Arvada Press January 4, 2024

VOLUME 19 | ISSUE 27

WEEK OF JANUARY 4, 2024

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2 Arvada Press

January 4, 2024Jan

Community Table exceeds goal for 25 x 25 food drive Local nonprofit collects over 54,000 pounds of food

BY RYLEE DUNN RDUNN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Community Table’s annual 25 x 25 Food Drive was a roaring success this year, with the food bank bringing in approximately 54,365 pounds of food — more than double its 25,000-pound goal.

The annual holiday food drive aims to collect 25,000 pounds before Christmas — the 25th day of December. Community Table has always hit that benchmark, but never quite blown it away as they did this year.

Community Table Chief Execu-

tive Officer Sandy Martin said the food collected this year will be able to provide over 45,000 meals for the less fortunate in the community.

“We are so delighted and touched by the generosity of the community,” Martin said. “We were hoping to collect 25,000 pounds of food by Dec. 25. Instead, we collected more than 54,000 pounds of food. That’s more than 45,000 meals!”

Martin continued to say that the donations from the food drive will help keep the pantry stocked through the winter months when donations are typically less frequent.

“The donations we collected from the 25x25 Community Food Drive will keep our pantry stocked throughout the winter months when food donations are typically low,” Martin said. “Donated food

Mairs Family Dentistry donated food for the holiday food drive this year.

Donations overflow at the Wheat Ridge Community Recreation Center for CommuPHOTOS COURTESY OF COMMUNITY TABLE nity Table’s 25 x 25 food drive.

items are vital to our food pantry’s operation and provide variety and choice to the families we serve.

These contributions mean more than just sustenance; they signify hope and dignity.

“Families can access their favorite foods and other nutritious options, enabling them to prepare balanced meals and meet their dietary needs,” Martin continued. “Moreover, these donations help alleviate financial

stress and strain, allowing families to allocate resources for critical needs like housing and healthcare.”

2024 promises to be a big year for Community Table, as the nonprofit will move to a new location in Adams County where it will begin operating a navigation center with a plethora of services. The current plan will see the nonprofit move into its new digs sometime between the third and fourth quarter of 2024.

Arvada Press 3

January 4, 2024 ADVERTISEMENT

Controversial Building Proposal in Lakewood Is About More Than Birds

The Dec. 24th Sunday Denver Post had a lengthy article on its business pages about a 412-unit apartment building being proposed by a Texas developer for a 5-acre site adjoining Belmar Park (see satellite image at right).

The focus of the article was on the birders who are fighting the project as best they can, given that the public and city council have no say in Lakewood when it comes to development.

That’s right — no say in any proposal to build on private property so long as it complies with zoning. The City Council doesn’t even have a say on subdividing land, although it’s a review body for appeals on major subdivisions. This project is on a single 5-acre owned parcel and, because it’s zoned multifamily, the owner could build a 12-story apartment or mixed-use building if he wanted. The developer, Kairoi Residential of San Antonio, is proposing a 6-story apartment building — still taller than most buildings in downtown Lakewood.

The City of Lakewood has ceded all regulation of such projects to its planning department. The planning director could, if he wanted, submit this project to the city’s planning commission for hearings and debate, but he has chosen not to, despite the controversy.

Anita Springsteen (below) served a 4year term on the Lakewood City Council through November. She decided not to run for re-election because the council has no power. Once she was told by the city attorney that council members are like citizens and that she had no more right to the information she was requesting than an ordinary citizen.

One such citizen, Mark Smith, made a Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) request for such information and was told that it would take 149 staff hours to produce the information and would cost him over $5,000.

Mark is a retired city planner and he said that he knows of no other jurisdiction which provides literally no public process for approving significant development proposals. The City of Golden has a process that could be a model for Lakewood and any other city. Check out

guidinggolden.com/planning-projects for inspiration. It includes a process for councilors and citizens to have a voice.

Lakewood has an ordinance requiring any developer to set aside parkland in proportion to 5 acres per 1,000 added population. For the Belmar Park development, that formula should require 3.5 acres, but the entire parcel is only 5 acres, so the director of community resources is allowing the developer to pay the city $254,545 per acre in lieu of that requirement. Again, no public or legislative say in that decision and, of course, no hearing. The planning commission would hold hearings; the planning director just decides.

Anita Springsteen moved that the city manager deny the in-lieu fee, but Mayor Paul said, “I’m not going to allow a vote on an illegal motion.” How is that?

In recognition of local concerns, the developer announced a 2-month “pause” on October 18 to allow for a “neighborhood meeting.” That meeting, as de-

The big story here is that Lakewood has no public process for controlling development. scribed on the planning department’s website consisted of up to 3 members of city government, 3 representatives of the developer and 3 residents of Belmar Commons, a 45-unit townhome community closest to the project. It was unannounced, and no recording was made.

Instead, facilitator hired by the city took notes. Those notes did not include the names of any of the attendees.

The planning department’s web page for the project says bluntly, “This property has had this property right to build multistory uses for a long time, and courts have been quite clear that elected officials and cities can’t impinge or impede a private property owner’s property rights allowed under a ‘use by right.’ Courts have viewed efforts to do this as a ‘taking’ of property rights.”

Further, the web page says that “the proposed development will occur solely through the administrative process managed by the Planning Department.

That means the Planning Department

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will review the development to ensure it is meeting the city’s regulations for setbacks of the building, heights, green space requirements, landscaping, etc.”

In 2019, Lakewood’s voters approved the Strategic Growth Initiative which imposed a 1% growth limit, patterned after a similar law in Golden. That law also included a provision that projects of 40 units or more should go to the city council for approval, although that has not been followed, as far as I can tell.

In the wake of 2023 legislation outlawing growth limits statewide, the city council repealed the Strategic Growth Initiative and then re-passed it with a 2year sunset provision, meaning that it dies unless the council (or voters) vote to retain it. Curiously, the new law retained the 1% growth limit, but it sunsets along with the rest of the law in 2025. I asked why the 412-unit Belmar Park project doesn’t violate the 1% growth limit. It’s because the original designation of the downtown/Villa Italia district as “blighted” exempts that area from the limitation, even though it’s hardly blighted nowadays.

By now you’ve probably guessed that the majority of city council members are pro-growth or even pro-developer.

I interviewed Ramey Johnson, who served on Lakewood’s city council from 2010 to 2020, and she couldn’t think or any jurisdiction in which the governing body has ceded its authority over development to administrative staff the way Lakewood has. “It’s wrong,” she told me. She says that council has incrementally relinquished its power to administrative staff over many years.

She told how in 2003, in response to “angst” over CCU students living in residential areas, council passed an ordinance defining a “Student Living Unit.”

When the zoning ordinance was rewritten in 2012, Ramey noticed that definition had been deleted without pointing it out to the city council. Travis Parker, the director of planning, responded, “It wasn’t needed anymore.”

“The staff simply took out something that was voted by City Council,” Ramey said. “What else was deleted?”

Lakewood has among the lowest paid elected officials and highest paid staff of any city its size. City council members make $12,000, the mayor makes about $40,000, but the city manager makes about $350,000 (with benefits), and the department heads, like Parker, make over $200,000. Council members have no staff and no expense accounts. “We even have to buy the coffee for our ward meetings,” Anita Springsteen told me.

“This is a recipe for corruption,” She has studied the campaign finance disclosures of her fellow councilors and the mayor and told me that the lawyer representing the developer made a campaign contribution to Mayor Paul — and after the election, the chairman of her firm, Norman Brownstein, made a contribution to Paul’s campaign despite the fact that Paul was then term-limited.

No building permit has been issued yet for the Belmar Park development.

But nothing’s really stopping it.

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4 Arvada Press

January 4, 2024Jan

How to avoid unwanted coyote interactions this winter Arvada Police say sightings have been on the rise in town

BY RYLEE DUNN RDUNN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

The wintertime brings many neighbors, friends and family members together — along with the occasional wild animal.

Coyote sightings in Arvada have seen an uptick in recent weeks, according to the Arvada Police Department’s Public Information Officer Dave Snelling, who gave some tips for dealing with the Roadrun-

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ner’s nemesis and said their presence in town is totally normal.

