Lakewood Informer

Resident generated news about Lakewood, Colorado

Lakewood Informer

Resident generated news about Lakewood, Colorado

housing

Lakewood Chooses Which Lives to Save- Homeless First

By Lakewood News from KarenPosted on Posted in UncategorizedTagged , , , , , , , ,

Lakewood has spent time and money trying to find a correlation between homeless deaths and cold weather. This might seem obvious, but Lakewood elected officials want to claim the number of lives saved. However, the statistics don’t cooperate. There are no weather-related deaths identified amongst Jefferson County homeless. The leading causes of non-natural death in Lakewood are from mechanical falls, drugs and suicide which far outpace weather exposure. City Council is not spending millions of dollars on those causes. Even the number of homicides in Lakewood outstrips the number of deaths from exposure in all of Jefferson County. No increased spending on police. Is the priority really saving lives? Which lives are the responsibility of Lakewood government? Current statistics are that two Jeffco homeless a month present for help with hypothermia-related symptoms in emergency or urgent care. From 2020-2023, 8-12 Jeffco residents die from hypothermia per year. This category was not significant enough to break out in prior years. There is no data on which city these people are from or if they are unhoused. With the number of unhoused increasing in Jefferson County, the likelihood of any accident will also increase. The Jeffco coroner did not identify any deaths from weather-related or hypothermic causes among people experiencing homelessness” (from Lakewood Study Session presentation minute 14) It is an unfortunate reality that people experiencing homelessness suffer due to the cold. However, it is not a significant cause of death, despite what elected officials are saying. Lakewood Manager of Housing and Thriving Communities, Chris Conner, provided various reasons as to why homeless did not die of hypothermia, including that Lakewood is now saving them through the new shelter. The data shows that hypothermic deaths are not statistically significant in any Jeffco population, before or after the shelter started. From the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office 2023 Report City staff highlighted statistics from the Jeffco Coroner’s report which shows the total number of accidental (non-traffic) deaths across all of Jeffco. Weather exposure is the 4th leading cause of death in that category with a total of 9. MECHANICAL FALL: “The majority of accidental deaths investigated by the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office (JCCO) are due to injuries such as hip fractures or intracranial hemorrhages from mechanical falls in the elderly population. Accidental overdose or drug toxicity deaths also account for a large portion of accidental deaths investigated by the JCCO.” Given the statistics, unless they are elderly, an unhoused resident is far more likely to die from drug intoxication than exposure to the elements. A closer look reveals that the number of county-wide deaths from exposure is far less than the number of Lakewood suicides, traffic accidents or homicides. (Note that the traffic accidents did not occur on any road with the newly lowered speed limit.) Although most deaths are from natural causes, there were 15 homicides in 2023 and City Council has repeatedly refused to investigate crime as an issue. There is no breakdown of accidental, non-traffic deaths, that occurred in just Lakewood but those statistics have been requested for future reports. Westword did an in-depth investigation into exposure deaths among the homeless and found that all 8 deaths in that year were accompanied by drug or alcohol intoxication. Given the amount of death by drugs, if Lakewood’s goal was to save lives, a better priority may be to get into the business of mental health or drug treatment, rather than shelter.

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Lakewood Expanding Homeless Program

By Lakewood News from KarenPosted on Posted in UncategorizedTagged , , , , , , , ,

