Colorado Dems will lose working-class votes if they support HB-1208
BY ALEJANDRA BEATTY
As both president of the Boulder Area Labor Council (BALC) and co-chair for the Coalition for the SelfSufficiency Wage, I have had the honor and privilege to help the fight for our most impacted workers: those making minimum wage. It’s taken us more than three years of making our case with Boulder County Commissioners and local cities.
When we saw Boulder City Council vote for an increase, all of us celebrated, and I expected to continue the discussions at the other cities. I was very surprised to find myself instead having to defend the position at the state level, a scant two months into minimum wage increases for the City of Boulder.
Much of the early press coverage of HB-1208, including in Boulder Weekly,
seemed to tout how restaurants are in crisis and in imminent danger of shutting their doors. Almost no one did even the bare minimum of research to understand what this means to the workers.
HB-1208 does two things: It overrides the decisions made by local governments (who spent months and months in their own analysis; years, in the case of Boulder) and it results in tipped workers earning less money. If you’ve ever had to live on underpaid wages, you know every nickel counts. Denver workers will lose a whopping $4 an hour, and Boulder workers will lose $1.72. This is wrong.
The restaurant lobbyists and business chambers couldn’t win at the local level, so instead they figured they’d just change the
MARCH 13, 2025
Volume 32, Number 30
PUBLISHER: Stewart Sallo
EDITORIAL
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Shay Castle
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CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Alejandra Beatty, Rob Brezsny, Michael J. Casey, Natalie Kerr, John Lehndorff, Dan Savage
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rules and they went to the state legislator instead. They should’ve been met with an incredulous, “We’re Democrats, we’re pro-working families, we can’t cut wages!” but instead were apparently met with open arms. Open arms that also, much like some of the early reporting, didn’t do any research, or ask for input from “the other side.”
Senator Judy Amabile, D18, was at the BALC Labor Day picnic where we chanted “Raise that stinkin’ minimum wage, Shouldn’t have to toil our lives away…” I thought she had even joined in, but guess I was wrong. I know for sure, she didn’t ask for feedback from us before drafting HB-1208. but it’s just one example of legislative activities undermining working families in some fashion or another. The governor opposed The Worker Protection Act; regulations supporting agriculture workers would be removed under SB-128. Thankfully, the new “DOGE for Colorado” in SB-135 that targets the Colorado Department of Labor died in committee.
With friends (Democrats) like this, who even needs enemies (MAGA)?
I know some of these Democrats don’t understand why working people stopped voting for them and didn’t support the Harris-Walz campaign. I give you the evidence here; bills like these are why.
Policies like cutting tipped wages will undermine working families. Working Families Party has a great memo for Democrats on this. In it, they wrote of the widespread unpopularity of measures that seek to cut wages for tipped workers, and the broader political implications of pursuing and supporting such policies.
“In the current political environment, the shifting allegiances of working class voters ... will determine our nation’s trajectory,” the memo reads. “It is hard to imagine any angle of analysis that leads to the conclusion that pushing deeply unpopular wage cuts for working people would be a way to effectively appeal to working-class voters. It is, in fact, almost guaranteed to repel them.”
Our coalition presented plenty of economic analysis showing that when people are paid better
OPINION LETTERS
wages, the local economy will thrive. People can afford to go out to eat when they make better wages, which seems pretty obvious. Obvious enough that it finally convinced at least two municipalities to make changes.
Our coalition would like to continue our advocacy at the local level. BALC was also going to start building programming to support our immigrant community, but instead we’re spending our precious funds — all originating from workers who pay dues out of their own hard-earn money — on preventing attempts to scale back wage increases. An overwhelming majority of Coloradans voted for Amendment 70 to raise the minimum wage; I don’t think we should consider overriding the will of the people so lightly.
If you agree with us, I invite you to contact your state lawmakers. Let them know you support workers.
Members of the house will be voting on this soon. While I hope this bill gets stopped there, feel free to email Senator Amabile (judy.amabile.senate@coleg. gov) and let her know that if she wants to be a champion for small businesses, she should consider not doing that at the expense of her constituents, most of whom have to work for a living.
Alejandra Beatty is president of Boulder Area Labor Council, a democratically elected body representing the interests of working people at the state and local level.
KEEP LOCAL RESTAURANTS ALIVE
Downtown Boulder Partnership, the Boulder Chamber and Visit Boulder are proud partners in supporting our community’s economic vitality. We work together behind the scenes and in the public realm to ensure that the people who live, work, play and visit here enjoy a high quality of life. We recognize that, in Boulder, most business is small business, and that’s why we take special pride in lifting up our friends and neighbors who work in and run them.
It’s no secret that the restaurant industry is suffering. In our work, we have daily conversations with restaurant operators who are struggling to make payroll — stepping out of their kitchens and their comfort zones to engage in coalition-building, as well as coming up with creative strategies and marketing ideas to increase their customer base so they can continue to operate. Many operate on razor-thin margins, and the minimum wage increases adopted by Boulder County, the City of Boulder and in Denver have increased costs further.
In Denver, where the number of restaurant licenses has dropped by 24% in two years, a steadfast group of operators initiated HB-1208 — a restaurant relief bill. This bill would help restaurants stay open by giving local control to municipalities to set their own tip offset credit (the minimum wage tipped workers are paid; a certain amount or percent lower than non-tipped minimum wage) and ensure that pay is more equitably distributed among front-of-house and back-of-house workers.
A lively and lovely restaurant scene is vital to our community’s wellbeing. Unfortunately, this bill has been politicized, and the rhetoric has abandoned civility. Hurtful flyers depicting bill sponsors have been circulated at the Capitol, and restaurant owners have been doxxed after testifying in support of the bill.
As the lead champions for small businesses in Boulder, we support HB-1208 because we want to continue sharing meals and celebrations, exploring cuisine from other cultures and countries, and gathering in our local restaurants. Our restaurants are a huge part of the culture that makes Boulder attractive to residents and visitors alike.
The folks who started restaurants didn’t get into this business to be politicians, but
for many of them, the circumstances are desperate. HB-1208 presents a reasonable, localized solution that might help them make it through this strange economic time.
We encourage you to help ensure the long-term survival of our locally owned restaurants by supporting HB-1208. — Bettina Swigger, CEO, Downtown Boulder Partnership; John Tayer, CEO and President, Boulder Chamber; Charlene Hoffman, CEO, Visit Boulder
MOUNTAIN GLACIERS ARE DISAPPEARING
Before and after photographs always leave a stark impression about the passage of time. I recently compared two photos taken decades apart. They told the story of a glacier, Rocky Mountain National Park’s Taylor Glacier, then and now.
I once ascended that glacier nearly 50 years ago on my way to a nearby peak. I had just moved to Colorado and was eager to explore the landscape so beautifully described in the book Land Above the Trees. As I crested the ridge, I began to see what Ann Zwinger and Beatrice Willard had written about with words that blurred the line between prose and poetry.
That fond “before” memory remains etched in my mind, a lasting reward for spending time in a magical place, Colorado’s alpine tundra. Comparing that image with the tragic “after” photo of the Taylor Glacier was a stunning reminder of the span of time we are living in. Natural history violated by human history. By continuing to pump carbon into our atmosphere, we are depleting our ice world, the cryosphere. When viewing the starving remnants of its former self, the future of the Taylor, and thousands of such melting glaciers, looks bleak. Many, like the Taylor, no longer meet the definition of a glacier.
The shrinking Taylor Glacier is just one small-scale example of disappearing mountain glaciers around the globe, half of which are predicted to be gone by 2100. The meltwater from Rocky Mountain National Park’s ice and snow is a microcosm of the bigger picture. It feeds the Poudre, Colorado and Big Thompson Rivers.
On a global scale, meltwater pours from seemingly countless glaciers that function as frozen reservoirs. This aspect of the hydrologic cycle provides a reliable water
Rep. Javier Mabrey, D1 (center) speaks in support of a labor rights bill at the Colorado Capitol on Nov. 19, 2024. Courtesy: Progressive Promotions
LETTERS
supply for nearly two billion people and the ecosystems on which they depend. The dire state of the world’s mountain ice has prompted the United Nations to declare 2025 as the Year of Glaciers’ Preservation. March 21 will be the U.N.’s first annual World Day for Glaciers. (Visit un-glaciers.org and unwater.org to learn more.)
In a world filled with people yelling “Drill, baby, drill!” I struggle to stay hopeful. We were too late to save the Taylor. What will become of this alpine world where “the
NEWS
BOCO, BRIEFLY
Local news at a glance
BY SHAY CASTLE
STUDY: 1 IN 15 AMERICANS PRESENT AT MASS SHOOTING
Two percent of Americans have been injured in a mass shooting, and 7% have been present for one, according to new research from CU Boulder. That means 1 in every 15 people have been at the scene of a mass shooting, defined as a singular event in which four or more people are shot.
The study, published in JAMA Network Open, surveyed 10,000 adults. More than half of those who identified themselves as having been present for a mass shooting reported the incident occurred in the last decade.
sky is the size of forever and the flowers the size of a millisecond?”
— Doug Yohn, Boulder
SMUG-GLASSES CLOUD VISION
In his recent Weekly Why article (“Why is Longmont hosting the Ice Climbing World Cup?” Feb. 19), Tyler Hickman questions why Longmont (which he references as Longtucky) would get an ice climbing world competition, instead of “Boulder, a climber’s playground, painted against the
Gen Z — adults born after 1996 are the most likely to have witnessed or been injured in a mass shooting.
