Is Fort Collins becoming the new Boulder? You might think so after hearing this next story.

More on that in a moment on the Face The State Radio Minute.

Fort Collins’ important-sounding Downtown Development Authority wants $30 million in public funds to pay for an outdoor amphitheater. Don’t you think for $30 million, the city could at least afford a theater with, you know, four walls?

Maybe I’m asking too much. Maybe there is a huge demand for a new outdoor stage. But anyone who knows downtown Fort Collins has heard the trains running down the middle of the street – not exactly background noise for Shakespeare.

Proponents of the project aren’t fased. They even suggest playwrights could build the train noise into their productions.

And does the city’s left hand know what the right hand is doing? There’s also a huge, multi-million dollar proposal for, that’s right, downtown rail transit. So which is it gonna be? Outdoor arts, or trains? Fort Collins wants to have its cake and to eat it too.

For FaceTheState.com, I’m Brad Jones.