We had a well known saying when I was serving in the Army, "Hurry Up and Wait!." Unfortunately this old adage still seems to be alive, well, and accurate.

After much fanfare and preparation by Fort Carson and the local community, the Pentagon has told Ft. Carson and the Colorado Springs community that the number of troops coming, the current number is about 8,000 to 10,000 expected with about 5,000 Spouses and 9,000 children, with the 4th Infantry Divisions return to Fort Carson from Texas probably won't happen till about 2010. This has been pushed back almost 3 years from last years estimates of late 2007.

This information is a double edged sword to our communities heavily military invested economy. In one case, it gives our community more time to generate the millions of dollars of public funding for new schools and highway projects that have yet to appear as well as complete, or in many cases begin, these much needed projects.

On the other hand, the local economy has suffered greatly at the hands of our undiversified local economic structure. Aside from Tourism, which is unreliable as the result of increasing gas pressures or the occurrence of events such as September 11, 2001 demonstrate, the local economy has been almost completely reliant on military investment since the technological downturn that has continued since late 1999 or early 2000. Now with Intel becoming the latest to add it's name to the already long list of tech related companies bailing from or drastically reducing its Colorado Springs area operations one may ask what are we to do to ensure a healthy and diverse local economy that has the ability to easily weather storms or inconsistencies in one sector or another?

Many disagree on the answer, however at least a more urgent and vigorous debate on the issue has begun.