Health, safety and welfare, protected in a free society.  This is the charge of each and every local official, including our City Council members.  It is vitally important that Council members who make policy decisions regarding businesses, property rights, planning, public safety, energy, critical infrastructure, healthcare and more, understand that they work to support the citizens who elect them and to boldly protect a free and safe community.  Jay Inman understands and views these matters through a lens of service and freedom and his voice is desperately needed on our City Council.  Jay is a highly intelligent person who’s service to this nation, freedom principles, faith, business experience and common sense are exactly what we need at this time in history.  This is no time for “safe” leadership or for fear.  This is a time for freedom leadership.  

I spent years in elected office working to protect individual rights and to reduce the governmental burden on the citizens of El Paso County, including working with our City Council, and I know that Colorado Springs needs Jay Inman.  Please join me in supporting Jay Inman for City Council, District 2.    

Amy Lathen

El Paso County Commissioner, District 2:  2008-2016 

Lou Goeas

Colorado Springs City Council Candidate Survey SpringsTaxpayers.com

Candidate name:  Jay Inman                                                    District:  2

Website:  Jay Inman for Colorado Springs City Council – Giving Back to our City (jayinmanforcouncil.com)

Date:  18 Feb 2021

1. Do you support or oppose increasing taxes or fees, or the establishment of new taxes and fees? If you support increasing taxes and fees (or establishing new taxes and fees), what would be acceptable reasons to you?

In general, I’ve voted against anything that raises taxes in Colorado Springs. There are times when taxes must be raised and those discussions must be had. As our city comes out of the flu season, portrayed as a pandemic, we will face serious issues with Springs voters having to start paying on loans and mortgages that were suspended for the COVID crises. People will probably lose homes. I absolutely do NOT want to increase tax burdens on families and businesses recovering from a year of tough times.

2. What is your position regarding the elimination of motor vehicle traffic lanes (road-dieting) in favor of installing bicycle lanes? Please explain.

I absolutely hate bike lanes and road dieting. As business opens up and more businesses move into downtown, customers need excellent commutes and places to park. That attracts customers. Bike lanes have a place but downtown, they are a nuisance.

3. What is your opinion of infill projects that receive opposition from neighbors? Should zoning change projects proceed —even with opposition from the majority of neighbors living there?

Neighbors should have first voice. If neighbors (voters) are opposed, then infill projects should move elsewhere. Voters should pay attention to what city council members are doing to their neighborhoods in rezoning and in this election, if they do not like what council has done, vote for someone else.

4. As Colorado Springs expands in population and infill projects press forward, infrastructure is stressed. What is your solution for financing new infrastructure?

The 2020s will be about electrical power for our city. It will also be about securing more water access. Number ONE must be reliable and redundant utilities for stable water and power as cheaply as possible for our citizens. Infill projects too often ignore the pleas of neighbors and stress our utilities in new ways not studied in the eager attempt to develop these areas. My solution is that council, developers, and utilities must find market focused imagination and innovation that does not destabilize our utilities or neighborhoods.

5. As COVID-19 closures and restrictions persist, many local businesses are suffering. What should be done for businesses and their employees?

OPEN UP NOW! 18% fewer people died nation wide in COVID year 2020 than in 2019. This is not a pandemic. Further, there were 650,000 small businesses in Colorado that employed 1.1 million Coloradans pre COVID. Today, that small business number is reduced to around 480,000 This is a catastrophic loss of nearly 30% of our small businesses and the jobs of Coloradans. In our city, we MUST exercise our authority as a Home Rule City to open up.

6. Local activists raised the issue of defunding the Colorado Springs Police Department. Do you support or oppose increasing the number of Colorado Springs police officers? Please explain.

This is foolish at a time when the effects of the highway of human slavery (one of the main intersections just north at I-25 and I-70) and recreational drug use activities threaten our citizens. CSPD is awesome and we should increase their manpower and their training in use of deadly force.

7. Colorado Springs has a stormwater fee of $5 per home, and $30 per acre for businesses. The current council members appear to be in favor of a fee increase and will likely increase it soon. Many of the violations ruled on in a recent EPA lawsuit found that the City failed to enforce requirements that construction site operators implement appropriate measures to prevent polluted stormwater from running off active construction sites. During your term, will you vote to raise the stormwater fee?

