Monthly Archives: October 2009

Habitat for Humanity is hosting an open house tonight to show off its new headquarters at 3245 Eliot Street, and to celebrate its 30 years of service to the Denver community. The doors open at 5, and there will be a brief program at 6:30. You can RSVP to 30years@habitatmetrodenver.org, or 303-534-2929.

Also at 5 tonight, you can attend a public meeting at the Colorado History Museum, 1300 Broadway, to participate in the development of a State Historic Preservation Plan. The Colorado Historical Society is actively seeking public input on the plan; RSVP at 303-866-2825.

Finally, from 1:30 to 4 p.m. today the Colorado Foreclosure Hotline will host an open house to celebrate the success of the program and to thank the many people and organizations involved in this very collaborative effort. The event will take place at the Hotline’s headquarters, located at Brothers Redevelopment, 2250 Eaton St. , Suite B, in Denver.

Since its October 2006 inception, the Hotline has helped more than 13,000 Colorado homeowners avoid foreclosure. Homeowners concerned about losing their home to foreclosure can call the Hotline and be directed to a counselor, who will review their budget, loan, and hardship information to determine what options are best suited for their situation. The counselors also communicate directly with the lender on the homeowner’s behalf.

Because of its focus on local, one-on-one counseling and its success in helping homeowners, the Colorado Foreclosure Hotline has been recognized by the National Association of Realtors; the National Governor’s Association; the Wall Street Journal; National Public Radio; CNN; and TIME Magazine. Colorado was the first state to launch a Hotline and network to deal with foreclosures.

For more information, visit www.brothersredevelopment.org, www.coloradoforeclosurehotline.blogspot.com or contact the Colorado Foreclosure Hotline Call Center at (303) 685-4200. For a list of housing counseling agencies and other partners or sponsors, visit www.coloradoforeclosurehotline.org. If you need counseling or have questions regarding your mortgage, call the Colorado Foreclosure Hotline at 1-877-601-HOPE (4673).

If you haven’t received your mail-in ballot by now, get in touch with the Secretary of State’s office (303-894-2200, or follow this link). If you have your ballot and want to review the mail-in and dropoff procedures, click here.

Your ballot will include races for Denver Public Schools Board of Education, depending on which DPS director district you reside within. It will also include a City-wide Initiated Ordinance (I-300) question on Auto Impoundment. Judy voted with a 10-1 majority earlier this month to issue a Council proclamation opposing Initiative 300. The proclamation argues that I-300 ties the hands of police officers. I-300 removes the right of officers to use discretion to determine when towing a vehicle is appropriate for public safety — we’ve seen in the past that this can be problematic.

As an interesting side note to this election, it will feature the inaugural class of the groundbreaking Colorado Elections Fellows Program. Ten student fellows will be trained to serve as poll workers, and will recruit other students to serve as poll workers in future elections. The Denver Elections Division will provide training materials and other resources to help the fellows train other student poll workers on their campuses. The Colorado Campus Compact at Regis University was one of 13 organizations in the United States to receive grant funds from the federal Election Assistance Commission to recruit college students to serve as poll workers during the 2009 and 2010 election cycles.

The Denver Office of Economic Development (OED) has issued two notices of funds available under a part of the Obama administration’s economic stimulus package. The program is known as Community Development Block Grant-Recovery (CDBG-R). The OED is soliciting proposals for business lending projects and community/neighborhood improvements.

Aout $1.4 million is available for projects supporting business start-up and expansion, and roughly $850,000 is available for neighborhood revitalization projects such as:

• block beautification
• installation and upgrade of parks and playgrounds
• community centers
• tree planting

Here’s OED Executive Director André Pettigrew: “In shaping our CDBG-R strategy, we placed an emphasis on making as many funds as possible available to our small business community. We have seen a very strong need for greater access to capital among our businesses, and we’re fortunate to have these extra funds to leverage within our community to create jobs and stimulate the economy.”

Funding proposals are due October 29, 2009. For more information, including specific business lending criteria, application process and to view the notices of funding availability, visit www.milehigh.com.

To date, the City and County of Denver has received $55 million in ARRA funding for a variety of projects and programs. For more information visit www.denvergov.org/stimulus.

Yesterday’s post contained not one but two errors, viz.:

• Mayor Hickenlooper and Senator Udall are not confirmed attendees at the Urban Organics open house on Saturday night. Both leaders were invited; they may or may not show up.
• Last night’s Living Streets Initiative meeting took place at the Highland Masonic Temple, not at the Exdo Events Center. Tonight‘s meeting takes place at Exdo, beginning at 6 p.m.; hope you can make it.

