Washington Park Profile 0620

WashParkProfile.com

JUNE 2020

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PHOTOS Community celebrates South High grads with car parade

MAKING A COMEBACK Wildlife flourishes in Washington Park’s Grasmere Lake

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ON THE FRONT LINES Colorado janitors rally to demand resources for their services during pandemic

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Colorado Symphony committed to #PlayOn

A CULTURAL NECESSITY

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2 Washington Park Profile

June 2020

Business Matters Christy Steadman | csteadman@coloradocommunitymedia.com Editor’s Note: Business Matters is a monthly column featuring business news in the Life on Capitol Hill and Washington Park Profile coverage areas, which is roughly north-central and south Denver.

In late May, Colorado allowed food-service establishments to open for indoor and outdoor dine-in services with strict social distancing guidelines — food establishments may host up to 50% of the posted occupancy limit, not to exceed 50 people. Such establishments include restaurants and other venues with a fullservice kitchen that are set up to host patrons for meals.

Bars and other establishments that do not serve food are not allowed to open at this time, with the exception of those that partner with a food service business, such as a food truck, that prepares food onsite. Guidelines for such establishments that do not serve food will be evaluated in June.

Denver Mayor Michael Hancock announced on May 25 that the city and county of Denver followed the state’s decision to allow limited dine-in service in restaurants.

In early May, certain Denver businesses were permitted to reopen and throughout the month, they began to reopen but many are operating differently than before the pandemic, such as with a change of business hours and/or implementing additional strict social distancing measures. The June column is a sampling of such businesses, and is not an exhaustive list. Colorado Community Media urges you to reach out to your favorite local businesses

— including commercial and retail, fitness, restaurants and salon services — to find out their reopening status.

If you are a local business that would like to announce any updates to your operations, email Christy Steadman at csteadman@ coloradocommunitymedia.com.

said in a news release, “but right now we want people to trust that we’re taking care of them by delivering the same energy and workout in the most delicate way possible.”

To learn more about AKT, visit www.theakt. com, or to inquire about memberships at the Denver studios, call 720-250-9155.

NEW OPENINGS AND REOPENINGS

Capitol Hill Books After nearly being forced to close because of hardships brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a Westword article, community members gathered enough support to keep Capitol Hill Books, 300 East Colfax Ave., open.

The independent bookstore is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.

Customers are permitted to go into the store and browse, however, masks are required to enter the building and must remain on at all times and only 10 people at a time will be allowed inside. Additionally, all purchases must be paid for by credit or debit card - there will be no cash transactions, and the bookstore is not accepting books for trade or donation at this time.

Capitol Hill Books will also continue to serve customers online for shipment or pickup.

“Thank you for understanding and continuing to support your local bookstore,” states owner Holly Brooks on the Capitol Hill Books website. “Did we mention we’ve been open 39 years? Let’s make it 39 more!”

AKT studio AKT, a dance-cardio fitness concept that opened in Cherry Creek last fall, will open a second studio in Denver mid-June.

It will be located at 2813 Blake St. in RiNo. AKT, which stands for Anna Kaiser Technique, offers a fitness program created by celebrity trainer Anna Kaiser. Both the studios in Denver are owned and operated by Shannon and Bruce Jaeger.

Amid the coronavirus, AKT pivoted its business model to incorporate on-demand video workouts and live streaming of classes led by various instructors and Kaiser herself.

AKT in Cherry Creek reopened on May 15 with a pared down schedule, only allowing four people in each class to maintain social distancing. Virtual classes remain an option for those enjoying workout sessions from home.

The RiNo studio will temporarily be used for virtual classes so patrons can get a sneak peek of the 2,009 square-foot studio until doors open.

“We look forward to the day when we can have full-capacity classes,” Shannon Jaeger

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Charlie Brown’s Bar & Grill Charlie Brown’s Bar & Grill announced it will be re-opening the beginning of June, tentatively.

The venue, which offers a full food menu, “is preparing for strict compliance with Colorado’s social distancing requirements,” according to a Facebook post.

Charlie Brown’s is a classic piano bar, located at 980 Grant St. in Denver’s Capitol Hill neighborhood.

Common Threads Common Threads, a consignment store located at 1575 S. Pearl St. in Denver, reopened May 12 and announced its summer hours — 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sundays and closed on Mondays.

Along with limiting the numbers of customers allowed in at one time and a face covering requirement, the store is asking shoppers to use the fitting rooms only for items they have a serious interest in purchasing. Once an item has been tried on, it will be set aside for 24 hours and then thoroughly re-steamed before going back on the floor.

Common Threads began accepting consignments by appointment or drive-thru on May 16. All items must be freshly laundered, on hangers or neatly folded and untouched for seven days prior to being brought to the store.

Common Threads staff will not go through items if they are not clean.

More information on shopping and consigning can be found on the Common Threads website: https://www.shopcommonthreads. com/.

JW’s Salon on 6th JW’s Salon on 6th, 1134 E. Sixth Ave., reopened for business on May 9.

The salon is operating by appointment only and will not accept walk-ins. Appointments can be made by calling or sending a text to 720-240-8587.

All clients must wear a mask and practice social distancing. The salon is also asking for patience between appointments, as staff will clean and disinfect after each appointment.

