staging.rockymountainvoice.com

Menu

Tag: Grand Junction

Western Colorado’s only psychiatric hospital to close
No Comments
DENVER7, Local

Western Colorado’s only psychiatric hospital to close

By Katie Parkins | Denver 7 NEWS Western Colorado's only psychiatric hospital will be shutting down. West Springs Hospital in Grand Junction will cease its in-patient operations after March 10, the medical center announced on Facebook Monday. Outpatient services at Mind Springs Health will remain open. The West Springs Hospital has provided inpatient psychiatric care to the Western Slope for 20 years. However, according to a report in The Denver Post, the hospital faced financial issues and struggled to fill the facility's 48 licensed beds. READ THE FULL STORY AT DENVER 7 NEWS
Read More
In Grand Junction, officials and community alike want to know more on future resource center site
No Comments
Local, Rocky Mountain Voice

In Grand Junction, officials and community alike want to know more on future resource center site

By Jen Schumann | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice City officials are negotiating to relocate Grand Junction’s Resource Center to North Avenue, but residents and business owners have thus far been left uninformed. Despite past assurances a new location should limit its impact on businesses, Rocky Mountain Voice has confirmed that city officials are in the process of acquiring 2851 and 2851 ½ North Avenue, a strip mall surrounded by businesses and residences. Councilmen Dennis Simpson and Scott Beilfuss confirmed the deal is underway, but said the Council has not yet considered it in a formal session. “We’re in the process of negotiating to buy 2851 and 2851 ½ [on North Avenue]. I guess there are two different properties probably [to combine],” Simpson said. Beilfuss...
Read More
Alexis Hitzeroth challenging Cody Kennedy for District A on Grand Junction City Council
No Comments
Local, Rocky Mountain Voice

Alexis Hitzeroth challenging Cody Kennedy for District A on Grand Junction City Council

By Jen Schumann | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Grand Junction voters on April 8 will choose between incumbent Cody Kennedy and Alexis Hitzeroth for the District A seat on City Council. Kennedy, who served a 17-year career as a police officer and is now a small business owner, has served on the boards of Crime Stoppers of Mesa County, Grand Valley Resettlement Program among others. His primary issues are "compassionate" fiscal responsibility, affordable housing and public safety. Hitzeroth served 13 years in the Army National Guard, earning the Outstanding Service Medal during Operation Enduring Freedom. She earned a degree in environmental science and performed watershed conservation work for the U.S. Geological Survey. Her platform focus is affordability, honoring Gr...
Read More
Candidates for Grand Junction City Council tackle key issues at Mesa Co. Republican Women’s forum
No Comments
Local, Rocky Mountain Voice

Candidates for Grand Junction City Council tackle key issues at Mesa Co. Republican Women’s forum

By Jen Schumann | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Candidates for Grand Junction City Council recently gathered at a forum hosted by Mesa County Republican Women, addressing the city's pressing issues ahead of the April 8th municipal election.  Homelessness, housing affordability, impact fees and the 4th/5th Street project were central themes as candidates laid out their priorities. Government vs. nonprofits: Who should take charge on homelessness? Views diverged on whether the city or nonprofits should lead homelessness efforts.  Alexis Hitzeroth (District A), a veteran, called for more advocacy and outreach. “I know that the city can do better when it comes to our unhoused population. I think we need to get more advocates out there within the city and speak t...
Read More
Ben Van Dyke wants to be voice of reason and of the people on Grand Junction City Council
No Comments
Local, Rocky Mountain Voice

Ben Van Dyke wants to be voice of reason and of the people on Grand Junction City Council

By Lindy Browning | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Independent-minded, solution-oriented, and practical pragmatism is what Ben Van Dyke says is missing on the current Grand Junction City Council. He intends to change all that, for the residents and businesspeople in Grand Junction, if he is elected to City Council in April. “I never thought that I would run for any political office, it was never something I had thought about until the disastrous way the Council handled the unhoused in our community, and then watched as they created another disaster with 4th and 5th Streets,” Van Dyke said. Van Dyke is a fourth-generation resident of Grand Junction, and his roots run deep in the Grand Valley. He is a father, husband and business owner. Since the late 1960s, his fam...
Read More
Final phase of Grand Junction downtown parking updates to be rolled out this week
No Comments
KKCO-TV Grand Junction, Local

