Serving the community since 1906
WEEK OF FEBRUARY 20, 2025
VOLUME 118 | ISSUE 8
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Questions and answers about immigration law Trump policies, raids around Denver area spark concerns BY JENNIFER BROWN AND OLIVIA PRENTZEL THE COLORADO SUN
City Councilors heard three ideas to take some that traffic off of the street and make it more pedestrian friendly, all involving removing some of the onPHOTO BY SCOTT TAYLOR street parking along Main Street.
Considering Main Street options Council hears ideas for making downtown a public realm BY SCOTT TAYLOR STAYLOR@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
City Councilors were intrigued by ideas they heard Feb. 12 to make the downtown area, especially the Main Street-Bridge Street intersection, friendlier to pedestrians — as long as it’s not too expensive. The three plans presented looked at ways to make the area more walkable, removing some on-street parking and widening sidewalks. Two plans called for making Main Street a one-way street — one a southbound one-way street from North Cabbage Avenue to Egbert Street and another that would have one-way traffic heading north between Bush Street to Bridge and south from Bridge Street to North Cabbage. Councilor Tom Green said he was concerned that a narrower
Main Street would hurt downtown businesses, making it more difficult for delivery vehicles to get downtown. “A lot of this stuff would have us restricting the flow of traffic getting to some of these businesses — unless you really know what you are doing,” Green said. “Frankly, I prefer option four right now, which is doing nothing.” Consultant Ryan Sotirakis, with landscape architects Dig Studio, said the plan is to begin presenting the plans to residents in March, with a final recommendation going to the City Council in April. Sotirakis began working with traffic consultants and the city planning staff in November, saying several intersections in the neighborhood are inconvenient and unsafe for people not traveling by car, especially along Main Street’s intersections at North Cabbage, Bridge Street and the three-way intersection with Bush and First Avenue. The goal would be to make the neighborhood a public realm made for people. “We are also looking at ways to reroute the truck traffic that cur-
rently goes through the downtown,” he said. “Its going to be hard to make it a nicer place to be and to linger with all the trucks that are going through.” They also counted parking spaces in the area block by block, finding that the area has 700 public parking spaces, not counting private spaces. Of those public spaces, 22 would be considered accessible for people with handicaps. “There probably could be a few more accessible spaces and the spaces could all be located in more convenient locations, closer to Main Street,” he said. “They are not always close to the core areas where they maybe should be. So it is a little bit of a mismatch, but we think there is ample public parking available, but there probably could be more accessible spaces.” Three Main Street plans
All three ideas presented to the council called for eliminating some parking along Main Street from midblock between Bush and Bridge streets north to N. Cabbage.
WESTMINSTER VOICES: PAGE 6 | CULTURE: PAGE 8 | BRIEFS: PAGE 12
The first would keep two-way traffic along the road, one lane in either direction, but would effectively double the sidewalk space on both sides, replacing the on-street parking there. That would remove 16 spaces on the street north of the Bridge Street intersection. The second would convert Main Street to one-way traffic headed towards Bridge Street from the north and the south — northbound between Bush and Bridge and southbound from N. Cabbage to Bridge. That plan would preserve one side of onstreet parking in line with the flow of traffic and widen sidewalks slightly. The third option would make Main Street a southbound oneway for its entire path through the downtown, with on-street parking on the west side of the street and slightly wider sidewalks. N. Cabbage Street would become a dedicated one-way road between Egbert and its intersection with Main Street. and would get a new traffic signal. SEE OPTIONS, P2
Questions are swirling about how the Trump administration’s new immigration policies will continue to affect Colorado, especially after federal agents went door to door in Denver and Aurora on Feb. 5 detaining an unknown number of people. Could an immigration enforcement operation like the 2006 raid of a Greeley meatpacking plant that resulted in 262 arrests happen again? Would hiding in a church to avoid deportation, like Jeanette Vizguerra did during the last Trump administration, work now? Here are answers to some major immigration questions. Can local law enforcement arrest someone for their immigration status?
No. Under Colorado law passed in 2019, local law enforcement officers are not allowed to make an arrest or detain a person based solely on their immigration status or an ICE request. They also are barred under state law from notifying ICE about the immigration status of someone in their custody. However, if law officers arrest someone who has an ICE detainer, they can notify ICE when SEE ANSWERS, P16
2025
VOTING STARTS
MARCH 1!
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