By John Boren

Pueblo’s City Council met last Monday. On Monday, September 26, 2022, at 7 pm, the Pueblo City Council Meeting began. 

During the meeting Council Member Dennis Flores proclaimed that October 1, 2022, would be Pueblo Latino Veterans Profile in Courage Day. He stated, “We extend our appreciation and encourage all our citizens to recognize the important role these individuals play in our community.” 

The council awarded Vietnam veteran Nick Romero a Profile In Courage award.

The Pueblo City Council also wanted to recognize the Italian community and declared the month of October 2022 to be Italian Heritage Month.

CS Winds is a South Korea-based wind turbine manufacturing company with a factory in Pueblo, Colorado. They have an expansion plan that would increase their production of wind turbines and their employees from 420 to 1300 by the end of 2023. It would be an estimated $300 investment; however, an air quality permit is needed to get this done in the time frame that they want. 

Nicholas Gradisar, the Mayor of Pueblo, stated that he wanted to expedite an air quality permit for CS Winds through the Colorado Department of Health. According to Gradisar, “when you file one of those, it takes sixteen months for people to review.” Gradisar met Governor Polis during Pueblo’s Chili Fest this weekend, who “assured them that they would expedite the review.”

During the Public Forum session, Elvis Martinez talked about the homeless issue behind the North Side King Soopers, which was recently shot at by a homeless man. “The homeless camp by King Soopers is out of control,” said Martinez. “People have guns, and I bet they are stolen. Pueblo PD needs to investigate this unlawful discharge of a firearm in city limits. I believe the health department needs to get trained professionals with the proper PPE to clean up down there.”

City Council President Heather Graham also commented on the people experiencing homelessness issue. She and Mayor Gradisar attended a meeting with the Community Commission on Housing and Homelessness, where she learned that the people that provide facilities and help the homeless don’t go down into the encampments. This means that they haven’t been provided a housing application. 

Graham observed, “We track the homeless population based on housing applications, so we have no idea how many need help down there.”

Councilman Larry Atencio also gave a fiery speech urging people to stop coming up with reasons why Pueblo doesn’t deserve to have new things for its citizens to go and do. He believes that if Pueblo’s citizens had more things to do, there would be less crime.

The post Building up the community at the Pueblo City Council meeting first appeared on CSU-Pueblo Today.