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Archive for the 'Rich Brown' Tag

Mayor hosts town hall meeting Wednesday

July 31st, 2012, 2:59 pm by

Mayor Steve Bach is hosting his third town hall meeting Wednesday.

The town hall, which starts at 6:30 p.m., will be at Timberview Middle School, 8680 Scarborough Drive.

“Among the topics to be covered will be the 2012 budget with Chief of Staff Laura Neumann, stormwater backlog, public safety and infrastructure,” the city said in a press release.

“Fire Chief Rich Brown will talk about the new fire station at Dublin Boulevard and Peterson Road and new initiatives for the fire department,” the city said.

The Waldo Canyon fire may also be a topic for discussion.

The Gazette will be live tweeting from the event.

For up-to-the-minute updates, follow @danieljchacon on Twitter.

 

Fire chief calls Hitler video distasteful, hateful

June 21st, 2012, 2:23 pm by

Colorado Springs Fire Chief Rich Brown issued a statement Wednesday condemning a YouTube Video that portrayed him as Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.

Brown says the insensitivity of the video, which now has more than 4,600 hits, up from 1,300 on Monday, is “inexcusable.”

Here is the chief’s entire statement:

“The Colorado Springs Fire Department fulfills our mission of providing the highest quality problem solving and emergency service to our community every day with pride. The insensitivity of a YouTube video posted recently is inexcusable. It is an unfair representation of the men and women on our Fire Department that work so hard to make our community a safer place to live. If we determine that public resources were used for the creation or dissemination of this distasteful and hateful communication, we will take appropriate action. City computer misuse may result in discipline, up to and including discharge.”

Here’s the video:

YouTube Preview Image

Quote of the Day

June 20th, 2012, 10:44 pm by

Mayor Steve Bach apparently got wind of a YouTube video portraying Fire Chief Rich Brown as Adolf Hitler.

“We just need to operate like the fire department,” Bach told City Council members Wednesday during the monthly Mayor’s Counsel meeting at the City Administration Building.

“You notice they never have any controversies?” he joked, generating lots of laughter.

It’s unclear whether Brown, who was sitting in the audience, laughed, too.

 

 

 

Jewish leaders denounce ‘vulgar’ Hitler video

June 19th, 2012, 8:42 pm by

 

Rich Brown

Temple Shalom and the American Jewish Committee of Colorado issued the following statement in reaction to a YouTube video portraying Colorado Springs Fire Chief as Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler:

“The creator of this outrageous video has the First Amendment right to express himself in such hateful manner … but our community leaders have the moral obligation to strongly condemn the use of vulgar Nazi imagery to attack our Fire Department officials, especially in light of the recent Nazi graffiti defacing Temple Beit Torah.”

The title of the video is “Hitler Rants About Fire Department Priorities.”

The four-minute video includes profanity-laced subtitles. The video clip is available to anyone on YouTube and can be tailored with unique subtitles.

The Fire Department tried to find out whether an on-duty firefighter created the video but couldn’t.
Here’s the video:
YouTube Preview Image

Fire Department hires 24 firefighters

March 22nd, 2012, 12:41 pm by

Twenty-four firefighters are joining the Colorado Springs Fire Department on Monday.

Fire Chief Rich Brown said job offers were made three weeks ago and that the new firefighters will start the academy Monday.

Brown said he’s not “growing the organization” but bringing it back to its authorized strength of 413.

“It’s a great day for CSFD, for the city,” Fire Chief Rich Brown said Wednesday during the monthly mayor’s counsel meeting.

“Thanks for the support.”

YouTube Preview Image

Leigh recruits firefighters for wheelchair basketball

March 22nd, 2012, 10:10 am by

Councilman Tim Leigh recruited a handful of movers and shakers and six firefighters to play against the pros today.

But odds are that Leigh’s team is going to get slaughtered.

Leigh challenged Dickie Bryant, board chairman of the National Wheelchair Basketball Association, to a VIP basketball game as part of the NWBA National Championships here in Colorado Springs.

The challenge turned into the 2012 National Tournament All Star Smack-Down Match, a game between the association’s championship division players and a team that Leigh assembled.

Leigh’s team will be playing in wheelchairs.

Members of the news media — including yours truly — will also be on the court.

The game will be at 3:15 p.m. in the lower gym at the Olympic Training Center. Admission is free.