“Our findings lend credence to the idea of a ‘mass shooting generation,’” said the study’s senior author, David Pyrooz, a
unmistakable Flatiron skyline...”
To answer that, let me start with an observation: Some people wear sunglasses, while others seem to wear smugglasses. Mr. Hickman’s smug-glasses let him see the Flatirons, but he can’t see the beautiful snow-capped Front Range from Boulder.
What he can’t see is something that Longmont has, that Boulder only talks about: a thriving diversity that makes Longmont the “reality” that exists outside of Boulder’s sometimes stifling “bubble.” Too many in Boulder think they embrace diversity because their dentist is Jewish, their house cleaner speaks Spanish and they drive a German car.
Smug-glasses can’t see through diversity. The diversity that Longmont embraces includes climbers and some of Boulder’s house cleaners; climbing gyms and fun thrift stores; a renewed old town, and more affordable housing.
Yes, there are those in Longmont who also know a thing or two about running, backcountry skiing, biking and other outdoor activities. Longmont hosts several triathlons and sprint tri’s every year, but isn’t
professor of sociology and criminologist in the Institute for Behavioral Science at CU Boulder. “People who grew up in the aftermath of Columbine have these unique experiences that are really distinguishable from the older population.”
Mass shootings and active shooter situations in the U.S. have trended upward since 2001, according to data from the FBI, Pew Research Center and the Gun Violence Archive. They are a relatively small percentage of U.S. gun deaths, which also includes suicide (58% of all gun deaths), murder (38%) and accidental shootings (including the the 3% of “other” gun deaths alongside individuals shot and killed by law enforcement).
Guns have been the leading cause of death for American children since 2020, doubling between 2013 and 2021.
just a bunch of white upper-class folks training for their next event.
Longmont hosts Colorado’s longest-running Dia de los Muertos celebration — something for everybody. And while Longmont might not have one restaurant for every 3.5 residents, like it seems down the Diagonal Highway, there’s some good eats in town.
Yes, come see the ice climbing competition. But first — take off those glasses.
— Rick Jacobi,
Longmont
THE PRAIRIE DOGS DID IT
The story of Buddy Boulder (“Have you seen this rock?” March 6) was marvelous and deliciously funny.
While Buddy Boulder was before my time, we all know it was the prairie dogs that put the kibosh on this mascot. They couldn’t have anyone or anything take their spotlight or remove them being the patron saint of Boulder.
I bet he’s buried in some old abandoned prairie dog hole — maybe on the South Boulder trail. Thanks for the giggles on this cold and dreary morning.
— Rebecca Johnson, Longmont
HELP THE GOVERNMENT; JOIN A BOARD
Two local governments are recruiting for city citizenstaffed groups to advise on parks, transportation, housing and more. Time commitments vary, but many groups meet just once a month.
LONGMONT
Around 170 residents serve on 22 boards, commissions and committees. Half of those groups are currently recruiting, including advisory boards for the airport, museum, library and golf course, along with decision-making bodies like the planning and zoning commission and water board. Applications close at 5 p.m. Friday, April 18. Learn more and apply: longmontcolorado. gov/boards-committees-andcommissions.
LAFAYETTE
There are 10 open seats across five Lafayette boards and commissions dealing with arts and culture, open space, historic preservation, mental health and older adults. Applications close Friday, March 21. Learn more and apply: lafayetteco.gov/245/ Boards-CommissionsCommittees.
Boulder’s application period closed Jan. 31. Appointments will be made at the March 20 council meeting.
IN OTHER NEWS…
• Wicked star Cynthia Erivo will deliver an April 7 keynote address at the Conference of World Affairs (CWA). Tickets are available for free starting March 17. The conference runs April 7-10 at CU Boulder.
A repeat photo series of Andrews Glacier in Rocky Mountain National Park shows a century of melting and shrinkage. Courtesy: D. McGrath, National Park Service
ADVENTURE FILM PROGRAM
FRI-SUN | MARCH 14-16, 2025
ADVENTURE FILM TICKETS AT BIFF1.COM/ADVENTURE
PROGRAM GC - 05
The 2025 Boulder International Film Festival Adventure Film Program features a suite of the world’s greatest new adventure films, with shorts, features, discussions with world-class adventurers and adventure filmmakers, as well as nonprofit groups working on the important issues in the adventure community.
Friday 7:30pm, Grace Commons Church Champions of the Golden Valley US, Feature Documentary, 81 minutes, 2024 Winner of Grand Prize and Audience Choice Award at the 2024 Banff Mountain Film Festival
PROGRAM GC-08
Saturday 2:30pm, Grace Commons Church MOSES – 13 STEPS
Germany, Feature Documentary, 105 minutes, 2024
Executive produced by Morgan Freeman Featuring interviews with Edwin Moses, Spike Lee, Samuel L. Jackson, and Neil deGrasse Tyson
PROGRAM GC-11
Sunday 1:30pm, Grace Commons Church TRI ME: THE SIRI LINDLEY STORY
US, Feature Documentary, 87 minutes, 2024
SPECIAL GUESTS INCLUDE
• EDWIN MOSES, two-time Olympic Gold Medal 400m Hurdles Champion
• SIRI LINDLEY, 2-time World Champion Triathlete
• JAMES BALOG, National Geographic Photographer and Extreme Ice Survey Scientist with the film Chasing Time
Fresh comes first at Abo’s. Everything is prepared daily, so whichever pie you choose is going to be tasty. Order off the menu or customize your pizza to your heart’s and stomach’s content. Why is Abo’s better?
“Definitely, it’s the ingredients!”
The dough is fresher, and the sauce is some of the best I’ve tasted. And I’m from New York, I know the difference.”
Located on the slope in downtown Longmont, 300 Suns Brewing offers a diverse selection of award-winning craft beers and bites in a friendly, hyper-local community gathering place. Recently, they celebrated their 11th anniversary with special beer releases, including Lane Hopper West Coast Pilsner, Margarita Gose, and Orange Cinnamon Roll Sour Ale. Swing by for Colorado Pint Day on March 5 and
The ovens start up at around 10 am and before lunchtime, hungry Abo-ites start coming in for a four-dollar slice (a meal in itself) or just give in and order a whole pie.”
Locally Owned & Operated
their 12th Annual St. Patrick’s Day Sing-Along on March 17 from 6-9 PM, and grab a corned beef on rye and drink specials. The patio is dog-friendly and has heaters, so you can enjoy Colorado’s 300 days of sun year-round. Check out our food specials and rotating beer selection, and indulge your inner Longmontster!
300 Suns Brewing
Since opening in 2003, Four Paws & Co. has specialized in premium natural foods and treats, including frozen diets and raw bones. Along with the excellent choices in food for cats and dogs, we carry supplements, grooming supplies, leashes & collars, toys, beds, and cat condos. It’s safe to say there is something for every pet in the store. There is also the Friends of Four Paws Frequent Buyer Program. You receive a punch card and once that is filled, you will receive a $10 Four Paws gift card. Last, but certainly not least, Four Paws
offers two special services. We can deliver the food you need to your door, and we have a pet sitting service. Stop in soon and see how
Four Paws & Co. can help you care for your best friend.
DESPITE NEW TRAINING, BOULDER PD USE OF FORCE NOT DECLINING
Officers pulled their guns 240 times last year
BY KAYLEE HARTER
Boulder police are pulling their guns at more than two times the rate they were four years ago 240 times in 2024 compared with 93 times in 2021, a new use of force dashboard released by the department revealed.
The data comes six years after Boulder police pulled their guns on Zayd Atkinson, a Black Naropa student who was picking up trash in his yard. Boulder settled with Atkinson, and introduced a series of reforms, including a revision to its use of force policy at the end of 2020 that included a de-escalation training program. That program, called ICAT, was found to reduce use of force incidents in Louisville, Kentucky, by about 28%.
But after a dip in use of force incidents in 2021, these occurrences have only gone up in Boulder. Each of the last three years (2022, 2023, 2024) had higher use of force incidents than in 2021, though 2024 had lower numbers than the previous two years.
Both 2022 and 2023 saw about 11% more use of force incidents than pre-ICAT 2020, though force was used 7% less in 2024 than 2020.
“The question I think the data answer is: Are those reforms working?” said civil rights attorney Dan Williams. Williams previously represented a Black man arrested by an officer with repeated allegations of excessive force. That lawsuit led to the release of past use of force data.
“I think the answer to that question is just an unqualified ‘No, they’re not working.’” Williams said. “That means, if the city is serious about police reform, which it consistently says it is, it really needs to look and try again, because we are moving in the wrong direction.”
‘TRAUMATIC EXPERIENCE’
Pulling a gun is just one example of a “use of force” in Boulder, defined as “any
physical strike, physical contact with an object or tool, or any significant physical contact that restricts movement of a person,” according to the dashboard. It includes using a gun, less-lethal projectiles like foam projectiles, using or displaying a taser, takedowns and pepper spray.
Boulder police drew firearms about 100 times more in 2024 than they did preICAT training in 2020. About 73% of force used was a “display for compliance,” according to the dashboard.
“We want police to be able to use whatever tools they need to to keep themselves in the community safe if they or someone else is in danger,” said Matt
people as sort of an intimidation tactic.”
Graham said that’s “problematic.”
“When anyone else in the community points a firearm at someone, it’s considered such a grave danger that it justifies lethal force from police,” he said. “And so for them to point firearms at people themselves, that is not a minor instance. That’s not innocuous. We’ve had all these police killings over the last two years that have received national attention. These days, especially if you’re Black, having a firearm ppointed at you by a police officer is terrifying.
