Brother Jeff Interview with Anita Springsteen

Cross-Post from Brother Jeff

Lakewood City Council, NAACP and What Happens When Power Fights the Power. 30 Minutes with Councilwoman Anita Springsteen.

https://www.facebook.com/jeff.fard/videos/2046875489008195

Highlights and notes from the video:

Anita Springsteen discusses the latest on Lakewood City Council.

Brother Jeff expresses surprise that Lakewood is seeing increased homelessness.

They discuss Aurora’s outstanding fireworks show and Aurora’s policy of discouraging residents from giving money to panhandlers.

Brother Jeff’s policy is “housing first”  – give people housing first and then address their issues.

Springsteen sees a problem with criminalizing people who go to county jail over and over again who can’t make a bond and that doesn’t solve the problem.

Springsteen highlights the case of Angela Selvage who died in a hit and run in May. Springsteen feels that people in her situation, down on her luck, do not have their cases investigated the same as others.

They discuss the “hierarchy of handouts” – bailouts and scholarships seem ok but not giving to panhandlers.

Brother Jeff gets a text inquiring if Springsteen knows about Jumbos Bar and Grill losing their license. She will look into it.

(see the end of Joan’s interview where she notices an uptick in permitting issues on Nextdoor)

An update on the death of Patricia Dilworth: She went missing in January, and her body was found a month later. Her death was ruled not a homicide. However, there is video surveillance showing Ms. Dilworth talking to someone when a car pulls up and Ms. Dilworth disappears. The owner of the video has been harassed regarding it and the video itself appears missing from the tablet that was given to the police, leading to questions. The autopsy also raised questions: the timing changed, hypothermia may or may not have been involved. The body was reported Jan 24 but it wasn’t found by the police for another week.

Ms. Springsteen is looking for members and organizing members of a new chapter of the NAACP. She hopes they may help in certain criminal cases. For instance, there was a story about a young girl being shot in Lakewood. In the beginning, the story was that two girls were involved in an armed robbery, pulling a gun and shooting a police officer. The next day, apparently the story changed to the girl pulling a gun but not shooting it. The story changed again to the officer being hit by friendly fire, which is unconfirmed at this point. Springsteen has asked for information and feels Lakewood PD is unresponsive to her requests.

Springsteen reports that Lakewood PD has not been keeping her informed of litigation actions involving the police department, which is a decision made by the Lakewood Attorney’s office, not Lakewood City Council.

Brother Jeff asks if other City Council Members are upset about these cases or are they afraid of not rocking the boat. Springsteen responds that there are six members who go along to get along, some of whom have political ambitions so may be afraid of pushback from the establishment.

Springsteen highlights the need for more information so that City Council can make sound policy decisions to fix existing problems.

Springsteen has lost a two year battle to gain information with the Colorado Department of Health. The lawsuit was dismissed to gain a copy of the waiver allowing use of ketamine. The Attorney General’s Office defended the Colorado Department of Health withholding the information. However, the Colorado Attorney General’s Office is currently prosecuting paramedics for administering ketamine in the Elijah McClain case, which appears to be a conflict of interest.  Springsteen personally witnessed someone getting involuntary dosed with ketamine.

Springsteen reports that one of her supporters in the battle to get information out was arrested in December, 2022, and has been in jail since that time on a $250,000 cash bond. She continues, “To put that in perspective, Derek Chauvin, who murdered George Floyd, had a $100,000 bond.”  This woman was accused of threatening City Council by email. Four City Council Members did not feel threatened, “but she got on the wrong side of some very important people.”

Springsteen reports on a viral video wherein a Lakewood woman went on a racist rant at the Green Mountain Swim Club. Springsteen believes this is a systemic problem that is perpetuated by Lakewood’s form of government.

Please email [email protected] if you’d like to help with organizing the new Jeffco chapter of the NAACP.