Judy Montero

A final reminder: tonight’s Council meeting will include a courtesy public hearing about the Denver Union Station Master Plan Supplement and the creation of the Denver Union Station Project Authority. If you’d like to speak out on either issue, fill out a speaker card during the recess of tonight’s meeting (which begins at 5:30 p.m.).  Judy plans to vote for approval in both cases.

Last week the Supreme Court struck down two Washington D.C. gun-control ordinances. Does the ruling affect Denver’s own gun-control laws? The city attorney’s office weighs in with this perspective:

“This ruling does not affect any of Denver’s existing firearms ordinances in our opinion because:

• Under our own state constitution, citizens of Colorado already enjoy an individual right to have firearms for personal self protection, so today’s ruling did not really set a new legal principle in our state any different from what the law was before. All of our laws have been crafted to honor this basic right, especially to honor the right for people to keep guns in their homes and businesses for self protection, and indeed several of our ordinances have already withstood court challenges under state law.
• Our laws are quite different from the D.C. laws that were invalidated in this case. In particular, Denver has never gone nearly so far as to attempt to ban all handguns. The D.C. requirement that all guns be disassembled or stored with a trigger lock goes well beyond our own “safe storage” law, which is more narrowly tailored toward prohibiting access to guns by juveniles, and which contains an express exception for incidents where firearms are used in self-defense.
• Even while the court recognized the individual right of citizens to keep and bear arms, they also expressly acknowledged that this right is subject to reasonable regulation by state and local governments (similar to the way the First Amendment right to free speech is subject to regulation on the basis of time place and manner.) The court indicated that things like concealed carry restrictions, background checks, and prohibition of guns in government buildings as the sort of things that would pass muster in the future. In summary, the D.C. ordinances just went too far.”

If you haven’t weighed in on the Union Station Master Plan Supplement yet, you’ll have you chance during next Monday’s Council meeting, which will include a courtesy public hearing on the supplement. A copy of that document is available here, for those who need a refresher.

If you can’t wait until Monday for your Union Station fix, you can attend the Land Use and Urban Design Breakout Group this afternoon from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at RTD’s offices, 1600 Blake Street. The group will be discussing design standards and guidelines and looking ahead to the next design phase, the public realm.

Looking down the road a bit — mark your calendars for Saturday, July 12. Judy will be co-hosting a community festival that afternoon at the Swansea Rec Center that includes food, music, mural painting, basketball, and a bunch of other fun. I’ll put up more details as they become available . . . . .

Today’s Denver Post editorial page has some wise words about this weekend’s violence:

“The side-by-side shootings in Curtis Park and LoDo were alarming to say the least but no cause for panic. . . . We don’t want to make light of the violence that’s already occurred, nor the indiscriminate nature of the attack that injured little 8-year-old Sierra Moore. But we think this may be a time for practical, simple solutions, such as mitigating what’s already happening: allow bars to stay open after 2 a.m. as long as they meet tweaked city and state requirements.”

Like the Post, Judy is hoping that cooler heads prevail — that citizens and the media keep events in perspective, and that the city avoids a knee-jerk response. These shootings strike us with horror in part because they are so rare in our city — far more so in Denver than elsewhere. In the most recent city-by-city comparison (based in 2006 data), Denver ranked 28th in overall murders, with 63; by way of comparison, Oklahoma City had 109 murders, Las Vegas had 144, Phoenix had 241, and the top 5 cities in America all had more than 300 murders.

Denver also ranked 28th in murders per 100,000 residents, with 11 — a murder rate about half that of cities such as St. Louis (21 murders per 100,000 residents), Dallas (19), Miami (20), and Oklahoma City (22). Denver’s murder rate is about 1/3 that of Las Vegas (30 per 100,000), and 1/5 that of New Orleans (57 murders per 100,000 residents).

While rankings for 2007 haven’t been released yet, Denver’s murder rate dropped last year.

Judy has begun talking to police commanders, city officials, LoDo bar owners and residents, her Council colleagues, and the mayor about common-sense steps that can be taken to ensure that Denver remains among the country’s safest cities. In the meantime — don’t panic.

Judy extends her congratulations to Christine Marquez, the new executive director of Mi Casa Resource Center. Mi Casa holding a welcome reception tomorrow for Christine. It gets underway at 5 p.m. Wednesday at Mi Casa, 360 Acoma Street; attendance is free, and there will be food, drink, and live music. To RSVP, call Marilyn Leblanc at (303) 573-1302, extension 5603, or email her at mleblanc@micasadenver.org.

Also, tomorrow is a Free Day at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, one of two the museum will hold this summer; the other one is slated for August 13. The museum is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; for more information, head to www.dmns.org.

If you didn’t read to the end of the Rocky’s article this week about Parks and Rec’s kids-swim-free program, you might have missed the fact that Judy staunchly supports the idea. The article does note Judy’s position, but only in passing — and only after a few hundred words describing how several Council members have misgivings about the policy.

