Northglenn’s Crisis Response Unit o to a successful start

BY LUKE ZARZECKI LZARZECKI@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

A Northglenn team devoted to helping residents manage hardships such as housing and con ict resolution has helped 478 people in the past year, councilors learned Jan. 30.

Northglenn City Council received a report on the success of the Crisis Response Unit at the Jan. 30 study session meeting, and the program is o to a good start.

e program was approved in October 2021 to address hardships residents experience, such as housing and drug addiction, and provides services like case management and con ict resolution.

It was approved with American Rescue Act Funds for about $1.2 million through 2024. City Council will have to decide whether or not to fund the program with city funds in 2025.

Crisis Response Unit Program Manager Jessica Hulse presented the item. In 2022, CRU worked with 478 unique individuals.

Hulse said of those 478, the police department referred 134 to the program, the Municipal Court referred seven, neighborhood services 18, ve from the community and 314 individuals referred themselves.

Also, 223 of the 478 individuals were experiencing homelessness and 485 unique services were provided to the individuals, including case management, advocacy, transportation, outreach, health support, housing support and others.

Hulse said that 175 positive outcomes came out of the e orts, which can include helping clients renew or acquire bene ts like Social Security, connecting them to resources or attaining phones.

Another 46 were placed in longterm housing, which can be independent housing, independent housing with a voucher, transitional housing or reuniting with family or friends.

In addition to providing services, CRU conducts many more activities and e orts to help those in need. For example, the team hosts o ce hours on Fridays for those experiencing homelessness.

To build o the success, Hulse said the team is requesting a new vehicle for transportation needs and more sta ng.

City Councilor Becky Brown was frustrated that Hulse didn’t ask for more funding for the program before or during the budget process.

“I don’t have a problem with the concept, I have a problem that my mindset went to ‘we aren’t going to spend any money that’s not an emergency fund,’” she said.

City Manager Heather Geyer said CRU is funded through the American Rescue Plan Act and the two additional requests are within the ARPA funding. She noted that the needs weren’t identi ed during the budget cycle, and that she wouldn’t bring forward the needs if she didn’t deem them necessary.

City Councilor Katherine Go praised the program and said people experiencing homelessness is a top concern for many residents.

“ is program has been amazing in helping that population,” she said.

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“It was a great way to clear my head and it keeps me healthy so I can actually eat the way I like,” Christensen said.

Rachel Hultin, sustainable transportation director for Bicycle Colorado, sees it di erently. She said the Front Range doesn’t have enough infrastructure to support biking and electric biking because development has been focused on cars.

“Our present situation is really the result of 100 years of (car-centric) transportation planning and investment in which the leading question for transportation projects has been ‘how do we make it easier for cars to travel quickly through communities and down corridors?’” she said.

How comfortable it is for drivers and easy for cars to travel through a corridor has long been the measure for success, said Hultin, who also serves on Wheat Ridge City Council.

“And the outcome of 100 years of that thinking and those investments is a transportation system that overwhelmingly serves cars because that’s what we’ve been measuring,” she said.

Communities, Hultin said, started to realize the current transportation system doesn’t work for everyone.

It needs to be more bikeable and walkable, with more transit to serve everyone. Not just car owners.

Northern inventories

Transportation o cials in the Metro North have taken some notice.

Connect Northglenn Bicycle and Pedestrian plan. According to Amanda Peterson, director of Parks, Recreation and Culture, the plan identi es needed trail connections and gaps in the existing network.

So far, 6.41 miles of on-street bike lanes have been installed, which adds to the 35 miles of o -street trails. e trail network also includes three bike repair stations.

Northglenn also provided 550 refurbished bikes at no cost. ey come in as donations and volunteers x them up, with funds from the city bike planes, paved shoulders designated for bike lands and 8- to 10-foot-wide sidewalks designated as trails.

Darrell Alston, a tra c engineer for ornton, said for the past decade new resurfacing projects have included painting on-street bike lanes.

However, with a segment of the population feeling uncomfortable riding in the street, the city is bicycle track. e city is applying for grant money to complete studies to identify the roads where protected bike lanes make sense. ose studies are planned to start in the third quarter of this year, which will include public outreach.

“On a lower speed corridor, you can probably get away with some type of a simple vertical separation like pylons or maybe the periodic placement of decorative planters. When you get onto a higher speed roadway, you’re probably looking at some kind of a bigger physical separation, like curbs or a cycle track further away from the roadway,” Alston said. e process to decide which types of bike lanes to build follows street resurfacing projects. None were stand-alone and included funding for constructing barriers. at may change, Le wrote in an email.

