Herald
ENGLEWOOD 12.21.12
Englewood
Arapahoe County, Colorado • Volume 92, Issue 45
December 21, 2012
75 cents
A Colorado Community Media Publication
ourenglewoodnews.com
Banner ban puts city, Xcel at odds Council passes bill taking possession of utility poles By Tom Munds
tmunds@ourcoloradonews.com
Andrea Toledo smiles as she holds the gift her 6-month-old Damien received at the Dec. 14 holiday party put on by J.J. & Associates. Photos by Tom Munds
Holiday party nice for needy Drive has 28-year history By Tom Munds
tmunds@ourcoloradonews.com People started lining up about 4:30 P.M. for the annual holiday party put on by J.J. & Associates, scheduled to start at 6 p.m. Dec. 14. It was 28 years ago when Englewood resident John Martinez decided to help needy people and founded the nonprofit organization he named J.J. & Associates. Each year, dozens of volunteers join Martinez to help others by gathering and distributing school supplies as well as staging events on holidays, including Christmas. “We knew we’d have a big crowd and we started letting people in about 5 and asked them to sit down until we started serving dinner,” Martinez said as he made sure the lines were moving Dec. 14. “Everyone cooperated until we got things rolling.” Martina Juardo sat at a table entertaining her five grandchildren, waiting for the volunteers to begin serving food.
“My son and daughter-in-law are over-the-road drivers and I care for their children while they are on the road,” she said with a smile. “This is a wonderful thing for these folks to do and is a big help for our family this year.” She said her son was hurt and couldn’t work for about four months. He is back working now, but the paychecks are dedicated to getting caught up on bills, so there isn’t a lot of money to buy gifts for the children. “I’ll make sure the kids don’t unwrap the gifts so there will be more under the tree when we celebrate Christmas,” Juardo said. “I know the gifts are a great blessing to our family and I’m sure we aren’t by ourselves when I say this is such a wonderful thing for J.J. and the folks to do to help families like ours have a nicer holiday.” Martinez said he had about 20 volunteers helping out at the event. Scott Parrill, manager of the Old Chicago Restaurant at Broadway and Mineral, was one of the volunteers and he was in the kitchen preparing the meal for the guests. “This is the fifth year we have helped J.J. put on this event, as Old Chicago
Aelissa Deden sprinkles cheese on spaghetti for guests at the J.J. & Associates holiday party. POSTAL ADDRESS
Armon de Ponce, 2, checks out the book he received at the J.J. & Associates party. provides all the food,” he said. “We expect a big crowd, so we’ll probably use up about eight gallons of sauce and cook up about 210 pounds of pasta.” While people lined up to get a meal, almost as many families lined up to see Santa before they went to eat. “All I’ve heard from the boys is Santa, Santa, Santa since we got here,” Jim Munoz said as he and his two sons stood in the Santa line. “I figured there was no way to get the kids to eat until they have seen Santa, so here we are. I hope the line moves quickly because I’m getting hungry.” Santa greeted each child, gave each of them a candy cane and listened to each child’s Christmas wish list. The child could then select a book from under the Christmas tree on the way to the gift table to receive a wrapped, age-appropriate gift. Jen Fisher was one of the volunteers handing out gifts. “Handing out the gifts is really rewarding because of the smiles on the children’s faces as they get the presents,” the Sheridan High School graduate said. “It is fun to do this and it also has a deeper meaning, because I feel it helps remind me about the true meaning of Christmas and gets me in the holiday spirit.”
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The Englewood City Council ignored the objections of Xcel Energy representatives and passed a bill taking possession of the utility poles on city property. The council took the action at the Dec. 3 meeting in reaction to Xcel Energy’s policy prohibiting placing banners, flags or decorations on its utility poles and requiring any items on the poles to be taken down by Dec. 31. Tom Henley, Xcel area manager for community and government affairs, came to the lectern during the public comment period. He told the city council that the proposed ordinance created a safety issue and was, in his opinion, a public taking of private property. He said the safety issue is the stress of wind loading caused by items attached to the utility poles. He said the company has had several utility poles with items attached fail, creating a safety hazard. “Xcel Energy is working with several cities on ways to allow items to be attached to the company’s utility poles when they meet stringent safety restrictions,” Henley told the council. “I urge the council not to pass this ordinance tonight.” Councilmember Rick Gillit said he felt Xcel Energy was aware of banners being attached to utility poles, including the ones attached on poles along South Broadway by the business improvement district. He said he felt it was heavy-handed for Xcel to now put a ban in place prohibiting attaching any items to their utility poles. Dan Brotzman, Englewood city attorney, said the proposed ordinance transfers the ownership of the poles and responsibility regarding putting banners, flags and decorations on utility poles from Xcel Energy to the city manager. The city attorney noted that plans called for the city manager to have an engineering report prepared regarding possible wind loading of items proposed for placement on utility poles, and then to forward the report to Xcel. He said he was concerned about how long it would take for the company to respond to the engineering report. “Xcel issued the requirement to remove all items from utility poles in July,” said Mayor Randy Penn, who wondered about the lack of progress. Henley was joined at the podium by Dudley Spiller, an attorney for Xcel Energy. “It is my task to tell you that the Englewood ordinance conflicts with the information in the Public Utilities Commission constitution and rules which includes a ban on banners, signs, flags and other items being attached to utility poles,” Spiller told the council. “Since the PUC has sole jurisdiction over utilities, we feel your proposal may not be legal.” He said Xcel feels it is being backed into a corner and may fight Englewood’s ordinance in court. He said the company also views the proposal as an unlawful taking of private property. Spiller said he can see the relationship between Xcel Energy and municipalities becoming more contentious over this issue, and it appears battle lines are already being drawn. After the discussion, the city council unanimously passed the ordinance on second and final reading. Englewood is not alone it its objections to the Xcel proposal. The Highlands Ranch Metro District Board of Directors discussed the issue and indicated they were not pleased with the Xcel decision. They also said they will investigate if there is a way to purchase the poles for a nominal fee.