Mutiny Information Café On May 20, Mutiny Information Café announced its in-store business hours on Facebook. They are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays.

Shoppers must adhere to social distancing measures and masks are required.

Mutiny Information Café, 2 S. Broadway, is a new-and-used bookstore that also offers records and comic books, with a coffee bar.

The shop’s Coffee Hole is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Orvis Cherry Creek Orvis Cherry Creek, an outdoors/nature adventure retail store, is now open for shopping inside the store.

The hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday; and noon to 4 p.m. on Sundays. The store is closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Call 303-355-4554 to learn more. Orvis Cherry Creek is located at 2770 E. Second Ave. in Denver.

Orvis, which has locations nationwide, is also continuing its online editorial and educational content. Visit the Orvis blog at https:// news.orvis.com/ to find articles and videos on fly fishing, wingshooting, dogs, conservation and more. The online Learning Center, https:// howtoflyfish.orvis.com, also has a comprehensive collection of online videos and resources devoted to teaching the world how to fly fish.

Tattered Cover Book Store Though all the stores continue to remain closed to in-person shopping, on May 12, the Tattered Cover Book Store started offering limited hours for prepaid curbside pickup at its Colfax Avenue location, 2526 E. Colfax Ave. Pickup hours are noon to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays. Customers are asked to wait for confirmation that an order is ready before coming to the store. “We cannot promise same day order and pick up, but we will process your request as fast as we can,” states the Tattered Cover’s website.

Orders can be placed online at www.tatteredcover.com.

The bookstore also opened its Colfax Avenue location’s phone lines for inquiries and ordering. The phone line hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The phone number is 303-322-7727.

Ya Ye Ya Ye re-launched its meal delivery program on May 22.

Ya Ye is an organic, plant-based health and wellness company that offers nutritious, readyto-eat meals that are free of dairy, gluten, refined sugars and GMOs. The eatery opened its first café location inside Zeppelin Station, 3501 Wazee St. Suite #100, on Feb. 1. Its meal delivery program was operational for only about two weeks when Zeppelin Station closed its doors mid-March because of the pandemic.

To celebrate the re-launch of the meal delivery program, Ya Ye is offering $20 off your first order with promo code: PLANTS. Zeppelin Station is located in Denver’s RiNo neighborhood, but Ya Ye’s meal delivery program serves a 20 to 30-mile radius of the downtown area.

SEE BUSINESS, P3

Washington Park Profile 3

June 2020

BUSINESS FROM PAGE 2

CLOSURES 3 Kings Tavern 3 Kings Tavern, 60 S Broadway, announced mid-May it will not reopen.

3 Kings was a live music venue that during its 14-year run became a mainstay for local rock-and-punk musicians. It was one of the participating venues in the annual Underground Music Showcase on South Broadway. The venue also hosted comedy & burlesque shows.

Westword reported that the establishment got behind on rent during the COVID-19 shutdowns.

12 @ Madison Near the end of May, 12 @ Madison, 1160 Madison St., announced it would not reopen.

“Our quaint Congress Park restaurant was designed to thrive on intimacy — from shared small plates to human interactions. That model is just not sustainable for the foreseeable future,” states a May 27 Facebook post. “Stay tuned as we hope to offer some pop-ups and private dinners but for now, we say farewell.”

La Cour French Bistro & Jazz Club On April 10, owner Janet Poth announced on La Cour French Bistro & Jazz Club’s website and Facebook that it will not be re-opening.

Sometimes referred to as “Denver’s Art Bar,” La Cour, 1643 S. Broadway, was a French bistro and jazz club in Washington Park that regularly hosted live jazz music performances. It opened in 2014.

“The community of musicians, artists, French ambiance fans, conversation lovers, has been outstanding and Joe and I feel privileged to have helped create a welcoming venue for that community,” Poth wrote. “Our sincerest wish is that there are one-or-two young professionals who would like to take over the business and the venue. We feel it has solid and substantial long-term prospects and what a great community to be a part of.”

Old Chicago Pizza & Taproom The Old Chicago Pizza & Taproom located in the northwest corner of Denver’s Virginia Village won’t reopen, BusinessDen reported on May 21.

According to BusinessDen, the closure of the 1280 S. Colorado Blvd. Old Chicago follows a March Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing by the restaurant’s parent company, Craftworks Holdings.

CAPITOL PROTESTS

BUSINESSES ENGAGING IN CHARITABLE CAUSES RoseBud Ice Cream RoseBud Ice Cream is partnering with Denver Homeless Out Loud and SOS Socks to provide socks to the community’s homeless population.

Sock collection bins will be set up at select RoseBud Ice Cream retailers. In Denver, these include the 12th Avenue Market, 2620 E. 12th Ave. in Capitol Hill; and Curtis Park Deli, 2700 E. Sixth Avenue, unit B, in Cherry Creek.

Additional locations outside of Denver or those that confirmed after press time can be found on the RoseBud website and social media.

A sock collection bin will also be set up at Denver Homeless Out Loud, 2260 California St. Additionally, throughout June, RoseBud Ice Cream will donate a pair of socks for every piece of apparel purchased from the RoseBud website. These socks will be manufactured by Broomfield-based SOS Socks.

