Loving the Springs

Who knew turning the ballot upside down could be an effective voting strategy? We get to know Steph Vigil, candidate to return to the Colorado legislature representing District 16. She has a track record of standing up for the common man, woman and family. Our discussion includes how downballot races really impact our daily lives. We recorded with Steph Vigil on September 25, before ballots were mailed out.

We also hear from Pikes Peak Bulletin Managing Editor Heila Ershadi about campaign ads for Jeff Crank that his opponent, Jessica Killin, has decried as a security risk and invasion of her family’s privacy. Both are candidates in a very competitive race to represent Colorado’s District 5 in Congress.

Plus - some outstanding resources for voters trying to cast informed votes on a lengthy ballot.

LINKS:

Steph Vigil

[email protected] or 719-297-3210

One Life Impacts Many - episode 31 of a Place for everyone

Pikes Peak Bulletin Voters Guide

Our Voice, Our Future 2026 - episodes recorded at the Studio 809 Podcasts Get Out the Vote Podcast Marathon

Candidate Killin’s Address Exposed in Political Ads

For the undecided: Crank vs. Killin for Congress

My Family and the One Big Beautiful Bill

To share your opinion at the Pikes Peak Bulletin: [email protected]

Jessica Killin Wants to Represent You in Congress - Episode 41 of Loving the Springs, published in March

MENTIONED:

Front Range Passenger Rail

Bustang

RTD in Denver

DIA

Colorado Springs Airport

Uber

DoorDash

Amazon

Project Taurus

Data centers

Jeff Crank

Jessica Killin

Free Speech Coalition

ACLU

No Going Back PAC

MAGA Inc.

Wayne Laugesen

The Gazette

Aylo

PornHub

Nick Raven

Badly Needed & Long Overdue (BNLO)

Loving the Springs celebrates the best of Colorado Springs and elevates the rest.

Plug into what’s happening in the Pikes Peak region, learn about awesome people, places and happenings, and explore opportunities to make life here even better. Longtime Springs booster Carrie Simison co-hosts with local gadflies Al Brody and Dave Gardner. All three love our two springs – Colorado and Manitou, so they give them the mic in this twice-monthly podcast. Nothing’s off the table – recreation, the arts, government, business, politics – if it touches your life, they’ll talk about it. We’ll invite the movers and shakers, conspiracy theorists, NIMBYs, YIMBYs, yaysayers and naysayers to join them.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts, and give us feedback and suggestions via comments at studio809podcasts.com/loving-the-springs or lovingthespringspodcast at gmail.com

With the critical November election coming up, how can you be certain you’ll receive a ballot? How do you vote? How secure is our voting system? Get the answers from the ultimate election nerd, El Paso County Clerk and Recorder Steve Schleiker. Steve wants registering and voting to be so easy for you, he practically offers to be your personal election concierge. If you have questions, call him!

We recorded this conversation in front of a live audience at Studio 809 Podcasts’ Our Voice, Our Future 2026: Get Out the Vote Podcast Marathon. The marathon was held at CO.A.T.I. Uprise, the cool food hall, bar, dream hatchery and community event center in downtown Colorado Springs.

RESOURCES:

To check your registration and mailing address, or to register: govotecolorado.go

El Paso County Clerk and Recorder - Elections section - including location of ballot boxes and in-person voting centers

Steve Schleiker’s office: 719-575-VOTE (8683)

email Steve: [email protected]

MENTIONED:

Hacking elections

Ballot harvesting

2,000 Mules

Tracie Woods

Loving the Springs celebrates the best of Colorado Springs and elevates the rest.

Plug into what’s happening in the Pikes Peak region, learn about awesome people, places and happenings, and explore opportunities to make life here even better. Longtime Springs booster Carrie Simison co-hosts with local gadflies Al Brody and Dave Gardner. All three love our two springs – Colorado and Manitou, so they give them the mic in this twice-monthly podcast. Nothing’s off the table – recreation, the arts, government, business, politics – if it touches your life, they’ll talk about it. We’ll invite the movers and shakers, conspiracy theorists, NIMBYs, YIMBYs, yaysayers and naysayers to join them.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts, and give us feedback and suggestions via comments at studio809podcasts.com/loving-the-springs or lovingthespringspodcast at gmail.com

Leadership lessons and the joy of silence are among the surprises as we get close and personal with the CEO and with the music director of the Colorado Springs Philharmonic. The orchestra begins its 100th season in late September. Enjoy a rare glimpse of what drives our local music professionals, what conducting a symphony is really all about (much more than just waving a baton), and learn some interesting terminology. Also get to know the Philharmonic’s very charming new music director, Chloé Dufresne, who is entering her second season with the orchestra. CEO and President Nathan Newbrough also brings a lot of enlightenment to the conversation.

