gdp's Comments

Daily Camera.com: : Boulder approves pot use for adults on private property - Boulder Daily Camera

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 03:31:44 +0000

And how do I keep their pot smoke from floating over the fence into my yard? I've already been through this with a neighbor. They smoked pot constantly and in great quantity - I rarely got to spend time in my yard and had to basically keep my windows closed the entire summer.

Daily Camera.com: : Boulder approves pot use for adults on private property - Boulder Daily Camera

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 02:01:11 +0000

I don't care if people smoke pot - but being allergic to it (as in breathing problems allergic) I'm less than thrilled that people now essentially have carte blanche to smoke it in their yards. The relative lack of public smoking in Boulder (cigarette, pot or cigar) has always been a real plus.

Daily Camera.com: : Buying a home? Order the \'Housefax\' from a Boulder-based dot-com - Boulder Daily Camera

Mon, 1 Apr 2013 00:32:17 +0000

The concept is good but I foresee a number of implementation issues - Insurance claim info is only available if a homeowner agrees. My house is over 60 years old. The owner I purchased from is deceased, don't know about ones before that. So you can find out that I haven't had any claims in the time I've owned the house but nothing about the decades before that. Ditto on fire reports, for houses built before 1980. Most house insurance policies don't cover flooding. So you won't know if the sewer backed up in the basement - there will be no claim - unlike a water pipe bursting in the house. You will only know if a house was busted for cooking meth or growing pot - not if meth was ever cooked, or pot ever grown (mold/moisture issues) commercially in the structure. I would expect a big market for this product would be home inspectors and the selling owner. Just like car dealers will offer you a carfax on their used cars - a homeowner might offer you the housefax or a home inspector might include it as a part of service - or add on. I think the service will be useful mostly for newer homes or where it's been owned for a long time by the same person (to get a reasonable length of insurance history). It's one more piece of info.

Daily Camera.com: : Boulder not planning water restrictions, but asks residents not to run sprinklers until May - Boulde

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 19:35:15 +0000

Does that extend to not filling swimming pools? :-) Which leads me to the question - during a drought and restricted watering are people with in ground permanent swimming pools restricted in how often and/or if they can fill/refill them?

Daily Camera.com: : EcoPass \'smart cards\' to debut in 2013 - Boulder Daily Camera

Sat, 15 Sep 2012 14:29:41 +0000

Ding, ding, ding! How long before they start selling rider data and law enforcement starts asking for it? Unless they can guarantee those rider records are secure, anonymized for analysis, and not retained indefinitely - not a chance I'd be interested given the privacy implications. You can read about issues in London with the oyster card. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oyster_card#Privacy And to head off the inevitable "if you have nothing to hide" I offer the following links to debunk the false "nothing to hide" dichotomy. Nothing to Hide - The False Trade Off Between Privacy and Security http://www.aclu.org/blog/technology-and-liberty/q... I've got nothing to hide and other misunderstanding of privacy http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_i... http://yro.slashdot.org/story/07/07/10/2054219/pr... http://www.computerweekly.com/blogs/the-data-trus... http://theartofprivacy.com/2011/02/02/why-ive-got... After more than 20 years in high tech I have seen collected user data misused often and am not naive about the ways in which "innocent" data can be abused by law enforcement, insurance companies, and marketing firms. I am also opposed to the trend of insurance companies trying to put 24/7 trackers in cars for the same reasons. ' According to the 'nothing to hide' argument, there is no threat to privacy unless the government uncovers unlawful activity, in which case a person has no legitimate justification to claim that it remain private. At the base of the fallacy, as Bruce Schneier has noted, is the "faulty premise that privacy is about hiding a wrong."

Daily Camera.com: : Boulder prioritizes food trucks, oversight of affordable housing - Boulder Daily Camera

Wed, 13 Jun 2012 12:45:54 +0000

"City Council members also said they would like to see an analysis of the density and location of affordable housing throughout the city. Some north Boulder residents have said they feel their neighborhood has borne too much of the burden of the city's affordable housing." When the Hi-Mar Pool and Tennis club redevelopment project (replacing it with affordable rental units) is finally built - Martin Acres will have 2 affordable housing developments on Moorhead Ave just a few blocks apart (Alvarado Village, which was built on an open/park space back in the 70's is the other). I'd like to see the affordable housing distribution map along with a code requirement that neighborhoods without affordable housing get a development before neighborhoods with one or more get any additional ones. If Boulder residents are as truly committed to affordable housing as is asserted, then there should be no objection to distributing them evenly about town.....

