Good morning, Boulder. Jessica Mordacq spoke with Andy Schneidkraut this week, the longtime owner of the iconic Albums on the Hill record store. Sadly, this weekend will mark the store’s “Last Hurrah” sale. Schneidkraut is winding down his business, after more than 35 years, as he recovers from medical complications. “I don’t think the record’s era is over,” he said, “but it may be over for me.”

Following last night’s five-hour Boulder City Council meeting, we have plenty of updates — including a deeper look by John Herrick at how the City of Boulder is increasing investment in housing to address homelessness. That includes a new program that has Boulder’s largest shelter buying homes to rent to people often shunned by landlords because of criminal histories and other issues.

Enjoy the long Labor Day weekend. Our team will be catching up and back in your inboxes Wednesday. Thanks for reading!

— Stacy, publisher

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What to know today

  • More hot and dry weather: Expect a high around 90 today once again, and lots of sun. Similar weather is expected throughout the Labor Day weekend.
  • 2022 ballot language approved: The Boulder City Council finalized language for several measures slated to go on the Nov. 8, 2022 ballot. The measures are: moving city elections to even years; creating a new tax on electricity and gas to pay for climate change projects; and helping create a property-tax funded library district. All measures passed unanimously, except the switch from odd- to even-year elections. Councilmembers Mark Wallach, Bob Yates and Tara Winer voted against that measure.
  • CU South measure also approved amid threat of legal action: Councilmembers also voted to finalize the language of a ballot measure that would repeal the CU South annexation agreement. In doing so, the city rebuffed legal threats from backers of the referendum who have urged the city to make the ballot title more clear. Backers said they would petition a Boulder County District Court judge to weigh in on the minor language tweak if the title isn’t changed. That could delay a vote on the referendum, which could prolong uncertainty over when — or whether — the South Boulder property is developed to build a flood mitigation project and university housing primarily for (non-first year) students and faculty, and other construction.
  • Noise crackdown on the Hill: The Boulder City Council approved changes Thursday night to the city’s existing noise ordinance to now prohibit “unreasonable amplified noise” 24/7. The previous ordinance applied only to overnight hours, from 11 p.m. through 7 a.m. It now states that “no person shall electronically amplify any sound…loud enough to be audible to a person of normal hearing 200 or more feet beyond the property line of the property upon which the loudspeakers are located.” The ordinance is one of several measures city officials have been contemplating to crack down on parties in the University Hill neighborhood. Read more in our previous coverage of the issue here.
  • New ordinance gives police more discretion to issue tickets: The amended ordinance will make it easier for police to enforce the noise restrictions by no longer requiring officers to use decibel readings to determine whether noise exceeds legal limits. Police can now write citations based on the 200 feet threshold. Sandra Llanes, deputy city attorney, said she expects to see an increase in citations as a result of the change. Presidents of five fraternities on the Hill spoke during the public hearing in opposition to the ordinance. Several said they need to hold gatherings outdoors because they don’t have enough indoor space.
  • West Pearl’s present and future: As the city embarks on developing a long-term program for outdoor dining, business owners on West Pearl have, at least for now, cleared much of their tables and tents. Whether cars will once again be allowed on the empty street remains to be decided. The Boulder City Council is expected to discuss that issue in the coming weeks. On Monday, Sept. 12, members of the Transportation Advisory Board are expected to receive an update from city staff on the street closure. You’ll be able to tune in here. (Some background here.)
  • Boulder County Farmers Market launches multiyear shop local effort: The nonprofit farmers market kicked off a multiyear effort this week, largely funded by a USDA grant (covering $512,000 of the project’s total $680,000), to help support the county’s farmers and food producers. As a first step, on Wednesday, Sept. 7, it’s launching its “Take 5 For Local” challenge to get residents to shop for more local food. The “five” is up to you. It could be “swapping just five grocery store products with farmers market items” or taking “five minutes to swing through the farmers market and pick up a sack of peaches,” the organization’s executive director said in a news release.
  • Labor Day closures: All City of Boulder facilities, public libraries and Age Well Centers will be closed Monday, Sept. 5, for the holiday. Scott Carpenter’s lap lanes and leisure pool will be open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Boulder Reservoir will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. North Boulder Rec Center will be open half the day. More details here.

Go deeper

‘Landlord of last resort’: Boulder’s largest shelter is buying homes for people often shunned by property owners

By John Herrick

The city’s largest homeless shelter, the nonprofit Boulder Shelter for the Homeless, is having trouble finding landlords willing to rent to people who have certain criminal records.

So it’s buying up properties to rent out itself.

“For those individuals who find it very difficult to secure a landlord, the shelter will endeavor to become a low-level landlord of last resort,” Spencer Downing, the interim director of the shelter, told Boulder Reporting Lab.

Such property investments are a pillar of the city’s strategy for addressing homelessness. According to a presentation from city staff to the Boulder City Council on Sept. 1, 2022, the city expects to spend about $8 million on homelessness in 2022. That is more than double the $3.6 million it spent in 2021. Most of that money is for buying properties or building housing. 

