Judy Montero

City Council committee assignments for the upcoming year became official today. Judy retains her existing chairwomanship, joins a second committee as co-chair, and will serve on a 3rd committee:

• FasTracks (chair)
• NCBR (co-chair)
• Blueprint Denver

NCBR is an acronym for “Neighborhood, Business, and Community Revitalization” —- a pretty broad scope. Rick Garcia of District 1 will co-chair the committee with Judy.

NCBR will meet on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of each month at 1:30 p.m. The FasTracks and Blueprint committees will remain at their usual times — 3rd Monday of the month at 3:30 p.m. for FasTracks, 2nd/4th Wednesdays of the month for the Blueprint Denver committee.

The city’s Public Works department sent over some clarification about a recent hot topic of discussion: viz., the of city fueling facilities by the DNCC/Host Committee’s vehicle fleet. The following comes from a letter signed by George Delaney, Deputy Manager of Public Works:

While we have been told that it is nationwide standard practice to use City fuel pumps for large national security events, including past inaugurations and the Summit of the Eight, we regret that the following intentions were not more clearly stated:

• No City funds would be used;
• Market rates would be charged to the Host Committee, and
• All applicable taxes would be paid by the Host Committee.

That said, the reason we conduct a transparent, public process on these types of issues is to ensure that we’re getting it right and, if not, to fix it. This process highlighted two fundamental issues for us:

(1) A contract should have been in place before any fuel distribution began, and
(2) There are better ways to structure the contract than what was initially proposed.

For these reasons, we are pleased to announce that a new plan for fueling Convention-related vehicles was formulated today which largely takes the City of Denver out of the equation.

The DNCC/Host Committee has made new arrangements with its fuel vendor and will NOT be using City pumps for Convention-related cars going forward. They will continue using City pumps to provide biodiesel for their buses as the City of Denver is apparently the only supplier that can meet their volume-related needs.

• The Host Committee will pay the fuel vendor for the biodiesel dispensed from City pumps, and the City will recoup all costs associated with storing and dispensing the biodiesel.
• A record of all DNCC/Host Committee fuel usage to date will be provided to the fuel vendor by the City of Denver. The fuel vendor will reimburse the City for all fuel dispensed to the DNCC/Host Committee to date and will directly bill the Host Committee for its past fuel purchases, reflecting market rates and including all taxes and applicable fees.
• Use of City-owned car-wash facilities will be discontinued immediately. The three car washes used by the DNCC/Host Committee to date (totaling $15) will be billed directly to the Host Committee as was always planned.

The bottom line is: Neither the City and County of Denver, the State of Colorado, or our taxpayers are out any money –– nor were they ever going to be. We hope that the new approach bolsters public confidence in the intentions and operations of both the City and the DNCC/Host Committee.

Thanks to Mr. Delaney for the clarification.

Barack Obama will deliver his acceptance speech at Invesco/Mile High next month, just outside of District 9. But District 9 will still be heavily affected. There’s a public meeting scheduled for Wednesday, June 30, at North High School beginning at 5:30 p.m. All residents of the district — particularly those who live in the vicinity of Mile High, ie those living in Lincoln Park / La Alma, Highland, and LoDo — are urged to attend.

One major impact will be the parade route, upon which supporters and protestors alike will march on August 28 to express their political views. The route will begin in Lincoln / La Alma, at the corner of Mariposa and 13th Avenue. It will proceed north to Colfax Avenue, head west on Colfax over I-25 and the South Platte River, then turn north on Federal and proceed to the vicinity of 20th Avenue. The final terminus of the route is still unannounced; when that detail is made available, we’ll post it here.

Marchers will have access to the route from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on August 28. During those hours, some businesses along the route will have limited or no access. For more information about this and other impacts of the August 28 acceptance speech, attend the meeting at North High on Wednesday night.

Beginning this week, Denver Parks & Recreation will conduct a series of eight community meetings throughout the city to discuss what people expect from the recreation system. The agency wants to know how important geography, fees and programs are to participation in recreation center activities. The information gathered at these community meetings will be provided to the Recreation Center Task Force, a group of community stakeholders that is working to develop a long-term vision and strategic plan to guide decision-making over the next 5 to 10 years.

Wednesday night’s meeting (the first in the series) is way down south at Eisenhower Rec Center. But the Thursday night meeting (July 31) will address 3 rec centers that lie either in or just outside District 9 — the Hiawatha Davis, Martin Luther King, and Glenarm centers. It takes place at the Hiawatha Davis Rec Center, 3334 Holly Street. And mark your calendar for next week — there will be meetings for users of nearly all the District 9 rec centers.

