Colorado Springs Business Journal (CO) articles from September 2007

Colorado Springs Business Journal (CO) archives from September 2007

Colorado Springs City Council seeking to make concessionaires on Pikes Peak pay off.
September 7, 2007... Byline: John Hazlehurst Fifteen years ago, the Colorado Springs City Council voted to replace the Carle family, who had been the concessionaires on Pikes Peak for 99 years, with a national firm, ARA Services. ARA, which has since changed...

10th Air Base Wing named outstanding unit.
September 7, 2007... Byline: Colorado Springs Business Journal Staff The 10th Air Base Wing has received the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award for exceptional meritorious service as the support wing for the Air Force Academy. Specifically cited were its efforts...

Air Force Academy recognized for excellence.
September 7, 2007... Byline: Colorado Springs Business Journal Staff The Air Force Academy has received its fifth Air Force Organizational Excellence Award for meritorious service. From Jan 1, 2005, to Dec. 31, 2006, the academy was recognized as a trailblazer...

Colorado Transportation Commission re-elects officers.
September 7, 2007... Byline: Colorado Springs Business Journal Staff The Colorado Transportation Commission has re-elected Doug Aden of Grand Junction as its chairman and Bill Swenson of Longmont as its vice chairman. Aden has served on the commission since...

Colorado Springs-based Morley Cos. shift focus to commercial building.
September 7, 2007... Byline: Becky Hurley The single-family housing crunch has at least one Colorado Springs developer with a penchant for taking calculated risks saying that he's ready to face a new, more conservative real estate reality. "This slowdown has...

Interview with Gary Nicholson, music director/conductor of Colorado Springs Youth Symphony.
September 7, 2007... Byline: Colorado Springs Business Journal Staff Gary Nicholson weaves dreams into the musical notes and movements he composes as a musician and a teacher. So, it comes with little surprise that he sees a need for schools to keep music as...

Colorado Springs Financial Briefs: September 7, 2007.
September 7, 2007... Byline: Colorado Springs Business Journal Staff Dow Jones Indexes and Barron's magazine have launched the Barron's 400 Index which will track the performance of highly liquid U.S. stocks. Dow Jones Indexes and Barron's are business units...

Colorado Springs Medical Briefs: September 7, 2007.
September 7, 2007... Byline: Colorado Springs Business Journal Staff In the latest show of force against health care fraud, a Maryland cardiologist agreed to pay the federal government $476,000 in a settlement to drop claims that he bilked Medicare out of...

Colorado Springs Real Estate Briefs: September 7, 2007.
September 7, 2007... Byline: Becky Hurley From Sierra Commercial Group comes word that the second quarter of 2007 showed "healthy" results, although the city experienced 20,404 square feet of negative absorption. Broker Nichola Myers-Murty said "considerable...

Colorado Springs Retail Briefs: September 7, 2007.
September 7, 2007... Byline: Joan Johnson A love for India provided two Colorado Springs residents with the idea of bringing handcrafted Indian items to the city. Former U.S. Ambassador to India and President of Colorado College Richard Celeste and his wife,...

Forget the haystacks, fewer folks even own a needle.
September 7, 2007... Byline: Joan Johnson With fewer homemaking classes being taught in schools, having a little know-how with a needle and thread is an increasingly valuable skill. But unless sewing is taught at home, it doesn't appear that many young people...

Commentary: Kramer, Suthers to lead new Colorado Springs Leadership Institute.
September 7, 2007... Byline: Lon Matejczyk The Colorado Springs Leadership Institute is ready for the next step. Started in 1996, CSLI has 167 graduates from all sectors of our community. CSLI started as a program of the Colorado Springs Chamber Foundation,...

Additional revenue from new Pikes Peak concessionaire might not make a difference.
September 7, 2007... Byline: John Hazlehurst The city is seeking $1 million annually from a new Pikes Peak concessionaire, but will the increased revenue make a difference? Past performance suggests that it will not. During 2007, the city projected operating...

America's Mountain, Pikes Peak, looks more like a junk yard.
September 7, 2007... Byline: John Hazlehurst Built in 1964, the Pikes Peak Summit House is too small to handle the half million visitors it receives each summer. In addition, improper thermodynamic engineering during construction has triggered a melting of the...

