Where is Vi June’s recognition among city parks?

Last week, I covered Westminster City Council’s action to name a city park in honor of former City Manager Brent McFall. Brent served our community for 14 years from 2001-2015 with distinguished Westminster Center Park, across the street from City Hall, was renamed McFall Park with a formal dedication coming in the near future. e requestors of this action came from a group of former elected city o cials and former city sta members which is all according to Hoyle.

Cross Currents

As I reviewed council’s formal policy which guides such requests, I wondered why someone or some interested group has not requested naming a site in honor of long time council member, mayor and state representative Vi June?

e criteria to be worthy of such city recognition states “allows naming of a site after an individual where the person or persons have made a signi cant contribution to the community over an extended period of time; is a universally celebrated group, organization or individual; and/or the individual (or organization) is donating the land to be used for the site purpose.”

I cannot think of a more deserving individual to have such an honor bestowed upon them.

Others have been honored over the last 63 years

Former Councilmember and Mayor Harvey England was the rst to be honored in 1955 when England Park was made in his name at 72nd Avenue and Osceola Street. ere have been eleven others since then including McFall. How many can you name?

Former Colorado Rockies player Mike Lansing, Margaret’s Pond sold to the city as open space, Tepper Fields, Maulis Park Open Space, Christopher Fields, Jessica Ridgeway Memorial

What will this three-wire winter do for Lake Powell?

During early March I traveled to Colorado’s Yampa Valley to see, hear, and feel what a big-snow winter looks like and to ponder the implications for the Colorado River. is has been an epic winter, both wondrous and awful.

Ranchers in that valley have long measured snow depths against three-wired stock fences. In Steamboat Springs and along anks of the Park Range, it’s three wires and more. Nearing Hahns Peak, only dimples in the snow marked the tops of fence posts.

Along the Wyoming-Colorado border, rancher Patrick O’Toole reported that this has been the hardest winter since he arrived in 1976. at includes 1983, when snowstorms persisted until June, catching Colorado River water managers at-footed. Gargantuan ows into Lake Powell nearly ruptured Glen Canyon Dam.

“ is year is more,” said O’Toole.

O’Toole’s family operation moved 7,000 head of sheep from winter range north of Craig to more hospitable desert range. e deep snow, cold, and winds that seem to be worsening were too much for his woolies. He told of pronghorn antelope left behind, some just lying along roads, too weak to stand.

“And there’s a lot of winter left,” he said.

In Craig, walls of icicles hung from roof edges, and the motel parking lot had snow and ice a half-foot thick. Along the edges of the frozen Yampa River, six cow elk huddled, looking perplexed, as another storm moved in. Glancing at my phone, I saw that in Denver, the temperature was near 50. In the opposite corner of Colorado, Lamar had been warned of potential prairie res.

Driving twisting, snow-covered county roads made me tense, but the whitened landscapes blanketed by snows lled me with joy. My mind’s ears erupted in the chorus from Bach’s “Hallelujah.” e Steamboat ski area surpassed last season’s total snowfall in mid-January. In the town itself, banks of carefully placed snow head-high and taller form a labyrinth of slots and passages, the city’s streets, sidewalks and driveways. Mindful that spring will eventually arrive, city crews have already ordered sandbags.

Nobody can know for sure when melting will begin in earnest. Along the Elk River, north of Steamboat, Jay Fetcher has faithfully recorded the day each year that the nal snow on his pasture melts. His father began the records in 1949. e “snow o meadow” date varies, as do the snowpack and temperatures, but has arrived on average one day earlier every ve years.

Will this epic snowpack end the drought, ll Lake Powell, and cause Colorado River states to get chummy instead of testy?

It’s still early March. Much uncertainty remains. e Upper

LINDA SHAPLEY Publisher lshapley@coloradocommunitymedia.com

Colorado Basin River Forecasting Center report on March 1 projected runo for the Yampa and White rivers at 120% to 170% of average as de ned by runo totals during the last three decades.

Will the weather stay cold and snowy or, as has happened in some recent years, will turn warm and dry in April, May and June? In 2020, for example, a mid-March snowpack of 108% snow-water equivalent yielded runo of 79% of average. On the Colorado River altogether, an average snowpack that year yielded runo 52% of average.

How much melted snow will the thirsty soils sop up? Last year’s summer rains restored the soil moisture somewhat in northwestern Colorado, but they remain subpar and thirsty. Runo will again underperform the snowpack.

It’s also useful to note that not all sub-basins in the Colorado River Basin have had the same plentitude as the Yampa. On the Green River, upstream of Flaming Gorge Reservoir, the runo is forecast to be only 84% of average.

As for Lake Powell, the runo from the Yampa can only help— but only so far. It was 21.8% full on Tuesday, March 7. One winter’s heavy snows will not re ll it, though. Colorado State University climate researcher Brad Udall told KUNC’s Alex Hager in January that it will take ve or six winters of 150% snowpack to re ll Powell and Lake Mead.

Filling Flaming Gorge and other upper-basin reservoirs drawn down to keep Powell levels high

LINDSAY NICOLETTI Operations/ Circulation Manager lnicoletti@coloradocommunitymedia.com

Park, Roemersberger Ball elds, Fred Valente Humanitarian Park, Vicky Bunsen Sculpture Garden, Briggs Greenhouse Center and McFall Park. Five of the 11 namings have occurred since 2021 by the current mayor and city council.

