Commerce City in the News

There is a school of thought – a rather commonly held one, we would think – that holds if you steal something from someone, then you – not the person from whom you stole it – should be held accountable.

That is apparently not a universally held principle by some elected to represent Commerce City residents and businesses.

At a study session last week, City Council discussed a proposed ordinance to ban shopping carts from city parks and other public spaces; generally, shopping carts that were stolen from local grocery stores and used by homeless folks as mobile storage. Those caught with a shopping cart in such a place would receive a citation. This would in fact be a broadening of a current ordinance that prohibits shopping carts from being removed from the premise that owns them, enforceable by fining – the business from which the cart was removed.

Now the good news is that the cooler heads charged with enforcing this law report that no businesses have actually been fined for this.

Last month, the Adams County School District 14 held a public meeting, which was evidently attended by A14 board member Luz E. (Lucy) Molina-Aguayo (otherwise known as Lucy Molina).

We say “evidently” because a video has surfaced, recorded by Molina herself, in which she exhibits a rather visceral reaction to the presence of Commerce City Council Member Craig Kim. The video was initially posted – briefly – to social media, and has apparently been taken down, a copy has surfaced. Here is an abridged version to give a sense of what transpired.

In the video, Molina accuses Kim of a number of offences, saying repeatedly that he “walked in very aggressively” and started “yelling” at her, later adding that he “attacked” her and “another black woman” who seemed not to be present. She stated that she was “tired of men feeling entitled to disrespect women of color” and called for him to dbe escorted out, claiming repeatedly that she felt “unsafe.”

If you have ever wondered how it is that Commerce City came to receive its reputation as a dysfunctional sit-com where a lot of bureaucratic activity happens but nothing ever actually gets done, then we present Commerce City Council’s special study session on March 24.

At the top of the agenda was a request to hold a public hearing at the Planning Commission on two plat approvals for the Reunion Center development, which consists of 180 residential units and 10 commercial. Now, in any sane, well-run city, these would be approved administratively, having already been thoroughly reviewed by professionals on the city staff to ensure they meet all the requisite criteria, as was done in this case. The plats have nothing to do with zoning, or land use, or what is eventually going to be built on them; they are essentially just lot maps.

This, however, is Commerce City. So naturally, the request was made to send these staff-approved plats over to the Planning Commission for a full public hearing. Council Member Craig Kim asked, quite reasonably, what was the purpose of doing so? Council Member Susan Noble answered him: “This is to address the criteria in the final plat, and adequacy of meeting that criteria, and to make that determination at public hearing.”