Another month has passed and once again it has been a very interesting education of your thoughts and concerns. Thank you to all that have posted and we look forward to hearing more of your comments.If you are confused about how to post on the blog or feel more comfortable e-mailing me your comments and concerns, please do so and we will post it for you.
E-mail: dustin.mcintyre@yahoo.com
Dustin McIntyre, Gateway News and www.gatewaynews.org
268 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 268 of 268China Comes to Commerce City will come true the same as it was said that Walmart was to go 'vertical' in June!
To Estelle,
Mr. Flannery maybe indeed resume building, but I ask you how is that negative for Commerce City. Will this not make him a better city manager? Will this not put Commerce City on the international stage once again? Will this not be yet another feather in our hat to gain local respect?
You have to look at this from all angles and know that the city council and staff are not out to hurt the city.
I ask that you all try to stay positive.
Hey Sans you have such good ideas. If only you were our ED person. Then we could have all of the developement you mentioned.
It would be so easy, since YOU know exactly how to bring the business here!
Wow, I wish you were working for the city!
Thank you to the principal, staff, 27J Super and Admin, all the assorted police and anyone else for moving quickly to keep our children safe. The call informing us about a bomb scare and evacuation at your children's school is a parent's worst nightmare. You all handled the situation as best as you could and we are so grateful. Thanks also to all of the students for remaining calm and orderly. My children are safe at home tonight playing games and music. What could be better?
Per the Adams County Records on Parcel Number 10723093
Flannery Gerald and Cynthia
Purchased on 7/18/2007 from Shea Homes
On 8/28/07 Flannery to Commerce City
On 10/30/09 Commerce City to Flannery
So Commerce City had title to Flannery's house for over two years, paying his house payment when citizens struggled with jobs and making house payments. Then Flannery received an additional $72000 in "relocation" fees just before he made a profit on his house in Arizona. Talk about treating the fine residents of Commerce City stupid!!!!
How can we gain local respect when the information is out there how Flannery played the council for fools?
So on october 5th 2009, Flannery sold his house in AZ for a profit and he 'bought' back his house from Commerce City on October 30th 2009, and he made a profit on his house in AZ, how does this deal smell to you?
How is Flannery's resume building help the citizens that pay his salary?
From The National League of Cities
The John J. McCloy Fellowship in Urban Affairs sponsored by the American Council on Germany: Established in 1976 this program gives American and German mid-career professionals an opportunity to broaden their experiences and to establish relationships with transatlantic counterparts. Each fellowship lasts three weeks and in most cases represents the first exposure to America or Germany for the participants.
Candidates for the McCloy Fellowship should be under age 50 and be employed as a mid-career local government civil servant; or be employed at a not-for-profit association in a position that provides tangible assistance to local governments; or be a newly elected local official. Candidates should have little previous exposure to Germany and limited personal contacts in Germany. They also must demonstrate a high level of civic involvement and a potential for community leadership.
How does this help Commerce City??
Pro City, we are not on ANY stage, international or otherwise. We are the laughing stock of Colorado. You willfully keep your head in the sand. Your condescending attitude toward Estelle and others gives you away.
At their August 24th regular meeting, the School District 27J Board of Education voted to include an item on the November 2010 ballot to increase the District’s mill levy, which would generate approximately $3.2 million annually.
The Board agreed that “…public interest and needs of the District require that revenues in excess of those that are received under the Public School Finance Act of 1994 are necessary for the General Fund of the District in order to better educate and maintain the safety of the pupils of the District;...”.
If approved, the additional revenue will be used to reduce class sizes by hiring and retaining highly qualified teachers, purchasing instructional materials and technology, and to maintain healthy and safe learning environments.
I love Petey!
I dont want my question to get lost, so I want to ask it again:
Is M Jerry going to be using his vacation time in Germany or are flipping the bill on his salary time?
The little group (yes I know you'll put me down for this) of those who keep knocking our city are just that, little.
Little in mind and goals.
There is in fact a much better respect for Commerce City.
I hear it in my work place and from others outside and in our city.
I have no doubt some of you have sour grapes, some just negative lives.
I feel sorry for both of you and feel sad your only goals are to keep puttin gour city down :-(
The Monaco Elementary School principal and the Adams 14 chief human resources officer have resigned from their positions at Adams County School District #14.
gateway,
I know that the #14 school district will say they can not comment on why all of this happened with the 2 employees. But if you hear anything, let us know.
