Ex-council member Johnson: Why would anyone want to be mayor of the Capital City? Not me.

BY RICHARD JOHNSON

How many of you go into work every morning knowing that the next 15 hours requires you to provide horrible customers with exemplary service? 

How many of you have a job where you constantly get crapped on by your colleagues and are hated by employees in

Cheyenne’s living mayors gather for the city’s 150th birthday.

between 10 meetings of the day, a luncheon and a dinner soiree where you're seated next to lying snakes and packs of wolves? 

Oh yeah, and how many of you have worked 75 days straight without even getting one of them off? 

Have you ever been a guest speaker for an event, yet you know nothing about the topic, or worse, on a topic you don’t support? 

Have you gone without home-cooked meal for over a month and looked like hell because you’ve been on the meat-and-cheese food tray diet?

If this sounds a lot like your job, it's highly likely that you are the mayor of Cheyenne. It’s one of the most thankless jobs with the lame perk of having your name stickered on every public building entrance.

Most people think being mayor is kissing hands and shaking babies. It's hardly that simple. 

In order to prevent hurt feelings, you have to say “yes" to everything. 

You’re the head of the executive branch of city government, but what are you supposed to execute? The council is supposed to provide the vision, but members have other jobs, and being a council person is a part-time gig. Hell, one of them has missed nearly 55 percent of meetings in his first year, so what do you expect? 

You could ask the public, but they are either starstruck by the title or just bitch to you without providing actual solutions to their problems. This explains why so many get this job running on lowest common denominator topics. 

Then you have meetings, meetings, meetings and then a meeting to schedule another meeting. All a mayor does is meet, and the same talking heads spew what they think you want to hear and then scramble when you say you’ll get back to them. I guess that means we'll have another meeting. 

Heaven forbid any more mayor's councils are added to the list. Seems there is a council for everything these days, including your pathetic meat-and-cheese diet.

Let’s not forget that the mayor must formulate and present a budget that meets the needs of the city and every department that needs more of this and that. There is always a shortage of money. Tax projections are lower than expected, building permits are down, good thing the police department is self-sustaining with all the citations they issue. 

Firefighter union negotiations will mean another 2-3 percent raise to avoid arbitration, which means the Police Protective Association will feel slighted and they’ll need a 2-3 percent raise, which means the Cheyenne Public Employees Association will feel slighted and they'll need a 2-3 percent raise. The bell curve evaluation came back again that all the staff is great, so everyone gets raises. 

Did I forget to mention the mayor has to deal with a fire truck smashing into the station, a garbage truck flipped into a house, some sanitation workers getting into a knife fight in the parking lot, an employee's wife emailing them about her husband having sex with a coworker, the former city attorney suing the city, a dude who got screwed over by the police when he was a teenager suing the city, complaints about the same pothole for the ninth time this week and a snowplow that just pushed snow back onto someone’s sidewalk? 

If that seemed like a run-on sentence, it was. This job is just one run-on sentence. No breaks for punctuation.

Heaven forbid there is a real natural disaster during a mayor's term, like the tornado of ’79 or flood of ’85. One would need to have outstanding leadership qualities to pull through that. (I’d probably have a heart attack due to the stress.)

What about me running for mayor? I've asked around and it was upsetting to me that all my picks for city attorney, engineer, clerk, public works director, treasurer, police chief, fire chief, events director and judge said they would all turn me down if I was elected. No one wants those jobs or the insane burdens that go with them. 

It’s kind of hard to move forward when the people you really want to appoint say "no" because they like where they are in their lives and don't want added headaches. If they’ve turned you down, why have the confidence you’ll do any better? They are all smarter than you. Maybe you should take their advice once more and not do it either.

I hope this article shows that being the mayor sucks. You never win. You just end up hating yourself and drinking yourself to sleep. I’ve had over 40 people in the last year offer me money to pay my entry fee to run for mayor. I gotta wonder: Are these people even my friends? 

As I’ve stated before, my friends and family don’t deserve to be ridiculed and publicly shamed for political gain of an opponent. I’m still too immature to be an effective manager of 600 people. Remember the alligator? Do you really want a person who says he'd run for mayor on a platform of never having Boogie Machine play in Cheyenne again? 

