The Why Colorado Springs is Such a Great Place to Call Home Blog

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Homelessness in Colorado Springs and Genuine Solutions

In a survey conducted about a year ago (click here for the article), it was estimated that there are around 1200 people living on the street in the downtown area. Of these, an conscience-shocking 269 people were going without shelter of any kind, and this was in late January.

Homelessness and Mental Illness

According to a 2013 Fox News report, the overall number around that time was similar to one year ago, 241 were deemed to be "severely mentally ill." This means many of the people on the street may be simply incapable of functioning normally. Many people who suffer from symptoms will hear voices (often persecuting voices shouting at them internally), or see things, have "intrusive thoughts" (thoughts about doing or saying something that rushes into one's mind without apparent rhyme or reason), etc. Take a moment to imagine a single afternoon in that state, then think how this goes on for day after day after day for many of our unfortunate homeless.

It is worth noting that contemporary homelessness as we know it today simply did not exist in any significant way until the 1980's (for details, click here). This, along with the policy steps one could take in order to solve the issue need to be the basic terms of every conversation we have as a community about this issue. Very unfortunately, the approach my our city seems to be a heavy-handed, legalistic approach. Rather than address the causes, the approach by the city is merely to criminalize the outward manifestations of homelessness. Click here for a Gazette article on this issue.

The annual count of homeless people for the year 2016 is happening right now (see video below for news coverage). Perhaps rather than accepting whatever number is finally revealed, we need to think long and hard about what we can do tangibly, sensibly and compassionately to address the issue without simply pretending homelessness is a moral failing.

For anyone trying to learn more, you may want to visit the Facebook page of a local group dedicated to real solutions. Click here for that page.

My blog re: #homelessness in #ColoradoSprings: https://t.co/wK3h5nh4O6 pic.twitter.com/8JZJw82Q7z
— Sean A. Fitzgerald (@SeanAldenF) February 11, 2016

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Friday, May 15, 2015

Colorado Springs Artist Profile: Neil Fenton

Speak No Evil

In my last post, I talked a little about the history of fine art in my hometown. What prompted the idea were recent web design clients who wanted to create websites to feature their art. I can say with absolute candor that these projects were an honor for me. It can't be helped: I hold a special reverence for artists which I will say a bit more about below.

Back to what inspired my writing this, both my recent website design projects are for artists whose work I greatly respect. I will talk about both, but for this blog post, I want to focus on the first person who came to me, Neil Fenton, a painter whose work was featured in various venues around Colorado Springs. To my (admittedly non-professional) eye his paintings are striking, compelling.

My own view is that much of the impact of Fenton's work lies in his use of light and shadow, which bolster the emotions conveyed by the expressions of the faces, and poses of the bodies therein depicted. I think his work is astonishing. But lest my praise be taken as being merely the reaction of an unsophisticated palate, this is not the first blog to acknowledge Fenton's talent. The "ModBo" blog, ("ModBo" stands for "Modern Bohemian") wrote nicely about Fenton's show featuring his portraiture.

I have always been envious of those with bona fide artistic talent. This is not to say that I myself am entirely devoid of all talent, artistically. I can paint and draw a little and my little creations aren't awful, and yet I am self-reflective and honest enough to see others have that true spark.

Frightening Yeti

My feeling on the matter is that genuine talent is something rare and special and bestowed upon a person. It is that notion of bestowal, and perhaps even our collective intuition which leads us to refer to people with this artistic touch as being "gifted."

If you are wanting (understandably) to see more of Neil's work, you can visit the SPQR just to the south of Acacia Park (17B East Bijou). There is a treasure trove of pieces, not only paintings, but photographs and other media down there. It is astonishing the level of talent with which our little community is blessed.

