|
|
|
 |
ITEM 1 - CALL TO ORDER
Mayor Murphy called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. in the City Council Chambers, Lakewood Civic Center, 480 S. Allison Parkway, Lakewood, Colorado.
ITEM 2 - ROLL CALL
Those present were: Mayor Bob Murphy, Presiding
Diana Allen
Doug Anderson
Karen Kellen
Sue King
Debbie Koop
Adam Paul
Ed Peterson
Tom Quinn
Those absent were: Cindy Baroway
Vicki Stack
Staff in attendance: Mike Rock, City Manager
Paul Kennebeck, Deputy City Attorney
Full and timely notice of this Study Session had been given and a quorum was present.
Councilwoman Allen stated that she would not be present at the next City Council meeting, but if she were, she would support proposed Ordinance O-2008-11 to eliminate the sales tax on food for domestic home consumption.
ITEM 3 - DISCUSSION - DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION IMPACTS ON LAKEWOOD
Mayor Murphy invited Chantal Unfug, Special Assistant to Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper for Policy and Initiatives, to give a presentation about the Democratic National Convention which will be meeting at the Pepsi Center August 25-28, 2008. Ms. Unfug stated that Denver expects 50,000 people to participate in the convention, including 56 state and territorial delegations. Participants will attend 1,500 events and the convention is expected to have an economic impact of $150 million. Delegates will arrive on Friday, August 22nd and the convention will close after the presidential nominee speech on Thursday night, August 28th. The key contractual partners include the Democratic National Convention Committee, the City and County of Denver, the Executive Host Committee (Gov. Ritter, Sen. Salazar, Rep. DeGette, Mayor Hickenlooper, Mike Dino, Elbra Wedgeworth, Steve Farber, 28 honorary chairpersons), and Kroenke Sports (Pepsi Center). The Denver 2008 Host Committee includes several implementation committees with a major emphasis on community outreach, citizen engagement and green strategies. The goal is to make the Democratic National Convention the greenest convention ever and to foster a long-lasting green legacy.
Mike Dino, member of the Executive Host Committee, told the City Council that 15,000-20,000 members of the media are expected in Denver for the convention. Several delegation receptions will be held in Lakewood at the Belmar Center and one of the seven metro hotel zones includes Union/6th and Mills area hotels. Most of the activities, however, will be at the Pepsi Center and the Colorado Convention Center. There is a vendor directory on the host website and local vendors may sign up there. Security will be extensive, especially close to the Pepsi Center. There will be satellite viewing centers at area shopping centers. Citizens were advised to watch local news during the convention for traffic updates and information. For more information, go to the website: http://denverconvention2008.com/
ITEM 4 - DISCUSSION - PROPOSED ORDINANCE RELATING TO FIRST AMENDMENT EVENTS
Michelle Kline, Assistant City Attorney, explained the reasons behind a proposed ordinance relating to First Amendment events. The purpose for such an ordinance would be to regulate First Amendment events such as parades and demonstrations. She commented that the draft ordinance has provisions generally similar to ordinances adopted by other cities. These provisions are based on numerous judicial decisions concerning a city's ability to regulate First Amendment activity.
Ms. Kline continued, saying cities are allowed to regulate the time, place
and manner of First Amendment events; that is, cities can:
1. Regulate the location of an event.
2. Regulate the time of an event.
3. Negotiate alternative locations and times of events.
When regulating the time, place and manner of a First Amendment event, the
regulations must meet the following four criteria:
1. The ordinance must be content neutral.
2. The ordinance must be narrowly tailored to meet a government interest.
3. The ordinance must leave open ample alternatives.
4. The ordinance cannot give overly broad discretion to the permitting authority.
Based on those criteria, Ms. Kline said, case law dictates the following:
1. First Amendment events cannot be completely prohibited.
2. Regulations cannot address what a speaker may or may not say.
3. Regulations cannot be unduly restrictive.
4. A city cannot charge fees that exceed expenses incident to the administration
of the permitting process.
