A Lakewood resident gave an impassioned speech about how crime has dramatically increased around the Lakewood Navigation Center. She spoke immediately after City Council passed their new ordinance to allow more transitional housing for homeless. This resident lives near the new Navigation Center shelter and has had her life threatened multiple times. Council members, like Council Member Low in Monday’s meeting, like to point out studies where crime has decreased around pallet homes or shelters in Los Angeles. What they don’t say is that crime first dramatically increases due to the city’s policy of enabling crime through compassionate non-enforcement and enabling of unhoused activities. “Today is the third time in less than three months that my life has been threatened…. These people told me they would knock me off my bike, beat me to death and kill me.” “They go back there and smoke their crack and smoke their meth.” “When we call the police, WE become the criminals.” See this Lakewood resident speak at video minute marker 2:05:30 Transcript: I live [in Ward 1]. The Garrison station’s there, the James Richie park is there, the action Center’s there, and just a few blocks from that is your Recovery Center. I can’t walk to the grocery store. I can’t ride my bike around my neighborhood from all the drugs and you all sit here with all this enthusiasm to help the homeless. I’m not an uncompassionate person. I have compassion to help those that want to help themselves. Drug addicts...
Resident generated news about Lakewood, Colorado
Resident generated news about Lakewood, Colorado
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Lakewood City Council amended the building code to allow transitional housing for homeless on September 9. There were no defined programs, no defined projects, no defined locations, no operational guidelines and no defined structures. City Council Members spent most of their comments defending the lack of specificity by saying this is just the first step. They pointed to the housing crisis as evidence of need. Council positions are summarized below. The vote was 10-1, with Councilor Olver being the sole no vote. Programs can start as soon as the city acquires land, which was not approved in the 2025 budget. Councilor Rein proposed a contentious amendment that would require the city to own or control the housing programs. There was push back from Council Members Shahrezaei, Mayott-Guerrero, Stewart, Cruz, Low, Nystrom, and Sinks. The feeling seemed to be that Lakewood should buy the land with taxpayer money and allow the programs but essentially give it to private actors to use for the homeless. An interesting note is that many Council Members frequently mention their work for non-profits while advocating like they are soliciting donations, rather than legislating from a government responsibility standpoint. There is a homelessness crisis and if we don’t do anything we are complicit…. People have a right to shelter. – Public Comment, Amber Varwig Rein eventually removed his owned or control language. That means any non-profit can control the program. As Council Member Shahrezaei pointed out, this includes faith-based programs. Once approved, the city will have no...
Local author started a substack newsletter to talk about things bigger than just Lakewood. Check it out when you have time. Time to Sue Colorado? From Somebody Should Do Something A group of young plaintiffs recently won a suit against the state of Hawaii. The suit centered around the failure of the Hawaii DOT to reduce transportation-related emissions. Now, someone should do Colorado. Colorado might claim that they are trying to cut down on people having to drive. While failing to mention that it is due to the state’s and municipal failures of planning that so many people have to drive to their jobs. Regional Transportation District (RTD) has been in existence since 1969 (so, since before many of us were born) and it (along with CDOT) has failed to implement, maintain and adapt a transportation system comprehensive enough to eliminate the need for most to drive on a daily basis. Why did the RTD and Denver, and Colorado state legislature fail to secure the rights of way for future transit build-out decades ago, when the land cost the proverbial pennies on the dollar? Read more…
Press Release A Resolution drafted by the Lakewood Planning Commission sought to address inadequacies in the process for Major Site Plans. The request for a Resolution came from Rebekah Stewart on City Council and was in direct response to the 6-story apartment complex planned directly adjacent to Belmar Park, its lakes, and established natural habitats. The Resolution notably promoted a paragraph recommending there be “an evaluation of the potential effects of a park adjacent development on habitats with the park, including any demonstrable effects on park flora and fauna”. In the Sep 4 discussion of the Resolution, Commissioner Kolkmeier mentioned that this was not a new concept and that Ft. Collins has an ordinance exactly on this topic, so that there were models available to draw from. However, Commissioner Buckley stated that he did not know what Ft. Collins experienced from this ordinance, and therefore recommended striking the paragraph from the Resolution. After a half-hearted round robin where other commissioners stated “perhaps we could recommend that City Council review the Ft. Collins ordinance” and “it’s unfortunate not to address the ecology at all”, the commission voted 4 to 1 to remove the paragraph and not consider protecting the environment in a review of Major Site Plans, even when they might be located adjacent to a park. There is well documented peer-reviewed research of the adverse impacts of adjacent development on wildlife from increased noise, light pollution, pets – especially cats, bird strikes on window glass, and general human-caused disturbance. An...
Red light and speeding traffic cameras are a contentious and well known issue. Lakewood specifics from the staff memo:
Lakewood is following Denver’s lead on allowing micro-communities, or pallet homes, to be built in Lakewood. This program would provide transitional housing for the unhoused. According to Denver7, Lakewood is considering building these housing units themselves. Lakewood remains opaque as to their intentions and where these communities might be built. The vote to change the municipal code is Monday, September 9. Micro-communities are the kind of affordable housing that city officials have been talking about for years. Residents have been interpreting “affordable housing” to mean housing that teachers could easily afford. In reality, studies have shown that the only the homeless and extremely low-income need additional housing units. Micro-communities would fill this need, especially since they are generally subsidized by taxpayers. As one Lakewood resident points out on LakewoodSpeaks, Denver is spending $7 million on 200 pallet homes, a cost of $35,000 each. The new Lakewood municipal codes and pallet homes do not address long-term solutions. Denver has been spending increasing amount without seeing a decrease in homeless. Denver receives first batch of tiny homes as it looks to house 1,000 homeless by the end of the year Lakewood is already seeing the new navigation center acting as a magnet to attract homeless to Lakewood. As reported in the Lakewood Informer news, Lakewood hired a consultant to change the zoning codes to densify neighborhoods. This was done without finalizing the comprehensive plan and without alleviating the problems that high-density brings, like increased parking problems. The proposed changes eliminates the need...
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