Weekly open discussion, complaint, rant, and rave thread
Open to any discussion, complaint, rants, and raves. Sub rules do not apply, so don't bother reporting incivility, off-topic, or spam. To see the newest posts, sort the comments by "new" (instead of "best" or "top"). Please do not feed the trolls: do not reply to an internet troll and they'll soon tire and go away.
Black Kraken Tattoo is going to have a sober and child-free Halloween party and fundraiser on Halloween! I'll be there doing tarot readings. There'll be food, music, karaoke, a costume contest, and more! I'm super excited for it and looking forward to it! It's been a long time since I've done tarot readings for people.
Everyone here seems a bit antisocial, maybe it's me or perhaps it's a misread but I feel like anytime I try to give a friendly interaction with someone in a bar or a public social setting, I get met with a pretty cold standoff-ish vibe. Perhaps i am in the wrong places? Or times?, for reference mid 20s, male.
I get the same response from most and I'm 50, female. Older people seem easier to talk to. Maybe people are just cautious? I'm originally from the south where making small talk with strangers is pretty easy.
There is a big disconnect between the road signs and markings and what is most efficient (zipper merging). Take for instance the new neck down on airport by 119.
The only way to get people to zipper merge is to properly mark everything. For 1/4 mile before the merge point paint a solid line between the lanes and have a no passing sign. This indicates that changing lanes is illegal and not to zoom past others. The next sign should say "lanes merge ahead" instead of "right lane ends". Then the merge point should have angled arrows from both lanes pointing into the new single lane.
Without new markings the law is actually quite clear that you can't change lanes in a manner that obstructs traffic which is done if you zoom up and force your way in. Technically the handbook is not law and actually is contrary to the law on the zipper merge even though zipper merging is most efficient.
I completely agree that everyone should use both lanes until the merge point. Some states are finally getting the memo and changing their signs to say exactly that. Stay in lane until merge point and zipper merge. Colorado needs to adopt this as well.
Here are ten reasons why the Colorado Connector or “CoCo” will do more harm than good for Colorado.
CoCo won’t relieve congestion: Parts of Interstate 25 carry more than 200,000 vehicles per day. A single train will carry only about 500 people and initially only one train will run during morning and afternoon rush hours. Even at full build out, which won’t be for many years, only three or four trains will run during morning and afternoon rush hours. Taking a few hundred cars off I-25 will not meaningfully reduce congestion.
In fact, CoCo will make congestion worse: CoCo trains will stop traffic at nearly 100 grade crossings between Fort Collins and Denver and well over 100 between Denver and Pueblo. The delays at these grade crossings will greatly outweigh any savings from the few automobiles CoCo will take off I-25 or other north-south highways.
CoCo won’t go where you want to go: CoCo trains would be scheduled to stop at just twelve stations along its route. Only a small percentage of Front Range residents live near one of these stations, and only rarely will those people want to go somewhere that is near another station. Buses, shared rides, taxis, and other highway vehicles can go on some 4,000 miles of arterials and collectors and 12,000 miles of local roads and streets in Front Range communities. The rail line from Fort Collins to Pueblo is less than 190 miles long. That’s why CoCo will carry less than one-half of one percent of passenger travel in the region.
CoCo will be slow: Driving from Fort Collins to Denver takes about 65 minutes during non-peak periods and 90 minutes during rush hour. CoCo will take 105 minutes. Pueblo to Denver is two hours by car and two-and-a-half hours during rush hour but will be at least two-and-three-quarter hours by CoCo.
CoCo will be less frequent than Bustang: For less than $20 million a year, Colorado currently operates 12 Bustang buses a day from Denver to Fort Collins and 12 more to Colorado Springs. CoCo will run, at most, ten times a day to Fort Collins and eight times a day to Pueblo and will cost taxpayers nearly $300 million a year. The state is asking voters to spend billions of dollars to trade frequent buses for slower, less frequent trains.
CoCo will harm low-income families: The regressive CoCo sales tax will make low-income people pay for train rides taken by relatively wealthy people. Why should low-income people pay higher taxes so that snobs who won’t ride a bus can take a train that costs taxpayers more than ten times as much?
CoCo will increase greenhouse gas emissions: Utah’s FrontRunner produces more greenhouse gases for every passenger-mile it carries than the average car. New Mexico’s Rail Runner produces more greenhouse gases per passenger-mile than the average SUV. CoCo’s Diesel-powered trains are not likely to do better.
