FEELING NOSTALGIC: Denver Silent Film Festival takes guests on a trip down memory lane P10
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April 26, 2018
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Affordable housing doesn’t make cut in city land sale Some members of council want to look at changing protocol BY ANDREW KENNEY AKENNEY@DENVERITE.COM
organized by the Colorado Education Association, which represents more than 35,000 educators, many of whom say too many teachers in the state are forced to work second jobs and pay out of pocket for classroom supplies. But it wasn’t about striking, said Kerrie Dallman, president of the association.
Denver’s elected leaders voted April 16 to sell a 1.4-acre parking lot near Union Station for $13.5 million. The land will go to the Nichols Partnership, which plans to develop it as part of a larger office and retail complex. The council rejected another company’s proposal to build affordable housing on the site. Even as they approved the sale in a 10-2 vote, some Denver City Council members called for changes to how the city sells its land. The land is at 1701 Platte St., which is across the South Platte River from the Union Station area. It’s at the edge of bustling Platte Street, near the Denver Beer Company. The city received eight proposals from parties that wanted to buy the land. That included a bid from Zocalo Community Development, which wanted to build a 200-unit residential complex for a mix of incomes, as Westword reported. Zocalo’s president told Westword it would be “tragic” not to put affordable housing on the land; his proposal was rejected. The city’s selling the property for market value, according to staff. Half the money will go toward bike lanes and homeless services, while half will go toward affordable housing.
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Kathryn Brown, a counselor at Colorado’s Finest High School of Choice in Englewood, holds up a sign at the April 16 “Day of Action” organized by the Colorado Education Association. Brown was among about 150 educators from Englewood who planned to come to the event — more than 70 percent of Englewood’s teacher workforce planned to be absent April 16. PHOTOS BY ELLIS ARNOLD
Teachers protest funding gap About 400 educators voiced opinion on public-pension system, school funding BY ELLIS ARNOLD EARNOLD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Performances of teachers singing a 1980s rock hit in protest have swept the nation — from Oklahoma to West Virginia to Kentucky — and now, the show came to Colorado. “We’re not gonna take it — no, we ain’t gonna take it,” a crowd of educators sang in the state Capi-
tol’s stairwell near the House and Senate chambers, coming together in Denver from across Colorado to advocate for more school funding and to oppose some changes to the public-pension system. The “Day of Action” saw about 400 teachers, staff and other education personnel march on the perimeter of the Capitol and file into the building to talk to lawmakers. The protest April 16 was
THE BOTTOM LINE PERIODICAL
“It’s not something where I feel like I’ve made it. That’s not ever my mentality. I’m going to stay hungry.” Case Keenum | Broncos quarterback | Page 13 INSIDE
VOICES: PAGE 8 | LIFE: PAGE 10 | CALENDAR: PAGE 7 | SPORTS: PAGE 12 VOLUME 91 | ISSUE 25