Thread by @shayshinecastle

We're doing a presentation on the 2020 Census. Local gov't and nonprofit agencies push participation hard, bc it determines grant $$ and other major sources of funding for all sorts of things.

A CU rep is here. She's a student. Talk to the young ppl in your life and encourage them to be counted, she says. Many can't even conceptualize 10 years down the road and how important this is.

Youths, consider this your talking-to.

"It's so important, both for political representation (CO is set to get another rep in the House) and federal funding," says Chris Barge of the Community Foundation.

Barge: "Every nose not counted is $2,300 per year that doesn't land in our community for sources like education, transportation, food assistance and the list goes on."

This audience is full of noobs; they keep clapping for presenters.

Sarah Murray, exec director of Women's Wilderness Institute, is here. The city has picked WWI as the tenant for the historic Harbeck House. The organization helps women, girls and LGBTQ folks access the outdoors.

2/3 of participants are under the federal poverty line, Murray says. 1/3 are POC.

Here's the info on the lease, from the packet.
Boulder, way back in April 2019, decided to lease Harbeck House (1206 Euclid Ave.) at full cost with an eye on community value
boulderbeat.news/2019/04/13/bou…

Lease term: April 1, 2020 - March 31, 2023
PRAB OK’d lease

WWI will pay $1,600/mo base rent + utilities (averaged $17K/year when it was the Museum of Boulder), cleaning, maintenance and some repairs

Will not fully cover costs of keeping Harbeck but will “substantially offset those costs," staff wrote

Riley Mancuso and Sammie Lawrence both asked that council reaffirm Boulder's status as a sanctuary city for undocumented immigrants. There was a rally preceding the meeting; it was in this weeks' Boulder Beat.

Didn't look too well attended. Maybe a dozen ppl?

Makena Lambert is also here to ask that Boulder recommit to its sanctuary city status. Several folks in the audience are with her, holding up signs. "These are my friends," she says.

"Sanctuary is a political term, not a legal one," Lambert says. It's a promise to the community. If we the people don't demand that elected officials keep our law enforcement accountable, it means nothing. BoCo's sheriff keeps working "quietly" with ICE.

Pass a resolution, she urges, one that functions as "more than just a symbolic gesture."

Lisa White is the second person to ask for more info on why transportation director Carlos Hernandez resigned suddenly. (Mark Gelband was the first.)

"I have to wonder why he was not a good fit," White says, "and I cannot take that statement (from Brautigam) at face value."

We have a great multimodal network, White says. "But we stopped having momentum years ago, and we are falling behind other cities."

Staff is great, she says — this is a reflection of leadership.

Reached out to the youth in my life to tell him to participate in the Census.
"Real bros f*** with the Census," he said.
So there you have it.

Kaitlynne Larson reading a statement from Ingrid Encalada Latorre, who has been in a Boulder church for ~2yrs to avoid deportation.

"I do not go outside," Latorre wrote, "not even to take my kids to school."

Latorre asks for a resolution, and for city council to join her at the church to read and pass it.

Latorre also has words of encouragement for other undocumented immigrants: "Do not be afraid," she wrote.

Claudia Hansen Thiem also asking more more info on Hernandez's resignation. His departure is a "spectacular failure"

Thiem: If the city dampened his vision, shame on us for not being bold.
If he had a fatal flaw that came out, shame on us for not vetting him more carefully.
And shame on us for only getting one standout candidate in several national searches.

Several was a paraphrase, and a poor one. We did two searches. Apologies.

Ana Ibarra is speaking. She grew up in Boulder; her brother was deported, her other brother and father taken by ICE.

"The torture ppl are put through in the name of profit is real," she says.

Keep supporting being a sanctuary city, she asks, in the face of threats from ICE.

You can read more of her story here; she spoke at an event earlier this year that was so powerful. boulderbeat.news/2019/10/31/fea…

Mike Homner is here to make sure Boulder considers the homeless in its coronavirus response: "We have folks staying at shelter in mass numbers .... those ppl don't have a place to shower, to isolate should they become infected. What are we going to do for that?"

"I just want you guys not to lose sight ... of those who are marginalized as it is," Homner says.

Brautigam thanks Homner for the email he sent on this issue. "That prompted us to be speaking with Mike Chard and our agency partners, and they are going to be meeting later this week to begin to understand how we can serve that population."

Brautigam now addressing Hernandez's resignation: "Idk why Carlos left. He gave us 8 min notice when he left. I wish I knew. I really, really loved Carlos. I respect him so much for what he brought to our organization and I was devastated" that he left. Idk why.