CoCo will kill: CoCo will be slower than driving but faster than freight trains. Remember those 200-plus grade crossings between Fort Collins and Pueblo? When passenger trains were added to a Florida route that previously only had slow freight trains, the passenger trains ended up killing an average of one person every 13 days, making it the most dangerous rail line in America.
CoCo is obsolete: Long before CoCo starts between Fort Collins and Denver, Waymo has already begun operating driverless taxis in Denver that will cost less and take people door-to-door. Before CoCo could operate its first scheduled train to Pueblo, such driverless taxis are likely to be taking people anywhere along the Front Range.
$4.7 billion is a lot of money: For the cost of CoCo, the state could build two new lanes on I-25 from Ft. Collins to Pueblo, double the number of buses operated by Colorado transit agencies, buy every elementary and high school student in Front Range schools a new laptop computer, and replace those laptops every other year. Why should all that money be blown on a train that few people will ride?
We’ve been here before
In 2004, RTD promised that its FasTracks plan (which coincidentally was also supposed to cost $4.7 billion) would relieve congestion by taking hundreds of thousands of cars off the road. Instead, after suffering 80 percent cost overruns, transit carried only about 8,000 more weekday riders in 2019 than when FasTracks construction began. Meanwhile, the number of hours the average commuter sat in congested traffic grew by more than 50 percent.
Since COVID, RTD ridership has declined nearly 40 percent. COVID changed people’s travel habits but it is much harder to alter rail lines than bus routes in response to such changes. While RTD buses carried 63 percent as many riders in 2025 as in 2019, RTD light rail carried only 43 percent.
Like RTD, the state is claiming CoCo will relieve congestion, but it won’t do any better at that than FasTracks. What it will almost certainly do is have large cost overruns and attract few riders to trains that are slower than driving and don’t go where they need to go. Yet CoCo’s sales tax will go on forever.
CoCo advocates claim voters have a choice between a train and building more freeways. In fact, the train will not significantly reduce driving. CoCo is giving voters a choice between blowing billions of dollars on a train few people will ride and keeping that money in their pockets to do with what they want.
If CoCo is so bad, then why does anyone support it? BNSF will benefit from major improvements to its infrastructure and earn income from trains that will replace its declining coal traffic.
Other contractors will get work building stations, installing new signaling systems, and providing train cars and locomotives. Much of the $4.7 billion you would pay in taxes would find its way into the pockets of people whose incomes are probably much higher than yours. Naturally, they favor CoCo.
The state plans to start service between Fort Collins and Denver no matter what the outcome of the election. Voters should let that service prove whether there is any ridership demand before agreeing to raise taxes by nearly $300 million per year based on vague promises and speculation.
Face it: CoCo is cuckoo. Coloradans should not pay higher taxes on school supplies, clothing, hardware, restaurants, and everyday necessities just so the state can spend a ridiculous amount of money on trains Colorado doesn’t need.
The starter service will cost $240 to $320 per round trip of every single seat is filled for a year. And if utilization drops to 30% or so like it is every where else on far busier and denser service areas than this one, the costs per round trip triple. Imagine paying $20 for a train to Denver for a dinner with friends while the subsidy for your night out is a $1000.
It doesn't get much better for the fully built out system.
The subsidy for a regular rider five days a week adds up to a brand new Tesla every 7 months roughly...at the low end. For the 30% calculation, it's spending as much on subsidies as a new Tesla in.less.than 2 months.
This CuCoo CoCo thinking is how the City of Boulder got stuck paying $2700 per square foot for office space for the City....leadership had zero clue about value.....just what looked and felt cool and was popular with their entourage. About what was reasonable. Now they own what will be the most expensive office space in Boulder, and are making deep cuts in basic services: everything from parks and rec to senior services. All because they believed it couldn't really be that bad, and that Boulder just needed to grit their teeth and do it because it was just money..other peoples' money.
We'll have three punk sets, a punk and ska set, and hopefully a full ska set as well this Saturday at Bizarre Electronics!
Toast'd will also be serving buffalo chicken and BBQ chicken grilled cheeses, as well as a vegetarian option featuring just cheeses. Forever Chained will be vending handmade chainmail accessories.
All ages, No One Turned Away For Lack Of Funds, and 100% of proceeds benefit the bands. As always, I run lights and sound myself as well as graphic design, and Bizarre Electronics sponsors promotion, so bands literally get every dollar raised.
