Clearly the most important news of the month is that Dunkin Donuts returned to Boulder after a twelve year absence. Their 28th Street location, which also features a drive-through, has the city’s runners and cyclists sharing a collective eye-roll (while secretly rejoicing). And six months after the college town put into effect a 10-cent fee on disposable bags, the use of paper and plastic at grocery stores has dropped by 68 percent. A Broomfield judge ruled to keep a fracking ban after the November referendum results were challenged by local pro-fracking groups. So, it turns out that the way people voted four months ago was, in fact, the way people wanted to vote. Boulder County re-opened a stretch of Lefthand Canyon between US 36 and Lee Hill Road that has been closed to bicycles since the September floods. Repairs on East County Line Road, however, haven’t gone as smoothly; the building of a replacement bridge has been delayed by a group of nesting bald eagles. (And man thinks he’s in control.) Preparing for summer evenings, the City of Erie is opening up their annual “Movies in the Park” lineup to residents’ suggestions. But that isn’t all to look forward to as the months warm up—Superior, Louisville, and Longmont are all re-vamping their city websites. The three cities are paying exorbitant amounts to get their virtual offices looking pretty just in time for swimsuit season.

[ Small Talk ]

“I think our dream for this is to have people experience this and re-create as much of the operations history of this place as we can up here. There’s something about it that is so unique, it kind of gets in your blood.”
– J. Erik Hartronft, a Louisville architect who’s helping to work on the restoration of Louisville’s Grain Elevator

“It was very clear that the neighborhood residents would like the pool rebuilt.”
– Jeff Friesner, City of Longmont Recreation Director, commenting on the rebuilding of the swimming pool at Kanemoto Park.

“We’ve built up all this incredible diversity over 125 years, we’d like to see the city really kind of address infill better—perhaps requirements for new construction that would make it compatible with the existing Old Town properties.”
– Rachel Schwendler, Lafayette Historic Preservation Board Chairwoman

“Within the St. Vrain Basin, from the Continental Divide all the way to the confluence with the South Platte, the state operates 13 steam gauges.”
–Russel Stroud, lead hydrographer with the Colorado Division of Water Resources. The state is hurrying to put the gauge system back together before irrigation season.

Sources: Boulder Daily Camera, 9News.com, Longmont Times Call