NO! I will vote for more efficient use of the funds available. Rather than having another government program and increasing fees, Council should work with developers to craft solutions that are imaginative and innovative, using the market place of home builders to determine solutions that do not cost our voters more money.  

8. Do you support or oppose the implementation of recreational marijuana within the City of Colorado Springs in order to capture additional tax revenue?

NO! I think we should use our Home Rule authority to restore penalties for marijuana possession in city limits. My family has personal experience with drug abuse among people we love and are close to. Their entry drug was marijuana. Council must stand behind families and schools, reinforcing the fact that Marijuana is NOT harmless, and resist recreational drug use that kills, destroys, and harms our children and citizens.

9. There is a push in the City for separate affordable housing complexes. According to the National Association of Realtors, the average price of a home in Colorado Springs increased from $175,000 to $371,900 in 10 years. Wages have not kept up with that increase. What is your solution to help residents afford housing?

There is no such thing as ‘Affordable Housing.’ Do we have a problem? yes. What I want to work toward is helping developers build more houses to drive down costs, that we open our doors to their thoughts and plans, and that we NOT create still more programs we would have to ask voters to fund with more taxes. Let the home builders step up and fill this tier with their imagination and innovation as opposed to blocking them from being part of the solution. Pay and Work must be considered together as citizens purchase homes. Most Affordable housing programs actually separate Pay from Work. This is like raising teenagers with no consequences.  

10. Is there anything else you want the taxpayers to know about you, or is there an important topic we didn’t ask about that you want to share?

Whether or not I’m elected, my prayer and hope for our city and council is that the Lord blesses you and keeps you, that his face shines upon you, and that he gives all of us peace as we use imagination and innovation to develop and build our great city and care for families and citizens.

Following my previous letter, I want to walk through some history and science. Right now, too many agendas shape what many choose to believe, calling that science, and twist important lessons from history.

The Primary Doctor Medical Journal (PDMJ) Spring 2021 edition at pdmj.org (Pg 9) states: “A pandemic that calls the attention of the public, and action by the medical field, is one that raises the total death rate above that of a typical year or season. Obituaries of real, identifiable deceased individuals declined by almost 18% from 2019 to 2020. If these obituaries are representative of deaths in the US as a whole, then it is impossible for there to be a pandemic in the United States in 2020. These deaths are verifiable, unlike the unaudited, unverified numbers that the CDC presents.”

We are not in a Pandemic. We are in a flu season made into a pandemic by bureaucracy and agendas.

President Calvin Coolidge warned May 15, 1926: “Unless bureaucracy is constantly resisted, it breaks down representative government and overwhelms democracy. It sets up the pretense of having authority over everybody and being responsible to nobody.”

In our “pretend it’s a pandemic” bureaucracy, which is becoming a faceless tyranny that hammers our city’s churches, small businesses, schools, and families, it is difficult to find truth because bureaucracy and agendas spin and churn. As a result, clerks in stores threaten to call the police if you don’t wear a mask. Restaurant folks make you wear a mask walking in then you can take it off at a table. Those are Ludicrous if you know anything about epidemiology or trained in Army NBC suits for biological warfare. Enduring this eye rolling silliness with all of you brings me back to the PDMJ. In the Winter 2020 PDMJ edition, a 2020 study found that face masks have no detectable effect against transmission of viral infections… “Compared to no masks, there was no reduction of influenza-like illness cases or influenza for masks in the general population, nor in healthcare workers.”

Yet, the PDMJ asked a more important question in their winter 2020 edition: Are Masks Safe? (pg. 5). The report by the PDMJ reveals that masks serve more as instruments of obstruction of normal breathing, rather than as effective barriers to pathogens. Therefore, masks should not be used by the general public, either by adults or children.

Again, it is past time to flex our muscle as a home rule city in Colorado, take off our masks, open up our churches and businesses, and stop making our children fear something they cannot see and that over 99.99% of people recover from.

Jay Inman

Candidate for City Council District 2

Letter to the Editor of the Colorado Springs Gazette

Open up our City!

We are a Home Rule city in Colorado. Here’s what that means in the Colorado Constitution, Article XX, section 6, Home Rule for Cities and Towns:

A city or town vested with Home Rule authority in Colorado shall always have the power to make, amend, add to, or replace the charter of said city or town and shall be its organic law. Charter and ordinances made in such matters shall supersede within the territorial limits of said city and town any law of the state in conflict therewith.

