It’s the single issue that consistently ranks last for citizen satisfaction level and first for what they want city government to prioritize: road condition.
But now, Pueblo voters could decide on whether to adopt a new half-cent sales tax in November specifically to fund street repairs to manage the potholes, cracks and uneven patchwork of asphalt that characterize many city streets.
“Voters should decide on the most equitable way to fund street repairs and transportation projects,” Mayor Nick Gradisar said during Monday s Pueblo City Council work session, when he presented the possible ballot measure to city council. “We should leave that choice to them.”
Ray Aguilera was sitting next to an elementary school student from Pueblo s Bessemer neighborhood at a Colorado Rockies baseball game when he gave him a few dollars to grab a hot dog from the concession stand.
It was his annual trip to Denver, when he chartered buses and brought dozens of students to a game as a reward for learning vocabulary, oftentimes exposing them to the delight of Coors Field and the state’s capital city for the first time: the smell of freshly cut grass, the aroma of stadium food and the tradition of the seventh inning stretch.
Friends say he relished the smiles on those children’s faces more than the game itself.
A trio of ordinances that would have hired a new city employee in partnership with a national economic empowerment organization failed Monday during the Pueblo City Council meeting on a 3-3 vote, highlighting the new reality of a six-member city council following the death of Ray Aguilera that could result in stalemates and unpassable ties.
The ordinances would have accepted a grant from the Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund, an organization that works with municipal governments to provide financial literacy education the fundamentals of building credit and how to manage bank accounts effectively. The ordinances would have created a new city employee position with benefits for a CFE fellow.
Mark Aliff is angling for a second term on Pueblo s City Council to retain the at-large council seat he has held since 2018. As you get older, you want to make a difference in your community and you want to serve, he said. Pueblo has been so good to me and my family as a community, and it s a huge priority for me to give back. And I do that through city council.
Aliff officially announced his campaign during the Pueblo County Republican Party s annual Lincoln Day dinner on May 1, advertising his fiscal conservatism, commitment to economic development and resume crowded with memberships on various boards and committees.