Every great river starts somewhere high in the mountains as a little stream.
As it flows, it joins with others until, at some point, it becomes a torrent of energy.
That’s what some hope to see happen with Pueblo’s East Side when it comes to dealing with Fountain Creek.
A small group of people met Tuesday at St. Leander Church Hall to discuss Fountain Creek, and those attending were dismayed that more people had not bothered to show up.
Some said the East Side has given up on trying to make the creek better. It’s populated by homeless people. Its trails are strewn with broken glass. It smells bad. The city has turned its back on the problems of flooding that still occur in East Side neighborhoods after any big rain. For others, there was a trickle of hope.
“I think it was the organization of the community that began to bring attention to Fountain Creek,” said Margaret Montano, Southern Colorado director of the Colorado Progressive Coalition. “There’s a lot happening with talks about providing flood control and recreation along the creek. But it’s more complicated than throwing up a dam. How does this neighborhood play a role and how does this affect Fountain Creek?”
One answer to the question was provided by Jay Winner, general manager of the Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District, who spent most of the two-hour meeting alternating between technical terms like “sinuosity” and weaving elaborate dreams about what Fountain Creek could be.
“We need to start looking at the river again and see it as an amenity,” Winner said. “It’s going to take everyone working together. We don’t want another plan sitting around on a shelf.”
The Lower Ark and Colorado Springs are working together on a $600,000, two-year plan to develop a Fountain Creek master plan and two demonstration projects. Those goals, however, are just the beginning of a long, expensive process to improve Fountain Creek to a usable waterway all the way from its headwaters to the confluence with the Arkansas River.
The agreement is significant because it was the only thing the Lower Ark and Colorado Springs could agree on after two years of wrangling over issues of water storage and pipelines, Winner said. Pueblo is the largest county in the Lower Ark district.
Progress is being made on gathering more partners in a foundation dedicated to improving the Fountain and an authority that would get money for big projects. The effort has to begin with projects, not plans, Winner said.
“Anyone who thinks Uncle Sam is going to come along with a check for $500 million is dreaming,” Winner said. “We can do the easy thing, which is nothing, or we can sit here and figure out how to do something.”
Winner shared maps of the projects, one of which is near Colorado Springs and the other which would be at Pinon, near the Pueblo Springs Ranch development. On the East Side, there is a trail along the river and a park at the confluence that could be better developed for recreation, Winner said.
East Side residents have not pushed hard enough to have their concerns about Fountain Creek addressed, even though in 2005 they were one of the most vocal groups about problems on Fountain Creek, Montano said.
Since that time, a Fountain Creek Vision Task Force has formed and met on a regular basis, largely focusing on problems upstream that ultimately will affect the East Side.
“The East Side needs to start demanding answers,” Montano said. “It’s difficult to organize the neighborhood. Many people have lost hope.”
City Councilman Larry Atencio and State Rep. Dorothy Butcher, D-Pueblo, a candidate for county commissioner, also attended Tuesday’s meeting, along with staff members from the offices of U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., and District Attorney Bill Thiebaut.
Both Atencio and Butcher encouraged the community to begin working toward its own vision of Fountain Creek and offered to help.
“I don’t know of any politician who would tell you ‘no,’ but you’ve got to have an idea,” Atencio said. |