Voodoo Doughnut Voodoo Doughnut is partnering with Generosity Feeds to launch the new Brainiac Doughnut. A portion of proceeds from every Brainiac sold will go to Generosity Feeds, an organization that is focused on making an impact against childhood hunger.

The Brainiac is a raised yeast doughnut topped with strawberry frosting, lemonade dust and Nerds candies.

The Brainiac is available at only four operating Voodoo Doughnut locations across the U.S. In Denver, it is available for pick-up and take-out until June 30 at Voodoo Doughnut - Colfax, 1520 E. Colfax Ave., which borders the Cheesman Park and City Park neighborhoods. The store’s hours are 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day.

Crowds gather on the steps of the Colorado Capitol in Denver on May 28. Protests broke out in Denver and other cities in response to the death of George Floyd, who died May 25 while in police custody in Minneapolis. Video shot by a bystander showed an officer kneeling on Floyd’s neck for several minutes despite his protests that he couldn’t breathe. In Denver, the first few days of peaceful protests became more destructive at night, prompting Denver Mayor Michael Hancock to impose a curfew. He called for calm in a tweeted video. “I certainly understand everyone’s frustration and sense of pain and disgust following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis,” Hancock said, “but I want to plead to everyone. Let’s demonstrate, but let’s demonstrate peacefully.

Leave the weapons home.”

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4 Washington Park Profile

June 2020

An evolutionary explosion captured in rocks DMNS scientists joins team studying in the Grand Canyon

By Clarke Reader Special to Colorado Community Media

J

ust like we all use a calendar to mark time and the important events in our lives, scientists use one that stretches back millions and millions of years.

But while the daily calendar we use is fixed, the ones scientists use isn’t.

“To be able to determine cause and effect of events, we need to locate things in their place and time,” said James Hagadorn, Denver Museum of Nature & Science’s curator of geology. “We’re always fine-tuning, and know there’s more fine-tuning to go.”

That scientific calendar will be getting more precise thanks to a new research project happening in the Grand Canyon to study sedimentary rock layers from the Cambrian Period. The project will feature a team of scientists from the museum, including Hagadorn; Boise State University; the University of New Mexico; Utah State University; the University of Calgary; and the

DEPENDABLE and A May 2016 photo shows Dr. James Hagadorn with the Cambrian Tapeats Sandstone in the Grand Canyon. Hagadorn is currently coordinating a DEPENDABLE DEPENDABLE and and team of paleontologists for a new research project to study sedimentary rock layers from the Cambrian Period in the Grand Canyon.

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CCM’s newspapers competed in Class 4, the classification for the state’s largest nondaily publications. Work entered in the contest was published between Nov. 1, 2018 and Oct. 31, 2019. The winners were announced in early May. Here’s a look at CCM’s awards: Breaking news/deadline reporting — first place: Alex DeWind, Jessica Gibbs, David Gilbert, Ellis Arnold, Nick Puckett, for coverage of the STEM School Highlands Ranch shooting Classified section — first place: Karen Earhart, Erin Franks, Tina Meltzer

Editorial special section (newsprint) — first place: David Gilbert, Shanna Fortier, Kayla Cornett, Alex DeWind, Joseph Rios, for “Columbine: 20 years later”

Headline writing — first place: Chris Rotar, for “Slow his row” and other headlines Informational graphic — first place: Kayla Cornett, for “Policing the suburbs” Photo essay — second place: Stefan Brodsky, for “Honoring veterans” Series — first place: Christy Steadman, Casey Van Divier, Glenn Wallace, for “Jefferson Parkway” Serious column writing — second place: Ann Macari Healey, for “The gift of a lifetime” Sports column writing — first place: Jim Benton, for “Overtime” Story/picture combination — first place: David Gilbert, for “Protests converge outside immigrant detention facility” Sustained coverage — first place: Alex DeWind, Jessica Gibbs, for coverage of the STEM School Highlands Ranch shooting CCM’s coverage of the STEM School tragedy also earned three awards (first-, secondand third-place honors) in the Society of Professional Journalists’ four-state Top of the Rockies contest.

Washington Park Profile 5

June 2020

How to protect and preserve Denver’s urban canopy

S

GUEST COLUMN

Michael Swanson

pring has officially sprung in Denver. Flowers are in bloom, birds are busy building nests and with social distancing recommendations in place, people are more eager than ever to spend time outside, in their yards or enjoying neighborhood walks under Denver’s beautiful trees. But did you know that our urban canopy isn’t just picturesque and doesn’t just provide respite for wildlife? It’s actually critically important for our overall quality of life.

Trees produce oxygen, reduce air pollution, cool our neighborhoods and homes, and increase our property values. Yet most trees are not native to our city and the ones that we’ve planted and cultivated — no matter for how long — are fragile. They are susceptible to our sometimes extreme climate and insect infestations. In short, Denver’s urban canopy relies on us to be kept healthy, protected, preserved and replenished.

So, when the City and County of Denver learned that the emerald ash borer (EAB), which has destroyed millions of ash trees in the Midwest, is currently making its way to Denver, we leapt into action. There are an estimated 1.45 million ashes in the Denver metro area, including 330,000 in the City and County of Denver.

