STANDARD BLADE B R I G H T O N
SERVING THE COMMUNITY SINCE 1903
75cI
VOLUME 119
Issue 03
WEEK OF JANUARY 20, 2022
City, chamber eye new deal for vacant depot Chamber hopes to make Bridge Street space home to events BY SCOTT TAYLOR STAYLOR@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Chamber of Commerce President Natalie Cummings said she imagines the Taste of Brighton festival of food returning and moving to the area east of 4th Avenue on Bridge Street, taking over the parking lots surrounding the Anythink Brighton Library and the Armory Performing Arts Center - with the historic depot right at the center. “We’d like to utilize the indoor space at the depot as well as the outdoor space as a venue with the armory, taking over the parking lot that connects the two,” Cummings told City Councilors at the Jan. 11 study session. “We’d bring in food trucks and possibly live music to bring that event back. The idea is that it would continue to grow.” But the chamber needs to be in con-
trol of the depot first, and the chamber and the Brighton City Council made some progress on that front. The City Council said they were fine with a lease for the depot during their Jan 11 study session. City Manager Michael Martinez said councilors should see the lease on their Jan. 18 consent agenda. The proposed 36-month lease would see the city charge the chamber $9 per square foot for the upper portion of the historic train depot, located at 269 E. Bridge St. - about $18,00 per year. Under the proposed agreement, the city would waive the first three months of rent, with the first $1,500 monthly payment coming due on May 1. The lease covers the upper portion of the depot, roughly 2,000 square feet. The lease allows the chamber to use the basement as storage. Vacant space It’s not the first time the city has made plans for the depot, and not the first time the city and the Chamber of Commerce have been close on using the depot. The building was used as a train
The City and the Brighton Chamber of Commerce are once again close on a lease plan to use the city’s historic depot on Bridge Street, just west of Anythink Library in PHOTO BY SCOTT TAYLOR Brighton and southeast of the Armory Performing Arts Center.
depot for Union and Pacific Railroad for most of the 20th century, before being decommissioned in 1970 and moved to the current site in 1980. It had housed restaurants, offices and a bike shop until the city purchased it in 2018, approving leases for the space with a restaurant and the chamber in 2019. Both agreements fell apart quickly, and the space has been vacant since then. Councilor Mary Ellen Pollack said
she is skeptical about the depot and the chamber’s intentions there. “What happens now, do we give you three months free, and then you’re gone again?” Pollack said. “The chamber has not exactly earned my trust. It’s not just for me, but for the residents. And when you make a commitment, why don’t you keep it?” City Manager Michael Martinez SEE CHAMBER, P4
Virus surge may be ‘more severe than prior waves’ Health officials urge getting vaccine, booster; hospital data spiking BY ELLIS ARNOLD EARNOLD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Local public health officials and analysts implored the public not to let its guard down as the omicron variant drives a dramatic coronavirus surge in Colorado. “We believe it is important for Coloradans to know that there is a high probability of coming into contact with someone with (coronavirus) in the days ahead,” a statement from the COVID-19 tracking team led by the Colorado School of Public Health said. The new virus variant is driving record-shattering numbers of record-
ed new daily cases, and the number of patients currently hospitalized for COVID-19 in Colorado has spiked back up since late December. That number was 1,374 confirmed COVID-19 patients as of Jan. 7, according to state data. “Even though infection from the Omicron variant appears to result in lower risk of hospitalization than the Delta variant, hospital demand could exceed prior peaks based on high number of cases caused by Omicron and its ability to cause infection among previously vaccinated or infected individuals,” said the Jan. 3 statement from the Colorado COVID-19 Modeling Group, a team that analyzes data to provide projections on how the pandemic will continue to unfold. The virus is spreading at record rates in Adams, Arapahoe and Douglas counties, for example, according to Tri-County Health Department.
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“These next few weeks are likely to be among the most challenging we have faced over the past year,” John Douglas, executive director of TriCounty Health, in a news release. According to Tri-County Health data, 3,193 new cases were reported on Dec. 31 across the three counties, the most on any single day since the start of the pandemic up to that point, the agency said in the release. All three counties have exceeded their all-time high seven-day incidence rates — which were previously set in November 2020 — with rates exceeding 1,000 cases per 100,000 people in each, according to the release. (“Incidence rate” means the rate of new cases.) “Over the past two weeks, Adams County rates increased by 403%, Arapahoe County by 437%, and Douglas County by 480%,” Tri-County said in the Jan. 5 release. In addition, COVID test-positivity
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2 •27J schools improve 3 graduation rates 7 12 • Page 3 14
SPORTS •Huskers hire Brighton alum
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rates are also at record levels, greater than 25% in each county, according to the release, referring to the percentage of tests that come back positive. “Although hospitalization rates have not risen as much thus far, hospital capacity in our counties and region remains critically tight,” the release added. Omicron has rapidly become the dominant variant, now making up virtually 100% of Colorado COVID-19 cases, the release said, citing state data. “The highly infectious nature of this variant means that this wave could be shorter but also more severe than prior waves,” the school of public health’s statement said. “We are most concerned about unvaccinated and immunocompromised individuals, who face the greatest risk of SEE SURGE, P13
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