Colorado Springs' Regional Transportation District launches bonding program.
September 7, 2007... Byline: Colorado Springs Business Journal Staff The Regional Transportation District has launched a bonding program to help small and minority-owned businesses become more competitive for contracting opportunities. RTD has hired a broker to...

Commentary: Senator Salazar effectively kills Pinon Canyon expansion.
September 7, 2007... Byline: CSBJ Staff Editorial On Wednesday, Sen. Ken Salazar introduced an amendment to the Military Appropriation Act, which, if it becomes law, will effectively kill the proposed Pinon Canyon expansion -- not just for a year, but most...

Title insurance comparison Web site draws fire.
September 7, 2007... Byline: Becky Hurley The "Expedia.com" of title insurance has arrived, propelling one of the country's oldest industries into the Internet generation. But the industry doesn't appear ready to sign on and support the venture. Gary Wolff's...

Commentary: Finding the right info is not that tough.
September 7, 2007... Byline: John Hazlehurst A few years ago, I had a job selling ads for a weekly newspaper. One morning, the newspaper's publisher walked into our weekly sales meeting and announced that he had good news. "I've just made a deal with our...

Colorado River: One river, so little water.
September 14, 2007... Byline: John Hazlehurst The history of the American West is written not in blood, but in water. Without imported water, Colorado Springs, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Phoenix would have remained as they were during the early years of the...

Colorado Springs developer Ray O'Sullivan bucks the trend with subdivision launches.
September 14, 2007... Byline: Becky Hurley Despite a 37 percent drop in El Paso and Teller county new home sales this August compared to a year ago, site work is scheduled to begin this fall on the first of two new subdivisions between Dublin and Woodmen Roads,...

Hiser helping make racquetball a hit in Colorado Springs.
September 14, 2007... Byline: CSBJ Staff Report Because of the efforts of Jim Hiser and others at the Colorado Racquetball Association, Colorado Springs recently became the host city of one of the largest racquetball events in the United States. Two hundred...

Colorado Springs Financial Briefs: September 14, 2007.
September 14, 2007... Byline: CSBJ Staff Report Just in time for back to school season, the college savings plan industry has unveiled an array of marketing campaigns Many of the plans emphasize the benefits of 529s in response to changes in the "kiddie tax,"...

Colorado Springs Medical Briefs: September 14, 2007.
September 14, 2007... Byline: Amy Gillentine The Colorado Springs Fire Department is launching a pilot program to teach CPR to students at Challenger Middle School. The group will use "Family and Friends Anytime," a 22-minute instructional program created by...

Colorado Springs Real Estate Briefs: September 14, 2007.
September 14, 2007... Byline: Becky Hurley San Diego-based Westcore Properties and its subsidiaries, Westcore Research L.P. and Westcore Telstar L.P., purchased three Class A office buildings on the Bri-ar-gate Business campus last November for $28.5 million....

Colorado Springs Retail Briefs: September 14, 2007.
September 14, 2007... Byline: Joan Johnson Another big-name player has decided to enter the growing market of smoothie franchises in Colorado Springs. Smoothie King is now open at 9275 N. Union Blvd., across from Memorial Hospital North. According to a study by...

El Paso County Clerk & Recorder's Office offers internships.
September 14, 2007... Byline: CSBJ Staff Report The El Paso County Clerk & Recorder's Office is looking for interns who are interested in working with and learning about local government. College students or high school seniors whose field of study is related...

Report: Indicators for the Pikes Peak region show good quality of life.
September 14, 2007... Byline: John Hazlehurst The tax burden for residents of the Pikes Peak region is remarkably low and housing is relatively affordable, but the suicide rate is double the national average and incidents of domestic violence have more than...

Commentary: Here's to hoping we haven't been too timid or too cold.
September 14, 2007... Byline: John Hazlehurst A couple of weeks ago we, the ink-stained wretches whose thankless labors bring you the Business Journal every Friday, spent the better part of three days with a writing coach. Our bosses, here and in Minneapolis...

Colorado Springs School District 11 seeking budget committee volunteers.
September 21, 2007... Byline: CSBJ Staff Report The Colorado Springs School District 11 Board of Education is seeking volunteers to serve on the Budget Committee of the District Advisory Accountability Committee. Meetings typically are twice a month, October...