Denver’s Sanctuary City status has pushed many of Denver’s homeless into Lakewood. As a result, Lakewood has taken up Denver’s homeless industry and is building a multi-million dollar business. And just like Denver, Lakewood is relying on growing the homeless response. Left unsaid, is that to continually have more response, there must always be homeless to respond to – a reinforcing circle of political expediency that has caused Denver to be one of the worst in the nation despite spending $274 million. Lakewood’s latest study session reveals city staff expanded emergency days and City Council is asking for more. All without any council vote on a city homeless policy – which would easily pass but would require public hearings. All Council Members who spoke at the meeting encouraged more spending and more services for the homeless shelter. Several thanked staff for coming up with this policy although policy is Council’s domain – after a proper vote. Mayor Strom acknowledged on November 18, 2024 that homeless advocacy was a new thing for Lakewood to get involved in and there have been growing pains. She also acknowledged that having good communication to notify people when the shelter was open was very helpful. Council Member Mayott-Guerrero was also thankful for more communication between staff and Council but was concerned even more was needed. She asked if Lakewood had enough homeless navigators to get the word out to the homeless community. Like Mayor Strom’s statement, there was no concern expressed for letting the rest of the community know what was going on or if they agreed. Chris Conner, Manager of Housing and Thriving Communities, said several times that turning people away from the shelter was untenable and that Lakewood would need to grow services in order to be sustainable. He said he did not want to open the shelter permanently without knowing that there was overflow capacity, which the county is currently filling. Jefferson County provides hotel vouchers for shelter overflow. Vouchers are coveted commodities so Lakewood staff work hard to randomize so that no one can exploit a system just to capture a hotel room. Hotels may not be within Lakewood. Lakewood provides transportation to hotels, through Bayaud Enterprises. Jefferson County pays to bring people back from hotels in order to return the unhoused to Lakewood. Lakewood had a bid out, as of November 18, that would include paying for transportation again in 2025. The unhoused are incentivized, and reportedly prefer, to stay in Lakewood, a growing program. Lakewood staff has new emergency criteria that will open the shelter 50-70 nights a year while also increasing the amount of people served by 50%. Conners said that solutions to homelessness would be to either increase shelters or move people into housing. He said that the move to housing will be when he would be asking for more help in terms of personnel and budget, meaning he is not talking of personal homes. Keep in mind that Lakewood is altering its ordinances to allow for temporary housing, that seems to fit the definition of housing as a solution, i.e. Lakewood permanently funding housing for a population. In every case, the feeling is that more resources are needed with no limit. Councilor Sinks expressed the concern about getting the 24/7 operations started soon. Council Member Cruz acknowledged there is more need in Lakewood than we can currently handle so she welcomed the county program to pay for hotel rooms. She is happy that Lakewood expanded the days the shelter will be open. Again, no council vote was taken on any policy regarding days or policy to open. Many Councilors expressed the hope that other cities follow Lakewood, including Mayott-Guerrero, Cruz, Shahrezaei, Low, and Rein, and some asked how Lakewood could pressure other cities into participating. Will surrounding cities give in to peer pressure to start homeless initiatives or will they listen to their constituents first? Arvada had to cancel the plans of City Council after listening to residents. Lakewood is not even listening to the neighbors of the shelter as crime increases and Lakewood becomes a magnet for homeless. Mayor Pro Tem Shahrezaei expressed gratitude that city staff built a policy that includes what she was hearing from stakeholders. What stakeholders? There was no city survey like they do for much smaller projects such as an individual park plan or giant multi-step surveys to keep your tax dollars. And isn’t it the job of City Council to set policy? Shahrezaei’s statement acknowledges the runaround and backroom dealing that made this homeless shelter slash navigation center possible. Her statement also corresponds with that of Strom and Mayott-Guerrero, celebrating the increased communication with everyone but the community at large and only after the plan was implemented. Council Member Low thanked the staff for “framing the discussion around the hypothermia issue and the emergency room visits.” He went on to say, “I think that’s a very sobering but meaningful statistic for us to be looking at and hopefully we can continue to have that number be zero or as close to it as possible so if we could have the city continue to get us that at least annually to assess whether this is continuing to save lives.” There was no explanation as to why, if the number of deaths has always been zero or close to zero, Lakewood would need a shelter. It is unlikely that a shelter will decrease deaths below zero. Low is also interested in having city staff expand meal services at the shelter, an idea brought up by several councilors previously. He encouraged staff to increase the budget for next year as necessary to support the clear agenda of City Council regarding this activity. All Council Members who spoke at the meeting encouraged more spending and more services for the homeless shelter (Councilors Olver and Nystrom were silent). Nothing really new came out of the study session, except this may be the only time residents will hear that Lakewood will be expanding homeless

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Lakewood Cries Foul Over New Ordinance While Ignoring Own Laws for Years

By Lakewood News from KarenPosted on Posted in UncategorizedTagged , , , , , , , ,