All meetings will take place from 6 p.m. - 8 p.m., and a light dinner will be served. Please call 720-913-0689 or email davis.talley@denvergov.org for more information.

While we’re on the subject — July is National Parks & Recreation Month, and accordingly Denver P&R released some statistics about the system’s use and scope. For example, Parks and Rec served more than 160,000 people in the month of June 2008. The department maintains 3,700 acres of urban parkland, and another 13,000 acres of mountain parks — plus 135 miles of greenways and trails, and 100 miles of parkways.

One another notable piece of trivia — the oldest rec center in the system, the 20th Street Gym, celebrates its 100th birthday this year.

Normal posting will resume on Monday, July 28.

See for yourself — here is the map of road closures during the Democratic Convention, August 25-28. The orange segments will be closed:

Basically, two of District 9’s major thoroughfares will be closed near the Pepsi Center — Speer Boulevard and Auraria Parkway. All the traffic will be diverted onto neaby alternate routes, such as Colfax, 15th and 20th Streets, and Park Avenue. Plan accordingly, everyone.

You can get all the details at the City’s official site and read all about it in today’s Denver Post.

Big event in the district this weekend: the 5th Annual Old Globeville Days. This year marks the 120th Anniversary of the founding of the Town of Globeville (later to become a North Denver Neighborhood) by Polish and Volga-German immigrants. It’s also the sesquicentennial of the founding of Denver, as well as the 110th birthday of The Holy Transfiguration of Christ Orthodox Cathedral, the recently restored Historic centerpiece of the Globeville neighborhood. Old Globeville Days will feature an ethnic food festival, arts and crafts show, games and cultural and historical displays, historic tours, and top-quality ethnic singers dancers and bands from all over the world.

The festival takes place at the corner of 47th and Logan; it runs from 11:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. on Saturday and from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Sunday. For more information, visit http://orthodoxfoodfestival.wetpaint.com.

Here’s a press release from the DPS Communications office:

JoAnn Trujillo-Hays, current principal at North High School , will serve as the principal of Academia Ana Marie Sandoval, an elementary school she helped start back in 2001. Trujillo-Hays spent two years at North and she is credited for leading efforts that created the North/Valdez Campus of World Leadership, a preschool-through-12 grade campus in partnership with Valdez Elementary.

The district appointed Edwin Salem to serve as interim principal of North High School for the upcoming school year. Salem has more than 12 years of experience working in education and most recently served as assistant principal at Lincoln High School.

Debra Lucero Kraft, current principal at Sandoval, will continue to work with the district on Montessori initiatives as a principal on special assignment.

“I am excited about the new principals for these two schools,” said DPS Board of Education member Arturo Jimenez . “The North and Sandoval school communities have an opportunity, with these school leaders at the helm, to continue to focus all of their energy around increasing student achievement.”

Creating and sustaining high-quality schools throughout District 9 is one of Judy’s big concerns. She and District 1 councilman Rick Garcia were both involved in discussions to address the school situation in Northwest Denver, meeting several times with DPS Superintendent Michael Bennett, parents from Sandoval and North, school board representative Jimenez, and community representatives. She supports the changes announced here.

If you haven’t been down to the Children’s Playground yet this summer, make a point of dropping by — Phase II construction is well underway, and you’ll find some improvements. Chief among them is a shade structure, a badly needed addition to the grounds. There’s also a picnic table, so you can pack a lunch or dinner and enjoy it right there at the playground while the kids frolic.

Other upgrades are on their way. A 5-slot bike rack has been ordered (thank you, Chipotle, for contributing the money), and replacements will soon be installed for the two spruce trees that died over the winter. The climbing structure needs a couple of replacement parts; those are on order.

I’ll issue a reminder next week, but you might want to mark your calendars now: next Wednesday, July 16th, Denver Police District 5 Commander Deborah Dilley will host a briefing about security during the Democratic National Convention. It’s being held at the Wynkoop Brewery, 18th and Wynkoop Streets, from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m, hosted by the Downtown Denver Residents’ Organization (DDRO), Lower Downtown Neighborhood Association (LoDoNA), and the LoDo District, Inc.

The Commander will make a presentation, then open the floor for questions. All residents and business owners and encouraged to attend.