The whole site as one page, for an outside reader or a tool that only opens web pages. The same text is at everything.md; the page list is at llms.txt.
# The Westside Wherewithal, every page as text Generated by build.py on 2026-10-12. For an outside reader auditing the site. The live pages are canonical. --- # Wherewithal, n. <https://westsidewherewithal.com/about> Wherewithal, n. Skip to the page ← the front pagewherewithal, n. ## What this is wherewithal, noun: the means to get a thing done. Money, usually. Over here, whatever it takes. I live over here, about twenty years now, and I'm holding one pen. The paper works when there are a lot more of them. Bring your own, whatever it is: a notebook, a phone, a typewriter somebody left you, a kid with a camera. Write about the street you're on. New here? The avenue is West Colorado Avenue. OCC is Old Colorado City, the six blocks of it between about 24th and 27th. The Westside is everything west of I-25 to the Manitou line, the hills on both sides. One thing to show up to this week is in the next two weeks on the front page; trivia on Thursday at OCC Brewing needs no one to know you. Here runs past the avenue: Pleasant Valley, Midland, Mesa Springs, the Mesa, the motels out past 31st, the park. I don't know them all yet. Tell me what I'm missing. How it works: I find people who care and ask them to share it out loud. I ask others to participate too. We focus on writing about things that matter, and we get to decide what matters. So do you. What the idea is, what we're going to try, and what we honestly don't know yet is on the kit page, free to copy if you want to start one where you live. How we do it, and what we won't do, is in the code. Jeff Adkins, editor. See you Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · front page LightAutoDark --- # See that building? Look again <https://westsidewherewithal.com/address-book-1902> See that building? Look again Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## See that building? Look again The Address Book desk. Written from Mel McFarland's columns and the 1902 map; nothing here is from memory yet. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Stop right here on the sidewalk with me. See that? Keep looking, because I'm going to point at five places Mel McFarland wrote about, and every one of them was something else first. The Goodwill center on Colorado Avenue. See it? Part of that was the Golden Flake potato chip factory. Chips. Made right here. Now, Mel ran that in his quiz column of January 17, 2008, a whole column of reused buildings, and hold onto that one, because it comes back in a minute. Fire Station 5, at Colorado and 29th. Same column, told you. You know what that was before it was a fire station? The Standard Club, a recreation hall built for the workers at the Standard Gold Mill. 2902 W Colorado. Old city hall. And then, hang on, this is the part I love, it became the first Whittier School. Mel gave the answer on June 16, 2005. A city hall that turned into a school. Bancroft Park. Now, where the farmers market sets up. That was once Bancroft School, a big one, all the grades, junior high and high school classes too (January 17, 2008, and May 17, 2012). Next Saturday, stand right where you are with your market bag and picture it. The Van Briggle building. You know what that was? The Colorado Midland roundhouse. Fourteen stalls of stone, part of shops that covered 57 acres between 21st and 26th, south of the creek. Six hundred men worked those shops at their peak (April 19, 2012). And that the roundhouse became Van Briggle Pottery? That's in his columns of January 10, 2009 and February 19, 2009. Now. One honest warning before we walk on. The paper has the 1892 and 1902 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress, public domain). See the 1902 index sheet? It puts Colorado City at 4,000 people. But the town's street numbers were renumbered after Colorado Springs annexed it in 1917, so we won't match a 1902 address to a 2026 one without the key. The key lives at the History Center, 1 S 24th. That's the next stop for this desk. Here's where you come in. This desk has one standing question: what was in this storefront in 1968? If you remember, send it in. A name, a counter, what it smelled like, who worked there. Email hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or call or text 719-201-5462. A person reads every one. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Check your answer <https://westsidewherewithal.com/check> Check your answer Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Check your answer Did the word find on the back of the sheet or in the box edition? The letters you did not circle, read left to right and top to bottom, spell a message. Type them here, spaces or no spaces, and find out. Nothing you type is saved or sent anywhere.The leftover letters Check it The five questions Stuck on Westside five? The key is printed upside down at the bottom of the quiz. If you want it here: Show the key 1. Two elk · 2. $663.21 · 3. 1892 · 4. Goodwill · 5. School Text your score, or five questions of your own, to 719-201-5462. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Permission form, writers under 18 <https://westsidewherewithal.com/consent> Permission form, writers under 18 Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Permission form, writers under 18 The form The Westside Wherewithal release for writers and interview subjects under 18 I, _______, give The Westside Wherewithal permission to publish the writing, interview, photographs, or recordings described here: _______________ It may appear in the email edition, on the website, and in any later archive of the paper, and it may stay online for years. My name may be used with it. (Circle one: use my full name / first name only / no name) I keep the copyright to my own writing. The Westside Wherewithal may publish it in the paper and keep it in the archive, for no money. It will not sell it or license it to anyone else. I may ask the editor to correct a factual error at any time, and the correction will be printed. I, or my parent, may ask for the piece to come down from the site at any time, and it will. I understand I do not get to approve the final edit before it runs, but the editor will tell me if the piece changes in a way that changes its meaning. I was told I could talk this over with a parent, guardian, teacher, or any adult I trust before signing. Signature _______ Date ____ Age ___ Phone or email (for the editor only, not printed) __________ Send a photo of the signed form with your piece, or mail it to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904. Parent or guardian (required under 16, for anything personal, or for anyone who cannot fully understand the above): I, ________, am the parent or guardian of the person above. I have read this release and approve it. Signature _______ Date _____ Editor _______ Date _____ Keep the signed form. The paper's archive is only as good as its paper trail. To take a piece down, or to ask anything: call or text 719-201-5462, or hello@westsidewherewithal.com. What happens to it Every byline or interview by a person under 18 has a signed release. Under 16, or for anything personal (your own family, health, or home), a parent or guardian signs too. Under 13: collect a first name and a parent's email, nothing else, and the parent signs. A story about a named other kid gets read twice by the editor before it goes out. The young writer keeps their own copyright. We get permission to publish, not ownership. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Take a desk <https://westsidewherewithal.com/desks> Take a desk Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Take a desk Every page on this paper signed by a desk instead of a person is open. Taking one is not a job and not an application. It's a shift you can do in an hour or two a week, and your name goes on what prints. How it works Text 719-201-5462 or email hello@westsidewherewithal.com: "I'll take The Table." That's the whole form. On a phone, the "text it" links below open the message already typed. One conversation with Jeff, by phone or over coffee, so you know what the desk promises and he knows how to reach you. Your first piece runs under your name the next Thursday it's ready. The desk line at the top comes off. Miss a week? Say so, and the desk holds for you. Hand it back any week the same way. Nobody checks credentials. We check facts. Everything you turn in gets the same read every page gets: every claim traced to where it came from, a phone call on any hour or price, and a copy back to you before it prints. How we do things is the whole rulebook. The desks, in hours and acts DeskWhat it is, every weekAbout how long The Table text itCall five pantries and suppers on Tuesday, confirm the hours, write the day-by-day.An hour, mostly on hold The Weekend Radar text itMonday: pull the eight calendars (the avenue's association, the library, the Garden, Manitou, the community center), pick three, say where to park.An hour The Record text itOne City Council Tuesday a month (9 a.m., 107 N Nevada Ave, or the video later) with the one-page sheet. Write what happened, attach the document.Two hours, twice a month at most The Ridge text itMonday: read the city's parks and open-space page and the Friends of Red Rock Canyon site. Walk one trail. Say which one was muddy.An hour, plus the walk The Porch text itOne conversation a month with someone who's been here a long time. Recorded with their yes, written up in their words, read back to them before it prints.An afternoon a month The Address Book text itOne storefront or corner a week: what it was, from Mel McFarland's columns and the 1902 map, and one visit to the History Center at 1 S 24th for the renumbering key.An hour The Box text itOne page a month for kids, best done by a kid and a grown-up together: a dare, a thing to find, a true fact.An evening a month La Vecina text itRead la hoja once a week, fix what sounds wrong, and answer the Spanish texts that come to the number.An hour, some weeks none The Next Hundred text itRead the dates on the agendas (Council, Planning, the parks board, the clerk's liquor notices for 80904) and keep the twelve-month list honest.An hour The Year AheadThe editor's calendar. Not open; but the lead each week is, and a desk that takes one is how that starts. Two people can share a desk. A class can take The Box. A church can take The Table for its own block. If you want a desk that isn't here, say what it is. What you get Your name on the page, every week you do it. Readers first. A link back to anything of yours. The once-a-year thank-you list. No pay yet; we say so plainly. Coffee's on Jeff. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Be the person in the room <https://westsidewherewithal.com/documenter> Be the person in the room Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Be the person in the room Go to one public meeting, write down what happened on this sheet, send it in. It becomes a few lines in the paper with your name on them. One meeting is plenty. Pick a public meeting that touches the Westside. The easy first one: City Council, the second and fourth Tuesday at 9 a.m., Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada Ave; the next regular one is Tuesday, October 13, then October 27 (Monday work sessions, where they talk but don't vote, are on the same calendar). Agendas, minutes and the video live on the city's Legistar calendar, and you can watch it live or later there. Public meetings are open to anyone. Budget about two hours: the meeting, or the parts that touch the Westside, plus half an hour on this sheet. Print this page; it is the sheet. The sheet Fill in what you can. Blanks are fine; "didn't catch it" is a real answer. Meeting: which body, date, place or link, start and end time, who ran it Who was there: officials by name and title, who was absent, roughly how many from the public What was decided: each vote in its own words, the count, who voted yes and who voted no, the ordinance or file number off the agenda, and whether it was a first reading, a final one, or part of the consent list (see the key) What was said at the mic: three things people said, as close to their words as you can, with the name if they gave it. Hallway talk needs a yes from the person first. What was put off: anything tabled, continued, or sent to a later date What is next: the next date, and what is due before it Documents: the agenda, the packet, the ordinance or study number, a link or a photo of the page A short key Work session (Mondays): they talk, nobody votes. Regular meeting (second and fourth Tuesdays): votes happen. Consent calendar: a stack of routine items passed in one vote. Note the one that touches the Westside, skip the rest. First reading / second reading: an ordinance gets two votes on two different days. Say which one you saw. Hearing: a zoning or land-use item where people get sworn in and the council acts like a judge. The comment rules are different; the agenda says so. Citizen discussion: the open mic at the start, not tied to any item. What it looks like in the paper > Sep 22, 2026 · Old Colorado City's downtown development authority (DDA) shut down. Council voted 5 to 4 to dissolve it (yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams). The DDA says it may sue because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. The city's own page: the meeting record. In the news: the Gazette. Seen by [your name]. Three things Write what happened, not what you think of it. (Your opinion is welcome too, as a letter.) If it's your block, your business or your club, say so at the top. It still runs. Send it within the week: the box on the front page, hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or the paper by mail to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122. You'll see it before it runs. Borrowed from City Bureau in Chicago, which pays people to do this. We can't yet. We say so. Or fill it in from your seat Same sheet, on your phone. Blanks are fine. It lands in the paper's inbox and a person reads it.Meeting: which body, date, place or link, start and end time, who ran itWho was there: officials by name, who was absent, roughly how many from the publicWhat was decided: each vote in its own words, the count, yes and no names, the file number, first or final readingWhat was said at the mic: three things, as close to their words as you can, with the name if they gave itWhat was put off: tabled, continued, sent to a later dateWhat is next: the next date, what is due before itDocuments: agenda, packet, ordinance or study number, a link Send the sheet The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The code <https://westsidewherewithal.com/ethics> The code Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The code How we do things, and what we won't do. The bones come from the Society of Professional Journalists; the words are ours. This page is the rulebook; the rest of the paper is written from the heart and doesn't repeat it. The desks. Some pages carry a desk name (The Porch, The Record, The Box) instead of a person's. Those are drafted by the paper's software from the record we hold, edited by hand, and say so at the top. No made-up people, quotes or facts; every claim links to where it came from or says we are still looking. When a neighbor takes a desk, their name replaces the line; how that works is one page. Meeting notes from neighbors. Before a quote runs we read it back to the person who said it. Before a vote count runs we check it against the recording or the minutes. The writer sees their lines before they run; their name goes on them and nothing else of theirs. Photos of the room are fine; photos of people who didn't speak publicly are not. A wrong line gets corrected at the top of the next issue. Your email address goes to the email service and nowhere else. Pantry and supper hours get a phone call before they run. The jar: once a year we say how many chipped in, never how much; it's run by Jeff's one-person company and nobody draws a salary. Seek truth and report it Every claim carries its receipt: the document, the date, the name. If we can't attach it, we say "to link" until we can. We check before we publish, not after. We prefer the original source over the story about it. We don't make things up and we don't take other people's work without saying so. Minimize harm The people in this paper are our neighbors, and we'll see them at the market. We weigh what the public needs to know against what it costs a person to be in print. Kids, people in grief, and people who've never talked to a paper before get extra care. We ask before we quote you, and we say who we are when we call. A writer under 18 needs the permission form signed before a byline. Act independently Nobody buys a word of this. There are no sponsors, no ads, no price list. The jar is pay what you want, and a shop that chips in gets exactly what a neighbor who chips in gets. When the editor has a tie to something we cover (his office, his club, his friends), it says so in the sentence. If it can't be said cleanly, we don't cover it. Same for anyone who writes here: a tie to the story goes in the sentence. Be accountable and transparent We say who wrote what. A person writes every piece; software can fix spelling or type up an interview, and it does not get a byline. The one place software drafted lines is the Cobweb index, and that page says so. When we're wrong, we fix it, label it, and run the correction at the top of the next issue, not at the bottom of a page nobody reads. Tell us at hello@westsidewherewithal.com, call or text 719-201-5462, reply to the Thursday email, use the box on the front page, or write to the address in the footer. A person reads it. Our own rules, on top By us, for us. We can write about what isn't here. It's for the people who are. Clean. No profanity in the paper, even when the editor would. Less division, more discussion. We argue with ideas, not neighbors. Nothing to buy. A neighbor is a neighbor, renting or owning, behind the counter or in front of it. Chip in as one, write as one, with the tie said in the sentence. This rule is for the outfit from somewhere else that wants to buy a word in here: a chain's ad budget, a developer's PR shop, a media company in Denver. There is nothing to buy. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Every page, as text <https://westsidewherewithal.com/everything> Every page, as text Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Every page, as text The whole site as one page, for an outside reader or a tool that only opens web pages. The same text is at everything.md; the page list is at llms.txt. # The Westside Wherewithal, every page as text Generated by build.py on 2026-10-11. For an outside reader auditing the site. The live pages are canonical. --- # Wherewithal, n. <https://westsidewherewithal.com/about> Wherewithal, n. Skip to the page ← the front pagewherewithal, n. ## What this is wherewithal, noun: the means to get a thing done. Money, usually. Over here, whatever it takes. I live over here, about twenty years now, and I'm holding one pen. The paper works when there are a lot more of them. Bring your own, whatever it is: a notebook, a phone, a typewriter somebody left you, a kid with a camera. Write about the street you're on. New here? The avenue is West Colorado Avenue. OCC is Old Colorado City, the six blocks of it between about 24th and 27th. The Westside is everything west of I-25 to the Manitou line, the hills on both sides. One thing to show up to this week is in the next two weeks on the front page; trivia on Thursday at OCC Brewing needs no one to know you. Here runs past the avenue: Pleasant Valley, Midland, Mesa Springs, the Mesa, the motels out past 31st, the park. I don't know them all yet. Tell me what I'm missing. How it works: I find people who care and ask them to share it out loud. I ask others to participate too. We focus on writing about things that matter, and we get to decide what matters. So do you. What the idea is, what we're going to try, and what we honestly don't know yet is on the kit page, free to copy if you want to start one where you live. How we do it, and what we won't do, is in the code. Jeff Adkins, editor. See you Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · front page LightAutoDark --- # See that building? Look again <https://westsidewherewithal.com/address-book-1902> See that building? Look again Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## See that building? Look again The Address Book desk. Written from Mel McFarland's columns and the 1902 map; nothing here is from memory yet. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Stop right here on the sidewalk with me. See that? Keep looking, because I'm going to point at five places Mel McFarland wrote about, and every one of them was something else first. The Goodwill center on Colorado Avenue. See it? Part of that was the Golden Flake potato chip factory. Chips. Made right here. Now, Mel ran that in his quiz column of January 17, 2008, a whole column of reused buildings, and hold onto that one, because it comes back in a minute. Fire Station 5, at Colorado and 29th. Same column, told you. You know what that was before it was a fire station? The Standard Club, a recreation hall built for the workers at the Standard Gold Mill. 2902 W Colorado. Old city hall. And then, hang on, this is the part I love, it became the first Whittier School. Mel gave the answer on June 16, 2005. A city hall that turned into a school. Bancroft Park. Now, where the farmers market sets up. That was once Bancroft School, a big one, all the grades, junior high and high school classes too (January 17, 2008, and May 17, 2012). Next Saturday, stand right where you are with your market bag and picture it. The Van Briggle building. You know what that was? The Colorado Midland roundhouse. Fourteen stalls of stone, part of shops that covered 57 acres between 21st and 26th, south of the creek. Six hundred men worked those shops at their peak (April 19, 2012). And that the roundhouse became Van Briggle Pottery? That's in his columns of January 10, 2009 and February 19, 2009. Now. One honest warning before we walk on. The paper has the 1892 and 1902 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress, public domain). See the 1902 index sheet? It puts Colorado City at 4,000 people. But the town's street numbers were renumbered after Colorado Springs annexed it in 1917, so we won't match a 1902 address to a 2026 one without the key. The key lives at the History Center, 1 S 24th. That's the next stop for this desk. Here's where you come in. This desk has one standing question: what was in this storefront in 1968? If you remember, send it in. A name, a counter, what it smelled like, who worked there. Email hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or call or text 719-201-5462. A person reads every one. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Check your answer <https://westsidewherewithal.com/check> Check your answer Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Check your answer Did the word find on the back of the sheet or in the box edition? The letters you did not circle, read left to right and top to bottom, spell a message. Type them here, spaces or no spaces, and find out. Nothing you type is saved or sent anywhere.The leftover letters Check it The five questions Stuck on Westside five? The key is printed upside down at the bottom of the quiz. If you want it here: Show the key 1. Two elk · 2. $663.21 · 3. 1892 · 4. Goodwill · 5. School Text your score, or five questions of your own, to 719-201-5462. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Permission form, writers under 18 <https://westsidewherewithal.com/consent> Permission form, writers under 18 Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Permission form, writers under 18 The form The Westside Wherewithal release for writers and interview subjects under 18 I, _______, give The Westside Wherewithal permission to publish the writing, interview, photographs, or recordings described here: _______________ It may appear in the email edition, on the website, and in any later archive of the paper, and it may stay online for years. My name may be used with it. (Circle one: use my full name / first name only / no name) I keep the copyright to my own writing. The Westside Wherewithal may publish it in the paper and keep it in the archive, for no money. It will not sell it or license it to anyone else. I may ask the editor to correct a factual error at any time, and the correction will be printed. I, or my parent, may ask for the piece to come down from the site at any time, and it will. I understand I do not get to approve the final edit before it runs, but the editor will tell me if the piece changes in a way that changes its meaning. I was told I could talk this over with a parent, guardian, teacher, or any adult I trust before signing. Signature _______ Date ____ Age ___ Phone or email (for the editor only, not printed) __________ Send a photo of the signed form with your piece, or mail it to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904. Parent or guardian (required under 16, for anything personal, or for anyone who cannot fully understand the above): I, ________, am the parent or guardian of the person above. I have read this release and approve it. Signature _______ Date _____ Editor _______ Date _____ Keep the signed form. The paper's archive is only as good as its paper trail. To take a piece down, or to ask anything: call or text 719-201-5462, or hello@westsidewherewithal.com. What happens to it Every byline or interview by a person under 18 has a signed release. Under 16, or for anything personal (your own family, health, or home), a parent or guardian signs too. Under 13: collect a first name and a parent's email, nothing else, and the parent signs. A story about a named other kid gets read twice by the editor before it goes out. The young writer keeps their own copyright. We get permission to publish, not ownership. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Take a desk <https://westsidewherewithal.com/desks> Take a desk Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Take a desk Every page on this paper signed by a desk instead of a person is open. Taking one is not a job and not an application. It's a shift you can do in an hour or two a week, and your name goes on what prints. How it works Text 719-201-5462 or email hello@westsidewherewithal.com: "I'll take The Table." That's the whole form. On a phone, the "text it" links below open the message already typed. One conversation with Jeff, by phone or over coffee, so you know what the desk promises and he knows how to reach you. Your first piece runs under your name the next Thursday it's ready. The desk line at the top comes off. Miss a week? Say so, and the desk holds for you. Hand it back any week the same way. Nobody checks credentials. We check facts. Everything you turn in gets the same read every page gets: every claim traced to where it came from, a phone call on any hour or price, and a copy back to you before it prints. How we do things is the whole rulebook. The desks, in hours and acts DeskWhat it is, every weekAbout how long The Table text itCall five pantries and suppers on Tuesday, confirm the hours, write the day-by-day.An hour, mostly on hold The Weekend Radar text itMonday: pull the eight calendars (the avenue's association, the library, the Garden, Manitou, the community center), pick three, say where to park.An hour The Record text itOne City Council Tuesday a month (9 a.m., 107 N Nevada Ave, or the video later) with the one-page sheet. Write what happened, attach the document.Two hours, twice a month at most The Ridge text itMonday: read the city's parks and open-space page and the Friends of Red Rock Canyon site. Walk one trail. Say which one was muddy.An hour, plus the walk The Porch text itOne conversation a month with someone who's been here a long time. Recorded with their yes, written up in their words, read back to them before it prints.An afternoon a month The Address Book text itOne storefront or corner a week: what it was, from Mel McFarland's columns and the 1902 map, and one visit to the History Center at 1 S 24th for the renumbering key.An hour The Box text itOne page a month for kids, best done by a kid and a grown-up together: a dare, a thing to find, a true fact.An evening a month La Vecina text itRead la hoja once a week, fix what sounds wrong, and answer the Spanish texts that come to the number.An hour, some weeks none The Next Hundred text itRead the dates on the agendas (Council, Planning, the parks board, the clerk's liquor notices for 80904) and keep the twelve-month list honest.An hour The Year AheadThe editor's calendar. Not open; but the lead each week is, and a desk that takes one is how that starts. Two people can share a desk. A class can take The Box. A church can take The Table for its own block. If you want a desk that isn't here, say what it is. What you get Your name on the page, every week you do it. Readers first. A link back to anything of yours. The once-a-year thank-you list. No pay yet; we say so plainly. Coffee's on Jeff. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Be the person in the room <https://westsidewherewithal.com/documenter> Be the person in the room Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Be the person in the room Go to one public meeting, write down what happened on this sheet, send it in. It becomes a few lines in the paper with your name on them. One meeting is plenty. Pick a public meeting that touches the Westside. The easy first one: City Council, the second and fourth Tuesday at 9 a.m., Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada Ave; the next regular one is Tuesday, October 13, then October 27 (Monday work sessions, where they talk but don't vote, are on the same calendar). Agendas, minutes and the video live on the city's Legistar calendar, and you can watch it live or later there. Public meetings are open to anyone. Budget about two hours: the meeting, or the parts that touch the Westside, plus half an hour on this sheet. Print this page; it is the sheet. The sheet Fill in what you can. Blanks are fine; "didn't catch it" is a real answer. Meeting: which body, date, place or link, start and end time, who ran it Who was there: officials by name and title, who was absent, roughly how many from the public What was decided: each vote in its own words, the count, who voted yes and who voted no, the ordinance or file number off the agenda, and whether it was a first reading, a final one, or part of the consent list (see the key) What was said at the mic: three things people said, as close to their words as you can, with the name if they gave it. Hallway talk needs a yes from the person first. What was put off: anything tabled, continued, or sent to a later date What is next: the next date, and what is due before it Documents: the agenda, the packet, the ordinance or study number, a link or a photo of the page A short key Work session (Mondays): they talk, nobody votes. Regular meeting (second and fourth Tuesdays): votes happen. Consent calendar: a stack of routine items passed in one vote. Note the one that touches the Westside, skip the rest. First reading / second reading: an ordinance gets two votes on two different days. Say which one you saw. Hearing: a zoning or land-use item where people get sworn in and the council acts like a judge. The comment rules are different; the agenda says so. Citizen discussion: the open mic at the start, not tied to any item. What it looks like in the paper > Sep 22, 2026 · Old Colorado City's downtown development authority (DDA) shut down. Council voted 5 to 4 to dissolve it (yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams). The DDA says it may sue because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. The city's own page: the meeting record. In the news: the Gazette. Seen by [your name]. Three things Write what happened, not what you think of it. (Your opinion is welcome too, as a letter.) If it's your block, your business or your club, say so at the top. It still runs. Send it within the week: the box on the front page, hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or the paper by mail to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122. You'll see it before it runs. Borrowed from City Bureau in Chicago, which pays people to do this. We can't yet. We say so. Or fill it in from your seat Same sheet, on your phone. Blanks are fine. It lands in the paper's inbox and a person reads it.Meeting: which body, date, place or link, start and end time, who ran itWho was there: officials by name, who was absent, roughly how many from the publicWhat was decided: each vote in its own words, the count, yes and no names, the file number, first or final readingWhat was said at the mic: three things, as close to their words as you can, with the name if they gave itWhat was put off: tabled, continued, sent to a later dateWhat is next: the next date, what is due before itDocuments: agenda, packet, ordinance or study number, a link Send the sheet The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The code <https://westsidewherewithal.com/ethics> The code Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The code How we do things, and what we won't do. The bones come from the Society of Professional Journalists; the words are ours. This page is the rulebook; the rest of the paper is written from the heart and doesn't repeat it. The desks. Some pages carry a desk name (The Porch, The Record, The Box) instead of a person's. Those are drafted by the paper's software from the record we hold, edited by hand, and say so at the top. No made-up people, quotes or facts; every claim links to where it came from or says we are still looking. When a neighbor takes a desk, their name replaces the line; how that works is one page. Meeting notes from neighbors. Before a quote runs we read it back to the person who said it. Before a vote count runs we check it against the recording or the minutes. The writer sees their lines before they run; their name goes on them and nothing else of theirs. Photos of the room are fine; photos of people who didn't speak publicly are not. A wrong line gets corrected at the top of the next issue. Your email address goes to the email service and nowhere else. Pantry and supper hours get a phone call before they run. The jar: once a year we say how many chipped in, never how much; it's run by Jeff's one-person company and nobody draws a salary. Seek truth and report it Every claim carries its receipt: the document, the date, the name. If we can't attach it, we say "to link" until we can. We check before we publish, not after. We prefer the original source over the story about it. We don't make things up and we don't take other people's work without saying so. Minimize harm The people in this paper are our neighbors, and we'll see them at the market. We weigh what the public needs to know against what it costs a person to be in print. Kids, people in grief, and people who've never talked to a paper before get extra care. We ask before we quote you, and we say who we are when we call. A writer under 18 needs the permission form signed before a byline. Act independently Nobody buys a word of this. There are no sponsors, no ads, no price list. The jar is pay what you want, and a shop that chips in gets exactly what a neighbor who chips in gets. When the editor has a tie to something we cover (his office, his club, his friends), it says so in the sentence. If it can't be said cleanly, we don't cover it. Same for anyone who writes here: a tie to the story goes in the sentence. Be accountable and transparent We say who wrote what. A person writes every piece; software can fix spelling or type up an interview, and it does not get a byline. The one place software drafted lines is the Cobweb index, and that page says so. When we're wrong, we fix it, label it, and run the correction at the top of the next issue, not at the bottom of a page nobody reads. Tell us at hello@westsidewherewithal.com, call or text 719-201-5462, reply to the Thursday email, use the box on the front page, or write to the address in the footer. A person reads it. Our own rules, on top By us, for us. We can write about what isn't here. It's for the people who are. Clean. No profanity in the paper, even when the editor would. Less division, more discussion. We argue with ideas, not neighbors. Nothing to buy. A neighbor is a neighbor, renting or owning, behind the counter or in front of it. Chip in as one, write as one, with the tie said in the sentence. This rule is for the outfit from somewhere else that wants to buy a word in here: a chain's ad budget, a developer's PR shop, a media company in Denver. There is nothing to buy. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Every page, as text <https://westsidewherewithal.com/everything> Every page, as text Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Every page, as text The whole site as one page, for an outside reader or a tool that only opens web pages. The same text is at everything.md; the page list is at llms.txt. # The Westside Wherewithal, every page as text Generated by build.py on 2026-10-12. For an outside reader auditing the site. The live pages are canonical. --- # Wherewithal, n. <https://westsidewherewithal.com/about> Wherewithal, n. Skip to the page ← the front pagewherewithal, n. ## What this is wherewithal, noun: the means to get a thing done. Money, usually. Over here, whatever it takes. I live over here, about twenty years now, and I'm holding one pen. The paper works when there are a lot more of them. Bring your own, whatever it is: a notebook, a phone, a typewriter somebody left you, a kid with a camera. Write about the street you're on. New here? The avenue is West Colorado Avenue. OCC is Old Colorado City, the six blocks of it between about 24th and 27th. The Westside is everything west of I-25 to the Manitou line, the hills on both sides. One thing to show up to this week is in the next two weeks on the front page; trivia on Thursday at OCC Brewing needs no one to know you. Here runs past the avenue: Pleasant Valley, Midland, Mesa Springs, the Mesa, the motels out past 31st, the park. I don't know them all yet. Tell me what I'm missing. How it works: I find people who care and ask them to share it out loud. I ask others to participate too. We focus on writing about things that matter, and we get to decide what matters. So do you. What the idea is, what we're going to try, and what we honestly don't know yet is on the kit page, free to copy if you want to start one where you live. How we do it, and what we won't do, is in the code. Jeff Adkins, editor. See you Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · front page LightAutoDark --- # See that building? Look again <https://westsidewherewithal.com/address-book-1902> See that building? Look again Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## See that building? Look again The Address Book desk. Written from Mel McFarland's columns and the 1902 map; nothing here is from memory yet. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Stop right here on the sidewalk with me. See that? Keep looking, because I'm going to point at five places Mel McFarland wrote about, and every one of them was something else first. The Goodwill center on Colorado Avenue. See it? Part of that was the Golden Flake potato chip factory. Chips. Made right here. Now, Mel ran that in his quiz column of January 17, 2008, a whole column of reused buildings, and hold onto that one, because it comes back in a minute. Fire Station 5, at Colorado and 29th. Same column, told you. You know what that was before it was a fire station? The Standard Club, a recreation hall built for the workers at the Standard Gold Mill. 2902 W Colorado. Old city hall. And then, hang on, this is the part I love, it became the first Whittier School. Mel gave the answer on June 16, 2005. A city hall that turned into a school. Bancroft Park. Now, where the farmers market sets up. That was once Bancroft School, a big one, all the grades, junior high and high school classes too (January 17, 2008, and May 17, 2012). Next Saturday, stand right where you are with your market bag and picture it. The Van Briggle building. You know what that was? The Colorado Midland roundhouse. Fourteen stalls of stone, part of shops that covered 57 acres between 21st and 26th, south of the creek. Six hundred men worked those shops at their peak (April 19, 2012). And that the roundhouse became Van Briggle Pottery? That's in his columns of January 10, 2009 and February 19, 2009. Now. One honest warning before we walk on. The paper has the 1892 and 1902 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress, public domain). See the 1902 index sheet? It puts Colorado City at 4,000 people. But the town's street numbers were renumbered after Colorado Springs annexed it in 1917, so we won't match a 1902 address to a 2026 one without the key. The key lives at the History Center, 1 S 24th. That's the next stop for this desk. Here's where you come in. This desk has one standing question: what was in this storefront in 1968? If you remember, send it in. A name, a counter, what it smelled like, who worked there. Email hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or call or text 719-201-5462. A person reads every one. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Check your answer <https://westsidewherewithal.com/check> Check your answer Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Check your answer Did the word find on the back of the sheet or in the box edition? The letters you did not circle, read left to right and top to bottom, spell a message. Type them here, spaces or no spaces, and find out. Nothing you type is saved or sent anywhere.The leftover letters Check it The five questions Stuck on Westside five? The key is printed upside down at the bottom of the quiz. If you want it here: Show the key 1. Two elk · 2. $663.21 · 3. 1892 · 4. Goodwill · 5. School Text your score, or five questions of your own, to 719-201-5462. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Permission form, writers under 18 <https://westsidewherewithal.com/consent> Permission form, writers under 18 Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Permission form, writers under 18 The form The Westside Wherewithal release for writers and interview subjects under 18 I, _______, give The Westside Wherewithal permission to publish the writing, interview, photographs, or recordings described here: _______________ It may appear in the email edition, on the website, and in any later archive of the paper, and it may stay online for years. My name may be used with it. (Circle one: use my full name / first name only / no name) I keep the copyright to my own writing. The Westside Wherewithal may publish it in the paper and keep it in the archive, for no money. It will not sell it or license it to anyone else. I may ask the editor to correct a factual error at any time, and the correction will be printed. I, or my parent, may ask for the piece to come down from the site at any time, and it will. I understand I do not get to approve the final edit before it runs, but the editor will tell me if the piece changes in a way that changes its meaning. I was told I could talk this over with a parent, guardian, teacher, or any adult I trust before signing. Signature _______ Date ____ Age ___ Phone or email (for the editor only, not printed) __________ Send a photo of the signed form with your piece, or mail it to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904. Parent or guardian (required under 16, for anything personal, or for anyone who cannot fully understand the above): I, ________, am the parent or guardian of the person above. I have read this release and approve it. Signature _______ Date _____ Editor _______ Date _____ Keep the signed form. The paper's archive is only as good as its paper trail. To take a piece down, or to ask anything: call or text 719-201-5462, or hello@westsidewherewithal.com. How we handle it Every byline or interview by a person under 18 has a signed release. Under 16, or for anything personal (your own family, health, or home), a parent or guardian signs too. Under 13: collect a first name and a parent's email, nothing else, and the parent signs. A story about a named other kid gets read twice by the editor before it goes out. The young writer keeps their own copyright. We get permission to publish, not ownership. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Take a desk <https://westsidewherewithal.com/desks> Take a desk Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Take a desk Every page on this paper signed by a desk instead of a person is open. Taking one is not a job and not an application. It's a shift you can do in an hour or two a week, and your name goes on what prints. How it works Text 719-201-5462 or email hello@westsidewherewithal.com: "I'll take The Table." That's the whole form. On a phone, the "text it" links below open the message already typed. One conversation with Jeff, by phone or over coffee, so you know what the desk promises and he knows how to reach you. Your first piece runs under your name the next Thursday it's ready. The desk line at the top comes off. Miss a week? Say so, and the desk holds for you. Hand it back any week the same way. Nobody checks credentials. We check facts. Everything you turn in gets the same read every page gets: every claim traced to where it came from, a phone call on any hour or price, and a copy back to you before it prints. How we do things is the whole rulebook. The desks, in hours and acts DeskWhat it is, every weekAbout how long The Table text itCall five pantries and suppers on Tuesday, confirm the hours, write the day-by-day.An hour, mostly on hold The Weekend Radar text itMonday: pull the eight calendars (the avenue's association, the library, the Garden, Manitou, the community center), pick three, say where to park.An hour The Record text itOne City Council Tuesday a month (9 a.m., 107 N Nevada Ave, or the video later) with the one-page sheet. Write what happened, attach the document.Two hours, twice a month at most The Ridge text itMonday: read the city's parks and open-space page and the Friends of Red Rock Canyon site. Walk one trail. Say which one was muddy.An hour, plus the walk The Porch text itOne conversation a month with someone who's been here a long time. Recorded with their yes, written up in their words, read back to them before it prints.An afternoon a month The Address Book text itOne storefront or corner a week: what it was, from Mel McFarland's columns and the 1902 map, and one visit to the History Center at 1 S 24th for the renumbering key.An hour The Box text itOne page a month for kids, best done by a kid and a grown-up together: a dare, a thing to find, a true fact.An evening a month La Vecina text itRead la hoja once a week, fix what sounds wrong, and answer the Spanish texts that come to the number.An hour, some weeks none The Next Hundred text itRead the dates on the agendas (Council, Planning, the parks board, the clerk's liquor notices for 80904) and keep the twelve-month list honest.An hour The Year AheadThe editor's calendar. Not open; but the lead each week is, and a desk that takes one is how that starts. Two people can share a desk. A class can take The Box. A church can take The Table for its own block. If you want a desk that isn't here, say what it is. What you get Your name on the page, every week you do it. Readers first. A link back to anything of yours. The once-a-year thank-you list. No pay yet; we say so plainly. Coffee's on Jeff. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Be the person in the room <https://westsidewherewithal.com/documenter> Be the person in the room Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Be the person in the room Go to one public meeting, write down what happened on this sheet, send it in. It becomes a few lines in the paper with your name on them. One meeting is plenty. Pick a public meeting that touches the Westside. The easy first one: City Council, the second and fourth Tuesday at 9 a.m., Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada Ave; the next regular one is Tuesday, October 13, then October 27 (Monday work sessions, where they talk but don't vote, are on the same calendar). Agendas, minutes and the video live on the city's Legistar calendar, and you can watch it live or later there. Public meetings are open to anyone. Budget about two hours: the meeting, or the parts that touch the Westside, plus half an hour on this sheet. Print this page; it is the sheet. The sheet Fill in what you can. Blanks are fine; "didn't catch it" is a real answer. Meeting: which body, date, place or link, start and end time, who ran it Who was there: officials by name and title, who was absent, roughly how many from the public What was decided: each vote in its own words, the count, who voted yes and who voted no, the ordinance or file number off the agenda, and whether it was a first reading, a final one, or part of the consent list (see the key) What was said at the mic: three things people said, as close to their words as you can, with the name if they gave it. Hallway talk needs a yes from the person first. What was put off: anything tabled, continued, or sent to a later date What is next: the next date, and what is due before it Documents: the agenda, the packet, the ordinance or study number, a link or a photo of the page A short key Work session (Mondays): they talk, nobody votes. Regular meeting (second and fourth Tuesdays): votes happen. Consent calendar: a stack of routine items passed in one vote. Note the one that touches the Westside, skip the rest. First reading / second reading: an ordinance gets two votes on two different days. Say which one you saw. Hearing: a zoning or land-use item where people get sworn in and the council acts like a judge. The comment rules are different; the agenda says so. Citizen discussion: the open mic at the start, not tied to any item. What it looks like in the paper > Sep 22, 2026 · Old Colorado City's downtown development authority (DDA) shut down. Council voted 5 to 4 to dissolve it (yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams). The DDA says it may sue because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. The city's own page: the meeting record. In the news: the Gazette. Seen by [your name]. Three things Write what happened, not what you think of it. (Your opinion is welcome too, as a letter.) If it's your block, your business or your club, say so at the top. It still runs. Send it within the week: the box on the front page, hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or the paper by mail to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122. You'll see it before it runs. Borrowed from City Bureau in Chicago, which pays people to do this. We can't yet. We say so. Or fill it in from your seat Same sheet, on your phone. Blanks are fine. It lands in the paper's inbox and a person reads it.Meeting which body, date, place or link, start and end, who ran itWho was there officials by name, who was absent, roughly how many from the publicWhat was decided each vote in its own words, the count, yes and no names, the file number, first or final readingWhat was said at the mic three things, as close to their words as you can, with the name if they gave itWhat was put off tabled, continued, sent to a later dateWhat is next the next date, what is due before itDocuments agenda, packet, ordinance or study number, a link Send the sheet The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The code <https://westsidewherewithal.com/ethics> The code Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The code How we do things, and what we won't do. The bones come from the Society of Professional Journalists; the words are ours. This page is the rulebook; the rest of the paper is written from the heart and doesn't repeat it. The desks. Some pages carry a desk name (The Porch, The Record, The Box) instead of a person's. Those are drafted by the paper's software from the record we hold, edited by hand, and say so at the top. No made-up people, quotes or facts; every claim links to where it came from or says we are still looking. When a neighbor takes a desk, their name replaces the line; how that works is one page. Meeting notes from neighbors. Before a quote runs we read it back to the person who said it. Before a vote count runs we check it against the recording or the minutes. The writer sees their lines before they run; their name goes on them and nothing else of theirs. Photos of the room are fine; photos of people who didn't speak publicly are not. A wrong line gets corrected at the top of the next issue. Your email address goes to the email service and nowhere else. Pantry and supper hours get a phone call before they run. The jar: once a year we say how many chipped in, never how much; it's run by Jeff's one-person company and nobody draws a salary. Seek truth and report it Every claim carries its receipt: the document, the date, the name. If we can't attach it, we say "to link" until we can. We check before we publish, not after. We prefer the original source over the story about it. We don't make things up and we don't take other people's work without saying so. Minimize harm The people in this paper are our neighbors, and we'll see them at the market. We weigh what the public needs to know against what it costs a person to be in print. Kids, people in grief, and people who've never talked to a paper before get extra care. We ask before we quote you, and we say who we are when we call. A writer under 18 needs the permission form signed before a byline. Act independently Nobody buys a word of this. There are no sponsors, no ads, no price list. The jar is pay what you want, and a shop that chips in gets exactly what a neighbor who chips in gets. When the editor has a tie to something we cover (his office, his club, his friends), it says so in the sentence. If it can't be said cleanly, we don't cover it. Same for anyone who writes here: a tie to the story goes in the sentence. Be accountable and transparent We say who wrote what. A person writes every piece; software can fix spelling or type up an interview, and it does not get a byline. The one place software drafted lines is the Cobweb index, and that page says so. When we're wrong, we fix it, label it, and run the correction at the top of the next issue, not at the bottom of a page nobody reads. Tell us at hello@westsidewherewithal.com, call or text 719-201-5462, reply to the Thursday email, use the box on the front page, or write to the address in the footer. A person reads it. Our own rules, on top By us, for us. We can write about what isn't here. It's for the people who are. Clean. No profanity in the paper, even when the editor would. Less division, more discussion. We argue with ideas, not neighbors. Nothing to buy. A neighbor is a neighbor, renting or owning, behind the counter or in front of it. Chip in as one, write as one, with the tie said in the sentence. This rule is for the outfit from somewhere else that wants to buy a word in here: a chain's ad budget, a developer's PR shop, a media company in Denver. There is nothing to buy. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Every page, as text <https://westsidewherewithal.com/everything> Every page, as text Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Every page, as text The whole site as one page, for an outside reader or a tool that only opens web pages. The same text is at everything.md; the page list is at llms.txt. # The Westside Wherewithal, every page as text Generated by build.py on 2026-10-11. For an outside reader auditing the site. The live pages are canonical. --- # Wherewithal, n. <https://westsidewherewithal.com/about> Wherewithal, n. Skip to the page ← the front pagewherewithal, n. ## What this is wherewithal, noun: the means to get a thing done. Money, usually. Over here, whatever it takes. I live over here, about twenty years now, and I'm holding one pen. The paper works when there are a lot more of them. Bring your own, whatever it is: a notebook, a phone, a typewriter somebody left you, a kid with a camera. Write about the street you're on. New here? The avenue is West Colorado Avenue. OCC is Old Colorado City, the six blocks of it between about 24th and 27th. The Westside is everything west of I-25 to the Manitou line, the hills on both sides. One thing to show up to this week is in the next two weeks on the front page; trivia on Thursday at OCC Brewing needs no one to know you. Here runs past the avenue: Pleasant Valley, Midland, Mesa Springs, the Mesa, the motels out past 31st, the park. I don't know them all yet. Tell me what I'm missing. How it works: I find people who care and ask them to share it out loud. I ask others to participate too. We focus on writing about things that matter, and we get to decide what matters. So do you. What the idea is, what we're going to try, and what we honestly don't know yet is on the kit page, free to copy if you want to start one where you live. How we do it, and what we won't do, is in the code. Jeff Adkins, editor. See you Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · front page LightAutoDark --- # See that building? Look again <https://westsidewherewithal.com/address-book-1902> See that building? Look again Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## See that building? Look again The Address Book desk. Written from Mel McFarland's columns and the 1902 map; nothing here is from memory yet. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Stop right here on the sidewalk with me. See that? Keep looking, because I'm going to point at five places Mel McFarland wrote about, and every one of them was something else first. The Goodwill center on Colorado Avenue. See it? Part of that was the Golden Flake potato chip factory. Chips. Made right here. Now, Mel ran that in his quiz column of January 17, 2008, a whole column of reused buildings, and hold onto that one, because it comes back in a minute. Fire Station 5, at Colorado and 29th. Same column, told you. You know what that was before it was a fire station? The Standard Club, a recreation hall built for the workers at the Standard Gold Mill. 2902 W Colorado. Old city hall. And then, hang on, this is the part I love, it became the first Whittier School. Mel gave the answer on June 16, 2005. A city hall that turned into a school. Bancroft Park. Now, where the farmers market sets up. That was once Bancroft School, a big one, all the grades, junior high and high school classes too (January 17, 2008, and May 17, 2012). Next Saturday, stand right where you are with your market bag and picture it. The Van Briggle building. You know what that was? The Colorado Midland roundhouse. Fourteen stalls of stone, part of shops that covered 57 acres between 21st and 26th, south of the creek. Six hundred men worked those shops at their peak (April 19, 2012). And that the roundhouse became Van Briggle Pottery? That's in his columns of January 10, 2009 and February 19, 2009. Now. One honest warning before we walk on. The paper has the 1892 and 1902 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress, public domain). See the 1902 index sheet? It puts Colorado City at 4,000 people. But the town's street numbers were renumbered after Colorado Springs annexed it in 1917, so we won't match a 1902 address to a 2026 one without the key. The key lives at the History Center, 1 S 24th. That's the next stop for this desk. Here's where you come in. This desk has one standing question: what was in this storefront in 1968? If you remember, send it in. A name, a counter, what it smelled like, who worked there. Email hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or call or text 719-201-5462. A person reads every one. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Check your answer <https://westsidewherewithal.com/check> Check your answer Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Check your answer Did the word find on the back of the sheet or in the box edition? The letters you did not circle, read left to right and top to bottom, spell a message. Type them here, spaces or no spaces, and find out. Nothing you type is saved or sent anywhere.The leftover letters Check it The five questions Stuck on Westside five? The key is printed upside down at the bottom of the quiz. If you want it here: Show the key 1. Two elk · 2. $663.21 · 3. 1892 · 4. Goodwill · 5. School Text your score, or five questions of your own, to 719-201-5462. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Permission form, writers under 18 <https://westsidewherewithal.com/consent> Permission form, writers under 18 Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Permission form, writers under 18 The form The Westside Wherewithal release for writers and interview subjects under 18 I, _______, give The Westside Wherewithal permission to publish the writing, interview, photographs, or recordings described here: _______________ It may appear in the email edition, on the website, and in any later archive of the paper, and it may stay online for years. My name may be used with it. (Circle one: use my full name / first name only / no name) I keep the copyright to my own writing. The Westside Wherewithal may publish it in the paper and keep it in the archive, for no money. It will not sell it or license it to anyone else. I may ask the editor to correct a factual error at any time, and the correction will be printed. I, or my parent, may ask for the piece to come down from the site at any time, and it will. I understand I do not get to approve the final edit before it runs, but the editor will tell me if the piece changes in a way that changes its meaning. I was told I could talk this over with a parent, guardian, teacher, or any adult I trust before signing. Signature _______ Date ____ Age ___ Phone or email (for the editor only, not printed) __________ Send a photo of the signed form with your piece, or mail it to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904. Parent or guardian (required under 16, for anything personal, or for anyone who cannot fully understand the above): I, ________, am the parent or guardian of the person above. I have read this release and approve it. Signature _______ Date _____ Editor _______ Date _____ Keep the signed form. The paper's archive is only as good as its paper trail. To take a piece down, or to ask anything: call or text 719-201-5462, or hello@westsidewherewithal.com. How we handle it Every byline or interview by a person under 18 has a signed release. Under 16, or for anything personal (your own family, health, or home), a parent or guardian signs too. Under 13: collect a first name and a parent's email, nothing else, and the parent signs. A story about a named other kid gets read twice by the editor before it goes out. The young writer keeps their own copyright. We get permission to publish, not ownership. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Take a desk <https://westsidewherewithal.com/desks> Take a desk Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Take a desk Every page on this paper signed by a desk instead of a person is open. Taking one is not a job and not an application. It's a shift you can do in an hour or two a week, and your name goes on what prints. How it works Text 719-201-5462 or email hello@westsidewherewithal.com: "I'll take The Table." That's the whole form. On a phone, the "text it" links below open the message already typed. One conversation with Jeff, by phone or over coffee, so you know what the desk promises and he knows how to reach you. Your first piece runs under your name the next Thursday it's ready. The desk line at the top comes off. Miss a week? Say so, and the desk holds for you. Hand it back any week the same way. Nobody checks credentials. We check facts. Everything you turn in gets the same read every page gets: every claim traced to where it came from, a phone call on any hour or price, and a copy back to you before it prints. How we do things is the whole rulebook. The desks, in hours and acts DeskWhat it is, every weekAbout how long The Table text itCall five pantries and suppers on Tuesday, confirm the hours, write the day-by-day.An hour, mostly on hold The Weekend Radar text itMonday: pull the eight calendars (the avenue's association, the library, the Garden, Manitou, the community center), pick three, say where to park.An hour The Record text itOne City Council Tuesday a month (9 a.m., 107 N Nevada Ave, or the video later) with the one-page sheet. Write what happened, attach the document.Two hours, twice a month at most The Ridge text itMonday: read the city's parks and open-space page and the Friends of Red Rock Canyon site. Walk one trail. Say which one was muddy.An hour, plus the walk The Porch text itOne conversation a month with someone who's been here a long time. Recorded with their yes, written up in their words, read back to them before it prints.An afternoon a month The Address Book text itOne storefront or corner a week: what it was, from Mel McFarland's columns and the 1902 map, and one visit to the History Center at 1 S 24th for the renumbering key.An hour The Box text itOne page a month for kids, best done by a kid and a grown-up together: a dare, a thing to find, a true fact.An evening a month La Vecina text itRead la hoja once a week, fix what sounds wrong, and answer the Spanish texts that come to the number.An hour, some weeks none The Next Hundred text itRead the dates on the agendas (Council, Planning, the parks board, the clerk's liquor notices for 80904) and keep the twelve-month list honest.An hour The Year AheadThe editor's calendar. Not open; but the lead each week is, and a desk that takes one is how that starts. Two people can share a desk. A class can take The Box. A church can take The Table for its own block. If you want a desk that isn't here, say what it is. What you get Your name on the page, every week you do it. Readers first. A link back to anything of yours. The once-a-year thank-you list. No pay yet; we say so plainly. Coffee's on Jeff. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Be the person in the room <https://westsidewherewithal.com/documenter> Be the person in the room Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Be the person in the room Go to one public meeting, write down what happened on this sheet, send it in. It becomes a few lines in the paper with your name on them. One meeting is plenty. Pick a public meeting that touches the Westside. The easy first one: City Council, the second and fourth Tuesday at 9 a.m., Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada Ave; the next regular one is Tuesday, October 13, then October 27 (Monday work sessions, where they talk but don't vote, are on the same calendar). Agendas, minutes and the video live on the city's Legistar calendar, and you can watch it live or later there. Public meetings are open to anyone. Budget about two hours: the meeting, or the parts that touch the Westside, plus half an hour on this sheet. Print this page; it is the sheet. The sheet Fill in what you can. Blanks are fine; "didn't catch it" is a real answer. Meeting: which body, date, place or link, start and end time, who ran it Who was there: officials by name and title, who was absent, roughly how many from the public What was decided: each vote in its own words, the count, who voted yes and who voted no, the ordinance or file number off the agenda, and whether it was a first reading, a final one, or part of the consent list (see the key) What was said at the mic: three things people said, as close to their words as you can, with the name if they gave it. Hallway talk needs a yes from the person first. What was put off: anything tabled, continued, or sent to a later date What is next: the next date, and what is due before it Documents: the agenda, the packet, the ordinance or study number, a link or a photo of the page A short key Work session (Mondays): they talk, nobody votes. Regular meeting (second and fourth Tuesdays): votes happen. Consent calendar: a stack of routine items passed in one vote. Note the one that touches the Westside, skip the rest. First reading / second reading: an ordinance gets two votes on two different days. Say which one you saw. Hearing: a zoning or land-use item where people get sworn in and the council acts like a judge. The comment rules are different; the agenda says so. Citizen discussion: the open mic at the start, not tied to any item. What it looks like in the paper > Sep 22, 2026 · Old Colorado City's downtown development authority (DDA) shut down. Council voted 5 to 4 to dissolve it (yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams). The DDA says it may sue because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. The city's own page: the meeting record. In the news: the Gazette. Seen by [your name]. Three things Write what happened, not what you think of it. (Your opinion is welcome too, as a letter.) If it's your block, your business or your club, say so at the top. It still runs. Send it within the week: the box on the front page, hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or the paper by mail to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122. You'll see it before it runs. Borrowed from City Bureau in Chicago, which pays people to do this. We can't yet. We say so. Or fill it in from your seat Same sheet, on your phone. Blanks are fine. It lands in the paper's inbox and a person reads it.Meeting which body, date, place or link, start and end, who ran itWho was there officials by name, who was absent, roughly how many from the publicWhat was decided each vote in its own words, the count, yes and no names, the file number, first or final readingWhat was said at the mic three things, as close to their words as you can, with the name if they gave itWhat was put off tabled, continued, sent to a later dateWhat is next the next date, what is due before itDocuments agenda, packet, ordinance or study number, a link Send the sheet The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The code <https://westsidewherewithal.com/ethics> The code Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The code How we do things, and what we won't do. The bones come from the Society of Professional Journalists; the words are ours. This page is the rulebook; the rest of the paper is written from the heart and doesn't repeat it. The desks. Some pages carry a desk name (The Porch, The Record, The Box) instead of a person's. Those are drafted by the paper's software from the record we hold, edited by hand, and say so at the top. No made-up people, quotes or facts; every claim links to where it came from or says we are still looking. When a neighbor takes a desk, their name replaces the line; how that works is one page. Meeting notes from neighbors. Before a quote runs we read it back to the person who said it. Before a vote count runs we check it against the recording or the minutes. The writer sees their lines before they run; their name goes on them and nothing else of theirs. Photos of the room are fine; photos of people who didn't speak publicly are not. A wrong line gets corrected at the top of the next issue. Your email address goes to the email service and nowhere else. Pantry and supper hours get a phone call before they run. The jar: once a year we say how many chipped in, never how much; it's run by Jeff's one-person company and nobody draws a salary. Seek truth and report it Every claim carries its receipt: the document, the date, the name. If we can't attach it, we say "to link" until we can. We check before we publish, not after. We prefer the original source over the story about it. We don't make things up and we don't take other people's work without saying so. Minimize harm The people in this paper are our neighbors, and we'll see them at the market. We weigh what the public needs to know against what it costs a person to be in print. Kids, people in grief, and people who've never talked to a paper before get extra care. We ask before we quote you, and we say who we are when we call. A writer under 18 needs the permission form signed before a byline. Act independently Nobody buys a word of this. There are no sponsors, no ads, no price list. The jar is pay what you want, and a shop that chips in gets exactly what a neighbor who chips in gets. When the editor has a tie to something we cover (his office, his club, his friends), it says so in the sentence. If it can't be said cleanly, we don't cover it. Same for anyone who writes here: a tie to the story goes in the sentence. Be accountable and transparent We say who wrote what. A person writes every piece; software can fix spelling or type up an interview, and it does not get a byline. The one place software drafted lines is the Cobweb index, and that page says so. When we're wrong, we fix it, label it, and run the correction at the top of the next issue, not at the bottom of a page nobody reads. Tell us at hello@westsidewherewithal.com, call or text 719-201-5462, reply to the Thursday email, use the box on the front page, or write to the address in the footer. A person reads it. Our own rules, on top By us, for us. We can write about what isn't here. It's for the people who are. Clean. No profanity in the paper, even when the editor would. Less division, more discussion. We argue with ideas, not neighbors. Nothing to buy. A neighbor is a neighbor, renting or owning, behind the counter or in front of it. Chip in as one, write as one, with the tie said in the sentence. This rule is for the outfit from somewhere else that wants to buy a word in here: a chain's ad budget, a developer's PR shop, a media company in Denver. There is nothing to buy. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Every page, as text <https://westsidewherewithal.com/everything> Every page, as text Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Every page, as text The whole site as one page, for an outside reader or a tool that only opens web pages. The same text is at everything.md; the page list is at llms.txt. # The Westside Wherewithal, every page as text Generated by build.py on 2026-10-11. For an outside reader auditing the site. The live pages are canonical. --- # Wherewithal, n. <https://westsidewherewithal.com/about> Wherewithal, n. Skip to the page ← the front pagewherewithal, n. ## What this is wherewithal, noun: the means to get a thing done. Money, usually. Over here, whatever it takes. I live over here, about twenty years now, and I'm holding one pen. The paper works when there are a lot more of them. Bring your own, whatever it is: a notebook, a phone, a typewriter somebody left you, a kid with a camera. Write about the street you're on. New here? The avenue is West Colorado Avenue. OCC is Old Colorado City, the six blocks of it between about 24th and 27th. The Westside is everything west of I-25 to the Manitou line, the hills on both sides. One thing to show up to this week is in the next two weeks on the front page; trivia on Thursday at OCC Brewing needs no one to know you. Here runs past the avenue: Pleasant Valley, Midland, Mesa Springs, the Mesa, the motels out past 31st, the park. I don't know them all yet. Tell me what I'm missing. How it works: I find people who care and ask them to share it out loud. I ask others to participate too. We focus on writing about things that matter, and we get to decide what matters. So do you. What the idea is, what we're going to try, and what we honestly don't know yet is on the kit page, free to copy if you want to start one where you live. How we do it, and what we won't do, is in the code. Jeff Adkins, editor. See you Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · front page LightAutoDark --- # See that building? Look again <https://westsidewherewithal.com/address-book-1902> See that building? Look again Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## See that building? Look again The Address Book desk. Written from Mel McFarland's columns and the 1902 map; nothing here is from memory yet. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Stop right here on the sidewalk with me. See that? Keep looking, because I'm going to point at five places Mel McFarland wrote about, and every one of them was something else first. The Goodwill center on Colorado Avenue. See it? Part of that was the Golden Flake potato chip factory. Chips. Made right here. Now, Mel ran that in his quiz column of January 17, 2008, a whole column of reused buildings, and hold onto that one, because it comes back in a minute. Fire Station 5, at Colorado and 29th. Same column, told you. You know what that was before it was a fire station? The Standard Club, a recreation hall built for the workers at the Standard Gold Mill. 2902 W Colorado. Old city hall. And then, hang on, this is the part I love, it became the first Whittier School. Mel gave the answer on June 16, 2005. A city hall that turned into a school. Bancroft Park. Now, where the farmers market sets up. That was once Bancroft School, a big one, all the grades, junior high and high school classes too (January 17, 2008, and May 17, 2012). Next Saturday, stand right where you are with your market bag and picture it. The Van Briggle building. You know what that was? The Colorado Midland roundhouse. Fourteen stalls of stone, part of shops that covered 57 acres between 21st and 26th, south of the creek. Six hundred men worked those shops at their peak (April 19, 2012). And that the roundhouse became Van Briggle Pottery? That's in his columns of January 10, 2009 and February 19, 2009. Now. One honest warning before we walk on. The paper has the 1892 and 1902 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress, public domain). See the 1902 index sheet? It puts Colorado City at 4,000 people. But the town's street numbers were renumbered after Colorado Springs annexed it in 1917, so we won't match a 1902 address to a 2026 one without the key. The key lives at the History Center, 1 S 24th. That's the next stop for this desk. Here's where you come in. This desk has one standing question: what was in this storefront in 1968? If you remember, send it in. A name, a counter, what it smelled like, who worked there. Email hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or call or text 719-201-5462. A person reads every one. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Check your answer <https://westsidewherewithal.com/check> Check your answer Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Check your answer Did the word find on the back of the sheet or in the box edition? The letters you did not circle, read left to right and top to bottom, spell a message. Type them here, spaces or no spaces, and find out. Nothing you type is saved or sent anywhere.The leftover letters Check it The five questions Stuck on Westside five? The key is printed upside down at the bottom of the quiz. If you want it here: Show the key 1. Two elk · 2. $663.21 · 3. 1892 · 4. Goodwill · 5. School Text your score, or five questions of your own, to 719-201-5462. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Permission form, writers under 18 <https://westsidewherewithal.com/consent> Permission form, writers under 18 Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Permission form, writers under 18 The form The Westside Wherewithal release for writers and interview subjects under 18 I, _______, give The Westside Wherewithal permission to publish the writing, interview, photographs, or recordings described here: _______________ It may appear in the email edition, on the website, and in any later archive of the paper, and it may stay online for years. My name may be used with it. (Circle one: use my full name / first name only / no name) I keep the copyright to my own writing. The Westside Wherewithal may publish it in the paper and keep it in the archive, for no money. It will not sell it or license it to anyone else. I may ask the editor to correct a factual error at any time, and the correction will be printed. I, or my parent, may ask for the piece to come down from the site at any time, and it will. I understand I do not get to approve the final edit before it runs, but the editor will tell me if the piece changes in a way that changes its meaning. I was told I could talk this over with a parent, guardian, teacher, or any adult I trust before signing. Signature _______ Date ____ Age ___ Phone or email (for the editor only, not printed) __________ Send a photo of the signed form with your piece, or mail it to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904. Parent or guardian (required under 16, for anything personal, or for anyone who cannot fully understand the above): I, ________, am the parent or guardian of the person above. I have read this release and approve it. Signature _______ Date _____ Editor _______ Date _____ Keep the signed form. The paper's archive is only as good as its paper trail. To take a piece down, or to ask anything: call or text 719-201-5462, or hello@westsidewherewithal.com. How we handle it Every byline or interview by a person under 18 has a signed release. Under 16, or for anything personal (your own family, health, or home), a parent or guardian signs too. Under 13: collect a first name and a parent's email, nothing else, and the parent signs. A story about a named other kid gets read twice by the editor before it goes out. The young writer keeps their own copyright. We get permission to publish, not ownership. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Take a desk <https://westsidewherewithal.com/desks> Take a desk Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Take a desk Every page on this paper signed by a desk instead of a person is open. Taking one is not a job and not an application. It's a shift you can do in an hour or two a week, and your name goes on what prints. How it works Text 719-201-5462 or email hello@westsidewherewithal.com: "I'll take The Table." That's the whole form. On a phone, the "text it" links below open the message already typed. One conversation with Jeff, by phone or over coffee, so you know what the desk promises and he knows how to reach you. Your first piece runs under your name the next Thursday it's ready. The desk line at the top comes off. Miss a week? Say so, and the desk holds for you. Hand it back any week the same way. Nobody checks credentials. We check facts. Everything you turn in gets the same read every page gets: every claim traced to where it came from, a phone call on any hour or price, and a copy back to you before it prints. How we do things is the whole rulebook. The desks, in hours and acts DeskWhat it is, every weekAbout how long The Table text itCall five pantries and suppers on Tuesday, confirm the hours, write the day-by-day.An hour, mostly on hold The Weekend Radar text itMonday: pull the eight calendars (the avenue's association, the library, the Garden, Manitou, the community center), pick three, say where to park.An hour The Record text itOne City Council Tuesday a month (9 a.m., 107 N Nevada Ave, or the video later) with the one-page sheet. Write what happened, attach the document.Two hours, twice a month at most The Ridge text itMonday: read the city's parks and open-space page and the Friends of Red Rock Canyon site. Walk one trail. Say which one was muddy.An hour, plus the walk The Porch text itOne conversation a month with someone who's been here a long time. Recorded with their yes, written up in their words, read back to them before it prints.An afternoon a month The Address Book text itOne storefront or corner a week: what it was, from Mel McFarland's columns and the 1902 map, and one visit to the History Center at 1 S 24th for the renumbering key.An hour The Box text itOne page a month for kids, best done by a kid and a grown-up together: a dare, a thing to find, a true fact.An evening a month La Vecina text itRead la hoja once a week, fix what sounds wrong, and answer the Spanish texts that come to the number.An hour, some weeks none The Next Hundred text itRead the dates on the agendas (Council, Planning, the parks board, the clerk's liquor notices for 80904) and keep the twelve-month list honest.An hour The Year AheadThe editor's calendar. Not open; but the lead each week is, and a desk that takes one is how that starts. Two people can share a desk. A class can take The Box. A church can take The Table for its own block. If you want a desk that isn't here, say what it is. What you get Your name on the page, every week you do it. Readers first. A link back to anything of yours. The once-a-year thank-you list. No pay yet; we say so plainly. Coffee's on Jeff. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Be the person in the room <https://westsidewherewithal.com/documenter> Be the person in the room Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Be the person in the room Go to one public meeting, write down what happened on this sheet, send it in. It becomes a few lines in the paper with your name on them. One meeting is plenty. Pick a public meeting that touches the Westside. The easy first one: City Council, the second and fourth Tuesday at 9 a.m., Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada Ave; the next regular one is Tuesday, October 13, then October 27 (Monday work sessions, where they talk but don't vote, are on the same calendar). Agendas, minutes and the video live on the city's Legistar calendar, and you can watch it live or later there. Public meetings are open to anyone. Budget about two hours: the meeting, or the parts that touch the Westside, plus half an hour on this sheet. Print this page; it is the sheet. The sheet Fill in what you can. Blanks are fine; "didn't catch it" is a real answer. Meeting: which body, date, place or link, start and end time, who ran it Who was there: officials by name and title, who was absent, roughly how many from the public What was decided: each vote in its own words, the count, who voted yes and who voted no, the ordinance or file number off the agenda, and whether it was a first reading, a final one, or part of the consent list (see the key) What was said at the mic: three things people said, as close to their words as you can, with the name if they gave it. Hallway talk needs a yes from the person first. What was put off: anything tabled, continued, or sent to a later date What is next: the next date, and what is due before it Documents: the agenda, the packet, the ordinance or study number, a link or a photo of the page A short key Work session (Mondays): they talk, nobody votes. Regular meeting (second and fourth Tuesdays): votes happen. Consent calendar: a stack of routine items passed in one vote. Note the one that touches the Westside, skip the rest. First reading / second reading: an ordinance gets two votes on two different days. Say which one you saw. Hearing: a zoning or land-use item where people get sworn in and the council acts like a judge. The comment rules are different; the agenda says so. Citizen discussion: the open mic at the start, not tied to any item. What it looks like in the paper > Sep 22, 2026 · Old Colorado City's downtown development authority (DDA) shut down. Council voted 5 to 4 to dissolve it (yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams). The DDA says it may sue because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. The city's own page: the meeting record. In the news: the Gazette. Seen by [your name]. Three things Write what happened, not what you think of it. (Your opinion is welcome too, as a letter.) If it's your block, your business or your club, say so at the top. It still runs. Send it within the week: the box on the front page, hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or the paper by mail to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122. You'll see it before it runs. Borrowed from City Bureau in Chicago, which pays people to do this. We can't yet. We say so. Or fill it in from your seat Same sheet, on your phone. Blanks are fine. It lands in the paper's inbox and a person reads it.Meeting which body, date, place or link, start and end, who ran itWho was there officials by name, who was absent, roughly how many from the publicWhat was decided each vote in its own words, the count, yes and no names, the file number, first or final readingWhat was said at the mic three things, as close to their words as you can, with the name if they gave itWhat was put off tabled, continued, sent to a later dateWhat is next the next date, what is due before itDocuments agenda, packet, ordinance or study number, a link Send the sheet The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The code <https://westsidewherewithal.com/ethics> The code Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The code How we do things, and what we won't do. The bones come from the Society of Professional Journalists; the words are ours. This page is the rulebook; the rest of the paper is written from the heart and doesn't repeat it. The desks. Some pages carry a desk name (The Porch, The Record, The Box) instead of a person's. Those are drafted by the paper's software from the record we hold, edited by hand, and say so at the top. No made-up people, quotes or facts; every claim links to where it came from or says we are still looking. When a neighbor takes a desk, their name replaces the line; how that works is one page. Meeting notes from neighbors. Before a quote runs we read it back to the person who said it. Before a vote count runs we check it against the recording or the minutes. The writer sees their lines before they run; their name goes on them and nothing else of theirs. Photos of the room are fine; photos of people who didn't speak publicly are not. A wrong line gets corrected at the top of the next issue. Your email address goes to the email service and nowhere else. Pantry and supper hours get a phone call before they run. The jar: once a year we say how many chipped in, never how much; it's run by Jeff's one-person company and nobody draws a salary. Seek truth and report it Every claim carries its receipt: the document, the date, the name. If we can't attach it, we say "to link" until we can. We check before we publish, not after. We prefer the original source over the story about it. We don't make things up and we don't take other people's work without saying so. Minimize harm The people in this paper are our neighbors, and we'll see them at the market. We weigh what the public needs to know against what it costs a person to be in print. Kids, people in grief, and people who've never talked to a paper before get extra care. We ask before we quote you, and we say who we are when we call. A writer under 18 needs the permission form signed before a byline. Act independently Nobody buys a word of this. There are no sponsors, no ads, no price list. The jar is pay what you want, and a shop that chips in gets exactly what a neighbor who chips in gets. When the editor has a tie to something we cover (his office, his club, his friends), it says so in the sentence. If it can't be said cleanly, we don't cover it. Same for anyone who writes here: a tie to the story goes in the sentence. Be accountable and transparent We say who wrote what. A person writes every piece; software can fix spelling or type up an interview, and it does not get a byline. The one place software drafted lines is the Cobweb index, and that page says so. When we're wrong, we fix it, label it, and run the correction at the top of the next issue, not at the bottom of a page nobody reads. Tell us at hello@westsidewherewithal.com, call or text 719-201-5462, reply to the Thursday email, use the box on the front page, or write to the address in the footer. A person reads it. Our own rules, on top By us, for us. We can write about what isn't here. It's for the people who are. Clean. No profanity in the paper, even when the editor would. Less division, more discussion. We argue with ideas, not neighbors. Nothing to buy. A neighbor is a neighbor, renting or owning, behind the counter or in front of it. Chip in as one, write as one, with the tie said in the sentence. This rule is for the outfit from somewhere else that wants to buy a word in here: a chain's ad budget, a developer's PR shop, a media company in Denver. There is nothing to buy. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Every page, as text <https://westsidewherewithal.com/everything> Every page, as text Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Every page, as text The whole site as one page, for an outside reader or a tool that only opens web pages. The same text is at everything.md; the page list is at llms.txt. # The Westside Wherewithal, every page as text Generated by build.py on 2026-10-11. For an outside reader auditing the site. The live pages are canonical. --- # Wherewithal, n. <https://westsidewherewithal.com/about> Wherewithal, n. Skip to the page ← the front pagewherewithal, n. ## What this is wherewithal, noun: the means to get a thing done. Money, usually. Over here, whatever it takes. I live over here, about twenty years now, and I'm holding one pen. The paper works when there are a lot more of them. Bring your own, whatever it is: a notebook, a phone, a typewriter somebody left you, a kid with a camera. Write about the street you're on. New here? The avenue is West Colorado Avenue. OCC is Old Colorado City, the six blocks of it between about 24th and 27th. The Westside is everything west of I-25 to the Manitou line, the hills on both sides. One thing to show up to this week is in the next two weeks on the front page; trivia on Thursday at OCC Brewing needs no one to know you. Here runs past the avenue: Pleasant Valley, Midland, Mesa Springs, the Mesa, the motels out past 31st, the park. I don't know them all yet. Tell me what I'm missing. How it works: I find people who care and ask them to share it out loud. I ask others to participate too. We focus on writing about things that matter, and we get to decide what matters. So do you. What the idea is, what we're going to try, and what we honestly don't know yet is on the kit page, free to copy if you want to start one where you live. How we do it, and what we won't do, is in the code. Jeff Adkins, editor. See you Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · front page LightAutoDark --- # See that building? Look again <https://westsidewherewithal.com/address-book-1902> See that building? Look again Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## See that building? Look again The Address Book desk. Written from Mel McFarland's columns and the 1902 map; nothing here is from memory yet. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Stop right here on the sidewalk with me. See that? Keep looking, because I'm going to point at five places Mel McFarland wrote about, and every one of them was something else first. The Goodwill center on Colorado Avenue. See it? Part of that was the Golden Flake potato chip factory. Chips. Made right here. Now, Mel ran that in his quiz column of January 17, 2008, a whole column of reused buildings, and hold onto that one, because it comes back in a minute. Fire Station 5, at Colorado and 29th. Same column, told you. You know what that was before it was a fire station? The Standard Club, a recreation hall built for the workers at the Standard Gold Mill. 2902 W Colorado. Old city hall. And then, hang on, this is the part I love, it became the first Whittier School. Mel gave the answer on June 16, 2005. A city hall that turned into a school. Bancroft Park. Now, where the farmers market sets up. That was once Bancroft School, a big one, all the grades, junior high and high school classes too (January 17, 2008, and May 17, 2012). Next Saturday, stand right where you are with your market bag and picture it. The Van Briggle building. You know what that was? The Colorado Midland roundhouse. Fourteen stalls of stone, part of shops that covered 57 acres between 21st and 26th, south of the creek. Six hundred men worked those shops at their peak (April 19, 2012). And that the roundhouse became Van Briggle Pottery? That's in his columns of January 10, 2009 and February 19, 2009. Now. One honest warning before we walk on. The paper has the 1892 and 1902 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress, public domain). See the 1902 index sheet? It puts Colorado City at 4,000 people. But the town's street numbers were renumbered after Colorado Springs annexed it in 1917, so we won't match a 1902 address to a 2026 one without the key. The key lives at the History Center, 1 S 24th. That's the next stop for this desk. Here's where you come in. This desk has one standing question: what was in this storefront in 1968? If you remember, send it in. A name, a counter, what it smelled like, who worked there. Email hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or call or text 719-201-5462. A person reads every one. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Check your answer <https://westsidewherewithal.com/check> Check your answer Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Check your answer Did the word find on the back of the sheet or in the box edition? The letters you did not circle, read left to right and top to bottom, spell a message. Type them here, spaces or no spaces, and find out. Nothing you type is saved or sent anywhere.The leftover letters Check it The five questions Stuck on Westside five? The key is printed upside down at the bottom of the quiz. If you want it here: Show the key 1. Two elk · 2. $663.21 · 3. 1892 · 4. Goodwill · 5. School Text your score, or five questions of your own, to 719-201-5462. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Permission form, writers under 18 <https://westsidewherewithal.com/consent> Permission form, writers under 18 Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Permission form, writers under 18 The form The Westside Wherewithal release for writers and interview subjects under 18 I, _______, give The Westside Wherewithal permission to publish the writing, interview, photographs, or recordings described here: _______________ It may appear in the email edition, on the website, and in any later archive of the paper, and it may stay online for years. My name may be used with it. (Circle one: use my full name / first name only / no name) I keep the copyright to my own writing. The Westside Wherewithal may publish it in the paper and keep it in the archive, for no money. It will not sell it or license it to anyone else. I may ask the editor to correct a factual error at any time, and the correction will be printed. I, or my parent, may ask for the piece to come down from the site at any time, and it will. I understand I do not get to approve the final edit before it runs, but the editor will tell me if the piece changes in a way that changes its meaning. I was told I could talk this over with a parent, guardian, teacher, or any adult I trust before signing. Signature _______ Date ____ Age ___ Phone or email (for the editor only, not printed) __________ Send a photo of the signed form with your piece, or mail it to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904. Parent or guardian (required under 16, for anything personal, or for anyone who cannot fully understand the above): I, ________, am the parent or guardian of the person above. I have read this release and approve it. Signature _______ Date _____ Editor _______ Date _____ Keep the signed form. The paper's archive is only as good as its paper trail. To take a piece down, or to ask anything: call or text 719-201-5462, or hello@westsidewherewithal.com. How we handle it Every byline or interview by a person under 18 has a signed release. Under 16, or for anything personal (your own family, health, or home), a parent or guardian signs too. Under 13: collect a first name and a parent's email, nothing else, and the parent signs. A story about a named other kid gets read twice by the editor before it goes out. The young writer keeps their own copyright. We get permission to publish, not ownership. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Take a desk <https://westsidewherewithal.com/desks> Take a desk Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Take a desk Every page on this paper signed by a desk instead of a person is open. Taking one is not a job and not an application. It's a shift you can do in an hour or two a week, and your name goes on what prints. How it works Text 719-201-5462 or email hello@westsidewherewithal.com: "I'll take The Table." That's the whole form. On a phone, the "text it" links below open the message already typed. One conversation with Jeff, by phone or over coffee, so you know what the desk promises and he knows how to reach you. Your first piece runs under your name the next Thursday it's ready. The desk line at the top comes off. Miss a week? Say so, and the desk holds for you. Hand it back any week the same way. Nobody checks credentials. We check facts. Everything you turn in gets the same read every page gets: every claim traced to where it came from, a phone call on any hour or price, and a copy back to you before it prints. How we do things is the whole rulebook. The desks, in hours and acts DeskWhat it is, every weekAbout how long The Table text itCall five pantries and suppers on Tuesday, confirm the hours, write the day-by-day.An hour, mostly on hold The Weekend Radar text itMonday: pull the eight calendars (the avenue's association, the library, the Garden, Manitou, the community center), pick three, say where to park.An hour The Record text itOne City Council Tuesday a month (9 a.m., 107 N Nevada Ave, or the video later) with the one-page sheet. Write what happened, attach the document.Two hours, twice a month at most The Ridge text itMonday: read the city's parks and open-space page and the Friends of Red Rock Canyon site. Walk one trail. Say which one was muddy.An hour, plus the walk The Porch text itOne conversation a month with someone who's been here a long time. Recorded with their yes, written up in their words, read back to them before it prints.An afternoon a month The Address Book text itOne storefront or corner a week: what it was, from Mel McFarland's columns and the 1902 map, and one visit to the History Center at 1 S 24th for the renumbering key.An hour The Box text itOne page a month for kids, best done by a kid and a grown-up together: a dare, a thing to find, a true fact.An evening a month La Vecina text itRead la hoja once a week, fix what sounds wrong, and answer the Spanish texts that come to the number.An hour, some weeks none The Next Hundred text itRead the dates on the agendas (Council, Planning, the parks board, the clerk's liquor notices for 80904) and keep the twelve-month list honest.An hour The Year AheadThe editor's calendar. Not open; but the lead each week is, and a desk that takes one is how that starts. Two people can share a desk. A class can take The Box. A church can take The Table for its own block. If you want a desk that isn't here, say what it is. What you get Your name on the page, every week you do it. Readers first. A link back to anything of yours. The once-a-year thank-you list. No pay yet; we say so plainly. Coffee's on Jeff. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Be the person in the room <https://westsidewherewithal.com/documenter> Be the person in the room Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Be the person in the room Go to one public meeting, write down what happened on this sheet, send it in. It becomes a few lines in the paper with your name on them. One meeting is plenty. Pick a public meeting that touches the Westside. The easy first one: City Council, the second and fourth Tuesday at 9 a.m., Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada Ave; the next regular one is Tuesday, October 13, then October 27 (Monday work sessions, where they talk but don't vote, are on the same calendar). Agendas, minutes and the video live on the city's Legistar calendar, and you can watch it live or later there. Public meetings are open to anyone. Budget about two hours: the meeting, or the parts that touch the Westside, plus half an hour on this sheet. Print this page; it is the sheet. The sheet Fill in what you can. Blanks are fine; "didn't catch it" is a real answer. Meeting: which body, date, place or link, start and end time, who ran it Who was there: officials by name and title, who was absent, roughly how many from the public What was decided: each vote in its own words, the count, who voted yes and who voted no, the ordinance or file number off the agenda, and whether it was a first reading, a final one, or part of the consent list (see the key) What was said at the mic: three things people said, as close to their words as you can, with the name if they gave it. Hallway talk needs a yes from the person first. What was put off: anything tabled, continued, or sent to a later date What is next: the next date, and what is due before it Documents: the agenda, the packet, the ordinance or study number, a link or a photo of the page A short key Work session (Mondays): they talk, nobody votes. Regular meeting (second and fourth Tuesdays): votes happen. Consent calendar: a stack of routine items passed in one vote. Note the one that touches the Westside, skip the rest. First reading / second reading: an ordinance gets two votes on two different days. Say which one you saw. Hearing: a zoning or land-use item where people get sworn in and the council acts like a judge. The comment rules are different; the agenda says so. Citizen discussion: the open mic at the start, not tied to any item. What it looks like in the paper > Sep 22, 2026 · Old Colorado City's downtown development authority (DDA) shut down. Council voted 5 to 4 to dissolve it (yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams). The DDA says it may sue because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. The city's own page: the meeting record. In the news: the Gazette. Seen by [your name]. Three things Write what happened, not what you think of it. (Your opinion is welcome too, as a letter.) If it's your block, your business or your club, say so at the top. It still runs. Send it within the week: the box on the front page, hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or the paper by mail to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122. You'll see it before it runs. Borrowed from City Bureau in Chicago, which pays people to do this. We can't yet. We say so. Or fill it in from your seat Same sheet, on your phone. Blanks are fine. It lands in the paper's inbox and a person reads it.Meeting which body, date, place or link, start and end, who ran itWho was there officials by name, who was absent, roughly how many from the publicWhat was decided each vote in its own words, the count, yes and no names, the file number, first or final readingWhat was said at the mic three things, as close to their words as you can, with the name if they gave itWhat was put off tabled, continued, sent to a later dateWhat is next the next date, what is due before itDocuments agenda, packet, ordinance or study number, a link Send the sheet The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The code <https://westsidewherewithal.com/ethics> The code Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The code How we do things, and what we won't do. The bones come from the Society of Professional Journalists; the words are ours. This page is the rulebook; the rest of the paper is written from the heart and doesn't repeat it. The desks. Some pages carry a desk name (The Porch, The Record, The Box) instead of a person's. Those are drafted by the paper's software from the record we hold, edited by hand, and say so at the top. No made-up people, quotes or facts; every claim links to where it came from or says we are still looking. When a neighbor takes a desk, their name replaces the line; how that works is one page. Meeting notes from neighbors. Before a quote runs we read it back to the person who said it. Before a vote count runs we check it against the recording or the minutes. The writer sees their lines before they run; their name goes on them and nothing else of theirs. Photos of the room are fine; photos of people who didn't speak publicly are not. A wrong line gets corrected at the top of the next issue. Your email address goes to the email service and nowhere else. Pantry and supper hours get a phone call before they run. The jar: once a year we say how many chipped in, never how much; it's run by Jeff's one-person company and nobody draws a salary. Seek truth and report it Every claim carries its receipt: the document, the date, the name. If we can't attach it, we say "to link" until we can. We check before we publish, not after. We prefer the original source over the story about it. We don't make things up and we don't take other people's work without saying so. Minimize harm The people in this paper are our neighbors, and we'll see them at the market. We weigh what the public needs to know against what it costs a person to be in print. Kids, people in grief, and people who've never talked to a paper before get extra care. We ask before we quote you, and we say who we are when we call. A writer under 18 needs the permission form signed before a byline. Act independently Nobody buys a word of this. There are no sponsors, no ads, no price list. The jar is pay what you want, and a shop that chips in gets exactly what a neighbor who chips in gets. When the editor has a tie to something we cover (his office, his club, his friends), it says so in the sentence. If it can't be said cleanly, we don't cover it. Same for anyone who writes here: a tie to the story goes in the sentence. Be accountable and transparent We say who wrote what. A person writes every piece; software can fix spelling or type up an interview, and it does not get a byline. The one place software drafted lines is the Cobweb index, and that page says so. When we're wrong, we fix it, label it, and run the correction at the top of the next issue, not at the bottom of a page nobody reads. Tell us at hello@westsidewherewithal.com, call or text 719-201-5462, reply to the Thursday email, use the box on the front page, or write to the address in the footer. A person reads it. Our own rules, on top By us, for us. We can write about what isn't here. It's for the people who are. Clean. No profanity in the paper, even when the editor would. Less division, more discussion. We argue with ideas, not neighbors. Nothing to buy. A neighbor is a neighbor, renting or owning, behind the counter or in front of it. Chip in as one, write as one, with the tie said in the sentence. This rule is for the outfit from somewhere else that wants to buy a word in here: a chain's ad budget, a developer's PR shop, a media company in Denver. There is nothing to buy. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Every page, as text <https://westsidewherewithal.com/everything> Every page, as text Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Every page, as text The whole site as one page, for an outside reader or a tool that only opens web pages. The same text is at everything.md; the page list is at llms.txt. # The Westside Wherewithal, every page as text Generated by build.py on 2026-10-11. For an outside reader auditing the site. The live pages are canonical. --- # Wherewithal, n. <https://westsidewherewithal.com/about> Wherewithal, n. Skip to the page ← the front pagewherewithal, n. ## What this is wherewithal, noun: the means to get a thing done. Money, usually. Over here, whatever it takes. I live over here, about twenty years now, and I'm holding one pen. The paper works when there are a lot more of them. Bring your own, whatever it is: a notebook, a phone, a typewriter somebody left you, a kid with a camera. Write about the street you're on. New here? The avenue is West Colorado Avenue. OCC is Old Colorado City, the six blocks of it between about 24th and 27th. The Westside is everything west of I-25 to the Manitou line, the hills on both sides. One thing to show up to this week is in the next two weeks on the front page; trivia on Thursday at OCC Brewing needs no one to know you. Here runs past the avenue: Pleasant Valley, Midland, Mesa Springs, the Mesa, the motels out past 31st, the park. I don't know them all yet. Tell me what I'm missing. How it works: I find people who care and ask them to share it out loud. I ask others to participate too. We focus on writing about things that matter, and we get to decide what matters. So do you. What the idea is, what we're going to try, and what we honestly don't know yet is on the kit page, free to copy if you want to start one where you live. How we do it, and what we won't do, is in the code. Jeff Adkins, editor. See you Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · front page LightAutoDark --- # See that building? Look again <https://westsidewherewithal.com/address-book-1902> See that building? Look again Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## See that building? Look again The Address Book desk. Written from Mel McFarland's columns and the 1902 map; nothing here is from memory yet. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Stop right here on the sidewalk with me. See that? Keep looking, because I'm going to point at five places Mel McFarland wrote about, and every one of them was something else first. The Goodwill center on Colorado Avenue. See it? Part of that was the Golden Flake potato chip factory. Chips. Made right here. Now, Mel ran that in his quiz column of January 17, 2008, a whole column of reused buildings, and hold onto that one, because it comes back in a minute. Fire Station 5, at Colorado and 29th. Same column, told you. You know what that was before it was a fire station? The Standard Club, a recreation hall built for the workers at the Standard Gold Mill. 2902 W Colorado. Old city hall. And then, hang on, this is the part I love, it became the first Whittier School. Mel gave the answer on June 16, 2005. A city hall that turned into a school. Bancroft Park. Now, where the farmers market sets up. That was once Bancroft School, a big one, all the grades, junior high and high school classes too (January 17, 2008, and May 17, 2012). Next Saturday, stand right where you are with your market bag and picture it. The Van Briggle building. You know what that was? The Colorado Midland roundhouse. Fourteen stalls of stone, part of shops that covered 57 acres between 21st and 26th, south of the creek. Six hundred men worked those shops at their peak (April 19, 2012). And that the roundhouse became Van Briggle Pottery? That's in his columns of January 10, 2009 and February 19, 2009. Now. One honest warning before we walk on. The paper has the 1892 and 1902 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress, public domain). See the 1902 index sheet? It puts Colorado City at 4,000 people. But the town's street numbers were renumbered after Colorado Springs annexed it in 1917, so we won't match a 1902 address to a 2026 one without the key. The key lives at the History Center, 1 S 24th. That's the next stop for this desk. Here's where you come in. This desk has one standing question: what was in this storefront in 1968? If you remember, send it in. A name, a counter, what it smelled like, who worked there. Email hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or call or text 719-201-5462. A person reads every one. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Check your answer <https://westsidewherewithal.com/check> Check your answer Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Check your answer Did the word find on the back of the sheet or in the box edition? The letters you did not circle, read left to right and top to bottom, spell a message. Type them here, spaces or no spaces, and find out. Nothing you type is saved or sent anywhere.The leftover letters Check it The five questions Stuck on Westside five? The key is printed upside down at the bottom of the quiz. If you want it here: Show the key 1. Two elk · 2. $663.21 · 3. 1892 · 4. Goodwill · 5. School Text your score, or five questions of your own, to 719-201-5462. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Permission form, writers under 18 <https://westsidewherewithal.com/consent> Permission form, writers under 18 Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Permission form, writers under 18 The form The Westside Wherewithal release for writers and interview subjects under 18 I, _______, give The Westside Wherewithal permission to publish the writing, interview, photographs, or recordings described here: _______________ It may appear in the email edition, on the website, and in any later archive of the paper, and it may stay online for years. My name may be used with it. (Circle one: use my full name / first name only / no name) I keep the copyright to my own writing. The Westside Wherewithal may publish it in the paper and keep it in the archive, for no money. It will not sell it or license it to anyone else. I may ask the editor to correct a factual error at any time, and the correction will be printed. I, or my parent, may ask for the piece to come down from the site at any time, and it will. I understand I do not get to approve the final edit before it runs, but the editor will tell me if the piece changes in a way that changes its meaning. I was told I could talk this over with a parent, guardian, teacher, or any adult I trust before signing. Signature _______ Date ____ Age ___ Phone or email (for the editor only, not printed) __________ Send a photo of the signed form with your piece, or mail it to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904. Parent or guardian (required under 16, for anything personal, or for anyone who cannot fully understand the above): I, ________, am the parent or guardian of the person above. I have read this release and approve it. Signature _______ Date _____ Editor _______ Date _____ Keep the signed form. The paper's archive is only as good as its paper trail. To take a piece down, or to ask anything: call or text 719-201-5462, or hello@westsidewherewithal.com. How we handle it Every byline or interview by a person under 18 has a signed release. Under 16, or for anything personal (your own family, health, or home), a parent or guardian signs too. Under 13: collect a first name and a parent's email, nothing else, and the parent signs. A story about a named other kid gets read twice by the editor before it goes out. The young writer keeps their own copyright. We get permission to publish, not ownership. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Take a desk <https://westsidewherewithal.com/desks> Take a desk Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Take a desk Every page on this paper signed by a desk instead of a person is open. Taking one is not a job and not an application. It's a shift you can do in an hour or two a week, and your name goes on what prints. How it works Text 719-201-5462 or email hello@westsidewherewithal.com: "I'll take The Table." That's the whole form. On a phone, the "text it" links below open the message already typed. One conversation with Jeff, by phone or over coffee, so you know what the desk promises and he knows how to reach you. Your first piece runs under your name the next Thursday it's ready. The desk line at the top comes off. Miss a week? Say so, and the desk holds for you. Hand it back any week the same way. Nobody checks credentials. We check facts. Everything you turn in gets the same read every page gets: every claim traced to where it came from, a phone call on any hour or price, and a copy back to you before it prints. How we do things is the whole rulebook. The desks, in hours and acts DeskWhat it is, every weekAbout how long The Table text itCall five pantries and suppers on Tuesday, confirm the hours, write the day-by-day.An hour, mostly on hold The Weekend Radar text itMonday: pull the eight calendars (the avenue's association, the library, the Garden, Manitou, the community center), pick three, say where to park.An hour The Record text itOne City Council Tuesday a month (9 a.m., 107 N Nevada Ave, or the video later) with the one-page sheet. Write what happened, attach the document.Two hours, twice a month at most The Ridge text itMonday: read the city's parks and open-space page and the Friends of Red Rock Canyon site. Walk one trail. Say which one was muddy.An hour, plus the walk The Porch text itOne conversation a month with someone who's been here a long time. Recorded with their yes, written up in their words, read back to them before it prints.An afternoon a month The Address Book text itOne storefront or corner a week: what it was, from Mel McFarland's columns and the 1902 map, and one visit to the History Center at 1 S 24th for the renumbering key.An hour The Box text itOne page a month for kids, best done by a kid and a grown-up together: a dare, a thing to find, a true fact.An evening a month La Vecina text itRead la hoja once a week, fix what sounds wrong, and answer the Spanish texts that come to the number.An hour, some weeks none The Next Hundred text itRead the dates on the agendas (Council, Planning, the parks board, the clerk's liquor notices for 80904) and keep the twelve-month list honest.An hour The Year AheadThe editor's calendar. Not open; but the lead each week is, and a desk that takes one is how that starts. Two people can share a desk. A class can take The Box. A church can take The Table for its own block. If you want a desk that isn't here, say what it is. What you get Your name on the page, every week you do it. Readers first. A link back to anything of yours. The once-a-year thank-you list. No pay yet; we say so plainly. Coffee's on Jeff. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Be the person in the room <https://westsidewherewithal.com/documenter> Be the person in the room Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Be the person in the room Go to one public meeting, write down what happened on this sheet, send it in. It becomes a few lines in the paper with your name on them. One meeting is plenty. Pick a public meeting that touches the Westside. The easy first one: City Council, the second and fourth Tuesday at 9 a.m., Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada Ave; the next regular one is Tuesday, October 13, then October 27 (Monday work sessions, where they talk but don't vote, are on the same calendar). Agendas, minutes and the video live on the city's Legistar calendar, and you can watch it live or later there. Public meetings are open to anyone. Budget about two hours: the meeting, or the parts that touch the Westside, plus half an hour on this sheet. Print this page; it is the sheet. The sheet Fill in what you can. Blanks are fine; "didn't catch it" is a real answer. Meeting: which body, date, place or link, start and end time, who ran it Who was there: officials by name and title, who was absent, roughly how many from the public What was decided: each vote in its own words, the count, who voted yes and who voted no, the ordinance or file number off the agenda, and whether it was a first reading, a final one, or part of the consent list (see the key) What was said at the mic: three things people said, as close to their words as you can, with the name if they gave it. Hallway talk needs a yes from the person first. What was put off: anything tabled, continued, or sent to a later date What is next: the next date, and what is due before it Documents: the agenda, the packet, the ordinance or study number, a link or a photo of the page A short key Work session (Mondays): they talk, nobody votes. Regular meeting (second and fourth Tuesdays): votes happen. Consent calendar: a stack of routine items passed in one vote. Note the one that touches the Westside, skip the rest. First reading / second reading: an ordinance gets two votes on two different days. Say which one you saw. Hearing: a zoning or land-use item where people get sworn in and the council acts like a judge. The comment rules are different; the agenda says so. Citizen discussion: the open mic at the start, not tied to any item. What it looks like in the paper > Sep 22, 2026 · Old Colorado City's downtown development authority (DDA) shut down. Council voted 5 to 4 to dissolve it (yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams). The DDA says it may sue because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. The city's own page: the meeting record. In the news: the Gazette. Seen by [your name]. Three things Write what happened, not what you think of it. (Your opinion is welcome too, as a letter.) If it's your block, your business or your club, say so at the top. It still runs. Send it within the week: the box on the front page, hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or the paper by mail to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122. You'll see it before it runs. Borrowed from City Bureau in Chicago, which pays people to do this. We can't yet. We say so. Or fill it in from your seat Same sheet, on your phone. Blanks are fine. It lands in the paper's inbox and a person reads it.Meeting which body, date, place or link, start and end, who ran itWho was there officials by name, who was absent, roughly how many from the publicWhat was decided each vote in its own words, the count, yes and no names, the file number, first or final readingWhat was said at the mic three things, as close to their words as you can, with the name if they gave itWhat was put off tabled, continued, sent to a later dateWhat is next the next date, what is due before itDocuments agenda, packet, ordinance or study number, a link Send the sheet The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The code <https://westsidewherewithal.com/ethics> The code Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The code How we do things, and what we won't do. The bones come from the Society of Professional Journalists; the words are ours. This page is the rulebook; the rest of the paper is written from the heart and doesn't repeat it. The desks. Some pages carry a desk name (The Porch, The Record, The Box) instead of a person's. Those are drafted by the paper's software from the record we hold, edited by hand, and say so at the top. No made-up people, quotes or facts; every claim links to where it came from or says we are still looking. When a neighbor takes a desk, their name replaces the line; how that works is one page. Meeting notes from neighbors. Before a quote runs we read it back to the person who said it. Before a vote count runs we check it against the recording or the minutes. The writer sees their lines before they run; their name goes on them and nothing else of theirs. Photos of the room are fine; photos of people who didn't speak publicly are not. A wrong line gets corrected at the top of the next issue. Your email address goes to the email service and nowhere else. Pantry and supper hours get a phone call before they run. The jar: once a year we say how many chipped in, never how much; it's run by Jeff's one-person company and nobody draws a salary. Seek truth and report it Every claim carries its receipt: the document, the date, the name. If we can't attach it, we say "to link" until we can. We check before we publish, not after. We prefer the original source over the story about it. We don't make things up and we don't take other people's work without saying so. Minimize harm The people in this paper are our neighbors, and we'll see them at the market. We weigh what the public needs to know against what it costs a person to be in print. Kids, people in grief, and people who've never talked to a paper before get extra care. We ask before we quote you, and we say who we are when we call. A writer under 18 needs the permission form signed before a byline. Act independently Nobody buys a word of this. There are no sponsors, no ads, no price list. The jar is pay what you want, and a shop that chips in gets exactly what a neighbor who chips in gets. When the editor has a tie to something we cover (his office, his club, his friends), it says so in the sentence. If it can't be said cleanly, we don't cover it. Same for anyone who writes here: a tie to the story goes in the sentence. Be accountable and transparent We say who wrote what. A person writes every piece; software can fix spelling or type up an interview, and it does not get a byline. The one place software drafted lines is the Cobweb index, and that page says so. When we're wrong, we fix it, label it, and run the correction at the top of the next issue, not at the bottom of a page nobody reads. Tell us at hello@westsidewherewithal.com, call or text 719-201-5462, reply to the Thursday email, use the box on the front page, or write to the address in the footer. A person reads it. Our own rules, on top By us, for us. We can write about what isn't here. It's for the people who are. Clean. No profanity in the paper, even when the editor would. Less division, more discussion. We argue with ideas, not neighbors. Nothing to buy. A neighbor is a neighbor, renting or owning, behind the counter or in front of it. Chip in as one, write as one, with the tie said in the sentence. This rule is for the outfit from somewhere else that wants to buy a word in here: a chain's ad budget, a developer's PR shop, a media company in Denver. There is nothing to buy. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Every page, as text <https://westsidewherewithal.com/everything> Every page, as text Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Every page, as text The whole site as one page, for an outside reader or a tool that only opens web pages. The same text is at everything.md; the page list is at llms.txt. # The Westside Wherewithal, every page as text Generated by build.py on 2026-10-11. For an outside reader auditing the site. The live pages are canonical. --- # Wherewithal, n. <https://westsidewherewithal.com/about> Wherewithal, n. Skip to the page ← the front pagewherewithal, n. ## What this is wherewithal, noun: the means to get a thing done. Money, usually. Over here, whatever it takes. I live over here, about twenty years now, and I'm holding one pen. The paper works when there are a lot more of them. Bring your own, whatever it is: a notebook, a phone, a typewriter somebody left you, a kid with a camera. Write about the street you're on. New here? The avenue is West Colorado Avenue. OCC is Old Colorado City, the six blocks of it between about 24th and 27th. The Westside is everything west of I-25 to the Manitou line, the hills on both sides. One thing to show up to this week is in the next two weeks on the front page; trivia on Thursday at OCC Brewing needs no one to know you. Here runs past the avenue: Pleasant Valley, Midland, Mesa Springs, the Mesa, the motels out past 31st, the park. I don't know them all yet. Tell me what I'm missing. How it works: I find people who care and ask them to share it out loud. I ask others to participate too. We focus on writing about things that matter, and we get to decide what matters. So do you. What the idea is, what we're going to try, and what we honestly don't know yet is on the kit page, free to copy if you want to start one where you live. How we do it, and what we won't do, is in the code. Jeff Adkins, editor. See you Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · front page LightAutoDark --- # See that building? Look again <https://westsidewherewithal.com/address-book-1902> See that building? Look again Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## See that building? Look again The Address Book desk. Written from Mel McFarland's columns and the 1902 map; nothing here is from memory yet. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Stop right here on the sidewalk with me. See that? Keep looking, because I'm going to point at five places Mel McFarland wrote about, and every one of them was something else first. The Goodwill center on Colorado Avenue. See it? Part of that was the Golden Flake potato chip factory. Chips. Made right here. Now, Mel ran that in his quiz column of January 17, 2008, a whole column of reused buildings, and hold onto that one, because it comes back in a minute. Fire Station 5, at Colorado and 29th. Same column, told you. You know what that was before it was a fire station? The Standard Club, a recreation hall built for the workers at the Standard Gold Mill. 2902 W Colorado. Old city hall. And then, hang on, this is the part I love, it became the first Whittier School. Mel gave the answer on June 16, 2005. A city hall that turned into a school. Bancroft Park. Now, where the farmers market sets up. That was once Bancroft School, a big one, all the grades, junior high and high school classes too (January 17, 2008, and May 17, 2012). Next Saturday, stand right where you are with your market bag and picture it. The Van Briggle building. You know what that was? The Colorado Midland roundhouse. Fourteen stalls of stone, part of shops that covered 57 acres between 21st and 26th, south of the creek. Six hundred men worked those shops at their peak (April 19, 2012). And that the roundhouse became Van Briggle Pottery? That's in his columns of January 10, 2009 and February 19, 2009. Now. One honest warning before we walk on. The paper has the 1892 and 1902 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress, public domain). See the 1902 index sheet? It puts Colorado City at 4,000 people. But the town's street numbers were renumbered after Colorado Springs annexed it in 1917, so we won't match a 1902 address to a 2026 one without the key. The key lives at the History Center, 1 S 24th. That's the next stop for this desk. Here's where you come in. This desk has one standing question: what was in this storefront in 1968? If you remember, send it in. A name, a counter, what it smelled like, who worked there. Email hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or call or text 719-201-5462. A person reads every one. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Check your answer <https://westsidewherewithal.com/check> Check your answer Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Check your answer Did the word find on the back of the sheet or in the box edition? The letters you did not circle, read left to right and top to bottom, spell a message. Type them here, spaces or no spaces, and find out. Nothing you type is saved or sent anywhere.The leftover letters Check it The five questions Stuck on Westside five? The key is printed upside down at the bottom of the quiz. If you want it here: Show the key 1. Two elk · 2. $663.21 · 3. 1892 · 4. Goodwill · 5. School Text your score, or five questions of your own, to 719-201-5462. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Permission form, writers under 18 <https://westsidewherewithal.com/consent> Permission form, writers under 18 Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Permission form, writers under 18 The form The Westside Wherewithal release for writers and interview subjects under 18 I, _______, give The Westside Wherewithal permission to publish the writing, interview, photographs, or recordings described here: _______________ It may appear in the email edition, on the website, and in any later archive of the paper, and it may stay online for years. My name may be used with it. (Circle one: use my full name / first name only / no name) I keep the copyright to my own writing. The Westside Wherewithal may publish it in the paper and keep it in the archive, for no money. It will not sell it or license it to anyone else. I may ask the editor to correct a factual error at any time, and the correction will be printed. I, or my parent, may ask for the piece to come down from the site at any time, and it will. I understand I do not get to approve the final edit before it runs, but the editor will tell me if the piece changes in a way that changes its meaning. I was told I could talk this over with a parent, guardian, teacher, or any adult I trust before signing. Signature _______ Date ____ Age ___ Phone or email (for the editor only, not printed) __________ Send a photo of the signed form with your piece, or mail it to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904. Parent or guardian (required under 16, for anything personal, or for anyone who cannot fully understand the above): I, ________, am the parent or guardian of the person above. I have read this release and approve it. Signature _______ Date _____ Editor _______ Date _____ Keep the signed form. The paper's archive is only as good as its paper trail. To take a piece down, or to ask anything: call or text 719-201-5462, or hello@westsidewherewithal.com. How we handle it Every byline or interview by a person under 18 has a signed release. Under 16, or for anything personal (your own family, health, or home), a parent or guardian signs too. Under 13: collect a first name and a parent's email, nothing else, and the parent signs. A story about a named other kid gets read twice by the editor before it goes out. The young writer keeps their own copyright. We get permission to publish, not ownership. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Take a desk <https://westsidewherewithal.com/desks> Take a desk Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Take a desk Every page on this paper signed by a desk instead of a person is open. Taking one is not a job and not an application. It's a shift you can do in an hour or two a week, and your name goes on what prints. How it works Text 719-201-5462 or email hello@westsidewherewithal.com: "I'll take The Table." That's the whole form. On a phone, the "text it" links below open the message already typed. One conversation with Jeff, by phone or over coffee, so you know what the desk promises and he knows how to reach you. Your first piece runs under your name the next Thursday it's ready. The desk line at the top comes off. Miss a week? Say so, and the desk holds for you. Hand it back any week the same way. Nobody checks credentials. We check facts. Everything you turn in gets the same read every page gets: every claim traced to where it came from, a phone call on any hour or price, and a copy back to you before it prints. How we do things is the whole rulebook. The desks, in hours and acts DeskWhat it is, every weekAbout how long The Table text itCall five pantries and suppers on Tuesday, confirm the hours, write the day-by-day.An hour, mostly on hold The Weekend Radar text itMonday: pull the eight calendars (the avenue's association, the library, the Garden, Manitou, the community center), pick three, say where to park.An hour The Record text itOne City Council Tuesday a month (9 a.m., 107 N Nevada Ave, or the video later) with the one-page sheet. Write what happened, attach the document.Two hours, twice a month at most The Ridge text itMonday: read the city's parks and open-space page and the Friends of Red Rock Canyon site. Walk one trail. Say which one was muddy.An hour, plus the walk The Porch text itOne conversation a month with someone who's been here a long time. Recorded with their yes, written up in their words, read back to them before it prints.An afternoon a month The Address Book text itOne storefront or corner a week: what it was, from Mel McFarland's columns and the 1902 map, and one visit to the History Center at 1 S 24th for the renumbering key.An hour The Box text itOne page a month for kids, best done by a kid and a grown-up together: a dare, a thing to find, a true fact.An evening a month La Vecina text itRead la hoja once a week, fix what sounds wrong, and answer the Spanish texts that come to the number.An hour, some weeks none The Next Hundred text itRead the dates on the agendas (Council, Planning, the parks board, the clerk's liquor notices for 80904) and keep the twelve-month list honest.An hour The Year AheadThe editor's calendar. Not open; but the lead each week is, and a desk that takes one is how that starts. Two people can share a desk. A class can take The Box. A church can take The Table for its own block. If you want a desk that isn't here, say what it is. What you get Your name on the page, every week you do it. Readers first. A link back to anything of yours. The once-a-year thank-you list. No pay yet; we say so plainly. Coffee's on Jeff. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Be the person in the room <https://westsidewherewithal.com/documenter> Be the person in the room Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Be the person in the room Go to one public meeting, write down what happened on this sheet, send it in. It becomes a few lines in the paper with your name on them. One meeting is plenty. Pick a public meeting that touches the Westside. The easy first one: City Council, the second and fourth Tuesday at 9 a.m., Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada Ave; the next regular one is Tuesday, October 13, then October 27 (Monday work sessions, where they talk but don't vote, are on the same calendar). Agendas, minutes and the video live on the city's Legistar calendar, and you can watch it live or later there. Public meetings are open to anyone. Budget about two hours: the meeting, or the parts that touch the Westside, plus half an hour on this sheet. Print this page; it is the sheet. The sheet Fill in what you can. Blanks are fine; "didn't catch it" is a real answer. Meeting: which body, date, place or link, start and end time, who ran it Who was there: officials by name and title, who was absent, roughly how many from the public What was decided: each vote in its own words, the count, who voted yes and who voted no, the ordinance or file number off the agenda, and whether it was a first reading, a final one, or part of the consent list (see the key) What was said at the mic: three things people said, as close to their words as you can, with the name if they gave it. Hallway talk needs a yes from the person first. What was put off: anything tabled, continued, or sent to a later date What is next: the next date, and what is due before it Documents: the agenda, the packet, the ordinance or study number, a link or a photo of the page A short key Work session (Mondays): they talk, nobody votes. Regular meeting (second and fourth Tuesdays): votes happen. Consent calendar: a stack of routine items passed in one vote. Note the one that touches the Westside, skip the rest. First reading / second reading: an ordinance gets two votes on two different days. Say which one you saw. Hearing: a zoning or land-use item where people get sworn in and the council acts like a judge. The comment rules are different; the agenda says so. Citizen discussion: the open mic at the start, not tied to any item. What it looks like in the paper > Sep 22, 2026 · Old Colorado City's downtown development authority (DDA) shut down. Council voted 5 to 4 to dissolve it (yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams). The DDA says it may sue because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. The city's own page: the meeting record. In the news: the Gazette. Seen by [your name]. Three things Write what happened, not what you think of it. (Your opinion is welcome too, as a letter.) If it's your block, your business or your club, say so at the top. It still runs. Send it within the week: the box on the front page, hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or the paper by mail to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122. You'll see it before it runs. Borrowed from City Bureau in Chicago, which pays people to do this. We can't yet. We say so. Or fill it in from your seat Same sheet, on your phone. Blanks are fine. It lands in the paper's inbox and a person reads it.Meeting which body, date, place or link, start and end, who ran itWho was there officials by name, who was absent, roughly how many from the publicWhat was decided each vote in its own words, the count, yes and no names, the file number, first or final readingWhat was said at the mic three things, as close to their words as you can, with the name if they gave itWhat was put off tabled, continued, sent to a later dateWhat is next the next date, what is due before itDocuments agenda, packet, ordinance or study number, a link Send the sheet The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The code <https://westsidewherewithal.com/ethics> The code Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The code How we do things, and what we won't do. The bones come from the Society of Professional Journalists; the words are ours. This page is the rulebook; the rest of the paper is written from the heart and doesn't repeat it. The desks. Some pages carry a desk name (The Porch, The Record, The Box) instead of a person's. Those are drafted by the paper's software from the record we hold, edited by hand, and say so at the top. No made-up people, quotes or facts; every claim links to where it came from or says we are still looking. When a neighbor takes a desk, their name replaces the line; how that works is one page. Meeting notes from neighbors. Before a quote runs we read it back to the person who said it. Before a vote count runs we check it against the recording or the minutes. The writer sees their lines before they run; their name goes on them and nothing else of theirs. Photos of the room are fine; photos of people who didn't speak publicly are not. A wrong line gets corrected at the top of the next issue. Your email address goes to the email service and nowhere else. Pantry and supper hours get a phone call before they run. The jar: once a year we say how many chipped in, never how much; it's run by Jeff's one-person company and nobody draws a salary. Seek truth and report it Every claim carries its receipt: the document, the date, the name. If we can't attach it, we say "to link" until we can. We check before we publish, not after. We prefer the original source over the story about it. We don't make things up and we don't take other people's work without saying so. Minimize harm The people in this paper are our neighbors, and we'll see them at the market. We weigh what the public needs to know against what it costs a person to be in print. Kids, people in grief, and people who've never talked to a paper before get extra care. We ask before we quote you, and we say who we are when we call. A writer under 18 needs the permission form signed before a byline. Act independently Nobody buys a word of this. There are no sponsors, no ads, no price list. The jar is pay what you want, and a shop that chips in gets exactly what a neighbor who chips in gets. When the editor has a tie to something we cover (his office, his club, his friends), it says so in the sentence. If it can't be said cleanly, we don't cover it. Same for anyone who writes here: a tie to the story goes in the sentence. Be accountable and transparent We say who wrote what. A person writes every piece; software can fix spelling or type up an interview, and it does not get a byline. The one place software drafted lines is the Cobweb index, and that page says so. When we're wrong, we fix it, label it, and run the correction at the top of the next issue, not at the bottom of a page nobody reads. Tell us at hello@westsidewherewithal.com, call or text 719-201-5462, reply to the Thursday email, use the box on the front page, or write to the address in the footer. A person reads it. Our own rules, on top By us, for us. We can write about what isn't here. It's for the people who are. Clean. No profanity in the paper, even when the editor would. Less division, more discussion. We argue with ideas, not neighbors. Nothing to buy. A neighbor is a neighbor, renting or owning, behind the counter or in front of it. Chip in as one, write as one, with the tie said in the sentence. This rule is for the outfit from somewhere else that wants to buy a word in here: a chain's ad budget, a developer's PR shop, a media company in Denver. There is nothing to buy. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Every page, as text <https://westsidewherewithal.com/everything> Every page, as text Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Every page, as text The whole site as one page, for an outside reader or a tool that only opens web pages. The same text is at everything.md; the page list is at llms.txt. # The Westside Wherewithal, every page as text Generated by build.py on 2026-10-11. For an outside reader auditing the site. The live pages are canonical. --- # Wherewithal, n. <https://westsidewherewithal.com/about> Wherewithal, n. Skip to the page ← the front pagewherewithal, n. ## What this is wherewithal, noun: the means to get a thing done. Money, usually. Over here, whatever it takes. I live over here, about twenty years now, and I'm holding one pen. The paper works when there are a lot more of them. Bring your own, whatever it is: a notebook, a phone, a typewriter somebody left you, a kid with a camera. Write about the street you're on. New here? The avenue is West Colorado Avenue. OCC is Old Colorado City, the six blocks of it between about 24th and 27th. The Westside is everything west of I-25 to the Manitou line, the hills on both sides. One thing to show up to this week is in the next two weeks on the front page; trivia on Thursday at OCC Brewing needs no one to know you. Here runs past the avenue: Pleasant Valley, Midland, Mesa Springs, the Mesa, the motels out past 31st, the park. I don't know them all yet. Tell me what I'm missing. How it works: I find people who care and ask them to share it out loud. I ask others to participate too. We focus on writing about things that matter, and we get to decide what matters. So do you. What the idea is, what we're going to try, and what we honestly don't know yet is on the kit page, free to copy if you want to start one where you live. How we do it, and what we won't do, is in the code. Jeff Adkins, editor. See you Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · front page LightAutoDark --- # See that building? Look again <https://westsidewherewithal.com/address-book-1902> See that building? Look again Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## See that building? Look again The Address Book desk. Written from Mel McFarland's columns and the 1902 map; nothing here is from memory yet. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Stop right here on the sidewalk with me. See that? Keep looking, because I'm going to point at five places Mel McFarland wrote about, and every one of them was something else first. The Goodwill center on Colorado Avenue. See it? Part of that was the Golden Flake potato chip factory. Chips. Made right here. Now, Mel ran that in his quiz column of January 17, 2008, a whole column of reused buildings, and hold onto that one, because it comes back in a minute. Fire Station 5, at Colorado and 29th. Same column, told you. You know what that was before it was a fire station? The Standard Club, a recreation hall built for the workers at the Standard Gold Mill. 2902 W Colorado. Old city hall. And then, hang on, this is the part I love, it became the first Whittier School. Mel gave the answer on June 16, 2005. A city hall that turned into a school. Bancroft Park. Now, where the farmers market sets up. That was once Bancroft School, a big one, all the grades, junior high and high school classes too (January 17, 2008, and May 17, 2012). Next Saturday, stand right where you are with your market bag and picture it. The Van Briggle building. You know what that was? The Colorado Midland roundhouse. Fourteen stalls of stone, part of shops that covered 57 acres between 21st and 26th, south of the creek. Six hundred men worked those shops at their peak (April 19, 2012). And that the roundhouse became Van Briggle Pottery? That's in his columns of January 10, 2009 and February 19, 2009. Now. One honest warning before we walk on. The paper has the 1892 and 1902 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress, public domain). See the 1902 index sheet? It puts Colorado City at 4,000 people. But the town's street numbers were renumbered after Colorado Springs annexed it in 1917, so we won't match a 1902 address to a 2026 one without the key. The key lives at the History Center, 1 S 24th. That's the next stop for this desk. Here's where you come in. This desk has one standing question: what was in this storefront in 1968? If you remember, send it in. A name, a counter, what it smelled like, who worked there. Email hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or call or text 719-201-5462. A person reads every one. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Check your answer <https://westsidewherewithal.com/check> Check your answer Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Check your answer Did the word find on the back of the sheet or in the box edition? The letters you did not circle, read left to right and top to bottom, spell a message. Type them here, spaces or no spaces, and find out. Nothing you type is saved or sent anywhere.The leftover letters Check it The five questions Stuck on Westside five? The key is printed upside down at the bottom of the quiz. If you want it here: Show the key 1. Two elk · 2. $663.21 · 3. 1892 · 4. Goodwill · 5. School Text your score, or five questions of your own, to 719-201-5462. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Permission form, writers under 18 <https://westsidewherewithal.com/consent> Permission form, writers under 18 Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Permission form, writers under 18 The form The Westside Wherewithal release for writers and interview subjects under 18 I, _______, give The Westside Wherewithal permission to publish the writing, interview, photographs, or recordings described here: _______________ It may appear in the email edition, on the website, and in any later archive of the paper, and it may stay online for years. My name may be used with it. (Circle one: use my full name / first name only / no name) I keep the copyright to my own writing. The Westside Wherewithal may publish it in the paper and keep it in the archive, for no money. It will not sell it or license it to anyone else. I may ask the editor to correct a factual error at any time, and the correction will be printed. I, or my parent, may ask for the piece to come down from the site at any time, and it will. I understand I do not get to approve the final edit before it runs, but the editor will tell me if the piece changes in a way that changes its meaning. I was told I could talk this over with a parent, guardian, teacher, or any adult I trust before signing. Signature _______ Date ____ Age ___ Phone or email (for the editor only, not printed) __________ Send a photo of the signed form with your piece, or mail it to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904. Parent or guardian (required under 16, for anything personal, or for anyone who cannot fully understand the above): I, ________, am the parent or guardian of the person above. I have read this release and approve it. Signature _______ Date _____ Editor _______ Date _____ Keep the signed form. The paper's archive is only as good as its paper trail. To take a piece down, or to ask anything: call or text 719-201-5462, or hello@westsidewherewithal.com. How we handle it Every byline or interview by a person under 18 has a signed release. Under 16, or for anything personal (your own family, health, or home), a parent or guardian signs too. Under 13: collect a first name and a parent's email, nothing else, and the parent signs. A story about a named other kid gets read twice by the editor before it goes out. The young writer keeps their own copyright. We get permission to publish, not ownership. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Take a desk <https://westsidewherewithal.com/desks> Take a desk Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Take a desk Every page on this paper signed by a desk instead of a person is open. Taking one is not a job and not an application. It's a shift you can do in an hour or two a week, and your name goes on what prints. How it works Text 719-201-5462 or email hello@westsidewherewithal.com: "I'll take The Table." That's the whole form. On a phone, the "text it" links below open the message already typed. One conversation with Jeff, by phone or over coffee, so you know what the desk promises and he knows how to reach you. Your first piece runs under your name the next Thursday it's ready. The desk line at the top comes off. Miss a week? Say so, and the desk holds for you. Hand it back any week the same way. Nobody checks credentials. We check facts. Everything you turn in gets the same read every page gets: every claim traced to where it came from, a phone call on any hour or price, and a copy back to you before it prints. How we do things is the whole rulebook. The desks, in hours and acts DeskWhat it is, every weekAbout how long The Table text itCall five pantries and suppers on Tuesday, confirm the hours, write the day-by-day.An hour, mostly on hold The Weekend Radar text itMonday: pull the eight calendars (the avenue's association, the library, the Garden, Manitou, the community center), pick three, say where to park.An hour The Record text itOne City Council Tuesday a month (9 a.m., 107 N Nevada Ave, or the video later) with the one-page sheet. Write what happened, attach the document.Two hours, twice a month at most The Ridge text itMonday: read the city's parks and open-space page and the Friends of Red Rock Canyon site. Walk one trail. Say which one was muddy.An hour, plus the walk The Porch text itOne conversation a month with someone who's been here a long time. Recorded with their yes, written up in their words, read back to them before it prints.An afternoon a month The Address Book text itOne storefront or corner a week: what it was, from Mel McFarland's columns and the 1902 map, and one visit to the History Center at 1 S 24th for the renumbering key.An hour The Box text itOne page a month for kids, best done by a kid and a grown-up together: a dare, a thing to find, a true fact.An evening a month La Vecina text itRead la hoja once a week, fix what sounds wrong, and answer the Spanish texts that come to the number.An hour, some weeks none The Next Hundred text itRead the dates on the agendas (Council, Planning, the parks board, the clerk's liquor notices for 80904) and keep the twelve-month list honest.An hour The Year AheadThe editor's calendar. Not open; but the lead each week is, and a desk that takes one is how that starts. Two people can share a desk. A class can take The Box. A church can take The Table for its own block. If you want a desk that isn't here, say what it is. What you get Your name on the page, every week you do it. Readers first. A link back to anything of yours. The once-a-year thank-you list. No pay yet; we say so plainly. Coffee's on Jeff. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Be the person in the room <https://westsidewherewithal.com/documenter> Be the person in the room Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Be the person in the room Go to one public meeting, write down what happened on this sheet, send it in. It becomes a few lines in the paper with your name on them. One meeting is plenty. Pick a public meeting that touches the Westside. The easy first one: City Council, the second and fourth Tuesday at 9 a.m., Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada Ave; the next regular one is Tuesday, October 13, then October 27 (Monday work sessions, where they talk but don't vote, are on the same calendar). Agendas, minutes and the video live on the city's Legistar calendar, and you can watch it live or later there. Public meetings are open to anyone. Budget about two hours: the meeting, or the parts that touch the Westside, plus half an hour on this sheet. Print this page; it is the sheet. The sheet Fill in what you can. Blanks are fine; "didn't catch it" is a real answer. Meeting: which body, date, place or link, start and end time, who ran it Who was there: officials by name and title, who was absent, roughly how many from the public What was decided: each vote in its own words, the count, who voted yes and who voted no, the ordinance or file number off the agenda, and whether it was a first reading, a final one, or part of the consent list (see the key) What was said at the mic: three things people said, as close to their words as you can, with the name if they gave it. Hallway talk needs a yes from the person first. What was put off: anything tabled, continued, or sent to a later date What is next: the next date, and what is due before it Documents: the agenda, the packet, the ordinance or study number, a link or a photo of the page A short key Work session (Mondays): they talk, nobody votes. Regular meeting (second and fourth Tuesdays): votes happen. Consent calendar: a stack of routine items passed in one vote. Note the one that touches the Westside, skip the rest. First reading / second reading: an ordinance gets two votes on two different days. Say which one you saw. Hearing: a zoning or land-use item where people get sworn in and the council acts like a judge. The comment rules are different; the agenda says so. Citizen discussion: the open mic at the start, not tied to any item. What it looks like in the paper > Sep 22, 2026 · Old Colorado City's downtown development authority (DDA) shut down. Council voted 5 to 4 to dissolve it (yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams). The DDA says it may sue because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. The city's own page: the meeting record. In the news: the Gazette. Seen by [your name]. Three things Write what happened, not what you think of it. (Your opinion is welcome too, as a letter.) If it's your block, your business or your club, say so at the top. It still runs. Send it within the week: the box on the front page, hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or the paper by mail to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122. You'll see it before it runs. Borrowed from City Bureau in Chicago, which pays people to do this. We can't yet. We say so. Or fill it in from your seat Same sheet, on your phone. Blanks are fine. It lands in the paper's inbox and a person reads it.Meeting which body, date, place or link, start and end, who ran itWho was there officials by name, who was absent, roughly how many from the publicWhat was decided each vote in its own words, the count, yes and no names, the file number, first or final readingWhat was said at the mic three things, as close to their words as you can, with the name if they gave itWhat was put off tabled, continued, sent to a later dateWhat is next the next date, what is due before itDocuments agenda, packet, ordinance or study number, a link Send the sheet The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The code <https://westsidewherewithal.com/ethics> The code Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The code How we do things, and what we won't do. The bones come from the Society of Professional Journalists; the words are ours. This page is the rulebook; the rest of the paper is written from the heart and doesn't repeat it. The desks. Some pages carry a desk name (The Porch, The Record, The Box) instead of a person's. Those are drafted by the paper's software from the record we hold, edited by hand, and say so at the top. No made-up people, quotes or facts; every claim links to where it came from or says we are still looking. When a neighbor takes a desk, their name replaces the line; how that works is one page. Meeting notes from neighbors. Before a quote runs we read it back to the person who said it. Before a vote count runs we check it against the recording or the minutes. The writer sees their lines before they run; their name goes on them and nothing else of theirs. Photos of the room are fine; photos of people who didn't speak publicly are not. A wrong line gets corrected at the top of the next issue. Your email address goes to the email service and nowhere else. Pantry and supper hours get a phone call before they run. The jar: once a year we say how many chipped in, never how much; it's run by Jeff's one-person company and nobody draws a salary. Seek truth and report it Every claim carries its receipt: the document, the date, the name. If we can't attach it, we say "to link" until we can. We check before we publish, not after. We prefer the original source over the story about it. We don't make things up and we don't take other people's work without saying so. Minimize harm The people in this paper are our neighbors, and we'll see them at the market. We weigh what the public needs to know against what it costs a person to be in print. Kids, people in grief, and people who've never talked to a paper before get extra care. We ask before we quote you, and we say who we are when we call. A writer under 18 needs the permission form signed before a byline. Act independently Nobody buys a word of this. There are no sponsors, no ads, no price list. The jar is pay what you want, and a shop that chips in gets exactly what a neighbor who chips in gets. When the editor has a tie to something we cover (his office, his club, his friends), it says so in the sentence. If it can't be said cleanly, we don't cover it. Same for anyone who writes here: a tie to the story goes in the sentence. Be accountable and transparent We say who wrote what. A person writes every piece; software can fix spelling or type up an interview, and it does not get a byline. The one place software drafted lines is the Cobweb index, and that page says so. When we're wrong, we fix it, label it, and run the correction at the top of the next issue, not at the bottom of a page nobody reads. Tell us at hello@westsidewherewithal.com, call or text 719-201-5462, reply to the Thursday email, use the box on the front page, or write to the address in the footer. A person reads it. Our own rules, on top By us, for us. We can write about what isn't here. It's for the people who are. Clean. No profanity in the paper, even when the editor would. Less division, more discussion. We argue with ideas, not neighbors. Nothing to buy. A neighbor is a neighbor, renting or owning, behind the counter or in front of it. Chip in as one, write as one, with the tie said in the sentence. This rule is for the outfit from somewhere else that wants to buy a word in here: a chain's ad budget, a developer's PR shop, a media company in Denver. There is nothing to buy. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Every page, as text <https://westsidewherewithal.com/everything> Every page, as text Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Every page, as text The whole site as one page, for an outside reader or a tool that only opens web pages. The same text is at everything.md; the page list is at llms.txt. # The Westside Wherewithal, every page as text Generated by build.py on 2026-10-11. For an outside reader auditing the site. The live pages are canonical. --- # Wherewithal, n. <https://westsidewherewithal.com/about> Wherewithal, n. Skip to the page ← the front pagewherewithal, n. ## What this is wherewithal, noun: the means to get a thing done. Money, usually. Over here, whatever it takes. I live over here, about twenty years now, and I'm holding one pen. The paper works when there are a lot more of them. Bring your own, whatever it is: a notebook, a phone, a typewriter somebody left you, a kid with a camera. Write about the street you're on. New here? The avenue is West Colorado Avenue. OCC is Old Colorado City, the six blocks of it between about 24th and 27th. The Westside is everything west of I-25 to the Manitou line, the hills on both sides. One thing to show up to this week is in the next two weeks on the front page; trivia on Thursday at OCC Brewing needs no one to know you. Here runs past the avenue: Pleasant Valley, Midland, Mesa Springs, the Mesa, the motels out past 31st, the park. I don't know them all yet. Tell me what I'm missing. How it works: I find people who care and ask them to share it out loud. I ask others to participate too. We focus on writing about things that matter, and we get to decide what matters. So do you. What the idea is, what we're going to try, and what we honestly don't know yet is on the kit page, free to copy if you want to start one where you live. How we do it, and what we won't do, is in the code. Jeff Adkins, editor. See you Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · front page LightAutoDark --- # See that building? Look again <https://westsidewherewithal.com/address-book-1902> See that building? Look again Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## See that building? Look again The Address Book desk. Written from Mel McFarland's columns and the 1902 map; nothing here is from memory yet. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Stop right here on the sidewalk with me. See that? Keep looking, because I'm going to point at five places Mel McFarland wrote about, and every one of them was something else first. The Goodwill center on Colorado Avenue. See it? Part of that was the Golden Flake potato chip factory. Chips. Made right here. Now, Mel ran that in his quiz column of January 17, 2008, a whole column of reused buildings, and hold onto that one, because it comes back in a minute. Fire Station 5, at Colorado and 29th. Same column, told you. You know what that was before it was a fire station? The Standard Club, a recreation hall built for the workers at the Standard Gold Mill. 2902 W Colorado. Old city hall. And then, hang on, this is the part I love, it became the first Whittier School. Mel gave the answer on June 16, 2005. A city hall that turned into a school. Bancroft Park. Now, where the farmers market sets up. That was once Bancroft School, a big one, all the grades, junior high and high school classes too (January 17, 2008, and May 17, 2012). Next Saturday, stand right where you are with your market bag and picture it. The Van Briggle building. You know what that was? The Colorado Midland roundhouse. Fourteen stalls of stone, part of shops that covered 57 acres between 21st and 26th, south of the creek. Six hundred men worked those shops at their peak (April 19, 2012). And that the roundhouse became Van Briggle Pottery? That's in his columns of January 10, 2009 and February 19, 2009. Now. One honest warning before we walk on. The paper has the 1892 and 1902 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress, public domain). See the 1902 index sheet? It puts Colorado City at 4,000 people. But the town's street numbers were renumbered after Colorado Springs annexed it in 1917, so we won't match a 1902 address to a 2026 one without the key. The key lives at the History Center, 1 S 24th. That's the next stop for this desk. Here's where you come in. This desk has one standing question: what was in this storefront in 1968? If you remember, send it in. A name, a counter, what it smelled like, who worked there. Email hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or call or text 719-201-5462. A person reads every one. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Check your answer <https://westsidewherewithal.com/check> Check your answer Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Check your answer Did the word find on the back of the sheet or in the box edition? The letters you did not circle, read left to right and top to bottom, spell a message. Type them here, spaces or no spaces, and find out. Nothing you type is saved or sent anywhere.The leftover letters Check it The five questions Stuck on Westside five? The key is printed upside down at the bottom of the quiz. If you want it here: Show the key 1. Two elk · 2. $663.21 · 3. 1892 · 4. Goodwill · 5. School Text your score, or five questions of your own, to 719-201-5462. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Permission form, writers under 18 <https://westsidewherewithal.com/consent> Permission form, writers under 18 Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Permission form, writers under 18 The form The Westside Wherewithal release for writers and interview subjects under 18 I, _______, give The Westside Wherewithal permission to publish the writing, interview, photographs, or recordings described here: _______________ It may appear in the email edition, on the website, and in any later archive of the paper, and it may stay online for years. My name may be used with it. (Circle one: use my full name / first name only / no name) I keep the copyright to my own writing. The Westside Wherewithal may publish it in the paper and keep it in the archive, for no money. It will not sell it or license it to anyone else. I may ask the editor to correct a factual error at any time, and the correction will be printed. I, or my parent, may ask for the piece to come down from the site at any time, and it will. I understand I do not get to approve the final edit before it runs, but the editor will tell me if the piece changes in a way that changes its meaning. I was told I could talk this over with a parent, guardian, teacher, or any adult I trust before signing. Signature _______ Date ____ Age ___ Phone or email (for the editor only, not printed) __________ Send a photo of the signed form with your piece, or mail it to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904. Parent or guardian (required under 16, for anything personal, or for anyone who cannot fully understand the above): I, ________, am the parent or guardian of the person above. I have read this release and approve it. Signature _______ Date _____ Editor _______ Date _____ Keep the signed form. The paper's archive is only as good as its paper trail. To take a piece down, or to ask anything: call or text 719-201-5462, or hello@westsidewherewithal.com. How we handle it Every byline or interview by a person under 18 has a signed release. Under 16, or for anything personal (your own family, health, or home), a parent or guardian signs too. Under 13: collect a first name and a parent's email, nothing else, and the parent signs. A story about a named other kid gets read twice by the editor before it goes out. The young writer keeps their own copyright. We get permission to publish, not ownership. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Take a desk <https://westsidewherewithal.com/desks> Take a desk Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Take a desk Every page on this paper signed by a desk instead of a person is open. Taking one is not a job and not an application. It's a shift you can do in an hour or two a week, and your name goes on what prints. How it works Text 719-201-5462 or email hello@westsidewherewithal.com: "I'll take The Table." That's the whole form. On a phone, the "text it" links below open the message already typed. One conversation with Jeff, by phone or over coffee, so you know what the desk promises and he knows how to reach you. Your first piece runs under your name the next Thursday it's ready. The desk line at the top comes off. Miss a week? Say so, and the desk holds for you. Hand it back any week the same way. Nobody checks credentials. We check facts. Everything you turn in gets the same read every page gets: every claim traced to where it came from, a phone call on any hour or price, and a copy back to you before it prints. How we do things is the whole rulebook. The desks, in hours and acts DeskWhat it is, every weekAbout how long The Table text itCall five pantries and suppers on Tuesday, confirm the hours, write the day-by-day.An hour, mostly on hold The Weekend Radar text itMonday: pull the eight calendars (the avenue's association, the library, the Garden, Manitou, the community center), pick three, say where to park.An hour The Record text itOne City Council Tuesday a month (9 a.m., 107 N Nevada Ave, or the video later) with the one-page sheet. Write what happened, attach the document.Two hours, twice a month at most The Ridge text itMonday: read the city's parks and open-space page and the Friends of Red Rock Canyon site. Walk one trail. Say which one was muddy.An hour, plus the walk The Porch text itOne conversation a month with someone who's been here a long time. Recorded with their yes, written up in their words, read back to them before it prints.An afternoon a month The Address Book text itOne storefront or corner a week: what it was, from Mel McFarland's columns and the 1902 map, and one visit to the History Center at 1 S 24th for the renumbering key.An hour The Box text itOne page a month for kids, best done by a kid and a grown-up together: a dare, a thing to find, a true fact.An evening a month La Vecina text itRead la hoja once a week, fix what sounds wrong, and answer the Spanish texts that come to the number.An hour, some weeks none The Next Hundred text itRead the dates on the agendas (Council, Planning, the parks board, the clerk's liquor notices for 80904) and keep the twelve-month list honest.An hour The Year AheadThe editor's calendar. Not open; but the lead each week is, and a desk that takes one is how that starts. Two people can share a desk. A class can take The Box. A church can take The Table for its own block. If you want a desk that isn't here, say what it is. What you get Your name on the page, every week you do it. Readers first. A link back to anything of yours. The once-a-year thank-you list. No pay yet; we say so plainly. Coffee's on Jeff. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Be the person in the room <https://westsidewherewithal.com/documenter> Be the person in the room Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Be the person in the room Go to one public meeting, write down what happened on this sheet, send it in. It becomes a few lines in the paper with your name on them. One meeting is plenty. Pick a public meeting that touches the Westside. The easy first one: City Council, the second and fourth Tuesday at 9 a.m., Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada Ave; the next regular one is Tuesday, October 13, then October 27 (Monday work sessions, where they talk but don't vote, are on the same calendar). Agendas, minutes and the video live on the city's Legistar calendar, and you can watch it live or later there. Public meetings are open to anyone. Budget about two hours: the meeting, or the parts that touch the Westside, plus half an hour on this sheet. Print this page; it is the sheet. The sheet Fill in what you can. Blanks are fine; "didn't catch it" is a real answer. Meeting: which body, date, place or link, start and end time, who ran it Who was there: officials by name and title, who was absent, roughly how many from the public What was decided: each vote in its own words, the count, who voted yes and who voted no, the ordinance or file number off the agenda, and whether it was a first reading, a final one, or part of the consent list (see the key) What was said at the mic: three things people said, as close to their words as you can, with the name if they gave it. Hallway talk needs a yes from the person first. What was put off: anything tabled, continued, or sent to a later date What is next: the next date, and what is due before it Documents: the agenda, the packet, the ordinance or study number, a link or a photo of the page A short key Work session (Mondays): they talk, nobody votes. Regular meeting (second and fourth Tuesdays): votes happen. Consent calendar: a stack of routine items passed in one vote. Note the one that touches the Westside, skip the rest. First reading / second reading: an ordinance gets two votes on two different days. Say which one you saw. Hearing: a zoning or land-use item where people get sworn in and the council acts like a judge. The comment rules are different; the agenda says so. Citizen discussion: the open mic at the start, not tied to any item. What it looks like in the paper > Sep 22, 2026 · Old Colorado City's downtown development authority (DDA) shut down. Council voted 5 to 4 to dissolve it (yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams). The DDA says it may sue because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. The city's own page: the meeting record. In the news: the Gazette. Seen by [your name]. Three things Write what happened, not what you think of it. (Your opinion is welcome too, as a letter.) If it's your block, your business or your club, say so at the top. It still runs. Send it within the week: the box on the front page, hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or the paper by mail to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122. You'll see it before it runs. Borrowed from City Bureau in Chicago, which pays people to do this. We can't yet. We say so. Or fill it in from your seat Same sheet, on your phone. Blanks are fine. It lands in the paper's inbox and a person reads it.Meeting which body, date, place or link, start and end, who ran itWho was there officials by name, who was absent, roughly how many from the publicWhat was decided each vote in its own words, the count, yes and no names, the file number, first or final readingWhat was said at the mic three things, as close to their words as you can, with the name if they gave itWhat was put off tabled, continued, sent to a later dateWhat is next the next date, what is due before itDocuments agenda, packet, ordinance or study number, a link Send the sheet The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The code <https://westsidewherewithal.com/ethics> The code Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The code How we do things, and what we won't do. The bones come from the Society of Professional Journalists; the words are ours. This page is the rulebook; the rest of the paper is written from the heart and doesn't repeat it. The desks. Some pages carry a desk name (The Porch, The Record, The Box) instead of a person's. Those are drafted by the paper's software from the record we hold, edited by hand, and say so at the top. No made-up people, quotes or facts; every claim links to where it came from or says we are still looking. When a neighbor takes a desk, their name replaces the line; how that works is one page. Meeting notes from neighbors. Before a quote runs we read it back to the person who said it. Before a vote count runs we check it against the recording or the minutes. The writer sees their lines before they run; their name goes on them and nothing else of theirs. Photos of the room are fine; photos of people who didn't speak publicly are not. A wrong line gets corrected at the top of the next issue. Your email address goes to the email service and nowhere else. Pantry and supper hours get a phone call before they run. The jar: once a year we say how many chipped in, never how much; it's run by Jeff's one-person company and nobody draws a salary. Seek truth and report it Every claim carries its receipt: the document, the date, the name. If we can't attach it, we say "to link" until we can. We check before we publish, not after. We prefer the original source over the story about it. We don't make things up and we don't take other people's work without saying so. Minimize harm The people in this paper are our neighbors, and we'll see them at the market. We weigh what the public needs to know against what it costs a person to be in print. Kids, people in grief, and people who've never talked to a paper before get extra care. We ask before we quote you, and we say who we are when we call. A writer under 18 needs the permission form signed before a byline. Act independently Nobody buys a word of this. There are no sponsors, no ads, no price list. The jar is pay what you want, and a shop that chips in gets exactly what a neighbor who chips in gets. When the editor has a tie to something we cover (his office, his club, his friends), it says so in the sentence. If it can't be said cleanly, we don't cover it. Same for anyone who writes here: a tie to the story goes in the sentence. Be accountable and transparent We say who wrote what. A person writes every piece; software can fix spelling or type up an interview, and it does not get a byline. The one place software drafted lines is the Cobweb index, and that page says so. When we're wrong, we fix it, label it, and run the correction at the top of the next issue, not at the bottom of a page nobody reads. Tell us at hello@westsidewherewithal.com, call or text 719-201-5462, reply to the Thursday email, use the box on the front page, or write to the address in the footer. A person reads it. Our own rules, on top By us, for us. We can write about what isn't here. It's for the people who are. Clean. No profanity in the paper, even when the editor would. Less division, more discussion. We argue with ideas, not neighbors. Nothing to buy. A neighbor is a neighbor, renting or owning, behind the counter or in front of it. Chip in as one, write as one, with the tie said in the sentence. This rule is for the outfit from somewhere else that wants to buy a word in here: a chain's ad budget, a developer's PR shop, a media company in Denver. There is nothing to buy. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Every page, as text <https://westsidewherewithal.com/everything> Every page, as text Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Every page, as text The whole site as one page, for an outside reader or a tool that only opens web pages. The same text is at everything.md; the page list is at llms.txt. # The Westside Wherewithal, every page as text Generated by build.py on 2026-10-11. For an outside reader auditing the site. The live pages are canonical. --- # Wherewithal, n. <https://westsidewherewithal.com/about> Wherewithal, n. Skip to the page ← the front pagewherewithal, n. ## What this is wherewithal, noun: the means to get a thing done. Money, usually. Over here, whatever it takes. I live over here, about twenty years now, and I'm holding one pen. The paper works when there are a lot more of them. Bring your own, whatever it is: a notebook, a phone, a typewriter somebody left you, a kid with a camera. Write about the street you're on. New here? The avenue is West Colorado Avenue. OCC is Old Colorado City, the six blocks of it between about 24th and 27th. The Westside is everything west of I-25 to the Manitou line, the hills on both sides. One thing to show up to this week is in the next two weeks on the front page; trivia on Thursday at OCC Brewing needs no one to know you. Here runs past the avenue: Pleasant Valley, Midland, Mesa Springs, the Mesa, the motels out past 31st, the park. I don't know them all yet. Tell me what I'm missing. How it works: I find people who care and ask them to share it out loud. I ask others to participate too. We focus on writing about things that matter, and we get to decide what matters. So do you. What the idea is, what we're going to try, and what we honestly don't know yet is on the kit page, free to copy if you want to start one where you live. How we do it, and what we won't do, is in the code. Jeff Adkins, editor. See you Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · front page LightAutoDark --- # See that building? Look again <https://westsidewherewithal.com/address-book-1902> See that building? Look again Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## See that building? Look again The Address Book desk. Written from Mel McFarland's columns and the 1902 map; nothing here is from memory yet. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Stop right here on the sidewalk with me. See that? Keep looking, because I'm going to point at five places Mel McFarland wrote about, and every one of them was something else first. The Goodwill center on Colorado Avenue. See it? Part of that was the Golden Flake potato chip factory. Chips. Made right here. Now, Mel ran that in his quiz column of January 17, 2008, a whole column of reused buildings, and hold onto that one, because it comes back in a minute. Fire Station 5, at Colorado and 29th. Same column, told you. You know what that was before it was a fire station? The Standard Club, a recreation hall built for the workers at the Standard Gold Mill. 2902 W Colorado. Old city hall. And then, hang on, this is the part I love, it became the first Whittier School. Mel gave the answer on June 16, 2005. A city hall that turned into a school. Bancroft Park. Now, where the farmers market sets up. That was once Bancroft School, a big one, all the grades, junior high and high school classes too (January 17, 2008, and May 17, 2012). Next Saturday, stand right where you are with your market bag and picture it. The Van Briggle building. You know what that was? The Colorado Midland roundhouse. Fourteen stalls of stone, part of shops that covered 57 acres between 21st and 26th, south of the creek. Six hundred men worked those shops at their peak (April 19, 2012). And that the roundhouse became Van Briggle Pottery? That's in his columns of January 10, 2009 and February 19, 2009. Now. One honest warning before we walk on. The paper has the 1892 and 1902 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress, public domain). See the 1902 index sheet? It puts Colorado City at 4,000 people. But the town's street numbers were renumbered after Colorado Springs annexed it in 1917, so we won't match a 1902 address to a 2026 one without the key. The key lives at the History Center, 1 S 24th. That's the next stop for this desk. Here's where you come in. This desk has one standing question: what was in this storefront in 1968? If you remember, send it in. A name, a counter, what it smelled like, who worked there. Email hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or call or text 719-201-5462. A person reads every one. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Check your answer <https://westsidewherewithal.com/check> Check your answer Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Check your answer Did the word find on the back of the sheet or in the box edition? The letters you did not circle, read left to right and top to bottom, spell a message. Type them here, spaces or no spaces, and find out. Nothing you type is saved or sent anywhere.The leftover letters Check it The five questions Stuck on Westside five? The key is printed upside down at the bottom of the quiz. If you want it here: Show the key 1. Two elk · 2. $663.21 · 3. 1892 · 4. Goodwill · 5. School Text your score, or five questions of your own, to 719-201-5462. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Permission form, writers under 18 <https://westsidewherewithal.com/consent> Permission form, writers under 18 Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Permission form, writers under 18 The form The Westside Wherewithal release for writers and interview subjects under 18 I, _______, give The Westside Wherewithal permission to publish the writing, interview, photographs, or recordings described here: _______________ It may appear in the email edition, on the website, and in any later archive of the paper, and it may stay online for years. My name may be used with it. (Circle one: use my full name / first name only / no name) I keep the copyright to my own writing. The Westside Wherewithal may publish it in the paper and keep it in the archive, for no money. It will not sell it or license it to anyone else. I may ask the editor to correct a factual error at any time, and the correction will be printed. I, or my parent, may ask for the piece to come down from the site at any time, and it will. I understand I do not get to approve the final edit before it runs, but the editor will tell me if the piece changes in a way that changes its meaning. I was told I could talk this over with a parent, guardian, teacher, or any adult I trust before signing. Signature _______ Date ____ Age ___ Phone or email (for the editor only, not printed) __________ Send a photo of the signed form with your piece, or drop it at 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904. Parent or guardian (required under 16, for anything personal, or for anyone who cannot fully understand the above): I, ________, am the parent or guardian of the person above. I have read this release and approve it. Signature _______ Date _____ Editor _______ Date _____ Keep the signed form. The paper's archive is only as good as its paper trail. To take a piece down, or to ask anything: call or text 719-201-5462, or hello@westsidewherewithal.com. How we handle it Every byline or interview by a person under 18 has a signed release. Under 16, or for anything personal (your own family, health, or home), a parent or guardian signs too. Under 13: collect a first name and a parent's email, nothing else, and the parent signs. A story about a named other kid gets read twice by the editor before it goes out. The young writer keeps their own copyright. We get permission to publish, not ownership. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Take a desk <https://westsidewherewithal.com/desks> Take a desk Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Take a desk Every page on this paper signed by a desk instead of a person is open. Taking one is not a job and not an application. It's a shift you can do in an hour or two a week, and your name goes on what prints. How it works Text 719-201-5462 or email hello@westsidewherewithal.com: "I'll take The Table." That's the whole form. On a phone, the "text it" links below open the message already typed. One conversation with Jeff, by phone or over coffee, so you know what the desk promises and he knows how to reach you. Your first piece runs under your name the next Thursday it's ready. The desk line at the top comes off. Miss a week? Say so, and the desk holds for you. Hand it back any week the same way. Nobody checks credentials. We check facts. Everything you turn in gets the same read every page gets: every claim traced to where it came from, a phone call on any hour or price, and a copy back to you before it prints. How we do things is the whole rulebook. The desks, in hours and acts DeskWhat it is, every weekAbout how long The Table text itCall five pantries and suppers on Tuesday, confirm the hours, write the day-by-day.An hour, mostly on hold The Weekend Radar text itMonday: pull the eight calendars (the avenue's association, the library, the Garden, Manitou, the community center), pick three, say where to park.An hour The Record text itOne City Council Tuesday a month (9 a.m., 107 N Nevada Ave, or the video later) with the one-page sheet. Write what happened, attach the document.Two hours, twice a month at most The Ridge text itMonday: read the city's parks and open-space page and the Friends of Red Rock Canyon site. Walk one trail. Say which one was muddy.An hour, plus the walk The Porch text itOne conversation a month with someone who's been here a long time. Recorded with their yes, written up in their words, read back to them before it prints.An afternoon a month The Address Book text itOne storefront or corner a week: what it was, from Mel McFarland's columns and the 1902 map, and one visit to the History Center at 1 S 24th for the renumbering key.An hour The Box text itOne page a month for kids, best done by a kid and a grown-up together: a dare, a thing to find, a true fact.An evening a month La Vecina text itRead la hoja once a week, fix what sounds wrong, and answer the Spanish texts that come to the number.An hour, some weeks none The Next Hundred text itRead the dates on the agendas (Council, Planning, the parks board, the clerk's liquor notices for 80904) and keep the twelve-month list honest.An hour The Year AheadThe editor's calendar. Not open; but the lead each week is, and a desk that takes one is how that starts. Two people can share a desk. A class can take The Box. A church can take The Table for its own block. If you want a desk that isn't here, say what it is. What you get Your name on the page, every week you do it. Readers first. A link back to anything of yours. The once-a-year thank-you list. No pay yet; we say so plainly. Coffee's on Jeff. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Be the person in the room <https://westsidewherewithal.com/documenter> Be the person in the room Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Be the person in the room Go to one public meeting, write down what happened on this sheet, send it in. It becomes a few lines in the paper with your name on them. One meeting is plenty. Pick a public meeting that touches the Westside. The easy first one: City Council, the second and fourth Tuesday at 9 a.m., Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada Ave; the next regular one is Tuesday, October 13, then October 27 (Monday work sessions, where they talk but don't vote, are on the same calendar). Agendas, minutes and the video live on the city's Legistar calendar, and you can watch it live or later there. Public meetings are open to anyone. Budget about two hours: the meeting, or the parts that touch the Westside, plus half an hour on this sheet. Print this page; it is the sheet. The sheet Fill in what you can. Blanks are fine; "didn't catch it" is a real answer. Meeting: which body, date, place or link, start and end time, who ran it Who was there: officials by name and title, who was absent, roughly how many from the public What was decided: each vote in its own words, the count, who voted yes and who voted no, the ordinance or file number off the agenda, and whether it was a first reading, a final one, or part of the consent list (see the key) What was said at the mic: three things people said, as close to their words as you can, with the name if they gave it. Hallway talk needs a yes from the person first. What was put off: anything tabled, continued, or sent to a later date What is next: the next date, and what is due before it Documents: the agenda, the packet, the ordinance or study number, a link or a photo of the page A short key Work session (Mondays): they talk, nobody votes. Regular meeting (second and fourth Tuesdays): votes happen. Consent calendar: a stack of routine items passed in one vote. Note the one that touches the Westside, skip the rest. First reading / second reading: an ordinance gets two votes on two different days. Say which one you saw. Hearing: a zoning or land-use item where people get sworn in and the council acts like a judge. The comment rules are different; the agenda says so. Citizen discussion: the open mic at the start, not tied to any item. What it looks like in the paper > Sep 22, 2026 · Old Colorado City's downtown development authority (DDA) shut down. Council voted 5 to 4 to dissolve it (yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams). The DDA says it may sue because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. The city's own page: the meeting record. In the news: the Gazette. Seen by [your name]. Three things Write what happened, not what you think of it. (Your opinion is welcome too, as a letter.) If it's your block, your business or your club, say so at the top. It still runs. Send it within the week: the box on the front page, hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or the paper to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122. You'll see it before it runs. Borrowed from City Bureau in Chicago, which pays people to do this. We can't yet. We say so. Or fill it in from your seat Same sheet, on your phone. Blanks are fine. It lands in the paper's inbox and a person reads it.Meeting which body, date, place or link, start and end, who ran itWho was there officials by name, who was absent, roughly how many from the publicWhat was decided each vote in its own words, the count, yes and no names, the file number, first or final readingWhat was said at the mic three things, as close to their words as you can, with the name if they gave itWhat was put off tabled, continued, sent to a later dateWhat is next the next date, what is due before itDocuments agenda, packet, ordinance or study number, a link Send the sheet The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The code <https://westsidewherewithal.com/ethics> The code Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The code How we do things, and what we won't do. The bones come from the Society of Professional Journalists; the words are ours. This page is the rulebook; the rest of the paper is written from the heart and doesn't repeat it. The desks. Some pages carry a desk name (The Porch, The Record, The Box) instead of a person's. Those are drafted by the paper's software from the record we hold, edited by hand, and say so at the top. No made-up people, quotes or facts; every claim links to where it came from or says we are still looking. When a neighbor takes a desk, their name replaces the line; how that works is one page. Meeting notes from neighbors. Before a quote runs we read it back to the person who said it. Before a vote count runs we check it against the recording or the minutes. The writer sees their lines before they run; their name goes on them and nothing else of theirs. Photos of the room are fine; photos of people who didn't speak publicly are not. A wrong line gets corrected at the top of the next issue. Your email address goes to the email service and nowhere else. Pantry and supper hours get a phone call before they run. The jar: once a year we say how many chipped in, never how much; it's run by Jeff's one-person company and nobody draws a salary. Seek truth and report it Every claim carries its receipt: the document, the date, the name. If we can't attach it, we say "to link" until we can. We check before we publish, not after. We prefer the original source over the story about it. We don't make things up and we don't take other people's work without saying so. Minimize harm The people in this paper are our neighbors, and we'll see them at the market. We weigh what the public needs to know against what it costs a person to be in print. Kids, people in grief, and people who've never talked to a paper before get extra care. We ask before we quote you, and we say who we are when we call. A writer under 18 needs the permission form signed before a byline. Act independently Nobody buys a word of this. There are no sponsors, no ads, no price list. The jar is pay what you want, and a shop that chips in gets exactly what a neighbor who chips in gets. When the editor has a tie to something we cover (his office, his club, his friends), it says so in the sentence. If it can't be said cleanly, we don't cover it. Same for anyone who writes here: a tie to the story goes in the sentence. Be accountable and transparent We say who wrote what. A person writes every piece; software can fix spelling or type up an interview, and it does not get a byline. The one place software drafted lines is the Cobweb index, and that page says so. When we're wrong, we fix it, label it, and run the correction at the top of the next issue, not at the bottom of a page nobody reads. Tell us at hello@westsidewherewithal.com, call or text 719-201-5462, reply to the Thursday email, use the box on the front page, or write to the address in the footer. A person reads it. Our own rules, on top By us, for us. We can write about what isn't here. It's for the people who are. Clean. No profanity in the paper, even when the editor would. Less division, more discussion. We argue with ideas, not neighbors. Nothing to buy. A neighbor is a neighbor, renting or owning, behind the counter or in front of it. Chip in as one, write as one, with the tie said in the sentence. This rule is for the outfit from somewhere else that wants to buy a word in here: a chain's ad budget, a developer's PR shop, a media company in Denver. There is nothing to buy. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Every page, as text <https://westsidewherewithal.com/everything> Every page, as text Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Every page, as text The whole site as one page, for an outside reader or a tool that only opens web pages. The same text is at everything.md; the page list is at llms.txt. # The Westside Wherewithal, every page as text Generated by build.py on 2026-10-11. For an outside reader auditing the site. The live pages are canonical. --- # Wherewithal, n. <https://westsidewherewithal.com/about> Wherewithal, n. Skip to the page ← the front pagewherewithal, n. ## What this is wherewithal, noun: the means to get a thing done. Money, usually. Over here, whatever it takes. I live over here, about twenty years now, and I'm holding one pen. The paper works when there are a lot more of them. Bring your own, whatever it is: a notebook, a phone, a typewriter somebody left you, a kid with a camera. Write about the street you're on. New here? The avenue is West Colorado Avenue. OCC is Old Colorado City, the six blocks of it between about 24th and 27th. The Westside is everything west of I-25 to the Manitou line, the hills on both sides. One thing to show up to this week is in the next two weeks on the front page; trivia on Thursday at OCC Brewing needs no one to know you. Here runs past the avenue: Pleasant Valley, Midland, Mesa Springs, the Mesa, the motels out past 31st, the park. I don't know them all yet. Tell me what I'm missing. How it works: I find people who care and ask them to share it out loud. I ask others to participate too. We focus on writing about things that matter, and we get to decide what matters. So do you. What the idea is, what we're going to try, and what we honestly don't know yet is on the kit page, free to copy if you want to start one where you live. How we do it, and what we won't do, is in the code. Jeff Adkins, editor. See you Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · front page LightAutoDark --- # See that building? Look again <https://westsidewherewithal.com/address-book-1902> See that building? Look again Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## See that building? Look again The Address Book desk. Written from Mel McFarland's columns and the 1902 map; nothing here is from memory yet. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Stop right here on the sidewalk with me. See that? Keep looking, because I'm going to point at five places Mel McFarland wrote about, and every one of them was something else first. The Goodwill center on Colorado Avenue. See it? Part of that was the Golden Flake potato chip factory. Chips. Made right here. Now, Mel ran that in his quiz column of January 17, 2008, a whole column of reused buildings, and hold onto that one, because it comes back in a minute. Fire Station 5, at Colorado and 29th. Same column, told you. You know what that was before it was a fire station? The Standard Club, a recreation hall built for the workers at the Standard Gold Mill. 2902 W Colorado. Old city hall. And then, hang on, this is the part I love, it became the first Whittier School. Mel gave the answer on June 16, 2005. A city hall that turned into a school. Bancroft Park. Now, where the farmers market sets up. That was once Bancroft School, a big one, all the grades, junior high and high school classes too (January 17, 2008, and May 17, 2012). Next Saturday, stand right where you are with your market bag and picture it. The Van Briggle building. You know what that was? The Colorado Midland roundhouse. Fourteen stalls of stone, part of shops that covered 57 acres between 21st and 26th, south of the creek. Six hundred men worked those shops at their peak (April 19, 2012). And that the roundhouse became Van Briggle Pottery? That's in his columns of January 10, 2009 and February 19, 2009. Now. One honest warning before we walk on. The paper has the 1892 and 1902 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress, public domain). See the 1902 index sheet? It puts Colorado City at 4,000 people. But the town's street numbers were renumbered after Colorado Springs annexed it in 1917, so we won't match a 1902 address to a 2026 one without the key. The key lives at the History Center, 1 S 24th. That's the next stop for this desk. Here's where you come in. This desk has one standing question: what was in this storefront in 1968? If you remember, send it in. A name, a counter, what it smelled like, who worked there. Email hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or call or text 719-201-5462. A person reads every one. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Check your answer <https://westsidewherewithal.com/check> Check your answer Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Check your answer Did the word find on the back of the sheet or in the box edition? The letters you did not circle, read left to right and top to bottom, spell a message. Type them here, spaces or no spaces, and find out. Nothing you type is saved or sent anywhere.The leftover letters Check it The five questions Stuck on Westside five? The key is printed upside down at the bottom of the quiz. If you want it here: Show the key 1. Two elk · 2. $663.21 · 3. 1892 · 4. Goodwill · 5. School Text your score, or five questions of your own, to 719-201-5462. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Permission form, writers under 18 <https://westsidewherewithal.com/consent> Permission form, writers under 18 Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Permission form, writers under 18 The form The Westside Wherewithal release for writers and interview subjects under 18 I, _______, give The Westside Wherewithal permission to publish the writing, interview, photographs, or recordings described here: _______________ It may appear in the email edition, on the website, and in any later archive of the paper, and it may stay online for years. My name may be used with it. (Circle one: use my full name / first name only / no name) I keep the copyright to my own writing. The Westside Wherewithal may publish it in the paper and keep it in the archive, for no money. It will not sell it or license it to anyone else. I may ask the editor to correct a factual error at any time, and the correction will be printed. I, or my parent, may ask for the piece to come down from the site at any time, and it will. I understand I do not get to approve the final edit before it runs, but the editor will tell me if the piece changes in a way that changes its meaning. I was told I could talk this over with a parent, guardian, teacher, or any adult I trust before signing. Signature _______ Date ____ Age ___ Phone or email (for the editor only, not printed) __________ Send a photo of the signed form with your piece, or drop it at 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904. Parent or guardian (required under 16, for anything personal, or for anyone who cannot fully understand the above): I, ________, am the parent or guardian of the person above. I have read this release and approve it. Signature _______ Date _____ Editor _______ Date _____ Keep the signed form. The paper's archive is only as good as its paper trail. To take a piece down, or to ask anything: call or text 719-201-5462, or hello@westsidewherewithal.com. How we handle it Every byline or interview by a person under 18 has a signed release. Under 16, or for anything personal (your own family, health, or home), a parent or guardian signs too. Under 13: collect a first name and a parent's email, nothing else, and the parent signs. A story about a named other kid gets read twice by the editor before it goes out. The young writer keeps their own copyright. We get permission to publish, not ownership. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Take a desk <https://westsidewherewithal.com/desks> Take a desk Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Take a desk Every page on this paper signed by a desk instead of a person is open. Taking one is not a job and not an application. It's a shift you can do in an hour or two a week, and your name goes on what prints. How it works Text 719-201-5462 or email hello@westsidewherewithal.com: "I'll take The Table." That's the whole form. On a phone, the "text it" links below open the message already typed. One conversation with Jeff, by phone or over coffee, so you know what the desk promises and he knows how to reach you. Your first piece runs under your name the next Thursday it's ready. The desk line at the top comes off. Miss a week? Say so, and the desk holds for you. Hand it back any week the same way. Nobody checks credentials. We check facts. Everything you turn in gets the same read every page gets: every claim traced to where it came from, a phone call on any hour or price, and a copy back to you before it prints. How we do things is the whole rulebook. The desks, in hours and acts DeskWhat it is, every weekAbout how long The Table text itCall five pantries and suppers on Tuesday, confirm the hours, write the day-by-day.An hour, mostly on hold The Weekend Radar text itMonday: pull the eight calendars (the avenue's association, the library, the Garden, Manitou, the community center), pick three, say where to park.An hour The Record text itOne City Council Tuesday a month (9 a.m., 107 N Nevada Ave, or the video later) with the one-page sheet. Write what happened, attach the document.Two hours, twice a month at most The Ridge text itMonday: read the city's parks and open-space page and the Friends of Red Rock Canyon site. Walk one trail. Say which one was muddy.An hour, plus the walk The Porch text itOne conversation a month with someone who's been here a long time. Recorded with their yes, written up in their words, read back to them before it prints.An afternoon a month The Address Book text itOne storefront or corner a week: what it was, from Mel McFarland's columns and the 1902 map, and one visit to the History Center at 1 S 24th for the renumbering key.An hour The Box text itOne page a month for kids, best done by a kid and a grown-up together: a dare, a thing to find, a true fact.An evening a month La Vecina text itRead la hoja once a week, fix what sounds wrong, and answer the Spanish texts that come to the number.An hour, some weeks none The Next Hundred text itRead the dates on the agendas (Council, Planning, the parks board, the clerk's liquor notices for 80904) and keep the twelve-month list honest.An hour The Year AheadThe editor's calendar. Not open; but the lead each week is, and a desk that takes one is how that starts. Two people can share a desk. A class can take The Box. A church can take The Table for its own block. If you want a desk that isn't here, say what it is. What you get Your name on the page, every week you do it. Readers first. A link back to anything of yours. The once-a-year thank-you list. No pay yet; we say so plainly. Coffee's on Jeff. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Be the person in the room <https://westsidewherewithal.com/documenter> Be the person in the room Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Be the person in the room Go to one public meeting, write down what happened on this sheet, send it in. It becomes a few lines in the paper with your name on them. One meeting is plenty. Pick a public meeting that touches the Westside. The easy first one: City Council, the second and fourth Tuesday at 9 a.m., Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada Ave; the next regular one is Tuesday, October 13, then October 27 (Monday work sessions, where they talk but don't vote, are on the same calendar). Agendas, minutes and the video live on the city's Legistar calendar, and you can watch it live or later there. Public meetings are open to anyone. Budget about two hours: the meeting, or the parts that touch the Westside, plus half an hour on this sheet. Print this page; it is the sheet. The sheet Fill in what you can. Blanks are fine; "didn't catch it" is a real answer. Meeting: which body, date, place or link, start and end time, who ran it Who was there: officials by name and title, who was absent, roughly how many from the public What was decided: each vote in its own words, the count, who voted yes and who voted no, the ordinance or file number off the agenda, and whether it was a first reading, a final one, or part of the consent list (see the key) What was said at the mic: three things people said, as close to their words as you can, with the name if they gave it. Hallway talk needs a yes from the person first. What was put off: anything tabled, continued, or sent to a later date What is next: the next date, and what is due before it Documents: the agenda, the packet, the ordinance or study number, a link or a photo of the page A short key Work session (Mondays): they talk, nobody votes. Regular meeting (second and fourth Tuesdays): votes happen. Consent calendar: a stack of routine items passed in one vote. Note the one that touches the Westside, skip the rest. First reading / second reading: an ordinance gets two votes on two different days. Say which one you saw. Hearing: a zoning or land-use item where people get sworn in and the council acts like a judge. The comment rules are different; the agenda says so. Citizen discussion: the open mic at the start, not tied to any item. What it looks like in the paper > Sep 22, 2026 · Old Colorado City's downtown development authority (DDA) shut down. Council voted 5 to 4 to dissolve it (yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams). The DDA says it may sue because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. The city's own page: the meeting record. In the news: the Gazette. Seen by [your name]. Three things Write what happened, not what you think of it. (Your opinion is welcome too, as a letter.) If it's your block, your business or your club, say so at the top. It still runs. Send it within the week: the box on the front page, hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or the paper to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122. You'll see it before it runs. Borrowed from City Bureau in Chicago, which pays people to do this. We can't yet. We say so. Or fill it in from your seat Same sheet, on your phone. Blanks are fine. It lands in the paper's inbox and a person reads it.Meeting which body, date, place or link, start and end, who ran itWho was there officials by name, who was absent, roughly how many from the publicWhat was decided each vote in its own words, the count, yes and no names, the file number, first or final readingWhat was said at the mic three things, as close to their words as you can, with the name if they gave itWhat was put off tabled, continued, sent to a later dateWhat is next the next date, what is due before itDocuments agenda, packet, ordinance or study number, a link Send the sheet The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The code <https://westsidewherewithal.com/ethics> The code Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The code How we do things, and what we won't do. The bones come from the Society of Professional Journalists; the words are ours. This page is the rulebook; the rest of the paper is written from the heart and doesn't repeat it. The desks. Some pages carry a desk name (The Porch, The Record, The Box) instead of a person's. Those are drafted by the paper's software from the record we hold, edited by hand, and say so at the top. No made-up people, quotes or facts; every claim links to where it came from or says we are still looking. When a neighbor takes a desk, their name replaces the line; how that works is one page. Meeting notes from neighbors. Before a quote runs we read it back to the person who said it. Before a vote count runs we check it against the recording or the minutes. The writer sees their lines before they run; their name goes on them and nothing else of theirs. Photos of the room are fine; photos of people who didn't speak publicly are not. A wrong line gets corrected at the top of the next issue. Your email address goes to the email service and nowhere else. Pantry and supper hours get a phone call before they run. The jar: once a year we say how many chipped in, never how much; it's run by Jeff's one-person company and nobody draws a salary. Seek truth and report it Every claim carries its receipt: the document, the date, the name. If we can't attach it, we say "to link" until we can. We check before we publish, not after. We prefer the original source over the story about it. We don't make things up and we don't take other people's work without saying so. Minimize harm The people in this paper are our neighbors, and we'll see them at the market. We weigh what the public needs to know against what it costs a person to be in print. Kids, people in grief, and people who've never talked to a paper before get extra care. We ask before we quote you, and we say who we are when we call. A writer under 18 needs the permission form signed before a byline. Act independently Nobody buys a word of this. There are no sponsors, no ads, no price list. The jar is pay what you want, and a shop that chips in gets exactly what a neighbor who chips in gets. When the editor has a tie to something we cover (his office, his club, his friends), it says so in the sentence. If it can't be said cleanly, we don't cover it. Same for anyone who writes here: a tie to the story goes in the sentence. Be accountable and transparent We say who wrote what. A person writes every piece; software can fix spelling or type up an interview, and it does not get a byline. The one place software drafted lines is the Cobweb index, and that page says so. When we're wrong, we fix it, label it, and run the correction at the top of the next issue, not at the bottom of a page nobody reads. Tell us at hello@westsidewherewithal.com, call or text 719-201-5462, reply to the Thursday email, use the box on the front page, or write to the address in the footer. A person reads it. Our own rules, on top By us, for us. We can write about what isn't here. It's for the people who are. Clean. No profanity in the paper, even when the editor would. Less division, more discussion. We argue with ideas, not neighbors. Nothing to buy. A neighbor is a neighbor, renting or owning, behind the counter or in front of it. Chip in as one, write as one, with the tie said in the sentence. This rule is for the outfit from somewhere else that wants to buy a word in here: a chain's ad budget, a developer's PR shop, a media company in Denver. There is nothing to buy. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Every page, as text <https://westsidewherewithal.com/everything> Every page, as text Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Every page, as text The whole site as one page, for an outside reader or a tool that only opens web pages. The same text is at everything.md; the page list is at llms.txt. # The Westside Wherewithal, every page as text Generated by build.py on 2026-10-11. For an outside reader auditing the site. The live pages are canonical. --- # Wherewithal, n. <https://westsidewherewithal.com/about> Wherewithal, n. Skip to the page ← the front pagewherewithal, n. ## What this is wherewithal, noun: the means to get a thing done. Money, usually. Over here, whatever it takes. I live over here, about twenty years now, and I'm holding one pen. The paper works when there are a lot more of them. Bring your own, whatever it is: a notebook, a phone, a typewriter somebody left you, a kid with a camera. Write about the street you're on. New here? The avenue is West Colorado Avenue. OCC is Old Colorado City, the six blocks of it between about 24th and 27th. The Westside is everything west of I-25 to the Manitou line, the hills on both sides. One thing to show up to this week is in the next two weeks on the front page; trivia on Thursday at OCC Brewing needs no one to know you. Here runs past the avenue: Pleasant Valley, Midland, Mesa Springs, the Mesa, the motels out past 31st, the park. I don't know them all yet. Tell me what I'm missing. How it works: I find people who care and ask them to share it out loud. I ask others to participate too. We focus on writing about things that matter, and we get to decide what matters. So do you. What the idea is, what we're going to try, and what we honestly don't know yet is on the kit page, free to copy if you want to start one where you live. How we do it, and what we won't do, is in the code. Jeff Adkins, editor. See you Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · front page LightAutoDark --- # See that building? Look again <https://westsidewherewithal.com/address-book-1902> See that building? Look again Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## See that building? Look again The Address Book desk. Written from Mel McFarland's columns and the 1902 map; nothing here is from memory yet. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Stop right here on the sidewalk with me. See that? Keep looking, because I'm going to point at five places Mel McFarland wrote about, and every one of them was something else first. The Goodwill center on Colorado Avenue. See it? Part of that was the Golden Flake potato chip factory. Chips. Made right here. Now, Mel ran that in his quiz column of January 17, 2008, a whole column of reused buildings, and hold onto that one, because it comes back in a minute. Fire Station 5, at Colorado and 29th. Same column, told you. You know what that was before it was a fire station? The Standard Club, a recreation hall built for the workers at the Standard Gold Mill. 2902 W Colorado. Old city hall. And then, hang on, this is the part I love, it became the first Whittier School. Mel gave the answer on June 16, 2005. A city hall that turned into a school. Bancroft Park. Now, where the farmers market sets up. That was once Bancroft School, a big one, all the grades, junior high and high school classes too (January 17, 2008, and May 17, 2012). Next Saturday, stand right where you are with your market bag and picture it. The Van Briggle building. You know what that was? The Colorado Midland roundhouse. Fourteen stalls of stone, part of shops that covered 57 acres between 21st and 26th, south of the creek. Six hundred men worked those shops at their peak (April 19, 2012). And that the roundhouse became Van Briggle Pottery? That's in his columns of January 10, 2009 and February 19, 2009. Now. One honest warning before we walk on. The paper has the 1892 and 1902 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress, public domain). See the 1902 index sheet? It puts Colorado City at 4,000 people. But the town's street numbers were renumbered after Colorado Springs annexed it in 1917, so we won't match a 1902 address to a 2026 one without the key. The key lives at the History Center, 1 S 24th. That's the next stop for this desk. Here's where you come in. This desk has one standing question: what was in this storefront in 1968? If you remember, send it in. A name, a counter, what it smelled like, who worked there. Email hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or call or text 719-201-5462. A person reads every one. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Check your answer <https://westsidewherewithal.com/check> Check your answer Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Check your answer Did the word find on the back of the sheet or in the box edition? The letters you did not circle, read left to right and top to bottom, spell a message. Type them here, spaces or no spaces, and find out. Nothing you type is saved or sent anywhere.The leftover letters Check it The five questions Stuck on Westside five? The key is printed upside down at the bottom of the quiz. If you want it here: Show the key 1. Two elk · 2. $663.21 · 3. 1892 · 4. Goodwill · 5. School Text your score, or five questions of your own, to 719-201-5462. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Permission form, writers under 18 <https://westsidewherewithal.com/consent> Permission form, writers under 18 Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Permission form, writers under 18 The form The Westside Wherewithal release for writers and interview subjects under 18 I, _______, give The Westside Wherewithal permission to publish the writing, interview, photographs, or recordings described here: _______________ It may appear in the email edition, on the website, and in any later archive of the paper, and it may stay online for years. My name may be used with it. (Circle one: use my full name / first name only / no name) I keep the copyright to my own writing. The Westside Wherewithal may publish it in the paper and keep it in the archive, for no money. It will not sell it or license it to anyone else. I may ask the editor to correct a factual error at any time, and the correction will be printed. I, or my parent, may ask for the piece to come down from the site at any time, and it will. I understand I do not get to approve the final edit before it runs, but the editor will tell me if the piece changes in a way that changes its meaning. I was told I could talk this over with a parent, guardian, teacher, or any adult I trust before signing. Signature _______ Date ____ Age ___ Phone or email (for the editor only, not printed) __________ Send a photo of the signed form with your piece, or drop it at 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904. Parent or guardian (required under 16, for anything personal, or for anyone who cannot fully understand the above): I, ________, am the parent or guardian of the person above. I have read this release and approve it. Signature _______ Date _____ Editor _______ Date _____ Keep the signed form. The paper's archive is only as good as its paper trail. To take a piece down, or to ask anything: call or text 719-201-5462, or hello@westsidewherewithal.com. How we handle it Every byline or interview by a person under 18 has a signed release. Under 16, or for anything personal (your own family, health, or home), a parent or guardian signs too. Under 13: collect a first name and a parent's email, nothing else, and the parent signs. A story about a named other kid gets read twice by the editor before it goes out. The young writer keeps their own copyright. We get permission to publish, not ownership. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Take a desk <https://westsidewherewithal.com/desks> Take a desk Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Take a desk Every page on this paper signed by a desk instead of a person is open. Taking one is not a job and not an application. It's a shift you can do in an hour or two a week, and your name goes on what prints. How it works Text 719-201-5462 or email hello@westsidewherewithal.com: "I'll take The Table." That's the whole form. On a phone, the "text it" links below open the message already typed. One conversation with Jeff, by phone or over coffee, so you know what the desk promises and he knows how to reach you. Your first piece runs under your name the next Thursday it's ready. The desk line at the top comes off. Miss a week? Say so, and the desk holds for you. Hand it back any week the same way. Nobody checks credentials. We check facts. Everything you turn in gets the same read every page gets: every claim traced to where it came from, a phone call on any hour or price, and a copy back to you before it prints. How we do things is the whole rulebook. The desks, in hours and acts DeskWhat it is, every weekAbout how long The Table text itCall five pantries and suppers on Tuesday, confirm the hours, write the day-by-day.An hour, mostly on hold The Weekend Radar text itMonday: pull the eight calendars (the avenue's association, the library, the Garden, Manitou, the community center), pick three, say where to park.An hour The Record text itOne City Council Tuesday a month (9 a.m., 107 N Nevada, or the video later) with the one-page sheet. Write what happened, attach the document.Two hours, twice a month at most The Ridge text itMonday: read the city's parks and open-space page and the Friends of Red Rock Canyon site. Walk one trail. Say which one was muddy.An hour, plus the walk The Porch text itOne conversation a month with someone who's been here a long time. Recorded with their yes, written up in their words, read back to them before it prints.An afternoon a month The Address Book text itOne storefront or corner a week: what it was, from Mel McFarland's columns and the 1902 map, and one visit to the History Center at 1 S 24th for the renumbering key.An hour The Box text itOne page a month for kids, best done by a kid and a grown-up together: a dare, a thing to find, a true fact.An evening a month La Vecina text itRead la hoja once a week, fix what sounds wrong, and answer the Spanish texts that come to the number.An hour, some weeks none The Next Hundred text itRead the dates on the agendas (Council, Planning, the parks board, the clerk's liquor notices for 80904) and keep the twelve-month list honest.An hour The Year AheadThe editor's calendar. Not open; but the lead each week is, and a desk that takes one is how that starts. Two people can share a desk. A class can take The Box. A church can take The Table for its own block. If you want a desk that isn't here, say what it is. What you get Your name on the page, every week you do it. Readers first. A link back to anything of yours. The once-a-year thank-you list. No pay yet; we say so plainly. Coffee's on Jeff. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Be the person in the room <https://westsidewherewithal.com/documenter> Be the person in the room Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Be the person in the room Go to one public meeting, write down what happened on this sheet, send it in. It becomes a few lines in the paper with your name on them. One meeting is plenty. Pick a public meeting that touches the Westside. The easy first one: City Council, the second and fourth Tuesday at 9 a.m., Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada; the next regular one is Tuesday, October 13, then October 27 (Monday work sessions, where they talk but don't vote, are on the same calendar). Agendas, minutes and the video live on the city's Legistar calendar, and you can watch it live or later there. Public meetings are open to anyone. Budget about two hours: the meeting, or the parts that touch the Westside, plus half an hour on this sheet. Print this page; it is the sheet. The sheet Fill in what you can. Blanks are fine; "didn't catch it" is a real answer. Meeting: which body, date, place or link, start and end time, who ran it Who was there: officials by name and title, who was absent, roughly how many from the public What was decided: each vote in its own words, the count, who voted yes and who voted no, the ordinance or file number off the agenda, and whether it was a first reading, a final one, or part of the consent list (see the key) What was said at the mic: three things people said, as close to their words as you can, with the name if they gave it. Hallway talk needs a yes from the person first. What was put off: anything tabled, continued, or sent to a later date What is next: the next date, and what is due before it Documents: the agenda, the packet, the ordinance or study number, a link or a photo of the page A short key Work session (Mondays): they talk, nobody votes. Regular meeting (second and fourth Tuesdays): votes happen. Consent calendar: a stack of routine items passed in one vote. Note the one that touches the Westside, skip the rest. First reading / second reading: an ordinance gets two votes on two different days. Say which one you saw. Hearing: a zoning or land-use item where people get sworn in and the council acts like a judge. The comment rules are different; the agenda says so. Citizen discussion: the open mic at the start, not tied to any item. What it looks like in the paper > Sep 22, 2026 · Old Colorado City's downtown development authority (DDA) shut down. Council voted 5 to 4 to dissolve it (yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams). The DDA says it may sue because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. The city's own page: the meeting record. In the news: the Gazette. Seen by [your name]. Three things Write what happened, not what you think of it. (Your opinion is welcome too, as a letter.) If it's your block, your business or your club, say so at the top. It still runs. Send it within the week: the box on the front page, hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or the paper to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122. You'll see it before it runs. Borrowed from City Bureau in Chicago, which pays people to do this. We can't yet. We say so. Or fill it in from your seat Same sheet, on your phone. Blanks are fine. It lands in the paper's inbox and a person reads it.Meeting which body, date, place or link, start and end, who ran itWho was there officials by name, who was absent, roughly how many from the publicWhat was decided each vote in its own words, the count, yes and no names, the file number, first or final readingWhat was said at the mic three things, as close to their words as you can, with the name if they gave itWhat was put off tabled, continued, sent to a later dateWhat is next the next date, what is due before itDocuments agenda, packet, ordinance or study number, a link Send the sheet The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The code <https://westsidewherewithal.com/ethics> The code Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The code How we do things, and what we won't do. The bones come from the Society of Professional Journalists; the words are ours. This page is the rulebook; the rest of the paper is written from the heart and doesn't repeat it. The desks. Some pages carry a desk name (The Porch, The Record, The Box) instead of a person's. Those are drafted by the paper's software from the record we hold, edited by hand, and say so at the top. No made-up people, quotes or facts; every claim links to where it came from or says we are still looking. When a neighbor takes a desk, their name replaces the line; how that works is one page. Meeting notes from neighbors. Before a quote runs we read it back to the person who said it. Before a vote count runs we check it against the recording or the minutes. The writer sees their lines before they run; their name goes on them and nothing else of theirs. Photos of the room are fine; photos of people who didn't speak publicly are not. A wrong line gets corrected at the top of the next issue. Your email address goes to the email service and nowhere else. Pantry and supper hours get a phone call before they run. The jar: once a year we say how many chipped in, never how much; it's run by Jeff's one-person company and nobody draws a salary. Seek truth and report it Every claim carries its receipt: the document, the date, the name. If we can't attach it, we say "to link" until we can. We check before we publish, not after. We prefer the original source over the story about it. We don't make things up and we don't take other people's work without saying so. Minimize harm The people in this paper are our neighbors, and we'll see them at the market. We weigh what the public needs to know against what it costs a person to be in print. Kids, people in grief, and people who've never talked to a paper before get extra care. We ask before we quote you, and we say who we are when we call. A writer under 18 needs the permission form signed before a byline. Act independently Nobody buys a word of this. There are no sponsors, no ads, no price list. The jar is pay what you want, and a shop that chips in gets exactly what a neighbor who chips in gets. When the editor has a tie to something we cover (his office, his club, his friends), it says so in the sentence. If it can't be said cleanly, we don't cover it. Same for anyone who writes here: a tie to the story goes in the sentence. Be accountable and transparent We say who wrote what. A person writes every piece; software can fix spelling or type up an interview, and it does not get a byline. The one place software drafted lines is the Cobweb index, and that page says so. When we're wrong, we fix it, label it, and run the correction at the top of the next issue, not at the bottom of a page nobody reads. Tell us at hello@westsidewherewithal.com, call or text 719-201-5462, reply to the Thursday email, use the box on the front page, or write to the address in the footer. A person reads it. Our own rules, on top By us, for us. We can write about what isn't here. It's for the people who are. Clean. No profanity in the paper, even when the editor would. Less division, more discussion. We argue with ideas, not neighbors. Nothing to buy. A neighbor is a neighbor, renting or owning, behind the counter or in front of it. Chip in as one, write as one, with the tie said in the sentence. This rule is for the outfit from somewhere else that wants to buy a word in here: a chain's ad budget, a developer's PR shop, a media company in Denver. There is nothing to buy. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Every page, as text <https://westsidewherewithal.com/everything> Every page, as text Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Every page, as text The whole site as one page, for an outside reader or a tool that only opens web pages. The same text is at everything.md; the page list is at llms.txt. # The Westside Wherewithal, every page as text Generated by build.py on 2026-10-11. For an outside reader auditing the site. The live pages are canonical. --- # Wherewithal, n. <https://westsidewherewithal.com/about> Wherewithal, n. Skip to the page ← the front pagewherewithal, n. ## What this is wherewithal, noun: the means to get a thing done. Money, usually. Over here, whatever it takes. I live over here, about twenty years now, and I'm holding one pen. The paper works when there are a lot more of them. Bring your own, whatever it is: a notebook, a phone, a typewriter somebody left you, a kid with a camera. Write about the street you're on. New here? The avenue is West Colorado Avenue. OCC is Old Colorado City, the six blocks of it between about 24th and 27th. The Westside is everything west of I-25 to the Manitou line, the hills on both sides. One thing to show up to this week is in the next two weeks on the front page; trivia on Thursday at OCC Brewing needs no one to know you. Here runs past the avenue: Pleasant Valley, Midland, Mesa Springs, the Mesa, the motels out past 31st, the park. I don't know them all yet. Tell me what I'm missing. How it works: I find people who care and ask them to share it out loud. I ask others to participate too. We focus on writing about things that matter, and we get to decide what matters. So do you. What the idea is, what we're going to try, and what we honestly don't know yet is on the kit page, free to copy if you want to start one where you live. How we do it, and what we won't do, is in the code. Jeff Adkins, editor. See you Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · front page LightAutoDark --- # See that building? Look again <https://westsidewherewithal.com/address-book-1902> See that building? Look again Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## See that building? Look again The Address Book desk. Written from Mel McFarland's columns and the 1902 map; nothing here is from memory yet. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Stop right here on the sidewalk with me. See that? Keep looking, because I'm going to point at five places Mel McFarland wrote about, and every one of them was something else first. The Goodwill center on Colorado Avenue. See it? Part of that was the Golden Flake potato chip factory. Chips. Made right here. Now, Mel ran that in his quiz column of January 17, 2008, a whole column of reused buildings, and hold onto that one, because it comes back in a minute. Fire Station 5, at Colorado and 29th. Same column, told you. You know what that was before it was a fire station? The Standard Club, a recreation hall built for the workers at the Standard Gold Mill. 2902 W Colorado. Old city hall. And then, hang on, this is the part I love, it became the first Whittier School. Mel gave the answer on June 16, 2005. A city hall that turned into a school. Bancroft Park. Now, where the farmers market sets up. That was once Bancroft School, a big one, all the grades, junior high and high school classes too (January 17, 2008, and May 17, 2012). Next Saturday, stand right where you are with your market bag and picture it. The Van Briggle building. You know what that was? The Colorado Midland roundhouse. Fourteen stalls of stone, part of shops that covered 57 acres between 21st and 26th, south of the creek. Six hundred men worked those shops at their peak (April 19, 2012). And that the roundhouse became Van Briggle Pottery? That's in his columns of January 10, 2009 and February 19, 2009. Now. One honest warning before we walk on. The paper has the 1892 and 1902 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress, public domain). See the 1902 index sheet? It puts Colorado City at 4,000 people. But the town's street numbers were renumbered after Colorado Springs annexed it in 1917, so we won't match a 1902 address to a 2026 one without the key. The key lives at the History Center, 1 S 24th. That's the next stop for this desk. Here's where you come in. This desk has one standing question: what was in this storefront in 1968? If you remember, send it in. A name, a counter, what it smelled like, who worked there. Email hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or call or text 719-201-5462. A person reads every one. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Check your answer <https://westsidewherewithal.com/check> Check your answer Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Check your answer Did the word find on the back of the sheet or in the box edition? The letters you did not circle, read left to right and top to bottom, spell a message. Type them here, spaces or no spaces, and find out. Nothing you type is saved or sent anywhere.The leftover letters Check it The five questions Stuck on Westside five? The key is printed upside down at the bottom of the quiz. If you want it here: Show the key 1. Two elk · 2. $663.21 · 3. 1892 · 4. Goodwill · 5. School Text your score, or five questions of your own, to 719-201-5462. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Permission form, writers under 18 <https://westsidewherewithal.com/consent> Permission form, writers under 18 Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Permission form, writers under 18 The form The Westside Wherewithal release for writers and interview subjects under 18 I, _______, give The Westside Wherewithal permission to publish the writing, interview, photographs, or recordings described here: _______________ It may appear in the email edition, on the website, and in any later archive of the paper, and it may stay online for years. My name may be used with it. (Circle one: use my full name / first name only / no name) I keep the copyright to my own writing. The Westside Wherewithal may publish it in the paper and keep it in the archive, for no money. It will not sell it or license it to anyone else. I may ask the editor to correct a factual error at any time, and the correction will be printed. I, or my parent, may ask for the piece to come down from the site at any time, and it will. I understand I do not get to approve the final edit before it runs, but the editor will tell me if the piece changes in a way that changes its meaning. I was told I could talk this over with a parent, guardian, teacher, or any adult I trust before signing. Signature _______ Date ____ Age ___ Phone or email (for the editor only, not printed) __________ Send a photo of the signed form with your piece, or drop it at 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904. Parent or guardian (required under 16, for anything personal, or for anyone who cannot fully understand the above): I, ________, am the parent or guardian of the person above. I have read this release and approve it. Signature _______ Date _____ Editor _______ Date _____ Keep the signed form. The paper's archive is only as good as its paper trail. To take a piece down, or to ask anything: call or text 719-201-5462, or hello@westsidewherewithal.com. How we handle it Every byline or interview by a person under 18 has a signed release. Under 16, or for anything personal (your own family, health, or home), a parent or guardian signs too. Under 13: collect a first name and a parent's email, nothing else, and the parent signs. A story about a named other kid gets read twice by the editor before it goes out. The young writer keeps their own copyright. We get permission to publish, not ownership. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Take a desk <https://westsidewherewithal.com/desks> Take a desk Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Take a desk Every page on this paper signed by a desk instead of a person is open. Taking one is not a job and not an application. It's a shift you can do in an hour or two a week, and your name goes on what prints. How it works Text 719-201-5462 or email hello@westsidewherewithal.com: "I'll take The Table." That's the whole form. On a phone, the "text it" links below open the message already typed. One conversation with Jeff, by phone or over coffee, so you know what the desk promises and he knows how to reach you. Your first piece runs under your name the next Thursday it's ready. The desk line at the top comes off. Miss a week? Say so, and the desk holds for you. Hand it back any week the same way. Nobody checks credentials. We check facts. Everything you turn in gets the same read every page gets: every claim traced to where it came from, a phone call on any hour or price, and a copy back to you before it prints. How we do things is the whole rulebook. The desks, in hours and acts DeskWhat it is, every weekAbout how long The Table text itCall five pantries and suppers on Tuesday, confirm the hours, write the day-by-day.An hour, mostly on hold The Weekend Radar text itMonday: pull the eight calendars (the avenue's association, the library, the Garden, Manitou, the community center), pick three, say where to park.An hour The Record text itOne City Council Tuesday a month (9 a.m., 107 N Nevada, or the video later) with the one-page sheet. Write what happened, attach the document.Two hours, twice a month at most The Ridge text itMonday: read the city's parks and open-space page and the Friends of Red Rock Canyon site. Walk one trail. Say which one was muddy.An hour, plus the walk The Porch text itOne conversation a month with someone who's been here a long time. Recorded with their yes, written up in their words, read back to them before it prints.An afternoon a month The Address Book text itOne storefront or corner a week: what it was, from Mel McFarland's columns and the 1902 map, and one visit to the History Center at 1 S 24th for the renumbering key.An hour The Box text itOne page a month for kids, best done by a kid and a grown-up together: a dare, a thing to find, a true fact.An evening a month La Vecina text itRead la hoja once a week, fix what sounds wrong, and answer the Spanish texts that come to the number.An hour, some weeks none The Next Hundred text itRead the dates on the agendas (Council, Planning, the parks board, the clerk's liquor notices for 80904) and keep the twelve-month list honest.An hour The Year AheadThe editor's calendar. Not open; but the lead each week is, and a desk that takes one is how that starts. Two people can share a desk. A class can take The Box. A church can take The Table for its own block. If you want a desk that isn't here, say what it is. What you get Your name on the page, every week you do it. Readers first. A link back to anything of yours. The once-a-year thank-you list. No pay yet; we say so plainly. Coffee's on Jeff. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Be the person in the room <https://westsidewherewithal.com/documenter> Be the person in the room Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Be the person in the room Go to one public meeting, write down what happened on this sheet, send it in. It becomes a few lines in the paper with your name on them. One meeting is plenty. Pick a public meeting that touches the Westside. The easy first one: City Council, the second and fourth Tuesday at 9 a.m., Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada; the next regular one is Tuesday, October 13, then October 27 (Monday work sessions, where they talk but don't vote, are on the same calendar). Agendas, minutes and the video live on the city's Legistar calendar, and you can watch it live or later there. Public meetings are open to anyone. Budget about two hours: the meeting, or the parts that touch the Westside, plus half an hour on this sheet. Print this page; it is the sheet. The sheet Fill in what you can. Blanks are fine; "didn't catch it" is a real answer. Meeting: which body, date, place or link, start and end time, who ran it Who was there: officials by name and title, who was absent, roughly how many from the public What was decided: each vote in its own words, the count, who voted yes and who voted no, the ordinance or file number off the agenda, and whether it was a first reading, a final one, or part of the consent list (see the key) What was said at the mic: three things people said, as close to their words as you can, with the name if they gave it. Hallway talk needs a yes from the person first. What was put off: anything tabled, continued, or sent to a later date What is next: the next date, and what is due before it Documents: the agenda, the packet, the ordinance or study number, a link or a photo of the page A short key Work session (Mondays): they talk, nobody votes. Regular meeting (second and fourth Tuesdays): votes happen. Consent calendar: a stack of routine items passed in one vote. Note the one that touches the Westside, skip the rest. First reading / second reading: an ordinance gets two votes on two different days. Say which one you saw. Hearing: a zoning or land-use item where people get sworn in and the council acts like a judge. The comment rules are different; the agenda says so. Citizen discussion: the open mic at the start, not tied to any item. What it looks like in the paper > Sep 22, 2026 · Old Colorado City's downtown development authority (DDA) shut down. Council voted 5 to 4 to dissolve it (yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams). The DDA says it may sue because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. The city's own page: the meeting record. In the news: the Gazette. Seen by [your name]. Three things Write what happened, not what you think of it. (Your opinion is welcome too, as a letter.) If it's your block, your business or your club, say so at the top. It still runs. Send it within the week: the box on the front page, hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or the paper to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122. You'll see it before it runs. Borrowed from City Bureau in Chicago, which pays people to do this. We can't yet. We say so. Or fill it in from your seat Same sheet, on your phone. Blanks are fine. It lands in the paper's inbox and a person reads it.Meeting which body, date, place or link, start and end, who ran itWho was there officials by name, who was absent, roughly how many from the publicWhat was decided each vote in its own words, the count, yes and no names, the file number, first or final readingWhat was said at the mic three things, as close to their words as you can, with the name if they gave itWhat was put off tabled, continued, sent to a later dateWhat is next the next date, what is due before itDocuments agenda, packet, ordinance or study number, a link Send the sheet The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The code <https://westsidewherewithal.com/ethics> The code Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The code How we do things, and what we won't do. The bones come from the Society of Professional Journalists; the words are ours. This page is the rulebook; the rest of the paper is written from the heart and doesn't repeat it. The desks. Some pages carry a desk name (The Porch, The Record, The Box) instead of a person's. Those are drafted by the paper's software from the record we hold, edited by hand, and say so at the top. No made-up people, quotes or facts; every claim links to where it came from or says we are still looking. When a neighbor takes a desk, their name replaces the line; how that works is one page. Meeting notes from neighbors. Before a quote runs we read it back to the person who said it. Before a vote count runs we check it against the recording or the minutes. The writer sees their lines before they run; their name goes on them and nothing else of theirs. Photos of the room are fine; photos of people who didn't speak publicly are not. A wrong line gets corrected at the top of the next issue. Your email address goes to the email service and nowhere else. Pantry and supper hours get a phone call before they run. The jar: once a year we say how many chipped in, never how much; it's run by Jeff's one-person company and nobody draws a salary. Seek truth and report it Every claim carries its receipt: the document, the date, the name. If we can't attach it, we say "to link" until we can. We check before we publish, not after. We prefer the original source over the story about it. We don't make things up and we don't take other people's work without saying so. Minimize harm The people in this paper are our neighbors, and we'll see them at the market. We weigh what the public needs to know against what it costs a person to be in print. Kids, people in grief, and people who've never talked to a paper before get extra care. We ask before we quote you, and we say who we are when we call. A writer under 18 needs the permission form signed before a byline. Act independently Nobody buys a word of this. There are no sponsors, no ads, no price list. The jar is pay what you want, and a shop that chips in gets exactly what a neighbor who chips in gets. When the editor has a tie to something we cover (his office, his club, his friends), it says so in the sentence. If it can't be said cleanly, we don't cover it. Same for anyone who writes here: a tie to the story goes in the sentence. Be accountable and transparent We say who wrote what. A person writes every piece; software can fix spelling or type up an interview, and it does not get a byline. The one place software drafted lines is the Cobweb index, and that page says so. When we're wrong, we fix it, label it, and run the correction at the top of the next issue, not at the bottom of a page nobody reads. Tell us at hello@westsidewherewithal.com, call or text 719-201-5462, reply to the Thursday email, use the box on the front page, or write to the address in the footer. A person reads it. Our own rules, on top By us, for us. We can write about what isn't here. It's for the people who are. Clean. No profanity in the paper, even when the editor would. Less division, more discussion. We argue with ideas, not neighbors. Nothing to buy. A neighbor is a neighbor, renting or owning, behind the counter or in front of it. Chip in as one, write as one, with the tie said in the sentence. This rule is for the outfit from somewhere else that wants to buy a word in here: a chain's ad budget, a developer's PR shop, a media company in Denver. There is nothing to buy. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Every page, as text <https://westsidewherewithal.com/everything> Every page, as text Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Every page, as text The whole site as one page, for an outside reader or a tool that only opens web pages. The same text is at everything.md; the page list is at llms.txt. # The Westside Wherewithal, every page as text Generated by build.py on 2026-10-11. For an outside reader auditing the site. The live pages are canonical. --- # Wherewithal, n. <https://westsidewherewithal.com/about> Wherewithal, n. Skip to the page ← the front pagewherewithal, n. ## What this is wherewithal, noun: the means to get a thing done. Money, usually. Over here, whatever it takes. I live over here, about twenty years now, and I'm holding one pen. The paper works when there are a lot more of them. Bring your own, whatever it is: a notebook, a phone, a typewriter somebody left you, a kid with a camera. Write about the street you're on. New here? The avenue is West Colorado Avenue. OCC is Old Colorado City, the six blocks of it between about 24th and 27th. The Westside is everything west of I-25 to the Manitou line, the hills on both sides. One thing to show up to this week is in the next two weeks on the front page; trivia on Thursday at OCC Brewing needs no one to know you. Here runs past the avenue: Pleasant Valley, Midland, Mesa Springs, the Mesa, the motels out past 31st, the park. I don't know them all yet. Tell me what I'm missing. How it works: I find people who care and ask them to share it out loud. I ask others to participate too. We focus on writing about things that matter, and we get to decide what matters. So do you. What the idea is, what we're going to try, and what we honestly don't know yet is on the kit page, free to copy if you want to start one where you live. How we do it, and what we won't do, is in the code. Jeff Adkins, editor. See you Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · front page LightAutoDark --- # See that building? Look again <https://westsidewherewithal.com/address-book-1902> See that building? Look again Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## See that building? Look again The Address Book desk. Written from Mel McFarland's columns and the 1902 map; nothing here is from memory yet. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Stop right here on the sidewalk with me. See that? Keep looking, because I'm going to point at five places Mel McFarland wrote about, and every one of them was something else first. The Goodwill center on Colorado Avenue. See it? Part of that was the Golden Flake potato chip factory. Chips. Made right here. Now, Mel ran that in his quiz column of January 17, 2008, a whole column of reused buildings, and hold onto that one, because it comes back in a minute. Fire Station 5, at Colorado and 29th. Same column, told you. You know what that was before it was a fire station? The Standard Club, a recreation hall built for the workers at the Standard Gold Mill. 2902 W Colorado. Old city hall. And then, hang on, this is the part I love, it became the first Whittier School. Mel gave the answer on June 16, 2005. A city hall that turned into a school. Bancroft Park. Now, where the farmers market sets up. That was once Bancroft School, a big one, all the grades, junior high and high school classes too (January 17, 2008, and May 17, 2012). Next Saturday, stand right where you are with your market bag and picture it. The Van Briggle building. You know what that was? The Colorado Midland roundhouse. Fourteen stalls of stone, part of shops that covered 57 acres between 21st and 26th, south of the creek. Six hundred men worked those shops at their peak (April 19, 2012). And that the roundhouse became Van Briggle Pottery? That's in his columns of January 10, 2009 and February 19, 2009. Now. One honest warning before we walk on. The paper has the 1892 and 1902 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress, public domain). See the 1902 index sheet? It puts Colorado City at 4,000 people. But the town's street numbers were renumbered after Colorado Springs annexed it in 1917, so we won't match a 1902 address to a 2026 one without the key. The key lives at the History Center, 1 S 24th. That's the next stop for this desk. Here's where you come in. This desk has one standing question: what was in this storefront in 1968? If you remember, send it in. A name, a counter, what it smelled like, who worked there. Email hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or call or text 719-201-5462. A person reads every one. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Check your answer <https://westsidewherewithal.com/check> Check your answer Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Check your answer Did the word find on the back of the sheet or in the box edition? The letters you did not circle, read left to right and top to bottom, spell a message. Type them here, spaces or no spaces, and find out. Nothing you type is saved or sent anywhere.The leftover letters Check it The five questions Stuck on Westside five? The key is printed upside down at the bottom of the quiz. If you want it here: Show the key 1. Two elk · 2. $663.21 · 3. 1892 · 4. Goodwill · 5. School Text your score, or five questions of your own, to 719-201-5462. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Permission form, writers under 18 <https://westsidewherewithal.com/consent> Permission form, writers under 18 Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Permission form, writers under 18 The form The Westside Wherewithal release for writers and interview subjects under 18 I, _______, give The Westside Wherewithal permission to publish the writing, interview, photographs, or recordings described here: _______________ It may appear in the email edition, on the website, and in any later archive of the paper, and it may stay online for years. My name may be used with it. (Circle one: use my full name / first name only / no name) I keep the copyright to my own writing. The Westside Wherewithal may publish it in the paper and keep it in the archive, for no money. It will not sell it or license it to anyone else. I may ask the editor to correct a factual error at any time, and the correction will be printed. I, or my parent, may ask for the piece to come down from the site at any time, and it will. I understand I do not get to approve the final edit before it runs, but the editor will tell me if the piece changes in a way that changes its meaning. I was told I could talk this over with a parent, guardian, teacher, or any adult I trust before signing. Signature _______ Date ____ Age ___ Phone or email (for the editor only, not printed) __________ Send a photo of the signed form with your piece, or drop it at 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904. Parent or guardian (required under 16, for anything personal, or for anyone who cannot fully understand the above): I, ________, am the parent or guardian of the person above. I have read this release and approve it. Signature _______ Date _____ Editor _______ Date _____ Keep the signed form. The paper's archive is only as good as its paper trail. To take a piece down, or to ask anything: call or text 719-201-5462, or hello@westsidewherewithal.com. How we handle it Every byline or interview by a person under 18 has a signed release. Under 16, or for anything personal (your own family, health, or home), a parent or guardian signs too. Under 13: collect a first name and a parent's email, nothing else, and the parent signs. A story about a named other kid gets read twice by the editor before it goes out. The young writer keeps their own copyright. We get permission to publish, not ownership. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Take a desk <https://westsidewherewithal.com/desks> Take a desk Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Take a desk Every page on this paper signed by a desk instead of a person is open. Taking one is not a job and not an application. It's a shift you can do in an hour or two a week, and your name goes on what prints. How it works Text 719-201-5462 or email hello@westsidewherewithal.com: "I'll take The Table." That's the whole form. On a phone, the "text it" links below open the message already typed. One conversation with Jeff, by phone or over coffee, so you know what the desk promises and he knows how to reach you. Your first piece runs under your name the next Thursday it's ready. The desk line at the top comes off. Miss a week? Say so, and the desk holds for you. Hand it back any week the same way. Nobody checks credentials. We check facts. Everything you turn in gets the same read every page gets: every claim traced to where it came from, a phone call on any hour or price, and a copy back to you before it prints. How we do things is the whole rulebook. The desks, in hours and acts DeskWhat it is, every weekAbout how long The Table text itCall five pantries and suppers on Tuesday, confirm the hours, write the day-by-day.An hour, mostly on hold The Weekend Radar text itMonday: pull the eight calendars (the avenue's association, the library, the Garden, Manitou, the community center), pick three, say where to park.An hour The Record text itOne City Council Tuesday a month (9 a.m., 107 N Nevada, or the video later) with the one-page sheet. Write what happened, attach the document.Two hours, twice a month at most The Ridge text itMonday: read the city's parks and open-space page and the Friends of Red Rock Canyon site. Walk one trail. Say which one was muddy.An hour, plus the walk The Porch text itOne conversation a month with someone who's been here a long time. Recorded with their yes, written up in their words, read back to them before it prints.An afternoon a month The Address Book text itOne storefront or corner a week: what it was, from Mel McFarland's columns and the 1902 map, and one visit to the History Center at 1 S 24th for the renumbering key.An hour The Box text itOne page a month for kids, best done by a kid and a grown-up together: a dare, a thing to find, a true fact.An evening a month La Vecina text itRead la hoja once a week, fix what sounds wrong, and answer the Spanish texts that come to the number.An hour, some weeks none The Next Hundred text itRead the dates on the agendas (Council, Planning, the parks board, the clerk's liquor notices for 80904) and keep the twelve-month list honest.An hour The Year AheadThe editor's calendar. Not open; but the lead each week is, and a desk that takes one is how that starts. Two people can share a desk. A class can take The Box. A church can take The Table for its own block. If you want a desk that isn't here, say what it is. What you get Your name on the page, every week you do it. Readers first. A link back to anything of yours. The once-a-year thank-you list. No pay yet; we say so plainly. Coffee's on Jeff. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Be the person in the room <https://westsidewherewithal.com/documenter> Be the person in the room Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Be the person in the room Go to one public meeting, write down what happened on this sheet, send it in. It becomes a few lines in the paper with your name on them. One meeting is plenty. Pick a public meeting that touches the Westside. The easy first one: City Council, the second and fourth Tuesday at 9 a.m., Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada; the next regular one is Tuesday, October 13, then October 27 (Monday work sessions, where they talk but don't vote, are on the same calendar). Agendas, minutes and the video live on the city's Legistar calendar, and you can watch it live or later there. Public meetings are open to anyone. Budget about two hours: the meeting, or the parts that touch the Westside, plus half an hour on this sheet. Print this page; it is the sheet. The sheet Fill in what you can. Blanks are fine; "didn't catch it" is a real answer. Meeting: which body, date, place or link, start and end time, who ran it Who was there: officials by name and title, who was absent, roughly how many from the public What was decided: each vote in its own words, the count, who voted yes and who voted no, the ordinance or file number off the agenda, and whether it was a first reading, a final one, or part of the consent list (see the key) What was said at the mic: three things people said, as close to their words as you can, with the name if they gave it. Hallway talk needs a yes from the person first. What was put off: anything tabled, continued, or sent to a later date What is next: the next date, and what is due before it Documents: the agenda, the packet, the ordinance or study number, a link or a photo of the page A short key Work session (Mondays): they talk, nobody votes. Regular meeting (second and fourth Tuesdays): votes happen. Consent calendar: a stack of routine items passed in one vote. Note the one that touches the Westside, skip the rest. First reading / second reading: an ordinance gets two votes on two different days. Say which one you saw. Hearing: a zoning or land-use item where people get sworn in and the council acts like a judge. The comment rules are different; the agenda says so. Citizen discussion: the open mic at the start, not tied to any item. What it looks like in the paper > Sep 22, 2026 · Old Colorado City's downtown development authority (DDA) shut down. Council voted 5 to 4 to dissolve it (yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams). The DDA says it may sue because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. The city's own page: the meeting record. In the news: the Gazette. Seen by [your name]. Three things Write what happened, not what you think of it. (Your opinion is welcome too, as a letter.) If it's your block, your business or your club, say so at the top. It still runs. Send it within the week: the box on the front page, hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or the paper to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122. You'll see it before it runs. Borrowed from City Bureau in Chicago, which pays people to do this. We can't yet. We say so. Or fill it in from your seat Same sheet, on your phone. Blanks are fine. It lands in the paper's inbox and a person reads it.Meeting which body, date, place or link, start and end, who ran itWho was there officials by name, who was absent, roughly how many from the publicWhat was decided each vote in its own words, the count, yes and no names, the file number, first or final readingWhat was said at the mic three things, as close to their words as you can, with the name if they gave itWhat was put off tabled, continued, sent to a later dateWhat is next the next date, what is due before itDocuments agenda, packet, ordinance or study number, a link Send the sheet The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The code <https://westsidewherewithal.com/ethics> The code Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The code How we do things, and what we won't do. The bones come from the Society of Professional Journalists; the words are ours. This page is the rulebook; the rest of the paper is written from the heart and doesn't repeat it. The desks. Some pages carry a desk name (The Porch, The Record, The Box) instead of a person's. Those are drafted by the paper's software from the record we hold, edited by hand, and say so at the top. No made-up people, quotes or facts; every claim links to where it came from or says we are still looking. When a neighbor takes a desk, their name replaces the line; how that works is one page. Meeting notes from neighbors. Before a quote runs we read it back to the person who said it. Before a vote count runs we check it against the recording or the minutes. The writer sees their lines before they run; their name goes on them and nothing else of theirs. Photos of the room are fine; photos of people who didn't speak publicly are not. A wrong line gets corrected at the top of the next issue. Your email address goes to the email service and nowhere else. Pantry and supper hours get a phone call before they run. The jar: once a year we say how many chipped in, never how much; it's run by Jeff's one-person company and nobody draws a salary. Seek truth and report it Every claim carries its receipt: the document, the date, the name. If we can't attach it, we say "to link" until we can. We check before we publish, not after. We prefer the original source over the story about it. We don't make things up and we don't take other people's work without saying so. Minimize harm The people in this paper are our neighbors, and we'll see them at the market. We weigh what the public needs to know against what it costs a person to be in print. Kids, people in grief, and people who've never talked to a paper before get extra care. We ask before we quote you, and we say who we are when we call. A writer under 18 needs the permission form signed before a byline. Act independently Nobody buys a word of this. There are no sponsors, no ads, no price list. The jar is pay what you want, and a shop that chips in gets exactly what a neighbor who chips in gets. When the editor has a tie to something we cover (his office, his club, his friends), it says so in the sentence. If it can't be said cleanly, we don't cover it. Same for anyone who writes here: a tie to the story goes in the sentence. Be accountable and transparent We say who wrote what. A person writes every piece; software can fix spelling or type up an interview, and it does not get a byline. The one place software drafted lines is the Cobweb index, and that page says so. When we're wrong, we fix it, label it, and run the correction at the top of the next issue, not at the bottom of a page nobody reads. Tell us at hello@westsidewherewithal.com, call or text 719-201-5462, reply to the Thursday email, use the box on the front page, or write to the address in the footer. A person reads it. Our own rules, on top By us, for us. We can write about what isn't here. It's for the people who are. Clean. No profanity in the paper, even when the editor would. Less division, more discussion. We argue with ideas, not neighbors. Nothing to buy. A neighbor is a neighbor, renting or owning, behind the counter or in front of it. Chip in as one, write as one, with the tie said in the sentence. This rule is for the outfit from somewhere else that wants to buy a word in here: a chain's ad budget, a developer's PR shop, a media company in Denver. There is nothing to buy. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Every page, as text <https://westsidewherewithal.com/everything> Every page, as text Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Every page, as text The whole site as one page, for an outside reader or a tool that only opens web pages. The same text is at everything.md; the page list is at llms.txt. # The Westside Wherewithal, every page as text Generated by build.py on 2026-10-11. For an outside reader auditing the site. The live pages are canonical. --- # Wherewithal, n. <https://westsidewherewithal.com/about> Wherewithal, n. Skip to the page ← the front pagewherewithal, n. ## What this is wherewithal, noun: the means to get a thing done. Money, usually. Over here, whatever it takes. I live over here, about twenty years now, and I'm holding one pen. The paper works when there are a lot more of them. Bring your own, whatever it is: a notebook, a phone, a typewriter somebody left you, a kid with a camera. Write about the street you're on. New here? The avenue is West Colorado Avenue. OCC is Old Colorado City, the six blocks of it between about 24th and 27th. The Westside is everything west of I-25 to the Manitou line, the hills on both sides. One thing to show up to this week is in the next two weeks on the front page; trivia on Thursday at OCC Brewing needs no one to know you. Here runs past the avenue: Pleasant Valley, Midland, Mesa Springs, the Mesa, the motels out past 31st, the park. I don't know them all yet. Tell me what I'm missing. How it works: I find people who care and ask them to share it out loud. I ask others to participate too. We focus on writing about things that matter, and we get to decide what matters. So do you. What the idea is, what we're going to try, and what we honestly don't know yet is on the kit page, free to copy if you want to start one where you live. How we do it, and what we won't do, is in the code. Jeff Adkins, editor. See you Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · front page LightAutoDark --- # See that building? Look again <https://westsidewherewithal.com/address-book-1902> See that building? Look again Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## See that building? Look again The Address Book desk. Written from Mel McFarland's columns and the 1902 map; nothing here is from memory yet. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Stop right here on the sidewalk with me. See that? Keep looking, because I'm going to point at five places Mel McFarland wrote about, and every one of them was something else first. The Goodwill center on Colorado Avenue. See it? Part of that was the Golden Flake potato chip factory. Chips. Made right here. Now, Mel ran that in his quiz column of January 17, 2008, a whole column of reused buildings, and hold onto that one, because it comes back in a minute. Fire Station 5, at Colorado and 29th. Same column, told you. You know what that was before it was a fire station? The Standard Club, a recreation hall built for the workers at the Standard Gold Mill. 2902 W Colorado. Old city hall. And then, hang on, this is the part I love, it became the first Whittier School. Mel gave the answer on June 16, 2005. A city hall that turned into a school. Bancroft Park. Now, where the farmers market sets up. That was once Bancroft School, a big one, all the grades, junior high and high school classes too (January 17, 2008, and May 17, 2012). Next Saturday, stand right where you are with your market bag and picture it. The Van Briggle building. You know what that was? The Colorado Midland roundhouse. Fourteen stalls of stone, part of shops that covered 57 acres between 21st and 26th, south of the creek. Six hundred men worked those shops at their peak (April 19, 2012). And that the roundhouse became Van Briggle Pottery? That's in his columns of January 10, 2009 and February 19, 2009. Now. One honest warning before we walk on. The paper has the 1892 and 1902 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress, public domain). See the 1902 index sheet? It puts Colorado City at 4,000 people. But the town's street numbers were renumbered after Colorado Springs annexed it in 1917, so we won't match a 1902 address to a 2026 one without the key. The key lives at the History Center, 1 S 24th. That's the next stop for this desk. Here's where you come in. This desk has one standing question: what was in this storefront in 1968? If you remember, send it in. A name, a counter, what it smelled like, who worked there. Email hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or call or text 719-201-5462. A person reads every one. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Check your answer <https://westsidewherewithal.com/check> Check your answer Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Check your answer Did the word find on the back of the sheet or in the box edition? The letters you did not circle, read left to right and top to bottom, spell a message. Type them here, spaces or no spaces, and find out. Nothing you type is saved or sent anywhere.The leftover letters Check it The five questions Stuck on Westside five? The key is printed upside down at the bottom of the quiz. If you want it here: Show the key 1. Two elk · 2. $663.21 · 3. 1892 · 4. Goodwill · 5. School Text your score, or five questions of your own, to 719-201-5462. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Permission form, writers under 18 <https://westsidewherewithal.com/consent> Permission form, writers under 18 Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Permission form, writers under 18 The form The Westside Wherewithal release for writers and interview subjects under 18 I, _______, give The Westside Wherewithal permission to publish the writing, interview, photographs, or recordings described here: _______________ It may appear in the email edition, on the website, and in any later archive of the paper, and it may stay online for years. My name may be used with it. (Circle one: use my full name / first name only / no name) I keep the copyright to my own writing. The Westside Wherewithal may publish it in the paper and keep it in the archive, for no money. It will not sell it or license it to anyone else. I may ask the editor to correct a factual error at any time, and the correction will be printed. I, or my parent, may ask for the piece to come down from the site at any time, and it will. I understand I do not get to approve the final edit before it runs, but the editor will tell me if the piece changes in a way that changes its meaning. I was told I could talk this over with a parent, guardian, teacher, or any adult I trust before signing. Signature _______ Date ____ Age ___ Phone or email (for the editor only, not printed) __________ Send a photo of the signed form with your piece, or drop it at 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904. Parent or guardian (required under 16, for anything personal, or for anyone who cannot fully understand the above): I, ________, am the parent or guardian of the person above. I have read this release and approve it. Signature _______ Date _____ Editor _______ Date _____ Keep the signed form. The paper's archive is only as good as its paper trail. To take a piece down, or to ask anything: call or text 719-201-5462, or hello@westsidewherewithal.com. How we handle it Every byline or interview by a person under 18 has a signed release. Under 16, or for anything personal (your own family, health, or home), a parent or guardian signs too. Under 13: collect a first name and a parent's email, nothing else, and the parent signs. A story about a named other kid gets read twice by the editor before it goes out. The young writer keeps their own copyright. We get permission to publish, not ownership. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Take a desk <https://westsidewherewithal.com/desks> Take a desk Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Take a desk Every page on this paper signed by a desk instead of a person is open. Taking one is not a job and not an application. It's a shift you can do in an hour or two a week, and your name goes on what prints. How it works Text 719-201-5462 or email hello@westsidewherewithal.com: "I'll take The Table." That's the whole form. On a phone, the "text it" links below open the message already typed. One conversation with Jeff, by phone or over coffee, so you know what the desk promises and he knows how to reach you. Your first piece runs under your name the next Thursday it's ready. The desk line at the top comes off. Miss a week? Say so, and the desk holds for you. Hand it back any week the same way. Nobody checks credentials. We check facts. Everything you turn in gets the same read every page gets: every claim traced to where it came from, a phone call on any hour or price, and a copy back to you before it prints. How we do things is the whole rulebook. The desks, in hours and acts DeskWhat it is, every weekAbout how long The Table text itCall five pantries and suppers on Tuesday, confirm the hours, write the day-by-day.An hour, mostly on hold The Weekend Radar text itMonday: pull the eight calendars (the avenue's association, the library, the Garden, Manitou, the community center), pick three, say where to park.An hour The Record text itOne City Council Tuesday a month (9 a.m., 107 N Nevada, or the video later) with the one-page sheet. Write what happened, attach the document.Two hours, twice a month at most The Ridge text itMonday: read the city's parks and open-space page and the Friends of Red Rock Canyon site. Walk one trail. Say which one was muddy.An hour, plus the walk The Porch text itOne conversation a month with someone who's been here a long time. Recorded with their yes, written up in their words, read back to them before it prints.An afternoon a month The Address Book text itOne storefront or corner a week: what it was, from Mel McFarland's columns and the 1902 map, and one visit to the History Center at 1 S 24th for the renumbering key.An hour The Box text itOne page a month for kids, best done by a kid and a grown-up together: a dare, a thing to find, a true fact.An evening a month La Vecina text itRead la hoja once a week, fix what sounds wrong, and answer the Spanish texts that come to the number.An hour, some weeks none The Next Hundred text itRead the dates on the agendas (Council, Planning, the parks board, the clerk's liquor notices for 80904) and keep the twelve-month list honest.An hour The Year AheadThe editor's calendar. Not open; but the lead each week is, and a desk that takes one is how that starts. Two people can share a desk. A class can take The Box. A church can take The Table for its own block. If you want a desk that isn't here, say what it is. What you get Your name on the page, every week you do it. Readers first. A link back to anything of yours. The once-a-year thank-you list. No pay yet; we say so plainly. Coffee's on Jeff. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Be the person in the room <https://westsidewherewithal.com/documenter> Be the person in the room Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Be the person in the room Go to one public meeting, write down what happened on this sheet, send it in. It becomes a few lines in the paper with your name on them. One meeting is plenty. Pick a public meeting that touches the Westside. The easy first one: City Council, the second and fourth Tuesday at 9 a.m., Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada; the next regular one is Tuesday, October 13, then October 27 (Monday work sessions, where they talk but don't vote, are on the same calendar). Agendas, minutes and the video live on the city's Legistar calendar, and you can watch it live or later there. Public meetings are open to anyone. Budget about two hours: the meeting, or the parts that touch the Westside, plus half an hour on this sheet. Print this page; it is the sheet. The sheet Fill in what you can. Blanks are fine; "didn't catch it" is a real answer. Meeting: which body, date, place or link, start and end time, who ran it Who was there: officials by name and title, who was absent, roughly how many from the public What was decided: each vote in its own words, the count, who voted yes and who voted no, the ordinance or file number off the agenda, and whether it was a first reading, a final one, or part of the consent list (see the key) What was said at the mic: three things people said, as close to their words as you can, with the name if they gave it. Hallway talk needs a yes from the person first. What was put off: anything tabled, continued, or sent to a later date What is next: the next date, and what is due before it Documents: the agenda, the packet, the ordinance or study number, a link or a photo of the page A short key Work session (Mondays): they talk, nobody votes. Regular meeting (second and fourth Tuesdays): votes happen. Consent calendar: a stack of routine items passed in one vote. Note the one that touches the Westside, skip the rest. First reading / second reading: an ordinance gets two votes on two different days. Say which one you saw. Hearing: a zoning or land-use item where people get sworn in and the council acts like a judge. The comment rules are different; the agenda says so. Citizen discussion: the open mic at the start, not tied to any item. What it looks like in the paper > Sep 22, 2026 · Old Colorado City's downtown development authority (DDA) shut down. Council voted 5 to 4 to dissolve it (yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams). The DDA says it may sue because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. The city's own page: the meeting record. In the news: the Gazette. Seen by [your name]. Three things Write what happened, not what you think of it. (Your opinion is welcome too, as a letter.) If it's your block, your business or your club, say so at the top. It still runs. Send it within the week: the box on the front page, hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or the paper to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122. You'll see it before it runs. Borrowed from City Bureau in Chicago, which pays people to do this. We can't yet. We say so. Or fill it in from your seat Same sheet, on your phone. Blanks are fine. It lands in the paper's inbox and a person reads it.Meeting which body, date, place or link, start and end, who ran itWho was there officials by name, who was absent, roughly how many from the publicWhat was decided each vote in its own words, the count, yes and no names, the file number, first or final readingWhat was said at the mic three things, as close to their words as you can, with the name if they gave itWhat was put off tabled, continued, sent to a later dateWhat is next the next date, what is due before itDocuments agenda, packet, ordinance or study number, a link Send the sheet The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The code <https://westsidewherewithal.com/ethics> The code Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The code How we do things, and what we won't do. The bones come from the Society of Professional Journalists; the words are ours. This page is the rulebook; the rest of the paper is written from the heart and doesn't repeat it. The desks. Some pages carry a desk name (The Porch, The Record, The Box) instead of a person's. Those are drafted by the paper's software from the record we hold, edited by hand, and say so at the top. No made-up people, quotes or facts; every claim links to where it came from or says we are still looking. When a neighbor takes a desk, their name replaces the line; how that works is one page. Meeting notes from neighbors. Before a quote runs we read it back to the person who said it. Before a vote count runs we check it against the recording or the minutes. The writer sees their lines before they run; their name goes on them and nothing else of theirs. Photos of the room are fine; photos of people who didn't speak publicly are not. A wrong line gets corrected at the top of the next issue. Your email address goes to the email service and nowhere else. Pantry and supper hours get a phone call before they run. The jar: once a year we say how many chipped in, never how much; it's run by Jeff's one-person company and nobody draws a salary. Seek truth and report it Every claim carries its receipt: the document, the date, the name. If we can't attach it, we say "to link" until we can. We check before we publish, not after. We prefer the original source over the story about it. We don't make things up and we don't take other people's work without saying so. Minimize harm The people in this paper are our neighbors, and we'll see them at the market. We weigh what the public needs to know against what it costs a person to be in print. Kids, people in grief, and people who've never talked to a paper before get extra care. We ask before we quote you, and we say who we are when we call. A writer under 18 needs the permission form signed before a byline. Act independently Nobody buys a word of this. There are no sponsors, no ads, no price list. The jar is pay what you want, and a shop that chips in gets exactly what a neighbor who chips in gets. When the editor has a tie to something we cover (his office, his club, his friends), it says so in the sentence. If it can't be said cleanly, we don't cover it. Same for anyone who writes here: a tie to the story goes in the sentence. Be accountable and transparent We say who wrote what. A person writes every piece; software can fix spelling or type up an interview, and it does not get a byline. The one place software drafted lines is the Cobweb index, and that page says so. When we're wrong, we fix it, label it, and run the correction at the top of the next issue, not at the bottom of a page nobody reads. Tell us at hello@westsidewherewithal.com, call or text 719-201-5462, reply to the Thursday email, use the box on the front page, or write to the address in the footer. A person reads it. Our own rules, on top By us, for us. We can write about what isn't here. It's for the people who are. Clean. No profanity in the paper, even when the editor would. Less division, more discussion. We argue with ideas, not neighbors. Nothing to buy. A neighbor is a neighbor, renting or owning, behind the counter or in front of it. Chip in as one, write as one, with the tie said in the sentence. This rule is for the outfit from somewhere else that wants to buy a word in here: a chain's ad budget, a developer's PR shop, a media company in Denver. There is nothing to buy. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Every page, as text <https://westsidewherewithal.com/everything> Every page, as text Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Every page, as text The whole site as one page, for an outside reader or a tool that only opens web pages. The same text is at everything.md; the page list is at llms.txt. # The Westside Wherewithal, every page as text Generated by build.py on 2026-10-11. For an outside reader auditing the site. The live pages are canonical. --- # Wherewithal, n. <https://westsidewherewithal.com/about> Wherewithal, n. Skip to the page ← the front pagewherewithal, n. ## What this is wherewithal, noun: the means to get a thing done. Money, usually. Over here, whatever it takes. I live over here, about twenty years now, and I'm holding one pen. The paper works when there are a lot more of them. Bring your own, whatever it is: a notebook, a phone, a typewriter somebody left you, a kid with a camera. Write about the street you're on. New here? The avenue is West Colorado Avenue. OCC is Old Colorado City, the six blocks of it between about 24th and 27th. The Westside is everything west of I-25 to the Manitou line, the hills on both sides. One thing to show up to this week is in the next two weeks on the front page; trivia on Thursday at OCC Brewing needs no one to know you. Here runs past the avenue: Pleasant Valley, Midland, Mesa Springs, the Mesa, the motels out past 31st, the park. I don't know them all yet. Tell me what I'm missing. How it works: I find people who care and ask them to share it out loud. I ask others to participate too. We focus on writing about things that matter, and we get to decide what matters. So do you. What the idea is, what we're going to try, and what we honestly don't know yet is on the kit page, free to copy if you want to start one where you live. How we do it, and what we won't do, is in the code. Jeff Adkins, editor. See you Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · front page LightAutoDark --- # See that building? Look again <https://westsidewherewithal.com/address-book-1902> See that building? Look again Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## See that building? Look again The Address Book desk. Written from Mel McFarland's columns and the 1902 map; nothing here is from memory yet. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Stop right here on the sidewalk with me. See that? Keep looking, because I'm going to point at five places Mel McFarland wrote about, and every one of them was something else first. The Goodwill center on Colorado Avenue. See it? Part of that was the Golden Flake potato chip factory. Chips. Made right here. Now, Mel ran that in his quiz column of January 17, 2008, a whole column of reused buildings, and hold onto that one, because it comes back in a minute. Fire Station 5, at Colorado and 29th. Same column, told you. You know what that was before it was a fire station? The Standard Club, a recreation hall built for the workers at the Standard Gold Mill. 2902 W Colorado. Old city hall. And then, hang on, this is the part I love, it became the first Whittier School. Mel gave the answer on June 16, 2005. A city hall that turned into a school. Bancroft Park. Now, where the farmers market sets up. That was once Bancroft School, a big one, all the grades, junior high and high school classes too (January 17, 2008, and May 17, 2012). Next Saturday, stand right where you are with your market bag and picture it. The Van Briggle building. You know what that was? The Colorado Midland roundhouse. Fourteen stalls of stone, part of shops that covered 57 acres between 21st and 26th, south of the creek. Six hundred men worked those shops at their peak (April 19, 2012). And that the roundhouse became Van Briggle Pottery? That's in his columns of January 10, 2009 and February 19, 2009. Now. One honest warning before we walk on. The paper has the 1892 and 1902 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress, public domain). See the 1902 index sheet? It puts Colorado City at 4,000 people. But the town's street numbers were renumbered after Colorado Springs annexed it in 1917, so we won't match a 1902 address to a 2026 one without the key. The key lives at the History Center, 1 S 24th. That's the next stop for this desk. Here's where you come in. This desk has one standing question: what was in this storefront in 1968? If you remember, send it in. A name, a counter, what it smelled like, who worked there. Email hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or call or text 719-201-5462. A person reads every one. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Check your answer <https://westsidewherewithal.com/check> Check your answer Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Check your answer Did the word find on the back of the sheet or in the box edition? The letters you did not circle, read left to right and top to bottom, spell a message. Type them here, spaces or no spaces, and find out. Nothing you type is saved or sent anywhere.The leftover letters Check it The five questions Stuck on Westside five? The key is printed upside down at the bottom of the quiz. If you want it here: Show the key 1. Two elk · 2. $663.21 · 3. 1892 · 4. Goodwill · 5. School Text your score, or five questions of your own, to 719-201-5462. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Permission form, writers under 18 <https://westsidewherewithal.com/consent> Permission form, writers under 18 Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Permission form, writers under 18 The form The Westside Wherewithal release for writers and interview subjects under 18 I, _______, give The Westside Wherewithal permission to publish the writing, interview, photographs, or recordings described here: _______________ It may appear in the email edition, on the website, and in any later archive of the paper, and it may stay online for years. My name may be used with it. (Circle one: use my full name / first name only / no name) I keep the copyright to my own writing. The Westside Wherewithal may publish it in the paper and keep it in the archive, for no money. It will not sell it or license it to anyone else. I may ask the editor to correct a factual error at any time, and the correction will be printed. I, or my parent, may ask for the piece to come down from the site at any time, and it will. I understand I do not get to approve the final edit before it runs, but the editor will tell me if the piece changes in a way that changes its meaning. I was told I could talk this over with a parent, guardian, teacher, or any adult I trust before signing. Signature _______ Date ____ Age ___ Phone or email (for the editor only, not printed) __________ Send a photo of the signed form with your piece, or drop it at 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904. Parent or guardian (required under 16, for anything personal, or for anyone who cannot fully understand the above): I, ________, am the parent or guardian of the person above. I have read this release and approve it. Signature _______ Date _____ Editor _______ Date _____ Keep the signed form. The paper's archive is only as good as its paper trail. To take a piece down, or to ask anything: call or text 719-201-5462, or hello@westsidewherewithal.com. How we handle it Every byline or interview by a person under 18 has a signed release. Under 16, or for anything personal (your own family, health, or home), a parent or guardian signs too. Under 13: collect a first name and a parent's email, nothing else, and the parent signs. A story about a named other kid gets read twice by the editor before it goes out. The young writer keeps their own copyright. We get permission to publish, not ownership. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Take a desk <https://westsidewherewithal.com/desks> Take a desk Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Take a desk Every page on this paper signed by a desk instead of a person is open. Taking one is not a job and not an application. It's a shift you can do in an hour or two a week, and your name goes on what prints. How it works Text 719-201-5462 or email hello@westsidewherewithal.com: "I'll take The Table." That's the whole form. On a phone, the "text it" links below open the message already typed. One conversation with Jeff, by phone or over coffee, so you know what the desk promises and he knows how to reach you. Your first piece runs under your name the next Thursday it's ready. The desk line at the top comes off. Miss a week? Say so, and the desk holds for you. Hand it back any week the same way. Nobody checks credentials. We check facts. Everything you turn in gets the same read every page gets: every claim traced to where it came from, a phone call on any hour or price, and a copy back to you before it prints. How we do things is the whole rulebook. The desks, in hours and acts DeskWhat it is, every weekAbout how long The Table text itCall five pantries and suppers on Tuesday, confirm the hours, write the day-by-day.An hour, mostly on hold The Weekend Radar text itMonday: pull the eight calendars (the avenue's association, the library, the Garden, Manitou, the community center), pick three, say where to park.An hour The Record text itOne City Council Tuesday a month (9 a.m., 107 N Nevada, or the video later) with the one-page sheet. Write what happened, attach the document.Two hours, twice a month at most The Ridge text itMonday: read the city's parks and open-space page and the Friends of Red Rock Canyon site. Walk one trail. Say which one was muddy.An hour, plus the walk The Porch text itOne conversation a month with someone who's been here a long time. Recorded with their yes, written up in their words, read back to them before it prints.An afternoon a month The Address Book text itOne storefront or corner a week: what it was, from Mel McFarland's columns and the 1902 map, and one visit to the History Center at 1 S 24th for the renumbering key.An hour The Box text itOne page a month for kids, best done by a kid and a grown-up together: a dare, a thing to find, a true fact.An evening a month La Vecina text itRead la hoja once a week, fix what sounds wrong, and answer the Spanish texts that come to the number.An hour, some weeks none The Next Hundred text itRead the dates on the agendas (Council, Planning, the parks board, the clerk's liquor notices for 80904) and keep the twelve-month list honest.An hour The Year AheadThe editor's calendar. Not open; but the lead each week is, and a desk that takes one is how that starts. Two people can share a desk. A class can take The Box. A church can take The Table for its own block. If you want a desk that isn't here, say what it is. What you get Your name on the page, every week you do it. Readers first. A link back to anything of yours. The once-a-year thank-you list. No pay yet; we say so plainly. Coffee's on Jeff. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Be the person in the room <https://westsidewherewithal.com/documenter> Be the person in the room Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Be the person in the room Go to one public meeting, write down what happened on this sheet, send it in. It becomes a few lines in the paper with your name on them. One meeting is plenty. Pick a public meeting that touches the Westside. The easy first one: City Council, the second and fourth Tuesday at 9 a.m., Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada; the next regular one is Tuesday, October 13, then October 27 (Monday work sessions, where they talk but don't vote, are on the same calendar). Agendas, minutes and the video live on the city's Legistar calendar, and you can watch it live or later there. Public meetings are open to anyone. Budget about two hours: the meeting, or the parts that touch the Westside, plus half an hour on this sheet. Print this page; it is the sheet. The sheet Fill in what you can. Blanks are fine; "didn't catch it" is a real answer. Meeting: which body, date, place or link, start and end time, who ran it Who was there: officials by name and title, who was absent, roughly how many from the public What was decided: each vote in its own words, the count, who voted yes and who voted no, the ordinance or file number off the agenda, and whether it was a first reading, a final one, or part of the consent list (see the key) What was said at the mic: three things people said, as close to their words as you can, with the name if they gave it. Hallway talk needs a yes from the person first. What was put off: anything tabled, continued, or sent to a later date What is next: the next date, and what is due before it Documents: the agenda, the packet, the ordinance or study number, a link or a photo of the page A short key Work session (Mondays): they talk, nobody votes. Regular meeting (second and fourth Tuesdays): votes happen. Consent calendar: a stack of routine items passed in one vote. Note the one that touches the Westside, skip the rest. First reading / second reading: an ordinance gets two votes on two different days. Say which one you saw. Hearing: a zoning or land-use item where people get sworn in and the council acts like a judge. The comment rules are different; the agenda says so. Citizen discussion: the open mic at the start, not tied to any item. What it looks like in the paper > Sep 22, 2026 · Old Colorado City's downtown development authority (DDA) shut down. Council voted 5 to 4 to dissolve it (yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams). The DDA says it may sue because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. The city's own page: the meeting record. In the news: the Gazette. Seen by [your name]. Three things Write what happened, not what you think of it. (Your opinion is welcome too, as a letter.) If it's your block, your business or your club, say so at the top. It still runs. Send it within the week: the box on the front page, hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or the paper to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122. You'll see it before it runs. Borrowed from City Bureau in Chicago, which pays people to do this. We can't yet. We say so. Or fill it in from your seat Same sheet, on your phone. Blanks are fine. It lands in the paper's inbox and a person reads it.Meeting which body, date, place or link, start and end, who ran itWho was there officials by name, who was absent, roughly how many from the publicWhat was decided each vote in its own words, the count, yes and no names, the file number, first or final readingWhat was said at the mic three things, as close to their words as you can, with the name if they gave itWhat was put off tabled, continued, sent to a later dateWhat is next the next date, what is due before itDocuments agenda, packet, ordinance or study number, a link Send the sheet The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The code <https://westsidewherewithal.com/ethics> The code Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The code How we do things, and what we won't do. The bones come from the Society of Professional Journalists; the words are ours. This page is the rulebook; the rest of the paper is written from the heart and doesn't repeat it. The desks. Some pages carry a desk name (The Porch, The Record, The Box) instead of a person's. Those are drafted by the paper's software from the record we hold, edited by hand, and say so at the top. No made-up people, quotes or facts; every claim links to where it came from or says we are still looking. When a neighbor takes a desk, their name replaces the line; how that works is one page. Meeting notes from neighbors. Before a quote runs we read it back to the person who said it. Before a vote count runs we check it against the recording or the minutes. The writer sees their lines before they run; their name goes on them and nothing else of theirs. Photos of the room are fine; photos of people who didn't speak publicly are not. A wrong line gets corrected at the top of the next issue. Your email address goes to the email service and nowhere else. Pantry and supper hours get a phone call before they run. The jar: once a year we say how many chipped in, never how much; it's run by Jeff's one-person company and nobody draws a salary. Seek truth and report it Every claim carries its receipt: the document, the date, the name. If we can't attach it, we say "to link" until we can. We check before we publish, not after. We prefer the original source over the story about it. We don't make things up and we don't take other people's work without saying so. Minimize harm The people in this paper are our neighbors, and we'll see them at the market. We weigh what the public needs to know against what it costs a person to be in print. Kids, people in grief, and people who've never talked to a paper before get extra care. We ask before we quote you, and we say who we are when we call. A writer under 18 needs the permission form signed before a byline. Act independently Nobody buys a word of this. There are no sponsors, no ads, no price list. The jar is pay what you want, and a shop that chips in gets exactly what a neighbor who chips in gets. When the editor has a tie to something we cover (his office, his club, his friends), it says so in the sentence. If it can't be said cleanly, we don't cover it. Same for anyone who writes here: a tie to the story goes in the sentence. Be accountable and transparent We say who wrote what. A person writes every piece; software can fix spelling or type up an interview, and it does not get a byline. The one place software drafted lines is the Cobweb index, and that page says so. When we're wrong, we fix it, label it, and run the correction at the top of the next issue, not at the bottom of a page nobody reads. Tell us at hello@westsidewherewithal.com, call or text 719-201-5462, reply to the Thursday email, use the box on the front page, or write to the address in the footer. A person reads it. Our own rules, on top By us, for us. We can write about what isn't here. It's for the people who are. Clean. No profanity in the paper, even when the editor would. Less division, more discussion. We argue with ideas, not neighbors. Nothing to buy. A neighbor is a neighbor, renting or owning, behind the counter or in front of it. Chip in as one, write as one, with the tie said in the sentence. This rule is for the outfit from somewhere else that wants to buy a word in here: a chain's ad budget, a developer's PR shop, a media company in Denver. There is nothing to buy. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Every page, as text <https://westsidewherewithal.com/everything> Every page, as text Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Every page, as text The whole site as one page, for an outside reader or a tool that only opens web pages. The same text is at everything.md; the page list is at llms.txt. # The Westside Wherewithal, every page as text Generated by build.py on 2026-10-11. For an outside reader auditing the site. The live pages are canonical. --- # Wherewithal, n. <https://westsidewherewithal.com/about> Wherewithal, n. Skip to the page ← the front pagewherewithal, n. ## What this is wherewithal, noun: the means to get a thing done. Money, usually. Over here, whatever it takes. I live over here, about twenty years now, and I'm holding one pen. The paper works when there are a lot more of them. Bring your own, whatever it is: a notebook, a phone, a typewriter somebody left you, a kid with a camera. Write about the street you're on. New here? The avenue is West Colorado Avenue. OCC is Old Colorado City, the six blocks of it between about 24th and 27th. The Westside is everything west of I-25 to the Manitou line, the hills on both sides. One thing to show up to this week is in the next two weeks on the front page; trivia on Thursday at OCC Brewing needs no one to know you. Here runs past the avenue: Pleasant Valley, Midland, Mesa Springs, the Mesa, the motels out past 31st, the park. I don't know them all yet. Tell me what I'm missing. How it works: I find people who care and ask them to share it out loud. I ask others to participate too. We focus on writing about things that matter, and we get to decide what matters. So do you. What the idea is, what we're going to try, and what we honestly don't know yet is on the kit page, free to copy if you want to start one where you live. How we do it, and what we won't do, is in the code. Jeff Adkins, editor. See you Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · front page LightAutoDark --- # See that building? Look again <https://westsidewherewithal.com/address-book-1902> See that building? Look again Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## See that building? Look again The Address Book desk. Written from Mel McFarland's columns and the 1902 map; nothing here is from memory yet. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Stop right here on the sidewalk with me. See that? Keep looking, because I'm going to point at five places Mel McFarland wrote about, and every one of them was something else first. The Goodwill center on Colorado Avenue. See it? Part of that was the Golden Flake potato chip factory. Chips. Made right here. Now, Mel ran that in his quiz column of January 17, 2008, a whole column of reused buildings, and hold onto that one, because it comes back in a minute. Fire Station 5, at Colorado and 29th. Same column, told you. You know what that was before it was a fire station? The Standard Club, a recreation hall built for the workers at the Standard Gold Mill. 2902 W Colorado. Old city hall. And then, hang on, this is the part I love, it became the first Whittier School. Mel gave the answer on June 16, 2005. A city hall that turned into a school. Bancroft Park. Now, where the farmers market sets up. That was once Bancroft School, a big one, all the grades, junior high and high school classes too (January 17, 2008, and May 17, 2012). Next Saturday, stand right where you are with your market bag and picture it. The Van Briggle building. You know what that was? The Colorado Midland roundhouse. Fourteen stalls of stone, part of shops that covered 57 acres between 21st and 26th, south of the creek. Six hundred men worked those shops at their peak (April 19, 2012). And that the roundhouse became Van Briggle Pottery? That's in his columns of January 10, 2009 and February 19, 2009. Now. One honest warning before we walk on. The paper has the 1892 and 1902 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress, public domain). See the 1902 index sheet? It puts Colorado City at 4,000 people. But the town's street numbers were renumbered after Colorado Springs annexed it in 1917, so we won't match a 1902 address to a 2026 one without the key. The key lives at the History Center, 1 S 24th. That's the next stop for this desk. Here's where you come in. This desk has one standing question: what was in this storefront in 1968? If you remember, send it in. A name, a counter, what it smelled like, who worked there. Email hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or call or text 719-201-5462. A person reads every one. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Check your answer <https://westsidewherewithal.com/check> Check your answer Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Check your answer Did the word find on the back of the sheet or in the box edition? The letters you did not circle, read left to right and top to bottom, spell a message. Type them here, spaces or no spaces, and find out. Nothing you type is saved or sent anywhere.The leftover letters Check it The five questions Stuck on Westside five? The key is printed upside down at the bottom of the quiz. If you want it here: Show the key 1. Two elk · 2. $663.21 · 3. 1892 · 4. Goodwill · 5. School Text your score, or five questions of your own, to 719-201-5462. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Permission form, writers under 18 <https://westsidewherewithal.com/consent> Permission form, writers under 18 Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Permission form, writers under 18 The form The Westside Wherewithal release for writers and interview subjects under 18 I, _______, give The Westside Wherewithal permission to publish the writing, interview, photographs, or recordings described here: _______________ It may appear in the email edition, on the website, and in any later archive of the paper, and it may stay online for years. My name may be used with it. (Circle one: use my full name / first name only / no name) I keep the copyright to my own writing. The Westside Wherewithal may publish it in the paper and keep it in the archive, for no money. It will not sell it or license it to anyone else. I may ask the editor to correct a factual error at any time, and the correction will be printed. I, or my parent, may ask for the piece to come down from the site at any time, and it will. I understand I do not get to approve the final edit before it runs, but the editor will tell me if the piece changes in a way that changes its meaning. I was told I could talk this over with a parent, guardian, teacher, or any adult I trust before signing. Signature _______ Date ____ Age ___ Phone or email (for the editor only, not printed) __________ Send a photo of the signed form with your piece, or drop it at 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904. Parent or guardian (required under 16, for anything personal, or for anyone who cannot fully understand the above): I, ________, am the parent or guardian of the person above. I have read this release and approve it. Signature _______ Date _____ Editor _______ Date _____ Keep the signed form. The paper's archive is only as good as its paper trail. To take a piece down, or to ask anything: call or text 719-201-5462, or hello@westsidewherewithal.com. How we handle it Every byline or interview by a person under 18 has a signed release. Under 16, or for anything personal (your own family, health, or home), a parent or guardian signs too. Under 13: collect a first name and a parent's email, nothing else, and the parent signs. A story about a named other kid gets read twice by the editor before it goes out. The young writer keeps their own copyright. We get permission to publish, not ownership. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Take a desk <https://westsidewherewithal.com/desks> Take a desk Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Take a desk Every page on this paper signed by a desk instead of a person is open. Taking one is not a job and not an application. It's a shift you can do in an hour or two a week, and your name goes on what prints. How it works Text 719-201-5462 or email hello@westsidewherewithal.com: "I'll take The Table." That's the whole form. On a phone, the "text it" links below open the message already typed. One conversation with Jeff, by phone or over coffee, so you know what the desk promises and he knows how to reach you. Your first piece runs under your name the next Thursday it's ready. The desk line at the top comes off. Miss a week? Say so, and the desk holds for you. Hand it back any week the same way. Nobody checks credentials. We check facts. Everything you turn in gets the same read every page gets: every claim traced to where it came from, a phone call on any hour or price, and a copy back to you before it prints. How we do things is the whole rulebook. The desks, in hours and acts DeskWhat it is, every weekAbout how long The Table text itCall five pantries and suppers on Tuesday, confirm the hours, write the day-by-day.An hour, mostly on hold The Weekend Radar text itMonday: pull the eight calendars (the avenue's association, the library, the Garden, Manitou, the community center), pick three, say where to park.An hour The Record text itOne City Council Tuesday a month (9 a.m., 107 N Nevada, or the video later) with the one-page sheet. Write what happened, attach the document.Two hours, twice a month at most The Ridge text itMonday: read the city's parks and open-space page and the Friends of Red Rock Canyon site. Walk one trail. Say which one was muddy.An hour, plus the walk The Porch text itOne conversation a month with someone who's been here a long time. Recorded with their yes, written up in their words, read back to them before it prints.An afternoon a month The Address Book text itOne storefront or corner a week: what it was, from Mel McFarland's columns and the 1902 map, and one visit to the History Center at 1 S 24th for the renumbering key.An hour The Box text itOne page a month for kids, best done by a kid and a grown-up together: a dare, a thing to find, a true fact.An evening a month La Vecina text itRead la hoja once a week, fix what sounds wrong, and answer the Spanish texts that come to the number.An hour, some weeks none The Next Hundred text itRead the dates on the agendas (Council, Planning, the parks board, the clerk's liquor notices for 80904) and keep the twelve-month list honest.An hour The Year AheadThe editor's calendar. Not open; but the lead each week is, and a desk that takes one is how that starts. Two people can share a desk. A class can take The Box. A church can take The Table for its own block. If you want a desk that isn't here, say what it is. What you get Your name on the page, every week you do it. Readers first. A link back to anything of yours. The once-a-year thank-you list. No pay yet; we say so plainly. Coffee's on Jeff. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Be the person in the room <https://westsidewherewithal.com/documenter> Be the person in the room Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Be the person in the room Or fill it in from your seat Same sheet, on your phone. Blanks are fine. It lands in the paper's inbox and a person reads it.Meeting which body, date, place or link, start and end, who ran itWho was there officials by name, who was absent, roughly how many from the publicWhat was decided each vote in its own words, the count, yes and no names, the file number, first or final readingWhat was said at the mic three things, as close to their words as you can, with the name if they gave itWhat was put off tabled, continued, sent to a later dateWhat is next the next date, what is due before itDocuments agenda, packet, ordinance or study number, a link Send the sheet Go to one public meeting, write down what happened on this sheet, send it in. It becomes a few lines in the paper with your name on them. One meeting is plenty. Pick a public meeting that touches the Westside. The easy first one: City Council, the second and fourth Tuesday at 9 a.m., Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada; the next regular one is Tuesday, October 13, then October 27 (Monday work sessions, where they talk but don't vote, are on the same calendar). Agendas, minutes and the video live on the city's Legistar calendar, and you can watch it live or later there. Public meetings are open to anyone. Budget about two hours: the meeting, or the parts that touch the Westside, plus half an hour on this sheet. Print this page; it is the sheet. The sheet Fill in what you can. Blanks are fine; "didn't catch it" is a real answer. Meeting: which body, date, place or link, start and end time, who ran it Who was there: officials by name and title, who was absent, roughly how many from the public What was decided: each vote in its own words, the count, who voted yes and who voted no, the ordinance or file number off the agenda, and whether it was a first reading, a final one, or part of the consent list (see the key) What was said at the mic: three things people said, as close to their words as you can, with the name if they gave it. Hallway talk needs a yes from the person first. What was put off: anything tabled, continued, or sent to a later date What is next: the next date, and what is due before it Documents: the agenda, the packet, the ordinance or study number, a link or a photo of the page A short key Work session (Mondays): they talk, nobody votes. Regular meeting (second and fourth Tuesdays): votes happen. Consent calendar: a stack of routine items passed in one vote. Note the one that touches the Westside, skip the rest. First reading / second reading: an ordinance gets two votes on two different days. Say which one you saw. Hearing: a zoning or land-use item where people get sworn in and the council acts like a judge. The comment rules are different; the agenda says so. Citizen discussion: the open mic at the start, not tied to any item. What it looks like in the paper > Sep 22, 2026 · Old Colorado City's downtown development authority (DDA) shut down. Council voted 5 to 4 to dissolve it (yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams). The DDA says it may sue because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. The city's own page: the meeting record. In the news: the Gazette. Seen by [your name]. Three things Write what happened, not what you think of it. (Your opinion is welcome too, as a letter.) If it's your block, your business or your club, say so at the top. It still runs. Send it within the week: the box on the front page, hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or the paper to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122. You'll see it before it runs. Borrowed from City Bureau in Chicago, which pays people to do this. We can't yet. We say so. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The code <https://westsidewherewithal.com/ethics> The code Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The code How we do things, and what we won't do. The bones come from the Society of Professional Journalists; the words are ours. This page is the rulebook; the rest of the paper is written from the heart and doesn't repeat it. The desks. Some pages carry a desk name (The Porch, The Record, The Box) instead of a person's. Those are drafted by the paper's software from the record we hold, edited by hand, and say so at the top. No made-up people, quotes or facts; every claim links to where it came from or says we are still looking. When a neighbor takes a desk, their name replaces the line; how that works is one page. Meeting notes from neighbors. Before a quote runs we read it back to the person who said it. Before a vote count runs we check it against the recording or the minutes. The writer sees their lines before they run; their name goes on them and nothing else of theirs. Photos of the room are fine; photos of people who didn't speak publicly are not. A wrong line gets corrected at the top of the next issue. Your email address goes to the email service and nowhere else. Pantry and supper hours get a phone call before they run. The jar: once a year we say how many chipped in, never how much; it's run by Jeff's one-person company and nobody draws a salary. Seek truth and report it Every claim carries its receipt: the document, the date, the name. If we can't attach it, we say "to link" until we can. We check before we publish, not after. We prefer the original source over the story about it. We don't make things up and we don't take other people's work without saying so. Minimize harm The people in this paper are our neighbors, and we'll see them at the market. We weigh what the public needs to know against what it costs a person to be in print. Kids, people in grief, and people who've never talked to a paper before get extra care. We ask before we quote you, and we say who we are when we call. A writer under 18 needs the permission form signed before a byline. Act independently Nobody buys a word of this. There are no sponsors, no ads, no price list. The jar is pay what you want, and a shop that chips in gets exactly what a neighbor who chips in gets. When the editor has a tie to something we cover (his office, his club, his friends), it says so in the sentence. If it can't be said cleanly, we don't cover it. Same for anyone who writes here: a tie to the story goes in the sentence. Be accountable and transparent We say who wrote what. A person writes every piece; software can fix spelling or type up an interview, and it does not get a byline. The one place software drafted lines is the Cobweb index, and that page says so. When we're wrong, we fix it, label it, and run the correction at the top of the next issue, not at the bottom of a page nobody reads. Tell us at hello@westsidewherewithal.com, call or text 719-201-5462, reply to the Thursday email, use the box on the front page, or write to the address in the footer. A person reads it. Our own rules, on top By us, for us. We can write about what isn't here. It's for the people who are. Clean. No profanity in the paper, even when the editor would. Less division, more discussion. We argue with ideas, not neighbors. Nothing to buy. A neighbor is a neighbor, renting or owning, behind the counter or in front of it. Chip in as one, write as one, with the tie said in the sentence. This rule is for the outfit from somewhere else that wants to buy a word in here: a chain's ad budget, a developer's PR shop, a media company in Denver. There is nothing to buy. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Every page, as text <https://westsidewherewithal.com/everything> Every page, as text Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Every page, as text The whole site as one page, for an outside reader or a tool that only opens web pages. The same text is at everything.md; the page list is at llms.txt. # The Westside Wherewithal, every page as text Generated by build.py on 2026-10-11. For an outside reader auditing the site. The live pages are canonical. --- # Wherewithal, n. <https://westsidewherewithal.com/about> Wherewithal, n. Skip to the page ← the front pagewherewithal, n. ## What this is wherewithal, noun: the means to get a thing done. Money, usually. Over here, whatever it takes. I live over here, about twenty years now, and I'm holding one pen. The paper works when there are a lot more of them. Bring your own, whatever it is: a notebook, a phone, a typewriter somebody left you, a kid with a camera. Write about the street you're on. New here? The avenue is West Colorado Avenue. OCC is Old Colorado City, the six blocks of it between about 24th and 27th. The Westside is everything west of I-25 to the Manitou line, the hills on both sides. One thing to show up to this week is in the next two weeks on the front page; trivia on Thursday at OCC Brewing needs no one to know you. Here runs past the avenue: Pleasant Valley, Midland, Mesa Springs, the Mesa, the motels out past 31st, the park. I don't know them all yet. Tell me what I'm missing. How it works: I find people who care and ask them to share it out loud. I ask others to participate too. We focus on writing about things that matter, and we get to decide what matters. So do you. What the idea is, what we're going to try, and what we honestly don't know yet is on the kit page, free to copy if you want to start one where you live. How we do it, and what we won't do, is in the code. Jeff Adkins, editor. See you Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · front page LightAutoDark --- # See that building? Look again <https://westsidewherewithal.com/address-book-1902> See that building? Look again Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## See that building? Look again The Address Book desk. Written from Mel McFarland's columns and the 1902 map; nothing here is from memory yet. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Stop right here on the sidewalk with me. See that? Keep looking, because I'm going to point at five places Mel McFarland wrote about, and every one of them was something else first. The Goodwill center on Colorado Avenue. See it? Part of that was the Golden Flake potato chip factory. Chips. Made right here. Now, Mel ran that in his quiz column of January 17, 2008, a whole column of reused buildings, and hold onto that one, because it comes back in a minute. Fire Station 5, at Colorado and 29th. Same column, told you. You know what that was before it was a fire station? The Standard Club, a recreation hall built for the workers at the Standard Gold Mill. 2902 W Colorado. Old city hall. And then, hang on, this is the part I love, it became the first Whittier School. Mel gave the answer on June 16, 2005. A city hall that turned into a school. Bancroft Park. Now, where the farmers market sets up. That was once Bancroft School, a big one, all the grades, junior high and high school classes too (January 17, 2008, and May 17, 2012). Next Saturday, stand right where you are with your market bag and picture it. The Van Briggle building. You know what that was? The Colorado Midland roundhouse. Fourteen stalls of stone, part of shops that covered 57 acres between 21st and 26th, south of the creek. Six hundred men worked those shops at their peak (April 19, 2012). And that the roundhouse became Van Briggle Pottery? That's in his columns of January 10, 2009 and February 19, 2009. Now. One honest warning before we walk on. The paper has the 1892 and 1902 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress, public domain). See the 1902 index sheet? It puts Colorado City at 4,000 people. But the town's street numbers were renumbered after Colorado Springs annexed it in 1917, so we won't match a 1902 address to a 2026 one without the key. The key lives at the History Center, 1 S 24th. That's the next stop for this desk. Here's where you come in. This desk has one standing question: what was in this storefront in 1968? If you remember, send it in. A name, a counter, what it smelled like, who worked there. Email hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or call or text 719-201-5462. A person reads every one. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Check your answer <https://westsidewherewithal.com/check> Check your answer Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Check your answer Did the word find on the back of the sheet or in the box edition? The letters you did not circle, read left to right and top to bottom, spell a message. Type them here, spaces or no spaces, and find out. Nothing you type is saved or sent anywhere.The leftover letters Check it The five questions Stuck on Westside five? The key is printed upside down at the bottom of the quiz. If you want it here: Show the key 1. Two elk · 2. $663.21 · 3. 1892 · 4. Goodwill · 5. School Text your score, or five questions of your own, to 719-201-5462. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Permission form, writers under 18 <https://westsidewherewithal.com/consent> Permission form, writers under 18 Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Permission form, writers under 18 The form The Westside Wherewithal release for writers and interview subjects under 18 I, _______, give The Westside Wherewithal permission to publish the writing, interview, photographs, or recordings described here: _______________ It may appear in the email edition, on the website, and in any later archive of the paper, and it may stay online for years. My name may be used with it. (Circle one: use my full name / first name only / no name) I keep the copyright to my own writing. The Westside Wherewithal may publish it in the paper and keep it in the archive, for no money. It will not sell it or license it to anyone else. I may ask the editor to correct a factual error at any time, and the correction will be printed. I, or my parent, may ask for the piece to come down from the site at any time, and it will. I understand I do not get to approve the final edit before it runs, but the editor will tell me if the piece changes in a way that changes its meaning. I was told I could talk this over with a parent, guardian, teacher, or any adult I trust before signing. Signature _______ Date ____ Age ___ Phone or email (for the editor only, not printed) __________ Send a photo of the signed form with your piece, or drop it at 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904. Parent or guardian (required under 16, for anything personal, or for anyone who cannot fully understand the above): I, ________, am the parent or guardian of the person above. I have read this release and approve it. Signature _______ Date _____ Editor _______ Date _____ Keep the signed form. The paper's archive is only as good as its paper trail. To take a piece down, or to ask anything: call or text 719-201-5462, or hello@westsidewherewithal.com. How we handle it Every byline or interview by a person under 18 has a signed release. Under 16, or for anything personal (your own family, health, or home), a parent or guardian signs too. Under 13: collect a first name and a parent's email, nothing else, and the parent signs. A story about a named other kid gets read twice by the editor before it goes out. The young writer keeps their own copyright. We get permission to publish, not ownership. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Take a desk <https://westsidewherewithal.com/desks> Take a desk Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Take a desk Every page on this paper signed by a desk instead of a person is open. Taking one is not a job and not an application. It's a shift you can do in an hour or two a week, and your name goes on what prints. How it works Text 719-201-5462 or email hello@westsidewherewithal.com: "I'll take The Table." That's the whole form. On a phone, the "text it" links below open the message already typed. One conversation with Jeff, by phone or over coffee, so you know what the desk promises and he knows how to reach you. Your first piece runs under your name the next Thursday it's ready. The desk line at the top comes off. Miss a week? Say so, and the desk holds for you. Hand it back any week the same way. Nobody checks credentials. We check facts. Everything you turn in gets the same read every page gets: every claim traced to where it came from, a phone call on any hour or price, and a copy back to you before it prints. How we do things is the whole rulebook. The desks, in hours and acts DeskWhat it is, every weekAbout how long The Table text itCall five pantries and suppers on Tuesday, confirm the hours, write the day-by-day.An hour, mostly on hold The Weekend Radar text itMonday: pull the eight calendars (the avenue's association, the library, the Garden, Manitou, the community center), pick three, say where to park.An hour The Record text itOne City Council Tuesday a month (9 a.m., 107 N Nevada, or the video later) with the one-page sheet. Write what happened, attach the document.Two hours, twice a month at most The Ridge text itMonday: read the city's parks and open-space page and the Friends of Red Rock Canyon site. Walk one trail. Say which one was muddy.An hour, plus the walk The Porch text itOne conversation a month with someone who's been here a long time. Recorded with their yes, written up in their words, read back to them before it prints.An afternoon a month The Address Book text itOne storefront or corner a week: what it was, from Mel McFarland's columns and the 1902 map, and one visit to the History Center at 1 S 24th for the renumbering key.An hour The Box text itOne page a month for kids, best done by a kid and a grown-up together: a dare, a thing to find, a true fact.An evening a month La Vecina text itRead la hoja once a week, fix what sounds wrong, and answer the Spanish texts that come to the number.An hour, some weeks none The Next Hundred text itRead the dates on the agendas (Council, Planning, the parks board, the clerk's liquor notices for 80904) and keep the twelve-month list honest.An hour The Year AheadThe editor's calendar. Not open; but the lead each week is, and a desk that takes one is how that starts. Two people can share a desk. A class can take The Box. A church can take The Table for its own block. If you want a desk that isn't here, say what it is. What you get Your name on the page, every week you do it. Readers first. A link back to anything of yours. The once-a-year thank-you list. No pay yet; we say so plainly. Coffee's on Jeff. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Be the person in the room <https://westsidewherewithal.com/documenter> Be the person in the room Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Be the person in the room Or fill it in from your seat Same sheet, on your phone. Blanks are fine. It lands in the paper's inbox and a person reads it.Meeting which body, date, place or link, start and end, who ran itWho was there officials by name, who was absent, roughly how many from the publicWhat was decided each vote in its own words, the count, yes and no names, the file number, first or final readingWhat was said at the mic three things, as close to their words as you can, with the name if they gave itWhat was put off tabled, continued, sent to a later dateWhat is next the next date, what is due before itDocuments agenda, packet, ordinance or study number, a link Send the sheet Go to one public meeting, write down what happened on this sheet, send it in. It becomes a few lines in the paper with your name on them. One meeting is plenty. Pick a public meeting that touches the Westside. The easy first one: City Council, the second and fourth Tuesday at 9 a.m., Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada; the next regular one is Tuesday, October 13, then October 27 (Monday work sessions, where they talk but don't vote, are on the same calendar). Agendas, minutes and the video live on the city's Legistar calendar, and you can watch it live or later there. Public meetings are open to anyone. Budget about two hours: the meeting, or the parts that touch the Westside, plus half an hour on this sheet. Print this page; it is the sheet. The sheet Fill in what you can. Blanks are fine; "didn't catch it" is a real answer. Meeting: which body, date, place or link, start and end time, who ran it Who was there: officials by name and title, who was absent, roughly how many from the public What was decided: each vote in its own words, the count, who voted yes and who voted no, the ordinance or file number off the agenda, and whether it was a first reading, a final one, or part of the consent list (see the key) What was said at the mic: three things people said, as close to their words as you can, with the name if they gave it. Hallway talk needs a yes from the person first. What was put off: anything tabled, continued, or sent to a later date What is next: the next date, and what is due before it Documents: the agenda, the packet, the ordinance or study number, a link or a photo of the page A short key Work session (Mondays): they talk, nobody votes. Regular meeting (second and fourth Tuesdays): votes happen. Consent calendar: a stack of routine items passed in one vote. Note the one that touches the Westside, skip the rest. First reading / second reading: an ordinance gets two votes on two different days. Say which one you saw. Hearing: a zoning or land-use item where people get sworn in and the council acts like a judge. The comment rules are different; the agenda says so. Citizen discussion: the open mic at the start, not tied to any item. What it looks like in the paper > Sep 22, 2026 · Old Colorado City's downtown development authority (DDA) shut down. Council voted 5 to 4 to dissolve it (yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams). The DDA says it may sue because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. The city's own page: the meeting record. In the news: the Gazette. Seen by [your name]. Three things Write what happened, not what you think of it. (Your opinion is welcome too, as a letter.) If it's your block, your business or your club, say so at the top. It still runs. Send it within the week: the box on the front page, hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or the paper to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122. You'll see it before it runs. Borrowed from City Bureau in Chicago, which pays people to do this. We can't yet. We say so. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The code <https://westsidewherewithal.com/ethics> The code Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The code How we do things, and what we won't do. The bones come from the Society of Professional Journalists; the words are ours. This page is the rulebook; the rest of the paper is written from the heart and doesn't repeat it. The desks. Some pages carry a desk name (The Porch, The Record, The Box) instead of a person's. Those are drafted by the paper's software from the record we hold, edited by hand, and say so at the top. No made-up people, quotes or facts; every claim links to where it came from or says we are still looking. When a neighbor takes a desk, their name replaces the line; how that works is one page. Meeting notes from neighbors. Before a quote runs we read it back to the person who said it. Before a vote count runs we check it against the recording or the minutes. The writer sees their lines before they run; their name goes on them and nothing else of theirs. Photos of the room are fine; photos of people who didn't speak publicly are not. A wrong line gets corrected at the top of the next issue. Your email address goes to the email service and nowhere else. Pantry and supper hours get a phone call before they run. The jar: once a year we say how many chipped in, never how much; it's run by Jeff's one-person company and nobody draws a salary. Seek truth and report it Every claim carries its receipt: the document, the date, the name. If we can't attach it, we say "to link" until we can. We check before we publish, not after. We prefer the original source over the story about it. We don't make things up and we don't take other people's work without saying so. Minimize harm The people in this paper are our neighbors, and we'll see them at the market. We weigh what the public needs to know against what it costs a person to be in print. Kids, people in grief, and people who've never talked to a paper before get extra care. We ask before we quote you, and we say who we are when we call. A writer under 18 needs the permission form signed before a byline. Act independently Nobody buys a word of this. There are no sponsors, no ads, no price list. The jar is pay what you want, and a shop that chips in gets exactly what a neighbor who chips in gets. When the editor has a tie to something we cover (his office, his club, his friends), it says so in the sentence. If it can't be said cleanly, we don't cover it. Same for anyone who writes here: a tie to the story goes in the sentence. Be accountable and transparent We say who wrote what. A person writes every piece; software can fix spelling or type up an interview, and it does not get a byline. The one place software drafted lines is the Cobweb index, and that page says so. When we're wrong, we fix it, label it, and run the correction at the top of the next issue, not at the bottom of a page nobody reads. Tell us at hello@westsidewherewithal.com, call or text 719-201-5462, reply to the Thursday email, use the box on the front page, or write to the address in the footer. A person reads it. Our own rules, on top By us, for us. We can write about what isn't here. It's for the people who are. Clean. No profanity in the paper, even when the editor would. Less division, more discussion. We argue with ideas, not neighbors. Nothing to buy. A neighbor is a neighbor, renting or owning, behind the counter or in front of it. Chip in as one, write as one, with the tie said in the sentence. This rule is for the outfit from somewhere else that wants to buy a word in here: a chain's ad budget, a developer's PR shop, a media company in Denver. There is nothing to buy. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Every page, as text <https://westsidewherewithal.com/everything> Every page, as text Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Every page, as text The whole site as one page, for an outside reader or a tool that only opens web pages. The same text is at everything.md; the page list is at llms.txt. # The Westside Wherewithal, every page as text Generated by build.py on 2026-10-11. For an outside reader auditing the site. The live pages are canonical. --- # Wherewithal, n. <https://westsidewherewithal.com/about> Wherewithal, n. Skip to the page ← the front pagewherewithal, n. ## What this is wherewithal, noun: the means to get a thing done. Money, usually. Over here, whatever it takes. I live over here, about twenty years now, and I'm holding one pen. The paper works when there are a lot more of them. Bring your own, whatever it is: a notebook, a phone, a typewriter somebody left you, a kid with a camera. Write about the street you're on. New here? The avenue is West Colorado Avenue. OCC is Old Colorado City, the six blocks of it between about 24th and 27th. The Westside is everything west of I-25 to the Manitou line, the hills on both sides. One thing to show up to this week is in the next two weeks on the front page; trivia on Thursday at OCC Brewing needs no one to know you. Here runs past the avenue: Pleasant Valley, Midland, Mesa Springs, the Mesa, the motels out past 31st, the park. I don't know them all yet. Tell me what I'm missing. How it works: I find people who care and ask them to share it out loud. I ask others to participate too. We focus on writing about things that matter, and we get to decide what matters. So do you. What the idea is, what we're going to try, and what we honestly don't know yet is on the kit page, free to copy if you want to start one where you live. How we do it, and what we won't do, is in the code. Jeff Adkins, editor. See you Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · front page LightAutoDark --- # See that building? Look again <https://westsidewherewithal.com/address-book-1902> See that building? Look again Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## See that building? Look again The Address Book desk. Written from Mel McFarland's columns and the 1902 map; nothing here is from memory yet. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Stop right here on the sidewalk with me. See that? Keep looking, because I'm going to point at five places Mel McFarland wrote about, and every one of them was something else first. The Goodwill center on Colorado Avenue. See it? Part of that was the Golden Flake potato chip factory. Chips. Made right here. Now, Mel ran that in his quiz column of January 17, 2008, a whole column of reused buildings, and hold onto that one, because it comes back in a minute. Fire Station 5, at Colorado and 29th. Same column, told you. You know what that was before it was a fire station? The Standard Club, a recreation hall built for the workers at the Standard Gold Mill. 2902 W Colorado. Old city hall. And then, hang on, this is the part I love, it became the first Whittier School. Mel gave the answer on June 16, 2005. A city hall that turned into a school. Bancroft Park. Now, where the farmers market sets up. That was once Bancroft School, a big one, all the grades, junior high and high school classes too (January 17, 2008, and May 17, 2012). Next Saturday, stand right where you are with your market bag and picture it. The Van Briggle building. You know what that was? The Colorado Midland roundhouse. Fourteen stalls of stone, part of shops that covered 57 acres between 21st and 26th, south of the creek. Six hundred men worked those shops at their peak (April 19, 2012). And that the roundhouse became Van Briggle Pottery? That's in his columns of January 10, 2009 and February 19, 2009. Now. One honest warning before we walk on. The paper has the 1892 and 1902 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress, public domain). See the 1902 index sheet? It puts Colorado City at 4,000 people. But the town's street numbers were renumbered after Colorado Springs annexed it in 1917, so we won't match a 1902 address to a 2026 one without the key. The key lives at the History Center, 1 S 24th. That's the next stop for this desk. Here's where you come in. This desk has one standing question: what was in this storefront in 1968? If you remember, send it in. A name, a counter, what it smelled like, who worked there. Email hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or call or text 719-201-5462. A person reads every one. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Permission form, writers under 18 <https://westsidewherewithal.com/consent> Permission form, writers under 18 Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Permission form, writers under 18 The form The Westside Wherewithal release for writers and interview subjects under 18 I, _______, give The Westside Wherewithal permission to publish the writing, interview, photographs, or recordings described here: _______________ It may appear in the email edition, on the website, and in any later archive of the paper, and it may stay online for years. My name may be used with it. (Circle one: use my full name / first name only / no name) I keep the copyright to my own writing. The Westside Wherewithal may publish it in the paper and keep it in the archive, for no money. It will not sell it or license it to anyone else. I may ask the editor to correct a factual error at any time, and the correction will be printed. I, or my parent, may ask for the piece to come down from the site at any time, and it will. I understand I do not get to approve the final edit before it runs, but the editor will tell me if the piece changes in a way that changes its meaning. I was told I could talk this over with a parent, guardian, teacher, or any adult I trust before signing. Signature _______ Date ____ Age ___ Phone or email (for the editor only, not printed) __________ Send a photo of the signed form with your piece, or drop it at 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904. Parent or guardian (required under 16, for anything personal, or for anyone who cannot fully understand the above): I, ________, am the parent or guardian of the person above. I have read this release and approve it. Signature _______ Date _____ Editor _______ Date _____ Keep the signed form. The paper's archive is only as good as its paper trail. To take a piece down, or to ask anything: call or text 719-201-5462, or hello@westsidewherewithal.com. How we handle it Every byline or interview by a person under 18 has a signed release. Under 16, or for anything personal (your own family, health, or home), a parent or guardian signs too. Under 13: collect a first name and a parent's email, nothing else, and the parent signs. A story about a named other kid gets read twice by the editor before it goes out. The young writer keeps their own copyright. We get permission to publish, not ownership. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Take a desk <https://westsidewherewithal.com/desks> Take a desk Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Take a desk Every page on this paper signed by a desk instead of a person is open. Taking one is not a job and not an application. It's a shift you can do in an hour or two a week, and your name goes on what prints. How it works Text 719-201-5462 or email hello@westsidewherewithal.com: "I'll take The Table." That's the whole form. On a phone, the "text it" links below open the message already typed. One conversation with Jeff, by phone or over coffee, so you know what the desk promises and he knows how to reach you. Your first piece runs under your name the next Thursday it's ready. The desk line at the top comes off. Miss a week? Say so, and the desk holds for you. Hand it back any week the same way. Nobody checks credentials. We check facts. Everything you turn in gets the same read every page gets: every claim traced to where it came from, a phone call on any hour or price, and a copy back to you before it prints. How we do things is the whole rulebook. The desks, in hours and acts DeskWhat it is, every weekAbout how long The Table text itCall five pantries and suppers on Tuesday, confirm the hours, write the day-by-day.An hour, mostly on hold The Weekend Radar text itMonday: pull the eight calendars (the avenue's association, the library, the Garden, Manitou, the community center), pick three, say where to park.An hour The Record text itOne City Council Tuesday a month (9 a.m., 107 N Nevada, or the video later) with the one-page sheet. Write what happened, attach the document.Two hours, twice a month at most The Ridge text itMonday: read the city's parks and open-space page and the Friends of Red Rock Canyon site. Walk one trail. Say which one was muddy.An hour, plus the walk The Porch text itOne conversation a month with someone who's been here a long time. Recorded with their yes, written up in their words, read back to them before it prints.An afternoon a month The Address Book text itOne storefront or corner a week: what it was, from Mel McFarland's columns and the 1902 map, and one visit to the History Center at 1 S 24th for the renumbering key.An hour The Box text itOne page a month for kids, best done by a kid and a grown-up together: a dare, a thing to find, a true fact.An evening a month La Vecina text itRead la hoja once a week, fix what sounds wrong, and answer the Spanish texts that come to the number.An hour, some weeks none The Next Hundred text itRead the dates on the agendas (Council, Planning, the parks board, the clerk's liquor notices for 80904) and keep the twelve-month list honest.An hour The Year AheadThe editor's calendar. Not open; but the lead each week is, and a desk that takes one is how that starts. Two people can share a desk. A class can take The Box. A church can take The Table for its own block. If you want a desk that isn't here, say what it is. What you get Your name on the page, every week you do it. Readers first. A link back to anything of yours. The once-a-year thank-you list. No pay yet; we say so plainly. Coffee's on Jeff. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Be the person in the room <https://westsidewherewithal.com/documenter> Be the person in the room Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Be the person in the room Go to one public meeting, write down what happened on this sheet, send it in. It becomes a few lines in the paper with your name on them. One meeting is plenty. Pick a public meeting that touches the Westside. The easy first one: City Council, the second and fourth Tuesday at 9 a.m., Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada; the next regular one is Tuesday, October 13, then October 27 (Monday work sessions, where they talk but don't vote, are on the same calendar). Agendas, minutes and the video live on the city's Legistar calendar, and you can watch it live or later there. Public meetings are open to anyone. Budget about two hours: the meeting, or the parts that touch the Westside, plus half an hour on this sheet. Print this page; it is the sheet. The sheet Fill in what you can. Blanks are fine; "didn't catch it" is a real answer. Meeting: which body, date, place or link, start and end time, who ran it Who was there: officials by name and title, who was absent, roughly how many from the public What was decided: each vote in its own words, the count, who voted yes and who voted no, the ordinance or file number off the agenda, and whether it was a first reading, a final one, or part of the consent list (see the key) What was said at the mic: three things people said, as close to their words as you can, with the name if they gave it. Hallway talk needs a yes from the person first. What was put off: anything tabled, continued, or sent to a later date What is next: the next date, and what is due before it Documents: the agenda, the packet, the ordinance or study number, a link or a photo of the page A short key Work session (Mondays): they talk, nobody votes. Regular meeting (second and fourth Tuesdays): votes happen. Consent calendar: a stack of routine items passed in one vote. Note the one that touches the Westside, skip the rest. First reading / second reading: an ordinance gets two votes on two different days. Say which one you saw. Hearing: a zoning or land-use item where people get sworn in and the council acts like a judge. The comment rules are different; the agenda says so. Citizen discussion: the open mic at the start, not tied to any item. What it looks like in the paper > Sep 22, 2026 · Old Colorado City's downtown development authority (DDA) shut down. Council voted 5 to 4 to dissolve it (yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams). The DDA says it may sue because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. The city's own page: the meeting record. In the news: the Gazette. Seen by [your name]. Three things Write what happened, not what you think of it. (Your opinion is welcome too, as a letter.) If it's your block, your business or your club, say so at the top. It still runs. Send it within the week: the box on the front page, hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or the paper to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122. You'll see it before it runs. Borrowed from City Bureau in Chicago, which pays people to do this. We can't yet. We say so. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The code <https://westsidewherewithal.com/ethics> The code Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The code How we do things, and what we won't do. The bones come from the Society of Professional Journalists; the words are ours. This page is the rulebook; the rest of the paper is written from the heart and doesn't repeat it. The desks. Some pages carry a desk name (The Porch, The Record, The Box) instead of a person's. Those are drafted by the paper's software from the record we hold, edited by hand, and say so at the top. No made-up people, quotes or facts; every claim links to where it came from or says we are still looking. When a neighbor takes a desk, their name replaces the line; how that works is one page. Meeting notes from neighbors. Before a quote runs we read it back to the person who said it. Before a vote count runs we check it against the recording or the minutes. The writer sees their lines before they run; their name goes on them and nothing else of theirs. Photos of the room are fine; photos of people who didn't speak publicly are not. A wrong line gets corrected at the top of the next issue. Your email address goes to the email service and nowhere else. Pantry and supper hours get a phone call before they run. The jar: once a year we say how many chipped in, never how much; it's run by Jeff's one-person company and nobody draws a salary. Seek truth and report it Every claim carries its receipt: the document, the date, the name. If we can't attach it, we say "to link" until we can. We check before we publish, not after. We prefer the original source over the story about it. We don't make things up and we don't take other people's work without saying so. Minimize harm The people in this paper are our neighbors, and we'll see them at the market. We weigh what the public needs to know against what it costs a person to be in print. Kids, people in grief, and people who've never talked to a paper before get extra care. We ask before we quote you, and we say who we are when we call. A writer under 18 needs the permission form signed before a byline. Act independently Nobody buys a word of this. There are no sponsors, no ads, no price list. The jar is pay what you want, and a shop that chips in gets exactly what a neighbor who chips in gets. When the editor has a tie to something we cover (his office, his club, his friends), it says so in the sentence. If it can't be said cleanly, we don't cover it. Same for anyone who writes here: a tie to the story goes in the sentence. Be accountable and transparent We say who wrote what. A person writes every piece; software can fix spelling or type up an interview, and it does not get a byline. The one place software drafted lines is the Cobweb index, and that page says so. When we're wrong, we fix it, label it, and run the correction at the top of the next issue, not at the bottom of a page nobody reads. Tell us at hello@westsidewherewithal.com, call or text 719-201-5462, reply to the Thursday email, use the box on the front page, or write to the address in the footer. A person reads it. Our own rules, on top By us, for us. We can write about what isn't here. It's for the people who are. Clean. No profanity in the paper, even when the editor would. Less division, more discussion. We argue with ideas, not neighbors. Nothing to buy. A neighbor is a neighbor, renting or owning, behind the counter or in front of it. Chip in as one, write as one, with the tie said in the sentence. This rule is for the outfit from somewhere else that wants to buy a word in here: a chain's ad budget, a developer's PR shop, a media company in Denver. There is nothing to buy. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Every page, as text <https://westsidewherewithal.com/everything> Every page, as text Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Every page, as text The whole site as one page, for an outside reader or a tool that only opens web pages. The same text is at everything.md; the page list is at llms.txt. # The Westside Wherewithal, every page as text Generated by build.py on 2026-10-11. For an outside reader auditing the site. The live pages are canonical. --- # Wherewithal, n. <https://westsidewherewithal.com/about> Wherewithal, n. Skip to the page ← the front pagewherewithal, n. ## What this is wherewithal, noun: the means to get a thing done. Money, usually. Over here, whatever it takes. I live over here, about twenty years now, and I'm holding one pen. The paper works when there are a lot more of them. Bring your own, whatever it is: a notebook, a phone, a typewriter somebody left you, a kid with a camera. Write about the street you're on. New here? The avenue is West Colorado Avenue. OCC is Old Colorado City, the six blocks of it between about 24th and 27th. The Westside is everything west of I-25 to the Manitou line, the hills on both sides. One thing to show up to this week is in the next two weeks on the front page; trivia on Thursday at OCC Brewing needs no one to know you. Here runs past the avenue: Pleasant Valley, Midland, Mesa Springs, the Mesa, the motels out past 31st, the park. I don't know them all yet. Tell me what I'm missing. How it works: I find people who care and ask them to share it out loud. I ask others to participate too. We focus on writing about things that matter, and we get to decide what matters. So do you. What the idea is, what we're going to try, and what we honestly don't know yet is on the kit page, free to copy if you want to start one where you live. How we do it, and what we won't do, is in the code. Jeff Adkins, editor. See you Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · front page LightAutoDark --- # See that building? Look again <https://westsidewherewithal.com/address-book-1902> See that building? Look again Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## See that building? Look again The Address Book desk. Written from Mel McFarland's columns and the 1902 map; nothing here is from memory yet. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Stop right here on the sidewalk with me. See that? Keep looking, because I'm going to point at five places Mel McFarland wrote about, and every one of them was something else first. The Goodwill center on Colorado Avenue. See it? Part of that was the Golden Flake potato chip factory. Chips. Made right here. Now, Mel ran that in his quiz column of January 17, 2008, a whole column of reused buildings, and hold onto that one, because it comes back in a minute. Fire Station 5, at Colorado and 29th. Same column, told you. You know what that was before it was a fire station? The Standard Club, a recreation hall built for the workers at the Standard Gold Mill. 2902 W Colorado. Old city hall. And then, hang on, this is the part I love, it became the first Whittier School. Mel gave the answer on June 16, 2005. A city hall that turned into a school. Bancroft Park. Now, where the farmers market sets up. That was once Bancroft School, a big one, all the grades, junior high and high school classes too (January 17, 2008, and May 17, 2012). Next Saturday, stand right where you are with your market bag and picture it. The Van Briggle building. You know what that was? The Colorado Midland roundhouse. Fourteen stalls of stone, part of shops that covered 57 acres between 21st and 26th, south of the creek. Six hundred men worked those shops at their peak (April 19, 2012). And that the roundhouse became Van Briggle Pottery? That's in his columns of January 10, 2009 and February 19, 2009. Now. One honest warning before we walk on. The paper has the 1892 and 1902 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress, public domain). See the 1902 index sheet? It puts Colorado City at 4,000 people. But the town's street numbers were renumbered after Colorado Springs annexed it in 1917, so we won't match a 1902 address to a 2026 one without the key. The key lives at the History Center, 1 S 24th. That's the next stop for this desk. Here's where you come in. This desk has one standing question: what was in this storefront in 1968? If you remember, send it in. A name, a counter, what it smelled like, who worked there. Email hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or call or text 719-201-5462. A person reads every one. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Permission form, writers under 18 <https://westsidewherewithal.com/consent> Permission form, writers under 18 Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Permission form, writers under 18 The form The Westside Wherewithal release for writers and interview subjects under 18 I, _______, give The Westside Wherewithal permission to publish the writing, interview, photographs, or recordings described here: _______________ It may appear in the email edition, on the website, and in any later archive of the paper, and it may stay online for years. My name may be used with it. (Circle one: use my full name / first name only / no name) I keep the copyright to my own writing. The Westside Wherewithal may publish it in the paper and keep it in the archive, for no money. It will not sell it or license it to anyone else. I may ask the editor to correct a factual error at any time, and the correction will be printed. I, or my parent, may ask for the piece to come down from the site at any time, and it will. I understand I do not get to approve the final edit before it runs, but the editor will tell me if the piece changes in a way that changes its meaning. I was told I could talk this over with a parent, guardian, teacher, or any adult I trust before signing. Signature _______ Date ____ Age ___ Phone or email (for the editor only, not printed) __________ Send a photo of the signed form with your piece, or drop it at 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904. Parent or guardian (required under 16, for anything personal, or for anyone who cannot fully understand the above): I, ________, am the parent or guardian of the person above. I have read this release and approve it. Signature _______ Date _____ Editor _______ Date _____ Keep the signed form. The paper's archive is only as good as its paper trail. To take a piece down, or to ask anything: call or text 719-201-5462, or hello@westsidewherewithal.com. How we handle it Every byline or interview by a person under 18 has a signed release. Under 16, or for anything personal (your own family, health, or home), a parent or guardian signs too. Under 13: collect a first name and a parent's email, nothing else, and the parent signs. A story about a named other kid gets read twice by the editor before it goes out. The young writer keeps their own copyright. We get permission to publish, not ownership. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Take a desk <https://westsidewherewithal.com/desks> Take a desk Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Take a desk Every page on this paper signed by a desk instead of a person is open. Taking one is not a job and not an application. It's a shift you can do in an hour or two a week, and your name goes on what prints. How it works Text 719-201-5462 or email hello@westsidewherewithal.com: "I'll take The Table." That's the whole form. On a phone, the "text it" links below open the message already typed. One conversation with Jeff, by phone or over coffee, so you know what the desk promises and he knows how to reach you. Your first piece runs under your name the next Thursday it's ready. The desk line at the top comes off. Miss a week? Say so, and the desk holds for you. Hand it back any week the same way. Nobody checks credentials. We check facts. Everything you turn in gets the same read every page gets: every claim traced to where it came from, a phone call on any hour or price, and a copy back to you before it prints. How we do things is the whole rulebook. The desks, in hours and acts DeskWhat it is, every weekAbout how long The Table text itCall five pantries and suppers on Tuesday, confirm the hours, write the day-by-day.An hour, mostly on hold The Weekend Radar text itMonday: pull the eight calendars (the avenue's association, the library, the Garden, Manitou, the community center), pick three, say where to park.An hour The Record text itOne City Council Tuesday a month (9 a.m., 107 N Nevada, or the video later) with the one-page sheet. Write what happened, attach the document.Two hours, twice a month at most The Ridge text itMonday: read the city's parks and open-space page and the Friends of Red Rock Canyon site. Walk one trail. Say which one was muddy.An hour, plus the walk The Porch text itOne conversation a month with someone who's been here a long time. Recorded with their yes, written up in their words, read back to them before it prints.An afternoon a month The Address Book text itOne storefront or corner a week: what it was, from Mel McFarland's columns and the 1902 map, and one visit to the History Center at 1 S 24th for the renumbering key.An hour The Box text itOne page a month for kids, best done by a kid and a grown-up together: a dare, a thing to find, a true fact.An evening a month La Vecina text itRead la hoja once a week, fix what sounds wrong, and answer the Spanish texts that come to the number.An hour, some weeks none The Next Hundred text itRead the dates on the agendas (Council, Planning, the parks board, the clerk's liquor notices for 80904) and keep the twelve-month list honest.An hour The Year AheadThe editor's calendar. Not open; but the lead each week is, and a desk that takes one is how that starts. Two people can share a desk. A class can take The Box. A church can take The Table for its own block. If you want a desk that isn't here, say what it is. What you get Your name on the page, every week you do it. Readers first. A link back to anything of yours. The once-a-year thank-you list. No pay yet; we say so plainly. Coffee's on Jeff. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Be the person in the room <https://westsidewherewithal.com/documenter> Be the person in the room Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Be the person in the room Go to one public meeting, write down what happened on this sheet, send it in. It becomes a few lines in the paper with your name on them. One meeting is plenty. Pick a public meeting that touches the Westside. The easy first one: City Council, the second and fourth Tuesday at 9 a.m., Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada; the next regular one is Tuesday, October 13, then October 27 (Monday work sessions, where they talk but don't vote, are on the same calendar). Agendas, minutes and the video live on the city's Legistar calendar, and you can watch it live or later there. Public meetings are open to anyone. Budget about two hours: the meeting, or the parts that touch the Westside, plus half an hour on this sheet. Print this page; it is the sheet. The sheet Fill in what you can. Blanks are fine; "didn't catch it" is a real answer. Meeting: which body, date, place or link, start and end time, who ran it Who was there: officials by name and title, who was absent, roughly how many from the public What was decided: each vote in its own words, the count, who voted yes and who voted no, the ordinance or file number off the agenda, and whether it was a first reading, a final one, or part of the consent list (see the key) What was said at the mic: three things people said, as close to their words as you can, with the name if they gave it. Hallway talk needs a yes from the person first. What was put off: anything tabled, continued, or sent to a later date What is next: the next date, and what is due before it Documents: the agenda, the packet, the ordinance or study number, a link or a photo of the page A short key Work session (Mondays): they talk, nobody votes. Regular meeting (second and fourth Tuesdays): votes happen. Consent calendar: a stack of routine items passed in one vote. Note the one that touches the Westside, skip the rest. First reading / second reading: an ordinance gets two votes on two different days. Say which one you saw. Hearing: a zoning or land-use item where people get sworn in and the council acts like a judge. The comment rules are different; the agenda says so. Citizen discussion: the open mic at the start, not tied to any item. What it looks like in the paper > Sep 22, 2026 · Old Colorado City's downtown development authority (DDA) shut down. Council voted 5 to 4 to dissolve it (yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams). The DDA says it may sue because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. The city's own page: the meeting record. In the news: the Gazette. Seen by [your name]. Three things Write what happened, not what you think of it. (Your opinion is welcome too, as a letter.) If it's your block, your business or your club, say so at the top. It still runs. Send it within the week: the box on the front page, hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or the paper to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122. You'll see it before it runs. Borrowed from City Bureau in Chicago, which pays people to do this. We can't yet. We say so. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The code <https://westsidewherewithal.com/ethics> The code Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The code How we do things, and what we won't do. The bones come from the Society of Professional Journalists; the words are ours. This page is the rulebook; the rest of the paper is written from the heart and doesn't repeat it. The desks. Some pages carry a desk name (The Porch, The Record, The Box) instead of a person's. Those are drafted by the paper's software from the record we hold, edited by hand, and say so at the top. No made-up people, quotes or facts; every claim links to where it came from or says we are still looking. When a neighbor takes a desk, their name replaces the line; how that works is one page. Meeting notes from neighbors. Before a quote runs we read it back to the person who said it. Before a vote count runs we check it against the recording or the minutes. The writer sees their lines before they run; their name goes on them and nothing else of theirs. Photos of the room are fine; photos of people who didn't speak publicly are not. A wrong line gets corrected at the top of the next issue. Your email address goes to the email service and nowhere else. Pantry and supper hours get a phone call before they run. The jar: once a year we say how many chipped in, never how much; it's run by Jeff's one-person company and nobody draws a salary. Seek truth and report it Every claim carries its receipt: the document, the date, the name. If we can't attach it, we say "to link" until we can. We check before we publish, not after. We prefer the original source over the story about it. We don't make things up and we don't take other people's work without saying so. Minimize harm The people in this paper are our neighbors, and we'll see them at the market. We weigh what the public needs to know against what it costs a person to be in print. Kids, people in grief, and people who've never talked to a paper before get extra care. We ask before we quote you, and we say who we are when we call. A writer under 18 needs the permission form signed before a byline. Act independently Nobody buys a word of this. There are no sponsors, no ads, no price list. The jar is pay what you want, and a shop that chips in gets exactly what a neighbor who chips in gets. When the editor has a tie to something we cover (his office, his club, his friends), it says so in the sentence. If it can't be said cleanly, we don't cover it. Same for anyone who writes here: a tie to the story goes in the sentence. Be accountable and transparent We say who wrote what. A person writes every piece; software can fix spelling or type up an interview, and it does not get a byline. The one place software drafted lines is the Cobweb index, and that page says so. When we're wrong, we fix it, label it, and run the correction at the top of the next issue, not at the bottom of a page nobody reads. Tell us at hello@westsidewherewithal.com, call or text 719-201-5462, reply to the Thursday email, use the box on the front page, or write to the address in the footer. A person reads it. Our own rules, on top By us, for us. We can write about what isn't here. It's for the people who are. Clean. No profanity in the paper, even when the editor would. Less division, more discussion. We argue with ideas, not neighbors. Nothing to buy. A neighbor is a neighbor, renting or owning, behind the counter or in front of it. Chip in as one, write as one, with the tie said in the sentence. This rule is for the outfit from somewhere else that wants to buy a word in here: a chain's ad budget, a developer's PR shop, a media company in Denver. There is nothing to buy. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Every page, as text <https://westsidewherewithal.com/everything> Every page, as text Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Every page, as text The whole site as one page, for an outside reader or a tool that only opens web pages. The same text is at everything.md; the page list is at llms.txt. # The Westside Wherewithal, every page as text Generated by build.py on 2026-10-11. For an outside reader auditing the site. The live pages are canonical. --- # Wherewithal, n. <https://westsidewherewithal.com/about> Wherewithal, n. Skip to the page ← the front pagewherewithal, n. ## What this is wherewithal, noun: the means to get a thing done. Money, usually. Over here, whatever it takes. I live over here, about twenty years now, and I'm holding one pen. The paper works when there are a lot more of them. Bring your own, whatever it is: a notebook, a phone, a typewriter somebody left you, a kid with a camera. Write about the street you're on. New here? The avenue is West Colorado Avenue. OCC is Old Colorado City, the six blocks of it between about 24th and 27th. The Westside is everything west of I-25 to the Manitou line, the hills on both sides. One thing to show up to this week is in the next two weeks on the front page; trivia on Thursday at OCC Brewing needs no one to know you. Here runs past the avenue: Pleasant Valley, Midland, Mesa Springs, the Mesa, the motels out past 31st, the park. I don't know them all yet. Tell me what I'm missing. How it works: I find people who care and ask them to share it out loud. I ask others to participate too. We focus on writing about things that matter, and we get to decide what matters. So do you. What the idea is, what we're going to try, and what we honestly don't know yet is on the kit page, free to copy if you want to start one where you live. How we do it, and what we won't do, is in the code. Jeff Adkins, editor. See you Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · front page LightAutoDark --- # See that building? Look again <https://westsidewherewithal.com/address-book-1902> See that building? Look again Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## See that building? Look again The Address Book desk. Written from Mel McFarland's columns and the 1902 map; nothing here is from memory yet. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Stop right here on the sidewalk with me. See that? Keep looking, because I'm going to point at five places Mel McFarland wrote about, and every one of them was something else first. The Goodwill center on Colorado Avenue. See it? Part of that was the Golden Flake potato chip factory. Chips. Made right here. Now, Mel ran that in his quiz column of January 17, 2008, a whole column of reused buildings, and hold onto that one, because it comes back in a minute. Fire Station 5, at Colorado and 29th. Same column, told you. You know what that was before it was a fire station? The Standard Club, a recreation hall built for the workers at the Standard Gold Mill. 2902 W Colorado. Old city hall. And then, hang on, this is the part I love, it became the first Whittier School. Mel gave the answer on June 16, 2005. A city hall that turned into a school. Bancroft Park. Now, where the farmers market sets up. That was once Bancroft School, a big one, all the grades, junior high and high school classes too (January 17, 2008, and May 17, 2012). Next Saturday, stand right where you are with your market bag and picture it. The Van Briggle building. You know what that was? The Colorado Midland roundhouse. Fourteen stalls of stone, part of shops that covered 57 acres between 21st and 26th, south of the creek. Six hundred men worked those shops at their peak (April 19, 2012). And that the roundhouse became Van Briggle Pottery? That's in his columns of January 10, 2009 and February 19, 2009. Now. One honest warning before we walk on. The paper has the 1892 and 1902 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress, public domain). See the 1902 index sheet? It puts Colorado City at 4,000 people. But the town's street numbers were renumbered after Colorado Springs annexed it in 1917, so we won't match a 1902 address to a 2026 one without the key. The key lives at the History Center, 1 S 24th. That's the next stop for this desk. Here's where you come in. This desk has one standing question: what was in this storefront in 1968? If you remember, send it in. A name, a counter, what it smelled like, who worked there. Email hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or call or text 719-201-5462. A person reads every one. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Permission form, writers under 18 <https://westsidewherewithal.com/consent> Permission form, writers under 18 Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Permission form, writers under 18 The form The Westside Wherewithal release for writers and interview subjects under 18 I, _______, give The Westside Wherewithal permission to publish the writing, interview, photographs, or recordings described here: _______________ It may appear in the email edition, on the website, and in any later archive of the paper, and it may stay online for years. My name may be used with it. (Circle one: use my full name / first name only / no name) I keep the copyright to my own writing. The Westside Wherewithal may publish it in the paper and keep it in the archive, for no money. It will not sell it or license it to anyone else. I may ask the editor to correct a factual error at any time, and the correction will be printed. I, or my parent, may ask for the piece to come down from the site at any time, and it will. I understand I do not get to approve the final edit before it runs, but the editor will tell me if the piece changes in a way that changes its meaning. I was told I could talk this over with a parent, guardian, teacher, or any adult I trust before signing. Signature _______ Date ____ Age ___ Phone or email (for the editor only, not printed) __________ Send a photo of the signed form with your piece, or drop it at 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904. Parent or guardian (required under 16, for anything personal, or for anyone who cannot fully understand the above): I, ________, am the parent or guardian of the person above. I have read this release and approve it. Signature _______ Date _____ Editor _______ Date _____ Keep the signed form. The paper's archive is only as good as its paper trail. To take a piece down, or to ask anything: call or text 719-201-5462, or hello@westsidewherewithal.com. How we handle it Every byline or interview by a person under 18 has a signed release. Under 16, or for anything personal (your own family, health, or home), a parent or guardian signs too. Under 13: collect a first name and a parent's email, nothing else, and the parent signs. A story about a named other kid gets read twice by the editor before it goes out. The young writer keeps their own copyright. We get permission to publish, not ownership. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Be the person in the room <https://westsidewherewithal.com/documenter> Be the person in the room Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Be the person in the room Go to one public meeting, write down what happened on this sheet, send it in. It becomes a few lines in the paper with your name on them. One meeting is plenty. Pick a public meeting that touches the Westside. The easy first one: City Council, the second and fourth Tuesday at 9 a.m., Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada; the next regular one is Tuesday, October 13, then October 27 (Monday work sessions, where they talk but don't vote, are on the same calendar). Agendas, minutes and the video live on the city's Legistar calendar, and you can watch it live or later there. Public meetings are open to anyone. Budget about two hours: the meeting, or the parts that touch the Westside, plus half an hour on this sheet. Print this page; it is the sheet. The sheet Fill in what you can. Blanks are fine; "didn't catch it" is a real answer. Meeting: which body, date, place or link, start and end time, who ran it Who was there: officials by name and title, who was absent, roughly how many from the public What was decided: each vote in its own words, the count, who voted yes and who voted no, the ordinance or file number off the agenda, and whether it was a first reading, a final one, or part of the consent list (see the key) What was said at the mic: three things people said, as close to their words as you can, with the name if they gave it. Hallway talk needs a yes from the person first. What was put off: anything tabled, continued, or sent to a later date What is next: the next date, and what is due before it Documents: the agenda, the packet, the ordinance or study number, a link or a photo of the page A short key Work session (Mondays): they talk, nobody votes. Regular meeting (second and fourth Tuesdays): votes happen. Consent calendar: a stack of routine items passed in one vote. Note the one that touches the Westside, skip the rest. First reading / second reading: an ordinance gets two votes on two different days. Say which one you saw. Hearing: a zoning or land-use item where people get sworn in and the council acts like a judge. The comment rules are different; the agenda says so. Citizen discussion: the open mic at the start, not tied to any item. What it looks like in the paper > Sep 22, 2026 · Old Colorado City's downtown development authority (DDA) shut down. Council voted 5 to 4 to dissolve it (yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams). The DDA says it may sue because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. The city's own page: the meeting record. In the news: the Gazette. Seen by [your name]. Three things Write what happened, not what you think of it. (Your opinion is welcome too, as a letter.) If it's your block, your business or your club, say so at the top. It still runs. Send it within the week: the box on the front page, hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or the paper to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122. You'll see it before it runs. Borrowed from City Bureau in Chicago, which pays people to do this. We can't yet. We say so. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The code <https://westsidewherewithal.com/ethics> The code Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The code How we do things, and what we won't do. The bones come from the Society of Professional Journalists; the words are ours. This page is the rulebook; the rest of the paper is written from the heart and doesn't repeat it. The desks. Some pages carry a desk name (The Porch, The Record, The Box) instead of a person's. Those are drafted by the paper's software from the record we hold, edited by hand, and say so at the top. No made-up people, quotes or facts; every claim links to where it came from or says we are still looking. When a neighbor takes a desk, their name replaces the line; how that works is one page. Meeting notes from neighbors. Before a quote runs we read it back to the person who said it. Before a vote count runs we check it against the recording or the minutes. The writer sees their lines before they run; their name goes on them and nothing else of theirs. Photos of the room are fine; photos of people who didn't speak publicly are not. A wrong line gets corrected at the top of the next issue. Your email address goes to the email service and nowhere else. Pantry and supper hours get a phone call before they run. The jar: once a year we say how many chipped in, never how much; it's run by Jeff's one-person company and nobody draws a salary. Seek truth and report it Every claim carries its receipt: the document, the date, the name. If we can't attach it, we say "to link" until we can. We check before we publish, not after. We prefer the original source over the story about it. We don't make things up and we don't take other people's work without saying so. Minimize harm The people in this paper are our neighbors, and we'll see them at the market. We weigh what the public needs to know against what it costs a person to be in print. Kids, people in grief, and people who've never talked to a paper before get extra care. We ask before we quote you, and we say who we are when we call. A writer under 18 needs the permission form signed before a byline. Act independently Nobody buys a word of this. There are no sponsors, no ads, no price list. The jar is pay what you want, and a shop that chips in gets exactly what a neighbor who chips in gets. When the editor has a tie to something we cover (his office, his club, his friends), it says so in the sentence. If it can't be said cleanly, we don't cover it. Same for anyone who writes here: a tie to the story goes in the sentence. Be accountable and transparent We say who wrote what. A person writes every piece; software can fix spelling or type up an interview, and it does not get a byline. The one place software drafted lines is the Cobweb index, and that page says so. When we're wrong, we fix it, label it, and run the correction at the top of the next issue, not at the bottom of a page nobody reads. Tell us at hello@westsidewherewithal.com, call or text 719-201-5462, reply to the Thursday email, use the box on the front page, or write to the address in the footer. A person reads it. Our own rules, on top By us, for us. We can write about what isn't here. It's for the people who are. Clean. No profanity in the paper, even when the editor would. Less division, more discussion. We argue with ideas, not neighbors. Nothing to buy. A neighbor is a neighbor, renting or owning, behind the counter or in front of it. Chip in as one, write as one, with the tie said in the sentence. This rule is for the outfit from somewhere else that wants to buy a word in here: a chain's ad budget, a developer's PR shop, a media company in Denver. There is nothing to buy. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Every page, as text <https://westsidewherewithal.com/everything> Every page, as text Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Every page, as text The whole site as one page, for an outside reader or a tool that only opens web pages. The same text is at everything.md; the page list is at llms.txt. # The Westside Wherewithal, every page as text Generated by build.py on 2026-10-11. For an outside reader auditing the site. The live pages are canonical. --- # Wherewithal, n. <https://westsidewherewithal.com/about> Wherewithal, n. Skip to the page ← the front pagewherewithal, n. ## What this is wherewithal, noun: the means to get a thing done. Money, usually. Over here, whatever it takes. I live over here, about twenty years now, and I'm holding one pen. The paper works when there are a lot more of them. Bring your own, whatever it is: a notebook, a phone, a typewriter somebody left you, a kid with a camera. Write about the street you're on. New here? The avenue is West Colorado Avenue. OCC is Old Colorado City, the six blocks of it between about 24th and 27th. The Westside is everything west of I-25 to the Manitou line, the hills on both sides. One thing to show up to this week is in the next two weeks on the front page; trivia on Thursday at OCC Brewing needs no one to know you. Here runs past the avenue: Pleasant Valley, Midland, Mesa Springs, the Mesa, the motels out past 31st, the park. I don't know them all yet. Tell me what I'm missing. How it works: I find people who care and ask them to share it out loud. I ask others to participate too. We focus on writing about things that matter, and we get to decide what matters. So do you. What the idea is, what we're going to try, and what we honestly don't know yet is on the kit page, free to copy if you want to start one where you live. How we do it, and what we won't do, is in the code. Jeff Adkins, editor. See you Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · front page LightAutoDark --- # See that building? Look again <https://westsidewherewithal.com/address-book-1902> See that building? Look again Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## See that building? Look again The Address Book desk. Written from Mel McFarland's columns and the 1902 map; nothing here is from memory yet. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Stop right here on the sidewalk with me. See that? Keep looking, because I'm going to point at five places Mel McFarland wrote about, and every one of them was something else first. The Goodwill center on Colorado Avenue. See it? Part of that was the Golden Flake potato chip factory. Chips. Made right here. Now, Mel ran that in his quiz column of January 17, 2008, a whole column of reused buildings, and hold onto that one, because it comes back in a minute. Fire Station 5, at Colorado and 29th. Same column, told you. You know what that was before it was a fire station? The Standard Club, a recreation hall built for the workers at the Standard Gold Mill. 2902 W Colorado. Old city hall. And then, hang on, this is the part I love, it became the first Whittier School. Mel gave the answer on June 16, 2005. A city hall that turned into a school. Bancroft Park. Now, where the farmers market sets up. That was once Bancroft School, a big one, all the grades, junior high and high school classes too (January 17, 2008, and May 17, 2012). Next Saturday, stand right where you are with your market bag and picture it. The Van Briggle building. You know what that was? The Colorado Midland roundhouse. Fourteen stalls of stone, part of shops that covered 57 acres between 21st and 26th, south of the creek. Six hundred men worked those shops at their peak (April 19, 2012). And that the roundhouse became Van Briggle Pottery? That's in his columns of January 10, 2009 and February 19, 2009. Now. One honest warning before we walk on. The paper has the 1892 and 1902 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress, public domain). See the 1902 index sheet? It puts Colorado City at 4,000 people. But the town's street numbers were renumbered after Colorado Springs annexed it in 1917, so we won't match a 1902 address to a 2026 one without the key. The key lives at the History Center, 1 S 24th. That's the next stop for this desk. Here's where you come in. This desk has one standing question: what was in this storefront in 1968? If you remember, send it in. A name, a counter, what it smelled like, who worked there. Email hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or call or text 719-201-5462. A person reads every one. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Permission form, writers under 18 <https://westsidewherewithal.com/consent> Permission form, writers under 18 Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Permission form, writers under 18 The form The Westside Wherewithal release for writers and interview subjects under 18 I, _______, give The Westside Wherewithal permission to publish the writing, interview, photographs, or recordings described here: _______________ It may appear in the email edition, on the website, and in any later archive of the paper, and it may stay online for years. My name may be used with it. (Circle one: use my full name / first name only / no name) I keep the copyright to my own writing. The Westside Wherewithal may publish it in the paper and keep it in the archive, for no money. It will not sell it or license it to anyone else. I may ask the editor to correct a factual error at any time, and the correction will be printed. I, or my parent, may ask for the piece to come down from the site at any time, and it will. I understand I do not get to approve the final edit before it runs, but the editor will tell me if the piece changes in a way that changes its meaning. I was told I could talk this over with a parent, guardian, teacher, or any adult I trust before signing. Signature _______ Date ____ Age ___ Phone or email (for the editor only, not printed) __________ Send a photo of the signed form with your piece, or drop it at 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904. Parent or guardian (required under 16, for anything personal, or for anyone who cannot fully understand the above): I, ________, am the parent or guardian of the person above. I have read this release and approve it. Signature _______ Date _____ Editor _______ Date _____ Keep the signed form. The paper's archive is only as good as its paper trail. To take a piece down, or to ask anything: call or text 719-201-5462, or hello@westsidewherewithal.com. How we handle it Every byline or interview by a person under 18 has a signed release. Under 16, or for anything personal (your own family, health, or home), a parent or guardian signs too. Under 13: collect a first name and a parent's email, nothing else, and the parent signs. A story about a named other kid gets read twice by the editor before it goes out. The young writer keeps their own copyright. We get permission to publish, not ownership. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Be the person in the room <https://westsidewherewithal.com/documenter> Be the person in the room Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Be the person in the room Go to one public meeting, write down what happened on this sheet, send it in. It becomes a few lines in the paper with your name on them. One meeting is plenty. Pick a public meeting that touches the Westside. The easy first one: City Council, the second and fourth Tuesday at 9 a.m., Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada; the next regular one is Tuesday, October 13, then October 27 (Monday work sessions, where they talk but don't vote, are on the same calendar). Agendas, minutes and the video live on the city's Legistar calendar, and you can watch it live or later there. Public meetings are open to anyone. Budget about two hours: the meeting, or the parts that touch the Westside, plus half an hour on this sheet. Print this page; it is the sheet. The sheet Fill in what you can. Blanks are fine; "didn't catch it" is a real answer. Meeting: which body, date, place or link, start and end time, who ran it Who was there: officials by name and title, who was absent, roughly how many from the public What was decided: each vote in its own words, the count, who voted yes and who voted no, the ordinance or file number off the agenda, and whether it was a first reading, a final one, or part of the consent list (see the key) What was said at the mic: three things people said, as close to their words as you can, with the name if they gave it. Hallway talk needs a yes from the person first. What was put off: anything tabled, continued, or sent to a later date What is next: the next date, and what is due before it Documents: the agenda, the packet, the ordinance or study number, a link or a photo of the page A short key Work session (Mondays): they talk, nobody votes. Regular meeting (second and fourth Tuesdays): votes happen. Consent calendar: a stack of routine items passed in one vote. Note the one that touches the Westside, skip the rest. First reading / second reading: an ordinance gets two votes on two different days. Say which one you saw. Hearing: a zoning or land-use item where people get sworn in and the council acts like a judge. The comment rules are different; the agenda says so. Citizen discussion: the open mic at the start, not tied to any item. What it looks like in the paper > Sep 22, 2026 · Old Colorado City's downtown development authority (DDA) shut down. Council voted 5 to 4 to dissolve it (yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams). The DDA says it may sue because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. The city's own page: the meeting record. In the news: the Gazette. Seen by [your name]. Three things Write what happened, not what you think of it. (Your opinion is welcome too, as a letter.) If it's your block, your business or your club, say so at the top. It still runs. Send it within the week: the box on the front page, hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or the paper to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122. You'll see it before it runs. Borrowed from City Bureau in Chicago, which pays people to do this. We can't yet. We say so. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The code <https://westsidewherewithal.com/ethics> The code Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The code How we do things, and what we won't do. The bones come from the Society of Professional Journalists; the words are ours. This page is the rulebook; the rest of the paper is written from the heart and doesn't repeat it. The desks. Some pages carry a desk name (The Porch, The Record, The Box) instead of a person's. Those are drafted by the paper's software from the record we hold, edited by hand, and say so at the top. No made-up people, quotes or facts; every claim links to where it came from or says we are still looking. When a neighbor takes a desk, their name replaces the line; how that works is one page. Meeting notes from neighbors. Before a quote runs we read it back to the person who said it. Before a vote count runs we check it against the recording or the minutes. The writer sees their lines before they run; their name goes on them and nothing else of theirs. Photos of the room are fine; photos of people who didn't speak publicly are not. A wrong line gets corrected at the top of the next issue. Your email address goes to the email service and nowhere else. Pantry and supper hours get a phone call before they run. The jar: once a year we say how many chipped in, never how much; it's run by Jeff's one-person company and nobody draws a salary. Seek truth and report it Every claim carries its receipt: the document, the date, the name. If we can't attach it, we say "to link" until we can. We check before we publish, not after. We prefer the original source over the story about it. We don't make things up and we don't take other people's work without saying so. Minimize harm The people in this paper are our neighbors, and we'll see them at the market. We weigh what the public needs to know against what it costs a person to be in print. Kids, people in grief, and people who've never talked to a paper before get extra care. We ask before we quote you, and we say who we are when we call. A writer under 18 needs the permission form signed before a byline. Act independently Nobody buys a word of this. There are no sponsors, no ads, no price list. The jar is pay what you want, and a shop that chips in gets exactly what a neighbor who chips in gets. When the editor has a tie to something we cover (his office, his club, his friends), it says so in the sentence. If it can't be said cleanly, we don't cover it. Same for anyone who writes here: a tie to the story goes in the sentence. Be accountable and transparent We say who wrote what. A person writes every piece; software can fix spelling or type up an interview, and it does not get a byline. The one place software drafted lines is the Cobweb index, and that page says so. When we're wrong, we fix it, label it, and run the correction at the top of the next issue, not at the bottom of a page nobody reads. Tell us at hello@westsidewherewithal.com, call or text 719-201-5462, reply to the Thursday email, use the box on the front page, or write to the address in the footer. A person reads it. Our own rules, on top By us, for us. We can write about what isn't here. It's for the people who are. Clean. No profanity in the paper, even when the editor would. Less division, more discussion. We argue with ideas, not neighbors. Nothing to buy. A neighbor is a neighbor, renting or owning, behind the counter or in front of it. Chip in as one, write as one, with the tie said in the sentence. This rule is for the outfit from somewhere else that wants to buy a word in here: a chain's ad budget, a developer's PR shop, a media company in Denver. There is nothing to buy. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Every page, as text <https://westsidewherewithal.com/everything> Every page, as text Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Every page, as text The whole site as one page, for an outside reader or a tool that only opens web pages. The same text is at everything.md; the page list is at llms.txt. # The Westside Wherewithal, every page as text Generated by build.py on 2026-10-11. For an outside reader auditing the site. The live pages are canonical. --- # Wherewithal, n. <https://westsidewherewithal.com/about> Wherewithal, n. Skip to the page ← the front pagewherewithal, n. ## What this is wherewithal, noun: the means to get a thing done. Money, usually. Over here, whatever it takes. I live over here, about twenty years now, and I'm holding one pen. The paper works when there are a lot more of them. Bring your own, whatever it is: a notebook, a phone, a typewriter somebody left you, a kid with a camera. Write about the street you're on. New here? The avenue is West Colorado Avenue. OCC is Old Colorado City, the six blocks of it between about 24th and 27th. The Westside is everything west of I-25 to the Manitou line, the hills on both sides. One thing to show up to this week is in the next two weeks on the front page; trivia on Thursday at OCC Brewing needs no one to know you. Here runs past the avenue: Pleasant Valley, Midland, Mesa Springs, the Mesa, the motels out past 31st, the park. I don't know them all yet. Tell me what I'm missing. How it works: I find people who care and ask them to share it out loud. I ask others to participate too. We focus on writing about things that matter, and we get to decide what matters. So do you. What the idea is, what we're going to try, and what we honestly don't know yet is on the kit page, free to copy if you want to start one where you live. How we do it, and what we won't do, is in the code. Jeff Adkins, editor. See you Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · front page LightAutoDark --- # See that building? Look again <https://westsidewherewithal.com/address-book-1902> See that building? Look again Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## See that building? Look again The Address Book desk. Written from Mel McFarland's columns and the 1902 map; nothing here is from memory yet. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Stop right here on the sidewalk with me. See that? Keep looking, because I'm going to point at five places Mel McFarland wrote about, and every one of them was something else first. The Goodwill center on Colorado Avenue. See it? Part of that was the Golden Flake potato chip factory. Chips. Made right here. Now, Mel ran that in his quiz column of January 17, 2008, a whole column of reused buildings, and hold onto that one, because it comes back in a minute. Fire Station 5, at Colorado and 29th. Same column, told you. You know what that was before it was a fire station? The Standard Club, a recreation hall built for the workers at the Standard Gold Mill. 2902 W Colorado. Old city hall. And then, hang on, this is the part I love, it became the first Whittier School. Mel gave the answer on June 16, 2005. A city hall that turned into a school. Bancroft Park. Now, where the farmers market sets up. That was once Bancroft School, a big one, all the grades, junior high and high school classes too (January 17, 2008, and May 17, 2012). Next Saturday, stand right where you are with your market bag and picture it. The Van Briggle building. You know what that was? The Colorado Midland roundhouse. Fourteen stalls of stone, part of shops that covered 57 acres between 21st and 26th, south of the creek. Six hundred men worked those shops at their peak (April 19, 2012). And that the roundhouse became Van Briggle Pottery? That's in his columns of January 10, 2009 and February 19, 2009. Now. One honest warning before we walk on. The paper has the 1892 and 1902 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress, public domain). See the 1902 index sheet? It puts Colorado City at 4,000 people. But the town's street numbers were renumbered after Colorado Springs annexed it in 1917, so we won't match a 1902 address to a 2026 one without the key. The key lives at the History Center, 1 S 24th. That's the next stop for this desk. Here's where you come in. This desk has one standing question: what was in this storefront in 1968? If you remember, send it in. A name, a counter, what it smelled like, who worked there. Email hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or call or text 719-201-5462. A person reads every one. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Permission form, writers under 18 <https://westsidewherewithal.com/consent> Permission form, writers under 18 Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Permission form, writers under 18 The form The Westside Wherewithal release for writers and interview subjects under 18 I, _______, give The Westside Wherewithal permission to publish the writing, interview, photographs, or recordings described here: _______________ It may appear in the email edition, on the website, and in any later archive of the paper, and it may stay online for years. My name may be used with it. (Circle one: use my full name / first name only / no name) I keep the copyright to my own writing. The Westside Wherewithal may publish it in the paper and keep it in the archive, for no money. It will not sell it or license it to anyone else. I may ask the editor to correct a factual error at any time, and the correction will be printed. I, or my parent, may ask for the piece to come down from the site at any time, and it will. I understand I do not get to approve the final edit before it runs, but the editor will tell me if the piece changes in a way that changes its meaning. I was told I could talk this over with a parent, guardian, teacher, or any adult I trust before signing. Signature _______ Date ____ Age ___ Phone or email (for the editor only, not printed) __________ Send a photo of the signed form with your piece, or drop it at 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904. Parent or guardian (required under 16, for anything personal, or for anyone who cannot fully understand the above): I, ________, am the parent or guardian of the person above. I have read this release and approve it. Signature _______ Date _____ Editor _______ Date _____ Keep the signed form. The paper's archive is only as good as its paper trail. To take a piece down, or to ask anything: call or text 719-201-5462, or hello@westsidewherewithal.com. How we handle it Every byline or interview by a person under 18 has a signed release. Under 16, or for anything personal (your own family, health, or home), a parent or guardian signs too. Under 13: collect a first name and a parent's email, nothing else, and the parent signs. A story about a named other kid gets read twice by the editor before it goes out. The young writer keeps their own copyright. We get permission to publish, not ownership. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Be the person in the room <https://westsidewherewithal.com/documenter> Be the person in the room Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Be the person in the room Go to one public meeting, write down what happened on this sheet, send it in. It becomes a few lines in the paper with your name on them. One meeting is plenty. Pick a public meeting that touches the Westside. The easy first one: City Council, the second and fourth Tuesday at 9 a.m., Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada; the next regular one is Tuesday, October 13, then October 27 (Monday work sessions, where they talk but don't vote, are on the same calendar). Agendas, minutes and the video live on the city's Legistar calendar, and you can watch it live or later there. Public meetings are open to anyone. Budget about two hours: the meeting, or the parts that touch the Westside, plus half an hour on this sheet. Print this page; it is the sheet. The sheet Fill in what you can. Blanks are fine; "didn't catch it" is a real answer. Meeting: which body, date, place or link, start and end time, who ran it Who was there: officials by name and title, who was absent, roughly how many from the public What was decided: each vote in its own words, the count, who voted yes and who voted no, the ordinance or file number off the agenda, and whether it was a first reading, a final one, or part of the consent list (see the key) What was said at the mic: three things people said, as close to their words as you can, with the name if they gave it. Hallway talk needs a yes from the person first. What was put off: anything tabled, continued, or sent to a later date What is next: the next date, and what is due before it Documents: the agenda, the packet, the ordinance or study number, a link or a photo of the page A short key Work session (Mondays): they talk, nobody votes. Regular meeting (second and fourth Tuesdays): votes happen. Consent calendar: a stack of routine items passed in one vote. Note the one that touches the Westside, skip the rest. First reading / second reading: an ordinance gets two votes on two different days. Say which one you saw. Hearing: a zoning or land-use item where people get sworn in and the council acts like a judge. The comment rules are different; the agenda says so. Citizen discussion: the open mic at the start, not tied to any item. What it looks like in the paper > Sep 22, 2026 · Old Colorado City's downtown development authority (DDA) shut down. Council voted 5 to 4 to dissolve it (yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams). The DDA says it may sue because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. The city's own page: the meeting record. In the news: the Gazette. Seen by [your name]. Three things Write what happened, not what you think of it. (Your opinion is welcome too, as a letter.) If it's your block, your business or your club, say so at the top. It still runs. Send it within the week: the box on the front page, hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or the paper to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122. You'll see it before it runs. Borrowed from City Bureau in Chicago, which pays people to do this. We can't yet. We say so. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The code <https://westsidewherewithal.com/ethics> The code Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The code How we do things, and what we won't do. The bones come from the Society of Professional Journalists; the words are ours. This page is the rulebook; the rest of the paper is written from the heart and doesn't repeat it. The desks. Some pages carry a desk name (The Porch, The Record, The Box) instead of a person's. Those are drafted by the paper's software from the record we hold, edited by hand, and say so at the top. No made-up people, quotes or facts; every claim links to where it came from or says we are still looking. When a neighbor takes a desk, their name replaces the line. Meeting notes from neighbors. Before a quote runs we read it back to the person who said it. Before a vote count runs we check it against the recording or the minutes. The writer sees their lines before they run; their name goes on them and nothing else of theirs. Photos of the room are fine; photos of people who didn't speak publicly are not. A wrong line gets corrected at the top of the next issue. Your email address goes to the email service and nowhere else. Pantry and supper hours get a phone call before they run. The jar: once a year we say how many chipped in, never how much; it's run by Jeff's one-person company and nobody draws a salary. Seek truth and report it Every claim carries its receipt: the document, the date, the name. If we can't attach it, we say "to link" until we can. We check before we publish, not after. We prefer the original source over the story about it. We don't make things up and we don't take other people's work without saying so. Minimize harm The people in this paper are our neighbors, and we'll see them at the market. We weigh what the public needs to know against what it costs a person to be in print. Kids, people in grief, and people who've never talked to a paper before get extra care. We ask before we quote you, and we say who we are when we call. A writer under 18 needs the permission form signed before a byline. Act independently Nobody buys a word of this. There are no sponsors, no ads, no price list. The jar is pay what you want, and a shop that chips in gets exactly what a neighbor who chips in gets. When the editor has a tie to something we cover (his office, his club, his friends), it says so in the sentence. If it can't be said cleanly, we don't cover it. Same for anyone who writes here: a tie to the story goes in the sentence. Be accountable and transparent We say who wrote what. A person writes every piece; software can fix spelling or type up an interview, and it does not get a byline. The one place software drafted lines is the Cobweb index, and that page says so. When we're wrong, we fix it, label it, and run the correction at the top of the next issue, not at the bottom of a page nobody reads. Tell us at hello@westsidewherewithal.com, call or text 719-201-5462, reply to the Thursday email, use the box on the front page, or write to the address in the footer. A person reads it. Our own rules, on top By us, for us. We can write about what isn't here. It's for the people who are. Clean. No profanity in the paper, even when the editor would. Less division, more discussion. We argue with ideas, not neighbors. Nothing to buy. A neighbor is a neighbor, renting or owning, behind the counter or in front of it. Chip in as one, write as one, with the tie said in the sentence. This rule is for the outfit from somewhere else that wants to buy a word in here: a chain's ad budget, a developer's PR shop, a media company in Denver. There is nothing to buy. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Every page, as text <https://westsidewherewithal.com/everything> Every page, as text Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Every page, as text The whole site as one page, for an outside reader or a tool that only opens web pages. The same text is at everything.md; the page list is at llms.txt. # The Westside Wherewithal, every page as text Generated by build.py on 2026-10-11. For an outside reader auditing the site. The live pages are canonical. --- # Wherewithal, n. <https://westsidewherewithal.com/about> Wherewithal, n. Skip to the page ← the front pagewherewithal, n. ## What this is wherewithal, noun: the means to get a thing done. Money, usually. Over here, whatever it takes. I live over here, about twenty years now, and I'm holding one pen. The paper works when there are a lot more of them. Bring your own, whatever it is: a notebook, a phone, a typewriter somebody left you, a kid with a camera. Write about the street you're on. New here? The avenue is West Colorado Avenue. OCC is Old Colorado City, the six blocks of it between about 24th and 27th. The Westside is everything west of I-25 to the Manitou line, the hills on both sides. One thing to show up to this week is in the next two weeks on the front page; trivia on Thursday at OCC Brewing needs no one to know you. Here runs past the avenue: Pleasant Valley, Midland, Mesa Springs, the Mesa, the motels out past 31st, the park. I don't know them all yet. Tell me what I'm missing. How it works: I find people who care and ask them to share it out loud. I ask others to participate too. We focus on writing about things that matter, and we get to decide what matters. So do you. What the idea is, what we're going to try, and what we honestly don't know yet is on the kit page, free to copy if you want to start one where you live. How we do it, and what we won't do, is in the code. Jeff Adkins, editor. See you Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · front page LightAutoDark --- # See that building? Look again <https://westsidewherewithal.com/address-book-1902> See that building? Look again Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## See that building? Look again The Address Book desk. Written from Mel McFarland's columns and the 1902 map; nothing here is from memory yet. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Stop right here on the sidewalk with me. See that? Keep looking, because I'm going to point at five places Mel McFarland wrote about, and every one of them was something else first. The Goodwill center on Colorado Avenue. See it? Part of that was the Golden Flake potato chip factory. Chips. Made right here. Now, Mel ran that in his quiz column of January 17, 2008, a whole column of reused buildings, and hold onto that one, because it comes back in a minute. Fire Station 5, at Colorado and 29th. Same column, told you. You know what that was before it was a fire station? The Standard Club, a recreation hall built for the workers at the Standard Gold Mill. 2902 W Colorado. Old city hall. And then, hang on, this is the part I love, it became the first Whittier School. Mel gave the answer on June 16, 2005. A city hall that turned into a school. Bancroft Park. Now, where the farmers market sets up. That was once Bancroft School, a big one, all the grades, junior high and high school classes too (January 17, 2008, and May 17, 2012). Next Saturday, stand right where you are with your market bag and picture it. The Van Briggle building. You know what that was? The Colorado Midland roundhouse. Fourteen stalls of stone, part of shops that covered 57 acres between 21st and 26th, south of the creek. Six hundred men worked those shops at their peak (April 19, 2012). And that the roundhouse became Van Briggle Pottery? That's in his columns of January 10, 2009 and February 19, 2009. Now. One honest warning before we walk on. The paper has the 1892 and 1902 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress, public domain). See the 1902 index sheet? It puts Colorado City at 4,000 people. But the town's street numbers were renumbered after Colorado Springs annexed it in 1917, so we won't match a 1902 address to a 2026 one without the key. The key lives at the History Center, 1 S 24th. That's the next stop for this desk. Here's where you come in. This desk has one standing question: what was in this storefront in 1968? If you remember, send it in. A name, a counter, what it smelled like, who worked there. Email hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or call or text 719-201-5462. A person reads every one. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Permission form, writers under 18 <https://westsidewherewithal.com/consent> Permission form, writers under 18 Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Permission form, writers under 18 The form The Westside Wherewithal release for writers and interview subjects under 18 I, _______, give The Westside Wherewithal permission to publish the writing, interview, photographs, or recordings described here: _______________ It may appear in the email edition, on the website, and in any later archive of the paper, and it may stay online for years. My name may be used with it. (Circle one: use my full name / first name only / no name) I keep the copyright to my own writing. The Westside Wherewithal may publish it in the paper and keep it in the archive, for no money. It will not sell it or license it to anyone else. I may ask the editor to correct a factual error at any time, and the correction will be printed. I, or my parent, may ask for the piece to come down from the site at any time, and it will. I understand I do not get to approve the final edit before it runs, but the editor will tell me if the piece changes in a way that changes its meaning. I was told I could talk this over with a parent, guardian, teacher, or any adult I trust before signing. Signature _______ Date ____ Age ___ Phone or email (for the editor only, not printed) __________ Send a photo of the signed form with your piece, or drop it at 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904. Parent or guardian (required under 16, for anything personal, or for anyone who cannot fully understand the above): I, ________, am the parent or guardian of the person above. I have read this release and approve it. Signature _______ Date _____ Editor _______ Date _____ Keep the signed form. The paper's archive is only as good as its paper trail. To take a piece down, or to ask anything: call or text 719-201-5462, or hello@westsidewherewithal.com. How we handle it Every byline or interview by a person under 18 has a signed release. Under 16, or for anything personal (your own family, health, or home), a parent or guardian signs too. Under 13: collect a first name and a parent's email, nothing else, and the parent signs. A story about a named other kid gets read twice by the editor before it goes out. The young writer keeps their own copyright. We get permission to publish, not ownership. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Be the person in the room <https://westsidewherewithal.com/documenter> Be the person in the room Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Be the person in the room Go to one public meeting, write down what happened on this sheet, send it in. It becomes a few lines in the paper with your name on them. One meeting is plenty. Pick a public meeting that touches the Westside. The easy first one: City Council, the second and fourth Tuesday at 9 a.m., Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada; the next regular one is Tuesday, October 13, then October 27 (Monday work sessions, where they talk but don't vote, are on the same calendar). Agendas, minutes and the video live on the city's Legistar calendar, and you can watch it live or later there. Public meetings are open to anyone. Budget about two hours: the meeting, or the parts that touch the Westside, plus half an hour on this sheet. Print this page; it is the sheet. The sheet Fill in what you can. Blanks are fine; "didn't catch it" is a real answer. Meeting: which body, date, place or link, start and end time, who ran it Who was there: officials by name and title, who was absent, roughly how many from the public What was decided: each vote in its own words, the count, who voted yes and who voted no, the ordinance or file number off the agenda, and whether it was a first reading, a final one, or part of the consent list (see the key) What was said at the mic: three things people said, as close to their words as you can, with the name if they gave it. Hallway talk needs a yes from the person first. What was put off: anything tabled, continued, or sent to a later date What is next: the next date, and what is due before it Documents: the agenda, the packet, the ordinance or study number, a link or a photo of the page A short key Work session (Mondays): they talk, nobody votes. Regular meeting (second and fourth Tuesdays): votes happen. Consent calendar: a stack of routine items passed in one vote. Note the one that touches the Westside, skip the rest. First reading / second reading: an ordinance gets two votes on two different days. Say which one you saw. Hearing: a zoning or land-use item where people get sworn in and the council acts like a judge. The comment rules are different; the agenda says so. Citizen discussion: the open mic at the start, not tied to any item. What it looks like in the paper > Sep 22, 2026 · Old Colorado City's downtown development authority (DDA) shut down. Council voted 5 to 4 to dissolve it (yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams). The DDA says it may sue because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. The city's own page: the meeting record. In the news: the Gazette. Seen by [your name]. Three things Write what happened, not what you think of it. (Your opinion is welcome too, as a letter.) If it's your block, your business or your club, say so at the top. It still runs. Send it within the week: the box on the front page, hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or the paper to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122. You'll see it before it runs. Borrowed from City Bureau in Chicago, which pays people to do this. We can't yet. We say so. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The code <https://westsidewherewithal.com/ethics> The code Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The code How we do things, and what we won't do. The bones come from the Society of Professional Journalists; the words are ours. This page is the rulebook; the rest of the paper is written from the heart and doesn't repeat it. The desks. Some pages carry a desk name (The Porch, The Record, The Box) instead of a person's. Those are drafted by the paper's software from the record we hold, edited by hand, and say so at the top. No made-up people, quotes or facts; every claim links to where it came from or says we are still looking. When a neighbor takes a desk, their name replaces the line. Meeting notes from neighbors. Before a quote runs we read it back to the person who said it. Before a vote count runs we check it against the recording or the minutes. The writer sees their lines before they run; their name goes on them and nothing else of theirs. Photos of the room are fine; photos of people who didn't speak publicly are not. A wrong line gets corrected at the top of the next issue. Your email address goes to the email service and nowhere else. Pantry and supper hours get a phone call before they run. The jar: once a year we say how many chipped in, never how much; it's run by Jeff's one-person company and nobody draws a salary. Seek truth and report it Every claim carries its receipt: the document, the date, the name. If we can't attach it, we say "to link" until we can. We check before we publish, not after. We prefer the original source over the story about it. We don't make things up and we don't take other people's work without saying so. Minimize harm The people in this paper are our neighbors, and we'll see them at the market. We weigh what the public needs to know against what it costs a person to be in print. Kids, people in grief, and people who've never talked to a paper before get extra care. We ask before we quote you, and we say who we are when we call. A writer under 18 needs the permission form signed before a byline. Act independently Nobody buys a word of this. There are no sponsors, no ads, no price list. The jar is pay what you want, and a shop that chips in gets exactly what a neighbor who chips in gets. When the editor has a tie to something we cover (his office, his club, his friends), it says so in the sentence. If it can't be said cleanly, we don't cover it. Same for anyone who writes here: a tie to the story goes in the sentence. Be accountable and transparent We say who wrote what. A person writes every piece; software can fix spelling or type up an interview, and it does not get a byline. The one place software drafted lines is the Cobweb index, and that page says so. When we're wrong, we fix it, label it, and run the correction at the top of the next issue, not at the bottom of a page nobody reads. Tell us at hello@westsidewherewithal.com, call or text 719-201-5462, reply to the Thursday email, use the box on the front page, or write to the address in the footer. A person reads it. Our own rules, on top By us, for us. We can write about what isn't here. It's for the people who are. Clean. No profanity in the paper, even when the editor would. Less division, more discussion. We argue with ideas, not neighbors. Nothing to buy. A neighbor is a neighbor, renting or owning, behind the counter or in front of it. Chip in as one, write as one, with the tie said in the sentence. This rule is for the outfit from somewhere else that wants to buy a word in here: a chain's ad budget, a developer's PR shop, a media company in Denver. There is nothing to buy. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- >>>>>> d66d727 (deep links on every city and vote row (#lane-test, #dda, #project-taurus, #drop-boxes), a today marker on the weekly strip and the Table's day headings; from the outside audit, the parts that fit the rules) Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive >>>>>> d66d727 (deep links on every city and vote row (#lane-test, #dda, #project-taurus, #drop-boxes), a today marker on the weekly strip and the Table's day headings; from the outside audit, the parts that fit the rules) Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive >>>>>> d66d727 (deep links on every city and vote row (#lane-test, #dda, #project-taurus, #drop-boxes), a today marker on the weekly strip and the Table's day headings; from the outside audit, the parts that fit the rules) The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- >>>>>> d66d727 (deep links on every city and vote row (#lane-test, #dda, #project-taurus, #drop-boxes), a today marker on the weekly strip and the Table's day headings; from the outside audit, the parts that fit the rules) Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive >>>>>> d66d727 (deep links on every city and vote row (#lane-test, #dda, #project-taurus, #drop-boxes), a today marker on the weekly strip and the Table's day headings; from the outside audit, the parts that fit the rules) The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- >>>>>> d66d727 (deep links on every city and vote row (#lane-test, #dda, #project-taurus, #drop-boxes), a today marker on the weekly strip and the Table's day headings; from the outside audit, the parts that fit the rules) Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive >>>>>> d66d727 (deep links on every city and vote row (#lane-test, #dda, #project-taurus, #drop-boxes), a today marker on the weekly strip and the Table's day headings; from the outside audit, the parts that fit the rules) The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- >>>>>> d66d727 (deep links on every city and vote row (#lane-test, #dda, #project-taurus, #drop-boxes), a today marker on the weekly strip and the Table's day headings; from the outside audit, the parts that fit the rules) Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive >>>>>> d66d727 (deep links on every city and vote row (#lane-test, #dda, #project-taurus, #drop-boxes), a today marker on the weekly strip and the Table's day headings; from the outside audit, the parts that fit the rules) The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The Westside Wherewithal <https://westsidewherewithal.com/> The Westside Wherewithal Skip to the paper We start for real in January. Sign up and the first one lands on a Thursday morning. Thursday mornings · FreeFrom your neighbors ## The Westside WherewithalBecause living west of takes a little wherewithal. Colorado Springs, Colorado A free paper for the Westside of Colorado Springs, written by the people who live here. Thursday mornings, starting January. ## Get it Thursday morning One email a week, free. Put your address in and we'll see you Thursday. Sign me up ## What the city is deciding ## About your street, before it's done You can still weigh in Open nowColorado Avenue lane test. Four lanes to three from Limit Street to 30th Street (the city's page; the Gazette says 31st), for up to a year from June 2026, paid for with $375K from the regional road tax (PPRTA, the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority). The city survey is open.The city's own page: City project page · The surveyIn the news: Gazette, lane test Oct 26, 2026The city's 2027 budget. Public hearing Monday Oct 26, 5:30 p.m., Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada. Anyone can speak. The council talks it over at work sessions first (Oct 15 is one). What's in it for the Westside, we're reading now.The city's own page: the council calendar (Legistar) Coming up Oct 21, 2026The community center's neighbor group (the Westside Community Center Alliance) meets Wednesday Oct 21, 4 p.m. It helps steer what the center at 1628 W Bijou becomes. Whether anyone can sit in, we're asking.The city's own page: city page, community centerStill looking for: the Alliance's own notice and the Parks Advisory Board's May minutesIn the news: Gazette, the Alliance Apr 2027Roundabout at 31st and Fontanero, by Howbert Elementary, replacing the four-way stop. The open house was Sept 15. Construction April to fall 2027. Parents asked about the school crossing; the city says it will work with the school. The crossing drawing and the open-house boards are the documents we're after.In the news: KKTV, the roundabout Apr 13, 2027Project Taurus. A 50-megawatt data center proposed at the old Intel plant, next to the homes in Chelsea Glen. The Planning Commission approved it 6 to 2 in July with a power cap and noise monitoring. Council put the appeal off 7 to 2 to April 13, a week after the city election, and wants a noise study and a study of what big power users pay first. The developer told Colorado Politics on Sept 18 it is weighing whether this is the right partnership.Still looking for: the noise studyIn the news: CPR, hearing date · Colorado Politics, the postponement · KKTV, the appeal Already decided Sep 22, 2026Old Colorado City's downtown development authority (DDA) shut down. The tax district voters created in 2024 never got its funding. Council voted 5 to 4 on Sept 22 to dissolve it, ordinance 26-48 (yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams; no: Donelson, Gold, Henjum, Leinweber), after the same 5 to 4 on first reading Aug 25. KKTV reported Oct 2 that the DDA is weighing legal action because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. Who picks up the avenue's end of things is an open question.The city's own page: meeting record (Open Publica)Still looking for: the ordinance text itself, and the Aug 25 minutesIn the news: Gazette, the first vote · KKTV, the lawsuit threat Coming up Every weekThe land. Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, the Garden, Bear Creek, the creek itself: fire restrictions, trail closures, anything the parks board decides. Nothing new on the city's pages this week; we look every Monday, and a canyon volunteer is looking with us.The city's own page: city parks, trails and open space Already decided Since Apr 2023Greater Westside Community Plan. Nine neighborhoods, one plan: Gold Hill, Ivywild, Mesa, Mesa Springs, Midland, Old Colorado City, Skyway, Stratton Meadows, Westside. The city's page lists six meetings, the last in April 2023, plus a 2022 survey and a 'Big Ideas' summary. What came next is the question we're taking to Planning, and to the neighbors who sat in those rooms.The city's own page: city page, the plan Checked October 11. Each one links to the city's own page where we found it. Where it says "still looking," we haven't found it yet (city websites, you know how it goes). If you've got it, send it over. Want to be the person in the room? Go to one meeting, write down what happened on this one-page sheet, and your name goes on it. A City Council Tuesday is the easy first one; you can watch it live or later from the couch. ## Vote ## Ballots are in the mail. Here's the Westside part. By Oct 26Register, or check that you're registered, at GoVoteColorado.gov. Moved since last time? Update it there too. After Oct 26 you can still register and vote in person, through Election Day.The city's own page: GoVoteColorado.gov Till Nov 3, 7 p.m.Drop boxes west of I-25, open day and night: Red Rock Canyon shopping center, 3141 W Colorado Ave; Bear Creek Regional Park, 2002 Creek Crossing St; the clerk's office, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd; Manitou City Hall, 606 Manitou Ave. Mailing it? The county says by Oct 27. It has to arrive by 7 p.m. on Election Day; a postmark doesn't count.The city's own page: the county's list of boxes · El Paso County elections On the ballotThe local ones: County 1A keeps the public-safety sales tax going through 2037. D11 4A is a $775 million school bond (Coronado is on the list). Then fourteen statewide questions; the state's Blue Book explains each one in plain words, for and against.The city's own page: the county's local questions · the Blue Book Apr 6, 2027The city election: mayor and three council seats. Same registration, same website. We'll print the candidates and where they stand on the Westside.The city's own page: city election page We don't tell you how to vote. We'd love for you to. If the Blue Book is a brick, if you can't get to a box, if you're not sure you're registered, call or text 719-201-5462 and a neighbor helps. The county pays election judges and trains them; sign up here if you've got a day. ## The next two weeks ## Oct 11 to Nov 8, checked against the calendars The market's last Saturday, Pumpkins in the Park, free bingo at the community center, the cemetery tour, the coffin races, and the same seven things every week. Every weekMon Boom Box Bingo, 7 to 11 p.m. (Mother Muff's)Tue Math tutoring, 4 to 5:30 p.m. (OCC Library)Wed Toddler Time, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Wed Open mic, 6 to 9 p.m. (Jives Coffee Lounge, 16 Colbrunn Ct)Thu Trivia, 7 to 9 p.m. (OCC Brewing)Fri Storytime, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Sat Paws to Read, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Sun Brunch Jam Band, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Mother Muff's) Sun Oct 11 all month Scarecrow Days: the storefront scarecrows, with a public vote, through Oct 31 the avenue Mon Oct 12 all day Westside CARES closed for Indigenous Peoples' Day 2808 W Colorado Tue Oct 13 9 a.m. City Council regular meeting (agenda on Legistar) 107 N Nevada 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Small Steps, Giant Leaps, Space Foundation program for ages 2 to 6 Westside Community Center Wed Oct 14 9 a.m. City Planning Commission 2880 International Cir. 5:30 to 7 p.m. Evening pickleball: donate a bag of candy to play, paddles limited Westside Community Center Thu Oct 15 7:30 a.m. Coffee with the principal Coronado High, Future Center 2 to 4 p.m. Classic board games free OCC Library 5 p.m. Mushroom Zombie Haunted House opens, through Oct 31 Mush Love Tee, the shirt shop, 2627 W Colorado Fri Oct 16 all day No school at Coronado: parent-teacher conferences, 9 to 3 in the gym Coronado High 5 to 6 p.m. Bingo at the Biscuit The Biscuit Factory Cat Lounge, 12 S 25th Sat Oct 17 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Farmers market, last Saturday of the season, 80-some vendors Bancroft Park 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Craft and art market, final Saturday History Center, 1 S 24th Sun Oct 18 evening Legends and Lore of Fairview Cemetery, a two-hour guided tour; tickets online, kids 12 and under free Fairview Cemetery, 1000 S 26th Mon Oct 19 all week Fall break at Coronado, Oct 19 to 22, no school Coronado High Wed Oct 21 4 p.m. Westside Community Center Alliance meeting Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou 5:30 to 7 p.m. Howdy Neighbor prize bingo, doors at 5, all ages, no sign-up free Westside Community Center Thu Oct 22 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Book group free OCC Library Sat Oct 24 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Emma Crawford Coffin Races, the 32nd; Manitou Avenue closes at 9 Manitou Springs noon to 6 p.m. Pumpkins in the Park: pumpkin patch, painting, face painters, costume and carving contests, the ZOOmobile, live music, a beer garden free the avenue Sun Oct 25 1 to 4 p.m. Trunk or Treat in the parking lot, and Animals of Halloween inside, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. free Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th Mon Oct 26 10 to 10:45 a.m. Bighorn sheep, an indoor program with a touch table; Mondays through Nov 30 free Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Owls of the Garden: take an owl pellet apart; $5, sign up first Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 5:30 p.m. City budget public hearing, the 2027 budget; anyone can speak Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada Tue Oct 27 all day Stroll-a-Story: a storybook walk, page by page, around the library OCC Library, 2418 W Pikes Peak Thu Oct 29 7:30 to 8:45 p.m. Haunted Manitou ghost tour, $25; also Oct 30 and 31 Memorial Park, Manitou Springs Fri Oct 30 5:30 p.m. Ghost Stories of Old Manitou, a walking tour from the museum Manitou Springs Heritage Museum Sat Oct 31 1 to 2 p.m. Why wolves in Colorado, a talk Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 2 to 4:30 p.m. Trick or Treat Street: costumed kids 1 to 6, shop to shop; look for the orange and yellow balloons the avenue, 23rd to 28th 6 p.m. Manitou Phantasmagoria Shoshone Spring courtyard, Manitou Springs evening Mushroom Zombie Haunted House, last night Mush Love Tee, the shirt shop, 2627 W Colorado Tue Nov 3 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Election Day. Ballots due by 7 p.m. at a drop box; register and vote in person at the clerk's office, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd, or Manitou City Hall El Paso County Fri Nov 6 5 to 8 p.m. First Friday ArtWalk: galleries, studios and shops open late along the avenue free the avenue, 17th to 31st Sun Nov 8 11 a.m. Altitude Makers market and farmers market free Soda Springs Park, Manitou Springs Every line above came off a calendar we can link, checked October 11. The strip up top happens every week; the list is the one-time stuff. The avenue is West Colorado Avenue; OCC is Old Colorado City; D11 is the school district. If we got a time wrong, tell us and we'll fix it in the next issue. Red Rock Canyon, the churches and the school sports pages had nothing dated for these two weeks; if you know of something, send it. Where that came from: Old Colorado City events calendar · Old Colorado City Library · Westside Community Center · History Center events · Garden of the Gods calendar ## The Bulletin Board ## Suppers, pantries, services, weddings, and the ones we lost If you need something this week, start here. Free, in your words, from you or your church or your family. Food, rent and utility help: Westside CARES, 2808 W Colorado Ave, 719-389-0759. Open Monday to Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.. They prefer you walk in. Closed when the schools close for weather. Serves everyone west of I-25. Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou St, 719-385-7920. Open Monday and Friday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Tuesday to Thursday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.. A corkboard, not a story. Church suppers, pantry hours, services, weddings, and the ones we lost: free, in your words, from you or your church or your family. We call to check the hours before they run. Send it by Tuesday to hello@westsidewherewithal.com, by text to 719-201-5462, on paper to the office at Suite 122, or in the box on the front page. Where that came from: Westside CARES hours · Community center hours (city page) ## The Listening Room ## Once a month. You pick where and when. Coffee with the editor, no agenda, no sign-up. The hour and the place are a vote; the winner runs in issue 1. The Listening Room isn't an office. It's one hour a month wherever we sit down, and I'd rather you picked it than me. Vote below, or write in your own. I live over here, about twenty years now, and the office on the avenue is the paper's address; it says one thing: I'm here. I'm with you. Where and when Saturday morning, the bench by the bandshell in Bancroft Park Tuesday evening, a coffee counter on the avenue Sunday afternoon, the library (once they say yes) A weeknight on Zoom, for people who work days Cast it ## The Address Book ## What was in this storefront in 1968? One storefront, one photo, what was inside. One building per issue: a photo, the address, and whoever remembers fills in the rest. The first photo is coming; if you have one, send it in below. ## Write something ## Send it in The shop that closed, the thing the city's about to do on your street, the neighbor everybody should know. Photos and drawings count, with your name on them. Send it however you like: the box below, hello@westsidewherewithal.com, a call or a text to 719-201-5462, or drop it at the office (Suite 122, 2320 W Colorado Ave). We write back. Rather talk than type? Call or text 719-201-5462 and tell me out loud; I'll write it down and you hear it read back before it runs. Under 18? Send it anyway; we'll check with you or a parent before it runs. Teachers, send the whole class. Photos come by email. En español: mándenos un texto al 719-201-5462 o escríbanos a hello@westsidewherewithal.com, en español: su cena, su misa, su aviso. No lo hablo de nacimiento; lo traducimos con un vecino y se lo leemos antes de publicar. Any other language: send it anyway, and we'll find a neighbor to translate. Got a counter, or a box on your fence? Say so and we'll bring a stack, free, and swap the stale ones. How we do things, if you're curious. Put me down for a stack, for my counter or my library box Send it in ## The jar It's free. If a Thursday was worth something to you, throw a few bucks in the jar; it pays for the email and the printing. A check to the office works too. Pay what you want Inside: What the city is deciding · The next two weeks · On the avenue · From the desks · The next 100 years · Frontier wherewithal · Around the avenue · What came before us ## On the avenue ## I never stepped inside Base Camp, 2611 W Colorado, closed October 4, and I never ate there. Tell me the place you'd go back to. Jeff Adkins Base Camp closed on October 4. I thought it looked cool, but the menu never appealed to me in the moment, and it's hard to take me away from the dozen places I adore already. Sad to say I never stepped inside. That's on me, and I'm not alone. Empty storefronts are not what we want here. What keeps a place open is anyone and everyone who can afford to spend local dollars in it, and I am going to try hard to keep mixing it up. If you're thinking about working and making a living here, I wish I could appeal to you directly: we need you. Old Colorado City (OCC from here on) is a tourist destination, for locals and for travelers. I know this. I gladly give up my street parking for events because I know we need them. If I want OCC Brewing to be here 365 days a year, I need them to sustain themselves. That means me not griping about the traffic or the parking over here. Not everyone can afford to eat out or shop on the avenue. I understand that; I don't feel obligated to, and neither should you. I'm fortunate that I can budget for a meal out, and I try to go during the week, when places are less busy and could frankly use the business. So I can't complain about Base Camp closing if I didn't eat there, and I can't blame not eating there on the parking. Tell me the place you'd go back to. What we know: Base Camp, 2611 W Colorado Ave, opened March 2025 and closed October 4; the owner cited costs and the economy. Mountain Shadows, the restaurant four blocks east, closed December 2024 and sold in January. Where that came from: Gazette, Oct 2, 2026 · Gazette, Jan 20, 2025 · OCC Brewing ## From the desks ## Ten desks, one neighborhood Celebrating, remembering, forecasting. Each desk is open; a neighbor's name goes on it the day they take it. The Wherewithal desks Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in · the 52 Thursdays of 2027, as a walk through the seasons The man who wrote down the Westside · 604 columns, the elk, the tunnels, and who keeps the record now Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper · the vote, the names, what's still unknown, and how to be in the room See that building? Look again · five storefronts and what they were, from the columns and the 1902 map Where the asphalt gives up · Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, Bear Creek; this fall, and the seed rule The elk who pulled a carriage · for kids: three things to find on the walk to school, and a dare Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad · la mesa en español: ayuda, el voto, cómo escribirnos Who's cooking on the Westside this week · six tables, as their own pages say it; we call before it prints Three picks before Halloween · the market's last Saturday, the coffin races, pumpkins in the park, and where to park The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead · every date headed for your street, and the door into each one Every desk is written from the record we hold and says so at the top. None of it is an interview yet; those are coming. How the desks work is on the ethics page. ## The next 100 years ## Four lanes to three, for a year Four lanes to three, Limit to 30th, for a year. The city survey is open. One driver's take below; if yours differs, next issue's yours. Jeff Adkins 1902 · Sanborn fire insurance map, sheet 2, Colorado Avenue · Library of Congress, public domain 2027 · lane drawing · city of Colorado Springs, Colorado Avenue demonstration, phase two What we know: four lanes to three from Limit to 30th by the city's page (the Gazette says 31st), since June 2026, for up to a year; the city calls it the Colorado Avenue Demonstration Project; $375K of county transportation tax (PPRTA) money. The Gazette counts about 30 parking spaces added, metered; the city's page says parking changes are expected to be minimal. We've asked the project team which it is. A second phase in 2027 makes some of it permanent and redoes three blocks of streetscape (Gazette); permanent reconstruction is penciled for 2027 or 2028 (Bike Colorado Springs). The city survey is open. One driver's take, mine (and my office is on the avenue, at 2320): it's great to see so much more attention being paid to pedestrians, and it doesn't slow me down at all. I haven't timed it; if you have, send the numbers. It may add parking, metered; the city and the Gazette disagree on how much (see the record), and nobody has said yet where someone who lives over a shop parks overnight. The city is taking comments until the concrete goes down. If you drive it, bike it, or cross it with a stroller, say so. If you hate it, this space is yours next issue, same length, your name on it. What do I want to still be here in 2126? Westsiders. Hyper local, no corporate nonsense, and room for whoever shows up to stay. Where that came from: Sanborn 1902 (LoC) · City project page · The city survey · Gazette, May 20, 2026 · Bike Colorado Springs ## Frontier wherewithal ## Load up for winter, survive the summer Not just another old west town. Two tame elk, tunnels under the avenue, four to six weeks a year you'd rather be in the water. Jeff Adkins If you're new here you might think this is just another old west town. If you're passing through, maybe we should let you believe it. Our summers are dry and shorter than most, but they stop and start and come back the most. I'd say we have about four to six weeks a year where you'd want to be holed up in the cabin or in the water, which can be tricky to find. We need to know how to load up for winter, survive the summer, and not die of dehydration. And like every place with lore, we have a guy who trained two tame elk, Thunder and Buttons, to pull a carriage, plus tunnels and brothels and churches, oh my. We love it here. What we know: Thunder and Buttons were elk; Prairie Dog O'Byrne drove them hitched to a carriage on this avenue in the late 1880s. The tunnels under the avenue are documented by the historical society, with the honest caveat that some of it may be something else. Colorado City voted itself dry in 1913. Where that came from: Westside Pioneer, 2006 · Cobweb Corners, 2005 · Gazette, July 2021, the tunnels · Thunder and Buttons II ## Around the avenue ## Getting to know them is the point I don't know everyone yet. Getting to know them is the point. Jeff Adkins What we know so far: Who's opening and who's moving: we've heard about three and have an address for none, so none are named yet. Send the name and the block. The Old Colorado City Historical Society runs a free museum at 1 South 24th, a block off the avenue. Tuesday through Saturday, 11 to 4 in summer and 11 to 2 in winter. Call before you drive. The free Tuesday concerts at the Bancroft Park bandshell ran June 2 through September 29 this year, 5:30, Dizzy Charlie's and the Pikes Peak Blues Community. Next summer's lineup runs here the week it's announced. First Friday art walk, 5 to 8, galleries and studios along the avenue. Next one is November 6. The Customs and Classics car show closes the avenue from 23rd to 27th one Sunday every August. If the one you went to was a different show this fall, tell us which. This is the stuff I get to see everyone else doing. I enjoy seeing them do it. It doesn't matter to me if I don't know anyone in the room, because getting to know them is the point of this life. And that's what I'm here to capture in this paper. I shouldn't pretend to know things I don't. Where that came from: OCC History Center · Tuesday concerts (Springs Magazine) · First Friday (OCC calendar) · The car show (Pioneer, 2018) ## What came before us ## I want it all Mel McFarland died in September; I indexed the 604 columns I found. Eight digs, from the capital that got away to the forgotten cemetery. Jeff Adkins Start here: Mel McFarland, who wrote the Westside's past in the Pioneer for fifteen years, died in September at 81. Most of what is below comes from his columns. I found 604 and indexed every one I found; the one-line summaries there are software drafts, not yet checked one by one. Who keeps the record now is a question this paper exists to answer. I want the best stories from Old Colorado City. I want to dig down and find the most awesome stuff we can publish: how people first lived here, how it went from zero to what it is today, funny things, shootouts, jail time for crimes that make us laugh and cry, mysteries and murders. I want it all. What did we used to do and stop? What was, but isn't? What could have been, but never was? The digs I can't do alone: your church, your family, your block. Send them. What we found first: The capital that got away. Colorado City was founded in August 1859 to outfit gold seekers, was the county seat by 1861, and held the territorial capital just long enough to lose it to Denver. One account says the town was deemed too rowdy. Zero to four thousand. Mel has the town past 2,000 by 1890; the 1892 fire-insurance map (the Sanborn) writes 2,000 on its own cover, and the 1902 sheet writes 4,000. The town voted itself dry in 1913, lost the saloon money, and voted to be annexed by Colorado Springs in April 1917. Four saloons to twenty-seven. By the Pioneer's 2009 count (a feature, not one of Mel's columns): four in 1884, twenty-three by 1888, twenty-seven in 1902 plus thirty-some gambling halls, on a main street that also had the churches. Laura Bell McDaniel. From the Pioneer's 2011 profile, not the index: queen of the tenderloin; her last house was the Tribley House in the 2600 block of West Cucharras. She married Tom McDaniel in April 1887 in Salida; a month later he shot a man five times while she watched, and was acquitted. She divorced him in 1893. Accused in November 1917 of stealing liquor and acquitted; the historian who wrote her up thinks it was a set-up. Died in a car crash in January 1918. The elk were O'Byrne's by Mel's column (bought in Aspen in 1888); a 2006 Pioneer piece has her riding beside him in the carriage. The Glass Works. Full production in 1889 with 200 men on the south edge of town, bottling Manitou water. The furnace top collapsed just after midnight on September 9, 1892. Wheeler promised to rebuild; the Silver Panic of 1893 and the lost customers finished it. One of Mel's columns says it closed in 1895, another says by 1900; one puts a fire in 1893 as well. The Midland shops. The Colorado Midland started here in 1886 and quit in 1918; the Midland Terminal ran the line to Divide until it was scrapped in 1949. Hundreds of men in the shops at the peak, under a hundred by 1925, about fifty by 1948; the office burned in 1953. The fourteen-stall roundhouse is the one that lived: Van Briggle pottery, then the shops you walk through now. The mills. The Colorado-Philadelphia came first, in 1894 by one of Mel's columns and about 1897 by another, near 31st and the 24. Golden Cycle took over the Telluride mill in 1906, rebuilt it with cyanide after a 1907 fire, and ran it until 1949; the smokestack is still there. The forgotten cemetery. Colorado City's Pioneer cemetery, on the mesa, used from about 1860 to 1917. Not every burial was moved; the stones came out in the 1940s and it became Pioneer Park in the 1950s. Graves were mapped with metal detectors in the 1970s, a project Mel joined, and a cast-iron coffin may still be there. Who is in it is still the question. Where that came from: Why the fuss? (Pioneer) · Laura Bell McDaniel (Pioneer, 2011) · Thunder and Buttons (Cobweb Corners, 2005) · The Glass Works, 200 men (Cobweb Corners, 2011) · The Glass Works fire (Cobweb Corners, 2011) · The Glass Works closed 1895 (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The Midland, 1886 to 1918 (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The Midland shops decline (Cobweb Corners, 2009) · The roundhouse (Cobweb Corners, 2007) · The mills (Cobweb Corners, 2013) · Golden Cycle closes, 1949 (Cobweb Corners, 2006) · The capital, the county seat (Cobweb Corners, 2009) · The forgotten cemetery (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The forgotten cemetery (Cobweb Corners, 2017) · Mel McFarland, 1945 to 2026 (Gazette) · Every Cobweb Corners column, indexed · Colorado City Iris, digitized (CHNC) If something here is wrong, reply to the email or send it in below. Corrections run at the top of the next issue. Behind the masthead: Sanborn fire insurance map of Colorado City, November 1902, sheet 1. Library of Congress, public domain. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad <https://westsidewherewithal.com/la-vecina> Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad La Vecina, la mesa en español. Traducción nuestra; buscamos a un vecino o vecina que la tome y firme aquí. Vecina, vecino: Le escribo con las hojas ya cambiando de color y las tardes más cortas. Aquí entre nosotros, quería contarle lo que sé. Si usted vive al oeste de la I-25, este periódico es para usted. Se llama The Westside Wherewithal, sale cada semana y es gratis. Lo escribimos entre vecinos: lo que abre, lo que cierra, lo que se vota, lo que llega al parque. Y queremos saber de usted. Cuéntenos lo que ve en su cuadra, en su iglesia, en su trabajo, y hágalo en español, como le salga. Si esta semana necesita una mano, vaya a Westside CARES, en 2808 W Colorado Ave. Abren de lunes a jueves, de 9:30 a.m. a 12:30 p.m., y no hace falta cita. Atienden a todos los que viven al oeste de la I-25. Llame al 719-389-0759. También tiene el Westside Community Center, en 1628 W Bijou St, teléfono 719-385-7920. Abre lunes y viernes, de 9 a.m. a 3 p.m., y de martes a jueves, de 9 a.m. a 7 p.m. Ahora el voto, en claro. Hasta el 26 de octubre puede registrarse, o revisar si ya está registrado, en GoVoteColorado.gov. Pasada esa fecha, todavía puede hacerlo en persona, hasta el día de la elección. Y para dejar su boleta, las urnas están abiertas hasta las 7 p.m. del 3 de noviembre en cuatro lugares: el centro comercial Red Rock Canyon, 3141 W Colorado Ave; Bear Creek Regional Park, 2002 Creek Crossing St; la oficina del secretario del condado, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd; y el ayuntamiento de Manitou, 606 Manitou Ave. Aquí no le decimos cómo votar. Solo le decimos dónde y cuándo. En diciembre el Christkindlmarket vuelve a Bancroft Park. Cuando tengamos los días, se los pasamos aquí. Si quiere escribirnos, mande un texto al 719-201-5462 o un correo a hello@westsidewherewithal.com, en español. El editor no habla español de cuna. Traduce con un vecino y lo vuelve a leer con él antes de que algo se imprima. También tenemos una hoja en español en westsidewherewithal.com/sheet-es. Y una cosa honesta: esta página es traducción nuestra. Buscamos a un vecino o vecina que hable español para que tome esta mesa y firme aquí con su nombre. Hasta la próxima semana, vecino. Un abrazo, La Vecina The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The print pack <https://westsidewherewithal.com/print> The print pack Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The print pack Everything to print this week, how many, and where it goes. Any copy shop; a home printer works for the one-sheets. What to print PrintFileHowCopies The one-sheetsheet.pdfLetter, one side (two sides if you want the puzzle back: sheet-back.pdf)20 Large printsheet-large.pdfLetter, two sides5 La hoja (Spanish)sheet-es.pdfLetter, one side10 The box editionzine-box.pdfLetter, landscape, two sheets, two-sided, flip on the short edge; nest sheet 2 inside sheet 1, fold once; no staples20 Every print says "good till Oct 25" or has no dates. A stale stack gets swapped; call and we bring more. Where it goes PlaceWhatHow many The gas station at 31stone-sheet5 The hardware storeone-sheet5 A diner on the avenueone-sheet, and ask about a tray5 The OCC History Center, 1 S 24thone-sheet5 Your own door, Suite 122one-sheet, box edition5 and 5 The grocery at 31stla hoja10 The senior table at the community center, 1628 W Bijoularge print5 The little free library at the old Carnegie building, 701 Manitou Avebox edition8 The Head Start box, 2330 Robinson Stbox edition7 The ask at a counter, two sentences: "It's a free weekly paper for the Westside, written by neighbors, nothing for you to pay and nothing to sell. Can it sit here, and can I refill it on Thursdays?" Say yes to any condition they add. What to watch Count what's left after a week. Note any call or text to 719-201-5462 and any word find or quiz score that comes in. That's the first real test; everything before it was rehearsal. The reader inbox was empty on October 11. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Plant this (when it exists) <https://westsidewherewithal.com/seeds> Plant this (when it exists) Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Plant this (when it exists) There are no seed strips yet. This is the plan, written down before the first one so nobody has to guess. Some copies of the zine will carry a small sealed strip of seed paper. Plant it in your own yard, a friend's yard with their yes, a community garden, or a school bed with the principal's okay. Not in a park, not in open space, not in Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, the Garden of the Gods or Bear Creek, not along the creek or a trail, and never after a fire. Those places get seeded by the people who manage them, with seed matched to the ground, and a stranger's strip does more harm than good there. What's in it: Colorado natives from a Colorado grower (Western Native Seed, in Coaldale): Lewis blue flax, Rocky Mountain penstemon, blanketflower, prairie coneflower. Nothing from the state's noxious weed list, which is where the cheap "wildflower mixes" go wrong. Plant in fall; the penstemon wants a winter in the ground. Plant it, take a picture when something comes up, send it in. The best ones run in the paper with your name on them. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Thank you <https://westsidewherewithal.com/thanks> Thank you Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Thank you That's the whole transaction. No tier, no badge, no extra issue. The paper keeps going, and your name goes on the once-a-year list of people who chipped in, alphabetical, no amounts, unless you'd rather it didn't. Reply to any issue to say so. See you Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The elk who pulled a carriage <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-box> The elk who pulled a carriage Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The elk who pulled a carriage The Box desk, for kids and whoever is with them. When a neighbor (or a kid) takes this desk, their name goes here. Okay. You're the boss today. Walk to school, but make it a hunt. Find three things. One: a little free library. It's a box on a post full of books, and you can take one. We know of 27 of them west of I-25. Two you can visit: the one at the old Carnegie library building, 701 Manitou Ave, and the one at the Head Start, 2330 Robinson St. Two: the red rocks at the end of the street. Stop and look. Three: one leaf. Pick the best one on the block. Keep it. It's a bookmark now. Okay. Now the elk. In 1888, a man named John O'Byrne got two tame elk from a judge in Aspen. He trained them to pull his tourist carriage down this very avenue. Their names were Thunder and Buttons. Yes, elk. Yes, a carriage. Eventually a movie company bought them and took them to Alaska to film advertisements. Thunder and Buttons were in commercials. (Also true.) (Bonus, also true: in 1880 a train crew calmed a cold, panicking circus elephant at Colorado Springs with a keg of beer. Aunt's honor.) Ask a grown-up. Point at any building on your walk and ask: "What was here before?" Then listen. Your move, boss. This fall: Halloween, Oct. 31, 2 to 4:30 p.m.: Trick or Treat Street on the avenue, 23rd to 28th. Costumed kids 1 to 6. Look for the orange and yellow balloons. Bring a little cousin. Mondays, 10 a.m.: the bighorn sheep program at the Garden of the Gods Visitor Center. December: the Christkindlmarket comes back to Bancroft Park, bigger than last year, with Santa at the cabin. Bonus level: the paper in the box has games. A word find whose leftover letters spell a message. A five-question quiz with the answers printed upside down. And a map to draw on: it's the 1902 map of Colorado City, when the town had 4,000 people. You can see it at westsidewherewithal.com/zine-box, page 6. The dare. Draw Thunder and Buttons pulling the carriage. Go big. Give the tourists faces. Then put it in the little free library box, or send it to hello@westsidewherewithal.com with your first name. We print the best ones. See you on the avenue. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-next-hundred> The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead The Next Hundred desk. Written from the city's own pages and the ballot; dates change, and we fix them when they do. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Right now, Colorado Avenue. Four lanes have been three from Limit to 30th since June, for up to a year. Watch the lanes. Your move: fill out the city survey after you've driven it, biked it, or crossed it with a stroller. The avenue went on a diet and nobody asked it. Oct 21 and Oct 26. The community center's neighbor group meets Wednesday the 21st at 4 p.m.; it helps steer what the center at 1628 W Bijou becomes. Monday the 26th, 5:30 p.m.: the 2027 budget's public hearing at 107 N Nevada. Anyone can speak; the council calendar lists the work sessions before it. Your move: pick one and go. The budget reads better with you. Nov 3. Ballots are due by 7 p.m. County 1A would keep the public-safety sales tax going through 2037. D11's 4A is a $775 million school bond, and Coronado is on the list. Your move: vote, and use a drop box if the mail feels slow. There's one at 3141 W Colorado Ave. Seven o'clock does not negotiate. December. The Christkindlmarket comes back to Bancroft Park, bigger. Bancroft is the pupil of the eye, so a bigger market could mean a fuller avenue and fewer spots out front. Your move: go, and walk. The car can stay home. April 6, 2027. The city election: mayor and three council seats. Your move: register or check your registration, and ask every candidate what they would do about the avenue. The avenue will hear about it. April 13. Council hears the appeal on Project Taurus, the 50-megawatt data center proposed at the old Intel plant next to the homes in Chelsea Glen. The Planning Commission approved it 6 to 2 in July with a power cap and noise monitoring; council wants a noise study first, and the hearing falls a week after you vote (Colorado Politics). The developer says it is weighing the partnership, so the date could still move. Your move: read the noise study when it exists, and show up. Read quietly. April to fall 2027. A roundabout replaces the four-way stop at 31st and Fontanero by Howbert Elementary, on the western gateway to the red rocks. Parents asked about the school crossing, and the city says it will work with the school. Your move: if you walk kids there, ask the school what they've been told. Four stops become one circle. Around June 2027. The lane test's year ends, give or take. Nothing we've found says what comes after. Your move: whatever you think of the test, say so before it ends. A year is long enough for an opinion. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The man who wrote down the Westside <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-porch-mcfarland> The man who wrote down the Westside Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The man who wrote down the Westside The Porch desk. Written from the record; the editor's conversations with his family and friends are coming. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. If you ever wondered whether there really were tunnels under Colorado Avenue, Mel McFarland is a big part of why you wondered. I'll tell you what I know. He died September 21, at 81. From 2004 to 2019 he wrote 604 "Cobweb Corners" columns about this neighborhood for the Westside Pioneer. He was born here in 1944, a fourth-generation native, taught art and drafting, and wrote books on the Colorado Midland Railway. In 1983 he bought a retired working caboose for his Rockrimmon backyard, and became "the Caboose Guy." Dave Martinek, who started Midland Days at Divide with him in 2009, told the Gazette: "He was the go-to person for anyone who wanted to know about railroad history in the state." His nephew Luc MacArthur called him "kind of a Renaissance man." His sister, Elaine Radney, said: "He had a lot of people who loved him." He wrote it down. Here is some of it. On February 3, 2005, he wrote down the story of John O'Byrne, who in 1888 got two tame elk, Thunder and Buttons, and trained them to pull a tourist carriage. Here is the column. On April 7, 2005, he wrote down the tunnels, the ones that let Colorado Avenue customers reach the Cucharras Street brothels unseen. He had "seen the remains of bits of both" sets of tunnels himself. On November 17, 2011, he wrote down the Glass Works disaster. Just after midnight on September 9, 1892, the furnace top collapsed and fiery glass poured out. Chunks of raw glass still show up now and then in neighborhood yards and rock walls, he wrote. On November 14, 2013, he wrote down the day a Teller County sheriff chained a Pullman sleeper car to the rails over $663.21 in unpaid taxes, and a U.S. marshal freed it two days later. Read it. Here's the thing. The Gazette says he left "file cabinets" of research and writing, and that his family hopes to sift through them, with no concrete plans yet. The next person who asks "was there really a glass plant over here?" gets a shrug. We can't fix that. What we have is an index of all 604 columns, by what each one reports, at westsidewherewithal.com/cobweb. The editor plans to call his sister, Dave Martinek, the Pioneer's editor Kenyon Jordan, and the History Center, and we'll tell you what they say. The question we're taking to them is who keeps the record now. We'd like to be part of the answer, and we'd like yours. Did a column of his stick with you? Tell us which one. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-record-dda> Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper The Record desk. Written from the city's own pages and the news; the Aug 25 minutes are still to be read. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. If you missed the council meeting last month, here is the entry. A downtown development authority, a DDA, is a small district set up by a vote. It is supposed to get its own pot of money to spend on one downtown. In 2024, Old Colorado City voters created one for the avenue. It never got its funding. It was created by a vote and ended by a vote, and the money never turned up in between. On Sept 22, City Council voted 5 to 4 to dissolve it. That's ordinance 26-48. The meeting record has the roll call. That's on paper. Yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams No: Donelson, Gold, Henjum, Leinweber The Gazette reported the first vote, on Aug 25, as the same 5 to 4. That's reported. On Oct 2, KKTV reported that the DDA is weighing legal action, because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. That's reported too. That is the whole ledger so far. Here is what we don't know: The Aug 25 minutes. We have the first vote from the news, not from the minutes. Until we've read them, the date and the count are reported, not checked. Whether a lawsuit is filed. KKTV says the DDA is considering one. We haven't found a filing. That isn't on paper. We'll say so when it is. What the DDA was going to buy. The records we have don't list its plan, so we won't guess. If you voted in 2024, or sat in those rooms, tell us what you were told. Who picks up the avenue's end of things now. Nobody has answered that in anything we've read. That isn't on paper either. We are taking the question to the next meeting. Some of those answers are in a room on a Tuesday morning. You can be in it. City Council meets the second and fourth Tuesdays at 9 a.m., 107 N Nevada, and you can watch from home. You don't have to say a word. Take the one-page sheet, write down what happens, and your name goes on it. The Oct 13 meeting is the next one. If you were at the Aug 25 meeting, or you have the minutes, send them over. Tell me what I got wrong. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Where the asphalt gives up <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-ridge> Where the asphalt gives up Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Where the asphalt gives up The Ridge desk. Written from the city's pages and the groups' own sites; a canyon volunteer reads it before it prints. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Rain or snow, and the trails hold it. Friends of Red Rock Canyon says wait a day or two, because they stay muddy and fragile for 24 to 48 hours. Follow 21st down to Bear Creek, then keep going west. Around 30th and 31st the asphalt gives up. The red sandstone takes over. Red Rock Canyon is the pocket to the south. The city bought it in 2003, after it had been slated for a resort with high-rise towers and a private golf course. The city's open space page lists it among the places TOPS, the sales tax voters passed for open space, made possible. It nearly went the other way. Parking. The 31st Street trailhead has more than the High Street lots. No e-bikes in the open space. This fall. The Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th, runs a free bighorn sheep program with a touch table, Mondays 10 to 10:45 a.m. through Nov 30. Owls of the Garden is Oct 26, 12:30 to 1:30. Tickets from $5, sign up first. Oct 31, 1 to 2 p.m., a talk on why wolves in Colorado. The Garden's calendar has details. What's being decided. The Park System Master Plan goes to City Council for readings Oct 12 and 27, after the parks board heard it Oct 8. White Acres Trail is becoming the Don Ellis Trail. The board approved it Aug 13; it waits on an agreement and an $850 city fee. Fire restrictions: the city's page shows none this week, and we are checking with the fire department. We'll tell you what we hear. The seed rule. Some copies of this paper will carry a strip of Colorado native seed: Lewis blue flax, Rocky Mountain penstemon, blanketflower, prairie coneflower, from Western Native Seed in Coaldale. Plant it in your yard, a friend's yard with their yes, or a community garden. Never in a park, open space, along the creek or a trail, and never after a fire. The people who manage those places seed with plants matched to the ground, and a stranger's strip can do more harm than good. Groups to join. Friends of Red Rock Canyon keeps up the benches and runs Talk and Walks, resuming soon (no date yet). The Trails and Open Space Coalition takes members and runs the One Bag Challenge cleanups. Friends of Garden of the Gods runs volunteer days. Our promise. Every Monday this desk reads the city's parks pages, and a canyon volunteer reads them with us. If nothing's new, we'll say so. Which trail was muddy this week? Tell me and I'll pass it along. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Who's cooking on the Westside this week <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-table> Who's cooking on the Westside this week Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Who's cooking on the Westside this week The Table desk. Hours are as the churches and pantries post them, checked October 11; we call before they go on the Bulletin Board. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Here's how it works. Somebody on this side of the interstate is feeding somebody nearly every day of the week, mostly out of church basements, and the people at the stoves are neighbors who are very good at it. We went looking for the tables. There are more than we figured. Everything below is what each place says on its own page as of October 11. We haven't called any of them yet, so please do before you go. Hours move, and a wrong one costs somebody a trip. Sunday The Sanctuary Church, 1930 W Colorado Ave, lists its Ragamuffin Cafe hot meal at 9 a.m. Call 719-634-7232. It's the only Sunday hot meal we found over here. If you know another, tell us. Monday Westside CARES, 2808 W Colorado Ave, posts a weekly hot meal from 11 to 12:30. Call 719-389-0759. Same day, Sacred Heart's pantry is posted noon to 2 at the Parish Center door, 2030 W Colorado Ave. No voucher. Call 719-633-8711. Tuesday Westside Global Methodist, 701 N 20th St, posts its pantry from 11 to 2. Call 719-633-9295. If you still call it Trinity UMC, that's the same corner with a new name, and the old building on W Pikes Peak is becoming a child care center. Wednesday The Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou St, hosts the CARES pantry from 1 to 3. Call 719-385-7920. Up the road in Manitou, the pantry at 110 Canon Ave was last reported at 1 to 2, with a hot meal starting 12:30. Call 719-685-9259. St. Andrew's closed as a church in 2025, but the pantry kept going in the parish hall. Hats off to the people who kept it going. Thursday Sacred Heart again, same hours, same door, no voucher. Call 719-633-8711. Know another table? That's six tables, and I'd bet my good parking spot there are more. Churches, clubs, a neighbor with a big pot and a folding table. If your church or group feeds people, text 719-201-5462 or write hello@westsidewherewithal.com with the day and the hour. We'll call, confirm it, and print it, free, in your words. That's what the Bulletin Board is for. It's where every table lives, every week, so nobody has to guess which church has soup on which night. See you at the table. Tell us what we got wrong. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Three picks before Halloween <https://westsidewherewithal.com/weekend-radar> Three picks before Halloween Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Three picks before Halloween The Weekend Radar desk. Every line checked against the organizer's own page. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Two weekends, three picks, and I've already parked for all of them. Read this, then go. Go to the farmers market. Saturday, October 17, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., Bancroft Park, 24th and Colorado. It's the last Saturday of the season, with 80-some vendors, and there is no next Saturday. Go early, because the best of anything goes first. Parking: don't circle the park hoping. Take a side street and walk the last bit. Saturday, October 24 is two things at once. Pick one. First, the coffin races. The Emma Crawford Coffin Races run 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Manitou Springs. Parking: Manitou Avenue closes at 9, so get there before the road shuts and the crowd fills in, and plan to walk in. Second, the pumpkins. Pumpkins in the Park is noon to 6 p.m. on the avenue, free, with a pumpkin patch, painting, costume and carving contests, the ZOOmobile, live music and a beer garden. Parking: the avenue's diagonal spots fill on a festival Saturday, so take a side street and walk in. Don't try to do both in one afternoon. Choose, then start the day with it. The things that are always there. If the festivals are not your speed, or you just need a Thursday: trivia at OCC Brewing every Thursday, 7 to 9 p.m. Storytime at the OCC Library every Friday, 10:30 a.m. Brunch Jam Band at Mother Muff's every Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Free bingo on the 21st, Trunk or Treat on the 25th, Trick or Treat Street on the 31st and First Friday ArtWalk on November 6 are all on the full list, with times. That list lives at westsidewherewithal.com, and it's also the one-sheet on the counters around the avenue. Got something happening that we missed? Send it to hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or text 719-201-5462. We'll check it against your own page and put it in. See you Saturday. I'll be the one who parked early. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in <https://westsidewherewithal.com/year-ahead> Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in The Year Ahead desk. Written from the editor's calendar; no interviews yet. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Picture the fridge calendar. Every Thursday of 2027 is penciled in, and you're coming along. One honest aside: it's plans, all of it. Nothing has been reported yet, and some weeks may not land. Winter first. Week one: The Reset Issue. Quiet workspaces, reading refuges, and I'd be surprised if the Carnegie library stays out. And then we eat through the cold. The quest for the best broth in OCC. A reader poll for the best breakfast burrito west of I-25. A 4:00 a.m. shift with a Westside baker. Then February: a cocktail lounge audit off Main Street, an Alternative Valentine, pints by the fireplace, and how the vintage and antiques shops survive winter. Spring opens up. Red Rock Canyon hikes, with lunches after. The carriage house makers working out of alleys. St. Patrick week. And then the thaw, when we find out which counters open their windows. The under-$15 lunch circuit. A patio audit covering shade, noise, pints and dogs. Seed swaps. Coffee roasters. A Territory Days survival guide. A First Friday gallery crawl. Spring tap releases. Summer gets loud. Hosting out-of-towners without crossing I-25. The Bancroft Park farmers market, booth by booth. Gelato. Where a line cook eats at midnight. Secret courtyards. Quiet Fourth of July viewpoints. Live music on the bricks, and I'm hoping the bandshell gets a paragraph. You pick the coldest drinks. Then the Pueblo chile arrives. Nightcaps and jukeboxes after 10, and I'd bet Mother Muff's comes up. Then a back-to-school pantry run, Uintah Gardens an obvious stop. Fall, the leg I'm saving. The annual pizza index: Slice 420 against Rustica against Leopold's, and we'll need lots of you to settle it. Golden aspens. Autumn ciders. A locals' guide for after the tourists leave. Ghost signs, spooky lore, wood-fired and cast iron cooking (Front Range BBQ, you're on my mind). Thanksgiving hosting. Best of the Westside nominations. Small Business Saturday. And then a Black Friday antidote at Section 16 and Bear Creek. December: a 100% Westside gift guide, a winter lights walk, the Best of the Westside winners, the solstice and quiet patios, and a last issue called Looking Ahead. Every week also carries a civic item and an oral history. A 40-year diner regular. A couple who met at Bancroft in 1988. A chile roaster of 25 seasons. A dishwasher who worked 300 shifts. A high school senior looking at the Westside's future. Tell me which month I got wrong, or which place I forgot. The pencil's by the fridge, and I'll see you the first Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? <https://westsidewherewithal.com/issues/2026-10-11-issue-0> Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? 2026-10-11 In this issue Can't we just inform each other? The leaves are changing Divide anything but our bread What it's all for We choose this Can't we just inform each other? Nobody's telling us what's happening around here unless you find some corporate website that tracks you and tries to make you pay just to find out what's going on outside your door. What a drag. Can't we just inform each other, and have fun building and being in community? The leaves are changing The leaves are changing and falling, and the streets are graced with people from all walks of life. The days are growing shorter, and fall will give way to snow in a few weeks. Before we know it Santa will be at the cabin in Bancroft Park and the Christkindlmarket will be back. Divide anything but our bread I want people to see and hear themselves in our work. I want the people in this community to remember that we're in this together and that what we print is made to remind us of that. We are not here to divide anything but our bread for others, to love our neighbors, and practice mercy and kindness. What it's all for I get nervous that people's fear clouds not only their judgment but their hearts. I can be a skeptic, and quite cynical at times. I wonder what it's all for and why I'm doing this. But in the end, if one person reads our words and connects with them even a little, and it gives them a spark or the belief that they are loved, I will have done my work. We choose this I hope people are excited to see what we're up to. I hope they want to be a part of it, and that by gathering and presenting our values, beliefs and customs together, we can cherish them and let new things in while the old fades. I want Thursday to remind us that we choose this. Jeff What we told you Can't we just inform each other? The leaves are changing Divide anything but our bread What it's all for We choose this The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The archive <https://westsidewherewithal.com/issues/index> The archive Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The archive Every issue, oldest at the bottom. Free to read. If you want to chip in, the jar is on the front page. Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? 2026-10-11 The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The Westside Wherewithal <https://westsidewherewithal.com/> The Westside Wherewithal Skip to the paper We start for real in January. Sign up and the first one lands on a Thursday morning. Thursday mornings · FreeFrom your neighbors ## The Westside WherewithalBecause living west of takes a little wherewithal. Colorado Springs, Colorado A free paper for the Westside of Colorado Springs, written by the people who live here. Thursday mornings, starting January. ## Get it Thursday morning One email a week, free. Put your address in and we'll see you Thursday. Sign me up ## What the city is deciding ## About your street, before it's done You can still weigh in Open nowColorado Avenue lane test. Four lanes to three from Limit Street to 30th Street (the city's page; the Gazette says 31st), for up to a year from June 2026, paid for with $375K from the regional road tax (PPRTA, the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority). The city survey is open.The city's own page: City project page · The surveyIn the news: Gazette, lane test # Oct 26, 2026The city's 2027 budget. Public hearing Monday Oct 26, 5:30 p.m., Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada. Anyone can speak. The council talks it over at work sessions first (Oct 15 is one). What's in it for the Westside, we're reading now.The city's own page: the council calendar (Legistar) # Coming up Oct 21, 2026The community center's neighbor group (the Westside Community Center Alliance) meets Wednesday Oct 21, 4 p.m. It helps steer what the center at 1628 W Bijou becomes. Whether anyone can sit in, we're asking.The city's own page: city page, community centerStill looking for: the Alliance's own notice and the Parks Advisory Board's May minutesIn the news: Gazette, the Alliance # Apr 2027Roundabout at 31st and Fontanero, by Howbert Elementary, replacing the four-way stop. The open house was Sept 15. Construction April to fall 2027. Parents asked about the school crossing; the city says it will work with the school. The crossing drawing and the open-house boards are the documents we're after.In the news: KKTV, the roundabout # Apr 13, 2027Project Taurus. A 50-megawatt data center proposed at the old Intel plant, next to the homes in Chelsea Glen. The Planning Commission approved it 6 to 2 in July with a power cap and noise monitoring. Council put the appeal off 7 to 2 to April 13, a week after the city election, and wants a noise study and a study of what big power users pay first. The developer told Colorado Politics on Sept 18 it is weighing whether this is the right partnership.Still looking for: the noise studyIn the news: CPR, hearing date · Colorado Politics, the postponement · KKTV, the appeal # Already decided Sep 22, 2026Old Colorado City's downtown development authority (DDA) shut down. The tax district voters created in 2024 never got its funding. Council voted 5 to 4 on Sept 22 to dissolve it, ordinance 26-48 (yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams; no: Donelson, Gold, Henjum, Leinweber), after the same 5 to 4 on first reading Aug 25. KKTV reported Oct 2 that the DDA is weighing legal action because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. Who picks up the avenue's end of things is an open question.The city's own page: meeting record (Open Publica)Still looking for: the ordinance text itself, and the Aug 25 minutesIn the news: Gazette, the first vote · KKTV, the lawsuit threat # Coming up Every weekThe land. Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, the Garden, Bear Creek, the creek itself: fire restrictions, trail closures, anything the parks board decides. Nothing new on the city's pages this week; we look every Monday, and a canyon volunteer is looking with us.The city's own page: city parks, trails and open space # Already decided Since Apr 2023Greater Westside Community Plan. Nine neighborhoods, one plan: Gold Hill, Ivywild, Mesa, Mesa Springs, Midland, Old Colorado City, Skyway, Stratton Meadows, Westside. The city's page lists six meetings, the last in April 2023, plus a 2022 survey and a 'Big Ideas' summary. What came next is the question we're taking to Planning, and to the neighbors who sat in those rooms.The city's own page: city page, the plan # Checked October 11. Each one links to the city's own page where we found it. Where it says "still looking," we haven't found it yet (city websites, you know how it goes). If you've got it, send it over. Want to be the person in the room? Go to one meeting, write down what happened on this one-page sheet, and your name goes on it. A City Council Tuesday is the easy first one; you can watch it live or later from the couch. ## Vote ## Ballots are in the mail. Here's the Westside part. By Oct 26Register, or check that you're registered, at GoVoteColorado.gov. Moved since last time? Update it there too. After Oct 26 you can still register and vote in person, through Election Day.The city's own page: GoVoteColorado.gov # Till Nov 3, 7 p.m.Drop boxes west of I-25, open day and night: Red Rock Canyon shopping center, 3141 W Colorado Ave; Bear Creek Regional Park, 2002 Creek Crossing St; the clerk's office, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd; Manitou City Hall, 606 Manitou Ave. Mailing it? The county says by Oct 27. It has to arrive by 7 p.m. on Election Day; a postmark doesn't count.The city's own page: the county's list of boxes · El Paso County elections # On the ballotThe local ones: County 1A keeps the public-safety sales tax going through 2037. D11 4A is a $775 million school bond (Coronado is on the list). Then fourteen statewide questions; the state's Blue Book explains each one in plain words, for and against.The city's own page: the county's local questions · the Blue Book # Apr 6, 2027The city election: mayor and three council seats. Same registration, same website. We'll print the candidates and where they stand on the Westside.The city's own page: city election page # We don't tell you how to vote. We'd love for you to. If the Blue Book is a brick, if you can't get to a box, if you're not sure you're registered, call or text 719-201-5462 and a neighbor helps. The county pays election judges and trains them; sign up here if you've got a day. ## The next two weeks ## Oct 11 to Nov 8, checked against the calendars The market's last Saturday, Pumpkins in the Park, free bingo at the community center, the cemetery tour, the coffin races, and the same seven things every week. Every weekMon Boom Box Bingo, 7 to 11 p.m. (Mother Muff's)Tue Math tutoring, 4 to 5:30 p.m. (OCC Library)Wed Toddler Time, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Wed Open mic, 6 to 9 p.m. (Jives Coffee Lounge, 16 Colbrunn Ct)Thu Trivia, 7 to 9 p.m. (OCC Brewing)Fri Storytime, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Sat Paws to Read, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Sun Brunch Jam Band, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Mother Muff's) Sun Oct 11 all month Scarecrow Days: the storefront scarecrows, with a public vote, through Oct 31 the avenue Mon Oct 12 all day Westside CARES closed for Indigenous Peoples' Day 2808 W Colorado Tue Oct 13 9 a.m. City Council regular meeting (agenda on Legistar) 107 N Nevada 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Small Steps, Giant Leaps, Space Foundation program for ages 2 to 6 Westside Community Center Wed Oct 14 9 a.m. City Planning Commission 2880 International Cir. 5:30 to 7 p.m. Evening pickleball: donate a bag of candy to play, paddles limited Westside Community Center Thu Oct 15 7:30 a.m. Coffee with the principal Coronado High, Future Center 2 to 4 p.m. Classic board games free OCC Library 5 p.m. Mushroom Zombie Haunted House opens, through Oct 31 Mush Love Tee, the shirt shop, 2627 W Colorado Fri Oct 16 all day No school at Coronado: parent-teacher conferences, 9 to 3 in the gym Coronado High 5 to 6 p.m. Bingo at the Biscuit The Biscuit Factory Cat Lounge, 12 S 25th Sat Oct 17 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Farmers market, last Saturday of the season, 80-some vendors Bancroft Park 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Craft and art market, final Saturday History Center, 1 S 24th Sun Oct 18 evening Legends and Lore of Fairview Cemetery, a two-hour guided tour; tickets online, kids 12 and under free Fairview Cemetery, 1000 S 26th Mon Oct 19 all week Fall break at Coronado, Oct 19 to 22, no school Coronado High Wed Oct 21 4 p.m. Westside Community Center Alliance meeting Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou 5:30 to 7 p.m. Howdy Neighbor prize bingo, doors at 5, all ages, no sign-up free Westside Community Center Thu Oct 22 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Book group free OCC Library Sat Oct 24 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Emma Crawford Coffin Races, the 32nd; Manitou Avenue closes at 9 Manitou Springs noon to 6 p.m. Pumpkins in the Park: pumpkin patch, painting, face painters, costume and carving contests, the ZOOmobile, live music, a beer garden free the avenue Sun Oct 25 1 to 4 p.m. Trunk or Treat in the parking lot, and Animals of Halloween inside, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. free Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th Mon Oct 26 10 to 10:45 a.m. Bighorn sheep, an indoor program with a touch table; Mondays through Nov 30 free Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Owls of the Garden: take an owl pellet apart; $5, sign up first Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 5:30 p.m. City budget public hearing, the 2027 budget; anyone can speak Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada Tue Oct 27 all day Stroll-a-Story: a storybook walk, page by page, around the library OCC Library, 2418 W Pikes Peak Thu Oct 29 7:30 to 8:45 p.m. Haunted Manitou ghost tour, $25; also Oct 30 and 31 Memorial Park, Manitou Springs Fri Oct 30 5:30 p.m. Ghost Stories of Old Manitou, a walking tour from the museum Manitou Springs Heritage Museum Sat Oct 31 1 to 2 p.m. Why wolves in Colorado, a talk Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 2 to 4:30 p.m. Trick or Treat Street: costumed kids 1 to 6, shop to shop; look for the orange and yellow balloons the avenue, 23rd to 28th 6 p.m. Manitou Phantasmagoria Shoshone Spring courtyard, Manitou Springs evening Mushroom Zombie Haunted House, last night Mush Love Tee, the shirt shop, 2627 W Colorado Tue Nov 3 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Election Day. Ballots due by 7 p.m. at a drop box; register and vote in person at the clerk's office, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd, or Manitou City Hall El Paso County Fri Nov 6 5 to 8 p.m. First Friday ArtWalk: galleries, studios and shops open late along the avenue free the avenue, 17th to 31st Sun Nov 8 11 a.m. Altitude Makers market and farmers market free Soda Springs Park, Manitou Springs Every line above came off a calendar we can link, checked October 11. The strip up top happens every week; the list is the one-time stuff. The avenue is West Colorado Avenue; OCC is Old Colorado City; D11 is the school district. If we got a time wrong, tell us and we'll fix it in the next issue. Red Rock Canyon, the churches and the school sports pages had nothing dated for these two weeks; if you know of something, send it. Where that came from: Old Colorado City events calendar · Old Colorado City Library · Westside Community Center · History Center events · Garden of the Gods calendar ## The Bulletin Board ## Suppers, pantries, services, weddings, and the ones we lost If you need something this week, start here. Free, in your words, from you or your church or your family. Food, rent and utility help: Westside CARES, 2808 W Colorado Ave, 719-389-0759. Open Monday to Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.. They prefer you walk in. Closed when the schools close for weather. Serves everyone west of I-25. Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou St, 719-385-7920. Open Monday and Friday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Tuesday to Thursday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.. A corkboard, not a story. Church suppers, pantry hours, services, weddings, and the ones we lost: free, in your words, from you or your church or your family. We call to check the hours before they run. Send it by Tuesday to hello@westsidewherewithal.com, by text to 719-201-5462, on paper to the office at Suite 122, or in the box on the front page. Where that came from: Westside CARES hours · Community center hours (city page) ## The Listening Room ## Once a month. You pick where and when. Coffee with the editor, no agenda, no sign-up. The hour and the place are a vote; the winner runs in issue 1. The Listening Room isn't an office. It's one hour a month wherever we sit down, and I'd rather you picked it than me. Vote below, or write in your own. I live over here, about twenty years now, and the office on the avenue is the paper's address; it says one thing: I'm here. I'm with you. Where and when Saturday morning, the bench by the bandshell in Bancroft Park Tuesday evening, a coffee counter on the avenue Sunday afternoon, the library (once they say yes) A weeknight on Zoom, for people who work days Cast it ## The Address Book ## What was in this storefront in 1968? One storefront, one photo, what was inside. One building per issue: a photo, the address, and whoever remembers fills in the rest. The first photo is coming; if you have one, send it in below. ## Write something ## Send it in The shop that closed, the thing the city's about to do on your street, the neighbor everybody should know. Photos and drawings count, with your name on them. Send it however you like: the box below, hello@westsidewherewithal.com, a call or a text to 719-201-5462, or drop it at the office (Suite 122, 2320 W Colorado Ave). We write back. Rather talk than type? Call or text 719-201-5462 and tell me out loud; I'll write it down and you hear it read back before it runs. Under 18? Send it anyway; we'll check with you or a parent before it runs. Teachers, send the whole class. Photos come by email. En español: mándenos un texto al 719-201-5462 o escríbanos a hello@westsidewherewithal.com, en español: su cena, su misa, su aviso. No lo hablo de nacimiento; lo traducimos con un vecino y se lo leemos antes de publicar. Any other language: send it anyway, and we'll find a neighbor to translate. Got a counter, or a box on your fence? Say so and we'll bring a stack, free, and swap the stale ones. How we do things, if you're curious. Put me down for a stack, for my counter or my library box Send it in ## The jar It's free. If a Thursday was worth something to you, throw a few bucks in the jar; it pays for the email and the printing. A check to the office works too. Pay what you want Inside: What the city is deciding · The next two weeks · On the avenue · From the desks · The next 100 years · Frontier wherewithal · Around the avenue · What came before us ## On the avenue ## I never stepped inside Base Camp, 2611 W Colorado, closed October 4, and I never ate there. Tell me the place you'd go back to. Jeff Adkins Base Camp closed on October 4. I thought it looked cool, but the menu never appealed to me in the moment, and it's hard to take me away from the dozen places I adore already. Sad to say I never stepped inside. That's on me, and I'm not alone. Empty storefronts are not what we want here. What keeps a place open is anyone and everyone who can afford to spend local dollars in it, and I am going to try hard to keep mixing it up. If you're thinking about working and making a living here, I wish I could appeal to you directly: we need you. Old Colorado City (OCC from here on) is a tourist destination, for locals and for travelers. I know this. I gladly give up my street parking for events because I know we need them. If I want OCC Brewing to be here 365 days a year, I need them to sustain themselves. That means me not griping about the traffic or the parking over here. Not everyone can afford to eat out or shop on the avenue. I understand that; I don't feel obligated to, and neither should you. I'm fortunate that I can budget for a meal out, and I try to go during the week, when places are less busy and could frankly use the business. So I can't complain about Base Camp closing if I didn't eat there, and I can't blame not eating there on the parking. Tell me the place you'd go back to. What we know: Base Camp, 2611 W Colorado Ave, opened March 2025 and closed October 4; the owner cited costs and the economy. Mountain Shadows, the restaurant four blocks east, closed December 2024 and sold in January. Where that came from: Gazette, Oct 2, 2026 · Gazette, Jan 20, 2025 · OCC Brewing ## From the desks ## Ten desks, one neighborhood Celebrating, remembering, forecasting. Each desk is open; a neighbor's name goes on it the day they take it. The Wherewithal desks Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in · the 52 Thursdays of 2027, as a walk through the seasons The man who wrote down the Westside · 604 columns, the elk, the tunnels, and who keeps the record now Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper · the vote, the names, what's still unknown, and how to be in the room See that building? Look again · five storefronts and what they were, from the columns and the 1902 map Where the asphalt gives up · Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, Bear Creek; this fall, and the seed rule The elk who pulled a carriage · for kids: three things to find on the walk to school, and a dare Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad · la mesa en español: ayuda, el voto, cómo escribirnos Who's cooking on the Westside this week · six tables, as their own pages say it; we call before it prints Three picks before Halloween · the market's last Saturday, the coffin races, pumpkins in the park, and where to park The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead · every date headed for your street, and the door into each one Every desk is written from the record we hold and says so at the top. None of it is an interview yet; those are coming. How the desks work is on the ethics page. ## The next 100 years ## Four lanes to three, for a year Four lanes to three, Limit to 30th, for a year. The city survey is open. One driver's take below; if yours differs, next issue's yours. Jeff Adkins 1902 · Sanborn fire insurance map, sheet 2, Colorado Avenue · Library of Congress, public domain 2027 · lane drawing · city of Colorado Springs, Colorado Avenue demonstration, phase two What we know: four lanes to three from Limit to 30th by the city's page (the Gazette says 31st), since June 2026, for up to a year; the city calls it the Colorado Avenue Demonstration Project; $375K of county transportation tax (PPRTA) money. The Gazette counts about 30 parking spaces added, metered; the city's page says parking changes are expected to be minimal. We've asked the project team which it is. A second phase in 2027 makes some of it permanent and redoes three blocks of streetscape (Gazette); permanent reconstruction is penciled for 2027 or 2028 (Bike Colorado Springs). The city survey is open. One driver's take, mine (and my office is on the avenue, at 2320): it's great to see so much more attention being paid to pedestrians, and it doesn't slow me down at all. I haven't timed it; if you have, send the numbers. It may add parking, metered; the city and the Gazette disagree on how much (see the record), and nobody has said yet where someone who lives over a shop parks overnight. The city is taking comments until the concrete goes down. If you drive it, bike it, or cross it with a stroller, say so. If you hate it, this space is yours next issue, same length, your name on it. What do I want to still be here in 2126? Westsiders. Hyper local, no corporate nonsense, and room for whoever shows up to stay. Where that came from: Sanborn 1902 (LoC) · City project page · The city survey · Gazette, May 20, 2026 · Bike Colorado Springs ## Frontier wherewithal ## Load up for winter, survive the summer Not just another old west town. Two tame elk, tunnels under the avenue, four to six weeks a year you'd rather be in the water. Jeff Adkins If you're new here you might think this is just another old west town. If you're passing through, maybe we should let you believe it. Our summers are dry and shorter than most, but they stop and start and come back the most. I'd say we have about four to six weeks a year where you'd want to be holed up in the cabin or in the water, which can be tricky to find. We need to know how to load up for winter, survive the summer, and not die of dehydration. And like every place with lore, we have a guy who trained two tame elk, Thunder and Buttons, to pull a carriage, plus tunnels and brothels and churches, oh my. We love it here. What we know: Thunder and Buttons were elk; Prairie Dog O'Byrne drove them hitched to a carriage on this avenue in the late 1880s. The tunnels under the avenue are documented by the historical society, with the honest caveat that some of it may be something else. Colorado City voted itself dry in 1913. Where that came from: Westside Pioneer, 2006 · Cobweb Corners, 2005 · Gazette, July 2021, the tunnels · Thunder and Buttons II ## Around the avenue ## Getting to know them is the point I don't know everyone yet. Getting to know them is the point. Jeff Adkins What we know so far: Who's opening and who's moving: we've heard about three and have an address for none, so none are named yet. Send the name and the block. The Old Colorado City Historical Society runs a free museum at 1 South 24th, a block off the avenue. Tuesday through Saturday, 11 to 4 in summer and 11 to 2 in winter. Call before you drive. The free Tuesday concerts at the Bancroft Park bandshell ran June 2 through September 29 this year, 5:30, Dizzy Charlie's and the Pikes Peak Blues Community. Next summer's lineup runs here the week it's announced. First Friday art walk, 5 to 8, galleries and studios along the avenue. Next one is November 6. The Customs and Classics car show closes the avenue from 23rd to 27th one Sunday every August. If the one you went to was a different show this fall, tell us which. This is the stuff I get to see everyone else doing. I enjoy seeing them do it. It doesn't matter to me if I don't know anyone in the room, because getting to know them is the point of this life. And that's what I'm here to capture in this paper. I shouldn't pretend to know things I don't. Where that came from: OCC History Center · Tuesday concerts (Springs Magazine) · First Friday (OCC calendar) · The car show (Pioneer, 2018) ## What came before us ## I want it all Mel McFarland died in September; I indexed the 604 columns I found. Eight digs, from the capital that got away to the forgotten cemetery. Jeff Adkins Start here: Mel McFarland, who wrote the Westside's past in the Pioneer for fifteen years, died in September at 81. Most of what is below comes from his columns. I found 604 and indexed every one I found; the one-line summaries there are software drafts, not yet checked one by one. Who keeps the record now is a question this paper exists to answer. I want the best stories from Old Colorado City. I want to dig down and find the most awesome stuff we can publish: how people first lived here, how it went from zero to what it is today, funny things, shootouts, jail time for crimes that make us laugh and cry, mysteries and murders. I want it all. What did we used to do and stop? What was, but isn't? What could have been, but never was? The digs I can't do alone: your church, your family, your block. Send them. What we found first: The capital that got away. Colorado City was founded in August 1859 to outfit gold seekers, was the county seat by 1861, and held the territorial capital just long enough to lose it to Denver. One account says the town was deemed too rowdy. Zero to four thousand. Mel has the town past 2,000 by 1890; the 1892 fire-insurance map (the Sanborn) writes 2,000 on its own cover, and the 1902 sheet writes 4,000. The town voted itself dry in 1913, lost the saloon money, and voted to be annexed by Colorado Springs in April 1917. Four saloons to twenty-seven. By the Pioneer's 2009 count (a feature, not one of Mel's columns): four in 1884, twenty-three by 1888, twenty-seven in 1902 plus thirty-some gambling halls, on a main street that also had the churches. Laura Bell McDaniel. From the Pioneer's 2011 profile, not the index: queen of the tenderloin; her last house was the Tribley House in the 2600 block of West Cucharras. She married Tom McDaniel in April 1887 in Salida; a month later he shot a man five times while she watched, and was acquitted. She divorced him in 1893. Accused in November 1917 of stealing liquor and acquitted; the historian who wrote her up thinks it was a set-up. Died in a car crash in January 1918. The elk were O'Byrne's by Mel's column (bought in Aspen in 1888); a 2006 Pioneer piece has her riding beside him in the carriage. The Glass Works. Full production in 1889 with 200 men on the south edge of town, bottling Manitou water. The furnace top collapsed just after midnight on September 9, 1892. Wheeler promised to rebuild; the Silver Panic of 1893 and the lost customers finished it. One of Mel's columns says it closed in 1895, another says by 1900; one puts a fire in 1893 as well. The Midland shops. The Colorado Midland started here in 1886 and quit in 1918; the Midland Terminal ran the line to Divide until it was scrapped in 1949. Hundreds of men in the shops at the peak, under a hundred by 1925, about fifty by 1948; the office burned in 1953. The fourteen-stall roundhouse is the one that lived: Van Briggle pottery, then the shops you walk through now. The mills. The Colorado-Philadelphia came first, in 1894 by one of Mel's columns and about 1897 by another, near 31st and the 24. Golden Cycle took over the Telluride mill in 1906, rebuilt it with cyanide after a 1907 fire, and ran it until 1949; the smokestack is still there. The forgotten cemetery. Colorado City's Pioneer cemetery, on the mesa, used from about 1860 to 1917. Not every burial was moved; the stones came out in the 1940s and it became Pioneer Park in the 1950s. Graves were mapped with metal detectors in the 1970s, a project Mel joined, and a cast-iron coffin may still be there. Who is in it is still the question. Where that came from: Why the fuss? (Pioneer) · Laura Bell McDaniel (Pioneer, 2011) · Thunder and Buttons (Cobweb Corners, 2005) · The Glass Works, 200 men (Cobweb Corners, 2011) · The Glass Works fire (Cobweb Corners, 2011) · The Glass Works closed 1895 (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The Midland, 1886 to 1918 (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The Midland shops decline (Cobweb Corners, 2009) · The roundhouse (Cobweb Corners, 2007) · The mills (Cobweb Corners, 2013) · Golden Cycle closes, 1949 (Cobweb Corners, 2006) · The capital, the county seat (Cobweb Corners, 2009) · The forgotten cemetery (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The forgotten cemetery (Cobweb Corners, 2017) · Mel McFarland, 1945 to 2026 (Gazette) · Every Cobweb Corners column, indexed · Colorado City Iris, digitized (CHNC) If something here is wrong, reply to the email or send it in below. Corrections run at the top of the next issue. Behind the masthead: Sanborn fire insurance map of Colorado City, November 1902, sheet 1. Library of Congress, public domain. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad <https://westsidewherewithal.com/la-vecina> Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad La Vecina, la mesa en español. Traducción nuestra; buscamos a un vecino o vecina que la tome y firme aquí. Vecina, vecino: Le escribo con las hojas ya cambiando de color y las tardes más cortas. Aquí entre nosotros, quería contarle lo que sé. Si usted vive al oeste de la I-25, este periódico es para usted. Se llama The Westside Wherewithal, sale cada semana y es gratis. Lo escribimos entre vecinos: lo que abre, lo que cierra, lo que se vota, lo que llega al parque. Y queremos saber de usted. Cuéntenos lo que ve en su cuadra, en su iglesia, en su trabajo, y hágalo en español, como le salga. Si esta semana necesita una mano, vaya a Westside CARES, en 2808 W Colorado Ave. Abren de lunes a jueves, de 9:30 a.m. a 12:30 p.m., y no hace falta cita. Atienden a todos los que viven al oeste de la I-25. Llame al 719-389-0759. También tiene el Westside Community Center, en 1628 W Bijou St, teléfono 719-385-7920. Abre lunes y viernes, de 9 a.m. a 3 p.m., y de martes a jueves, de 9 a.m. a 7 p.m. Ahora el voto, en claro. Hasta el 26 de octubre puede registrarse, o revisar si ya está registrado, en GoVoteColorado.gov. Pasada esa fecha, todavía puede hacerlo en persona, hasta el día de la elección. Y para dejar su boleta, las urnas están abiertas hasta las 7 p.m. del 3 de noviembre en cuatro lugares: el centro comercial Red Rock Canyon, 3141 W Colorado Ave; Bear Creek Regional Park, 2002 Creek Crossing St; la oficina del secretario del condado, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd; y el ayuntamiento de Manitou, 606 Manitou Ave. Aquí no le decimos cómo votar. Solo le decimos dónde y cuándo. En diciembre el Christkindlmarket vuelve a Bancroft Park. Cuando tengamos los días, se los pasamos aquí. Si quiere escribirnos, mande un texto al 719-201-5462 o un correo a hello@westsidewherewithal.com, en español. El editor no habla español de cuna. Traduce con un vecino y lo vuelve a leer con él antes de que algo se imprima. También tenemos una hoja en español en westsidewherewithal.com/sheet-es. Y una cosa honesta: esta página es traducción nuestra. Buscamos a un vecino o vecina que hable español para que tome esta mesa y firme aquí con su nombre. Hasta la próxima semana, vecino. Un abrazo, La Vecina The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The print pack <https://westsidewherewithal.com/print> The print pack Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The print pack Everything to print this week, how many, and where it goes. Any copy shop; a home printer works for the one-sheets. What to print PrintFileHowCopies The one-sheetsheet.pdfLetter, one side (two sides if you want the puzzle back: sheet-back.pdf)20 Large printsheet-large.pdfLetter, two sides5 La hoja (Spanish)sheet-es.pdfLetter, one side10 The box editionzine-box.pdfLetter, landscape, two sheets, two-sided, flip on the short edge; nest sheet 2 inside sheet 1, fold once; no staples20 Every print says "good till Oct 25" or has no dates. A stale stack gets swapped; call and we bring more. Where it goes PlaceWhatHow many The gas station at 31stone-sheet5 The hardware storeone-sheet5 A diner on the avenueone-sheet, and ask about a tray5 The OCC History Center, 1 S 24thone-sheet5 Your own door, Suite 122one-sheet, box edition5 and 5 The grocery at 31stla hoja10 The senior table at the community center, 1628 W Bijoularge print5 The little free library at the old Carnegie building, 701 Manitou Avebox edition8 The Head Start box, 2330 Robinson Stbox edition7 The ask at a counter, two sentences: "It's a free weekly paper for the Westside, written by neighbors, nothing for you to pay and nothing to sell. Can it sit here, and can I refill it on Thursdays?" Say yes to any condition they add. What to watch Count what's left after a week. Note any call or text to 719-201-5462 and any word find or quiz score that comes in. That's the first real test; everything before it was rehearsal. The reader inbox was empty on October 11. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Plant this (when it exists) <https://westsidewherewithal.com/seeds> Plant this (when it exists) Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Plant this (when it exists) There are no seed strips yet. This is the plan, written down before the first one so nobody has to guess. Some copies of the zine will carry a small sealed strip of seed paper. Plant it in your own yard, a friend's yard with their yes, a community garden, or a school bed with the principal's okay. Not in a park, not in open space, not in Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, the Garden of the Gods or Bear Creek, not along the creek or a trail, and never after a fire. Those places get seeded by the people who manage them, with seed matched to the ground, and a stranger's strip does more harm than good there. What's in it: Colorado natives from a Colorado grower (Western Native Seed, in Coaldale): Lewis blue flax, Rocky Mountain penstemon, blanketflower, prairie coneflower. Nothing from the state's noxious weed list, which is where the cheap "wildflower mixes" go wrong. Plant in fall; the penstemon wants a winter in the ground. Plant it, take a picture when something comes up, send it in. The best ones run in the paper with your name on them. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Thank you <https://westsidewherewithal.com/thanks> Thank you Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Thank you That's the whole transaction. No tier, no badge, no extra issue. The paper keeps going, and your name goes on the once-a-year list of people who chipped in, alphabetical, no amounts, unless you'd rather it didn't. Reply to any issue to say so. See you Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The elk who pulled a carriage <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-box> The elk who pulled a carriage Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The elk who pulled a carriage The Box desk, for kids and whoever is with them. When a neighbor (or a kid) takes this desk, their name goes here. Okay. You're the boss today. Walk to school, but make it a hunt. Find three things. One: a little free library. It's a box on a post full of books, and you can take one. We know of 27 of them west of I-25. Two you can visit: the one at the old Carnegie library building, 701 Manitou Ave, and the one at the Head Start, 2330 Robinson St. Two: the red rocks at the end of the street. Stop and look. Three: one leaf. Pick the best one on the block. Keep it. It's a bookmark now. Okay. Now the elk. In 1888, a man named John O'Byrne got two tame elk from a judge in Aspen. He trained them to pull his tourist carriage down this very avenue. Their names were Thunder and Buttons. Yes, elk. Yes, a carriage. Eventually a movie company bought them and took them to Alaska to film advertisements. Thunder and Buttons were in commercials. (Also true.) (Bonus, also true: in 1880 a train crew calmed a cold, panicking circus elephant at Colorado Springs with a keg of beer. Aunt's honor.) Ask a grown-up. Point at any building on your walk and ask: "What was here before?" Then listen. Your move, boss. This fall: Halloween, Oct. 31, 2 to 4:30 p.m.: Trick or Treat Street on the avenue, 23rd to 28th. Costumed kids 1 to 6. Look for the orange and yellow balloons. Bring a little cousin. Mondays, 10 a.m.: the bighorn sheep program at the Garden of the Gods Visitor Center. December: the Christkindlmarket comes back to Bancroft Park, bigger than last year, with Santa at the cabin. Bonus level: the paper in the box has games. A word find whose leftover letters spell a message. A five-question quiz with the answers printed upside down. And a map to draw on: it's the 1902 map of Colorado City, when the town had 4,000 people. You can see it at westsidewherewithal.com/zine-box, page 6. The dare. Draw Thunder and Buttons pulling the carriage. Go big. Give the tourists faces. Then put it in the little free library box, or send it to hello@westsidewherewithal.com with your first name. We print the best ones. See you on the avenue. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-next-hundred> The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead The Next Hundred desk. Written from the city's own pages and the ballot; dates change, and we fix them when they do. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Right now, Colorado Avenue. Four lanes have been three from Limit to 30th since June, for up to a year. Watch the lanes. Your move: fill out the city survey after you've driven it, biked it, or crossed it with a stroller. The avenue went on a diet and nobody asked it. Oct 21 and Oct 26. The community center's neighbor group meets Wednesday the 21st at 4 p.m.; it helps steer what the center at 1628 W Bijou becomes. Monday the 26th, 5:30 p.m.: the 2027 budget's public hearing at 107 N Nevada. Anyone can speak; the council calendar lists the work sessions before it. Your move: pick one and go. The budget reads better with you. Nov 3. Ballots are due by 7 p.m. County 1A would keep the public-safety sales tax going through 2037. D11's 4A is a $775 million school bond, and Coronado is on the list. Your move: vote, and use a drop box if the mail feels slow. There's one at 3141 W Colorado Ave. Seven o'clock does not negotiate. December. The Christkindlmarket comes back to Bancroft Park, bigger. Bancroft is the pupil of the eye, so a bigger market could mean a fuller avenue and fewer spots out front. Your move: go, and walk. The car can stay home. April 6, 2027. The city election: mayor and three council seats. Your move: register or check your registration, and ask every candidate what they would do about the avenue. The avenue will hear about it. April 13. Council hears the appeal on Project Taurus, the 50-megawatt data center proposed at the old Intel plant next to the homes in Chelsea Glen. The Planning Commission approved it 6 to 2 in July with a power cap and noise monitoring; council wants a noise study first, and the hearing falls a week after you vote (Colorado Politics). The developer says it is weighing the partnership, so the date could still move. Your move: read the noise study when it exists, and show up. Read quietly. April to fall 2027. A roundabout replaces the four-way stop at 31st and Fontanero by Howbert Elementary, on the western gateway to the red rocks. Parents asked about the school crossing, and the city says it will work with the school. Your move: if you walk kids there, ask the school what they've been told. Four stops become one circle. Around June 2027. The lane test's year ends, give or take. Nothing we've found says what comes after. Your move: whatever you think of the test, say so before it ends. A year is long enough for an opinion. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The man who wrote down the Westside <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-porch-mcfarland> The man who wrote down the Westside Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The man who wrote down the Westside The Porch desk. Written from the record; the editor's conversations with his family and friends are coming. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. If you ever wondered whether there really were tunnels under Colorado Avenue, Mel McFarland is a big part of why you wondered. I'll tell you what I know. He died September 21, at 81. From 2004 to 2019 he wrote 604 "Cobweb Corners" columns about this neighborhood for the Westside Pioneer. He was born here in 1944, a fourth-generation native, taught art and drafting, and wrote books on the Colorado Midland Railway. In 1983 he bought a retired working caboose for his Rockrimmon backyard, and became "the Caboose Guy." Dave Martinek, who started Midland Days at Divide with him in 2009, told the Gazette: "He was the go-to person for anyone who wanted to know about railroad history in the state." His nephew Luc MacArthur called him "kind of a Renaissance man." His sister, Elaine Radney, said: "He had a lot of people who loved him." He wrote it down. Here is some of it. On February 3, 2005, he wrote down the story of John O'Byrne, who in 1888 got two tame elk, Thunder and Buttons, and trained them to pull a tourist carriage. Here is the column. On April 7, 2005, he wrote down the tunnels, the ones that let Colorado Avenue customers reach the Cucharras Street brothels unseen. He had "seen the remains of bits of both" sets of tunnels himself. On November 17, 2011, he wrote down the Glass Works disaster. Just after midnight on September 9, 1892, the furnace top collapsed and fiery glass poured out. Chunks of raw glass still show up now and then in neighborhood yards and rock walls, he wrote. On November 14, 2013, he wrote down the day a Teller County sheriff chained a Pullman sleeper car to the rails over $663.21 in unpaid taxes, and a U.S. marshal freed it two days later. Read it. Here's the thing. The Gazette says he left "file cabinets" of research and writing, and that his family hopes to sift through them, with no concrete plans yet. The next person who asks "was there really a glass plant over here?" gets a shrug. We can't fix that. What we have is an index of all 604 columns, by what each one reports, at westsidewherewithal.com/cobweb. The editor plans to call his sister, Dave Martinek, the Pioneer's editor Kenyon Jordan, and the History Center, and we'll tell you what they say. The question we're taking to them is who keeps the record now. We'd like to be part of the answer, and we'd like yours. Did a column of his stick with you? Tell us which one. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-record-dda> Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper The Record desk. Written from the city's own pages and the news; the Aug 25 minutes are still to be read. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. If you missed the council meeting last month, here is the entry. A downtown development authority, a DDA, is a small district set up by a vote. It is supposed to get its own pot of money to spend on one downtown. In 2024, Old Colorado City voters created one for the avenue. It never got its funding. It was created by a vote and ended by a vote, and the money never turned up in between. On Sept 22, City Council voted 5 to 4 to dissolve it. That's ordinance 26-48. The meeting record has the roll call. That's on paper. Yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams No: Donelson, Gold, Henjum, Leinweber The Gazette reported the first vote, on Aug 25, as the same 5 to 4. That's reported. On Oct 2, KKTV reported that the DDA is weighing legal action, because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. That's reported too. That is the whole ledger so far. Here is what we don't know: The Aug 25 minutes. We have the first vote from the news, not from the minutes. Until we've read them, the date and the count are reported, not checked. Whether a lawsuit is filed. KKTV says the DDA is considering one. We haven't found a filing. That isn't on paper. We'll say so when it is. What the DDA was going to buy. The records we have don't list its plan, so we won't guess. If you voted in 2024, or sat in those rooms, tell us what you were told. Who picks up the avenue's end of things now. Nobody has answered that in anything we've read. That isn't on paper either. We are taking the question to the next meeting. Some of those answers are in a room on a Tuesday morning. You can be in it. City Council meets the second and fourth Tuesdays at 9 a.m., 107 N Nevada, and you can watch from home. You don't have to say a word. Take the one-page sheet, write down what happens, and your name goes on it. The Oct 13 meeting is the next one. If you were at the Aug 25 meeting, or you have the minutes, send them over. Tell me what I got wrong. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Where the asphalt gives up <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-ridge> Where the asphalt gives up Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Where the asphalt gives up The Ridge desk. Written from the city's pages and the groups' own sites; a canyon volunteer reads it before it prints. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Rain or snow, and the trails hold it. Friends of Red Rock Canyon says wait a day or two, because they stay muddy and fragile for 24 to 48 hours. Follow 21st down to Bear Creek, then keep going west. Around 30th and 31st the asphalt gives up. The red sandstone takes over. Red Rock Canyon is the pocket to the south. The city bought it in 2003, after it had been slated for a resort with high-rise towers and a private golf course. The city's open space page lists it among the places TOPS, the sales tax voters passed for open space, made possible. It nearly went the other way. Parking. The 31st Street trailhead has more than the High Street lots. No e-bikes in the open space. This fall. The Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th, runs a free bighorn sheep program with a touch table, Mondays 10 to 10:45 a.m. through Nov 30. Owls of the Garden is Oct 26, 12:30 to 1:30. Tickets from $5, sign up first. Oct 31, 1 to 2 p.m., a talk on why wolves in Colorado. The Garden's calendar has details. What's being decided. The Park System Master Plan goes to City Council for readings Oct 12 and 27, after the parks board heard it Oct 8. White Acres Trail is becoming the Don Ellis Trail. The board approved it Aug 13; it waits on an agreement and an $850 city fee. Fire restrictions: the city's page shows none this week, and we are checking with the fire department. We'll tell you what we hear. The seed rule. Some copies of this paper will carry a strip of Colorado native seed: Lewis blue flax, Rocky Mountain penstemon, blanketflower, prairie coneflower, from Western Native Seed in Coaldale. Plant it in your yard, a friend's yard with their yes, or a community garden. Never in a park, open space, along the creek or a trail, and never after a fire. The people who manage those places seed with plants matched to the ground, and a stranger's strip can do more harm than good. Groups to join. Friends of Red Rock Canyon keeps up the benches and runs Talk and Walks, resuming soon (no date yet). The Trails and Open Space Coalition takes members and runs the One Bag Challenge cleanups. Friends of Garden of the Gods runs volunteer days. Our promise. Every Monday this desk reads the city's parks pages, and a canyon volunteer reads them with us. If nothing's new, we'll say so. Which trail was muddy this week? Tell me and I'll pass it along. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Who's cooking on the Westside this week <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-table> Who's cooking on the Westside this week Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Who's cooking on the Westside this week The Table desk. Hours are as the churches and pantries post them, checked October 11; we call before they go on the Bulletin Board. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Here's how it works. Somebody on this side of the interstate is feeding somebody nearly every day of the week, mostly out of church basements, and the people at the stoves are neighbors who are very good at it. We went looking for the tables. There are more than we figured. Everything below is what each place says on its own page as of October 11. We haven't called any of them yet, so please do before you go. Hours move, and a wrong one costs somebody a trip. Sunday The Sanctuary Church, 1930 W Colorado Ave, lists its Ragamuffin Cafe hot meal at 9 a.m. Call 719-634-7232. It's the only Sunday hot meal we found over here. If you know another, tell us. Monday Westside CARES, 2808 W Colorado Ave, posts a weekly hot meal from 11 to 12:30. Call 719-389-0759. Same day, Sacred Heart's pantry is posted noon to 2 at the Parish Center door, 2030 W Colorado Ave. No voucher. Call 719-633-8711. Tuesday Westside Global Methodist, 701 N 20th St, posts its pantry from 11 to 2. Call 719-633-9295. If you still call it Trinity UMC, that's the same corner with a new name, and the old building on W Pikes Peak is becoming a child care center. Wednesday The Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou St, hosts the CARES pantry from 1 to 3. Call 719-385-7920. Up the road in Manitou, the pantry at 110 Canon Ave was last reported at 1 to 2, with a hot meal starting 12:30. Call 719-685-9259. St. Andrew's closed as a church in 2025, but the pantry kept going in the parish hall. Hats off to the people who kept it going. Thursday Sacred Heart again, same hours, same door, no voucher. Call 719-633-8711. Know another table? That's six tables, and I'd bet my good parking spot there are more. Churches, clubs, a neighbor with a big pot and a folding table. If your church or group feeds people, text 719-201-5462 or write hello@westsidewherewithal.com with the day and the hour. We'll call, confirm it, and print it, free, in your words. That's what the Bulletin Board is for. It's where every table lives, every week, so nobody has to guess which church has soup on which night. See you at the table. Tell us what we got wrong. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Three picks before Halloween <https://westsidewherewithal.com/weekend-radar> Three picks before Halloween Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Three picks before Halloween The Weekend Radar desk. Every line checked against the organizer's own page. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Two weekends, three picks, and I've already parked for all of them. Read this, then go. Go to the farmers market. Saturday, October 17, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., Bancroft Park, 24th and Colorado. It's the last Saturday of the season, with 80-some vendors, and there is no next Saturday. Go early, because the best of anything goes first. Parking: don't circle the park hoping. Take a side street and walk the last bit. Saturday, October 24 is two things at once. Pick one. First, the coffin races. The Emma Crawford Coffin Races run 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Manitou Springs. Parking: Manitou Avenue closes at 9, so get there before the road shuts and the crowd fills in, and plan to walk in. Second, the pumpkins. Pumpkins in the Park is noon to 6 p.m. on the avenue, free, with a pumpkin patch, painting, costume and carving contests, the ZOOmobile, live music and a beer garden. Parking: the avenue's diagonal spots fill on a festival Saturday, so take a side street and walk in. Don't try to do both in one afternoon. Choose, then start the day with it. The things that are always there. If the festivals are not your speed, or you just need a Thursday: trivia at OCC Brewing every Thursday, 7 to 9 p.m. Storytime at the OCC Library every Friday, 10:30 a.m. Brunch Jam Band at Mother Muff's every Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Free bingo on the 21st, Trunk or Treat on the 25th, Trick or Treat Street on the 31st and First Friday ArtWalk on November 6 are all on the full list, with times. That list lives at westsidewherewithal.com, and it's also the one-sheet on the counters around the avenue. Got something happening that we missed? Send it to hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or text 719-201-5462. We'll check it against your own page and put it in. See you Saturday. I'll be the one who parked early. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in <https://westsidewherewithal.com/year-ahead> Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in The Year Ahead desk. Written from the editor's calendar; no interviews yet. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Picture the fridge calendar. Every Thursday of 2027 is penciled in, and you're coming along. One honest aside: it's plans, all of it. Nothing has been reported yet, and some weeks may not land. Winter first. Week one: The Reset Issue. Quiet workspaces, reading refuges, and I'd be surprised if the Carnegie library stays out. And then we eat through the cold. The quest for the best broth in OCC. A reader poll for the best breakfast burrito west of I-25. A 4:00 a.m. shift with a Westside baker. Then February: a cocktail lounge audit off Main Street, an Alternative Valentine, pints by the fireplace, and how the vintage and antiques shops survive winter. Spring opens up. Red Rock Canyon hikes, with lunches after. The carriage house makers working out of alleys. St. Patrick week. And then the thaw, when we find out which counters open their windows. The under-$15 lunch circuit. A patio audit covering shade, noise, pints and dogs. Seed swaps. Coffee roasters. A Territory Days survival guide. A First Friday gallery crawl. Spring tap releases. Summer gets loud. Hosting out-of-towners without crossing I-25. The Bancroft Park farmers market, booth by booth. Gelato. Where a line cook eats at midnight. Secret courtyards. Quiet Fourth of July viewpoints. Live music on the bricks, and I'm hoping the bandshell gets a paragraph. You pick the coldest drinks. Then the Pueblo chile arrives. Nightcaps and jukeboxes after 10, and I'd bet Mother Muff's comes up. Then a back-to-school pantry run, Uintah Gardens an obvious stop. Fall, the leg I'm saving. The annual pizza index: Slice 420 against Rustica against Leopold's, and we'll need lots of you to settle it. Golden aspens. Autumn ciders. A locals' guide for after the tourists leave. Ghost signs, spooky lore, wood-fired and cast iron cooking (Front Range BBQ, you're on my mind). Thanksgiving hosting. Best of the Westside nominations. Small Business Saturday. And then a Black Friday antidote at Section 16 and Bear Creek. December: a 100% Westside gift guide, a winter lights walk, the Best of the Westside winners, the solstice and quiet patios, and a last issue called Looking Ahead. Every week also carries a civic item and an oral history. A 40-year diner regular. A couple who met at Bancroft in 1988. A chile roaster of 25 seasons. A dishwasher who worked 300 shifts. A high school senior looking at the Westside's future. Tell me which month I got wrong, or which place I forgot. The pencil's by the fridge, and I'll see you the first Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? <https://westsidewherewithal.com/issues/2026-10-11-issue-0> Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? 2026-10-11 In this issue Can't we just inform each other? The leaves are changing Divide anything but our bread What it's all for We choose this Can't we just inform each other? Nobody's telling us what's happening around here unless you find some corporate website that tracks you and tries to make you pay just to find out what's going on outside your door. What a drag. Can't we just inform each other, and have fun building and being in community? The leaves are changing The leaves are changing and falling, and the streets are graced with people from all walks of life. The days are growing shorter, and fall will give way to snow in a few weeks. Before we know it Santa will be at the cabin in Bancroft Park and the Christkindlmarket will be back. Divide anything but our bread I want people to see and hear themselves in our work. I want the people in this community to remember that we're in this together and that what we print is made to remind us of that. We are not here to divide anything but our bread for others, to love our neighbors, and practice mercy and kindness. What it's all for I get nervous that people's fear clouds not only their judgment but their hearts. I can be a skeptic, and quite cynical at times. I wonder what it's all for and why I'm doing this. But in the end, if one person reads our words and connects with them even a little, and it gives them a spark or the belief that they are loved, I will have done my work. We choose this I hope people are excited to see what we're up to. I hope they want to be a part of it, and that by gathering and presenting our values, beliefs and customs together, we can cherish them and let new things in while the old fades. I want Thursday to remind us that we choose this. Jeff What we told you Can't we just inform each other? The leaves are changing Divide anything but our bread What it's all for We choose this The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The archive <https://westsidewherewithal.com/issues/index> The archive Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The archive Every issue, oldest at the bottom. Free to read. If you want to chip in, the jar is on the front page. Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? 2026-10-11 The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The Westside Wherewithal <https://westsidewherewithal.com/> The Westside Wherewithal Skip to the paper We start for real in January. Sign up and the first one lands on a Thursday morning. Thursday mornings · FreeFrom your neighbors ## The Westside WherewithalBecause living west of takes a little wherewithal. Colorado Springs, Colorado A free paper for the Westside of Colorado Springs, written by the people who live here. Thursday mornings, starting January. ## Get it Thursday morning One email a week, free. Put your address in and we'll see you Thursday. Sign me up ## What the city is deciding ## About your street, before it's done You can still weigh in Open nowColorado Avenue lane test. Four lanes to three from Limit Street to 30th Street (the city's page; the Gazette says 31st), for up to a year from June 2026, paid for with $375K from the regional road tax (PPRTA, the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority). The city survey is open.The city's own page: City project page · The surveyIn the news: Gazette, lane test # Oct 26, 2026The city's 2027 budget. Public hearing Monday Oct 26, 5:30 p.m., Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada. Anyone can speak. The council talks it over at work sessions first (Oct 15 is one). What's in it for the Westside, we're reading now.The city's own page: the council calendar (Legistar) # Coming up Oct 21, 2026The community center's neighbor group (the Westside Community Center Alliance) meets Wednesday Oct 21, 4 p.m. It helps steer what the center at 1628 W Bijou becomes. Whether anyone can sit in, we're asking.The city's own page: city page, community centerStill looking for: the Alliance's own notice and the Parks Advisory Board's May minutesIn the news: Gazette, the Alliance # Apr 2027Roundabout at 31st and Fontanero, by Howbert Elementary, replacing the four-way stop. The open house was Sept 15. Construction April to fall 2027. Parents asked about the school crossing; the city says it will work with the school. The crossing drawing and the open-house boards are the documents we're after.In the news: KKTV, the roundabout # Apr 13, 2027Project Taurus. A 50-megawatt data center proposed at the old Intel plant, next to the homes in Chelsea Glen. The Planning Commission approved it 6 to 2 in July with a power cap and noise monitoring. Council put the appeal off 7 to 2 to April 13, a week after the city election, and wants a noise study and a study of what big power users pay first. The developer told Colorado Politics on Sept 18 it is weighing whether this is the right partnership.Still looking for: the noise studyIn the news: CPR, hearing date · Colorado Politics, the postponement · KKTV, the appeal # Already decided Sep 22, 2026Old Colorado City's downtown development authority (DDA) shut down. The tax district voters created in 2024 never got its funding. Council voted 5 to 4 on Sept 22 to dissolve it, ordinance 26-48 (yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams; no: Donelson, Gold, Henjum, Leinweber), after the same 5 to 4 on first reading Aug 25. KKTV reported Oct 2 that the DDA is weighing legal action because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. Who picks up the avenue's end of things is an open question.The city's own page: meeting record (Open Publica)Still looking for: the ordinance text itself, and the Aug 25 minutesIn the news: Gazette, the first vote · KKTV, the lawsuit threat # Coming up Every weekThe land. Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, the Garden, Bear Creek, the creek itself: fire restrictions, trail closures, anything the parks board decides. Nothing new on the city's pages this week; we look every Monday, and a canyon volunteer is looking with us.The city's own page: city parks, trails and open space # Already decided Since Apr 2023Greater Westside Community Plan. Nine neighborhoods, one plan: Gold Hill, Ivywild, Mesa, Mesa Springs, Midland, Old Colorado City, Skyway, Stratton Meadows, Westside. The city's page lists six meetings, the last in April 2023, plus a 2022 survey and a 'Big Ideas' summary. What came next is the question we're taking to Planning, and to the neighbors who sat in those rooms.The city's own page: city page, the plan # Checked October 11. Each one links to the city's own page where we found it. Where it says "still looking," we haven't found it yet (city websites, you know how it goes). If you've got it, send it over. Want to be the person in the room? Go to one meeting, write down what happened on this one-page sheet, and your name goes on it. A City Council Tuesday is the easy first one; you can watch it live or later from the couch. ## Vote ## Ballots are in the mail. Here's the Westside part. By Oct 26Register, or check that you're registered, at GoVoteColorado.gov. Moved since last time? Update it there too. After Oct 26 you can still register and vote in person, through Election Day.The city's own page: GoVoteColorado.gov # Till Nov 3, 7 p.m.Drop boxes west of I-25, open day and night: Red Rock Canyon shopping center, 3141 W Colorado Ave; Bear Creek Regional Park, 2002 Creek Crossing St; the clerk's office, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd; Manitou City Hall, 606 Manitou Ave. Mailing it? The county says by Oct 27. It has to arrive by 7 p.m. on Election Day; a postmark doesn't count.The city's own page: the county's list of boxes · El Paso County elections # On the ballotThe local ones: County 1A keeps the public-safety sales tax going through 2037. D11 4A is a $775 million school bond (Coronado is on the list). Then fourteen statewide questions; the state's Blue Book explains each one in plain words, for and against.The city's own page: the county's local questions · the Blue Book # Apr 6, 2027The city election: mayor and three council seats. Same registration, same website. We'll print the candidates and where they stand on the Westside.The city's own page: city election page # We don't tell you how to vote. We'd love for you to. If the Blue Book is a brick, if you can't get to a box, if you're not sure you're registered, call or text 719-201-5462 and a neighbor helps. The county pays election judges and trains them; sign up here if you've got a day. ## The next two weeks ## Oct 11 to Nov 8, checked against the calendars The market's last Saturday, Pumpkins in the Park, free bingo at the community center, the cemetery tour, the coffin races, and the same seven things every week. Every weekMon Boom Box Bingo, 7 to 11 p.m. (Mother Muff's)Tue Math tutoring, 4 to 5:30 p.m. (OCC Library)Wed Toddler Time, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Wed Open mic, 6 to 9 p.m. (Jives Coffee Lounge, 16 Colbrunn Ct)Thu Trivia, 7 to 9 p.m. (OCC Brewing)Fri Storytime, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Sat Paws to Read, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Sun Brunch Jam Band, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Mother Muff's) Sun Oct 11 all month Scarecrow Days: the storefront scarecrows, with a public vote, through Oct 31 the avenue Mon Oct 12 all day Westside CARES closed for Indigenous Peoples' Day 2808 W Colorado Tue Oct 13 9 a.m. City Council regular meeting (agenda on Legistar) 107 N Nevada 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Small Steps, Giant Leaps, Space Foundation program for ages 2 to 6 Westside Community Center Wed Oct 14 9 a.m. City Planning Commission 2880 International Cir. 5:30 to 7 p.m. Evening pickleball: donate a bag of candy to play, paddles limited Westside Community Center Thu Oct 15 7:30 a.m. Coffee with the principal Coronado High, Future Center 2 to 4 p.m. Classic board games free OCC Library 5 p.m. Mushroom Zombie Haunted House opens, through Oct 31 Mush Love Tee, the shirt shop, 2627 W Colorado Fri Oct 16 all day No school at Coronado: parent-teacher conferences, 9 to 3 in the gym Coronado High 5 to 6 p.m. Bingo at the Biscuit The Biscuit Factory Cat Lounge, 12 S 25th Sat Oct 17 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Farmers market, last Saturday of the season, 80-some vendors Bancroft Park 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Craft and art market, final Saturday History Center, 1 S 24th Sun Oct 18 evening Legends and Lore of Fairview Cemetery, a two-hour guided tour; tickets online, kids 12 and under free Fairview Cemetery, 1000 S 26th Mon Oct 19 all week Fall break at Coronado, Oct 19 to 22, no school Coronado High Wed Oct 21 4 p.m. Westside Community Center Alliance meeting Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou 5:30 to 7 p.m. Howdy Neighbor prize bingo, doors at 5, all ages, no sign-up free Westside Community Center Thu Oct 22 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Book group free OCC Library Sat Oct 24 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Emma Crawford Coffin Races, the 32nd; Manitou Avenue closes at 9 Manitou Springs noon to 6 p.m. Pumpkins in the Park: pumpkin patch, painting, face painters, costume and carving contests, the ZOOmobile, live music, a beer garden free the avenue Sun Oct 25 1 to 4 p.m. Trunk or Treat in the parking lot, and Animals of Halloween inside, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. free Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th Mon Oct 26 10 to 10:45 a.m. Bighorn sheep, an indoor program with a touch table; Mondays through Nov 30 free Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Owls of the Garden: take an owl pellet apart; $5, sign up first Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 5:30 p.m. City budget public hearing, the 2027 budget; anyone can speak Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada Tue Oct 27 all day Stroll-a-Story: a storybook walk, page by page, around the library OCC Library, 2418 W Pikes Peak Thu Oct 29 7:30 to 8:45 p.m. Haunted Manitou ghost tour, $25; also Oct 30 and 31 Memorial Park, Manitou Springs Fri Oct 30 5:30 p.m. Ghost Stories of Old Manitou, a walking tour from the museum Manitou Springs Heritage Museum Sat Oct 31 1 to 2 p.m. Why wolves in Colorado, a talk Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 2 to 4:30 p.m. Trick or Treat Street: costumed kids 1 to 6, shop to shop; look for the orange and yellow balloons the avenue, 23rd to 28th 6 p.m. Manitou Phantasmagoria Shoshone Spring courtyard, Manitou Springs evening Mushroom Zombie Haunted House, last night Mush Love Tee, the shirt shop, 2627 W Colorado Tue Nov 3 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Election Day. Ballots due by 7 p.m. at a drop box; register and vote in person at the clerk's office, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd, or Manitou City Hall El Paso County Fri Nov 6 5 to 8 p.m. First Friday ArtWalk: galleries, studios and shops open late along the avenue free the avenue, 17th to 31st Sun Nov 8 11 a.m. Altitude Makers market and farmers market free Soda Springs Park, Manitou Springs Every line above came off a calendar we can link, checked October 11. The strip up top happens every week; the list is the one-time stuff. The avenue is West Colorado Avenue; OCC is Old Colorado City; D11 is the school district. If we got a time wrong, tell us and we'll fix it in the next issue. Red Rock Canyon, the churches and the school sports pages had nothing dated for these two weeks; if you know of something, send it. Where that came from: Old Colorado City events calendar · Old Colorado City Library · Westside Community Center · History Center events · Garden of the Gods calendar ## The Bulletin Board ## Suppers, pantries, services, weddings, and the ones we lost If you need something this week, start here. Free, in your words, from you or your church or your family. Food, rent and utility help: Westside CARES, 2808 W Colorado Ave, 719-389-0759. Open Monday to Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.. They prefer you walk in. Closed when the schools close for weather. Serves everyone west of I-25. Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou St, 719-385-7920. Open Monday and Friday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Tuesday to Thursday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.. A corkboard, not a story. Church suppers, pantry hours, services, weddings, and the ones we lost: free, in your words, from you or your church or your family. We call to check the hours before they run. Send it by Tuesday to hello@westsidewherewithal.com, by text to 719-201-5462, on paper to the office at Suite 122, or in the box on the front page. Where that came from: Westside CARES hours · Community center hours (city page) ## The Listening Room ## Once a month. You pick where and when. Coffee with the editor, no agenda, no sign-up. The hour and the place are a vote; the winner runs in issue 1. The Listening Room isn't an office. It's one hour a month wherever we sit down, and I'd rather you picked it than me. Vote below, or write in your own. I live over here, about twenty years now, and the office on the avenue is the paper's address; it says one thing: I'm here. I'm with you. Where and when Saturday morning, the bench by the bandshell in Bancroft Park Tuesday evening, a coffee counter on the avenue Sunday afternoon, the library (once they say yes) A weeknight on Zoom, for people who work days Cast it ## The Address Book ## What was in this storefront in 1968? One storefront, one photo, what was inside. One building per issue: a photo, the address, and whoever remembers fills in the rest. The first photo is coming; if you have one, send it in below. ## Write something ## Send it in The shop that closed, the thing the city's about to do on your street, the neighbor everybody should know. Photos and drawings count, with your name on them. Send it however you like: the box below, hello@westsidewherewithal.com, a call or a text to 719-201-5462, or drop it at the office (Suite 122, 2320 W Colorado Ave). We write back. Rather talk than type? Call or text 719-201-5462 and tell me out loud; I'll write it down and you hear it read back before it runs. Under 18? Send it anyway; we'll check with you or a parent before it runs. Teachers, send the whole class. Photos come by email. En español: mándenos un texto al 719-201-5462 o escríbanos a hello@westsidewherewithal.com, en español: su cena, su misa, su aviso. No lo hablo de nacimiento; lo traducimos con un vecino y se lo leemos antes de publicar. Any other language: send it anyway, and we'll find a neighbor to translate. Got a counter, or a box on your fence? Say so and we'll bring a stack, free, and swap the stale ones. How we do things, if you're curious. Put me down for a stack, for my counter or my library box Send it in ## The jar It's free. If a Thursday was worth something to you, throw a few bucks in the jar; it pays for the email and the printing. A check to the office works too. Pay what you want Inside: What the city is deciding · The next two weeks · On the avenue · From the desks · The next 100 years · Frontier wherewithal · Around the avenue · What came before us ## On the avenue ## I never stepped inside Base Camp, 2611 W Colorado, closed October 4, and I never ate there. Tell me the place you'd go back to. Jeff Adkins Base Camp closed on October 4. I thought it looked cool, but the menu never appealed to me in the moment, and it's hard to take me away from the dozen places I adore already. Sad to say I never stepped inside. That's on me, and I'm not alone. Empty storefronts are not what we want here. What keeps a place open is anyone and everyone who can afford to spend local dollars in it, and I am going to try hard to keep mixing it up. If you're thinking about working and making a living here, I wish I could appeal to you directly: we need you. Old Colorado City (OCC from here on) is a tourist destination, for locals and for travelers. I know this. I gladly give up my street parking for events because I know we need them. If I want OCC Brewing to be here 365 days a year, I need them to sustain themselves. That means me not griping about the traffic or the parking over here. Not everyone can afford to eat out or shop on the avenue. I understand that; I don't feel obligated to, and neither should you. I'm fortunate that I can budget for a meal out, and I try to go during the week, when places are less busy and could frankly use the business. So I can't complain about Base Camp closing if I didn't eat there, and I can't blame not eating there on the parking. Tell me the place you'd go back to. What we know: Base Camp, 2611 W Colorado Ave, opened March 2025 and closed October 4; the owner cited costs and the economy. Mountain Shadows, the restaurant four blocks east, closed December 2024 and sold in January. Where that came from: Gazette, Oct 2, 2026 · Gazette, Jan 20, 2025 · OCC Brewing ## From the desks ## Ten desks, one neighborhood Celebrating, remembering, forecasting. Each desk is open; a neighbor's name goes on it the day they take it. The Wherewithal desks Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in · the 52 Thursdays of 2027, as a walk through the seasons The man who wrote down the Westside · 604 columns, the elk, the tunnels, and who keeps the record now Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper · the vote, the names, what's still unknown, and how to be in the room See that building? Look again · five storefronts and what they were, from the columns and the 1902 map Where the asphalt gives up · Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, Bear Creek; this fall, and the seed rule The elk who pulled a carriage · for kids: three things to find on the walk to school, and a dare Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad · la mesa en español: ayuda, el voto, cómo escribirnos Who's cooking on the Westside this week · six tables, as their own pages say it; we call before it prints Three picks before Halloween · the market's last Saturday, the coffin races, pumpkins in the park, and where to park The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead · every date headed for your street, and the door into each one Every desk is written from the record we hold and says so at the top. None of it is an interview yet; those are coming. How the desks work is on the ethics page. ## The next 100 years ## Four lanes to three, for a year Four lanes to three, Limit to 30th, for a year. The city survey is open. One driver's take below; if yours differs, next issue's yours. Jeff Adkins 1902 · Sanborn fire insurance map, sheet 2, Colorado Avenue · Library of Congress, public domain 2027 · lane drawing · city of Colorado Springs, Colorado Avenue demonstration, phase two What we know: four lanes to three from Limit to 30th by the city's page (the Gazette says 31st), since June 2026, for up to a year; the city calls it the Colorado Avenue Demonstration Project; $375K of county transportation tax (PPRTA) money. The Gazette counts about 30 parking spaces added, metered; the city's page says parking changes are expected to be minimal. We've asked the project team which it is. A second phase in 2027 makes some of it permanent and redoes three blocks of streetscape (Gazette); permanent reconstruction is penciled for 2027 or 2028 (Bike Colorado Springs). The city survey is open. One driver's take, mine (and my office is on the avenue, at 2320): it's great to see so much more attention being paid to pedestrians, and it doesn't slow me down at all. I haven't timed it; if you have, send the numbers. It may add parking, metered; the city and the Gazette disagree on how much (see the record), and nobody has said yet where someone who lives over a shop parks overnight. The city is taking comments until the concrete goes down. If you drive it, bike it, or cross it with a stroller, say so. If you hate it, this space is yours next issue, same length, your name on it. What do I want to still be here in 2126? Westsiders. Hyper local, no corporate nonsense, and room for whoever shows up to stay. Where that came from: Sanborn 1902 (LoC) · City project page · The city survey · Gazette, May 20, 2026 · Bike Colorado Springs ## Frontier wherewithal ## Load up for winter, survive the summer Not just another old west town. Two tame elk, tunnels under the avenue, four to six weeks a year you'd rather be in the water. Jeff Adkins If you're new here you might think this is just another old west town. If you're passing through, maybe we should let you believe it. Our summers are dry and shorter than most, but they stop and start and come back the most. I'd say we have about four to six weeks a year where you'd want to be holed up in the cabin or in the water, which can be tricky to find. We need to know how to load up for winter, survive the summer, and not die of dehydration. And like every place with lore, we have a guy who trained two tame elk, Thunder and Buttons, to pull a carriage, plus tunnels and brothels and churches, oh my. We love it here. What we know: Thunder and Buttons were elk; Prairie Dog O'Byrne drove them hitched to a carriage on this avenue in the late 1880s. The tunnels under the avenue are documented by the historical society, with the honest caveat that some of it may be something else. Colorado City voted itself dry in 1913. Where that came from: Westside Pioneer, 2006 · Cobweb Corners, 2005 · Gazette, July 2021, the tunnels · Thunder and Buttons II ## Around the avenue ## Getting to know them is the point I don't know everyone yet. Getting to know them is the point. Jeff Adkins What we know so far: Who's opening and who's moving: we've heard about three and have an address for none, so none are named yet. Send the name and the block. The Old Colorado City Historical Society runs a free museum at 1 South 24th, a block off the avenue. Tuesday through Saturday, 11 to 4 in summer and 11 to 2 in winter. Call before you drive. The free Tuesday concerts at the Bancroft Park bandshell ran June 2 through September 29 this year, 5:30, Dizzy Charlie's and the Pikes Peak Blues Community. Next summer's lineup runs here the week it's announced. First Friday art walk, 5 to 8, galleries and studios along the avenue. Next one is November 6. The Customs and Classics car show closes the avenue from 23rd to 27th one Sunday every August. If the one you went to was a different show this fall, tell us which. This is the stuff I get to see everyone else doing. I enjoy seeing them do it. It doesn't matter to me if I don't know anyone in the room, because getting to know them is the point of this life. And that's what I'm here to capture in this paper. I shouldn't pretend to know things I don't. Where that came from: OCC History Center · Tuesday concerts (Springs Magazine) · First Friday (OCC calendar) · The car show (Pioneer, 2018) ## What came before us ## I want it all Mel McFarland died in September; I indexed the 604 columns I found. Eight digs, from the capital that got away to the forgotten cemetery. Jeff Adkins Start here: Mel McFarland, who wrote the Westside's past in the Pioneer for fifteen years, died in September at 81. Most of what is below comes from his columns. I found 604 and indexed every one I found; the one-line summaries there are software drafts, not yet checked one by one. Who keeps the record now is a question this paper exists to answer. I want the best stories from Old Colorado City. I want to dig down and find the most awesome stuff we can publish: how people first lived here, how it went from zero to what it is today, funny things, shootouts, jail time for crimes that make us laugh and cry, mysteries and murders. I want it all. What did we used to do and stop? What was, but isn't? What could have been, but never was? The digs I can't do alone: your church, your family, your block. Send them. What we found first: The capital that got away. Colorado City was founded in August 1859 to outfit gold seekers, was the county seat by 1861, and held the territorial capital just long enough to lose it to Denver. One account says the town was deemed too rowdy. Zero to four thousand. Mel has the town past 2,000 by 1890; the 1892 fire-insurance map (the Sanborn) writes 2,000 on its own cover, and the 1902 sheet writes 4,000. The town voted itself dry in 1913, lost the saloon money, and voted to be annexed by Colorado Springs in April 1917. Four saloons to twenty-seven. By the Pioneer's 2009 count (a feature, not one of Mel's columns): four in 1884, twenty-three by 1888, twenty-seven in 1902 plus thirty-some gambling halls, on a main street that also had the churches. Laura Bell McDaniel. From the Pioneer's 2011 profile, not the index: queen of the tenderloin; her last house was the Tribley House in the 2600 block of West Cucharras. She married Tom McDaniel in April 1887 in Salida; a month later he shot a man five times while she watched, and was acquitted. She divorced him in 1893. Accused in November 1917 of stealing liquor and acquitted; the historian who wrote her up thinks it was a set-up. Died in a car crash in January 1918. The elk were O'Byrne's by Mel's column (bought in Aspen in 1888); a 2006 Pioneer piece has her riding beside him in the carriage. The Glass Works. Full production in 1889 with 200 men on the south edge of town, bottling Manitou water. The furnace top collapsed just after midnight on September 9, 1892. Wheeler promised to rebuild; the Silver Panic of 1893 and the lost customers finished it. One of Mel's columns says it closed in 1895, another says by 1900; one puts a fire in 1893 as well. The Midland shops. The Colorado Midland started here in 1886 and quit in 1918; the Midland Terminal ran the line to Divide until it was scrapped in 1949. Hundreds of men in the shops at the peak, under a hundred by 1925, about fifty by 1948; the office burned in 1953. The fourteen-stall roundhouse is the one that lived: Van Briggle pottery, then the shops you walk through now. The mills. The Colorado-Philadelphia came first, in 1894 by one of Mel's columns and about 1897 by another, near 31st and the 24. Golden Cycle took over the Telluride mill in 1906, rebuilt it with cyanide after a 1907 fire, and ran it until 1949; the smokestack is still there. The forgotten cemetery. Colorado City's Pioneer cemetery, on the mesa, used from about 1860 to 1917. Not every burial was moved; the stones came out in the 1940s and it became Pioneer Park in the 1950s. Graves were mapped with metal detectors in the 1970s, a project Mel joined, and a cast-iron coffin may still be there. Who is in it is still the question. Where that came from: Why the fuss? (Pioneer) · Laura Bell McDaniel (Pioneer, 2011) · Thunder and Buttons (Cobweb Corners, 2005) · The Glass Works, 200 men (Cobweb Corners, 2011) · The Glass Works fire (Cobweb Corners, 2011) · The Glass Works closed 1895 (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The Midland, 1886 to 1918 (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The Midland shops decline (Cobweb Corners, 2009) · The roundhouse (Cobweb Corners, 2007) · The mills (Cobweb Corners, 2013) · Golden Cycle closes, 1949 (Cobweb Corners, 2006) · The capital, the county seat (Cobweb Corners, 2009) · The forgotten cemetery (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The forgotten cemetery (Cobweb Corners, 2017) · Mel McFarland, 1945 to 2026 (Gazette) · Every Cobweb Corners column, indexed · Colorado City Iris, digitized (CHNC) If something here is wrong, reply to the email or send it in below. Corrections run at the top of the next issue. Behind the masthead: Sanborn fire insurance map of Colorado City, November 1902, sheet 1. Library of Congress, public domain. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad <https://westsidewherewithal.com/la-vecina> Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad La Vecina, la mesa en español. Traducción nuestra; buscamos a un vecino o vecina que la tome y firme aquí. Vecina, vecino: Le escribo con las hojas ya cambiando de color y las tardes más cortas. Aquí entre nosotros, quería contarle lo que sé. Si usted vive al oeste de la I-25, este periódico es para usted. Se llama The Westside Wherewithal, sale cada semana y es gratis. Lo escribimos entre vecinos: lo que abre, lo que cierra, lo que se vota, lo que llega al parque. Y queremos saber de usted. Cuéntenos lo que ve en su cuadra, en su iglesia, en su trabajo, y hágalo en español, como le salga. Si esta semana necesita una mano, vaya a Westside CARES, en 2808 W Colorado Ave. Abren de lunes a jueves, de 9:30 a.m. a 12:30 p.m., y no hace falta cita. Atienden a todos los que viven al oeste de la I-25. Llame al 719-389-0759. También tiene el Westside Community Center, en 1628 W Bijou St, teléfono 719-385-7920. Abre lunes y viernes, de 9 a.m. a 3 p.m., y de martes a jueves, de 9 a.m. a 7 p.m. Ahora el voto, en claro. Hasta el 26 de octubre puede registrarse, o revisar si ya está registrado, en GoVoteColorado.gov. Pasada esa fecha, todavía puede hacerlo en persona, hasta el día de la elección. Y para dejar su boleta, las urnas están abiertas hasta las 7 p.m. del 3 de noviembre en cuatro lugares: el centro comercial Red Rock Canyon, 3141 W Colorado Ave; Bear Creek Regional Park, 2002 Creek Crossing St; la oficina del secretario del condado, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd; y el ayuntamiento de Manitou, 606 Manitou Ave. Aquí no le decimos cómo votar. Solo le decimos dónde y cuándo. En diciembre el Christkindlmarket vuelve a Bancroft Park. Cuando tengamos los días, se los pasamos aquí. Si quiere escribirnos, mande un texto al 719-201-5462 o un correo a hello@westsidewherewithal.com, en español. El editor no habla español de cuna. Traduce con un vecino y lo vuelve a leer con él antes de que algo se imprima. También tenemos una hoja en español en westsidewherewithal.com/sheet-es. Y una cosa honesta: esta página es traducción nuestra. Buscamos a un vecino o vecina que hable español para que tome esta mesa y firme aquí con su nombre. Hasta la próxima semana, vecino. Un abrazo, La Vecina The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The print pack <https://westsidewherewithal.com/print> The print pack Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The print pack Everything to print this week, how many, and where it goes. Any copy shop; a home printer works for the one-sheets. What to print PrintFileHowCopies The one-sheetsheet.pdfLetter, one side (two sides if you want the puzzle back: sheet-back.pdf)20 Large printsheet-large.pdfLetter, two sides5 La hoja (Spanish)sheet-es.pdfLetter, one side10 The box editionzine-box.pdfLetter, landscape, two sheets, two-sided, flip on the short edge; nest sheet 2 inside sheet 1, fold once; no staples20 Every print says "good till Oct 25" or has no dates. A stale stack gets swapped; call and we bring more. Where it goes PlaceWhatHow many The gas station at 31stone-sheet5 The hardware storeone-sheet5 A diner on the avenueone-sheet, and ask about a tray5 The OCC History Center, 1 S 24thone-sheet5 Your own door, Suite 122one-sheet, box edition5 and 5 The grocery at 31stla hoja10 The senior table at the community center, 1628 W Bijoularge print5 The little free library at the old Carnegie building, 701 Manitou Avebox edition8 The Head Start box, 2330 Robinson Stbox edition7 The ask at a counter, two sentences: "It's a free weekly paper for the Westside, written by neighbors, nothing for you to pay and nothing to sell. Can it sit here, and can I refill it on Thursdays?" Say yes to any condition they add. What to watch Count what's left after a week. Note any call or text to 719-201-5462 and any word find or quiz score that comes in. That's the first real test; everything before it was rehearsal. The reader inbox was empty on October 11. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Plant this (when it exists) <https://westsidewherewithal.com/seeds> Plant this (when it exists) Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Plant this (when it exists) There are no seed strips yet. This is the plan, written down before the first one so nobody has to guess. Some copies of the zine will carry a small sealed strip of seed paper. Plant it in your own yard, a friend's yard with their yes, a community garden, or a school bed with the principal's okay. Not in a park, not in open space, not in Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, the Garden of the Gods or Bear Creek, not along the creek or a trail, and never after a fire. Those places get seeded by the people who manage them, with seed matched to the ground, and a stranger's strip does more harm than good there. What's in it: Colorado natives from a Colorado grower (Western Native Seed, in Coaldale): Lewis blue flax, Rocky Mountain penstemon, blanketflower, prairie coneflower. Nothing from the state's noxious weed list, which is where the cheap "wildflower mixes" go wrong. Plant in fall; the penstemon wants a winter in the ground. Plant it, take a picture when something comes up, send it in. The best ones run in the paper with your name on them. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Thank you <https://westsidewherewithal.com/thanks> Thank you Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Thank you That's the whole transaction. No tier, no badge, no extra issue. The paper keeps going, and your name goes on the once-a-year list of people who chipped in, alphabetical, no amounts, unless you'd rather it didn't. Reply to any issue to say so. See you Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The elk who pulled a carriage <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-box> The elk who pulled a carriage Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The elk who pulled a carriage The Box desk, for kids and whoever is with them. When a neighbor (or a kid) takes this desk, their name goes here. Okay. You're the boss today. Walk to school, but make it a hunt. Find three things. One: a little free library. It's a box on a post full of books, and you can take one. We know of 27 of them west of I-25. Two you can visit: the one at the old Carnegie library building, 701 Manitou Ave, and the one at the Head Start, 2330 Robinson St. Two: the red rocks at the end of the street. Stop and look. Three: one leaf. Pick the best one on the block. Keep it. It's a bookmark now. Okay. Now the elk. In 1888, a man named John O'Byrne got two tame elk from a judge in Aspen. He trained them to pull his tourist carriage down this very avenue. Their names were Thunder and Buttons. Yes, elk. Yes, a carriage. Eventually a movie company bought them and took them to Alaska to film advertisements. Thunder and Buttons were in commercials. (Also true.) (Bonus, also true: in 1880 a train crew calmed a cold, panicking circus elephant at Colorado Springs with a keg of beer. Aunt's honor.) Ask a grown-up. Point at any building on your walk and ask: "What was here before?" Then listen. Your move, boss. This fall: Halloween, Oct. 31, 2 to 4:30 p.m.: Trick or Treat Street on the avenue, 23rd to 28th. Costumed kids 1 to 6. Look for the orange and yellow balloons. Bring a little cousin. Mondays, 10 a.m.: the bighorn sheep program at the Garden of the Gods Visitor Center. December: the Christkindlmarket comes back to Bancroft Park, bigger than last year, with Santa at the cabin. Bonus level: the paper in the box has games. A word find whose leftover letters spell a message. A five-question quiz with the answers printed upside down. And a map to draw on: it's the 1902 map of Colorado City, when the town had 4,000 people. You can see it at westsidewherewithal.com/zine-box, page 6. The dare. Draw Thunder and Buttons pulling the carriage. Go big. Give the tourists faces. Then put it in the little free library box, or send it to hello@westsidewherewithal.com with your first name. We print the best ones. See you on the avenue. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-next-hundred> The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead The Next Hundred desk. Written from the city's own pages and the ballot; dates change, and we fix them when they do. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Right now, Colorado Avenue. Four lanes have been three from Limit to 30th since June, for up to a year. Watch the lanes. Your move: fill out the city survey after you've driven it, biked it, or crossed it with a stroller. The avenue went on a diet and nobody asked it. Oct 21 and Oct 26. The community center's neighbor group meets Wednesday the 21st at 4 p.m.; it helps steer what the center at 1628 W Bijou becomes. Monday the 26th, 5:30 p.m.: the 2027 budget's public hearing at 107 N Nevada. Anyone can speak; the council calendar lists the work sessions before it. Your move: pick one and go. The budget reads better with you. Nov 3. Ballots are due by 7 p.m. County 1A would keep the public-safety sales tax going through 2037. D11's 4A is a $775 million school bond, and Coronado is on the list. Your move: vote, and use a drop box if the mail feels slow. There's one at 3141 W Colorado Ave. Seven o'clock does not negotiate. December. The Christkindlmarket comes back to Bancroft Park, bigger. Bancroft is the pupil of the eye, so a bigger market could mean a fuller avenue and fewer spots out front. Your move: go, and walk. The car can stay home. April 6, 2027. The city election: mayor and three council seats. Your move: register or check your registration, and ask every candidate what they would do about the avenue. The avenue will hear about it. April 13. Council hears the appeal on Project Taurus, the 50-megawatt data center proposed at the old Intel plant next to the homes in Chelsea Glen. The Planning Commission approved it 6 to 2 in July with a power cap and noise monitoring; council wants a noise study first, and the hearing falls a week after you vote (Colorado Politics). The developer says it is weighing the partnership, so the date could still move. Your move: read the noise study when it exists, and show up. Read quietly. April to fall 2027. A roundabout replaces the four-way stop at 31st and Fontanero by Howbert Elementary, on the western gateway to the red rocks. Parents asked about the school crossing, and the city says it will work with the school. Your move: if you walk kids there, ask the school what they've been told. Four stops become one circle. Around June 2027. The lane test's year ends, give or take. Nothing we've found says what comes after. Your move: whatever you think of the test, say so before it ends. A year is long enough for an opinion. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The man who wrote down the Westside <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-porch-mcfarland> The man who wrote down the Westside Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The man who wrote down the Westside The Porch desk. Written from the record; the editor's conversations with his family and friends are coming. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. If you ever wondered whether there really were tunnels under Colorado Avenue, Mel McFarland is a big part of why you wondered. I'll tell you what I know. He died September 21, at 81. From 2004 to 2019 he wrote 604 "Cobweb Corners" columns about this neighborhood for the Westside Pioneer. He was born here in 1944, a fourth-generation native, taught art and drafting, and wrote books on the Colorado Midland Railway. In 1983 he bought a retired working caboose for his Rockrimmon backyard, and became "the Caboose Guy." Dave Martinek, who started Midland Days at Divide with him in 2009, told the Gazette: "He was the go-to person for anyone who wanted to know about railroad history in the state." His nephew Luc MacArthur called him "kind of a Renaissance man." His sister, Elaine Radney, said: "He had a lot of people who loved him." He wrote it down. Here is some of it. On February 3, 2005, he wrote down the story of John O'Byrne, who in 1888 got two tame elk, Thunder and Buttons, and trained them to pull a tourist carriage. Here is the column. On April 7, 2005, he wrote down the tunnels, the ones that let Colorado Avenue customers reach the Cucharras Street brothels unseen. He had "seen the remains of bits of both" sets of tunnels himself. On November 17, 2011, he wrote down the Glass Works disaster. Just after midnight on September 9, 1892, the furnace top collapsed and fiery glass poured out. Chunks of raw glass still show up now and then in neighborhood yards and rock walls, he wrote. On November 14, 2013, he wrote down the day a Teller County sheriff chained a Pullman sleeper car to the rails over $663.21 in unpaid taxes, and a U.S. marshal freed it two days later. Read it. Here's the thing. The Gazette says he left "file cabinets" of research and writing, and that his family hopes to sift through them, with no concrete plans yet. The next person who asks "was there really a glass plant over here?" gets a shrug. We can't fix that. What we have is an index of all 604 columns, by what each one reports, at westsidewherewithal.com/cobweb. The editor plans to call his sister, Dave Martinek, the Pioneer's editor Kenyon Jordan, and the History Center, and we'll tell you what they say. The question we're taking to them is who keeps the record now. We'd like to be part of the answer, and we'd like yours. Did a column of his stick with you? Tell us which one. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-record-dda> Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper The Record desk. Written from the city's own pages and the news; the Aug 25 minutes are still to be read. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. If you missed the council meeting last month, here is the entry. A downtown development authority, a DDA, is a small district set up by a vote. It is supposed to get its own pot of money to spend on one downtown. In 2024, Old Colorado City voters created one for the avenue. It never got its funding. It was created by a vote and ended by a vote, and the money never turned up in between. On Sept 22, City Council voted 5 to 4 to dissolve it. That's ordinance 26-48. The meeting record has the roll call. That's on paper. Yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams No: Donelson, Gold, Henjum, Leinweber The Gazette reported the first vote, on Aug 25, as the same 5 to 4. That's reported. On Oct 2, KKTV reported that the DDA is weighing legal action, because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. That's reported too. That is the whole ledger so far. Here is what we don't know: The Aug 25 minutes. We have the first vote from the news, not from the minutes. Until we've read them, the date and the count are reported, not checked. Whether a lawsuit is filed. KKTV says the DDA is considering one. We haven't found a filing. That isn't on paper. We'll say so when it is. What the DDA was going to buy. The records we have don't list its plan, so we won't guess. If you voted in 2024, or sat in those rooms, tell us what you were told. Who picks up the avenue's end of things now. Nobody has answered that in anything we've read. That isn't on paper either. We are taking the question to the next meeting. Some of those answers are in a room on a Tuesday morning. You can be in it. City Council meets the second and fourth Tuesdays at 9 a.m., 107 N Nevada, and you can watch from home. You don't have to say a word. Take the one-page sheet, write down what happens, and your name goes on it. The Oct 13 meeting is the next one. If you were at the Aug 25 meeting, or you have the minutes, send them over. Tell me what I got wrong. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Where the asphalt gives up <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-ridge> Where the asphalt gives up Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Where the asphalt gives up The Ridge desk. Written from the city's pages and the groups' own sites; a canyon volunteer reads it before it prints. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Rain or snow, and the trails hold it. Friends of Red Rock Canyon says wait a day or two, because they stay muddy and fragile for 24 to 48 hours. Follow 21st down to Bear Creek, then keep going west. Around 30th and 31st the asphalt gives up. The red sandstone takes over. Red Rock Canyon is the pocket to the south. The city bought it in 2003, after it had been slated for a resort with high-rise towers and a private golf course. The city's open space page lists it among the places TOPS, the sales tax voters passed for open space, made possible. It nearly went the other way. Parking. The 31st Street trailhead has more than the High Street lots. No e-bikes in the open space. This fall. The Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th, runs a free bighorn sheep program with a touch table, Mondays 10 to 10:45 a.m. through Nov 30. Owls of the Garden is Oct 26, 12:30 to 1:30. Tickets from $5, sign up first. Oct 31, 1 to 2 p.m., a talk on why wolves in Colorado. The Garden's calendar has details. What's being decided. The Park System Master Plan goes to City Council for readings Oct 12 and 27, after the parks board heard it Oct 8. White Acres Trail is becoming the Don Ellis Trail. The board approved it Aug 13; it waits on an agreement and an $850 city fee. Fire restrictions: the city's page shows none this week, and we are checking with the fire department. We'll tell you what we hear. The seed rule. Some copies of this paper will carry a strip of Colorado native seed: Lewis blue flax, Rocky Mountain penstemon, blanketflower, prairie coneflower, from Western Native Seed in Coaldale. Plant it in your yard, a friend's yard with their yes, or a community garden. Never in a park, open space, along the creek or a trail, and never after a fire. The people who manage those places seed with plants matched to the ground, and a stranger's strip can do more harm than good. Groups to join. Friends of Red Rock Canyon keeps up the benches and runs Talk and Walks, resuming soon (no date yet). The Trails and Open Space Coalition takes members and runs the One Bag Challenge cleanups. Friends of Garden of the Gods runs volunteer days. Our promise. Every Monday this desk reads the city's parks pages, and a canyon volunteer reads them with us. If nothing's new, we'll say so. Which trail was muddy this week? Tell me and I'll pass it along. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Who's cooking on the Westside this week <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-table> Who's cooking on the Westside this week Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Who's cooking on the Westside this week The Table desk. Hours are as the churches and pantries post them, checked October 11; we call before they go on the Bulletin Board. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Here's how it works. Somebody on this side of the interstate is feeding somebody nearly every day of the week, mostly out of church basements, and the people at the stoves are neighbors who are very good at it. We went looking for the tables. There are more than we figured. Everything below is what each place says on its own page as of October 11. We haven't called any of them yet, so please do before you go. Hours move, and a wrong one costs somebody a trip. Sunday The Sanctuary Church, 1930 W Colorado Ave, lists its Ragamuffin Cafe hot meal at 9 a.m. Call 719-634-7232. It's the only Sunday hot meal we found over here. If you know another, tell us. Monday Westside CARES, 2808 W Colorado Ave, posts a weekly hot meal from 11 to 12:30. Call 719-389-0759. Same day, Sacred Heart's pantry is posted noon to 2 at the Parish Center door, 2030 W Colorado Ave. No voucher. Call 719-633-8711. Tuesday Westside Global Methodist, 701 N 20th St, posts its pantry from 11 to 2. Call 719-633-9295. If you still call it Trinity UMC, that's the same corner with a new name, and the old building on W Pikes Peak is becoming a child care center. Wednesday The Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou St, hosts the CARES pantry from 1 to 3. Call 719-385-7920. Up the road in Manitou, the pantry at 110 Canon Ave was last reported at 1 to 2, with a hot meal starting 12:30. Call 719-685-9259. St. Andrew's closed as a church in 2025, but the pantry kept going in the parish hall. Hats off to the people who kept it going. Thursday Sacred Heart again, same hours, same door, no voucher. Call 719-633-8711. Know another table? That's six tables, and I'd bet my good parking spot there are more. Churches, clubs, a neighbor with a big pot and a folding table. If your church or group feeds people, text 719-201-5462 or write hello@westsidewherewithal.com with the day and the hour. We'll call, confirm it, and print it, free, in your words. That's what the Bulletin Board is for. It's where every table lives, every week, so nobody has to guess which church has soup on which night. See you at the table. Tell us what we got wrong. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Three picks before Halloween <https://westsidewherewithal.com/weekend-radar> Three picks before Halloween Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Three picks before Halloween The Weekend Radar desk. Every line checked against the organizer's own page. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Two weekends, three picks, and I've already parked for all of them. Read this, then go. Go to the farmers market. Saturday, October 17, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., Bancroft Park, 24th and Colorado. It's the last Saturday of the season, with 80-some vendors, and there is no next Saturday. Go early, because the best of anything goes first. Parking: don't circle the park hoping. Take a side street and walk the last bit. Saturday, October 24 is two things at once. Pick one. First, the coffin races. The Emma Crawford Coffin Races run 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Manitou Springs. Parking: Manitou Avenue closes at 9, so get there before the road shuts and the crowd fills in, and plan to walk in. Second, the pumpkins. Pumpkins in the Park is noon to 6 p.m. on the avenue, free, with a pumpkin patch, painting, costume and carving contests, the ZOOmobile, live music and a beer garden. Parking: the avenue's diagonal spots fill on a festival Saturday, so take a side street and walk in. Don't try to do both in one afternoon. Choose, then start the day with it. The things that are always there. If the festivals are not your speed, or you just need a Thursday: trivia at OCC Brewing every Thursday, 7 to 9 p.m. Storytime at the OCC Library every Friday, 10:30 a.m. Brunch Jam Band at Mother Muff's every Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Free bingo on the 21st, Trunk or Treat on the 25th, Trick or Treat Street on the 31st and First Friday ArtWalk on November 6 are all on the full list, with times. That list lives at westsidewherewithal.com, and it's also the one-sheet on the counters around the avenue. Got something happening that we missed? Send it to hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or text 719-201-5462. We'll check it against your own page and put it in. See you Saturday. I'll be the one who parked early. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in <https://westsidewherewithal.com/year-ahead> Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in The Year Ahead desk. Written from the editor's calendar; no interviews yet. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Picture the fridge calendar. Every Thursday of 2027 is penciled in, and you're coming along. One honest aside: it's plans, all of it. Nothing has been reported yet, and some weeks may not land. Winter first. Week one: The Reset Issue. Quiet workspaces, reading refuges, and I'd be surprised if the Carnegie library stays out. And then we eat through the cold. The quest for the best broth in OCC. A reader poll for the best breakfast burrito west of I-25. A 4:00 a.m. shift with a Westside baker. Then February: a cocktail lounge audit off Main Street, an Alternative Valentine, pints by the fireplace, and how the vintage and antiques shops survive winter. Spring opens up. Red Rock Canyon hikes, with lunches after. The carriage house makers working out of alleys. St. Patrick week. And then the thaw, when we find out which counters open their windows. The under-$15 lunch circuit. A patio audit covering shade, noise, pints and dogs. Seed swaps. Coffee roasters. A Territory Days survival guide. A First Friday gallery crawl. Spring tap releases. Summer gets loud. Hosting out-of-towners without crossing I-25. The Bancroft Park farmers market, booth by booth. Gelato. Where a line cook eats at midnight. Secret courtyards. Quiet Fourth of July viewpoints. Live music on the bricks, and I'm hoping the bandshell gets a paragraph. You pick the coldest drinks. Then the Pueblo chile arrives. Nightcaps and jukeboxes after 10, and I'd bet Mother Muff's comes up. Then a back-to-school pantry run, Uintah Gardens an obvious stop. Fall, the leg I'm saving. The annual pizza index: Slice 420 against Rustica against Leopold's, and we'll need lots of you to settle it. Golden aspens. Autumn ciders. A locals' guide for after the tourists leave. Ghost signs, spooky lore, wood-fired and cast iron cooking (Front Range BBQ, you're on my mind). Thanksgiving hosting. Best of the Westside nominations. Small Business Saturday. And then a Black Friday antidote at Section 16 and Bear Creek. December: a 100% Westside gift guide, a winter lights walk, the Best of the Westside winners, the solstice and quiet patios, and a last issue called Looking Ahead. Every week also carries a civic item and an oral history. A 40-year diner regular. A couple who met at Bancroft in 1988. A chile roaster of 25 seasons. A dishwasher who worked 300 shifts. A high school senior looking at the Westside's future. Tell me which month I got wrong, or which place I forgot. The pencil's by the fridge, and I'll see you the first Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? <https://westsidewherewithal.com/issues/2026-10-11-issue-0> Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? 2026-10-11 In this issue Can't we just inform each other? The leaves are changing Divide anything but our bread What it's all for We choose this Can't we just inform each other? Nobody's telling us what's happening around here unless you find some corporate website that tracks you and tries to make you pay just to find out what's going on outside your door. What a drag. Can't we just inform each other, and have fun building and being in community? The leaves are changing The leaves are changing and falling, and the streets are graced with people from all walks of life. The days are growing shorter, and fall will give way to snow in a few weeks. Before we know it Santa will be at the cabin in Bancroft Park and the Christkindlmarket will be back. Divide anything but our bread I want people to see and hear themselves in our work. I want the people in this community to remember that we're in this together and that what we print is made to remind us of that. We are not here to divide anything but our bread for others, to love our neighbors, and practice mercy and kindness. What it's all for I get nervous that people's fear clouds not only their judgment but their hearts. I can be a skeptic, and quite cynical at times. I wonder what it's all for and why I'm doing this. But in the end, if one person reads our words and connects with them even a little, and it gives them a spark or the belief that they are loved, I will have done my work. We choose this I hope people are excited to see what we're up to. I hope they want to be a part of it, and that by gathering and presenting our values, beliefs and customs together, we can cherish them and let new things in while the old fades. I want Thursday to remind us that we choose this. Jeff What we told you Can't we just inform each other? The leaves are changing Divide anything but our bread What it's all for We choose this The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The archive <https://westsidewherewithal.com/issues/index> The archive Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The archive Every issue, oldest at the bottom. Free to read. If you want to chip in, the jar is on the front page. Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? 2026-10-11 The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The Westside Wherewithal <https://westsidewherewithal.com/> The Westside Wherewithal Skip to the paper We start for real in January. Sign up and the first one lands on a Thursday morning. Thursday mornings · FreeFrom your neighbors ## The Westside WherewithalBecause living west of takes a little wherewithal. Colorado Springs, Colorado A free paper for the Westside of Colorado Springs, written by the people who live here. Thursday mornings, starting January. ## Get it Thursday morning One email a week, free. Put your address in and we'll see you Thursday. Sign me up ## What the city is deciding ## About your street, before it's done You can still weigh in Open nowColorado Avenue lane test. Four lanes to three from Limit Street to 30th Street (the city's page; the Gazette says 31st), for up to a year from June 2026, paid for with $375K from the regional road tax (PPRTA, the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority). The city survey is open.The city's own page: City project page · The surveyIn the news: Gazette, lane test # Oct 26, 2026The city's 2027 budget. Public hearing Monday Oct 26, 5:30 p.m., Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada. Anyone can speak. The council talks it over at work sessions first (Oct 15 is one). What's in it for the Westside, we're reading now.The city's own page: the council calendar (Legistar) # Coming up Oct 21, 2026The community center's neighbor group (the Westside Community Center Alliance) meets Wednesday Oct 21, 4 p.m. It helps steer what the center at 1628 W Bijou becomes. Whether anyone can sit in, we're asking.The city's own page: city page, community centerStill looking for: the Alliance's own notice and the Parks Advisory Board's May minutesIn the news: Gazette, the Alliance # Apr 2027Roundabout at 31st and Fontanero, by Howbert Elementary, replacing the four-way stop. The open house was Sept 15. Construction April to fall 2027. Parents asked about the school crossing; the city says it will work with the school. The crossing drawing and the open-house boards are the documents we're after.In the news: KKTV, the roundabout # Apr 13, 2027Project Taurus. A 50-megawatt data center proposed at the old Intel plant, next to the homes in Chelsea Glen. The Planning Commission approved it 6 to 2 in July with a power cap and noise monitoring. Council put the appeal off 7 to 2 to April 13, a week after the city election, and wants a noise study and a study of what big power users pay first. The developer told Colorado Politics on Sept 18 it is weighing whether this is the right partnership.Still looking for: the noise studyIn the news: CPR, hearing date · Colorado Politics, the postponement · KKTV, the appeal # Already decided Sep 22, 2026Old Colorado City's downtown development authority (DDA) shut down. The tax district voters created in 2024 never got its funding. Council voted 5 to 4 on Sept 22 to dissolve it, ordinance 26-48 (yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams; no: Donelson, Gold, Henjum, Leinweber), after the same 5 to 4 on first reading Aug 25. KKTV reported Oct 2 that the DDA is weighing legal action because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. Who picks up the avenue's end of things is an open question.The city's own page: meeting record (Open Publica)Still looking for: the ordinance text itself, and the Aug 25 minutesIn the news: Gazette, the first vote · KKTV, the lawsuit threat # Coming up Every weekThe land. Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, the Garden, Bear Creek, the creek itself: fire restrictions, trail closures, anything the parks board decides. Nothing new on the city's pages this week; we look every Monday, and a canyon volunteer is looking with us.The city's own page: city parks, trails and open space # Already decided Since Apr 2023Greater Westside Community Plan. Nine neighborhoods, one plan: Gold Hill, Ivywild, Mesa, Mesa Springs, Midland, Old Colorado City, Skyway, Stratton Meadows, Westside. The city's page lists six meetings, the last in April 2023, plus a 2022 survey and a 'Big Ideas' summary. What came next is the question we're taking to Planning, and to the neighbors who sat in those rooms.The city's own page: city page, the plan # Checked October 11. Each one links to the city's own page where we found it. Where it says "still looking," we haven't found it yet (city websites, you know how it goes). If you've got it, send it over. Want to be the person in the room? Go to one meeting, write down what happened on this one-page sheet, and your name goes on it. A City Council Tuesday is the easy first one; you can watch it live or later from the couch. ## Vote ## Ballots are in the mail. Here's the Westside part. By Oct 26Register, or check that you're registered, at GoVoteColorado.gov. Moved since last time? Update it there too. After Oct 26 you can still register and vote in person, through Election Day.The city's own page: GoVoteColorado.gov # Till Nov 3, 7 p.m.Drop boxes west of I-25, open day and night: Red Rock Canyon shopping center, 3141 W Colorado Ave; Bear Creek Regional Park, 2002 Creek Crossing St; the clerk's office, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd; Manitou City Hall, 606 Manitou Ave. Mailing it? The county says by Oct 27. It has to arrive by 7 p.m. on Election Day; a postmark doesn't count.The city's own page: the county's list of boxes · El Paso County elections # On the ballotThe local ones: County 1A keeps the public-safety sales tax going through 2037. D11 4A is a $775 million school bond (Coronado is on the list). Then fourteen statewide questions; the state's Blue Book explains each one in plain words, for and against.The city's own page: the county's local questions · the Blue Book # Apr 6, 2027The city election: mayor and three council seats. Same registration, same website. We'll print the candidates and where they stand on the Westside.The city's own page: city election page # We don't tell you how to vote. We'd love for you to. If the Blue Book is a brick, if you can't get to a box, if you're not sure you're registered, call or text 719-201-5462 and a neighbor helps. The county pays election judges and trains them; sign up here if you've got a day. ## The next two weeks ## Oct 11 to Nov 8, checked against the calendars The market's last Saturday, Pumpkins in the Park, free bingo at the community center, the cemetery tour, the coffin races, and the same seven things every week. Every weekMon Boom Box Bingo, 7 to 11 p.m. (Mother Muff's)Tue Math tutoring, 4 to 5:30 p.m. (OCC Library)Wed Toddler Time, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Wed Open mic, 6 to 9 p.m. (Jives Coffee Lounge, 16 Colbrunn Ct)Thu Trivia, 7 to 9 p.m. (OCC Brewing)Fri Storytime, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Sat Paws to Read, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Sun Brunch Jam Band, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Mother Muff's) Sun Oct 11 all month Scarecrow Days: the storefront scarecrows, with a public vote, through Oct 31 the avenue Mon Oct 12 all day Westside CARES closed for Indigenous Peoples' Day 2808 W Colorado Tue Oct 13 9 a.m. City Council regular meeting (agenda on Legistar) 107 N Nevada 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Small Steps, Giant Leaps, Space Foundation program for ages 2 to 6 Westside Community Center Wed Oct 14 9 a.m. City Planning Commission 2880 International Cir. 5:30 to 7 p.m. Evening pickleball: donate a bag of candy to play, paddles limited Westside Community Center Thu Oct 15 7:30 a.m. Coffee with the principal Coronado High, Future Center 2 to 4 p.m. Classic board games free OCC Library 5 p.m. Mushroom Zombie Haunted House opens, through Oct 31 Mush Love Tee, the shirt shop, 2627 W Colorado Fri Oct 16 all day No school at Coronado: parent-teacher conferences, 9 to 3 in the gym Coronado High 5 to 6 p.m. Bingo at the Biscuit The Biscuit Factory Cat Lounge, 12 S 25th Sat Oct 17 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Farmers market, last Saturday of the season, 80-some vendors Bancroft Park 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Craft and art market, final Saturday History Center, 1 S 24th Sun Oct 18 evening Legends and Lore of Fairview Cemetery, a two-hour guided tour; tickets online, kids 12 and under free Fairview Cemetery, 1000 S 26th Mon Oct 19 all week Fall break at Coronado, Oct 19 to 22, no school Coronado High Wed Oct 21 4 p.m. Westside Community Center Alliance meeting Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou 5:30 to 7 p.m. Howdy Neighbor prize bingo, doors at 5, all ages, no sign-up free Westside Community Center Thu Oct 22 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Book group free OCC Library Sat Oct 24 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Emma Crawford Coffin Races, the 32nd; Manitou Avenue closes at 9 Manitou Springs noon to 6 p.m. Pumpkins in the Park: pumpkin patch, painting, face painters, costume and carving contests, the ZOOmobile, live music, a beer garden free the avenue Sun Oct 25 1 to 4 p.m. Trunk or Treat in the parking lot, and Animals of Halloween inside, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. free Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th Mon Oct 26 10 to 10:45 a.m. Bighorn sheep, an indoor program with a touch table; Mondays through Nov 30 free Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Owls of the Garden: take an owl pellet apart; $5, sign up first Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 5:30 p.m. City budget public hearing, the 2027 budget; anyone can speak Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada Tue Oct 27 all day Stroll-a-Story: a storybook walk, page by page, around the library OCC Library, 2418 W Pikes Peak Thu Oct 29 7:30 to 8:45 p.m. Haunted Manitou ghost tour, $25; also Oct 30 and 31 Memorial Park, Manitou Springs Fri Oct 30 5:30 p.m. Ghost Stories of Old Manitou, a walking tour from the museum Manitou Springs Heritage Museum Sat Oct 31 1 to 2 p.m. Why wolves in Colorado, a talk Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 2 to 4:30 p.m. Trick or Treat Street: costumed kids 1 to 6, shop to shop; look for the orange and yellow balloons the avenue, 23rd to 28th 6 p.m. Manitou Phantasmagoria Shoshone Spring courtyard, Manitou Springs evening Mushroom Zombie Haunted House, last night Mush Love Tee, the shirt shop, 2627 W Colorado Tue Nov 3 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Election Day. Ballots due by 7 p.m. at a drop box; register and vote in person at the clerk's office, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd, or Manitou City Hall El Paso County Fri Nov 6 5 to 8 p.m. First Friday ArtWalk: galleries, studios and shops open late along the avenue free the avenue, 17th to 31st Sun Nov 8 11 a.m. Altitude Makers market and farmers market free Soda Springs Park, Manitou Springs Every line above came off a calendar we can link, checked October 11. The strip up top happens every week; the list is the one-time stuff. The avenue is West Colorado Avenue; OCC is Old Colorado City; D11 is the school district. If we got a time wrong, tell us and we'll fix it in the next issue. Red Rock Canyon, the churches and the school sports pages had nothing dated for these two weeks; if you know of something, send it. Where that came from: Old Colorado City events calendar · Old Colorado City Library · Westside Community Center · History Center events · Garden of the Gods calendar ## The Bulletin Board ## Suppers, pantries, services, weddings, and the ones we lost If you need something this week, start here. Free, in your words, from you or your church or your family. Food, rent and utility help: Westside CARES, 2808 W Colorado Ave, 719-389-0759. Open Monday to Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.. They prefer you walk in. Closed when the schools close for weather. Serves everyone west of I-25. Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou St, 719-385-7920. Open Monday and Friday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Tuesday to Thursday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.. A corkboard, not a story. Church suppers, pantry hours, services, weddings, and the ones we lost: free, in your words, from you or your church or your family. We call to check the hours before they run. Send it by Tuesday to hello@westsidewherewithal.com, by text to 719-201-5462, on paper to the office at Suite 122, or in the box on the front page. Where that came from: Westside CARES hours · Community center hours (city page) ## The Listening Room ## Once a month. You pick where and when. Coffee with the editor, no agenda, no sign-up. The hour and the place are a vote; the winner runs in issue 1. The Listening Room isn't an office. It's one hour a month wherever we sit down, and I'd rather you picked it than me. Vote below, or write in your own. I live over here, about twenty years now, and the office on the avenue is the paper's address; it says one thing: I'm here. I'm with you. Where and when Saturday morning, the bench by the bandshell in Bancroft Park Tuesday evening, a coffee counter on the avenue Sunday afternoon, the library (once they say yes) A weeknight on Zoom, for people who work days Cast it ## The Address Book ## What was in this storefront in 1968? One storefront, one photo, what was inside. One building per issue: a photo, the address, and whoever remembers fills in the rest. The first photo is coming; if you have one, send it in below. ## Write something ## Send it in The shop that closed, the thing the city's about to do on your street, the neighbor everybody should know. Photos and drawings count, with your name on them. Send it however you like: the box below, hello@westsidewherewithal.com, a call or a text to 719-201-5462, or drop it at the office (Suite 122, 2320 W Colorado Ave). We write back. Rather talk than type? Call or text 719-201-5462 and tell me out loud; I'll write it down and you hear it read back before it runs. Under 18? Send it anyway; we'll check with you or a parent before it runs. Teachers, send the whole class. Photos come by email. En español: mándenos un texto al 719-201-5462 o escríbanos a hello@westsidewherewithal.com, en español: su cena, su misa, su aviso. No lo hablo de nacimiento; lo traducimos con un vecino y se lo leemos antes de publicar. Any other language: send it anyway, and we'll find a neighbor to translate. Want a desk? The pages signed by a desk are open; here's how to take one. Got a counter, or a box on your fence? Say so and we'll bring a stack, free, and swap the stale ones. How we do things, if you're curious. Put me down for a stack, for my counter or my library box Send it in ## The jar It's free. If a Thursday was worth something to you, throw a few bucks in the jar; it pays for the email and the printing. A check to the office works too. Pay what you want Inside: What the city is deciding · The next two weeks · On the avenue · From the desks · The next 100 years · Frontier wherewithal · Around the avenue · What came before us ## On the avenue ## I never stepped inside Base Camp, 2611 W Colorado, closed October 4, and I never ate there. Tell me the place you'd go back to. Jeff Adkins Base Camp closed on October 4. I thought it looked cool, but the menu never appealed to me in the moment, and it's hard to take me away from the dozen places I adore already. Sad to say I never stepped inside. That's on me, and I'm not alone. Empty storefronts are not what we want here. What keeps a place open is anyone and everyone who can afford to spend local dollars in it, and I am going to try hard to keep mixing it up. If you're thinking about working and making a living here, I wish I could appeal to you directly: we need you. Old Colorado City (OCC from here on) is a tourist destination, for locals and for travelers. I know this. I gladly give up my street parking for events because I know we need them. If I want OCC Brewing to be here 365 days a year, I need them to sustain themselves. That means me not griping about the traffic or the parking over here. Not everyone can afford to eat out or shop on the avenue. I understand that; I don't feel obligated to, and neither should you. I'm fortunate that I can budget for a meal out, and I try to go during the week, when places are less busy and could frankly use the business. So I can't complain about Base Camp closing if I didn't eat there, and I can't blame not eating there on the parking. Tell me the place you'd go back to. What we know: Base Camp, 2611 W Colorado Ave, opened March 2025 and closed October 4; the owner cited costs and the economy. Mountain Shadows, the restaurant four blocks east, closed December 2024 and sold in January. Where that came from: Gazette, Oct 2, 2026 · Gazette, Jan 20, 2025 · OCC Brewing ## From the desks ## Ten desks, one neighborhood Celebrating, remembering, forecasting. Each desk is open; a neighbor's name goes on it the day they take it. The Wherewithal desks Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in · the 52 Thursdays of 2027, as a walk through the seasons The man who wrote down the Westside · 604 columns, the elk, the tunnels, and who keeps the record now Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper · the vote, the names, what's still unknown, and how to be in the room See that building? Look again · five storefronts and what they were, from the columns and the 1902 map Where the asphalt gives up · Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, Bear Creek; this fall, and the seed rule The elk who pulled a carriage · for kids: three things to find on the walk to school, and a dare Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad · la mesa en español: ayuda, el voto, cómo escribirnos Who's cooking on the Westside this week · six tables, as their own pages say it; we call before it prints Three picks before Halloween · the market's last Saturday, the coffin races, pumpkins in the park, and where to park The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead · every date headed for your street, and the door into each one Every desk is written from the record we hold and says so at the top. None of it is an interview yet; those are coming. Every one is open: how to take a desk is one text and one coffee. ## The next 100 years ## Four lanes to three, for a year Four lanes to three, Limit to 30th, for a year. The city survey is open. One driver's take below; if yours differs, next issue's yours. Jeff Adkins 1902 · Sanborn fire insurance map, sheet 2, Colorado Avenue · Library of Congress, public domain 2027 · lane drawing · city of Colorado Springs, Colorado Avenue demonstration, phase two What we know: four lanes to three from Limit to 30th by the city's page (the Gazette says 31st), since June 2026, for up to a year; the city calls it the Colorado Avenue Demonstration Project; $375K of county transportation tax (PPRTA) money. The Gazette counts about 30 parking spaces added, metered; the city's page says parking changes are expected to be minimal. We've asked the project team which it is. A second phase in 2027 makes some of it permanent and redoes three blocks of streetscape (Gazette); permanent reconstruction is penciled for 2027 or 2028 (Bike Colorado Springs). The city survey is open. One driver's take, mine (and my office is on the avenue, at 2320): it's great to see so much more attention being paid to pedestrians, and it doesn't slow me down at all. I haven't timed it; if you have, send the numbers. It may add parking, metered; the city and the Gazette disagree on how much (see the record), and nobody has said yet where someone who lives over a shop parks overnight. The city is taking comments until the concrete goes down. If you drive it, bike it, or cross it with a stroller, say so. If you hate it, this space is yours next issue, same length, your name on it. What do I want to still be here in 2126? Westsiders. Hyper local, no corporate nonsense, and room for whoever shows up to stay. Where that came from: Sanborn 1902 (LoC) · City project page · The city survey · Gazette, May 20, 2026 · Bike Colorado Springs ## Frontier wherewithal ## Load up for winter, survive the summer Not just another old west town. Two tame elk, tunnels under the avenue, four to six weeks a year you'd rather be in the water. Jeff Adkins If you're new here you might think this is just another old west town. If you're passing through, maybe we should let you believe it. Our summers are dry and shorter than most, but they stop and start and come back the most. I'd say we have about four to six weeks a year where you'd want to be holed up in the cabin or in the water, which can be tricky to find. We need to know how to load up for winter, survive the summer, and not die of dehydration. And like every place with lore, we have a guy who trained two tame elk, Thunder and Buttons, to pull a carriage, plus tunnels and brothels and churches, oh my. We love it here. What we know: Thunder and Buttons were elk; Prairie Dog O'Byrne drove them hitched to a carriage on this avenue in the late 1880s. The tunnels under the avenue are documented by the historical society, with the honest caveat that some of it may be something else. Colorado City voted itself dry in 1913. Where that came from: Westside Pioneer, 2006 · Cobweb Corners, 2005 · Gazette, July 2021, the tunnels · Thunder and Buttons II ## Around the avenue ## Getting to know them is the point I don't know everyone yet. Getting to know them is the point. Jeff Adkins What we know so far: Who's opening and who's moving: we've heard about three and have an address for none, so none are named yet. Send the name and the block. The Old Colorado City Historical Society runs a free museum at 1 South 24th, a block off the avenue. Tuesday through Saturday, 11 to 4 in summer and 11 to 2 in winter. Call before you drive. The free Tuesday concerts at the Bancroft Park bandshell ran June 2 through September 29 this year, 5:30, Dizzy Charlie's and the Pikes Peak Blues Community. Next summer's lineup runs here the week it's announced. First Friday art walk, 5 to 8, galleries and studios along the avenue. Next one is November 6. The Customs and Classics car show closes the avenue from 23rd to 27th one Sunday every August. If the one you went to was a different show this fall, tell us which. This is the stuff I get to see everyone else doing. I enjoy seeing them do it. It doesn't matter to me if I don't know anyone in the room, because getting to know them is the point of this life. And that's what I'm here to capture in this paper. I shouldn't pretend to know things I don't. Where that came from: OCC History Center · Tuesday concerts (Springs Magazine) · First Friday (OCC calendar) · The car show (Pioneer, 2018) ## What came before us ## I want it all Mel McFarland died in September; I indexed the 604 columns I found. Eight digs, from the capital that got away to the forgotten cemetery. Jeff Adkins Start here: Mel McFarland, who wrote the Westside's past in the Pioneer for fifteen years, died in September at 81. Most of what is below comes from his columns. I found 604 and indexed every one I found; the one-line summaries there are software drafts, not yet checked one by one. Who keeps the record now is a question this paper exists to answer. I want the best stories from Old Colorado City. I want to dig down and find the most awesome stuff we can publish: how people first lived here, how it went from zero to what it is today, funny things, shootouts, jail time for crimes that make us laugh and cry, mysteries and murders. I want it all. What did we used to do and stop? What was, but isn't? What could have been, but never was? The digs I can't do alone: your church, your family, your block. Send them. What we found first: The capital that got away. Colorado City was founded in August 1859 to outfit gold seekers, was the county seat by 1861, and held the territorial capital just long enough to lose it to Denver. One account says the town was deemed too rowdy. Zero to four thousand. Mel has the town past 2,000 by 1890; the 1892 fire-insurance map (the Sanborn) writes 2,000 on its own cover, and the 1902 sheet writes 4,000. The town voted itself dry in 1913, lost the saloon money, and voted to be annexed by Colorado Springs in April 1917. Four saloons to twenty-seven. By the Pioneer's 2009 count (a feature, not one of Mel's columns): four in 1884, twenty-three by 1888, twenty-seven in 1902 plus thirty-some gambling halls, on a main street that also had the churches. Laura Bell McDaniel. From the Pioneer's 2011 profile, not the index: queen of the tenderloin; her last house was the Tribley House in the 2600 block of West Cucharras. She married Tom McDaniel in April 1887 in Salida; a month later he shot a man five times while she watched, and was acquitted. She divorced him in 1893. Accused in November 1917 of stealing liquor and acquitted; the historian who wrote her up thinks it was a set-up. Died in a car crash in January 1918. The elk were O'Byrne's by Mel's column (bought in Aspen in 1888); a 2006 Pioneer piece has her riding beside him in the carriage. The Glass Works. Full production in 1889 with 200 men on the south edge of town, bottling Manitou water. The furnace top collapsed just after midnight on September 9, 1892. Wheeler promised to rebuild; the Silver Panic of 1893 and the lost customers finished it. One of Mel's columns says it closed in 1895, another says by 1900; one puts a fire in 1893 as well. The Midland shops. The Colorado Midland started here in 1886 and quit in 1918; the Midland Terminal ran the line to Divide until it was scrapped in 1949. Hundreds of men in the shops at the peak, under a hundred by 1925, about fifty by 1948; the office burned in 1953. The fourteen-stall roundhouse is the one that lived: Van Briggle pottery, then the shops you walk through now. The mills. The Colorado-Philadelphia came first, in 1894 by one of Mel's columns and about 1897 by another, near 31st and the 24. Golden Cycle took over the Telluride mill in 1906, rebuilt it with cyanide after a 1907 fire, and ran it until 1949; the smokestack is still there. The forgotten cemetery. Colorado City's Pioneer cemetery, on the mesa, used from about 1860 to 1917. Not every burial was moved; the stones came out in the 1940s and it became Pioneer Park in the 1950s. Graves were mapped with metal detectors in the 1970s, a project Mel joined, and a cast-iron coffin may still be there. Who is in it is still the question. Where that came from: Why the fuss? (Pioneer) · Laura Bell McDaniel (Pioneer, 2011) · Thunder and Buttons (Cobweb Corners, 2005) · The Glass Works, 200 men (Cobweb Corners, 2011) · The Glass Works fire (Cobweb Corners, 2011) · The Glass Works closed 1895 (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The Midland, 1886 to 1918 (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The Midland shops decline (Cobweb Corners, 2009) · The roundhouse (Cobweb Corners, 2007) · The mills (Cobweb Corners, 2013) · Golden Cycle closes, 1949 (Cobweb Corners, 2006) · The capital, the county seat (Cobweb Corners, 2009) · The forgotten cemetery (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The forgotten cemetery (Cobweb Corners, 2017) · Mel McFarland, 1945 to 2026 (Gazette) · Every Cobweb Corners column, indexed · Colorado City Iris, digitized (CHNC) If something here is wrong, reply to the email or send it in below. Corrections run at the top of the next issue. Behind the masthead: Sanborn fire insurance map of Colorado City, November 1902, sheet 1. Library of Congress, public domain. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad <https://westsidewherewithal.com/la-vecina> Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad La Vecina, la mesa en español. Traducción nuestra; buscamos a un vecino o vecina que la tome y firme aquí. Vecina, vecino: Le escribo con las hojas ya cambiando de color y las tardes más cortas. Aquí entre nosotros, quería contarle lo que sé. Si usted vive al oeste de la I-25, este periódico es para usted. Se llama The Westside Wherewithal, sale cada semana y es gratis. Lo escribimos entre vecinos: lo que abre, lo que cierra, lo que se vota, lo que llega al parque. Y queremos saber de usted. Cuéntenos lo que ve en su cuadra, en su iglesia, en su trabajo, y hágalo en español, como le salga. Si esta semana necesita una mano, vaya a Westside CARES, en 2808 W Colorado Ave. Abren de lunes a jueves, de 9:30 a.m. a 12:30 p.m., y no hace falta cita. Atienden a todos los que viven al oeste de la I-25. Llame al 719-389-0759. También tiene el Westside Community Center, en 1628 W Bijou St, teléfono 719-385-7920. Abre lunes y viernes, de 9 a.m. a 3 p.m., y de martes a jueves, de 9 a.m. a 7 p.m. Ahora el voto, en claro. Hasta el 26 de octubre puede registrarse, o revisar si ya está registrado, en GoVoteColorado.gov. Pasada esa fecha, todavía puede hacerlo en persona, hasta el día de la elección. Y para dejar su boleta, las urnas están abiertas hasta las 7 p.m. del 3 de noviembre en cuatro lugares: el centro comercial Red Rock Canyon, 3141 W Colorado Ave; Bear Creek Regional Park, 2002 Creek Crossing St; la oficina del secretario del condado, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd; y el ayuntamiento de Manitou, 606 Manitou Ave. Aquí no le decimos cómo votar. Solo le decimos dónde y cuándo. En diciembre el Christkindlmarket vuelve a Bancroft Park. Cuando tengamos los días, se los pasamos aquí. Si quiere escribirnos, mande un texto al 719-201-5462 o un correo a hello@westsidewherewithal.com, en español. El editor no habla español de cuna. Traduce con un vecino y lo vuelve a leer con él antes de que algo se imprima. También tenemos una hoja en español en westsidewherewithal.com/sheet-es. Y una cosa honesta: esta página es traducción nuestra. Buscamos a un vecino o vecina que hable español para que tome esta mesa y firme aquí con su nombre. Hasta la próxima semana, vecino. Un abrazo, La Vecina The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The print pack <https://westsidewherewithal.com/print> The print pack Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The print pack Everything to print this week, how many, and where it goes. Any copy shop; a home printer works for the one-sheets. What to print PrintFileHowCopies The one-sheetsheet.pdfLetter, one side (two sides if you want the puzzle back: sheet-back.pdf)20 Large printsheet-large.pdfLetter, two sides5 La hoja (Spanish)sheet-es.pdfLetter, one side10 The box editionzine-box.pdfLetter, landscape, two sheets, two-sided, flip on the short edge; nest sheet 2 inside sheet 1, fold once; no staples20 Every print says "good till Oct 25" or has no dates. A stale stack gets swapped; call and we bring more. Where it goes PlaceWhatHow many The gas station at 31stone-sheet5 The hardware storeone-sheet5 A diner on the avenueone-sheet, and ask about a tray5 The OCC History Center, 1 S 24thone-sheet5 Your own door, Suite 122one-sheet, box edition5 and 5 The grocery at 31stla hoja10 The senior table at the community center, 1628 W Bijoularge print5 The little free library at the old Carnegie building, 701 Manitou Avebox edition8 The Head Start box, 2330 Robinson Stbox edition7 The ask at a counter, two sentences: "It's a free weekly paper for the Westside, written by neighbors, nothing for you to pay and nothing to sell. Can it sit here, and can I refill it on Thursdays?" Say yes to any condition they add. What to watch Count what's left after a week. Note any call or text to 719-201-5462 and any word find or quiz score that comes in. That's the first real test; everything before it was rehearsal. The reader inbox was empty on October 11. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Plant this (when it exists) <https://westsidewherewithal.com/seeds> Plant this (when it exists) Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Plant this (when it exists) There are no seed strips yet. This is the plan, written down before the first one so nobody has to guess. Some copies of the zine will carry a small sealed strip of seed paper. Plant it in your own yard, a friend's yard with their yes, a community garden, or a school bed with the principal's okay. Not in a park, not in open space, not in Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, the Garden of the Gods or Bear Creek, not along the creek or a trail, and never after a fire. Those places get seeded by the people who manage them, with seed matched to the ground, and a stranger's strip does more harm than good there. What's in it: Colorado natives from a Colorado grower (Western Native Seed, in Coaldale): Lewis blue flax, Rocky Mountain penstemon, blanketflower, prairie coneflower. Nothing from the state's noxious weed list, which is where the cheap "wildflower mixes" go wrong. Plant in fall; the penstemon wants a winter in the ground. Plant it, take a picture when something comes up, send it in. The best ones run in the paper with your name on them. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Take a desk <https://westsidewherewithal.com/take-a-desk> Take a desk Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Take a desk Every page on this paper signed by a desk instead of a person is open. Taking one is not a job and not an application. It's a shift you can do in an hour or two a week, and your name goes on what prints. How it works Text 719-201-5462 or email hello@westsidewherewithal.com: "I'll take The Table." That's the whole form. One conversation with Jeff, by phone or over coffee, so you know what the desk promises and he knows how to reach you. Your first piece runs under your name the next Thursday it's ready. The desk line at the top comes off. You can hand it back any week by saying so. Nobody checks credentials. We check facts. Everything you turn in gets the same read every page gets: every claim traced to where it came from, a phone call on any hour or price, and a copy back to you before it prints. How we do things is the whole rulebook. The desks, in hours and acts DeskWhat it is, every weekAbout how long The TableCall five pantries and suppers on Tuesday, confirm the hours, write the day-by-day.An hour, mostly on hold The Weekend RadarMonday: pull the eight calendars (the avenue's association, the library, the Garden, Manitou, the community center), pick three, say where to park.An hour The RecordOne City Council Tuesday a month (9 a.m., 107 N Nevada, or the video later) with the one-page sheet. Write what happened, attach the document.Two hours, twice a month at most The RidgeMonday: read the city's parks and open-space page and the Friends of Red Rock Canyon site. Walk one trail. Say which one was muddy.An hour, plus the walk The PorchOne conversation a month with someone who's been here a long time. Recorded with their yes, written up in their words, read back to them before it prints.An afternoon a month The Address BookOne storefront or corner a week: what it was, from Mel McFarland's columns and the 1902 map, and one visit to the History Center at 1 S 24th for the renumbering key.An hour The BoxOne page a month for kids, best done by a kid and a grown-up together: a dare, a thing to find, a true fact.An evening a month La VecinaRead la hoja once a week, fix what sounds wrong, and answer the Spanish texts that come to the number.An hour, some weeks none The Next HundredRead the dates on the agendas (Council, Planning, the parks board, the clerk's liquor notices for 80904) and keep the twelve-month list honest.An hour The Year AheadThe editor's calendar. Not open; but the lead each week is, and a desk that takes one is how that starts. Two people can share a desk. A class can take The Box. A church can take The Table for its own block. If you want a desk that isn't here, say what it is. What you get Your name on the page, every week you do it. Readers first. A link back to anything of yours. The once-a-year thank-you list. No pay yet; we say so plainly. Coffee's on Jeff. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Thank you <https://westsidewherewithal.com/thanks> Thank you Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Thank you That's the whole transaction. No tier, no badge, no extra issue. The paper keeps going, and your name goes on the once-a-year list of people who chipped in, alphabetical, no amounts, unless you'd rather it didn't. Reply to any issue to say so. See you Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The elk who pulled a carriage <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-box> The elk who pulled a carriage Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The elk who pulled a carriage The Box desk, for kids and whoever is with them. When a neighbor (or a kid) takes this desk, their name goes here. Okay. You're the boss today. Walk to school, but make it a hunt. Find three things. One: a little free library. It's a box on a post full of books, and you can take one. We know of 27 of them west of I-25. Two you can visit: the one at the old Carnegie library building, 701 Manitou Ave, and the one at the Head Start, 2330 Robinson St. Two: the red rocks at the end of the street. Stop and look. Three: one leaf. Pick the best one on the block. Keep it. It's a bookmark now. Okay. Now the elk. In 1888, a man named John O'Byrne got two tame elk from a judge in Aspen. He trained them to pull his tourist carriage down this very avenue. Their names were Thunder and Buttons. Yes, elk. Yes, a carriage. Eventually a movie company bought them and took them to Alaska to film advertisements. Thunder and Buttons were in commercials. (Also true.) (Bonus, also true: in 1880 a train crew calmed a cold, panicking circus elephant at Colorado Springs with a keg of beer. Aunt's honor.) Ask a grown-up. Point at any building on your walk and ask: "What was here before?" Then listen. Your move, boss. This fall: Halloween, Oct. 31, 2 to 4:30 p.m.: Trick or Treat Street on the avenue, 23rd to 28th. Costumed kids 1 to 6. Look for the orange and yellow balloons. Bring a little cousin. Mondays, 10 a.m.: the bighorn sheep program at the Garden of the Gods Visitor Center. December: the Christkindlmarket comes back to Bancroft Park, bigger than last year, with Santa at the cabin. Bonus level: the paper in the box has games. A word find whose leftover letters spell a message. A five-question quiz with the answers printed upside down. And a map to draw on: it's the 1902 map of Colorado City, when the town had 4,000 people. You can see it at westsidewherewithal.com/zine-box, page 6. The dare. Draw Thunder and Buttons pulling the carriage. Go big. Give the tourists faces. Then put it in the little free library box, or send it to hello@westsidewherewithal.com with your first name. We print the best ones. See you on the avenue. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-next-hundred> The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead The Next Hundred desk. Written from the city's own pages and the ballot; dates change, and we fix them when they do. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Right now, Colorado Avenue. Four lanes have been three from Limit to 30th since June, for up to a year. Watch the lanes. Your move: fill out the city survey after you've driven it, biked it, or crossed it with a stroller. The avenue went on a diet and nobody asked it. Oct 21 and Oct 26. The community center's neighbor group meets Wednesday the 21st at 4 p.m.; it helps steer what the center at 1628 W Bijou becomes. Monday the 26th, 5:30 p.m.: the 2027 budget's public hearing at 107 N Nevada. Anyone can speak; the council calendar lists the work sessions before it. Your move: pick one and go. The budget reads better with you. Nov 3. Ballots are due by 7 p.m. County 1A would keep the public-safety sales tax going through 2037. D11's 4A is a $775 million school bond, and Coronado is on the list. Your move: vote, and use a drop box if the mail feels slow. There's one at 3141 W Colorado Ave. Seven o'clock does not negotiate. December. The Christkindlmarket comes back to Bancroft Park, bigger. Bancroft is the pupil of the eye, so a bigger market could mean a fuller avenue and fewer spots out front. Your move: go, and walk. The car can stay home. April 6, 2027. The city election: mayor and three council seats. Your move: register or check your registration, and ask every candidate what they would do about the avenue. The avenue will hear about it. April 13. Council hears the appeal on Project Taurus, the 50-megawatt data center proposed at the old Intel plant next to the homes in Chelsea Glen. The Planning Commission approved it 6 to 2 in July with a power cap and noise monitoring; council wants a noise study first, and the hearing falls a week after you vote (Colorado Politics). The developer says it is weighing the partnership, so the date could still move. Your move: read the noise study when it exists, and show up. Read quietly. April to fall 2027. A roundabout replaces the four-way stop at 31st and Fontanero by Howbert Elementary, on the western gateway to the red rocks. Parents asked about the school crossing, and the city says it will work with the school. Your move: if you walk kids there, ask the school what they've been told. Four stops become one circle. Around June 2027. The lane test's year ends, give or take. Nothing we've found says what comes after. Your move: whatever you think of the test, say so before it ends. A year is long enough for an opinion. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The man who wrote down the Westside <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-porch-mcfarland> The man who wrote down the Westside Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The man who wrote down the Westside The Porch desk. Written from the record; the editor's conversations with his family and friends are coming. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. If you ever wondered whether there really were tunnels under Colorado Avenue, Mel McFarland is a big part of why you wondered. I'll tell you what I know. He died September 21, at 81. From 2004 to 2019 he wrote 604 "Cobweb Corners" columns about this neighborhood for the Westside Pioneer. He was born here in 1944, a fourth-generation native, taught art and drafting, and wrote books on the Colorado Midland Railway. In 1983 he bought a retired working caboose for his Rockrimmon backyard, and became "the Caboose Guy." Dave Martinek, who started Midland Days at Divide with him in 2009, told the Gazette: "He was the go-to person for anyone who wanted to know about railroad history in the state." His nephew Luc MacArthur called him "kind of a Renaissance man." His sister, Elaine Radney, said: "He had a lot of people who loved him." He wrote it down. Here is some of it. On February 3, 2005, he wrote down the story of John O'Byrne, who in 1888 got two tame elk, Thunder and Buttons, and trained them to pull a tourist carriage. Here is the column. On April 7, 2005, he wrote down the tunnels, the ones that let Colorado Avenue customers reach the Cucharras Street brothels unseen. He had "seen the remains of bits of both" sets of tunnels himself. On November 17, 2011, he wrote down the Glass Works disaster. Just after midnight on September 9, 1892, the furnace top collapsed and fiery glass poured out. Chunks of raw glass still show up now and then in neighborhood yards and rock walls, he wrote. On November 14, 2013, he wrote down the day a Teller County sheriff chained a Pullman sleeper car to the rails over $663.21 in unpaid taxes, and a U.S. marshal freed it two days later. Read it. Here's the thing. The Gazette says he left "file cabinets" of research and writing, and that his family hopes to sift through them, with no concrete plans yet. The next person who asks "was there really a glass plant over here?" gets a shrug. We can't fix that. What we have is an index of all 604 columns, by what each one reports, at westsidewherewithal.com/cobweb. The editor plans to call his sister, Dave Martinek, the Pioneer's editor Kenyon Jordan, and the History Center, and we'll tell you what they say. The question we're taking to them is who keeps the record now. We'd like to be part of the answer, and we'd like yours. Did a column of his stick with you? Tell us which one. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-record-dda> Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper The Record desk. Written from the city's own pages and the news; the Aug 25 minutes are still to be read. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. If you missed the council meeting last month, here is the entry. A downtown development authority, a DDA, is a small district set up by a vote. It is supposed to get its own pot of money to spend on one downtown. In 2024, Old Colorado City voters created one for the avenue. It never got its funding. It was created by a vote and ended by a vote, and the money never turned up in between. On Sept 22, City Council voted 5 to 4 to dissolve it. That's ordinance 26-48. The meeting record has the roll call. That's on paper. Yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams No: Donelson, Gold, Henjum, Leinweber The Gazette reported the first vote, on Aug 25, as the same 5 to 4. That's reported. On Oct 2, KKTV reported that the DDA is weighing legal action, because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. That's reported too. That is the whole ledger so far. Here is what we don't know: The Aug 25 minutes. We have the first vote from the news, not from the minutes. Until we've read them, the date and the count are reported, not checked. Whether a lawsuit is filed. KKTV says the DDA is considering one. We haven't found a filing. That isn't on paper. We'll say so when it is. What the DDA was going to buy. The records we have don't list its plan, so we won't guess. If you voted in 2024, or sat in those rooms, tell us what you were told. Who picks up the avenue's end of things now. Nobody has answered that in anything we've read. That isn't on paper either. We are taking the question to the next meeting. Some of those answers are in a room on a Tuesday morning. You can be in it. City Council meets the second and fourth Tuesdays at 9 a.m., 107 N Nevada, and you can watch from home. You don't have to say a word. Take the one-page sheet, write down what happens, and your name goes on it. The Oct 13 meeting is the next one. If you were at the Aug 25 meeting, or you have the minutes, send them over. Tell me what I got wrong. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Where the asphalt gives up <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-ridge> Where the asphalt gives up Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Where the asphalt gives up The Ridge desk. Written from the city's pages and the groups' own sites; a canyon volunteer reads it before it prints. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Rain or snow, and the trails hold it. Friends of Red Rock Canyon says wait a day or two, because they stay muddy and fragile for 24 to 48 hours. Follow 21st down to Bear Creek, then keep going west. Around 30th and 31st the asphalt gives up. The red sandstone takes over. Red Rock Canyon is the pocket to the south. The city bought it in 2003, after it had been slated for a resort with high-rise towers and a private golf course. The city's open space page lists it among the places TOPS, the sales tax voters passed for open space, made possible. It nearly went the other way. Parking. The 31st Street trailhead has more than the High Street lots. No e-bikes in the open space. This fall. The Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th, runs a free bighorn sheep program with a touch table, Mondays 10 to 10:45 a.m. through Nov 30. Owls of the Garden is Oct 26, 12:30 to 1:30. Tickets from $5, sign up first. Oct 31, 1 to 2 p.m., a talk on why wolves in Colorado. The Garden's calendar has details. What's being decided. The Park System Master Plan goes to City Council for readings Oct 12 and 27, after the parks board heard it Oct 8. White Acres Trail is becoming the Don Ellis Trail. The board approved it Aug 13; it waits on an agreement and an $850 city fee. Fire restrictions: the city's page shows none this week, and we are checking with the fire department. We'll tell you what we hear. The seed rule. Some copies of this paper will carry a strip of Colorado native seed: Lewis blue flax, Rocky Mountain penstemon, blanketflower, prairie coneflower, from Western Native Seed in Coaldale. Plant it in your yard, a friend's yard with their yes, or a community garden. Never in a park, open space, along the creek or a trail, and never after a fire. The people who manage those places seed with plants matched to the ground, and a stranger's strip can do more harm than good. Groups to join. Friends of Red Rock Canyon keeps up the benches and runs Talk and Walks, resuming soon (no date yet). The Trails and Open Space Coalition takes members and runs the One Bag Challenge cleanups. Friends of Garden of the Gods runs volunteer days. Our promise. Every Monday this desk reads the city's parks pages, and a canyon volunteer reads them with us. If nothing's new, we'll say so. Which trail was muddy this week? Tell me and I'll pass it along. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Who's cooking on the Westside this week <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-table> Who's cooking on the Westside this week Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Who's cooking on the Westside this week The Table desk. Hours are as the churches and pantries post them, checked October 11; we call before they go on the Bulletin Board. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Here's how it works. Somebody on this side of the interstate is feeding somebody nearly every day of the week, mostly out of church basements, and the people at the stoves are neighbors who are very good at it. We went looking for the tables. There are more than we figured. Everything below is what each place says on its own page as of October 11. We haven't called any of them yet, so please do before you go. Hours move, and a wrong one costs somebody a trip. Sunday The Sanctuary Church, 1930 W Colorado Ave, lists its Ragamuffin Cafe hot meal at 9 a.m. Call 719-634-7232. It's the only Sunday hot meal we found over here. If you know another, tell us. Monday Westside CARES, 2808 W Colorado Ave, posts a weekly hot meal from 11 to 12:30. Call 719-389-0759. Same day, Sacred Heart's pantry is posted noon to 2 at the Parish Center door, 2030 W Colorado Ave. No voucher. Call 719-633-8711. Tuesday Westside Global Methodist, 701 N 20th St, posts its pantry from 11 to 2. Call 719-633-9295. If you still call it Trinity UMC, that's the same corner with a new name, and the old building on W Pikes Peak is becoming a child care center. Wednesday The Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou St, hosts the CARES pantry from 1 to 3. Call 719-385-7920. Up the road in Manitou, the pantry at 110 Canon Ave was last reported at 1 to 2, with a hot meal starting 12:30. Call 719-685-9259. St. Andrew's closed as a church in 2025, but the pantry kept going in the parish hall. Hats off to the people who kept it going. Thursday Sacred Heart again, same hours, same door, no voucher. Call 719-633-8711. Know another table? That's six tables, and I'd bet my good parking spot there are more. Churches, clubs, a neighbor with a big pot and a folding table. If your church or group feeds people, text 719-201-5462 or write hello@westsidewherewithal.com with the day and the hour. We'll call, confirm it, and print it, free, in your words. That's what the Bulletin Board is for. It's where every table lives, every week, so nobody has to guess which church has soup on which night. See you at the table. Tell us what we got wrong. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Three picks before Halloween <https://westsidewherewithal.com/weekend-radar> Three picks before Halloween Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Three picks before Halloween The Weekend Radar desk. Every line checked against the organizer's own page. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Two weekends, three picks, and I've already parked for all of them. Read this, then go. Go to the farmers market. Saturday, October 17, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., Bancroft Park, 24th and Colorado. It's the last Saturday of the season, with 80-some vendors, and there is no next Saturday. Go early, because the best of anything goes first. Parking: don't circle the park hoping. Take a side street and walk the last bit. Saturday, October 24 is two things at once. Pick one. First, the coffin races. The Emma Crawford Coffin Races run 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Manitou Springs. Parking: Manitou Avenue closes at 9, so get there before the road shuts and the crowd fills in, and plan to walk in. Second, the pumpkins. Pumpkins in the Park is noon to 6 p.m. on the avenue, free, with a pumpkin patch, painting, costume and carving contests, the ZOOmobile, live music and a beer garden. Parking: the avenue's diagonal spots fill on a festival Saturday, so take a side street and walk in. Don't try to do both in one afternoon. Choose, then start the day with it. The things that are always there. If the festivals are not your speed, or you just need a Thursday: trivia at OCC Brewing every Thursday, 7 to 9 p.m. Storytime at the OCC Library every Friday, 10:30 a.m. Brunch Jam Band at Mother Muff's every Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Free bingo on the 21st, Trunk or Treat on the 25th, Trick or Treat Street on the 31st and First Friday ArtWalk on November 6 are all on the full list, with times. That list lives at westsidewherewithal.com, and it's also the one-sheet on the counters around the avenue. Got something happening that we missed? Send it to hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or text 719-201-5462. We'll check it against your own page and put it in. See you Saturday. I'll be the one who parked early. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in <https://westsidewherewithal.com/year-ahead> Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in The Year Ahead desk. Written from the editor's calendar; no interviews yet. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Picture the fridge calendar. Every Thursday of 2027 is penciled in, and you're coming along. One honest aside: it's plans, all of it. Nothing has been reported yet, and some weeks may not land. Winter first. Week one: The Reset Issue. Quiet workspaces, reading refuges, and I'd be surprised if the Carnegie library stays out. And then we eat through the cold. The quest for the best broth in OCC. A reader poll for the best breakfast burrito west of I-25. A 4:00 a.m. shift with a Westside baker. Then February: a cocktail lounge audit off Main Street, an Alternative Valentine, pints by the fireplace, and how the vintage and antiques shops survive winter. Spring opens up. Red Rock Canyon hikes, with lunches after. The carriage house makers working out of alleys. St. Patrick week. And then the thaw, when we find out which counters open their windows. The under-$15 lunch circuit. A patio audit covering shade, noise, pints and dogs. Seed swaps. Coffee roasters. A Territory Days survival guide. A First Friday gallery crawl. Spring tap releases. Summer gets loud. Hosting out-of-towners without crossing I-25. The Bancroft Park farmers market, booth by booth. Gelato. Where a line cook eats at midnight. Secret courtyards. Quiet Fourth of July viewpoints. Live music on the bricks, and I'm hoping the bandshell gets a paragraph. You pick the coldest drinks. Then the Pueblo chile arrives. Nightcaps and jukeboxes after 10, and I'd bet Mother Muff's comes up. Then a back-to-school pantry run, Uintah Gardens an obvious stop. Fall, the leg I'm saving. The annual pizza index: Slice 420 against Rustica against Leopold's, and we'll need lots of you to settle it. Golden aspens. Autumn ciders. A locals' guide for after the tourists leave. Ghost signs, spooky lore, wood-fired and cast iron cooking (Front Range BBQ, you're on my mind). Thanksgiving hosting. Best of the Westside nominations. Small Business Saturday. And then a Black Friday antidote at Section 16 and Bear Creek. December: a 100% Westside gift guide, a winter lights walk, the Best of the Westside winners, the solstice and quiet patios, and a last issue called Looking Ahead. Every week also carries a civic item and an oral history. A 40-year diner regular. A couple who met at Bancroft in 1988. A chile roaster of 25 seasons. A dishwasher who worked 300 shifts. A high school senior looking at the Westside's future. Tell me which month I got wrong, or which place I forgot. The pencil's by the fridge, and I'll see you the first Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? <https://westsidewherewithal.com/issues/2026-10-11-issue-0> Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? 2026-10-11 In this issue Can't we just inform each other? The leaves are changing Divide anything but our bread What it's all for We choose this Can't we just inform each other? Nobody's telling us what's happening around here unless you find some corporate website that tracks you and tries to make you pay just to find out what's going on outside your door. What a drag. Can't we just inform each other, and have fun building and being in community? The leaves are changing The leaves are changing and falling, and the streets are graced with people from all walks of life. The days are growing shorter, and fall will give way to snow in a few weeks. Before we know it Santa will be at the cabin in Bancroft Park and the Christkindlmarket will be back. Divide anything but our bread I want people to see and hear themselves in our work. I want the people in this community to remember that we're in this together and that what we print is made to remind us of that. We are not here to divide anything but our bread for others, to love our neighbors, and practice mercy and kindness. What it's all for I get nervous that people's fear clouds not only their judgment but their hearts. I can be a skeptic, and quite cynical at times. I wonder what it's all for and why I'm doing this. But in the end, if one person reads our words and connects with them even a little, and it gives them a spark or the belief that they are loved, I will have done my work. We choose this I hope people are excited to see what we're up to. I hope they want to be a part of it, and that by gathering and presenting our values, beliefs and customs together, we can cherish them and let new things in while the old fades. I want Thursday to remind us that we choose this. Jeff What we told you Can't we just inform each other? The leaves are changing Divide anything but our bread What it's all for We choose this The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The archive <https://westsidewherewithal.com/issues/index> The archive Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The archive Every issue, oldest at the bottom. Free to read. If you want to chip in, the jar is on the front page. Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? 2026-10-11 The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The Westside Wherewithal <https://westsidewherewithal.com/> The Westside Wherewithal Skip to the paper We start for real in January. Sign up and the first one lands on a Thursday morning. Thursday mornings · FreeFrom your neighbors ## The Westside WherewithalBecause living west of takes a little wherewithal. Colorado Springs, Colorado A free paper for the Westside of Colorado Springs, written by the people who live here. Thursday mornings, starting January. ## Get it Thursday morning One email a week, free. Put your address in and we'll see you Thursday. Sign me up ## What the city is deciding ## About your street, before it's done You can still weigh in Open nowColorado Avenue lane test. Four lanes to three from Limit Street to 30th Street (the city's page; the Gazette says 31st), for up to a year from June 2026, paid for with $375K from the regional road tax (PPRTA, the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority). The city survey is open.The city's own page: City project page · The surveyIn the news: Gazette, lane test # Oct 26, 2026The city's 2027 budget. Public hearing Monday Oct 26, 5:30 p.m., Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada. Anyone can speak. The council talks it over at work sessions first (Oct 15 is one). What's in it for the Westside, we're reading now.The city's own page: the council calendar (Legistar) # Coming up Oct 21, 2026The community center's neighbor group (the Westside Community Center Alliance) meets Wednesday Oct 21, 4 p.m. It helps steer what the center at 1628 W Bijou becomes. Whether anyone can sit in, we're asking.The city's own page: city page, community centerStill looking for: the Alliance's own notice and the Parks Advisory Board's May minutesIn the news: Gazette, the Alliance # Apr 2027Roundabout at 31st and Fontanero, by Howbert Elementary, replacing the four-way stop. The open house was Sept 15. Construction April to fall 2027. Parents asked about the school crossing; the city says it will work with the school. The crossing drawing and the open-house boards are the documents we're after.In the news: KKTV, the roundabout # Apr 13, 2027Project Taurus. A 50-megawatt data center proposed at the old Intel plant, next to the homes in Chelsea Glen. The Planning Commission approved it 6 to 2 in July with a power cap and noise monitoring. Council put the appeal off 7 to 2 to April 13, a week after the city election, and wants a noise study and a study of what big power users pay first. The developer told Colorado Politics on Sept 18 it is weighing whether this is the right partnership.Still looking for: the noise studyIn the news: CPR, hearing date · Colorado Politics, the postponement · KKTV, the appeal # Already decided Sep 22, 2026Old Colorado City's downtown development authority (DDA) shut down. The tax district voters created in 2024 never got its funding. Council voted 5 to 4 on Sept 22 to dissolve it, ordinance 26-48 (yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams; no: Donelson, Gold, Henjum, Leinweber), after the same 5 to 4 on first reading Aug 25. KKTV reported Oct 2 that the DDA is weighing legal action because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. Who picks up the avenue's end of things is an open question.The city's own page: meeting record (Open Publica)Still looking for: the ordinance text itself, and the Aug 25 minutesIn the news: Gazette, the first vote · KKTV, the lawsuit threat # Coming up Every weekThe land. Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, the Garden, Bear Creek, the creek itself: fire restrictions, trail closures, anything the parks board decides. Nothing new on the city's pages this week; we look every Monday, and a canyon volunteer is looking with us.The city's own page: city parks, trails and open space # Already decided Since Apr 2023Greater Westside Community Plan. Nine neighborhoods, one plan: Gold Hill, Ivywild, Mesa, Mesa Springs, Midland, Old Colorado City, Skyway, Stratton Meadows, Westside. The city's page lists six meetings, the last in April 2023, plus a 2022 survey and a 'Big Ideas' summary. What came next is the question we're taking to Planning, and to the neighbors who sat in those rooms.The city's own page: city page, the plan # Checked October 11. Each one links to the city's own page where we found it. Where it says "still looking," we haven't found it yet (city websites, you know how it goes). If you've got it, send it over. Want to be the person in the room? Go to one meeting, write down what happened on this one-page sheet, and your name goes on it. A City Council Tuesday is the easy first one; you can watch it live or later from the couch. ## Vote ## Ballots are in the mail. Here's the Westside part. By Oct 26Register, or check that you're registered, at GoVoteColorado.gov. Moved since last time? Update it there too. After Oct 26 you can still register and vote in person, through Election Day.The city's own page: GoVoteColorado.gov # Till Nov 3, 7 p.m.Drop boxes west of I-25, open day and night: Red Rock Canyon shopping center, 3141 W Colorado Ave; Bear Creek Regional Park, 2002 Creek Crossing St; the clerk's office, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd; Manitou City Hall, 606 Manitou Ave. Mailing it? The county says by Oct 27. It has to arrive by 7 p.m. on Election Day; a postmark doesn't count.The city's own page: the county's list of boxes · El Paso County elections # On the ballotThe local ones: County 1A keeps the public-safety sales tax going through 2037. D11 4A is a $775 million school bond (Coronado is on the list). Then fourteen statewide questions; the state's Blue Book explains each one in plain words, for and against.The city's own page: the county's local questions · the Blue Book # Apr 6, 2027The city election: mayor and three council seats. Same registration, same website. We'll print the candidates and where they stand on the Westside.The city's own page: city election page # We don't tell you how to vote. We'd love for you to. If the Blue Book is a brick, if you can't get to a box, if you're not sure you're registered, call or text 719-201-5462 and a neighbor helps. The county pays election judges and trains them; sign up here if you've got a day. ## The next two weeks ## Oct 11 to Nov 8, checked against the calendars The market's last Saturday, Pumpkins in the Park, free bingo at the community center, the cemetery tour, the coffin races, and the same seven things every week. Every weekMon Boom Box Bingo, 7 to 11 p.m. (Mother Muff's)Tue Math tutoring, 4 to 5:30 p.m. (OCC Library)Wed Toddler Time, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Wed Open mic, 6 to 9 p.m. (Jives Coffee Lounge, 16 Colbrunn Ct)Thu Trivia, 7 to 9 p.m. (OCC Brewing)Fri Storytime, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Sat Paws to Read, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Sun Brunch Jam Band, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Mother Muff's) Sun Oct 11 all month Scarecrow Days: the storefront scarecrows, with a public vote, through Oct 31 the avenue Mon Oct 12 all day Westside CARES closed for Indigenous Peoples' Day 2808 W Colorado Tue Oct 13 9 a.m. City Council regular meeting (agenda on Legistar) 107 N Nevada 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Small Steps, Giant Leaps, Space Foundation program for ages 2 to 6 Westside Community Center Wed Oct 14 9 a.m. City Planning Commission 2880 International Cir. 5:30 to 7 p.m. Evening pickleball: donate a bag of candy to play, paddles limited Westside Community Center Thu Oct 15 7:30 a.m. Coffee with the principal Coronado High, Future Center 2 to 4 p.m. Classic board games free OCC Library 5 p.m. Mushroom Zombie Haunted House opens, through Oct 31 Mush Love Tee, the shirt shop, 2627 W Colorado Fri Oct 16 all day No school at Coronado: parent-teacher conferences, 9 to 3 in the gym Coronado High 5 to 6 p.m. Bingo at the Biscuit The Biscuit Factory Cat Lounge, 12 S 25th Sat Oct 17 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Farmers market, last Saturday of the season, 80-some vendors Bancroft Park 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Craft and art market, final Saturday History Center, 1 S 24th Sun Oct 18 evening Legends and Lore of Fairview Cemetery, a two-hour guided tour; tickets online, kids 12 and under free Fairview Cemetery, 1000 S 26th Mon Oct 19 all week Fall break at Coronado, Oct 19 to 22, no school Coronado High Wed Oct 21 4 p.m. Westside Community Center Alliance meeting Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou 5:30 to 7 p.m. Howdy Neighbor prize bingo, doors at 5, all ages, no sign-up free Westside Community Center Thu Oct 22 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Book group free OCC Library Sat Oct 24 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Emma Crawford Coffin Races, the 32nd; Manitou Avenue closes at 9 Manitou Springs noon to 6 p.m. Pumpkins in the Park: pumpkin patch, painting, face painters, costume and carving contests, the ZOOmobile, live music, a beer garden free the avenue Sun Oct 25 1 to 4 p.m. Trunk or Treat in the parking lot, and Animals of Halloween inside, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. free Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th Mon Oct 26 10 to 10:45 a.m. Bighorn sheep, an indoor program with a touch table; Mondays through Nov 30 free Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Owls of the Garden: take an owl pellet apart; $5, sign up first Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 5:30 p.m. City budget public hearing, the 2027 budget; anyone can speak Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada Tue Oct 27 all day Stroll-a-Story: a storybook walk, page by page, around the library OCC Library, 2418 W Pikes Peak Thu Oct 29 7:30 to 8:45 p.m. Haunted Manitou ghost tour, $25; also Oct 30 and 31 Memorial Park, Manitou Springs Fri Oct 30 5:30 p.m. Ghost Stories of Old Manitou, a walking tour from the museum Manitou Springs Heritage Museum Sat Oct 31 1 to 2 p.m. Why wolves in Colorado, a talk Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 2 to 4:30 p.m. Trick or Treat Street: costumed kids 1 to 6, shop to shop; look for the orange and yellow balloons the avenue, 23rd to 28th 6 p.m. Manitou Phantasmagoria Shoshone Spring courtyard, Manitou Springs evening Mushroom Zombie Haunted House, last night Mush Love Tee, the shirt shop, 2627 W Colorado Tue Nov 3 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Election Day. Ballots due by 7 p.m. at a drop box; register and vote in person at the clerk's office, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd, or Manitou City Hall El Paso County Fri Nov 6 5 to 8 p.m. First Friday ArtWalk: galleries, studios and shops open late along the avenue free the avenue, 17th to 31st Sun Nov 8 11 a.m. Altitude Makers market and farmers market free Soda Springs Park, Manitou Springs Every line above came off a calendar we can link, checked October 11. The strip up top happens every week; the list is the one-time stuff. The avenue is West Colorado Avenue; OCC is Old Colorado City; D11 is the school district. If we got a time wrong, tell us and we'll fix it in the next issue. Red Rock Canyon, the churches and the school sports pages had nothing dated for these two weeks; if you know of something, send it. Where that came from: Old Colorado City events calendar · Old Colorado City Library · Westside Community Center · History Center events · Garden of the Gods calendar ## The Bulletin Board ## Suppers, pantries, services, weddings, and the ones we lost If you need something this week, start here. Free, in your words, from you or your church or your family. Food, rent and utility help: Westside CARES, 2808 W Colorado Ave, 719-389-0759. Open Monday to Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.. They prefer you walk in. Closed when the schools close for weather. Serves everyone west of I-25. Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou St, 719-385-7920. Open Monday and Friday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Tuesday to Thursday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.. A corkboard, not a story. Church suppers, pantry hours, services, weddings, and the ones we lost: free, in your words, from you or your church or your family. We call to check the hours before they run. Send it by Tuesday to hello@westsidewherewithal.com, by text to 719-201-5462, on paper to the office at Suite 122, or in the box on the front page. Where that came from: Westside CARES hours · Community center hours (city page) ## The Listening Room ## Once a month. You pick where and when. Coffee with the editor, no agenda, no sign-up. The hour and the place are a vote; the winner runs in issue 1. The Listening Room isn't an office. It's one hour a month wherever we sit down, and I'd rather you picked it than me. Vote below, or write in your own. I live over here, about twenty years now, and the office on the avenue is the paper's address; it says one thing: I'm here. I'm with you. Where and when Saturday morning, the bench by the bandshell in Bancroft Park Tuesday evening, a coffee counter on the avenue Sunday afternoon, the library (once they say yes) A weeknight on Zoom, for people who work days Cast it ## The Address Book ## What was in this storefront in 1968? One storefront, one photo, what was inside. One building per issue: a photo, the address, and whoever remembers fills in the rest. The first photo is coming; if you have one, send it in below. ## Write something ## Send it in The shop that closed, the thing the city's about to do on your street, the neighbor everybody should know. Photos and drawings count, with your name on them. Send it however you like: the box below, hello@westsidewherewithal.com, a call or a text to 719-201-5462, or drop it at the office (Suite 122, 2320 W Colorado Ave). We write back. Rather talk than type? Call or text 719-201-5462 and tell me out loud; I'll write it down and you hear it read back before it runs. Under 18? Send it anyway; we'll check with you or a parent before it runs. Teachers, send the whole class. Photos come by email. En español: mándenos un texto al 719-201-5462 o escríbanos a hello@westsidewherewithal.com, en español: su cena, su misa, su aviso. No lo hablo de nacimiento; lo traducimos con un vecino y se lo leemos antes de publicar. Any other language: send it anyway, and we'll find a neighbor to translate. Want a desk? The pages signed by a desk are open; here's how to take one. Got a counter, or a box on your fence? Say so and we'll bring a stack, free, and swap the stale ones. How we do things, if you're curious. Put me down for a stack, for my counter or my library box Send it in ## The jar It's free. If a Thursday was worth something to you, throw a few bucks in the jar; it pays for the email and the printing. A check to the office works too. Pay what you want Inside: What the city is deciding · The next two weeks · On the avenue · From the desks · The next 100 years · Frontier wherewithal · Around the avenue · What came before us ## On the avenue ## I never stepped inside Base Camp, 2611 W Colorado, closed October 4, and I never ate there. Tell me the place you'd go back to. Jeff Adkins Base Camp closed on October 4. I thought it looked cool, but the menu never appealed to me in the moment, and it's hard to take me away from the dozen places I adore already. Sad to say I never stepped inside. That's on me, and I'm not alone. Empty storefronts are not what we want here. What keeps a place open is anyone and everyone who can afford to spend local dollars in it, and I am going to try hard to keep mixing it up. If you're thinking about working and making a living here, I wish I could appeal to you directly: we need you. Old Colorado City (OCC from here on) is a tourist destination, for locals and for travelers. I know this. I gladly give up my street parking for events because I know we need them. If I want OCC Brewing to be here 365 days a year, I need them to sustain themselves. That means me not griping about the traffic or the parking over here. Not everyone can afford to eat out or shop on the avenue. I understand that; I don't feel obligated to, and neither should you. I'm fortunate that I can budget for a meal out, and I try to go during the week, when places are less busy and could frankly use the business. So I can't complain about Base Camp closing if I didn't eat there, and I can't blame not eating there on the parking. Tell me the place you'd go back to. What we know: Base Camp, 2611 W Colorado Ave, opened March 2025 and closed October 4; the owner cited costs and the economy. Mountain Shadows, the restaurant four blocks east, closed December 2024 and sold in January. Where that came from: Gazette, Oct 2, 2026 · Gazette, Jan 20, 2025 · OCC Brewing ## From the desks ## Ten desks, one neighborhood Celebrating, remembering, forecasting. Each desk is open; a neighbor's name goes on it the day they take it. The Wherewithal desks Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in · the 52 Thursdays of 2027, as a walk through the seasons The man who wrote down the Westside · 604 columns, the elk, the tunnels, and who keeps the record now Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper · the vote, the names, what's still unknown, and how to be in the room See that building? Look again · five storefronts and what they were, from the columns and the 1902 map Where the asphalt gives up · Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, Bear Creek; this fall, and the seed rule The elk who pulled a carriage · for kids: three things to find on the walk to school, and a dare Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad · la mesa en español: ayuda, el voto, cómo escribirnos Who's cooking on the Westside this week · six tables, as their own pages say it; we call before it prints Three picks before Halloween · the market's last Saturday, the coffin races, pumpkins in the park, and where to park The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead · every date headed for your street, and the door into each one Every desk is written from the record we hold and says so at the top. None of it is an interview yet; those are coming. Every one is open: how to take a desk is one text and one coffee. ## The next 100 years ## Four lanes to three, for a year Four lanes to three, Limit to 30th, for a year. The city survey is open. One driver's take below; if yours differs, next issue's yours. Jeff Adkins 1902 · Sanborn fire insurance map, sheet 2, Colorado Avenue · Library of Congress, public domain 2027 · lane drawing · city of Colorado Springs, Colorado Avenue demonstration, phase two What we know: four lanes to three from Limit to 30th by the city's page (the Gazette says 31st), since June 2026, for up to a year; the city calls it the Colorado Avenue Demonstration Project; $375K of county transportation tax (PPRTA) money. The Gazette counts about 30 parking spaces added, metered; the city's page says parking changes are expected to be minimal. We've asked the project team which it is. A second phase in 2027 makes some of it permanent and redoes three blocks of streetscape (Gazette); permanent reconstruction is penciled for 2027 or 2028 (Bike Colorado Springs). The city survey is open. One driver's take, mine (and my office is on the avenue, at 2320): it's great to see so much more attention being paid to pedestrians, and it doesn't slow me down at all. I haven't timed it; if you have, send the numbers. It may add parking, metered; the city and the Gazette disagree on how much (see the record), and nobody has said yet where someone who lives over a shop parks overnight. The city is taking comments until the concrete goes down. If you drive it, bike it, or cross it with a stroller, say so. If you hate it, this space is yours next issue, same length, your name on it. What do I want to still be here in 2126? Westsiders. Hyper local, no corporate nonsense, and room for whoever shows up to stay. Where that came from: Sanborn 1902 (LoC) · City project page · The city survey · Gazette, May 20, 2026 · Bike Colorado Springs ## Frontier wherewithal ## Load up for winter, survive the summer Not just another old west town. Two tame elk, tunnels under the avenue, four to six weeks a year you'd rather be in the water. Jeff Adkins If you're new here you might think this is just another old west town. If you're passing through, maybe we should let you believe it. Our summers are dry and shorter than most, but they stop and start and come back the most. I'd say we have about four to six weeks a year where you'd want to be holed up in the cabin or in the water, which can be tricky to find. We need to know how to load up for winter, survive the summer, and not die of dehydration. And like every place with lore, we have a guy who trained two tame elk, Thunder and Buttons, to pull a carriage, plus tunnels and brothels and churches, oh my. We love it here. What we know: Thunder and Buttons were elk; Prairie Dog O'Byrne drove them hitched to a carriage on this avenue in the late 1880s. The tunnels under the avenue are documented by the historical society, with the honest caveat that some of it may be something else. Colorado City voted itself dry in 1913. Where that came from: Westside Pioneer, 2006 · Cobweb Corners, 2005 · Gazette, July 2021, the tunnels · Thunder and Buttons II ## Around the avenue ## Getting to know them is the point I don't know everyone yet. Getting to know them is the point. Jeff Adkins What we know so far: Who's opening and who's moving: we've heard about three and have an address for none, so none are named yet. Send the name and the block. The Old Colorado City Historical Society runs a free museum at 1 South 24th, a block off the avenue. Tuesday through Saturday, 11 to 4 in summer and 11 to 2 in winter. Call before you drive. The free Tuesday concerts at the Bancroft Park bandshell ran June 2 through September 29 this year, 5:30, Dizzy Charlie's and the Pikes Peak Blues Community. Next summer's lineup runs here the week it's announced. First Friday art walk, 5 to 8, galleries and studios along the avenue. Next one is November 6. The Customs and Classics car show closes the avenue from 23rd to 27th one Sunday every August. If the one you went to was a different show this fall, tell us which. This is the stuff I get to see everyone else doing. I enjoy seeing them do it. It doesn't matter to me if I don't know anyone in the room, because getting to know them is the point of this life. And that's what I'm here to capture in this paper. I shouldn't pretend to know things I don't. Where that came from: OCC History Center · Tuesday concerts (Springs Magazine) · First Friday (OCC calendar) · The car show (Pioneer, 2018) ## What came before us ## I want it all Mel McFarland died in September; I indexed the 604 columns I found. Eight digs, from the capital that got away to the forgotten cemetery. Jeff Adkins Start here: Mel McFarland, who wrote the Westside's past in the Pioneer for fifteen years, died in September at 81. Most of what is below comes from his columns. I found 604 and indexed every one I found; the one-line summaries there are software drafts, not yet checked one by one. Who keeps the record now is a question this paper exists to answer. I want the best stories from Old Colorado City. I want to dig down and find the most awesome stuff we can publish: how people first lived here, how it went from zero to what it is today, funny things, shootouts, jail time for crimes that make us laugh and cry, mysteries and murders. I want it all. What did we used to do and stop? What was, but isn't? What could have been, but never was? The digs I can't do alone: your church, your family, your block. Send them. What we found first: The capital that got away. Colorado City was founded in August 1859 to outfit gold seekers, was the county seat by 1861, and held the territorial capital just long enough to lose it to Denver. One account says the town was deemed too rowdy. Zero to four thousand. Mel has the town past 2,000 by 1890; the 1892 fire-insurance map (the Sanborn) writes 2,000 on its own cover, and the 1902 sheet writes 4,000. The town voted itself dry in 1913, lost the saloon money, and voted to be annexed by Colorado Springs in April 1917. Four saloons to twenty-seven. By the Pioneer's 2009 count (a feature, not one of Mel's columns): four in 1884, twenty-three by 1888, twenty-seven in 1902 plus thirty-some gambling halls, on a main street that also had the churches. Laura Bell McDaniel. From the Pioneer's 2011 profile, not the index: queen of the tenderloin; her last house was the Tribley House in the 2600 block of West Cucharras. She married Tom McDaniel in April 1887 in Salida; a month later he shot a man five times while she watched, and was acquitted. She divorced him in 1893. Accused in November 1917 of stealing liquor and acquitted; the historian who wrote her up thinks it was a set-up. Died in a car crash in January 1918. The elk were O'Byrne's by Mel's column (bought in Aspen in 1888); a 2006 Pioneer piece has her riding beside him in the carriage. The Glass Works. Full production in 1889 with 200 men on the south edge of town, bottling Manitou water. The furnace top collapsed just after midnight on September 9, 1892. Wheeler promised to rebuild; the Silver Panic of 1893 and the lost customers finished it. One of Mel's columns says it closed in 1895, another says by 1900; one puts a fire in 1893 as well. The Midland shops. The Colorado Midland started here in 1886 and quit in 1918; the Midland Terminal ran the line to Divide until it was scrapped in 1949. Hundreds of men in the shops at the peak, under a hundred by 1925, about fifty by 1948; the office burned in 1953. The fourteen-stall roundhouse is the one that lived: Van Briggle pottery, then the shops you walk through now. The mills. The Colorado-Philadelphia came first, in 1894 by one of Mel's columns and about 1897 by another, near 31st and the 24. Golden Cycle took over the Telluride mill in 1906, rebuilt it with cyanide after a 1907 fire, and ran it until 1949; the smokestack is still there. The forgotten cemetery. Colorado City's Pioneer cemetery, on the mesa, used from about 1860 to 1917. Not every burial was moved; the stones came out in the 1940s and it became Pioneer Park in the 1950s. Graves were mapped with metal detectors in the 1970s, a project Mel joined, and a cast-iron coffin may still be there. Who is in it is still the question. Where that came from: Why the fuss? (Pioneer) · Laura Bell McDaniel (Pioneer, 2011) · Thunder and Buttons (Cobweb Corners, 2005) · The Glass Works, 200 men (Cobweb Corners, 2011) · The Glass Works fire (Cobweb Corners, 2011) · The Glass Works closed 1895 (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The Midland, 1886 to 1918 (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The Midland shops decline (Cobweb Corners, 2009) · The roundhouse (Cobweb Corners, 2007) · The mills (Cobweb Corners, 2013) · Golden Cycle closes, 1949 (Cobweb Corners, 2006) · The capital, the county seat (Cobweb Corners, 2009) · The forgotten cemetery (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The forgotten cemetery (Cobweb Corners, 2017) · Mel McFarland, 1945 to 2026 (Gazette) · Every Cobweb Corners column, indexed · Colorado City Iris, digitized (CHNC) If something here is wrong, reply to the email or send it in below. Corrections run at the top of the next issue. Behind the masthead: Sanborn fire insurance map of Colorado City, November 1902, sheet 1. Library of Congress, public domain. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad <https://westsidewherewithal.com/la-vecina> Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad La Vecina, la mesa en español. Traducción nuestra; buscamos a un vecino o vecina que la tome y firme aquí. Vecina, vecino: Le escribo con las hojas ya cambiando de color y las tardes más cortas. Aquí entre nosotros, quería contarle lo que sé. Si usted vive al oeste de la I-25, este periódico es para usted. Se llama The Westside Wherewithal, sale cada semana y es gratis. Lo escribimos entre vecinos: lo que abre, lo que cierra, lo que se vota, lo que llega al parque. Y queremos saber de usted. Cuéntenos lo que ve en su cuadra, en su iglesia, en su trabajo, y hágalo en español, como le salga. Si esta semana necesita una mano, vaya a Westside CARES, en 2808 W Colorado Ave. Abren de lunes a jueves, de 9:30 a.m. a 12:30 p.m., y no hace falta cita. Atienden a todos los que viven al oeste de la I-25. Llame al 719-389-0759. También tiene el Westside Community Center, en 1628 W Bijou St, teléfono 719-385-7920. Abre lunes y viernes, de 9 a.m. a 3 p.m., y de martes a jueves, de 9 a.m. a 7 p.m. Ahora el voto, en claro. Hasta el 26 de octubre puede registrarse, o revisar si ya está registrado, en GoVoteColorado.gov. Pasada esa fecha, todavía puede hacerlo en persona, hasta el día de la elección. Y para dejar su boleta, las urnas están abiertas hasta las 7 p.m. del 3 de noviembre en cuatro lugares: el centro comercial Red Rock Canyon, 3141 W Colorado Ave; Bear Creek Regional Park, 2002 Creek Crossing St; la oficina del secretario del condado, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd; y el ayuntamiento de Manitou, 606 Manitou Ave. Aquí no le decimos cómo votar. Solo le decimos dónde y cuándo. En diciembre el Christkindlmarket vuelve a Bancroft Park. Cuando tengamos los días, se los pasamos aquí. Si quiere escribirnos, mande un texto al 719-201-5462 o un correo a hello@westsidewherewithal.com, en español. El editor no habla español de cuna. Traduce con un vecino y lo vuelve a leer con él antes de que algo se imprima. También tenemos una hoja en español en westsidewherewithal.com/sheet-es. Y una cosa honesta: esta página es traducción nuestra. Buscamos a un vecino o vecina que hable español para que tome esta mesa y firme aquí con su nombre. Hasta la próxima semana, vecino. Un abrazo, La Vecina The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The print pack <https://westsidewherewithal.com/print> The print pack Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The print pack Everything to print this week, how many, and where it goes. Any copy shop; a home printer works for the one-sheets. What to print PrintFileHowCopies The one-sheetsheet.pdfLetter, one side (two sides if you want the puzzle back: sheet-back.pdf)20 Large printsheet-large.pdfLetter, two sides5 La hoja (Spanish)sheet-es.pdfLetter, one side10 The box editionzine-box.pdfLetter, landscape, two sheets, two-sided, flip on the short edge; nest sheet 2 inside sheet 1, fold once; no staples20 Every print says "good till Oct 25" or has no dates. A stale stack gets swapped; call and we bring more. Where it goes PlaceWhatHow many The gas station at 31stone-sheet5 The hardware storeone-sheet5 A diner on the avenueone-sheet, and ask about a tray5 The OCC History Center, 1 S 24thone-sheet5 Your own door, Suite 122one-sheet, box edition5 and 5 The grocery at 31stla hoja10 The senior table at the community center, 1628 W Bijoularge print5 The little free library at the old Carnegie building, 701 Manitou Avebox edition8 The Head Start box, 2330 Robinson Stbox edition7 The ask at a counter, two sentences: "It's a free weekly paper for the Westside, written by neighbors, nothing for you to pay and nothing to sell. Can it sit here, and can I refill it on Thursdays?" Say yes to any condition they add. What to watch Count what's left after a week. Note any call or text to 719-201-5462 and any word find or quiz score that comes in. That's the first real test; everything before it was rehearsal. The reader inbox was empty on October 11. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Plant this (when it exists) <https://westsidewherewithal.com/seeds> Plant this (when it exists) Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Plant this (when it exists) There are no seed strips yet. This is the plan, written down before the first one so nobody has to guess. Some copies of the zine will carry a small sealed strip of seed paper. Plant it in your own yard, a friend's yard with their yes, a community garden, or a school bed with the principal's okay. Not in a park, not in open space, not in Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, the Garden of the Gods or Bear Creek, not along the creek or a trail, and never after a fire. Those places get seeded by the people who manage them, with seed matched to the ground, and a stranger's strip does more harm than good there. What's in it: Colorado natives from a Colorado grower (Western Native Seed, in Coaldale): Lewis blue flax, Rocky Mountain penstemon, blanketflower, prairie coneflower. Nothing from the state's noxious weed list, which is where the cheap "wildflower mixes" go wrong. Plant in fall; the penstemon wants a winter in the ground. Plant it, take a picture when something comes up, send it in. The best ones run in the paper with your name on them. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Take a desk <https://westsidewherewithal.com/take-a-desk> Take a desk Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Take a desk Every page on this paper signed by a desk instead of a person is open. Taking one is not a job and not an application. It's a shift you can do in an hour or two a week, and your name goes on what prints. How it works Text 719-201-5462 or email hello@westsidewherewithal.com: "I'll take The Table." That's the whole form. One conversation with Jeff, by phone or over coffee, so you know what the desk promises and he knows how to reach you. Your first piece runs under your name the next Thursday it's ready. The desk line at the top comes off. You can hand it back any week by saying so. Nobody checks credentials. We check facts. Everything you turn in gets the same read every page gets: every claim traced to where it came from, a phone call on any hour or price, and a copy back to you before it prints. How we do things is the whole rulebook. The desks, in hours and acts DeskWhat it is, every weekAbout how long The TableCall five pantries and suppers on Tuesday, confirm the hours, write the day-by-day.An hour, mostly on hold The Weekend RadarMonday: pull the eight calendars (the avenue's association, the library, the Garden, Manitou, the community center), pick three, say where to park.An hour The RecordOne City Council Tuesday a month (9 a.m., 107 N Nevada, or the video later) with the one-page sheet. Write what happened, attach the document.Two hours, twice a month at most The RidgeMonday: read the city's parks and open-space page and the Friends of Red Rock Canyon site. Walk one trail. Say which one was muddy.An hour, plus the walk The PorchOne conversation a month with someone who's been here a long time. Recorded with their yes, written up in their words, read back to them before it prints.An afternoon a month The Address BookOne storefront or corner a week: what it was, from Mel McFarland's columns and the 1902 map, and one visit to the History Center at 1 S 24th for the renumbering key.An hour The BoxOne page a month for kids, best done by a kid and a grown-up together: a dare, a thing to find, a true fact.An evening a month La VecinaRead la hoja once a week, fix what sounds wrong, and answer the Spanish texts that come to the number.An hour, some weeks none The Next HundredRead the dates on the agendas (Council, Planning, the parks board, the clerk's liquor notices for 80904) and keep the twelve-month list honest.An hour The Year AheadThe editor's calendar. Not open; but the lead each week is, and a desk that takes one is how that starts. Two people can share a desk. A class can take The Box. A church can take The Table for its own block. If you want a desk that isn't here, say what it is. What you get Your name on the page, every week you do it. Readers first. A link back to anything of yours. The once-a-year thank-you list. No pay yet; we say so plainly. Coffee's on Jeff. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Thank you <https://westsidewherewithal.com/thanks> Thank you Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Thank you That's the whole transaction. No tier, no badge, no extra issue. The paper keeps going, and your name goes on the once-a-year list of people who chipped in, alphabetical, no amounts, unless you'd rather it didn't. Reply to any issue to say so. See you Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The elk who pulled a carriage <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-box> The elk who pulled a carriage Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The elk who pulled a carriage The Box desk, for kids and whoever is with them. When a neighbor (or a kid) takes this desk, their name goes here. Okay. You're the boss today. Walk to school, but make it a hunt. Find three things. One: a little free library. It's a box on a post full of books, and you can take one. We know of 27 of them west of I-25. Two you can visit: the one at the old Carnegie library building, 701 Manitou Ave, and the one at the Head Start, 2330 Robinson St. Two: the red rocks at the end of the street. Stop and look. Three: one leaf. Pick the best one on the block. Keep it. It's a bookmark now. Okay. Now the elk. In 1888, a man named John O'Byrne got two tame elk from a judge in Aspen. He trained them to pull his tourist carriage down this very avenue. Their names were Thunder and Buttons. Yes, elk. Yes, a carriage. Eventually a movie company bought them and took them to Alaska to film advertisements. Thunder and Buttons were in commercials. (Also true.) (Bonus, also true: in 1880 a train crew calmed a cold, panicking circus elephant at Colorado Springs with a keg of beer. Aunt's honor.) Ask a grown-up. Point at any building on your walk and ask: "What was here before?" Then listen. Your move, boss. This fall: Halloween, Oct. 31, 2 to 4:30 p.m.: Trick or Treat Street on the avenue, 23rd to 28th. Costumed kids 1 to 6. Look for the orange and yellow balloons. Bring a little cousin. Mondays, 10 a.m.: the bighorn sheep program at the Garden of the Gods Visitor Center. December: the Christkindlmarket comes back to Bancroft Park, bigger than last year, with Santa at the cabin. Bonus level: the paper in the box has games. A word find whose leftover letters spell a message. A five-question quiz with the answers printed upside down. And a map to draw on: it's the 1902 map of Colorado City, when the town had 4,000 people. You can see it at westsidewherewithal.com/zine-box, page 6. The dare. Draw Thunder and Buttons pulling the carriage. Go big. Give the tourists faces. Then put it in the little free library box, or send it to hello@westsidewherewithal.com with your first name. We print the best ones. See you on the avenue. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-next-hundred> The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead The Next Hundred desk. Written from the city's own pages and the ballot; dates change, and we fix them when they do. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Right now, Colorado Avenue. Four lanes have been three from Limit to 30th since June, for up to a year. Watch the lanes. Your move: fill out the city survey after you've driven it, biked it, or crossed it with a stroller. The avenue went on a diet and nobody asked it. Oct 21 and Oct 26. The community center's neighbor group meets Wednesday the 21st at 4 p.m.; it helps steer what the center at 1628 W Bijou becomes. Monday the 26th, 5:30 p.m.: the 2027 budget's public hearing at 107 N Nevada. Anyone can speak; the council calendar lists the work sessions before it. Your move: pick one and go. The budget reads better with you. Nov 3. Ballots are due by 7 p.m. County 1A would keep the public-safety sales tax going through 2037. D11's 4A is a $775 million school bond, and Coronado is on the list. Your move: vote, and use a drop box if the mail feels slow. There's one at 3141 W Colorado Ave. Seven o'clock does not negotiate. December. The Christkindlmarket comes back to Bancroft Park, bigger. Bancroft is the pupil of the eye, so a bigger market could mean a fuller avenue and fewer spots out front. Your move: go, and walk. The car can stay home. April 6, 2027. The city election: mayor and three council seats. Your move: register or check your registration, and ask every candidate what they would do about the avenue. The avenue will hear about it. April 13. Council hears the appeal on Project Taurus, the 50-megawatt data center proposed at the old Intel plant next to the homes in Chelsea Glen. The Planning Commission approved it 6 to 2 in July with a power cap and noise monitoring; council wants a noise study first, and the hearing falls a week after you vote (Colorado Politics). The developer says it is weighing the partnership, so the date could still move. Your move: read the noise study when it exists, and show up. Read quietly. April to fall 2027. A roundabout replaces the four-way stop at 31st and Fontanero by Howbert Elementary, on the western gateway to the red rocks. Parents asked about the school crossing, and the city says it will work with the school. Your move: if you walk kids there, ask the school what they've been told. Four stops become one circle. Around June 2027. The lane test's year ends, give or take. Nothing we've found says what comes after. Your move: whatever you think of the test, say so before it ends. A year is long enough for an opinion. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The man who wrote down the Westside <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-porch-mcfarland> The man who wrote down the Westside Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The man who wrote down the Westside The Porch desk. Written from the record; the editor's conversations with his family and friends are coming. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. If you ever wondered whether there really were tunnels under Colorado Avenue, Mel McFarland is a big part of why you wondered. I'll tell you what I know. He died September 21, at 81. From 2004 to 2019 he wrote 604 "Cobweb Corners" columns about this neighborhood for the Westside Pioneer. He was born here in 1944, a fourth-generation native, taught art and drafting, and wrote books on the Colorado Midland Railway. In 1983 he bought a retired working caboose for his Rockrimmon backyard, and became "the Caboose Guy." Dave Martinek, who started Midland Days at Divide with him in 2009, told the Gazette: "He was the go-to person for anyone who wanted to know about railroad history in the state." His nephew Luc MacArthur called him "kind of a Renaissance man." His sister, Elaine Radney, said: "He had a lot of people who loved him." He wrote it down. Here is some of it. On February 3, 2005, he wrote down the story of John O'Byrne, who in 1888 got two tame elk, Thunder and Buttons, and trained them to pull a tourist carriage. Here is the column. On April 7, 2005, he wrote down the tunnels, the ones that let Colorado Avenue customers reach the Cucharras Street brothels unseen. He had "seen the remains of bits of both" sets of tunnels himself. On November 17, 2011, he wrote down the Glass Works disaster. Just after midnight on September 9, 1892, the furnace top collapsed and fiery glass poured out. Chunks of raw glass still show up now and then in neighborhood yards and rock walls, he wrote. On November 14, 2013, he wrote down the day a Teller County sheriff chained a Pullman sleeper car to the rails over $663.21 in unpaid taxes, and a U.S. marshal freed it two days later. Read it. Here's the thing. The Gazette says he left "file cabinets" of research and writing, and that his family hopes to sift through them, with no concrete plans yet. The next person who asks "was there really a glass plant over here?" gets a shrug. We can't fix that. What we have is an index of all 604 columns, by what each one reports, at westsidewherewithal.com/cobweb. The editor plans to call his sister, Dave Martinek, the Pioneer's editor Kenyon Jordan, and the History Center, and we'll tell you what they say. The question we're taking to them is who keeps the record now. We'd like to be part of the answer, and we'd like yours. Did a column of his stick with you? Tell us which one. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-record-dda> Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper The Record desk. Written from the city's own pages and the news; the Aug 25 minutes are still to be read. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. If you missed the council meeting last month, here is the entry. A downtown development authority, a DDA, is a small district set up by a vote. It is supposed to get its own pot of money to spend on one downtown. In 2024, Old Colorado City voters created one for the avenue. It never got its funding. It was created by a vote and ended by a vote, and the money never turned up in between. On Sept 22, City Council voted 5 to 4 to dissolve it. That's ordinance 26-48. The meeting record has the roll call. That's on paper. Yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams No: Donelson, Gold, Henjum, Leinweber The Gazette reported the first vote, on Aug 25, as the same 5 to 4. That's reported. On Oct 2, KKTV reported that the DDA is weighing legal action, because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. That's reported too. That is the whole ledger so far. Here is what we don't know: The Aug 25 minutes. We have the first vote from the news, not from the minutes. Until we've read them, the date and the count are reported, not checked. Whether a lawsuit is filed. KKTV says the DDA is considering one. We haven't found a filing. That isn't on paper. We'll say so when it is. What the DDA was going to buy. The records we have don't list its plan, so we won't guess. If you voted in 2024, or sat in those rooms, tell us what you were told. Who picks up the avenue's end of things now. Nobody has answered that in anything we've read. That isn't on paper either. We are taking the question to the next meeting. Some of those answers are in a room on a Tuesday morning. You can be in it. City Council meets the second and fourth Tuesdays at 9 a.m., 107 N Nevada, and you can watch from home. You don't have to say a word. Take the one-page sheet, write down what happens, and your name goes on it. The Oct 13 meeting is the next one. If you were at the Aug 25 meeting, or you have the minutes, send them over. Tell me what I got wrong. