Here you will find newsworthy updates on items of interest that affect our neighborhood. To stay connected to local civic news, we encourage you to subscribe to Councilman Paul Kashmann’s newsletter.
Safety Awareness
Neighborhood safety is obviously of great importance to all of us. While Bonnie Brae is generally considered a safe neighborhood to reside in, there are some actions you can take to help prevent petty crime and increase personal safety. We wanted to pass along the following suggestions that were recently shared with the BBNA from a concerned and helpful neighbor (thank you!).
- Gates:
- Secure with locks of any kind. Sometimes people are just looking for an easy way in and even a cheap lock may deter a busy thief.
- Garages:
- Lock doors and windows. If you have an older double-door garage with a chain and lock, secure it. Consider mounting the chain and lock on the inside if you have access from a side door of your yard.
- If you have a remote door opener, do not leave it in your car. Instead, buy a key-chain version to replace the visor clip-on. Many options are available on Amazon.
- As with gates, consider putting alarm sensors on the side door and garage doors as well.
- If you sometimes forget to close your garage door, consider the myQ app that reminds you to close the door. You can also use the phone app to open and close the door remotely.
- If you have a really old garage door opener, make sure it uses “Security +” for the remote. You should be able to see that printed somewhere on the remote or the opener itself. If you can’t tell, contact the manufacturer. If it’s not Security +, it can be hacked to allow someone to open your garage door without your remote. Most garage door openers since the early 2000s use this technology.
- Yards:
- Besides locks, use yard lights or motion-sensor lighting. Most thieves will avoid well-lit areas, but not always.
- Consider moving expensive small items into the garage or house.
- Package Delivery:
- Most delivery services allow you to request specific delivery instruction, like leave package behind door, etc. Drivers do not always follow instructions, but its worth trying. Amazon and FedEx also have drop box and deliver to store options in case you can’t be at home.
- UPS and USPS also have options that are worth reviewing.
- Your House:
- Lock the doors. Even if you are working around your yard. More than a few on Nextdoor have mentioned that someone entered their house while they were working in the yard.
- Consider using indoor auto timers on lights when out of town. They’re inexpensive and make your house look lived in.
- Also, auto on/off porch light timer. These can be programmed to turn on and off with the sunrise and sunset times. You may want to have an electrician install these.
- If you don’t have a home alarm system, consider getting one. Here are a few of the less expensive systems but check around. (We are not recommending any of these systems, they just happen to be some of the least expensive).
- Abode: $279.00
- Blue By ADT: $179.99
- Ring Alarm: $199.99
- SimpliSafe: $244.96
- Wyze: $158.88
- Cameras: While they may not deter people from stealing, they do alert you to activity around your home. The recordings may help police in an investigation or support insurance claims. Cameras can alert you to deliveries, often before the shipper’s app sends a notice. And finally, cameras can contribute information when neighbors need help monitoring suspicious activity.
- Cars:
- Lock them. Even if you run in the house for a minute or two. That’s all it takes.
- If you park on the street, don’t leave anything valuable in your car. Nothing. Ever. Not even spare change or an old sweater. And never pre-load the car the night before an early morning trip.
- Try to park in a well-lit area.
- Do not store your insurance cards, registrations, or paperwork with your personal information in your car. With the myColorado app, you can keep them on your phone. Vehicle titles, driver’s license (digital ID) and vaccine records can be saved there as well.
- If you have a keyless entry vehicle, consider storing your keys in a Faraday pouch or box. Hackers can gain access by reading the signals from your key fob.
- YoLink Smart Vibration & Shock Sensor may help with alerting you to break in and catalytic converter theft.
- If your vehicle is on this list of likely to be stolen vehicles,
you may want to consider buying The Club or installing a vehicle kill switch. The switch should be installed by a qualified mechanic unless you have the skills for this sort of thing. - If your vehicle is on this list of most likely catalytic converter theft, you may want to consider buying an anti-theft device to protect them.
2021 Neighborhood Survey
In November 2021, we asked residents to partake in a short online survey so that we could better understand how the BBNA could serve the neighborhood. Our thanks to the 115 residents who took the time to provide feedback.