Efforts to find housing for people with criminal records and drug addiction are part of an ongoing evolution of the city and county’s “housing first” program, which was launched in 2017.

Continue reading…

The end of an era: After more than 35 years in business, Boulder’s beloved Albums on the Hill will slowly close its doors after Labor Day 2022

By Jessica Mordacq

At Boulder’s iconic record store Albums on the Hill — one of the oldest businesses on 13th Street — there is little evidence of the looming closure that awaits the neighborhood. 

The same primary-colored cartoon sign that has greeted customers for decades marks the shop’s entrance. Its walls remain covered in colorful band posters and vinyl album covers. People of all walks of life still roam the store’s narrow aisles and thumb through its records — college students and those who grew up with turntables, Boulder locals and out-of-town tourists. 

Andy Schneidkraut, 69, bought the store in 1987, and has run it ever since.

But now, 35 years later, Schneidkraut and his longtime customers turned friends, are celebrating the store’s fleeting time in Boulder this weekend, with the Last Hurrah. 

Afterwards, Schneidkraut expects his store to “trickle to a close,” he said, wistfully. He’ll keep it open for select hours during the week until he decides what to do with it and his remaining inventory. He doesn’t yet have a closing date, or know who might take his place at1128 13th Street. But he knows he’s moving on after spending half his life with the store. 

Continue reading…

BRL picks

📙 Boulder’s Kate Lacroix hosts Fentanyl Inc. author: On Tuesday, Sept. 13, at 6:30 p.m., Ben Westhoff will speak at an online event about his book, Fentanyl, Inc.: How Rogue Chemists Created the Deadliest Wave of the Opioid Epidemic. The event is hosted by resident, producer and parent Kate Lacroix, whose eldest daughter lost a friend to fentanyl last year in Boulder. Tickets cost $39 and include a digital copy of Westhoff’s book. A portion of sales will go to nightlife safety group Dance Safe. Buy tickets here.

✋ Auction for ‘Proclaiming Colorado’s Black History’ project: The Museum of Boulder has launched its 2022 online auction, setting out to raise $5,000 by Thursday, Sept. 9. Place your bids on various baskets and prizes. And if you do, the money will support its “Proclaiming Colorado’s Black History” project, an exhibit and educational curricula it’s developing to addresses the under-representation of Black histories in Colorado. Register to bid here.

🎨 Support contemporary art: Speaking of auctions, the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art has its own auction and “biggest party of the year,” coming up on Friday, Sept. 16, from 6 – 9 p.m. The main event is a curated silent auction with works by 100+ artists from across the country. “Proceeds benefit the artists, as well as BMoCA’s exhibitions and education outreach programs.” Learn more here.

🛍️ Labor Day sidewalk sale 2022: Head downtown starting Saturday, Sept. 3, for some retail therapy this weekend. Check out the list of the dozens of participating businesses here.

🎭 A fundraiser for Andy Schneidkraut – reminder: Two Boulder comedians, Nancy Norton and John Novosad, will headline a comedy show fundraiser with other friends of Schneidkraut, owner of Albums on the Hill, “to help a Boulder legend recover.” Dairy Arts Center (2590 Walnut St.) is hosting. Friday, Sept. 9, 2022 at 7:30pm. Tickets $25. More info here. And read Jessica Mordacq’s story on the closing of Albums on the Hill.

Covid in Boulder County: Sept. 2, 2022

  • 122 daily new cases (7-day avg.) ⬆Up 38% over preceding 7-day avg.
  • 12 patients hospitalized with Covid (7-day avg.) Same as high of 12 last week.
  • 38% percent of ICU is occupied. ⬇Down from avg. of 66% since July 2020.
  • Last chance to get free Covid tests: The federal government’s free Covid test program is being suspended today, on Friday, Sept. 2. There’s still time to place a final order.

What else we’re reading

  • Boulder County has banned gun shows at the Boulder County Fairgrounds in Longmont out of concern that the shows are inconsistent with the county’s recently passed gun reform measures. The ban comes after a federal district court judge temporarily blocked the county from enforcing its ban on the sale and purchase of assault-style weapons and large-capacity magazines.
  • In a win for local advocates, the Boulder County Planning Commission voted 6-0 against a proposal from cement maker Cemex, and staff from Boulder County Parks and Open Space, to extend a mining permit and cement plant near Lyons for 15 years. The facility is one of the largest polluters in the state. The proposal now heads to the full Boulder County Commission, which will have a final say on Wednesday, Sept. 14.

ICYMI

Stacy Feldman is the founder and publisher of Boulder Reporting Lab. She previously co-founded and was executive editor of Inside Climate News, a Pulitzer Prize-winning nonprofit newsroom covering the climate emergency. She was a 2020-21 Ted Scripps Fellow in Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado Boulder, where she developed the concept for BRL. Email: stacy@boulderreportinglab.org.