City Council Members Jacob Labure and Paula Nystrom asked for equal representation on the Budget and Audit Board, January 27, 2025. They were denied. Only three wards will be represented on the Board. The Budget and Audit Board is vitally important for accountability. Many policies and programs that staff originate are never disclosed to the public. They only show up in funding requests. And as evidenced by the 2024 vote to de-TABOR, city staff is not often turned down. Councilor LaBure was involved in the last rewrite of the Budget Board. LaBure fought hard to get each ward representation on the Board, saying it was common practice to not only have five Councilors on the Board but to allow any Council Member to come and make comments. Now the current Board doesn’t even allow comments. Councilors Shahrezaei and Mayott-Guerrero both said that allowing that many Councilors, as worked for years, would now be unmanageable. Shahrezaei pointed out that at one point, a single councilor made 37 questions to staff and that amount of work was too hard. There is no general rule for how many questions the paid city staff should answer as part of being publicly accountable for a multi-million-dollar budget. In 2024, when Mayor Strom downsized committee sizes, then-Councilor Rich Olver was upset to be removed. Strom explained that she thought she was doing him a favor because he often didn’t have time. Olver was not present at the meeting for the initial appointments to protest. But his...
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Resident generated news about Lakewood, Colorado
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As reported by CBS News, a fire in an abandoned gas station on February 3 endangered 20-30 homeless people who were using the building as a shelter. The situation underscores the need to re-examine several ongoing strategies, such as: Which of these policies were effective in de-escalating the ongoing safety situation? From CBS News, by Karen Morfitt Fire in vacant Colorado gas station doubling as shelter for unhoused highlights concerns of neighbors At around 10 p.m. on Monday night a fire tore through a vacant Colorado building that was once used as a gas station. The building at the corner of Alameda Avenue and Harlan Street in Lakewood was being used as a shelter. A resident of the apartment building next door captured video of flames shooting out of the building’s windows. “Thank God the response was quick,” Victor Garibay said. Garibay didn’t take the video, but he lives in the same apartment building. He and his neighbors raised concerns about people coming and going from the building several times. “A lot of people have gone to the police have gone to the fire department and told them about the issues here — people coming in and out. The drug use, of course. The police have come, the fire department has come but they never seem to really be able to do anything about it,” he said. Read article from CBS…
A special election to fill vacancies left by Rebekah Stewart (Ward 3) and Rich Olver (Ward 4) will be held March 25. This election has generated more candidates than recent elections, giving residents the benefit of choice. Below is the list of candidates and their respective websites. It will be updated as new information becomes available. Ward 3 Ken Cruz: https://www.cruzforlakewood.com Patrick Flaherty: https://votepatflaherty.com/ Pete Roybal: https://www.peteroybal2025.com/ Ward 4 Bill Furman: https://www.billfurman4lakewood.com Desiree Gonzales: Facebook Page: Councilwoman At-large Desirée González Nicholas Munden: https://www.progress4all.com/ Diane Rhodes: https://rhodes4lakewood.com Thank you to everyone stepping up to serve! Even campaigning is hard work! This is not an endorsement of any candidate. Paid for by the Lakewood Informer although this communication did not cost anything but someone will ask. Not authorized by any candidate or committee.
From the Jeffco Transcript, by Suzie Glassman, February 5, 2025 The fight over a controversial proposed apartment complex near Belmar Park is escalating as frustrated residents have reached out to the city council, and parkland advocate Cathy Kentner has moved to formally intervene in a lawsuit filed by developers against the city last December. Members of Save Belmar Park, a citizen-led group advocating for the preservation of open space, argue the City of Lakewood has failed to defend a citizen-led ordinance the council adopted after the group submitted the required number of signatures, leaving residents in opposition to the move no choice but to step in. The lawsuit began when Kairoi Residential, developers of a planned 412-unit luxury apartment building at Belmar Park, sued the city, claiming the 2024 ordinance, which prevents developers from paying fees instead of dedicating land for parks, violates state law. On Jan. 14, a Jefferson County judge granted Kairoi a preliminary injunction, allowing the apartment project to proceed while the case progresses. Lakewood didn’t oppose Kairoi’s request for the injunction, leading some residents to believe this inaction signaled to the court that the ordinance had little legal standing. Read more including the backlash over Lakewood’s legal strategy
Lakewood is using every tool at its disposal, and then some, to aid development at 4th and Union, known as The Bend. The latest proposal is to blight the property in order to include it in an Urban Renewal Project so that the Lakewood Reinvestment Authority can fund the development. The Lakewood Planning Commission voted unanimously to approve the first step of this process on January 22, 2025. However, despite a presentation on blight, there was no consideration of blight status for this vote and other developments in the area, like St. Anthony’s, did not receive financial assistance. Since the blight finding relies on environmental contamination, Lakewood should get involved in cleaning up a toxic landfill to make this legal, which is also not being proposed. This vote concentrated on whether the new development conforms with the Comprehensive Plan. The Comprehensive Plan was written by Lakewood to include this high-density development, which has been in the works since 2013. There was no examination of whether the residential units being built were needed per the provisions of urban renewal, such as mitigating slums. Examples of Games None of these factors were discussed or by the Planning Commission but one approval leads to another in this process. No elimination of slum or blight Per Colorado State Statute 31-25-102 (1), the purpose of a blight designation and urban renewal is to eliminate blight or slums. In a typical blight situation, there has been deterioration of structures that now need repaired. That’s not the...
Arvada is selling the building they purchased to run a homeless shelter and navigation center. Just like what happened in Lakewood, these centers were sprung on residents with little notice about actual details. People who may support the unhoused as a general conception may not support millions of dollars in spending in a previously undisclosed location. It turns out, residents did not like the concept as much as officials thought they would. Arvada officials listened to resident opposition and are now selling the building, unused. Completely opposite to Lakewood, who is expanding their program already. Read original article: City of Arvada to sell proposed homeless resource site following community pushback Dodging a Bullet By listening to residents, Arvada might have dodged a funding bullet. Lakewood’s homeless shelter is budgeted to spend almost $4 million per year, almost all from outside sources. Lakewood, on its own, cannot support this level of services. With federal funding now in question, which funnels to state grants, future funding is not looking so rosy. Colorado is already facing a $1 billion budget shortfall. And funding was never guaranteed in the first place. Arvada may prove to be twice wise by divesting an investment that cannot be funded.
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