M
September 17, 2015
E T R O
D
E N V E R
FARMERS’ MARKET
VOLUME 14 | ISSUE 35
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POOLSIDE POOCH
Climbing rents raise frustration Denver market brutal for apartment tenants By Jennifer Smith jsmith@coloradocommunitymedia.com
An agile Murray leaps into the water at Cook Creek Pool at Lone Tree’s annual Wag ‘n Romp day last weekend. More than 500 dogs showed up to splash in Cook Creek Pool in the annual end-of-summer tradition. For more photos on the event, turn to Page 5. Courtesy photo
Ballot decision irks committee members School board decides against bond measure By Mike DiFerdinando mdiferdinando@coloradocommunitymedia.com Some parents and community members are criticizing the Douglas County School District for failing to put a bond measure on the November ballot to help pay for $275 million in construction and maintenance needs, such as replacing failing furnaces and air conditioning units and adding classroom space to address overcrowding. “In March, the (School Accountability Committees) of 28 Douglas County schools created and signed a formal position statement in support of placing a bond initiative on the November ballot, so all community members would have
the chance to vote on maintaining our public assets,” Kristen Kidd, Mountain Vista High School District Accountability Committee liaison, said in an emailed statement. “The board decided voters should not be given that choice.” According to the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office, Aug. 3 was the last day to file an initiative petition for the November election and Sept. 2 was the last day for those petitions to be ruled sufficient or not by the state. If voters had approved a bond measure, their school tax bill would have remained unchanged. Instead, with no new bond measure, tax bills are estimated to drop by about $36 a year. Douglas County School Board President Kevin Larsen said the timing of the Sept. 8 statement was “a political statement and a way to get publicity.” Laura Mutton — chairwoman of the
Mountain Vista School Accountability Committee and president of the nonprofit Strong Schools Coalition — said that is not the case. “Parent leaders have asked to meet with the board and discuss putting a bond on the ballot and, after being ignored, waited patiently for the board to make a decision regarding this measure,” Mutton said. “Because the board has never made a public decision on whether or not they would place a bond on the ballot, we were not certain of their intentions until this week.” Data from the district’s Long Range Planning Committee showed capital needs are growing at the rate of $25 million to $35 million annually. According to Larsen, the planning committee figures are inflated because Bond continues on Page 25
New law helps enforce ban on e-cig use among teens Sheriff’s office welcomes ‘more teeth’ and higher consequences By Shanna Fortier sfortier@coloradocommunitymedia.com Although schools already ban use of any tobacco products on campuses, it is now illegal in unincorporated Douglas County for anyone under 18 to possess e-cigarettes, vapor pens or any other alternate devices of ingesting nicotine. The Douglas County Commission’s action Sept. 8 expanded its existing ordinance prohibiting minor possession of tobacco to include products developed in recent years. “We see it as a huge issue, especially since vapor pens carry more than just tobacco and juveniles are very resourceful,” said Sgt. Myra Buys of the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office. In the past, School Resource Officers have written tickets for tobacco and confiscated the product, but the emergence of vapor pens over the past couple years has made it difficult to regulate.
THE RULES It is now illegal in unincorporated Douglas County for minors to possess cigarettes and tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, vaporizers, hookahs and other emerging products to using tobacco. If a minor is given a citation, it will be a Class 2 petty offense and a $100 fine, the same penalty as the old ordinance. The Douglas County School District policy already defined tobacco products as “all kinds and forms of tobacco such as cigarettes, “Since they weren’t illegal to possess or own for juveniles, we were at a standstill and we didn’t know how we were going to approach the whole issue,” Buys said. “Now, this is a way for us to enforce the fact that they are not allowed to have a vapor pen at school or on their persons until they are the age of 18.” The ordinance won’t change the way the school district deals with tobacco is-
cigars, smokeless tobacco, dissolvables, electronic cigarettes, paraphernalia and other emerging products suitable for chewing or smoking and any other product that is packaged for smoking.” All are forbidden on school grounds. A person must be 18 years old to buy cigarettes anywhere in the United States. The same applies to any tobacco products or devices that can be used to ingest nicotine.
Millennials flocking to Colorado for jobs and new, more liberal social policies. Baby boomers retiring in droves, looking to downsize. Those are just a couple of reasons there are long lines of prospective tenants at apartment leasing offices, competing for rare vacancies in the Denver metro area. Apartment rents are up at least 5 percent in most metro-area cities since summer 2014, but there is no shortage of people willing to pay them. In south metro-area communities, renters and those still looking for a place are faced with some of the highest rates in the state, with the average one-bedroom going for more than $1,000 a month in most places. For two bedrooms, it’s generally around $1,500 or more, according to apartmentlist.com. Meanwhile, available units are hard to come by. The vacancy rate in the metro area was 4.5 percent as of June, according to the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp. The national average is about 7 percent, the U.S. Census Bureau reports. Those who are comfortably ensconced in a single-family neighborhood with a 30-year mortgage, perhaps paid off, might not think rent is an issue that will affect them. But who does it affect? Faces of renters Well, there’s J. Renee Smith. The single mom is paying $950 a month for a small, two-bedroom apartment near Littleton High School. She works two jobs and gets what she calls a “measly” amount of child support. “Since my ex left, I have struggled to finish school, pay off loans and keep bills out of my credit, which has also declined,” she said. “When I had to look for an apartment, prices soared sky-high even for a one-bedroom, and maintenance has been very bad. … Fortunately I was able to grab a second job, thus wearing myself thin on top of being a single mom and a chauffeur. Rent prices are ridiculous.” At the other end of the spectrum is 74-year-old Cinni Hines. She’s lived her whole life in Littleton. In 2002, she had a mobile home until the owner of the park she lived in sold to a development company that evicted everybody. Hines and her husband, Patrick, picked themselves up and got a two-bedroom apartment in downtown Littleton, and things were going along OK until Patrick died five years ago. She ended up getting a roommate to avoid having to move. “Rent goes up all the time, but Social Security doesn’t,” she said. “We rent in Littleton because we want to stay in Littleton. Most of us are interested in what’s going on. And I love living downtown, because I don’t drive.”
sues because it has always forbidden any kind of tobacco products, from cigarettes to smokeless tobacco to emerging paraphernalia for smoking. “We are noticing that some students are trying to use them in classrooms and hallways because they can be zero-percent nicotine,” said Cyndi Fern,
Sticker shock Then there are the transplants like millennial Scott Willey, who recently moved to the south metro area with his girlfriend. He grew up on the Gulf Coast of Texas, where he made a name for himself as a cook. He now finds himself working at a fast-casual chain restaurant. “I thought coming to a big metropolitan area, there’d be more choices for
E-cigs continues on Page 15
Rents continues on Page 14