“That may not inflict physical harm, but it certainly inflicts psychological harm,” he continued. “That is a traumatic experience.”
A 2022 snapshot on policing in Boulder said that “instead of firearm display to gain compliance, officers are more likely to display tasers when dangerous circumstances require immediate deescalation” since implementing ICAT.
That’s no longer the case. In 2024, police displayed tasers less than half the number of times they displayed guns.
dent, and multiple officers can be involved in one incident. For example, there were 266 use of force incidents in 2024 but 482 applications, according to the dashboard, which will be updated monthly.
“We should commend the department just for putting this out there,” Graham said. “Transparency is the first step toward accountability, and so just putting this out there can only make things better. So really heartening to see them putting this out there for the community.”
The police department did not make Police Chief Stephen Redfearn or anyone else from the department available for an interview for this story, despite repeated requests from Boulder Weekly
On a statement posted to X, the department touted use of force incidents as “rare,” which it said was evidenced in the fact that “more than 99.5% of dispatchrecorded interactions do not involve a use of force” and “more than 9 out of 10 arrests do not involve police use of force.”
“We want our community to have a clear picture of what we do and how we do it, and using data is key to this,” Redfearn said in the statement posted to X on March 5.
Graham, a senior data analyst with the Center for Policing Equity (CPE). “We want them to be able to draw their firearms. But a lot of police department policies say that you shouldn’t draw a firearm unless there’s imminent danger such that you think you may have to use the firearm. And on this dashboard, I see them making reference to displaying firearms to gain compliance. That, to me, could indicate that they are pointing firearms at
They used their tasers about the same number of times each year — 18 in 2024 and 19 in 2021.
On average, there were about 22 use of force incidents per month in 2024, and police logged 22 uses of force in January 2025.
A use of force incident “is a distinct event that involved one or more force applications.” That means multiple types of force can be used within the same inci-
THE DATA IS ‘STRIKING’
Force is disproportionately used on Black people, according to the Center for Policing Equity, and that holds true in Boulder. In 2024, 10% of use of force applications were against Black people and 23% were against Hispanic or Latino people. Boulder’s population is just 1.1% Black and 11.2% Hispanic or Latinx, according to census data. Boulder is about 80% white.
Williams called those numbers “striking.”
“In a city that’s overwhelmingly white, 33% of use of force by Boulder Police Department is against black and brown people, and that is just unacceptable,” he said.
The police department cautioned against drawing such conclusions in the post on X.
“Just because a person was contacted by a Boulder Police officer does not mean they are a Boulder resident, there-
fore a demographic comparison to this dashboard data is not necessarily accurate,” the post read.
“The population comparison is not perfect by any means,” CPE’s Graham said. “We’ve got people who are coming into town from elsewhere or just driving through town to get somewhere else. So the population does not capture the demographics of everyone that officers could or do interact with. But it is sort of a useful baseline, and at least based on that, it does look like there are some racial disparities in force.”
Being able to see data on police stops and searches by race, stop reasons and how that compares to force rate would provide further context, he said. Another new dashboard with contact data shows that 5.7% of people who had interactions with police were Black and 16.4% were Hispanic. Those contacts are in-person interactions “for the purpose of enforcing the law or investigating possible violations of the law,” including in or out of a car and whether or not the contact was consensual.
According to a 2020 study from Harvard’s school of public health, Black people are three times more likely than white people to be killed by police.
Boulder police never fired a gun in 2024, according to the dashboard. The more granular data isn’t available for 2022 and 2023 — only the blanket number of use of force incidents — but police shot and killed two people in 2023.
The number of incidents police are responding to, as well as number of arrests, has risen steadily every year since 2021, save for a dip in arrests in 2022, according to the dashboard. Meanwhile, violent crime in Boulder has gone down each year since 2021, according to Colorado Bureau of Investigation data. Robbery, burglary and vehicle theft are also down since 2021.
Out of 311 people who were subjected to force in 2024, 90 were not arrested.
“That’s 30% of the people that officers used force against who were not arrested,” Graham said. “When we look at the types of force used, that’s overwhelming-
ly pointing firearms at people. So you’re pointing firearms at people who you don’t then have cause to arrest — that is concerning… There are scenarios when police use force and then don’t arrest people. It happens.
“30% of the time is among the highest rates I have seen,” he said. “That is very high for use of force without an arrest.”
Most often, police used force when there was a call for service (186 times). The dashboard does not include more specific data on what led to the use of force — a potentially illuminating omission, according to the Center for Policing Equity (CPE).
“For instance, arresting someone simply for jaywalking would not seem to warrant the use of a Taser,” a 2016 report from CPE stated. “The situation is far different if the jaywalking individual produces a weapon and makes threats. Sadly, these data are not often captured in use of force forms.”
CPE’s report showed that cities with 100,000 to 500,000 residents averaged 293 force incidents yearly; cities with
populations under 100,000 had 88. Boulder’s population is about 106,000, according to census data.
However, drawing comparisons to national data on use of force is difficult, as “law enforcement agencies track ‘force’ in many different ways,” according to the Center for Policing Equity. “In fact, there’s no national standard requiring departments to track when force was used.”
Boulder, for example, counts any display of a taser or gun as a use of force.
“Other police departments do not consider that a use of force,” the dashboard states. “As a result, direct comparisons between agencies will be inaccurate.”
The 2021 report from BPD showed a decrease in use of force complaints after ICAT training — 14 in 2020 compared to eight in 2021. The new dashboard does not include data about use of force complaints.
The Police Oversight Panel will hear a presentation from Daniel Reinhard, chief data analyst for the city, on the new dashboards at its April 7 meeting.
GOV’T WATCH
BY TYLER HICKMAN
BOULDER CITY COUNCIL
On Thursday, March 20 council will:
• Vote on authorizing the sale of taxable certificates of participation (COPs) to help fund the Western City Campus project, which the city expects to begin construction on this year.
This emergency ordinance will allow the city to issue up to $100 million in debt to finance the Pavilion Building at the campus, which will house city administrative offices, as a part of the Alpine-Balsam project implementation — a project that will convert the Boulder Community Health hospital property into municipal buildings and affordable and market rate homes.
• Weigh an ordinance to grant the city’s internet provider, ALLO Communications, a franchise to furnish cable television services within areas designated by the city.
In November 2024, the city agreed to enter into a 20-year contract with ALLO to lease its fiber backbone to provide city-wide high speed internet services. This new agreement allows the company to acquire, construct, maintain and operate all facilities necessary to provide cable televisions services within the franchise area.
LOUISVILLE
On Tuesday, March 11 council:
• Held a special meeting with the Louisville Revitalization Commission (LRC) to discuss the 2025/2026 work plan and amendments to their current cooperation agreement to foster more collaboration between the two bodies.
The LRC is leading engagement for the $9 million Louisville Downtown Vision Plan, an urban renewal endeav-
SPRING BREAK SANDAL SALE
or focused on Main Street, Front Street, Steinbaugh Pavilion and the South Street underpass. Designs for the plan — which include adding bike lanes, safer crosswalks and revitalizing streets, alleyways and Steinbaugh Plaza to accommodate for festivals and events — are expected to be completed this year, with construction starting as early as this fall.
LOUISVILLE PLANNING COMMISSION
On March 13, the commission will hold a public hearing and vote on a Planned Unit Development (PUD) for the proposed King Soopers Market grocery store and gas station at the site of the former Lowes off McCaslin Blvd (1171 W. Dillon Road). The development will include a drive-thru pharmacy and other changes to the existing building.
The hearing will also include a discussion of the traffic study for the development. As many as an additional 10,000 additional weekday trips are expected as a result of the development.
SUPERIOR
On Tuesday, March 11 council:
• Approved a $400,000 contract with a Denver-based architect firm for the design for North Pool and public engagement for both North Pool and South Pool.
The contract includes renovations for the 30-year-old North Pool, which could include updates to restroom and kitchen facilities, the addition of play amenities like a rock wall or zip lines, and extension of the pool’s operating season according to the town. The work, along with a construction budget up to $5 million, will be supported by the Sales Tax Bond Initiative passed by voters in 2024.
Construction is expected to start in August, lasting through May 2026. Public open-house sessions will be announced this spring.
All agenda items subject to change Mark Cathcart contributed reporting.
Kelly Elizabeth Clark is hereby summoned to appear in case number 21DR30287. You are required to file your Response to the Verified Motion to Intervene and Request for Allocation of Parental Responsibilities (hereinafter referred to as “Verified Motion”) and Petition for Allocation of Parental Responsibilities (hereinafter referred to as “Petition”), within 35 days after the service of this summons upon you.
Service of this summons shall be complete on the day of the last publication. A copy of the Verified Motion and Petition may be obtained from the clerk of the court.
VISUAL ART
We won’t go back We won’t go back We won’t go back
BY NATALIE KERR
“The hardest part was when she was dying, and I couldn’t say we were married,” reads the quote below a portrait of Esther Lucero hanging in the Museum of Boulder’s second-floor Lodge Gallery. “We were together 33 years.”
Lucero spent those years with her wife Cathy in the throes of joy. In her portrait in the ongoing exhibition, Eye to Eye: Portraits of Pride, Strength, Beauty, she looks into the camera with a natural smile that meets her eyes. She agreed to have her picture taken to honor Cathy’s memory, who passed away from leukemia in 2018.
“I felt nobody knew Cathy, they really didn’t, and that we were partners, that we were anything,” the 70-year-old Denver resident tells Boulder Weekly. “I said, ‘OK, this is for Cathy.’ I want people to know that she existed and that we were together for 33 years. I wanted acknowledgement of our relationship — our marriage.”