By Regina Hopkins At the Lakewood City Council meeting on Monday, November 4, 2024, council members spent three hours deliberating a new ordinance, O-2024-28, and whether to approve it or send it to a special election, which was expected to cost Lakewood between $175,000 and $350,000. Despite expectations that the council would send it to an election, in an unexpected turn of events, the Council enacted the ordinance itself, arguing that doing so would save taxpayer money and expedite an inevitable legal battle related to the Colorado Legislature’s recently enacted HB 24-1313. While Lakewood cries foul over the supposed legality of the newly passed ordinance, its longstanding failure to enforce Lakewood’s own ordinances reveals the hypocrisy of the City’s stance. Ordinance O-2024-28, introduced by the grassroots group “Save Open Space Lakewood,” was sparked by the plan to build a massive zero-lot-line luxury apartment complex next to Belmar Park, the city’s crown jewel. This development became the final straw, igniting widespread outrage and drawing attention to the even larger issue of ignoring open space requirements throughout Lakewood and unchecked overdevelopment. Councilor Paula Nystrom highlighted the issue, saying, “We’re in an untenable situation, but there’s a reason we ended up here. Citizens shouldn’t have to protest, gather signatures, hire lawyers, or jump through hoops just to have their voices heard.” She continued, “The question isn’t whether this petition is perfect; it’s about understanding how we got here and how we can prevent this from ever happening again.” For the past 13 years developers have exploited loopholes in Lakewood’s ordinances without facing any repercussions, as the City repeatedly sides with developers at the expense of green space. The City’s prior ordinance, which required 5.5 acres of parkland per 1,000 residents for new developments, had been ignored every single time. This raises the question: Since 1983, when Lakewood’s first Park and Open Space Dedication ordinance was adopted as part of the first Municipal Code, and included a “fee in lieu” option, how many acres of land have been sacrificed to development rather than preserved through park dedication? Arguably, a significant amount. The City’s consistent approval of the “in lieu of” fee has undermined the intended balance of the original ordinance, leading to a significant loss of green spaces amid ongoing development. We are losing more and more places every day for plants and animals to thrive without human impact. Lakewood’s sudden focus on the legality of the new ordinance is a diversion, as the City tries to portray the citizen-led initiative as unlawful. This focus overlooks the fact that, for years, the City allowed developers to use the fee in lieu option without exception, failing to exercise thoughtful discretion in its widespread application across the city. Had the City exercised better foresight and applied reasonable common sense in enforcing the ordinances already on the books, it wouldn’t be facing this situation today. Instead, by allowing developers to contribute to the City’s coffers while avoiding actual land dedications and now hoping that the newly passed citizen-led initiative gets challenged in court, Lakewood is revealing its true priorities: supporting unchecked development that benefits developers while disregarding the needs of residents, the environment, and escalating larger concerns about global warming. Councilor Nystrom emphasized, “From all the studies done post-COVID, we know that nature is essential for people’s well-being.” She added, “Every apartment building should include green space… These are fundamental human needs, as well as environmental needs.” Nystrom’s perspective highlights an understanding of both human and ecological needs that is sorely lacking among many of her pro-development colleagues on the Council. Councilor Roger Low’s claim that Ordinance O-2024-28 would eliminate affordable housing is simply false. In fact, it would likely benefit those residents in affordable housing the most by ensuring access to green space, which is often overlooked in favor of prioritizing density. The real affordable housing issue lies with Lakewood’s failure to meet the urgent demand it has identified. The City has already overdeveloped much of its available land with luxury and market-rate units, leaving little room for affordable housing. Let’s be clear about where the responsibility lies—with the City itself. Lakewood’s overdevelopment has already created a barrier to meeting the community’s needs, limiting its options, while attempting to deflect attention by blaming O-2024-28. When the petition was initially drafted, it fully complied with existing ordinances and laws. However, the ballot initiative process takes several months, including time for gathering signatures, to move forward with a petition of this kind. As citizens gathered signatures in April and May 2024, their grassroots group gained significant momentum. In response, state lawmakers introduced a last-minute change to pending legislation. A paragraph provision slipped into HB 24-1313, a 62-page bill addressing Housing in Transit-Oriented Communities, in the final days of the Senate legislative session mandated that municipalities offer a “fee in lieu” option to bypass preserving open spaces. It’s no coincidence that the fee in lieu “amendment” passed as the ballot initiative was gaining traction—its success threatened the development industry’s profits by closing a longstanding loophole. This is a pattern of behavior we’ve seen before from the Lakewood City Council, driven by their ties to state representatives and developers, and it’s this pattern that has raised significant public awareness of the City’s disregard for community concerns. The City seems to believe Lakewood residents will happily and willingly sacrifice their green spaces in favor of overcrowded, high-density developments that prioritize profit over quality of life. But Lakewood residents love their open spaces, and for many, it’s why they choose to live here. They don’t want it to become just another extension of Denver’s metropolitan sprawl. The City’s push for new development, prioritizing growth over the well-being of residents, has failed to balance the needs of both current and future residents it claims to serve. The ballot initiative sends a clear message: Lakewood residents have had enough of overdevelopment and will no longer stand for it. This petition is a victory for preserving open space, reflecting the community’s desire to protect

