Tag: City of Grand Junction

City of Grand Junction, Economics, Elections, Local concerns, Mesa County, Safety

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

by Anne Landman • September 24, 2024 • 13 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.

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

by Anne Landman • August 24, 2024 • 13 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 of most of the land surrounding the spot where the interchange will be built.

That person is Quintin Shear, the sole registered representative of a company called N70 Tech LLC, which owns almost all of the land surrounding the location of the proposed interchange. N70 Tech LLC has no website and it’s operating address is listed as 330 Grand Ave., Unit B, Grand Junction, CO 81501. 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.

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.

G.J., Mesa County prominently featured in LA Times article about communities where vaccine holdouts are fueling spread of the pandemic

by Anne Landman • July 17, 2021 • 7 Comments

L.A. Times article in which Grand Junction and Mesa County are mentioned several times as places in which rampant vaccine denial and the complete ending of public health protocols too soon are packing hospitals and perpetuating the pandemic for the rest of the country

The Saturday, July 17, 2021 Los Angeles Times features a prominent story about “obstinate” communities in which large numbers of people who are refusing to get Covid-19 vaccines are now spreading a more virulent strain of Coronavirus and stalling the nation’s recovery from the pandemic.

Mesa County and Grand Junction are mentioned several times in the article as among the places where large numbers of stubbornly unvaccinated people are posing a danger to the rest of the country.

City Council candidate Jody Green appears to be barely literate

by Anne Landman • April 3, 2021 • 0 Comments

Jody Green

Jody Green is running for the Grand Junction City Council District E seat in the April 6, 2021 municipal election. His campaign website says he is construction worker and that he helped build the Oxbow subdivision, the Postal Annex on Patterson, Ratekin Tower Apartments, Lakeside Apartments and other buildings in Grand Junction. Green writes on social media that he “Works at School of Hard Knocks, University of Life,” but provides no other information about his educational background.

In a February 4, 2021 article in the Daily Sentinel, Green told the paper that he is running for City Council because God asked him to.

What’s up with the four City Council candidates who are ditching forums and questionnaires?

by Anne Landman • March 13, 2021 • 3 Comments

An attendee at the “Stand for the Constitution Freedom Rally” last July 4 (Photo: Facebook). Stand for the Constitution endorses Haitz, Andrews, Green and McAllister, calling them “our candidates.”

Kristin Wynn of Citizens for Clean Air Grand Junction reported that her group has not received responses to questionnaires they sent to City Council candidates Mark McCallister, Kraig Andrews, Jody Green, and Greg Haitz. Nor did any of these candidates bother to respond to a short questionnaire from the Outdoor Recreation Coalition of the Grand Valley and none of them participated in the City Council Candidate Forums organized by the Western Colorado Alliance, which were held virtually on Zoom.

So why are these four candidates dodging public forums and refusing to answer City residents’ questions? And what do they all have in common that the other four candidates don’t?

For one thing, they are all endorsed by the local right-wing extremist group “Stand for the Constitution,” who calls the slate of them “our candidates.”

A quick summary of the eight candidates running for Grand Junction City Council in the April 6, 2021 election

by Anne Landman • March 9, 2021 • 107 Comments

Eight candidates want to get inside these doors and help run the city we all love. Learn about the candidates running for Council and vote wisely.

In case you don’t have time to research the eight candidates running for City Council in the April 6th election, I’ve done the research and condensed it down to a couple of paragraphs about each candidate to help you make an educated choice. I drew on the sources of information that are most accessible to most voters, including the candidates’ campaign and personal websites, their campaign and personal social media accounts (the links to which the City conveniently provides on their Elections Information page). I also researched news reports, published articles and past blogs I’ve done about them, if any, and investigated some of the claims the candidates made on their websites about what groups and organizations they belonged to. I also attended the Western Colorado Alliance (WCA) online candidate forum held on February 24th, and noted which candidates attended and which didn’t.

Here is what I found on each candidate:

City plans a major redesign of 7 miles of Patterson Road that greatly reduces left turns

by Anne Landman • March 7, 2021 • 0 Comments

The section of the proposed redesign of Patterson Road

Do you live near Patterson Road or use Patterson a lot to get around town?

The City of Grand Junction is currently planning a major redesign of Patterson Road aimed at reducing accidents, improving safety and traffic flow and providing better access for alternative transportation means like bicycles, buses, pedestrians, etc. The redesign area starts where Patterson originates on the west end at I-70B west of Mesa Mall, and continues about 7 miles to the east, to Lodgepole Street.

A traffic study found that 64% of accidents on Patterson occur at intersections, so to reduce the number of accidents, the plan seeks to greatly reduce the ability to make left turns onto and off of Patterson. The plan also proposes to drastically reduce the number of access points onto and off of Patterson Road, e.g., places where you can turn into side streets, into and out of businesses, etc.

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