Rocky Mountain Voice

Tag: City Council

Longmont Approves Data Center Restrictions to Safeguard Power and Water
DENVER7, Approved, Local

Longmont Approves Data Center Restrictions to Safeguard Power and Water

By: Maggie Bryan | Denver7 Longmont City Council voted 6–1 Tuesday night to ban hyperscale data centers, capping facilities at 5% of regional grid capacity or 100 megawatts, whichever is lower. LONGMONT, Colo. — Longmont is drawing a line against hyperscale data centers, passing an ordinance Tuesday night that sets limits on facility energy consumption to protect the city's power grid, water supply, and neighborhoods from impacts seen elsewhere across the country. In a 6-1 vote, Longmont City Council passed a city ordinance capping data center energy usage at either 5% of the region's grid capacity or 100 megawatts, whichever is lower. City staff said 100 megawatts is enough to power between 10,000 to 30,000 homes on a hot summer day. Longmont joins a growing ...
Lakewood taxpayers face 30-year shelter obligation after city grant deal
Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, Local

Lakewood taxpayers face 30-year shelter obligation after city grant deal

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project From a recent edition of the Lakewood Informer (copied here with links intact): “Lakewood purchased 8000 W Colfax Avenue to use as an emergency shelter and Navigation Center using a grant from the state to fund the property purchase and renovation. As a condition to getting the grant, Lakewood committed the property to shelter use for 30 years. No public discussion about this condition occurred when City Council authorized the purchase. At an annual operating cost of $3,000,000, that’s a $90,000,000 commitment that was not disclosed to the public. That makes the Center severely underfunded, with declining neighborhood support, and may be one reason for the proposed city sales tax hike.” This was startling to ...
Aurora Limits Police Communication Raising Questions Over Public Safety And Transparency
Approved, Local, The Denver Gazette

Aurora Limits Police Communication Raising Questions Over Public Safety And Transparency

By Kyla Pearce | The Denver Gazette Proponents argue arestees have a right to privacy until adjudicated An Aurora City Council decision to alter social media policies for the police department has raised concerns from press freedom and public safety advocates, who worry that limiting what police can release to the public will impact safety and limit media professionals’ ability to access crime information. City Council members and local activists who support the policy changes, however, say they are not intended to limit information sharing, but rather to protect due process and limit what they describe as “harmful editorializing” in police communications. The resolution, which passed Monday with four “no” votes from the city’s conservative lawmakers, would bar Aurora Police Depart...
Aurora Rejects Police Coordination Plan With ICE Facility Amid Public Concerns
Uncategorized, Approved, Local, The Denver Gazette

Aurora Rejects Police Coordination Plan With ICE Facility Amid Public Concerns

By Kyla Pearce | The Denver Gazette Aurora City Council on Monday rejected a memorandum of understanding that outlined guidelines for Aurora police officers responding to the GEO Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility. After more than an hour of public comment and discussion, six councilmembers voted against passing the MOU, killing the proposed agreement. Aurora Police Department officials have said the MOU was written simply to clarify the role of APD in responding to emergencies at the ICE facility in Aurora. More than a dozen members of the public attended Monday night’s meeting to object to the MOU, saying it does not help with public safety and rather supports ICE in its poor treatment of detainees. A report released in early March b...
Federal Heights Residents Demand Answers After Police And Fire Chiefs Ousted
CBS Colorado, Approved, Local

Federal Heights Residents Demand Answers After Police And Fire Chiefs Ousted

By Gabriela Vidal | CBS Colorado Four days after the Federal Heights police and fire chiefs were seemingly terminated from their positions, community members are speaking out against what they say has been a long history of retaliation against first responders in the community. "No one is sharing anything, and then with them both being terminated, by an email, without knowledge, is just not okay in any shape or form," said Renee Lund, a Federal Heights resident and volunteer victims advocate for the city. Multiple residents spoke before city council leaders Monday night, expressing their frustrations with what they felt has been a lack of transparency and accountability from the council and City Manager Jacqueline Halburnt, who they say was responsible for bo...
Why we started Mesa County Compass
Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, Local, Top Stories

