Questions on pothole repairs

Mayor Yemi Mobolade stated that Colorado Springs City Public Works crews repaired 16,400 potholes during a five-week surge, bringing the total 2026 repairs to 60,000 as of Thursday, July 16. That sounds wonderful. I do have a couple of questions. First, what are the locations where all those potholes were repaired and who chose those locations? We have been told for a long time that we can report potholes that need repairs and even include photos. It seems those reports have fallen into a black hole somewhere, never to be seen again. Were they somewhere on that list?

Second, what materials were used for all those repairs? How long will those repairs last? When will the city start using materials that are appropriate for our weather conditions? It seems to me that it would be a prudent use of our 2C money to use the right materials instead of cheap stuff that will open back up in 6 months!

Finally, there is always a lot of talk about attracting visitors to Colorado Springs. What do they think when they get here and have to play “Whack a Mole” trying to avoid the potholes? A lot of those potholes are the manholes that get deeper and deeper every time repaving is done because the edges aren’t leveled out. How many have to get their cars realigned before they can leave town? Asking for a friend and myself.

Billie Nigro

Colorado Springs

Summer wildflower issues

Readers of the Gazette opened the paper last week to see an exciting update about this summer’s monument plants, but simultaneously received concerning news about Colorado’s lackluster wildflower season this year. The article notes that our native plants are suffering from a lack of beneficial pollinators that are essential to allowing perennials to thrive season after season, and that our bumblebee populations affect more than just our state’s beautiful landscapes. Bees are crucial to our ecosystem health and our agriculture as well, pollinating about one in three bites of food that we eat on a daily basis. From Palisade peaches to Rocky Ford melons, much of Colorado’s delicious produce relies on bees for survival.

The unfortunate truth is that bees aren’t just struggling due to our abnormal weather this year: pesticides known as neonicotinoids continue to pose a serious threat to their health. Neonic pesticides are used widely across the state, even as a coating on the seeds of the very crops our bees pollinate. Local groups like Environment Colorado have been successful in getting legislation passed to stop the use of neonics in our state, but there is still work to be done. That’s why we must continue to pressure our state legislators to push forward bills that would keep our pollinator populations – and subsequently our world-famous wildflower seasons – vibrant and beautiful.

Thank you so much for your work and consideration.

Diana Price

Denver

No love for soccer

Well, the World Cup is over. I have only viewed soccer for a few minutes from time to time and had formulated an opinion of the game
based on my limited time watching the sport, and that opinion was negative. However, after watching the whole championship game, my
opinion has changed. The game is worse than I thought.

The media is blasting out their opinion that America has fallen in love with soccer. America loves games with a lot of action and scoring and one point in an hour and a half doesn’t excite the average American sports fan that I’ve known. Moreover, the media is obsessed with telling us how much the world loves America. I am an American, and I already know how great our nation is and feel no compulsion to inform foreigners of that fact. They figured it out on their own once they were here a few days. The players must have graduated the LeBron James school of flopping in an effort to draw penalties.

In the final analysis, billions were made and America proved no other country could hold this level of an event so magnificently as our nation has. So it’s all good even for this non-lover of soccer.

Len Bentley

Colorado Springs

Fraud is fraud

Information control has arrived in the United States of America. Case in point: ABC, CBS and CNN decided not to broadcast live the President’s speech last week; however, ABC and CBS planned to livestream it. Why? So, they could control what the public would learn about the given speech.

I watched the speech and read the article in the Gazette. The article did not mention anything about the first half his speech, which included positive things that have happened for America in the last few years. All I read was the negative, according to the Washington Examiner and Reuters, who contributed to the article/report.

One of the documents to be released, stated and I quote”…One CIA document, prepared last month, concerned Venezuela’s election, not America’s…” True, but the voting machines used in that country were also used in this country. They were shown not to accurately tabulate the votes. What happened there, could happen here or may already have.

Voter fraud is very rare, according to the Democratic Party and voting-rights advocates. To me, fraud is fraud, no matter how rare. Dead people voting, non-citizens voting, late-dated ballots counted, etc., is fraud, period.
The media has abused its “freedom of the press” by not letting the whole story out in the open. Instead, they have told the American people what they want to tell them. Give the citizens all of the facts and let them decide what to think, instead of deciding for them.

Erna Haring

Colorado Springs

Living in the past

Usually when the President of the United States addresses the nation on television, he talks about something that is on the minds of the American people. That could be inflation, crime, immigration or the war in Iran.

Donald Trump mentioned none of those subjects when he spoke last Thursday evening. All he talked about was the 2020 election and how he lost because of China’s interference. Where did Trump come up with that cockamamie idea?

Hillary Clinton, Kamala Harris nor any other defeated candidate for president disputed the election results the way the way Trump did. That’s because Trump is an immature, self-centered, bullying, lying uncaring ignoramus. The only concern Donald Trump has is for Donald Trump.

Very few people care about an election that was held six years ago. Mr. Trump you lost. Get over it. Just do your job and stop living in the past.

David J. Baker

Colorado Springs