Monthly Archives: April 2007

Last Friday, Judy asked for your feedback on her Youth Empowerment Initiative. I’m told a few people attempted to leave comments but were sent to a WordPress dead-end; that setting has been altered, and the comments thoroughfare is now open. If you have any thoughts on that subject, do weigh in. 

Today I’m looking for input on another issue of concern to Judy and District 9. The preliminary development plan for Union Station is now in circulation, and one detail has generated a bit of discussion: the commuter-rail loading platform will lie roughly 2.5 blocks from the terminal. If that plan gets approved and implemented, would it make you any less likely to ride? What’s the maximum distance you would be willing to walk? Judy chairs the Council’s FasTracks Committee, so input is helpful — and it will be heard.

Quick reminder on the municipal election: More than a dozen ballot-dropoff locations began accepting ballots today. Check here for a full list of sites.

Busy week so far for your District 9 councilwoman.

On the legislative front, Judy has been working with ProTAXI on a “hail-a-cab” bill. Current city ordinances forbid taxi drivers from picking up passengers on an ad-hoc basis; the customer has to phone in the request to the central dispatcher, who then sends a cab.  But the thousands of politicians, media, and volunteers who head into town for the Democratic National Convention next summer are not going to appreciate waiting around for a ride. They’re going to want, and need, to hop into the first vacant cab that drives by — just like they do in cities like New York, Boston, D.C., San Francisco, and Chicago. “Hail-a-cab” legislation is a small but important part of Judy’s agenda for her second term, and she’s already at work on it.

She’s also been working hard this week on a larger, more enduring part of her agenda: FasTracks and transit-oriented development. Judy has attended a series of focus groups this week with residents and business owners from Sun Valley (near the Decatur Street station, on the West Corridor) La Alma-Lincoln (10th and Osage station), and Globeville-Swansea (the 40th Avenue station). Judy secured the funds to pay for the focus-group sessions, which give neighborhoods a strong voice in planning and land-use decisions in the vicinity of FasTracks stations.

Some exciting news came out this week regarding the 10th and Osage station, which is already in use and serves trains on the Central, Southeast, and Southwest Corridors: the city of Denver is going to buy that parcel from RTD for a planned public-private mixed-use development. It’s great news for District 9 and the La Alma-Lincoln neighborhood.

The Denver Police Departament has named its new commander for District 1: Captain Doug Stephens. He replaces Commander David Quinones, who was promoted to Division Chief in February.

Stephens won an extremely tight competition for the post. Nearly two dozen applicants were interviewed. There’s a press release forthcoming from DPD; when it arrives I’ll put it up on the site.

Items to mark on your calendar:

• The Denver Election Commission, 303 W. Colfax, is now accepting completed ballots for the May 1 election. Beginning next Monday, an additional 12 sites around town will be accepting ballots.
• The Denver Highlands Mommies are holding a gigantic garage sale this Saturday to raise money for the Little Sprouts program at Clare Gardens. It runs 10 am to 2 pm at 26th and Osceola.
• Greenprint Denver will kick off its 7,000 Trees in 7 days event tomorrow; check their website for time and location. And this Saturday from 8:30 to 1 pm, REI will sponsor a Platte River Tree Planting at 23rd and Water Street; call the store at (720) 855-7923 for information.

Join Judy and friends tonight for a fundraiser at Tamales by La Casita, 3561 Tejon Street. The get-together begins at 5:30 p.m and will be hosted by Perla Gheiler, Elaine Torres, Phil Workman, and Marcus Pachner. The suggested donation is $50.

Lot of other things on the calendar in the next few days:

• Democratic National Party chairman Howard Dean will be in Denver today; there will be a rally at 11 a.m. at the Convention Center.
• John Kerry will be at the Tattered Cover with his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, to discuss their new book, This Moment On Earth.
• The Kerry book signing will serve as the kickoff event for the first annual LoDo Earth Action Fest (LEAF), sponsored by the Alliance for Sustainable Colorado.
• A week from today, the Tree by Tree initiative formally launches; more info to come next week.

Hope to see you at La Casita tonight. Bring your friends!

Paul Tamburello’s team and Northwest Parents for Excellent Schools are sponsoring Operation: Clean it Up at North High School this weekend. Stop by at 8:30 a.m., bring a pair of gloves and maybe a shovel or some Hefty bags, and help get the school grounds spic and span.  Afterward, you can tour the school with new North High principal JoAnn Trujillo Hays and get briefed on the state of the campus master plan.

DPS and northwest Denver both have a lot of stake at North High. It will take a lot of community input and effort to make sure the school survives. Here’s an easy way to show your support.

About 50 neighbors showed up last night for a public-comment session with members of the Graffiti Task Force, which is chaired by Judy. The meeting, which took place in Council District 9 at Police District 1 headquarters, yielded some excellent ideas for all three Task Force committees (Prevention, Abatement, and Enforcement) of the . Some of those ideas included:

• Increase city funding for anti-graffiti programs — especially for crews that remove graffiti
• Get residents involved in graffiti-cleanup projects; organize neighbors to watch for and report tagging
• Cite property owners who fail to remove graffiti in a timely manner
• Place a higher emphasis on arrests and patrols; create a more hostile environment for tagging
• Impose harsher penalties on taggers — the judicial system should not treat this as a mere petty crime
• If the tagger is underage or living at home, penalize the parents as well as the tagger; hold parents partly responsible for their child’s criminal behavior
• Educate young schoolchildren so they grow up with the understanding that graffiti is illegal and harmful

The Prevention subcommittee will be meeting next Monday, April 9, at 5 p.m. at the District 2 Police Station (3921 Holly Street). On Thursday, April 12, the full Task Force will be in session at the District 1 Police Station (1311 W. 46th Ave.). The latter is not a public-comment session, but it is open to all who are concerned about this problem — and who want to know what the city is doing about it.

The City of Denver’s Graffiti Task Force is seeking public input.  Members of all three of the Task Force subcommittees — Abatement, Enforcement, and Prevention — will be on hand this Thursday, April 5, from 5 to 6:30 pm at the District One Police Station, 1311 West 46th Avenue (just east of Navajo). The Task Force’s final recommendations will incorporate reports from all three subcommittees, so be sure to show up and make your voice heard.

Two additional meetings are on the calendar for next week — Monday, April 9, at the District 2 station (3921 Holly), and Thursday, April 12, back at the District 1 station. They’re both open to the public, but this week’s is dedicated to public input. So if you have something to add to the discussion, now’s the time.