WTE offers thumbs up and down

City Council should ban oversized vehicles on city streets

UP to the Cheyenne City Council for considering amendments to an existing nuisance ordinance that would ban parking of oversized vehicles on city streets, except in certain well-defined circumstances.

This change is long overdue. Just ask residents of The Avenues, where streets are narrow, how difficult it can be to navigate around large recreational vehicles, trailers and other similar objects. And plenty of other intersections in the city have obstructed corners, where you feel like you’re taking your life in your hands to pull out because a large vehicle is obscuring oncoming traffic.

If approved by the governing body next month, large vehicles like RVs, horse trailers, campers or others that exceed 25 feet in length, 7 feet in width or 8 feet in height would no longer be allowed long-term on city streets. After listening to residents at a recent meeting, council members agreed to extend the allowable time from 72 hours to 120 hours in order to better allow for RV preparation for a long trip.

The proposed changes also include requiring owners to park oversized vehicles at least 30 feet from an intersection, which should help address the visibility issue and improve traffic safety.

We realize that for some people, this change will be a hardship, since it will require them to seek out and rent a long-term parking space. We also realize it will be difficult to enforce consistently, since the city's limited code-enforcement staff won't be able to monitor the exact amount of time such vehicles are parked on the street. And it may end up creating a different problem if owners of these vehicles try to park them in public or business parking lots.

However, the need to get emergency vehicles through to people's homes must always be the top priority, and for that reason, we encourage the council to pass these amendments.

Property tax relief should remain as it is

DOWN to those behind another effort to push through a bill that would give all Wyoming homeowners a property tax exemption of 25% of the first $2 million worth of fair market value.

Sure, most Wyoming homeowners would love to have more money in the bank, but at what cost? Targeted property tax relief has already cost more than $13 million in education funding loss. That number will get bigger as a tax break for those who have paid property taxes in Wyoming for 25 years or more kicks in next year. Are lawmakers really willing to deplete the state's savings accounts in order to backfill these losses to local government?

Gov. Mark Gordon plans to seek $10.5 million more in the supplemental budget to cover the cost of the previously expanded property tax refund program. This approach makes sense. It applies to property owners below a low, statutorily defined income level.

Along with the long-term taxpayer credit, the recent approval of a 4% cap on annual property tax increases and expansion of the veterans tax credit should be enough to keep people in their homes without impacting the other government services provided by this revenue.

Restricting public access to Frontier Park is the right thing to do

UP to Cheyenne Frontier Days officials for making the difficult decision to restrict access to Frontier Park at times other than when the facilities are being used for local events.

CFD leaders had previously expressed concerns about liability in the event of an accident. All it would take is for someone to get seriously hurt and sue Frontier Days to make a large dent in the event's reserve fund, which is necessary to fund operations in lean years.

But when vandals recently spray-painted vulgar language and other graffiti on various parts of the rodeo grounds, that was the final straw. CFD officials now face the costly prospect of paint removal and repairs on wooden portions of Old Frontier Town and other areas of the facility.

For the "Daddy of 'em All" to remain viable, monetary losses must be limited. This decision, though unfortunate for those who enjoyed walking through the hallowed rodeo grounds, is the right one to make sure the event is around for generations to come.

Wyoming GOP's censure of Laramie County's clerk inappropriate

DOWN to members of the Wyoming Republican Party's Central Committee who voted recently to censure Laramie County Clerk Debra Lee for a second time, as well as call for her resignation.

Even though the first pre-primary test of the voting machines went against statute, Ms. Lee conducted another test to prove the machines were functioning correctly. It's true that she should have immediately taken public responsibility for not noticing that test ballots didn't contain different vote totals. After all, the buck stops at her desk, and she's the one ultimately responsible for election integrity here.

But to call for her resignation after the general election – which ran smoothly in Laramie County, as far as we can tell – makes no sense to us. Plus, if such action were warranted, it should be initiated by county Republican Party leaders, which also didn't happen in this case.

If any county clerk should be under extra scrutiny at this point, it's Weston County's Becky Hadlock, who failed to acknowledge a mistake in the general election that led to a significant undercount of votes in the reelection bid of now House speaker nominee Rep. Chip Neiman, R-Hulett. It took action by the county sheriff and Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray to get Ms. Hadlock to acknowledge and correct the error.

Anyone who knows Laramie County Clerk Lee will tell you she is a dedicated public servant with integrity beyond reproach. Did she make a mistake? Yes. Should it result in her resignation or dismissal? Absolutely not.