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Republican candidates dominate fundraising in Aurora City Council race
The first campaign finance reports of the 2025 Aurora City Council election cycle were filed last week, and at-large Councilmember Danielle Jurinsky emerged as the fundraising leader.
Fellow Republican and incumbent candidates were top fundraising reporters during this initial reporting cycle from Jan. 1 2025 through early last week.
In Aurora, at-large campaign donations from a single contributor are capped at $1,150, while single ward candidate donations are capped at $450.
Jurinsky reported the most amounts in all categories of fundraising.
In-kind contributions typically mean that someone provided services, not cash, for the candidate, which can include food, venues and other gifts.
At-large candidates
Danielle Jurinsky
Total contributions for the first reporting period came to $180,118, and in-kind contributions reached $900.00. Running for her second term, Jurinsky began her filing from the last election with $3,662.
Jurinsky, a Republican, received 107 contributions for the maximum amount of $1,150.
Her largest contribution was from Westside Investment Partners, a real estate development investment firm. The firm has active projects across the Front Range with seven in Aurora, including Aurora Crossroads and Green Valley Ranch. Andy Klein, Westside owner and founder, his wife and three children, all contributed the capped $1,150 donation. The addresses they filed under were in Denver, Englewood, Centennial, Greenwood Village and Highlands Ranch.
Total contributions from Westside
Investment, with each family member’s contributions, came to $10,350.
It is not unusual in state and local campaigns, among Republicans and Democrats, for large contributors to get around campaign donation caps by having family members or multiple, linked businesses make donations.
Brannan Sand and Gravel also had eight employees contribute to Jurinsky’s campaign, equalling $9,200.
Other groups or companies that had at least four employees contribute to Jurinsky’s campaign include HEI Civil, a construction contractor for large-scale complex infrastructure; Bison Oil and Gas, Denver based upstream oil and gas exploration; Westwood Professional Services, a solar energy company; Alberta Development Partners LLC; and 76 Group, including previous city council member Dustin Zvonek. The 76 Group is a Republican lobbying and political consulting company.
These five businesses alone contributed $23,000 to Jurinsky’s campaign. She also had seven CEOs and two COOs, with two CEOs included above through HEI Civil and Bison Oil and Gas.
Jurinsky received $27,170 from Aurora donors, $51,540 from Denver donors and $8,670 from Englewood donors. The rest of her contributions came from many cities and towns across the Front Range, along with a few out-of-state contributions, including Arizona, Texas and Florida.
Total expenditures reported so far have been $38,540.
The top five expenditures paid for so far include Porchlink Media, for advertising, $13,800, Reputation Defender $5,000, Anedot, a fundraising site, $4,600, Ringside Consulting LLC $3,500, and 4Imprint Inc.
$3,459, for contributor swag.
She also received contributions from fellow council members Françoise Bergan, Steve Sundberg, Amsalu Kassaw, Stephanie Hancock and Curtis Gardener.
Amsalu Kassaw
Total contributions reported so far have been $44,978.58
Kassaw, a Republican at-large incumbent city council member, received 17 contributions for the capped amount of $1,150.
His more notable $1,150 contributions came from James and Jill Spehalski. James is the owner of Marathon Land Company. Other top contributors include Mayor Mike Coffman, and Bruce and Nancy Benson. Bruce was previous president of the University of Colorado, former chairperson of the Colorado Republican Party and a former candidate for governor . Bruce and Nancy divorced in the 1990s; he is currently married to Marcy Benson.
Many of his contributions came from fellow Aurora Ethiopian immigrants, with whom he has strong ties to the large community.
Other notable contributions came from Jim Johnson, the chairperson and CEO of GE Johnson Holdings, Inc., Mel Tewahade, a financial planner for Infinity Wealth Management and Joy Hoffman from the Arapahoe County Republicans.
Kassaw received $20,363 of his current contributions from residents in Aurora, as well as money from Denver and other surrounding cities on the Front Range.
Total expenditures reported so far have been $5,723.
The top five expenditures are for Ringside Consulting $3,734, Anedot $1,026, Express Graphics $400.00, Gursha Ethiopian Restaurant, $274 and Horizon Repographics, $234.
Kassaw received $20,365 from Aurora and $11,164 from Denver. The majority of the rest of his contributions came from the cities that surround Aurora.
He also received contributions from fellow council members Jurinsky, Coffman, Stephanie Hancock and Sundberg.
Robert Andrews
Total contributions reported were $19,605, and in-kind contributions came to $1,202.
Andrews contributed $10,175 to his own at-large campaign, according to city campaign records.
Andrews, a Democrat, ran for mayor in the last city council election, but he stepped down to “not split the vote” with fellow Democrat Juan Marcano, local Democratic Party officials said. Marcano lost the election to Mayor Mike Coffman. Andrews is running for Aurora City Council At-Large in this election.
Andrews has mostly received small donations. His largest two contributions are from Eric Nelson, a former Aurora Public Schools board member, for $1,126, Aziz Rahman for $1,000, and $806 from Genevie Williams.
He also received contributions from Democratic Adams County Commissioner Lynn Baca for $100, Former Democratic Arapahoe County Commissioner Nancy Jackson for $200, former Democratic State House Rep. Karen Middleton for $100 and Democratic 18th Judicial District Attorney Amy Padden for $100.
Contributions include $15,190 from Aurora donors, $3,965 from Denver donors and the rest of his contributions have been from various locations across the state.
Andrews’ total expenditures so far have been $1,103, with the top five services being Corazon Printing $317, Sam’s Club $300, Phoneburner $165, ACTBLUE, a fundraising platform, $141 and KeyBank $8.
Alli Jackson
Jackson, a Democrat, is running for Aurora City Council at-large.
Jackson’s reported contributions came to $1,410.00, and in-kind contributions came to $750.00; she donated $100 to her own contribution.
Top and most notable contributors include Rhye Mirch, UX Designer, for $750 and Nadine Bridges for $250.
Bridges is the executive director of One Colorado.
Contributions include $820 from Aurora donors, $1,185 from Denver donors and a few from other Colorado cities and New Hampshire.
Total expenditures so far have been $285.18, with top expenditures being Alli Jackson for Aurora City Council for $265, and ActBlue for $19.68.
Ward I candidates
Rev. Reid Hettich
Hettich, an unaffiliated candidate and Aurora pastor, is running for Aurora City Council Ward I.
Total Contributions $16,552 and in-kind contributions $1,950.00; $10,658 was left over from a previous mayoral election.
Hettich’s notable contributions include Tina Sorensen, a marketing consultant for $1,210, and Aurora Planning Commissioner Becky Hogan, the wife of former Republican Mayor Steve Hogan and now a managing member of Edge Consulting $450.
Amy Wiles, candidate from Ward II, contributed $50.
Contributions include $14,072 from Aurora donors, $220 from Denver donors and $1,210 from Parker donors.
Total Expenditures so far have been $11,952, with the top payees being Reid Hettich, Reid4Aurora, $11,327.70, which includes $1,250 for campaign consultants and Julie Speer, Julie Speer Productions for $625.00.
Stephan Elkins
Elkins, an unaffiliated candidate, is running for Aurora City Council Ward I.
His total contributions reported were for $2,830.00 and in-kind contributions were for $496.58; He donated $877 to his own campaign.
Elkins’ largest and most notable contributions include Janice Tilden, technical director, Board of Adjust-
Danielle Jurinsky Sentinel File Photo
BY CASSANDRA BALLARD, Sentinel Staff Writer
ment for the City and County of Denver, $450, Jerry Jurinsky $225, father of Aurora Councilmember Danielle Jurinsky, and John Fabbricatore $150, former senior executive service and former field office director for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He also ran as a Republican for US House of Representatives in CD6 against Congressperson Jason Crow in 2024.