That means one in six Denver private property trees are ash trees, and they can be found everywhere in the Mile High City — with the majority on residential properties.

You may be familiar with the Be A Smart Ash campaign, which aims to actively educate and enlist the help of you - our Denver residents - in the process of identifying, treating and replacing ash trees.

For our part, we are taking care of ash trees located on city property, including parks, and in the public right-of-way. We ask that you do the same, with any

ash trees on your private property. Visit BeASmartAsh. org for an interactive ash tree map, information about ash tree treatment options and resources to find a tree care professional. You can also apply for a free tree for the right-of-way adjacent to your property that can help bolster and diversify our urban tree canopy.

When it comes to identifying, treating, removing or replacing your trees - ash or otherwise - remember that only licensed and insured tree care professionals should actually treat, replace or prune a tree. There are many tree professionals that are licensed by the Office of the City Forester who can lend a hand, leaving you time to tend to your garden, take another walk or literally just stop and smell the roses.

Michael Swanson is a city forester with Denver Parks and Recreation

Emissions testing resumes, with safety measures Staff report Vehicle emissions testing has resumed at 10 Air Care Colorado emissions inspection stations, according to a news release.

Testing volume is expected to be heavy in the first few weeks. To help reduce wait times, motorists with registration renewals that are due in May are being urged to wait until June to get their inspections.

Because of the 30-day grace period following the last day of each renewal month, May registrations will not be late, the release said.

Motorists who applied for and received registration extension letters from the Divi-

Science FROM PAGE 4

University of Chicago. The project received a three-year, $815,000 grant from the National Science Foundation’s Sedimentary Geology and Paleobiology program.

According to information provided by the museum, part of the project will be “to find new occurrences of fossils like trilobites, brachiopods and microfossils, to measure how ocean chemistry changed in lockstep with fossil extinctions, and to apply new techniques for precise dating of rock layers to figure out how fast this all happened.”

As a geologist and paleontologist by training, this is exactly the kind of work a “detective in deep time” like Hagadorn lives for.

Rather than use traces like DNA and fingerprints, he makes use of isotopes and structures in rocks to determine what happened at different moments in Earth’s history.

“We can’t time travel back to the moment to know what happened, but we can reconstruct the moment with some of the clues we find,” he said. “The dating of the rocks in the Grand Canyon doesn’t just affect those rocks — the whole Cambrian dating system changes. As a result, the work in the Grand Canyon changes the whole geologic calendar we use.”

The Cambrian Period - also known as the “Cambrian explosion of life” - was when many animals first burst on the scene. As Hagadorn explains it, the life up to this point was generally small, slimy and had no backbone.

The Cambrian period is when life starts to biomineralize and build-up skeletons — it’s when animals start eating each other, competing against each other and burrowing into the land. With so many evolutionary events hap-

sion of Motor Vehicle are also being urged to wait to get their inspections until June. Those motorists will have until June 26 to register their vehicles.

March and April renewals should get their inspections as soon as possible. No late fees will be assessed for a short period after the emissions program resumes, the release said.

Extensive safety procedures are in place to help ensure social distancing during the testing process and limit contact points to help reduce the threat of coronavirus transmittal between staff and customers. Emissions inspectors will wear masks and gloves at all times, practice social distancing as much as

“We can’t time travel back to the moment to know what happened, but we can reconstruct the moment with some of the clues we find.”

— James Hagadorn, Denver Museum of Nature & Science’s Curator of Geology

pening so close together, learning more about the when, how and why could be profoundly important.

Which is what is inspiring Hagadorn and the rest of the scientists to tackle this giant, millions-year-old puzzle. Not only will it provide glimpses into the past, it will inform our present and future.

“The work we’re doing is standing on the shoulders of our predecessors, and 20 years from now, some young punk is going to wonder at how we did things. It’s part of process,” Hagadorn said. “We want to create informed citizens of the planet. We all have the power to care, and that translates in the ability to do.”

possible, and periodically clean and disinfect surfaces. Motorists will be required to wear masks, practice social distancing, and be limited to only one person per vehicle.

Customers with vehicles from model year 2000 and newer or model year 1981 and older will pay from their vehicles. Customers getting emissions tests for vehicles between model years 1982 and 1999 will wait in a booth while their vehicles are tested. No more than three customers will be allowed in a booth at one time, and they will maintain 6 feet of distance at all times. Only one customer will pay at a time as they exit the booth.

“While we are expecting an unprecedented number of vehicles, ACC is committed to getting all motorists through the testing process as safely and quickly as possible,” Air Care Colorado Program Manager Chuck Purnell, according to the news release. “If necessary, this could include extending or changing testing hours - our priority is protecting Coloradans and their health and well-being.”

Motorists can find new testing procedures, safety information and suggested times for testing at aircarecolorado.com and by calling the Air Care Colorado hotline at 303-4567090.

