Heads Up June 23, 2023

City of Boulder in planning to commemorate 10 years since the 2013 flood

From Sept. 11 to 15, 2013, the City of Boulder and communities across the Front Range experienced significant rainfall that led to flooding, loss of life and widespread damage. Ten years later, we are reflecting on the strength of our community, and the work we've done to prepare for future floods.

The City of Boulder, in partnership with Boulder County and the cities of Longmont, Louisville, Lyons and Superior, as well as the Carnegie Library, will commemorate the 10-year remembrance of the flood several ways.

City staff is currently building an interactive webpage using StoryMaps to visually tell the story of the 2013 flood and the flood mitigation work implemented since.

The StoryMap will include a call to community members to share their 10-year reflections and stories of resilience through the medium of their choice, including audio clips, art, sculpture, written works and more. Certain works will be displayed in the Main Library from September to December and will be showcased at the What’s Up Boulder community event in September.

In addition to the StoryMap, the city will host a storytelling event, produce two episodes for the city’s new podcast, Let’s Talk Boulder, and continue annual flood and emergency preparedness messaging.

Planning is still in progress, and we will update the community as plans are finalized.

For more information on the city’s 10-year commemoration of the 2013 Front Range Flood, please contact Cate Stanek, communication program manager, by email at stanekc@bouldercolorado.gov.

Boulder Social Streets begins Saturday with Rollerpalooza

This summer, as part of the city's Boulder Social Streets initiative (an outcome of the Downtown Streets as Public Space project), Downtown Boulder Partnership is hosting a series of eight free, fun events and activities along 13th Street between Arapahoe Avenue and Canyon Boulevard. There is no cost to attend the events, and all members of the community and visitors near and far are welcome.

The first event, Rollerpalooza, a celebration of all things with wheels, happens this Sunday afternoon, June 25, from 1 to 5 p.m. More information is available on the webpage, BoulderSocialStreets.com.

Boulder Social Streets is an effort to reimagine downtown streets as public space for people to come to enjoy and connect. This project arose in 2022, as the city reopened west Pearl Street to vehicles following the closure that was in place during the COVID-19 pandemic emergency declaration. A considerable number of community members expressed great interest in more public space in the downtown area, and in winter 2023, the project team, including consultant support for technical and community engagement work, developed an action plan recommending various typologies for piloting this summer to help inform future next steps. Based on preliminary engagement, feedback, and discussion with you as council, the project vision envisions this summer’s activities and data-gathering as a pilot that informs a larger vision of using streets in new and innovative ways as public spaces citywide in the future.

Following council discussion and feedback at the March 23 Study Session, the city team has been working to prepare for the Boulder Social Streets pop-ups on 13th Street taking place June – September 2023, engage with west Pearl businesses to see if there is interest in exploring Social Streets pop-ups on west Pearl in the future, and provide related evaluation and community engagement for this project.

For more information, please contact Brad Mueller, director of Planning & Development Services, at muellerb@bouldercolorado.gov or Natalie Stiffler, director of Transportation & Mobility, at stifflern@bouldercolorado.gov.

Regards,
Nuria