Arvada Press February 1, 2024

VOLUME 19 | ISSUE 31

WEEK OF FEBRUARY 1, 2024

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MARDI GRAS CELEBRATION IS FEB. 13 P4

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A car drove through the Safeway on 80th Avenue after crashing into another car in the COURTESY OF ARVADA POLICE parking lot.

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February 1, 2024Fe

Arvada Crime Briefs: ‘bounty hunters;’ car crashes into Safeway; Sgt. Nelson is not calling you Man making purchases with counterfeit bills is not a “fugitive recovery agent”

BY RYLEE DUNN RDUNN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

A man posing as a “fugitive recovery agent” is actually a fugitive himself, according to the Arvada Police De-

partment.

Arvada Police are looking for a man in his 60s or 70s making small purchases with fake $100 bills at businesses around town since September 2023. Sometimes, the man identifies himself as a law enforcement agent looking for a wanted person. It is he, in fact, who is wanted.

The man has been seen wearing a black tactical vest with “fugitive recovery agent” markings and a neck badge, as well as handcuffs and possibly a firearm. He is reported to have

white hair and a thin build.

Police believe the man is working with a younger white female accomplice with long brown hair and tattoos on her right leg.

The pair have been seen leaving businesses in a silver 2002-2007 Buick Rendezvous with a temporary license plate.

Anyone with information pertaining to the phony bounty hunter may contact Detective Duane Eaton at (720)-898-6757 or duane@arvada. org. He is a real law enforcement officer.

Watch out for that car!

Around noon on Jan. 20, the Safeway at 7561 80th Avenue got an unexpected visitor — a white Honda Accord.

The driver mistook the gas pedal for the brake and struck a vehicle in the grocery store’s parking lot before crashing through the front doors of the Safeway, according to police reports. There were no injuries in the crash and the building was found to be structurally secure.

The driver was cited for careless driving.

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More fake cops

The “bounty hunter” is not the only person in Arvada impersonating a police officer — a scammer has been impersonating APD Sgt. Ryan Nelson, trying to defraud people out of cash.

The scammer — who uses the phone number 720-593-6673 — asks folks for money to “take care of a warrant.” No one from the Arvada Police will call and ask for money, according to APD.

A tale of two robberies

Two unrelated robberies committed by as-of-yet unidentified suspects occurred between Jan. 17 and 21.

The first happened around 10:43 p.m. Jan. 17 on the 5100 block of 64th Avenue when two suspects entered a business and pulled a knife on the employee working before fleeing in a vehicle.

Mountain View Police located the suspect vehicle after it crashed at the intersection of 41st Street and Tennyson Street. At that point, a female suspect was taken into custody, but a male suspect fled on foot, according to the police report.

After an extensive search by members of Denver Police, Mountain View Police and Arvada Police, the male suspect was not located. APD is still investigating the case.

Another robbery occurred around 1 p.m. on Jan. 21 on the 6300 block of Sheridan Boulevard.

Two suspects entered the business to buy cigarettes — when the employee set them on the counter, a suspect pulled a gun on the employee, took the cigarettes off the counter, and the pair fled. Neither suspects have been identified.

Crime data

In the week of Jan. 15 to 21, 209 traffic stops were made, with 109 drivers cited. 35 arrests were made, with 28 individuals taken into custody and seven released on summons.

Of the 126 crime reports, there were seven motor vehicle thefts, nine shoplifting incidents, nine vandalism incidents, four cases of fraud, six drug offenses and seven DUIs.

Shrine of St. Anne’s to hold Annual Spaghetti Dinner Feb. 4 The Spaghetti Dinner is slated for noon to 6 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 4 at St. Anne’s McCormick Center at 7555 Grant Place in Arvada. On the menu is homemade spaghetti and meatballs, salad, bread and butter, dessert

and beverages. The event also will include a country store, gift drawings and takeout orders. Dinner is $12 for adults and $6 for children ages 9 and younger. Payment will be accepted in the form of cash and checks only.

Arvada Press 3

February 1, 2024 ADVERTISEMENT

How Much Did Home Sales Fall in 2022 and 2023, and Was It a Record Drop?

At right is a chart showing the number of residential sales within a 25-mile radius of downtown Denver over the past 10 years. I was inspired to do this research because I read in an email newsletter that the nationwide drop for 2023 versus 2022 was the biggest drop in 30 years. As you can see, however, here in the Denver metro area, the 2023 drop in sales was the biggest drop since… the prior year!

Moreover, the drop in 2022 was only so big because the increase during the first full year of Covid was so big.

As I said, my statistics were for the area within 25 miles of downtown Denver, which I consider to be a reasonable definition of “metro Denver.” The Market Trends Committee of the Denver Metro Association of Realtors uses the same data source as me, namely REcolorado.com, but they define “metro Denver” as 11 counties, many of which extend far from downtown Denver. Here’s what the same chart looks like using those criteria: (11-County Metro)

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the metro area distort the figures enough to paint a less than accurate picture of the Denver metro market.

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Moreover, they wanted to move somewhere that was less populated, so they wouldn’t be rubbing shoulders with possibly infected neighbors. That caused a huge surge in out-migration from Denver, which is best reflected in the third chart, where the slow market in rural listings pulled down the statewide average — until the pandemic. Looked at statewide, you’d think that the big drop in 2023 sales was more of a return to pre-pandemic levels than an absolute drop — which it certainly was if looked at on the metro Denver level.

REcolorado has released the rules for a new kind of listing called “Private Exclusive.” It replaces an earlier status called “Office Exclusive,” which made listings by individual brokers only visible to fellow agents in their office, which I felt discriminated against brokerages with fewer agents, like Golden Real Estate.

many sellers wanting to limit the exposure of their listing so drastically. When a listing is active on the MLS, it is displayed not only on REcolorado and other regional MLSs, it is displayed on Zillow, Redfin and every other consumer website, including the websites of virtually every brokerage including Re/Max, Coldwell Banker, Century 21 — and Golden Real Estate.

The one likely application for this non-public status would be if the home is in a multi-million dollar neighborhood and is owned by a sports star or celebrity who values his or her privacy, and the listing agent has sold scores of such homes and has a huge personal database of prospective buyers, including other celebrities and ultra-rich persons.

The motivation of our MLS to create this new status was to maximize the accuracy of its sold database.

When a home is sold off-MLS or as a pocket listing, it’s less likely to be posted on the MLS once it has sold, thereby limiting its visibility to appraisers and other agents looking for comparable sales. When a private exclusive listing is sold, it must be updated with the sold price and terms and is then fully visible as a “closed” listing for all to see, including on those consumer websites like Zillow, homes.com and others.

Large brokerages still have an advantage over us smaller brokerages, because other agents within the brokerage can search for and find those listings. They have the same sharing limitations as the listing broker.

MLS Introduces ‘Private Exclusive’ Listings to Combat Pocket Listings

I have been trying for years to get the Market Trends Committee and other real estate statisticians to switch from using the county definition to using the radius definition of the metro area. At right I have overlaid the 25-mile radius of downtown Denver over the 11 counties used

by DMAR and other statisticians.

Clearly, the rural components of those 11 counties which touch

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The new status is intended for sellers who desire a higher level of privacy, by not publicizing widely that they are selling their home and for how much. Under this status, the listing agent cannot put a sign in front of the house and can only promote the listing one-onone to other agents or to prospective buyers in his or her sphere of influence. That means that the listing may not be promoted on social media or be mass emailed, and will not be displayed on the MLS or consumer-facing websites like Zillow until it has sold.

The problem with “private exclusive,” of course, is that it severely limits the number of potential buyers who will see it. The advantage for the listing agent of off-MLS listings or “pocket listings” is that he or she is more likely to “double-end” the sale and not have to give half his listing commission to the buyer’s agent.

That’s why the listing agent is required to affirm during the listing entry process that the seller requested keeping the listing private, and that that the seller was informed of the implications of not being displayed on the full MLS. With such an affirmation, if valid, it’s hard to imagine

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4 Arvada Press

February 1, 2024Fe

Arvada set for annual Mardi Gras celebration on Feb. 13 Fat Tuesday festivities to be ushered in by Guerilla Fanfare Brass Band

BY RYLEE DUNN RDUNN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

For the sixth year, Arvada will celebrate Fat Tuesday with Olde Town’s annual Mardi Gras celebration.

This year’s iteration is set to take place on Feb. 13, when Guerrilla Fanfare will kick off a march through Olde Town starting at 5 p.m. in front of Carly’s Boutique.

Musical festivities will continue until 7 p.m., and many Olde Town businesses will offer

special Mardi Gras-themed eats and drinks.

Olde Town Business Improvement District Director Joe Hengstler said he’s glad to bring the “taste of Mardi Gras” back to the historic district.

“This is our chance to bring a little taste of Mardi Gras to Arvada for everyone not fortunate enough to make it to New Orleans,” Hengstler said. “Guerrilla Fanfare always does an excellent job of setting the mood with the second-line march through the streets, but I think what really makes this such a unique night is the New Orleans-inspired menu options the businesses offer.”

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Arvada Chamber’s State of Homelessness panel provides in-depth look at data Survey finds 31.7% increase in unhoused population in Denver metro area from 2022 to 2023

BY RYLEE DUNN RDUNN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

As the Arvada Chamber of Commerce hosted a State of Homelessness, one thing was abundantly clear: there has been a “significant increase” in unhoused people in the area, according to Colorado Coalition for the Homeless President and CEO Britta Fisher.

Fisher was the keynote speaker at the Jan. 19 event, which also featured a panel with Family Tree’s Chief Impact Officer Cassie Ratliff, Arvada Municipal Judge Kathryn Kurtz, Colorado Gives Foundation President and CEO Kelly Dunkin and Olde Town Arvada Business Owner Scott Spears.

Spears shared a sentiment that has become prevalent in Arvada; that the unhoused population in the city has become “a lot more in our face” in recent years.

The numbers support Spears’ claim.

The 2023 Point in Time survey, conducted on one January evening last year by volunteers with the Metro Denver Homeless Initiative, reported 854 people experiencing homelessness in Jefferson County — a 73% increase from 2022, when 493 people were counted.

The 2024 Point in Time survey was conducted earlier this year and will be released in the coming months (the 2023 survey results were released last June).

“It used to be four or five homeless gentlemen that we all knew,” Spears said. “Now it’s new people every single day. They’re not trying to hide.