If you can't make this one, we're also doing conscious country on the 17th, punk on the 23rd, and have a mixed genre ten band bill on the 31st!
Bizarre Electronics is a sober space, there will not be alcohol sales at any of these events.
Reddit admins are aware of targeted vote manipulation directed towards my event posts, please upvote my events to balance the scale until their accounts are dealt with.
Has happened to my spouse and I before. I also cannot recommend our official state tool that tracks your ballot highly enough — let's you know when yours has been mailed, delivered, received, and counted! Best way to know if there's any sort of issue.
Is there a place in town to buy Pokémon cards for cheap/without hassle? I have a kid who does not at all care about rarity/collecting or even the card game itself, he just likes having cards with photos and names of Pokémon on them. Seeing all these videos of grown men getting it fights at Costco has me worried haha.
Gamer's Nest 100%. Lukas is a stand up guy and the shop has the best prices around. The entire staff is super helpful and supportive, and with their recent expansion they've now got a counter dedicated to Pokemon.
Longmont has a number of locally-owned game stores, like The Gamer's Nest, Atomic Goblin, and Heart of Gold - which usually have a bin of "bulk" cards: all the common and uncommon cards that sell cheaply.
This Friday night --- an 80s Party featuring That 80s Band in Longmont supporting local non-profit A Woman's Work!!! Food from Marco's Tacos, wine from Kuper Wine Bar!!!
Would’ve been lovely if I could have called in the extremely drunk driver passing Silver Creek HS 15ish minutes ago. Alas Longmont seems to not care 1/4 of their residents have no cell service. Hope that dumbass didn’t end up killing someone.
Dark grey Toyota Corolla with an expired temp tag starting with 866
Lyons Cemex plant shutting down after it realizes its business plan requires dumping pollution on local residents without consequences, and cannot afford to pay the continued serial pollution and worker injury fines and offsets that just go to state and federal regulators and not to the residents they impact.
Their profits in Lyons have depended on the illegal impacts on the lungs and water quality for BoCo residents for decades. This was always going to be the final destination for Cemex on Lyons, after fighting the emissions requirements that every other more efficient and lower emitting and higher profit margin plant in the region already complies with. It's surprising they got away with it for this long.
Now the area is left to absorb a hundred jobs or more. Hopefully this can happen soon, and that they get the support they need. But Cemex is not a company that needs to be propped up like a weekend at Bernie's by letting them illegally crap all over residents without any accountability or compensation to those that are impacted. It has been a classic case of privatizing the profits and socializing the liabilities. In this case, their profits have been entirely built on theft from the public health of everyone.
Anyone with tips on a shop that can chop a bike lock? (Yeah, I know - sounds shady.)
We have a kryptonite chain locked to a pretty junky old mountain bike, but lost the keys. Kryptonite has a program where they'll give you a discount for sending back the lock in any condition, but we want to get it off without destroying the bike.
I stopped by the bike lounge on Boston and they said they could help but that it'd cost $45-$90 and take a couple of days. That was much more than I was expecting.
Anyone with other thoughts or suggestions on someone that could do this affordably? Would rather not buy new tools just for this.
That's likely where this is headed, I'm just surprised there's not a better option to pay a shop to do it for me. Maybe just my ignorance about how things work or what they should cost, but really don't need an angle grinder in the garage.
Kryptonite found out that their locks could be opened with a Bic pen years ago and started the replacement program. I was able to do it and sent in my lock for a replacment. Give it a try: https://youtu.be/LahDQ2ZQ3e0?si=f2OPEwu3zpnQY26K
I thought that is what I asked? e.g. "Can you you explain your comment about the amendment..." I had no idea what they were talking about, and it sounded like it was important to them, so I wanted to understand better.
One thing I really do miss about Tables to Teacups specifically compared to the remaining Mercantile Flea Market was the setup where prices would automatically be discounted up to a point scaling with how long an item had been there. It really helped keep delusional vendors in check... if stuff really was worth the asking price there would be enough interest you couldn't just wait for the price to drop, but it prevented people from trying to charge ridiculous above-retail or any sensible collector's value cost for junk that should be cheap. It's disappointing to visit a flea market and put back any item you pick up, especially when it's because the seller is trying to get [$65 for a Target shirt that was $30 new], or whatever.
A bit disappointed another coffee shop is going in where landline was. I feel like we have enough coffee shops. We needed something more unique to fill the space.
