Category: City of Grand Junction

Bad behavior, City of Grand Junction, Cringeworthy, Dangerous Republicans, Elections, Extremism, Fake patriotism, Harassment, Human rights, Latino community, Local concerns, Racism, Vile Republicans, White Supremacists

MAGA customer spews racist insults at employees of 5 Guys hamburger restaurant in G.J.; restaurant fires employees

by Anne Landman • November 9, 2024 • 14 Comments

A customer wearing a Trump “Never Surrender” T-shirt was emboldened to hurl racist insults at employees at 5 Guys hamburger restaurant at 2480 U.S. Highway 6 in Grand Junction on the evening of Election Day, Nov. 5, calling them “beaners” and “f*cking invaders” as they filled his order.

ACLU accuses Grand Junction Municipal Judge Tammy Eret of constitutional violations on the bench

by Anne Landman • October 26, 2024 • 23 Comments

City of G.J. Municipal Judge and School District 51’s in-house legal counsel and Tammy Eret

On September 23, 2024 the Colorado ACLU sent a 5 page letter (pdf) to Grand Junction officials notifying them that Grand Junction Municipal Judge Tammy Eret has been engaging in “blatantly unconstitutional” and “harmful” practices in City court sessions. The letter accuses Eret of “persistently and illegally” denying incarcerated people access to court-appointed counsel, coercing uncounseled guilty pleas, and imposing “lengthy, uncounseled, illegal jail sentences.” The letter gives detailed examples of such instances, even including some of the the in-court dialogue between Eret and the people who were before her in court.

Interactive map shows donors to Harris/Biden and Trump in Mesa County in the 2024 presidential race as of 10/24/24

by Anne Landman • October 24, 2024 • 7 Comments

This fascinating interactive map from the Washington Post shows a surprising number of people in our area are Harris supporters, and that Mesa County has continued to trend more “blue” politically since 2020.

New group forms to oppose 29 Road/I-70 interchange ballot measure

by Anne Landman • September 24, 2024 • 15 Comments

29 Road just north of Patterson, as it currently looks. Residents along 29 Road could find themselves living on a busy route to and from I-70 if Ballot Issue 1A passes. If it passes, the measure would approve the City and County taking on $80 million in debt, with a repayment cost of least $173,438,202, to fund the design and construction of a new I-70 interchange at 29 Road.

Concerned citizens of Mesa County announced September 23 that they have formed a local group called “No on 29 Road Debt” to educate the public about the financial, transportation safety and road design problems with the 29 Road Interchange proposal and oppose the upcoming ballot issue, which will be Issue 1A on the ballot. Grand Junction City Councilor Dennis Simpson is an organizer of the group. Simpson is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). John Traylor is a spokesperson for the group.

Measure 1A as it appears on the November ballot. Note the full repayment cost for the measure is estimated at $173,438.202. The federal government has so far not pledged any funds to help with the project.

No on 29 Road Debt is a non-partisan community organization dedicated to promoting transparency, safety, and financially responsible transportation plans in Mesa County. The group’s mission is to empower citizens with the knowledge they need this November to make a decision on this proposal. As the ballot issue approaches, No on 29 Road Debt will provide clear, factual information to help voters make an informed decision.

Photos indicate community support for 29 Rd. interchange vs. saving the Orchard Mesa Pool

by Anne Landman • September 22, 2024 • 8 Comments

Crowd that turned out at a mid-September, 2024 kickoff at Edgewater Brewery for the “Finish the Loop” campaign to build the proposed 29 Road interchange on I-70. The project would cost in excess of $80 million. (Screenshot: KREX-TV/YouTube)

Crowd that turned out at a February, 2024 rally at Eagle Rim Park to save the Orchard Mesa Pool. The indoor public pool provides a year-round opportunity for kids to learn to swim and enjoy water recreation safely out of the river, helping to keep local kids from drowning. Saving the pool would cost fraction of the 29 Road interchange. (Photo: Marianne Taigmann/Facebook).

City of Grand Junction, Local business, Local concerns, Mesa County

The person most likely to benefit financially from the proposed I-70 interchange at 29 Road

by Anne Landman • August 24, 2024 • 14 Comments

Red outline is the land around the area of the proposed I-70 interchange at 29 Road that is owned by N70 Tech LLC, whose sole registered agent is local oil and gas consultant and land developer Quintin Shear. The City and County are planning a ballot measure to ask area taxpayers to subsidize construction of the interchange. The project is expected to cost $80 million and would be split evenly between the City and County.

The person in Mesa County who stands to benefit the most financially from the proposed 29 Road/I-70 interchange, if it gets built, is the owner or owners of most of the land surrounding the spot where the interchange will be built.

That person, or those people, include Quintin Shear, who is the sole registered representative of a company called N70 Tech LLC, which owns almost all the land surrounding the location of the proposed interchange. N70 Tech LLC has no website. It’s operating address is listed as 330 Grand Ave., Unit B, Grand Junction, CO 81501, which happens to also be the address of the headquarters of Shear, Inc., Quintin Shear’s personal business. Shear, Inc. is listed as being in Unit A at the same address.

