Forward sighted government

The City Council is wonderful about coming up with plans and visions for 15, 20, 25 years in the future. This is important, of course, but the problems we face today are immediate and obvious. There must be priority placed on the issues immediately impacting our families and communities over the longer reaching vision of a utopian city of the mid 2000s.  When on Council I will push for immediate action to fully understand and strategically plan for the following issues. And ultimately the preparedness for our problems today and in the near future will allow an easier path to reach the goals of our City’s bright future. 

We have already seen an initial attempt by the executive branch of the federal government to freeze government grants, and no one should be surprised if a more targeted plan with a better chance of holding up in court is attempted. What will be the response of our city? Not only to the city budget itself but with the support of our nonprofits, which nationally depend on 33% of their funding from these programs? Here in Lakewood my cursory investigation (meaning google) finds a range of 22%-27% of funding coming from government (based on 5 nonprofit sites that actually display their funding). What will be our city’s response? How much money is needed and how much will the city provide to make sure our at risk neighbors continue to get the help they need? From my questioning to those already on the council I know they are worried (as all levels of government) and there are questions of legality of such a freeze. That isn’t responsible government. A plan needs to be figured out now so we can use all the tools available and do things the proper way (elections, council, and committees) rather than have a city run on an all out emergency if the worst should occur. If nothing happens- you have a blueprint for a contingency plan in the future. We should explore municipal bonds to fund capital projects and apply the savings to our rainy day fund. We then need to assure the proper laws are made to ensure the accessibility of this rainy day fund should the worst occur.

With Aurora just beginning new sweeps of homeless camps under a new law not to inform residents ahead of time we will see an uptick in our homeless population. The ability to find solutions for our homeless must vary in range and target both short term and long term efficacy. I believe at a very low cost to the city we should consider opening up police station and the civic center parking lots for overnight “safe parking” for the disenfranchised living in their vehicles. Depending on the success of the program the council could explore mobile restroom facilities for future efforts to aid in moving people out of their cars and into homes and jobs. Additionally I believe a homeless locker program would benefit those in need, allowing freedom of movement without the fear of losing possessions. It’s hard to go to a job interview with a shopping cart full of your world. Little steps like this can make a big impact. 

The city has negative job growth according the bureau of labor statistics (-.7%) and our population had minimal decreases in the last 3 years (.06% in ‘24 and .03% in ‘23). This isn’t a healthy way for us to move into the future. Particularly when the city’s own projections say we need 5800 more housing units in the next 10 years to keep up with growth. And one of the best things we can do to help affordable housing is to provide a robust economy with good paying jobs. How can the city foster this? With smart growth policy which offers fast track for commercial developments based on job creation. We need to work with planning and zoning to expedite permits for large commercial projects and seize on the opportunities we have in our city to build healthy communities, and a healthy pocketbook leads to better physical and mental health. 

Again we see an issue that deals with the relation to the city with the federal government. I say we must be honest and real about the short term consequences of a Trump administration to our city and potentially beyond. Whatever your political leanings, I am going to be addressing stated goals of the executive and the problems it may bring. No judgments, no bias, just dealing with truth. There has already been discussion about closing all these types of federal facilities so we must consider this in the cards. As there are issues of environment of the facility (it’s a former munitions factory) it will not be an easy parcel to develop quickly. Presumably it could be a 60 acre fire sale from the federal government which will require high oversight from the city to assure the safety of the community. Should the city consider buying this property outright to save money on the long run during the clean up phase of marketing this parcel? Is it best to give this site a designation through clean up? Will there be funding from the federal government to assist in clean up? Is this too large a job to make private industry willing to assume the cost of clean up? We have more questions than answers and finding those answers are always cheaper today than in 6 months or a year or longer. I’d push for a study into the options and proper stewardship of this property entering in to our shared community while on council. 

Listen, no matter who you voted for and what you think the simple truth is we are a suburb of a sanctuary city and we are being targeted. What do we want as a community? Do we support raids in schools and churches? Do we encourage citizen activism to protect these once sacred spaces or do we succumb to the targeting of children and those who want to celebrate God?  I’m sure you can read my opinion there so you know how I feel and how I would vote on any issues that should come up on the council. The city may have to get a touch ceremonial on these issues via proclamations, but hope is needed from government too.
And on a seperate note I think we made to ensure that our police agency understands the legalities of their jobs and the path that they have taken. I have had two casual conversations with officers in other jurisdictions who believe they can be federalized and will assist ICE and their missions. There is no legal basis for such thinking. While I realize the Lakewood Police force is the pride of the metro area and the most professional police force in the state and beyond, a reminder wouldn’t be a bad thing. 

We have recently seen the devastation in California and our state is all too aware with the Marshall, Cameron peak, and pine Hayman fires just to name a few in recent memory. 4 of the 5 largest wildfires in Colorado have occurred since 2018. When on Council I would seek to strengthen the efforts by Roger Low to schedule meetings with west metro fire. We need to strengthen mitigation efforts to prevent the potential of future loss of life and property.

This needs a plan for both short term and long term solutions. We have already seen the increase of wildfires across the west, with Colorado being comparatively lucky compared to California, Washington, and Canada in the last few years. Most projections put the Denver metro area in the top 10 least climate change  effected cities in the country. And we all know how much Californians like Colorado already. I’ve seen a number of news articles regarding businesses considering relocation from LA to the Lakewood-Denver area. What do we do when the people follow? Just like the necessity of having to react quickly in commercial projects from planning we need to think now about the ability to move quickly on housing, particularly if should we find another major fire in the likes of California’s population centers. Without that- I guarantee  you that housing costs will sky rocket with the influx of Californian buyers that will shake every economic level and be a scourge on those most in need of affordability.