“We see a small increase during this time of year,” Snelling

said. “They can be seen outdoors; they’re looking for food, like any other animal. They’re traveling through Majestic View, but they can be seen anywhere. We have so many green belts and canals that it’s not uncommon to see them crossing the street.”

Snelling gave his tips for avoiding coyotes altogether and making sure you won’t have a hairy interaction with one.

• Don’t leave trash or trash bags out: “Trash should be kept in a secure container,” Snelling said.

• Leave coyotes alone: “Just because you see a coyote, doesn’t mean anything is wrong,” Snelling said. “We encourage people to leave them alone. Don’t announce on social media where wild animals are at; it’s preferred that people don’t rush out to take pictures with them.” Snelling said the animals will eventually return to their habitats.

• Keep your dog on a leash: “It’s a good idea — and the law — to keep your dog on a leash so it doesn’t chase the coyote or other wildlife,” Snelling said. “We don’t want the dog to chase something onto the ice and potentially fall through.”

• If confronted by a coyote: “If a coyote gets very close or seems like it’s confronting you, don’t run, just make yourself big and put your hands up,” Snelling said. “This goes for other wildlife as well, like mountain lions.”

Arvada Press 5

January 4, 2024

Copper Mountain volunteer boot packers stomp trails to reduce avalanche danger

BY JASON BLEVINS THE COLORADO SUN

The hardy skiers shoulder their skis and wade into the waist-deep powder atop the steep Patrol Chute in Spaulding Bowl at Copper Mountain. Reed Ryan, the ski area’s snow safety boss, warns the crew of looming avalanche hazards.

“We may hear some whumpfs.

We may see some cracking. That’s fine. That’s what we are here for,” he says as the line of boot packers begins stomping down one of the steepest lines at Copper Mountain.

They plug their ski boots deep into the snow, mixing the powder on the top layer with the sugary

facets closer to the ground. When they’ve trampled Patrol Chute, they move over to the next. It’s a grueling day for the unpaid volunteers.

“But it’s fun and outside and so beautiful and I’m hanging with great people,” says John Murtha, a 48-year-old from Frisco who is finishing up his second year boot packing at his home hill.

In 2015, Copper Mountain ski patrollers started recruiting volunteers to boot pack the ski area’s steepest terrain. There were about 20 skiers who signed up that first winter. Now there are 75 and a long waiting list. Most of the skiers keep coming back every winter.

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By getting skiers stomping through steep snow, the chances of a big slide scouring a mountainside to dirt in January is reduced.

That’s how it was in the old days: wait for the rotten early season snow to avalanche and then wait for more snow to fill in the avalanched slopes.

Now, ski patrollers direct a choreographed swirl of mitigation that includes digging pits, hurling bombs and directing snow-blending boot packers, all of which enable skiers to get into the steeps early in the season.

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January 4, 2024Jan

COPPER FROM PAGE 5

Volunteer boot packers work their way down Copper Mountain’s Spaulding Bowl in PHOTO BY HUGH CAREY THE COLORADO SUN Summit County.

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Copper Mountain patrollers have been able to open the mountaintop Spaulding Bowl with as little as 60 inches of snowfall. This season, they are still working in the bowl after 75 inches of snow. The season’s winds and long weeks of snowless, high-pressure weather systems have required additional mitigation efforts.

Following the last big storm in late November, ski patrollers skicut Spaulding Bowl, carving diagonal tracks across open faces of snow. The dissected chunks help limit the potential of a massive slab of snow releasing.

As boot packers two weeks ago stomped down the steep lines on the south-facing slopes, a pair of patrollers were digging a pit on a north-facing slope. They were testing the snow to see how previous boot packing work has broken up the rotting, dangerous layer on the ground. Depending on what the snow pit reveals, the boot packers might be called back to the northfacing zone.

The snow-stomping crew typically winds down after the first of the year. They get a free pass for seven days of work. But where a ski pass is a big motivator at resorts like Aspen Highlands — where 15 days of boot packing earns a $3,000 Premier Pass — the Copper Mountain boot packers are not necessarily working for a ticket to ride lifts.

“They get to be behind the curtain a little bit and see how we operate,” says Ryan, who has hired six boot packers over the years to join the Copper Mountain patrol. “And they usually get a little bit of soft snow to ski.”

Atop Spaulding Bowl, the boot packers are happy to share some important tips. Like: tuck the gaiter under the cuff of your ski pants underneath the buckles of your boots to keep snow from sneaking into your boots. And clasp your buckles tight because they pop open when plugging deep snow. And sort of pre-step your hole before fully weighting your downhill leg, so you can get deep into the snow and reach those weak facets near the ground.

“This is kind of perfect boot packing snow,” Ryan says as the line of packers slowly descends Patrol

Chute, most of them hip deep in powder.

At the bottom of the steep, Ryan makes the call to put on skis. After a couple minutes of side-stepping down, it’s time to ski and the packers stack tidy squiggles in the apron of snow beneath the chute.

Jim Bradley, a 33-year-old from Leadville, takes the opportunity beneath the ski tracks to ask Ryan and Blair about their favorite places to ski at Copper Mountain. He listens closely as they describe wooded nooks and hidden patches.

Bradley has boot packed at Copper Mountain for five winters. He likes how the work delivers insights into the snowpack before the backcountry season gets rolling. How else could he spend time in the north-facing Alpine without exposing himself to serious avalanche risks? And he likes listening to the Copper vets tell their stories.

“Just going on the different slopes and feeling the different snow packs at different angles, different sun exposure, different wind exposure, it really does help you get a kind of a feel, early season, for what the snowpack is gonna be like for the rest of the year,” he said. “And it’s so fun to hang with these very knowledgeable ski patrollers and pick their brains. Just so much information to glean, you know.”

Maria Leech is a full-time ski patroller at Breckenridge who enjoys skiing Copper Mountain. For the early season, she spends her days off from Breck boot packing at Copper.

“Just one more lap to go,” she says on her seventh day, nibbling peanut noodles from a Tupperware container in the Copper patrol headquarters. “l get to see another patrol’s operations and it’s something to do outside before the skiing gets really good.”

Two years ago Murtha, the volunteer from Frisco, was rushed to Denver via Flight for Life after suffering a stroke. Now, he says,”I say yes to a lot of adventures.” Like boot packing.

“I mean, come on. Look at how beautiful this is,” he says, riding a chair up for his final lap of the day burrowing through precipitous powder. “I’m pretty lucky. I’m living life, baby!”

This story was printed through a news sharing agreement with The Colorado Sun, a journalist-owned nonprofit based in Denver that covers the state.

Arvada Press 7

January 4, 2024

Polis wants colleges to hold tuition below inflation, but budget doesn’t provide funds

A publication of

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The Jordan Student Success Building of Metropolitan State University of Denver.

BY BRIAN EASON THE COLORADO SUN

When Gov. Jared Polis released his proposed higher education budget last month, he told the Joint Budget Committee his goal was to make college more affordable by holding in-state tuition increases to 2%.

But the governor glossed over a key detail: His spending plan doesn’t actually provide Colorado’s colleges and universities enough money to do so.

In early budget writing discussions for the 2024-25 fiscal year, funding for higher education has emerged as a major divide between the state’s Democratic governor and lawmakers on the JBC who say Polis’ plan doesn’t provide enough funding.

Polis’ proposal does give the college governing boards a slight funding bump — $41 million, or a 2.9% increase over the $1.4 billion budgeted this year.

But after a decade of low state funding and falling enrollment, that won’t come close to covering the cost of holding tuition increases to half the rate of inflation, as the governor has called for.

Rising costs mean colleges and universities will have to increase spending by more than what Polis is proposing just to maintain the status quo, lawmakers learned this month in a budget

committee briefing. Salaries, benefits and other costs are projected to go up 3.8% next fiscal year, a figure that could rise even further if institutions of higher education implement a new pay plan for state workers.

Add it all up, and institutions could be as much as $133 million short of what’s needed to hold in-state tuition increases to 2%, according to a nonpartisan legislative budget staff analysis.

The governor’s plan calls for colleges to pass on $80 million of those costs to out-of-state students through a 6.5% tuition hike. The rest, he has suggested, could come through campus-level belt-tightening.