Give it a couple years or a decade. I’m not going anywhere. For the time being, I’m happy with my life and my career. 

Running for mayor would be a distraction I don’t need. I’m tossing around the Ward 3 seat since City Council fits with my work schedule. We'll see how I feel in May.

            Richard Johnson is a former City Council member from east Cheyenne.

Memories of “The Blacks,” an empty field at end of Sun Valley: “There’s nothing like it anymore”

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second of a two-part series about growing up in Sun Valley on Cheyenne’s east side in the 1980s and two of the childhood landmarks there. You can find his first part, about Three Tunnels, at http://bit.ly/2H9bGfU. 

BY RICHARD JOHNSON

If you grew up in Sun Valley in the 1980s, you knew of the empty field at the end of 12th Street. It’s now known as Sunrise Point, but in our day it was known as “The Blacks." It was our unofficial park with no rules. 

In 2020, if you post, “What stories do you have about The Blacks?” Most think you’re being a racist. In the Eighties, it meant you were headed to Sun Valley to do hoodrat stuff. 

All the fun things in life happened here. Guns, mud bogging, fireworks, motorcycles, BMX, catching snakes, broken bones, having sex on the hood of your car  and dead bodies. The signs said, “No Trespassing,.” but no one paid attention. 

The best gossip I’ve been able to find in regards to the name is a Sun Valley developer in the 1970s had the last name Black. He probably owned the land and people probably just started, “et’s go to ‘The Blacks’!” We never asked where the name came from because that’s what everyone called it. 

Everyone that grew up there that I’ve spoke to was bummed when the new developments started. I remember standing on the top of 12th Street on Aug 2, 1985 and seeing how badly Dry Creek flooded. When people moved into the area and there were no storm sewer drains, we knew everyone was screwed

We played in all those ponds and creeks for years. It’s no wonder you need pumps and your basements flood.

It was amazing the stuff you’d find dumped out there. The worst story was posted on my thread by my friend and her sister: 

“I remember finding a dead body back there. Yep. Hands head and feet had been removed, and it was pretty decayed, but it was a person at some point.”

Her sister replied, “Too vivid of memories, and we were way too young to have seen that. Hell, our own kind of ‘Stand by Me.’”

My stories weren’t as jacked as that. I got this text: “Member that one time I made you shoot a bird and then made you feel bad. Ha ha.” 

I remember in 1992 my best friend and I were watching the LA Riots and wanted to throw Molotov cocktails. We went to The Blacks and I stomped out weed fires while he threw gas-filled jars over my head. 

It wasn’t just the youth out there starting bonfires, throwing keggers, and smoking their first cigarette. 

One person wrote, “My dad started the field on fire shooting off 4th of July fireworks, and a couple making out in a car extinguished part of it with their clothes.”

A common theme among Sun Valley people who grew up in The Blacks was jumping every kind of machine off the hills. Dune buggies, motorcycles, BMX, riding mowers, etc. 

One time Chucky stopped to make out with his girl on top of the hill and Jerm jumped a motorcycle right into them, breaking his leg.

This is how several stories went:

“It was that sunken area of Sun Valley and was hilly, so we could hide down in there with a small bonfire. One time a neighbor must’ve called. We heard sirens coming and got the heck out of there. We’d burn a few pallets and got crazy stupid with the cars one time. I was trying to see who could pull the hill up to the train tracks. My VW Rabbit was no match.”

Getting chased was our weekend activity. Banging on cars or people getting frisky and have them chase us around the fields. 

The cops were not immune. My best friend would find the cop car hiding out, waiting to catch someone, and he’d moon the cops just to get chased. We’d make it back to his house and sit on the patio and watch the high beams out in the dark trying to find him.

The Blacks were a place for families as well. 

My parents loaded up the ’86 Caravan and took us out there and taught me and the neighbor kids how to drive. Here was another story shared with me. 

“Snowmobiling, getting pulled on tubes behind the '79 Blazer. My dad driving his tractor down there to pull out all the guys mud bogging,  zooming around in the dune buggy. Walking our dogs out there. I think I spent half my childhood out there.”

You could always catch animals. Crawdads, tadpoles, snakes. Here is what our parents would come home to: “Um, filling my mom’s window wells full of water to put our tadpoles.”