Leigh sent out the following email announcing the final roster for today’s game:

Tim Leigh                            Colorado Springs City Council; previous basketball highlight is his formerly amazing shot from the top of the key in the YMCA Saturday ball league in 1968

Tom Osborne                    CEO – Colorado Springs Sports Corporation; Hall of Fame basketball player, with a great shot from the top of the key, from Montana State University

Jim Johnson                       CEO – GE Johnson Construction Company; cheers for the wrong team in Kansas

Dan Dummermuth          CEO – YMCA of the Pikes Peak Region; from the great state of South Dakota

Rich Brown                         Fire Chief – Colorado Springs Fire Department; loves dogs with spots

Tommy Smith                    Deputy Fire Chief – Colorado Springs Fire Department

Sal Fiorillo                          Colorado Springs Police Department

Ron Sheppard                   Colorado Springs Police Department

Brian Frahm                       Colorado Springs Police Department

Tim Brown                          Colorado Springs Police Department

Leigh’s team will be playing against these pros:

Paul Schulte                       National Wheelchair Basketball Team Member

Alan Nichols                      National Wheelchair Basketball Team Member

Dawn King                           Former captain, Regis University Woman’s Basketball Team

Meagan Leatham             Director, Pikes Peak International Hill Climb

Mathew Holdt                   Marathon, tri-athlete, cycling, adventure racer

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61% of mayor’s meetings held under shroud of secrecy

February 27th, 2012, 8:14 am by

Last month, Mayor Steve Bach told reporters he had “all kinds of discussions all the time” with people who don’t want their names out in public.

He was right.

According to the mayor’s 2012 calendar, about 61 percent of Bach’s meetings are held under a shroud of secrecy.

On Feb. 10, The Gazette requested the mayor’s calendar and/or appointment book for January and February of this year.

The mayor’s Communications Office complied with the open-records request and submitted a response three days later as required by Colorado law.

The office provided Bach’s calendar for January and through Feb. 13.

The calendar shows that Bach had about 132 meetings during that time period.

Of those, about 80 — or 60.6 percent — were with people whose names the Bach administration is hiding.

The analysis included both face-to-face and phone meetings.

In instances where the calendar lists the entry as “Mtgs” or “Phone Mtgs,” two meetings were counted as part of the analysis.

But it’s impossible to tell whether there were more than two meetings during a particular time slot because the calendar doesn’t specify the number.

The analysis did not include meetings of the City Council or the Mayor’s Counsel, which are both posted and open to the public.

Highlights of the mayor’s calendar during the Jan. 1-Feb.13 time period:

Bach has had eight meetings each with Chief of Staff Laura Neumann, City Attorney Chris Melcher and Steve Cox, chief of economic vitality and innovation.

Bach has had seven meetings each with Chief Communications Officer Cindy Aubrey and Donna Nelson, economic vitality and innovation specialist.

He has has two meetings with police Chief Pete Carey and one with fire Chief Rich Brown.

He has had three meetings with his assistant, Brenda Bonn.

He met with former Mayor Lionel Rivera on Jan. 9.

The mayor has had at least five meetings with a “primary employer.” However, the calendar keeps the employer’s identity a secret.

When questioned last month about his calendar,  Bach — who promised transparency when he was running for office — said the city was complying with the open-records law and that if someone saw otherwise, “engage legal counsel and come after us.”

To watch video of the mayor’s remarks, click here. The discussion starts about 6 minutes and 30 seconds into the video.

The city is providing the media “what we think is appropriate in the way of my public meetings,” Bach said last month.

“That’s just the way it is, and I’m sorry that doesn’t satisfy you,” he said.

Photos of Springs firefighters collecting money for charity

September 2nd, 2011, 9:41 am by

Interim Colorado Springs Fire Chief Rich Brown initially barred firefighters from participating in the Fill the Boot fundraiser for the Muscular Dystrophy Association this year on duty, ending a decades-long tradition.

But then Brown reversed his decision, saying he would allow it for a couple of hours for a couple of days.

Yesterday, a small group of firefighters pulled out their boots and stood outside a busy shopping center near Powers and Carefree collecting money for Jerry’s Kids.

Even Brown and Tommy Smith, deputy chief of support services, showed up to encourage firefighters as they raised money for an organization adopted informally by the fire service. Brown said he had taken vacation hours to do it, so it’s safe to assume Smith did, too.

“People are very, very generous,” firefighter Eric Ruettinger said.

“People are like, ‘On duty, off duty, we’re just glad you’re out there doing it,’” he said.

Since last weekend, Ruettinger said firefighters have collected more than $17,000 as part of the Fill the Boot campaign, a fraction of what they have collected in the past.

But, he said, firefighters have done other MDA-related fundraising throughout the year, and with the money raised yesterday and today, they will probably raise about $60,000 total.

“Every dime, every dollar is going to count,” he said.

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