Results from the survey show that the top three reasons residents like Bonnie Brae are because of the: 1) location, 2) established neighborhood, and 3) friendliness of neighbors. With respect to concerns, 61% cited development and construction is the biggest problem facing Bonnie Brae.
We also asked for your input on changes you’d like to see in our beloved Bonnie Brae Park. In general, most of you indicated the need for better maintenance and we have been in contact with both Denver Parks & Recreation and Councilman Kashmann to address our concerns.
Nearly two thirds of respondents have lived in Bonnie Brae for over ten years — a testimony to just how special our neighborhood is. Throughout 2022, the BBNA will be taking your feedback into account as we develop plans to further build community within the neighborhood.
Click here if you are interested in seeing the survey results.
Wireless Cell Towers
The BBNA reached out to the Denver Department of Transportation & Infrastructure to find our more information about the cell phone towers that have been showing up in the neighborhood. Their response to our inquiry is below.
Denver Department of Transportation & Infrastructure (DOTI) appreciates you sharing your concerns with us. Our Department continues to try to find a balance between permitting small cell poles in the public Rights-of-Way (as State and Federal law requires) and minimizing impacts to residents. We are doing our best to protect the health, safety and welfare of our residents to the maximum extent possible under these laws.
With regards to work in your area, please note the following with how communication occurs, and who may be responsible for the work performed.
- All “combo” (Type 3) poles (street light plus small cell) are owned and installed by Xcel Energy. These comprise 90% of all Small Cell poles in Denver as they are located at existing Street Light locations, replacing said street lights with a “combo” pole. Xcel installs and owns these poles, and the wireless carrier is the tenant. Please note, Xcel installs the poles, but the fiber connection to the pole is performed by Contractors of the carrier.
- The easiest way to check pole Type and overall wireless Carrier tenant of any given location is our City Small Cell Map. As far as whether the pole is constructed, in process, or forecasted, that cannot be determined fully from the map. The map will represent what the carriers have submitted to the City, and have received either a free standing encroachment permit, or a Statement of No Objection (SONO) for the co-location poles. The carriers are the ones who are responsible for updating their own information on this map, and at the same time, do not include forecasted or projected sites on the map – for competitive reasons.
- As a result, Xcel Energy is responsible for all construction and public notifications, and following City concerns about lack thereof, have committed to issuance of flyers and construction doorhangers to adjacent properties of any installation as of late 2019.
- All remaining Small Cell poles (~10% of total) in Denver’s ROW are going to be privately owned by the Carriers themselves (Verizon, ATT, etc) as Encroachments in the public ROW. As part of off each Encroachment Permit issued, the applicants are required to notify each adjacent property owner, in writing via certified mail, during the plan review process. In addition, each Carrier has committed to similar Construction notification of adjacent property owners shortly before these poles are constructed.
- Fiber optic, electrical, telephone, and all other dry utilities constructed in the public ROW (whether associated with Small Cell or not) are not required to notify adjacent property owners before placing such facilities. Millions of feet of this type of infrastructure are constructed on an annual basis, by both Franchised and non-Franchised companies, and requiring same over the decades, as defined by State law and local litigation, has not been City policy.
- The overall owner of a dry utility (Comcast, CenturyLink, Verizon, etc) typically hires licensed Contractors to install, who are solely responsible for the work that they perform in the field. Hence, most construction deficiency issues come back to the Construction permit and actual installing Contractor, not the parent company, to resolve. However, when DOTI identifies a pattern (where multiple contractors installing utilities for the same parent company are having similar issues), we have found it helpful to coordinate directly with the parent company to improve systemic concerns. That is why we always recommend engaging our DOTI Small Cell team, even if a CC, so they can track and help resolve at the parent company level.
We hope this helps clear up your questions and concerns below. Feel free to contact us with any further questions.
Small Cell Permit Team| Engineering and Regulatory
City & County of Denver
Department of Transportation & Infrastructure | Right-of-Way Services | Engineering and Regulatory