If every homeowner in the north was willing to pay 2X or more in taxes like they do in that Reunion area we could break away from Commerce City and form our own city. Commerce City just has too much negativity associated with it and a council that won’t address. I bet more businesses will consider the area then.
Is there a list somewhere where I can see what my ward person has brought forward to the city and how they voted on issues?
to Mr. Anonymous:
My goal right now is to get back the 72 grand and the house from the Commerce City CM! That my friend is NOT A LITTLE GOAL!!!!!!!!!!
Break away to unincorporated Adams County and then annex into Brighton?
better yet denver?
The 2010 Mile High Music Festival will donate $20,000 to the Commerce City Quality Community Foundation for this year’s event.
Small potatoes to what the city could have had if the voters would have been smart.
If we would have passed 2A we could of had 8% and a very good head way on a new boys and girls club.
But the voters spoke and said a resounding NO!
Maybe Jerry ought to get his masters degree as career enhancement instead of going to Germany. Most of the directors have theirs.
rumor is that the 2 Adams County School District #14 employees were involved in some sort of extra curricular activities ;)
If you know what I mean, can you verify with school district?
so the employees at D#14 being put on Admin Leave have nothing to do with Spanish and English?
no not English or Spanish or Spanglish, but the language of love?
poor Adams 14! What a mess!
I don't think we teach the language of love in the public school districts?
Oh great. Adams 14 on channel 9 news. Thanks Ms. Lewis. On your watch the entire school dist has reached an all time low.
Amazing shot from cc city hall. wow!
COMMERCE CITY - The Adams 14 School District won't say why its chief human resources officer and a principal were placed on administrative leave before they resigned.
Advertisement
Chief Human Resources Officer Phil Bedford and Monaco Elementary School Principal Jennifer Ikenouye were placed on administrative leave on Aug. 13, according to district spokesman John Albright.
The Adams 14 Board of Education accepted letters of resignation from Bedford and Ikenouye at its Aug. 24 meeting.
Albright would not discuss what led to Bedford and Ikenouye being placed on leave, saying that information is protected as part of their personnel files.
Albright would not say if the school district had referred the issue to law enforcement for further review, saying that information is also a protected element of the former employees' personnel files.
Phone messages requesting comment left at numbers listed for Bedford and Ikenouye were not immediately returned Thursday evening.
9NEWS learned about the resignations from a viewer's news tip. If there is a story you'd like us to check out, send us an e-mail at newstips@9news.com.
are phil and jennifer connected in any way shape of form?
;}
Dustin,
That is an amazing photograph from city hall. Way yo go. Nicely done.
....viewers tip to channel 9.....can you say Kathy McIntyre?
She hates district 14 along with CC, along with mayor Natale, along with Flannery along with...sorry list is too long!!
Since the new DPS School opened off 48th and Tower I guess we can expect delays on 56th tower to Pena. Appears more Green Valley residents are choosing 56th due to school speed limit.
China Visit
China is number two in world trade and wants to become number one by 2020. China's industry is back in our 1900's and workers live in company housing and are paid about $3-4 dollars an hour. China needs American technology, our robotics, to push ahead of us.
It is as difficult to sit and watch city council meetings on Channel 8 as it is to watch in person. As the Mayor and Ms. Snyder repeatedly said, she was asked by the Mayor to go to China and she wants to go to China and the Mayor repeatedly asked for a "Yes or No" vote. I found myself, yelling, "Just, say, No" to the T.V. screen. China's International relationship building appears to be with the State and region of Colorado not CC. Commerce City is just one of a group of Metro Mayors that can easily handle any communications and trade agreements (Years in the future.) and pass that information on to CC. The Mayor from China is making even more points with his government by coming to Colorado in November. China is playing Colorado for all it's worth.
There appears to be a lot of Candidate grooming (Making different candidates look good to the public.) going on of current City Council members to run for City Mayor. City Council will have to maintain members that are favorable to our current City Manager to keep him in office. City Council will need a new Mayor that will protect the current council's majority interests and continue to vote in favor of CM Flannery. Hopefully, CC voters can see this for what it really is just political maneuvering.
