Local Spotlight: Lakewood Vehicle Impound

Stop us if this sounds familiar. This November local a ballot initiative will ask residents of a Denver metro city if they want to force their police officers to impound any vehicle driven by someone who cannot produce a valid driver’s license. Last year, one angry man tried to push this proposal onto the ballots in three cities: Aurora, Denver & Lakewood. Not that he lives or votes in any of those cities—he resides in unincorporated Jefferson County—but  he drives through these cities, and claims he is terrified of all those unlicensed drivers on the roads. Of course, Dan Hayes will acknowledge that his primary target is undocumented immigrants, but the initiative he has proposed will cause headaches for anyone who drives a car in—or through—Lakewood.
You may recall that we helped defeat this initiative in Denver last year. At the same time, a Lakewood resident was challenging the dubious signature-gathering methods used in her city. Unfortunately, the cost of continued legal opposition became too daunting, and she decided to withdraw the complaint, which means that the Vehicle Impound Initiative will indeed be on the 2010 ballot in Lakewood. This is why we’re once again supporting the Coloradans For Safe Communities coalition in opposition to this initiative.  It’s just as bad an idea now as it was last year, and we’ll need help from all of Lakewood’s civil libertarians to this initiative.

Check our events page for dates & times of upcoming phone banks and canvass days at which you can help us tell Lakewood voters about the dangers of vehicle impound. To learn how you can help even more, visit www.votenoonimpound.com