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The Frequency.

SPEAKER_05 0:09

Good morning, Boulder County. It's Wednesday, September 23rd. I'm Shay Castle, and this is the Frequency. A weekly local podcast covering the news, events, and voices shaping the Boulder Valley. This episode is brought to you by Boulder Bookstore. Come visit Boulder's Community Bookstore on the Pearl Street Mall. Besides having an amazing selection of books, they host author events every week. On Thursday, October 15th, see Pam Houston, author of Animals Taught Me Everything. The event begins at 6.30 p.m. at the Boulder Public Library. Visit BoulderBookstore.com to get tickets, see a full list of upcoming events, and to support the store's Literacy Foundation in its mission to donate books to schools and students in need. That link, once again, is BoulderBookstore.com. The frequency turns one this week. Friday, September 25th, is one year since our very first episode. Later on, we'll have all three founders on to talk about the past 12 months and what they hope is ahead for the show and for Boulder itself. But first, the headlines.

SPEAKER_02 1:21

State and local law enforcement, including my office, is dedicated to public safety for all Coloradans, not enforcing federal law. So that's the policy we've had in place in Boulder County since 2018. And as of last year, that is now the law for the entire state of Colorado. And I strongly supported that legislation, and I'm going to continue to be an outspoken advocate for it. And I promise you, I will stand shoulder to shoulder with the immigrant community and those that stand up to protect our immigrant community because it's the absolute right thing to do.

SPEAKER_05 1:50

Boulder District Attorney Michael Doherty has been subpoenaed by the House Judiciary Committee for the office's so-called sanctuary policies. Colorado law limits how local law enforcement can work with federal immigration authorities. Doherty has been outspoken in his belief that this helps protect undocumented victims of crimes while still allowing agencies to prosecute violent offenders.

SPEAKER_02 2:13

Local and state law enforcement and local and state agencies are prohibited from sharing any information with ICE absent a court order. So the jail, the police department, but also the public library, community college, any publicly funded agency or organization cannot share information with ICE absent a court order. The idea and logic behind that being federal law enforcement has their job to do and their authority. That does not require state and local law enforcement to participate in that activity. Here at the Justice Center, there are protections in place. Individuals can come to the Justice Center and they are able to enter the Justice Center so we could prosecute criminal cases and ensure justice is done without fear of them being deported.

SPEAKER_05 2:55

This is the third congressional request for documents since May, when Boulder's police chief and sheriff were also sent letters demanding records, some of which dated back to 2018. None of the agencies complied. According to reporting from Axios Boulder, the most recent subpoena comes with a deadline of Friday, September 25th. Doherty said he would cooperate if the staff time used to produce the records was paid for by the federal government. Doherty continues to characterize the congressional actions as political theater and remained firm in his commitment to enforcing Colorado law. He told Axios Boulder, quote, political pressure from Washington will not change how we enforce the law or protect victims. Read the letter and additional reporting at the links in our show notes, and hear more from Doherty on our February 25th episode at boulderfrequency.com. The parents of a young Coloradan shot and killed by police have opened a new youth-focused community and art space in Lyons. Creative Grounds opened last week, owned by Sally Glass, the mother of Christian Glass. Christian was 22 years old when he called for help after his car got stuck in rural Clear Creek County. The responding sheriff's deputies shot him five times. He never left the inside of his car. The Glass family received a $19 million settlement and used part of it to purchase a former bar in Lions.

SPEAKER_01 4:18

This is a place that we created in Christian's memory, and it's called Creative Grounds. Christian got awarded a huge amount of money. And then we were, well, what are we gonna do? You know, what's this? What kind of thing? And it felt like, well, it is blood money, right? You have to, you have to turn it around, you have to clean it, you have to put it through the laundry. And the way we put it through the laundry is to give it back to the community.

