"My first reaction when I came up here was simple: I'm done," Hansen said as he surveyed the home he planned on spending the rest of his retirement in. "I didn't think I could live here again."
He doesn't think that anymore.
"I think this community is going to be much stronger," he said on Monday, the same day his wife helped announce a major effort to bring people back to the Mountain Shadows neighborhood.
"Most of [our neighbors] will come back," Hansen said. "I talked to one today. I didn't think he was coming back, but he said he was planning on it."
His wife, Francine Hansen, is the President of the Mountain Shadows Community Association. On Monday, she helped introduce some of their neighbors to a newly-created nonprofit called Colorado Springs Together.
"My commitment to you is that we're going to do this better, faster, and more efficiently than anyone has ever done before," said Bob Cutter, the founder and team leader of the nonprofit. "This team will make it happen."
(KUSA-TV © 2012 Multimedia Holdings Corporation)