Wow. Extremely misleading headline by the camera! Sure it sounds ridiculous that "photos" could cost hundreds of thousands--but then you read the article and it clear that it is the TV ad production costs that run into the hundreds of thousands, which isn't much of a surprise to anyone familiar with that industry. I can't imagine a more slanted headline--did you just copy the headline off the Republican talking points?

You've got the wrong culprit here. The city's Landmarks Board effectively prevents any older building from being upgraded to energy efficient windows. Most of Boulder was built just post-WWII, and now is just over 50 years old. Anything over 50+ years old must go through Landmark's expensive and idiotic processes just to do minor energy efficiency upgrades like windows.

A few years ago, a Mapleton Hill homeowner was so fed up with the Landmarks board nonsense that he had his own windows replaced anyway, and then a certain local newspaper columnist went over to his house and chopped up the windows with an axe (uninvited).

Frankly, it isn't the landlords--it is the city's bureaucracy and maze of conflicting rules that stands in the way of simple, energy-efficient upgrades.

You've got the wrong culprit here. The city's Landmarks Board effectively prevents any older building from being upgraded to energy efficient windows. Most of Boulder was built just post-WWII, and now is just over 50 years old. Anything over 50+ years old must go through Landmark's expensive and idiotic processes just to do minor energy efficiency upgrades like windows.

A few years ago, a Mapleton Hill homeowner was so fed up with the Landmarks board nonsense that he had his own windows replaced anyway, and then a certain local newspaper columnist went over to his house and chopped up the windows with an axe (uninvited).

Frankly, it isn't the landlords--it is the city's bureaucracy and maze of conflicting rules that stands in the way of simple, energy-efficient upgrades.

Actually, the way the city law is worded the tax does fall on the homeowner if the contractor doesn't pay it. The city could even get a tax lien against your property if you as a homeowner refuse to pay it. So it would be McGrath's responsibility in this case. But if it was more than 3 years ago it isn't part of this probe--though I'm not sure if the 3-year limit came from a statute of limitations or it was just a period of time arbitrarily chosen by the city.

And glass bottles can be reused: cleaned and refilled. Beats recycling any day, and in fact that's how it used to be here and how it still works in much of the so-called third world, like SE Asia or Latin America. Disposable plastic bottles are a vice of "progress."

A7,

I used the library's books-by-mail service a lot as well; despite its popularity, it was defunded by the last council. But the scuttlebutt is that the library is just not a priority for the "progressives" on council and their supporters, while spending our tax dollars on studying things like the tree ordinance and the far ordinance are higher priorities for them. Steve Clason, a former library commissioner and one of the few activists for the FAR silliness from south boulder, once said that we could just close all of our branch libraries to save money.

Personally, those aren't my priorities. I'm hoping the new blood on council will at least get library funding back on council's radar.

Bring back Rocky Mountain Records and Tapes! Boulder should never change!

Barry, you are a class act. Boulder is the poorer for not having elected you. I sincerely hope you'll run again--we need people who understand that our economy is a priority that we cannot neglect--the city's tax base is shrinking, and there is no reversal of that in sight.

The last day of voting is also the last day to campaign, which is why even tao tried to push his candidates. This a serious election about the future of Boulder--if you want to see city council generate even more idiotic ideas like charging to use open-space, changing the way they calculate taxes 3 years after the taxes were declared paid in full, house size limits, blinking yellow crosswalk lights where either there should be no crosswalk or a genuine traffic light so that pedestrians and kids on bicycles don't get killed and maimed, voting to close branch libraries while giving lip service to building a walkable city, and so forth, vote for tao's candidates. Along with Morzel and Gray on council, they'll continue to mire the city in the mud.

But if you want genuine leadership with good ideas, the ability to fuse Boulder's concerns about the environment with sound economic and fiscal policy, a willingness to take on the problems of a city that has far more jobs than housing for its workers, and a good government that listens to all the citizenry and not just the well-connected ones, vote for KC Becker, Barry Siff, George Karekehian, Suzy Ageton and Fenno Hoffman.

Remember that if you've lost your ballot or spoiled it by making a mark in the spots for one of tao's candidates, you can go to the County government offices on 33rd between Arapahoe and Walnut to fill out a replacement ballot. It's the same place where you do your vehicle registration business.

Newsflash to Council: Libraries are important, particularly branch libraries, to the few families that remain in the city. Anyone with kids knows the importance of keeping them open regular hours. If we truly want a city that is walkable and bikeable, where we adults can act as role models for kids and encourage them to use alternative transportation, keeping the branch libraries open was vital to building community.

But many running for City Council, including Macon Cowles, Tim Plass and Jyostna Raj, have been downright hostile to the notion that young families who need a 2500 sf home, plus a two-car garage, should be able to expand a small ranch home in Table Mesa or Martin Acres or Fraser Meadows near one of the branch libraries. Please, if you are serious about creating a family-friendly, walkable and bikeable Boulder, don't vote for any candidate with a record of supporting even more draconian limits than we got in the compatible development ordinance.

Vote for KC Becker, Fenno Hoffman, George K., Barry Siff and Suzy Ageton. They understand what it takes to build a walkable city. It's time for a council that doesn't need the public to remind it that libraries are a top priority.