5. The ordinance must give specific criteria for approving/denying permits so
as to prohibit overly broad discretion by the issuing authority.
6. A city cannot require excessive advance notice (advance notice requirements
that have been upheld are generally less than a week).
7. A city cannot unduly restrict the time an event takes place (courts have
upheld restrictions on events occurring before sunrise and after sunset).
8. Permitting schemes have generally been upheld when required for events involving
25 or more people.
9. Courts have struck down permitting schemes that allow for too long a decision
period, generally ruling that a decision to approve/deny a permit must be made
within 2 days.
Ms. Kline reviewed the draft ordinance with the City Council. After lengthy
discussion about needed revisions to the draft, it was agreed that the first
reading of the ordinance should be scheduled for the first regular meeting in
June, with second reading at the second regular meeting in June. Questions by
council members resulted in the following answers:
• The proposed ordinance relating to First Amendment events will not apply
to residential picketing on sidewalks.
• The ordinance will help the city to balance rights and uses, allow the
city to coordinate conflicting uses by multiple users and keep things orderly
and safe (example: a scheduled wedding in a park should not be interrupted by
a First Amendment event that could be held elsewhere).
ITEM 5 - UPDATE - GANG ACTIVITY
Police Chief Kevin Paletta introduced Sgt. Randy McNitt who gave a presentation on the Police Department's Special Enforcement Team/Gang Unit focusing on the nature of gang activity in Lakewood, Gang Unit priorities, and trends for the immediate future:
Gang Activity Update (Statistics):
• Statistics are not 100% accurate:
o Some incidents may not be properly marked as gang related.
o A crime marked gang related does not mean it was gang motivated.
o Higher numbers may reflect better offense tracking, increased enforcement efforts, or other legitimate factors.
Gang Contacts - Field Interviews:
• Continue to increase:
o 2004: 45
o 2005: 57
o 2006: 131
o 2007: 210
o 2008: 89 (as of 4/30/2008)
Gang Related Persons Offenses:
• Assaults, robbery, rape, murder, disorderly conduct, weapons offenses.
o 2004: 25
o 2005: 28
o 2006: 47
o 2007: 74
o 2008: 25 (as of 4/30/2008)
o 2007 Gang Motivated Offenses: 26 (includes one homicide, two attempt homicides)
Gang Members in Lakewood:
• Approximately 440-490 individuals
• Number of gangs and gang subsets contacted in Lakewood: 135
Gang Unit Priorities:
• Intelligence gathering and dissemination
• Providing gang training
• Directed enforcement activities
Intelligence:
• Review of gang related reports.
• Contacts with other agencies.
• Collating information and providing useful intelligence.
• Identification and tracking of gang members.
Gang Training:
• Jefferson County School District staff
• Police academies
• Gang meetings/update sessions
• Police in-service training
• Police training conferences
Directed Enforcement Activities:
• Warrant Apprehension
• Investigation follow-up, including graffiti
• Specific gang emphasis
• Hot spot enforcement
Trends - What We Are Seeing Now:
• Continued gang presence, contacts, and related crime.
• Public exhibition of gang lifestyle (graffiti, web-sites, associates)
• Hybrid gangs.
Council members expressed great appreciation for the amazing job being carried
out by the Gang Unit and by School Resource Officers. Several questions were
asked that resulted in the following responses:
• It's hard to estimate how much graffiti is gang-related, but a guess
would be around 10%.
• Gang statistics are up because the PD has more agents working on the
problem, not necessarily because of a significant increase in gang activity.
• Most gang activity in Lakewood takes place east of Wadsworth.
ITEM 6 - ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business to come before the Council; Mayor Murphy adjourned the meeting at 9:20 p.m.
Submitted by,
Sharon Blackstock, Acting City Clerk
 |
||
Americans with Disability Act (ADA) Notice |
||
