Thanks for the opportunity to answer these questions in a voters’ forum. I would really have liked for there to be a public debate, but apparently this contest did not rise to the level of interest that would have precipitated a debate.

I would like to see Longmont form an IGA (intergovernmental agreement) in league against pressures from the likes of Wal-Mart. A revenue-sharing agreement would vitiate the pressure that BBI (big-box international) can apply with its threat to move a couple miles down the road so that the other city can have all the tax revenue that will ‘leak’ from this municipality. Frankly, BBI is often larger than the City of Longmont, and by forming an IGA one hopes to stave them off. I don’t like the idea of having several BBIs at each entryway to the City, and I don’t like having BBIs present in numbers that threaten the small businesses in town. That said, I think BBI has a place. This was brought home to me in conversations with the CNAs at the nursing home my mom lives in. The CNAs are not highly paid, and to have a really cheap place to shop is their monetary salvation.

As for West Nile, you are interacting with a beekeeper here. The things that knock down mosquitoes also knock down bees. Using larvacide rather than spraying of pyrethrins for adults has a far more favored balance between effectiveness and ecological cost. Using common sense in exposure to mosquitoes, and maintaining awareness of ‘hot spots’, are additional weapons that the public can use in moderating its own behavior. Some degree of self-reliance must be assumed; the Government should not be thought of as being an absolute shield against all misfortune, any more than you really think of the Government as omnicompetent and omniscient.

I hope this is responsive to your questions, and I’d welcome further interaction. Please come to Longmont Free University on Saturday between 3:30 and 6PM. I am having Open House for just this kind of give and take.

Richard