Lakewood, a progressive city, disappoints with support of growth limit
My wife bought the house we live in near Jewell Avenue and Wadsworth Boulevard in Lakewood when she was just 23, and I’ve lived here since 2011. Our house is nothing special, 1,100 square feet upstairs with a finished basement of roughly equivalent size, a nice backyard for our dog, and a kitchen we remodeled with money we took out after it appreciated in value. But we love the place, and we love living in Lakewood.
I managed my first state House of Representatives campaign in Lakewood — Rep. Gwyn Green’s re-election effort in 2008 — where we won by 20 points. Lakewood has been amazing to me and my family and I’m grateful to live here.
But residents have become concerned about growth. The traffic, the noise, the increase in transplants has changed the character of our once-sleepy bedroom community, and that has sparked a predictable backlash.
On July 2, the voters passed a municipal ordinance that restricts the city’s growth to 1% per year. It’s the legislative equivalent of building a wall. Soon, it may become next to impossible for families like mine to call Lakewood home.
This massive reduction in new construction will mean
places like Wheat Ridge, Arvada, Edgewater, Englewood, Littleton and Westminster will attract more light-rail stops, more businesses, more multifamily housing, and more diversity, while the residents of Lakewood attempt to freeze some mythical Pleasantville in place. This doesn’t solve any environmental, economic, or traffic problems, it simply shifts those burdens to our neighboring municipalities and shuts down opportunities for Lakewood residents.
Lakewood has gone to great (and extremely boring) lengths to ensure there is a massive amount of resident involvement in planning and sustainability. The city issued the Comprehensive Plan, the Sustainability Plan, and even a Bicycle Master Plan. Hundreds of residents helped draw up these painstakingly crafted plans to ensure we grow in a responsible way.
Question 200 takes a sledgehammer to that, scrapping the careful process of crafting master plans in favor of the misleading whims of a few ideological extremists. And failed mayoral candidate, exstate representative, and career politician Ramey Johnson is using this initiative to launch yet campaign for mayor. She filed paperwork to run against our current mayor, Adam Paul, one day after the referendum passed.
Housing affordability is a major concern for almost evof eryone in this state. Rents are too high, property values are skyrocketing. Try to afford buying a new place anywhere near civilization if you sell your house, and then ask yourself if the government should be artificially restricting the supply of housing stock in the fifth largest and most beautiful city in Colorado.
Odds are this ordinance will be very good for our family, as the reduction in available housing is likely to massively increase our property value. But it was the wrong choice for our city and sends the wrong message about what kind of community we are, or at least who I thought we were.
I’m disappointed in some of my fellow progressives here in Lakewood. Progressives want affordable housing, just not in their backyard? Progressives want a more inclusive and diverse city, just not their neighborhood? If we’re truly trying to build an inclusive, diverse community we need more housing that people can afford. We need to invite more families into our community, not shut the door on them after it was opened for us.