SPEAKER_05 4:42

Creative Grounds will have a coffee shop open every day from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., when it will become a space exclusively for teens and young adults ages 14 to 22. The Gross Dam expansion near Netherland can continue, a court ruled last week. The project was begun in the early 2000s and has been met with several years of resistance and legal challenges. The latest injunction came in April 2025 when environmental groups challenged permits issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Last week, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals found the permits were sound. Plaintiffs in the case said they did not plan to appeal the ruling. That clears the way for Denver Water to finish construction and fill gross reservoir. The $600 million expansion will raise the height of the dam and triple the reservoir's capacity. Planning and permitting for the project began in 2003, with construction originally starting in 2022. Tree removal is expected to begin in early 2027. Denver Water plans to remove more than 200,000 trees. Filling the reservoir could happen in 2028, dependent upon snowpack and precipitation. Read more from the Colorado Sun at the link in our show notes. The town of Netherland is being sued for information related to its long-delayed purchase of Eldora Ski Resort. In May, a reporter for Businessden requested documents related to the sale and the town's funding of it through bonds. That request was denied by the town. The media outlet is now suing for access, represented by an attorney with National Nonprofit Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

SPEAKER_00 6:17

Municipal bond offerings are always public, and they explain to the taxpayers and to the bond buyers how the borrowers will be paid back and what the town is building or needs the money for. We've asked the town and they've been unwilling to share both typical municipal bond offering, which I repeat is always public. You could pull up on various niche websites at any town in the state and look at borrowing for a sewer or a school. So this is highly unusual. Um, Aaron Kramer, I started business then 10 years ago, 11 years ago, and we're a daily business news website.

SPEAKER_05 6:55

The sale of Eldora to the town of around 1500 was first announced in January 2025. The closing date has been moved twice. It was first expected in October 2025, nearly a year ago, then again in April of this year. The town has been tight-lipped about the delays and a new estimated closing date. Residents have long complained about a lack of transparency, concerns echoed by business den.

SPEAKER_00 7:18

The town's residents didn't vote on this. It's not a normal bond offering. They created a special district that will sell the bonds. But the town has also been extremely untransparent on every element of the deal. The town has never explained the business that they're buying. They're buying an operating business, a ski business. They've never said it typically has profit of this, in good years it's X, and bad years it's Y. So nobody knows. It's a black box of what they are potentially buying. It's a town of 1,800 people trying to buy a $120 million asset. What is that, $83,000 in debt per resident? I mean, the numbers would make your eyes pop out. If we were able to obtain this, we could explain how a ski mountain operates because the bond buyers would want to know how we will be repaid? What is the health of the business? And it will lay it out many, many, many pages of financial documents of this is what it costs to run. This is where we've had good years. This is hundreds of pages that explain the business model and the financial soundness of what you're buying. And then there's the borrowing element. The borrowing environment is far worse than when the deal was announced two years ago. And lastly, they're many, many, many months behind their own timeline and have not explained to the town or whatever anyone else around why that's the case. And now the person who helped put the deal together on behalf of the town, the manager, he's left. So where our lawyers will be arguing more if this keeps going on is yeah, it doesn't matter if you signed confidentiality to pursue your deal. The open records law stands. It's very clear. You gotta hand it over.

SPEAKER_05 8:52

Amid speculation and criticism surrounding the purchase, town manager Jonathan Kane announced he had taken a position in Lakewood, Colorado. Cain's last day with Netherland is tomorrow, Thursday, September 24th. Moore said it has become difficult to balance his career, family, and political work on top of an emerging health issue. Quote, this has not been an easy decision, Moore wrote in a statement released by the town, but it is grounded in my ability to spend time with my family, effectively serve as mayor, increase responsibilities at work, and a manageable yet concerning health issue. I simply can no longer do it all without jeopardizing my long-term health and important relationships. Moore plans to stay through the adoption of the 2027 budget in early November. Mayor Pro Tem Brandon Bell will fill in, and his District 2 council seat will be up for grabs in the November election, along with two others. Erie is also in the process of hiring a new town manager after Moore and others on the town council fired former manager Malcolm Fleming in February 2026. Moore previously served as mayor of Erie from 2004 to 2010. He unseated incumbent Justin Brooks in 2024, running in opposition to the town's rapid growth. Moore was also in the majority that approved a deal to allow fracking under town land. That agreement has since collapsed amid a citizen campaign to overturn the vote, causing the oil and gas company to pull out of the deal.