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A Different Perspective

By Lakewood News from KarenPosted on Posted in UncategorizedTagged , , , , , , ,

By Lenore Herskovitz On November 4 the Lakewood City Council reluctantly voted to pass the Citizens Initiated Ordinance pertaining to park and open space dedication rather than send it to a special election. How and why did we arrive at this point? Citizen activism has existed almost since Lakewood’s inception in 1969. “The True Story of How Belmar Park Came into Existence” by Stuart MacPhail tells how Lakewood citizens were able to override the wishes of most of the early Lakewood elected leaders and administrative staff regarding the establishment of Belmar Park. A multi-year conflict culminated in a citizen initiated public vote where they were victorious by a 2 to 1 margin. In 2003, the mid-Lakewood residents banded together to prevent university incursion into their neighborhood. Through their perserverance they were able to get City Council to pass an ordinance prohibiting university uses in low density residential zoning. That ordinance was challenged in a lawsuit filed by Colorado Christian University in 2021. Prior to that filing, our own City Attorney told the public that the ordinance was discriminatory and unconstitutional and would not be upheld  by the Courts. Yet when forced to defend our law, the City won in both the District and Appellate Courts. In 2017, a grassroots movement promoted the Strategic Growth Initiative (SGI). In addition to inclusion of a 1% growth cap, the SGI established an allocation program and oversight for projects of 40 units or more. This initiative was stalled in the Courts until 2019 when the judge ruled in favor of the petitioners. In July of that same year, the SGI was passed by voters. In August 2023, the Colorado Congress passed HB23-1255 which repealed existing growth caps enacted in Lakewood, Boulder and Golden. These municipalities were given 24 months to develop a plan moving forward. The Lakewood City Council passed legislation one day before the House Bill took effect to sundown the SGI by August 2025.  Since  the Initiative had a severability clause, the Council could have easily removed the provision pertaining to the growth cap and retained the rest. Such a move would have honored the will of the voters and satisfied the state requirements. Interestingly, the Save Open Space(SOS) petition also includes a severability clause so if one part of it is determined to be illegal by a judge, the other parts could still remain intact. The repetitive statements claiming “We hear you” become meaningless when it doesn’t translate into action. The previous three examples of successful community activism can be categorized as David vs. Goliath battles. City officials and big money opposing residents. Citizens mobilize when they feel their representatives are non-responsive to their concerns. The repetitive statements claiming “We hear you” become meaningless when it doesn’t translate into action. For years there have been rumblings about how to balance open space and housing. Residents are justifiably upset because major decisions regarding developments are made behind closed doors and by the time the public is informed it is too late for their input to affect any change. These issues resurfaced last fall when details were revealed about Kairoi Residential’s plan to build 412 luxury apartment units adjacent to Belmar Park. Citizens began showing up at Council meetings on a regular basis to raise questions about traffic, safety, and environmental impact. The feedback they received was the typical “go away”. Although Councilors  were sympathetic, there was nothing they could do. A fee-in-lieu policy allowed developers to buy out of land dedication and that’s exactly what they did. It was discovered that the Director of Community Resources was supposed to re-evaluate the amount of the fee on an annual basis. She had not followed through since 2018 – a major oversight which needed to be rectified. To the public’s knowledge, no one was held accountable for this.  The citizens, frustrated by the lack of Council action, decided to organize and try to resolve these problems. The result was the formation of the SOS Green Initiative. Over the next 6 months community members volunteered to collect thousands of signatures on the petition (eventually close to 6500 were verified after submission to the City Clerk). In April 2024 Council held a Study Session to try and make modifications to the park dedication and fee-in-lieu policies. The meeting included recommendations from Norris Design and Duncan & Associates who had been hired by the City in the fall of 2023 to do an assessment of our fee-in-lieu and parkland dedication policies. No ordinance was proposed. There was a comment submitted on Lakewoodspeaks by Marianne Nagel and several others which introduced specific recommendations regarding calculation of fees, etc. that were less extreme than those in the SOS petition yet Council expressed no interest in adopting them. It is unfortunate that our elected officials and staff didn’t meet with the organizers of the Initiative and Marianne Nagel and her group to collaborate on creating an effective ordinance that incorporated the best of each plan. It should be noted that in June, the Director of Community Resources finally increased the amount of the fee-in-lieu (effective July 1 this year). The Council members were aware of the contents of the Initiative for months before the November 4 meeting and could have addressed their concerns before it was submitted. Instead the Council waited and used the special meeting to denigrate the efforts of their constituents. Two of the most vocal opponents were Councilor Rein and Councilor Low. Their hyperbolic vitriol was egregious. Councilor Rein was the only representative who stated definitively that the ordinance was”illegal”. This was surprising because he is an attorney and should be well aware that legality is not determined by City Councilors or even City Attorneys, but by judges in a court of law. Councilor Rein felt the public would lose trust in their elected officials if they  sent an “illegal” ordinance to the ballot box in a special election. Actually, misleading constituents increases the distrust that is already prevalent. Councilor Stewart stated that the Initiative could