CC has two or three really qualified council members that have served with honesty and distinction. Kathy Teter received the most votes of the candidates in this last election, she is greatly loved and respected in CC. She would make the best Mayor this city has ever had.
If, the Northern Range would annex into Brighton, we would have to pay the same school bonds and taxes that we already pay for 27J School District. That would not change. Reunion charges a monthly activity fee for the pool and gym facilities as well as a monthly HOA fee which makes them the most expensive area to live in and that will not change. When, a family buys a home in Reunion they make that choice to pay more tax to live there. The rest of the Northern Range will probably pay about the same tax they pay at this time. If, we were a part of the Brighton district, we probably would have the stores and shops needed to make our every day lives easier.
If, one drives the full length of Tower Rd. from Aurora to Brighton, there is construction from one end to the other but not in CC. This is the same land that extends from one end to the other. The only difference is City Administration. Even the same builders build along this same road. People just build around us, but, it is all the same land. For whatever reason, businesses do not want to partnership with CC. Is it because they can not trust us?
Editor Kathy McIntyre does not `hate` Commerce City. She has a long history with Commerce City and only wants what is best. Commerce City has issues, some major and it our job to reveal them and make the public aware. If the media did not ask questions, then what are we here for? It is a job we take very seriously.
But thank you for posting your opinion, and keep those questions coming.
Estelle, again you just go off with assumtions and little facts.
Your major assumtion about annexting to Brighton is actually very funny.
To do such a thing, Commerce City would have to be paid back for all the infrustructure and other investments for the north lands.
This would NOT be a long term type pay out (spread out over 20 or 30yrs) like is happening now through the GID's.
It would be a lump sum.
Since Brighton is finacially strapped this cost would have to be incurred by the homeowners in the north. Again as a lump sum payment.
Personally I can't pay thousands of dollars to help your ego, to have a different name on my mailing address.
Dig deeper, find out for yourself.
In the business arena, Commerce City is well thought of.
When businesses begin to build again (empty buildings abound in the metro area, those will need to be rented) we WILL see developement.
The image problem is people like you CONSTANTLY creating bad rumors and negative information.
I'd suggest you move, but you have complained in the past that you can't, something about all the illegals in your neighborhood?
You are a sad person, with lots of dark, mean thoughts.
I feel sorry for you!
d14 needs to concentrate on CSAP and not more scandals. I think we can figure out what really happened between the principal and the HR dir.
Why cant the Adams Cty school district reveal what really happened? Arent they being run with our tax dollars? So shouldnt we have the right to know?
We should throw all of our trust into the Chinese. Why not? What is history would tell you to do anything else?
I heard in another state the a principle and the human resource director had an affair and then got caught! If something like that happened here that would be SHOCKING!
we really do need to get our CSAP scores up. Maybe next year.
This is not popular, but I do think Commerce City should create a good working relationship with China, they do have a lot of money to spend, and it is worth it to build on this. Who knows what could come out of it.
I am Pro China
People, we are not talking that much money at all whenit comes to the Chinese relations building. It is worth it!
Anonymous
I can read your anger that anyone would speak out against years of being ignored here in the Northern Range. Where I live, I must use ear plugs to sleep because of the 45 trains each day that go past our house day and night. We desperatly need a silent train gate at 96th Ave and 327 families, almost 1,000 residents, share this noise. We have lived here for almost ten years, that is about 164,000 trains. And, yes, we are stuck here, would you like to purchase our house so we could move to Reunion with you? We have lost about $30,000 on our house value and that does reflect how the families around us have kept their homes. One neighbor stripped their house of everything before they were forced to leave. Another neighbor painted graffiti on the front of their house and tore off the lights and hardware. They had chickens in their basement which woke us up in the mornings and sometimes came into our yard and a policeman said the inside of the house was trashed.
When, I mention trusting City Council, I am referring to a 2007 Retreat where three council members pushed through a 3 million dollar park loan from the Northern Range to pay for a mulitmillion dollar park for the Historic City and that meant that our children who did not live in Reunion had to wait five to ten years (Waiting for the E-470 buildout.) to have parks to play in. And, a closed door meeting again in 2007, where we hired a City Manager and eventually gave him over $700,000 in Relocation expense, free rent and bought him a home he has not paid any money to live in over three years. So, let's talk about trust there!
