NORTON

each situation or opportunity. And I watch in awe as the seasoned veterans share their wisdom through role plays the new thinking and insights that those just coming into the business are bringing to each situation or opportunity. And I watch in awe as the seasoned veterans share their wisdom through role plays and pressure testing ideas while the younger team members really pay attention. We are all learning from one another regardless of age or experience.

When we do not know what we

About Letters To The Editor

Colorado Community Media welcomes letters to the editor. Please note the following rules: game. So, what happens to the park down the street the next time a developer eyes it? e new and denser housing and reduced open space will mean adding more heat and pollution to an area that su ers more than any other part of the city from these problems. Denver’s air quality was considered the worst in the world in 2021 and its ozone status is currently classi ed as “severe” by the Environmental Protection Agency. ere are alternative locations for housing. ere are few for green space. do not know, it’s a best practice to stop pretending to be a no-it-all. And that’s something I will also brag on my team about, no one is afraid to ask for help. Our team culture is to be there for one another and help in any way that we can, respecting that everyone on the team brings relatable life experiences regardless of age. It’s about who they are and what they bring that matters most. How about you and your team? Is everyone valued and respected for what they bring to the opportunities and meetings? Is everyone learning to be more curious and instead of telling, asking better questions? I would love to hear your story at gotonorton@gmail.com, and when

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It is true that Denver needs affordable housing — just not on protected green space. If the city felt affordable housing was so important, why did it not intervene to prevent citizens from being displaced from their a ordable homes? e city did not regulate and prevent large real estate companies, developers and investors from buying out citizens’ homes in order to resell them for double or triple the price.

Now that we have displaced many who lived in a ordable homes, we are using the sympathy card to allow the taking of open space allegedly on their behalf. Sadly, that housing will be of a far lesser size and quality than the original housing from which citizens moved.

Please Vote No on 2O and uphold the conservation easement on the former Park Hill Golf Course.

Alexandra Lansing, Denver

2O will bring a ordable homes to Park Hill is April 4, if Denver votes yes on Ballot Measure 2O, Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver and Elevation Community Land Trust will have a rare opportunity to build over 300 a ordable for-sale homes in the Park Hill neighborhood.

ese homes will provide stable, permanent homeownership for families — homes where their children will grow up, where they will share meals and great memories, and where they will build roots and generational wealth.

Westside Investment Partners has agreed to donate 7.8 acres of the former Park Hill Golf Course land to our two nonpro ts to build these homes. e land will go into a land trust, making these homes permanently a ordable for residents. We’ve seen other publications value the worth of the easement exclusively on the land, applying a value of $3.5M per acre. If an equivalent standard is applied, the value of the land to our organizations is approximately $26,000,000 — a substantial we can openly talk about, share, and learn from one another’s life experiences, it really will be a better than good life.

Michael Norton is an author, a contribution that we as a ordable housing developers recognize as transformational.

When we consider the power of a ordable homeownership, we think of families like Arthur and Gianna — natives of north Denver whose rental house has aging xtures and old windows that let in the elements year-round. Gianna says that stability is what excites her most about moving into their new Habitat home this spring. “It’s the little things I look forward to,” she says. “Cooking for my mom. Hosting friends and family. Seeing my kids grow up with plenty of space.” personal and professional coach, consultant, trainer, encourager and motivator of individuals and businesses, working with organizations and associations across multiple industries.

Owning an a ordable home has immediate bene ts for families like Arthur and Gianna — and it also has ripple e ects for generations. is is the power of what we do every day at Habitat and Elevation — and this is what we have the opportunity to build with ballot measure 2O.

A vote against 2O does not ensure that a ordable housing can be built somewhere else in Park Hill. We can be certain, however, that an affordable housing project of this size may never happen again in Denver.

Heather La erty is the CEO of Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver. Stefka Fanchi is CEO of Elevation Community Land Trust.

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BY ELLIS ARNOLD EARNOLD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Type in “restaurant” on Google Maps and set the lter to “open 24 hours.” You’ll be hard-pressed to nd any local restaurants serving up food to the night owls, late workers and early risers.

Unless you’re seeking around-the-clock Mexican food.

“We’re open 24 hours, and it’s something fresh, you know?” said Govanny Alvarado, a member of the family who runs Alvarado’s Mexican Fast Food. Compared to other restaurants, “you can taste the di erence,” Alvarado said.

e new Englewood spot that opened in August adds to a small but mighty list of Mexican joints that o er all-day, all-night service in the Denver metro area — a type of restaurant that’s becoming more di cult to nd since the COVID-19 pandemic struck.

“Most people like us, you know, we’re always looking for a late-night snack,” said Alvarado, 21, adding that his family “understands the struggle” to nd restaurants that are open late.

His family members, longtime workers in the Mexican fast-food industry, gained experience at his uncle’s restaurant in Arizona. ey later started working for Taco Star and Tacos Rapidos, two chains with 24-hour locations in the metro area, Alvarado said.

“And Taco Star, the one in ornton here, that’s where my dad worked, and that’s where I started as well when I was young,” Alvarado said of the location near 84th Avenue and Washington Street.

When his family members had the chance to start their own restaurant about six years ago, they opened Tacos Los Compas — another 24-hour eatery, near downtown Denver and the Auraria Campus.

“Most of the people that I’ve known or talked to customer-wise, they’re all from Arizona or California, and they all say they miss that taste of authentic Mexican food,” Alvarado said.

Carrying on authentic recipes is part of the job as well for Tamale Kitchen, a longstanding family business with locations around the metro area.

What makes the restaurant unique is “the green chile, the New Mexico-style red chile, the tamale avors, just the avors in general of just old grandma recipe — the beans, the rice, everything’s grandma’s recipes,” said Jose Bishop, owner of the Westminster and Northglenn locations.

e restaurant grew out of an e ort to sell tamales door to door in 1980, and the rst Tamale Kitchen opened in Lakewood in 1981, according to its website.

Its Northglenn location at 104th Avenue and Huron Street stays open around the clock on the weekends, running from 5 a.m. Friday through 10 p.m. Sunday.

e business has expanded to eight locations, stretching from Adams County all the way to Highlands Ranch, and some are franchises run by people outside the family, Bishop said.

Familiar places see challenges

Alvarado noted that after the COVID-19 pandemic shook up the