As mentioned yesterday, you should attend Art on Tap at Foothills Art Center from 6-8 tonight. Be creative with beer! 809 15th St. (map).
EDTalks will start at 4PM at the Arthur Lakes Library on the CSM campus (1400 Illinois – map). Learn about the history of the Creede Mining Site from the CSM Geology Museum’s collections manager, Ed Raines.
Author Molly Bloom will be at Golden High School from 6:30-8 tonight. Ms. Bloom is best known for her memoir, Molly’s Game, which was adapted into an award-winning film, starring Jessica Chastain. Learn more and purchase tickets.
City Council meets tonight at 6:30 in City Council Chambers. Click here to see the meeting packet.
Council will consider whether to continue allowing HOAs to exempt themselves from the City’s waste-hauling program.
They will also review the report from the Investment Task Force. The Task Force has been meeting for several months to evaluate the “wish list” of possible expenses that we’ve compiled through many years of public meetings. They employed several methods of polling the public, but got the highest number of responses (340) through the GuidingGolden poll. Citizens were asked to vote yes or no on whether they wanted to fund various items. If their “yeses” were going to cost more than $15million, they were asked which kind of tax increase they would support in order to pay for the projects. The taxing options included an increase in sales tax or property tax, initiating a lodging tax, or legalizing marijuana sales and taxing them.
Click here to enlarge the graph.
Based on the graph above (where red means no and green means yes), the only category that a majority of people favor funding is open space acquisition. Looks like about 62% said “yes” to that. Overall willingness to fund was:
% in favor *
62% – Open Space
38% – Parfet Park Improvements
34% – Astor House Renovation
32% – Community Solar Garden
29% – DeLong Park
28% – Affordable Housing
27% – Clear Creek Pedestrian Bridge
24% – Lions Park Improvements
24% – Longboard Course
22% – Redevelop Former Museum Space
22% – Aquatics Expansion at the Community Center
22% – Downtown Streetscape
19% – Bachman Park
18% – Heritage Road and 6th Intersection
18% – Splash Expansion
15% – Solar for City Buildings
13% – West Colfax Avenue Improvements
10% – Hwy 93 & Hwy 58 Intersection
6% – Grampsas Park Improvements
3% – New History Museum
* These are estimates, based on eying the graph, since the actual numbers weren’t included in the report.
The report lists Open Space as having a “High” degree of interest and anything from 27%-38% to have a “Good” degree of interest…which is a curious interpretation.
The task force began by asking people which topics they considered important. Most of the topics were important to people, but when they subsequently took a survey that included price tags and the possibility of increasing taxes, people were much less enthusiastic.
This was a good exercise. It’s useful for a community to consider whether they want something badly enough to pay for it. It will be interesting to see what Council does with this information.
Planning Ahead:
Friday
It’s not too late to get in on the Golden Rotary Foundation’s 17th Annual Golf Classic tomorrow at Applewood Golf Course. Learn more and register here!
Saturday
Judy Denison is hosting a house party on Saturday from 2-3:30 for Tammy Story – Democratic Candidate for Colorado Senate District 16. This is the perfect opportunity to get to know our (probable) next state senator in a small venue! Suggested contributions are Guest – $25, Advocate – $50, Supporter – $75, and Friend $100. To RSVP, contact Jay Malone at 469-920-0181 or jmmalone2305@gmail.com. Click here to donate online.
Also Saturday
Dinosaur Ridge is hosting a Brontos & Brews Festival this Saturday. They’ll have a carnival with Dinosaur-themed rides and games from 10AM-4PM and a beer garden from 1-4PM. At noon, they’re going to attempt to break the Guinness World Record from the greatest number of people appearing in dinosaur costumes in a photo! Bring your own costume if you have one. They will have a limited number to loan out.
Sunday
June 17th is Father’s Day, so plan accordingly.