That means we can resist the State government in Denver when their mandates are bad for the citizens of Colorado Springs. The biggest example in front of our faces is opening up our city, businesses, and churches in a Scamdemic rigged to never end. Masks, vaccines, and social distancing should be individual choices, not unlegislated mandates. Locking down businesses and restaurants to 25% occupancy is ludicrous and destructive.

In early 2020 pre-Covid quarantines, the US small business administration listed Colorado at 653,639 small businesses that employed 1.1 million Coloradans.

Today, according to Goebler Resources for Entrepreneurs, Colorado has 493,886 small businesses.

That means almost 30% have closed their doors permanently. Of those still open, according to Federal Estimates, another third are in serious financial difficulty and releasing employees. This is a cost to families and businesses in Colorado Springs and across Colorado that is horrific. Add to that church lockdowns and our state is denying both a constitutional guaranteed freedom and a Biblical mandate to not forsake the assembly of the righteous. No, zoom and YouTube broadcasts are not worship and fellowship.

To protect our citizens’ freedom, our churches, businesses, and our families from the current shutdowns mandated by the Governor, it is PAST time for our city to flex its muscles as a Home Rule city in Colorado and OPEN UP! The supposed cure of lock down, masks, and vaccines are far worse than the disease.

Jay Inman

Candidate for City Council District 2

9235 N Union Blvd STE 150, #387

Colorado Springs CO 80920

(719) 722-0214

Questions for City Council candidates, 2021: Presenting as my Contract with City District 2 and our city.

1. Why are you running for City Council?

My politics are simple in our increasingly complex city and country: Protect the Innocent, Defend the Defenseless, and Rescue the poor from Wickedness. I am running for City Council in order to help apply those in Colorado Springs. My four main tenets are:

1. The 2020s will be the decade about energy for Colorado Springs. The next decade will see us focus on grid security, grid stability, electricity distribution, and diversity of power generation. The key is to make sure citizens have electricity when they turn on their lights. Like all city utility companies, Colorado Springs Utilities is a long-term business that depends on long term project development, growth, and sustainment.
2. The past two decades saw Colorado Springs solve a lot of long-term water problems but we must continue to acquire water rights, build and maintain water infrastructure (keep in mind the Western Slope / Homestake water project flows on a pipe that’s 60 years old), and make sure our citizens have water when they turn on their taps. Beginning with General Palmer in the late 1800s to now, Colorado Springs Utilities rides the shoulders of great people up to today. For the sake of our citizens, we must continue to build on that legacy for the future.
3. As a twenty-year veteran of the Army with combat tours in Djibouti and Iraq, I know what it means to serve. A huge problem in our city is human trafficking – In mid-November, CSPD broke up a Human trafficking ring at a hotel in our city and there were several arrests. Geographically, our city is close to the north-south and east-west intersection of I-70 and I-25. That means we will face even more serious human trafficking and drug problems in the years ahead. Just like my assertion that the 2020s will be about energy, I also believe the 2020s will demand that we as a city respond to the requirement to protect the Innocent, defend the defenseless, and rescue the poor from wickedness. Our city must support our superb police with whole hearts in these efforts. For me, as someone who knows what it’s like to serve and be shot at, the CSPD men and women are my heroes. I want them to pursue those who traffic in human beings to the ends of El Paso County.
4. We are a Home Rule city in Colorado. That means we can resist the State government in Denver when their mandates are bad for the citizens of Colorado Springs. Examples include opening up our city, businesses, and churches in a Scamdemic rigged to never end, associating consequences to Marijuana possession, and resisting environmental dictates that actually hinder our desire for diverse power generation. Future issues might be tighter attempts to force closures of churches by Denver mandate and threats to our 2nd Amendment rights. The governor might take some or all of these to court, but let’s have these public discussions, perhaps city ballots on some issues, all the way to the Colorado Supreme court, if necessary. To protect our citizens’ freedom, our churches, citizens’ businesses from the current shutdowns mandated by the Governor, and our families, it is PAST time for our city to flex its muscles as a home rule city in Colorado.

