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.
Graph from BestPlaces.net showing approximately 153 days below 32 degrees
Lakewood resident Wendy Purcell has formed an issue committee to fight against Lakewood’s ballot initiative 2A to keep your TABOR refunds. This is a David vs Goliath story. What makes someone step up when the entire city government is against her? Lakewood Informer asked her.
*Updated with links to previous articles below
What made you decide to start an issue committee against the city’s TABOR initiative?
We are so lucky to have Natalie Menten as our TABOR watchdog all these years in Colorado. I am a handful of concerned citizens that want to keep TABOR refunds for Lakewood residents. Thanks go to Mary Janssen & Lynnda Gies to help get the word out about the city of Lakewood’s TABOR constant requests to take our refunds away forever.
Do you think you can compete with the big money the establishment has raised? Stevinson gave $10,000 and the majority of City Council has contributed.
Yes we can
Why do you think Lakewood can survive without your TABOR refund money? Every department is making statements about how dire things will be if they don’t get more money. Are they believable?
No. The city needs a balanced budget to expand the city as quickly as possible without any pushback from the residents the city depends on. The city is lobbying through through taxpayer-funded communication agents and established facebook channels.
How does an everyday resident like you get your message out?
We had a few posts on a some websites. Lynnda Gies & I canvassed the intersection of Alameda & Garrison on 10/20/2024 & got a positive response from the drivers for voting NO on Lakewood 2A.
We will be at the City Council Meeting tomorrow (10/14/24) at 7pm and need your support and strength in numbers! There will be an opportunity to provide public comment for anyone interested. Address: 480 S. Allison Parkway, Lakewood
The City of Lakewood’s Housing Authority, dba Metro West Housing Solutions (“developer”), has submitted their 5th revision to the major site plans for the development at 1515 Whippoorwill (Williams Pointe Apartments) and the City has provided their redlines back on the revised site plans. Despite multiple City of Lakewood Planning Commissioners concerns on the lack of connectivity for this development and the Vice Chair of the Planning Commission’s plea to the developer and the City of Lakewood’s Planning and Engineering Departments to revise the major site plans for the safety of the intersection and the driveway redesign during the subdivision appeal, the developer did NOT submit any changes in their 5th revision of the Major Site Plans that would improve the safety or connectivity for this development and the surrounding community.
The City Planning Department has provided their redlines on this 5th version of the major site plans and is NOT requiring the developer to address any of these safety or connectivity issues. Major Site Plans do not have to go before the Planning Commission and are approved by the Director of Planning. Please ask City Council to recommend that the plans be turned over to the Planning Commission for review given the amount of public concern surrounding safety and connectivity. A formal request will be submitted to the City Attorney by Monday.
Major concerns still exist surrounding the development at 1515 Whippoorwill that Metro West Housing Solutions and the City are not addressing:
The safety/grade of the intersection of W. 15th Place & Youngfield St, which has had numerous serious accidents and vehicles already have challenges getting up W. 15th Pl in the winter. Access for the development through this intersection will compound an already existing issue by adding 300 more car trips per day through this intersection and the proposed “city improvements” is to “narrow W. 15th Place” to make it a more perpendicular designed intersection. This will route all vehicles, pedestrians and bicycles through the steepest section of W. 15th Pl, with no sidewalks and does not address the steep grade of W. 15th Place. This video is one car- what happens with 300 cars? City’s solution: when cars are stuck, call the police.
No Connectivity/no sidewalks for residents to be able to safely get to/from public transportation, school bus stops, and/or employment. The development will have 7 ADA accessible apartments and the target demographic for the apartments are families. The lack of connectivity poses a significant safety risk for everyone, but especially those with ADA accessibility needs and/or families with young children. City of Lakewood did not require an ADA referral and this makes Williams Pointe 100% car dependent for those with ADA needs. Not acceptable.
The safety of accessing our driveway as the developer with the help of the City is proposing to redesign the steep, north facing driveway and put a turn in the middle of it to accommodate the expansion of the dirt road next to our house as the only access point to the development
Please join us tomorrow and voice your concerns and /or show up to show support!
We will also be attending the Planning Commission Meeting on Wednesday in which Metro West Housing is requesting to rezone a Single-Family Residential lot to Multi-Family Residential. This is along Alameda and adjacent to 2 additional apartment complexes. Unlike 1515 Whippoorwill, this seems to be a much more logical location for apartments given that it is adjacent to public transportation routes, employment opportunities and would be between two apartment complexes.
