February 4, 2021
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JEFFERSON COUNTY, COLORADO
A publication of
GoldenTranscript.net
VOLUME 155 | ISSUE 9
As pandemic continues, Jeffco Sheriff’s Office contends with range of challenges Property crime and staff turnover are up as office deals with outbreak in jail BY PAUL ALBANI-BURGIO PALBANIBURGIO@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
While the pandemic has created challenges for many Golden businesses, it also created a new opportunity for one Golden couple. Michael Martinez and Julia Grother opened Cactus Mike’s, a restaurant specializing in tacos, wings and burgers, in late November at 1027 Washington Ave. “We were trying to think of something that would make sense during the pandemic as well as after and so we decided to focus on tacos, burgers and wings,” Martinez said. PHOTO BY PAUL ALBANI-BURGIO
New zoning code draft aims to promote neighborhood cohesion City taking comments on first draft to incorporate resident feedback BY PAUL ALBANI-BURGIO PALBANIBURGIO@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
There is plenty of time for Golden residents to review, make sense of and suggest changes to the first draft of the city’s attempt to rewrite its zoning code for the first time since it was first developed more than 50 years ago. But perhaps the biggest theme emerging from the 2.5-hour unveiling of that new code draft is that the overarching goal of all the codes is to incorporate new developments into the fabric of neighborhoods in a way that allows them to
Two COVID-19 outbreaks in the jail. An unprecedented rash of staff retirements. Sharp increases in property crime. Those are just three of the many issues Jeffco Sheriff Jeff Shrader says both his department and other law enforcement agencies continue to struggle with in the wake of a pandemic that is now stretching into its 11th month. “I wish I could tell you that there hasn’t been anything going on over the last few months,” Shrader told the Jeffco board of county commissioners while giving a quarterly update about the Sheriff ’s Office and crime in the county on Jan. 26. “But that certainly has not been the truth.” Property Crime
fit into the neighborhood rather than disrupt it. “Staff and community members and some councilors started talking about the physical
Shrader told the commissioners that one of his biggest concerns continues to be the rise in motor vehicle-related crimes the county has seen during the pandemic. According to Shrader’s most recent Law Enforcement Authority quarterly report, which covers the fourth quarter of 2020, there were 339 motor vehicle break-ins, compared to 206 over the same timeframe in 2019 and 251 in 2018. Motor vehicle thefts were also up significantly with the county seeing 125 in the fourth quarter of 2020, versus 96 for the same period in 2019 and 88 in 2018. However, that increase was actually less than the 80% Denver metro area-wide increase in auto thefts the Metropolitan Auto Theft Task Force reported a few months into the pandemic, Shrader said.
SEE ZONING, P9
SEE SHERIFF, P2
The full zoning code as well as resources for understand it and information for how to leave input can be found at www.guidinggolden.com. The city will also be hosting virtual office hours where residents can ask questions about the new zoning code and offer feedback — Thursdays from 4-5 p.m. through March 4. Just click on the blue box labeled “virtual office hours” on www.guidinggolden.com.
INSIDE: VOICES: PAGE 10 | LIFE: PAGE 12 | CALENDAR: PAGE 15 | SPORTS: PAGE 19
DON’T BE SCARED
A wonderful world of monsters awaits on the 16th Street Mall P12