Featuring the images and stories of Colorado-based LGBTQ women between ages 59 and 85, the ongoing gallery show by local photographer Carey Candrian is an effort to counteract the erasure they face everyday.
Candrian is an associate professor of internal medicine at CU Anschutz whose research focuses primarily on how communication barriers impact older LGBTQ adults and their caretakers. For many, coming out to their doctor could put them at risk of receiving worse treatment or being denied care altogether, Candrian
“We
says. But presenting an incomplete picture of themselves and their life also creates its own health risks — it’s an impossible choice.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration moved to cut more than $4 billion in medical research at universities, hospitals and other scientific institutions. Those plans, which have since been temporarily halted by a federal judge, could directly impact the grants that make research like Candrian’s possible.
“There’s been a lot of attempts to continue to erase this community, or to not count them, and we’re seeing blatant moves to do just that,” Candrian says.
“My career is basically on older, LGBTQ people, which are words that are totally forbidden. They’re threatened daily to be defunded. It has massive effects on people doing this work, and people who are part of this community. The fear is magnified in ways that I don’t think we ever could even have imagined.”
‘WE ARE PEOPLE’
The idea for a photography exhibit began to germinate as the 43-year-old researcher from Hygiene was struggling to find ways to disseminate her findings that actually engaged people. Reports and data presentations were falling flat.
People were unable to connect the devastating statistics with the real people they represented, so she turned to her passion for photography.
“It should be how researchers think about their work,” she says. “We should be thinking about how to do more with the arts.”
With a robust network of LGBTQ women she had already gotten to know through research interviews, Candrian reached out to find those who might be interested in the photo project. She was able to make 24 portraits for the exhibition.
For some like Julia Condolora, saying yes was a no brainer. But as a transgender woman who came out later in life, she says she felt some imposter syndrome being included with women who, in her mind, had experienced a lot more hardship than she had.
But seeing her portrait hung up alongside the other women was an honor, and deeply rewarding, Condolora says. She hopes people who visit the exhibit are moved by the experience of seeing LGBTQ people as they truly are.
“We are people, and we’ve gone through [a lot] over the years just to be our authentic selves,” Condolora says. “I would certainly hope that most people would not want to see us go back to where we had to hide ourselves.”
This traveling testament to LGBTQ resilience has made a number of stops prior to its current stint at Museum of Boulder. Since its debut in October 2021, Eye to Eye has exhibited at the CU Anschutz campus, the United Methodist Church in Colorado Springs, two United Methodist churches in Longmont, the Denver Public Library, the Denver Art Museum and Dairy Arts Center in Boulder.
Seeing people connect with the art has been fulfilling for Candrian, especially in forums like churches where LBGTQ people haven’t always been welcomed. By celebrating the community loudly, she hopes to move the needle on public attitude.
“I know this exhibit is not going to change the horrendous brokenness of the world,” Candrian says. “But my hope is that it changes a couple people, who then change a few more, and then change a few more, and just plant seeds.”
have the triple whammy of being old, which is invisible, and women, which are invisible, and then lesbians, which are really invisible,” says Eye to Eye portrait subject Pamela Thiele. Credit: Carey Candrian
Museum of Boulder photo exhibit honors queer women elders
‘PERFECT, JUST AS THEY ARE’ Lakewood resident Pamela Thiele, 77, was thrilled to participate in the project. The idea that her portrait would be printed and hung in a museum was almost surreal, but she felt it was important to represent her community. So she took a leap of faith to trust Candrian.
“We have the triple whammy of being old, which is invisible, and women, which are invisible, and then
lesbians, which are really invisible,” she says. “I was thrilled that someone was actually going to look at us, even if nothing else happened. The fact that someone from a different generation, a younger generation, could actually see that we were humans, was tremendously meaningful to me.”
Many marginalized populations have had bad experiences with
I would certainly hope that most people would not want to see us go back to where we had to hide ourselves.”
—
JULIA CONDOLORA, EYE TO EYE PORTRAIT SUBJECT
academic professionals in the past, so it was important to Candrian that all the women could trust her and were enthusiastic about participating.
Though Candrian was behind the camera, it was also a vulnerable and emotional experience for her as a fellow member of the LGBTQ community. Honoring the women who lived through hardship and grief but still maintain a sense of joy was important to her, she says.
“Because of their courage, [earlier generations] have made my life and millions of others a little bit easier,” Candrian says. “I have love for every single one of these people.”
When the women come to view their own portraits, Candrian says she wants them to feel brave, courageous and beautiful.
”Despite the majority of the world telling them they’re wrong and sick and awful,” she says, “[I want them] to have a moment like this where they can remember they are perfect, just as they are.”
ON VIEW: Eye to Eye:
Portraits of Pride, Strength, Beauty. Through April 20, Museum of Boulder, 2205 Broadway. $10
Esther Lucero’s portrait is among those featured in Eye to Eye: Portraits of Pride, Strength, Beauty at Museum of Boulder through April 20. Credit: Carey Candrian
Julia Condolora hopes people who visit the ongoing Eye to Eye exhibit at the Museum of Boulder are moved by the experience of seeing LGBTQ people as they truly are.
Credit: Carey Candrian
BOULDER’S ONLY MULTI-DISCIPLINARY ARTS CENTER
•CINEMA •COMEDY •DANCE
•MUSIC •THEATRE • VISUAL ARTS “WATER
→ Home to the Boedecker Theater, Boulder’s Only Art House Cinema!
BUDDY SYSTEM
Denver-born pop shapeshifter Nate Amos finds his voice with solo act This Is Lorelei
BY JEZY J. GRAY
If you’ve been to a Colorado Avalanches home game in the last half decade or so, you’ve likely belted along with the Y2K pop-punk anthem “All the Small Things” by Blink-182. Even if you had somehow never heard the song in your life, it’s pretty easy to pick up by the time the wordless chorus hits: “Na-na na na, na-na na na / Na-na na na, na-na na na.”
The straight-ahead simplicity making the three-chord earworm perfect for a stadium singalong is what obsessed singersongwriter Nate Amos while working on Box for Buddy, Box for Star, his first proper full-length album under the banner This Is Lorelei.
“It was a darker period of my life when I got really fixated on that song. I listened to nothing but different versions for probably like two and a half weeks or something,” Amos, 34, says. “That was the point where Lorelei turned into more of a pop project. Before that, it was way more experimental. That was my focus for a long time. ‘All the Small Things’ snapped me out of that groove and made me interested in writing pop music again.”
With a turn toward more traditional structures, the doors swung wide open for Amos and his longtime solo project. From roughly 60 songs “in various levels of completion or decay,” he chiseled a tidy 10-track slate of shimmering bedroom electro-pop (“Dancing in the Club”), guitar-driven aughts rock (“I’m All Fucked Up”), tender acoustic ballads (“Two Legs”) and an octave of influences in between. Shot through with equal parts heart and humor, the result is an off-kilter millennial mélange that feels lived-in while never quite sitting still.
“I get bored really easily. It’s really hard for me to stick to a particular style for more than a couple days of writing. I kind of lose focus and move on,” Amos
explains. “This was actually my attempt to make a more cohesive album. It felt like a happy medium between the best songs and the songs that work best together.”
‘SOMETHING ABOUT THE ALTITUDE’
Now living in Ridgewood, Queens, the journey of this shapeshifting New York-based songwriter began right here on the Front Range. Amos was born in Denver in 1991, but his family moved to Vermont not long after his second birthday. The handful of times he’s returned as an adult have always left the emerging musician with an uncanny sensation he couldn’t quite put his finger on.
Box for Buddy, Box for Star by This Is Lorelei was released June 14, 2024. Courtesy: Double Double Whammy
“I get an eerie feeling whenever I’m in Colorado,” Amos tells Boulder Weekly ahead of the upcoming return to his birthplace for a national tour stop at Globe Hall on March 26. “I think there’s something about the altitude that ties back to some weird pre-memory.”
Since settling into his new life in the Big
Apple in the summer of 2017, Amos has busied himself with a number of creative projects while This Is Lorelei hummed in the background as a catch-all for his stray ideas and experiments. Lead among them is the cult-favorite outfit Water from Your Eyes, an off-the-wall art pop duo formed in Chicago with longtime collaborator and former partner Rachel Brown nearly a decade ago.
“They’re kind of opposite projects from each other,” Amos says. “Lorelei is about embracing existing traditions of music, and Water from Your Eyes has turned into a thing where it’s mostly about either ignoring or making fun of existing traditions of music. It’s hard to do both of those things at the same time.”
HIGHWIRE ACT
This push and pull of tradition asserted itself early in Amos’ creative life.
The son of bluegrass musician Bob Amos, he grew up with the sounds of American roots music filling the halls of his childhood home. It may seem a far cry from the avant-garde pop stylings of his work today, but he sees a throughline between the old ways and the new.
“It had a big impact on the way I think about music. I’m not really a theory person beyond what you need to know to play bluegrass. It’s the cutoff for my understanding of a lot of things,” Amos
says. “Technical requirements aside, it’s actually very simple music. When you work in a simple songwriting format, you have to be so much more careful with the balance of everything — because if something’s out of whack, it’s that much more obvious.”
With no room for a false note in Amos’ more straightforward approach to songcraft, owing as much to bluegrass as Blink-182, Box for Buddy, Box for Star is something of a highwire act. Like any skilled tightrope walker, it’s a thrill bearing witness to the artist’s gravity-defying feat — but Amos says there’s something both comforting and challenging about knowing you’re not the first to step out across the line.
