Colorado Springs mayor reflects on landslide election night victory

There wasn’t time Wednesday for Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers to celebrate his reelection in a landslide victory Tuesday night.

“I’m on my way to Denver to discuss transportation funding with lawmakers,” he said at the start of a morning news conference. “This morning I jotted down some notes about preparing for the city’s sesquicentennial in two years. I want to make sure that’s done right.”

Suthers said he holds no grudge against firefighters who pushed an unsuccessful ballot issue that would have granted them collective bargaining rights.

“I remain perfectly willing to continue to meet with the firefighters and continue to work on the issues they’re interested in,” he said. ‘I just did not believe that unionization was the proper direction to go. I’m hoping their leadership will be very collaborative going forward. But from my perspective, there’s absolutely no hard feelings at all.”

Suthers covered a wide range of topics in his 30-minute interview.

On whether other city departments may make future attempts to revisit collective bargaining:

“Not based on the results last night. I’ve got to believe anyone else thinking about that would see that’s not where the citizens are at. I’d be very surprised to see any more activity in that direction over the next several years.”

On the chances of getting significant transportation funding from the Legislature:

“As we grow, we’re going to need some serious cooperation from the state. I’m hoping we can get as much money as we can this session, and in future sessions. We’re installing more bike lanes to try and get more vehicles off the roads and make the city more pedestrian-friendly. But there’s some resistance to that, and we have to keep that in mind. We’re going to do a transportation master plan for the first time in 17 years to address some of the concerns. We may not be quite urbanized enough yet. It’s too cheap to park downtown. You can do it for $30 a month. In Denver, it’s $350 a month — and that’s more of an incentive to get on a train or bus. We’re going to see some progress in the next few years for connecting North Powers Boulevard to Interstate 25.”

On whether Colorado Springs has improved its tense relationship with Pueblo:

“Yes, I know it’s better than it was. We’re getting along. Our main stormwater issue is trying to resolve the EPA and state lawsuit (which Colorado Springs lost), and we’re intensely in negotiations trying to do that. I feel like our relationship is pretty good at this point in time. I think Pueblo sees us as wanting to meet our commitments.”

On addressing concerns that the city isn’t doing enough to improve the southeast side:

“A lot of what causes areas of town to prosper is supply and demand, market-based. Over the next three years, we’re going to invest $45 million there. That’s a reconstruction of South Academy Boulevard, a total renovation of Panorama Park, and we’ll be announcing a lot of new jobs in the next year or so, primarily at the airport. Fifteen dollars an hour and up. That can be a very beneficial economic boost. I’m optimistic about what we’re doing there. But you can’t force it.”

On the tax breaks given to Scheels sporting goods store coming to the city’s northeast side:

“We were competing with Boise, Milwaukee and Wichita. I wanted to make sure it was in Colorado Springs and not in Fountain or Monument. The city previously played hardball with a Walmart and Sam’s Club on South Academy, and now they’re in Fountain and we lose several million dollars a year in sales tax. I’m aware that the malls have asked for similar deals and some incoming businesses may ask for them. You have to look at what the deal is. Scheels builds only one store a year, it’s a regional attraction and has higher-paying jobs. It brings in a lot of customers from out of town, and even with the deal we gave them, they’ll still bring in a lot of tax revenue. That’s one I wasn’t willing to lose.”

On declaring that this will be his last political campaign:

“I’ve been in public life for 30 years. I just don’t have any other ambitions. A lot of people want me to run for governor. I don’t see that. I like sleeping in my own bed at night.”

On the Legislature’s passage of the Red Flag Bill:

“I don’t like cities and counties declaring themselves sanctuaries where a law isn’t going to be enforced. I don’t want Colorado Springs to do that. I do expect strong legal challenges to the bill and hope they’ll be resolved before it takes effect in January.”