The Mayor's Mixtape

The Mayor's Mixtape-Episode 47

• City of Pueblo • Episode 37

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Episode 47 of the Mayor's Mixtape, Mayor Graham hosts Lynn Clark, the Executive Director of the Historic Arkansas Riverwalk of Pueblo. Find out about the fourth phase Channel Extension and Boathouse project, what's included in the build out, why it's important and how the community asset can be utilized when it's open. Also Pueblo Riverwalk recently was notified as a finalist for the Downtown Excellence Award with Downtown Colorado Inc. 

 Mayor Graham also recaps the City Council meeting with legislative updates, information about the City's successful grant funding and previews upcoming events. Like, share and subscribe to the podcast. 

Haley Sue Robinson:

Welcome to the 47th episode of the Mayor's Mixtape. I'm Haley Sue Robinson, Director of Public Affairs for the City of Pueblo.

Mayor, Heather Graham:

I'm Heather Graham, City of Pueblo Mayor.

Lynn Clark:

I'm Lynn Clark, the Executive Director of the Riverwalk.

Haley Sue Robinson:

Awesome. Thanks so much for joining us this morning, Lynn.

Lynn Clark:

It's great to be here. I've watched quite a few episodes, so I was very flattered to be asked.

Haley Sue Robinson:

So now you get to be a guest. And now you'll get to watch yourself.

Lynn Clark:

Great.

Haley Sue Robinson:

I know. That's why I said that. I want to remind the listener you can find our podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, Buzzsprout, wherever you get your podcasts. You can also watch it on local channel 17. And so there are lots of opportunities to listen and share. If you have questions or a topic suggestion, you can email us at mayor@pueblo.us. So Lynn, thanks for joining us this morning. We have you on the mixtape because we have a lot of updates happening at the Riverwalk. And so we felt like this was a really good time to maybe talk about it. One of the big announcements we saw last week from you all was the um extension is open.

Lynn Clark:

It is.

Haley Sue Robinson:

The fencing came down.

Lynn Clark:

Yes, yes. You know, we talked to the general contractor, Houston Construction, and they said they were ready to pull that fencing. And I was like, the weather's beautiful, let's do it. There's still some fencing up around the building. We're not completed like inside the building, but now the public can enjoy like everything that we've built all winter. And it's the perfect time to come out. We've seen a lot of activity because our current office is right there on that extension. So it's been fun to like even the dogs get to come and play in the new area. A lot of positive comments. And um the really cool thing is it opens up the view to Santa Fe Avenue, which is a state highway. So we're planning on some really fun signage there in the future and just kind of announce to people coming through. It's like we have this great amenity in Pueblo. You need to find a parking spot and come on down and walk.

Haley Sue Robinson:

Yeah. So uh folks who are not super familiar with the project, let's walk us through what is the fourth phase of the channel extension and the boathouse project.

Lynn Clark:

So the the fourth phase includes you know that beautiful turnaround that heads towards Santa Fe. The alignment of that channel is super specific that in the future, um, if we have any source of funding or the will to continue the river walk down towards Runyon Lake, that is where that channel needs to sit to go either under or through Santa Fe Avenue. Like it's a lot, there's a lot that has to happen to do that, but it was very specific about its location. The boat house, um, that was in the original master plan 30 years ago, that this gives us the opportunity to store our boats in a safe place. The wear and tear on them, you know, is incredible when you leave them in the weather year-round. We have a beautiful public concession area that you know you'll see the breezeway between the main building and the elevator. Come on in, we've got public restrooms, um, you can buy tickets, snacks, drinks, um, sit down for a minute, chat. We're gonna do some interesting things in that space about the history of the riverwalk. We've got a couple of uh different TVs we can like run video and educate people about the construction like back in the day. Like if you're of a certain age, you don't remember what downtown was like before we built this. If you come upstairs to the second floor, we have a conference center. It holds 32 people that you can contact my office and rent that space for a meeting. We've got plenty of um space for a cater to come in and drop down like prepared food for breakfast or lunch if you're doing a meeting. We're gonna coordinate with the convention center and others if they need an extra breakout room. It's you know a big opportunity for the community to come in and you know present like this is what we've got if you're trying to entice business into town. It's a beautiful view of the riverwalk and gateway park. And it's pretty impressive when you're standing inside that building. So, you know, if you need a place to you know make those sort of things happen, then then I would recommend that you you know talk to us about that conference center. If you go upstairs to the third floor, this is like the icing on the cake place. Um, this is a beautiful outdoor deck venue, 125 to 150 people. You can bring your own caterer. So any business in town that has you know all their licensing in you know squared away, they got the health department certification and they paid their sales tax. They can come and cater.

