Over the past two years, I have followed the review process surrounding the potential annexation of the Amara development with great interest. As a state legislator regularly dealing with the challenges of growth and affordable, attainable housing, I frankly have been dumbfounded by the twists, turns and roadblocks along with the fierce opposition from former elected officials, and biased reporting and editorials in the media, much of which has been engineered by competing members of the development industry who are themselves currently developing large annexations to Colorado Springs. The effort is nothing less than an anti-competitive move to control the housing market, along with every other aspect of growth in our community.
Our local community has rightfully pushed for job creation, worked to ensure we maintain over 40% of our economy in the aerospace, defense, and cyber sector, including a crucial and successful effort to keep Space Command here in Colorado Springs. The past and current city leadership has created an image of Olympic City USA to entice visitors and adopted a flagpole annexation to bring a new visitors center to the Air Force Academy and over considerable neighborhood opposition, approved the building of the Ford Amphitheatre, along with apartment building after apartment building in and around the city, revising our transportation corridor and demolishing the Drake Power Plant early, for what were arguably more aesthetic reasons, than interest of the ra.