2. Do you support referring a measure to voters to allow recreational marijuana sales within the city limits? Explain your answer.

• NO! We had to do an intervention with one of our kids for crystal meth. His entry drug was Marijuana. The impact on our family was horrific but the result glorious. Today, he is an amazing young man who overcame much. Keeping Marijuana out of the hands of all our citizens is critical to the health, well-being, and productivity of our citizens. As a city government, we must support parents and families in standing against drug abuse.
• Medical Marijuana has a place, but the concept is abused. It is ironic, but if we put the same constraints on prescribing Medical Marijuana as exist for Hydroxychloroquine, a lot of doctors would lose their licenses. The key is that Marijuana IS NOT harmless.
• Stepping up to a city perspective, the legalization of Marijuana in Colorado was the ‘Third Step.’ I did high school in the 1970s in East Lansing Michigan and Montgomery Alabama. From those years to now, Marijuana became Accessible and Acceptable. In our state, Governor Hickenlooper in Denver took the ‘Third Step’ by legalizing Marijuana, taking away consequences. The number of homeless flowing to Colorado soared. The fantastic people of our city have big hearts and we are a charitable people. This insures that even in the cold, a homeless person in Colorado Springs can find a meal, shelter… and Marijuana. It became acceptable behavior without consequences. Anyone who has raised teenagers knows what a disaster that can be. The Homeless come to Colorado without jobs and without medical insurance, overwhelming our city hospitals. All of these cost taxpayers. These are tough issues, but one certainty is that making Marijuana unacceptable, unavailable, and possession reinforced with consequences, would reduce the number of homeless coming to our city. Yet, this ESPECIALLY reinforces parents and families striving to keep their kids from destroying their lives with drugs.
• As a Home Rule city, we can resist the State government in Denver by associating consequences to Marijuana possession. The Governor might take that to court but let’s have that public discussion, all the way to the Colorado Supreme court, if necessary, and flex our muscles as a home rule city in Colorado.

3. What is your opinion of the zoning change proposal that would allow creation of multiple family units in single-family zoning areas in the city?

• This is similar to the Affordable Housing question, below. Zoning change proposals are often a tool used by collectivists to pay for something they can’t afford. In this instance, a zoning change to create multiple family units in what were single family zoning areas steals value from hard working property owners. This imposes potential wickedness on single families already living there, and does not defend tax paying citizens who purchased homes in that area under the single family zoning rules.
• The desire by some to ‘urbanize’ into a classic big city environment flies in the face of our city’s history and makeup. I love the wider spread of our continuing development, room for my grandkids to spread their wings outside, and the greater freedom we have in our city.

4. Should the city invest directly in affordable housing, considering the city has a shortage of roughly 14,000 units and rents continue to rise? If so, what would city participation look like?

• Define ‘Affordable Housing.’ Along with that definition, describe when housing has ever been affordable. In spite of the appearance of compassion by those who advocate for ‘Affordable Housing,’ they actually plan to use zoning laws and other confiscatory and collectivist techniques to steal property value from hard working citizens. One of the rewards of sweat, hard work, and professional struggle is the privilege of choosing to own a home.
• Because this issue strums the heart strings of emotion, this is a difficult question. There are 400 to 500 hard-core homeless in the city that are difficult to help, yet they are used by affordable housing advocates as mainstream reasons for affordable housing. Families who lose jobs and homes should be the focus. The return on investment to help families in temporary difficulty brings protection and a return to productive life. Focus should be on protecting the innocent, defending the defenseless, and rescuing the poor from wickedness – not stealing property value from citizens with supposedly affordable housing.
• We have ministries and groups in Colorado Springs who can step out and help people get back on their feet – Life Network, Springs Mission, and Churches around the City. Key is understanding that people who worked hard to own homes are not heartless, but they absolutely DO NOT want an overreaching city government to steal value from their property in the name of ‘Affordable Housing.’
• The other difficult part of this question brings to the fore increased water and power usage in a large city with a complex utilities grid. Urbanization into Affordable Housing would take from the utilities grid of Colorado Springs with little or no return on investment. Weighing this carefully must be City Council’s task but must be done in a manner that does not steal from citizens’ property values or the utilities grid already paid for by citizens.