SPEAKER_04 10:33

I really helped get the show started and since have just been an occasional interviewer admiring the work of the Boulder Valley Frequency.

SPEAKER_05 10:40

And we're here today because Boulder Valley Frequency is officially one year old on September 25th. Yes. So I just thought it'd be fun to like get together the three of us, because we really haven't been together the three of us since the early, early days when we were planning. Um, and like check in, see how things are going.

SPEAKER_04 10:56

I can't believe it's been a year. I mean, there's been very few weeks where there hasn't been an episode. So the collective experience of you two is just a perfect matchup to get it going quickly.

SPEAKER_05 11:05

Yeah, I think you want to get in a rhythm for people to develop the habit, at least to listen to it, um, especially with news, you know, it's like change it changes so quickly. So even weekly sometimes feels like not enough. But as far as the workload goes, it feels like more than enough.

SPEAKER_04 11:21

And we have a local focus. So, unlike a national publication, you're not hoping to get tens of thousands or 50,000 or 100,000. But there's a lot of podcasts out there. There just isn't one that does what the Boulder Valley Frequency does. So I think getting to the point of sustaining the show and having whatever level of audience engagement we have has been no small feat.

SPEAKER_05 11:42

I did want to follow up on something you said, Kelly. You said you're learning how hard journalists work. But I wondered if you learned anything about your community, about Boulder County.

SPEAKER_03 11:52

Mostly what I've learned about the community through our work is that you can actually make a difference. And if you feel passionate about something, you can get signatures, you can get something on the ballot, you can make like big change in the community. And I used to think it was like a pie-in-the-sky idea that you could, you know, influence whether or not flock cameras are in your city. But literally, people like us can make that not happen if we don't want them to be there.

SPEAKER_04 12:17

Being involved in a number of things around town, I I've learned two things. Um, well, I have the easiest job, I think, because I've been able to talk to people that we sort of really aspire to or have a creative point of view on the city, or maybe live here and have a point of view on something else. Um so it's been really fun having conversations. I think I've learned two things. One is if I tell someone I'm an interview with them for 30 minutes and it inevitably takes an hour and a half, and then it's quite a job to cut it down to the best parts, which is credit to Kelly. And then the other one is actually optimistically, which I think I try to close each of these interviews with. There's no small number of things that keep us excited and looking forward when we're talking to our most interesting people around town or our most involved people around town. We can dig into some of the toughest issues, challenges, setbacks, but I just love asking that optimism question at the end of every interview because everyone I've talked to has a really interesting take on what's exciting them, whether it's working with kids in our town or whether it's something that they noticed along the way in their journey. So that's that's been the fun part for me is everyone has an optimistic point of view, no matter how in the weeds they are.

SPEAKER_03 13:24

A big one this year is like covering the Andrew Gibson film. I don't know if we covered it as much as we all went to watch it at Chautauqua, which was fun as like a team outing. But that movie really uh resonated with me and the fact that she got a stage four cancer diagnosis and she didn't want to like travel the world before she died. She wanted to settle in and enjoy the little moments of every day that are like magic. And I think that that mindset is just huge. I've would like to say I've tried to follow that mindset in that like every day is a new day. Doing something more local for me has made me feel more grounded.

SPEAKER_05 13:59

What has been your favorite part of working on the frequency andor listening to the frequency?

SPEAKER_04 14:05

In marketing, we say all great ideas come from an insight. Kelly's insight was a lot of us are driving around all day long, or key parts a day where we could also be catching up on what's happening. The frequency is delivered on that for those of us who are on the go a lot.

SPEAKER_03 14:19

I kind of like episodes lately. I said to Shay this week, even I like the headline episode with like three or four sound bites relevant to this the headline in each headline. And it was like a cool format. So I feel like that was something I really enjoyed that we just did this week.

SPEAKER_05 14:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:35

And that might be a good format moving forward.

