Lakewood Being Considered for All-America City
Letter from Celia Greenman regarding The All-America City Award – National Civic League
I am writing because I have heard that Lakewood is being considered for the All American City award. According to your website, some of the areas of focus for this year’s theme are:
Removing barriers to participation in civic life
Improving public meetings through innovative practices
Undertaking reforms that give people a meaningful say in public decision-making
Creating a stronger sense of belonging and community
Promoting deliberative forms of public decision-making
Advancing equity and inclusion
In the above six categories I would say the City has failed. Since the election of the new mayor in November, public comment has been pushed to the end of the agenda, whereas it had been historically in the beginning after the opening ceremony. Mayor Strom has said this is to allow Council to complete their business, whereas a former City councilman once responded, “The people’s voice is the City’s business”. The change in schedule means that people who work, have families, and/or who rely on public transportation can be excluded from in-person comment. Remote Call-ins have been restricted because of recent hate speech. Comments submitted on a web forum are often unread by City Council (a notation at the end of a comment signifies the number of council people who have read the comment. At the April 22 Council meeting, a motion to adjourn was passed, leaving three councilors without an opportunity to give a report that might have provided diversity of thought. Therefore, I conclude that the City has not removed barriers to participation in civic life or improved public meetings.
Also, whereas planning departments in Greeley, Ft. Collins, Colorado Springs and Golden are extremely helpful, in my experience, returning calls and emails the same day I left a message and sending out requested information immediately, Lakewood has a convoluted process where instead of being able to contact staff directly by email the message goes through Lakewood requests with a 3 – 5 day response period. (The legal department does not respond to the public). Although the city has hired a communications manager we now are getting more on social media sites like Facebook and Instagram but less regarding publication of upcoming Council meetings and their proposed agenda. The report on the City Council Annual Planning Retreat was available two weeks after the meeting (this states the priorities and goals that Council has set for the upcoming year) but has not been mentioned in any city mailing. Another city publication (Looking @ Lakewood) formerly included reports from the City Councilors in all the wards in each issue which kept the public informed about the city as a whole. Now one ward is highlighted in each issue. In addition the City, while proclaiming in City Council meetings that the schools that have been closed are not under the purview of Lakewood but rather Jefferson County, has held private meetings with the Jefferson County School district’s COO and a non-profit organization for the homeless community regarding the next steps for one of the elementary schools. The meetings have been held with no public input. This does not align with the City removing barriers to participation in civic life or undertaking reforms that give people a meaningful say in public decision making.
In 2019 Lakewood voters approved a Strategic Growth Initiative to limit the growth of development in the City. Despite this support from the people, Lakewood continued to find exemptions and ways to continue to construct large non-descript apartment buildings. Some of these projects allowed no input from the public. One such project, under consideration, is located directly adjacent to a park that Lakewood describes on its website as “the crown jewel in Lakewood’s park system”. The six-story 412- unit luxury apartment building went through 2 years of process in the planning department before notice was given to surrounding residents and the public. Decisions were made by the Planning Director and Community Resources Department to allow the developer to pay a fee in lieu of donating the parkland acreage that is required by City ordinance, and which could have buffered the development and saved mature trees, of which 65 are scheduled for removal. People opposing this project have repeatedly been told there is nothing the City can do. Development projects are not reviewed by City Council and have not been referred to the City Planning Commission in over 12 years. Therefore, I conclude that this does not create a stronger sense of belonging and community, and does not promote deliberative forms of decision making.
For years a local university has been purchasing property for university use, which is against the City zoning code. In spite of the fact that the City (with contributions from two Citizen Interveners) won a lawsuit against the university in Jefferson County District Court and the decision was affirmed by the Colorado Court of Appeals, city staff still refuses to enforce an ordinance pertaining to the prohibition of university uses in low density residential neighborhoods. This is an equity issue and an illustration of how the City is willing to set aside a court ruling that favored neighborhoods to support big money interests, in this case a university. Therefore, I conclude that the City is not advancing equity and inclusion.
In summary I do not know the qualifications of the other finalists for this award, but I hope other cities are not as dismissive of citizens’ desires to be included in the civic process as Lakewood has been. The pervasive feeling of constituents is a lack of trust, transparency and accountability for our local government. That shouldn’t be characteristics of an All Star City and I urge you not to consider Lakewood for this award. However, if the award is based on just political conditions, the qualifications really do not matter.
Sincerely,
Celia Greenman
Lakewood, CO