LAKEWOOD INFORMER

Public comment from a Lakewood, Colorado local, Marge Callum, had over 45 million views as of March 5, 2024. The clip has been posted for 48 hours at this time. Great job making local and national news, Marge! Posted on @elonmusk.

Guest post by Lenore Herskovitz On March 1 and 2, 2024 City Council held its Annual Planning Meeting. Mayor Strom and Councilor Stewart organized the event. The City used the same facilitator as last year (Point b(e) Strategies) but unlike last year there was no recording of this meeting. Ironically, one of last year’s priorities was “Effective, accountable, transparent, and data-informed government”. This seems like an appropriate time to look back on how successful the Council has been in achieving its 2023 goals (3 of the 6 proposed goals will be discussed). The first: Secure, inclusive, and affordable neighborhoods. The focus regarding housing was provided by the Strategic Housing Plan which was discussed in a Study Session in the beginning of 2023 and then at the end of the year. This is an ongoing process. Additionally, the Housing Policy Commission was going to take up where the defunct Development Dialogue Committee left off in April, 2022 targeting, in part, affordability and inclusionary zoning. The Housing Policy Commission spent close to a year formulating Short Term Rental (STR) legislation. Once this passed in March 2023 the Commission was free to take on the other housing issues. Their first meeting was held in May of last year. Two following meetings occurred ending in July, then nothing for the remainder of the year. Two proposed meetings were cancelled. The second: Short and long-term solutions for the unhoused. There has been some progress in this area with the opening of RecoveryWorks Navigation Center and...

Two, separate, eyewitnesses confirm that an extended bus of migrants was dropped at the Hometowne Studios at 6th and Kipling, in Lakewood, Colorado. The first report came in on Monday, February 26 during a City Council meeting where Lakewood Mayor Wendi Strom would later say she feared a busload of migrants would show up without prior notice. The news was confirmed the next day by a second eyewitness near the motel. An extended bus is the same as two regular buses and has been described as an RTD-style bus that was painted white. Hotel management has not returned calls. Denver responded that they have no involvement in any hotel in Lakewood. Mayor Strom responded promptly on February 28 that she was not aware of such a bus. A high-ranking city official has said that a private group is paying for the hotel.

Does the Lakewood Police Department (LPD) check the ICE database when making arrests, as was common practice before Colorado became a sanctuary state? Would Lakewood Police release a person charged with a crime before Immigration and Customs Enforcement ICE could file a detainer, as happened in Georgia with Laken Riley? What does Lakewood PD do if they find someone with uncertain immigration status? What are the processes and policies for Lakewood to cooperate with ICE? From January 17 to February 7, a series of questions and open records requests were submitted to Lakewood PD to answer these questions. The intent was to establish whether Lakewood was cooperating with ICE or acting as a sanctuary city. After almost a full month, on Feb 12 at 5:15, right before the big City Council meeting at 7pm, Patrick Freeman, the Senior Police Legal Advisor for the Lakewood PD, called to say they couldn’t understand what was being requested. He said policies were online and could be found there – exact page unspecified. So after emails dated January 17, 24, Feb 7, registered mail and phone calls, the answer was to find the answer yourself on an unindexed website.  Can you find the answers to these questions in one of the links, sub-links, etc. below.  Yes, this is a list of approximately 600 links that is the self-service method to answering citizen requests regarding policy. Freeman repeatedly stressed that he was not trying to be difficult, he just couldn’t understand the request. This is...

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