While the proposed Project Taurus data center awaits its city council hearing, we learn about another project being fast-tracked in southern Colorado Springs that will have data center equipment and needs, but we are told is not a data center. Project Primestone will begin with a facility requiring twice the electrical power of Project Taurus and may ultimately use four times Taurus’ 50 megawatt appetite.

Seth Palmer Harris, the reporter who has filed a story about Primestone in the Pikes Peak Bulletin, fills us in. The discussion includes various ways developers fund projects in Colorado Springs, including metro districts, urban renewal tax incentives and Tax Increment Financing. There is much more to the story, so listen to this episode and read the report in the Pikes Peak Bulletin.

NOTE: When Dave mention there will be many “NIMBYs” at the September 17 Colorado Springs City Council data center hearing, he does not mean it in a derogatory sense.

LINKS:

Project Primestone Isn’t A Data Center – It Will Just Look and Feel Like One

Fight to Save OCC Downtown Development Authority Ramps Up

The Rotten Roots of Project Taurus – Episode 154 of Peak Environment

52nd Annual Commonwheel Artists Co-Op Labor Day Weekend Art Festival

SinkMS MiniGolf Tournament

Creek Week 2026

10th annual COLORADO SHORT CIRCUIT Film Festival

Starlight Spectacular

MENTIONED:

Project Taurus proposed data center

Brandy Williams

Colorado Springs Urban Renewal Authority

Colorado Springs Gazette

Phil Anschutz

Commonwheel Artists Co-op

Independent Film Society of Colorado Springs

Gold Mine Mini Golf

National MS Society

Fountain Creek Watershed District

Trails and Open Space Coalition

Loving the Springs celebrates the best of Colorado Springs and elevates the rest.

Plug into what’s happening in the Pikes Peak region, learn about awesome people, places and happenings, and explore opportunities to make life here even better. Longtime Springs booster Carrie Simison co-hosts with local gadflies Al Brody and Dave Gardner. All three love our two springs – Colorado and Manitou, so they give them the mic in this twice-monthly podcast. Nothing’s off the table – recreation, the arts, government, business, politics – if it touches your life, they’ll talk about it. We’ll invite the movers and shakers, conspiracy theorists, NIMBYs, YIMBYs, yaysayers and naysayers to join them.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts, and give us feedback and suggestions via comments at studio809podcasts.com/loving-the-springs or lovingthespringspodcast at gmail.com

Efforts in our community are helping individuals and their children achieve safety and wellbeing while challenging us to end sexual and family violence. TESSA CEO Anne Markley fills us in on all the local nonprofit agency is doing, including a confidential Safehouse, Victim Advocacy, Counseling and Children’s Programs, a 24/7 Safe Line, and Community Outreach and Education.

We learn that teens and young adults are especially vulnerable, with more unsupervised time, social gatherings, and new relationships increasing the likelihood of dating violence. And TESSA is doing a lot to address this, including hosting a special community conversation:

Digital Realities: Protecting Youth in the Digital Age

A community conversation about online safety

CSPD and TESSA

August 23, 4 to 7 pm, Ent Center for the Arts

Free, Register Here

TESSA Safe Line: 719-633-3819

LINKS:

TESSA

City Launches New Parking Enterprise Brand Focused on Making Parking Easier

MENTIONS:

Ent Center for the Arts

Wings Credit Union

Jelly Roll

Goat Patch Brewing

Give Pikes Peak

Empy Stocking Fund

Parking Upgrades Downtown

Paul Newman

Cool Hand Luke

The Charlie Block

Urban Egg

Poor Richard’s

Loving the Springs celebrates the best of Colorado Springs and elevates the rest.

Plug into what’s happening in the Pikes Peak region, learn about awesome people, places and happenings, and explore opportunities to make life here even better. Longtime Springs booster Carrie Simison co-hosts with local gadflies Al Brody and Dave Gardner. All three love our two springs – Colorado and Manitou, so they give them the mic in this twice-monthly podcast. Nothing’s off the table – recreation, the arts, government, business, politics – if it touches your life, they’ll talk about it. We’ll invite the movers and shakers, conspiracy theorists, NIMBYs, YIMBYs, yaysayers and naysayers to join them.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts, and give us feedback and suggestions via comments at studio809podcasts.com/loving-the-springs or lovingthespringspodcast at gmail.com

Venetucci Farm is a community treasure celebrating its 90th anniversary. Get the scoop on annual pumpkin giveaways, a flower farm, and much more making community happen in the aftermath of the PFAS water contamination disaster. Sam Clark, Executive Director of the Pikes Peak Real Estate Foundation, and Nikki McComsey, owner of Gather Mountain Blooms share the history and legacy, current happenings, and an upgrade in the works for 2027.

Also: Pikes Peak Bulletin Managing Editor Heila Ershadi updates us on PFAS groundwater contamination in the area (see link to her story below).

