Golden Visitors

Raise your hand if you have had out-of-town visitors this summer. My hand is up, too.  So far we've had family from Boston and Cleveland, plus friends from around the metropolitan area--and we're expecting more before summer's end.

Visitors love our downtown, trails, biking opportunities, views, dinosaur footprint, parks, and events. And we usually love our visitors right back--they add life to our town and often spend money here, thus adding to business and city revenues. Recently, though, we've had an overflow of visitors on the Clear Creek Corridor--enjoying tubing while the weather is extremely hot and the water flow extremely low. Most are welcome -- but not if they disregard our bans on alcoholic beverages, smoking, glass containers, littering, dogs off leash, excessive noise, and illegal parking. Also unwelcome are those who show disrespect of residents, children, police officers, and property; those who stake out a territory and squat there all day; and those who block the pathways and erode the creek banks. The City is taking measures to ensure that these disagreeable folks go elsewhere. Police are strictly enforcing our ordinances. Banks that need restoration have been fenced off and parking will be reduced. The corridor is treasured by all Golden residents and we have been proud to share it with the considerate majority of visitors.  We'll work through the current situation together -- and in the meantime I would like to give a shout out to the local residents who have had their neighborhood disrupted and the police who are working hard under difficult circumstances. The Parks and Recreation Board has put this item on the agenda of their Tuesday, July 17 meeting at 7:00 p.m. at the community center. If you have additional ideas on the subject, the members of the board are interested in hearing them. They will then make recommendations to council.

Council tackled another, less major, congestion issue at our meeting last Thursday. The success of Woody's (a good thing) has sometimes led to a clogged sidewalk on Washington Avenue (a not-so-good thing). As a pilot project, Woody's has received permission to place an inviting temporary structure for waiting patrons in the parking space in front of the restaurant during the warm-weather season. And if any tired members of the public need a shaded place to rest for awhile -- they are welcome, too. After the structure has been in place this year and next, council will review the permit in light of a general study of parking use and needs in downtown Golden.

Last week we had a milestone event. The new Public Works and Planning Building held its grand opening. The repurposed structure is a physical embodiment of Golden's dedication to sustainable living. The project aims for LEED Gold certification -- even higher than the Silver standard recommended by CSAB and set by City Council in 2008. It reduces lighting power by more than 20% below the minimum standards by using LEDs, CFLs, and occupancy sensors; diverted 50% of the construction waste from the landfill;  commits 100% of its annual electricity use to be provided by green power for at least two years; strives for a healthy building, with paints, furniture, and flooring with low VOC content and an efficient ventilation system for indoor air quality; restored 60% of the site to a native vegetation, reduces imperviousness and increases water quality of stormwater runoff, and the will feature native trees, xeric plants, and a fruit orchard irrigated with a non-potable drip system. No less importantly, the building provides an efficient, attractive, comfortable, and economical work space for our terrific employees. Stop in anytime -- it is just across from the community center on 10th street.


Also this week, many of our engaged residents participated in workshops on plans for the Central Neighborhood (held at the bowling alley) and East Downtown (held at the community center). Whether you attended or not, you can soon see the expressed ideas and add your own on the City's new interactive website at http://golden.mindmixer.com.

At its next meeting, a study session, council will turn its focus to matters of statewide concern affecting our community. There will be a presentation from the Bell Policy on the State's difficult fiscal situation and another from residents Jim Dale and Karen Oxman about TBD, a conversation on challenges facing Colorado. We will also interview applicants for GURA openings.