29 Road interchange debt service would “decimate” city capital: Grand Junction City Finance Director

by Anne Landman • July 25, 2024 • 25 Comments

A vision of the proposed 29 Road interchange on I-70, with roundabouts (Illustration by FHUeng)

Photo: City of Grand Junction

7/25/24 @ 3:39 p.m. – Note: an earlier version of this blog attributed the quotes criticizing the finance director’s use of the word “decimate” to Engineering and Transportation Director Trent Prall. I’ve been informed that was incorrect. They were actually said by City Councilman Cody Kennedy. I have corrected the blog.

In a Grand Junction City Council workshop discussion July 15 about the proposed 29 Road interchange on I-70, City Finance Director Jennifer Tomaszewski, a Certified Public Accountant, told Council members that given the amount of revenue the City takes in from sales taxes, and the City’s current expenses and financial obligations, including its existing transportation debt and maintenance of parks and facilities, the proposed $2.5 million/year in debt service over 30 years that the City would take on to build the project would “decimate our city capital, basically.” [Tomaszewski made this statement is at 1:12:46 in the above-linked video.]

City Councilor says he sees cronyism creeping into G.J. City Council

by Anne Landman • May 4, 2024 • 3 Comments

Scott Beilfuss

At the regular May 1 meeting of Grand Junction City Council, Councilman Abe Herman was voted in as the new mayor of Grand Junction and Randall Reitz as Mayor Pro Tem for the next year by all attending city council members present except one, and that hold out was perhaps the more important story that Grand Junction citizens should know about.

The vote was 5-1, with current Mayor Anna Stout absent from the meeting.

The lone hold out vote was Councilman Scott Beilfuss.

Curious about the vote, I contacted Beilfuss to ask why he didn’t vote for Herman and Reitz along with the rest of Council.

Turn out to help save the much-loved Orchard Mesa Pool at two important meetings this month

by Anne Landman • March 14, 2024 • 0 Comments

Citizens attend a meeting on 3/13 to discuss how to save the much loved and needed Orchard Mesa Pool.

The Save the Orchard Mesa Pool Committee asks everyone who wants to save the OM pool from destruction to mark their calendars and attend the next city council meetings about the pool, and wear blue to help show solidarity for saving the pool:

The next meeting is March Monday, 18th at 5:30 p.m. at the downtown fire station at 625 Ute Ave., right by the Grand Junction Police station. This is a listen-only meeting, but the Orchard Mesa community needs to show a big presence. All you need to do is show up and wear blue!

Then after that, on Wednesday, March 20 at Grand Junction City Hall, 250 N. 5th Street, at 5:30 p.m. The Committee needs a HUGE CROWD to attend this meeting because City Council may be voting on the fate of the pool at this meeting. The public can weigh in at this meeting.

The Orchard Mesa Community Center Pool is barely afloat

by Anne Landman • February 21, 2024 • 6 Comments

Orchard Mesa Pool

Guest blog post by Mariann Taigman, co-founder of the Save the Pool Committee, and Nick Allan of Orchard Mesa United

Three different agencies—the school district, the city, and the county—are involved in managing the Orchard Mesa Community Center Pool (OMCCP).

Prior to 2020, a Pool Board was created that was comprised of one official from each of these entities to discuss the pool at joint meetings. In 2020, the pool board convened to discuss the pool’s future, including the possibility of demolition, marking the last “official” meeting of the Pool Board before it dissolved. In response, the Save The Pool Committee emerged as a grassroots effort, championed by concerned community

Kids and adults enjoying the OM Pool

members passionate about keeping the OMCCP operational. During that final Pool Board meeting, the Save The Pool Committee presented proof to the three entities that the community wanted the pool to remain open. Our efforts included: obtaining 7,000 online petition signatures and 1,000 paper signatures; collecting over 70 letters from school children; encouraged community engagement by distributing flyers as to the fate of the OMCCP, and having groups of community members speak at city council meetings.

Rally Sat., Feb. 24 at Eagle Rim Park to save the Orchard Mesa Pool

by Anne Landman • February 20, 2024 • 1 Comment

Posting this for the Save the Orchard Mesa Pool committee.

City of Grand Junction, Environment, Local concerns, Safety, Weird Grand Junction Stuff

Redlands residents oppose City building new sewer lift station and piping on unstable land

by Anne Landman • December 8, 2023 • 4 Comments

In this memorable example of a very bad local development decision in the 1990s, the Mesa County Commissioners approved construction of this home on a geologically unstable cliff above the Colorado River just west of the Redlands Parkway. The decision led to the home eventually sliding down the bluff towards the river. Redlands residents now believe the City is making a similar mistake by planning to build a new sewer line and lift station on similarly unstable land in the Redlands.