Colo.-based Business and Education Talent Readiness Project hosts Tuesday Tours for teachers.
September 21, 2007... Byline: CSBJ Staff Report The Business and Education Talent Readiness Project is hosting Tuesday Tours, a program for teachers and parents to hear directly from business and plant managers about their needs for a skilled work force. In...

Deadline approaching for El Paso County Clerk & Recorder's Office's Citizens Academy.
September 21, 2007... Byline: CSBJ Staff Report Applications are being accepted for the El Paso County Clerk & Recorder's Office's Citizens Academy. The nine-week program offers participants an opportunity to learn about each of the four statutory departments:...

Law firm advertising comes with rules in Colorado.
September 21, 2007... Byline: Amy Gillentine Even with the relaxed standards covering law firm advertising, every state has ethical rules about what is allowed and what isn't. In Colorado, the rules say the ads can't have misleading content and that lawyers...

Proper message, medium, niche keys to ad success.
September 21, 2007... Byline: Amy Gillentine While advertising has become just another part of day-to-day business at law firms, the key to success involves finding the proper medium and reaching the proper audiences. Most corporate attorneys stay away from...

Solar power not credited equally in Colorado.
September 21, 2007... Byline: John Hazlehurst Utility companies throughout Colorado offer customers incentives to encourage the installation of photovoltaic solar electric generating systems. Typically, such systems consist of linked arrays of solar cells which...

Law firms doing more camera chasing.
September 21, 2007... Byline: Amy Gillentine For more than 30 years, law firms have been legally able to advertise their services, but the jury is still out about whether it has enhanced or tarnished the profession. However, one thing is certain, for the law...

Colorado Springs Retail Briefs: September 21, 2007.
September 21, 2007... Byline: Joan Johnson Studio 182 has gotten a makeover of its own after 10 years. The hair design and skin care salon now has a new name -- Lotus Salon and Spa. Owners Melissa Jamison, Kim Nuss and Danielle Morrison kept the same people but...

Colorado River Compact based on leaky logic.
September 21, 2007... Byline: John Hazlehurst In 1922, Colorado and six other western states, signed the Colorado River Compact, which along with a 1944 treaty with Mexico, the 1948 Upper Colorado River Compact and several federal laws and Supreme Court...

Warmer temperatures, less rainfall equal less water in Colorado River.
September 21, 2007... Byline: John Hazlehurst Stream gauges have only been in use for a century. To understand earlier conditions on the Colorado River, scientists study ancient tree rings. Paleoclimatologists at the University of Arizona discovered an epic...

Commentary: Ol' Doug might just be right about national monument.
September 21, 2007... Byline: John Hazlehurst It's hard not to feel sorry for our hapless congressman, Doug Lamborn. Abandoning his usual agenda (God, guns and Bush: good -- abortion, gays and taxes: bad), Lamborn seized on what he must have thought would have...

Search engine marketing jobs, consulting on the rise.
September 21, 2007... Byline: Joan Johnson Top listing on a Google search -- it's a lofty goal that many businesses aspire to and one that many businesses are willing to pay big money to attain. But snagging customers with the click of a mouse requires an...

Colorado Springs architect Jim Fennell's focus: innovation and sustainability.
September 21, 2007... Byline: CSBJ Staff Report Some of the busiest and most talented people fly beneath the community radar. Local architect and planner Jim Fennell, for example, has amassed a list of military planning and design projects including work for...

Colorado Springs Financial Briefs: September 21, 2007.
September 21, 2007... Byline: CSBJ Staff Report Baby boomers might be dipping into their piggy banks too often to supplement their children's and parent's incomes. An Ameriprise Financial study shows that two-thirds of the baby boomers surveyed were helping...

Colorado Springs Medical Briefs: September 21, 2007.
September 21, 2007... Byline: Amy Gillentine An automated e-mail subscription service that alerts subscribers to natural disasters and pandemic influenza is now available from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. The updates are delivered...

Colorado Springs Real Estate Briefs: September 21, 2007.
September 21, 2007... Byline: Becky Hurley Woodland Park's commercial development continues to forge ahead. The mountain community serves a market service area of nearly 40,000 people and has just completed a hospital campus. At the same time, its Downtown...