Can a brother get an RT (for my new blog post about a local, i.e. #ColoradoSprings artist)? http://t.co/Q5NVVG6FrH pic.twitter.com/mFD96f8ul8
— Sean A. Fitzgerald (@SeanAldenF) July 6, 2015

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Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Colorado Springs' Artistic Leanings

by Sean Alden Fitzgerald

Colorado Springs is oft-referred to as being a "military town." I was myself born at the United States Air Force Academy Hospital and have numerous military-involved friends and acquaintances with whom I have always had and continue to have uneasy, dissonant conversations. My Common Good-orientation has always been at odds with the rugged individualist ideals of the military people I've known. I count many as friends despite that tension, and actually appreciate that points of view differing from my own often have to do with upbringing, cultural background and other factors which are happenstance as much as anything.

In macro terms, there is an analogous tension between the more traditional cultural roots from whence Colorado Springs originally sprang, and the military and religious organizations that have such sway in this town beginning at a point later than its inception as a community. It's worth noting that it was in fact the creation of the USAFA which constituted a tipping point for Colorado Springs in population terms. Overall, one cannot be faulted for thinking that the military culture that holds predominance in our town. And yet there are other currents that, nevertheless, do have influence as well. Maybe this diversity is, however ironically, one of the

Incongruously, the sociopolitical conservatism implicit in military culture exists side-by-side Colorado Springs' long-held artistic, cultural leanings. An established arts community has been in this area for the greater part of a century. In addition to the many individual artists which have lived or are living here, there is also the venerable institution of the Fine Arts Center which itself has a history worth recounting. General William Palmer, one of the iconic founders of the city was said to have referred to this newly established city as a "Little London," and had visions of a cultural oasis amidst hulking and untamed Rocky Mountains.

General William Palmer

Another appellation (there are four nicknames listed as Colorado Springs in Wikipedia) aside from "Little London, is "Newport in the Rockies," and much of the original city-planning in Colorado Springs was said to have been based explicitly upon that affluent Rhode Island city. Implicit in both the London and Newport analogs is a degree of emphasis on culture, refinement and artistic expression.

An emblem of these cultural aspirations is the historical support for fine arts. Early in the last century, movement of artists to the area, and their activities here were marked enough by 1920 to attract the attention of The New York Times. For example, the latter wrote the following concerning the Broadmoor Art Academy “An art school with competent instructors in a place remote from centres of art exhibitions and teaching has a more direct influence (on a community). People are always more interested in what they do than in what they see, and there is an admirable chance to develop a fresh and strong school of landscape painting in the Western part of the country.” (Click here for citation.)

Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center

As far as the Fine Arts Center that exists today, it sprang from this fertile artistic ground and was officially built during the Great Depression (1936), it was first established with land donated by prominent community members, particularly a number of prominent women: the land had been donated by Julie Penrose, Elizabeth Sage Hare was the first President of the Board of Trustees, and Alice Bemis Taylor donated an art collection to the museum.

The next installment of this blog will discuss many of the local artists, and venues for showing art, including both private galleries as well as those which are publicly funded.

Check out our latest blog: http://t.co/9bCUtPyfjy #COsprings #ColoradoSprings
— Local Reach (@localreachmktg) May 14, 2015

Monday, April 13, 2015

The Teensy Town of Ivywild (and other stuff you learn looking at old maps)

by Sean Alden Fitzgerald

I have to admit, and for a second time, to the fact of my having a bit of an old timey photo fetish. This penchant is particularly the case as regards Colorado Springs/Manitou Springs/Pikes Peak region photos. I would chalk this up to having grown up in the area and having memories attached to nearly every nook and cranny of the place. When said nooks and crannies appear in much earlier iterations, whether it be in maps or antique photos, I can't help but dwell on the image.

1920's Colorado Springs Map Designed in the "Happy Motoring" Context

Well, I hasten to add that I adore looking at old maps in general. Both these predilections are sated by this first pic. One of the things that grabs my attention is the is the profoundly grid-based patterns of development expressed. The map is almost a stylization.

