Posts tagged city
R U ready for CONE ZONE HELL in Boulder this summer??
Jun 15th
As the summer season progresses, additional construction may be noticeable to those traveling around Boulder as the city continues to improve the community’s transportation and utilities infrastructure. Although construction projects happen throughout the year, the city schedules more work during the summer months to take advantage of warmer temperatures, longer days and less traffic. During summer 2012, construction crews will be working to replace aging waterlines, resurface city streets and improve travel options.
All active projects and the associated traffic impacts will be updated weekly at
www.boulderconezones.net. Some of the major summer construction projects with potential traffic impacts are summarized below.
2012 Street Resurfacing Projects
The city’s annual street resurfacing projects began in May and will continue through the fall. More than 60 city streets are targeted for either chip seal, resurfacing (overlay) or reconstruction in 2012. View a list and map of streets planned for resurfacing and reconstruction.
In general, these projects will involve daytime traffic impacts, intermittent lane or road closures, and parking restrictions. More streets are scheduled for resurfacing than in past summers as a result of the 2011 voter-approved Capital Improvement Bond; however, budgeting and project coordination may cause some of the projects to be put on the list for next year.
Broadway (Euclid to 18th) Transportation Improvements Project
Construction on Broadway, between Euclid Avenue and 18th Street, is currently on schedule to be completed by mid-August 2012. For more information about the project, visit www.bouldertransportation.net.
2012 Boulder Waterline Replacement Project
Beginning on Monday, June 18, and continuing through mid-November, construction crews will be working to replace corroded waterlines throughout Boulder. The annual waterline replacement project involves temporarily disconnecting then reconnecting water service.Significant delays and traffic impacts are expected while crews work across the intersection of Alpine Avenue and 19th Street during the week of June 18.
The waterline replacements will improve the city’s water distribution system, including service reliability and water quality. The city has coordinated utilities and transportation improvements so that the streets impacted by the construction will be patched after the waterlines are replaced and then repaved as part of the city’s annual pavement resurfacing program.
More information about the 2012 Boulder Waterline Replacement Project is available at www.boulderwater.net.
2012 Sanitary Sewer Rehabilitation Project
This project will begin on Monday, June 18, and involves the rehabilitation of sanitary sewer lines at various locations throughout the city. In general, motorists can expect intermittent delays, daytime lane closures and parking restrictions at the work sites. Individual work sites and times will be scheduled on a weekly basis and posted at www.boulderconezones.net. The project is scheduled for completion by September.
For the latest information on travel impacts associated with city construction projects, visit www.boulderconezones.net or follow@boulderconezone on Twitter.
Brigham-Gate and Tom Carr's Past by Rob Smoke: Boulder Colorado
May 18th
Boulder’s City Attorney Tom Carr professes Seth Brigham a growing menace, progressing daily closer to violence against the Boulder city council. It’s an entertaining notion — Seth kidnapping council and turning them into his personal slaves would make a great horror-flick — however it is crap.
Interesting that Brigham-gate should touch on that issue of unpredictable violence, when the most discussed issue of Tom’s 2009 lost Seattle city attorney campaign hinged on the same issue in another context.
During Tom’s tenure as Seattle city attorney, there were extensive “excessive use of force” complaints against the police department of the city of Seattle. Imagine you’re the mom of a developmentally disabled
teenager who gets his face smashed by a Seattle police officer — an officer who had done something similar
on other occasions, but was still on the force because of corrupt internal review. Let’s be clear: Under
Tom Carr there were 400 back-to-back-to-back non-disciplined “excessive use of force” cases.
In other words, the officer was not held accountable with removal or suspension of his job — and in many cases, where an adjunct review board did recommend to Tom that he take disciplinary action, which Tom was actually
responsible for doing, he did nothing.
The Federal Justice Dept. came in, and the Deputy Attorney General of the Human Rights Division, Thomas Perez, cited the entire oversight process as broken. In point of fact, he could have cited Tom Carr, but instead cited everyone including Tom. It was, however, up to Tom to act if others wouldn’t — or at the very minimum,
act more appropriately on a case by case basis with victims of brutality. Google “Seattle police brutality”.