My best friend used to take his grandpa’s tractor mower and cut baseball diamonds out of the weeds. One time he got 12 Taco John’s cups and made a golf course when he found some clubs in a neighbors garbage. I still can’t drive, but I learned. 

Another person summed it up like this: “Motorcycles, mud bogging, baseball games, snake hunting and mice hunting to feed ’em. The mean guy at Lincoln Valley junkyard who shot us with salt rock. Firework wars!!! I got Sun Valley tattooed on me.” 

My best friend summed it up best.

“I miss ‘The Blacks.’ I was thinking the other day how lucky we were to have a place like that. There’s nothing like it anymore.”

            Richard Johnson is a former City Council member from Cheyenne’s east side.

Patrick Collins would bring vision, energy to City Hall. But winning mayoral election will not be easy

BY D. REED ECKHARDT

It was the fall of 2000, and no one could foresee what was about to come for sleepy ole Cheyenne.

            Then-City Council member Jack Spiker was elected mayor on the usual platform of streets-streets-streets, so residents were buckling in for another four years of the status quo. That was just fine with the naysaying crowd that put Spiker into office; change never was on their agenda (for that matter, it still isn’t).

            But that wasn’t how things turned out. 

Ward 2 ended up electing two visionary council members — Patrick Collins and Tom Segrave — and they eventually

The depot and plaza is a legacy of the Spiker-Collins-Segrave effort.

helped Spiker to become one of the most progressive mayors in the city’s history. Indeed, right up until the Great Recession of 2008, Cheyenne developed a statewide reputation as the most progressive city in Wyoming. The Capital City was the envy of many Wyomingites who understood that without change their communities, and the state, would fall ever further behind the national curve.

            Consider just a few of the things that occurred until the leadership of Spiker, Collins and Segrave. Perhaps their greatest accomplishment was the development of the downtown plaza, as they formed a partnership with the railroad to buy the depot, trade land for the plaza and create a community gathering place that has more than reached its potential. Similarly, there is the downtown parking garage, which has made the plaza work. They also put up the Community House at Lions Park and expanded the Greenway.

            This, and more, came about because Collins and Segrave understood, and helped Spiker to understand, that they could use city reserves, bonding, partnerships with the private sector and the 6th penny sales tax to make things happen. Their goal: to help mold the city into a more attractive place for young families and young professionals. 

The recession blunted their efforts, and the city has since elected two do-nothing mayors — Rick Kaysen and Marian Orr. They have overseen the status quo, lacking the kind of vision that the Spike-Collins-Segrave trio had for growing the city.

            Now Collins has come off the bench and announced that he is running for mayor. The owner of the Bicycle Station, he has an extensive local business background, knows the city’s operations and has the energy for the position. And, yes, there is that vision thing, the ability to see where this city is and where it needs to go. And he can put together a strategy to get there.

            None of this means it will be easy for Collins. 

             Incumbency carries a lot of weight here, and if Orr seeks re-election, she will have that advantage. But it also is true that she has squandered a ton of political capital in the last year with her ethical violations, misuse of grant funds for personal gain, faux pothole emergency and her haughty disdain for the voters (remember her telling them they could “go kick rocks” if they didn’t like her decisions?) Still, she has the support of the do-nothing crowd since she threatens the status quo not in the least.

            Additionally, Collins’ successes in the early 2000s came at a price. A large portion of Cheyenne fought progressive efforts tooth and nail, earning themselves the moniker of “naysayers” from

Patrick Collins

us at the Wyoming Tribune Eagle. They eventually lost the argument — Spiker, Collins and others like them were elected and re-elected — only to enjoy a resurgence under Kaysen and Orr. They have long memories and will be looking to provide some payback.

            Similarly, Collins’ ties to the Greater Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce will be problematic. The chamber crowd thinks it knows what is best for local residents. It doesn’t. Witness the defeats — twice — of the proposed recreation center until Chamber leadership. And then there was the fiasco of an effort to install a city administrator. That was a good idea, poorly executed and basically in disregard of the concerns from the community.