LINKS:

Venetucci Farm

Gather Mountain Blooms

Rocky Mountain Flower Fest

Contaminants on the Way Out of Rural Residents' Tap Water, Says Water Provider and State Health Department (Pikes Peak Bulletin story)

MENTIONED:

United States Air Force

PFAS contamination

Widefield Aquifer

Nick Venetucci

Bambi Venetucci

Pikes Peak Community Foundation

Gordon Price

Grass It Up

Mike and Amanda Bristol

Venetucci Pumpkin Ale

Bristol Brewing “Give Back Mix Pack”

Smokebrush

Friends of Cheyenne Canyon

School District 11

Colorado Parks and Wildlife

Colorado Youth Outdoors

El Pomar Foundation

El Paso County

Liz Rosenbaum

Wigwam Mutual Water Company

Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment

Loving the Springs celebrates the best of Colorado Springs and elevates the rest.

Plug into what’s happening in the Pikes Peak region, learn about awesome people, places and happenings, and explore opportunities to make life here even better. Longtime Springs booster Carrie Simison co-hosts with local gadflies Al Brody and Dave Gardner. All three love our two springs – Colorado and Manitou, so they give them the mic in this twice-monthly podcast. Nothing’s off the table – recreation, the arts, government, business, politics – if it touches your life, they’ll talk about it. We’ll invite the movers and shakers, conspiracy theorists, NIMBYs, YIMBYs, yaysayers and naysayers to join them.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts, and give us feedback and suggestions via comments at studio809podcasts.com/loving-the-springs or lovingthespringspodcast at gmail.com

Passenger rail service is coming to Colorado’s front range in 2029, Colorado Springs by 2032. Get details in this conversation with Sal Pace, General Manager of the Front Range Passenger Rail District. The district has secured funding to provide initial service between Fort Collins and Denver. Phase 2 will extend service to Colorado Springs and Pueblo. Pace shares the history of the district and answers all our tough questions about the plan, funding, and anticipated fares.

We get quite a bit of detail about how this is happening so quickly, which is music to the ears of the Colorado Springs residents who spend an average of 61 hours in traffic jams each year.

This was recorded on May 12, 2026. On July 20, the district released its Draft Delivery Plan for Colorado Connector. Public input on the draft plan is invited until July 27.

Also, Pikes Peak Bulletin Managing Editor Heila Ershadi shares an interesting story.

LINKS:

Front Range Passenger Rail District

Draft Delivery Plan for Colorado Connector

Share Your Feedback

United We Rock – August 1

Pikes Peak Bulletin

Loving the Springs celebrates the best of Colorado Springs and elevates the rest.

Plug into what’s happening in the Pikes Peak region, learn about awesome people, places and happenings, and explore opportunities to make life here even better. Longtime Springs booster Carrie Simison co-hosts with local gadflies Al Brody and Dave Gardner. All three love our two springs – Colorado and Manitou, so they give them the mic in this twice-monthly podcast. Nothing’s off the table – recreation, the arts, government, business, politics – if it touches your life, they’ll talk about it. We’ll invite the movers and shakers, conspiracy theorists, NIMBYs, YIMBYs, yaysayers and naysayers to join them.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts, and give us feedback and suggestions via comments at studio809podcasts.com/loving-the-springs or lovingthespringspodcast at gmail.com

Bicycling improves our physical and mental health, and helps us be more connected. Conversations recorded live on Bike to Work Day during the final hour of our live stream from the Studio 809 Podcasts breakfast station at The Next Us on June 24, 2026.

Included: an excellent conversation with PikeRide CEO Tara McCarthy about how bicycling is “human scale.” “ Today's world is so fast and so overwhelming that I think cycling allows you to hit the pause button and be in a different mindset.” She also shares news about expanding into southeast Colorado Springs, 2 new adaptive electric tricycles, and E-cargo bikes later this year.

We also hear from local safer streets advocates Joan and Karl Stang. Karl has been riding to work since 1995. The couple can sometimes go a month without getting in a car. They tell us there are online lessons to help us make our streets safer – Bicycle Friendly Driver, Auto Friendly Bicyclist, Ride Leader training, Cycling Basics 101, Walkability training, and more (see links).

00:00:00 Open

00:02:17 Tara McCarthy of PikeRide

00:15:32 Joan and Karl Stang of Pedestrian and Cycle Manitou Springs (PaCMan)

00:23:42 Jax Armendariz Unzueta, host of the Justice with Jax podcast

LINKS:

PikeRide

Pedestrian and Cycle Manitou Springs - new website with links to courses, etc.

Bike Colorado Springs

Bike Lane Uprising

Justice with Jax podcast

Video Replay of Studio 809 Podcasts Bike to Work Day Live

Springs Bike Map

Colorado Springs Bike to Work Day

MENTIONED:

Bike Colorado Springs

The League of American Bicyclists

Ciara Guerrero

Kaizen Torri

Front Range Passenger Rail District

Loving the Springs celebrates the best of Colorado Springs and elevates the rest.