Contributions include $2,246 from Aurora donors, $580 from Denver donors, and other donors in Longmont, Virginia and California.
Other notable contributions came from current city council members and candidates Danielle Jurinsky $200, Steve Sundberg $225, Stephanie Hancock $100, Amsalu Kassaw $200 and Marsha Berzins $100.
Total expenditures reported so far have been $62.60, with payee Anedot, a donation website, $51.70.
Gianina Horton
Horton, a Democrat, is running for Aurora City Council Ward I.
Total Contributions $4,861.00 and In-Kind contributions $184.00.
Horton’s top and most notable contributors include Kevin Amirehsani, Senior Policy Advisor on Tax Policy at Colorado Governor’s Office, for $450; Melanie Grant, a retiree that was Horton’s mentor in high school, for $450; Gertrude Grant $250, launched Denver Digs Trees program; Doris Burd, Denver County Court Judge; and Andrew Fish, Policy Analyst at Colorado Senate Democrats.
Another notable contributor is Alli Jackson, her fellow candidate in the atLarge race, who donated $50.
Contributions include $559 from Aurora donors, $2,841 from Denver donors and other contributions came from donors in other Colorado cities and a few states like Washington and Illinois.
Total Expenditures so far have been $1,638, with the top five payees including Pat Lombardi, graphic and web designer, $760; MinuteMan Press, printing, $300, VoteBuilder, campaign technology, $254.89, ActBlue, Democratic fundraising platform, $157 and Andrew Fish.
Leandra Steed
Steed, a Democrat, is running for Aurora City Council Ward I.
Total contributions reported totaled $2,935.
Top and most notable contributors include Joyce Brooks for $450, Anette Bowser for $400, Rosemarie Allen for $200, Hailey McMoore for $100 and Omar Montgomery, president of Aurora NAACP, for $50.
Alli Jackson also contributed $50. Contributions include $925 from Aurora, $975 from Denver and other contributions came from other Colorado Cities and a few out of state cities.
Total Expenditures so far have been $42.58, paid to Lea4Ward1.
Ward II candidates
Steve Sundberg
Sundberg, a Republican incumbent city council member in Ward II, received 54 contributions for the capped amount of $450.
Total contributions reported totalled $33,610.00, and he began his filing from the last election with $4,829. He only had one company that had more than three employees contribute to his campaign. Advantage Security
had six employees contribute to Sundberg, totaling $2,700.
Some notable contributions Sundberg received came from Jake Zambrano and Dustin Zvonek with the 76 Group, and Jake’s wife, Alyssa, who works for The Common Sense Institute, a right-leaning think tank. They all gave the maximum donation allowed.
Other notable contributions from local philanthropists include Republican Rick and Linda Enstrom owner of Enstrom Chocolates, Bruce and Marcy Benson (his current wife) and Ralph and Trish Nagel.
Sundberg received $11,855 from Aurora donors, $8,005 came from donors based in cities that neighbor Aurora.
Total Expenditures reported were $6,587 with the top five payees being Ringside Consulting for $2,000, Anthem Communication for $2,000, Vista Print for $626, Hillary More Photography for $550 and T-shirt Designer for $525.
He also received contributions from fellow council members Jurinsky, Kassaw, Hancock, Gardener, Bergan and Coffman.
Amy Wiles
Wiles, a Democrat, is running for Ward II Aurora city council.
Total cash contributions reported were for $2,655.00 and in-kind contributions of $63.00
Top and Notable contributors include Jacqueline Crockett for $450.00, Ann Hammell for $450, Maty Ross for $250 and Paul Henrion for $200 and Aurora Pastor Thomas Mayes for $50.
Total expenditures so far have been $80 with the top payees being Paypal for $72 and Act Blue for $8.
Ward III candidates
Rueben Medina
Medina, is a Democrat, incumbent city council member for Ward III, and all contributions reported came from the Committee to Elect Ruben Medina.
Contributions so far have been InKind for $300.
Marsha Berzins
Berzins, is a Republican and a former city council member, currently running for Ward II Aurora City Council.
Contributions reported so far come to $12,073.93, with $6,116 from a previous run for Aurora City Council. She also contributed $3,000 to her own campaign.
Top and most notable contributions include Vic, Sharon, Ryan and Rachel Evans for $450 each. Vic Evans is a principle for Advantage Security. Donations included James Spehalski, of Marathon Land Company for $450, and local housing developers Carla Ferreira for $450, Michael Sheldon $450 and Peter Mueller for $450.
Contributions include $6,676 from Aurora donors, $365 from Denver donors and she received the majority of her remaining contributions from cities that surround Aurora.
Total expenditures reported so far have been $1,880, with the top five payees being 303 Creative for $600, DTC Print Brokers for $566, Tin Cup Cafe for $256, 303 Creative $163 and Anedot for $150.
She also received contributions from city council members: $100 from Bergan, $200 from Coffman, Gardener $100, Hancock $104, Jurinsky $200, Amsalu $52 and Stephen Elkins $100.
ARAPAHOE COUNTY
versary of the end of World War II with a day of remembrance and history. The free event the memorial site will feature a range of activities including a pancake breakfast, military displays, and a formal remembrance ceremony.
scene & herd
Aurora Reservoir hosting sweet spring nights with ‘S’mores on the Shore’ Families and friends can kick off summer weather with music, sand, and treats as S’mores on the Shore returns to the Aurora Reservoir
The event invites guests to relax on the beach with their own personal fire pit, complete with s’mores supplies and beach chairs for up to six people. Two evening sessions will be offered — from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Each time slot available costs $15 per fire pit. Guests seeking an extended stay can book both sessions for a full three-hour experience. Alongside s’mores, attendees can enjoy music and beach-side vibes while taking in sunset views along the reservoir’s shoreline.
Registered guests should follow signs to the upper parking lot near the swim beach. Entry to the reservoir will be free for participants on the event day.
IF YOU GO
Where: Aurora Reservoir, 5800 S. Powhaton Road
When: May 16, either 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. or 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. or both.
Details and tickets: World War II commemoration anniversary with Colorado Remembers
The Colorado Freedom Memorial in Aurora will host its annual Colorado Remembers event marking the anni-
From 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., visitors can enjoy a “free-will donation” pancake breakfast, accompanied by live music from the All-American Big Band. Proceeds benefit the Colorado Freedom Memorial Foundation.
A remembrance ceremony is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., followed by tours of the memorial and a static display of military vehicles and artifacts from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Highlights include the Honor Bell and a steel beam from the USS Arizona, as well as a curated collection of military artifacts.
World War II veterans are especially encouraged to attend and will be honored during the event. Organizers are asking veterans or their families to contact the memorial for more information on how to participate in the recognition.
IF YOU GO
Where: Colorado Freedom Memorial, 756 Telluride St.
When: May 24 8 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Details: ColoradoFreedomMemorial.com
Blues Heritage
at
Smoky Hill Library
Music lovers are invited to explore the deep roots of American music during a special presentation hosted by the Colorado Blues Society.
The free event, “Discover the Roots of American Music” will offer live blues performance from a professional musician and gain insight from a blues expert on how the genre helped shape the sound of American music throughout the 20th Century.
The presentation will trace the influence of blues on legendary artists such as Elvis Presley, Duke Ellington, B.B. King, Miles Davis, Frank Sinatra, and the Allman Brothers Band.
