Eye On Englewood

Link: http://www.englewoodcitizens.org

Allow me to introduce you to Jon Cook, seasoned Englewood entrepreneur and developer. Just before Monday's Council meeting, Cook contacted Council Woman, Jill Wilson, and asked to speak with the City. During her Council's Choice section at the end of the meeting, she did her job and introduced him to speak.

A discussion hotly ensued in which Councilman, Bob McCaslin whined about not being warned before the meeting that Mr. Cook wanted to present, and that no-one knew what he planned to say. Then the discussion turned to procedural issues as to whether Mr. Cook could speak during Council's Choice, out of order from where residents are normally allowed to participate. A vote was taken, and Council asked for it. Jon Cook presented to council regarding a incident that occurred, where a representative from the Englewood Community development department made several harassing remarks to Jon Cook and the owner of Colore restaurant.

Colore, is a great little restaurant at Yale and Broadway, staffed by it's owners to ensure the quality of the food and the hospitality to its customers. When I visited there myself this month, I thought, "Now Englewood will give Pasquini's a run for their money."

But the developer, had his tenants, Colore, down his neck after Tricia Langon came with her arrogant ultimatums, "We can do this the easy way or we can do this the hard way." Apparently, there was no other way she offered to do them.

She was talking about an advertising banner being taken off the building when she slapped her card on the counter. Colore owners responded, "But our landlord told us we could do this."

Her response? "We at the City know all about Jon Cook and we have our issues with him."

Colore immediately ragged on Jon Cook for bringing them into Englewood's domain just to be unfairly treated. After all, as Mr. Cook pointed out to Council, there are storefronts and grocery stores with banners all over Englewood.

Jon Cook ceremoniously handed back Langon's "calling card" to Mayor Woodward, looked at Bob McCaslin and said, "If you have an issue with me, then why don't you call me? My name is plastered all over Broadway with open buildings for lease.

I did exactly what you guys wanted. I gave you the kind of Welcome to Englewood Building you've been asking for. This should be a time of celebration for us...implying that Community Development had ruined it for them.

"But, this isn't the first time Tricia Langon has interfered with us and threatened us," he testified. It is indecent and backwards.

Jon explained many of the reasons why businesses are reluctant to move to the City of Englewood. He also stated that until Ms. Langon is fired, he will no longer be developing properties in the City of Englewood.

City Manager Gary Sears denied that Ms. Langon worked for him or that he had any control over her. He also stated that many complaints come in about various City employees, apparently trying to downplay the incident.

Mr. Cook stuck to his mettle though, and reiterated that he is sick to death of the inhospitable nature of the City. He is finishing up one project and not starting another until the City rascals clean up their acts.

Link: http://www.EnglewoodCitizens.org

If you receive a City paper called "The Englewood Citizen" you might discover a high-lighted portion at the bottom of page 2, May/June 2009, announcing that the City Council has made their meetings available on their website.

Funny thing, a grass roots group calling themselves Englewood Citizens for Open Government (ECOG) has been recording and uploading these meetings for several months now, pressuring City Council to be more transparent, approachable, accessible and accountable to their constituency.

After City Council discussed whether they would continue to allow ECOG to record and publish their meetings, and finding no way out of it short of criminal liability, they decided to join the parade and outdo ECOG.

After all, an official City website is going to accumulate more hits than an unknown grass roots group, right?

Matthew Crabtree, concerned citizen, must be given the credit for his endurance of four hour long city meetings, and his fortitude in pilgrimaging the recordings of conscious. He has continued to upgrade his services to the public of Englewood.

Mr. Crabtree reports that he has started clarifying who the speaker is on any given subject.

For those who would not recognize their own district representative's voice over any other, and what they might stand for, they may now begin to follow topically what each representative states.

For instance, on April 20, 2009, Council resurrected the idea of mandating paved driveways... spear-headed by John Moore, but if you are not familiar with District representative Moore's voice, you may not realized that he is the one representing the issue. II. Hard Surface Standards.

Council is on a roll with "ungrandfathering" residential properties that were pre-existing to their new-fangled ideas. Apparently, their town just cannot change quick enough for them. In this case, Council will extend grandfathering rights only to those who have gravel, while just weeks ago these were deemed dangerous. They will forego grandfathering of dirt driveways.

