time back about an initiative (then at the very beginning stages) to put another "fee" on Coloradans, this time to ostensibly help create more affordable housing in this state.
**Note: "fee" is in quotes here because this makes this outside the bounds of TABOR and this initiative is also noteworthy in that it is the first one I know of where someone pushing an initiative is using the Assembly's clever trick of calling it a fee and not a tax.
There were two initial challenges to the initiative and one motion to the CO Supreme Court, but it has moved up a step in the process and now has a title set. My guess is that it will soon be up to the point of signature collection.
I will update as I hear more. Keep watching because, if you're a fan of keeping your money and preventing yet more encroachment on TABOR, you'll want to work against this one.
https://www.sos.state.co.us/pubs/elections/Initiatives/titleBoard/