Lakeside Municipal Offices

This photo* is not up-to-date; the sign now reads "Town of Lakeside MUNICIPAL O," with the rest of "OFFICES" broken off.

My friend Nathan says he once met the mayor of Lakeside.

Lakeside had a population of 8 as of the 2010 census. A greater number of people work there, however, as it has an amusement park and a Walmart. But there's a scary amount of vacant, undeveloped space: if the photo were tilted northeast rather than southwest, so as not to get the businesses across 44th Avenue (which are not in Lakeside but in Mountain View**), you'd see a large swath consisting of nothing but a fence and stunted wild grass.

The town incorporated in 1907. Says Wikip, "Both town and park were founded by a syndicate led by prominent Denver brewer Adolph Zang, who endeavored to build the resort just across the county line from Denver, and incorporate to move beyond the reach of Denver liquor laws."

Denver law having been revised since 1907, I'm no longer aware of the town's raison d'être. I'm even less aware of Mountain View's reason for being. Mountain View, across the street, from where you can see the mountains (as you can from every town on the front range), puzzles me even more. It is a tiny 0.1 square mile to Lakeside's 0.2 (ends at Fenton Street on the west rather than stretching another two blocks to Harlan Street), has a population (in 2000, anyway) of 569, but a very small tax base. (I'm guessing the cleaners don't pull in what Walmart does.) "[Mountain View] relies primarily on traffic tickets to pay its police and municipal employees" (Wikip).

What intrigues me, though, is that Google Maps shows the border between the two towns as running lengthwise through the middle of 44th Avenue. Is it at the median divider?*** So, can the Mountain View police collect money only from speeders racing east on 44th, whereas Lakeside extracts the moolah from those going west?

*Which Wikipedia credits to Jeffrey Beal, if I understand Wikip's crediting system correctly.

**One of the businesses on the south side of 44th is Lakeside Cleaners, but don't let the name fool you.

***EDIT: I misused the term "median divider," as there is no median area, just center lines.

[UPDATE November 1st: They've fixed the sign!]