The next thing that grabs me are the words "Pikes Peak Ocean to Ocean Highway." I've never so much as heard such a phrase, and here it looks like its being promoted. I've asked a number of the Springs History cognoscenti whom I know and most say the map is from roughly the 1920's.

The third element that stands out for me is the fact that the "Road to Pueblo" is the self-same road as the one now called, somewhat incongruously, "Las Vegas." What is fun is how organic said Las Vegas is. The simple act of driving from its (near) beginning point on Tejon Ave. reveals some of the meandering, swerving quality of an older road. Indeed, it has the feeling of being on a paved, modern form of some older, organically-wrought wagon route reminiscent of older areas of the country, say the asymmetrical byways one encounters in New England.

Note "Ivywild" Warrants a Separate Designation

The next image here (left), in addition to being more representational in appearance than the first, actually refers to the road I'd mentioned above, Las Vegas. In addition to that little subtlety, it also reveals a road name that would likely tickle a modern Springs resident with its nearly Edwardian tone: namely, Palmer Park road is here referred to as "The Boulevard." The latter amuses me a little as it seems to imply that no particular name were necessary or that perhaps the road had been granted this stately name by young Anne Shirley in Anne of Green Gables.

One also sees the relative prominence of railways that were so common to city life (and life in general) at that time. One can see, the same area which is now a defunct railroad bed where once this railway made its way to the old industrial depots of our town. Signalling the broader (and I think unwelcome) shifts in our culture: while the railroad bed is an artifact and a ruin, the road designed for cars, Constitution Avenue, is traffic-laden. The latter hurtles cars toward the modern travesty, Academy Boulevard. The latter represents--as if consciously designed to do so--the commercially unappealing mediocrity of the automoblile-based culture ("Happy Motoring!"), with mediocre food establishments (can't bring myself to call them restaurants), odd commercial niches (second-hand clothing, tiny repair places), which is to say representatives of those economic backwaters not yet strangled and drowned by the Leviathan Walmart and its vast asphalt prairies of parking. Happy Motoring.

Also on this second map, if one looks just a bit below the central grid that defined Colorado Springs at the time, one sees a name very much in use to this day: Ivywild. But what is now best known as a mixed-use commercial center, "The Ivywild School," was at that time shaping into its own little town or village. In fact, about 20 years prior to the two maps above, the residents of Ivywild met to discuss formation of a local government. There is an article in our paper, the Gazette which refers to the town incorporating (click here for article). Driving through the area, one would never know that this was once a little town just south of Colorado Springs. That's what old maps are for.

Come check out my blog! Lots of fun for peeps who love old maps and/or #ColoradoSprings #COSprings
— Local Reach Mktg (@localreachmktg) May 5, 2015

Sunday, January 18, 2015

Garden of the Gods (in old photos)

Colorado Springs--Old Timey Style

I have, somewhat obviously, what might best be called a sort of olden-days Colorado Springs photo fetish. Thus I've dedicated this post to sharing a few of my favorite photos. For the sake of brevity (because I have a lot, lot of Colorado Springs Old Timey Photographs) I've narrowed the scope to a few which depict specifically The Garden of the Gods.

A Group of Native Americans (Ute Tribe)

The first photograph is a photograph from over a century ago, and depicts a place where I spent a significant percentage of my childhood, namely The Garden of the Gods. Somehow, when I came across it, the image of Native Americans depicted in this first photograph struck me incongruously. Firstly, it is a shock to see so clearly something that strikes me (very sadly--the Ute people are now cordoned into a small reservation in the southeastern section of Colorado) as an anachronism. Second, the environment is so familiar, I know precisely where this photo is being taken and it looks so different now. It's jarring.

Okay, now, for the second sense, i.e. the sense of clashing between what I see (or "see"?) in my memory-crafted mind's eye becomes even more pronounced, for some reason in the second pic I've included here.

"In 75 years I'll wager they'll be climbing right up there Papa!"