            The naysayers didn’t like the Chamber during Collins’ time in office — it supported the city’s progressive efforts — and they don’t like to now. Again, payback awaits, and Collins would be wise to stay as far away from Chamber support as possible.

            It will be interesting to see what approach he takes. I can affirm that a unabashedly progressive platform may not go far in 2020 after having my tail handed to me in the Ward 1 council election four years ago. 

I remember taking my daughter to vote absentee and seeing the long line of pro-Trump voters waiting to take their turns at the polls. Their profile is not progressive, period. Thus, my “Think Big” platform went over like a lead balloon. These same voters will be at the polls big-time again this November. That is not a good sign for candidates with a vision to lead Cheyenne into the 2020s.

            And, of course, it depends on who else enters the race. Former City Council member Richard Johnson is one such wild card (if he enters, that certainly will challenge my support for Collins; Johnson would be an excellent candidate). I’m sure there may be others.

            Regardless, it will be good to see an experienced, smart and visionary candidate in the race for mayor this time around. This city has been in the doldrums for far too long. Cheyenne can do a whole lot worse than having Patrick Collins as its mayor. Four more years of Orr would be a good example of that.

            D. Reed Eckhardt is the former executive editor of the Wyoming Tribune Eagle.

Remembering “Three Tunnels:” An urban myth about Satanism in the Capital City in the Eighties

AUTHOR’S NOTE: This is a two-part series about growing up in Sun Valley on Cheyenne’s east side in the 1980s and two of our childhood landmarks. The first part is an urban legend that scared kids throughout our neighborhood, The Three Tunnels.

BY RICHARD JOHNSON

In the 1980s, Satanism was all the rage on Geraldo, Oprah and Donahue. The Satanic Panic. All the suburban white kids were being lured by the devil. 

The Satanic Bible was always checked out at the library. If you listened to KISS (Knights in Satan’s Service) or WASP (We Are Satan’s People),

The group KISS was considered Satanic by Cheyenne parents in the ’80s.

your parents had you in front of a faith-based leader or shrink. Hell, Motley Crue dropped “Shout at the Devil” and Ozzy was biting heads off bats.

On the yellow dog, known as Bus 7, we'd head to Johnson Junior High while Bud Bunning’s crew would blast ACDC in the back. We’d take College Drive to Fox Farm Road, and there was this abandoned house that had 666 and a pentagram painted on the back door. It was straight out of an Iron Maiden song.

Being 13-14, we’d all gossip about how the house was a haven for Satan worshippers and that the Three Tunnels were where the rituals took place. They were about 100 feet away from this back door. 

The tunnels were a drainage canal that went under College Drive. The railroad had them fenced off. Now they are open on a Greenway path. In the flood of ’85, they were completely submerged. 

There were pentagrams and pond scum everywhere. Local lore had it that there were always carcasses and burn marks from sacrifices. Most of the time, people said they found goat carcasses, but it was just kids spinning yarns. Remember, D&D was hot at this time. The darker the better. 

One story that was sent to me had an older neighbor having her cats turn up missing. Instead of being abducted by the shelter or hit by a car, the neighborhood kids said they were taken by Satan worshippers. 

So what really happened in this Den of Demise? Lots of teenage smoking and kids having battle royal fight club scenarios with the biggest crawdads. 

Thirty years later, we realize it was people doing dumb shit and spray-painting symbols that would freak out our quiet, safe community. I don’t remember seeing anything in the local newspaper about death or rituals, but in our minds, evil always awaited anyone who ventured into the Three Tunnels.

            Richard Johnson is a former City Council member from Cheyenne’s east side.

“Bicycle Guy” Pat Collins is too busy looking down on the rest of us to be a good mayor for Cheyenne

BY RICHARD JOHNSON

Why do we hate The Bicycle Guy? I’m talking about Patrick Collins, owner of the Bicycle Station, former City Council member and now candidate for mayor.You should post the whole story, please. Lots of us haven’t lived here our whole lives.

OK. 30 years. So you are letting a grudge from your teenage years color your seemingly adult perception? Honestly, as thoughtful and introspective as you can be, I would have thought better of you.

Like me or hate me, I’m basically who I am due to Collins. 

In 1989, Fort Collins, Colo., was holding skateboard contests for their area sponsored through their local skate shop.