“It’s about participating in existing traditions and trying to do your own thing within a very small box,” he says. “For me, it’s way easier to come up with something cool that doesn’t sound like anything else than to come up with something good that sounds like a lot of other things that already exist.”
ON THE BILL: This Is Lorelei with Starcleaner Reunion and Dollpile. 8 p.m. Wednesday, March 26, Globe Hall, 4483 Logan St., Denver. $23
One half of the art-pop duos Water from Your Eyes and My Idea, 34-year-old Nate Amos is the driving force behind This Is Lorelei. Credit: Eve Alpert
Courtesy: Daruma Media LLC
READY AND ABLE
Indie road-trip dramedy ‘Daruma’ dodges disability tropes
BY JEZY J. GRAY
Like most of us, Kelli McNeil-Yellen didn’t think much about physical disability until it touched her own life. But after a relative suffered a lifealtering injury, the L.A.-based screenwriter began to see things in a new light.
“I suddenly noticed the world was completely inaccessible to them. I also started to notice portrayals in film and television were all narratives that basically said it was better to be dead than to live with a disability,” she says. “I thought, ‘We can do better than that.’”
So McNeil-Yellen started work on what would become the feature film Daruma in 2007. Premiering last fall, the indie roadtrip dramedy follows a pair of bitter and cantankerous friends, Patrick (Tobias Forrest) and Robert (John W. Lawson) — who happen to be a wheelchair user and a double amputee — as they set out across the country to reunite Patrick’s newly discovered four-year-old daughter with her maternal grandparents.
“I wanted to tell a story about a person with a disability overcoming emotional hurdles versus a physical hurdle,” McNeilYellen says. “Most of the time when you see movies like this, it’s an able-bodied person who gets injured, and the rest of the movie is about how inspirational they are to adapt and overcome it.”
Daruma side steps these tired tropes in favor of something closer to our messy human experience. For co-lead Forrest, a
seasoned character actor whose resume includes bit parts on TV shows like How to Get Away with Murder and Law & Order, landing his first major role in a feature film prizing a more honest depiction of his life was a breath of fresh air.
“It could have been like a number of terrible stories that try to emotionally manipulate people by using disability as a tool,” Forrest says. “This does the exact opposite: It throws that tool out, and it uses a bunch of other realistic elements to tell this story — that’s a beautiful thing.”
‘THEY WANT TO SEE THEMSELVES’
Director Alexander Yellen says this emphasis on authenticity, a “red line” for his spouse and screenwriter McNeilYellen, wasn’t just about doing right by their actors living with disabilities. It was about reaching as many people as possible in the process.
“You could have told this exact same story with people from any background. It’s something that will be familiar and accessible to any audience,” he says.
“We’ve had people with zero disability experience talk about how effective the movie is, and how 20 minutes in they stopped noticing the disability because it’s just about two people they can relate to.”
More than a quarter of adults in the United States live with a physical or mental disability, but a recent Nielsen study
found that just about 4.2% of surveyed films and TV shows portray that experience in a significant way. Of those depictions, the vast majority are played by socalled “able-bodied” performers.
“Almost everyone else knows somebody with a disability. It’s a huge spending power, and they want to see themselves,” Forrest says. “But we’re stuck with the stereotypes and archetypes of people with disabilities as victims or villains, or someone that will die in the end. Even if this movie is a sleeper that takes its time to get out there, hopefully it will reach people.”
‘LET’S RUN WITH IT’
Forrest suffered a C5 spinal cord injury nearly three decades ago at age 22, damaging the fifth cervical vertebra in his neck while diving off a waterfall in the Grand Canyon. After “a little drowning and a little dying,” all four of his limbs were paralyzed for life.
So when his longtime friend, neighbor and fellow actor John W. Lawson encouraged Forrest to audition opposite himself for the role of Patrick, originally written for a person with use of their arms, the quadriplegic performer was hesitant. But Lawson wouldn’t take no for an answer.
“I said, ‘They’re gonna want me to do all this stuff I can’t do.’ John said, ‘Well, do it and let them decide,’” Forrest recalls. “I said, ‘I don’t even know the words.’ He’s
like, ‘I’ll tape it to my forehead. Just do the damn audition.’”
Forrest did the damn audition. Landing the role alongside Lawson, his confidence grew but remained colored by a nagging doubt. Portraying a character with comparatively more physical mobility, the situation was a far cry from the Hollywood standard of “spending tons of money to digitally disable someone or green screen their arms off.”
The film doesn’t show Patrick getting in and out of bed, for example — which Forrest does in real life with the help of a caretaker. But as Yellen told him: “You never see Superman go to the bathroom.”
“‘This is your story and your dream, and it’s my dream to star in a movie, but I don’t want to take your opportunity away because of my physical limitations,’”
Forrest remembers telling the team after his first callback. “They said, ‘We don’t care about that. We think you emotionally can do what the character needs, and we’ll figure all the other stuff out.’ They convinced me, and I was like, ‘Alright, let’s run with it.’ Pun intended.”
They ran all the way to a sold-out premiere at the historic Mann’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood, where Daruma made its debut last November. With the help of an accessibility coordinator, the event accommodated roughly 30 wheelchair users and included audio-visual descriptions and captions for people with low vision and hearing.
Viewers can expect a similar setup when the film comes to the Dairy Arts Center in Boulder for a March 13 screening, with Forrest in attendance for a postmovie Q&A. The team behind Daruma hopes it’s not the last discussion the film will spark.
“I think the reason most artists became artists is because they felt they had something to say,” Yellen says. “It’s not that often you get to create art that contributes to the conversation in a meaningful way, and maybe makes the world just a little bit better.”
ON SCREEN: Daruma screening with Tobias Forrest. 7 p.m. Thursday, March 13, Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut St, Boulder. $12
Executive produced by Oscar-winner Peter Farrelly, one half of raunch-comedy kings the Farrelly Brothers, Daruma looks beyond the physical limitations of its actors to tug at audiences’ heartstrings. Courtesy: Daruma Media LLC
Where Shula is going, she won’t need roads, but she’ll need Guinea Fowl Courtesy: A24
WARNING FLAIR
‘On Becoming a Guinea Fowl’ is a must-see
BY MICHAEL J. CASEY
Native to sub-Saharan Africa, the guinea fowl is a communal bird that doubles as a guard animal. Whenever a predator is nearby, guinea fowl begin to chirp in cooperation with other guinea fowl to alert all within earshot that a predator is among them.
The families at the heart of On Becoming a Guinea Fowl sure could use a couple of those early warning birds around. Then again, this movie isn’t about being a guinea fowl but becoming one. We all have work to do.
Written and directed by Rungano Nyoni, Guinea Fowl opens with Shula (Susan Chardy) driving along a desolate road in Zambia wearing a bejeweled headdress and visor — she looks like a fighter pilot out of a futuristic 1980s
Cannon Film — and a large black puffy outfit when she comes across her Uncle Fred (Roy Chisha) lying dead in the road. We’ll later learn Shula is coming home from a costume party. But for these first
10 minutes, her unusual outfit goes uncommented on and strands the audience in the space between realistic and speculative storytelling.
food is a central component of the mourning period — but thanks to Nyoni and cinematographer David Gallego’s camera placement, we can see Shula is just driving in circles. Add to that a handful of offkilter dream sequences, which are revealed to be dreams only retroactively, and realistic scenes that still contain a mystical quality, and Nyoni’s images of entrapment become tangible.
Uncle Fred is the reason Shula and the rest of the family are trapped — in history, in tradition, in obfuscation. There’s an inquest into how Uncle Fred died alone on that road, but what good is an inquest if the people don’t believe the findings?
The most telling response comes when Shula discovers the body in the first place. There seems to be no remorse in her eyes, only riddance. But can this family rid themselves of Uncle Fred and all he represents? After the fact, probably not. The tragic swath he cut will stick to this
Nyoni doubles down on that liminal space when Shula catches a vision of herself as a young girl (Blessings Bhamjee) standing over the body of Uncle Fred. Shula then calls her father (Henry B.J. Phiri), who says he’ll come but doesn’t, tries to ward off her intoxicated cousin (Elizabeth Chisela) and waits for the authorities to come claim the body.
The death of Uncle Fred sets off the ritualized mourning period where the extended family congregates, cries and grieves through all hours of the night, prostrating themselves while pleading for
their portion of the inheritance. For some, it’s performative. For others, the wailing feels like real sorrow. Shula detests it all. She’s more of a fixer, the person responsible for holding everything and everyone together. Particularly the young Bupe (Esther Singini), whose coping mechanism is an unmentioned substance that has her upright and fine one moment, hospitalized the next.
Shula’s coping mechanism is repression. Or would dissociation be a better word? In one scene, Shula is out running errands — who cooks and serves the
family like a shadow for years to come. Their only hope is not to rid themselves of the past but to protect themselves from the future. If only there were some kind of communal warning system in place to alert others when a predator was around. If only there were more guinea fowl. The time has come to become one.
ON SCREEN: On Becoming a Guinea Fowl opens in theaters March 21.
Written and directed by Rungano Nyoni, On Becoming a Guinea Fowl contains a mystical quality. Courtesy: A24
Various times, March 13-16, multiple venues in Boulder and Longmont. Prices vary.
Bringing movies and moviemakers from around the world to the People’s Republic, this four-day cinematic celebration is a can’t-miss for film lovers of all stripes. The 21st annual Boulder International Film Festival boasts a lineup of 60-plus docs, features and shorts to discover. Locations, times, tickets and more at biff1.com.