IF YOU GO:
Where: Smoky Hill Library, 5430 S. Biscay Circle When: 2 p.m. May 21
Details and tickets: https://buff. ly/tFCGc1R or 303-542-7279
Roll with it: ‘Ride the Cyclone’
A thrilling blend of dark comedy and catchy tunes arrives in Aurora with the regional premiere of ‘Ride the Cyclone,’ a musical that promises to entertain and provoke. The production takes the stage at the Nickelson Auditorium at the Vintage, under the direction of Jennifer Schmitz.
Written by Jacob Richmond and Brooke Maxwell, ‘Cyclone’ follows six Canadian teens whose lives are tragically cut short in a bizarre roller coaster accident. But death is only the beginning. In a surreal twist, the teens awaken in limbo, where a mechanical fortune teller offers each a once-in-alifetime — or afterlifetime — opportunity: Tell their story for a chance to come back to life.
With a script praised for its wit and emotional depth, and music that spans a variety of genres, the musical has become a cult favorite in the U.S. and Canada. NOTE: Ride the Cyclone contains mature themes and language. Even though these characters are in high school, this “mischievous musical” is intended for mature audiences.
IF YOU GO
Where: Nickelson Auditorium at the Vintage Theatre, 1468 Dayton St.
When: Through June 8.
Curtains vary.
Tickets: $20-$39
Details and sales: www.vintagetheatre.org/ or 303 856-7830
Prairie Pup Adventures offers Preschool Fun at Plains Conservation Center
Preschoolers can explore nature, science and history through hands-on activities at Prairie Pup Adventures, held at the Plains Conservation Center in southeast Aurora. Programs run from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. and are designed for children ages 3–6 with a caregiver.
Upcoming topics include:
• Cheyenne Native Americans on May 27: Venture to the tipis to learn about the Cheyenne tribe and how they lived for centuries off the natural resources of the prairie. Examine ar-
tifacts, listen to Native American stories, play traditional games and taste dried berries and bison jerky to explore the amazing culture and history of the Cheyenne people.
• Campfire Safety on June 10: Learn about the science of fire, how to build a safe campfire and how to cook on one. We will work together to assemble the layers of a successful campfire and make edible campfire snacks to munch on while we watch the fire burn, then we’ll roast smores and learn how to prevent wild fires.
•Flower Power on June 24: Flowers are beautiful and serve an important role for the plants they grow on. Join us on the prairie to learn all about flowers from their parts to their pollinators through science and art. Activities at all events include crafts, games, story time, and outdoor exploration.
IF YOU GO
Tickets: The fee is $8 per child; one adult per child is free. Additional adults and non-participating siblings over age 6 are $5. Infants under 18 months attend free.
Details: botanicgardens.org
Venue: Plains Conservation Center 21901 E. Hampden Ave
‘First Date’
Coal Creek Theater of Louisville will present “First Date,” the Broadway musical comedy beginning this week.
Directed by Heather Frost, “First Date” features a book by Austin Winsberg and music and lyrics by Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner. The story follows blind-date newbie Aaron and serial-dater Casey as a casual drink at a busy New York restaurant spirals into a lively, high-stakes dinner. Their inner critics come alive, with fellow restaurant patrons morphing into friends, exes and family members who sing and dance them through the evening’s emotional pitfalls.
Described by The Hollywood Reporter as “a winning crowd-pleaser delivered with comic verve and charm,” First Date has also been praised as “sassy, madcap fun” by the Associated Press.
IF YOU GO
Tickets: $33 - $35, with Opening Night on May 2 designated as a “Pay what you will” event, with a $10 minimum.
Dates: Through May 17. Fridays, Saturdays at 7:30 p.m.
Details: www.cctlouisville.org or 303-665-0955
Venue: Louisville Center for the Arts, 801 Grant Ave.
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AURORA PROPOSES TAKING OVER NEGLECTED
COMMERCIAL PROPERTIES AMID SLUM APARTMENT FUROR
‘PEOPLE WILL JUST KEEP ON PAYING FINES, KEEP ON PAYING FINES, AND JUST GO THROUGH THE PROCESS, AND IT JUST SITS AND SPINS FOR US OVER AND OVER AND OVER’
BY CASSANDRA BALLARD, Sentinel Staff Writer
Amid local and national furor over three ramshackle Aurora apartments, city lawmakers are favoring a new law that would allow the city to step in and manage what they deem to be derelict buildings.
“We want people to come into compliance,” said Councilmember Stephanie Hancock, the bill’s sponsor. “We want to make sure that our neighbors, the people who live in these communities, the folks who surround these communities, are safe and secure.”
The proposal, allowing the city to intervene in the management of residential and commercial properties that create public safety hazards, comes amid Aurora doing just that at three northwest Aurora apartment complexes. Those apartments have been the center of a national controversy over allegations of immigrant gangs overrunning the buildings, a narrative created by building owners and some city officials. Aurora police and city staff have repeatedly denied the allegations, saying that the complexes have been the scene of a multitude of criminal acts, including some committed by immigrants, and possibly immigrant gangs.
The controversy brought to light the difficulty the city has in ensuring some commercial and residential properties don’t fall into conditions that created similar havoc well underway.
The proposed ordinance for neglected and derelict buildings or properties would give the city the power to seek court-appointed receivership for properties, including single-family, multi-family and businesses, that pose serious health and safety threats and have violated city health and safety codes for at least six consecutive months.
City lawmakers gave tentative approval to the measure at a May 5 study session.
“Using the Dallas Street example, it was, well, over two years of documented neglect and abuse from the property owner,” Councilmember Crystal Murillo said, referring to one of the properties linked to the immigrant gang controversy in northwest Aurora. “This property owner has had issues elsewhere. So I think it was pretty well documented that it was an issue with the landlord and a lack of care in taking care of it.”
Murillo was referring to the Edge at Lowry, which had years of neglect and mismanagement before the property started to attract crime and became the notorious location for the viral video of men forcing their way into an apart-
ment that started a national conversation about Venezuelan gangs in Aurora.
The controversy eventually drew then-candidate Donald Trump for an Aurora campaign rally, highlighting conditions at the Edge. The president falsely claimed the building, and parts of the city, were overrun by the notorious Venezuelan prison gang, Tren de Aragua.
The city was unable to do anything to close the building for months after controversy erupted, even after the owners and property managers abandoned the building amid claims gang members had taken over the building and forced the owners out.
The receiver, who would be appointed by a judge under the proposal, would be authorized to manage the property and carry out critical repairs. The costs that would then be recovered through liens placed against the property. That’s the process the city is using now amid The Edge complex and two other similar buildings.
“What we’re looking for is compliance,” said John Wesolowski, Deputy Director of Housing and Community Services. “Upon achieving compliance with city codes, the city will petition the district court to release the property from receivership and restore responsibility back to the order.”
City officials said they are aware of an increasing number of commercial and multi-family properties where owners repeatedly ignore citations and refuse to address life-safety issues.
“People will just keep on paying fines, keep on paying fines, and just go through the process, and it just sits and spins for us over and over and over,” Wesolowski said.
Mayor Mike Coffman and the city staff pointed to a fire-damaged retail building that has sat vacant and without electricity for years, despite ongoing complaints, fines and code enforcement actions. Wesolowski said the owners live out of the country, they are hard to get a hold of and “they don’t care.”
Coffman has referred publicly to CBZ, owners of the Edge and two other northwest Aurora apartment complexes at the center of the national controversy, as “slumlords.”
Other properties across the city have been left boarded up, attracting vandalism, break-ins and becoming neighborhood eyesores, city officials said.
Some city lawmakers said they were concerned city officials could abuse the new powers, harassing commercial property owners.