He "gave us hope" that "things could move forward in transportation." Our hopes "were dashed," I know the community is feeling that, I am as well, and the staff in the dept are as well. So the criticism is hard for them to hear.

Brautigam meeting with TAB; met with Prant this week, she says.

"We'll be working with the transportation staff" to address issues Prant raised, which are "reasonable and valid."

That's Sue Prant of Community Cycles, who spoke earlier.

The firm Boulder used to hire Hernandez has an obligation to help if the person they found leaves within 12 months, Brautigam says. So we'll be pursuing that.

This was a hard search, Brautigam said. "I simply can't promise we're going to find someone as great as Carlos in a short period of time .... (We) will not accept anything less. .. It will take awhile."

In the meantime, we'll make sure that "these other positions that have not been filled" get filled with ppl who have "bold vision."

"This is so unfortunate and I'm sorry for our community that this happened."

Friend: I'm feeling pretty devastated that Carlos left. Part of what the community feels is a lack of transparency and understanding. I understand you can't give us answers you don't have, but let's follow up on those CORA requests.

Carr: We have a policy that you get your first hour free and pay $35/hr after that for searches. Mark Gelband has issued 12 Dif CORA requests on Saturday and Sunday. Our staff is working on them; we are one of the most transparent cities in the state.

"Mark is kind of playing a game with the rules. ... He's trying to show that Jane fired Carlos, and that's not true," Carr says.

Carr also addressing statements from Evan Ravitz RE: online petitioning.
Ravitz calls out that's a "fucking lie" earning a rebuke from Mayor Weaver.
"That's uncalled for."
"It's not uncalled for, that's why I said it," Ravitz yells out.

Carr: Ravitz is abusive to our staff.

Brautigam addressing Friend's questions about the Tipton report, which found lots of frustration among city staff with leadership and council.

"That was six months ago," Brautigam says. "Do you think we've been sitting on our hands? We have not."

The author of the report will come to council on April 14 to give an update.

Brautigam: "The thing I just have to say out loud is that the Tipton report has become the new Folsom, and that's not fair. We've moved past both of those into the future and things are looking much brighter."

For the uninitiated, Folsom was when Boulder did a protected bike lane there, traffic got backed up and the city lost its shit, so then council undid it.

It has been used as an example of government incompetence for the past five(ish) years.

Damn, tense meeting today.

Yates: One of the speakers alleged that sheriff Joe Pelle is working with ICE. BoCo is also a sanctuary municipality. What's that about?

Carr: Pelle runs the jail. He has to obey court orders, so if the order is based on a conviction or probable cause and ICE requires something, there's no way around that, but he doesn't cooperate to the extent other sheriffs do around the country.

Brockett asks if council would consider a resolution to recommit to sanctuary city status as community members are asking.

Friend: There are four of us who are new who didn't get to commit to that, so it would be a nice gesture to the community to have a unanimous council reaffirm our commitment.

Also wants to go to Latorre in the church to do that.

A resolution sounds great, Weaver says. It could include "what's new" including more federal funding for ICE, the promised deployment of tactical deportation units to sanctuary cities, etc.

No opposition to that from council. Weaver says they'll read it in chambers and then go present it to Latorre at the church.

I missed what the timing on scheduling would be, if there was discussion of that. Loud audience members today.

Young "addressing" the Tipton report. She and Swetlik sat down with staff to "discuss what moving forward looks like." It is a "very hopeful plan."

"Coming out of that meeting, I know I felt pretty hopeful," she says.

"It is related to the transportation issue ... I have sat down with (Brautigam) and discussed this. There really is no explanation for why Carlos left. There really isn't. I wish we could get up here and say he left for this or that reason, but there really isn't."

Dif topic but interesting to note: The city's contract language for the Harbeck lease includes prohibitions on doing business with known "illegal aliens."

That's a federal requirement. The language can't be changed, city attorneys say.

I'mma leave this open for a minute and not tweet RE: marijuana licensing authority bc I really haven't followed it and it seems pretty standard. But I'll let you know if anything interesting happens as well as the outcome.

OK, I have one tidbit for you: The Marijuana Licensing Authority will be renamed the Cannabis Licensing and Advisory Board, in part bc they will be taking over hemp regulations/licensing once those are developed.

We still don't know to what degree hemp will be regulated; staff is exploring that now.

OK gonna wrap this one, too and start a new one for the state legislative agenda. @threadreaderapp please unroll. Thank you!