Why we started Mesa County Compass

By Ruth Kinnett and Lisa Fry | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice In June 2023, we were sitting at a kitchen table watching headlines move faster than facts. A recall effort was underway against District 51 School Board member Andrea Haitz, and something didn’t sit right. We kept hearing fragments — social media posts, clipped quotes, secondhand outrage — but we couldn’t find the full conversation. So we decided to start one. Mesa County Compass began on June 10, 2023, during that recall effort. At the time, we believed the full truth had not been properly revealed and that Haitz was being unfairly accused of something she had not done. What started as a response to that moment grew into something larger — a platform dedicated to conversation, clarity, and giving p...
Denver Urbanism Push Part Of Progressive Agenda to Discourage Automobile Use
Complete Colorado, Approved, Commentary, Local

Denver Urbanism Push Part Of Progressive Agenda to Discourage Automobile Use

By Mike Rosen | Commentary, Complete Colorado Bicycle lanes in Denver are much more than just a nuisance for motorists, they’re a small but glaring symptom of the radical progressive mentality of Democrats that have grossly mismanaged Denver government in recent years. This is a sad reflection on Denver voters, who have brought this on themselves. Worse than useless and ridiculously underused, they obstruct traffic and pose a safety hazard for bicyclists and pedestrians. The lanes on Broadway north of Speer Blvd. are positively laughable, repositioning cars that were parked at the curb now out into a former traffic lane and inserting the bicycle lane in its place.  Vehicles making a left turn crossing that bicycle lane do so at the peril of cyclists, which can also be sa...
Greeley Voters to Decide Fate of Sports Arena and Private Housing Development in Feb 24 Election
DENVER7, Approved, Local

Greeley Voters to Decide Fate of Sports Arena and Private Housing Development in Feb 24 Election

By Claire Lavezzorio | Denver7 Ballot question 1A would repeal zoning changes already approved by city council for entertainment district featuring sports arena, water park & hotel. GREELEY, Colo. — Greeley residents will soon cast their votes in a special election over the future of the Catalyst & Cascadia projects. Catalyst, a city-owned project planned for the city's west side off Highway 34, would include a sports arena for the Colorado Eagles, an indoor water park and hotel. A second component, Cascadia, involves private residential development. The Feb. 24 special election will ask voters to decide whether to repeal zoning changes already approved by the city council through Ballot Question 1A. Bill Rigler, spokesperson for the&n...
DUI arrest tests public trust as Aurora councilman keeps safety oversight role
Rocky Mountain Voice, Local, Top Stories

DUI arrest tests public trust as Aurora councilman keeps safety oversight role

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice When an elected official is arrested, the expectation is simple: the law should apply the same way it would to anyone else. But public office brings added scrutiny that doesn’t disappear once the legal process begins. Those questions are now front and center in Aurora following the DUI arrest of Rob Andrews, who serves on City Council and chairs the council’s Public Safety, Courts, and Civil Service Committee. Since the arrest, Andrews has leaned heavily on due process, saying there are “inconsistencies” in how the incident has been described during the January 26 Aurora City Council meeting. The police report, body-camera video, and official responses show what happened — and why the public debate has shifted....
Loveland City Council Votes To Reset Homelessness Policy
CBS Colorado, Approved, Local

Loveland City Council Votes To Reset Homelessness Policy

By Dillon Thomas | CBS Colorado The city of Loveland is moving forward with two major changes to the way it is tackling homelessness in Northern Colorado. In a Loveland City Council meeting that lasted until nearly 2 a.m. Wednesday, the council finalized two votes to start making changes. "We have been a failure at (addressing homelessness). We need to do something different," said council member Kalina Middleton of ward three. The overall sentiment of everyone in attendance for the meeting was that Loveland needs to change the way it addresses topics involving the unhoused. No matter which side of the debate people fell on, everyone seemed to agree the current situation was not sustainable. "As Loveland continues to grow, the unhoused population for b...

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