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Dr. Strangelove or: How I learned to Stop Worrying

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Contributed by: Charles Spratt on 3/26/2008

There is worry In the community of Green Valley Ranch, just south of DIA, though it is a new community it has great suffering: highest tax rate in Northeast Denver, falling property values, vacant homes, foreclosures, and weird characters leading the community.

The late Peter Sellersand his character, Dr. Strangelove would have had to admire the nearly psychotic explanations that the board of directors of the GVR Metropolitan District give for a nearly maniacal desire to spend money when the current economic conditions demand fiscal sanity. The Board of Directors are setting off a chain of events that very well might equal the doomsday machine. Money can't seem to be spent fast enough; there is the new fleet of trucks, and a shiny car; $40,000.00 paid to a bankrupt supplier (all of it could be lost), $3,389,000.00 for a "community center" building which had previously been voted down; $815.000.00 for a building/land assessed at $234,200 in 2005 during the latest real estate boom; up to $250,000 for expenses to operate a "community center" that will largely duplicate the services already provided to the community; and now they are going to build a maintenance building, the actual cost is unknown, but it could be several hundredsof thousands of dollars. All these expensive expenditures, economically extravagant during times of plenty are being piously provided by the Dr. Strangelove like board of directors oblivious to the obvious question... Why?

The community of Green Valley Ranch easily could find sane uses for money; paying off the bonded indebtedness created by this same organization is one; developing a program to help people avoid foreclosure is another; providing a community manager to enforce covenants is still another; a program to pay for neighbors taking care of the dying lawns at vacant homes is too obvious; providing playground equipment and landscaping to make the community more attractive doesn't come close to exhausting the choices.

But this board of directors, acting like Dr. Strangelove and apparently being advised by Dr. Frankenstein, are creating nearly useless monsters and fueling a financial doomsday machine with their extravagance. One board member recently gushed, "there are several other communities with similar centers and the people just love them!" However it is a "strange love" for if you watch the video presentation of the proposed community center, the fireplace appears to be a grotesque creature with bowed legs, standing thirty five feet tall with an appetite for tax money that is in short supply.

Dr. Strangelove suffered from paranoia and the Board of Directors of the GVR Metropolitan District rightfully believe that residents are "out to get them" for there is an election coming up in May, ballotsbeing mailed to community residents the third week of April. Community residents have to mailtheir ballots before May 5, for them to be counted. If residents want to vote and haven't received a ballot, call the GVR Metropolitan District office at 303-307-3240.

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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Charles Spratt

Denver , CO

Charles Spratt has posted 15 stories and 7 comments since joining on 2/25/2008. Charles Spratt 's average story rating is 1.97.

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