Businessman Patrick Collins is just one of the “good ole boys”

Being 15 years old, we thought this was the normal course of action. So we asked our local shop if they would hold a contest. 

Collins was the manager at the time, and he told us he would do it.  He'd tell us it would happen on Memorial Day, then the Fourth of July, then back-to-school, then Labor Day. Nothing ever happened. In our 15-year-old minds, four months seemed like an eternity of push-backed dates or lies. 

So we did it ourselves. We called all the kids with ramps and slider bars and told them to bring them to Holiday Park on Saturday. We had about 150 attendees and about 36 who entered. 

Since we had no sponsors, we charged $3 entry fee, and first place took all. Everything seemed fine until an 8-year-old kid's mom called the shop and yelled at Collins for the way the judges rated her kid.  

Our friend who worked at the shop told us, “Pat is so pissed at you guys for holding a contest.” When we went into the shop, he blew up at us. Who gave us the right to do this? You guys didn’t pull a permit or get insurance or anything. Fine, you want a contest, there is one this weekend. And there was. We attended both since that’s all we really wanted. 

I had never trusted adults or people in authority. I always felt like I was being talked down to, so I always seemed to rebel. When Clay Sturman died and his family donated money to the skatepark, I wrote a scathing review in a letter to the editor, chastising the city for ineptness for failing to give kids what they wanted. 

It was the first public meeting where I was literally yelled at by city staff. When my friend Delo nominated me as chairman for the skatepark oversight committee, I can still see city staff saying, “Oh yeah, who is Richard Johnson?” I raised my hand and got full-tilt, purple-faced blowout about what I didn’t know, what was I was talking about and how I shouldn’t write things like that to the paper. 

After the meeting, Collins was talking to the Sturman family, and Clay’s mom hugged me. She told me that she appreciated my letter and said I was the person who was going to make sure her son’s legacy was done right. 

I remember Collins telling me in front of her that if I was going to raise so much money, I should go on “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” I told him I’d rather do “Jeopardy,” to which he replied with a laugh to Clay’s mom, “I’m not smart enough for Jeopardy.” I replied, “I am.” 

As you can see, our relationship is downright petty and juvenile, but that’s how it ha been for 30 years. 

In 2015 I was asked by the Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce to meet with head Dale Steenburgen, Collins and Tara Nethercott to talk about what I termed the “overthrow the mayor meeting.” The email invite had weird language. 

Why did the Chamber need their CEO, a community leader and an attorney to talk to me? I told them I’d only meet them if I could bring guests of my own. They finally said I could, but they added that didn’t see the point. I told them I wouldn’t announce my guests until breakfast. 

I called reporter Lucas High at the local paper and asked if he wanted an exclusive to my meeting. I was beastly hungover, and he recorded the whole charade. In hindsight, I am now supportive of a city manager, and Collins is running for an office he wanted to make obsolete. 

So why does any of this matter? 

One text I received stated the following: “Dude, I'm not sure why you think Patrick Collins is such a political powerhouse. I mean, yeah, he's in good with the Chamber, but he has all the charisma of a worn-out bar rag. Nobody really likes the dude, except maybe some members of the good old boy network. He might beat Mayor Marian Orr, but he's hardly loved by all.”

Some candidates that I hoped would run have already backed out. You see, several people had talked about Orr’s winning chances in 2020. But after her spat with the governor, some big-money people were looking for their Trojan Horse to take her out. Tons of money was going to fill the coffers of what was deemed a sound, politically safe, boring candidate. A person who would keep things status quo. 

They couldn’t have asked for better with Collins (who, by the way, reportedly backed Orr in 2016). When council members are whispering endorsements already, we're in trouble.

“Good ole boy" is thrown around a lot lately, but Collins’ resume shows how this is going to get thrown down. He's already been on City Council, he has served on bank boards, he is an elite member of the Chamber of Commerce, and he was appointed by the state involving military affairs. 

You can already see from the young bucks and the old guard that they are championing this candidate. You can even see a change in local paper’s editorial coverage in lambasting Orr the same week their Golden Child announced his bid. 

He will even be praised on this blog for his “vision” for the city. He will be endorsed everywhere as the person who will conduct the city’s business in a competent fashion. 

