Rob Douglas

Rob Douglas: 'These people don't belong'

“These people don’t belong in Lyons. They certainly don’t belong in the foothills around Lyons.” That is a direct quote from Lyons resident Patrick Ward, originally reported by the Lyons Recorder. Who was Ward complaining about? Bicyclists.

Rob Douglas: How not to build a police station

It’s time the council cast aside its economic development delusions of grandeur and return to the basics of running the city based on the actual needs of the city.

Rob Douglas: Denver pot rally does harm

Last Saturday, as elected officials across Colorado continued to wrestle with drafts of laws and regulations implementing Amendment 64, thousands of people gathered in Denver’s Civic Center Park for the annual 4/20 rally protesting laws restricting the use of marijuana.

Rob Douglas: Blinded by political bias

From the Yampa Valley to Washington, D.C., it is nearly impossible to cut through the deliberately misleading political noise that clouds any search for facts required at the outset of meaningful public policy debate.

Rob Douglas: State gun laws miss the mark

It’s unfortunate the Steamboat Pilot & Today didn’t have a videographer in the room during Wednesday’s standing-room-only Coffee and a Newspaper event featuring Routt County Sheriff Garrett Wiggins discussing recently proposed and enacted Colorado gun control laws.

Rob Douglas: Growing disrespect for the law

The juxtaposition of two news accounts this week concerning public officials subverting the legislative process from opposite ends of the political spectrum illuminates America’s growing disrespect for the rule of law.

Rob Douglas: Larsh deserves justice

This week, the Steamboat Today reported on the Steamboat Springs Police Department’s failure to contact Galen Woelk, a key witness in the investigation of the March 17, 2011, death of Cooper Larsh.

Rob Douglas: Doubts surface about Larsh case

The question moving forward in the Cooper Larsh case is whether the police department and City Council will conduct an appropriate examination to determine what, if anything, went wrong with the 2011 police investigation of Larsh’s tragic death.

Rob Douglas: Politics trumped airport security

Spend an hour with Yampa Valley Regional Airport Manager Dave Ruppel and you’ll quickly learn that he is a serious, dedicated professional who understands the responsibilities of his job and cares deeply about providing the best security possible to the 210,000 passengers who move through his airport every year.

Rob Douglas: 'Top Secret America'

The United States has become a security state so large, so pervasive, and so classified, that no one — not the president or anyone else in the chain of command — has a grasp of the inherent waste resulting from our bloated national security apparatus.

Rob Douglas: Reefer madness

Dr. Paul Chabot, who served in the presidential administrations of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, thinks the 1,291,771 Coloradans who voted for Amendment 64 last November were deceived by ads with tricky words.

Rob Douglas: City was 'hoist with its own petard'

For any resident who ever had a frustrating run-in with government bureaucracy, the collapse of the city of Steamboat Springs’ controversial plan to house the police department temporarily at the Iron Horse Inn is a delicious tale sweetened with irony.

Rob Douglas: Invisible war wounds

A disabled U.S. Army veteran's recent allegations against a local motel owner highlight the misconception that too many Americans have when it comes to battlefield wounds that leave no obvious physical trace while scarring the psyche.

Rob Douglas: Grass-roots pushback

Incrementally, the evidence is growing that Americans are trying to dam a river of laws and regulations that originates in Washington, D.C., picks up volume under state capitol domes and threatens to drown every town and county across America.

Rob Douglas: Budgeting for the new normal

It’s time to recognize that we shouldn’t blow $10 million of reserve funds on new police and fire stations that aren’t a priority on the city’s capital improvement plan while potentially forcing property owners to cough up $40 million for stormwater infrastructure.

Rob Douglas: Scott Ford is a model citizen

This week, the Steamboat Today reported that economic analyst Scott Ford terminated his relationship with Yampa Valley Data Partners because of political fallout resulting from Ford’s public statements to the Steamboat Springs City Council criticizing the timing and terms of the pending sale of the city’s downtown emergency services building.

Rob Douglas: 'Shambolic' America

The dysfunction of our representatives in Washington is a Colorado story, just as it’s a Steamboat story and a Main Street, USA, story.

Rob Douglas: Return to regular order

A seemingly endless series of Washington-induced fiscal crises is what happens when just three individuals — the president, the Senate majority leader and the Speaker of the House — continually thwart the regular order process that served Congress and the executive branch well for several hundred years.

Rob Douglas: Newtown and America's violent culture

America, especially in many of our urban neighborhoods, is a violent nation with murder ingrained in its culture. Will the eradication of 26 innocent lives in Connecticut finally shock us into action?

Rob Douglas: Monkey see, monkey do

One arena of government groupthink that has received far too little attention is the use of taxpayer funds to incentivize corporations to create or maintain operations in the jurisdiction providing the incentive.

Rob Douglas: Time for clarity regarding infrastructure expenses

Are the residents of Steamboat being presented with a straightforward, complete and timely picture of what future infrastructure expenses they will be asked to shoulder?

