Resident generated news about Lakewood, Colorado
Resident generated news about Lakewood, Colorado
Lakewood is expanding the definition of campaigns to apply to any City Council decision, not just elections. The move comes in response to a successful citizen-initiated referendum to roll back a Council decision. The change is purported to increase transparency but will also make things significantly harder for grassroots efforts.
From Lakewood Citizens Alliance Hi Neighbors, We have an important update regarding the citizen initiated charter amendment petition. Effective immediately, we are stopping signature collection and suspending circulation of the petition following new information provided by the City regarding the election process and legal requirements for charter amendments.
From Somebody Should Do Something You may have noticed the 50% increase in the storm water fee being accessed this year. Such drastic increases usually indicate mismanagement and the failure to perform routine maintenance of a system in the years and decades prior. A properly financed maintenance program that is well run with periodic, but reasonable, rate increases does not need drastic assessments. Then again, this is Lakewood, Colorado. A city in a state that… Well, just look around.
The Lakewood Citizens Alliance (LCA) announced that the City Clerk has officially approved an initiative for a Charter Amendment aimed at improving public communication, transparency, and community engagement surrounding future large-scale rezoning and legislative land use changes. Centered around the principle of “Transparency Before Transformation,” the proposed amendment is designed to establish clear procedural guardrails for future citywide zoning actions while protecting the character and stability of existing single-family neighborhoods.
Lakewood blamed RecoveryWorks for previous problems at the city homeless shelter. Shifting the blame made it easier to get a Special Use Permit for the shelter on June 3, 2026. Instead of taking responsibility for the problems they created, city staff said crime and people overflow were caused by RecoveryWorks. RecoveryWorks was managing the property as Lakewood’s handpicked, sole-sourced contractor. The special use permit was approved, which allows Lakewood to continue shelter use with a new operator. Most of the online comments were in favor of granting the permit. However, Lakewood had three misinformation narratives throughout the permit hearing that show they are not acting in good faith: Shifting the blame Dismissing crime rates Claiming no permit was needed
Why hasn’t Lakewood done a safety analysis to show there is no substantial harm in giving the Navigation Center a special use permit? Lakewood is not protecting the current residents and business interests, which is just as important as serving regional homeless. The desire to do good is only half the equation. Demonstrating this use will not substantially impair nearby properties is the other half. The map above shows the number of 911 calls made to the highlighted address since September 2023. This map is incomplete where property addresses did not match Lakewood database. You can see the high number of calls made to the Navigation Center property compared to other properties in the half-mile radius.
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