Apologies for the errors!

Living Streets Initiative is holding a workshop tonight in District 9 about transportation, economic growth, environmental health, and other urban development issues. It takes place at the Exdo Events Center, 1399 35th Street, the Highland Masonic Temple, 35th and Federal, from 6 to 8 p.m.; more info at www.denverlivingstreets.org.

Judy’s aquaculture bill passed unanimously at Monday night’s council hearing. On Saturday, you can join Judy, Mayor Hickenlooper, U.S. Senator Mark Udall, and other community leaders for an open house at Urban Organics’ aquaculture greenhouse, located at 4751 York St. The event lasts from 10 to 2:30 and will includes tours, workshops, and more. Hope to see you there.

Blog commenter Quentin Dodd provided a helpful clarification of how “aquaculture” should be defined:

Aquaculture is by no means confined to aquaponics and hydroponics. Technically speaking, aquaculture is growing anything in water, whether in the ocean or on land. Aquaponics is growing fish in conjunction with plants which derive their nutrients from the water the fish poop into. Hyrdoponics cuts out the fish and has the plants of whatever variety getting fed through having their roots immersed in water or sprayed with water.

He added that he found Judy’s bill “laudable” and concluded, “It’s good to see Denver considering something to advance aquaculture rather than ban it within the City limits.”

There was an article about aquaculture in Sunday’s Denver Post; the article is here, in case you missed it.

On Sunday the Denver Post ran a long, negative opinion piece on FasTracks, which concluded with this statement: “It’s time for RTD to make some difficult real-world choices rather than continuing to offer a pie-in-the-sky future it can’t pay for.”

Similar criticisms were hurled at DIA 15 years ago when its construction ran over schedule and way over budget. That project, too, was called a boondoggle, a burden on taxpayers, etc etc. So take the Post‘s editorial with a grain of salt. And maybe take a moment to watch RTD’s short “FasTracks at Work” video, which is now available on YouTube. It’s only 3 minutes long, and it provides a snapshot of where the project stands as it enters its sixth year — where construction is already underway, where it’s about to begin, and what sort of economic impact the project already has had on the region.

Click right here to see the video.

Last Thursday, Judy gave a speech at the annual meeting of the Elyria Swansea Globeville Business Association. It provided an update and status report about those three neighborhoods, while reiterating Judy’s commitment to those communities. The speech begins here and continues after the jump:

Three years ago, I moved my City Council office from the Highland neighborhood to a new location in River North, on the border of Globeville, Elyria and Swansea. I moved there for a specific reason: to be more engaged with those three neighborhoods.

While the city as a whole has enjoyed tremendous economic success over the last 15 years, the benefits haven’t been evenly distributed. One reason I moved my own office to River North is that we still have a lot of work to do in Globeville, Elyria and Swansea because of some of its challenging characteristics, such as wide spread industrial zoning and a major interstate running through the heart of the area. Yet, I am heartened by other characteristics that have some very exciting potential.

Just to name a few: these neighborhoods have deep cultural roots; a gorgeous natural amenity – the South Platte River; and a population of individuals and organizations that are willing and able to fight for their community. I believe in working with what is placed before me – and there are a lot of wonderful characteristics to work with in Globeville, Elyria and Swansea.

Another reason I moved my office further north is because of RTD’s FasTracks project. This factor could pose a great challenge for Globeville, Elyria and Swansea because both neighborhoods lie near the heart of the transit network. The build-out of FasTracks could impose new burdens on an area that already has to contend with freight trains, highway traffic, pollution, and noise. However, FasTracks can also be an amazing asset if we take advantage of the amenities it can offer. As chair of the Council’s FasTracks committee, I’ve fought doggedly to protect Globeville, Elyria and Swansea from negative FasTracks-related impacts. But, just as important, I’ve fought to turn FasTracks into an opportunity for the neighborhoods. If we make the right decisions, transit-oriented development could help Globeville, Elyria and Swansea prosper with new community oriental shops and restaurants, nice parks, great access to recreation on the South Platte River , improved bike and pedestrian traffic, resulting in a family-friendly atmosphere that will raise our quality of life.