Judy wants to be very clear about this. Granting free swimming-pool access to kids creates a number of direct and indirect benefits for District 9. In a direct sense, it creates an opportunity for those families within the District (and there are many) who are being hurt by the slow economy. Saving even a few bucks a day is important to those families, and particularly to the kids in those families.

Indirectly, this policy helps everybody in the district because it helps channel young kids away from destructive influences such as gang-bangers and taggers, and puts them into a safe, adult-supervised activity. Obviously, it’s not a solution to gangs and graffiti — but it’s a part of the puzzle.

A quick followup to yesterday’s item about the Denver Union Station Project Authority (DUSPA). Input is being sought regarding the composition of the DUSPA Board. The board will include six members appointed by the Mayor and ratified by Denver City Council; two members appointed by RTD; and one member appointed by each of DRCOG, C-DOT and the DUS Metro District #1.

If you have any thoughts about stakeholder groups that should be represented on the Board, please send written comments/input to dus-project-team@crlassociates.com by tomorrow (Friday), June 20.

Here’s another piece of DUS news: The Denver Union Station Executive Oversight Committee (EOC) and the Union Station Neighborhood Company (USNC) have selected Hargreaves Associates to work on the design of the public realm for the Denver Union Station Transit District. Hargreaves is headquartered in San Francisco and has offices in New York, Cambridge, and London; it will collaborate on the project with master architect Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLC.

The firm’s founder, George Hargreaves, got into landscape design after having an epiphany at age 18 during a hike up Flat Top Mountain. It’s not clear which Flattop Mountain he means — there are peaks by that name in several states. In fact, there are two peaks by that name in Colorado — one in Rocky Mountain National Park, the other not far from Steamboat Springs. I’m betting that he is referring to the RMNP summit.

More information about the firm at its website.

Judy’s FasTracks committee approved an important piece of legislation Monday, voting 8-3 in favor of a bill that would create a new entity, the Denver Union Station Project Authority (DUPSA). The DUPSA is one of several financing structures that will need to be created as the Union Station rehab project moves forward. This is a nonprofit entity whose primary responsibilities will include administrative functions such as overseeing tax revenues and managing contracts.

The legislation to create DUPSA will next go before the full Council; stay tuned for updates. Also stayed tuned for updates about next month’s FasTracks committee meeting, scheduled for July 14. Other entities have to be put into place in preparation for the DUS redevelopment, and the next meeting will include further discussion and possible legislative action.

Also, the Union Station planning team’s Finance Breakout Group (BOG) will meet this afternoon from 3:30 to 5 p.m. at 555 17th Street, 5th floor. The BOG will be discussing DUSPA.

To check out the video of Monday’s committee meeting, go to the FasTracks page at Channel 8’s Video on Demand archive.

A reminder — this Wednesday (the 18th) Judy will be sitting on a panel to discuss the documentary Transit Oriented Development: Reshaping The Great American City. The film is screening at 6 p.m. on the Auraria Campus, in the King Center; city planning director Peter Park and developer Susan Powers (who built the Highland Bridge Lofts) will be on the panel, along with several other TOD enthusiasts. Click here for info on the movie.

The following day (Thursday the 19th) Servicios de la Raza will be holding an open house and silent auction to support its La Gente program, which provides comprehensive support for people living with HIV/AIDS. The event starts at 4 p.m. and runs until 7 p.m. at 4055 Tejon Street in the Sunnyside neighborhood; RSVP to Jalene Salazar at (303) 953-5904. The Mayor’s Office of HIV Resources is supporting the event.

Yesterday the City announced the parade route that demonstrators will be allowed to use during the DNC Convention in August. It begins at Civic Center Park and heads west on Colfax and northwest on Speer, ending at Larimer Street. From there, it’s just a short walk to Parking Lot A of the Pepsi Center, which is the designated “demonstration zone.” You’ll note that the route crosses the light-rail line, which runs across Speer at Stout Street; light-rail service will not be interrupted, and marchers will have to stop to allow trains to cross.

The route will be open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. during the week of the convention (August 25-28). Demonstrators will require a permit to use the parade route, but the usual fees will not be collected; application forms are available on www.denvergov.org/DNC2008. Additional questions can be addressed to Kevin Scott at DNC2008permits@denvergov.org (or by phone at 720-865-4330).

City Council has released its official, complete ”Goals and Priorities” document for 2008-09. Judy pushed forcefully — and successfully — to get graffiti control onto the agenda; here’s how that section of the document reads:

GOAL: A GRAFFITI-FREE CITY

Budget Priorities

• Programs that ensure swift removal
• Prevention efforts that reduce graffiti

Recommended Actions

• Increase inspection capacity by authorizing NIS and Right-of-Way inspectors to issue notices and citations regarding graffiti removal
• Partner with DPS and non-profit organizations to develop and implement prevention policies
• Ensure that all City departments, DPS, and utilities work collaboratively toward swift graffiti removal
• Involve youth in both prevention strategies and removal activities
• Expand available paint colors to match the range of surfaces

You can download a copy of the complete Goals and Priorities document here.