Wildfire Tests Police Force in Colorado Anti-Tax Movement’s Home

[Swede]

The city where the Waldo Canyon fire destroyed 346 homes and forced more than 34,000 residents to evacuate turned off one-third of its streetlights two years ago, halted park maintenance and cut services to close a $28 million budget gap after sales-tax revenue plummeted and voters rejected a property-tax increase.

The municipality, at 416,000 the state’s second-largest, auctioned both its police helicopters and shrank public-safety ranks through attrition by about 8 percent; it has 50 fewer police and 39 fewer firefighters than five years ago. More than 180 National Guard troops have been mobilized to secure the city after the state’s most destructive fire. At least 32 evacuated homes were burglarized and dozens of evacuees’ cars were broken into, said Police Chief Pete Carey.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-02/wildfire-tests-police-force-in-colorado-anti-tax-movement-s-home.html

[bemildred]

1. Hoist on their own petard, so to speak.

Perhaps this will lead some to rethink.

[Ganja Ninja]

2. Sometimes it just doesn't pay to go cheap. n/t

[Woody Woodpecker]

3. I hope the anti-taxers quickly change their minds about how the key services should be fully funded.

No more of me first attitude.

I hope to see Colorado Springs turn deep blue thanks to the wildfire experience - sometimes harsh things can open one's eyes and change opinions quickly.

With that in mind, I hope they finally have the foresight to remove two icons that represents the right: Focus on the Family HQ (and their signs) and the El Paso county lines removed of "Ronald Reagan Highway" and recycled into steel toilet or something worse.

[rfranklin]

4. I'm aggravated that they are freeloading by depending on the National Guard...

They just expect the rest of the country to pay for their tax free lifestyle.

[SDjack]

5. They should be self-sufficient. The State should send them a bill for services. N/T