LINKS:

Colorado Springs Philharmonic

Join us at:

Our Voice Our Future 2026: Get Out the Vote Podcast Marathon

September 27, Noon to 6 pm

Free

At CO.A.T.I.

Join local podcasts, candidates, election officials, political representatives and community voices for food, fun and conversations about voting, the November election and what’s on the ballot.

RSVP Here

More Information

Loving the Springs celebrates the best of Colorado Springs and elevates the rest.

Plug into what’s happening in the Pikes Peak region, learn about awesome people, places and happenings, and explore opportunities to make life here even better. Longtime Springs booster Carrie Simison co-hosts with local gadflies Al Brody and Dave Gardner. All three love our two springs – Colorado and Manitou, so they give them the mic in this twice-monthly podcast. Nothing’s off the table – recreation, the arts, government, business, politics – if it touches your life, they’ll talk about it. We’ll invite the movers and shakers, conspiracy theorists, NIMBYs, YIMBYs, yaysayers and naysayers to join them.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts, and give us feedback and suggestions via comments at studio809podcasts.com/loving-the-springs or lovingthespringspodcast at gmail.com

While the proposed Project Taurus data center awaits its city council hearing, we learn about another project being fast-tracked in southern Colorado Springs that will have data center equipment and needs, but we are told is not a data center. Project Primestone will begin with a facility requiring twice the electrical power of Project Taurus and may ultimately use four times Taurus’ 50 megawatt appetite.

Seth Palmer Harris, the reporter who has filed a story about Primestone in the Pikes Peak Bulletin, fills us in. The discussion includes various ways developers fund projects in Colorado Springs, including metro districts, urban renewal tax incentives and Tax Increment Financing. There is much more to the story, so listen to this episode and read the report in the Pikes Peak Bulletin.

NOTE: When Dave mention there will be many “NIMBYs” at the September 17 Colorado Springs City Council data center hearing, he does not mean it in a derogatory sense.

LINKS:

Project Primestone Isn’t A Data Center – It Will Just Look and Feel Like One

Fight to Save OCC Downtown Development Authority Ramps Up

The Rotten Roots of Project Taurus – Episode 154 of Peak Environment

52nd Annual Commonwheel Artists Co-Op Labor Day Weekend Art Festival

SinkMS MiniGolf Tournament

Creek Week 2026

10th annual COLORADO SHORT CIRCUIT Film Festival

Starlight Spectacular

MENTIONED:

Project Taurus proposed data center

Brandy Williams

Colorado Springs Urban Renewal Authority

Colorado Springs Gazette

Phil Anschutz

Commonwheel Artists Co-op

Independent Film Society of Colorado Springs

Gold Mine Mini Golf

National MS Society

Fountain Creek Watershed District

Trails and Open Space Coalition

Loving the Springs celebrates the best of Colorado Springs and elevates the rest.

Plug into what’s happening in the Pikes Peak region, learn about awesome people, places and happenings, and explore opportunities to make life here even better. Longtime Springs booster Carrie Simison co-hosts with local gadflies Al Brody and Dave Gardner. All three love our two springs – Colorado and Manitou, so they give them the mic in this twice-monthly podcast. Nothing’s off the table – recreation, the arts, government, business, politics – if it touches your life, they’ll talk about it. We’ll invite the movers and shakers, conspiracy theorists, NIMBYs, YIMBYs, yaysayers and naysayers to join them.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts, and give us feedback and suggestions via comments at studio809podcasts.com/loving-the-springs or lovingthespringspodcast at gmail.com

Efforts in our community are helping individuals and their children achieve safety and wellbeing while challenging us to end sexual and family violence. TESSA CEO Anne Markley fills us in on all the local nonprofit agency is doing, including a confidential Safehouse, Victim Advocacy, Counseling and Children’s Programs, a 24/7 Safe Line, and Community Outreach and Education.

