Author : Lakewood News from Karen

The Community Meeting held on March 12 got mixed reviews, with some residents giving the speakers rave reviews while others left early. Although one resident cited a lack of Lakewood specific information as the reason for dissatisfaction, others were glad for regional information that is now pertinent, given the local ramifications. The main speaker was John Fabbricatore, a subject matter expert, talking about statewide immigration policy. He explained how federal immigration laws would work if they were equally enforced. Kim Monson, of the Kim Monson Show, spoke about holding elected representatives accountable. Local resident and X star Marge Collum spoke about her experience with a video going viral and why people were grateful that she spoke out. Videos of some of the speeches are available below. Marge Collum started the evening, giving an inspirational speech about how her speech at City Council went viral and how many people appreciated hearing from her. She ends with, “Why do I speak? Because I am more afraid of what will happen if I don’t.” She speaks about becoming a citizen journalist and standing together as Americans. See her whole speech here on Rumble, or see the highlights here on YouTube. Fabbricatore is a subject matter expert on border issues. He discussed the history of ICE and how our laws would work if they would just be enforced. He says, “You will hear this argument that everyone who is here was let in and they are legal. That is not true. … They are here illegally and they were let in to see an immigration judge because they made a claim to asylum.” Fabbricatore also talked about the role of state law in blocking ICE cooperation. His advice is to whittle the state laws back to allow federal law cooperation. Fabbricatore’s full speech is available by clicking here. “I am not the only one on the stage tonight to say we are for LEGAL immigration!” -John Fabbricatore Meeting organizer Ramey Johnson says, ““This  community came together once again for a Town Hall  regarding our legitimate concerns about illegal immigration in Lakewood and how illegal immigration is affecting this city.   Financial and safety issues are real regardless of what you hear.  The more I know, the more I understand that elections have consequences.  We will continue to meet until our voices are heard”

Cross post from the Colorado Accountability Project …the issue here isn’t one along party lines.  It’s one where an arrogant group of politicians have no compunctions about limiting the public’s ability to see what they’re doing.  And they do this in direct defiance of voters saying they want more transparency. I take this CORA vote the same way.  This is legislators thumbing their nose at everyday Coloradans like you and me.  Read more at the Colorado Accountability Project Editor’s Note: Lakewood has taken no position on this or any other legislative item, including: prohibiting residential occupancy limits, higher density construction , more statewide land use control, allowing local law enforcement to cooperate with ICE The Lakewood Legislative Committee meets March 7 at 3 pm. An explanation of HB 24-1296 from the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition The introduced version of House Bill 24-1296 had given records custodians the power to consider anyone — except a journalist — as vexatious if that person demonstrated “an intent to annoy or harass a custodian,” limiting their access to public records under CORA for 30 working days and making them go to court to challenge that designation. Read more…

Public comment from a Lakewood, Colorado local, Marge Callum, had over 45 million views as of March 5, 2024. The clip has been posted for 48 hours at this time. Great job making local and national news, Marge! Posted on @elonmusk.