In Colorado, the governor’s budget proposal is just that — a suggestion that budget writers on the JBC can take or leave. But it’s a critical starting point, because lawmakers often defer to what departments say they need to fund public services and the governor’s priorities. The budget year starts July 1, and the spending plan must be approved by the legislature each spring.

JBC members have railed against Polis’ proposal, saying it would give public universities more incentive to chase wealthy out-of-state students instead of focusing on educating Coloradans.

And that’s if the large tuition increase doesn’t discourage students from com-

COURTESY METROPOLITAN STATE UNIVERSITY OF DENVER

ing here. Out-of-state students already pay much higher tuition than Colorado residents.

The estimated cost of one academic year at CU in Boulder, including food and housing, is now $60,000 for outof-state students vs. $31,000 for Coloradans.

“It’s not sustainable,” said Sen. Rachel Zenzinger, D-Arvada, the JBC’s vice chair. “I’m very frustrated by that proposal.”

But that’s not the only problem. The Colorado schools that rely the most on state funding don’t have many out-ofstate students to lean on.

Overall, 34% of higher education funding now comes from out-of-state students, while in-state students provide 37%. Taxpayers chip in the remainder through the state’s general fund.

But the share of funding varies wildly from one institution to the next. For the state’s largest universities, out-ofstate tuition now provides more funding than in-state students or Colorado taxpayers. At the other end of the spectrum, Metropolitan State University Denver and Colorado community colleges generate just 5% of their base funding from nonresidents.

SEE TUITION, P16

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8 Arvada Press

January 4, 2024Jan

Cattle ranchers balk at media portrayals Historic ranches have beef with advocacy groups over perceived environmental impacts of meat

BY MONTE WHALEY THE COLORADO SUN

Robbie LeValley sees her family’s cattle ranch settled in the high pastures near Hotchkiss as a linchpin in the state’s food chain and a fifthgeneration steward of the local environment.

The LeValley ranch is bordered by habitat for the Gunnison sage grouse, a ground-dwelling bird that is protected as an endangered species. Grazing has helped the sage grouse thrive and meet recovery goals set by the Endangered Species Act, the LeValleys say.

The water supply for the LeValleys’ public land allotment also originates on their private land. The family has built 17 miles of pipeline, allowing the water to flow from their spread to ponds that are open to the public.

The LeValleys say this allows plenty of water for the fishing ponds and the Gunnison sage grouse to thrive.

All the ranches in that part of the

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North Fork Valley — many of which were settled over a century ago — share a common interest in sustaining the local environment, Robbie LeValley said.

“Each of the ranchers in their own way have taken on the ethic of improving the land for and making it safe for the sage grouse and wildlife in general,” LeValley said. “Ranchers provide the large open space that wildlife need and require.”

Large ranching operations like the LeValleys’ have been targeted by activists accusing them of contributing to environmental degradation, including contributing to climate change.

Research published in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS Climate claims that phasing out animal agriculture over the next 15 years would have the same effect as a 68% reduction of carbon dioxide emissions through the year 2100, which it says would limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

“Reducing or eliminating animal agriculture should be at the top of the list of potential climate solutions,” Patrick Brown, a professor emeritus in the department of biochemistry at Stanford University, told Stanford Magazine.

The LeValley Ranch and five other ranches own about 2,000 head of cattle that are raised on clean mountain water, fresh air, Colorado sunshine and green grass, the ranchers say.

They are not fed antibiotics, added hormones or animal byproducts, according to the LeValley family.

When it’s time to market their meat, the animals are slaughtered and custom processed at Homestead Natural Meats in nearby Delta. That operation is also owned by LeValley and the other ranchers.

The site — including corrals, equipment, flooring, feed and water supply — is regularly inspected by the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, according to the Homestead Meats website.

A retail store is also on-site where customers can buy beef, pork, lamb and other meats offered by the ranches. Homestead sells Mexican shrimp, tuna and salmon, as well as fresh milk and cheese.

The variety of items tendered to customers local and statewide is the result of the area ranchers deciding in the 1990s to remain viable by catering

to changing customer tastes, Robbie LeValley said. The best way to do that, she said, was to open its own processing plant and a retail store where the producers can talk directly to potential buyers.

“Everybody at the time was ranching a cow-calf operation,” LeValley said. “We decided to diversify and add additional processing so we could begin selling directly to consumers. It provides us the opportunity to interact with consumers.”

“It allows us,” she said, “to expand customer knowledge of agriculture in general and what it takes to provide a diversified enterprise.”

The LeValley ranch is roughly 25 miles from its processing plant in Delta. But other grower-owned processors and retailers that allow ranchers to cut out the middleman in Colorado are few and far between.

Ranchers often have to travel hundreds of miles to get to a processing facility.

And if an activist group working toward a ballot measure for 2024 gets its way, the lone cooperative processing plant in Denver will be eliminated altogether.

The huge gap between ranchers and processing plants produces a gaping hole in Colorado’s supply chain and threatens the sustainability of meat production, LeValley said.

Colorado is home to 13,000 beef cattle producers and 206 feedlots, all of which are served by 24 USDA certified slaughter plants, according to the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association.

Colorado is the fourth-largest exporter of fresh and frozen beef in the United States, with the export market worth over $1 billion, the CCA says.

The meager number of slaughter plants compared to the size of the state’s cattle production is leaving Colorado’s food chain vulnerable to disruption. It also drives up food costs as producers truck their livestock from the far corners of the state to processors on the Front Range while smaller ones are scattered along the Eastern Plains and Western Slope, LeValley said.

“So many of these facilities are just so far out there,” she said. “Depending on the situation, you may have to travel from Fort Collins to Delta for your processing. That is a huge expense.”

SEE RANCHERS, P10

Arvada Press 9

January 4, 2024

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10 Arvada Press

January 4, 2024Jan

RANCHERS FROM PAGE 8

“And processing is just a critical part of providing food security for us and the entire world,” LeValley said. “It’s like the energy sector. If one processing center is affected by something, it affects the entire system.”

LeValley is among meat producers who are largely backing a Congressional bid to allow small and midsize meat processing facilities to expand their operations.

The “Butcher Block Act” — co-sponsored by Colorado U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet — authorizes USDA loans and loan guarantees to increase and modernize small and medium-size meat-processing and rendering facilities.

The legislation would also develop new mobile facilities to improve local and regional access to processing and rendering services.

Meat industry leaders hailed the proposed legislation for potentially increasing competition among processors and capacity in rural areas.

Kent Swisher, president and CEO of the North American Renderers Association, said the bill finally focuses on the importance of recouping the meat, bone and fat from an animal and reusing them for other products.

“This bill is the first of its kind that acknowledges the critical role

Farm Runners store employees Lara Widner, left, and Dana Stopher chat while stocking the produce section, Nov. 21, 2023, in Hotchkiss. The store, next to City Market in town, is a year-round regional food distributor for the local farmers and PHOTO BY HUGH CAREY THE COLORADO SUN ranchers to Roaring Fork, Gunninson, and Grand Valleys.

of rendering as a safe and sustainable method of upcycling the parts of the animal and birds that are not consumed by humans,” Swisher said in a news release.

But the Butcher Block Act runs counter to changing attitudes toward livestock production, a local environmental activist says. Watchdog groups argue that large ranches and slaughterhouses are morally wrong and environmentally disastrous.

Livestock accounts for about 15% of greenhouse gas emissions mainly from methane from the gas they expel, according to Earth First and The World Counts. Large meat operations are also destroying forests and chewing up land for wildlife, the environmental group says.

Huge ranches are guilty of spreading foodborne illnesses while also occupying 30% of the Earth’s land surface leaving less land for other uses, according to Earth First.

Industrial animal agriculture is a key driver of the climate crisis, and replacing it is the necessary part of any climate solution, said Aidan Kankyoku, spokesman for Pro-Animal Future. The group is leading an effort to place a measure on the 2024 ballot to ban slaughterhouses in Denver.

Superior Farms Inc. is the only slaughterhouse in the city and is located in Globeville. The company employs well over 500 people and SEE RANCHERS, P16

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12 Arvada Press

LOCAL

January 4, 2024J

VOICES

2023 album highlights put focus on storytelling

I

don’t think there’s such a thing as a quiet year anymore, but 2023 was pretty busy by almost any standard. No matter where you turned, it seemed like something monumental was happening. And 2024 certainly doesn’t look like it’ll get any calmer.