Mayor, Heather Graham:

Most important.

Lynn Clark:

Yeah, yeah.

Haley Sue Robinson:

I like that.

Lynn Clark:

We want to do good business with good businesses, right? And I think it's a big opportunity for restaurants, and Pueblo has favorite foods. So if your family's doing a celebration, um, you know, I my staff, we're not in the food business, right? We're gonna help you arrange your event, we're gonna, you know, support you through that. But you you pick your favorite foods, your favorite restaurants, and have them cater it. Um, we have applied for a liquor license in the building through the HARP Authority, so we'll have full service liquor within the building footprint. Um, we do have uh alcohol sales on our uh cruise boats, so that's a separate license. And you know, in our application, we have to delineate where we can have the liquor in the building, where the boats can be with their liquor and storage, so we've got that squared away. So we're looking at you know booking for for the conference center and for the rooftop already. Um we're using that Civic Plus, Civic Rec Plus or whatever you call it, um, in our office too. So if you go to the website uh pueblo riverwalk.org, you'll find information there on how to book an event and you know get in touch with Shayla Keys in my office that she can guide you through that, how that works. So it's a really fun place, and and we're gonna run tours through the building once we get open. Um we'll put out signboards like tours today because I really want the public to see how valuable this space is. Um it's it's so unique, right? And it took so long to get it here that I want them to feel like it belongs to them too.

Haley Sue Robinson:

Because it does.

Lynn Clark:

It does. It does. I want them to feel comfortable and I want them to engage with us there so.

Haley Sue Robinson:

You know, you talked about the um incredible view. I think one of the other things is the incredible view now from I-25. Um, that's one of the things that, you know, as you were in the middle of construction that was so surprising to me was just how prominent it is now when you're driving on I I-25. You see that big signage um that says Pueblo Riverwalk, and it's like this invitation to come downtown. Um, so I think that's another really impressive view, too. Um one thing that's also very impressive, Mayor, I think this is probably your favorite thing to talk about when it comes to this project in particular is the funding. Um you know, there's been a lot of criticism about how the city spent our funds uh to fund this project. When in reality there were a lot of partners that were part of it. So I think you explain it very well. But can you walk us through the the funding?

Mayor, Heather Graham:

Almost lost my job over this now. Um but uh the reality is is this was a project that the community voted on many, many years ago. Um and unfortunately, because of the time frame when the vote took place on the the 1A ballot measure to fund, I think, upwards of twenty different projects within Pueblo County as a whole. Um things were a lot less expensive, right? Right. Uh so when I first got on city council, I was set on the HARP's uh board. It was uh a big uh talking talking uh point during the meetings about this new boat house that we were gonna get, and the majority of the funding was gonna come from a ballot measure that had passed many years ago. Uh check was in the mail.

Haley Sue Robinson:

2016?

Mayor, Heather Graham:

Yeah.

Haley Sue Robinson:

2016.

