Judy Montero

Here’s an item I’ve been meaning to get onto the blog for a while. Last week Judy attended a groundbreaking for a new Bridge Project facility at the Quigg Newton public housing units in Sunnyside. The Bridge Project (for those of you who are unaware) helps create opportunities for students living in public housing, with the goal of getting them through high school graduation and into college. Tutoring, mentoring, and scholarship funding are among its programs. There’s already one successful Bridge Project facility in District 9, the South Lincoln site at 1217 West 10th Avenue.

While we’re on the subject of Quigg Newton housing — kids from the Wilfley Branch of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro Denver (located at the Newton housing) have just finished off a graffiti mural that will be displayed at the Denver Botanic Garden’s “Urban Nature” exhibit. Working with local artist Jeremy Ulibarri (who grew up in the neighborhood), they created the work over a 3-month period. Another team of teen artists from the Globeville Recreation Center also have a mural for the exhibit. If I can get pictures of those to post here at the blog, I’ll put them up.

Mark your calendars for next Wednesday, June 4. The four finalists for public realm design services at Denver Union Station will present their qualifications, design philosophy and approach at a public forum hosted by the Executive Oversight Committee (EOC) and the Union Station Advisory Committee (USAC). The meeting gets underway at 5:30 p.m. at the Auraria Events Center on the Auraria campus; doors open at 5 p.m.

The four finalists are Gustafson Guthrie Nichol Ltd., Hargreaves Associates, Martha Schwartz Partners, and Peter Walker Partners. Each firm will be allowed 20 minutes to present an introduction to their firm, the key individual(s) proposed to work on the project and a concise statement of the firm’s design philosophy and approach to the public realm at Denver Union Station. Following each presentation, there will be a period of 15 minutes to respond to written questions from the community.

It’ll be a long meeting; you can expect it to last until 9:30 p.m. or later. To see the RFQ and the addenda thereto, visit the DUS Web site at www.denverunionstation.org. You can also get some information about the June 4 meeting off this press release.

Keep your eyes peeled for a mailer from the Denver Elections Division. It’s the first of three voter-information missives you’ll be receiving between now and November. This week’s mailer details your three voting options — by maill; in person at an early-voting site; or in person on election day. All voting will be by paper ballot this year; no e-voting machines. The mailer includes the form you need to fill out to apply for a mail-in ballot; you can opt to be placed on the permanent mail-in ballot list, thus eliminating the need to apply every year.

The mailer will display your basic voter registration information, so you’ll know whether your registration information needs updating; if it does, use the supplied mail-in form. If you need more information, go to the elections website (www.denvergov.org/elections) or call the Elections Division at 720-913-VOTE (8683).

As we head into Memorial Day, here’s a roundup of recent happenings / events / stuff you should know. Enjoy the holiday, everyone:

• Judy’s last mail pickup included another 50 signed graffiti-removal authorization forms, pushing the total well past 150. Fantastic response; keep ‘em coming.
• While we’re on the subject: At its retreat last weekend, City Council adopted graffiti as one of its three top legislative priorities for the coming year. Judy pushed like crazy to get that issue onto the list. See coverage in the RMN here.
• It so happens that the No. 1 subject for calls to Denver’s 3-1-1 line originating from District 9 are about off-leash dogs. That’s right; this accounts for about half of the District’s 3-1-1 phone calls. So keep your pooches collared and leashed when you’re out walking ‘em this spring / summer.
• The 16th Street Pedestrian Bridges received a Downtown Denver Award on Wednesday night. Quoting from the program: “The City of Denver made a bold step in the enhancement Downtown’s pedestrian environment by supporting these three projects.”
• Judy’s office is facilitating dicsussions between the CMI Fox community-corrections facility and the nearby neighbors in Sunnyside. CMI Fox will be expanding by 30 beds, and neighbors are looking for assurances that the community won’t suffer any negative impacts; Denver Mediation is leading the discussions.
• Judy’s office has taken on a summer intern — Richard Williams, a second-year law student at CU Law School. Richard is the vice president of the school’s Native American Law Students Association.

The response to Judy’s spring 2008 newsletter on graffiti has been tremendous. So farmore than 100 people from District 9 have sent in the authorization form that accompanied the newsletter; that’s 100 additional properties that are eligible for free graffiti removal by city of Denver crews. If you haven’t sent in the authorization form yet, you can download a copy of it here. Send it back to the City of Denver, Solid Waste Management, 1390 Decatur Street, Denver 80204.

And if you missed the newsletter, you can call that up here. A big thank you to everybody who has sent in forms to date. Keep ‘em coming.

