Once again, Mr. Hurd and committee are putting up more smoke than any ofthe recent wild fires. Having read his comments in the July issue ofthe NFH (Citizens for a Better Falcon hosts incorporation discussion), aquestion about oil drilling on private property was given the standard”the city of Falcon would allow you to have city-level representationversus individual representation.” I believe that drilling on privateproperty requires a lease signed by the property owner giving the oilcompany permission to be on the property. Any drilling on land ownedby the oil company is their business.Mr. Hurd stated that an incorporated Falcon would opt out of the PPRTAbecause they are not providing bus service to Falcon. I believe thatMr. Hurd is getting the PPRTA mixed up with Colorado SpringsMetropolitan Transit. They provide bus service to Colorado Springs.In 2007, they were providing bus service to Falcon but because usage byFalcon residents was so poor they determined the service to be not costeffective and discontinued the service. Another thing Mr. Hurd haslumped in with the 1 percent tax is animal control. The 1 percent taxis solely for use by the PPRTA to do county projects (http://pprta.com).Why he now has the idea that it is also used for animal control isbeyond me. The 1 percent tax that is levied against all of El PasoCounty pays for road and bridge improvements and maintenance throughoutthe county. Mr. Hurd also states that some $120,000 is being wastedby the PPRTA. The recent extensive repairs to Meridian Road that costmany times more than $120,000 are just one example of the Falconarea residents benefiting from the 1 percent tax being paid into thePPRTA. Now ask yourself this, why would we want to opt out of thisvital service? Where is the benefit of saving 1 percent by opting out just toadd 2 percent to be “in control”?Art Wilson