6 Washington Park Profile

June 2020

Celebrating 2020’s graduates Michelle CastroCarbajal, Denver South High School

The Class of 2020 missed out on prom and many did not have a graduation ceremony because of shutdowns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Colorado “Not being able to finish the year on Community Media reached out to the campus, not having time with the staff and friends that pushed me through my students virtually to find out what they successful four years at South. I will miss the fact that I didn’t get to say goodbyes to missed most about not spending the my teachers and coaches. Even though I don’t necessarily talk to all the seniors in the class, we last couple of months of their were all part of such a great community and it is sad that we couldn’t share our future goals and accomsenior year on campus. Here plishments together in one place. I wish everyone in my class great success as they head into the wherever the is what they had to say: future takes them. I am proud to be a Rebel.”

Castro-Carbajal will be attending the University of ColoradoBoulder and plans to major in sociology.

Rashmi Ryan-Brundin, East High School “I miss seeing my teachers and classmates, and all the fun endof-year celebrations that seniors get to do, such as senior checkout and prom.”

Ryan-Brundin plans on studying humanities at the University of Toronto in Ontario, Canada.

Jordie Cunnien, DSST: Cole High School “One thing I’m going to miss the most is the chance to spend time with my friends and teachers, given it will be the last time I would have been able to physically hang out with some of them. School was one of the special places that I could hang out with my peers and educators, and it’s painful not having the ability to spend the remaining few months of my high school career with them.”

Cunnien plans on studying a mathematics subject at a four-year university.

Paola Gascot, DSST: Byers High School “Being part of the founding class of my very rigorous school, I speak for most of my peers in that not being able to spend the last few months celebrating our accomplishments with friends and staff has been the most disappointing. It’s one thing not wanting to go to prom, graduation, senior signing day, senior sunset, etc., and another being told that you can’t go.

These are events that happen once in our lives as high school students that we will most likely not experience again. Some say that they are not important and that we may not remember these memories, however, that is easier to say when you have already experienced these events.

These events are the closure we need in the transition into adulthood.”

Gascot will be attending the University of Denver and plans to double major in environmental studies and Spanish.

Washington Park Profile 7

June 2020

Emma Hoeschler, Denver South High School

Nate Kingdom, Denver South High School

“What I miss most about not being on campus for senior year is my teachers. I made great connections with so many teachers at my school and not being able to truly say goodbye to them at school is very difficult.

They’ve supported me for the last four years and I feel like the least I can do is say goodbye to them properly, which I haven’t been able to do whatsoever.”

“I just miss seeing the people and being in the community. I miss the teachers and I just miss the experiences I wasn’t able to have like my peers before me.”

Kingdom is taking a gap year to move to Israel and will enroll at the University of Colorado upon return.

Hoeschler is going to attend the University of ColoradoBoulder to pursue a degree in secondary education with a teaching licensure in social Studies and English for the high school level.

Gwen Scott, Denver School of the Arts “These are my last few months in the state of Colorado with all of my friends, and it’s really hard to not be able to spend more time with them before I move.”

Scott will be moving to Chicago to work in the film industry.

Annie Welch, Denver South High School “I miss my friends and the teachers that made my high school years so fun, fulfilling, educational and memorable.”

Welch will be attending the Colorado School of Mines as a Harvey Scholar, a merit-based scholarship program that recognizes and rewards merit in academic performance, outstanding character and leadership, and fosters excellence in academic and life pursuits.

Marina Santos, George Washington High School “What I missed most was saying goodbye to my teachers in person, and not having my International Baccalaureate art exhibition.”

Santos will be attending Wellesley College in Massachusetts.

8 Washington Park Profile

June 2020

Community hosts car parade for Denver South seniors

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arents, teachers, school staff and community members joined together to celebrate Denver South High School’s Class of 2020. The event, which took place on May 26, included a car parade and a grab-and-go style diploma handout.

All photos courtesy of Jenn Piccolo Photography/www.JennPiccolo.com

Community members wave to seniors as they drive by during a car parade graduation ceremony on May 26 to recognize Denver South High School’s Class of 2020.

Seniors graduating from Denver South High School hug each other during a car parade graduation ceremony on May 26.

Denver South High School’s Class of 2020 pop out of sunroofs and car windows to celebrate their accomplishments in a non-traditional graduation ceremony on May 26.

A student uses a cellphone to capture the excitement on May 26 during a nontraditional graduation ceremony for Denver South High School’s Class of 2020.

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Seniors graduating from Denver South High School participate in a grab-and-go diploma handout on May 26.

Balloons, poster boards and other celebratory decorations adorn cars as Denver South High School’s graduating seniors participate in a car parade on May 26.

Washington Park Profile 9

June 2020

‘In This Together’ initiative helps build social closeness Staff report

While the pandemic has been one the most stressful times for many, it also has driven home the message that our physical and mental health are not separate.

To combat the loneliness, isolation and stress, and to get through the pandemic with healthier minds, Mental Health Colorado has started “In This Together” as a way for Coloradans to connect with people and just to chat, according to a news release.

Residents can sign up on Mental Health Colorado’s website, and they will receive a supportive call just for the therapeutic sake of old-fashioned conversation.

“As a society, we shouldn’t have settled on the term ‘social distancing,’ which is the exact opposite of what’s best for our mental health right now,” Mental Health Colorado President and CEO Vincent Atchity said in the news release. “What we need is social closeness, solidarity, and support. In This Together is a way to create a little bit of social contact, all over the state, with a friendly phone call.”

