Recently, a surprising event occurred on the Eastridge through-street Fulton. A driver on their way home to Aurora not only obeyed the stop signs and drove the speed limit, the driver also had their music on at a reasonable volume. According to eyewitness Eric Barnette, the 1990 something sedan drove on Fulton St obeying the traffic laws, and the music in the vehicle was barely audible. “They went slow enough where I should have been able to hear it more clearly,” said Barnette. “I thought something was strange, as normally cars driving through Stapleton to get to Aurora have the music cranked loud, and many times aren’t obeying the traffic laws. This guy seemed to be aware of his surroundings. It was quite remarkable.” [Read more…] about Aurora Resident Driving Through Stapleton Keeps Music at Reasonable Volume

Stapleton mom Kristi Harves had enough. Her kids live a life most all kids outside of Stapleton would do anything for. They have two loving and attentive parents who dote on them. They have friends in the neighborhood, are involved in extracurricular activities, go on great vacations, have nice clothes and toys, and on and on. Yet, somehow with all of that, they find things to complain about. “It’s really unbelievable,” said Kristi. “They have great lives, but inevitably, they will find something to whine about on a daily basis. Whether it’s wanting peanut butter and jelly instead of spaghetti and meatballs, or maybe they didn’t want to wear a particular outfit, or go hiking. There is always something they are finding to grumble about.” After several talks regarding “little things versus big things” and trying to have the kids think globally and understand how bad other people have it, Harves finally decided to try something new. “Nothing was working,” said Harves. “We would talk about kids in other countries, about homeless people, and yet, they can still get mad if their ski coat isn’t the color they wanted. So, I decided to hit ‘em where it hurts. Their wallets.” [Read more…] about Stapleton Mom Starts “Wine” Jar to Reduce Children’s’ Whining

As expected, the ice cream shop being built in the town center, The Constellation, will be the flagship of the Eastbridge Town Center. The store will come complete with a massive artistic architectural project including a replica wing of the Lockheed Constellation airplane. “It is really going to be a great building,” said designer Dave Reynolds. “The building is really going to ‘top off’ the town center, pun intended.” The design is impressive, if not overwhelming, including the giant wing and a fuselage. The length of the piece extends about 30 feet from The Constellation itself, and is about 20 feet off the ground. “We are paying homage to the history of Stapleton,” said Reynolds. [Read more…] about The Constellation Ice Cream Shop to be Cornerstone of Town Center

The RTD General Manager held a press conference this week announcing the train horn will be blowing possibly until the Eastbridge Town Center is completed. “It has to do with a bunch of safety blah, blah,” said RTD GM Dave Genova. “It’s super complicated, involves federal regulations, the Federal Railway Administration, engineering, and a bunch of other things you non-transport types won’t understand,” said Genova. “We are doing whatever we can, so just be patient and don’t ask questions about things you don’t understand and have no ideas of how to solve it. Thank you.” Stapleton resident Sam Jepsen looks forward to several more months of the train horn. “It just makes me feel like we are living in the city,” said Jepsen. “I love hearing the train horns.” [Read more…] about Feeling Horny? Train Noise Gonna Be Here Awhile

Recently, an odd craze of people dressing up as scary clowns has been sweeping the nation. And when I say sweeping, I mean it’s happening in very small numbers and in random occurrences. But, since coulrophobia (fear of clowns) is real (my sister has it), it seems to be getting much more attention than it should. Idiots seem to be jumping on the clown bandwagon, believing dressing up as a scary clown is not a big deal and no harm can be done. Maybe they’re right. Reports of clowns actually getting in physical altercations with people are extremely low in number, so it’s hardly a matter for homeland security. But, with the exaggerated nature of our 24 hour news cycle, people are now nervous about being attacked by a clown. And as Jules says, “…when I get nervous, I get scared. And when motherf#ckers get scared, that’s when mother#ckers accidentally get shot. But I don’t want that. And you don’t want that.” So, I guess the point is, maybe don’t dress up as a scary clown or encourage others to dress up as scary clowns. By next year, we can put this whole thing behind us and get back to dressing up as scary clowns again. Until then, stay safe, and don’t be a scary clown this Halloween.]]>

Residents looking forward to the opening of the Stanley Beer Hall got great news when developers revealed the grand opening of the much-anticipated facility to be somewhere between 2016 and 2019. “We didn’t want to set a hard deadline, so we have kind of a soft opening between a very specific timeframe,” said project leader Mitchell Roberts. “Things are coming along, that’s for sure. We are right in that phase of the project where we know we will complete it, which is why we had the confidence to announce the latest timing for the grand opening.” There had been talks of setting a hard deadline but ultimately management adopted Forest City’s “never be specific” policy, even touting on its home page, “Oh hey there, opening soon,” complete with a calendar letting visitors know the current date and weather. “Originally, it was going to be a countdown calendar,” said Roberts. “Something like, ’15 days until opening,’ but those types of calendars are more tricky when there isn’t a hard opening date. We still think it’s helpful to let residents know the date and weather. We are considering adding the current time as well.” There had been discussions of a beer garden potentially moving to Eastbridge back in late 2013, but that plan was ultimately dropped after Forest City made it clear the town center would have to have a grocery store before anything else would be decided. One year later, in 2014, the plans for Stanley were announced along with its 2015 opening date. “There was a lot of confusion at first in regards to the opening dates,” said Roberts. “I think the media was a little over aggressive or misremembered what we had told them. I mean, we were completely repurposing a building. You can’t do that in a year.” Other reports had the facility opening in early 2016, but that information also proved to be inaccurate. More recently, there were reports the Stanley Beer Hall would be open in September but Roberts insists he and his team were not part of that report. Regardless of the ultimate opening date, Stanley promises to be filled with fantastic restaurants and shops, and will be a great addition to the Stapleton community.]]>

The Stagemeyers and Koehns have been Stapleton friends for almost seven years. They lived on the same block in Central Park West during that time and spent lots of time together. Their kids would play together, they had date nights together, and they spent many evenings enjoying drinks at each other’s homes. After making a very tough decision, the Koehns decided to move to Willow Park East. “We weren’t necessarily looking,” said Anne Koehn. “We just went to one of the Infinity models and I fell in love with it. Obviously, the hardest thing was leaving our friends the Stagemeyers. But we know that we built a lifetime friendship with them when we were living in Central Park West.” The Stagemeyers agree. “We absolutely love Anne and Craig,” said Colleen Stagemeyer. “Of course, we are sad they moved, but we will definitely keep this friendship forever.” [Read more…] about Central Park West Residents Spend Weekend with Willow Park East Friends

Active Stapleton residents received bad news last week when Forest City announced its plans to begin building housing on much of the Stapleton area trail system beginning in 2018. “The trail system was never meant to be a permanent thing,” said Forest City spokesperson Janelle Ayers. “Forest City has always been open about the fact that when the opportunity arose, we would rezone and restructure the area to be more residential housing. It just makes more sense.” Stapleton residents who have just started using the trail system after its completion are very disappointed. “I can’t believe this,” said Stapleton runner Scott Huebner. “What am I saying. It’s Forest City. Of course I can believe it. But that doesn’t mean I can’t be angry about it.” Other residents agree with Huebner. “Not only is it bad for all the residents who bike, walk, and run, it’s bad for the homeowners in the area,” said resident Tiffany Wolf. “That is going to be a pretty major construction area, plus now they will be looking at homes instead of a trail system. It’s really ridiculous.” [Read more…] about Forest City to Replace Trails with Housing by 2018