We learn that teens and young adults are especially vulnerable, with more unsupervised time, social gatherings, and new relationships increasing the likelihood of dating violence. And TESSA is doing a lot to address this, including hosting a special community conversation:

Digital Realities: Protecting Youth in the Digital Age

A community conversation about online safety

CSPD and TESSA

August 23, 4 to 7 pm, Ent Center for the Arts

Free, Register Here

TESSA Safe Line: 719-633-3819

LINKS:

TESSA

City Launches New Parking Enterprise Brand Focused on Making Parking Easier

MENTIONS:

Ent Center for the Arts

Wings Credit Union

Jelly Roll

Goat Patch Brewing

Give Pikes Peak

Empy Stocking Fund

Parking Upgrades Downtown

Paul Newman

Cool Hand Luke

The Charlie Block

Urban Egg

Poor Richard’s

Loving the Springs celebrates the best of Colorado Springs and elevates the rest.

Plug into what’s happening in the Pikes Peak region, learn about awesome people, places and happenings, and explore opportunities to make life here even better. Longtime Springs booster Carrie Simison co-hosts with local gadflies Al Brody and Dave Gardner. All three love our two springs – Colorado and Manitou, so they give them the mic in this twice-monthly podcast. Nothing’s off the table – recreation, the arts, government, business, politics – if it touches your life, they’ll talk about it. We’ll invite the movers and shakers, conspiracy theorists, NIMBYs, YIMBYs, yaysayers and naysayers to join them.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts, and give us feedback and suggestions via comments at studio809podcasts.com/loving-the-springs or lovingthespringspodcast at gmail.com

Venetucci Farm is a community treasure celebrating its 90th anniversary. Get the scoop on annual pumpkin giveaways, a flower farm, and much more making community happen in the aftermath of the PFAS water contamination disaster. Sam Clark, Executive Director of the Pikes Peak Real Estate Foundation, and Nikki McComsey, owner of Gather Mountain Blooms share the history and legacy, current happenings, and an upgrade in the works for 2027.

Also: Pikes Peak Bulletin Managing Editor Heila Ershadi updates us on PFAS groundwater contamination in the area (see link to her story below).

LINKS:

Venetucci Farm

Gather Mountain Blooms

Rocky Mountain Flower Fest

Contaminants on the Way Out of Rural Residents' Tap Water, Says Water Provider and State Health Department (Pikes Peak Bulletin story)

MENTIONED:

United States Air Force

PFAS contamination

Widefield Aquifer

Nick Venetucci

Bambi Venetucci

Pikes Peak Community Foundation

Gordon Price

Grass It Up

Mike and Amanda Bristol

Venetucci Pumpkin Ale

Bristol Brewing “Give Back Mix Pack”

Smokebrush

Friends of Cheyenne Canyon

School District 11

Colorado Parks and Wildlife

Colorado Youth Outdoors

El Pomar Foundation

El Paso County

Liz Rosenbaum

Wigwam Mutual Water Company

Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment

Loving the Springs celebrates the best of Colorado Springs and elevates the rest.

Plug into what’s happening in the Pikes Peak region, learn about awesome people, places and happenings, and explore opportunities to make life here even better. Longtime Springs booster Carrie Simison co-hosts with local gadflies Al Brody and Dave Gardner. All three love our two springs – Colorado and Manitou, so they give them the mic in this twice-monthly podcast. Nothing’s off the table – recreation, the arts, government, business, politics – if it touches your life, they’ll talk about it. We’ll invite the movers and shakers, conspiracy theorists, NIMBYs, YIMBYs, yaysayers and naysayers to join them.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts, and give us feedback and suggestions via comments at studio809podcasts.com/loving-the-springs or lovingthespringspodcast at gmail.com

Passenger rail service is coming to Colorado’s front range in 2029, Colorado Springs by 2032. Get details in this conversation with Sal Pace, General Manager of the Front Range Passenger Rail District. The district has secured funding to provide initial service between Fort Collins and Denver. Phase 2 will extend service to Colorado Springs and Pueblo. Pace shares the history of the district and answers all our tough questions about the plan, funding, and anticipated fares.

We get quite a bit of detail about how this is happening so quickly, which is music to the ears of the Colorado Springs residents who spend an average of 61 hours in traffic jams each year.

This was recorded on May 12, 2026. On July 20, the district released its Draft Delivery Plan for Colorado Connector. Public input on the draft plan is invited until July 27.

Also, Pikes Peak Bulletin Managing Editor Heila Ershadi shares an interesting story.

