{"id":459,"date":"2025-08-26T11:12:22","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T11:12:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sleepystork.com\/?p=459"},"modified":"2025-08-28T10:58:17","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T10:58:17","slug":"failed-mall-project-is-a-concern-for-westminster-letters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sleepystork.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/26\/failed-mall-project-is-a-concern-for-westminster-letters\/","title":{"rendered":"Failed \u201cmall\u201d project is a concern for Westminster (Letters)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Failed project is a concern for Westminster<\/h4>\n

Re: “Downtown to get injection of life with park, food hall<\/a>,” Aug. 18 news story<\/p>\n

Because I am running for mayor of Westminster and Sarah Nurmela is running for re-election to the City Council of Westminster, I was surprised that John Aguilar’s article did not mention Councilmember Nurmela’s candidacy.\u00a0 Indeed, I was surprised by the entire front-page article, which seemed to me to be a sales pitch for a failed project.<\/p>\n

And the project is a failure. The project was made possible by twisting Colorado’s Urban Renewal laws. The old mall was never a situation where there were slums or the state of Colorado or any municipality was “endangered” or at risk. Indeed, Broomfield and Flat Irons Mall benefited from the old mall’s decline.<\/p>\n

For me, the important aspect of the story is that the Westminster government should not be in the development business. The way out is to stop the waste. Worse still, with all the residential buildings and little commercial buildings, my fear is that our “New Downtown” will become a slum where no slum had ever existed before.<\/p>\n

Bruce Baker, Westminster<\/em><\/p>\n

Who is to blame for Colorado’s budget woes<\/h4>\n

Re: “Lawmakers return to fix budget,” Aug. 21 news story<\/p>\n

Colorado’s shortfall has Colorado politics to blame, yet they fault the Feds. A 500% increase in the earned income tax credit since 2020 and free college might account for some of the deficit. Spend, spend, spend.<\/p>\n

William Davis, Broomfield<\/em><\/p>\n

Trump is dismantling democracy<\/p>\n

Doesn’t anyone out there see that President Donald Trump is dismantling democracy one subtle brick at a time. Between continual dismissals in all government departments, and federalizing law enforcement in D.C. (others will follow), and between welcoming Putin and talking about ending mail in balloting, it begins to look like each step he takes is right out of the Nazi playbook. When will we wake up?<\/p>\n

Lee Waldman, Wheat Ridge<\/em><\/p>\n

The President announced there will be “no boots on the ground” in Ukraine. Instead, federal boots have been deployed on the ground in Washington, D.C., to clear out homeless citizens and in L.A. to squelch protesters, a fundamental right of the American people. Neither L.A. nor D.C. asked the federal government to step in. ICE is rounding up and deporting immigrants while wearing full face masks, threatening gear, and no warrants, dividing families and disrupting our workforce.<\/p>\n