Spotlight: Tommy Farrell, District 1 Candidate for Pueblo City Council
The "S" in Tommy S. Farrell stands for Shelley.
Tommy Farrell is very reachable. Tommy has a public facebook page, facebook.com/tommyfarrell719, a twitter account (I fkn hate twitter), & his phone number is posted everywhere, so give him a call anytime @ (719) 569-5433 if you have any questions for him. Tommy's vision for Pueblo City is to make a more inclusive city council, one that meets with it's people, and is very proactive in communicating with us.
Tommy Farrell was a District Executive with the Boy Scouts of America, "teaching youth the importance of leadership through service, while gaining experience balancing budgets, managing staff resources, and building community relations." Tommy S. Farrell earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from Colorado State University (Pueblo). Tommy S. Farrell worked as a volunteer legislative aide for a Republican State Senator Keith King, and for Daneya Esgar, the Democratic State Representative for House District #46.
Tommy Farrell is currently the president of the Southern Colorado Equality Alliance. Farrell was once quoted as saying: "Our theme highlights the importance of living vibrant lives. Now, with how much hate we see around the nation and world, it's important to come together, unified as human beings."
Tommy Farrell is an openly gay man, which is fabulous!
Tommy Farrell recognizes the Black Hills problem as a conundrum. Farrell points out that Black Hills owns the power lines that the newly formed Pueblo City Municipal Electric company would have to use, therefore rent from, if we didn't immediately transform our entire on-the-grid society into a solar-panels-and-battery-based power society overnight. Farrell opposes Black Hills' predatory tactics, how they overcharge Pueblo more than everybody else in Colorado, & how callous they are when disconnecting people's power, and then the hassle & expense of getting their electric reconnected.
Pueblo City has pledged to have 100% clean energy by 2035. I mentioned to Tommy that it would be awesome if Pueblo City could get a bunch of solar trees strewn about the city, for folks to charge up their laptops & cell phones free of charge. Having a bunch of Solar Trees all over Pueblo City would be great marketing, for tourists, & for those looking to move their families or companies to Pueblo City. Personally I believe that the total number of Solar Trees in Pueblo City could work as benchmarks towards our "100% clean energy by 2035" goal.
Tommy S. Farrell said that he would try his best to get at least 1 solar tree constructed in Pueblo City.
Tommy S. Farrell will protect the marijuana industry here in Pueblo. So will Michael Stapleton, I assume, since he is a Libertarian, who are big on personal freedom, and because he's a Free Market Anarchist, although even Milton Friedman was in favor of some government. Does Michael Stapleton believe in any government? What government & how much government does Michael Stapleton believe is necessary?
The only way the premier Marijuana Industry in Pueblo can go backwards would be through Bob Schilling.
Farrell said that he's prepared to explore all options for our energy needs, including being open to Waste-to-Energy programs, which has been so successful in Sweden, that all of Sweden has literally ran out of trash, & now they're buying Norway's trash.
Tommy S. Farrell is in favor of "the 1/5 cent sales tax for 24 new cops" ballot question, but he struggles with it. A sales tax is a regressive tax on the working class, but "we need public safety". Tommy is glad that it's a ballot question because then the people can decide what we want, and he'll legislate the aftermath, consistent with the people's decision.
Tommy Farrell read a Pueblo Chieftain article about Question 300, but he felt like he wasn't being told the whole story.
In order to guarantee Pueblo City of those new 24 cops being "good police", Farrell is in favor of having a citizen's oversight board for Pueblo City's police force. Farrell says that the Human Relations Commission currently operates as a kind of oversight board, but since they don't have any power, it renders them ineffective. He'd prefer an oversight board with power.
On Pueblo City's projected multi-million dollar surplus for 2018, Tommy Farrell, like Mark Aliff, points out the lack of a clear focus the city has. It makes no sense for the city to ask the voters to pay for new cops & new roads when the city has a multi-million dollar surplus. Farrell diplomatically dodges the "new road sales tax" ballot question by saying that he's glad that the people will decide on that issue.
On "Strange Mayor" (my disparaging name that I use for the so-called "strong mayor" ballot question... how do you know the new Mayor won't be strange? There's a bunch of strange folks around here, & if the leaderhship is a reflection of her people, then...), Farrell still humbly leans in favor of it, even though the "Strange Mayor" ballot question undercuts his own power to fire the chief executive. Farrell isn't too concerned about the ballot question's constitutionality right now, but he did say that if "Strange Mayor" passed, then the Charter rules needed to be adhered to, & a Charter Convention would have to be established (Section 1-2).
Farrell will vote for "Strange Mayor" because he wants the chief executive to be a popularly elected position. When asked if he believed if the Chief of Police should be popularly elected, he said he wasn't opposed to it, since that's similar to electing the County Sheriff. Farrell wasn't advocating for a popularly elected Chief of Police though, because the Strange Mayor could fire the Police Chief.
Tommy S. Farrell believes that the Zoo & the Arts Center should be fully funded.
Tommy S. Farrell is also concerned about Pueblo City's poverty problem.
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