Council Connects

Littwin on the shooting spree and gun violence. Food for thought:
https://coloradosun.com/2021/12/29/littwin-denver-mass-shooting-opinion/?mc_cid=257613a9f5&mc_eid=1adde6f3a3

Met with the state today about ARPA funds for transformational regional approaches to address homelessness, workforce development, and mental and behavioral health challenges. Learned more about 2 proposed projects that will benefit Golden regardless of ultimate location in the region. Colorado Sun discusses both - https://coloradosun.com/2021/12/17/denver-homeless-recovery-campus/

Lead in Drinking Water:
https://www.coloradopolitics.com/energy-and-environment/epa-tightens-rules-lead-water/article_cbc6327e-2b9c-5d7b-a397-aadc80820703.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/01/health/childhood-obesity-covid.html

From the article:
Jamie Bussel, a senior program officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation who focuses on childhood obesity, said the pandemic had worsened systemic problems like the lack of access to healthy foods in poorer communities and the ubiquity of junk food and sugary drinks.

"Covid really highlighted how negligent our food system really is,” she said. “We need long-term policy fixes. Otherwise, we’re just putting a Band-Aid on a gaping wound.”

This feels like the right time to be taking a closer look across the public health spectrum, including health beverage options for our children!

MORE on AFFORDABLDE HOUSING:
OPINION FROM LEADERS AT HABITAT FOR HUMANITY AND THE LAND TRUST: food for thought.
https://coloradosun.com/2021/12/09/colorado-housing-affordability-stimulus-opinion/?mc_cid=7472acad40&mc_eid=1adde6f3a3

AFFORDABLE HOUSING: can we learn from Aspen? I'd urge that the Strategic Planning session include time to discuss housing.
https://coloradosun.com/2021/12/09/aspen-emergency-ordinance-permits-residential-construction-strs/?mc_cid=7472acad40&mc_eid=1adde6f3a3

COVID IN COLORADO &THE METRO REGION - reporting from the Colorado Sun
https://coloradosun.com/2021/11/23/denver-mask-vaccine-mandate-covid/?mc_cid=7e2a061da3&mc_eid=1adde6f3a3

Jobs and Seniors - I believe I experienced this 23 years ago
https://coloradosun.com/2021/11/24/job-hunting-in-colorado-older-adults-seniors-aging/?mc_cid=7e2a061da3&mc_eid=1adde6f3a3

These Americans Are Just Going Around in Circles. It Helps the Climate.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/20/climate/roundabouts-climate-emissions-driving.html

A wonderful write up from the New York Times about Carmel, IN and their 140 roundabouts. You read that right — 140, with a dozen more on the way. The insane number of roundabouts help increase safety, reduce carbon emissions (with no red lights there is less idling time for cars) and get people where they need to go, faster.

Thoughts bout parenting and social skills/norms & schools - parenting was the hardest "job" I ever faced (BTW, my kids are doing great):
https://coloradosun.com/2021/11/21/covid-teachers-schools-opinion/?mc_cid=412ac0e43c&mc_eid=1adde6f3a3

Green House Gases: Colorado, the Metro region and Golden - Food for thought & possibly some ongoing action/s:
This Colorado Sun article speaks to the challenges that I heard at DRCOG as the Board struggled with gaining agreement on input to the state plan:
https://coloradosun.com/2021/11/21/climate-conscious-cdot/?mc_cid=412ac0e43c&mc_eid=1adde6f3a3

MJ retail sale and associate sales and excise tax:
With 99% of the votes counted ,according to our Jeffco County Clerk website, I believe the voters have spoken and I also believe appropriately. This legal product will "soon" be for sale at locations in Golden as directed by Council. Goldenites and visitors will be able to purchase MJ in Golden without going to locations outside of our city. I believe the revenues generated by these sale of MJ can be used to address for outstanding health, safety, and welfare needs of the people of Golden. Good on Golden voters.

Good morning and happy day-after-election!

First, a thank you to my fellow Ward Councilors for stepping up to run for office on behalf of Golden. I look forward to working with each of you.

Regarding ballot measure 2C, the Lodging Tax for Golden: I want to share my thanks and pride in my fellow City Councilors and the Mayor and Staff for your actions over the last year to develop and support a clearly-outlined and beneficial lodging tax on behalf of Golden.

At a time when it can be easier to simply vote No, Council unanimously declared Yes for Golden. Thanks to each of you for having the vision to understand we have pressing financial needs in the near future. Passage of 2C will help to protect, preserve, and enhance the character of Golden that brings and keeps us here.

Cheers,

BilFish

Much of the rest of the world sees a connection between diet and health. Does this feel like a new concept to those of us in Golden?

Stay healthy!

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/10/31/covid-deaths-diet-diseases-nutrition-america-517076

COVID AND COLORADO - a scary true story on Halloween.
According to the count kept by the New York Times, Colorado has the fastest growth rate of COVID cases in the country. We’re No. 1? Most states near the top of the list for infections are near the bottom of the list in the percentage of people who have been vaccinated. Colorado is somewhere in the upper middle, but the new leaders in cases and hospitalizations are mostly western states. (Colorado Sun, Mike Litwin article, Oct 31)

WHAT IS GOING ON WITH SHORT TERM RENTALS AND AFFORDABLE HOUSING IN COLRADO AQND PARTICULARLY THE MOUNTAIN TOWNS - CPR REPORT:
https://www.cpr.org/2021/10/29/colorado-elections-2021-affordable-housing-short-term-rentals/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=lookout&utm_campaign=lookout20211029

https://muninetworks.org/content/golden-opportunity-municipal-fiber-network-colorado

Interesting study in a journal of the American Heart Association demonstrating that affordable housing policies (in this case, inclusionary zoning) improves health outcomes. It concludes: "Inclusionary zoning policies are poised to address complex health challenges among economically vulnerable populations, particularly if those policies are designed to create equitable, mixed-income communities in metropolitan areas plagued by rising housing costs. In this observational study, we found that these policies, and characteristics associated with those policies, are key factors related to cardiovascular outcomes among the US population. The results suggest that some jurisdictions may have a bent towards creating housing policy that is more focused on low-income residents, but in practice, the health impact of those policies is greater when affordable housing is intentionally constructed for residents of municipalities more generally. Larger implications of this work tie both housing and health policy together—IZ policies are designed to both deconcentrate low-income and moderate-income households as well as deconcentrate affordable housing within the city, but they can also simultaneously provide improved access to health-promoting amenities and opportunities to a population that typically experiences enhanced health and chronic disease risks." https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIRCOUTCOMES.120.007807#

Denver is considering a flavored vaping and smoking ban to protect youth from becoming addicted on flavors such as “cotton candy.”

From the article: The U.S. Surgeon General has declared e-cigarettes an epidemic.

On Sept. 30, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration issued a report that showed an estimated 2 million American middle and high school students used e-cigarettes in 2021, with eight in 10 of them preferring flavored e-cigarettes — with fruit, sweets and mint being the preferred flavors. More than one in four high school students and one in 12 middle school students use them daily.

E-cigarettes are loaded with highly addictive nicotine, a chemical that harms the developing adolescent brain, the CDC and FDA report said.

https://www.denverpost.com/2021/10/25/denver-flavored-tobacco-vape-ban/

https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/permissible-concentrations-air-pollution-mortality-risk/...“We found that among elderly patients enrolled in Medicare, small increases in long-term exposure to both particle and gaseous air pollutants increased the risk of death, even at levels deemed safe by current regulations.” “The Clean Air Act requires the EPA to protect sensitive populations with an adequate margin of safety. It is time for it to do so.”