Here’s another dispatch from John Robbins, one of the two Wartburg College students who are working in Judy’s office this month. Hayato Mochida (Haya) is the other Wartburg student. What have they have been up to? John writes:

On Friday, I attended the agenda meeting for the upcoming City Council meeting. I also attended a meeting about the issue of incorrect street addresses. For certain buildings (either very large buildings, or buildings located on corner lots), their main entrance doesn’t reside on the actual street that is given as their address. This potentially causes problems in case an emergency arises and the fire department can’t find the place, potentially losing time that could be spent to save a life. Public Works is working on this.

Haya went to Ace Challenge Community School (948 Santa Fe Drive), an alternative school for students needing a second chance. He went to research the circumstances of students who go there. He interviewed them about their pop culture influences (including hip-hop music). Haya is trying to understand differences between Japanese schools and American schools, so he is trying to study these by experiencing some different schools.

On Monday, both Haya and I went to the Denver Union Station debriefing to the City Council. The Council was informed on scheduling, design, and financing for the project, and how all of this will be going forward for the rest of the year. There are specific deadlines that must be reached in order to keep the project on sure footing. This is a good experience for us, because we learn about the processes a city must go through to improve itself. Later, we attended the City Council meeting and saw firsthand the Council in action. It was interesting to see the debating regarding some of the issues and witness the official style of the proceedings.

On Tuesday, I attended a meeting about capital improvement projects and the city’s program for improving roads, traffic signals, and some other infrastructure. Later, I attended a presentation put on Colorado University-Denver where some students did a semester-long study on Denver Union Station and presented various proposals for how DUS could be used (especially outside and around the station) and how the public space and buildings surrounding DUS could be used.

Haya has been studying Juvenile Assessment Centers–their purpose and mission–and has been organizing the information into a presentable form. He also went to a recreation center to tell people about a new graffiti-removal project, informing the people on how to get graffiti removed from their neighborhoods. After that, Haya went to a church for the same reason.

On Wednesday afternoon, May 21, the final draft of the Denver Union Station Master Plan Supplement will be presented to the Planning Board from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. in the Webb Building, Room 4.F.6. There will be a public hearing, so if you have any opinions about the supplement (available here) this is your chance to express them. Denver City Planner Ellen Ittelson will present an overview and will note why the planning department staff is in favor of approving the supplement. At the end of the meeting, the Board will vote on whether or not to approve the supplement.

The Planning Board advises the Mayor and City Council on the Denver Comprehensive Plan, supplements to the Comprehensive Plan, and various components of land regulation including zoning and view planes.

A year ago Thursday (May 15), Jose “Baby Matt” Jauregui was caught in the flash flood at 14th Avenue and Decatur Street and drowned. Two nights ago (Wednesday) Judy attended a memorial service for baby Matt, where the family recognized, honored and thanked all Emergency Services Personnel who were involved and helped out in any way, shape or form. The beautiful service was held at the same bridge where Matt was too suddenly taken away from his family. The family held a reception at the VFW to further thank those kind volunteers who helped the family in their great time of need.

To see all of those volunteers by name, click “Keep Reading” at the bottom of this post. Meanwhile, here is a picture of the keepsakes given to each volunteer at the service. Click on the image for a larger view:

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On Saturday, May 17, the Colorado Rockies and the Denver Police Department will hold a youth baseball clinic and the chance to play in a celebrity softball game. It’s totally free and open to all kids; food, beverages, and prizes will be awarded. John and Haya, two college students from Wartburg College (Iowa) who are spending a few weeks working in Judy’s office, helped to put this event together. It will take place in District 9 at Sonny Lawson Park, Welton Street at Park Avenue, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more info contact the Park Avenue Cop Shop at (720) 865-2355.

Elsewhere in the District: El Museo de Las Americas holds a Spanish Happy Hour tomorrow (Friday), May 16. It’s open to Spanish speakers of all levels and takes place from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., with food and drinks provided by El Museo. General admission is $5; members pay $3. For more info visit El Museo’s website.

If you’re over in Lincoln Park / La Alma, you’ve noticed the street maintenance on West 13th Ave between Kalamath and Osage, beginning Monday, May 12, 2008. According to Denver Public Works, that project will be ongoing for the next four weeks. The work includes reconstruction of the pavement and utility work conducted by Xcel Energy. The light rail routes in the area will not be affected by this street construction. This work is scheduled to last four weeks; Public Works advises alternate routes during this period.

Also, look for one-day closures on Colfax Avenue this Sunday, May 18th, for the annual Colfax Marathon. Here’s a map of the course; the runners won’t spend much time in District 9, but they’ll be in northwest Denver for a good part of the route.