Adam Paul is exiting the public office after two terms as mayor of Lakewood, preceded by two terms as the Ward 4 representative on the Lakewood City Council. With so many years in service to the city of Lakewood, Mayor Paul had a lot to reflect on with the Jeffco Transcript.
On the growing metro spillover issues in Lakewood
Lakewood was incorporated as a suburb of Denver. According to Paul, Lakewood is changing due to urbanization, and many of the changes took place over his time in city politics.
He explained that Lakewood has become a “first-tier suburb” because of its proximity and spatial relationship with Denver. That relationship means growth and changes for the city.
“We’ve seen (Lakewood) start to urbanize more,” said Paul. “And with that has come some more of the urbanized challenges. We’ve seen an explosion in property values. We’ve seen certainly an increase in our unhoused population. Crime is something that in certain areas, we’ve also seen expand.”
Paul said the key to managing these issues is where they came from.
“We’re the third largest city in the metro, but we’re a bonafide city,” Paul said. “We’re not a city and county like Denver is. So that’s where the partnership and the relationship with Jefferson County comes into play. That’s so critical because they have the human service component. They have those federal dollars in that pass through for more of the human things that a city doesn’t get through just sales tax.”
Solutions for underserved populations
One of the issues that Lakewood has shared with Denver is the recent burden of the influx of migrant workers. Paul said Lakewood helped Denver house some migrants, but the city really does not have the infrastructure to be more helpful to Denver.
“We don’t have the infrastructure or the resources, I think first and foremost. And I think that’s evident in how we’re trying to ramp up our response to just a regular unhoused (population),” he said, explaining that Lakewood is looking at two navigation centers to help the migrants, unhoused and others in need.
Paul pointed out that currently, the brunt of the help to these populations comes from organizations in partnership with the city. He named The Action Center and Jefferson County Public Schools. However, Paul feels that the migrant issue needs a bigger entity to step in.
“What we really need is the federal government to engage because we’re so limited in what we can do. And the reimbursements (from the state and local entities) are limited,” Paul said. But I would say the state of Colorado has been trying to be a great partner.”
Paul went on to say that many state and local agencies and nonprofit organizations want to help, “but that infrastructure might not be in place quite yet.”
“It’s such a challenging, multifaceted issue,” he said.
Paul described how the solutions for the migrant and unhoused are intertwined with other Lakewood issues. “Whether it’s just the affordable housing crisis to mental health issues, or substance abuse, it’s not a one-size-fits-all answer. If it was we can fix it,” he said.
Paul did say that he was proud of the work that the city has done so far with the issues, such as opening emergency shelters for unhoused people.
“I’m proud of the work that we’ve been able to do thus far with opening the emergency shelters,” Paul said. “We’re so proud of the community for stepping up and really trying to take this on at first without much governmental help.”
He gave an example of one important program.
“The Bayaud Enterprises partnership with Jefferson County and Colorado Gives Foundation is our first-ever work program on West Colfax for our unhoused,” He said. “That’s a really cool thing for me. I’m so proud that we were able to do that.”
Paul said the navigation centers to help the migrants and unhoused are about three years from completion. Until then the city must rely on partnerships to tackle its issues.
On the affordable housing front, this means a partnership with Metro West Housing Solutions. In the meantime, the city council and new Mayor Wendi Strom have to continue the work by embracing change.
“But it’s been one of our most challenging issues that engages the community. People are very protective of their neighborhoods,” Paul said. “I understand that, but I wouldn’t be able to live in this community if I wasn’t welcomed into it. So, we need to make sure that we are really leading by that mantra that’s on our sign that says, ‘Welcome to Lakewood. We are building an inclusive community.’”
Transportation, crime and division
Paul went on to speak about the transportation issues and crime in the city. Both are works in progress as well. Paul sees it as a quality-of-life issue.
“We’ve made some good progress,” he said. “We’ve had some setbacks. And I think there’s a lot of opportunity in the future.”
For incoming Mayor Strom, Paul said that the biggest challenge will be healing divisions in the community, the city, the council and the region.
He believes that Strom is the right person to begin to heal these divisions.
“One of the main reasons I supported Wendy is her ability to collaborate and bring people together,” he said. “That is key. And that’s why change is good, right? I think in some ways, I reached my expiration date on that. But some of these kinds of divisions were so deep that it just wasn’t an opportunity to try to bring it back together to heal it. And so, that’s the optimism, that a fresh set of eyes, fresh leadership can really make a difference.”
Strom will be sworn in before the Nov. 27 Lakewood City Council meeting. Paul has been appointed Director of Regional Affairs by Denver Mayor Mike Johnston.