Better Business Bureau of Southern Colorado selects customer service award recipients.
September 21, 2007... Byline: CSBJ Staff Report The following companies were selected as recipients of the Better Business Bureau of Southern Colorado's 13th annual Excellence in Customer Service Awards: American Medical Response Classic Homes Liberty Heights...

Has advertising for legal practices 'gotten out of hand?'.
September 21, 2007... Byline: Amy Gillentine Thirty years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a long-standing tradition and ruled that lawyers were free to advertise their services when it decided Bates v. Arizona. But there are rules that legal advertisers...

Commentary: Carbon offsets simply salve for the overindulgent.
September 21, 2007... Byline: CSBJ Staff Editorial Greenhouse gas emissions are associated with virtually every form of industrial activity in the developed world, from generating electricity to manufacturing, from driving to flying, from heating your house to...

Commentary: Smith deserves some credit for Quality of Life Indicators.
September 21, 2007... Byline: Lon Matejczyk In August 2005, I met with Jerry Smith (former CEO of Pikes Peak United Way) about the Quality of Life Indicators project. This was Jerry's baby. He was modeling it after the Jacksonville, Fla., model that I still...

Colorado Springs Real Estate Briefs: September 28, 2007.
September 28, 2007... Byline: Becky Hurley Just when the remaining retail parcels in southwest Colorado Springs appeared to have been leased or sold, broker Jecoah Byrnes of Coldwell Banker Commercial NRT contacted the CSBJ with news of a 32,000-square-foot...

Colorado Springs Retail Briefs: September 28, 2007.
September 28, 2007... Byline: Joan Johnson Ruby and Frank Maestas have been together since seventh grade. When they made the decision about a year ago to buy a shoe boutique in downtown Colorado Springs, it was a perfect fit. The name fit their relationship -...

Time constraints fueling growth in cleaning industry.
September 28, 2007... Byline: Joan Johnson Mop the floors, take out the trash, scrub the toilet. Cleaning up after yourself and your loved ones is time consuming, and that's perhaps why more and more people are choosing to pay someone else to do the dirty work....

Volunteers needed for Make a Difference Month in the Pikes Peak region.
September 28, 2007... Byline: CSBJ Staff Report What a difference a day makes -- so much so that the annual Make a Difference Day event has been expanded to Make a Difference Month in the Pikes Peak region. The mega-volunteer event, spearheaded by Pikes Peak...

Las Vegas not ruling out any of its water options.
September 28, 2007... Byline: John Hazlehurst Like a gambler playing multiple slots simultaneously, Las Vegas continues to explore water options, some of them as bizarre and unlikely as the city itself. There has been speculation that Las Vegas could negotiate...

Nevada's prosperity inextricably linked to Sin City.
September 28, 2007... Byline: John Hazlehurst Las Vegas "owes nothing to its surroundings," wrote Hal Rothman in his history of Las Vegas, "Neon Metropolis." As the city has grown, its economy has propped up much of the state: Thanks to Las Vegas, two-thirds of...

Keepin it Real: Comments from Colorado Springs-area realtors.
September 28, 2007... Byline: Becky Hurley Craig Anderson and Marty Johnson CB Richard Ellis "The office market has been doing well so far in 2007, but with Northrop Grumman, The Aerospace Co. and SI International all leaving lease space for new buildings,...

The baddest of the bad? What are the worst buildings in Pikes Peak area?
September 28, 2007... Byline: John Hazlehurst We can all name our favorites structures -- buildings which, like the Cadet Chapel at the Air Force Academy, or the Fine Arts Center or the stately homes along Wood Avenue, lift our spirits and gladden our hearts....

Colorado Springs Utilities embracing green approach.
September 28, 2007... Byline: John Hazlehurst A dozen years ago, it might have been possible to characterize Colorado Springs Utilities as remiss in environmental stewardship. Guided by longstanding city policies that gave precedence to low rates and efficient...

Colorado Hospital Association report covers average costs of various illnesses in state's hospitals.
September 28, 2007... Byline: Amy Gillentine Charges at Memorial and Penrose are roughly in line with each other, according to a report from the Colorado Hospital Association. While charges for a particular diagnosis vary, officials at Memorial Health System...