Their items are everywhere. Crime has gone up dramatically... People do not feel safe. It’s hurting our bottom line. If businesses are losing

money, it could lead to more vacancies. It’s getting worse and worse.”

Fisher said that the primary driver of homelessness is the housing market; when there are high rent and low vacancies, as there are now in the metro area, homelessness is likely to increase.

Although Jefferson County has a Cold Weather Shelter Network, the area has a dearth of “low barrier shelters” that don’t have any requirements for enrollment to enter that day, Fisher said.

“Jefferson County primarily has cold weather shelter beds,” Fisher said. “There are some transitional housing beds and there are some programmatic housing beds where if you comply with a certain program or meet certain requirements — sometimes sobriety — you can access shelter.”

She added that this is different than a lot of other communities that have low-barrier shelters and that there are not a lot of emergency walk-up shelters in Jefferson County.

“There is absolutely a need for emergency cold weather shelter and there can really be a lot of stabilizing and stabilizing health factors in offering shelter in all other circumstances,” Fisher said.

Homelessness by the numbers

Fisher shared a comprehensive look at the numbers behind the rising unhoused population in the area.

Of the 854 people experiencing homelessness in Jefferson County when the 2023 Point in Time survey was conducted, 45% were sheltered, while 55% were unsheltered.

Jefferson County Public Schools reported 1,637 students experiencing homelessness currently.

An individual must make $32.13 an hour to afford a two-bedroom apartment in Colorado — that number rises to $35.69 in Jefferson County. There are 22,673 empty housing units in the Denver metro area — many of which are luxury apartments, according to Fisher.

SEE PANEL, P8

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February 1, 2024Fe

Three takeaways from Arvada City Team financial reports Impacts of aging infrastructure, police staffing issues, climate change affecting parks

BY RYLEE DUNN RDUNN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Arvada’s City Council heard a financial update from each city team department at its most recent business meeting, with reports from department heads shedding light on what the next few years might entail for the city.

At the Jan. 22 city council meeting, Utilities Director Sharon Israel provided an update on theongoing issues facing the city due to aging infrastructure.

Police Chief Ed Brady said low staffing numbers are still impacting the department, while Vibrant Communities and Neighborhoods Director Enessa Janes warned of climate change-induced problems coming in the immediate future and down the line.

Director of Vibrant Communities and Neighborhoods Enessa Janes warned city council about the mounting issues the city will feel due to climate change.

1. Utilities department getting creative to mend aging infrastructure

After two straight years of water rate hikes to support Arvada’s aging infrastructure — Public Works Director Jaqueline Rhoades said the average city building is 40 years old — the city’s utilities department is looking to alternative revenue sources to fix the city’s roads and water systems.

Utilities Director Sharon Israel discussed the need to raise revenue to keep the city’s infrastructure in good shape.

2. Police staffing shortages

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Israel said that the department would likely continue to ask for revenue increases this year and would probably propose an additional bond issue. She added that the city is in the process of applying for grants to provide revenue.

“Being financially resilient will require the courage to continue to advance and champion tough decisions on raising revenue,” Israel said. “Without raising new revenue, including rates, fees, system development charges and issuing debt in the next five years, Arvada will not be able to ensure long-term sustainable and reliable infrastructure services.”

Arvada’s Communication Manager for Infrastructure Katie Patterson said that rate increases for System Development Charges — often referred to as “tap fees” that developers pay to connect to the existing city infrastructure — could be coming down the line to keep the burden off residents.

“The reinvestment to repairing and replacing aging water and sewer systems is paid for through customers rates and fees,” Patterson said. As new development comes to Arvada, parts of our system have increased capacity needs to serve new customers… While 2025 increases are still being determined, there will be ongoing presentations to Council throughout the year.”

Patterson said the next workshop for utility rates is scheduled for April 8. She added that a rate recommendation is expected in July or August.

Arvada’s CFO Brian Archer discussed Arvada’s financial state at the city council busiPHOTOS BY LILLIAN FUGLEI ness meeting.

It’s no secret that the Arvada Police Department has been short-staffed in the wake of the murders of Officers Gordon Beesley and Dillon Vakoff in the line of Duty. Police Chief Ed Brady explained exactly where the department’s shortages lie.

Overall, there are 32 vacancies department-wide, including five in the traffic unit, two School Resource Officers, and six fewer investigators than the department needs.

There are currently two Community Outreach and Engagement officers, who primarily respond to calls related to unhoused individuals.

Brady would like the department to have four.

SEE TAKEAWAYS, P16

Arvada Press 7

February 1, 2024

s 5 ways to protect yourself from viruses this winter

BY NINA JOSS NJOSS@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

This time of year, it seems like just about everyone comes down with some kind of illness. From sore throats to stomach bugs, the winter always seems to come with a vengeance of viruses.

Dr. Ming Wu, a family medicine physician with AdventHealth Littleton, has seen a dramatic uptick in viral illnesses in recent weeks.

“Flu, COVID — I definitely have positive cases in my clinic,” he said. “But even beyond that, just viral illnesses that can’t be identified.”

Wu said there are millions of viruses, but doctors tend to only test for a handful of specific ones.

With viral illnesses generally rising among patients in the winter months, Wu said there are steps you can take to strengthen your immune system. Although it’s hard to entirely prevent illnesses, these tips can give you a better chance of fighting off infection.

Wash your hands

Wu said practicing self-hygiene by washing your hands is one of the best ways to prevent getting a viral illness.

“Viruses are spread through airborne particles — sneezing, coughing, those kinds of things,” Wu said. “Touching a surface exposes you to all of those viral particles.”

For a virus to infect a person, it needs to contact a “mucous membrane,” Wu said, such as your mouth, nose or eyes.

“If you touch a surface and then you eat a piece of food or you brush your nose — anything like that — it exposes those viral particles to the mucous membranes,” he said. “If you’re able to wash your hands, keep your hands clean, you’re not exposing yourself.”

Keep your distance from sick people

Although many people associate the term “social distancing” with COVID, Wu said this practice can help a person stay healthy no matter what virus is at play.

“If someone sneezes in your face, you have a higher likelihood (of getting sick) than if you’re six feet away and someone sneezes,” he said.

He said that people who are sick can help protect their community by wearing a mask, even if they do not have COVID. Although it is not as common in the United States, Wu said masking

when sick is part of the social contract in many other places in the world.

“If you are sick and you wear a mask, you are protecting your neighbors,” he said. “You are helping prevent the spread of illness in the community.”

Health experts also often recommend that people should stay home, if they are able, to avoid infecting others while ill.

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Get rest

To keep your immune system strong, rest is crucial, Wu said.

“Proper sleep and rest allow your immune system to kind of recover from the day,” he said, by giving it time to replenish white blood cells to recharge the immune system.

He said lack of sleep puts your body under stress, which can weaken your immune system.

“Stress has been shown to prevent your immune system from working as well,” he said. “If you’re exposed to a virus, it is more likely that you will get sick because your immune system is not as strong as it could be.”

Drink water

Staying hydrated is another important way to keep your body strong to fight illness, Wu said.

“Think of (water) as the highway that allows everything to travel,” he said.

“If you are not properly hydrated, your immune system cannot travel to the places it needs to go.”

Water carries blood cells and elements of the lymphatic system throughout your body, Wu said.

He said many physicians recommend drinking eight to ten glasses, or 64 to 80 ounces, of water per day. But more important than following strict number guidelines, Wu said, people should listen to their bodies and drink water when they are thirsty.

Eat a balanced, healthy diet

Although there are no individual foods that have every nutrient, Wu said it is important to eat a balanced, healthy diet that provides all of the nutrients your body needs.

Vitamin C — which is found in grapefruit, oranges, broccoli, strawberries and kale — enhances the immune system and is an antioxidant.

Wu said some studies have shown that very high doses of Vitamin C can help improve and shorten viral symptoms.

Vitamin A, an anti-inflammatory

A publication of

MICHAEL DE YOANNA Editor-in-Chief michael@coloradocommunitymedia.com

Dr. Ming Wu is a family medicine physician with AdventHealth Littleton.

COURTESY OF ADVENTHEALTH LITTLETON

substance that helps antibodies respond to viruses, can be found in carrots and spinach, he said.

Wu said Vitamin D can also help strengthen the immune system.

“Going outside and getting sunlight — 15 minutes of sunlight, three times weekly — your body can produce the vitamin D that it needs,” he said. “But believe it or not, here in Colorado, Vitamin D is actually chronically low — I’ve seen in a lot of my patients.”

In addition to spending time in the sun, people can also consume salmon, fortified milk, mushrooms or Vitamin D supplements to boost their levels.

Beyond vitamins, Wu said some studies have shown that probiotics can help stimulate the immune system and promote the good bacteria in the gut. In doing so, probiotics can help with nutrient absorption, Wu said.

Specifically, a probiotic called Lactobacillus casei has been shown to reduce the number of days a person is sick.

“You can get that through yogurt, kombucha, live culture cheese (or) taking a probiotic pill,” he said.

A lot of the vitamins and minerals that are required for proper immune function can be found in various foods, but no one food has them all.

That’s why, Wu said, it’s important to make sure you are consuming a variety of healthy foods and staying away from processed foods when possible.

“Eating the healthier foods will be more beneficial,” he said. “I know, in our day and age, that is sometimes difficult with our running around, trying to do what we can. But just doing what you can, when you can, is always more beneficial than not.”

KRISTEN FIORE West Metro Editor kfiore@coloradocommunitymedia.com

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Please include your full name, address and the best number to reach you by telephone.

Email letters to lkfiore@coloradocommunitymedia.com Deadline Tues. for the following week’s paper.

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February 1, 2024Fe

PANEL FROM PAGE 5

Half of respondents to the 2023 Point in Time survey were experiencing homelessness for the first time, while 33% of respondents said they had experienced homelessness for at least a year while living with a disabling condition.

“There is a lot of racial disparity in who experiences homelessness in our county,” Fisher said of Jeffco.

She said Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders experiencing homelessness in Jefferson Country are 47 times more overrepresented than that demographic’s proportion in relation to the general population.

Those identifying as Black are 7.8 times overrepresented by the same metric, while those identifying as Native American are six times overrepresented.

33% of 2023 Point in Time respondents have a physical disability, 38% have mental health concerns, 28% have chronic health conditions, 27% report substance use, 10% report being victims of domestic violence and 7% are veterans, Fisher said.

