Mayor measures city’s progress

1/25/2008 - Brighton, Colorado

Mayor measures city’s progress

Mayor Jan Pawlowski and Brighton’s city councilors tookmeasure of the city’s short-and long-term changes Thursday in the mayor’s seventh annual State of theCity address at the Brighton Recreation Center.

“We’ve come a long way, baby,”she said, citing the recent Gadberry Group report that placed Brighton second in the nation in notable high-growth places. Gadberry, a consulting firm that provides location analysis to large retail concerns, noted that between 2000 and 2007, Brighton had grown 122 percent andaverage household income grew bnearly $10,000 a year.

“Brighton is a sound and growing community and this is recognized by more than growth ratings,” she said, citing today’s tour of Brighton by leaders from nine countries in the Institute of International Education’s Visiting Leader Program.

She cited commercial growth in the past year, including 12 new stores at Prairie Center, several more planned, and the new Eagle’s Landing project – a new home for the Raptor Education Foundation on four acres near 136th Avenue and Buckley Road.

Downtown redevelopment, the library-Armory plans at Third Avenue and Bridge Street and the hospital reuse program – 80 percent leased just a month after the sale closed – also made the highlights.

Councilors cited the addition of parks and open space, the Fourth Avenue redevelopment project, new traffic light (due in April) at Bridge and 27th Avenue and a roundabout to temporarily fix traffic issues at Interstate 76 and Bromley Lane.

The new Boys & Girls Club and the proposed Adult/Senior Recreation Center were praised as quality-of-life assets, as was theYouth Commission.

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