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October 8, 2020
ARAPAHOE COUNTY, COLORADO
A publication of
EnglewoodHerald.net
VOLUME 100 | ISSUE 33
County sees rise in COVID case rate Mick Mullen’s Irish Bar on Oct. 1 along the South Broadway downtown Englewood corridor. The bar sits in a row of restaurants, other bars and eclectic shops along both sides of Broadway. PHOTOS BY ELLIS ARNOLD
Vote could launch downtown authority City hopes voters OK plan to revitalize CityCenter, Broadway, hospital districts BY ELLIS ARNOLD EARNOLD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Two decades ago, crews demolished a mall of more than 1 million square feet that had been built on Englewood’s former city park. Its name was Cinderella City, an economic engine that opened in 1968 amid much media hype. In 1974, it raked in just over half of Englewood’s total sales tax revenue. It functioned as a community center that still stirs fond memories in Englewood residents today. But competition from new malls like Southwest Plaza led to a decline, and after a late-1990s demolition, the site was redeveloped into today’s CityCenter Englewood shopping
site — the area around city hall and Walmart. The site once touted as the Denver area’s premier indoor mall stands now stands as a husk of its former self: Englewood’s outdoor retail and city hall combination still struggles to fulfill the promise of a bustling retail scene supported by light rail. “Time has taken its toll on Downtown Englewood, evidenced by empty storefronts, dormant retail sites and an overall lack of cohesiveness,” says the Englewood Downtown Plan, a vision facilitated by city staff. City officials came back to the drawing board and now want to press forward with that downtown plan to revitalize a swath of the city stretching from the CityCenter area all the way east to its hospital district, with what is traditionally thought of as Englewood’s downtown — the area of Hampden Avenue and South Broadway — in the middle. SEE DOWNTOWN, P6
A small group sits outside the Englewood Grand bar Oct. 1 as a pedestrian walks with a dog.
Arapahoe County could fall into tighter level of restrictions, losing ground on reopening BY ELLIS ARNOLD EARNOLD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
An increase in Arapahoe County’s rate of new COVID-19 cases has forced officials to turn to a plan to reduce the spread, the county announced in a news release. For the past few weeks, the county has operated under the least-restrictive level of Colorado’s updated safer-at-home order, which the state in September broke into three levels that counties qualify for based on the severity of the virus’ spread in their population. Colorado’s safer-at-home order is the social distancing policy that followed the statewide stay-athome order this spring and allowed many types of businesses to reopen. The increase in Arapahoe’s rate could move the county to the morerestrictive safer-at-home level 2, the Oct. 2 news release said. The public can view the different restrictions for each level at tinyurl. com/ColoradoCOVIDrules on page 6. Since early September, Adams, Arapahoe and Douglas counties have seen the first notably sustained increase in their rates of new cases since July, according to data from SEE COVID, P6
INSIDE: VOICES: PAGE 12 | LIFE: PAGE 14 | CALENDAR: PAGE 16 | SPORTS: PAGE 40
ELECTION 2020
Before you vote, check out our election guide, which includes Q&As with the candidates
PAGES 17-32