The ordinance
TARGET FOR A LAW: This building, north of East Colfax Avenue at Joliet Street, as used as an example of why a proposed law is needed that would allow the city to take over buildings like this to ensure they are safe and usable. CITY OF AURORA
would only be used in rare, extreme situations, likely affecting fewer than five properties annually, only after property owners have been given ample opportunity to fix the issues themselves, according to City Attorney Pete Schulte. Before petitioning the court, the city would require a detailed remediation plan from the owner and allow them time to bring the property into compliance.
“We’re trying to do something in the middle between a criminal nuisance and nothing,” Schulte said.
Provisions of the proposed ordinance include written notice of persistent code violations, a mandatory opportunity for property owners to submit a compliance plan, court intervention if violations persist for six months, the appointment of a receiver to oversee repairs and costs secured as liens and recovered through county assessments.
If owners fail to pay for repairs made by the court-appointed receiver, the city will be able to collect those costs through special assessments, ensuring taxpayers are not left footing the bill.
Some council members remained skeptical.
“My concern is that this will be weaponized against certain properties and not other properties, and selectively enforced,” Councilmember Curtis Gardner said. “We have to be cautious and ensure that this isn’t used selectively.”
Councilmember Danielle Jurinsky reiterated those concerns, saying that she felt the city was unfair to the landlords at the Edge at Lowry because the police were not responding to police calls at the location, a repeated allegation that police have denied, providing records of calls for service.
Jurinsky has routinely promoted, on national Fox News programs and in local media, the unsubstantiated narrative that Venezuelan gangs were responsible for health and safety conditions at the three suspect apartment complexes. Aurora police and city staff have repeatedly denied the narrative, providing records of their response and showing critical problems at the apartments before immigrants began occupying apartment units.
Hancock and Schulte said they were open to adding safeguards and including exceptions for cases where criminal activity or other hardships may prevent an owner from maintaining their property.
The proposal was moved to a future council meeting, where it must pass two separate readings before it can be
AURORA CITY COUNCIL DROPS
RESTRICTING PUBLIC RECORDING, LIMITS SPEAKERS AT THE LECTERN
A group of supporters of Kilyn Lewis sits on the floor of the Paul Tauer Council Chamber and wanders into the well after disrupting the Aurora City Council’s June 24, 2024, meeting and forcing the group to take a recess.
/ Sentinel Colorado
BY CASSANDRA BALLARD, Sentinel Staff Writer
Aurora city council members on May 5 backed off of a proposal to restrict how the public could photograph city council meetings, and lawmakers instead limited how many people can speak simultaneously near the council.
The resolution was the latest salvo in the ongoing battle between lawmakers and family members and supporters of Kilyn Lewis, a man fatally shot by police last year. This time, lawmakers agree to restrict the number of people who can stand at the lectern on the council floor at the same time .
The resolution passed with Councilmembers Crystal Murillo, Alison Coombs, Ruben Medina and Angela Lawson opposed. The change will limit speakers to one person at a time at the lectern in the “council well” unless they have a child or a physical disability and need assistance.
“If you ever come to one of my meetings, you’ll see I have no podium, purposely, from day one, because of the power dynamics. Everything I do is in a circle of chairs, so we are all equal,” Medina said, referring to his city council town meetings. “I allow people, whether they agree or disagree with me, to speak their mind, speak their truth, because again, it’s about us working collectively together to solve problems.”
The city council has struggled with protesters linked to the death of Lewis for almost a year.
Lewis was fatally shot May 23, 2024, by an Aurora SWAT officer during Lewis’ arrest at an Aurora apartment complex. The arrest was linked to attempted murder charges in Denver. Arapahoe County prosecutors said SWAT Officer Michael Dieck did not break any laws during the shooting. Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain said internal investigations revealed Chamberlain did not break any police policies during the shooting. As police were yelling at Lewis to surrender during the parking-lot confrontation, Dieck fired at Lewis as he was raising his arms and hands. Lewis
was holding a cell phone in his hand, and Dieck told investigators he thought it was a gun.
Since then, friends, family members and activists have protested during, before and after Aurora city council meetings, sometimes shutting them down and spending hours speaking to or in front of the city council.
City lawmakers have increasingly restricted how the public addresses the city council without specifically targeting the Lewis coalition of about a dozen regular participants.
The resolution on May 5 initially had a section prohibiting cameras or any other recording device in the “well” of the council chambers and obstructing views in the audience with tripods live-streaming during the “public invited to be heard” session before the council meeting. It would have also restricted the media from photographing in the area, but Councilmember Francoise Bergan, the measure’s sponsor, decided to delete that section.
“It was a bit confusing as the intention was not to preclude a speaker from videotaping or taking a photo,” she said in an email to the Sentinel before the meeting.
City Attorney Pete Schulte described the “well” of the chamber as the floor space between the front row of the auditorium seating and the dais where city council members sit.
The part of the proposal that passed will allow only one person at a time at the lectern on the council floor when the public is addressing the council at the dais.
Last month, MiDian Schofner, one of the regular Lewis protesters, invited people to stand with her at the lectern. The group stood together in the “well” throughout the public listening session. The group has similarly moved onto the council floor numerous times over the past 10 months.
In addition, the new measure will no longer require city lawmakers to give a 24-hour notice when attending meetings virtually.
In the most recent meeting, more than half of city councilmembers attended the “public invited to be heard,” and the city council meeting virtually from the same building. The Sentinel requested a list of the city council members who failed to give the required 24-hour notice at the last meeting that they would attend virtually, and not in person. Councilmembers Danielle Jurinsky and Steve Sundberg did not give the notice required by current city council rules.
Although Councilmember Alison Coombs said the rule was not strict, and it is common for council members not to give a formal notice.
Under those new rules, council members are not obligated to be on the dais for the public comment portion of the meeting. The rules, however, require a 24-hour notice if they intend to attend the rest of the city council meeting virtually.
At the meeting on May 5, most city council members were missing from the dais, again, with less than half of them there in person. Councilmembers Curtis Gardner and Crystal Murillo attended virtually all day, including the study session, while Councilmembers Jurinsky, Bergan, Stephanie Hancock and Sundberg all attended the meeting virtually from another room at city hall.
Sundberg attended the “public invited to be heard” but left the dais for the meeting. Councilmember Amsalu Kassaw attended the meeting, but was virtual for the “public invited to be heard.”
More city 2025 city council candidates were in the audience than on the dais during the meeting. As many as 18 people have indicated they will run for a city council seat this fall during the city’s municipal election.
“If you are not required to show up to hear the public speak, then what is the role of the city council?” City Council candidate Alli Jackson told lawmakers during the public comment period for the resolution.
Photo by Max Levy
ABOVE: Players and coaches from the Eaglecrest boys volleyball team pose with the Class 5A state championship trophy and banner afer a 1925, 25-23, 25-19, 27-25 win over Littleton Public Schools May 10 at Trojan Arena. BELOW, TOP: Eaglecrest senior Jackson Shaw, left, celebrates a late point with teammates. BELOW, MIDDLE: Eaglecrest senior Matthew Dye takes his turn holding up the Class 5A boys volleyball state championship trophy. BELOW, BOTTOM: Ashton Bond, center drapes the 5A state championship banner of senior Jackson Shaw. PHOTOS BY COURTNEY OAKES/AURORA SENTINEL
The thrill of winning the Class 5A state championship was followed by a little pain for Eaglecrest senior Jackson Shaw May 10.
The Raptors’ star outside hitter had crumpled to the floor in celebration after the winning point of his team’s 19-25, 25-23, 25-19, 27-25 victory over top-seeded Littleton Public Schools when he got hammered in the face.
BOYS VOLLEYBALL
Shaw was bleeding as he celebrated the program’s first state title, but he didn’t mind a single bit.
“I told them we didn’t have to be the best team the entire season, we only had to be the best team tonight,” said Chad Bond, who got a state title as a head coach to match the one his wife, Tanya, won with the undefeated Eaglecrest girls team in 2006.
