IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Wolves From Oregon Selected For Reintroduction

Colorado will reintroduce wolves back to the state by the end of the year. Earlier this month, Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) announced in a press release that up to 10 wolves will come from Oregon. Here are some quick facts on the reintroduction process:

• It’s been nearly 80 years since wolves roamed freely in the Centennial State after they were extirpated by shooting, trapping and poisoning in the mid-1940s, but a voter-approved ballot initiative (Proposition 114) in 2020 mandated reintroduction of the species by Dec. 31, 2023. CPW identified six congregating wolves in 2020 and 2021, but the agency says this doesn’t present a definitive number in the state.

• The final wolf restoration and management plan was approved in May this year, with the goal of maintaining a “viable, self-sustaining wolf population in Colorado, while concurrently working to minimize wolfrelated conflicts with domestic animals, other wildlife and people.”

• Over the next three to five years, 30-50 wolves will be relocated to the center of the state (west of the Continental Divide and a minimum of 60 miles from bordering state lines). When wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park in the mid-1990s, the canines moved an average of 50 miles from their release points in the following months.

• Wolves are apex predators known to influence the way prey species use their landscape, like how or when they feed, which could have hyper-local and nuanced impacts on the broader ecosystem.

New Climbing Gym In Longmont

The Climbing Collective is strengthening its foothold in east Boulder County with the Oct. 19 opening of a new 24,000-square-foot facility in Longmont.

• The gym, located at 115 Pinnacle St., will feature walls for lead and top rope climbing with auto belays, along with bouldering. Other features include a youth climbing zone, taproom, fitness equipment, yoga studio and sauna. It is replacing the current gym on 33 S. Pratt Parkway.

• The new space will also have outdoor climbing walls, including a certified Olympic speed wall and one for dry tooling, a method using iceclimbing equipment to scale surfaces without ice. The outdoor area will be dual-purposed as an event center for music and community festivals.

• Outside of Longmont, The Climbing Collective has gyms in Loveland and Greeley.

Saturday October21

PearlStreetMall

11am–1pm LosBohemios (Latinjazzband)

2:00–3:30pm

Sing-along

•Freelyric

Open

“Boulder Weekly knows the power and widespread impact of the arts, and we want to see this community, which is known for its art and culture, put its money where its mouth is and support these important organizations and artists.”- Boulder Weekly

Stephen Fenberg, President, Colorado Senate

Judy Amabile, State Representative -Junie Joseph, State Representative and City Council - Rollie Heath, Former State Senator - Edie Hooton, Former State Representative

Aaron Brockett, City of Boulder Mayor - Matt Benjamin, Boulder City Council Tara Winer, Boulder City Council

Bob Yates, Boulder City Council - Jan Burton, Former City Council - Angelique Espinoza, Former City Council

Allyn Feinberg, Former City Council- Steve Pomerance, Former City Council - Linda Shoemaker, Former CU Boulder Regent- Lesley Smith, CU Regent at-Large

Laurie Albright, Former President BVSD Board of Education

Vote Guide Recap

COLORADO BALLOT ISSUES

PROPOSITION HH: Reduce property taxes and retain state revenue

Yes/For

PROPOSITION II:

Retain nicotine tax revenue in excess of blue book estimate

Yes/For

BOULDER COUNTY BALLOT ISSUES

BALLOT ISSUE 1A: Open space tax extension and revenue change

Yes/For

BALLOT ISSUE 1B: Affordable and attainable tax extension and revenue change

Yes/For

BALLOT ISSUE 6A:

Nederland ecopass extension

Yes/For

BOULDER CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATES

BOULDER MAYOR (RANKED CHOICE):

1. Aaron Brockett

2. Nicole Speer

3. Bob Yates

4. Paul Tweedlie

BOULDER CITY COUNCIL:

Silas Atkins

Ryan Schuchard

Tara Winer

Taishya Adams

BOULDER BALLOT ISSUES

BALLOT ISSUE 2A:

Tax extension

For the measure

BALLOT QUESTION 2B: Elections administrative charter cleanup

For the measure

BALLOT QUESTION 302:

Safe Zones 4 Kids

Against the measure

BOULDER VALLEY SCHOOL DISTRICT BOARD OF EDUCATION

DISTRICT A

Jason Unger

DISTRICT C

Alex Medler

DISTRICT D

Andrew Brandt

DISTRICT G

Jorge Chávez

LONGMONT CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATES

LONGMONT MAYOR

Joan Peck (incumbent)

