Link: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123691065&ps=cprs

"Like many cities across the nation, Colorado Springs, Colo., is trying to close a big budget gap. The town is shutting off lights and slashing budgets for parks, police and firefighters, but that hasn't stopped voters from tightening the purse strings even more.

Most cities depend on sales taxes for revenue, and Americans just aren't spending like they were a few years back. Across the country, cities will have to fill budget gaps totaling up to $83 billion through 2012, according to the National League of Cities.

As a cost-saving measure, Colorado Springs is turning off streetlights. Flipping the switch on about 1/3 of the city's 24,512 streetlights is expected to save $1.245 million in electricity. But that's just a down payment on a $28 million budget gap for 2010.

Perhaps the most noticeable change for Colorado Springs' 400,000 residents will be in parks, where budgets have been slashed by nearly 75 percent."

Gee, do we think that the problem is some how isolated to Toledo?

Even in Colorado Springs, leaders are nickel and diming in the face of a multi million dollar budget gap.