WEEK OF OCTOBER 31, 2024
VOLUME 20 | ISSUE 18
FREE
The Haunting of Olde Town Arvada
Arvada City Council raises water rates for 2025 Water, stormwater and wastewater fees will all see an increase BY LILLIAN FUGLEI SPECIAL TO THE ARVADA PRESS
sically talk to dead people,” she said.) — she’s far from the only Olde Town mainstay who has noticed paranormal presences. La Dolce Vita Manager Josh Crouch said he’s experienced a darker side of Olde Town’s spirits. The first revealed itself to Crouch 13 years ago, when he was manning the espresso machine during the Arvada Harvest Festival. In a moment of frustration due to the massive influx of customers, something otherworldly revealed itself. “We were in the back by the mop bucket,” Crouch said. “There was a brush up on a shelf that’s pushed all the way to the back — always. It came over all of the soaps and everything like that and fell down right next to me. That was my first encounter.”
Arvadans will see yet another hike in water rates in 2025. At a City Council meeting on Oct. 21, Arvada City Council passed increases to the water, stormwater and wastewater fees. Water fees will increase by 10%, while wastewater fees will increase by 14.5% and stormwater fees will increase by 13.75%. These increases come amidst Arvada’s efforts to address aging water infrastructure, with Capital Improvement Projects planned for 2025 to address aging infrastructure and accommodate the growth Arvada has undergone. The increases also come after several years of steady increases, with a 12.3% increase in 2023 and another 12% increase in 2024. The increases come as no surprise, however, with the city’s 10-year strategic plan for 2025 including a 10% increase in water and sewer rates, as well as a 5% increase in stormwater rates. Throughout the year, city council has held four workshops on the rate increases, looking at the reasons for the increase and multiple increase scenarios. During the last workshop, on Sept. 23, several councilmembers voiced support for a more conservative water rate increase and a higher stormwater and wastewater rate increase — ensuring that all Capital Improvement Projects would be funded. The water rate increase — which passed unanimously — increases fees by 10%, with a $4 increase to bimonthly service fees. According to Director of Utilities Sharon Israel, this will increase a typical in-city single-family bill by $78.15 per year. “I think the reality here is the council and utilities division need to endeavor to provide plentiful water at the lowest cost possible, always,” said Councilmember John Marriott. “That’s really the solution here. Out of all the options we had to choose from, this was by far the best one.”
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Historical photo of the 150-year-old house at 7401 Grandview Ave. where the Eli Ashby Center for Healing Arts and Carly’s Boutique is located in COURTESY LORI DRIENKA its early days.
Some attribute historic district’s abundance of spirits to Arvada’s dark, unseemly past BY RYLEE DUNN RDUNN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
One night while researching the history of the 150-year-old home that houses The Eli Ashby Healing Arts Center and Carly’s Boutique, a slight figure revealed herself to shopkeeper Lori Drienka. The historic Victorian home located at 7401 Grandview Ave. — commonly known as the Dr. Foster House and often associated with two doctors; Arvada’s first mayor, Dr. Richard Russel, and Dr. Ed-
win Foster, who was active in the city’s political scene and lived in the house until the 1960s — was built by town founder Benjamin Wadsworth, allegedly for a woman of which little is known. On that fateful evening, Drienka sought to change that. She began researching the history of the house, particularly the mysterious woman for whom it was originally built. Then, something stopped her in her tracks. “I saw this figure appear right across from my desk,” Drienka said. “It was a tiny little woman, and she was standing over a round table, and on the table, there was a crystal ball. She just kind of turned and smiled and nodded, and that was it. I just felt this feeling that washed over me like I was there doing the right thing.” Drienka said she felt the spirit was “welcoming” her
VOICES: 8 | LIFE: 10 | CALENDAR: 13 | SPORTS: 16
— Drienka’s Healing Arts Center has operated at the Foster House since 2005 — and added that she discerned that the spirit was likely a reserved person, much like Drienka herself. “It gave me a little insight into probably why people don’t know what she did or who she was, because she was probably kind of private,” Drienka said. “I was very private about what I did. I have been for years, for fear of people thinking it’s not real or whatever, or even infringing upon people’s religious beliefs. But I just felt, in that moment, I realized I was there for a reason.” While Drienka is especially attuned to interacting with spirits — she is trained by the Spiritual Response Association and does soul clearing, readings, spiritual advising and past life regression at the Healing Arts Center (“I ba-
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