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Candidate Q&A: Douglas Cohn - At-Large

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Contributed by: Douglas Cohn on 9/12/2007

Editor's note: YourHub.com is asking candidates running for office in the November election to complete a questionnaire. Look for the Q&As to run in the print editions up to the Nov. 6 election.

My name: Douglas Cohn

Office I'm running for: Englewood City Council At Large

Age: 60

My family: My wife Linda and I celebrated our 31st anniversary this summer. We have two sons. Tim, the older one is an estimator with Riviera Electric, is married with 3 children and lives in Englewood. Pete, the younger one is a freshman at Dana College in Blair Nebraska with a football scholarship. He graduated from Englewood High in 2005.

What I do: My family owns Bonnie Brae Hobbies at 3421 S. Broadway, but I spend most of my time driving an Access-A-Ride bus for RTD. My extended family also owns a farm in Arizona and I try to help out there whenever I can get away.

My favorite place in town to hang out: The Breakfast Queen Restaurant, the Surplus Store, Country Buffet, the Independence Day celebration in Belleview Park or the Farris Survival Store.

What I like most about living here: I grew up in Englewood, graduated from EHS class of 1965, have lived in some other places and never felt quite right until I returned home to Englewood. It is a great place to live. We have a wonderful water supply, established neighborhoods, homes with character, and great citizens. It is a small town in a large metro area.

My interests and hobbies: I look for treasure in my spare time with a metal detector and have been the chairman of Englewood Days for the past 2 years. I love Colorado history and finding old places and learning about the amazing pioneers who settled the land.

What is my favorite thing to cook: Waffles. My father had a great recipe and I like to cook them whenever I get the opportunity.

People who inspired me (and how):

* Jon Cook, a property developer who owns quite a bit of property around Englewood. He is an optimistic can do type of guy.
* Beverly Cummins, a grandma who I have gotten to know who owned a small shop till she retired a few years ago. She is a person who keeps on going in spite of challenges.
* Phil Gilliam, a friend of a long time. He is very active in Boy Scouts and a good guy.
* Bill Parks, a fellow who lives in an electric wheel chair since an accident years ago. He is bright, funny, determined and has only been somewhat slowed down by being a quadriplegic.

How I have contributed to the community: I have been the Merchants Assoc. chairman for 7 years since we moved our store to Englewood in 1999. Chris Duis and I have been the co-chairs of Englewood Days for the past 2 years. I worked hard on the formation of the Business Improvement District in downtown Englewood. It was approved in an election last November. I have been a scout leader and general promoter of our City. I have been a pest at City Council meetings for a while.

What are the biggest issues facing Englewood now: There are several.

We have a common sense problem. It seems to me, our leaders do not have enough of it. I have learned across the years that you have to pick your fights. Getting into a big legal fight over the murals on the walls of the store on S. Broadway is not productive. This fight is going to cost the City a whole bunch of money and I think the City will lose it. A better choice would have been to find a way to work with the business owner to resolve the conflict without the courts. Condemning the bike path land along big dry creek is a choice I would argue against. There are better and cheaper ways to accomplish the goal. We are looking at a new dog ordinance that if enacted as originally written would be terrible. Citizens of Englewood who are dog owners, need to watch this one and make your voices heard.

Every law or regulation that is passed hurts some one. Law makers need to understand that. They intended to hurt the targets, but there are always unintended consequences. Lawmakers must be very careful when playing with people's lives.

We have a money problem. We are spending more than we are taking in. This is a most pressing issue. We need to balance the spending with the income.

We need to encourage the upgrading of our housing stock and not clunk developers on the head with crazy regulations when they want to improve our neighborhoods. Most of the homes in town were built after WW2, have 2 bedrooms, 1 bath and a 1 car garage. We need bigger homes and more choices. With a new vision, I think builders looking for areas to upgrade will find our town an attractive place to work.

We need to do much better with our business community. The business people perceive they are nothing more than cash cows for money the City needs to do things. Most of the City revenue does come from sales tax, so we need to encourage our long time treasures like the Surplus Store, Gothic Theatre, Denver Fabrics and Kaufmanns and find more new businesses like Table Steaks as well. We need to make our City an attractive place for businesses to come and thrive. There is not much the government can do to help my business thrive (that is my job), but there are lots of ways it can make it harder. We need to make it easier.

We need to unleash the creativity of our citizens. Historically, Englewood has had great innovators. Tom Skerrit, the founder of the town, grew cherries but had a hard time getting them all the way to Denver. He got his plow team, cut the sod and made Broadway. In the 1890s, a fellow named Kuntz had some property to sell near Quincy and Broadway, but potential buyers could not get there. He bought a horse drawn trolley and made his own mass transit system. In the teens, a company named Alexander Industries made short films to place in between the newly invented motion pictures. After a time, they needed to find a more efficient way to get them to the theaters. In the 1920s they began to build aeroplanes. They were called Alexander Eaglerocks. Between 1926 and 1932 more civilian planes were built in Englewood than any place else in the world. (type that name into Google and see what you find). In the 1960s a fellow came to town with a new retail concept. It was called an enclosed shopping mall. Cinderella City was one of the first of these in the whole country and was a splendid place in its time. That same imaginative spirit still exists in our citizens and we need to nurture it and stand back.

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