Issue 143

March Madness has come and gone, and again, I have squandered my family’s fortunes only to come up empty in all of my pools.  However, some of you did play big, and you need to step forward to claim your prize!     If you are in the top 16, please send me an email (stapletonion@gmail.com) so I can contact you and find out what you have available to choose from.

1. Mike W.:  Jim ‘N Nick’s: $50 Gift Card
2. Rhonda B.:  Stanley Beer Hall: $100 Gift Card
3. Steve V.:  Colorado Beverage Company: $50 Gift Card
4. Dennis D.:  Happy Bakeshop: Build a Happy Cake,  8″ two-layer birthday cake (feeds 25)
5. Shane M.:  Etais: $25 gift card
6. Carmen M.:  Colorado Beverage Company: $50 Gift Card
7. Kristi A.:  Etais: $25 gift card
8. Isaac J.:  Poppy & Pine:  Flower arrangement once a month for three months ($45 value)
9. Nils S.:  Stapleton All Sports: Free mutli-sport summer camp
10. Tim L.:  Camp Gladiator: One FREE 4 week Camp Gladiator boot camp (valued at $189) with buddy pass
11. Karlyn T.:  Mici: 16″ XL Specialty Pizza & Bottle of Italian Wine
12. Christine H.:  Mici: 16″ XL Specialty Pizza & Bottle of Italian Wine
13. Travis B.:  Blue Creek: Gift bag with great skin care products
14. Jason S.:  Yellowbelly: $25 Gift Card
15. Frank M.:  Digstown: $135 Gift Card
16. Andrea V.:

2017 Stapletonion Bracket Challenge Prizes

• SmartSpace: $100 Gift Card

With the Stanley Marketplace open and in full swing, residents from all over Stapleton are heading out to check out Stapleton’s new shopping options, including great places like Steele Angel, Velvet Wolf, Trunk Nouveau, Sterre, Goose & the Goat, and Poppy & Pine. Residents also look forward to the opening of True and Zero Market Zero Market which happen this week. The unique stores are of course a great addition to the community, but residents have been coming over in droves for the food and drink. Annette has opened with great reviews and the Denver Biscuit Company’s opening has been a big success. The Stanley Beer Hall and Comida continue to draw large crowds as well. Residents who enjoy craft beer are often ordering food from Yellowbelly Chicken and bringing it over to Cheluna to enjoy some beverages with their meals. After dinner, people often head over to Sweet Cow for some ice cream or to Miette et Chocolat for some decadent desserts. Overall, residents feel Stanley is living up to its hype. “We have gone almost every weekend,” says resident John Lighthall. “It’s just a relaxing, enjoyable experience. You almost feel like you are on vacation, but without the drive and crappy hotels.” Molly Strassburg agrees. “I love seeing all the boutique shops in there. Lots of great things. And we are never disappointed with our meals.”

[Read more…] about Eastbridge Residents Gaining “The Stanley Seven”

The Stapleton schools have a special provision beginning in the 2017-18 school year where they will be adding a new subject matter to the curriculum. The area schools have decided to begin teaching a Sales/Fundraising course to help continue the local schools mission of raising as much money as possible to support the schools’ other core classes. “As of now, we will just be implementing it in the elementary schools,” said Denver Superintendent Tom Boasberg. “The parents in the community and the schools have been asking for this for a few years now, and we decided to give this a shot.” The focus of the class will be to help kids understand basic sales and presentation skills, which will help them with existing fundraisers such as Jump Rope for Heart and Girl Scout cookie sales, but the kids will now branch out into direct fundraising efforts for their particular schools. “The kids seem to have better success asking for money from adults than adults do,” admitted Swigert PTA leader Sylvia Baird. “So, why not put them out there to raise the funds we need to make sure we are doing the best we can to teach them the core subjects.” School leaders are behind the idea. “This just seems like the logical next step,” said Westerly Creek parent Mark Wilson.