Pikes Peak Regional Hospital, a new era in health care.
September 28, 2007... Byline: Becky Hurley Health care history will be made when Teller County residents walk through the doors of their new 40,000-square-foot full-service hospital. By 9 a.m. Oct. 1, the Pikes Peak Regional Hospital building will no longer...

Insulated concrete forms an efficient building alternative.
September 28, 2007... Byline: Becky Hurley Insulated concrete form manufacturers and marketers claim their lightweight, simply constructed product offers energy savings, durability and "green building" advantages. Energy savings on buildings using the ICFs...

Lower prices, technology create new dawn for solar energy in Colorado Springs.
September 28, 2007... Byline: John Hazlehurst Colorado Springs is renowned for its climate, with more than 300 days of sunshine annually. Yet, despite an ideal climate for both solar heating and solar electric generation, few city residents have installed such...

The benefit of an Energy Star rating.
September 28, 2007... Byline: Joan Johnson For existing buildings that want to attain the Energy Star rating, it's a matter of recommissioning, said Mike Turzanski, operations manager at Cushman & Wakefield in Denver. Turzanski said when he's trying to bring a...

Energy Star label puts savings in the pocket, not down the drain.
September 28, 2007... Byline: Joan Johnson Did you know that the right toilet can save money? How about a water heater or a clothes washer? In 1992 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency introduced the Energy Star designation for appliances, a stamp of...

Colorado College receives National Science Foundation grant.
September 28, 2007... Byline: CSBJ Staff Report Colorado College has received a $234,200 National Science Foundation grant to support interdisciplinary research in mathematical biology. The grant will support the research of 16 students during a three-year...

Tryba Architects selected as 'firm of the year'.
September 28, 2007... Byline: CSBJ Staff Report Tryba Architects has been named The Architectural Firm of the Year by the American Institute of Architects' Western Mountain Region. The firm, which was started in 1988, was recognized for its work in urban...

Las Vegas betting on far-away water deals.
September 28, 2007... Byline: John Hazlehurst For the past six decades, Las Vegas has been the fastest growing city in America. In 1950, 24,624 people lived in Vegas; today, 591,536 residents call it home. And that's just the incorporated city. The Las Vegas...

208 Commission tours Colorado to get public input about health care reform proposals.
September 28, 2007... Byline: Amy Gillentine The demise of the 208 Commission has been widely overstated. The commission, which was created to evaluate health care reform proposals and make a recommendation to the legislature in January, was reported to be...

Commentary: Maybe all the problems with the GOP are actually good.
September 28, 2007... Byline: John Hazlehurst Kermit the Frog might have said "it's not easy being green," but these days it's easy to be green, not so easy to be Republican. Consider recent developments. Fred Thompson, long touted as the GOPster's dream...

Pikes Peak region appears to be bucking the decline.
September 28, 2007... Byline: Becky Hurley The national news hasn't been pretty, especially for residential real estate and home builders. But during recent weeks, national media attention and financial analysis has begun to shift from the challenges of housing...

Moshrefi takes holistic approach to healing, treating the body itself.
September 28, 2007... Byline: CSBJ Staff Report Venus K. Moshrefi is the daughter of a thoracic surgeon, and a doctor herself. In 1977, her family moved from Afghanistan to the United States, where she earned a master's degree in health administration, became a...

Colorado Springs Financial Briefs: September 28, 2007.
September 28, 2007... Byline: CSBJ Staff Report Whistle blowers who file retaliation claims under a provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act hardly ever win, and the reason appears to be the motives behind the filings. So says the University of Nebraska-Lincoln...

Colorado Springs Medical Briefs: September 28, 2007.
September 28, 2007... Byline: Amy Gillentine The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has issued a challenge to the state's restaurants, asking them to evaluate the food on their menus and offer more healthy choices. Shana Patterson, a...

Former CIA Director James Woolsey: common ground for tree huggers, war hawks.
September 28, 2007... Byline: Amy Gillentine Attempts to solve the world's problems can make strange bedfellows -- and counter terrorism experts and environmentalists can agree about the solutions, even if they can't about the problems. Former CIA Director...