June 12, 2014 Jefferson County, Colorado Volume 90, Issue 43
lakewoodsentinel.com
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Gov. John Hickenlooper is joined by other legislators to sign SB14-194 at the Pierce Street DMV. Photo by Clarke Reader
A shorter wait at the DMV Dreams really do come true Pastor Reg Cox, from the Lakewood Church of Christ, speaks at the celebratory event for the Foothills Field of Dreams project. Photos by Clarke Reader
Hickenlooper visits Lakewood to sign SB14-194 By Clarke Reader
creader@colorado communitymedia.com The department of motor vehicles is certainly not the most glamorous place to have a bill signing, but it was the most fitting for the work Gov. John Hickenlooper and others came to do. Hickenlooper, Sen. Pat Steadman (DDenver), Rep. Cristana Duran (D-Denver) and Rep. Cheri Jerou (R-Evergreen) were joined by Barbara Brohl, executive director of the Department of Revenue, at the Pierce Street DMV in Lakewood on June 5, to sign a bill aimed at reducing DMV wait times. SB14-194, also known as the “Driver’s License Fee Allocations” bill, changes DMV funding in the hopes of creating a 15-minute wait time. Brohl described the bill as a major step forward in the modernization of the DMV, allowing for two consecutive online driver license renewals, granting the Department of Revenue fee setting authority within defined parameters, and consolidating cash funds for administrative efficiency. “Given all that goes on here at the DMV, this is the perfect place to sign this historic bill,” Brohl said during the signing. “The positive impact it will have on how the DMV does business will help all of Colorado.” The DMV received funding to enhance staff coverage during peak hours, expand office hours, provide additional training, and expand online appointment scheduling statewide. This will assist is reaching the governor’s vision of average 15 minute wait times at Driver’s License offices. “This all goes a long way to streamlining and cutting red tape here (at the DMV),” Hickenlooper said. “It will help us
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Field of Dreams project celebrates progress By Clarke Reader
creader@colorado communitymedia.com It may not be heaven just yet, but the Foothills Field of Dreams threw a thankyou event to celebrate everyone who worked to make the dream a reality. On Tuesday, June 3, Foothills Elementary staff, Lakewood civil leaders and community members all gathered to toast to the completion of one stage of the journey and the preparation for the next. “We’re very excited that this project is finally going to come to fruition,” principal Susan Borzych said. “When the field is finally done our students will have the chance to have gym class outside for the first time in a long while.” The fields at the school, located at 13165 W. Ohio Ave., have not been updated in decades and cannot be safely used by the students. Thanks to fundraising efforts by the school and community, the project received a grant from Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO), which will pay for $339,090 of the $450,000 project. The school had to raise the remaining $148,000 on its own. In addition to the fields being rebuilt, there will also be a resurfacing project done on the nearby playgrounds and fencing, benches and landscaping will be installed. The project got started in 2011 when Reg Cox, pastor of Lakewood Church of Christ, and the Lakewood Pastor Group — which is made up of pastors from 16 different churches — had a meeting to hear about local schools’ needs. That meeting started a chain reaction that lead to the decision to focus on Foothill and getting something done about the fields. “When the church is working well it’s really good at bringing people together with a common purpose,” Cox said. “For this we were able to bring leaders together for the good of the neighborhood.” Leaders like Mayor Bob Murphy and Ward 4 councilmen Adam Paul and David Wiechman got involved in the project in
The fields at Foothills Elementary haven’t received any kind of upgrade for decades and are badly in need of work.
The seeds of the Foothills Field of Dreams project started in 2011 and will finish around October of this year. different ways. “We went to our churches and got collections to help out the school,” Paul said. For Wiechman, the project is in line with the kind of projects that made him interested in politics in the first place. “For me this is more of a culmination of a lifetime of these kinds of things,” he said. “The community demonstrated how they’re able to step up and get things done.” Murphy said that first meeting where he was able to hear all the stories about the local schools’ needs remains one of the most powerful meetings he’s ever at-
tended. “This project is so meaningful to the community for so many reason and what a prototype for involvement has been created here,” he said. According to Borzych, groundbreaking will be on Aug. 15 and will hopefully be finished around the end of October. “I think this could become a new kind of model for other neighborhoods,” Paul said. “If we can get this rolling at other schools, watch out.” For more information visit www.foothillsfieldofdreams.com.