In Arvada specifically, Mission Arvada — the homeless ministry that operates out of The Rising Church in Olde Town — reported serving 1,188 unique individuals in

Colorado Coalition for the Homeless President and CEO Britta Fisher (left) was the keynote speaker at the Jan. 19 event, which also featured a panel with Family Tree’s Chief Impact Officer Cassie Ratliff, Arvada Municipal Judge Kathryn Kurtz, Olde Town PHOTO COURTESY OF ARVADA CHAMBER OF Arvada Business Owner Scott Spears.

2022, compared to 282 in 2019, according to the nonprofit’s annual report.

Kurtz’s One Small Step program, which she spearheaded to help homeless criminal offenders in the Arvada Municipal Court system better their situations, currently had 57 participants.

“We measure success differently,” Kurtz said. “For a lot of folks, that’s just showing up. Some obtain housing or employment or get sober.”

One Small Step has 9 graduates in 2023, Kurtz said.

Finally, Fisher said that the most successful model for helping folks out of homelessness is “assertive

community treatment,” when housing is wrapped around with services — a practice she says makes the services more effective.

According to Fisher, studies show that 86% of people stay housed with supportive housing, compared to only 30% of individuals who just receive treatment.

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10 Arvada Press

February 1, 2024Fe

Gig workers are employees, Denver auditor says

BY TAMARA CHUANG THE COLORADO SUN

More than 3,000 temporary workers serving food or cleaning hotel rooms are employees, not gig workers, and should be treated as such, the Denver Auditor said in a decision that seeks more than $1 million in penalties against two staffing agencies.

Instawork and Gigpro, which specialize in hourly workers for the restaurant and hospitality industries, call the workers “independent contractors,” but the jobs that the companies fill run counter to that term and fall under what the state law defines as employees.

The companies also were accused of numerous unpaid wage and overtime violations, and failing to provide sick leave.

“You can’t be a dishwasher in a restaurant and be an independent contractor,” Denver Auditor Timothy O’Brien said. “That defies logic.”

Both companies provide mobile apps for the temp workers to apply for openings. The business clients pay Gigpro or Instawork directly, not the worker. And both companies take an extra fee as payment.

Neither company withholds taxes or pays for unemployment insurance for the worker — that’s left to

Downtown Denver as seen from Highland Park in July 2021.

the individual worker.

But like permanent employees, temps go through a vetting process, confirm shifts a day in advance, meet requirements like dress codes, go through something akin to performance reviews and can be terminated based on the company’s discretion. An independent contractor, on the other hand, has a contractual agreement that “prevents consequence-free termination because ending such an agree-

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ment early and without cause gives rise to damages.”

“Instawork does not operate as a passive online marketplace where clients merely post shifts and receive responses from — potentially — the entire body of users. Instead, the employer takes direct action to ensure compatibility for its business clients by ‘automatically’ and ‘intelligently’ (matching) businesses with our vetted pool … of workers,’” the auditor’s order said.

San Francisco-based Instawork received the brunt of the fines — more than $820,000, most of which came from 13,195 violations of failing to provide sick leave. They also must pay another $275,516 in restitution to nearly 3,000 workers.

Gigpro faces about $50,000 in fines and restitution to about 90 workers. The companies were ordered to cease and desist from misclassifying workers and have 30 days to comply.

In an email, Kira Caban, Instawork’s head of strategic communications, said, “Instawork is coordinating with the City of Denver to address an incomplete and nonfinal administrative determination issued by Denver Labor. While the company does not comment on active investigations, Instawork prioritizes compliance with applicable regulations and is committed to ensuring every person who uses our platform to find local work receives full and proper worker protections

PHOTO BY OLIVIA SUN FOR THE COLORADO SUN VIA REPORT FOR AMERICA

including payment at hourly rates that meet or exceed the minimum wage.”

In Colorado, staffing agencies are employers that supply the temporary placements to a second employer and that is how a company like Instawork operates, O’Brien said. Clients pay Instawork for the employment service and if they want to hire the temp worker permanently, they must pay a “direct hire fee” to Instawork. The auditor’s office did not share which hotels or restaurants had worked with the staffing agencies because it’s considered confidential.

A new wage-theft ordinance was passed last year in Denver giving the auditor’s office the ability to proactively conduct investigations.

“We don’t have to have a complaint to go forward,” O’Brien said. “We know that in the hospitality industry, workers are subject to abuse, for lack of a better term, from employers.”

His office has aggressively gone after wage theft, which can happen after the minimum wage increases and Denver employers don’t raise wages accordingly. Last year, the auditor’s office said it recovered more than $2 million owed to workers.

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 11

February 1, 2024

Colorado has less time to spend $1.5B in COVID aid

BY BRIAN EASON THE COLORADO SUN

Colorado state budget writers are in a race against the clock to spend $1.5 billion in leftover federal pandemic aid before the end of 2024 thanks to new guidance from the U.S. Treasury Department.

The deadline is two full years sooner than state lawmakers and Polis administration officials had expected.

That has set off a mad scramble to rewrite the budget for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, to allow the state to spend federal American Rescue Plan Act dollars faster than lawmakers intended.

The time crunch arose from shifting guidance from federal officials on how they define “obligated,” a term that doesn’t exist in state law.

Federal law has long required ARPA recipients to “obligate” all of their funding by the end of 2024, but the final spending deadline is not until the end of 2026. That led state officials to assume they could spend their $3.8 billion allocation through 2025 and 2026, as long as they had passed legislation committing to do so by this year.

“The state had been operating under the understanding that it would have some ability to define that term itself,” Amanda Bickel, a Joint Budget Committee staff analyst, told lawmakers in a hearing this week. “Now that is absolutely not the case. Legislative staff and the executive staff all agree that what we need to do is expend this money as fast as possible.”

Under the new federal guidance, the state is generally prohibited from spending ARPA money beyond the 2024 deadline, with limited exceptions.

That’s left the Polis administration and lawmakers looking to swap out the funding sources for at least 36 programs in order to get the money out the door before the federal government requires Colorado to give it back.

Here’s how the funding swap would work: State agencies would spend the pandemic aid money as soon as possible on qualifying government services, a broad category that includes employee salaries. Doing so will free up state tax dollars that can be spent at any time. That money would be redirected to the programs the state

had planned to use the ARPA money for in future years, such as behavioral health care, teacher stipends and wildfire prevention projects.

But the clock’s ticking. The JBC on Wednesday directed its staff to present the funding swap plan by midFebruary. It would then need the full legislature’s approval. Meanwhile, the JBC must submit its 2024-25 budget proposal to the legislature by mid-March.

The fear of losing the federal money has been a constant theme on the budget committee in recent months. Colorado budget writers this fall asked every state department for a detailed accounting of how they were spending ARPA dollars and how much they had left.

“We knew that there was a selfdestruct time on those funds,” said Sen. Jeff Bridges, D-Greenwood Village, who serves on the JBC. But no one was sure what the 2024 “obligation” deadline actually meant.

Colorado’s not alone in facing a time crunch. As of June 2023, states had only spent about half the money the federal government provided, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C., think tank.

The stakes are high. Lawmakers don’t want to risk losing federal money — the leftover dollars represent 40% of the state’s entire ARPA allocation. So if the new spending plan doesn’t work as intended, there could be pressure to call a special session later this year.

“The more thoughtful the General Assembly can be in tackling this issue in a bill, the less likely a special session will be required in fall 2024 to fix ARPA-related problems,” Bickel wrote in a briefing document.

Bridges told The Colorado Sun he doesn’t think it will come to that.

Other states have already done similar funding swaps of their own to work around the deadline, he said, indicating that Colorado’s plan should pass federal muster.

“It is a well-trodden path,” Bridges said.

Colorado Sun staff writer Jesse Paul contributed to this report.

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

President Joe Biden signs the American Rescue Plan, a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package, at the White House on Thursday, March 11, 2021. PHOTO FROM THE WHITE HOUSE VIA YOUTUBE

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LOCAL

February 1, 2024F

VOICES

Revisit a critical historical moment at Wings Over the Rockies

W

hen people think of the Cold War, images of nuclear bombs and covert spies are probably among the first images COMING that come to mind.

ATTRACTIONS But for Stewart Bailey, collections manager at the Wings Over the Rockies museum, there’s something else he likes to focus on.

“The first battle of the Cold War was won by the Clarke Reader Western Allies and was won with airplanes,” he said.

“Not only that, but those airplanes didn’t have guns or bombs. Instead, for 11 months the Allies worked to support a city of 2.6 million people entirely by air.”

The story of that battle is told in the Air and Space Museum’s, 7711

East Academy Blvd. in Denver, new exhibit, The Berlin Airlift: Supplies from the Sky. The exhibition runs through Monday, May 27, and marks the 75th anniversary of the Airlift.

The exhibit tells the story of the nearly year-long effort by the United States, Britain and other countries to keep the people of Berlin alive during the Berlin Blockade, when the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies’ railway, road and canal access to the sectors of Berlin under Western control.

“At the beginning, the Allies were using any kind of plane that could handle cargo and there were some accidents and a lot of confusion,” Bailey said. “Eventually it got better and the efforts were extremely efficient. There were planes coming in with materials like coal on average of every three minutes.”

The creation of the exhibit is largely due to donations from two families who had members who

participated in the Airlift, including Denver resident Thomas Moss, who was a C-54 pilot during the events.

His daughters Barbara Drury and Linda Lewis donated many of their father’s artifacts to the museum and that provided the backbone for the story told in the display.

“This exhibit isn’t so much about the planes and technology as it is about the people and the human experience of what they went through,” Bailey said. “I think it’s powerful because it shows how people’s opinions can change — we went from years of fighting the Germans to helping them and Germans went through years of fearing the sound of Allied planes to finding hope in it.”

As well as donated artifacts, the exhibit features a lot of photos and creative set dressing to give just a taste of what being in bombed-out Berlin would be like. The aim was also to make it interactive for all ages, so it includes activities like weight and

balance exercises and more.

In addition to learning more about a historical event that many people might not be aware of, Bailey hopes visitors come away with a greater appreciation of the many ways the Berlin Airlift influenced the ensuing decades.

“One of the key takeaways from this exhibit is that freedom is something to be valued and supported,” he said. “In many ways, the Airlift still echoes through our world today.”

Tickets and details can be found at https://wingsmuseum.org/exhibits/berlin-airlift/.

LSO Uses ‘Peter and the Wolf’ to Enchant Young Audiences

Get ready for some family fun at the Lakewood Symphony Orchestra’s annual children’s and family concert, which will be held at 11 a.m.

