July 29, 2021
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An edition of the Littleton Independent A publication of
VOLUME 20 | ISSUE 36
SouthGlenn redevelopment Unvaccinated people drive plan submitted COVID rise as school looms
Proposal faces votes by city council, planning and zoning commission
In Adams, Arapahoe, Douglas, 95% of those recently hospitalized were not fully vaccinated
BY ELLIS ARNOLD EARNOLD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
A crowd of more than 100 came to the empty former Sears at Centennial’s flagship shopping center in a March 2019 meeting that placed redevelopment plans in the public eye — and in August 2020, one of the developers announced he expected to formally submit plans to the city in the coming weeks. Fast-forward nearly a year later, and the plans that could reshape The Streets at SouthGlenn complex have finally been submitted to city officials. SEE SOUTHGLENN, P22
BY ELLIS ARNOLD EARNOLD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
agenda for the May 10 school board meeting. The request also included purchasing 2,500 devices to “refresh” the supply of technology used by staff, the agenda says. The purchase cost the district $10.9 million, an amount that was budgeted and came from the district’s capital construction, maintenance, and technology fund, according to the agenda. “The past year of remote learning illuminated the inequities of
With the new school year only weeks away, Adams, Arapahoe and Douglas counties are seeing the signs of an upswing in rates of new COVID-19 cases, according to a news release from Tri-County Health Department. “Two connected factors are responsible for the increase in new cases: individuals who remain unvaccinated and the highly contagious Delta variant,” the health agency wrote in the news release. In parallel with trends across the U.S. and Colorado, new cases of COVID-19 have increased in Adams, Arapahoe and Douglas counties in the past month, according to TriCounty, which is the local public health agency for the three counties. “While the overall rates are much lower than they were in April thanks to those who have been fully vaccinated against the virus, this recent increase in cases is concerning especially with school beginning in the next few weeks,” the agency added. Schools will likely return with little to no social distancing or mask requirements next month. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment released new P-12
SEE COMPUTERS, P25
SEE COVID, P20
In a 2020 file photo, diners are seen through water falling from The Streets at SouthPHOTO BY ELLIS ARNOLD Glenn’s fountain.
Cherry Creek buys thousands of computers for students Purchase enables schools to reach ‘1 to 1’ ratio of students to devices, district says BY ELLIS ARNOLD EARNOLD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
As remote learning came to define the pandemic for students in Colorado, Cherry Creek School
District loaned students nearly 7,000 laptop devices in spring 2020 and followed that with 6,500 additional laptops last fall semester. Now, the district is preparing to distribute even more devices for the coming school year after it purchased thousands more in pursuit of a “one to one” initiative to ensure every one of its roughly 55,000 students has access to a computer. District staff recommended that the Cherry Creek school board approve the purchase of roughly 16,000 devices, according to the
INSIDE: CALENDAR: PAGE 11 | VOICES: PAGE 12 | LIFE: PAGE 14 | SPORTS: PAGE 24
WESTERN WELCOME WEEK Littleton’s signature annual bash is back in full form. Our guide is inside P15
