Let’s take a closer look at the six Colorado cities suing Gov. Jared Polis and the state legislature for enacting two new laws that limit the home rule powers of cities on the Front Range of Colorado.

These two new laws deny cities the power to require off-street parking for new apartment buildings. They also force cities to institute denser zoning and more new apartment buildings along major bus routes.

We will do three cities this Sunday and the last three next Sunday.

The most populous of these six cities suing the governor and the state of Colorado regarding home rule powers is Aurora. It is the third most populous city in the state, after Colorado Springs and Denver. By 2025, it had more than 400,000 residents.

Aurora is located along the eastern edge of the city and county of Denver. Most people think of it as a Denver suburb, but it is now populous enough to be regarded as an adjoining city rather than a suburb.

Aurora is famous for having the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus located within its boundaries. The hospital complex is on East Colfax Avenue, the oldest commercial part of Aurora.

Stay up to speed: Sign up for daily opinion in your inbox Monday-Friday

Close by are natural attractions such as Cherry Creek State Park, with a large reservoir for swimming and boating, and the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge.

In terms of race and national origin, Aurora is one of the most diverse cities in Colorado, and it is the most diverse of the six cities suing the governor and the state over home rule.

There is high-density development in the western part of the city along Interstate 225, but there is open land available to the east and south that will enable Aurora to keep its population growing in the future.

Recent figures show Aurora to be 52.2% white, 29.7% Hispanic, and 18.6% Black. People who see themselves as mixed-race are 13.3%.

Foreign-born are 21% of the population.

In Aurora, 20% speak Spanish at home rather than English. The city has fewer bachelor’s degrees awarded to its citizens than the rest of the Denver metropolitan area. Median age is 35.1 years. Median household income is $78,685.

Compared to older cities in Colorado such as Denver, Colorado Springs and Greeley, Aurora is very much the new kid on the block. The city was named Aurora in 1907, having previously been called Fletcher. Most of its housing has been built since 1950.

Its fastest growing decade was 2000 to 2010.

Aurora interacts highly with nearby cities in the Denver metropolitan area. One study revealed 113,000 workers come into Aurora each day to work. On the other hand, about 138,000 workers leave Aurora to go to jobs in nearby communities. About 40,000 workers both live and work in Aurora.

Aurora calls itself “The World in a City.” That is a good slogan for this racially and economically diverse city in Colorado.

Also joining the court suit for home rule powers is Arvada. This classic bedroom suburb of Denver is located north of I-70 to the northwest of downtown Denver.

The Denver-Salt Lake City main line of the Rio Grande railroad, now the Union Pacific Railroad, runs through Arvada. The community is also a major stop on Denver’s RTD light-rail commuter line.

Way back in 1850, a wagon train passed through what is now Arvada and $5 worth of gold was found. This is considered the first known gold strike in Colorado. The wagon train went on west, however, and nothing came of this first gold strike.

Arvada was proclaimed as a town in 1870 and platted. The town was named for the brother of the wife of the town’s founder. The brother’s name was Hiram Arvada Haskin.

Arvada grew slowly until World War II. Incorporated as a town in 1904, it did not become an incorporated city until 1951, thanks to a big housing boom after World War II ended in 1945.

Arvada is about one-third the size of Aurora, at about 120,000 people. It is 77.2% white and about 15.4% Hispanic. The median household income is $113,396, considerably higher than that of Aurora.

The iconic symbol of Arvada is its picturesque water tower, in use from 1910 to 1977 and now preserved. Most of Olde Town at the center of Arvada was built after World War II.

Olde Town has parking problems, which city leaders say will be made worse by the provisions of the new state law doing away with parking requirements for new apartment buildings.

Arvada leaders charge that the state government is not providing what is really needed — direct subsidies from the state to build affordable housing.

Just to the north of Arvada is the Denver suburban city of Westminster. About two-thirds of Westminster is located in Adams County and one-third in Jefferson County.

A railroad was built through what is now Westminster in 1881, and major irrigation canals were built in what was then an agricultural community in 1885 and 1890.

Previously named Harris, Westminster was incorporated in 1911. It was renamed Westminster for Westminster University, an institution of higher learning that was in operation there.

The university, however, ended in 1917, when the male students resigned to go fight in World War I and did not return after the war ended. The university building is now a private school.

Westminster City Hall has a 14-story-high bell tower built as a “tie and tribute” to the Big Ben tower on the Parliament building in London, England.

In 2020, Westminster was 64.1% white, 23.4% Hispanic, and 1.5% Black. The city has an extensive trail network and an aggressive campaign for acquiring open space and parks.

Similar to Arvada, the city of Westminster experienced extremely rapid growth following the end of World War II. The population grew fastest in the decade from 1970 to 1980.

In the late 1980s, the city declared a brief moratorium on the building of new housing while it developed a comprehensive plan to better manage rapid population expansion in the future.

Next Sunday: We will look at Greenwood Village, Lafayette and Glendale, the other three cities suing to preserve city home rule in Colorado.

Bob Loevy is a retired professor of political science at Colorado College who specializes in state and local government.