Monthly Archives: April 2009

For an update on the swine flu situation in Denver, see the post directly below this one.

The information here, regarding the upcoming Cinco de Mayo celebration, comes from a joint release from the City of Denver and the Denver Police Department. Continue reading after the jump:

The Cinco de Mayo holiday will soon be upon us. Each year, metro area residents and visitors from adjoining states come to Denver to take part in one of the nation’s largest celebrations, commemorating the battle that took place in the City of Puebla in Mexico in 1862. This holiday stands as a symbol of the unyielding spirit and quest for freedom of Mexican citizens from an oppressive invader. This holiday was first celebrated in the City of Puebla only. Latinos across our great nation have embraced this Mexican Holiday, making it their own. Latinos and non-Latinos alike take great pride in celebrating Mexican culture and history.

Continue reading →

The following information about the swine flu in Denver comes courtesy of the city’s Office of Environmental Health:

Colorado does not have any confirmed cases of Swine Flu. As a precautionary measure, Public Health staff is providing information (see below) to travelers departing to and arriving from Denver International Airport. The most important things you can do to prevent transmission of infection are: 1) avoid close contact with ill people, 2) stay home when you are sick, 3) cover your mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing, 4) wash your hands, 5) avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth, and 6) practice other good health habits.

In children, emergency warning signs include
• Fast breathing or trouble breathing
• Bluish skin color
• Not drinking enough fluids
• Not waking up or not interacting
• Being so irritable that the child does not want to be held
• Flu-like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough
• Fever with a rash

In adults, emergency warning signs:
• Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
• Pain or pressure in the chest or abdomen
• Sudden dizziness
• Confusion
• Severe or persistent vomiting

For more information, visit the Centers for Disease Control at http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/. You can also call the CoHELP hotline at 1-877-462-2911.

INFORMATION FOR TRAVELERS:
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (www.cdc.gov/swineflu) has not issued any specific travel advisory. If you recently visited Mexico or other parts of the U.S. reporting cases of swine influenza and become ill with influenza-like symptoms, including fever, body aches, cough, runny nose, sore throat, nausea, or vomiting or diarrhea, you should contact your health care provider if your symptoms are severe or if you have other medical problems such as heart or lung problems. If you are sick and have mild symptoms, stay at home, and avoid contact with other people to keep from spreading illness. If you become ill and experience any of the following warning signs, seek emergency medical care and share travel history.

At tonight’s Council meeting, there will be a public hearing about the Cooperation Agreement between the City of Denver and the Denver Union Station Project Authority (DUSPA), which oversees funding for the Denver Union Station project. Since Judy sits on the DUSPA board, she wanted to call everyone’s attention to a few articles of the Agreement.

Article III specifies how long tax increment revenues will flow to the Downtown Development Authority (DDA). Essentially, Article III states that tax revenues will stop flowing to the DDA after 30 years, or when all of DUSPA’s obligations for Union Station redevelopment projects are paid off –– whichever comes first.

Article IV outlines the authorized uses of tax increment revenue by the Downtown Denver Authority. These uses are:

• Payment of the Central Platte Valley (CPV) Met District’s incremental property tax revenue back to the CPV’s Metropolitan District.
• Payment of the DUS Met District’s incremental property tax revenues above the DUS Project Mill Levy of 30 mills back to the DUS Met Districts.
• Payment on the DUS project of the pledged DDA revenues (incremental sales tax, City incremental property tax, DPS incremental property tax, DUS Project Mill Levy) to DUSPA for DUSPA obligations relating to the DUS project.

