From e-mail from Jeff Peckman (Author of Initiative 101):

"Hi Mr. Orr,

As the sponsor of Initiative 101 I have become a fan of Coyote Gulch and always look forward to your extra comments about it. Since you are at the summit, it seemed that you might have missed this other blurb (below) on Sunday. RMN is supposed to have something on it in the Stump or another section tomorrow, Tuesday.

Channel 7 News also had an item on 101 this evening after our interview earlier. At the end they asked three voters about it. Two said they thought it was a good idea and the third did not think government could legislate this sort of thing. Granted, the sample size is small but I'm taking this as a legitimate poll showing us ahead 2 to 1 because the total expense of the "Vote Yes on Initiative 101" campaign will be less than $100 so this is about the extent of polling we are likely to see.

Thanks for keeping up with so many issues.

Best wishes. Jeff Peckman

Vote Yes on Initiative 101***

Article Published: Sunday, October 26, 2003 "spin cycled."

Good grief, Charlie Brown

Denver's peacefulness initiative has been mocked both at home and abroad, and now on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart."

"With a $70 million budget deficit, citywide layoffs and racial unrest, Denver is a city on the edge," says a female correspondent.

She then points to the initiative's sponsor, Jeff Peckman, as the man who wants to use "meditation to combat murder."

But it's City Councilman Charlie Brown that really makes Denver look a little unstable.

"Jeff Peckman is louder than a jackass in a tin barn," he says to the correspondent after the Charlie Brown cartoon theme music is played.

Then he says Peckman lives in a fantasy land. But Brown? "I deal in the real world - dirt, dogs and dust," he says.

Finally, Brown points out the difficulties of his work as councilman. "This job is like loading bullfrogs in a pickup." This is where the show begins drowning out his voice with WAH-WAH-WAH-WAH noises like Charlie Brown's teacher in the cartoon.

The closer? "You're in good hands, Denver," the correspondent says, barely rolling her eyes.

Jeff Peckman biglions@earthlink.net"

Ed Quillen weighs in on Initiative 101 in his column in today's Denver Post [October 28, 2003, "Stress and the city"]. Says Quillen, "To be sure, Denver's municipal government could work to reduce stress. But reducing stress is not what governments do. The more stressful things there are, the more government we think we need. More government means more confusing laws, tickets and sirens. It can never mean less stress. Peckman and his colleagues may mean well, but their goals can never be shared by the city. Besides, you don't need to take up transcendental meditation to reduce your personal stress levels. You just have to learn to see the parking ticket as a personalized souvenir from your peaceful journey to the enlightened city."

Opponents of Referendum A are losing the funding battle, according to the Rocky Mountain News [October 28, 2003, "Water bond proponents raise double critics' total"]. From the article, "If the saying "water flows toward money" is true, then Referendum A is a winner. Backers of the $2 billion bond issue to erect dams and fill reservoirs have raised $788,254 to the opponents' $315,000, according to campaign finance reports filed Monday."

Big money has come in on both sides of Amendment 33, according to the Rocky Mountain News [October 28, 2003, "Gambling measure attracts record $9.5 million"]. From the article, "The price tag on one of this year's statewide ballot initiatives - which would allow video lottery terminals at the state's five racetracks - keeps climbing. The final campaign finance report before Election Day next Tuesday shows that backers and opponents of Amendment 33 raised another $1.6 million combined, adding to the already record fund raising for a ballot measure. So far about $9.5 million has been raised by the two sides."

Here's an editorial providing some background and analysis about Referendum A from the Rocky Mountain News [October 28, 2003, "Eagle County effort model for state"]. From the editorial, "No major diversion of water from west to east is likely in the future, either, without the active cooperation of Western Slope communities that might be affected. The latest evidence of this reality was the announcement last week that Denver and Aurora are cooperating with West Slope water groups to study a new reservoir in Eagle County. Far from imposing its will upon hapless mountain communities, Denver is apparently prepared to bargain away its longstanding legal right to a significant amount of Eagle River water in return for a reservoir deal. In an earlier era, of course, such a concession would have been unthinkable. If a jurisdiction had a legal right to water then the courts were likely to enforce an attempt to use it. But various state and federal laws have tipped the balance of power dramatically. Today, Denver has little chance of benefiting from its unused high-country water rights without the agreement of groups that in the past would rarely if ever have made common cause with the state's largest water utility."
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