After nearly a year and a half in office, how well has Colorado Springs Mayor Yemi Mobolade performed in the role?

The majority of Gazette readers, 63%, split between A and D/F grades, according to results of a recent survey conducted by the paper.

The results

Out of a total of 835 responses to an unscientific survey conducted by The Gazette recently that asked participants to give a letter grade to Mobolade’s mayoral performance, about 33%, or 277 people, gave Mobolade a grade of D/F.

Voting took place online for three days between September 3 and 5 Gazette.com and the magazine’s Facebook and Instagram social media pages.

Almost as many participants — about 30% of the total, or 250 — awarded Mobolade an A for his performance.

About 20%, or 168 people, gave Mobolade a B grade and 17%, or 140 people, gave him a C grade.

Formerly an entrepreneur with no previous political experience, Mobolade was elected mayor with a 57.5% majority in a re-election in May 2023. Once elected, Mobolade promised to “get to work” on tough issues such as public safety, infrastructure and the city’s economic vitality, among others.

In an interview on Monday afternoon, Mobolade pointed to 2/3 of Gazette survey participants giving him a grade of C or better.

“Overall, it feels like confirmation that people feel that my team and I are doing a good job. It’s a passing grade,” he said.

Out of 366 responses on Instagram on Friday morning, 43% of participants, or 157 people, gave Mobolade an A. Another 27% of participants on Instagram, or about 100 people, rated Mobolade’s performance as a B, while 15% of voters (55 people) gave Mobolade each C and D/F.

Participants on Gazette.com and Facebook scored Mobolade lower overall.

Out of 462 responses to Gazette.com as of Friday morning, about 33% of voters — 153 people — gave Mobolade an F; almost 20% (92 people) gave him an A, about 15% (69 people) a B, about 18% (84 people) a C, and almost 14%, or 64 people, gave him a D.

Facebook had much less participant engagement than Instagram or Gazette.com. Of seven participants who gave a letter grade to the mayor’s performance in office, four of them, or about 57%, gave him an F. One person each, or about 14% of the participants, gave him an A, C, and D. There were no answer for a B grade.

Participants commenting on social media shared wide-ranging views on Mobolade and his work since taking office. Contributors were generally more critical of his performance on Facebook, while more praised Mobolade’s work on Instagram.

Mobolade said Monday that since running his mayoral campaign, he has been committed to soliciting feedback from the community, taking residents’ comments and suggestions into account and working to address issues.

“These are pain points, and I need (residents) to know that your mayor is listening and that your mayor is going to act on it,” he said.

In praise, Instagram user sha_ron_khan said Mobolade has done “pretty well” during his time in office.

“I feel he ‘gets’ the people and the needs of the city, as varied as they are, and tries to respond with action plans and actually take action,” they said.

Mobolade also faced some criticism in the poll, including in the areas of public safety and roads and infrastructure.

Public safety

“He must work crime here,” Instagram user 2meowwows commented, adding that a a stream of smash-and-grab robberies all over town this summer, mostly targeting vape shops and gun shops, “is crazy.” They also wanted Mobolade to put together a gang task force to combat gang-related activity in the city.

In a televised State of the City address, Mobolade delivered Monday morning’s Colorado Springs City Council work session — a day before the ticketed State of the City event hosted by the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce & Economic Development Corporation, scheduled for Tuesday morning at The Broadmoor — Mobolade praised the work he has done in the office to improve public safety.

Among other steps forward, Mobolade said in his Monday address, the police force, which has been battling understaffing, expects to reach its full authorized strength of 819 officers by early 2025. By the end of this year, the department expects to have hired 130 new officers in 2024 alone.

Looking ahead to 2025, Mobolade said the city’s new four-year strategic plan focuses on more ways to improve emergency response and reduce crime. The 2025 budget proposal, which Mobolade’s administration will present to the City Council this fall, will propose boosting the police department’s authorized strength by 20 new officers, from 819 sworn personnel to 839.

