Herald
Englewood 6-21-13
Englewood
June 21, 2013
75 cents
A Colorado Community Media Publication
ourenglewoodnews.com
Arapahoe County, Colorado • Volume 93, Issue 18
Business district could be history Opponent’s petitions spell end to South Broadway entity By Tom Munds
tmunds@ourcoloradonews.com
covered lot to the east across Lincoln Street. Once the school building is demolished and the site cleared, plans are to construct a complex containing 310 apartments. There will be two, four-story buildings, one on the Flood site and one on the grassy lot to the east. The concept is to design the buildings so all tenant parking is on the site. Charlene Overhill pulled her car to the curb and got out to watch the demolition. “I hate to see this happen. That was my school and I have fond memories of my years there and the friends I made when we lived in Englewood,” the Littleton resident said. “I just happened to be in the area and wanted to see the site while most of the building was still standing. I guess our beloved school is just a victim of time and progress.” The demolition crew first knocked down the southeast corner of the building, de-
The final chapter is being written in the history of the South Broadway Business Improvement District. The curtain started to come down at the June 17 Englewood City Council meeting, when Bob Laughlin, BID president, said the district had ceased efforts to overturn the validity of the dissolution petitions. “The goal of the BID has always been to make Englewood a better place to own or operate a business,” he said. “Unfortunately, we were not able to rally enough support to overturn the dissolution petitions. We now bow to the decision of the city council in regards to the distribution of the district’s assets.” The South Broadway Business Improvement District was formed by election in 2006 and includes all commercial properties on both sides of Broadway from Yale Avenue to U.S. Highway 285. Proponents sought to create the self-taxing, self-governed program to finance projects above and beyond those provided by governmental agencies. Merchants along the stretch of Broadway launched the successful grass-roots effort to create the business district, followed the process and, in the required November 2006 election, property owners voted almost 2-1 to create the district. However, not every property owner in the district was pleased with its creation or
School continues on Page 11
District continues on Page 11
A backhoe excavator operator brings down a section of the wall over the main entrance to Flood Middle School. Alpine Demolition is clearing the site so the developer can construct a 310-apartment complex. Photo by Tom Munds
Crews demolishing old Flood school Work began June 13 to clear site for apartment complex By Tom Munds
tmunds@ourcoloradonews.com The resounding crash of falling bricks, wood and debris replaced the normal quiet at Kenyon and Lincoln June 13 as demolition of Flood Middle School began. On the morning of June 14, Alpine Demolition had two men on the job — one man at the controls of the 450-ton backhoe excavator and the other spraying water on the site to keep down the dust. The equipment operator used the power of the machine to pull down walls, rip out supports and knock down floors. He also used the jaws of the bucket to delicately lift pieces of metal from the debris and drop them in a separate pile to be recycled. The excavator pulled down outside walls
exposing former classrooms that still include some fixtures like an occasional desk or bookcase. Billy Major, head of project general contractor Major Environmental, said the demolition would take about a month. “Crews are demolishing a building that is probably a total of 115,000 square feet. It is a big job and the crews will do it a step at a time,” he said. “They will continue to take down much of the south end of the building and then move north, gradually clearing the concrete floor, which is a better surface for operating the backhoe. The debris will be piled up on site. There will be separate piles including the piles of bricks and metal that will be recycled. Once the building is down, they will begin trucking the debris away to clear the site.” The property covers about 4.4 acres, which includes the 109,000-square-foot school building that fronts on Broadway for almost two blocks as well as a sizable, grass-
Elks hold Flag Day ceremony in Englewood Lodge stages presentation about banner’s history By Tom Munds
tmunds@ourcoloradonews.com Englewood Elks Lodge 2122 held its annual Flag Day ceremony on June 15. “In 1911, The Elks Grand Lodge adopted the resolution establishing June 14 as Flag Day and established mandatory observance of Flag Day by every Elks lodge,” said Chris Blakely, exalted ruler of the Englewood lodge. “Our program today seeks to help people understand how the symbol of our country evolved to the flag we fly today.” President Harry Truman established June 14 as Flag Day, but Pennsylvania is the
only state that has established Flag Day as a recognized holiday for its employees. For the June 15 event, a podium and flag stands were set up near the south end of the lodge parking lot. Blakely officiated, and as he talked about each flag, a member of the lodge brought in the flag and posted it in the stand. The presentation talked about nine different American flags and the POW flag. Flags posted include two flown by colonies in the 1760s to the one flown by the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. There were several changes made to the flag until the design evolved to the 50-star flag we fly today. Blakely and other lodge officials also talked about lodge and its community service programs. Julie Saltzman of Littleton jotted down
some notes during the presentation as she sat in the audience of about 50 people attending the presentation. “A friend told me about today’s program and I decided to come because I really don’t as much as I should the history of our flag,” she said. “My parents came to the States from Poland and I was born in Nebraska. I went to school there but I don’t remember learning much about the history of our flag. Because this is my country and my flag, I wanted to know more about it.” She said the program was very
informative,and some of the things she learned, she planned to teach her grandchildren. Blakely said after the presentation that he would like to find a way to attract more people to the annual Flag Day ceremony. “We did have some people stop by because we invited some members of the Military Vehicles Collectors of Colorado to bring and display some of their equipment,” he said. “We want to invite them back next year and hopefully we’ll have a bigger crowd.”
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Chris Blakely, exalted ruler of Englewood Elks Lodge 2122, stands to deliver his presentation during the June 15 Flag Day ceremony. The presentation detailed the evolution of the flag flown today. Photo by Tom Munds