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Friday, May 18, 2018, marks the date for the annual Longmont City Council retreat. The retreat will begin at 8:30 a.m.
Topics to be discussed include:
- Results of Priority Based Budgeting Community Prioritization - A review and discussion of the final results of the Budget Prioritization Community Input. "The community weighting will be applied to the City's list of prioritized programs for Council's consideration as the budget is presented in September," states city council communication.
- Envision Longmont Information - Discussion of the Envision Longmont Plan. "The Comprehensive Plan is a public document and official statement of land use policy approved by the Planning & Zoning Commission and adopted by the City Council. State law authorizes the City to adopt a comprehensive or master plan pursuant to Section 31-23-206 of the Colorado Revised Statutes as amended. Although the Planning & Zoning Commission is the agency expressly authorized by state law to prepare and adopt the final Comprehensive Plan, the City Council also possesses the legislative power to establish land use planning policies for the City. State law recognizes the legislative authority of the municipality’s governing body by expressly requiring that the Planning & Zoning Commission’s adopted comprehensive plan be subject to approval of the City Council. In effect, the Comprehensive Plan is not fully effective until the City Council approves the plan," says city council communication.
- Sustainability Plan Information - According to city council communication, "The City of Longmont’s Sustainability Plan provides a framework for us to work together to make decisions that ensure the current and future well-being of our community and to meet our sustainability objectives."
- Envision Longmont and Sustainability Plan Implementation Information - Discussion and review of the Envision Longmont and Sustainabilty Plan Implementation Information progress and goals.
- 2017 Accomplishments and 2018 Work Plans by Department - A presentation of the 2017 accomplishments and 2018 work plans by department throughout the City of Longmont.
Toppers Pizza Hosts "Dough-nation" Event to Help the Longmont Observer Raise Some "Dough"
Join the Longmont Observer for a fundraising event hosted by Toppers Pizza tonight. Order between 4-9 p.m. from either Longmont Toppers Pizza location (15 Ken Pratt Blvd Ste 100 (720) 642-7100 or 2318 17th Ave (303) 827-3218). You can also order online at https://www.toppers.com/. A portion of the proceeds benefit the Longmont Observer.
Longmont Concert Band Presents Memorial Concert honoring founding director, Richard Kohl
The following is a press release issued by Longmont Concert Band and is published here as a public service.
The Longmont Concert Band will present a memorial concert in honor of the late Richard Kohl, the band’s founding director, and his wife, the late Bonnie Kohl, at 4 p.m. Sunday, May 20, in the Auditorium at Silver Creek High School in Longmont.
The performance, under the direction of Gary Lloyd, will be free and open to the public.
Richard Kohl was director of the LCB for ten years, from 2003 through 2013. He died Oct. 16, 2017, and six months later he was followed in death by Bonnie, who played oboe in the band all ten years her husband was conductor. Richard and Bonnie met when they were both teaching at Lyons Junior-Senior High School and were married in 1981.
“Rich and Bonnie were dedicated musicians, educators, and committed to the growth and support of the LCB,” Lloyd says. "It gives me great joy to honor a fellow music educator and concert band enthusiast, and the legacy he established in this fine performing ensemble."
Lloyd says he selected a program for the May 20 concert that reflects Kohl’s past performances with the band, including two pieces from the band’s very first concert, April 14, 2004. “This concert will resemble much the same spirit and variety of music compositions as a Rich Kohl concert,” Lloyd says.
Only three players are still in the band from that first concert: horn players Mark Hinman and Amy O’Donnell, and trombone player Bruce Armstrong. Another performer from that concert remains with the band, however: conductor Gary Lloyd played percussion with the band that night.
Like that first concert, the May 20 performance will open with Karl King’s “Trombone King” march and end with the familiar “Colonel Bogey” by Kenneth J. Alford. In between, the program will feature works that were performed by the band when Kohl was director, including “The Promise of Living” from Aaron Copland’s Tender Land, “Salvation is Created” by Tschesnokoff, “Big Band Spectacular” and Leroy Anderson’s “Fiddle Faddle.”
Also on the program are selections from West Side Story in honor of the centennial of Leonard Bernstein’s birth, and “Ye Banks and Braes O’ Bonnie Doon” arranged by Percy Grainger.
Ava Coleman, the Kohls’ daughter, says, “My parents would be thrilled that the Longmont Concert Band is honoring them with this concert.”
Richard Kohl received his undergraduate degree in music from the University of Northern Colorado and pursued further graduate studies at the University of Denver, Oberlin Conservatory and the University of Colorado, Boulder. He was trained both as trumpet player and singer, and taught vocal and instrumental music in Colorado for 30 years.
Now in his fourth year as conductor of the Longmont Concert Band, Lloyd holds degrees in music education from the University of Tulsa and Wichita State University. He recently retired from 32 years of teaching public school music in Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado, including 24 years in Longmont. A trumpet player, he has performed with the Longmont Symphony Orchestra.
Music will be presented before the concert in the Silver Creek HS lobby by the Rocky Mountain Saxophone Quartet, made up of members of the LCB. Following the concert, there will be a reception in the Commons area of Skyline High School for the audience and members of the band.
Race And Diversity In Longmont - By The Numbers
The Washington Post recently did a story on race and diversity in America titled America is more diverse than ever - but still segregated. Its most striking observation is how diverse we are, but that most of our neighbors are the same race.
The article used in-depth data analysis tools and maps that allow you to delve deep into the US, down to the zip code level.
Longmont, interestingly, shows a fairly evenly distributed pattern of race and diversity.
According to the map, Boulder County, as of 2016 has approximately 78% of the population as white and non-white/ethnic groups account for an estimated 22% of the population, up from 11% in 1990.
You can see the complete interactive map by going clicking here and scrolling to near the bottom of the story and putting in the zip code you're interested in.
