u/Scott_Gilbert7

Hey neighbors, here is the Englewood Herald story on the Englewood City Council's decision to keep the July 4 fireworks display on the schedule, and a description of the meeting that led to the 4-3 vote. I also asked the police about the hot topic of illegal fireworks, and their responses are shared. Click here for the story: https://www.littletonindependent.net/englewood/article_757c54d0-3a67-4e89-b0fe-e26d40bd4ea5.html

On a personal note, I wish I could have gotten this story out sooner, since Englewood residents on both sides care greatly about the fireworks issue. I left the July 1 council meeting at 6 p.m. intending to go across Hampden to the newsroom and bang out a story pronto. But when I got to my van and checked my messages, I found some very sad news, and I was not able to work on this story until the morning of July 3. I hope it's still useful to you.

A special meeting of the Englewood City Council has been set for 5 p.m. Wednesday, July 1, to discuss a request brought forward by three councilmembers that could result in cancellation of the July 4 fireworks show set for this Saturday at Cornerstone and Belleview Parks. Click here for the Englewood Herald story: https://www.littletonindependent.net/englewood/article_4d38b8ff-c55c-42e8-b512-46fb03138e6c.html

When Englewood Deputy City Manager Tim Dodd recently spoke to city council to explain why city staff accepted a vendor’s apparent forgery of a state nonprofit certificate at face value on May 11, he said staff had not verified the legitimacy of the document with the “issuing agency” — the Secretary of State’s Office. But messages exchanged that day between Dodd and Open Space Manager Tim Holt show Holt did check the Secretary of State database and correctly found no record that the vendor’s company even existed on that date, hours before Dodd and Events Supervisor Toni Arnoldy successfully lobbied council to grant the vendor a fee waiver. Click here for the Englewood Herald story: https://www.littletonindependent.net/englewood/article_d03879bc-3706-455b-a583-e81ba21d4bc1.html

Hi neighbors -- I called the coroner's office this morning and it was a gut punch to learn that the motorcyclist killed along University Boulevard on Saturday night was a 19-year-old man. Any man who survived being 19 knows the there-but-for-the-grace-of-God feeling. Here's the Englewood Herald brief: https://www.littletonindependent.net/englewood/article_43ead79d-c837-4ed6-a43b-52fc68ef998d.html

Englewood City Council killed a $6,000 fee waiver granted to a holiday-event vendor due to revelations that apparently falsified documentation was submitted to secure the waiver, but the city isn't done dealing with "Cookie" Gove and "Frenchie" Wunderlich. They reportedly are trying to salvage a deal to sell alcohol at city events after being shut down over "irregularities" in their sales-tax license, and the DA's office has launched a criminal investigation. Click here for the Englewood Herald story: https://www.littletonindependent.net/englewood/article_848ec02f-128e-444b-bb4e-96d88d204821.html

By the way, neighbors -- I try not to dump 2,165-word stories on you. I know it's on the "War and Peace" continuum. But there's just a lot going on in this case.

The Englewood Police Department filed a case with the Arapahoe County District Attorney’s Office on June 2 after a vendor named The Village submitted an allegedly falsified state document to get the Englewood City Council to green-light a waiver of about $6,000 in event fees, and police have also reached out to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and Colorado Secretary of State's Office, a 52-page memo prepared for the city council says. Click here for the Englewood Herald story: https://www.littletonindependent.net/englewood/article_dc1415b6-6391-473b-8690-3702d6e433b9.html

Hey, neighbors, normally I wouldn't post two stories back to back, but this news about the Englewood police turning over the case to the DA, and a whole lot more detail, broke after I left work Thursday and is a substantially different story from the Pirates Cove story.