With so much happening and so many voices clamoring for attention, it’s easy to miss a heck of a lot of music. To help with that, I gathered together five of my favorite releases that might’ve slipped past you. I hope you find something you dig and here’s to the new year.

Carly Rae Jepsen — ‘The Loveliest Time’

Listen, if we as a culture are going to keep sleeping on Carly Rae Jepsen’s releases, then it’s going to remain my duty to remind people of how good they are and that we should appreciate them while we have them.

Just a year ago, Jepsen released “The Loneliest Time,” an introspective but still infectious album that found the Canadian artist exploring new lyrical and sonic landscapes. And as has become tradition, this year Jepsen released a collection of b-sides from those sessions. But the collection, titled “The Loveliest Time,” isn’t just a group of half-formed songs that never went anywhere — it’s as full of heaters any of her “proper” albums.

On this go-round, Jepsen is exploring more disco and Europeaninspired tracks, with stellar results.

“Shadow” is as lovely an exploration of being love-struck as she’s ever

turned out, but the

COMING real barnburner ATTRACTIONS is “Psychedelic

Switch,” which is guaranteed to bring the crowds to the dancefloor full of the emotion I most associate with Jepsen — joy.

Clarke Reader

Victoria Monét — ‘Jaguar II’

Atlanta’s Victoria Monét has it all — great vocal chops, a funny and sexy approach to writing and, most importantly, just the perfect amount of confidence and style.

She’s been working in the industry for years, most notably with Ariana Grande, and after numerous EP releases she finally released her debut album, “Jaguar II,” this year. And I’m here to tell you, it absolutely goes.

With a seemingly effortless grace, Monét blends R&B, hip-hop and reggae, creating a bewitching amalgamation that moves as smoothly as the titular big cat. “On My Mama” is a sincere and groovy ode to her roots, while “Stop” is the kind of kiss off to a needy man that Erykah Badu would be proud of. For me, the real star is “Hollywood,” which features the legendary Earth, Wind & Fire and is one of the year’s most slyly infectious songs. Like everything else about the album, it gets under your skin and stays there.

Ratboys — ‘The Window’

There’s something special going

on in “The Window,” Ratboy’s fifth album and the Chicago group’s best release to date. It’s like the band got the alchemy of emo, alt-country and indie rock exactly right, resulting in a release that is multifaceted without being over-cluttered. It’s one of those albums that rewards repeat listens because there are so many subtle touches spread over its 11 songs.

Produced by Chris Walla (formerly of Death Cab for Cutie), tracks like “It’s Alive” are catchy without being cloying, while eight-minute sprawler “Black Earth, WI,” can really breathe and suck the listener in. The title track is one of the year’s best songs, with singer/songwriter Julia Steiner going straight for the heart with her direct and powerful storytelling. I have no idea how they pulled it off, but the whole album is full of similar gems.

Sampha – ‘Lahai’

Nobody can know what becoming a parent will do to them until it happens. That’s a pretty universal truth and something artists have been exploring for centuries. But not many can take such a heavy topic and make it feel as delicate as Sampha, the U.K. singer, songwriter and producer, does on his long-awaited sophomore album, “Lahai.”

“Spirit 2.0.,” the album’s second track, is my favorite song of the year and ably displays what makes Sampha such a unique talent — his ability to layer vocals, to play with minimal instrumentation and make it all feel effortless is just stunning. You feel

like you’re being carried away by the music, instead of merely going along.

The blending of genres, from gospel and soul to dance and funk creates a feeling that is both familiar and just the slightest bit off-kilter.

The whole record embraces a lightinspired sonic palette as Sampha writes about becoming a new father and the power of family to provide a new perspective on life. The results take your breath away.

Morgan Wade — ‘Psychopath’

If you’re not familiar with Morgan Wade, then her sophomore album “Psychopath” is a great introduction to the Virginia-born country up-andcomer. Much like her debut album, “Reckless,” the record is chock-full of infectious hooks and sharp writing, but here she’s a bit more seasoned and her storytelling approach has gotten even more wry.

She looks to her past affectionately (but without too much sentimentality) on tracks like “Alanis” and “80’s Movie,” and the title track is as warm a love song as you’re likely to find on any release this year. But Wade doesn’t only stick to well-trodden paths — she discusses her sobriety and on album closer, “27 Club,” even delves into mental health and suicide. An artist as honest and fearless as Wade definitely deserves to be celebrated.

Clarke Reader’s column on culture appears on a weekly basis. He can be reached at Clarke.Reader@hotmail. com.

Charades in the garden: A playful way to edit your garden in winter

N

ow is the time to make plans for your garden before the frenzy of spring arrives.

Bundle up and take a walk outside to view your garden while it is stripped down to its bare bones.

This time of year, most of the leaves and blossoms have fallen away and you can clearly see the structural

elements that hold the garden together. There are two things to look for when ‘winter editing’ your garden: mass and void.

Mass in the garden is something more solid and permanent, such as a boulder or dense shrub. Consider

GUEST COLUMN Julia Pearson

structures as well, such as trellises, planters, walls, pergolas, sculptures, etc. These are the framework of your garden. Ensure they fit together nicely in a balanced composition. Do you have too many garden gnomes crowding your view, or too few shrubs anchoring your planting? How does the spacing

feel? If these masses don’t look right together in the dead of winter, you probably can’t fix them with pretty flowers. If you are unsure what sort of structure your garden would benefit from, have a child or playful friend step into the garden and SEE PEARSON, P13

Arvada Press 13

January 4, 2024

In this Versailles allée, the sky/void in the canopy is the most intriguing element of PHOTO BY JULIA PEARSON the garden.

PEARSON FROM PAGE 12

open their arms wide, like a tree, or crouch low, like a small shrub or stone. Play around with it and have fun. You could even use buckets, ladders, or outdoor furniture as placeholders for rocks or trees. Perhaps on a snowy day, you can make snow sculptures.

If you prefer pen and paper to charades, you can sketch out different shapes. This can apply to plants, particularly trees and shrubs, as well as built structures, such as arbors, pillars, etc.

Embrace void in the garden. Void is simply emptiness. It’s critical to have a balance of mass and void for a garden to feel right. Too many things in a garden can feel crowded, so make room for empty space. This could be a swathe of low planting, a flat surface cutting through plants, such as a path or water. It can also

just be air. Leave room to breathe.

If you enjoy this sort of garden staging, you could use a tarp to represent a pond or a sunken gravel seating area, or patio cushions as steppingstones. Use whatever you have around the house — get creative!

After all this garden play, you should have a better understanding of what elements will complete your garden space. Take the time now to make good decisions before spring fever hits. If you can get the balance of mass and void, and good structural elements designed to look appropriate in winter, your garden will look nice in all seasons, no matter what is in bloom. Compile your shopping list ahead of time so you don’t go to the nursery hungry for plants and grab anything bright and colorful, but nothing substantial.

Check off your list first, then throw in all the extra beautiful flowers your heart desires.

Julia Pearson is a horticulturist with the Denver Botanic Gardens.

Memory In Loving

Place an Obituary for Your Loved One. 303-566-4100 obituaries@coloradocommunitymedia.com Self placement available online at ArvadaPress.com

14 Arvada Press

January 4, 2024J

LOCAL

LIFE

PUTTING THEIR SOULS INTO SOLES Shoeshining and repairs bring purpose to local craftsmen

BY NINA JOSS NJOSS@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

I

n 1838, photographer Louis Daguerre captured what is often cited as the first-ever photograph of a person.

The black-and-white image shows buildings and trees lining a cobblestone street in Paris. Although it was a busy street, the length of the photographic exposure rendered the passersby and horse traffic invisible in the final image.

But on that spring day more than 185 years ago, two individuals remained still enough to show up in the photo. In the bottom left-hand corner, on the sidewalk near the street, one person polishes another’s shoes.

The photograph unexpectedly became a time capsule of the age-old tradition of shoeshining, which although less common than it once was, continues to be an indispensable part of some people’s personal and professional routines.

From Denver to Centennial, several shoeshine and shoe repair craftsmen aim to make their customers’ lives sparkle by pro-

viding service, beauty and powerful interpersonal connections.

The skill of shoe repair

For Edward Koinov, the owner of Re-Nu Shoe Repair in Centennial, business is buzzing.

