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July 16, 2020
DENVER, COLORADO
A publication of
VOLUME 93 | ISSUE 36
13th Avenue sidewalks make social distancing tough Local business owners want better pedestrian experience BY CHRISTY STEADMAN CSTEADMAN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
According to a couple of the small business owners on 13th Avenue, the stretch of sidewalk between Pearl and Washington streets is like a danger zone. One, there is a lot of speeding on 13th Avenue, they said. The street consists of one parking lane on the north side and three lanes of westbound one-way traffic. Two, the storefronts on the south side face a three-foot-high concrete wall. And lastly, the sidewalk between the wall and the storefronts is only five feet wide. “We, and our customers, cannot SEE SIDEWALKS, P9
‘We wanted people to hear our voices’ BY MELANIE ASMAR CHALKBEAT COLORADO
vasser, she is working at home on the phone. And with social distancing rules in place, she has fewer opportunities to meet with friends. “Since the virus started,” she said, “it’s been a lot easier to fall back into that cycle.” Between the challenges of the pandemic, the social unrest and the
As the nation reckons with racial justice and police brutality, a group of Denver students has started a podcast to elevate the voices of Black youth. In a powerful moment from the first episode (listen at tinyurl.com/ denver-podcast), three teenagers shared personal experiences with racism. Fifteen-year-old Dahni Austin talked about the stares she got when she walked into a summer camp where nearly all the other girls were white. When one of the white campers called a fellow Black camper a racial slur, Austin said she was too afraid to say anything. “I was too scared to stand up for her,” Austin said, “because I felt like with all the stares we were already getting, I would be judged and I would be stereotyped.” Austin is a rising sophomore at Denver’s Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Early College high school and a member of the school’s Black Student Alliance. She and other BSA members started the podcast in the wake of the police killing of George
SEE HEALTH, P15
SEE PODCAST, P12
Two people walk side-by-side on the five-foot-wide sidewalk along 13th Avenue in Capitol Hill. A couple of the neighborhood’s small business owners would like to see a more pedestrian-friendly corridor where people can social distance while waiting outside to enter the shops. CHRISTY STEADMAN
Colorado, other states trim health programs amid COVID-19 BY MARKIAN HAWRYLUK KAISER HEALTH NEWS
As a teenager, Paulina Castle struggled for years with suicidal thoughts. When her mental health was at its most fragile, she would isolate herself, spending days in her room alone. “That’s the exact thing that makes you feel significantly
Denver students start podcast on racial justice
worse,” the 26-year-old Denver woman said. “It creates a cycle where you’re constantly getting dug into a deeper hole.” Part of her recovery involved forcing herself to leave her room to socialize or to exercise outside. But the COVID-19 pandemic has made all of that much harder. Instead of interacting with people on the street in her job as a political can-
INSIDE: VOICES: PAGE 8 | LIFE: PAGE 10
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COVID-19 is still around, but there’s no need to shy away from safe summer activities for the whole family P10