Daily Camera.com: : Boulder studies RTD community pass - Boulder Daily Camera

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 15:45:45 +0000

"One of the most common responses of those unconcerned about government surveillance or privacy invasions is 'I've got nothing to hide.' According to the 'nothing to hide' argument, there is no threat to privacy unless the government uncovers unlawful activity, in which case a person has no legitimate justification to claim that it remain private. The 'nothing to hide' argument is quite prevalent. Is there a way to respond to this argument that would really register with people in the general public? In a short essay, 'I've Got Nothing to Hide' and Other Misunderstandings of Privacy, Professor Daniel Solove takes on the 'nothing to hide' argument and exposes its faulty underpinnings." At the base of the fallacy, as Bruce Schneier has noted, is the "faulty premise that privacy is about hiding a wrong." I offer the following links to debunk the false "nothing to hide" dichotomy. Nothing to Hide - The False Trade Off Between Privacy and Security http://www.aclu.org/blog/technology-and-liberty/q... I've got nothing to hide and other misunderstanding of privacy http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_i... http://www.computerweekly.com/blogs/the-data-trus... http://yro.slashdot.org/story/07/07/10/2054219/pr... http://theartofprivacy.com/2011/02/02/why-ive-got... After more than 20 years in high tech I have seen collected user data misused often and am not naive about the ways in which "innocent" data can be abused by law enforcement, insurance companies, and marketing firms. Thumb me down all you like:-)

Daily Camera.com: : Boulder studies RTD community pass - Boulder Daily Camera

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 03:45:52 +0000

And how long before they start selling rider data and law enforcement starts asking for it? Unless they can guarantee those rider records are secure, anonymized for analysis, and not retained indefinitely - not a chance I'd be interested given the privacy implications. You can read about issues in London with the oyster card. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oyster_card#Privacy And I had an Eco some years back under the neighborhood system before my block could no longer manage to qualify.

Daily Camera.com: : Bill would create database of CU salaries, teaching loads, expenses - Boulder Daily Camera

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 13:26:08 +0000

First - if it's good enough for CU then it's good enough to apply to the Regents and state legislators like Sharkey. Second - The proposed database is of virtually no practical use unless it also includes funding grants(and what percentage of the person's salary comes from it) research money, any funded joint appointments etc. There is a distinction between a history professor who's salary is paid 100% by CU and an electrical engineering professor who has 40% of his salary paid by a multi-year multi-million dollar research grant. If the grant is funding a lab as well - then his expenses are going to look high because those costs will be attached to the grant on which he is listed as the primary. Without that info to provide context it will look like he has a huge salary and huge expenses and is wasting money - when in reality he's bringing big money TO the university not OUT of the universities pockets. It's like all the outrage over the CU-HSC campus professor (an M.D.) that makes huge money - most of which doesn't actually come from CU. Doesn't mean it not worth knowing just that the number by itself has little relevance without appropriate context.

Daily Camera.com: : Environmental groups sue feds over proposed Jefferson Parkway land swap - Boulder Daily Camera

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 01:33:52 +0000

Love it - they should have christened the project with the nickname "plutonium parkway" decades ago, since the proposed road runs right through the fall out zone from the Rocky Flats fire. Last thing they should do is disturb dirt in that fall out zone. I'm certainly stealing your name for it from here on out!

Daily Camera.com: : Boulder fights bill to kill red-light cameras, photo radar - Boulder Daily Camera

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 14:05:14 +0000

Unfortunately buried almost at the end "Several cities in Georgia removed their systems when violations plummeted after the state required an increase in yellow-light intervals in 2009." http://blog.motorists.org/6-cities-that-were-caug... What people also don't realize is often the photo red contract is written to require the intersection to have only the federal 3 second minimum yellow and they will actually shorten the yellow light for the intersection.

Daily Camera.com: : Boulder fights bill to kill red-light cameras, photo radar - Boulder Daily Camera

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 03:30:34 +0000

I do believe photo red reduces dangerous T-bone accidents, while increasing rear end collisions because the yellow light isn't adequately long for the car approach speeds. I'm not in favor of just wholesale tossing the technology. I do however believe that the state legislature should: a) prohibit revenue sharing agreements with companies that make the cameras, no percentages of tickets written or minimum number of tickets per intersection clauses in agreements. b) prohibit the camera companies from mailing out the tickets c) require any intersection with a red light camera to have a yellow light of a minimum 5 seconds (most are lowered to the federal minimum of 3 seconds) d) prohibit photo red tickets for cars stopping short of the intersection but touching the white lines (Denver does this). It effectively outlaws right on red and is a huge money maker when the red light/intersection hasn't actually been run. If it is truly about safety then Boulder should have no problem with any of the above items.

