Mayoral candidates Richard Skorman and Steve Bach have a fewthings in common. Both are businessmen, both see job creation as themain issue facing the city and both believe the city governmentcould be more efficient.
It's their approaches to those issues that differs.
Bach believes government should get out of the way of business.He sees less government, less regulation and fewer fees as the bestway to grow business in Colorado Springs.
Skorman believes government should be more active. He believes itshould take a lead role in urban redevelopment and build the cityinto a place that attracts business.
The two candidates will square off on those business issues, andmany others during their debate 6 p.m. Monday, May 2 the Pikes PeakCenter for a final debate. It will be their final debate before theMay 17 election.
Richard Skorman
Skorman, who owns five businesses in downtown Colorado Springs,hopes to encourage and grow locally owned companies like his own. Hesaid the biggest issue is job creation - and as mayor, he would workto change the city's image and its overall business mindset.
'I think we've allowed the city to grow in a way that hasn't beengood for sustainability, hasn't been good for tourism,' he said. 'Inthe past, there's been a philosophy in the community that we shoulddo things cheaply for short-term gain, not long-term benefits.'
The environment and sustainable business practices have long beenpet projects of Skorman's, and he said he'll bring those to themayor's office.
'We need to build in a way that enhances and includes the naturalenvironment,' he said. 'We need to grow, but we need to growdifferently.'
The first step is re-developing blighted areas, re-using emptybuildings, instead of contributing to sprawl. He intends to useother cities' growth plans as a blueprint.
'In Oklahoma City they invested in their downtown in a very bigway,' he said. 'That's created a huge number of jobs and a vibrancywe could have here. In Providence (Rhode Island) they're known asthe Creative City, because they've invested in their arts andculture and created jobs.'
Small businesses need the same kind of help that larger, primaryemployers receive when moving here, he said. Mostly, the citydoesn't need to keep all its economic development eggs in onebasket.
'We have a lot of defense companies, lot of nonprofits,' he said.'I'm not saying that's bad. We just need a more diverse economy. Wereally haven't paid attention to that in the past - but we have to,if we want to move forward in the future.'
When Skorman talks about incentives, he isn't talking abouttaxes. He said other cities have created opportunity zones thatrejuvinate blighted areas.
'Look at the Great Streets program on South Academy,' he said.'There are public-private partnerships that are revitalizing thatarea. The marketplace won't do it by itself - the planning has gotto be there first.'
The city needs a better brand, he said, in order to attract theyoung, bright creative classes.
'We don't need to stay inside the box,' he said. 'We don't needto present a narrow, intolerant view that shuts the door onentrepreneurs. We need to create a business friendly environment,and we need to do it by opening the doors to everyone.'
Battles over open space and reservoirs and fights over watershedprotection of watersheds only harm the city, he said.
'We have a city pedestrians can't live in,' he said. 'Let'schange that. If we keep building the way we've been building, we areshutting the door on younger, hipper, funkier people. We need tobuild a city where it's easy to recreate, where we cherish theoutdoors. Or we're going to create a city that struggles.'
Skorman said his opponent represents 'the old way' of doingbusiness, He used the two major upcoming Colorado Springs sportingevents, the U.S. Women's Open golf tournament and the USA ProCycling Challenge, to illustrate a point
'Both are great events, both will get us national coverage, bothwill get us on television,' he said. 'But one is geared toward anolder crowd, and one is geared toward a younger crowd. The cityhelped a great deal with the U.S. Open and hardly at all with thebike race. We need to change that.'
Bach, while a businessman who cares about the community, doesn'tknow how to create a business friendly community, Skorman said.
'He's the old guard,' he said. 'The kind of candidate thatbelieves you can't interfere with the way a business wants to usethe land. He doesn't believe in welcoming all people. He believes inshutting the door - the old way of doing things.'
Skorman realizes that he's been characterized as a 'tax-and-spend liberal.'
As far as taxes, he said he doesn't plan any new taxes, but wouldsupport ending a few, such as the business personal property tax.
'These are harsh economic times,' he said. 'This is not the timefor taxes.'
Steve Bach
Bach has been involved in businesses, both big and small,throughout his career. He's worked for the past 27 years as acommercial real estate broker, and has experience as a homebuilder.He was chief operating officer for the Schuck Corp. and vicepresident of marketing for multimillion-dollar Springs-basedcatalogue ordering company, Current, Inc.
He believes it's his business experience that puts him ahead ofhis opponent.
He wants to transform city government, making it both moreefficient and effective.
'Businesses routinely do a strategic review of their operations,'he said. 'Government should do that as well. I will complete abottom-up review of every city operation to determine if we areefficient as we can be.'
Bach believes it's time to take an 'honest look' at the way thecity does business and to streamline its processes as companies lookto move or expand in Colorado Springs.
'There are fees and procedures that make it very difficult forbusinesses,' he said. 'We need to look at that. For example, onecouple wanted to build a convenience store on land they owned. Thecity told them that they'd have to pay a $120,000 tap fee. That'sridiculous. Those fees need to be looked at.'
The process for getting new projects approved is lengthy andcumbersome, he said. Overall, the city just isn't friendly tobusiness, he said.
'We need to take a look at the way we're doing things and makesure we're getting the maximum value out of every tax dollar,' hesaid. 'We need to unleash the employees' ingenuity, look atoutsourcing some things.'
Creating new jobs is also on the list of Bach's action goals asmayor. With slightly more than 30,000 people in the city out ofwork, he believes stable, good-paying jobs are a priority.
'Foremost, we need to start strengthening the business climate,'he said. 'We have over-reaching regulations; we have too many fees,too many people keeping business from growing.'
That's where Bach's experience will come into full force, hesaid. As a commercial real estate developer, he said he has'thousands of contacts' in businesses around the nation.
'I will open up those contacts, I will fly around the country andattract businesses here,' he said. 'As a commercial real estatedeveloper, I have helped hundreds of corporations here, and I getfeedback about the business climate. I can use that as mayor.'
As mayor, Bach said he will personally call on the CEOs andbusiness managers at each company, finding out ways the city canhelp keep them happy - and keep them here.
'It might be something small, like they need the potholes at theentrance to their parking lot fixed, or a street light to helppeople leave,' he said. 'It might not be huge, but it might affectthe way they feel about staying here.'
As one of the founders of the Economic Development Corp., Bachsaid he had a record of 'volunteer leadership.'
'I know how to do this,' he said. 'I know how to create business,to bring them here. I've done it all my life.'
His opponent, he said, is just another politician.
'I am not a politician,' he said. 'And I think that's a benefit.I'm not doing this for some higher office; I'm doing it because Ilove this city. It's time for a new beginning.'
Skorman was on the city council for eight years, and failed tocreate partnerships in that time.
'So many votes were 8 to 1,' he said. 'I have a track record overdecades to get people to park egos at the door,' he said. 'With thisnew form of government, we're going to need someone with a trackrecord of cooperation.'
Skorman, he said, also was on the councils that created many ofthe problems the city faced today.
'He is a politician,' he said. 'He criticizes urban sprawl, buthe was on the council that supported a lot of the projects. Thecity's financial position comes from there as well. We don't needmore of the failed policies of the past.'
Final Mayoral Debate
The final mayoral debate is scheduled for 6 p.m. May 2 at thePikes Peak Center, 190 Cascade Ave.
Doors open 5 p.m. Reception for candidates and new councilmembers will follow.
Open seating tickets are available through TicketsWest(www.ticketswest.com), the Pikes Peak Center and the World Arena boxoffice, or by calling 719.520.SHOW. Further details atwww.mayordebate.mmecos.org.