Over the course of an hour one Friday in December, customers entered Koinov’s shop in a continuous stream — asking him for advice, getting quotes or picking up their shoes.

In addition to shining, Koinov changes soles, replaces heels, adds stitching, makes color corrections and sometimes even adds embellishments.

And because he knows what he’s doing with leather, people often bring in other items, like purses and bags.

“I’ll never say no,” he said, unless a customer requests an impossible repair. “Most of them, I fix.”

Koinov’s space reflects the popularity of his service, which seems to have bounced back after a lull during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hundreds of shoes sit on shelves, awaiting repairs and pickups.

And despite rising costs of supplies, Koinov is making things work. He said he works on about 25 pairs of shoes per day, and business is especially busy in the winter.

SEE SOLES, P15

Edward Koinov smiles as he stands at the entrance to his workshop at Re-Nu Shoe PHOTO BY NINA JOSS Repair in Centennial.

Arvada Press 15

January 4, 2024

SOLES FROM PAGE 14

“People love shoes,” he said.

Koinov, who grew up in Russia, learned to make shoes from scratch in a factory when he was 17 years old.

In 1989, he moved to New York City and later relocated to Colorado for the weather and the mountains, he said.

Previous to his shoe shop, Koinov opened a car dealership and a Russian restaurant in the metro Denver area. He said he lost money from both of these endeavors and decided to go back to his roots in the shoe business.

When asked why shoes are interesting to him, Koinov joked, “What am I going to be, a lawyer?”

He said that people are good at different things — and for him, it’s always been shoes.

“This is not one year, two years to learn this job,” he said. “This job is years (and) years. You need to know how to fix the shoes. You need to know this job.”

The ‘secret recipe’

North of Centennial, another tenured shoe professional, Vincent Wayne Robinson, owns his own shoeshining company in Denver.

Like Koinov, Robinson fell into the shoe business as a teenager.

He was working with a carpenter on converting a grocery store into a nightclub in Oklahoma City in the 1970s.

At 17 years old, Robinson wanted to attend the nightclub once it opened — but he knew he was too young to get in. So when chatting with the club owner one day during construction, he had what he calls a “vision.”

Out of the blue, he asked the owner if he had ever considered having a shoeshine stand in the club.

“The thought came from me, out of nowhere,” he said. “I felt like something spoke through me, because it was nothing I was conscious of. I know that’s crazy, but that’s the way it was.”

Robinson had no experience in shining shoes, but he told the club owner that he could provide the service. He asked his cousin, a reliably confident person, to join him in the endeavor.

With little to no experience, the two of them started a gig shining

Vincent Robinson started his own business after falling in love with the art of shoeshining while working at the Denver International Airport shoeshine stand.

PHOTO BY NINA JOSS

shoes at the club.

“I started figuring it out — it became a nice little hustle,” Robinson said. “But it didn’t come to a business until I moved to Colorado.”

In the early 2000s, Robinson started working at the shoeshine stand at Denver International Airport.

There, he said, he learned how to shine professionally.

“I learned so much from the owner,” he said. “And that’s where the love began.”

After that, Robinson decided to open up his own company, Vincent’s Shoe Shine of Cherry Creek, which now operates out of a space on Ogden Street in Denver, among other locations.

The process of shining a shoe, Robinson said, is a “secret recipe” of cleaning, conditioning, waterproofing and “spit-shining.” In the past, people would use saliva for the shining part of the process — but these days, Robinson said “spitshining” involves using a water mist and a specific motion with a rag.

He said shoeshining is an art, and that it’s an important process to add longevity to leather shoes.

“Some people, they may have a pair of shoes that they can’t really

find again,” he said. “We come in a situation where it’s their grandfather’s shoe, it’s their mom’s shoe … it’s just an item that they really love and cherish.”

Robinson said the way a person looks at the shoeshining business is important, and people who look at it wrong may struggle to stay afloat in it.

“I choose to look at it from the same point of view that I learned from somebody who understood the fiber of just having a shoeshine in their business,” he said. “They know it’s for a certain customer — it won’t be for everybody — but that certain customer is definitely going to be a person who has a lot of pride in what they do.”

Connecting across a shoeshine stand

Even more than an art form, shoeshining is a valuable social experience for some in the business.

Starting as close family friends, Robinson trained Dominick Martinez in shoeshining. They started working together after Martinez finished high school, and it’s been an important part of Martinez’s life since then.

“I’m a person that’s capable …

of doing anything,” Martinez said.

“But I kinda never left this situation … It’s always come back around full circle to this.”

For him, the purpose of shoeshining has little to do with shoes. Instead, it’s about the people.

“Sometimes, some people like that one-on-one kind of interaction,” he said. “It’s refreshing. It’s not about what you pay for, it’s about what you get in the process.”

He compared the shoeshining experience to going to a barbershop or a beauty salon — where people come partially for the service itself, but largely for the connection with the person providing it.

He said this human connection is something that artificial intelligence can’t take away.

“There’s a reason why you need that interaction,” he said. “It don’t matter what’s going on behind that interaction — but our problem is we don’t let that interaction happen anymore, and this lets the interaction happen. You can’t put a price on that.”

Robinson, who also said the customers are his favorite part of the job, said he hopes his company can help share the tradition of shoeshining.

At his shop in Denver, he teaches courses to train the next generation of shiners.

“I started out with my kids, we started out with (Martinez’s) kids,” he said. “Now, we’re gonna manufacture it into a classroom situation.”

Martinez added that shoeshining is a trade that can help young individuals get on their feet and support themselves.

“We always need those trades and those personal interactions,” he said.

Robinson said shoeshining is a great way to teach kids about creating things and making money at a young age.

“At the end of the day, we want to see fathers and sons sitting in their garage, doing these things together, and just keep putting (relationships) between people,” he said.

“Everybody has to walk around with shoes.”

When reflecting on the tradition, Martinez referenced the early French photograph of shoeshining.

“This came a long time before us and it’s gonna be here a whole lot longer,” he said. “And there’s a reason for that … The interactions are something different.”

16 Arvada Press

TUITION FROM PAGE 7

For five of Colorado’s 10 institutions of higher education, including MSU Denver, Colorado Mesa University and the University of Northern Colorado, Polis’ budget proposal would require budget cuts to meet the in-state tuition target, the budget staff analysis suggests.

In response to questions from The

RANCHERS FROM PAGE 10

is one of the largest lamb slaughterhouses in the country, killing over 1,000 lambs daily, Kankyoku said in an email.

“Slaughterhouses dump toxic chemicals into waterways, and most of all, nobody with a heart in their chest can watch the footage of what happens to animals inside these facilities without feeling disgusted,” Kankyoku said.

“New meat alternatives and shifting cultural norms have shown that we don’t need to rely on farming animals to thrive,” he added. “Society is evolving away from a reliance on animal farming, and that’s a good thing.”

January 4, 2024Jan Colorado Sun, Polis said smaller universities could cut back on costs by consolidating some administrative functions, but he did not offer specific examples of potential savings.

“We look forward to informing JBC in looking into different cost drivers in different institutions,” Polis said. “There’s economies of scale.”

He also suggested lawmakers could adjust the funding formula that divvies up money among the state’s public colleges and univer-

sities. “Some of the smaller schools — it’s broadly recognized — need to receive a higher level of funding to be able to maintain their services.”

The state already gives a larger slice of public funding per student to smaller schools. Lawmakers say the bigger problem lies with the size of the overall pie. Colorado provides less state financial support to public colleges and universities than almost any other state, and tuition costs have risen to the top five in the U.S.

In 2022, the state spent $6,711 per student, 34% below the national average of $10,237, according to the most recent annual funding data tracked by the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association.

The JBC will learn more soon. The Department of Higher Education — and university leaders — are due before the committee in January.

This story was printed through a news sharing agreement with The Colorado Sun, a journalist-owned nonprofit based in Denver that covers the state.

Bennet’s bill would be a step backward in the move away from factory farming, Kankyoku said. “There is no place for slaughterhouses in the progressive, peaceful future Colorado voters wish to create,” he said.

“The government should be leading a transition away from animal agriculture or, at the very least, stop tilting the scales of competition against humane, sustainable alternatives.”

