Good morning, Boulder. We’ve got your bread-and-butter hyperlocal news today, plus a look at how national events are playing out locally. Here’s what’s happening:
The Boulder City Council gave city staff the greenlight last night to draft an ordinance eliminating off-street parking minimums citywide. This would end longstanding rules requiring developers to include parking spaces with new housing or commercial projects. The potential changes aim to use land more efficiently, lower housing costs and encourage alternatives to driving.
The proposal aligns with a new state law ending parking mandates near transit stops but goes even further in rethinking Boulder’s approach to parking. A vote is expected before June.
In other news: Thank you for sharing how the Trump administration’s executive orders and actions are already affecting lives here in Boulder. Have a tip? Our confidential form is open. You can submit information anonymously — no identifying details required.
The administration is moving quickly on its promise to reduce the size of the federal government, with new directives already having a ripple effect. A federal hiring freeze has led to rescinded job offers and raised concerns about job security for many government employees, including those at the National Park Service and Forest Service.
Read more about it in Below the Fold — plus:
- Boulder Police reaffirms local focus
- CU removes DEI webpage
- Louisville author honored for “The Last Animal”
- Boulder chefs nominated for James Beard Awards
- Boulder debuts Colorado’s first electric fire engine
We’ll see you Monday,
– the BRL team
Citywide parking minimums could soon be history in Boulder: Here’s what it means
Boulder City Council has directed the city to draft an ordinance ending parking mandates. The proposed policy would also require developers to provide funds for alternative transportation and better bike parking. Continue reading…
Another snowy weekend
A temperate Friday with some sunshine and highs in the mid-40s will turn colder this evening as a cold front moves in from the north, bringing snow expected to continue until Saturday night. Temperatures will drop into the teens on Saturday, with Boulder potentially seeing up to a foot of snow before the sun returns on Sunday, when highs will stay just below freezing.
Emergency shelter for homeless people, which was available during last weekend’s Arctic blast, closed on Tuesday. The city told us they will not open an emergency shelter this weekend.
Boulder Police reaffirms focus on local enforcement
A city spokesperson told Boulder Reporting Lab that the city has no updates regarding the Boulder Police Department’s locally focused mission or its position on working with ICE on federally mandated deportation strategies or tactics.
“Boulder police officers are responsible for enforcing local and state laws,” the spokesperson said. “We want all residents and visitors to feel comfortable reporting crimes to our police department without fears related to their immigration status.”
The statement comes amid ongoing questions about local police department policies on immigration enforcement, following the Trump administration’s proposed mass deportation plans and reports of raids in other areas.
National Park Service and Forest Service rescind job offers
Many job offers from the National Park Service, Forest Service and other federal agencies were rescinded this week in response to a White House memo, Reuters reported. As part of the federal hiring freeze, agencies were directed to cancel most job offers for people scheduled to start work after Feb. 8, and to stop communicating with potential candidates by Monday, Jan. 21. The memo also instructed federal agencies to remove open positions from job boards and stop creating new jobs.
Some new hires to the National Park Service were notified on Jan. 23 that their positions would no longer be filled, according to emails we obtained. Rocky Mountain National Park, which had been advertising several wildland firefighting positions before the memo, could not be reached for comment, but those roles are now expected to remain vacant.
Adding to the uncertainty, a second memo directing federal agencies to identify employees in their probationary period – typically the first year of federal employment – has sparked concerns about job security for potentially tens of thousands of federal workers.
CU system removes DEI webpage, rebrands Boulder office
The University of Colorado system’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) webpage disappeared from its site as of Jan. 22, CPR reported. At CU Boulder, the DEI office has been renamed the “Office of Leadership Support and Programming,” while CU Denver’s DEI page is still live.
The changes come after federal moves under the Trump administration to roll back DEI-related policies, including a recent executive order targeting “illegal DEI mandates” across government institutions. A CU spokesperson told CPR the “new name better reflects the office’s primary mission and captures the campus’s strategic priorities under the leadership of Chancellor Justin Schwartz.”
Other Colorado schools, like Colorado State University and Metro State University, still had DEI pages up as of Thursday evening.
Louisville author honored by National Book Foundation for ‘The Last Animal’
Local author and Louisville resident Ramona Ausubel has been recognized by the National Book Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation as one of three winners in the 2025 Science + Literature program. Her novel, “The Last Animal,” tells the story of two teenage sisters accompanying their mother, a paleontology graduate student, on scientific expeditions in search of a woolly mammoth, weaving themes of discovery, grief and resilience.
Ausubel, a professor at Colorado State University, previously won the PEN Center USA Literary Award for Fiction and has been a finalist for the Colorado Book Awards. She has been recognized for her ability to connect scientific exploration with human emotion, making science accessible.
Other winners include Claire Wahmanholm for her poetry collection “Meltwater,” which examines parenthood and environmental collapse, and Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer Ed Yong for “An Immense World,” a nonfiction exploration of how animals perceive the world.
Boulder chef and restaurant named James Beard semifinalists
The 2025 James Beard Award semifinalists include two Boulder names among 20 nominees in each category. Hosea Rosenberg of Blackbelly is nominated for Best Chef: Mountain, recognizing culinary talent and leadership in the region spanning Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Utah and Wyoming. Frasca Food and Wine is a contender for Outstanding Restaurant, which honors establishments demonstrating consistent excellence in food, atmosphere, hospitality and operations.
Denver’s Ama Fonda Fina was nominated in the Best New Restaurant category (among several Denver owners to receive accolades); its chef and owner recently opened Cozobi Fonda Fina at 909 Walnut Street in downtown Boulder. Winners will be announced on June 16, at the James Beard Awards ceremony in Chicago. See the full list of semifinalists.
Boulder debuts Colorado’s first electric fire engine
Boulder will debut Colorado’s first electric fire engine during the grand opening of its new Station 3 at 2967 Bluff Street today, Jan. 24, at 10 a.m. The city now has two electric fire engines, making it the first in the U.S. to operate multiple electric engines.
Station 3 will house one of the new engines, which community members can see up close during the event. The grand opening will also include station tours, the ceremonial “push-in” of the engine into the bay, and remarks from Mayor Aaron Brockett, Boulder Fire-Rescue Chief Michael Calderazzo and Michael Ogletree of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
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