Mayor, Heather Graham:

Check was in the mail and everything was, you know, getting it started. City purchased the Ferguson uh property for $1.2 million in order to put this boathouse on there. Um and then kind of when push came to shove, uh not all of the money uh was accounted for uh to complete the entire project. So we had to get creative. Um we had some revenue from ARPA dollars that could be used for wastewater projects, uh, so we used we used some other regular ARPA dollars because this is a city asset, so it could uh come back to the city. Um and then we also scored a million dollar grant from DOLA with a million dollar fund balance from the city. So the only city dollars that were used out of our general fund was a million dollars for a $16 million asset. Um and then the house and sales tax picked up uh three million dollars of the rest of the funding. Um and it's because this project falls under the Regional Tourism Act. Um so it's it's a great project. Um I'm happy that it's finally gonna come to uh fruition. Um I think uh that's what the community wanted and it's it's what the community is gonna get, and so I'm looking forward to the opening.

Haley Sue Robinson:

And we also had some funding that came from uh Pueblo Urban Renewal Authority and then uh some private donations from the the HARP Foundation and the fundraising there. So I think that's the other piece is you know, Lynn, you talk a lot about how this is a community asset, um but it also was a community project. There were so many folks that came together to fund it. Um and so you know, when you say you want folks to be able to tour and take pride in it, there are so many people that have taken pride in in downtown and invested in it. And so um it's no wonder that you want to show it off and help people feel like, hey, this is yours.

Lynn Clark:

Yeah. The Harp Foundation raised um about $700,000. So all the equipment and furniture within the building is paid for by private donations and grants because we also had some of the big grant makers come out and help us, Betcher and El Pamar, um, Gates, several others. They were very excited about this project. And it's you know, we've done other projects at the Riverwalk in the 15 years I've been there. This one just had a heightened sense of this is the right project for them to fund. So that was very encouraging. And then all the people in Pueblo, it's like from five dollar donations to fifty thousand dollar donations. It just there was just a lot of um motivation in the community to make it happen. It took four years to raise the money.

Haley Sue Robinson:

Yeah.

Lynn Clark:

Um, so I, you know, hats off to my board of directors, you know, at the authority and the foundation. It took a lot of energy from them to call upon their peers and friends and family to make those donations the private donations happen.

Haley Sue Robinson:

So um speaking of collaboration, Lynn, we had another announcement just recently that you all uh were named for the Downtown Excellence Award with Downtown Colorado Inc. Um, as a finalist uh that specifically recognizes innovation, collaboration, and lasting community impact. So we won't um technically find out if we won until April. Um but talk a little bit about um why this recognition is important and I know Mayor, you're excited um to attend the conference in April. And so I just thought that was a really exciting announcement.

Lynn Clark:

It really is. I mean, I think it's a signal to Pueblo that we're on the right track, right? Southern Colorado, we're a little different than um Rocky Mountain High, right? So what do we have? What can we create? And and we're down here thinking and planning and developing, but everybody is. We're everybody does that, right? Every city wants to be innovative and come up with something. And a long time ago, we figured out that we had this enormous resource in water, and we created an urban waterfront. And when we start building upon what we started, uh you know, having an extension that goes close to a state highway, we've got this beautiful building that's multi-purpose, and the rest of the state, these people that serve on the DCI board and they nominate and then they they review the projects, when they look at our project and say, wow, we need to really look at this one. I I think that's just, you know, um it's really important to us down here, but it it really does make a comment on that we are developing good works down here, good projects, and it's good for our community and it's interesting to people outside Pueblo County. Um I think it's really nice to have state recognition because we don't always give ourselves the credit we should down here. So I think everybody in town, you need to like pat yourself on the back and say, you know, I've got cool stuff in my city and and really celebrate those things, and it's not just the river walk, like I said in that state of the city video. We have so many cool things here that um let's be a little prouder. Like people are talking about us, and that that really excites me.

Haley Sue Robinson:

That kind of seems to be uh a theme, uh, Mayor, with some of our guests that come on um the mixtape is that folks feel like we need to speak more highly of ourselves and we need to brag about ourselves more. So um maybe we're on to something.