SEE READER, P13

New cartoon, ‘Never Will I Ever,’ hits puzzle page

BY MICHAEL DE YOANNA MICHAEL@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

On the beloved puzzle page of this week’s newspaper, you find something new to give you a laugh. It’s a comic from lifelong Coloradan Marc Vargas called “Never Will I Ever.” They’re single panel comics that will run weekly and debut this week.

In one, for example, a man sits in a chair and is covered in cats.

“Never will I ever have to turn up the heat… again,” the comic reads.

Whether it be teaching a grand-

child to drive or ignoring an emergency alert on your mobile phone, Vargas’ weekly comics highlight the small disasters of daily life and outcomes that typically make us wiser the next time. The comic is punctuated by the word, “again.”

It implies it really happened “and ended horribly wrong,” as Vargas said.

Or, in some cases, only mildly wrong, because life could be much worse than being covered in cats on a cold day.

Vargas is a longtime illustrator.

He’s put his pen to work for papers

in Denver and Boulder, the Colorado Rockies and for books and other publications.

So, where does he get his ideas?

“I’m a trained observer,” he says.

“I love to watch people interact.

I’m the guy in the back of the room watching everything happening. My ideas come from overhearing conversations, watching people do crazy stuff and my own catastrophes.

These get my brain percolating.”

Vargas got his start as a kid, admiring the likes of Charles Schultz of “Peanuts” fame. He went to Colorado State University, but also the

Joe Kubert School of Cartooning in Dover, New Jersey, which he calls a life-changer. After working for the college paper, including editorial cartoons, and receiving an honor from the Society of Professional Journalists, he got hooked.

“I hope people are entertained,” he said. “Possibly they will laugh or smile. Maybe they’ll say, ‘Yes, I remember trying to shovel snow with a crappy shovel.’ A smile, a laugh, a little seltzer down the pants (I stole that from somewhere). This is an absurd and crazy world we live in.

Laughing is our only armor.”

spectfully disagree. I cite the following examples.

The Navajo River which has its headwaters in the San Juan Mountains and runs for 54 miles into New Mexico.

There is also the Little Navajo River in Archuleta County.

Navajo State Park borders New Mexico and encompasses Navajo Lake at 15,000 acres.

Navajo Peak also sits prominently

in the Indian Peaks Wilderness at 13,409 feet.

Even though the Navajo are not one of the prevalent tribes of Colorado, I believe they are well-represented.

Lowell Forbes, Arvada

LETTER TO THE EDITOR Names for the Navajo

I wish to reference Mr. Best’s article about Kit Carson Peak in the Jan. 11 Arvada Press. In it he stated that no features in Colorado have been named for the Navajo. I would re-

Arvada Press 13

February 1, 2024

READER FROM PAGE 12

on Saturday, Feb. 3 at the Lakewood Cultural Center, 470 S. Allison Parkway.

Not only will it feature Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf,” as it does every year, but also “Add Story and Play,” where the audience will create a story with several characters, develop a plot and choose music to go along with the story. Then the narrator, Joel Hillan, from CBS 4, will tell the brand-new story while conductor Matthew Switzer leads the orchestra, performing the music the audience has chosen to go along with the story.

Information and tickets can be found at https://lakewoodsymphony.org.

Sink Into Walker Fine Art’s Nomadic Daydreams

There are few times during the year when the relationship between man and nature is rich and nuanced as it is during winter. This makes it the perfect time for the opening of Walker Fine Art’s, 300 W. 11th Ave., No. A, in Denver, first exhibition of 2024 — Nomadic Daydreams.

The group show runs through Saturday, March 16, and features the works of Angela Beloian, Derrick

Breidenthal, George Kozmon, Bonny Lhotka and Ben Strawn.

According to provided information, the artists use two-dimensional mediums like oil, photography, drawing to explore the all-important interactions between man and nature.

Find all the details at www.walkerfineart.com.

Clarke’s Concert of the Week — Lydia Loveless at Globe Hall

Lydia Loveless, who hails from Columbus, Ohio, is a songwriter’s songwriter. Over their career they’ve delved deep into the rather nebulous “alt-country” world and in 2023 they released “Nothing’s Gonna Stand In My Way Again.” As usual, it’s an astounding collection of songs, chronicling a breakup and the struggle to find a way to move forward in a difficult world.

In support of the record, Loveless will be performing at the Globe Hall, 4483 Logan St. in Denver, at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 3. They will be joined by singer/songwriter Jason Hawk Harris and alt-country up-and-comer Cousin Curtiss.

Get tickets for the concert at https://globehall.com.

Clarke Reader is an arts and entertainment columnist for Colorado Community Media. He can be reached at Clarke.Reader@hotmail. com.

ABOUT LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Colorado Community Media welcomes letters to the editor. Please note the following rules: • Email your letter to kfiore@coloradocommunitymedia.com. Do not send via postal mail. Put the words “letter to the editor” in the email subject line.

• Submit your letter by 5 p.m. on Wednesday in order to have it considered for publication in the following week’s newspaper.

• Letters must be no longer than 400 words.

• Letters should be exclusively submitted to Colorado Community Media and should not submitted to other outlets or previously posted on websites or social media. Submitted letters become the property of CCM and should not be republished elsewhere.

• Letters advocating for a political candidate should focus on that candidate’s qualifications for office. We cannot publish letters that contain unverified negative informa-

tion about a candidate’s opponent.

Letters advocating for or against a political candidate or ballot issue will not be published within 12 days of an election.

• Publication of any given letter is at our discretion. Letters are published as space is available.

• We will edit letters for clarity, grammar, punctuation and length and write headlines (titles) for letters at our discretion.

• Please don’t send us more than one letter per month. First priority for publication will be given to writers who have not submitted letters to us recently.

• Submit your letter in a Word document or in the body of an email. No PDFs or Google Docs, please.

• Include your full name, address and phone number. We will publish only your name and city or town of residence, but all of the information requested is needed for us to verify you are who you say you are.

OBITUARIES CORDER

Betty Jean “Corder” (Walker) Corder July 8, 1935 - January 16, 2024

Betty Jean Corder, of Montrose, Colorado passed away at Montage Creek Assisted Living on January 16, 2024, just one day after the 70th anniversary of her marriage to Don Corder. Betty Walker was born in Denver, Colorado on July 8, 1935, to parents, Ralph Walker and Irene Walker (Hawley). She attended schools in Arvada, Colorado and graduated from Arvada High School in 1953.

Betty married her high school sweetheart, Don Corder in 1954. In addition to her love of being a mother, grandmother, and greatgrandmother, Betty served as a volunteer in the Sunday School at Arvada Presbyterian Church, worked in the Mothers Club and the PTA at Fairmount Elementary, helped as a den mother for her son’s scout troops, volunteered in the gift shop at Lutheran Hospital in Wheatridge, and briefly taught English to children in the HeadStart

program.

Betty’s greatest love was spending time with her friends and family as well as travel with Don to nearly every state in the nation. She also loved to read and would often be working through 3 or 4 books at the same time. Betty was a hard worker who was also often known as “the sweetest person in the room”. She was described well in a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson: “To have laughed often and loved much, to have won the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, . . .to know even one life has breathed easier because you lived. This is to have succeeded.”

Betty succeeded in these ways and so many others, and her family will miss her greatly.

Betty is survived by her sons Steve and Ron; granddaughters Cindy, Sarah, Erica, and Jamie; and great grandchildren Allen, Ily, and Asherae.

In Loving Memory Place an Obituary for Your Loved One.

303-566-4100 obituaries@coloradocommunitymedia.com Self placement available online at coloradocommunitymedia.com/arvada-press

14 Arvada Press

February 1, 2024F

Meet some of the people behind the new automated trains at Denver International Airport

BY JO DAVIS JDAVIS@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Twenty-six new automated trains are coming to Denver International Airport this summer, according to operators.

Currently, 31 automated trains carry ticketed airport passengers from the three active concourses. About half the fleet has been in service since the airport opened in 1995 and has run over 1.4 million miles, so replacements are sorely needed, according to the airport.

The new trains are also automated, but more than 73 people are responsible for keeping them running every day around the clock.

“Passenger traffic at Denver International Airport is expected to reach more than 78 million by the end of this year alone, and 100 million annual passengers are expected within the next three to five years. We are preparing for the future in a variety of ways, including renovating the Great Hall, adding gates to concourses and adding capacity to the trains to the gates,” DIA CEO Phil Washington said.

“New train cars will increase the number of passengers that can be moved to the gates by approximately 850 per hour. They will reduce the time between arriving trains and allow us

to run a more effective operating schedule.

These efficiencies are going to be felt by passengers and make for a more seamless experience at DEN.” The first of the new trains arrived in December 2023 and will be tested through the next six months.

Everyone is excited, from the director of operations to the mechanic who maintains the trains. The new trains may be automated, but the people who keep them running are skilled, working people who are eager to enter the next era of moving people around DIA. The automated people mover and airport nerd stuff

The trains are important to the operation of the airport, according to DIA Senior Director of Operations Matt Robb.

“You can’t get to B and C concourse. The only way you can get there is on the train,” Robb explained. “It is a single point of failure, which is why we put such a heavy emphasis on maintaining (the trains). If we get the train doesn’t move, the airport doesn’t move.”

Robb said that trains and airports have been his passion since age 13, when he took a trip through the O’Hare International Airport.

SEE PEOPLE MOVER, P15

Roberto Cortez, of Commerce City, has been working on the trains at DIA for Alstom for 24 years.

He explained how his military background (maintaining helicopters) and experience as an auto mechanic helped when he started learning to fix the trains.

PHOTO BY JO DAVIS

The new trains are at the shop and being tested by a special team right now. RJ Henessy Alstom DIA Site Production Manager and Maintenance Manager, said the new train PHOTO BY PETER SCOTT BARTA is testing now, with styrofoam bumpers on the sides to ensure that measurements and other stats keep the train from bumping into the walls.

Arvada Press 15

February 1, 2024

DIA TRAINS

BY THE NUMBERS

Alstom, the company contracted to operate and maintain the DIA trains, has a display of flags in its shop. The flags represent the United States, Colorado and the branches of the military represented by their staff. According to Matt Fasbender, human resources manager, more than half of the people who work for Alstom are military veterans.

PHOTO BY JO DAVIS

PEOPLE MOVER FROM PAGE 14

“There were so many people here.

So many airplanes. So much space.