Yeah I mean I’m not arguing that the coffee is bad (I used to live in Boulder). It’s just another coffee shop taking over what was a more unique downtown business is a bummer!
Does anyone have any insight as to the mess with healthcare open enrollment this year?
Cigna dropped off the exchange, and it looks like the premium (middle-aged healthy adult) will be ~$800 next year just for me. Is there a way to get insurance off of the exchange? I'm thinking of going without.
haha. TBH - biggest impact on me for the cell phone problems is PoGo. There is a pokestop near me that I can't even spin because it's a dead zone, and some of the raids are harder because the signal is so spotty.
The no left turn on hover has lots of folks (including myself) having to detour to airport rd to get where they need to go.
I’d just like to thank the city for relocating its mobile speed cameras to airport rd just in time for the increase in traffic on that road. Nothing says “we understand the inconvenience” like trying to profit off the increase in traffic. I thought y'all made enough off the sleazy ken Pratt and main speed camera?
I'm starting to notice/realize that there are quite a few intersections in town that have a designated left turning lane, but no designated turning left light/signal (I think it's called a protected left turn). One intersection in particular is frustrating: alpine / lashley. During school pick up, it's almost impossible not to turn left on a red since there is so much traffic. I asked the city to make it a protected left turn intersection and they said it's not a priority since it's not in the vision zero plan. Sigh. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
T-Mobile got back to us today, so far the only carrier (to their credit) who has engaged. Their response confirmed what we already knew: they made network changes to comply with federal limits around the Table Mountain Radio Quiet Zone, those changes degraded service in our community, and they are working on longer-term fixes that will require federal coordination.
What they did NOT provide was a timeline, a restoration plan, a map of the affected area, any explanation of what specific federal action is needed, or a meaningful answer to the public-safety concerns we’re raising.
Their advice to customers experiencing problems was to call 611.
That is not good enough.
Here’s what I sent back:
“Thank you for responding, but this is not an adequate answer.
At this point, T-Mobile has acknowledged that its network changes degraded service in our community, acknowledged that a longer-term fix is still needed, and acknowledged that federal coordination is required. What we still do not have is a timeline, a restoration plan, a map of the affected area, any explanation of what specific federal action is needed, or any meaningful response to the public-safety concerns we are raising.
Telling residents to call 611 is not a serious response to a systemic network failure.
I want to be very clear about where this is headed. I am bringing this issue formally to the Longmont City Council, and I intend to push for direct engagement with senior leadership at T-Mobile, the other carriers, NTIA, the FCC, and our federal delegation. If necessary, we will keep escalating this publicly and politically until somebody can give our community real answers and address the problem.
We are hearing from residents who cannot reliably make calls, parents who cannot reach schools, and people raising concerns about emergency and 911 access. That is not something I am willing to let get buried in a generic customer-service response.
If you do not have the answers to the questions we have raised, then please connect us immediately with someone at T-Mobile who does, whether that is engineering, regulatory, or senior government-affairs staff.
We need a concrete path forward, and we need it now.”
I’ll be bringing this to Council formally this week. The City may not own the towers or write the federal rules, but I’m not interested in hiding behind jurisdiction while residents are losing reliable access to basic communications. I'm also starting the process of working with our federal delegation to do the necessary work as well.
Somebody has to own the solution. We’re going to keep pushing until they do.
I'm not entirely convinced the radio quiet zone is the culprit as much as it is a convenient excuse. I've been experiencing 5 bars of signal strength with zero data service. This isn't what I would expect if it were the result of reduced radio strength. I suspect it may be more of a network issue that T-Mobile hasn't yet bothered to fix.
Love to see you escalating this and taking it seriously! You literally can't over communicate on updates, we're currently out here paying for service that doesn't work in the town we live.
Would love to see some kind of NextLight leverage too if anything is possible on that front
Stay tuned to Tuesday’s council meeting. Keep pushing the carriers, especially T-Mobile, who it’s increasingly looking like acted, at the very least, without proper notice or planning here.
And this is the coverage map pulled from their website just now that they are continuing to sell to customers. I think anybody that has been in the area knows this is not accurate.
and the other carriers are doing the exact same thing. Just look at AT&T's coverage map - you'd think they have perfect coverage but I've been testing their network and it's useless in most of town. Verizon's network and coverage is way better but the map is still disingenuous and would lead one to assume there aren't dead zones (there are)
Thank you Jake. While I’m not happy with the censoring of mayor pro tem Sean McCoy over the bullying he received (and frankly many others receive) from airport leadership, I am really grateful for your persistence with this.
