How Much for the Church on the Corner
Park Hill Presbyterian Church sits on a vast corner lot at Daddy Bruce Randolph and Albion Street. The church has been part of the northeast Denver fabric longer than most can remember. It is a landmark. “Go up the street and turn left at that church,” Old Timers would say when giving strangers directions. As Denver real estate values continue to soar and property taxes escalate, the appeal to cash-bearing developers becomes alluring. Many perspective buyers have learned that For Sale signs are often marketing tools for companies that have already
sold properties. Oftentimes, properties never make it to public market. 5 POINTS NEWS was told the developers that purchased and built the multi family units on the north end of the block are the ones who purchased the church touted to be for sale. However, zoning may be an issue. It may turn out to be a challenge demolishing the church building to create the density seen sprawling throughout the city. Neighbors may have a say in the development of the community and perhaps many may simply want a place of worship instead.
Tate, Calderon Eyeing Bids to Oust Hancock Michael Hancock will seek a third term as Denver’s mayor next year. But growing misgivings about his leadership have prompted a prominent lawyer and former state lawmaker and a high-profile community activist to consider challenging him for the office. In addition to five others who’ve already filed paperwork to run for mayor, Penfield Tate III and Lisa Calderon both say they’re very seriously eyeing bids of their own for the May 2019 election. Tate, 62, is an attorney and a former Democratic state lawmaker who ran for mayor in 2003. His father, Penfield Tate II, was Boulder’s first and still only black mayor, serving in the 1970s. “Over the past several weeks, I’ve received calls and emails from a pretty broad cross section of Denver citizens, a number of whom have asked me to consider running for mayor,” Tate said, adding that he’ll likely hold an event in the near future to announce whether or not he’ll run for mayor. Calderon, 50, is a longtime educator — her subject areas include women’s studies and gender studies, and she has a doctorate in education — who’s soon to join the sociology and criminal justice faculty at Regis University. She also co-founded and for eight years ran Denver’s Community Reentry Project, which helped Denverites transition out of prison or jail back into the community. Half black and half Latina, she also serves as executive director of the Colorado Latino Forum, a group that often has criticized Hancock. She believes he has failed in his representation of communities increasingly displaced or thinned out by the city’s rising cost of living. As she tells it, Hancock is less interested in eas14 8 5 Points News
ing some of Denver’s growing pains than in promoting what she calls “development on steroids.” Though some voter confidence in Hancock was waning because of growthrelated problems and a long string of controversies in the city’s Safety Department, his reputation took some abrupt hits over the past year. He’s been criticized for taking expensive international trips, including a Paris junket for which he and other city officials enjoyed freebie $16,000 airline seats. In February, news broke that Hancock had sent sexually suggestive text messages to a woman in his security detail who said his advances were unwanted. Hancock admitted to sending the texts and faced no official repercussions. The City Council declined to launch an investigation. Prior to Wellington Webb in 1991, Denver had never elected a black mayor. It’s elected just one Latino — Federico Peña — and zero women to the position. Hancock himself hasn’t even filed yet, even though he’s been organizing fundraisers. He’ll file in the coming weeks, said his campaign manager, Jake Martin. “No reason why he hasn’t filed yet,” Martin emailed. “He’s focused on governing and addressing Denver’s biggest challenges, like affordable housing and traffic congestion. Filing the candidate affidavit is a necessary but small step toward running.” –Alex Burness Colorado Independent Read the complete story at www. coloradoindependent.com/171498/ hancock-mayor-challenge-2019-tate-