[Read more…] about Stapleton Schools to Add Sales/Fundraising Class for 2017-18 School Year

Stapleton 16 year old Connor Miller is a sophomore at East High School who plays sports and has an active social life. Friends often come to his house to hang out and play video games or run around in the town center or the local Stapleton parks. “My friends that don’t live in Stapleton like hanging out here, and have always loved coming to my house,” said Connor. “People at school are always asking me if they can come to my house. My mom likes having me around, so she doesn’t mind at all.” Connor’s mom Linsey always has lots of snacks around the house to keep the kids happy. “I’d rather have them around here than out causing trouble somewhere,” said Linsey. “Plus, it’s nice to have Connor around as much as possible and his friends are always so respectful.” Connor has become popular fairly quickly at East High, which he attributes to his sense of humor and easy-going personality. “I don’t talk behind people’s backs or say rude things about them on social media,” says Connor. Recently, however, Connor found out there may be another reason he has so many friends wanting to hang out at his house. “Some friends and I were hanging out and wanted to come to my place. One of the guys said the word MILF. That’s when I realized some of my guy friends think my mom is hot.” The revelation creeped Connor out. “It’s pretty disturbing. I mean, my mom is 43 years old. Can people still be hot at 43? I had a talk with the guys and said to keep the mom talk to a minimum, which was stupid, because now they bring it up all the time. The whole thing makes me a little awkward and uncomfortable.” Connor says the new information hasn’t hurt his friendships. “Hey, people hang out with people in high school for stupider reasons than this. As long as we’re all still getting along, we can still be friends.”

Havana St. will be under construction again after city officials and the Stapleton Principal HOA have decided the bike lanes are not getting the amount of usage they had hoped. “We’re not sure what the issue is,” said HOA President Paul Harris. “But, the lane is not getting near the usage we had hoped. I mean, we thought there was plenty of space for bikers with the parking areas on both sides, plus the bike lane, plus that extra lane we have there for no apparent reason. But, apparently, it’s just not attractive enough for bikers to come use the lane. We want to see what we can do to change that.” [Read more…] about Havana Bike Lane to Expand to Four Lanes in Effort to Increase Usage

Stapleton is getting older. And it’s not just the trees and the parents. Stapleton now has teenagers. Lots of them. There are of course the teenagers hanging out in the town center and now at Stanley. But, Stapleton now has teenage drivers. And this is scaring the hell out of parents. “My son is now old enough to drive on his own,” said Stapleton parent Rick Kimball. “It freaks the hell out of. One, because I worry about him, of course, and two because it makes me feel old as hell.” Lexa Martin also has a teenage driver in her house. “You just worry about them paying attention, focusing on the road, driving the speed limit. You know, all that stuff we didn’t do when we were kids.” There are now dozens of teenage drivers in Stapleton and that number will obviously continue to increase. With so many teenage drivers, it’s not just the parents of those drivers who are concerned. “Our kids aren’t close to driving yet,” said parent Deb Stewart. “But I am definitely more worried about my own kids crossing the street to go to the park, or playing in the alleys, crossing the alleys, etc. Teenagers don’t always have the best attention spans.” Dick Mitchell agrees.

[Read more…] about Stapleton Residents Fondly Remember When Bike Safety Was Number One Concern

Amy and Chad Crosley moved to Stapleton from the Governor’s Park neighborhood about eight months ago. They loved the park space, the design of the homes and neighborhoods, and realized all the things Stapleton had going on made it an up and coming neighborhood. “Things like the train we actually think are really cool,” said Amy. “What a fun and easy way to get downtown. We definitely like to do things in the city, so we plan on using the A-Line a lot.” Chad also appreciated all of the hip restaurants coming in. “We actually toured the Stanley before it opened and thought that was going to be really cool,” said Chad. “Then, with the Eastbridge restaurants coming in, and at some point Punch Bowl, it really makes it a fun neighborhood to be in.” The couple also has enjoyed meeting new neighbors and other people in the community. “There are a lot of fun people here,” said Chad. “I think people who haven’t been here really give Stapleton a bad rap.” The one thing the couple is beginning to get frustrated with, however, is how many times people ask them if they are going to have kids.

[Read more…] about Stapleton Couple Without Kids Almost Sick of Being Asked Why They Don’t Have Kids

On New Year’s Eve and again on January 7th, some cowardly degenerates slashed vehicle tires of residents of the Northfield Apartments. Some residents had multiple tires slashed, costing them hundreds of dollars. The Northfield Apartment complex is an 84 unit affordable housing development located in Northfield. No one has been caught in connection with the events, and the Denver Post article does reference concern from at least one resident of the complex that it could be fellow Stapleton residents lashing out who did not want the complex in the neighborhood. I find this extremely unlikely, as the risk-reward prospect for an existing resident does not make sense at all. The only reward would be driving people from living there because of slashed tires versus the risk of going to jail, public humiliation, losing your job, possibly your family, and on and on. So, it’s highly unlikely this was the impetus for the vandalism.

[Read more…] about Westword Gets it Wrong on Stapleton…Again