Resident generated news about Lakewood, Colorado
Resident generated news about Lakewood, Colorado
Jeffco and Colorado are now net emigration but Lakewood is still concerned about growth. By Aldo Svaldi, asvaldi@denverpost.com Colorado’s economy will continue to crawl along next year, with GDP growth strengthening but job gains remaining sluggish as some of the state’s highest-paying sectors shed jobs, according to the 2026 Colorado Business Economic Outlook from the University of Colorado.
Defending the referendum requires legal counsel. Regular residents cannot navigate full legal proceedings alone. Although there can be no issue committee at this time, and therefore no campaign donations, an attorney is stepping forward to assist. If you wish to support the effort, donations can be sent directly to:
From Ramey Johnson's newsletter When I served on the Lakewood City Council (2010–2020, Ward 1), we voted on changes to the zoning ordinance in 2012. That process required months of resident input and several citizen committee meetings before it ever reached the council for a final vote. It ultimately passed 8–3. I voted no. Under normal procedure, city staff—typically the Director of Planning or Public Works—presents updated versions of ordinances to the council for consideration. However, council is not made aware when new language is inserted into ordinance drafts that shifts additional authority to the Director of Planning (currently Travis Parker).
Former Lakewood resident Kip Kolkmeier has filed complaints about the referendum signatures on behalf of Joshua Comden and Reverend Ben Hensley. The complaint alleges very technical violations about the referendum petitions while also complaining about the hearing itself. Without documented procedures, the hearing officer is free to use their experience to guide a successful, neutral process. Kolkmeier disagrees and dictated how the complaint process should be handled, including the hearing and even who is allowed to talk to the City Clerk. The eight bullet points listed in Kolkmeier’s hearing complaint are not suggestions for future hearings. They are demands to be implemented immediately. He uses words such as “shall”, “is” and “must.” This is a complete departure from suggested advice and does not acknowledge various alternatives of holding public hearings.
The independent hearing officer made a determination absolving Lakewood and the referendum petitioners in the campaign finance complaint. The complaint was registered by Kip Kolkmeier against the zoning referendum petitioners. The findings say that there is room for interpretation how to safeguard a democratic government. All the information on this is included at this link to the independent hearing officer’s decision. The document is 197 pages in length but includes the original complaint, the City Clerk’s response to the Complaint, the 8 page hearing officer decision and the full transcript of the hearing.
Struggling social media site Nextdoor published and raved about these 13 recent posts on their site. They described the author as a ‘trusted neighbor’ who was ‘making a difference in the neighborhood’! They also repeatedly encouraged the author to keep posting and asked ‘What will you share next?’ and displayed a large button to create a new post. Then suddenly, the exact same posts that neighbors were ‘really interested in’ were banned with no notice and no warning as being SPAM even though Nextdoor had repeatedly encouraged the author to post such content on their site.
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