The logistics of operating a place like that, the challenges, again, it’s all about the movement of people,” Robb said. “So how they could operate a place like that was beyond what my 13-year-old brain could comprehend. So really, this is like some next-level airport nerd stuff.”

Robb fell in love with airports as a teen, taking trips with his dad to airports in Oklahoma City and Dallas Forth Worth. “We just ride the train around and walk around the airport and spend a morning and afternoon just in the airport,” Robb said. His love of airports and moving people started there.

Robb explained that the DIA trains are operated by Alstom, a contractor that manufactures French rails.

“They build a lot of surface rail trains, the traditional trains actual trains,” Robb said.

According to Robb, besides himself, only one other DIA employee, the automated guideway transit system administrator, works with the train system inside the airport.

The rest of the people behind the trains work for Alstom.

Keeping the trains running around the clock

Robb noted that the trains are not actually trains on a track. They have wheels and tires.

“We call the train the AGTS, which is an automated guideway transit system,” Robb explained. “We also sometimes call it an APM, which is an automated people mover. It’s not, it is a train. But really, they’re just like big, automated buses, they run on big rubber wheels.

And then there’s a guideway in between that kind of keeps them going where they are supposed to, but there’s no rail or anything.”

Alstom makes the trains and also operates a section of the airport accessed beneath the concourses by way of the tunnel system. Alstom owns and operates the shop where the trains are maintained, repaired and tested.

According to Aurora resident and Environmental Health and Safety Manager for Alstom DIA Marcus Huff, the site had gone 812 days without an accident at the time of Colorado Community Media’s interview at DIA. Because of the importance of the trains, Huff said safety is a top priority.

The reason, according to Alstom DIA Operations Manager Shawn Bingham, also from Aurora, is because of the downtime commitment between Alstom and Denver.

Bingham said the trains have to be available 99.94% of the time that the airport is open. And the airport never closes.

“In a 31-day month, there are 44,600 minutes in that month,” Bingham explained. “We have about 20 minutes of downtime out of those 44,600 minutes every month. So, we can try to paint that picture for taking such a small amount of downtime on average every month out of those 44,600 available minutes. And that’s about 99.94% availabilities.”

Alstom DIA Site Production Manager and Maintenance Manager RJ Hennessy, from Brighton, explained that up to seven trains run each day to keep up with the demand. The highest demand for the trains is in the spring and summer, not during the holidays, Hennessy said.

“Don’t get me wrong. We typically have (high demand) maybe two days around each of those holidays,” Hennessy said. “That’s it.

The people coming in for the holiday season and the people leaving for the holiday season are pretty much it. So, it’s two days around the Thanksgiving timeframe. And around the Christmas timeframe.

That’s it — just two days. In the summertime — take those two days and now put them over probably two weeks. And it starts at

26 new trains will come online at DIA by the end of 2024 6,500 passengers ride the trains every day 78 million passengers expected in 2024 100 million passengers per year by 2027 31 trains in the fleet before the new trains 16 of the old trains were in operation for 29 years 1.4 million miles run by the old trains being retired 41 trains will be in the DIA fleet by the end of 2024 15 minutes maximum amount of downtime allowed for the train system each month.

812 days since the last accident in the Alstrom DIA shop (as of Jan. 11, 2024) 73 employed by Alstom to operate and run the trains at DIA 2 DIA employee works with the train system

spring break.”

Keeping the trains going all year, with only 20 minutes of downtime per month takes the help of all 73 Alstom employees, according to Bingham.

Who keeps the trains running

Alstom DIA Senior HR Manager Matt Fasbender said the Alstom team is more than 50% military veterans. The employees come from all over the Denver Metro area.

Many of the Alstom team members have been working at DIA for more than 20 years.

“About 27 people have 25 years or more,” Fasbender said.

Roberto Cortez, a mechanic from Commerce City, is one of those military vets with a long tenure at the site. “I had like I had 10 years in the Marine Corps,” Cortez said.

“So, I had already been through a lot of oopsies and the mistakes when you start turning wrenches.

It made the transition pretty easy.”

Cortez said that his experience working on cars and military helicopters helped when he started working on the DIA trains 24 years ago.

“It’s not that technology is the same, but technical aspects and using logic, stuff like that is,” he said.

SEE PEOPLE MOVER, P18

16 Arvada Press

February 1, 2024Fe

From illusion to delusion

T

o make good decisions unfettered by illusions, we must act on clear, honest, factual information. At times though, we ignore the truth in front of our nose and forge ahead despite ominous flashing caution and warning signs.

Think of a person or group you thought would never do you harm but did or had your best interests at heart but didn’t. How did you feel when you realized that? Angry? Hurt? Snookered? Betrayed?

If you’ve been played the fool, you not only might harbor those feelings, you might also feel demeaned, used, or manipulated like a puppet on a string. Understandably so given that no one, I presume, wants to be used, to be another’s puppet.

When the truth is revealed, it can be akin to ripping a bandage off raw skin because it invariably touches on sensitive core areas like religious, political, social, or personal.

Of them, the personal can be the most difficult to swallow because it can reveal something uncomfortable about you.

It’s important to distinguish between illusion and delusion. While they mean similar things—something false or misleading—delusion is a mental disorder that is often a symptom of psychosis. It involves the inability to tell what is real from

what is unreal and truth from falsehoods. Illusion, on the other hand, can be not only more benign, it can be useful at times. After all, if we knew all that could be known about another, we’d probably shrink back Columnist in disgust or horror. We’ve coined a term for that: TMI. Frighteningly though, sometimes we know the truth but opt to deny or disregard it. Why do we do that?

Why create and hold fast to illusions and live out parts—if not all—of our life in accordance with them?

Myopia is both a physical and psychological condition. While eyewear can facilitate correcting the physical limitation, it takes conscious will to step from the world of myopic illusion. If we fail to do that, we fall into the trap of believing that our perceptions and worldviews are the only valid ones. To that the nineteenth-century philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer stated, “Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world.”

A tenet of Buddhism is that we spend much of our earthly time living lives of illusion, seeing all that

JERRY FABYANIC

surrounds us, from the immediate to the greater universe, as substantial, ultimate reality. It’s hard for the Western mind to wrap itself around that as well as the Buddhist concept of emptiness. Reason suggests that if something is empty, there’s nothing in or to it. But that is not necessarily the case. An uncovered empty bottle is not empty. Rather, it’s filled with the same benign—hopefully—air that you’re breathing. But a sealed bottle that is similarly empty might be filled with a noxious gas.

That image can serve as a metaphor about the negativity we fill our minds with and help us take stock of our illusions. Some are benign; others malodorous.

We generally believe the stories we tell ourselves about others or situations, both positive and negative, are true. But that can be self-delusional because sometimes we discover we were wrong, what we believed was erroneous. Our healthy nature surfaces when we admit the errancy of our perspective and change it. The unhealthy aspect appears when we obstinately remain steadfast despite irrefutable evidence to the contrary. That is when illusion can morph into pathological delusion, which often manifests or expresses itself as bitterness, anger, or rage.

That has ramifications at the

TAKEAWAYS FROM PAGE 6

Additionally, 74% of APD officers have less than seven years of experience, according to Brady.

“We also have a young leadership team,” Brady said. “It will take roughly five years to get back to full staffing. When we get closer to full staffing, we will be coming back to council just to get us up to the level of service the city deserves.

3. Impacts of changing climate on Arvada

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Janes said that Arvada is already beginning to feel the effects of climate change.

According to Janes, 2023 was the

personal and interpersonal levels and at the macro, societal level. To our detriment, we sometimes don blinders and concoct fantastical fictions in order to absolve our consciences of acknowledging the unpleasant truth of a person or group so to continue covering for and supporting them by ignoring or explaining away their excesses.

As it is with the Buddhist teachings on illusion and emptiness, it can be hard for the Western mind to grasp the Buddhist concept of impermanence, although the impermanent nature of phenomena might be easier to grasp because we know nothing lasts forever. Including us.

One day each person taking breaths in 2024 will be gone. And all that will remain is that which we leave behind, primarily our legacy and our story replete with a chronicle of our behaviors and choices.

If we’d keep that forefront in our minds, our lives would be not only more authentic and reality based, they’d be less illusionary. We’d make wiser choices, maybe sleep better, and this world would be in a far better place.

Jerry Fabyanic is the author of “Sisyphus Wins” and “Food for Thought: Essays on Mind and Spirit.” He lives in Georgetown.

hottest year on record, and the next five years are projected to be even hotter.

“As a state and as a city, we’re headed towards even more unpredictable climate extremes,” Janes said. “We anticipate increased challenges pertaining to water scarcity, extreme heat, damaging storms, wildfires, emerging pests, and disease vectors.

“Successful adaptation and resilience building depend on investment as well as changes to how we manage our natural resources,” Janes continued.

Large-scale debris removal after storms, field turf conversion, green infrastructure projects —strategies not yet built into Arvada’s current level of service — would be potential options to mitigate climate-related issues, Janes said.

Arvada Press 17

February 1, 2024

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February 1, 2024Fe

PEOPLE MOVER FROM PAGE 15

Ryan Parrish, a train mechanic for Alstom DIA from Thornton, agreed that his military background prepared him for work on the trains.

“I was in the army for five years.

I worked on the Patriot missile system,” he said. “I guess I wanted work that kind of translated.”

Parrish went to Spartan College of Aeronautics in Broomfield to acquire more skills. His counselor at the college directed Parrish to Alstom.

“I mean, there’s no money in the civilian world for taking out aircraft, but money is in fixing things,” he said.

Parrish has been with Alstom at DIA for six years.

Carlos Alvarez is a helper mechanic from Aurora with two years

at Alstom DIA. Alvarez was also educated at Spartan College. He worked on wind turbines before coming to Alstom. His previous skills helped ease the learning curve when he came to work on the trains.

“Once you know how to read schematics and turn wrenches, it’s all the same,” Alvarez said.

The mechanics, managers and everyone else at Alstom are eager to get their hands on the new train.

Cortez said they are just “peeking over the shoulders” of the new train’s testers for now. “They don’t want us to touch it,” Cortez said.

“But the testing process is a little regimented so that they’re not gonna let us put our hands on the train until they figure it out. And get it going. Then, they’re gonna give it to us so we can tear it up. I mean, so we can work on it.”

“We have a team that is here specifically for introducing the new trains,” Bingham said. “And they

The trains are maintained in the Alstom shop, underneath the Denver International Airport.

