This session runs from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. and takes place at Hodgkins Elementary School, 3475 West 67th Avenue. It’s across the Adams County line, just west of Federal Boulevard. The project team will make a presentation and then take questions from the audience; there also will be an ongoing open house where you can view maps and other displays, get station information, and chat it up with RTD staff.

If you can’t get to the meeting, you can still read the document and submit a comment online. The comment period will remain open through March 29.

The advisory board was formed in 2003 in response to the federal mandate to assist the city in reaching out to Denver ’s Spanish-speaking population with bilingual election materials and information. ACCESO (which means “access” in Spanish) has a six-year history of active commitment to its mission, and provides an invaluable service to the city and its limited-English-speaking voters. In early 2010 it was re-created through enactment of a city ordinance to give it permanence and a more formal structure.

Membership is voluntary and unpaid. Members are expected to attend monthly meetings and to participate in community outreach efforts. Thirteen to twenty-five members will sit on the board. Representation from a broad demographic range is sought to mirror the Denver Latino community. Applicants must be registered voters and should have a history of involvement with the Spanish-speaking community. Fluency in Spanish is especially welcomed. Applications will be reviewed by the ACCESO transition committee, and members will be appointed by the Clerk and Recorder.

Additional information about ACCESO and an application form may be found at www.denvergov.org/acceso, or call 720-865-4872 to request an application. Deadline to apply is Monday, March 29.

Under a stewardship agreement with Denver Parks and Rec, the all-volunteer Grow Local Colorado will be raising produce in six flower beds within Denver parks to demonstrate how easily fresh produce can be grown. After a successful pilot project in Civic Center Park last year, this program has been expended to six beds in four parks. All the harvested produce will be donated to local organizations that focus on feeding those in need, including Food Bank of the Rockies, EarthLinks, Gathering Place, GrowHaus, Lambuth Family Center, Mount Saint Vincent Home, Same Café, and Urban Peak.

Highland Gateway Park sits at the intersection of 20th and Central Streets, just across from the on/off ramps to I-25 and about two blocks from the Mile High United Way headquarters.

The Grow Local Colorado Campaign is a project of Transition Denver founded with the Living Earth Center, Denver Botanic Gardens and the Mile High Business Alliance. The goal of the campaign is to promote local food, local economy and local community. Visit their website to find information about organic gardening, sharing garden spaces, classes about sustainable living, the latest news about the local food movement, and other organizations that support the Grow Local campaign.

Reyes Trujillo, the Community Resource Officer for DPD District 2, has put together some common-sense tips that property owners can use to protect themselves and deter crime. The list begins here and continues after the jump:

Landscaping

Fences: Privacy vs. chain link. Burglars prey on privacy. Fences that allow activity to be seen in your yard are preferable to “privacy” fences.

Trees and shrubbery: Should be trimmed 6 inches below windows and at least 3 feet away from doors. Shrubbery such as rose bushes or other thorny varieties serve as a good deterrent to window peepers.

Landscape rock: Large landscape rock (golf ball size or larger) can be used to damage your property. Small landscape rock (smaller than golf ball size) is both decorative and, if someone walks on them, will be easily heard.

Locks / Strike Plates

Deadbolt locks: The deadbolt lock has a bolt that must be activated by a key or thumb turn. It offers good security because it is not spring activated and cannot be opened with a credit card. A single cylinder deadbolt is activated with a key on the exterior side of the door and a thumb turn piece on the interior side. Install this lock where there is no breakable glass within 40 inches of the thumb turn piece. (Otherwise a burglar can break the glass, reach inside and turn the thumb piece.) A double cylinder deadbolt is key activated on both sides on the door. It should be installed where there is glass within 40-inches of the lock. Double cylinder deadbolt locks can hinder escape from a burning home so always leave a key in or near the lock when someone is home. Both single and double cylinder deadbolt locks should meet these criteria to be a good security device:

• The bolt must extend a minimum of 1 inch and be made of case hardened steel.
• The cylinder guard must be tapered, round and free spinning to make it difficult to grip with pliers or a wrench. It must be solid metal – not hollow casting or stamped metal.
• There should be at least a five pin tumbler system or equivalent locking device.
• The connecting screws that hold the lock together must be on the inside and made of case hardened steel. No exposed screw heads should be on the outside.
• The connecting screws must be at least one-fourth inch in diameter and go into solid metal stock, not screw posts. A heavy duty strike plate helps strengthen door frames better than a regular strike plate. (A strike plate is the jamb fastening that receives the deadbolt in the locking position.) The heavy duty plate uses four to six, three inch screws, not two, three-fourth inch screws used in regular plates. The longer screws go through the frame into the jamb making it harder for someone to split the frame when kicking the door. A heavy duty strike plate will strengthen the door jamb and reinforce the lock.

Window Locks
Auxiliary locks: Pin your windows or add an auxiliary lock to your double hung windows. This type of mechanism will allow you to secure your window when you open it (5 inches or less) for ventilation. Newer windows have higher quality locks while older double hung windows are easily jimmied or pried open. Double hung windows can be secured by taking these simple, inexpensive precautions:

Drill a hole at a downward angle through the first sash and into, but not through, the second sash. Then pin window by driving a nail into the hole. Pinning braces the window against prying. More holes can be drilled to pin the window open for ventilation.

Keyed locks offering effective protection are available for windows. These inexpensive, easy to-install locks should replace thumb turn locks that offer little security. Master key all window locks and show children how to use them. Do not use keyed locks on windows in sleeping areas.

Lighting
Motion detector lights are very effective in deterring crime. They also light up your driveway or entry doors when you are leaving or coming home.

Dusk to dawn lighting is a strong deterrent against criminal activity, and it constantly lights up your entry doors and possible obstacles that would otherwise be unseen.

Landscape lighting is low voltage lighting that can highlight your property line, light up your sidewalk and also light up the exterior of your windows – making your home a less attractive target to night time burglars.

Interior lighting using light timers makes a home look occupied. Good lights to leave on are bedroom and/or bathroom lights.

Radios and televisions are also good items to have on timers. If a radio playing a talk station is heard from the outside of a home, it gives the appearance that a conversation is being carried on and someone is home. The perception of someone being home greatly reduces the possibility of a burglary.

Remember to report suspicious activities and people when it occurs, listen to your internal voice when you sense danger, act on it and call police and tell neighbors.

IDA is a matched savings program designed to help people buy a home, get an education, or start or expand a small business. Participants put up $1,000 of their own savings and receive $4,000 in public assistance, along with help in setting goals and managing money to ensure they put the funds to good use. To qualify, you must have an income that’s less than 80 percent of the median for Denver households.

If you are interested in the Individual Development Account Program, please contact Mile High United Way program staff: Gaile Weisbly at 303-561-2367 or Kimberly Roy at 303-561-2339. For additional information, including success-story case studies, please visit the IDA program’s website.

The City got some good budget news last week, a welcome event. Mayor Hickenlooper reports:

Sales and use tax collection in Denver improved 1.3 percent in December when compared to the same month a year earlier. This marks the first time in 14 consecutive months that core sales and use tax collection in our City did not decline.

This year-over-year gain doesn’t return our financial strength to where it was earlier this decade. We still face significant financial challenges as we begin to work on creating a balanced budget for 2011. In other words, our work is not done.