I see it as him looking down from his crow’s nest at all the serfs, just like when you go into his business to ask for help. He is the lord, and we are the peasants. 

I’m already getting texts about weird things that went on in council during his tenure. 

Not that I put much stock in Bill Henderson's Canoe Club conspiracy theory. But this mayoral race just got a little more white collar. 

All Hail Mayor Collins. He's here to fix the pothole known as the Orr regime, or is it “The Orr Dynasty?” 

Richard Johnson is a former City Council member from Cheyenne’s east side

If you’re looking for inspiration about Cheyenne’s future, you won’t find it in Mayor Orr’s speech

(Editor’s note: Cheyenne Mayor Marian Orr’s State of the City speech can be found at http://bit.ly/2Upei0Y)

BY RICHARD JOHNSON

This article may seem petty, but look at the author. This is my breakdown of the State of the City speech (aka Between Two Ferns — Cheyenne Edition).

First of all, what was up with the musical intro for local businessman Dave Lerner and the mayor? Is the State of the City address turning into a poor man's version of “The Tonight Show”?

            The bulldozer vs. private property rights. The fact the mayor made a remark that she thought she could just bulldoze

Potholes were on the mayor’s mind in her “State of City” speech.

 private property in her first six months shows why a city manager is needed. Admitting you weren’t qualified for the job shows how a professional is so much more economical and intelligent when it comes to managing a corporation with roughly 600 employees. 

            How were private funds used in the demolition of the courthouse? It was a 6th penny project. If private funds were used, why did it need to be on the ballot? Maybe these private investors were spending too much time huffing fumes in the Z's Building?

            The mayor referenced herself about 130 times in the speech and spoke of the great efforts of her staff. Then she makes a snide remark about how she hit a few potholes on the way to the speech. If she's not turning them in, why would she think using a phone app will help? 

Mayor, you're in the same building as the Public Works Department. Why not just report the ones you hit to your own staff? Apparently, you don’t communicate with your staff, which is interesting considering the fact that you blame 90 percent of the problems you have with City Council on poor communication. Seems communication issues are just as common as our freeze-thaw cycles in the high plains.

The fact you bring up data in finding potholes as well as other city issues seems hypocritical. There were data during past administrations; you just failed to use them because it wasn’t your idea. 

This is the first speech you haven’t lambasted past administrations, acting like you were the cure to all our ails. All mayors have had to deal with inclement weather, but you chose to ridicule others instead of learn from them. 

            The fact that mayor transitioned from lack of funds for fixing infrastructure to cuts from the Legislature was priceless. What happened to the mayor who told me, “I know the Legislature. They’ll give us the money we deserve?" Iguess that mayor wasn't elected! 

The pipe dream of having larger communities tax themselves is a laughing matter. The county commissioners’ lobby will squash that just like it did extraterrestrial jurisdictions. If there is a 2021 State of the City speech, it will just be that emoji of the girl doing the "whatever, we tried" gesture.

            Insert petty moment here. Mayor, when talking about employees enhancing their skill sets, it’s not good to say "edjamication." I was always under the assumption it was best to keep qualified employees, but the you just told everyone that city government is educating staff to move on to better jobs in the private sector. I thought retention cut down on continual training costs. What do I know?

            You mentioned conflict resolution was a course. Why aren't you and the City Council enrolled? Maybe that argument you had with the governor didn’t need to happen? 

You seemed OK running to the media to whine about that ridiculous conflict in an obvious (and pathetic) attempt at political gain. “Flowergate" is what I call it. Damn, I need to trademark my verbiage on my Christmas letters. I’ve wrote enough on the flowers I planted — and which you dough up — so I don’t need to beat that dead horse. 

Funny, the mayor can openly admit she pulled the Downtown Development Authority's funds in her budget, yet she chastises them for making cuts. Wow, that’s a special kind of ignorant.

            The fact she can still make jokes about "kicking rocks" is embarrassing. It didn’t really come across as apologetic. 

I do find it amusing how this shit transpired from a shirt in the wake of her rebuke of constituents who didn’t like her charging for what always has been free at Superday. Shirt made, kicking rocks tour, free waffles lead to the mayor’s misuse of grant funds, taxpayers foot the bill for trips to Cabo. Brilliant move, mayor. Brilliant!