In This Together is for everyone, including older adults living alone, people who just recovered from a surgery, young people living in remote parts of the state, and new parents trying to put workable routines in place. When people listen to and support each other, they feel and do better managing their way through

“We need to be increasingly understanding and compassionate with ourselves and others when it comes to our mental health. Creating healthier minds is a cultural shift and an ongoing work in progress. And everybody can do it.”

— Vincent Atchity, Mental Health Colorado President and CEO

challenges and have a better feeling for what it means to be strong and united as a community, the release says.

The shame of talking about mental health has taken a notable shift during this pandemic.

It is not as uncommon now to ask a coworker or neighbor about their mental health or to FaceTime someone just to admit you’re feeling

Denver resumes in-person city council meetings Staff report Some parking enforcement resumes In March, Denver suspended some of its parking rules and regulations as part of the city’s response to COVID-19 and the Stay at Home order.

Parking enforcement will resume in a phased approach, per Denver’s Department of Transportation and Infrastructure (DOTI) recommendations.

The first phase began on June 1.

Parking meters Parking meters in the downtown will be operational between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. and people using a metered parking space downtown must pay the meter and adhere to posted time limits during those hours. Parking meters outside of the downtown area will operate at the price and time limits posted on the meters.

Residential parking programs Enforcement of time-limited, non-metered parking spaces and residential parking programs will resume.

Residents who are eligible for residential parking permits should apply now and can check their eligibility at www.parksmartdenver.com. Existing permit holders are encours aged to renew expired permits. For those who are eligible for residential parking permits but who are unable to provide necessary documentation due to COVID-19, DOTI can issue 90-day temporary permits via an online application.

A second phase begins on July 1.

Parking restrictions for street sweeping DOTI is asking residents to move their cars so that street sweepers can effectively operate.

72-hour parking limits Residents should move vehicles parked that are parked in one spot for 72 hours.

The city will continue to suspend parking rules until further notice for the following: large vehicle parking on the street in nonresidential areas; school bus loading zones, until school is back in session; booting; and citations to remove a car for street paving operations, however, cars left on the street when work begins will be moved.

Some parking regulations were not suspended during COVID-19. Continued enforcement of such regulations includes, but is not limited to, “No Stopping” or “No Parking” zones to promote safety, fire hydrant zone clear areas, loading zones and RTD transit stops.

City Council resumes public meetings Denver City Council resumed in-person meetings in council chambers on May 11.

A face covering is required to enter the City and County Building. Council members also asking that anyone attending a city council meeting adhere to social distancing.

City council meetings are still available live streaming online on the city’s website, and/ or Denver residents can watch city council proceedings live on Denver 8 TV. Those who would like to provide public comment during a hearing, but cannot attend a city council meeting in person, may still submit written comment electronically by emailing DenCC@denvergov.org. All public comments received electronically are included as part of the official record.

Denver’s Legislative Services Office can be reached at the email address above or by calling 720-337-2000. Visit www.denvergov.org/ citycouncil for more information on Denver City Council.

lonely or anxious. This is one positive outcome of the pandemic.

Atchity hopes these behaviors will continue long after the threat of the virus is gone.

“People don’t have to go through this, or any, hard time alone,” Atchity said in the news release. “We need to be increasingly understanding and compassionate with ourselves

and others when it comes to our mental health. Creating healthier minds is a cultural shift and an ongoing work in progress. And everybody can do it.”

The purpose of In This Together is to provide social connectedness by phone, not to provide mental health services. Those who are more seriously concerned about their mental health should call the Colorado Crisis Services at 1-844-493-8255 or text “TALK” to 38255.

Experts suggest that the impact of loneliness and isolation on our health is as detrimental as smoking or obesity. Anxiety is higher than usual worldwide due to the economic and health impacts of COVID-19. Our communities must be prepared to deal with a secondary pandemic of mental health and substance use concerns, the release said.

Many are predicting that the curve of infections will precede a curve of mental health needs. With a revised 2020 policy platform addressing pandemic response and recovery, Mental Health Colorado aims to flatten the latter curve.

“There are many uncertainties right now, but what we do know is that all Coloradans — and everyone in the world — now have a much keener understanding of the vital way in which our mental and our physical health are connected,” Atchity said in the release.

To sign up, visit mentalhealthcolorado.org/ in-this-together.

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10 Washington Park Profile

LOCAL

June 2020

VOICES

Snapshots: worth more than 1,000 words

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FROM THE EDITOR

Christy Steadman

ell before the pandemic came about, Colorado Community Media — publishers of the Washington Park Profile and Life on Capitol Hill monthlies, as well as 18 weekly newspapers across the metro area — was selected to participate in the Colorado Media Project #GivingNewsDay Challenge.

The challenge’s overall goal was “to help inspire more individuals to support homegrown, local Colorado news” and “to help Colorado newsrooms get closer to the communities they serve,” according the Colorado Media Project’s website.

Participating newsrooms were challenged to raise funds through reader donations to get a dollar-fordollar match from Colorado’s Gates Family Foundation of up to $5,000. Jerry Healey, publisher/owner of Colorado Community Media, decided our funds would go toward new cameras and photojournalism trainings.

So, the editorial team, myself included, posted on social media and spread the word wherever we could.