Superior Farms Inc. could not be reached for comment.

On its website, Superior Farms says it partners with over 1,000 family ranches to provide high-quality lamb with a strong commitment to animal well-being and sustainability.

“The lambs graze mainly on open pasture lands, sustaining on the natural vegetation of vast grass-

lands as they have for centuries while providing benefits to the land through fertilization, erosion mitigation and wildfire suppression,” the website states.

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, along with other agriculture groups, has fought against claims that beef producers are a detriment to the environment, noting that beef producers in the United States are already the global leader in sustainable beef production.

The cattlemen’s association said that the industry has committed to climate neutrality of U.S. cattle production by 2040, according to a news release.

LeValley points to work done at Colorado State University as examples of livestock producers working to keep its industry sustainable in an era of changing attitudes toward

meat. The Institute for Livestock and the Environment brings in several groups from various disciplines from across the CSU campus to balance issues of “economic growth with the environment,” the CSU website states.

That academic work and research will help determine just how much farms and ranches influence the environment, good and bad, LeValley said.

“So far we’ve only been concentrating on one side of the ledger,” she said. “We’ve been getting the blame for a lot of things without getting credit for what we do everyday.”

This story was printed through a news sharing agreement with The Colorado Sun, a journalist-owned nonprofit based in Denver that covers the state.

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January 4, 2024

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Thu 1/11

Featured

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Club Seating: Paramount Theatre �im Gaf�gan

Tue 1/16 Featured

@ 7pm / $79.95 Paramount Theatre, 1621 Glenarm, Den‐ ver

Featured Qveen Herby @ 8pm Ogden Theatre, 935 East Colfax, Denver

THE PANHANDLERS, Tyler Halverson @ 8pm / $20 Grizzly Rose, 5450 North Valley Highway, Denver

Fri 1/12 Featured

Mae Estes: The Grizzly Rose

Flight Kamikaze

@ 8pm Grizzly Rose, 5450 N Valley Hwy, Denver

@ 7pm Summit Music Hall, 1902 Blake St, Denver

André Saint-Albin LIVE @ The Beacon

Sun 1/14

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@ 5pm / $49.95-$99.95 Paramount Theatre, 1621 Glenarm, Den‐ ver

Sat 1/13

Club Seating: Paramount Theatre �im Gaf�gan

Featured

�im Gaf�gan: Barely Alive Tour

Wed 1/17 Pro Rodeo - FFA Day @ 1:30pm Denver Coliseum, 4600 Humboldt St., Denver

Tatiana Eva Marie @ 6:30pm Dazzle Denver, 1080 14th Street, Denver

Featured

@ 8pm / $79.95 Paramount Theatre, 1621 Glenarm, Den‐ ver

Mon 1/15 Featured

Sugar Britches: Bison Days at Number 38 @ 6pm Number Thirty Eight, 3560 Chest‐ nut Pl, Denver Vegas Valley Drive @ 8pm Oskar Blues Grill & Brew, 1624 Market St, Denver

Friends of Chamber Music Denver: Friends of Chamber Music presents Paci�ca Quar� tet with Soprano Karen Slack

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18 Arvada Press

January 4, 2024Jan

Fixes considered for free Colorado preschool universal preschool next year. With next year’s state budget not yet set, the possibility of another surge in demand, and a slew of new rules under consideration, it’s unclear how far the money will go.

BY ANN SCHIMKE CHALKBEAT COLORADO

With its new universal preschool program, Colorado joins a small but growing group of states that offer tuition-free preschool to all 4-yearolds.

So far, the program is popular with families, but there have been lots of bumps in the road, including three lawsuits against the state and the threat of a fourth. Some of the hiccups and headaches are usual new-program fare while others stem from the program’s rushed rollout by a new state agency.

Despite the problems, the $322 million program is a big deal. Funded partly with a nicotine tax that Colorado voters passed easily, it’s cutting preschool tuition costs for thousands of families and helping more Colorado children get ready for kindergarten. Nearly 50,000 preschoolers are enrolled this year, more than double the number served in the state’s previous smaller preschool program.

Universal preschool has long been one of Gov. Jared Polis’ signature initiatives and its launch last August represents the second and harder half of the governor’s ambitious early childhood agenda. Free full-day kindergarten, which kicked off in 2019, was the other major component.

Here’s a closer look at four key issues that have cropped up during the preschool program’s first six months.

A surge in demand led to tough decisions — and could again

More than 38,000 4-year-olds — 60% of that age group in the state — are enrolled in universal preschool this year. That’s about 8,000 more 4-year-olds than the state expected.

State leaders promised high-quality preschool but it will take years

Students play during the first day of universal preschool at King Baptist Child DevelANN SCHIMKE CHALKBEAT opment Center & Preschool in Denver on Sept. 5, 2023.

In addition, the program includes more than 10,000 3-year-olds with risk factors.

The surge in demand meant state officials had to spread the money more thinly than planned. Last summer, just weeks before preschool was set to start, they told thousands of families that their children wouldn’t get free full-day preschool, only half-day, because there wasn’t enough funding. Some of the students who lost out — low-

income students and English language learners — are those who stand to benefit the most from extra preschool.

The state has already taken steps to remedy this problem for about 3,000 children next year, specifically those living in poverty. A proposed rule would prioritize those 4-year-olds for full-day classes. At the same time, the state expects even more 4-year-olds — as much as 64% of that group — to enroll in

One of the casualties in the race to stand up the new preschool program were rules governing program quality. State officials ran out of time to craft those rules, so they told participating preschools last spring to “keep doing what you’re doing.”

That means preschools are required to meet only basic health and safety standards this year, not other benchmarks of quality, such as small class sizes, highly trained teachers, and strong curriculum. Some participating preschools already embrace high-quality practices, but not all do. That leaves the current universal preschool landscape a mish-mash of superior programs, mediocre programs, and everything in between.

Experts say quality standards matter because when preschool is done well, it can have short- and longterm benefits for children — boosting academic skills, increasing the likelihood of graduating from high school, and even improving adult job and health outcomes.

Colorado officials are planning to adopt some quality rules for the 2024-25 school year and a separate set of rules on preschool staff credentials for the 2025-26 school year.

But with some likely to be phased in over time, four or more classes of universal preschoolers may graduate from the program before a binding set of quality requirements take hold.

SEE PRESCHOOL, P19

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Arvada Press 19

January 4, 2024

PRESCHOOL FROM PAGE 18

Colorado faces lawsuits as churchstate legal landscape changes

Although faith-based preschools make up a tiny fraction of Colorado’s universal preschool providers, they’ve played an outsize role in recent legal challenges over the program’s policies.

Two of three lawsuits the state is facing over universal preschool revolve around a non-discrimination agreement state officials asked participating preschools to sign. The agreement bans discrimination based on various factors, including religion, sexual orientation, and gender identity, but a Christian preschool in Chaffee County and two Catholic preschools in metro Denver sued over the provision last summer.

In October, a federal judge

blocked Colorado from withholding universal preschool funds or disciplining the Chaffee County preschool even though its policies on employee hiring and bathroom and pronoun use appear to violate the non-discrimination clause.

The lawsuit by the Catholic preschools, which is set to go to trial in early January, is broader. Like the Chaffee County case, it takes issue with the possibility of hiring staff who don’t reflect the schools’ religious tenets, but it also challenges the state’s mandate to accept all children and families regardless of religion, sexual orientation, and gender identity. The schools argue that enrolling all children conflicts with their religious beliefs and mission to provide a Catholic education.

There’s likely another battle over religion on the horizon. That’s because of a proposal to ban religious instruction during universal preschool classes starting next fall. The

state intended to put that ban into place from the outset, but didn’t follow through — allowing participating faith-based preschools to incorporate religion however they see fit this year. That omission, set Colorado up for a conspicuous midstream flip-flop. The conservative group Advance Colorado has already threatened to sue if the state goes through with the proposed ban, citing a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing public funding for religious education.

Class size debate is another symptom of funding challenges

This year, universal preschool classes can have up to 24 4-yearolds. That’s higher than most early childhood experts recommend, so the state has proposed capping the number at 20 starting next fall.

A related rule would require one staff member for every 10 children, down from one per 12 this year.

