As I was dusting off the growing list of annual New Year’s resolutions I passionately swear to, I realized, at my age, this is going nowhere.
Being a journalist, I may be slow, but eventually, I get it.
The flashing-red dashboard light should be the annual race to break what I’m resolving to change — but this time I mean it — during the marathon gluttony and hedonism of New Year’s Eve.
I’ve got a better idea. This year, I’m making New Year’s resolutions for others.
Sure, I would feel endlessly better in smaller pants that fit, but my life, and millions of others in Aurora and Colorado, would be so much better if those people running the state and local shows would make some big changes as the year rolls over.
Here’s my list of resolutions for everyone but me for a better 2025:
Gov. Jared Polis: For sure, more nerdy social media post memes. Whether Colorado’s governor is dressing like Mork from Ork or pushing dead legislative bills across a table saw on his Capitol desk (Capitol housekeeping had to be less than amused) Polis reflects that genuine Colorado mettle: Don’t take yourself so seriously. It’s a quality more community and government leaders should emulate. For next year: Stop doubling down on making it seem like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has some redeeming quality as a leader in health issues. Anyone who pushes dangerous medical quackery with a straight face is a danger to public health. There are no redeeming values for healthcare leaders who recognize proper nutrition is important so you can suffer longer from polio. Kennedy is a nut-case. Just admit it and move on.
Aurora Police Chief: More talk about transparency in the Aurora Police Department, please, followed by more concrete examples of how the department makes public the information residents need to understand improvements in public safety and problems in public safety. Next year, quit telling rooms full of Black and brown people that you “don’t care what color they are” when it comes to enforcing the law. They care because they’re Black or brown. Everyone gets that you’re trying to make it sound like you and all Aurora police are “above” racism when it comes to enforcing the law and protecting the public. The problem is the communities of people of color know the difference between the way things should be and the way they are. This is a community that experienced the cataclysmic death of Elijah McClain — over and over and over as it played out in the media, the protests and the courts. Black people here heard an Aurora police officer on videotape call Black crime witnesses “porch monkeys.” The Black community here watched as a city commission overruled a former police chief and forced that cop back onto the force, saying that kind of racism was not a fireable offense for the Aurora Police Department. The Black community here, and across the country, watched Aurora police officers force a car full of Black women and girls face down on a scalding asphalt parking lot when they were wrongly accused of being inside a car they wrongly thought was stolen. They were little girls. We all get that you are implying that Aurora Police are now going to enforce the law equitably among white and non-white people. But when you say you “don’t care” about their color, they’re hearing that you don’t care about what they’ve been through, and what Aurora police have yet to convince them that they will still go through. Read the room, chief. As a community, we need to care that immigrants, Black people, Latinos, Asian Americans, LGBTQ+ people and disabled people are and have been treated differently, and usually badly. Black people especially want to hear from police that they do care that they’re Black, and that police recognize they fear encounters with police, for themselves and their families. Aurora’s people of color are a savvy community. Saying “I don’t care” sounds like, “I don’t care.”
The Aurora City Council: Continue streaming more city meetings and explainers on social media platforms and web interfaces. Making the actions of city officials public in real-time and for playback later helps engage the public in processes few have the time to even take notice of, let alone participate in. Next year, get help. I’ve been doing this journalism thing for a very long time. I have never, ever seen a group of people as perpetually mean and dysfunctional as this Aurora City Council. Take some hard-earned tax dollars from your constituents and get professional help to come in and spur some civility and professionalism among the members. Immediately, quit stepping on the critical democratic, legislative process by stopping debate on issues some city lawmakers don’t want to hear but clearly need to. The cheap trick of shutting up any opposition or questions by “calling for the question,” minutes after the debate begins is a sleazy, authoritarian gimmick expected by the Venezuelan national assembly, not the city of Aurora. Everyone professes to be ever so patriotic and appreciative of this American democracy. Prove it.
The Colorado State Patrol: Keep those warnings and threats coming about going after “weavers” on the highway and ass-hats with their phones in their faces as they race down the interstate. Next year, quit just making empty threats about cracking down on “weavers” and drivers pushing 120 mph on I-25 and the entire catalog of dangerous stunts we all see every time we get on the interstates in the metro area. For the love of all that’s going to be 2025, pull people the hell over — with lots of sirens, and lights. Then run that video endlessly on TikTok and Instagram and Youtube so, after all these years, moron motorists will see that they can’t get away with it anymore.
See you next year, probably fatter.
Follow @EditorDavePerry on BlueSky, Threads, Mastodon, Twitter and Facebook or reach him at 303-750-7555 or dperry@SentinelColorado.com
I too have a 2025 New Year’s resolution for others; particularly cities, states and the nation: QUIT RAISING THE MINIMUM WAGE! This is one of the primary causes of rising inflation that has been so devestating to so many. Minimum wage increases may not seem that bad by themselves, in isolation, but they begin a cascade of events whereby each individual up the chain of income, also then, demands a wage increase to keep up with rising costs. This then culminates in essentially everyone getting a wage increase. And as everyone comes to get a wage increase, prices for goods and services have risen to pay for these increases and we have runaway inflation. The buying power of those making the new increased minimum wage is reduced because everything costs more and they end up right back where they started. Then they claim that they need a higher minimum wage to live. Minimum wages used to be around $5/hour, look where they are now. We are like a dog chasing its tail.
We live in a free market economy, and in such an economy, the market sets wages and prices based on supply and demand. The government intervening by setting prices or minimum wages only “gums up the works.” Then the free market ends up correcting the disparities by putting everything back to where it was to begin with. QUIT RAISING THE MINIMUM WAGE! Improve skills and get a better paying job.
Why pay more then a dollar a day then. That way nothing would cost anything.
Obviously you don’t believe in good paying jobs. That’s why unions were invented. Otherwise you’re at the mercy of the rich.
“I have never, ever seen a group of people as perpetually mean and dysfunctional as this Aurora City Council. ”
That’s pretty rich coming from you of all people, Dave.
“Next year, quit telling rooms full of Black and brown people that you “don’t care what color they are” when it comes to enforcing the law. They care because they’re Black or brown. ”
Yeah, we know–race-blind law enforcement is racist, or something.
When you find a city with actual “race-blind law enforcement”, let us know.
Having worked for many years in law enforcement, I can assure you that “race-blind law enforcement” is as rare as a unicorn.
This year’s resolution: more deportation.
Well, just one deportation, really. Let’s deport dipshit Danielle back to *checks notes* the Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch, so she can be with her own kind again. Floaties optional.
Amen! Westword describes her as the face of Aurora, what an offensive idea.
Dave- Get your facts straight.
CSP is NOT going after the weavers. CDOT with the legislature’s blessing has contracted with a tech firm that owns the equipment and software that’s providing 24/7/365 automated enforcement with civil penalties of up to $250. With weaving down 80% on the initial routes, the same portable wireless tech is coming for construction- zone speeders. Ditto all state highways I hope.
“I’ve been doing this journalism thing for a very long time”
Dave, it’s hard to believe that you think what you do is journalism.
Don’t listen to the haters, Dave. Keep taking on the Governor, the Legislature, the City Council, the Aurora Police Department, and others we need to know about. And all with a sense of humor. Buckle up for 2025!
Hear, hear.