Mayor, Heather Graham:

Maybe.

Haley Sue Robinson:

Um okay, Lynn. We can't talk about the boathouse and this project without me asking, do you have a date of when the boathouse will be open?

Lynn Clark:

I'm gonna say the third week of March.

Haley Sue Robinson:

Okay.

Lynn Clark:

Watch your calendars. We're gonna make an announcement. I've got a couple of things um to pull together. If um when you're building a project with a you know like that has a building, yeah, you have to get a um temporary certificate of occupancy or a certificate of occupancy. So there's a lot of inspections that need to happen. We've got a few details to finish up. As soon as I can get a TCO or a CO, the furniture can be delivered, which would be the end of February. And once the furniture's in, the whole place will take shape inside. Um, I need a couple of days to get the staff comfortable so I know how to lock and unlock doors. I mean, turn the lights on, right? So I think you know that that third week of March looks really, really good. The weather will be good. It's spring break. Um, you just you know, keep keep your ears open for a big announcement. You know, we we want to have a big crowd there. I want the community to feel like this was worth it. Come and see it, come enjoy it. Let us talk to you about how you get to use this space. Um it it's just an incredible asset for all of us. It's you know, not just the city, but you know, Pueblo County. Like come and see the building and the rest of the riverwalk.

Haley Sue Robinson:

Yeah.

Lynn Clark:

So third week of March.

Haley Sue Robinson:

Um okay. We'll we'll check out probably Facebook, maybe Instagram, they'll probably be on the news. I bet it'll be everywhere, to be honest. We'll we'll of course be sharing it as well.

Mayor, Heather Graham:

We'll be there.

Lynn Clark:

Yeah.

Haley Sue Robinson:

Yeah.

Lynn Clark:

You're all invited.

Haley Sue Robinson:

This is our RSVP right now.

Lynn Clark:

If if you're watching the mixtape, you are invited. Like please come, right?

Haley Sue Robinson:

Absolutely. Yeah.

Lynn Clark:

Show up.

Haley Sue Robinson:

Great. So um, Mayor, can you tell us why the river walk um is important to you and why the completion of phase four development is important for Pueblo?

Mayor, Heather Graham:

Sure. I mean, this is this is the gem of our community. It's free. Um anybody can come down and you're gonna enjoy live music during the summer. You have great restaurants, it's clean, it's safe, um, it's a place for all. I mean, you have kids, uh the the Harp Authority sponsors field trips or works with sponsors to have field trips and to have kiddos come down um from school and like sometimes it's their first time they've ever been to the riverwalk. Um and to have an amenity like that running right through our downtown just creates a synergy that um I think everybody should be a part of. I think um that it's a great asset to our community um and completing now uh phase four just shows us um how willing people are to continue to invest um into into Pueblo's downtown and the Riverwalk.

Haley Sue Robinson:

Great. Well, um I know we're excited about the official uh invitation and announcement. Um so we'll look for that in March. Anything else you wanna tell us about the Riverwalk Lynn while we have you?

Mayor, Heather Graham:

When's the water going back in? I'm curious. Oh

Lynn Clark:

Thursday.

Mayor, Heather Graham:

Oh good.

Lynn Clark:

Yeah, Thursday, just in time for Valentine's Day!

Mayor, Heather Graham:

I've been getting a lot of questions. Hey, what's going on? Yeah, when are they gonna put the water? I said, well, after they clean all the sludge.

Lynn Clark:

Yeah, we clean the sludge and then the general contractors had to go back in and do some caulking within the new channel space.

Haley Sue Robinson:

Oh, sure.

Lynn Clark:

Um, and we're ready to roll. So Board of Waterworks will come out there and assist on Thursday, and it fills up pretty quickly. So

Haley Sue Robinson:

it really does.

