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August 13, 2020
DENVER, COLORADO
A publication of
VOLUME 93 | ISSUE 40
Tax hike to fight climate change goes to voters The Denver increase could generate $36 million in its first year Owners Lee Goodfriend and David Racine are interviewed in the lobby of their restaurant.
COURTESY OF ROCKY MOUNTAIN PBS
Owners on demise of a Denver food landmark After 38 years, favored power eatery felled by impact of COVID-19 BY JENNIFER CASTOR ROCKY MOUNTAIN PBS
Formed on a foundation of friendship and the love of good food, after
38 years, Racines is closing its doors for good. This transition into retirement has been in the works for a while, but wasn’t supposed to happen until January of next year. COVID-19 quickly changed the plans. There will be no long goodbye for owners, staff or the regular diners. That’s not stopping owners Lee Goodfriend and David Racine from taking a moment to thank
Now, he’s trying something a bit different. in late July, Denver Film, the organization behind the Denver Film Festival, Film on the Rocks and the SIE FilmCenter, announced that Mejia would be taking over as the nonprofit’s new CEO.
Voters in Denver will be asked on the ballot this November if their sales taxes should be raised to fund efforts to reduce the city’s climate footprint. If approved, the city beginning in January would impose a 0.25% sales tax, whose funding would be dedicated to renewable energy efforts, including “steep reductions” in fossil fuel consumption and “significant improvements” in air and water quality, the bill states. Half of the revenue will be dedicated directly to underserved communities with a “strong lens toward equity, race and social justice.” The Denver City Council referred the measure to the ballot on Aug. 3 in an 11-1 vote, with Councilman Chris Hinds absent. Councilman Kevin Flynn, who represents District 2 in southwest Denver, voted against the measure on grounds that the city “settled on the default, the easy way out, which is sales tax, which is regressive.” Asking voters to give the city money in the wake of a pandemic and economic downturn, he said, is not the “appropriate way” to raise this revenue.
SEE MEJIA, P7
SEE CLIMATE, P3
their supporters. Goodfriend and Racine met in 1975 and have been working together ever since. “That’s the year we first met at Zach’s restaurant at 1480 Humbolt Street. I was a bartender and Lee was a waitperson,” said Racine. Along with a few other friends and business partners, the two opened SEE LANDMARK, P2
He ran for mayor; now he’s running movies New Denver Film CEO Mejia lays out plans BY MAGGIE DONAHUE DENVERITE
James Meija has had a long career in business and politics. The
Denver native founded the Denver Preschool Program, managed the construction of the Denver Justice Center, worked as executive director for the Agency of Human Rights and Community Relations, and managed Denver’s Parks and Recreation Department. He also ran for mayor back in 2011, and came pretty close to winning.
INSIDE: VOICES: PAGE 6 | LIFE: PAGE 8
BY ALAYNA ALVAREZ COLORADO POLITICS
PERIODICAL
FROM SWAN DIVES TO FIGURE EIGHTS
Denver’s Smith Lake once was a yearround resort P8