Monthly Archives: August 2008

Mayor Hick, Governor Ritter, Senator Salazar, and convention officials held a press conference this morning to wrap up the biggest week in Denver history. A few highlights from the conference:

• The host committee ended up raising $50 million to put on the convention, or $10 million more than their contractual obligation.
• The total number of convention-related arrests was only 152 —- just a fraction of the number (1,800) arrested at the 2004 Republican Convention in New York.
• More than 100 new trees were planted downtown during the convention.

Judy wants to thank all the residents, workers, and businesses of District 9, who were more directly impacted by this event than any other people in the city. Our neighborhoods, businesses, commuting routes, and daily routines were disrupted for 4 days, yet the District bore this responsibility with grace and good humor. The city has drawn great initial reviews from Democratic officials, and District 9ers can claim a big share of the credit — you welcomed a nation full of delegates and media into your home and made them feel welcome. So whatever pride the city feels about this event, and whatever benefits the city might derive from it, much of the credit goes to you. Judy wants to thank everyone.

Thanks also to the many city employees and police officers who worked so hard to ensure the safety and success of the convention.

There’s more coverage of the press conference in the Rocky and the Post.

Judy, her staff, and everyone else in the city have put in a lot of extra hours to make sure the DNC goes off safely and securely. I was downtown last night and saw firsthand how much those efforts are paying off. There was a large crowd of folks enjoying themselves at the Sustainable Living Roadshow on 16th Street in LoHi, at the uphill side of the Highland Pedestrian Bridge. Another large crowd was gathered in front of the MSNBC broadcast tower behind Union Station. The 16th Street Mall was jammed, and the shuttle stops were all two or three rows deep. There were big clusters of people in Riverfront Park, in the LoDo bars, around Coors Field, down at Civic Center. The approaches to the Pepsi Center were thick with vendors, street preachers, political activists, photographers, gawkers, people just going about their regular business. . . . There were people everywhere, activity everywhere, and it was all as peaceful and as civilized as it could possibly be. People were participating as much or as little as they wanted, in whatever ways they wanted, and there was not a single sign of disorder or disruption. The streets were clear, and the pedestrian traffic was flowing; I didn’t see a single confrontation between cops and civilians, nor between civilians and civilians for that matter.

We still have one more event to get through, but so far Denver has done itself very, very proud. Thanks to everyone who helped (and is helping) to pull it all together.

Judy was at yesterdays Latino Leadership Luncheon, honoring former Denver mayor Federico Pena. You can catch a complete video of the event here. Today she’ll be at Confluence Park for the Delegate Service Day on the South Platte River.

Don’t forget about the road closure tomorrow night on I-25 —- get all the details here.

Judy made an appearance yesterday at the Big Tent, the New Media headquarters for the DNC located at 15th and Wazee. It’s the headquarters for hundreds of bloggers, podcasters, YouTubers, and other citizen journalists who are covering the convention.

There are speakers and panel discussions going on at the Big Tent all week; Judy was there yesterday to intoduce a couple of speakers, Van Jones (the founder and president of Green for All) and Dave McCurdy (president and CEO of the Alliance of Automobile Manfactures).

Here’s a photo of Jones at the event yesterday, taken from this Flickr gallery of convention photos.

Tomorrow at 10 a.m. Judy will be joining the South Platte River stewards (including volunteers from Front Range Earth Force and the Greenway Foundation) and about 30 DNC delegates at Confluence Park for a Delegate Service day. The participants will engage in a variety of cleanup and restoration activities related to the South Platte drainage, including water testing, stormwater maintenance, vegetation habitat preservation, &c.

A quick reminder if you’re headed downtown: southbound Speer is closed between I-25 and Lawrence Street, and the Auraria Parkway is closed between I-25 and Speer. For complete information on the street closures etc., see Judy’s convention newsletter.

Thanks to everyone who came out to the City-to-City Pachanga yesterday. It was a huge success all around, and a big thrill for the kids who worked on the DNC mural through the Boys and Girls Clubs. Judy helped facilitate that program and was glad to see all the participants get some recognition.

Here’s a late addition to the convention calendar: at noon on Wednesday, the Downtown Denver Partnership will sponsor the Democracy Read Out on the 16th Street Mall. Hundreds of volunteers will be reading a famous speech that Ben Franklin gave to the delegates at the 1787 Constitutional Convention. If you want to participate, today’s the deadline to sign up — click here for more information.

Here’s a list of some of today’s open-to-public activities — click on the event name for more information.

• The Green Constitutional Congress: Buell Theatre, 6-8 p.m.
• Cinemocracy: Red Rocks Amphitheatre, 7 p.m.
• The Future of Environmentalism: Tattered Cover, 4-5:30 p.m.
• Outside of Convention: Colorado Convention Center, 4-7 p.m.
• Rocky Mountain Roundtables: various times / places
• After Five Jazz and Blues Festival: 26th and Welton Streets (Five Points), 5 p.m.

