The November 7th City council meeting included a presentation on the 2022 State of the Municipal Court. Presiding Judge Nicole Bozarth presented statistics on cases, hearings and more. She also updated the council on the progress of treatment and outreach programs.
Presiding Judge Bozarth reported that Lakewood is a leader in court innovation.
Regarding case trends, Judge Bozarth reports that penal cases are on the rise, especially juvenile cases. The number of penal cases that are high risk are increasing. High-risk or high-need cases include domestic disturbance cases. 90% of juvenile offenders are in the high-risk category.
The number of calls to police for service is up over last year. Judge Bozarth believes police are following up on more calls of increasing complexity. Traffic cops are being pulled in to cover these other cases, resulting in less traffic offenses such as parking.
The number of hearings held is still not back to pre-covid levels, being only 60% of the number compared to 2018.
Jails are opening up and are taking more prisoners when a warrant has been issued. However, Judge Bozarth explains that court policy is to vacate almost all warrants. (If there are different types of warrants, it was not explained.)
Failures to appear, citations and warrants are all down from 2021 to 2022. Data before 2021 is not presented.
Judge Bozarth thanks the city for funding the Municipal Opportunity to Secure and Sustain Treatment (MOSST) Program. This program was intended to reduce the cost for “probation clients court ordered to participate in therapeutic interventions.” This program was passed by unanimous vote in March, 2022 at the cost of $199,992.
Lakewood Municipal Community Outreach Court will start December 1, 2022. Judge Bozarth will be handling cases directly from Mountair Church. The goal is to “provide those in need with immediate access to community resources and providers.” For example, someone with a high “Failure to Appear” rate may have an easier time if the court moves to them.
Discussions after the presentation focused on mental health solutions. Several Council Members thanked Judge Bozarth for her compassion and said that was the reason City Council appointed her.
Public comment after the presentation included an account from one resident who was harmed by an offender with several Failures to Appear, for which the Court vacates all warrants. This resident has suffered loss of time, money and personal health.
Lakewood government, for over a decade, has been leading the city down the path of economic and environmental peril due to a seemingly intentional disregard for true economic development.
This became painfully obvious at the city council meeting on the 7th of November, 2022. An in-depth presentation by Elizabeth Garner from the Department of Local Affairs showed just how poorly positioned Lakewood has become from the perspective of generating local, well-paying jobs and attracting a vibrant pool of talent to fill them. Of course, the council majority wasted no time in boiling everything down to “well, it’s the old people’s fault for not shopping more and we need more housing.”
Around 28:30 mark, an interesting point comes to the fore – not only are there no well-paying jobs in Lakewood (i.e. $100,000+) in significant numbers, but even for the jobs that are here, there is not enough local talent to fill those jobs.
Furthermore, younger, skilled people that do live in Lakewood are forced to join the tens of thousands of other residents who drive OUT of Lakewood on daily basis to DTC, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Aurora and other municipalities that wisely invested in massive, high-tech, quality, job creation for decades. This amounts to hundreds of hours per person, per year, instead of spending that time exercising, taking care of choirs and spending time with loved ones. Plus, the additional pollution.
This is not a surprise as Lakewood government has conflated economic development with haphazard development and sales tax revenue instead of working on attracting world-class companies and guiding the build-out of well-planned middle housing which would attract and help the younger generation.
Enter the Propaganda
The city publishes “Looking@Lakewood”, in which the city is never shy to twist the narrative in order to mask its failures. But even in the propaganda, the truth slips through.
Looking at the November 2022 issue of “Looking@Lakewood” further confirms the decline of the city:
4.2% loss in the number of jobs from 2010-2020, while the city had added over 10,000 people. How is it possible that during a decade of robust economic growth around the state and in the neighboring communities, Lakewood has actually lost jobs?
According to a presentation by Mr. Robert Smith (Director of Lakewood Office of Economic Development), on November 5th, 2002, at the Ward 5 meeting, there are about 71,000 jobs in Lakewood, with tens of thousands driving every day in and out of Lakewood for work. That would imply that Lakewood has actually lost about 2,900 jobs in the last decade. While the neighboring communities have added thousands of localized, well-paying jobs. During the same presentation, it became quickly obvious that Lakewood has no world-class companies present as the primary drivers of the economic activity in the city.
Another worrying sign is the slowing in the growth of the younger generation. This bodes poorly for the future workforce, which is vital to keeping the local economy vibrant. Combined with the city’s failure to establish a robust local high-tech economy, what few younger people are around will be apt to leave the area in the coming years, further intensifying the economic death spiral of the city.