As for the photo itself, I love the fact that this is the dirt version of what I came later to know as an asphalt-paved road where I would drive as a 1980's youngster, unthinkingly, and distractedly (and likely dangerously despite never having had any mishaps negotiating these roads with their accompanying gaggles of gawking pedestrians).

This picture is likely from the 1920's or late teens (note the literal "trunk" in the rear area of the car, ahem, automobile). I love the fact that the boy's reaction in the passenger seat is no different from what one sees in the park now, nearly a century later.

This is likely to be the first of a series of blog posts on these types of pics that are available in certain Facebook groups (for example: this), and a lot of places across the vast interwebs. Watch this space...

Sean Alden Fitzgerald
Local Reach Marketing

For map geeks and/or peeps who heart #ColoradoSprings: http://t.co/f4FVPu4XVA #SocialMediaMarketing #Colorado #realestatemarketing
— Sean A. Fitzgerald (@SeanAldenF) May 6, 2015

Friday, January 2, 2015

Sean Alden Fitzgerald's Why Colorado Springs is Such a Great Place to Live Blog

My Hometown of Colorado Springs

I love my town. It's cliche, perhaps, to say so in such pat terms, and it is true. I love Colorado Springs and environs. There are a few reasons for this, and it will be the central objective of this blog to say some things about just why that is.In the macro-view, I'd say that the beauty of this place, the nature of the people and the overall culture, the sort of physical layout of the city (not all of it, admittedly, as the Springs has fallen victim to the soulless, corporate tsunami that has (very unfortunately) engulfed our country beginning...when exactly--not sure, perhaps the 1970's, perhaps earlier (it's an arguable point)--has left in it's wake a seemingly endless spider's web of congested, multi-lane quasi-highways, interlaced with carelessly designed, inadvertent "neighborhoods." To wit, take a look at the swath of suburban hideousness in the first photo.

Sean Alden Fitzgerald and Local Reach Marketing: www.localreachmktg.com

Suburban Hell

I hasten to reiterate, however, that Colorado Springs, very unfortunately does have a lot of areas that were developed within this modality of planning (if that's the word that one ought to use in describing suburban-y nonplaces like that on the left. Yes, we do have our share of neighborhoods reminiscent of this image.That said, a lot of Colorado Springs was laid out by people with some degree of care and foresight. One sees this in the Old North End, downtown, Old Colorado City, and especially in the adjacent micro-city of Manitou Springs, Colorado (some of which is pictured below.)

Manitou Springs, and Old Colorado City represent a lot of what I find beautiful about this town. These neighborhood, yes bona fide neighborhoods, witness the picture to the right, from Manitou. The large, darkly-colored stone building near the bottom center-left of the picture is of the Historic Community Congregational Church, built in 1880. It is a gorgeous building, and holds pride of place in a town marked by quirky, winding streets that are studded by peculiar, old structures.

The picture at right serves as segue to that second attribute I mentioned the stark natural beauty of the place. As you can see in the picture at right, Pikes Peak serves as a kind of landmark and trademark. It is a landmark in the sense that it orients the Colorado Springs citizen as to his/her whereabouts, and it is a trademark in the sense that if the Springs were a brand, Pike's Peak's name and image would be its logo. Indeed, many a business and governmental entity has it as a part of its title.

The beauty of my hometown is profound, all-encompassing, and it is worth seeing. It commensurately worth considering it as a place to live, and a place to end up loving.

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Having bugun on January of 2015, this blog addresses various elements about life in Colorado Springs, its people, its culture, the arts scene, its business environment (featuring especially local businesses), its transformations and challenges. Look to this space for fresh viewpoints of life in Colorado Springs posted every Sunday.

Sean Alden Fitzgerald
Local Reach Marketing

Love me some old maps! #ColoradoSprings #COSprings #blogs #Colorado https://t.co/CeZCran8z2
— Local Reach Mktg (@localreachmktg) May 11, 2015