August was a tough month and I’m glad it’s over. I spent two weeks in bed fighting COVID-19. Thankfully, I was surrounded by knowledgeable and caring people who checked in on me throughout the ordeal. I still can’t smell a thing and I’m physically feeling beat up, but I’m not dead. That’s most likely because I was double vaccinated. In fact I’m headed for a booster shot in two weeks.
When I was going through my U.S. citizenship process, I was asked to show proof of those immunization shots we all got as kids. Well, you can imagine the look on the officer’s face when I handed him a worn booklet with handwritten documentation in Hebrew. I ended up spending that afternoon being injected with every one of those shots all over again – measles, mumps, rubella, tetanus, polio, pertussis, varicella, etc.
Yesterday I got a flu shot and the second shingles shot. I hate needles, but I hate dying even more. Did you know that Colorado ranks the lowest in terms of vaccinated kindergarten children? We spend $55 million on vaccine-preventable illnesses. In fact, Colorado is one of only 15 states where parents can opt their children out of school-required vaccines for personal reasons. You can find the percentage of unvaccinated students in your own school at ImmunizeColorado.org.
People must be happy with local politicians or have run out of things to complain about – perhaps they’ve completely given up on making a difference. The mayors of Wheat Ridge and Edgewater are running unopposed for re-election. City councilors are also running with no opposition except in my own District 3, here in Wheat Ridge. Have we finally become a utopia, all of us living in a world of contentment?
Attend city council meetings and you’ll witness record agreements on the dais: a $1 million amphitheater for 38th Avenue, what kind of recreation equipment is allowed in your own backyard, and allowing renters the same vote as property owners in deciding the future of Wheat Ridge. That’s every second Monday at 7 p.m. at city hall. Show up and share your opinion.
As I sit here at the Coopers Lounge in Union Station deep in conversation with my favorite bartender, Q, who happens to live in Edgewater, I reflect on how quickly my first year of owning the Neighborhood Gazette has gone and the amazing stories and people we’ve come across. My team is ready for another great year with our community.
And in the same spirit, we’d like to also wish a happy Rosh Hashanah to our Jewish neighbors. It’s a fresh start all around.
As always, thanks for reading.
Contact Neighborhood Gazette Publisher Guy Nahmiach at wrgazette@gmail.com or 303-999-5789.