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1515 Whippoorwill Update: Letter to the City from our Attorney, email follow up from the Mayor 

By Lakewood News from KarenPosted on Posted in UncategorizedTagged , , , , , , , ,

From Applewood Heights Community Organization Despite a 5 1/2 hour Subdivision Public Hearing on 8/21, regarding the development site and both the community and the Planning Commission sharing the same concerns surrounding the safety of the access through W. 15th Place, lack of street connectivity, and making our driveway unsafe to access/unusable in winter, the developer (Metro West Housing Solutions) submitted their 5th rendition to the major site plans to the City without addressing the safety concerns that the community and the Planning Commission had. The City has returned their redlines to the developer without addressing the concerns of the Planning Commission or the Community.   On October 14th, we filed a formal request with the City Attorney to have the Major Site Plan review to be turned over by the planning commission as today the City doesn’t have a public hearing for major site plans and it does not go before the Planning Commission. Site plans are simply approved by the Director of Planning. Attached is the letter that was sent by our attorney to Travis Parker via the City Attorney. We are still waiting to hear back from Travis Parker to see if it will be approved to go before the Planning Commission. We will keep pressing on this as we feel that with this being a complex site location, this should be put in front of the Planning Commission.  We also attended the City Council meeting which helped us to gain some traction with the Mayor and City Council. After the meeting, the Mayor and a number of City Council members have reached out directly to us. Below is the email written to us from Mayor Strom. While we don’t know what changes they are proposing, it is a step in the right direction.  “It has become public knowledge that City of Lakewood staff have provided design services to Metro West [Housing]. This kind of interaction only exacerbates the existing conflict of interest between the City of Lakewood and Metro West, which is the housing organization of the City of Lakewood.” From MST Evaluation Letter above On Thu, Oct 24, 2024 at 12:26 PM Wendi Strom <WenStr@lakewood.org> wrote: Jonna and team, Thank you for staying in touch on this, and for everyone’s time spent in reaching out to your Councilors and coming to speak to City Council recently. Though I’ve not lived in your area of Lakewood, I’m aware of some of the history and safety concerns surrounding this stretch of road and agree with you that the added the number of vehicles (and trips) to this space as a result of this project would likely only make things worse for your neighborhood (and the new residents that would ultimately be moving in).  I am working closely with Mayor Pro Tem Shahrezaei and city staff to address these concerns and with the hope of coming up with a solution that will not pose heightening these risks upon your neighborhood community.  While I do not have any solutions to report right now, I want to let you all  know that we hear you, that I agree that safety is the number one issue, and that work is being done to try to improve this project.  Thank you for advocating so tirelessly for your neighborhood, I know this has been a long road.  We’ll share more when we have it. Warm regards, Wendi Strom Mayor, Lakewood Colorado

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Lakewood 2A Passes – No More Refunds Ever