Daily Camera.com: : Cutting-edge design considered for U.S. 36 interchange at Superior and Louisville - Boulder Daily Ca

Fri, 3 Feb 2012 13:50:41 +0000

I've driven through the diverging diamond interchange in Springfield MO several times. It works great and has turned what used to be a deadly intersection at I-44 and MO-13, as in several fatalities annually, into a much, much safer intersection. Missouri is going to replace a cloverleaf with a diamond interchange at I-44 and US 71 in Joplin. NPR did a story about Diverging Diamonds back in 2009 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?stor... And here's a video of the intersection in action http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5JtZMPTNAY I too was very skeptical beforehand but it definitely works well in the right location. Whether or not the Louisville/Superior bridge is a good candidate is a different consideration. Utah has built 4 of these as well.

Daily Camera.com: : Boulder leaders not sold on tax for affordable housing - Boulder Daily Camera

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 15:46:11 +0000

That's really interesting. Is that study available online? Do you know if it only included permitted ADU's or all identified ADU's on an anonymous basis? Without the anonymous component I would not expect people renting out ADU's to admit that they're doing so without the permit and license, ie. "that's my cousin from Kansas living with me so I don't need a license" kind of thing. Was it a consistent neighborhood by neighborhood finding or an overall finding with significant variation by area of town?

Daily Camera.com: : Boulder leaders not sold on tax for affordable housing - Boulder Daily Camera

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 15:26:48 +0000

I assume you have data to back up these assertions? Over occupied ADU's are much more prevalent in generating police, parking tickets, and environmental complaints than single family house rentals? Real estate sales that show multi-year declines or slower appreciation rates for blocks with ADU's? Occupancy limits are rarely enforced on the single family house. In a college town with 10's of thousands of students no neighborhood is "family only". The problems in my neighborhood aren't with the houses with ADU's. The parking, noise, and trash problems are with the single family houses that have too many college renters crammed in them. The nightmare rental next to me has only a single kitchen, 1 full bath and over occupancy (and associated trash, noise, and parking issues) has been a big issue over the years. The 4 ADU's in houses around it have never created parking, noise or trash issues. So my non-scientific ancedotal experience is the opposite of your assertion. As long as occupancy limits are enforced (which is a different problem) an ADU is no different than the number of housemates in a house with many bedrooms and a single kitchen. As to the market value issue - I'd have to see a spreadsheet showing a multi-year differential in houses adjacent to an ADU before I'd accept your assertion as fact. I don't know if they hurt or help or help house valuations in a neighborhood. I do know houses in my neighborhood are still going up (defying the overall Boulder trend) despite the prevalence of unlicensed ADU's. My property taxes just took a 20% jump in my latest valuation despite all the ADU's on my block.

Daily Camera.com: : Boulder leaders not sold on tax for affordable housing - Boulder Daily Camera

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 13:37:15 +0000

It would also actually allow existing unlicensed ADU's to obtain permits and be legal. Theoretically, an ADU is turned over in the market anytime a house with one is sold (the ADU permit expires upon sale and the new owner must reapply, and if there's a neighborhood/block waiting list for an available ADU permit the new owner goes to the bottom of that list). There must be close to a dozen ADU's on my block and only 1 has the legal permit and can get a rental license. You can have a housemate that lives in a finished basement and it's legal as long as they have to come upstairs to cook, clean dishes, or get chilled food. But the second they can do all that downstairs it's an illegal ADU. It's a pretty thin semantic distinction. They should at least ease ADU rules for owner occupied properties, I see a lot where the owners are living upstairs and renting out the basement to make the mortgage, help finance renovating, or supplement their social security retirement. Note: You can have any 2 of the 3 sink, fridge, stove and it's not an illegal ADU. If you have all 3 - you're supposed to have an ADU permit if I understand the rules correctly. My POV on a property tax is the same - I'm currently making less than the income limits for much of the affordable housing but I'm supposed to pay more tax to build more? Do I get a subsidy or rebate since at this time I'd qualify for affordable housing in Boulder based on income?

