Ballot issue 301 is a case of citizens wanting other people to pay the way for their desired lifestyle.
I have lived in Boulder for forty one years and without development Boulder would still be a town of strip malls, fast food restaurants and suburbs. We should not be trying to protect an outdated and detrimental lifestyle based on the automobile.
I live and work in a mixed-use building at 1701 15th Street. Our building footprint is about 13,000 square feet. This is equivalent to about two residential properties in Boulder. In our building are six residential units and about 4,000 square feet of commercial offices. During development we paid roughly $200,000 in development fees and taxes, $180,000 in low income housing fees but most importantly, we now pay about $80,000 a year in property taxes. This is about 10x the amount of property tax paid by two suburban houses. Our taxes pay for the wonderful amenities Boulder has to offer.
What would make more sense than 301 is to make suburbia pay its share of taxes. A suburban house requires more driving, water, and energy to heat and cool than a mixed-use building. The traffic and parking problems of Boulder are not caused by downtown developments, they are caused by people driving to and from their houses.