By Lakewood News from KarenPosted on Posted in UncategorizedTagged , , , , ,

Lakewood residents voted to give up their TABOR refunds forever. The measure started with Lakewood encouragement, used tax dollars to see what words messaged the best, and raised over $50,000 from people who benefit from city dollars. The money will be used for basic city services like parks and public safety, freeing up money for other city pet projects such as electrification and homeless initiatives. The final vote tally came out 61.7% in favor, 38.2% against. The first campaign committee report showed that a majority of city council members donated to the committee including Councilors Sinks, Low, Shahrezaei, Rein, LaBure, Nystrom and Mayor Strom. Greg Stevinson also donated $10,000. Stevinson just had more land annexed by Lakewood in May, 2023. The second report shows the Lakewood Police Union and Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 21 each made $10,000 donations. An interesting note is the $5,000 donation from the Colorado Gives Foundation. In 2024, Lakewood started a partnership with the foundation, appropriating $500,000 to give them* to develop more affordable housing (see budget book pg 23). *Correction 13 Nov – Lakewood appropriated the money to spend on Colorado Gives affordable housing projects but is not giving the money directly to Colorado gives. This circular relationship shows that the TABOR refunds will not just affect parks and potholes, as sold by Lakewood. Ironically, a day before the election, Councilor Roger Low went on a rant during the City Council meeting, expressing outrage that a resident petition was not honest with the residents who were signing it. He said that if residents were asked to sign a petition that is probably illegal, they wouldn’t have gotten as many signatures, and his hypothetical description is a “much more accurate title”. This sentiment was echoed by the majority of councilor, just like they agreed with the TABOR initiative language that there will be no new taxes. However, the city leadership failed to disclose that no new TAX RATES is not the same as no new TAX REVENUES. Lakewood residents will be paying increasing Lakewood tax revenues with the passage of this measure. The amount in resident pockets will get be lessened.

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$466,000 for Weather Sheltering

By Lakewood News from KarenPosted on Posted in UncategorizedTagged , , , , , ,

Lakewood has budgeted an ongoing $466,000 for Severe Weather Sheltering. This is a separate initiative from the Navigation Center but for now, the Severe Weather Shelter operates out of the Navigation Center. Once remodeled, the Navigation Center will have full-time sheltering capabilities. The Severe Weather Shelter is only for times when the temperature reaches below 32 degrees. In Colorado, there are about 153 days a year below 32. Lakewood leadership has not yet reached a consensus on sheltering options for the very hot days, but that discussion is happening. These are two separate discussions, weather sheltering and everyday sheltering, to serve different needs for the homeless population. The result is more homeless sheltering options and an increased budget. Money will come from the city General Fund. A decision on where to have a permanent Severe Weather Shelter has not yet been disclosed. Lakewood has also set aside $300,000 from the Economic Development Fund to donate to unhoused non-profits, as well as $9.5 million to buy property for potential homeless initiatives.

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Vivian Elementary, the Graham House, and the Isolation of a Neighborhood in Ward 1

By Lakewood News from KarenPosted on Posted in UncategorizedTagged , , , , , , ,

Guest Post from Laura Majors We all rely on our elected officials, both paid and volunteer to do the right thing, work together, and make the best decisions possible for the city, county, and school system.  When they aren’t talking, community amenities are put at risk.  Our neighborhood, in the north end of Ward 1, is in a position to lose many amenities that can isolate a neighborhood.  We are being handed “plans”,  then input is received and largely ignored, with a concession here and there.  Here are the example of what we are experiencing: Graham Park & Graham House:   The Graham House and Park were donated to the city for a park with house for meetings and education.  Last Autumn, a small group of neighbors and HOAs (in a largely non-HOA neighborhood) were notified of “improvements” to this park.  The plan included the demolition of the Graham House. The reason for the demolition plan was the cost of fixing up the building as event rentals had decreased, largely for the reason that the building had not been maintained.   