Staff Writer

Last week, DPS held a meeting at Northfield High School on the Sandoval Campus to discuss the future of the property with area parents. Essentially, DPS was announcing its plans to build several more schools on the property within the next 10 years. Many Stapleton residents had believed Northfield High School was going to be the first new comprehensive high school in Denver in 35 years. “We have so many kids in Stapleton, it makes sense to have a dedicated, comprehensive high school for the community,” said concerned resident Kyle Peterson. “Most people dreamed of their kids going to one high school in our community, but according to DPS, that was never going to be the case. I think it’s going to be difficult to build pride in our schools located there. Or are we just supposed to have campus pride.” Resident Jessica Lewis agrees. “I don’t understand where this is coming from,” said Lewis. “I feel like there was a really big bait switch. Bigger than what I even pulled on my husband. When I voted for the bond, and any support I had for the school, was for Northfield High. Not for a never-ending campus of randomly thrown together schools with kids of different ages and needs.” DPS Superintendent Tom Boasberg explained to everyone how they need to pay attention to the fine print. “The bond proposal never said the additional seats would go to Northfield High School,” said Boasberg. “The bond proposal stated the money would pay for additional seats on the Paul Sandoval Campus. It doesn’t say ‘Northfield High School.’ It never said ‘Northfield High School.’ Read the fine print, dummies. Game. Set. Match. I guess this meeting is over?”

[Read more…] about Nine Schools to be Added to Sandoval Campus by 2025

The Penningroths have been married for three years and were excited to take the next step in their lives. “We have been living in the Highlands for the last five years, and decided we are ready to start our family,” said John. “We have some friends that live over in Stapleton, and like a lot of people with kids or getting ready to have kids, we thought we should check out Stapleton.” The couple thought it would be fun to look into new homes, or even new builds, so they began looking at Wicker Park, one of Stapleton’s newest neighborhoods. “We went online to see what may be available,” said Sarah. “We read through the Wicker Park brochure and really liked what it had to say.” In particular, the brochure states, “Wicker Park is a not-very-big neighborhood with a very big variety of home styles.” This led the Penningroths to go visit the neighborhood so they could look around.

[Read more…] about Wicker Park Brochure Tricks Couple in to Thinking It’s Affordable

Stay at home mom Jennifer Mason has a three year old and a one year old at their home in Conservatory Green. Prior to having their first child, Jennifer worked in an office as a Director of Marketing. “I definitely enjoyed my job and the challenges that went with it,” said Mason. “But, after having our first baby, and looking into the options, we decided that it would be better for me to stay home. We also knew we were going to have more kids, so it just made sense that I didn’t go back to work at the time.” Jennifer says she does want to go back to the working world again, but not until both kids are in school. “I definitely miss it, if not for just getting out of the house,” said Jennifer. “So, once the kids are in full time school, I will probably get back into the working world.” Last week, while in a small argument with her spouse, her husband made the mistake of saying, “I wish I could do what you do. My job is so much harder.”

[Read more…] about Stay at Home Mom Laughs in Husband’s Face After He Tells Her, “My Job is Harder”

Stapleton continues to add social media sites to help residents navigate the Stapleton landscape and understand what is going on in the community. There of course is the popular Stapleton Swap site, the Big Tent site, Next Door, Stapleton Community Watch, and many, many others. The different sites have spawned off of the original Stapleton social media site The Grape Vine, which served as a catch all for everything Stapleton. Instead of having one place where residents would randomly post things, people now know to go to a specific Stapleton site to find what they are looking for. “I have been here since the Grape Vine was around,” said resident Kyle Sovran. “It was okay, but just too overwhelming. Everything was there. People selling, buying, crime questions, complaints about Forest City, complaints about neighbors, and on and on. So I think it has been really helpful to have these other sites filtered out so you know where to go to find Stapleton information. One thing that had yet to be created until recently was a central site for Stapleton residents totally dedicated to bitching about all things Stapleton.

