Photo Credit: LA Times

Colorado Springs citizens have a lot of experience being pushed in directions they don’t want to go. We continue to be alarmed about the push to further urbanize Colorado Springs.

In February, the Gazette featured a story highlighting a visit to Colorado Springs, by urbanist Alissa Walker, a resident of Los Angeles, California. Walker was paid to speak as part of the Colorado Springs Downtown, “City Center Series,” and was sponsored and paid for by the non-profit, Downtown Ventures. Walker talked about transportation, and how to make Colorado Springs more “people friendly.”

Walker said during her visit, “Expanding highways is not going to fix your traffic problems. Expanding highways is not going to have less traffic. It’s just encouraging more cars to drive.”

Walker makes the assumption that we would be open to not having our cars. We don’t make that assumption.

Look at what is happening in New York City and other larger cities during this pandemic because people live so close to one another. Listen to the language used to describe policies in these more highly populated areas:

• Densification
• Infill
• Mass transit
• Micro-mobility
• Bike share
• Road diets
• High-speed rail

These are all part of the lingo of big city living. And we are hearing more of those terms here in the Pikes Peak region. Those terms mean people get tightly packed into cities. As the pandemic rages on, we have to wonder if this push toward urbanization in Colorado Springs will continue to creep up, or if it’s going to slow down.

Automobiles are a great way to social distance. Mass transit, not so much. Sprawl and acreage are sounding pretty swell, too, as opposed to holing up in one of those overpriced downtown lofts! Time will tell what’s ahead.

We’ll stay alert and keep watch over what happens in Colorado Springs and El Paso County. Pushing back is what we do best and we’re happy to keep looking out for you.