The Affordable Housing Lie
$400/month. $4,800/year. Is the amount of metro district fees paid by a citizen in Solterra as was testified by a citizen at a Lakewood City council meeting a few years ago. That is in addition to what they already pay in property taxes. How does this make the housing in Lakewood more affordable?
$1,600-$2,000/month. Is the cost of a one-bedroom rental in Lakewood. So much for “affordable” housing. Forcing more and more people into rental-only dwellings puts them on the path to financial servitude instead of providing an inventory of middle housing which would be an asset in attracting younger, well-educated potential talent in technical fields, thereby creating an incentive for high-tech world-class companies to consider Lakewood as a potential location for their offices.
So not only is the Lakewood city government destroying the economic potential of the city, they are also making sure that the housing is less and less attainable for people of all socio-economic levels.
1,000,000+. That is how many square feet of commercially designated space was wiped away by the vote of the joint Lakewood-Morrison committee in 2018 in the Red Rocks Ranch. 300+ acres that were originally planned to support the generation of thousands of well-paying, localized jobs – gone. And a representative from the JeffCo EDO spoke in support of this, while the Lakewood EDO was nowhere to be found. Take a guess how many well-paying, localized jobs are in Red Rocks Ranch now?
Here are some video captures of the joint Lakewood-Morrison commission voting to wipe away any chance of real economic development in Red Rocks Ranch:
and
https://youtu.be/cNNFyQJjnek
The same commission (and the town of Morrison) were presented with a document, by the developer, which clearly stated that:
“The cost of servicing residents for most Colorado communities exceeds the revenues those residents generate.” (Memo RE: The Economic and Fiscal Impacts of the Red Rocks Ranch Development – Page 7)
Yet, Lakewood government wanted to push through an annexation of the same area, to saddle the already economically struggling city with more municipal expenses. Even the former city, attorney, Tim Cox, clearly stated that residential units are an expense to the city:
City Council Annexation Study, Residential Properties Tim Cox, May 15, 2017
59 acres. Is the amount of space adjacent to the Federal Center which could’ve been used, over a decade ago, to entice world-class companies, such as Google, Amazon/AWS, Arrow Electronics, Charles Schwab to locate hundreds, if not thousands of jobs which would’ve served as an economic engine of its own. Instead, the city manager and some on the city council have been tripping over themselves to provide a sweet-heart deal to those looking to make a short-term profit instead of creating an economic engine for the city.
It is not as if some of us did not try to plead with the city about the need for true economic development:
Alex addresses City Council on Economic Development, March 27, 2017
And the City Keeps on Spending
Despite the numerous failures to build up a localized high-tech economic engine, which would boost the city in other areas, the city is not slowing down in its spending habits.
$203,000/year. Is the salary of the Chairman of the Federal Reserve. A person who can induce trillion dollar market movements by uttering a few sentences. Guess who makes more than that? Lakewood City Manager. The same person, whose office alone is costing the taxpayers millions of dollars per year, while Lakewood is rapidly heading for economic stagnation. In addition to the compensation, the Manager was also recently given a $10,000 bonus by the City Council majority.
And now, the city is planning to spend an additional $17,000,000 per year to hire more staff. While the country is potentially heading into a recession. Instead of working on bolstering the local economic engine, the city wants to spend additional millions of dollars at a time when the local businesses have been closing, more retail locations are about to close and tens of thousands of residents have to waste hundreds of hours per year driving elsewhere for better job opportunities. Corruption, incompetence or both? The budget alone deserves a whole separate discussion.
Economic Destruction Continues
Lakewood City Council intentionally omitted Economic Development from the list of priorities for this year. Judging by the numbers and the voting record of the majority of City Council, even prior to this year, the Council has never been that interested in true economic development. So as the city continues its economic decline (along with the inevitable increase in crime, and other side effects), remember who has brought our community to the brink, under the guise of “affordable” housing and fake sustainability.
The November issue of Looking@Lakewood included a column reflecting on Lakewood’s style of government. Lakewood’s city charter set up a council-manager form of government. Per the article, this form involves hiring “a professional city manager who puts those [city council] policies into action by directing and overseeing the day-to-day operations of the city’s departments and staff members.”
As pointed out in the article, the advantage of the council-manager form is to minimize the potentially unethical influence of elected officials. It relies on an experienced and non-political manager to oversee operations. Not discussed in the article is that the disadvantage of the system is the development of an entrenched bureaucracy.
