I remember the morning of Sept. 11, 2001 standing in the parking lot at work, watching that second plane go into the towers right in front of me. I also remember those inside my office that were cheering the falling of the towers and the murder of 3,000 people. Earlier this month when I learned
Just take a moment to look around and see the amazing things happening all around us. I was invited recently to the Optimist Club meeting and found myself standing in a room of people reciting an oath to be positive and to look at the sunny side of things. It was an hour of laughter,
Election time is always interesting in Wheat Ridge. These days, much more subdued than ever. We have a city council that is all in agreement. All green lights on the dais for just about every proposition, amendment, idea or spending request from the city. Many that follow city council meetings have been voicing their concerns
The expression of “be careful for what you wish for” was never as right as that Saturday when I set up the Neighborhood Gazette booth at the Blues and BBQ Festival in Edgewater. Displaying a banner that reads “I will talk to anyone about anything” brought on more attention than I expected. The festival began
Not sure what got into the water last weekend, but I must have seen a hundred screamin’ neon landlubbers milling around Sloan’s Waterway making pouty-fish faces into their camera boxes at sunset. Things got even stranger the next day when I heard rumblings about some kind of powerful siren or cult leader called “Taylor” who
The waste collection company we currently use just sent us a note that as of July, they will only pick up garbage in their branded trash cans and will no longer pick up garbage bags that are not inside their trash cans. This replaces the six-bag allowance we had up to now. We compost and
June is here and not a minute too soon. May was a tough month to swallow, with senseless crime, selfish politics, insane property taxes and the end of an era for some of our schools. Of course, let’s not forget the crazy rains and the rabbits that invaded our gardens. It’s like the modern version
I’m always hearing that “change is hard.” The way we educate our students, the way we eat, what is now acceptable to say, or even stand for. We’re told to accept change or be “canceled.” The Beatles sang about life changing “forever but not for better.” But I would argue that not all is lost
The Cambridge dictionary defines “augmentation” as the process of increasing the size, value or quality of something by adding to it. Think about the ingredients in your Sunday morning pancakes: flour, milk, baking soda – boring, right? But, when you augment what’s there, substituting honey for sugar, adding fresh berries and drenching each bite in
Thank you Clancy’s for putting on another amazing St. Patrick’s Day festival. Four thousand people came through the doors, paying an easy $3 entry fee, which raised $12,000, of which more than half went to two charities and the rest helped pay for the tents. The event attracted a huge amount of people from outside
Let me introduce myself. I’m Susan Miller, and I represent District Four on the Jefferson County Board of Education. So why am I here writing about Wheat Ridge? Because I’m a fiercely proud mom of four Farmer graduates. We choiced our first child into Wheat Ridge High School back in 2010, when Griff Wirth and
Why is a 40-hour work week standard? It’s most commonly accepted that Henry Ford implemented it in his factories in 1926. Ford saw the value in an eight-hour workday. This could be because he was an altruistic businessman who saw the value in a work/life balance. Or, he could have been a profiteering capitalist who
First things first, thank you, Wheat Ridge. You are an incredible community that comes together whether you have been here for decades or are new to the neighborhood. We did not save our beloved elementary schools, Wilmore Davis, Vivian or Kullerstrand. But as a community, we came together in love for our kids, educators and
I felt someone shaking my arm and then his voice came through: “Sir, can you hear me, are you alright?” The last thing I remember was my right ski lifting off the snow…and then blackness. Losing consciousness is never a good thing and I don’t know how long I was out for. But being woken
What defines perfection for you? For some it’s a perfect score on an exam. A baseball game won with no runs from the opposing team. For others it’s more of a feeling of perfection. The sound of shifting from second gear into third at 7,000 rpm, the fly line landing perfectly still and the sound
After 18 years the Neighborhood Gazette will now be found in your mailbox – weatherproof, windproof and certainly shortage-of-labor-proof. It will still be available, of course, in stacks at the Wheat Ridge Rec Center, city halls (Wheat Ridge, Edgewater and Mountain View), local restaurants, bars and coffee shops as well. I am excited by this
Navigating Wadsworth Construction ‘An Adventure…Amusing’ Dear Editor, Although it is an inconvenience, I know the end result will be worth it. Every time I travel Wadsworth, I try to look at it as an adventure. Will this street be blocked off? Will there be one lane of traffic on this side? Will the left turn lane
Over the last number of years I’ve lowered my expectations of people, my city and even myself. Mostly as a defense mechanism to not be disappointed when things don’t go my way or just generally don’t work out. I know I’m not alone in doing so. I’m slowly starting to reverse that. I’m sure there’s
I’m the proud father of four WRHS Farmers. I served as the Chair and CoChair of the WRHS School Accountability Committee for five years, and have watched the interaction between Jeffco Public Schools and Wheat Ridge for a decade. Like many, I’m outraged by the proposal to close three WR elementary schools after millions in
Dear Editor, From the moment you are greeted by Ms. Siddoway you are embraced with warmth, kindness, love and passion. After 18 years of being a teacher at Kullerstrand Elementary, her passion for teaching continues to grow. My son had Ms. Siddoway for first grade, he started her class as a remote student in August
On Sept. 4, Wheat Ridge Police Department clocked a driver going 133 mph on I-70. Shocking and dangerous? Absolutely! So are the speedsters driving through our neighborhoods. But there comes a time to call out the opposite: the ones just crawling on 38th Avenue at speeds well below what small mammals travel at. 28 mph
To declare this year’s Carnation Festival as best-ever would be the understatement of the year. The music was absolutely my favorite part of my festival. Clearly tribute bands are very well supported and loved, from Journey, Led Zeppelin and, of course, the Lizard King and his Doors were absolutely fantastic. Great idea with the second
As a real estate broker I always ask those moving to Wheat Ridge: Did you move here because of how we are, or how you’d like us to be? The answers vary of course. We are human beings and change is the constant in our lives. Our meals, our opinions, our clothes and the list
It was only six years ago when I helped on the Jeffco School Bond initiative. It included details about how much was going to be spent and where. The community was surveyed for priorities and needed changes. The $567 million bond narrowly passed. We were getting new schools, air conditioning in old buildings, lead pipes