Plug into what’s happening in the Pikes Peak region, learn about awesome people, places and happenings, and explore opportunities to make life here even better. Longtime Springs booster Carrie Simison co-hosts with local gadflies Al Brody and Dave Gardner. All three love our two springs – Colorado and Manitou, so they give them the mic in this twice-monthly podcast. Nothing’s off the table – recreation, the arts, government, business, politics – if it touches your life, they’ll talk about it. We’ll invite the movers and shakers, conspiracy theorists, NIMBYs, YIMBYs, yaysayers and naysayers to join them.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts, and give us feedback and suggestions via comments at studio809podcasts.com/loving-the-springs or lovingthespringspodcast at gmail.com

Learn about some of the other Studio 809 podcasts, and discover what both Manitou and Colorado Springs are doing to aid mobility – in this continuation of a conversation recorded live on Bike to Work Day. This is from the second hour of our live stream from the Studio 809 Podcasts breakfast station at The Next Us on June 24, 2026.

We hear from several guests (see chapters)

LINKS:

Video Replay of Studio 809 Podcasts Bike to Work Day Live Stream

Colorado Springs Bike Map

Colorado Springs Bike to Work Day

Everybody Welcome Imagination Celebration What IF Festival

The French Kitchen

MENTIONED:

U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum

Mountain Metro

Sheridan, Wyoming

Trails and Open Space Working Committee

Fan Fest

KCMJ (our short-lived community radio station)

Jill Gaebler

Jan Martin

Gary Casimir

City xx podcast

Reality Check podcast

PASF

350 Colorado Springs

Pikes Peak Permaculture

Pikes Peak Women

Elevating Pikes Peak Women podcast

Pedal the Springs podcast

League of Women Voters

Making Democracy Work

Outdoors with Hiking Bob

Allen Beauchamp

Medicine Wheel Trail Advocates

Wild Westendorf

El Paso County Parks Advisory Board

North Cheyenne Cañon

Boulder

Blodgett Open Space

Ute Valley Park

Pikes Peak Bulletin

French Kitchen

City Hall

Carlos Perez

Dave Bryan

Free bus service to and within Manitou Springs

PikeRide

Manitou Incline

Iron Springs Chateau

Manitou Penny Arcade

Poor Richard’s Downtown

Linda Weise

Old Town Bike Shop

John Crandall

Ted’s Bicycles

Water Works - the long-gone downtown carwash (had great greeting cards)

Loving the Springs celebrates the best of Colorado Springs and elevates the rest.

Plug into what’s happening in the Pikes Peak region, learn about awesome people, places and happenings, and explore opportunities to make life here even better. Longtime Springs booster Carrie Simison co-hosts with local gadflies Al Brody and Dave Gardner. All three love our two springs – Colorado and Manitou, so they give them the mic in this twice-monthly podcast. Nothing’s off the table – recreation, the arts, government, business, politics – if it touches your life, they’ll talk about it. We’ll invite the movers and shakers, conspiracy theorists, NIMBYs, YIMBYs, yaysayers and naysayers to join them.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts, and give us feedback and suggestions via comments at studio809podcasts.com/loving-the-springs or lovingthespringspodcast at gmail.com

How or if this community institution might change largely depends on what makes Joe and Sarah tick. REALLY get to know them in this no-holds-barred conversation. Poor Richard’s changed hands in April, 2026 after 50+ years in the hands of Richard Skorman and Patricia Seator. Sarah Gibeau Cole says they don’t feel like Poor Richard’s belongs to them; they feel like they are stewards.

Do NOT miss the very end of this episode, when Joe and Sarah share a scary and very surprising story.

Also, Colorado Springs’ SafeStreetsCOS program and Action Plan, and an announcement about our upcoming Bike to Work Day breakfast station and live stream.

LINKS:

Poor Richard’s 50th Anniversary - episode 21 of Loving the Springs: https://studio809podcasts.com/poor-richards-50th/

Safe Streets COS: https://coloradosprings.gov/SafeStreetsCOS

The Colorado Springs Safety Action Plan: https://coloradosprings.gov/document/colorado-springs-safety-action-planfinal05.07.26.pdf

Bike to Work Day June 24, 2026: https://coloradosprings.gov/biketowork

Loving the Springs/Studio 809 Podcasts/The Next Us Bike to Work Day live stream: https://www.youtube.com/live/muAKUy1w4qw?si=K_Qn8GmsJyB5bRET

MENTIONED:

Fox 21

KKTV

Torie Giffin

Colorado Springs Youth Symphony

Pedal the Springs podcast

Mountain biking

TSA

The empty Indy stands around town

SoCo Insider

Dirk Hobbs

Loving the Springs celebrates the best of Colorado Springs and elevates the rest.

Plug into what’s happening in the Pikes Peak region, learn about awesome people, places and happenings, and explore opportunities to make life here even better. Longtime Springs booster Carrie Simison co-hosts with local gadflies Al Brody and Dave Gardner. All three love our two springs – Colorado and Manitou, so they give them the mic in this twice-monthly podcast. Nothing’s off the table – recreation, the arts, government, business, politics – if it touches your life, they’ll talk about it. We’ll invite the movers and shakers, conspiracy theorists, NIMBYs, YIMBYs, yaysayers and naysayers to join them.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts, and give us feedback and suggestions via comments at https://studio809podcasts.com/loving-the-springs or lovingthespringspodcast at gmail.com