Time to Re-Open Broomfield

Broomfield Taxpayer Matters would like to extend our thoughts, prayers, and support to all who have been negatively affected by the COVID-19 virus. In way or other, we all have personally experienced the effects of COVID-19; this is a trying time for all. We are with everyone as we continue fighting this virus in our community.

We also appreciate the approach that our local government takes in the delicate balance between public health and the political, social, and economic needs of a community.

To that end, we are asking our city leaders to be a true example of how a community can support local businesses and families. The approach should be to proceed carefully and reduce barriers to return normalcy with a hand up instead of a growing list of hand outs in these troubling times.

Unintended Consequences

The government’s response to COVID-19 has exploded across America causing an unprecedented disruption in our communities.  This response threatens our very way of life. These definitive actions are being taken at a time where what we know about the virus and what can be predicted about the outcome of an infection are still being debated, explored and analyzed.

Here in Colorado, our state and local officials are using this uncertain time to inject fear and to force their agenda upon the people. The “stay-at-home” and “safer-at-home” policies are being used to manipulate behaviors, causing terrible turmoil in our hearts, our minds, and in our economy.  The Governor’s provocative jargon such as “new normal”, “one year and a half”, “cannot guarantee your safety” is being used to further drive an agenda. In an election year one must always be suspect of the sweeping decisions hammered down on us through executive orders and drastic new policies.

In Broomfield, our city council and city staff are following suit. They are using the uncertainty of the COVID-19 virus, along with vague analyses, to keep us in our homes. Keeping us in our homes is taking us away from all of the ways in which we cope and thrive, including closeness of family and friends, community involvement, volunteering, routines, resources, the dignity of hard work, a steady income and a near future we believe we can control.

These decisions tend to also neglect the untold damage from an extended stay-at-home order which in and of itself can cause extreme anxiety. Negative impacts such as domestic abuse introduces additional risk for children and victims of domestic violence. These most vulnerable populations are being forced into silence and trapped at home with their abusers. Lack of outside Involvement and availability of support systems from schools, medical staff, community programs have increased the likelihood of abuse. The city’s potential decision to to continue the stay-at-home order drives all of the risk factors such as increased financial stressors, decreased mandated reporting, decreased assistance and increased uncertainty and instability. All of these factors contribute to increased abuse. This is just one tragic consequence of this extended isolation.

Finally, the stay-at-home order has torpedoed a strong and thriving economy. In March unemployment shot up to 4.5% and the numbers will continue to sky rocket. Many in Broomfield will be irreparably damaged by this extensive restriction of our rights. Many Businesses will be forced to close, never get off the ground and some will never be able to pursue their dream of opening a future business in our city. This outcome is a travesty and preventable. What are we doing to our children’s future and their freedom?

Individual Liberty is an Essential Activity

This handling of situation begs the question - How are our individual rights and liberties being impacted? In a recent editorial, Rob Natelson, national constitution expert with the Independence Institute, lays out the case that the Governor’s stay-at-home order violates our individual rights, replacing those rights with presumed declarations of what is “essential” or “non-essential” activity.

We agree. We believe each individual has the right, and the responsibility, to take care of themselves and their loved ones; this is the true foundation of a free and fair society. Our traditional values of hard work and rugged individualism are being slowly and methodically eroded, taken from us.  This is one of the core reasons why the stay at home order needs to be brought to an end as soon as possible.

In Troubled Times, Critical Thinking is of Utmost Importance

In challenging times like these, the tendency is turn to readily available sources for information and confirmation on government actions. Information provided by the media, our elected represented, and government officials is presented often enough that over time we simply accept it as fact.

Caution is advised! Everyone needs to ask: Does the information, statistics, and data presented warrant enduring the ongoing, devastating effects of the stay-at-home order? Or, do we need to take up and assess the situation utilizing our experiences, our education and expert opinions that may not be “mainstream media” to draw our conclusions and make informed decisions.

As this virus continues to affect our country, more detailed, accurate, and expansive view of the trajectory of this virus is being illuminated. As an example, it is being suggested by industry experts that the virus may have been present in our country as early as November, 2019. If this is the case then the models that state and local agencies are using to support a restriction of our freedoms are deeply flawed. Most models are built to reach a biased outcome, not to see where the data takes us, keeping in mind that models for prediction are not data. Data married with assumptions drive predictions within models.

What Does the Available Data Reveal About COVID-19 Broomfield?

As we look at our own community, we can begin and end with the question - Is Broomfield a hot spot for COVID-19? Can we verify what is coming from our elected and city officials, or are we blindly accepting their assertions as fact? Are the multiple inconsistent views and wildly opposing opinions of the media giving us any real information that we can base a logical opinion on?

Below are the cold, hard facts about the impacts of COVID on the Broomfield community (as of April 22, 2020).

Based on the data on reported cases from CDPHE (as of April 23, 2020), and extrapolating that across the entire population of Broomfield, it is becoming clear that the insistence of city officials to keep the stay-at-home order in place for an extended period of time does not hold water.

The longer our community is on this reduced level of functioning the deeper the damage that is being done. Using the stay at home order to extend the control of over 69,000 residents is doing far more harm than good, all in the name of “safety” that can be neither substantiated or validated with the hard data that is available.

It’s Time to Responsibly Re-Open Broomfield

As we follow the hard data, and out of respect to the stay-at-home order that has been in place thus far, we have to reach the conclusion that it is time to re-open Broomfield. The expiration of the stay-at-home order on April 26, 2020 is the logical starting point for this action.

In America we seek life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, there is risk in these goals but to not pursue them is much more risky and dangerous to us, our families and our country. Without freedom of choice and freedom of speech we are on the path to becoming another totalitarian state. We are now seeing protests in many states and even here at our state capitol, yet what we hear from media and others is that these protests are wrong and must be stopped. Why?

We at Broomfield Taxpayer Matters refuse to allow this questionable shut down to continue unchecked. We ask CIty Council to show true leadership in times of trouble and implement a plan that releases the citizens of Broomfield. This can and should be done carefully and methodically. Such plans have been created by other counties such as Mesa County, and can be used as the basis for a plan to re-open Broomfield.

We believe in you, our neighbors, to make responsible and thoughtful choices regarding the protecting against spread of COVID-19 in your circumstances, as well as the larger community. We, along with you and your families, are frustrated, concerned and fed up with the unnecessary and unconstitutional efforts to keep us in our homes fearful and away from being able to make our living.

We are not satisfied with receiving a check from the federal government or being offered more debt and reliance on government entitlements. In Broomfield subsidizing residents to the tune of $375,000 unfairly chooses winners and losers and is not good for anyone in our city.

We strongly encourage the city council release our community so that we may pick up where we left off and emerge with the dignity of caring for our families.  We need real solutions that work for all of Broomfield.

We encourage all those who have been negatively affected by the Stay At Home Order and those who believe these restrictions are unconstitutional and excessive to contact city council and our mayor to urge them to do the right thing.

It’s time to re-open Broomfield.