Lakewood City Council stopped efforts by city staff to put up signs that would discourage panhandling or window washing. In July, Lakewood City Manager Kathy Hodgson proposed draft language that would ask residents not to give money to panhandlers. After getting feedback from Council Members in August, all efforts were put on hold. City Council apparently would not support putting such signs up. An online community discussion, summarized below, shows Lakewood residents are frustrated with Lakewood’s lack of action. Lakewood implies permission by continuing to deny action against it.
The proposed signs would not be a solution by itself. In fact, it would have blamed the givers rather than addressing the panhandlers. Other cities post signs similar to those below. Douglas County has claimed to have “nearly eradicated its own unhoused population with a simple message to its citizens: “Handouts Don’t Help.””
Examples of signs used by other cities. Lakewood did not have public drafts.
A recent discussion on nextdoor.com started with one Lakewood resident wishing that Lakewood would follow Arvada’s example by posting signs discouraging window washers. From the discussion, it is clear that most residents are frustrated with the presence of window washers in Lakewood. The key sentiments include:
Safety Concerns: Many residents express concerns about the dangers window washers pose to themselves and drivers by running through traffic, potentially causing accidents, and creating legal liability issues.
Aggressiveness and Intimidation: Several participants feel uncomfortable and even intimidated by the aggressive behavior of some window washers, especially when they continue to wash windows despite being told “no.” Women, in particular, report feeling harassed in these situations.
Policy and Law Enforcement: There is widespread frustration with Lakewood officials for allowing this activity to continue, contrasting with neighboring Arvada, where police reportedly prevent it. Residents feel that Lakewood is not enforcing existing laws and is not taking action to protect them.
Mixed Views on the Washers’ Intentions: While a few participants argue that window washers are trying to earn an honest living, most residents perceive it as an unwanted and intrusive form of begging, with some even equating it to harassment.
Desire for a Ban: A large number of residents would prefer that Lakewood implement a similar policy to Arvada, banning window washers from medians and intersections.
Overall, the general consensus leans toward a desire for stricter regulation or a complete ban on window washing at intersections, driven by safety concerns and the negative experiences of many residents. (Note: discussion summary and conclusion by ChatGPT)
Lakewood Police Department continues to try to reduce crime through methods other than increased law enforcement. Crime reduction is not mentioned as an expectation or result-benefit to any department goal in the 2025 Budget Book. For example, to meet the goal of “preserving a safe and peaceful community“, the police department will “encourage residents to use alternative reporting options for non-emergency incidents“. This will allow police to respond to emergencies faster, but does not increase response time to all calls or increase number of calls responded to overall. Average response time and number of calls were not given. Lakewood Police have been critiqued for not responding to calls in Lakewood news. Presumably crime reduction will follow some of these initiatives.
Other goals include “enhancing the public’s perception of safety“. For this goal, the police department will work with Human Resources to make sure police employees meet diversity standards, and ensure prompt completion of internal affairs cases. This assumes the public is aware of the results of internal affairs cases.
To “provide the highest possible level of customer service to the citizens of Lakewood” the police will disperse grant funds in low- and moderate-income areas for code enforcement.
There is no mention of enforcement targets, statistics, or crime enforcement priorities. For example, will drug use continue to be de-prioritized? Recently enacted new speed limits and traffic cameras are not mentioned.
Lakewood Police are not asking for additional staff in 2025. Instead, they will take advantage of Artificial Intelligence to streamline police report writing by using new software from Axon called Draft One. Some initial reviews of the software are very positive while others call out controversial points.
“One of the most pressing concerns is the well-documented propensity of AI models, particularly those based on large language models like OpenAI’s GPT-4, to “hallucinate” facts and perpetuate biases present in their training data. In the context of police reports, which carry significant weight in the criminal justice system, even minor inaccuracies or biases could have devastating consequences for individuals’ lives and liberties.” –Felipe Chavarro, Tech Ethicist
The money for new pallet homes, or transitional housing units, will come from Lakewood’s Economic Development fund. The 2025 budget also shows the city expects to spend $9.5 million on land purchases for unspecific purposes, also from the Economic Development Fund. Lakewood is waiting to start the transitional housing program until land can be purchased somewhere. The city budgets $300,000 for pallet homes. These homes will be a new program that Lakewood will provide funding and support for, but may be owned and run by an outside organization with limited oversight. The Economic Development Fund has traditionally been used to develop economic opportunities in Lakewood, but in 2023, Lakewood re-interpreted the ordinance to include safety and general upkeep of the city. Previous discussion on the transitional housing program did not include a business analysis of any economic growth potential this program would provide.
