Reply #4: vote no

[paulk]

there are cheaper alternatives, especially with the crap economy Denver has had the last four years (and will continue to have as long as Bush is President). It's seems an extravagance. This is just a payoff to the developers who own both Hickenlooper and our city council - the Denver Post published who was contributing money to the campaign in favor of this - it was all contractors and developers.

I also find the claim that we can do this without raising taxes disingenuous (to say the least). 600 million dollars has to come from somewhere. They're just going to extend current taxation that would normally run out. That's a tax increase, by any definition. I don't mind paying taxes, but that money could be better spent elsewhere. We can't even keep the damn library open. The one we just taxed ourselves to build. Also, the new prison/justice center is going to cost 6 million more dollars a year to run. Where's that money going to come from?

We do need to fix the problems with the Smith Road jail - but this isn't the way, IMHO. This plan is the "powers that be" having their cake and eating it too - the city can't afford this.