1-Color
February 21, 2014
75 cents Arapahoe County, Colorado | Volume 94, Issue 1 A publication of
englewoodherald.net
Snow stretches deicing supplies Winter weather a strain on materials applied to streets By Tom Munds
tmunds@coloradocommunitymedia. com Englewood had to reorder more IceSlicer, the material used to treat ice and snow on the streets, because the prolonged cold weather and frequent snow falls dropped the available supply below necessary reserve levels. “We have about 75 tons of IceSlicer on hand which is about what we use to treat streets after a normal storm,” said Brad Hagan, street maintenance manager on Feb. 10. “I placed an order for 300 tons of IceSlicer last week. … The supplier said delivery would be delayed because of the heavy demand for the material from Midwest and Eastern cities. I was told to expect the new supply next week.”
For years, Englewood used a mixture of sand and salt on icy and snow-covered roads. A few years ago they switched to IceSlicer, described as “a granular de-icing product that is more environmentally friendly than sand and salt” that has been said to “provide better traction on icy roads and (be) less corrosive than the salt mixture.” “During that stretch of January storms, we knew that keeping the streets in good shape was depleting our supply of IceSlicer so we began adding rock salt to the IceSlicer to help stretch each load we sent out,” Hagan said. When a storm hits Englewood, the street department has four trucks out treating the streets. The first priority areas are the hospitals, schools and downtown areas. “Our trucks apply IceSlicer through the spreaders mounted at the rear of the vehicles,” Hagan said. “We pretreat IceSlicer Snow continues on Page 9
The driver of this grinder truck waits for a dump truck as city crews clear away the accumulated ice and snow created by the series of storms that hit Englewood in early February. After the storms subsided, crews began work on ice patches, particularly those in traffic lanes. Photo by Tom Munds
RTD nixes proposal for funds District says no to Englewood’s request for reallocation By Tom Munds
tmunds@coloradocommunitymedia. com
Check-out lines were long but moved quickly at the Feb. 14 opening of Trader Joe’s in Greenwood Village. Photo by George Lurie
Trader Joe’s comes to area Opening of popular, Polynesian-themed grocery store attracts thousands By George Lurie
glurie@coloradocommunitymedia.com More than 3,000 people shopped and gawked at the new Trader Joe’s in Greenwood Village on Feb. 14, the store’s first day in operation. Rhonda MacDonald made the drive from Castle Rock to check out the new store. “We moved here from San Jose (California) a couple of years ago and the thing I missed most, except for maybe the ocean, was Trader Joe’s,” she said. “None of the other grocery stores around here are quite like them.”
Centennial resident and Colorado native Tim Hunter and his daughter Julie spent more than three hours — and several hundred dollars — shopping at the new store on Feb. 14. “I’d heard a lot about Trader Joe’s but had never been to one until today,” said Hunter. “It’s cool. I like the vibe here. And the prices are really good, especially on things like nuts and dried fruit. We’ll be back.” Store manager Dan Guarjardo, whose business card lists his job title as “captain,” said his staff “wasn’t sure what to expect” on opening day. “We’re prepared for a brisk turnout but honestly, I don’t know how many people will show up,” Guarjardo said. “Hopefully, we’re ready for everything and everybody.” Three hours after the doors opened, crowd control was the biggest challenge. The parking lot was full and checkout lines
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snaked the length of the store as employees, dressed in red T-shirts, answered questions about food items and directed customers pushing overflowing shopping carts to available check stands. The Polynesian-themed, 10,000-squarefoot store, located in the Cherry Hills Marketplace on South University Boulevard at East Orchard Road, features more than a dozen murals of area landmarks, including Fiddler’s Green Amphitheater, the High Line Canal Trail and Dinosaur Park. The California-based company, which started in 1958 as Pronto Markets and changed its name to Trader Joe’s in 1967, has stores in nine states. The company, which opened its first Colorado outlets on Valentine’s Day, has a cult following, fueled in part by its selection of low-cost, private label products. But south metro-area wine aficionados who visited the Greenwood Village Trader Joe’s were disappointed: Only the Denver store (at 8th Ave. and Colorado Blvd.) has a liquor license and sells the company’s popular “two-buck Chuck” wine. “Bummer,” said customer Phil Stevens of Highlands Ranch, when informed by a store employee there was no wine at the Greenwood Village Trader Joe’s. “If I have to drive all the way in to Denver for cheap wine, I’m going to buy a case or two. Not just a few bottles.”
A letter from the Regional Transportation District dated Jan. 31 rejected Englewood’s proposal for alternative uses of FasTracks funds earmarked for projects in the city. The city proposal would reallocate the money in the RTD FasTracks Plan to build a light rail station at Bates Avenue in Englewood and to provide an additional 440 parking places the district promised to provide at the Englewood Light Rail Station. FasTracks is the mass transit expansion plan approved by voters in 2004. Both projects in Englewood were part of the FasTracks Southwest Corridor Light Rain Enhancements. The city requested the Bates Station and parking expansion funds be reallocated and made available now for other transitrelated projects. Projects proposed for the reallocated funds would include building pedestrian-bike bridges over busy streets and adding enhancements to the Englewood Station. However, the RTD letter said funding for the original projects have been re-programmed to later in the FasTracks program. The reasons given for the new dates for funding for Englewood projects were the city had stated the prospects for building the Bates Station were unlikely due to much increased costs and Englewood’s City Council asked RTD not to move forward with the proposed parking expansion project. The letter signed by RTD General Manager Phillip Washington stated the funding for the proposed projects in Englewood were now identified near the end of the FasTracks program and are not expected to be available prior to 2035. “RTD’s response to our proposal is a setback for us,” said Mike Flaherty, deputy city manager. “The RTD letter did suggest the city recommend including some of the projects as part of the Next Step portion of the Light Rail Corridor Development Plan. RTD continues on Page 9