Monument’s council ordered a draft e-bike and e-moto ordinance carrying a $250 fine for parents, sent a Jackson Creek Parkway drive-thru back over its driveways, and approved a shop building that the site’s own well had already shrunk.
Author Archives: Michael Christensen
Michael Christensen is the editor of The Monument Independent. He holds a BA in history and an MS in statistics, and has spent 30 years in marketing — the last 15 focused on digital marketing, data analytics, research, and artificial intelligence. In his professional work he is Director of Marketing Operations, Marketing Analytics, and AI Initiatives.
For the past ten years he has worked in educational research, land use assessment, and local government research — the three subjects that account for much of what this paper covers. The statistics training informs how the Independent handles numbers: test scores, campaign finance filings, and public-meeting vote records are traced to primary documents, and the method is published alongside the findings.
He is a married father of four school-age children. He coaches youth soccer, hikes in the Colorado mountains, fly fishes, and reads historical non-fiction and, less defensibly, books about data analysis strategy.
Posted inGovernment
Six Candidates, Five Seats, One Contested Race
Monument voters will elect five town officials on November 3 and decide whether to raise the town’s tax on construction. Six candidates filed for the five seats, and only the mayor’s race drew more candidates than there are places to fill: two sitting councilmembers are competing for the seat Mitch LaKind is leaving after six […]
Posted inLocal News
The Water Under the Palmer Divide
The water in the Arapahoe aquifer beneath Monument fell as rain around the end of the last ice age. The U.S. Geological Survey dated it: a median of about 24,000 years, against 2,000 years for the shallower Dawson and more than 30,000 for the Denver below it. Those three stacked sandstone layers remain a primary, […]
Posted inGovernment
Monument’s Draft 2040 Plan Is Out. Here Is How to Weigh In.
Monument published draft comprehensive and downtown plans on August 26. An open house runs noon to 4 p.m. on September 9, with a Planning Commission hearing that evening and council adoption set for October 5.
Posted inLocal News
Sound Reached Six Miles on a Nearly Windless Night
Nineteen households reported Saturday’s Brantley Gilbert show at the Ford Amphitheater, and a fifth sat four miles or more out. The Independent’s own forecast had ranked the night low.
Posted inLocal News
At the Ford Amphitheater, Six Shows and Higher Rent
VENU’s second-quarter filing shows the Ford Amphitheater playing six shows instead of eleven, its revenue down 37 percent, and its ground rent up $1 million a year to a company co-owned by the chief executive.
Posted inLocal News
Gleneagle Votes September 15 on Recalling Its Entire Board
Every seat on the Gleneagle Civic Association board is on the ballot at a special meeting on September 15, called after homeowners petitioned to force one. The stated grievances are money and communication, and the association’s own financial statements bear out most of what its critics say. How many votes it will take to remove […]
Posted inOpinion
What Made Each Place Distinct
El Paso County retired all ten of its small area plans in 2021. Douglas, Larimer and Boulder counties still plan place by place.
Posted inGovernment
Monument’s Target Has Its Permit. Construction Has Started.
A building permit for a 129,000-square-foot Target was issued in Monument on August 31st, and inspectors were on the site two days later.
Posted inGovernment
E-Bike Rules in the Tri-Lakes: What Parents Should Know
Colorado sets a floor with no age limit and almost no helmet requirement. What sits on top of it depends on whose land you are on.