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Where the asphalt gives up <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-ridge> Where the asphalt gives up Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Where the asphalt gives up The Ridge desk. Written from the city's pages and the groups' own sites; a canyon volunteer reads it before it prints. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Rain or snow, and the trails hold it. Friends of Red Rock Canyon says wait a day or two, because they stay muddy and fragile for 24 to 48 hours. Follow 21st down to Bear Creek, then keep going west. Around 30th and 31st the asphalt gives up. The red sandstone takes over. Red Rock Canyon is the pocket to the south. The city bought it in 2003, after it had been slated for a resort with high-rise towers and a private golf course. The city's open space page lists it among the places TOPS, the sales tax voters passed for open space, made possible. It nearly went the other way. Parking. The 31st Street trailhead has more than the High Street lots. No e-bikes in the open space. This fall. The Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th, runs a free bighorn sheep program with a touch table, Mondays 10 to 10:45 a.m. through Nov 30. Owls of the Garden is Oct 26, 12:30 to 1:30. Tickets from $5, sign up first. Oct 31, 1 to 2 p.m., a talk on why wolves in Colorado. The Garden's calendar has details. What's being decided. The Park System Master Plan goes to City Council for readings Oct 12 and 27, after the parks board heard it Oct 8. White Acres Trail is becoming the Don Ellis Trail. The board approved it Aug 13; it waits on an agreement and an $850 city fee. Fire restrictions: the city's page shows none this week, and we are checking with the fire department. We'll tell you what we hear. The seed rule. Some copies of this paper will carry a strip of Colorado native seed: Lewis blue flax, Rocky Mountain penstemon, blanketflower, prairie coneflower, from Western Native Seed in Coaldale. Plant it in your yard, a friend's yard with their yes, or a community garden. Never in a park, open space, along the creek or a trail, and never after a fire. The people who manage those places seed with plants matched to the ground, and a stranger's strip can do more harm than good. Groups to join. Friends of Red Rock Canyon keeps up the benches and runs Talk and Walks, resuming soon (no date yet). The Trails and Open Space Coalition takes members and runs the One Bag Challenge cleanups. Friends of Garden of the Gods runs volunteer days. Our promise. Every Monday this desk reads the city's parks pages, and a canyon volunteer reads them with us. If nothing's new, we'll say so. Which trail was muddy this week? Tell me and I'll pass it along. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Who's cooking on the Westside this week <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-table> Who's cooking on the Westside this week Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Who's cooking on the Westside this week The Table desk. Hours are as the churches and pantries post them, checked October 11; we call before they go on the Bulletin Board. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Here's how it works. Somebody on this side of the interstate is feeding somebody nearly every day of the week, mostly out of church basements, and the people at the stoves are neighbors who are very good at it. We went looking for the tables. There are more than we figured. Everything below is what each place says on its own page as of October 11. We haven't called any of them yet, so please do before you go. Hours move, and a wrong one costs somebody a trip. Sunday The Sanctuary Church, 1930 W Colorado Ave, lists its Ragamuffin Cafe hot meal at 9 a.m. Call 719-634-7232. It's the only Sunday hot meal we found over here. If you know another, tell us. Monday Westside CARES, 2808 W Colorado Ave, posts a weekly hot meal from 11 to 12:30. Call 719-389-0759. Same day, Sacred Heart's pantry is posted noon to 2 at the Parish Center door, 2030 W Colorado Ave. No voucher. Call 719-633-8711. Tuesday Westside Global Methodist, 701 N 20th St, posts its pantry from 11 to 2. Call 719-633-9295. If you still call it Trinity UMC, that's the same corner with a new name, and the old building on W Pikes Peak is becoming a child care center. Wednesday The Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou St, hosts the CARES pantry from 1 to 3. Call 719-385-7920. Up the road in Manitou, the pantry at 110 Canon Ave was last reported at 1 to 2, with a hot meal starting 12:30. Call 719-685-9259. St. Andrew's closed as a church in 2025, but the pantry kept going in the parish hall. Hats off to the people who kept it going. Thursday Sacred Heart again, same hours, same door, no voucher. Call 719-633-8711. Know another table? That's six tables, and I'd bet my good parking spot there are more. Churches, clubs, a neighbor with a big pot and a folding table. If your church or group feeds people, text 719-201-5462 or write hello@westsidewherewithal.com with the day and the hour. We'll call, confirm it, and print it, free, in your words. That's what the Bulletin Board is for. It's where every table lives, every week, so nobody has to guess which church has soup on which night. See you at the table. Tell us what we got wrong. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Three picks before Halloween <https://westsidewherewithal.com/weekend-radar> Three picks before Halloween Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Three picks before Halloween The Weekend Radar desk. Every line checked against the organizer's own page. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Two weekends, three picks, and I've already parked for all of them. Read this, then go. Go to the farmers market. Saturday, October 17, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., Bancroft Park, 24th and Colorado. It's the last Saturday of the season, with 80-some vendors, and there is no next Saturday. Go early, because the best of anything goes first. Parking: don't circle the park hoping. Take a side street and walk the last bit. Saturday, October 24 is two things at once. Pick one. First, the coffin races. The Emma Crawford Coffin Races run 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Manitou Springs. Parking: Manitou Avenue closes at 9, so get there before the road shuts and the crowd fills in, and plan to walk in. Second, the pumpkins. Pumpkins in the Park is noon to 6 p.m. on the avenue, free, with a pumpkin patch, painting, costume and carving contests, the ZOOmobile, live music and a beer garden. Parking: the avenue's diagonal spots fill on a festival Saturday, so take a side street and walk in. Don't try to do both in one afternoon. Choose, then start the day with it. The things that are always there. If the festivals are not your speed, or you just need a Thursday: trivia at OCC Brewing every Thursday, 7 to 9 p.m. Storytime at the OCC Library every Friday, 10:30 a.m. Brunch Jam Band at Mother Muff's every Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Free bingo on the 21st, Trunk or Treat on the 25th, Trick or Treat Street on the 31st and First Friday ArtWalk on November 6 are all on the full list, with times. That list lives at westsidewherewithal.com, and it's also the one-sheet on the counters around the avenue. Got something happening that we missed? Send it to hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or text 719-201-5462. We'll check it against your own page and put it in. See you Saturday. I'll be the one who parked early. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in <https://westsidewherewithal.com/year-ahead> Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in The Year Ahead desk. Written from the editor's calendar; no interviews yet. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Picture the fridge calendar. Every Thursday of 2027 is penciled in, and you're coming along. One honest aside: it's plans, all of it. Nothing has been reported yet, and some weeks may not land. Winter first. Week one: The Reset Issue. Quiet workspaces, reading refuges, and I'd be surprised if the Carnegie library stays out. And then we eat through the cold. The quest for the best broth in OCC. A reader poll for the best breakfast burrito west of I-25. A 4:00 a.m. shift with a Westside baker. Then February: a cocktail lounge audit off Main Street, an Alternative Valentine, pints by the fireplace, and how the vintage and antiques shops survive winter. Spring opens up. Red Rock Canyon hikes, with lunches after. The carriage house makers working out of alleys. St. Patrick week. And then the thaw, when we find out which counters open their windows. The under-$15 lunch circuit. A patio audit covering shade, noise, pints and dogs. Seed swaps. Coffee roasters. A Territory Days survival guide. A First Friday gallery crawl. Spring tap releases. Summer gets loud. Hosting out-of-towners without crossing I-25. The Bancroft Park farmers market, booth by booth. Gelato. Where a line cook eats at midnight. Secret courtyards. Quiet Fourth of July viewpoints. Live music on the bricks, and I'm hoping the bandshell gets a paragraph. You pick the coldest drinks. Then the Pueblo chile arrives. Nightcaps and jukeboxes after 10, and I'd bet Mother Muff's comes up. Then a back-to-school pantry run, Uintah Gardens an obvious stop. Fall, the leg I'm saving. The annual pizza index: Slice 420 against Rustica against Leopold's, and we'll need lots of you to settle it. Golden aspens. Autumn ciders. A locals' guide for after the tourists leave. Ghost signs, spooky lore, wood-fired and cast iron cooking (Front Range BBQ, you're on my mind). Thanksgiving hosting. Best of the Westside nominations. Small Business Saturday. And then a Black Friday antidote at Section 16 and Bear Creek. December: a 100% Westside gift guide, a winter lights walk, the Best of the Westside winners, the solstice and quiet patios, and a last issue called Looking Ahead. Every week also carries a civic item and an oral history. A 40-year diner regular. A couple who met at Bancroft in 1988. A chile roaster of 25 seasons. A dishwasher who worked 300 shifts. A high school senior looking at the Westside's future. Tell me which month I got wrong, or which place I forgot. The pencil's by the fridge, and I'll see you the first Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? <https://westsidewherewithal.com/issues/2026-10-11-issue-0> Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? 2026-10-11 In this issue Can't we just inform each other? The leaves are changing Divide anything but our bread What it's all for We choose this Can't we just inform each other? Nobody's telling us what's happening around here unless you find some corporate website that tracks you and tries to make you pay just to find out what's going on outside your door. What a drag. Can't we just inform each other, and have fun building and being in community? The leaves are changing The leaves are changing and falling, and the streets are graced with people from all walks of life. The days are growing shorter, and fall will give way to snow in a few weeks. Before we know it Santa will be at the cabin in Bancroft Park and the Christkindlmarket will be back. Divide anything but our bread I want people to see and hear themselves in our work. I want the people in this community to remember that we're in this together and that what we print is made to remind us of that. We are not here to divide anything but our bread for others, to love our neighbors, and practice mercy and kindness. What it's all for I get nervous that people's fear clouds not only their judgment but their hearts. I can be a skeptic, and quite cynical at times. I wonder what it's all for and why I'm doing this. But in the end, if one person reads our words and connects with them even a little, and it gives them a spark or the belief that they are loved, I will have done my work. We choose this I hope people are excited to see what we're up to. I hope they want to be a part of it, and that by gathering and presenting our values, beliefs and customs together, we can cherish them and let new things in while the old fades. I want Thursday to remind us that we choose this. Jeff What we told you Can't we just inform each other? The leaves are changing Divide anything but our bread What it's all for We choose this The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The archive <https://westsidewherewithal.com/issues/index> The archive Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The archive Every issue, oldest at the bottom. Free to read. If you want to chip in, the jar is on the front page. Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? 2026-10-11 The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The Westside Wherewithal <https://westsidewherewithal.com/> The Westside Wherewithal Skip to the paper We start for real in January. Sign up and the first one lands on a Thursday morning. Thursday mornings · FreeFrom your neighbors ## The Westside WherewithalBecause living west of takes a little wherewithal. Colorado Springs, Colorado A free paper for the Westside of Colorado Springs, written by the people who live here. Thursday mornings, starting January. ## Get it Thursday morning One email a week, free. Put your address in and we'll see you Thursday. Sign me up ## What the city is deciding ## About your street, before it's done You can still weigh in Open nowColorado Avenue lane test. Four lanes to three from Limit Street to 30th Street (the city's page; the Gazette says 31st), for up to a year from June 2026, paid for with $375K from the regional road tax (PPRTA, the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority). The city survey is open.The city's own page: City project page · The surveyIn the news: Gazette, lane test # Oct 26, 2026The city's 2027 budget. Public hearing Monday Oct 26, 5:30 p.m., Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada. Anyone can speak. The council talks it over at work sessions first (Oct 15 is one). What's in it for the Westside, we're reading now.The city's own page: the council calendar (Legistar) # Coming up Oct 21, 2026The community center's neighbor group (the Westside Community Center Alliance) meets Wednesday Oct 21, 4 p.m. It helps steer what the center at 1628 W Bijou becomes. Whether anyone can sit in, we're asking.The city's own page: city page, community centerStill looking for: the Alliance's own notice and the Parks Advisory Board's May minutesIn the news: Gazette, the Alliance # Apr 2027Roundabout at 31st and Fontanero, by Howbert Elementary, replacing the four-way stop. The open house was Sept 15. Construction April to fall 2027. Parents asked about the school crossing; the city says it will work with the school. The crossing drawing and the open-house boards are the documents we're after.In the news: KKTV, the roundabout # Apr 13, 2027Project Taurus. A 50-megawatt data center proposed at the old Intel plant, next to the homes in Chelsea Glen. The Planning Commission approved it 6 to 2 in July with a power cap and noise monitoring. Council put the appeal off 7 to 2 to April 13, a week after the city election, and wants a noise study and a study of what big power users pay first. The developer told Colorado Politics on Sept 18 it is weighing whether this is the right partnership.Still looking for: the noise studyIn the news: CPR, hearing date · Colorado Politics, the postponement · KKTV, the appeal # Already decided Sep 22, 2026Old Colorado City's downtown development authority (DDA) shut down. The tax district voters created in 2024 never got its funding. Council voted 5 to 4 on Sept 22 to dissolve it, ordinance 26-48 (yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams; no: Donelson, Gold, Henjum, Leinweber), after the same 5 to 4 on first reading Aug 25. KKTV reported Oct 2 that the DDA is weighing legal action because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. Who picks up the avenue's end of things is an open question.The city's own page: meeting record (Open Publica)Still looking for: the ordinance text itself, and the Aug 25 minutesIn the news: Gazette, the first vote · KKTV, the lawsuit threat # Coming up Every weekThe land. Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, the Garden, Bear Creek, the creek itself: fire restrictions, trail closures, anything the parks board decides. Nothing new on the city's pages this week; we look every Monday, and a canyon volunteer is looking with us.The city's own page: city parks, trails and open space # Already decided Since Apr 2023Greater Westside Community Plan. Nine neighborhoods, one plan: Gold Hill, Ivywild, Mesa, Mesa Springs, Midland, Old Colorado City, Skyway, Stratton Meadows, Westside. The city's page lists six meetings, the last in April 2023, plus a 2022 survey and a 'Big Ideas' summary. What came next is the question we're taking to Planning, and to the neighbors who sat in those rooms.The city's own page: city page, the plan # Checked October 11. Each one links to the city's own page where we found it. Where it says "still looking," we haven't found it yet (city websites, you know how it goes). If you've got it, send it over. Want to be the person in the room? Go to one meeting, write down what happened on this one-page sheet, and your name goes on it. A City Council Tuesday is the easy first one; you can watch it live or later from the couch. ## Vote ## Ballots are in the mail. Here's the Westside part. By Oct 26Register, or check that you're registered, at GoVoteColorado.gov. Moved since last time? Update it there too. After Oct 26 you can still register and vote in person, through Election Day.The city's own page: GoVoteColorado.gov # Till Nov 3, 7 p.m.Drop boxes west of I-25, open day and night: Red Rock Canyon shopping center, 3141 W Colorado Ave; Bear Creek Regional Park, 2002 Creek Crossing St; the clerk's office, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd; Manitou City Hall, 606 Manitou Ave. Mailing it? The county says by Oct 27. It has to arrive by 7 p.m. on Election Day; a postmark doesn't count.The city's own page: the county's list of boxes · El Paso County elections # On the ballotThe local ones: County 1A keeps the public-safety sales tax going through 2037. D11 4A is a $775 million school bond (Coronado is on the list). Then fourteen statewide questions; the state's Blue Book explains each one in plain words, for and against.The city's own page: the county's local questions · the Blue Book # Apr 6, 2027The city election: mayor and three council seats. Same registration, same website. We'll print the candidates and where they stand on the Westside.The city's own page: city election page # We don't tell you how to vote. We'd love for you to. If the Blue Book is a brick, if you can't get to a box, if you're not sure you're registered, call or text 719-201-5462 and a neighbor helps. The county pays election judges and trains them; sign up here if you've got a day. ## The next two weeks ## Oct 11 to Nov 8, checked against the calendars The market's last Saturday, Pumpkins in the Park, free bingo at the community center, the cemetery tour, the coffin races, and the same seven things every week. Every weekMon Boom Box Bingo, 7 to 11 p.m. (Mother Muff's)Tue Math tutoring, 4 to 5:30 p.m. (OCC Library)Wed Toddler Time, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Wed Open mic, 6 to 9 p.m. (Jives Coffee Lounge, 16 Colbrunn Ct)Thu Trivia, 7 to 9 p.m. (OCC Brewing)Fri Storytime, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Sat Paws to Read, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Sun Brunch Jam Band, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Mother Muff's) Sun Oct 11 all month Scarecrow Days: the storefront scarecrows, with a public vote, through Oct 31 the avenue Mon Oct 12 all day Westside CARES closed for Indigenous Peoples' Day 2808 W Colorado Tue Oct 13 9 a.m. City Council regular meeting (agenda on Legistar) 107 N Nevada 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Small Steps, Giant Leaps, Space Foundation program for ages 2 to 6 Westside Community Center Wed Oct 14 9 a.m. City Planning Commission 2880 International Cir. 5:30 to 7 p.m. Evening pickleball: donate a bag of candy to play, paddles limited Westside Community Center Thu Oct 15 7:30 a.m. Coffee with the principal Coronado High, Future Center 2 to 4 p.m. Classic board games free OCC Library 5 p.m. Mushroom Zombie Haunted House opens, through Oct 31 Mush Love Tee, the shirt shop, 2627 W Colorado Fri Oct 16 all day No school at Coronado: parent-teacher conferences, 9 to 3 in the gym Coronado High 5 to 6 p.m. Bingo at the Biscuit The Biscuit Factory Cat Lounge, 12 S 25th Sat Oct 17 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Farmers market, last Saturday of the season, 80-some vendors Bancroft Park 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Craft and art market, final Saturday History Center, 1 S 24th Sun Oct 18 evening Legends and Lore of Fairview Cemetery, a two-hour guided tour; tickets online, kids 12 and under free Fairview Cemetery, 1000 S 26th Mon Oct 19 all week Fall break at Coronado, Oct 19 to 22, no school Coronado High Wed Oct 21 4 p.m. Westside Community Center Alliance meeting Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou 5:30 to 7 p.m. Howdy Neighbor prize bingo, doors at 5, all ages, no sign-up free Westside Community Center Thu Oct 22 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Book group free OCC Library Sat Oct 24 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Emma Crawford Coffin Races, the 32nd; Manitou Avenue closes at 9 Manitou Springs noon to 6 p.m. Pumpkins in the Park: pumpkin patch, painting, face painters, costume and carving contests, the ZOOmobile, live music, a beer garden free the avenue Sun Oct 25 1 to 4 p.m. Trunk or Treat in the parking lot, and Animals of Halloween inside, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. free Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th Mon Oct 26 10 to 10:45 a.m. Bighorn sheep, an indoor program with a touch table; Mondays through Nov 30 free Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Owls of the Garden: take an owl pellet apart; $5, sign up first Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 5:30 p.m. City budget public hearing, the 2027 budget; anyone can speak Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada Tue Oct 27 all day Stroll-a-Story: a storybook walk, page by page, around the library OCC Library, 2418 W Pikes Peak Thu Oct 29 7:30 to 8:45 p.m. Haunted Manitou ghost tour, $25; also Oct 30 and 31 Memorial Park, Manitou Springs Fri Oct 30 5:30 p.m. Ghost Stories of Old Manitou, a walking tour from the museum Manitou Springs Heritage Museum Sat Oct 31 1 to 2 p.m. Why wolves in Colorado, a talk Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 2 to 4:30 p.m. Trick or Treat Street: costumed kids 1 to 6, shop to shop; look for the orange and yellow balloons the avenue, 23rd to 28th 6 p.m. Manitou Phantasmagoria Shoshone Spring courtyard, Manitou Springs evening Mushroom Zombie Haunted House, last night Mush Love Tee, the shirt shop, 2627 W Colorado Tue Nov 3 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Election Day. Ballots due by 7 p.m. at a drop box; register and vote in person at the clerk's office, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd, or Manitou City Hall El Paso County Fri Nov 6 5 to 8 p.m. First Friday ArtWalk: galleries, studios and shops open late along the avenue free the avenue, 17th to 31st Sun Nov 8 11 a.m. Altitude Makers market and farmers market free Soda Springs Park, Manitou Springs Every line above came off a calendar we can link, checked October 11. The strip up top happens every week; the list is the one-time stuff. The avenue is West Colorado Avenue; OCC is Old Colorado City; D11 is the school district. If we got a time wrong, tell us and we'll fix it in the next issue. Red Rock Canyon, the churches and the school sports pages had nothing dated for these two weeks; if you know of something, send it. Where that came from: Old Colorado City events calendar · Old Colorado City Library · Westside Community Center · History Center events · Garden of the Gods calendar ## The Bulletin Board ## Suppers, pantries, services, weddings, and the ones we lost If you need something this week, start here. Free, in your words, from you or your church or your family. Food, rent and utility help: Westside CARES, 2808 W Colorado Ave, 719-389-0759. Open Monday to Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.. They prefer you walk in. Closed when the schools close for weather. Serves everyone west of I-25. Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou St, 719-385-7920. Open Monday and Friday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Tuesday to Thursday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.. A corkboard, not a story. Church suppers, pantry hours, services, weddings, and the ones we lost: free, in your words, from you or your church or your family. We call to check the hours before they run. Send it by Tuesday to hello@westsidewherewithal.com, by text to 719-201-5462, on paper to the office at Suite 122, or in the box on the front page. Where that came from: Westside CARES hours · Community center hours (city page) ## The Listening Room ## Once a month. You pick where and when. Coffee with the editor, no agenda, no sign-up. The hour and the place are a vote; the winner runs in issue 1. The Listening Room isn't an office. It's one hour a month wherever we sit down, and I'd rather you picked it than me. Vote below, or write in your own. I live over here, about twenty years now, and the office on the avenue is the paper's address; it says one thing: I'm here. I'm with you. Where and when Saturday morning, the bench by the bandshell in Bancroft Park Tuesday evening, a coffee counter on the avenue Sunday afternoon, the library (once they say yes) A weeknight on Zoom, for people who work days Cast it ## The Address Book ## What was in this storefront in 1968? One storefront, one photo, what was inside. One building per issue: a photo, the address, and whoever remembers fills in the rest. The first photo is coming; if you have one, send it in below. ## Write something ## Send it in The shop that closed, the thing the city's about to do on your street, the neighbor everybody should know. Photos and drawings count, with your name on them. Send it however you like: the box below, hello@westsidewherewithal.com, a call or a text to 719-201-5462, or drop it at the office (Suite 122, 2320 W Colorado Ave). We write back. Rather talk than type? Call or text 719-201-5462 and tell me out loud; I'll write it down and you hear it read back before it runs. Under 18? Send it anyway; we'll check with you or a parent before it runs. Teachers, send the whole class. Photos come by email. En español: mándenos un texto al 719-201-5462 o escríbanos a hello@westsidewherewithal.com, en español: su cena, su misa, su aviso. No lo hablo de nacimiento; lo traducimos con un vecino y se lo leemos antes de publicar. Any other language: send it anyway, and we'll find a neighbor to translate. Want a desk? The pages signed by a desk are open; here's how to take one. Got a counter, or a box on your fence? Say so and we'll bring a stack, free, and swap the stale ones. How we do things, if you're curious. Put me down for a stack, for my counter or my library box Send it in ## The jar It's free. If a Thursday was worth something to you, throw a few bucks in the jar; it pays for the email and the printing. A check to the office works too. Pay what you want Inside: What the city is deciding · The next two weeks · On the avenue · From the desks · The next 100 years · Frontier wherewithal · Around the avenue · What came before us ## On the avenue ## I never stepped inside Base Camp, 2611 W Colorado, closed October 4, and I never ate there. Tell me the place you'd go back to. Jeff Adkins Base Camp closed on October 4. I thought it looked cool, but the menu never appealed to me in the moment, and it's hard to take me away from the dozen places I adore already. Sad to say I never stepped inside. That's on me, and I'm not alone. Empty storefronts are not what we want here. What keeps a place open is anyone and everyone who can afford to spend local dollars in it, and I am going to try hard to keep mixing it up. If you're thinking about working and making a living here, I wish I could appeal to you directly: we need you. Old Colorado City (OCC from here on) is a tourist destination, for locals and for travelers. I know this. I gladly give up my street parking for events because I know we need them. If I want OCC Brewing to be here 365 days a year, I need them to sustain themselves. That means me not griping about the traffic or the parking over here. Not everyone can afford to eat out or shop on the avenue. I understand that; I don't feel obligated to, and neither should you. I'm fortunate that I can budget for a meal out, and I try to go during the week, when places are less busy and could frankly use the business. So I can't complain about Base Camp closing if I didn't eat there, and I can't blame not eating there on the parking. Tell me the place you'd go back to. What we know: Base Camp, 2611 W Colorado Ave, opened March 2025 and closed October 4; the owner cited costs and the economy. Mountain Shadows, the restaurant four blocks east, closed December 2024 and sold in January. Where that came from: Gazette, Oct 2, 2026 · Gazette, Jan 20, 2025 · OCC Brewing ## From the desks ## Ten desks, one neighborhood Celebrating, remembering, forecasting. Each desk is open; a neighbor's name goes on it the day they take it. The Wherewithal desks Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in · the 52 Thursdays of 2027, as a walk through the seasons The man who wrote down the Westside · 604 columns, the elk, the tunnels, and who keeps the record now Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper · the vote, the names, what's still unknown, and how to be in the room See that building? Look again · five storefronts and what they were, from the columns and the 1902 map Where the asphalt gives up · Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, Bear Creek; this fall, and the seed rule The elk who pulled a carriage · for kids: three things to find on the walk to school, and a dare Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad · la mesa en español: ayuda, el voto, cómo escribirnos Who's cooking on the Westside this week · six tables, as their own pages say it; we call before it prints Three picks before Halloween · the market's last Saturday, the coffin races, pumpkins in the park, and where to park The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead · every date headed for your street, and the door into each one Every desk is written from the record we hold and says so at the top. None of it is an interview yet; those are coming. Every one is open: what each desk takes, and how to take one. One text, one coffee. ## The next 100 years ## Four lanes to three, for a year Four lanes to three, Limit to 30th, for a year. The city survey is open. One driver's take below; if yours differs, next issue's yours. Jeff Adkins 1902 · Sanborn fire insurance map, sheet 2, Colorado Avenue · Library of Congress, public domain 2027 · lane drawing · city of Colorado Springs, Colorado Avenue demonstration, phase two What we know: four lanes to three from Limit to 30th by the city's page (the Gazette says 31st), since June 2026, for up to a year; the city calls it the Colorado Avenue Demonstration Project; $375K of county transportation tax (PPRTA) money. The Gazette counts about 30 parking spaces added, metered; the city's page says parking changes are expected to be minimal. We've asked the project team which it is. A second phase in 2027 makes some of it permanent and redoes three blocks of streetscape (Gazette); permanent reconstruction is penciled for 2027 or 2028 (Bike Colorado Springs). The city survey is open. One driver's take, mine (and my office is on the avenue, at 2320): it's great to see so much more attention being paid to pedestrians, and it doesn't slow me down at all. I haven't timed it; if you have, send the numbers. It may add parking, metered; the city and the Gazette disagree on how much (see the record), and nobody has said yet where someone who lives over a shop parks overnight. The city is taking comments until the concrete goes down. If you drive it, bike it, or cross it with a stroller, say so. If you hate it, this space is yours next issue, same length, your name on it. What do I want to still be here in 2126? Westsiders. Hyper local, no corporate nonsense, and room for whoever shows up to stay. Where that came from: Sanborn 1902 (LoC) · City project page · The city survey · Gazette, May 20, 2026 · Bike Colorado Springs ## Frontier wherewithal ## Load up for winter, survive the summer Not just another old west town. Two tame elk, tunnels under the avenue, four to six weeks a year you'd rather be in the water. Jeff Adkins If you're new here you might think this is just another old west town. If you're passing through, maybe we should let you believe it. Our summers are dry and shorter than most, but they stop and start and come back the most. I'd say we have about four to six weeks a year where you'd want to be holed up in the cabin or in the water, which can be tricky to find. We need to know how to load up for winter, survive the summer, and not die of dehydration. And like every place with lore, we have a guy who trained two tame elk, Thunder and Buttons, to pull a carriage, plus tunnels and brothels and churches, oh my. We love it here. What we know: Thunder and Buttons were elk; Prairie Dog O'Byrne drove them hitched to a carriage on this avenue in the late 1880s. The tunnels under the avenue are documented by the historical society, with the honest caveat that some of it may be something else. Colorado City voted itself dry in 1913. Where that came from: Westside Pioneer, 2006 · Cobweb Corners, 2005 · Gazette, July 2021, the tunnels · Thunder and Buttons II ## Around the avenue ## Getting to know them is the point I don't know everyone yet. Getting to know them is the point. Jeff Adkins What we know so far: Who's opening and who's moving: we've heard about three and have an address for none, so none are named yet. Send the name and the block. The Old Colorado City Historical Society runs a free museum at 1 South 24th, a block off the avenue. Tuesday through Saturday, 11 to 4 in summer and 11 to 2 in winter. Call before you drive. The free Tuesday concerts at the Bancroft Park bandshell ran June 2 through September 29 this year, 5:30, Dizzy Charlie's and the Pikes Peak Blues Community. Next summer's lineup runs here the week it's announced. First Friday art walk, 5 to 8, galleries and studios along the avenue. Next one is November 6. The Customs and Classics car show closes the avenue from 23rd to 27th one Sunday every August. If the one you went to was a different show this fall, tell us which. This is the stuff I get to see everyone else doing. I enjoy seeing them do it. It doesn't matter to me if I don't know anyone in the room, because getting to know them is the point of this life. And that's what I'm here to capture in this paper. I shouldn't pretend to know things I don't. Where that came from: OCC History Center · Tuesday concerts (Springs Magazine) · First Friday (OCC calendar) · The car show (Pioneer, 2018) ## What came before us ## I want it all Mel McFarland died in September; I indexed the 604 columns I found. Eight digs, from the capital that got away to the forgotten cemetery. Jeff Adkins Start here: Mel McFarland, who wrote the Westside's past in the Pioneer for fifteen years, died in September at 81. Most of what is below comes from his columns. I found 604 and indexed every one I found; the one-line summaries there are software drafts, not yet checked one by one. Who keeps the record now is a question this paper exists to answer. I want the best stories from Old Colorado City. I want to dig down and find the most awesome stuff we can publish: how people first lived here, how it went from zero to what it is today, funny things, shootouts, jail time for crimes that make us laugh and cry, mysteries and murders. I want it all. What did we used to do and stop? What was, but isn't? What could have been, but never was? The digs I can't do alone: your church, your family, your block. Send them. What we found first: The capital that got away. Colorado City was founded in August 1859 to outfit gold seekers, was the county seat by 1861, and held the territorial capital just long enough to lose it to Denver. One account says the town was deemed too rowdy. Zero to four thousand. Mel has the town past 2,000 by 1890; the 1892 fire-insurance map (the Sanborn) writes 2,000 on its own cover, and the 1902 sheet writes 4,000. The town voted itself dry in 1913, lost the saloon money, and voted to be annexed by Colorado Springs in April 1917. Four saloons to twenty-seven. By the Pioneer's 2009 count (a feature, not one of Mel's columns): four in 1884, twenty-three by 1888, twenty-seven in 1902 plus thirty-some gambling halls, on a main street that also had the churches. Laura Bell McDaniel. From the Pioneer's 2011 profile, not the index: queen of the tenderloin; her last house was the Tribley House in the 2600 block of West Cucharras. She married Tom McDaniel in April 1887 in Salida; a month later he shot a man five times while she watched, and was acquitted. She divorced him in 1893. Accused in November 1917 of stealing liquor and acquitted; the historian who wrote her up thinks it was a set-up. Died in a car crash in January 1918. The elk were O'Byrne's by Mel's column (bought in Aspen in 1888); a 2006 Pioneer piece has her riding beside him in the carriage. The Glass Works. Full production in 1889 with 200 men on the south edge of town, bottling Manitou water. The furnace top collapsed just after midnight on September 9, 1892. Wheeler promised to rebuild; the Silver Panic of 1893 and the lost customers finished it. One of Mel's columns says it closed in 1895, another says by 1900; one puts a fire in 1893 as well. The Midland shops. The Colorado Midland started here in 1886 and quit in 1918; the Midland Terminal ran the line to Divide until it was scrapped in 1949. Hundreds of men in the shops at the peak, under a hundred by 1925, about fifty by 1948; the office burned in 1953. The fourteen-stall roundhouse is the one that lived: Van Briggle pottery, then the shops you walk through now. The mills. The Colorado-Philadelphia came first, in 1894 by one of Mel's columns and about 1897 by another, near 31st and the 24. Golden Cycle took over the Telluride mill in 1906, rebuilt it with cyanide after a 1907 fire, and ran it until 1949; the smokestack is still there. The forgotten cemetery. Colorado City's Pioneer cemetery, on the mesa, used from about 1860 to 1917. Not every burial was moved; the stones came out in the 1940s and it became Pioneer Park in the 1950s. Graves were mapped with metal detectors in the 1970s, a project Mel joined, and a cast-iron coffin may still be there. Who is in it is still the question. Where that came from: Why the fuss? (Pioneer) · Laura Bell McDaniel (Pioneer, 2011) · Thunder and Buttons (Cobweb Corners, 2005) · The Glass Works, 200 men (Cobweb Corners, 2011) · The Glass Works fire (Cobweb Corners, 2011) · The Glass Works closed 1895 (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The Midland, 1886 to 1918 (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The Midland shops decline (Cobweb Corners, 2009) · The roundhouse (Cobweb Corners, 2007) · The mills (Cobweb Corners, 2013) · Golden Cycle closes, 1949 (Cobweb Corners, 2006) · The capital, the county seat (Cobweb Corners, 2009) · The forgotten cemetery (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The forgotten cemetery (Cobweb Corners, 2017) · Mel McFarland, 1945 to 2026 (Gazette) · Every Cobweb Corners column, indexed · Colorado City Iris, digitized (CHNC) If something here is wrong, reply to the email or send it in below. Corrections run at the top of the next issue. Behind the masthead: Sanborn fire insurance map of Colorado City, November 1902, sheet 1. Library of Congress, public domain. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad <https://westsidewherewithal.com/la-vecina> Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad La Vecina, la mesa en español. Traducción nuestra; buscamos a un vecino o vecina que la tome y firme aquí. Vecina, vecino: Le escribo con las hojas ya cambiando de color y las tardes más cortas. Aquí entre nosotros, quería contarle lo que sé. Si usted vive al oeste de la I-25, este periódico es para usted. Se llama The Westside Wherewithal, sale cada semana y es gratis. Lo escribimos entre vecinos: lo que abre, lo que cierra, lo que se vota, lo que llega al parque. Y queremos saber de usted. Cuéntenos lo que ve en su cuadra, en su iglesia, en su trabajo, y hágalo en español, como le salga. Si esta semana necesita una mano, vaya a Westside CARES, en 2808 W Colorado Ave. Abren de lunes a jueves, de 9:30 a.m. a 12:30 p.m., y no hace falta cita. Atienden a todos los que viven al oeste de la I-25. Llame al 719-389-0759. También tiene el Westside Community Center, en 1628 W Bijou St, teléfono 719-385-7920. Abre lunes y viernes, de 9 a.m. a 3 p.m., y de martes a jueves, de 9 a.m. a 7 p.m. Ahora el voto, en claro. Hasta el 26 de octubre puede registrarse, o revisar si ya está registrado, en GoVoteColorado.gov. Pasada esa fecha, todavía puede hacerlo en persona, hasta el día de la elección. Y para dejar su boleta, las urnas están abiertas hasta las 7 p.m. del 3 de noviembre en cuatro lugares: el centro comercial Red Rock Canyon, 3141 W Colorado Ave; Bear Creek Regional Park, 2002 Creek Crossing St; la oficina del secretario del condado, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd; y el ayuntamiento de Manitou, 606 Manitou Ave. Aquí no le decimos cómo votar. Solo le decimos dónde y cuándo. En diciembre el Christkindlmarket vuelve a Bancroft Park. Cuando tengamos los días, se los pasamos aquí. Si quiere escribirnos, mande un texto al 719-201-5462 o un correo a hello@westsidewherewithal.com, en español. El editor no habla español de cuna. Traduce con un vecino y lo vuelve a leer con él antes de que algo se imprima. También tenemos una hoja en español en westsidewherewithal.com/sheet-es. Y una cosa honesta: esta página es traducción nuestra. Buscamos a un vecino o vecina que hable español para que tome esta mesa y firme aquí con su nombre. Hasta la próxima semana, vecino. Un abrazo, La Vecina The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The print pack <https://westsidewherewithal.com/print> The print pack Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The print pack Everything to print this week, how many, and where it goes. Any copy shop; a home printer works for the one-sheets. What to print PrintFileHowCopies The one-sheetsheet.pdfLetter, one side (two sides if you want the puzzle back: sheet-back.pdf)20 Large printsheet-large.pdfLetter, two sides5 La hoja (Spanish)sheet-es.pdfLetter, one side10 The box editionzine-box.pdfLetter, landscape, two sheets, two-sided, flip on the short edge; nest sheet 2 inside sheet 1, fold once; no staples20 Every print says "good till Oct 25" or has no dates. A stale stack gets swapped; call and we bring more. Where it goes PlaceWhatHow many The gas station at 31stone-sheet5 The hardware storeone-sheet5 A diner on the avenueone-sheet, and ask about a tray5 The OCC History Center, 1 S 24thone-sheet5 Your own door, Suite 122one-sheet, box edition5 and 5 The grocery at 31stla hoja10 The senior table at the community center, 1628 W Bijoularge print5 The little free library at the old Carnegie building, 701 Manitou Avebox edition8 The Head Start box, 2330 Robinson Stbox edition7 The ask at a counter, two sentences: "It's a free weekly paper for the Westside, written by neighbors, nothing for you to pay and nothing to sell. Can it sit here, and can I refill it on Thursdays?" Say yes to any condition they add. What to watch Count what's left after a week. Note any call or text to 719-201-5462 and any word find or quiz score that comes in. That's the first real test; everything before it was rehearsal. The reader inbox was empty on October 11. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Plant this (when it exists) <https://westsidewherewithal.com/seeds> Plant this (when it exists) Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Plant this (when it exists) There are no seed strips yet. This is the plan, written down before the first one so nobody has to guess. Some copies of the zine will carry a small sealed strip of seed paper. Plant it in your own yard, a friend's yard with their yes, a community garden, or a school bed with the principal's okay. Not in a park, not in open space, not in Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, the Garden of the Gods or Bear Creek, not along the creek or a trail, and never after a fire. Those places get seeded by the people who manage them, with seed matched to the ground, and a stranger's strip does more harm than good there. What's in it: Colorado natives from a Colorado grower (Western Native Seed, in Coaldale): Lewis blue flax, Rocky Mountain penstemon, blanketflower, prairie coneflower. Nothing from the state's noxious weed list, which is where the cheap "wildflower mixes" go wrong. Plant in fall; the penstemon wants a winter in the ground. Plant it, take a picture when something comes up, send it in. The best ones run in the paper with your name on them. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Take a desk <https://westsidewherewithal.com/take-a-desk> Take a desk Moved to /desks. --- # Thank you <https://westsidewherewithal.com/thanks> Thank you Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Thank you That's the whole transaction. No tier, no badge, no extra issue. The paper keeps going, and your name goes on the once-a-year list of people who chipped in, alphabetical, no amounts, unless you'd rather it didn't. Reply to any issue to say so. See you Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The elk who pulled a carriage <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-box> The elk who pulled a carriage Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The elk who pulled a carriage The Box desk, for kids and whoever is with them. When a neighbor (or a kid) takes this desk, their name goes here. Okay. You're the boss today. Walk to school, but make it a hunt. Find three things. One: a little free library. It's a box on a post full of books, and you can take one. We know of 27 of them west of I-25. Two you can visit: the one at the old Carnegie library building, 701 Manitou Ave, and the one at the Head Start, 2330 Robinson St. Two: the red rocks at the end of the street. Stop and look. Three: one leaf. Pick the best one on the block. Keep it. It's a bookmark now. Okay. Now the elk. In 1888, a man named John O'Byrne got two tame elk from a judge in Aspen. He trained them to pull his tourist carriage down this very avenue. Their names were Thunder and Buttons. Yes, elk. Yes, a carriage. Eventually a movie company bought them and took them to Alaska to film advertisements. Thunder and Buttons were in commercials. (Also true.) (Bonus, also true: in 1880 a train crew calmed a cold, panicking circus elephant at Colorado Springs with a keg of beer. Aunt's honor.) Ask a grown-up. Point at any building on your walk and ask: "What was here before?" Then listen. Your move, boss. This fall: Halloween, Oct. 31, 2 to 4:30 p.m.: Trick or Treat Street on the avenue, 23rd to 28th. Costumed kids 1 to 6. Look for the orange and yellow balloons. Bring a little cousin. Mondays, 10 a.m.: the bighorn sheep program at the Garden of the Gods Visitor Center. December: the Christkindlmarket comes back to Bancroft Park, bigger than last year, with Santa at the cabin. Bonus level: the paper in the box has games. A word find whose leftover letters spell a message. A five-question quiz with the answers printed upside down. And a map to draw on: it's the 1902 map of Colorado City, when the town had 4,000 people. You can see it at westsidewherewithal.com/zine-box, page 6. The dare. Draw Thunder and Buttons pulling the carriage. Go big. Give the tourists faces. Then put it in the little free library box, or send it to hello@westsidewherewithal.com with your first name. We print the best ones. See you on the avenue. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-next-hundred> The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead The Next Hundred desk. Written from the city's own pages and the ballot; dates change, and we fix them when they do. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Right now, Colorado Avenue. Four lanes have been three from Limit to 30th since June, for up to a year. Watch the lanes. Your move: fill out the city survey after you've driven it, biked it, or crossed it with a stroller. The avenue went on a diet and nobody asked it. Oct 21 and Oct 26. The community center's neighbor group meets Wednesday the 21st at 4 p.m.; it helps steer what the center at 1628 W Bijou becomes. Monday the 26th, 5:30 p.m.: the 2027 budget's public hearing at 107 N Nevada. Anyone can speak; the council calendar lists the work sessions before it. Your move: pick one and go. The budget reads better with you. Nov 3. Ballots are due by 7 p.m. County 1A would keep the public-safety sales tax going through 2037. D11's 4A is a $775 million school bond, and Coronado is on the list. Your move: vote, and use a drop box if the mail feels slow. There's one at 3141 W Colorado Ave. Seven o'clock does not negotiate. December. The Christkindlmarket comes back to Bancroft Park, bigger. Bancroft is the pupil of the eye, so a bigger market could mean a fuller avenue and fewer spots out front. Your move: go, and walk. The car can stay home. April 6, 2027. The city election: mayor and three council seats. Your move: register or check your registration, and ask every candidate what they would do about the avenue. The avenue will hear about it. April 13. Council hears the appeal on Project Taurus, the 50-megawatt data center proposed at the old Intel plant next to the homes in Chelsea Glen. The Planning Commission approved it 6 to 2 in July with a power cap and noise monitoring; council wants a noise study first, and the hearing falls a week after you vote (Colorado Politics). The developer says it is weighing the partnership, so the date could still move. Your move: read the noise study when it exists, and show up. Read quietly. April to fall 2027. A roundabout replaces the four-way stop at 31st and Fontanero by Howbert Elementary, on the western gateway to the red rocks. Parents asked about the school crossing, and the city says it will work with the school. Your move: if you walk kids there, ask the school what they've been told. Four stops become one circle. Around June 2027. The lane test's year ends, give or take. Nothing we've found says what comes after. Your move: whatever you think of the test, say so before it ends. A year is long enough for an opinion. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The man who wrote down the Westside <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-porch-mcfarland> The man who wrote down the Westside Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The man who wrote down the Westside The Porch desk. Written from the record; the editor's conversations with his family and friends are coming. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. If you ever wondered whether there really were tunnels under Colorado Avenue, Mel McFarland is a big part of why you wondered. I'll tell you what I know. He died September 21, at 81. From 2004 to 2019 he wrote 604 "Cobweb Corners" columns about this neighborhood for the Westside Pioneer. He was born here in 1944, a fourth-generation native, taught art and drafting, and wrote books on the Colorado Midland Railway. In 1983 he bought a retired working caboose for his Rockrimmon backyard, and became "the Caboose Guy." Dave Martinek, who started Midland Days at Divide with him in 2009, told the Gazette: "He was the go-to person for anyone who wanted to know about railroad history in the state." His nephew Luc MacArthur called him "kind of a Renaissance man." His sister, Elaine Radney, said: "He had a lot of people who loved him." He wrote it down. Here is some of it. On February 3, 2005, he wrote down the story of John O'Byrne, who in 1888 got two tame elk, Thunder and Buttons, and trained them to pull a tourist carriage. Here is the column. On April 7, 2005, he wrote down the tunnels, the ones that let Colorado Avenue customers reach the Cucharras Street brothels unseen. He had "seen the remains of bits of both" sets of tunnels himself. On November 17, 2011, he wrote down the Glass Works disaster. Just after midnight on September 9, 1892, the furnace top collapsed and fiery glass poured out. Chunks of raw glass still show up now and then in neighborhood yards and rock walls, he wrote. On November 14, 2013, he wrote down the day a Teller County sheriff chained a Pullman sleeper car to the rails over $663.21 in unpaid taxes, and a U.S. marshal freed it two days later. Read it. Here's the thing. The Gazette says he left "file cabinets" of research and writing, and that his family hopes to sift through them, with no concrete plans yet. The next person who asks "was there really a glass plant over here?" gets a shrug. We can't fix that. What we have is an index of all 604 columns, by what each one reports, at westsidewherewithal.com/cobweb. The editor plans to call his sister, Dave Martinek, the Pioneer's editor Kenyon Jordan, and the History Center, and we'll tell you what they say. The question we're taking to them is who keeps the record now. We'd like to be part of the answer, and we'd like yours. Did a column of his stick with you? Tell us which one. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-record-dda> Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper The Record desk. Written from the city's own pages and the news; the Aug 25 minutes are still to be read. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. If you missed the council meeting last month, here is the entry. A downtown development authority, a DDA, is a small district set up by a vote. It is supposed to get its own pot of money to spend on one downtown. In 2024, Old Colorado City voters created one for the avenue. It never got its funding. It was created by a vote and ended by a vote, and the money never turned up in between. On Sept 22, City Council voted 5 to 4 to dissolve it. That's ordinance 26-48. The meeting record has the roll call. That's on paper. Yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams No: Donelson, Gold, Henjum, Leinweber The Gazette reported the first vote, on Aug 25, as the same 5 to 4. That's reported. On Oct 2, KKTV reported that the DDA is weighing legal action, because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. That's reported too. That is the whole ledger so far. Here is what we don't know: The Aug 25 minutes. We have the first vote from the news, not from the minutes. Until we've read them, the date and the count are reported, not checked. Whether a lawsuit is filed. KKTV says the DDA is considering one. We haven't found a filing. That isn't on paper. We'll say so when it is. What the DDA was going to buy. The records we have don't list its plan, so we won't guess. If you voted in 2024, or sat in those rooms, tell us what you were told. Who picks up the avenue's end of things now. Nobody has answered that in anything we've read. That isn't on paper either. We are taking the question to the next meeting. Some of those answers are in a room on a Tuesday morning. You can be in it. City Council meets the second and fourth Tuesdays at 9 a.m., 107 N Nevada, and you can watch from home. You don't have to say a word. Take the one-page sheet, write down what happens, and your name goes on it. The Oct 13 meeting is the next one. If you were at the Aug 25 meeting, or you have the minutes, send them over. Tell me what I got wrong. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Where the asphalt gives up <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-ridge> Where the asphalt gives up Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Where the asphalt gives up The Ridge desk. Written from the city's pages and the groups' own sites; a canyon volunteer reads it before it prints. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Rain or snow, and the trails hold it. Friends of Red Rock Canyon says wait a day or two, because they stay muddy and fragile for 24 to 48 hours. Follow 21st down to Bear Creek, then keep going west. Around 30th and 31st the asphalt gives up. The red sandstone takes over. Red Rock Canyon is the pocket to the south. The city bought it in 2003, after it had been slated for a resort with high-rise towers and a private golf course. The city's open space page lists it among the places TOPS, the sales tax voters passed for open space, made possible. It nearly went the other way. Parking. The 31st Street trailhead has more than the High Street lots. No e-bikes in the open space. This fall. The Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th, runs a free bighorn sheep program with a touch table, Mondays 10 to 10:45 a.m. through Nov 30. Owls of the Garden is Oct 26, 12:30 to 1:30. Tickets from $5, sign up first. Oct 31, 1 to 2 p.m., a talk on why wolves in Colorado. The Garden's calendar has details. What's being decided. The Park System Master Plan goes to City Council for readings Oct 12 and 27, after the parks board heard it Oct 8. White Acres Trail is becoming the Don Ellis Trail. The board approved it Aug 13; it waits on an agreement and an $850 city fee. Fire restrictions: the city's page shows none this week, and we are checking with the fire department. We'll tell you what we hear. The seed rule. Some copies of this paper will carry a strip of Colorado native seed: Lewis blue flax, Rocky Mountain penstemon, blanketflower, prairie coneflower, from Western Native Seed in Coaldale. Plant it in your yard, a friend's yard with their yes, or a community garden. Never in a park, open space, along the creek or a trail, and never after a fire. The people who manage those places seed with plants matched to the ground, and a stranger's strip can do more harm than good. Groups to join. Friends of Red Rock Canyon keeps up the benches and runs Talk and Walks, resuming soon (no date yet). The Trails and Open Space Coalition takes members and runs the One Bag Challenge cleanups. Friends of Garden of the Gods runs volunteer days. Our promise. Every Monday this desk reads the city's parks pages, and a canyon volunteer reads them with us. If nothing's new, we'll say so. Which trail was muddy this week? Tell me and I'll pass it along. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Who's cooking on the Westside this week <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-table> Who's cooking on the Westside this week Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Who's cooking on the Westside this week The Table desk. Hours are as the churches and pantries post them, checked October 11; we call before they go on the Bulletin Board. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Here's how it works. Somebody on this side of the interstate is feeding somebody nearly every day of the week, mostly out of church basements, and the people at the stoves are neighbors who are very good at it. We went looking for the tables. There are more than we figured. Everything below is what each place says on its own page as of October 11. We haven't called any of them yet, so please do before you go. Hours move, and a wrong one costs somebody a trip. Sunday The Sanctuary Church, 1930 W Colorado Ave, lists its Ragamuffin Cafe hot meal at 9 a.m. Call 719-634-7232. It's the only Sunday hot meal we found over here. If you know another, tell us. Monday Westside CARES, 2808 W Colorado Ave, posts a weekly hot meal from 11 to 12:30. Call 719-389-0759. Same day, Sacred Heart's pantry is posted noon to 2 at the Parish Center door, 2030 W Colorado Ave. No voucher. Call 719-633-8711. Tuesday Westside Global Methodist, 701 N 20th St, posts its pantry from 11 to 2. Call 719-633-9295. If you still call it Trinity UMC, that's the same corner with a new name, and the old building on W Pikes Peak is becoming a child care center. Wednesday The Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou St, hosts the CARES pantry from 1 to 3. Call 719-385-7920. Up the road in Manitou, the pantry at 110 Canon Ave was last reported at 1 to 2, with a hot meal starting 12:30. Call 719-685-9259. St. Andrew's closed as a church in 2025, but the pantry kept going in the parish hall. Hats off to the people who kept it going. Thursday Sacred Heart again, same hours, same door, no voucher. Call 719-633-8711. Know another table? That's six tables, and I'd bet my good parking spot there are more. Churches, clubs, a neighbor with a big pot and a folding table. If your church or group feeds people, text 719-201-5462 or write hello@westsidewherewithal.com with the day and the hour. We'll call, confirm it, and print it, free, in your words. That's what the Bulletin Board is for. It's where every table lives, every week, so nobody has to guess which church has soup on which night. See you at the table. Tell us what we got wrong. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Three picks before Halloween <https://westsidewherewithal.com/weekend-radar> Three picks before Halloween Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Three picks before Halloween The Weekend Radar desk. Every line checked against the organizer's own page. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Two weekends, three picks, and I've already parked for all of them. Read this, then go. Go to the farmers market. Saturday, October 17, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., Bancroft Park, 24th and Colorado. It's the last Saturday of the season, with 80-some vendors, and there is no next Saturday. Go early, because the best of anything goes first. Parking: don't circle the park hoping. Take a side street and walk the last bit. Saturday, October 24 is two things at once. Pick one. First, the coffin races. The Emma Crawford Coffin Races run 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Manitou Springs. Parking: Manitou Avenue closes at 9, so get there before the road shuts and the crowd fills in, and plan to walk in. Second, the pumpkins. Pumpkins in the Park is noon to 6 p.m. on the avenue, free, with a pumpkin patch, painting, costume and carving contests, the ZOOmobile, live music and a beer garden. Parking: the avenue's diagonal spots fill on a festival Saturday, so take a side street and walk in. Don't try to do both in one afternoon. Choose, then start the day with it. The things that are always there. If the festivals are not your speed, or you just need a Thursday: trivia at OCC Brewing every Thursday, 7 to 9 p.m. Storytime at the OCC Library every Friday, 10:30 a.m. Brunch Jam Band at Mother Muff's every Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Free bingo on the 21st, Trunk or Treat on the 25th, Trick or Treat Street on the 31st and First Friday ArtWalk on November 6 are all on the full list, with times. That list lives at westsidewherewithal.com, and it's also the one-sheet on the counters around the avenue. Got something happening that we missed? Send it to hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or text 719-201-5462. We'll check it against your own page and put it in. See you Saturday. I'll be the one who parked early. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in <https://westsidewherewithal.com/year-ahead> Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in The Year Ahead desk. Written from the editor's calendar; no interviews yet. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Picture the fridge calendar. Every Thursday of 2027 is penciled in, and you're coming along. One honest aside: it's plans, all of it. Nothing has been reported yet, and some weeks may not land. Winter first. Week one: The Reset Issue. Quiet workspaces, reading refuges, and I'd be surprised if the Carnegie library stays out. And then we eat through the cold. The quest for the best broth in OCC. A reader poll for the best breakfast burrito west of I-25. A 4:00 a.m. shift with a Westside baker. Then February: a cocktail lounge audit off Main Street, an Alternative Valentine, pints by the fireplace, and how the vintage and antiques shops survive winter. Spring opens up. Red Rock Canyon hikes, with lunches after. The carriage house makers working out of alleys. St. Patrick week. And then the thaw, when we find out which counters open their windows. The under-$15 lunch circuit. A patio audit covering shade, noise, pints and dogs. Seed swaps. Coffee roasters. A Territory Days survival guide. A First Friday gallery crawl. Spring tap releases. Summer gets loud. Hosting out-of-towners without crossing I-25. The Bancroft Park farmers market, booth by booth. Gelato. Where a line cook eats at midnight. Secret courtyards. Quiet Fourth of July viewpoints. Live music on the bricks, and I'm hoping the bandshell gets a paragraph. You pick the coldest drinks. Then the Pueblo chile arrives. Nightcaps and jukeboxes after 10, and I'd bet Mother Muff's comes up. Then a back-to-school pantry run, Uintah Gardens an obvious stop. Fall, the leg I'm saving. The annual pizza index: Slice 420 against Rustica against Leopold's, and we'll need lots of you to settle it. Golden aspens. Autumn ciders. A locals' guide for after the tourists leave. Ghost signs, spooky lore, wood-fired and cast iron cooking (Front Range BBQ, you're on my mind). Thanksgiving hosting. Best of the Westside nominations. Small Business Saturday. And then a Black Friday antidote at Section 16 and Bear Creek. December: a 100% Westside gift guide, a winter lights walk, the Best of the Westside winners, the solstice and quiet patios, and a last issue called Looking Ahead. Every week also carries a civic item and an oral history. A 40-year diner regular. A couple who met at Bancroft in 1988. A chile roaster of 25 seasons. A dishwasher who worked 300 shifts. A high school senior looking at the Westside's future. Tell me which month I got wrong, or which place I forgot. The pencil's by the fridge, and I'll see you the first Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? <https://westsidewherewithal.com/issues/2026-10-11-issue-0> Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? 2026-10-11 In this issue Can't we just inform each other? The leaves are changing Divide anything but our bread What it's all for We choose this Can't we just inform each other? Nobody's telling us what's happening around here unless you find some corporate website that tracks you and tries to make you pay just to find out what's going on outside your door. What a drag. Can't we just inform each other, and have fun building and being in community? The leaves are changing The leaves are changing and falling, and the streets are graced with people from all walks of life. The days are growing shorter, and fall will give way to snow in a few weeks. Before we know it Santa will be at the cabin in Bancroft Park and the Christkindlmarket will be back. Divide anything but our bread I want people to see and hear themselves in our work. I want the people in this community to remember that we're in this together and that what we print is made to remind us of that. We are not here to divide anything but our bread for others, to love our neighbors, and practice mercy and kindness. What it's all for I get nervous that people's fear clouds not only their judgment but their hearts. I can be a skeptic, and quite cynical at times. I wonder what it's all for and why I'm doing this. But in the end, if one person reads our words and connects with them even a little, and it gives them a spark or the belief that they are loved, I will have done my work. We choose this I hope people are excited to see what we're up to. I hope they want to be a part of it, and that by gathering and presenting our values, beliefs and customs together, we can cherish them and let new things in while the old fades. I want Thursday to remind us that we choose this. Jeff What we told you Can't we just inform each other? The leaves are changing Divide anything but our bread What it's all for We choose this The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The archive <https://westsidewherewithal.com/issues/index> The archive Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The archive Every issue, oldest at the bottom. Free to read. If you want to chip in, the jar is on the front page. Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? 2026-10-11 The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The Westside Wherewithal <https://westsidewherewithal.com/> The Westside Wherewithal Skip to the paper We start for real in January. Sign up and the first one lands on a Thursday morning. Thursday mornings · FreeFrom your neighbors ## The Westside WherewithalBecause living west of takes a little wherewithal. Colorado Springs, Colorado A free paper for the Westside of Colorado Springs, written by the people who live here. Thursday mornings, starting January. ## Get it Thursday morning One email a week, free. Put your address in and we'll see you Thursday. Sign me up ## What the city is deciding ## About your street, before it's done You can still weigh in Open nowColorado Avenue lane test. Four lanes to three from Limit Street to 30th Street (the city's page; the Gazette says 31st), for up to a year from June 2026, paid for with $375K from the regional road tax (PPRTA, the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority). The city survey is open.The city's own page: City project page · The surveyIn the news: Gazette, lane test # Oct 26, 2026The city's 2027 budget. Public hearing Monday Oct 26, 5:30 p.m., Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada. Anyone can speak. The council talks it over at work sessions first (Oct 15 is one). What's in it for the Westside, we're reading now.The city's own page: the council calendar (Legistar) # Coming up Oct 21, 2026The community center's neighbor group (the Westside Community Center Alliance) meets Wednesday Oct 21, 4 p.m. It helps steer what the center at 1628 W Bijou becomes. Whether anyone can sit in, we're asking.The city's own page: city page, community centerStill looking for: the Alliance's own notice and the Parks Advisory Board's May minutesIn the news: Gazette, the Alliance # Apr 2027Roundabout at 31st and Fontanero, by Howbert Elementary, replacing the four-way stop. The open house was Sept 15. Construction April to fall 2027. Parents asked about the school crossing; the city says it will work with the school. The crossing drawing and the open-house boards are the documents we're after.In the news: KKTV, the roundabout # Apr 13, 2027Project Taurus. A 50-megawatt data center proposed at the old Intel plant, next to the homes in Chelsea Glen. The Planning Commission approved it 6 to 2 in July with a power cap and noise monitoring. Council put the appeal off 7 to 2 to April 13, a week after the city election, and wants a noise study and a study of what big power users pay first. The developer told Colorado Politics on Sept 18 it is weighing whether this is the right partnership.Still looking for: the noise studyIn the news: CPR, hearing date · Colorado Politics, the postponement · KKTV, the appeal # Already decided Sep 22, 2026Old Colorado City's downtown development authority (DDA) shut down. The tax district voters created in 2024 never got its funding. Council voted 5 to 4 on Sept 22 to dissolve it, ordinance 26-48 (yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams; no: Donelson, Gold, Henjum, Leinweber), after the same 5 to 4 on first reading Aug 25. KKTV reported Oct 2 that the DDA is weighing legal action because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. Who picks up the avenue's end of things is an open question.The city's own page: meeting record (Open Publica)Still looking for: the ordinance text itself, and the Aug 25 minutesIn the news: Gazette, the first vote · KKTV, the lawsuit threat # Coming up Every weekThe land. Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, the Garden, Bear Creek, the creek itself: fire restrictions, trail closures, anything the parks board decides. Nothing new on the city's pages this week; we look every Monday, and a canyon volunteer is looking with us.The city's own page: city parks, trails and open space # Already decided Since Apr 2023Greater Westside Community Plan. Nine neighborhoods, one plan: Gold Hill, Ivywild, Mesa, Mesa Springs, Midland, Old Colorado City, Skyway, Stratton Meadows, Westside. The city's page lists six meetings, the last in April 2023, plus a 2022 survey and a 'Big Ideas' summary. What came next is the question we're taking to Planning, and to the neighbors who sat in those rooms.The city's own page: city page, the plan # Checked October 11. Each one links to the city's own page where we found it. Where it says "still looking," we haven't found it yet (city websites, you know how it goes). If you've got it, send it over. Want to be the person in the room? Go to one meeting, write down what happened on this one-page sheet, and your name goes on it. A City Council Tuesday is the easy first one; you can watch it live or later from the couch. ## Vote ## Ballots are in the mail. Here's the Westside part. By Oct 26Register, or check that you're registered, at GoVoteColorado.gov. Moved since last time? Update it there too. After Oct 26 you can still register and vote in person, through Election Day.The city's own page: GoVoteColorado.gov # Till Nov 3, 7 p.m.Drop boxes west of I-25, open day and night: Red Rock Canyon shopping center, 3141 W Colorado Ave; Bear Creek Regional Park, 2002 Creek Crossing St; the clerk's office, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd; Manitou City Hall, 606 Manitou Ave. Mailing it? The county says by Oct 27. It has to arrive by 7 p.m. on Election Day; a postmark doesn't count.The city's own page: the county's list of boxes · El Paso County elections # On the ballotThe local ones: County 1A keeps the public-safety sales tax going through 2037. D11 4A is a $775 million school bond (Coronado is on the list). Then fourteen statewide questions; the state's Blue Book explains each one in plain words, for and against.The city's own page: the county's local questions · the Blue Book # Apr 6, 2027The city election: mayor and three council seats. Same registration, same website. We'll print the candidates and where they stand on the Westside.The city's own page: city election page # We don't tell you how to vote. We'd love for you to. If the Blue Book is a brick, if you can't get to a box, if you're not sure you're registered, call or text 719-201-5462 and a neighbor helps. The county pays election judges and trains them; sign up here if you've got a day. ## The next two weeks ## Oct 11 to Nov 8, checked against the calendars The market's last Saturday, Pumpkins in the Park, free bingo at the community center, the cemetery tour, the coffin races, and the same seven things every week. Every weekMon Boom Box Bingo, 7 to 11 p.m. (Mother Muff's)Tue Math tutoring, 4 to 5:30 p.m. (OCC Library)Wed Toddler Time, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Wed Open mic, 6 to 9 p.m. (Jives Coffee Lounge, 16 Colbrunn Ct)Thu Trivia, 7 to 9 p.m. (OCC Brewing)Fri Storytime, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Sat Paws to Read, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Sun Brunch Jam Band, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Mother Muff's) Sun Oct 11 all month Scarecrow Days: the storefront scarecrows, with a public vote, through Oct 31 the avenue Mon Oct 12 all day Westside CARES closed for Indigenous Peoples' Day 2808 W Colorado Tue Oct 13 9 a.m. City Council regular meeting (agenda on Legistar) 107 N Nevada 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Small Steps, Giant Leaps, Space Foundation program for ages 2 to 6 Westside Community Center Wed Oct 14 9 a.m. City Planning Commission 2880 International Cir. 5:30 to 7 p.m. Evening pickleball: donate a bag of candy to play, paddles limited Westside Community Center Thu Oct 15 7:30 a.m. Coffee with the principal Coronado High, Future Center 2 to 4 p.m. Classic board games free OCC Library 5 p.m. Mushroom Zombie Haunted House opens, through Oct 31 Mush Love Tee, the shirt shop, 2627 W Colorado Fri Oct 16 all day No school at Coronado: parent-teacher conferences, 9 to 3 in the gym Coronado High 5 to 6 p.m. Bingo at the Biscuit The Biscuit Factory Cat Lounge, 12 S 25th Sat Oct 17 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Farmers market, last Saturday of the season, 80-some vendors Bancroft Park 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Craft and art market, final Saturday History Center, 1 S 24th Sun Oct 18 evening Legends and Lore of Fairview Cemetery, a two-hour guided tour; tickets online, kids 12 and under free Fairview Cemetery, 1000 S 26th Mon Oct 19 all week Fall break at Coronado, Oct 19 to 22, no school Coronado High Wed Oct 21 4 p.m. Westside Community Center Alliance meeting Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou 5:30 to 7 p.m. Howdy Neighbor prize bingo, doors at 5, all ages, no sign-up free Westside Community Center Thu Oct 22 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Book group free OCC Library Sat Oct 24 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Emma Crawford Coffin Races, the 32nd; Manitou Avenue closes at 9 Manitou Springs noon to 6 p.m. Pumpkins in the Park: pumpkin patch, painting, face painters, costume and carving contests, the ZOOmobile, live music, a beer garden free the avenue Sun Oct 25 1 to 4 p.m. Trunk or Treat in the parking lot, and Animals of Halloween inside, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. free Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th Mon Oct 26 10 to 10:45 a.m. Bighorn sheep, an indoor program with a touch table; Mondays through Nov 30 free Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Owls of the Garden: take an owl pellet apart; $5, sign up first Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 5:30 p.m. City budget public hearing, the 2027 budget; anyone can speak Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada Tue Oct 27 all day Stroll-a-Story: a storybook walk, page by page, around the library OCC Library, 2418 W Pikes Peak Thu Oct 29 7:30 to 8:45 p.m. Haunted Manitou ghost tour, $25; also Oct 30 and 31 Memorial Park, Manitou Springs Fri Oct 30 5:30 p.m. Ghost Stories of Old Manitou, a walking tour from the museum Manitou Springs Heritage Museum Sat Oct 31 1 to 2 p.m. Why wolves in Colorado, a talk Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 2 to 4:30 p.m. Trick or Treat Street: costumed kids 1 to 6, shop to shop; look for the orange and yellow balloons the avenue, 23rd to 28th 6 p.m. Manitou Phantasmagoria Shoshone Spring courtyard, Manitou Springs evening Mushroom Zombie Haunted House, last night Mush Love Tee, the shirt shop, 2627 W Colorado Tue Nov 3 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Election Day. Ballots due by 7 p.m. at a drop box; register and vote in person at the clerk's office, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd, or Manitou City Hall El Paso County Fri Nov 6 5 to 8 p.m. First Friday ArtWalk: galleries, studios and shops open late along the avenue free the avenue, 17th to 31st Sun Nov 8 11 a.m. Altitude Makers market and farmers market free Soda Springs Park, Manitou Springs Every line above came off a calendar we can link, checked October 11. The strip up top happens every week; the list is the one-time stuff. The avenue is West Colorado Avenue; OCC is Old Colorado City; D11 is the school district. If we got a time wrong, tell us and we'll fix it in the next issue. Red Rock Canyon, the churches and the school sports pages had nothing dated for these two weeks; if you know of something, send it. Where that came from: Old Colorado City events calendar · Old Colorado City Library · Westside Community Center · History Center events · Garden of the Gods calendar ## The Bulletin Board ## Suppers, pantries, services, weddings, and the ones we lost If you need something this week, start here. Free, in your words, from you or your church or your family. Food, rent and utility help: Westside CARES, 2808 W Colorado Ave, 719-389-0759. Open Monday to Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.. They prefer you walk in. Closed when the schools close for weather. Serves everyone west of I-25. Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou St, 719-385-7920. Open Monday and Friday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Tuesday to Thursday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.. A corkboard, not a story. Church suppers, pantry hours, services, weddings, and the ones we lost: free, in your words, from you or your church or your family. We call to check the hours before they run. Send it by Tuesday to hello@westsidewherewithal.com, by text to 719-201-5462, on paper to the office at Suite 122, or in the box on the front page. Where that came from: Westside CARES hours · Community center hours (city page) ## The Listening Room ## Once a month. You pick where and when. Coffee with the editor, no agenda, no sign-up. The hour and the place are a vote; the winner runs in issue 1. The Listening Room isn't an office. It's one hour a month wherever we sit down, and I'd rather you picked it than me. Vote below, or write in your own. I live over here, about twenty years now, and the office on the avenue is the paper's address; it says one thing: I'm here. I'm with you. Where and when Saturday morning, the bench by the bandshell in Bancroft Park Tuesday evening, a coffee counter on the avenue Sunday afternoon, the library (once they say yes) A weeknight on Zoom, for people who work days Cast it ## The Address Book ## What was in this storefront in 1968? One storefront, one photo, what was inside. One building per issue: a photo, the address, and whoever remembers fills in the rest. The first photo is coming; if you have one, send it in below. ## Write something ## Send it in The shop that closed, the thing the city's about to do on your street, the neighbor everybody should know. Photos and drawings count, with your name on them. Send it however you like: the box below, hello@westsidewherewithal.com, a call or a text to 719-201-5462, or drop it at the office (Suite 122, 2320 W Colorado Ave). We write back. Rather talk than type? Call or text 719-201-5462 and tell me out loud; I'll write it down and you hear it read back before it runs. Under 18? Send it anyway; we'll check with you or a parent before it runs. Teachers, send the whole class. Photos come by email. En español: mándenos un texto al 719-201-5462 o escríbanos a hello@westsidewherewithal.com, en español: su cena, su misa, su aviso. No lo hablo de nacimiento; lo traducimos con un vecino y se lo leemos antes de publicar. Any other language: send it anyway, and we'll find a neighbor to translate. Want a desk? The pages signed by a desk are open; here's how to take one. Got a counter, or a box on your fence? Say so and we'll bring a stack, free, and swap the stale ones. How we do things, if you're curious. Put me down for a stack, for my counter or my library box Send it in ## The jar It's free. If a Thursday was worth something to you, throw a few bucks in the jar; it pays for the email and the printing. A check to the office works too. Pay what you want Inside: What the city is deciding · The next two weeks · On the avenue · From the desks · The next 100 years · Frontier wherewithal · Around the avenue · What came before us ## On the avenue ## I never stepped inside Base Camp, 2611 W Colorado, closed October 4, and I never ate there. Tell me the place you'd go back to. Jeff Adkins Base Camp closed on October 4. I thought it looked cool, but the menu never appealed to me in the moment, and it's hard to take me away from the dozen places I adore already. Sad to say I never stepped inside. That's on me, and I'm not alone. Empty storefronts are not what we want here. What keeps a place open is anyone and everyone who can afford to spend local dollars in it, and I am going to try hard to keep mixing it up. If you're thinking about working and making a living here, I wish I could appeal to you directly: we need you. Old Colorado City (OCC from here on) is a tourist destination, for locals and for travelers. I know this. I gladly give up my street parking for events because I know we need them. If I want OCC Brewing to be here 365 days a year, I need them to sustain themselves. That means me not griping about the traffic or the parking over here. Not everyone can afford to eat out or shop on the avenue. I understand that; I don't feel obligated to, and neither should you. I'm fortunate that I can budget for a meal out, and I try to go during the week, when places are less busy and could frankly use the business. So I can't complain about Base Camp closing if I didn't eat there, and I can't blame not eating there on the parking. Tell me the place you'd go back to. What we know: Base Camp, 2611 W Colorado Ave, opened March 2025 and closed October 4; the owner cited costs and the economy. Mountain Shadows, the restaurant four blocks east, closed December 2024 and sold in January. Where that came from: Gazette, Oct 2, 2026 · Gazette, Jan 20, 2025 · OCC Brewing ## From the desks ## Ten desks, one neighborhood Celebrating, remembering, forecasting. Each desk is open; a neighbor's name goes on it the day they take it. The Wherewithal desks Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in · the 52 Thursdays of 2027, as a walk through the seasons The man who wrote down the Westside · 604 columns, the elk, the tunnels, and who keeps the record now Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper · the vote, the names, what's still unknown, and how to be in the room See that building? Look again · five storefronts and what they were, from the columns and the 1902 map Where the asphalt gives up · Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, Bear Creek; this fall, and the seed rule The elk who pulled a carriage · for kids: three things to find on the walk to school, and a dare Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad · la mesa en español: ayuda, el voto, cómo escribirnos Who's cooking on the Westside this week · six tables, as their own pages say it; we call before it prints Three picks before Halloween · the market's last Saturday, the coffin races, pumpkins in the park, and where to park The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead · every date headed for your street, and the door into each one Every desk is written from the record we hold and says so at the top. None of it is an interview yet; those are coming. Every one is open: what each desk takes, and how to take one. One text, one coffee. ## The next 100 years ## Four lanes to three, for a year Four lanes to three, Limit to 30th, for a year. The city survey is open. One driver's take below; if yours differs, next issue's yours. Jeff Adkins 1902 · Sanborn fire insurance map, sheet 2, Colorado Avenue · Library of Congress, public domain 2027 · lane drawing · city of Colorado Springs, Colorado Avenue demonstration, phase two What we know: four lanes to three from Limit to 30th by the city's page (the Gazette says 31st), since June 2026, for up to a year; the city calls it the Colorado Avenue Demonstration Project; $375K of county transportation tax (PPRTA) money. The Gazette counts about 30 parking spaces added, metered; the city's page says parking changes are expected to be minimal. We've asked the project team which it is. A second phase in 2027 makes some of it permanent and redoes three blocks of streetscape (Gazette); permanent reconstruction is penciled for 2027 or 2028 (Bike Colorado Springs). The city survey is open. One driver's take, mine (and my office is on the avenue, at 2320): it's great to see so much more attention being paid to pedestrians, and it doesn't slow me down at all. I haven't timed it; if you have, send the numbers. It may add parking, metered; the city and the Gazette disagree on how much (see the record), and nobody has said yet where someone who lives over a shop parks overnight. The city is taking comments until the concrete goes down. If you drive it, bike it, or cross it with a stroller, say so. If you hate it, this space is yours next issue, same length, your name on it. What do I want to still be here in 2126? Westsiders. Hyper local, no corporate nonsense, and room for whoever shows up to stay. Where that came from: Sanborn 1902 (LoC) · City project page · The city survey · Gazette, May 20, 2026 · Bike Colorado Springs ## Frontier wherewithal ## Load up for winter, survive the summer Not just another old west town. Two tame elk, tunnels under the avenue, four to six weeks a year you'd rather be in the water. Jeff Adkins If you're new here you might think this is just another old west town. If you're passing through, maybe we should let you believe it. Our summers are dry and shorter than most, but they stop and start and come back the most. I'd say we have about four to six weeks a year where you'd want to be holed up in the cabin or in the water, which can be tricky to find. We need to know how to load up for winter, survive the summer, and not die of dehydration. And like every place with lore, we have a guy who trained two tame elk, Thunder and Buttons, to pull a carriage, plus tunnels and brothels and churches, oh my. We love it here. What we know: Thunder and Buttons were elk; Prairie Dog O'Byrne drove them hitched to a carriage on this avenue in the late 1880s. The tunnels under the avenue are documented by the historical society, with the honest caveat that some of it may be something else. Colorado City voted itself dry in 1913. Where that came from: Westside Pioneer, 2006 · Cobweb Corners, 2005 · Gazette, July 2021, the tunnels · Thunder and Buttons II ## Around the avenue ## Getting to know them is the point I don't know everyone yet. Getting to know them is the point. Jeff Adkins What we know so far: Who's opening and who's moving: we've heard about three and have an address for none, so none are named yet. Send the name and the block. The Old Colorado City Historical Society runs a free museum at 1 South 24th, a block off the avenue. Tuesday through Saturday, 11 to 4 in summer and 11 to 2 in winter. Call before you drive. The free Tuesday concerts at the Bancroft Park bandshell ran June 2 through September 29 this year, 5:30, Dizzy Charlie's and the Pikes Peak Blues Community. Next summer's lineup runs here the week it's announced. First Friday art walk, 5 to 8, galleries and studios along the avenue. Next one is November 6. The Customs and Classics car show closes the avenue from 23rd to 27th one Sunday every August. If the one you went to was a different show this fall, tell us which. This is the stuff I get to see everyone else doing. I enjoy seeing them do it. It doesn't matter to me if I don't know anyone in the room, because getting to know them is the point of this life. And that's what I'm here to capture in this paper. I shouldn't pretend to know things I don't. Where that came from: OCC History Center · Tuesday concerts (Springs Magazine) · First Friday (OCC calendar) · The car show (Pioneer, 2018) ## What came before us ## I want it all Mel McFarland died in September; I indexed the 604 columns I found. Eight digs, from the capital that got away to the forgotten cemetery. Jeff Adkins Start here: Mel McFarland, who wrote the Westside's past in the Pioneer for fifteen years, died in September at 81. Most of what is below comes from his columns. I found 604 and indexed every one I found; the one-line summaries there are software drafts, not yet checked one by one. Who keeps the record now is a question this paper exists to answer. I want the best stories from Old Colorado City. I want to dig down and find the most awesome stuff we can publish: how people first lived here, how it went from zero to what it is today, funny things, shootouts, jail time for crimes that make us laugh and cry, mysteries and murders. I want it all. What did we used to do and stop? What was, but isn't? What could have been, but never was? The digs I can't do alone: your church, your family, your block. Send them. What we found first: The capital that got away. Colorado City was founded in August 1859 to outfit gold seekers, was the county seat by 1861, and held the territorial capital just long enough to lose it to Denver. One account says the town was deemed too rowdy. Zero to four thousand. Mel has the town past 2,000 by 1890; the 1892 fire-insurance map (the Sanborn) writes 2,000 on its own cover, and the 1902 sheet writes 4,000. The town voted itself dry in 1913, lost the saloon money, and voted to be annexed by Colorado Springs in April 1917. Four saloons to twenty-seven. By the Pioneer's 2009 count (a feature, not one of Mel's columns): four in 1884, twenty-three by 1888, twenty-seven in 1902 plus thirty-some gambling halls, on a main street that also had the churches. Laura Bell McDaniel. From the Pioneer's 2011 profile, not the index: queen of the tenderloin; her last house was the Tribley House in the 2600 block of West Cucharras. She married Tom McDaniel in April 1887 in Salida; a month later he shot a man five times while she watched, and was acquitted. She divorced him in 1893. Accused in November 1917 of stealing liquor and acquitted; the historian who wrote her up thinks it was a set-up. Died in a car crash in January 1918. The elk were O'Byrne's by Mel's column (bought in Aspen in 1888); a 2006 Pioneer piece has her riding beside him in the carriage. The Glass Works. Full production in 1889 with 200 men on the south edge of town, bottling Manitou water. The furnace top collapsed just after midnight on September 9, 1892. Wheeler promised to rebuild; the Silver Panic of 1893 and the lost customers finished it. One of Mel's columns says it closed in 1895, another says by 1900; one puts a fire in 1893 as well. The Midland shops. The Colorado Midland started here in 1886 and quit in 1918; the Midland Terminal ran the line to Divide until it was scrapped in 1949. Hundreds of men in the shops at the peak, under a hundred by 1925, about fifty by 1948; the office burned in 1953. The fourteen-stall roundhouse is the one that lived: Van Briggle pottery, then the shops you walk through now. The mills. The Colorado-Philadelphia came first, in 1894 by one of Mel's columns and about 1897 by another, near 31st and the 24. Golden Cycle took over the Telluride mill in 1906, rebuilt it with cyanide after a 1907 fire, and ran it until 1949; the smokestack is still there. The forgotten cemetery. Colorado City's Pioneer cemetery, on the mesa, used from about 1860 to 1917. Not every burial was moved; the stones came out in the 1940s and it became Pioneer Park in the 1950s. Graves were mapped with metal detectors in the 1970s, a project Mel joined, and a cast-iron coffin may still be there. Who is in it is still the question. Where that came from: Why the fuss? (Pioneer) · Laura Bell McDaniel (Pioneer, 2011) · Thunder and Buttons (Cobweb Corners, 2005) · The Glass Works, 200 men (Cobweb Corners, 2011) · The Glass Works fire (Cobweb Corners, 2011) · The Glass Works closed 1895 (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The Midland, 1886 to 1918 (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The Midland shops decline (Cobweb Corners, 2009) · The roundhouse (Cobweb Corners, 2007) · The mills (Cobweb Corners, 2013) · Golden Cycle closes, 1949 (Cobweb Corners, 2006) · The capital, the county seat (Cobweb Corners, 2009) · The forgotten cemetery (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The forgotten cemetery (Cobweb Corners, 2017) · Mel McFarland, 1945 to 2026 (Gazette) · Every Cobweb Corners column, indexed · Colorado City Iris, digitized (CHNC) If something here is wrong, reply to the email or send it in below. Corrections run at the top of the next issue. Behind the masthead: Sanborn fire insurance map of Colorado City, November 1902, sheet 1. Library of Congress, public domain. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad <https://westsidewherewithal.com/la-vecina> Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad La Vecina, la mesa en español. Traducción nuestra; buscamos a un vecino o vecina que la tome y firme aquí. Vecina, vecino: Le escribo con las hojas ya cambiando de color y las tardes más cortas. Aquí entre nosotros, quería contarle lo que sé. Si usted vive al oeste de la I-25, este periódico es para usted. Se llama The Westside Wherewithal, sale cada semana y es gratis. Lo escribimos entre vecinos: lo que abre, lo que cierra, lo que se vota, lo que llega al parque. Y queremos saber de usted. Cuéntenos lo que ve en su cuadra, en su iglesia, en su trabajo, y hágalo en español, como le salga. Si esta semana necesita una mano, vaya a Westside CARES, en 2808 W Colorado Ave. Abren de lunes a jueves, de 9:30 a.m. a 12:30 p.m., y no hace falta cita. Atienden a todos los que viven al oeste de la I-25. Llame al 719-389-0759. También tiene el Westside Community Center, en 1628 W Bijou St, teléfono 719-385-7920. Abre lunes y viernes, de 9 a.m. a 3 p.m., y de martes a jueves, de 9 a.m. a 7 p.m. Ahora el voto, en claro. Hasta el 26 de octubre puede registrarse, o revisar si ya está registrado, en GoVoteColorado.gov. Pasada esa fecha, todavía puede hacerlo en persona, hasta el día de la elección. Y para dejar su boleta, las urnas están abiertas hasta las 7 p.m. del 3 de noviembre en cuatro lugares: el centro comercial Red Rock Canyon, 3141 W Colorado Ave; Bear Creek Regional Park, 2002 Creek Crossing St; la oficina del secretario del condado, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd; y el ayuntamiento de Manitou, 606 Manitou Ave. Aquí no le decimos cómo votar. Solo le decimos dónde y cuándo. En diciembre el Christkindlmarket vuelve a Bancroft Park. Cuando tengamos los días, se los pasamos aquí. Si quiere escribirnos, mande un texto al 719-201-5462 o un correo a hello@westsidewherewithal.com, en español. El editor no habla español de cuna. Traduce con un vecino y lo vuelve a leer con él antes de que algo se imprima. También tenemos una hoja en español en westsidewherewithal.com/sheet-es. Y una cosa honesta: esta página es traducción nuestra. Buscamos a un vecino o vecina que hable español para que tome esta mesa y firme aquí con su nombre. Hasta la próxima semana, vecino. Un abrazo, La Vecina The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The print pack <https://westsidewherewithal.com/print> The print pack Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The print pack Everything to print this week, how many, and where it goes. Any copy shop; a home printer works for the one-sheets. What to print PrintFileHowCopies The one-sheetsheet.pdfLetter, one side (two sides if you want the puzzle back: sheet-back.pdf)20 Large printsheet-large.pdfLetter, two sides5 La hoja (Spanish)sheet-es.pdfLetter, one side10 The box editionzine-box.pdfLetter, landscape, two sheets, two-sided, flip on the short edge; nest sheet 2 inside sheet 1, fold once; no staples20 Every print says "good till Oct 25" or has no dates. A stale stack gets swapped; call and we bring more. Where it goes PlaceWhatHow many The gas station at 31stone-sheet5 The hardware storeone-sheet5 A diner on the avenueone-sheet, and ask about a tray5 The OCC History Center, 1 S 24thone-sheet5 Your own door, Suite 122one-sheet, box edition5 and 5 The grocery at 31stla hoja10 The senior table at the community center, 1628 W Bijoularge print5 The little free library at the old Carnegie building, 701 Manitou Avebox edition8 The Head Start box, 2330 Robinson Stbox edition7 The ask at a counter, two sentences: "It's a free weekly paper for the Westside, written by neighbors, nothing for you to pay and nothing to sell. Can it sit here, and can I refill it on Thursdays?" Say yes to any condition they add. What to watch Count what's left after a week. Note any call or text to 719-201-5462 and any word find or quiz score that comes in. That's the first real test; everything before it was rehearsal. The reader inbox was empty on October 11. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Plant this (when it exists) <https://westsidewherewithal.com/seeds> Plant this (when it exists) Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Plant this (when it exists) There are no seed strips yet. This is the plan, written down before the first one so nobody has to guess. Some copies of the zine will carry a small sealed strip of seed paper. Plant it in your own yard, a friend's yard with their yes, a community garden, or a school bed with the principal's okay. Not in a park, not in open space, not in Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, the Garden of the Gods or Bear Creek, not along the creek or a trail, and never after a fire. Those places get seeded by the people who manage them, with seed matched to the ground, and a stranger's strip does more harm than good there. What's in it: Colorado natives from a Colorado grower (Western Native Seed, in Coaldale): Lewis blue flax, Rocky Mountain penstemon, blanketflower, prairie coneflower. Nothing from the state's noxious weed list, which is where the cheap "wildflower mixes" go wrong. Plant in fall; the penstemon wants a winter in the ground. Plant it, take a picture when something comes up, send it in. The best ones run in the paper with your name on them. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Take a desk <https://westsidewherewithal.com/take-a-desk> Take a desk Moved to /desks. --- # Thank you <https://westsidewherewithal.com/thanks> Thank you Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Thank you That's the whole transaction. No tier, no badge, no extra issue. The paper keeps going, and your name goes on the once-a-year list of people who chipped in, alphabetical, no amounts, unless you'd rather it didn't. Reply to any issue to say so. See you Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The elk who pulled a carriage <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-box> The elk who pulled a carriage Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The elk who pulled a carriage The Box desk, for kids and whoever is with them. When a neighbor (or a kid) takes this desk, their name goes here. Okay. You're the boss today. Walk to school, but make it a hunt. Find three things. One: a little free library. It's a box on a post full of books, and you can take one. We know of 27 of them west of I-25. Two you can visit: the one at the old Carnegie library building, 701 Manitou Ave, and the one at the Head Start, 2330 Robinson St. Two: the red rocks at the end of the street. Stop and look. Three: one leaf. Pick the best one on the block. Keep it. It's a bookmark now. Okay. Now the elk. In 1888, a man named John O'Byrne got two tame elk from a judge in Aspen. He trained them to pull his tourist carriage down this very avenue. Their names were Thunder and Buttons. Yes, elk. Yes, a carriage. Eventually a movie company bought them and took them to Alaska to film advertisements. Thunder and Buttons were in commercials. (Also true.) (Bonus, also true: in 1880 a train crew calmed a cold, panicking circus elephant at Colorado Springs with a keg of beer. Aunt's honor.) Ask a grown-up. Point at any building on your walk and ask: "What was here before?" Then listen. Your move, boss. This fall: Halloween, Oct. 31, 2 to 4:30 p.m.: Trick or Treat Street on the avenue, 23rd to 28th. Costumed kids 1 to 6. Look for the orange and yellow balloons. Bring a little cousin. Mondays, 10 a.m.: the bighorn sheep program at the Garden of the Gods Visitor Center. December: the Christkindlmarket comes back to Bancroft Park, bigger than last year, with Santa at the cabin. Bonus level: the paper in the box has games. A word find whose leftover letters spell a message. A five-question quiz with the answers printed upside down. And a map to draw on: it's the 1902 map of Colorado City, when the town had 4,000 people. You can see it at westsidewherewithal.com/zine-box, page 6. The dare. Draw Thunder and Buttons pulling the carriage. Go big. Give the tourists faces. Then put it in the little free library box, or send it to hello@westsidewherewithal.com with your first name. We print the best ones. See you on the avenue. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-next-hundred> The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead The Next Hundred desk. Written from the city's own pages and the ballot; dates change, and we fix them when they do. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Right now, Colorado Avenue. Four lanes have been three from Limit to 30th since June, for up to a year. Watch the lanes. Your move: fill out the city survey after you've driven it, biked it, or crossed it with a stroller. The avenue went on a diet and nobody asked it. Oct 21 and Oct 26. The community center's neighbor group meets Wednesday the 21st at 4 p.m.; it helps steer what the center at 1628 W Bijou becomes. Monday the 26th, 5:30 p.m.: the 2027 budget's public hearing at 107 N Nevada. Anyone can speak; the council calendar lists the work sessions before it. Your move: pick one and go. The budget reads better with you. Nov 3. Ballots are due by 7 p.m. County 1A would keep the public-safety sales tax going through 2037. D11's 4A is a $775 million school bond, and Coronado is on the list. Your move: vote, and use a drop box if the mail feels slow. There's one at 3141 W Colorado Ave. Seven o'clock does not negotiate. December. The Christkindlmarket comes back to Bancroft Park, bigger. Bancroft is the pupil of the eye, so a bigger market could mean a fuller avenue and fewer spots out front. Your move: go, and walk. The car can stay home. April 6, 2027. The city election: mayor and three council seats. Your move: register or check your registration, and ask every candidate what they would do about the avenue. The avenue will hear about it. April 13. Council hears the appeal on Project Taurus, the 50-megawatt data center proposed at the old Intel plant next to the homes in Chelsea Glen. The Planning Commission approved it 6 to 2 in July with a power cap and noise monitoring; council wants a noise study first, and the hearing falls a week after you vote (Colorado Politics). The developer says it is weighing the partnership, so the date could still move. Your move: read the noise study when it exists, and show up. Read quietly. April to fall 2027. A roundabout replaces the four-way stop at 31st and Fontanero by Howbert Elementary, on the western gateway to the red rocks. Parents asked about the school crossing, and the city says it will work with the school. Your move: if you walk kids there, ask the school what they've been told. Four stops become one circle. Around June 2027. The lane test's year ends, give or take. Nothing we've found says what comes after. Your move: whatever you think of the test, say so before it ends. A year is long enough for an opinion. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The man who wrote down the Westside <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-porch-mcfarland> The man who wrote down the Westside Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The man who wrote down the Westside The Porch desk. Written from the record; the editor's conversations with his family and friends are coming. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. If you ever wondered whether there really were tunnels under Colorado Avenue, Mel McFarland is a big part of why you wondered. I'll tell you what I know. He died September 21, at 81. From 2004 to 2019 he wrote 604 "Cobweb Corners" columns about this neighborhood for the Westside Pioneer. He was born here in 1944, a fourth-generation native, taught art and drafting, and wrote books on the Colorado Midland Railway. In 1983 he bought a retired working caboose for his Rockrimmon backyard, and became "the Caboose Guy." Dave Martinek, who started Midland Days at Divide with him in 2009, told the Gazette: "He was the go-to person for anyone who wanted to know about railroad history in the state." His nephew Luc MacArthur called him "kind of a Renaissance man." His sister, Elaine Radney, said: "He had a lot of people who loved him." He wrote it down. Here is some of it. On February 3, 2005, he wrote down the story of John O'Byrne, who in 1888 got two tame elk, Thunder and Buttons, and trained them to pull a tourist carriage. Here is the column. On April 7, 2005, he wrote down the tunnels, the ones that let Colorado Avenue customers reach the Cucharras Street brothels unseen. He had "seen the remains of bits of both" sets of tunnels himself. On November 17, 2011, he wrote down the Glass Works disaster. Just after midnight on September 9, 1892, the furnace top collapsed and fiery glass poured out. Chunks of raw glass still show up now and then in neighborhood yards and rock walls, he wrote. On November 14, 2013, he wrote down the day a Teller County sheriff chained a Pullman sleeper car to the rails over $663.21 in unpaid taxes, and a U.S. marshal freed it two days later. Read it. Here's the thing. The Gazette says he left "file cabinets" of research and writing, and that his family hopes to sift through them, with no concrete plans yet. The next person who asks "was there really a glass plant over here?" gets a shrug. We can't fix that. What we have is an index of all 604 columns, by what each one reports, at westsidewherewithal.com/cobweb. The editor plans to call his sister, Dave Martinek, the Pioneer's editor Kenyon Jordan, and the History Center, and we'll tell you what they say. The question we're taking to them is who keeps the record now. We'd like to be part of the answer, and we'd like yours. Did a column of his stick with you? Tell us which one. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-record-dda> Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper The Record desk. Written from the city's own pages and the news; the Aug 25 minutes are still to be read. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. If you missed the council meeting last month, here is the entry. A downtown development authority, a DDA, is a small district set up by a vote. It is supposed to get its own pot of money to spend on one downtown. In 2024, Old Colorado City voters created one for the avenue. It never got its funding. It was created by a vote and ended by a vote, and the money never turned up in between. On Sept 22, City Council voted 5 to 4 to dissolve it. That's ordinance 26-48. The meeting record has the roll call. That's on paper. Yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams No: Donelson, Gold, Henjum, Leinweber The Gazette reported the first vote, on Aug 25, as the same 5 to 4. That's reported. On Oct 2, KKTV reported that the DDA is weighing legal action, because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. That's reported too. That is the whole ledger so far. Here is what we don't know: The Aug 25 minutes. We have the first vote from the news, not from the minutes. Until we've read them, the date and the count are reported, not checked. Whether a lawsuit is filed. KKTV says the DDA is considering one. We haven't found a filing. That isn't on paper. We'll say so when it is. What the DDA was going to buy. The records we have don't list its plan, so we won't guess. If you voted in 2024, or sat in those rooms, tell us what you were told. Who picks up the avenue's end of things now. Nobody has answered that in anything we've read. That isn't on paper either. We are taking the question to the next meeting. Some of those answers are in a room on a Tuesday morning. You can be in it. City Council meets the second and fourth Tuesdays at 9 a.m., 107 N Nevada, and you can watch from home. You don't have to say a word. Take the one-page sheet, write down what happens, and your name goes on it. The Oct 13 meeting is the next one. If you were at the Aug 25 meeting, or you have the minutes, send them over. Tell me what I got wrong. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Where the asphalt gives up <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-ridge> Where the asphalt gives up Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Where the asphalt gives up The Ridge desk. Written from the city's pages and the groups' own sites; a canyon volunteer reads it before it prints. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Rain or snow, and the trails hold it. Friends of Red Rock Canyon says wait a day or two, because they stay muddy and fragile for 24 to 48 hours. Follow 21st down to Bear Creek, then keep going west. Around 30th and 31st the asphalt gives up. The red sandstone takes over. Red Rock Canyon is the pocket to the south. The city bought it in 2003, after it had been slated for a resort with high-rise towers and a private golf course. The city's open space page lists it among the places TOPS, the sales tax voters passed for open space, made possible. It nearly went the other way. Parking. The 31st Street trailhead has more than the High Street lots. No e-bikes in the open space. This fall. The Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th, runs a free bighorn sheep program with a touch table, Mondays 10 to 10:45 a.m. through Nov 30. Owls of the Garden is Oct 26, 12:30 to 1:30. Tickets from $5, sign up first. Oct 31, 1 to 2 p.m., a talk on why wolves in Colorado. The Garden's calendar has details. What's being decided. The Park System Master Plan goes to City Council for readings Oct 12 and 27, after the parks board heard it Oct 8. White Acres Trail is becoming the Don Ellis Trail. The board approved it Aug 13; it waits on an agreement and an $850 city fee. Fire restrictions: the city's page shows none this week, and we are checking with the fire department. We'll tell you what we hear. The seed rule. Some copies of this paper will carry a strip of Colorado native seed: Lewis blue flax, Rocky Mountain penstemon, blanketflower, prairie coneflower, from Western Native Seed in Coaldale. Plant it in your yard, a friend's yard with their yes, or a community garden. Never in a park, open space, along the creek or a trail, and never after a fire. The people who manage those places seed with plants matched to the ground, and a stranger's strip can do more harm than good. Groups to join. Friends of Red Rock Canyon keeps up the benches and runs Talk and Walks, resuming soon (no date yet). The Trails and Open Space Coalition takes members and runs the One Bag Challenge cleanups. Friends of Garden of the Gods runs volunteer days. Our promise. Every Monday this desk reads the city's parks pages, and a canyon volunteer reads them with us. If nothing's new, we'll say so. Which trail was muddy this week? Tell me and I'll pass it along. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Who's cooking on the Westside this week <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-table> Who's cooking on the Westside this week Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Who's cooking on the Westside this week The Table desk. Hours are as the churches and pantries post them, checked October 11; we call before they go on the Bulletin Board. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Here's how it works. Somebody on this side of the interstate is feeding somebody nearly every day of the week, mostly out of church basements, and the people at the stoves are neighbors who are very good at it. We went looking for the tables. There are more than we figured. Everything below is what each place says on its own page as of October 11. We haven't called any of them yet, so please do before you go. Hours move, and a wrong one costs somebody a trip. Sunday The Sanctuary Church, 1930 W Colorado Ave, lists its Ragamuffin Cafe hot meal at 9 a.m. Call 719-634-7232. It's the only Sunday hot meal we found over here. If you know another, tell us. Monday Westside CARES, 2808 W Colorado Ave, posts a weekly hot meal from 11 to 12:30. Call 719-389-0759. Same day, Sacred Heart's pantry is posted noon to 2 at the Parish Center door, 2030 W Colorado Ave. No voucher. Call 719-633-8711. Tuesday Westside Global Methodist, 701 N 20th St, posts its pantry from 11 to 2. Call 719-633-9295. If you still call it Trinity UMC, that's the same corner with a new name, and the old building on W Pikes Peak is becoming a child care center. Wednesday The Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou St, hosts the CARES pantry from 1 to 3. Call 719-385-7920. Up the road in Manitou, the pantry at 110 Canon Ave was last reported at 1 to 2, with a hot meal starting 12:30. Call 719-685-9259. St. Andrew's closed as a church in 2025, but the pantry kept going in the parish hall. Hats off to the people who kept it going. Thursday Sacred Heart again, same hours, same door, no voucher. Call 719-633-8711. Know another table? That's six tables, and I'd bet my good parking spot there are more. Churches, clubs, a neighbor with a big pot and a folding table. If your church or group feeds people, text 719-201-5462 or write hello@westsidewherewithal.com with the day and the hour. We'll call, confirm it, and print it, free, in your words. That's what the Bulletin Board is for. It's where every table lives, every week, so nobody has to guess which church has soup on which night. See you at the table. Tell us what we got wrong. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Three picks before Halloween <https://westsidewherewithal.com/weekend-radar> Three picks before Halloween Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Three picks before Halloween The Weekend Radar desk. Every line checked against the organizer's own page. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Two weekends, three picks, and I've already parked for all of them. Read this, then go. Go to the farmers market. Saturday, October 17, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., Bancroft Park, 24th and Colorado. It's the last Saturday of the season, with 80-some vendors, and there is no next Saturday. Go early, because the best of anything goes first. Parking: don't circle the park hoping. Take a side street and walk the last bit. Saturday, October 24 is two things at once. Pick one. First, the coffin races. The Emma Crawford Coffin Races run 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Manitou Springs. Parking: Manitou Avenue closes at 9, so get there before the road shuts and the crowd fills in, and plan to walk in. Second, the pumpkins. Pumpkins in the Park is noon to 6 p.m. on the avenue, free, with a pumpkin patch, painting, costume and carving contests, the ZOOmobile, live music and a beer garden. Parking: the avenue's diagonal spots fill on a festival Saturday, so take a side street and walk in. Don't try to do both in one afternoon. Choose, then start the day with it. The things that are always there. If the festivals are not your speed, or you just need a Thursday: trivia at OCC Brewing every Thursday, 7 to 9 p.m. Storytime at the OCC Library every Friday, 10:30 a.m. Brunch Jam Band at Mother Muff's every Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Free bingo on the 21st, Trunk or Treat on the 25th, Trick or Treat Street on the 31st and First Friday ArtWalk on November 6 are all on the full list, with times. That list lives at westsidewherewithal.com, and it's also the one-sheet on the counters around the avenue. Got something happening that we missed? Send it to hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or text 719-201-5462. We'll check it against your own page and put it in. See you Saturday. I'll be the one who parked early. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in <https://westsidewherewithal.com/year-ahead> Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in The Year Ahead desk. Written from the editor's calendar; no interviews yet. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Picture the fridge calendar. Every Thursday of 2027 is penciled in, and you're coming along. One honest aside: it's plans, all of it. Nothing has been reported yet, and some weeks may not land. Winter first. Week one: The Reset Issue. Quiet workspaces, reading refuges, and I'd be surprised if the Carnegie library stays out. And then we eat through the cold. The quest for the best broth in OCC. A reader poll for the best breakfast burrito west of I-25. A 4:00 a.m. shift with a Westside baker. Then February: a cocktail lounge audit off Main Street, an Alternative Valentine, pints by the fireplace, and how the vintage and antiques shops survive winter. Spring opens up. Red Rock Canyon hikes, with lunches after. The carriage house makers working out of alleys. St. Patrick week. And then the thaw, when we find out which counters open their windows. The under-$15 lunch circuit. A patio audit covering shade, noise, pints and dogs. Seed swaps. Coffee roasters. A Territory Days survival guide. A First Friday gallery crawl. Spring tap releases. Summer gets loud. Hosting out-of-towners without crossing I-25. The Bancroft Park farmers market, booth by booth. Gelato. Where a line cook eats at midnight. Secret courtyards. Quiet Fourth of July viewpoints. Live music on the bricks, and I'm hoping the bandshell gets a paragraph. You pick the coldest drinks. Then the Pueblo chile arrives. Nightcaps and jukeboxes after 10, and I'd bet Mother Muff's comes up. Then a back-to-school pantry run, Uintah Gardens an obvious stop. Fall, the leg I'm saving. The annual pizza index: Slice 420 against Rustica against Leopold's, and we'll need lots of you to settle it. Golden aspens. Autumn ciders. A locals' guide for after the tourists leave. Ghost signs, spooky lore, wood-fired and cast iron cooking (Front Range BBQ, you're on my mind). Thanksgiving hosting. Best of the Westside nominations. Small Business Saturday. And then a Black Friday antidote at Section 16 and Bear Creek. December: a 100% Westside gift guide, a winter lights walk, the Best of the Westside winners, the solstice and quiet patios, and a last issue called Looking Ahead. Every week also carries a civic item and an oral history. A 40-year diner regular. A couple who met at Bancroft in 1988. A chile roaster of 25 seasons. A dishwasher who worked 300 shifts. A high school senior looking at the Westside's future. Tell me which month I got wrong, or which place I forgot. The pencil's by the fridge, and I'll see you the first Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? <https://westsidewherewithal.com/issues/2026-10-11-issue-0> Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? 2026-10-11 In this issue Can't we just inform each other? The leaves are changing Divide anything but our bread What it's all for We choose this Can't we just inform each other? Nobody's telling us what's happening around here unless you find some corporate website that tracks you and tries to make you pay just to find out what's going on outside your door. What a drag. Can't we just inform each other, and have fun building and being in community? The leaves are changing The leaves are changing and falling, and the streets are graced with people from all walks of life. The days are growing shorter, and fall will give way to snow in a few weeks. Before we know it Santa will be at the cabin in Bancroft Park and the Christkindlmarket will be back. Divide anything but our bread I want people to see and hear themselves in our work. I want the people in this community to remember that we're in this together and that what we print is made to remind us of that. We are not here to divide anything but our bread for others, to love our neighbors, and practice mercy and kindness. What it's all for I get nervous that people's fear clouds not only their judgment but their hearts. I can be a skeptic, and quite cynical at times. I wonder what it's all for and why I'm doing this. But in the end, if one person reads our words and connects with them even a little, and it gives them a spark or the belief that they are loved, I will have done my work. We choose this I hope people are excited to see what we're up to. I hope they want to be a part of it, and that by gathering and presenting our values, beliefs and customs together, we can cherish them and let new things in while the old fades. I want Thursday to remind us that we choose this. Jeff What we told you Can't we just inform each other? The leaves are changing Divide anything but our bread What it's all for We choose this The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The archive <https://westsidewherewithal.com/issues/index> The archive Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The archive Every issue, oldest at the bottom. Free to read. If you want to chip in, the jar is on the front page. Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? 2026-10-11 The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The Westside Wherewithal <https://westsidewherewithal.com/> The Westside Wherewithal Skip to the paper We start for real in January. Sign up and the first one lands on a Thursday morning. Thursday mornings · FreeFrom your neighbors ## The Westside WherewithalBecause living west of takes a little wherewithal. Colorado Springs, Colorado A free paper for the Westside of Colorado Springs, written by the people who live here. Thursday mornings, starting January. ## Get it Thursday morning One email a week, free. Put your address in and we'll see you Thursday. Sign me up ## What the city is deciding ## About your street, before it's done You can still weigh in Open nowColorado Avenue lane test. Four lanes to three from Limit Street to 30th Street (the city's page; the Gazette says 31st), for up to a year from June 2026, paid for with $375K from the regional road tax (PPRTA, the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority). The city survey is open.The city's own page: City project page · The surveyIn the news: Gazette, lane test # Oct 26, 2026The city's 2027 budget. Public hearing Monday Oct 26, 5:30 p.m., Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada. Anyone can speak. The council talks it over at work sessions first (Oct 15 is one). What's in it for the Westside, we're reading now.The city's own page: the council calendar (Legistar) # Coming up Oct 21, 2026The community center's neighbor group (the Westside Community Center Alliance) meets Wednesday Oct 21, 4 p.m. It helps steer what the center at 1628 W Bijou becomes. Whether anyone can sit in, we're asking.The city's own page: city page, community centerStill looking for: the Alliance's own notice and the Parks Advisory Board's May minutesIn the news: Gazette, the Alliance # Apr 2027Roundabout at 31st and Fontanero, by Howbert Elementary, replacing the four-way stop. The open house was Sept 15. Construction April to fall 2027. Parents asked about the school crossing; the city says it will work with the school. The crossing drawing and the open-house boards are the documents we're after.In the news: KKTV, the roundabout # Apr 13, 2027Project Taurus. A 50-megawatt data center proposed at the old Intel plant, next to the homes in Chelsea Glen. The Planning Commission approved it 6 to 2 in July with a power cap and noise monitoring. Council put the appeal off 7 to 2 to April 13, a week after the city election, and wants a noise study and a study of what big power users pay first. The developer told Colorado Politics on Sept 18 it is weighing whether this is the right partnership.Still looking for: the noise studyIn the news: CPR, hearing date · Colorado Politics, the postponement · KKTV, the appeal # Already decided Sep 22, 2026Old Colorado City's downtown development authority (DDA) shut down. The tax district voters created in 2024 never got its funding. Council voted 5 to 4 on Sept 22 to dissolve it, ordinance 26-48 (yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams; no: Donelson, Gold, Henjum, Leinweber), after the same 5 to 4 on first reading Aug 25. KKTV reported Oct 2 that the DDA is weighing legal action because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. Who picks up the avenue's end of things is an open question.The city's own page: meeting record (Open Publica)Still looking for: the ordinance text itself, and the Aug 25 minutesIn the news: Gazette, the first vote · KKTV, the lawsuit threat # Coming up Every weekThe land. Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, the Garden, Bear Creek, the creek itself: fire restrictions, trail closures, anything the parks board decides. Nothing new on the city's pages this week; we look every Monday, and a canyon volunteer is looking with us.The city's own page: city parks, trails and open space # Already decided Since Apr 2023Greater Westside Community Plan. Nine neighborhoods, one plan: Gold Hill, Ivywild, Mesa, Mesa Springs, Midland, Old Colorado City, Skyway, Stratton Meadows, Westside. The city's page lists six meetings, the last in April 2023, plus a 2022 survey and a 'Big Ideas' summary. What came next is the question we're taking to Planning, and to the neighbors who sat in those rooms.The city's own page: city page, the plan # Checked October 11. Each one links to the city's own page where we found it. Where it says "still looking," we haven't found it yet (city websites, you know how it goes). If you've got it, send it over. Want to be the person in the room? Go to one meeting, write down what happened on this one-page sheet, and your name goes on it. A City Council Tuesday is the easy first one; you can watch it live or later from the couch. ## Vote ## Ballots are in the mail. Here's the Westside part. By Oct 26Register, or check that you're registered, at GoVoteColorado.gov. Moved since last time? Update it there too. After Oct 26 you can still register and vote in person, through Election Day.The city's own page: GoVoteColorado.gov # Till Nov 3, 7 p.m.Drop boxes west of I-25, open day and night: Red Rock Canyon shopping center, 3141 W Colorado Ave; Bear Creek Regional Park, 2002 Creek Crossing St; the clerk's office, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd; Manitou City Hall, 606 Manitou Ave. Mailing it? The county says by Oct 27. It has to arrive by 7 p.m. on Election Day; a postmark doesn't count.The city's own page: the county's list of boxes · El Paso County elections # On the ballotThe local ones: County 1A keeps the public-safety sales tax going through 2037. D11 4A is a $775 million school bond (Coronado is on the list). Then fourteen statewide questions; the state's Blue Book explains each one in plain words, for and against.The city's own page: the county's local questions · the Blue Book # Apr 6, 2027The city election: mayor and three council seats. Same registration, same website. We'll print the candidates and where they stand on the Westside.The city's own page: city election page # We don't tell you how to vote. We'd love for you to. If the Blue Book is a brick, if you can't get to a box, if you're not sure you're registered, call or text 719-201-5462 and a neighbor helps. The county pays election judges and trains them; sign up here if you've got a day. ## The next two weeks ## Oct 11 to Nov 8, checked against the calendars The market's last Saturday, Pumpkins in the Park, free bingo at the community center, the cemetery tour, the coffin races, and the same seven things every week. Every weekMon Boom Box Bingo, 7 to 11 p.m. (Mother Muff's)Tue Math tutoring, 4 to 5:30 p.m. (OCC Library)Wed Toddler Time, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Wed Open mic, 6 to 9 p.m. (Jives Coffee Lounge, 16 Colbrunn Ct)Thu Trivia, 7 to 9 p.m. (OCC Brewing)Fri Storytime, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Sat Paws to Read, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Sun Brunch Jam Band, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Mother Muff's) Sun Oct 11 all month Scarecrow Days: the storefront scarecrows, with a public vote, through Oct 31 the avenue Mon Oct 12 all day Westside CARES closed for Indigenous Peoples' Day 2808 W Colorado Tue Oct 13 9 a.m. City Council regular meeting (agenda on Legistar) 107 N Nevada 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Small Steps, Giant Leaps, Space Foundation program for ages 2 to 6 Westside Community Center Wed Oct 14 9 a.m. City Planning Commission 2880 International Cir. 5:30 to 7 p.m. Evening pickleball: donate a bag of candy to play, paddles limited Westside Community Center Thu Oct 15 7:30 a.m. Coffee with the principal Coronado High, Future Center 2 to 4 p.m. Classic board games free OCC Library 5 p.m. Mushroom Zombie Haunted House opens, through Oct 31 Mush Love Tee, the shirt shop, 2627 W Colorado Fri Oct 16 all day No school at Coronado: parent-teacher conferences, 9 to 3 in the gym Coronado High 5 to 6 p.m. Bingo at the Biscuit The Biscuit Factory Cat Lounge, 12 S 25th Sat Oct 17 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Farmers market, last Saturday of the season, 80-some vendors Bancroft Park 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Craft and art market, final Saturday History Center, 1 S 24th Sun Oct 18 evening Legends and Lore of Fairview Cemetery, a two-hour guided tour; tickets online, kids 12 and under free Fairview Cemetery, 1000 S 26th Mon Oct 19 all week Fall break at Coronado, Oct 19 to 22, no school Coronado High Wed Oct 21 4 p.m. Westside Community Center Alliance meeting Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou 5:30 to 7 p.m. Howdy Neighbor prize bingo, doors at 5, all ages, no sign-up free Westside Community Center Thu Oct 22 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Book group free OCC Library Sat Oct 24 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Emma Crawford Coffin Races, the 32nd; Manitou Avenue closes at 9 Manitou Springs noon to 6 p.m. Pumpkins in the Park: pumpkin patch, painting, face painters, costume and carving contests, the ZOOmobile, live music, a beer garden free the avenue Sun Oct 25 1 to 4 p.m. Trunk or Treat in the parking lot, and Animals of Halloween inside, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. free Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th Mon Oct 26 10 to 10:45 a.m. Bighorn sheep, an indoor program with a touch table; Mondays through Nov 30 free Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Owls of the Garden: take an owl pellet apart; $5, sign up first Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 5:30 p.m. City budget public hearing, the 2027 budget; anyone can speak Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada Tue Oct 27 all day Stroll-a-Story: a storybook walk, page by page, around the library OCC Library, 2418 W Pikes Peak Thu Oct 29 7:30 to 8:45 p.m. Haunted Manitou ghost tour, $25; also Oct 30 and 31 Memorial Park, Manitou Springs Fri Oct 30 5:30 p.m. Ghost Stories of Old Manitou, a walking tour from the museum Manitou Springs Heritage Museum Sat Oct 31 1 to 2 p.m. Why wolves in Colorado, a talk Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 2 to 4:30 p.m. Trick or Treat Street: costumed kids 1 to 6, shop to shop; look for the orange and yellow balloons the avenue, 23rd to 28th 6 p.m. Manitou Phantasmagoria Shoshone Spring courtyard, Manitou Springs evening Mushroom Zombie Haunted House, last night Mush Love Tee, the shirt shop, 2627 W Colorado Tue Nov 3 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Election Day. Ballots due by 7 p.m. at a drop box; register and vote in person at the clerk's office, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd, or Manitou City Hall El Paso County Fri Nov 6 5 to 8 p.m. First Friday ArtWalk: galleries, studios and shops open late along the avenue free the avenue, 17th to 31st Sun Nov 8 11 a.m. Altitude Makers market and farmers market free Soda Springs Park, Manitou Springs Every line above came off a calendar we can link, checked October 11. The strip up top happens every week; the list is the one-time stuff. The avenue is West Colorado Avenue; OCC is Old Colorado City; D11 is the school district. If we got a time wrong, tell us and we'll fix it in the next issue. Red Rock Canyon, the churches and the school sports pages had nothing dated for these two weeks; if you know of something, send it. Where that came from: Old Colorado City events calendar · Old Colorado City Library · Westside Community Center · History Center events · Garden of the Gods calendar ## The Bulletin Board ## Suppers, pantries, services, weddings, and the ones we lost If you need something this week, start here. Free, in your words, from you or your church or your family. Food, rent and utility help: Westside CARES, 2808 W Colorado Ave, 719-389-0759. Open Monday to Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.. They prefer you walk in. Closed when the schools close for weather. Serves everyone west of I-25. Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou St, 719-385-7920. Open Monday and Friday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Tuesday to Thursday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.. A corkboard, not a story. Church suppers, pantry hours, services, weddings, and the ones we lost: free, in your words, from you or your church or your family. We call to check the hours before they run. Send it by Tuesday to hello@westsidewherewithal.com, by text to 719-201-5462, on paper to the office at Suite 122, or in the box on the front page. Where that came from: Westside CARES hours · Community center hours (city page) ## The Listening Room ## Once a month. You pick where and when. Coffee with the editor, no agenda, no sign-up. The hour and the place are a vote; the winner runs in issue 1. The Listening Room isn't an office. It's one hour a month wherever we sit down, and I'd rather you picked it than me. Vote below, or write in your own. I live over here, about twenty years now, and the office on the avenue is the paper's address; it says one thing: I'm here. I'm with you. Where and when Saturday morning, the bench by the bandshell in Bancroft Park Tuesday evening, a coffee counter on the avenue Sunday afternoon, the library (once they say yes) A weeknight on Zoom, for people who work days Cast it ## The Address Book ## What was in this storefront in 1968? One storefront, one photo, what was inside. One building per issue: a photo, the address, and whoever remembers fills in the rest. The first photo is coming; if you have one, send it in below. ## Write something ## Send it in The shop that closed, the thing the city's about to do on your street, the neighbor everybody should know. Photos and drawings count, with your name on them. Send it however you like: the box below, hello@westsidewherewithal.com, a call or a text to 719-201-5462, or drop it at the office (Suite 122, 2320 W Colorado Ave). We write back. Rather talk than type? Call or text 719-201-5462 and tell me out loud; I'll write it down and you hear it read back before it runs. Under 18? Send it anyway; we'll check with you or a parent before it runs. Teachers, send the whole class. Photos come by email. En español: mándenos un texto al 719-201-5462 o escríbanos a hello@westsidewherewithal.com, en español: su cena, su misa, su aviso. No lo hablo de nacimiento; lo traducimos con un vecino y se lo leemos antes de publicar. Any other language: send it anyway, and we'll find a neighbor to translate. Want a desk? The pages signed by a desk are open; here's how to take one. Got a counter, or a box on your fence? Say so and we'll bring a stack, free, and swap the stale ones. How we do things, if you're curious. Put me down for a stack, for my counter or my library box Send it in ## The jar It's free. If a Thursday was worth something to you, throw a few bucks in the jar; it pays for the email and the printing. A check to the office works too. Pay what you want Inside: What the city is deciding · The next two weeks · On the avenue · From the desks · The next 100 years · Frontier wherewithal · Around the avenue · What came before us ## On the avenue ## I never stepped inside Base Camp, 2611 W Colorado, closed October 4, and I never ate there. Tell me the place you'd go back to. Jeff Adkins Base Camp closed on October 4. I thought it looked cool, but the menu never appealed to me in the moment, and it's hard to take me away from the dozen places I adore already. Sad to say I never stepped inside. That's on me, and I'm not alone. Empty storefronts are not what we want here. What keeps a place open is anyone and everyone who can afford to spend local dollars in it, and I am going to try hard to keep mixing it up. If you're thinking about working and making a living here, I wish I could appeal to you directly: we need you. Old Colorado City (OCC from here on) is a tourist destination, for locals and for travelers. I know this. I gladly give up my street parking for events because I know we need them. If I want OCC Brewing to be here 365 days a year, I need them to sustain themselves. That means me not griping about the traffic or the parking over here. Not everyone can afford to eat out or shop on the avenue. I understand that; I don't feel obligated to, and neither should you. I'm fortunate that I can budget for a meal out, and I try to go during the week, when places are less busy and could frankly use the business. So I can't complain about Base Camp closing if I didn't eat there, and I can't blame not eating there on the parking. Tell me the place you'd go back to. What we know: Base Camp, 2611 W Colorado Ave, opened March 2025 and closed October 4; the owner cited costs and the economy. Mountain Shadows, the restaurant four blocks east, closed December 2024 and sold in January. Where that came from: Gazette, Oct 2, 2026 · Gazette, Jan 20, 2025 · OCC Brewing ## From the desks ## Ten desks, one neighborhood Celebrating, remembering, forecasting. Each desk is open; a neighbor's name goes on it the day they take it. The Wherewithal desks Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in · the 52 Thursdays of 2027, as a walk through the seasons The man who wrote down the Westside · 604 columns, the elk, the tunnels, and who keeps the record now Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper · the vote, the names, what's still unknown, and how to be in the room See that building? Look again · five storefronts and what they were, from the columns and the 1902 map Where the asphalt gives up · Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, Bear Creek; this fall, and the seed rule The elk who pulled a carriage · for kids: three things to find on the walk to school, and a dare Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad · la mesa en español: ayuda, el voto, cómo escribirnos Who's cooking on the Westside this week · six tables, as their own pages say it; we call before it prints Three picks before Halloween · the market's last Saturday, the coffin races, pumpkins in the park, and where to park The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead · every date headed for your street, and the door into each one Every desk is written from the record we hold and says so at the top. None of it is an interview yet; those are coming. Every one is open: what each desk takes, and how to take one. One text, one coffee. ## The next 100 years ## Four lanes to three, for a year Four lanes to three, Limit to 30th, for a year. The city survey is open. One driver's take below; if yours differs, next issue's yours. Jeff Adkins 1902 · Sanborn fire insurance map, sheet 2, Colorado Avenue · Library of Congress, public domain 2027 · lane drawing · city of Colorado Springs, Colorado Avenue demonstration, phase two What we know: four lanes to three from Limit to 30th by the city's page (the Gazette says 31st), since June 2026, for up to a year; the city calls it the Colorado Avenue Demonstration Project; $375K of county transportation tax (PPRTA) money. The Gazette counts about 30 parking spaces added, metered; the city's page says parking changes are expected to be minimal. We've asked the project team which it is. A second phase in 2027 makes some of it permanent and redoes three blocks of streetscape (Gazette); permanent reconstruction is penciled for 2027 or 2028 (Bike Colorado Springs). The city survey is open. One driver's take, mine (and my office is on the avenue, at 2320): it's great to see so much more attention being paid to pedestrians, and it doesn't slow me down at all. I haven't timed it; if you have, send the numbers. It may add parking, metered; the city and the Gazette disagree on how much (see the record), and nobody has said yet where someone who lives over a shop parks overnight. The city is taking comments until the concrete goes down. If you drive it, bike it, or cross it with a stroller, say so. If you hate it, this space is yours next issue, same length, your name on it. What do I want to still be here in 2126? Westsiders. Hyper local, no corporate nonsense, and room for whoever shows up to stay. Where that came from: Sanborn 1902 (LoC) · City project page · The city survey · Gazette, May 20, 2026 · Bike Colorado Springs ## Frontier wherewithal ## Load up for winter, survive the summer Not just another old west town. Two tame elk, tunnels under the avenue, four to six weeks a year you'd rather be in the water. Jeff Adkins If you're new here you might think this is just another old west town. If you're passing through, maybe we should let you believe it. Our summers are dry and shorter than most, but they stop and start and come back the most. I'd say we have about four to six weeks a year where you'd want to be holed up in the cabin or in the water, which can be tricky to find. We need to know how to load up for winter, survive the summer, and not die of dehydration. And like every place with lore, we have a guy who trained two tame elk, Thunder and Buttons, to pull a carriage, plus tunnels and brothels and churches, oh my. We love it here. What we know: Thunder and Buttons were elk; Prairie Dog O'Byrne drove them hitched to a carriage on this avenue in the late 1880s. The tunnels under the avenue are documented by the historical society, with the honest caveat that some of it may be something else. Colorado City voted itself dry in 1913. Where that came from: Westside Pioneer, 2006 · Cobweb Corners, 2005 · Gazette, July 2021, the tunnels · Thunder and Buttons II ## Around the avenue ## Getting to know them is the point I don't know everyone yet. Getting to know them is the point. Jeff Adkins What we know so far: Who's opening and who's moving: we've heard about three and have an address for none, so none are named yet. Send the name and the block. The Old Colorado City Historical Society runs a free museum at 1 South 24th, a block off the avenue. Tuesday through Saturday, 11 to 4 in summer and 11 to 2 in winter. Call before you drive. The free Tuesday concerts at the Bancroft Park bandshell ran June 2 through September 29 this year, 5:30, Dizzy Charlie's and the Pikes Peak Blues Community. Next summer's lineup runs here the week it's announced. First Friday art walk, 5 to 8, galleries and studios along the avenue. Next one is November 6. The Customs and Classics car show closes the avenue from 23rd to 27th one Sunday every August. If the one you went to was a different show this fall, tell us which. This is the stuff I get to see everyone else doing. I enjoy seeing them do it. It doesn't matter to me if I don't know anyone in the room, because getting to know them is the point of this life. And that's what I'm here to capture in this paper. I shouldn't pretend to know things I don't. Where that came from: OCC History Center · Tuesday concerts (Springs Magazine) · First Friday (OCC calendar) · The car show (Pioneer, 2018) ## What came before us ## I want it all Mel McFarland died in September; I indexed the 604 columns I found. Eight digs, from the capital that got away to the forgotten cemetery. Jeff Adkins Start here: Mel McFarland, who wrote the Westside's past in the Pioneer for fifteen years, died in September at 81. Most of what is below comes from his columns. I found 604 and indexed every one I found; the one-line summaries there are software drafts, not yet checked one by one. Who keeps the record now is a question this paper exists to answer. I want the best stories from Old Colorado City. I want to dig down and find the most awesome stuff we can publish: how people first lived here, how it went from zero to what it is today, funny things, shootouts, jail time for crimes that make us laugh and cry, mysteries and murders. I want it all. What did we used to do and stop? What was, but isn't? What could have been, but never was? The digs I can't do alone: your church, your family, your block. Send them. What we found first: The capital that got away. Colorado City was founded in August 1859 to outfit gold seekers, was the county seat by 1861, and held the territorial capital just long enough to lose it to Denver. One account says the town was deemed too rowdy. Zero to four thousand. Mel has the town past 2,000 by 1890; the 1892 fire-insurance map (the Sanborn) writes 2,000 on its own cover, and the 1902 sheet writes 4,000. The town voted itself dry in 1913, lost the saloon money, and voted to be annexed by Colorado Springs in April 1917. Four saloons to twenty-seven. By the Pioneer's 2009 count (a feature, not one of Mel's columns): four in 1884, twenty-three by 1888, twenty-seven in 1902 plus thirty-some gambling halls, on a main street that also had the churches. Laura Bell McDaniel. From the Pioneer's 2011 profile, not the index: queen of the tenderloin; her last house was the Tribley House in the 2600 block of West Cucharras. She married Tom McDaniel in April 1887 in Salida; a month later he shot a man five times while she watched, and was acquitted. She divorced him in 1893. Accused in November 1917 of stealing liquor and acquitted; the historian who wrote her up thinks it was a set-up. Died in a car crash in January 1918. The elk were O'Byrne's by Mel's column (bought in Aspen in 1888); a 2006 Pioneer piece has her riding beside him in the carriage. The Glass Works. Full production in 1889 with 200 men on the south edge of town, bottling Manitou water. The furnace top collapsed just after midnight on September 9, 1892. Wheeler promised to rebuild; the Silver Panic of 1893 and the lost customers finished it. One of Mel's columns says it closed in 1895, another says by 1900; one puts a fire in 1893 as well. The Midland shops. The Colorado Midland started here in 1886 and quit in 1918; the Midland Terminal ran the line to Divide until it was scrapped in 1949. Hundreds of men in the shops at the peak, under a hundred by 1925, about fifty by 1948; the office burned in 1953. The fourteen-stall roundhouse is the one that lived: Van Briggle pottery, then the shops you walk through now. The mills. The Colorado-Philadelphia came first, in 1894 by one of Mel's columns and about 1897 by another, near 31st and the 24. Golden Cycle took over the Telluride mill in 1906, rebuilt it with cyanide after a 1907 fire, and ran it until 1949; the smokestack is still there. The forgotten cemetery. Colorado City's Pioneer cemetery, on the mesa, used from about 1860 to 1917. Not every burial was moved; the stones came out in the 1940s and it became Pioneer Park in the 1950s. Graves were mapped with metal detectors in the 1970s, a project Mel joined, and a cast-iron coffin may still be there. Who is in it is still the question. Where that came from: Why the fuss? (Pioneer) · Laura Bell McDaniel (Pioneer, 2011) · Thunder and Buttons (Cobweb Corners, 2005) · The Glass Works, 200 men (Cobweb Corners, 2011) · The Glass Works fire (Cobweb Corners, 2011) · The Glass Works closed 1895 (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The Midland, 1886 to 1918 (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The Midland shops decline (Cobweb Corners, 2009) · The roundhouse (Cobweb Corners, 2007) · The mills (Cobweb Corners, 2013) · Golden Cycle closes, 1949 (Cobweb Corners, 2006) · The capital, the county seat (Cobweb Corners, 2009) · The forgotten cemetery (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The forgotten cemetery (Cobweb Corners, 2017) · Mel McFarland, 1945 to 2026 (Gazette) · Every Cobweb Corners column, indexed · Colorado City Iris, digitized (CHNC) If something here is wrong, reply to the email or send it in below. Corrections run at the top of the next issue. Behind the masthead: Sanborn fire insurance map of Colorado City, November 1902, sheet 1. Library of Congress, public domain. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad <https://westsidewherewithal.com/la-vecina> Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad La Vecina, la mesa en español. Traducción nuestra; buscamos a un vecino o vecina que la tome y firme aquí. Vecina, vecino: Le escribo con las hojas ya cambiando de color y las tardes más cortas. Aquí entre nosotros, quería contarle lo que sé. Si usted vive al oeste de la I-25, este periódico es para usted. Se llama The Westside Wherewithal, sale cada semana y es gratis. Lo escribimos entre vecinos: lo que abre, lo que cierra, lo que se vota, lo que llega al parque. Y queremos saber de usted. Cuéntenos lo que ve en su cuadra, en su iglesia, en su trabajo, y hágalo en español, como le salga. Si esta semana necesita una mano, vaya a Westside CARES, en 2808 W Colorado Ave. Abren de lunes a jueves, de 9:30 a.m. a 12:30 p.m., y no hace falta cita. Atienden a todos los que viven al oeste de la I-25. Llame al 719-389-0759. También tiene el Westside Community Center, en 1628 W Bijou St, teléfono 719-385-7920. Abre lunes y viernes, de 9 a.m. a 3 p.m., y de martes a jueves, de 9 a.m. a 7 p.m. Ahora el voto, en claro. Hasta el 26 de octubre puede registrarse, o revisar si ya está registrado, en GoVoteColorado.gov. Pasada esa fecha, todavía puede hacerlo en persona, hasta el día de la elección. Y para dejar su boleta, las urnas están abiertas hasta las 7 p.m. del 3 de noviembre en cuatro lugares: el centro comercial Red Rock Canyon, 3141 W Colorado Ave; Bear Creek Regional Park, 2002 Creek Crossing St; la oficina del secretario del condado, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd; y el ayuntamiento de Manitou, 606 Manitou Ave. Aquí no le decimos cómo votar. Solo le decimos dónde y cuándo. En diciembre el Christkindlmarket vuelve a Bancroft Park. Cuando tengamos los días, se los pasamos aquí. Si quiere escribirnos, mande un texto al 719-201-5462 o un correo a hello@westsidewherewithal.com, en español. El editor no habla español de cuna. Traduce con un vecino y lo vuelve a leer con él antes de que algo se imprima. También tenemos una hoja en español en westsidewherewithal.com/sheet-es. Y una cosa honesta: esta página es traducción nuestra. Buscamos a un vecino o vecina que hable español para que tome esta mesa y firme aquí con su nombre. Hasta la próxima semana, vecino. Un abrazo, La Vecina The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The print pack <https://westsidewherewithal.com/print> The print pack Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The print pack Everything to print this week, how many, and where it goes. Any copy shop; a home printer works for the one-sheets. What to print PrintFileHowCopies The one-sheetsheet.pdfLetter, one side (two sides if you want the puzzle back: sheet-back.pdf)20 Large printsheet-large.pdfLetter, two sides5 La hoja (Spanish)sheet-es.pdfLetter, one side10 The box editionzine-box.pdfLetter, landscape, two sheets, two-sided, flip on the short edge; nest sheet 2 inside sheet 1, fold once; no staples20 Every print says "good till Oct 25" or has no dates. A stale stack gets swapped; call and we bring more. Where it goes PlaceWhatHow many The gas station at 31stone-sheet5 The hardware storeone-sheet5 A diner on the avenueone-sheet, and ask about a tray5 The OCC History Center, 1 S 24thone-sheet5 Your own door, Suite 122one-sheet, box edition5 and 5 The grocery at 31stla hoja10 The senior table at the community center, 1628 W Bijoularge print5 The little free library at the old Carnegie building, 701 Manitou Avebox edition8 The Head Start box, 2330 Robinson Stbox edition7 The ask at a counter, two sentences: "It's a free weekly paper for the Westside, written by neighbors, nothing for you to pay and nothing to sell. Can it sit here, and can I refill it on Thursdays?" Say yes to any condition they add. What to watch Count what's left after a week. Note any call or text to 719-201-5462 and any word find or quiz score that comes in. That's the first real test; everything before it was rehearsal. The reader inbox was empty on October 11. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Plant this (when it exists) <https://westsidewherewithal.com/seeds> Plant this (when it exists) Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Plant this (when it exists) There are no seed strips yet. This is the plan, written down before the first one so nobody has to guess. Some copies of the zine will carry a small sealed strip of seed paper. Plant it in your own yard, a friend's yard with their yes, a community garden, or a school bed with the principal's okay. Not in a park, not in open space, not in Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, the Garden of the Gods or Bear Creek, not along the creek or a trail, and never after a fire. Those places get seeded by the people who manage them, with seed matched to the ground, and a stranger's strip does more harm than good there. What's in it: Colorado natives from a Colorado grower (Western Native Seed, in Coaldale): Lewis blue flax, Rocky Mountain penstemon, blanketflower, prairie coneflower. Nothing from the state's noxious weed list, which is where the cheap "wildflower mixes" go wrong. Plant in fall; the penstemon wants a winter in the ground. Plant it, take a picture when something comes up, send it in. The best ones run in the paper with your name on them. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Take a desk <https://westsidewherewithal.com/take-a-desk> Take a desk Moved to /desks. --- # Thank you <https://westsidewherewithal.com/thanks> Thank you Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Thank you That's the whole transaction. No tier, no badge, no extra issue. The paper keeps going, and your name goes on the once-a-year list of people who chipped in, alphabetical, no amounts, unless you'd rather it didn't. Reply to any issue to say so. See you Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The elk who pulled a carriage <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-box> The elk who pulled a carriage Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The elk who pulled a carriage The Box desk, for kids and whoever is with them. When a neighbor (or a kid) takes this desk, their name goes here. Okay. You're the boss today. Walk to school, but make it a hunt. Find three things. One: a little free library. It's a box on a post full of books, and you can take one. We know of 27 of them west of I-25. Two you can visit: the one at the old Carnegie library building, 701 Manitou Ave, and the one at the Head Start, 2330 Robinson St. Two: the red rocks at the end of the street. Stop and look. Three: one leaf. Pick the best one on the block. Keep it. It's a bookmark now. Okay. Now the elk. In 1888, a man named John O'Byrne got two tame elk from a judge in Aspen. He trained them to pull his tourist carriage down this very avenue. Their names were Thunder and Buttons. Yes, elk. Yes, a carriage. Eventually a movie company bought them and took them to Alaska to film advertisements. Thunder and Buttons were in commercials. (Also true.) (Bonus, also true: in 1880 a train crew calmed a cold, panicking circus elephant at Colorado Springs with a keg of beer. Aunt's honor.) Ask a grown-up. Point at any building on your walk and ask: "What was here before?" Then listen. Your move, boss. This fall: Halloween, Oct. 31, 2 to 4:30 p.m.: Trick or Treat Street on the avenue, 23rd to 28th. Costumed kids 1 to 6. Look for the orange and yellow balloons. Bring a little cousin. Mondays, 10 a.m.: the bighorn sheep program at the Garden of the Gods Visitor Center. December: the Christkindlmarket comes back to Bancroft Park, bigger than last year, with Santa at the cabin. Bonus level: the paper in the box has games. A word find whose leftover letters spell a message. A five-question quiz with the answers printed upside down. And a map to draw on: it's the 1902 map of Colorado City, when the town had 4,000 people. You can see it at westsidewherewithal.com/zine-box, page 6. The dare. Draw Thunder and Buttons pulling the carriage. Go big. Give the tourists faces. Then put it in the little free library box, or send it to hello@westsidewherewithal.com with your first name. We print the best ones. See you on the avenue. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-next-hundred> The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead The Next Hundred desk. Written from the city's own pages and the ballot; dates change, and we fix them when they do. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Right now, Colorado Avenue. Four lanes have been three from Limit to 30th since June, for up to a year. Watch the lanes. Your move: fill out the city survey after you've driven it, biked it, or crossed it with a stroller. The avenue went on a diet and nobody asked it. Oct 21 and Oct 26. The community center's neighbor group meets Wednesday the 21st at 4 p.m.; it helps steer what the center at 1628 W Bijou becomes. Monday the 26th, 5:30 p.m.: the 2027 budget's public hearing at 107 N Nevada. Anyone can speak; the council calendar lists the work sessions before it. Your move: pick one and go. The budget reads better with you. Nov 3. Ballots are due by 7 p.m. County 1A would keep the public-safety sales tax going through 2037. D11's 4A is a $775 million school bond, and Coronado is on the list. Your move: vote, and use a drop box if the mail feels slow. There's one at 3141 W Colorado Ave. Seven o'clock does not negotiate. December. The Christkindlmarket comes back to Bancroft Park, bigger. Bancroft is the pupil of the eye, so a bigger market could mean a fuller avenue and fewer spots out front. Your move: go, and walk. The car can stay home. April 6, 2027. The city election: mayor and three council seats. Your move: register or check your registration, and ask every candidate what they would do about the avenue. The avenue will hear about it. April 13. Council hears the appeal on Project Taurus, the 50-megawatt data center proposed at the old Intel plant next to the homes in Chelsea Glen. The Planning Commission approved it 6 to 2 in July with a power cap and noise monitoring; council wants a noise study first, and the hearing falls a week after you vote (Colorado Politics). The developer says it is weighing the partnership, so the date could still move. Your move: read the noise study when it exists, and show up. Read quietly. April to fall 2027. A roundabout replaces the four-way stop at 31st and Fontanero by Howbert Elementary, on the western gateway to the red rocks. Parents asked about the school crossing, and the city says it will work with the school. Your move: if you walk kids there, ask the school what they've been told. Four stops become one circle. Around June 2027. The lane test's year ends, give or take. Nothing we've found says what comes after. Your move: whatever you think of the test, say so before it ends. A year is long enough for an opinion. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The man who wrote down the Westside <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-porch-mcfarland> The man who wrote down the Westside Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The man who wrote down the Westside The Porch desk. Written from the record; the editor's conversations with his family and friends are coming. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. If you ever wondered whether there really were tunnels under Colorado Avenue, Mel McFarland is a big part of why you wondered. I'll tell you what I know. He died September 21, at 81. From 2004 to 2019 he wrote 604 "Cobweb Corners" columns about this neighborhood for the Westside Pioneer. He was born here in 1944, a fourth-generation native, taught art and drafting, and wrote books on the Colorado Midland Railway. In 1983 he bought a retired working caboose for his Rockrimmon backyard, and became "the Caboose Guy." Dave Martinek, who started Midland Days at Divide with him in 2009, told the Gazette: "He was the go-to person for anyone who wanted to know about railroad history in the state." His nephew Luc MacArthur called him "kind of a Renaissance man." His sister, Elaine Radney, said: "He had a lot of people who loved him." He wrote it down. Here is some of it. On February 3, 2005, he wrote down the story of John O'Byrne, who in 1888 got two tame elk, Thunder and Buttons, and trained them to pull a tourist carriage. Here is the column. On April 7, 2005, he wrote down the tunnels, the ones that let Colorado Avenue customers reach the Cucharras Street brothels unseen. He had "seen the remains of bits of both" sets of tunnels himself. On November 17, 2011, he wrote down the Glass Works disaster. Just after midnight on September 9, 1892, the furnace top collapsed and fiery glass poured out. Chunks of raw glass still show up now and then in neighborhood yards and rock walls, he wrote. On November 14, 2013, he wrote down the day a Teller County sheriff chained a Pullman sleeper car to the rails over $663.21 in unpaid taxes, and a U.S. marshal freed it two days later. Read it. Here's the thing. The Gazette says he left "file cabinets" of research and writing, and that his family hopes to sift through them, with no concrete plans yet. The next person who asks "was there really a glass plant over here?" gets a shrug. We can't fix that. What we have is an index of all 604 columns, by what each one reports, at westsidewherewithal.com/cobweb. The editor plans to call his sister, Dave Martinek, the Pioneer's editor Kenyon Jordan, and the History Center, and we'll tell you what they say. The question we're taking to them is who keeps the record now. We'd like to be part of the answer, and we'd like yours. Did a column of his stick with you? Tell us which one. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-record-dda> Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper The Record desk. Written from the city's own pages and the news; the Aug 25 minutes are still to be read. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. If you missed the council meeting last month, here is the entry. A downtown development authority, a DDA, is a small district set up by a vote. It is supposed to get its own pot of money to spend on one downtown. In 2024, Old Colorado City voters created one for the avenue. It never got its funding. It was created by a vote and ended by a vote, and the money never turned up in between. On Sept 22, City Council voted 5 to 4 to dissolve it. That's ordinance 26-48. The meeting record has the roll call. That's on paper. Yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams No: Donelson, Gold, Henjum, Leinweber The Gazette reported the first vote, on Aug 25, as the same 5 to 4. That's reported. On Oct 2, KKTV reported that the DDA is weighing legal action, because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. That's reported too. That is the whole ledger so far. Here is what we don't know: The Aug 25 minutes. We have the first vote from the news, not from the minutes. Until we've read them, the date and the count are reported, not checked. Whether a lawsuit is filed. KKTV says the DDA is considering one. We haven't found a filing. That isn't on paper. We'll say so when it is. What the DDA was going to buy. The records we have don't list its plan, so we won't guess. If you voted in 2024, or sat in those rooms, tell us what you were told. Who picks up the avenue's end of things now. Nobody has answered that in anything we've read. That isn't on paper either. We are taking the question to the next meeting. Some of those answers are in a room on a Tuesday morning. You can be in it. City Council meets the second and fourth Tuesdays at 9 a.m., 107 N Nevada, and you can watch from home. You don't have to say a word. Take the one-page sheet, write down what happens, and your name goes on it. The Oct 13 meeting is the next one. If you were at the Aug 25 meeting, or you have the minutes, send them over. Tell me what I got wrong. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Where the asphalt gives up <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-ridge> Where the asphalt gives up Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Where the asphalt gives up The Ridge desk. Written from the city's pages and the groups' own sites; a canyon volunteer reads it before it prints. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Rain or snow, and the trails hold it. Friends of Red Rock Canyon says wait a day or two, because they stay muddy and fragile for 24 to 48 hours. Follow 21st down to Bear Creek, then keep going west. Around 30th and 31st the asphalt gives up. The red sandstone takes over. Red Rock Canyon is the pocket to the south. The city bought it in 2003, after it had been slated for a resort with high-rise towers and a private golf course. The city's open space page lists it among the places TOPS, the sales tax voters passed for open space, made possible. It nearly went the other way. Parking. The 31st Street trailhead has more than the High Street lots. No e-bikes in the open space. This fall. The Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th, runs a free bighorn sheep program with a touch table, Mondays 10 to 10:45 a.m. through Nov 30. Owls of the Garden is Oct 26, 12:30 to 1:30. Tickets from $5, sign up first. Oct 31, 1 to 2 p.m., a talk on why wolves in Colorado. The Garden's calendar has details. What's being decided. The Park System Master Plan goes to City Council for readings Oct 12 and 27, after the parks board heard it Oct 8. White Acres Trail is becoming the Don Ellis Trail. The board approved it Aug 13; it waits on an agreement and an $850 city fee. Fire restrictions: the city's page shows none this week, and we are checking with the fire department. We'll tell you what we hear. The seed rule. Some copies of this paper will carry a strip of Colorado native seed: Lewis blue flax, Rocky Mountain penstemon, blanketflower, prairie coneflower, from Western Native Seed in Coaldale. Plant it in your yard, a friend's yard with their yes, or a community garden. Never in a park, open space, along the creek or a trail, and never after a fire. The people who manage those places seed with plants matched to the ground, and a stranger's strip can do more harm than good. Groups to join. Friends of Red Rock Canyon keeps up the benches and runs Talk and Walks, resuming soon (no date yet). The Trails and Open Space Coalition takes members and runs the One Bag Challenge cleanups. Friends of Garden of the Gods runs volunteer days. Our promise. Every Monday this desk reads the city's parks pages, and a canyon volunteer reads them with us. If nothing's new, we'll say so. Which trail was muddy this week? Tell me and I'll pass it along. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Who's cooking on the Westside this week <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-table> Who's cooking on the Westside this week Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Who's cooking on the Westside this week The Table desk. Hours are as the churches and pantries post them, checked October 11; we call before they go on the Bulletin Board. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Here's how it works. Somebody on this side of the interstate is feeding somebody nearly every day of the week, mostly out of church basements, and the people at the stoves are neighbors who are very good at it. We went looking for the tables. There are more than we figured. Everything below is what each place says on its own page as of October 11. We haven't called any of them yet, so please do before you go. Hours move, and a wrong one costs somebody a trip. Sunday The Sanctuary Church, 1930 W Colorado Ave, lists its Ragamuffin Cafe hot meal at 9 a.m. Call 719-634-7232. It's the only Sunday hot meal we found over here. If you know another, tell us. Monday Westside CARES, 2808 W Colorado Ave, posts a weekly hot meal from 11 to 12:30. Call 719-389-0759. Same day, Sacred Heart's pantry is posted noon to 2 at the Parish Center door, 2030 W Colorado Ave. No voucher. Call 719-633-8711. Tuesday Westside Global Methodist, 701 N 20th St, posts its pantry from 11 to 2. Call 719-633-9295. If you still call it Trinity UMC, that's the same corner with a new name, and the old building on W Pikes Peak is becoming a child care center. Wednesday The Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou St, hosts the CARES pantry from 1 to 3. Call 719-385-7920. Up the road in Manitou, the pantry at 110 Canon Ave was last reported at 1 to 2, with a hot meal starting 12:30. Call 719-685-9259. St. Andrew's closed as a church in 2025, but the pantry kept going in the parish hall. Hats off to the people who kept it going. Thursday Sacred Heart again, same hours, same door, no voucher. Call 719-633-8711. Know another table? That's six tables, and I'd bet my good parking spot there are more. Churches, clubs, a neighbor with a big pot and a folding table. If your church or group feeds people, text 719-201-5462 or write hello@westsidewherewithal.com with the day and the hour. We'll call, confirm it, and print it, free, in your words. That's what the Bulletin Board is for. It's where every table lives, every week, so nobody has to guess which church has soup on which night. See you at the table. Tell us what we got wrong. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Three picks before Halloween <https://westsidewherewithal.com/weekend-radar> Three picks before Halloween Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Three picks before Halloween The Weekend Radar desk. Every line checked against the organizer's own page. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Two weekends, three picks, and I've already parked for all of them. Read this, then go. Go to the farmers market. Saturday, October 17, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., Bancroft Park, 24th and Colorado. It's the last Saturday of the season, with 80-some vendors, and there is no next Saturday. Go early, because the best of anything goes first. Parking: don't circle the park hoping. Take a side street and walk the last bit. Saturday, October 24 is two things at once. Pick one. First, the coffin races. The Emma Crawford Coffin Races run 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Manitou Springs. Parking: Manitou Avenue closes at 9, so get there before the road shuts and the crowd fills in, and plan to walk in. Second, the pumpkins. Pumpkins in the Park is noon to 6 p.m. on the avenue, free, with a pumpkin patch, painting, costume and carving contests, the ZOOmobile, live music and a beer garden. Parking: the avenue's diagonal spots fill on a festival Saturday, so take a side street and walk in. Don't try to do both in one afternoon. Choose, then start the day with it. The things that are always there. If the festivals are not your speed, or you just need a Thursday: trivia at OCC Brewing every Thursday, 7 to 9 p.m. Storytime at the OCC Library every Friday, 10:30 a.m. Brunch Jam Band at Mother Muff's every Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Free bingo on the 21st, Trunk or Treat on the 25th, Trick or Treat Street on the 31st and First Friday ArtWalk on November 6 are all on the full list, with times. That list lives at westsidewherewithal.com, and it's also the one-sheet on the counters around the avenue. Got something happening that we missed? Send it to hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or text 719-201-5462. We'll check it against your own page and put it in. See you Saturday. I'll be the one who parked early. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in <https://westsidewherewithal.com/year-ahead> Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in The Year Ahead desk. Written from the editor's calendar; no interviews yet. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Picture the fridge calendar. Every Thursday of 2027 is penciled in, and you're coming along. One honest aside: it's plans, all of it. Nothing has been reported yet, and some weeks may not land. Winter first. Week one: The Reset Issue. Quiet workspaces, reading refuges, and I'd be surprised if the Carnegie library stays out. And then we eat through the cold. The quest for the best broth in OCC. A reader poll for the best breakfast burrito west of I-25. A 4:00 a.m. shift with a Westside baker. Then February: a cocktail lounge audit off Main Street, an Alternative Valentine, pints by the fireplace, and how the vintage and antiques shops survive winter. Spring opens up. Red Rock Canyon hikes, with lunches after. The carriage house makers working out of alleys. St. Patrick week. And then the thaw, when we find out which counters open their windows. The under-$15 lunch circuit. A patio audit covering shade, noise, pints and dogs. Seed swaps. Coffee roasters. A Territory Days survival guide. A First Friday gallery crawl. Spring tap releases. Summer gets loud. Hosting out-of-towners without crossing I-25. The Bancroft Park farmers market, booth by booth. Gelato. Where a line cook eats at midnight. Secret courtyards. Quiet Fourth of July viewpoints. Live music on the bricks, and I'm hoping the bandshell gets a paragraph. You pick the coldest drinks. Then the Pueblo chile arrives. Nightcaps and jukeboxes after 10, and I'd bet Mother Muff's comes up. Then a back-to-school pantry run, Uintah Gardens an obvious stop. Fall, the leg I'm saving. The annual pizza index: Slice 420 against Rustica against Leopold's, and we'll need lots of you to settle it. Golden aspens. Autumn ciders. A locals' guide for after the tourists leave. Ghost signs, spooky lore, wood-fired and cast iron cooking (Front Range BBQ, you're on my mind). Thanksgiving hosting. Best of the Westside nominations. Small Business Saturday. And then a Black Friday antidote at Section 16 and Bear Creek. December: a 100% Westside gift guide, a winter lights walk, the Best of the Westside winners, the solstice and quiet patios, and a last issue called Looking Ahead. Every week also carries a civic item and an oral history. A 40-year diner regular. A couple who met at Bancroft in 1988. A chile roaster of 25 seasons. A dishwasher who worked 300 shifts. A high school senior looking at the Westside's future. Tell me which month I got wrong, or which place I forgot. The pencil's by the fridge, and I'll see you the first Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? <https://westsidewherewithal.com/issues/2026-10-11-issue-0> Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? 2026-10-11 In this issue Can't we just inform each other? The leaves are changing Divide anything but our bread What it's all for We choose this Can't we just inform each other? Nobody's telling us what's happening around here unless you find some corporate website that tracks you and tries to make you pay just to find out what's going on outside your door. What a drag. Can't we just inform each other, and have fun building and being in community? The leaves are changing The leaves are changing and falling, and the streets are graced with people from all walks of life. The days are growing shorter, and fall will give way to snow in a few weeks. Before we know it Santa will be at the cabin in Bancroft Park and the Christkindlmarket will be back. Divide anything but our bread I want people to see and hear themselves in our work. I want the people in this community to remember that we're in this together and that what we print is made to remind us of that. We are not here to divide anything but our bread for others, to love our neighbors, and practice mercy and kindness. What it's all for I get nervous that people's fear clouds not only their judgment but their hearts. I can be a skeptic, and quite cynical at times. I wonder what it's all for and why I'm doing this. But in the end, if one person reads our words and connects with them even a little, and it gives them a spark or the belief that they are loved, I will have done my work. We choose this I hope people are excited to see what we're up to. I hope they want to be a part of it, and that by gathering and presenting our values, beliefs and customs together, we can cherish them and let new things in while the old fades. I want Thursday to remind us that we choose this. Jeff What we told you Can't we just inform each other? The leaves are changing Divide anything but our bread What it's all for We choose this The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The archive <https://westsidewherewithal.com/issues/index> The archive Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The archive Every issue, oldest at the bottom. Free to read. If you want to chip in, the jar is on the front page. Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? 2026-10-11 The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The Westside Wherewithal <https://westsidewherewithal.com/> The Westside Wherewithal Skip to the paper We start for real in January. Sign up and the first one lands on a Thursday morning. Thursday mornings · FreeFrom your neighbors ## The Westside WherewithalBecause living west of takes a little wherewithal. Colorado Springs, Colorado A free paper for the Westside of Colorado Springs, written by the people who live here. Thursday mornings, starting January. ## Get it Thursday morning One email a week, free. Put your address in and we'll see you Thursday. Sign me up ## What the city is deciding ## About your street, before it's done You can still weigh in Open nowColorado Avenue lane test. Four lanes to three from Limit Street to 30th Street (the city's page; the Gazette says 31st), for up to a year from June 2026, paid for with $375K from the regional road tax (PPRTA, the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority). The city survey is open.The city's own page: City project page · The surveyIn the news: Gazette, lane test # Oct 26, 2026The city's 2027 budget. Public hearing Monday Oct 26, 5:30 p.m., Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada. Anyone can speak. The council talks it over at work sessions first (Oct 15 is one). What's in it for the Westside, we're reading now.The city's own page: the council calendar (Legistar) # Coming up Oct 21, 2026The community center's neighbor group (the Westside Community Center Alliance) meets Wednesday Oct 21, 4 p.m. It helps steer what the center at 1628 W Bijou becomes. Whether anyone can sit in, we're asking.The city's own page: city page, community centerStill looking for: the Alliance's own notice and the Parks Advisory Board's May minutesIn the news: Gazette, the Alliance # Apr 2027Roundabout at 31st and Fontanero, by Howbert Elementary, replacing the four-way stop. The open house was Sept 15. Construction April to fall 2027. Parents asked about the school crossing; the city says it will work with the school. The crossing drawing and the open-house boards are the documents we're after.In the news: KKTV, the roundabout # Apr 13, 2027Project Taurus. A 50-megawatt data center proposed at the old Intel plant, next to the homes in Chelsea Glen. The Planning Commission approved it 6 to 2 in July with a power cap and noise monitoring. Council put the appeal off 7 to 2 to April 13, a week after the city election, and wants a noise study and a study of what big power users pay first. The developer told Colorado Politics on Sept 18 it is weighing whether this is the right partnership.Still looking for: the noise studyIn the news: CPR, hearing date · Colorado Politics, the postponement · KKTV, the appeal # Already decided Sep 22, 2026Old Colorado City's downtown development authority (DDA) shut down. The tax district voters created in 2024 never got its funding. Council voted 5 to 4 on Sept 22 to dissolve it, ordinance 26-48 (yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams; no: Donelson, Gold, Henjum, Leinweber), after the same 5 to 4 on first reading Aug 25. KKTV reported Oct 2 that the DDA is weighing legal action because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. Who picks up the avenue's end of things is an open question.The city's own page: meeting record (Open Publica)Still looking for: the ordinance text itself, and the Aug 25 minutesIn the news: Gazette, the first vote · KKTV, the lawsuit threat # Coming up Every weekThe land. Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, the Garden, Bear Creek, the creek itself: fire restrictions, trail closures, anything the parks board decides. Nothing new on the city's pages this week; we look every Monday, and a canyon volunteer is looking with us.The city's own page: city parks, trails and open space # Already decided Since Apr 2023Greater Westside Community Plan. Nine neighborhoods, one plan: Gold Hill, Ivywild, Mesa, Mesa Springs, Midland, Old Colorado City, Skyway, Stratton Meadows, Westside. The city's page lists six meetings, the last in April 2023, plus a 2022 survey and a 'Big Ideas' summary. What came next is the question we're taking to Planning, and to the neighbors who sat in those rooms.The city's own page: city page, the plan # Checked October 11. Each one links to the city's own page where we found it. Where it says "still looking," we haven't found it yet (city websites, you know how it goes). If you've got it, send it over. Want to be the person in the room? Go to one meeting, write down what happened on this one-page sheet, and your name goes on it. A City Council Tuesday is the easy first one; you can watch it live or later from the couch. ## Vote ## Ballots are in the mail. Here's the Westside part. By Oct 26Register, or check that you're registered, at GoVoteColorado.gov. Moved since last time? Update it there too. After Oct 26 you can still register and vote in person, through Election Day.New since 2026-10-11The city's own page: GoVoteColorado.gov # Till Nov 3, 7 p.m.Drop boxes west of I-25, open day and night: Red Rock Canyon shopping center, 3141 W Colorado Ave; Bear Creek Regional Park, 2002 Creek Crossing St; the clerk's office, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd; Manitou City Hall, 606 Manitou Ave. Mailing it? The county says by Oct 27. It has to arrive by 7 p.m. on Election Day; a postmark doesn't count.New since 2026-10-11The city's own page: the county's list of boxes · El Paso County elections # On the ballotThe local ones: County 1A keeps the public-safety sales tax going through 2037. D11 4A is a $775 million school bond (Coronado is on the list). Then fourteen statewide questions; the state's Blue Book explains each one in plain words, for and against.New since 2026-10-11The city's own page: the county's local questions · the Blue Book # Apr 6, 2027The city election: mayor and three council seats. Same registration, same website. We'll print the candidates and where they stand on the Westside.New since 2026-10-11The city's own page: city election page # We don't tell you how to vote. We'd love for you to. If the Blue Book is a brick, if you can't get to a box, if you're not sure you're registered, call or text 719-201-5462 and a neighbor helps. The county pays election judges and trains them; sign up here if you've got a day. ## The next two weeks ## Oct 11 to Nov 8, checked against the calendars The market's last Saturday, Pumpkins in the Park, free bingo at the community center, the cemetery tour, the coffin races, and the same seven things every week. Every weekMon Boom Box Bingo, 7 to 11 p.m. (Mother Muff's)Tue Math tutoring, 4 to 5:30 p.m. (OCC Library)Wed Toddler Time, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Wed Open mic, 6 to 9 p.m. (Jives Coffee Lounge, 16 Colbrunn Ct)Thu Trivia, 7 to 9 p.m. (OCC Brewing)Fri Storytime, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Sat Paws to Read, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Sun Brunch Jam Band, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Mother Muff's) Sun Oct 11 all month Scarecrow Days: the storefront scarecrows, with a public vote, through Oct 31 the avenue Mon Oct 12 all day Westside CARES closed for Indigenous Peoples' Day 2808 W Colorado Tue Oct 13 9 a.m. City Council regular meeting (agenda on Legistar) 107 N Nevada 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Small Steps, Giant Leaps, Space Foundation program for ages 2 to 6 Westside Community Center Wed Oct 14 9 a.m. City Planning Commission 2880 International Cir. 5:30 to 7 p.m. Evening pickleball: donate a bag of candy to play, paddles limited Westside Community Center Thu Oct 15 7:30 a.m. Coffee with the principal Coronado High, Future Center 2 to 4 p.m. Classic board games free OCC Library 5 p.m. Mushroom Zombie Haunted House opens, through Oct 31 Mush Love Tee, the shirt shop, 2627 W Colorado Fri Oct 16 all day No school at Coronado: parent-teacher conferences, 9 to 3 in the gym Coronado High 5 to 6 p.m. Bingo at the Biscuit The Biscuit Factory Cat Lounge, 12 S 25th Sat Oct 17 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Farmers market, last Saturday of the season, 80-some vendors Bancroft Park 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Craft and art market, final Saturday History Center, 1 S 24th Sun Oct 18 evening Legends and Lore of Fairview Cemetery, a two-hour guided tour; tickets online, kids 12 and under free Fairview Cemetery, 1000 S 26th Mon Oct 19 all week Fall break at Coronado, Oct 19 to 22, no school Coronado High Wed Oct 21 4 p.m. Westside Community Center Alliance meeting Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou 5:30 to 7 p.m. Howdy Neighbor prize bingo, doors at 5, all ages, no sign-up free Westside Community Center Thu Oct 22 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Book group free OCC Library Sat Oct 24 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Emma Crawford Coffin Races, the 32nd; Manitou Avenue closes at 9 Manitou Springs noon to 6 p.m. Pumpkins in the Park: pumpkin patch, painting, face painters, costume and carving contests, the ZOOmobile, live music, a beer garden free the avenue Sun Oct 25 1 to 4 p.m. Trunk or Treat in the parking lot, and Animals of Halloween inside, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. free Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th Mon Oct 26 10 to 10:45 a.m. Bighorn sheep, an indoor program with a touch table; Mondays through Nov 30 free Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Owls of the Garden: take an owl pellet apart; $5, sign up first Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 5:30 p.m. City budget public hearing, the 2027 budget; anyone can speak Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada Tue Oct 27 all day Stroll-a-Story: a storybook walk, page by page, around the library OCC Library, 2418 W Pikes Peak Thu Oct 29 7:30 to 8:45 p.m. Haunted Manitou ghost tour, $25; also Oct 30 and 31 Memorial Park, Manitou Springs Fri Oct 30 5:30 p.m. Ghost Stories of Old Manitou, a walking tour from the museum Manitou Springs Heritage Museum Sat Oct 31 1 to 2 p.m. Why wolves in Colorado, a talk Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 2 to 4:30 p.m. Trick or Treat Street: costumed kids 1 to 6, shop to shop; look for the orange and yellow balloons the avenue, 23rd to 28th 6 p.m. Manitou Phantasmagoria Shoshone Spring courtyard, Manitou Springs evening Mushroom Zombie Haunted House, last night Mush Love Tee, the shirt shop, 2627 W Colorado Tue Nov 3 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Election Day. Ballots due by 7 p.m. at a drop box; register and vote in person at the clerk's office, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd, or Manitou City Hall El Paso County Fri Nov 6 5 to 8 p.m. First Friday ArtWalk: galleries, studios and shops open late along the avenue free the avenue, 17th to 31st Sun Nov 8 11 a.m. Altitude Makers market and farmers market free Soda Springs Park, Manitou Springs Every line above came off a calendar we can link, checked October 11. The strip up top happens every week; the list is the one-time stuff. The avenue is West Colorado Avenue; OCC is Old Colorado City; D11 is the school district. If we got a time wrong, tell us and we'll fix it in the next issue. Red Rock Canyon, the churches and the school sports pages had nothing dated for these two weeks; if you know of something, send it. Where that came from: Old Colorado City events calendar · Old Colorado City Library · Westside Community Center · History Center events · Garden of the Gods calendar ## The Bulletin Board ## Suppers, pantries, services, weddings, and the ones we lost If you need something this week, start here. Free, in your words, from you or your church or your family. Food, rent and utility help: Westside CARES, 2808 W Colorado Ave, 719-389-0759. Open Monday to Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.. They prefer you walk in. Closed when the schools close for weather. Serves everyone west of I-25. Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou St, 719-385-7920. Open Monday and Friday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Tuesday to Thursday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.. A corkboard, not a story. Church suppers, pantry hours, services, weddings, and the ones we lost: free, in your words, from you or your church or your family. We call to check the hours before they run. Send it by Tuesday to hello@westsidewherewithal.com, by text to 719-201-5462, on paper to the office at Suite 122, or in the box on the front page. Where that came from: Westside CARES hours · Community center hours (city page) ## The Listening Room ## Once a month. You pick where and when. Coffee with the editor, no agenda, no sign-up. The hour and the place are a vote; the winner runs in issue 1. The Listening Room isn't an office. It's one hour a month wherever we sit down, and I'd rather you picked it than me. Vote below, or write in your own. I live over here, about twenty years now, and the office on the avenue is the paper's address; it says one thing: I'm here. I'm with you. Where and when Saturday morning, the bench by the bandshell in Bancroft Park Tuesday evening, a coffee counter on the avenue Sunday afternoon, the library (once they say yes) A weeknight on Zoom, for people who work days Cast it ## The Address Book ## What was in this storefront in 1968? One storefront, one photo, what was inside. One building per issue: a photo, the address, and whoever remembers fills in the rest. The first photo is coming; if you have one, send it in below. ## Write something ## Send it in The shop that closed, the thing the city's about to do on your street, the neighbor everybody should know. Photos and drawings count, with your name on them. Send it however you like: the box below, hello@westsidewherewithal.com, a call or a text to 719-201-5462, or drop it at the office (Suite 122, 2320 W Colorado Ave). We write back. Rather talk than type? Call or text 719-201-5462 and tell me out loud; I'll write it down and you hear it read back before it runs. Under 18? Send it anyway; we'll check with you or a parent before it runs. Teachers, send the whole class. Photos come by email. En español: mándenos un texto al 719-201-5462 o escríbanos a hello@westsidewherewithal.com, en español: su cena, su misa, su aviso. No lo hablo de nacimiento; lo traducimos con un vecino y se lo leemos antes de publicar. Any other language: send it anyway, and we'll find a neighbor to translate. Want a desk? The pages signed by a desk are open; here's how to take one. Got a counter, or a box on your fence? Say so and we'll bring a stack, free, and swap the stale ones. How we do things, if you're curious. Put me down for a stack, for my counter or my library box Send it in ## The jar It's free. If a Thursday was worth something to you, throw a few bucks in the jar; it pays for the email and the printing. A check to the office works too. Pay what you want Inside: What the city is deciding · The next two weeks · On the avenue · From the desks · The next 100 years · Frontier wherewithal · Around the avenue · What came before us ## On the avenue ## I never stepped inside Base Camp, 2611 W Colorado, closed October 4, and I never ate there. Tell me the place you'd go back to. Jeff Adkins Base Camp closed on October 4. I thought it looked cool, but the menu never appealed to me in the moment, and it's hard to take me away from the dozen places I adore already. Sad to say I never stepped inside. That's on me, and I'm not alone. Empty storefronts are not what we want here. What keeps a place open is anyone and everyone who can afford to spend local dollars in it, and I am going to try hard to keep mixing it up. If you're thinking about working and making a living here, I wish I could appeal to you directly: we need you. Old Colorado City (OCC from here on) is a tourist destination, for locals and for travelers. I know this. I gladly give up my street parking for events because I know we need them. If I want OCC Brewing to be here 365 days a year, I need them to sustain themselves. That means me not griping about the traffic or the parking over here. Not everyone can afford to eat out or shop on the avenue. I understand that; I don't feel obligated to, and neither should you. I'm fortunate that I can budget for a meal out, and I try to go during the week, when places are less busy and could frankly use the business. So I can't complain about Base Camp closing if I didn't eat there, and I can't blame not eating there on the parking. Tell me the place you'd go back to. What we know: Base Camp, 2611 W Colorado Ave, opened March 2025 and closed October 4; the owner cited costs and the economy. Mountain Shadows, the restaurant four blocks east, closed December 2024 and sold in January. Where that came from: Gazette, Oct 2, 2026 · Gazette, Jan 20, 2025 · OCC Brewing ## From the desks ## Ten desks, one neighborhood Celebrating, remembering, forecasting. Each desk is open; a neighbor's name goes on it the day they take it. The Wherewithal desks Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in · the 52 Thursdays of 2027, as a walk through the seasons The man who wrote down the Westside · 604 columns, the elk, the tunnels, and who keeps the record now Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper · the vote, the names, what's still unknown, and how to be in the room See that building? Look again · five storefronts and what they were, from the columns and the 1902 map Where the asphalt gives up · Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, Bear Creek; this fall, and the seed rule The elk who pulled a carriage · for kids: three things to find on the walk to school, and a dare Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad · la mesa en español: ayuda, el voto, cómo escribirnos Who's cooking on the Westside this week · six tables, as their own pages say it; we call before it prints Three picks before Halloween · the market's last Saturday, the coffin races, pumpkins in the park, and where to park The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead · every date headed for your street, and the door into each one Every desk is written from the record we hold and says so at the top. None of it is an interview yet; those are coming. Every one is open: what each desk takes, and how to take one. One text, one coffee. ## The next 100 years ## Four lanes to three, for a year Four lanes to three, Limit to 30th, for a year. The city survey is open. One driver's take below; if yours differs, next issue's yours. Jeff Adkins 1902 · Sanborn fire insurance map, sheet 2, Colorado Avenue · Library of Congress, public domain 2027 · lane drawing · city of Colorado Springs, Colorado Avenue demonstration, phase two What we know: four lanes to three from Limit to 30th by the city's page (the Gazette says 31st), since June 2026, for up to a year; the city calls it the Colorado Avenue Demonstration Project; $375K of county transportation tax (PPRTA) money. The Gazette counts about 30 parking spaces added, metered; the city's page says parking changes are expected to be minimal. We've asked the project team which it is. A second phase in 2027 makes some of it permanent and redoes three blocks of streetscape (Gazette); permanent reconstruction is penciled for 2027 or 2028 (Bike Colorado Springs). The city survey is open. One driver's take, mine (and my office is on the avenue, at 2320): it's great to see so much more attention being paid to pedestrians, and it doesn't slow me down at all. I haven't timed it; if you have, send the numbers. It may add parking, metered; the city and the Gazette disagree on how much (see the record), and nobody has said yet where someone who lives over a shop parks overnight. The city is taking comments until the concrete goes down. If you drive it, bike it, or cross it with a stroller, say so. If you hate it, this space is yours next issue, same length, your name on it. What do I want to still be here in 2126? Westsiders. Hyper local, no corporate nonsense, and room for whoever shows up to stay. Where that came from: Sanborn 1902 (LoC) · City project page · The city survey · Gazette, May 20, 2026 · Bike Colorado Springs ## Frontier wherewithal ## Load up for winter, survive the summer Not just another old west town. Two tame elk, tunnels under the avenue, four to six weeks a year you'd rather be in the water. Jeff Adkins If you're new here you might think this is just another old west town. If you're passing through, maybe we should let you believe it. Our summers are dry and shorter than most, but they stop and start and come back the most. I'd say we have about four to six weeks a year where you'd want to be holed up in the cabin or in the water, which can be tricky to find. We need to know how to load up for winter, survive the summer, and not die of dehydration. And like every place with lore, we have a guy who trained two tame elk, Thunder and Buttons, to pull a carriage, plus tunnels and brothels and churches, oh my. We love it here. What we know: Thunder and Buttons were elk; Prairie Dog O'Byrne drove them hitched to a carriage on this avenue in the late 1880s. The tunnels under the avenue are documented by the historical society, with the honest caveat that some of it may be something else. Colorado City voted itself dry in 1913. Where that came from: Westside Pioneer, 2006 · Cobweb Corners, 2005 · Gazette, July 2021, the tunnels · Thunder and Buttons II ## Around the avenue ## Getting to know them is the point I don't know everyone yet. Getting to know them is the point. Jeff Adkins What we know so far: Who's opening and who's moving: we've heard about three and have an address for none, so none are named yet. Send the name and the block. The Old Colorado City Historical Society runs a free museum at 1 South 24th, a block off the avenue. Tuesday through Saturday, 11 to 4 in summer and 11 to 2 in winter. Call before you drive. The free Tuesday concerts at the Bancroft Park bandshell ran June 2 through September 29 this year, 5:30, Dizzy Charlie's and the Pikes Peak Blues Community. Next summer's lineup runs here the week it's announced. First Friday art walk, 5 to 8, galleries and studios along the avenue. Next one is November 6. The Customs and Classics car show closes the avenue from 23rd to 27th one Sunday every August. If the one you went to was a different show this fall, tell us which. This is the stuff I get to see everyone else doing. I enjoy seeing them do it. It doesn't matter to me if I don't know anyone in the room, because getting to know them is the point of this life. And that's what I'm here to capture in this paper. I shouldn't pretend to know things I don't. Where that came from: OCC History Center · Tuesday concerts (Springs Magazine) · First Friday (OCC calendar) · The car show (Pioneer, 2018) ## What came before us ## I want it all Mel McFarland died in September; I indexed the 604 columns I found. Eight digs, from the capital that got away to the forgotten cemetery. Jeff Adkins Start here: Mel McFarland, who wrote the Westside's past in the Pioneer for fifteen years, died in September at 81. Most of what is below comes from his columns. I found 604 and indexed every one I found; the one-line summaries there are software drafts, not yet checked one by one. Who keeps the record now is a question this paper exists to answer. I want the best stories from Old Colorado City. I want to dig down and find the most awesome stuff we can publish: how people first lived here, how it went from zero to what it is today, funny things, shootouts, jail time for crimes that make us laugh and cry, mysteries and murders. I want it all. What did we used to do and stop? What was, but isn't? What could have been, but never was? The digs I can't do alone: your church, your family, your block. Send them. What we found first: The capital that got away. Colorado City was founded in August 1859 to outfit gold seekers, was the county seat by 1861, and held the territorial capital just long enough to lose it to Denver. One account says the town was deemed too rowdy. Zero to four thousand. Mel has the town past 2,000 by 1890; the 1892 fire-insurance map (the Sanborn) writes 2,000 on its own cover, and the 1902 sheet writes 4,000. The town voted itself dry in 1913, lost the saloon money, and voted to be annexed by Colorado Springs in April 1917. Four saloons to twenty-seven. By the Pioneer's 2009 count (a feature, not one of Mel's columns): four in 1884, twenty-three by 1888, twenty-seven in 1902 plus thirty-some gambling halls, on a main street that also had the churches. Laura Bell McDaniel. From the Pioneer's 2011 profile, not the index: queen of the tenderloin; her last house was the Tribley House in the 2600 block of West Cucharras. She married Tom McDaniel in April 1887 in Salida; a month later he shot a man five times while she watched, and was acquitted. She divorced him in 1893. Accused in November 1917 of stealing liquor and acquitted; the historian who wrote her up thinks it was a set-up. Died in a car crash in January 1918. The elk were O'Byrne's by Mel's column (bought in Aspen in 1888); a 2006 Pioneer piece has her riding beside him in the carriage. The Glass Works. Full production in 1889 with 200 men on the south edge of town, bottling Manitou water. The furnace top collapsed just after midnight on September 9, 1892. Wheeler promised to rebuild; the Silver Panic of 1893 and the lost customers finished it. One of Mel's columns says it closed in 1895, another says by 1900; one puts a fire in 1893 as well. The Midland shops. The Colorado Midland started here in 1886 and quit in 1918; the Midland Terminal ran the line to Divide until it was scrapped in 1949. Hundreds of men in the shops at the peak, under a hundred by 1925, about fifty by 1948; the office burned in 1953. The fourteen-stall roundhouse is the one that lived: Van Briggle pottery, then the shops you walk through now. The mills. The Colorado-Philadelphia came first, in 1894 by one of Mel's columns and about 1897 by another, near 31st and the 24. Golden Cycle took over the Telluride mill in 1906, rebuilt it with cyanide after a 1907 fire, and ran it until 1949; the smokestack is still there. The forgotten cemetery. Colorado City's Pioneer cemetery, on the mesa, used from about 1860 to 1917. Not every burial was moved; the stones came out in the 1940s and it became Pioneer Park in the 1950s. Graves were mapped with metal detectors in the 1970s, a project Mel joined, and a cast-iron coffin may still be there. Who is in it is still the question. Where that came from: Why the fuss? (Pioneer) · Laura Bell McDaniel (Pioneer, 2011) · Thunder and Buttons (Cobweb Corners, 2005) · The Glass Works, 200 men (Cobweb Corners, 2011) · The Glass Works fire (Cobweb Corners, 2011) · The Glass Works closed 1895 (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The Midland, 1886 to 1918 (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The Midland shops decline (Cobweb Corners, 2009) · The roundhouse (Cobweb Corners, 2007) · The mills (Cobweb Corners, 2013) · Golden Cycle closes, 1949 (Cobweb Corners, 2006) · The capital, the county seat (Cobweb Corners, 2009) · The forgotten cemetery (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The forgotten cemetery (Cobweb Corners, 2017) · Mel McFarland, 1945 to 2026 (Gazette) · Every Cobweb Corners column, indexed · Colorado City Iris, digitized (CHNC) If something here is wrong, reply to the email or send it in below. Corrections run at the top of the next issue. Behind the masthead: Sanborn fire insurance map of Colorado City, November 1902, sheet 1. Library of Congress, public domain. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad <https://westsidewherewithal.com/la-vecina> Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad La Vecina, la mesa en español. Traducción nuestra; buscamos a un vecino o vecina que la tome y firme aquí. Vecina, vecino: Le escribo con las hojas ya cambiando de color y las tardes más cortas. Aquí entre nosotros, quería contarle lo que sé. Si usted vive al oeste de la I-25, este periódico es para usted. Se llama The Westside Wherewithal, sale cada semana y es gratis. Lo escribimos entre vecinos: lo que abre, lo que cierra, lo que se vota, lo que llega al parque. Y queremos saber de usted. Cuéntenos lo que ve en su cuadra, en su iglesia, en su trabajo, y hágalo en español, como le salga. Si esta semana necesita una mano, vaya a Westside CARES, en 2808 W Colorado Ave. Abren de lunes a jueves, de 9:30 a.m. a 12:30 p.m., y no hace falta cita. Atienden a todos los que viven al oeste de la I-25. Llame al 719-389-0759. También tiene el Westside Community Center, en 1628 W Bijou St, teléfono 719-385-7920. Abre lunes y viernes, de 9 a.m. a 3 p.m., y de martes a jueves, de 9 a.m. a 7 p.m. Ahora el voto, en claro. Hasta el 26 de octubre puede registrarse, o revisar si ya está registrado, en GoVoteColorado.gov. Pasada esa fecha, todavía puede hacerlo en persona, hasta el día de la elección. Y para dejar su boleta, las urnas están abiertas hasta las 7 p.m. del 3 de noviembre en cuatro lugares: el centro comercial Red Rock Canyon, 3141 W Colorado Ave; Bear Creek Regional Park, 2002 Creek Crossing St; la oficina del secretario del condado, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd; y el ayuntamiento de Manitou, 606 Manitou Ave. Aquí no le decimos cómo votar. Solo le decimos dónde y cuándo. En diciembre el Christkindlmarket vuelve a Bancroft Park. Cuando tengamos los días, se los pasamos aquí. Si quiere escribirnos, mande un texto al 719-201-5462 o un correo a hello@westsidewherewithal.com, en español. El editor no habla español de cuna. Traduce con un vecino y lo vuelve a leer con él antes de que algo se imprima. También tenemos una hoja en español en westsidewherewithal.com/sheet-es. Y una cosa honesta: esta página es traducción nuestra. Buscamos a un vecino o vecina que hable español para que tome esta mesa y firme aquí con su nombre. Hasta la próxima semana, vecino. Un abrazo, La Vecina The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The print pack <https://westsidewherewithal.com/print> The print pack Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The print pack Everything to print this week, how many, and where it goes. Any copy shop; a home printer works for the one-sheets. What to print PrintFileHowCopies The one-sheetsheet.pdfLetter, one side (two sides if you want the puzzle back: sheet-back.pdf)20 Large printsheet-large.pdfLetter, two sides5 La hoja (Spanish)sheet-es.pdfLetter, one side10 The box editionzine-box.pdfLetter, landscape, two sheets, two-sided, flip on the short edge; nest sheet 2 inside sheet 1, fold once; no staples20 Every print says "good till Oct 25" or has no dates. A stale stack gets swapped; call and we bring more. Where it goes PlaceWhatHow many The gas station at 31stone-sheet5 The hardware storeone-sheet5 A diner on the avenueone-sheet, and ask about a tray5 The OCC History Center, 1 S 24thone-sheet5 Your own door, Suite 122one-sheet, box edition5 and 5 The grocery at 31stla hoja10 The senior table at the community center, 1628 W Bijoularge print5 The little free library at the old Carnegie building, 701 Manitou Avebox edition8 The Head Start box, 2330 Robinson Stbox edition7 The ask at a counter, two sentences: "It's a free weekly paper for the Westside, written by neighbors, nothing for you to pay and nothing to sell. Can it sit here, and can I refill it on Thursdays?" Say yes to any condition they add. What to watch Count what's left after a week. Note any call or text to 719-201-5462 and any word find or quiz score that comes in. That's the first real test; everything before it was rehearsal. The reader inbox was empty on October 11. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Plant this (when it exists) <https://westsidewherewithal.com/seeds> Plant this (when it exists) Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Plant this (when it exists) There are no seed strips yet. This is the plan, written down before the first one so nobody has to guess. Some copies of the zine will carry a small sealed strip of seed paper. Plant it in your own yard, a friend's yard with their yes, a community garden, or a school bed with the principal's okay. Not in a park, not in open space, not in Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, the Garden of the Gods or Bear Creek, not along the creek or a trail, and never after a fire. Those places get seeded by the people who manage them, with seed matched to the ground, and a stranger's strip does more harm than good there. What's in it: Colorado natives from a Colorado grower (Western Native Seed, in Coaldale): Lewis blue flax, Rocky Mountain penstemon, blanketflower, prairie coneflower. Nothing from the state's noxious weed list, which is where the cheap "wildflower mixes" go wrong. Plant in fall; the penstemon wants a winter in the ground. Plant it, take a picture when something comes up, send it in. The best ones run in the paper with your name on them. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Take a desk <https://westsidewherewithal.com/take-a-desk> Take a desk Moved to /desks. --- # Thank you <https://westsidewherewithal.com/thanks> Thank you Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Thank you That's the whole transaction. No tier, no badge, no extra issue. The paper keeps going, and your name goes on the once-a-year list of people who chipped in, alphabetical, no amounts, unless you'd rather it didn't. Reply to any issue to say so. See you Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The elk who pulled a carriage <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-box> The elk who pulled a carriage Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The elk who pulled a carriage The Box desk, for kids and whoever is with them. When a neighbor (or a kid) takes this desk, their name goes here. Okay. You're the boss today. Walk to school, but make it a hunt. Find three things. One: a little free library. It's a box on a post full of books, and you can take one. We know of 27 of them west of I-25. Two you can visit: the one at the old Carnegie library building, 701 Manitou Ave, and the one at the Head Start, 2330 Robinson St. Two: the red rocks at the end of the street. Stop and look. Three: one leaf. Pick the best one on the block. Keep it. It's a bookmark now. Okay. Now the elk. In 1888, a man named John O'Byrne got two tame elk from a judge in Aspen. He trained them to pull his tourist carriage down this very avenue. Their names were Thunder and Buttons. Yes, elk. Yes, a carriage. Eventually a movie company bought them and took them to Alaska to film advertisements. Thunder and Buttons were in commercials. (Also true.) (Bonus, also true: in 1880 a train crew calmed a cold, panicking circus elephant at Colorado Springs with a keg of beer. Aunt's honor.) Ask a grown-up. Point at any building on your walk and ask: "What was here before?" Then listen. Your move, boss. This fall: Halloween, Oct. 31, 2 to 4:30 p.m.: Trick or Treat Street on the avenue, 23rd to 28th. Costumed kids 1 to 6. Look for the orange and yellow balloons. Bring a little cousin. Mondays, 10 a.m.: the bighorn sheep program at the Garden of the Gods Visitor Center. December: the Christkindlmarket comes back to Bancroft Park, bigger than last year, with Santa at the cabin. Bonus level: the paper in the box has games. A word find whose leftover letters spell a message. A five-question quiz with the answers printed upside down. And a map to draw on: it's the 1902 map of Colorado City, when the town had 4,000 people. You can see it at westsidewherewithal.com/zine-box, page 6. The dare. Draw Thunder and Buttons pulling the carriage. Go big. Give the tourists faces. Then put it in the little free library box, or send it to hello@westsidewherewithal.com with your first name. We print the best ones. See you on the avenue. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-next-hundred> The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead The Next Hundred desk. Written from the city's own pages and the ballot; dates change, and we fix them when they do. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Right now, Colorado Avenue. Four lanes have been three from Limit to 30th since June, for up to a year. Watch the lanes. Your move: fill out the city survey after you've driven it, biked it, or crossed it with a stroller. The avenue went on a diet and nobody asked it. Oct 21 and Oct 26. The community center's neighbor group meets Wednesday the 21st at 4 p.m.; it helps steer what the center at 1628 W Bijou becomes. Monday the 26th, 5:30 p.m.: the 2027 budget's public hearing at 107 N Nevada. Anyone can speak; the council calendar lists the work sessions before it. Your move: pick one and go. The budget reads better with you. Nov 3. Ballots are due by 7 p.m. County 1A would keep the public-safety sales tax going through 2037. D11's 4A is a $775 million school bond, and Coronado is on the list. Your move: vote, and use a drop box if the mail feels slow. There's one at 3141 W Colorado Ave. Seven o'clock does not negotiate. December. The Christkindlmarket comes back to Bancroft Park, bigger. Bancroft is the pupil of the eye, so a bigger market could mean a fuller avenue and fewer spots out front. Your move: go, and walk. The car can stay home. April 6, 2027. The city election: mayor and three council seats. Your move: register or check your registration, and ask every candidate what they would do about the avenue. The avenue will hear about it. April 13. Council hears the appeal on Project Taurus, the 50-megawatt data center proposed at the old Intel plant next to the homes in Chelsea Glen. The Planning Commission approved it 6 to 2 in July with a power cap and noise monitoring; council wants a noise study first, and the hearing falls a week after you vote (Colorado Politics). The developer says it is weighing the partnership, so the date could still move. Your move: read the noise study when it exists, and show up. Read quietly. April to fall 2027. A roundabout replaces the four-way stop at 31st and Fontanero by Howbert Elementary, on the western gateway to the red rocks. Parents asked about the school crossing, and the city says it will work with the school. Your move: if you walk kids there, ask the school what they've been told. Four stops become one circle. Around June 2027. The lane test's year ends, give or take. Nothing we've found says what comes after. Your move: whatever you think of the test, say so before it ends. A year is long enough for an opinion. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The man who wrote down the Westside <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-porch-mcfarland> The man who wrote down the Westside Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The man who wrote down the Westside The Porch desk. Written from the record; the editor's conversations with his family and friends are coming. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. If you ever wondered whether there really were tunnels under Colorado Avenue, Mel McFarland is a big part of why you wondered. I'll tell you what I know. He died September 21, at 81. From 2004 to 2019 he wrote 604 "Cobweb Corners" columns about this neighborhood for the Westside Pioneer. He was born here in 1944, a fourth-generation native, taught art and drafting, and wrote books on the Colorado Midland Railway. In 1983 he bought a retired working caboose for his Rockrimmon backyard, and became "the Caboose Guy." Dave Martinek, who started Midland Days at Divide with him in 2009, told the Gazette: "He was the go-to person for anyone who wanted to know about railroad history in the state." His nephew Luc MacArthur called him "kind of a Renaissance man." His sister, Elaine Radney, said: "He had a lot of people who loved him." He wrote it down. Here is some of it. On February 3, 2005, he wrote down the story of John O'Byrne, who in 1888 got two tame elk, Thunder and Buttons, and trained them to pull a tourist carriage. Here is the column. On April 7, 2005, he wrote down the tunnels, the ones that let Colorado Avenue customers reach the Cucharras Street brothels unseen. He had "seen the remains of bits of both" sets of tunnels himself. On November 17, 2011, he wrote down the Glass Works disaster. Just after midnight on September 9, 1892, the furnace top collapsed and fiery glass poured out. Chunks of raw glass still show up now and then in neighborhood yards and rock walls, he wrote. On November 14, 2013, he wrote down the day a Teller County sheriff chained a Pullman sleeper car to the rails over $663.21 in unpaid taxes, and a U.S. marshal freed it two days later. Read it. Here's the thing. The Gazette says he left "file cabinets" of research and writing, and that his family hopes to sift through them, with no concrete plans yet. The next person who asks "was there really a glass plant over here?" gets a shrug. We can't fix that. What we have is an index of all 604 columns, by what each one reports, at westsidewherewithal.com/cobweb. The editor plans to call his sister, Dave Martinek, the Pioneer's editor Kenyon Jordan, and the History Center, and we'll tell you what they say. The question we're taking to them is who keeps the record now. We'd like to be part of the answer, and we'd like yours. Did a column of his stick with you? Tell us which one. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-record-dda> Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper The Record desk. Written from the city's own pages and the news; the Aug 25 minutes are still to be read. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. If you missed the council meeting last month, here is the entry. A downtown development authority, a DDA, is a small district set up by a vote. It is supposed to get its own pot of money to spend on one downtown. In 2024, Old Colorado City voters created one for the avenue. It never got its funding. It was created by a vote and ended by a vote, and the money never turned up in between. On Sept 22, City Council voted 5 to 4 to dissolve it. That's ordinance 26-48. The meeting record has the roll call. That's on paper. Yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams No: Donelson, Gold, Henjum, Leinweber The Gazette reported the first vote, on Aug 25, as the same 5 to 4. That's reported. On Oct 2, KKTV reported that the DDA is weighing legal action, because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. That's reported too. That is the whole ledger so far. Here is what we don't know: The Aug 25 minutes. We have the first vote from the news, not from the minutes. Until we've read them, the date and the count are reported, not checked. Whether a lawsuit is filed. KKTV says the DDA is considering one. We haven't found a filing. That isn't on paper. We'll say so when it is. What the DDA was going to buy. The records we have don't list its plan, so we won't guess. If you voted in 2024, or sat in those rooms, tell us what you were told. Who picks up the avenue's end of things now. Nobody has answered that in anything we've read. That isn't on paper either. We are taking the question to the next meeting. Some of those answers are in a room on a Tuesday morning. You can be in it. City Council meets the second and fourth Tuesdays at 9 a.m., 107 N Nevada, and you can watch from home. You don't have to say a word. Take the one-page sheet, write down what happens, and your name goes on it. The Oct 13 meeting is the next one. If you were at the Aug 25 meeting, or you have the minutes, send them over. Tell me what I got wrong. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Where the asphalt gives up <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-ridge> Where the asphalt gives up Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Where the asphalt gives up The Ridge desk. Written from the city's pages and the groups' own sites; a canyon volunteer reads it before it prints. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Rain or snow, and the trails hold it. Friends of Red Rock Canyon says wait a day or two, because they stay muddy and fragile for 24 to 48 hours. Follow 21st down to Bear Creek, then keep going west. Around 30th and 31st the asphalt gives up. The red sandstone takes over. Red Rock Canyon is the pocket to the south. The city bought it in 2003, after it had been slated for a resort with high-rise towers and a private golf course. The city's open space page lists it among the places TOPS, the sales tax voters passed for open space, made possible. It nearly went the other way. Parking. The 31st Street trailhead has more than the High Street lots. No e-bikes in the open space. This fall. The Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th, runs a free bighorn sheep program with a touch table, Mondays 10 to 10:45 a.m. through Nov 30. Owls of the Garden is Oct 26, 12:30 to 1:30. Tickets from $5, sign up first. Oct 31, 1 to 2 p.m., a talk on why wolves in Colorado. The Garden's calendar has details. What's being decided. The Park System Master Plan goes to City Council for readings Oct 12 and 27, after the parks board heard it Oct 8. White Acres Trail is becoming the Don Ellis Trail. The board approved it Aug 13; it waits on an agreement and an $850 city fee. Fire restrictions: the city's page shows none this week, and we are checking with the fire department. We'll tell you what we hear. The seed rule. Some copies of this paper will carry a strip of Colorado native seed: Lewis blue flax, Rocky Mountain penstemon, blanketflower, prairie coneflower, from Western Native Seed in Coaldale. Plant it in your yard, a friend's yard with their yes, or a community garden. Never in a park, open space, along the creek or a trail, and never after a fire. The people who manage those places seed with plants matched to the ground, and a stranger's strip can do more harm than good. Groups to join. Friends of Red Rock Canyon keeps up the benches and runs Talk and Walks, resuming soon (no date yet). The Trails and Open Space Coalition takes members and runs the One Bag Challenge cleanups. Friends of Garden of the Gods runs volunteer days. Our promise. Every Monday this desk reads the city's parks pages, and a canyon volunteer reads them with us. If nothing's new, we'll say so. Which trail was muddy this week? Tell me and I'll pass it along. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Who's cooking on the Westside this week <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-table> Who's cooking on the Westside this week Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Who's cooking on the Westside this week The Table desk. Hours are as the churches and pantries post them, checked October 11; we call before they go on the Bulletin Board. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Here's how it works. Somebody on this side of the interstate is feeding somebody nearly every day of the week, mostly out of church basements, and the people at the stoves are neighbors who are very good at it. We went looking for the tables. There are more than we figured. Everything below is what each place says on its own page as of October 11. We haven't called any of them yet, so please do before you go. Hours move, and a wrong one costs somebody a trip. Sunday The Sanctuary Church, 1930 W Colorado Ave, lists its Ragamuffin Cafe hot meal at 9 a.m. Call 719-634-7232. It's the only Sunday hot meal we found over here. If you know another, tell us. Monday Westside CARES, 2808 W Colorado Ave, posts a weekly hot meal from 11 to 12:30. Call 719-389-0759. Same day, Sacred Heart's pantry is posted noon to 2 at the Parish Center door, 2030 W Colorado Ave. No voucher. Call 719-633-8711. Tuesday Westside Global Methodist, 701 N 20th St, posts its pantry from 11 to 2. Call 719-633-9295. If you still call it Trinity UMC, that's the same corner with a new name, and the old building on W Pikes Peak is becoming a child care center. Wednesday The Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou St, hosts the CARES pantry from 1 to 3. Call 719-385-7920. Up the road in Manitou, the pantry at 110 Canon Ave was last reported at 1 to 2, with a hot meal starting 12:30. Call 719-685-9259. St. Andrew's closed as a church in 2025, but the pantry kept going in the parish hall. Hats off to the people who kept it going. Thursday Sacred Heart again, same hours, same door, no voucher. Call 719-633-8711. Know another table? That's six tables, and I'd bet my good parking spot there are more. Churches, clubs, a neighbor with a big pot and a folding table. If your church or group feeds people, text 719-201-5462 or write hello@westsidewherewithal.com with the day and the hour. We'll call, confirm it, and print it, free, in your words. That's what the Bulletin Board is for. It's where every table lives, every week, so nobody has to guess which church has soup on which night. See you at the table. Tell us what we got wrong. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Three picks before Halloween <https://westsidewherewithal.com/weekend-radar> Three picks before Halloween Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Three picks before Halloween The Weekend Radar desk. Every line checked against the organizer's own page. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Two weekends, three picks, and I've already parked for all of them. Read this, then go. Go to the farmers market. Saturday, October 17, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., Bancroft Park, 24th and Colorado. It's the last Saturday of the season, with 80-some vendors, and there is no next Saturday. Go early, because the best of anything goes first. Parking: don't circle the park hoping. Take a side street and walk the last bit. Saturday, October 24 is two things at once. Pick one. First, the coffin races. The Emma Crawford Coffin Races run 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Manitou Springs. Parking: Manitou Avenue closes at 9, so get there before the road shuts and the crowd fills in, and plan to walk in. Second, the pumpkins. Pumpkins in the Park is noon to 6 p.m. on the avenue, free, with a pumpkin patch, painting, costume and carving contests, the ZOOmobile, live music and a beer garden. Parking: the avenue's diagonal spots fill on a festival Saturday, so take a side street and walk in. Don't try to do both in one afternoon. Choose, then start the day with it. The things that are always there. If the festivals are not your speed, or you just need a Thursday: trivia at OCC Brewing every Thursday, 7 to 9 p.m. Storytime at the OCC Library every Friday, 10:30 a.m. Brunch Jam Band at Mother Muff's every Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Free bingo on the 21st, Trunk or Treat on the 25th, Trick or Treat Street on the 31st and First Friday ArtWalk on November 6 are all on the full list, with times. That list lives at westsidewherewithal.com, and it's also the one-sheet on the counters around the avenue. Got something happening that we missed? Send it to hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or text 719-201-5462. We'll check it against your own page and put it in. See you Saturday. I'll be the one who parked early. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in <https://westsidewherewithal.com/year-ahead> Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in The Year Ahead desk. Written from the editor's calendar; no interviews yet. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Picture the fridge calendar. Every Thursday of 2027 is penciled in, and you're coming along. One honest aside: it's plans, all of it. Nothing has been reported yet, and some weeks may not land. Winter first. Week one: The Reset Issue. Quiet workspaces, reading refuges, and I'd be surprised if the Carnegie library stays out. And then we eat through the cold. The quest for the best broth in OCC. A reader poll for the best breakfast burrito west of I-25. A 4:00 a.m. shift with a Westside baker. Then February: a cocktail lounge audit off Main Street, an Alternative Valentine, pints by the fireplace, and how the vintage and antiques shops survive winter. Spring opens up. Red Rock Canyon hikes, with lunches after. The carriage house makers working out of alleys. St. Patrick week. And then the thaw, when we find out which counters open their windows. The under-$15 lunch circuit. A patio audit covering shade, noise, pints and dogs. Seed swaps. Coffee roasters. A Territory Days survival guide. A First Friday gallery crawl. Spring tap releases. Summer gets loud. Hosting out-of-towners without crossing I-25. The Bancroft Park farmers market, booth by booth. Gelato. Where a line cook eats at midnight. Secret courtyards. Quiet Fourth of July viewpoints. Live music on the bricks, and I'm hoping the bandshell gets a paragraph. You pick the coldest drinks. Then the Pueblo chile arrives. Nightcaps and jukeboxes after 10, and I'd bet Mother Muff's comes up. Then a back-to-school pantry run, Uintah Gardens an obvious stop. Fall, the leg I'm saving. The annual pizza index: Slice 420 against Rustica against Leopold's, and we'll need lots of you to settle it. Golden aspens. Autumn ciders. A locals' guide for after the tourists leave. Ghost signs, spooky lore, wood-fired and cast iron cooking (Front Range BBQ, you're on my mind). Thanksgiving hosting. Best of the Westside nominations. Small Business Saturday. And then a Black Friday antidote at Section 16 and Bear Creek. December: a 100% Westside gift guide, a winter lights walk, the Best of the Westside winners, the solstice and quiet patios, and a last issue called Looking Ahead. Every week also carries a civic item and an oral history. A 40-year diner regular. A couple who met at Bancroft in 1988. A chile roaster of 25 seasons. A dishwasher who worked 300 shifts. A high school senior looking at the Westside's future. Tell me which month I got wrong, or which place I forgot. The pencil's by the fridge, and I'll see you the first Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? <https://westsidewherewithal.com/issues/2026-10-11-issue-0> Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? 2026-10-11 In this issue Can't we just inform each other? The leaves are changing Divide anything but our bread What it's all for We choose this Can't we just inform each other? Nobody's telling us what's happening around here unless you find some corporate website that tracks you and tries to make you pay just to find out what's going on outside your door. What a drag. Can't we just inform each other, and have fun building and being in community? The leaves are changing The leaves are changing and falling, and the streets are graced with people from all walks of life. The days are growing shorter, and fall will give way to snow in a few weeks. Before we know it Santa will be at the cabin in Bancroft Park and the Christkindlmarket will be back. Divide anything but our bread I want people to see and hear themselves in our work. I want the people in this community to remember that we're in this together and that what we print is made to remind us of that. We are not here to divide anything but our bread for others, to love our neighbors, and practice mercy and kindness. What it's all for I get nervous that people's fear clouds not only their judgment but their hearts. I can be a skeptic, and quite cynical at times. I wonder what it's all for and why I'm doing this. But in the end, if one person reads our words and connects with them even a little, and it gives them a spark or the belief that they are loved, I will have done my work. We choose this I hope people are excited to see what we're up to. I hope they want to be a part of it, and that by gathering and presenting our values, beliefs and customs together, we can cherish them and let new things in while the old fades. I want Thursday to remind us that we choose this. Jeff What we told you Can't we just inform each other? The leaves are changing Divide anything but our bread What it's all for We choose this The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The archive <https://westsidewherewithal.com/issues/index> The archive Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The archive Every issue, oldest at the bottom. Free to read. If you want to chip in, the jar is on the front page. Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? 