Please vote no on City of Boulder Ballot Question 2Q!
Ballot Question 2Q creates huge uncertainty for the local initiative process. It will destroy this valuable aspect of direct democracy in Boulder, because it makes the process so time consuming and difficult.
Currently, Boulder’s local initiative process works quite well. Ask anyone who has gone through it. But 2Q is worse than just a “solution in search of a problem.” It eliminates the current well-designed and functional process, and substitutes the granting of arbitrary powers to the City Manager to set the rules and the timing.
In fact, under 2Q the petitioners could be forced to start gathering signatures as early as January to get on the ballot for the November election. And even then, nothing is guaranteed, because the City Manager can change the rules at any time.
And worse, 2Q provides no recourse whatsoever, because the City Manager also sets the rules for the appeals process.
The Ballot Title for 2Q is totally inadequate — it sounds like it’s just some cleanup, and does not at all describe the far reaching effects.
The only thing that really needs fixing is to tie the 5 percent signature requirement for initiative petitions to something like the number of voters in the last election, since the number of “registered voters” on the County Clerk’s list far exceeds the real number. (This is due to federal laws that prevent the easy removal of people from the list.) But 2Q fails to address this issue, and so doesn’t fix the one thing that was seriously flawed.
Please vote “No on 2Q”!
Steve Pomerance/ Former Boulder city council member
