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8 years ago @ Daily Camera.com: - Adrian Sopher: Catchy ... · 0 replies · +5 points

Adrian Sopher is an owner of the firm Sopher Sparn, which works for developers to rezone properties. Sopher used to be on the city’s planning commission, and he knows how to use his influence to manipulate the system.

Sopher’s firm’s website states:

“We have years of experience addressing entitlement and rezoning challenges in Boulder, as well as cities and counties throughout Colorado. WE’RE EXPERTS IN COMMUNITY OUTREACH AND IN NEGOTIATING WITH CITY OFFICIALS TO SECURE PROJECT APPROVAL. OUR GOAL IS TO GET YOUR PROJECT APPROVED QUICKLY AND EFFICIENTLY.”

It’s no surprise people like Sopher, who are only interested in profits, are opposed to giving residents, who have vested interests in maintaining the quality of their neighborhoods, more say in rezoning their neighborhoods.

8 years ago @ Daily Camera.com: - Bob Greenlee: Boulder:... · 1 reply · +14 points

I remember when Greenlee was on the Boulder city council. At that time smoking was legal in bars and restaurants, and Boulder was one of the first cities in Colorado to consider outlawing smoking in restaurants. In spite of strong evidence of the dangers of secondhand smoke, Greenlee strongly opposed the measure and voted against. He did not want big brother telling private business owners what they could and could not do on their property, and he believed the non-smoking ordinance would decrease private profits. In essence he placed private profits above public health and welfare. His views on this matter have not changed.

8 years ago @ Daily Camera.com: - Dean Birkenkamp: Imagi... · 1 reply · +5 points

The problem is not with the name "Redskins", but with the team logo. They should change it from an Indian to a potato.

8 years ago @ Daily Camera.com: - Stephen Sparn: Uninten... · 5 replies · +47 points

Stephen Sparn is an owner of the firm Sopher Sparn which specializes in rezonings.

Here is a quote from his website:
“We have years of experience addressing entitlement and rezoning challenges in Boulder, as well as cities and counties throughout Colorado. We’re experts in community outreach and in negotiating with city officials to secure project approval. Our goal is to get your project approved quickly and efficiently.”

There is no better way to profit from land speculation than rezoning. Profits come from purchasing a property zoned, for example, low density residential on which say four homes could be built, and negotiating with the city to rezone the property to build 40 homes with reduced setbacks, height variances, and reduced parking requirements.

Sparn’s partner Adrian Sopher used to be on the city’s planning commission. He has many contacts and knows how to manipulate the system. It’s no surprise that people like Sparn are opposed to the citizen ballot initiatives, which will make it more difficult for them to profit from rezonings.

8 years ago @ Daily Camera.com: - Boulder authorizes sal... · 0 replies · +13 points

Certificates of participation (COPS) are used by municipalities to avoid asking voters permission to go further into debt to sell more bonds. A municipal government can decline to renew the annual leases underlying the COPS, and for this reason, COPs are difficult to market, often require insurance, and carry significantly higher interest rates than tax free municipal bonds.

It’s interesting how easy it is for the city to come up with the additional $3.75 million per year to pay for the COPS. Just look at all of growth, affluence, taxable commercial activity, and huge increases in property tax valuations in Boulder and you will realize the city is, or should be, rolling in cash. It does not need any more taxes and should focus on making city government more efficient instead of hiring 48 additional employees. Boulder does not need an additional tax on short term rentals with the threat that it will make such rentals illegal if the tax is not passed. I refuse to be intimidated, and will vote NO on all city tax measures in the upcoming election.

8 years ago @ Daily Camera.com: - Colorado suspends lice... · 0 replies · +4 points

I'm curious why my last comments on this story must be approved by the site admins before they will appear publically? All I did was state some facts about how the state of Colorado tracks information on filled prescriptions.

8 years ago @ Daily Camera.com: - Colorado suspends lice... · 0 replies · +1 points

Colorado tracks purchases of addictive drugs from pharmacies as reported by the pharmacies. For each prescription, the database contains information on the pharmacy, the patient, and the doctor who provided the prescription. The system was originally developed to find individuals who visit multiple doctors to purchase large quantities of addictive drugs, but the database can also be mined to find doctors who prescribe abnormally large quantities of such drugs. This was not a random sting operation.

8 years ago @ Daily Camera.com: - Colorado suspends lice... · 0 replies · +4 points

The State of Colorado tracks purchases of narcotics from pharmacies as reported by the pharmacies. For each narcotic prescription, the database contains information on the pharmacy, the patient, and the doctor who provided the prescription. The system was originally developed to find individuals who visit multiple doctors to purchase large quantities of narcotics, but the database can also be mined to find doctors who prescribe abnormally large quantities of narcotic drugs. This was not a random sting operation.

8 years ago @ Daily Camera.com: - Boulder to review Boul... · 2 replies · +38 points

This is a classic example of how things work in Boulder.
1) Hire a past staff member of the city or one of its boards (Bruno used to be the City Manager) to plead your case and 2) say you are only seeking permission to submit an application. Then the council says they are not approving the project, but merely allowing the developer to submit an application. But once the process starts it continues to gain momentum and is unstoppable. Is anyone willing to bet the height exemption will not eventually be approved?

This is an example why it is important to pass ballot initiative 300 which gives neighborhoods the ability to vote on rezonings. While this height exemption is not a rezoning, it is a major exemption to a zoning limitation and a good example of how developers get their way with the city council.

8 years ago @ Daily Camera.com: - Six Boulder mayors opp... · 8 replies · +32 points

There is absolutely nothing in ballot initiatives 300 and 301 that "would pit neighbors against neighbors". In fact they would strengthen neighborhoods, which is a very good thing, and encourage neighborhoods to work together.

What the city's politicians and developers are afraid of is that the 300 would give neighborhoods, namely people living in Boulder, power to fend off some of the crap that developers and the city's planning staff would like to force on the neighborhoods. Such projects may allow 55' tall buildings which would block views, incredibly boring architecture to decrease construction costs and increase developer profits, smaller building setbacks, increased density of units, and reduced requirements for on-site parking thereby creating parking problems in the neighborhoods.

If the six mayors believe that none of this will ever happen, then they should not worry because the neighborhoods would never have any reason to use the provisions of 300.

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