Glenn Carlson

I am Glenn Carlson, local entrepreneur and business owner, and I’m running to represent you and everyone else in Colorado Springs on our city council for an at-large seat.

I love living here. I was born and raised in southern Colorado Springs, where most of my family still resides. I went to school here, first in District 3 public schools and finally at Colorado College, where I graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics. I’ve started and successfully run several businesses in the real estate, automotive, technology, and services sectors, creating jobs. My wife Laura and I own and operate some of the most popular massage therapy clinics in town. Colorado Springs has taken great care of me and afforded me many personal and professional opportunities.

And more than that, Colorado Springs is a beautiful city. As former President of the board for the Trails and Open Space Coalition, I have spent countless hours volunteering and advocating for the creation and preservation of our stunning habitat. The many natural wonders, like the Garden of the Gods, deserve to be preserved, not exploited like the Queens Canyon limestone quarry—which we just call “the Scar.” I live now at the north end of town, with excellent views of Pikes Peak, the Air Force Academy, the eastern horizon, and Cheyenne Mountain and I wouldn’t trade it for anywhere else in the world.

• Affordability and prices: It’s no secret the prices of just about everything have gone up. It’s especially painful when the single largest household expense, housing, has seen dramatic price increases. With the increase in interest rates in an effort to dampen inflation and a restoration in critical supply chains, it has applied some downwards pressure on home prices, but there is much room for improvement. From a municipal standpoint, we need to be looking at all options to ensure we are not adding undue upwards price pressure to the equation while ensuring we enable a city that welcomes families from all walks of life and income levels.
• Protecting our outdoor spaces: Our outdoor spaces are likely the greatest asset in our region. I’ve always fought for the creation and preservation of a strong parks, trails, and open spaces system.
• Maintaining a clean, affordable, reliable utility: As part of the double duty on council being on the board of our utility, it’s critical to understand that relationship and the sheer size and responsibility of our utility. Utility planning is a long game and there is no room for knee-jerk reactions and trying to make the “trendy” decisions. My goal is to maximize our ability to provide reliable, affordable energy while minimizing our impact on the environment.

Our downtown has seen a transformational change in the past five years and I believe it is not only healthy, but thriving!

Wildly Important. I believe our stakeholder processes must be thorough. I also believe we need to utilize various methods to reach people in the community.

Colorado Springs is a very different place than when I grew up here. It has since changed from a town to a city and we are starting to see big city problems. I believe we need to increase the number of officers on duty and really attack some of these big issues such as property crimes and domestic violence. I also believe our court system needs resources to prosecute these crimes.

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This is one of the main pillars of our city government. I will always push for continued investment in our infrastructure.

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One of the reasons people love Colorado Springs is our outdoor spaces. With an abundance of wildlife and unique areas, I am focused on ensuring we create, maintain, and protect our parks, trails, and open spaces. Our outdoor spaces add a great deal of value to our quality of life here and contribute greatly to our physical and mental health.

Another area I am passionate about is protecting our neighborhoods. We have seen explosive growth in recent years and I believe it to be critical to grow responsibly. Growing responsibly means we involve the citizens and neighborhoods while understanding the need to accommodate infrastructure and new neighbors.

I am a huge fan of Abraham Lincoln. I have tried to follow many of the paths he laid. I love that he had the strength to lead us through a very dark period in our history while remaining humble and focused. He was also known to work well with others, even people that opposed him.

Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin!

Though I have many memories of various historical events, the one that is burned into my brain as a kid was 9/11. I was in class and all the teachers immediately turned on the televisions. It was as if time had stopped. I knew, at that moment, that most of our lives would never be the same. It was tragic, but it's also been great to see how much we came together after that event and persevered over the years. Humans are resilient.

My first job was at K-Mart in southern Colorado Springs. I worked in the garden center most of the time and loved being outdoors most of the day. That store closed a long time ago, but I loved that job!

City Council also serves as the board of directors for our city-owned utility.

I’m running for Colorado Springs City Council because THIS IS HOME. A native, community volunteer, and business owner, I take a great deal of pride in Colorado Springs and the opportunities it has afforded me. I want to ensure current and future generations have those same great opportunities I had by creating a stable economy, robust infrastructure, safe and thriving communities, abundant parks and open spaces, and more. We have much work to do managing the uncertainties of COVID. Having our own business closed down last year, I know exactly how difficult it can be to navigate various restrictions, understand the ever-changing government programs, and taking care of our family of employees. I know the people of Colorado Springs. We are resilient and with the right leadership we will come out of this stronger, but I need your help in getting to Colorado Springs City Council.