BENDING THE ARC EXHIBIT
4-6 p.m. Friday, March 14, Museum of Boulder, 2205 Broadway. Free
Presented in partnership with Rocky Mountain Equality, this Museum of Boulder exhibition honors the 50th anniversary of six marriage licenses issued to same-sex couples in 1975 by former Boulder County Clerk Clela Rorex. Flip to p. 14 for a feature on another LGBTQ gallery show, Eye to Eye: Portraits of Pride, Strength, Beauty, upstairs in the Lodge Gallery of the local history center.
14 – 16
FROZEN DEAD GUY DAYS
Various times, March 14-16, multiple locations in Estes Park. $50
Pay your respects to Grandpa Bredo, Colorado’s most famous frozen resident, with three days of coffin races, polar plunges, drinks, dancing and general revelry. Or, if you’re nostalgic for the festival’s Nederland origins, check out Frosted Ned Dude Daze on Saturday at Knotted Root Brewing (250 Caribou St., noon to 9 p.m.)
15
WORLD’S SHORTEST ST. PATRICK’S DAY PARADE
Parade at noon, Beer Garden open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, March 15, 1500 Block of Pearl Street. Free
Break out the kilt and head to the 1500 block of Pearl for a pint-sized parade that packs a punch hosted by the The Independent Order of Odd Fellows. You can expect Irish dancers, bagpipers, wolfhounds and cruiser bikes at this rainor-shine, wee celebration of Irish cheer. After the parade, head to the beer garden for food trucks, live music and, of course, plenty of beer.
Yarn and yap at this monthly social gathering for needleheads of all ability levels. Beginners can untangle their skills with one-on-one help — learning yarn and hooks provided.
16
NIWOT NATIVE ART MARKET
11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, March 16, Niwot Hall, 195 2nd Ave. Free. Donations encouraged; they will be split among participating artists.
The Niwot Community Arts Association partners with Create áyA, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering Indigenous creatives, for this annual showcase of emerging Native artists like Kristina Maldonado Bad Hand (Sicangu Lakota/ Cherokee), Marie Yellowhawk (Navajo), Nico Strange Owl (Northern Cheyenne) and more.
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RESCUE PUPPY YOGA
11 a.m. to noon Sunday, March 16, Crunch Fitness, 1850 30th St., Boulder. $30
Share your mat with floppy ears and fuzzy faces at this all-levels yoga session. You’ll have plenty of excuses to take a break from warrior posing to scratch the ears of these four-legged fitness buddies. If the puppies steal your heart — and you know they will — fill out an adoption application at the end of class to give a home to your new best friend.
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STEM CIDERS TOUR
4:15 p.m. Monday, March 17, Acreage by Stem Ciders, 1380 Horizon Ave., Lafayette. $48
Learn how the cider gets made on this behind-the-scenes tour, enjoying straight-from-the-barrel samples along the way. Finish with a cider flight and soft pretzel. At the end, take your glass home with you — but not before taking in one of the best views on the Front Range.
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WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH HAPPY HOUR AND TRIVIA
5-7 p.m. Tuesday, March 18, Twisted Pine Brewing Co. 3201 Walnut St., Suite A, Boulder. Free
“For $5 name a woman!!!!” Do you know women and stuff about them? Prove you’re a feminist icon at Twisted Pine on Tuesday in celebration of women’s history month with a side of discounted snacks and $5 happy hour pints.
18
FLORAL RESIN EARRINGS WORKSHOP
6-8 p.m. Tuesday, March 18, Burd’s Nest Art Gallery, 7611 Grandview Ave., Arvada. $55
Get out of BoCo for the evening and head to Olde Town Arvada to spruce up your jewelry box for spring. Select three earring frames and pick out your favorite hand pressed florals to design your flowery bling. Once the resin is set, your earrings will be ready to pick up in 5-7 days.
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SOUND BATH & CEREMONY FOR SPRING EQUINOX
6:30-8:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 19, The Vali Soul Sanctuary, 6717 Valmont Road, Boulder. $35
Let the sounds of spring wash over you as you sow your seeds of intention for the season of new growth. Refresh your mind to the tune of crystal harmonics, singing bowls, didgeridoo and more during this guided meditation. In honor of World Water Day, a special ceremony will give thanks and love to the elixir of life.
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INDIGENOUS BEADWORK AND HISTORY WORKSHOP
6-7 p.m. Wednesday, March 19, Secret Garden Studio, 207 W. Emma St. Lafayette. $40
Pick up a new skill while learning about the history of Native peoples in what is now called the United States during this hands-on beadwork workshop hosted by Kristen Helen Poppe at Secret Garden Studio in Lafayette. Space is limited. Register: bit.ly/BeadworkBW
LIVE MUSIC
THURSDAY, MARCH 13
JT JONES WITH DAN FROELICH. 6 p.m. Bootstrap Brewing Company, 142 Pratt St., Longmont. Free
VELVET DAYDREAM WITH INTERPRETIVE TYRANNY AND RIPCORDS. 7 p.m. Hi-Dive, 7 S. Broadway, Denver. $12
SIX FOOT BLONDE WITH THE GALENTINES. 8 p.m. Velvet Elk Lounge, 2037 13th St., Boulder. $18
NEIGHBOR WITH THE JAUNTEE.
8 p.m. Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St., Boulder. $30
YACHT ROCK REVUE. 8 p.m. Boulder Theater, 2032 14th St. $60
HORSE BITCH WITH GESTALT AND TINY TOMBOY. 8 p.m. Globe Hall, 4483 Logan St., Denver. $24
G. LOVE & SPECIAL SAUCE WITH RON ARTIS II. 8 p.m. Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St., Boulder. $52
SUNDAY, MARCH 16
MOUNTAIN REVERB 3 p.m. Left Hand Brewing Company, 1265 Boston Ave., Longmont. Free
BARN GHOST 5 p.m. Bricks on Main, 471 Main St., Longmont. Free
SUEDE BRIGADE WITH LIVE SEQUENCE, CHINA FLOWER SUNCASTS AND ENSO. 5 p.m. Globe Hall, 4483 Logan St., Denver. $18
LIVE MUSIC
ON THE BILL
Front Range “stadium emo” outfit Broken Record heads to Denver’s Marquis Theater in support of math-rock legends Ovlov on March 17. The band performs on the heels of their debut LP Nothing Moves Me, out now via Really Rad Records, and a split EP with fellow Colorado act A Place for Owls. The two-track offering features a pair of Jimmy Eat World covers by each band with proceeds supporting the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund See listing for details
RICHIE FURAY ACOUSTIC TRIO
7 p.m. Nissi’s, 1455 Coal Creek Drive, Unit T, Lafayette. Free
SUE FOLEY 7 p.m. Roots Music Project, 4747 Pearl St., Suite V3A, Boulder. $35
TOM GREEN WITH JOHN NOVOSAD 8 p.m. Boulder Theater, 2032 14th St. $46
OVLOV WITH BROKEN RECORD AND CHERRY
SPIT. 7 p.m. Monday, March 17. Marquis Theater, 2009 Larimer St., Denver. $31 BW PICK OF THE WEEK
TUESDAY, MARCH 18
SPENCER LAJOYE WITH STURTZ AND OLIVIA ROUMEL. 7 p.m. Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder. $25
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19
JOHN SHEPPARD & ZEN
COWBOYS 6 p.m. Rosalee’s Pizzeria, 461 Main St., Longmont. Free
FARRELL LOWE GROUP 7 p.m. Muse Performance Space, 200 E. South Boulder Road, Lafayette. $20
THE HIGH KINGS WITH DAVID HOWLEY. 8 p.m. Boulder Theater, 2032 14th St. $46
Want more Boulder County events? Check out the complete listings online by scanning this QR code.
ASTROLOGY
BY ROB BREZSNY
ARIES (MARCH 21-APRIL 19): What can you do to show how much you care about everyone and everything that deserves your love? Now is a fantastic time to unleash a flood of gratitude and appreciation that takes very practical forms. Don’t just beam warm and fuzzy feelings toward your favorite people and animals, in other words. Offer tangible blessings that will actually enhance their lives. Find your own personally meaningful ways to nourish all that nourishes you.
TAURUS (APRIL 20-MAY 20): Ancient Egyptians loved the color blue. The mineral azurite and the semiprecious stones turquoise and lapis lazuli satisfied their fascination to some degree, but were rare and difficult to work with. So the Egyptians decided to fabricate their own pigment. After extensive experimentation, using copper, silica and lime, they succeeded. The hue they made is known as Egyptian blue. I heartily endorse a comparable process for you in the coming weeks, Taurus. Identify the experience, substance or feeling you really, really want more of, and then resolve to get as much of it as you really, really want.
GEMINI (MAY 21-JUNE 20): Dandelions germinate quickly and grow fast. Because of their deep taproots, they are hardy. Once they establish their presence in a place, they persist. Dandelions are adaptable, too, able to grow anywhere their seeds land, even from cracks in concrete. Their efficient dispersal is legendary. They produce large quantities of lightweight seeds that are easily carried by the wind. Bees love dandelions in the spring when there are few other flowers yet to provide them with nectar. I propose we make the dandelion your symbol of power in the coming weeks, Gemini. Be like them! (P.S. They are also beautiful in an unostentatious way.)