You can also check out caucuses and other convention-related events at the Convention Center. And the Denver Art Museum is holding a free day today.

It’s showtime, everybody. If you just can’t wait until Monday, there are a couple of convention-related events happening tonight: the Presidential Experience opens on the grounds of Invesco / Mile High, and Dialog:City gets underway tonight at Rockmada with Convention Karaoke (featuring Mayor Hickenlooper, Mark Udall, and a buncha other recognizable faces). There are also two cool events scheduled for Sunday: the Green Frontier Fest and the City to City Pachanga.

To get more information about next week — events, road closures, security, &c — see Judy’s convention newsletter.

For information about convention-related road closures, scroll down to the post directly below this one.

RTD has announced a few detours that will apply next Thursday, August 28 — the night of Obama’s acceptance speech at Invesco / Mile High. These detours will apply Thursday only — busses will run on their regular routes the rest of the week.

The Federal Transfer Center at Colfax and Federal will be closed from 9 a.m. until midnight. Colfax will be closed between Federal and Kalamath during that period, so routes that stop at the Transfer Center will be affected. If you’re riding one of those routes, you should expect some delays and detours, which may impact scheduled connecting bus trips. The affected routes are:

• Northbound / southbound: 7, 30, 31, 49 and 50
• Westbound / eastbound: 1, 16, 16L and 20

During the acceptance speech, Interstate 25 from 6th Avenue to I-70 will be closed from approximately 5:00 p.m. to midnight. The routes listed below will be affected by the closure; if you’re riding one of them, you should expect delays and detours which may impact scheduled connecting bus trips.

• Southbound: 120X
• Westbound / eastbound: B, 10 and AF

A complete list of RTD detours and service interruptions for the entire week of the convention (August 25–28 ) are posted on the RTD web site at www.RTD-Denver.com. There are also informational brochures on all RTD buses and light rail trains.

You can join Judy, Democratic delegates, and your District 9 neighbors this Sunday, August 24, for a big party called the City to City Pachanga (web site here). It runs from noon to 6 p.m. at 7th and Santa Fe Drive in the district — live music, awesome food, wine and beer, giveaways, and a lot of other fun.

Judy and Council colleagues Rick Garcia and Paul Lopez are on the organizing committee. So are School Board rep Arturo Jimenez; former council members Elbra Wedgeworth and Tim Sandos; state reps Jerry Frangas, Judy Solano, and Dorothy Butcher; and state senators Paula Sandoval and Abel Tapia. The governor and the mayor are both invited, as are all the Democrats in Colorado’s Congressional delegation (including U.S. Senator Ken Salazar).

The purpose of the gathering is to celebrate the 40th anniversary of a landmark law, the Fair Housing Act. There will also be a wrapup of the DNC mural project which Judy helped to develop (click here for information) in partnership with the Boys & Girls Club. It’s a great way to kick off one of the biggest weeks in Denver’s (and District 9′s) history — don’t miss it.

Judy wanted to note with sadness the passing of Jack Weil last week after 107 eventful years. Just last spring Judy had the honor of attending Papa Jack’s 107th birthday. For the man believed to be the oldest working CEO, he still had an above-average twinkle in his eyes. Judy reflected on the far-reaching contribution Papa Jack made to Denver during the 60-plus years Rockmount Ranchwear has been in District 9. A favorite stories of Jack’s grandson Steve was recently featured in the New York Times:

Mr. Weil was a creature of habit, driving an old Dodge. But he could not understand why people would collect old Western shirts. He was aghast when his grandson Steve excitedly called to say he had found an original Rockmount shirt and that the dealer had accepted two new shirts for it.

“What?” Jack exclaimed. “You traded two perfectly good new shirts for an old one we sold for three dollars 40 years ago?”

Here’s a photo of Judy with Mayor Hick, Dennis Gallagher, and Papa Jack at that 107th birthday party last spring: 

In case you missed it, the city announced the security plans for Senator Obama’s acceptance speech at Invesco / Mile High and Thursday, August 28 (a week from this Thursday). The stadium parking lots are all going to be closed as a security measure, so people will have to park elsewhere — and most of them will park in District 9. The city is encouraging them to do that, by offering free shuttles to the stadium from three locations in our district: Coors Field, the Auraria campus, and the upper Broadway corridor. Many other people undoubtedly will park in LoDo and ride the light rail to Invesco. It’s going to be a busy night in all of those neighborhoods, so plan accordingly.

In addition, I-25 will be closed between U.S. 6 and I-70 on that evening beginning at 5:30 p.m. That probably will mean a lot of extra traffic on District 9 surface roads; Federal, Speer, Park / 38th, and other main thoroughfares will have to absorb a lot of that traffic. The word’s getting out early, so a lot of commuters will probably plan to stay off the roads altogether. That will help keep the traffic down somewhat.

But District 9 neighbors should plan ahead too. Try to avoid driving that night, and be prepared for crowded streets, crowded parking lots, and lots of foot traffic.