LONGMONT CITY COUNCIL:

Sean McCoy (At-Large, incumbent)

Nia Wassink (Ward 1)

Susie Hidalgo-Fahring (Ward 3, incumbent)

LONGMONT BALLOT ISSUES

BALLOT ISSUE 3C: Construction of a new library branch

Yes/For

BALLOT ISSUE 3D: Funding for a performing arts center

Yes/For

BALLOT ISSUE 3E: Rec centers and land swap

Yes/For

TOWN OF ERIE

BALLOT QUESTION 3A: Adopting a home rule charter

Yes/For

BALLOT QUESTION 3B: Compensation of mayor and council members

Yes/For

LAFAYETTE CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATES

Tim Barnes (incumbent)

JD Mangat (incumbent)

Eric Ryant

David Fridland

LOUISVILLE CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATES

MAYOR

Chris Leh (incumbent) CITY COUNCIL:

WARD 1

Caleb Dickinson (incumbent)

WARD 2

Deborah Fahey

WARD 3 (VOTE FOR TWO)

Barbara Hamlington

Dietrich Hoefner

LOUISVILLE BALLOT ISSUES

BALLOT ISSUE 2C: PARKS AND OPEN SPACE FUNDING

Yes/For

TOWN OF SUPERIOR

BALLOT QUESTION 301: Home rule charter commission

Yes/For

SUPERIOR HOME RULE CHARTER COMMISSION CANDIDATES (VOTE FOR NINE)

Dalton Valette

Heather Cracraft

Ryan Hitchler

Claire Dixon

Ryan Welch

Sean Maday

Clint Folsom

Mike Foster

Chris Hanson

WHY IS YOUR BALLOT YELLING AT YOU?

A brief explanation on all-caps ballot issues

BY KAYLEE HARTER

YOUR BALLOT WILL BE ARRIVING IN THE MAIL SOON, AND YOU MAY NOTICE THAT A HANDFUL OF ISSUES ARE WRITTEN LIKE THIS — IN ALL CAPS.

If it feels like your ballot is yelling at you, that’s by design. But that design may not be serving its purpose.

The Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR), a state constitutional amendment approved by Colorado voters in 1992, includes a provision requiring the title of issues involving tax and debt increases appear on the ballot in all caps. That provision is also codified in state statute.

Not all tax-related measures appear in all caps. On this and previous years’ ballots, only the measures dealing with increases and extensions appear in capital letters, while those that involve a decrease or a change in how tax dollars are invested, like in the cases of propositions HH and II, appear in sentence case.

Douglas Bruce, the conservative activist, ex-attorney and former legislator who authored TABOR, says he added the capitalization requirement for emphasis.

“I’m trying to shout at people as best you can in a ballot title,” he says.

While the intent may have been to call attention to tax increases for voters, many organizations specializing in accessibility and design say all caps can make text more difficult to read.

In fact, in the American Institute of Graphic Art’s Design for Democracy Report on behalf of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, the number one election design guideline is to use lowercase letters, which the authors say improves legibility.

Whitney Quesenbery, executive director at the Center for Civic Design, says sentence case, a mix of lowercase and capital letters, is easiest for people to read because it’s what we’re used to. Plus, she says that modifications to text used for emphasis — like bold, italics or caps — lose their value when the entire block of text is emphasized.

While capitalization may seem like a relatively small issue, Quesenbery says seemingly minor design choices add up.

“When you get into one of those things like a ballot question that is all caps, it’s a little hard to read because maybe the text size is a little small, and maybe the language isn’t that easy to [understand] — essentially, the weight of those little tiny barriers adds up to people just skipping it,” she says.

Doing away with the all-caps requirement would call for legislative change, and Quesenbery says that’s unlikely to happen for a single code revision.

Grouping several pieces of the statute to change at once is often more effective. She also says it’s important to test changes to ballot design with voters.

For Quesenbery, changes to ballot design provisions are “absolutely, positively worth it.”

“Every time someone has trouble understanding what to do, or what they’re being asked to vote on, their well of confidence is diminished by a drop or two,” she says. “And eventually, you drain that well of confidence.” presents the 2023