ArvadaforAllthePeople

Important Arvada Elections in May 2016

Another round of debt for the APEX recreation district?

Weaken term limits for the board of directors of the Arvada Fire Protection District?

Those questions are on the ballot for the Tuesday, May 3, 2016, Arvada local districts elections.

Apex Park and Recreation District is asking permission for another round of bond debt to the tune or $25 million (with interest $44.9 million). You can read the ballot question here.

Though every registered voter in Arvada is eligible to vote on this bond issue question, typically turnout is relatively low due to the date and lack of publicity about special district elections. It is very important for you to participate -- $44.9 million of your tax dollars could be decided by as few as three or four thousand voters!

There are also two Apex board positions up for election.

The Apex election is all by mail.

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There are four candidates for two positions on the AFPD board of directors this year; read about them here.

In addition, the AFPD board is once again trying to get out from underneath the two term limit for themselves. They tried to do away with term limits entirely in 2013 and were rebuffed by the voters; this time they want three terms (that's 12 years). There has been ample interest in the AFPD and more than enough candidates in recent years that doing away with term limits seems unjustified.

Here is the question:

Shall the term limits that apply to the Board of Directors of the Arvada Fire Protection District pursuant to Article XVII. Section 11(1) of the Colorado Constitution be increased to no more than three consecutive terms in office?

If you have signed up to receive a permanent absentee ballot with AFPD, you should get a ballot in the mail. Otherwise you may vote on Tuesday, May 3, 2016, at the following locations:

Arvada Fire Protection District Headquarters
7903 Allison Way
Arvada, CO 80005

Arvada Fire Protection District Training Center
6651 Indiana Street
Arvada, CO 80007

Rocky Flats: Not Safe ... "Move on"

Denial.

A part of the Rocky Flats inheritance to the City of Arvada that buries its head in the dry ground and refuses to acknowledge the risk for Candelas residents of the plutonium legacy of the former nuclear weapons plant next door.

Of course, any maladies caused by radioactivity would take years to manifest themselves, by which time the current pro-sprawl politicians and developers controlling Arvada city government will have made their money and be long gone.

For important information you won't get from the city government or the developers:
CandelasGlows.com
CandelasConcerns.com

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This Wildlife Refuge Used to Be One of America’s Most Polluted Nuclear Sites — But Is It Safe Now? | 
Eric Freedman; Earth Island Journal/AlterNet.org - March 21, 2016

... The Candelas development, with a projected 1,500 single-family homes located on the refuge’s outskirts in the city of Arvada, is due for completion within the next decade. With the slogan “Life Wide Open,” it offers homes ranging from the $300,000s to the $700,000s. Subdivisions – described as “distinctive villages” – with names like “Mountainview,” “Skyview,” and “Canyonview” have prime lots offering views of the refuge, the Flatirons, the Denver skyline, and Welton Reservoir. ...

... So who would pay a half-million dollars or more to live next to a former nuclear production facility, no matter the grand vistas and assurances that the area exceeds “the environmental standards set as the cleanup goal?”

“It has been an issue,” a sales representative for the development tells us. “I definitely can talk around it. It’s their job to get educated.” Would-be buyers are advised, “Do your own research. You have to decide if it’s going to be comfortable for you,” she continues. “If not, move on.” ...