Mayor Adam Paul also chose the November issue of Looking@Lakewood to write about the council-manager form of government. He writes, “My role, in combination with council members, is to work together, as no one council member can direct staff.”
Mayor Paul notes two different actions: directing staff and working together. It appears that Mayor Paul meant that council works together, and staff work together…. Separately.
Council Member Olver asked to work with staff and describes running into “roadblocks”. In this same November issue of Looking@Lakewood, Olver writes, “… after I asked to be included in staff discussions about a topic in which I’m an expert [a department director said]: “It would not be best practice to invite an elected official to join an internal staff meeting.”
Apparently, city employees may feel that discussion equals direction and will enforce working separately.
However, there is another explanation when viewed from a stakeholder perspective. According to ProjectManagement.com, “When you plot your stakeholders on a power/interest grid, you can determine who has high or low power to affect your project and who has high or low interest. People with high power need to be kept satisfied while people with high interest need to be kept informed” (see chart below from same source).
Using this chart, we can assume that Council Member Olver is low on the power scale, so no one on city staff thinks he is in the “keep satisfied” category. This theory is further proved by the simple observation that Council Member Olver’s column totaled 164 words, similar to other council members, while, coincidentally, there appeared to be two rebuttals to his remarks, spread over two columns totaling about 600 words.
Council members have zero power in day-to-day decisions, and according to the column example, get told so regularly. Council members do not have the power to hire and fire or spend funds. They cannot self-publish a city-wide publication like Looking@Lakewood. City management has that power. So the question to ask is, does the city use that power to bring you all the information, or only the information it wants you to see. For example, did the city tell you about the possible formation of an entrenched bureaucracy?
Calvin Coolidge warned about bureaucracy overwhelming democracy in a speech he gave in 1926:
No plan of centralization has ever been adopted which did not result in bureaucracy, tyranny, inflexibility, reaction, and decline. Of all forms of government, those administered by bureaus are about the least satisfactory to an enlightened and progressive people. Being irresponsible they become autocratic, and being autocratic they resist all development. Unless bureaucracy is constantly resisted it breaks down representative government and overwhelms democracy. It is the one element in our institutions that sets up the pretense of having authority over everybody and being responsible to nobody.
At the Jeffco School Board meeting on November 11, 2020, people for and against the school closures made their final statements. At the end, the Board voted unanimously to close 16 schools for the good of the District.
Every member of the public speaking about the closures spoke against it, often passionately, always prepared, and often just asking for more time. Speakers asked for more time because so many points of consideration were raised during this process. The Board responded that they said in August that the schools would close. The public discussion was only to discuss how “best to make the transition.”
The public presented statistics to show that students receiving free lunch or are non-white are more likely to be affected by this decision. The Board agreed but said that is one reason for the closures. By closing the schools, the Board ensures that students receive access to programs that the larger schools may have but the smaller ones lack.
Charter schools were shielded from closures. Ironically, many charters show successful models of education at smaller levels that the school board could adopt to save the schools, if they were willing to do so.
School board members spoke equally passionately and thoughtfully for the closures. One member was disturbed by reduced mental health care at smaller schools. One was disturbed by the reduced access to programs, such as a literacy program. One explained that smaller schools have been an economic drain on the District for years, if not decades.
The ending arguments seemed to focus on the economics for the District and the level of program access. Closing these schools will save around $7M. On the other hand, as was mentioned by several members of the public, The District could afford pay raises for central administration staff of approximately the same amount. This shows sacrifices by the students, families, and local school staff for the benefit of the District.
This decision seems to enshrine the philosophy of the Greater Good – sacrifice the small and the marginalized for the Greater Good of The District. It seems that Jefferson County Public Schools has decided that the only possible model for a successful school district is large schools, possibly far outside local neighborhoods, with education primarily about programs, rather than the classroom. This decision would be a surprise to small schools around the state. It can be done.
An excellent analysis of what brought us here can be found at:
This touching letter was hand-delivered around my neighborhood. Even in tragedy, Lisa Vakoff has the same problem as many of us – being heard. We hear you and are sorry for your loss…
(reprinted without revision)
Dear Neighbor,
Please indulge me and read this email string and letter. It is a tough one. My dear friend’s son, Dillon M. Vakoff, was murdered 9/11/22. He was 27 years old and an Arvada Police Officer. If you need a good cry while receiving incredible inspiration, I invite you to check out his memorial service on Utube.