I am not the dark, sad person with mean thoughts, I am the person that cares for the children in my subdivision that has no park to play in and I am the person that says it is shameful that a City Manager that is responsible for the finances of an entire city legally gets away with taking almost a million dollars from the taxpayers and I am the person that can not sleep at night because our silent gate project has been put on hold because there is not enough money to pay for the project.
Thank you for the information on having to pay for the infrustructure and other investments before we could annex. I did not know that, I thought that was part of the cost of purchase of my house. When, you call me names the least you can do is sign your own name.
Comm. City gets playful city! Good job, now lets work on getting a rec. center in the north!
Refernce the train crossing at 96th
I was told that the city has the funds and is waiting on the railroad to do the crossing part.
The actual tracks has to be done by the railroad (and that is according to their schedule)
Apparently there would be no point to starting the intersection until the railroad will be able to do the tracks. When done it will also be silent.
Question tho' to Estelle. Weren't the tracks there when you bought your home?
FYI, Kathy Teter is term limited and can't run for the mayor position, no matter how much Estelle likes her.
Estelle: Keep writing. Don't pay any attention to the "Anonymous" and "Pro City's" who go from passive aggressive to downright mean in their replies to you. The writers are probably Mayor Natale and his family or others that you have written about. Just keep on keep'n on. We are all listening.
FACTS AND REALITY TO COMMENTS ON THIS BLOG
Brighton is NOT financially strapped
The northern range CAN de-annex from Commerce City back to Adams County and then be annexed into Brighton
Commerce City is NOT well respected in the business community or by other governments
Other politicians in the Denver metro area care about their taxpayers and do not waste their taxpayers money and think that Commerce City's council are a bunch of fools. Just ask them.
Nanning China is not investing in the United States, they WANT us to invest in China. Check out their own website at www.nanning.china.org. Get your facts straight first.
Anonymous
I can read your anger that anyone would speak out against years of being ignored here in the Northern Range. Where I live, I must use ear plugs to sleep because of the 45 trains each day that go past our house day and night. We desperately need a silent train gate at 96th Ave and 327 families, almost 1,000 residents, share this noise. We have lived here for almost ten years, that is about 164,000 trains. And, yes, we are stuck here, would you like to purchase our house so we could move to Reunion with you? We have lost about $30,000 on our house value and that does reflect how the families around us have kept their homes. One neighbor stripped their house of everything before they were forced to leave. Another neighbor painted graffiti on the front of their house and tore off the lights and hardware. They had chickens in their basement which woke us up in the mornings and sometimes came into our yard and a policeman said the inside of the house was trashed.
When, I mention trusting City Council, I am referring to a 2007 Retreat where three council members pushed through a 3 million dollar park loan from the Northern Range to pay for a multimillion dollar park for the Historic City and that meant that our children who did not live in Reunion had to wait five to ten years (Waiting for the E-470 build out.) to have parks to play in. And, a closed door meeting again in 2007, where we hired a City Manager and eventually gave him over $700,000 in Relocation expense, free rent and bought him a home he has not paid any money to live in over three years. So, let's talk about trust there!
I am not the dark, sad person with mean thoughts, I am the person that cares for the children in my subdivision that has no park to play in and I am the person that says it is shameful that a City Manager that is responsible for the finances of an entire city legally gets away with taking almost a million dollars from the taxpayers and I am the person that can not sleep at night because our silent gate project has been put on hold because there is not enough money to pay for the project.
Thank you for the information on having to pay for the infrastructure and other investments before we could annex. I did not know that, I thought that was part of the cost of purchase of my house. When, you call me names the least you can do is sign your own name.
Buy a house. First thing you do is due diligence. Tracks were there first. SORRY you made a bad decision!
dusty or gateway news,
can commerce city council please bring up the pit bull ban again. I am a commerce city citizen who is watching the news on other cities about pit bulls and even denver is reconsidering their ban in sept.
thanks for hold this forum
P.S. to Anonymous
If, a person writes to the Gateway, and, you feel that the facts are not correct then give the facts as you know them. Don't attack the writer's character under no name without taking responsibility for your own words of anger. Don't attack Kathy McIntyre, who provides a public venue, so that, you can contribute to a city wide conversation. That's what this is all about, agreeing to disagree in a public forum, not name calling. You need to apologize for your lack of control of your own temper. Why are so angry at the people that disagree with you? That was the first lesson City Councilman, Paul Natale taught me.
