New Year's resolutions for our local government
Published in the Boulder Daily Camera, 1/2/13
It's sort of cheating to make New Year's resolutions for others, but since government is “for the people and by the people,” I think it's fair to cook up a few ideas for Boulder city and county government. So, here we go.
Boulder is unique with respect to two big issues facing our state and, if we play our cards right, we have an opportunity to lead the State of Colorado in addressing them. We are a strongly Democratic county in a state run by Democrats, so the opportunity for Boulder government to exert influence is better than ever. I suggest that the city and county of Boulder resolve to lead the state by telling them what we want before the state to tells us what we can have.
The first issue is the integration of recreational marijuana into society. Nowhere in the developed world has any government taken the step that Colorado voters took last month and everyone is watching us to see how it works out. So far, Boulder City Council has leaned towards “waiting and seeing” how our state government writes the rulebook. Why would we want to do that? Government always functions best when driven from the community level rather than by the state bureaucracy. If we wait for the state to tell us how to integrate marijuana into our community, our options may be very different from those we would prefer.
How about rather than Boulder waiting sheepishly for Colorado bureaucrats to write the rules, the city spends next year sorting out how we think marijuana should become part of life in Boulder? Marijuana is coming out of the closet and the faster we stop snickering and start thinking about what comes next, the better for everyone. There is no place more deserving than Boulder to engage the debate and, in so doing, help the State of Colorado write the laws and regulatory structure for marijuana production, distribution, and use. We voted heavily for Amendment 64 and we've managed medical marijuana admirably. On this issue, Boulder is the perfect place to show leadership at a time it's seriously needed.
So, my resolution for the Boulder City Council is to quit running from this issue and spend the time and effort now to decide how we want to integrate marijuana into life in our fair city. Better us than someone else.
The second issue is the relationship between the state and local governments on drilling. The invention of fracking and horizontal drilling technologies a few years ago transformed America's energy outlook. While many Boulder County citizens suffer from a severe case of fracking denial, these technologies are here to stay and their use will only grow over the coming decades. Thanks to these technologies, 1) we will free ourselves from Middle Eastern energy suppliers reducing our need to play geopolitics in that dangerous neighborhood, thereby allowing us to reduce the size and cost of our military and 2) we can continue to rapidly reduce America's carbon emissions by replacing coal with much cleaner natural gas. To be sure, there are environmental concerns that we must address, but the national and international benefits of these technologies are far too vast to slow this train down, much less stop it.
However, Colorado law has not kept pace with these new technologies. As Longmont voters told us, current state law does not afford local government sufficient control of the drilling that takes place inside municipal boundaries. While there are good reasons for the state to control many aspects of drilling, there are also good reasons for local control. The time is ripe for change.
So, my resolution for the Boulder county commissioners is that they earnestly join the discussion with the state to find better ways to manage drilling in Colorado municipalities. This means that the Boulder county commissioners have to back away from their publicly stated positions of “I'd ban fracking if I could.” This line may play well to a rowdy crowd at county hearings, but it will also deny the commissioners a seat at the table during serious discussions about changing Colorado law. Instead, the commissioners need to tell local environmentalists the truth — that these technologies are here to stay and that, all things considered, they are a good thing. Then, the county commissioners' ideas will be welcome input as Colorado seeks a better balance between state and local control.
Like most good New Year's resolutions, they are easy to say, hard to achieve, and well worth doing.
It's sort of cheating to make New Year's resolutions for others, but since government is “for the people and by the people,” I think it's fair to cook up a few ideas for Boulder city and county government. So, here we go.
Boulder is unique with respect to two big issues facing our state and, if we play our cards right, we have an opportunity to lead the State of Colorado in addressing them. We are a strongly Democratic county in a state run by Democrats, so the opportunity for Boulder government to exert influence is better than ever. I suggest that the city and county of Boulder resolve to lead the state by telling them what we want before the state to tells us what we can have.
The first issue is the integration of recreational marijuana into society. Nowhere in the developed world has any government taken the step that Colorado voters took last month and everyone is watching us to see how it works out. So far, Boulder City Council has leaned towards “waiting and seeing” how our state government writes the rulebook. Why would we want to do that? Government always functions best when driven from the community level rather than by the state bureaucracy. If we wait for the state to tell us how to integrate marijuana into our community, our options may be very different from those we would prefer.
How about rather than Boulder waiting sheepishly for Colorado bureaucrats to write the rules, the city spends next year sorting out how we think marijuana should become part of life in Boulder? Marijuana is coming out of the closet and the faster we stop snickering and start thinking about what comes next, the better for everyone. There is no place more deserving than Boulder to engage the debate and, in so doing, help the State of Colorado write the laws and regulatory structure for marijuana production, distribution, and use. We voted heavily for Amendment 64 and we've managed medical marijuana admirably. On this issue, Boulder is the perfect place to show leadership at a time it's seriously needed.
So, my resolution for the Boulder City Council is to quit running from this issue and spend the time and effort now to decide how we want to integrate marijuana into life in our fair city. Better us than someone else.
The second issue is the relationship between the state and local governments on drilling. The invention of fracking and horizontal drilling technologies a few years ago transformed America's energy outlook. While many Boulder County citizens suffer from a severe case of fracking denial, these technologies are here to stay and their use will only grow over the coming decades. Thanks to these technologies, 1) we will free ourselves from Middle Eastern energy suppliers reducing our need to play geopolitics in that dangerous neighborhood, thereby allowing us to reduce the size and cost of our military and 2) we can continue to rapidly reduce America's carbon emissions by replacing coal with much cleaner natural gas. To be sure, there are environmental concerns that we must address, but the national and international benefits of these technologies are far too vast to slow this train down, much less stop it.
However, Colorado law has not kept pace with these new technologies. As Longmont voters told us, current state law does not afford local government sufficient control of the drilling that takes place inside municipal boundaries. While there are good reasons for the state to control many aspects of drilling, there are also good reasons for local control. The time is ripe for change.
So, my resolution for the Boulder county commissioners is that they earnestly join the discussion with the state to find better ways to manage drilling in Colorado municipalities. This means that the Boulder county commissioners have to back away from their publicly stated positions of “I'd ban fracking if I could.” This line may play well to a rowdy crowd at county hearings, but it will also deny the commissioners a seat at the table during serious discussions about changing Colorado law. Instead, the commissioners need to tell local environmentalists the truth — that these technologies are here to stay and that, all things considered, they are a good thing. Then, the county commissioners' ideas will be welcome input as Colorado seeks a better balance between state and local control.
Like most good New Year's resolutions, they are easy to say, hard to achieve, and well worth doing.