I asked if there was anything I could do to help my friend with her grief and the most important thing to Lisa at this time was that I distribute this to all my family, friends & neighbors with a request that it be shared. Lisa read her letter on 710 AM radio. If you would like this to share electronically, please email me at [email protected]. Deb Buck
I have had the sad and solemn honor of standing watch over the memorials for all three of these police officers. At each I have had members of the public openly lament these murders and question who is responsible and what can be done. People think that showing support for our officers means thanking them for their service. While kind, that is not what officers need. I will answer those questions and tell you what officers need at the end of this post.
This post will probably piss off a number of people. Good. We should all be mad. I only ask that if you start reading it you finish it. Short on time? Save it for later. Pissed at me? Keep reading.
None of these officers should be dead right now. They died because of the failure of our criminal justice system, the failure of district attorneys and judges, the failure of our mental healthcare system (or complete lack thereof), the failure of politicians, the failure of parents and families, the failure of our public school system and the failure of the public in general.
We have a criminal justice system that is designed to protect criminals, not the general public. Let me give you an example. The POS that shot and killed Officer Dillon Vakoff had already been convicted of attempted 2nd degree murder. Rather than spending 15 years in an adult prison (which he was eligible for), he was sentenced to 6 years in juvenile detention.
I’ll touch on lax sentencing in a moment, but why do we have a system that treats a person who tries to kill someone differently than someone that succeeds in killing someone? Why should it matter if they succeeded? They have no business walking our streets to try again.
As far as lax sentencing, that is on our DAs and our judges. When I see sentences dumbed down so that DAs can maintain perfect or near perfect conviction rates I think we should fire them. I could give a crap what their records are. I want criminals locked up. If that means taking greater risks, so be it.
I am also sick and tired of judges who give chance after chance after chance to thugs and murderers. They deserve as many second chances as they gave their victims. NONE. The judges should be kicked out of their jobs if they can’t do them.
Our mental healthcare system in this country is pathetic. We have taken the burden of mental healthcare and very, very sick people and dropped it straight on the shoulders of our police departments and prison systems. They are not equipped to handle that kind of burden and we are failing the officers and the mentally ill. I am including a link to a show, “Insight with John Ferrugia: Breakdown”. He and the team do a fantastic job of showing vividly how the system is broken. The episode is an Emmy winner and I cannot encourage you enough to watch it. You can see it here: https://youtu.be/uCDlNDc8IiA
Politicians. These are the people tasked with creating our laws. They are some of the worst offenders with regard to failure. The laws they have created and the changes they have made to existing ones is systematically destroying our country. One need only look at the extraordinary increases in crime rates in the last few years to know this is true. They need to be individually and collectively held accountable for their failures.
You cannot point blame without focusing closely on the parents. Your son is suicidal? What kind of moron goes and buys them a gun 2 years later? They rightly should be held accountable for the actions of their child as should all parents enabling children to commit crimes. This would include things like leaving your kids unsupervised to run rampant around our streets.
Officer Dillon Vakoff was killed after responding to a call at 1:45am. He was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. After an officer is killed he is prepared for transport to the Coroner’s Office. Police will escort his/her remains the entire way. Let me tell you something you probably don’t know. While officers were escorting his remains, just hours after his death, a call came in for everyone to hear. Another “Unknown Disturbance” call to the EXACT SAME ADDRESS where Dillon was murdered. Can you imagine being one of those officers listening or having to respond?!?! What kind of people do that??? Talk about the POS not falling far from the tree.
Let’s talk about our school systems. There are public school systems around this country that have “Zero Tolerance” fighting policies. It doesn’t matter what the circumstances are, who started it, why it was started and who ended it. If there is a fight all students are held equally accountable. It’s bullshit.
Both Dillon and my oldest son had similar experiences when they attended elementary school. Both saw a bully picking on a weaker, smaller child. Both Dillon and my son went up to them and stopped it. They didn’t start the fight, they ended it. That is how it should be. But according to the school administrators they were in the wrong and both were suspended. How screwed up is it that they were suspended for doing the right thing?
Predators who prey on the weak must be stopped at an early age. To hold the “sheepdogs” that protect the herd accountable with them is disgusting. The kids willing to stand up should be rewarded instead. I am sick and tired of school systems that teach our society to be weak victims from an early age. There are kids in this world that need the shit kicked out of them. Hats off to the kids willing to stand up to bullies and predators and do it.