Rob Douglas: Barkey, Wiggins, Rae and 64

Last week’s decision by Colorado voters to legalize the recreational use of marijuana has triggered an avalanche of local, state and national reaction.

Rob Douglas: Mary Jane and the Republican Party

On Tuesday night, it’s a safe bet more than a few card-carrying members of the Grand Old Party sought tearful solace in the company of Jim Beam, Jack Daniels and Johnnie Walker.

Rob Douglas: Are we not better than this?

What are we to make of a society that stands mute while unborn children who test positive for undesired mental or physical conditions are at risk of being aborted by their parents?

Rob Douglas: Yampa Street deal unfair to citizens

It’s unconscionable to spend millions of dollars on extravagant new police headquarters when those funds could be used to prevent the need for property owners to pay for storm water infrastructure.

Rob Douglas: Roberts needed to go

This week, a desire by a majority of the City Council to fire City Manager Jon Roberts culminated with Roberts resigning. Truth be told, it was time for Roberts to go.

Rob Douglas: There's no free money

This week, while watching residents plead for the continuation of the Yellow Line as a “free” bus service, a variation of the adage “There’s no such thing as a free lunch” kept coming to mind.

Rob Douglas: People before buildings

The Steamboat Springs City Council should cast its eyes on the news release announcing TIC’s departure from Steamboat Springs. Specifically, they should examine TIC’s logo.

Rob Douglas: ‘Dealin’s done’

Steve Hofman and the other members of his Sleeping Giant Group might want to wander down to All That Jazz and pick up a copy of Kenny Rogers’ “The Gambler.”

Rob Douglas: Hickenlooper, kids and marijuana

On Wednesday, Gov. John Hickenlooper jumped into the fray over Amendment 64, which would legalize the commercial sale and adult possession of as much as 1 ounce of marijuana.

Rob Douglas: Comment out of bounds

While not-so-thinly veiled threats like Kevin Nerney's against elected officials trying to deal with difficult budgets are on the rise across the country, they have no place in Steamboat Springs.

Rob Douglas: Casino falls short on public policy

Before getting mired in arguments about gambling per se, the proposed casino should be evaluated on the basis of whether it meets the public policy goals at the heart of Indian gaming laws.

Rob Douglas: A serious debate for serious times

Tuesday’s edition of the Steamboat Today contained the commentary “An unserious man” by New York Times columnist Paul Krugman. The piece was Krugman’s latest effort to discredit vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan’s ideas about how to confront our nation’s economic woes.

Rob Douglas: Should ‘ignorant’ people vote?

Should citizens have to pass a test to demonstrate a requisite level of political and civic knowledge before voting?

Rob Douglas: Will Roberts rise to Magill's challenge?

This week’s failed attempt to fire Steamboat Springs City Manager Jon Roberts revealed a deep split within the council regarding Roberts’ job performance.

Rob Douglas: We must work it out

Arguably, a byproduct of increased bicycle tourism has been an increase in the number of potentially dangerous interactions between bicyclists and motorists.

Rob Douglas: Aurora and concealed handguns

The right to carry a concealed handgun brings the responsibility to train in the proper use and handling of that deadly weapon.

Rob Douglas: 'Polish the gem'

Before funding new improvements and amenities, the city needs to fund repairs and maintenance for existing improvements and amenities.

Rob Douglas: County right on oil well

By refusing to kowtow Tuesday night to a heavy-handed attempt by the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to have water-quality monitoring requirements dropped from an oil well permit for Quicksilver Resources, the Routt County Board of Commissioners exemplified how government closest to the people governs best.

Rob Douglas: Lessons from city pay fiasco

On Tuesday, three groups exited Citizens Hall with a bad taste in their mouths after the Steamboat Springs City Council appropriately denied raises for city employees until the council can review employee compensation in the context of all city expenditures and revenue during the 2013 budget process this fall.

Rob Douglas: 'Fairness' and city staff pay

For too many years, as different members shuffled in and out, the Steamboat Springs City Council ignored an obvious fact: The spending binges would have to end.

Rob Douglas: City staff costs jump

If you were listening closely Tuesday, you heard alarm bells emanating from Citizens Hall in Steamboat Springs, triggered by a report presented to the City Council showing that city employee costs may soon consume more than 90 cents of every sales tax dollar collected by the city.

Rob Douglas: Gambling with our image

Do residents of Northwest Colorado want the first image greeting visitors as they land in Hayden to be one of a business based on the vice of separating fools from their money?

Rob Douglas: Casino raises questions

The image of Steamboat Springs and the surrounding Yampa Valley is that of a family friendly, Western ranching community that is home to one of the world’s premier activities. Will gambling be added to that image?

Rob Douglas: Politics in Yampa Valley

On Tuesday, national news became local and local news became national when Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney landed in the fossil fuel-endowed Yampa Valley to engage President Barack Obama in the national debate about America’s energy future.

Stories by Rob

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