SPEAKER_05 14:37

I think if we could get to a place where we're doing headlines with clips, like maybe I just do a 15-minute interview instead of an hour interview and and get the one sound bite and then the longer interviews on Friday. I think that's honestly the direction I'd like to go. And I would like to tap into more of those questions. Like one of my favorites recently was like, Why is it so hard to date in Colorado? None of us are experiencing this, uh, thankfully. Um, but it is something that you hear all the time. People complain so much about the dating scene here. And so I interviewed a couple local matchmakers. And I just I think it's really fun to like tackle some of those persistent issues and questions with like quote unquote experts who can shed some light. And we had a really good time. They were such, such a hoot and had a lot of interesting advice for the single people out there.

SPEAKER_04 15:23

And I have to point out, whoever's listening to this show every week is a really dialed-in, really local, and I have to say, really influential audience too, because like us three, they want to be involved around town and in our community community, and they're influential and they're involved. And so it's a great bluntly, it's a great advertising audience too.

SPEAKER_05 15:44

Yeah, for sure. Um Harder Boulder question what's your hot boulder take? Give me a hot take on Boulder.

SPEAKER_03 15:57

The school uh consolidation closure news right now and what's happening with that, it just it kind of bums me out that boulder is becoming so expensive that families aren't moving here, period. I have no hot take around it. I'm just wishing uh more families could move here and not feel like priced out. But that's been a that's been happening for 20 years. And I think anything that's great, you know, begins to eat itself at some point. Any great city with a great view, there's these things happen. So it'll be interesting to see how Boulder handles it.

SPEAKER_04 16:28

I hate saying it without having a solution or an idea, but having lived here for over 15 years now, it feels like we really struggle to reconcile our history and our image as a progressive creative town with what you actually need to do as a city today. Probably not so stunningly hot of a take, but um, but that's what I see the kind of the identity crisis as right now.

SPEAKER_05 16:50

Yeah, for sure. I definitely think Boulder's I think Boulder's gotten more conservative. I think it always has been. Any place with money is gonna be conservative in a small C way. But um, yeah, I only think that's gonna get worse if we don't solve the affordability crisis here.

SPEAKER_03 17:04

Yeah, absolutely. Do a real um call to action, like tell our listeners to tell their friends to listen.

SPEAKER_05 17:12

If you want to support the frequency, the best thing you can do is is share this episode, any episode, like tell a friend to listen. Yeah. Um, those numbers really do help us with advertising and honestly just feels good to know that people are listening. So uh please share it around. Thanks, guys. I appreciate you coming in and sitting down to chat.

SPEAKER_03 17:33

Yeah, this is fun. Thanks, Jay. Yeah, thanks.

SPEAKER_05 17:40

Thank you for listening and for supporting us through an entire year of headlines and deep dives. We wouldn't be here without you. Before you go, here's one more thing. What are you eating? That's good lately. Tell me. What are you eating in Boulder County? And I'll like the whole county.

SPEAKER_03 17:59

I have to go first.

SPEAKER_05 18:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 18:00

It's my favorite dish in Boulder. It's uh the braised beef noodle bowl from Zoomama. It's like my go-to in town, Jeff.

SPEAKER_04 18:09

Gosh, we as a family, appetites all over the place, but some of the staples for us are snarfs, which I love. Um, Black Belly's breakfast stuff has been good for us lately. Breakfast burritos, which you can also get similarly at Santo. Um, it was my anniversary recently, so we went out on at Corita upstairs on a beautiful night. How about you, Shay?

SPEAKER_05 18:33

Um, crosscut up in Ned. That's my favorite pizza in Boulder County. Well, something that surprised me has been Seaburger. I don't know if you guys have been to Seaburger on the West End.

SPEAKER_04 18:43

Really good.

SPEAKER_05 18:44

I avoided it because I thought like it looked kind of generic, and I was just like, we don't need another like upscale place, but it's not. You can get a burger for like eight bucks.

SPEAKER_03 18:51

Yeah, that's on my list. I need to get there.

SPEAKER_05 18:54

Get there. Don't skip it. I I I'm gonna have to go today. Love a good burger, and Boulder has a lot of good burgers, but seaburger is like, yeah, top, top five.