The $9.5 million for land purchases could be used for transitional housing land (for pallet homes), in whole or in part. By approving the budget, the city will have funds to allocate for purchases as it prioritizes.
State of the Economy
The budget presentation shows that median household income rose by 10% but the Jeffco employment rate is down by 1%, marking the need for more economic opportunities.
Lakewood will vote on a property tax increase on Monday. This will be done through the normal budget appropriation and mill levy certification. It is not called a tax increase anywhere. However, the 2025 Budget Book, page 62, explains that a temporary reduction in the mill levy rate will lapse in 2025. As a result, Lakewood residents will pay 6% more property taxes and Lakewood will collect an extra $15.5 million in 2025.
Property tax revenue and % change for 2025 (from page 62 of the 2025 Budget Book)
In 2023, former Councilor Mary Janssen fought to get Lakewood to comply with the Lakewood City Charter and only collect revenues that are legally allowed. That equated to a property mill levy rate of 3.85%. Lakewood Charter has a revenue cap, not a tax rate cap, to protect its residents from windfall taxes, like abrupt property assessment increases. City Council did not agree to Janssen’s original proposal, but they did lower the mill levy to 4.28 mills.
For one year.
Now that year is up.
On Monday, the Council will vote to approve the full mill levy of 4.711 mills, thereby increasing the rate by 0.431 mills from 2024.
Your property taxes will go up again this year.
“Natalie Menten, board director with the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) Foundation, emphasized the importance of TABOR’s protections: ‘According to paragraph 7(c), the maximum annual percentage change in each district’s property tax revenue equals inflation in the prior calendar year plus annual local growth (new construction). That safety cap protects taxpayers and gives very sufficient additional revenue to government agencies. Voters shouldn’t waive any tax revenue cap unless it comes with the 4-year sunset prescribed in TABOR.”
In 2023, then-Councilor Janssen found out Lakewood revenue from property tax was increasing 12.87%. The City Charter only allows for a 7% increase in revenue growth (see City Charter 12.12)
“Growth from projected 2023 to projected 2024 Property Tax Revenue is 12.87%”- Holly Björklund, Chief Financial Officer, Lakewood, 2023
Lakewood will increase property tax revenues over the amount permitted in charter, as they have in previous years, while advocating to keep your TABOR refunds.
Explanation of Overcharging from Bob Adams
Every two years (odd numbered years), Colorado requires all real estate to be reappraised. This was done in 2023 and resulted in a huge increase in property valuations. This reappraisal applied to property taxes paid in 2024. The Assessor uses the newly appraised county real estate inventory to prepare a report of the assessed value which is provided to all county tax authorities. Based on that report, the tax authorities are supposed to calculate the overall mill levy needed to provide services (pay their budget) for the following year. The approved mill levy is then used to calculate individual tax bills.
As published by the Colorado Division of Property Taxation:
“Each year county commissioners, city councils, school boards, governing boards of special districts, and other taxing authorities determine the revenue needed and allowed under the law to provide services for the following year. [In other words, prepare a budget]
Each taxing authority calculates a tax rate based on the revenue needed from property tax and the total assessed value of real and personal property located within their boundaries. The tax rate is often expressed as a mill levy.”
If the law was followed properly, there would be only a minimal tax increase.
However, Jefferson County and nearly all county tax authorities, including Lakewood, failed to adjust the mill levies downward to equal their budgets. Even Governor Polis sent a letter to all tax districts urging them to reduce mill levies. Most refused. Instead, nearly all kept a higher mill levy which resulted in property owners being overcharged and the districts received a huge windfall in increased tax revenue. Now, of course, the city and county have introduced ballot measures to allow them to keep and spend the overcollected tax revenue this year, next year and every future year. and eliminate all other revenue caps so they can freely raise taxes without a vote of the people now required by TABOR.
This is the cause of how tax revenues were overcharged and overcollected.