“We were the best team tonight.”
The performance typified the very definition of team given what it took to get Eaglecrest to that that point.
The Raptors had a virtual revolving door at setter due to injury and turned to George — an outside hitter in club volleyball — to fill the gap.
Raptors rule
“I was about to cramp and I was overwhelmed with emotion and then I got punched. ..somebody punched me in the nose,” Shaw said with a smile after his team completed its 25-5 season. “But it’s OK, I couldn’t be any more happy.”
BY COURTNEY OAKES Sports Editor
To feel that rush of elation (plus the punch), Shaw and his teammates had to find a way to get past an LPS program (a combination of players from Arapahoe and Heritage high schools) that has come to be its nemesis.
The LPS team (which came into the match 26-1) had won five consecutive matches against the Raptors, including three this season, and one as recently as a few hours earlier in the championship semifinals (25-20, 25-22, 25-22) on the same court.
In the championship meeting, the Raptors fell behind by as many as 12 points in the opening set and dropped into a 1-0 hole — its ninth consecutive set loss to LPS dating back to April 1 — before coach Chad Bond’s team flipped the switch on momentum and took it from there.
Eaglecrest exhibited max energy on the defensive side — with big help from junior libero Max Chen, who racked up 17 digs — and finally slowed the diverse LPS attack (led by Bradley Wiggers, the Centennial League Player of the Year) that had been so successful all season.
“We work ourselves to the bone almost every practice, especially on defense,” junior Ashton Bond said. “It gets so competitive. To have that pay off like this is amazing.”
The rise of the defense then allowed the Raptors to assert themselves offensively.
Shaw was a big piece with a whopping 24 kills (plus 19 digs), as was Ashton Bond (who added seven plus 16 digs and three service aces) and a variety of others, who all took turns coming up in big moments to help Eaglecrest hold onto leads in the second and third sets and rally from a late deficit in the fourth.
With LPS within a point of sending the match to a deciding fifth set — which they had done back when the teams met April 1 and won in five — sophomore Will George tied it up with a successful tip shot, Shaw gave his team the lead with a big kill and a wide attack by Wiggers sealed the two-point victory.
George not only did that — finding ways to utilize weapons such as Shaw (who finished the season’s as the state’s leader in kills with a whopping 360), Bond and seniors Matthew Dye, Ethan Levakin and Austin Wells — he then was able to contribute as an effective part of the offense when junior Dillan Ancheta eased back into the lineup from injury to set.
“I came to the team with an open mindset,” said George, who added 14 kills to go with 19 assists in the championship match. “I had never set before until this year, but I picked it up and started setting on JV and then moved to varsitiy when our backup got hurt. It’s been so great to play with this team.”
Ancheta — who was part of the 2023 Eaglecrest team that finished as the state runner-up to Discovery Canyon — dished out 26 assists. Dye added six kills, Wells had four (including a monster finish that ended the second set) and Levakin contributed six blocks and three kills as the Raptors showed the true definition of cohesion on their way to the title.
“We win together, we lost together, we do everything together, so it amazing that we finally did this together,” Ancheta said. “To actually win this time is so much better.”
Eaglecrest had a long road to the championship on the final day that included another massive test against local rival Grandview in the consolation semifinals. The Raptors earned a 3-0 season sweep of the Wolves, but none were easy, especially the 25-22, 23-25, 25-23, 23-25, 15-10 victory with the state final berth at stake.
Grandview returned basically its entire lineup from last season’s team that got state tournament experience, so it was a tough out over the course of three days.
Coach Scott Nugent’s fifth-seeded Wolves came all the way back from an opening five-set loss to No. 4 Legacy on the first day with three consecutive wins in elimination matches (3-1 over No. 8 Niwot, 3-1 over No. 2 Mountain Vista — last season’s state champions — and 3-0 over Legacy in a rematch) to set up the matchup with Eaglecrest.
Sophomore hitters Connor Deickman and Alex Garcia were outstanding as they’d been all season, as were seniors Ethan Carroll and Nick Safray, while junior setter Devan Hall ran things well for Grandview, which forced a fifth set, but ceded the first four points in the race to 15 and couldn’t recover.
The Wolves finished 22-8.
GIRLS TENNIS
Gelfer, No. 3 doubles team place for Regis Jesuit at 5A state
With a lot of lineup shuffling, especially early, senior Rebecca Gelfer ended up in the No. 3 singles position for the long haul of the 2025 campaign.
She finished as the third-best performer in the largest classification, as she earned third place at the Class 5A girls tennis individual state tournament May 10 at the Denver Tennis Park.
Gelfer played five matches over the three days of the tournament and won four of them, capped by a 6-3, 6-3, victory over Rocky Mountain sophomore Ainsley Cunningham. That result led the way for coach Jen Armstrong’s Raiders, who also got a fourth-place finish at No. 3 doubles from senior Brooklyn Craven and sophomore Abigail Puschaver.
Gelfer played last season at No. 1 singles and started the season there again until freshman standout Madeline Dickey returned from injury and earned the top spot, while junior Otylia Martino secured the No. 2 spot after moving up from No. 3 last season. Once she got settled, Gelfer racked up 15 wins in 17 matches in the No. 3 spot and suffered just one loss at the individual state tournament (to Cherry Creek’s Zoe Hochstadt in the semifinals) on her way to claiming a medal.
Injuries and shuffling also played a role in doubles play for Regis Jesuit and Craven and Puschaver finally ended up together after playing a number of early tournaments with different partners. The duo lost just three times in the 17 matches they played together and that included one loss to the 5A runner-up team of Mataya Farling and Julia Campbell of Ralston Valley and two to the Valor Christian team of Reese Bieser and Bayley Bowers. Bieser and Bowers defeated the Regis Jesuit team 6-3, 6-1 in the third place match, which put the Raiders at 3-2 for the tournament.
Regis Jesuit had all three singles players and all four doubles qualify for individual state and five of them won at least one match. Dickey and Martino got playback chances after wins in the first round and losses in the quarterfinals when the opponents that dealt them their loss (eventual state champion Caroline Daugherty of Valor Christian in Dickey’s case and state runner-up Sanskriti Sinha of Rock Canyon in Martino’s) made it to the finals. Both also won a playback match, but lost in the consolation semifinals.
The No. 4 doubles team of freshman Rachel Osborn and senior Sophia Simoes won their first round match and lost in the quarterfinals with no playback chance, while the No. 1 dou-
bles team of senior Cait Carolan and junior Lily Beebe lost a three-set first round match and did not get a playback, same as the No. 2 doubles team of senior Molly Goodwin and junior Helen Adams.
Grandview’s state representation came from sophomore Ella Vail and junior Bethany Savacool and the duo got just one match, which they lost 6-1, 6-3 to Regis Jesuit’s Craven and Puschaver, whose subsequent loss kept the Wolves out of playbacks. The same fate befell the Cherokee Trail No. 3 doubles team of freshman Lillian Wilson and junior Aninkaely Madeje, who fell 6-0, 6-2 to Fossil Ridge’s Rhaya Rodgers and Sophie Williams, who subsequently lost next round.
GIRLS GOLF Cherokee Trail qualifies entire team to May 19-20
5A state tournament
The Cherokee Trail girls golf team did not earn one of the automatic qualifying spots out of the Class 5A Central Region tournament May 12 at City Park G.C., but will be intact for the state tournament.