LINKS:

Front Range Passenger Rail District

Draft Delivery Plan for Colorado Connector

Share Your Feedback

United We Rock – August 1

Pikes Peak Bulletin

Loving the Springs celebrates the best of Colorado Springs and elevates the rest.

Plug into what’s happening in the Pikes Peak region, learn about awesome people, places and happenings, and explore opportunities to make life here even better. Longtime Springs booster Carrie Simison co-hosts with local gadflies Al Brody and Dave Gardner. All three love our two springs – Colorado and Manitou, so they give them the mic in this twice-monthly podcast. Nothing’s off the table – recreation, the arts, government, business, politics – if it touches your life, they’ll talk about it. We’ll invite the movers and shakers, conspiracy theorists, NIMBYs, YIMBYs, yaysayers and naysayers to join them.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts, and give us feedback and suggestions via comments at studio809podcasts.com/loving-the-springs or lovingthespringspodcast at gmail.com

Bicycling improves our physical and mental health, and helps us be more connected. Conversations recorded live on Bike to Work Day during the final hour of our live stream from the Studio 809 Podcasts breakfast station at The Next Us on June 24, 2026.

Included: an excellent conversation with PikeRide CEO Tara McCarthy about how bicycling is “human scale.” “ Today's world is so fast and so overwhelming that I think cycling allows you to hit the pause button and be in a different mindset.” She also shares news about expanding into southeast Colorado Springs, 2 new adaptive electric tricycles, and E-cargo bikes later this year.

We also hear from local safer streets advocates Joan and Karl Stang. Karl has been riding to work since 1995. The couple can sometimes go a month without getting in a car. They tell us there are online lessons to help us make our streets safer – Bicycle Friendly Driver, Auto Friendly Bicyclist, Ride Leader training, Cycling Basics 101, Walkability training, and more (see links).

00:00:00 Open

00:02:17 Tara McCarthy of PikeRide

00:15:32 Joan and Karl Stang of Pedestrian and Cycle Manitou Springs (PaCMan)

00:23:42 Jax Armendariz Unzueta, host of the Justice with Jax podcast

LINKS:

PikeRide

Pedestrian and Cycle Manitou Springs - new website with links to courses, etc.

Bike Colorado Springs

Bike Lane Uprising

Justice with Jax podcast

Video Replay of Studio 809 Podcasts Bike to Work Day Live

Springs Bike Map

Colorado Springs Bike to Work Day

MENTIONED:

Bike Colorado Springs

The League of American Bicyclists

Ciara Guerrero

Kaizen Torri

Front Range Passenger Rail District

Loving the Springs celebrates the best of Colorado Springs and elevates the rest.

Plug into what’s happening in the Pikes Peak region, learn about awesome people, places and happenings, and explore opportunities to make life here even better. Longtime Springs booster Carrie Simison co-hosts with local gadflies Al Brody and Dave Gardner. All three love our two springs – Colorado and Manitou, so they give them the mic in this twice-monthly podcast. Nothing’s off the table – recreation, the arts, government, business, politics – if it touches your life, they’ll talk about it. We’ll invite the movers and shakers, conspiracy theorists, NIMBYs, YIMBYs, yaysayers and naysayers to join them.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts, and give us feedback and suggestions via comments at studio809podcasts.com/loving-the-springs or lovingthespringspodcast at gmail.com

Learn about some of the other Studio 809 podcasts, and discover what both Manitou and Colorado Springs are doing to aid mobility – in this continuation of a conversation recorded live on Bike to Work Day. This is from the second hour of our live stream from the Studio 809 Podcasts breakfast station at The Next Us on June 24, 2026.

We hear from several guests (see chapters)

LINKS:

Video Replay of Studio 809 Podcasts Bike to Work Day Live Stream

Colorado Springs Bike Map

Colorado Springs Bike to Work Day

Everybody Welcome Imagination Celebration What IF Festival

The French Kitchen

MENTIONED:

U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum

Mountain Metro

Sheridan, Wyoming

Trails and Open Space Working Committee

Fan Fest

KCMJ (our short-lived community radio station)

Jill Gaebler

Jan Martin

Gary Casimir

City xx podcast

Reality Check podcast

PASF

350 Colorado Springs

Pikes Peak Permaculture

Pikes Peak Women

Elevating Pikes Peak Women podcast

Pedal the Springs podcast

League of Women Voters

Making Democracy Work

Outdoors with Hiking Bob

Allen Beauchamp

Medicine Wheel Trail Advocates

Wild Westendorf

El Paso County Parks Advisory Board

North Cheyenne Cañon

Boulder

Blodgett Open Space

Ute Valley Park

Pikes Peak Bulletin

French Kitchen

City Hall

Carlos Perez

Dave Bryan

Free bus service to and within Manitou Springs

PikeRide

Manitou Incline

Iron Springs Chateau

Manitou Penny Arcade

Poor Richard’s Downtown

Linda Weise

Old Town Bike Shop

John Crandall

Ted’s Bicycles

Water Works - the long-gone downtown carwash (had great greeting cards)

Loving the Springs celebrates the best of Colorado Springs and elevates the rest.