• I'm a small business owner and employer

• I'm a life-long volunteer and major trails, parks, and open spaces advocate
• I believe we need to focus on responsible growth here in Colorado Springs

Being a business owner, I am incredibly passionate about all things business. I am a supporter of small business, which represents over 90% of the businesses in our community and I want to advocate for their success, especially coming out of COVID closures/restrictions.

As a board member for a local non-profit called the Trails and Open Space Coalition, I have advocated for the protection, preservation, and creation of trails, parks, and open spaces. Colorado Springs is a scenic gem and outdoor recreation community. We are lucky to have places like Garden of the Gods, Ute Valley, Red Rocks Canyon, Blodgett Peak, and more. We must focus on investing in our outdoor spaces and activities.

As a native, I have seen growth done responsibly and growth done recklessly. There is a balance to be had by embracing growth while ensuring the private sector carries its share of the weight. Land is plentiful and inexpensive to the south and east and the economics of that environment will allow for growth in that direction. The city operates with limited resources and although sometimes bad and sometimes good, having the right leadership in place is wildly important. We need people that have the creativity and energy to adapt to various economic environments and adjust accordingly. Being a business owner, this is what I experience daily. In addition, ReToolCOS has the ability to have a major impact on the future of our city.

City Council is the legislative branch of the city and as such has a wide variety of responsibilities. Approving budgets, zoning and planning, infrastructure, parks and recreation, housing, and much much more. Perhaps no other entity has a direct impact on the people of our city than city council.

My absolute, without-a-doubt, idol is Abraham Lincoln. He had a calmness about him while still maintaining strength and resolve during what could have been a turning point in our country. His ability to work with people of all walks of life, even those adamantly opposed to him, was a masterpiece.

Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin

1) The ability to work with others is paramount to being effective as an elected official. Having an open-mind and a willingness to value others opinions is incredibly important and a basic duty of the office.

2) A willingness to learn and understand that you may not know everything there is to know or always be the expert in the room.

3) The ability to collect and discern a great deal of information and make sense out of it.

I am a solutions-oriented leader that has the ability to find common ground with people from all walks of life and work with those people to achieve common goals. I have enough self-awareness to recognize that I'm not the smartest person in the room and defer to those that are.

1) Be a voice for the community. Sound cliche, but you'd be surprised how many elected officials have an axe to grind and are simply looking for a platform to do so.

2) Be the central contact point to bring stakeholders together on an issue and arrive at a solution.

3) Work with other officials from the private/public sector on passing effective legislation.

I want to be remembered for caring deeply about Colorado Springs. Someone that left it better than I found it and a champion for the business community and our amazing outdoor spaces.

Perhaps not the first, but the first MAJOR one I remember was when we invaded Baghdad in the first Iraqi war, Desert Storm. I remember sitting on the floor as a kid watching the missiles strike the middle east in fascination. Though I did not understand the full implications at the time, I remember understanding it more years later and the impact it had on our military town of Colorado Springs and it's soldiers and families.

My very first job was at K-Mart in the southern part of Colorado Springs. I worked in the Garden Center and spent most of my summers watering plants, organizing, and working with people (my favorite part). It was incredibly enjoyable!

Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin. It's an amazing study of Abraham Lincoln and his unique ability to work with others to keep our country united.

Professor X from X-Men. He was always some calm and collected. Able to work with various entities and empower others to do great things, even when they thought they couldn't.

Thunderstruck by ACDC!

I was raised by a single mom as a kid after my father attempted suicide. Though it created some difficulties early-on, my mom worked hard to make our life better and make it the best with what she had. I have NEVER viewed it as a detriment, but instead an advantage. I knew early on that I wanted to break the mold. I also want to work to enable others to succeed.

City Council also serves as the board of directors for our city-owned utility. We have a four-service utility providing gas, water, wastewater, and electricity to the region. This is a major responsibility and council serves as the citizens' representation to the utility.

Perhaps beneficial in certain areas, but absolutely not a requirement. I believe more modern day experience such as my business owner experience is directly applicable. It provides creativity and the need to work together with people from all walks of life to be effective.

Hands down, the ability to work with others is the most important aspect.

Why did the crow get a promotion?

Cause he was outstanding in the field.