Coach Justin Jajczyk’s Cougars finished fourth in the team standings, while senior Haylee Clark, junior Saruul Gantulga and sophomores Brinnon Cook and Kaylee Saul all made it to the May 19-20 5A state tournament at Todd Creek G.C. as individuals. Cherokee Trail was closely bunched as Clark shot a plus-10 82 to finish 10th, while Cook — the co-Centennial
League medalist —tied with Gantulga in 11th place. Saul grabbed the last individual spot with a 93. Grandview had two qualifiers out of the Western Region tournament at Indian Tree G.C. in juniors Jean Lim and Charly Ashworth. Lim earned her second state trip with a 92 that tied her for 16th individually, while Ashworth shot 95 to tie for 18th. Regis Jesuit also has a pair of 5A state qualifiers in senior Audrey Whitmore and junior Natalie Furgason, who made it through the Southern Region field at The Pinery to advance.Whitmore shot plus-8 80 to take sixth individually, while Furgason’s 89 tied her for 12th and earned her as state berth.
›› See PREPS, 20
LEFT: Regis Jesuit sophomore Abigail Puschaver makes a putaway at the net during a No. 3 doubles match at the Class 5A girls tennis individual state tournament on May 9 at the Denver Tennis Park. Puschaver and partner Brooklyn Craven went on to place fourth. TOP: Cherokee Trail senior Haylee Clark watches her tee shot flyl on Hole No. 2 at City Park G.C.
during the Class 5A Central Region girls golf tournament. Clark shot 82 to qualify for the 5A state tournament along with all three of her teammates. ABOVE: Shylin Collins (15) scored eight goals, but the Eaglecrest girls lacrosse team lost to Dakota Ridge 15-9 in a Class 4A 1st round playoff game May 6. (PHOTOS BY COURTNEY OAKES/AURORA SENTINEL)
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PREPS
Vista PEAK Prep took part in the Class 4A Region 3 tournament at Twin Peaks G.C. Results were unavailable at press time. Visit sentinelcolorado.com/preps for full scores and coverage of 5A & 4A girls golf regionals.
TRACK & FIELD
Local teams load up for May 1517 state meet at Jeffco Stadium
The largest spectacle of the spring — the multi-classification state meet — arrives at Jeffco Stadium May 15-17 with a slew of boys and girls qualifiers on hand from Aurora area programs.
Among the qualifiers is the Eaglecrest girls 4x100 meter relay team of Tatum Gratrix, Zenobia Witt, Jaylynn Wilson and Evangeline Ansah, which became the fastest relay team in Colorado history with its performance at the Centennial League Championship meet May 10. The Raptors clocked a time of 46.41 seconds to better the previous mark of 46.51 set in 2007 by George Washington.
The largest contingent comes from Cherokee Trail, which has 15 individuals — including multi-event winner from previous years, Peyton Sommers — in the boys competition in addition to all four relay teams, while four individuals and four relay teams from the program made it in girls. Relay powerhouse Eaglecrest has seven boys and girls individuals qualified and a combined. Grandview, Overland, Rangeview, Regis Jesuit, Smoky Hill and Vista PEAK Prep also will be represented.
For a full list of Aurora area qualifiers by school for the Class 5A and 2A state meets, visit sentinelcolorado.com/preps.
GIRLS LACROSSE
Regis Jesuit ousts Colorado Academy in overtime to make Class 5A state semifinals
The Regis Jesuit girls lacrosse team became the one to end Colorado Academy’s stranglehold on state championships, as the Raiders ended the Mustangs’ streak of nine straight state titles.
Junior Delaney Sitzmann scored with five seconds remaining in overtime as third-seeded Regis Jesuit stunned sixth-seeded Colorado Academy 11-10 May 9 at Lou Kellog Stadium to earn a spot in the semifinals.
eight May 10 and only Regis Jesuit remains in the championship chase among the three local qualifiers.
The eighth-seeded Raiders got a bye in the opening round, then played host to ninth-seeded Mountain Vista and came away with a 14-10 victory at Lou Kellogg Stadium. Seniors Rocco Biviano and William Wilson tallied three goals apiece, while junior Owen Hynes, sophomore Austin Ryan and freshman Will Cornell had two apiece in a balanced scoring effort for Regis Jesuit.
Coach Ross Moscatelli’s Raiders (11-5) earned a rematch against top-seeded and undefeated Cherry Creek in a May 14 quarterfinal. The winner of that moved along to the semifinals May 17 at Peter Barton Stadium at the University of Denver, where the May 19 state championship game will also be played at 7:30 p.m.
Eleventh-seeded Cherokee Trail made it through the opening round with a 15-9 home victory over No. 22 Erie, but the Cougars’ run came to an end with an 18-10 loss at No. 8 Denver East in the second round. Cherokee Trail finished 10-7.
Visit sentinelcolorado.com/preps for coverage of the boys lacrosse playoffs.
GIRLS SOCCER
Cherokee Trail, Grandview, Regis Jesuit fall in 5A 1st round
For more on all these stories, visit sentinelcolorado. com/preps
Senior Madisyn Jokerst and freshman Morgan Neir had three goals apiece for the Raiders, while freshman Anna Hodges added two and Sitzmann joined Kindy and Natalie Chilton with one in a spread out attack.
Coach Crysti Foote’s Regis Jesuit team (14-3) moved into a May 13 matchup with No. 2 ThunderRidge (14-2), which it lost to in the regular season finale, in a semifinal at Englewood High School. The other semifinal featured No. 4 Fairview against No. 1 Valor Christian.
Regis Jesuit — in the semifinals for the fourth time in the past six seasons — needs a win over a ThunderRidge team it lost to 9-8.
The winner moves into the 5A state championship game, which is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. May 16 at Peter Barton Stadium on the campus of the University of Denver.. Visit sentinelcolorado.com/preps for coverage of the 5A girls lacrosse playoffs.
BOYS LACROSSE
Regis Jesuit remains alive in Class 5A state quarterfinals
The Class 5A boys lacrosse state tournament pared its field from 24 teams down to
The postseason soccer pitch is quiet now for Aurora area programs, as all three qualifiers for the Class 5A state tournament — No. 16 Regis Jesuit, No. 21 Cherokee Trail and No. 26 Grandview — all lost in the first round May 16. In the lone home game, the Raiders took an early lead over 17th-seeded Fairview on a goal by senior Brooke Metcalfe, but the Knights tallied twice in the second half and held on for a 2-1 victory. Regis Jesuit finished 7-5-4 in the first season under Rick Wolf as head coach. The Cougars were on the road at Lakewood Memorial Field against 12th-seeded Columbine and fell victim to a golden goal as the Rebels prevailed 2-1 in overtime. Senior Isabella Cruces Alcala scored in the 57th minute to tie it for Cherokee Trail, but coach Jose Rosales’ team was unable to get another score and finished the season 9-4-3. In the final game for retiring coach Brian Wood, the Wolves challenged second-seeded Rock Canyon on the road at Halftime Help Stadium, but ended up on the wrong end of a 2-0 contest. The Jaguars scored in the opening half on a penalty kick try that Grandview senior goalkeeper Ivy Daniel nearly stopped and they added an insurance goal inside the final two minutes. The Wolves finished the seasonb with a final record of 5-8-3. It was the second time in three seasons that no Aurora area team went further than the opening round in the postseason.
BASEBALL
Gateway wins first league championship since 1992
The Gateway baseball team made history with its first league championship since 1992, as it defeated Adams City 10-8 May 10 in the league final. Coach Rashad Mason’s Olys improved to 12-8 and will automatically qualify for the Class 4A regional postseason. Anthony Rubio drove in four runs to lead the way for coach Rashad Mason’s team, which improved to 128. The baseball regular season ended May 13, followed shortly by the pairings for regional tournaments scheduled for May 16-17.