In other videotaped cases, an innocent hispanic man is kicked in the head by an officer while lying on the ground.
In another case, a pregnant woman was tasered multiple times by three officers and Tom appealed a Federal judge’s
ruling to allow the woman to move forward with a civil claim for damages.
Tom did not lose the 2009 Seattle city attorney’s race to a relative newcomer
by some weird accident, or, as he claims, because it was a “bad year for incumbents.”
No, he lost the race in an absolute landslide because people were sick to death of seeing reports about police brutality and suffering victims. Jon Kita, an asian restaurant owner, interviewed in the Seattle press about the videotaped “excessive use of force” assault he endured, put it this way, “How is it possible to get to 400 cases in a row with no discipline?”
Indeed, how is it possible? It must be noted, Tom absolutely oversaw the contracts for
civil claims defense of police officers alleged to have harmed people. During Tom’s tenure, the bill added up
to over $18 million dollars, which all went to one law firm which Tom helped choose. If at any time during those
400 non-disciplined cases there was a turnaround towards implementation of discipline, that would have caused the costs for handling those cases — the billings — to nosedive. Tom prevented that from happening. By the way, Tom’s replacement in Seattle, made it a first order of business to dissolve that highly questionable contract — and guess what? The firm itself has since dissolved.
The question remains, at what point in time did Tom become aware that the city of Seattle was receiving bad publicity for its brutality problems? Was it a year before the election? Could Tom have a rational understanding that he would lose — that in fact, the other side could nominate a doorknob, and he’d probably lose? In other words, what was the nature of Tom’s commitment to having this highly-paid bunch of lawyers defend brutal officers? Did Tom somehow feel that his own personal sense of justice and duty serving the city of Seattle was more significant than the information he was getting from the ever-growing list of injured residents seeking bare compensation or apology for their suffering?
Or did someone pay him to take his election loss with a smile and the “it was a bad year for incumbents” remark?
And how did the city of Boulder manage to hire him, at a pay increase of about $50k per year, without ever discussing
the 2-to-1 margin of loss in the 2009 election, and the brutality issues which always went unresolved and which were
lead stories in the local news, time and again — the hallmark of his term as city attorney?
Rob Smoke is a columnist for Boulder Channel 1. He writes about city of Boulder Politics
Boulder offers vets a free 90-day rec pass
May 17th
The Boulder Parks and Recreation Department will offer a special recreation facility pass program for veterans, active duty and reservist military personnel beginning Monday, May 21. Boulder City Councilmember Tim Plass proposed the program, which was approved by City Council on May 15.
The program includes a one-time, free, 90-day recreation facility pass for post-9/11 veterans who are City of Boulder residents. It also offers a 25 percent discount on annual passes for all military personnel and veterans who reside in the City of Boulder or Boulder County. The program is not retroactive for current pass holders. The passes provide entry to all three city recreation centers, two outdoor pools and the Boulder Reservoir.
“We are honored to offer this program and provide an opportunity for returning veterans and other service personnel to participate in health and fitness programs in our local community,” said Alice Guthrie, recreation superintendent for the Parks and Recreation Department.
To qualify, applicants must have served in one of the following branches of service, identified by the Department of Defense:
● Army
● Navy
● Air Force
● Marines
● Coast Guard
● National Guard
● Merchant Marines
To receive the free 90-day recreation pass, applicants must go to the Parks and Recreation administrative offices at 3198 Broadway Ave. and show a DD-214 form with separation date and a photo ID. To receive the 25 percent discount, applicants must bring either a DD-214 form, valid Veterans ID from the Veterans Affairs Office or valid Active Duty or Reservist ID to one of the three city recreation centers (North Boulder Recreation Center at 3170 Broadway Ave., East Boulder Community Center at 5660 Sioux Drive or South Boulder Recreation Center at 1360 Gillaspie Drive).
The Parks and Recreation Department also offers veterans a variety of therapeutic recreation programs through the EXPAND (EXciting Programs, Adventures and New Dimensions) program.
For more information on the veterans and active duty military personnel facility pass program, visit www.BoulderParks-Rec.org.