According to counts of the responses on at the initial community meeting and on  https://www.lakewoodtogether.org/grahamparkimprovements , community members want to keep the building, yet this request was ignored.  The new plan after community involvement, is to demolish the building.  An open records request response said that there is no record of a legal review by the City Attorney whether or not demolishing the building in respect to our city charter is legal, section 14.3, page 40.   Today, I requested of all our city council members a legal review of the plan to demolish the Graham House within Graham Park.  If there is an objective lawyer out there reading this who would like to give a pro bono opinion to the community, please do. Vivian Elementary School:  JJeffCo School District decided to close Vivian Elementary School.  The school exists on a parcel of land donated in 1953 by the Larsen family, who farmed the land.  The family of the Larsens have indicated they would like the property to remain public.  Since the school closed in the Fall of 2023, neighbors say we are not receiving the priority #2 snow plowing around the school, making it more difficult to get out of the neighborhood onto priority #1 streets.  In April 2024, JeffCo Schools held a community meeting at the local library.  They were overwhelmed by the number of people from our community who were interested, so many that monitors were set up outside of the room for overflow.  Representatives from the school district told the community that the City of Lakewood had turned down the opportunity to purchase the land and building.    This municipal process was posted on the JeffCo Schools Disposition web site for how the process was supposed to go.  The first step of the process is to meet with city officials, yet no record of this meeting exists.   At the library meeting, the community gave clear feedback that a park was the best use of this land and indicated that the school district should go back to the city and ask again. Instead, Jeffco Schools went ahead with their next steps in the process to sell the land, which could result in up to 70 homes being built on the property.  Community members came forward in force with requests of the city to purchase this land for a park and possibly using the building for a recreation or learning center of some kind.   On September 13th at 12:00 noon, the City Council of Lakewood and the Jeffco School Board and Superintendent held a meeting.  The only topic discussed was the school disposition process and more specifically, Emory and Vivian Elementary Schools.   While the Jeffco School Disposition process has a community notification system in place for anyone interested in one or all of the schools, a notification did not go out about this meeting.  The meeting was mostly about how the process didn’t work and Jeffco Schools admittedly said that the municipal process needed to be more “formal”, and that the city would be given more time in the future to respond on whether or not a property was desired for purchase.  The additional time would allow the city to discuss plans with the community before giving a formal response on a property.    So, there are now direct negotiations for the city to purchase 3 acres from Jeffco Schools and Jeffco has asked developers to include that in their final plans.   A community group met with one of the developers at their request to look at their plan and give feedback.  The development plan was for the ballfields, basketball court, playground, picnic areas, parking lot, and school building to be demolished.    The plan showed 37 houses leaving 3 acres of park space. Unfortunately, this is the 3 acres on the easement under which a very large Denver Water pipe lies.  Likely, homes could not be built on most of this space anyway.  We lose our amenities, we gain an easement.  We would like to have a discussion with the city before all the amenities are gone.   10850 20th Street/Quail Street Park:    City Council approved the purchase of this land from Denver Water in the Autumn of 2023.  The city website says they have purchased it and will ask for community involvement after the purchase is complete. The portion on which Quail Street Park with a playground sits is a lease held by the city through 2028. The Assessor’s office shows the owner is still Denver Water.  I asked the city for clarification and was told negotiations are ongoing.  City Council members have described this land as “passive park space”, which denotes no ball field or space for organized sports. Removal of 20th and Oak Pedestrian Light:   In addition to these properties, a pedestrian traffic light at 20th and Oak was being reviewed for decommissioning.  Kids used it to get to Vivian Elementary School.  Neighbors responded to the request for input, saying this light connects the