›› See PREPS, 21
/S/Melissa Mansfield
›› PREPS, from 16
TOP: Cherokee Trail’s Solomon Griffen clears the final hurdle before the finish line on his way to winning the Centennial League championship in the boys 110 meter hurdles.
ABOVE: Regis Jesuit freshman Anna Hodges scored twice in the Raiders’ 11-10 overtime Class 5A girls lacrosse playoff win over Colorado Academy May 9 at Lou Kellogg Stadium. (PHOTOS BY COURTNEY OAKES/AURORA SENTINEL)
›› PREPS, from 20
WEEK PAST
The week past in Aurora prep sports
MONDAY, MAY 12: The Regis Jesuit baseball team capped the regular season with a 13-5 home win over Lutheran, which sends the Raiders into the postseason with a 17-7 mark. ...The Rangeview baseball team downed Kennedy 9-6 to finish the season 8-14-1. Colten Burch notched two RBI for the Raiders, while Derek Catalan and Sebastian Heredia-Ruiz scored twice apiece to back winning pitcher Emmanuel De La Torre ...Two multi-run innings stood up for the Smoky Hill baseball team in a 5-2 road win at Douglas County. Daniel Paprocki threw a complete game five-hitter for the Buffs, who got two RBI from Hudson Roth plus three hits from Jayden Blackmore. ...The Vista PEAK Prep baseball team dropped a 4-1 contest to visiting Denver South in a key game between teams on the margin of the postseason. Eric Houser doubled and scored a run for the Bison as Karter Robinson drove him home. ...The Overland baseball team fell to DSST:Montview 18-7 at home to finish the regular season 7-15. Kevin Uribe had two RBI for the Trailblazers.
SATURDAY, MAY 10: The Cherokee Trail baseball team defeated Mullen 13-1 behind a complete game effort from Connor Carlson. Brody Kenshalo and Landon Olds had three hits apiece for pace the Cougars, who also got a home run and five RBI from Brody Ceyrolles. ...The Grandview baseball team couldn’t hold a 4-1 lead in the fifth inning and fell to Cherry Creek 6-4 in the game that decided the Centennial League championship.
Chase Chapman, AJ Maroni, Kayden Bohmeyer and Justin Dean drove in runs for the Wolves. ...FRIDAY, MAY 9: Ethan Wachsmann threw five strong innings and struck out nine, while he also hit a home run for the Grandview baseball team in a 3-2 home win over Cherry Creek. Justin Dean also drove in a run for the Wolves, while Josiah Giron worked two innings for a save. Carter Wilcox and Ethin Woltz combined for a seven-inning no-hitter for the Cherokee Trail baseball team in a 4-0 road win at Mullen. Wilcox started and struck out 11 over six innings and Woltz finished up. Landon McWilliams drove in half the runs for the Cougars. ...THURSDAY, MAY 8: The Regis Jesuit baseball team got five strong innings from Michael Kroll in a 10-0 win over Heritage that sealed the Continental League championship for the Raiders. Carter Rathbun, Christian Lopez, Isak Stevenson and Gavin Cronin had two hits apiece for Regis Jesuit. ...The Gateway baseball team won a 4-3 road game at Skyview in a Colorado League semifinal contest. Heber Almeida struck out 10 and scattered five hits in six innings, while Christopher De La Torre, Yanndy Aguayo, Anthony Rubio and Angel Ferrusquia drove in runs for the Olys. ...TUESDAY, MAY 6: Despite eight goals from Shylin Collins, the Eaglecrest girls lacrosse team dropped a 15-9 contest against Dakota Ridge in the opening round of the Class 4A state playoffs. The Raptors went from winless last season to five wins this season, which was good enough to get them into the postseason for the first time since 2001. Collins scored eight times and assisted on the other goal for Kendall Colglazer.
Editorials Sentinel
State lawmakers offer pragmatic bricks in building affordable housing
After almost five years of urgent debate over housing affordability, the 2025 Colorado Legislature produced promising solutions to a bevy of affordable housing problems.
Colorado and metro Aurora residents even 20 years ago wouldn’t have taken anyone seriously who said that the metroplex would someday be like San Francisco, rife with million-dollar homes and unaffordable apartments.
That was then.
The average rent for a 700-square foot, 1-bedroom apartment in south-central Aurora is now $1,972, according to Zillow. It’s even $200 a month higher in Denver.
And while unaffordable housing has become a national problem, the Aurora metro area, and other regions in Colorado, are seeing a housing crisis as bad or worse than anywhere.
The problem of too many people having to spend too much of their money on housing has prompted all kinds of responses from state and local lawmakers, mostly just rhetoric.
During this legislative session, proposals have generally been more pragmatic and focused on elements of the problem.
Aurora has long been a place where seemingly endless land and water have made for numerous sprawling neighborhoods. At the same time, it’s long been a place where apartments, condos and townhomes are mixed among neighborhoods as far south and east as the city’s border.
Generally, the consensus among Democratic state lawmakers has been to build more multi-family housing as quickly as possible, in hopes of prompting the market to push rents down.
The culprit, many legislators point to, has been too many communities favoring builders of single-family homes on large lots, snubbing plans for apartments, condos and townhomes.
The theory is an oversimplification of a very complex and sprawling state. It’s impossible to overlook that Colorado, and especially the Aurora-Denver metroplex, is a victim of its own success.
Colorado is a vibrant, progressive state that easily draws good-paying employers. The growth spurred by all kinds of success stories continues to draw even more new residents to the state, and especially to the metro areas.
The handful of more-practical bills passed this year went to Gov. Jared Polis for a signature against a backdrop of relentlessly pricey rents.
Colorado’s housing affordability crisis continues to be a quagmire that is changing the communities we live in. Aurora, like many suburbs, was built as a community for middle-class laborers, fulfilling the “American Dream” for every American.
No longer. With an average single-family home sales price of nearly $500,000, fewer and fewer working-class families can qualify for a mortgage to make homeownership attainable. And with apartment rents for small families near $3,000 a month, saving money for a meaningful down payment on a house is nearly impossible.
While no single bill passed this session promises to quickly align the path to home ownership, or providing an apartment rent that allows for a car payment and groceries, a handful of bills promise to make some strides now and deliver a bigger impact later.
House Bill 1004 seeks to end the use of rental algorithms in Colorado. The state isn’t alone in trying to reel in what is essentially a national problem used to drive up rental prices across the country, experts here and in other states have testified. Basically, these services monitor and report apartment rents across communities and cities, allowing complex owners to fix prices and boost rents. HB 1004 pushes Colorado to the forefront of regulating these algorithm technologies. Coupled with a growing number of apartment units available across the region, and a subsequently growing number of vacancies, apartment rents could move down from their unaffordable highs.
The problem is creating a region where the working middle class and poor must move farther away from the metro area just to find affordable housing, or people must crowd into houses and apartments to make the numbers work.
Related to the nearly ruinous cost of housing and price fixing is an increasingly common practice among landlords of tacking on unapparent “fees” that should be covered in the cost of rent.
House Bill 1090 requires landlords and rental companies to transparently disclose all costs associated with a rental, ending so-called “hidden” fees, such as those often imposed for pest control or even weather maintenance.
Two bills that will have little immediate impact, but could work to help prevent a future housing and rental shortage that can artificially inflate housing market prices are House bills 1093 and 1273.
House Bill 1093 expands Colorado’s ban on so-called “anti-growth” measures among some counties and municipalities. Beginning in July, local governments will be prohibited from adopting zoning codes that reduce overall residential density. While it does not end local zoning and development control of cities when planning and platting developments, it does prevent exclusionary master land-use policies, leading to affordable housing in fewer and fewer communities.
