Reflections on the semester

Newswriting has stretched me outside my comfort zone and has helped me gain experience covering city government.

By reporting at city council, I learned how to find newsworthy stories and conduct successful interviews. This blog has been different than other journalism assignments because it was writing on a deadline and incorporated hands-on experience by attending city council meetings.

I enjoyed blogging because it incorporated going and doing instead of just writing practice stories. At the same time, the most difficult part of the class was the deadline for blog posts. It was practically impossible to get interviews with people other than councilmembers because the meetings ended so late at night.

Learning to write about different topics in government is something I wish I would have learned more about. It was good experience going to council meetings, but I think this class should have also encompassed other topics besides council meetings.

For students taking this class in the future, my only advice is to be prepared and have confidence. A story can be written well from a good interview; this involves writing questions before talking to councilmembers. It’s also important not to be afraid of councilmembers; they are people too.

Besides the blog, this class has taught me that stories are everywhere; as a journalist, I just have to be alert to my surroundings to notice one.

Youth in poverty need equal opportunities to play

Financial assistance to enable youth in poverty to participate in sports programs was brought up during the City Council meeting Tuesday night by councilmember Robb Casseday.

             The Mayor agreed to discuss this issue in the future to see if any funding can be given to youth in poverty to cover Greeley Recreation Center’s sports program costs.

“There has always been a need for this issue to be addressed. We have wanted to offer more aid, but it comes down to a budgeting issue,” said Andy McRoberts, Leisure Services Director.

McRoberts said that it is a challenge to find additional funds to offset program costs.

Some solutions briefly suggested by Casseday and McRoberts were grants by the police department and fundraising. Casseday said he thinks they can get the Greeley Police Department to fund youth more because being in sports keeps kids off the streets and out of trouble.

Casseday said that currently there is a youth assistance fund that is supporting qualified students, but is not funded enough to give all poverty students a chance to play.

“All youth benefit from being in extracurricular activities because they learn how to work as a team, communicate and be an effective leader,” McRoberts said.

In addition to sports, McRoberts said that they should also look at funding other programs to incorporate those who don’t like playing sports.

Robb Casseday wins despite citizens’ disinterest for city government

Councilmember Robb Casseday has represented the at-large council seat for the City of Greeley Council since February. In the most current election concluding Nov. 1, Casseday ran against Scott A. Royer and Neil K. Chikazawa for the seat, and won.

“I think that Robb is qualified for the position not because of his platform, but more based off his experience. He was appointed by council and now has months of experience,” said Stacey Campbell, Casseday’s campaign manager. 

Councilmember Casseday was originally elected in February when Maria Secrest resigned her at-large council position and accepted a position with Representative Cory Gardner. 

Casseday is a Greeley native. Before being a councilmember, he served Greeley by being on the Planning Commission as well as many other boards and committees in Greeley. He currently holds a chair for the Public Works Committee, is a member for the Finance Committee and is an alternate member for the North Front Range Metropolitan Planning Organization. 

Greeley residents hope that his recent win will enable Casseday to make some positive changes partnering with the other city council members and the mayor. 

“I really hope that this next season city government will focus on promoting Greeley. If we can get someone in power to show that they support Greeley, it might help people care about city government more,” said Deanne Helmboldt, a Greeley resident and one of Casseday’s friends. 

Several Greeley residents commented that they have observed a decrease in people caring about city government.

“I think people are voting less today than they were even 10 years ago. People think their votes don’t count or they are cynical of the system and think that people are getting elected from the inside,” real-estate broker Valerie Scheffer said.

Adding to the apathy for city government is the world’s shift to being technology focused. It seems that the younger generation is more interested in spending an hour on Facebook than attending a city council meeting. Incorporating technology may have to be the next step to ignite a passion for politics. 

“In the future, city government needs to use more social media. This will allow them to be proactive in informing citizens about what is going on and allow citizens to give their feedback and thoughts,” Campbell said. 

Campbell noted that he thinks people were not interested in the city council elections in particular because there were not any huge government issues driving people to the poles. 

The assumed disinterest didn’t seem to hurt Casseday’s chance for election. Results show that Casseday won the election with over 50 percent of the votes.

Approved budget benefits police department

Despite the opposition of Councilmember Mike Finn, the 2012 budget for Greeley was passed at the city council meeting on Tuesday. 