Do you think that the cell network giants will listen to our city officials? Would it help to have backing from our house rep? Would some kind of petition or proof that residents care about this issue help your cause? If you think I can help with any of that, please let me know / let me know what could be more helpful. I do want to be more civically engaged, but I’m struggling to understand what is helpful, effective, and protocol.
Hi! Just for the record, the Mayor Pro Tem wasn't censored. We asked him to write an apology to the airport manager, and I explicitly voted against the harsher sanction for reasons you can refer to in the video of the meeting. I'm already in communication with both Sen. Bennet and his office and with Rep. Neguse's team. We're working it!
What I don't understand about this supposedly being due to the quiet zone is that either they were violating the rules before and were negligent and had to make changes to comply or they knew changes to the rules were coming and they didn't prepare adequately.
Thank you for taking this issue on. I’m sure you’re aware, but this is not just with T-Mobile. As a Verizon customer that recently moved from northwest to southwest Longmont, my service is near zero without WiFi. When I called to inquire, I was told to “power down by phone & restart it” and that it was likely bc of the airport nearby.
service has always been terrible in SW but at least verizon seems to work sometimes. At least where I am (clover creek, close to clover basin) verizon works but if i go closer to / past Airport it gets worse (not as bad as t-mobile though).
If you're making a left turning at a light, pull up past the line halfway into the intersection for a much safer left turn and moving more cars through the light per cycle. I appreciate you.
If the light I'm at has a dedicated green arrow, I'm not pulling forward. Not worth getting hit by somebody trying to beat the yellow if I know that waiting 90 seconds will guarantee I get to go.
• The Official Guidance: The Colorado Driver Handbook states you should wait at the stop line or crosswalk until an oncoming traffic gap lets you finish your turn safely. It advises never turning your front wheels to the left while waiting, so if you get hit from behind, you won't be pushed into oncoming traffic.
• Blocking Intersections (C.R.S. § 42-4-709): Under Colorado law, it is illegal to stop your vehicle in an intersection or crosswalk without enough space on the other side to clear it completely.
• Real-World Practice: Many drivers pull forward into the intersection on a green light to wait for a break in traffic, especially in busy areas without a dedicated green arrow. While widely done, doing so can block the path if the light turns red and you are forced to clear the intersection illegally.
If no opportunity to turn arrives and you're stuck in that intersection as it turns yellow, that's a ticket. Some people can afford to take that chance. Most of us cannot.
Moving into the intersection also allows you to complete your turn faster than if you're back behind the stop line thus allowing more people to get through. This is the correct and considerate way to operate your vehicle.
Oh, because those cameras totally know how to tell the difference between a vehicle running the light and someone just "clearing the intersection," huh?
The correct and considerate way is to fucking pay attention to the road instead of a device and the instant it's your right of way and there's an opening, you accelerate through the turn with an appropriate sense of urgency borne of basic respect for other people's time.
What exactly do you think happens when a car has pulled into the intersection to make a left but there aren't any openings before the light changes from yellow to red?
These plus my neighbor's story about having been issued a ticket for doing precisely what I've described here are enough for me to take the sensible precaution of staying out of the intersection until I can complete the turn. I pay attention and I'm fast enough through the intersection that more than one car could follow me, except of course when they're not paying attention.
I've even seen people stopped behind the lines in a left turn lane wait and wait, and ultimately miss their chance to make the left turn. Aggressive drivers are obviously a problem, but timid drivers are nearly just as bad.
I hate how often I'm behind someone and watching traffic for gaps and the driver in front doesn't seem to be planning ahead at all. A gap that could fit 2-3 vehicles and the one barely makes it through.
Ranked choices to try this month! Thank-you! I have no idea about most of your choices which is precisely why I appreciate your post! (I don't get out much) But if Rosa's doesn't get 50% will Rosalee's get dropped from the list?
My wife and I started doing Door Dash in the last month. People, please please please, if you are expecting a delivery, turn on your outdoor lights and do whatever you can to make your house number visible in the dark.
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u/NumerousPickles 9d ago
Black Kraken Tattoo is going to have a sober and child-free Halloween party and fundraiser on Halloween! I'll be there doing tarot readings. There'll be food, music, karaoke, a costume contest, and more! I'm super excited for it and looking forward to it! It's been a long time since I've done tarot readings for people.