But some participating pre-

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schools literally banked on having 24 students per class and 12 students per staff member. (The state pays about $6,000 per child for halfday preschool.) If the proposed changes are adopted, these providers stand to lose tens of thousands of dollars next year and some have said they would pull out of the program altogether.

The class size dilemma, especially in a field known for razor-thin margins and low pay, is another example of the tension between Colorado’s promise of high-quality preschool-for-all and the reality of limited funding. Although universal preschool’s $322 million price tag sounds like a hefty sum, preschool providers, school districts, and lawmakers have questioned whether it’s enough to support the program Colorado leaders envisioned.

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.

20 Arvada Press

January 4, 2024Jan

‘We tell our artists to dream big’ Event series at Denver Art Museum features local artists, live performances

BY BRUCE GOLDBERG SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA

Quána Madison has a unique outlook about how viewing and experiencing art can improve one’s health.

“I think the arts world nourishes well-being, and the arts is a diverse set of experiences and the art form,” said Madison.

Madison is a multidisciplinary artist whose three main art forms are abstract expressionist painting, healing arts facilitation and fashion artist.

“I paint clothes,” she said, adding that collectors and fashionistas have commissioned her to create paintings on clothing so they can wear it.

On Jan. 26, Madison and performing artist/musician Wes Watkins will be the featured artists for the series opener of the Denver Art Museum’s Untitled: Artist Takeover events.

The quarterly after-hours DAM presentations feature live performances, pop-up installations throughout the museum, art making-stations and other unique experiences, with each

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event led by local and regional artists and collaborators. The organizers seek to provide “an unexpected and engaging atmosphere,” the museum states.

“Untitled is a pop-up, one-night event and we really have this goal of wanting to connect visitors with artists and their communities,” said Sarah Rockett, manager of creative and public engagement at DAM. “The artists really have to think about different ways in which they are sharing their work with the public.”

The series began in 2010, eventually evolved into a monthly program, then moved to the current quarterly schedule in 2020.

The other 2024 Untitled events are scheduled for April 26, July 26 and Oct. 25. Tickets to Untitled events are included with museum admission and all museum spaces and exhibitions are open during Untitled. The museum’s onsite The Ponti restaurant and Café Gio also feature special late-night hours during Untitled.

Madison has overcome difficult times in her life, and said her skills have helped get her through numerous health crises, homelessness and more. She believes these experiences enrich her soul and well-being.

She also is dedicated to helping people overcome illnesses – both physical and mental – and brings a unique set of qualifications to the

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To advertise your place of worship in this section, call Erin at 303-566-4074 or email eaddenbrooke@ColoradoCommunityMedia.com

Quána Madison, pictured, and performing artist/musician Wes Watkins will be the featured artists for the series opener of the Denver Art Museum’s Untitled: Artist Takeover events. PHOTO BY SABRINA MONTOYA

table. Her skill sets include being a mindfulness teacher, a healing arts workshop facilitator, a self-leadership coach, a model and an artistphilanthropist.

Through it all, Madison retains a fervent belief that the arts can heal people.

“A lot of people I work with struggle with depression, anxiety, some suicide ideation, stress, traumatic experiences or complex trauma,” Madison said. “At my workshops, I can talk about it as a peer.”

Rockett said planning for the Untitled series is at least a four-month

process, and that the series is open to trying new things. Recent additions included an opera performance. Another was for a couple of stand-up comedians to perform.

This year’s lineup ranges from art and performance rooted in reimagined ancient iconography to poetry slam artists.

“We tell our artists to dream big, and then we whittle it down from there to things that are actually feasible and doable,” Rockett said. “We try to connect with as many different creative communities as we can in the Denver area.”

Arvada Press 21

January 4, 2024

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22 Arvada Press

LOCAL

SPORTS

January 4, 2024J

Cousins shared in state championship glory

Cousins —James Cillessen and Sara Walker — pose for a photo at Canvas Stadium in Fort Collins after Columbine defeated Cherry Creek in the Class 5A state championship game Dec. 2. Earlier during the Fall 2023 season Walker helped Arvada West to the girls flag PHOTO BY RYAN WALKER football state championship also with a victory against Cherry Creek.

BY DENNIS PLEUSS JEFFCO PUBLIC SCHOOLS

ARVADA — The state championship shine from the Fall high school sports season has been twice as bright for the Cillessen and Walker families this holiday season.

Junior Sara Walker and senior James Cillessen — first cousins — both brought home team titles during the Fall 2023 season for Arvada West and Columbine high schools.

“I never thought we would have the opportunity to both win,” Walker said.

Walker was a key cog on Arvada West’s girls flag football team that completed a perfect 25-0 season that won the state title back on Oct. 14 at the Pat Bowlen Fieldhouse. The Wildcats dominated Cherry Creek 34-14 at the Denver Broncos’ indoor training facility.

About 90 days later, Cillessen helped Columbine capture the Class 5A state football championship. The Rebels dethroned Cherry Creek who were going for a fifth straight state title.

SEE GLORY, P31

Columbine senior James Cillessen, right was on hand at the Pat Bowlen Fieldhouse on Oct. 14 to celebrate his younger cousin — junior Sara Walker — helping Arvada West to win the girls flag football state championship over Cherry Creek.

COURTESY PHOTO

Arvada Press 23

January 4, 2024

New tricks, contests headed for Buttermilk Winter X Games will see changes in lineup, layout for January event in Aspen

BY KAYA WILLIAMS ASPEN PUBLIC RADIO

This winter will be one of historic firsts for the X Games in Aspen — and not just because athletes are landing new tricks at Buttermilk Mountain.

The lineup for Jan. 26-28 includes the debut of a women’s “knuckle huck,” alongside the men’s event, offered for both skiers and snowboarders on the “knuckle” or rollover of a larger jump. It’s a milestone in gender and discipline parity at the Winter X Games, where both male and female athletes will also compete in the usual slopestyle, “big air,” and “SuperPipe” events.

“This is the first year it is exactly one to one,” said Valerie Ryan, the vice president of fan experience and hospitality for the X Games.

But to get close to the action, people will need to pony up. The spectator corrals at the base of the courses will require tickets, ranging from about $25 to $70 for a single daypart. (Rates are higher for nighttime events than they are for daytime ones, and access to the base of the SuperPipe costs more than access to the base of the big air and slopestyle courses.)

Those areas were previously free — and jam-packed. The decision to charge for access was partly spurred by a desire for crowd control, Ryan said.

“The big driving factor for that is fans used to have to wait in long lines and hope that they could get into the crowds,” Ryan said in a Zoom interview earlier this month. “Now they’ll actually be able to guarantee a spot to get into the corral.”

Ryan said there will still be a free viewing area, but it will be set further back from the course. An X Games map submitted to Pitkin County as part of the special event permit process indicates that those free areas may have some obstructed view of the big air, knuckle huck and slopestyle courses, and sightlines will be extremely limited for the SuperPipe.

Spectators cheer for a skier at the base of the SuperPipe at Buttermilk Mountain during the Winter X Games in Aspen in 2023.

For the 2024 iteration of the event, people will have to pay to access the corrals at the bottom of the course and a free area will ASPEN PUBLIC RADIO be set further back from the action.

Paid access to the spectator corrals is separate from existing “SuperFan” tickets to stand on the side of the SuperPipe; those seeking a more luxury experience will have “XIP” and “VIP Chalet” options.

Other changes to the X Games lineup and layout will impact extracurricular offerings at the event.

There will be no live slopeside concerts at Buttermilk, but there will be DJs playing music throughout the day. Ryan said organizers wanted the focus to be on the competition instead.

And the Special Olympics races that have become a Winter X Games tradition over the past decade will not be part of the event this coming year. Ryan said that was due to timing and planning constraints.

“We weren’t able to make it happen in the amount of time that we had, once we kind of greenlit what we were doing for Aspen,” Ryan said.

“But hopefully, we’ll bring them back again.”

Other community programs are in effect, however, including a partnership with the Buddy Program to welcome local youth the night before the X Games officially begin, Ryan said. According to the special event permit paperwork filed with Pitkin County, organizers also plan to offer discounts to local students and valley residents who wish to purchase a corral ticket.

SEE BUTTERMILK, P31

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24 Arvada Press

January 4, 2024Jan

© 2016 King Features Synd., Inc.

