Voters Can Curb Sprawl
The Denver Post
July 9, 2000

Sprawl. It's like a fungus sweeping across Colorado's landscape. It goes from Denver to Colorado Springs and north to Fort Collins. It's there throughout Colorado's beautiful mountain valleys and the broad expanse of Mesa County. As I drove to the airport recently, there it was again, sparked by E-470--a highway far outside the confines of the city--leapfrogging past development boundaries, gobbling up prairie.

Sprawl. It's one of the biggest concerns for Coloradans, no matter where we live. It threatens to take water from the San Luis Valley and the farming communities of the Eastern Plains. It destroys wildlife habitat and mountain vistas. It creates traffic congestion and overcrowded classrooms. It costs all of us in money, time and quality of life.

That's why it's so astonishing that the Governor and the Legislature did nothing about growth in the 2000 legislative session. There was opportunity aplenty. Bills were introduced to improve our management of sprawl, some even accepted by usually warring interest groups. But nothing happened.

Citizens are clamoring for leadership. But, we're not getting it at the statehouse. Fortunately, a group of citizens is willing to lead on this critical issue. They are initiating a ballot measure on managing growth, giving us the chance to make in November the decisions our elected leaders should have made in April. Thank goodness for these citizen leaders. But, how much better it would be to have a state government that takes on tough issues and solves difficult problems. That's what we should expect from our elected officials.

When I read that there is no consensus on growth in Colorado, I certainly agree. But when I hear that this diversity of opinion means we can't do anything about growth at the state level, I'm appalled. Just what is leadership, anyway? It's certainly not sitting back and making excuses for not solving our state's toughest problems. It's certainly not blaming Colorado citizens for having too many points of view.

Leadership is about making the hard choices. A real leader identifies the problem and generates a statewide dialogue on ways to resolve that problem. A real leader gathers together all factions who care about that problem and focuses them on finding compromise solutions. A real leader takes responsibility for solving the problem, even if there is a political price to pay.

We've been used to that kind of leadership in Colorado--politicians who weren't afraid to tackle controversial issues. Years ago, State Representative Richard Lamm launched an initiative to keep a money-losing winter Olympics out of Colorado. Very controversial, indeed, but that leadership vaulted him into three terms as Colorado's governor.

When he took office in 1987, Governor Roy Romer faced a staggering state economy. After the economy turned around, however, the negative impacts of unbridled growth became the state's biggest worry. Governor Romer started the Smart Growth Initiative, bringing together people from all parts of the state, from every walk and way of life, to deal with the problems of growth. That effort spawned dozens of local and statewide efforts to preserve open space, improve zoning and plan more effectively.

The results have been exciting. Many counties have open space commissions. Others have organized to fight for their water. Light rail is becoming a reality. There's been a renewed effort to build affordable housing near employment centers. Environmentalists and developers have worked together to solve growth problems. Without leadership from the governor's office, none of this would have happened.

Without leadership in the statehouse today, we can expect Colorado's sprawl and its attendant problems to just get worse. It isn't necessary to have a "one size fits all" approach to managing growth. We all know that some parts of the state desperately want to grow. But they, too, want to grow in ways that will enhance rather than degrade their quality of life.

Increasingly in Colorado, when government fails to act, citizens take on the responsibility for solving a problem. That's the case now with growth. For those who want to preserve our way of life, to manage growth effectively, here's our opportunity to once again provide leadership from the citizens, through the voting booth.