Littleton 10.24.13
October 24, 2013 75 cents
Arapahoe County, Colorado • Volume 125, Issue 14
A Colorado Community Media Publication
ourlittletonnews.com
Council passes budget Event planner makes the cut to boost city’s standing By Jennifer Smith
jsmith@ourcoloradonews.com
The Mad Hatter checks his watch, as featured in the first-place pumpkin pole built by downtown merchants Grandpa’s Attic, Tavern, In Tea, and Adventures in Dance. Photo by Jennifer Smith
Downtown gets pole-arized By Jennifer Smith
jsmith@ourcoloradonews.com Every October, an odd array of what could be called art crops up along Main Street. They are the Historic Downtown Littleton Merchants’ pumpkin poles, decorated wildly in an effort to win best
of show. This year’s winner was “Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland” on the corner of Main and Nevada streets — not just because it was creative, intricate and showed good use of pumpkins, but because its creators were the only ones to bribe the judge, offering up a mug of
delicious cider. Congratulations to merchants Grandpa’s Attic, Tavern, In Tea and Adventures in Dance. Second place was the rather graphic football-themed pole in front of Delizio’s. Word on the street is that the judge appreciated the fact that it was the only pole to risk a bit of good oldfashioned Halloween blood and guts.
Littleton City Council passed the city’s 2014 budget Oct. 15 without having to shut down the government even once. The only sticking point came over adding a marketing specialist, at a total cost of about $387,000 for personnel and events. “It’s all about partnerships,” said Kelli Narde, the city’s director of communications. “There’s been some discussion in the community that this is some kind of high-priced party planner. Nothing could be further from the truth.” According to City Manager Michael Penny, increased funding to special events will up their quality and quantity, bringing in new visitors and revenue. He anticipates spending $35,000 on a downtown branding and sign plan, and $17,500 on marketing. He notes that residents indicated strong support for Littleton to increase its self-promotion in both the business and citizen surveys conducted last year. Eighty percent of residents said it’s essential or very important, and 97 percent of businesses said they support strengthening the community’s image. But three residents spoke out against the proposal during the budget hearing, saying the private sector should take care of marketing itself, and the government should stick to infrastructure. “If council takes care of the people Budget continues on Page 26
Littleton Retreat leads to goals, next steps Revitalization, healthy choices, mental issues emerge as priorities By Jennifer Smith
jsmith@ourcoloradonews.com By the end of the 24-hour Littleton Community Retreat on Oct. 19, it was evident that the city has a wealth of health resources that work together well, but promoting them more could help fill in some gaps. “We’re a coalition here, and we already have a backbone in
place,” said David Peters, retired community outreach coordinator for Centura Health/St. Anthony Hospital. The event, run by a nonprofit organization not affiliated with the city, started with the broad theme of “Building a Healthy Community for All.” Attendees honed in on three goals they hope to achieve: revitalization of the Littleton Boulevard corridor, removing the stigma from mental-health issues and “Making the Healthy Choice the Easy Choice.” Mike Braaten, assistant city manager and the only city employee in attendance, facilitated
POSTAL ADDRESS
the revitalization group. He said its next steps would be to work with the South Metro Denver Realtors on a smart-growth workshop for the community, become familiar with existing city plans, be involved with increased neighborhood engagement efforts established in the city’s 2014 budget, and help develop visions and goals for the neighborhood. As part of that effort, the group envisions a “charette,” defined as an intensive, collaborative session to find a solution to a probRetreat continues on Page 5
From left, Sheila Gaines, Lucie Stanish, Dave Lorenz and Kay Watson help prioritize topics for discussion at the Littleton Community Retreat, held Oct. 18-19 at Snow Mountain Lodge near Granby. Photo by Jennifer Smith
LITTLETON INDEPENDENT (ISSN 1058-7837) (USPS 315-780) OFFICE: 9137 S. Ridgeline Blvd., Suite 210, Highlands Ranch, CO 80129 PHONE: 303-566-4100 A legal newspaper of general circulation in Englewood, Colorado, the Littleton Independent is published weekly on Thursday by Colorado Community Media. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT ENGLEWOOD, COLORADO AND ADDITIONAL MAILING OFFICES. POSTMASTER: Send address change to: 9137 S. Ridgeline Blvd., Suite 210, Highlands Ranch, CO 80129 DEADLINES: Display advertising: Thurs. 11 a.m. Legal advertising: Thurs. 11 a.m. Classified advertising: Mon. 12 p.m.
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