Guest post by Lenore Herskovitz On March 1 and 2, 2024 City Council held its Annual Planning Meeting. Mayor Strom and Councilor Stewart organized the event. The City used the same facilitator as last year (Point b(e) Strategies) but unlike last year there was no recording of this meeting. Ironically, one of last year’s priorities was “Effective, accountable, transparent, and data-informed government”. This seems like an appropriate time to look back on how successful the Council has been in achieving its 2023 goals (3 of the 6 proposed goals will be discussed). The first: Secure, inclusive, and affordable neighborhoods. The focus regarding housing was provided by the Strategic Housing Plan which was discussed in a Study Session in the beginning of 2023 and then at the end of the year. This is an ongoing process. Additionally, the Housing Policy Commission was going to take up where the defunct Development Dialogue Committee left off in April, 2022 targeting, in part, affordability and inclusionary zoning. The Housing Policy Commission spent close to a year formulating Short Term Rental (STR) legislation. Once this passed in March 2023 the Commission was free to take on the other housing issues. Their first meeting was held in May of last year. Two following meetings occurred ending in July, then nothing for the remainder of the year. Two proposed meetings were cancelled. The second: Short and long-term solutions for the unhoused. There has been some progress in this area with the opening of RecoveryWorks Navigation Center and the establishment of an emergency cold weather sheltering program. This topic will also be an ongoing challenge for the future. The third: Effective, accountable, transparent, and data-informed government. Two positives can be noted. The City has hired a Communications Manager, Angela Ramirez, who has been reaching out on various social media platforms in an effort to keep the public informed about citywide issues. Additionally, the Lakewood Police Department has begun posting a weekly activity summary called “Snapshots of Police Work” which includes calls for service, arrests, traffic stops, etc. This has been promoted on Nextdoor, Facebook, and in the Friday Report mailing. In spite of these inroads, problems far outweigh any progress that has been made. It is still difficult to navigate websites with additions being made frequently. There is confusion between when and where notifications should be posted on Lakewood.org (the official city site) and Lakewoodspeaks. At last year’s annual meeting a “one stop shop” solution was suggested. It never went anywhere. Now “Looking at Lakewood” which is sent to every household in the city only features one Ward per issue. Previously all wards and Councilors had an entry in each mailing. This created a sense of connectivity between wards. Now that source of information has been removed. We must maintain our monthly Ward meetings. Coffee chats and office hours with our representatives should serve as a supplement not a replacement for community gatherings. We are constantly hearing from staff and our elected officials how much they value and desire our input ( the latest buzz phrase is “community engagement”) on surveys, the Strategic Housing Policy and most recently the Comprehensive Plan to name but a few. Yet when it comes to turning suggestions and requests into actionable policy many feel it is an exercise in futility. Even obtaining information regarding this year’s annual meeting was difficult. Councilor Stewart told the attendees at the most recent Ward 3 meeting that the agenda and meeting information were available on Lakewoodspeaks. Evidently she had not verified this because the posting was on Lakewood.org without the agenda. The agenda was finally available to the public 24 hours before the scheduled event (this is all that is required). For years the public has wanted this meeting to be more accessible and transparent. Who decided not to record the event this year? And why? Where is the accountability? At its peak, nine members of the community attended the March 2 meeting in person. I attended part of the first day event (this was conducted by the Mayor with no facilitator present). I was the only community member there. Communications between staff, council members and the public are insufficient especially when discussing controversial issues. The city is often reactive instead of proactive which leads to confusion, anger and resentment. Too many decisions are made behind the scene by “anonymous” staff which fuels the lack of trust. Misinformation runs rampant among community members and within our governing body. There is mixed messaging and omissions of pertinent information leading to blame-placing from both sides.Council members have been negligent on following up on goals set last year. The City Manager was asked to provide quarterly updates on the established goals. Originally it was suggested that this be done in person but that was ignored and replaced by videos. The last available video that was posted on the city dashboard was from July, the end of the 2nd quarter (there are written updates but no videos that I was able to locate). The Council needs to provide oversight and hold the City Manager accountable when she doesn’t fulfill her obligation. This would hold true for any job but especially for someone who is our highest paid city official. The Council can weigh in on this when the City Manager’s evaluation comes up next month. A broader look back shows there were only 7 study sessions last year. The calendar allows for an equal number of council meetings and study sessions each month. The Belmar Park West project highlighted many problems including the land dedication/fee in lieu process. There should have been annual reviews by Kit Newland, Director of Community Resources since 2019. NOT DONE! The City Council was suppose to review this policy by the end of last year. NOT DONE! This is now scheduled for a study session on April 15, 2024, 4 1/2 months after the deadline that had been set. Interestingly, it only took the Council 2 weeks this past summer to pass an emergency

