Citizen Centennial 4/26/13
Centennial
Arapahoe County, Colorado • Volume 12, Issue 23
April 26, 2013
A Colorado Community Media Publication
ourcentennialnews.com
Sheriff clarifies stance on gun laws Robinson won’t proactively enforce new state statutes By Jennifer Smith
jsmith@ourcoloradonews.com Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson took advantage of a meeting of the Western Arapahoe Republican Forum on April 20 to clarify his stance on gun control, which he feels was misrepresented after he released an open letter on the subject.
“We will not enforce the background check and the high-capacity magazine ban proactively. … But I won’t tell you that I am not going to enforce these laws,” he told the group, referring to recently passed state laws. Robinson His position that lawenforcement officers don’t write the law but swear an oath to uphold it was taken by some to mean he was soft on
the Second Amendment. “Public safety professionals serving in the executive branch do not have the constitutional authority, responsibility and, in most cases, the credentials to determine the constitutionality of any issue,” Robinson wrote. If law-enforcement officers stopped enforcing laws they don’t like, it could set a dangerous precedent if juries followed suit, he said. “Rhetoric can impact the criminal-justice system,” he said.
Robinson will address what he feels are problems with the new laws through lobbying and legal means, and he announced April 22 that he will sign on to a lawsuit initiated by a group of sheriffs to get the laws overturned. He also plans to help write a bill for next year that would clarify the new laws. “To a degree, I support background checks for private sales,” he said, but he believes the new Colorado law goes too far by requiring them for transfers among family Robinson continues on Page 9
Home values show decline in Arapahoe
play ball?
But Centennial prices generally up, assessor says By Jennifer Smith
jsmith@ourcoloradonews.com
An April 22 storm plastered many parts of the city with heavy, wet snow, keeping snowplow drivers busy and morning commutes hectic. However, by mid-afternoon April 23, much of the white stuff was gone and warmer temperatures blurred the line between snowball season and baseball season. Michael Roybal, a Centennial snowplow driver, warms up his pitching arm at the city’s public works yard with a rather large sample of the Mother Nature’s Earth Day presentation. Photo by Deborah Grigsby
Sundays on the Streets adds eats Food trucks to rally at Centennial outdoor market By Deborah Grigsby
dgrigsby@ourcoloradonews.com Local hipsters and foodies, rejoice. Sundays on the Streets, Centennial’s yearly outdoor art market known for if you go its eclectic taste in all things art- Sundays on the Streets sy, now hopes to 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., rain or shine be known for all • May 12 • Aug. 11 things tasty, too. • June 9 • Sept. 8 Along with • July 14 • Oct. 13 its new location New location — Cherry Knolls at Cherry Knolls Shopping Center Shopping Center, University Boulevard and directly across the Arapahoe Road street from The (Directly across from the Streets at South- Streets at SouthGlenn) Glenn, event For more information and promoter Robin vendor applications, contact Loughran says this Robin Loughran at 720-985year’s market will 8580 include an army of food trucks. Yes, food trucks. No longer the last bastion for sandwiches at construction sites, Loughran said food trucks have morphed into trendy mobile catering options offering a smorgasbord of
Local event promoter Robin Loughran is promising the city’s largest rally of trendy food trucks each month at Sunday on the Streets — Centennial’s annual outdoor market— which begins on May 12. Food trucks, like Denver-based Solar Coffee, have become popular among hipsters and foodies. Photo by Deborah Grigsby different cuisines. “It’s a perfect combination for us this year,” she said. “They’ve long been a hit downtown and we hope to have the largest collection of gourmet food trucks in the city at Sundays on the Streets and we’ve already
got five trucks confirmed.” A summertime staple at The Streets at SouthGlenn, Loughran also said the market’s decision move to Cherry Knolls was based on the need for more space and opSundays continues on Page 9
“The recovery has not happened yet in Arapahoe County.” That’s the news Corbin Sakdol, Arapahoe County assessor, gave officials from throughout the 348 taxing entities in the county on April 18. Having just finished reassessing property values, he has a pretty good handle on the situation. Although sales are up in most places, values of the 150,000 single-family homes in the county are generally down but with a few bright spots. Centennial and Greenwood Village are up. Aurora, Sheridan and Englewood are down, and Littleton is split. “Ridge Road is still quite the dividing line,” he said. Homes south of Ridge Road are mostly maintaining or climbing, while the north Sakdol isn’t in such great shape. Sakdol says condominium values are way down across the board, but office buildings and commercial properties are up. Foreclosures are down from the peak in 2008. “It’s happening, but it’s not near as bad,” he said. “Things are much better, but they’re still not good.” One reason there’s discrepancy between rising sales and falling values is that Colorado law requires Sakdol to use 2-year-old sales data to determine current taxable value. The tax bill property owners will be getting in the mail starting May 1 reflects sales that occurred between July 1, 2010, and June 30, 2012. So as home prices started crashing during the housing bubble of August 2008, property taxes reflected July 1, 2006 to June 30, 2007. Conversely, as sales are now beginning to increase, taxable values remain low. Those 348 taxing entities can significantly impact property owners’ tax bills, as well. Similar homes in similar neighborhoods might be valued about the same and still have vastly different property-tax bills. It depends on voter-approved mill levies collected by the school district or water entity, for example. Values continues on Page 9
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