KevinHotaling

KevinHotaling

106p

129 comments posted · 2 followers · following 44

8 years ago @ Daily Camera.com: - Local groups seek to i... · 0 replies · +4 points

Unfortunately, I'm working on a startup this Fall and won't have the bandwidth for a campaign. I do hope to return to city politics at some point in the future, presuming that the Clowncil doesn't do too much damage to our otherwise great city in the meantime. Thanks for the encouragement!

8 years ago @ Daily Camera.com: - Local groups seek to i... · 2 replies · +22 points

I highlighted these exact groups as threatened by the muni at the Boulder Hotel and Motel Association forum last election. They cut me off from any further questions and gave the other 9 candidates 2 minutes each to "respond" to the "misinformation" I had dared to spread.

This is a city funded "tourism" organization that actively inserts itself into politics, yet can't be bothered to set up a Twitter account or get more than 38 likes on its Facebook page, so I guess I should have expected as much.

8 years ago @ Daily Camera.com: - Boulder council nixes ... · 1 reply · +11 points

Nothing is good enough for almighty council: they almost all live in mansions West of Broadway. Rejecting new housing = property value windfall. This way they can hedge in case we lowly peons don't vote for the raise they're asking for.

8 years ago @ Daily Camera.com: - Walgreens moving into ... · 0 replies · +1 points

Great ... a huge Walgreens with no parking? Probably not the best business decision: Jones existed in an era before digital photography, Amazon, and the Hill 7 Eleven. Oh, and as usual, City Council has played their part in sucking a just bit more soul out of the city.

8 years ago @ Daily Camera.com: - Ballot measures could ... · 0 replies · +4 points

7) hehe ... Boulder certainly is fond of superficial changes. We build brick medians instead of completing sidewalks and change names without increasing capacity. No, a street sign does not fix anything.

8) Absolutely not. The best way to accommodate growth is to repeal our one-size-fits-all policies and instead have strict restrictions in existing residential and open policies for blighted areas. I have proposed a high-density Tech Center east of 30th that would draw development pressure away from downtown and our beloved neighborhoods.

9) Barker Res (the city's primary water supply) actually overflows every year, so we're in a good place with water. But it's also worth noting the the majority of water use is actually outside the home, so xeriscaped, high density development (as is being built) has little to no effect on overall water consumption.

10) We currently have 60k in-commuters who use city services without paying any significant city taxes, so if your concern is capturing tax revenue, you should be a vocal proponent of growth.

11) lol ... better question, how many different traffic control devices can we install before we "drive" visitors insane? The best systems are simple systems and Boulder's transportation schemes are anything but ...

12) No, I don't think it should be illegal to be in a city park after 11p.

13) Any organization has a tendency to entrench existing power and expand where possible. The role of our City Council, which acts as a Board of Directors, ought be to provide a check and balance on this tendency. Too often (read "on virtually every account"), our Council and our dutiful full-time bureaucrats work in conjunction to enrich each other at the expense of citizens.

8 years ago @ Daily Camera.com: - Ballot measures could ... · 0 replies · +6 points

I support property rights and oppose the idea that a politically active minority should be given the power to micromanage the population of a city. Not only is that a gross misuse of government force, but it also just plain doesn't work (see Price of Housing, Boulder, CO).

You either need to do some reading or you should remove "Liberty" from your name, because you clearly misunderstand the meaning of the word. I suggest you start with Read's "I, Pencil" pamphlet and then follow on with Hazlitt's "Economics in One Lesson."

Here's a pencil sharpener: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYO3tOqDISE
"I, Pencil" pdf: http://www.econlib.org/library/Essays/rdPncl1.htm...
"Economics in One Lesson" pdf: https://mises.org/sites/default/files/Economics%2...

8 years ago @ Daily Camera.com: - Ballot measures could ... · 0 replies · +9 points

See answer 5 above. :) "[A successful muni] isn't coming, ever, because massive government programs don't work, ever." I was the only candidate last cycle that opposed the muni and I continue to oppose it on 3 primary grounds:

(1) It is not the proper role of a city government to be a purveyor of goods. We have enough trouble keeping the roads in disrepair (pun fully intended).

(2) No one on Council is qualified to be on the board of a utility during this tumultuous shift in the industry (including myself, had I been elected). I at least was warning that home battery technology and distributed generation were going to marginalize the value of distribution infrastructure. I was scoffed at, and then sure enough, Tesla jumped into the space just last week (it's always a bad idea to bet against Elon). http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/apr/25...

(3) There are easy alternatives. It's just plain irresponsible to make speculative investments with taxpayer dollars. Wanna support green energy? Awesome, put some solar panels up, guaranteed win. My proposal was that we create a tax incentive that would give amortized 10-year property tax credits to anyone who installs solar panels (silly me).

Anyway, yeah, anyone willing to bet hundreds of millions of dollars ... of other people's money ... on a speculative investment ... in a rapidly changing industry ... should be put in a padded cell. Unfortunately, due to budget constraints, Boulder has decided that Council Chambers will do.

8 years ago @ Daily Camera.com: - Ballot measures could ... · 6 replies · +19 points

Given the grossly authoritarian way in which this city is being ruled, I'm not sure I'll run, but I'm happy to answer your questions:

1) Boulder Junction is ugly because it's built to city code. The inclusionary tax burden, height restrictions, and design requirements result in very little incentive to build anything other than a big brick box with articulated walls.

2) The traffic at 30th and Pearl is only bad during rush hour. Why rush hour? Because our 60k in-commuters and 50k suburban sprawlers take about 200k car trips just to get to and from work (the real problem). Blaming traffic on a few hundred units of high density development (the real solution) is complete bullsh*t.

3) Adding jobs increases traffic if you don't add a corresponding quantity of adjacent housing. This is happening in Boulder because we charge a 20% inclusionary tax on residential development, which artificially restricts supply and discourages middle income housing (hence the 60k in-commuters).

4) PearlWest is infinitely better than the Daily Camera building. If you'd rather walk past a parking lot and a brick piece of junk than have a new rooftop restaurant and a public courtyard, you're out of your mind.

5) FastTracks isn't coming, ever, because massive government programs don't work, ever. Uber (et al) is the transportation solution of the future, so please download the app and sell one of your cars (ya know, to reduce traffic).

6) Obviously the original trilogy reigns supreme and Return of the Jedi is the best of all. I have it on good word from George Lucas that the entire series is an allegory depicting the rise and fall of the Boulder City Planning Empire.

9 years ago @ Home - Broomfield Ente... - Ward 5 Broomfield City... · 1 reply · +3 points

If he had to sell his house, it's probably not good. Let's cut him some slack.

9 years ago @ Daily Camera.com: - Boulder\'s first outdo... · 0 replies · +17 points

Fortunately, they've already outlawed outdoor furniture, fires with flames over three feet, and smoking in public so this obviously could not possibly have actually happened.