Council takes on one of Commerce City’s biggest problems … gas stations
At its June 2nd meeting, City Council took up one of the most pressing issues facing our community, addressing a problem so egregious, that it is keeping citizens awake at night, making Commerce City virtually unlivable, and stopping growth and progress in its tracks.
Was this issue crime? Homelessness? Deteriorating infrastructure?
No, it was gas stations.
Yes, the principal issue taken up by Council was not what to do about the crime rate or the homeless problem (which two citizens during public comment showed up in person, pleading the council to do something about), or anything so trivial as that – but a proposal by Council Member Chacon to draft an ordinance imposing a moratorium on gas stations and convenience stores.
Because, Chacon said, “there are too many for the community and yet we still can't get grocery stores, but we get approval for more and more gas stations and that continues to stigmatize a community… with health and safety concerns that we are not analyzing fully, especially when they're so close together for cumulative impacts.”
So… 7-11 is a safety risk to our community, we are stigmatized by its presence?
The proposal was seconded by Council Member Kristi Douglas, who had these words of wisdom to add:
“So I heard from a lot of people who didn't come forward tonight” … convenient… “say that they were definitely in support of this because we have too many gas stations and convenience stores, which if we keep adding to that, we're going to become the food deserts that are notorious in black and brown communities.”
She went on to say that it is “Sprouts, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, the niche grocery stores that we should be pursuing.”
Not everyone, thankfully, was on board with the proposal, starting with Rene’ Bullock, former council member and current CEO of the Commerce City Chamber of Commerce, who appeared in person to oppose the measure, saying, “I don't know whether you notice or not, but there are a lot of businesses that are jumping over Commerce City to go to different areas: Fort Lupton, Lochbuie, Fort Morgan, Brighton. You've put out a sign that (says) basically in a lot of manner Commerce City is closed for business, because the Council doesn't let staff do what staff was paid to do.”
Council member Sean Ford exposed the ludicrousness of the argument that more gas stations means no grocery stores by pointing out that: “Grocery stores now to compete have to have a gas component, and the way the moratorium is written … also includes grocery stores with gas.”
Council member Charles Dukes wasn’t having any of it either. At one point he asked Chacon about what data they were using: “I know the idea in the heart of trying to look at the different places gas stations can be placed and there's references around gas stations being too many. Can you tell us what data you used and also how this wasn't brought up in our comprehensive plan when we talked about approving a comprehensive plan?”
The source of Chacon’s information? “I can give you a list of what Green Latinos uses as well to identify disproportionately impacted communities within our entire city. So you can overlay it and you can see where the future plans and where the current plans are for each one of them.”
Apparently Green Latinos, an activist group, should be directing city policy?
The story has a happy ending: the vote to approve drafting of the ordinance failed on a tie vote with Council Member Madera absent. Voting for the measure: Chacon, Noble, Douglas, and Mayor Douglas.
Bullock, in his public comment earlier, said: “We have people on the council that in my opinion – and this is not the chamber, this is Rene’ Bullock's opinion – that are on the council to stop growth in Commerce City. At the same time complaining about there isn't growth in Commerce City.”
The vote tally above might just correspond with that.