Redlands area residents are concerned that the City of Grand Junction and Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) have give preliminary approval to build a huge sewage lift station on private land in a geographically unstable area, and they are warning of its potential for failure and environmental catastrophe.

The proposed lift station will replace a 6-foot diameter lift station said to be “reaching the end of its useful life” at the Ridges Subdivision, and consolidate a 4-foot diameter lift station that “is in adequate condition” on Power Road. The proposed budget for this new lift station is currently $7.1 million.

But homeowners in the area contend the new lift station and sewer lines will be built on unstable land, will destroy huge swaths of riparian habitat above Connected Lakes State Park and, in the event of a failure, could lead to huge amounts of raw sewage being dumped into the river.

Grand Junction City Council candidate rundown 2023

by Anne Landman • March 10, 2023 • 12 Comments

For this article, I drew from publicly available sources, including the candidates’ own websites and social media accounts, newspaper articles, the candidates’ financial disclosure statements filed with the City of Grand Junction, background-checks done on TruthFinder.com, and public records requests to the Grand Junction Police Department (GJPD) for records of any contact the candidates had with local law enforcement agencies. I felt the law enforcement piece was necessary after seeing Mesa County voters elect people to public office who were later involved in theft, falsifying time cards, embezzlement, assault, plagiarism, DUI, double-dipping, election tampering and other offenses.

These City Council candidates are asking voters to hire them for a job. City taxpayers pay their salaries. The candidates should be background-checked.

Grand Junction Scarlet Post Office sorting facility reportedly in disarray

by Anne Landman • January 16, 2023 • 18 Comments

USPS carrier facility at 734 Scarlet: turmoil inside

It may look peaceful on the outside, but a longtime U.S. Postal Service employee at the Grand Junction Carrier Annex at 734 Scarlet Drive reports that inside the building the Postal Service is “going crazy lately.”

The employee reports, “We are delaying mail and it is running horribly.”

What’s going on and why is this happening?

“It started when they decided to lay off our newest hires,” the employee said:

“They claimed ‘lack of work’ as the reason, but since then, we’ve been 5 or 6 people short of a normal crew to process the mail. I worked over 80 hours last week and we can’t catch up. In addition to that, we process mail for DHL, UPS and FedEx as part of an agreement with them. They dropped half of a semi [truck full] of bags of mail at our office at Scarlet Drive on Wednesday, and all of that mail is still sitting there.”

Former G.J. Chamber of Commerce CEO Diane Schwenke to run for G.J. City Council

by Anne Landman • January 1, 2023 • 24 Comments

Longtime Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce President Diane Schwenke

The former longtime CEO of the Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce, Diane Schwenke, has announced she will be running for the at-large seat on Grand Junction City Council in 2023.

Yes, THAT Diane Schwenke.

The one who endorsed convicted felony embezzler Steve King for state Senate in 2012.

The one who endorsed Ray Scott as a replacement for convicted felon Steve King. In 2018, Scott double-billed both his legislative and campaign expense accounts for over $1,000 in Uber rides, effectively doubling his personal reimbursements. He was also sued by the ACLU for blocking constituents from his official social media accounts, costing taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars.

The same Diane Schwenke who endorsed Laura Bradford for Colorado House of Representatives in 2012. Bradford was pulled over by Denver police for driving under the influence of alcohol during her first and only term in the House. She quit after that term.

The same Diane Schwenke who endorsed Rose Pugliese for County Commissioner. Pugliese worked to kill the Riverfront Trail System by gutting all funding for it, circulated a petition to force D-51 teachers to stop teaching kids about climate change, and also stumped for the disastrous Tina Peters to be elected County Clerk.

Redlands residents get Jew-hatred propaganda on Christmas morning

by Anne Landman • December 25, 2022 • 34 Comments

Facebook message about anti-semitic, anti-LGBTQ fliers being left at homes on the Redlands on Christmas morning, 2022

Think anti-semitism (Jew hatred) and anti-gay sentiment doesn’t exist in Grand Junction?

Think again.

Group urgently seeks help to keep Orchard Mesa Pool open

by Anne Landman • December 17, 2022 • 2 Comments

Orchard Mesa Pool

Mesa County residents have formed a group to try to keep Orchard Mesa Community Center Pool open, and they are asking the rest of the community for help.

In mid-November, 2022, the City of Grand Junction announced the possible closure of the Orchard Mesa Pool in early 2023.

The group, Save the Pool, is encouraging people with families to come to the December 21st Grand Junction City Council meeting this Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall Auditorium, 250 N. 5th Street, Grand Junction to stand in solidarity to keep the pool open.

AnneLandmanBlog Voter Guide, 2022 Mid-term Election, Grand Junction & Mesa County

by Anne Landman • October 6, 2022 • 24 Comments

Are you wondering how to vote in the Tuesday, November 8, 2022 mid-term General Election? Are you sweating over where you’re going to find all the time you need to research all the candidates and ballot measures?

Relax.

AnneLandmanBlog has done all the work for you.

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