I have come to respect the mission and work of our local Habitat for Humanity organization. Their mission is to bring people together to build homes, community, and hope. They have two murals on their building dedicated to building homes and hope. Last week, I attended their “Building Community” mural unveiling. It is beautiful. You should stop by the ReStore to see the murals and shop for affordable building materials. Your purchases support more families getting their homeownership dream realized. This week, I met with Dan Dorsch from Habitat to look at potential sites for Habitat homes. We know that homeownership equals opportunities for better educations, better health, and better financial stability for families.
I had coffee with an old friend, Peaches Tyrell. It was great catching up. Peaches wanted to share with me the work of a local photographer, Debbie Martinez, and her mission to record Cheyenne’s daily life in pictures. She showed me Debbie’s Facebook page and it was amazing to see all the places she has been and the incredible pictures she has taken. Cheyenne is an amazing place, and we have some very talented people. Take a minute and look at Debbie’s work, it is worth it.
Our community is rooting for the Hynds Building and downtown ‘Hole’ to find a developer that will rebuild the area. It has been almost 20 years since the fire that burned Mary’s Bake Shop and Wyoming Home. I was able to meet with the owners of the Hynds building this week to get an update on their plans and was pleased to hear they are working on getting the building activated. It is a huge undertaking and may need to be phased in, but they are looking forward and that is exciting.
We had another employee hit a significant employment milestone: Tammy Bartlett has worked for the City for 25 years now. I love getting to spend a little time with our long-term employees to say thank you and get a few stories from their years of service. Tammy works in our HR department, and I like to think of her as our utility specialist as she has the experience to do every operation in the department. Long-term employees like Tammy have so much institutional knowledge, making them so valuable to our mission to serve our residents. Thank you, Tammy!
I met a woman named Erika from Columbia in 2021. She was just learning English and making her way in Cheyenne. This week we met again, and I was so impressed with her improved mastery of English. It is so fun to meet people from other countries and see our country through their eyes. I am trying to learn Spanish, and I can share with you learning a new language as an adult is very challenging. It makes Erika’s mastery of English so much more impressive to me.
The folks in the Mayor’s Office had lunch with the staff from LEADS this week. It was a great chance to catch up on all the good work being done in economic development. LEADS has more than 30 active prospects looking at Cheyenne. We know they won’t all decide to invest here, but it is exciting so many think we are worthy of their time and attention.
Eva and Shai Kroczynski bought the Big Horn Motel and stopped by to share their vision for the motel’s future. They have been investing in the property by remodeling the rooms and cleaning up the site. I’m looking forward to seeing how their work improves the property and the neighborhood. Once the interior is updated, their focus will be to invest in the exterior. I shared my appreciation for their investment and mission to clean up this part of our city.
Did you know our Johnson outdoor swimming pool is now 70 years old? Wow! In the last 6th penny sales tax election, voters approved funding to design a new pool for the location. Destiny Church hosted an open house to give the public an opportunity to see what the consultants are proposing and a few alternatives that could be added. After seven decades, it is getting very challenging each spring to get the pool opened. It is time to replace it and I am excited by what we saw. If you’d like to provide feedback, visit www.cheyennecity.org/newjohnsonpool and take a survey that’s open through the end of next week.
Wednesday evening, the Fort Logan National Cemetery held a town hall to discuss our Cheyenne National Cemetery. The cemetery is a place where veterans and their spouses can be buried, and the gravesite, headstone, and perpetual care is free forever. It was great to hear they are planning for the next expansion and are also going to build restroom facilities. There are 136 national cemeteries across our country. Cheyenne is home to so many veterans and it made sense to build one here. It is a beautiful place, and I would encourage any veteran to look at this free benefit you earned by serving your country. The road leading into the cemetery was recently paved – thank you STC Construction for the great paving job!
I have been watching the construction of the apartments being built along Converse Avenue. The builders had an open house on Thursday, and it was great to tour their facility. Ridge View Apartments has a club house with gym, swimming pool, playground, and very beautiful apartments. We know we have a housing shortage, and the fact that every apartment they have completed is rented verifies the need. It was exciting to hear they are now planning the next phase of the project and a couple hundred more apartments. Thank you for helping provide a great place for our folks to live.
Later in the day, I toured a different kind of development. The Fox Farm housing project is a rental development with one- and two-bedroom town houses that come with garages. They are building around 90 units right now, and if we can figure out an infrastructure question between our BOPU and the SCWSD, another 220 units could be built. With our housing shortage it is important that we make it happen.
I am loving doing my homework every night while watching the Olympics. I am cheering for team USA and enjoying watching athletes from around the world compete. These folks are in such great shape – it motivates me to work harder in the gym. USA! USA! USA!