Final phase of Grand Junction downtown parking updates to be rolled out this week

By Kacie Sinton | KKCO-TV 11 News The City of Grand Junction is making some changes to parking in the downtown area. Starting this week, the final phase of updates will be rolled out to downtown parking. Grand Junction workers will be installing 17 kiosks around various downtown parking lots. Officials will also begin allowing 10-hour parking for people with applicable permits at 600 Rood Avenue and 500 Ute Avenue, plus four-hour parking in the 400, 500, and 600 blocks of Colorado Avenue. READ THE FULL STORY AT KKCO-TV 11 NEWS
Read More
Grand Junction firefighters deployed to support firefighting efforts in Beaumont, Calif.
No Comments
KKCO-TV Grand Junction, Local

Grand Junction firefighters deployed to support firefighting efforts in Beaumont, Calif.

By Aiga Petelo | KKCO-TV 11 News The Grand Junction Fire Department’s Wildland Fire Team is preparing to assist in the ongoing efforts to combat wildfires in California. A four-person crew and a Type 3 Wildland Engine will depart from Grand Junction on Saturday, Jan. 11, at 7:00 a.m. The crew will join a five-engine strike team composed of units from neighboring states and will report to Beaumont, California. READ THE FULL STORY AT KKCO-TV 11 NEWS
Read More
Grand Junction’s 7th Street plan may have city on course for head-on collision with constituents
No Comments
Local, Rocky Mountain Voice

Grand Junction’s 7th Street plan may have city on course for head-on collision with constituents

By Lindy Browning | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice As Grand Junction unveils its proposal to make major changes to 7th Street -- citing safety for pedestrians and bicyclists -- more than 200 people attended a meeting of City Council in person or virtually last week with about two-thirds of them vehemently opposed to the direction City Council seems determined to pursue. According to Jim Spehar, a former county commissioner and City Council member, two-thirds of those people were there to protest any more costly changes to Grand Junction roads. Spehar, in an op-ed to the local legacy newspaper, wrote that more than half of the people in attendance were still outraged over the “experimental pilot project” changes made to 4th and 5th Streets earlier in the year.  He advise...
Read More
Grand Junction punts again on homeless center to the ire of taxpayers
No Comments
Local, Rocky Mountain Voice

Grand Junction punts again on homeless center to the ire of taxpayers

By Lindy Browning | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Downtown residents and businesses continue to be frustrated by the Grand Junction City Council's efforts to find a way to meet the needs of vulnerable homeless people while saying they want to protect the homeowners and businesses from the darker element that lives within the homeless population.  In a recent turn of events, the Council, in an effort to address the violence, crime and exploitation of the area's approximately 2,000 homeless people, created a buffer zone that extends from curb to curb at the property on 261 Ute Avenue. The buffer zone was an attempt to stop the criminal element from dealing drugs and prostitution at the address where the Homeless Resource Center is located. The idea was to give the center...
Read More
In Grand Junction, scrutiny intensifies on Resource Center to address rising crime, other issues
No Comments
Local, Rocky Mountain Voice

In Grand Junction, scrutiny intensifies on Resource Center to address rising crime, other issues

By Jen Schumann | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Once celebrated as one of the top 10 main streets in the U.S., Grand Junction’s downtown now faces turmoil. Business owners, frustrated with the nearby Resource Center, are cleaning up feces and needles and dealing with fires and property damage. Many are calling for the center to be relocated. The Resource Center opened on Dec. 11, 2023, providing food, shelter, hygiene and navigation services for the homeless. By October 2024, however, downtown business owners reported rising concerns about harassment, danger, property damage and filth. At the Nov. 20 meeting of City Council, business owners shared their frustrations.  “We've put in a new, almost $20,000 camera system since this Resource Center came in," business own...
Read More