Daily Camera.com: : Boulder housing task force recommends new tax - Boulder Daily Camera

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 05:20:34 +0000

Affordability is more than just the cost of buying a place. It's the total cost of living. And I'm making less than I was 3 years ago but all my costs have gone up - utilities, water, property tax, food costs, RTD, gas. My health insurance costs has taken huge jumps with higher deductibles, co-pays etc. We just approved giving BVSD 25% of it's budget from property taxes, with NO CAP ON THE AMOUNT or increase in any given year. My property taxes are taking a sizable jump next year though I still live in a 1950's ranch with old crappy windows I can't afford to replace. I'm not wealthy, I don't make anything close to 6 figures. Not all of us who own a place to live in Boulder are well off - the census indicated most areas of Boulder saw an income drop (and no that drop is not all just students). My neighborhood also has a fair number of older retirees who are already worried about costs living on fixed incomes (mostly social security). How does adding all these fees and taxes enable what's left of the middle class in Boulder to afford to stay? Or am I only allowed to stay if I sell my house and move into affordable housing? Will the cost be reduced by the amount a real estate transfer tax would cost me? And a real estate transfer cost on top of all the other costs of trying to buy here will ensure that only ever wealthier will be able to afford it.

Daily Camera.com: : Report: College dropouts cost Colo. taxpayers $2.5M a year - Boulder Daily Camera

Sat, 27 Aug 2011 03:31:17 +0000

And how does this square with students who graduate but can't find decent paying jobs? I just read an article that talks about how many millions of college graduates are working jobs that don't require degrees (waiting tables, bartending, coffee shops), and how many kids are struggling to pay back loans because they aren't finding jobs even with a degree. I don't see where someone graduating automatically is earning more than someone not graduating given the economy and dearth of entry level jobs for non STEM degrees.

Daily Camera.com: : Sheriff\'s deputies to step up parking enforcement at cramped Hessie Trailhead - Boulder Daily Camer

Sat, 27 Aug 2011 03:23:22 +0000

According to the US Forest Service website they operate the Hessie and Fourth of July trailhead. Ditto on the Indian Peaks Wilderness which is joint USFS and National Park Service. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Peaks_Wildern... So they can charge all of us or none of us. http://goo.gl/0acN5 (shorted because the original url is extremely long (http://www.fs.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsinternet) http://goo.gl/ctqbF (Fourth of July)

Daily Camera.com: : Boulder energy future: Bond interest rates could have big impact on customer bills - Boulder Daily C

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 21:27:03 +0000

Commerce City could very well be looked as a lesson. It looks like a chunk of Commerce City's debt is Dick's Sporting Goods Park http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick%27s_Sporting_Go... The estimated cost of this project was $131 million, with investment shared equally between the city and KSE.[4] (Kronke Sports Enterprise) <a href="http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Fitch+Rates+$25.2MM+Commerce+City,+CO+COPs+'A-'.-a0143366219" target="_blank"> ;http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Fitch+Rates+$25.2MM... 2006 article on Commerce City 2006 $25.2MM COP sale. "As a result of this project, the city's debt burden has risen to an above average $3,000 per capita and 3.6% of estimated market value. Overall debt levels are also high at over $8,600 per capita and 10.1% of estimated market value. Continued strong growth in the city's population and tax base should moderate these levels over time. The 2006 COPs have a 31-year maturity and are structured with interest-only payments through 2012 in order to wrap debt service around the city's sales and use tax revenue bond debt service. As a result, the principal pay-out rate of the COPs and sales and use tax revenue bonds is slow at 20% in 10 years and 49% in 20 years. No additional COPs are planned. Credit concern over the heightened leveraging of the city's sales and use tax revenues is somewhat mitigated by the city's former use of this revenue stream for pay-as-you-go capital outlays, which will now be curtailed to meet debt service requirements. " The city is embarking on a major capital program as part of a master development in the older central portion of the city. The city has entered into a development agreement to finance the infrastructure improvements on the future site of a major league soccer stadium complex, large commercial and retail development, and eco-tourism related projects. The new civic center will also be located in this area, called the Prairie Gateway. The city has formed an urban renewal authority for the future reimbursement of certain developer costs. Commerce City Budget is at http://www.c3gov.com/DocumentView.aspx?DID=578 Westminster - part of the debt might be related to Westminster Mall - they had to condemn it and are currently demolishing it. http://www.ci.westminster.co.us/files/2010CAFR.pd... 2010 budget - p.115 is where their debt info starts.