House Bill 1273 helps reduce the cost of building multi-family apartments and condo complexes by allowing for single fire-proof stairways in buildings as tall as five stories. Fire and other design officials are convinced that the single-stair buildings are safe, and they’re common in European cities. The savings are substantial, experts say. The change could prompt more builder interest in taller, denser, apartment and condo complexes.
While thousands of people and families need housing-cost relief now, no one has offered a plan that realistically can make it happen. Short of a mass exodus from the metro area, a near-impossible reality given the region’s strong and diversified economy, more building into the market will be the only appreciable solution.
In addition to these bills, state lawmakers worked again at measures to prompt the construction industry to build more condos and townhomes, filling a crucial need and shortage in the region’s housing market. But that’s a goal best realized by local city and county jurisdictions, able to create targeted incentives to land such projects.
With the constraints of the regular session out of the way, officials from the region’s cities, counties and state lawmakers should work together in the interim to find ways to work together next year to bring more condo and townhome projects to fruition.
Teaching election lies to students
This upcoming school year, thousands of high school students in Oklahoma will be required to “learn” about President Trump’s discredited claims that fraud marred and corrupted the 2020 election. This course will not cover debunked conspiracy theories. Instead, it will be an official, approved segment of the state’s social studies curriculum that Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction and Republican right-wing advocate Ryan Walters developed. At a board meeting earlier this year, Walters described the curriculum’s purpose as “ensuring our kids have a well-rounded education and understand American exceptionalism, understand civics, and understand our Constitution and those constitutional principles.”
The new curriculum includes a section that requires students to “analyze contemporary turning points of 21st-century American society.” It requires that high school students “identify discrepancies in 2020 elections results by perusing graphs and other information,” informing educators that students should examine the supposed “security risks of mail-in balloting,” ballot dumps, and the “halting of ballot-counting in select cities.” The curriculum also states educators should point to the election’s “unforeseen record number of voters” as a sign that something was amiss. Yes, you read that correctly.
Walters stated the purpose of incorporating this section was to teach “students to think for themselves” and “not be spoon-fed left-wing propaganda.” Walters himself believes there are “legitimate concerns” about the 2020 election’s integrity that were “raised by millions of Americans in 2020.”
Walters is profoundly incorrect. At present, numerous courts nationwide have decisively debunked all claims of fraud in the 2020 election, declaring them totally bereft of merit. Trump and his supporters’ claims that such results were questionable or fraudulent are sour grapes. In essence, the new curriculum is simply a hodgepodge of unsubstantiated allegations.
The individuals involved in developing the standards also created controversy. Walters announced that farright-wing media personalities and policy advocates such as Dennis Prager and Kevin Roberts, the Heritage Foundation president and the architect of Project 2025, were instrumental in crafting the standards. To add insult to injury, Walters laughably insisted, in a statement that also peddled unfounded conspiracy theories about the media’s role in the election, that his office’s changes to the curricu-
lum are uncontroversial. Such a comment is akin to stating water is dry.
The so-called curriculum also champions other rightwing propaganda, such as indisputably teaching students COVID-19 came from a lab in China, a theory scientists have so far proven is false. The curriculum heavily promotes Christianity and Christian principles and theology, standards identical to Walters’s previous Christian nationalist doctrine. This includes requiring every classroom in Oklahoma to keep a copy of the Bible, an order that residents are currently contesting as infringing upon their and their children’s First Amendment rights.
Moms for Liberty, a far-right activist organization, sent a letter to Republican members of the Oklahoma legislature lauding the new curriculum as “truth-filled, anti-woke, and unapologetically conservative.” Additionally, they issued a warning: “In the last few election cycles, grassroots conservative organizations have flipped seats across Oklahoma by holding weak Republicans accountable. If you choose to side with the liberal media and make backroom deals with Democrats to block conservative reform, you will be next.”
If Oklahoma conservatives and Republicans resemble the GOP that currently dominates Congress, they will sheepishly fall in line with right-wing conservative demands.
Trump has continued to promote the “big lie” he was the 2020 presidential election’s real winner. The fact is that Trump has only been victorious in two of his three presidential campaigns. Trump won in 2016 by securing a higher Electoral College vote count, despite losing the popular vote to Hillary Clinton. In 2024, Trump defeated Democratic candidate Kamala Harris in both the Electoral College and popular vote.
He did not defeat Joe Biden in 2020 any way you count it.
Something tells me Ryan Walters and his posse of intellectually dishonest right-wing renegades know this to be the case, but they willfully argue otherwise because reveling in such dishonesty is more politically and economically profitable for them. Perhaps they should remind themselves that such behavior is hardly the Christian way to behave.
Chad Christopher Cerinich was born on April 18, 1967 in Whittier, California to Marjory and Stephen Cerinich. It is with great sorrow that his family share news of his passing at the age of 58 on April 29, 2025.
Chad spent his youngest years living and attending schools in Boulder, Colorado. He enjoyed spending summers at his sister’s home in Utah camping, fishing, and exploring with his nephew, Jason. He spent 35 years with his former wife, Shannon. They loved to go to Las Vegas together. Chad always had a keen interest in trains and model railroads and a deep fondness, love, and enthusiasm for dogs.
Chad graduated from University of Colorado with a Bachelor of Science degree in Organization Management. It was said that when he handed his diploma to his father, he said, “So I finished what you wanted me to do, and now I’m going to do what I want to do: attend the Police Academy!”
Chad began his career with the Aurora Police Department in 1990. He has served in a variety of assignments as both an officer and a supervisor with the SWAT team, Field Training Unit, Emergency Response Team, Police Area Representatives, and Special Operations Bureau. He also served as the Commander of the Internal Investigations Bureau before his appointment in 2024 as Division Chief – Special Operations Division where his current duties were comprised of the Homeland Security section, Traffic section, Strategic Enforcement section, Tactical Response section, and the Regional Antiviolence Enforcement Network of the Aurora Police Department.
Chad is survived by his sister, Macie Kathleen Wolfe, his former wife Shannon Arthur, his nephew Jason Wolfe and family, and his two rescue dogs, Lacy and Charlie.
A memorial service will be held at 10:00 am Monday, May 12, 2025 at Timberline Church, 2908 South Timberline Rd., Fort Collins, CO.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made by following instructions on the “Spirit of Aurora” 501(c)(3) site (auroragov.org) and specifying the “Aurora Police K-9 Unit.”
Please visit Chad’s tribute page at goesfuneralcare.com to share condolences with his family.
Obituary
William (Bill) Murphy
November 5, 1934 - February 27, 2025
William (Bill) Murphy passed away peacefully at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Lafayette on February 27, 2025, surrounded by his family. Bill was a loving husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle and friend of too many to mention.
Bill was born on November 5, 1934, at Mercy Hospital on the corner of 16th and Milwaukee, in Denver, Colorado to Rose and Francis Murphy. Both of his parents were Colorado natives. He was the fourth of five children. He had two brothers (Frank and Joe) and two sisters (Rose Marie and Peggy).
Bill attended Blessed Sacrament through Junior High School and Graduated from East High School in 1953. He later attended the Colorado School of Mines in Golden and pledged Alpha Tau Omega. He married Joanne Meints on July 21, 1962, at the Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Denver. He then went on to become a successful businessman starting a local trucking and airfreight company named Skyways. He loved Colorado, the Broncos, St. Pius X Church and spending time at the cabin he built in Silverthorne Colorado.
He is survived by his children, David Murphy, Lisa Murphy and Jody Murphy-Hise (John Hise), his six grandchildren Madison, Ryan, Alexander, Clarice, Neil and Andrea and his sister Peggy Ryan and many nieces and nephews.
A Memorial Mass will be held at St. Pius X Catholic Church in Aurora on June 6th at 11am.
Memorials can be made to the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation.
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