Plug into what’s happening in the Pikes Peak region, learn about awesome people, places and happenings, and explore opportunities to make life here even better. Longtime Springs booster Carrie Simison co-hosts with local gadflies Al Brody and Dave Gardner. All three love our two springs – Colorado and Manitou, so they give them the mic in this twice-monthly podcast. Nothing’s off the table – recreation, the arts, government, business, politics – if it touches your life, they’ll talk about it. We’ll invite the movers and shakers, conspiracy theorists, NIMBYs, YIMBYs, yaysayers and naysayers to join them.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts, and give us feedback and suggestions via comments at studio809podcasts.com/loving-the-springs or lovingthespringspodcast at gmail.com

Bicycling fans share their reasons for riding, we explore “complete streets,” and we discuss safety and infrastructure issues for bicyclists and pedestrians – in this conversation recorded live on Bike to Work Day. This is from the first hour of our live stream from the Studio 809 Podcasts breakfast station at The Next Us on June 24, 2026.

See the video live stream replay here

We'll share hours 2 and 3 in future episodes.

GUESTS:

3:18 - Judy Pearring Davila, The Next Us

7:06 - Beth Roalstad, CEO of Homeward Pikes Peak, Host of a Place for everyone podcast, Co-host of Elevating Pikes Peak Women podcast

20:37 - Allen Beauchamp, ride leader, Community Engagement Manager, Trails and Open Space Coalition

24:41 - Nancy Henjum, Colorado Springs City Councilor

31:24 - Kimberly Gold, Colorado Springs City Councilor

36:34 - Torie Giffin, Founder of Buffalo Lodge Bicycle Resort, Host of Pedal the Springs podcast

42:06 - Nate Nassif, Manitou Springs City Councilor

44:54 - Konrad Schlarbaum, Peak Alliance for a Sustainable Future, Colorado Green Business Network, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment

LINKS:

Episode of Loving the Springs featuring Judy Pearring of The Next Us

Studio 809 Podcasts T-shirts

Colorado Springs Bike Map

Colorado Springs Bike to Work Day

Complete Streets

Thanks to These Sponsors of Our Breakfast Station:

Crumb & Kiln - 2140 Cooper Ave, Just west of I25 and North of Centennial

Starbucks - in front of COS City Hub – on Austin Bluffs Parkway just east of Academy

Peak Alliance for a Sustainable Future

Buffalo Lodge Bicycle Resort

The Next Us – 525 N. Cascade

MENTIONED:

The Next Us

Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments

Melissa Marts

Aging with Altitude podcast

Pat Rigdon

Clean and Safe Program

Downtown Colorado Springs

Pikes Peak Women

Brenda Morrison

Mary Lou Makepeace

KOAA

Liv Wood

Motorless Morning in Garden of the Gods

UpaDowna Pedal Party

Manitou Spokes

Wednesday Women’s Ride

Peak Environment podcast

Legacy Plaza

Monument Valley Park

Mesa Springs Greenway

U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum

Support Community Podcasting in Colorado Springs

Loving the Springs celebrates the best of Colorado Springs and elevates the rest.

Plug into what’s happening in the Pikes Peak region, learn about awesome people, places and happenings, and explore opportunities to make life here even better. Longtime Springs booster Carrie Simison co-hosts with local gadflies Al Brody and Dave Gardner. All three love our two springs – Colorado and Manitou, so they give them the mic in this twice-monthly podcast. Nothing’s off the table – recreation, the arts, government, business, politics – if it touches your life, they’ll talk about it. We’ll invite the movers and shakers, conspiracy theorists, NIMBYs, YIMBYs, yaysayers and naysayers to join them.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts, and give us feedback and suggestions via comments at https://studio809podcasts.com/loving-the-springs or lovingthespringspodcast at gmail.com