While it certainly is important for the public to have the opportunity to bring forward requests to name a city park or facility in honor of someone, ultimately the responsibility rests with the mayor and city council. ey can certainly initiate such a designation on their own. While I am not taking exception with any of the eleven previous designations, isn’t the system

SEE CHRISTOPHER, P13

Letters To The Editor

Pity that Westminster ignores residents

But yet the pity of it… e same year respondents answered the survey, the majority of City Council voted to revise the city’s 2040 Comprehensive Plan so as to reduce the amount of multi-unit housing to be built—that is to say, the amount of housing rst-time buyers or low-income renters could afford if they wanted to live in the same city they serve with their work.

Yes, it is a pity. A pity that, while some 72% of respondents to the 2022 Westminster community survey indicated they had voted in the municipal election the previous year, almost the same percentage thought that high housing costs here were a signi cant problem. Not, in fact, a pity in itself, but a pity if that 72% thought—quite reasonably—that their votes for City Council members would lead to alleviation of housing costs in Westminster.

A pity beyond all telling.

If, to function properly, a city requires the contributions of people of many socio-economic groups, from executives all the way to unskilled labor, then that city must be able to o er the potential of residing within it to all those levels of contributor, in order to call itself a complete, healthy and sustainable community. And yet a majority of City Council are reluctant to accept that to do this means allowing the building of habitations in city limits whose ownership or rental costs are commensurate with more restricted levels of income.

How ironic that the City’s own Economic Development group is on record as stating that the existence of a ordable housing in the community stabilizes the workforce, attracts businesses, revitalizes neighborhoods and reinforces smart growth patterns. In short, we cannot expect people to provide essential services to a city in which they cannot expect to live.

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

Email letters to staylor@coloradocommunitymedia.com missing some obvious honorees?

Deadline Wed. for the following week’s paper.

Let’s not forget distinguished people who have come and gone before us.

Let me prime the pump with these names - former councilmember and mayor Jerry O’Shea, former councilmember, mayor and state representative Vi June, former councilmember and mayor Nancy Heil and newspaper owner and businessman Wilbur Flachman.

I can provide background and justi cation on all of these if anyone is interested including councilmembers who would not have known some of these respected community leaders.

Debt ceiling clock is ticking

With the unveiling of President Biden’s $6.8 trillion budget proposal last week, it sends a signal that he has no intention of “playing ball” with Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy and House Republicans.

As you know, they had made it clear that they would hold raising the debt ceiling hostage if the President would not work with them in signi cant federal budget cuts. Well, I think Biden laid down the gauntlet with his generous budget. e magic date when the federal government could default on its debt is coming soon in June. Biden needs to come up with a way to gain the cooperation of House Republicans and avoid a crisis early this summer.

I know it is a poker game and everyone is waiting to see who blinks rst. However, that is not how to run a government.

Come on Joe and get real: As a country already swimming in debt, we don’t need to exacerbate the problem with raising the budget for next year. You and the Democrats need to pull back and get realistic.

Interim Police Chief Norm Haubert gets the nod e Meet and Greet was a small part of a comprehensive set of exercises, activities and interview over three days. If the candidates weren’t mentally tired at the end of the process, I would be surprised.

I wish more residents would have attended the Meet and Greet for the ve Police Chief nalists. It was very well done and engaged the public while we learned about each one. I won’t take the space or your time to list the ve as you can still nd that information.

Kudos to City Manager Mark Freitag, his sta and the professional consultant who put together a well thought out process and worthy candidates.

Freitag has announced his appointment of Interim Police Norm Haubert as the permanent appointee. Now sta can get on with the recruitment and selection of other key positions. e Director of Public Works & Utilities, Planning Manager and several other positions which currently are managing and administering in “Interim” designations need permanent appointments.

Proposed legislation would defer to cities on rent control and safe-use sites for drug addicts

I want to draw attention to two of many liberal legislative proposals are winding their way through the State Legislature: With Democrats in “Super-Power Mode” and an o -election year, they are hell-bent to liberalize Colorado.

California and Colorado are blurring more and more as the shade of blue gets brighter here. Two bills which especially caught my attention would defer to municipalities on whether to impose rent controls in their respective communities as well as establishing safe-use sites for drug addicts.

While rent controls would provide some relief especially to lower income families and individuals, it would have a strong negative impact on more apartments being built.

On the concept of establishing safe-use sites to assist drug addicts with places to take drugs until they are ready to seek treatment, it simply empowers drug addicts to break the law.

Plus, the impact around such designated locations would have a negative impact on those neighborhoods or businesses.

Why should city councils enable continued drug abuse? While on the one hand I favor the policy of local control over state mandates, I see this approach as very astute on state legislators to “pass the buck” to local city councils to take the heat. anks but no thanks!

Hyland Hills to recruit and hire nearly 1,000 youth for Water World jobs Hyland Hills Recreation District’s annual hiring of youth 14 years old and older is underway for jobs at Water World. ere is a plethora of di erent jobs at Colorado’s largest water park with new competitive hourly wages, end of summer bonus program, free season pass for the people hired with discounted passes for friends and family plus more. Close to 1,000 youth will nd summer jobs at the water amusement facility in Federal Heights. Interested young people should apply at waterworldcolorado.com.

Bill Christopher is a former Westminster city manager and RTD board member. His opinions are not necessarily those of Colorado Community Media. You can contact him at bcjayhawk68@gmail.com.

BESTenough to produce electricity need to be re lled. Peter was robbed to pay Paul. Now Peter’s pockets need replenishing. at will take time, too. is has not been drought, as conventionally understood. Udall and other climate researchers call it a “hot drought,” the result of rising temperatures caused by atmospheric pollution.

“We are not changing any of our