Arvada for All the People held its second Community Meeting on Saturday, June 27, with an emphasis on how we can affect change in our community; how we can rein in the abuses of Arvada Urban Renewal; and how we can make our government more accountable to we, the people.
Former Littleton mayor, Doug Clark, headlined a panel of citizen urban renewal reformers. Clark, along with panelist Carol Brzeczek, related the circumstances and the strategies that resulted in the successful campaign in Littleton earlier this year to restrict the power and abuses of the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) in that city. Eric Sutherland told of his ongoing work in Fort Collins and Weld County to expose the failings of urban renewal and promote the free market as a more effective planning strategy.
Over fifty Arvadans heard how -- against enormous political odds and being outspent by 10-to-1 by government/developer special interests -- the people of Littleton passed by a 60% vote a citizen-backed URA reform initiative in a special election. The citizens of Littleton have taken control of their government and their own future:
Any council action approving or modifying an urban renewal plan pursuant to part 1 of the Colorado urban renewal law must be ratified by the registered electors of the city of Littleton if the approval or modification of the urban renewal plan proposes the use of or change to eminent domain, condemnation, tax increment financing, revenue sharing of cost sharing.
Arvada's city charter currently makes the power of the people through the use of citizen initiative and referendum virtually impossible. Checks and balances, a concept essential to our unique American form of government, are therefore unavailable to Arvadans.
- In Littleton, a citizen Initiative or Referendum requires a petition of 5% of registered voters in the last general municipal election to place a proposal on the ballot.
- In Arvada it takes 10% of all registered voters.
- Littleton gives citizens 180 days to collect signatures.
- In Arvada - 30 days. That would mean collecting nearly 300 signatures a day (with a signing error margin) everyday for the 30 days - a practical impossibility for volunteers.
- An ordinance approved by the voters in Littleton cannot be revised, repealed of amended by he city council for two years.
- In Arvada, the council can void the will of the people after only 6 months.
This means that in Arvada, for all intents and purposes, the use of Initiative and Referendum guaranteed by the Colorado Constitution, Article V, Section 1(9) -- as a check on government power and overreach -- is not available to average, grassroots citizens.
To make the Arvada city charter more democratic will, therefore, take a new council majority that can refer needed changes to the ballot for approval by the citizens. A new commitment to the basic principles of government articulated by the likes of James Madison and Alexander Hamilton 226 years ago in the Constitution of the United States is sorely needed in Arvada.
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