Gateway News: I heard that Mr. Flanner is not using "personal vacation days" for his personal trip to Germany. Can you confirm with the city? Also, can you check to see how many days of vacation he gets a year? I think everyone will find it shocking.
Over by Frontera:
There are mostly anonymous writers.
Are they all the mayor or his family, or others Estelle complains about?
Trains
To be truthful, we had no idea that every time a train would go past our subdivision, it would blow three loud bursts beginning at our house. It also shakes our house and things fall ever so often. Next, I am speaking for about 1,000 residents who also did not know how many trains go past each day and how loud their horns would be. In 2000, I believe salespeople mentioned a few trains each day. And since we only visited about thirty minutes at a time when they were building, we had no idea. I believe we could take just the trains going by. We invested over $120,000 cash in our home with upgrades, we are nearing retirement, we were hoping to retire here with our house paid off. There was nothing else up here when we built. It is easy to say just move and don't care about the other families that need relief from the noise.
If, Kathy Teter is not available, then we need people just like her to come forward and run for Mayor and City Council.
Is it true thht Reunion paid for it's own infrastructure and can annex into Brighton or Denver anytime it wants?
Commerce City did not ban pit bulls. They made a requirement that all pit bulls that lived in the city at the time of the ordinance be registered and their homes be available for inspection. This was done to prevent dog fighting in Commerce City. After the dates of the original ordinance, then no new pit bulls would be allowed to move into the city of Commerce City. But be clear, the city of Commerce City never made anyone with a pit bull move out of the city, they were allowed to stay. Too many lies and rumors around this one for sure.
After the dates of the original ordinance, then no new pit bulls would be allowed to move into the city of Commerce City.
So this is not a ban?
For the Pit Bull issue.
I think it would be best if you contacted your council member directly.
The Commerce City Council Members information is here, copy and paste:
http://www.ci.commerce-city.co.us/index.aspx?nid=269
There is a ban in Commerce City for New Pits! A sad sad sad sad day for all Pits and Pit Owners!
I dont need to contact my council member I need council to act and do the right thing by reversing this ban!
Gateway, will you find out exactly what the city paid last time Natale and company went to China and how much this October's trip (total) is slated to be?
I did not think the gateway news would shy away from the pit bull issue!
We do not "shy" away from any issue. There is really nothing the Gateway News can do about pit bulls in Commerce City. It was and is up to city council on any changes regarding this issue. The city of Denver is re-visiting this issue with a new ADA view. It really is a wait and see how this plays out. We will watch this issue closely and report as it develops.
Thank you for your thoughts on this. We understand this is an important issue for many.
It still is best to contact your council member directly and express your concerns and wishes. They were voted in to represent you, so let them do so.
Dusty, I did not mean to strike a nerve. I just want as much help as I can get in changing this outrageously unfair cc ordinance.
It is important that we celebrate the funds given to the Commerce City Quality for a Lifetime Grant Program by the Mile High Music Festival.
This is completely voluntarily given by the festival promoters.
$20,000 is a lot of money, especially these days.
The word BAN means to prohibit. Commerce City did NOT BAN pit bulls, they did NOT PROHIBIT pit bulls. They made the owners of pit bulls register their dogs and have their property inspected so we would no longer have pit bull fights in our city. There is a big difference. If you then moved to Commerce City after that date then you made a choice to move here without your pit bull. No one in Commerce City ever had to get rid of their pit bull. This is completely different than the BAN in Denver where if you had a pit bull you either had to move out of the city or get rid of your pit bull.
NEWS FLASH China is NOT, I repeat NOT going to bring any business to Commerce City. China has factories where their citizens work and sometimes even live in the factory for very small wages and with no laws and very little protection. There is no way they would ever bring a Chinese company here and pay higher wages for our citizens and pay our taxes and abide by our laws. It would make no sense for them to come here ever. We import their durable goods, not the other way around. And they have millions of citizens to employ in China, why on earth would they want to create jobs over here? They need to employ their own citizens first. Can you post this as first blog for September 1 so it does not get lost please?
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