            It's horrific that she actually admits she thought the Bloomberg grant was "free money" for discretionary use. What does the word "discretion" mean to a politician? Per this administration, it sounds like it references Aleister Crowley's famous motto, "Do what thou wilt." 

Once again, a quick talk with a professional grants manager (which the mayor has on staff) should educate and inform you that grants have stipulations.

            Did I mention a city manager? Maybe Cheyenne should consider looking for one via Match.com or Tinder? I think that might actually be more beneficial. Since the purpose of those sites is to hook up, I guess the best we can hope for is a few nudes and crowd-funded building remediation campaigns. Swipe right, Cheyenne! 

Who would’ve thought a website would cost nearly $100K over four years?  I guess I better sign up for Array classes to get better "edjamication." Sidebar: Both Array and the Grier Building are owned by Amy Surdam. Why does that name sound so familiar? 

One of the most squeamish moments in the interview was when Lerner said, “You got beat up pretty bad last year … on social media." I’m uncouth, but damn, Lerner is hella salty! (I guess he's still bitter about all the political campaigns he has failed to win.)

It's safe to say the city government’s interface with residents is lackluster when putting meetings on Facebook Live is considered a huge success. Council meetings have been online for years and were broadcast on channel 19. I'm sad to think that a social media live stream is considered progress. 

The fact that roofs are still leaking on the Cleveland Fire Station almost four years after mayor’s election is appalling. During that "Door to Door with Orr" nonsense, she did a full feature film on this issue. 

She has created three mayoral budgets, yet she can't fix a leaky roof. Maybe there weren’t data to support a leak? Maybe she needed a bit more conflict and media attention to actually get to work? How many budgets to fix a leak? Jesus, I feel like that Tootsie Roll owl.  

I love how the Commons area was mentioned as a haven for youth, but the whole place has skate stoppers. Let's not forget that Wyoming Area Risk Management guidelines that said we were all going to drown like the Pharaoh’s army at the West Edge K Flay concert. Let my people go, Mayor! 

Orr even admitted that her parents have asked her, “What are you doing?" And then she thanked God that her folks aren't on social media. That sure inspires a lot of confidence in a leader.  

It's also pretty unbelievable that she thinks $95K isn't a livable wage for a mayor. Wasn’t she the same person who mentioned at the LCCC debate that she would be Cheyenne’s first 24/7/365 mayor? My how the rhetoric has turned like a sensitive stomach in the Z's Building.

The fact she says she hopes to leave the city in better shape that she found it is comical. Maybe City Council can use the new app to order some glue sticks to put the city back together again. I'll even donate some R&B breakfast burritos via Grub Hub for that effort. 

Is that the basis of #together2020? If 2020 is going to be the year of facts, does that mean 2017, 2018 and 2019 were the years of fake news, lies, half-truths, and non-facts? 

At least the public received confirmation, several times, that city workers are "her" employees. The same employees she wants to farm out to the private sector and berates regularly because she is hitting potholes and getting failed chip seal stuck to her red bottoms. 

Why didn’t she mention that these are the same employees who don’t get makeup days off when the rest of the city is closed? No wonder you can't fill vacant city positions. Maybe this will come out in the new budget? 

I’m guessing not. We probably can just look forward to more cuts to the DDA, flowerpot scandals and unethical Go Pro purchases.

RICHARD JOHNSON is a former City Council member from Cheyenne’s east side.

Mayor Orr can be ousted if she seeks re-election, but it is going to take the perfect opponent to beat her

BY D. REED ECKHARDT

            When former Councilman Richard Johnson wrote here in early August that Marian Orr could not be beaten if she chose to run for a second term as mayor (https://bit.ly/2Og4faP), it was hard to argue with him.

            After all, Orr fits right in that sweet spot that Cheyenne’s majority naysayers seem to like. She is little more than a carbon copy of former Mayor Rick Kaysen — a do-nothing who does not threaten the established order, has

Mayor Orr address the media during her tiff with Council President Case.

no vision for progress and who is friendly with the Chamber of Commerce crowd. That is why in 2016 she took out the visionary Amy Surdam, who actually hoped to move Cheyenne into the present, if not the future. That, and the fact that Orr is a dirty campaigner who will do anything it takes to win. She proved that against Surdam.

