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Is this a sign of times & how will illegal immigration correct this very serious problem Colorado Springs cuts into services considered basic by many, how will giving illegals amnesty correct this problem ?
COLORADO SPRINGS — This tax-averse city is about to learn what it looks and feels like when budget cuts slash services most Americans consider part of the urban fabric.

More than a third of the streetlights in Colorado Springs will go dark Monday. The police helicopters are for sale on the Internet. The city is dumping firefighting jobs, a vice team, burglary investigators, beat cops — dozens of police and fire positions will go unfilled.

The parks department removed trash cans last week, replacing them with signs urging users to pack out their own litter.

Neighbors are encouraged to bring their own lawn mowers to local green spaces, because parks workers will mow them only once every two weeks. If that.

Water cutbacks mean most parks will be dead, brown turf by July; the flower and fertilizer budget is zero.

City recreation centers, indoor and outdoor pools, and a handful of museums will close for good March 31 unless they find private funding to stay open. Buses no longer run on evenings and weekends. The city won't pay for any street paving, relying instead on a regional authority that can meet only about 10 percent of the need.

"I guess we're going to find out what the tolerance level is for people," said businessman Chuck Fowler, who is helping lead a private task force brainstorming for city budget fixes. "It's a new day."

Some residents are less sanguine, arguing that cuts to bus services, drug enforcement and treatment and job development are attacks on basic needs for the working class.

"How are people supposed to live? We're not a 'Mayberry R.F.D.' anymore," said Addy Hansen, a criminal justice student who has spoken out about safety cuts. "We're the second-largest city, and growing, in Colorado. We're in trouble. We're in big trouble."

Mayor flinches at revenue

Colorado Springs' woes are more visceral versions of local and state cuts across the nation. Denver has cut salaries and human services workers, trimmed library hours and raised fees; Aurora shuttered four libraries; the state budget has seen round after round of wholesale cuts in education and personnel.

The deep recession bit into Colorado Springs sales-tax collections, while pension and health care costs for city employees continued to soar. Sales-tax updates have become a regular exercise in flinching for Mayor Lionel Rivera.

"Every month I open it up, and I look for a plus in front of the numbers instead of a



Read more: http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_143034 73#ixzz0eKq7awjT

Phoenix is having the same problem! They are $250 million in the red!
Mayor phil gordon is proud of the fact that he spends $500 million on educating illegal alien children! With cuts in police and fire among many departments I wonder how many people will die as a result of things like this across the country! But who cares? Certainly NOT our elected officials! Good thing we have Joe Arpaio here as Sheriff! Otherwise we would probably be spending A billion dollars to educate these children! It would cost a he11 of a lot less to educate them in their own countries! Why can't we try that?

2010-02-01 16:49:09 by THE GREATEST GODDESS JILL

We bumped the idle down on davids new free mower, and decided to walk it.