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MorningMagazine_2025-01-28 Jack Dawson
Boulder City Council directs ordinance ending parking mandates
Boulder City Council is considering new ways to make the city less car-centric.
The Council has instructed city officials to draft an ordinance that would remove the city’s off-street parking minimums, and introduce new requirements for developers to promote the use of alternative transportation options.
The effort breaks away from decades of car-centric infrastructure.
Currently in Boulder, city code requires developers to include at least one off-street parking space per housing unit. For commercial projects, parking minimums depend on square footage.
Advocates of the ordinance say that these requirements are driving up housing costs, as parking lots and structures are costly to build. They also argue that this creates car dependency and leaves less options for cyclists and public transportation.
According to Boulder Reporting Lab, these likely changes to city code follow a 2024 Colorado law taking effect in June that prohibits cities from enforcing parking minimums near bus and train stops. However, some Boulder council members have said they want to go further by eliminating parking minimums citywide.
Similarly, city staff also outlined a policy designed to incentivise the use of public transit. Under the proposal, Boulder developers would have to provide a financial guarantee in to fund programs such as free bus passes for tenants or employees.
Council members have not yet scheduled a public hearing for the parking reform ordinance, but a vote is expected before the end of June.
Boulder Fire-Rescue’s opens new Station 3
Boulder’s Fire-Rescue Department officially has a new station – and a new electric truck.
Community members celebrated the grand opening of newly-minted Station 3 at 2967 Bluff Street last Friday.
At the event, Boulder–Fire Chief Michel Calderazzo thanked taxpayers, as the project was funded by the Community Culture and Resilience Safety tax passed in 2014. According to The Daily Camera, the .3% sales tax has been used for city wide infrastructure projects and some of Boulder’s nonprofit partners.
Station 3 was formerly located in the floodplains. With the relocation, firefighters say they can better serve the community.
The new station is 28,000-square-feet and comes equipped with a fully electric fire truck. The station was also designed with firefighters’ physical and mental wellbeing in mind: there are queen-sized beds, red lights in the bay to help sleep deprivation, individualized radios, and a slide down to the bay instead of a firepole.
Sustainability was also a priority in the space’s construction, with recycled steel used in its construction and more than 90% of materials diverted from the landfill.
As for its power, the building is made with photovoltaic systems which convert light into energy, and does not require natural gas.
Congress asks Denver mayor to testify as it investigates “sanctuary” cities’ immigration procedures
In a letter to the mayor on Monday, the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform targeted Denver as one of four cities that “stand out in their abject failure to comply with federal law.” Other cities who received letters include Chicago, New York City and Boston.
The committee’s interventions are a part of President Donald Trump’s efforts to crack down on immigration and carry out mass deportations. According to The Denver Post, the president has also threatened to revoke funding from cities that refuse to work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.
While Denver has never formally adopted a policy calling itself a “sanctuary city,” Council did adopt an ordinance in 2017 providing protections to immigrants. The city also follows a policy of not honoring detainer requests by ICE for inmates in jail, except if required by law.
Colorado law also restricts local cooperation with ICE, with many sheriffs only notifying ICE ahead of inmates’ release, but not holding them longer.
Johnston’s stance appears to be firm. According to The Denver Post, Johnston said last year that he was prepared to go to jail to stop deportations of illegal immigrants.
The mayor’s office said Johnston is currently considering whether or not to testify at the hearing set for Feb. 11.
Denver to pay nearly $1 million to protesters for 2020 police actions
Denver is set to pay nearly $1 million to settle a lawsuit filed on behalf of eight protesters who were seriously injured by police during the George Floyd protests in 2020.
This case was part of a joint lawsuit. The other involved 42 additional protestors who were either arrested or subjected to tear gas and pepper spray.
The settlements were approved Monday by Denver City Council.
Both suits alleged that police officers used excessive force against the plaintiffs while they peacefully protested the murder of Floyd by Minneapolis police. DPD were accused of using tear gas, rubber bullets, and flash-bang grenades on protestors.
According to The Denver Post, the plaintiffs’ payouts will range from $60,000 to $300,000 per person.
There have been several other lawsuits related to the 2020 racial justice protests. All together, they’ve cost the city roughly $12 million.
Anti-defamation league decries swastika in Denver
Denver police are investigating a swastika symbol that appeared on Denver’s historic Austin building along East Colfax Avenue last week.
The swastika is visible above a window near the top of the building. Denver PD first learned of the swastika last Thursday.
The Anti-Defamation League received nearly a dozen complaints about the hate symbol.
The symbol appeared ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which was Monday. That day marks the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp in Germany.
Republicans push to repeal cage-free egg laws in the midst of rising prices
Colorado Republicans tried and failed to repeal the state’s cage-free egg law that took effect this year.
On Monday, lawmakers sought to repeal the requirement that state commercial egg layers use cage-free housing for their hens with House Bill 1074. They failed in an 8-5 vote, with all but one Democrat voting against it, according to The Denver Post.
The challenges come as egg prices skyrocket around the country, have skyrocketed largely due to inflation and the avian flu epidemic that’s making its way through the U.S.A’s hens.
State Republicans argued that the cage-free requirements add expenses for egg producers, and that removing the requirement could tamper currently-staggering prices.
Opponents cited concerns about what removing the cage-free requirements could do to the spread of avian flu. That’s because the law requires more designated floor space for each chicken – about a square foot-and-a-half.
According to the Department of Agriculture, more than 13 million birds were culled in December and the start of January alone due to avian flu.
Democrats have said they are open to other ideas, but that Colorado has already put in the investments to go cage-free, and that repealing the requirements would only create further market instability.