Forcing HOA's to allow xeriscaping. Forcing schools to remove Indian mascots, saying you'll pay ... and then not wanting to pay.
As a fan of xeriscape and low water use plants, I'm in favor of this bill.
**Note that the article I link to first below is a bit out of date. As of this writing, the bill has cleared the Senate and is now headed to its first committee hearing in the House. If you want to advocate on it, check the Bill History tab below.
I am a fan of xeriscape and native plants. I like them for their beauty and I also like them because they keep my water bill low.
When I bought my little 1000 sq ft Palace on the Plains, I decided that I would keep my operating costs low by taking out almost all the turf grass, replacing it with rock and drought-tolerant plants.
I'm not an environmentalist. I wasn't thinking about water availability per se. I was thinking about the water bill and wanting to save money.** I doubt I'm alone.
I have talked to people in the past who would like to switch over to more of a xeriscape-type landscaping but cannot because their HOA restricts it. To a certain extent, I can see why HOA's would be reticent to allow too much freedom in landscaping. If you buy into a covenant-protected neighborhood, you're there for a reason and presumably want some sort of standards for where you live. Too much freedom might allow people with, let's say, unusual tastes to mess up the aesthetics and/or allow some to claim that the tires, partially-disassembled refrigerators, and weeds in their front yards were xeriscape.
So I get it. I don't live it, but I get it.
I'm not saying remove all HOA restrictions. I'm not advocating for anarchy. I am saying that xeriscape done well is pretty and we should allow people the freedom to have a nice landscape and save water if they choose.
I believe this bill does that. I live in a finite world and have many other irons in the fire, so I won't be spending time advocating, but I hope it passes.
If you are especially passionate about this one, on either side, please feel free to put your thoughts in the comment, and/or speak up on the bill. I linked it below the story.
**Incidentally, if any policymakers are listening, might I bend your ear for a minute? I think if you really want to drive conservation, you should remove impediments to it in law/rules and then let the price actually reflect the scarcity of water. That's my recommendation: do this and conservation will take care of itself.
https://www.coloradopolitics.com/legislature/colorado-legislature-hoa-lawn-bill-turf-grass-alternative/article_214254be-cd9a-11ed-a7ef-abd4d52be53e.html
https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/SB23-178
Wait, so we force schools to remove Indian mascots (a costly proposition, difficult especially for rural schools). We say we'll pay for it with grants
Schools apply for grants to pay for the changes. The grant money never comes.
Then we say we won't and tell the schools it's their problem.
I get it now.
The article below is about the state budget and some wrangling that was happening. I will leave it to you to read up on that, but the thing that stuck out to me was how it highlights yet another train wreck in the saga to remove Indian mascots from Colorado schools.
As before, I am not going to wade in on the morality of having the Indian mascots or no. I also won't go back over the full history of how this change was supposed to be funded save for the fact that in the bill requiring their removal, in statements by our governor, schools were told they could apply for grant money to help them defray the substantial costs to remove the mascots.
Apparently in between that and now, the schools haven't received the money. I'm not sure why.
Senator Pelton sought an amendment to the budget to have money earmarked to help schools pay for the transition. The original sponsor of the bill, the one who included the fact in her bill that the state would help to pay for the transition, spoke against the amendment to make sure schools got the money.
Makes sense to me.
If you want more context check out the article below and/or the screencap of the relevant parts.
Whatever your feelings on Indian mascots, if the state is going to step in on the issue they owe the school districts and people in them clarity and help with paying for the change. The state should also should keep its word, not say one thing now and yank the rug out later.
That's not fair. Thank you to Sen Pelton for holding out the amendment and thank you Senator Kirkmeyer for voting for it (she was the deciding vote).
Sen Danielson, you need to go back and revisit your ideas of fairness.
https://www.coloradopolitics.com/legislature/colorado-senators-budget-86-million-spending-indian-mascot/article_63da4db4-ce4d-11ed-a1f7-8b786405b07e.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=user-share