Steve Pomerance

The majority of the current Boulder City Council is pursuing a set of policies that will provide them with increased flexibility, but will cost the citizens of Boulder most of our certainty about our future. For example, the council is debating whether or not to permanently reduce the amount of water committed to Thunderbird Lake to keep it from becoming a marsh. This raises the larger issue about Boulder’s having enough water for a future of a hotter climate, earlier runoff, less forests to hold water, and large amounts of new development. A recent Camera article documented the near term development boom; this is only a small fraction of what will occur with build-out. Numerous forecasts predict our mountains becoming semi-deserts after beetle kill and/or massive fires. This year’s drought almost triggered the second watering restriction in just over a decade; this would have violated Boulder’s supply standard of no more than one such restriction in 20 years. So unless some long-t...

No, this is not a discussion about physics. But it is about a real phenomenon, even if it takes place inside people’s heads. Sitting up behind the council desk in the Boulder City Council chambers can be very disorienting. It’s really easy to start feeling like the council is the center of the universe, and the people in the audience are somewhat unreal, like actors on a movie screen. What’s real are only your own thoughts and opinions. The danger occurs when this is not noticed, or when it just becomes easier to ignore that pesky reality outside the force field. It can sometimes require a conscious effort to break out of this shell and re-connect what you are doing with the outside world. You need to keep reminding yourself that you are there to serve the citizens in the audience and the rest who didn’t come to the council meeting that evening. It’s not about you, but about them. I attended the Boulder council meeting on Tuesday night to offer some comments on the potential ball...

In an excellent Daily Camera article entitled, “Boulder mayor: Financial disclosure, conflict-of-interest rules need review” (June 13, 2012), Mayor Matt Appelbaum said, “It’s really important that people see the council as transparent and that they see us as transparent because we are.” I certainly support Matt’s goal, but the current rules need a whole rewrite, not just a look-over. For example, suppose a Boulder council member said, “I think that the legislation before us would be great for Boulder, but my business will likely be hurt by it.” Most people would say that this council member has a fundamental conflict of interest and probably should not be voting on the matter. But under Boulder’s current laws, assuming that the business is not unique, this would not even be called a conflict of interest, and the council member could participate in discussions and vote. Governments have conflict of interest laws to provide the citizens some measure of assurance that their official...