Our former photography equipment was a hodgepodge, and it got the job done, but new cameras — combined with the trainings — will help us broaden our horizons with a camera and strengthen our photojournalism skills.

Our efforts were a success, and mid-May, all nine of the beat reporters received a new camera — a Canon EOS 77D. The newsroom also got some additional shared equipment for unique assignments that may require a special lens, for example. In addition, future photojournalism seminars and trainings are in store for us.

June marks six months that I have been with the monthlies. I’ve been enjoying it, but I realize I’m just getting started and there is so much more for me to explore.

In my first column, I asked you to tell me your story. Everyone’s got one. And you responded: I had a couple local business-owners reach out to me, newstips about community do-gooders and even some reader-submitted articles.

Now is the time for a green stimulus for jobs

W

atching a virus ravage our society and expose our systemic inequity has been difficult.

Black, indigenous and people of color are making ENVIRONMENT up larger portions of those infected WITH EAN and dying. We are seeing armed protests at state capitols without consequence. In juxtaposition, the Capitol 38, including me, were arrested at the Colorado Capitol in January for Ean Thomas Tafoya signing in protest to environmental justice. Early scientific evidence from Harvard University is linking increased rates of death to small particle air pollution. People across the nation are crying out to demand that we do not go back to a normal that leaves many in environmental sacrifice zones.

On May 21, during a U.S. Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee hearing, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler testified about the environmental rollbacks released during the pandemic, and their decision to relax enforcement on

A publication of

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polluters during the crisis. In this hearing, Democratic Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware stated, “What we need is an EPA that harnesses all of its resources to help us better understand any links between air pollution and COVID-19 risks and takes steps to address them. Instead, what we have is an agency taking actions that will increase air pollution and put public health at even greater risk. In recent weeks, EPA has rolled back critical protections for public health under the guise of industry relief and economic growth.”

What Carper states so well is what we are feeling — an administration and society that does not wish for a new normal where environmental justice is center. Locally we are seeing austerity as a response to this crisis. Budget cuts to city and state environmental health programs.

It is likely that most, if not all, environmental bills at the state capitol, including bills that would seek to improve the lives of fence line communities, will die due to budget concerns. How will this impact compliance of large polluters? How will this help us meet our climate goals? The answer is simple. It won’t. There are lots of solutions on the table for a Colorado and Denver Green New Deal, and it is time to fund a green stimulus for job creation and economic growth. It is a win-win, to grow SEE ENVIRONMENT, P11

A photo of a tulip, nearing the end of its bloom, that I took with my new camera outside of the Denver Botanic Gardens.

In this column, with a new camera in tow, I’m asking again: Tell me your stories. I can’t wait to hear them, write them — and capture them in photos that sometimes tell more than words ever can.

Edging back to a more normal work flow at city hall

L

ike so many, I’m one who craves a degree of predictability in day-to-day life that is sadly missing in this COVID-19 environment. I plot the daily end-ofday reports coming from the mayor’s office, searchGUEST ing for a clue as to where COLUMN the heck this pandemic is headed tomorrow, next week, next month or a year from now. While recent numbers show a consistent, hopeful decline in Colorado hospital beds devoted to COVID patients (688 on May 14, as I write this) and I believe early Councilmember and aggressive actions Paul Kashmann

by Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and Denver Mayor Michael Hancock have led to a scenario far less devastating than it might have otherwise been, we are far from the comfort of solid ground. Rather, we are precariously perched on a rolling wave threatening public health and economics that could pick up steam and grow even more fierce, or break calmly toward the shore depending on how conditions unfold as we attempt to take the first halting steps toward whatever the new Denver normal will be.

While city plans have budget dollars focused on adding more affordability to our housing

stock, creating a diverse multi-modal transportation network for pedestrians and cyclists as well as the motorized vehicles, increasing parks acreage to serve our ever growing populace, addressing the daunting impacts of climate change and more, economic projections signal that our best laid plans will hit some serious speed bumps in the near future.

Our friends at the state house predict a decline in state revenue of some $3.5 billion (some 25% of the budget), while anticipated city tax shortfalls (primarily sales tax, lodgers tax and Occupational Privilege tax) were recently updated from an original estimate of $180 million to new projections indicating a $226 million dip below expected levels. In addition to asking for Denver departments and agencies to sequester up to 7.5% of their 2020 budget, and looking to take $80-$100-million from city reserves, Hancock has declared that eight days of furlough for city employees will be needed to minimize cuts to city services.

Plans for the 2021 budget have begun, with the expectation that revenue will be substantially below hoped-for levels for next year as well. We will have more to say about specific impacts — what gets cut, what gets reduced, what gets postponed, etc. — in the coming weeks and months. Stay tuned. Stay hopeful.

Meanwhile, while we will continue to address COVID-related issues as needed until the pandemic winds down, things are beginning to edge SEE KASHMANN, P11

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Deadline 5 p.m. on the 20th of each month for the following month’s paper.