Now the big reveal. Who really is responsible for the deaths of these three fine officers and so many more? We are. You and me. We have failed them miserably. We haven’t had their backs.
You and I have elected the politicians, judges, DAs, and school board members. You and I have failed to fund a proper mental healthcare system in this country. You and I have sent and continue to send officers into harms way without doing our part in keeping them safe.
So what does an officer really mean when they say they need our support? Well, it doesn’t mean they need us to thank them. It means that we need to tell them this the next time we see one. And we need to follow through.
“Officer, thank you for your service. I want you to know something. We have failed you. We have elected politicians, judges, DAs, and school board members, among others, that have created a failed system. I promise you I will have your back going forward by actively voting for politicians who will implement the criminal justice reform needed to keep violent and career criminals off of our streets, by voting for DAs and judges who will uphold our laws and place the safety of our law abiding citizens above those of the criminal and by voting for people who will teach our children to be contributing members of our society. I am sorry we have been failing you, but I will not stand idly by any more.”
Subject:Lisa’s Letter
I, Lisa Vakoff, come from a long line of Military…..and proud to say so. On my father’s side of the family: My great grandfather, who was from Bulgaria, immigrated to the United States and became a legal citizen. He left the United States to fight for his homeland in Bulgaria during the Balkan war and proudly on horseback I might add. My grandfather was in the US Army during WWII and if memory serves me at Normandy. My great Uncle was in the US Navy during WWII at Pearl Harbor. On my mother’s side of the family: My uncle was in the US Army after the Korean conflict My Brother was in the US Navy during the Iran contra affair serving on the USS Nimitz My ex-husband was in the US Navy during the first Gulf war while I was pregnant with my first son. He also deployed to Somalia as a Seabee during that conflict. His current wife also served in his same unit with the USS navy. My oldest son was an MP in the US army during the Afghanistan war ( the 2nd Gulf war) My youngest son was in the US Air Force and deployed to Qatar during the Afghanistan war. His accomplishments and contributions to our country were publicly acknowledged at his memorial service by Major Julian Gluck. Which, I would like to thank the US Air force for personally addressing me to know and understand his service to the country. I BELIEVE in our military’s service members mission, duty and honor to serve the people of the United States. I BELIEVE in their mission and sworn oath to protect and defend our country’s great and amazing CONSTITUTION of our 50 United States. I BELIEVE in our flag (Olde Glory) that represents their duty and sacrifice, and all who proceeded and yet to come, to the people of this great nation and around the world. That CONSTITUTION is exactly why we are a free and sovereign nation. It is the document that separates us from the rest of the world and affords the American people rights. You know the rights that all of us scream, yell and holler all around the country fighting for our individual causes that we are willing to fight for, even if it is with one another; our friends, family members and neighbors right now. I guess shame on all of us. Maybe that’s how the civil war started. My hope and wish are for all of us American citizens to NEVER forget that all of these service members who volunteered their service and gave the ultimate sacrifice. For those of you who do not comprehend or understand…. They DIED for you!!!! To our great Military “Thank You” There are many that still understand, remember and honor your service!!! So now I have some questions. Due to the nature of my son’s loss, how many of you have been divorced? I AM- How many of you were hurt and angry? I WAS- Did your spouse cheat on you? MINE DID- How many of you were now single parents? I WAS- How many of you used your children as a pawn for vengeance? I DID NOT! Did you know that the United States ranks #1 worldwide for single parent families? According to PEW Research center the US is the leader worldwide for broken homes!! I guess we should ask ourselves why? Shame on us as American Citizens that we do not value and honor the family unit. Did all of these single parents move on and start dating someone new? I DID How many of us have been in domestic violent relationships? I WAS- Was drugs and alcohol involved? MINE WAS AN ALCOHOLIC I now became a single mother with 2 children with 2 different fathers. I GOT OUT QUICKLY- How many of you didn’t? I urge you to visit domesticviolencestatistics.org. I urge you to educate yourself. Did you know that the state of Colorado along with Washington DC rank last in the nation for mental health? According to Mental Health America’s Annual Review Colorado is dead last for mental health care!! So, lets ask why? The people of Colorado on our last ballot voting measure voted NO to have oversight for settlement money coming into Colorado. Why would Colorado NOT want to know about the Oxycontin-Big Pharama-Purdue settlement? What about Big tobacco? Colorado will now receive n millions of dollars from these