Brian Werner
Brian Werner helped lead three open space campaigns from 1994 to 1999. The first lost. The next two won decisively. Serving as spokesperson, he collected thousands of signatures, built community support countywide, and made lifelong friends who shared his vision.
Written by Brian Werner
I like to think community service is in my blood, as my dad was deeply involved in the Colorado Springs community while I was growing up. He was a college professor at Colorado College, but he insisted on building strong connections between the college and the city. “Town and Gown” is how he characterized it.
I became involved with the County open space campaign in its first year, 1994. At the time, I was the PIO at Northern Water and had served on the Poudre River Trust Board of Directors. I was also a graduate of the Leadership Fort Collins program put on by the Chamber of Commerce. Through those efforts, I'd gotten to know many people in the community, and someone asked me to attend a meeting to discuss an open space tax. I attended that first meeting at Coopersmith's, and most of the people there became the original steering committee. Along with Deni LaRue, I served as a spokesperson for the campaign. I also made some lifelong friends through these efforts—Linda Stanley and Kelly Ohlson—who I otherwise might never have met.
Fort Collins Coloradoan, November 10, 1994
Big picture: we ran three open space campaigns in 1994, 1995, and 1999. We lost the first one but learned a lot and came back with a better proposal in 1995. For the second campaign, we chose the initiative process (versus a referendum as in 1994), which required getting signatures to put the issue on the ballot. We collected almost 12,500 signatures—double the number required—which helped us build community and county-wide buy-in. The HPOS (Help Preserve Open Spaces) ballot language also committed 55% of the revenue directly to cities and towns for their open space programs and required that all purchases be from willing sellers only. It passed with almost two-thirds support—66.5%!
The 1999 effort, also HPOS, continued the tax, which was set to sunset in 2003. Getting a jump start on this made sense, especially with a growing track record of what Larimer County had accomplished with the initial tax revenues.
In both the 1995 and 1999 campaigns, we neutralized any opposition. This helped secure the final vote.
Fort Collins Coloradoan, October 3, 2002
Just look around. It's the ability to protect open space in a rapidly growing northern Front Range. And we provided money for long-term maintenance, too.
I remember the night before the first election—the post-2001 election—when a group of supporters met at Old Chicago to divvy up yard signs. David Roy and I took the easiest route, sticking them up and down the College Avenue median. We didn't realize this wasn't exactly kosher until the next morning, when an angry John Knezovich called Kelly Ohlson and told him to take the signs down. Which we did! But we had a couple of glorious hours to bask in what we thought was a brilliant sign-placing operation. Then came the celebrations after the next two campaigns, when we were successful and all the hard work paid off.
Looking back, I'm proud of the role I played in passing county-wide open space taxes. I made some lifelong friends in the process and met wonderful people who shared the same vision for protecting open spaces.
Just look around. These are the open spaces that wouldn't have been protected without us. Check out the parking lots on most spring, summer, and fall days, and you'll see how many people take advantage of what we helped protect.
We're always looking to the future and how we can make it easier for the next generations. I'd ask that they remember this and continue to support open spaces whenever and wherever possible.
