"Cross"ed Woodland Park Off Our List (Denver: attorneys, houses)

[lurtsman]

Charlotte, I can agree with that. It does matter who your neighbors are. I'm only inferring that moving to an area, or even living there first, does not bestow the privilege of infringing on the rights of others, as someone clearly infringed on your friends right to peace.

[Seeker5in1]

Originally Posted by CharlotteRJ

Well, there's a certain "your property, your business" that I agree with. But for me, and I imagine for the OP, it matters who my neighbors are. I want there to still be a local cub scout group that didn't quit in a huff over the gay scouts thing. I want to know that if I had an equality sticker on my car (not that I advertise my politics that way) that I wouldn't have people shouting threats at me. (Just talked to a friend who had somebody call her a "***-lover" and shout at her to leave town.) It's just nice to not be the odd one out.

It's wise not to put stickers advertising your leanings regardless of left, right or center. Someone will be incensed and key your car.

[CharlotteRJ]

Or sports teams! I had a Packer license plate frame that was broken off after they beat the Redskins.

[Marcy1210]

It's not easy with a huge Colorado Buffaloes logo on your car in the middle of Arizona Wildcat country, either, especially since we're in the same division...

[Andromedan]

Originally Posted by ryanek9freak

Like I said, I doubt you'd even notice. I don't stay out of briargate just because FOTF is there. It's ridiculous to abandon a city because some ministry you don't agree with happens to be there. And if he thinks we can raise the dead, then well, ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE!!! Yay!

I dunno, there is a lot more harassment that goes on in those types of situations than anyone really knows or keeps track of. Haters cannot stop themselves from harassing anyone they see as weak or defenseless... so personally as a Human seeking peace and respect just because I'm Human... I dunno.

For example, I have a neighbor who pretends to be a towering example of perfection but, thinking they could get away with it, they purposely desecrated the US flag in their front yard (intentionally dragging it on the ground)just to anger/harass a Veteran living across the street. They hid it so only the neighbor across the street could see it between the bushes from his front door... they would come out and call over "hey look at our flag, how do you like our flag?"

The evil that lurks in men''s souls only comes out when it's dark.

[MountainEarth]

I know this thread is 6 months old, but I feel some misconceptions need to be cleared up.

It is true that Woodland Park absolutely is a "live and let live" town. We welcome all kinds up here ... and you'll find all kinds up here. It's a good town. But when it comes to Wommack (and Charis Bible College) Woodland Park really had no choice but to approve. For one, the land they purchased was already zoned for what they wanted, having been zoned for Sturman Industries many years ago. No one saw the Sturmans selling their land to an organization like Charis, but once the deal was done, there really was not much to do. You can't just deny somebody because you don't like their politics or religion. If the zoning was there, what else could they do? Wommack had $50 million to throw at this. People smelled the money. And saying no would likely have brought a sizeable discrimination lawsuit.

But there is another ulterior motive at play too: Woodland Park has long sought to attract a satellite college campus to town .. Pikes Peak Community College, Colorado Mountain College, CSU .. doesn't matter. It's been a dream of many up here for decades. But no campus has been willing to build simply because they feel Colorado Springs (at 18 miles) is too close and there's no reason why Teller County students can't just drive down the pass. Enter Wommack. You're right .. many of the locals don't want this here at all. But there are many others (including council) who will gladly allow Wommack to build the facilities, and ... well ... if he just happens to fall, and shutter the doors then Woodland Park has an instant campus available.

As for the campus, it's removed from the town proper, on the other side of Gold Hill. You can't see any of it from town, and it's pretty well buried in the trees. If you were going to put it anywhere, that was the place to do it. And so far the Wommack people have been very accommodating (for the most part). Wommack himself has lived in the area (though not in WP proper) for many years. He's not new up here. Will it grow the town 50%? Maybe over 20 years. But like any good town, Woodland Park laid out it's long term projections long ago. That growth was projected to happen anyway, at some point.

It will bring more business to town for sure. It will bring more rentals & affordable housing to town (been in short supply for a long time). I personally don't think most of Charis's student or staff will live up here as Charis has been in Colorado Springs for many years, and a lot of staff already own homes down there. They are planning on building dorms at some point, but even then, I'd be surprised if many students choose to live up here as the average Charis student is mid 30s married with 2 kids. In other words, these people also need to work, and there's just not a lot of solid work up here (70% of the town already commutes to Colorado Springs for work). And I think most of his students will commute up to the school from the Springs.

But I don't think it's going to change things that much. And it's too bad the OP passed on a house up here, because it is a good town. We didn't go after Wommack. We didn't encourage it. If you feel he is a hatemonger, fine. But please do not assume the town endorses this. By law, there is only so much you can do. We're just fortunate it's on the other side of a mountain from the town proper. Nevertheless, Woodland remains a good town (the wife and I have been here 13 years).

[Terytee]

Great post! Well thought-out comments and insight. It's easy for folks to jump first, without knowing what they're jumping up and down about.

[Sonic_Spork]

I'm not in a position to have a personal stake in this. But I'm glad to hear that most of the students are older adults. I was envisioning a huge influx of high-teens/low-20's (typical college student age.) It is my opinion, and no this isn't an absolute...that people in this age range who have not yet settled down and matured, are capable of much mischief. The foolishness of youth aside, they simply have less to lose. So if they're all bent upon a concept of how the world ought to be, and how awful it is that anyone disagrees, they could get up to some really unfortunate shenanigans. That's my opinion. I used to work at a gas station/convenience store (many years ago in a different state) across the street from a college. We had LOTS of issues with the students, for one reason or another. I'm sure plenty of them were really decent people just trying to get an education...but plenty of them were just ornery kids. And no one can tell me that religious kids are any less predisposed to ornery-ness.

So if they are older, perhaps the image in my mind that made me feel sorry for the preexisting residents of WP isn't really so much of a thing... I still wouldn't be thrilled but I think I'd cope rather than leave my home. Personally I wouldn't choose WP simply because it's "up the pass" and I hate winter driving!!

[Marcy1210]

Having lived in Divide for 40 years, and hubby had a sole practioner law office in WP for 25 years, I can say that the people are pretty 'live and let live' t ypes, but they DO NOT want to be preached to, prostelyzed, or have any religion or cause or other organization shoving something in their faces. My grandparents lived across the street from Wheaton College in IL, and it was during the 1950's -60's so the girls wore dresses, boys jackets and ties, but boy or boy did they jam pamphlets, push their fundraisers and other things that earned the school money. It got pretty bad and No Solicitation signs went up everywhere. I hope that doesn't happen in WP.

[PokerMunkee]

Just put one of these at your doors!