Solution

TRIVIA 1. ANATOMY: What are the small bones that make up the human backbone?

2. GEOGRAPHY: Which country is made up of about 7,000 islands?

3. MOVIES: What native language is spoken in the movie “Avatar”?

4. BUSINESS: When did the first Apple computer go on sale?

5. ANIMAL KINGDOM: What is a male swan called?

6. FOOD & DRINK: Which nut is used in a Waldorf salad?

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8. TELEVISION: Who played the lead in the series “Buffy the Vampire Killer”?

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Answers 1. Vertebrae.

2. The Philippines.

3. Na’vi.

4. 1976.

5. A cob.

6. Walnuts.

7. Fear of numbers.

8. Sarah Michelle Gellar.

9. Outback Steakhouse.

10. Isaac Asimov. (c) 2023 King Features Synd., Inc.

Crossword Solution

Arvada Press 25

January 4, 2024

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Arvada Press 27

January 4, 2024

SERVICE DIRECTORY

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Continues Next Page

28 Arvada Press

January 4, 2024J

SERVICE DIRECTORY Painting

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Arvada Press 29

January 4, 2024

PRECISE REPAIR, GENUINE CARE

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30 Arvada Press

January 4, 2024Jan

Anywhere.

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Visit us online for news on the go.

Arvada Press 31

January 4, 2024

BUTTERMILK FROM PAGE 23

This January will mark the 23rd consecutive Winter X Games in Aspen, but the future of the event at Buttermilk Mountain is still unclear.

ESPN sold a majority stake in the event to a private equity firm, MSP Sports Capital, last year. And a contract with the Aspen Skiing Compa-

GLORY FROM PAGE 22

“She (Walker) beat Cherry Creek in the girls flag football state championship. I had to come out and do the same thing,” Cillessen said after the Rebels defeated the Bruins 28-14 on Dec. 2 at Canvas Stadium on the Colorado State University campus in Fort Collins.

ny to host the Winter X Games here ends in 2024.

Ryan said officials are still talking about what happens next.

“We’re still in conversations to try to plan our future locations, and whether that’s in Aspen or whether that goes someplace else, we’re still figuring that out,” Ryan said. “But I will say that Aspen is, and has been, the best location we’ve ever worked with for an X Games event.”

The X Games special event permit application with Pitkin County

indicates other elements, like parking, transportation and security, are largely the same as previous years. There will be no spectator parking at Buttermilk, but there will be spaces at the Brush Creek Park and Ride, as well as frequent shuttle service. And a security agency, hired by the X Games, will work hand in hand with local law enforcement to ensure safety at the event.

The athlete lineups will likely look familiar as well. Organizers have

invited athletes like Aspen freeskier Alex Ferreira, a six-time X Games medalist, and Basalt freeskier Hanna Faulhaber, who won bronze in her debut X Games two years ago.

X Games has not announced which athletes have accepted their invitations yet, however. The final athlete list could be confirmed in early January, Ryan said.

This story via The Associated Press’ Storyshare, of which Colorado Community Media is a member.

Both were on hand to support each other in the championship victories.

“It was so great. I wanted him to win so bad,” Walker said. “We talked about before the game how we could show off our rings at the Broncos game. Now we are going to.”

All of the Colorado football state championship teams, along with AWest’s girls flag football squad, will be honored at the Denver Broncos’ final home game of the season Sun-

day, Dec. 31, at Empower Field at Mile High.

“It is great to see her success,” Cillessen said of Walker. “I’m sure she thinks it’s great that I succeed. I love her. It’s great all the way around.

Walker is already in the thick of the girls basketball season where she is averaging seven points and nearly eight rebounds per game for the Wildcats (6-2 record). Going after back-to-back girls flag football state titles her senior year is on the hori-

zon in 2024.

Cillessen captured several postseason honors. The linebacker/running back was named the 5A Jeffco League Defensive MVP, along with receiving 1st team all-state honors and being named to the Denver Post All-Colorado Team.

Dennis Pleuss is the sports information director for Jeffco Public Schools. For more Jeffco coverage, go to ColoradoPreps.com and CHSAANow.com.

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Public Notices call Sheree 303.566.4088 Legals Bids and Settlements Public Notice NOTICE OF FINAL SETTLEMENT Notice is hereby given that disbursements in final settlement will be issued by the Finance Director at 10:00 a.m., January 16, 2024 to Asphalt Specialties for work related to Project No. 23-ST-01D - Phase 2 - 2023 Pavement Resurfacing Program and performed under that contract dated March 9, 2023 for the City of Arvada.

Any person, co-partnership, association of persons, company or corporation that furnished labor, material, drayage, sustenance, provisions or other supplies used or consumed by said contractor or his sub-contractors in or about the performance of the work contracted to be done by said Asphalt Specialties and its claim has not been paid, may at any time on or prior to the hour of the date above stated, file with the Finance Director of the City of Arvada at City Hall, a veri-

fied statement of the amount due and unpaid on account of such claim.

Dated this December 20, 2023 CITY OF ARVADA /s/ Kristen Rush, City Clerk Legal Notice No. 417860 First Publication: January 4, 2024 Last Publication: January 4, 2024 Publisher: Jeffco Transcript Public Notice NOTICE OF FINAL SETTLEMENT Notice is hereby given that disbursements in final settlement will be issued by the Finance Director at 10:00 a.m., January 16, 2024 to A-1 Chipseal Company for work related to Project No. # 23ST-02 - 2023 Hot Chip, Cape, Slurry and Crack Seal and performed under that contract dated May 18, 2021 for the City of Arvada.

Any person, co-partnership, association of persons, company or corporation that furnished labor, material, drayage, sustenance, provisions or other supplies used or consumed by said contractor or his sub-contractors in or about the

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performance of the work contracted to be done by said A-1 Chipseal Company and its claim has not been paid, may at any time on or prior to the hour of the date above stated, file with the Finance Director of the City of Arvada at City Hall, a verified statement of the amount due and unpaid on account of such claim.

Dated this December 20, 2023 CITY OF ARVADA /s/ Kristen Rush, City Clerk Legal Notice No. 417861 First Publication: January 4, 2024 Last Publication: January 4, 2024 Publisher: Jeffco Transcript Public Notice NOTICE OF FINAL SETTLEMENT Notice is hereby given that disbursements in final settlement will be issued by the Finance Director at 10:00 a.m., January 16, 2024 to Asphalt Specialties for work related to Project No. 23-ST-01C – Phase I – 2023 Pavement Resurfacing Program and performed under that contract dated March 9, 2023 for the City of Arvada.

Any person, co-partnership, association of persons, company or corporation that furnished labor, material, drayage, sustenance, provisions or other supplies used or consumed by said contractor or his sub-contractors in or about the performance of the work contracted to be done by said Asphalt Specialties and its claim has not been paid, may at any time on or prior to the hour of the date above stated, file with the Finance Director of the City of Arvada at City Hall, a verified statement of the amount due and unpaid on account of such claim.

Dated this December 20, 2023 CITY OF ARVADA /s/ Kristen Rush, City Clerk Legal Notice No. 417863 First Publication: January 4, 2024 Last Publication: January 4, 2024 Publisher: Jeffco Transcript

Construction Co. for work related to Project No. 23-ST-01E – Kipling Parkway Pavement Resurfacing and performed under that contract dated March 6, 2023 for the City of Arvada.

Any person, co-partnership, association of persons, company or corporation that furnished labor, material, drayage, sustenance, provisions or other supplies used or consumed by said contractor or his sub-contractors in or about the performance of the work contracted to be done by said APC Construction Co. and its claim has not been paid, may at any time on or prior to the hour of the date above stated, file with the Finance Director of the City of Arvada at City Hall, a verified statement of the amount due and unpaid on account of such claim.

Dated this December 20, 2023 CITY OF ARVADA /s/ Kristen Rush, City Clerk

Public Notice NOTICE OF FINAL SETTLEMENT Notice is hereby given that disbursements in final settlement will be issued by the Finance Director at 10:00 a.m., January 16, 2024 to APC

Legal Notice No. 417862 First Publication: January 4, 2024 Last Publication: January 4, 2024 Publisher: Jeffco Transcript

###

Arvada Legals January 4, 2024 * 1

32 Arvada Press

January 4, 2024Jan

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