More police officers on the street will keep pace with population growth and ensure Colorado Springs can better respond to crime and emergencies, Mobolade said.

Motor vehicle thefts in the city are on the rise, and many of the cars are stolen by youth who are repeat offenders, he said.

To combat this, Mobolade said his administration will hold a legislative public safety meeting in November, working with Colorado lawmakers, nonprofits and businesses “to explore legislative strategies” that will keep repeat offenders off the streets.

“This system is failing them, and it’s failing our community,” he said.

The city will also “(prioritize) upstream solutions” to combat fundamental issues of youth crime, such as continued partnerships with Police Chief Adrian Vasquez’s Youth Council, which is made up of volunteer high school students who meet regularly and share their thoughts and concerns directly with the police chief. The city has also partnered with youth initiatives such as Forge Evolution, One Body ENT and Joint Initiatives, among others.

In the past year, Colorado Springs has broken ground on its new North Fire Station 24 near InterQuest Parkway, and opened Fire Station 25 near Marksheffel Road in the city’s southeast quadrant.

The fire department has responded to 24 wildland fires so far in 2024, with no lives or structures lost. Firefighters have extinguished 339 fires in homeless camps since the beginning of the year, says Mobolade.

In June the municipal council barely downvoted Mobolade’s and the fire brigade’s proposal to create their own ambulance company starting next spring. The vote leaves the current contract with American Medical Response in place, although that contract is scheduled to end in April. Councilors opposed to creating a new city-run ambulance service worried it would not be able to support itself financially.

Mobolade said in an interview with The Gazette on Monday that the city is currently focusing on extending its contract with AMR for another year.

Throughout the next year, he still wants to investigate the possibility of establishing a municipally run ambulance service; This will protect General Fund dollars and allow the fire department to continue adding innovative services for low-level and behavioral health calls, Mobolade said.

Roads and infrastructure

Some poll responses on social media criticized Mobolade for “failing to renovate city streets”, but also for “(ripping) up” pavements across the city.

Thanks to the voter-approved road tax called 2C, Colorado Springs has filled more than 73,000 potholes citywide by 2024 — 8,000 more than officials filled at the same time in 2023, the mayor said during his Monday State of the City address. before the council.

Through the road tax, this year Colorado Springs has paved 162 miles of roads, replaced 152,000 feet of concrete curbs and gutters and installed 600 pedestrian ramps.

Voters first approved 2C in 2015 and renewed it in 2019. With more work still to be done to improve Colorado Springs’ roads and sidewalks, in November the city will ask voters to extend the road tax for another 10 years, from 2026 to 2035.

“2C has made significant progress,” Mobolade said in his speech on Monday. “It wouldn’t be possible without 2C funding which can only be put towards work paving roads and fixing the concrete next to them.”

There are also several capital projects underway, he said, which roughly $40 million Circle Drive bridge project replaces four aging and deteriorating bridges on Circle Drive, east of Interstate 25 in southeast Colorado Springs.

Facebook user Robbie Piccione said Mobolade has made some achievements during his tenure, but more needs to be done, including on public transport.

“I, for one, would like to see him fix our city’s current mass transit system so that we visitors can go almost anywhere we want at any time,” Piccione wrote. “Having a city bus system that literally serves the entire city is a necessity.”

Mobolade told The Gazette that one challenge he faces is communicating the city’s ongoing work to address pain points such as roads, public safety and the local economy.

Residents can stay informed about the city’s goals and municipal projects and development projects by attending regular city council and planning commission meetings, participating in public town halls, or signing up to receive alerts for specific projects. Residents can also subscribe to Colorado Springs Weekly, a digital newsletter with city news, events and updates sent via email.

Mobolade said Monday that the city conducted its own survey of the scientific community in July, with the goal of gathering feedback from residents on the city’s priorities and performance.

The survey was part of the strategic plan development timeline for 2024-2028. Officials expect to release those survey results in the future.