In my six years as District 9 representative, my staff and I have tackled some major initiatives in Globeville, Elyria and Swansea , and we’ve scored some big wins. In fact, the first item in the list below involves a stringent public planning process to take in wide-reaching public input for the vision my constituents would like to achieve in the Elyria and Swansea neighborhoods. Other helpful planning materials have been created for the area by various community groups. It is my belief that those materials can contribute to a fair, City-sponsored plan involving an inclusive and far-reaching public process. However, planning isn’t the only work we’ve done in Globeville, Elyria and Swansea , and below you can find a list of some of our other efforts:

The Elyria and Swansea Neighborhood Plan: I worked hard to secure the funding for this plan which began in 2007 and is gearing up for the public involvement process to start after the first of the year. I think it is important to note that the advantage of a small area plan is its ability to engage issues and people on a close-up, personal scale. The result can be a richly detailed plan that addresses the area’s unique issues with tailored solutions. Neighborhood plans guide and generate the kinds of positive changes a community would like to foster for itself. The old neighborhood plan was written in 1983 and is quite out of date. Now that RTD is moving forward with the EIS-recommended alternative for the East Line FasTracks corridor, the City will once again be able to resume this planning effort in the fall. My staff and I have helped to activate resources to move this plan to completion, and we look forward to continuing participation in all workshops and meetings.

Station Area Plan for the North Metro Line: RTD will soon be seeking further public input regarding the choice of a station at either the Coliseum or National Western sites. I felt that many voices in the neighborhood had been drowned out and that it was important that everyone got to be heard, that is why I asked RTD to not pick one site over another until more public outreach could be done. Please stay tuned for ways you can stay involved and provide RTD with your thoughts on where the station should be located.

Continue reading →

Judy sent the following letter to the DPL Commissioners regarding the future of the Byers branch library.

Dear Denver Public Library Commissioners,

I’d like to recognize the efforts of the La Alma / Lincoln Park community for their grassroots activism that was instrumental in convincing Mayor Hickenlooper to continue funding the Byers Library branch through 2010.

Nearly a hundred neighbors came to a public meeting we held to tell them about the closure and invite them to take action. As a result, we collected hundreds of area signatures on a petition asking the Mayor to keep the library open. We even received 65 letters from students at Greenlee Elementary school asking the Mayor and DPL to reconsider their proposal to close Byers.

Some of the very legitimate arguments the community offered up for keeping the library open were these:

1. This is a community rich in character but poor in resources and many depend on the books, movies and computer access the library offers – especially students at Greenlee who use the computers and books to complete their homework assignments.
2. Keeping the library resource within reasonable walking distance for families that don’t have easy access to transportation is important so as not to cut off a resource that helps to feed the vitality of the neighborhood.
3. If the programming today isn’t best serving the community, then a re-evaluation of programming should be considered before closing the doors of the library.
4. And, the reason I feel is most important, it is simply a moral obligation to keep Byers Library open.

Those needs won’t go away in a year from now, and in fact, with the redevelopment of Denver Housing Authority’s property in the area, it would be incredibly short-sighted to consider closing the library a year from now. Even the White House Administration sees the potential of this area as a national model – as evidenced by their visit to the area just last month. I hope that the Library Commission and Mayor are visionary enough to see this same possibility when the 2011 budget process begins.

To make certain I help the community stay engaged in the future of their library, I am sponsoring the first community meeting to strategize efforts to preserve this precious asset from the chopping block in the 2011 budget. The meeting is tentatively set for Thursday, November 5, at 6 p.m. at Denver Inner City Parish – 1212 Mariposa Street . Please call my office if you’d like more information.

Thank you,
Judy H. Montero, Councilwoman
Denver City Council District 9

Tonight at Council there will be a public hearing on CB 488, a.k.a. the “aquaculture bill,” which Judy introduced last month.

Judy proposed this amendment to allow aquaculture in the B-2 zone district, with limitations. Aquaculture is a water-based, symbiotic, organic food production process that is also called “aquaponics” or “hydroponics.” Aquaculture is very green — it’s a closed-loop system producing both fresh fish and fresh vegetables, in which the by-products of the fish are recycled into nutrients for the vegetable plants.

Aquaculture enterprises produce fresh, locally grown food, as well as jobs and youth training experiences. A nonprofit group called Growing Power has successful aquaculture ventures in Chicago, Milwaukee and Detroit, and now it’s starting an organization in Denver called Urban Organics, to be located in the vacant greenhouses at 4751 York Street in Elyria-Swansea. CB 488 would amend the zoning code to allow Urban Organics to operate.

If you wish to speak on CB 488, you must sign up during the Council meeting recess. The meeting begins at 5:30 p.m.