Mechanics, technicians and others access the trains from these platforms for cleaning and service.

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The Alstom shop beneath the Denver International Airport is where the new and old trains are serviced, cleaned and tested.

have a very, as (Alvarez) said, regimented plan that they follow, testing and making sure the train functions the way it’s supposed to. That it assimilates into our system the way it’s supposed to.”

He said the train must run 300 hours without fail before Cortez and the others get to it.

According to Bingham, the new

trains should be online and transported by the public this summer.

Until then, these people will see to the trains, and to moving people throughout the Denver International Airport.

For more information on the new train system, Alstom and the Denver International Airport, visit FlyDenver.com.

Arvada Press 19

February 1, 2024

Fewer students enrolled in Colorado schools again this year

BY YESENIA ROBLES CHALKBEAT COLORADO

The number of students in Colorado schools continues to drop and is now lower than it was after the large decrease in enrollment at the start of the pandemic.

In October 2023, 881,464 students were enrolled in public schools, down 1,800, or 0.2%, from October 2022, according to official enrollment counts released by the Colorado Department of Education in January.

Before the pandemic, enrollment numbers in Colorado had been increasing every year since the 1980s.

But in fall of 2020, after months of mostly remote learning, enrollment sank by about 30,000 students from the previous year. In fall of 2021, enrollment went up slightly, but

has been falling again since.

State Demographer Elizabeth Garner told the State Board of Education that the decline in enrollment is due partly to decreasing birth rates, but also to a slowdown in migration and mobility.

“We are forecasting that total school-age population to decline basically through 2028-2029, then start to increase, but not get back to levels that we saw in 2019 until about 2035,” Garner said.

She said the trend is statewide.

“Forty-three of the 64 counties had an absolute decline in the under-18 population over the last decade,” Garner said. “It doesn’t matter where you were — Eastern Plains, San Luis Valley, West Slope, Denver metro.”

In a statement, Colorado Education Commissioner Susana Cór-

dova noted concern about the drop in enrollment among the youngest students.

“We know that pre-kindergarten and kindergarten are where students build critical foundations for life-long academic success including language development, early literacy, and social skills,” she said.

Still, she said, “we are encouraged by the state’s commitment to early learning through the Colorado Universal Preschool Program.”

The universal preschool program provides free preschool to all Colorado 4-year-olds and some 3-yearolds. This year, about 50,000 students are enrolled in various types of public and private preschools across the state. Public school districts’ pre-K programs have 32,060 students, slightly fewer than a year earlier.

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First grade and kindergarten saw some of the largest decreases in enrollment this year. First grade enrollment declined by 3.91%, or 2,478 students, compared with the first grader group of 2022. Kindergarten had 1,068 fewer students, a 1.79% drop. Eighth grade and ninth grade also had large enrollment declines.

Only five grade levels saw an increase in students compared with last year. The largest increase was among second graders, up by 5%, or more than 3,000 students.

Other segments that grew included those who are home-schooled, and those who are enrolled in online programs.

Enrollment in charter schools decreased by 1.8% to 135,223.

SEE ENROLLMENT, P20

20 Arvada Press

February 1, 2024Fe

ENROLLMENT FROM PAGE 19

The number of students identified as experiencing homelessness statewide went up by 1,570 compared with last year.

Last school year only one district in Colorado, Adams 12, had more than 1,000 students identified as needing services related to homelessness. This year, there were four such districts — Aurora, Adams 12, Jeffco, and Poudre.

By percentage, the tiny district of Sheridan continues to have the highest proportion of its students experiencing homelessness in the metro area, but the number has dropped over the years. This school year, 149 Sheridan students, or 14.1%, are experiencing homelessness, down from 205, or 18.2%, last year.

Broken down by race, white stu-

Chart: Thomas Wilburn Source: Colorado Department of Education

dents had the largest decreases in enrollment, while Hispanic or Latino students had the largest increases. Schools counted 312,687 Hispanic or Latino students in October 2023, up from 308,739 the year before.

By percentage, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander students had the largest enrollment jump: 9.18%

more than last year. These students make up a tiny proportion of all Colorado students.

Among the state’s largest districts, just a handful recorded more students than last year. They include Aurora Public Schools, which had a slight increase, and Denver Public Schools, which gained 371 students. Denver has attributed

the increase to an influx of migrant students, many from Venezuela.

Among the metro-area districts, School District 27J in Brighton had the largest growth in enrollment. It gained more students than Denver, Aurora, or any of the large districts.

Meanwhile, Sheridan, Westminster, and Adams 14 had the largest decreases in the metro area.

The state’s data reflect official student counts in October, and those are the counts typically used to determine funding levels.

But the state’s release acknowledged that several districts have seen a large number of students who are new to the country arriving throughout the school year.

“CDE is committed to working with districts and school teams to ensure they are supported in serving these multilingual learners,” the department’s statement notes.

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

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22 Arvada Press

LOCAL

SPORTS

February 1, 2024F

Tenacious defense drives Valor past Ralston Valley

BY DENNIS PLEUSS JEFFCO PUBLIC SCHOOLS

ARVADA — Valor Christian girls basketball took another important step Friday night on keeping its stranglehold on the Class 6A Jeffco League.

The Eagles defeated Ralston Valley for the second time in a week to edge closer to another conference title. Valor took a 54-28 victory on the Mustangs’ home court.

“We just want to play for each other and do everything we can for each other,” Valor junior Quinn VanSickle said after she scored a game-high 17 points in the Eagles’ fifth straight win. “We focus on the little things instead of the overarching goals. I think those come with time.”

Valor (12-3, 5-0 6A Jeffco) is attempting to win its sixth straight conference title in the largest classification. The Eagles — No. 5 in this week’s 6A girls basketball Colorado Preps coaches and media poll — won the 5A Jeffco League championship from 2019 to 2022 and grabbed the 6A Jeffco title last season when the additional classification was added.

Valor uncharacteristically dropped a league game last year that ended a remarkable streak.

“It is in the back of our minds, sure,” Valor coach Jessika Caldwell said of the loss to Arvada West last year that ended a 37-game winning streak in conference play since the Eagles moved up to the state’s largest classification. “But you don’t want to drop any game.

It’s hard to play on the road. Teams in Jeffco are strong.”

The Eagles are now halfway through their conference schedule with five league games left over the next three weeks. The sweep against Ralston Valley (106, 2-2) gives Valor the inside track with really Columbine (12-6, 4-1) the only team with a legitimate chance to dethrone Valor.

Columbine suffered a 39-point loss to Valor it their first league meeting. The Rebels host Valor on

Ralston Valley freshman Santana Sabus (22) drives the lane on Valor sophomore Camryn Gunter during the second half Friday, Jan. 26, at Ralston Valley High School. Valor took a 54-28 road victory in the Class 6A Jeffco League showdown.

Valor junior Quinn VanSickle had a game-high 17 points in the Eagles’ 54-28 road victory PHOTOS BY DENNIS PLEUSS / JEFFCO PUBLIC SCHOOL Friday, Jan. 26, at Ralston Valley High School.

Wednesday, Feb. 7.

It was Valor’s stifling defense that Ralston Valley struggled with Friday night. The Eagles held the Mustangs to a season-low 28 points.

“We are just relentless on defense,” VanSickle said. “Our whole intention is to be dogs. Every second teams are going to get a break. We are going to be all up into them. Everyone on this team is bought in to what we do.”

Ralston Valley sophomore Sammi Madden had a teamhigh 13 points, including a trio of 3-pointers, but the Mustangs managed just 11 made field goals the entire game. “(Valor) game out really well and wanted to compete,” Ralston Valley coach Amy Bahl said. “I think it kind of jolted us a little bit. We just didn’t respond like I would have liked us to.”

Ralston Valley freshman Santana Sabus came in nearly averaging 20 points per game for the Mustangs. Sabus was held to 10 points. Caldwell was quick to point out senior Emma Lytle’s defensive effort limiting Sabus.

“She (Sabus) is a phenomenal player,” Caldwell said. “She really has a knack of getting to the rim and hitting the 3. We just charged Emma with another chance to defend her really well. I’m really proud of what she did tonight.”

Offensively, junior Rylie Beers (11 points) and sophomore Peyton Jones (15 points) joined VanSickle in double-figures.

It was the Mustangs’ third game in four days. Ralston Valley grabbed wins over Erie and Chatfield before taking the loss to Valor. The Mustangs were slated to hit the road Jan. 31 to face Columbine.

“This game is now over. We have to focus on the next game and take care of business,” Bahl said.

Dennis Pleuss is the Sports Information Director for Jeffco Public Schools. For more Jeffco coverage, go to ColoradoPreps.com and CHSAANow.com.

Arvada Press 23

February 1, 2024

Columbine girls basketball holds on against Arvada West

Columbine sophomore Mason Abraham, right, plays tight defense on Arvada West senior Cynthia Lee during the first half Wednesday, Jan. 24, at Arvada West High School. Abraham had a career-high 15 points for the Rebels in a 51-49 victory on the road against the Wildcats.

BY DENNIS PLEUSS JEFFCO PUBLIC SCHOOLS

ARVADA — Columbine sophomore Mason Abraham came up big early, and late for the Rebels on Wednesday night at Arvada West High School.

The sophomore guard poured in a career-high 15 points — 11 points in the first quarter — in Columbine’s dramatic 51-49 victory over A-West.

“It felt good. I got going early,” Abraham said of her three 3-pointers in the first quarter. “Whatever I can do to help my team get more points. I was confident.”

Columbine (11-6, 3-1 in Class 6A Jeffco) held a double-digit lead for the majority of the game until AWest (10-6, 1-3) made an impressive fourth-quarter rally.

Junior Saylor Swanson had nine points in the final quarter for the Wildcats. Her three free-throws with 23 seconds remaining cut Columbine’s lead to 50-49. Swanson finished with a team-high 15 points.

Columbine sophomore Taylor Speir made one of two free throws with 13 seconds left to get the lead to 50-48, but A-West had one final shot to either send the game into overtime or hit a game-winning 3-pointer.

“In tight games like that good teams

try to find away to pull it out,” Columbine coach Keegan Bell said. “I’m just proud they did that.”

A-West wasn’t able to get a shot off in the final seconds. Senior Cynthia Lee got the ball off a pick near the free-throw line, but Abraham switched on defense. Lee and Abraham made some contact together that caused Lee to fall to the court and lose the ball as time expired.

