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.
Stapleton residents did step up, however, with a resident starting a Go Fund Me page to help reimburse affected residents. At the time of this publication, the page had generated roughly $3500 to be divided among the affected residents. This was a great way to help our neighbors and let them know they are welcome here. Not everyone saw it this way, however. The Westword published an article demonizing the project, saying, “While this seems nice on the surface — and we’re sure the initial impetus was positive — it also seems remarkably insular and insensitive, even coming from Stapleton.” The uninformed author went on to say, “this is effectively the upper middle class ‘donating’ to the upper middle class.” Clearly, the author did no research at all before publishing the article. In fact, I can assure you if something similar happened to residents in the Nantucket Close, a Go Fund Me page would never have been started, or would have received very little in donations. The article depicts Stapletonians as selfish and unkind, which is not at all my experience with the people here. It wouldn’t be so bad to have such a swing and a miss this one time, but it appears the Westword is continually trying to figure out ways to take a jab at Stapleton. Sure, I get it, controversy can often increase readership, and if the Westword can get a bunch of Stapleton residents to read these misguided articles and comment on them, that’s good for business. Stapleton residents can take the heat. The Stapletonion has included our social commentary on the community for six years, and we haven’t had any bricks thrown through our windows. The difference is, The Stapletonion is a satirical site, but somehow is more factual about Stapleton than the Westword.