settlement with no oversight. Maybe ask yourself, are we the people of Colorado complicit in the fact that we are last in the nation for mental health? When you want to complain about homelessness, drug addiction and crime in our streets and communities, maybe we should ask ourselves why did we the people of Colorado not pay attention? Why didn’t we care? Oh, that’s right I forgot Officer Dillon Vakoff will take care of that. Right? How many of you have been a victim of a sex crime? IT HAPPENED IN MY FAMILY- Please refer to nsvrc.org, or maybe vivtimsofcrime.org to learn more. All the information is out there all you have to do is open your eyes. Do some research. Care!!! That’s all I ask. Did you know that my family violator was an ILLEAGAL citizen? Our violator now bares my families last name legally. How is that even possible. Where is the justice? Trust me when I say “I called everyone from law enforcement to legislators even across state lines only for my story to fall on deaf ears!!! For those of you silently suffering, I hear you!! Seek help So, at this point of my life all I can do is let go, move on and become a lion. I tried my best to be a productive member of society and raise my boys to have a good soul. This is when my eyes started to open. This is when I started to research and learn to discern information instead of just blindly listening and following all the opinions and trash talk that surrounds us. I started paying attention to my government and what they were doing. At this point I still didn’t quite understand the full capacity of what was happening. How many of you know? How many of you even care. I think that makes us complicit in bad government policy when we don’t care or know. How many of you have experienced drug addiction? I HAVE- the rollercoaster ride that is addiction is the most horrific thing anyone, attached to it, can go through in this life. For the families and friends of an addict I understand. For the drug addict I understand. My son became addicted to pain killers recovering and injury in the military. It was scary to send my son into a war zone, but I put on my cheerleading outfit, and I supported my son’s efforts to protect the constitution and our freedoms. He was Dillon’s hero and our family’s hero. Protocols, I’m hoping were changed after a meeting with CID. How many other veterans suffered the same fate? I’m sure the numbers are in the thousands. Drug addiction is the leading cause of death ages 18-45 in the United States according to CDC.gov. FYI I have tried to fight back, however the laws in Colorado are designed to protect the pharmaceutical companies, the rehabilitation centers and their insurers. I know from personal action. There is no justice and there is no remedy for the average person. Beware Colorado. Twenty-two other states practice in law comparative negligence. For those of you trying to recover when you are offered the miracle drug vivitrol, make sure the people administering this drug have protocol and procedures in place. I DID NOT- I am not a doctor or a nurse but was expected to be in my situation. According to a 9news source here in Colorado thousands, if not higher, have been injured or resulted in death from administering vivitrol because protocol of the manufacturer was not followed. How many of you feel powerless? Want to fix what is broken in our systems. My son Officer Dillon Vakoff felt that way. He was set in motion to fix this broken world. He did everything in his power to be a positive light in everything he did and everyone who crossed his path. I am asking you to please hear me….. My son gave to his country, he gave to his state, and he gave to his community everything he could to make a difference. He gave to the human condition….his LIFE!!! I beg of you fellow Americans…. Please don’t fight with each other. Fight for the cause of good. Fight for what is broken. Do something meaningful and with purpose in whatever capacity you have to give. Again, ask yourself…how am I complicit, what can I do to help the human condition for the GOOD and ask what would Dillon do?
From: “Joan from Lakewood” Date: November 9, 2022 at 11:02:52 PM MST To: <[email protected]> Subject:Re: Injustice with land development in Lakewood at 4th and Union
Dear XXX,
Thank you for reaching out to me today. It was kind of timely. You see I have not received any resolution to the FOIA that I file with the GSA. I was supposed to receive an answer on 11/3/22 and I had explained to them that would not be helpful as the title was to be transferred on 10/31/22. But I have since learned that the transfer of the title has been delayed. So I have sent a registered letter to the National Archive Administration Service which is the oversight organization for Federal FOIA requests. I hope to get the information or a resolution. Soon.
Meanwhile last night at the Green Mountain Water Board, the board passed a ban on allowing employees to dig or work underground on that property. So perhaps the developers will be in touch with the CDPHE to do a deep drive into what is actually on that property.
Lastly with 123 passing and allowing Tabor Refunds to be used for affordable housing and perhaps that is a source of funding for this project, I am sure the tax payers would not want to have their tax money used in such an unjust manor.
If you still wish to speak to me, why don’t you call early next week and I will look at my schedule then.