The women behind The Village — the company that was awarded nearly $6,000 in event fee waivers by the City of Englewood after submitting dubious documents purporting to be from the state and federal government — were prohibited from selling alcohol at the June 10 Pirates Cove Adult Night after failing to provide a valid state sales tax license number, the city announced. Click here for the Englewood Herald story: https://www.littletonindependent.net/englewood/article_99af1577-a367-4c5d-a8ee-4c145144dee2.html

After a meth contamination incident that cost more than $190,000 to mitigate, Englewood's Simon Center public housing for seniors and disabled people reopened its library on May 21 with books and other materials donated by community members. Multiple apartments at Simon Center and its sister facility Orchard Place have tested positive for meth in recent years, a problem occurring across the rental industry. Click here for the Englewood Herald story: https://www.littletonindependent.net/englewood/article_af4b978b-cc39-4637-a404-ce2eba66fcbc.html

I want to express my gratitude to the leadership of Innovative Housing Concepts, owner of the Simon Center, for their willingness to talk openly about the challenges they face with meth contamination and the measures they are taking to address it. When I called interim executive director Sherri Stinson in early April after I heard about the issue, I asked about the agency's Colorado Open Records Act procedures because I was braced for stonewalling and being forced to submit all questions through CORA. Instead, Stinson said she and her staff would answer any questions I had and sit for interviews without requiring a CORA, and they did just that. Their transparency really stood out.

Following controversy over an Englewood church’s request for $65,000 in tax money for a building improvement grant that would have included $16,000 in signage to market the church, the Englewood Downtown Development Authority board has settled on a policy direction to allow grants for nonprofit and for-profit applicants equally while limiting the grants to requests that improve safety and increase activity in pedestrian areas. Click here for the Englewood Herald story: https://www.littletonindependent.net/englewood/article_e2a84499-d67f-4af8-82eb-62b43ff014fe.html

Englewood City Council members unanimously approved a no-bid deal and nearly $6,000 in fee waivers for a Denver-based event organizer after Deputy City Manager Tim Dodd told the councilmembers that city staff had verified the company’s state and federal nonprofit status, but the state paperwork appears to be falsified and the city now admits it never checked the claim of federal nonprofit status, which is not on the IRS online list of nonprofits. Click here for the Englewood Herald story: https://www.littletonindependent.net/englewood/article_078fa9a4-bb8b-463a-8963-ac327dcf7ad3.html

A request for $65,000 in tax money by the Sacred Grace Englewood church has eaten up big portions of the last two Englewood Downtown Development Authority (EDDA) board meetings without a decision, and the quasi-public agency has now scheduled an all-hands policy-making session for May 27 in hopes of settling the questions raised by the grant application. The funds are being sought for exterior improvements at the congregation's newly leased space in the Chase Bank tower as part of the EDDA's Building Improvement Grant program. Click here for the Englewood Herald story: https://www.littletonindependent.net/englewood/article_f3df1d44-3f76-45fe-9214-18d99125df49.html

A million-dollar lawsuit filed by the victims of a massive burglary at an Englewood CubeSmart Self Storage facility makes an argument for believing that the general manager of the premises “has some involvement and culpability in the theft.” Click here for the Englewood Herald story: https://www.littletonindependent.net/englewood/article_a1e5a6bf-606a-42c8-8b3c-8faac1c01ae6.html

News from our neighbors in Littleton, on an issue that also occurs in Englewood: Jonathan Awbrey, the owner of an unleashed Staffordshire terrier that was running loose in an on-leash park when it killed an aging pug, is headed to trial on four charges. The pug's owners are trying to pay down the bill for their fruitless emergency veterinarian visit after rejecting a liability-dodging deal offered by Awbrey, who responded to a reporter's request for comment with a text saying "Kindly f--- off." Click here for the Colorado Community Media story: https://www.littletonindependent.net/news/article_580a31d7-b637-4474-9152-c55e511c4b54.html

The Oxford Pedestrian Bridge — which, to be clear, will carry walkers and bicyclists over Oxford Avenue and not over Santa Fe Drive — is set to open on May 13 with a 4 p.m. ribbon-cutting that is open to the public. The ceremony will be at the north end of the bridge, adjacent to the Oxford/City of Sheridan Light Rail Station. Click here for the Englewood Herald story: https://www.littletonindependent.net/englewood/article_37953775-0df0-4170-8556-5c097696da22.html