The struggles and challenges surrounding the budget have been well documented. There is also plenty of good news happening in Denver . Already this year:

• We welcomed more than 19,000 people to the annual SIA Snow Show at the Colorado Convention Center. The show had been in Las Vegas and moved to Denver this year.
• The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced $29.3 million in Neighborhood Stabilization Program funding to benefit Denver. These funds will greatly help the City’s foreclosure recovery efforts launched last year.
• Federal Transit Administrator Peter Rogoff visited Denver to announce that $120 million is included in the President’s 2011 budget for FasTracks. He also announced the approval of $304 million in federal loans for the Denver Union Station redevelopment effort. These projects will create thousands of construction jobs in our community, as well as needed transportation infrastructure to help today’s population and future generations.
• The Denver Museum of Nature & Science received the largest donation in its 109-year history, an $8 million gift from the Morgridge Family Foundation for the construction of a new Science Engagement Center on the south side of the Museum building. This gift will be used in partnership with the Better Denver Bond program funding and is another great example of public-private collaboration.
• Our team at Denver International Airport on Jan. 24 welcomed a special flight from Orlando that carried 36 orphans from Haiti . Gov. Bill Ritter had reached out to United and asked if the airline would donate a crew and an aircraft for the flight. To prepare for the flight, the airport worked closely with the Governor’s office to ensure that Colorado families could go to DIA and meet their newly-adopted children. Many of our Employees at DIA worked hard to make this happen, and many other Employees at Denver Human Services stood ready to help.

It’s easy to get overwhelmed during times of change and uncertainty. But you can see from the examples above that good things are still happening in Denver . We continue to move forward together and find ways to create positive change in the lives we touch every day.

The original Community Forester program was established in 2003 to educate residents on how to properly care for trees. This year, the program includes an expanded training that reaches a new level of depth and sophistication.

Once trained, Community Foresters can lead tree planting projects in their neighborhoods, conduct tree health checks, perform young-tree pruning, serve as tree advocates in their neighborhoods, and perform other activities for The Park People, Denver’s Forestry Division, and the Mile High Million tree planting initiative. These new high-level volunteers will help ensure that Denver’s prized urban environment does not decline despite the economic challenges we are facing.

The purpose of this process is to produce an integrated land use and transportation plan for the entire study area, which will guide future development in Northeast Downtown neighborhoods. The eight neighborhoods involved in this process are already integrated geographically, and they will be further integrated by the buildout of FasTracks. The plan will guide future policy decisions regarding redevelopment, infill, and infrastructure improvements. It will include station area plans for the existing light rail stops on Welton Street, as well as additional stations at 33rd Ave/Downing and 35th Ave/Downing that are proposed as part of the FasTracks Central Corridor Extension.

Community Planning and Development (CPD) is relying on a high level of public participation in this process. There will be at least five public meetings (one ever other month) between now and the end of 2010. The goal is to produce a draft of the plan by the end of the year.

Thursday night’s meeting will introduce the process and allow residents to identify challenges, opportunities, and existing conditions within the study area. The eight neighborhoods are

• Curtis Park
• San Rafael
• Arapaho Square
• Ballpark Neighborhood
• River North
• Benedict Fountain Park
• Cole (partial)
• Whittier (partial)

You can learn more about the process and view a map of the study area by visiting the project’s website at www.denvergov.org/northeastdowntown. If you have additional questions, contact Courtland Hyser of CPD at courtland.hyser@denvergov.org or 720-865-2924.

The West Side Line Trail project, which would have created a new soft surface trail between 15th Street and 19th Street on the west side of the Platte River, will be delayed. In addition, City Council will be asked to re-appropriate $230,000 of the $600,000 for the Swansea Park Master Plan to fund the La Alma Recreation Center operations. Swansea Park will still see improvements for the trails and grading, but other work such as a new concrete walk and new entry on south side of park will be delayed.

A direct quote from Judy:

The La Alma Lincoln Park neighbors organized very quickly to keep the recreation center under city operations and to expand its services to the community. There are many moving pieces in this neighborhood – libraries, DPS school reform, Denver Housing Authority, Transit Oriented Development – and the neighbors wanted to show that the La Alma Recreation Center was and continues to be the heart and soul of this neighborhood. I am very proud of their efforts.