With Regards,
“Joan from Lakewood” MT(ASCP)
Ps this might be a mute point as I have heard that there is funding issues with the lenders and developers. You see the Feds have raised the lending rate at least 4 points since this bid was made. And there may not be the collateral to make this a viable loan.
Thanks for sharing your concerns with me and the leadership team here at CDPHE. I tried calling you back but declined to leave a message. I’m happy to talk through this with you. This week may be hard because of the task force that is meeting today and tomorrow, but is there a time next week that works for you?
On Fri, Oct 28, 2022 at 4:45 PM “Joan from Lakewood” wrote:
Dear XXX
I have been expressing concerns over a piece of 59 acres of Federal Center Land since 2018 as to the possible toxic contamination of the land and the unwise move to develop it. I am aware that the CDPHE supposedly has all the studies that have been done as the CDPHE was involved in the placement and development the RTD rail line next to this property.
There is an Ordinance with the city of Lakewood called the strategic growth initiative (SGI) (Previously known as Ordinance 200) that calls for public hearings when a developer want to build over 200 units in Lakewood. A developer can get around the public hearings if the development has over 20% of the units dedicated to affordable housing.
A developer purchased the GSA land to place 1800 units on this possibly toxic land. That means at least 360 units of affordable housing.
Affordable housing has a large percentage of lower income and people of color.
I honestly feel it is inequitable to have children of lower means and color on this land. Land that people of means would not allow their children to live on.
I believe this is the very definition of systemic racism.
I have filed a FOIA with the GSA in Washington DC.
The real dilemma I have is that I believe the title of this land will be transferred on Monday 10/31/22 and the FOIA has been extended to 11/3/22. Although I am told that there is little that can be done to stop this land transfer and development, I still think it is wrong.
At a crime forum held by Lakewood City Councilor Mary Janssen, September, 2022, residents asked whether or not Lakewood had an adequate police force to handle the high levels of crime.
Lakewood PD reports nearly 400 employees and over 100 volunteers. They are reportedly fully staffed to within a few positions. Recruiting is always ongoing. In fact, Lakewood is currently recruiting a new police chief. Full staffing but increasing visible crime suggests a disparity.
There are multiple methods to determine optimum staffing levels, including per capita and workload. Per capita appears to be the easiest and most common. Workload staffing is time intensive and costly. According to an International City/County Management Association (ICMA) analysis, staffing by crime level is different than workload analysis. They also find that tying staff numbers to crime “essentially provides incentives for poor performance and disincentives for good performance” and is rarely used anymore.
Examining police staffing per capita with data provided to the FBI
The data show that Lakewood is within average for officer staffing levels. However, anecdotal evidence from the crime forum and nextdoor.com tells of officers being overwhelmed and slow to respond due to high number of calls. Visible evidence is seen by the increasing number of Lakewood stores that must employ private security.
Crime statistics for Lakewood are published in an annual report. Per the report, Lakewood saw a significant increase in identity theft (143%), wire fraud (68%), and theft of motor vehicle parts (61%). Lakewood saw a decrease in shoplifting (-27%) and theft from building (-19%).
According to AreaVibes.com, Lakewood would rank an F for crime.
Lakewood Chief of Police Daniel McCasky wrote: “Lakewood is changing to meet the needs of its residents… These improvements are only possible if people are and feel safe.” Do you?
On October 1 there was a Lakewood townhall meeting on affordable housing. Ward 5 Councilors Janssen and Strom hosted the meeting but representatives of all wards were present. Speakers at the meeting were representatives from Metro West Housing Solutions (MWHS).
MWHS is a developer active in Lakewood since 2008, before that they were active in the market by a different name since 1974. They work to develop and manage properties for households with income that is 30-60% of the median household income level (ie <30% of the population).
The question was asked, what about affordable housing for residents that don’t meet the income requirements. The answer was that it’s a question for Lakewood City Council and they are looking into options.
Options for what any government can do to intercede in market pricing has many precedents, but few working solutions. Rent control and price fixing are failed examples of government intervention.
Metro West Housing Solutions provide modern-day examples of problems with trying to be affordable. Example 1: MWHS only rents property. By their own admission, they could not sell properties they develop because even at cost the price would not be affordable. If they do sell the property to one entity, that entity can (and does) sell the property at a higher price because that’s what the market will bear.
Example 2: One of the target demographics for MWHS is seniors on Social Security income, income which is often not enough to afford to move out of their large houses into a more manageable-sized unit. Allowing a senior to move into MWHS property may result in a larger home being sold. For affordable rates? Generally not, since said senior will have to get the most out of the property they can.
