Dear Editor:
Woodland Park is our hometown. Like your family, our family is immensely proud of our roots here.
So much so, in 2021 Duane Carter donated the cash enabling Woodland Park to accept the gift of an historic Pikes Peak Cog Railway Car and provide safe public access. This landmark attraction is displayed downtown adjacent to Bergstrom Park, importantly, with Pikes Peak as its backdrop. The City dedicated the car as a memorial to Myrna, Duane’s deceased wife and our mother.
City Council is now intent on removing it. The cog car is not theirs to discard. By EVERY account, the location is ideal. This is why in 2019 City Council approved the location and accepted our family’s donation to permanently install it where it still sits today.
Keep the Cog Railway Car WHERE IT IS. City Council stating that it must be removed IS NOT TRUE.
OUR CONCERNS:
Inaccuracies and Lack of Transparency.
City officials have repeatedly been quoted saying moving the cog car was a contingency of the land sale. Again, moving the cog car is NOT a contingency in the sale contract, deed, or other public records!
Even home buyers do not close until ALL seller requirements are satisfied. The City sold the land in April, 2023, and the COG CAR remains where it was installed. Why is City Council, and now the City Manager and staff, at taxpayer expense, spending tax dollars to try to remove the cog car? To FURTHER subsidize their developer friends’ profits?
Why is City Council ignoring legal requests for copies of public records? What is being hidden?
Squandering Public Assets and Tax Dollars.
April 2023, Woodland Park sold this 6.6+ acres OF PRIME downtown real estate for a deeply discounted $761,100 (net).
This is less than the price of many Woodland Park homes. ANOTHER OFFER of $2,000,000 was rejected! We understand City Council paid well over $3 million to buy, study and improve this land. Over $4M in taxes is gone.
WHY did City Council sell for the lowest offer in a fast sale, without an appraisal, without national marketing, without a typical bidding war, at a fraction of fair value???
Our Continuing Commitment.
It’s simple: dedicate just 1,900 sf of the 288,800 sf site (4/100 acre) to the adjacent Bergstrom Park. Honor the promises made in 2019 and protect the location of this landmark attraction. With 6.6+ acres to work with, the Woodland Station and cog car are not problems for ANY development.
If developers claim the dedication is too burdensome, we commit to purchasing the 1,900 sf at the developer’s discounted cost/sf and gift the land to Bergstrom Park.
Doug Carter and Family