5. Explain your position on incentives the city has given to lure business and industry here.

• We must provide business incentives, because that brings jobs, profit, innovation, and imagination to our city. That said, it is critical we open up, leaving masks and social distancing to individual choices. Out of 650,000 local and small businesses in the state of Colorado pre-Covid, 40% have now closed their doors permanently. Another third are in serious financial difficulty. Covid has no more impact on the population of the United States than the Hong Kong flu of 1968 and there was no quarantine back then. What we are doing now, requiring masks and restricting restaurants and small businesses, is ludicrous.
• Opening up would be a huge incentive for businesses to come to Colorado Springs.
• As I mentioned above, we must resist the Scamdemic mandates coming from Denver and protect our churches and businesses. The Governor might take that to court, but let’s have that public discussion, all the way to the Colorado Supreme court, if necessary, and flex our muscles as a home rule city in Colorado.

6. Should the City Council further empower the Law Enforcement Transparency and Accountability Commission to review actual specific cases of use of force and make recommendations for action against officers involved?

• This is a mixed bag question. On one hand, most incidents could be cleared up by requiring law enforcement to keep their body Cam sensors on when they are on duty. On the other hand, using civilians on an accountability commission who have mostly never been shot at, do not understand rules of engagement for deadly force, and are ignorant of what it’s like to have to change your under ware after being shot at, is foolish. They make the jobs of our superb CSPD officers harder and are perhaps causing situations where CSPD officers delay or even halt interdiction, fearing for their careers and reputations. We need to put accountability procedures in place that are run by informed individuals, utilizing body Cam sensors, and that reward the 99% of excellent officers protecting our citizens.

7. Should the city amend the Park Land Development Ordinance as proposed to reduce the amount of acreage developers are required to set aside for parks? Explain your answer.

• I like parks. The one close to my house is superb and used by families of all ages. Rather than amending anything, City Council should have a discussion with developers about the rules for set aside acres as a ratio to the number of homes in a development. The last thing I want is for my grandkids to have to play in the street.

8. How equipped are you to oversee Colorado Springs Utilities? What qualifies you for that obligation?

• 20 years in the Army and building data centers along the axis of the Euphrates River, in Asia, and along the front range give me experiences in logistics, power generation, and electrical resilience. I continue those efforts as a Microsoft Digital Architect serving DOD customers. I mention all that to emphasize that I know I will have a lot more to learn because our city has one of the most complex water and power infrastructures in the nation. A core component of that complexity embraces the four critical military bases our city serves.

9. What do you see as City Council’s greatest power and how would you use that power?

• Utilities Authority and property zoning authority give council wide latitude for making decisions that impact Colorado Springs citizens for good or bad.
• An example is the decision to close the Drake power plant. We cannot close it today and still have a stable power grid. The question is, “Can we close it on the scheduled date in two years and have a stable power grid?” All possibilities for power generation are on the table as electrification increases to include even cars, but electricity must be generated somewhere. Council must use its utilities authority to ensure the integrity of our power grid, sustain it, and provide power as cheaply as possible to citizens. The lesson we might learn the hard way, in closing Drake too early, is that power our city generates is a lot cheaper than power we must purchase from other municipalities so our citizens can turn on their lights. I would work with council to use this authority to protect citizen electrical access as cheaply as possible. The Drake situation is more a result of the Governor’s environmental mandates than the desire of the people. Here again, if we decide to delay the Drake closing to ensure Colorado Springs retains a stable power grid, the Governor might take that to court but let’s have that public discussion, all the way to the Colorado Supreme court, if necessary, and flex our muscles as a home rule city in Colorado.
• As for zoning authority, Council must carefully use this decision-making power to protect citizen property values and house purchasing decisions. Zoning authority can either steal from citizens or protect them. I am 100% for developing our city responsibly and protecting citizens and their property values.

10. Do you support referring a measure to voters to increase the pay of Council? If so, what salary would you recommend?

• Personally, I want to retain the classic model of elected officials serving their people while still working in their professions. That keeps them connected to the day-to-day realities citizens face. Yet, City Council is a complex and full-time job. A living wage would widen the slate of candidates our citizens can choose from, on the ballot. This will be an important discussion as our city government begins to flex its muscles as a home rule city to guarantee the freedom of our citizens to thrive in their churches, businesses, and families.

Recommendations for Voting in Colorado Springs