Transcript Wheat Ridge
WHEAT RIDGE 1/3/13
Jefferson County, Colorado • Volume 29, Issue 28
TURN, TURN, TURN
January 3, 2013
50 cents
A Colorado Community Media Publication
ourwheatridgenews.com
Another snag for beltway land swap Land plan remains contested in the courts By Glenn Wallace
gwallace@ourcoloradonews.com
Mark Dinnell, with the Wheat Ridge forestry department, carries a tree to shred in a wood chipper at a Christmas tree drop-off location at Prospect Park, Friday, Dec. 28. Residents are encouraged to recycle their Christmas trees at two Wheat Ridge locations. West side: Prospect Park, 11300 W. 44th Ave. (behind tennis courts); East side: Panorama Park, 33rd Avenue and Fenton Street (east of ball field). Photo by Andy Carpenean
Educator to work on health, education Schafer prepares for session By Glenn Wallace
gwallace@ourcoloradonews. com District 24 Rep. Sue Schafer, representing Wheat Ridge, Edgewater, and south Golden, says topics that she has some experience and expertise in — education and health care — will be topics she is quite involved with in the 2013 legislative session. But a third that she admits to needing more time to research will also likely come into play: gun control. Schafer said that as she walked door to door this fall, as part of her re-election campaign against her Republican opponent E. V. Leyendecker, she repeatedly heard that her constituents were concerned about education and the economy. “I really see education as a jobs and economy issue, because the jobs that are in demand right now require secondary education, and a lot more skill in what we call the STEM fields, and some of our Colorado employers are not able to hire people because many of our people who are unemployed don’t have those
STEM skills,” she said. To help improve education across the state, Schafer said she was ready to support efforts to revise what she described as “a very twisted” state constitution, which is weighted down with spending limit and revenue limit provisions. Specifically, Schafer said she was backing a bill that will start in the Democrat-held state senate, to ask Colorado voters in November to approve new tax revenue to support schools. “I’m always worried about asking taxpayers for more money, but we’d ask that because right now we’re operating at a 2007 level,” Schafer said. Elected in 2008, Schafer now finds herself in some leadership roles on important committees, including the one in charge of setting up the health insurance exchange program for the state, created as part of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). “We are going to pass some laws to make sure it (the insurance exchange) gets off to a good start in October 2013,” Schafer said, adding that it is expected that as many as 800,000 Colorado residents currently without insurance will be able to use the exchange either in person or online, to find an affordable plan.
POSTAL ADDRESS
Educator and legislator Sue Schafer. Photo by Andy Carpenean Schafer says she is less certain about how to go about the issue of gun control. “There are all kinds of ideas out there, so many proposals,” Schafer said. She added she supports some sort of tougher gun or ammunition control, but has not decided how best to go about it. “I don’t have an issue with responsible gun owners, which is probably 98 percent of them. But Colorado could be a model for the nation on gun control, especially after all we’ve been through.” Schafer said there was one item that would, “yes, finally” be voted on by the House, the issue of civil unions. “I was very frustrated and very disappointed in the Speak-
er of the House last year,” the openly gay Schafer said. House Republicans blocked the civil unions bill from even being voted upon last session, in what Schafer described as a “slap in the face of the democratic process.” With Democrats in control of the House and Senate, and with a few Republicans in both chambers who have indicated support, Schafer said the civil unions bill she plans to cosponsor should pass easily. She said public opinion polls, and upcoming Supreme Court decisions might make the right for gays to marry a reality in the coming years as well. “It’ll be history in the making, and I love these kinds of battles,” she said.
The long and winding story of the Jefferson Parkway took two sharp corners recently, as one federal court ruled in favor of allowing a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service land swap to move forward, only to have an appeals court announce a temporary injunction last week. A federal judge on Dec. 21 dismissed the lawsuit that sought to stop the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from transferring a 300foot right of way, 617 acres along the eastern edge of the Rocky Flats Wildlife Reserve. Five days later, an appeals court ordered the temporary injunction. That strip of land is proposed to become a 10-mile toll road called the Jefferson Parkway. The new road would connect Highway 128 in Broomfield to Highway 93, about three miles north of the city of Golden, as part of the continuing effort to complete a ring road around the Denver Metro Area. A year ago, the cities of Superior and Golden, along with two environmental groups, all filed lawsuits to halt the land swap, arguing that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had not done adequate environmental review to justify the sale, specifically mentioning the possibility of buried radioactive materials that could be disturbed as a result. Bill Ray, the interim executive director of the Jefferson Parkway Public Highway Authority (JPPHA), called it ironic that environmental groups were asking the court to halt a plan that he says would dramatically improve the Rocky Flats Wildlife Reserve. He added that the land swap, including a provision to add 600 acres of open space to the reserve, was vindicated by the ruling. “The decision is very comprehensive. It is very clear, very thorough that none of the arguments presented by the plaintiffs were accepted by the federal government,” Ray said. According to Ray, the land swap deal, which includes about $17 million in funding from multiple agencies and municipalities, had been set to close escrow on Dec. 31. The city of Superior, along with the environmental groups WildEarth Guardians and Rocky Mountain Wild, immediately appealed the lawsuit to the 10th Circuit District Court of Appeals, and filed an emergency motion to stop the deal. According to the temporary injunction, the JPPHA and fellow defendants had until Dec. 27 to file a response to the injunction. After reading that response, the 10th Circuit court judges decided that the plaintiffs would have until noon on Dec. 28 to file a rebuttal, which they did. The court’s injunction was scheduled to lift one hour before the escrow deal is set to close, on Dec. 31. If the judges do decide to extend the injunction past the 31st, Ray said it could imperil the entire land swap deal. He said more than one of the involved agencies had expressed doubts about sticking with the deal if there were any more legal delays. Ray added that even with the court’s blessing, the parkway would still be years and several environmental studies, away from breaking ground. Beltway continues on Page 3
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