Mayor, Heather Graham:

It's like always the busiest time of the year at the walk. I know that sounds weird because not the middle of summer, but like as when you have 70 degrees and it's springtime and people are are itching to get out. I mean, you can barely walk the channel because there's so many people who are just trying to enjoy um enjoy the the springtime and the nice weather. So excited.

Lynn Clark:

You know, and we're we're revving up for our regular season activity. So, you know, if you watch our Facebook page and our website, you know, we're gonna do all the things that we've been doing and uh a lot of it's family, it's all family friendly. Um we do movie nights, we you know, the boats open in May. Um in July, we're gonna do 4th of July. We're gonna do the river fest with you know the you know the motorcycles and the stunt dudes and the jet skis and all that kind of stuff. So

Haley Sue Robinson:

Right in the middle of downtown.

Lynn Clark:

Exactly.

Haley Sue Robinson:

The other thing that's crazy about that event is you just mentioned jet skis and motorcycles all at the river walk in downtown.

Lynn Clark:

Yes, and we do a build-your-own boat racer in that river fest.

Haley Sue Robinson:

Yes.

Lynn Clark:

And I really think you know, like if your company or your organization has not heard about it, you need to build a boat. Come on down, we give out great prizes. Um we had some crazy boats last year, and you it it was it was so much fun. It's like if you want to

Haley Sue Robinson:

team building,

Lynn Clark:

excellent team building.

Haley Sue Robinson:

Helps you work on your communication and maybe your patience.

Lynn Clark:

Yeah, right. Yeah, a couple of my staff members did boats too, and um you know, we didn't win, but we floated.

Haley Sue Robinson:

Okay.

Lynn Clark:

Right? So that was important.

Haley Sue Robinson:

You didn't drown.

Lynn Clark:

I didn't drown. The first year I did it, I did not drown.

Haley Sue Robinson:

It's also pretty hard to actually drown in the river walk.

Lynn Clark:

It's only three and a half feet of walk.

Haley Sue Robinson:

Right,

Lynn Clark:

right. So, but you know, just you know, watch our socials and our website for all the activities because we're we're trying to come up with more fun things too. And if someone has a great idea, like hit me up, let me know. We could try it.

Haley Sue Robinson:

Great. That's exciting. Um, well, Lynn, thank you so much for joining us this morning. Uh, we're excited for the boathouse to officially open. We're very excited about the nomination for the Downtown Excellence Award, and we'll be excited to hopefully announce maybe that we won um in April. Um but we really appreciate you coming on and telling us about the project and all the details and the funding and helping people understand that this is this is our asset, or mayor, as you talk about, like this is our our gem, our our crown jewel in in the middle of downtown. So very exciting, and thank you for having uh the time to to come with us.

Lynn Clark:

Of course, it was uh my pleasure to come and talk to y'all. You've been very supportive of the River Rock. Um, and you know, we we aim to do an excellent job down there for the city of Pueblo and the citizens. That is our goal.

Haley Sue Robinson:

Great. All right, um, so very happy that we had Lynn on. Um Mayor, something that uh came up last night at the City Council meeting, which by the way, it was our our first time having a regular city council meeting at 5.30. Um we did have a work session after, but different format than folks are um used to. Um but something that came up last night that you wanted to discuss was grant funding. Um and I think that's really important. Uh that's something that the city's been really successful with.

Mayor, Heather Graham:

Very successful.

Haley Sue Robinson:

You mentioned it um regarding the the funding actually that we just talked about for the riverwalk. But um the city's seen some pretty impressive grants recently. One in particular um was the RAISE grant over $16 million for the um West Side Connector or the West Side Improvement Project. Um that's actually something that we have a uh a notice of availability open right now about that. And then uh even more impressive, in December to end the year, uh we celebrated the largest grant in the city's history. Which included both federal and state funding for public transit. But I I thought I'd give you the opportunity to talk to us about grants, how it's important for the city, and maybe some of the success that we've had with grant funding.