During the council meeting, Tim Nash, Director of Finance, presented that the budget included an increase in salaries for the Greeley Police Department and set aside $150,000 to hire two new police officers. 

“It’s important to recognize that this salary increase is a cost savings because we were losing people to other counties,” Mayor Tom Norton said. 

Jerry Garner, Greeley Police Chief, explained that Greeley's police dispatcher salary was lower than the surrounding area. Greeley has been training police officers, but adjacent cities, like Fort Collins, would hire the officers for higher pay. 

“I fully support the pay increase. Our police and fire departments have done an outstanding job,” Councilmember Robb Casseday said. 

The salary increase for the police department wasn’t the reason Finn opposed the budget, but the two new police positions was. Finn said he didn’t think the budget increase for the officer positions was appropriate due to the current economic downturn. 

Garner said that they have needed more police officers, but they were in a hiring freeze. With the funds supporting the two positions, the hiring process will begin almost immediately. 

Finn was the only one to speak out against the budget for the following year. The few people that attended the meeting did not voice any objections to the approved $266.6 million budget.

Agreement allows for opportunities

Councilmember Robb Casseday pulled agenda item number 17 on the consent agenda Tuesday at the Greeley City Council meeting not because he disagreed with the item, but instead to give recognition and clarity.

In the past, Casseday has been asked several times about Greeley’s relationship with Weld County School District 6.

“I think it is important for Greeley citizens to understand the relationship we have with University Schools and recognize how Greeley is supporting the efforts of the school district,” Casseday said.

The resolution introduced at this week's meeting authorizes Greeley to enter into a joint facility use agreement with University Schools, a charter school located by the Family FunPlex. At no cost, both parties are able to use each other’s' facilities for an equal amount of time.

During the spring and fall, the City allows University Schools to use the tennis courts at Centennial Park and the Family FunPlex’s gymnasium.

“The school’s gym is not big enough to hold cheerleading practice, so they are able to have practice in the gym at the FunPlex,” said Andy McRoberts, Leisure Services Director in charge of the agreement.

University Schools is not the only one to benefit from the renewal of this year long agreement.

“Greeley wouldn’t be able to host the Young American Basketball season without the joint agreement,” McRoberts said. 

This intergovernmental agreement shows the city council has made it a priority to support District 6 schools this year.

The agreement will be voted on at the next meeting in two weeks at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 18 at the City Council Chambers. 

Shopping to help local women

To raise money for Greeley women in crisis,Women2Women is hosting the Downtown Divas event from noon to 4 p.m. on Oct. 22.

The Greeley City Council announced the Downtown Divas event to the city of Greeley at their meeting Tuesday night.

During the event on Saturday, a percentage of all purchases made at participating downtown stores will be donated to Women2Women, a nonprofit organization. Donations are then given to women in the community who need financial support. 

“Women2Women is a one-time help to get single women to their next pay check. They help women with anything from grants to tuition to utilities,” said Donna Sapienza, Ward II councilmember for Greeley.

Since starting in September 2009, Women2Women has helped over 100 women in crisis. Assistance is given with the expectation that the women being helped do an act of kindness for someone else. 

Currently, Women2Women is working on helping its next 100 women in 100 days. The Downtown Divas day event will allow the all-women staff to be one step closer to its goal.

“Women2Women is truly about women helping women. They are on their second year and are still going strong,” said Becky Safarik, Greeley Community Development Director. 

Some businesses participating in Downtown Divas are Rouge Boutique, Sassy Bagz & Flirtitude and Mariposa Plants & Flowers, but the full list is on their Facebook page.

Getting Started

My name is Andrea Diener. I am a senior journalism major at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley. This semester I am taking JMC352 Reporting Contemporary Issues with Dr. Klyde-Silverstein. The class meets every Tuesday night for the fall semester. Two times a month, the class will be held at the Greeley City Council Chambers. Every other week, I will be blogging about a topic that was covered at the council meeting.

This is the first blog I have created. I aspire to improve my writing and learn about different areas of journalism; I am confident that this semester will give me the opportunity to do both.

I have written for the Veritas, Colorado Christian University's newspaper,  and Thriving Family Magazine, but I have not done a lot of online writing. It will be a challenge for me to write and post a story immediately after the event. I am confident that I will gain experience in reporting and writing for a short deadline.

The topic of local government intimidates me because I have not written about it before. I am excited to learn how to write about a topic that is unknown to me. My hope is that I will get better about writing about anything, not just things I am an expert in.