Zikr Dance Ensemble’s 2024 Fall Season is entitled “Secrets”. Highlighted on the program will be the world premiere of David Taylor’s “Liturgies” and a newly expanded version of the stunning “Ripples In The Sand”. Set to the electrifying Dune film score by Hans Zimmer, Ripples will feature new costumes and choreography and a breathtaking fabric canopy covering the entire stage. Also featured will be a reprise of audience favorite “Mobile”, the iconic miniature masterpiece by former Ballet West and San Francisco Ballet choreographer Tomm Ruud. Rounding out this mesmerizing evening of contemporary, multi-media dance will be Taylor’s “Altar”, and “Oracle”, a journey into the mysterious world of the ancient Greek Oracle of Delphi.
Sponsors: SCFD; Denver Ballet Guild; National Endowment for the Arts; Colorado Creative Industries; Community Foundation Boulder County; Colorado Gives Foundation; Denver Ballet Theatre Academy; Ouray County Performing Arts Guild; Highlands Ranch Community Association; Danah Fayman Performing Arts Fund; The Ute Events Center; Premier School of Dance
Zikr Dance Ensemble is a contemporary ballet company located on Colorado’s Front Range. Currently celebrating its 15thAnniversary Season under the direction of Artistic Director and principal choreographer David Taylor, Zikr offers a spectrum of works that pay homage to transcendent dance rituals and metaphysical concepts from many different ancient world cultures throughout history. The company’s original contemporary dance/theatre realizations are both dramatically engaging and educational and by exploring numerous ancient esoteric ideas through dance from all over the world, Zikr also promotes spiritual tolerance and multi-cultural understanding for the entire community. Zikr’s international roster is comprised of world class dancers from all over the globe selected through two highly competitive annual auditions. The dances in performance are supplemented by stunning slide projections and visual effects, completing a multi-media experience that audiences and presenters alike have found to be both visually and artistically stunning as well as intellectually captivating and spiritually uplifting.
The 2025 budget presentation included a sales pitch to keep your TABOR refunds. Each department made note of which projects would be funded by TABOR and made a simple statement along the lines of “Without the additional TABOR revenues, the city will have less revenue.” Lakewood’s Chief Financial Officer, Holly Bjorklund, dedicated extra slides detailing how TABOR retained tax funds were used, by the specific project and by the department, to make an impressive list of accomplishments. Staff did not note which projects would go away if sales tax revenue decreased. There was no note detailing ways to increase sales tax revenues through economic development. No Council Member asked to spend less.
TABOR retained funds accounts for 1.23% of all funds. In contrast, sales tax is the biggest source of revenue at 41%. Sales tax is also used for parks and police and all other city functions. It would be normal to focus on the bigger percentage of funds to present a clear budget picture. Instead, Lakewood focused on the single-digit, smaller source of funds. Coincidentally, Lakewood initiated a ballot vote to retain these funds permanently into the future.
TABOR is the most mentioned fund but among the least significant.
All this focus on TABOR by the city is to influence the upcoming vote that the city sponsored. If you have any doubts about Lakewood influencing your vote, see the list of TABOR-funded projects that the city has thoughtfully provided on its website.
There would be no need to focus on one, little, over-collected fund if the city would:
Spend within budget limits
Maintain a balance between residential service expenditures and incoming revenues
Maintain business growth to residential growth proportions
Note the jump in retained TABOR fund in 2017, coincident with the city’s ability to retain. “Through the ballot measure in 2018, Lakewood voters approved lifting the TABOR limits on the city’s budget from 2017 through 2025” – Lakewood 2025 Budget Book
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 neighborhood blocks, slows traffic on 20th, and was good for the community. The light was removed.
A neighborhood at risk of isolation:
A micro look at each of these decisions and the manner in which they were executed, taken individually, is certainly not palatable. And when looked at from a macro level, they indicate government entities not working together and in doing so, isolating a community from amenities which have been at the center of this community’s mental and physical health.
The City of Lakewood’s own research identified Ward 1 as the ward with the least amount of city park and green space per population. How is more infill acceptable?
We’ve lost a school, the center of community connection. We’ve lost a pedestrian light that assured the safety of community members walking our part of the city. We are losing a second community building through what seems to be intentional neglect with intention to demolish. Now we’re at risk for losing ball fields, picnic areas, and a playground with no assurances to replace these amenities.
With all the focus on mental and physical health, why remove those amenities that keep us mentally and physically strong, placing those budgets and efforts instead on fixing those things later at a higher cost?