Does the Lakewood Police Department (LPD) check the ICE database when making arrests, as was common practice before Colorado became a sanctuary state? Would Lakewood Police release a person charged with a crime before Immigration and Customs Enforcement ICE could file a detainer, as happened in Georgia with Laken Riley? What does Lakewood PD do if they find someone with uncertain immigration status? What are the processes and policies for Lakewood to cooperate with ICE? From January 17 to February 7, a series of questions and open records requests were submitted to Lakewood PD to answer these questions. The intent was to establish whether Lakewood was cooperating with ICE or acting as a sanctuary city. After almost a full month, on Feb 12 at 5:15, right before the big City Council meeting at 7pm, Patrick Freeman, the Senior Police Legal Advisor for the Lakewood PD, called to say they couldn’t understand what was being requested. He said policies were online and could be found there – exact page unspecified. So after emails dated January 17, 24, Feb 7, registered mail and phone calls, the answer was to find the answer yourself on an unindexed website.  Can you find the answers to these questions in one of the links, sub-links, etc. below.  Yes, this is a list of approximately 600 links that is the self-service method to answering citizen requests regarding policy. Freeman repeatedly stressed that he was not trying to be difficult, he just couldn’t understand the request. This is absolutely possible but it is also true that many communication problems can be solved through discussion and questions. However, Freeman said it was not necessary for him to answer any questions. He quoted the open records statute to show there was no requirement for questions to be answered. Does this mean a state statute needs to be cited in order for Lakewood to answer resident questions? An exhaustive search of these policies is often impossible for many Lakewood residents and information overload is an effective deterrent. However, a cursory search did not reveal any polices regarding cooperation with any federal agency, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) or the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). Where are the policies for cooperating with federal agencies? Since the Lakewood Police Department could not produce any relevant documents in response to the document request, and will not answer questions, how can Lakewood residents know what is going on with their city? One Lakewood resident says, “I was present at the City Council meeting that Adam Paul declared that Lakewood would never arrest anyone for being an illegal, nor would our police ever refer anyone to ICE —even if arrested. Nor was  ID required by  the police.” The resident recalls Paul made the statement years ago when Denver declared its sanctuary status. This meeting would be captured on video but is hard to locate after all this time. Any city that offers sanctuary would not have a policy or procedure since it would not cooperate with ICE. If Lakewood is not a sanctuary, why do its leaders resist providing substantive policy or procedural information on how they cooperate with ICE? Why does their attorney find it difficult to understand lawful open record requests? Read more Read more here about how Lakewood is trying to build trust in the community, including increasing transparency: New Police Philosophy for Lakewood

In response to news about the letter from the Metro Mayors (see explanation here) Lakewood Mayor Wendi Strom said she was passionate about the issue and grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this letter.  At the February 26 Council meeting, Strom said she hopes it amplifies the voices of the Denver Metro area since we have seen so many migrants. She did not mention the voices of Lakewood, Colorado residents who have also been vocal about the issue. Strom went on to talk about the importance of planning, rather than the perception that this migrant crisis might be used as an opportunity to push for reform at the expense of border security. Strom acknowledged all the problems coming to the city, including overwhelmed non-profits and the conflicts between homeless and migrants. However, she said those problems are here and the city must deal with them while also addressing the needs of our residents. Again, Strom did not address solutions involving border security or removing sanctuary status, showing that although the letter might be bipartisan, it is not comprehensive and may not represent Lakewood resident viewpoints. The dialogue once again skirted the issue of who pays. The Metro Mayors letter asked for federal funding while Lakewood Mayor Strom said this was something Lakewood could do that didn’t cost money. However, Lakewood residents still pay federal taxes and removing state sanctuary status would also cost no money. This package of federal funding, new laws and fast track work authorizations have been part of nationwide immigration reform efforts. Mayor Strom says that amplifying voices for these measures is good planning. It could also be construed as “never let a crisis go to waste.” “You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it’s an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.” Rahm Emanuel

The recent purchase of the Mountain View Inn by RecoveryWorks caused some readers to question where the money came from. The Director of RecoveryWorks, James Ginsberg, responded that the “funds came from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) through the State Division of Housing’s Transformational Affordable Housing Grant.  RecoveryWorks applied for the funds through a statewide competitive process.” These funds are completely separate from the recent Navigation Center purchase.  

Cross Post from SaveBelmarPark.com Comments from Lakewood Attorney Kenley Brunsdale regarding the Belmar Park West major site plan review process: I spent my life as a lawyer working in administrative law arena. And so some thoughts come to mind. These negotiations took place in secret and quiet. Who knows what the city gave away for nothing. But this has been a really classic case of of that game that developers play and that should be eliminated. Click/Tap to read the rest of his comments