Article V generally describes the “additional public benefits” upon which the City and various agencies have reached an understanding after a year and half of discussions. The provisions of this article are not enforceable under the terms of the Cooperation Agreement, but amendments relating to these components will come back to Council for a vote. Many of these provisions will appear in agreements which are enforceable, although some will not. These “additional” public benefits, in a nutshell, include:

• Five (5) permanent retail spaces for small qualified businesses to encourage business development (with the help of Denver OED).
• Disadvantaged Entrepreneurs (DBE) will be assigned 15% of the design work and 16% of the construction work due to the federal money in the Project.
• Kiewit will participate in apprenticeship and/or training programs. Subcontractors will be encouraged to participate in those programs as well. The goal is to have 15% of the woman/man hours in each craft position taken by individuals who are enrolled in an approved trainee or apprentice program and 25% of those apprentices and trainees in each classification will be in their first year
• Federally-funded portions of the Project are required to follow Davis-Bacon; DUS Met Districts are required to follow Denver prevailing wage requirements for District Improvements and living wage requirements District improvements and for maintenance of public spaces; and DUSPA has adopted a resolution with the intention of following the City’s prevailing wage ordinance for public space maintenance and living wage ordinance for parking lot attendants and public space maintenance.
• If the DUS Project includes residential development, that development will be subject to the City’s Inclusionary Housing Ordinance in effect at the time of the residential construction. However, it is important to note that IHO is undergoing an update. The timing of this update could influence what will be required regarding affordable housing at the DUS project because any residential built likely won’t start construction until 2013 at the earliest. No clear timeline has been offered yet on when updates to the IHO will be formalized.
• The DUS Project has committed to use sustainable building techniques and materials wherever possible.
• The DUS project has committed to pedestrian/bike friendly design and operation.
• $2 million is allocated for stand-alone art projects.

I messed up in yesterday’s post and provided meeting notification for the (gulp) wrong meeting. I erroneously wrote that the Union Station General Development Plan (GDP) meeting was going down last night; in fact, last night’s meeting was for public input on the Commuter Rail Maintenance Facility, as described here.

The GDP meeting actually takes place next Wednesday, April 29. My apologies for the mixup — hope nobody went to the GDP meeting last night on my account!

Just a reminder that the Union Station Neighborhood Company will host a public meeting tonight for comment and review of the Union Station General Development Plan (GDP). It will take place at Union Station, 17th and Wynkoop Streets in Suite 140, from 5:30 to 7 p.m.

If you haven’t looked at the plan yet, you can view an overview here.

Members of the public can testify in person at tonight’s hearing, or submit comments in writing ahead of time. Written comments should be addressed to the Denver Planning Board via e-mail ellen.ittelson@denvergov.org.

The Union Station Advocates blog has a roundup of DUS-related news.

Vendors, pay attention. Highland United Neighbors Inc. (HUNI) is getting organized for the weekly 2009 Highland Farmer’s Market —- a new weekend tradition for District 9. The application process for booths and stalls is underway; HUNI is looking for purveyors of

• Baked goods, preserves, cheese, sausage, and smoked meats or fish
• Produce, plants, and flowers
• Processed goods
• Hand-crafted products
• Prepared foods
• Nonprofit organizations
• Business / professional vendors

The Farmers Market will be open every Saturday from June through October, one block from the Highland Pedestrian Bridge (on the 1500 block of Boulder Street, between 15th and 16th streets). Hours will be 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. For complete information on vendor rights / responsibilities, see the policies and procedures document.

Cleaning out the inbox with various items from around the District:

• Intercambio has released its 2008 annual report and is looking for new board members. Intercambio is a nonprofit dedicated to building respectful communities and broadening opportunities for immigrants through language education, cultural exchange, and friendship. Contact Sarah Shikes at sarahs@intercambioweb.org or 303-433-0190 if you know anyone who may be interested in getting involved. For more information about Intercambio, visit their website.

• The Denver Ruby Hill Park Project Selection Panel is seeking a Colorado artist, or team of Colorado artists, for a site-specific public art commission. It’s a $12,000 gig, and the RFQ is due on May 8; you can download the RFQ at this link.