CANCER (JUNE 21-JULY 22): About 36,000 years ago, humans created remarkable drawings and paintings in the Cave of Altamira, located in what we now call Spain. When an early discoverer of the art published his findings in 1880, he was met with derision. Experts accused him of forgery, saying such beautiful and technically proficient works could not have been made by ancient people, who just weren’t that smart. Eventually, though, the art was proved to be genuine. I propose we meditate on this as a metaphor for your life. It’s possible that your abilities may be underestimated, even by you. Hidden potentials and unexpressed capacities may be close to ripening, but they will need your full confidence and boldness. Don’t let skepticism, either from your inner critic or others, hold you back.
LEO (JULY 23-AUG. 22): In 1977, NASA launched two Voyager probes to study our solar system’s outer planets. Their original mission was designed to last a few years. But in 2025, they still continue to send back useful information from the great beyond, far past Uranus and Neptune, and into interstellar space. I suspect that now is also a good time for you Leos to seek valuable information from adventures you began years ago. Even if those past experiences have not yielded relevant revelations recently, they may soon do so. Be alert for ways to harvest new riches from old memories.
VIRGO (AUG. 23-SEPT. 22): About 3,775 years ago, a Babylonian man named Nanni wrote a crabby letter to Ea-nasir, a merchant who had sold him substandard copper ingots. Nanni was also upset that his servant was treated rudely. It is the oldest customer complaint in history. With this as our touchstone, I remind you that maintaining high standards is always crucial for your long-term success. Others may be tempted to cut corners, but your natural integrity is one of your superpowers. Please redouble your commitment to providing the highest value, Virgo. And ask for it from others, too.
LIBRA (SEPT. 23-OCT. 22): Blogger Yukiko Kisaki writes about the Japanese concept of ma. She says it’s “the emptiness full of possibilities, like a promise yet to be fulfilled. It’s the purposeful pauses in a speech that make words stand out; the quiet time we all need to make our busy lives meaningful; the silence between the notes that make the music.” According to my analysis, Libra, you will be wise to make ma a central theme in the coming weeks. I invite you to research the power of pauses. Rather than filling up every gap, allow space for pregnant blankness. Trust that in being open to vacancy, you will make room for unexpected riches.
SCORPIO (OCT. 23-NOV. 21): The literal meaning of the Japanese word yohen is “kiln mutation.” It refers to a type of glaze that undergoes unpredictable variations in color when baked in a kiln. The finished pottery that emerges displays patterns and hues that are blends of the artist’s intention and accidental effects created by the heat. I would love to see you carry out metaphorical versions of yohen in the coming weeks, Scorpio. Suggested meditations: 1. Collaborate to create beauty with energies that aren’t entirely manageable. 2. Undertake projects that require both careful preparation and a willingness to adapt to shifting conditions. 3. Engage with opportunities that will have the best outcomes if you relinquish some control.
SAGITTARIUS (NOV. 22-DEC. 21): A big party is underway in your astrological House of SelfUnderstanding and Self-Definition. The near future will be a favorable time to discover yourself in greater depth and bring your identity into clearer focus. I see this mostly as a task for you to carry out in intimate conversation with yourself. It’s also fine to solicit the feedback of allies who have insight into your nature, but I urge you to rely heavily on your private investigations. How can you deepen your knowledge of the reasons you are here on earth? Can you learn more about your dormant potentials? Who are you, exactly?
CAPRICORN (DEC. 22-JAN.19): Ethiopian marathon runner Abebe Bikila was selected by his country to compete in the 1960 Rome Olympics. But the honor was offered shortly before the games began, and he had to scramble to get there in time. When he arrived for the main event, he couldn’t find any running shoes in local stores that fit comfortably. So he decided to go barefoot for the 26.2-mile race. Success! He won, setting a new world-record time. I propose we make him your role model, Capricorn. May he inspire you to respond to an apparent scarcity or deficiency by calling on earthy alternatives. May you adjust to a problem by deepening your reliance on your natural self.
AQUARIUS (JAN. 20-FEB. 18): After being part of two journeys to Antarctica, Aquarian explorer Ernest Shackleton (1874–1922) assembled a team to try what no one had ever done: crossing the entire continent on foot with pack dogs and motorized sledges. But the proposed 1,800-mile expedition failed soon after it began. That’s when Shackleton did what he is most famous for. His leadership during the harrowing struggle to survive became legendary. I don’t think you will face anything remotely resembling his challenges in the coming weeks. But I suspect that your response to tests and trials will define your success. As you encounter obstacles, you will treat them as opportunities to showcase your resourcefulness and adaptability. You will inspire others to summon resiliency, and you will bring out their best as together you engage in creative problem-solving. Trials will become triumphs.
PISCES (FEB. 19-MARCH 20): I’m not exactly sure where you are going, Pisces, but I’m certain you are headed in the right direction. Your instincts for self-love are at a peak. Your ability to see your best possible future is lucid and strong. Your commitment to gracefully serving all that gracefully serves you is passionate and rigorous. I will congratulate you in advance for locating the exact, robust resources you need, not mediocre resources that are only half-interesting.
I’m a 28-year-old woman. I’ve been married to a 29-year-old man for almost two years, and we still haven’t had sex. We dated for less than a year and knew pretty quickly that we wanted to get married. On our wedding night, we decided to leave the hotel early to spend time with family since many had traveled far for the wedding. After the wedding, life got hectic. Before we realized it, months had passed.
I’ve brought it up multiple times, and he always says he feels selfconscious about his body but promises to try harder. We even scheduled times for intimacy, but when the time came, he was either too busy or he would ask if we could try tomorrow instead.
I’ve stopped bringing it up because I feel like I’m nagging, but it’s breaking me inside. What would you do?
— Married In Name Only
I would leave. Zooming out for a second: Anyone out there who wants to be sexually active in the context of a sexually exclusive relationship needs to establish sexual compatibility before the wedding. Fuck first — before you get married, before you get engaged, before you go steady.
MINO, there’s clearly something your husband isn’t telling you — something you had a right to know before you married him — and you need to ask yourself how much more time you’re willing to waste before you find out what that thing is.
My husband and I have been together for a long time, and we are still massively in love with each other! A few years ago, we dipped our toes into “The Lifestyle.” It was a great experience! We felt like teenagers again, inside and outside of the bedroom. Then COVID happened, and we closed things back up.
Recently, we’ve begun discussing signing up on a few swinging apps. But I hesitate due to the political climate. Is it appropriate to share on our profiles that we are not interested in meeting anyone who is any way MAGA?
— Must Avoid Grinding Against Trump Supporters
SAVAGE LOVE
BY DAN SAVAGE
Even if you put, “NO TRUMP VOTERS, NO MAGA IDIOTS,” in all caps on your ads, MAGATS, you’re still gonna have to do your screw diligence before meeting up with other couples. Research into online dating/hookups has shown that many people don’t read the text of a personal ad.
Additionally, there’s nothing MAGA motherfuckers enjoy more than inflicting themselves on people who want nothing to do with them — bone the libs to own the libs — which means you’ll have to ask one or two pointed/trick questions at some point between exchanging messages and swapping partners.
Every year I make pin-on buttons for Pride and give them away leading up to and throughout the month of June. I like to stick to a theme. This year I’m struggling for ideas.
I am hoping (in one hand, doodling in the other) you and your readers might have ideas for themes or slogans that fit the mood of this big, ugly, scary moment.
— Pride Is Now Needed Every Day
Some suggestions off the top of my head: “WE’RE STILL HERE,” “TRANS PEOPLE EXIST,” “DO NOT COMPLY” and “FUCK THIS SHIT.”
Email your question for the column to mailbox@savage.love or record your question for the Savage Lovecast at savage.love/askdan. Podcasts, columns and more at Savage.Love
A ta ste of Japan in the heart of Colorado
Whe re ce nturie s of culinary exce lle nce ge t a f re s h touch. S us hi, mode rn Japane s e, and hand-craf te d cock tails
A BITE OF HISTORY
Museum of Boulder exhibit will trace 150 years of cooking in Boulder kitchens
BY JOHN LEHNDORFF
The first meal I ever ate in Boulder was a bowl of bean chili at Shannon’s Saloon, a long-gone biker bar and music venue on Pearl Street between 7th and 8th. It wasn’t a gourmet feast, but I remember every detail because of the moment.
Through the decades I’ve lived in and around Boulder, I have marked the important moments of my life with meals at restaurants and around home tables with friends, employers, family and famous folks.
We might have been separated by faith, politics and culture, but everybody eats, and most of us shop for food and cook meals. We all sit around tables to dine and create community. That makes food the perfect lens through which to view our lives, especially in Boulder County with its delicious and revealing food trail over the past 150-plus years.
A history nerd since I was a kid, I am by choice (and sheer longevity) the unofficial food historian for Boulder County. I’ve chronicled our food life from 1985 as the food editor of the Daily Camera to today
as the Boulder Weekly’s food columnist and during 30-plus years as the producer of Radio Nibbles on KGNU.
That’s why I am delighted to be named the exhibit historian for Boulder Eats! Food Traditions along the Front Range, an expansive exhibit opening at the Museum of Boulder in November. I will be assisting exhibits curator Elizabeth Nosek and museum staff in telling the amazing stories about restaurants, farms, food products and home kitchens — and the diverse peoples who made and enjoyed the meals.
Boulder Eats! will highlight everything from pioneer times to more recent history: Boulder being named America’s Foodiest Town by Bon Appetit in 2010, to current eateries being showered with national accolades.
HELP TELL THE STORY
The Museum of Boulder would love to hear your stories and showcase these artifacts. If you have something exhibit visitors should see, let us know: nibbles@ boulderweekly.com.