            And it doesn’t appear Cheyenne’s basic mindset has changed all that much since then. It continues to think it is part of the Old West, that outsiders (read that, “greenies” from Colorado) need to stay home and those who differ from its majority (anti-LGBT, white, conservative-minded, Christian control freaks) are made to feel unwelcome. 

All of that thinking will cost the Capital City its future, but that is a subject for another day. 

            Still, a lot has changed since Johnson’s August analysis. Consider Orr’s mounting problems:

1.     She tried to bring an end to Superday, this city’s great event that brings the community together like no other. http://bit.ly/2RMAC2M

2.     She accepted a gift of a pickup truck from Dealin’ Doug for use during Cheyenne Frontier Days. This was a clear violation of basic ethics — avoid even the appearance of impropriety — as well as the city’s purchasing policy. http://bit.ly/3b1O0b4

3.     She declared a phony emergency to try to improperly move funds to fix potholes in an effort to curry votes. Fortunately, the City Council blocked her. http://bit.ly/2GMDW82

4.     She was caught misusing grant funds for her own personal ends. The Bloomberg Foundation provided the money to help downtown. Instead, the mayor used it to further her extravagant lifestyle. She has since repaid the funds she used for personal business, and the city had to divert public funds to pay for her recklessness. http://bit.ly/31qSkwh

5.     She invited a personal conflict with City Council President Rocky Case since he was the one who discovered her abuse of funds. Case went too far in his accusations, but the mayor’s claims that this was a “personal” fight were pure political bull manure. She had misused the funds. And she got caught. Period. End of story. http://bit.ly/2GQ70v3

All this adds up to an incumbent who is no longer the darling of the naysaying, anti-growth, opposed-to-progress crowd. Witness the conservative protests that occurred in the wake of the revelations about the Bloomberg grant. These people not longer are a lock for Orr. 

Add to that the fact the progressive portion of the community wants — no, begs — Cheyenne to move forward, and you have a candidate with electability issues.

The problem is to find a candidate who is able to defeat Orr. And that will not be easy.

Former City Council member Patrick Collins, who was part of a coalition that included former Mayor Jack Spiker and who helped lead the city during a progressive spurt in the early 2000s, is running for mayor. He certainly has the skills, vision and local government experience as well owning the brand of a businessman who can manage City Hall. 

But Collins will be identified with the progressive wing. That will not attract the unhappy conservative voters to him.

Similarly with City Councilman Pete Laybourn, who has hungered to be mayor for years and has neither the temperament — he can’t work with anyone — nor the political tools to lead the city. He would appeal to the same demographic as the non-dissatisfied Orr bloc, but few progressives are going to support him.

No, it is going to take someone who can appeal to both ends of the political spectrum who will be able to unseat Orr. 

A good example would be the aforementioned Johnson. His willingness, even joy, to stick it to council leadership and stand up against misuse of funds, crappy policies and the Chamber of Commerce crowd — he’s a true change agent — would appeal to the dissatisfied former Orr supporters who are fed up with her abuses. 

And Johnson also understands the need to move Cheyenne into the 21st century to attract Front Range young people and business. But he is not so visionary as to frighten anyone away. He tends to focus on small projects that improve the city without threatening those who fear change.

But Johnson has said he does not intend to run for mayor, so finding the right candidate to defeat Orr will be a challenge. Case recently mentioned former state Sen. Pete Illoway, but he is too old and too much a part of the good ole boys network. And the pro-Trumper James Johnson, who already has announced a run, is just too far right politically and lacks any kind of understanding of city operations to be taken seriously.

So despite Richard Johnson’s August prediction, Orr can be beaten, but it will take the perfect person. Those who want to oust her should begin looking in earnest. There is no time to waste.

I wish those people luck. Another four years of do-nothing leadership — that would be 16 in a row — will potentially put Cheyenne in a place where it never will catch up with its Front Range competition. 

The time for change is now. Let’s get ’er done!

D. Reed Eckhardt is the former executive editor of the Wyoming Tribune Eagle.