The really bad news is that any arbitrary thing enacted by this Council will make residents liable for fines, liens and even threats of jail.

Englewood residents barely surviving hard times can thank their electorates for this finely timed gift.

The cool thing for residents to know is that while dirt is illegal in the new Englewood, road base is solidly safe within the proposed code. Residents just need to declare which one they have.

It was important for me to note in listening to the recordings that Mayor Woodward raged against a great-grandmother and long-time resident of Englewood who came to Council for the second time to represent her opinion about them throwing away Nancy Peterson's various awards after she was injured by an unnamed City policeman.

When she originally caught them in the act, Ms. Cummins represented herself kindly about the matter and obtained a March agreement from Council to put them on public display somewhere in City Hall, alongside City Manager Sear's trophies. But, after seeing some scratches and wear from being tossed away, they decided to put the awards out of public eye in the airlock of the Englewood Police Station.

She, Ms. Cummins, came bravely to Council to tell them that she didn't appreciate her friend's honors being stuffed away from public eye twice, and what happened to their original 100% commitment to her by Mayor, Bob McCaslin and Jill Wilson? She wanted to know.

Mayor delays his hottest topic til near the end of section 12. "General Discussion," when he begins to respond to "Ms. Cummins comments" and then lectures her for her "attack" on him personally. It's a bit of a shameful interaction from the office of City Mayor that can be heard in the last third of General Discussion, during Mayor's Choice section at www.EnglewoodCitizens.org. Monday, April 23.

I personally will stick with Mr. Crabtree's recordings as all of the background noise has been removed from the recordings, and they are conveniently set out per section and per speaker. It's much more accessible and transparent than having to listen to the entire four hours of this Council's official meetings.

Link: http://englewoodcitizens.org/

Closed. Closed for the seasons... and "We Are Nothing"... These are the whispers of experts.

During the City Council study session of April 9, 2009, Alan White, Community Development Director for the City of Englewood presented a 20 minute video presentation from a group of experts from Urban Land Institute (ULI).

There is something to be said for being first, and I'm happy to acknowledge the virtue of creativity. Mayor Wolosyn would have agreed. The expert placemakers acknowledged Englewood's attempt at a transit oriented community as being the first in Colorado.

It's always easier to improve on a prototype, but creating the prototype is hard work. I'd shake Gary Sears' hand for this if he'd care.

Community Development Director White cautioned Council before pressing "play" that City staff do not necessarily agree with the experts' findings. Then the lights went out.

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Link: http://EnglewoodStory.com

A couple of items stand up shouting at me from this most recent City Council meeting. The first is a letter from Lance Smith, who is the head of Englewood's building department.

It was distributed to Council that night, obviating its way around the library's reference packet for the public.

The letter said that Englewood obtained a low grade on risk assessment because it's building inspectors are performing too many inspections every day. ISO recommends two daily inspections because a thorough inspection takes a little longer.

Englewood performs as many as ten inspections a day. Mr. Smith reported to Council how their grade confused him seeing as they can perform so many inspections in a day. But, safety inspections are not a race.

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Link: http://EyeOnEnglewood.com

After Easter, Springtime breezes through Englewood, warming everyone up for a day or two, giving pause to consider what needs attention around the house or the yard.

But, not only in your own yard; Look around. Englewood has some real issues of obsolete housing, dangerous housing, and neighborhood real estate values that directly affect the City's appeal to younger families, thus its school districts.

Can this aging problem be addressed creatively?

Presently, the City Manager and City Council have promoted liening your property in exchange for the city doing yard and weed clean up. Snow removal might also garner a lien on your home. But, Englewood residents need a better bang for their bucks.

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Link: http://englewoodcitizens.org/

Englewood's City Council recently cinched the deal on decriminalizing code enforcement issues, like lawn mowing, and snow removal. This, after many hard years of City Manager Sears' labor seems newsworthy.

While most residents appreciate that they do not live under a Home Owner's Association's stringent rules for hard to get repairs, they've been in the dark over the last four years not realizing the crafty hand of their own City management was robbing the pockets of their own properties.

Residents do not believe Eminent Domain (usurping residents’ properties by government tactics or by well-financed developers) is a valuable reparation for the process of development.

At least in an HOA, homeowners will get exterior improvements for their fees. In the City, however, homeowners pay exorbitant interest and fees to pay off City liens...for what? Cutting grass? Where is the value?

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