Mayor, Heather Graham:

Sure, yeah. So uh Counselor Gomez last night uh made some comments about the city and the city's ability to successfully um be awarded grant dollars. Um and he mentioned some very specific grants. So I want to talk about those very specific grants and um what counselor Gomez mentioned is that the city does not apply for these grants, nor have we received these grants. Sure. So specifically was the RAISE grant, which I was surprised to hear because as you just stated, the city did receive a sixteen million dollar um race grant raise grant recently. Um and which we're doing everything that we need to do right now, kind of in the due diligence phase um before we start putting those dollars um into where they need to be. Um another grant that he specifically mentioned was a Safe Streets for All grant. Um the city receives um hundreds of thousands of dollars a year the a year in Safe Streets for All. Um so that sometimes that goes into transit, sometimes that goes into public works, sometimes that goes into the police department. Um so that's

Haley Sue Robinson:

One last year that we had uh that we completed some work was over at El Centro, the updated parking. So I don't I don't know if folks who are maybe not familiar with that area, but you used to be able to just like parallel park along, and there really wasn't great parking available. It's it's in an area where you have the skateboard park, you have the community center, you have a playground, it's right by Nick's Dairy Cream. It's it's a really popular area, but not a lot of parking. And so we actually received a safe streets for all grant. So now we have diagonal parking, um, which I think added an additional like 16 parking spaces, updated ADA, curb and gutter. Um, that was a safe streets for all grant. We've also had quite a few with uh the school districts, um Monument Avenue, uh helping with crosswalks and and safety.

Mayor, Heather Graham:

Just recently. Yeah.

Haley Sue Robinson:

But I mean, those are what I can remember in like just the last two years.

Mayor, Heather Graham:

Yeah. So City's been very successful in receiving raise grant, uh, Safe Streets for All. Um the Home ARP dollars, um, that was also a grant that was brought up. Um pretty soon the city council is gonna be seeing a proposal to use those home ARP dollars uh for the shelter. So we're awarded though that those grant dollars. Um we are going to be putting them into use. Um HUD funding was also mentioned that we don't apply for HUD dollars, and in fact, the city receives a lot of HUD funding.

Haley Sue Robinson:

Okay.

Mayor, Heather Graham:

The $1.4 million uh that the city gets every single year is our allocation that we then distribute to nonprofits uh within the community. The shelter, we do curb and gutter, um, so that's a yearly HUD funding grant that we receive through CDBG. The city is also applying um for a Dola grant currently um for the shelter, a million-dollar dola grant, the same grant that we talked about earlier um with Lynn and the RTCC uh that we were successfully awarded in the last two years. So the city is doing a very good job um when it comes to grants and well

Haley Sue Robinson:

I do want to make a delineation about the Dola grant that you just mentioned. So we we received the million for the river walk, but then in the same calendar year, this was in your in your first year as mayor, we also received another million dollars, and that was for the real-time crime center, um, to to stand up more technology there. So two separate million dollar awards from Dola.

Mayor, Heather Graham:

Yeah, I think that's measured high in success. Um and then we're going for our third one right now, so hopefully three for three we'll be getting. Um, but I have some numbers uh to share with the community just in twenty three, twenty four, and twenty-five. So the city um applied for ninety-nine different grants in twenty twenty-three.

Haley Sue Robinson:

Okay.

Mayor, Heather Graham:

We successfully secured uh twenty-seven million seven hundred and three thousand dollars. Um in twenty twenty-four we applied for eighty-six grants. Um we received forty million two hundred and seventy-three thousand dollars. And as of third quarter, um, so this is before our transit grant of twenty twenty-five, the city had successfully received twenty-seven million three hundred and nine thousand dollars.

Haley Sue Robinson:

So and the transit grant um is nineteen

Mayor, Heather Graham:

nineteen million.

Haley Sue Robinson:

Yes.

