By Brennen Kauffman | Denver Gazette
Friday marks two years since Yemi Mobolade was sworn in as Colorado Springs’ 42nd mayor. His achievements so far have drawn mixed reactions from the city’s residents who attended the Report Out Community Tour events this week.
Mobolade launched the tour on May 23, holding a meeting in each of the six Colorado Springs City Council districts to hear how residents felt about the progress made on the goals. The largest turnout was Tuesday night, when several dozen people sat in the auditorium of The Classical Academy for the District 2 meeting.
The crowd was unhappy to find out that Mobolade would not be appearing. City staff and council members said he had attended Monday’s town hall while sick but had begun feeling worse. Mobolade was absent from the events Tuesday and Wednesday and the city rescheduled his telephone town hall to June 25.
The town halls were organized around five categories Mobolade has identified as strategic goals: public safety, infrastructure, economic vitality, housing solutions and community activation. Staff held live opinion polls for the attendees about how the city was doing on those goals and later split into breakout tables where residents could provide longer answers.
The auditorium was where hundreds of neighbors gathered in December to speak to Mobolade about their issues with Ford Amphitheater and ask the city to end or heavily restrict the venue’s noise hardship for the 2025 concerts. Issues with the amphitheater were still in the air Tuesday, even though it wasn’t one of the city’s topics.
“We have things that concern us and these are very real, personal concerns. But tonight is part of a conversation that needs to transcend some of that to look at the things that affect the city more broadly,” City Councilmember Tom Bailey told the crowd.
During the live polling segment, 34 of the 55 residents said the city did a very poor job reflecting resident input. It was the only opinion question where more than 60% of the audience gave the same answer.
Public safety and police were the top concern from the city’s list, though a significant majority of residents said they were confident in the police responses and happy with their neighborhood’s safety. The room applauded when Chief of Staff Jamie Fabos mentioned that the Colorado Springs Police Department had more than 800 officers for the first time.