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Land Taken by Eminent Domain Plagued by Crime – Ignored

By Lakewood News from KarenPosted on Posted in UncategorizedTagged , , , ,

The owners of Lakewood affordable housing are plagued by crime that is ruining their business and driving residents away. A piece of their property was taken by Lakewood in 2022 through eminent domain to be used as a bike path. Now that bike path, along RTD tracks, is home to so much illegal activity that the people living nearby are leaving their affordable housing to go elsewhere. Property owners made another plea to City Council on August 26 asking for police enforcement. Property owners met with RTD on September 9 and city representatives accepted the invitation to attend. However, no new actions or greater enforcement was promised. Property owners were urged to keep calling but their calls will remain a low priority since Lakewood does not prioritize drug use or vagrancy. “We have Section 8 people who do not want to live at our property and are moving out. We have higher turnover and vacancy costs. We are being put out of business by the issues going on across the street. Our business is to help and provide affordable housing.” – Property owner The owners have made hundreds of calls to police in the last years. The police are involved in several incidents but say their hands are tied so they try and disperse the people loitering, who then return and continue their activities, leaving evidence of drug use and drug deals on the property. City Council defends programs of selective enforcement or non-enforcement. These programs nullify the law, leaving people like these owners to watch their affordable housing become uninhabitable. Council has chosen to keep laws on the books that the city will not enforce. The Zephyr property used to have a valuable amenity, being on a quiet, dead-end street near the lightrail. That has changed. “…now it’s drugs and illegal activity. This isn’t watching people smoking weed. This is watching people doing hard drugs and bad things. All day every day.” – Property owner Unfortunately, this is not the first time these property owners have had to come before City Council. They came a year ago to plea for help and came once before that. They have been ignored for years. Points West still operates out of Lakewood to provide safe drug use material with county funding. (Read more about these complaints in Lakewood Informer news) Lakewood police told property owners that calls on infractions involving illicit drug use and vagrancy are a low priority call. On the day of the RTD meeting, RTD and Lakewood officials came to the property to find the remains of a campfire that vagrants had set the night before. Lakewood considers the space a park and allows people to stay. RTD also allows people to stay as long as needed. Lakewood does not prioritize drug use or vagrancy. – Policy of Lakewood Police as explained to property owners Note: Lakewood City Council supports this unofficial decriminalization of drug use and vagrancy out of compassion for the homeless. Watch the full video testimony here (minute mark 42:23): Transcript (emphasis added): We’re the owners and managers of 1320, 1330 Zephyr Street. We’re a family-owned business that was started in 1991. Over the last 10 years we’ve produced a portfolio of apartments, mostly in West Denver and in Lakewood. We currently own more than 300 units in Lakewood, and multiple properties along the light rail station. We take pride in providing safe, clean, affordable housing, and we are committed community partners, striving to make a positive impact. In the community we operate. More than a third of our tenants are on Section 8 housing vouchers. Our main focus today is the challenges of the transit population along Wadsworth Station specifically, that is affecting Zephyr Street and multiple properties along the light rail station. We purchased the Zephyr apartments in 2016. We improved the property investing in the units, common area, and had a stable, quiet property, um, that families enjoyed living in. In 2022, the City of Lakewood came and took part of the property via eminent domain to create a larger public walkway and bike path, and they took valuable parking from our residents. Since then, we’ve had ongoing issues with the transit population along the light rail that was once a valuable amenity to our tenants. Here’s our property, highlighted in green, the Wadsworth station is one block to the east of the picture, highlighted in yellow is the section that was eminent domain from our property.  Here is the southeast, southwest corner of our property, looking to the east of the light rail station is 2 blocks um past our property, um, and this shows the area that was eminent domain. I’m gonna just talk about some of the safety concerns and issues that we have since the property was taken this larger walkway, um, sits behind a chain link fence from our property and our tenants no longer feel safe. This is a place that was a nice area.  The street dead ends there. And so a nice public space and it’s now drugs and illegal activity. This isn’t watching people smoking weed. This is watching people doing hard drugs and bad things. All day every day. People don’t want their kids to use the bike path. Tenants don’t feel comfortable going and using the public transportation and light rail. What was once an amenity is now a nuisance. We’ve constant trespassing and public intoxication. So we have people that come onto our side and they come on people’s balconies, they break into our property in common area. We’ve had theft of our property of our tenant’s property and vehicles. With people using the bathroom out of the bathroom. People doing Schedule One drugs and doing other things that nobody wants to see all day every day at their apartment. It’s a health and safety concern.  They’re creating trash constantly, so the trash gets in between this fence and is littered onto our property. So WE have to go pick up

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Residents Feel Unsafe Around Navigation Center Crime Increase

By Lakewood News from KarenPosted on Posted in UncategorizedTagged , , , ,

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 are not housing insecure. Yes, they live on my street and they endanger me every single day. I can’t go and dump my garbage without this, okay (holds up can of mace). I can’t dump my garbage. It’s literally 20 feet from my house because I have to carry mace. Today marks the third time, not the second, I was a little upset when I called you today, the third time in less than three months my life has been threatened. Three times! Do you guys get threatened every day in your neighborhood? Do you have to carry mace just to dump your garbage? I doubt it. The police are familiar with this. Every time myself and my other neighbors contact [the police] we’re the criminals. Those of us that have worked hard all of our lives and paid for a place and pay our taxes and we’re the criminal. Oh but they’re homeless! Today the police officer when I called dispatch they said do you want to press charges and I said absolutely! These people, five of them, said they were going to knock me off my bike, beat me to death and then kill me, which was both the same thing. They asked if I wanted to press charges. I said yes. No one came. They told me to wait in the Action Center in the parking lot. I did for 15 minutes while they all dispersed and harassed me on their way out of town or wherever they were headed and then, when the cops finally got there after I called 911 the second time, three officers show up in three different $250,000 vehicles and go, “What do you expect us to do?” That was the response after they interrogated me, the victim. It was what do you want us to do. This is crap. You guys know it. The police aren’t doing anything. You guys have an ordinance sign ordinance 9.66.10. It’s got the City of Lakewood written on it and it says no trespassing in giant letters. It’s down to a ravine it also backs up to a derelict property that has drug dens on it. That’s all they do. They go back there and smoke their crack and smoke their meth. That’s what they do. I know it for a fact. I’m not just making it up to be mean to homeless people. This is a dangerous little corridor. It’s a simple fix folks and it doesn’t take $250,000 SUVs to fix it. How about you put a couple of e-bike cops out there. They could ride between Garrison and Carr Street and 13th and 14th and be busy 24 hours a day. 24 hours a day they would be dealing with crime

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