Mayor, Heather Graham:

So uh by my calculations, the city of Pueblo in the last three years has received over a hundred million dollars um in grant funding. And we have one grant writer um at the city of Pueblo, and she does a uh a fantastic job in securing grants that are actually going to make a difference because that's the other part, right?

Haley Sue Robinson:

Sure.

Mayor, Heather Graham:

We don't just want to be writing grants that the city has to do significant infrastructure or capital um matches. Um we just don't have that type of funding. So uh when we look at what grants we're gonna go after, it has to be very strategically um thought that can this project get done within this calendar year? Do we have the staff? Do we have uh the grant match that they're asking for? Do we check all of the boxes and is this going to actually be a productive grant?

Haley Sue Robinson:

Sure.

Mayor, Heather Graham:

Um so that's something that the grant writer and I uh meet about every two weeks. We have a very thorough discussion. Um and as you can see, the city has been very, very successful um since 2023. Just in twenty things, these are just three years of numbers that I pulled.

Haley Sue Robinson:

Sure.

Mayor, Heather Graham:

Um over a hundred million dollars in successfully obtaining grant dollars just for the city of Pueblo.

Haley Sue Robinson:

And when we also talk about that, so those grant dollars um, you know, when we talk about budget, they also help supplement uh projects that we could not otherwise fund um out of the general fund. So like Safe Streets for All, the Curb and Gutter, and the paving is maybe not something that we could necessarily fund out of our capital improvement project um budget line item. And so I I think those things are also important for folks to understand is, you know, when we talk about budget and having a budget shortfall or um, you know, having to prioritize the way that we spend, you've mentioned that having those conversations with our grant writer helps us fill in the gaps of of where we're not able to um fund out of our general fund.

Mayor, Heather Graham:

Yeah. Yeah, no, it's it's a very uh strategic plan that we have to put forward. Like we we're planning right now for next year and what we might be looking at applying for. And and not to mention in 2025 with the federal government, um the city, we would have been applying for more grants.

Haley Sue Robinson:

Sure.

Mayor, Heather Graham:

But the federal government had shutdowns, uh revoking of grant dollars, revoking of funding. And so to successfully secure twenty-seven million dollars by the end of third quarter um from local and state, uh, not even federal match uh matches, that's that's pretty incredible.

Haley Sue Robinson:

Absolutely. Okay, great. I'm glad you uh shared those numbers with us. That's important.

Mayor, Heather Graham:

I thought that they were important um because I do not want the citizens of Pueblo to believe that we are not doing everything in our absolute power to make sure that we are applying for grants that are gonna make um a difference in our community.

Haley Sue Robinson:

Great. Awesome. Um speaking of grants, uh you mentioned the uh RAISE grant. Uh yesterday we just announced the availability of the environmental assessment, and that's for the proposed Sun Mountain Boulevard project, which specifically um is part of the RAISE grant, and that's the new roadway connection between 24th Street and 31st Street. Um, and it includes two intersections to improve uh the West Side connection. Uh you can check out this document. You can visit our planning department here in the city. We also have a copy of this notice of um environmental availability at the Rollings Library. It's open for 30 days. It's also available um online at pueblo.us/ westside improvements, and we have comments that will be accepted. So that's one of the things that's required of our due diligence with the raise grant. Um, and those comments are open through March 13th of this year. Um couple upcoming events, Mayor. Uh, we have the Building Back Bessemer Town Hall uh next Thursday, and that will be with the city and public urban renewal authority to talk about some of the projects that you've mentioned recently and get some feedback from some folks. Uh that will be Thursday, February 19th from 6 to 8 at the Steelworks Center of the West, which is located at 215 Canal Street. Um so we want to invite you to come and learn about uh Building Back Bessemer and have some opportunities to ask questions and maybe give us some input of what else you'd like to see in Bessemer as well. So a lot of exciting things coming up. Uh anything else that we need to know, Mayor?

