Listen:
-
play_arrow
MorningMagazine_2024-12-05 Jack Dawson
All Roads homeless shelter to reduce bed capacity
Boulder Shelter for the Homeless – now known as All Roads – will likely be reducing its bed capacity by 20, starting in April of next year.
According to The Daily Camera, the reduction could be a result of major funding cuts from Boulder County. In early October, All Roads got a $300,000 cut after county commissioners announced $4 million in cuts to grant funding for human services nonprofits.
Just a few months ago, the shelter announced they’d expanded their nightly capacity from 160 to 180 beds, and added more staff. However, even with the expansion, and a total of 180 beds, the shelter has been at capacity and had to turn many away.
North Boulder considers police substation
The Boulder city manager’s office and police department are considering adding a police substation in North Boulder. According to the Boulder Reporting Lab, this proposal is a means to address an increase in crime in the area.
The substation would be more efficient for officers, allowing them to complete tasks like paperwork without returning to the main police building, around 10 minutes away.
North Boulder, and the Central Park Corridor, have seen an uptick in crime. Citywide assaults in Boulder rose 17% in 2023. In North Boulder, assaults rose 49%. So far, this trend is slowing in 2024, but it hasn’t reversed.
The North Boulder Alliance, a neighborhood advocacy group, showed their support for the substation at a recent City Council meeting, and presented multiple requests. One member of the group suggested upticks in crime were an effect of All Roads summer day services opening in June, however; city data shows that crime rates rose far beforehand.
A spokesperson for All Roads said that the organization supports the idea of adding a substation.
Boulder Reporting Lab says the proposal is raising questions about how to allocate limited city resources strategically, to reduce crime citywide.
For now, Council members are considering the possibility, as well as different potential locations best suited to target crime.
Denver police get new robot “dog” for their bomb squad
Denver’s police department is also seeing some changes – a new robot “dog” will be joining their ranks.
The department recently spent $328,000 on the robot canine, which will be used by their bomb squad and in some SWAT team responses.
According to a Denver police press release, the remote-controlled dog has an arm that can open doors and lift objects, along with lights and cameras to operate in darker spaces. The dog will not be armed.
The robot is considered an upgrade from the department’s current bomb robot, because this one is more coordinated and can go around debris that would be a problem for a device on wheels or tracks.
Young Colorado kids sees rise in walking pneumonia
Colorado has recorded a rise in walking pneumonia this fall, especially among very young children.
Bacteria causing the mild lung infection reemerged in the U.S. this year for the first time since the start of the pandemic, and are expected to continue rising into next year.
Doctors are seeing the spread in many children ages two to four; typically, the illness is more common in older children.
Walking pneumonia is less severe than other variations of the illness and spreads via respiratory droplets when a person sneezes or coughs. Doctors are urging folks to wash their hands and cover their noses and mouths when coughing or sneezing.
Health officials are unsure why the disease is spreading to young children right now. They also cannot yet pinpoint exactly how prevalent walking pneumonia is in Colorado, since testing is not common.
As far as the cause of the spread to young children, doctors are unsure for now. However, outbreaks of walking pneumonia typically hang around in three-to seven-year cycles.
Lafayette to expand electric vehicle fleet
The city of Lafayette has received a $174,000 Fleet-ZERO grant from the Colorado Energy Office to expand its growing fleet of electric vehicles.
On Tuesday, the Lafayette City Council voted to accept the offer.
The Daily Camera says the grant will help further the city’s Electric Vehicle Action Plan, and aid the city’s transition to electric vehicles. The grant will also pay for developments at the Lafayette Public Works Service Center, which will serve as a hub for the EV fleet operation.
16 charging ports and new concrete will be added in order to power the new vehicles.Â
Lafayette’s Climate Action Plan, released in August, aims to lower the city’s emission reductions 80% by 2030, based on 2021 levels. In line with that goal, the city aims for 30% of all its vehicles to be electric by the same year.
1st Bank Center update
The 1stBank Center in Broomfield is being demolished.
During and after the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the center struggled to bring in business. In 2023, the city voted to close it and tear it down.
Deconstruction should go through the end of next year. After that, the city intends to start a formal bidding process to determine what’s next for the location.
Surrounding businesses are anxious to bring back customers, as many have suffered due to the center’s closure. That’s all according to CBS News Colorado.