Boulder was never all about being “gourmet.” Did you know McDonald’s Happy Meal was partially perfected in Boulder, and fast-casual fare — think Noodles & Company and Chipotle — was born on the Front Range?
Boulder is home to an acclaimed farmers market, and it was one of the first
American cities to form a Slow Food chapter (a global movement that promotes local food, traditional cooking and sustainable agriculture). Boulder is widely acknowledged as the Silicon Valley of both the American craft brew renaissance and the natural foods industry.
UNEARTHING EVIDENCE OF OUR CULINARY PAST
Boulder Eats! will showcase hundreds of objects, menus, signs and photos in the Museum of Boulder collection, including an array of artifacts from the legendary Juanita’s Mexican restaurant. (Their slogan, “Praise the Lard,” was plastered on everything from bumper stickers to t-shirts.)
I have contributed my extensive collection of cookbooks published over the past 100-plus years in Boulder County by churches, community groups and chefs. The recipes in those volumes reveal what locals actually ate from the late 1800s to present day.
The portion of the exhibit devoted to dining will remind visitors of landmark eating destinations like Chautauqua Dining Hall and others that have stood the test of time, including Falafel King. The retrospective ranges from groundbreaking health food havens like the Carnival Cafe and The Harvest to the eateries that introduced Boulder to international cuisines: the Indo-Ceylon Restaurant, New Saigon and Mataam Fez, etc.
There are still bowlfuls of delicious history yet to be uncovered. When were the first Chinese and Indian restaurants opened in Boulder? Who served the first tacos, pizza, barbecue, espresso and granola?
MAKE CHOPPED LIVER LIKE MORK
Open from the mid-1970s until 1999, the New York Deli was famously spotlighted in the TV series Mork and Mindy starring the late Robin Williams. This recipe was featured in the 1995 Taste of Boulder cookbook, part of a restaurant hunger relief tasting event at CU’s Glen Miller Ballroom.
NEW YORK DELI’S CHOPPED LIVER
3 tablespoons schmaltz (chicken fat) or butter
1 onion, chopped
5 pounds chicken livers (rinsed and patted dry)
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
3 tablespoons sugar
6 hard boiled eggs, peeled
Saute onion in schmaltz or butter in a large pan. Add liver, garlic, pepper and sugar. Cook for about 30 minutes. Spread on the tray to cool. Process in the food processor, gradually adding the eggs. Chill before serving.
Many of the answers and artifacts are hidden away in garages, basements and restaurant storage units in Colorado and elsewhere. These Boulder food historical items — signs, vintage merchandise, dishes, menus, images and antique kitchen equipment — help tell the story of community dining spots, farms, bakeries and stores and the people who operated them.
Colorado House Hotel on the northwest corner of Pearl and 13th streets. In 1866, it was likely one of the first places where locals and visitors could go out to eat. Courtesy: Carnegie Branch Library for Local History
Bush’s Drive-In opened in 1944 on the northwest corner of Broadway and Arapahoe Avenue (now Mustard’s Last Stand). Courtesy: Carnegie Branch Library for Local History
Pelican Pete’s Restaurant was the site of Boulder’s first sushi bar in the early 1980s. The location is now Backcountry Pizza. Courtesy: Carnegie Branch Library for Local History
• Gifts for any cook • Fun and colorful kitchenware
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LOCAL FOOD NEWS: BOULDER BOURBON IS WORLD’S BEST
Boulder Spirits took home significant honors at the recent 2025 World Whiskies Awards America in Kentucky, winning for World’s Best Small Batch Bourbon for its Boulder Spirits 2024 Cask Strength Bourbon. The spirit beat distilleries from Kentucky and Tennessee. Boulder Spirits’ bourbon is made with 51% corn, 44% malted barley and 5% rye.
Happy 10th anniversary to The Roost restaurant in Longmont.
The MASA Farm’s remarkable seedhouse is open for the season, 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 pm Monday-Saturday on 75th Street at Arapahoe Avenue. The Seedhouse stocks hundreds of vegetable, flower and grain seed varieties grown for Boulder County’s climate.
Coming soon: Kura Revolving Sushi Bar at 29th Street Mall.
CULINARY CALENDAR: FERMENTED FUNDAMENTALS
Friends Farm hosts a hand-on class in making fermented beverages including kombucha, water kefir and beet kvass March 23 at Louisville’s Herbiculture Hub Farm. Tickets: friendsfarm.org
Denver’s annual Bowl of ’Zole event
March 20 in Denver celebrates pozole, Mexican desserts and agave spirits featuring chefs Beto Reyes (3 Margaritas), Dana Rodriguez (Cantina Loca), Oscar Padilla (Chulo Taco) and Antonio Tevillo of Tamayo. bowlofzole.com
WORDS TO CHEW ON: A WOMAN’S PLACE
“Ask a woman what cooking means. It means the endurance, the long suffering and martyrdom of Joan of Arc. It means perspiration and desperation and resignation. Then she must rise above it all and be a lady.”
— From Dainty Dishes and How to Serve Them by the Ladies’ Aid Society of First Baptist Church in Boulder, early 1900s.
John Lehndorff is a former cook at the Alpha Phi Sorority House, Potter’s, Yocom’s Studio Restaurant and the Greenbriar Inn. He welcomes chef Edwin Zoe of Zoe Ma Ma from 8:30 to 9 a.m. March 13 on a special edition of the 30-year-old Radio Nibbles on KGNU-FM, streaming at kgnu.org.
Pozole and agave spirits will be celebrated at Denver’s Bowl of ’Zole. Courtesy: Bowl of ‘Zole
ON DRUGS
WHERE BOCO IS SPENDING ITS OPIOID SETTLEMENT MONEY
County hands out $3.95M for 2025-2026 to battle addiction, overdose crises
BY SHAY CASTLE
Dozens of lawsuits have been settled against those responsible for America’s opioid crisis — from drug manufacturers to pharmacies — resulting in some of the largest payouts in the country’s history.
Nearly $57 billion from legal settlements will eventually land in the coffers of state and local governments, according to a national tracking service, money that will be used to combat the ongoing epidemic.
More than $10 billion of that has already been paid out. Boulder County is set to receive $31.5 million through 2038; all of it will flow through the Boulder County Region Opioid Council (BROC), a group of elected officials and municipal staff from around the county.
While the money is an opportunity to tackle some of the damage wrought by addiction, it also represents a huge logistical challenge as officials scramble to handle the influx of cash. The resulting system has been praised and critiqued.
FUNDS ‘BELONG TO CITIZENS’
Disbursements totalled $1.8 million in the first year, 2022, and $3.2 million in
2023 and 2024. The 2025-2026 funding cycle was the first to implement a new competitive process, with over $3.95 million distributed to two dozen programs focused on prevention and education ($1.35 million), harm reduction ($906,341), treatment ($350,000) and recovery ($1.1 million).
Three programs were directly funded; that is, awarded grants without going through the competitive bidding process. The Boulder County Sheriff’s Office received $110,000 for medically assisted treatment of substance use; The Works, the county’s harm reduction program, was awarded $330,000; and $110,000 went to a federally funded county program providing treatment and other services to incarcerated individuals with substance use issues.
Those allocations will be reviewed next year, according to aid Kelly Veit, Boulder County’s opioid abatement program manager.
The 18-member evaluation committee tried to spread grants across the four focus areas and geographically, Veit said. How many and what groups of people are served were also considered.
There is additional responsibility on the county to make sure the funds are widely disbursed, because each local government is entitled to a certain amount. For the past three years, municipalities have elected to pool funds and centralize distribution under BROC, Veit explained.
“These funds don’t belong to Boulder County,” she said. “They belong to the citizens of Longmont, Jamestown, Nederland, Boulder. With that comes additional fiduciary responsibility [to make sure] the money is going back to the communities.”
‘NOWHERE NEAR ENOUGH’
While other states have been criticized for a lack of transparency and public engagement and alleged misuse of funds, Colorado has been lauded for its approach to doling out the $750 million it expects to receive over 18 years. The state’s public dashboard got a shoutout on an episode of John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight about opioid settlement funds.
Boulder County’s own process has not been entirely without controversy. In the first year of spending, $80,000 was spent on law enforcement tools to analyze drug content and hack into phones. Other states like California have since banned such tools from being purchased with opioid settlement money.
The current funding cycle has drawn criticism from groups that were not funded, and for the amount of money that went to government programs — about 45%, according to Veit.
At a mid-January meeting of the Boulder County Substance Use
Advisory Group (SUAG), community members peppered Veit and her colleague, Tucker Eurman, with questions about the process and its results, saying the allocations left huge gaps in services and threatened the viability of local organizations that did not receive funds.
“The gaps that their funding decisions for awards have left will be huge,” wrote one local recovery professional. They did not wish to give their name, citing a pending meeting with Boulder County Commissioner Claire Levy on this topic.
“The programs that they gave huge awards to are barely scraping the surface [of] our needs for opioid overdose prevention and saving lives.”
Veit said the competitive bidding process has been “examined top to bottom,” and the county stands behind it, including how much money went to government agencies.
“There are certain circumstances where the government is the only entity holding these up,” she said, referencing programs for individuals in the criminal justice system. “The only way to support the strategy is to support the government.”
Veit attributes some of residents’ upset to the fact that, despite the windfall, there is simply not enough money to go around. The county received $8.6 million worth of requests — nearly $5 million more than it had to give.
“These funds have an extra layer of passion and community scrutiny, which I totally understand,” she said. “The unfortunate reality is these funds are nowhere near enough to support all of the demand and need from the fallout of the opioid epidemic.”
