By John Boren

The Pueblo City Council meeting on Oct. 24, 2022, at 7 p.m. was rather eventful. All seven of the council members were present.

A comment was made prior to this meeting that Mayor Nick Gradisar was not paying his female directors adequately compared to their male counterparts. Gradisar came prepared with slides showing the increase in salaries via percentages but offered no actual salaries.

Mayor Gradisar bragged about how over 150 tons of trash were removed from the Fountain Creek Clean up.

There was also a heated exchange between Mayor Gradisar and Councilman Regina Maestri.

Councilman Maestri pressed on the issue of people experiencing homelessness and the accumulation of trash. How severe it has become and stated that “our regular city workers shouldn’t be handling this. They’re hazardous,” Maestri said. She asked Mayor Gradisar what the plans were to clean up the rest.

Mayor Gradisar stated, “we will clean it up next spring like we do every year.” He also said, “we’re never going to finish cleaning it up. How can you finish cleaning it up when people are living down there,” in response to Councilman Maestri asking what the plan is moving forward.

The group that was displaced from Fountain Creek is now behind Walmart. 

When the clean-up was being taken care of, only two people qualified for housing through POSADA.

An 18th-month-old was found down there and taken in and brought somewhere safe. There are still children living down there.

President Heather Graham stated that her business was robbed on Oct. 19 and that the culprit was caught and released seven hours later on a $5,000 pr bond. Then was caught two days later robbing another store.

President Heather Graham said, “the police are trying, but because of legislation, it’s hard to keep people in jail. It is hard to get burglars off the street.”

There is an award of $1000 for a mural on the levee next to the pedestrian bridge. The theme is “Five Flags of the City.”