• The HUNI Education Committee is hosting a fundraiser at Root Down (1600 W. 33rd Ave) next Monday to benefit northwest Denver public schools. One-quarter of the evening’s proceeds will benefit Academia Sandoval, Bryant-Webster K8, Valdez K8, Skinner Middle School, and North High School. The fundraiser runs from 6 to 8 p.m. Call Root Down at 303-993-4200 to reserve a table. A $5 donation is suggested at the door.

Public Works forward the following plan outline for dealing with the snowstorm:

• Our midnight shift will begin addressing streets when the storm begins (forecast for after midnight).
• We also plan to have our noon shift in Friday to continue moving slush build up.
• We are expecting the majority of the accumulation to occur on grassy areas, with considerably less on the pavement.
• Pavement temperatures are warm, so we are only expecting a few inches of slush, which our crews are well prepared to handle.
• We will fully deploy (60-68 plows), once the snow beings to accumulate on streets.
• The storm is beginning with rain, so we will not be pre-treating (it would get washed away).
• Forecasts do not show a big dip in temperatures so significant icing should not be an issue.
• As with most spring storms, we advise drivers to be careful of broken tree branches when driving.
• We do not anticipate using materials in this kind of a spring storm, because there will be no compact snow and ice – we will just be pushing slush off the roadways.

You may recall that District 9 scored a big win earlier this year when RTD chose to locate its Commuter Rail Maintenance Facility (CRMF) in the location preferred by District 9 residents and neighborhood leaders.  The next step in the process arrived yesterday, when the RTD FasTracks Commuter Rail Maintenance Facility (CRMF) Supplemental Environmental Assessment (Supplemental EA) was released for public review and comment. You can review the document and submit comments from now through May 15.  Public copies of the Supplemental EA are available at a variety of locations:

• Online at this link
• All public libraries in the study area have copies of the Supplemental EA
• The document will be available at the April 23 CRMF Supplemental EA public meeting on April 23

The April 23 meeting will take place at the Stapleton Recreation Center, 5090 Broadway, from 6 to 8 p.m. You can submit comments at that meeting, via the website linked above, bye-mail (CRMF@RTD-FasTracks.com), or by mail to FTA Region 8, David Beckhouse, 12300 W. Dakota Avenue, #310, Lakewood, CO 80228.

All Supplemental EA comments, regardless of how they are submitted, will be published and responded to in the Gold Line and East Corridor Final Environmental Impact Statements this summer. After the 30-day public comment period on the document, RTD will integrate the Supplemental EA information into the FasTracks commuter rail environmental documents for the Gold Line, East Corridor, Northwest Rail and North Metro corridors.

Sunnyside United Neighbors Inc. (SUNI) held their annual meeting last week, and Judy+staff prepared a list of success stories from that neighborhood, as follows:

Council District 9 is working for you in Sunnyside!

• Dog Park Masterplan Survey and community involvement. Please fill out survey at www.denvergov.org/parksandrec
• Zoning Code update coming soon to all communities to explain the changes and determine how each neighborhood will be impacted.
• 41st and Fox Station Area Planning is moving along! Please join us at the next public meeting on June 2nd at District 1 Police Station at 5:30 pm. Your input is really important!
• Graffiti is still an issue in this neighborhood. Sign authorization forms in graffiti newsletter if you haven’t already signed one for your property. Coming soon: a paint bank at District 1 Police Station to help the neighbors have easy access to the free paint the city offers.
• Chaffee Park: Neighbors have adopted this park and have been working with our office and Parks and Recreation very closely to plan a community cleanup day to make improvements to the park and identify long-term improvements the community would like to see.
• Columbus Park (La Raza Park)—Parks and Recreation is working with neighbors to transition this park into a more family friendly park. If you have recommendations, please let me know.
• Tre-Vista is working to engage youth with their community. They are planning a community cleanup around the school and are also going to be participating with the Chaffee Park clean up project
• Thank you to Denver Police Department. Sunnyside was a focus neighborhood last year, and the police efforts have substantially dropped the crime rate in this area.