Government favoring low-income, or affordable, housing is sometimes done by allowing developers who include affordable housing to build more than others. This is called inclusionary zoning. Once again, there is enough data to show that these policies have not worked in the past.
Bigger picture, the city meeting did not and could not address the problem for those people who do not qualify for affordable housing. Most rents and mortgages will remain the same and those rates are rising. The reason for this is easy: Colorado is a desirable place to live and Lakewood is a prime location for work and recreation alike.
The solution to high prices is generally to increase supply. In this case, build more homes. Since rental units are exempt from the Strategic Growth Initiative, building more apartments is an easy answer. That is good for the individual but is it good for the community?
High residential communities have an increased burden of infrastructure, including traffic and police. Without the increased sales taxes from retail and commercial properties, high-density residential can have a hard time paying for increased infrastructure. For example, when asked about crime, a Sergeant from the Community Action Team said that low-income housing does not have more crime than other units, but that any place that has a large parking lot was a target. However, no solution has been offered on how to provide enough security so that people feel safe.
There were also conflicting stories offered on how new high-density growth will affect surrounding home prices. MHWS representatives claim that studies show home prices in the area go up. A local resident that was present argued she personally knew people whose home prices went down drastically after high-density apartments were built in place of the originally planned strip mall.
The meeting had some ideas for the future, including adding MWHS as a line item to the city budget and holding a future meeting on economic development.
At one time, our schools were so full that many had “temporary” buildings to house all the students. At one time, we the taxpayers voted for money to remodel buildings through 2022, assuming the schools would be used. At one time, school land was permanently lost after being sold to developers. Jefferson County is still living with the effects of these decisions, but Jeffco School Board seems intent on not learning from mistakes.
Jefferson County School Board is voting to close 16 schools throughout Jeffco by consolidation. The school consolidation plan is based solely on student enrollment. They are not considering the economic impact on the school district, the staffing budget and least of all – impact to the family. Was it studied? There is also no mention of the effect on public trust by spending money on remodeling buildings they propose to close. For example, Green Mountain Elementary School was remodeled through the summer of 2022, and if approved by the Board, will be closed less than two years after the remodel.
Can the economic benefits be fully understood without a 10- to 20-year plan, including future demographic changes and defined economic plans for the real estate? Abandoned buildings can cost millions to refit. Acquiring lost assets can cost even more, if even possible at all. Apparently, future plans for the land and buildings will be considered in January, so have not been factored in at this point.
In an age where parents beg for smaller class sizes, Jeffco touts the ability to combine small classes into larger ones. Jeffco School Board itself does not list any benefits to THE STUDENT for school consolidation, besides “services and activities”
Data is not presented that families would wish to close schools because of a lack of “services and activities.” In fact, since those who desire that option can already use the School Choice Program, the remaining families demonstrate the need or desire for schools to remain open. Public outcry, both online and in public meetings, demands to keep current schools open. Reasons given include household economics and neighborhood social ties.
Public outcry is impassioned. There is at least one online petition to keep Jeffco schools open. Reasons listed on the petition include student safety, long-term neighborhood viability, property values, and equity. See Jeffco’s site to find that a plan is already in place with unambiguous terms that this WILL happen.
No information has been presented regarding population studies, including data that has already been collected from constituent cities. When asked at public meetings, the answer was that the board is studying the issue. Interesting to note that schools like Foothills Elementary, which will apparently survive the consolidation, was once under-enrolled to the point of considering closure but is now the school of choice due to demographic change. Studies on how many other schools are in similar condition are unavailable.
Alternatives to full school closure have not been presented. For example, closing half the building, alternative staffing models or engaging charter school models. Statistics discussed at public meetings indicate enrollment declined by 20% due to covid; however, enrollment could increase by 20% if we really understood the deeper reasons of what drove them away. Such statistics also disprove the notion that students remain for extra “services and activities”.
How times have changed.
When Green Mountain Elementary School was opened in 1963, Lakewood wasn’t even an incorporated city but the residents numbered around 90,000 (https://www.lakewoodtogether.org/Lakewood50/news_feed/fifty-years). Population has increased to 156,000. Statistics indicate that enrollment numbers are not the problem. Jeffco schools numbered 39 in 1950 and now total 166. The key appears to be long-term planning for long-term changes and asset management. That is what Jeffco residents are missing to believe the best choices are being made for Jeffco schools.