“A little bit,” Abraham said when asked if she was scared she would get called for her fifth foul in the closing seconds when Lee went down. “I’ve been fouling a lot lately. I’ve been trying to keep the hands up.”

Columbine’s defense was solid for the majority of the game, limiting the Wildcats to just 17 points in the first half. The Rebels’ defense showed up big to hold off A-West, who made six 3-pointer in the second half.

“They got locked down and loaded.

It was a pressure packed situation,” Bell said of the final possession. “To see our young girls come away with the victory, I’m super proud of them.”

Columbine had two other players reach double-digit points with senior Emily Allison (10 points) and sophomore Jordyn Washington (14 points).

“It is huge. We are doing our best to beat teams at their home so when they come to us at our home we can

Columbine sophomore Jordyn Washington (5) drives on Arvada West senior Cynthia Lee (22) and junior Avery Harrison (44) during the second half Wednesday, Jan. 24, at Arvada West High School. Washington had 14 points in Columbine’s narrow 51-49 PHOTOS BY DENNIS PLEUSS / JEFFCO PUBLIC SCHOOL road victory.

sweep them,” Abraham said of the Rebels’ goal during the twice-around league format in 6A Jeffco. “We are off to a good start.”

The Rebels’ lone conference loss so far was a 39-point loss a week ago against Valor Christian — No. 5 in the Class 6A girls basketball Colorado Preps coaches and media poll.

Columbine stays on the road to face rival Chatfield at 6 p.m. Friday night as the first game of a girls/boys doubleheader at Chatfield High School.

The Rebels host Ralston Valley in a big league game Wednesday, Jan. 31.

“Our biggest thing is try to improve and get better,” Bell said. “The league

is so tough. On any given night anybody can beat anybody. That is what makes basketball fun. I encourage anybody to come out and watch what all these girls can do. Everyone has some special kids.”

A-West finishes off the week hosting Lakewood at 6:30 p.m. Friday night. The Wildcats were set to continue their string of six home games in a row on Wednesday, Jan. 31, when A-West finished out the month facing league-leading Valor.

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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Cemetery Plots FOR SALE Inside eye level cript for sale at Crown Hill. Located inside front mausoleum facing Wadsworth. Worth $16,000 selling for $10,972.

Call 303-480-0320 or 720620-2731.

Cemetery Plots Golden Cemetery Plots 12 choice plots at bargain price. $2000 or best offer. dstruck9@comcast.net

Health & Beauty

Medical

Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous

VIAGRA and CIALIS USERS! 50 Generic Pills SPECIAL $99.00 100% guaranteed. 24/7 CALL NOW! 888-445-5928 Hablamos Espanol

Attention oxygen therapy users! Inogen One G4 is capable of full 24/7 oxygen delivery. Only 2.8 pounds.

Free info kit. Call 877-9299587

Water damage cleanup & restoration: A small amount of water can lead to major damage and mold growth in your home. Our trusted professionals do complete repairs to protect your family and your home’s value!

Call 24/7: 1-888-872-2809

DISH TV $64.99 190 Channels + $14.95 High Speed Internet.

Free Installation, Smart HD DVR included, Free Voice remote.

Some Restrictions apply.

Promo Expires 12/31/24.

1-866-479-1516.

Dental insurance from Physicians Mutual Insurance Company. Coverage for 400+ procedures. Real dental insurance - not just a discount plan. Get your free Information Kit with details! 1-855-526-1060 www.dental50plus.com/ads #6258

Diagnosed with lung cancer & 65+?

You may qualify for a substantial cash award. No obligation! We’ve recovered millions. Let us help!

Call 24/7 1-877-707-5707

Classifieds

Continues Next Page

Arvada Press 27

February 1, 2024

MARKETPLACE

Antiques & Collectibles

Old Crows Antiques featuring The Root Beer Bar An Antique destination in Littleton Colorado Join us on Memory Lane. Something for everyone.

Visit us for store info Instagram: @oldcrowsantiques www.facebook.com/ oldcrowsantiques www.oldcrows antiques.com 303-973-8648 10081 W. Bowles Ave. Littleton, CO 80127

Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous

Jacuzzi Bath Remodel can install a new, custom bath or shower in as little as one day. For a limited time, we’re cutting installation costs in half and offering a FREE safety upgrade! Additional terms apply. Subject to change and vary by dealer.

Offer ends 3/31/24 Call 1-844-501-3208

DIRECTV Stream - Carries the most local MLB Games!

Choice Package $89.99/ mo for 12 mos Stream on 20 devices at once. HBO Max included for 3 mos (w/ Choice Package or higher.)

No contract or hidden fees!

Some restrictions apply. Call IVS 1-866-859-0405

Eliminate gutter cleaning forever! LeafFilter, the most advanced debris-blocking gutter protection. Schedule free LeafFilter estimate today.

20% off Entire Purchase. 10% Senior & Military Discounts.

Call 1-833-610-1936

MobileHelp, America’s premier mobile medical alert system.

Whether you’re home or away. For safety & peace of mind. No long term contracts! Free brochure!

1-888-489-3936 HughesNet – Finally, super-fast internet no matter where you live. 25 Mbps just $59.99/mo! Unlimited Data is Here. Stream Video. Bundle TV & Internet. Free Installation.

Call 866-499-0141 Wesley Financial Group, LLC Timeshare Cancellation Experts Over $50,000,000 in timeshare debt & fees cancelled in 2019. Get free info package & learn how to get rid of your timeshare! Free consultations. Over 450 positive reviews.

Call 833-308-1971

BATH & SHOWER UPDATES in as little as ONE DAY! Affordable prices - No payments for 18 months! Lifetime warranty & professional installs. Senior & Military Discounts available.

Call: 855-761-1725

Become a published author.

We want to read your book!

Dorrance Publishing trusted since 1920. Consultation, production, promotion & distribution. Call for free author`s guide 1-877-7294998 or visit dorranceinfo. com/ads Safe Step. North America’s #1 Walk-in tub.

Comprehensive lifetime warranty. Top-of-the-line installation and service. Now featuring our free shower package & $1600 off - limited time! Financing available.

1-855-417-1306

Replace your roof w/the best looking & longest lasting material steel from Erie Metal Roofs! 3 styles & multiple colors available. Guaranteed to last a lifetime! Limited Time Offer up to 50% off install + Additional 10% off install (military, health & 1st responders.) 1-833-370-1234 Aging Roof? New Homeowner?

Got Storm Damage?

You need a local expert provider that proudly stands behind their work. Fast, free estimate. Financing available. Call 1-888-8789091

Prepare for power outages today with a Generac Home Standby Generator. Act now to receive a FREE 7-Year warranty with qualifying purchase* Call 1-855-9486176 today to schedule a free quote. It’s not just a generator. It’s a power move.

Colorado Statewide Network To place a 25-word COSCAN Network ad in 91 Colorado newspapers for only $300, contact your local newspaper or email Colorado Press Association Network at rtoledo@colopress.net DIRECTV

PORTABLE OXYGEN Portable Oxygen Concentrator.

May be Covered by Medicare!

Reclaim independece and mobility with the compact design and long-lasting battery of Inogen One. Free Information Kit! Call: 844-823-0293

DIRECTV, Sports Pack 3 Months on Us! Watch pro and college sports LIVE, Plus over 40 regional and specialty networks included. NFL, College Football, MLB, NBA, NHL, Golf and more.

Some restrictions apply.

Call DIRECTV 1-888-725-0897

FREE HIGH SPEED INTERNET

AMERIGLIDE

Free High Speed Internet for those that qualify. Goverment program for recipients of select programs incl. Medicaid, SNAP, Housing Assistance, WIC, Veterans Pension, Survivor Benefit, Lifeline, Tribal.

15GB Internet service. Bonus offer: Android tablet FREE with onetime $20 copay. Free Shipping & Handling.

Call MaxsipTelecom Today: 1-866-654-9429

Don't let the stairs limit your mobility!

Discover the ideal solution for anyone who struggles on the stairs, is concerned about a fall or wants to regain access to their entire home. Call AmeriGlide today!

1-877-418-1883

Dogs

Wanted Donate Your Car to Veterans Today! Help and Support our Veterans. Fast - FREE pick up. 100% tax deductible. Call 1-800-245-0398

Cash for all Vehicles!

Doodle Puppies

Golden Doodles and Bernedoodles Home-Raised Heath Tested and Guaranteed Standard and Mini Size available Schedule a visit today!

(970)215-6860 www.puppylovedoodles.com

Cars, Trucks, Vans, SUV’s

Any condition • Running or not No title OK • Free towing • Under $850

(303)741-0762

Cell: (303)918-2185 for texting Bestcashforcarsco.com

SERVICE DIRECTORY Air Conditioning

Blinds

METALBUILDING

Serving the Front Range since 1955 Furnaces • Boilers • Water Heaters Rooftop HVAC • Mobile Furnaces Commercial • Residential Install • Repair • Replace

AC, Furnace and Boiler Specials

OUTLET CORP.

LOCAL BUILDINGS FOR 30+ YEARS!

Free Estimates • 720-327-9214

Serving the Front Range since 1955 Residential • Install • Repair • Replace

WINTER FURNACE SPECIALS 720-327-9214

Buildings, Metal

RESIDENTIAL & COMMERCIAL FAMILY OWNED & OPERATED

CALL TODAY! 303-467-7969 6040 W. 59TH AVE, UNIT F • ARVADA, CO 80003 QUESTIONS@BLINDSMITH.COM WWW.BLINDSMITHCOLORADO.COM

· SHOPS & GARAGES · EQUIPMENT STORAGE · SELF STORAGE · BARNS & AGRICULTURAL BUILDINGS · EQUESTRIAN FACILITIES · COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS · AND MORE...

303.948.2038

METALBUILDINGOUTLET.COM

Service Directory

Continues Next Page

28 Arvada Press

February 1, 2024Fe

SERVICE DIRECTORY Estate Planning

Carpet/Flooring

WOOD

..

Handyman

Great Floors.

Great Impressions.

. ,

FOOTPRINTS HARDWOOD, TILE,

ors.

Impressions.

TM

floors BACKSPLASHES & LAMINATES

day for a free estimate!

Call today for a free estimate!

720-344-0939 | FOOTPRINTSFLOORS.COM 20-344-0939

FOOTPRINTSFLOORS COM

WILLS AND TRUSTS Kurt E. Walberg, P.C. Esq.

