February 6, 2014
50 cents Jefferson County, Colorado | Volume 30, Issue 33 A publication of
wheatridgetranscript.com
Bill allowing later bar hours advances Measure would permit watering holes to stay open as late as 4:30 a.m. By Vic Vela
vvela@ coloradocommunitymedia.com
BRONCOS CHEERS
Top, Wheat Ridge 5-8 middle school staffers shouted greetings and Bronco cheers from the roof of the school Friday morning. Above left, Wheat Ridge 5-8 middle school Assistant Principal Angelique Acevedo-Barron, nicknamed “Doc,” greeted students at the drop-off area while other staffers shouted Bronco chants from the roof. She directed three boys who said they felt like going home to turn around and go back into the school. “They are going to stay here and learn,” she quipped. Above right, Moserrat Garcia, left, an eighth-grader at Wheat Ridge 5-8 middle school, chats with other students and Acevedo-Barron, second from right, after noticing school staffers on the roof shouting Bronco cheers on Friday morning. Photos by Mikkel Kelly
City Council passes on bike lanes for 38th Avenue By Hugh Johnson The 38th Avenue corridor will not feature bike lanes for now. Wheat Ridge City Council opted against the inclusion of the lanes at the Jan. 27 study session. The discussion came in response to a council request from a previous study session. City staff presented council with three options at the session: continue with the current plan which doesn’t feature bike lanes; reduce the six-foot amenity zone, which is where the city would place street trees, to accommodate six-foot bike lanes; or reduce the eight-foot sidewalk in order to include the bike lanes.
Jerry DiTullio, councilman District I, believes that including bike lanes is a good idea in part because one of Wheat Ridge’s top businesses is all about biking. According to DiTullio, Wheat Ridge Cyclery is one of the highest sales tax generators in the city. DiTullio suggested reducing the bike lanes to four feet in order to make more room for the amenity zones. However, staff did announce that the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials recommended a minimum width of six feet. Those opposed to the bike lanes were not against the idea of cycling but to the
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idea of 38th Avenue being a destination and not a thoroughfare, a place to slow down not cruise through. Rachel Hultin, the transition coordinator for LiveWell Wheat Ridge, is in favor of the city placing signage on trails to direct cyclists to 38th Avenue. She said that adding bike lanes would only take away from the draw of the street. “It (38th) is a constricted space and if we are looking at putting bike lanes in the street itself, we’re really taking a look at compromising some of the other features that have been prioritized by our community,” Hultin said. Hultin is referring to a series of public workshops in which city staff asked Wheat Ridge residents what was most important to them among bike lanes, on-street parking and sidewalks and amenity zones. The amenity zones were the highest priority followed by on-street parking and then bike lanes. Business owner Jerry Nealon echoed Hultin’s statements saying that 38th could “be biker-friendly without being biker-specific.” Council reached a 6-2 consensus in favor of keeping with the original plan.
A legislative committee said “cheers” to a bill that would allow bars to stay open later, despite concerns that the measure could lead to more drunks being on the streets in the early morning hours. House Bill 1132 would allow cities and counties to determine for themselves whether to allow bars to stay open until 4:30 a.m — two and a half hours past the current statewide bar cutoff time of 2 a.m. Rep. Crisanta Duran, D-Denver, the bill sponsor, pointed to violent crime that occurs in downtown Denver at bar closing time, as motivation behind her bill. Duran said that when all bars close at the same time, “drunks spill into LoDo streets.” She said that by allowing bars to stay open later, patrons will leave at 2, 3 or 4 in the morning, instead of the mass exodus that happens Report now. “This has been an issue that has been ongoing in the City of Denver for a long time,” Duran told the House Local Committee. Duran’s original drafting of the bill would have allowed bars to stay open until 7 a.m. However, the bill was amended to a 4:30 cutoff at the start of the hearing. Business groups and the Colorado Restaurant Association backed the bill after Duran filed an amendment that allowed local governments to let bars stay open later, but would not give cities and counties permission to reduce bar business hours. Duran and legislation supporters said that the 2 o’clock bar closings put a strain on police who are doing their best to patrol downtown areas. Allowing bars to stay open later could help police with crowd control, supporters said. LoDo business owner Paula Grey said that the “2 a.m. dump of thousands of people” into downtown streets needs to come to an end. “This bill is addressing public safety,” she said. Not everyone agrees. Fran Lanzer, of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said the bill could increase the number of drunks getting behind the wheel, through all hours of the night. Hannah Kenny, of Centennial, also worried about the possible dangers associated with people being able to party into the early morning hours. “That’s just terrifying to me,” she said. “I just don’t see the sense from the safety perspective why they should be open later.” The committee voted 12-1 to move the bill to a full vote in the House. The lone dissent came from Rep. Tim Dore, R-Elizabeth, who worried about people leaving bars after they close in one town, and then driving across city lines to bar hop at other watering holes that stay open later. Dore also wondered why the bill was being taken up at the Legislature, when this seems to be a problem unique to Denver. “We’ve been asked here to act as the Denver City Council,” Dore said.
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