United Westside

Old Colorado City

The Westside voted. City Council wants to overrule you.

Council voted to overrule the Westside.

The OCC DDA is still standing.

Council dissolved the OCC DDA.

In 2024, Old Colorado City voters created a Downtown Development Authority. On August 25, 2026, City Council voted 5–4 on first reading to dissolve it — before it had been allowed to spend a single dollar.

Final vote · Tuesday
Sept. 8
From 9 a.m.
City Hall, Council Chambers (3rd floor) 107 N. Nevada Ave., downtown Colorado Springs. Labor Day put both meetings on one day: the work session runs first, starting at 9, and the Regular Meeting opens as soon as it ends. The DDA ordinance comes up sometime after that, and nobody can tell you when. How to be there without losing the whole day →
It now goes to the Mayor

Mayor Yemi Mobolade can veto the ordinance. Overriding a veto takes six votes on Council; the dissolution passed with five. yemi.mobolade@coloradosprings.gov · (719) 385-5900

What a DDA actually is

A Downtown Development Authority is local control over local issues in its most literal form. The board is made up of people who own businesses and property inside the district — not City Hall. It decides what the district needs and pays for it with money generated in the district: sidewalks, lighting, storefront improvements, events, safety.

Historic downtowns across Colorado run on exactly this tool. Longmont, Glenwood Springs, Grand Junction and Fort Collins all have one.

It was never given a chance

Council took nearly a year to seat the board it was required to approve. The DDA's Plan of Development is still under review in the City's Planning Department, and the DDA cannot collect tax increment financing until the City signs off on it. Council delayed it, and now calls it useless.

Your vote should count

Old Colorado City voters approved this at the ballot box in 2024. Five councilmembers are about to cancel an election because they would rather decide for you.

How they voted — first reading, Aug. 25, 2026

5–4 to dissolve
To dissolve (5)
  • Lynette Crow-Iverson (President)
  • Brian Risley (Pro Tem)
  • Ken Casey
  • Roland Rainey
  • Brandy Williams (District 3 — OCC's seat)
Voted no (4)
  • Dave Donelson
  • Kimberly Gold
  • Nancy Henjum
  • David Leinweber
One vote flips it. Write to all nine.
A veto override takes six. They have five.
Four councilmembers stood with the Westside.
Remember the five. They represent you until you replace them.

All nine councilmembers can be reached at once at AllCouncil@coloradosprings.gov.

Where was Brandy Williams?

Councilmember Williams represents District 3 — Old Colorado City's seat on Council — and was appointed Council's liaison to the DDA. Here is the record.

  • 2024
    The Westside votes yes. OCC voters approve the DDA in a citizen-led election in November, after local business owners spent two years and more than $70,000 building it. Williams' predecessor in District 3, Michelle Talarico, championed it. A mill levy on the same ballot failed.
  • 2025
    Council stalls. Board candidates are put forward in January. Council does not finish seating them until late in the year.
  • Early June 2026
    The push takes shape behind closed doors. In an executive session closed to the public, Council moves toward dissolving the DDA. Nobody tells the board. (Executive-session contents are not public record. This entry is United Westside's account, not a document you can pull.)
  • June 24, 2026
    She takes a job helping a district she is about to end. Williams attends the DDA's June board meeting as Council's liaison and says nothing about dissolution. At the request of Trevor Glass of the city attorney's office, the board passes a resolution confirming it has no debt — a box that has to be checked before a DDA can be dissolved. Nobody says why. The board then plans a November 2027 mill levy, and Williams volunteers to check with the city clerk about getting it onto Council's docket.
  • July 8, 2026
    The board finds out from an agenda. Dissolution appears on a public Council agenda two business days before the July 13 work session. It is the first the board hears of it — from a posting, not from its liaison.
  • July 14, 2026
    She votes against giving OCC time. Council votes 5–4 to postpone. Williams votes no, warning that the DDA might run up debt — the debt the city had just had the board confirm does not exist.
  • July 29, 2026
    She says she has not done the reading. At the DDA board meeting, Williams says she has not reviewed the 2024 materials Council was given, or looked into how a DDA differs from the business improvement district she says she prefers: “It makes sense to me, but it doesn't make sense to you.” It takes another three weeks for her to call the district's consultant.
  • Aug. 25, 2026
    She lectures OCC about reading, then votes to dissolve. From the dais: “For those of you who haven't been bored enough at night to really read what a Downtown Development Authority is…” The vote is 5–4.

What Old Colorado City is saying

  • “The OCC DDA is an investment in our future.”Robin Frier, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory
  • “It's throwing your local small businesses under the bus.”Kit Hutchinson, Heartshake Studios
  • “The fact that we're all in agreement here, that the DDA is the right solution, is kind of a miracle.”Annie Trejo, Circa Vintage
  • “Look at all these businesses out here. They're all local. Everybody's local. Everyone.”Craig Dominguez, Agave Lounge
  • “There's absolutely nothing the DDA has done wrong. This is definitely the wildest thing I've ever seen in nearly 25 years of doing special district work.”Jamie Giellis, consultant on roughly 75 Colorado special districts

What happens if the DDA survives

The board finishes its Plan of Development, the City reviews it, and the DDA goes back to Old Colorado City voters and asks them to approve a mill levy — a small property tax, paid inside the district, spent inside the district. The board is targeting November 2027.

If OCC voters say no, it does not happen. That is the point. The Westside decides.

A councilmember who won't represent you can be replaced

Colorado Springs voters have the power to recall a councilmember. If Council overrides Old Colorado City on Tuesday, that conversation starts Wednesday.

One vote flips this. Tuesday, 9 a.m.

What you can do Get on the list

Sources

Quotes from Old Colorado City business owners and from the consultant are as reported by the Pikes Peak Bulletin. The 5–4 vote and the names on both sides of it, the November 2024 election, the July 14 postponement, and the DDA's inability to spend before the City approves its Plan of Development are independently reported by the Gazette. United Westside is not affiliated with any of these outlets.