Call now to schedule a no cost appointment 720.772.7565 • dawn@kewpclaw.com

Cleaning

PROMAID CLEANING Weekly • Bi-Weekly • Monthly Move-In • Move-Out

Licensed with excellent references

Call Today for a FREE ESTIMATE: 303-427-2955 Call Today for a FREE ESTIMATE 303-427-2955

BOB’S HOME REPAIRS

Handyman

Michael’s Handyman Services Michael’s Handyman Services Michael’s Handyman Services

All types of repairs.

Reasonable rates. 30yrs Exp.

303-450-1172

Home Beautification • Home Beautifi cation •• Home Beautification •• •Home Home Repair & Interior Painting Home Repair & Interior Painting Repair & Interior Painting

303-301-4420 303-301-4420

FREE ESTIMATES Call Today: 720-225-7176 ProMaidsInc@yahoo.com

REPAIRS & REMODELING HOMEHOME REPAIRS & REMODELING

• Drywall • Painting • Tile • Trim • Drywall • Painting••Doors Tile •• Trim • Doors • Painting • Decks • Bath Remodel Painting • Decks • Bath Remodel • Kitchen Remodels MuchMore!

More!

• Kitchen Remodels••Basements Basements &&Much Mark Up Materialsyou 25%-35% We Never MarkWe UpNever Materials • Saving Saving you•25%-35% All Work Guaranteed A+ BBB Rated All Work Guaranteed • A+ BBB Rated

MINOR HOME REPAIRS HANDYMAN MinorHOME Home Repairs MINOR REPAIRS Repairs • Install Fixtures, Appliance • Plumbing

No job is too small small • Free Estimates No job job is too too small Free Estimates No is •• Free Estimates Electrical • Expert Tile • Kitchen/ Bath Remodel • Decks 35 yrs. experience • Licensed, Insured • References

Wes 720-697-3290 Concrete/Paving

• All Concrete • Tear Out • Patios

• Driveways • Anything • Curb & Gutter Concrete • Walls

Sheetrock & Drywall Framing Specialist EPA Certified Painter, Interior/Exterior Demolition • Insured 7+ Years Experience!

Home Improvement Room Builders LLC.

303-888-7595

®

©

Toll Free 866-552-6987 Cell: 646-825-1716

Hauling Service

HAULING

$$ Reasonable Rates On: $$ Trash Cleanup • Old Furniture • Mattresses • Appliances • Dirt Old fencing • Branches • Concrete • Asphalt • Old Sod • Brick Mortar • House/Garage/Yard clean outs • Storm Damage Cleanup Electronics recycling avail.

Mark: 303.432.3503

Drywall

Cut Rate Hauling

A Patch To Match Drywall Repair Specialist • Home Renovation and Remodel • 30 Years Experience • Insured • Satisfaction Guaranteed Highly rated & screened contractor by Home Advisor & Angies list

Ed 720-328-5039

Cut Rate Hauling

Trash / Rubbish / Debris Trash / Rubbish / Debris and Junk Removal and Junk Removal

Professional and Reliable Year Round Service

Professional and Reliable Year Round ServiceRubin (720)434-8042 | Kerwin (720) 519-5559 Rubin (720)434-8042 Kerwin (720) 519-5559

Siding & Windows Siding Repairs • Hail Damage Repairs Insulated Vinyl and Steel Siding

Free Estimates • Call Sam 720.731.8789

Service Directory

Continues Next Page

Arvada Press 29

February 1, 2024

SERVICE DIRECTORY Painting

• Benjamin Moore Paints • Labor and Materials Warranty • Free Estimates • Color Consultation Included • Kind/Highly Communicative Staff Helpful Ace Hardware Pro Painters is a residential painting company which specializes in exterior and interior painting. Our core values are honesty, integrity, service, quality and beauty and our focus is on delivering an outstanding customer experience. We currently include a full color consult, test pints and a detailed walkthrough with all of our paint jobs.

Give us a call to set up a free estimate! (720) 432-6125

Plumbing

Solar

I am a Master Plumber that has 15 years of experience, licensed and insured, and trying to get my own business up and going. I would be grateful for the opportunity to earn your business, to help a Colorado Native business grow. Mountain Men Plumbing has been around for almost two years now!

www.MountainMenPlumbing.com

Residential andand Commercial Residential Comme

SOLAR SYSTEMS SOLAR SYSTEM 303-770-7663 303-647-3173

Or give a call to (720) 328-8440!

www.ValorRoofandSolar.com www.ValorRoofandSolar.com

helpfulacehardwarepropainters.com

DANIEL’S PAINTING

exterior • interior • residential repaints Re-caulk all home complete prime all caulked areas / replace any damaged boards / popcorn removal drywall and texture repair / fences and decks / insured and bonded

720-301-0442

BOB’S PAINTING, REPAIRS & HOME IMPROVEMENTS 30 yrs experience • Free estimates

303-450-1172 Plumbing

Tile Roofing

HARDWOOD

303.451.1971 Commercial/Residential • For all your plumbing needs Commercial/Residential • Water Heaters • Plumbing Parts • Senior & Active Military Discounts

frontrangeplumbing.com For all your plumbing needs info@frontrangeplumbing.com

• Water Heaters • Plumbing Parts

SENIOR DISCOUNTS www.frontrangeplumbing.com

Great Floors.

Great Impressions.

Local Company FOOTPRINTS HARDWOOD, TILE, Veteran Owned floors BACKSPLASHES & LAMINATES Great F1oors.

Great Impressions.

Integrity Focused Call today for a free estimate!

Call today for a free estimate!

VOTED BEST ROOFING COMPANY720-344-0939 720-344-0939 | FOOTPRINTSFLOORS.COM WWW FOOTPRINTSFLOORS COM Complimentary Roof Inspections

303-770-7663

www.ValorRoofandSolar.com

Roofing/Gutters

Have a Hail Damaged Roof?

Front Range Plumbing

.. . ,

- Gutter cleaning /gutter covers available now - We are 100% Local & Have Great References - Roofing • Siding • Paint • Windows • Gutters - Call Dave Vaughn 720-427-7422 - davegoldenspikeroofing@gmail.com

Tree Service

Majestic Tree Service 720-231-5954 Tree & Shrub Trimming, Tree Removal • Stump Grinding Free Estimates/Consultations Licensed and Insured

Advertising

w rks Place your ad here.

303-566-4100

30 Arvada Press

February 1, 2024Fe

TV WITHOUT COMPROMISE. Stop worrying about your TV bill and start watching with DIRECTV. Taxes/fees apply. Req’s 24-mo. agmt.

EXPERIENCE PREMIUM TV via your internet connection.

84

CHOICE™ PACKAGE

$

99*

MO.

for 24 months + taxes and fees

w/ 24-mo. agmt. Advanced Receiver ServiceFees $15/mo. and Regional Sports Fees up to $15.99/mo. are extra & apply.

Access your favorite national, regional and local sports 24/7

Availability of channels varies based on package selection. Regional Sports Networks included in CHOICE Package or higher. Blackout restr’s apply. Avail. of RSNs varies by zip code and pkg.

Easily access live TV and thousands of streaming apps

Req’s separate paid subscription for Max, Netflix, Prime Video (see amazon.com/amazonprime for details) and other 3rd party apps. Restrictions apply. High speed internet-connected Gemini Air required. Google login required.

*New approved residential customers, price incl. TV pkg & equip. fees for first TV. Add’l fees may apply to non-qualified customers. Early agmt termination fee applies ($20/mo.) & add’l fee(s) may apply if equip. not returned. Credit card req’d. Restr’s apply. Equipment lease req’d in some sales channels.

Contact your local DIRECTV dealer!

IVS Holdings

877.328.1512 Service subject to DIRECTV delivered via internet terms and conditions (see directv.com/legal/legal-policy-center/). Available only in the U.S. (excludes Puerto Rico and U.S.V.I.). Some offers may not be available through all channels and in select areas. Early termination fees apply for a maximum of $480, prorated at $20 per month over the 24-month term. Requires high speed internet. Minimum internet speed of 8Mbps per stream recommended for optimal viewing. Pricing: $84.99/mo. for two years. After 2 years, continues month to month at then-current prevailing prices unless cancelled. Additional Fees & Taxes: Price excludes Advanced Receiver Service Fees of $15/mo. (which is extra and applies to all packages) and Regional Sports Fees of up to $15.99/mo. (which is extra & applies to CHOICE pkg or higher. State and local taxes or other governmental fees and charges may apply including any such taxes, fees or charges assessed against discounted fees or service credits. See directv.com/directv-fees/ for additional information. Gemini Air Device: First device included for well-qualified customers, otherwise $120 for new Gemini Air. Applicable taxes due at sale. Additional Gemini Air: Additional device for well-qualified customers $10/mo. for 12 mos., otherwise $120 each. Purchased Gemini Air may be returned within 14 days of the Ship Date for a full refund however all monthly fees, including additional monthly fees, will continue to apply. Additional Gemini Air(s) purchased on installment agreement subject to additional terms and conditions. If service is cancelled within the first 14 days of ordering, you must return the included device to avoid a $120 non-return of device fee. A full refund of charges will be applied, and the early termination fees will be waived. If service is canceled after 14 days, you can continue to access DIRECTV through the end of the bill period, but there is no refund or credit for partial-month or unwatched content. See cancellation policy at directv.com/CancellationPolicyStream for more details. If you are subject to a lease agreement, $7/mo. lease fee per each additional device will be charged on your account. Lease Equipment Non-Return-Fees: If you cancel your service, you must return your leased equipment.

Failure to return any equipment will result in fees of $120 for each DIRECTV device. Regional Sports & Local Channels: Regional Sports available with CHOICE and above. Not available in select areas. Channels vary by package & billing region. Device may need to be in billing region in order to view. Limits: Programming subject to blackout restrictions. DIRECTV Svc Terms: Subject to Equipment Lease (equipment lease not available in select sales channels) & Customer Agreement. Taxes, surcharges, add-on programming (including premium channels), DIRECTV TECH PROTECT, transactional fees, and Federal Cost Recovery Fee are not included in two-year price guarantee. Visit directv.com/legal/ or call for details. All offers, programming, promotions, pricing, terms, restrictions & conditions subject to change & may be modified, discontinued, or terminated at any time without notice. See directv.com for details. ©2023 DIRECTV. DIRECTV and all other DIRECTV marks are trademarks of DIRECTV, LLC. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.

Arvada Press 31

February 1, 2024

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February 1, 2024Fe

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