Mayor, Heather Graham:

No, I mean, you know, last night we had our um we saw our first resolutions that were presented to the city council um requested by our lobbyists right um about things that they believe the city should oppose. Um take under consideration to have the city fight legislation uh from afar. So this is something that we've been doing um for the last couple of years, being very involved in legislation. It makes a huge impact in our community um when things at the state are happening that the city of Pueblo does not agree with.

Haley Sue Robinson:

Right.

Mayor, Heather Graham:

So I think there was five resolutions, four resolutions that were um brought forward to city council last night. I have to say that I was surprised uh by some of the votes. It barely they barely passed. Um and so if you are a advocate of the public police department or public safety, um I think it's very important that you pay attention to how city councillors are voting um when it comes to legislation that's going to impact our community. Um we continuously hear about the crime rate, uh stats, what can we do, how do we put people in jail, um, what technology are we using? And these specific bills that Chief Noeller spoke about last night um could be detrimental to our real-time crime center. So we have invested millions of dollars um in this technology. And I had city council people last night who are pro-public safety um vote to go against these bills. Um and so I think what we're gonna start doing now is when these bills come forward to the city council, um, we're gonna make sure that the community knows um who's opposing, uh, who's in favor, um, and really trying to also get the community involved in testifying at hearings, uh, submitting letters. We get calls like that to the office all the time. Hey, where can I find the bills? Where do I sign up? What does this mean? What will it do when it comes to public safety, when it comes to housing, when it comes to um our rights as a home rule um authority community. And so I think that for this year it's gonna be very important um that we make sure the public is very well um aware of what your council people are supporting and not supporting um and how that's gonna impact crime in our community. Stay tuned.

Haley Sue Robinson:

I think another thing that you brought up last night um that was discussed was, you know, some folks had asked for maybe a little bit more time for consideration. And one thing that we have learned is that how quickly this goes. And so um, you know, last night it was the 9th of February. The next time we have a regular meeting that they could vote um in favor or opposition for legislation would be the 23rd of February. And so um, we also just see how quickly this discussion happens, and so it's important to get these things in front of council, and to your point, in front of the public, um, to make a decision of of how they want to testify in in support or opposition of of legislation.

Mayor, Heather Graham:

Yeah, it's super important. We we we pay a lobbyist, um, we want the lobbyists advocating on things that are gonna be important to the community um and to the city, and I think that it's it's important that the public realizes right, because here we are saying, Oh, this stuff is all happening up in Denver and there's nothing we can do about it. But the reality is what happened last night is happening on your dais in the city of Pueblo.

Haley Sue Robinson:

Sure.

Mayor, Heather Graham:

Um, and I think that the citizens uh should be made aware of what's going on.

Haley Sue Robinson:

Sure. Um we do have a recap every uh Tuesday after City Council, so um we let folks know. But also you can you can go online and you can click um right on our website. We have trending links and it's a city council agenda. And when you click on there, you can actually go in and see how folks voted. Um, you know, if it was 7-0, if it was 5-2, if it was 4-3, you can look at those specifics and and find those things out as well.

Mayor, Heather Graham:

And maybe it's it's for the public to then you know call your city counselor and say, hey, like this is important to our community, it's important to our police department, um, it's important to public safety overall. Like, can you explain yourself?

Haley Sue Robinson:

Sure.

Mayor, Heather Graham:

Um, or next time, can you take into consideration how that's gonna impact us as a whole?

Haley Sue Robinson:

Okay. Great. Thanks for that encouragement.

Mayor, Heather Graham:

You're welcome.

Haley Sue Robinson:

Okay. Um I want to remind the listener, you can find our podcast on YouTube, Apple, Spotify, BuzzSprout, wherever you get your podcasts. You can also watch us on local channel 17. And if you have questions or topic suggestions, you can email us, mayor@pueblo.us, and we will see you next week.