Dear Neighbor,

The City of Wheat Ridge and Seniors' Resource Center are pleased to announce the start of the widely anticipated "Senior Circulator" local shuttle for Wheat Ridge residents ages 60 years or better. "The free shuttle service begins June 30th and will give residents from Cambridge Park, Vintage Place Apartments, and Highland West/South Apartments the option to ride to the Applewood Village Shopping Center to do errands in the City. We are very excited about this new 1 year pilot program. I hope the program serves as a model for other communities in Jefferson County as a new way to meet the changing transportation needs of the senior population. Rides will be provided on the Seniors' Resource Center handicapped-accessible buses, which have a capacity to transport 12 individuals at a time. Seniors' Resource Center drivers can provide assistance in getting on and off the bus as well as assisting riders with packages.

Riders will be picked up each week at 11:00 a.m. from the locations shown below on the specified day:

Thursday

Highland West/South Apartments

6360 W. 38th Avenue

The City of Wheat Ridge is now airing a new Comcast Channel 8 program called "Top of the Hour." The 30 minute magazine style show has been produced to help educate citizens about the important issues facing the City. The show will air on Wheat Ridge's Government Access Channel 8. I will serve as the host of the show. The show was produced at various locations around the City of Wheat Ridge and features elected officials, staff and key stakeholders who are knowledgeable about the City topics featured in each show. The first show will air through mid-August providing an in depth look at the topics of "Drainage, Growth and Development.

The City is very excited about Top of the Hour. We need to be doing all that we can do to educate our citizens about the important issues facing our community and utilizing Channel 8 is one way to get the information out to citizens about the opportunities and challenges surrounding drainage, growth and development in our community today and in the future.

At 10 a.m. on 6/21/2008 the ribbons were cut for the new/improved lap and splash pools at Anderson Park. As you may know, the old pool was a costly and old maintenance nightmare. Council Members Adams, Berry, Rotola, Langworthy and Stites attended the celebration along with members of the Parks Commission and, of course, City staff. At 10 a.m. there were a few dozen parents and children using the new facilities. Official time for the pool opening was 11:30 a.m.

When I returned to the pool from the 2008 Front Range Rendezvous around 1 p.m. the pools were packed with all ages, young and old!! The new pools are really and asset to the community and look great. A hot day was good for business!!

Based on public sentiment and involvement, the City has initiated a series of public improvement projects to encourage the revitalization of Wheat Ridge within the commercial corridors and to encourage private investment into the City (residential and commercial). The efforts started approximately three years ago.

The completion of the pool is one box that can be "checked off" as completed. The next completed project should be the new synthetic turf fields at Wheat Ridge High School, which will look great AND will conserve water and tax dollars (no mowing!!). The new fields will be used by Wheat Ridge little league football. The sharing of the fields will save our City grass fields from becoming damaged from overuse.

Many projects and programs are in still the pipeline, such as Amici's Restaurant, Cabela's, the redevelopment of 44th & Wadsworth Blvd.and the new Senior Circulator Bus "Pilot" Program that started June 30th.

Mayor Jerry DiTullio
Wheat Ridge
303.235.2800
jerryditullio@comcast.net