2026-10-11 The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The Westside Wherewithal <https://westsidewherewithal.com/> The Westside Wherewithal Skip to the paper We start for real in January. Sign up and the first one lands on a Thursday morning. Thursday mornings · FreeFrom your neighbors ## The Westside WherewithalBecause living west of takes a little wherewithal. Colorado Springs, Colorado A free paper for the Westside of Colorado Springs, written by the people who live here. Thursday mornings, starting January. ## Get it Thursday morning One email a week, free. Put your address in and we'll see you Thursday. Sign me up ## What the city is deciding ## About your street, before it's done You can still weigh in Open nowColorado Avenue lane test. Four lanes to three from Limit Street to 30th Street (the city's page; the Gazette says 31st), for up to a year from June 2026, paid for with $375K from the regional road tax (PPRTA, the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority). The city survey is open.The city's own page: City project page · The surveyIn the news: Gazette, lane test # Oct 26, 2026The city's 2027 budget. Public hearing Monday Oct 26, 5:30 p.m., Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada. Anyone can speak. The council talks it over at work sessions first (Oct 15 is one). What's in it for the Westside, we're reading now.The city's own page: the council calendar (Legistar) # Coming up Oct 21, 2026The community center's neighbor group (the Westside Community Center Alliance) meets Wednesday Oct 21, 4 p.m. It helps steer what the center at 1628 W Bijou becomes. Whether anyone can sit in, we're asking.The city's own page: city page, community centerStill looking for: the Alliance's own notice and the Parks Advisory Board's May minutesIn the news: Gazette, the Alliance # Apr 2027Roundabout at 31st and Fontanero, by Howbert Elementary, replacing the four-way stop. The open house was Sept 15. Construction April to fall 2027. Parents asked about the school crossing; the city says it will work with the school. The crossing drawing and the open-house boards are the documents we're after.In the news: KKTV, the roundabout # Apr 13, 2027Project Taurus. A 50-megawatt data center proposed at the old Intel plant, next to the homes in Chelsea Glen. The Planning Commission approved it 6 to 2 in July with a power cap and noise monitoring. Council put the appeal off 7 to 2 to April 13, a week after the city election, and wants a noise study and a study of what big power users pay first. The developer told Colorado Politics on Sept 18 it is weighing whether this is the right partnership.Still looking for: the noise studyIn the news: CPR, hearing date · Colorado Politics, the postponement · KKTV, the appeal # Already decided Sep 22, 2026Old Colorado City's downtown development authority (DDA) shut down. The tax district voters created in 2024 never got its funding. Council voted 5 to 4 on Sept 22 to dissolve it, ordinance 26-48 (yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams; no: Donelson, Gold, Henjum, Leinweber), after the same 5 to 4 on first reading Aug 25. KKTV reported Oct 2 that the DDA is weighing legal action because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. Who picks up the avenue's end of things is an open question.The city's own page: meeting record (Open Publica)Still looking for: the ordinance text itself, and the Aug 25 minutesIn the news: Gazette, the first vote · KKTV, the lawsuit threat # Coming up Every weekThe land. Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, the Garden, Bear Creek, the creek itself: fire restrictions, trail closures, anything the parks board decides. Nothing new on the city's pages this week; we look every Monday, and a canyon volunteer is looking with us.The city's own page: city parks, trails and open space # Already decided Since Apr 2023Greater Westside Community Plan. Nine neighborhoods, one plan: Gold Hill, Ivywild, Mesa, Mesa Springs, Midland, Old Colorado City, Skyway, Stratton Meadows, Westside. The city's page lists six meetings, the last in April 2023, plus a 2022 survey and a 'Big Ideas' summary. What came next is the question we're taking to Planning, and to the neighbors who sat in those rooms.The city's own page: city page, the plan # Checked October 11. Each one links to the city's own page where we found it. Where it says "still looking," we haven't found it yet (city websites, you know how it goes). If you've got it, send it over. Want to be the person in the room? Go to one meeting, write down what happened on this one-page sheet, and your name goes on it. A City Council Tuesday is the easy first one; you can watch it live or later from the couch. ## Vote ## Ballots are in the mail. Here's the Westside part. By Oct 26Register, or check that you're registered, at GoVoteColorado.gov. Moved since last time? Update it there too. After Oct 26 you can still register and vote in person, through Election Day.New since 2026-10-11The city's own page: GoVoteColorado.gov # Till Nov 3, 7 p.m.Drop boxes west of I-25, open day and night: Red Rock Canyon shopping center, 3141 W Colorado Ave; Bear Creek Regional Park, 2002 Creek Crossing St; the clerk's office, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd; Manitou City Hall, 606 Manitou Ave. Mailing it? The county says by Oct 27. It has to arrive by 7 p.m. on Election Day; a postmark doesn't count.New since 2026-10-11The city's own page: the county's list of boxes · El Paso County elections # On the ballotThe local ones: County 1A keeps the public-safety sales tax going through 2037. D11 4A is a $775 million school bond (Coronado is on the list). Then fourteen statewide questions; the state's Blue Book explains each one in plain words, for and against.New since 2026-10-11The city's own page: the county's local questions · the Blue Book # Apr 6, 2027The city election: mayor and three council seats. Same registration, same website. We'll print the candidates and where they stand on the Westside.New since 2026-10-11The city's own page: city election page # We don't tell you how to vote. We'd love for you to. If the Blue Book is a brick, if you can't get to a box, if you're not sure you're registered, call or text 719-201-5462 and a neighbor helps. The county pays election judges and trains them; sign up here if you've got a day. ## The next two weeks ## Oct 11 to Nov 8, checked against the calendars The market's last Saturday, Pumpkins in the Park, free bingo at the community center, the cemetery tour, the coffin races, and the same seven things every week. Every weekMon Boom Box Bingo, 7 to 11 p.m. (Mother Muff's)Tue Math tutoring, 4 to 5:30 p.m. (OCC Library)Wed Toddler Time, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Wed Open mic, 6 to 9 p.m. (Jives Coffee Lounge, 16 Colbrunn Ct)Thu Trivia, 7 to 9 p.m. (OCC Brewing)Fri Storytime, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Sat Paws to Read, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Sun Brunch Jam Band, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Mother Muff's) Sun Oct 11 all month Scarecrow Days: the storefront scarecrows, with a public vote, through Oct 31 the avenue Mon Oct 12 all day Westside CARES closed for Indigenous Peoples' Day 2808 W Colorado Tue Oct 13 9 a.m. City Council regular meeting (agenda on Legistar) 107 N Nevada 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Small Steps, Giant Leaps, Space Foundation program for ages 2 to 6 Westside Community Center Wed Oct 14 9 a.m. City Planning Commission 2880 International Cir. 5:30 to 7 p.m. Evening pickleball: donate a bag of candy to play, paddles limited Westside Community Center Thu Oct 15 7:30 a.m. Coffee with the principal Coronado High, Future Center 2 to 4 p.m. Classic board games free OCC Library 5 p.m. Mushroom Zombie Haunted House opens, through Oct 31 Mush Love Tee, the shirt shop, 2627 W Colorado Fri Oct 16 all day No school at Coronado: parent-teacher conferences, 9 to 3 in the gym Coronado High 5 to 6 p.m. Bingo at the Biscuit The Biscuit Factory Cat Lounge, 12 S 25th Sat Oct 17 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Farmers market, last Saturday of the season, 80-some vendors Bancroft Park 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Craft and art market, final Saturday History Center, 1 S 24th Sun Oct 18 evening Legends and Lore of Fairview Cemetery, a two-hour guided tour; tickets online, kids 12 and under free Fairview Cemetery, 1000 S 26th Mon Oct 19 all week Fall break at Coronado, Oct 19 to 22, no school Coronado High Wed Oct 21 4 p.m. Westside Community Center Alliance meeting Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou 5:30 to 7 p.m. Howdy Neighbor prize bingo, doors at 5, all ages, no sign-up free Westside Community Center Thu Oct 22 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Book group free OCC Library Sat Oct 24 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Emma Crawford Coffin Races, the 32nd; Manitou Avenue closes at 9 Manitou Springs noon to 6 p.m. Pumpkins in the Park: pumpkin patch, painting, face painters, costume and carving contests, the ZOOmobile, live music, a beer garden free the avenue Sun Oct 25 1 to 4 p.m. Trunk or Treat in the parking lot, and Animals of Halloween inside, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. free Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th Mon Oct 26 10 to 10:45 a.m. Bighorn sheep, an indoor program with a touch table; Mondays through Nov 30 free Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Owls of the Garden: take an owl pellet apart; $5, sign up first Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 5:30 p.m. City budget public hearing, the 2027 budget; anyone can speak Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada Tue Oct 27 all day Stroll-a-Story: a storybook walk, page by page, around the library OCC Library, 2418 W Pikes Peak Thu Oct 29 7:30 to 8:45 p.m. Haunted Manitou ghost tour, $25; also Oct 30 and 31 Memorial Park, Manitou Springs Fri Oct 30 5:30 p.m. Ghost Stories of Old Manitou, a walking tour from the museum Manitou Springs Heritage Museum Sat Oct 31 1 to 2 p.m. Why wolves in Colorado, a talk Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 2 to 4:30 p.m. Trick or Treat Street: costumed kids 1 to 6, shop to shop; look for the orange and yellow balloons the avenue, 23rd to 28th 6 p.m. Manitou Phantasmagoria Shoshone Spring courtyard, Manitou Springs evening Mushroom Zombie Haunted House, last night Mush Love Tee, the shirt shop, 2627 W Colorado Tue Nov 3 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Election Day. Ballots due by 7 p.m. at a drop box; register and vote in person at the clerk's office, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd, or Manitou City Hall El Paso County Fri Nov 6 5 to 8 p.m. First Friday ArtWalk: galleries, studios and shops open late along the avenue free the avenue, 17th to 31st Sun Nov 8 11 a.m. Altitude Makers market and farmers market free Soda Springs Park, Manitou Springs Every line above came off a calendar we can link, checked October 11. The strip up top happens every week; the list is the one-time stuff. The avenue is West Colorado Avenue; OCC is Old Colorado City; D11 is the school district. If we got a time wrong, tell us and we'll fix it in the next issue. Red Rock Canyon, the churches and the school sports pages had nothing dated for these two weeks; if you know of something, send it. Where that came from: Old Colorado City events calendar · Old Colorado City Library · Westside Community Center · History Center events · Garden of the Gods calendar ## The Bulletin Board ## Suppers, pantries, services, weddings, and the ones we lost If you need something this week, start here. Free, in your words, from you or your church or your family. Food, rent and utility help: Westside CARES, 2808 W Colorado Ave, 719-389-0759. Open Monday to Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.. They prefer you walk in. Closed when the schools close for weather. Serves everyone west of I-25. Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou St, 719-385-7920. Open Monday and Friday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Tuesday to Thursday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.. A corkboard, not a story. Church suppers, pantry hours, services, weddings, and the ones we lost: free, in your words, from you or your church or your family. We call to check the hours before they run. Send it by Tuesday to hello@westsidewherewithal.com, by text to 719-201-5462, on paper to the office at Suite 122, or in the box on the front page. Where that came from: Westside CARES hours · Community center hours (city page) ## The Listening Room ## Once a month. You pick where and when. Coffee with the editor, no agenda, no sign-up. The hour and the place are a vote; the winner runs in issue 1. The Listening Room isn't an office. It's one hour a month wherever we sit down, and I'd rather you picked it than me. Vote below, or write in your own. I live over here, about twenty years now, and the office on the avenue is the paper's address; it says one thing: I'm here. I'm with you. Where and when Saturday morning, the bench by the bandshell in Bancroft Park Tuesday evening, a coffee counter on the avenue Sunday afternoon, the library (once they say yes) A weeknight on Zoom, for people who work days Cast it ## The Address Book ## What was in this storefront in 1968? One storefront, one photo, what was inside. One building per issue: a photo, the address, and whoever remembers fills in the rest. The first photo is coming; if you have one, send it in below. ## Write something ## Send it in The shop that closed, the thing the city's about to do on your street, the neighbor everybody should know. Photos and drawings count, with your name on them. Send it however you like: the box below, hello@westsidewherewithal.com, a call or a text to 719-201-5462, or drop it at the office (Suite 122, 2320 W Colorado Ave). We write back. Rather talk than type? Call or text 719-201-5462 and tell me out loud; I'll write it down and you hear it read back before it runs. Under 18? Send it anyway; we'll check with you or a parent before it runs. Teachers, send the whole class. Photos come by email. En español: mándenos un texto al 719-201-5462 o escríbanos a hello@westsidewherewithal.com, en español: su cena, su misa, su aviso. No lo hablo de nacimiento; lo traducimos con un vecino y se lo leemos antes de publicar. Any other language: send it anyway, and we'll find a neighbor to translate. Want a desk? The pages signed by a desk are open; here's how to take one. Got a counter, or a box on your fence? Say so and we'll bring a stack, free, and swap the stale ones. How we do things, if you're curious. Put me down for a stack, for my counter or my library box Send it in ## The jar It's free. If a Thursday was worth something to you, throw a few bucks in the jar; it pays for the email and the printing. A check to the office works too. Pay what you want Inside: What the city is deciding · The next two weeks · On the avenue · From the desks · The next 100 years · Frontier wherewithal · Around the avenue · What came before us ## On the avenue ## I never stepped inside Base Camp, 2611 W Colorado, closed October 4, and I never ate there. Tell me the place you'd go back to. Jeff Adkins Base Camp closed on October 4. I thought it looked cool, but the menu never appealed to me in the moment, and it's hard to take me away from the dozen places I adore already. Sad to say I never stepped inside. That's on me, and I'm not alone. Empty storefronts are not what we want here. What keeps a place open is anyone and everyone who can afford to spend local dollars in it, and I am going to try hard to keep mixing it up. If you're thinking about working and making a living here, I wish I could appeal to you directly: we need you. Old Colorado City (OCC from here on) is a tourist destination, for locals and for travelers. I know this. I gladly give up my street parking for events because I know we need them. If I want OCC Brewing to be here 365 days a year, I need them to sustain themselves. That means me not griping about the traffic or the parking over here. Not everyone can afford to eat out or shop on the avenue. I understand that; I don't feel obligated to, and neither should you. I'm fortunate that I can budget for a meal out, and I try to go during the week, when places are less busy and could frankly use the business. So I can't complain about Base Camp closing if I didn't eat there, and I can't blame not eating there on the parking. Tell me the place you'd go back to. What we know: Base Camp, 2611 W Colorado Ave, opened March 2025 and closed October 4; the owner cited costs and the economy. Mountain Shadows, the restaurant four blocks east, closed December 2024 and sold in January. Where that came from: Gazette, Oct 2, 2026 · Gazette, Jan 20, 2025 · OCC Brewing ## From the desks ## Ten desks, one neighborhood Celebrating, remembering, forecasting. Each desk is open; a neighbor's name goes on it the day they take it. The Wherewithal desks Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in · the 52 Thursdays of 2027, as a walk through the seasons The man who wrote down the Westside · 604 columns, the elk, the tunnels, and who keeps the record now Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper · the vote, the names, what's still unknown, and how to be in the room See that building? Look again · five storefronts and what they were, from the columns and the 1902 map Where the asphalt gives up · Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, Bear Creek; this fall, and the seed rule The elk who pulled a carriage · for kids: three things to find on the walk to school, and a dare Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad · la mesa en español: ayuda, el voto, cómo escribirnos Who's cooking on the Westside this week · six tables, as their own pages say it; we call before it prints Three picks before Halloween · the market's last Saturday, the coffin races, pumpkins in the park, and where to park The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead · every date headed for your street, and the door into each one Every desk is written from the record we hold and says so at the top. None of it is an interview yet; those are coming. Every one is open: what each desk takes, and how to take one. One text, one coffee. ## The next 100 years ## Four lanes to three, for a year Four lanes to three, Limit to 30th, for a year. The city survey is open. One driver's take below; if yours differs, next issue's yours. Jeff Adkins 1902 · Sanborn fire insurance map, sheet 2, Colorado Avenue · Library of Congress, public domain 2027 · lane drawing · city of Colorado Springs, Colorado Avenue demonstration, phase two What we know: four lanes to three from Limit to 30th by the city's page (the Gazette says 31st), since June 2026, for up to a year; the city calls it the Colorado Avenue Demonstration Project; $375K of county transportation tax (PPRTA) money. The Gazette counts about 30 parking spaces added, metered; the city's page says parking changes are expected to be minimal. We've asked the project team which it is. A second phase in 2027 makes some of it permanent and redoes three blocks of streetscape (Gazette); permanent reconstruction is penciled for 2027 or 2028 (Bike Colorado Springs). The city survey is open. One driver's take, mine (and my office is on the avenue, at 2320): it's great to see so much more attention being paid to pedestrians, and it doesn't slow me down at all. I haven't timed it; if you have, send the numbers. It may add parking, metered; the city and the Gazette disagree on how much (see the record), and nobody has said yet where someone who lives over a shop parks overnight. The city is taking comments until the concrete goes down. If you drive it, bike it, or cross it with a stroller, say so. If you hate it, this space is yours next issue, same length, your name on it. What do I want to still be here in 2126? Westsiders. Hyper local, no corporate nonsense, and room for whoever shows up to stay. Where that came from: Sanborn 1902 (LoC) · City project page · The city survey · Gazette, May 20, 2026 · Bike Colorado Springs ## Frontier wherewithal ## Load up for winter, survive the summer Not just another old west town. Two tame elk, tunnels under the avenue, four to six weeks a year you'd rather be in the water. Jeff Adkins If you're new here you might think this is just another old west town. If you're passing through, maybe we should let you believe it. Our summers are dry and shorter than most, but they stop and start and come back the most. I'd say we have about four to six weeks a year where you'd want to be holed up in the cabin or in the water, which can be tricky to find. We need to know how to load up for winter, survive the summer, and not die of dehydration. And like every place with lore, we have a guy who trained two tame elk, Thunder and Buttons, to pull a carriage, plus tunnels and brothels and churches, oh my. We love it here. What we know: Thunder and Buttons were elk; Prairie Dog O'Byrne drove them hitched to a carriage on this avenue in the late 1880s. The tunnels under the avenue are documented by the historical society, with the honest caveat that some of it may be something else. Colorado City voted itself dry in 1913. Where that came from: Westside Pioneer, 2006 · Cobweb Corners, 2005 · Gazette, July 2021, the tunnels · Thunder and Buttons II ## Around the avenue ## Getting to know them is the point I don't know everyone yet. Getting to know them is the point. Jeff Adkins What we know so far: Who's opening and who's moving: we've heard about three and have an address for none, so none are named yet. Send the name and the block. The Old Colorado City Historical Society runs a free museum at 1 South 24th, a block off the avenue. Tuesday through Saturday, 11 to 4 in summer and 11 to 2 in winter. Call before you drive. The free Tuesday concerts at the Bancroft Park bandshell ran June 2 through September 29 this year, 5:30, Dizzy Charlie's and the Pikes Peak Blues Community. Next summer's lineup runs here the week it's announced. First Friday art walk, 5 to 8, galleries and studios along the avenue. Next one is November 6. The Customs and Classics car show closes the avenue from 23rd to 27th one Sunday every August. If the one you went to was a different show this fall, tell us which. This is the stuff I get to see everyone else doing. I enjoy seeing them do it. It doesn't matter to me if I don't know anyone in the room, because getting to know them is the point of this life. And that's what I'm here to capture in this paper. I shouldn't pretend to know things I don't. Where that came from: OCC History Center · Tuesday concerts (Springs Magazine) · First Friday (OCC calendar) · The car show (Pioneer, 2018) ## What came before us ## I want it all Mel McFarland died in September; I indexed the 604 columns I found. Eight digs, from the capital that got away to the forgotten cemetery. Jeff Adkins Start here: Mel McFarland, who wrote the Westside's past in the Pioneer for fifteen years, died in September at 81. Most of what is below comes from his columns. I found 604 and indexed every one I found; the one-line summaries there are software drafts, not yet checked one by one. Who keeps the record now is a question this paper exists to answer. I want the best stories from Old Colorado City. I want to dig down and find the most awesome stuff we can publish: how people first lived here, how it went from zero to what it is today, funny things, shootouts, jail time for crimes that make us laugh and cry, mysteries and murders. I want it all. What did we used to do and stop? What was, but isn't? What could have been, but never was? The digs I can't do alone: your church, your family, your block. Send them. What we found first: The capital that got away. Colorado City was founded in August 1859 to outfit gold seekers, was the county seat by 1861, and held the territorial capital just long enough to lose it to Denver. One account says the town was deemed too rowdy. Zero to four thousand. Mel has the town past 2,000 by 1890; the 1892 fire-insurance map (the Sanborn) writes 2,000 on its own cover, and the 1902 sheet writes 4,000. The town voted itself dry in 1913, lost the saloon money, and voted to be annexed by Colorado Springs in April 1917. Four saloons to twenty-seven. By the Pioneer's 2009 count (a feature, not one of Mel's columns): four in 1884, twenty-three by 1888, twenty-seven in 1902 plus thirty-some gambling halls, on a main street that also had the churches. Laura Bell McDaniel. From the Pioneer's 2011 profile, not the index: queen of the tenderloin; her last house was the Tribley House in the 2600 block of West Cucharras. She married Tom McDaniel in April 1887 in Salida; a month later he shot a man five times while she watched, and was acquitted. She divorced him in 1893. Accused in November 1917 of stealing liquor and acquitted; the historian who wrote her up thinks it was a set-up. Died in a car crash in January 1918. The elk were O'Byrne's by Mel's column (bought in Aspen in 1888); a 2006 Pioneer piece has her riding beside him in the carriage. The Glass Works. Full production in 1889 with 200 men on the south edge of town, bottling Manitou water. The furnace top collapsed just after midnight on September 9, 1892. Wheeler promised to rebuild; the Silver Panic of 1893 and the lost customers finished it. One of Mel's columns says it closed in 1895, another says by 1900; one puts a fire in 1893 as well. The Midland shops. The Colorado Midland started here in 1886 and quit in 1918; the Midland Terminal ran the line to Divide until it was scrapped in 1949. Hundreds of men in the shops at the peak, under a hundred by 1925, about fifty by 1948; the office burned in 1953. The fourteen-stall roundhouse is the one that lived: Van Briggle pottery, then the shops you walk through now. The mills. The Colorado-Philadelphia came first, in 1894 by one of Mel's columns and about 1897 by another, near 31st and the 24. Golden Cycle took over the Telluride mill in 1906, rebuilt it with cyanide after a 1907 fire, and ran it until 1949; the smokestack is still there. The forgotten cemetery. Colorado City's Pioneer cemetery, on the mesa, used from about 1860 to 1917. Not every burial was moved; the stones came out in the 1940s and it became Pioneer Park in the 1950s. Graves were mapped with metal detectors in the 1970s, a project Mel joined, and a cast-iron coffin may still be there. Who is in it is still the question. Where that came from: Why the fuss? (Pioneer) · Laura Bell McDaniel (Pioneer, 2011) · Thunder and Buttons (Cobweb Corners, 2005) · The Glass Works, 200 men (Cobweb Corners, 2011) · The Glass Works fire (Cobweb Corners, 2011) · The Glass Works closed 1895 (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The Midland, 1886 to 1918 (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The Midland shops decline (Cobweb Corners, 2009) · The roundhouse (Cobweb Corners, 2007) · The mills (Cobweb Corners, 2013) · Golden Cycle closes, 1949 (Cobweb Corners, 2006) · The capital, the county seat (Cobweb Corners, 2009) · The forgotten cemetery (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The forgotten cemetery (Cobweb Corners, 2017) · Mel McFarland, 1945 to 2026 (Gazette) · Every Cobweb Corners column, indexed · Colorado City Iris, digitized (CHNC) If something here is wrong, reply to the email or send it in below. Corrections run at the top of the next issue. Behind the masthead: Sanborn fire insurance map of Colorado City, November 1902, sheet 1. Library of Congress, public domain. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad <https://westsidewherewithal.com/la-vecina> Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad La Vecina, la mesa en español. Traducción nuestra; buscamos a un vecino o vecina que la tome y firme aquí. Vecina, vecino: Le escribo con las hojas ya cambiando de color y las tardes más cortas. Aquí entre nosotros, quería contarle lo que sé. Si usted vive al oeste de la I-25, este periódico es para usted. Se llama The Westside Wherewithal, sale cada semana y es gratis. Lo escribimos entre vecinos: lo que abre, lo que cierra, lo que se vota, lo que llega al parque. Y queremos saber de usted. Cuéntenos lo que ve en su cuadra, en su iglesia, en su trabajo, y hágalo en español, como le salga. Si esta semana necesita una mano, vaya a Westside CARES, en 2808 W Colorado Ave. Abren de lunes a jueves, de 9:30 a.m. a 12:30 p.m., y no hace falta cita. Atienden a todos los que viven al oeste de la I-25. Llame al 719-389-0759. También tiene el Westside Community Center, en 1628 W Bijou St, teléfono 719-385-7920. Abre lunes y viernes, de 9 a.m. a 3 p.m., y de martes a jueves, de 9 a.m. a 7 p.m. Ahora el voto, en claro. Hasta el 26 de octubre puede registrarse, o revisar si ya está registrado, en GoVoteColorado.gov. Pasada esa fecha, todavía puede hacerlo en persona, hasta el día de la elección. Y para dejar su boleta, las urnas están abiertas hasta las 7 p.m. del 3 de noviembre en cuatro lugares: el centro comercial Red Rock Canyon, 3141 W Colorado Ave; Bear Creek Regional Park, 2002 Creek Crossing St; la oficina del secretario del condado, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd; y el ayuntamiento de Manitou, 606 Manitou Ave. Aquí no le decimos cómo votar. Solo le decimos dónde y cuándo. En diciembre el Christkindlmarket vuelve a Bancroft Park. Cuando tengamos los días, se los pasamos aquí. Si quiere escribirnos, mande un texto al 719-201-5462 o un correo a hello@westsidewherewithal.com, en español. El editor no habla español de cuna. Traduce con un vecino y lo vuelve a leer con él antes de que algo se imprima. También tenemos una hoja en español en westsidewherewithal.com/sheet-es. Y una cosa honesta: esta página es traducción nuestra. Buscamos a un vecino o vecina que hable español para que tome esta mesa y firme aquí con su nombre. Hasta la próxima semana, vecino. Un abrazo, La Vecina The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The print pack <https://westsidewherewithal.com/print> The print pack Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The print pack Everything to print this week, how many, and where it goes. Any copy shop; a home printer works for the one-sheets. What to print PrintFileHowCopies The one-sheetsheet.pdfLetter, one side (two sides if you want the puzzle back: sheet-back.pdf)20 Large printsheet-large.pdfLetter, two sides5 La hoja (Spanish)sheet-es.pdfLetter, one side10 The box editionzine-box.pdfLetter, landscape, two sheets, two-sided, flip on the short edge; nest sheet 2 inside sheet 1, fold once; no staples20 Every print says "good till Oct 25" or has no dates. A stale stack gets swapped; call and we bring more. Where it goes PlaceWhatHow many The gas station at 31stone-sheet5 The hardware storeone-sheet5 A diner on the avenueone-sheet, and ask about a tray5 The OCC History Center, 1 S 24thone-sheet5 Your own door, Suite 122one-sheet, box edition5 and 5 The grocery at 31stla hoja10 The senior table at the community center, 1628 W Bijoularge print5 The little free library at the old Carnegie building, 701 Manitou Avebox edition8 The Head Start box, 2330 Robinson Stbox edition7 The ask at a counter, two sentences: "It's a free weekly paper for the Westside, written by neighbors, nothing for you to pay and nothing to sell. Can it sit here, and can I refill it on Thursdays?" Say yes to any condition they add. What to watch Count what's left after a week. Note any call or text to 719-201-5462 and any word find or quiz score that comes in. That's the first real test; everything before it was rehearsal. The reader inbox was empty on October 11. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Plant this (when it exists) <https://westsidewherewithal.com/seeds> Plant this (when it exists) Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Plant this (when it exists) There are no seed strips yet. This is the plan, written down before the first one so nobody has to guess. Some copies of the zine will carry a small sealed strip of seed paper. Plant it in your own yard, a friend's yard with their yes, a community garden, or a school bed with the principal's okay. Not in a park, not in open space, not in Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, the Garden of the Gods or Bear Creek, not along the creek or a trail, and never after a fire. Those places get seeded by the people who manage them, with seed matched to the ground, and a stranger's strip does more harm than good there. What's in it: Colorado natives from a Colorado grower (Western Native Seed, in Coaldale): Lewis blue flax, Rocky Mountain penstemon, blanketflower, prairie coneflower. Nothing from the state's noxious weed list, which is where the cheap "wildflower mixes" go wrong. Plant in fall; the penstemon wants a winter in the ground. Plant it, take a picture when something comes up, send it in. The best ones run in the paper with your name on them. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Take a desk <https://westsidewherewithal.com/take-a-desk> Take a desk Moved to /desks. --- # Thank you <https://westsidewherewithal.com/thanks> Thank you Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Thank you That's the whole transaction. No tier, no badge, no extra issue. The paper keeps going, and your name goes on the once-a-year list of people who chipped in, alphabetical, no amounts, unless you'd rather it didn't. Reply to any issue to say so. See you Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The elk who pulled a carriage <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-box> The elk who pulled a carriage Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The elk who pulled a carriage The Box desk, for kids and whoever is with them. When a neighbor (or a kid) takes this desk, their name goes here. Okay. You're the boss today. Walk to school, but make it a hunt. Find three things. One: a little free library. It's a box on a post full of books, and you can take one. We know of 27 of them west of I-25. Two you can visit: the one at the old Carnegie library building, 701 Manitou Ave, and the one at the Head Start, 2330 Robinson St. Two: the red rocks at the end of the street. Stop and look. Three: one leaf. Pick the best one on the block. Keep it. It's a bookmark now. Okay. Now the elk. In 1888, a man named John O'Byrne got two tame elk from a judge in Aspen. He trained them to pull his tourist carriage down this very avenue. Their names were Thunder and Buttons. Yes, elk. Yes, a carriage. Eventually a movie company bought them and took them to Alaska to film advertisements. Thunder and Buttons were in commercials. (Also true.) (Bonus, also true: in 1880 a train crew calmed a cold, panicking circus elephant at Colorado Springs with a keg of beer. Aunt's honor.) Ask a grown-up. Point at any building on your walk and ask: "What was here before?" Then listen. Your move, boss. This fall: Halloween, Oct. 31, 2 to 4:30 p.m.: Trick or Treat Street on the avenue, 23rd to 28th. Costumed kids 1 to 6. Look for the orange and yellow balloons. Bring a little cousin. Mondays, 10 a.m.: the bighorn sheep program at the Garden of the Gods Visitor Center. December: the Christkindlmarket comes back to Bancroft Park, bigger than last year, with Santa at the cabin. Bonus level: the paper in the box has games. A word find whose leftover letters spell a message. A five-question quiz with the answers printed upside down. And a map to draw on: it's the 1902 map of Colorado City, when the town had 4,000 people. You can see it at westsidewherewithal.com/zine-box, page 6. The dare. Draw Thunder and Buttons pulling the carriage. Go big. Give the tourists faces. Then put it in the little free library box, or send it to hello@westsidewherewithal.com with your first name. We print the best ones. See you on the avenue. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-next-hundred> The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead The Next Hundred desk. Written from the city's own pages and the ballot; dates change, and we fix them when they do. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Right now, Colorado Avenue. Four lanes have been three from Limit to 30th since June, for up to a year. Watch the lanes. Your move: fill out the city survey after you've driven it, biked it, or crossed it with a stroller. The avenue went on a diet and nobody asked it. Oct 21 and Oct 26. The community center's neighbor group meets Wednesday the 21st at 4 p.m.; it helps steer what the center at 1628 W Bijou becomes. Monday the 26th, 5:30 p.m.: the 2027 budget's public hearing at 107 N Nevada. Anyone can speak; the council calendar lists the work sessions before it. Your move: pick one and go. The budget reads better with you. Nov 3. Ballots are due by 7 p.m. County 1A would keep the public-safety sales tax going through 2037. D11's 4A is a $775 million school bond, and Coronado is on the list. Your move: vote, and use a drop box if the mail feels slow. There's one at 3141 W Colorado Ave. Seven o'clock does not negotiate. December. The Christkindlmarket comes back to Bancroft Park, bigger. Bancroft is the pupil of the eye, so a bigger market could mean a fuller avenue and fewer spots out front. Your move: go, and walk. The car can stay home. April 6, 2027. The city election: mayor and three council seats. Your move: register or check your registration, and ask every candidate what they would do about the avenue. The avenue will hear about it. April 13. Council hears the appeal on Project Taurus, the 50-megawatt data center proposed at the old Intel plant next to the homes in Chelsea Glen. The Planning Commission approved it 6 to 2 in July with a power cap and noise monitoring; council wants a noise study first, and the hearing falls a week after you vote (Colorado Politics). The developer says it is weighing the partnership, so the date could still move. Your move: read the noise study when it exists, and show up. Read quietly. April to fall 2027. A roundabout replaces the four-way stop at 31st and Fontanero by Howbert Elementary, on the western gateway to the red rocks. Parents asked about the school crossing, and the city says it will work with the school. Your move: if you walk kids there, ask the school what they've been told. Four stops become one circle. Around June 2027. The lane test's year ends, give or take. Nothing we've found says what comes after. Your move: whatever you think of the test, say so before it ends. A year is long enough for an opinion. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The man who wrote down the Westside <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-porch-mcfarland> The man who wrote down the Westside Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The man who wrote down the Westside The Porch desk. Written from the record; the editor's conversations with his family and friends are coming. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. If you ever wondered whether there really were tunnels under Colorado Avenue, Mel McFarland is a big part of why you wondered. I'll tell you what I know. He died September 21, at 81. From 2004 to 2019 he wrote 604 "Cobweb Corners" columns about this neighborhood for the Westside Pioneer. He was born here in 1944, a fourth-generation native, taught art and drafting, and wrote books on the Colorado Midland Railway. In 1983 he bought a retired working caboose for his Rockrimmon backyard, and became "the Caboose Guy." Dave Martinek, who started Midland Days at Divide with him in 2009, told the Gazette: "He was the go-to person for anyone who wanted to know about railroad history in the state." His nephew Luc MacArthur called him "kind of a Renaissance man." His sister, Elaine Radney, said: "He had a lot of people who loved him." He wrote it down. Here is some of it. On February 3, 2005, he wrote down the story of John O'Byrne, who in 1888 got two tame elk, Thunder and Buttons, and trained them to pull a tourist carriage. Here is the column. On April 7, 2005, he wrote down the tunnels, the ones that let Colorado Avenue customers reach the Cucharras Street brothels unseen. He had "seen the remains of bits of both" sets of tunnels himself. On November 17, 2011, he wrote down the Glass Works disaster. Just after midnight on September 9, 1892, the furnace top collapsed and fiery glass poured out. Chunks of raw glass still show up now and then in neighborhood yards and rock walls, he wrote. On November 14, 2013, he wrote down the day a Teller County sheriff chained a Pullman sleeper car to the rails over $663.21 in unpaid taxes, and a U.S. marshal freed it two days later. Read it. Here's the thing. The Gazette says he left "file cabinets" of research and writing, and that his family hopes to sift through them, with no concrete plans yet. The next person who asks "was there really a glass plant over here?" gets a shrug. We can't fix that. What we have is an index of all 604 columns, by what each one reports, at westsidewherewithal.com/cobweb. The editor plans to call his sister, Dave Martinek, the Pioneer's editor Kenyon Jordan, and the History Center, and we'll tell you what they say. The question we're taking to them is who keeps the record now. We'd like to be part of the answer, and we'd like yours. Did a column of his stick with you? Tell us which one. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-record-dda> Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper The Record desk. Written from the city's own pages and the news; the Aug 25 minutes are still to be read. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. If you missed the council meeting last month, here is the entry. A downtown development authority, a DDA, is a small district set up by a vote. It is supposed to get its own pot of money to spend on one downtown. In 2024, Old Colorado City voters created one for the avenue. It never got its funding. It was created by a vote and ended by a vote, and the money never turned up in between. On Sept 22, City Council voted 5 to 4 to dissolve it. That's ordinance 26-48. The meeting record has the roll call. That's on paper. Yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams No: Donelson, Gold, Henjum, Leinweber The Gazette reported the first vote, on Aug 25, as the same 5 to 4. That's reported. On Oct 2, KKTV reported that the DDA is weighing legal action, because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. That's reported too. That is the whole ledger so far. Here is what we don't know: The Aug 25 minutes. We have the first vote from the news, not from the minutes. Until we've read them, the date and the count are reported, not checked. Whether a lawsuit is filed. KKTV says the DDA is considering one. We haven't found a filing. That isn't on paper. We'll say so when it is. What the DDA was going to buy. The records we have don't list its plan, so we won't guess. If you voted in 2024, or sat in those rooms, tell us what you were told. Who picks up the avenue's end of things now. Nobody has answered that in anything we've read. That isn't on paper either. We are taking the question to the next meeting. Some of those answers are in a room on a Tuesday morning. You can be in it. City Council meets the second and fourth Tuesdays at 9 a.m., 107 N Nevada, and you can watch from home. You don't have to say a word. Take the one-page sheet, write down what happens, and your name goes on it. The Oct 13 meeting is the next one. If you were at the Aug 25 meeting, or you have the minutes, send them over. Tell me what I got wrong. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Where the asphalt gives up <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-ridge> Where the asphalt gives up Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Where the asphalt gives up The Ridge desk. Written from the city's pages and the groups' own sites; a canyon volunteer reads it before it prints. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Rain or snow, and the trails hold it. Friends of Red Rock Canyon says wait a day or two, because they stay muddy and fragile for 24 to 48 hours. Follow 21st down to Bear Creek, then keep going west. Around 30th and 31st the asphalt gives up. The red sandstone takes over. Red Rock Canyon is the pocket to the south. The city bought it in 2003, after it had been slated for a resort with high-rise towers and a private golf course. The city's open space page lists it among the places TOPS, the sales tax voters passed for open space, made possible. It nearly went the other way. Parking. The 31st Street trailhead has more than the High Street lots. No e-bikes in the open space. This fall. The Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th, runs a free bighorn sheep program with a touch table, Mondays 10 to 10:45 a.m. through Nov 30. Owls of the Garden is Oct 26, 12:30 to 1:30. Tickets from $5, sign up first. Oct 31, 1 to 2 p.m., a talk on why wolves in Colorado. The Garden's calendar has details. What's being decided. The Park System Master Plan goes to City Council for readings Oct 12 and 27, after the parks board heard it Oct 8. White Acres Trail is becoming the Don Ellis Trail. The board approved it Aug 13; it waits on an agreement and an $850 city fee. Fire restrictions: the city's page shows none this week, and we are checking with the fire department. We'll tell you what we hear. The seed rule. Some copies of this paper will carry a strip of Colorado native seed: Lewis blue flax, Rocky Mountain penstemon, blanketflower, prairie coneflower, from Western Native Seed in Coaldale. Plant it in your yard, a friend's yard with their yes, or a community garden. Never in a park, open space, along the creek or a trail, and never after a fire. The people who manage those places seed with plants matched to the ground, and a stranger's strip can do more harm than good. Groups to join. Friends of Red Rock Canyon keeps up the benches and runs Talk and Walks, resuming soon (no date yet). The Trails and Open Space Coalition takes members and runs the One Bag Challenge cleanups. Friends of Garden of the Gods runs volunteer days. Our promise. Every Monday this desk reads the city's parks pages, and a canyon volunteer reads them with us. If nothing's new, we'll say so. Which trail was muddy this week? Tell me and I'll pass it along. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Who's cooking on the Westside this week <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-table> Who's cooking on the Westside this week Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Who's cooking on the Westside this week The Table desk. Hours are as the churches and pantries post them, checked October 11; we call before they go on the Bulletin Board. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Here's how it works. Somebody on this side of the interstate is feeding somebody nearly every day of the week, mostly out of church basements, and the people at the stoves are neighbors who are very good at it. We went looking for the tables. There are more than we figured. Everything below is what each place says on its own page as of October 11. We haven't called any of them yet, so please do before you go. Hours move, and a wrong one costs somebody a trip. Sunday The Sanctuary Church, 1930 W Colorado Ave, lists its Ragamuffin Cafe hot meal at 9 a.m. Call 719-634-7232. It's the only Sunday hot meal we found over here. If you know another, tell us. Monday Westside CARES, 2808 W Colorado Ave, posts a weekly hot meal from 11 to 12:30. Call 719-389-0759. Same day, Sacred Heart's pantry is posted noon to 2 at the Parish Center door, 2030 W Colorado Ave. No voucher. Call 719-633-8711. Tuesday Westside Global Methodist, 701 N 20th St, posts its pantry from 11 to 2. Call 719-633-9295. If you still call it Trinity UMC, that's the same corner with a new name, and the old building on W Pikes Peak is becoming a child care center. Wednesday The Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou St, hosts the CARES pantry from 1 to 3. Call 719-385-7920. Up the road in Manitou, the pantry at 110 Canon Ave was last reported at 1 to 2, with a hot meal starting 12:30. Call 719-685-9259. St. Andrew's closed as a church in 2025, but the pantry kept going in the parish hall. Hats off to the people who kept it going. Thursday Sacred Heart again, same hours, same door, no voucher. Call 719-633-8711. Know another table? That's six tables, and I'd bet my good parking spot there are more. Churches, clubs, a neighbor with a big pot and a folding table. If your church or group feeds people, text 719-201-5462 or write hello@westsidewherewithal.com with the day and the hour. We'll call, confirm it, and print it, free, in your words. That's what the Bulletin Board is for. It's where every table lives, every week, so nobody has to guess which church has soup on which night. See you at the table. Tell us what we got wrong. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Three picks before Halloween <https://westsidewherewithal.com/weekend-radar> Three picks before Halloween Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Three picks before Halloween The Weekend Radar desk. Every line checked against the organizer's own page. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Two weekends, three picks, and I've already parked for all of them. Read this, then go. Go to the farmers market. Saturday, October 17, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., Bancroft Park, 24th and Colorado. It's the last Saturday of the season, with 80-some vendors, and there is no next Saturday. Go early, because the best of anything goes first. Parking: don't circle the park hoping. Take a side street and walk the last bit. Saturday, October 24 is two things at once. Pick one. First, the coffin races. The Emma Crawford Coffin Races run 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Manitou Springs. Parking: Manitou Avenue closes at 9, so get there before the road shuts and the crowd fills in, and plan to walk in. Second, the pumpkins. Pumpkins in the Park is noon to 6 p.m. on the avenue, free, with a pumpkin patch, painting, costume and carving contests, the ZOOmobile, live music and a beer garden. Parking: the avenue's diagonal spots fill on a festival Saturday, so take a side street and walk in. Don't try to do both in one afternoon. Choose, then start the day with it. The things that are always there. If the festivals are not your speed, or you just need a Thursday: trivia at OCC Brewing every Thursday, 7 to 9 p.m. Storytime at the OCC Library every Friday, 10:30 a.m. Brunch Jam Band at Mother Muff's every Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Free bingo on the 21st, Trunk or Treat on the 25th, Trick or Treat Street on the 31st and First Friday ArtWalk on November 6 are all on the full list, with times. That list lives at westsidewherewithal.com, and it's also the one-sheet on the counters around the avenue. Got something happening that we missed? Send it to hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or text 719-201-5462. We'll check it against your own page and put it in. See you Saturday. I'll be the one who parked early. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in <https://westsidewherewithal.com/year-ahead> Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in The Year Ahead desk. Written from the editor's calendar; no interviews yet. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Picture the fridge calendar. Every Thursday of 2027 is penciled in, and you're coming along. One honest aside: it's plans, all of it. Nothing has been reported yet, and some weeks may not land. Winter first. Week one: The Reset Issue. Quiet workspaces, reading refuges, and I'd be surprised if the Carnegie library stays out. And then we eat through the cold. The quest for the best broth in OCC. A reader poll for the best breakfast burrito west of I-25. A 4:00 a.m. shift with a Westside baker. Then February: a cocktail lounge audit off Main Street, an Alternative Valentine, pints by the fireplace, and how the vintage and antiques shops survive winter. Spring opens up. Red Rock Canyon hikes, with lunches after. The carriage house makers working out of alleys. St. Patrick week. And then the thaw, when we find out which counters open their windows. The under-$15 lunch circuit. A patio audit covering shade, noise, pints and dogs. Seed swaps. Coffee roasters. A Territory Days survival guide. A First Friday gallery crawl. Spring tap releases. Summer gets loud. Hosting out-of-towners without crossing I-25. The Bancroft Park farmers market, booth by booth. Gelato. Where a line cook eats at midnight. Secret courtyards. Quiet Fourth of July viewpoints. Live music on the bricks, and I'm hoping the bandshell gets a paragraph. You pick the coldest drinks. Then the Pueblo chile arrives. Nightcaps and jukeboxes after 10, and I'd bet Mother Muff's comes up. Then a back-to-school pantry run, Uintah Gardens an obvious stop. Fall, the leg I'm saving. The annual pizza index: Slice 420 against Rustica against Leopold's, and we'll need lots of you to settle it. Golden aspens. Autumn ciders. A locals' guide for after the tourists leave. Ghost signs, spooky lore, wood-fired and cast iron cooking (Front Range BBQ, you're on my mind). Thanksgiving hosting. Best of the Westside nominations. Small Business Saturday. And then a Black Friday antidote at Section 16 and Bear Creek. December: a 100% Westside gift guide, a winter lights walk, the Best of the Westside winners, the solstice and quiet patios, and a last issue called Looking Ahead. Every week also carries a civic item and an oral history. A 40-year diner regular. A couple who met at Bancroft in 1988. A chile roaster of 25 seasons. A dishwasher who worked 300 shifts. A high school senior looking at the Westside's future. Tell me which month I got wrong, or which place I forgot. The pencil's by the fridge, and I'll see you the first Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? <https://westsidewherewithal.com/issues/2026-10-11-issue-0> Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? 2026-10-11 In this issue Can't we just inform each other? The leaves are changing Divide anything but our bread What it's all for We choose this Can't we just inform each other? Nobody's telling us what's happening around here unless you find some corporate website that tracks you and tries to make you pay just to find out what's going on outside your door. What a drag. Can't we just inform each other, and have fun building and being in community? The leaves are changing The leaves are changing and falling, and the streets are graced with people from all walks of life. The days are growing shorter, and fall will give way to snow in a few weeks. Before we know it Santa will be at the cabin in Bancroft Park and the Christkindlmarket will be back. Divide anything but our bread I want people to see and hear themselves in our work. I want the people in this community to remember that we're in this together and that what we print is made to remind us of that. We are not here to divide anything but our bread for others, to love our neighbors, and practice mercy and kindness. What it's all for I get nervous that people's fear clouds not only their judgment but their hearts. I can be a skeptic, and quite cynical at times. I wonder what it's all for and why I'm doing this. But in the end, if one person reads our words and connects with them even a little, and it gives them a spark or the belief that they are loved, I will have done my work. We choose this I hope people are excited to see what we're up to. I hope they want to be a part of it, and that by gathering and presenting our values, beliefs and customs together, we can cherish them and let new things in while the old fades. I want Thursday to remind us that we choose this. Jeff What we told you Can't we just inform each other? The leaves are changing Divide anything but our bread What it's all for We choose this The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The archive <https://westsidewherewithal.com/issues/index> The archive Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The archive Every issue, oldest at the bottom. Free to read. If you want to chip in, the jar is on the front page. Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? 2026-10-11 The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The Westside Wherewithal <https://westsidewherewithal.com/> The Westside Wherewithal Skip to the paper We start for real in January. Sign up and the first one lands on a Thursday morning. Thursday mornings · FreeFrom your neighbors ## The Westside WherewithalBecause living west of takes a little wherewithal. Colorado Springs, Colorado A free paper for the Westside of Colorado Springs, written by the people who live here. Thursday mornings, starting January. ## Get it Thursday morning One email a week, free. Put your address in and we'll see you Thursday. Sign me up ## What the city is deciding ## About your street, before it's done You can still weigh in Open nowColorado Avenue lane test. Four lanes to three from Limit Street to 30th Street (the city's page; the Gazette says 31st), for up to a year from June 2026, paid for with $375K from the regional road tax (PPRTA, the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority). The city survey is open.The city's own page: City project page · The surveyIn the news: Gazette, lane test # Oct 26, 2026The city's 2027 budget. Public hearing Monday Oct 26, 5:30 p.m., Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada. Anyone can speak. The council talks it over at work sessions first (Oct 15 is one). What's in it for the Westside, we're reading now.The city's own page: the council calendar (Legistar) # Coming up Oct 21, 2026The community center's neighbor group (the Westside Community Center Alliance) meets Wednesday Oct 21, 4 p.m. It helps steer what the center at 1628 W Bijou becomes. Whether anyone can sit in, we're asking.The city's own page: city page, community centerStill looking for: the Alliance's own notice and the Parks Advisory Board's May minutesIn the news: Gazette, the Alliance # Apr 2027Roundabout at 31st and Fontanero, by Howbert Elementary, replacing the four-way stop. The open house was Sept 15. Construction April to fall 2027. Parents asked about the school crossing; the city says it will work with the school. The crossing drawing and the open-house boards are the documents we're after.In the news: KKTV, the roundabout # Apr 13, 2027Project Taurus. A 50-megawatt data center proposed at the old Intel plant, next to the homes in Chelsea Glen. The Planning Commission approved it 6 to 2 in July with a power cap and noise monitoring. Council put the appeal off 7 to 2 to April 13, a week after the city election, and wants a noise study and a study of what big power users pay first. The developer told Colorado Politics on Sept 18 it is weighing whether this is the right partnership.Still looking for: the noise studyIn the news: CPR, hearing date · Colorado Politics, the postponement · KKTV, the appeal # Already decided Sep 22, 2026Old Colorado City's downtown development authority (DDA) shut down. The tax district voters created in 2024 never got its funding. Council voted 5 to 4 on Sept 22 to dissolve it, ordinance 26-48 (yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams; no: Donelson, Gold, Henjum, Leinweber), after the same 5 to 4 on first reading Aug 25. KKTV reported Oct 2 that the DDA is weighing legal action because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. Who picks up the avenue's end of things is an open question.The city's own page: meeting record (Open Publica)Still looking for: the ordinance text itself, and the Aug 25 minutesIn the news: Gazette, the first vote · KKTV, the lawsuit threat # Coming up Every weekThe land. Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, the Garden, Bear Creek, the creek itself: fire restrictions, trail closures, anything the parks board decides. Nothing new on the city's pages this week; we look every Monday, and a canyon volunteer is looking with us.The city's own page: city parks, trails and open space # Already decided Since Apr 2023Greater Westside Community Plan. Nine neighborhoods, one plan: Gold Hill, Ivywild, Mesa, Mesa Springs, Midland, Old Colorado City, Skyway, Stratton Meadows, Westside. The city's page lists six meetings, the last in April 2023, plus a 2022 survey and a 'Big Ideas' summary. What came next is the question we're taking to Planning, and to the neighbors who sat in those rooms.The city's own page: city page, the plan # Checked October 11. Each one links to the city's own page where we found it. Where it says "still looking," we haven't found it yet (city websites, you know how it goes). If you've got it, send it over. Want to be the person in the room? Go to one meeting, write down what happened on this one-page sheet, and your name goes on it. A City Council Tuesday is the easy first one; you can watch it live or later from the couch. ## Vote ## Ballots are in the mail. Here's the Westside part. By Oct 26Register, or check that you're registered, at GoVoteColorado.gov. Moved since last time? Update it there too. After Oct 26 you can still register and vote in person, through Election Day.The city's own page: GoVoteColorado.gov # Till Nov 3, 7 p.m.Drop boxes west of I-25, open day and night: Red Rock Canyon shopping center, 3141 W Colorado Ave; Bear Creek Regional Park, 2002 Creek Crossing St; the clerk's office, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd; Manitou City Hall, 606 Manitou Ave. Mailing it? The county says by Oct 27. It has to arrive by 7 p.m. on Election Day; a postmark doesn't count.The city's own page: the county's list of boxes · El Paso County elections # On the ballotThe local ones: County 1A keeps the public-safety sales tax going through 2037. D11 4A is a $775 million school bond (Coronado is on the list). Then fourteen statewide questions; the state's Blue Book explains each one in plain words, for and against.The city's own page: the county's local questions · the Blue Book # Apr 6, 2027The city election: mayor and three council seats. Same registration, same website. We'll print the candidates and where they stand on the Westside.The city's own page: city election page # We don't tell you how to vote. We'd love for you to. If the Blue Book is a brick, if you can't get to a box, if you're not sure you're registered, call or text 719-201-5462 and a neighbor helps. The county pays election judges and trains them; sign up here if you've got a day. ## The next two weeks ## Oct 11 to Nov 8, checked against the calendars The market's last Saturday, Pumpkins in the Park, free bingo at the community center, the cemetery tour, the coffin races, and the same seven things every week. Every weekMon Boom Box Bingo, 7 to 11 p.m. (Mother Muff's)Tue Math tutoring, 4 to 5:30 p.m. (OCC Library)Wed Toddler Time, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Wed Open mic, 6 to 9 p.m. (Jives Coffee Lounge, 16 Colbrunn Ct)Thu Trivia, 7 to 9 p.m. (OCC Brewing)Fri Storytime, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Sat Paws to Read, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Sun Brunch Jam Band, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Mother Muff's) Sun Oct 11 all month Scarecrow Days: the storefront scarecrows, with a public vote, through Oct 31 the avenue Mon Oct 12 all day Westside CARES closed for Indigenous Peoples' Day 2808 W Colorado Tue Oct 13 9 a.m. City Council regular meeting (agenda on Legistar) 107 N Nevada 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Small Steps, Giant Leaps, Space Foundation program for ages 2 to 6 Westside Community Center Wed Oct 14 9 a.m. City Planning Commission 2880 International Cir. 5:30 to 7 p.m. Evening pickleball: donate a bag of candy to play, paddles limited Westside Community Center Thu Oct 15 7:30 a.m. Coffee with the principal Coronado High, Future Center 2 to 4 p.m. Classic board games free OCC Library 5 p.m. Mushroom Zombie Haunted House opens, through Oct 31 Mush Love Tee, the shirt shop, 2627 W Colorado Fri Oct 16 all day No school at Coronado: parent-teacher conferences, 9 to 3 in the gym Coronado High 5 to 6 p.m. Bingo at the Biscuit The Biscuit Factory Cat Lounge, 12 S 25th Sat Oct 17 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Farmers market, last Saturday of the season, 80-some vendors Bancroft Park 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Craft and art market, final Saturday History Center, 1 S 24th Sun Oct 18 evening Legends and Lore of Fairview Cemetery, a two-hour guided tour; tickets online, kids 12 and under free Fairview Cemetery, 1000 S 26th Mon Oct 19 all week Fall break at Coronado, Oct 19 to 22, no school Coronado High Wed Oct 21 4 p.m. Westside Community Center Alliance meeting Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou 5:30 to 7 p.m. Howdy Neighbor prize bingo, doors at 5, all ages, no sign-up free Westside Community Center Thu Oct 22 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Book group free OCC Library Sat Oct 24 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Emma Crawford Coffin Races, the 32nd; Manitou Avenue closes at 9 Manitou Springs noon to 6 p.m. Pumpkins in the Park: pumpkin patch, painting, face painters, costume and carving contests, the ZOOmobile, live music, a beer garden free the avenue Sun Oct 25 1 to 4 p.m. Trunk or Treat in the parking lot, and Animals of Halloween inside, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. free Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th Mon Oct 26 10 to 10:45 a.m. Bighorn sheep, an indoor program with a touch table; Mondays through Nov 30 free Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Owls of the Garden: take an owl pellet apart; $5, sign up first Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 5:30 p.m. City budget public hearing, the 2027 budget; anyone can speak Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada Tue Oct 27 all day Stroll-a-Story: a storybook walk, page by page, around the library OCC Library, 2418 W Pikes Peak Thu Oct 29 7:30 to 8:45 p.m. Haunted Manitou ghost tour, $25; also Oct 30 and 31 Memorial Park, Manitou Springs Fri Oct 30 5:30 p.m. Ghost Stories of Old Manitou, a walking tour from the museum Manitou Springs Heritage Museum Sat Oct 31 1 to 2 p.m. Why wolves in Colorado, a talk Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 2 to 4:30 p.m. Trick or Treat Street: costumed kids 1 to 6, shop to shop; look for the orange and yellow balloons the avenue, 23rd to 28th 6 p.m. Manitou Phantasmagoria Shoshone Spring courtyard, Manitou Springs evening Mushroom Zombie Haunted House, last night Mush Love Tee, the shirt shop, 2627 W Colorado Tue Nov 3 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Election Day. Ballots due by 7 p.m. at a drop box; register and vote in person at the clerk's office, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd, or Manitou City Hall El Paso County Fri Nov 6 5 to 8 p.m. First Friday ArtWalk: galleries, studios and shops open late along the avenue free the avenue, 17th to 31st Sun Nov 8 11 a.m. Altitude Makers market and farmers market free Soda Springs Park, Manitou Springs Every line above came off a calendar we can link, checked October 11. The strip up top happens every week; the list is the one-time stuff. The avenue is West Colorado Avenue; OCC is Old Colorado City; D11 is the school district. If we got a time wrong, tell us and we'll fix it in the next issue. Red Rock Canyon, the churches and the school sports pages had nothing dated for these two weeks; if you know of something, send it. Where that came from: Old Colorado City events calendar · Old Colorado City Library · Westside Community Center · History Center events · Garden of the Gods calendar ## The Bulletin Board ## Suppers, pantries, services, weddings, and the ones we lost If you need something this week, start here. Free, in your words, from you or your church or your family. Food, rent and utility help: Westside CARES, 2808 W Colorado Ave, 719-389-0759. Open Monday to Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.. They prefer you walk in. Closed when the schools close for weather. Serves everyone west of I-25. Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou St, 719-385-7920. Open Monday and Friday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Tuesday to Thursday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.. A corkboard, not a story. Church suppers, pantry hours, services, weddings, and the ones we lost: free, in your words, from you or your church or your family. We call to check the hours before they run. Send it by Tuesday to hello@westsidewherewithal.com, by text to 719-201-5462, on paper to the office at Suite 122, or in the box on the front page. Where that came from: Westside CARES hours · Community center hours (city page) ## The Listening Room ## Once a month. You pick where and when. Coffee with the editor, no agenda, no sign-up. The hour and the place are a vote; the winner runs in issue 1. The Listening Room isn't an office. It's one hour a month wherever we sit down, and I'd rather you picked it than me. Vote below, or write in your own. I live over here, about twenty years now, and the office on the avenue is the paper's address; it says one thing: I'm here. I'm with you. Where and when Saturday morning, the bench by the bandshell in Bancroft Park Tuesday evening, a coffee counter on the avenue Sunday afternoon, the library (once they say yes) A weeknight on Zoom, for people who work days Cast it ## The Address Book ## What was in this storefront in 1968? One storefront, one photo, what was inside. One building per issue: a photo, the address, and whoever remembers fills in the rest. The first photo is coming; if you have one, send it in below. ## Write something ## Send it in The shop that closed, the thing the city's about to do on your street, the neighbor everybody should know. Photos and drawings count, with your name on them. Send it however you like: the box below, hello@westsidewherewithal.com, a call or a text to 719-201-5462, or drop it at the office (Suite 122, 2320 W Colorado Ave). We write back. Rather talk than type? Call or text 719-201-5462 and tell me out loud; I'll write it down and you hear it read back before it runs. Under 18? Send it anyway; we'll check with you or a parent before it runs. Teachers, send the whole class. Photos come by email. En español: mándenos un texto al 719-201-5462 o escríbanos a hello@westsidewherewithal.com, en español: su cena, su misa, su aviso. No lo hablo de nacimiento; lo traducimos con un vecino y se lo leemos antes de publicar. Any other language: send it anyway, and we'll find a neighbor to translate. Want a desk? The pages signed by a desk are open; here's how to take one. Got a counter, or a box on your fence? Say so and we'll bring a stack, free, and swap the stale ones. How we do things, if you're curious. Put me down for a stack, for my counter or my library box Send it in ## The jar It's free. If a Thursday was worth something to you, throw a few bucks in the jar; it pays for the email and the printing. A check to the office works too. Pay what you want Inside: What the city is deciding · The next two weeks · On the avenue · From the desks · The next 100 years · Frontier wherewithal · Around the avenue · What came before us ## On the avenue ## I never stepped inside Base Camp, 2611 W Colorado, closed October 4, and I never ate there. Tell me the place you'd go back to. Jeff Adkins Base Camp closed on October 4. I thought it looked cool, but the menu never appealed to me in the moment, and it's hard to take me away from the dozen places I adore already. Sad to say I never stepped inside. That's on me, and I'm not alone. Empty storefronts are not what we want here. What keeps a place open is anyone and everyone who can afford to spend local dollars in it, and I am going to try hard to keep mixing it up. If you're thinking about working and making a living here, I wish I could appeal to you directly: we need you. Old Colorado City (OCC from here on) is a tourist destination, for locals and for travelers. I know this. I gladly give up my street parking for events because I know we need them. If I want OCC Brewing to be here 365 days a year, I need them to sustain themselves. That means me not griping about the traffic or the parking over here. Not everyone can afford to eat out or shop on the avenue. I understand that; I don't feel obligated to, and neither should you. I'm fortunate that I can budget for a meal out, and I try to go during the week, when places are less busy and could frankly use the business. So I can't complain about Base Camp closing if I didn't eat there, and I can't blame not eating there on the parking. Tell me the place you'd go back to. What we know: Base Camp, 2611 W Colorado Ave, opened March 2025 and closed October 4; the owner cited costs and the economy. Mountain Shadows, the restaurant four blocks east, closed December 2024 and sold in January. Where that came from: Gazette, Oct 2, 2026 · Gazette, Jan 20, 2025 · OCC Brewing ## From the desks ## Ten desks, one neighborhood Celebrating, remembering, forecasting. Each desk is open; a neighbor's name goes on it the day they take it. The Wherewithal desks Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in · the 52 Thursdays of 2027, as a walk through the seasons The man who wrote down the Westside · 604 columns, the elk, the tunnels, and who keeps the record now Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper · the vote, the names, what's still unknown, and how to be in the room See that building? Look again · five storefronts and what they were, from the columns and the 1902 map Where the asphalt gives up · Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, Bear Creek; this fall, and the seed rule The elk who pulled a carriage · for kids: three things to find on the walk to school, and a dare Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad · la mesa en español: ayuda, el voto, cómo escribirnos Who's cooking on the Westside this week · six tables, as their own pages say it; we call before it prints Three picks before Halloween · the market's last Saturday, the coffin races, pumpkins in the park, and where to park The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead · every date headed for your street, and the door into each one Every desk is written from the record we hold and says so at the top. None of it is an interview yet; those are coming. Every one is open: what each desk takes, and how to take one. One text, one coffee. ## The next 100 years ## Four lanes to three, for a year Four lanes to three, Limit to 30th, for a year. The city survey is open. One driver's take below; if yours differs, next issue's yours. Jeff Adkins 1902 · Sanborn fire insurance map, sheet 2, Colorado Avenue · Library of Congress, public domain 2027 · lane drawing · city of Colorado Springs, Colorado Avenue demonstration, phase two What we know: four lanes to three from Limit to 30th by the city's page (the Gazette says 31st), since June 2026, for up to a year; the city calls it the Colorado Avenue Demonstration Project; $375K of county transportation tax (PPRTA) money. The Gazette counts about 30 parking spaces added, metered; the city's page says parking changes are expected to be minimal. We've asked the project team which it is. A second phase in 2027 makes some of it permanent and redoes three blocks of streetscape (Gazette); permanent reconstruction is penciled for 2027 or 2028 (Bike Colorado Springs). The city survey is open. One driver's take, mine (and my office is on the avenue, at 2320): it's great to see so much more attention being paid to pedestrians, and it doesn't slow me down at all. I haven't timed it; if you have, send the numbers. It may add parking, metered; the city and the Gazette disagree on how much (see the record), and nobody has said yet where someone who lives over a shop parks overnight. The city is taking comments until the concrete goes down. If you drive it, bike it, or cross it with a stroller, say so. If you hate it, this space is yours next issue, same length, your name on it. What do I want to still be here in 2126? Westsiders. Hyper local, no corporate nonsense, and room for whoever shows up to stay. Where that came from: Sanborn 1902 (LoC) · City project page · The city survey · Gazette, May 20, 2026 · Bike Colorado Springs ## Frontier wherewithal ## Load up for winter, survive the summer Not just another old west town. Two tame elk, tunnels under the avenue, four to six weeks a year you'd rather be in the water. Jeff Adkins If you're new here you might think this is just another old west town. If you're passing through, maybe we should let you believe it. Our summers are dry and shorter than most, but they stop and start and come back the most. I'd say we have about four to six weeks a year where you'd want to be holed up in the cabin or in the water, which can be tricky to find. We need to know how to load up for winter, survive the summer, and not die of dehydration. And like every place with lore, we have a guy who trained two tame elk, Thunder and Buttons, to pull a carriage, plus tunnels and brothels and churches, oh my. We love it here. What we know: Thunder and Buttons were elk; Prairie Dog O'Byrne drove them hitched to a carriage on this avenue in the late 1880s. The tunnels under the avenue are documented by the historical society, with the honest caveat that some of it may be something else. Colorado City voted itself dry in 1913. Where that came from: Westside Pioneer, 2006 · Cobweb Corners, 2005 · Gazette, July 2021, the tunnels · Thunder and Buttons II ## Around the avenue ## Getting to know them is the point I don't know everyone yet. Getting to know them is the point. Jeff Adkins What we know so far: Who's opening and who's moving: we've heard about three and have an address for none, so none are named yet. Send the name and the block. The Old Colorado City Historical Society runs a free museum at 1 South 24th, a block off the avenue. Tuesday through Saturday, 11 to 4 in summer and 11 to 2 in winter. Call before you drive. The free Tuesday concerts at the Bancroft Park bandshell ran June 2 through September 29 this year, 5:30, Dizzy Charlie's and the Pikes Peak Blues Community. Next summer's lineup runs here the week it's announced. First Friday art walk, 5 to 8, galleries and studios along the avenue. Next one is November 6. The Customs and Classics car show closes the avenue from 23rd to 27th one Sunday every August. If the one you went to was a different show this fall, tell us which. This is the stuff I get to see everyone else doing. I enjoy seeing them do it. It doesn't matter to me if I don't know anyone in the room, because getting to know them is the point of this life. And that's what I'm here to capture in this paper. I shouldn't pretend to know things I don't. Where that came from: OCC History Center · Tuesday concerts (Springs Magazine) · First Friday (OCC calendar) · The car show (Pioneer, 2018) ## What came before us ## I want it all Mel McFarland died in September; I indexed the 604 columns I found. Eight digs, from the capital that got away to the forgotten cemetery. Jeff Adkins Start here: Mel McFarland, who wrote the Westside's past in the Pioneer for fifteen years, died in September at 81. Most of what is below comes from his columns. I found 604 and indexed every one I found; the one-line summaries there are software drafts, not yet checked one by one. Who keeps the record now is a question this paper exists to answer. I want the best stories from Old Colorado City. I want to dig down and find the most awesome stuff we can publish: how people first lived here, how it went from zero to what it is today, funny things, shootouts, jail time for crimes that make us laugh and cry, mysteries and murders. I want it all. What did we used to do and stop? What was, but isn't? What could have been, but never was? The digs I can't do alone: your church, your family, your block. Send them. What we found first: The capital that got away. Colorado City was founded in August 1859 to outfit gold seekers, was the county seat by 1861, and held the territorial capital just long enough to lose it to Denver. One account says the town was deemed too rowdy. Zero to four thousand. Mel has the town past 2,000 by 1890; the 1892 fire-insurance map (the Sanborn) writes 2,000 on its own cover, and the 1902 sheet writes 4,000. The town voted itself dry in 1913, lost the saloon money, and voted to be annexed by Colorado Springs in April 1917. Four saloons to twenty-seven. By the Pioneer's 2009 count (a feature, not one of Mel's columns): four in 1884, twenty-three by 1888, twenty-seven in 1902 plus thirty-some gambling halls, on a main street that also had the churches. Laura Bell McDaniel. From the Pioneer's 2011 profile, not the index: queen of the tenderloin; her last house was the Tribley House in the 2600 block of West Cucharras. She married Tom McDaniel in April 1887 in Salida; a month later he shot a man five times while she watched, and was acquitted. She divorced him in 1893. Accused in November 1917 of stealing liquor and acquitted; the historian who wrote her up thinks it was a set-up. Died in a car crash in January 1918. The elk were O'Byrne's by Mel's column (bought in Aspen in 1888); a 2006 Pioneer piece has her riding beside him in the carriage. The Glass Works. Full production in 1889 with 200 men on the south edge of town, bottling Manitou water. The furnace top collapsed just after midnight on September 9, 1892. Wheeler promised to rebuild; the Silver Panic of 1893 and the lost customers finished it. One of Mel's columns says it closed in 1895, another says by 1900; one puts a fire in 1893 as well. The Midland shops. The Colorado Midland started here in 1886 and quit in 1918; the Midland Terminal ran the line to Divide until it was scrapped in 1949. Hundreds of men in the shops at the peak, under a hundred by 1925, about fifty by 1948; the office burned in 1953. The fourteen-stall roundhouse is the one that lived: Van Briggle pottery, then the shops you walk through now. The mills. The Colorado-Philadelphia came first, in 1894 by one of Mel's columns and about 1897 by another, near 31st and the 24. Golden Cycle took over the Telluride mill in 1906, rebuilt it with cyanide after a 1907 fire, and ran it until 1949; the smokestack is still there. The forgotten cemetery. Colorado City's Pioneer cemetery, on the mesa, used from about 1860 to 1917. Not every burial was moved; the stones came out in the 1940s and it became Pioneer Park in the 1950s. Graves were mapped with metal detectors in the 1970s, a project Mel joined, and a cast-iron coffin may still be there. Who is in it is still the question. Where that came from: Why the fuss? (Pioneer) · Laura Bell McDaniel (Pioneer, 2011) · Thunder and Buttons (Cobweb Corners, 2005) · The Glass Works, 200 men (Cobweb Corners, 2011) · The Glass Works fire (Cobweb Corners, 2011) · The Glass Works closed 1895 (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The Midland, 1886 to 1918 (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The Midland shops decline (Cobweb Corners, 2009) · The roundhouse (Cobweb Corners, 2007) · The mills (Cobweb Corners, 2013) · Golden Cycle closes, 1949 (Cobweb Corners, 2006) · The capital, the county seat (Cobweb Corners, 2009) · The forgotten cemetery (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The forgotten cemetery (Cobweb Corners, 2017) · Mel McFarland, 1945 to 2026 (Gazette) · Every Cobweb Corners column, indexed · Colorado City Iris, digitized (CHNC) If something here is wrong, reply to the email or send it in below. Corrections run at the top of the next issue. Behind the masthead: Sanborn fire insurance map of Colorado City, November 1902, sheet 1. Library of Congress, public domain. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad <https://westsidewherewithal.com/la-vecina> Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad La Vecina, la mesa en español. Traducción nuestra; buscamos a un vecino o vecina que la tome y firme aquí. Vecina, vecino: Le escribo con las hojas ya cambiando de color y las tardes más cortas. Aquí entre nosotros, quería contarle lo que sé. Si usted vive al oeste de la I-25, este periódico es para usted. Se llama The Westside Wherewithal, sale cada semana y es gratis. Lo escribimos entre vecinos: lo que abre, lo que cierra, lo que se vota, lo que llega al parque. Y queremos saber de usted. Cuéntenos lo que ve en su cuadra, en su iglesia, en su trabajo, y hágalo en español, como le salga. Si esta semana necesita una mano, vaya a Westside CARES, en 2808 W Colorado Ave. Abren de lunes a jueves, de 9:30 a.m. a 12:30 p.m., y no hace falta cita. Atienden a todos los que viven al oeste de la I-25. Llame al 719-389-0759. También tiene el Westside Community Center, en 1628 W Bijou St, teléfono 719-385-7920. Abre lunes y viernes, de 9 a.m. a 3 p.m., y de martes a jueves, de 9 a.m. a 7 p.m. Ahora el voto, en claro. Hasta el 26 de octubre puede registrarse, o revisar si ya está registrado, en GoVoteColorado.gov. Pasada esa fecha, todavía puede hacerlo en persona, hasta el día de la elección. Y para dejar su boleta, las urnas están abiertas hasta las 7 p.m. del 3 de noviembre en cuatro lugares: el centro comercial Red Rock Canyon, 3141 W Colorado Ave; Bear Creek Regional Park, 2002 Creek Crossing St; la oficina del secretario del condado, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd; y el ayuntamiento de Manitou, 606 Manitou Ave. Aquí no le decimos cómo votar. Solo le decimos dónde y cuándo. En diciembre el Christkindlmarket vuelve a Bancroft Park. Cuando tengamos los días, se los pasamos aquí. Si quiere escribirnos, mande un texto al 719-201-5462 o un correo a hello@westsidewherewithal.com, en español. El editor no habla español de cuna. Traduce con un vecino y lo vuelve a leer con él antes de que algo se imprima. También tenemos una hoja en español en westsidewherewithal.com/sheet-es. Y una cosa honesta: esta página es traducción nuestra. Buscamos a un vecino o vecina que hable español para que tome esta mesa y firme aquí con su nombre. Hasta la próxima semana, vecino. Un abrazo, La Vecina The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The print pack <https://westsidewherewithal.com/print> The print pack Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The print pack Everything to print this week, how many, and where it goes. Any copy shop; a home printer works for the one-sheets. What to print PrintFileHowCopies The one-sheetsheet.pdfLetter, one side (two sides if you want the puzzle back: sheet-back.pdf)20 Large printsheet-large.pdfLetter, two sides5 La hoja (Spanish)sheet-es.pdfLetter, one side10 The box editionzine-box.pdfLetter, landscape, two sheets, two-sided, flip on the short edge; nest sheet 2 inside sheet 1, fold once; no staples20 Every print says "good till Oct 25" or has no dates. A stale stack gets swapped; call and we bring more. Where it goes PlaceWhatHow many The gas station at 31stone-sheet5 The hardware storeone-sheet5 A diner on the avenueone-sheet, and ask about a tray5 The OCC History Center, 1 S 24thone-sheet5 Your own door, Suite 122one-sheet, box edition5 and 5 The grocery at 31stla hoja10 The senior table at the community center, 1628 W Bijoularge print5 The little free library at the old Carnegie building, 701 Manitou Avebox edition8 The Head Start box, 2330 Robinson Stbox edition7 The ask at a counter, two sentences: "It's a free weekly paper for the Westside, written by neighbors, nothing for you to pay and nothing to sell. Can it sit here, and can I refill it on Thursdays?" Say yes to any condition they add. What to watch Count what's left after a week. Note any call or text to 719-201-5462 and any word find or quiz score that comes in. That's the first real test; everything before it was rehearsal. The reader inbox was empty on October 11. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Plant this (when it exists) <https://westsidewherewithal.com/seeds> Plant this (when it exists) Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Plant this (when it exists) There are no seed strips yet. This is the plan, written down before the first one so nobody has to guess. Some copies of the zine will carry a small sealed strip of seed paper. Plant it in your own yard, a friend's yard with their yes, a community garden, or a school bed with the principal's okay. Not in a park, not in open space, not in Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, the Garden of the Gods or Bear Creek, not along the creek or a trail, and never after a fire. Those places get seeded by the people who manage them, with seed matched to the ground, and a stranger's strip does more harm than good there. What's in it: Colorado natives from a Colorado grower (Western Native Seed, in Coaldale): Lewis blue flax, Rocky Mountain penstemon, blanketflower, prairie coneflower. Nothing from the state's noxious weed list, which is where the cheap "wildflower mixes" go wrong. Plant in fall; the penstemon wants a winter in the ground. Plant it, take a picture when something comes up, send it in. The best ones run in the paper with your name on them. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Take a desk <https://westsidewherewithal.com/take-a-desk> Take a desk Moved to /desks. --- # Thank you <https://westsidewherewithal.com/thanks> Thank you Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Thank you That's the whole transaction. No tier, no badge, no extra issue. The paper keeps going, and your name goes on the once-a-year list of people who chipped in, alphabetical, no amounts, unless you'd rather it didn't. Reply to any issue to say so. See you Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The elk who pulled a carriage <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-box> The elk who pulled a carriage Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The elk who pulled a carriage The Box desk, for kids and whoever is with them. When a neighbor (or a kid) takes this desk, their name goes here. Okay. You're the boss today. Walk to school, but make it a hunt. Find three things. One: a little free library. It's a box on a post full of books, and you can take one. We know of 27 of them west of I-25. Two you can visit: the one at the old Carnegie library building, 701 Manitou Ave, and the one at the Head Start, 2330 Robinson St. Two: the red rocks at the end of the street. Stop and look. Three: one leaf. Pick the best one on the block. Keep it. It's a bookmark now. Okay. Now the elk. In 1888, a man named John O'Byrne got two tame elk from a judge in Aspen. He trained them to pull his tourist carriage down this very avenue. Their names were Thunder and Buttons. Yes, elk. Yes, a carriage. Eventually a movie company bought them and took them to Alaska to film advertisements. Thunder and Buttons were in commercials. (Also true.) (Bonus, also true: in 1880 a train crew calmed a cold, panicking circus elephant at Colorado Springs with a keg of beer. Aunt's honor.) Ask a grown-up. Point at any building on your walk and ask: "What was here before?" Then listen. Your move, boss. This fall: Halloween, Oct. 31, 2 to 4:30 p.m.: Trick or Treat Street on the avenue, 23rd to 28th. Costumed kids 1 to 6. Look for the orange and yellow balloons. Bring a little cousin. Mondays, 10 a.m.: the bighorn sheep program at the Garden of the Gods Visitor Center. December: the Christkindlmarket comes back to Bancroft Park, bigger than last year, with Santa at the cabin. Bonus level: the paper in the box has games. A word find whose leftover letters spell a message. A five-question quiz with the answers printed upside down. And a map to draw on: it's the 1902 map of Colorado City, when the town had 4,000 people. You can see it at westsidewherewithal.com/zine-box, page 6. The dare. Draw Thunder and Buttons pulling the carriage. Go big. Give the tourists faces. Then put it in the little free library box, or send it to hello@westsidewherewithal.com with your first name. We print the best ones. See you on the avenue. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-next-hundred> The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead The Next Hundred desk. Written from the city's own pages and the ballot; dates change, and we fix them when they do. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Right now, Colorado Avenue. Four lanes have been three from Limit to 30th since June, for up to a year. Watch the lanes. Your move: fill out the city survey after you've driven it, biked it, or crossed it with a stroller. The avenue went on a diet and nobody asked it. Oct 21 and Oct 26. The community center's neighbor group meets Wednesday the 21st at 4 p.m.; it helps steer what the center at 1628 W Bijou becomes. Monday the 26th, 5:30 p.m.: the 2027 budget's public hearing at 107 N Nevada. Anyone can speak; the council calendar lists the work sessions before it. Your move: pick one and go. The budget reads better with you. Nov 3. Ballots are due by 7 p.m. County 1A would keep the public-safety sales tax going through 2037. D11's 4A is a $775 million school bond, and Coronado is on the list. Your move: vote, and use a drop box if the mail feels slow. There's one at 3141 W Colorado Ave. Seven o'clock does not negotiate. December. The Christkindlmarket comes back to Bancroft Park, bigger. Bancroft is the pupil of the eye, so a bigger market could mean a fuller avenue and fewer spots out front. Your move: go, and walk. The car can stay home. April 6, 2027. The city election: mayor and three council seats. Your move: register or check your registration, and ask every candidate what they would do about the avenue. The avenue will hear about it. April 13. Council hears the appeal on Project Taurus, the 50-megawatt data center proposed at the old Intel plant next to the homes in Chelsea Glen. The Planning Commission approved it 6 to 2 in July with a power cap and noise monitoring; council wants a noise study first, and the hearing falls a week after you vote (Colorado Politics). The developer says it is weighing the partnership, so the date could still move. Your move: read the noise study when it exists, and show up. Read quietly. April to fall 2027. A roundabout replaces the four-way stop at 31st and Fontanero by Howbert Elementary, on the western gateway to the red rocks. Parents asked about the school crossing, and the city says it will work with the school. Your move: if you walk kids there, ask the school what they've been told. Four stops become one circle. Around June 2027. The lane test's year ends, give or take. Nothing we've found says what comes after. Your move: whatever you think of the test, say so before it ends. A year is long enough for an opinion. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The man who wrote down the Westside <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-porch-mcfarland> The man who wrote down the Westside Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The man who wrote down the Westside The Porch desk. Written from the record; the editor's conversations with his family and friends are coming. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. If you ever wondered whether there really were tunnels under Colorado Avenue, Mel McFarland is a big part of why you wondered. I'll tell you what I know. He died September 21, at 81. From 2004 to 2019 he wrote 604 "Cobweb Corners" columns about this neighborhood for the Westside Pioneer. He was born here in 1944, a fourth-generation native, taught art and drafting, and wrote books on the Colorado Midland Railway. In 1983 he bought a retired working caboose for his Rockrimmon backyard, and became "the Caboose Guy." Dave Martinek, who started Midland Days at Divide with him in 2009, told the Gazette: "He was the go-to person for anyone who wanted to know about railroad history in the state." His nephew Luc MacArthur called him "kind of a Renaissance man." His sister, Elaine Radney, said: "He had a lot of people who loved him." He wrote it down. Here is some of it. On February 3, 2005, he wrote down the story of John O'Byrne, who in 1888 got two tame elk, Thunder and Buttons, and trained them to pull a tourist carriage. Here is the column. On April 7, 2005, he wrote down the tunnels, the ones that let Colorado Avenue customers reach the Cucharras Street brothels unseen. He had "seen the remains of bits of both" sets of tunnels himself. On November 17, 2011, he wrote down the Glass Works disaster. Just after midnight on September 9, 1892, the furnace top collapsed and fiery glass poured out. Chunks of raw glass still show up now and then in neighborhood yards and rock walls, he wrote. On November 14, 2013, he wrote down the day a Teller County sheriff chained a Pullman sleeper car to the rails over $663.21 in unpaid taxes, and a U.S. marshal freed it two days later. Read it. Here's the thing. The Gazette says he left "file cabinets" of research and writing, and that his family hopes to sift through them, with no concrete plans yet. The next person who asks "was there really a glass plant over here?" gets a shrug. We can't fix that. What we have is an index of all 604 columns, by what each one reports, at westsidewherewithal.com/cobweb. The editor plans to call his sister, Dave Martinek, the Pioneer's editor Kenyon Jordan, and the History Center, and we'll tell you what they say. The question we're taking to them is who keeps the record now. We'd like to be part of the answer, and we'd like yours. Did a column of his stick with you? Tell us which one. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-record-dda> Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper The Record desk. Written from the city's own pages and the news; the Aug 25 minutes are still to be read. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. If you missed the council meeting last month, here is the entry. A downtown development authority, a DDA, is a small district set up by a vote. It is supposed to get its own pot of money to spend on one downtown. In 2024, Old Colorado City voters created one for the avenue. It never got its funding. It was created by a vote and ended by a vote, and the money never turned up in between. On Sept 22, City Council voted 5 to 4 to dissolve it. That's ordinance 26-48. The meeting record has the roll call. That's on paper. Yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams No: Donelson, Gold, Henjum, Leinweber The Gazette reported the first vote, on Aug 25, as the same 5 to 4. That's reported. On Oct 2, KKTV reported that the DDA is weighing legal action, because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. That's reported too. That is the whole ledger so far. Here is what we don't know: The Aug 25 minutes. We have the first vote from the news, not from the minutes. Until we've read them, the date and the count are reported, not checked. Whether a lawsuit is filed. KKTV says the DDA is considering one. We haven't found a filing. That isn't on paper. We'll say so when it is. What the DDA was going to buy. The records we have don't list its plan, so we won't guess. If you voted in 2024, or sat in those rooms, tell us what you were told. Who picks up the avenue's end of things now. Nobody has answered that in anything we've read. That isn't on paper either. We are taking the question to the next meeting. Some of those answers are in a room on a Tuesday morning. You can be in it. City Council meets the second and fourth Tuesdays at 9 a.m., 107 N Nevada, and you can watch from home. You don't have to say a word. Take the one-page sheet, write down what happens, and your name goes on it. The Oct 13 meeting is the next one. If you were at the Aug 25 meeting, or you have the minutes, send them over. Tell me what I got wrong. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Where the asphalt gives up <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-ridge> Where the asphalt gives up Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Where the asphalt gives up The Ridge desk. Written from the city's pages and the groups' own sites; a canyon volunteer reads it before it prints. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Rain or snow, and the trails hold it. Friends of Red Rock Canyon says wait a day or two, because they stay muddy and fragile for 24 to 48 hours. Follow 21st down to Bear Creek, then keep going west. Around 30th and 31st the asphalt gives up. The red sandstone takes over. Red Rock Canyon is the pocket to the south. The city bought it in 2003, after it had been slated for a resort with high-rise towers and a private golf course. The city's open space page lists it among the places TOPS, the sales tax voters passed for open space, made possible. It nearly went the other way. Parking. The 31st Street trailhead has more than the High Street lots. No e-bikes in the open space. This fall. The Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th, runs a free bighorn sheep program with a touch table, Mondays 10 to 10:45 a.m. through Nov 30. Owls of the Garden is Oct 26, 12:30 to 1:30. Tickets from $5, sign up first. Oct 31, 1 to 2 p.m., a talk on why wolves in Colorado. The Garden's calendar has details. What's being decided. The Park System Master Plan goes to City Council for readings Oct 12 and 27, after the parks board heard it Oct 8. White Acres Trail is becoming the Don Ellis Trail. The board approved it Aug 13; it waits on an agreement and an $850 city fee. Fire restrictions: the city's page shows none this week, and we are checking with the fire department. We'll tell you what we hear. The seed rule. Some copies of this paper will carry a strip of Colorado native seed: Lewis blue flax, Rocky Mountain penstemon, blanketflower, prairie coneflower, from Western Native Seed in Coaldale. Plant it in your yard, a friend's yard with their yes, or a community garden. Never in a park, open space, along the creek or a trail, and never after a fire. The people who manage those places seed with plants matched to the ground, and a stranger's strip can do more harm than good. Groups to join. Friends of Red Rock Canyon keeps up the benches and runs Talk and Walks, resuming soon (no date yet). The Trails and Open Space Coalition takes members and runs the One Bag Challenge cleanups. Friends of Garden of the Gods runs volunteer days. Our promise. Every Monday this desk reads the city's parks pages, and a canyon volunteer reads them with us. If nothing's new, we'll say so. Which trail was muddy this week? Tell me and I'll pass it along. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Who's cooking on the Westside this week <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-table> Who's cooking on the Westside this week Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Who's cooking on the Westside this week The Table desk. Hours are as the churches and pantries post them, checked October 11; we call before they go on the Bulletin Board. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Here's how it works. Somebody on this side of the interstate is feeding somebody nearly every day of the week, mostly out of church basements, and the people at the stoves are neighbors who are very good at it. We went looking for the tables. There are more than we figured. Everything below is what each place says on its own page as of October 11. We haven't called any of them yet, so please do before you go. Hours move, and a wrong one costs somebody a trip. Sunday The Sanctuary Church, 1930 W Colorado Ave, lists its Ragamuffin Cafe hot meal at 9 a.m. Call 719-634-7232. It's the only Sunday hot meal we found over here. If you know another, tell us. Monday Westside CARES, 2808 W Colorado Ave, posts a weekly hot meal from 11 to 12:30. Call 719-389-0759. Same day, Sacred Heart's pantry is posted noon to 2 at the Parish Center door, 2030 W Colorado Ave. No voucher. Call 719-633-8711. Tuesday Westside Global Methodist, 701 N 20th St, posts its pantry from 11 to 2. Call 719-633-9295. If you still call it Trinity UMC, that's the same corner with a new name, and the old building on W Pikes Peak is becoming a child care center. Wednesday The Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou St, hosts the CARES pantry from 1 to 3. Call 719-385-7920. Up the road in Manitou, the pantry at 110 Canon Ave was last reported at 1 to 2, with a hot meal starting 12:30. Call 719-685-9259. St. Andrew's closed as a church in 2025, but the pantry kept going in the parish hall. Hats off to the people who kept it going. Thursday Sacred Heart again, same hours, same door, no voucher. Call 719-633-8711. Know another table? That's six tables, and I'd bet my good parking spot there are more. Churches, clubs, a neighbor with a big pot and a folding table. If your church or group feeds people, text 719-201-5462 or write hello@westsidewherewithal.com with the day and the hour. We'll call, confirm it, and print it, free, in your words. That's what the Bulletin Board is for. It's where every table lives, every week, so nobody has to guess which church has soup on which night. See you at the table. Tell us what we got wrong. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Three picks before Halloween <https://westsidewherewithal.com/weekend-radar> Three picks before Halloween Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Three picks before Halloween The Weekend Radar desk. Every line checked against the organizer's own page. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Two weekends, three picks, and I've already parked for all of them. Read this, then go. Go to the farmers market. Saturday, October 17, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., Bancroft Park, 24th and Colorado. It's the last Saturday of the season, with 80-some vendors, and there is no next Saturday. Go early, because the best of anything goes first. Parking: don't circle the park hoping. Take a side street and walk the last bit. Saturday, October 24 is two things at once. Pick one. First, the coffin races. The Emma Crawford Coffin Races run 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Manitou Springs. Parking: Manitou Avenue closes at 9, so get there before the road shuts and the crowd fills in, and plan to walk in. Second, the pumpkins. Pumpkins in the Park is noon to 6 p.m. on the avenue, free, with a pumpkin patch, painting, costume and carving contests, the ZOOmobile, live music and a beer garden. Parking: the avenue's diagonal spots fill on a festival Saturday, so take a side street and walk in. Don't try to do both in one afternoon. Choose, then start the day with it. The things that are always there. If the festivals are not your speed, or you just need a Thursday: trivia at OCC Brewing every Thursday, 7 to 9 p.m. Storytime at the OCC Library every Friday, 10:30 a.m. Brunch Jam Band at Mother Muff's every Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Free bingo on the 21st, Trunk or Treat on the 25th, Trick or Treat Street on the 31st and First Friday ArtWalk on November 6 are all on the full list, with times. That list lives at westsidewherewithal.com, and it's also the one-sheet on the counters around the avenue. Got something happening that we missed? Send it to hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or text 719-201-5462. We'll check it against your own page and put it in. See you Saturday. I'll be the one who parked early. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in <https://westsidewherewithal.com/year-ahead> Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in The Year Ahead desk. Written from the editor's calendar; no interviews yet. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Picture the fridge calendar. Every Thursday of 2027 is penciled in, and you're coming along. One honest aside: it's plans, all of it. Nothing has been reported yet, and some weeks may not land. Winter first. Week one: The Reset Issue. Quiet workspaces, reading refuges, and I'd be surprised if the Carnegie library stays out. And then we eat through the cold. The quest for the best broth in OCC. A reader poll for the best breakfast burrito west of I-25. A 4:00 a.m. shift with a Westside baker. Then February: a cocktail lounge audit off Main Street, an Alternative Valentine, pints by the fireplace, and how the vintage and antiques shops survive winter. Spring opens up. Red Rock Canyon hikes, with lunches after. The carriage house makers working out of alleys. St. Patrick week. And then the thaw, when we find out which counters open their windows. The under-$15 lunch circuit. A patio audit covering shade, noise, pints and dogs. Seed swaps. Coffee roasters. A Territory Days survival guide. A First Friday gallery crawl. Spring tap releases. Summer gets loud. Hosting out-of-towners without crossing I-25. The Bancroft Park farmers market, booth by booth. Gelato. Where a line cook eats at midnight. Secret courtyards. Quiet Fourth of July viewpoints. Live music on the bricks, and I'm hoping the bandshell gets a paragraph. You pick the coldest drinks. Then the Pueblo chile arrives. Nightcaps and jukeboxes after 10, and I'd bet Mother Muff's comes up. Then a back-to-school pantry run, Uintah Gardens an obvious stop. Fall, the leg I'm saving. The annual pizza index: Slice 420 against Rustica against Leopold's, and we'll need lots of you to settle it. Golden aspens. Autumn ciders. A locals' guide for after the tourists leave. Ghost signs, spooky lore, wood-fired and cast iron cooking (Front Range BBQ, you're on my mind). Thanksgiving hosting. Best of the Westside nominations. Small Business Saturday. And then a Black Friday antidote at Section 16 and Bear Creek. December: a 100% Westside gift guide, a winter lights walk, the Best of the Westside winners, the solstice and quiet patios, and a last issue called Looking Ahead. Every week also carries a civic item and an oral history. A 40-year diner regular. A couple who met at Bancroft in 1988. A chile roaster of 25 seasons. A dishwasher who worked 300 shifts. A high school senior looking at the Westside's future. Tell me which month I got wrong, or which place I forgot. The pencil's by the fridge, and I'll see you the first Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? <https://westsidewherewithal.com/issues/2026-10-11-issue-0> Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? 2026-10-11 In this issue Can't we just inform each other? The leaves are changing Divide anything but our bread What it's all for We choose this Can't we just inform each other? Nobody's telling us what's happening around here unless you find some corporate website that tracks you and tries to make you pay just to find out what's going on outside your door. What a drag. Can't we just inform each other, and have fun building and being in community? The leaves are changing The leaves are changing and falling, and the streets are graced with people from all walks of life. The days are growing shorter, and fall will give way to snow in a few weeks. Before we know it Santa will be at the cabin in Bancroft Park and the Christkindlmarket will be back. Divide anything but our bread I want people to see and hear themselves in our work. I want the people in this community to remember that we're in this together and that what we print is made to remind us of that. We are not here to divide anything but our bread for others, to love our neighbors, and practice mercy and kindness. What it's all for I get nervous that people's fear clouds not only their judgment but their hearts. I can be a skeptic, and quite cynical at times. I wonder what it's all for and why I'm doing this. But in the end, if one person reads our words and connects with them even a little, and it gives them a spark or the belief that they are loved, I will have done my work. We choose this I hope people are excited to see what we're up to. I hope they want to be a part of it, and that by gathering and presenting our values, beliefs and customs together, we can cherish them and let new things in while the old fades. I want Thursday to remind us that we choose this. Jeff What we told you Can't we just inform each other? The leaves are changing Divide anything but our bread What it's all for We choose this The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The archive <https://westsidewherewithal.com/issues/index> The archive Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The archive Every issue, oldest at the bottom. Free to read. If you want to chip in, the jar is on the front page. Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? 2026-10-11 The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The Westside Wherewithal <https://westsidewherewithal.com/> The Westside Wherewithal Skip to the paper We start for real in January. Sign up and the first one lands on a Thursday morning. Thursday mornings · FreeFrom your neighbors ## The Westside WherewithalBecause living west of takes a little wherewithal. Colorado Springs, Colorado A free paper for the Westside of Colorado Springs, written by the people who live here. Thursday mornings, starting January. ## Get it Thursday morning One email a week, free. Put your address in and we'll see you Thursday. Sign me up ## What the city is deciding ## About your street, before it's done You can still weigh in Open nowColorado Avenue lane test. Four lanes to three from Limit Street to 30th Street (the city's page; the Gazette says 31st), for up to a year from June 2026, paid for with $375K from the regional road tax (PPRTA, the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority). The city survey is open.The city's own page: City project page · The surveyIn the news: Gazette, lane test # Oct 26, 2026The city's 2027 budget. Public hearing Monday Oct 26, 5:30 p.m., Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada. Anyone can speak. The council talks it over at work sessions first (Oct 15 is one). What's in it for the Westside, we're reading now.The city's own page: the council calendar (Legistar) # Coming up Oct 21, 2026The community center's neighbor group (the Westside Community Center Alliance) meets Wednesday Oct 21, 4 p.m. It helps steer what the center at 1628 W Bijou becomes. Whether anyone can sit in, we're asking.The city's own page: city page, community centerStill looking for: the Alliance's own notice and the Parks Advisory Board's May minutesIn the news: Gazette, the Alliance # Apr 2027Roundabout at 31st and Fontanero, by Howbert Elementary, replacing the four-way stop. The open house was Sept 15. Construction April to fall 2027. Parents asked about the school crossing; the city says it will work with the school. The crossing drawing and the open-house boards are the documents we're after.In the news: KKTV, the roundabout # Apr 13, 2027Project Taurus. A 50-megawatt data center proposed at the old Intel plant, next to the homes in Chelsea Glen. The Planning Commission approved it 6 to 2 in July with a power cap and noise monitoring. Council put the appeal off 7 to 2 to April 13, a week after the city election, and wants a noise study and a study of what big power users pay first. The developer told Colorado Politics on Sept 18 it is weighing whether this is the right partnership.Still looking for: the noise studyIn the news: CPR, hearing date · Colorado Politics, the postponement · KKTV, the appeal # Already decided Sep 22, 2026Old Colorado City's downtown development authority (DDA) shut down. The tax district voters created in 2024 never got its funding. Council voted 5 to 4 on Sept 22 to dissolve it, ordinance 26-48 (yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams; no: Donelson, Gold, Henjum, Leinweber), after the same 5 to 4 on first reading Aug 25. KKTV reported Oct 2 that the DDA is weighing legal action because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. Who picks up the avenue's end of things is an open question.The city's own page: meeting record (Open Publica)Still looking for: the ordinance text itself, and the Aug 25 minutesIn the news: Gazette, the first vote · KKTV, the lawsuit threat # Coming up Every weekThe land. Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, the Garden, Bear Creek, the creek itself: fire restrictions, trail closures, anything the parks board decides. Nothing new on the city's pages this week; we look every Monday, and a canyon volunteer is looking with us.The city's own page: city parks, trails and open space # Already decided Since Apr 2023Greater Westside Community Plan. Nine neighborhoods, one plan: Gold Hill, Ivywild, Mesa, Mesa Springs, Midland, Old Colorado City, Skyway, Stratton Meadows, Westside. The city's page lists six meetings, the last in April 2023, plus a 2022 survey and a 'Big Ideas' summary. What came next is the question we're taking to Planning, and to the neighbors who sat in those rooms.The city's own page: city page, the plan # Checked October 11. Each one links to the city's own page where we found it. Where it says "still looking," we haven't found it yet (city websites, you know how it goes). If you've got it, send it over. Want to be the person in the room? Go to one meeting, write down what happened on this one-page sheet, and your name goes on it. A City Council Tuesday is the easy first one; you can watch it live or later from the couch. ## Vote ## Ballots are in the mail. Here's the Westside part. By Oct 26Register, or check that you're registered, at GoVoteColorado.gov. Moved since last time? Update it there too. After Oct 26 you can still register and vote in person, through Election Day.The city's own page: GoVoteColorado.gov # Till Nov 3, 7 p.m.Drop boxes west of I-25, open day and night: Red Rock Canyon shopping center, 3141 W Colorado Ave; Bear Creek Regional Park, 2002 Creek Crossing St; the clerk's office, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd; Manitou City Hall, 606 Manitou Ave. Mailing it? The county says by Oct 27. It has to arrive by 7 p.m. on Election Day; a postmark doesn't count.The city's own page: the county's list of boxes · El Paso County elections # On the ballotThe local ones: County 1A keeps the public-safety sales tax going through 2037. D11 4A is a $775 million school bond (Coronado is on the list). Then fourteen statewide questions; the state's Blue Book explains each one in plain words, for and against.The city's own page: the county's local questions · the Blue Book # Apr 6, 2027The city election: mayor and three council seats. Same registration, same website. We'll print the candidates and where they stand on the Westside.The city's own page: city election page # We don't tell you how to vote. We'd love for you to. If the Blue Book is a brick, if you can't get to a box, if you're not sure you're registered, call or text 719-201-5462 and a neighbor helps. The county pays election judges and trains them; sign up here if you've got a day. ## The next two weeks ## Oct 11 to Nov 8, checked against the calendars The market's last Saturday, Pumpkins in the Park, free bingo at the community center, the cemetery tour, the coffin races, and the same seven things every week. Every weekMon Boom Box Bingo, 7 to 11 p.m. (Mother Muff's)Tue Math tutoring, 4 to 5:30 p.m. (OCC Library)Wed Toddler Time, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Wed Open mic, 6 to 9 p.m. (Jives Coffee Lounge, 16 Colbrunn Ct)Thu Trivia, 7 to 9 p.m. (OCC Brewing)Fri Storytime, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Sat Paws to Read, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Sun Brunch Jam Band, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Mother Muff's) Sun Oct 11 all month Scarecrow Days: the storefront scarecrows, with a public vote, through Oct 31 the avenue Mon Oct 12 all day Westside CARES closed for Indigenous Peoples' Day 2808 W Colorado Tue Oct 13 9 a.m. City Council regular meeting (agenda on Legistar) 107 N Nevada 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Small Steps, Giant Leaps, Space Foundation program for ages 2 to 6 Westside Community Center Wed Oct 14 9 a.m. City Planning Commission 2880 International Cir. 5:30 to 7 p.m. Evening pickleball: donate a bag of candy to play, paddles limited Westside Community Center Thu Oct 15 7:30 a.m. Coffee with the principal Coronado High, Future Center 2 to 4 p.m. Classic board games free OCC Library 5 p.m. Mushroom Zombie Haunted House opens, through Oct 31 Mush Love Tee, the shirt shop, 2627 W Colorado Fri Oct 16 all day No school at Coronado: parent-teacher conferences, 9 to 3 in the gym Coronado High 5 to 6 p.m. Bingo at the Biscuit The Biscuit Factory Cat Lounge, 12 S 25th Sat Oct 17 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Farmers market, last Saturday of the season, 80-some vendors Bancroft Park 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Craft and art market, final Saturday History Center, 1 S 24th Sun Oct 18 evening Legends and Lore of Fairview Cemetery, a two-hour guided tour; tickets online, kids 12 and under free Fairview Cemetery, 1000 S 26th Mon Oct 19 all week Fall break at Coronado, Oct 19 to 22, no school Coronado High Wed Oct 21 4 p.m. Westside Community Center Alliance meeting Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou 5:30 to 7 p.m. Howdy Neighbor prize bingo, doors at 5, all ages, no sign-up free Westside Community Center Thu Oct 22 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Book group free OCC Library Sat Oct 24 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Emma Crawford Coffin Races, the 32nd; Manitou Avenue closes at 9 Manitou Springs noon to 6 p.m. Pumpkins in the Park: pumpkin patch, painting, face painters, costume and carving contests, the ZOOmobile, live music, a beer garden free the avenue Sun Oct 25 1 to 4 p.m. Trunk or Treat in the parking lot, and Animals of Halloween inside, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. free Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th Mon Oct 26 10 to 10:45 a.m. Bighorn sheep, an indoor program with a touch table; Mondays through Nov 30 free Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Owls of the Garden: take an owl pellet apart; $5, sign up first Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 5:30 p.m. City budget public hearing, the 2027 budget; anyone can speak Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada Tue Oct 27 all day Stroll-a-Story: a storybook walk, page by page, around the library OCC Library, 2418 W Pikes Peak Thu Oct 29 7:30 to 8:45 p.m. Haunted Manitou ghost tour, $25; also Oct 30 and 31 Memorial Park, Manitou Springs Fri Oct 30 5:30 p.m. Ghost Stories of Old Manitou, a walking tour from the museum Manitou Springs Heritage Museum Sat Oct 31 1 to 2 p.m. Why wolves in Colorado, a talk Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 2 to 4:30 p.m. Trick or Treat Street: costumed kids 1 to 6, shop to shop; look for the orange and yellow balloons the avenue, 23rd to 28th 6 p.m. Manitou Phantasmagoria Shoshone Spring courtyard, Manitou Springs evening Mushroom Zombie Haunted House, last night Mush Love Tee, the shirt shop, 2627 W Colorado Tue Nov 3 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Election Day. Ballots due by 7 p.m. at a drop box; register and vote in person at the clerk's office, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd, or Manitou City Hall El Paso County Fri Nov 6 5 to 8 p.m. First Friday ArtWalk: galleries, studios and shops open late along the avenue free the avenue, 17th to 31st Sun Nov 8 11 a.m. Altitude Makers market and farmers market free Soda Springs Park, Manitou Springs Every line above came off a calendar we can link, checked October 11. The strip up top happens every week; the list is the one-time stuff. The avenue is West Colorado Avenue; OCC is Old Colorado City; D11 is the school district. If we got a time wrong, tell us and we'll fix it in the next issue. Red Rock Canyon, the churches and the school sports pages had nothing dated for these two weeks; if you know of something, send it. Where that came from: Old Colorado City events calendar · Old Colorado City Library · Westside Community Center · History Center events · Garden of the Gods calendar ## The Bulletin Board ## Suppers, pantries, services, weddings, and the ones we lost If you need something this week, start here. Free, in your words, from you or your church or your family. Food, rent and utility help: Westside CARES, 2808 W Colorado Ave, 719-389-0759. Open Monday to Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. They prefer you walk in. Closed when the schools close for weather. Serves everyone west of I-25. Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou St, 719-385-7920. Open Monday and Friday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Tuesday to Thursday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. A corkboard, not a story. Church suppers, pantry hours, services, weddings, and the ones we lost: free, in your words, from you or your church or your family. We call to check the hours before they run. Send it by Tuesday to hello@westsidewherewithal.com, by text to 719-201-5462, on paper to the office at Suite 122, or in the box on the front page. Where that came from: Westside CARES hours · Community center hours (city page) ## The Listening Room ## Once a month. You pick where and when. Coffee with the editor, no agenda, no sign-up. The hour and the place are a vote; the winner runs in issue 1. The Listening Room isn't an office. It's one hour a month wherever we sit down, and I'd rather you picked it than me. Vote below, or write in your own. I live over here, about twenty years now, and the office on the avenue is the paper's address; it says one thing: I'm here. I'm with you. Where and when Saturday morning, the bench by the bandshell in Bancroft Park Tuesday evening, a coffee counter on the avenue Sunday afternoon, the library (once they say yes) A weeknight on Zoom, for people who work days Cast it ## The Address Book ## What was in this storefront in 1968? One storefront, one photo, what was inside. One building per issue: a photo, the address, and whoever remembers fills in the rest. The first photo is coming; if you have one, send it in below. ## Write something ## Send it in The shop that closed, the thing the city's about to do on your street, the neighbor everybody should know. Photos and drawings count, with your name on them. Send it however you like: the box below, hello@westsidewherewithal.com, a call or a text to 719-201-5462, or drop it at the office (Suite 122, 2320 W Colorado Ave). We write back. Rather talk than type? Call or text 719-201-5462 and tell me out loud; I'll write it down and you hear it read back before it runs. Under 18? Send it anyway; we'll check with you or a parent before it runs. Teachers, send the whole class. Photos come by email. En español: mándenos un texto al 719-201-5462 o escríbanos a hello@westsidewherewithal.com, en español: su cena, su misa, su aviso. No lo hablo de nacimiento; lo traducimos con un vecino y se lo leemos antes de publicar. Any other language: send it anyway, and we'll find a neighbor to translate. Want a desk? The pages signed by a desk are open; here's how to take one. Got a counter, or a box on your fence? Say so and we'll bring a stack, free, and swap the stale ones. How we do things, if you're curious. Put me down for a stack, for my counter or my library box Send it in ## The jar It's free. If a Thursday was worth something to you, throw a few bucks in the jar; it pays for the email and the printing. A check to the office works too. Pay what you want Inside: What the city is deciding · The next two weeks · On the avenue · From the desks · The next 100 years · Frontier wherewithal · Around the avenue · What came before us ## On the avenue ## I never stepped inside Base Camp, 2611 W Colorado, closed October 4, and I never ate there. Tell me the place you'd go back to. Jeff Adkins Base Camp closed on October 4. I thought it looked cool, but the menu never appealed to me in the moment, and it's hard to take me away from the dozen places I adore already. Sad to say I never stepped inside. That's on me, and I'm not alone. Empty storefronts are not what we want here. What keeps a place open is anyone and everyone who can afford to spend local dollars in it, and I am going to try hard to keep mixing it up. If you're thinking about working and making a living here, I wish I could appeal to you directly: we need you. Old Colorado City (OCC from here on) is a tourist destination, for locals and for travelers. I know this. I gladly give up my street parking for events because I know we need them. If I want OCC Brewing to be here 365 days a year, I need them to sustain themselves. That means me not griping about the traffic or the parking over here. Not everyone can afford to eat out or shop on the avenue. I understand that; I don't feel obligated to, and neither should you. I'm fortunate that I can budget for a meal out, and I try to go during the week, when places are less busy and could frankly use the business. So I can't complain about Base Camp closing if I didn't eat there, and I can't blame not eating there on the parking. Tell me the place you'd go back to. What we know: Base Camp, 2611 W Colorado Ave, opened March 2025 and closed October 4; the owner cited costs and the economy. Mountain Shadows, the restaurant four blocks east, closed December 2024 and sold in January. Where that came from: Gazette, Oct 2, 2026 · Gazette, Jan 20, 2025 · OCC Brewing ## From the desks ## Ten desks, one neighborhood Celebrating, remembering, forecasting. Each desk is open; a neighbor's name goes on it the day they take it. The Wherewithal desks Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in · the 52 Thursdays of 2027, as a walk through the seasons The man who wrote down the Westside · 604 columns, the elk, the tunnels, and who keeps the record now Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper · the vote, the names, what's still unknown, and how to be in the room See that building? Look again · five storefronts and what they were, from the columns and the 1902 map Where the asphalt gives up · Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, Bear Creek; this fall, and the seed rule The elk who pulled a carriage · for kids: three things to find on the walk to school, and a dare Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad · la mesa en español: ayuda, el voto, cómo escribirnos Who's cooking on the Westside this week · six tables, as their own pages say it; we call before it prints Three picks before Halloween · the market's last Saturday, the coffin races, pumpkins in the park, and where to park The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead · every date headed for your street, and the door into each one Every desk is written from the record we hold and says so at the top. None of it is an interview yet; those are coming. Every one is open: what each desk takes, and how to take one. One text, one coffee. ## The next 100 years ## Four lanes to three, for a year Four lanes to three, Limit to 30th, for a year. The city survey is open. One driver's take below; if yours differs, next issue's yours. Jeff Adkins 1902 · Sanborn fire insurance map, sheet 2, Colorado Avenue · Library of Congress, public domain 2027 · lane drawing · city of Colorado Springs, Colorado Avenue demonstration, phase two What we know: four lanes to three from Limit to 30th by the city's page (the Gazette says 31st), since June 2026, for up to a year; the city calls it the Colorado Avenue Demonstration Project; $375K of county transportation tax (PPRTA) money. The Gazette counts about 30 parking spaces added, metered; the city's page says parking changes are expected to be minimal. We've asked the project team which it is. A second phase in 2027 makes some of it permanent and redoes three blocks of streetscape (Gazette); permanent reconstruction is penciled for 2027 or 2028 (Bike Colorado Springs). The city survey is open. One driver's take, mine (and my office is on the avenue, at 2320): it's great to see so much more attention being paid to pedestrians, and it doesn't slow me down at all. I haven't timed it; if you have, send the numbers. It may add parking, metered; the city and the Gazette disagree on how much (see the record), and nobody has said yet where someone who lives over a shop parks overnight. The city is taking comments until the concrete goes down. If you drive it, bike it, or cross it with a stroller, say so. If you hate it, this space is yours next issue, same length, your name on it. What do I want to still be here in 2126? Westsiders. Hyper local, no corporate nonsense, and room for whoever shows up to stay. Where that came from: Sanborn 1902 (LoC) · City project page · The city survey · Gazette, May 20, 2026 · Bike Colorado Springs ## Frontier wherewithal ## Load up for winter, survive the summer Not just another old west town. Two tame elk, tunnels under the avenue, four to six weeks a year you'd rather be in the water. Jeff Adkins If you're new here you might think this is just another old west town. If you're passing through, maybe we should let you believe it. Our summers are dry and shorter than most, but they stop and start and come back the most. I'd say we have about four to six weeks a year where you'd want to be holed up in the cabin or in the water, which can be tricky to find. We need to know how to load up for winter, survive the summer, and not die of dehydration. And like every place with lore, we have a guy who trained two tame elk, Thunder and Buttons, to pull a carriage, plus tunnels and brothels and churches, oh my. We love it here. What we know: Thunder and Buttons were elk; Prairie Dog O'Byrne drove them hitched to a carriage on this avenue in the late 1880s. The tunnels under the avenue are documented by the historical society, with the honest caveat that some of it may be something else. Colorado City voted itself dry in 1913. Where that came from: Westside Pioneer, 2006 · Cobweb Corners, 2005 · Gazette, July 2021, the tunnels · Thunder and Buttons II ## Around the avenue ## Getting to know them is the point I don't know everyone yet. Getting to know them is the point. Jeff Adkins What we know so far: Who's opening and who's moving: we've heard about three and have an address for none, so none are named yet. Send the name and the block. The Old Colorado City Historical Society runs a free museum at 1 South 24th, a block off the avenue. Tuesday through Saturday, 11 to 4 in summer and 11 to 2 in winter. Call before you drive. The free Tuesday concerts at the Bancroft Park bandshell ran June 2 through September 29 this year, 5:30, Dizzy Charlie's and the Pikes Peak Blues Community. Next summer's lineup runs here the week it's announced. First Friday art walk, 5 to 8, galleries and studios along the avenue. Next one is November 6. The Customs and Classics car show closes the avenue from 23rd to 27th one Sunday every August. If the one you went to was a different show this fall, tell us which. This is the stuff I get to see everyone else doing. I enjoy seeing them do it. It doesn't matter to me if I don't know anyone in the room, because getting to know them is the point of this life. And that's what I'm here to capture in this paper. I shouldn't pretend to know things I don't. Where that came from: OCC History Center · Tuesday concerts (Springs Magazine) · First Friday (OCC calendar) · The car show (Pioneer, 2018) ## What came before us ## I want it all Mel McFarland died in September; I indexed the 604 columns I found. Eight digs, from the capital that got away to the forgotten cemetery. Jeff Adkins Start here: Mel McFarland, who wrote the Westside's past in the Pioneer for fifteen years, died in September at 81. Most of what is below comes from his columns. I found 604 and indexed every one I found; the one-line summaries there are software drafts, not yet checked one by one. Who keeps the record now is a question this paper exists to answer. I want the best stories from Old Colorado City. I want to dig down and find the most awesome stuff we can publish: how people first lived here, how it went from zero to what it is today, funny things, shootouts, jail time for crimes that make us laugh and cry, mysteries and murders. I want it all. What did we used to do and stop? What was, but isn't? What could have been, but never was? The digs I can't do alone: your church, your family, your block. Send them. What we found first: The capital that got away. Colorado City was founded in August 1859 to outfit gold seekers, was the county seat by 1861, and held the territorial capital just long enough to lose it to Denver. One account says the town was deemed too rowdy. Zero to four thousand. Mel has the town past 2,000 by 1890; the 1892 fire-insurance map (the Sanborn) writes 2,000 on its own cover, and the 1902 sheet writes 4,000. The town voted itself dry in 1913, lost the saloon money, and voted to be annexed by Colorado Springs in April 1917. Four saloons to twenty-seven. By the Pioneer's 2009 count (a feature, not one of Mel's columns): four in 1884, twenty-three by 1888, twenty-seven in 1902 plus thirty-some gambling halls, on a main street that also had the churches. Laura Bell McDaniel. From the Pioneer's 2011 profile, not the index: queen of the tenderloin; her last house was the Tribley House in the 2600 block of West Cucharras. She married Tom McDaniel in April 1887 in Salida; a month later he shot a man five times while she watched, and was acquitted. She divorced him in 1893. Accused in November 1917 of stealing liquor and acquitted; the historian who wrote her up thinks it was a set-up. Died in a car crash in January 1918. The elk were O'Byrne's by Mel's column (bought in Aspen in 1888); a 2006 Pioneer piece has her riding beside him in the carriage. The Glass Works. Full production in 1889 with 200 men on the south edge of town, bottling Manitou water. The furnace top collapsed just after midnight on September 9, 1892. Wheeler promised to rebuild; the Silver Panic of 1893 and the lost customers finished it. One of Mel's columns says it closed in 1895, another says by 1900; one puts a fire in 1893 as well. The Midland shops. The Colorado Midland started here in 1886 and quit in 1918; the Midland Terminal ran the line to Divide until it was scrapped in 1949. Hundreds of men in the shops at the peak, under a hundred by 1925, about fifty by 1948; the office burned in 1953. The fourteen-stall roundhouse is the one that lived: Van Briggle pottery, then the shops you walk through now. The mills. The Colorado-Philadelphia came first, in 1894 by one of Mel's columns and about 1897 by another, near 31st and U.S. 24. Golden Cycle took over the Telluride mill in 1906, rebuilt it with cyanide after a 1907 fire, and ran it until 1949; the smokestack is still there. The forgotten cemetery. Colorado City's Pioneer cemetery, on the mesa, used from about 1860 to 1917. Not every burial was moved; the stones came out in the 1940s and it became Pioneer Park in the 1950s. Graves were mapped with metal detectors in the 1970s, a project Mel joined, and a cast-iron coffin may still be there. Who is in it is still the question. Where that came from: Why the fuss? (Pioneer) · Laura Bell McDaniel (Pioneer, 2011) · Thunder and Buttons (Cobweb Corners, 2005) · The Glass Works, 200 men (Cobweb Corners, 2011) · The Glass Works fire (Cobweb Corners, 2011) · The Glass Works closed 1895 (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The Midland, 1886 to 1918 (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The Midland shops decline (Cobweb Corners, 2009) · The roundhouse (Cobweb Corners, 2007) · The mills (Cobweb Corners, 2013) · Golden Cycle closes, 1949 (Cobweb Corners, 2006) · The capital, the county seat (Cobweb Corners, 2009) · The forgotten cemetery (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The forgotten cemetery (Cobweb Corners, 2017) · Mel McFarland, 1945 to 2026 (Gazette) · Every Cobweb Corners column, indexed · Colorado City Iris, digitized (CHNC) If something here is wrong, reply to the email or send it in below. Corrections run at the top of the next issue. Behind the masthead: Sanborn fire insurance map of Colorado City, November 1902, sheet 1. Library of Congress, public domain. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad <https://westsidewherewithal.com/la-vecina> Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad La Vecina, la mesa en español. Traducción nuestra; buscamos a un vecino o vecina que la tome y firme aquí. Vecina, vecino: Le escribo con las hojas ya cambiando de color y las tardes más cortas. Aquí entre nosotros, quería contarle lo que sé. Si usted vive al oeste de la I-25, este periódico es para usted. Se llama The Westside Wherewithal, sale cada semana y es gratis. Lo escribimos entre vecinos: lo que abre, lo que cierra, lo que se vota, lo que llega al parque. Y queremos saber de usted. Cuéntenos lo que ve en su cuadra, en su iglesia, en su trabajo, y hágalo en español, en sus propias palabras. Si esta semana necesita una mano, vaya a Westside CARES, en 2808 W Colorado Ave. Abren de lunes a jueves, de 9:30 a.m. a 12:30 p.m., y no hace falta cita. Atienden a todos los que viven al oeste de la I-25. Llame al 719-389-0759. También tiene el Westside Community Center, en 1628 W Bijou St, teléfono 719-385-7920. Abre lunes y viernes, de 9 a.m. a 3 p.m., y de martes a jueves, de 9 a.m. a 7 p.m. Ahora el voto, en claro. Hasta el 26 de octubre puede registrarse, o revisar si ya está registrado, en GoVoteColorado.gov. Pasada esa fecha, todavía puede hacerlo en persona, hasta el día de la elección. Y para dejar su boleta, las urnas están abiertas hasta las 7 p.m. del 3 de noviembre en cuatro lugares: el centro comercial Red Rock Canyon, 3141 W Colorado Ave; Bear Creek Regional Park, 2002 Creek Crossing St; la oficina del secretario del condado, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd; y el ayuntamiento de Manitou, 606 Manitou Ave. Aquí no le decimos cómo votar. Solo le decimos dónde y cuándo. En diciembre el Christkindlmarket vuelve a Bancroft Park. Cuando tengamos los días, se los pasamos aquí. Si quiere escribirnos, mande un texto al 719-201-5462 o un correo a hello@westsidewherewithal.com, en español. El editor no habla español de cuna. Traduce con un vecino y lo vuelve a leer con él antes de que algo se imprima. También tenemos una hoja en español en westsidewherewithal.com/sheet-es. Y una cosa honesta: esta página es traducción nuestra. Buscamos a un vecino o vecina que hable español para que tome esta mesa y firme aquí con su nombre. Hasta la próxima semana, vecino. Un abrazo, La Vecina The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The print pack <https://westsidewherewithal.com/print> The print pack Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The print pack Everything to print this week, how many, and where it goes. Any copy shop; a home printer works for the one-sheets. What to print PrintFileHowCopies The one-sheetsheet.pdfLetter, one side (two sides if you want the puzzle back: sheet-back.pdf)20 Large printsheet-large.pdfLetter, two sides5 La hoja (Spanish)sheet-es.pdfLetter, one side10 The box editionzine-box.pdfLetter, landscape, two sheets, two-sided, flip on the short edge; nest sheet 2 inside sheet 1, fold once; no staples20 Every print says "good till Oct 25" or has no dates. A stale stack gets swapped; call and we bring more. Where it goes PlaceWhatHow many The gas station at 31stone-sheet5 The hardware storeone-sheet5 A diner on the avenueone-sheet, and ask about a tray5 The OCC History Center, 1 S 24thone-sheet5 Your own door, Suite 122one-sheet, box edition5 and 5 The grocery at 31stla hoja10 The senior table at the community center, 1628 W Bijoularge print5 The little free library at the old Carnegie building, 701 Manitou Avebox edition8 The Head Start box, 2330 Robinson Stbox edition7 The ask at a counter, two sentences: "It's a free weekly paper for the Westside, written by neighbors, nothing for you to pay and nothing to sell. Can it sit here, and can I refill it on Thursdays?" Say yes to any condition they add. What to watch Count what's left after a week. Note any call or text to 719-201-5462 and any word find or quiz score that comes in. That's the first real test; everything before it was rehearsal. The reader inbox was empty on October 11. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Plant this (when it exists) <https://westsidewherewithal.com/seeds> Plant this (when it exists) Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Plant this (when it exists) There are no seed strips yet. This is the plan, written down before the first one so nobody has to guess. Some copies of the zine will carry a small sealed strip of seed paper. Plant it in your own yard, a friend's yard with their yes, a community garden, or a school bed with the principal's okay. Not in a park, not in open space, not in Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, the Garden of the Gods or Bear Creek, not along the creek or a trail, and never after a fire. Those places get seeded by the people who manage them, with seed matched to the ground, and a stranger's strip does more harm than good there. What's in it: Colorado natives from a Colorado grower (Western Native Seed, in Coaldale): Lewis blue flax, Rocky Mountain penstemon, blanketflower, prairie coneflower. Nothing from the state's noxious weed list, which is where the cheap "wildflower mixes" go wrong. Plant in fall; the penstemon wants a winter in the ground. Plant it, take a picture when something comes up, send it in. The best ones run in the paper with your name on them. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Take a desk <https://westsidewherewithal.com/take-a-desk> Take a desk Moved to /desks. --- # Thank you <https://westsidewherewithal.com/thanks> Thank you Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Thank you That's the whole transaction. No tier, no badge, no extra issue. The paper keeps going, and your name goes on the once-a-year list of people who chipped in, alphabetical, no amounts, unless you'd rather it didn't. Reply to any issue to say so. See you Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The elk who pulled a carriage <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-box> The elk who pulled a carriage Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The elk who pulled a carriage The Box desk, for kids and whoever is with them. When a neighbor (or a kid) takes this desk, their name goes here. Okay. You're the boss today. Walk to school, but make it a hunt. Find three things. One: a little free library. It's a box on a post full of books, and you can take one. We know of 27 of them west of I-25. Two you can visit: the one at the old Carnegie library building, 701 Manitou Ave, and the one at the Head Start, 2330 Robinson St. Two: the red rocks at the end of the street. Stop and look. Three: one leaf. Pick the best one on the block. Keep it. It's a bookmark now. Okay. Now the elk. In 1888, a man named John O'Byrne got two tame elk from a judge in Aspen. He trained them to pull his tourist carriage down this very avenue. Their names were Thunder and Buttons. Yes, elk. Yes, a carriage. Eventually a movie company bought them and took them to Alaska to film advertisements. Thunder and Buttons were in commercials. (Also true.) (Bonus, also true: in 1880 a train crew calmed a cold, panicking circus elephant at Colorado Springs with a keg of beer. Aunt's honor.) Ask a grown-up. Point at any building on your walk and ask: "What was here before?" Then listen. Your move, boss. This fall: Halloween, Oct 31, 2 to 4:30 p.m.: Trick or Treat Street on the avenue, 23rd to 28th. Costumed kids 1 to 6. Look for the orange and yellow balloons. Bring a little cousin. Mondays, 10 a.m.: the bighorn sheep program at the Garden of the Gods Visitor Center. December: the Christkindlmarket comes back to Bancroft Park, bigger than last year, with Santa at the cabin. Bonus level: the paper in the box has games. A word find whose leftover letters spell a message. A five-question quiz with the answers printed upside down. And a map to draw on: it's the 1902 map of Colorado City, when the town had 4,000 people. You can see it at westsidewherewithal.com/zine-box, page 6. The dare. Draw Thunder and Buttons pulling the carriage. Go big. Give the tourists faces. Then put it in the little free library box, or send it to hello@westsidewherewithal.com with your first name. We print the best ones. See you on the avenue. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-next-hundred> The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead The Next Hundred desk. Written from the city's own pages and the ballot; dates change, and we fix them when they do. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Right now, Colorado Avenue. Four lanes have been three from Limit to 30th since June, for up to a year. Watch the lanes. Your move: fill out the city survey after you've driven it, biked it, or crossed it with a stroller. The avenue went on a diet and nobody asked it. Oct 21 and Oct 26. The community center's neighbor group meets Wednesday the 21st at 4 p.m.; it helps steer what the center at 1628 W Bijou becomes. Monday the 26th, 5:30 p.m.: the 2027 budget's public hearing at 107 N Nevada. Anyone can speak; the council calendar lists the work sessions before it. Your move: pick one and go. The budget reads better with you. Nov 3. Ballots are due by 7 p.m. County 1A would keep the public-safety sales tax going through 2037. D11's 4A is a $775 million school bond, and Coronado is on the list. Your move: vote, and use a drop box if the mail feels slow. There's one at 3141 W Colorado Ave. Seven o'clock does not negotiate. December. The Christkindlmarket comes back to Bancroft Park, bigger. Bancroft is the pupil of the eye, so a bigger market could mean a fuller avenue and fewer spots out front. Your move: go, and walk. The car can stay home. April 6, 2027. The city election: mayor and three council seats. Your move: register or check your registration, and ask every candidate what they would do about the avenue. The avenue will hear about it. April 13. Council hears the appeal on Project Taurus, the 50-megawatt data center proposed at the old Intel plant next to the homes in Chelsea Glen. The Planning Commission approved it 6 to 2 in July with a power cap and noise monitoring; council wants a noise study first, and the hearing falls a week after you vote (Colorado Politics). The developer says it is weighing the partnership, so the date could still move. Your move: read the noise study when it exists, and show up. Read quietly. April to fall 2027. A roundabout replaces the four-way stop at 31st and Fontanero by Howbert Elementary, on the western gateway to the red rocks. Parents asked about the school crossing, and the city says it will work with the school. Your move: if you walk kids there, ask the school what they've been told. Four stops become one circle. Around June 2027. The lane test's year ends, give or take. Nothing we've found says what comes after. Your move: whatever you think of the test, say so before it ends. A year is long enough for an opinion. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The man who wrote down the Westside <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-porch-mcfarland> The man who wrote down the Westside Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The man who wrote down the Westside The Porch desk. Written from the record; the editor's conversations with his family and friends are coming. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. If you ever wondered whether there really were tunnels under Colorado Avenue, Mel McFarland is a big part of why you wondered. I'll tell you what I know. He died September 21, at 81. From 2004 to 2019 he wrote 604 "Cobweb Corners" columns about this neighborhood for the Westside Pioneer. He was born here in 1944, a fourth-generation native, taught art and drafting, and wrote books on the Colorado Midland Railway. In 1983 he bought a retired working caboose for his Rockrimmon backyard, and became "the Caboose Guy." Dave Martinek, who started Midland Days at Divide with him in 2009, told the Gazette: "He was the go-to person for anyone who wanted to know about railroad history in the state." His nephew Luc MacArthur called him "kind of a Renaissance man." His sister, Elaine Radney, said: "He had a lot of people who loved him." He wrote it down. Here is some of it. On February 3, 2005, he wrote down the story of John O'Byrne, who in 1888 got two tame elk, Thunder and Buttons, and trained them to pull a tourist carriage. Here is the column. On April 7, 2005, he wrote down the tunnels, the ones that let Colorado Avenue customers reach the Cucharras Street brothels unseen. He had "seen the remains of bits of both" sets of tunnels himself. On November 17, 2011, he wrote down the Glass Works disaster. Just after midnight on September 9, 1892, the furnace top collapsed and fiery glass poured out. Chunks of raw glass still show up now and then in neighborhood yards and rock walls, he wrote. On November 14, 2013, he wrote down the day a Teller County sheriff chained a Pullman sleeper car to the rails over $663.21 in unpaid taxes, and a U.S. marshal freed it two days later. Read it. Here's the thing. The Gazette says he left "file cabinets" of research and writing, and that his family hopes to sift through them, with no concrete plans yet. The next person who asks "was there really a glass plant over here?" gets a shrug. We can't fix that. What we have is an index of all 604 columns, by what each one reports, at westsidewherewithal.com/cobweb. The editor plans to call his sister, Dave Martinek, the Pioneer's editor Kenyon Jordan, and the History Center, and we'll tell you what they say. The question we're taking to them is who keeps the record now. We'd like to be part of the answer, and we'd like yours. Did a column of his stick with you? Tell us which one. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-record-dda> Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper The Record desk. Written from the city's own pages and the news; the Aug 25 minutes are still to be read. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. If you missed the council meeting last month, here is the entry. A downtown development authority, a DDA, is a small district set up by a vote. It is supposed to get its own pot of money to spend on one downtown. In 2024, Old Colorado City voters created one for the avenue. It never got its funding. It was created by a vote and ended by a vote, and the money never turned up in between. On Sept 22, City Council voted 5 to 4 to dissolve it. That's ordinance 26-48. The meeting record has the roll call. That's on paper. Yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams No: Donelson, Gold, Henjum, Leinweber The Gazette reported the first vote, on Aug 25, as the same 5 to 4. That's reported. On Oct 2, KKTV reported that the DDA is weighing legal action, because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. That's reported too. That is the whole ledger so far. Here is what we don't know: The Aug 25 minutes. We have the first vote from the news, not from the minutes. Until we've read them, the date and the count are reported, not checked. Whether a lawsuit is filed. KKTV says the DDA is considering one. We haven't found a filing. That isn't on paper. We'll say so when it is. What the DDA was going to buy. The records we have don't list its plan, so we won't guess. If you voted in 2024, or sat in those rooms, tell us what you were told. Who picks up the avenue's end of things now. Nobody has answered that in anything we've read. That isn't on paper either. We are taking the question to the next meeting. Some of those answers are in a room on a Tuesday morning. You can be in it. City Council meets the second and fourth Tuesdays at 9 a.m., 107 N Nevada, and you can watch from home. You don't have to say a word. Take the one-page sheet, write down what happens, and your name goes on it. The Oct 13 meeting is the next one. If you were at the Aug 25 meeting, or you have the minutes, send them over. Tell me what I got wrong. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Where the asphalt gives up <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-ridge> Where the asphalt gives up Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Where the asphalt gives up The Ridge desk. Written from the city's pages and the groups' own sites; a canyon volunteer reads it before it prints. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Rain or snow, and the trails hold it. Friends of Red Rock Canyon says wait a day or two, because they stay muddy and fragile for 24 to 48 hours. Follow 21st down to Bear Creek, then keep going west. Around 30th and 31st the asphalt gives up. The red sandstone takes over. Red Rock Canyon is the pocket to the south. The city bought it in 2003, after it had been slated for a resort with high-rise towers and a private golf course. The city's open space page lists it among the places TOPS, the sales tax voters passed for open space, made possible. It nearly went the other way. Parking. The 31st Street trailhead has more than the High Street lots. No e-bikes in the open space. This fall. The Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th, runs a free bighorn sheep program with a touch table, Mondays 10 to 10:45 a.m. through Nov 30. Owls of the Garden is Oct 26, 12:30 to 1:30. Tickets from $5, sign up first. Oct 31, 1 to 2 p.m., a talk on why wolves in Colorado. The Garden's calendar has details. What's being decided. The Park System Master Plan goes to City Council for readings Oct 12 and 27, after the parks board heard it Oct 8. White Acres Trail is becoming the Don Ellis Trail. The board approved it Aug 13; it waits on an agreement and an $850 city fee. Fire restrictions: the city's page shows none this week, and we are checking with the fire department. We'll tell you what we hear. The seed rule. Some copies of this paper will carry a strip of Colorado native seed: Lewis blue flax, Rocky Mountain penstemon, blanketflower, prairie coneflower, from Western Native Seed in Coaldale. Plant it in your yard, a friend's yard with their yes, or a community garden. Never in a park, open space, along the creek or a trail, and never after a fire. The people who manage those places seed with plants matched to the ground, and a stranger's strip can do more harm than good. Groups to join. Friends of Red Rock Canyon keeps up the benches and runs Talk and Walks, resuming soon (no date yet). The Trails and Open Space Coalition takes members and runs the One Bag Challenge cleanups. Friends of Garden of the Gods runs volunteer days. Our promise. Every Monday this desk reads the city's parks pages, and a canyon volunteer reads them with us. If nothing's new, we'll say so. Which trail was muddy this week? Tell me and I'll pass it along. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Who's cooking on the Westside this week <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-table> Who's cooking on the Westside this week Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Who's cooking on the Westside this week The Table desk. Hours are as the churches and pantries post them, checked October 11; we call before they go on the Bulletin Board. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Here's how it works. Somebody on this side of the interstate is feeding somebody nearly every day of the week, mostly out of church basements, and the people at the stoves are neighbors who are very good at it. We went looking for the tables. There are more than we figured. Everything below is what each place says on its own page as of October 11. We haven't called any of them yet, so please do before you go. Hours move, and a wrong one costs somebody a trip. Sunday The Sanctuary Church, 1930 W Colorado Ave, lists its Ragamuffin Cafe hot meal at 9 a.m. Call 719-634-7232. It's the only Sunday hot meal we found over here. If you know another, tell us. Monday Westside CARES, 2808 W Colorado Ave, posts a weekly hot meal from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Call 719-389-0759. Same day, Sacred Heart's pantry is posted noon to 2 p.m. at the Parish Center door, 2030 W Colorado Ave. No voucher. Call 719-633-8711. Tuesday Westside Global Methodist, 701 N 20th St, posts its pantry from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Call 719-633-9295. If you still call it Trinity UMC, that's the same corner with a new name, and the old building on W Pikes Peak is becoming a child care center. Wednesday The Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou St, hosts the CARES pantry from 1 to 3 p.m. Call 719-385-7920. Up the road in Manitou, the pantry at 110 Canon Ave was last reported at 1 to 2 p.m., with a hot meal starting at 12:30 p.m. Call 719-685-9259. St. Andrew's closed as a church in 2025, but the pantry kept going in the parish hall. Hats off to the people who kept it going. Thursday Sacred Heart again, same hours, same door, no voucher. Call 719-633-8711. Know another table? That's six tables, and I'd bet my good parking spot there are more. Churches, clubs, a neighbor with a big pot and a folding table. If your church or group feeds people, text 719-201-5462 or write hello@westsidewherewithal.com with the day and the hour. We'll call, confirm it, and print it, free, in your words. That's what the Bulletin Board is for. It's where every table lives, every week, so nobody has to guess which church has soup on which night. See you at the table. Tell us what we got wrong. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Three picks before Halloween <https://westsidewherewithal.com/weekend-radar> Three picks before Halloween Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Three picks before Halloween The Weekend Radar desk. Every line checked against the organizer's own page. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Two weekends, three picks, and I've already parked for all of them. Read this, then go. Go to the farmers market. Saturday, October 17, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., Bancroft Park, 24th and Colorado. It's the last Saturday of the season, with 80-some vendors, and there is no next Saturday. Go early, because the best of anything goes first. Parking: don't circle the park hoping. Take a side street and walk the last bit. Saturday, October 24 is two things at once. Pick one. First, the coffin races. The Emma Crawford Coffin Races run 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Manitou Springs. Parking: Manitou Avenue closes at 9, so get there before the road shuts and the crowd fills in, and plan to walk in. Second, the pumpkins. Pumpkins in the Park is noon to 6 p.m. on the avenue, free, with a pumpkin patch, painting, costume and carving contests, the ZOOmobile, live music and a beer garden. Parking: the avenue's diagonal spots fill on a festival Saturday, so take a side street and walk in. Don't try to do both in one afternoon. Choose, then start the day with it. The things that are always there. If the festivals are not your speed, or you just need a Thursday: trivia at OCC Brewing every Thursday, 7 to 9 p.m. Storytime at the OCC Library every Friday, 10:30 a.m. Brunch Jam Band at Mother Muff's every Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Free bingo on the 21st, Trunk or Treat on the 25th, Trick or Treat Street on the 31st and First Friday ArtWalk on November 6 are all on the full list, with times. That list lives at westsidewherewithal.com, and it's also the one-sheet on the counters around the avenue. Got something happening that we missed? Send it to hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or text 719-201-5462. We'll check it against your own page and put it in. See you Saturday. I'll be the one who parked early. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in <https://westsidewherewithal.com/year-ahead> Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in The Year Ahead desk. Written from the editor's calendar; no interviews yet. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Picture the fridge calendar. Every Thursday of 2027 is penciled in, and you're coming along. One honest aside: it's plans, all of it. Nothing has been reported yet, and some weeks may not land. Winter first. Week one: The Reset Issue. Quiet workspaces, reading refuges, and I'd be surprised if the Carnegie library stays out. And then we eat through the cold. The quest for the best broth in OCC. A reader poll for the best breakfast burrito west of I-25. A 4 a.m. shift with a Westside baker. Then February: a cocktail lounge audit off Main Street, an Alternative Valentine, pints by the fireplace, and how the vintage and antiques shops survive winter. Spring opens up. Red Rock Canyon hikes, with lunches after. The carriage house makers working out of alleys. St. Patrick week. And then the thaw, when we find out which counters open their windows. The under-$15 lunch circuit. A patio audit covering shade, noise, pints and dogs. Seed swaps. Coffee roasters. A Territory Days survival guide. A First Friday gallery crawl. Spring tap releases. Summer gets loud. Hosting out-of-towners without crossing I-25. The Bancroft Park farmers market, booth by booth. Gelato. Where a line cook eats at midnight. Secret courtyards. Quiet Fourth of July viewpoints. Live music on the bricks, and I'm hoping the bandshell gets a paragraph. You pick the coldest drinks. Then the Pueblo chile arrives. Nightcaps and jukeboxes after 10, and I'd bet Mother Muff's comes up. Then a back-to-school pantry run, Uintah Gardens an obvious stop. Fall, the leg I'm saving. The annual pizza index: Slice 420 against Rustica against Leopold's, and we'll need lots of you to settle it. Golden aspens. Autumn ciders. A locals' guide for after the tourists leave. Ghost signs, spooky lore, wood-fired and cast iron cooking (Front Range BBQ, you're on my mind). Thanksgiving hosting. Best of the Westside nominations. Small Business Saturday. And then a Black Friday antidote at Section 16 and Bear Creek. December: a 100% Westside gift guide, a winter lights walk, the Best of the Westside winners, the solstice and quiet patios, and a last issue called Looking Ahead. Every week also carries a civic item and an oral history. A 40-year diner regular. A couple who met at Bancroft in 1988. A chile roaster of 25 seasons. A dishwasher who worked 300 shifts. A high school senior looking at the Westside's future. Tell me which month I got wrong, or which place I forgot. The pencil's by the fridge, and I'll see you the first Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? <https://westsidewherewithal.com/issues/2026-10-11-issue-0> Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? 2026-10-11 In this issue Can't we just inform each other? The leaves are changing Divide anything but our bread What it's all for We choose this Can't we just inform each other? Nobody's telling us what's happening around here unless you find some corporate website that tracks you and tries to make you pay just to find out what's going on outside your door. What a drag. Can't we just inform each other, and have fun building and being in community? The leaves are changing The leaves are changing and falling, and the streets are graced with people from all walks of life. The days are growing shorter, and fall will give way to snow in a few weeks. Before we know it Santa will be at the cabin in Bancroft Park and the Christkindlmarket will be back. Divide anything but our bread I want people to see and hear themselves in our work. I want the people in this community to remember that we're in this together and that what we print is made to remind us of that. We are not here to divide anything but our bread for others, to love our neighbors, and practice mercy and kindness. What it's all for I get nervous that people's fear clouds not only their judgment but their hearts. I can be a skeptic, and quite cynical at times. I wonder what it's all for and why I'm doing this. But in the end, if one person reads our words and connects with them even a little, and it gives them a spark or the belief that they are loved, I will have done my work. We choose this I hope people are excited to see what we're up to. I hope they want to be a part of it, and that by gathering and presenting our values, beliefs and customs together, we can cherish them and let new things in while the old fades. I want Thursday to remind us that we choose this. Jeff What we told you Can't we just inform each other? The leaves are changing Divide anything but our bread What it's all for We choose this The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The archive <https://westsidewherewithal.com/issues/index> The archive Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The archive Every issue, oldest at the bottom. Free to read. If you want to chip in, the jar is on the front page. Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? 2026-10-11 The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The Westside Wherewithal <https://westsidewherewithal.com/> The Westside Wherewithal Skip to the paper We start for real in January. Sign up and the first one lands on a Thursday morning. Thursday mornings · FreeFrom your neighbors ## The Westside WherewithalBecause living west of takes a little wherewithal. Colorado Springs, Colorado A free paper for the Westside of Colorado Springs, written by the people who live here. Thursday mornings, starting January. ## Get it Thursday morning One email a week, free. Put your address in and we'll see you Thursday. Sign me up ## What the city is deciding ## About your street, before it's done You can still weigh in Open nowColorado Avenue lane test. Four lanes to three from Limit Street to 30th Street (the city's page; the Gazette says 31st), for up to a year from June 2026, paid for with $375K from the regional road tax (PPRTA, the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority). The city survey is open.The city's own page: City project page · The surveyIn the news: Gazette, lane test # Oct 26, 2026The city's 2027 budget. Public hearing Monday Oct 26, 5:30 p.m., Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada. Anyone can speak. The council talks it over at work sessions first (Oct 15 is one). What's in it for the Westside, we're reading now.The city's own page: the council calendar (Legistar) # Coming up Oct 21, 2026The community center's neighbor group (the Westside Community Center Alliance) meets Wednesday Oct 21, 4 p.m. It helps steer what the center at 1628 W Bijou becomes. Whether anyone can sit in, we're asking.The city's own page: city page, community centerStill looking for: the Alliance's own notice and the Parks Advisory Board's May minutesIn the news: Gazette, the Alliance # Apr 2027Roundabout at 31st and Fontanero, by Howbert Elementary, replacing the four-way stop. The open house was Sept 15. Construction April to fall 2027. Parents asked about the school crossing; the city says it will work with the school. The crossing drawing and the open-house boards are the documents we're after.In the news: KKTV, the roundabout # Apr 13, 2027Project Taurus. A 50-megawatt data center proposed at the old Intel plant, next to the homes in Chelsea Glen. The Planning Commission approved it 6 to 2 in July with a power cap and noise monitoring. Council put the appeal off 7 to 2 to April 13, a week after the city election, and wants a noise study and a study of what big power users pay first. The developer told Colorado Politics on Sept 18 it is weighing whether this is the right partnership.Still looking for: the noise studyIn the news: CPR, hearing date · Colorado Politics, the postponement · KKTV, the appeal # Already decided Sep 22, 2026Old Colorado City's downtown development authority (DDA) shut down. The tax district voters created in 2024 never got its funding. Council voted 5 to 4 on Sept 22 to dissolve it, ordinance 26-48 (yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams; no: Donelson, Gold, Henjum, Leinweber), after the same 5 to 4 on first reading Aug 25. KKTV reported Oct 2 that the DDA is weighing legal action because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. Who picks up the avenue's end of things is an open question.The city's own page: meeting record (Open Publica)Still looking for: the ordinance text itself, and the Aug 25 minutesIn the news: Gazette, the first vote · KKTV, the lawsuit threat # Coming up Every weekThe land. Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, the Garden, Bear Creek, the creek itself: fire restrictions, trail closures, anything the parks board decides. Nothing new on the city's pages this week; we look every Monday, and a canyon volunteer is looking with us.The city's own page: city parks, trails and open space # Already decided Since Apr 2023Greater Westside Community Plan. Nine neighborhoods, one plan: Gold Hill, Ivywild, Mesa, Mesa Springs, Midland, Old Colorado City, Skyway, Stratton Meadows, Westside. The city's page lists six meetings, the last in April 2023, plus a 2022 survey and a 'Big Ideas' summary. What came next is the question we're taking to Planning, and to the neighbors who sat in those rooms.The city's own page: city page, the plan # Checked October 11. Each one links to the city's own page where we found it. Where it says "still looking," we haven't found it yet (city websites, you know how it goes). If you've got it, send it over. Want to be the person in the room? Go to one meeting, write down what happened on this one-page sheet, and your name goes on it. A City Council Tuesday is the easy first one; you can watch it live or later from the couch. ## Vote ## Ballots are in the mail. Here's the Westside part. By Oct 26Register, or check that you're registered, at GoVoteColorado.gov. Moved since last time? Update it there too. After Oct 26 you can still register and vote in person, through Election Day.The city's own page: GoVoteColorado.gov # Till Nov 3, 7 p.m.Drop boxes west of I-25, open day and night: Red Rock Canyon shopping center, 3141 W Colorado Ave; Bear Creek Regional Park, 2002 Creek Crossing St; the clerk's office, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd; Manitou City Hall, 606 Manitou Ave. Mailing it? The county says by Oct 27. It has to arrive by 7 p.m. on Election Day; a postmark doesn't count.The city's own page: the county's list of boxes · El Paso County elections # On the ballotThe local ones: County 1A keeps the public-safety sales tax going through 2037. D11 4A is a $775 million school bond (Coronado is on the list). Then fourteen statewide questions; the state's Blue Book explains each one in plain words, for and against.The city's own page: the county's local questions · the Blue Book # Apr 6, 2027The city election: mayor and three council seats. Same registration, same website. We'll print the candidates and where they stand on the Westside.The city's own page: city election page # We don't tell you how to vote. We'd love for you to. If the Blue Book is a brick, if you can't get to a box, if you're not sure you're registered, call or text 719-201-5462 and a neighbor helps. The county pays election judges and trains them; sign up here if you've got a day. ## The next two weeks ## Oct 11 to Nov 8, checked against the calendars The market's last Saturday, Pumpkins in the Park, free bingo at the community center, the cemetery tour, the coffin races, and the same seven things every week. Every weekMon Boom Box Bingo, 7 to 11 p.m. (Mother Muff's)Tue Math tutoring, 4 to 5:30 p.m. (OCC Library)Wed Toddler Time, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Wed Open mic, 6 to 9 p.m. (Jives Coffee Lounge, 16 Colbrunn Ct)Thu Trivia, 7 to 9 p.m. (OCC Brewing)Fri Storytime, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Sat Paws to Read, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Sun Brunch Jam Band, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Mother Muff's) Sun Oct 11 all month Scarecrow Days: the storefront scarecrows, with a public vote, through Oct 31 the avenue Mon Oct 12 all day Westside CARES closed for Indigenous Peoples' Day 2808 W Colorado Tue Oct 13 9 a.m. City Council regular meeting (agenda on Legistar) 107 N Nevada 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Small Steps, Giant Leaps, Space Foundation program for ages 2 to 6 Westside Community Center Wed Oct 14 9 a.m. City Planning Commission 2880 International Cir. 5:30 to 7 p.m. Evening pickleball: donate a bag of candy to play, paddles limited Westside Community Center Thu Oct 15 7:30 a.m. Coffee with the principal Coronado High, Future Center 2 to 4 p.m. Classic board games free OCC Library 5 p.m. Mushroom Zombie Haunted House opens, through Oct 31 Mush Love Tee, the shirt shop, 2627 W Colorado Fri Oct 16 all day No school at Coronado: parent-teacher conferences, 9 to 3 in the gym Coronado High 5 to 6 p.m. Bingo at the Biscuit The Biscuit Factory Cat Lounge, 12 S 25th Sat Oct 17 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Farmers market, last Saturday of the season, 80-some vendors Bancroft Park 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Craft and art market, final Saturday History Center, 1 S 24th Sun Oct 18 evening Legends and Lore of Fairview Cemetery, a two-hour guided tour; tickets online, kids 12 and under free Fairview Cemetery, 1000 S 26th Mon Oct 19 all week Fall break at Coronado, Oct 19 to 22, no school Coronado High Wed Oct 21 4 p.m. Westside Community Center Alliance meeting Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou 5:30 to 7 p.m. Howdy Neighbor prize bingo, doors at 5, all ages, no sign-up free Westside Community Center Thu Oct 22 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Book group free OCC Library Sat Oct 24 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Emma Crawford Coffin Races, the 32nd; Manitou Avenue closes at 9 Manitou Springs noon to 6 p.m. Pumpkins in the Park: pumpkin patch, painting, face painters, costume and carving contests, the ZOOmobile, live music, a beer garden free the avenue Sun Oct 25 1 to 4 p.m. Trunk or Treat in the parking lot, and Animals of Halloween inside, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. free Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th Mon Oct 26 10 to 10:45 a.m. Bighorn sheep, an indoor program with a touch table; Mondays through Nov 30 free Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Owls of the Garden: take an owl pellet apart; $5, sign up first Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 5:30 p.m. City budget public hearing, the 2027 budget; anyone can speak Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada Tue Oct 27 all day Stroll-a-Story: a storybook walk, page by page, around the library OCC Library, 2418 W Pikes Peak Thu Oct 29 7:30 to 8:45 p.m. Haunted Manitou ghost tour, $25; also Oct 30 and 31 Memorial Park, Manitou Springs Fri Oct 30 5:30 p.m. Ghost Stories of Old Manitou, a walking tour from the museum Manitou Springs Heritage Museum Sat Oct 31 1 to 2 p.m. Why wolves in Colorado, a talk Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 2 to 4:30 p.m. Trick or Treat Street: costumed kids 1 to 6, shop to shop; look for the orange and yellow balloons the avenue, 23rd to 28th 6 p.m. Manitou Phantasmagoria Shoshone Spring courtyard, Manitou Springs evening Mushroom Zombie Haunted House, last night Mush Love Tee, the shirt shop, 2627 W Colorado Tue Nov 3 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Election Day. Ballots due by 7 p.m. at a drop box; register and vote in person at the clerk's office, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd, or Manitou City Hall El Paso County Fri Nov 6 5 to 8 p.m. First Friday ArtWalk: galleries, studios and shops open late along the avenue free the avenue, 17th to 31st Sun Nov 8 11 a.m. Altitude Makers market and farmers market free Soda Springs Park, Manitou Springs Every line above came off a calendar we can link, checked October 11. The strip up top happens every week; the list is the one-time stuff. The avenue is West Colorado Avenue; OCC is Old Colorado City; D11 is the school district. If we got a time wrong, tell us and we'll fix it in the next issue. Red Rock Canyon, the churches and the school sports pages had nothing dated for these two weeks; if you know of something, send it. Where that came from: Old Colorado City events calendar · Old Colorado City Library · Westside Community Center · History Center events · Garden of the Gods calendar ## The Bulletin Board ## Suppers, pantries, services, weddings, and the ones we lost If you need something this week, start here. Free, in your words, from you or your church or your family. Food, rent and utility help: Westside CARES, 2808 W Colorado Ave, 719-389-0759. Open Monday to Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. They prefer you walk in. Closed when the schools close for weather. Serves everyone west of I-25. Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou St, 719-385-7920. Open Monday and Friday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Tuesday to Thursday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. A corkboard, not a story. Church suppers, pantry hours, services, weddings, and the ones we lost: free, in your words, from you or your church or your family. We call to check the hours before they run. Send it by Tuesday to hello@westsidewherewithal.com, by text to 719-201-5462, on paper to the office at Suite 122, or in the box on the front page. Where that came from: Westside CARES hours · Community center hours (city page) ## The Listening Room ## Once a month. You pick where and when. Coffee with the editor, no agenda, no sign-up. The hour and the place are a vote; the winner runs in issue 1. The Listening Room isn't an office. It's one hour a month wherever we sit down, and I'd rather you picked it than me. Vote below, or write in your own. I live over here, about twenty years now, and the office on the avenue is the paper's address; it says one thing: I'm here. I'm with you. Where and when Saturday morning, the bench by the bandshell in Bancroft Park Tuesday evening, a coffee counter on the avenue Sunday afternoon, the library (once they say yes) A weeknight on Zoom, for people who work days Cast it ## The Address Book ## What was in this storefront in 1968? One storefront, one photo, what was inside. One building per issue: a photo, the address, and whoever remembers fills in the rest. The first photo is coming; if you have one, send it in below. ## Write something ## Send it in The shop that closed, the thing the city's about to do on your street, the neighbor everybody should know. Photos and drawings count, with your name on them. Send it however you like: the box below, hello@westsidewherewithal.com, a call or a text to 719-201-5462, or drop it at the office (Suite 122, 2320 W Colorado Ave). We write back. Rather talk than type? Call or text 719-201-5462 and tell me out loud; I'll write it down and you hear it read back before it runs. Under 18? Send it anyway; we'll check with you or a parent before it runs. Teachers, send the whole class. Photos come by email. En español: mándenos un texto al 719-201-5462 o escríbanos a hello@westsidewherewithal.com, en español: su cena, su misa, su aviso. No lo hablo de nacimiento; lo traducimos con un vecino y se lo leemos antes de publicar. Any other language: send it anyway, and we'll find a neighbor to translate. Want a desk? The pages signed by a desk are open; here's how to take one. Got a counter, or a box on your fence? Say so and we'll bring a stack, free, and swap the stale ones. How we do things, if you're curious. Put me down for a stack, for my counter or my library box Send it in ## The jar It's free. If a Thursday was worth something to you, throw a few bucks in the jar; it pays for the email and the printing. A check to the office works too. Pay what you want Inside: What the city is deciding · The next two weeks · On the avenue · From the desks · The next 100 years · Frontier wherewithal · Around the avenue · What came before us ## On the avenue ## I never stepped inside Base Camp, 2611 W Colorado, closed October 4, and I never ate there. Tell me the place you'd go back to. Jeff Adkins Base Camp closed on October 4. I thought it looked cool, but the menu never appealed to me in the moment, and it's hard to take me away from the dozen places I adore already. Sad to say I never stepped inside. That's on me, and I'm not alone. Empty storefronts are not what we want here. What keeps a place open is anyone and everyone who can afford to spend local dollars in it, and I am going to try hard to keep mixing it up. If you're thinking about working and making a living here, I wish I could appeal to you directly: we need you. Old Colorado City (OCC from here on) is a tourist destination, for locals and for travelers. I know this. I gladly give up my street parking for events because I know we need them. If I want OCC Brewing to be here 365 days a year, I need them to sustain themselves. That means me not griping about the traffic or the parking over here. Not everyone can afford to eat out or shop on the avenue. I understand that; I don't feel obligated to, and neither should you. I'm fortunate that I can budget for a meal out, and I try to go during the week, when places are less busy and could frankly use the business. So I can't complain about Base Camp closing if I didn't eat there, and I can't blame not eating there on the parking. Tell me the place you'd go back to. What we know: Base Camp, 2611 W Colorado Ave, opened March 2025 and closed October 4; the owner cited costs and the economy. Mountain Shadows, the restaurant four blocks east, closed December 2024 and sold in January. Where that came from: Gazette, Oct 2, 2026 · Gazette, Jan 20, 2025 · OCC Brewing ## From the desks ## Ten desks, one neighborhood Celebrating, remembering, forecasting. Each desk is open; a neighbor's name goes on it the day they take it. The Wherewithal desks Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in · the 52 Thursdays of 2027, as a walk through the seasons The man who wrote down the Westside · 604 columns, the elk, the tunnels, and who keeps the record now Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper · the vote, the names, what's still unknown, and how to be in the room See that building? Look again · five storefronts and what they were, from the columns and the 1902 map Where the asphalt gives up · Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, Bear Creek; this fall, and the seed rule The elk who pulled a carriage · for kids: three things to find on the walk to school, and a dare Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad · la mesa en español: ayuda, el voto, cómo escribirnos Who's cooking on the Westside this week · six tables, as their own pages say it; we call before it prints Three picks before Halloween · the market's last Saturday, the coffin races, pumpkins in the park, and where to park The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead · every date headed for your street, and the door into each one Every desk is written from the record we hold and says so at the top. None of it is an interview yet; those are coming. Every one is open: what each desk takes, and how to take one. One text, one coffee. ## The next 100 years ## Four lanes to three, for a year Four lanes to three, Limit to 30th, for a year. The city survey is open. One driver's take below; if yours differs, next issue's yours. Jeff Adkins 1902 · Sanborn fire insurance map, sheet 2, Colorado Avenue · Library of Congress, public domain 2027 · lane drawing · city of Colorado Springs, Colorado Avenue demonstration, phase two What we know: four lanes to three from Limit to 30th by the city's page (the Gazette says 31st), since June 2026, for up to a year; the city calls it the Colorado Avenue Demonstration Project; $375K of county transportation tax (PPRTA) money. The Gazette counts about 30 parking spaces added, metered; the city's page says parking changes are expected to be minimal. We've asked the project team which it is. A second phase in 2027 makes some of it permanent and redoes three blocks of streetscape (Gazette); permanent reconstruction is penciled for 2027 or 2028 (Bike Colorado Springs). The city survey is open. One driver's take, mine (and my office is on the avenue, at 2320): it's great to see so much more attention being paid to pedestrians, and it doesn't slow me down at all. I haven't timed it; if you have, send the numbers. It may add parking, metered; the city and the Gazette disagree on how much (see the record), and nobody has said yet where someone who lives over a shop parks overnight. The city is taking comments until the concrete goes down. If you drive it, bike it, or cross it with a stroller, say so. If you hate it, this space is yours next issue, same length, your name on it. What do I want to still be here in 2126? Westsiders. Hyper local, no corporate nonsense, and room for whoever shows up to stay. Where that came from: Sanborn 1902 (LoC) · City project page · The city survey · Gazette, May 20, 2026 · Bike Colorado Springs ## Frontier wherewithal ## Load up for winter, survive the summer Not just another old west town. Two tame elk, tunnels under the avenue, four to six weeks a year you'd rather be in the water. Jeff Adkins If you're new here you might think this is just another old west town. If you're passing through, maybe we should let you believe it. Our summers are dry and shorter than most, but they stop and start and come back the most. I'd say we have about four to six weeks a year where you'd want to be holed up in the cabin or in the water, which can be tricky to find. We need to know how to load up for winter, survive the summer, and not die of dehydration. And like every place with lore, we have a guy who trained two tame elk, Thunder and Buttons, to pull a carriage, plus tunnels and brothels and churches, oh my. We love it here. What we know: Thunder and Buttons were elk; Prairie Dog O'Byrne drove them hitched to a carriage on this avenue in the late 1880s. The tunnels under the avenue are documented by the historical society, with the honest caveat that some of it may be something else. Colorado City voted itself dry in 1913. Where that came from: Westside Pioneer, 2006 · Cobweb Corners, 2005 · Gazette, July 2021, the tunnels · Thunder and Buttons II ## Around the avenue ## Getting to know them is the point I don't know everyone yet. Getting to know them is the point. Jeff Adkins What we know so far: Who's opening and who's moving: we've heard about three and have an address for none, so none are named yet. Send the name and the block. The Old Colorado City Historical Society runs a free museum at 1 South 24th, a block off the avenue. Tuesday through Saturday, 11 to 4 in summer and 11 to 2 in winter. Call before you drive. The free Tuesday concerts at the Bancroft Park bandshell ran June 2 through September 29 this year, 5:30, Dizzy Charlie's and the Pikes Peak Blues Community. Next summer's lineup runs here the week it's announced. First Friday art walk, 5 to 8, galleries and studios along the avenue. Next one is November 6. The Customs and Classics car show closes the avenue from 23rd to 27th one Sunday every August. If the one you went to was a different show this fall, tell us which. This is the stuff I get to see everyone else doing. I enjoy seeing them do it. It doesn't matter to me if I don't know anyone in the room, because getting to know them is the point of this life. And that's what I'm here to capture in this paper. I shouldn't pretend to know things I don't. Where that came from: OCC History Center · Tuesday concerts (Springs Magazine) · First Friday (OCC calendar) · The car show (Pioneer, 2018) ## What came before us ## I want it all Mel McFarland died in September; I indexed the 604 columns I found. Eight digs, from the capital that got away to the forgotten cemetery. Jeff Adkins Start here: Mel McFarland, who wrote the Westside's past in the Pioneer for fifteen years, died in September at 81. Most of what is below comes from his columns. I found 604 and indexed every one I found; the one-line summaries there are software drafts, not yet checked one by one. Who keeps the record now is a question this paper exists to answer. I want the best stories from Old Colorado City. I want to dig down and find the most awesome stuff we can publish: how people first lived here, how it went from zero to what it is today, funny things, shootouts, jail time for crimes that make us laugh and cry, mysteries and murders. I want it all. What did we used to do and stop? What was, but isn't? What could have been, but never was? The digs I can't do alone: your church, your family, your block. Send them. What we found first: The capital that got away. Colorado City was founded in August 1859 to outfit gold seekers, was the county seat by 1861, and held the territorial capital just long enough to lose it to Denver. One account says the town was deemed too rowdy. Zero to four thousand. Mel has the town past 2,000 by 1890; the 1892 fire-insurance map (the Sanborn) writes 2,000 on its own cover, and the 1902 sheet writes 4,000. The town voted itself dry in 1913, lost the saloon money, and voted to be annexed by Colorado Springs in April 1917. Four saloons to twenty-seven. By the Pioneer's 2009 count (a feature, not one of Mel's columns): four in 1884, twenty-three by 1888, twenty-seven in 1902 plus thirty-some gambling halls, on a main street that also had the churches. Laura Bell McDaniel. From the Pioneer's 2011 profile, not the index: queen of the tenderloin; her last house was the Tribley House in the 2600 block of West Cucharras. She married Tom McDaniel in April 1887 in Salida; a month later he shot a man five times while she watched, and was acquitted. She divorced him in 1893. Accused in November 1917 of stealing liquor and acquitted; the historian who wrote her up thinks it was a set-up. Died in a car crash in January 1918. The elk were O'Byrne's by Mel's column (bought in Aspen in 1888); a 2006 Pioneer piece has her riding beside him in the carriage. The Glass Works. Full production in 1889 with 200 men on the south edge of town, bottling Manitou water. The furnace top collapsed just after midnight on September 9, 1892. Wheeler promised to rebuild; the Silver Panic of 1893 and the lost customers finished it. One of Mel's columns says it closed in 1895, another says by 1900; one puts a fire in 1893 as well. The Midland shops. The Colorado Midland started here in 1886 and quit in 1918; the Midland Terminal ran the line to Divide until it was scrapped in 1949. Hundreds of men in the shops at the peak, under a hundred by 1925, about fifty by 1948; the office burned in 1953. The fourteen-stall roundhouse is the one that lived: Van Briggle pottery, then the shops you walk through now. The mills. The Colorado-Philadelphia came first, in 1894 by one of Mel's columns and about 1897 by another, near 31st and U.S. 24. Golden Cycle took over the Telluride mill in 1906, rebuilt it with cyanide after a 1907 fire, and ran it until 1949; the smokestack is still there. The forgotten cemetery. Colorado City's Pioneer cemetery, on the mesa, used from about 1860 to 1917. Not every burial was moved; the stones came out in the 1940s and it became Pioneer Park in the 1950s. Graves were mapped with metal detectors in the 1970s, a project Mel joined, and a cast-iron coffin may still be there. Who is in it is still the question. Where that came from: Why the fuss? (Pioneer) · Laura Bell McDaniel (Pioneer, 2011) · Thunder and Buttons (Cobweb Corners, 2005) · The Glass Works, 200 men (Cobweb Corners, 2011) · The Glass Works fire (Cobweb Corners, 2011) · The Glass Works closed 1895 (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The Midland, 1886 to 1918 (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The Midland shops decline (Cobweb Corners, 2009) · The roundhouse (Cobweb Corners, 2007) · The mills (Cobweb Corners, 2013) · Golden Cycle closes, 1949 (Cobweb Corners, 2006) · The capital, the county seat (Cobweb Corners, 2009) · The forgotten cemetery (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The forgotten cemetery (Cobweb Corners, 2017) · Mel McFarland, 1945 to 2026 (Gazette) · Every Cobweb Corners column, indexed · Colorado City Iris, digitized (CHNC) If something here is wrong, reply to the email or send it in below. Corrections run at the top of the next issue. Behind the masthead: Sanborn fire insurance map of Colorado City, November 1902, sheet 1. Library of Congress, public domain. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad <https://westsidewherewithal.com/la-vecina> Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad La Vecina, la mesa en español. Traducción nuestra; buscamos a un vecino o vecina que la tome y firme aquí. Vecina, vecino: Le escribo con las hojas ya cambiando de color y las tardes más cortas. Aquí entre nosotros, quería contarle lo que sé. Si usted vive al oeste de la I-25, este periódico es para usted. Se llama The Westside Wherewithal, sale cada semana y es gratis. Lo escribimos entre vecinos: lo que abre, lo que cierra, lo que se vota, lo que llega al parque. Y queremos saber de usted. Cuéntenos lo que ve en su cuadra, en su iglesia, en su trabajo, y hágalo en español, en sus propias palabras. Si esta semana necesita una mano, vaya a Westside CARES, en 2808 W Colorado Ave. Abren de lunes a jueves, de 9:30 a.m. a 12:30 p.m., y no hace falta cita. Atienden a todos los que viven al oeste de la I-25. Llame al 719-389-0759. También tiene el Westside Community Center, en 1628 W Bijou St, teléfono 719-385-7920. Abre lunes y viernes, de 9 a.m. a 3 p.m., y de martes a jueves, de 9 a.m. a 7 p.m. Ahora el voto, en claro. Hasta el 26 de octubre puede registrarse, o revisar si ya está registrado, en GoVoteColorado.gov. Pasada esa fecha, todavía puede hacerlo en persona, hasta el día de la elección. Y para dejar su boleta, las urnas están abiertas hasta las 7 p.m. del 3 de noviembre en cuatro lugares: el centro comercial Red Rock Canyon, 3141 W Colorado Ave; Bear Creek Regional Park, 2002 Creek Crossing St; la oficina del secretario del condado, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd; y el ayuntamiento de Manitou, 606 Manitou Ave. Aquí no le decimos cómo votar. Solo le decimos dónde y cuándo. En diciembre el Christkindlmarket vuelve a Bancroft Park. Cuando tengamos los días, se los pasamos aquí. Si quiere escribirnos, mande un texto al 719-201-5462 o un correo a hello@westsidewherewithal.com, en español. El editor no habla español de cuna. Traduce con un vecino y lo vuelve a leer con él antes de que algo se imprima. También tenemos una hoja en español en westsidewherewithal.com/sheet-es. Y una cosa honesta: esta página es traducción nuestra. Buscamos a un vecino o vecina que hable español para que tome esta mesa y firme aquí con su nombre. Hasta la próxima semana, vecino. Un abrazo, La Vecina The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The print pack <https://westsidewherewithal.com/print> The print pack Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The print pack Everything to print this week, how many, and where it goes. Any copy shop; a home printer works for the one-sheets. What to print PrintFileHowCopies The one-sheetsheet.pdfLetter, one side (two sides if you want the puzzle back: sheet-back.pdf)20 Large printsheet-large.pdfLetter, two sides5 La hoja (Spanish)sheet-es.pdfLetter, one side10 The box editionzine-box.pdfLetter, landscape, two sheets, two-sided, flip on the short edge; nest sheet 2 inside sheet 1, fold once; no staples20 Every print says "good till Oct 25" or has no dates. A stale stack gets swapped; call and we bring more. Where it goes PlaceWhatHow many The gas station at 31stone-sheet5 The hardware storeone-sheet5 A diner on the avenueone-sheet, and ask about a tray5 The OCC History Center, 1 S 24thone-sheet5 Your own door, Suite 122one-sheet, box edition5 and 5 The grocery at 31stla hoja10 The senior table at the community center, 1628 W Bijoularge print5 The little free library at the old Carnegie building, 701 Manitou Avebox edition8 The Head Start box, 2330 Robinson Stbox edition7 The ask at a counter, two sentences: "It's a free weekly paper for the Westside, written by neighbors, nothing for you to pay and nothing to sell. Can it sit here, and can I refill it on Thursdays?" Say yes to any condition they add. What to watch Count what's left after a week. Note any call or text to 719-201-5462 and any word find or quiz score that comes in. That's the first real test; everything before it was rehearsal. The reader inbox was empty on October 11. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Plant this (when it exists) <https://westsidewherewithal.com/seeds> Plant this (when it exists) Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Plant this (when it exists) There are no seed strips yet. This is the plan, written down before the first one so nobody has to guess. Some copies of the zine will carry a small sealed strip of seed paper. Plant it in your own yard, a friend's yard with their yes, a community garden, or a school bed with the principal's okay. Not in a park, not in open space, not in Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, the Garden of the Gods or Bear Creek, not along the creek or a trail, and never after a fire. Those places get seeded by the people who manage them, with seed matched to the ground, and a stranger's strip does more harm than good there. What's in it: Colorado natives from a Colorado grower (Western Native Seed, in Coaldale): Lewis blue flax, Rocky Mountain penstemon, blanketflower, prairie coneflower. Nothing from the state's noxious weed list, which is where the cheap "wildflower mixes" go wrong. Plant in fall; the penstemon wants a winter in the ground. Plant it, take a picture when something comes up, send it in. The best ones run in the paper with your name on them. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Take a desk <https://westsidewherewithal.com/take-a-desk> Take a desk Moved to /desks. --- # Thank you <https://westsidewherewithal.com/thanks> Thank you Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Thank you That's the whole transaction. No tier, no badge, no extra issue. The paper keeps going, and your name goes on the once-a-year list of people who chipped in, alphabetical, no amounts, unless you'd rather it didn't. Reply to any issue to say so. See you Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The elk who pulled a carriage <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-box> The elk who pulled a carriage Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The elk who pulled a carriage The Box desk, for kids and whoever is with them. When a neighbor (or a kid) takes this desk, their name goes here. Okay. You're the boss today. Walk to school, but make it a hunt. Find three things. One: a little free library. It's a box on a post full of books, and you can take one. We know of 27 of them west of I-25. Two you can visit: the one at the old Carnegie library building, 701 Manitou Ave, and the one at the Head Start, 2330 Robinson St. Two: the red rocks at the end of the street. Stop and look. Three: one leaf. Pick the best one on the block. Keep it. It's a bookmark now. Okay. Now the elk. In 1888, a man named John O'Byrne got two tame elk from a judge in Aspen. He trained them to pull his tourist carriage down this very avenue. Their names were Thunder and Buttons. Yes, elk. Yes, a carriage. Eventually a movie company bought them and took them to Alaska to film advertisements. Thunder and Buttons were in commercials. (Also true.) (Bonus, also true: in 1880 a train crew calmed a cold, panicking circus elephant at Colorado Springs with a keg of beer. Aunt's honor.) Ask a grown-up. Point at any building on your walk and ask: "What was here before?" Then listen. Your move, boss. This fall: Halloween, Oct 31, 2 to 4:30 p.m.: Trick or Treat Street on the avenue, 23rd to 28th. Costumed kids 1 to 6. Look for the orange and yellow balloons. Bring a little cousin. Mondays, 10 a.m.: the bighorn sheep program at the Garden of the Gods Visitor Center. December: the Christkindlmarket comes back to Bancroft Park, bigger than last year, with Santa at the cabin. Bonus level: the paper in the box has games. A word find whose leftover letters spell a message. A five-question quiz with the answers printed upside down. And a map to draw on: it's the 1902 map of Colorado City, when the town had 4,000 people. You can see it at westsidewherewithal.com/zine-box, page 6. The dare. Draw Thunder and Buttons pulling the carriage. Go big. Give the tourists faces. Then put it in the little free library box, or send it to hello@westsidewherewithal.com with your first name. We print the best ones. See you on the avenue. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-next-hundred> The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead The Next Hundred desk. Written from the city's own pages and the ballot; dates change, and we fix them when they do. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Right now, Colorado Avenue. Four lanes have been three from Limit to 30th since June, for up to a year. Watch the lanes. Your move: fill out the city survey after you've driven it, biked it, or crossed it with a stroller. The avenue went on a diet and nobody asked it. Oct 21 and Oct 26. The community center's neighbor group meets Wednesday the 21st at 4 p.m.; it helps steer what the center at 1628 W Bijou becomes. Monday the 26th, 5:30 p.m.: the 2027 budget's public hearing at 107 N Nevada. Anyone can speak; the council calendar lists the work sessions before it. Your move: pick one and go. The budget reads better with you. Nov 3. Ballots are due by 7 p.m. County 1A would keep the public-safety sales tax going through 2037. D11's 4A is a $775 million school bond, and Coronado is on the list. Your move: vote, and use a drop box if the mail feels slow. There's one at 3141 W Colorado Ave. Seven o'clock does not negotiate. December. The Christkindlmarket comes back to Bancroft Park, bigger. Bancroft is the pupil of the eye, so a bigger market could mean a fuller avenue and fewer spots out front. Your move: go, and walk. The car can stay home. April 6, 2027. The city election: mayor and three council seats. Your move: register or check your registration, and ask every candidate what they would do about the avenue. The avenue will hear about it. April 13. Council hears the appeal on Project Taurus, the 50-megawatt data center proposed at the old Intel plant next to the homes in Chelsea Glen. The Planning Commission approved it 6 to 2 in July with a power cap and noise monitoring; council wants a noise study first, and the hearing falls a week after you vote (Colorado Politics). The developer says it is weighing the partnership, so the date could still move. Your move: read the noise study when it exists, and show up. Read quietly. April to fall 2027. A roundabout replaces the four-way stop at 31st and Fontanero by Howbert Elementary, on the western gateway to the red rocks. Parents asked about the school crossing, and the city says it will work with the school. Your move: if you walk kids there, ask the school what they've been told. Four stops become one circle. Around June 2027. The lane test's year ends, give or take. Nothing we've found says what comes after. Your move: whatever you think of the test, say so before it ends. A year is long enough for an opinion. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The man who wrote down the Westside <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-porch-mcfarland> The man who wrote down the Westside Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The man who wrote down the Westside The Porch desk. Written from the record; the editor's conversations with his family and friends are coming. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. If you ever wondered whether there really were tunnels under Colorado Avenue, Mel McFarland is a big part of why you wondered. I'll tell you what I know. He died September 21, at 81. From 2004 to 2019 he wrote 604 "Cobweb Corners" columns about this neighborhood for the Westside Pioneer. He was born here in 1944, a fourth-generation native, taught art and drafting, and wrote books on the Colorado Midland Railway. In 1983 he bought a retired working caboose for his Rockrimmon backyard, and became "the Caboose Guy." Dave Martinek, who started Midland Days at Divide with him in 2009, told the Gazette: "He was the go-to person for anyone who wanted to know about railroad history in the state." His nephew Luc MacArthur called him "kind of a Renaissance man." His sister, Elaine Radney, said: "He had a lot of people who loved him." He wrote it down. Here is some of it. On February 3, 2005, he wrote down the story of John O'Byrne, who in 1888 got two tame elk, Thunder and Buttons, and trained them to pull a tourist carriage. Here is the column. On April 7, 2005, he wrote down the tunnels, the ones that let Colorado Avenue customers reach the Cucharras Street brothels unseen. He had "seen the remains of bits of both" sets of tunnels himself. On November 17, 2011, he wrote down the Glass Works disaster. Just after midnight on September 9, 1892, the furnace top collapsed and fiery glass poured out. Chunks of raw glass still show up now and then in neighborhood yards and rock walls, he wrote. On November 14, 2013, he wrote down the day a Teller County sheriff chained a Pullman sleeper car to the rails over $663.21 in unpaid taxes, and a U.S. marshal freed it two days later. Read it. Here's the thing. The Gazette says he left "file cabinets" of research and writing, and that his family hopes to sift through them, with no concrete plans yet. The next person who asks "was there really a glass plant over here?" gets a shrug. We can't fix that. What we have is an index of all 604 columns, by what each one reports, at westsidewherewithal.com/cobweb. The editor plans to call his sister, Dave Martinek, the Pioneer's editor Kenyon Jordan, and the History Center, and we'll tell you what they say. The question we're taking to them is who keeps the record now. We'd like to be part of the answer, and we'd like yours. Did a column of his stick with you? Tell us which one. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-record-dda> Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper The Record desk. Written from the city's own pages and the news; the Aug 25 minutes are still to be read. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. If you missed the council meeting last month, here is the entry. A downtown development authority, a DDA, is a small district set up by a vote. It is supposed to get its own pot of money to spend on one downtown. In 2024, Old Colorado City voters created one for the avenue. It never got its funding. It was created by a vote and ended by a vote, and the money never turned up in between. On Sept 22, City Council voted 5 to 4 to dissolve it. That's ordinance 26-48. The meeting record has the roll call. That's on paper. Yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams No: Donelson, Gold, Henjum, Leinweber The Gazette reported the first vote, on Aug 25, as the same 5 to 4. That's reported. On Oct 2, KKTV reported that the DDA is weighing legal action, because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. That's reported too. That is the whole ledger so far. Here is what we don't know: The Aug 25 minutes. We have the first vote from the news, not from the minutes. Until we've read them, the date and the count are reported, not checked. Whether a lawsuit is filed. KKTV says the DDA is considering one. We haven't found a filing. That isn't on paper. We'll say so when it is. What the DDA was going to buy. The records we have don't list its plan, so we won't guess. If you voted in 2024, or sat in those rooms, tell us what you were told. Who picks up the avenue's end of things now. Nobody has answered that in anything we've read. That isn't on paper either. We are taking the question to the next meeting. Some of those answers are in a room on a Tuesday morning. You can be in it. City Council meets the second and fourth Tuesdays at 9 a.m., 107 N Nevada, and you can watch from home. You don't have to say a word. Take the one-page sheet, write down what happens, and your name goes on it. The Oct 13 meeting is the next one. If you were at the Aug 25 meeting, or you have the minutes, send them over. Tell me what I got wrong. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Where the asphalt gives up <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-ridge> Where the asphalt gives up Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Where the asphalt gives up The Ridge desk. Written from the city's pages and the groups' own sites; a canyon volunteer reads it before it prints. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Rain or snow, and the trails hold it. Friends of Red Rock Canyon says wait a day or two, because they stay muddy and fragile for 24 to 48 hours. Follow 21st down to Bear Creek, then keep going west. Around 30th and 31st the asphalt gives up. The red sandstone takes over. Red Rock Canyon is the pocket to the south. The city bought it in 2003, after it had been slated for a resort with high-rise towers and a private golf course. The city's open space page lists it among the places TOPS, the sales tax voters passed for open space, made possible. It nearly went the other way. Parking. The 31st Street trailhead has more than the High Street lots. No e-bikes in the open space. This fall. The Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th, runs a free bighorn sheep program with a touch table, Mondays 10 to 10:45 a.m. through Nov 30. Owls of the Garden is Oct 26, 12:30 to 1:30. Tickets from $5, sign up first. Oct 31, 1 to 2 p.m., a talk on why wolves in Colorado. The Garden's calendar has details. What's being decided. The Park System Master Plan goes to City Council for readings Oct 12 and 27, after the parks board heard it Oct 8. White Acres Trail is becoming the Don Ellis Trail. The board approved it Aug 13; it waits on an agreement and an $850 city fee. Fire restrictions: the city's page shows none this week, and we are checking with the fire department. We'll tell you what we hear. The seed rule. Some copies of this paper will carry a strip of Colorado native seed: Lewis blue flax, Rocky Mountain penstemon, blanketflower, prairie coneflower, from Western Native Seed in Coaldale. Plant it in your yard, a friend's yard with their yes, or a community garden. Never in a park, open space, along the creek or a trail, and never after a fire. The people who manage those places seed with plants matched to the ground, and a stranger's strip can do more harm than good. Groups to join. Friends of Red Rock Canyon keeps up the benches and runs Talk and Walks, resuming soon (no date yet). The Trails and Open Space Coalition takes members and runs the One Bag Challenge cleanups. Friends of Garden of the Gods runs volunteer days. Our promise. Every Monday this desk reads the city's parks pages, and a canyon volunteer reads them with us. If nothing's new, we'll say so. Which trail was muddy this week? Tell me and I'll pass it along. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Who's cooking on the Westside this week <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-table> Who's cooking on the Westside this week Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Who's cooking on the Westside this week The Table desk. Hours are as the churches and pantries post them, checked October 11; we call before they go on the Bulletin Board. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Here's how it works. Somebody on this side of the interstate is feeding somebody nearly every day of the week, mostly out of church basements, and the people at the stoves are neighbors who are very good at it. We went looking for the tables. There are more than we figured. Everything below is what each place says on its own page as of October 11. We haven't called any of them yet, so please do before you go. Hours move, and a wrong one costs somebody a trip. Sunday The Sanctuary Church, 1930 W Colorado Ave, lists its Ragamuffin Cafe hot meal at 9 a.m. Call 719-634-7232. It's the only Sunday hot meal we found over here. If you know another, tell us. Monday Westside CARES, 2808 W Colorado Ave, posts a weekly hot meal from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Call 719-389-0759. Same day, Sacred Heart's pantry is posted noon to 2 p.m. at the Parish Center door, 2030 W Colorado Ave. No voucher. Call 719-633-8711. Tuesday Westside Global Methodist, 701 N 20th St, posts its pantry from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Call 719-633-9295. If you still call it Trinity UMC, that's the same corner with a new name, and the old building on W Pikes Peak is becoming a child care center. Wednesday The Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou St, hosts the CARES pantry from 1 to 3 p.m. Call 719-385-7920. Up the road in Manitou, the pantry at 110 Canon Ave was last reported at 1 to 2 p.m., with a hot meal starting at 12:30 p.m. Call 719-685-9259. St. Andrew's closed as a church in 2025, but the pantry kept going in the parish hall. Hats off to the people who kept it going. Thursday Sacred Heart again, same hours, same door, no voucher. Call 719-633-8711. Know another table? That's six tables, and I'd bet my good parking spot there are more. Churches, clubs, a neighbor with a big pot and a folding table. If your church or group feeds people, text 719-201-5462 or write hello@westsidewherewithal.com with the day and the hour. We'll call, confirm it, and print it, free, in your words. That's what the Bulletin Board is for. It's where every table lives, every week, so nobody has to guess which church has soup on which night. See you at the table. Tell us what we got wrong. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Three picks before Halloween <https://westsidewherewithal.com/weekend-radar> Three picks before Halloween Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Three picks before Halloween The Weekend Radar desk. Every line checked against the organizer's own page. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Two weekends, three picks, and I've already parked for all of them. Read this, then go. Go to the farmers market. Saturday, October 17, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., Bancroft Park, 24th and Colorado. It's the last Saturday of the season, with 80-some vendors, and there is no next Saturday. Go early, because the best of anything goes first. Parking: don't circle the park hoping. Take a side street and walk the last bit. Saturday, October 24 is two things at once. Pick one. First, the coffin races. The Emma Crawford Coffin Races run 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Manitou Springs. Parking: Manitou Avenue closes at 9, so get there before the road shuts and the crowd fills in, and plan to walk in. Second, the pumpkins. Pumpkins in the Park is noon to 6 p.m. on the avenue, free, with a pumpkin patch, painting, costume and carving contests, the ZOOmobile, live music and a beer garden. Parking: the avenue's diagonal spots fill on a festival Saturday, so take a side street and walk in. Don't try to do both in one afternoon. Choose, then start the day with it. The things that are always there. If the festivals are not your speed, or you just need a Thursday: trivia at OCC Brewing every Thursday, 7 to 9 p.m. Storytime at the OCC Library every Friday, 10:30 a.m. Brunch Jam Band at Mother Muff's every Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Free bingo on the 21st, Trunk or Treat on the 25th, Trick or Treat Street on the 31st and First Friday ArtWalk on November 6 are all on the full list, with times. That list lives at westsidewherewithal.com, and it's also the one-sheet on the counters around the avenue. Got something happening that we missed? Send it to hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or text 719-201-5462. We'll check it against your own page and put it in. See you Saturday. I'll be the one who parked early. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in <https://westsidewherewithal.com/year-ahead> Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in The Year Ahead desk. Written from the editor's calendar; no interviews yet. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Picture the fridge calendar. Every Thursday of 2027 is penciled in, and you're coming along. One honest aside: it's plans, all of it. Nothing has been reported yet, and some weeks may not land. Winter first. Week one: The Reset Issue. Quiet workspaces, reading refuges, and I'd be surprised if the Carnegie library stays out. And then we eat through the cold. The quest for the best broth in OCC. A reader poll for the best breakfast burrito west of I-25. A 4 a.m. shift with a Westside baker. Then February: a cocktail lounge audit off Main Street, an Alternative Valentine, pints by the fireplace, and how the vintage and antiques shops survive winter. Spring opens up. Red Rock Canyon hikes, with lunches after. The carriage house makers working out of alleys. St. Patrick week. And then the thaw, when we find out which counters open their windows. The under-$15 lunch circuit. A patio audit covering shade, noise, pints and dogs. Seed swaps. Coffee roasters. A Territory Days survival guide. A First Friday gallery crawl. Spring tap releases. Summer gets loud. Hosting out-of-towners without crossing I-25. The Bancroft Park farmers market, booth by booth. Gelato. Where a line cook eats at midnight. Secret courtyards. Quiet Fourth of July viewpoints. Live music on the bricks, and I'm hoping the bandshell gets a paragraph. You pick the coldest drinks. Then the Pueblo chile arrives. Nightcaps and jukeboxes after 10, and I'd bet Mother Muff's comes up. Then a back-to-school pantry run, Uintah Gardens an obvious stop. Fall, the leg I'm saving. The annual pizza index: Slice 420 against Rustica against Leopold's, and we'll need lots of you to settle it. Golden aspens. Autumn ciders. A locals' guide for after the tourists leave. Ghost signs, spooky lore, wood-fired and cast iron cooking (Front Range BBQ, you're on my mind). Thanksgiving hosting. Best of the Westside nominations. Small Business Saturday. And then a Black Friday antidote at Section 16 and Bear Creek. December: a 100% Westside gift guide, a winter lights walk, the Best of the Westside winners, the solstice and quiet patios, and a last issue called Looking Ahead. Every week also carries a civic item and an oral history. A 40-year diner regular. A couple who met at Bancroft in 1988. A chile roaster of 25 seasons. A dishwasher who worked 300 shifts. A high school senior looking at the Westside's future. Tell me which month I got wrong, or which place I forgot. The pencil's by the fridge, and I'll see you the first Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? <https://westsidewherewithal.com/issues/2026-10-11-issue-0> Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? 2026-10-11 In this issue Can't we just inform each other? The leaves are changing Divide anything but our bread What it's all for We choose this Can't we just inform each other? Nobody's telling us what's happening around here unless you find some corporate website that tracks you and tries to make you pay just to find out what's going on outside your door. What a drag. Can't we just inform each other, and have fun building and being in community? The leaves are changing The leaves are changing and falling, and the streets are graced with people from all walks of life. The days are growing shorter, and fall will give way to snow in a few weeks. Before we know it Santa will be at the cabin in Bancroft Park and the Christkindlmarket will be back. Divide anything but our bread I want people to see and hear themselves in our work. I want the people in this community to remember that we're in this together and that what we print is made to remind us of that. We are not here to divide anything but our bread for others, to love our neighbors, and practice mercy and kindness. What it's all for I get nervous that people's fear clouds not only their judgment but their hearts. I can be a skeptic, and quite cynical at times. I wonder what it's all for and why I'm doing this. But in the end, if one person reads our words and connects with them even a little, and it gives them a spark or the belief that they are loved, I will have done my work. We choose this I hope people are excited to see what we're up to. I hope they want to be a part of it, and that by gathering and presenting our values, beliefs and customs together, we can cherish them and let new things in while the old fades. I want Thursday to remind us that we choose this. Jeff What we told you Can't we just inform each other? The leaves are changing Divide anything but our bread What it's all for We choose this The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The archive <https://westsidewherewithal.com/issues/index> The archive Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The archive Every issue, oldest at the bottom. Free to read. If you want to chip in, the jar is on the front page. Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? 2026-10-11 The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The Westside Wherewithal <https://westsidewherewithal.com/> The Westside Wherewithal Skip to the paper We start for real in January. Sign up and the first one lands on a Thursday morning. Thursday mornings · FreeFrom your neighbors ## The Westside WherewithalBecause living west of takes a little wherewithal. Colorado Springs, Colorado A free paper for the Westside of Colorado Springs, written by the people who live here. Thursday mornings, starting January. ## Get it Thursday morning One email a week, free. Put your address in and we'll see you Thursday. Sign me up ## What the city is deciding ## About your street, before it's done You can still weigh in Open nowColorado Avenue lane test. Four lanes to three from Limit Street to 30th Street (the city's page; the Gazette says 31st), for up to a year from June 2026, paid for with $375K from the regional road tax (PPRTA, the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority). The city survey is open.The city's own page: City project page · The surveyIn the news: Gazette, lane test # Oct 26, 2026The city's 2027 budget. Public hearing Monday Oct 26, 5:30 p.m., Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada. Anyone can speak. The council talks it over at work sessions first (Oct 15 is one). What's in it for the Westside, we're reading now.The city's own page: the council calendar (Legistar) # Coming up Oct 21, 2026The community center's neighbor group (the Westside Community Center Alliance) meets Wednesday Oct 21, 4 p.m. It helps steer what the center at 1628 W Bijou becomes. Whether anyone can sit in, we're asking.The city's own page: city page, community centerStill looking for: the Alliance's own notice and the Parks Advisory Board's May minutesIn the news: Gazette, the Alliance # Apr 2027Roundabout at 31st and Fontanero, by Howbert Elementary, replacing the four-way stop. The open house was Sept 15. Construction April to fall 2027. Parents asked about the school crossing; the city says it will work with the school. The crossing drawing and the open-house boards are the documents we're after.In the news: KKTV, the roundabout # Apr 13, 2027Project Taurus. A 50-megawatt data center proposed at the old Intel plant, next to the homes in Chelsea Glen. The Planning Commission approved it 6 to 2 in July with a power cap and noise monitoring. Council put the appeal off 7 to 2 to April 13, a week after the city election, and wants a noise study and a study of what big power users pay first. The developer told Colorado Politics on Sept 18 it is weighing whether this is the right partnership.Still looking for: the noise studyIn the news: CPR, hearing date · Colorado Politics, the postponement · KKTV, the appeal # Already decided Sep 22, 2026Old Colorado City's downtown development authority (DDA) shut down. The tax district voters created in 2024 never got its funding. Council voted 5 to 4 on Sept 22 to dissolve it, ordinance 26-48 (yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams; no: Donelson, Gold, Henjum, Leinweber), after the same 5 to 4 on first reading Aug 25. KKTV reported Oct 2 that the DDA is weighing legal action because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. Who picks up the avenue's end of things is an open question.The city's own page: meeting record (Open Publica)Still looking for: the ordinance text itself, and the Aug 25 minutesIn the news: Gazette, the first vote · KKTV, the lawsuit threat # Coming up Every weekThe land. Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, the Garden, Bear Creek, the creek itself: fire restrictions, trail closures, anything the parks board decides. Nothing new on the city's pages this week; we look every Monday, and a canyon volunteer is looking with us.The city's own page: city parks, trails and open space # Already decided Since Apr 2023Greater Westside Community Plan. Nine neighborhoods, one plan: Gold Hill, Ivywild, Mesa, Mesa Springs, Midland, Old Colorado City, Skyway, Stratton Meadows, Westside. The city's page lists six meetings, the last in April 2023, plus a 2022 survey and a 'Big Ideas' summary. What came next is the question we're taking to Planning, and to the neighbors who sat in those rooms.The city's own page: city page, the plan # Checked October 11. Each one links to the city's own page where we found it. Where it says "still looking," we haven't found it yet (city websites, you know how it goes). If you've got it, send it over. Want to be the person in the room? Go to one meeting, write down what happened on this one-page sheet, and your name goes on it. A City Council Tuesday is the easy first one; you can watch it live or later from the couch. ## Vote ## Ballots are in the mail. Here's the Westside part. By Oct 26Register, or check that you're registered, at GoVoteColorado.gov. Moved since last time? Update it there too. After Oct 26 you can still register and vote in person, through Election Day.The city's own page: GoVoteColorado.gov # Till Nov 3, 7 p.m.Drop boxes west of I-25, open day and night: Red Rock Canyon shopping center, 3141 W Colorado Ave; Bear Creek Regional Park, 2002 Creek Crossing St; the clerk's office, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd; Manitou City Hall, 606 Manitou Ave. Mailing it? The county says by Oct 27. It has to arrive by 7 p.m. on Election Day; a postmark doesn't count.The city's own page: the county's list of boxes · El Paso County elections # On the ballotThe local ones: County 1A keeps the public-safety sales tax going through 2037. D11 4A is a $775 million school bond (Coronado is on the list). Then fourteen statewide questions; the state's Blue Book explains each one in plain words, for and against.The city's own page: the county's local questions · the Blue Book # Apr 6, 2027The city election: mayor and three council seats. Same registration, same website. We'll print the candidates and where they stand on the Westside.The city's own page: city election page # We don't tell you how to vote. We'd love for you to. If the Blue Book is a brick, if you can't get to a box, if you're not sure you're registered, call or text 719-201-5462 and a neighbor helps. The county pays election judges and trains them; sign up here if you've got a day. ## The next two weeks ## Oct 11 to Nov 8, checked against the calendars The market's last Saturday, Pumpkins in the Park, free bingo at the community center, the cemetery tour, the coffin races, and the same seven things every week. Every weekMon Boom Box Bingo, 7 to 11 p.m. (Mother Muff's)Tue Math tutoring, 4 to 5:30 p.m. (OCC Library)Wed Toddler Time, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Wed Open mic, 6 to 9 p.m. (Jives Coffee Lounge, 16 Colbrunn Ct)Thu Trivia, 7 to 9 p.m. (OCC Brewing)Fri Storytime, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Sat Paws to Read, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Sun Brunch Jam Band, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Mother Muff's) Sun Oct 11 all month Scarecrow Days: the storefront scarecrows, with a public vote, through Oct 31 the avenue Mon Oct 12 all day Westside CARES closed for Indigenous Peoples' Day 2808 W Colorado Tue Oct 13 9 a.m. City Council regular meeting (agenda on Legistar) 107 N Nevada 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Small Steps, Giant Leaps, Space Foundation program for ages 2 to 6 Westside Community Center Wed Oct 14 9 a.m. City Planning Commission 2880 International Cir. 5:30 to 7 p.m. Evening pickleball: donate a bag of candy to play, paddles limited Westside Community Center Thu Oct 15 7:30 a.m. Coffee with the principal Coronado High, Future Center 2 to 4 p.m. Classic board games free OCC Library 5 p.m. Mushroom Zombie Haunted House opens, through Oct 31 Mush Love Tee, the shirt shop, 2627 W Colorado Fri Oct 16 all day No school at Coronado: parent-teacher conferences, 9 to 3 in the gym Coronado High 5 to 6 p.m. Bingo at the Biscuit The Biscuit Factory Cat Lounge, 12 S 25th Sat Oct 17 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Farmers market, last Saturday of the season, 80-some vendors Bancroft Park 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Craft and art market, final Saturday History Center, 1 S 24th Sun Oct 18 evening Legends and Lore of Fairview Cemetery, a two-hour guided tour; tickets online, kids 12 and under free Fairview Cemetery, 1000 S 26th Mon Oct 19 all week Fall break at Coronado, Oct 19 to 22, no school Coronado High Wed Oct 21 4 p.m. Westside Community Center Alliance meeting Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou 5:30 to 7 p.m. Howdy Neighbor prize bingo, doors at 5, all ages, no sign-up free Westside Community Center Thu Oct 22 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Book group free OCC Library Sat Oct 24 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Emma Crawford Coffin Races, the 32nd; Manitou Avenue closes at 9 Manitou Springs noon to 6 p.m. Pumpkins in the Park: pumpkin patch, painting, face painters, costume and carving contests, the ZOOmobile, live music, a beer garden free the avenue Sun Oct 25 1 to 4 p.m. Trunk or Treat in the parking lot, and Animals of Halloween inside, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. free Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th Mon Oct 26 10 to 10:45 a.m. Bighorn sheep, an indoor program with a touch table; Mondays through Nov 30 free Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Owls of the Garden: take an owl pellet apart; $5, sign up first Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 5:30 p.m. City budget public hearing, the 2027 budget; anyone can speak Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada Tue Oct 27 all day Stroll-a-Story: a storybook walk, page by page, around the library OCC Library, 2418 W Pikes Peak Thu Oct 29 7:30 to 8:45 p.m. Haunted Manitou ghost tour, $25; also Oct 30 and 31 Memorial Park, Manitou Springs Fri Oct 30 5:30 p.m. Ghost Stories of Old Manitou, a walking tour from the museum Manitou Springs Heritage Museum Sat Oct 31 1 to 2 p.m. Why wolves in Colorado, a talk Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 2 to 4:30 p.m. Trick or Treat Street: costumed kids 1 to 6, shop to shop; look for the orange and yellow balloons the avenue, 23rd to 28th 6 p.m. Manitou Phantasmagoria Shoshone Spring courtyard, Manitou Springs evening Mushroom Zombie Haunted House, last night Mush Love Tee, the shirt shop, 2627 W Colorado Tue Nov 3 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Election Day. Ballots due by 7 p.m. at a drop box; register and vote in person at the clerk's office, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd, or Manitou City Hall El Paso County Fri Nov 6 5 to 8 p.m. First Friday ArtWalk: galleries, studios and shops open late along the avenue free the avenue, 17th to 31st Sun Nov 8 11 a.m. Altitude Makers market and farmers market free Soda Springs Park, Manitou Springs Every line above came off a calendar we can link, checked October 11. The strip up top happens every week; the list is the one-time stuff. The avenue is West Colorado Avenue; OCC is Old Colorado City; D11 is the school district. If we got a time wrong, tell us and we'll fix it in the next issue. Red Rock Canyon, the churches and the school sports pages had nothing dated for these two weeks; if you know of something, send it. Where that came from: Old Colorado City events calendar · Old Colorado City Library · Westside Community Center · History Center events · Garden of the Gods calendar ## The Bulletin Board ## Suppers, pantries, services, weddings, and the ones we lost If you need something this week, start here. Free, in your words, from you or your church or your family. Food, rent and utility help: Westside CARES, 2808 W Colorado Ave, 719-389-0759. Open Monday to Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. They prefer you walk in. Closed when the schools close for weather. Serves everyone west of I-25. Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou St, 719-385-7920. Open Monday and Friday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Tuesday to Thursday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. A corkboard, not a story. Church suppers, pantry hours, services, weddings, and the ones we lost: free, in your words, from you or your church or your family. We call to check the hours before they run. Send it by Tuesday to hello@westsidewherewithal.com, by text to 719-201-5462, on paper to the office at Suite 122, or in the box on the front page. Where that came from: Westside CARES hours · Community center hours (city page) ## The Listening Room ## Once a month. You pick where and when. Coffee with the editor, no agenda, no sign-up. The hour and the place are a vote; the winner runs in issue 1. The Listening Room isn't an office. It's one hour a month wherever we sit down, and I'd rather you picked it than me. Vote below, or write in your own. I live over here, about twenty years now, and the office on the avenue is the paper's address; it says one thing: I'm here. I'm with you. Where and when Saturday morning, the bench by the bandshell in Bancroft Park Tuesday evening, a coffee counter on the avenue Sunday afternoon, the library (once they say yes) A weeknight on Zoom, for people who work days Cast it ## The Address Book ## What was in this storefront in 1968? One storefront, one photo, what was inside. One building per issue: a photo, the address, and whoever remembers fills in the rest. The first photo is coming; if you have one, send it in below. ## Write something ## Send it in The shop that closed, the thing the city's about to do on your street, the neighbor everybody should know. Photos and drawings count, with your name on them. Send it however you like: the box below, hello@westsidewherewithal.com, a call or a text to 719-201-5462, or drop it at the office (Suite 122, 2320 W Colorado Ave). We write back. Rather talk than type? Call or text 719-201-5462 and tell me out loud; I'll write it down and you hear it read back before it runs. Under 18? Send it anyway; we'll check with you or a parent before it runs. Teachers, send the whole class. Photos come by email. En español: mándenos un texto al 719-201-5462 o escríbanos a hello@westsidewherewithal.com, en español: su cena, su misa, su aviso. No lo hablo de nacimiento; lo traducimos con un vecino y se lo leemos antes de publicar. Any other language: send it anyway, and we'll find a neighbor to translate. Want a desk? The pages signed by a desk are open; here's how to take one. Got a counter, or a box on your fence? Say so and we'll bring a stack, free, and swap the stale ones. How we do things, if you're curious. Put me down for a stack, for my counter or my library box Send it in ## The jar It's free. If a Thursday was worth something to you, throw a few bucks in the jar; it pays for the email and the printing. A check to the office works too. Pay what you want Inside: What the city is deciding · The next two weeks · On the avenue · From the desks · The next 100 years · Frontier wherewithal · Around the avenue · What came before us ## On the avenue ## I never stepped inside Base Camp, 2611 W Colorado, closed October 4, and I never ate there. Tell me the place you'd go back to. Jeff Adkins Base Camp closed on October 4. I thought it looked cool, but the menu never appealed to me in the moment, and it's hard to take me away from the dozen places I adore already. I never stepped inside. That's on me, and I'm not alone. Empty storefronts are not what we want here. What keeps a place open is anyone and everyone who can afford to spend local dollars in it, and I am going to try hard to keep mixing it up. If you're thinking about working and making a living here, I wish I could appeal to you directly: we need you. Old Colorado City (OCC from here on) is a tourist destination, for locals and for travelers. I know this. I gladly give up my street parking for events because I know we need them. If I want OCC Brewing to be here 365 days a year, I need them to sustain themselves. That means me not griping about the traffic or the parking over here. Not everyone can afford to eat out or shop on the avenue. I understand that; I don't feel obligated to, and neither should you. I'm fortunate that I can budget for a meal out, and I try to go during the week, when places are less busy and could frankly use the business. So I can't complain about Base Camp closing if I didn't eat there, and I can't blame not eating there on the parking. Tell me the place you'd go back to. What we know: Base Camp, 2611 W Colorado Ave, opened March 2025 and closed October 4; the owner cited costs and the economy. Mountain Shadows, the restaurant four blocks east, closed December 2024 and sold in January. Where that came from: Gazette, Oct 2, 2026 · Gazette, Jan 20, 2025 · OCC Brewing ## From the desks ## Ten desks, one neighborhood Celebrating, remembering, forecasting. Each desk is open; a neighbor's name goes on it the day they take it. The Wherewithal desks Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in · the 52 Thursdays of 2027, as a walk through the seasons The man who wrote down the Westside · 604 columns, the elk, the tunnels, and who keeps the record now Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper · the vote, the names, what's still unknown, and how to be in the room See that building? Look again · five storefronts and what they were, from the columns and the 1902 map Where the asphalt gives up · Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, Bear Creek; this fall, and the seed rule The elk who pulled a carriage · for kids: three things to find on the walk to school, and a dare Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad · la mesa en español: ayuda, el voto, cómo escribirnos Who's cooking on the Westside this week · six tables, as their own pages say it; we call before it prints Three picks before Halloween · the market's last Saturday, the coffin races, pumpkins in the park, and where to park The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead · every date headed for your street, and the door into each one Every desk is written from the record we hold and says so at the top. None of it is an interview yet; those are coming. Every one is open: what each desk takes, and how to take one. One text, one coffee. ## The next 100 years ## Four lanes to three, for a year Four lanes to three, Limit to 30th, for a year. The city survey is open. One driver's take below; if yours differs, next issue's yours. Jeff Adkins 1902 · Sanborn fire insurance map, sheet 2, Colorado Avenue · Library of Congress, public domain 2027 · lane drawing · city of Colorado Springs, Colorado Avenue demonstration, phase two What we know: four lanes to three from Limit to 30th by the city's page (the Gazette says 31st), since June 2026, for up to a year; the city calls it the Colorado Avenue Demonstration Project; $375K of county transportation tax (PPRTA) money. The Gazette counts about 30 parking spaces added, metered; the city's page says parking changes are expected to be minimal. We've asked the project team which it is. A second phase in 2027 makes some of it permanent and redoes three blocks of streetscape (Gazette); permanent reconstruction is penciled for 2027 or 2028 (Bike Colorado Springs). The city survey is open. One driver's take, mine (and my office is on the avenue, at 2320): it's great to see so much more attention being paid to pedestrians, and it doesn't slow me down at all. I haven't timed it; if you have, send the numbers. It may add parking, metered; the city and the Gazette disagree on how much (see the record), and nobody has said yet where someone who lives over a shop parks overnight. The city is taking comments until the concrete goes down. If you drive it, bike it, or cross it with a stroller, say so. If you hate it, this space is yours next issue, same length, your name on it. What do I want to still be here in 2126? Westsiders. Hyper local, no corporate nonsense, and room for whoever shows up to stay. Where that came from: Sanborn 1902 (LoC) · City project page · The city survey · Gazette, May 20, 2026 · Bike Colorado Springs ## Frontier wherewithal ## Load up for winter, survive the summer Not just another old west town. Two tame elk, tunnels under the avenue, four to six weeks a year you'd rather be in the water. Jeff Adkins If you're new here you might think this is just another old west town. If you're passing through, maybe we should let you believe it. Our summers are dry and shorter than most, with heat that stops, starts, and lingers. I'd say we have about four to six weeks a year where you'd want to be holed up in the cabin or in the water, which can be tricky to find. We need to know how to load up for winter, survive the summer, and not die of dehydration. And like every place with lore, we have a guy who trained two tame elk, Thunder and Buttons, to pull a carriage, plus tunnels and brothels and churches, oh my. We love it here. What we know: Thunder and Buttons were elk; Prairie Dog O'Byrne drove them hitched to a carriage on this avenue in the late 1880s. The tunnels under the avenue are documented by the historical society, with the honest caveat that some of it may be something else. Colorado City voted itself dry in 1913. Where that came from: Westside Pioneer, 2006 · Cobweb Corners, 2005 · Gazette, July 2021, the tunnels · Thunder and Buttons II ## Around the avenue ## Getting to know them is the point I don't know everyone yet. Getting to know them is the point. Jeff Adkins What we know so far: Who's opening and who's moving: we've heard about three and have an address for none, so none are named yet. Send the name and the block. The Old Colorado City Historical Society runs a free museum at 1 South 24th, a block off the avenue. Tuesday through Saturday, 11 to 4 in summer and 11 to 2 in winter. Call before you drive. The free Tuesday concerts at the Bancroft Park bandshell ran June 2 through September 29 this year, 5:30, Dizzy Charlie's and the Pikes Peak Blues Community. Next summer's lineup runs here the week it's announced. First Friday art walk, 5 to 8, galleries and studios along the avenue. Next one is November 6. The Customs and Classics car show closes the avenue from 23rd to 27th one Sunday every August. If the one you went to was a different show this fall, tell us which. This is the stuff I get to see everyone else doing. I enjoy seeing them do it. It doesn't matter to me if I don't know anyone in the room, because getting to know them is the point of this life. And that's what I'm here to capture in this paper. I shouldn't pretend to know things I don't. Where that came from: OCC History Center · Tuesday concerts (Springs Magazine) · First Friday (OCC calendar) · The car show (Pioneer, 2018) ## What came before us ## I want it all Mel McFarland died in September; I indexed the 604 columns I found. Eight digs, from the capital that got away to the forgotten cemetery. Jeff Adkins Start here: Mel McFarland, who wrote the Westside's past in the Pioneer for fifteen years, died in September at 81. Most of what is below comes from his columns. I found 604 and indexed every one I found; the one-line summaries there are software drafts, not yet checked one by one. Who keeps the record now is a question this paper exists to answer. I want the best stories from Old Colorado City. I want to dig down and find the most awesome stuff we can publish: how people first lived here, how it went from zero to what it is today, funny things, shootouts, jail time for crimes that make us laugh and cry, mysteries and murders. I want it all. What did we used to do and stop? What was, but isn't? What could have been, but never was? The digs I can't do alone: your church, your family, your block. Send them. What we found first: The capital that got away. Colorado City was founded in August 1859 to outfit gold seekers, was the county seat by 1861, and held the territorial capital just long enough to lose it to Denver. One account says the town was deemed too rowdy. Zero to four thousand. Mel has the town past 2,000 by 1890; the 1892 fire-insurance map (the Sanborn) writes 2,000 on its own cover, and the 1902 sheet writes 4,000. The town voted itself dry in 1913, lost the saloon money, and voted to be annexed by Colorado Springs in April 1917. Four saloons to twenty-seven. By the Pioneer's 2009 count (a feature, not one of Mel's columns): four in 1884, twenty-three by 1888, twenty-seven in 1902 plus thirty-some gambling halls, on a main street that also had the churches. Laura Bell McDaniel. From the Pioneer's 2011 profile, not the index: queen of the tenderloin; her last house was the Tribley House in the 2600 block of West Cucharras. She married Tom McDaniel in April 1887 in Salida; a month later he shot a man five times while she watched, and was acquitted. She divorced him in 1893. Accused in November 1917 of stealing liquor and acquitted; the historian who wrote her up thinks it was a set-up. Died in a car crash in January 1918. The elk were O'Byrne's by Mel's column (bought in Aspen in 1888); a 2006 Pioneer piece has her riding beside him in the carriage. The Glass Works. Full production in 1889 with 200 men on the south edge of town, bottling Manitou water. The furnace top collapsed just after midnight on September 9, 1892. Wheeler promised to rebuild; the Silver Panic of 1893 and the lost customers finished it. One of Mel's columns says it closed in 1895, another says by 1900; one puts a fire in 1893 as well. The Midland shops. The Colorado Midland started here in 1886 and quit in 1918; the Midland Terminal ran the line to Divide until it was scrapped in 1949. Hundreds of men in the shops at the peak, under a hundred by 1925, about fifty by 1948; the office burned in 1953. The fourteen-stall roundhouse is the one that lived: Van Briggle pottery, then the shops you walk through now. The mills. The Colorado-Philadelphia came first, in 1894 by one of Mel's columns and about 1897 by another, near 31st and U.S. 24. Golden Cycle took over the Telluride mill in 1906, rebuilt it with cyanide after a 1907 fire, and ran it until 1949; the smokestack is still there. The forgotten cemetery. Colorado City's Pioneer cemetery, on the mesa, used from about 1860 to 1917. Not every burial was moved; the stones came out in the 1940s and it became Pioneer Park in the 1950s. Graves were mapped with metal detectors in the 1970s, a project Mel joined, and a cast-iron coffin may still be there. Who is in it is still the question. Where that came from: Why the fuss? (Pioneer) · Laura Bell McDaniel (Pioneer, 2011) · Thunder and Buttons (Cobweb Corners, 2005) · The Glass Works, 200 men (Cobweb Corners, 2011) · The Glass Works fire (Cobweb Corners, 2011) · The Glass Works closed 1895 (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The Midland, 1886 to 1918 (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The Midland shops decline (Cobweb Corners, 2009) · The roundhouse (Cobweb Corners, 2007) · The mills (Cobweb Corners, 2013) · Golden Cycle closes, 1949 (Cobweb Corners, 2006) · The capital, the county seat (Cobweb Corners, 2009) · The forgotten cemetery (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The forgotten cemetery (Cobweb Corners, 2017) · Mel McFarland, 1945 to 2026 (Gazette) · Every Cobweb Corners column, indexed · Colorado City Iris, digitized (CHNC) If something here is wrong, reply to the email or send it in below. Corrections run at the top of the next issue. Behind the masthead: Sanborn fire insurance map of Colorado City, November 1902, sheet 1. Library of Congress, public domain. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad <https://westsidewherewithal.com/la-vecina> Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad La Vecina, la mesa en español. Traducción nuestra; buscamos a un vecino o vecina que la tome y firme aquí. Vecina, vecino: Le escribo con las hojas ya cambiando de color y las tardes más cortas. Aquí entre nosotros, quería contarle lo que sé. Si usted vive al oeste de la I-25, este periódico es para usted. Se llama The Westside Wherewithal, sale cada semana y es gratis. Lo escribimos entre vecinos: lo que abre, lo que cierra, lo que se vota, lo que llega al parque. Y queremos saber de usted. Cuéntenos lo que ve en su cuadra, en su iglesia, en su trabajo, y hágalo en español, en sus propias palabras. Si esta semana necesita una mano, vaya a Westside CARES, en 2808 W Colorado Ave. Abren de lunes a jueves, de 9:30 a.m. a 12:30 p.m., y no hace falta cita. Atienden a todos los que viven al oeste de la I-25. Llame al 719-389-0759. También tiene el Westside Community Center, en 1628 W Bijou St, teléfono 719-385-7920. Abre lunes y viernes, de 9 a.m. a 3 p.m., y de martes a jueves, de 9 a.m. a 7 p.m. Ahora el voto, en claro. Hasta el 26 de octubre puede registrarse, o revisar si ya está registrado, en GoVoteColorado.gov. Pasada esa fecha, todavía puede hacerlo en persona, hasta el día de la elección. Y para dejar su boleta, las urnas están abiertas hasta las 7 p.m. del 3 de noviembre en cuatro lugares: el centro comercial Red Rock Canyon, 3141 W Colorado Ave; Bear Creek Regional Park, 2002 Creek Crossing St; la oficina del secretario del condado, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd; y el ayuntamiento de Manitou, 606 Manitou Ave. Aquí no le decimos cómo votar. Solo le decimos dónde y cuándo. En diciembre el Christkindlmarket vuelve a Bancroft Park. Cuando tengamos los días, se los pasamos aquí. Si quiere escribirnos, mande un texto al 719-201-5462 o un correo a hello@westsidewherewithal.com, en español. El editor no habla español de cuna. Traduce con un vecino y lo vuelve a leer con él antes de que algo se imprima. También tenemos una hoja en español en westsidewherewithal.com/sheet-es. Y una cosa honesta: esta página es traducción nuestra. Buscamos a un vecino o vecina que hable español para que tome esta mesa y firme aquí con su nombre. Hasta la próxima semana, vecino. Un abrazo, La Vecina The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The print pack <https://westsidewherewithal.com/print> The print pack Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The print pack Everything to print this week, how many, and where it goes. Any copy shop; a home printer works for the one-sheets. What to print PrintFileHowCopies The one-sheetsheet.pdfLetter, one side (two sides if you want the puzzle back: sheet-back.pdf)20 Large printsheet-large.pdfLetter, two sides5 La hoja (Spanish)sheet-es.pdfLetter, one side10 The box editionzine-box.pdfLetter, landscape, two sheets, two-sided, flip on the short edge; nest sheet 2 inside sheet 1, fold once; no staples20 Every print says "good till Oct 25" or has no dates. A stale stack gets swapped; call and we bring more. Where it goes PlaceWhatHow many The gas station at 31stone-sheet5 The hardware storeone-sheet5 A diner on the avenueone-sheet, and ask about a tray5 The OCC History Center, 1 S 24thone-sheet5 Your own door, Suite 122one-sheet, box edition5 and 5 The grocery at 31stla hoja10 The senior table at the community center, 1628 W Bijoularge print5 The little free library at the old Carnegie building, 701 Manitou Avebox edition8 The Head Start box, 2330 Robinson Stbox edition7 The ask at a counter, two sentences: "It's a free weekly paper for the Westside, written by neighbors, nothing for you to pay and nothing to sell. Can it sit here, and can I refill it on Thursdays?" Say yes to any condition they add. What to watch Count what's left after a week. Note any call or text to 719-201-5462 and any word find or quiz score that comes in. That's the first real test; everything before it was rehearsal. The reader inbox was empty on October 11. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Plant this (when it exists) <https://westsidewherewithal.com/seeds> Plant this (when it exists) Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Plant this (when it exists) There are no seed strips yet. This is the plan, written down before the first one so nobody has to guess. Some copies of the zine will carry a small sealed strip of seed paper. Plant it in your own yard, a friend's yard with their yes, a community garden, or a school bed with the principal's okay. Not in a park, not in open space, not in Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, the Garden of the Gods or Bear Creek, not along the creek or a trail, and never after a fire. Those places get seeded by the people who manage them, with seed matched to the ground, and a stranger's strip does more harm than good there. What's in it: Colorado natives from a Colorado grower (Western Native Seed, in Coaldale): Lewis blue flax, Rocky Mountain penstemon, blanketflower, prairie coneflower. Nothing from the state's noxious weed list, which is where the cheap "wildflower mixes" go wrong. Plant in fall; the penstemon wants a winter in the ground. Plant it, take a picture when something comes up, send it in. The best ones run in the paper with your name on them. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Take a desk <https://westsidewherewithal.com/take-a-desk> Take a desk Moved to /desks. --- # Thank you <https://westsidewherewithal.com/thanks> Thank you Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Thank you That's the whole transaction. No tier, no badge, no extra issue. The paper keeps going, and your name goes on the once-a-year list of people who chipped in, alphabetical, no amounts, unless you'd rather it didn't. Reply to any issue to say so. See you Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The elk who pulled a carriage <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-box> The elk who pulled a carriage Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The elk who pulled a carriage The Box desk, for kids and whoever is with them. When a neighbor (or a kid) takes this desk, their name goes here. Okay. You're the boss today. Walk to school, but make it a hunt. Find three things. One: a little free library. It's a box on a post full of books, and you can take one. We know of 27 of them west of I-25. Two you can visit: the one at the old Carnegie library building, 701 Manitou Ave, and the one at the Head Start, 2330 Robinson St. Two: the red rocks at the end of the street. Stop and look. Three: one leaf. Pick the best one on the block. Keep it. It's a bookmark now. Okay. Now the elk. In 1888, a man named John O'Byrne got two tame elk from a judge in Aspen. He trained them to pull his tourist carriage down this very avenue. Their names were Thunder and Buttons. Yes, elk. Yes, a carriage. Eventually a movie company bought them and took them to Alaska to film advertisements. Thunder and Buttons were in commercials. (Also true.) (Bonus, also true: in 1880 a train crew calmed a cold, panicking circus elephant at Colorado Springs with a keg of beer. Aunt's honor.) Ask a grown-up. Point at any building on your walk and ask: "What was here before?" Then listen. Your move, boss. This fall: Halloween, Oct 31, 2 to 4:30 p.m.: Trick or Treat Street on the avenue, 23rd to 28th. Costumed kids 1 to 6. Look for the orange and yellow balloons. Bring a little cousin. Mondays, 10 a.m.: the bighorn sheep program at the Garden of the Gods Visitor Center. December: the Christkindlmarket comes back to Bancroft Park, bigger than last year, with Santa at the cabin. Bonus level: the paper in the box has games. A word find whose leftover letters spell a message. A five-question quiz with the answers printed upside down. And a map to draw on: it's the 1902 map of Colorado City, when the town had 4,000 people. You can see it at westsidewherewithal.com/zine-box, page 6. The dare. Draw Thunder and Buttons pulling the carriage. Go big. Give the tourists faces. Then put it in the little free library box, or send it to hello@westsidewherewithal.com with your first name. We print the best ones. See you on the avenue. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-next-hundred> The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead The Next Hundred desk. Written from the city's own pages and the ballot; dates change, and we fix them when they do. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Right now, Colorado Avenue. Four lanes have been three from Limit to 30th since June, for up to a year. Watch the lanes. Your move: fill out the city survey after you've driven it, biked it, or crossed it with a stroller. The avenue went on a diet and nobody asked it. Oct 21 and Oct 26. The community center's neighbor group meets Wednesday the 21st at 4 p.m.; it helps steer what the center at 1628 W Bijou becomes. Monday the 26th, 5:30 p.m.: the 2027 budget's public hearing at 107 N Nevada. Anyone can speak; the council calendar lists the work sessions before it. Your move: pick one and go. The budget reads better with you. Nov 3. Ballots are due by 7 p.m. County 1A would keep the public-safety sales tax going through 2037. D11's 4A is a $775 million school bond, and Coronado is on the list. Your move: vote, and use a drop box if the mail feels slow. There's one at 3141 W Colorado Ave. Seven o'clock does not negotiate. December. The Christkindlmarket comes back to Bancroft Park, bigger. Bancroft is the pupil of the eye, so a bigger market could mean a fuller avenue and fewer spots out front. Your move: go, and walk. The car can stay home. April 6, 2027. The city election: mayor and three council seats. Your move: register or check your registration, and ask every candidate what they would do about the avenue. The avenue will hear about it. April 13. Council hears the appeal on Project Taurus, the 50-megawatt data center proposed at the old Intel plant next to the homes in Chelsea Glen. The Planning Commission approved it 6 to 2 in July with a power cap and noise monitoring; council wants a noise study first, and the hearing falls a week after you vote (Colorado Politics). The developer says it is weighing the partnership, so the date could still move. Your move: read the noise study when it exists, and show up. Read quietly. April to fall 2027. A roundabout replaces the four-way stop at 31st and Fontanero by Howbert Elementary, on the western gateway to the red rocks. Parents asked about the school crossing, and the city says it will work with the school. Your move: if you walk kids there, ask the school what they've been told. Four stops become one circle. Around June 2027. The lane test's year ends, give or take. Nothing we've found says what comes after. Your move: whatever you think of the test, say so before it ends. A year is long enough for an opinion. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The man who wrote down the Westside <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-porch-mcfarland> The man who wrote down the Westside Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The man who wrote down the Westside The Porch desk. Written from the record; the editor's conversations with his family and friends are coming. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. If you ever wondered whether there really were tunnels under Colorado Avenue, Mel McFarland is a big part of why you wondered. I'll tell you what I know. He died September 21, at 81. From 2004 to 2019 he wrote 604 "Cobweb Corners" columns about this neighborhood for the Westside Pioneer. He was born here in 1944, a fourth-generation native, taught art and drafting, and wrote books on the Colorado Midland Railway. In 1983 he bought a retired working caboose for his Rockrimmon backyard, and became "the Caboose Guy." Dave Martinek, who started Midland Days at Divide with him in 2009, told the Gazette: "He was the go-to person for anyone who wanted to know about railroad history in the state." His nephew Luc MacArthur called him "kind of a Renaissance man." His sister, Elaine Radney, said: "He had a lot of people who loved him." He wrote it down. Here is some of it. On February 3, 2005, he wrote down the story of John O'Byrne, who in 1888 got two tame elk, Thunder and Buttons, and trained them to pull a tourist carriage. Here is the column. On April 7, 2005, he wrote down the tunnels, the ones that let Colorado Avenue customers reach the Cucharras Street brothels unseen. He had "seen the remains of bits of both" sets of tunnels himself. On November 17, 2011, he wrote down the Glass Works disaster. Just after midnight on September 9, 1892, the furnace top collapsed and fiery glass poured out. Chunks of raw glass still show up now and then in neighborhood yards and rock walls, he wrote. On November 14, 2013, he wrote down the day a Teller County sheriff chained a Pullman sleeper car to the rails over $663.21 in unpaid taxes, and a U.S. marshal freed it two days later. Read it. Here's the thing. The Gazette says he left "file cabinets" of research and writing, and that his family hopes to sift through them, with no concrete plans yet. The next person who asks "was there really a glass plant over here?" gets a shrug. We can't fix that. What we have is an index of all 604 columns, by what each one reports, at westsidewherewithal.com/cobweb. The editor plans to call his sister, Dave Martinek, the Pioneer's editor Kenyon Jordan, and the History Center, and we'll tell you what they say. The question we're taking to them is who keeps the record now. We'd like to be part of the answer, and we'd like yours. Did a column of his stick with you? Tell us which one. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-record-dda> Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper The Record desk. Written from the city's own pages and the news; the Aug 25 minutes are still to be read. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. If you missed the council meeting last month, here is the entry. A downtown development authority, a DDA, is a small district set up by a vote. It is supposed to get its own pot of money to spend on one downtown. In 2024, Old Colorado City voters created one for the avenue. It never got its funding. It was created by a vote and ended by a vote, and the money never turned up in between. On Sept 22, City Council voted 5 to 4 to dissolve it. That's ordinance 26-48. The meeting record has the roll call. That's on paper. Yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams No: Donelson, Gold, Henjum, Leinweber The Gazette reported the first vote, on Aug 25, as the same 5 to 4. That's reported. On Oct 2, KKTV reported that the DDA is weighing legal action, because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. That's reported too. That is the whole ledger so far. Here is what we don't know: The Aug 25 minutes. We have the first vote from the news, not from the minutes. Until we've read them, the date and the count are reported, not checked. Whether a lawsuit is filed. KKTV says the DDA is considering one. We haven't found a filing. That isn't on paper. We'll say so when it is. What the DDA was going to buy. The records we have don't list its plan, so we won't guess. If you voted in 2024, or sat in those rooms, tell us what you were told. Who picks up the avenue's end of things now. Nobody has answered that in anything we've read. That isn't on paper either. We are taking the question to the next meeting. Some of those answers are in a room on a Tuesday morning. You can be in it. City Council meets the second and fourth Tuesdays at 9 a.m., 107 N Nevada, and you can watch from home. You don't have to say a word. Take the one-page sheet, write down what happens, and your name goes on it. The Oct 13 meeting is the next one. If you were at the Aug 25 meeting, or you have the minutes, send them over. Tell me what I got wrong. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Where the asphalt gives up <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-ridge> Where the asphalt gives up Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Where the asphalt gives up The Ridge desk. Written from the city's pages and the groups' own sites; a canyon volunteer reads it before it prints. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Rain or snow, and the trails hold it. Friends of Red Rock Canyon says wait a day or two, because they stay muddy and fragile for 24 to 48 hours. Follow 21st down to Bear Creek, then keep going west. Around 30th and 31st the asphalt gives up. The red sandstone takes over. Red Rock Canyon is the pocket to the south. The city bought it in 2003, after it had been slated for a resort with high-rise towers and a private golf course. The city's open space page lists it among the places TOPS, the sales tax voters passed for open space, made possible. It nearly went the other way. Parking. The 31st Street trailhead has more than the High Street lots. No e-bikes in the open space. This fall. The Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th, runs a free bighorn sheep program with a touch table, Mondays 10 to 10:45 a.m. through Nov 30. Owls of the Garden is Oct 26, 12:30 to 1:30. Tickets from $5, sign up first. Oct 31, 1 to 2 p.m., a talk on why wolves in Colorado. The Garden's calendar has details. What's being decided. The Park System Master Plan goes to City Council for readings Oct 12 and 27, after the parks board heard it Oct 8. White Acres Trail is becoming the Don Ellis Trail. The board approved it Aug 13; it waits on an agreement and an $850 city fee. Fire restrictions: the city's page shows none this week, and we are checking with the fire department. We'll tell you what we hear. The seed rule. Some copies of this paper will carry a strip of Colorado native seed: Lewis blue flax, Rocky Mountain penstemon, blanketflower, prairie coneflower, from Western Native Seed in Coaldale. Plant it in your yard, a friend's yard with their yes, or a community garden. Never in a park, open space, along the creek or a trail, and never after a fire. The people who manage those places seed with plants matched to the ground, and a stranger's strip can do more harm than good. Groups to join. Friends of Red Rock Canyon keeps up the benches and runs Talk and Walks, resuming soon (no date yet). The Trails and Open Space Coalition takes members and runs the One Bag Challenge cleanups. Friends of Garden of the Gods runs volunteer days. Our promise. Every Monday this desk reads the city's parks pages, and a canyon volunteer reads them with us. If nothing's new, we'll say so. Which trail was muddy this week? Tell me and I'll pass it along. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Who's cooking on the Westside this week <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-table> Who's cooking on the Westside this week Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Who's cooking on the Westside this week The Table desk. Hours are as the churches and pantries post them, checked October 11; we call before they go on the Bulletin Board. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Here's how it works. Somebody on this side of the interstate is feeding somebody nearly every day of the week, mostly out of church basements, and the people at the stoves are neighbors who are very good at it. We went looking for the tables. There are more than we figured. Everything below is what each place says on its own page as of October 11. We haven't called any of them yet, so please do before you go. Hours move, and a wrong one costs somebody a trip. Sunday The Sanctuary Church, 1930 W Colorado Ave, lists its Ragamuffin Cafe hot meal at 9 a.m. Call 719-634-7232. It's the only Sunday hot meal we found over here. If you know another, tell us. Monday Westside CARES, 2808 W Colorado Ave, posts a weekly hot meal from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Call 719-389-0759. Same day, Sacred Heart's pantry is posted noon to 2 p.m. at the Parish Center door, 2030 W Colorado Ave. No voucher. Call 719-633-8711. Tuesday Westside Global Methodist, 701 N 20th St, posts its pantry from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Call 719-633-9295. If you still call it Trinity UMC, that's the same corner with a new name, and the old building on W Pikes Peak is becoming a child care center. Wednesday The Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou St, hosts the CARES pantry from 1 to 3 p.m. Call 719-385-7920. Up the road in Manitou, the pantry at 110 Canon Ave was last reported at 1 to 2 p.m., with a hot meal starting at 12:30 p.m. Call 719-685-9259. St. Andrew's closed as a church in 2025, but the pantry kept going in the parish hall. Hats off to the people who kept it going. Thursday Sacred Heart again, same hours, same door, no voucher. Call 719-633-8711. Know another table? That's six tables, and I'd bet my good parking spot there are more. Churches, clubs, a neighbor with a big pot and a folding table. If your church or group feeds people, text 719-201-5462 or write hello@westsidewherewithal.com with the day and the hour. We'll call, confirm it, and print it, free, in your words. That's what the Bulletin Board is for. It's where every table lives, every week, so nobody has to guess which church has soup on which night. See you at the table. Tell us what we got wrong. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Three picks before Halloween <https://westsidewherewithal.com/weekend-radar> Three picks before Halloween Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Three picks before Halloween The Weekend Radar desk. Every line checked against the organizer's own page. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Two weekends, three picks, and I've already parked for all of them. Read this, then go. Go to the farmers market. Saturday, October 17, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., Bancroft Park, 24th and Colorado. It's the last Saturday of the season, with 80-some vendors, and there is no next Saturday. Go early, because the best of anything goes first. Parking: don't circle the park hoping. Take a side street and walk the last bit. Saturday, October 24 is two things at once. Pick one. First, the coffin races. The Emma Crawford Coffin Races run 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Manitou Springs. Parking: Manitou Avenue closes at 9, so get there before the road shuts and the crowd fills in, and plan to walk in. Second, the pumpkins. Pumpkins in the Park is noon to 6 p.m. on the avenue, free, with a pumpkin patch, painting, costume and carving contests, the ZOOmobile, live music and a beer garden. Parking: the avenue's diagonal spots fill on a festival Saturday, so take a side street and walk in. Don't try to do both in one afternoon. Choose, then start the day with it. The things that are always there. If the festivals are not your speed, or you just need a Thursday: trivia at OCC Brewing every Thursday, 7 to 9 p.m. Storytime at the OCC Library every Friday, 10:30 a.m. Brunch Jam Band at Mother Muff's every Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Free bingo on the 21st, Trunk or Treat on the 25th, Trick or Treat Street on the 31st and First Friday ArtWalk on November 6 are all on the full list, with times. That list lives at westsidewherewithal.com, and it's also the one-sheet on the counters around the avenue. Got something happening that we missed? Send it to hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or text 719-201-5462. We'll check it against your own page and put it in. See you Saturday. I'll be the one who parked early. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in <https://westsidewherewithal.com/year-ahead> Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in The Year Ahead desk. Written from the editor's calendar; no interviews yet. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Picture the fridge calendar. Every Thursday of 2027 is penciled in, and you're coming along. One honest aside: it's plans, all of it. Nothing has been reported yet, and some weeks may not land. Winter first. Week one: The Reset Issue. Quiet workspaces, reading refuges, and I'd be surprised if the Carnegie library stays out. And then we eat through the cold. The quest for the best broth in OCC. A reader poll for the best breakfast burrito west of I-25. A 4 a.m. shift with a Westside baker. Then February: a cocktail lounge audit off Main Street, an Alternative Valentine, pints by the fireplace, and how the vintage and antiques shops survive winter. Spring opens up. Red Rock Canyon hikes, with lunches after. The carriage house makers working out of alleys. St. Patrick week. And then the thaw, when we find out which counters open their windows. The under-$15 lunch circuit. A patio audit covering shade, noise, pints and dogs. Seed swaps. Coffee roasters. A Territory Days survival guide. A First Friday gallery crawl. Spring tap releases. Summer gets loud. Hosting out-of-towners without crossing I-25. The Bancroft Park farmers market, booth by booth. Gelato. Where a line cook eats at midnight. Secret courtyards. Quiet Fourth of July viewpoints. Live music on the bricks, and I'm hoping the bandshell gets a paragraph. You pick the coldest drinks. Then the Pueblo chile arrives. Nightcaps and jukeboxes after 10, and I'd bet Mother Muff's comes up. Then a back-to-school pantry run, Uintah Gardens an obvious stop. Fall, the leg I'm saving. The annual pizza index: Slice 420 against Rustica against Leopold's, and we'll need lots of you to settle it. Golden aspens. Autumn ciders. A locals' guide for after the tourists leave. Ghost signs, spooky lore, wood-fired and cast iron cooking (Front Range BBQ, you're on my mind). Thanksgiving hosting. Best of the Westside nominations. Small Business Saturday. And then a Black Friday antidote at Section 16 and Bear Creek. December: a 100% Westside gift guide, a winter lights walk, the Best of the Westside winners, the solstice and quiet patios, and a last issue called Looking Ahead. Every week also carries a civic item and an oral history. A 40-year diner regular. A couple who met at Bancroft in 1988. A chile roaster of 25 seasons. A dishwasher who worked 300 shifts. A high school senior looking at the Westside's future. Tell me which month I got wrong, or which place I forgot. The pencil's by the fridge, and I'll see you the first Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? <https://westsidewherewithal.com/issues/2026-10-11-issue-0> Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? 2026-10-11 In this issue Can't we just inform each other? The leaves are changing Divide anything but our bread What it's all for We choose this Can't we just inform each other? Nobody's telling us what's happening around here unless you find some corporate website that tracks you and tries to make you pay just to find out what's going on outside your door. What a drag. Can't we just inform each other, and have fun building and being in community? The leaves are changing The leaves are changing and falling, and the streets are graced with people from all walks of life. The days are growing shorter, and fall will give way to snow in a few weeks. Before we know it Santa will be at the cabin in Bancroft Park and the Christkindlmarket will be back. Divide anything but our bread I want people to see and hear themselves in our work. I want the people in this community to remember that we're in this together and that what we print is made to remind us of that. We are not here to divide anything but our bread for others, to love our neighbors, and practice mercy and kindness. What it's all for I get nervous that people's fear clouds not only their judgment but their hearts. I can be a skeptic, and quite cynical at times. I wonder what it's all for and why I'm doing this. But in the end, if one person reads our words and connects with them even a little, and it gives them a spark or the belief that they are loved, I will have done my work. We choose this I hope people are excited to see what we're up to. I hope they want to be a part of it, and that by gathering and presenting our values, beliefs and customs together, we can cherish them and let new things in while the old fades. I want Thursday to remind us that we choose this. Jeff What we told you Can't we just inform each other? The leaves are changing Divide anything but our bread What it's all for We choose this The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The archive <https://westsidewherewithal.com/issues/index> The archive Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The archive Every issue, oldest at the bottom. Free to read. If you want to chip in, the jar is on the front page. Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? 2026-10-11 The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The Westside Wherewithal <https://westsidewherewithal.com/> The Westside Wherewithal Skip to the paper We start for real in January. Sign up and the first one lands on a Thursday morning. Thursday mornings · FreeFrom your neighbors ## The Westside WherewithalBecause living west of takes a little wherewithal. Colorado Springs, Colorado A free paper for the Westside of Colorado Springs, written by the people who live here. Thursday mornings, starting January. ## Get it Thursday morning One email a week, free. Put your address in and we'll see you Thursday. Sign me up ## What the city is deciding ## About your street, before it's done You can still weigh in Open nowColorado Avenue lane test. Four lanes to three from Limit Street to 30th Street (the city's page; the Gazette says 31st), for up to a year from June 2026, paid for with $375K from the regional road tax (PPRTA, the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority). The city survey is open.The city's own page: City project page · The surveyIn the news: Gazette, lane test # Oct 26, 2026The city's 2027 budget. Public hearing Monday Oct 26, 5:30 p.m., Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada Ave. Anyone can speak. The council talks it over at work sessions first (Oct 15 is one). What's in it for the Westside, we're reading now.Changed since 2026-10-11The city's own page: the council calendar (Legistar) # Coming up Oct 21, 2026The community center's neighbor group (the Westside Community Center Alliance) meets Wednesday Oct 21, 4 p.m. It helps steer what the center at 1628 W Bijou becomes. Whether anyone can sit in, we're asking.The city's own page: city page, community centerStill looking for: the Alliance's own notice and the Parks Advisory Board's May minutesIn the news: Gazette, the Alliance # Apr 2027Roundabout at 31st and Fontanero, by Howbert Elementary, replacing the four-way stop. The open house was Sept 15. Construction April to fall 2027. Parents asked about the school crossing; the city says it will work with the school. The crossing drawing and the open-house boards are the documents we're after.In the news: KKTV, the roundabout # Apr 13, 2027Project Taurus. A 50-megawatt data center proposed at the old Intel plant, next to the homes in Chelsea Glen. The Planning Commission approved it 6 to 2 in July with a power cap and noise monitoring. Council put the appeal off 7 to 2 to April 13, a week after the city election, and wants a noise study and a study of what big power users pay first. The developer told Colorado Politics on Sept 18 it is weighing whether this is the right partnership.Still looking for: the noise studyIn the news: CPR, hearing date · Colorado Politics, the postponement · KKTV, the appeal # Already decided Sep 22, 2026Old Colorado City's downtown development authority (DDA) shut down. The tax district voters created in 2024 never got its funding. Council voted 5 to 4 on Sept 22 to dissolve it, ordinance 26-48 (yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams; no: Donelson, Gold, Henjum, Leinweber), after the same 5 to 4 on first reading Aug 25. KKTV reported Oct 2 that the DDA is weighing legal action because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. Who picks up the avenue's end of things is an open question.The city's own page: meeting record (Open Publica)Still looking for: the ordinance text itself, and the Aug 25 minutesIn the news: Gazette, the first vote · KKTV, the lawsuit threat # Coming up Every weekThe land. Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, the Garden, Bear Creek, the creek itself: fire restrictions, trail closures, anything the parks board decides. Nothing new on the city's pages this week; we look every Monday, and a canyon volunteer is looking with us.The city's own page: city parks, trails and open space # Already decided Since Apr 2023Greater Westside Community Plan. Nine neighborhoods, one plan: Gold Hill, Ivywild, Mesa, Mesa Springs, Midland, Old Colorado City, Skyway, Stratton Meadows, Westside. (The city's plan reaches past the interstate; this paper stays west of it.) The city's page lists six meetings, the last in April 2023, plus a 2022 survey and a 'Big Ideas' summary. What came next is the question we're taking to Planning, and to the neighbors who sat in those rooms.Changed since 2026-10-11The city's own page: city page, the plan # Checked October 11. Each one links to the city's own page where we found it. Where it says "still looking," we haven't found it yet (city websites, you know how it goes). If you've got it, send it over. Want to be the person in the room? Go to one meeting, write down what happened on this one-page sheet, and your name goes on it. A City Council Tuesday is the easy first one; you can watch it live or later from the couch. ## Vote ## Ballots are in the mail. Here's the Westside part. By Oct 26Register, or check that you're registered, at GoVoteColorado.gov. Moved since last time? Update it there too. After Oct 26 you can still register and vote in person, through Election Day.The city's own page: GoVoteColorado.gov # Till Nov 3, 7 p.m.Drop boxes west of I-25, open day and night: Red Rock Canyon shopping center, 3141 W Colorado Ave; Bear Creek Regional Park, 2002 Creek Crossing St; the clerk's office, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd; Manitou City Hall, 606 Manitou Ave. Mailing it? The county says by Oct 27. It has to arrive by 7 p.m. on Election Day; a postmark doesn't count.The city's own page: the county's list of boxes · El Paso County elections # On the ballotThe local ones: County 1A keeps the public-safety sales tax going through 2037. D11 4A is a $775 million school bond (Coronado is on the list). Then fourteen statewide questions; the state's Blue Book explains each one in plain words, for and against.The city's own page: the county's local questions · the Blue Book # Apr 6, 2027The city election: mayor and three council seats. Same registration, same website. We'll print the candidates and where they stand on the Westside.The city's own page: city election page # We don't tell you how to vote. We'd love for you to. If the Blue Book is a brick, if you can't get to a box, if you're not sure you're registered, call or text 719-201-5462 and a neighbor helps. The county pays election judges and trains them; sign up here if you've got a day. ## The next two weeks ## Oct 11 to Nov 8, checked against the calendars The market's last Saturday, Pumpkins in the Park, free bingo at the community center, the cemetery tour, the coffin races, and the same seven things every week. Every weekMon Boom Box Bingo, 7 to 11 p.m. (Mother Muff's)Tue Math tutoring, 4 to 5:30 p.m. (OCC Library)Wed Toddler Time, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Wed Open mic, 6 to 9 p.m. (Jives Coffee Lounge, 16 Colbrunn Ct)Thu Trivia, 7 to 9 p.m. (OCC Brewing)Fri Storytime, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Sat Paws to Read, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Sun Brunch Jam Band, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Mother Muff's) Sun Oct 11 all month Scarecrow Days: the storefront scarecrows, with a public vote, through Oct 31 the avenue Mon Oct 12 all day Westside CARES closed for Indigenous Peoples' Day 2808 W Colorado Tue Oct 13 9 a.m. City Council regular meeting (agenda on Legistar) 107 N Nevada Ave 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Small Steps, Giant Leaps, Space Foundation program for ages 2 to 6 Westside Community Center Wed Oct 14 9 a.m. City Planning Commission 2880 International Circle 5:30 to 7 p.m. Evening pickleball: donate a bag of candy to play, paddles limited Westside Community Center Thu Oct 15 7:30 a.m. Coffee with the principal Coronado High, Future Center 2 to 4 p.m. Classic board games free OCC Library 5 p.m. Mushroom Zombie Haunted House opens, through Oct 31 Mush Love Tee, the shirt shop, 2627 W Colorado Fri Oct 16 all day No school at Coronado: parent-teacher conferences, 9 to 3 in the gym Coronado High 5 to 6 p.m. Bingo at the Biscuit The Biscuit Factory Cat Lounge, 12 S 25th Sat Oct 17 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Farmers market, last Saturday of the season, 80-some vendors Bancroft Park 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Craft and art market, final Saturday History Center, 1 S 24th Sun Oct 18 evening Legends and Lore of Fairview Cemetery, a two-hour guided tour; tickets online, kids 12 and under free Fairview Cemetery, 1000 S 26th Mon Oct 19 all week Fall break at Coronado, Oct 19 to 22, no school Coronado High Wed Oct 21 4 p.m. Westside Community Center Alliance meeting Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou 5:30 to 7 p.m. Howdy Neighbor prize bingo, doors at 5, all ages, no sign-up free Westside Community Center Thu Oct 22 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Book group free OCC Library Sat Oct 24 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Emma Crawford Coffin Races, the 32nd; Manitou Avenue closes at 9 Manitou Springs noon to 6 p.m. Pumpkins in the Park: pumpkin patch, painting, face painters, costume and carving contests, the ZOOmobile, live music, a beer garden free the avenue Sun Oct 25 1 to 4 p.m. Trunk or Treat in the parking lot, and Animals of Halloween inside, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. free Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th Mon Oct 26 10 to 10:45 a.m. Bighorn sheep, an indoor program with a touch table; Mondays through Nov 30 free Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Owls of the Garden: take an owl pellet apart; $5, sign up first Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 5:30 p.m. City budget public hearing, the 2027 budget; anyone can speak Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada Ave Tue Oct 27 all day Stroll-a-Story: a storybook walk, page by page, around the library OCC Library, 2418 W Pikes Peak Thu Oct 29 7:30 to 8:45 p.m. Haunted Manitou ghost tour, $25; also Oct 30 and 31 Memorial Park, Manitou Springs Fri Oct 30 5:30 p.m. Ghost Stories of Old Manitou, a walking tour from the museum Manitou Springs Heritage Museum Sat Oct 31 1 to 2 p.m. Why wolves in Colorado, a talk Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 2 to 4:30 p.m. Trick or Treat Street: costumed kids 1 to 6, shop to shop; look for the orange and yellow balloons the avenue, 23rd to 28th 6 p.m. Manitou Phantasmagoria Shoshone Spring courtyard, Manitou Springs evening Mushroom Zombie Haunted House, last night Mush Love Tee, the shirt shop, 2627 W Colorado Tue Nov 3 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Election Day. Ballots due by 7 p.m. at a drop box; register and vote in person at the clerk's office, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd, or Manitou City Hall El Paso County Fri Nov 6 5 to 8 p.m. First Friday ArtWalk: galleries, studios and shops open late along the avenue free the avenue, 17th to 31st Sun Nov 8 11 a.m. Altitude Makers market and farmers market free Soda Springs Park, Manitou Springs Every line above came off a calendar we can link, checked October 11. The strip up top happens every week; the list is the one-time stuff. The avenue is West Colorado Avenue; OCC is Old Colorado City; D11 is the school district. If we got a time wrong, tell us and we'll fix it in the next issue. Red Rock Canyon, the churches and the school sports pages had nothing dated for these two weeks; if you know of something, send it. Where that came from: Old Colorado City events calendar · Old Colorado City Library · Westside Community Center · History Center events · Garden of the Gods calendar ## The Bulletin Board ## Suppers, pantries, services, weddings, and the ones we lost If you need something this week, start here. Free, in your words, from you or your church or your family. Food, rent and utility help: Westside CARES, 2808 W Colorado Ave, 719-389-0759. Open Monday to Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. They prefer you walk in. Closed when the schools close for weather. Serves everyone west of I-25. Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou St, 719-385-7920. Open Monday and Friday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Tuesday to Thursday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. A corkboard, not a story. Church suppers, pantry hours, services, weddings, and the ones we lost: free, in your words, from you or your church or your family. We call to check the hours before they run. Send it by Tuesday to hello@westsidewherewithal.com, by text to 719-201-5462, on paper to the office at Suite 122, or in the box on the front page. Where that came from: Westside CARES hours · Community center hours (city page) ## The Listening Room ## Once a month. You pick where and when. Coffee with the editor, no agenda, no sign-up. The hour and the place are a vote; the winner runs in issue 1. The Listening Room isn't an office. It's one hour a month wherever we sit down, and I'd rather you picked it than me. Vote below, or write in your own. I live over here, about twenty years now, and the office on the avenue is the paper's address; it says one thing: I'm here. I'm with you. Where and when Saturday morning, the bench by the bandshell in Bancroft Park Tuesday evening, a coffee counter on the avenue Sunday afternoon, the library (once they say yes) A weeknight on Zoom, for people who work days Cast it ## The Address Book ## What was in this storefront in 1968? One storefront, one photo, what was inside. One building per issue: a photo, the address, and whoever remembers fills in the rest. The first photo is coming; if you have one, send it in below. ## Write something ## Send it in The shop that closed, the thing the city's about to do on your street, the neighbor everybody should know. Photos and drawings count, with your name on them. Send it however you like: the box below, hello@westsidewherewithal.com, a call or a text to 719-201-5462, or drop it at the office (Suite 122, 2320 W Colorado Ave). We write back. Rather talk than type? Call or text 719-201-5462 and tell me out loud; I'll write it down and you hear it read back before it runs. Under 18? Send it anyway; we'll check with you or a parent before it runs. Teachers, send the whole class. Photos come by email. En español: mándenos un texto al 719-201-5462 o escríbanos a hello@westsidewherewithal.com, en español: su cena, su misa, su aviso. No lo hablo de nacimiento; lo traducimos con un vecino y se lo leemos antes de publicar. Any other language: send it anyway, and we'll find a neighbor to translate. Want a desk? The pages signed by a desk are open; here's how to take one. Got a counter, or a box on your fence? Say so and we'll bring a stack, free, and swap the stale ones. How we do things, if you're curious. Put me down for a stack, for my counter or my library box Send it in ## The jar It's free. If a Thursday was worth something to you, throw a few bucks in the jar; it pays for the email and the printing. A check to the office works too. Pay what you want Inside: What the city is deciding · The next two weeks · On the avenue · From the desks · The next 100 years · Frontier wherewithal · Around the avenue · What came before us ## On the avenue ## I never stepped inside Base Camp, 2611 W Colorado, closed October 4, and I never ate there. Tell me the place you'd go back to. Jeff Adkins Base Camp closed on October 4. I thought it looked cool, but the menu never appealed to me in the moment, and it's hard to take me away from the dozen places I adore already. I never stepped inside. That's on me, and I'm not alone. Empty storefronts are not what we want here. What keeps a place open is anyone and everyone who can afford to spend local dollars in it, and I am going to try hard to keep mixing it up. If you're thinking about working and making a living here, I wish I could appeal to you directly: we need you. Old Colorado City (OCC from here on) is a tourist destination, for locals and for travelers. I know this. I gladly give up my street parking for events because I know we need them. If I want OCC Brewing to be here 365 days a year, I need them to sustain themselves. That means me not griping about the traffic or the parking over here. Not everyone can afford to eat out or shop on the avenue. I understand that; I don't feel obligated to, and neither should you. I'm fortunate that I can budget for a meal out, and I try to go during the week, when places are less busy and could frankly use the business. So I can't complain about Base Camp closing if I didn't eat there, and I can't blame not eating there on the parking. Tell me the place you'd go back to. What we know: Base Camp, 2611 W Colorado Ave, opened March 2025 and closed October 4; the owner cited costs and the economy. Mountain Shadows, the restaurant four blocks east, closed December 2024 and sold in January. Where that came from: Gazette, Oct 2, 2026 · Gazette, Jan 20, 2025 · OCC Brewing ## From the desks ## Ten desks, one neighborhood Celebrating, remembering, forecasting. Each desk is open; a neighbor's name goes on it the day they take it. The Wherewithal desks Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in · the 52 Thursdays of 2027, as a walk through the seasons The man who wrote down the Westside · 604 columns, the elk, the tunnels, and who keeps the record now Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper · the vote, the names, what's still unknown, and how to be in the room See that building? Look again · five storefronts and what they were, from the columns and the 1902 map Where the asphalt gives up · Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, Bear Creek; this fall, and the seed rule The elk who pulled a carriage · for kids: three things to find on the walk to school, and a dare Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad · la mesa en español: ayuda, el voto, cómo escribirnos Who's cooking on the Westside this week · six tables, as their own pages say it; we call before it prints Three picks before Halloween · the market's last Saturday, the coffin races, pumpkins in the park, and where to park The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead · every date headed for your street, and the door into each one Every desk is written from the record we hold and says so at the top. None of it is an interview yet; those are coming. Every one is open: what each desk takes, and how to take one. One text, one coffee. ## The next 100 years ## Four lanes to three, for a year Four lanes to three, Limit to 30th, for a year. The city survey is open. One driver's take below; if yours differs, next issue's yours. Jeff Adkins 1902 · Sanborn fire insurance map, sheet 2, Colorado Avenue · Library of Congress, public domain 2027 · lane drawing · city of Colorado Springs, Colorado Avenue demonstration, phase two What we know: four lanes to three from Limit to 30th by the city's page (the Gazette says 31st), since June 2026, for up to a year; the city calls it the Colorado Avenue Demonstration Project; $375K of county transportation tax (PPRTA) money. The Gazette counts about 30 parking spaces added, metered; the city's page says parking changes are expected to be minimal. We've asked the project team which it is. A second phase in 2027 makes some of it permanent and redoes three blocks of streetscape (Gazette); permanent reconstruction is penciled for 2027 or 2028 (Bike Colorado Springs). The city survey is open. One driver's take, mine (and my office is on the avenue, at 2320): it's great to see so much more attention being paid to pedestrians, and it doesn't slow me down at all. I haven't timed it; if you have, send the numbers. It may add parking, metered; the city and the Gazette disagree on how much (see the record), and nobody has said yet where someone who lives over a shop parks overnight. The city is taking comments until the concrete goes down. If you drive it, bike it, or cross it with a stroller, say so. If you hate it, this space is yours next issue, same length, your name on it. What do I want to still be here in 2126? Westsiders. Hyper local, no corporate nonsense, and room for whoever shows up to stay. Where that came from: Sanborn 1902 (LoC) · City project page · The city survey · Gazette, May 20, 2026 · Bike Colorado Springs ## Frontier wherewithal ## Load up for winter, survive the summer Not just another old west town. Two tame elk, tunnels under the avenue, four to six weeks a year you'd rather be in the water. Jeff Adkins If you're new here you might think this is just another old west town. If you're passing through, maybe we should let you believe it. Our summers are dry and shorter than most, with heat that stops, starts, and lingers. I'd say we have about four to six weeks a year where you'd want to be holed up in the cabin or in the water, which can be tricky to find. We need to know how to load up for winter, survive the summer, and not die of dehydration. And like every place with lore, we have a guy who trained two tame elk, Thunder and Buttons, to pull a carriage, plus tunnels and brothels and churches, oh my. We love it here. What we know: Thunder and Buttons were elk; Prairie Dog O'Byrne drove them hitched to a carriage on this avenue in the late 1880s. The tunnels under the avenue are documented by the historical society, with the honest caveat that some of it may be something else. Colorado City voted itself dry in 1913. Where that came from: Westside Pioneer, 2006 · Cobweb Corners, 2005 · Gazette, July 2021, the tunnels · Thunder and Buttons II ## Around the avenue ## Getting to know them is the point I don't know everyone yet. Getting to know them is the point. Jeff Adkins What we know so far: Who's opening and who's moving: we've heard about three and have an address for none, so none are named yet. Send the name and the block. The Old Colorado City Historical Society runs a free museum at 1 South 24th, a block off the avenue. Tuesday through Saturday, 11 to 4 in summer and 11 to 2 in winter. Call before you drive. The free Tuesday concerts at the Bancroft Park bandshell ran June 2 through September 29 this year, 5:30, Dizzy Charlie's and the Pikes Peak Blues Community. Next summer's lineup runs here the week it's announced. First Friday art walk, 5 to 8, galleries and studios along the avenue. Next one is November 6. The Customs and Classics car show closes the avenue from 23rd to 27th one Sunday every August. If the one you went to was a different show this fall, tell us which. This is the stuff I get to see everyone else doing. I enjoy seeing them do it. It doesn't matter to me if I don't know anyone in the room, because getting to know them is the point of this life. And that's what I'm here to capture in this paper. I shouldn't pretend to know things I don't. Where that came from: OCC History Center · Tuesday concerts (Springs Magazine) · First Friday (OCC calendar) · The car show (Pioneer, 2018) ## What came before us ## I want it all Mel McFarland died in September; I indexed the 604 columns I found. Eight digs, from the capital that got away to the forgotten cemetery. Jeff Adkins Start here: Mel McFarland, who wrote the Westside's past in the Pioneer for fifteen years, died in September at 81. Most of what is below comes from his columns. I found 604 and indexed every one I found; the one-line summaries there are software drafts, not yet checked one by one. Who keeps the record now is a question this paper exists to answer. I want the best stories from Old Colorado City. I want to dig down and find the most awesome stuff we can publish: how people first lived here, how it went from zero to what it is today, funny things, shootouts, jail time for crimes that make us laugh and cry, mysteries and murders. I want it all. What did we used to do and stop? What was, but isn't? What could have been, but never was? The digs I can't do alone: your church, your family, your block. Send them. What we found first: The capital that got away. Colorado City was founded in August 1859 to outfit gold seekers, was the county seat by 1861, and held the territorial capital just long enough to lose it to Denver. One account says the town was deemed too rowdy. Zero to four thousand. Mel has the town past 2,000 by 1890; the 1892 fire-insurance map (the Sanborn) writes 2,000 on its own cover, and the 1902 sheet writes 4,000. The town voted itself dry in 1913, lost the saloon money, and voted to be annexed by Colorado Springs in April 1917. Four saloons to twenty-seven. By the Pioneer's 2009 count (a feature, not one of Mel's columns): four in 1884, twenty-three by 1888, twenty-seven in 1902 plus thirty-some gambling halls, on a main street that also had the churches. Laura Bell McDaniel. From the Pioneer's 2011 profile, not the index: queen of the tenderloin; her last house was the Tribley House in the 2600 block of West Cucharras. She married Tom McDaniel in April 1887 in Salida; a month later he shot a man five times while she watched, and was acquitted. She divorced him in 1893. Accused in November 1917 of stealing liquor and acquitted; the historian who wrote her up thinks it was a set-up. Died in a car crash in January 1918. The elk were O'Byrne's by Mel's column (bought in Aspen in 1888); a 2006 Pioneer piece has her riding beside him in the carriage. The Glass Works. Full production in 1889 with 200 men on the south edge of town, bottling Manitou water. The furnace top collapsed just after midnight on September 9, 1892. Wheeler promised to rebuild; the Silver Panic of 1893 and the lost customers finished it. One of Mel's columns says it closed in 1895, another says by 1900; one puts a fire in 1893 as well. The Midland shops. The Colorado Midland started here in 1886 and quit in 1918; the Midland Terminal ran the line to Divide until it was scrapped in 1949. Hundreds of men in the shops at the peak, under a hundred by 1925, about fifty by 1948; the office burned in 1953. The fourteen-stall roundhouse is the one that lived: Van Briggle pottery, then the shops you walk through now. The mills. The Colorado-Philadelphia came first, in 1894 by one of Mel's columns and about 1897 by another, near 31st and U.S. 24. Golden Cycle took over the Telluride mill in 1906, rebuilt it with cyanide after a 1907 fire, and ran it until 1949; the smokestack is still there. The forgotten cemetery. Colorado City's Pioneer cemetery, on the mesa, used from about 1860 to 1917. Not every burial was moved; the stones came out in the 1940s and it became Pioneer Park in the 1950s. Graves were mapped with metal detectors in the 1970s, a project Mel joined, and a cast-iron coffin may still be there. Who is in it is still the question. Where that came from: Why the fuss? (Pioneer) · Laura Bell McDaniel (Pioneer, 2011) · Thunder and Buttons (Cobweb Corners, 2005) · The Glass Works, 200 men (Cobweb Corners, 2011) · The Glass Works fire (Cobweb Corners, 2011) · The Glass Works closed 1895 (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The Midland, 1886 to 1918 (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The Midland shops decline (Cobweb Corners, 2009) · The roundhouse (Cobweb Corners, 2007) · The mills (Cobweb Corners, 2013) · Golden Cycle closes, 1949 (Cobweb Corners, 2006) · The capital, the county seat (Cobweb Corners, 2009) · The forgotten cemetery (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The forgotten cemetery (Cobweb Corners, 2017) · Mel McFarland, died 2026 at 81 (Gazette) · Every Cobweb Corners column, indexed · Colorado City Iris, digitized (CHNC) If something here is wrong, reply to the email or send it in below. Corrections run at the top of the next issue. Behind the masthead: Sanborn fire insurance map of Colorado City, November 1902, sheet 1. Library of Congress, public domain. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad <https://westsidewherewithal.com/la-vecina> Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad La Vecina, la mesa en español. Traducción nuestra; buscamos a un vecino o vecina que la tome y firme aquí. Vecina, vecino: Le escribo con las hojas ya cambiando de color y las tardes más cortas. Aquí entre nosotros, quería contarle lo que sé. Si usted vive al oeste de la I-25, este periódico es para usted. Se llama The Westside Wherewithal, sale cada semana y es gratis. Lo escribimos entre vecinos: lo que abre, lo que cierra, lo que se vota, lo que llega al parque. Y queremos saber de usted. Cuéntenos lo que ve en su cuadra, en su iglesia, en su trabajo, y hágalo en español, en sus propias palabras. Si esta semana necesita una mano, vaya a Westside CARES, en 2808 W Colorado Ave. Abren de lunes a jueves, de 9:30 a.m. a 12:30 p.m., y no hace falta cita. Atienden a todos los que viven al oeste de la I-25. Llame al 719-389-0759. También tiene el Westside Community Center, en 1628 W Bijou St, teléfono 719-385-7920. Abre lunes y viernes, de 9 a.m. a 3 p.m., y de martes a jueves, de 9 a.m. a 7 p.m. Ahora el voto, en claro. Hasta el 26 de octubre puede registrarse, o revisar si ya está registrado, en GoVoteColorado.gov. Pasada esa fecha, todavía puede hacerlo en persona, hasta el día de la elección. Y para dejar su boleta, las urnas están abiertas hasta las 7 p.m. del 3 de noviembre en cuatro lugares: el centro comercial Red Rock Canyon, 3141 W Colorado Ave; Bear Creek Regional Park, 2002 Creek Crossing St; la oficina del secretario del condado, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd; y el ayuntamiento de Manitou, 606 Manitou Ave. Aquí no le decimos cómo votar. Solo le decimos dónde y cuándo. En diciembre el Christkindlmarket vuelve a Bancroft Park. Cuando tengamos los días, se los pasamos aquí. Si quiere escribirnos, mande un texto al 719-201-5462 o un correo a hello@westsidewherewithal.com, en español. El editor no habla español de cuna. Traduce con un vecino y lo vuelve a leer con él antes de que algo se imprima. También tenemos una hoja en español en westsidewherewithal.com/sheet-es. Y una cosa honesta: esta página es traducción nuestra. Buscamos a un vecino o vecina que hable español para que tome esta mesa y firme aquí con su nombre. Hasta la próxima semana, vecino. Un abrazo, La Vecina The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The print pack <https://westsidewherewithal.com/print> The print pack Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The print pack Everything to print this week, how many, and where it goes. Any copy shop; a home printer works for the one-sheets. What to print PrintFileHowCopies The one-sheetsheet.pdfLetter, one side (two sides if you want the puzzle back: sheet-back.pdf)20 Large printsheet-large.pdfLetter, two sides5 La hoja (Spanish)sheet-es.pdfLetter, one side10 The box editionzine-box.pdfLetter, landscape, two sheets, two-sided, flip on the short edge; nest sheet 2 inside sheet 1, fold once; no staples20 Every print says "good till Oct 25" or has no dates. A stale stack gets swapped; call and we bring more. Where it goes PlaceWhatHow many The gas station at 31stone-sheet5 The hardware storeone-sheet5 A diner on the avenueone-sheet, and ask about a tray5 The OCC History Center, 1 S 24thone-sheet5 Your own door, Suite 122one-sheet, box edition5 and 5 The grocery at 31stla hoja10 The senior table at the community center, 1628 W Bijoularge print5 The little free library at the old Carnegie building, 701 Manitou Avebox edition8 The Head Start box, 2330 Robinson Stbox edition7 The ask at a counter, two sentences: "It's a free weekly paper for the Westside, written by neighbors, nothing for you to pay and nothing to sell. Can it sit here, and can I refill it on Thursdays?" Say yes to any condition they add. What to watch Count what's left after a week. Note any call or text to 719-201-5462 and any word find or quiz score that comes in. That's the first real test; everything before it was rehearsal. The reader inbox was empty on October 11. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Plant this (when it exists) <https://westsidewherewithal.com/seeds> Plant this (when it exists) Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Plant this (when it exists) There are no seed strips yet. This is the plan, written down before the first one so nobody has to guess. Some copies of the zine will carry a small sealed strip of seed paper. Plant it in your own yard, a friend's yard with their yes, a community garden, or a school bed with the principal's okay. Not in a park, not in open space, not in Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, the Garden of the Gods or Bear Creek, not along the creek or a trail, and never after a fire. Those places get seeded by the people who manage them, with seed matched to the ground, and a stranger's strip does more harm than good there. What's in it: Colorado natives from a Colorado grower (Western Native Seed, in Coaldale): Lewis blue flax, Rocky Mountain penstemon, blanketflower, prairie coneflower. Nothing from the state's noxious weed list, which is where the cheap "wildflower mixes" go wrong. Plant in fall; the penstemon wants a winter in the ground. Plant it, take a picture when something comes up, send it in. The best ones run in the paper with your name on them. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Take a desk <https://westsidewherewithal.com/take-a-desk> Take a desk Moved to /desks. --- # Thank you <https://westsidewherewithal.com/thanks> Thank you Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Thank you That's the whole transaction. No tier, no badge, no extra issue. The paper keeps going, and your name goes on the once-a-year list of people who chipped in, alphabetical, no amounts, unless you'd rather it didn't. Reply to any issue to say so. See you Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The elk who pulled a carriage <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-box> The elk who pulled a carriage Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The elk who pulled a carriage The Box desk, for kids and whoever is with them. When a neighbor (or a kid) takes this desk, their name goes here. Okay. You're the boss today. Walk to school, but make it a hunt. Find three things. One: a little free library. It's a box on a post full of books, and you can take one. We know of 27 of them west of I-25. Two you can visit: the one at the old Carnegie library building, 701 Manitou Ave, and the one at the Head Start, 2330 Robinson St. Two: the red rocks at the end of the street. Stop and look. Three: one leaf. Pick the best one on the block. Keep it. It's a bookmark now. Okay. Now the elk. In 1888, a man named John O'Byrne got two tame elk from a judge in Aspen. He trained them to pull his tourist carriage down this very avenue. Their names were Thunder and Buttons. Yes, elk. Yes, a carriage. Eventually a movie company bought them and took them to Alaska to film advertisements. Thunder and Buttons were in commercials. (Also true.) (Bonus, also true: in 1880 a train crew calmed a cold, panicking circus elephant at Colorado Springs with a keg of beer. Aunt's honor.) Ask a grown-up. Point at any building on your walk and ask: "What was here before?" Then listen. Your move, boss. This fall: Halloween, Oct 31, 2 to 4:30 p.m.: Trick or Treat Street on the avenue, 23rd to 28th. Costumed kids 1 to 6. Look for the orange and yellow balloons. Bring a little cousin. Mondays, 10 a.m.: the bighorn sheep program at the Garden of the Gods Visitor Center. December: the Christkindlmarket comes back to Bancroft Park, bigger than last year, with Santa at the cabin. Bonus level: the paper in the box has games. A word find whose leftover letters spell a message. A five-question quiz with the answers printed upside down. And a map to draw on: it's the 1902 map of Colorado City, when the town had 4,000 people. You can see it at westsidewherewithal.com/zine-box, page 6. The dare. Draw Thunder and Buttons pulling the carriage. Go big. Give the tourists faces. Then put it in the little free library box, or send it to hello@westsidewherewithal.com with your first name. We print the best ones. See you on the avenue. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-next-hundred> The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead The Next Hundred desk. Written from the city's own pages and the ballot; dates change, and we fix them when they do. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Right now, Colorado Avenue. Four lanes have been three from Limit to 30th since June, for up to a year. Watch the lanes. Your move: fill out the city survey after you've driven it, biked it, or crossed it with a stroller. The avenue went on a diet and nobody asked it. Oct 21 and Oct 26. The community center's neighbor group meets Wednesday the 21st at 4 p.m.; it helps steer what the center at 1628 W Bijou becomes. Monday the 26th, 5:30 p.m.: the 2027 budget's public hearing at 107 N Nevada Ave. Anyone can speak; the council calendar lists the work sessions before it. Your move: pick one and go. The budget reads better with you. Nov 3. Ballots are due by 7 p.m. County 1A would keep the public-safety sales tax going through 2037. D11's 4A is a $775 million school bond, and Coronado is on the list. Your move: vote, and use a drop box if the mail feels slow. There's one at 3141 W Colorado Ave. Seven o'clock does not negotiate. December. The Christkindlmarket comes back to Bancroft Park, bigger. Bancroft is the pupil of the eye, so a bigger market could mean a fuller avenue and fewer spots out front. Your move: go, and walk. The car can stay home. April 6, 2027. The city election: mayor and three council seats. Your move: register or check your registration, and ask every candidate what they would do about the avenue. The avenue will hear about it. April 13. Council hears the appeal on Project Taurus, the 50-megawatt data center proposed at the old Intel plant next to the homes in Chelsea Glen. The Planning Commission approved it 6 to 2 in July with a power cap and noise monitoring; council wants a noise study first, and the hearing falls a week after you vote (Colorado Politics). The developer says it is weighing the partnership, so the date could still move. Your move: read the noise study when it exists, and show up. Read quietly. April to fall 2027. A roundabout replaces the four-way stop at 31st and Fontanero by Howbert Elementary, on the western gateway to the red rocks. Parents asked about the school crossing, and the city says it will work with the school. Your move: if you walk kids there, ask the school what they've been told. Four stops become one circle. Around June 2027. The lane test's year ends, give or take. Nothing we've found says what comes after. Your move: whatever you think of the test, say so before it ends. A year is long enough for an opinion. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The man who wrote down the Westside <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-porch-mcfarland> The man who wrote down the Westside Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The man who wrote down the Westside The Porch desk. Written from the record; the editor's conversations with his family and friends are coming. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. If you ever wondered whether there really were tunnels under Colorado Avenue, Mel McFarland is a big part of why you wondered. I'll tell you what I know. He died September 21, at 81. From 2004 to 2019 he wrote 604 "Cobweb Corners" columns about this neighborhood for the Westside Pioneer. Born here, a fourth-generation native, taught art and drafting, and wrote books on the Colorado Midland Railway. In 1983 he bought a retired working caboose for his Rockrimmon backyard, and became "the Caboose Guy." Dave Martinek, who started Midland Days at Divide with him in 2009, told the Gazette: "He was the go-to person for anyone who wanted to know about railroad history in the state." His nephew Luc MacArthur called him "kind of a Renaissance man." His sister, Elaine Radney, said: "He had a lot of people who loved him." He wrote it down. Here is some of it. On February 3, 2005, he wrote down the story of John O'Byrne, who in 1888 got two tame elk, Thunder and Buttons, and trained them to pull a tourist carriage. Here is the column. On April 7, 2005, he wrote down the tunnels, the ones that let Colorado Avenue customers reach the Cucharras Street brothels unseen. He had "seen the remains of bits of both" sets of tunnels himself. On November 17, 2011, he wrote down the Glass Works disaster. Just after midnight on September 9, 1892, the furnace top collapsed and fiery glass poured out. Chunks of raw glass still show up now and then in neighborhood yards and rock walls, he wrote. On November 14, 2013, he wrote down the day a Teller County sheriff chained a Pullman sleeper car to the rails over $663.21 in unpaid taxes, and a U.S. marshal freed it two days later. Read it. Here's the thing. The Gazette says he left "file cabinets" of research and writing, and that his family hopes to sift through them, with no concrete plans yet. The next person who asks "was there really a glass plant over here?" gets a shrug. We can't fix that. What we have is an index of all 604 columns, by what each one reports, at westsidewherewithal.com/cobweb. The editor plans to call his sister, Dave Martinek, the Pioneer's editor Kenyon Jordan, and the History Center, and we'll tell you what they say. The question we're taking to them is who keeps the record now. We'd like to be part of the answer, and we'd like yours. Did a column of his stick with you? Tell us which one. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-record-dda> Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper The Record desk. Written from the city's own pages and the news; the Aug 25 minutes are still to be read. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. If you missed the council meeting last month, here is the entry. A downtown development authority, a DDA, is a small district set up by a vote. It is supposed to get its own pot of money to spend on one downtown. In 2024, Old Colorado City voters created one for the avenue. It never got its funding. It was created by a vote and ended by a vote, and the money never turned up in between. On Sept 22, City Council voted 5 to 4 to dissolve it. That's ordinance 26-48. The meeting record has the roll call. That's on paper. Yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams No: Donelson, Gold, Henjum, Leinweber The Gazette reported the first vote, on Aug 25, as the same 5 to 4. That's reported. On Oct 2, KKTV reported that the DDA is weighing legal action, because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. That's reported too. That is the whole ledger so far. Here is what we don't know: The Aug 25 minutes. We have the first vote from the news, not from the minutes. Until we've read them, the date and the count are reported, not checked. Whether a lawsuit is filed. KKTV says the DDA is considering one. We haven't found a filing. That isn't on paper. We'll say so when it is. What the DDA was going to buy. The records we have don't list its plan, so we won't guess. If you voted in 2024, or sat in those rooms, tell us what you were told. Who picks up the avenue's end of things now. Nobody has answered that in anything we've read. That isn't on paper either. We are taking the question to the next meeting. Some of those answers are in a room on a Tuesday morning. You can be in it. City Council meets the second and fourth Tuesdays at 9 a.m., 107 N Nevada Ave, and you can watch from home. You don't have to say a word. Take the one-page sheet, write down what happens, and your name goes on it. The Oct 13 meeting is the next one. If you were at the Aug 25 meeting, or you have the minutes, send them over. Tell me what I got wrong. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Where the asphalt gives up <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-ridge> Where the asphalt gives up Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Where the asphalt gives up The Ridge desk. Written from the city's pages and the groups' own sites; a canyon volunteer reads it before it prints. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Rain or snow, and the trails hold it. Friends of Red Rock Canyon says wait a day or two, because they stay muddy and fragile for 24 to 48 hours. Follow 21st down to Bear Creek, then keep going west. Around 30th and 31st the asphalt gives up. The red sandstone takes over. Red Rock Canyon is the pocket to the south. The city bought it in 2003, after it had been slated for a resort with high-rise towers and a private golf course. The city's open space page lists it among the places TOPS, the sales tax voters passed for open space, made possible. It nearly went the other way. Parking. The 31st Street trailhead has more than the High Street lots. No e-bikes in the open space. This fall. The Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th, runs a free bighorn sheep program with a touch table, Mondays 10 to 10:45 a.m. through Nov 30. Owls of the Garden is Oct 26, 12:30 to 1:30. Tickets from $5, sign up first. Oct 31, 1 to 2 p.m., a talk on why wolves in Colorado. The Garden's calendar has details. What's being decided. The Park System Master Plan goes to City Council next: the city's page lists Oct 12, a Monday work session where they talk but don't vote, and Oct 27, after the parks board heard it Oct 8. White Acres Trail is becoming the Don Ellis Trail. The board approved it Aug 13; it waits on an agreement and an $850 city fee. Fire restrictions: the city's page shows none this week, and we are checking with the fire department. We'll tell you what we hear. The seed rule. Some copies of this paper will carry a strip of Colorado native seed. Yards and community gardens, yes; parks, open space, the creek, the trails and anything that burned, no. The whole rule, and what's in the strip. Groups to join. Friends of Red Rock Canyon keeps up the benches and runs Talk and Walks, resuming soon (no date yet). The Trails and Open Space Coalition takes members and runs the One Bag Challenge cleanups. Friends of Garden of the Gods runs volunteer days. Our promise. Every Monday this desk reads the city's parks pages, and a canyon volunteer reads them with us. If nothing's new, we'll say so. Which trail was muddy this week? Tell me and I'll pass it along. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Who's cooking on the Westside this week <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-table> Who's cooking on the Westside this week Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Who's cooking on the Westside this week The Table desk. Hours are as the churches and pantries post them, checked October 11; we call before they go on the Bulletin Board. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Here's how it works. Somebody on this side of the interstate is feeding somebody nearly every day of the week, mostly out of church basements, and the people at the stoves are neighbors who are very good at it. We went looking for the tables. There are more than we figured. Everything below is what each place says on its own page as of October 11. We haven't called any of them yet, so please do before you go. Hours move, and a wrong one costs somebody a trip. Sunday The Sanctuary Church, 1930 W Colorado Ave, lists its Ragamuffin Cafe hot meal at 9 a.m. Call 719-634-7232. It's the only Sunday hot meal we found over here. If you know another, tell us. Monday Westside CARES, 2808 W Colorado Ave, posts a weekly hot meal from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Call 719-389-0759. Same day, Sacred Heart's pantry is posted noon to 2 p.m. at the Parish Center door, 2030 W Colorado Ave. No voucher. Call 719-633-8711. Tuesday Westside Global Methodist, 701 N 20th St, posts its pantry from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Call 719-633-9295. If you still call it Trinity UMC, that's the same corner with a new name, and the old building on W Pikes Peak is becoming a child care center. Wednesday The Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou St, hosts the CARES pantry from 1 to 3 p.m. Call 719-385-7920. Up the road in Manitou, the pantry at 110 Canon Ave was last reported at 1 to 2 p.m., with a hot meal starting at 12:30 p.m. Call 719-685-9259. St. Andrew's closed as a church in 2025, but the pantry kept going in the parish hall. Hats off to the people who kept it going. Thursday Sacred Heart again, same hours, same door, no voucher. Call 719-633-8711. Know another table? That's six tables, and I'd bet my good parking spot there are more. Churches, clubs, a neighbor with a big pot and a folding table. If your church or group feeds people, text 719-201-5462 or write hello@westsidewherewithal.com with the day and the hour. We'll call, confirm it, and print it, free, in your words. That's what the Bulletin Board is for. It's where every table lives, every week, so nobody has to guess which church has soup on which night. See you at the table. Tell us what we got wrong. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Three picks before Halloween <https://westsidewherewithal.com/weekend-radar> Three picks before Halloween Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Three picks before Halloween The Weekend Radar desk. Every line checked against the organizer's own page. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Two weekends, three picks, and I've already parked for all of them. Read this, then go. Go to the farmers market. Saturday, October 17, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., Bancroft Park, 24th and Colorado. It's the last Saturday of the season, with 80-some vendors, and there is no next Saturday. Go early, because the best of anything goes first. Parking: don't circle the park hoping. Take a side street and walk the last bit. Saturday, October 24 is two things at once. Pick one. First, the coffin races. The Emma Crawford Coffin Races run 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Manitou Springs. Parking: Manitou Avenue closes at 9, so get there before the road shuts and the crowd fills in, and plan to walk in. Second, the pumpkins. Pumpkins in the Park is noon to 6 p.m. on the avenue, free, with a pumpkin patch, painting, costume and carving contests, the ZOOmobile, live music and a beer garden. Parking: the avenue's diagonal spots fill on a festival Saturday, so take a side street and walk in. Don't try to do both in one afternoon. Choose, then start the day with it. The things that are always there. If the festivals are not your speed, or you just need a Thursday: trivia at OCC Brewing every Thursday, 7 to 9 p.m. Storytime at the OCC Library every Friday, 10:30 a.m. Brunch Jam Band at Mother Muff's every Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Free bingo on the 21st, Trunk or Treat on the 25th, Trick or Treat Street on the 31st and First Friday ArtWalk on November 6 are all on the full list, with times. That list lives at westsidewherewithal.com, and it's also the one-sheet on the counters around the avenue. Got something happening that we missed? Send it to hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or text 719-201-5462. We'll check it against your own page and put it in. See you Saturday. I'll be the one who parked early. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in <https://westsidewherewithal.com/year-ahead> Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in The Year Ahead desk. Written from the editor's calendar; no interviews yet. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Picture the fridge calendar. Every Thursday of 2027 is penciled in, and you're coming along. One honest aside: it's plans, all of it. Nothing has been reported yet, and some weeks may not land. Winter first. Week one: The Reset Issue. Quiet workspaces, reading refuges, and I'd be surprised if the Carnegie library stays out. And then we eat through the cold. The quest for the best broth in OCC. A reader poll for the best breakfast burrito west of I-25. A 4 a.m. shift with a Westside baker. Then February: a cocktail lounge audit off Main Street, an Alternative Valentine, pints by the fireplace, and how the vintage and antiques shops survive winter. Spring opens up. Red Rock Canyon hikes, with lunches after. The carriage house makers working out of alleys. St. Patrick week. And then the thaw, when we find out which counters open their windows. The under-$15 lunch circuit. A patio audit covering shade, noise, pints and dogs. Seed swaps. Coffee roasters. A Territory Days survival guide. A First Friday gallery crawl. Spring tap releases. Summer gets loud. Hosting out-of-towners without crossing I-25. The Bancroft Park farmers market, booth by booth. Gelato. Where a line cook eats at midnight. Secret courtyards. Quiet Fourth of July viewpoints. Live music on the bricks, and I'm hoping the bandshell gets a paragraph. You pick the coldest drinks. Then the Pueblo chile arrives. Nightcaps and jukeboxes after 10, and I'd bet Mother Muff's comes up. Then a back-to-school pantry run, Uintah Gardens an obvious stop. Fall, the leg I'm saving. The annual pizza index: Slice 420 against Rustica against Leopold's, and we'll need lots of you to settle it. Golden aspens. Autumn ciders. A locals' guide for after the tourists leave. Ghost signs, spooky lore, wood-fired and cast iron cooking (Front Range BBQ, you're on my mind). Thanksgiving hosting. Best of the Westside nominations. Small Business Saturday. And then a Black Friday antidote at Section 16 and Bear Creek. December: a 100% Westside gift guide, a winter lights walk, the Best of the Westside winners, the solstice and quiet patios, and a last issue called Looking Ahead. Every week also carries a civic item and an oral history. A 40-year diner regular. A couple who met at Bancroft in 1988. A chile roaster of 25 seasons. A dishwasher who worked 300 shifts. A high school senior looking at the Westside's future. Tell me which month I got wrong, or which place I forgot. The pencil's by the fridge, and I'll see you the first Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? <https://westsidewherewithal.com/issues/2026-10-11-issue-0> Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? 2026-10-11 In this issue Can't we just inform each other? The leaves are changing Divide anything but our bread What it's all for We choose this Can't we just inform each other? Nobody's telling us what's happening around here unless you find some corporate website that tracks you and tries to make you pay just to find out what's going on outside your door. What a drag. Can't we just inform each other, and have fun building and being in community? The leaves are changing The leaves are changing and falling, and the streets are graced with people from all walks of life. The days are growing shorter, and fall will give way to snow in a few weeks. Before we know it Santa will be at the cabin in Bancroft Park and the Christkindlmarket will be back. Divide anything but our bread I want people to see and hear themselves in our work. I want the people in this community to remember that we're in this together and that what we print is made to remind us of that. We are not here to divide anything but our bread for others, to love our neighbors, and practice mercy and kindness. What it's all for I get nervous that people's fear clouds not only their judgment but their hearts. I can be a skeptic, and quite cynical at times. I wonder what it's all for and why I'm doing this. But in the end, if one person reads our words and connects with them even a little, and it gives them a spark or the belief that they are loved, I will have done my work. We choose this I hope people are excited to see what we're up to. I hope they want to be a part of it, and that by gathering and presenting our values, beliefs and customs together, we can cherish them and let new things in while the old fades. I want Thursday to remind us that we choose this. Jeff What we told you Can't we just inform each other? The leaves are changing Divide anything but our bread What it's all for We choose this The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The archive <https://westsidewherewithal.com/issues/index> The archive Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The archive Every issue, oldest at the bottom. Free to read. If you want to chip in, the jar is on the front page. Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? 2026-10-11 The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The Westside Wherewithal <https://westsidewherewithal.com/> The Westside Wherewithal Skip to the paper We start for real in January. Sign up and the first one lands on a Thursday morning. Thursday mornings · FreeFrom your neighbors ## The Westside WherewithalBecause living west of takes a little wherewithal. Colorado Springs, Colorado A free paper for the Westside of Colorado Springs, written by the people who live here. Thursday mornings, starting January. ## Get it Thursday morning One email a week, free. Put your address in and we'll see you Thursday. Sign me up ## What the city is deciding ## About your street, before it's done You can still weigh in Open nowColorado Avenue lane test. Four lanes to three from Limit Street to 30th Street (the city's page; the Gazette says 31st), for up to a year from June 2026, paid for with $375K from the regional road tax (PPRTA, the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority). The city survey is open.The city's own page: City project page · The surveyIn the news: Gazette, lane test # Oct 26, 2026The city's 2027 budget. Public hearing Monday Oct 26, 5:30 p.m., Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada Ave. Anyone can speak. The council talks it over at work sessions first (Oct 15 is one). What's in it for the Westside, we're reading now.Changed since 2026-10-11The city's own page: the council calendar (Legistar) # Coming up Oct 21, 2026The community center's neighbor group (the Westside Community Center Alliance) meets Wednesday Oct 21, 4 p.m. It helps steer what the center at 1628 W Bijou becomes. Whether anyone can sit in, we're asking.The city's own page: city page, community centerStill looking for: the Alliance's own notice and the Parks Advisory Board's May minutesIn the news: Gazette, the Alliance # Apr 2027Roundabout at 31st and Fontanero, by Howbert Elementary, replacing the four-way stop. The open house was Sept 15. Construction April to fall 2027. Parents asked about the school crossing; the city says it will work with the school. The crossing drawing and the open-house boards are the documents we're after.In the news: KKTV, the roundabout # Apr 13, 2027Project Taurus. A 50-megawatt data center proposed at the old Intel plant, next to the homes in Chelsea Glen. The Planning Commission approved it 6 to 2 in July with a power cap and noise monitoring. Council put the appeal off 7 to 2 to April 13, a week after the city election, and wants a noise study and a study of what big power users pay first. The developer told Colorado Politics on Sept 18 it is weighing whether this is the right partnership.Still looking for: the noise studyIn the news: CPR, hearing date · Colorado Politics, the postponement · KKTV, the appeal # Already decided Sept 22, 2026Old Colorado City's downtown development authority (DDA) shut down. The tax district voters created in 2024 never got its funding. Council voted 5 to 4 on Sept 22 to dissolve it, ordinance 26-48 (yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams; no: Donelson, Gold, Henjum, Leinweber), after the same 5 to 4 on first reading Aug 25. KKTV reported Oct 2 that the DDA is weighing legal action because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. Who picks up the avenue's end of things is an open question.The city's own page: meeting record (Open Publica)Still looking for: the ordinance text itself, and the Aug 25 minutesIn the news: Gazette, the first vote · KKTV, the lawsuit threat # Coming up Every weekThe land. Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, the Garden, Bear Creek, the creek itself: fire restrictions, trail closures, anything the parks board decides. Nothing new on the city's pages this week; we look every Monday, and a canyon volunteer is looking with us.The city's own page: city parks, trails and open space # Already decided Since Apr 2023Greater Westside Community Plan. Nine neighborhoods, one plan: Gold Hill, Ivywild, Mesa, Mesa Springs, Midland, Old Colorado City, Skyway, Stratton Meadows, Westside. (The city's plan reaches past the interstate; this paper stays west of it.) The city's page lists six meetings, the last in April 2023, plus a 2022 survey and a 'Big Ideas' summary. What came next is the question we're taking to Planning, and to the neighbors who sat in those rooms.Changed since 2026-10-11The city's own page: city page, the plan # Checked October 11. Each one links to the city's own page where we found it. Where it says "still looking," we haven't found it yet (city websites, you know how it goes). If you've got it, send it over. Want to be the person in the room? Go to one meeting, write down what happened on this one-page sheet, and your name goes on it. A City Council Tuesday is the easy first one; you can watch it live or later from the couch. ## Vote ## Ballots are in the mail. Here's the Westside part. By Oct 26Register, or check that you're registered, at GoVoteColorado.gov. Moved since last time? Update it there too. After Oct 26 you can still register and vote in person, through Election Day.The city's own page: GoVoteColorado.gov # Till Nov 3, 7 p.m.Drop boxes west of I-25, open day and night: Red Rock Canyon shopping center, 3141 W Colorado Ave; Bear Creek Regional Park, 2002 Creek Crossing St; the clerk's office, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd; Manitou City Hall, 606 Manitou Ave. Mailing it? The county says by Oct 27. It has to arrive by 7 p.m. on Election Day; a postmark doesn't count.The city's own page: the county's list of boxes · El Paso County elections # On the ballotThe local ones: County 1A keeps the public-safety sales tax going through 2037. D11 4A is a $775 million school bond (Coronado is on the list). Then fourteen statewide questions; the state's Blue Book explains each one in plain words, for and against.The city's own page: the county's local questions · the Blue Book # Apr 6, 2027The city election: mayor and three council seats. Same registration, same website. We'll print the candidates and where they stand on the Westside.The city's own page: city election page # We don't tell you how to vote. We'd love for you to. If the Blue Book is a brick, if you can't get to a box, if you're not sure you're registered, call or text 719-201-5462 and a neighbor helps. The county pays election judges and trains them; sign up here if you've got a day. ## The next two weeks ## Oct 11 to Nov 8, checked against the calendars The market's last Saturday, Pumpkins in the Park, free bingo at the community center, the cemetery tour, the coffin races, and the same seven things every week. Every weekMon Boom Box Bingo, 7 to 11 p.m. (Mother Muff's)Tue Math tutoring, 4 to 5:30 p.m. (OCC Library)Wed Toddler Time, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Wed Open mic, 6 to 9 p.m. (Jives Coffee Lounge, 16 Colbrunn Ct)Thu Trivia, 7 to 9 p.m. (OCC Brewing)Fri Storytime, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Sat Paws to Read, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Sun Brunch Jam Band, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Mother Muff's) Sun Oct 11 all month Scarecrow Days: the storefront scarecrows, with a public vote, through Oct 31 the avenue Mon Oct 12 all day Westside CARES closed for Indigenous Peoples' Day 2808 W Colorado Tue Oct 13 9 a.m. City Council regular meeting (agenda on Legistar) 107 N Nevada Ave 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Small Steps, Giant Leaps, Space Foundation program for ages 2 to 6 Westside Community Center Wed Oct 14 9 a.m. City Planning Commission 2880 International Circle 5:30 to 7 p.m. Evening pickleball: donate a bag of candy to play, paddles limited Westside Community Center Thu Oct 15 7:30 a.m. Coffee with the principal Coronado High, Future Center 2 to 4 p.m. Classic board games free OCC Library 5 p.m. Mushroom Zombie Haunted House opens, through Oct 31 Mush Love Tee, the shirt shop, 2627 W Colorado Fri Oct 16 all day No school at Coronado: parent-teacher conferences, 9 to 3 in the gym Coronado High 5 to 6 p.m. Bingo at the Biscuit The Biscuit Factory Cat Lounge, 12 S 25th Sat Oct 17 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Farmers market, last Saturday of the season, 80-some vendors Bancroft Park 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Craft and art market, final Saturday History Center, 1 S 24th Sun Oct 18 evening Legends and Lore of Fairview Cemetery, a two-hour guided tour; tickets online, kids 12 and under free Fairview Cemetery, 1000 S 26th Mon Oct 19 all week Fall break at Coronado, Oct 19 to 22, no school Coronado High Wed Oct 21 4 p.m. Westside Community Center Alliance meeting Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou 5:30 to 7 p.m. Howdy Neighbor prize bingo, doors at 5, all ages, no sign-up free Westside Community Center Thu Oct 22 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Book group free OCC Library Sat Oct 24 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Emma Crawford Coffin Races, the 32nd; Manitou Avenue closes at 9 Manitou Springs noon to 6 p.m. Pumpkins in the Park: pumpkin patch, painting, face painters, costume and carving contests, the ZOOmobile, live music, a beer garden free the avenue Sun Oct 25 1 to 4 p.m. Trunk or Treat in the parking lot, and Animals of Halloween inside, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. free Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th Mon Oct 26 10 to 10:45 a.m. Bighorn sheep, an indoor program with a touch table; Mondays through Nov 30 free Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Owls of the Garden: take an owl pellet apart; $5, sign up first Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 5:30 p.m. City budget public hearing, the 2027 budget; anyone can speak Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada Ave Tue Oct 27 all day Stroll-a-Story: a storybook walk, page by page, around the library OCC Library, 2418 W Pikes Peak Thu Oct 29 7:30 to 8:45 p.m. Haunted Manitou ghost tour, $25; also Oct 30 and 31 Memorial Park, Manitou Springs Fri Oct 30 5:30 p.m. Ghost Stories of Old Manitou, a walking tour from the museum Manitou Springs Heritage Museum Sat Oct 31 1 to 2 p.m. Why wolves in Colorado, a talk Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 2 to 4:30 p.m. Trick or Treat Street: costumed kids 1 to 6, shop to shop; look for the orange and yellow balloons the avenue, 23rd to 28th 6 p.m. Manitou Phantasmagoria Shoshone Spring courtyard, Manitou Springs evening Mushroom Zombie Haunted House, last night Mush Love Tee, the shirt shop, 2627 W Colorado Tue Nov 3 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Election Day. Ballots due by 7 p.m. at a drop box; register and vote in person at the clerk's office, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd, or Manitou City Hall El Paso County Fri Nov 6 5 to 8 p.m. First Friday ArtWalk: galleries, studios and shops open late along the avenue free the avenue, 17th to 31st Sun Nov 8 11 a.m. Altitude Makers market and farmers market free Soda Springs Park, Manitou Springs Every line above came off a calendar we can link, checked October 11. The strip up top happens every week; the list is the one-time stuff. The avenue is West Colorado Avenue; OCC is Old Colorado City; D11 is the school district. If we got a time wrong, tell us and we'll fix it in the next issue. Red Rock Canyon, the churches and the school sports pages had nothing dated for these two weeks; if you know of something, send it. Where that came from: Old Colorado City events calendar · Old Colorado City Library · Westside Community Center · History Center events · Garden of the Gods calendar ## The Bulletin Board ## Suppers, pantries, services, weddings, and the ones we lost If you need something this week, start here. Free, in your words, from you or your church or your family. Food, rent and utility help: Westside CARES, 2808 W Colorado Ave, 719-389-0759. Open Monday to Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. They prefer you walk in. Closed when the schools close for weather. Serves everyone west of I-25. Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou St, 719-385-7920. Open Monday and Friday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Tuesday to Thursday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. A corkboard, not a story. Church suppers, pantry hours, services, weddings, and the ones we lost: free, in your words, from you or your church or your family. We call to check the hours before they run. Send it by Tuesday to hello@westsidewherewithal.com, by text to 719-201-5462, on paper to the office at Suite 122, or in the box on the front page. Where that came from: Westside CARES hours · Community center hours (city page) ## The Listening Room ## Once a month. You pick where and when. Coffee with the editor, no agenda, no sign-up. The hour and the place are a vote; the winner runs in issue 1. The Listening Room isn't an office. It's one hour a month wherever we sit down, and I'd rather you picked it than me. Vote below, or write in your own. I live over here, about twenty years now, and the office on the avenue is the paper's address; it says one thing: I'm here. I'm with you. Where and when Saturday morning, the bench by the bandshell in Bancroft Park Tuesday evening, a coffee counter on the avenue Sunday afternoon, the library (once they say yes) A weeknight on Zoom, for people who work days Cast it ## The Address Book ## What was in this storefront in 1968? One storefront, one photo, what was inside. One building per issue: a photo, the address, and whoever remembers fills in the rest. The first photo is coming; if you have one, send it in below. ## Write something ## Send it in The shop that closed, the thing the city's about to do on your street, the neighbor everybody should know. Photos and drawings count, with your name on them. Send it however you like: the box below, hello@westsidewherewithal.com, a call or a text to 719-201-5462, or drop it at the office (Suite 122, 2320 W Colorado Ave). We write back. Rather talk than type? Call or text 719-201-5462 and tell me out loud; I'll write it down and you hear it read back before it runs. Under 18? Send it anyway; we'll check with you or a parent before it runs. Teachers, send the whole class. Photos come by email. En español: mándenos un texto al 719-201-5462 o escríbanos a hello@westsidewherewithal.com, en español: su cena, su misa, su aviso. No lo hablo de nacimiento; lo traducimos con un vecino y se lo leemos antes de publicar. Any other language: send it anyway, and we'll find a neighbor to translate. Want a desk? The pages signed by a desk are open; here's how to take one. Got a counter, or a box on your fence? Say so and we'll bring a stack, free, and swap the stale ones. How we do things, if you're curious. Put me down for a stack, for my counter or my library box Send it in ## The jar It's free. If a Thursday was worth something to you, throw a few bucks in the jar; it pays for the email and the printing. A check to the office works too. Pay what you want Inside: What the city is deciding · The next two weeks · On the avenue · From the desks · The next 100 years · Frontier wherewithal · Around the avenue · What came before us ## On the avenue ## I never stepped inside Base Camp, 2611 W Colorado, closed October 4, and I never ate there. Tell me the place you'd go back to. Jeff Adkins Base Camp closed on October 4. I thought it looked cool, but the menu never appealed to me in the moment, and it's hard to take me away from the dozen places I adore already. I never stepped inside. That's on me, and I'm not alone. Empty storefronts are not what we want here. What keeps a place open is anyone and everyone who can afford to spend local dollars in it, and I am going to try hard to keep mixing it up. If you're thinking about working and making a living here, I wish I could appeal to you directly: we need you. Old Colorado City (OCC from here on) is a tourist destination, for locals and for travelers. I know this. I gladly give up my street parking for events because I know we need them. If I want OCC Brewing to be here 365 days a year, I need them to sustain themselves. That means me not griping about the traffic or the parking over here. Not everyone can afford to eat out or shop on the avenue. I understand that; I don't feel obligated to, and neither should you. I'm fortunate that I can budget for a meal out, and I try to go during the week, when places are less busy and could frankly use the business. So I can't complain about Base Camp closing if I didn't eat there, and I can't blame not eating there on the parking. Tell me the place you'd go back to. What we know: Base Camp, 2611 W Colorado Ave, opened March 2025 and closed October 4; the owner cited costs and the economy. Mountain Shadows, the restaurant four blocks east, closed December 2024 and sold in January. Where that came from: Gazette, Oct 2, 2026 · Gazette, Jan 20, 2025 · OCC Brewing ## From the desks ## Ten desks, one neighborhood Celebrating, remembering, forecasting. Each desk is open; a neighbor's name goes on it the day they take it. The Wherewithal desks Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in · the 52 Thursdays of 2027, as a walk through the seasons The man who wrote down the Westside · 604 columns, the elk, the tunnels, and who keeps the record now Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper · the vote, the names, what's still unknown, and how to be in the room See that building? Look again · five storefronts and what they were, from the columns and the 1902 map Where the asphalt gives up · Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, Bear Creek; this fall, and the seed rule The elk who pulled a carriage · for kids: three things to find on the walk to school, and a dare Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad · la mesa en español: ayuda, el voto, cómo escribirnos Who's cooking on the Westside this week · six tables, as their own pages say it; we call before it prints Three picks before Halloween · the market's last Saturday, the coffin races, pumpkins in the park, and where to park The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead · every date headed for your street, and the door into each one Every desk is written from the record we hold and says so at the top. None of it is an interview yet; those are coming. Every one is open: what each desk takes, and how to take one. One text, one coffee. ## The next 100 years ## Four lanes to three, for a year Four lanes to three, Limit to 30th, for a year. The city survey is open. One driver's take below; if yours differs, next issue's yours. Jeff Adkins 1902 · Sanborn fire insurance map, sheet 2, Colorado Avenue · Library of Congress, public domain 2027 · lane drawing · city of Colorado Springs, Colorado Avenue demonstration, phase two What we know: four lanes to three from Limit to 30th by the city's page (the Gazette says 31st), since June 2026, for up to a year; the city calls it the Colorado Avenue Demonstration Project; $375K of county transportation tax (PPRTA) money. The Gazette counts about 30 parking spaces added, metered; the city's page says parking changes are expected to be minimal. We've asked the project team which it is. A second phase in 2027 makes some of it permanent and redoes three blocks of streetscape (Gazette); permanent reconstruction is penciled for 2027 or 2028 (Bike Colorado Springs). The city survey is open. One driver's take, mine (and my office is on the avenue, at 2320): it's great to see so much more attention being paid to pedestrians, and it doesn't slow me down at all. I haven't timed it; if you have, send the numbers. It may add parking, metered; the city and the Gazette disagree on how much (see the record), and nobody has said yet where someone who lives over a shop parks overnight. The city is taking comments until the concrete goes down. If you drive it, bike it, or cross it with a stroller, say so. If you hate it, this space is yours next issue, same length, your name on it. What do I want to still be here in 2126? Westsiders. Hyper local, no corporate nonsense, and room for whoever shows up to stay. Where that came from: Sanborn 1902 (LoC) · City project page · The city survey · Gazette, May 20, 2026 · Bike Colorado Springs ## Frontier wherewithal ## Load up for winter, survive the summer Not just another old west town. Two tame elk, tunnels under the avenue, four to six weeks a year you'd rather be in the water. Jeff Adkins If you're new here you might think this is just another old west town. If you're passing through, maybe we should let you believe it. Our summers are dry and shorter than most, with heat that stops, starts, and lingers. I'd say we have about four to six weeks a year where you'd want to be holed up in the cabin or in the water, which can be tricky to find. We need to know how to load up for winter, survive the summer, and not die of dehydration. And like every place with lore, we have a guy who trained two tame elk, Thunder and Buttons, to pull a carriage, plus tunnels and brothels and churches, oh my. We love it here. What we know: Thunder and Buttons were elk; Prairie Dog O'Byrne drove them hitched to a carriage on this avenue in the late 1880s. The tunnels under the avenue are documented by the historical society, with the honest caveat that some of it may be something else. Colorado City voted itself dry in 1913. Where that came from: Westside Pioneer, 2006 · Cobweb Corners, 2005 · Gazette, July 2021, the tunnels · Thunder and Buttons II ## Around the avenue ## Getting to know them is the point I don't know everyone yet. Getting to know them is the point. Jeff Adkins What we know so far: Who's opening and who's moving: we've heard about three and have an address for none, so none are named yet. Send the name and the block. The Old Colorado City Historical Society runs a free museum at 1 South 24th, a block off the avenue. Tuesday through Saturday, 11 to 4 in summer and 11 to 2 in winter. Call before you drive. The free Tuesday concerts at the Bancroft Park bandshell ran June 2 through September 29 this year, 5:30, Dizzy Charlie's and the Pikes Peak Blues Community. Next summer's lineup runs here the week it's announced. First Friday art walk, 5 to 8, galleries and studios along the avenue. Next one is November 6. The Customs and Classics car show closes the avenue from 23rd to 27th one Sunday every August. If the one you went to was a different show this fall, tell us which. This is the stuff I get to see everyone else doing. I enjoy seeing them do it. It doesn't matter to me if I don't know anyone in the room, because getting to know them is the point of this life. And that's what I'm here to capture in this paper. I shouldn't pretend to know things I don't. Where that came from: OCC History Center · Tuesday concerts (Springs Magazine) · First Friday (OCC calendar) · The car show (Pioneer, 2018) ## What came before us ## I want it all Mel McFarland died in September; I indexed the 604 columns I found. Eight digs, from the capital that got away to the forgotten cemetery. Jeff Adkins Start here: Mel McFarland, who wrote the Westside's past in the Pioneer for fifteen years, died in September at 81. Most of what is below comes from his columns. I found 604 and indexed every one I found; the one-line summaries there are software drafts, not yet checked one by one. Who keeps the record now is a question this paper exists to answer. I want the best stories from Old Colorado City. I want to dig down and find the most awesome stuff we can publish: how people first lived here, how it went from zero to what it is today, funny things, shootouts, jail time for crimes that make us laugh and cry, mysteries and murders. I want it all. What did we used to do and stop? What was, but isn't? What could have been, but never was? The digs I can't do alone: your church, your family, your block. Send them. What we found first: The capital that got away. Colorado City was founded in August 1859 to outfit gold seekers, was the county seat by 1861, and held the territorial capital just long enough to lose it to Denver. One account says the town was deemed too rowdy. Zero to four thousand. Mel has the town past 2,000 by 1890; the 1892 fire-insurance map (the Sanborn) writes 2,000 on its own cover, and the 1902 sheet writes 4,000. The town voted itself dry in 1913, lost the saloon money, and voted to be annexed by Colorado Springs in April 1917. Four saloons to twenty-seven. By the Pioneer's 2009 count (a feature, not one of Mel's columns): four in 1884, twenty-three by 1888, twenty-seven in 1902 plus thirty-some gambling halls, on a main street that also had the churches. Laura Bell McDaniel. From the Pioneer's 2011 profile, not the index: queen of the tenderloin; her last house was the Tribley House in the 2600 block of West Cucharras. She married Tom McDaniel in April 1887 in Salida; a month later he shot a man five times while she watched, and was acquitted. She divorced him in 1893. Accused in November 1917 of stealing liquor and acquitted; the historian who wrote her up thinks it was a set-up. Died in a car crash in January 1918. The elk were O'Byrne's by Mel's column (bought in Aspen in 1888); a 2006 Pioneer piece has her riding beside him in the carriage. The Glass Works. Full production in 1889 with 200 men on the south edge of town, bottling Manitou water. The furnace top collapsed just after midnight on September 9, 1892. Wheeler promised to rebuild; the Silver Panic of 1893 and the lost customers finished it. One of Mel's columns says it closed in 1895, another says by 1900; one puts a fire in 1893 as well. The Midland shops. The Colorado Midland started here in 1886 and quit in 1918; the Midland Terminal ran the line to Divide until it was scrapped in 1949. Hundreds of men in the shops at the peak, under a hundred by 1925, about fifty by 1948; the office burned in 1953. The fourteen-stall roundhouse is the one that lived: Van Briggle pottery, then the shops you walk through now. The mills. The Colorado-Philadelphia came first, in 1894 by one of Mel's columns and about 1897 by another, near 31st and U.S. 24. Golden Cycle took over the Telluride mill in 1906, rebuilt it with cyanide after a 1907 fire, and ran it until 1949; the smokestack is still there. The forgotten cemetery. Colorado City's Pioneer cemetery, on the mesa, used from about 1860 to 1917. Not every burial was moved; the stones came out in the 1940s and it became Pioneer Park in the 1950s. Graves were mapped with metal detectors in the 1970s, a project Mel joined, and a cast-iron coffin may still be there. Who is in it is still the question. Where that came from: Why the fuss? (Pioneer) · Laura Bell McDaniel (Pioneer, 2011) · Thunder and Buttons (Cobweb Corners, 2005) · The Glass Works, 200 men (Cobweb Corners, 2011) · The Glass Works fire (Cobweb Corners, 2011) · The Glass Works closed 1895 (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The Midland, 1886 to 1918 (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The Midland shops decline (Cobweb Corners, 2009) · The roundhouse (Cobweb Corners, 2007) · The mills (Cobweb Corners, 2013) · Golden Cycle closes, 1949 (Cobweb Corners, 2006) · The capital, the county seat (Cobweb Corners, 2009) · The forgotten cemetery (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The forgotten cemetery (Cobweb Corners, 2017) · Mel McFarland, 1944 to 2026 (Gazette) · Every Cobweb Corners column, indexed · Colorado City Iris, digitized (CHNC) If something here is wrong, reply to the email or send it in below. Corrections run at the top of the next issue. Behind the masthead: Sanborn fire insurance map of Colorado City, November 1902, sheet 1. Library of Congress, public domain. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad <https://westsidewherewithal.com/la-vecina> Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad La Vecina, la mesa en español. Traducción nuestra; buscamos a un vecino o vecina que la tome y firme aquí. Vecina, vecino: Le escribo con las hojas ya cambiando de color y las tardes más cortas. Aquí entre nosotros, quería contarle lo que sé. Si usted vive al oeste de la I-25, este periódico es para usted. Se llama The Westside Wherewithal, sale cada semana y es gratis. Lo escribimos entre vecinos: lo que abre, lo que cierra, lo que se vota, lo que llega al parque. Y queremos saber de usted. Cuéntenos lo que ve en su cuadra, en su iglesia, en su trabajo, y hágalo en español, en sus propias palabras. Si esta semana necesita una mano, vaya a Westside CARES, en 2808 W Colorado Ave. Abren de lunes a jueves, de 9:30 a.m. a 12:30 p.m., y no hace falta cita. Atienden a todos los que viven al oeste de la I-25. Llame al 719-389-0759. También tiene el Westside Community Center, en 1628 W Bijou St, teléfono 719-385-7920. Abre lunes y viernes, de 9 a.m. a 3 p.m., y de martes a jueves, de 9 a.m. a 7 p.m. Ahora el voto, en claro. Hasta el 26 de octubre puede registrarse, o revisar si ya está registrado, en GoVoteColorado.gov. Pasada esa fecha, todavía puede hacerlo en persona, hasta el día de la elección. Y para dejar su boleta, las urnas están abiertas hasta las 7 p.m. del 3 de noviembre en cuatro lugares: el centro comercial Red Rock Canyon, 3141 W Colorado Ave; Bear Creek Regional Park, 2002 Creek Crossing St; la oficina del secretario del condado, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd; y el ayuntamiento de Manitou, 606 Manitou Ave. Aquí no le decimos cómo votar. Solo le decimos dónde y cuándo. En diciembre el Christkindlmarket vuelve a Bancroft Park. Cuando tengamos los días, se los pasamos aquí. Si quiere escribirnos, mande un texto al 719-201-5462 o un correo a hello@westsidewherewithal.com, en español. El editor no habla español de cuna. Traduce con un vecino y lo vuelve a leer con él antes de que algo se imprima. También tenemos una hoja en español en westsidewherewithal.com/sheet-es. Y una cosa honesta: esta página es traducción nuestra. Buscamos a un vecino o vecina que hable español para que tome esta mesa y firme aquí con su nombre. Hasta la próxima semana, vecino. Un abrazo, La Vecina The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The print pack <https://westsidewherewithal.com/print> The print pack Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The print pack Everything to print this week, how many, and where it goes. Any copy shop; a home printer works for the one-sheets. What to print PrintFileHowCopies The one-sheetsheet.pdfLetter, one side (two sides if you want the puzzle back: sheet-back.pdf)20 Large printsheet-large.pdfLetter, two sides5 La hoja (Spanish)sheet-es.pdfLetter, one side10 The box editionzine-box.pdfLetter, landscape, two sheets, two-sided, flip on the short edge; nest sheet 2 inside sheet 1, fold once; no staples20 Every print says "good till Oct 25" or has no dates. A stale stack gets swapped; call and we bring more. Where it goes PlaceWhatHow many The gas station at 31stone-sheet5 The hardware storeone-sheet5 A diner on the avenueone-sheet, and ask about a tray5 The OCC History Center, 1 S 24thone-sheet5 Your own door, Suite 122one-sheet, box edition5 and 5 The grocery at 31stla hoja10 The senior table at the community center, 1628 W Bijoularge print5 The little free library at the old Carnegie building, 701 Manitou Avebox edition8 The Head Start box, 2330 Robinson Stbox edition7 The ask at a counter, two sentences: "It's a free weekly paper for the Westside, written by neighbors, nothing for you to pay and nothing to sell. Can it sit here, and can I refill it on Thursdays?" Say yes to any condition they add. What to watch Count what's left after a week. Note any call or text to 719-201-5462 and any word find or quiz score that comes in. That's the first real test; everything before it was rehearsal. The reader inbox was empty on October 11. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Plant this (when it exists) <https://westsidewherewithal.com/seeds> Plant this (when it exists) Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Plant this (when it exists) There are no seed strips yet. This is the plan, written down before the first one so nobody has to guess. Some copies of the zine will carry a small sealed strip of seed paper. Plant it in your own yard, a friend's yard with their yes, a community garden, or a school bed with the principal's okay. Not in a park, not in open space, not in Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, the Garden of the Gods or Bear Creek, not along the creek or a trail, and never after a fire. Those places get seeded by the people who manage them, with seed matched to the ground, and a stranger's strip does more harm than good there. What's in it: Colorado natives from a Colorado grower (Western Native Seed, in Coaldale): Lewis blue flax, Rocky Mountain penstemon, blanketflower, prairie coneflower. Nothing from the state's noxious weed list, which is where the cheap "wildflower mixes" go wrong. Plant in fall; the penstemon wants a winter in the ground. Plant it, take a picture when something comes up, send it in. The best ones run in the paper with your name on them. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Take a desk <https://westsidewherewithal.com/take-a-desk> Take a desk Moved to /desks. --- # Thank you <https://westsidewherewithal.com/thanks> Thank you Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Thank you That's the whole transaction. No tier, no badge, no extra issue. The paper keeps going, and your name goes on the once-a-year list of people who chipped in, alphabetical, no amounts, unless you'd rather it didn't. Reply to any issue to say so. See you Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The elk who pulled a carriage <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-box> The elk who pulled a carriage Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The elk who pulled a carriage The Box desk, for kids and whoever is with them. When a neighbor (or a kid) takes this desk, their name goes here. Okay. You're the boss today. Walk to school, but make it a hunt. Find three things. One: a little free library. It's a box on a post full of books, and you can take one. We know of 27 of them west of I-25. Two you can visit: the one at the old Carnegie library building, 701 Manitou Ave, and the one at the Head Start, 2330 Robinson St. Two: the red rocks at the end of the street. Stop and look. Three: one leaf. Pick the best one on the block. Keep it. It's a bookmark now. Okay. Now the elk. In 1888, a man named John O'Byrne got two tame elk from a judge in Aspen. He trained them to pull his tourist carriage down this very avenue. Their names were Thunder and Buttons. Yes, elk. Yes, a carriage. Eventually a movie company bought them and took them to Alaska to film advertisements. Thunder and Buttons were in commercials. (Also true.) (Bonus, also true: in 1880 a train crew calmed a cold, panicking circus elephant at Colorado Springs with a keg of beer. Aunt's honor.) Ask a grown-up. Point at any building on your walk and ask: "What was here before?" Then listen. Your move, boss. This fall: Halloween, Oct 31, 2 to 4:30 p.m.: Trick or Treat Street on the avenue, 23rd to 28th. Costumed kids 1 to 6. Look for the orange and yellow balloons. Bring a little cousin. Mondays, 10 a.m.: the bighorn sheep program at the Garden of the Gods Visitor Center. December: the Christkindlmarket comes back to Bancroft Park, bigger than last year, with Santa at the cabin. Bonus level: the paper in the box has games. A word find whose leftover letters spell a message. A five-question quiz with the answers printed upside down. And a map to draw on: it's the 1902 map of Colorado City, when the town had 4,000 people. You can see it at westsidewherewithal.com/zine-box, page 6. The dare. Draw Thunder and Buttons pulling the carriage. Go big. Give the tourists faces. Then put it in the little free library box, or send it to hello@westsidewherewithal.com with your first name. We print the best ones. See you on the avenue. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-next-hundred> The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead The Next Hundred desk. Written from the city's own pages and the ballot; dates change, and we fix them when they do. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Right now, Colorado Avenue. Four lanes have been three from Limit to 30th since June, for up to a year. Watch the lanes. Your move: fill out the city survey after you've driven it, biked it, or crossed it with a stroller. The avenue went on a diet and nobody asked it. Oct 21 and Oct 26. The community center's neighbor group meets Wednesday the 21st at 4 p.m.; it helps steer what the center at 1628 W Bijou becomes. Monday the 26th, 5:30 p.m.: the 2027 budget's public hearing at 107 N Nevada Ave. Anyone can speak; the council calendar lists the work sessions before it. Your move: pick one and go. The budget reads better with you. Nov 3. Ballots are due by 7 p.m. County 1A would keep the public-safety sales tax going through 2037. D11's 4A is a $775 million school bond, and Coronado is on the list. Your move: vote, and use a drop box if the mail feels slow. There's one at 3141 W Colorado Ave. Seven o'clock does not negotiate. December. The Christkindlmarket comes back to Bancroft Park, bigger. Bancroft is the pupil of the eye, so a bigger market could mean a fuller avenue and fewer spots out front. Your move: go, and walk. The car can stay home. April 6, 2027. The city election: mayor and three council seats. Your move: register or check your registration, and ask every candidate what they would do about the avenue. The avenue will hear about it. April 13. Council hears the appeal on Project Taurus, the 50-megawatt data center proposed at the old Intel plant next to the homes in Chelsea Glen. The Planning Commission approved it 6 to 2 in July with a power cap and noise monitoring; council wants a noise study first, and the hearing falls a week after you vote (Colorado Politics). The developer says it is weighing the partnership, so the date could still move. Your move: read the noise study when it exists, and show up. Read quietly. April to fall 2027. A roundabout replaces the four-way stop at 31st and Fontanero by Howbert Elementary, on the western gateway to the red rocks. Parents asked about the school crossing, and the city says it will work with the school. Your move: if you walk kids there, ask the school what they've been told. Four stops become one circle. Around June 2027. The lane test's year ends, give or take. Nothing we've found says what comes after. Your move: whatever you think of the test, say so before it ends. A year is long enough for an opinion. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The man who wrote down the Westside <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-porch-mcfarland> The man who wrote down the Westside Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The man who wrote down the Westside The Porch desk. Written from the record; the editor's conversations with his family and friends are coming. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. If you ever wondered whether there really were tunnels under Colorado Avenue, Mel McFarland is a big part of why you wondered. I'll tell you what I know. He died September 21, at 81. From 2004 to 2019 he wrote 604 "Cobweb Corners" columns about this neighborhood for the Westside Pioneer. Born here in 1944, a fourth-generation native, taught art and drafting, and wrote books on the Colorado Midland Railway. In 1983 he bought a retired working caboose for his Rockrimmon backyard, and became "the Caboose Guy." Dave Martinek, who started Midland Days at Divide with him in 2009, told the Gazette: "He was the go-to person for anyone who wanted to know about railroad history in the state." His nephew Luc MacArthur called him "kind of a Renaissance man." His sister, Elaine Radney, said: "He had a lot of people who loved him." He wrote it down. Here is some of it. On February 3, 2005, he wrote down the story of John O'Byrne, who in 1888 got two tame elk, Thunder and Buttons, and trained them to pull a tourist carriage. Here is the column. On April 7, 2005, he wrote down the tunnels, the ones that let Colorado Avenue customers reach the Cucharras Street brothels unseen. He had "seen the remains of bits of both" sets of tunnels himself. On November 17, 2011, he wrote down the Glass Works disaster. Just after midnight on September 9, 1892, the furnace top collapsed and fiery glass poured out. Chunks of raw glass still show up now and then in neighborhood yards and rock walls, he wrote. On November 14, 2013, he wrote down the day a Teller County sheriff chained a Pullman sleeper car to the rails over $663.21 in unpaid taxes, and a U.S. marshal freed it two days later. Read it. Here's the thing. The Gazette says he left "file cabinets" of research and writing, and that his family hopes to sift through them, with no concrete plans yet. The next person who asks "was there really a glass plant over here?" gets a shrug. We can't fix that. What we have is an index of all 604 columns, by what each one reports, at westsidewherewithal.com/cobweb. The editor plans to call his sister, Dave Martinek, the Pioneer's editor Kenyon Jordan, and the History Center, and we'll tell you what they say. The question we're taking to them is who keeps the record now. We'd like to be part of the answer, and we'd like yours. Did a column of his stick with you? Tell us which one. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-record-dda> Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper The Record desk. Written from the city's own pages and the news; the Aug 25 minutes are still to be read. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. If you missed the council meeting last month, here is the entry. A downtown development authority, a DDA, is a small district set up by a vote. It is supposed to get its own pot of money to spend on one downtown. In 2024, Old Colorado City voters created one for the avenue. It never got its funding. It was created by a vote and ended by a vote, and the money never turned up in between. On Sept 22, City Council voted 5 to 4 to dissolve it. That's ordinance 26-48. The meeting record has the roll call. That's on paper. Yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams No: Donelson, Gold, Henjum, Leinweber The Gazette reported the first vote, on Aug 25, as the same 5 to 4. That's reported. On Oct 2, KKTV reported that the DDA is weighing legal action, because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. That's reported too. That is the whole ledger so far. Here is what we don't know: The Aug 25 minutes. We have the first vote from the news, not from the minutes. Until we've read them, the date and the count are reported, not checked. Whether a lawsuit is filed. KKTV says the DDA is considering one. We haven't found a filing. That isn't on paper. We'll say so when it is. What the DDA was going to buy. The records we have don't list its plan, so we won't guess. If you voted in 2024, or sat in those rooms, tell us what you were told. Who picks up the avenue's end of things now. Nobody has answered that in anything we've read. That isn't on paper either. We are taking the question to the next meeting. Some of those answers are in a room on a Tuesday morning. You can be in it. City Council meets the second and fourth Tuesdays at 9 a.m., 107 N Nevada Ave, and you can watch from home. You don't have to say a word. Take the one-page sheet, write down what happens, and your name goes on it. The Oct 13 meeting is the next one. If you were at the Aug 25 meeting, or you have the minutes, send them over. Tell me what I got wrong. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Where the asphalt gives up <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-ridge> Where the asphalt gives up Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Where the asphalt gives up The Ridge desk. Written from the city's pages and the groups' own sites; a canyon volunteer reads it before it prints. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Rain or snow, and the trails hold it. Friends of Red Rock Canyon says wait a day or two, because they stay muddy and fragile for 24 to 48 hours. Follow 21st down to Bear Creek, then keep going west. Around 30th and 31st the asphalt gives up. The red sandstone takes over. Red Rock Canyon is the pocket to the south. The city bought it in 2003, after it had been slated for a resort with high-rise towers and a private golf course. The city's open space page lists it among the places TOPS, the sales tax voters passed for open space, made possible. It nearly went the other way. Parking. The 31st Street trailhead has more than the High Street lots. No e-bikes in the open space. This fall. The Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th, runs a free bighorn sheep program with a touch table, Mondays 10 to 10:45 a.m. through Nov 30. Owls of the Garden is Oct 26, 12:30 to 1:30. Tickets from $5, sign up first. Oct 31, 1 to 2 p.m., a talk on why wolves in Colorado. The Garden's calendar has details. What's being decided. The Park System Master Plan goes to City Council next: the city's page lists Oct 12, a Monday work session where they talk but don't vote, and Oct 27, after the parks board heard it Oct 8. White Acres Trail is becoming the Don Ellis Trail. The board approved it Aug 13; it waits on an agreement and an $850 city fee. Fire restrictions: the city's page shows none this week, and we are checking with the fire department. We'll tell you what we hear. The seed rule. Some copies of this paper will carry a strip of Colorado native seed. Yards and community gardens, yes; parks, open space, the creek, the trails and anything that burned, no. The whole rule, and what's in the strip. Groups to join. Friends of Red Rock Canyon keeps up the benches and runs Talk and Walks, resuming soon (no date yet). The Trails and Open Space Coalition takes members and runs the One Bag Challenge cleanups. Friends of Garden of the Gods runs volunteer days. Our promise. Every Monday this desk reads the city's parks pages, and a canyon volunteer reads them with us. If nothing's new, we'll say so. Which trail was muddy this week? Tell me and I'll pass it along. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Who's cooking on the Westside this week <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-table> Who's cooking on the Westside this week Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Who's cooking on the Westside this week The Table desk. Hours are as the churches and pantries post them, checked October 11; we call before they go on the Bulletin Board. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Here's how it works. Somebody on this side of the interstate is feeding somebody nearly every day of the week, mostly out of church basements, and the people at the stoves are neighbors who are very good at it. We went looking for the tables. There are more than we figured. Everything below is what each place says on its own page as of October 11. We haven't called any of them yet, so please do before you go. Hours move, and a wrong one costs somebody a trip. Sunday The Sanctuary Church, 1930 W Colorado Ave, lists its Ragamuffin Cafe hot meal at 9 a.m. Call 719-634-7232. It's the only Sunday hot meal we found over here. If you know another, tell us. Monday Westside CARES, 2808 W Colorado Ave, posts a weekly hot meal from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Call 719-389-0759. Same day, Sacred Heart's pantry is posted noon to 2 p.m. at the Parish Center door, 2030 W Colorado Ave. No voucher. Call 719-633-8711. Tuesday Westside Global Methodist, 701 N 20th St, posts its pantry from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Call 719-633-9295. If you still call it Trinity UMC, that's the same corner with a new name, and the old building on W Pikes Peak is becoming a child care center. Wednesday The Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou St, hosts the CARES pantry from 1 to 3 p.m. Call 719-385-7920. Up the road in Manitou, the pantry at 110 Canon Ave was last reported at 1 to 2 p.m., with a hot meal starting at 12:30 p.m. Call 719-685-9259. St. Andrew's closed as a church in 2025, but the pantry kept going in the parish hall. Hats off to the people who kept it going. Thursday Sacred Heart again, same hours, same door, no voucher. Call 719-633-8711. Know another table? That's six tables, and I'd bet my good parking spot there are more. Churches, clubs, a neighbor with a big pot and a folding table. If your church or group feeds people, text 719-201-5462 or write hello@westsidewherewithal.com with the day and the hour. We'll call, confirm it, and print it, free, in your words. That's what the Bulletin Board is for. It's where every table lives, every week, so nobody has to guess which church has soup on which night. See you at the table. Tell us what we got wrong. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Three picks before Halloween <https://westsidewherewithal.com/weekend-radar> Three picks before Halloween Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Three picks before Halloween The Weekend Radar desk. Every line checked against the organizer's own page. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Two weekends, three picks, and I've already parked for all of them. Read this, then go. Go to the farmers market. Saturday, October 17, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., Bancroft Park, 24th and Colorado. It's the last Saturday of the season, with 80-some vendors, and there is no next Saturday. Go early, because the best of anything goes first. Parking: don't circle the park hoping. Take a side street and walk the last bit. Saturday, October 24 is two things at once. Pick one. First, the coffin races. The Emma Crawford Coffin Races run 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Manitou Springs. Parking: Manitou Avenue closes at 9, so get there before the road shuts and the crowd fills in, and plan to walk in. Second, the pumpkins. Pumpkins in the Park is noon to 6 p.m. on the avenue, free, with a pumpkin patch, painting, costume and carving contests, the ZOOmobile, live music and a beer garden. Parking: the avenue's diagonal spots fill on a festival Saturday, so take a side street and walk in. Don't try to do both in one afternoon. Choose, then start the day with it. The things that are always there. If the festivals are not your speed, or you just need a Thursday: trivia at OCC Brewing every Thursday, 7 to 9 p.m. Storytime at the OCC Library every Friday, 10:30 a.m. Brunch Jam Band at Mother Muff's every Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Free bingo on the 21st, Trunk or Treat on the 25th, Trick or Treat Street on the 31st and First Friday ArtWalk on November 6 are all on the full list, with times. That list lives at westsidewherewithal.com, and it's also the one-sheet on the counters around the avenue. Got something happening that we missed? Send it to hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or text 719-201-5462. We'll check it against your own page and put it in. See you Saturday. I'll be the one who parked early. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in <https://westsidewherewithal.com/year-ahead> Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in The Year Ahead desk. Written from the editor's calendar; no interviews yet. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Picture the fridge calendar. Every Thursday of 2027 is penciled in, and you're coming along. One honest aside: it's plans, all of it. Nothing has been reported yet, and some weeks may not land. Winter first. Week one: The Reset Issue. Quiet workspaces, reading refuges, and I'd be surprised if the Carnegie library stays out. And then we eat through the cold. The quest for the best broth in OCC. A reader poll for the best breakfast burrito west of I-25. A 4 a.m. shift with a Westside baker. Then February: a cocktail lounge audit off Main Street, an Alternative Valentine, pints by the fireplace, and how the vintage and antiques shops survive winter. Spring opens up. Red Rock Canyon hikes, with lunches after. The carriage house makers working out of alleys. St. Patrick week. And then the thaw, when we find out which counters open their windows. The under-$15 lunch circuit. A patio audit covering shade, noise, pints and dogs. Seed swaps. Coffee roasters. A Territory Days survival guide. A First Friday gallery crawl. Spring tap releases. Summer gets loud. Hosting out-of-towners without crossing I-25. The Bancroft Park farmers market, booth by booth. Gelato. Where a line cook eats at midnight. Secret courtyards. Quiet Fourth of July viewpoints. Live music on the bricks, and I'm hoping the bandshell gets a paragraph. You pick the coldest drinks. Then the Pueblo chile arrives. Nightcaps and jukeboxes after 10, and I'd bet Mother Muff's comes up. Then a back-to-school pantry run, Uintah Gardens an obvious stop. Fall, the leg I'm saving. The annual pizza index: Slice 420 against Rustica against Leopold's, and we'll need lots of you to settle it. Golden aspens. Autumn ciders. A locals' guide for after the tourists leave. Ghost signs, spooky lore, wood-fired and cast iron cooking (Front Range BBQ, you're on my mind). Thanksgiving hosting. Best of the Westside nominations. Small Business Saturday. And then a Black Friday antidote at Section 16 and Bear Creek. December: a 100% Westside gift guide, a winter lights walk, the Best of the Westside winners, the solstice and quiet patios, and a last issue called Looking Ahead. Every week also carries a civic item and an oral history. A 40-year diner regular. A couple who met at Bancroft in 1988. A chile roaster of 25 seasons. A dishwasher who worked 300 shifts. A high school senior looking at the Westside's future. Tell me which month I got wrong, or which place I forgot. The pencil's by the fridge, and I'll see you the first Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? <https://westsidewherewithal.com/issues/2026-10-11-issue-0> Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? 2026-10-11 In this issue Can't we just inform each other? The leaves are changing Divide anything but our bread What it's all for We choose this Can't we just inform each other? Nobody's telling us what's happening around here unless you find some corporate website that tracks you and tries to make you pay just to find out what's going on outside your door. What a drag. Can't we just inform each other, and have fun building and being in community? The leaves are changing The leaves are changing and falling, and the streets are graced with people from all walks of life. The days are growing shorter, and fall will give way to snow in a few weeks. Before we know it Santa will be at the cabin in Bancroft Park and the Christkindlmarket will be back. Divide anything but our bread I want people to see and hear themselves in our work. I want the people in this community to remember that we're in this together and that what we print is made to remind us of that. We are not here to divide anything but our bread for others, to love our neighbors, and practice mercy and kindness. What it's all for I get nervous that people's fear clouds not only their judgment but their hearts. I can be a skeptic, and quite cynical at times. I wonder what it's all for and why I'm doing this. But in the end, if one person reads our words and connects with them even a little, and it gives them a spark or the belief that they are loved, I will have done my work. We choose this I hope people are excited to see what we're up to. I hope they want to be a part of it, and that by gathering and presenting our values, beliefs and customs together, we can cherish them and let new things in while the old fades. I want Thursday to remind us that we choose this. Jeff What we told you Can't we just inform each other? The leaves are changing Divide anything but our bread What it's all for We choose this The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The archive <https://westsidewherewithal.com/issues/index> The archive Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The archive Every issue, oldest at the bottom. Free to read. If you want to chip in, the jar is on the front page. Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? 2026-10-11 The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The Westside Wherewithal <https://westsidewherewithal.com/> The Westside Wherewithal Skip to the paper We start for real in January. Sign up and the first one lands on a Thursday morning. Thursday mornings · FreeFrom your neighbors ## The Westside WherewithalBecause living west of takes a little wherewithal. Colorado Springs, Colorado A free paper for the Westside of Colorado Springs, written by the people who live here. Thursday mornings, starting January. ## Get it Thursday morning One email a week, free. Put your address in and we'll see you Thursday. Sign me up ## What the city is deciding ## About your street, before it's done You can still weigh in Open nowColorado Avenue lane test. Four lanes to three from Limit Street to 30th Street (the city's page; the Gazette says 31st), for up to a year from June 2026, paid for with $375K from the regional road tax (PPRTA, the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority). The city survey is open.The city's own page: City project page · The surveyIn the news: Gazette, lane test # Oct 26, 2026The city's 2027 budget. Public hearing Monday Oct 26, 5:30 p.m., Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada Ave. Anyone can speak. The council talks it over at work sessions first (Oct 15 is one). What's in it for the Westside, we're reading now.Changed since 2026-10-11The city's own page: the council calendar (Legistar) # Coming up Oct 21, 2026The community center's neighbor group (the Westside Community Center Alliance) meets Wednesday Oct 21, 4 p.m. It helps steer what the center at 1628 W Bijou becomes. Whether anyone can sit in, we're asking.The city's own page: city page, community centerStill looking for: the Alliance's own notice and the Parks Advisory Board's May minutesIn the news: Gazette, the Alliance # Apr 2027Roundabout at 31st and Fontanero, by Howbert Elementary, replacing the four-way stop. The open house was Sept 15. Construction April to fall 2027. Parents asked about the school crossing; the city says it will work with the school. The crossing drawing and the open-house boards are the documents we're after.In the news: KKTV, the roundabout # Apr 13, 2027Project Taurus. A 50-megawatt data center proposed at the old Intel plant, next to the homes in Chelsea Glen. The Planning Commission approved it 6 to 2 in July with a power cap and noise monitoring. Council put the appeal off 7 to 2 to April 13, a week after the city election, and wants a noise study and a study of what big power users pay first. The developer told Colorado Politics on Sept 18 it is weighing whether this is the right partnership.Still looking for: the noise studyIn the news: CPR, hearing date · Colorado Politics, the postponement · KKTV, the appeal # Already decided Sept 22, 2026Old Colorado City's downtown development authority (DDA) shut down. The tax district voters created in 2024 never got its funding. Council voted 5 to 4 on Sept 22 to dissolve it, ordinance 26-48 (yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams; no: Donelson, Gold, Henjum, Leinweber), after the same 5 to 4 on first reading Aug 25. KKTV reported Oct 2 that the DDA is weighing legal action because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. Who picks up the avenue's end of things is an open question.The city's own page: meeting record (Open Publica)Still looking for: the ordinance text itself, and the Aug 25 minutesIn the news: Gazette, the first vote · KKTV, the lawsuit threat # Coming up Every weekThe land. Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, the Garden, Bear Creek, the creek itself: fire restrictions, trail closures, anything the parks board decides. Nothing new on the city's pages this week; we look every Monday, and a canyon volunteer is looking with us.The city's own page: city parks, trails and open space # Already decided Since Apr 2023Greater Westside Community Plan. Nine neighborhoods, one plan: Gold Hill, Ivywild, Mesa, Mesa Springs, Midland, Old Colorado City, Skyway, Stratton Meadows, Westside. (The city's plan reaches past the interstate; this paper stays west of it.) The city's page lists six meetings, the last in April 2023, plus a 2022 survey and a 'Big Ideas' summary. What came next is the question we're taking to Planning, and to the neighbors who sat in those rooms.Changed since 2026-10-11The city's own page: city page, the plan # Checked October 11. Each one links to the city's own page where we found it. Where it says "still looking," we haven't found it yet (city websites, you know how it goes). If you've got it, send it over. Want to be the person in the room? Go to one meeting, write down what happened on this one-page sheet, and your name goes on it. A City Council Tuesday is the easy first one; you can watch it live or later from the couch. ## Vote ## Ballots are in the mail. Here's the Westside part. By Oct 26Register, or check that you're registered, at GoVoteColorado.gov. Moved since last time? Update it there too. After Oct 26 you can still register and vote in person, through Election Day.The city's own page: GoVoteColorado.gov # Till Nov 3, 7 p.m.Drop boxes west of I-25, open day and night: Red Rock Canyon shopping center, 3141 W Colorado Ave; Bear Creek Regional Park, 2002 Creek Crossing St; the clerk's office, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd; Manitou City Hall, 606 Manitou Ave. Mailing it? The county says by Oct 27. It has to arrive by 7 p.m. on Election Day; a postmark doesn't count.The city's own page: the county's list of boxes · El Paso County elections # On the ballotThe local ones: County 1A keeps the public-safety sales tax going through 2037. D11 4A is a $775 million school bond (Coronado is on the list). Then fourteen statewide questions; the state's Blue Book explains each one in plain words, for and against.The city's own page: the county's local questions · the Blue Book # Apr 6, 2027The city election: mayor and three council seats. Same registration, same website. We'll print the candidates and where they stand on the Westside.The city's own page: city election page # We don't tell you how to vote. We'd love for you to. If the Blue Book is a brick, if you can't get to a box, if you're not sure you're registered, call or text 719-201-5462 and a neighbor helps. The county pays election judges and trains them; sign up here if you've got a day. ## The next two weeks ## Oct 11 to Nov 8, checked against the calendars The market's last Saturday, Pumpkins in the Park, free bingo at the community center, the cemetery tour, the coffin races, and the same seven things every week. Every weekMon Boom Box Bingo, 7 to 11 p.m. (Mother Muff's)Tue Math tutoring, 4 to 5:30 p.m. (OCC Library)Wed Toddler Time, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Wed Open mic, 6 to 9 p.m. (Jives Coffee Lounge, 16 Colbrunn Ct)Thu Trivia, 7 to 9 p.m. (OCC Brewing)Fri Storytime, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Sat Paws to Read, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Sun Brunch Jam Band, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Mother Muff's) Sun Oct 11 all month Scarecrow Days: the storefront scarecrows, with a public vote, through Oct 31 the avenue Mon Oct 12 all day Westside CARES closed for Indigenous Peoples' Day 2808 W Colorado Tue Oct 13 9 a.m. City Council regular meeting (agenda on Legistar) 107 N Nevada Ave 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Small Steps, Giant Leaps, Space Foundation program for ages 2 to 6 Westside Community Center Wed Oct 14 9 a.m. City Planning Commission 2880 International Circle 5:30 to 7 p.m. Evening pickleball: donate a bag of candy to play, paddles limited Westside Community Center Thu Oct 15 7:30 a.m. Coffee with the principal Coronado High, Future Center 2 to 4 p.m. Classic board games free OCC Library 5 p.m. Mushroom Zombie Haunted House opens, through Oct 31 Mush Love Tee, the shirt shop, 2627 W Colorado Fri Oct 16 all day No school at Coronado: parent-teacher conferences, 9 to 3 in the gym Coronado High 5 to 6 p.m. Bingo at the Biscuit The Biscuit Factory Cat Lounge, 12 S 25th Sat Oct 17 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Farmers market, last Saturday of the season, 80-some vendors Bancroft Park 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Craft and art market, final Saturday History Center, 1 S 24th Sun Oct 18 evening Legends and Lore of Fairview Cemetery, a two-hour guided tour; tickets online, kids 12 and under free Fairview Cemetery, 1000 S 26th Mon Oct 19 all week Fall break at Coronado, Oct 19 to 22, no school Coronado High Wed Oct 21 4 p.m. Westside Community Center Alliance meeting Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou 5:30 to 7 p.m. Howdy Neighbor prize bingo, doors at 5, all ages, no sign-up free Westside Community Center Thu Oct 22 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Book group free OCC Library Sat Oct 24 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Emma Crawford Coffin Races, the 32nd; Manitou Avenue closes at 9 Manitou Springs noon to 6 p.m. Pumpkins in the Park: pumpkin patch, painting, face painters, costume and carving contests, the ZOOmobile, live music, a beer garden free the avenue Sun Oct 25 1 to 4 p.m. Trunk or Treat in the parking lot, and Animals of Halloween inside, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. free Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th Mon Oct 26 10 to 10:45 a.m. Bighorn sheep, an indoor program with a touch table; Mondays through Nov 30 free Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Owls of the Garden: take an owl pellet apart; $5, sign up first Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 5:30 p.m. City budget public hearing, the 2027 budget; anyone can speak Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada Ave Tue Oct 27 all day Stroll-a-Story: a storybook walk, page by page, around the library OCC Library, 2418 W Pikes Peak Thu Oct 29 7:30 to 8:45 p.m. Haunted Manitou ghost tour, $25; also Oct 30 and 31 Memorial Park, Manitou Springs Fri Oct 30 5:30 p.m. Ghost Stories of Old Manitou, a walking tour from the museum Manitou Springs Heritage Museum Sat Oct 31 1 to 2 p.m. Why wolves in Colorado, a talk Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 2 to 4:30 p.m. Trick or Treat Street: costumed kids 1 to 6, shop to shop; look for the orange and yellow balloons the avenue, 23rd to 28th 6 p.m. Manitou Phantasmagoria Shoshone Spring courtyard, Manitou Springs evening Mushroom Zombie Haunted House, last night Mush Love Tee, the shirt shop, 2627 W Colorado Tue Nov 3 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Election Day. Ballots due by 7 p.m. at a drop box; register and vote in person at the clerk's office, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd, or Manitou City Hall El Paso County Fri Nov 6 5 to 8 p.m. First Friday ArtWalk: galleries, studios and shops open late along the avenue free the avenue, 17th to 31st Sun Nov 8 11 a.m. Altitude Makers market and farmers market free Soda Springs Park, Manitou Springs Every line above came off a calendar we can link, checked October 11. The strip up top happens every week; the list is the one-time stuff. The avenue is West Colorado Avenue; OCC is Old Colorado City; D11 is the school district. If we got a time wrong, tell us and we'll fix it in the next issue. Red Rock Canyon, the churches and the school sports pages had nothing dated for these two weeks; if you know of something, send it. Where that came from: Old Colorado City events calendar · Old Colorado City Library · Westside Community Center · History Center events · Garden of the Gods calendar ## The Bulletin Board ## Suppers, pantries, services, weddings, and the ones we lost If you need something this week, start here. Free, in your words, from you or your church or your family. Food, rent and utility help: Westside CARES, 2808 W Colorado Ave, 719-389-0759. Open Monday to Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. They prefer you walk in. Closed when the schools close for weather. Serves everyone west of I-25. Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou St, 719-385-7920. Open Monday and Friday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Tuesday to Thursday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. A corkboard, not a story. Church suppers, pantry hours, services, weddings, and the ones we lost: free, in your words, from you or your church or your family. We call to check the hours before they run. Send it by Tuesday to hello@westsidewherewithal.com, by text to 719-201-5462, by mail to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, or in the box on the front page. Where that came from: Westside CARES hours · Community center hours (city page) ## The Listening Room ## Once a month. You pick where and when. Coffee with the editor, no agenda, no sign-up. The hour and the place are a vote; the winner runs in issue 1. The Listening Room isn't an office. It's one hour a month wherever we sit down, and I'd rather you picked it than me. Vote below, or write in your own. I live over here, about twenty years now, and the office on the avenue is the paper's address; it says one thing: I'm here. I'm with you. Where and when Saturday morning, the bench by the bandshell in Bancroft Park Tuesday evening, a coffee counter on the avenue Sunday afternoon, the library (once they say yes) A weeknight on Zoom, for people who work days Cast it ## The Address Book ## What was in this storefront in 1968? One storefront, one photo, what was inside. One building per issue: a photo, the address, and whoever remembers fills in the rest. The first photo is coming; if you have one, send it in below. ## Write something ## Send it in The shop that closed, the thing the city's about to do on your street, the neighbor everybody should know. Photos and drawings count, with your name on them. Send it however you like: the box below, hello@westsidewherewithal.com, a call or a text to 719-201-5462, or mail it to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs 80904. (Mail only; nobody is at the door.) We write back. Rather talk than type? Call or text 719-201-5462 and tell me out loud; I'll write it down and you hear it read back before it runs. Under 18? Send it anyway; we'll check with you or a parent before it runs. Teachers, send the whole class. Photos come by email. En español: mándenos un texto al 719-201-5462 o escríbanos a hello@westsidewherewithal.com, en español: su cena, su misa, su aviso. No lo hablo de nacimiento; lo traducimos con un vecino y se lo leemos antes de publicar. Any other language: send it anyway, and we'll find a neighbor to translate. Want a desk? The pages signed by a desk are open; here's how to take one. Got a counter, or a box on your fence? Say so and we'll bring a stack, free, and swap the stale ones. How we do things, if you're curious. Put me down for a stack, for my counter or my library box Send it in ## The jar It's free. If a Thursday was worth something to you, throw a few bucks in the jar; it pays for the email and the printing. A check by mail to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122 works too. Pay what you want Inside: What the city is deciding · The next two weeks · On the avenue · From the desks · The next 100 years · Frontier wherewithal · Around the avenue · What came before us ## On the avenue ## I never stepped inside Base Camp, 2611 W Colorado, closed October 4, and I never ate there. Tell me the place you'd go back to. Jeff Adkins Base Camp closed on October 4. I thought it looked cool, but the menu never appealed to me in the moment, and it's hard to take me away from the dozen places I adore already. I never stepped inside. That's on me, and I'm not alone. Empty storefronts are not what we want here. What keeps a place open is anyone and everyone who can afford to spend local dollars in it, and I am going to try hard to keep mixing it up. If you're thinking about working and making a living here, I wish I could appeal to you directly: we need you. Old Colorado City (OCC from here on) is a tourist destination, for locals and for travelers. I know this. I gladly give up my street parking for events because I know we need them. If I want OCC Brewing to be here 365 days a year, I need them to sustain themselves. That means me not griping about the traffic or the parking over here. Not everyone can afford to eat out or shop on the avenue. I understand that; I don't feel obligated to, and neither should you. I'm fortunate that I can budget for a meal out, and I try to go during the week, when places are less busy and could frankly use the business. So I can't complain about Base Camp closing if I didn't eat there, and I can't blame not eating there on the parking. Tell me the place you'd go back to. What we know: Base Camp, 2611 W Colorado Ave, opened March 2025 and closed October 4; the owner cited costs and the economy. Mountain Shadows, the restaurant four blocks east, closed December 2024 and sold in January. Where that came from: Gazette, Oct 2, 2026 · Gazette, Jan 20, 2025 · OCC Brewing ## From the desks ## Ten desks, one neighborhood Celebrating, remembering, forecasting. Each desk is open; a neighbor's name goes on it the day they take it. The Wherewithal desks Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in · the 52 Thursdays of 2027, as a walk through the seasons The man who wrote down the Westside · 604 columns, the elk, the tunnels, and who keeps the record now Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper · the vote, the names, what's still unknown, and how to be in the room See that building? Look again · five storefronts and what they were, from the columns and the 1902 map Where the asphalt gives up · Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, Bear Creek; this fall, and the seed rule The elk who pulled a carriage · for kids: three things to find on the walk to school, and a dare Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad · la mesa en español: ayuda, el voto, cómo escribirnos Who's cooking on the Westside this week · six tables, as their own pages say it; we call before it prints Three picks before Halloween · the market's last Saturday, the coffin races, pumpkins in the park, and where to park The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead · every date headed for your street, and the door into each one Every desk is written from the record we hold and says so at the top. None of it is an interview yet; those are coming. Every one is open: what each desk takes, and how to take one. One text, one coffee. ## The next 100 years ## Four lanes to three, for a year Four lanes to three, Limit to 30th, for a year. The city survey is open. One driver's take below; if yours differs, next issue's yours. Jeff Adkins 1902 · Sanborn fire insurance map, sheet 2, Colorado Avenue · Library of Congress, public domain 2027 · lane drawing · city of Colorado Springs, Colorado Avenue demonstration, phase two What we know: four lanes to three from Limit to 30th by the city's page (the Gazette says 31st), since June 2026, for up to a year; the city calls it the Colorado Avenue Demonstration Project; $375K of county transportation tax (PPRTA) money. The Gazette counts about 30 parking spaces added, metered; the city's page says parking changes are expected to be minimal. We've asked the project team which it is. A second phase in 2027 makes some of it permanent and redoes three blocks of streetscape (Gazette); permanent reconstruction is penciled for 2027 or 2028 (Bike Colorado Springs). The city survey is open. One driver's take, mine (and my office is on the avenue, at 2320): it's great to see so much more attention being paid to pedestrians, and it doesn't slow me down at all. I haven't timed it; if you have, send the numbers. It may add parking, metered; the city and the Gazette disagree on how much (see the record), and nobody has said yet where someone who lives over a shop parks overnight. The city is taking comments until the concrete goes down. If you drive it, bike it, or cross it with a stroller, say so. If you hate it, this space is yours next issue, same length, your name on it. What do I want to still be here in 2126? Westsiders. Hyper local, no corporate nonsense, and room for whoever shows up to stay. Where that came from: Sanborn 1902 (LoC) · City project page · The city survey · Gazette, May 20, 2026 · Bike Colorado Springs ## Frontier wherewithal ## Load up for winter, survive the summer Not just another old west town. Two tame elk, tunnels under the avenue, four to six weeks a year you'd rather be in the water. Jeff Adkins If you're new here you might think this is just another old west town. If you're passing through, maybe we should let you believe it. Our summers are dry and shorter than most, with heat that stops, starts, and lingers. I'd say we have about four to six weeks a year where you'd want to be holed up in the cabin or in the water, which can be tricky to find. We need to know how to load up for winter, survive the summer, and not die of dehydration. And like every place with lore, we have a guy who trained two tame elk, Thunder and Buttons, to pull a carriage, plus tunnels and brothels and churches, oh my. We love it here. What we know: Thunder and Buttons were elk; Prairie Dog O'Byrne drove them hitched to a carriage on this avenue in the late 1880s. The tunnels under the avenue are documented by the historical society, with the honest caveat that some of it may be something else. Colorado City voted itself dry in 1913. Where that came from: Westside Pioneer, 2006 · Cobweb Corners, 2005 · Gazette, July 2021, the tunnels · Thunder and Buttons II ## Around the avenue ## Getting to know them is the point I don't know everyone yet. Getting to know them is the point. Jeff Adkins What we know so far: Who's opening and who's moving: we've heard about three and have an address for none, so none are named yet. Send the name and the block. The Old Colorado City Historical Society runs a free museum at 1 South 24th, a block off the avenue. Tuesday through Saturday, 11 to 4 in summer and 11 to 2 in winter. Call before you drive. The free Tuesday concerts at the Bancroft Park bandshell ran June 2 through September 29 this year, 5:30, Dizzy Charlie's and the Pikes Peak Blues Community. Next summer's lineup runs here the week it's announced. First Friday art walk, 5 to 8, galleries and studios along the avenue. Next one is November 6. The Customs and Classics car show closes the avenue from 23rd to 27th one Sunday every August. If the one you went to was a different show this fall, tell us which. This is the stuff I get to see everyone else doing. I enjoy seeing them do it. It doesn't matter to me if I don't know anyone in the room, because getting to know them is the point of this life. And that's what I'm here to capture in this paper. I shouldn't pretend to know things I don't. Where that came from: OCC History Center · Tuesday concerts (Springs Magazine) · First Friday (OCC calendar) · The car show (Pioneer, 2018) ## What came before us ## I want it all Mel McFarland died in September; I indexed the 604 columns I found. Eight digs, from the capital that got away to the forgotten cemetery. Jeff Adkins Start here: Mel McFarland, who wrote the Westside's past in the Pioneer for fifteen years, died in September at 81. Most of what is below comes from his columns. I found 604 and indexed every one I found; the one-line summaries there are software drafts, not yet checked one by one. Who keeps the record now is a question this paper exists to answer. I want the best stories from Old Colorado City. I want to dig down and find the most awesome stuff we can publish: how people first lived here, how it went from zero to what it is today, funny things, shootouts, jail time for crimes that make us laugh and cry, mysteries and murders. I want it all. What did we used to do and stop? What was, but isn't? What could have been, but never was? The digs I can't do alone: your church, your family, your block. Send them. What we found first: The capital that got away. Colorado City was founded in August 1859 to outfit gold seekers, was the county seat by 1861, and held the territorial capital just long enough to lose it to Denver. One account says the town was deemed too rowdy. Zero to four thousand. Mel has the town past 2,000 by 1890; the 1892 fire-insurance map (the Sanborn) writes 2,000 on its own cover, and the 1902 sheet writes 4,000. The town voted itself dry in 1913, lost the saloon money, and voted to be annexed by Colorado Springs in April 1917. Four saloons to twenty-seven. By the Pioneer's 2009 count (a feature, not one of Mel's columns): four in 1884, twenty-three by 1888, twenty-seven in 1902 plus thirty-some gambling halls, on a main street that also had the churches. Laura Bell McDaniel. From the Pioneer's 2011 profile, not the index: queen of the tenderloin; her last house was the Tribley House in the 2600 block of West Cucharras. She married Tom McDaniel in April 1887 in Salida; a month later he shot a man five times while she watched, and was acquitted. She divorced him in 1893. Accused in November 1917 of stealing liquor and acquitted; the historian who wrote her up thinks it was a set-up. Died in a car crash in January 1918. The elk were O'Byrne's by Mel's column (bought in Aspen in 1888); a 2006 Pioneer piece has her riding beside him in the carriage. The Glass Works. Full production in 1889 with 200 men on the south edge of town, bottling Manitou water. The furnace top collapsed just after midnight on September 9, 1892. Wheeler promised to rebuild; the Silver Panic of 1893 and the lost customers finished it. One of Mel's columns says it closed in 1895, another says by 1900; one puts a fire in 1893 as well. The Midland shops. The Colorado Midland started here in 1886 and quit in 1918; the Midland Terminal ran the line to Divide until it was scrapped in 1949. Hundreds of men in the shops at the peak, under a hundred by 1925, about fifty by 1948; the office burned in 1953. The fourteen-stall roundhouse is the one that lived: Van Briggle pottery, then the shops you walk through now. The mills. The Colorado-Philadelphia came first, in 1894 by one of Mel's columns and about 1897 by another, near 31st and U.S. 24. Golden Cycle took over the Telluride mill in 1906, rebuilt it with cyanide after a 1907 fire, and ran it until 1949; the smokestack is still there. The forgotten cemetery. Colorado City's Pioneer cemetery, on the mesa, used from about 1860 to 1917. Not every burial was moved; the stones came out in the 1940s and it became Pioneer Park in the 1950s. Graves were mapped with metal detectors in the 1970s, a project Mel joined, and a cast-iron coffin may still be there. Who is in it is still the question. Where that came from: Why the fuss? (Pioneer) · Laura Bell McDaniel (Pioneer, 2011) · Thunder and Buttons (Cobweb Corners, 2005) · The Glass Works, 200 men (Cobweb Corners, 2011) · The Glass Works fire (Cobweb Corners, 2011) · The Glass Works closed 1895 (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The Midland, 1886 to 1918 (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The Midland shops decline (Cobweb Corners, 2009) · The roundhouse (Cobweb Corners, 2007) · The mills (Cobweb Corners, 2013) · Golden Cycle closes, 1949 (Cobweb Corners, 2006) · The capital, the county seat (Cobweb Corners, 2009) · The forgotten cemetery (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The forgotten cemetery (Cobweb Corners, 2017) · Mel McFarland, 1944 to 2026 (Gazette) · Every Cobweb Corners column, indexed · Colorado City Iris, digitized (CHNC) If something here is wrong, reply to the email or send it in below. Corrections run at the top of the next issue. Behind the masthead: Sanborn fire insurance map of Colorado City, November 1902, sheet 1. Library of Congress, public domain. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad <https://westsidewherewithal.com/la-vecina> Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad La Vecina, la mesa en español. Traducción nuestra; buscamos a un vecino o vecina que la tome y firme aquí. Vecina, vecino: Le escribo con las hojas ya cambiando de color y las tardes más cortas. Aquí entre nosotros, quería contarle lo que sé. Si usted vive al oeste de la I-25, este periódico es para usted. Se llama The Westside Wherewithal, sale cada semana y es gratis. Lo escribimos entre vecinos: lo que abre, lo que cierra, lo que se vota, lo que llega al parque. Y queremos saber de usted. Cuéntenos lo que ve en su cuadra, en su iglesia, en su trabajo, y hágalo en español, en sus propias palabras. Si esta semana necesita una mano, vaya a Westside CARES, en 2808 W Colorado Ave. Abren de lunes a jueves, de 9:30 a.m. a 12:30 p.m., y no hace falta cita. Atienden a todos los que viven al oeste de la I-25. Llame al 719-389-0759. También tiene el Westside Community Center, en 1628 W Bijou St, teléfono 719-385-7920. Abre lunes y viernes, de 9 a.m. a 3 p.m., y de martes a jueves, de 9 a.m. a 7 p.m. Ahora el voto, en claro. Hasta el 26 de octubre puede registrarse, o revisar si ya está registrado, en GoVoteColorado.gov. Pasada esa fecha, todavía puede hacerlo en persona, hasta el día de la elección. Y para dejar su boleta, las urnas están abiertas hasta las 7 p.m. del 3 de noviembre en cuatro lugares: el centro comercial Red Rock Canyon, 3141 W Colorado Ave; Bear Creek Regional Park, 2002 Creek Crossing St; la oficina del secretario del condado, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd; y el ayuntamiento de Manitou, 606 Manitou Ave. Aquí no le decimos cómo votar. Solo le decimos dónde y cuándo. En diciembre el Christkindlmarket vuelve a Bancroft Park. Cuando tengamos los días, se los pasamos aquí. Si quiere escribirnos, mande un texto al 719-201-5462 o un correo a hello@westsidewherewithal.com, en español. El editor no habla español de cuna. Traduce con un vecino y lo vuelve a leer con él antes de que algo se imprima. También tenemos una hoja en español en westsidewherewithal.com/sheet-es. Y una cosa honesta: esta página es traducción nuestra. Buscamos a un vecino o vecina que hable español para que tome esta mesa y firme aquí con su nombre. Hasta la próxima semana, vecino. Un abrazo, La Vecina The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The print pack <https://westsidewherewithal.com/print> The print pack Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The print pack Everything to print this week, how many, and where it goes. Any copy shop; a home printer works for the one-sheets. What to print PrintFileHowCopies The one-sheetsheet.pdfLetter, one side (two sides if you want the puzzle back: sheet-back.pdf)20 Large printsheet-large.pdfLetter, two sides5 La hoja (Spanish)sheet-es.pdfLetter, one side10 The box editionzine-box.pdfLetter, landscape, two sheets, two-sided, flip on the short edge; nest sheet 2 inside sheet 1, fold once; no staples20 Every print says "good till Oct 25" or has no dates. A stale stack gets swapped; call and we bring more. Where it goes PlaceWhatHow many The gas station at 31stone-sheet5 The hardware storeone-sheet5 A diner on the avenueone-sheet, and ask about a tray5 The OCC History Center, 1 S 24thone-sheet5 The office mailbox stays closed; keep five of each in the car for the next counter that asksone-sheet, box edition5 and 5 The grocery at 31stla hoja10 The senior table at the community center, 1628 W Bijoularge print5 The little free library at the old Carnegie building, 701 Manitou Avebox edition8 The Head Start box, 2330 Robinson Stbox edition7 The ask at a counter, two sentences: "It's a free weekly paper for the Westside, written by neighbors, nothing for you to pay and nothing to sell. Can it sit here, and can I refill it on Thursdays?" Say yes to any condition they add. What to watch Count what's left after a week. Note any call or text to 719-201-5462 and any word find or quiz score that comes in. That's the first real test; everything before it was rehearsal. The reader inbox was empty on October 11. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Plant this (when it exists) <https://westsidewherewithal.com/seeds> Plant this (when it exists) Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Plant this (when it exists) There are no seed strips yet. This is the plan, written down before the first one so nobody has to guess. Some copies of the zine will carry a small sealed strip of seed paper. Plant it in your own yard, a friend's yard with their yes, a community garden, or a school bed with the principal's okay. Not in a park, not in open space, not in Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, the Garden of the Gods or Bear Creek, not along the creek or a trail, and never after a fire. Those places get seeded by the people who manage them, with seed matched to the ground, and a stranger's strip does more harm than good there. What's in it: Colorado natives from a Colorado grower (Western Native Seed, in Coaldale): Lewis blue flax, Rocky Mountain penstemon, blanketflower, prairie coneflower. Nothing from the state's noxious weed list, which is where the cheap "wildflower mixes" go wrong. Plant in fall; the penstemon wants a winter in the ground. Plant it, take a picture when something comes up, send it in. The best ones run in the paper with your name on them. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Take a desk <https://westsidewherewithal.com/take-a-desk> Take a desk Moved to /desks. --- # Thank you <https://westsidewherewithal.com/thanks> Thank you Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Thank you That's the whole transaction. No tier, no badge, no extra issue. The paper keeps going, and your name goes on the once-a-year list of people who chipped in, alphabetical, no amounts, unless you'd rather it didn't. Reply to any issue to say so. See you Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The elk who pulled a carriage <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-box> The elk who pulled a carriage Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The elk who pulled a carriage The Box desk, for kids and whoever is with them. When a neighbor (or a kid) takes this desk, their name goes here. Okay. You're the boss today. Walk to school, but make it a hunt. Find three things. One: a little free library. It's a box on a post full of books, and you can take one. We know of 27 of them west of I-25. Two you can visit: the one at the old Carnegie library building, 701 Manitou Ave, and the one at the Head Start, 2330 Robinson St. Two: the red rocks at the end of the street. Stop and look. Three: one leaf. Pick the best one on the block. Keep it. It's a bookmark now. Okay. Now the elk. In 1888, a man named John O'Byrne got two tame elk from a judge in Aspen. He trained them to pull his tourist carriage down this very avenue. Their names were Thunder and Buttons. Yes, elk. Yes, a carriage. Eventually a movie company bought them and took them to Alaska to film advertisements. Thunder and Buttons were in commercials. (Also true.) (Bonus, also true: in 1880 a train crew calmed a cold, panicking circus elephant at Colorado Springs with a keg of beer. Aunt's honor.) Ask a grown-up. Point at any building on your walk and ask: "What was here before?" Then listen. Your move, boss. This fall: Halloween, Oct 31, 2 to 4:30 p.m.: Trick or Treat Street on the avenue, 23rd to 28th. Costumed kids 1 to 6. Look for the orange and yellow balloons. Bring a little cousin. Mondays, 10 a.m.: the bighorn sheep program at the Garden of the Gods Visitor Center. December: the Christkindlmarket comes back to Bancroft Park, bigger than last year, with Santa at the cabin. Bonus level: the paper in the box has games. A word find whose leftover letters spell a message. A five-question quiz with the answers printed upside down. And a map to draw on: it's the 1902 map of Colorado City, when the town had 4,000 people. You can see it at westsidewherewithal.com/zine-box, page 6. The dare. Draw Thunder and Buttons pulling the carriage. Go big. Give the tourists faces. Then put it in the little free library box, or send it to hello@westsidewherewithal.com with your first name. We print the best ones. See you on the avenue. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-next-hundred> The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead The Next Hundred desk. Written from the city's own pages and the ballot; dates change, and we fix them when they do. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Right now, Colorado Avenue. Four lanes have been three from Limit to 30th since June, for up to a year. Watch the lanes. Your move: fill out the city survey after you've driven it, biked it, or crossed it with a stroller. The avenue went on a diet and nobody asked it. Oct 21 and Oct 26. The community center's neighbor group meets Wednesday the 21st at 4 p.m.; it helps steer what the center at 1628 W Bijou becomes. Monday the 26th, 5:30 p.m.: the 2027 budget's public hearing at 107 N Nevada Ave. Anyone can speak; the council calendar lists the work sessions before it. Your move: pick one and go. The budget reads better with you. Nov 3. Ballots are due by 7 p.m. County 1A would keep the public-safety sales tax going through 2037. D11's 4A is a $775 million school bond, and Coronado is on the list. Your move: vote, and use a drop box if the mail feels slow. There's one at 3141 W Colorado Ave. Seven o'clock does not negotiate. December. The Christkindlmarket comes back to Bancroft Park, bigger. Bancroft is the pupil of the eye, so a bigger market could mean a fuller avenue and fewer spots out front. Your move: go, and walk. The car can stay home. April 6, 2027. The city election: mayor and three council seats. Your move: register or check your registration, and ask every candidate what they would do about the avenue. The avenue will hear about it. April 13. Council hears the appeal on Project Taurus, the 50-megawatt data center proposed at the old Intel plant next to the homes in Chelsea Glen. The Planning Commission approved it 6 to 2 in July with a power cap and noise monitoring; council wants a noise study first, and the hearing falls a week after you vote (Colorado Politics). The developer says it is weighing the partnership, so the date could still move. Your move: read the noise study when it exists, and show up. Read quietly. April to fall 2027. A roundabout replaces the four-way stop at 31st and Fontanero by Howbert Elementary, on the western gateway to the red rocks. Parents asked about the school crossing, and the city says it will work with the school. Your move: if you walk kids there, ask the school what they've been told. Four stops become one circle. Around June 2027. The lane test's year ends, give or take. Nothing we've found says what comes after. Your move: whatever you think of the test, say so before it ends. A year is long enough for an opinion. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The man who wrote down the Westside <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-porch-mcfarland> The man who wrote down the Westside Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The man who wrote down the Westside The Porch desk. Written from the record; the editor's conversations with his family and friends are coming. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. If you ever wondered whether there really were tunnels under Colorado Avenue, Mel McFarland is a big part of why you wondered. I'll tell you what I know. He died September 21, at 81. From 2004 to 2019 he wrote 604 "Cobweb Corners" columns about this neighborhood for the Westside Pioneer. Born here in 1944, a fourth-generation native, taught art and drafting, and wrote books on the Colorado Midland Railway. In 1983 he bought a retired working caboose for his Rockrimmon backyard, and became "the Caboose Guy." Dave Martinek, who started Midland Days at Divide with him in 2009, told the Gazette: "He was the go-to person for anyone who wanted to know about railroad history in the state." His nephew Luc MacArthur called him "kind of a Renaissance man." His sister, Elaine Radney, said: "He had a lot of people who loved him." He wrote it down. Here is some of it. On February 3, 2005, he wrote down the story of John O'Byrne, who in 1888 got two tame elk, Thunder and Buttons, and trained them to pull a tourist carriage. Here is the column. On April 7, 2005, he wrote down the tunnels, the ones that let Colorado Avenue customers reach the Cucharras Street brothels unseen. He had "seen the remains of bits of both" sets of tunnels himself. On November 17, 2011, he wrote down the Glass Works disaster. Just after midnight on September 9, 1892, the furnace top collapsed and fiery glass poured out. Chunks of raw glass still show up now and then in neighborhood yards and rock walls, he wrote. On November 14, 2013, he wrote down the day a Teller County sheriff chained a Pullman sleeper car to the rails over $663.21 in unpaid taxes, and a U.S. marshal freed it two days later. Read it. Here's the thing. The Gazette says he left "file cabinets" of research and writing, and that his family hopes to sift through them, with no concrete plans yet. The next person who asks "was there really a glass plant over here?" gets a shrug. We can't fix that. What we have is an index of all 604 columns, by what each one reports, at westsidewherewithal.com/cobweb. The editor plans to call his sister, Dave Martinek, the Pioneer's editor Kenyon Jordan, and the History Center, and we'll tell you what they say. The question we're taking to them is who keeps the record now. We'd like to be part of the answer, and we'd like yours. Did a column of his stick with you? Tell us which one. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-record-dda> Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper The Record desk. Written from the city's own pages and the news; the Aug 25 minutes are still to be read. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. If you missed the council meeting last month, here is the entry. A downtown development authority, a DDA, is a small district set up by a vote. It is supposed to get its own pot of money to spend on one downtown. In 2024, Old Colorado City voters created one for the avenue. It never got its funding. It was created by a vote and ended by a vote, and the money never turned up in between. On Sept 22, City Council voted 5 to 4 to dissolve it. That's ordinance 26-48. The meeting record has the roll call. That's on paper. Yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams No: Donelson, Gold, Henjum, Leinweber The Gazette reported the first vote, on Aug 25, as the same 5 to 4. That's reported. On Oct 2, KKTV reported that the DDA is weighing legal action, because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. That's reported too. That is the whole ledger so far. Here is what we don't know: The Aug 25 minutes. We have the first vote from the news, not from the minutes. Until we've read them, the date and the count are reported, not checked. Whether a lawsuit is filed. KKTV says the DDA is considering one. We haven't found a filing. That isn't on paper. We'll say so when it is. What the DDA was going to buy. The records we have don't list its plan, so we won't guess. If you voted in 2024, or sat in those rooms, tell us what you were told. Who picks up the avenue's end of things now. Nobody has answered that in anything we've read. That isn't on paper either. We are taking the question to the next meeting. Some of those answers are in a room on a Tuesday morning. You can be in it. City Council meets the second and fourth Tuesdays at 9 a.m., 107 N Nevada Ave, and you can watch from home. You don't have to say a word. Take the one-page sheet, write down what happens, and your name goes on it. The Oct 13 meeting is the next one. If you were at the Aug 25 meeting, or you have the minutes, send them over. Tell me what I got wrong. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Where the asphalt gives up <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-ridge> Where the asphalt gives up Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Where the asphalt gives up The Ridge desk. Written from the city's pages and the groups' own sites; a canyon volunteer reads it before it prints. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Rain or snow, and the trails hold it. Friends of Red Rock Canyon says wait a day or two, because they stay muddy and fragile for 24 to 48 hours. Follow 21st down to Bear Creek, then keep going west. Around 30th and 31st the asphalt gives up. The red sandstone takes over. Red Rock Canyon is the pocket to the south. The city bought it in 2003, after it had been slated for a resort with high-rise towers and a private golf course. The city's open space page lists it among the places TOPS, the sales tax voters passed for open space, made possible. It nearly went the other way. Parking. The 31st Street trailhead has more than the High Street lots. No e-bikes in the open space. This fall. The Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th, runs a free bighorn sheep program with a touch table, Mondays 10 to 10:45 a.m. through Nov 30. Owls of the Garden is Oct 26, 12:30 to 1:30. Tickets from $5, sign up first. Oct 31, 1 to 2 p.m., a talk on why wolves in Colorado. The Garden's calendar has details. What's being decided. The Park System Master Plan goes to City Council next: the city's page lists Oct 12, a Monday work session where they talk but don't vote, and Oct 27, after the parks board heard it Oct 8. White Acres Trail is becoming the Don Ellis Trail. The board approved it Aug 13; it waits on an agreement and an $850 city fee. Fire restrictions: the city's page shows none this week, and we are checking with the fire department. We'll tell you what we hear. The seed rule. Some copies of this paper will carry a strip of Colorado native seed. Yards and community gardens, yes; parks, open space, the creek, the trails and anything that burned, no. The whole rule, and what's in the strip. Groups to join. Friends of Red Rock Canyon keeps up the benches and runs Talk and Walks, resuming soon (no date yet). The Trails and Open Space Coalition takes members and runs the One Bag Challenge cleanups. Friends of Garden of the Gods runs volunteer days. Our promise. Every Monday this desk reads the city's parks pages, and a canyon volunteer reads them with us. If nothing's new, we'll say so. Which trail was muddy this week? Tell me and I'll pass it along. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Who's cooking on the Westside this week <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-table> Who's cooking on the Westside this week Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Who's cooking on the Westside this week The Table desk. Hours are as the churches and pantries post them, checked October 11; we call before they go on the Bulletin Board. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Here's how it works. Somebody on this side of the interstate is feeding somebody nearly every day of the week, mostly out of church basements, and the people at the stoves are neighbors who are very good at it. We went looking for the tables. There are more than we figured. Everything below is what each place says on its own page as of October 11. We haven't called any of them yet, so please do before you go. Hours move, and a wrong one costs somebody a trip. Sunday The Sanctuary Church, 1930 W Colorado Ave, lists its Ragamuffin Cafe hot meal at 9 a.m. Call 719-634-7232. It's the only Sunday hot meal we found over here. If you know another, tell us. Monday Westside CARES, 2808 W Colorado Ave, posts a weekly hot meal from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Call 719-389-0759. Same day, Sacred Heart's pantry is posted noon to 2 p.m. at the Parish Center door, 2030 W Colorado Ave. No voucher. Call 719-633-8711. Tuesday Westside Global Methodist, 701 N 20th St, posts its pantry from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Call 719-633-9295. If you still call it Trinity UMC, that's the same corner with a new name, and the old building on W Pikes Peak is becoming a child care center. Wednesday The Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou St, hosts the CARES pantry from 1 to 3 p.m. Call 719-385-7920. Up the road in Manitou, the pantry at 110 Canon Ave was last reported at 1 to 2 p.m., with a hot meal starting at 12:30 p.m. Call 719-685-9259. St. Andrew's closed as a church in 2025, but the pantry kept going in the parish hall. Hats off to the people who kept it going. Thursday Sacred Heart again, same hours, same door, no voucher. Call 719-633-8711. Know another table? That's six tables, and I'd bet my good parking spot there are more. Churches, clubs, a neighbor with a big pot and a folding table. If your church or group feeds people, text 719-201-5462 or write hello@westsidewherewithal.com with the day and the hour. We'll call, confirm it, and print it, free, in your words. That's what the Bulletin Board is for. It's where every table lives, every week, so nobody has to guess which church has soup on which night. See you at the table. Tell us what we got wrong. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Three picks before Halloween <https://westsidewherewithal.com/weekend-radar> Three picks before Halloween Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Three picks before Halloween The Weekend Radar desk. Every line checked against the organizer's own page. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Two weekends, three picks, and I've already parked for all of them. Read this, then go. Go to the farmers market. Saturday, October 17, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., Bancroft Park, 24th and Colorado. It's the last Saturday of the season, with 80-some vendors, and there is no next Saturday. Go early, because the best of anything goes first. Parking: don't circle the park hoping. Take a side street and walk the last bit. Saturday, October 24 is two things at once. Pick one. First, the coffin races. The Emma Crawford Coffin Races run 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Manitou Springs. Parking: Manitou Avenue closes at 9, so get there before the road shuts and the crowd fills in, and plan to walk in. Second, the pumpkins. Pumpkins in the Park is noon to 6 p.m. on the avenue, free, with a pumpkin patch, painting, costume and carving contests, the ZOOmobile, live music and a beer garden. Parking: the avenue's diagonal spots fill on a festival Saturday, so take a side street and walk in. Don't try to do both in one afternoon. Choose, then start the day with it. The things that are always there. If the festivals are not your speed, or you just need a Thursday: trivia at OCC Brewing every Thursday, 7 to 9 p.m. Storytime at the OCC Library every Friday, 10:30 a.m. Brunch Jam Band at Mother Muff's every Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Free bingo on the 21st, Trunk or Treat on the 25th, Trick or Treat Street on the 31st and First Friday ArtWalk on November 6 are all on the full list, with times. That list lives at westsidewherewithal.com, and it's also the one-sheet on the counters around the avenue. Got something happening that we missed? Send it to hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or text 719-201-5462. We'll check it against your own page and put it in. See you Saturday. I'll be the one who parked early. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in <https://westsidewherewithal.com/year-ahead> Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in The Year Ahead desk. Written from the editor's calendar; no interviews yet. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Picture the fridge calendar. Every Thursday of 2027 is penciled in, and you're coming along. One honest aside: it's plans, all of it. Nothing has been reported yet, and some weeks may not land. Winter first. Week one: The Reset Issue. Quiet workspaces, reading refuges, and I'd be surprised if the Carnegie library stays out. And then we eat through the cold. The quest for the best broth in OCC. A reader poll for the best breakfast burrito west of I-25. A 4 a.m. shift with a Westside baker. Then February: a cocktail lounge audit off Main Street, an Alternative Valentine, pints by the fireplace, and how the vintage and antiques shops survive winter. Spring opens up. Red Rock Canyon hikes, with lunches after. The carriage house makers working out of alleys. St. Patrick week. And then the thaw, when we find out which counters open their windows. The under-$15 lunch circuit. A patio audit covering shade, noise, pints and dogs. Seed swaps. Coffee roasters. A Territory Days survival guide. A First Friday gallery crawl. Spring tap releases. Summer gets loud. Hosting out-of-towners without crossing I-25. The Bancroft Park farmers market, booth by booth. Gelato. Where a line cook eats at midnight. Secret courtyards. Quiet Fourth of July viewpoints. Live music on the bricks, and I'm hoping the bandshell gets a paragraph. You pick the coldest drinks. Then the Pueblo chile arrives. Nightcaps and jukeboxes after 10, and I'd bet Mother Muff's comes up. Then a back-to-school pantry run, Uintah Gardens an obvious stop. Fall, the leg I'm saving. The annual pizza index: Slice 420 against Rustica against Leopold's, and we'll need lots of you to settle it. Golden aspens. Autumn ciders. A locals' guide for after the tourists leave. Ghost signs, spooky lore, wood-fired and cast iron cooking (Front Range BBQ, you're on my mind). Thanksgiving hosting. Best of the Westside nominations. Small Business Saturday. And then a Black Friday antidote at Section 16 and Bear Creek. December: a 100% Westside gift guide, a winter lights walk, the Best of the Westside winners, the solstice and quiet patios, and a last issue called Looking Ahead. Every week also carries a civic item and an oral history. A 40-year diner regular. A couple who met at Bancroft in 1988. A chile roaster of 25 seasons. A dishwasher who worked 300 shifts. A high school senior looking at the Westside's future. Tell me which month I got wrong, or which place I forgot. The pencil's by the fridge, and I'll see you the first Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? <https://westsidewherewithal.com/issues/2026-10-11-issue-0> Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? 2026-10-11 In this issue Can't we just inform each other? The leaves are changing Divide anything but our bread What it's all for We choose this Can't we just inform each other? Nobody's telling us what's happening around here unless you find some corporate website that tracks you and tries to make you pay just to find out what's going on outside your door. What a drag. Can't we just inform each other, and have fun building and being in community? The leaves are changing The leaves are changing and falling, and the streets are graced with people from all walks of life. The days are growing shorter, and fall will give way to snow in a few weeks. Before we know it Santa will be at the cabin in Bancroft Park and the Christkindlmarket will be back. Divide anything but our bread I want people to see and hear themselves in our work. I want the people in this community to remember that we're in this together and that what we print is made to remind us of that. We are not here to divide anything but our bread for others, to love our neighbors, and practice mercy and kindness. What it's all for I get nervous that people's fear clouds not only their judgment but their hearts. I can be a skeptic, and quite cynical at times. I wonder what it's all for and why I'm doing this. But in the end, if one person reads our words and connects with them even a little, and it gives them a spark or the belief that they are loved, I will have done my work. We choose this I hope people are excited to see what we're up to. I hope they want to be a part of it, and that by gathering and presenting our values, beliefs and customs together, we can cherish them and let new things in while the old fades. I want Thursday to remind us that we choose this. Jeff What we told you Can't we just inform each other? The leaves are changing Divide anything but our bread What it's all for We choose this The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The archive <https://westsidewherewithal.com/issues/index> The archive Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The archive Every issue, oldest at the bottom. Free to read. If you want to chip in, the jar is on the front page. Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? 2026-10-11 The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The Westside Wherewithal <https://westsidewherewithal.com/> The Westside Wherewithal Skip to the paper We start for real in January. Sign up and the first one lands on a Thursday morning. Thursday mornings · FreeFrom your neighbors ## The Westside WherewithalBecause living west of takes a little wherewithal. Colorado Springs, Colorado A free paper for the Westside of Colorado Springs, written by the people who live here. Thursday mornings, starting January. ## Get it Thursday morning One email a week, free. Put your address in and we'll see you Thursday. Sign me up ## What the city is deciding ## About your street, before it's done You can still weigh in Open nowColorado Avenue lane test. Four lanes to three from Limit Street to 30th Street (the city's page; the Gazette says 31st), for up to a year from June 2026, paid for with $375K from the regional road tax (PPRTA, the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority). The city survey is open.The city's own page: City project page · The surveyIn the news: Gazette, lane test # Oct 26, 2026The city's 2027 budget. Public hearing Monday Oct 26, 5:30 p.m., Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada Ave. Anyone can speak. The council talks it over at work sessions first (Oct 15 is one). What's in it for the Westside, we're reading now.Changed since 2026-10-11The city's own page: the council calendar (Legistar) # Coming up Oct 21, 2026The community center's neighbor group (the Westside Community Center Alliance) meets Wednesday Oct 21, 4 p.m. It helps steer what the center at 1628 W Bijou becomes. Whether anyone can sit in, we're asking.The city's own page: city page, community centerStill looking for: the Alliance's own notice and the Parks Advisory Board's May minutesIn the news: Gazette, the Alliance # Apr 2027Roundabout at 31st and Fontanero, by Howbert Elementary, replacing the four-way stop. The open house was Sept 15. Construction April to fall 2027. Parents asked about the school crossing; the city says it will work with the school. The crossing drawing and the open-house boards are the documents we're after.In the news: KKTV, the roundabout # Apr 13, 2027Project Taurus. A 50-megawatt data center proposed at the old Intel plant, next to the homes in Chelsea Glen. The Planning Commission approved it 6 to 2 in July with a power cap and noise monitoring. Council put the appeal off 7 to 2 to April 13, a week after the city election, and wants a noise study and a study of what big power users pay first. The developer told Colorado Politics on Sept 18 it is weighing whether this is the right partnership.Still looking for: the noise studyIn the news: CPR, hearing date · Colorado Politics, the postponement · KKTV, the appeal # Already decided Sept 22, 2026Old Colorado City's downtown development authority (DDA) shut down. The tax district voters created in 2024 never got its funding. Council voted 5 to 4 on Sept 22 to dissolve it, ordinance 26-48 (yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams; no: Donelson, Gold, Henjum, Leinweber), after the same 5 to 4 on first reading Aug 25. KKTV reported Oct 2 that the DDA is weighing legal action because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. Who picks up the avenue's end of things is an open question.The city's own page: meeting record (Open Publica)Still looking for: the ordinance text itself, and the Aug 25 minutesIn the news: Gazette, the first vote · KKTV, the lawsuit threat # Coming up Every weekThe land. Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, the Garden, Bear Creek, the creek itself: fire restrictions, trail closures, anything the parks board decides. Nothing new on the city's pages this week; we look every Monday, and a canyon volunteer is looking with us.The city's own page: city parks, trails and open space # Already decided Since Apr 2023Greater Westside Community Plan. Nine neighborhoods, one plan: Gold Hill, Ivywild, Mesa, Mesa Springs, Midland, Old Colorado City, Skyway, Stratton Meadows, Westside. (The city's plan reaches past the interstate; this paper stays west of it.) The city's page lists six meetings, the last in April 2023, plus a 2022 survey and a 'Big Ideas' summary. What came next is the question we're taking to Planning, and to the neighbors who sat in those rooms.Changed since 2026-10-11The city's own page: city page, the plan # Checked October 11. Each one links to the city's own page where we found it. Where it says "still looking," we haven't found it yet (city websites, you know how it goes). If you've got it, send it over. Want to be the person in the room? Go to one meeting, write down what happened on this one-page sheet, and your name goes on it. A City Council Tuesday is the easy first one; you can watch it live or later from the couch. ## Vote ## Ballots are in the mail. Here's the Westside part. By Oct 26Register, or check that you're registered, at GoVoteColorado.gov. Moved since last time? Update it there too. After Oct 26 you can still register and vote in person, through Election Day.The city's own page: GoVoteColorado.gov # Till Nov 3, 7 p.m.Drop boxes west of I-25, open day and night: Red Rock Canyon shopping center, 3141 W Colorado Ave; Bear Creek Regional Park, 2002 Creek Crossing St; the clerk's office, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd; Manitou City Hall, 606 Manitou Ave. Mailing it? The county says by Oct 27. It has to arrive by 7 p.m. on Election Day; a postmark doesn't count.The city's own page: the county's list of boxes · El Paso County elections # On the ballotThe local ones: County 1A keeps the public-safety sales tax going through 2037. D11 4A is a $775 million school bond (Coronado is on the list). Then fourteen statewide questions; the state's Blue Book explains each one in plain words, for and against.The city's own page: the county's local questions · the Blue Book # Apr 6, 2027The city election: mayor and three council seats. Same registration, same website. We'll print the candidates and where they stand on the Westside.The city's own page: city election page # We don't tell you how to vote. We'd love for you to. If the Blue Book is a brick, if you can't get to a box, if you're not sure you're registered, call or text 719-201-5462 and a neighbor helps. The county pays election judges and trains them; sign up here if you've got a day. ## The next two weeks ## Oct 11 to Nov 8, checked against the calendars The market's last Saturday, Pumpkins in the Park, free bingo at the community center, the cemetery tour, the coffin races, and the same seven things every week. Every weekMon Boom Box Bingo, 7 to 11 p.m. (Mother Muff's)Tue Math tutoring, 4 to 5:30 p.m. (OCC Library)Wed Toddler Time, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Wed Open mic, 6 to 9 p.m. (Jives Coffee Lounge, 16 Colbrunn Ct)Thu Trivia, 7 to 9 p.m. (OCC Brewing)Fri Storytime, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Sat Paws to Read, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Sun Brunch Jam Band, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Mother Muff's) Sun Oct 11 all month Scarecrow Days: the storefront scarecrows, with a public vote, through Oct 31 the avenue Mon Oct 12 all day Westside CARES closed for Indigenous Peoples' Day 2808 W Colorado Tue Oct 13 9 a.m. City Council regular meeting (agenda on Legistar) 107 N Nevada Ave 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Small Steps, Giant Leaps, Space Foundation program for ages 2 to 6 Westside Community Center Wed Oct 14 9 a.m. City Planning Commission 2880 International Circle 5:30 to 7 p.m. Evening pickleball: donate a bag of candy to play, paddles limited Westside Community Center Thu Oct 15 7:30 a.m. Coffee with the principal Coronado High, Future Center 2 to 4 p.m. Classic board games free OCC Library 5 p.m. Mushroom Zombie Haunted House opens, through Oct 31 Mush Love Tee, the shirt shop, 2627 W Colorado Fri Oct 16 all day No school at Coronado: parent-teacher conferences, 9 to 3 in the gym Coronado High 5 to 6 p.m. Bingo at the Biscuit The Biscuit Factory Cat Lounge, 12 S 25th Sat Oct 17 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Farmers market, last Saturday of the season, 80-some vendors Bancroft Park 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Craft and art market, final Saturday History Center, 1 S 24th Sun Oct 18 evening Legends and Lore of Fairview Cemetery, a two-hour guided tour; tickets online, kids 12 and under free Fairview Cemetery, 1000 S 26th Mon Oct 19 all week Fall break at Coronado, Oct 19 to 22, no school Coronado High Wed Oct 21 4 p.m. Westside Community Center Alliance meeting Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou 5:30 to 7 p.m. Howdy Neighbor prize bingo, doors at 5, all ages, no sign-up free Westside Community Center Thu Oct 22 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Book group free OCC Library Sat Oct 24 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Emma Crawford Coffin Races, the 32nd; Manitou Avenue closes at 9 Manitou Springs noon to 6 p.m. Pumpkins in the Park: pumpkin patch, painting, face painters, costume and carving contests, the ZOOmobile, live music, a beer garden free the avenue Sun Oct 25 1 to 4 p.m. Trunk or Treat in the parking lot, and Animals of Halloween inside, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. free Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th Mon Oct 26 10 to 10:45 a.m. Bighorn sheep, an indoor program with a touch table; Mondays through Nov 30 free Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Owls of the Garden: take an owl pellet apart; $5, sign up first Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 5:30 p.m. City budget public hearing, the 2027 budget; anyone can speak Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada Ave Tue Oct 27 all day Stroll-a-Story: a storybook walk, page by page, around the library OCC Library, 2418 W Pikes Peak Thu Oct 29 7:30 to 8:45 p.m. Haunted Manitou ghost tour, $25; also Oct 30 and 31 Memorial Park, Manitou Springs Fri Oct 30 5:30 p.m. Ghost Stories of Old Manitou, a walking tour from the museum Manitou Springs Heritage Museum Sat Oct 31 1 to 2 p.m. Why wolves in Colorado, a talk Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 2 to 4:30 p.m. Trick or Treat Street: costumed kids 1 to 6, shop to shop; look for the orange and yellow balloons the avenue, 23rd to 28th 6 p.m. Manitou Phantasmagoria Shoshone Spring courtyard, Manitou Springs evening Mushroom Zombie Haunted House, last night Mush Love Tee, the shirt shop, 2627 W Colorado Tue Nov 3 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Election Day. Ballots due by 7 p.m. at a drop box; register and vote in person at the clerk's office, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd, or Manitou City Hall El Paso County Fri Nov 6 5 to 8 p.m. First Friday ArtWalk: galleries, studios and shops open late along the avenue free the avenue, 17th to 31st Sun Nov 8 11 a.m. Altitude Makers market and farmers market free Soda Springs Park, Manitou Springs Every line above came off a calendar we can link, checked October 11. The strip up top happens every week; the list is the one-time stuff. The avenue is West Colorado Avenue; OCC is Old Colorado City; D11 is the school district. If we got a time wrong, tell us and we'll fix it in the next issue. Red Rock Canyon, the churches and the school sports pages had nothing dated for these two weeks; if you know of something, send it. Where that came from: Old Colorado City events calendar · Old Colorado City Library · Westside Community Center · History Center events · Garden of the Gods calendar ## The Bulletin Board ## Suppers, pantries, services, weddings, and the ones we lost If you need something this week, start here. Free, in your words, from you or your church or your family. Food, rent and utility help: Westside CARES, 2808 W Colorado Ave, 719-389-0759. Open Monday to Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. They prefer you walk in. Closed when the schools close for weather. Serves everyone west of I-25. Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou St, 719-385-7920. Open Monday and Friday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Tuesday to Thursday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. A corkboard, not a story. Church suppers, pantry hours, services, weddings, and the ones we lost: free, in your words, from you or your church or your family. We call to check the hours before they run. Send it by Tuesday to hello@westsidewherewithal.com, by text to 719-201-5462, by mail to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, or in the box on the front page. Where that came from: Westside CARES hours · Community center hours (city page) ## The Listening Room ## Once a month. You pick where and when. Coffee with the editor, no agenda, no sign-up. The hour and the place are a vote; the winner runs in issue 1. The Listening Room isn't an office. It's one hour a month wherever we sit down, and I'd rather you picked it than me. Vote below, or write in your own. I live over here, about twenty years now, and the office on the avenue is the paper's address; it says one thing: I'm here. I'm with you. Where and when Saturday morning, the bench by the bandshell in Bancroft Park Tuesday evening, a coffee counter on the avenue Sunday afternoon, the library (once they say yes) A weeknight on Zoom, for people who work days Cast it ## The Address Book ## What was in this storefront in 1968? One storefront, one photo, what was inside. One building per issue: a photo, the address, and whoever remembers fills in the rest. The first photo is coming; if you have one, send it in below. ## Write something ## Send it in The shop that closed, the thing the city's about to do on your street, the neighbor everybody should know. Photos and drawings count, with your name on them. Send it however you like: the box below, hello@westsidewherewithal.com, a call or a text to 719-201-5462, or mail it to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs 80904. (Mail only; nobody is at the door.) We write back. Rather talk than type? Call or text 719-201-5462 and tell me out loud; I'll write it down and you hear it read back before it runs. Under 18? Send it anyway; we'll check with you or a parent before it runs. Teachers, send the whole class. Photos come by email. En español: mándenos un texto al 719-201-5462 o escríbanos a hello@westsidewherewithal.com, en español: su cena, su misa, su aviso. No lo hablo de nacimiento; lo traducimos con un vecino y se lo leemos antes de publicar. Any other language: send it anyway, and we'll find a neighbor to translate. Want a desk? The pages signed by a desk are open; here's how to take one. Got a counter, or a box on your fence? Say so and we'll bring a stack, free, and swap the stale ones. How we do things, if you're curious. Put me down for a stack, for my counter or my library box Send it in ## The jar It's free. If a Thursday was worth something to you, throw a few bucks in the jar; it pays for the email and the printing. A check by mail to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122 works too. Pay what you want Inside: What the city is deciding · The next two weeks · On the avenue · From the desks · The next 100 years · Frontier wherewithal · Around the avenue · What came before us ## On the avenue ## I never stepped inside Base Camp, 2611 W Colorado, closed October 4, and I never ate there. Tell me the place you'd go back to. Jeff Adkins Base Camp closed on October 4. I thought it looked cool, but the menu never appealed to me in the moment, and it's hard to take me away from the dozen places I adore already. I never stepped inside. That's on me, and I'm not alone. Empty storefronts are not what we want here. What keeps a place open is anyone and everyone who can afford to spend local dollars in it, and I am going to try hard to keep mixing it up. If you're thinking about working and making a living here, I wish I could appeal to you directly: we need you. Old Colorado City (OCC from here on) is a tourist destination, for locals and for travelers. I know this. I gladly give up my street parking for events because I know we need them. If I want OCC Brewing to be here 365 days a year, I need them to sustain themselves. That means me not griping about the traffic or the parking over here. Not everyone can afford to eat out or shop on the avenue. I understand that; I don't feel obligated to, and neither should you. I'm fortunate that I can budget for a meal out, and I try to go during the week, when places are less busy and could frankly use the business. So I can't complain about Base Camp closing if I didn't eat there, and I can't blame not eating there on the parking. Tell me the place you'd go back to. What we know: Base Camp, 2611 W Colorado Ave, opened March 2025 and closed October 4; the owner cited costs and the economy. Mountain Shadows, the restaurant four blocks east, closed December 2024 and sold in January. Where that came from: Gazette, Oct 2, 2026 · Gazette, Jan 20, 2025 · OCC Brewing ## From the desks ## Ten desks, one neighborhood Celebrating, remembering, forecasting. Each desk is open; a neighbor's name goes on it the day they take it. The Wherewithal desks Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in · the 52 Thursdays of 2027, as a walk through the seasons The man who wrote down the Westside · 604 columns, the elk, the tunnels, and who keeps the record now Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper · the vote, the names, what's still unknown, and how to be in the room See that building? Look again · five storefronts and what they were, from the columns and the 1902 map Where the asphalt gives up · Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, Bear Creek; this fall, and the seed rule The elk who pulled a carriage · for kids: three things to find on the walk to school, and a dare Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad · la mesa en español: ayuda, el voto, cómo escribirnos Who's cooking on the Westside this week · six tables, as their own pages say it; we call before it prints Three picks before Halloween · the market's last Saturday, the coffin races, pumpkins in the park, and where to park The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead · every date headed for your street, and the door into each one Every desk is written from the record we hold and says so at the top. None of it is an interview yet; those are coming. Every one is open: what each desk takes, and how to take one. One text, one coffee. ## The next 100 years ## Four lanes to three, for a year Four lanes to three, Limit to 30th, for a year. The city survey is open. One driver's take below; if yours differs, next issue's yours. Jeff Adkins 1902 · Sanborn fire insurance map, sheet 2, Colorado Avenue · Library of Congress, public domain 2027 · lane drawing · city of Colorado Springs, Colorado Avenue demonstration, phase two What we know: four lanes to three from Limit to 30th by the city's page (the Gazette says 31st), since June 2026, for up to a year; the city calls it the Colorado Avenue Demonstration Project; $375K of county transportation tax (PPRTA) money. The Gazette counts about 30 parking spaces added, metered; the city's page says parking changes are expected to be minimal. We've asked the project team which it is. A second phase in 2027 makes some of it permanent and redoes three blocks of streetscape (Gazette); permanent reconstruction is penciled for 2027 or 2028 (Bike Colorado Springs). The city survey is open. One driver's take, mine (and my office is on the avenue, at 2320): it's great to see so much more attention being paid to pedestrians, and it doesn't slow me down at all. I haven't timed it; if you have, send the numbers. It may add parking, metered; the city and the Gazette disagree on how much (see the record), and nobody has said yet where someone who lives over a shop parks overnight. The city is taking comments until the concrete goes down. If you drive it, bike it, or cross it with a stroller, say so. If you hate it, this space is yours next issue, same length, your name on it. What do I want to still be here in 2126? Westsiders. Hyper local, no corporate nonsense, and room for whoever shows up to stay. Where that came from: Sanborn 1902 (LoC) · City project page · The city survey · Gazette, May 20, 2026 · Bike Colorado Springs ## Frontier wherewithal ## Load up for winter, survive the summer Not just another old west town. Two tame elk, tunnels under the avenue, four to six weeks a year you'd rather be in the water. Jeff Adkins If you're new here you might think this is just another old west town. If you're passing through, maybe we should let you believe it. Our summers are dry and shorter than most, with heat that stops, starts, and lingers. I'd say we have about four to six weeks a year where you'd want to be holed up in the cabin or in the water, which can be tricky to find. We need to know how to load up for winter, survive the summer, and not die of dehydration. And like every place with lore, we have a guy who trained two tame elk, Thunder and Buttons, to pull a carriage, plus tunnels and brothels and churches, oh my. We love it here. What we know: Thunder and Buttons were elk; Prairie Dog O'Byrne drove them hitched to a carriage on this avenue in the late 1880s. The tunnels under the avenue are documented by the historical society, with the honest caveat that some of it may be something else. Colorado City voted itself dry in 1913. Where that came from: Westside Pioneer, 2006 · Cobweb Corners, 2005 · Gazette, July 2021, the tunnels · Thunder and Buttons II ## Around the avenue ## Getting to know them is the point I don't know everyone yet. Getting to know them is the point. Jeff Adkins What we know so far: Who's opening and who's moving: we've heard about three and have an address for none, so none are named yet. Send the name and the block. The Old Colorado City Historical Society runs a free museum at 1 South 24th, a block off the avenue. Tuesday through Saturday, 11 to 4 in summer and 11 to 2 in winter. Call before you drive. The free Tuesday concerts at the Bancroft Park bandshell ran June 2 through September 29 this year, 5:30, Dizzy Charlie's and the Pikes Peak Blues Community. Next summer's lineup runs here the week it's announced. First Friday art walk, 5 to 8, galleries and studios along the avenue. Next one is November 6. The Customs and Classics car show closes the avenue from 23rd to 27th one Sunday every August. If the one you went to was a different show this fall, tell us which. This is the stuff I get to see everyone else doing. I enjoy seeing them do it. It doesn't matter to me if I don't know anyone in the room, because getting to know them is the point of this life. And that's what I'm here to capture in this paper. I shouldn't pretend to know things I don't. Where that came from: OCC History Center · Tuesday concerts (Springs Magazine) · First Friday (OCC calendar) · The car show (Pioneer, 2018) ## What came before us ## I want it all Mel McFarland died in September; I indexed the 604 columns I found. Eight digs, from the capital that got away to the forgotten cemetery. Jeff Adkins Start here: Mel McFarland, who wrote the Westside's past in the Pioneer for fifteen years, died in September at 81. Most of what is below comes from his columns. I found 604 and indexed every one I found; the one-line summaries there are software drafts, not yet checked one by one. Who keeps the record now is a question this paper exists to answer. I want the best stories from Old Colorado City. I want to dig down and find the most awesome stuff we can publish: how people first lived here, how it went from zero to what it is today, funny things, shootouts, jail time for crimes that make us laugh and cry, mysteries and murders. I want it all. What did we used to do and stop? What was, but isn't? What could have been, but never was? The digs I can't do alone: your church, your family, your block. Send them. What we found first: The capital that got away. Colorado City was founded in August 1859 to outfit gold seekers, was the county seat by 1861, and held the territorial capital just long enough to lose it to Denver. One account says the town was deemed too rowdy. Zero to four thousand. Mel has the town past 2,000 by 1890; the 1892 fire-insurance map (the Sanborn) writes 2,000 on its own cover, and the 1902 sheet writes 4,000. The town voted itself dry in 1913, lost the saloon money, and voted to be annexed by Colorado Springs in April 1917. Four saloons to twenty-seven. By the Pioneer's 2009 count (a feature, not one of Mel's columns): four in 1884, twenty-three by 1888, twenty-seven in 1902 plus thirty-some gambling halls, on a main street that also had the churches. Laura Bell McDaniel. From the Pioneer's 2011 profile, not the index: queen of the tenderloin; her last house was the Tribley House in the 2600 block of West Cucharras. She married Tom McDaniel in April 1887 in Salida; a month later he shot a man five times while she watched, and was acquitted. She divorced him in 1893. Accused in November 1917 of stealing liquor and acquitted; the historian who wrote her up thinks it was a set-up. Died in a car crash in January 1918. The elk were O'Byrne's by Mel's column (bought in Aspen in 1888); a 2006 Pioneer piece has her riding beside him in the carriage. The Glass Works. Full production in 1889 with 200 men on the south edge of town, bottling Manitou water. The furnace top collapsed just after midnight on September 9, 1892. Wheeler promised to rebuild; the Silver Panic of 1893 and the lost customers finished it. One of Mel's columns says it closed in 1895, another says by 1900; one puts a fire in 1893 as well. The Midland shops. The Colorado Midland started here in 1886 and quit in 1918; the Midland Terminal ran the line to Divide until it was scrapped in 1949. Hundreds of men in the shops at the peak, under a hundred by 1925, about fifty by 1948; the office burned in 1953. The fourteen-stall roundhouse is the one that lived: Van Briggle pottery, then the shops you walk through now. The mills. The Colorado-Philadelphia came first, in 1894 by one of Mel's columns and about 1897 by another, near 31st and U.S. 24. Golden Cycle took over the Telluride mill in 1906, rebuilt it with cyanide after a 1907 fire, and ran it until 1949; the smokestack is still there. The forgotten cemetery. Colorado City's Pioneer cemetery, on the mesa, used from about 1860 to 1917. Not every burial was moved; the stones came out in the 1940s and it became Pioneer Park in the 1950s. Graves were mapped with metal detectors in the 1970s, a project Mel joined, and a cast-iron coffin may still be there. Who is in it is still the question. Where that came from: Why the fuss? (Pioneer) · Laura Bell McDaniel (Pioneer, 2011) · Thunder and Buttons (Cobweb Corners, 2005) · The Glass Works, 200 men (Cobweb Corners, 2011) · The Glass Works fire (Cobweb Corners, 2011) · The Glass Works closed 1895 (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The Midland, 1886 to 1918 (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The Midland shops decline (Cobweb Corners, 2009) · The roundhouse (Cobweb Corners, 2007) · The mills (Cobweb Corners, 2013) · Golden Cycle closes, 1949 (Cobweb Corners, 2006) · The capital, the county seat (Cobweb Corners, 2009) · The forgotten cemetery (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The forgotten cemetery (Cobweb Corners, 2017) · Mel McFarland, 1944 to 2026 (Gazette) · Every Cobweb Corners column, indexed · Colorado City Iris, digitized (CHNC) If something here is wrong, reply to the email or send it in below. Corrections run at the top of the next issue. Behind the masthead: Sanborn fire insurance map of Colorado City, November 1902, sheet 1. Library of Congress, public domain. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad <https://westsidewherewithal.com/la-vecina> Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad La Vecina, la mesa en español. Traducción nuestra; buscamos a un vecino o vecina que la tome y firme aquí. Vecina, vecino: Le escribo con las hojas ya cambiando de color y las tardes más cortas. Aquí entre nosotros, quería contarle lo que sé. Si usted vive al oeste de la I-25, este periódico es para usted. Se llama The Westside Wherewithal, sale cada semana y es gratis. Lo escribimos entre vecinos: lo que abre, lo que cierra, lo que se vota, lo que llega al parque. Y queremos saber de usted. Cuéntenos lo que ve en su cuadra, en su iglesia, en su trabajo, y hágalo en español, en sus propias palabras. Si esta semana necesita una mano, vaya a Westside CARES, en 2808 W Colorado Ave. Abren de lunes a jueves, de 9:30 a.m. a 12:30 p.m., y no hace falta cita. Atienden a todos los que viven al oeste de la I-25. Llame al 719-389-0759. También tiene el Westside Community Center, en 1628 W Bijou St, teléfono 719-385-7920. Abre lunes y viernes, de 9 a.m. a 3 p.m., y de martes a jueves, de 9 a.m. a 7 p.m. Ahora el voto, en claro. Hasta el 26 de octubre puede registrarse, o revisar si ya está registrado, en GoVoteColorado.gov. Pasada esa fecha, todavía puede hacerlo en persona, hasta el día de la elección. Y para dejar su boleta, las urnas están abiertas hasta las 7 p.m. del 3 de noviembre en cuatro lugares: el centro comercial Red Rock Canyon, 3141 W Colorado Ave; Bear Creek Regional Park, 2002 Creek Crossing St; la oficina del secretario del condado, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd; y el ayuntamiento de Manitou, 606 Manitou Ave. Aquí no le decimos cómo votar. Solo le decimos dónde y cuándo. En diciembre el Christkindlmarket vuelve a Bancroft Park. Cuando tengamos los días, se los pasamos aquí. Si quiere escribirnos, mande un texto al 719-201-5462 o un correo a hello@westsidewherewithal.com, en español. El editor no habla español de cuna. Traduce con un vecino y lo vuelve a leer con él antes de que algo se imprima. También tenemos una hoja en español en westsidewherewithal.com/sheet-es. Y una cosa honesta: esta página es traducción nuestra. Buscamos a un vecino o vecina que hable español para que tome esta mesa y firme aquí con su nombre. Hasta la próxima semana, vecino. Un abrazo, La Vecina The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The print pack <https://westsidewherewithal.com/print> The print pack Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The print pack Everything to print this week, how many, and where it goes. Any copy shop; a home printer works for the one-sheets. What to print PrintFileHowCopies The one-sheetsheet.pdfLetter, one side (two sides if you want the puzzle back: sheet-back.pdf)20 Large printsheet-large.pdfLetter, two sides5 La hoja (Spanish)sheet-es.pdfLetter, one side10 The box editionzine-box.pdfLetter, landscape, two sheets, two-sided, flip on the short edge; nest sheet 2 inside sheet 1, fold once; no staples20 Every print says "good till Oct 25" or has no dates. A stale stack gets swapped; call and we bring more. Where it goes PlaceWhatHow many The gas station at 31stone-sheet5 The hardware storeone-sheet5 A diner on the avenueone-sheet, and ask about a tray5 The OCC History Center, 1 S 24thone-sheet5 The office mailbox stays closed; keep five of each in the car for the next counter that asksone-sheet, box edition5 and 5 The grocery at 31stla hoja10 The senior table at the community center, 1628 W Bijoularge print5 The little free library at the old Carnegie building, 701 Manitou Avebox edition8 The Head Start box, 2330 Robinson Stbox edition7 The ask at a counter, two sentences: "It's a free weekly paper for the Westside, written by neighbors, nothing for you to pay and nothing to sell. Can it sit here, and can I refill it on Thursdays?" Say yes to any condition they add. What to watch Count what's left after a week. Note any call or text to 719-201-5462 and any word find or quiz score that comes in. That's the first real test; everything before it was rehearsal. The reader inbox was empty on October 11. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Plant this (when it exists) <https://westsidewherewithal.com/seeds> Plant this (when it exists) Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Plant this (when it exists) There are no seed strips yet. This is the plan, written down before the first one so nobody has to guess. Some copies of the zine will carry a small sealed strip of seed paper. Plant it in your own yard, a friend's yard with their yes, a community garden, or a school bed with the principal's okay. Not in a park, not in open space, not in Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, the Garden of the Gods or Bear Creek, not along the creek or a trail, and never after a fire. Those places get seeded by the people who manage them, with seed matched to the ground, and a stranger's strip does more harm than good there. What's in it: Colorado natives from a Colorado grower (Western Native Seed, in Coaldale): Lewis blue flax, Rocky Mountain penstemon, blanketflower, prairie coneflower. Nothing from the state's noxious weed list, which is where the cheap "wildflower mixes" go wrong. Plant in fall; the penstemon wants a winter in the ground. Plant it, take a picture when something comes up, send it in. The best ones run in the paper with your name on them. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Take a desk <https://westsidewherewithal.com/take-a-desk> Take a desk Moved to /desks. --- # Thank you <https://westsidewherewithal.com/thanks> Thank you Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Thank you That's the whole transaction. No tier, no badge, no extra issue. The paper keeps going, and your name goes on the once-a-year list of people who chipped in, alphabetical, no amounts, unless you'd rather it didn't. Reply to any issue to say so. See you Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The elk who pulled a carriage <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-box> The elk who pulled a carriage Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The elk who pulled a carriage The Box desk, for kids and whoever is with them. When a neighbor (or a kid) takes this desk, their name goes here. Okay. You're the boss today. Walk to school, but make it a hunt. Find three things. One: a little free library. It's a box on a post full of books, and you can take one. We know of 27 of them west of I-25. Two you can visit: the one at the old Carnegie library building, 701 Manitou Ave, and the one at the Head Start, 2330 Robinson St. Two: the red rocks at the end of the street. Stop and look. Three: one leaf. Pick the best one on the block. Keep it. It's a bookmark now. Okay. Now the elk. In 1888, a man named John O'Byrne got two tame elk from a judge in Aspen. He trained them to pull his tourist carriage down this very avenue. Their names were Thunder and Buttons. Yes, elk. Yes, a carriage. Eventually a movie company bought them and took them to Alaska to film advertisements. Thunder and Buttons were in commercials. (Also true.) (Bonus, also true: in 1880 a train crew calmed a cold, panicking circus elephant at Colorado Springs with a keg of beer. Aunt's honor.) Ask a grown-up. Point at any building on your walk and ask: "What was here before?" Then listen. Your move, boss. This fall: Halloween, Oct 31, 2 to 4:30 p.m.: Trick or Treat Street on the avenue, 23rd to 28th. Costumed kids 1 to 6. Look for the orange and yellow balloons. Bring a little cousin. Mondays, 10 a.m.: the bighorn sheep program at the Garden of the Gods Visitor Center. December: the Christkindlmarket comes back to Bancroft Park, bigger than last year, with Santa at the cabin. Bonus level: the paper in the box has games. A word find whose leftover letters spell a message. A five-question quiz with the answers printed upside down. And a map to draw on: it's the 1902 map of Colorado City, when the town had 4,000 people. You can see it at westsidewherewithal.com/zine-box, page 6. The dare. Draw Thunder and Buttons pulling the carriage. Go big. Give the tourists faces. Then put it in the little free library box, or send it to hello@westsidewherewithal.com with your first name. We print the best ones. See you on the avenue. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-next-hundred> The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead The Next Hundred desk. Written from the city's own pages and the ballot; dates change, and we fix them when they do. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Right now, Colorado Avenue. Four lanes have been three from Limit to 30th since June, for up to a year. Watch the lanes. Your move: fill out the city survey after you've driven it, biked it, or crossed it with a stroller. The avenue went on a diet and nobody asked it. Oct 21 and Oct 26. The community center's neighbor group meets Wednesday the 21st at 4 p.m.; it helps steer what the center at 1628 W Bijou becomes. Monday the 26th, 5:30 p.m.: the 2027 budget's public hearing at 107 N Nevada Ave. Anyone can speak; the council calendar lists the work sessions before it. Your move: pick one and go. The budget reads better with you. Nov 3. Ballots are due by 7 p.m. County 1A would keep the public-safety sales tax going through 2037. D11's 4A is a $775 million school bond, and Coronado is on the list. Your move: vote, and use a drop box if the mail feels slow. There's one at 3141 W Colorado Ave. Seven o'clock does not negotiate. December. The Christkindlmarket comes back to Bancroft Park, bigger. Bancroft is the pupil of the eye, so a bigger market could mean a fuller avenue and fewer spots out front. Your move: go, and walk. The car can stay home. April 6, 2027. The city election: mayor and three council seats. Your move: register or check your registration, and ask every candidate what they would do about the avenue. The avenue will hear about it. April 13. Council hears the appeal on Project Taurus, the 50-megawatt data center proposed at the old Intel plant next to the homes in Chelsea Glen. The Planning Commission approved it 6 to 2 in July with a power cap and noise monitoring; council wants a noise study first, and the hearing falls a week after you vote (Colorado Politics). The developer says it is weighing the partnership, so the date could still move. Your move: read the noise study when it exists, and show up. Read quietly. April to fall 2027. A roundabout replaces the four-way stop at 31st and Fontanero by Howbert Elementary, on the western gateway to the red rocks. Parents asked about the school crossing, and the city says it will work with the school. Your move: if you walk kids there, ask the school what they've been told. Four stops become one circle. Around June 2027. The lane test's year ends, give or take. Nothing we've found says what comes after. Your move: whatever you think of the test, say so before it ends. A year is long enough for an opinion. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The man who wrote down the Westside <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-porch-mcfarland> The man who wrote down the Westside Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The man who wrote down the Westside The Porch desk. Written from the record; the editor's conversations with his family and friends are coming. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. If you ever wondered whether there really were tunnels under Colorado Avenue, Mel McFarland is a big part of why you wondered. I'll tell you what I know. He died September 21, at 81. From 2004 to 2019 he wrote 604 "Cobweb Corners" columns about this neighborhood for the Westside Pioneer. Born here in 1944, a fourth-generation native, taught art and drafting, and wrote books on the Colorado Midland Railway. In 1983 he bought a retired working caboose for his Rockrimmon backyard, and became "the Caboose Guy." Dave Martinek, who started Midland Days at Divide with him in 2009, told the Gazette: "He was the go-to person for anyone who wanted to know about railroad history in the state." His nephew Luc MacArthur called him "kind of a Renaissance man." His sister, Elaine Radney, said: "He had a lot of people who loved him." He wrote it down. Here is some of it. On February 3, 2005, he wrote down the story of John O'Byrne, who in 1888 got two tame elk, Thunder and Buttons, and trained them to pull a tourist carriage. Here is the column. On April 7, 2005, he wrote down the tunnels, the ones that let Colorado Avenue customers reach the Cucharras Street brothels unseen. He had "seen the remains of bits of both" sets of tunnels himself. On November 17, 2011, he wrote down the Glass Works disaster. Just after midnight on September 9, 1892, the furnace top collapsed and fiery glass poured out. Chunks of raw glass still show up now and then in neighborhood yards and rock walls, he wrote. On November 14, 2013, he wrote down the day a Teller County sheriff chained a Pullman sleeper car to the rails over $663.21 in unpaid taxes, and a U.S. marshal freed it two days later. Read it. Here's the thing. The Gazette says he left "file cabinets" of research and writing, and that his family hopes to sift through them, with no concrete plans yet. The next person who asks "was there really a glass plant over here?" gets a shrug. We can't fix that. What we have is an index of all 604 columns, by what each one reports, at westsidewherewithal.com/cobweb. The editor plans to call his sister, Dave Martinek, the Pioneer's editor Kenyon Jordan, and the History Center, and we'll tell you what they say. The question we're taking to them is who keeps the record now. We'd like to be part of the answer, and we'd like yours. Did a column of his stick with you? Tell us which one. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-record-dda> Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper The Record desk. Written from the city's own pages and the news; the Aug 25 minutes are still to be read. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. If you missed the council meeting last month, here is the entry. A downtown development authority, a DDA, is a small district set up by a vote. It is supposed to get its own pot of money to spend on one downtown. In 2024, Old Colorado City voters created one for the avenue. It never got its funding. It was created by a vote and ended by a vote, and the money never turned up in between. On Sept 22, City Council voted 5 to 4 to dissolve it. That's ordinance 26-48. The meeting record has the roll call. That's on paper. Yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams No: Donelson, Gold, Henjum, Leinweber The Gazette reported the first vote, on Aug 25, as the same 5 to 4. That's reported. On Oct 2, KKTV reported that the DDA is weighing legal action, because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. That's reported too. That is the whole ledger so far. Here is what we don't know: The Aug 25 minutes. We have the first vote from the news, not from the minutes. Until we've read them, the date and the count are reported, not checked. Whether a lawsuit is filed. KKTV says the DDA is considering one. We haven't found a filing. That isn't on paper. We'll say so when it is. What the DDA was going to buy. The records we have don't list its plan, so we won't guess. If you voted in 2024, or sat in those rooms, tell us what you were told. Who picks up the avenue's end of things now. Nobody has answered that in anything we've read. That isn't on paper either. We are taking the question to the next meeting. Some of those answers are in a room on a Tuesday morning. You can be in it. City Council meets the second and fourth Tuesdays at 9 a.m., 107 N Nevada Ave, and you can watch from home. You don't have to say a word. Take the one-page sheet, write down what happens, and your name goes on it. The Oct 13 meeting is the next one. If you were at the Aug 25 meeting, or you have the minutes, send them over. Tell me what I got wrong. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Where the asphalt gives up <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-ridge> Where the asphalt gives up Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Where the asphalt gives up The Ridge desk. Written from the city's pages and the groups' own sites; a canyon volunteer reads it before it prints. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Rain or snow, and the trails hold it. Friends of Red Rock Canyon says wait a day or two, because they stay muddy and fragile for 24 to 48 hours. Follow 21st down to Bear Creek, then keep going west. Around 30th and 31st the asphalt gives up. The red sandstone takes over. Red Rock Canyon is the pocket to the south. The city bought it in 2003, after it had been slated for a resort with high-rise towers and a private golf course. The city's open space page lists it among the places TOPS, the sales tax voters passed for open space, made possible. It nearly went the other way. Parking. The 31st Street trailhead has more than the High Street lots. No e-bikes in the open space. This fall. The Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th, runs a free bighorn sheep program with a touch table, Mondays 10 to 10:45 a.m. through Nov 30. Owls of the Garden is Oct 26, 12:30 to 1:30. Tickets from $5, sign up first. Oct 31, 1 to 2 p.m., a talk on why wolves in Colorado. The Garden's calendar has details. What's being decided. The Park System Master Plan goes to City Council next: the city's page lists Oct 12, a Monday work session where they talk but don't vote, and Oct 27, after the parks board heard it Oct 8. White Acres Trail is becoming the Don Ellis Trail. The board approved it Aug 13; it waits on an agreement and an $850 city fee. Fire restrictions: the city's page shows none this week, and we are checking with the fire department. We'll tell you what we hear. The seed rule. Some copies of this paper will carry a strip of Colorado native seed. Yards and community gardens, yes; parks, open space, the creek, the trails and anything that burned, no. The whole rule, and what's in the strip. Groups to join. Friends of Red Rock Canyon keeps up the benches and runs Talk and Walks, resuming soon (no date yet). The Trails and Open Space Coalition takes members and runs the One Bag Challenge cleanups. Friends of Garden of the Gods runs volunteer days. Our promise. Every Monday this desk reads the city's parks pages, and a canyon volunteer reads them with us. If nothing's new, we'll say so. Which trail was muddy this week? Tell me and I'll pass it along. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Who's cooking on the Westside this week <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-table> Who's cooking on the Westside this week Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Who's cooking on the Westside this week The Table desk. Hours are as the churches and pantries post them, checked October 11; we call before they go on the Bulletin Board. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Here's how it works. Somebody on this side of the interstate is feeding somebody nearly every day of the week, mostly out of church basements, and the people at the stoves are neighbors who are very good at it. We went looking for the tables. There are more than we figured. Everything below is what each place says on its own page as of October 11. We haven't called any of them yet, so please do before you go. Hours move, and a wrong one costs somebody a trip. Sunday The Sanctuary Church, 1930 W Colorado Ave, lists its Ragamuffin Cafe hot meal at 9 a.m. Call 719-634-7232. It's the only Sunday hot meal we found over here. If you know another, tell us. Monday Westside CARES, 2808 W Colorado Ave, posts a weekly hot meal from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Call 719-389-0759. Same day, Sacred Heart's pantry is posted noon to 2 p.m. at the Parish Center door, 2030 W Colorado Ave. No voucher. Call 719-633-8711. Tuesday Westside Global Methodist, 701 N 20th St, posts its pantry from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Call 719-633-9295. If you still call it Trinity UMC, that's the same corner with a new name, and the old building on W Pikes Peak is becoming a child care center. Wednesday The Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou St, hosts the CARES pantry from 1 to 3 p.m. Call 719-385-7920. Up the road in Manitou, the pantry at 110 Canon Ave was last reported at 1 to 2 p.m., with a hot meal starting at 12:30 p.m. Call 719-685-9259. St. Andrew's closed as a church in 2025, but the pantry kept going in the parish hall. Hats off to the people who kept it going. Thursday Sacred Heart again, same hours, same door, no voucher. Call 719-633-8711. Know another table? That's six tables, and I'd bet my good parking spot there are more. Churches, clubs, a neighbor with a big pot and a folding table. If your church or group feeds people, text 719-201-5462 or write hello@westsidewherewithal.com with the day and the hour. We'll call, confirm it, and print it, free, in your words. That's what the Bulletin Board is for. It's where every table lives, every week, so nobody has to guess which church has soup on which night. See you at the table. Tell us what we got wrong. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Three picks before Halloween <https://westsidewherewithal.com/weekend-radar> Three picks before Halloween Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Three picks before Halloween The Weekend Radar desk. Every line checked against the organizer's own page. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Two weekends, three picks, and I've already parked for all of them. Read this, then go. Go to the farmers market. Saturday, October 17, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., Bancroft Park, 24th and Colorado. It's the last Saturday of the season, with 80-some vendors, and there is no next Saturday. Go early, because the best of anything goes first. Parking: don't circle the park hoping. Take a side street and walk the last bit. Saturday, October 24 is two things at once. Pick one. First, the coffin races. The Emma Crawford Coffin Races run 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Manitou Springs. Parking: Manitou Avenue closes at 9, so get there before the road shuts and the crowd fills in, and plan to walk in. Second, the pumpkins. Pumpkins in the Park is noon to 6 p.m. on the avenue, free, with a pumpkin patch, painting, costume and carving contests, the ZOOmobile, live music and a beer garden. Parking: the avenue's diagonal spots fill on a festival Saturday, so take a side street and walk in. Don't try to do both in one afternoon. Choose, then start the day with it. The things that are always there. If the festivals are not your speed, or you just need a Thursday: trivia at OCC Brewing every Thursday, 7 to 9 p.m. Storytime at the OCC Library every Friday, 10:30 a.m. Brunch Jam Band at Mother Muff's every Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Free bingo on the 21st, Trunk or Treat on the 25th, Trick or Treat Street on the 31st and First Friday ArtWalk on November 6 are all on the full list, with times. That list lives at westsidewherewithal.com, and it's also the one-sheet on the counters around the avenue. Got something happening that we missed? Send it to hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or text 719-201-5462. We'll check it against your own page and put it in. See you Saturday. I'll be the one who parked early. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in <https://westsidewherewithal.com/year-ahead> Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in The Year Ahead desk. Written from the editor's calendar; no interviews yet. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Picture the fridge calendar. Every Thursday of 2027 is penciled in, and you're coming along. One honest aside: it's plans, all of it. Nothing has been reported yet, and some weeks may not land. Winter first. Week one: The Reset Issue. Quiet workspaces, reading refuges, and I'd be surprised if the Carnegie library stays out. And then we eat through the cold. The quest for the best broth in OCC. A reader poll for the best breakfast burrito west of I-25. A 4 a.m. shift with a Westside baker. Then February: a cocktail lounge audit off Main Street, an Alternative Valentine, pints by the fireplace, and how the vintage and antiques shops survive winter. Spring opens up. Red Rock Canyon hikes, with lunches after. The carriage house makers working out of alleys. St. Patrick week. And then the thaw, when we find out which counters open their windows. The under-$15 lunch circuit. A patio audit covering shade, noise, pints and dogs. Seed swaps. Coffee roasters. A Territory Days survival guide. A First Friday gallery crawl. Spring tap releases. Summer gets loud. Hosting out-of-towners without crossing I-25. The Bancroft Park farmers market, booth by booth. Gelato. Where a line cook eats at midnight. Secret courtyards. Quiet Fourth of July viewpoints. Live music on the bricks, and I'm hoping the bandshell gets a paragraph. You pick the coldest drinks. Then the Pueblo chile arrives. Nightcaps and jukeboxes after 10, and I'd bet Mother Muff's comes up. Then a back-to-school pantry run, Uintah Gardens an obvious stop. Fall, the leg I'm saving. The annual pizza index: Slice 420 against Rustica against Leopold's, and we'll need lots of you to settle it. Golden aspens. Autumn ciders. A locals' guide for after the tourists leave. Ghost signs, spooky lore, wood-fired and cast iron cooking (Front Range BBQ, you're on my mind). Thanksgiving hosting. Best of the Westside nominations. Small Business Saturday. And then a Black Friday antidote at Section 16 and Bear Creek. December: a 100% Westside gift guide, a winter lights walk, the Best of the Westside winners, the solstice and quiet patios, and a last issue called Looking Ahead. Every week also carries a civic item and an oral history. A 40-year diner regular. A couple who met at Bancroft in 1988. A chile roaster of 25 seasons. A dishwasher who worked 300 shifts. A high school senior looking at the Westside's future. Tell me which month I got wrong, or which place I forgot. The pencil's by the fridge, and I'll see you the first Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? <https://westsidewherewithal.com/issues/2026-10-11-issue-0> Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? 2026-10-11 In this issue Can't we just inform each other? The leaves are changing Divide anything but our bread What it's all for We choose this Can't we just inform each other? Nobody's telling us what's happening around here unless you find some corporate website that tracks you and tries to make you pay just to find out what's going on outside your door. What a drag. Can't we just inform each other, and have fun building and being in community? The leaves are changing The leaves are changing and falling, and the streets are graced with people from all walks of life. The days are growing shorter, and fall will give way to snow in a few weeks. Before we know it Santa will be at the cabin in Bancroft Park and the Christkindlmarket will be back. Divide anything but our bread I want people to see and hear themselves in our work. I want the people in this community to remember that we're in this together and that what we print is made to remind us of that. We are not here to divide anything but our bread for others, to love our neighbors, and practice mercy and kindness. What it's all for I get nervous that people's fear clouds not only their judgment but their hearts. I can be a skeptic, and quite cynical at times. I wonder what it's all for and why I'm doing this. But in the end, if one person reads our words and connects with them even a little, and it gives them a spark or the belief that they are loved, I will have done my work. We choose this I hope people are excited to see what we're up to. I hope they want to be a part of it, and that by gathering and presenting our values, beliefs and customs together, we can cherish them and let new things in while the old fades. I want Thursday to remind us that we choose this. Jeff What we told you Can't we just inform each other? The leaves are changing Divide anything but our bread What it's all for We choose this The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The archive <https://westsidewherewithal.com/issues/index> The archive Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The archive Every issue, oldest at the bottom. Free to read. If you want to chip in, the jar is on the front page. Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? 2026-10-11 The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The Westside Wherewithal <https://westsidewherewithal.com/> The Westside Wherewithal Skip to the paper We start for real in January. Sign up and the first one lands on a Thursday morning. Thursday mornings · FreeFrom your neighbors ## The Westside WherewithalBecause living west of takes a little wherewithal. Colorado Springs, Colorado A free paper for the Westside of Colorado Springs, written by the people who live here. Thursday mornings, starting January. ## Get it Thursday morning One email a week, free. Put your address in and we'll see you Thursday. Sign me up ## What the city is deciding ## About your street, before it's done You can still weigh in Open nowColorado Avenue lane test. Four lanes to three from Limit Street to 30th Street (the city's page; the Gazette says 31st), for up to a year from June 2026, paid for with $375K from the regional road tax (PPRTA, the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority). The city survey is open.The city's own page: City project page · The surveyIn the news: Gazette, lane test # Oct 26, 2026The city's 2027 budget. Public hearing Monday Oct 26, 5:30 p.m., Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada Ave. Anyone can speak. The council talks it over at work sessions first (Oct 15 is one). What's in it for the Westside, we're reading now.Changed since 2026-10-11The city's own page: the council calendar (Legistar) # Coming up Oct 21, 2026The community center's neighbor group (the Westside Community Center Alliance) meets Wednesday Oct 21, 4 p.m. It helps steer what the center at 1628 W Bijou becomes. Whether anyone can sit in, we're asking.The city's own page: city page, community centerStill looking for: the Alliance's own notice and the Parks Advisory Board's May minutesIn the news: Gazette, the Alliance # Apr 2027Roundabout at 31st and Fontanero, by Howbert Elementary, replacing the four-way stop. The open house was Sept 15. Construction April to fall 2027. Parents asked about the school crossing; the city says it will work with the school. The crossing drawing and the open-house boards are the documents we're after.In the news: KKTV, the roundabout # Apr 13, 2027Project Taurus. A 50-megawatt data center proposed at the old Intel plant, next to the homes in Chelsea Glen. The Planning Commission approved it 6 to 2 in July with a power cap and noise monitoring. Council put the appeal off 7 to 2 to April 13, a week after the city election, and wants a noise study and a study of what big power users pay first. The developer told Colorado Politics on Sept 18 it is weighing whether this is the right partnership.Still looking for: the noise studyIn the news: CPR, hearing date · Colorado Politics, the postponement · KKTV, the appeal # Already decided Sept 22, 2026Old Colorado City's downtown development authority (DDA) shut down. The tax district voters created in 2024 never got its funding. Council voted 5 to 4 on Sept 22 to dissolve it, ordinance 26-48 (yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams; no: Donelson, Gold, Henjum, Leinweber), after the same 5 to 4 on first reading Aug 25. KKTV reported Oct 2 that the DDA is weighing legal action because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. Who picks up the avenue's end of things is an open question.The city's own page: meeting record (Open Publica)Still looking for: the ordinance text itself, and the Aug 25 minutesIn the news: Gazette, the first vote · KKTV, the lawsuit threat # Coming up Every weekThe land. Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, the Garden, Bear Creek, the creek itself: fire restrictions, trail closures, anything the parks board decides. Nothing new on the city's pages this week; we look every Monday, and a canyon volunteer is looking with us.The city's own page: city parks, trails and open space # Already decided Since Apr 2023Greater Westside Community Plan. Nine neighborhoods, one plan: Gold Hill, Ivywild, Mesa, Mesa Springs, Midland, Old Colorado City, Skyway, Stratton Meadows, Westside. (The city's plan reaches past the interstate; this paper stays west of it.) The city's page lists six meetings, the last in April 2023, plus a 2022 survey and a 'Big Ideas' summary. What came next is the question we're taking to Planning, and to the neighbors who sat in those rooms.Changed since 2026-10-11The city's own page: city page, the plan # Checked October 11. Each one links to the city's own page where we found it. Where it says "still looking," we haven't found it yet (city websites, you know how it goes). If you've got it, send it over. Want to be the person in the room? Go to one meeting, write down what happened on this one-page sheet, and your name goes on it. A City Council Tuesday is the easy first one; you can watch it live or later from the couch. ## Vote ## Ballots are in the mail. Here's the Westside part. By Oct 26Register, or check that you're registered, at GoVoteColorado.gov. Moved since last time? Update it there too. After Oct 26 you can still register and vote in person, through Election Day.The city's own page: GoVoteColorado.gov # Till Nov 3, 7 p.m.Drop boxes west of I-25, open day and night: Red Rock Canyon shopping center, 3141 W Colorado Ave; Bear Creek Regional Park, 2002 Creek Crossing St; the clerk's office, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd; Manitou City Hall, 606 Manitou Ave. Mailing it? The county says by Oct 27. It has to arrive by 7 p.m. on Election Day; a postmark doesn't count.The city's own page: the county's list of boxes · El Paso County elections # On the ballotThe local ones: County 1A keeps the public-safety sales tax going through 2037. D11 4A is a $775 million school bond (Coronado is on the list). Then fourteen statewide questions; the state's Blue Book explains each one in plain words, for and against.The city's own page: the county's local questions · the Blue Book # Apr 6, 2027The city election: mayor and three council seats. Same registration, same website. We'll print the candidates and where they stand on the Westside.The city's own page: city election page # We don't tell you how to vote. We'd love for you to. If the Blue Book is a brick, if you can't get to a box, if you're not sure you're registered, call or text 719-201-5462 and a neighbor helps. The county pays election judges and trains them; sign up here if you've got a day. ## The next two weeks ## Oct 11 to Nov 8, checked against the calendars The market's last Saturday, Pumpkins in the Park, free bingo at the community center, the cemetery tour, the coffin races, and the same seven things every week. Every weekMon Boom Box Bingo, 7 to 11 p.m. (Mother Muff's)Tue Math tutoring, 4 to 5:30 p.m. (OCC Library)Wed Toddler Time, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Wed Open mic, 6 to 9 p.m. (Jives Coffee Lounge, 16 Colbrunn Ct)Thu Trivia, 7 to 9 p.m. (OCC Brewing)Fri Storytime, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Sat Paws to Read, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Sun Brunch Jam Band, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Mother Muff's) Sun Oct 11 all month Scarecrow Days: the storefront scarecrows, with a public vote, through Oct 31 the avenue Mon Oct 12 all day Westside CARES closed for Indigenous Peoples' Day 2808 W Colorado Tue Oct 13 9 a.m. City Council regular meeting (agenda on Legistar) 107 N Nevada Ave 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Small Steps, Giant Leaps, Space Foundation program for ages 2 to 6 Westside Community Center Wed Oct 14 9 a.m. City Planning Commission 2880 International Circle 5:30 to 7 p.m. Evening pickleball: donate a bag of candy to play, paddles limited Westside Community Center Thu Oct 15 7:30 a.m. Coffee with the principal Coronado High, Future Center 2 to 4 p.m. Classic board games free OCC Library 5 p.m. Mushroom Zombie Haunted House opens, through Oct 31 Mush Love Tee, the shirt shop, 2627 W Colorado Fri Oct 16 all day No school at Coronado: parent-teacher conferences, 9 to 3 in the gym Coronado High 5 to 6 p.m. Bingo at the Biscuit The Biscuit Factory Cat Lounge, 12 S 25th Sat Oct 17 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Farmers market, last Saturday of the season, 80-some vendors Bancroft Park 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Craft and art market, final Saturday History Center, 1 S 24th Sun Oct 18 evening Legends and Lore of Fairview Cemetery, a two-hour guided tour; tickets online, kids 12 and under free Fairview Cemetery, 1000 S 26th Mon Oct 19 all week Fall break at Coronado, Oct 19 to 22, no school Coronado High Wed Oct 21 4 p.m. Westside Community Center Alliance meeting Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou 5:30 to 7 p.m. Howdy Neighbor prize bingo, doors at 5, all ages, no sign-up free Westside Community Center Thu Oct 22 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Book group free OCC Library Sat Oct 24 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Emma Crawford Coffin Races, the 32nd; Manitou Avenue closes at 9 Manitou Springs noon to 6 p.m. Pumpkins in the Park: pumpkin patch, painting, face painters, costume and carving contests, the ZOOmobile, live music, a beer garden free the avenue Sun Oct 25 1 to 4 p.m. Trunk or Treat in the parking lot, and Animals of Halloween inside, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. free Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th Mon Oct 26 10 to 10:45 a.m. Bighorn sheep, an indoor program with a touch table; Mondays through Nov 30 free Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Owls of the Garden: take an owl pellet apart; $5, sign up first Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 5:30 p.m. City budget public hearing, the 2027 budget; anyone can speak Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada Ave Tue Oct 27 all day Stroll-a-Story: a storybook walk, page by page, around the library OCC Library, 2418 W Pikes Peak Thu Oct 29 7:30 to 8:45 p.m. Haunted Manitou ghost tour, $25; also Oct 30 and 31 Memorial Park, Manitou Springs Fri Oct 30 5:30 p.m. Ghost Stories of Old Manitou, a walking tour from the museum Manitou Springs Heritage Museum Sat Oct 31 1 to 2 p.m. Why wolves in Colorado, a talk Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 2 to 4:30 p.m. Trick or Treat Street: costumed kids 1 to 6, shop to shop; look for the orange and yellow balloons the avenue, 23rd to 28th 6 p.m. Manitou Phantasmagoria Shoshone Spring courtyard, Manitou Springs evening Mushroom Zombie Haunted House, last night Mush Love Tee, the shirt shop, 2627 W Colorado Tue Nov 3 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Election Day. Ballots due by 7 p.m. at a drop box; register and vote in person at the clerk's office, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd, or Manitou City Hall El Paso County Fri Nov 6 5 to 8 p.m. First Friday ArtWalk: galleries, studios and shops open late along the avenue free the avenue, 17th to 31st Sun Nov 8 11 a.m. Altitude Makers market and farmers market free Soda Springs Park, Manitou Springs Every line above came off a calendar we can link, checked October 11. The strip up top happens every week; the list is the one-time stuff. The avenue is West Colorado Avenue; OCC is Old Colorado City; D11 is the school district. If we got a time wrong, tell us and we'll fix it in the next issue. Red Rock Canyon, the churches and the school sports pages had nothing dated for these two weeks; if you know of something, send it. Where that came from: Old Colorado City events calendar · Old Colorado City Library · Westside Community Center · History Center events · Garden of the Gods calendar ## The Bulletin Board ## Suppers, pantries, services, weddings, and the ones we lost If you need something this week, start here. Free, in your words, from you or your church or your family. Food, rent and utility help: Westside CARES, 2808 W Colorado Ave, 719-389-0759. Open Monday to Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. They prefer you walk in. Closed when the schools close for weather. Serves everyone west of I-25. Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou St, 719-385-7920. Open Monday and Friday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Tuesday to Thursday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. A corkboard, not a story. Church suppers, pantry hours, services, weddings, and the ones we lost: free, in your words, from you or your church or your family. We call to check the hours before they run. Send it by Tuesday to hello@westsidewherewithal.com, by text to 719-201-5462, by mail to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, or in the box on the front page. Where that came from: Westside CARES hours · Community center hours (city page) ## The Listening Room ## Once a month. You pick where and when. Coffee with the editor, no agenda, no sign-up. The hour and the place are a vote; the winner runs in issue 1. The Listening Room isn't an office. It's one hour a month wherever we sit down, and I'd rather you picked it than me. Vote below, or write in your own. I live over here, about twenty years now, and the office on the avenue is the paper's address; it says one thing: I'm here. I'm with you. Where and when Saturday morning, the bench by the bandshell in Bancroft Park Tuesday evening, a coffee counter on the avenue Sunday afternoon, the library (once they say yes) A weeknight on Zoom, for people who work days Cast it ## The Address Book ## What was in this storefront in 1968? One storefront, one photo, what was inside. One building per issue: a photo, the address, and whoever remembers fills in the rest. The first photo is coming; if you have one, send it in below. ## Write something ## Send it in The shop that closed, the thing the city's about to do on your street, the neighbor everybody should know. Photos and drawings count, with your name on them. Send it however you like: the box below, hello@westsidewherewithal.com, a call or a text to 719-201-5462, or mail it to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs 80904. (Mail only; nobody is at the door.) We write back. Rather talk than type? Call or text 719-201-5462 and tell me out loud; I'll write it down and you hear it read back before it runs. Under 18? Send it anyway; we'll check with you or a parent before it runs. Teachers, send the whole class. Photos come by email. En español: mándenos un texto al 719-201-5462 o escríbanos a hello@westsidewherewithal.com, en español: su cena, su misa, su aviso. No lo hablo de nacimiento; lo traducimos con un vecino y se lo leemos antes de publicar. Any other language: send it anyway, and we'll find a neighbor to translate. Want a desk? The pages signed by a desk are open; here's how to take one. Got a counter, or a box on your fence? Say so and we'll bring a stack, free, and swap the stale ones. How we do things, if you're curious. Put me down for a stack, for my counter or my library box Send it in ## The jar It's free. If a Thursday was worth something to you, throw a few bucks in the jar; it pays for the email and the printing. A check by mail to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122 works too. Pay what you want Inside: What the city is deciding · The next two weeks · On the avenue · From the desks · The next 100 years · Frontier wherewithal · Around the avenue · What came before us ## On the avenue ## I never stepped inside Base Camp, 2611 W Colorado, closed October 4, and I never ate there. Tell me the place you'd go back to. Jeff Adkins Base Camp closed on October 4. I thought it looked cool, but the menu never appealed to me in the moment, and it's hard to take me away from the dozen places I adore already. I never stepped inside. That's on me, and I'm not alone. Empty storefronts are not what we want here. What keeps a place open is anyone and everyone who can afford to spend local dollars in it, and I am going to try hard to keep mixing it up. If you're thinking about working and making a living here, I wish I could appeal to you directly: we need you. Old Colorado City (OCC from here on) is a tourist destination, for locals and for travelers. I know this. I gladly give up my street parking for events because I know we need them. If I want OCC Brewing to be here 365 days a year, I need them to sustain themselves. That means me not griping about the traffic or the parking over here. Not everyone can afford to eat out or shop on the avenue. I understand that; I don't feel obligated to, and neither should you. I'm fortunate that I can budget for a meal out, and I try to go during the week, when places are less busy and could frankly use the business. So I can't complain about Base Camp closing if I didn't eat there, and I can't blame not eating there on the parking. Tell me the place you'd go back to. What we know: Base Camp, 2611 W Colorado Ave, opened March 2025 and closed October 4; the owner cited costs and the economy. Mountain Shadows, the restaurant four blocks east, closed December 2024 and sold in January. Where that came from: Gazette, Oct 2, 2026 · Gazette, Jan 20, 2025 · OCC Brewing ## From the desks ## Ten desks, one neighborhood Celebrating, remembering, forecasting. Each desk is open; a neighbor's name goes on it the day they take it. The Wherewithal desks Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in · the 52 Thursdays of 2027, as a walk through the seasons The man who wrote down the Westside · 604 columns, the elk, the tunnels, and who keeps the record now Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper · the vote, the names, what's still unknown, and how to be in the room See that building? Look again · five storefronts and what they were, from the columns and the 1902 map Where the asphalt gives up · Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, Bear Creek; this fall, and the seed rule The elk who pulled a carriage · for kids: three things to find on the walk to school, and a dare Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad · la mesa en español: ayuda, el voto, cómo escribirnos Who's cooking on the Westside this week · six tables, as their own pages say it; we call before it prints Three picks before Halloween · the market's last Saturday, the coffin races, pumpkins in the park, and where to park The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead · every date headed for your street, and the door into each one Every desk is written from the record we hold and says so at the top. None of it is an interview yet; those are coming. Every one is open: what each desk takes, and how to take one. One text, one coffee. ## The next 100 years ## Four lanes to three, for a year Four lanes to three, Limit to 30th, for a year. The city survey is open. One driver's take below; if yours differs, next issue's yours. Jeff Adkins 1902 · Sanborn fire insurance map, sheet 2, Colorado Avenue · Library of Congress, public domain 2027 · lane drawing · city of Colorado Springs, Colorado Avenue demonstration, phase two What we know: four lanes to three from Limit to 30th by the city's page (the Gazette says 31st), since June 2026, for up to a year; the city calls it the Colorado Avenue Demonstration Project; $375K of county transportation tax (PPRTA) money. The Gazette counts about 30 parking spaces added, metered; the city's page says parking changes are expected to be minimal. We've asked the project team which it is. A second phase in 2027 makes some of it permanent and redoes three blocks of streetscape (Gazette); permanent reconstruction is penciled for 2027 or 2028 (Bike Colorado Springs). The city survey is open. One driver's take, mine (and my office is on the avenue, at 2320): it's great to see so much more attention being paid to pedestrians, and it doesn't slow me down at all. I haven't timed it; if you have, send the numbers. It may add parking, metered; the city and the Gazette disagree on how much (see the record), and nobody has said yet where someone who lives over a shop parks overnight. The city is taking comments until the concrete goes down. If you drive it, bike it, or cross it with a stroller, say so. If you hate it, this space is yours next issue, same length, your name on it. What do I want to still be here in 2126? Westsiders. Hyper local, no corporate nonsense, and room for whoever shows up to stay. Where that came from: Sanborn 1902 (LoC) · City project page · The city survey · Gazette, May 20, 2026 · Bike Colorado Springs ## Frontier wherewithal ## Load up for winter, survive the summer Not just another old west town. Two tame elk, tunnels under the avenue, four to six weeks a year you'd rather be in the water. Jeff Adkins If you're new here you might think this is just another old west town. If you're passing through, maybe we should let you believe it. Our summers are dry and shorter than most, with heat that stops, starts, and lingers. I'd say we have about four to six weeks a year where you'd want to be holed up in the cabin or in the water, which can be tricky to find. We need to know how to load up for winter, survive the summer, and not die of dehydration. And like every place with lore, we have a guy who trained two tame elk, Thunder and Buttons, to pull a carriage, plus tunnels and brothels and churches, oh my. We love it here. What we know: Thunder and Buttons were elk; Prairie Dog O'Byrne drove them hitched to a carriage on this avenue in the late 1880s. The tunnels under the avenue are documented by the historical society, with the honest caveat that some of it may be something else. Colorado City voted itself dry in 1913. Where that came from: Westside Pioneer, 2006 · Cobweb Corners, 2005 · Gazette, July 2021, the tunnels · Thunder and Buttons II ## Around the avenue ## Getting to know them is the point I don't know everyone yet. Getting to know them is the point. Jeff Adkins What we know so far: Who's opening and who's moving: we've heard about three and have an address for none, so none are named yet. Send the name and the block. The Old Colorado City Historical Society runs a free museum at 1 South 24th, a block off the avenue. Tuesday through Saturday, 11 to 4 in summer and 11 to 2 in winter. Call before you drive. The free Tuesday concerts at the Bancroft Park bandshell ran June 2 through September 29 this year, 5:30, Dizzy Charlie's and the Pikes Peak Blues Community. Next summer's lineup runs here the week it's announced. First Friday art walk, 5 to 8, galleries and studios along the avenue. Next one is November 6. The Customs and Classics car show closes the avenue from 23rd to 27th one Sunday every August. If the one you went to was a different show this fall, tell us which. This is the stuff I get to see everyone else doing. I enjoy seeing them do it. It doesn't matter to me if I don't know anyone in the room, because getting to know them is the point of this life. And that's what I'm here to capture in this paper. I shouldn't pretend to know things I don't. Where that came from: OCC History Center · Tuesday concerts (Springs Magazine) · First Friday (OCC calendar) · The car show (Pioneer, 2018) ## What came before us ## I want it all Mel McFarland died in September; I indexed the 604 columns I found. Eight digs, from the capital that got away to the forgotten cemetery. Jeff Adkins Start here: Mel McFarland, who wrote the Westside's past in the Pioneer for fifteen years, died in September at 81. Most of what is below comes from his columns. I found 604 and indexed every one I found; the one-line summaries there are software drafts, not yet checked one by one. Who keeps the record now is a question this paper exists to answer. I want the best stories from Old Colorado City. I want to dig down and find the most awesome stuff we can publish: how people first lived here, how it went from zero to what it is today, funny things, shootouts, jail time for crimes that make us laugh and cry, mysteries and murders. I want it all. What did we used to do and stop? What was, but isn't? What could have been, but never was? The digs I can't do alone: your church, your family, your block. Send them. What we found first: The capital that got away. Colorado City was founded in August 1859 to outfit gold seekers, was the county seat by 1861, and held the territorial capital just long enough to lose it to Denver. One account says the town was deemed too rowdy. Zero to four thousand. Mel has the town past 2,000 by 1890; the 1892 fire-insurance map (the Sanborn) writes 2,000 on its own cover, and the 1902 sheet writes 4,000. The town voted itself dry in 1913, lost the saloon money, and voted to be annexed by Colorado Springs in April 1917. Four saloons to twenty-seven. By the Pioneer's 2009 count (a feature, not one of Mel's columns): four in 1884, twenty-three by 1888, twenty-seven in 1902 plus thirty-some gambling halls, on a main street that also had the churches. Laura Bell McDaniel. From the Pioneer's 2011 profile, not the index: queen of the tenderloin; her last house was the Tribley House in the 2600 block of West Cucharras. She married Tom McDaniel in April 1887 in Salida; a month later he shot a man five times while she watched, and was acquitted. She divorced him in 1893. Accused in November 1917 of stealing liquor and acquitted; the historian who wrote her up thinks it was a set-up. Died in a car crash in January 1918. The elk were O'Byrne's by Mel's column (bought in Aspen in 1888); a 2006 Pioneer piece has her riding beside him in the carriage. The Glass Works. Full production in 1889 with 200 men on the south edge of town, bottling Manitou water. The furnace top collapsed just after midnight on September 9, 1892. Wheeler promised to rebuild; the Silver Panic of 1893 and the lost customers finished it. One of Mel's columns says it closed in 1895, another says by 1900; one puts a fire in 1893 as well. The Midland shops. The Colorado Midland started here in 1886 and quit in 1918; the Midland Terminal ran the line to Divide until it was scrapped in 1949. Hundreds of men in the shops at the peak, under a hundred by 1925, about fifty by 1948; the office burned in 1953. The fourteen-stall roundhouse is the one that lived: Van Briggle pottery, then the shops you walk through now. The mills. The Colorado-Philadelphia came first, in 1894 by one of Mel's columns and about 1897 by another, near 31st and U.S. 24. Golden Cycle took over the Telluride mill in 1906, rebuilt it with cyanide after a 1907 fire, and ran it until 1949; the smokestack is still there. The forgotten cemetery. Colorado City's Pioneer cemetery, on the mesa, used from about 1860 to 1917. Not every burial was moved; the stones came out in the 1940s and it became Pioneer Park in the 1950s. Graves were mapped with metal detectors in the 1970s, a project Mel joined, and a cast-iron coffin may still be there. Who is in it is still the question. Where that came from: Why the fuss? (Pioneer) · Laura Bell McDaniel (Pioneer, 2011) · Thunder and Buttons (Cobweb Corners, 2005) · The Glass Works, 200 men (Cobweb Corners, 2011) · The Glass Works fire (Cobweb Corners, 2011) · The Glass Works closed 1895 (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The Midland, 1886 to 1918 (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The Midland shops decline (Cobweb Corners, 2009) · The roundhouse (Cobweb Corners, 2007) · The mills (Cobweb Corners, 2013) · Golden Cycle closes, 1949 (Cobweb Corners, 2006) · The capital, the county seat (Cobweb Corners, 2009) · The forgotten cemetery (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The forgotten cemetery (Cobweb Corners, 2017) · Mel McFarland, 1944 to 2026 (Gazette) · Every Cobweb Corners column, indexed · Colorado City Iris, digitized (CHNC) If something here is wrong, reply to the email or send it in below. Corrections run at the top of the next issue. Behind the masthead: Sanborn fire insurance map of Colorado City, November 1902, sheet 1. Library of Congress, public domain. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad <https://westsidewherewithal.com/la-vecina> Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad La Vecina, la mesa en español. Traducción nuestra; buscamos a un vecino o vecina que la tome y firme aquí. Vecina, vecino: Le escribo con las hojas ya cambiando de color y las tardes más cortas. Aquí entre nosotros, quería contarle lo que sé. Si usted vive al oeste de la I-25, este periódico es para usted. Se llama The Westside Wherewithal, sale cada semana y es gratis. Lo escribimos entre vecinos: lo que abre, lo que cierra, lo que se vota, lo que llega al parque. Y queremos saber de usted. Cuéntenos lo que ve en su cuadra, en su iglesia, en su trabajo, y hágalo en español, en sus propias palabras. Si esta semana necesita una mano, vaya a Westside CARES, en 2808 W Colorado Ave. Abren de lunes a jueves, de 9:30 a.m. a 12:30 p.m., y no hace falta cita. Atienden a todos los que viven al oeste de la I-25. Llame al 719-389-0759. También tiene el Westside Community Center, en 1628 W Bijou St, teléfono 719-385-7920. Abre lunes y viernes, de 9 a.m. a 3 p.m., y de martes a jueves, de 9 a.m. a 7 p.m. Ahora el voto, en claro. Hasta el 26 de octubre puede registrarse, o revisar si ya está registrado, en GoVoteColorado.gov. Pasada esa fecha, todavía puede hacerlo en persona, hasta el día de la elección. Y para dejar su boleta, las urnas están abiertas hasta las 7 p.m. del 3 de noviembre en cuatro lugares: el centro comercial Red Rock Canyon, 3141 W Colorado Ave; Bear Creek Regional Park, 2002 Creek Crossing St; la oficina del secretario del condado, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd; y el ayuntamiento de Manitou, 606 Manitou Ave. Aquí no le decimos cómo votar. Solo le decimos dónde y cuándo. En diciembre el Christkindlmarket vuelve a Bancroft Park. Cuando tengamos los días, se los pasamos aquí. Si quiere escribirnos, mande un texto al 719-201-5462 o un correo a hello@westsidewherewithal.com, en español. El editor no habla español de cuna. Traduce con un vecino y lo vuelve a leer con él antes de que algo se imprima. También tenemos una hoja en español en westsidewherewithal.com/sheet-es. Y una cosa honesta: esta página es traducción nuestra. Buscamos a un vecino o vecina que hable español para que tome esta mesa y firme aquí con su nombre. Hasta la próxima semana, vecino. Un abrazo, La Vecina The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The print pack <https://westsidewherewithal.com/print> The print pack Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The print pack Everything to print this week, how many, and where it goes. Any copy shop; a home printer works for the one-sheets. What to print PrintFileHowCopies The one-sheetsheet.pdfLetter, one side (two sides if you want the puzzle back: sheet-back.pdf)20 Large printsheet-large.pdfLetter, two sides5 La hoja (Spanish)sheet-es.pdfLetter, one side10 The box editionzine-box.pdfLetter, landscape, two sheets, two-sided, flip on the short edge; nest sheet 2 inside sheet 1, fold once; no staples20 Every print says "good till Oct 25" or has no dates. A stale stack gets swapped; call and we bring more. Where it goes PlaceWhatHow many The gas station at 31stone-sheet5 The hardware storeone-sheet5 A diner on the avenueone-sheet, and ask about a tray5 The OCC History Center, 1 S 24thone-sheet5 The office mailbox stays closed; keep five of each in the car for the next counter that asksone-sheet, box edition5 and 5 The grocery at 31stla hoja10 The senior table at the community center, 1628 W Bijoularge print5 The little free library at the old Carnegie building, 701 Manitou Avebox edition8 The Head Start box, 2330 Robinson Stbox edition7 The ask at a counter, two sentences: "It's a free weekly paper for the Westside, written by neighbors, nothing for you to pay and nothing to sell. Can it sit here, and can I refill it on Thursdays?" Say yes to any condition they add. What to watch Count what's left after a week. Note any call or text to 719-201-5462 and any word find or quiz score that comes in. That's the first real test; everything before it was rehearsal. The reader inbox was empty on October 11. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Plant this (when it exists) <https://westsidewherewithal.com/seeds> Plant this (when it exists) Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Plant this (when it exists) There are no seed strips yet. This is the plan, written down before the first one so nobody has to guess. Some copies of the zine will carry a small sealed strip of seed paper. Plant it in your own yard, a friend's yard with their yes, a community garden, or a school bed with the principal's okay. Not in a park, not in open space, not in Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, the Garden of the Gods or Bear Creek, not along the creek or a trail, and never after a fire. Those places get seeded by the people who manage them, with seed matched to the ground, and a stranger's strip does more harm than good there. What's in it: Colorado natives from a Colorado grower (Western Native Seed, in Coaldale): Lewis blue flax, Rocky Mountain penstemon, blanketflower, prairie coneflower. Nothing from the state's noxious weed list, which is where the cheap "wildflower mixes" go wrong. Plant in fall; the penstemon wants a winter in the ground. Plant it, take a picture when something comes up, send it in. The best ones run in the paper with your name on them. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Take a desk <https://westsidewherewithal.com/take-a-desk> Take a desk Moved to /desks. --- # Thank you <https://westsidewherewithal.com/thanks> Thank you Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Thank you That's the whole transaction. No tier, no badge, no extra issue. The paper keeps going, and your name goes on the once-a-year list of people who chipped in, alphabetical, no amounts, unless you'd rather it didn't. Reply to any issue to say so. See you Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The elk who pulled a carriage <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-box> The elk who pulled a carriage Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The elk who pulled a carriage The Box desk, for kids and whoever is with them. When a neighbor (or a kid) takes this desk, their name goes here. Okay. You're the boss today. Walk to school, but make it a hunt. Find three things. One: a little free library. It's a box on a post full of books, and you can take one. We know of 27 of them west of I-25. Two you can visit: the one at the old Carnegie library building, 701 Manitou Ave, and the one at the Head Start, 2330 Robinson St. Two: the red rocks at the end of the street. Stop and look. Three: one leaf. Pick the best one on the block. Keep it. It's a bookmark now. Okay. Now the elk. In 1888, a man named John O'Byrne got two tame elk from a judge in Aspen. He trained them to pull his tourist carriage down this very avenue. Their names were Thunder and Buttons. Yes, elk. Yes, a carriage. Eventually a movie company bought them and took them to Alaska to film advertisements. Thunder and Buttons were in commercials. (Also true.) (Bonus, also true: in 1880 a train crew calmed a cold, panicking circus elephant at Colorado Springs with a keg of beer. Aunt's honor.) Ask a grown-up. Point at any building on your walk and ask: "What was here before?" Then listen. Your move, boss. This fall: Halloween, Oct 31, 2 to 4:30 p.m.: Trick or Treat Street on the avenue, 23rd to 28th. Costumed kids 1 to 6. Look for the orange and yellow balloons. Bring a little cousin. Mondays, 10 a.m.: the bighorn sheep program at the Garden of the Gods Visitor Center. December: the Christkindlmarket comes back to Bancroft Park, bigger than last year, with Santa at the cabin. Bonus level: the paper in the box has games. A word find whose leftover letters spell a message. A five-question quiz with the answers printed upside down. And a map to draw on: it's the 1902 map of Colorado City, when the town had 4,000 people. You can see it at westsidewherewithal.com/zine-box, page 6. The dare. Draw Thunder and Buttons pulling the carriage. Go big. Give the tourists faces. Then put it in the little free library box, or send it to hello@westsidewherewithal.com with your first name. We print the best ones. See you on the avenue. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-next-hundred> The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead The Next Hundred desk. Written from the city's own pages and the ballot; dates change, and we fix them when they do. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Right now, Colorado Avenue. Four lanes have been three from Limit to 30th since June, for up to a year. Watch the lanes. Your move: fill out the city survey after you've driven it, biked it, or crossed it with a stroller. The avenue went on a diet and nobody asked it. Oct 21 and Oct 26. The community center's neighbor group meets Wednesday the 21st at 4 p.m.; it helps steer what the center at 1628 W Bijou becomes. Monday the 26th, 5:30 p.m.: the 2027 budget's public hearing at 107 N Nevada Ave. Anyone can speak; the council calendar lists the work sessions before it. Your move: pick one and go. The budget reads better with you. Nov 3. Ballots are due by 7 p.m. County 1A would keep the public-safety sales tax going through 2037. D11's 4A is a $775 million school bond, and Coronado is on the list. Your move: vote, and use a drop box if the mail feels slow. There's one at 3141 W Colorado Ave. Seven o'clock does not negotiate. December. The Christkindlmarket comes back to Bancroft Park, bigger. Bancroft is the pupil of the eye, so a bigger market could mean a fuller avenue and fewer spots out front. Your move: go, and walk. The car can stay home. April 6, 2027. The city election: mayor and three council seats. Your move: register or check your registration, and ask every candidate what they would do about the avenue. The avenue will hear about it. April 13. Council hears the appeal on Project Taurus, the 50-megawatt data center proposed at the old Intel plant next to the homes in Chelsea Glen. The Planning Commission approved it 6 to 2 in July with a power cap and noise monitoring; council wants a noise study first, and the hearing falls a week after you vote (Colorado Politics). The developer says it is weighing the partnership, so the date could still move. Your move: read the noise study when it exists, and show up. Read quietly. April to fall 2027. A roundabout replaces the four-way stop at 31st and Fontanero by Howbert Elementary, on the western gateway to the red rocks. Parents asked about the school crossing, and the city says it will work with the school. Your move: if you walk kids there, ask the school what they've been told. Four stops become one circle. Around June 2027. The lane test's year ends, give or take. Nothing we've found says what comes after. Your move: whatever you think of the test, say so before it ends. A year is long enough for an opinion. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The man who wrote down the Westside <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-porch-mcfarland> The man who wrote down the Westside Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The man who wrote down the Westside The Porch desk. Written from the record; the editor's conversations with his family and friends are coming. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. If you ever wondered whether there really were tunnels under Colorado Avenue, Mel McFarland is a big part of why you wondered. I'll tell you what I know. He died September 21, at 81. From 2004 to 2019 he wrote 604 "Cobweb Corners" columns about this neighborhood for the Westside Pioneer. Born here in 1944, a fourth-generation native, taught art and drafting, and wrote books on the Colorado Midland Railway. In 1983 he bought a retired working caboose for his Rockrimmon backyard, and became "the Caboose Guy." Dave Martinek, who started Midland Days at Divide with him in 2009, told the Gazette: "He was the go-to person for anyone who wanted to know about railroad history in the state." His nephew Luc MacArthur called him "kind of a Renaissance man." His sister, Elaine Radney, said: "He had a lot of people who loved him." He wrote it down. Here is some of it. On February 3, 2005, he wrote down the story of John O'Byrne, who in 1888 got two tame elk, Thunder and Buttons, and trained them to pull a tourist carriage. Here is the column. On April 7, 2005, he wrote down the tunnels, the ones that let Colorado Avenue customers reach the Cucharras Street brothels unseen. He had "seen the remains of bits of both" sets of tunnels himself. On November 17, 2011, he wrote down the Glass Works disaster. Just after midnight on September 9, 1892, the furnace top collapsed and fiery glass poured out. Chunks of raw glass still show up now and then in neighborhood yards and rock walls, he wrote. On November 14, 2013, he wrote down the day a Teller County sheriff chained a Pullman sleeper car to the rails over $663.21 in unpaid taxes, and a U.S. marshal freed it two days later. Read it. Here's the thing. The Gazette says he left "file cabinets" of research and writing, and that his family hopes to sift through them, with no concrete plans yet. The next person who asks "was there really a glass plant over here?" gets a shrug. We can't fix that. What we have is an index of all 604 columns, by what each one reports, at westsidewherewithal.com/cobweb. The editor plans to call his sister, Dave Martinek, the Pioneer's editor Kenyon Jordan, and the History Center, and we'll tell you what they say. The question we're taking to them is who keeps the record now. We'd like to be part of the answer, and we'd like yours. Did a column of his stick with you? Tell us which one. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-record-dda> Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper The Record desk. Written from the city's own pages and the news; the Aug 25 minutes are still to be read. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. If you missed the council meeting last month, here is the entry. A downtown development authority, a DDA, is a small district set up by a vote. It is supposed to get its own pot of money to spend on one downtown. In 2024, Old Colorado City voters created one for the avenue. It never got its funding. It was created by a vote and ended by a vote, and the money never turned up in between. On Sept 22, City Council voted 5 to 4 to dissolve it. That's ordinance 26-48. The meeting record has the roll call. That's on paper. Yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams No: Donelson, Gold, Henjum, Leinweber The Gazette reported the first vote, on Aug 25, as the same 5 to 4. That's reported. On Oct 2, KKTV reported that the DDA is weighing legal action, because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. That's reported too. That is the whole ledger so far. Here is what we don't know: The Aug 25 minutes. We have the first vote from the news, not from the minutes. Until we've read them, the date and the count are reported, not checked. Whether a lawsuit is filed. KKTV says the DDA is considering one. We haven't found a filing. That isn't on paper. We'll say so when it is. What the DDA was going to buy. The records we have don't list its plan, so we won't guess. If you voted in 2024, or sat in those rooms, tell us what you were told. Who picks up the avenue's end of things now. Nobody has answered that in anything we've read. That isn't on paper either. We are taking the question to the next meeting. Some of those answers are in a room on a Tuesday morning. You can be in it. City Council meets the second and fourth Tuesdays at 9 a.m., 107 N Nevada Ave, and you can watch from home. You don't have to say a word. Take the one-page sheet, write down what happens, and your name goes on it. The Oct 13 meeting is the next one. If you were at the Aug 25 meeting, or you have the minutes, send them over. Tell me what I got wrong. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Where the asphalt gives up <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-ridge> Where the asphalt gives up Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Where the asphalt gives up The Ridge desk. Written from the city's pages and the groups' own sites; a canyon volunteer reads it before it prints. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Rain or snow, and the trails hold it. Friends of Red Rock Canyon says wait a day or two, because they stay muddy and fragile for 24 to 48 hours. Follow 21st down to Bear Creek, then keep going west. Around 30th and 31st the asphalt gives up. The red sandstone takes over. Red Rock Canyon is the pocket to the south. The city bought it in 2003, after it had been slated for a resort with high-rise towers and a private golf course. The city's open space page lists it among the places TOPS, the sales tax voters passed for open space, made possible. It nearly went the other way. Parking. The 31st Street trailhead has more than the High Street lots. No e-bikes in the open space. This fall. The Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th, runs a free bighorn sheep program with a touch table, Mondays 10 to 10:45 a.m. through Nov 30. Owls of the Garden is Oct 26, 12:30 to 1:30. Tickets from $5, sign up first. Oct 31, 1 to 2 p.m., a talk on why wolves in Colorado. The Garden's calendar has details. What's being decided. The Park System Master Plan goes to City Council next: the city's page lists Oct 12, a Monday work session where they talk but don't vote, and Oct 27, after the parks board heard it Oct 8. White Acres Trail is becoming the Don Ellis Trail. The board approved it Aug 13; it waits on an agreement and an $850 city fee. Fire restrictions: the city's page shows none this week, and we are checking with the fire department. We'll tell you what we hear. The seed rule. Some copies of this paper will carry a strip of Colorado native seed. Yards and community gardens, yes; parks, open space, the creek, the trails and anything that burned, no. The whole rule, and what's in the strip. Groups to join. Friends of Red Rock Canyon keeps up the benches and runs Talk and Walks, resuming soon (no date yet). The Trails and Open Space Coalition takes members and runs the One Bag Challenge cleanups. Friends of Garden of the Gods runs volunteer days. Our promise. Every Monday this desk reads the city's parks pages, and a canyon volunteer reads them with us. If nothing's new, we'll say so. Which trail was muddy this week? Tell me and I'll pass it along. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Who's cooking on the Westside this week <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-table> Who's cooking on the Westside this week Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Who's cooking on the Westside this week The Table desk. Hours are as the churches and pantries post them, checked October 11; we call before they go on the Bulletin Board. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Here's how it works. Somebody on this side of the interstate is feeding somebody nearly every day of the week, mostly out of church basements, and the people at the stoves are neighbors who are very good at it. We went looking for the tables. There are more than we figured. Everything below is what each place says on its own page as of October 11. We haven't called any of them yet, so please do before you go. Hours move, and a wrong one costs somebody a trip. Sunday The Sanctuary Church, 1930 W Colorado Ave, lists its Ragamuffin Cafe hot meal at 9 a.m. Call 719-634-7232. It's the only Sunday hot meal we found over here. If you know another, tell us. Monday Westside CARES, 2808 W Colorado Ave, posts a weekly hot meal from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Call 719-389-0759. Same day, Sacred Heart's pantry is posted noon to 2 p.m. at the Parish Center door, 2030 W Colorado Ave. No voucher. Call 719-633-8711. Tuesday Westside Global Methodist, 701 N 20th St, posts its pantry from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Call 719-633-9295. If you still call it Trinity UMC, that's the same corner with a new name, and the old building on W Pikes Peak is becoming a child care center. Wednesday The Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou St, hosts the CARES pantry from 1 to 3 p.m. Call 719-385-7920. Up the road in Manitou, the pantry at 110 Canon Ave was last reported at 1 to 2 p.m., with a hot meal starting at 12:30 p.m. Call 719-685-9259. St. Andrew's closed as a church in 2025, but the pantry kept going in the parish hall. Hats off to the people who kept it going. Thursday Sacred Heart again, same hours, same door, no voucher. Call 719-633-8711. Know another table? That's six tables, and I'd bet my good parking spot there are more. Churches, clubs, a neighbor with a big pot and a folding table. If your church or group feeds people, text 719-201-5462 or write hello@westsidewherewithal.com with the day and the hour. We'll call, confirm it, and print it, free, in your words. That's what the Bulletin Board is for. It's where every table lives, every week, so nobody has to guess which church has soup on which night. See you at the table. Tell us what we got wrong. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Three picks before Halloween <https://westsidewherewithal.com/weekend-radar> Three picks before Halloween Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Three picks before Halloween The Weekend Radar desk. Every line checked against the organizer's own page. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Two weekends, three picks, and I've already parked for all of them. Read this, then go. Go to the farmers market. Saturday, October 17, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., Bancroft Park, 24th and Colorado. It's the last Saturday of the season, with 80-some vendors, and there is no next Saturday. Go early, because the best of anything goes first. Parking: don't circle the park hoping. Take a side street and walk the last bit. Saturday, October 24 is two things at once. Pick one. First, the coffin races. The Emma Crawford Coffin Races run 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Manitou Springs. Parking: Manitou Avenue closes at 9, so get there before the road shuts and the crowd fills in, and plan to walk in. Second, the pumpkins. Pumpkins in the Park is noon to 6 p.m. on the avenue, free, with a pumpkin patch, painting, costume and carving contests, the ZOOmobile, live music and a beer garden. Parking: the avenue's diagonal spots fill on a festival Saturday, so take a side street and walk in. Don't try to do both in one afternoon. Choose, then start the day with it. The things that are always there. If the festivals are not your speed, or you just need a Thursday: trivia at OCC Brewing every Thursday, 7 to 9 p.m. Storytime at the OCC Library every Friday, 10:30 a.m. Brunch Jam Band at Mother Muff's every Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Free bingo on the 21st, Trunk or Treat on the 25th, Trick or Treat Street on the 31st and First Friday ArtWalk on November 6 are all on the full list, with times. That list lives at westsidewherewithal.com, and it's also the one-sheet on the counters around the avenue. Got something happening that we missed? Send it to hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or text 719-201-5462. We'll check it against your own page and put it in. See you Saturday. I'll be the one who parked early. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in <https://westsidewherewithal.com/year-ahead> Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in The Year Ahead desk. Written from the editor's calendar; no interviews yet. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Picture the fridge calendar. Every Thursday of 2027 is penciled in, and you're coming along. One honest aside: it's plans, all of it. Nothing has been reported yet, and some weeks may not land. Winter first. Week one: The Reset Issue. Quiet workspaces, reading refuges, and I'd be surprised if the Carnegie library stays out. And then we eat through the cold. The quest for the best broth in OCC. A reader poll for the best breakfast burrito west of I-25. A 4 a.m. shift with a Westside baker. Then February: a cocktail lounge audit off Main Street, an Alternative Valentine, pints by the fireplace, and how the vintage and antiques shops survive winter. Spring opens up. Red Rock Canyon hikes, with lunches after. The carriage house makers working out of alleys. St. Patrick week. And then the thaw, when we find out which counters open their windows. The under-$15 lunch circuit. A patio audit covering shade, noise, pints and dogs. Seed swaps. Coffee roasters. A Territory Days survival guide. A First Friday gallery crawl. Spring tap releases. Summer gets loud. Hosting out-of-towners without crossing I-25. The Bancroft Park farmers market, booth by booth. Gelato. Where a line cook eats at midnight. Secret courtyards. Quiet Fourth of July viewpoints. Live music on the bricks, and I'm hoping the bandshell gets a paragraph. You pick the coldest drinks. Then the Pueblo chile arrives. Nightcaps and jukeboxes after 10, and I'd bet Mother Muff's comes up. Then a back-to-school pantry run, Uintah Gardens an obvious stop. Fall, the leg I'm saving. The annual pizza index: Slice 420 against Rustica against Leopold's, and we'll need lots of you to settle it. Golden aspens. Autumn ciders. A locals' guide for after the tourists leave. Ghost signs, spooky lore, wood-fired and cast iron cooking (Front Range BBQ, you're on my mind). Thanksgiving hosting. Best of the Westside nominations. Small Business Saturday. And then a Black Friday antidote at Section 16 and Bear Creek. December: a 100% Westside gift guide, a winter lights walk, the Best of the Westside winners, the solstice and quiet patios, and a last issue called Looking Ahead. Every week also carries a civic item and an oral history. A 40-year diner regular. A couple who met at Bancroft in 1988. A chile roaster of 25 seasons. A dishwasher who worked 300 shifts. A high school senior looking at the Westside's future. Tell me which month I got wrong, or which place I forgot. The pencil's by the fridge, and I'll see you the first Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? <https://westsidewherewithal.com/issues/2026-10-11-issue-0> Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? 2026-10-11 In this issue Can't we just inform each other? The leaves are changing Divide anything but our bread What it's all for We choose this Can't we just inform each other? Nobody's telling us what's happening around here unless you find some corporate website that tracks you and tries to make you pay just to find out what's going on outside your door. What a drag. Can't we just inform each other, and have fun building and being in community? The leaves are changing The leaves are changing and falling, and the streets are graced with people from all walks of life. The days are growing shorter, and fall will give way to snow in a few weeks. Before we know it Santa will be at the cabin in Bancroft Park and the Christkindlmarket will be back. Divide anything but our bread I want people to see and hear themselves in our work. I want the people in this community to remember that we're in this together and that what we print is made to remind us of that. We are not here to divide anything but our bread for others, to love our neighbors, and practice mercy and kindness. What it's all for I get nervous that people's fear clouds not only their judgment but their hearts. I can be a skeptic, and quite cynical at times. I wonder what it's all for and why I'm doing this. But in the end, if one person reads our words and connects with them even a little, and it gives them a spark or the belief that they are loved, I will have done my work. We choose this I hope people are excited to see what we're up to. I hope they want to be a part of it, and that by gathering and presenting our values, beliefs and customs together, we can cherish them and let new things in while the old fades. I want Thursday to remind us that we choose this. Jeff What we told you Can't we just inform each other? The leaves are changing Divide anything but our bread What it's all for We choose this The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The archive <https://westsidewherewithal.com/issues/index> The archive Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The archive Every issue, oldest at the bottom. Free to read. If you want to chip in, the jar is on the front page. Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? 2026-10-11 The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The Westside Wherewithal <https://westsidewherewithal.com/> The Westside Wherewithal Skip to the paper We start for real in January. Sign up and the first one lands on a Thursday morning. Thursday mornings · FreeFrom your neighbors ## The Westside WherewithalBecause living west of takes a little wherewithal. Colorado Springs, Colorado A free paper for the Westside of Colorado Springs, written by the people who live here. Thursday mornings, starting January. ## Get it Thursday morning One email a week, free. Put your address in and we'll see you Thursday. Sign me up ## What the city is deciding ## About your street, before it's done You can still weigh in Open nowColorado Avenue lane test. Four lanes to three from Limit Street to 30th Street (the city's page; the Gazette says 31st), for up to a year from June 2026, paid for with $375K from the regional road tax (PPRTA, the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority). The city survey is open.The city's own page: City project page · The surveyIn the news: Gazette, lane test # Oct 26, 2026The city's 2027 budget. Public hearing Monday Oct 26, 5:30 p.m., Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada Ave. Anyone can speak. The council talks it over at work sessions first (Oct 15 is one). What's in it for the Westside, we're reading now.Changed since 2026-10-11The city's own page: the council calendar (Legistar) # Coming up Oct 21, 2026The community center's neighbor group (the Westside Community Center Alliance) meets Wednesday Oct 21, 4 p.m. It helps steer what the center at 1628 W Bijou becomes. Whether anyone can sit in, we're asking.The city's own page: city page, community centerStill looking for: the Alliance's own notice and the Parks Advisory Board's May minutesIn the news: Gazette, the Alliance # Apr 2027Roundabout at 31st and Fontanero, by Howbert Elementary, replacing the four-way stop. The open house was Sept 15. Construction April to fall 2027. Parents asked about the school crossing; the city says it will work with the school. The crossing drawing and the open-house boards are the documents we're after.In the news: KKTV, the roundabout # Apr 13, 2027Project Taurus. A 50-megawatt data center proposed at the old Intel plant, next to the homes in Chelsea Glen. The Planning Commission approved it 6 to 2 in July with a power cap and noise monitoring. Council put the appeal off 7 to 2 to April 13, a week after the city election, and wants a noise study and a study of what big power users pay first. The developer told Colorado Politics on Sept 18 it is weighing whether this is the right partnership.Still looking for: the noise studyIn the news: CPR, hearing date · Colorado Politics, the postponement · KKTV, the appeal # Already decided Sept 22, 2026Old Colorado City's downtown development authority (DDA) shut down. The tax district voters created in 2024 never got its funding. Council voted 5 to 4 on Sept 22 to dissolve it, ordinance 26-48 (yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams; no: Donelson, Gold, Henjum, Leinweber), after the same 5 to 4 on first reading Aug 25. KKTV reported Oct 2 that the DDA is weighing legal action because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. Who picks up the avenue's end of things is an open question.The city's own page: meeting record (Open Publica)Still looking for: the ordinance text itself, and the Aug 25 minutesIn the news: Gazette, the first vote · KKTV, the lawsuit threat # Coming up Every weekThe land. Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, the Garden, Bear Creek, the creek itself: fire restrictions, trail closures, anything the parks board decides. Nothing new on the city's pages this week; we look every Monday, and a canyon volunteer is looking with us.The city's own page: city parks, trails and open space # Already decided Since Apr 2023Greater Westside Community Plan. Nine neighborhoods, one plan: Gold Hill, Ivywild, Mesa, Mesa Springs, Midland, Old Colorado City, Skyway, Stratton Meadows, Westside. (The city's plan reaches past the interstate; this paper stays west of it.) The city's page lists six meetings, the last in April 2023, plus a 2022 survey and a 'Big Ideas' summary. What came next is the question we're taking to Planning, and to the neighbors who sat in those rooms.Changed since 2026-10-11The city's own page: city page, the plan # Checked October 11. Each one links to the city's own page where we found it. Where it says "still looking," we haven't found it yet (city websites, you know how it goes). If you've got it, send it over. Want to be the person in the room? Go to one meeting, write down what happened on this one-page sheet, and your name goes on it. A City Council Tuesday is the easy first one; you can watch it live or later from the couch. ## Vote ## Ballots are in the mail. Here's the Westside part. By Oct 26Register, or check that you're registered, at GoVoteColorado.gov. Moved since last time? Update it there too. After Oct 26 you can still register and vote in person, through Election Day.The city's own page: GoVoteColorado.gov # Till Nov 3, 7 p.m.Drop boxes west of I-25, open day and night: Red Rock Canyon shopping center, 3141 W Colorado Ave; Bear Creek Regional Park, 2002 Creek Crossing St; the clerk's office, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd; Manitou City Hall, 606 Manitou Ave. Mailing it? The county says by Oct 27. It has to arrive by 7 p.m. on Election Day; a postmark doesn't count.The city's own page: the county's list of boxes · El Paso County elections # On the ballotThe local ones: County 1A keeps the public-safety sales tax going through 2037. D11 4A is a $775 million school bond (Coronado is on the list). Then fourteen statewide questions; the state's Blue Book explains each one in plain words, for and against.The city's own page: the county's local questions · the Blue Book # Apr 6, 2027The city election: mayor and three council seats. Same registration, same website. We'll print the candidates and where they stand on the Westside.The city's own page: city election page # We don't tell you how to vote. We'd love for you to. If the Blue Book is a brick, if you can't get to a box, if you're not sure you're registered, call or text 719-201-5462 and a neighbor helps. The county pays election judges and trains them; sign up here if you've got a day. ## The next two weeks ## Oct 11 to Nov 8, checked against the calendars The market's last Saturday, Pumpkins in the Park, free bingo at the community center, the cemetery tour, the coffin races, and the same seven things every week. Every weekMon Boom Box Bingo, 7 to 11 p.m. (Mother Muff's)Tue Math tutoring, 4 to 5:30 p.m. (OCC Library)Wed Toddler Time, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Wed Open mic, 6 to 9 p.m. (Jives Coffee Lounge, 16 Colbrunn Ct)Thu Trivia, 7 to 9 p.m. (OCC Brewing)Fri Storytime, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Sat Paws to Read, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Sun Brunch Jam Band, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Mother Muff's) Sun Oct 11 all month Scarecrow Days: the storefront scarecrows, with a public vote, through Oct 31 the avenue Mon Oct 12 all day Westside CARES closed for Indigenous Peoples' Day 2808 W Colorado Tue Oct 13 9 a.m. City Council regular meeting (agenda on Legistar) 107 N Nevada Ave 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Small Steps, Giant Leaps, Space Foundation program for ages 2 to 6 Westside Community Center Wed Oct 14 9 a.m. City Planning Commission 2880 International Circle 5:30 to 7 p.m. Evening pickleball: donate a bag of candy to play, paddles limited Westside Community Center Thu Oct 15 7:30 a.m. Coffee with the principal Coronado High, Future Center 2 to 4 p.m. Classic board games free OCC Library 5 p.m. Mushroom Zombie Haunted House opens, through Oct 31 Mush Love Tee, the shirt shop, 2627 W Colorado Fri Oct 16 all day No school at Coronado: parent-teacher conferences, 9 to 3 in the gym Coronado High 5 to 6 p.m. Bingo at the Biscuit The Biscuit Factory Cat Lounge, 12 S 25th Sat Oct 17 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Farmers market, last Saturday of the season, 80-some vendors Bancroft Park 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Craft and art market, final Saturday History Center, 1 S 24th Sun Oct 18 evening Legends and Lore of Fairview Cemetery, a two-hour guided tour; tickets online, kids 12 and under free Fairview Cemetery, 1000 S 26th Mon Oct 19 all week Fall break at Coronado, Oct 19 to 22, no school Coronado High Wed Oct 21 4 p.m. Westside Community Center Alliance meeting Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou 5:30 to 7 p.m. Howdy Neighbor prize bingo, doors at 5, all ages, no sign-up free Westside Community Center Thu Oct 22 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Book group free OCC Library Sat Oct 24 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Emma Crawford Coffin Races, the 32nd; Manitou Avenue closes at 9 Manitou Springs noon to 6 p.m. Pumpkins in the Park: pumpkin patch, painting, face painters, costume and carving contests, the ZOOmobile, live music, a beer garden free the avenue Sun Oct 25 1 to 4 p.m. Trunk or Treat in the parking lot, and Animals of Halloween inside, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. free Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th Mon Oct 26 10 to 10:45 a.m. Bighorn sheep, an indoor program with a touch table; Mondays through Nov 30 free Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Owls of the Garden: take an owl pellet apart; $5, sign up first Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 5:30 p.m. City budget public hearing, the 2027 budget; anyone can speak Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada Ave Tue Oct 27 all day Stroll-a-Story: a storybook walk, page by page, around the library OCC Library, 2418 W Pikes Peak Thu Oct 29 7:30 to 8:45 p.m. Haunted Manitou ghost tour, $25; also Oct 30 and 31 Memorial Park, Manitou Springs Fri Oct 30 5:30 p.m. Ghost Stories of Old Manitou, a walking tour from the museum Manitou Springs Heritage Museum Sat Oct 31 1 to 2 p.m. Why wolves in Colorado, a talk Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 2 to 4:30 p.m. Trick or Treat Street: costumed kids 1 to 6, shop to shop; look for the orange and yellow balloons the avenue, 23rd to 28th 6 p.m. Manitou Phantasmagoria Shoshone Spring courtyard, Manitou Springs evening Mushroom Zombie Haunted House, last night Mush Love Tee, the shirt shop, 2627 W Colorado Tue Nov 3 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Election Day. Ballots due by 7 p.m. at a drop box; register and vote in person at the clerk's office, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd, or Manitou City Hall El Paso County Fri Nov 6 5 to 8 p.m. First Friday ArtWalk: galleries, studios and shops open late along the avenue free the avenue, 17th to 31st Sun Nov 8 11 a.m. Altitude Makers market and farmers market free Soda Springs Park, Manitou Springs Every line above came off a calendar we can link, checked October 11. The strip up top happens every week; the list is the one-time stuff. The avenue is West Colorado Avenue; OCC is Old Colorado City; D11 is the school district. If we got a time wrong, tell us and we'll fix it in the next issue. Red Rock Canyon, the churches and the school sports pages had nothing dated for these two weeks; if you know of something, send it. Where that came from: Old Colorado City events calendar · Old Colorado City Library · Westside Community Center · History Center events · Garden of the Gods calendar ## The Bulletin Board ## Suppers, pantries, services, weddings, and the ones we lost If you need something this week, start here. Free, in your words, from you or your church or your family. Food, rent and utility help: Westside CARES, 2808 W Colorado Ave, 719-389-0759. Open Monday to Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. They prefer you walk in. Closed when the schools close for weather. Serves everyone west of I-25. Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou St, 719-385-7920. Open Monday and Friday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Tuesday to Thursday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. A corkboard, not a story. Church suppers, pantry hours, services, weddings, and the ones we lost: free, in your words, from you or your church or your family. We call to check the hours before they run. Send it by Tuesday to hello@westsidewherewithal.com, by text to 719-201-5462, by mail to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, or in the box on the front page. Where that came from: Westside CARES hours · Community center hours (city page) ## The Listening Room ## Once a month. You pick where and when. Coffee with the editor, no agenda, no sign-up. The hour and the place are a vote; the winner runs in issue 1. The Listening Room isn't an office. It's one hour a month wherever we sit down, and I'd rather you picked it than me. Vote below, or write in your own. I live over here, about twenty years now, and the office on the avenue is the paper's address; it says one thing: I'm here. I'm with you. Where and when Saturday morning, the bench by the bandshell in Bancroft Park Tuesday evening, a coffee counter on the avenue Sunday afternoon, the library (once they say yes) A weeknight on Zoom, for people who work days Cast it ## The Address Book ## What was in this storefront in 1968? One storefront, one photo, what was inside. One building per issue: a photo, the address, and whoever remembers fills in the rest. The first photo is coming; if you have one, send it in below. ## Write something ## Send it in The shop that closed, the thing the city's about to do on your street, the neighbor everybody should know. Photos and drawings count, with your name on them. Send it however you like: the box below, hello@westsidewherewithal.com, a call or a text to 719-201-5462, or mail it to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs 80904. (Mail only; nobody is at the door.) We write back. Rather talk than type? Call or text 719-201-5462 and tell me out loud; I'll write it down and you hear it read back before it runs. Under 18? Send it anyway; we'll check with you or a parent before it runs. Teachers, send the whole class. Photos come by email. En español: mándenos un texto al 719-201-5462 o escríbanos a hello@westsidewherewithal.com, en español: su cena, su misa, su aviso. No lo hablo de nacimiento; lo traducimos con un vecino y se lo leemos antes de publicar. Any other language: send it anyway, and we'll find a neighbor to translate. Want a desk? The pages signed by a desk are open; here's how to take one. Got a counter, or a box on your fence? Say so and we'll bring a stack, free, and swap the stale ones. How we do things, if you're curious. Put me down for a stack, for my counter or my library box Send it in ## The jar It's free. If a Thursday was worth something to you, throw a few bucks in the jar; it pays for the email and the printing. A check by mail to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122 works too. Pay what you want Inside: What the city is deciding · The next two weeks · On the avenue · From the desks · The next 100 years · Frontier wherewithal · Around the avenue · What came before us ## On the avenue ## I never stepped inside Base Camp, 2611 W Colorado, closed October 4, and I never ate there. Tell me the place you'd go back to. Jeff Adkins Base Camp closed on October 4. I thought it looked cool, but the menu never appealed to me in the moment, and it's hard to take me away from the dozen places I adore already. I never stepped inside. That's on me, and I'm not alone. Empty storefronts are not what we want here. What keeps a place open is anyone and everyone who can afford to spend local dollars in it, and I am going to try hard to keep mixing it up. If you're thinking about working and making a living here, I wish I could appeal to you directly: we need you. Old Colorado City (OCC from here on) is a tourist destination, for locals and for travelers. I know this. I gladly give up my street parking for events because I know we need them. If I want OCC Brewing to be here 365 days a year, I need them to sustain themselves. That means me not griping about the traffic or the parking over here. Not everyone can afford to eat out or shop on the avenue. I understand that; I don't feel obligated to, and neither should you. I'm fortunate that I can budget for a meal out, and I try to go during the week, when places are less busy and could frankly use the business. So I can't complain about Base Camp closing if I didn't eat there, and I can't blame not eating there on the parking. Tell me the place you'd go back to. What we know: Base Camp, 2611 W Colorado Ave, opened March 2025 and closed October 4; the owner cited costs and the economy. Mountain Shadows, the restaurant four blocks east, closed December 2024 and sold in January. Where that came from: Gazette, Oct 2, 2026 · Gazette, Jan 20, 2025 · OCC Brewing ## From the desks ## Ten desks, one neighborhood Celebrating, remembering, forecasting. Each desk is open; a neighbor's name goes on it the day they take it. The Wherewithal desks Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in · the 52 Thursdays of 2027, as a walk through the seasons The man who wrote down the Westside · 604 columns, the elk, the tunnels, and who keeps the record now Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper · the vote, the names, what's still unknown, and how to be in the room See that building? Look again · five storefronts and what they were, from the columns and the 1902 map Where the asphalt gives up · Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, Bear Creek; this fall, and the seed rule The elk who pulled a carriage · for kids: three things to find on the walk to school, and a dare Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad · la mesa en español: ayuda, el voto, cómo escribirnos Who's cooking on the Westside this week · six tables, as their own pages say it; we call before it prints Three picks before Halloween · the market's last Saturday, the coffin races, pumpkins in the park, and where to park The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead · every date headed for your street, and the door into each one Every desk is written from the record we hold and says so at the top. None of it is an interview yet; those are coming. Every one is open: what each desk takes, and how to take one. One text, one coffee. ## The next 100 years ## Four lanes to three, for a year Four lanes to three, Limit to 30th, for a year. The city survey is open. One driver's take below; if yours differs, next issue's yours. Jeff Adkins 1902 · Sanborn fire insurance map, sheet 2, Colorado Avenue · Library of Congress, public domain 2027 · lane drawing · city of Colorado Springs, Colorado Avenue demonstration, phase two What we know: four lanes to three from Limit to 30th by the city's page (the Gazette says 31st), since June 2026, for up to a year; the city calls it the Colorado Avenue Demonstration Project; $375K of county transportation tax (PPRTA) money. The Gazette counts about 30 parking spaces added, metered; the city's page says parking changes are expected to be minimal. We've asked the project team which it is. A second phase in 2027 makes some of it permanent and redoes three blocks of streetscape (Gazette); permanent reconstruction is penciled for 2027 or 2028 (Bike Colorado Springs). The city survey is open. One driver's take, mine (and my office is on the avenue, at 2320): it's great to see so much more attention being paid to pedestrians, and it doesn't slow me down at all. I haven't timed it; if you have, send the numbers. It may add parking, metered; the city and the Gazette disagree on how much (see the record), and nobody has said yet where someone who lives over a shop parks overnight. The city is taking comments until the concrete goes down. If you drive it, bike it, or cross it with a stroller, say so. If you hate it, this space is yours next issue, same length, your name on it. What do I want to still be here in 2126? Westsiders. Hyper local, no corporate nonsense, and room for whoever shows up to stay. Where that came from: Sanborn 1902 (LoC) · City project page · The city survey · Gazette, May 20, 2026 · Bike Colorado Springs ## Frontier wherewithal ## Load up for winter, survive the summer Not just another old west town. Two tame elk, tunnels under the avenue, four to six weeks a year you'd rather be in the water. Jeff Adkins If you're new here you might think this is just another old west town. If you're passing through, maybe we should let you believe it. Our summers are dry and shorter than most, with heat that stops, starts, and lingers. I'd say we have about four to six weeks a year where you'd want to be holed up in the cabin or in the water, which can be tricky to find. We need to know how to load up for winter, survive the summer, and not die of dehydration. And like every place with lore, we have a guy who trained two tame elk, Thunder and Buttons, to pull a carriage, plus tunnels and brothels and churches, oh my. We love it here. What we know: Thunder and Buttons were elk; Prairie Dog O'Byrne drove them hitched to a carriage on this avenue in the late 1880s. The tunnels under the avenue are documented by the historical society, with the honest caveat that some of it may be something else. Colorado City voted itself dry in 1913. Where that came from: Westside Pioneer, 2006 · Cobweb Corners, 2005 · Gazette, July 2021, the tunnels · Thunder and Buttons II ## Around the avenue ## Getting to know them is the point I don't know everyone yet. Getting to know them is the point. Jeff Adkins What we know so far: Who's opening and who's moving: we've heard about three and have an address for none, so none are named yet. Send the name and the block. The Old Colorado City Historical Society runs a free museum at 1 South 24th, a block off the avenue. Tuesday through Saturday, 11 to 4 in summer and 11 to 2 in winter. Call before you drive. The free Tuesday concerts at the Bancroft Park bandshell ran June 2 through September 29 this year, 5:30, Dizzy Charlie's and the Pikes Peak Blues Community. Next summer's lineup runs here the week it's announced. First Friday art walk, 5 to 8, galleries and studios along the avenue. Next one is November 6. The Customs and Classics car show closes the avenue from 23rd to 27th one Sunday every August. If the one you went to was a different show this fall, tell us which. This is the stuff I get to see everyone else doing. I enjoy seeing them do it. It doesn't matter to me if I don't know anyone in the room, because getting to know them is the point of this life. And that's what I'm here to capture in this paper. I shouldn't pretend to know things I don't. Where that came from: OCC History Center · Tuesday concerts (Springs Magazine) · First Friday (OCC calendar) · The car show (Pioneer, 2018) ## What came before us ## I want it all Mel McFarland died in September; I indexed the 604 columns I found. Eight digs, from the capital that got away to the forgotten cemetery. Jeff Adkins Start here: Mel McFarland, who wrote the Westside's past in the Pioneer for fifteen years, died in September at 81. Most of what is below comes from his columns. I found 604 and indexed every one I found; the one-line summaries there are software drafts, not yet checked one by one. Who keeps the record now is a question this paper exists to answer. I want the best stories from Old Colorado City. I want to dig down and find the most awesome stuff we can publish: how people first lived here, how it went from zero to what it is today, funny things, shootouts, jail time for crimes that make us laugh and cry, mysteries and murders. I want it all. What did we used to do and stop? What was, but isn't? What could have been, but never was? The digs I can't do alone: your church, your family, your block. Send them. What we found first: The capital that got away. Colorado City was founded in August 1859 to outfit gold seekers, was the county seat by 1861, and held the territorial capital just long enough to lose it to Denver. One account says the town was deemed too rowdy. Zero to four thousand. Mel has the town past 2,000 by 1890; the 1892 fire-insurance map (the Sanborn) writes 2,000 on its own cover, and the 1902 sheet writes 4,000. The town voted itself dry in 1913, lost the saloon money, and voted to be annexed by Colorado Springs in April 1917. Four saloons to twenty-seven. By the Pioneer's 2009 count (a feature, not one of Mel's columns): four in 1884, twenty-three by 1888, twenty-seven in 1902 plus thirty-some gambling halls, on a main street that also had the churches. Laura Bell McDaniel. From the Pioneer's 2011 profile, not the index: queen of the tenderloin; her last house was the Tribley House in the 2600 block of West Cucharras. She married Tom McDaniel in April 1887 in Salida; a month later he shot a man five times while she watched, and was acquitted. She divorced him in 1893. Accused in November 1917 of stealing liquor and acquitted; the historian who wrote her up thinks it was a set-up. Died in a car crash in January 1918. The elk were O'Byrne's by Mel's column (bought in Aspen in 1888); a 2006 Pioneer piece has her riding beside him in the carriage. The Glass Works. Full production in 1889 with 200 men on the south edge of town, bottling Manitou water. The furnace top collapsed just after midnight on September 9, 1892. Wheeler promised to rebuild; the Silver Panic of 1893 and the lost customers finished it. One of Mel's columns says it closed in 1895, another says by 1900; one puts a fire in 1893 as well. The Midland shops. The Colorado Midland started here in 1886 and quit in 1918; the Midland Terminal ran the line to Divide until it was scrapped in 1949. Hundreds of men in the shops at the peak, under a hundred by 1925, about fifty by 1948; the office burned in 1953. The fourteen-stall roundhouse is the one that lived: Van Briggle pottery, then the shops you walk through now. The mills. The Colorado-Philadelphia came first, in 1894 by one of Mel's columns and about 1897 by another, near 31st and U.S. 24. Golden Cycle took over the Telluride mill in 1906, rebuilt it with cyanide after a 1907 fire, and ran it until 1949; the smokestack is still there. The forgotten cemetery. Colorado City's Pioneer cemetery, on the mesa, used from about 1860 to 1917. Not every burial was moved; the stones came out in the 1940s and it became Pioneer Park in the 1950s. Graves were mapped with metal detectors in the 1970s, a project Mel joined, and a cast-iron coffin may still be there. Who is in it is still the question. Where that came from: Why the fuss? (Pioneer) · Laura Bell McDaniel (Pioneer, 2011) · Thunder and Buttons (Cobweb Corners, 2005) · The Glass Works, 200 men (Cobweb Corners, 2011) · The Glass Works fire (Cobweb Corners, 2011) · The Glass Works closed 1895 (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The Midland, 1886 to 1918 (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The Midland shops decline (Cobweb Corners, 2009) · The roundhouse (Cobweb Corners, 2007) · The mills (Cobweb Corners, 2013) · Golden Cycle closes, 1949 (Cobweb Corners, 2006) · The capital, the county seat (Cobweb Corners, 2009) · The forgotten cemetery (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The forgotten cemetery (Cobweb Corners, 2017) · Mel McFarland, 1944 to 2026 (Gazette) · Every Cobweb Corners column, indexed · Colorado City Iris, digitized (CHNC) If something here is wrong, reply to the email or send it in below. Corrections run at the top of the next issue. Behind the masthead: Sanborn fire insurance map of Colorado City, November 1902, sheet 1. Library of Congress, public domain. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad <https://westsidewherewithal.com/la-vecina> Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad La Vecina, la mesa en español. Traducción nuestra; buscamos a un vecino o vecina que la tome y firme aquí. Vecina, vecino: Le escribo con las hojas ya cambiando de color y las tardes más cortas. Aquí entre nosotros, quería contarle lo que sé. Si usted vive al oeste de la I-25, este periódico es para usted. Se llama The Westside Wherewithal, sale cada semana y es gratis. Lo escribimos entre vecinos: lo que abre, lo que cierra, lo que se vota, lo que llega al parque. Y queremos saber de usted. Cuéntenos lo que ve en su cuadra, en su iglesia, en su trabajo, y hágalo en español, en sus propias palabras. Si esta semana necesita una mano, vaya a Westside CARES, en 2808 W Colorado Ave. Abren de lunes a jueves, de 9:30 a.m. a 12:30 p.m., y no hace falta cita. Atienden a todos los que viven al oeste de la I-25. Llame al 719-389-0759. También tiene el Westside Community Center, en 1628 W Bijou St, teléfono 719-385-7920. Abre lunes y viernes, de 9 a.m. a 3 p.m., y de martes a jueves, de 9 a.m. a 7 p.m. Ahora el voto, en claro. Hasta el 26 de octubre puede registrarse, o revisar si ya está registrado, en GoVoteColorado.gov. Pasada esa fecha, todavía puede hacerlo en persona, hasta el día de la elección. Y para dejar su boleta, las urnas están abiertas hasta las 7 p.m. del 3 de noviembre en cuatro lugares: el centro comercial Red Rock Canyon, 3141 W Colorado Ave; Bear Creek Regional Park, 2002 Creek Crossing St; la oficina del secretario del condado, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd; y el ayuntamiento de Manitou, 606 Manitou Ave. Aquí no le decimos cómo votar. Solo le decimos dónde y cuándo. En diciembre el Christkindlmarket vuelve a Bancroft Park. Cuando tengamos los días, se los pasamos aquí. Si quiere escribirnos, mande un texto al 719-201-5462 o un correo a hello@westsidewherewithal.com, en español. El editor no habla español de cuna. Traduce con un vecino y lo vuelve a leer con él antes de que algo se imprima. También tenemos una hoja en español en westsidewherewithal.com/sheet-es. Y una cosa honesta: esta página es traducción nuestra. Buscamos a un vecino o vecina que hable español para que tome esta mesa y firme aquí con su nombre. Hasta la próxima semana, vecino. Un abrazo, La Vecina The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The print pack <https://westsidewherewithal.com/print> The print pack Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The print pack Everything to print this week, how many, and where it goes. Any copy shop; a home printer works for the one-sheets. What to print PrintFileHowCopies The one-sheetsheet.pdfLetter, one side (two sides if you want the puzzle back: sheet-back.pdf)20 Large printsheet-large.pdfLetter, two sides5 La hoja (Spanish)sheet-es.pdfLetter, one side10 The box editionzine-box.pdfLetter, landscape, two sheets, two-sided, flip on the short edge; nest sheet 2 inside sheet 1, fold once; no staples20 Every print says "good till Oct 25" or has no dates. A stale stack gets swapped; call and we bring more. Where it goes PlaceWhatHow many The gas station at 31stone-sheet5 The hardware storeone-sheet5 A diner on the avenueone-sheet, and ask about a tray5 The OCC History Center, 1 S 24thone-sheet5 The office mailbox stays closed; keep five of each in the car for the next counter that asksone-sheet, box edition5 and 5 The grocery at 31stla hoja10 The senior table at the community center, 1628 W Bijoularge print5 The little free library at the old Carnegie building, 701 Manitou Avebox edition8 The Head Start box, 2330 Robinson Stbox edition7 The ask at a counter, two sentences: "It's a free weekly paper for the Westside, written by neighbors, nothing for you to pay and nothing to sell. Can it sit here, and can I refill it on Thursdays?" Say yes to any condition they add. What to watch Count what's left after a week. Note any call or text to 719-201-5462 and any word find or quiz score that comes in. That's the first real test; everything before it was rehearsal. The reader inbox was empty on October 11. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Plant this (when it exists) <https://westsidewherewithal.com/seeds> Plant this (when it exists) Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Plant this (when it exists) There are no seed strips yet. This is the plan, written down before the first one so nobody has to guess. Some copies of the zine will carry a small sealed strip of seed paper. Plant it in your own yard, a friend's yard with their yes, a community garden, or a school bed with the principal's okay. Not in a park, not in open space, not in Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, the Garden of the Gods or Bear Creek, not along the creek or a trail, and never after a fire. Those places get seeded by the people who manage them, with seed matched to the ground, and a stranger's strip does more harm than good there. What's in it: Colorado natives from a Colorado grower (Western Native Seed, in Coaldale): Lewis blue flax, Rocky Mountain penstemon, blanketflower, prairie coneflower. Nothing from the state's noxious weed list, which is where the cheap "wildflower mixes" go wrong. Plant in fall; the penstemon wants a winter in the ground. Plant it, take a picture when something comes up, send it in. The best ones run in the paper with your name on them. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Take a desk <https://westsidewherewithal.com/take-a-desk> Take a desk Moved to /desks. --- # Thank you <https://westsidewherewithal.com/thanks> Thank you Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Thank you That's the whole transaction. No tier, no badge, no extra issue. The paper keeps going, and your name goes on the once-a-year list of people who chipped in, alphabetical, no amounts, unless you'd rather it didn't. Reply to any issue to say so. See you Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The elk who pulled a carriage <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-box> The elk who pulled a carriage Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The elk who pulled a carriage The Box desk, for kids and whoever is with them. When a neighbor (or a kid) takes this desk, their name goes here. Okay. You're the boss today. Walk to school, but make it a hunt. Find three things. One: a little free library. It's a box on a post full of books, and you can take one. We know of 27 of them west of I-25. Two you can visit: the one at the old Carnegie library building, 701 Manitou Ave, and the one at the Head Start, 2330 Robinson St. Two: the red rocks at the end of the street. Stop and look. Three: one leaf. Pick the best one on the block. Keep it. It's a bookmark now. Okay. Now the elk. In 1888, a man named John O'Byrne got two tame elk from a judge in Aspen. He trained them to pull his tourist carriage down this very avenue. Their names were Thunder and Buttons. Yes, elk. Yes, a carriage. Eventually a movie company bought them and took them to Alaska to film advertisements. Thunder and Buttons were in commercials. (Also true.) (Bonus, also true: in 1880 a train crew calmed a cold, panicking circus elephant at Colorado Springs with a keg of beer. Aunt's honor.) Ask a grown-up. Point at any building on your walk and ask: "What was here before?" Then listen. Your move, boss. This fall: Halloween, Oct 31, 2 to 4:30 p.m.: Trick or Treat Street on the avenue, 23rd to 28th. Costumed kids 1 to 6. Look for the orange and yellow balloons. Bring a little cousin. Mondays, 10 a.m.: the bighorn sheep program at the Garden of the Gods Visitor Center. December: the Christkindlmarket comes back to Bancroft Park, bigger than last year, with Santa at the cabin. Bonus level: the paper in the box has games. A word find whose leftover letters spell a message. A five-question quiz with the answers printed upside down. And a map to draw on: it's the 1902 map of Colorado City, when the town had 4,000 people. You can see it at westsidewherewithal.com/zine-box, page 6. The dare. Draw Thunder and Buttons pulling the carriage. Go big. Give the tourists faces. Then put it in the little free library box, or send it to hello@westsidewherewithal.com with your first name. We print the best ones. See you on the avenue. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-next-hundred> The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead The Next Hundred desk. Written from the city's own pages and the ballot; dates change, and we fix them when they do. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Right now, Colorado Avenue. Four lanes have been three from Limit to 30th since June, for up to a year. Watch the lanes. Your move: fill out the city survey after you've driven it, biked it, or crossed it with a stroller. The avenue went on a diet and nobody asked it. Oct 21 and Oct 26. The community center's neighbor group meets Wednesday the 21st at 4 p.m.; it helps steer what the center at 1628 W Bijou becomes. Monday the 26th, 5:30 p.m.: the 2027 budget's public hearing at 107 N Nevada Ave. Anyone can speak; the council calendar lists the work sessions before it. Your move: pick one and go. The budget reads better with you. Nov 3. Ballots are due by 7 p.m. County 1A would keep the public-safety sales tax going through 2037. D11's 4A is a $775 million school bond, and Coronado is on the list. Your move: vote, and use a drop box if the mail feels slow. There's one at 3141 W Colorado Ave. Seven o'clock does not negotiate. December. The Christkindlmarket comes back to Bancroft Park, bigger. Bancroft is the pupil of the eye, so a bigger market could mean a fuller avenue and fewer spots out front. Your move: go, and walk. The car can stay home. April 6, 2027. The city election: mayor and three council seats. Your move: register or check your registration, and ask every candidate what they would do about the avenue. The avenue will hear about it. April 13. Council hears the appeal on Project Taurus, the 50-megawatt data center proposed at the old Intel plant next to the homes in Chelsea Glen. The Planning Commission approved it 6 to 2 in July with a power cap and noise monitoring; council wants a noise study first, and the hearing falls a week after you vote (Colorado Politics). The developer says it is weighing the partnership, so the date could still move. Your move: read the noise study when it exists, and show up. Read quietly. April to fall 2027. A roundabout replaces the four-way stop at 31st and Fontanero by Howbert Elementary, on the western gateway to the red rocks. Parents asked about the school crossing, and the city says it will work with the school. Your move: if you walk kids there, ask the school what they've been told. Four stops become one circle. Around June 2027. The lane test's year ends, give or take. Nothing we've found says what comes after. Your move: whatever you think of the test, say so before it ends. A year is long enough for an opinion. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The man who wrote down the Westside <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-porch-mcfarland> The man who wrote down the Westside Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The man who wrote down the Westside The Porch desk. Written from the record; the editor's conversations with his family and friends are coming. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. If you ever wondered whether there really were tunnels under Colorado Avenue, Mel McFarland is a big part of why you wondered. I'll tell you what I know. He died September 21, at 81. From 2004 to 2019 he wrote 604 "Cobweb Corners" columns about this neighborhood for the Westside Pioneer. Born here in 1944, a fourth-generation native, taught art and drafting, and wrote books on the Colorado Midland Railway. In 1983 he bought a retired working caboose for his Rockrimmon backyard, and became "the Caboose Guy." Dave Martinek, who started Midland Days at Divide with him in 2009, told the Gazette: "He was the go-to person for anyone who wanted to know about railroad history in the state." His nephew Luc MacArthur called him "kind of a Renaissance man." His sister, Elaine Radney, said: "He had a lot of people who loved him." He wrote it down. Here is some of it. On February 3, 2005, he wrote down the story of John O'Byrne, who in 1888 got two tame elk, Thunder and Buttons, and trained them to pull a tourist carriage. Here is the column. On April 7, 2005, he wrote down the tunnels, the ones that let Colorado Avenue customers reach the Cucharras Street brothels unseen. He had "seen the remains of bits of both" sets of tunnels himself. On November 17, 2011, he wrote down the Glass Works disaster. Just after midnight on September 9, 1892, the furnace top collapsed and fiery glass poured out. Chunks of raw glass still show up now and then in neighborhood yards and rock walls, he wrote. On November 14, 2013, he wrote down the day a Teller County sheriff chained a Pullman sleeper car to the rails over $663.21 in unpaid taxes, and a U.S. marshal freed it two days later. Read it. Here's the thing. The Gazette says he left "file cabinets" of research and writing, and that his family hopes to sift through them, with no concrete plans yet. The next person who asks "was there really a glass plant over here?" gets a shrug. We can't fix that. What we have is an index of all 604 columns, by what each one reports, at westsidewherewithal.com/cobweb. The editor plans to call his sister, Dave Martinek, the Pioneer's editor Kenyon Jordan, and the History Center, and we'll tell you what they say. The question we're taking to them is who keeps the record now. We'd like to be part of the answer, and we'd like yours. Did a column of his stick with you? Tell us which one. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-record-dda> Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper The Record desk. Written from the city's own pages and the news; the Aug 25 minutes are still to be read. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. If you missed the council meeting last month, here is the entry. A downtown development authority, a DDA, is a small district set up by a vote. It is supposed to get its own pot of money to spend on one downtown. In 2024, Old Colorado City voters created one for the avenue. It never got its funding. It was created by a vote and ended by a vote, and the money never turned up in between. On Sept 22, City Council voted 5 to 4 to dissolve it. That's ordinance 26-48. The meeting record has the roll call. That's on paper. Yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams No: Donelson, Gold, Henjum, Leinweber The Gazette reported the first vote, on Aug 25, as the same 5 to 4. That's reported. On Oct 2, KKTV reported that the DDA is weighing legal action, because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. That's reported too. That is the whole ledger so far. Here is what we don't know: The Aug 25 minutes. We have the first vote from the news, not from the minutes. Until we've read them, the date and the count are reported, not checked. Whether a lawsuit is filed. KKTV says the DDA is considering one. We haven't found a filing. That isn't on paper. We'll say so when it is. What the DDA was going to buy. The records we have don't list its plan, so we won't guess. If you voted in 2024, or sat in those rooms, tell us what you were told. Who picks up the avenue's end of things now. Nobody has answered that in anything we've read. That isn't on paper either. We are taking the question to the next meeting. Some of those answers are in a room on a Tuesday morning. You can be in it. City Council meets the second and fourth Tuesdays at 9 a.m., 107 N Nevada Ave, and you can watch from home. You don't have to say a word. Take the one-page sheet, write down what happens, and your name goes on it. The Oct 13 meeting is the next one. If you were at the Aug 25 meeting, or you have the minutes, send them over. Tell me what I got wrong. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Where the asphalt gives up <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-ridge> Where the asphalt gives up Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Where the asphalt gives up The Ridge desk. Written from the city's pages and the groups' own sites; a canyon volunteer reads it before it prints. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Rain or snow, and the trails hold it. Friends of Red Rock Canyon says wait a day or two, because they stay muddy and fragile for 24 to 48 hours. Follow 21st down to Bear Creek, then keep going west. Around 30th and 31st the asphalt gives up. The red sandstone takes over. Red Rock Canyon is the pocket to the south. The city bought it in 2003, after it had been slated for a resort with high-rise towers and a private golf course. The city's open space page lists it among the places TOPS, the sales tax voters passed for open space, made possible. It nearly went the other way. Parking. The 31st Street trailhead has more than the High Street lots. No e-bikes in the open space. This fall. The Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th, runs a free bighorn sheep program with a touch table, Mondays 10 to 10:45 a.m. through Nov 30. Owls of the Garden is Oct 26, 12:30 to 1:30. Tickets from $5, sign up first. Oct 31, 1 to 2 p.m., a talk on why wolves in Colorado. The Garden's calendar has details. What's being decided. The Park System Master Plan goes to City Council next: the city's page lists Oct 12, a Monday work session where they talk but don't vote, and Oct 27, after the parks board heard it Oct 8. White Acres Trail is becoming the Don Ellis Trail. The board approved it Aug 13; it waits on an agreement and an $850 city fee. Fire restrictions: the city's page shows none this week, and we are checking with the fire department. We'll tell you what we hear. The seed rule. Some copies of this paper will carry a strip of Colorado native seed. Yards and community gardens, yes; parks, open space, the creek, the trails and anything that burned, no. The whole rule, and what's in the strip. Groups to join. Friends of Red Rock Canyon keeps up the benches and runs Talk and Walks, resuming soon (no date yet). The Trails and Open Space Coalition takes members and runs the One Bag Challenge cleanups. Friends of Garden of the Gods runs volunteer days. Our promise. Every Monday this desk reads the city's parks pages, and a canyon volunteer reads them with us. If nothing's new, we'll say so. Which trail was muddy this week? Tell me and I'll pass it along. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Who's cooking on the Westside this week <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-table> Who's cooking on the Westside this week Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Who's cooking on the Westside this week The Table desk. Hours are as the churches and pantries post them, checked October 11; we call before they go on the Bulletin Board. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Here's how it works. Somebody on this side of the interstate is feeding somebody nearly every day of the week, mostly out of church basements, and the people at the stoves are neighbors who are very good at it. We went looking for the tables. There are more than we figured. Everything below is what each place says on its own page as of October 11. We haven't called any of them yet, so please do before you go. Hours move, and a wrong one costs somebody a trip. Sunday The Sanctuary Church, 1930 W Colorado Ave, lists its Ragamuffin Cafe hot meal at 9 a.m. Call 719-634-7232. It's the only Sunday hot meal we found over here. If you know another, tell us. Monday Westside CARES, 2808 W Colorado Ave, posts a weekly hot meal from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Call 719-389-0759. Same day, Sacred Heart's pantry is posted noon to 2 p.m. at the Parish Center door, 2030 W Colorado Ave. No voucher. Call 719-633-8711. Tuesday Westside Global Methodist, 701 N 20th St, posts its pantry from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Call 719-633-9295. If you still call it Trinity UMC, that's the same corner with a new name, and the old building on W Pikes Peak is becoming a child care center. Wednesday The Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou St, hosts the CARES pantry from 1 to 3 p.m. Call 719-385-7920. Up the road in Manitou, the pantry at 110 Canon Ave was last reported at 1 to 2 p.m., with a hot meal starting at 12:30 p.m. Call 719-685-9259. St. Andrew's closed as a church in 2025, but the pantry kept going in the parish hall. Hats off to the people who kept it going. Thursday Sacred Heart again, same hours, same door, no voucher. Call 719-633-8711. Know another table? That's six tables, and I'd bet my good parking spot there are more. Churches, clubs, a neighbor with a big pot and a folding table. If your church or group feeds people, text 719-201-5462 or write hello@westsidewherewithal.com with the day and the hour. We'll call, confirm it, and print it, free, in your words. That's what the Bulletin Board is for. It's where every table lives, every week, so nobody has to guess which church has soup on which night. See you at the table. Tell us what we got wrong. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Three picks before Halloween <https://westsidewherewithal.com/weekend-radar> Three picks before Halloween Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Three picks before Halloween The Weekend Radar desk. Every line checked against the organizer's own page. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Two weekends, three picks, and I've already parked for all of them. Read this, then go. Go to the farmers market. Saturday, October 17, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., Bancroft Park, 24th and Colorado. It's the last Saturday of the season, with 80-some vendors, and there is no next Saturday. Go early, because the best of anything goes first. Parking: don't circle the park hoping. Take a side street and walk the last bit. Saturday, October 24 is two things at once. Pick one. First, the coffin races. The Emma Crawford Coffin Races run 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Manitou Springs. Parking: Manitou Avenue closes at 9, so get there before the road shuts and the crowd fills in, and plan to walk in. Second, the pumpkins. Pumpkins in the Park is noon to 6 p.m. on the avenue, free, with a pumpkin patch, painting, costume and carving contests, the ZOOmobile, live music and a beer garden. Parking: the avenue's diagonal spots fill on a festival Saturday, so take a side street and walk in. Don't try to do both in one afternoon. Choose, then start the day with it. The things that are always there. If the festivals are not your speed, or you just need a Thursday: trivia at OCC Brewing every Thursday, 7 to 9 p.m. Storytime at the OCC Library every Friday, 10:30 a.m. Brunch Jam Band at Mother Muff's every Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Free bingo on the 21st, Trunk or Treat on the 25th, Trick or Treat Street on the 31st and First Friday ArtWalk on November 6 are all on the full list, with times. That list lives at westsidewherewithal.com, and it's also the one-sheet on the counters around the avenue. Got something happening that we missed? Send it to hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or text 719-201-5462. We'll check it against your own page and put it in. See you Saturday. I'll be the one who parked early. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in <https://westsidewherewithal.com/year-ahead> Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in The Year Ahead desk. Written from the editor's calendar; no interviews yet. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Picture the fridge calendar. Every Thursday of 2027 is penciled in, and you're coming along. One honest aside: it's plans, all of it. Nothing has been reported yet, and some weeks may not land. Winter first. Week one: The Reset Issue. Quiet workspaces, reading refuges, and I'd be surprised if the Carnegie library stays out. And then we eat through the cold. The quest for the best broth in OCC. A reader poll for the best breakfast burrito west of I-25. A 4 a.m. shift with a Westside baker. Then February: a cocktail lounge audit off Main Street, an Alternative Valentine, pints by the fireplace, and how the vintage and antiques shops survive winter. Spring opens up. Red Rock Canyon hikes, with lunches after. The carriage house makers working out of alleys. St. Patrick week. And then the thaw, when we find out which counters open their windows. The under-$15 lunch circuit. A patio audit covering shade, noise, pints and dogs. Seed swaps. Coffee roasters. A Territory Days survival guide. A First Friday gallery crawl. Spring tap releases. Summer gets loud. Hosting out-of-towners without crossing I-25. The Bancroft Park farmers market, booth by booth. Gelato. Where a line cook eats at midnight. Secret courtyards. Quiet Fourth of July viewpoints. Live music on the bricks, and I'm hoping the bandshell gets a paragraph. You pick the coldest drinks. Then the Pueblo chile arrives. Nightcaps and jukeboxes after 10, and I'd bet Mother Muff's comes up. Then a back-to-school pantry run, Uintah Gardens an obvious stop. Fall, the leg I'm saving. The annual pizza index: Slice 420 against Rustica against Leopold's, and we'll need lots of you to settle it. Golden aspens. Autumn ciders. A locals' guide for after the tourists leave. Ghost signs, spooky lore, wood-fired and cast iron cooking (Front Range BBQ, you're on my mind). Thanksgiving hosting. Best of the Westside nominations. Small Business Saturday. And then a Black Friday antidote at Section 16 and Bear Creek. December: a 100% Westside gift guide, a winter lights walk, the Best of the Westside winners, the solstice and quiet patios, and a last issue called Looking Ahead. Every week also carries a civic item and an oral history. A 40-year diner regular. A couple who met at Bancroft in 1988. A chile roaster of 25 seasons. A dishwasher who worked 300 shifts. A high school senior looking at the Westside's future. Tell me which month I got wrong, or which place I forgot. The pencil's by the fridge, and I'll see you the first Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? <https://westsidewherewithal.com/issues/2026-10-11-issue-0> Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? 2026-10-11 Listen · about 2 min Read by a synthetic voice, made on a Mac in the newsroom. The words are the paper's. Download. In this issue Can't we just inform each other? The leaves are changing Divide anything but our bread What it's all for We choose this Can't we just inform each other? Nobody's telling us what's happening around here unless you find some corporate website that tracks you and tries to make you pay just to find out what's going on outside your door. What a drag. Can't we just inform each other, and have fun building and being in community? The leaves are changing The leaves are changing and falling, and the streets are graced with people from all walks of life. The days are growing shorter, and fall will give way to snow in a few weeks. Before we know it Santa will be at the cabin in Bancroft Park and the Christkindlmarket will be back. Divide anything but our bread I want people to see and hear themselves in our work. I want the people in this community to remember that we're in this together and that what we print is made to remind us of that. We are not here to divide anything but our bread for others, to love our neighbors, and practice mercy and kindness. What it's all for I get nervous that people's fear clouds not only their judgment but their hearts. I can be a skeptic, and quite cynical at times. I wonder what it's all for and why I'm doing this. But in the end, if one person reads our words and connects with them even a little, and it gives them a spark or the belief that they are loved, I will have done my work. We choose this I hope people are excited to see what we're up to. I hope they want to be a part of it, and that by gathering and presenting our values, beliefs and customs together, we can cherish them and let new things in while the old fades. I want Thursday to remind us that we choose this. Jeff What we told you Can't we just inform each other? The leaves are changing Divide anything but our bread What it's all for We choose this The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The archive <https://westsidewherewithal.com/issues/index> The archive Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The archive Every issue, oldest at the bottom. Free to read. If you want to chip in, the jar is on the front page. Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? 2026-10-11 The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The Westside Wherewithal <https://westsidewherewithal.com/> The Westside Wherewithal Skip to the paper We start for real in January. Sign up and the first one lands on a Thursday morning. Thursday mornings · FreeFrom your neighbors ## The Westside WherewithalBecause living west of takes a little wherewithal. Colorado Springs, Colorado A free paper for the Westside of Colorado Springs, written by the people who live here. Thursday mornings, starting January. ## Get it Thursday morning One email a week, free. Put your address in and we'll see you Thursday. Sign me up ## What the city is deciding ## About your street, before it's done You can still weigh in Open nowColorado Avenue lane test. Four lanes to three from Limit Street to 30th Street (the city's page; the Gazette says 31st), for up to a year from June 2026, paid for with $375K from the regional road tax (PPRTA, the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority). The city survey is open.The city's own page: City project page · The surveyIn the news: Gazette, lane test # Oct 26, 2026The city's 2027 budget. Public hearing Monday Oct 26, 5:30 p.m., Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada Ave. Anyone can speak. The council talks it over at work sessions first (Oct 15 is one). What's in it for the Westside, we're reading now.Changed since 2026-10-11The city's own page: the council calendar (Legistar) # Coming up Oct 21, 2026The community center's neighbor group (the Westside Community Center Alliance) meets Wednesday Oct 21, 4 p.m. It helps steer what the center at 1628 W Bijou becomes. Whether anyone can sit in, we're asking.The city's own page: city page, community centerStill looking for: the Alliance's own notice and the Parks Advisory Board's May minutesIn the news: Gazette, the Alliance # Apr 2027Roundabout at 31st and Fontanero, by Howbert Elementary, replacing the four-way stop. The open house was Sept 15. Construction April to fall 2027. Parents asked about the school crossing; the city says it will work with the school. The crossing drawing and the open-house boards are the documents we're after.In the news: KKTV, the roundabout # Apr 13, 2027Project Taurus. A 50-megawatt data center proposed at the old Intel plant, next to the homes in Chelsea Glen. The Planning Commission approved it 6 to 2 in July with a power cap and noise monitoring. Council put the appeal off 7 to 2 to April 13, a week after the city election, and wants a noise study and a study of what big power users pay first. The developer told Colorado Politics on Sept 18 it is weighing whether this is the right partnership.Still looking for: the noise studyIn the news: CPR, hearing date · Colorado Politics, the postponement · KKTV, the appeal # Already decided Sept 22, 2026Old Colorado City's downtown development authority (DDA) shut down. The tax district voters created in 2024 never got its funding. Council voted 5 to 4 on Sept 22 to dissolve it, ordinance 26-48 (yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams; no: Donelson, Gold, Henjum, Leinweber), after the same 5 to 4 on first reading Aug 25. KKTV reported Oct 2 that the DDA is weighing legal action because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. Who picks up the avenue's end of things is an open question.The city's own page: meeting record (Open Publica)Still looking for: the ordinance text itself, and the Aug 25 minutesIn the news: Gazette, the first vote · KKTV, the lawsuit threat # Coming up Every weekThe land. Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, the Garden, Bear Creek, the creek itself: fire restrictions, trail closures, anything the parks board decides. Nothing new on the city's pages this week; we look every Monday, and a canyon volunteer is looking with us.The city's own page: city parks, trails and open space # Already decided Since Apr 2023Greater Westside Community Plan. Nine neighborhoods, one plan: Gold Hill, Ivywild, Mesa, Mesa Springs, Midland, Old Colorado City, Skyway, Stratton Meadows, Westside. (The city's plan reaches past the interstate; this paper stays west of it.) The city's page lists six meetings, the last in April 2023, plus a 2022 survey and a 'Big Ideas' summary. What came next is the question we're taking to Planning, and to the neighbors who sat in those rooms.Changed since 2026-10-11The city's own page: city page, the plan # Checked October 11. Each one links to the city's own page where we found it. Where it says "still looking," we haven't found it yet (city websites, you know how it goes). If you've got it, send it over. Want to be the person in the room? Go to one meeting, write down what happened on this one-page sheet, and your name goes on it. A City Council Tuesday is the easy first one; you can watch it live or later from the couch. ## Vote ## Ballots are in the mail. Here's the Westside part. By Oct 26Register, or check that you're registered, at GoVoteColorado.gov. Moved since last time? Update it there too. After Oct 26 you can still register and vote in person, through Election Day.The city's own page: GoVoteColorado.gov # Till Nov 3, 7 p.m.Drop boxes west of I-25, open day and night: Red Rock Canyon shopping center, 3141 W Colorado Ave; Bear Creek Regional Park, 2002 Creek Crossing St; the clerk's office, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd; Manitou City Hall, 606 Manitou Ave. Mailing it? The county says by Oct 27. It has to arrive by 7 p.m. on Election Day; a postmark doesn't count.The city's own page: the county's list of boxes · El Paso County elections # On the ballotThe local ones: County 1A keeps the public-safety sales tax going through 2037. D11 4A is a $775 million school bond (Coronado is on the list). Then fourteen statewide questions; the state's Blue Book explains each one in plain words, for and against.The city's own page: the county's local questions · the Blue Book # Apr 6, 2027The city election: mayor and three council seats. Same registration, same website. We'll print the candidates and where they stand on the Westside.The city's own page: city election page # We don't tell you how to vote. We'd love for you to. If the Blue Book is a brick, if you can't get to a box, if you're not sure you're registered, call or text 719-201-5462 and a neighbor helps. The county pays election judges and trains them; sign up here if you've got a day. ## The next two weeks ## Oct 11 to Nov 8, checked against the calendars The market's last Saturday, Pumpkins in the Park, free bingo at the community center, the cemetery tour, the coffin races, and the same seven things every week. Every weekMon Boom Box Bingo, 7 to 11 p.m. (Mother Muff's)Tue Math tutoring, 4 to 5:30 p.m. (OCC Library)Wed Toddler Time, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Wed Open mic, 6 to 9 p.m. (Jives Coffee Lounge, 16 Colbrunn Ct)Thu Trivia, 7 to 9 p.m. (OCC Brewing)Fri Storytime, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Sat Paws to Read, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Sun Brunch Jam Band, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Mother Muff's) Sun Oct 11 all month Scarecrow Days: the storefront scarecrows, with a public vote, through Oct 31 the avenue Mon Oct 12 all day Westside CARES closed for Indigenous Peoples' Day 2808 W Colorado Tue Oct 13 9 a.m. City Council regular meeting (agenda on Legistar) 107 N Nevada Ave 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Small Steps, Giant Leaps, Space Foundation program for ages 2 to 6 Westside Community Center Wed Oct 14 9 a.m. City Planning Commission 2880 International Circle 5:30 to 7 p.m. Evening pickleball: donate a bag of candy to play, paddles limited Westside Community Center Thu Oct 15 7:30 a.m. Coffee with the principal Coronado High, Future Center 2 to 4 p.m. Classic board games free OCC Library 5 p.m. Mushroom Zombie Haunted House opens, through Oct 31 Mush Love Tee, the shirt shop, 2627 W Colorado Fri Oct 16 all day No school at Coronado: parent-teacher conferences, 9 to 3 in the gym Coronado High 5 to 6 p.m. Bingo at the Biscuit The Biscuit Factory Cat Lounge, 12 S 25th Sat Oct 17 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Farmers market, last Saturday of the season, 80-some vendors Bancroft Park 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Craft and art market, final Saturday History Center, 1 S 24th Sun Oct 18 evening Legends and Lore of Fairview Cemetery, a two-hour guided tour; tickets online, kids 12 and under free Fairview Cemetery, 1000 S 26th Mon Oct 19 all week Fall break at Coronado, Oct 19 to 22, no school Coronado High Wed Oct 21 4 p.m. Westside Community Center Alliance meeting Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou 5:30 to 7 p.m. Howdy Neighbor prize bingo, doors at 5, all ages, no sign-up free Westside Community Center Thu Oct 22 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Book group free OCC Library Sat Oct 24 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Emma Crawford Coffin Races, the 32nd; Manitou Avenue closes at 9 Manitou Springs noon to 6 p.m. Pumpkins in the Park: pumpkin patch, painting, face painters, costume and carving contests, the ZOOmobile, live music, a beer garden free the avenue Sun Oct 25 1 to 4 p.m. Trunk or Treat in the parking lot, and Animals of Halloween inside, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. free Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th Mon Oct 26 10 to 10:45 a.m. Bighorn sheep, an indoor program with a touch table; Mondays through Nov 30 free Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Owls of the Garden: take an owl pellet apart; $5, sign up first Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 5:30 p.m. City budget public hearing, the 2027 budget; anyone can speak Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada Ave Tue Oct 27 all day Stroll-a-Story: a storybook walk, page by page, around the library OCC Library, 2418 W Pikes Peak Thu Oct 29 7:30 to 8:45 p.m. Haunted Manitou ghost tour, $25; also Oct 30 and 31 Memorial Park, Manitou Springs Fri Oct 30 5:30 p.m. Ghost Stories of Old Manitou, a walking tour from the museum Manitou Springs Heritage Museum Sat Oct 31 1 to 2 p.m. Why wolves in Colorado, a talk Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 2 to 4:30 p.m. Trick or Treat Street: costumed kids 1 to 6, shop to shop; look for the orange and yellow balloons the avenue, 23rd to 28th 6 p.m. Manitou Phantasmagoria Shoshone Spring courtyard, Manitou Springs evening Mushroom Zombie Haunted House, last night Mush Love Tee, the shirt shop, 2627 W Colorado Tue Nov 3 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Election Day. Ballots due by 7 p.m. at a drop box; register and vote in person at the clerk's office, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd, or Manitou City Hall El Paso County Fri Nov 6 5 to 8 p.m. First Friday ArtWalk: galleries, studios and shops open late along the avenue free the avenue, 17th to 31st Sun Nov 8 11 a.m. Altitude Makers market and farmers market free Soda Springs Park, Manitou Springs Every line above came off a calendar we can link, checked October 11. The strip up top happens every week; the list is the one-time stuff. The avenue is West Colorado Avenue; OCC is Old Colorado City; D11 is the school district. If we got a time wrong, tell us and we'll fix it in the next issue. Red Rock Canyon, the churches and the school sports pages had nothing dated for these two weeks; if you know of something, send it. Where that came from: Old Colorado City events calendar · Old Colorado City Library · Westside Community Center · History Center events · Garden of the Gods calendar ## The Bulletin Board ## Suppers, pantries, services, weddings, and the ones we lost If you need something this week, start here. Free, in your words, from you or your church or your family. Food, rent and utility help: Westside CARES, 2808 W Colorado Ave, 719-389-0759. Open Monday to Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. They prefer you walk in. Closed when the schools close for weather. Serves everyone west of I-25. Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou St, 719-385-7920. Open Monday and Friday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Tuesday to Thursday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. A corkboard, not a story. Church suppers, pantry hours, services, weddings, and the ones we lost: free, in your words, from you or your church or your family. We call to check the hours before they run. Send it by Tuesday to hello@westsidewherewithal.com, by text to 719-201-5462, by mail to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, or in the box on the front page. Where that came from: Westside CARES hours · Community center hours (city page) ## The Listening Room ## Once a month. You pick where and when. Coffee with the editor, no agenda, no sign-up. The hour and the place are a vote; the winner runs in issue 1. The Listening Room isn't an office. It's one hour a month wherever we sit down, and I'd rather you picked it than me. Vote below, or write in your own. I live over here, about twenty years now, and the office on the avenue is the paper's address; it says one thing: I'm here. I'm with you. Where and when Saturday morning, the bench by the bandshell in Bancroft Park Tuesday evening, a coffee counter on the avenue Sunday afternoon, the library (once they say yes) A weeknight on Zoom, for people who work days Cast it ## The Address Book ## What was in this storefront in 1968? One storefront, one photo, what was inside. One building per issue: a photo, the address, and whoever remembers fills in the rest. The first photo is coming; if you have one, send it in below. ## Write something ## Send it in The shop that closed, the thing the city's about to do on your street, the neighbor everybody should know. Photos and drawings count, with your name on them. Send it however you like: the box below, hello@westsidewherewithal.com, a call or a text to 719-201-5462, or mail it to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs 80904. (Mail only; nobody is at the door.) We write back. Rather talk than type? Call or text 719-201-5462 and tell me out loud; I'll write it down and you hear it read back before it runs. Under 18? Send it anyway; we'll check with you or a parent before it runs. Teachers, send the whole class. Photos come by email. En español: mándenos un texto al 719-201-5462 o escríbanos a hello@westsidewherewithal.com, en español: su cena, su misa, su aviso. No lo hablo de nacimiento; lo traducimos con un vecino y se lo leemos antes de publicar. Any other language: send it anyway, and we'll find a neighbor to translate. Want a desk? The pages signed by a desk are open; here's how to take one. Got a counter, or a box on your fence? Say so and we'll bring a stack, free, and swap the stale ones. How we do things, if you're curious. Put me down for a stack, for my counter or my library box Send it in ## The jar It's free. If a Thursday was worth something to you, throw a few bucks in the jar; it pays for the email and the printing. A check by mail to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122 works too. Pay what you want Inside: What the city is deciding · The next two weeks · On the avenue · From the desks · The next 100 years · Frontier wherewithal · Around the avenue · What came before us ## On the avenue ## I never stepped inside Base Camp, 2611 W Colorado, closed October 4, and I never ate there. Tell me the place you'd go back to. Jeff Adkins Base Camp closed on October 4. I thought it looked cool, but the menu never appealed to me in the moment, and it's hard to take me away from the dozen places I adore already. I never stepped inside. That's on me, and I'm not alone. Empty storefronts are not what we want here. What keeps a place open is anyone and everyone who can afford to spend local dollars in it, and I am going to try hard to keep mixing it up. If you're thinking about working and making a living here, I wish I could appeal to you directly: we need you. Old Colorado City (OCC from here on) is a tourist destination, for locals and for travelers. I know this. I gladly give up my street parking for events because I know we need them. If I want OCC Brewing to be here 365 days a year, I need them to sustain themselves. That means me not griping about the traffic or the parking over here. Not everyone can afford to eat out or shop on the avenue. I understand that; I don't feel obligated to, and neither should you. I'm fortunate that I can budget for a meal out, and I try to go during the week, when places are less busy and could frankly use the business. So I can't complain about Base Camp closing if I didn't eat there, and I can't blame not eating there on the parking. Tell me the place you'd go back to. What we know: Base Camp, 2611 W Colorado Ave, opened March 2025 and closed October 4; the owner cited costs and the economy. Mountain Shadows, the restaurant four blocks east, closed December 2024 and sold in January. Where that came from: Gazette, Oct 2, 2026 · Gazette, Jan 20, 2025 · OCC Brewing ## From the desks ## Ten desks, one neighborhood Celebrating, remembering, forecasting. Each desk is open; a neighbor's name goes on it the day they take it. The Wherewithal desks Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in · the 52 Thursdays of 2027, as a walk through the seasons The man who wrote down the Westside · 604 columns, the elk, the tunnels, and who keeps the record now Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper · the vote, the names, what's still unknown, and how to be in the room See that building? Look again · five storefronts and what they were, from the columns and the 1902 map Where the asphalt gives up · Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, Bear Creek; this fall, and the seed rule The elk who pulled a carriage · for kids: three things to find on the walk to school, and a dare Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad · la mesa en español: ayuda, el voto, cómo escribirnos Who's cooking on the Westside this week · six tables, as their own pages say it; we call before it prints Three picks before Halloween · the market's last Saturday, the coffin races, pumpkins in the park, and where to park The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead · every date headed for your street, and the door into each one Every desk is written from the record we hold and says so at the top. None of it is an interview yet; those are coming. Every one is open: what each desk takes, and how to take one. One text, one coffee. ## The next 100 years ## Four lanes to three, for a year Four lanes to three, Limit to 30th, for a year. The city survey is open. One driver's take below; if yours differs, next issue's yours. Jeff Adkins 1902 · Sanborn fire insurance map, sheet 2, Colorado Avenue · Library of Congress, public domain 2027 · lane drawing · city of Colorado Springs, Colorado Avenue demonstration, phase two What we know: four lanes to three from Limit to 30th by the city's page (the Gazette says 31st), since June 2026, for up to a year; the city calls it the Colorado Avenue Demonstration Project; $375K of county transportation tax (PPRTA) money. The Gazette counts about 30 parking spaces added, metered; the city's page says parking changes are expected to be minimal. We've asked the project team which it is. A second phase in 2027 makes some of it permanent and redoes three blocks of streetscape (Gazette); permanent reconstruction is penciled for 2027 or 2028 (Bike Colorado Springs). The city survey is open. One driver's take, mine (and my office is on the avenue, at 2320): it's great to see so much more attention being paid to pedestrians, and it doesn't slow me down at all. I haven't timed it; if you have, send the numbers. It may add parking, metered; the city and the Gazette disagree on how much (see the record), and nobody has said yet where someone who lives over a shop parks overnight. The city is taking comments until the concrete goes down. If you drive it, bike it, or cross it with a stroller, say so. If you hate it, this space is yours next issue, same length, your name on it. What do I want to still be here in 2126? Westsiders. Hyper local, no corporate nonsense, and room for whoever shows up to stay. Where that came from: Sanborn 1902 (LoC) · City project page · The city survey · Gazette, May 20, 2026 · Bike Colorado Springs ## Frontier wherewithal ## Load up for winter, survive the summer Not just another old west town. Two tame elk, tunnels under the avenue, four to six weeks a year you'd rather be in the water. Jeff Adkins If you're new here you might think this is just another old west town. If you're passing through, maybe we should let you believe it. Our summers are dry and shorter than most, with heat that stops, starts, and lingers. I'd say we have about four to six weeks a year where you'd want to be holed up in the cabin or in the water, which can be tricky to find. We need to know how to load up for winter, survive the summer, and not die of dehydration. And like every place with lore, we have a guy who trained two tame elk, Thunder and Buttons, to pull a carriage, plus tunnels and brothels and churches, oh my. We love it here. What we know: Thunder and Buttons were elk; Prairie Dog O'Byrne drove them hitched to a carriage on this avenue in the late 1880s. The tunnels under the avenue are documented by the historical society, with the honest caveat that some of it may be something else. Colorado City voted itself dry in 1913. Where that came from: Westside Pioneer, 2006 · Cobweb Corners, 2005 · Gazette, July 2021, the tunnels · Thunder and Buttons II ## Around the avenue ## Getting to know them is the point I don't know everyone yet. Getting to know them is the point. Jeff Adkins What we know so far: Who's opening and who's moving: we've heard about three and have an address for none, so none are named yet. Send the name and the block. The Old Colorado City Historical Society runs a free museum at 1 South 24th, a block off the avenue. Tuesday through Saturday, 11 to 4 in summer and 11 to 2 in winter. Call before you drive. The free Tuesday concerts at the Bancroft Park bandshell ran June 2 through September 29 this year, 5:30, Dizzy Charlie's and the Pikes Peak Blues Community. Next summer's lineup runs here the week it's announced. First Friday art walk, 5 to 8, galleries and studios along the avenue. Next one is November 6. The Customs and Classics car show closes the avenue from 23rd to 27th one Sunday every August. If the one you went to was a different show this fall, tell us which. This is the stuff I get to see everyone else doing. I enjoy seeing them do it. It doesn't matter to me if I don't know anyone in the room, because getting to know them is the point of this life. And that's what I'm here to capture in this paper. I shouldn't pretend to know things I don't. Where that came from: OCC History Center · Tuesday concerts (Springs Magazine) · First Friday (OCC calendar) · The car show (Pioneer, 2018) ## What came before us ## I want it all Mel McFarland died in September; I indexed the 604 columns I found. Eight digs, from the capital that got away to the forgotten cemetery. Jeff Adkins Start here: Mel McFarland, who wrote the Westside's past in the Pioneer for fifteen years, died in September at 81. Most of what is below comes from his columns. I found 604 and indexed every one I found; the one-line summaries there are software drafts, not yet checked one by one. Who keeps the record now is a question this paper exists to answer. I want the best stories from Old Colorado City. I want to dig down and find the most awesome stuff we can publish: how people first lived here, how it went from zero to what it is today, funny things, shootouts, jail time for crimes that make us laugh and cry, mysteries and murders. I want it all. What did we used to do and stop? What was, but isn't? What could have been, but never was? The digs I can't do alone: your church, your family, your block. Send them. What we found first: The capital that got away. Colorado City was founded in August 1859 to outfit gold seekers, was the county seat by 1861, and held the territorial capital just long enough to lose it to Denver. One account says the town was deemed too rowdy. Zero to four thousand. Mel has the town past 2,000 by 1890; the 1892 fire-insurance map (the Sanborn) writes 2,000 on its own cover, and the 1902 sheet writes 4,000. The town voted itself dry in 1913, lost the saloon money, and voted to be annexed by Colorado Springs in April 1917. Four saloons to twenty-seven. By the Pioneer's 2009 count (a feature, not one of Mel's columns): four in 1884, twenty-three by 1888, twenty-seven in 1902 plus thirty-some gambling halls, on a main street that also had the churches. Laura Bell McDaniel. From the Pioneer's 2011 profile, not the index: queen of the tenderloin; her last house was the Tribley House in the 2600 block of West Cucharras. She married Tom McDaniel in April 1887 in Salida; a month later he shot a man five times while she watched, and was acquitted. She divorced him in 1893. Accused in November 1917 of stealing liquor and acquitted; the historian who wrote her up thinks it was a set-up. Died in a car crash in January 1918. The elk were O'Byrne's by Mel's column (bought in Aspen in 1888); a 2006 Pioneer piece has her riding beside him in the carriage. The Glass Works. Full production in 1889 with 200 men on the south edge of town, bottling Manitou water. The furnace top collapsed just after midnight on September 9, 1892. Wheeler promised to rebuild; the Silver Panic of 1893 and the lost customers finished it. One of Mel's columns says it closed in 1895, another says by 1900; one puts a fire in 1893 as well. The Midland shops. The Colorado Midland started here in 1886 and quit in 1918; the Midland Terminal ran the line to Divide until it was scrapped in 1949. Hundreds of men in the shops at the peak, under a hundred by 1925, about fifty by 1948; the office burned in 1953. The fourteen-stall roundhouse is the one that lived: Van Briggle pottery, then the shops you walk through now. The mills. The Colorado-Philadelphia came first, in 1894 by one of Mel's columns and about 1897 by another, near 31st and U.S. 24. Golden Cycle took over the Telluride mill in 1906, rebuilt it with cyanide after a 1907 fire, and ran it until 1949; the smokestack is still there. The forgotten cemetery. Colorado City's Pioneer cemetery, on the mesa, used from about 1860 to 1917. Not every burial was moved; the stones came out in the 1940s and it became Pioneer Park in the 1950s. Graves were mapped with metal detectors in the 1970s, a project Mel joined, and a cast-iron coffin may still be there. Who is in it is still the question. Where that came from: Why the fuss? (Pioneer) · Laura Bell McDaniel (Pioneer, 2011) · Thunder and Buttons (Cobweb Corners, 2005) · The Glass Works, 200 men (Cobweb Corners, 2011) · The Glass Works fire (Cobweb Corners, 2011) · The Glass Works closed 1895 (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The Midland, 1886 to 1918 (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The Midland shops decline (Cobweb Corners, 2009) · The roundhouse (Cobweb Corners, 2007) · The mills (Cobweb Corners, 2013) · Golden Cycle closes, 1949 (Cobweb Corners, 2006) · The capital, the county seat (Cobweb Corners, 2009) · The forgotten cemetery (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The forgotten cemetery (Cobweb Corners, 2017) · Mel McFarland, 1944 to 2026 (Gazette) · Every Cobweb Corners column, indexed · Colorado City Iris, digitized (CHNC) If something here is wrong, reply to the email or send it in below. Corrections run at the top of the next issue. Behind the masthead: Sanborn fire insurance map of Colorado City, November 1902, sheet 1. Library of Congress, public domain. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad <https://westsidewherewithal.com/la-vecina> Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad La Vecina, la mesa en español. Traducción nuestra; buscamos a un vecino o vecina que la tome y firme aquí. Vecina, vecino: Le escribo con las hojas ya cambiando de color y las tardes más cortas. Aquí entre nosotros, quería contarle lo que sé. Si usted vive al oeste de la I-25, este periódico es para usted. Se llama The Westside Wherewithal, sale cada semana y es gratis. Lo escribimos entre vecinos: lo que abre, lo que cierra, lo que se vota, lo que llega al parque. Y queremos saber de usted. Cuéntenos lo que ve en su cuadra, en su iglesia, en su trabajo, y hágalo en español, en sus propias palabras. Si esta semana necesita una mano, vaya a Westside CARES, en 2808 W Colorado Ave. Abren de lunes a jueves, de 9:30 a.m. a 12:30 p.m., y no hace falta cita. Atienden a todos los que viven al oeste de la I-25. Llame al 719-389-0759. También tiene el Westside Community Center, en 1628 W Bijou St, teléfono 719-385-7920. Abre lunes y viernes, de 9 a.m. a 3 p.m., y de martes a jueves, de 9 a.m. a 7 p.m. Ahora el voto, en claro. Hasta el 26 de octubre puede registrarse, o revisar si ya está registrado, en GoVoteColorado.gov. Pasada esa fecha, todavía puede hacerlo en persona, hasta el día de la elección. Y para dejar su boleta, las urnas están abiertas hasta las 7 p.m. del 3 de noviembre en cuatro lugares: el centro comercial Red Rock Canyon, 3141 W Colorado Ave; Bear Creek Regional Park, 2002 Creek Crossing St; la oficina del secretario del condado, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd; y el ayuntamiento de Manitou, 606 Manitou Ave. Aquí no le decimos cómo votar. Solo le decimos dónde y cuándo. En diciembre el Christkindlmarket vuelve a Bancroft Park. Cuando tengamos los días, se los pasamos aquí. Si quiere escribirnos, mande un texto al 719-201-5462 o un correo a hello@westsidewherewithal.com, en español. El editor no habla español de cuna. Traduce con un vecino y lo vuelve a leer con él antes de que algo se imprima. También tenemos una hoja en español en westsidewherewithal.com/sheet-es. Y una cosa honesta: esta página es traducción nuestra. Buscamos a un vecino o vecina que hable español para que tome esta mesa y firme aquí con su nombre. Hasta la próxima semana, vecino. Un abrazo, La Vecina The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The print pack <https://westsidewherewithal.com/print> The print pack Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The print pack Everything to print this week, how many, and where it goes. Any copy shop; a home printer works for the one-sheets. What to print PrintFileHowCopies The one-sheetsheet.pdfLetter, one side (two sides if you want the puzzle back: sheet-back.pdf)20 Large printsheet-large.pdfLetter, two sides5 La hoja (Spanish)sheet-es.pdfLetter, one side10 The box editionzine-box.pdfLetter, landscape, two sheets, two-sided, flip on the short edge; nest sheet 2 inside sheet 1, fold once; no staples20 Every print says "good till Oct 25" or has no dates. A stale stack gets swapped; call and we bring more. Where it goes PlaceWhatHow many The gas station at 31stone-sheet5 The hardware storeone-sheet5 A diner on the avenueone-sheet, and ask about a tray5 The OCC History Center, 1 S 24thone-sheet5 The office mailbox stays closed; keep five of each in the car for the next counter that asksone-sheet, box edition5 and 5 The grocery at 31stla hoja10 The senior table at the community center, 1628 W Bijoularge print5 The little free library at the old Carnegie building, 701 Manitou Avebox edition8 The Head Start box, 2330 Robinson Stbox edition7 The ask at a counter, two sentences: "It's a free weekly paper for the Westside, written by neighbors, nothing for you to pay and nothing to sell. Can it sit here, and can I refill it on Thursdays?" Say yes to any condition they add. What to watch Count what's left after a week. Note any call or text to 719-201-5462 and any word find or quiz score that comes in. That's the first real test; everything before it was rehearsal. The reader inbox was empty on October 11. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Plant this (when it exists) <https://westsidewherewithal.com/seeds> Plant this (when it exists) Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Plant this (when it exists) There are no seed strips yet. This is the plan, written down before the first one so nobody has to guess. Some copies of the zine will carry a small sealed strip of seed paper. Plant it in your own yard, a friend's yard with their yes, a community garden, or a school bed with the principal's okay. Not in a park, not in open space, not in Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, the Garden of the Gods or Bear Creek, not along the creek or a trail, and never after a fire. Those places get seeded by the people who manage them, with seed matched to the ground, and a stranger's strip does more harm than good there. What's in it: Colorado natives from a Colorado grower (Western Native Seed, in Coaldale): Lewis blue flax, Rocky Mountain penstemon, blanketflower, prairie coneflower. Nothing from the state's noxious weed list, which is where the cheap "wildflower mixes" go wrong. Plant in fall; the penstemon wants a winter in the ground. Plant it, take a picture when something comes up, send it in. The best ones run in the paper with your name on them. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Take a desk <https://westsidewherewithal.com/take-a-desk> Take a desk Moved to /desks. --- # Thank you <https://westsidewherewithal.com/thanks> Thank you Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Thank you That's the whole transaction. No tier, no badge, no extra issue. The paper keeps going, and your name goes on the once-a-year list of people who chipped in, alphabetical, no amounts, unless you'd rather it didn't. Reply to any issue to say so. See you Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The elk who pulled a carriage <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-box> The elk who pulled a carriage Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The elk who pulled a carriage The Box desk, for kids and whoever is with them. When a neighbor (or a kid) takes this desk, their name goes here. Okay. You're the boss today. Walk to school, but make it a hunt. Find three things. One: a little free library. It's a box on a post full of books, and you can take one. We know of 27 of them west of I-25. Two you can visit: the one at the old Carnegie library building, 701 Manitou Ave, and the one at the Head Start, 2330 Robinson St. Two: the red rocks at the end of the street. Stop and look. Three: one leaf. Pick the best one on the block. Keep it. It's a bookmark now. Okay. Now the elk. In 1888, a man named John O'Byrne got two tame elk from a judge in Aspen. He trained them to pull his tourist carriage down this very avenue. Their names were Thunder and Buttons. Yes, elk. Yes, a carriage. Eventually a movie company bought them and took them to Alaska to film advertisements. Thunder and Buttons were in commercials. (Also true.) (Bonus, also true: in 1880 a train crew calmed a cold, panicking circus elephant at Colorado Springs with a keg of beer. Aunt's honor.) Ask a grown-up. Point at any building on your walk and ask: "What was here before?" Then listen. Your move, boss. This fall: Halloween, Oct 31, 2 to 4:30 p.m.: Trick or Treat Street on the avenue, 23rd to 28th. Costumed kids 1 to 6. Look for the orange and yellow balloons. Bring a little cousin. Mondays, 10 a.m.: the bighorn sheep program at the Garden of the Gods Visitor Center. December: the Christkindlmarket comes back to Bancroft Park, bigger than last year, with Santa at the cabin. Bonus level: the paper in the box has games. A word find whose leftover letters spell a message. A five-question quiz with the answers printed upside down. And a map to draw on: it's the 1902 map of Colorado City, when the town had 4,000 people. You can see it at westsidewherewithal.com/zine-box, page 6. The dare. Draw Thunder and Buttons pulling the carriage. Go big. Give the tourists faces. Then put it in the little free library box, or send it to hello@westsidewherewithal.com with your first name. We print the best ones. See you on the avenue. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-next-hundred> The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead The Next Hundred desk. Written from the city's own pages and the ballot; dates change, and we fix them when they do. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Right now, Colorado Avenue. Four lanes have been three from Limit to 30th since June, for up to a year. Watch the lanes. Your move: fill out the city survey after you've driven it, biked it, or crossed it with a stroller. The avenue went on a diet and nobody asked it. Oct 21 and Oct 26. The community center's neighbor group meets Wednesday the 21st at 4 p.m.; it helps steer what the center at 1628 W Bijou becomes. Monday the 26th, 5:30 p.m.: the 2027 budget's public hearing at 107 N Nevada Ave. Anyone can speak; the council calendar lists the work sessions before it. Your move: pick one and go. The budget reads better with you. Nov 3. Ballots are due by 7 p.m. County 1A would keep the public-safety sales tax going through 2037. D11's 4A is a $775 million school bond, and Coronado is on the list. Your move: vote, and use a drop box if the mail feels slow. There's one at 3141 W Colorado Ave. Seven o'clock does not negotiate. December. The Christkindlmarket comes back to Bancroft Park, bigger. Bancroft is the pupil of the eye, so a bigger market could mean a fuller avenue and fewer spots out front. Your move: go, and walk. The car can stay home. April 6, 2027. The city election: mayor and three council seats. Your move: register or check your registration, and ask every candidate what they would do about the avenue. The avenue will hear about it. April 13. Council hears the appeal on Project Taurus, the 50-megawatt data center proposed at the old Intel plant next to the homes in Chelsea Glen. The Planning Commission approved it 6 to 2 in July with a power cap and noise monitoring; council wants a noise study first, and the hearing falls a week after you vote (Colorado Politics). The developer says it is weighing the partnership, so the date could still move. Your move: read the noise study when it exists, and show up. Read quietly. April to fall 2027. A roundabout replaces the four-way stop at 31st and Fontanero by Howbert Elementary, on the western gateway to the red rocks. Parents asked about the school crossing, and the city says it will work with the school. Your move: if you walk kids there, ask the school what they've been told. Four stops become one circle. Around June 2027. The lane test's year ends, give or take. Nothing we've found says what comes after. Your move: whatever you think of the test, say so before it ends. A year is long enough for an opinion. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The man who wrote down the Westside <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-porch-mcfarland> The man who wrote down the Westside Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The man who wrote down the Westside The Porch desk. Written from the record; the editor's conversations with his family and friends are coming. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. If you ever wondered whether there really were tunnels under Colorado Avenue, Mel McFarland is a big part of why you wondered. I'll tell you what I know. He died September 21, at 81. From 2004 to 2019 he wrote 604 "Cobweb Corners" columns about this neighborhood for the Westside Pioneer. Born here in 1944, a fourth-generation native, taught art and drafting, and wrote books on the Colorado Midland Railway. In 1983 he bought a retired working caboose for his Rockrimmon backyard, and became "the Caboose Guy." Dave Martinek, who started Midland Days at Divide with him in 2009, told the Gazette: "He was the go-to person for anyone who wanted to know about railroad history in the state." His nephew Luc MacArthur called him "kind of a Renaissance man." His sister, Elaine Radney, said: "He had a lot of people who loved him." He wrote it down. Here is some of it. On February 3, 2005, he wrote down the story of John O'Byrne, who in 1888 got two tame elk, Thunder and Buttons, and trained them to pull a tourist carriage. Here is the column. On April 7, 2005, he wrote down the tunnels, the ones that let Colorado Avenue customers reach the Cucharras Street brothels unseen. He had "seen the remains of bits of both" sets of tunnels himself. On November 17, 2011, he wrote down the Glass Works disaster. Just after midnight on September 9, 1892, the furnace top collapsed and fiery glass poured out. Chunks of raw glass still show up now and then in neighborhood yards and rock walls, he wrote. On November 14, 2013, he wrote down the day a Teller County sheriff chained a Pullman sleeper car to the rails over $663.21 in unpaid taxes, and a U.S. marshal freed it two days later. Read it. Here's the thing. The Gazette says he left "file cabinets" of research and writing, and that his family hopes to sift through them, with no concrete plans yet. The next person who asks "was there really a glass plant over here?" gets a shrug. We can't fix that. What we have is an index of all 604 columns, by what each one reports, at westsidewherewithal.com/cobweb. The editor plans to call his sister, Dave Martinek, the Pioneer's editor Kenyon Jordan, and the History Center, and we'll tell you what they say. The question we're taking to them is who keeps the record now. We'd like to be part of the answer, and we'd like yours. Did a column of his stick with you? Tell us which one. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-record-dda> Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper The Record desk. Written from the city's own pages and the news; the Aug 25 minutes are still to be read. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. If you missed the council meeting last month, here is the entry. A downtown development authority, a DDA, is a small district set up by a vote. It is supposed to get its own pot of money to spend on one downtown. In 2024, Old Colorado City voters created one for the avenue. It never got its funding. It was created by a vote and ended by a vote, and the money never turned up in between. On Sept 22, City Council voted 5 to 4 to dissolve it. That's ordinance 26-48. The meeting record has the roll call. That's on paper. Yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams No: Donelson, Gold, Henjum, Leinweber The Gazette reported the first vote, on Aug 25, as the same 5 to 4. That's reported. On Oct 2, KKTV reported that the DDA is weighing legal action, because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. That's reported too. That is the whole ledger so far. Here is what we don't know: The Aug 25 minutes. We have the first vote from the news, not from the minutes. Until we've read them, the date and the count are reported, not checked. Whether a lawsuit is filed. KKTV says the DDA is considering one. We haven't found a filing. That isn't on paper. We'll say so when it is. What the DDA was going to buy. The records we have don't list its plan, so we won't guess. If you voted in 2024, or sat in those rooms, tell us what you were told. Who picks up the avenue's end of things now. Nobody has answered that in anything we've read. That isn't on paper either. We are taking the question to the next meeting. Some of those answers are in a room on a Tuesday morning. You can be in it. City Council meets the second and fourth Tuesdays at 9 a.m., 107 N Nevada Ave, and you can watch from home. You don't have to say a word. Take the one-page sheet, write down what happens, and your name goes on it. The Oct 13 meeting is the next one. If you were at the Aug 25 meeting, or you have the minutes, send them over. Tell me what I got wrong. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Where the asphalt gives up <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-ridge> Where the asphalt gives up Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Where the asphalt gives up The Ridge desk. Written from the city's pages and the groups' own sites; a canyon volunteer reads it before it prints. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Rain or snow, and the trails hold it. Friends of Red Rock Canyon says wait a day or two, because they stay muddy and fragile for 24 to 48 hours. Follow 21st down to Bear Creek, then keep going west. Around 30th and 31st the asphalt gives up. The red sandstone takes over. Red Rock Canyon is the pocket to the south. The city bought it in 2003, after it had been slated for a resort with high-rise towers and a private golf course. The city's open space page lists it among the places TOPS, the sales tax voters passed for open space, made possible. It nearly went the other way. Parking. The 31st Street trailhead has more than the High Street lots. No e-bikes in the open space. This fall. The Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th, runs a free bighorn sheep program with a touch table, Mondays 10 to 10:45 a.m. through Nov 30. Owls of the Garden is Oct 26, 12:30 to 1:30. Tickets from $5, sign up first. Oct 31, 1 to 2 p.m., a talk on why wolves in Colorado. The Garden's calendar has details. What's being decided. The Park System Master Plan goes to City Council next: the city's page lists Oct 12, a Monday work session where they talk but don't vote, and Oct 27, after the parks board heard it Oct 8. White Acres Trail is becoming the Don Ellis Trail. The board approved it Aug 13; it waits on an agreement and an $850 city fee. Fire restrictions: the city's page shows none this week, and we are checking with the fire department. We'll tell you what we hear. The seed rule. Some copies of this paper will carry a strip of Colorado native seed. Yards and community gardens, yes; parks, open space, the creek, the trails and anything that burned, no. The whole rule, and what's in the strip. Groups to join. Friends of Red Rock Canyon keeps up the benches and runs Talk and Walks, resuming soon (no date yet). The Trails and Open Space Coalition takes members and runs the One Bag Challenge cleanups. Friends of Garden of the Gods runs volunteer days. Our promise. Every Monday this desk reads the city's parks pages, and a canyon volunteer reads them with us. If nothing's new, we'll say so. Which trail was muddy this week? Tell me and I'll pass it along. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Who's cooking on the Westside this week <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-table> Who's cooking on the Westside this week Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Who's cooking on the Westside this week The Table desk. Hours are as the churches and pantries post them, checked October 11; we call before they go on the Bulletin Board. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Here's how it works. Somebody on this side of the interstate is feeding somebody nearly every day of the week, mostly out of church basements, and the people at the stoves are neighbors who are very good at it. We went looking for the tables. There are more than we figured. Everything below is what each place says on its own page as of October 11. We haven't called any of them yet, so please do before you go. Hours move, and a wrong one costs somebody a trip. Sunday The Sanctuary Church, 1930 W Colorado Ave, lists its Ragamuffin Cafe hot meal at 9 a.m. Call 719-634-7232. It's the only Sunday hot meal we found over here. If you know another, tell us. Monday Westside CARES, 2808 W Colorado Ave, posts a weekly hot meal from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Call 719-389-0759. Same day, Sacred Heart's pantry is posted noon to 2 p.m. at the Parish Center door, 2030 W Colorado Ave. No voucher. Call 719-633-8711. Tuesday Westside Global Methodist, 701 N 20th St, posts its pantry from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Call 719-633-9295. If you still call it Trinity UMC, that's the same corner with a new name, and the old building on W Pikes Peak is becoming a child care center. Wednesday The Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou St, hosts the CARES pantry from 1 to 3 p.m. Call 719-385-7920. Up the road in Manitou, the pantry at 110 Canon Ave was last reported at 1 to 2 p.m., with a hot meal starting at 12:30 p.m. Call 719-685-9259. St. Andrew's closed as a church in 2025, but the pantry kept going in the parish hall. Hats off to the people who kept it going. Thursday Sacred Heart again, same hours, same door, no voucher. Call 719-633-8711. Know another table? That's six tables, and I'd bet my good parking spot there are more. Churches, clubs, a neighbor with a big pot and a folding table. If your church or group feeds people, text 719-201-5462 or write hello@westsidewherewithal.com with the day and the hour. We'll call, confirm it, and print it, free, in your words. That's what the Bulletin Board is for. It's where every table lives, every week, so nobody has to guess which church has soup on which night. See you at the table. Tell us what we got wrong. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Three picks before Halloween <https://westsidewherewithal.com/weekend-radar> Three picks before Halloween Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Three picks before Halloween The Weekend Radar desk. Every line checked against the organizer's own page. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Two weekends, three picks, and I've already parked for all of them. Read this, then go. Go to the farmers market. Saturday, October 17, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., Bancroft Park, 24th and Colorado. It's the last Saturday of the season, with 80-some vendors, and there is no next Saturday. Go early, because the best of anything goes first. Parking: don't circle the park hoping. Take a side street and walk the last bit. Saturday, October 24 is two things at once. Pick one. First, the coffin races. The Emma Crawford Coffin Races run 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Manitou Springs. Parking: Manitou Avenue closes at 9, so get there before the road shuts and the crowd fills in, and plan to walk in. Second, the pumpkins. Pumpkins in the Park is noon to 6 p.m. on the avenue, free, with a pumpkin patch, painting, costume and carving contests, the ZOOmobile, live music and a beer garden. Parking: the avenue's diagonal spots fill on a festival Saturday, so take a side street and walk in. Don't try to do both in one afternoon. Choose, then start the day with it. The things that are always there. If the festivals are not your speed, or you just need a Thursday: trivia at OCC Brewing every Thursday, 7 to 9 p.m. Storytime at the OCC Library every Friday, 10:30 a.m. Brunch Jam Band at Mother Muff's every Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Free bingo on the 21st, Trunk or Treat on the 25th, Trick or Treat Street on the 31st and First Friday ArtWalk on November 6 are all on the full list, with times. That list lives at westsidewherewithal.com, and it's also the one-sheet on the counters around the avenue. Got something happening that we missed? Send it to hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or text 719-201-5462. We'll check it against your own page and put it in. See you Saturday. I'll be the one who parked early. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in <https://westsidewherewithal.com/year-ahead> Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in The Year Ahead desk. Written from the editor's calendar; no interviews yet. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Picture the fridge calendar. Every Thursday of 2027 is penciled in, and you're coming along. One honest aside: it's plans, all of it. Nothing has been reported yet, and some weeks may not land. Winter first. Week one: The Reset Issue. Quiet workspaces, reading refuges, and I'd be surprised if the Carnegie library stays out. And then we eat through the cold. The quest for the best broth in OCC. A reader poll for the best breakfast burrito west of I-25. A 4 a.m. shift with a Westside baker. Then February: a cocktail lounge audit off Main Street, an Alternative Valentine, pints by the fireplace, and how the vintage and antiques shops survive winter. Spring opens up. Red Rock Canyon hikes, with lunches after. The carriage house makers working out of alleys. St. Patrick week. And then the thaw, when we find out which counters open their windows. The under-$15 lunch circuit. A patio audit covering shade, noise, pints and dogs. Seed swaps. Coffee roasters. A Territory Days survival guide. A First Friday gallery crawl. Spring tap releases. Summer gets loud. Hosting out-of-towners without crossing I-25. The Bancroft Park farmers market, booth by booth. Gelato. Where a line cook eats at midnight. Secret courtyards. Quiet Fourth of July viewpoints. Live music on the bricks, and I'm hoping the bandshell gets a paragraph. You pick the coldest drinks. Then the Pueblo chile arrives. Nightcaps and jukeboxes after 10, and I'd bet Mother Muff's comes up. Then a back-to-school pantry run, Uintah Gardens an obvious stop. Fall, the leg I'm saving. The annual pizza index: Slice 420 against Rustica against Leopold's, and we'll need lots of you to settle it. Golden aspens. Autumn ciders. A locals' guide for after the tourists leave. Ghost signs, spooky lore, wood-fired and cast iron cooking (Front Range BBQ, you're on my mind). Thanksgiving hosting. Best of the Westside nominations. Small Business Saturday. And then a Black Friday antidote at Section 16 and Bear Creek. December: a 100% Westside gift guide, a winter lights walk, the Best of the Westside winners, the solstice and quiet patios, and a last issue called Looking Ahead. Every week also carries a civic item and an oral history. A 40-year diner regular. A couple who met at Bancroft in 1988. A chile roaster of 25 seasons. A dishwasher who worked 300 shifts. A high school senior looking at the Westside's future. Tell me which month I got wrong, or which place I forgot. The pencil's by the fridge, and I'll see you the first Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? <https://westsidewherewithal.com/issues/2026-10-11-issue-0> Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? 2026-10-11 Listen · about 2 min Read by a synthetic voice, made on a Mac in the newsroom. The words are the paper's. Download. In this issue Can't we just inform each other? The leaves are changing Divide anything but our bread What it's all for We choose this Can't we just inform each other? Nobody's telling us what's happening around here unless you find some corporate website that tracks you and tries to make you pay just to find out what's going on outside your door. What a drag. Can't we just inform each other, and have fun building and being in community? The leaves are changing The leaves are changing and falling, and the streets are graced with people from all walks of life. The days are growing shorter, and fall will give way to snow in a few weeks. Before we know it Santa will be at the cabin in Bancroft Park and the Christkindlmarket will be back. Divide anything but our bread I want people to see and hear themselves in our work. I want the people in this community to remember that we're in this together and that what we print is made to remind us of that. We are not here to divide anything but our bread for others, to love our neighbors, and practice mercy and kindness. What it's all for I get nervous that people's fear clouds not only their judgment but their hearts. I can be a skeptic, and quite cynical at times. I wonder what it's all for and why I'm doing this. But in the end, if one person reads our words and connects with them even a little, and it gives them a spark or the belief that they are loved, I will have done my work. We choose this I hope people are excited to see what we're up to. I hope they want to be a part of it, and that by gathering and presenting our values, beliefs and customs together, we can cherish them and let new things in while the old fades. I want Thursday to remind us that we choose this. Jeff What we told you Can't we just inform each other? The leaves are changing Divide anything but our bread What it's all for We choose this The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The archive <https://westsidewherewithal.com/issues/index> The archive Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The archive Every issue, oldest at the bottom. Free to read. If you want to chip in, the jar is on the front page. Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? 2026-10-11 The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The Westside Wherewithal <https://westsidewherewithal.com/> The Westside Wherewithal Skip to the paper We start for real in January. Sign up and the first one lands on a Thursday morning. Thursday mornings · FreeFrom your neighbors ## The Westside WherewithalBecause living west of takes a little wherewithal. Colorado Springs, Colorado A free paper for the Westside of Colorado Springs, written by the people who live here. Thursday mornings, starting January. ## Get it Thursday morning One email a week, free. Put your address in and we'll see you Thursday. Sign me up ## What the city is deciding ## About your street, before it's done You can still weigh in Open nowColorado Avenue lane test. Four lanes to three from Limit Street to 30th Street (the city's page; the Gazette says 31st), for up to a year from June 2026, paid for with $375K from the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority (PPRTA) sales tax. The city survey is open.Changed since 2026-10-11The city's own page: City project page · The surveyIn the news: Gazette, lane test # Oct 26, 2026The city's 2027 budget. Public hearing Monday Oct 26, 5:30 p.m., Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada Ave. Anyone can speak. The council talks it over at work sessions first (Oct 15 is one). What's in it for the Westside, we're reading now.Changed since 2026-10-11The city's own page: the council calendar (Legistar) # Coming up Oct 21, 2026The community center's neighbor group (the Westside Community Center Alliance) meets Wednesday Oct 21, 4 p.m. It helps steer what the center at 1628 W Bijou becomes. Whether anyone can sit in, we're asking.The city's own page: city page, community centerStill looking for: the Alliance's own notice and the Parks Advisory Board's May minutesIn the news: Gazette, the Alliance # Apr 2027Roundabout at 31st and Fontanero, by Howbert Elementary, replacing the four-way stop. The open house was Sept 15. Construction April to fall 2027. Parents asked about the school crossing; the city says it will work with the school. The crossing drawing and the open-house boards are the documents we're after.In the news: KKTV, the roundabout # Apr 13, 2027Project Taurus. A 50-megawatt data center proposed at the old Intel plant, next to the homes in Chelsea Glen. The Planning Commission approved it 6 to 2 in July with a power cap and noise monitoring. Council put the appeal off 7 to 2 to April 13, a week after the city election, and wants a noise study and a study of what big power users pay first. The developer told Colorado Politics on Sept 18 it is weighing whether this is the right partnership.Still looking for: the noise studyIn the news: CPR, hearing date · Colorado Politics, the postponement · KKTV, the appeal # Already decided Sept 22, 2026Old Colorado City's downtown development authority (DDA) shut down. The tax district voters created in 2024 never got its funding. Council voted 5 to 4 on Sept 22 to dissolve it, ordinance 26-48 (yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams; no: Donelson, Gold, Henjum, Leinweber), after the same 5 to 4 on first reading Aug 25. KKTV reported Oct 2 that the DDA is weighing legal action because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. Who picks up the avenue's end of things is an open question.The city's own page: meeting record (Open Publica)Still looking for: the ordinance text itself, and the Aug 25 minutesIn the news: Gazette, the first vote · KKTV, the lawsuit threat # Coming up Every weekThe land. Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, the Garden, Bear Creek, the creek itself: fire restrictions, trail closures, anything the parks board decides. Nothing new on the city's pages this week; we look every Monday, and a canyon volunteer is looking with us.The city's own page: city parks, trails and open space # Already decided Since Apr 2023Greater Westside Community Plan. Nine neighborhoods, one plan: Gold Hill, Ivywild, Mesa, Mesa Springs, Midland, Old Colorado City, Skyway, Stratton Meadows, Westside. (The city's plan reaches past the interstate; this paper stays west of it.) The city's page lists six meetings, the last in April 2023, plus a 2022 survey and a 'Big Ideas' summary. What came next is the question we're taking to Planning, and to the neighbors who sat in those rooms.Changed since 2026-10-11The city's own page: city page, the plan # Checked October 11. Each one links to the city's own page where we found it. Where it says "still looking," we haven't found it yet (city websites, you know how it goes). If you've got it, send it over. Want to be the person in the room? Go to one meeting, write down what happened on this one-page sheet, and your name goes on it. A City Council Tuesday is the easy first one; you can watch it live or later from the couch. ## Vote ## Ballots are in the mail. Here's the Westside part. By Oct 26Register, or check that you're registered, at GoVoteColorado.gov. Moved since last time? Update it there too. After Oct 26 you can still register and vote in person, through Election Day.The city's own page: GoVoteColorado.gov # Till Nov 3, 7 p.m.Drop boxes west of I-25, open day and night: Red Rock Canyon shopping center, 3141 W Colorado Ave; Bear Creek Regional Park, 2002 Creek Crossing St; the clerk's office, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd; Manitou City Hall, 606 Manitou Ave. Mailing it? The county says by Oct 27. It has to arrive by 7 p.m. on Election Day; a postmark doesn't count.The city's own page: the county's list of boxes · El Paso County elections # On the ballotThe local ones: County 1A keeps the public-safety sales tax going through 2037. D11 4A is a $775 million school bond (Coronado is on the list). Then fourteen statewide questions; the state's Blue Book explains each one in plain words, for and against.The city's own page: the county's local questions · the Blue Book # Apr 6, 2027The city election: mayor and three council seats. Same registration, same website. We'll print the candidates and where they stand on the Westside.The city's own page: city election page # We don't tell you how to vote. We'd love for you to. If the Blue Book is a brick, if you can't get to a box, if you're not sure you're registered, call or text 719-201-5462 and a neighbor helps. The county pays election judges and trains them; sign up here if you've got a day. ## The next two weeks ## Oct 11 to Nov 8, checked against the calendars The market's last Saturday, Pumpkins in the Park, free bingo at the community center, the cemetery tour, the coffin races, and the same seven things every week. Every weekMon Boom Box Bingo, 7 to 11 p.m. (Mother Muff's)Tue Math tutoring, 4 to 5:30 p.m. (OCC Library)Wed Toddler Time, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Wed Open mic, 6 to 9 p.m. (Jives Coffee Lounge, 16 Colbrunn Ct)Thu Trivia, 7 to 9 p.m. (OCC Brewing)Fri Storytime, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Sat Paws to Read, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Sun Brunch Jam Band, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Mother Muff's) Sun Oct 11 all month Scarecrow Days: the storefront scarecrows, with a public vote, through Oct 31 the avenue Mon Oct 12 all day Westside CARES closed for Indigenous Peoples' Day 2808 W Colorado Tue Oct 13 9 a.m. City Council regular meeting (agenda on Legistar) 107 N Nevada Ave 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Small Steps, Giant Leaps, Space Foundation program for ages 2 to 6 Westside Community Center Wed Oct 14 9 a.m. City Planning Commission 2880 International Circle 5:30 to 7 p.m. Evening pickleball: donate a bag of candy to play, paddles limited Westside Community Center Thu Oct 15 7:30 a.m. Coffee with the principal Coronado High, Future Center 2 to 4 p.m. Classic board games free OCC Library 5 p.m. Mushroom Zombie Haunted House opens, through Oct 31 Mush Love Tee, the shirt shop, 2627 W Colorado Fri Oct 16 all day No school at Coronado: parent-teacher conferences, 9 to 3 in the gym Coronado High 5 to 6 p.m. Bingo at the Biscuit The Biscuit Factory Cat Lounge, 12 S 25th Sat Oct 17 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Farmers market, last Saturday of the season, 80-some vendors Bancroft Park 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Craft and art market, final Saturday History Center, 1 S 24th Sun Oct 18 evening Legends and Lore of Fairview Cemetery, a two-hour guided tour; tickets online, kids 12 and under free Fairview Cemetery, 1000 S 26th Mon Oct 19 all week Fall break at Coronado, Oct 19 to 22, no school Coronado High Wed Oct 21 4 p.m. Westside Community Center Alliance meeting Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou 5:30 to 7 p.m. Howdy Neighbor prize bingo, doors at 5, all ages, no sign-up free Westside Community Center Thu Oct 22 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Book group free OCC Library Sat Oct 24 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Emma Crawford Coffin Races, the 32nd; Manitou Avenue closes at 9 Manitou Springs noon to 6 p.m. Pumpkins in the Park: pumpkin patch, painting, face painters, costume and carving contests, the ZOOmobile, live music, a beer garden free the avenue Sun Oct 25 1 to 4 p.m. Trunk or Treat in the parking lot, and Animals of Halloween inside, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. free Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th Mon Oct 26 10 to 10:45 a.m. Bighorn sheep, an indoor program with a touch table; Mondays through Nov 30 free Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Owls of the Garden: take an owl pellet apart; $5, sign up first Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 5:30 p.m. City budget public hearing, the 2027 budget; anyone can speak Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada Ave Tue Oct 27 all day Stroll-a-Story: a storybook walk, page by page, around the library OCC Library, 2418 W Pikes Peak Thu Oct 29 7:30 to 8:45 p.m. Haunted Manitou ghost tour, $25; also Oct 30 and 31 Memorial Park, Manitou Springs Fri Oct 30 5:30 p.m. Ghost Stories of Old Manitou, a walking tour from the museum Manitou Springs Heritage Museum Sat Oct 31 1 to 2 p.m. Why wolves in Colorado, a talk Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 2 to 4:30 p.m. Trick or Treat Street: costumed kids 1 to 6, shop to shop; look for the orange and yellow balloons the avenue, 23rd to 28th 6 p.m. Manitou Phantasmagoria Shoshone Spring courtyard, Manitou Springs evening Mushroom Zombie Haunted House, last night Mush Love Tee, the shirt shop, 2627 W Colorado Tue Nov 3 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Election Day. Ballots due by 7 p.m. at a drop box; register and vote in person at the clerk's office, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd, or Manitou City Hall El Paso County Fri Nov 6 5 to 8 p.m. First Friday ArtWalk: galleries, studios and shops open late along the avenue free the avenue, 17th to 31st Sun Nov 8 11 a.m. Altitude Makers market and farmers market free Soda Springs Park, Manitou Springs Every line above came off a calendar we can link, checked October 11. The strip up top happens every week; the list is the one-time stuff. The avenue is West Colorado Avenue; OCC is Old Colorado City; D11 is the school district. If we got a time wrong, tell us and we'll fix it in the next issue. Red Rock Canyon, the churches and the school sports pages had nothing dated for these two weeks; if you know of something, send it. Where that came from: Old Colorado City events calendar · Old Colorado City Library · Westside Community Center · History Center events · Garden of the Gods calendar ## The Bulletin Board ## Suppers, pantries, services, weddings, and the ones we lost If you need something this week, start here. Free, in your words, from you or your church or your family. Food, rent and utility help: Westside CARES, 2808 W Colorado Ave, 719-389-0759. Open Monday to Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. They prefer you walk in. Closed when the schools close for weather. Serves everyone west of I-25. Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou St, 719-385-7920. Open Monday and Friday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Tuesday to Thursday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. A corkboard, not a story. Church suppers, pantry hours, services, weddings, and the ones we lost: free, in your words, from you or your church or your family. We call to check the hours before they run. Send it by Tuesday to hello@westsidewherewithal.com, by text to 719-201-5462, by mail to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, or in the box on the front page. Where that came from: Westside CARES hours · Community center hours (city page) ## The Listening Room ## Once a month. You pick where and when. Coffee with the editor, no agenda, no sign-up. The hour and the place are a vote; the winner runs in issue 1. The Listening Room isn't an office. It's one hour a month wherever we sit down, and I'd rather you picked it than me. Vote below, or write in your own. I live over here, about twenty years now, and the office on the avenue is the paper's address; it says one thing: I'm here. I'm with you. Where and when Saturday morning, the bench by the bandshell in Bancroft Park Tuesday evening, a coffee counter on the avenue Sunday afternoon, the library (once they say yes) A weeknight on Zoom, for people who work days Cast it ## The Address Book ## What was in this storefront in 1968? One storefront, one photo, what was inside. One building per issue: a photo, the address, and whoever remembers fills in the rest. The first photo is coming; if you have one, send it in below. ## Write something ## Send it in The shop that closed, the thing the city's about to do on your street, the neighbor everybody should know. Photos and drawings count, with your name on them. Send it however you like: the box below, hello@westsidewherewithal.com, a call or a text to 719-201-5462, or mail it to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs 80904. (Mail only; nobody is at the door.) We write back. Rather talk than type? Call or text 719-201-5462 and tell me out loud; I'll write it down and you hear it read back before it runs. Under 18? Send it anyway; we'll check with you or a parent before it runs. Teachers, send the whole class. Photos come by email. En español: mándenos un texto al 719-201-5462 o escríbanos a hello@westsidewherewithal.com, en español: su cena, su misa, su aviso. No lo hablo de nacimiento; lo traducimos con un vecino y se lo leemos antes de publicar. Any other language: send it anyway, and we'll find a neighbor to translate. Want a desk? The pages signed by a desk are open; here's how to take one. Got a counter, or a box on your fence? Say so and we'll bring a stack, free, and swap the stale ones. How we do things, if you're curious. Put me down for a stack, for my counter or my library box Send it in ## The jar It's free. If a Thursday was worth something to you, throw a few bucks in the jar; it pays for the email and the printing. A check by mail to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122 works too. Pay what you want Inside: What the city is deciding · The next two weeks · On the avenue · From the desks · The next 100 years · Frontier wherewithal · Around the avenue · What came before us ## On the avenue ## I never stepped inside Base Camp, 2611 W Colorado Ave, closed October 4, and I never ate there. Tell me the place you'd go back to. Jeff Adkins Base Camp closed on October 4. I thought it looked cool, but the menu never appealed to me in the moment, and it's hard to take me away from the dozen places I adore already. I never stepped inside. That's on me, and I'm not alone. Empty storefronts are not what we want here. What keeps a place open is anyone and everyone who can afford to spend local dollars in it, and I am going to try hard to keep mixing it up. If you're thinking about working and making a living here, I wish I could appeal to you directly: we need you. Old Colorado City (OCC from here on) is a tourist destination, for locals and for travelers. I know this. I gladly give up my street parking for events because I know we need them. If I want OCC Brewing to be here 365 days a year, I need them to sustain themselves. That means me not griping about the traffic or the parking over here. Not everyone can afford to eat out or shop on the avenue. I understand that; I don't feel obligated to, and neither should you. I'm fortunate that I can budget for a meal out, and I try to go during the week, when places are less busy and could frankly use the business. So I can't complain about Base Camp closing if I didn't eat there, and I can't blame not eating there on the parking. Tell me the place you'd go back to. What we know: Base Camp, 2611 W Colorado Ave, opened March 2025 and closed October 4; the owner cited costs and the economy. Mountain Shadows, the restaurant four blocks east, closed December 2024 and sold in January. Where that came from: Gazette, Oct 2, 2026 · Gazette, Jan 20, 2025 · OCC Brewing ## From the desks ## Ten desks, one neighborhood Celebrating, remembering, forecasting. Nine of the ten are open; a neighbor's name goes on one the day they take it. The Wherewithal desks Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in · the 52 Thursdays of 2027, as a walk through the seasons The man who wrote down the Westside · 604 columns, the elk, the tunnels, and who keeps the record now Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper · the vote, the names, what's still unknown, and how to be in the room See that building? Look again · five storefronts and what they were, from the columns and the 1902 map Where the asphalt gives up · Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, Bear Creek; this fall, and the seed rule The elk who pulled a carriage · for kids: three things to find on the walk to school, and a dare Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad · la mesa en español: ayuda, el voto, cómo escribirnos Who's cooking on the Westside this week · six tables, as their own pages say it; we call before it prints Three picks before Halloween · the market's last Saturday, the coffin races, pumpkins in the park, and where to park The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead · every date headed for your street, and the door into each one Every desk is written from the record we hold and says so at the top. None of it is an interview yet; those are coming. Every one is open: what each desk takes, and how to take one. One text, one coffee. ## The next 100 years ## Four lanes to three, for a year Four lanes to three, Limit to 30th, for a year. The city survey is open. One driver's take below; if yours differs, next issue's yours. Jeff Adkins 1902 · Sanborn fire insurance map, sheet 2, Colorado Avenue · Library of Congress, public domain 2027 · lane drawing · city of Colorado Springs, Colorado Avenue demonstration, phase two What we know: four lanes to three from Limit to 30th by the city's page (the Gazette says 31st), since June 2026, for up to a year; the city calls it the Colorado Avenue Demonstration Project; $375K of county transportation tax (PPRTA) money. The Gazette counts about 30 parking spaces added, metered; the city's page says parking changes are expected to be minimal. We've asked the project team which it is. A second phase in 2027 makes some of it permanent and redoes three blocks of streetscape (Gazette); permanent reconstruction is penciled for 2027 or 2028 (Bike Colorado Springs). The city survey is open. One driver's take, mine (and my office is on the avenue, at 2320): it's great to see so much more attention being paid to pedestrians, and it doesn't slow me down at all. I haven't timed it; if you have, send the numbers. It may add parking, metered; the city and the Gazette disagree on how much (see the record), and nobody has said yet where someone who lives over a shop parks overnight. The city is taking comments until the concrete goes down. If you drive it, bike it, or cross it with a stroller, say so. If you hate it, this space is yours next issue, same length, your name on it. What do I want to still be here in 2126? Westsiders. Hyper local, no corporate nonsense, and room for whoever shows up to stay. Where that came from: Sanborn 1902 (LoC) · City project page · The city survey · Gazette, May 20, 2026 · Bike Colorado Springs ## Frontier wherewithal ## Load up for winter, survive the summer Not just another old west town. Two tame elk, tunnels under the avenue, four to six weeks a year you'd rather be in the water. Jeff Adkins If you're new here you might think this is just another old west town. If you're passing through, maybe we should let you believe it. Our summers are dry and shorter than most, with heat that stops, starts, and lingers. I'd say we have about four to six weeks a year where you'd want to be holed up in the cabin or in the water, which can be tricky to find. We need to know how to load up for winter, survive the summer, and not die of dehydration. And like every place with lore, we have a guy who trained two tame elk, Thunder and Buttons, to pull a carriage, plus tunnels and brothels and churches, oh my. We love it here. What we know: Thunder and Buttons were elk; Prairie Dog O'Byrne drove them hitched to a carriage on this avenue in the late 1880s. The tunnels under the avenue are documented by the historical society, with the honest caveat that some of it may be something else. Colorado City voted itself dry in 1913. Where that came from: Westside Pioneer, 2006 · Cobweb Corners, 2005 · Gazette, July 2021, the tunnels · Thunder and Buttons II ## Around the avenue ## Getting to know them is the point I don't know everyone yet. Getting to know them is the point. Jeff Adkins What we know so far: Who's opening and who's moving: we've heard about three and have an address for none, so none are named yet. Send the name and the block. The Old Colorado City Historical Society runs a free museum at 1 South 24th, a block off the avenue. Tuesday through Saturday, 11 to 4 in summer and 11 to 2 in winter. Call before you drive. The free Tuesday concerts at the Bancroft Park bandshell ran June 2 through September 29 this year, 5:30, Dizzy Charlie's and the Pikes Peak Blues Community. Next summer's lineup runs here the week it's announced. First Friday art walk, 5 to 8, galleries and studios along the avenue. Next one is November 6. The Customs and Classics car show closes the avenue from 23rd to 27th one Sunday every August. If the one you went to was a different show this fall, tell us which. This is the stuff I get to see everyone else doing. I enjoy seeing them do it. It doesn't matter to me if I don't know anyone in the room, because getting to know them is the point of this life. And that's what I'm here to capture in this paper. I shouldn't pretend to know things I don't. Where that came from: OCC History Center · Tuesday concerts (Springs Magazine) · First Friday (OCC calendar) · The car show (Pioneer, 2018) ## What came before us ## I want it all Mel McFarland died in September; I indexed the 604 columns I found. Eight digs, from the capital that got away to the forgotten cemetery. Jeff Adkins Start here: Mel McFarland, who wrote the Westside's past in the Pioneer for fifteen years, died in September at 81. Most of what is below comes from his columns. I found 604 and indexed every one I found; the one-line summaries there are software drafts, not yet checked one by one. Who keeps the record now is a question this paper exists to answer. I want the best stories from Old Colorado City. I want to dig down and find the most awesome stuff we can publish: how people first lived here, how it went from zero to what it is today, funny things, shootouts, jail time for crimes that make us laugh and cry, mysteries and murders. I want it all. What did we used to do and stop? What was, but isn't? What could have been, but never was? The digs I can't do alone: your church, your family, your block. Send them. What we found first: The capital that got away. Colorado City was founded in August 1859 to outfit gold seekers, was the county seat by 1861, and held the territorial capital just long enough to lose it to Denver. One account says the town was deemed too rowdy. Zero to four thousand. Mel has the town past 2,000 by 1890; the 1892 fire-insurance map (the Sanborn) writes 2,000 on its own cover, and the 1902 sheet writes 4,000. The town voted itself dry in 1913, lost the saloon money, and voted to be annexed by Colorado Springs in April 1917. Four saloons to twenty-seven. By the Pioneer's 2009 count (a feature, not one of Mel's columns): four in 1884, twenty-three by 1888, twenty-seven in 1902 plus thirty-some gambling halls, on a main street that also had the churches. Laura Bell McDaniel. From the Pioneer's 2011 profile, not the index: queen of the tenderloin; her last house was the Tribley House in the 2600 block of West Cucharras. She married Tom McDaniel in April 1887 in Salida; a month later he shot a man five times while she watched, and was acquitted. She divorced him in 1893. Accused in November 1917 of stealing liquor and acquitted; the historian who wrote her up thinks it was a set-up. Died in a car crash in January 1918. The elk were O'Byrne's by Mel's column (bought in Aspen in 1888); a 2006 Pioneer piece has her riding beside him in the carriage. The Glass Works. Full production in 1889 with 200 men on the south edge of town, bottling Manitou water. The furnace top collapsed just after midnight on September 9, 1892. Wheeler promised to rebuild; the Silver Panic of 1893 and the lost customers finished it. One of Mel's columns says it closed in 1895, another says by 1900; one puts a fire in 1893 as well. The Midland shops. The Colorado Midland started here in 1886 and quit in 1918; the Midland Terminal ran the line to Divide until it was scrapped in 1949. Hundreds of men in the shops at the peak, under a hundred by 1925, about fifty by 1948; the office burned in 1953. The fourteen-stall roundhouse is the one that lived: Van Briggle pottery, then the shops you walk through now. The mills. The Colorado-Philadelphia came first, in 1894 by one of Mel's columns and about 1897 by another, near 31st and U.S. 24. Golden Cycle took over the Telluride mill in 1906, rebuilt it with cyanide after a 1907 fire, and ran it until 1949; the smokestack is still there. The forgotten cemetery. Colorado City's Pioneer cemetery, on the mesa, used from about 1860 to 1917. Not every burial was moved; the stones came out in the 1940s and it became Pioneer Park in the 1950s. Graves were mapped with metal detectors in the 1970s, a project Mel joined, and a cast-iron coffin may still be there. Who is in it is still the question. Where that came from: Why the fuss? (Pioneer) · Laura Bell McDaniel (Pioneer, 2011) · Thunder and Buttons (Cobweb Corners, 2005) · The Glass Works, 200 men (Cobweb Corners, 2011) · The Glass Works fire (Cobweb Corners, 2011) · The Glass Works closed 1895 (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The Midland, 1886 to 1918 (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The Midland shops decline (Cobweb Corners, 2009) · The roundhouse (Cobweb Corners, 2007) · The mills (Cobweb Corners, 2013) · Golden Cycle closes, 1949 (Cobweb Corners, 2006) · The capital, the county seat (Cobweb Corners, 2009) · The forgotten cemetery (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The forgotten cemetery (Cobweb Corners, 2017) · Mel McFarland, 1944 to 2026 (Gazette) · Every Cobweb Corners column, indexed · Colorado City Iris, digitized (CHNC) If something here is wrong, reply to the email or send it in below. Corrections run at the top of the next issue. Behind the masthead: Sanborn fire insurance map of Colorado City, November 1902, sheet 1. Library of Congress, public domain. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad <https://westsidewherewithal.com/la-vecina> Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad La Vecina, la mesa en español. Traducción nuestra; buscamos a un vecino o vecina que la tome y firme aquí. Vecina, vecino: Le escribo con las hojas ya cambiando de color y las tardes más cortas. Aquí entre nosotros, quería contarle lo que sé. Si usted vive al oeste de la I-25, este periódico es para usted. Se llama The Westside Wherewithal, sale cada semana y es gratis. Lo escribimos entre vecinos: lo que abre, lo que cierra, lo que se vota, lo que llega al parque. Y queremos saber de usted. Cuéntenos lo que ve en su cuadra, en su iglesia, en su trabajo, y hágalo en español, en sus propias palabras. Si esta semana necesita una mano, vaya a Westside CARES, en 2808 W Colorado Ave. Abren de lunes a jueves, de 9:30 a.m. a 12:30 p.m., y no hace falta cita. Atienden a todos los que viven al oeste de la I-25. Llame al 719-389-0759. También tiene el Westside Community Center, en 1628 W Bijou St, teléfono 719-385-7920. Abre lunes y viernes, de 9 a.m. a 3 p.m., y de martes a jueves, de 9 a.m. a 7 p.m. Ahora el voto, en claro. Hasta el 26 de octubre puede registrarse, o revisar si ya está registrado, en GoVoteColorado.gov. Pasada esa fecha, todavía puede hacerlo en persona, hasta el día de la elección. Y para dejar su boleta, las urnas están abiertas hasta las 7 p.m. del 3 de noviembre en cuatro lugares: el centro comercial Red Rock Canyon, 3141 W Colorado Ave; Bear Creek Regional Park, 2002 Creek Crossing St; la oficina del secretario del condado, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd; y el ayuntamiento de Manitou, 606 Manitou Ave. Aquí no le decimos cómo votar. Solo le decimos dónde y cuándo. En diciembre el Christkindlmarket vuelve a Bancroft Park. Cuando tengamos los días, se los pasamos aquí. Si quiere escribirnos, mande un texto al 719-201-5462 o un correo a hello@westsidewherewithal.com, en español. El editor no habla español de cuna. Traduce con un vecino y lo vuelve a leer con él antes de que algo se imprima. También tenemos una hoja en español en westsidewherewithal.com/sheet-es. Y una cosa honesta: esta página es traducción nuestra. Buscamos a un vecino o vecina que hable español para que tome esta mesa y firme aquí con su nombre. Hasta la próxima semana, vecino. Un abrazo, La Vecina The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The print pack <https://westsidewherewithal.com/print> The print pack Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The print pack Everything to print this week, how many, and where it goes. Any copy shop; a home printer works for the one-sheets. What to print PrintFileHowCopies The one-sheetsheet.pdfLetter, one side (two sides if you want the puzzle back: sheet-back.pdf)20 Large printsheet-large.pdfLetter, two sides5 La hoja (Spanish)sheet-es.pdfLetter, one side10 The box editionzine-box.pdfLetter, landscape, two sheets, two-sided, flip on the short edge; nest sheet 2 inside sheet 1, fold once; no staples20 Every print says "good till Oct 25" or has no dates. A stale stack gets swapped; call and we bring more. Where it goes PlaceWhatHow many The gas station at 31stone-sheet5 The hardware storeone-sheet5 A diner on the avenueone-sheet, and ask about a tray5 The OCC History Center, 1 S 24thone-sheet5 In the carone-sheet, box edition5 and 5 The grocery at 31stla hoja10 The senior table at the community center, 1628 W Bijoularge print5 The little free library at the old Carnegie building, 701 Manitou Avebox edition8 The Head Start box, 2330 Robinson Stbox edition7 Keep five of each in the car for the next counter that asks. The office mailbox is mail only, not a stop. The ask at a counter, two sentences: "It's a free weekly paper for the Westside, written by neighbors, nothing for you to pay and nothing to sell. Can it sit here, and can I refill it on Thursdays?" Say yes to any condition they add. What to watch Count what's left after a week. Note any call or text to 719-201-5462 and any word find or quiz score that comes in. That's the first real test; everything before it was rehearsal. The reader inbox was empty on October 11. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Plant this (when it exists) <https://westsidewherewithal.com/seeds> Plant this (when it exists) Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Plant this (when it exists) There are no seed strips yet. This is the plan, written down before the first one so nobody has to guess. Some copies of the zine will carry a small sealed strip of seed paper. Plant it in your own yard, a friend's yard with their yes, a community garden, or a school bed with the principal's okay. Not in a park, not in open space, not in Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, the Garden of the Gods or Bear Creek, not along the creek or a trail, and never after a fire. Those places get seeded by the people who manage them, with seed matched to the ground, and a stranger's strip does more harm than good there. What's in it: Colorado natives from a Colorado grower (Western Native Seed, in Coaldale): Lewis blue flax, Rocky Mountain penstemon, blanketflower, prairie coneflower. Nothing from the state's noxious weed list, which is where the cheap "wildflower mixes" go wrong. Plant in fall; the penstemon wants a winter in the ground. Plant it, take a picture when something comes up, send it in. The best ones run in the paper with your name on them. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Take a desk <https://westsidewherewithal.com/take-a-desk> Take a desk Moved to /desks. --- # Thank you <https://westsidewherewithal.com/thanks> Thank you Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Thank you That's the whole transaction. No tier, no badge, no extra issue. The paper keeps going, and your name goes on the once-a-year list of people who chipped in, alphabetical, no amounts, unless you'd rather it didn't. Reply to any issue to say so. See you Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The elk who pulled a carriage <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-box> The elk who pulled a carriage Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The elk who pulled a carriage The Box desk, for kids and whoever is with them. When a neighbor (or a kid) takes this desk, their name goes here. Okay. You're the boss today. Walk to school, but make it a hunt. Find three things. One: a little free library. It's a box on a post full of books, and you can take one. We know of 27 of them west of I-25. Two you can visit: the one at the old Carnegie library building, 701 Manitou Ave, and the one at the Head Start, 2330 Robinson St. Two: the red rocks at the end of the street. Stop and look. Three: one leaf. Pick the best one on the block. Keep it. It's a bookmark now. Okay. Now the elk. In 1888, a man named John O'Byrne got two tame elk from a judge in Aspen. He trained them to pull his tourist carriage down this very avenue. Their names were Thunder and Buttons. Yes, elk. Yes, a carriage. Eventually a movie company bought them and took them to Alaska to film advertisements. Thunder and Buttons were in commercials. (Also true.) (Bonus, also true: in 1880 a train crew calmed a cold, panicking circus elephant at Colorado Springs with a keg of beer. Aunt's honor.) Ask a grown-up. Point at any building on your walk and ask: "What was here before?" Then listen. Your move, boss. This fall: Halloween, Oct 31, 2 to 4:30 p.m.: Trick or Treat Street on the avenue, 23rd to 28th. Costumed kids 1 to 6. Look for the orange and yellow balloons. Bring a little cousin. Mondays, 10 a.m.: the bighorn sheep program at the Garden of the Gods Visitor Center. December: the Christkindlmarket comes back to Bancroft Park, bigger than last year, with Santa at the cabin. Bonus level: the paper in the box has games. A word find whose leftover letters spell a message. A five-question quiz with the answers printed upside down. And a map to draw on: it's the 1902 map of Colorado City, when the town had 4,000 people. You can see it at westsidewherewithal.com/zine-box, page 6. The dare. Draw Thunder and Buttons pulling the carriage. Go big. Give the tourists faces. Then put it in the little free library box, or send it to hello@westsidewherewithal.com with your first name. We print the best ones. See you on the avenue. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-next-hundred> The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead The Next Hundred desk. Written from the city's own pages and the ballot; dates change, and we fix them when they do. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Right now, Colorado Avenue. Four lanes have been three from Limit to 30th since June, for up to a year. Watch the lanes. Your move: fill out the city survey after you've driven it, biked it, or crossed it with a stroller. The avenue went on a diet and nobody asked it. Oct 21 and Oct 26. The community center's neighbor group meets Wednesday the 21st at 4 p.m.; it helps steer what the center at 1628 W Bijou becomes. Monday the 26th, 5:30 p.m.: the 2027 budget's public hearing at 107 N Nevada Ave. Anyone can speak; the council calendar lists the work sessions before it. Your move: pick one and go. The budget reads better with you. Nov 3. Ballots are due by 7 p.m. County 1A would keep the public-safety sales tax going through 2037. D11's 4A is a $775 million school bond, and Coronado is on the list. Your move: vote, and use a drop box if the mail feels slow. There's one at 3141 W Colorado Ave. Seven o'clock does not negotiate. December. The Christkindlmarket comes back to Bancroft Park, bigger. Bancroft is the pupil of the eye, so a bigger market could mean a fuller avenue and fewer spots out front. Your move: go, and walk. The car can stay home. April 6, 2027. The city election: mayor and three council seats. Your move: register or check your registration, and ask every candidate what they would do about the avenue. The avenue will hear about it. April 13. Council hears the appeal on Project Taurus, the 50-megawatt data center proposed at the old Intel plant next to the homes in Chelsea Glen. The Planning Commission approved it 6 to 2 in July with a power cap and noise monitoring; council wants a noise study first, and the hearing falls a week after you vote (Colorado Politics). The developer says it is weighing the partnership, so the date could still move. Your move: read the noise study when it exists, and show up. Read quietly. April to fall 2027. A roundabout replaces the four-way stop at 31st and Fontanero by Howbert Elementary, on the western gateway to the red rocks. Parents asked about the school crossing, and the city says it will work with the school. Your move: if you walk kids there, ask the school what they've been told. Four stops become one circle. Around June 2027. The lane test's year ends, give or take. Nothing we've found says what comes after. Your move: whatever you think of the test, say so before it ends. A year is long enough for an opinion. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The man who wrote down the Westside <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-porch-mcfarland> The man who wrote down the Westside Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The man who wrote down the Westside The Porch desk. Written from the record; the editor's conversations with his family and friends are coming. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. If you ever wondered whether there really were tunnels under Colorado Avenue, Mel McFarland is a big part of why you wondered. I'll tell you what I know. He died September 21, at 81. From 2004 to 2019 he wrote 604 "Cobweb Corners" columns about this neighborhood for the Westside Pioneer. Born here in 1944, a fourth-generation native, taught art and drafting, and wrote books on the Colorado Midland Railway. In 1983 he bought a retired working caboose for his Rockrimmon backyard, and became "the Caboose Guy." Dave Martinek, who started Midland Days at Divide with him in 2009, told the Gazette: "He was the go-to person for anyone who wanted to know about railroad history in the state." His nephew Luc MacArthur called him "kind of a Renaissance man." His sister, Elaine Radney, said: "He had a lot of people who loved him." He wrote it down. Here is some of it. On February 3, 2005, he wrote down the story of John O'Byrne, who in 1888 got two tame elk, Thunder and Buttons, and trained them to pull a tourist carriage. Here is the column. On April 7, 2005, he wrote down the tunnels, the ones that let Colorado Avenue customers reach the Cucharras Street brothels unseen. He had "seen the remains of bits of both" sets of tunnels himself. On November 17, 2011, he wrote down the Glass Works disaster. Just after midnight on September 9, 1892, the furnace top collapsed and fiery glass poured out. Chunks of raw glass still show up now and then in neighborhood yards and rock walls, he wrote. On November 14, 2013, he wrote down the day a Teller County sheriff chained a Pullman sleeper car to the rails over $663.21 in unpaid taxes, and a U.S. marshal freed it two days later. Read it. Here's the thing. The Gazette says he left "file cabinets" of research and writing, and that his family hopes to sift through them, with no concrete plans yet. The next person who asks "was there really a glass plant over here?" gets a shrug. We can't fix that. What we have is an index of all 604 columns, by what each one reports, at westsidewherewithal.com/cobweb. The editor plans to call his sister, Dave Martinek, the Pioneer's editor Kenyon Jordan, and the History Center, and we'll tell you what they say. The question we're taking to them is who keeps the record now. We'd like to be part of the answer, and we'd like yours. Did a column of his stick with you? Tell us which one. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-record-dda> Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper The Record desk. Written from the city's own pages and the news; the Aug 25 minutes are still to be read. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. If you missed the council meeting last month, here is the entry. A downtown development authority, a DDA, is a small district set up by a vote. It is supposed to get its own pot of money to spend on one downtown. In 2024, Old Colorado City voters created one for the avenue. It never got its funding. It was created by a vote and ended by a vote, and the money never turned up in between. On Sept 22, City Council voted 5 to 4 to dissolve it. That's ordinance 26-48. The meeting record has the roll call. That's on paper. Yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams No: Donelson, Gold, Henjum, Leinweber The Gazette reported the first vote, on Aug 25, as the same 5 to 4. That's reported. On Oct 2, KKTV reported that the DDA is weighing legal action, because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. That's reported too. That is the whole ledger so far. Here is what we don't know: The Aug 25 minutes. We have the first vote from the news, not from the minutes. Until we've read them, the date and the count are reported, not checked. Whether a lawsuit is filed. KKTV says the DDA is considering one. We haven't found a filing. That isn't on paper. We'll say so when it is. What the DDA was going to buy. The records we have don't list its plan, so we won't guess. If you voted in 2024, or sat in those rooms, tell us what you were told. Who picks up the avenue's end of things now. Nobody has answered that in anything we've read. That isn't on paper either. We are taking the question to the next meeting. Some of those answers are in a room on a Tuesday morning. You can be in it. City Council meets the second and fourth Tuesdays at 9 a.m., 107 N Nevada Ave, and you can watch from home. You don't have to say a word. Take the one-page sheet, write down what happens, and your name goes on it. The Oct 13 meeting is the next one. If you were at the Aug 25 meeting, or you have the minutes, send them over. Tell me what I got wrong. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Where the asphalt gives up <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-ridge> Where the asphalt gives up Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Where the asphalt gives up The Ridge desk. Written from the city's pages and the groups' own sites; a canyon volunteer reads it before it prints. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Rain or snow, and the trails hold it. Friends of Red Rock Canyon says wait a day or two, because they stay muddy and fragile for 24 to 48 hours. Follow 21st down to Bear Creek, then keep going west. Around 30th and 31st the asphalt gives up. The red sandstone takes over. Red Rock Canyon is the pocket to the south. The city bought it in 2003, after it had been slated for a resort with high-rise towers and a private golf course. The city's open space page lists it among the places TOPS, the sales tax voters passed for open space, made possible. It nearly went the other way. Parking. The 31st Street trailhead has more than the High Street lots. No e-bikes in the open space. This fall. The Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th, runs a free bighorn sheep program with a touch table, Mondays 10 to 10:45 a.m. through Nov 30. Owls of the Garden is Oct 26, 12:30 to 1:30. Tickets from $5, sign up first. Oct 31, 1 to 2 p.m., a talk on why wolves in Colorado. The Garden's calendar has details. What's being decided. The Park System Master Plan goes to City Council next: the city's page lists Oct 12, a Monday work session where they talk but don't vote, and Oct 27, after the parks board heard it Oct 8. White Acres Trail is becoming the Don Ellis Trail. The board approved it Aug 13; it waits on an agreement and an $850 city fee. Fire restrictions: the city's page shows none this week, and we are checking with the fire department. We'll tell you what we hear. The seed rule. Some copies of this paper will carry a strip of Colorado native seed. Yards and community gardens, yes; parks, open space, the creek, the trails and anything that burned, no. The whole rule, and what's in the strip. Groups to join. Friends of Red Rock Canyon keeps up the benches and runs Talk and Walks, resuming soon (no date yet). The Trails and Open Space Coalition takes members and runs the One Bag Challenge cleanups. Friends of Garden of the Gods runs volunteer days. Our promise. Every Monday this desk reads the city's parks pages, and a canyon volunteer reads them with us. If nothing's new, we'll say so. Which trail was muddy this week? Tell me and I'll pass it along. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Who's cooking on the Westside this week <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-table> Who's cooking on the Westside this week Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Who's cooking on the Westside this week The Table desk. Hours are as the churches and pantries post them, checked October 11; we call before they go on the Bulletin Board. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Here's how it works. Somebody on this side of the interstate feeds people almost every day of the week. Most of it comes out of church basements and fellowship halls, cooked by neighbors who know their way around a stockpot. We went looking for the tables. There are more than we expected. Everything below is what each kitchen posts as of October 11. Call ahead before you walk over. Hours move, and a wrong schedule costs somebody a trip. Sunday The Sanctuary Church, 1930 W Colorado Ave, serves its Ragamuffin Cafe hot meal Sunday at 9 a.m. Call 719-634-7232. It is the only Sunday hot meal on paper west of I-25. If your kitchen serves Sunday breakfast, let us know. Monday Westside CARES, 2808 W Colorado Ave, serves a weekly hot meal from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Call 719-389-0759. Sacred Heart Catholic Church opens its food pantry noon to 2 p.m. at the Parish Center door, 2030 W Colorado Ave. No voucher required. Call 719-633-8711. Tuesday Westside Global Methodist, 701 N 20th St, opens its pantry from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Call 719-633-9295. If you knew it as Trinity UMC, it is the same corner under a new name; the old building on W Pikes Peak Ave is becoming a child care center. Wednesday Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou St, hosts the Westside CARES pantry from 1 to 3 p.m. Call 719-385-7920. Up the road in Manitou Springs, the Manitou Springs Food Pantry at 110 Canon Ave runs 1 to 2 p.m., with a hot meal starting at 12:30 p.m. Call 719-685-9259. St. Andrew's closed its church doors in 2025, but volunteers kept the pantry running in the parish hall. Thursday Sacred Heart opens its Parish Center pantry doors again from noon to 2 p.m. No voucher needed. Call 719-633-8711. Know another table? That is six tables, and there are more. If your church, lodge, or block group feeds folks, text 719-201-5462 or write hello@westsidewherewithal.com with the day and time. We will call to confirm it and print it free on the Bulletin Board, in your words. See you at the table. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Three picks before Halloween <https://westsidewherewithal.com/weekend-radar> Three picks before Halloween Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Three picks before Halloween The Weekend Radar desk. Every line checked against the organizer's own page. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Two weekends, three picks, and I've already parked for all of them. Read this, then go. Go to the farmers market. Saturday, October 17, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., Bancroft Park, 24th and Colorado. It's the last Saturday of the season, with 80-some vendors, and there is no next Saturday. Go early, because the best of anything goes first. Parking: don't circle the park hoping. Take a side street and walk the last bit. Saturday, October 24 is two things at once. Pick one. First, the coffin races. The Emma Crawford Coffin Races run 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Manitou Springs. Parking: Manitou Avenue closes at 9, so get there before the road shuts and the crowd fills in, and plan to walk in. Second, the pumpkins. Pumpkins in the Park is noon to 6 p.m. on the avenue, free, with a pumpkin patch, painting, costume and carving contests, the ZOOmobile, live music and a beer garden. Parking: the avenue's diagonal spots fill on a festival Saturday, so take a side street and walk in. Don't try to do both in one afternoon. Choose, then start the day with it. The things that are always there. If the festivals are not your speed, or you just need a Thursday: trivia at OCC Brewing every Thursday, 7 to 9 p.m. Storytime at the OCC Library every Friday, 10:30 a.m. Brunch Jam Band at Mother Muff's every Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Free bingo on the 21st, Trunk or Treat on the 25th, Trick or Treat Street on the 31st and First Friday ArtWalk on November 6 are all on the full list, with times. That list lives at westsidewherewithal.com, and it's also the one-sheet on the counters around the avenue. Got something happening that we missed? Send it to hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or text 719-201-5462. We'll check it against your own page and put it in. See you Saturday. I'll be the one who parked early. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in <https://westsidewherewithal.com/year-ahead> Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in The Year Ahead desk. Written from the editor's calendar; no interviews yet. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Picture the fridge calendar. Every Thursday of 2027 is penciled in, and you're coming along. One honest aside: it's plans, all of it. Nothing has been reported yet, and some weeks may not land. Winter first. Week one: The Reset Issue. Quiet workspaces, reading refuges, and I'd be surprised if the Carnegie library stays out. And then we eat through the cold. The quest for the best broth in OCC. A reader poll for the best breakfast burrito west of I-25. A 4 a.m. shift with a Westside baker. Then February: a cocktail lounge audit off Main Street, an Alternative Valentine, pints by the fireplace, and how the vintage and antiques shops survive winter. Spring opens up. Red Rock Canyon hikes, with lunches after. The carriage house makers working out of alleys. St. Patrick week. And then the thaw, when we find out which counters open their windows. The under-$15 lunch circuit. A patio audit covering shade, noise, pints and dogs. Seed swaps. Coffee roasters. A Territory Days survival guide. A First Friday gallery crawl. Spring tap releases. Summer gets loud. Hosting out-of-towners without crossing I-25. The Bancroft Park farmers market, booth by booth. Gelato. Where a line cook eats at midnight. Secret courtyards. Quiet Fourth of July viewpoints. Live music on the bricks, and I'm hoping the bandshell gets a paragraph. You pick the coldest drinks. Then the Pueblo chile arrives. Nightcaps and jukeboxes after 10, and I'd bet Mother Muff's comes up. Then a back-to-school pantry run, Uintah Gardens an obvious stop. Fall, the leg I'm saving. The annual pizza index: Slice 420 against Rustica against Leopold's, and we'll need lots of you to settle it. Golden aspens. Autumn ciders. A locals' guide for after the tourists leave. Ghost signs, spooky lore, wood-fired and cast iron cooking (Front Range BBQ, you're on my mind). Thanksgiving hosting. Best of the Westside nominations. Small Business Saturday. And then a Black Friday antidote at Section 16 and Bear Creek. December: a 100% Westside gift guide, a winter lights walk, the Best of the Westside winners, the solstice and quiet patios, and a last issue called Looking Ahead. Every week also carries a civic item and an oral history. A 40-year diner regular. A couple who met at Bancroft in 1988. A chile roaster of 25 seasons. A dishwasher who worked 300 shifts. A high school senior looking at the Westside's future. Tell me which month I got wrong, or which place I forgot. The pencil's by the fridge, and I'll see you the first Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? <https://westsidewherewithal.com/issues/2026-10-11-issue-0> Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? 2026-10-11 Listen · about 2 min Read by a synthetic voice, made on a Mac in the newsroom. The words are the paper's. Download. In this issue Can't we just inform each other? The leaves are changing Divide anything but our bread What it's all for We choose this Can't we just inform each other? Nobody's telling us what's happening around here unless you find some corporate website that tracks you and tries to make you pay just to find out what's going on outside your door. What a drag. Can't we just inform each other, and have fun building and being in community? The leaves are changing The leaves are changing and falling, and the streets are graced with people from all walks of life. The days are growing shorter, and fall will give way to snow in a few weeks. Before we know it Santa will be at the cabin in Bancroft Park and the Christkindlmarket will be back. Divide anything but our bread I want people to see and hear themselves in our work. I want the people in this community to remember that we're in this together and that what we print is made to remind us of that. We are not here to divide anything but our bread for others, to love our neighbors, and practice mercy and kindness. What it's all for I get nervous that people's fear clouds not only their judgment but their hearts. I can be a skeptic, and quite cynical at times. I wonder what it's all for and why I'm doing this. But in the end, if one person reads our words and connects with them even a little, and it gives them a spark or the belief that they are loved, I will have done my work. We choose this I hope people are excited to see what we're up to. I hope they want to be a part of it, and that by gathering and presenting our values, beliefs and customs together, we can cherish them and let new things in while the old fades. I want Thursday to remind us that we choose this. Jeff What we told you Can't we just inform each other? The leaves are changing Divide anything but our bread What it's all for We choose this The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The archive <https://westsidewherewithal.com/issues/index> The archive Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The archive Every issue, oldest at the bottom. Free to read. If you want to chip in, the jar is on the front page. Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? 2026-10-11 The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The Westside Wherewithal <https://westsidewherewithal.com/> The Westside Wherewithal Skip to the paper We start for real in January. Sign up and the first one lands on a Thursday morning. Thursday mornings · FreeFrom your neighbors ## The Westside WherewithalBecause living west of takes a little wherewithal. Colorado Springs, Colorado A free paper for the Westside of Colorado Springs, written by the people who live here. Thursday mornings, starting January. ## Get it Thursday morning One email a week, free. Put your address in and we'll see you Thursday. Sign me up ## What the city is deciding ## About your street, before it's done You can still weigh in Open nowColorado Avenue lane test. Four lanes to three from Limit Street to 30th Street (the city's page; the Gazette says 31st), for up to a year from June 2026, paid for with $375K from the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority (PPRTA) sales tax. The city survey is open.Changed since 2026-10-11The city's own page: City project page · The surveyIn the news: Gazette, lane test # Oct 26, 2026The city's 2027 budget. Public hearing Monday Oct 26, 5:30 p.m., Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada Ave. Anyone can speak. The council talks it over at work sessions first (Oct 15 is one). What's in it for the Westside, we're reading now.Changed since 2026-10-11The city's own page: the council calendar (Legistar) # Coming up Oct 21, 2026The community center's neighbor group (the Westside Community Center Alliance) meets Wednesday Oct 21, 4 p.m. It helps steer what the center at 1628 W Bijou becomes. Whether anyone can sit in, we're asking.The city's own page: city page, community centerStill looking for: the Alliance's own notice and the Parks Advisory Board's May minutesIn the news: Gazette, the Alliance # Apr 2027Roundabout at 31st and Fontanero, by Howbert Elementary, replacing the four-way stop. The open house was Sept 15. Construction April to fall 2027. Parents asked about the school crossing; the city says it will work with the school. The crossing drawing and the open-house boards are the documents we're after.In the news: KKTV, the roundabout # Apr 13, 2027Project Taurus. A 50-megawatt data center proposed at the old Intel plant, next to the homes in Chelsea Glen. The Planning Commission approved it 6 to 2 in July with a power cap and noise monitoring. Council put the appeal off 7 to 2 to April 13, a week after the city election, and wants a noise study and a study of what big power users pay first. The developer told Colorado Politics on Sept 18 it is weighing whether this is the right partnership.Still looking for: the noise studyIn the news: CPR, hearing date · Colorado Politics, the postponement · KKTV, the appeal # Already decided Sept 22, 2026Old Colorado City's downtown development authority (DDA) shut down. The tax district voters created in 2024 never got its funding. Council voted 5 to 4 on Sept 22 to dissolve it, ordinance 26-48 (yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams; no: Donelson, Gold, Henjum, Leinweber), after the same 5 to 4 on first reading Aug 25. KKTV reported Oct 2 that the DDA is weighing legal action because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. Who picks up the avenue's end of things is an open question.The city's own page: meeting record (Open Publica)Still looking for: the ordinance text itself, and the Aug 25 minutesIn the news: Gazette, the first vote · KKTV, the lawsuit threat # Coming up Every weekThe land. Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, the Garden, Bear Creek, the creek itself: fire restrictions, trail closures, anything the parks board decides. Nothing new on the city's pages this week; we look every Monday, and a canyon volunteer is looking with us.The city's own page: city parks, trails and open space # Already decided Since Apr 2023Greater Westside Community Plan. Nine neighborhoods, one plan: Gold Hill, Ivywild, Mesa, Mesa Springs, Midland, Old Colorado City, Skyway, Stratton Meadows, Westside. (The city's plan reaches past the interstate; this paper stays west of it.) The city's page lists six meetings, the last in April 2023, plus a 2022 survey and a 'Big Ideas' summary. What came next is the question we're taking to Planning, and to the neighbors who sat in those rooms.Changed since 2026-10-11The city's own page: city page, the plan # Checked October 11. Each one links to the city's own page where we found it. Where it says "still looking," we haven't found it yet (city websites, you know how it goes). If you've got it, send it over. Want to be the person in the room? Go to one meeting, write down what happened on this one-page sheet, and your name goes on it. A City Council Tuesday is the easy first one; you can watch it live or later from the couch. ## Vote ## Ballots are in the mail. Here's the Westside part. By Oct 26Register, or check that you're registered, at GoVoteColorado.gov. Moved since last time? Update it there too. After Oct 26 you can still register and vote in person, through Election Day.The city's own page: GoVoteColorado.gov # Till Nov 3, 7 p.m.Drop boxes west of I-25, open day and night: Red Rock Canyon shopping center, 3141 W Colorado Ave; Bear Creek Regional Park, 2002 Creek Crossing St; the clerk's office, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd; Manitou City Hall, 606 Manitou Ave. Mailing it? The county says by Oct 27. It has to arrive by 7 p.m. on Election Day; a postmark doesn't count.The city's own page: the county's list of boxes · El Paso County elections # On the ballotThe local ones: County 1A keeps the public-safety sales tax going through 2037. D11 4A is a $775 million school bond (Coronado is on the list). Then fourteen statewide questions; the state's Blue Book explains each one in plain words, for and against.The city's own page: the county's local questions · the Blue Book # Apr 6, 2027The city election: mayor and three at-large council seats. Same registration, same website. We'll print the candidates and where they stand on the Westside.The city's own page: city election page # We don't tell you how to vote. We'd love for you to. If the Blue Book is a brick, if you can't get to a box, if you're not sure you're registered, call or text 719-201-5462 and a neighbor helps. The county pays election judges and trains them; sign up here if you've got a day. ## The next two weeks ## Oct 11 to Nov 8, checked against the calendars The market's last Saturday, Pumpkins in the Park, free bingo at the community center, the cemetery tour, the coffin races, and the same seven things every week. Every weekMon Boom Box Bingo, 7 to 11 p.m. (Mother Muff's)Tue Math tutoring, 4 to 5:30 p.m. (OCC Library)Wed Toddler Time, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Wed Open mic, 6 to 9 p.m. (Jives Coffee Lounge, 16 Colbrunn Ct)Thu Trivia, 7 to 9 p.m. (OCC Brewing)Fri Storytime, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Sat Paws to Read, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Sun Brunch Jam Band, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Mother Muff's) Sun Oct 11 all month Scarecrow Days: the storefront scarecrows, with a public vote, through Oct 31 the avenue Mon Oct 12 all day Westside CARES closed for Indigenous Peoples' Day 2808 W Colorado Tue Oct 13 9 a.m. City Council regular meeting (agenda on Legistar) 107 N Nevada Ave 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Small Steps, Giant Leaps, Space Foundation program for ages 2 to 6 Westside Community Center Wed Oct 14 9 a.m. City Planning Commission 2880 International Circle 5:30 to 7 p.m. Evening pickleball: donate a bag of candy to play, paddles limited Westside Community Center Thu Oct 15 7:30 a.m. Coffee with the principal Coronado High, Future Center 2 to 4 p.m. Classic board games free OCC Library 5 p.m. Mushroom Zombie Haunted House opens, through Oct 31 Mush Love Tee, the shirt shop, 2627 W Colorado Fri Oct 16 all day No school at Coronado: parent-teacher conferences, 9 to 3 in the gym Coronado High 5 to 6 p.m. Bingo at the Biscuit The Biscuit Factory Cat Lounge, 12 S 25th Sat Oct 17 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Farmers market, last Saturday of the season, 80-some vendors Bancroft Park 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Craft and art market, final Saturday History Center, 1 S 24th Sun Oct 18 evening Legends and Lore of Fairview Cemetery, a two-hour guided tour; tickets online, kids 12 and under free Fairview Cemetery, 1000 S 26th Mon Oct 19 all week Fall break at Coronado, Oct 19 to 22, no school Coronado High Wed Oct 21 4 p.m. Westside Community Center Alliance meeting Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou 5:30 to 7 p.m. Howdy Neighbor prize bingo, doors at 5, all ages, no sign-up free Westside Community Center Thu Oct 22 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Book group free OCC Library Sat Oct 24 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Emma Crawford Coffin Races, the 32nd; Manitou Avenue closes at 9 Manitou Springs noon to 6 p.m. Pumpkins in the Park: pumpkin patch, painting, face painters, costume and carving contests, the ZOOmobile, live music, a beer garden free the avenue Sun Oct 25 1 to 4 p.m. Trunk or Treat in the parking lot, and Animals of Halloween inside, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. free Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th Mon Oct 26 10 to 10:45 a.m. Bighorn sheep, an indoor program with a touch table; Mondays through Nov 30 free Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Owls of the Garden: take an owl pellet apart; $5, sign up first Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 5:30 p.m. City budget public hearing, the 2027 budget; anyone can speak Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada Ave Tue Oct 27 all day Stroll-a-Story: a storybook walk, page by page, around the library OCC Library, 2418 W Pikes Peak Thu Oct 29 7:30 to 8:45 p.m. Haunted Manitou ghost tour, $25; also Oct 30 and 31 Memorial Park, Manitou Springs Fri Oct 30 5:30 p.m. Ghost Stories of Old Manitou, a walking tour from the museum Manitou Springs Heritage Museum Sat Oct 31 1 to 2 p.m. Why wolves in Colorado, a talk Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 2 to 4:30 p.m. Trick or Treat Street: costumed kids 1 to 6, shop to shop; look for the orange and yellow balloons the avenue, 23rd to 28th 6 p.m. Manitou Phantasmagoria Shoshone Spring courtyard, Manitou Springs evening Mushroom Zombie Haunted House, last night Mush Love Tee, the shirt shop, 2627 W Colorado Tue Nov 3 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Election Day. Ballots due by 7 p.m. at a drop box; register and vote in person at the clerk's office, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd, or Manitou City Hall El Paso County Fri Nov 6 5 to 8 p.m. First Friday ArtWalk: galleries, studios and shops open late along the avenue free the avenue, 17th to 31st Sun Nov 8 11 a.m. Altitude Makers market and farmers market free Soda Springs Park, Manitou Springs Every line above came off a calendar we can link, checked October 11. The strip up top happens every week; the list is the one-time stuff. The avenue is West Colorado Avenue; OCC is Old Colorado City; D11 is the school district. If we got a time wrong, tell us and we'll fix it in the next issue. Red Rock Canyon, the churches and the school sports pages had nothing dated for these two weeks; if you know of something, send it. Where that came from: Old Colorado City events calendar · Old Colorado City Library · Westside Community Center · History Center events · Garden of the Gods calendar ## The Bulletin Board ## Suppers, pantries, services, weddings, and the ones we lost If you need something this week, start here. Free, in your words, from you or your church or your family. Food, rent and utility help: Westside CARES, 2808 W Colorado Ave, 719-389-0759. Open Monday to Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. They prefer you walk in. Closed when the schools close for weather. Serves everyone west of I-25. Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou St, 719-385-7920. Open Monday and Friday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Tuesday to Thursday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. A corkboard, not a story. Church suppers, pantry hours, services, weddings, and the ones we lost: free, in your words, from you or your church or your family. We call to check the hours before they run. Send it by Tuesday to hello@westsidewherewithal.com, by text to 719-201-5462, by mail to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, or in the box on the front page. Where that came from: Westside CARES hours · Community center hours (city page) ## The Listening Room ## Once a month. You pick where and when. Coffee with the editor, no agenda, no sign-up. The hour and the place are a vote; the winner runs in issue 1. The Listening Room isn't an office. It's one hour a month wherever we sit down, and I'd rather you picked it than me. Vote below, or write in your own. I live over here, about twenty years now, and the office on the avenue is the paper's address; it says one thing: I'm here. I'm with you. Where and when Saturday morning, the bench by the bandshell in Bancroft Park Tuesday evening, a coffee counter on the avenue Sunday afternoon, the library (once they say yes) A weeknight on Zoom, for people who work days Cast it ## The Address Book ## What was in this storefront in 1968? One storefront, one photo, what was inside. One building per issue: a photo, the address, and whoever remembers fills in the rest. The first photo is coming; if you have one, send it in below. ## Write something ## Send it in The shop that closed, the thing the city's about to do on your street, the neighbor everybody should know. Photos and drawings count, with your name on them. Send it however you like: the box below, hello@westsidewherewithal.com, a call or a text to 719-201-5462, or mail it to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs 80904. (Mail only; nobody is at the door.) We write back. Rather talk than type? Call or text 719-201-5462 and tell me out loud; I'll write it down and you hear it read back before it runs. Under 18? Send it anyway; we'll check with you or a parent before it runs. Teachers, send the whole class. Photos come by email. En español: mándenos un texto al 719-201-5462 o escríbanos a hello@westsidewherewithal.com, en español: su cena, su misa, su aviso. No lo hablo de nacimiento; lo traducimos con un vecino y se lo leemos antes de publicar. Any other language: send it anyway, and we'll find a neighbor to translate. Want a desk? The pages signed by a desk are open; here's how to take one. Got a counter, or a box on your fence? Say so and we'll bring a stack, free, and swap the stale ones. How we do things, if you're curious. Put me down for a stack, for my counter or my library box Send it in ## The jar It's free. If a Thursday was worth something to you, throw a few bucks in the jar; it pays for the email and the printing. A check by mail to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122 works too. Pay what you want Inside: What the city is deciding · The next two weeks · On the avenue · From the desks · The next 100 years · Frontier wherewithal · Around the avenue · What came before us ## On the avenue ## I never stepped inside Base Camp, 2611 W Colorado Ave, closed October 4, and I never ate there. Tell me the place you'd go back to. Jeff Adkins Base Camp closed on October 4. I thought it looked cool, but the menu never appealed to me in the moment, and it's hard to take me away from the dozen places I adore already. I never stepped inside. That's on me, and I'm not alone. Empty storefronts are not what we want here. What keeps a place open is anyone and everyone who can afford to spend local dollars in it, and I am going to try hard to keep mixing it up. If you're thinking about working and making a living here, I wish I could appeal to you directly: we need you. Old Colorado City (OCC from here on) is a tourist destination, for locals and for travelers. I know this. I gladly give up my street parking for events because I know we need them. If I want OCC Brewing to be here 365 days a year, I need them to sustain themselves. That means me not griping about the traffic or the parking over here. Not everyone can afford to eat out or shop on the avenue. I understand that; I don't feel obligated to, and neither should you. I'm fortunate that I can budget for a meal out, and I try to go during the week, when places are less busy and could frankly use the business. So I can't complain about Base Camp closing if I didn't eat there, and I can't blame not eating there on the parking. Tell me the place you'd go back to. What we know: Base Camp, 2611 W Colorado Ave, opened March 2025 and closed October 4; the owner cited costs and the economy. Mountain Shadows, the restaurant four blocks east, closed December 2024 and sold in January. Where that came from: Gazette, Oct 2, 2026 · Gazette, Jan 20, 2025 · OCC Brewing ## From the desks ## Ten desks, one neighborhood Celebrating, remembering, forecasting. Nine of the ten are open; a neighbor's name goes on one the day they take it. The Wherewithal desks Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in · the 52 Thursdays of 2027, as a walk through the seasons The man who wrote down the Westside · 604 columns, the elk, the tunnels, and who keeps the record now Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper · the vote, the names, what's still unknown, and how to be in the room See that building? Look again · five storefronts and what they were, from the columns and the 1902 map Where the asphalt gives up · Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, Bear Creek; this fall, and the seed rule The elk who pulled a carriage · for kids: three things to find on the walk to school, and a dare Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad · la mesa en español: ayuda, el voto, cómo escribirnos Who's cooking on the Westside this week · six tables, as their own pages say it; we call before it prints Three picks before Halloween · the market's last Saturday, the coffin races, pumpkins in the park, and where to park The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead · every date headed for your street, and the door into each one Every desk is written from the record we hold and says so at the top. None of it is an interview yet; those are coming. Every one is open: what each desk takes, and how to take one. One text, one coffee. ## The next 100 years ## Four lanes to three, for a year Four lanes to three, Limit to 30th, for a year. The city survey is open. One driver's take below; if yours differs, next issue's yours. Jeff Adkins 1902 · Sanborn fire insurance map, sheet 2, Colorado Avenue · Library of Congress, public domain 2027 · lane drawing · city of Colorado Springs, Colorado Avenue demonstration, phase two What we know: four lanes to three from Limit to 30th by the city's page (the Gazette says 31st), since June 2026, for up to a year; the city calls it the Colorado Avenue Demonstration Project; $375K of county transportation tax (PPRTA) money. The Gazette counts about 30 parking spaces added, metered; the city's page says parking changes are expected to be minimal. We've asked the project team which it is. A second phase in 2027 makes some of it permanent and redoes three blocks of streetscape (Gazette); permanent reconstruction is penciled for 2027 or 2028 (Bike Colorado Springs). The city survey is open. One driver's take, mine (and my office is on the avenue, at 2320): it's great to see so much more attention being paid to pedestrians, and it doesn't slow me down at all. I haven't timed it; if you have, send the numbers. It may add parking, metered; the city and the Gazette disagree on how much (see the record), and nobody has said yet where someone who lives over a shop parks overnight. The city is taking comments until the concrete goes down. If you drive it, bike it, or cross it with a stroller, say so. If you hate it, this space is yours next issue, same length, your name on it. What do I want to still be here in 2126? Westsiders. Hyper local, no corporate nonsense, and room for whoever shows up to stay. Where that came from: Sanborn 1902 (LoC) · City project page · The city survey · Gazette, May 20, 2026 · Bike Colorado Springs ## Frontier wherewithal ## Load up for winter, survive the summer Not just another old west town. Two tame elk, tunnels under the avenue, four to six weeks a year you'd rather be in the water. Jeff Adkins If you're new here you might think this is just another old west town. If you're passing through, maybe we should let you believe it. Our summers are dry and shorter than most, with heat that stops, starts, and lingers. I'd say we have about four to six weeks a year where you'd want to be holed up in the cabin or in the water, which can be tricky to find. We need to know how to load up for winter, survive the summer, and not die of dehydration. And like every place with lore, we have a guy who trained two tame elk, Thunder and Buttons, to pull a carriage, plus tunnels and brothels and churches, oh my. We love it here. What we know: Thunder and Buttons were elk; Prairie Dog O'Byrne drove them hitched to a carriage on this avenue in the late 1880s. The tunnels under the avenue are documented by the historical society, with the honest caveat that some of it may be something else. Colorado City voted itself dry in 1913. Where that came from: Westside Pioneer, 2006 · Cobweb Corners, 2005 · Gazette, July 2021, the tunnels · Thunder and Buttons II ## Around the avenue ## Getting to know them is the point I don't know everyone yet. Getting to know them is the point. Jeff Adkins What we know so far: Who's opening and who's moving: we've heard about three and have an address for none, so none are named yet. Send the name and the block. The Old Colorado City Historical Society runs a free museum at 1 South 24th, a block off the avenue. Tuesday through Saturday, 11 to 4 in summer and 11 to 2 in winter. Call before you drive. The free Tuesday concerts at the Bancroft Park bandshell ran June 2 through September 29 this year, 5:30, Dizzy Charlie's and the Pikes Peak Blues Community. Next summer's lineup runs here the week it's announced. First Friday art walk, 5 to 8, galleries and studios along the avenue. Next one is November 6. The Customs and Classics car show closes the avenue from 23rd to 27th one Sunday every August. If the one you went to was a different show this fall, tell us which. This is the stuff I get to see everyone else doing. I enjoy seeing them do it. It doesn't matter to me if I don't know anyone in the room, because getting to know them is the point of this life. And that's what I'm here to capture in this paper. I shouldn't pretend to know things I don't. Where that came from: OCC History Center · Tuesday concerts (Springs Magazine) · First Friday (OCC calendar) · The car show (Pioneer, 2018) ## What came before us ## I want it all Mel McFarland died in September; I indexed the 604 columns I found. Eight digs, from the capital that got away to the forgotten cemetery. Jeff Adkins Start here: Mel McFarland, who wrote the Westside's past in the Pioneer for fifteen years, died in September at 81. Most of what is below comes from his columns. I found 604 and indexed every one I found; the one-line summaries there are software drafts, not yet checked one by one. Who keeps the record now is a question this paper exists to answer. I want the best stories from Old Colorado City. I want to dig down and find the most awesome stuff we can publish: how people first lived here, how it went from zero to what it is today, funny things, shootouts, jail time for crimes that make us laugh and cry, mysteries and murders. I want it all. What did we used to do and stop? What was, but isn't? What could have been, but never was? The digs I can't do alone: your church, your family, your block. Send them. What we found first: The capital that got away. Colorado City was founded in August 1859 to outfit gold seekers, was the county seat by 1861, and held the territorial capital just long enough to lose it to Denver. One account says the town was deemed too rowdy. Zero to four thousand. Mel has the town past 2,000 by 1890; the 1892 fire-insurance map (the Sanborn) writes 2,000 on its own cover, and the 1902 sheet writes 4,000. The town voted itself dry in 1913, lost the saloon money, and voted to be annexed by Colorado Springs in April 1917. Four saloons to twenty-seven. By the Pioneer's 2009 count (a feature, not one of Mel's columns): four in 1884, twenty-three by 1888, twenty-seven in 1902 plus thirty-some gambling halls, on a main street that also had the churches. Laura Bell McDaniel. From the Pioneer's 2011 profile, not the index: queen of the tenderloin; her last house was the Tribley House in the 2600 block of West Cucharras. She married Tom McDaniel in April 1887 in Salida; a month later he shot a man five times while she watched, and was acquitted. She divorced him in 1893. Accused in November 1917 of stealing liquor and acquitted; the historian who wrote her up thinks it was a set-up. Died in a car crash in January 1918. The elk were O'Byrne's by Mel's column (bought in Aspen in 1888); a 2006 Pioneer piece has her riding beside him in the carriage. The Glass Works. Full production in 1889 with 200 men on the south edge of town, bottling Manitou water. The furnace top collapsed just after midnight on September 9, 1892. Wheeler promised to rebuild; the Silver Panic of 1893 and the lost customers finished it. One of Mel's columns says it closed in 1895, another says by 1900; one puts a fire in 1893 as well. The Midland shops. The Colorado Midland started here in 1886 and quit in 1918; the Midland Terminal ran the line to Divide until it was scrapped in 1949. Hundreds of men in the shops at the peak, under a hundred by 1925, about fifty by 1948; the office burned in 1953. The fourteen-stall roundhouse is the one that lived: Van Briggle pottery, then the shops you walk through now. The mills. The Colorado-Philadelphia came first, in 1894 by one of Mel's columns and about 1897 by another, near 31st and U.S. 24. Golden Cycle took over the Telluride mill in 1906, rebuilt it with cyanide after a 1907 fire, and ran it until 1949; the smokestack is still there. The forgotten cemetery. Colorado City's Pioneer cemetery, on the mesa, used from about 1860 to 1917. Not every burial was moved; the stones came out in the 1940s and it became Pioneer Park in the 1950s. Graves were mapped with metal detectors in the 1970s, a project Mel joined, and a cast-iron coffin may still be there. Who is in it is still the question. Where that came from: Why the fuss? (Pioneer) · Laura Bell McDaniel (Pioneer, 2011) · Thunder and Buttons (Cobweb Corners, 2005) · The Glass Works, 200 men (Cobweb Corners, 2011) · The Glass Works fire (Cobweb Corners, 2011) · The Glass Works closed 1895 (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The Midland, 1886 to 1918 (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The Midland shops decline (Cobweb Corners, 2009) · The roundhouse (Cobweb Corners, 2007) · The mills (Cobweb Corners, 2013) · Golden Cycle closes, 1949 (Cobweb Corners, 2006) · The capital, the county seat (Cobweb Corners, 2009) · The forgotten cemetery (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The forgotten cemetery (Cobweb Corners, 2017) · Mel McFarland, 1944 to 2026 (Gazette) · Every Cobweb Corners column, indexed · Colorado City Iris, digitized (CHNC) If something here is wrong, reply to the email or send it in below. Corrections run at the top of the next issue. Behind the masthead: Sanborn fire insurance map of Colorado City, November 1902, sheet 1. Library of Congress, public domain. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad <https://westsidewherewithal.com/la-vecina> Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad La Vecina, la mesa en español. Traducción nuestra; buscamos a un vecino o vecina que la tome y firme aquí. Vecina, vecino: Le escribo con las hojas ya cambiando de color y las tardes más cortas. Aquí entre nosotros, quería contarle lo que sé. Si usted vive al oeste de la I-25, este periódico es para usted. Se llama The Westside Wherewithal, sale cada semana y es gratis. Lo escribimos entre vecinos: lo que abre, lo que cierra, lo que se vota, lo que llega al parque. Y queremos saber de usted. Cuéntenos lo que ve en su cuadra, en su iglesia, en su trabajo, y hágalo en español, en sus propias palabras. Si esta semana necesita una mano, vaya a Westside CARES, en 2808 W Colorado Ave. Abren de lunes a jueves, de 9:30 a.m. a 12:30 p.m., y no hace falta cita. Atienden a todos los que viven al oeste de la I-25. Llame al 719-389-0759. También tiene el Westside Community Center, en 1628 W Bijou St, teléfono 719-385-7920. Abre lunes y viernes, de 9 a.m. a 3 p.m., y de martes a jueves, de 9 a.m. a 7 p.m. Ahora el voto, en claro. Hasta el 26 de octubre puede registrarse, o revisar si ya está registrado, en GoVoteColorado.gov. Pasada esa fecha, todavía puede hacerlo en persona, hasta el día de la elección. Y para dejar su boleta, las urnas están abiertas hasta las 7 p.m. del 3 de noviembre en cuatro lugares: el centro comercial Red Rock Canyon, 3141 W Colorado Ave; Bear Creek Regional Park, 2002 Creek Crossing St; la oficina del secretario del condado, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd; y el ayuntamiento de Manitou, 606 Manitou Ave. Aquí no le decimos cómo votar. Solo le decimos dónde y cuándo. En diciembre el Christkindlmarket vuelve a Bancroft Park. Cuando tengamos los días, se los pasamos aquí. Si quiere escribirnos, mande un texto al 719-201-5462 o un correo a hello@westsidewherewithal.com, en español. El editor no habla español de cuna. Traduce con un vecino y lo vuelve a leer con él antes de que algo se imprima. También tenemos una hoja en español en westsidewherewithal.com/sheet-es. Y una cosa honesta: esta página es traducción nuestra. Buscamos a un vecino o vecina que hable español para que tome esta mesa y firme aquí con su nombre. Hasta la próxima semana, vecino. Un abrazo, La Vecina The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The print pack <https://westsidewherewithal.com/print> The print pack Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The print pack Everything to print this week, how many, and where it goes. Any copy shop; a home printer works for the one-sheets. What to print PrintFileHowCopies The one-sheetsheet.pdfLetter, one side (two sides if you want the puzzle back: sheet-back.pdf)20 Large printsheet-large.pdfLetter, two sides5 La hoja (Spanish)sheet-es.pdfLetter, one side10 The box editionzine-box.pdfLetter, landscape, two sheets, two-sided, flip on the short edge; nest sheet 2 inside sheet 1, fold once; no staples20 Every print says "good till Oct 25" or has no dates. A stale stack gets swapped; call and we bring more. Where it goes PlaceWhatHow many The gas station at 31stone-sheet5 The hardware storeone-sheet5 A diner on the avenueone-sheet, and ask about a tray5 The OCC History Center, 1 S 24thone-sheet5 In the carone-sheet, box edition5 and 5 The grocery at 31stla hoja10 The senior table at the community center, 1628 W Bijoularge print5 The little free library at the old Carnegie building, 701 Manitou Avebox edition8 The Head Start box, 2330 Robinson Stbox edition7 Keep five of each in the car for the next counter that asks. The office mailbox is mail only, not a stop. The ask at a counter, two sentences: "It's a free weekly paper for the Westside, written by neighbors, nothing for you to pay and nothing to sell. Can it sit here, and can I refill it on Thursdays?" Say yes to any condition they add. What to watch Count what's left after a week. Note any call or text to 719-201-5462 and any word find or quiz score that comes in. That's the first real test; everything before it was rehearsal. The reader inbox was empty on October 11. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Plant this (when it exists) <https://westsidewherewithal.com/seeds> Plant this (when it exists) Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Plant this (when it exists) There are no seed strips yet. This is the plan, written down before the first one so nobody has to guess. Some copies of the zine will carry a small sealed strip of seed paper. Plant it in your own yard, a friend's yard with their yes, a community garden, or a school bed with the principal's okay. Not in a park, not in open space, not in Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, the Garden of the Gods or Bear Creek, not along the creek or a trail, and never after a fire. Those places get seeded by the people who manage them, with seed matched to the ground, and a stranger's strip does more harm than good there. What's in it: Colorado natives from a Colorado grower (Western Native Seed, in Coaldale): Lewis blue flax, Rocky Mountain penstemon, blanketflower, prairie coneflower. Nothing from the state's noxious weed list, which is where the cheap "wildflower mixes" go wrong. Plant in fall; the penstemon wants a winter in the ground. Plant it, take a picture when something comes up, send it in. The best ones run in the paper with your name on them. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Take a desk <https://westsidewherewithal.com/take-a-desk> Take a desk Moved to /desks. --- # Thank you <https://westsidewherewithal.com/thanks> Thank you Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Thank you That's the whole transaction. No tier, no badge, no extra issue. The paper keeps going, and your name goes on the once-a-year list of people who chipped in, alphabetical, no amounts, unless you'd rather it didn't. Reply to any issue to say so. See you Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The elk who pulled a carriage <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-box> The elk who pulled a carriage Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The elk who pulled a carriage The Box desk, for kids and whoever is with them. When a neighbor (or a kid) takes this desk, their name goes here. Okay. You're the boss today. Walk to school, but make it a hunt. Find three things. One: a little free library. It's a box on a post full of books, and you can take one. We know of 27 of them west of I-25. Two you can visit: the one at the old Carnegie library building, 701 Manitou Ave, and the one at the Head Start, 2330 Robinson St. Two: the red rocks at the end of the street. Stop and look. Three: one leaf. Pick the best one on the block. Keep it. It's a bookmark now. Okay. Now the elk. In 1888, a man named John O'Byrne got two tame elk from a judge in Aspen. He trained them to pull his tourist carriage down this very avenue. Their names were Thunder and Buttons. Yes, elk. Yes, a carriage. Eventually a movie company bought them and took them to Alaska to film advertisements. Thunder and Buttons were in commercials. (Also true.) (Bonus, also true: in 1880 a train crew calmed a cold, panicking circus elephant at Colorado Springs with a keg of beer. Aunt's honor.) Ask a grown-up. Point at any building on your walk and ask: "What was here before?" Then listen. Your move, boss. This fall: Halloween, Oct 31, 2 to 4:30 p.m.: Trick or Treat Street on the avenue, 23rd to 28th. Costumed kids 1 to 6. Look for the orange and yellow balloons. Bring a little cousin. Mondays, 10 a.m.: the bighorn sheep program at the Garden of the Gods Visitor Center. December: the Christkindlmarket comes back to Bancroft Park, bigger than last year, with Santa at the cabin. Bonus level: the paper in the box has games. A word find whose leftover letters spell a message. A five-question quiz with the answers printed upside down. And a map to draw on: it's the 1902 map of Colorado City, when the town had 4,000 people. You can see it at westsidewherewithal.com/zine-box, page 6. The dare. Draw Thunder and Buttons pulling the carriage. Go big. Give the tourists faces. Then put it in the little free library box, or send it to hello@westsidewherewithal.com with your first name. We print the best ones. See you on the avenue. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-next-hundred> The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead The Next Hundred desk. Written from the city's own pages and the ballot; dates change, and we fix them when they do. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Right now, Colorado Avenue. Four lanes have been three from Limit to 30th since June, for up to a year. Watch the lanes. Your move: fill out the city survey after you've driven it, biked it, or crossed it with a stroller. The avenue went on a diet and nobody asked it. Oct 21 and Oct 26. The community center's neighbor group meets Wednesday the 21st at 4 p.m.; it helps steer what the center at 1628 W Bijou becomes. Monday the 26th, 5:30 p.m.: the 2027 budget's public hearing at 107 N Nevada Ave. Anyone can speak; the council calendar lists the work sessions before it. Your move: pick one and go. The budget reads better with you. Nov 3. Ballots are due by 7 p.m. County 1A would keep the public-safety sales tax going through 2037. D11's 4A is a $775 million school bond, and Coronado is on the list. Your move: vote, and use a drop box if the mail feels slow. There's one at 3141 W Colorado Ave. Seven o'clock does not negotiate. December. The Christkindlmarket comes back to Bancroft Park, bigger. Bancroft is the pupil of the eye, so a bigger market could mean a fuller avenue and fewer spots out front. Your move: go, and walk. The car can stay home. April 6, 2027. The city election: mayor and three at-large council seats. Your move: register or check your registration, and ask every candidate what they would do about the avenue. The avenue will hear about it. April 13. Council hears the appeal on Project Taurus, the 50-megawatt data center proposed at the old Intel plant next to the homes in Chelsea Glen. The Planning Commission approved it 6 to 2 in July with a power cap and noise monitoring; council wants a noise study first, and the hearing falls a week after you vote (Colorado Politics). The developer says it is weighing the partnership, so the date could still move. Your move: read the noise study when it exists, and show up. Read quietly. April to fall 2027. A roundabout replaces the four-way stop at 31st and Fontanero by Howbert Elementary, on the western gateway to the red rocks. Parents asked about the school crossing, and the city says it will work with the school. Your move: if you walk kids there, ask the school what they've been told. Four stops become one circle. Around June 2027. The lane test's year ends, give or take. Nothing we've found says what comes after. Your move: whatever you think of the test, say so before it ends. A year is long enough for an opinion. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The man who wrote down the Westside <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-porch-mcfarland> The man who wrote down the Westside Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The man who wrote down the Westside The Porch desk. Written from the record; the editor's conversations with his family and friends are coming. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. If you ever wondered whether there really were tunnels under Colorado Avenue, Mel McFarland is a big part of why you wondered. I'll tell you what I know. He died September 21, at 81. From 2004 to 2019 he wrote 604 "Cobweb Corners" columns about this neighborhood for the Westside Pioneer. Born here in 1944, a fourth-generation native, taught art and drafting, and wrote books on the Colorado Midland Railway. In 1983 he bought a retired working caboose for his Rockrimmon backyard, and became "the Caboose Guy." Dave Martinek, who started Midland Days at Divide with him in 2009, told the Gazette: "He was the go-to person for anyone who wanted to know about railroad history in the state." His nephew Luc MacArthur called him "kind of a Renaissance man." His sister, Elaine Radney, said: "He had a lot of people who loved him." He wrote it down. Here is some of it. On February 3, 2005, he wrote down the story of John O'Byrne, who in 1888 got two tame elk, Thunder and Buttons, and trained them to pull a tourist carriage. Here is the column. On April 7, 2005, he wrote down the tunnels, the ones that let Colorado Avenue customers reach the Cucharras Street brothels unseen. He had "seen the remains of bits of both" sets of tunnels himself. On November 17, 2011, he wrote down the Glass Works disaster. Just after midnight on September 9, 1892, the furnace top collapsed and fiery glass poured out. Chunks of raw glass still show up now and then in neighborhood yards and rock walls, he wrote. On November 14, 2013, he wrote down the day a Teller County sheriff chained a Pullman sleeper car to the rails over $663.21 in unpaid taxes, and a U.S. marshal freed it two days later. Read it. Here's the thing. The Gazette says he left "file cabinets" of research and writing, and that his family hopes to sift through them, with no concrete plans yet. The next person who asks "was there really a glass plant over here?" gets a shrug. We can't fix that. What we have is an index of all 604 columns, by what each one reports, at westsidewherewithal.com/cobweb. The editor plans to call his sister, Dave Martinek, the Pioneer's editor Kenyon Jordan, and the History Center, and we'll tell you what they say. The question we're taking to them is who keeps the record now. We'd like to be part of the answer, and we'd like yours. Did a column of his stick with you? Tell us which one. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-record-dda> Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper The Record desk. Written from the city's own pages and the news; the Aug 25 minutes are still to be read. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. If you missed the council meeting last month, here is the entry. A downtown development authority, a DDA, is a small district set up by a vote. It is supposed to get its own pot of money to spend on one downtown. In 2024, Old Colorado City voters created one for the avenue. It never got its funding. It was created by a vote and ended by a vote, and the money never turned up in between. On Sept 22, City Council voted 5 to 4 to dissolve it. That's ordinance 26-48. The meeting record has the roll call. That's on paper. Yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams No: Donelson, Gold, Henjum, Leinweber The Gazette reported the first vote, on Aug 25, as the same 5 to 4. That's reported. On Oct 2, KKTV reported that the DDA is weighing legal action, because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. That's reported too. That is the whole ledger so far. Here is what we don't know: The Aug 25 minutes. We have the first vote from the news, not from the minutes. Until we've read them, the date and the count are reported, not checked. Whether a lawsuit is filed. KKTV says the DDA is considering one. We haven't found a filing. That isn't on paper. We'll say so when it is. What the DDA was going to buy. The records we have don't list its plan, so we won't guess. If you voted in 2024, or sat in those rooms, tell us what you were told. Who picks up the avenue's end of things now. Nobody has answered that in anything we've read. That isn't on paper either. We are taking the question to the next meeting. Some of those answers are in a room on a Tuesday morning. You can be in it. City Council meets the second and fourth Tuesdays at 9 a.m., 107 N Nevada Ave, and you can watch from home. You don't have to say a word. Take the one-page sheet, write down what happens, and your name goes on it. The Oct 13 meeting is the next one. If you were at the Aug 25 meeting, or you have the minutes, send them over. Tell me what I got wrong. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Where the asphalt gives up <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-ridge> Where the asphalt gives up Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Where the asphalt gives up The Ridge desk. Written from the city's pages and the groups' own sites; a canyon volunteer reads it before it prints. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Rain or snow, and the trails hold it. Friends of Red Rock Canyon says wait a day or two, because they stay muddy and fragile for 24 to 48 hours. Follow 21st down to Bear Creek, then keep going west. Around 30th and 31st the asphalt gives up. The red sandstone takes over. Red Rock Canyon is the pocket to the south. The city bought it in 2003, after it had been slated for a resort with high-rise towers and a private golf course. The city's open space page lists it among the places TOPS, the sales tax voters passed for open space, made possible. It nearly went the other way. Parking. The 31st Street trailhead has more than the High Street lots. No e-bikes in the open space. This fall. The Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th, runs a free bighorn sheep program with a touch table, Mondays 10 to 10:45 a.m. through Nov 30. Owls of the Garden is Oct 26, 12:30 to 1:30. Tickets from $5, sign up first. Oct 31, 1 to 2 p.m., a talk on why wolves in Colorado. The Garden's calendar has details. What's being decided. The Park System Master Plan goes to City Council next: the city's page lists Oct 12, a Monday work session where they talk but don't vote, and Oct 27, after the parks board heard it Oct 8. White Acres Trail is becoming the Don Ellis Trail. The board approved it Aug 13; it waits on an agreement and an $850 city fee. Fire restrictions: the city's page shows none this week, and we are checking with the fire department. We'll tell you what we hear. The seed rule. Some copies of this paper will carry a strip of Colorado native seed. Yards and community gardens, yes; parks, open space, the creek, the trails and anything that burned, no. The whole rule, and what's in the strip. Groups to join. Friends of Red Rock Canyon keeps up the benches and runs Talk and Walks, resuming soon (no date yet). The Trails and Open Space Coalition takes members and runs the One Bag Challenge cleanups. Friends of Garden of the Gods runs volunteer days. Our promise. Every Monday this desk reads the city's parks pages, and a canyon volunteer reads them with us. If nothing's new, we'll say so. Which trail was muddy this week? Tell me and I'll pass it along. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Who's cooking on the Westside this week <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-table> Who's cooking on the Westside this week Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Who's cooking on the Westside this week The Table desk. Hours are as the churches and pantries post them, checked October 11; we call before they go on the Bulletin Board. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Here's how it works. Somebody on this side of the interstate feeds people almost every day of the week. Most of it comes out of church basements and fellowship halls, cooked by neighbors who know their way around a stockpot. We went looking for the tables. There are more than we expected. Everything below is what each kitchen posts as of October 11. Call ahead before you walk over. Hours move, and a wrong schedule costs somebody a trip. Sunday The Sanctuary Church, 1930 W Colorado Ave, serves its Ragamuffin Cafe hot meal Sunday at 9 a.m. Call 719-634-7232. It is the only Sunday hot meal on paper west of I-25. If your kitchen serves Sunday breakfast, let us know. Monday Westside CARES, 2808 W Colorado Ave, serves a weekly hot meal from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Call 719-389-0759. Sacred Heart Catholic Church opens its food pantry noon to 2 p.m. at the Parish Center door, 2030 W Colorado Ave. No voucher required. Call 719-633-8711. Tuesday Westside Global Methodist, 701 N 20th St, opens its pantry from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Call 719-633-9295. If you knew it as Trinity UMC, it is the same corner under a new name; the old building on W Pikes Peak Ave is becoming a child care center. Wednesday Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou St, hosts the Westside CARES pantry from 1 to 3 p.m. Call 719-385-7920. Up the road in Manitou Springs, the Manitou Springs Food Pantry at 110 Canon Ave runs 1 to 2 p.m., with a hot meal starting at 12:30 p.m. Call 719-685-9259. St. Andrew's closed its church doors in 2025, but volunteers kept the pantry running in the parish hall. Thursday Sacred Heart opens its Parish Center pantry doors again from noon to 2 p.m. No voucher needed. Call 719-633-8711. Know another table? That is six tables, and there are more. If your church, lodge, or block group feeds folks, text 719-201-5462 or write hello@westsidewherewithal.com with the day and time. We will call to confirm it and print it free on the Bulletin Board, in your words. See you at the table. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Three picks before Halloween <https://westsidewherewithal.com/weekend-radar> Three picks before Halloween Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Three picks before Halloween The Weekend Radar desk. Every line checked against the organizer's own page. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Two weekends, three picks, and I've already parked for all of them. Read this, then go. Go to the farmers market. Saturday, October 17, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., Bancroft Park, 24th and Colorado. It's the last Saturday of the season, with 80-some vendors, and there is no next Saturday. Go early, because the best of anything goes first. Parking: don't circle the park hoping. Take a side street and walk the last bit. Saturday, October 24 is two things at once. Pick one. First, the coffin races. The Emma Crawford Coffin Races run 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Manitou Springs. Parking: Manitou Avenue closes at 9, so get there before the road shuts and the crowd fills in, and plan to walk in. Second, the pumpkins. Pumpkins in the Park is noon to 6 p.m. on the avenue, free, with a pumpkin patch, painting, costume and carving contests, the ZOOmobile, live music and a beer garden. Parking: the avenue's diagonal spots fill on a festival Saturday, so take a side street and walk in. Don't try to do both in one afternoon. Choose, then start the day with it. The things that are always there. If the festivals are not your speed, or you just need a Thursday: trivia at OCC Brewing every Thursday, 7 to 9 p.m. Storytime at the OCC Library every Friday, 10:30 a.m. Brunch Jam Band at Mother Muff's every Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Free bingo on the 21st, Trunk or Treat on the 25th, Trick or Treat Street on the 31st and First Friday ArtWalk on November 6 are all on the full list, with times. That list lives at westsidewherewithal.com, and it's also the one-sheet on the counters around the avenue. Got something happening that we missed? Send it to hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or text 719-201-5462. We'll check it against your own page and put it in. See you Saturday. I'll be the one who parked early. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in <https://westsidewherewithal.com/year-ahead> Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in The Year Ahead desk. Written from the editor's calendar; no interviews yet. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Picture the fridge calendar. Every Thursday of 2027 is penciled in, and you're coming along. One honest aside: it's plans, all of it. Nothing has been reported yet, and some weeks may not land. Winter first. Week one: The Reset Issue. Quiet workspaces, reading refuges, and I'd be surprised if the Carnegie library stays out. And then we eat through the cold. The quest for the best broth in OCC. A reader poll for the best breakfast burrito west of I-25. A 4 a.m. shift with a Westside baker. Then February: a cocktail lounge audit off Main Street, an Alternative Valentine, pints by the fireplace, and how the vintage and antiques shops survive winter. Spring opens up. Red Rock Canyon hikes, with lunches after. The carriage house makers working out of alleys. St. Patrick week. And then the thaw, when we find out which counters open their windows. The under-$15 lunch circuit. A patio audit covering shade, noise, pints and dogs. Seed swaps. Coffee roasters. A Territory Days survival guide. A First Friday gallery crawl. Spring tap releases. Summer gets loud. Hosting out-of-towners without crossing I-25. The Bancroft Park farmers market, booth by booth. Gelato. Where a line cook eats at midnight. Secret courtyards. Quiet Fourth of July viewpoints. Live music on the bricks, and I'm hoping the bandshell gets a paragraph. You pick the coldest drinks. Then the Pueblo chile arrives. Nightcaps and jukeboxes after 10, and I'd bet Mother Muff's comes up. Then a back-to-school pantry run, Uintah Gardens an obvious stop. Fall, the leg I'm saving. The annual pizza index: Slice 420 against Rustica against Leopold's, and we'll need lots of you to settle it. Golden aspens. Autumn ciders. A locals' guide for after the tourists leave. Ghost signs, spooky lore, wood-fired and cast iron cooking (Front Range BBQ, you're on my mind). Thanksgiving hosting. Best of the Westside nominations. Small Business Saturday. And then a Black Friday antidote at Section 16 and Bear Creek. December: a 100% Westside gift guide, a winter lights walk, the Best of the Westside winners, the solstice and quiet patios, and a last issue called Looking Ahead. Every week also carries a civic item and an oral history. A 40-year diner regular. A couple who met at Bancroft in 1988. A chile roaster of 25 seasons. A dishwasher who worked 300 shifts. A high school senior looking at the Westside's future. Tell me which month I got wrong, or which place I forgot. The pencil's by the fridge, and I'll see you the first Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? <https://westsidewherewithal.com/issues/2026-10-11-issue-0> Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? 2026-10-11 Listen · about 2 min Read by a synthetic voice, made on a Mac in the newsroom. The words are the paper's. Download. In this issue Can't we just inform each other? The leaves are changing Divide anything but our bread What it's all for We choose this Can't we just inform each other? Nobody's telling us what's happening around here unless you find some corporate website that tracks you and tries to make you pay just to find out what's going on outside your door. What a drag. Can't we just inform each other, and have fun building and being in community? The leaves are changing The leaves are changing and falling, and the streets are graced with people from all walks of life. The days are growing shorter, and fall will give way to snow in a few weeks. Before we know it Santa will be at the cabin in Bancroft Park and the Christkindlmarket will be back. Divide anything but our bread I want people to see and hear themselves in our work. I want the people in this community to remember that we're in this together and that what we print is made to remind us of that. We are not here to divide anything but our bread for others, to love our neighbors, and practice mercy and kindness. What it's all for I get nervous that people's fear clouds not only their judgment but their hearts. I can be a skeptic, and quite cynical at times. I wonder what it's all for and why I'm doing this. But in the end, if one person reads our words and connects with them even a little, and it gives them a spark or the belief that they are loved, I will have done my work. We choose this I hope people are excited to see what we're up to. I hope they want to be a part of it, and that by gathering and presenting our values, beliefs and customs together, we can cherish them and let new things in while the old fades. I want Thursday to remind us that we choose this. Jeff What we told you Can't we just inform each other? The leaves are changing Divide anything but our bread What it's all for We choose this The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The archive <https://westsidewherewithal.com/issues/index> The archive Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The archive Every issue, oldest at the bottom. Free to read. If you want to chip in, the jar is on the front page. Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? 2026-10-11 The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The Westside Wherewithal <https://westsidewherewithal.com/> The Westside Wherewithal Skip to the paper We start for real in January. Sign up and the first one lands on a Thursday morning. Thursday mornings · FreeFrom your neighbors ## The Westside WherewithalBecause living west of takes a little wherewithal. Colorado Springs, Colorado A free paper for the Westside of Colorado Springs, written by the people who live here. Thursday mornings, starting January. ## Get it Thursday morning One email a week, free. Put your address in and we'll see you Thursday. Sign me up ## What the city is deciding ## About your street, before it's done You can still weigh in Open nowColorado Avenue lane test. Four lanes to three from Limit Street to 30th Street (the city's page; the Gazette says 31st), for up to a year from June 2026, paid for with $375K from the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority (PPRTA) sales tax. The city survey is open.Changed since 2026-10-11The city's own page: City project page · The surveyIn the news: Gazette, lane test # Oct 26, 2026The city's 2027 budget. Public hearing Monday Oct 26, 5:30 p.m., Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada Ave. Anyone can speak. The council talks it over at work sessions first (Oct 15 is one). What's in it for the Westside, we're reading now.Changed since 2026-10-11The city's own page: the council calendar (Legistar) # Coming up Oct 21, 2026The community center's neighbor group (the Westside Community Center Alliance) meets Wednesday Oct 21, 4 p.m. It helps steer what the center at 1628 W Bijou becomes. Whether anyone can sit in, we're asking.The city's own page: city page, community centerStill looking for: the Alliance's own notice and the Parks Advisory Board's May minutesIn the news: Gazette, the Alliance # Apr 2027Roundabout at 31st and Fontanero, by Howbert Elementary, replacing the four-way stop. The open house was Sept 15. Construction April to fall 2027. Parents asked about the school crossing; the city says it will work with the school. The crossing drawing and the open-house boards are the documents we're after.In the news: KKTV, the roundabout # Apr 13, 2027Project Taurus. A 50-megawatt data center proposed at the old Intel plant, next to the homes in Chelsea Glen. The Planning Commission approved it 6 to 2 in July with a power cap and noise monitoring. Council put the appeal off 7 to 2 to April 13, a week after the city election, and wants a noise study and a study of what big power users pay first. The developer told Colorado Politics on Sept 18 it is weighing whether this is the right partnership.Still looking for: the noise studyIn the news: CPR, hearing date · Colorado Politics, the postponement · KKTV, the appeal # Already decided Sept 22, 2026Old Colorado City's downtown development authority (DDA) shut down. The tax district voters created in 2024 never got its funding. Council voted 5 to 4 on Sept 22 to dissolve it, ordinance 26-48 (yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams; no: Donelson, Gold, Henjum, Leinweber), after the same 5 to 4 on first reading Aug 25. KKTV reported Oct 2 that the DDA is weighing legal action because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. Who picks up the avenue's end of things is an open question.The city's own page: meeting record (Open Publica)Still looking for: the ordinance text itself, and the Aug 25 minutesIn the news: Gazette, the first vote · KKTV, the lawsuit threat # Coming up Every weekThe land. Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, the Garden, Bear Creek, the creek itself: fire restrictions, trail closures, anything the parks board decides. Nothing new on the city's pages this week; we look every Monday, and a canyon volunteer is looking with us.The city's own page: city parks, trails and open space # Already decided Since Apr 2023Greater Westside Community Plan. Nine neighborhoods, one plan: Gold Hill, Ivywild, Mesa, Mesa Springs, Midland, Old Colorado City, Skyway, Stratton Meadows, Westside. (The city's plan reaches past the interstate; this paper stays west of it.) The city's page lists six meetings, the last in April 2023, plus a 2022 survey and a 'Big Ideas' summary. What came next is the question we're taking to Planning, and to the neighbors who sat in those rooms.Changed since 2026-10-11The city's own page: city page, the plan # Checked October 11. Each one links to the city's own page where we found it. Where it says "still looking," we haven't found it yet (city websites, you know how it goes). If you've got it, send it over. Want to be the person in the room? Go to one meeting, write down what happened on this one-page sheet, and your name goes on it. A City Council Tuesday is the easy first one; you can watch it live or later from the couch. ## Vote ## Ballots are in the mail. Here's the Westside part. By Oct 26Register, or check that you're registered, at GoVoteColorado.gov. Moved since last time? Update it there too. After Oct 26 you can still register and vote in person, through Election Day.The city's own page: GoVoteColorado.gov # Till Nov 3, 7 p.m.Drop boxes west of I-25, open day and night: Red Rock Canyon shopping center, 3141 W Colorado Ave; Bear Creek Regional Park, 2002 Creek Crossing St; the clerk's office, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd; Manitou City Hall, 606 Manitou Ave. Mailing it? The county says by Oct 27. It has to arrive by 7 p.m. on Election Day; a postmark doesn't count.The city's own page: the county's list of boxes · El Paso County elections # On the ballotThe local ones: County 1A keeps the public-safety sales tax going through 2037. D11 4A is a $775 million school bond (Coronado is on the list). Then fourteen statewide questions; the state's Blue Book explains each one in plain words, for and against.The city's own page: the county's local questions · the Blue Book # Apr 6, 2027The city election: mayor and three at-large council seats. Same registration, same website. We'll print the candidates and where they stand on the Westside.The city's own page: city election page # We don't tell you how to vote. We'd love for you to. If the Blue Book is a brick, if you can't get to a box, if you're not sure you're registered, call or text 719-201-5462 and a neighbor helps. The county pays election judges and trains them; sign up here if you've got a day. ## The next two weeks ## Oct 11 to Nov 8, checked against the calendars The market's last Saturday, Pumpkins in the Park, free bingo at the community center, the cemetery tour, the coffin races, and the same seven things every week. Every weekMon Boom Box Bingo, 7 to 11 p.m. (Mother Muff's)Tue Math tutoring, 4 to 5:30 p.m. (OCC Library)Wed Toddler Time, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Wed Open mic, 6 to 9 p.m. (Jives Coffee Lounge, 16 Colbrunn Ct)Thu Trivia, 7 to 9 p.m. (OCC Brewing)Fri Storytime, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Sat Paws to Read, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Sun Brunch Jam Band, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Mother Muff's) Sun Oct 11 all month Scarecrow Days: the storefront scarecrows, with a public vote, through Oct 31 the avenue Mon Oct 12 all day Westside CARES closed for Indigenous Peoples' Day 2808 W Colorado Tue Oct 13 9 a.m. City Council regular meeting (agenda on Legistar) 107 N Nevada Ave 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Small Steps, Giant Leaps, Space Foundation program for ages 2 to 6 Westside Community Center Wed Oct 14 9 a.m. City Planning Commission 2880 International Circle 5:30 to 7 p.m. Evening pickleball: donate a bag of candy to play, paddles limited Westside Community Center Thu Oct 15 7:30 a.m. Coffee with the principal Coronado High, Future Center 2 to 4 p.m. Classic board games free OCC Library 5 p.m. Mushroom Zombie Haunted House opens, through Oct 31 Mush Love Tee, the shirt shop, 2627 W Colorado Fri Oct 16 all day No school at Coronado: parent-teacher conferences, 9 to 3 in the gym Coronado High 5 to 6 p.m. Bingo at the Biscuit The Biscuit Factory Cat Lounge, 12 S 25th Sat Oct 17 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Farmers market, last Saturday of the season, 80-some vendors Bancroft Park 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Craft and art market, final Saturday History Center, 1 S 24th Sun Oct 18 evening Legends and Lore of Fairview Cemetery, a two-hour guided tour; tickets online, kids 12 and under free Fairview Cemetery, 1000 S 26th Mon Oct 19 all week Fall break at Coronado, Oct 19 to 22, no school Coronado High Wed Oct 21 4 p.m. Westside Community Center Alliance meeting Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou 5:30 to 7 p.m. Howdy Neighbor prize bingo, doors at 5, all ages, no sign-up free Westside Community Center Thu Oct 22 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Book group free OCC Library Sat Oct 24 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Emma Crawford Coffin Races, the 32nd; Manitou Avenue closes at 9 Manitou Springs noon to 6 p.m. Pumpkins in the Park: pumpkin patch, painting, face painters, costume and carving contests, the ZOOmobile, live music, a beer garden free the avenue Sun Oct 25 1 to 4 p.m. Trunk or Treat in the parking lot, and Animals of Halloween inside, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. free Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th Mon Oct 26 10 to 10:45 a.m. Bighorn sheep, an indoor program with a touch table; Mondays through Nov 30 free Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Owls of the Garden: take an owl pellet apart; $5, sign up first Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 5:30 p.m. City budget public hearing, the 2027 budget; anyone can speak Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada Ave Tue Oct 27 all day Stroll-a-Story: a storybook walk, page by page, around the library OCC Library, 2418 W Pikes Peak Thu Oct 29 7:30 to 8:45 p.m. Haunted Manitou ghost tour, $25; also Oct 30 and 31 Memorial Park, Manitou Springs Fri Oct 30 5:30 p.m. Ghost Stories of Old Manitou, a walking tour from the museum Manitou Springs Heritage Museum Sat Oct 31 1 to 2 p.m. Why wolves in Colorado, a talk Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 2 to 4:30 p.m. Trick or Treat Street: costumed kids 1 to 6, shop to shop; look for the orange and yellow balloons the avenue, 23rd to 28th 6 p.m. Manitou Phantasmagoria Shoshone Spring courtyard, Manitou Springs evening Mushroom Zombie Haunted House, last night Mush Love Tee, the shirt shop, 2627 W Colorado Tue Nov 3 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Election Day. Ballots due by 7 p.m. at a drop box; register and vote in person at the clerk's office, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd, or Manitou City Hall El Paso County Fri Nov 6 5 to 8 p.m. First Friday ArtWalk: galleries, studios and shops open late along the avenue free the avenue, 17th to 31st Sun Nov 8 11 a.m. Altitude Makers market and farmers market free Soda Springs Park, Manitou Springs Every line above came off a calendar we can link, checked October 11. The strip up top happens every week; the list is the one-time stuff. The avenue is West Colorado Avenue; OCC is Old Colorado City; D11 is the school district. If we got a time wrong, tell us and we'll fix it in the next issue. Red Rock Canyon, the churches and the school sports pages had nothing dated for these two weeks; if you know of something, send it. Where that came from: Old Colorado City events calendar · Old Colorado City Library · Westside Community Center · History Center events · Garden of the Gods calendar ## The Bulletin Board ## Suppers, pantries, services, weddings, and the ones we lost If you need something this week, start here. Free, in your words, from you or your church or your family. Food, rent and utility help: Westside CARES, 2808 W Colorado Ave, 719-389-0759. Open Monday to Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. They prefer you walk in. Closed when the schools close for weather. Serves everyone west of I-25. Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou St, 719-385-7920. Open Monday and Friday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Tuesday to Thursday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. A corkboard, not a story. Church suppers, pantry hours, services, weddings, and the ones we lost: free, in your words, from you or your church or your family. We call to check the hours before they run. Send it by Tuesday to hello@westsidewherewithal.com, by text to 719-201-5462, by mail to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, or in the box on the front page. Where that came from: Westside CARES hours · Community center hours (city page) ## The Listening Room ## Once a month. You pick where and when. Coffee with the editor, no agenda, no sign-up. The hour and the place are a vote; the winner runs in issue 1. The Listening Room isn't an office. It's one hour a month wherever we sit down, and I'd rather you picked it than me. Vote below, or write in your own. I live over here, about twenty years now, and the office on the avenue is the paper's address; it says one thing: I'm here. I'm with you. Where and when Saturday morning, the bench by the bandshell in Bancroft Park Tuesday evening, a coffee counter on the avenue Sunday afternoon, the library (once they say yes) A weeknight on Zoom, for people who work days Cast it ## The Address Book ## What was in this storefront in 1968? One storefront, one photo, what was inside. One building per issue: a photo, the address, and whoever remembers fills in the rest. The first photo is coming; if you have one, send it in below. ## Write something ## Send it in The shop that closed, the thing the city's about to do on your street, the neighbor everybody should know. Photos and drawings count, with your name on them. Send it however you like: the box below, hello@westsidewherewithal.com, a call or a text to 719-201-5462, or mail it to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs 80904. (Mail only; nobody is at the door.) We write back. Rather talk than type? Call or text 719-201-5462 and tell me out loud; I'll write it down and you hear it read back before it runs. Under 18? Send it anyway; we'll check with you or a parent before it runs. Teachers, send the whole class. Photos come by email. En español: mándenos un texto al 719-201-5462 o escríbanos a hello@westsidewherewithal.com, en español: su cena, su misa, su aviso. No lo hablo de nacimiento; lo traducimos con un vecino y se lo leemos antes de publicar. Any other language: send it anyway, and we'll find a neighbor to translate. Want a desk? The pages signed by a desk are open; here's how to take one. Got a counter, or a box on your fence? Say so and we'll bring a stack, free, and swap the stale ones. How we do things, if you're curious. Put me down for a stack, for my counter or my library box Send it in ## The jar It's free. If a Thursday was worth something to you, throw a few bucks in the jar; it pays for the email and the printing. A check by mail to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122 works too. Pay what you want Inside: What the city is deciding · The next two weeks · On the avenue · From the desks · The next 100 years · Frontier wherewithal · Around the avenue · What came before us ## On the avenue ## I never stepped inside Base Camp, 2611 W Colorado Ave, closed October 4, and I never ate there. Tell me the place you'd go back to. Jeff Adkins Base Camp closed on October 4. I thought it looked cool, but the menu never appealed to me in the moment, and it's hard to take me away from the dozen places I adore already. I never stepped inside. That's on me, and I'm not alone. Empty storefronts are not what we want here. What keeps a place open is anyone and everyone who can afford to spend local dollars in it, and I am going to try hard to keep mixing it up. If you're thinking about working and making a living here, I wish I could appeal to you directly: we need you. Old Colorado City (OCC from here on) is a tourist destination, for locals and for travelers. I know this. I gladly give up my street parking for events because I know we need them. If I want OCC Brewing to be here 365 days a year, I need them to sustain themselves. That means me not griping about the traffic or the parking over here. Not everyone can afford to eat out or shop on the avenue. I understand that; I don't feel obligated to, and neither should you. I'm fortunate that I can budget for a meal out, and I try to go during the week, when places are less busy and could frankly use the business. So I can't complain about Base Camp closing if I didn't eat there, and I can't blame not eating there on the parking. Tell me the place you'd go back to. What we know: Base Camp, 2611 W Colorado Ave, opened March 2025 and closed October 4; the owner cited costs and the economy. Mountain Shadows, the restaurant four blocks east, closed December 2024 and sold in January. Where that came from: Gazette, Oct 2, 2026 · Gazette, Jan 20, 2025 · OCC Brewing ## From the desks ## Ten desks, one neighborhood Celebrating, remembering, forecasting. Nine of the ten are open; a neighbor's name goes on one the day they take it. The Wherewithal desks Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in · the 52 Thursdays of 2027, as a walk through the seasons The man who wrote down the Westside · 604 columns, the elk, the tunnels, and who keeps the record now Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper · the vote, the names, what's still unknown, and how to be in the room See that building? Look again · five storefronts and what they were, from the columns and the 1902 map Where the asphalt gives up · Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, Bear Creek; this fall, and the seed rule The elk who pulled a carriage · for kids: three things to find on the walk to school, and a dare Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad · la mesa en español: ayuda, el voto, cómo escribirnos Who's cooking on the Westside this week · six tables, as their own pages say it; we call before it prints Three picks before Halloween · the market's last Saturday, the coffin races, pumpkins in the park, and where to park The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead · every date headed for your street, and the door into each one Every desk is written from the record we hold and says so at the top. None of it is an interview yet; those are coming. Every one is open: what each desk takes, and how to take one. One text, one coffee. ## The next 100 years ## Four lanes to three, for a year Four lanes to three, Limit to 30th, for a year. The city survey is open. One driver's take below; if yours differs, next issue's yours. Jeff Adkins 1902 · Sanborn fire insurance map, sheet 2, Colorado Avenue · Library of Congress, public domain 2027 · lane drawing · city of Colorado Springs, Colorado Avenue demonstration, phase two What we know: four lanes to three from Limit to 30th by the city's page (the Gazette says 31st), since June 2026, for up to a year; the city calls it the Colorado Avenue Demonstration Project; $375K of county transportation tax (PPRTA) money. The Gazette counts about 30 parking spaces added, metered; the city's page says parking changes are expected to be minimal. We've asked the project team which it is. A second phase in 2027 makes some of it permanent and redoes three blocks of streetscape (Gazette); permanent reconstruction is penciled for 2027 or 2028 (Bike Colorado Springs). The city survey is open. One driver's take, mine (and my office is on the avenue, at 2320): it's great to see so much more attention being paid to pedestrians, and it doesn't slow me down at all. I haven't timed it; if you have, send the numbers. It may add parking, metered; the city and the Gazette disagree on how much (see the record), and nobody has said yet where someone who lives over a shop parks overnight. The city is taking comments until the concrete goes down. If you drive it, bike it, or cross it with a stroller, say so. If you hate it, this space is yours next issue, same length, your name on it. What do I want to still be here in 2126? Westsiders. Hyper local, no corporate nonsense, and room for whoever shows up to stay. Where that came from: Sanborn 1902 (LoC) · City project page · The city survey · Gazette, May 20, 2026 · Bike Colorado Springs ## Frontier wherewithal ## Load up for winter, survive the summer Not just another old west town. Two tame elk, tunnels under the avenue, four to six weeks a year you'd rather be in the water. Jeff Adkins If you're new here you might think this is just another old west town. If you're passing through, maybe we should let you believe it. Our summers are dry and shorter than most, with heat that stops, starts, and lingers. I'd say we have about four to six weeks a year where you'd want to be holed up in the cabin or in the water, which can be tricky to find. We need to know how to load up for winter, survive the summer, and not die of dehydration. And like every place with lore, we have a guy who trained two tame elk, Thunder and Buttons, to pull a carriage, plus tunnels and brothels and churches, oh my. We love it here. What we know: Thunder and Buttons were elk; Prairie Dog O'Byrne drove them hitched to a carriage on this avenue in the late 1880s. The tunnels under the avenue are documented by the historical society, with the honest caveat that some of it may be something else. Colorado City voted itself dry in 1913. Where that came from: Westside Pioneer, 2006 · Cobweb Corners, 2005 · Gazette, July 2021, the tunnels · Thunder and Buttons II ## Around the avenue ## Getting to know them is the point I don't know everyone yet. Getting to know them is the point. Jeff Adkins What we know so far: Who's opening and who's moving: we've heard about three and have an address for none, so none are named yet. Send the name and the block. The Old Colorado City Historical Society runs a free museum at 1 South 24th, a block off the avenue. Tuesday through Saturday, 11 to 4 in summer and 11 to 2 in winter. Call before you drive. The free Tuesday concerts at the Bancroft Park bandshell ran June 2 through September 29 this year, 5:30, Dizzy Charlie's and the Pikes Peak Blues Community. Next summer's lineup runs here the week it's announced. First Friday art walk, 5 to 8, galleries and studios along the avenue. Next one is November 6. The Customs and Classics car show closes the avenue from 23rd to 27th one Sunday every August. If the one you went to was a different show this fall, tell us which. This is the stuff I get to see everyone else doing. I enjoy seeing them do it. It doesn't matter to me if I don't know anyone in the room, because getting to know them is the point of this life. And that's what I'm here to capture in this paper. I shouldn't pretend to know things I don't. Where that came from: OCC History Center · Tuesday concerts (Springs Magazine) · First Friday (OCC calendar) · The car show (Pioneer, 2018) ## What came before us ## I want it all Mel McFarland died in September; I indexed the 604 columns I found. Eight digs, from the capital that got away to the forgotten cemetery. Jeff Adkins Start here: Mel McFarland, who wrote the Westside's past in the Pioneer for fifteen years, died in September at 81. Most of what is below comes from his columns. I found 604 and indexed every one I found; the one-line summaries there are software drafts, not yet checked one by one. Who keeps the record now is a question this paper exists to answer. I want the best stories from Old Colorado City. I want to dig down and find the most awesome stuff we can publish: how people first lived here, how it went from zero to what it is today, funny things, shootouts, jail time for crimes that make us laugh and cry, mysteries and murders. I want it all. What did we used to do and stop? What was, but isn't? What could have been, but never was? The digs I can't do alone: your church, your family, your block. Send them. What we found first: The capital that got away. Colorado City was founded in August 1859 to outfit gold seekers, was the county seat by 1861, and held the territorial capital just long enough to lose it to Denver. One account says the town was deemed too rowdy. Zero to four thousand. Mel has the town past 2,000 by 1890; the 1892 fire-insurance map (the Sanborn) writes 2,000 on its own cover, and the 1902 sheet writes 4,000. The town voted itself dry in 1913, lost the saloon money, and voted to be annexed by Colorado Springs in April 1917. Four saloons to twenty-seven. By the Pioneer's 2009 count (a feature, not one of Mel's columns): four in 1884, twenty-three by 1888, twenty-seven in 1902 plus thirty-some gambling halls, on a main street that also had the churches. Laura Bell McDaniel. From the Pioneer's 2011 profile, not the index: queen of the tenderloin; her last house was the Tribley House in the 2600 block of West Cucharras. She married Tom McDaniel in April 1887 in Salida; a month later he shot a man five times while she watched, and was acquitted. She divorced him in 1893. Accused in November 1917 of stealing liquor and acquitted; the historian who wrote her up thinks it was a set-up. Died in a car crash in January 1918. The elk were O'Byrne's by Mel's column (bought in Aspen in 1888); a 2006 Pioneer piece has her riding beside him in the carriage. The Glass Works. Full production in 1889 with 200 men on the south edge of town, bottling Manitou water. The furnace top collapsed just after midnight on September 9, 1892. Wheeler promised to rebuild; the Silver Panic of 1893 and the lost customers finished it. One of Mel's columns says it closed in 1895, another says by 1900; one puts a fire in 1893 as well. The Midland shops. The Colorado Midland started here in 1886 and quit in 1918; the Midland Terminal ran the line to Divide until it was scrapped in 1949. Hundreds of men in the shops at the peak, under a hundred by 1925, about fifty by 1948; the office burned in 1953. The fourteen-stall roundhouse is the one that lived: Van Briggle pottery, then the shops you walk through now. The mills. The Colorado-Philadelphia came first, in 1894 by one of Mel's columns and about 1897 by another, near 31st and U.S. 24. Golden Cycle took over the Telluride mill in 1906, rebuilt it with cyanide after a 1907 fire, and ran it until 1949; the smokestack is still there. The forgotten cemetery. Colorado City's Pioneer cemetery, on the mesa, used from about 1860 to 1917. Not every burial was moved; the stones came out in the 1940s and it became Pioneer Park in the 1950s. Graves were mapped with metal detectors in the 1970s, a project Mel joined, and a cast-iron coffin may still be there. Who is in it is still the question. Where that came from: Why the fuss? (Pioneer) · Laura Bell McDaniel (Pioneer, 2011) · Thunder and Buttons (Cobweb Corners, 2005) · The Glass Works, 200 men (Cobweb Corners, 2011) · The Glass Works fire (Cobweb Corners, 2011) · The Glass Works closed 1895 (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The Midland, 1886 to 1918 (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The Midland shops decline (Cobweb Corners, 2009) · The roundhouse (Cobweb Corners, 2007) · The mills (Cobweb Corners, 2013) · Golden Cycle closes, 1949 (Cobweb Corners, 2006) · The capital, the county seat (Cobweb Corners, 2009) · The forgotten cemetery (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The forgotten cemetery (Cobweb Corners, 2017) · Mel McFarland, 1944 to 2026 (Gazette) · Every Cobweb Corners column, indexed · Colorado City Iris, digitized (CHNC) If something here is wrong, reply to the email or send it in below. Corrections run at the top of the next issue. Behind the masthead: Sanborn fire insurance map of Colorado City, November 1902, sheet 1. Library of Congress, public domain. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad <https://westsidewherewithal.com/la-vecina> Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad La Vecina, la mesa en español. Traducción nuestra; buscamos a un vecino o vecina que la tome y firme aquí. Vecina, vecino: Le escribo con las hojas ya cambiando de color y las tardes más cortas. Aquí entre nosotros, quería contarle lo que sé. Si usted vive al oeste de la I-25, este periódico es para usted. Se llama The Westside Wherewithal, sale cada semana y es gratis. Lo escribimos entre vecinos: lo que abre, lo que cierra, lo que se vota, lo que llega al parque. Y queremos saber de usted. Cuéntenos lo que ve en su cuadra, en su iglesia, en su trabajo, y hágalo en español, en sus propias palabras. Si esta semana necesita una mano, vaya a Westside CARES, en 2808 W Colorado Ave. Abren de lunes a jueves, de 9:30 a.m. a 12:30 p.m., y no hace falta cita. Atienden a todos los que viven al oeste de la I-25. Llame al 719-389-0759. También tiene el Westside Community Center, en 1628 W Bijou St, teléfono 719-385-7920. Abre lunes y viernes, de 9 a.m. a 3 p.m., y de martes a jueves, de 9 a.m. a 7 p.m. Ahora el voto, en claro. Hasta el 26 de octubre puede registrarse, o revisar si ya está registrado, en GoVoteColorado.gov. Pasada esa fecha, todavía puede hacerlo en persona, hasta el día de la elección. Y para dejar su boleta, las urnas están abiertas hasta las 7 p.m. del 3 de noviembre en cuatro lugares: el centro comercial Red Rock Canyon, 3141 W Colorado Ave; Bear Creek Regional Park, 2002 Creek Crossing St; la oficina del secretario del condado, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd; y el ayuntamiento de Manitou, 606 Manitou Ave. Aquí no le decimos cómo votar. Solo le decimos dónde y cuándo. En diciembre el Christkindlmarket vuelve a Bancroft Park. Cuando tengamos los días, se los pasamos aquí. Si quiere escribirnos, mande un texto al 719-201-5462 o un correo a hello@westsidewherewithal.com, en español. El editor no habla español de cuna. Traduce con un vecino y lo vuelve a leer con él antes de que algo se imprima. También tenemos una hoja en español en westsidewherewithal.com/sheet-es. Y una cosa honesta: esta página es traducción nuestra. Buscamos a un vecino o vecina que hable español para que tome esta mesa y firme aquí con su nombre. Hasta la próxima semana, vecino. Un abrazo, La Vecina The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The print pack <https://westsidewherewithal.com/print> The print pack Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The print pack Everything to print this week, how many, and where it goes. Any copy shop; a home printer works for the one-sheets. What to print PrintFileHowCopies The one-sheetsheet.pdfLetter, one side (two sides if you want the puzzle back: sheet-back.pdf)20 Large printsheet-large.pdfLetter, two sides5 La hoja (Spanish)sheet-es.pdfLetter, one side10 The box editionzine-box.pdfLetter, landscape, two sheets, two-sided, flip on the short edge; nest sheet 2 inside sheet 1, fold once; no staples20 Every print says "good till Oct 25" or has no dates. A stale stack gets swapped; call and we bring more. Where it goes PlaceWhatHow many The gas station at 31stone-sheet5 The hardware storeone-sheet5 A diner on the avenueone-sheet, and ask about a tray5 The OCC History Center, 1 S 24thone-sheet5 In the carone-sheet, box edition5 and 5 The grocery at 31stla hoja10 The senior table at the community center, 1628 W Bijoularge print5 The little free library at the old Carnegie building, 701 Manitou Avebox edition8 The Head Start box, 2330 Robinson Stbox edition7 Keep five of each in the car for the next counter that asks. The office mailbox is mail only, not a stop. The ask at a counter, two sentences: "It's a free weekly paper for the Westside, written by neighbors, nothing for you to pay and nothing to sell. Can it sit here, and can I refill it on Thursdays?" Say yes to any condition they add. What to watch Count what's left after a week. Note any call or text to 719-201-5462 and any word find or quiz score that comes in. That's the first real test; everything before it was rehearsal. The reader inbox was empty on October 11. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Plant this (when it exists) <https://westsidewherewithal.com/seeds> Plant this (when it exists) Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Plant this (when it exists) There are no seed strips yet. This is the plan, written down before the first one so nobody has to guess. Some copies of the zine will carry a small sealed strip of seed paper. Plant it in your own yard, a friend's yard with their yes, a community garden, or a school bed with the principal's okay. Not in a park, not in open space, not in Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, the Garden of the Gods or Bear Creek, not along the creek or a trail, and never after a fire. Those places get seeded by the people who manage them, with seed matched to the ground, and a stranger's strip does more harm than good there. What's in it: Colorado natives from a Colorado grower (Western Native Seed, in Coaldale): Lewis blue flax, Rocky Mountain penstemon, blanketflower, prairie coneflower. Nothing from the state's noxious weed list, which is where the cheap "wildflower mixes" go wrong. Plant in fall; the penstemon wants a winter in the ground. Plant it, take a picture when something comes up, send it in. The best ones run in the paper with your name on them. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Take a desk <https://westsidewherewithal.com/take-a-desk> Take a desk Moved to /desks. --- # Thank you <https://westsidewherewithal.com/thanks> Thank you Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Thank you That's the whole transaction. No tier, no badge, no extra issue. The paper keeps going, and your name goes on the once-a-year list of people who chipped in, alphabetical, no amounts, unless you'd rather it didn't. Reply to any issue to say so. See you Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The elk who pulled a carriage <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-box> The elk who pulled a carriage Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The elk who pulled a carriage The Box desk, for kids and whoever is with them. When a neighbor (or a kid) takes this desk, their name goes here. Okay. You're the boss today. Walk to school, but make it a hunt. Find three things. One: a little free library. It's a box on a post full of books, and you can take one. We know of 27 of them west of I-25. Two you can visit: the one at the old Carnegie library building, 701 Manitou Ave, and the one at the Head Start, 2330 Robinson St. Two: the red rocks at the end of the street. Stop and look. Three: one leaf. Pick the best one on the block. Keep it. It's a bookmark now. Okay. Now the elk. In 1888, a man named John O'Byrne got two tame elk from a judge in Aspen. He trained them to pull his tourist carriage down this very avenue. Their names were Thunder and Buttons. Yes, elk. Yes, a carriage. Eventually a movie company bought them and took them to Alaska to film advertisements. Thunder and Buttons were in commercials. (Also true.) (Bonus, also true: in 1880 a train crew calmed a cold, panicking circus elephant at Colorado Springs with a keg of beer. Aunt's honor.) Ask a grown-up. Point at any building on your walk and ask: "What was here before?" Then listen. Your move, boss. This fall: Halloween, Oct 31, 2 to 4:30 p.m.: Trick or Treat Street on the avenue, 23rd to 28th. Costumed kids 1 to 6. Look for the orange and yellow balloons. Bring a little cousin. Mondays, 10 a.m.: the bighorn sheep program at the Garden of the Gods Visitor Center. December: the Christkindlmarket comes back to Bancroft Park, bigger than last year, with Santa at the cabin. Bonus level: the paper in the box has games. A word find whose leftover letters spell a message. A five-question quiz with the answers printed upside down. And a map to draw on: it's the 1902 map of Colorado City, when the town had 4,000 people. You can see it at westsidewherewithal.com/zine-box, page 6. The dare. Draw Thunder and Buttons pulling the carriage. Go big. Give the tourists faces. Then put it in the little free library box, or send it to hello@westsidewherewithal.com with your first name. We print the best ones. See you on the avenue. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-next-hundred> The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead The Next Hundred desk. Written from the city's own pages and the ballot; dates change, and we fix them when they do. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Right now, Colorado Avenue. Four lanes have been three from Limit to 30th since June, for up to a year. Watch the lanes. Your move: fill out the city survey after you've driven it, biked it, or crossed it with a stroller. The avenue went on a diet and nobody asked it. Oct 21 and Oct 26. The community center's neighbor group meets Wednesday the 21st at 4 p.m.; it helps steer what the center at 1628 W Bijou becomes. Monday the 26th, 5:30 p.m.: the 2027 budget's public hearing at 107 N Nevada Ave. Anyone can speak; the council calendar lists the work sessions before it. Your move: pick one and go. The budget reads better with you. Nov 3. Ballots are due by 7 p.m. County 1A would keep the public-safety sales tax going through 2037. D11's 4A is a $775 million school bond, and Coronado is on the list. Your move: vote, and use a drop box if the mail feels slow. There's one at 3141 W Colorado Ave. Seven o'clock does not negotiate. December. The Christkindlmarket comes back to Bancroft Park, bigger. Bancroft is the pupil of the eye, so a bigger market could mean a fuller avenue and fewer spots out front. Your move: go, and walk. The car can stay home. April 6, 2027. The city election: mayor and three at-large council seats. Your move: register or check your registration, and ask every candidate what they would do about the avenue. The avenue will hear about it. April 13. Council hears the appeal on Project Taurus, the 50-megawatt data center proposed at the old Intel plant next to the homes in Chelsea Glen. The Planning Commission approved it 6 to 2 in July with a power cap and noise monitoring; council wants a noise study first, and the hearing falls a week after you vote (Colorado Politics). The developer says it is weighing the partnership, so the date could still move. Your move: read the noise study when it exists, and show up. Read quietly. April to fall 2027. A roundabout replaces the four-way stop at 31st and Fontanero by Howbert Elementary, on the western gateway to the red rocks. Parents asked about the school crossing, and the city says it will work with the school. Your move: if you walk kids there, ask the school what they've been told. Four stops become one circle. Around June 2027. The lane test's year ends, give or take. Nothing we've found says what comes after. Your move: whatever you think of the test, say so before it ends. A year is long enough for an opinion. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The man who wrote down the Westside <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-porch-mcfarland> The man who wrote down the Westside Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The man who wrote down the Westside The Porch desk. Written from the record; the editor's conversations with his family and friends are coming. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. If you ever wondered whether there really were tunnels under Colorado Avenue, Mel McFarland is a big part of why you wondered. I'll tell you what I know. He died September 21, at 81. From 2004 to 2019 he wrote 604 "Cobweb Corners" columns about this neighborhood for the Westside Pioneer. Born here in 1944, a fourth-generation native, taught art and drafting, and wrote books on the Colorado Midland Railway. In 1983 he bought a retired working caboose for his Rockrimmon backyard, and became "the Caboose Guy." Dave Martinek, who started Midland Days at Divide with him in 2009, told the Gazette: "He was the go-to person for anyone who wanted to know about railroad history in the state." His nephew Luc MacArthur called him "kind of a Renaissance man." His sister, Elaine Radney, said: "He had a lot of people who loved him." He wrote it down. Here is some of it. On February 3, 2005, he wrote down the story of John O'Byrne, who in 1888 got two tame elk, Thunder and Buttons, and trained them to pull a tourist carriage. Here is the column. On April 7, 2005, he wrote down the tunnels, the ones that let Colorado Avenue customers reach the Cucharras Street brothels unseen. He had "seen the remains of bits of both" sets of tunnels himself. On November 17, 2011, he wrote down the Glass Works disaster. Just after midnight on September 9, 1892, the furnace top collapsed and fiery glass poured out. Chunks of raw glass still show up now and then in neighborhood yards and rock walls, he wrote. On November 14, 2013, he wrote down the day a Teller County sheriff chained a Pullman sleeper car to the rails over $663.21 in unpaid taxes, and a U.S. marshal freed it two days later. Read it. Here's the thing. The Gazette says he left "file cabinets" of research and writing, and that his family hopes to sift through them, with no concrete plans yet. The next person who asks "was there really a glass plant over here?" gets a shrug. We can't fix that. What we have is an index of all 604 columns, by what each one reports, at westsidewherewithal.com/cobweb. The editor plans to call his sister, Dave Martinek, the Pioneer's editor Kenyon Jordan, and the History Center, and we'll tell you what they say. The question we're taking to them is who keeps the record now. We'd like to be part of the answer, and we'd like yours. Did a column of his stick with you? Tell us which one. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-record-dda> Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper The Record desk. Written from the city's own pages and the news; the Aug 25 minutes are still to be read. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. If you missed the council meeting last month, here is the entry. A downtown development authority, a DDA, is a small district set up by a vote. It is supposed to get its own pot of money to spend on one downtown. In 2024, Old Colorado City voters created one for the avenue. It never got its funding. It was created by a vote and ended by a vote, and the money never turned up in between. On Sept 22, City Council voted 5 to 4 to dissolve it. That's ordinance 26-48. The meeting record has the roll call. That's on paper. Yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams No: Donelson, Gold, Henjum, Leinweber The Gazette reported the first vote, on Aug 25, as the same 5 to 4. That's reported. On Oct 2, KKTV reported that the DDA is weighing legal action, because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. That's reported too. That is the whole ledger so far. Here is what we don't know: The Aug 25 minutes. We have the first vote from the news, not from the minutes. Until we've read them, the date and the count are reported, not checked. Whether a lawsuit is filed. KKTV says the DDA is considering one. We haven't found a filing. That isn't on paper. We'll say so when it is. What the DDA was going to buy. The records we have don't list its plan, so we won't guess. If you voted in 2024, or sat in those rooms, tell us what you were told. Who picks up the avenue's end of things now. Nobody has answered that in anything we've read. That isn't on paper either. We are taking the question to the next meeting. Some of those answers are in a room on a Tuesday morning. You can be in it. City Council meets the second and fourth Tuesdays at 9 a.m., 107 N Nevada Ave, and you can watch from home. You don't have to say a word. Take the one-page sheet, write down what happens, and your name goes on it. The Oct 13 meeting is the next one. If you were at the Aug 25 meeting, or you have the minutes, send them over. Tell me what I got wrong. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Where the asphalt gives up <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-ridge> Where the asphalt gives up Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Where the asphalt gives up The Ridge desk. Written from the city's pages and the groups' own sites; a canyon volunteer reads it before it prints. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Rain or snow, and the trails hold it. Friends of Red Rock Canyon says wait a day or two, because they stay muddy and fragile for 24 to 48 hours. Follow 21st down to Bear Creek, then keep going west. Around 30th and 31st the asphalt gives up. The red sandstone takes over. Red Rock Canyon is the pocket to the south. The city bought it in 2003, after it had been slated for a resort with high-rise towers and a private golf course. The city's open space page lists it among the places TOPS, the sales tax voters passed for open space, made possible. It nearly went the other way. Parking. The 31st Street trailhead has more than the High Street lots. No e-bikes in the open space. This fall. The Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th, runs a free bighorn sheep program with a touch table, Mondays 10 to 10:45 a.m. through Nov 30. Owls of the Garden is Oct 26, 12:30 to 1:30. Tickets from $5, sign up first. Oct 31, 1 to 2 p.m., a talk on why wolves in Colorado. The Garden's calendar has details. What's being decided. The Park System Master Plan goes to City Council next: the city's page lists Oct 12, a Monday work session where they talk but don't vote, and Oct 27, after the parks board heard it Oct 8. White Acres Trail is becoming the Don Ellis Trail. The board approved it Aug 13; it waits on an agreement and an $850 city fee. Fire restrictions: the city's page shows none this week, and we are checking with the fire department. We'll tell you what we hear. The seed rule. Some copies of this paper will carry a strip of Colorado native seed. Yards and community gardens, yes; parks, open space, the creek, the trails and anything that burned, no. The whole rule, and what's in the strip. Groups to join. Friends of Red Rock Canyon keeps up the benches and runs Talk and Walks, resuming soon (no date yet). The Trails and Open Space Coalition takes members and runs the One Bag Challenge cleanups. Friends of Garden of the Gods runs volunteer days. Our promise. Every Monday this desk reads the city's parks pages, and a canyon volunteer reads them with us. If nothing's new, we'll say so. Which trail was muddy this week? Tell me and I'll pass it along. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Who's cooking on the Westside this week <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-table> Who's cooking on the Westside this week Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Who's cooking on the Westside this week The Table desk. Hours are as the churches and pantries post them, checked October 11; we call before they go on the Bulletin Board. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Here's how it works. Somebody on this side of the interstate feeds people almost every day of the week. Most of it comes out of church basements and fellowship halls, cooked by neighbors who know their way around a stockpot. We went looking for the tables. There are more than we expected. Everything below is what each kitchen posts as of October 11. Call ahead before you walk over. Hours move, and a wrong schedule costs somebody a trip. Sunday The Sanctuary Church, 1930 W Colorado Ave, serves its Ragamuffin Cafe hot meal Sunday at 9 a.m. Call 719-634-7232. It is the only Sunday hot meal on paper west of I-25. If your kitchen serves Sunday breakfast, let us know. Monday Westside CARES, 2808 W Colorado Ave, serves a weekly hot meal from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Call 719-389-0759. Sacred Heart Catholic Church opens its food pantry noon to 2 p.m. at the Parish Center door, 2030 W Colorado Ave. No voucher required. Call 719-633-8711. Tuesday Westside Global Methodist, 701 N 20th St, opens its pantry from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Call 719-633-9295. If you knew it as Trinity UMC, it is the same corner under a new name; the old building on W Pikes Peak Ave is becoming a child care center. Wednesday Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou St, hosts the Westside CARES pantry from 1 to 3 p.m. Call 719-385-7920. Up the road in Manitou Springs, the Manitou Springs Food Pantry at 110 Canon Ave runs 1 to 2 p.m., with a hot meal starting at 12:30 p.m. Call 719-685-9259. St. Andrew's closed its church doors in 2025, but volunteers kept the pantry running in the parish hall. Thursday Sacred Heart opens its Parish Center pantry doors again from noon to 2 p.m. No voucher needed. Call 719-633-8711. Know another table? That is six tables, and there are more. If your church, lodge, or block group feeds folks, text 719-201-5462 or write hello@westsidewherewithal.com with the day and time. We will call to confirm it and print it free on the Bulletin Board, in your words. See you at the table. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Three picks before Halloween <https://westsidewherewithal.com/weekend-radar> Three picks before Halloween Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Three picks before Halloween The Weekend Radar desk. Every line checked against the organizer's own page. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Two weekends, three picks, and I've already parked for all of them. Read this, then go. Go to the farmers market. Saturday, October 17, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., Bancroft Park, 24th and Colorado. It's the last Saturday of the season, with 80-some vendors, and there is no next Saturday. Go early, because the best of anything goes first. Parking: don't circle the park hoping. Take a side street and walk the last bit. Saturday, October 24 is two things at once. Pick one. First, the coffin races. The Emma Crawford Coffin Races run 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Manitou Springs. Parking: Manitou Avenue closes at 9, so get there before the road shuts and the crowd fills in, and plan to walk in. Second, the pumpkins. Pumpkins in the Park is noon to 6 p.m. on the avenue, free, with a pumpkin patch, painting, costume and carving contests, the ZOOmobile, live music and a beer garden. Parking: the avenue's diagonal spots fill on a festival Saturday, so take a side street and walk in. Don't try to do both in one afternoon. Choose, then start the day with it. The things that are always there. If the festivals are not your speed, or you just need a Thursday: trivia at OCC Brewing every Thursday, 7 to 9 p.m. Storytime at the OCC Library every Friday, 10:30 a.m. Brunch Jam Band at Mother Muff's every Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Free bingo on the 21st, Trunk or Treat on the 25th, Trick or Treat Street on the 31st and First Friday ArtWalk on November 6 are all on the full list, with times. That list lives at westsidewherewithal.com, and it's also the one-sheet on the counters around the avenue. Got something happening that we missed? Send it to hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or text 719-201-5462. We'll check it against your own page and put it in. See you Saturday. I'll be the one who parked early. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in <https://westsidewherewithal.com/year-ahead> Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in The Year Ahead desk. Written from the editor's calendar; no interviews yet. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Picture the fridge calendar. Every Thursday of 2027 is penciled in, and you're coming along. One honest aside: it's plans, all of it. Nothing has been reported yet, and some weeks may not land. Winter first. Week one: The Reset Issue. Quiet workspaces, reading refuges, and I'd be surprised if the Carnegie library stays out. And then we eat through the cold. The quest for the best broth in OCC. A reader poll for the best breakfast burrito west of I-25. A 4 a.m. shift with a Westside baker. Then February: a cocktail lounge audit off Main Street, an Alternative Valentine, pints by the fireplace, and how the vintage and antiques shops survive winter. Spring opens up. Red Rock Canyon hikes, with lunches after. The carriage house makers working out of alleys. St. Patrick week. And then the thaw, when we find out which counters open their windows. The under-$15 lunch circuit. A patio audit covering shade, noise, pints and dogs. Seed swaps. Coffee roasters. A Territory Days survival guide. A First Friday gallery crawl. Spring tap releases. Summer gets loud. Hosting out-of-towners without crossing I-25. The Bancroft Park farmers market, booth by booth. Gelato. Where a line cook eats at midnight. Secret courtyards. Quiet Fourth of July viewpoints. Live music on the bricks, and I'm hoping the bandshell gets a paragraph. You pick the coldest drinks. Then the Pueblo chile arrives. Nightcaps and jukeboxes after 10, and I'd bet Mother Muff's comes up. Then a back-to-school pantry run, Uintah Gardens an obvious stop. Fall, the leg I'm saving. The annual pizza index: Slice 420 against Rustica against Leopold's, and we'll need lots of you to settle it. Golden aspens. Autumn ciders. A locals' guide for after the tourists leave. Ghost signs, spooky lore, wood-fired and cast iron cooking (Front Range BBQ, you're on my mind). Thanksgiving hosting. Best of the Westside nominations. Small Business Saturday. And then a Black Friday antidote at Section 16 and Bear Creek. December: a 100% Westside gift guide, a winter lights walk, the Best of the Westside winners, the solstice and quiet patios, and a last issue called Looking Ahead. Every week also carries a civic item and an oral history. A 40-year diner regular. A couple who met at Bancroft in 1988. A chile roaster of 25 seasons. A dishwasher who worked 300 shifts. A high school senior looking at the Westside's future. Tell me which month I got wrong, or which place I forgot. The pencil's by the fridge, and I'll see you the first Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? <https://westsidewherewithal.com/issues/2026-10-11-issue-0> Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? 2026-10-11 Listen · about 2 min Read by a synthetic voice, made on a Mac in the newsroom. The words are the paper's. Download. In this issue Can't we just inform each other? The leaves are changing Divide anything but our bread What it's all for We choose this Can't we just inform each other? Nobody's telling us what's happening around here unless you find some corporate website that tracks you and tries to make you pay just to find out what's going on outside your door. What a drag. Can't we just inform each other, and have fun building and being in community? The leaves are changing The leaves are changing and falling, and the streets are graced with people from all walks of life. The days are growing shorter, and fall will give way to snow in a few weeks. Before we know it Santa will be at the cabin in Bancroft Park and the Christkindlmarket will be back. Divide anything but our bread I want people to see and hear themselves in our work. I want the people in this community to remember that we're in this together and that what we print is made to remind us of that. We are not here to divide anything but our bread for others, to love our neighbors, and practice mercy and kindness. What it's all for I get nervous that people's fear clouds not only their judgment but their hearts. I can be a skeptic, and quite cynical at times. I wonder what it's all for and why I'm doing this. But in the end, if one person reads our words and connects with them even a little, and it gives them a spark or the belief that they are loved, I will have done my work. We choose this I hope people are excited to see what we're up to. I hope they want to be a part of it, and that by gathering and presenting our values, beliefs and customs together, we can cherish them and let new things in while the old fades. I want Thursday to remind us that we choose this. Jeff What we told you Can't we just inform each other? The leaves are changing Divide anything but our bread What it's all for We choose this The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The archive <https://westsidewherewithal.com/issues/index> The archive Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The archive Every issue, oldest at the bottom. Free to read. If you want to chip in, the jar is on the front page. Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? 2026-10-11 The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The Westside Wherewithal <https://westsidewherewithal.com/> The Westside Wherewithal Skip to the paper We start for real in January. Sign up and the first one lands on a Thursday morning. Thursday mornings · FreeFrom your neighbors ## The Westside WherewithalBecause living west of takes a little wherewithal. Colorado Springs, Colorado A free paper for the Westside of Colorado Springs, written by the people who live here. Thursday mornings, starting January. ## Get it Thursday morning One email a week, free. Put your address in and we'll see you Thursday. Sign me up ## What the city is deciding ## About your street, before it's done You can still weigh in Open nowColorado Avenue lane test. Four lanes to three from Limit Street to 30th Street (the city's page; the Gazette says 31st), for up to a year from June 2026, paid for with $375K from the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority (PPRTA) sales tax. The city survey is open.Changed since 2026-10-11The city's own page: City project page · The surveyIn the news: Gazette, lane test # Oct 26, 2026The city's 2027 budget. Public hearing Monday Oct 26, 5:30 p.m., Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada Ave. Anyone can speak. The council talks it over at work sessions first (Oct 15 is one). What's in it for the Westside, we're reading now.Changed since 2026-10-11The city's own page: the council calendar (Legistar) # Coming up Oct 21, 2026The community center's neighbor group (the Westside Community Center Alliance) meets Wednesday Oct 21, 4 p.m. It helps steer what the center at 1628 W Bijou becomes. Whether anyone can sit in, we're asking.The city's own page: city page, community centerStill looking for: the Alliance's own notice and the Parks Advisory Board's May minutesIn the news: Gazette, the Alliance # Apr 2027Roundabout at 31st and Fontanero, by Howbert Elementary, replacing the four-way stop. The open house was Sept 15. Construction April to fall 2027. Parents asked about the school crossing; the city says it will work with the school. The crossing drawing and the open-house boards are the documents we're after.In the news: KKTV, the roundabout # Apr 13, 2027Project Taurus. A 50-megawatt data center proposed at the old Intel plant, next to the homes in Chelsea Glen. The Planning Commission approved it 6 to 2 in July with a power cap and noise monitoring. Council put the appeal off 7 to 2 to April 13, a week after the city election, and wants a noise study and a study of what big power users pay first. The developer told Colorado Politics on Sept 18 it is weighing whether this is the right partnership.Still looking for: the noise studyIn the news: CPR, hearing date · Colorado Politics, the postponement · KKTV, the appeal # Already decided Sept 22, 2026Old Colorado City's downtown development authority (DDA) shut down. The tax district voters created in 2024 never got its funding. Council voted 5 to 4 on Sept 22 to dissolve it, ordinance 26-48 (yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams; no: Donelson, Gold, Henjum, Leinweber), after the same 5 to 4 on first reading Aug 25. KKTV reported Oct 2 that the DDA is weighing legal action because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. Who picks up the avenue's end of things is an open question.The city's own page: meeting record (Open Publica)Still looking for: the ordinance text itself, and the Aug 25 minutesIn the news: Gazette, the first vote · KKTV, the lawsuit threat # Coming up Every weekThe land. Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, the Garden, Bear Creek, the creek itself: fire restrictions, trail closures, anything the parks board decides. Nothing new on the city's pages this week; we look every Monday, and a canyon volunteer is looking with us.The city's own page: city parks, trails and open space # Already decided Since Apr 2023Greater Westside Community Plan. Nine neighborhoods, one plan: Gold Hill, Ivywild, Mesa, Mesa Springs, Midland, Old Colorado City, Skyway, Stratton Meadows, Westside. (The city's plan reaches past the interstate; this paper stays west of it.) The city's page lists six meetings, the last in April 2023, plus a 2022 survey and a 'Big Ideas' summary. What came next is the question we're taking to Planning, and to the neighbors who sat in those rooms.Changed since 2026-10-11The city's own page: city page, the plan # Checked October 11. Each one links to the city's own page where we found it. Where it says "still looking," we haven't found it yet (city websites, you know how it goes). If you've got it, send it over. Want to be the person in the room? Go to one meeting, write down what happened on this one-page sheet, and your name goes on it. A City Council Tuesday is the easy first one; you can watch it live or later from the couch. ## Vote ## Ballots are in the mail. Here's the Westside part. By Oct 26Register, or check that you're registered, at GoVoteColorado.gov. Moved since last time? Update it there too. After Oct 26 you can still register and vote in person, through Election Day.The city's own page: GoVoteColorado.gov # Till Nov 3, 7 p.m.Drop boxes west of I-25, open day and night: Red Rock Canyon shopping center, 3141 W Colorado Ave; Bear Creek Regional Park, 2002 Creek Crossing St; the clerk's office, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd; Manitou City Hall, 606 Manitou Ave. Mailing it? The county says by Oct 27. It has to arrive by 7 p.m. on Election Day; a postmark doesn't count.The city's own page: the county's list of boxes · El Paso County elections # On the ballotThe local ones: County 1A keeps the public-safety sales tax going through 2037. D11 4A is a $775 million school bond (Coronado is on the list). Then fourteen statewide questions; the state's Blue Book explains each one in plain words, for and against.The city's own page: the county's local questions · the Blue Book # Apr 6, 2027The city election: mayor and three at-large council seats. Same registration, same website. We'll print the candidates and where they stand on the Westside.The city's own page: city election page # We don't tell you how to vote. We'd love for you to. If the Blue Book is a brick, if you can't get to a box, if you're not sure you're registered, call or text 719-201-5462 and a neighbor helps. The county pays election judges and trains them; sign up here if you've got a day. ## The next two weeks ## Oct 11 to Nov 8, checked against the calendars The market's last Saturday, Pumpkins in the Park, free bingo at the community center, the cemetery tour, the coffin races, and the same seven things every week. Every weekMon Boom Box Bingo, 7 to 11 p.m. (Mother Muff's)Tue Math tutoring, 4 to 5:30 p.m. (OCC Library)Wed Toddler Time, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Wed Open mic, 6 to 9 p.m. (Jives Coffee Lounge, 16 Colbrunn Ct)Thu Trivia, 7 to 9 p.m. (OCC Brewing)Fri Storytime, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Sat Paws to Read, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Sun Brunch Jam Band, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Mother Muff's) Sun Oct 11 all month Scarecrow Days: the storefront scarecrows, with a public vote, through Oct 31 the avenue Mon Oct 12 all day Westside CARES closed for Indigenous Peoples' Day 2808 W Colorado Tue Oct 13 9 a.m. City Council regular meeting (agenda on Legistar) 107 N Nevada Ave 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Small Steps, Giant Leaps, Space Foundation program for ages 2 to 6 Westside Community Center Wed Oct 14 9 a.m. City Planning Commission 2880 International Circle 5:30 to 7 p.m. Evening pickleball: donate a bag of candy to play, paddles limited Westside Community Center Thu Oct 15 7:30 a.m. Coffee with the principal Coronado High, Future Center 2 to 4 p.m. Classic board games free OCC Library 5 p.m. Mushroom Zombie Haunted House opens, through Oct 31 Mush Love Tee, the shirt shop, 2627 W Colorado Fri Oct 16 all day No school at Coronado: parent-teacher conferences, 9 to 3 in the gym Coronado High 5 to 6 p.m. Bingo at the Biscuit The Biscuit Factory Cat Lounge, 12 S 25th Sat Oct 17 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Farmers market, last Saturday of the season, 80-some vendors Bancroft Park 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Craft and art market, final Saturday History Center, 1 S 24th Sun Oct 18 evening Legends and Lore of Fairview Cemetery, a two-hour guided tour; tickets online, kids 12 and under free Fairview Cemetery, 1000 S 26th Mon Oct 19 all week Fall break at Coronado, Oct 19 to 22, no school Coronado High Wed Oct 21 4 p.m. Westside Community Center Alliance meeting Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou 5:30 to 7 p.m. Howdy Neighbor prize bingo, doors at 5, all ages, no sign-up free Westside Community Center Thu Oct 22 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Book group free OCC Library Sat Oct 24 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Emma Crawford Coffin Races, the 32nd; Manitou Avenue closes at 9 Manitou Springs noon to 6 p.m. Pumpkins in the Park: pumpkin patch, painting, face painters, costume and carving contests, the ZOOmobile, live music, a beer garden free the avenue Sun Oct 25 1 to 4 p.m. Trunk or Treat in the parking lot, and Animals of Halloween inside, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. free Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th Mon Oct 26 10 to 10:45 a.m. Bighorn sheep, an indoor program with a touch table; Mondays through Nov 30 free Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Owls of the Garden: take an owl pellet apart; $5, sign up first Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 5:30 p.m. City budget public hearing, the 2027 budget; anyone can speak Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada Ave Tue Oct 27 all day Stroll-a-Story: a storybook walk, page by page, around the library OCC Library, 2418 W Pikes Peak Thu Oct 29 7:30 to 8:45 p.m. Haunted Manitou ghost tour, $25; also Oct 30 and 31 Memorial Park, Manitou Springs Fri Oct 30 5:30 p.m. Ghost Stories of Old Manitou, a walking tour from the museum Manitou Springs Heritage Museum Sat Oct 31 1 to 2 p.m. Why wolves in Colorado, a talk Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 2 to 4:30 p.m. Trick or Treat Street: costumed kids 1 to 6, shop to shop; look for the orange and yellow balloons the avenue, 23rd to 28th 6 p.m. Manitou Phantasmagoria Shoshone Spring courtyard, Manitou Springs evening Mushroom Zombie Haunted House, last night Mush Love Tee, the shirt shop, 2627 W Colorado Tue Nov 3 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Election Day. Ballots due by 7 p.m. at a drop box; register and vote in person at the clerk's office, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd, or Manitou City Hall El Paso County Fri Nov 6 5 to 8 p.m. First Friday ArtWalk: galleries, studios and shops open late along the avenue free the avenue, 17th to 31st Sun Nov 8 11 a.m. Altitude Makers market and farmers market free Soda Springs Park, Manitou Springs Every line above came off a calendar we can link, checked October 11. The strip up top happens every week; the list is the one-time stuff. The avenue is West Colorado Avenue; OCC is Old Colorado City; D11 is the school district. If we got a time wrong, tell us and we'll fix it in the next issue. Red Rock Canyon, the churches and the school sports pages had nothing dated for these two weeks; if you know of something, send it. Where that came from: Old Colorado City events calendar · Old Colorado City Library · Westside Community Center · History Center events · Garden of the Gods calendar ## The Bulletin Board ## Suppers, pantries, services, weddings, and the ones we lost If you need something this week, start here. Free, in your words, from you or your church or your family. Food, rent and utility help: Westside CARES, 2808 W Colorado Ave, 719-389-0759. Open Monday to Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. They prefer you walk in. Closed when the schools close for weather. Serves everyone west of I-25. Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou St, 719-385-7920. Open Monday and Friday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Tuesday to Thursday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. A corkboard, not a story. Church suppers, pantry hours, services, weddings, and the ones we lost: free, in your words, from you or your church or your family. We call to check the hours before they run. Send it by Tuesday to hello@westsidewherewithal.com, by text to 719-201-5462, by mail to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, or in the box on the front page. Where that came from: Westside CARES hours · Community center hours (city page) ## The Listening Room ## Once a month. You pick where and when. Coffee with the editor, no agenda, no sign-up. The hour and the place are a vote; the winner runs in issue 1. The Listening Room isn't an office. It's one hour a month wherever we sit down, and I'd rather you picked it than me. Vote below, or write in your own. I live over here, about twenty years now, and the office on the avenue is the paper's address; it says one thing: I'm here. I'm with you. Where and when Saturday morning, the bench by the bandshell in Bancroft Park Tuesday evening, a coffee counter on the avenue Sunday afternoon, the library (once they say yes) A weeknight on Zoom, for people who work days Cast it ## The Address Book ## What was in this storefront in 1968? One storefront, one photo, what was inside. One building per issue: a photo, the address, and whoever remembers fills in the rest. The first photo is coming; if you have one, send it in below. ## Write something ## Send it in The shop that closed, the thing the city's about to do on your street, the neighbor everybody should know. Photos and drawings count, with your name on them. Send it however you like: the box below, hello@westsidewherewithal.com, a call or a text to 719-201-5462, or mail it to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs 80904. (Mail only; nobody is at the door.) We write back. Rather talk than type? Call or text 719-201-5462 and tell me out loud; I'll write it down and you hear it read back before it runs. Under 18? Send it anyway; we'll check with you or a parent before it runs. Teachers, send the whole class. Photos come by email. En español: mándenos un texto al 719-201-5462 o escríbanos a hello@westsidewherewithal.com, en español: su cena, su misa, su aviso. No lo hablo de nacimiento; lo traducimos con un vecino y se lo leemos antes de publicar. Any other language: send it anyway, and we'll find a neighbor to translate. Want a desk? The pages signed by a desk are open; here's how to take one. Got a counter, or a box on your fence? Say so and we'll bring a stack, free, and swap the stale ones. How we do things, if you're curious. Put me down for a stack, for my counter or my library box Send it in ## The jar It's free. If a Thursday was worth something to you, throw a few bucks in the jar; it pays for the email and the printing. A check by mail to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122 works too. Pay what you want Inside: What the city is deciding · The next two weeks · On the avenue · From the desks · The next 100 years · Frontier wherewithal · Around the avenue · What came before us ## On the avenue ## I never stepped inside Base Camp, 2611 W Colorado Ave, closed October 4, and I never ate there. Tell me the place you'd go back to. Jeff Adkins Base Camp closed on October 4. I thought it looked cool, but the menu never appealed to me in the moment, and it's hard to take me away from the dozen places I adore already. I never stepped inside. That's on me, and I'm not alone. Empty storefronts are not what we want here. What keeps a place open is anyone and everyone who can afford to spend local dollars in it, and I am going to try hard to keep mixing it up. If you're thinking about working and making a living here, I wish I could appeal to you directly: we need you. Old Colorado City (OCC from here on) is a tourist destination, for locals and for travelers. I know this. I gladly give up my street parking for events because I know we need them. If I want OCC Brewing to be here 365 days a year, I need them to sustain themselves. That means me not griping about the traffic or the parking over here. Not everyone can afford to eat out or shop on the avenue. I understand that; I don't feel obligated to, and neither should you. I'm fortunate that I can budget for a meal out, and I try to go during the week, when places are less busy and could frankly use the business. So I can't complain about Base Camp closing if I didn't eat there, and I can't blame not eating there on the parking. Tell me the place you'd go back to. What we know: Base Camp, 2611 W Colorado Ave, opened March 2025 and closed October 4; the owner cited costs and the economy. Mountain Shadows, the restaurant four blocks east, closed December 2024 and sold in January. Where that came from: Gazette, Oct 2, 2026 · Gazette, Jan 20, 2025 · OCC Brewing ## From the desks ## Ten desks, one neighborhood Celebrating, remembering, forecasting. Nine of the ten are open; a neighbor's name goes on one the day they take it. The Wherewithal desks Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in · the 52 Thursdays of 2027, as a walk through the seasons The man who wrote down the Westside · 604 columns, the elk, the tunnels, and who keeps the record now Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper · the vote, the names, what's still unknown, and how to be in the room See that building? Look again · five storefronts and what they were, from the columns and the 1902 map Where the asphalt gives up · Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, Bear Creek; this fall, and the seed rule The elk who pulled a carriage · for kids: three things to find on the walk to school, and a dare Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad · la mesa en español: ayuda, el voto, cómo escribirnos Who's cooking on the Westside this week · six tables, as their own pages say it; we call before it prints Three picks before Halloween · the market's last Saturday, the coffin races, pumpkins in the park, and where to park The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead · every date headed for your street, and the door into each one Every desk is written from the record we hold and says so at the top. None of it is an interview yet; those are coming. Every one is open: what each desk takes, and how to take one. One text, one coffee. ## The next 100 years ## Four lanes to three, for a year Four lanes to three, Limit to 30th, for a year. The city survey is open. One driver's take below; if yours differs, next issue's yours. Jeff Adkins 1902 · Sanborn fire insurance map, sheet 2, Colorado Avenue · Library of Congress, public domain 2027 · lane drawing · city of Colorado Springs, Colorado Avenue demonstration, phase two What we know: four lanes to three from Limit to 30th by the city's page (the Gazette says 31st), since June 2026, for up to a year; the city calls it the Colorado Avenue Demonstration Project; $375K of county transportation tax (PPRTA) money. The Gazette counts about 30 parking spaces added, metered; the city's page says parking changes are expected to be minimal. We've asked the project team which it is. A second phase in 2027 makes some of it permanent and redoes three blocks of streetscape (Gazette); permanent reconstruction is penciled for 2027 or 2028 (Bike Colorado Springs). The city survey is open. One driver's take, mine (and my office is on the avenue, at 2320): it's great to see so much more attention being paid to pedestrians, and it doesn't slow me down at all. I haven't timed it; if you have, send the numbers. It may add parking, metered; the city and the Gazette disagree on how much (see the record), and nobody has said yet where someone who lives over a shop parks overnight. The city is taking comments until the concrete goes down. If you drive it, bike it, or cross it with a stroller, say so. If you hate it, this space is yours next issue, same length, your name on it. What do I want to still be here in 2126? Westsiders. Hyper local, no corporate nonsense, and room for whoever shows up to stay. Where that came from: Sanborn 1902 (LoC) · City project page · The city survey · Gazette, May 20, 2026 · Bike Colorado Springs ## Frontier wherewithal ## Load up for winter, survive the summer Not just another old west town. Two tame elk, tunnels under the avenue, four to six weeks a year you'd rather be in the water. Jeff Adkins If you're new here you might think this is just another old west town. If you're passing through, maybe we should let you believe it. Our summers are dry and shorter than most, with heat that stops, starts, and lingers. I'd say we have about four to six weeks a year where you'd want to be holed up in the cabin or in the water, which can be tricky to find. We need to know how to load up for winter, survive the summer, and not die of dehydration. And like every place with lore, we have a guy who trained two tame elk, Thunder and Buttons, to pull a carriage, plus tunnels and brothels and churches, oh my. We love it here. What we know: Thunder and Buttons were elk; Prairie Dog O'Byrne drove them hitched to a carriage on this avenue in the late 1880s. The tunnels under the avenue are documented by the historical society, with the honest caveat that some of it may be something else. Colorado City voted itself dry in 1913. Where that came from: Westside Pioneer, 2006 · Cobweb Corners, 2005 · Gazette, July 2021, the tunnels · Thunder and Buttons II ## Around the avenue ## Getting to know them is the point I don't know everyone yet. Getting to know them is the point. Jeff Adkins What we know so far: Who's opening and who's moving: we've heard about three and have an address for none, so none are named yet. Send the name and the block. The Old Colorado City Historical Society runs a free museum at 1 South 24th, a block off the avenue. Tuesday through Saturday, 11 to 4 in summer and 11 to 2 in winter. Call before you drive. The free Tuesday concerts at the Bancroft Park bandshell ran June 2 through September 29 this year, 5:30, Dizzy Charlie's and the Pikes Peak Blues Community. Next summer's lineup runs here the week it's announced. First Friday art walk, 5 to 8, galleries and studios along the avenue. Next one is November 6. The Customs and Classics car show closes the avenue from 23rd to 27th one Sunday every August. If the one you went to was a different show this fall, tell us which. This is the stuff I get to see everyone else doing. I enjoy seeing them do it. It doesn't matter to me if I don't know anyone in the room, because getting to know them is the point of this life. And that's what I'm here to capture in this paper. I shouldn't pretend to know things I don't. Where that came from: OCC History Center · Tuesday concerts (Springs Magazine) · First Friday (OCC calendar) · The car show (Pioneer, 2018) ## What came before us ## I want it all Mel McFarland died in September; I indexed the 604 columns I found. Eight digs, from the capital that got away to the forgotten cemetery. Jeff Adkins Start here: Mel McFarland, who wrote the Westside's past in the Pioneer for fifteen years, died in September at 81. Most of what is below comes from his columns. I found 604 and indexed every one I found; the one-line summaries there are software drafts, not yet checked one by one. Who keeps the record now is a question this paper exists to answer. I want the best stories from Old Colorado City. I want to dig down and find the most awesome stuff we can publish: how people first lived here, how it went from zero to what it is today, funny things, shootouts, jail time for crimes that make us laugh and cry, mysteries and murders. I want it all. What did we used to do and stop? What was, but isn't? What could have been, but never was? The digs I can't do alone: your church, your family, your block. Send them. What we found first: The capital that got away. Colorado City was founded in August 1859 to outfit gold seekers, was the county seat by 1861, and held the territorial capital just long enough to lose it to Denver. One account says the town was deemed too rowdy. Zero to four thousand. Mel has the town past 2,000 by 1890; the 1892 fire-insurance map (the Sanborn) writes 2,000 on its own cover, and the 1902 sheet writes 4,000. The town voted itself dry in 1913, lost the saloon money, and voted to be annexed by Colorado Springs in April 1917. Four saloons to twenty-seven. By the Pioneer's 2009 count (a feature, not one of Mel's columns): four in 1884, twenty-three by 1888, twenty-seven in 1902 plus thirty-some gambling halls, on a main street that also had the churches. Laura Bell McDaniel. From the Pioneer's 2011 profile, not the index: queen of the tenderloin; her last house was the Tribley House in the 2600 block of West Cucharras. She married Tom McDaniel in April 1887 in Salida; a month later he shot a man five times while she watched, and was acquitted. She divorced him in 1893. Accused in November 1917 of stealing liquor and acquitted; the historian who wrote her up thinks it was a set-up. Died in a car crash in January 1918. The elk were O'Byrne's by Mel's column (bought in Aspen in 1888); a 2006 Pioneer piece has her riding beside him in the carriage. The Glass Works. Full production in 1889 with 200 men on the south edge of town, bottling Manitou water. The furnace top collapsed just after midnight on September 9, 1892. Wheeler promised to rebuild; the Silver Panic of 1893 and the lost customers finished it. One of Mel's columns says it closed in 1895, another says by 1900; one puts a fire in 1893 as well. The Midland shops. The Colorado Midland started here in 1886 and quit in 1918; the Midland Terminal ran the line to Divide until it was scrapped in 1949. Hundreds of men in the shops at the peak, under a hundred by 1925, about fifty by 1948; the office burned in 1953. The fourteen-stall roundhouse is the one that lived: Van Briggle pottery, then the shops you walk through now. The mills. The Colorado-Philadelphia came first, in 1894 by one of Mel's columns and about 1897 by another, near 31st and U.S. 24. Golden Cycle took over the Telluride mill in 1906, rebuilt it with cyanide after a 1907 fire, and ran it until 1949; the smokestack is still there. The forgotten cemetery. Colorado City's Pioneer cemetery, on the mesa, used from about 1860 to 1917. Not every burial was moved; the stones came out in the 1940s and it became Pioneer Park in the 1950s. Graves were mapped with metal detectors in the 1970s, a project Mel joined, and a cast-iron coffin may still be there. Who is in it is still the question. Where that came from: Why the fuss? (Pioneer) · Laura Bell McDaniel (Pioneer, 2011) · Thunder and Buttons (Cobweb Corners, 2005) · The Glass Works, 200 men (Cobweb Corners, 2011) · The Glass Works fire (Cobweb Corners, 2011) · The Glass Works closed 1895 (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The Midland, 1886 to 1918 (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The Midland shops decline (Cobweb Corners, 2009) · The roundhouse (Cobweb Corners, 2007) · The mills (Cobweb Corners, 2013) · Golden Cycle closes, 1949 (Cobweb Corners, 2006) · The capital, the county seat (Cobweb Corners, 2009) · The forgotten cemetery (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The forgotten cemetery (Cobweb Corners, 2017) · Mel McFarland, 1944 to 2026 (Gazette) · Every Cobweb Corners column, indexed · Colorado City Iris, digitized (CHNC) If something here is wrong, reply to the email or send it in below. Corrections run at the top of the next issue. Behind the masthead: Sanborn fire insurance map of Colorado City, November 1902, sheet 1. Library of Congress, public domain. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad <https://westsidewherewithal.com/la-vecina> Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad La Vecina, la mesa en español. Traducción nuestra; buscamos a un vecino o vecina que la tome y firme aquí. Vecina, vecino: Le escribo con las hojas ya cambiando de color y las tardes más cortas. Aquí entre nosotros, quería contarle lo que sé. Si usted vive al oeste de la I-25, este periódico es para usted. Se llama The Westside Wherewithal, sale cada semana y es gratis. Lo escribimos entre vecinos: lo que abre, lo que cierra, lo que se vota, lo que llega al parque. Y queremos saber de usted. Cuéntenos lo que ve en su cuadra, en su iglesia, en su trabajo, y hágalo en español, en sus propias palabras. Si esta semana necesita una mano, vaya a Westside CARES, en 2808 W Colorado Ave. Abren de lunes a jueves, de 9:30 a.m. a 12:30 p.m., y no hace falta cita. Atienden a todos los que viven al oeste de la I-25. Llame al 719-389-0759. También tiene el Westside Community Center, en 1628 W Bijou St, teléfono 719-385-7920. Abre lunes y viernes, de 9 a.m. a 3 p.m., y de martes a jueves, de 9 a.m. a 7 p.m. Ahora el voto, en claro. Hasta el 26 de octubre puede registrarse, o revisar si ya está registrado, en GoVoteColorado.gov. Pasada esa fecha, todavía puede hacerlo en persona, hasta el día de la elección. Y para dejar su boleta, las urnas están abiertas hasta las 7 p.m. del 3 de noviembre en cuatro lugares: el centro comercial Red Rock Canyon, 3141 W Colorado Ave; Bear Creek Regional Park, 2002 Creek Crossing St; la oficina del secretario del condado, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd; y el ayuntamiento de Manitou, 606 Manitou Ave. Aquí no le decimos cómo votar. Solo le decimos dónde y cuándo. En diciembre el Christkindlmarket vuelve a Bancroft Park. Cuando tengamos los días, se los pasamos aquí. Si quiere escribirnos, mande un texto al 719-201-5462 o un correo a hello@westsidewherewithal.com, en español. El editor no habla español de cuna. Traduce con un vecino y lo vuelve a leer con él antes de que algo se imprima. También tenemos una hoja en español en westsidewherewithal.com/sheet-es. Y una cosa honesta: esta página es traducción nuestra. Buscamos a un vecino o vecina que hable español para que tome esta mesa y firme aquí con su nombre. Hasta la próxima semana, vecino. Un abrazo, La Vecina The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The print pack <https://westsidewherewithal.com/print> The print pack Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The print pack Everything to print this week, how many, and where it goes. Any copy shop; a home printer works for the one-sheets. What to print PrintFileHowCopies The one-sheetsheet.pdfLetter, one side (two sides if you want the puzzle back: sheet-back.pdf)20 Large printsheet-large.pdfLetter, two sides5 La hoja (Spanish)sheet-es.pdfLetter, one side10 The box editionzine-box.pdfLetter, landscape, two sheets, two-sided, flip on the short edge; nest sheet 2 inside sheet 1, fold once; no staples20 Every print says "good till Oct 25" or has no dates. A stale stack gets swapped; call and we bring more. Where it goes PlaceWhatHow many The gas station at 31stone-sheet5 The hardware storeone-sheet5 A diner on the avenueone-sheet, and ask about a tray5 The OCC History Center, 1 S 24thone-sheet5 In the carone-sheet, box edition5 and 5 The grocery at 31stla hoja10 The senior table at the community center, 1628 W Bijoularge print5 The little free library at the old Carnegie building, 701 Manitou Avebox edition8 The Head Start box, 2330 Robinson Stbox edition7 Keep five of each in the car for the next counter that asks. The office mailbox is mail only, not a stop. The ask at a counter, two sentences: "It's a free weekly paper for the Westside, written by neighbors, nothing for you to pay and nothing to sell. Can it sit here, and can I refill it on Thursdays?" Say yes to any condition they add. What to watch Count what's left after a week. Note any call or text to 719-201-5462 and any word find or quiz score that comes in. That's the first real test; everything before it was rehearsal. The reader inbox was empty on October 11. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Plant this (when it exists) <https://westsidewherewithal.com/seeds> Plant this (when it exists) Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Plant this (when it exists) There are no seed strips yet. This is the plan, written down before the first one so nobody has to guess. Some copies of the zine will carry a small sealed strip of seed paper. Plant it in your own yard, a friend's yard with their yes, a community garden, or a school bed with the principal's okay. Not in a park, not in open space, not in Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, the Garden of the Gods or Bear Creek, not along the creek or a trail, and never after a fire. Those places get seeded by the people who manage them, with seed matched to the ground, and a stranger's strip does more harm than good there. What's in it: Colorado natives from a Colorado grower (Western Native Seed, in Coaldale): Lewis blue flax, Rocky Mountain penstemon, blanketflower, prairie coneflower. Nothing from the state's noxious weed list, which is where the cheap "wildflower mixes" go wrong. Plant in fall; the penstemon wants a winter in the ground. Plant it, take a picture when something comes up, send it in. The best ones run in the paper with your name on them. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Take a desk <https://westsidewherewithal.com/take-a-desk> Take a desk Moved to /desks. --- # Thank you <https://westsidewherewithal.com/thanks> Thank you Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Thank you That's the whole transaction. No tier, no badge, no extra issue. The paper keeps going, and your name goes on the once-a-year list of people who chipped in, alphabetical, no amounts, unless you'd rather it didn't. Reply to any issue to say so. See you Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The elk who pulled a carriage <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-box> The elk who pulled a carriage Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The elk who pulled a carriage The Box desk, for kids and whoever is with them. When a neighbor (or a kid) takes this desk, their name goes here. Okay. You're the boss today. Walk to school, but make it a hunt. Find three things. One: a little free library. It's a box on a post full of books, and you can take one. We know of 27 of them west of I-25. Two you can visit: the one at the old Carnegie library building, 701 Manitou Ave, and the one at the Head Start, 2330 Robinson St. Two: the red rocks at the end of the street. Stop and look. Three: one leaf. Pick the best one on the block. Keep it. It's a bookmark now. Okay. Now the elk. In 1888, a man named John O'Byrne got two tame elk from a judge in Aspen. He trained them to pull his tourist carriage down this very avenue. Their names were Thunder and Buttons. Yes, elk. Yes, a carriage. Eventually a movie company bought them and took them to Alaska to film advertisements. Thunder and Buttons were in commercials. (Also true.) (Bonus, also true: in 1880 a train crew calmed a cold, panicking circus elephant at Colorado Springs with a keg of beer. Aunt's honor.) Ask a grown-up. Point at any building on your walk and ask: "What was here before?" Then listen. Your move, boss. This fall: Halloween, Oct 31, 2 to 4:30 p.m.: Trick or Treat Street on the avenue, 23rd to 28th. Costumed kids 1 to 6. Look for the orange and yellow balloons. Bring a little cousin. Mondays, 10 a.m.: the bighorn sheep program at the Garden of the Gods Visitor Center. December: the Christkindlmarket comes back to Bancroft Park, bigger than last year, with Santa at the cabin. Bonus level: the paper in the box has games. A word find whose leftover letters spell a message. A five-question quiz with the answers printed upside down. And a map to draw on: it's the 1902 map of Colorado City, when the town had 4,000 people. You can see it at westsidewherewithal.com/zine-box, page 6. The dare. Draw Thunder and Buttons pulling the carriage. Go big. Give the tourists faces. Then put it in the little free library box, or send it to hello@westsidewherewithal.com with your first name. We print the best ones. See you on the avenue. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-next-hundred> The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead The Next Hundred desk. Written from the city's own pages and the ballot; dates change, and we fix them when they do. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Right now, Colorado Avenue. Four lanes have been three from Limit to 30th since June, for up to a year. Watch the lanes. Your move: fill out the city survey after you've driven it, biked it, or crossed it with a stroller. The avenue went on a diet and nobody asked it. Oct 21 and Oct 26. The community center's neighbor group meets Wednesday the 21st at 4 p.m.; it helps steer what the center at 1628 W Bijou becomes. Monday the 26th, 5:30 p.m.: the 2027 budget's public hearing at 107 N Nevada Ave. Anyone can speak; the council calendar lists the work sessions before it. Your move: pick one and go. The budget reads better with you. Nov 3. Ballots are due by 7 p.m. County 1A would keep the public-safety sales tax going through 2037. D11's 4A is a $775 million school bond, and Coronado is on the list. Your move: vote, and use a drop box if the mail feels slow. There's one at 3141 W Colorado Ave. Seven o'clock does not negotiate. December. The Christkindlmarket comes back to Bancroft Park, bigger. Bancroft is the pupil of the eye, so a bigger market could mean a fuller avenue and fewer spots out front. Your move: go, and walk. The car can stay home. April 6, 2027. The city election: mayor and three at-large council seats. Your move: register or check your registration, and ask every candidate what they would do about the avenue. The avenue will hear about it. April 13. Council hears the appeal on Project Taurus, the 50-megawatt data center proposed at the old Intel plant next to the homes in Chelsea Glen. The Planning Commission approved it 6 to 2 in July with a power cap and noise monitoring; council wants a noise study first, and the hearing falls a week after you vote (Colorado Politics). The developer says it is weighing the partnership, so the date could still move. Your move: read the noise study when it exists, and show up. Read quietly. April to fall 2027. A roundabout replaces the four-way stop at 31st and Fontanero by Howbert Elementary, on the western gateway to the red rocks. Parents asked about the school crossing, and the city says it will work with the school. Your move: if you walk kids there, ask the school what they've been told. Four stops become one circle. Around June 2027. The lane test's year ends, give or take. Nothing we've found says what comes after. Your move: whatever you think of the test, say so before it ends. A year is long enough for an opinion. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The man who wrote down the Westside <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-porch-mcfarland> The man who wrote down the Westside Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The man who wrote down the Westside The Porch desk. Written from the record; the editor's conversations with his family and friends are coming. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. If you ever wondered whether there really were tunnels under Colorado Avenue, Mel McFarland is a big part of why you wondered. I'll tell you what I know. He died September 21, at 81. From 2004 to 2019 he wrote 604 "Cobweb Corners" columns about this neighborhood for the Westside Pioneer. Born here in 1944, a fourth-generation native, taught art and drafting, and wrote books on the Colorado Midland Railway. In 1983 he bought a retired working caboose for his Rockrimmon backyard, and became "the Caboose Guy." Dave Martinek, who started Midland Days at Divide with him in 2009, told the Gazette: "He was the go-to person for anyone who wanted to know about railroad history in the state." His nephew Luc MacArthur called him "kind of a Renaissance man." His sister, Elaine Radney, said: "He had a lot of people who loved him." He wrote it down. Here is some of it. On February 3, 2005, he wrote down the story of John O'Byrne, who in 1888 got two tame elk, Thunder and Buttons, and trained them to pull a tourist carriage. Here is the column. On April 7, 2005, he wrote down the tunnels, the ones that let Colorado Avenue customers reach the Cucharras Street brothels unseen. He had "seen the remains of bits of both" sets of tunnels himself. On November 17, 2011, he wrote down the Glass Works disaster. Just after midnight on September 9, 1892, the furnace top collapsed and fiery glass poured out. Chunks of raw glass still show up now and then in neighborhood yards and rock walls, he wrote. On November 14, 2013, he wrote down the day a Teller County sheriff chained a Pullman sleeper car to the rails over $663.21 in unpaid taxes, and a U.S. marshal freed it two days later. Read it. Here's the thing. The Gazette says he left "file cabinets" of research and writing, and that his family hopes to sift through them, with no concrete plans yet. The next person who asks "was there really a glass plant over here?" gets a shrug. We can't fix that. What we have is an index of all 604 columns, by what each one reports, at westsidewherewithal.com/cobweb. The editor plans to call his sister, Dave Martinek, the Pioneer's editor Kenyon Jordan, and the History Center, and we'll tell you what they say. The question we're taking to them is who keeps the record now. We'd like to be part of the answer, and we'd like yours. Did a column of his stick with you? Tell us which one. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-record-dda> Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper The Record desk. Written from the city's own pages and the news; the Aug 25 minutes are still to be read. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. If you missed the council meeting last month, here is the entry. A downtown development authority, a DDA, is a small district set up by a vote. It is supposed to get its own pot of money to spend on one downtown. In 2024, Old Colorado City voters created one for the avenue. It never got its funding. It was created by a vote and ended by a vote, and the money never turned up in between. On Sept 22, City Council voted 5 to 4 to dissolve it. That's ordinance 26-48. The meeting record has the roll call. That's on paper. Yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams No: Donelson, Gold, Henjum, Leinweber The Gazette reported the first vote, on Aug 25, as the same 5 to 4. That's reported. On Oct 2, KKTV reported that the DDA is weighing legal action, because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. That's reported too. That is the whole ledger so far. Here is what we don't know: The Aug 25 minutes. We have the first vote from the news, not from the minutes. Until we've read them, the date and the count are reported, not checked. Whether a lawsuit is filed. KKTV says the DDA is considering one. We haven't found a filing. That isn't on paper. We'll say so when it is. What the DDA was going to buy. The records we have don't list its plan, so we won't guess. If you voted in 2024, or sat in those rooms, tell us what you were told. Who picks up the avenue's end of things now. Nobody has answered that in anything we've read. That isn't on paper either. We are taking the question to the next meeting. Some of those answers are in a room on a Tuesday morning. You can be in it. City Council meets the second and fourth Tuesdays at 9 a.m., 107 N Nevada Ave, and you can watch from home. You don't have to say a word. Take the one-page sheet, write down what happens, and your name goes on it. The Oct 13 meeting is the next one. If you were at the Aug 25 meeting, or you have the minutes, send them over. Tell me what I got wrong. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Where the asphalt gives up <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-ridge> Where the asphalt gives up Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Where the asphalt gives up The Ridge desk. Written from the city's pages and the groups' own sites; a canyon volunteer reads it before it prints. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Rain or snow, and the trails hold it. Friends of Red Rock Canyon says wait a day or two, because they stay muddy and fragile for 24 to 48 hours. Follow 21st down to Bear Creek, then keep going west. Around 30th and 31st the asphalt gives up. The red sandstone takes over. Red Rock Canyon is the pocket to the south. The city bought it in 2003, after it had been slated for a resort with high-rise towers and a private golf course. The city's open space page lists it among the places TOPS, the sales tax voters passed for open space, made possible. It nearly went the other way. Parking. The 31st Street trailhead has more than the High Street lots. No e-bikes in the open space. This fall. The Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th, runs a free bighorn sheep program with a touch table, Mondays 10 to 10:45 a.m. through Nov 30. Owls of the Garden is Oct 26, 12:30 to 1:30. Tickets from $5, sign up first. Oct 31, 1 to 2 p.m., a talk on why wolves in Colorado. The Garden's calendar has details. What's being decided. The Park System Master Plan goes to City Council next: the city's page lists Oct 12, a Monday work session where they talk but don't vote, and Oct 27, after the parks board heard it Oct 8. White Acres Trail is becoming the Don Ellis Trail. The board approved it Aug 13; it waits on an agreement and an $850 city fee. Fire restrictions: the city's page shows none this week, and we are checking with the fire department. We'll tell you what we hear. The seed rule. Some copies of this paper will carry a strip of Colorado native seed. Yards and community gardens, yes; parks, open space, the creek, the trails and anything that burned, no. The whole rule, and what's in the strip. Groups to join. Friends of Red Rock Canyon keeps up the benches and runs Talk and Walks, resuming soon (no date yet). The Trails and Open Space Coalition takes members and runs the One Bag Challenge cleanups. Friends of Garden of the Gods runs volunteer days. Our promise. Every Monday this desk reads the city's parks pages, and a canyon volunteer reads them with us. If nothing's new, we'll say so. Which trail was muddy this week? Tell me and I'll pass it along. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Who's cooking on the Westside this week <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-table> Who's cooking on the Westside this week Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Who's cooking on the Westside this week The Table desk. Hours are as the churches and pantries post them, checked October 11; we call before they go on the Bulletin Board. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Here's how it works. Somebody on this side of the interstate feeds people almost every day of the week. Most of it comes out of church basements and fellowship halls, cooked by neighbors who know their way around a stockpot. We went looking for the tables. There are more than we expected. Everything below is what each kitchen posts as of October 11. Call ahead before you walk over. Hours move, and a wrong schedule costs somebody a trip. Sunday The Sanctuary Church, 1930 W Colorado Ave, serves its Ragamuffin Cafe hot meal Sunday at 9 a.m. Call 719-634-7232. It is the only Sunday hot meal on paper west of I-25. If your kitchen serves Sunday breakfast, let us know. Monday Westside CARES, 2808 W Colorado Ave, serves a weekly hot meal from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Call 719-389-0759. Sacred Heart Catholic Church opens its food pantry noon to 2 p.m. at the Parish Center door, 2030 W Colorado Ave. No voucher required. Call 719-633-8711. Tuesday Westside Global Methodist, 701 N 20th St, opens its pantry from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Call 719-633-9295. If you knew it as Trinity UMC, it is the same corner under a new name; the old building on W Pikes Peak Ave is becoming a child care center. Wednesday Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou St, hosts the Westside CARES pantry from 1 to 3 p.m. Call 719-385-7920. Up the road in Manitou Springs, the Manitou Springs Food Pantry at 110 Canon Ave runs 1 to 2 p.m., with a hot meal starting at 12:30 p.m. Call 719-685-9259. St. Andrew's closed its church doors in 2025, but volunteers kept the pantry running in the parish hall. Thursday Sacred Heart opens its Parish Center pantry doors again from noon to 2 p.m. No voucher needed. Call 719-633-8711. Know another table? That is six tables, and there are more. If your church, lodge, or block group feeds folks, text 719-201-5462 or write hello@westsidewherewithal.com with the day and time. We will call to confirm it and print it free on the Bulletin Board, in your words. See you at the table. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Three picks before Halloween <https://westsidewherewithal.com/weekend-radar> Three picks before Halloween Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Three picks before Halloween The Weekend Radar desk. Every line checked against the organizer's own page. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Two weekends, three picks, and I've already parked for all of them. Read this, then go. Go to the farmers market. Saturday, October 17, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., Bancroft Park, 24th and Colorado. It's the last Saturday of the season, with 80-some vendors, and there is no next Saturday. Go early, because the best of anything goes first. Parking: don't circle the park hoping. Take a side street and walk the last bit. Saturday, October 24 is two things at once. Pick one. First, the coffin races. The Emma Crawford Coffin Races run 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Manitou Springs. Parking: Manitou Avenue closes at 9, so get there before the road shuts and the crowd fills in, and plan to walk in. Second, the pumpkins. Pumpkins in the Park is noon to 6 p.m. on the avenue, free, with a pumpkin patch, painting, costume and carving contests, the ZOOmobile, live music and a beer garden. Parking: the avenue's diagonal spots fill on a festival Saturday, so take a side street and walk in. Don't try to do both in one afternoon. Choose, then start the day with it. The things that are always there. If the festivals are not your speed, or you just need a Thursday: trivia at OCC Brewing every Thursday, 7 to 9 p.m. Storytime at the OCC Library every Friday, 10:30 a.m. Brunch Jam Band at Mother Muff's every Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Free bingo on the 21st, Trunk or Treat on the 25th, Trick or Treat Street on the 31st and First Friday ArtWalk on November 6 are all on the full list, with times. That list lives at westsidewherewithal.com, and it's also the one-sheet on the counters around the avenue. Got something happening that we missed? Send it to hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or text 719-201-5462. We'll check it against your own page and put it in. See you Saturday. I'll be the one who parked early. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in <https://westsidewherewithal.com/year-ahead> Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in The Year Ahead desk. Written from the editor's calendar; no interviews yet. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Picture the fridge calendar. Every Thursday of 2027 is penciled in, and you're coming along. One honest aside: it's plans, all of it. Nothing has been reported yet, and some weeks may not land. Winter first. Week one: The Reset Issue. Quiet workspaces, reading refuges, and I'd be surprised if the Carnegie library stays out. And then we eat through the cold. The quest for the best broth in OCC. A reader poll for the best breakfast burrito west of I-25. A 4 a.m. shift with a Westside baker. Then February: a cocktail lounge audit off Main Street, an Alternative Valentine, pints by the fireplace, and how the vintage and antiques shops survive winter. Spring opens up. Red Rock Canyon hikes, with lunches after. The carriage house makers working out of alleys. St. Patrick week. And then the thaw, when we find out which counters open their windows. The under-$15 lunch circuit. A patio audit covering shade, noise, pints and dogs. Seed swaps. Coffee roasters. A Territory Days survival guide. A First Friday gallery crawl. Spring tap releases. Summer gets loud. Hosting out-of-towners without crossing I-25. The Bancroft Park farmers market, booth by booth. Gelato. Where a line cook eats at midnight. Secret courtyards. Quiet Fourth of July viewpoints. Live music on the bricks, and I'm hoping the bandshell gets a paragraph. You pick the coldest drinks. Then the Pueblo chile arrives. Nightcaps and jukeboxes after 10, and I'd bet Mother Muff's comes up. Then a back-to-school pantry run, Uintah Gardens an obvious stop. Fall, the leg I'm saving. The annual pizza index: Slice 420 against Rustica against Leopold's, and we'll need lots of you to settle it. Golden aspens. Autumn ciders. A locals' guide for after the tourists leave. Ghost signs, spooky lore, wood-fired and cast iron cooking (Front Range BBQ, you're on my mind). Thanksgiving hosting. Best of the Westside nominations. Small Business Saturday. And then a Black Friday antidote at Section 16 and Bear Creek. December: a 100% Westside gift guide, a winter lights walk, the Best of the Westside winners, the solstice and quiet patios, and a last issue called Looking Ahead. Every week also carries a civic item and an oral history. A 40-year diner regular. A couple who met at Bancroft in 1988. A chile roaster of 25 seasons. A dishwasher who worked 300 shifts. A high school senior looking at the Westside's future. Tell me which month I got wrong, or which place I forgot. The pencil's by the fridge, and I'll see you the first Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? <https://westsidewherewithal.com/issues/2026-10-11-issue-0> Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? 2026-10-11 Listen · about 2 min Read by a synthetic voice, made on a Mac in the newsroom. The words are the paper's. Download. In this issue Can't we just inform each other? The leaves are changing Divide anything but our bread What it's all for We choose this Can't we just inform each other? Nobody's telling us what's happening around here unless you find some corporate website that tracks you and tries to make you pay just to find out what's going on outside your door. What a drag. Can't we just inform each other, and have fun building and being in community? The leaves are changing The leaves are changing and falling, and the streets are graced with people from all walks of life. The days are growing shorter, and fall will give way to snow in a few weeks. Before we know it Santa will be at the cabin in Bancroft Park and the Christkindlmarket will be back. Divide anything but our bread I want people to see and hear themselves in our work. I want the people in this community to remember that we're in this together and that what we print is made to remind us of that. We are not here to divide anything but our bread for others, to love our neighbors, and practice mercy and kindness. What it's all for I get nervous that people's fear clouds not only their judgment but their hearts. I can be a skeptic, and quite cynical at times. I wonder what it's all for and why I'm doing this. But in the end, if one person reads our words and connects with them even a little, and it gives them a spark or the belief that they are loved, I will have done my work. We choose this I hope people are excited to see what we're up to. I hope they want to be a part of it, and that by gathering and presenting our values, beliefs and customs together, we can cherish them and let new things in while the old fades. I want Thursday to remind us that we choose this. Jeff What we told you Can't we just inform each other? The leaves are changing Divide anything but our bread What it's all for We choose this The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The archive <https://westsidewherewithal.com/issues/index> The archive Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The archive Every issue, oldest at the bottom. Free to read. If you want to chip in, the jar is on the front page. Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? 2026-10-11 The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The Westside Wherewithal <https://westsidewherewithal.com/> The Westside Wherewithal Skip to the paper We start for real in January. Sign up and the first one lands on a Thursday morning. Thursday mornings · FreeFrom your neighbors ## The Westside WherewithalBecause living west of takes a little wherewithal. Colorado Springs, Colorado A free paper for the Westside of Colorado Springs, written by the people who live here. Thursday mornings, starting January. ## Get it Thursday morning One email a week, free. Put your address in and we'll see you Thursday. Sign me up ## What the city is deciding ## About your street, before it's done You can still weigh in Open nowColorado Avenue lane test. Four lanes to three from Limit Street to 30th Street (the city's page; the Gazette says 31st), for up to a year from June 2026, paid for with $375K from the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority (PPRTA) sales tax. The city survey is open.Changed since 2026-10-11The city's own page: City project page · The surveyIn the news: Gazette, lane test # Oct 26, 2026The city's 2027 budget. Public hearing Monday Oct 26, 5:30 p.m., Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada Ave. Anyone can speak. The council talks it over at work sessions first (Oct 15 is one). What's in it for the Westside, we're reading now.Changed since 2026-10-11The city's own page: the council calendar (Legistar) # Coming up Oct 21, 2026The community center's neighbor group (the Westside Community Center Alliance) meets Wednesday Oct 21, 4 p.m. It helps steer what the center at 1628 W Bijou becomes. Whether anyone can sit in, we're asking.The city's own page: city page, community centerStill looking for: the Alliance's own notice and the Parks Advisory Board's May minutesIn the news: Gazette, the Alliance # Apr 2027Roundabout at 31st and Fontanero, by Howbert Elementary, replacing the four-way stop. The open house was Sept 15. Construction April to fall 2027. Parents asked about the school crossing; the city says it will work with the school. The crossing drawing and the open-house boards are the documents we're after.In the news: KKTV, the roundabout # Apr 13, 2027Project Taurus. A 50-megawatt data center proposed at the old Intel plant, next to the homes in Chelsea Glen. The Planning Commission approved it 6 to 2 in July with a power cap and noise monitoring. Council put the appeal off 7 to 2 to April 13, a week after the city election, and wants a noise study and a study of what big power users pay first. The developer told Colorado Politics on Sept 18 it is weighing whether this is the right partnership.Still looking for: the noise studyIn the news: CPR, hearing date · Colorado Politics, the postponement · KKTV, the appeal # Already decided Sept 22, 2026Old Colorado City's downtown development authority (DDA) shut down. The tax district voters created in 2024 never got its funding. Council voted 5 to 4 on Sept 22 to dissolve it, ordinance 26-48 (yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams; no: Donelson, Gold, Henjum, Leinweber), after the same 5 to 4 on first reading Aug 25. KKTV reported Oct 2 that the DDA is weighing legal action because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. Who picks up the avenue's end of things is an open question.The city's own page: meeting record (Open Publica)Still looking for: the ordinance text itself, and the Aug 25 minutesIn the news: Gazette, the first vote · KKTV, the lawsuit threat # Coming up Every weekThe land. Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, the Garden, Bear Creek, the creek itself: fire restrictions, trail closures, anything the parks board decides. Nothing new on the city's pages this week; we look every Monday, and a canyon volunteer is looking with us.The city's own page: city parks, trails and open space # Already decided Since Apr 2023Greater Westside Community Plan. Nine neighborhoods, one plan: Gold Hill, Ivywild, Mesa, Mesa Springs, Midland, Old Colorado City, Skyway, Stratton Meadows, Westside. (The city's plan reaches past the interstate; this paper stays west of it.) The city's page lists six meetings, the last in April 2023, plus a 2022 survey and a 'Big Ideas' summary. What came next is the question we're taking to Planning, and to the neighbors who sat in those rooms.Changed since 2026-10-11The city's own page: city page, the plan # Checked October 11. Each one links to the city's own page where we found it. Where it says "still looking," we haven't found it yet (city websites, you know how it goes). If you've got it, send it over. Want to be the person in the room? Go to one meeting, write down what happened on this one-page sheet, and your name goes on it. A City Council Tuesday is the easy first one; you can watch it live or later from the couch. ## Vote ## Ballots are in the mail. Here's the Westside part. By Oct 26Register, or check that you're registered, at GoVoteColorado.gov. Moved since last time? Update it there too. After Oct 26 you can still register and vote in person, through Election Day.The city's own page: GoVoteColorado.gov # Till Nov 3, 7 p.m.Drop boxes west of I-25, open day and night: Red Rock Canyon shopping center, 3141 W Colorado Ave; Bear Creek Regional Park, 2002 Creek Crossing St; the clerk's office, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd; Manitou City Hall, 606 Manitou Ave. Mailing it? The county says by Oct 27. It has to arrive by 7 p.m. on Election Day; a postmark doesn't count.The city's own page: the county's list of boxes · El Paso County elections # On the ballotThe local ones: County 1A keeps the public-safety sales tax going through 2037. D11 4A is a $775 million school bond (Coronado is on the list). Then fourteen statewide questions; the state's Blue Book explains each one in plain words, for and against.The city's own page: the county's local questions · the Blue Book # Apr 6, 2027The city election: mayor and three at-large council seats. Same registration, same website. We'll print the candidates and where they stand on the Westside.The city's own page: city election page # We don't tell you how to vote. We'd love for you to. If the Blue Book is a brick, if you can't get to a box, if you're not sure you're registered, call or text 719-201-5462 and a neighbor helps. The county pays election judges and trains them; sign up here if you've got a day. ## The next two weeks ## Oct 11 to Nov 8, checked against the calendars The market's last Saturday, Pumpkins in the Park, free bingo at the community center, the cemetery tour, the coffin races, and the same seven things every week. Every weekMon Boom Box Bingo, 7 to 11 p.m. (Mother Muff's)Tue Math tutoring, 4 to 5:30 p.m. (OCC Library)Wed Toddler Time, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Wed Open mic, 6 to 9 p.m. (Jives Coffee Lounge, 16 Colbrunn Ct)Thu Trivia, 7 to 9 p.m. (OCC Brewing)Fri Storytime, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Sat Paws to Read, 10:30 a.m. (OCC Library)Sun Brunch Jam Band, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Mother Muff's) Sun Oct 11 all month Scarecrow Days: the storefront scarecrows, with a public vote, through Oct 31 the avenue Mon Oct 12 all day Westside CARES closed for Indigenous Peoples' Day 2808 W Colorado Tue Oct 13 9 a.m. City Council regular meeting (agenda on Legistar) 107 N Nevada Ave 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Small Steps, Giant Leaps, Space Foundation program for ages 2 to 6 Westside Community Center Wed Oct 14 9 a.m. City Planning Commission 2880 International Circle 5:30 to 7 p.m. Evening pickleball: donate a bag of candy to play, paddles limited Westside Community Center Thu Oct 15 7:30 a.m. Coffee with the principal Coronado High, Future Center 2 to 4 p.m. Classic board games free OCC Library 5 p.m. Mushroom Zombie Haunted House opens, through Oct 31 Mush Love Tee, the shirt shop, 2627 W Colorado Fri Oct 16 all day No school at Coronado: parent-teacher conferences, 9 to 3 in the gym Coronado High 5 to 6 p.m. Bingo at the Biscuit The Biscuit Factory Cat Lounge, 12 S 25th Sat Oct 17 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Farmers market, last Saturday of the season, 80-some vendors Bancroft Park 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Craft and art market, final Saturday History Center, 1 S 24th Sun Oct 18 evening Legends and Lore of Fairview Cemetery, a two-hour guided tour; tickets online, kids 12 and under free Fairview Cemetery, 1000 S 26th Mon Oct 19 all week Fall break at Coronado, Oct 19 to 22, no school Coronado High Wed Oct 21 4 p.m. Westside Community Center Alliance meeting Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou 5:30 to 7 p.m. Howdy Neighbor prize bingo, doors at 5, all ages, no sign-up free Westside Community Center Thu Oct 22 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Book group free OCC Library Sat Oct 24 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Emma Crawford Coffin Races, the 32nd; Manitou Avenue closes at 9 Manitou Springs noon to 6 p.m. Pumpkins in the Park: pumpkin patch, painting, face painters, costume and carving contests, the ZOOmobile, live music, a beer garden free the avenue Sun Oct 25 1 to 4 p.m. Trunk or Treat in the parking lot, and Animals of Halloween inside, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. free Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th Mon Oct 26 10 to 10:45 a.m. Bighorn sheep, an indoor program with a touch table; Mondays through Nov 30 free Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Owls of the Garden: take an owl pellet apart; $5, sign up first Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 5:30 p.m. City budget public hearing, the 2027 budget; anyone can speak Council Chambers, 107 N Nevada Ave Tue Oct 27 all day Stroll-a-Story: a storybook walk, page by page, around the library OCC Library, 2418 W Pikes Peak Thu Oct 29 7:30 to 8:45 p.m. Haunted Manitou ghost tour, $25; also Oct 30 and 31 Memorial Park, Manitou Springs Fri Oct 30 5:30 p.m. Ghost Stories of Old Manitou, a walking tour from the museum Manitou Springs Heritage Museum Sat Oct 31 1 to 2 p.m. Why wolves in Colorado, a talk Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th 2 to 4:30 p.m. Trick or Treat Street: costumed kids 1 to 6, shop to shop; look for the orange and yellow balloons the avenue, 23rd to 28th 6 p.m. Manitou Phantasmagoria Shoshone Spring courtyard, Manitou Springs evening Mushroom Zombie Haunted House, last night Mush Love Tee, the shirt shop, 2627 W Colorado Tue Nov 3 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Election Day. Ballots due by 7 p.m. at a drop box; register and vote in person at the clerk's office, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd, or Manitou City Hall El Paso County Fri Nov 6 5 to 8 p.m. First Friday ArtWalk: galleries, studios and shops open late along the avenue free the avenue, 17th to 31st Sun Nov 8 11 a.m. Altitude Makers market and farmers market free Soda Springs Park, Manitou Springs Every line above came off a calendar we can link, checked October 11. The strip up top happens every week; the list is the one-time stuff. The avenue is West Colorado Avenue; OCC is Old Colorado City; D11 is the school district. If we got a time wrong, tell us and we'll fix it in the next issue. Red Rock Canyon, the churches and the school sports pages had nothing dated for these two weeks; if you know of something, send it. Where that came from: Old Colorado City events calendar · Old Colorado City Library · Westside Community Center · History Center events · Garden of the Gods calendar ## The Bulletin Board ## Suppers, pantries, services, weddings, and the ones we lost If you need something this week, start here. Free, in your words, from you or your church or your family. Food, rent and utility help: Westside CARES, 2808 W Colorado Ave, 719-389-0759. Open Monday to Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. They prefer you walk in. Closed when the schools close for weather. Serves everyone west of I-25. Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou St, 719-385-7920. Open Monday and Friday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Tuesday to Thursday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. A corkboard, not a story. Church suppers, pantry hours, services, weddings, and the ones we lost: free, in your words, from you or your church or your family. We call to check the hours before they run. Send it by Tuesday to hello@westsidewherewithal.com, by text to 719-201-5462, by mail to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, or in the box on the front page. Where that came from: Westside CARES hours · Community center hours (city page) ## The Listening Room ## Once a month. You pick where and when. Coffee with the editor, no agenda, no sign-up. The hour and the place are a vote; the winner runs in issue 1. The Listening Room isn't an office. It's one hour a month wherever we sit down, and I'd rather you picked it than me. Vote below, or write in your own. I live over here, about twenty years now, and the office on the avenue is the paper's address; it says one thing: I'm here. I'm with you. Where and when Saturday morning, the bench by the bandshell in Bancroft Park Tuesday evening, a coffee counter on the avenue Sunday afternoon, the library (once they say yes) A weeknight on Zoom, for people who work days Cast it ## The Address Book ## What was in this storefront in 1968? One storefront, one photo, what was inside. One building per issue: a photo, the address, and whoever remembers fills in the rest. The first photo is coming; if you have one, send it in below. ## Write something ## Send it in The shop that closed, the thing the city's about to do on your street, the neighbor everybody should know. Photos and drawings count, with your name on them. Send it however you like: the box below, hello@westsidewherewithal.com, a call or a text to 719-201-5462, or mail it to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs 80904. (Mail only; nobody is at the door.) We write back. Rather talk than type? Call or text 719-201-5462 and tell me out loud; I'll write it down and you hear it read back before it runs. Under 18? Send it anyway; we'll check with you or a parent before it runs. Teachers, send the whole class. Photos come by email. En español: mándenos un texto al 719-201-5462 o escríbanos a hello@westsidewherewithal.com, en español: su cena, su misa, su aviso. No lo hablo de nacimiento; lo traducimos con un vecino y se lo leemos antes de publicar. Any other language: send it anyway, and we'll find a neighbor to translate. Want a desk? The pages signed by a desk are open; here's how to take one. Got a counter, or a box on your fence? Say so and we'll bring a stack, free, and swap the stale ones. How we do things, if you're curious. Put me down for a stack, for my counter or my library box Send it in ## The jar It's free. If a Thursday was worth something to you, throw a few bucks in the jar; it pays for the email and the printing. A check by mail to 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122 works too. Pay what you want Inside: What the city is deciding · The next two weeks · On the avenue · From the desks · The next 100 years · Frontier wherewithal · Around the avenue · What came before us ## On the avenue ## I never stepped inside Base Camp, 2611 W Colorado Ave, closed October 4, and I never ate there. Tell me the place you'd go back to. Jeff Adkins Base Camp closed on October 4. I thought it looked cool, but the menu never appealed to me in the moment, and it's hard to take me away from the dozen places I adore already. I never stepped inside. That's on me, and I'm not alone. Empty storefronts are not what we want here. What keeps a place open is anyone and everyone who can afford to spend local dollars in it, and I am going to try hard to keep mixing it up. If you're thinking about working and making a living here, I wish I could appeal to you directly: we need you. Old Colorado City (OCC from here on) is a tourist destination, for locals and for travelers. I know this. I gladly give up my street parking for events because I know we need them. If I want OCC Brewing to be here 365 days a year, I need them to sustain themselves. That means me not griping about the traffic or the parking over here. Not everyone can afford to eat out or shop on the avenue. I understand that; I don't feel obligated to, and neither should you. I'm fortunate that I can budget for a meal out, and I try to go during the week, when places are less busy and could frankly use the business. So I can't complain about Base Camp closing if I didn't eat there, and I can't blame not eating there on the parking. Tell me the place you'd go back to. What we know: Base Camp, 2611 W Colorado Ave, opened March 2025 and closed October 4; the owner cited costs and the economy. Mountain Shadows, the restaurant four blocks east, closed December 2024 and sold in January. Where that came from: Gazette, Oct 2, 2026 · Gazette, Jan 20, 2025 · OCC Brewing ## From the desks ## Ten desks, one neighborhood Celebrating, remembering, forecasting. Nine of the ten are open; a neighbor's name goes on one the day they take it. The Wherewithal desks Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in · the 52 Thursdays of 2027, as a walk through the seasons The man who wrote down the Westside · 604 columns, the elk, the tunnels, and who keeps the record now Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper · the vote, the names, what's still unknown, and how to be in the room See that building? Look again · five storefronts and what they were, from the columns and the 1902 map Where the asphalt gives up · Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, Bear Creek; this fall, and the seed rule The elk who pulled a carriage · for kids: three things to find on the walk to school, and a dare Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad · la mesa en español: ayuda, el voto, cómo escribirnos Who's cooking on the Westside this week · six tables, as their own pages say it; we call before it prints Three picks before Halloween · the market's last Saturday, the coffin races, pumpkins in the park, and where to park The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead · every date headed for your street, and the door into each one Every desk is written from the record we hold and says so at the top. None of it is an interview yet; those are coming. Every one is open: what each desk takes, and how to take one. One text, one coffee. ## The next 100 years ## Four lanes to three, for a year Four lanes to three, Limit to 30th, for a year. The city survey is open. One driver's take below; if yours differs, next issue's yours. Jeff Adkins 1902 · Sanborn fire insurance map, sheet 2, Colorado Avenue · Library of Congress, public domain 2027 · lane drawing · city of Colorado Springs, Colorado Avenue demonstration, phase two What we know: four lanes to three from Limit to 30th by the city's page (the Gazette says 31st), since June 2026, for up to a year; the city calls it the Colorado Avenue Demonstration Project; $375K of county transportation tax (PPRTA) money. The Gazette counts about 30 parking spaces added, metered; the city's page says parking changes are expected to be minimal. We've asked the project team which it is. A second phase in 2027 makes some of it permanent and redoes three blocks of streetscape (Gazette); permanent reconstruction is penciled for 2027 or 2028 (Bike Colorado Springs). The city survey is open. One driver's take, mine (and my office is on the avenue, at 2320): it's great to see so much more attention being paid to pedestrians, and it doesn't slow me down at all. I haven't timed it; if you have, send the numbers. It may add parking, metered; the city and the Gazette disagree on how much (see the record), and nobody has said yet where someone who lives over a shop parks overnight. The city is taking comments until the concrete goes down. If you drive it, bike it, or cross it with a stroller, say so. If you hate it, this space is yours next issue, same length, your name on it. What do I want to still be here in 2126? Westsiders. Hyper local, no corporate nonsense, and room for whoever shows up to stay. Where that came from: Sanborn 1902 (LoC) · City project page · The city survey · Gazette, May 20, 2026 · Bike Colorado Springs ## Frontier wherewithal ## Load up for winter, survive the summer Not just another old west town. Two tame elk, tunnels under the avenue, four to six weeks a year you'd rather be in the water. Jeff Adkins If you're new here you might think this is just another old west town. If you're passing through, maybe we should let you believe it. Our summers are dry and shorter than most, with heat that stops, starts, and lingers. I'd say we have about four to six weeks a year where you'd want to be holed up in the cabin or in the water, which can be tricky to find. We need to know how to load up for winter, survive the summer, and not die of dehydration. And like every place with lore, we have a guy who trained two tame elk, Thunder and Buttons, to pull a carriage, plus tunnels and brothels and churches, oh my. We love it here. What we know: Thunder and Buttons were elk; Prairie Dog O'Byrne drove them hitched to a carriage on this avenue in the late 1880s. The tunnels under the avenue are documented by the historical society, with the honest caveat that some of it may be something else. Colorado City voted itself dry in 1913. Where that came from: Westside Pioneer, 2006 · Cobweb Corners, 2005 · Gazette, July 2021, the tunnels · Thunder and Buttons II ## Around the avenue ## Getting to know them is the point I don't know everyone yet. Getting to know them is the point. Jeff Adkins What we know so far: Who's opening and who's moving: we've heard about three and have an address for none, so none are named yet. Send the name and the block. The Old Colorado City Historical Society runs a free museum at 1 South 24th, a block off the avenue. Tuesday through Saturday, 11 to 4 in summer and 11 to 2 in winter. Call before you drive. The free Tuesday concerts at the Bancroft Park bandshell ran June 2 through September 29 this year, 5:30, Dizzy Charlie's and the Pikes Peak Blues Community. Next summer's lineup runs here the week it's announced. First Friday art walk, 5 to 8, galleries and studios along the avenue. Next one is November 6. The Customs and Classics car show closes the avenue from 23rd to 27th one Sunday every August. If the one you went to was a different show this fall, tell us which. This is the stuff I get to see everyone else doing. I enjoy seeing them do it. It doesn't matter to me if I don't know anyone in the room, because getting to know them is the point of this life. And that's what I'm here to capture in this paper. I shouldn't pretend to know things I don't. Where that came from: OCC History Center · Tuesday concerts (Springs Magazine) · First Friday (OCC calendar) · The car show (Pioneer, 2018) ## What came before us ## I want it all Mel McFarland died in September; I indexed the 604 columns I found. Eight digs, from the capital that got away to the forgotten cemetery. Jeff Adkins Start here: Mel McFarland, who wrote the Westside's past in the Pioneer for fifteen years, died in September at 81. Most of what is below comes from his columns. I found 604 and indexed every one I found; the one-line summaries there are software drafts, not yet checked one by one. Who keeps the record now is a question this paper exists to answer. I want the best stories from Old Colorado City. I want to dig down and find the most awesome stuff we can publish: how people first lived here, how it went from zero to what it is today, funny things, shootouts, jail time for crimes that make us laugh and cry, mysteries and murders. I want it all. What did we used to do and stop? What was, but isn't? What could have been, but never was? The digs I can't do alone: your church, your family, your block. Send them. What we found first: The capital that got away. Colorado City was founded in August 1859 to outfit gold seekers, was the county seat by 1861, and held the territorial capital just long enough to lose it to Denver. One account says the town was deemed too rowdy. Zero to four thousand. Mel has the town past 2,000 by 1890; the 1892 fire-insurance map (the Sanborn) writes 2,000 on its own cover, and the 1902 sheet writes 4,000. The town voted itself dry in 1913, lost the saloon money, and voted to be annexed by Colorado Springs in April 1917. Four saloons to twenty-seven. By the Pioneer's 2009 count (a feature, not one of Mel's columns): four in 1884, twenty-three by 1888, twenty-seven in 1902 plus thirty-some gambling halls, on a main street that also had the churches. Laura Bell McDaniel. From the Pioneer's 2011 profile, not the index: queen of the tenderloin; her last house was the Tribley House in the 2600 block of West Cucharras. She married Tom McDaniel in April 1887 in Salida; a month later he shot a man five times while she watched, and was acquitted. She divorced him in 1893. Accused in November 1917 of stealing liquor and acquitted; the historian who wrote her up thinks it was a set-up. Died in a car crash in January 1918. The elk were O'Byrne's by Mel's column (bought in Aspen in 1888); a 2006 Pioneer piece has her riding beside him in the carriage. The Glass Works. Full production in 1889 with 200 men on the south edge of town, bottling Manitou water. The furnace top collapsed just after midnight on September 9, 1892. Wheeler promised to rebuild; the Silver Panic of 1893 and the lost customers finished it. One of Mel's columns says it closed in 1895, another says by 1900; one puts a fire in 1893 as well. The Midland shops. The Colorado Midland started here in 1886 and quit in 1918; the Midland Terminal ran the line to Divide until it was scrapped in 1949. Hundreds of men in the shops at the peak, under a hundred by 1925, about fifty by 1948; the office burned in 1953. The fourteen-stall roundhouse is the one that lived: Van Briggle pottery, then the shops you walk through now. The mills. The Colorado-Philadelphia came first, in 1894 by one of Mel's columns and about 1897 by another, near 31st and U.S. 24. Golden Cycle took over the Telluride mill in 1906, rebuilt it with cyanide after a 1907 fire, and ran it until 1949; the smokestack is still there. The forgotten cemetery. Colorado City's Pioneer cemetery, on the mesa, used from about 1860 to 1917. Not every burial was moved; the stones came out in the 1940s and it became Pioneer Park in the 1950s. Graves were mapped with metal detectors in the 1970s, a project Mel joined, and a cast-iron coffin may still be there. Who is in it is still the question. Where that came from: Why the fuss? (Pioneer) · Laura Bell McDaniel (Pioneer, 2011) · Thunder and Buttons (Cobweb Corners, 2005) · The Glass Works, 200 men (Cobweb Corners, 2011) · The Glass Works fire (Cobweb Corners, 2011) · The Glass Works closed 1895 (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The Midland, 1886 to 1918 (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The Midland shops decline (Cobweb Corners, 2009) · The roundhouse (Cobweb Corners, 2007) · The mills (Cobweb Corners, 2013) · Golden Cycle closes, 1949 (Cobweb Corners, 2006) · The capital, the county seat (Cobweb Corners, 2009) · The forgotten cemetery (Cobweb Corners, 2004) · The forgotten cemetery (Cobweb Corners, 2017) · Mel McFarland, 1944 to 2026 (Gazette) · Every Cobweb Corners column, indexed · Colorado City Iris, digitized (CHNC) If something here is wrong, reply to the email or send it in below. Corrections run at the top of the next issue. Behind the masthead: Sanborn fire insurance map of Colorado City, November 1902, sheet 1. Library of Congress, public domain. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad <https://westsidewherewithal.com/la-vecina> Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Una carta para el oeste de la ciudad La Vecina, la mesa en español. Traducción nuestra; buscamos a un vecino o vecina que la tome y firme aquí. Vecina, vecino: Le escribo con las hojas ya cambiando de color y las tardes más cortas. Aquí entre nosotros, quería contarle lo que sé. Si usted vive al oeste de la I-25, este periódico es para usted. Se llama The Westside Wherewithal, sale cada semana y es gratis. Lo escribimos entre vecinos: lo que abre, lo que cierra, lo que se vota, lo que llega al parque. Y queremos saber de usted. Cuéntenos lo que ve en su cuadra, en su iglesia, en su trabajo, y hágalo en español, en sus propias palabras. Si esta semana necesita una mano, vaya a Westside CARES, en 2808 W Colorado Ave. Abren de lunes a jueves, de 9:30 a.m. a 12:30 p.m., y no hace falta cita. Atienden a todos los que viven al oeste de la I-25. Llame al 719-389-0759. También tiene el Westside Community Center, en 1628 W Bijou St, teléfono 719-385-7920. Abre lunes y viernes, de 9 a.m. a 3 p.m., y de martes a jueves, de 9 a.m. a 7 p.m. Ahora el voto, en claro. Hasta el 26 de octubre puede registrarse, o revisar si ya está registrado, en GoVoteColorado.gov. Pasada esa fecha, todavía puede hacerlo en persona, hasta el día de la elección. Y para dejar su boleta, las urnas están abiertas hasta las 7 p.m. del 3 de noviembre en cuatro lugares: el centro comercial Red Rock Canyon, 3141 W Colorado Ave; Bear Creek Regional Park, 2002 Creek Crossing St; la oficina del secretario del condado, 1675 W Garden of the Gods Rd; y el ayuntamiento de Manitou, 606 Manitou Ave. Aquí no le decimos cómo votar. Solo le decimos dónde y cuándo. En diciembre el Christkindlmarket vuelve a Bancroft Park. Cuando tengamos los días, se los pasamos aquí. Si quiere escribirnos, mande un texto al 719-201-5462 o un correo a hello@westsidewherewithal.com, en español. El editor no habla español de cuna. Traduce con un vecino y lo vuelve a leer con él antes de que algo se imprima. También tenemos una hoja en español en westsidewherewithal.com/sheet-es. Y una cosa honesta: esta página es traducción nuestra. Buscamos a un vecino o vecina que hable español para que tome esta mesa y firme aquí con su nombre. Hasta la próxima semana, vecino. Un abrazo, La Vecina The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The print pack <https://westsidewherewithal.com/print> The print pack Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The print pack Everything to print this week, how many, and where it goes. Any copy shop; a home printer works for the one-sheets. What to print PrintFileHowCopies The one-sheetsheet.pdfLetter, one side (two sides if you want the puzzle back: sheet-back.pdf)20 Large printsheet-large.pdfLetter, two sides5 La hoja (Spanish)sheet-es.pdfLetter, one side10 The box editionzine-box.pdfLetter, landscape, two sheets, two-sided, flip on the short edge; nest sheet 2 inside sheet 1, fold once; no staples20 Every print says "good till Oct 25" or has no dates. A stale stack gets swapped; call and we bring more. Where it goes PlaceWhatHow many The gas station at 31stone-sheet5 The hardware storeone-sheet5 A diner on the avenueone-sheet, and ask about a tray5 The OCC History Center, 1 S 24thone-sheet5 In the carone-sheet, box edition5 and 5 The grocery at 31stla hoja10 The senior table at the community center, 1628 W Bijoularge print5 The little free library at the old Carnegie building, 701 Manitou Avebox edition8 The Head Start box, 2330 Robinson Stbox edition7 Keep five of each in the car for the next counter that asks. The office mailbox is mail only, not a stop. The ask at a counter, two sentences: "It's a free weekly paper for the Westside, written by neighbors, nothing for you to pay and nothing to sell. Can it sit here, and can I refill it on Thursdays?" Say yes to any condition they add. What to watch Count what's left after a week. Note any call or text to 719-201-5462 and any word find or quiz score that comes in. That's the first real test; everything before it was rehearsal. The reader inbox was empty on October 11. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Plant this (when it exists) <https://westsidewherewithal.com/seeds> Plant this (when it exists) Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Plant this (when it exists) There are no seed strips yet. This is the plan, written down before the first one so nobody has to guess. Some copies of the zine will carry a small sealed strip of seed paper. Plant it in your own yard, a friend's yard with their yes, a community garden, or a school bed with the principal's okay. Not in a park, not in open space, not in Red Rock Canyon, Section 16, the Garden of the Gods or Bear Creek, not along the creek or a trail, and never after a fire. Those places get seeded by the people who manage them, with seed matched to the ground, and a stranger's strip does more harm than good there. What's in it: Colorado natives from a Colorado grower (Western Native Seed, in Coaldale): Lewis blue flax, Rocky Mountain penstemon, blanketflower, prairie coneflower. Nothing from the state's noxious weed list, which is where the cheap "wildflower mixes" go wrong. Plant in fall; the penstemon wants a winter in the ground. Plant it, take a picture when something comes up, send it in. The best ones run in the paper with your name on them. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Take a desk <https://westsidewherewithal.com/take-a-desk> Take a desk Moved to /desks. --- # Thank you <https://westsidewherewithal.com/thanks> Thank you Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Thank you That's the whole transaction. No tier, no badge, no extra issue. The paper keeps going, and your name goes on the once-a-year list of people who chipped in, alphabetical, no amounts, unless you'd rather it didn't. Reply to any issue to say so. See you Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The elk who pulled a carriage <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-box> The elk who pulled a carriage Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The elk who pulled a carriage The Box desk, for kids and whoever is with them. When a neighbor (or a kid) takes this desk, their name goes here. Okay. You're the boss today. Walk to school, but make it a hunt. Find three things. One: a little free library. It's a box on a post full of books, and you can take one. We know of 27 of them west of I-25. Two you can visit: the one at the old Carnegie library building, 701 Manitou Ave, and the one at the Head Start, 2330 Robinson St. Two: the red rocks at the end of the street. Stop and look. Three: one leaf. Pick the best one on the block. Keep it. It's a bookmark now. Okay. Now the elk. In 1888, a man named John O'Byrne got two tame elk from a judge in Aspen. He trained them to pull his tourist carriage down this very avenue. Their names were Thunder and Buttons. Yes, elk. Yes, a carriage. Eventually a movie company bought them and took them to Alaska to film advertisements. Thunder and Buttons were in commercials. (Also true.) (Bonus, also true: in 1880 a train crew calmed a cold, panicking circus elephant at Colorado Springs with a keg of beer. Aunt's honor.) Ask a grown-up. Point at any building on your walk and ask: "What was here before?" Then listen. Your move, boss. This fall: Halloween, Oct 31, 2 to 4:30 p.m.: Trick or Treat Street on the avenue, 23rd to 28th. Costumed kids 1 to 6. Look for the orange and yellow balloons. Bring a little cousin. Mondays, 10 a.m.: the bighorn sheep program at the Garden of the Gods Visitor Center. December: the Christkindlmarket comes back to Bancroft Park, bigger than last year, with Santa at the cabin. Bonus level: the paper in the box has games. A word find whose leftover letters spell a message. A five-question quiz with the answers printed upside down. And a map to draw on: it's the 1902 map of Colorado City, when the town had 4,000 people. You can see it at westsidewherewithal.com/zine-box, page 6. The dare. Draw Thunder and Buttons pulling the carriage. Go big. Give the tourists faces. Then put it in the little free library box, or send it to hello@westsidewherewithal.com with your first name. We print the best ones. See you on the avenue. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-next-hundred> The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The Westside almanac, twelve months ahead The Next Hundred desk. Written from the city's own pages and the ballot; dates change, and we fix them when they do. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Right now, Colorado Avenue. Four lanes have been three from Limit to 30th since June, for up to a year. Watch the lanes. Your move: fill out the city survey after you've driven it, biked it, or crossed it with a stroller. The avenue went on a diet and nobody asked it. Oct 21 and Oct 26. The community center's neighbor group meets Wednesday the 21st at 4 p.m.; it helps steer what the center at 1628 W Bijou becomes. Monday the 26th, 5:30 p.m.: the 2027 budget's public hearing at 107 N Nevada Ave. Anyone can speak; the council calendar lists the work sessions before it. Your move: pick one and go. The budget reads better with you. Nov 3. Ballots are due by 7 p.m. County 1A would keep the public-safety sales tax going through 2037. D11's 4A is a $775 million school bond, and Coronado is on the list. Your move: vote, and use a drop box if the mail feels slow. There's one at 3141 W Colorado Ave. Seven o'clock does not negotiate. December. The Christkindlmarket comes back to Bancroft Park, bigger. Bancroft is the pupil of the eye, so a bigger market could mean a fuller avenue and fewer spots out front. Your move: go, and walk. The car can stay home. April 6, 2027. The city election: mayor and three at-large council seats. Your move: register or check your registration, and ask every candidate what they would do about the avenue. The avenue will hear about it. April 13. Council hears the appeal on Project Taurus, the 50-megawatt data center proposed at the old Intel plant next to the homes in Chelsea Glen. The Planning Commission approved it 6 to 2 in July with a power cap and noise monitoring; council wants a noise study first, and the hearing falls a week after you vote (Colorado Politics). The developer says it is weighing the partnership, so the date could still move. Your move: read the noise study when it exists, and show up. Read quietly. April to fall 2027. A roundabout replaces the four-way stop at 31st and Fontanero by Howbert Elementary, on the western gateway to the red rocks. Parents asked about the school crossing, and the city says it will work with the school. Your move: if you walk kids there, ask the school what they've been told. Four stops become one circle. Around June 2027. The lane test's year ends, give or take. Nothing we've found says what comes after. Your move: whatever you think of the test, say so before it ends. A year is long enough for an opinion. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The man who wrote down the Westside <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-porch-mcfarland> The man who wrote down the Westside Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The man who wrote down the Westside The Porch desk. Written from the record; the editor's conversations with his family and friends are coming. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. If you ever wondered whether there really were tunnels under Colorado Avenue, Mel McFarland is a big part of why you wondered. I'll tell you what I know. He died September 21, at 81. From 2004 to 2019 he wrote 604 "Cobweb Corners" columns about this neighborhood for the Westside Pioneer. Born here in 1944, a fourth-generation native, taught art and drafting, and wrote books on the Colorado Midland Railway. In 1983 he bought a retired working caboose for his Rockrimmon backyard, and became "the Caboose Guy." Dave Martinek, who started Midland Days at Divide with him in 2009, told the Gazette: "He was the go-to person for anyone who wanted to know about railroad history in the state." His nephew Luc MacArthur called him "kind of a Renaissance man." His sister, Elaine Radney, said: "He had a lot of people who loved him." He wrote it down. Here is some of it. On February 3, 2005, he wrote down the story of John O'Byrne, who in 1888 got two tame elk, Thunder and Buttons, and trained them to pull a tourist carriage. Here is the column. On April 7, 2005, he wrote down the tunnels, the ones that let Colorado Avenue customers reach the Cucharras Street brothels unseen. He had "seen the remains of bits of both" sets of tunnels himself. On November 17, 2011, he wrote down the Glass Works disaster. Just after midnight on September 9, 1892, the furnace top collapsed and fiery glass poured out. Chunks of raw glass still show up now and then in neighborhood yards and rock walls, he wrote. On November 14, 2013, he wrote down the day a Teller County sheriff chained a Pullman sleeper car to the rails over $663.21 in unpaid taxes, and a U.S. marshal freed it two days later. Read it. Here's the thing. The Gazette says he left "file cabinets" of research and writing, and that his family hopes to sift through them, with no concrete plans yet. The next person who asks "was there really a glass plant over here?" gets a shrug. We can't fix that. What we have is an index of all 604 columns, by what each one reports, at westsidewherewithal.com/cobweb. The editor plans to call his sister, Dave Martinek, the Pioneer's editor Kenyon Jordan, and the History Center, and we'll tell you what they say. The question we're taking to them is who keeps the record now. We'd like to be part of the answer, and we'd like yours. Did a column of his stick with you? Tell us which one. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-record-dda> Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Old Colorado City DDA: what is on paper The Record desk. Written from the city's own pages and the news; the Aug 25 minutes are still to be read. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. If you missed the council meeting last month, here is the entry. A downtown development authority, a DDA, is a small district set up by a vote. It is supposed to get its own pot of money to spend on one downtown. In 2024, Old Colorado City voters created one for the avenue. It never got its funding. It was created by a vote and ended by a vote, and the money never turned up in between. On Sept 22, City Council voted 5 to 4 to dissolve it. That's ordinance 26-48. The meeting record has the roll call. That's on paper. Yes: Casey, Crow Iverson, Rainey, Risley, Williams No: Donelson, Gold, Henjum, Leinweber The Gazette reported the first vote, on Aug 25, as the same 5 to 4. That's reported. On Oct 2, KKTV reported that the DDA is weighing legal action, because the ordinance skipped the mayor's desk. That's reported too. That is the whole ledger so far. Here is what we don't know: The Aug 25 minutes. We have the first vote from the news, not from the minutes. Until we've read them, the date and the count are reported, not checked. Whether a lawsuit is filed. KKTV says the DDA is considering one. We haven't found a filing. That isn't on paper. We'll say so when it is. What the DDA was going to buy. The records we have don't list its plan, so we won't guess. If you voted in 2024, or sat in those rooms, tell us what you were told. Who picks up the avenue's end of things now. Nobody has answered that in anything we've read. That isn't on paper either. We are taking the question to the next meeting. Some of those answers are in a room on a Tuesday morning. You can be in it. City Council meets the second and fourth Tuesdays at 9 a.m., 107 N Nevada Ave, and you can watch from home. You don't have to say a word. Take the one-page sheet, write down what happens, and your name goes on it. The Oct 13 meeting is the next one. If you were at the Aug 25 meeting, or you have the minutes, send them over. Tell me what I got wrong. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Where the asphalt gives up <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-ridge> Where the asphalt gives up Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Where the asphalt gives up The Ridge desk. Written from the city's pages and the groups' own sites; a canyon volunteer reads it before it prints. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Rain or snow, and the trails hold it. Friends of Red Rock Canyon says wait a day or two, because they stay muddy and fragile for 24 to 48 hours. Follow 21st down to Bear Creek, then keep going west. Around 30th and 31st the asphalt gives up. The red sandstone takes over. Red Rock Canyon is the pocket to the south. The city bought it in 2003, after it had been slated for a resort with high-rise towers and a private golf course. The city's open space page lists it among the places TOPS, the sales tax voters passed for open space, made possible. It nearly went the other way. Parking. The 31st Street trailhead has more than the High Street lots. No e-bikes in the open space. This fall. The Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N 30th, runs a free bighorn sheep program with a touch table, Mondays 10 to 10:45 a.m. through Nov 30. Owls of the Garden is Oct 26, 12:30 to 1:30. Tickets from $5, sign up first. Oct 31, 1 to 2 p.m., a talk on why wolves in Colorado. The Garden's calendar has details. What's being decided. The Park System Master Plan goes to City Council next: the city's page lists Oct 12, a Monday work session where they talk but don't vote, and Oct 27, after the parks board heard it Oct 8. White Acres Trail is becoming the Don Ellis Trail. The board approved it Aug 13; it waits on an agreement and an $850 city fee. Fire restrictions: the city's page shows none this week, and we are checking with the fire department. We'll tell you what we hear. The seed rule. Some copies of this paper will carry a strip of Colorado native seed. Yards and community gardens, yes; parks, open space, the creek, the trails and anything that burned, no. The whole rule, and what's in the strip. Groups to join. Friends of Red Rock Canyon keeps up the benches and runs Talk and Walks, resuming soon (no date yet). The Trails and Open Space Coalition takes members and runs the One Bag Challenge cleanups. Friends of Garden of the Gods runs volunteer days. Our promise. Every Monday this desk reads the city's parks pages, and a canyon volunteer reads them with us. If nothing's new, we'll say so. Which trail was muddy this week? Tell me and I'll pass it along. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Who's cooking on the Westside this week <https://westsidewherewithal.com/the-table> Who's cooking on the Westside this week Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Who's cooking on the Westside this week The Table desk. Hours are as the churches and pantries post them, checked October 11; we call before they go on the Bulletin Board. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Here's how it works. Somebody on this side of the interstate feeds people almost every day of the week. Most of it comes out of church basements and fellowship halls, cooked by neighbors who know their way around a stockpot. We went looking for the tables. There are more than we expected. Everything below is what each kitchen posts as of October 11. Call ahead before you walk over. Hours move, and a wrong schedule costs somebody a trip. Sunday The Sanctuary Church, 1930 W Colorado Ave, serves its Ragamuffin Cafe hot meal Sunday at 9 a.m. Call 719-634-7232. It is the only Sunday hot meal on paper west of I-25. If your kitchen serves Sunday breakfast, let us know. Monday Westside CARES, 2808 W Colorado Ave, serves a weekly hot meal from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Call 719-389-0759. Sacred Heart Catholic Church opens its food pantry noon to 2 p.m. at the Parish Center door, 2030 W Colorado Ave. No voucher required. Call 719-633-8711. Tuesday Westside Global Methodist, 701 N 20th St, opens its pantry from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Call 719-633-9295. If you knew it as Trinity UMC, it is the same corner under a new name; the old building on W Pikes Peak Ave is becoming a child care center. Wednesday Westside Community Center, 1628 W Bijou St, hosts the Westside CARES pantry from 1 to 3 p.m. Call 719-385-7920. Up the road in Manitou Springs, the Manitou Springs Food Pantry at 110 Canon Ave runs 1 to 2 p.m., with a hot meal starting at 12:30 p.m. Call 719-685-9259. St. Andrew's closed its church doors in 2025, but volunteers kept the pantry running in the parish hall. Thursday Sacred Heart opens its Parish Center pantry doors again from noon to 2 p.m. No voucher needed. Call 719-633-8711. Know another table? That is six tables, and there are more. If your church, lodge, or block group feeds folks, text 719-201-5462 or write hello@westsidewherewithal.com with the day and time. We will call to confirm it and print it free on the Bulletin Board, in your words. See you at the table. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Three picks before Halloween <https://westsidewherewithal.com/weekend-radar> Three picks before Halloween Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Three picks before Halloween The Weekend Radar desk. Every line checked against the organizer's own page. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Two weekends, three picks, and I've already parked for all of them. Read this, then go. Go to the farmers market. Saturday, October 17, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., Bancroft Park, 24th and Colorado. It's the last Saturday of the season, with 80-some vendors, and there is no next Saturday. Go early, because the best of anything goes first. Parking: don't circle the park hoping. Take a side street and walk the last bit. Saturday, October 24 is two things at once. Pick one. First, the coffin races. The Emma Crawford Coffin Races run 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Manitou Springs. Parking: Manitou Avenue closes at 9, so get there before the road shuts and the crowd fills in, and plan to walk in. Second, the pumpkins. Pumpkins in the Park is noon to 6 p.m. on the avenue, free, with a pumpkin patch, painting, costume and carving contests, the ZOOmobile, live music and a beer garden. Parking: the avenue's diagonal spots fill on a festival Saturday, so take a side street and walk in. Don't try to do both in one afternoon. Choose, then start the day with it. The things that are always there. If the festivals are not your speed, or you just need a Thursday: trivia at OCC Brewing every Thursday, 7 to 9 p.m. Storytime at the OCC Library every Friday, 10:30 a.m. Brunch Jam Band at Mother Muff's every Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Free bingo on the 21st, Trunk or Treat on the 25th, Trick or Treat Street on the 31st and First Friday ArtWalk on November 6 are all on the full list, with times. That list lives at westsidewherewithal.com, and it's also the one-sheet on the counters around the avenue. Got something happening that we missed? Send it to hello@westsidewherewithal.com, or text 719-201-5462. We'll check it against your own page and put it in. See you Saturday. I'll be the one who parked early. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in <https://westsidewherewithal.com/year-ahead> Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Your Thursdays in 2027, penciled in The Year Ahead desk. Written from the editor's calendar; no interviews yet. When a neighbor takes this desk, their name goes here. Picture the fridge calendar. Every Thursday of 2027 is penciled in, and you're coming along. One honest aside: it's plans, all of it. Nothing has been reported yet, and some weeks may not land. Winter first. Week one: The Reset Issue. Quiet workspaces, reading refuges, and I'd be surprised if the Carnegie library stays out. And then we eat through the cold. The quest for the best broth in OCC. A reader poll for the best breakfast burrito west of I-25. A 4 a.m. shift with a Westside baker. Then February: a cocktail lounge audit off Main Street, an Alternative Valentine, pints by the fireplace, and how the vintage and antiques shops survive winter. Spring opens up. Red Rock Canyon hikes, with lunches after. The carriage house makers working out of alleys. St. Patrick week. And then the thaw, when we find out which counters open their windows. The under-$15 lunch circuit. A patio audit covering shade, noise, pints and dogs. Seed swaps. Coffee roasters. A Territory Days survival guide. A First Friday gallery crawl. Spring tap releases. Summer gets loud. Hosting out-of-towners without crossing I-25. The Bancroft Park farmers market, booth by booth. Gelato. Where a line cook eats at midnight. Secret courtyards. Quiet Fourth of July viewpoints. Live music on the bricks, and I'm hoping the bandshell gets a paragraph. You pick the coldest drinks. Then the Pueblo chile arrives. Nightcaps and jukeboxes after 10, and I'd bet Mother Muff's comes up. Then a back-to-school pantry run, Uintah Gardens an obvious stop. Fall, the leg I'm saving. The annual pizza index: Slice 420 against Rustica against Leopold's, and we'll need lots of you to settle it. Golden aspens. Autumn ciders. A locals' guide for after the tourists leave. Ghost signs, spooky lore, wood-fired and cast iron cooking (Front Range BBQ, you're on my mind). Thanksgiving hosting. Best of the Westside nominations. Small Business Saturday. And then a Black Friday antidote at Section 16 and Bear Creek. December: a 100% Westside gift guide, a winter lights walk, the Best of the Westside winners, the solstice and quiet patios, and a last issue called Looking Ahead. Every week also carries a civic item and an oral history. A 40-year diner regular. A couple who met at Bancroft in 1988. A chile roaster of 25 seasons. A dishwasher who worked 300 shifts. A high school senior looking at the Westside's future. Tell me which month I got wrong, or which place I forgot. The pencil's by the fridge, and I'll see you the first Thursday. The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? <https://westsidewherewithal.com/issues/2026-10-11-issue-0> Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? 2026-10-11 Listen · about 2 min Read by a synthetic voice, made on a Mac in the newsroom. The words are the paper's. Download. In this issue Can't we just inform each other? The leaves are changing Divide anything but our bread What it's all for We choose this Can't we just inform each other? Nobody's telling us what's happening around here unless you find some corporate website that tracks you and tries to make you pay just to find out what's going on outside your door. What a drag. Can't we just inform each other, and have fun building and being in community? The leaves are changing The leaves are changing and falling, and the streets are graced with people from all walks of life. The days are growing shorter, and fall will give way to snow in a few weeks. Before we know it Santa will be at the cabin in Bancroft Park and the Christkindlmarket will be back. Divide anything but our bread I want people to see and hear themselves in our work. I want the people in this community to remember that we're in this together and that what we print is made to remind us of that. We are not here to divide anything but our bread for others, to love our neighbors, and practice mercy and kindness. What it's all for I get nervous that people's fear clouds not only their judgment but their hearts. I can be a skeptic, and quite cynical at times. I wonder what it's all for and why I'm doing this. But in the end, if one person reads our words and connects with them even a little, and it gives them a spark or the belief that they are loved, I will have done my work. We choose this I hope people are excited to see what we're up to. I hope they want to be a part of it, and that by gathering and presenting our values, beliefs and customs together, we can cherish them and let new things in while the old fades. I want Thursday to remind us that we choose this. Jeff What we told you Can't we just inform each other? The leaves are changing Divide anything but our bread What it's all for We choose this The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark --- # The archive <https://westsidewherewithal.com/issues/index> The archive Skip to the page ← the front pagethe archive ## The archive Every issue, oldest at the bottom. Free to read. If you want to chip in, the jar is on the front page. Issue 0: Can't we just inform each other? 2026-10-11 The Westside Wherewithal · Jeff Adkins, editor · hello@westsidewherewithal.com · call or text 719-201-5462 · 2320 W Colorado Ave Ste 122, Colorado Springs, CO 80904 · Thursday mornings, free · See you Thursday. · wherewithal, n. LightAutoDark