HIDDEN GEMS The metro area holds many standout buildings P10
FREE
April 18, 2019
DENVER Since 1926
DENVER, COLORADO
A publication of
Lawmakers advance family leave measure Bill would create fund to accommodate those facing emergencies BY JAMES ANDERSON ASSOCIATED PRESS
Eric Dallimore, an Uptown resident and business owner, has been working with the neighborhood to try and create active park space along Park Avenue. One of the larger parks on Park and East 17th Avenue is used by homeless people for drugs and other activities, residents say. KAILYN LAMB
Building ‘No Name Park’ Uptown residents fight for better park space along Park Avenue BY STACEY MCDOLE AND KAILYN LAMB SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA
When driving along Park Avenue, specifically along its historically designated portion between Colfax and East 20th avenues, it’s easy to ignore the triangles of land that flank either side of the street. But 20 parcels along Park Avenue make up what residents refer to as No Name Park. At nearly five acres when measured together, these plots were once larger parks before being bisected when the
city finished the diagonal run of Park Avenue in 1893. Very little has been done with them since. “Uptown on the Hill is grateful for those triangular parks along Park Avenue, as they are a green respite in what is becoming a crowded neighborhood,” said Judy Trompeter, president of Uptown on the Hill Registered Neighborhood Organization, or RNO. The city planted new trees over the past few years, which Trompeter said the community appreciates. But making the parks more than a place to drive through is what the RNO would like to see. “We would like to see those parks be more active than passive,” she said.
Problems at No Name Square Several members of the Uptown neighborhood have been trying to do just that – turn the parks into more active areas. However, residents say they worry the parks are becoming places where homeless people camp in adjacent alleys and use drugs. “I’ve been aggressively harassed by people who frequent this park,” said Eric Dallimore, owner of Leon Gallery at 1112 E. 17th Ave., next to the largest of the two parks known locally as No Name Square. Dallimore added that he’s heard residents give less savory names to the park, calling them urinals or other nicknames.
A Colorado Senate committee has advanced an ambitious paid family leave bill that was substantially amended by its sponsors in an attempt to alleviate the concerns of most of the state’s major business chambers. The Senate Finance Committee voted 4-3 on April 9 to send the bill to the Appropriations Committee. The vote came after Democratic Sens. Faith Winter and Angela Williams, the bill’s Senate sponsors, offered a series of amendments, including an option allowing private employers to opt out of the program. The bill would create a state-run paid family and medical leave program so employees can take time off to care for newborns, themselves or others in medical and other emergencies without worrying about their jobs. Williams and Winter insist it’s a vital initiative as majority Democrats and first-term Gov. Jared Polis are prioritizing a broad range of health issues.
SEE NO NAME, P9
SEE FAMILY, P12
THE BOTTOM LINE PERIODICAL
“We’ll always remember that horrific day, but Columbine represents hope.” Frank DeAngelis, former principal of Columbine High School | Page 6 INSIDE
VOICES: PAGE 8 | LIFE: PAGE 10 | CALENDAR: PAGE 15 VOLUME 92 | ISSUE 24