[Read more…] about Resident Starts “Stapleton Grumbles” Facebook Site

The Stapleton Principal HOA recently opened up a new community cultural arts center, which is being dubbed “The Cube.” The intent of The Cube was to provide a cultural arts center for such activities as small concerts, dance performances, theatre, or even art auctions. “The idea behind The Cube was to add a place where the Principal HOA can host cultural or arts events, or residents can reserve the space for that purpose,” said Principal HOA Marketing Director Nicole Schultz. “I am sure there are lots of things we haven’t thought of yet, but this is going to be a great thing for the community.” The space is about 3,000 square feet, and can even include a small stage. “We can sit 225 people, 300 without the stage,” said Schultz. “We are really excited about the possibilities.” To date, the majority of inquiries from residents have not necessarily been in regards to cultural events, according to Schultz. “PTA members have contacted us in regards to hosting fundraising parties and other groups have wanted to have small dinners or parties,” said Schultz. “But the majority of reservations we have coming up are weddings for couples living in Stapleton. Usually second weddings.”

[Read more…] about Community Cultural Center (The Cube) to be Mostly Used for Second Stapleton Weddings

As the holidays near, the Joyner family realizes they need to get rid of some old toys and gifts from the past. “We just have so much junk the kids don’t even play with, and in some cases, never played with,” said father of three Ryan Joyner. “With Christmas coming up, we need to make some room so we can even have a place to put some new toys. It was really a long time coming, and we still have a lot of work to do.” Ryan says that they have already emptied out five large boxes with more ready to be filled. “It’s hard because we see all these toys we thought they would love, but really, all they loved was opening the present and taking it out of the box before moving to the next thing.” What makes this exercise so tough for the Joyners is that they know they will be doing the exact same thing in two years after spending hundreds of dollars on toys the kids hardly played with again. “I’m not sure why we even do this,” said Ryan. “They end up liking one, maybe two things, and everything else gets about 20 minutes of attention total. Then, it goes in a drawer, or the back room in the basement, or under a bed to never be found or used again. Maybe we need to do a better job of buying things they want. Or, maybe we just need to buy fewer things.” That may be the best shopping advice we get all season. 

With two kids, a job, a wife and a house, Dave Halsor already had a pretty demanding schedule. “I am typically out the door for work by seven,” said Dave. “The days I am not, it’s because I am taking the kids to school. Then, if I leave work before 5:30 it’s so I can get to one of the kids’ extracurricular activities.” Dave also keeps busy on the weekends. “Of course, there are typically plenty of things going on with the kids, and there are all sorts of things to do around the house. My wife either has me fixing something or changing something out that she doesn’t like. There’s definitely not a lot of time for rest.” Recently, Dave is getting increasingly busy. “A lot of my wife’s Stapleton friends have become divorced over the last couple of years,” said Dave. “And, inevitably, they have some home maintenance issue with their homes. My wife hears about it, and then volunteers my assistance. There’s really no way of getting out of it at that point.” Dave said there are some benefits to helping his wife’s newly single friends. “It does get me out of my house and away from my stress, my kids and my projects,” said Dave. “Also, her friends usually pay me in beer or whiskey which is nice. And they are really appreciative. If I have a project at my house, there is no ‘thank you.’ It’s either done or not done.” Dave says he will continue to help out his wife’s friends until his beer fridge and whiskey cabinet are full. After that, the ladies will need to find a new man.

The contract between the city and Forest City will be complete as soon as the City of Denver sells the final pieces of airport land to Forest City, which could come as early as 2018. At that time, any agreements between the city and Forest City will be completed. “It’s really an exciting time for us,” said Forest City Spokesperson Janelle Ayers. “We have been dealing with this 500 pound gorilla known as affordable housing for a long time now. Of course, the city has put some pressure on us, and certainly the Stapleton residents and its committees have put pressure on us, so we have been dodging questions for a long time now. So, to know we may only have one year left of this is really gratifying. We’re on the home stretch.” Once the land is transferred, and all of Stapleton is built out, the City of Denver will evaluate Forest City’s performance in regards to the original plan.

[Read more…] about Forest City Almost Done Having to Lie About Affordable Housing