Some of the corridors the city is considering include 88th Avenue from Pecos to Dahlia, 128th from I-25 to York, Pecos from Milkyway up to ornton Parkway and Huron from 84th to 88th. ose streets are based on high bicycle tra c already there.

Alston said providing bike lanes on the long arterial roadways with connection to the trail system can serve both short commutes and long range.

In Westminster, the 63.5 miles of on-street bike lanes, 17.3 miles of shared-use bike routes and 150 miles of trails help get bikers around.

According to Andy Le, a spokesperson for the city, all bike lanes and shared-use bike routes have paint and symbols, with some bu ered lanes.

However, none are protected by pylons, curbs or anything other than striping, he said.

From Westminster, it is possible to commute to either Boulder or Denver. To Boulder, the US 36 Bikeway is a paved concrete trail from 88th and Sheridan north.

More money

More money for bicycle infrastructure could be coming, thanks to the Greenhouse Gas Planning Standard, a new rule adopted by the Transportation Commission of Colorado in December 2021. It requires agencies to measure greenhouse gas emissions from projects, with limits on how high those emissions go.

Jacob Riger, multimodal transportation planning manager for the Denver Regional Council of Governments, said his group has already modi ed its 2050 Metro Vision Regional Transportation Plan based on the rule.

DRCOG will now send more money to 11 bus rapid transit corridors by 2050, and budget more for bike lanes and better multimodal mobility options and less for road improvement projects, such as DRCOG’s Interstate 25 project.

It’s a way to reduce emissions, and according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, transportation is the second highest contributor in the state.

Emily Lindsey, active and emerging mobility program manager for DRCOG, said people are ready. Of the 15 million daily people take in Metro Denver, 43% are less than three miles and 19% are less than one mile.

“So, super bikeable, even more so with e-bikes,” she said. ere just needs to be more dedi- cated active transportation infrastructure.

“ ere’s not perfect infrastructure throughout the region. ere’s always room for upgrades to our safety, our comfort, and our connectivity,” Lindsey said.

Lindsey said area cyclists are ready to ride but are concerned about their safety. In fact, according to DRCOG’s survey Active Transportation Plan, about 59% of the region’s adult population are interested in biking, but are unlikely to ride without separate bike facilities.

Emily Kleinfelter, safety and regional Vision Zero planner for DRCOG, said paint isn’t protection. DRCOG advocates for the highest level of protection for bikers and that may be bollards, car parks or a curb, as well as creating a network that connects bikers all over the region without gaps.

“It’s making it so that they’re being able to get home safe to their loved ones,” she said.

Colorado State Senator Faith Winter said another barrier to biking is the cost of a bike. She’s for the incentives Polis is proposing to make biking more a ordable.

“Making sure people have access to what they need to bike, making sure they feel safe while biking, and making sure that it’s easy and easy to navigate.,” she said.

Safer outcomes

Another study co-authored by CU Denver researcher Wesley Marshall, found cities with more protected bike lanes lead to safer outcomes.

“Better safety outcomes are instead associated with a greater prevalence of bike facilities – particularly protected and separated bike facilities – at the block group level and, more strongly so, across the overall city,” the results read.

Westminster City Councilor Rich Seymour primarily rides on the weekends between March and October, throwing up dust on the Big and Little Cry Creek Trails towards ornton and Northglenn. He’s ridden on US 36, but doesn’t like the highway noise, he said.

He stays clear of primary and secondary roads, even if they have marked bike lanes.

“Being anywhere near tra c is taking your life in your hands. Distracted and aggressive drivers are wreaking havoc with law-abiding drivers and killing bicyclists and motorcyclists,” Seymour wrote in an email. ornton’s Mayor Pro Tem Jessica Sandgren also thinks e-biking and biking are great for mobility but cited safety issues,

“I don’t think it’s safe on any street anywhere,” she said. “ e way people are driving across the country, I don’t feel comfortable.”

Data backs up his concern for bikers, motorcyclists and pedestrians. CDOT reported fatalities in 2022: 146 motorcycles, 105 pedestrians and 12 bicycles.

Fewer car lanes, more tra c?

Seymour noted Westminster has a mobility plan adopted by a prior council. His concern is the removal of vehicle lanes for bike lanes.

“I’m not in favor of decreasing auto lanes,” he said.

SEE BIKES, P6