Dear Friend, I wouldn’t be writing you about this if it wasn’t necessary. I’m writing to set the record straight.

An ad hoc group has formed to oppose the TOPS III ballot measure on this November’s ballot (Cheyenne Central) because they are upset about one issue: there wasn’t a guarantee in the ballot language that enough money will be set aside for purchasing “open space” in the future.  

Council did pass a resolution stating that guarantee when we placed 2C on the ballot, but these new TOPs opponents don’t trust that a next Council “would change that” during tough economic times.

As you may know, I was one of the authors of the original TOPS, co-led all 3 TOPS campaigns, and led the effort to raise $1.6 million (the most extensive land protection campaign in our County’s history) to save Stratton Open Space. I was a key player in saving Red Rock Canyon and what is now Cheyenne Mountain State Park from developers. I also chaired Save Cheyenne to fight the Strawberry Fields Land Swap and led over 1400 on hikes on the property. I’m not bragging — I just want you to know how much I care about saving open space.

And yes, I also care about building new trails and fixing our crumbling parks (our Park Funding was decimated during the recession) as we grow. And yes, I also really care about replacing our dying urban forest, mitigating parklands to protect against fire, and funding Community Centers for our minority neighborhoods and seniors. In other words, I am a big park supporter because of all of the above.

Yet voting no on 2C will hurt all of the above in a colossal way. And yes, it will hurt our ability to purchase open space too. Cheyenne Central has taken on the “Save Open Space,” Vote “No” on 2C campaign, disseminating lots of misinformation.  They hope that if 2C fails, it will come back with more money for Open Space and less for everything else in the near future.  They are also still angry about Strawberry Fields and other decisions the Park Board has made. Here are the facts.  

Despite stating there will be less money for Open Space acquisition if this passes, that’s fuzzy math. There will be more, and for many more years than is in our current TOPs tax today, even if extended. As written today, it will produce $110-125 million more dollars for Open Space acquisition and development for 20 years, and that doesn’t include grants. We will also use TOPS III to fund a new study of the open space and trails masterplans and justify setting aside more if we need to. So TOPS III will finally ensure that there will be money for those studies.