Category Archives: Policy

Aztec, New Mexico

The City of Aztec and Consensus Planning are hosting an online Public Meeting this evening, July 30, 2020, for the Aztec Comprehensive Plan Update project. I worked in Aztec, New Mexico, on a temporary basis before I moved up to … Continue reading

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Colorado is Growing

PAGOSA SPRINGSā€”More people moved into Colorado last year than moved out, continuing the Stateā€™s trend of population growth.  In 2018, approximately 239,000 people were attracted to Colorado and just over 203,000 people left, for a net gain of about 36,000, … Continue reading

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ICYMI – The Diary of Pvt. Orrin Brown 1864-1865

In honor of the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War, I blogged the diary of my ancestor Pvt. Orrin Brown, Co. E, 14th Michigan Infantry, who marched through Georgia and the Carolinas with General Sherman. It remains some of … Continue reading

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Strategic Doingā€”Putting Good Plans to Work

We all hove done strategic planning. Now itā€™s time to try strategic doing. Ed Morrison is founder of the Purdue Agile Strategy Lab. A one-time economic development consultant, like many of us one day Ed found himself in a public … Continue reading

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The Martyr Richard Woodman

Martyr: 1: a person who voluntarily suffers death as the penalty of witnessing to and refusing to renounce a religion. 2: a person who sacrifices something of great value and especially life itself for the sake of principle. It is difficult … Continue reading

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The 11th Hour of the 11th Day of the 11th Month

At the 11th minute of the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, the year of our Lord 1918, an Armistice came into effect ending open hostilities in the War to End all Wars.  The peace took … Continue reading

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A Love Story for the Animas River

I remember the Orange Tang of the Animas River running through Durango, Colorado, and on down to Farmington, New Mexico, in August 2015. Where normally kayakers and fly fishermen joust with tubers, the river coursed with the mineral runoff of … Continue reading

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Spring 1918 on the Western Front

In March 1918, Bolshevik Russia signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with the Central Powers ending the Great War on the Eastern Front. This freed up Germany for Operation Michael and a last great Spring Offensive on the Western Front. The German … Continue reading

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Winter 1918 on the Eastern Front

While the Bolsheviks seized power in Russia in the October Revolution in early November 1917, their revolution continued to sport contradictions between the Old Style and the New through the Winter of 1918. Ā On 1 Feb 1919 Old Style, Russia … Continue reading

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The Disease that Afflicts all Modern Institutions

Repatrimonialization Modern state institutions, which are supposed to be impersonal even if not necessarily democratic, are particularly vulnerable to insider-capture in a Ā process that I labeled “repatrimonialization.” Ā As we have seen, natural human sociability is built around the twin principles … Continue reading

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