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Washington Park Profile 11

June 2020

Black Democratic Legislative Caucus and Colorado Latino Democratic Caucus provide joint statement on the police killing of George Floyd GUEST COLUMN Rep. Leslie Herod, D-Denver; Rep. Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez, D-Denver; and Sen. Robert Rodriguez, D-Denver

F

or generations, Black Americans are harassed and killed by racist police officers and vigilantes, and every year communities cry out and voice concerns about the unjust treatment of people of color. When it comes to seeking justice, the motives of black people are questioned, even during simple activities like taking a jog, watching TV in their own homes or picking up trash around their front yard. Our criminal justice system gives the benefit of the doubt to those who have committed hate crimes, stolen lives and robbed families of their children, spouses, parents and loved ones.

The lack of accountability for the vast majority of perpetrators is rooted in the racist history of our country, including slavery, Jim Crow laws and the suppression of voting and other civil rights. This legacy has had lingering and devastating impacts on black communities and continues to cast black individuals as not worthy of justice, of full protection by the law or of basic civil rights.

This has been seen once again in our nation through the brutal killing of George Floyd by an officer of the Minneapolis Police Department that knelt on his neck while Floyd gasps that he could not breathe. Witnesses called for the officer to stop, but the officer ignored their pleas. The officer was then able to walk about freely and live his life for four days before he was charged and arrested. This is not what justice looks like.

We, the members of the Black Democratic Legislative Caucus of Colorado and the Colorado Democratic Latino Caucus, jointly condemn the tragic killing of George Floyd at the hands of law enforcement, and the slow response for justice in the arrest of the officer that took his life. This is a continuation of the systematic racism that has plagued our nation since its inception. This must come to an end. We continue to commit ourselves towards working together on solutions that bring equality and stops the fear, hurt, pain and loss of life that minorities experience every day because of the color of their skin.

Kashmann FROM PAGE 10

back to a more normal work flow at city hall, with our four standing committees — Safety, which I chair; Land Use and Transportation; Business and Finance; and Governance — back on the weekly schedule, and our Monday night legislative meetings backing away from the hybrid live/virtual combination of recent weeks, and returning live to council chambers.

Council is considering a variety of charter change proposals that, if referred to the November ballot, would ask voters to approve items to strengthen council’s ability to assess city contracts, give council the responsibility of approving major mayoral appointees, exempting Denver from state law that impedes our ability to address gaps in broadband connections, and more.

Denver’s Department of Transportation and Infrastructure (DOTI) is moving aggressively forward with citywide plans to minimize auto trips by maximizing options for pedestrians and bicyclists. Hancock is committed to building out 125 miles of new bike lanes in five years. District 6 will get a protected bike lane on South Marion Street Parkway, from Bayaud Avenue to Virginia Avenue, and planning is under way for a Jewell Avenue bike lane connecting our city’s eastern reaches with the Colorado Center rail station and retail center at Colorado Boulevard and Buchtel

While this took place hundreds of miles away in another state, we recognize that hate takes place here, too. In the most recent hate crimes report of statistics released by the FBI, there were “123 reported hate crimes in Colorado [in 2018] compared to 106 in 2017.

Of those 123 incidents, 78 were based on race, ethnicity or national origin” (Westword). And with hate crimes on the rise, we also mourn all of the deaths of minority Coloradoans who lost their lives from the inexcusable actions of law enforcement — Elijah McClain, Marvin Booker, Michael Marshall, Jessie Hernandez and De’Von Bailey, to name a few. Our respective caucuses are deeply concerned by the increase in bigotry and racism not only across our country, but across Colorado.

Just as Latinos and immigrants ask for support from all Coloradans against an increase in xenophobic and racist hate crimes, as the Colorado Democratic Latino Caucus, we call on Latinos and allies to show collective support and solidarity for the survivors of hate crimes and of police brutality. We mourn the senseless deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and countless other black individuals who do not feel safe simply being black in public or at home. We applaud the recent arrests and investigations of alleged perpetrators of these hateful acts, but rue the fact that arrests and investigations only take place after gruesome video footage is released. A person’s murder should not have to be broadcast in order to achieve some semblance of justice.

Furthermore, we the members of the Black Democratic Legislative Caucus of Colorado call on the support of African Americans throughout Colorado to stand together for the multitude of families of those that have lost loved ones due to police brutality and hate crimes across this nation. They are our sons and daughters, they are brothers and sisters. Our lives and our liberties must not be stolen from us. We will not accept a double standard. We demand justice and equality. And in our call for justice, we remind those that demonstrate their grief to do so in a manner that uplifts

Boulevard.

Washington Park area residents and visitors will begin to see an impressive cadre of safety improvements unfolding to improve traffic flow and enhance safe access to the park and surrounding neighborhoods. Safe passage will be improved with the addition of a new traffic signal at Marion Street Parkway and Virginia Avenue; new, upgraded Downing Street signals at Virginia Avenue, Kentucky Avenue and Louisiana Avenue; as well as additional crossing options at non-signalized intersections along the Downing corridor.

Residents across the district and citywide are awaiting formal release of a proposal being put forth by the Group Living Advisory Committee that will change the definition of “household” to dramatically expand the number of unrelated residents allowed to live in a Denver home, as well as expand where organized Group Living facilities can locate. Visit denvergov.org/groupliving for details on the proposal.

Finally, I’d like to thank all of you for doing your part to minimize the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our community.

Continued vigilance to social distancing and mask guidelines will dramatically increase our chances of getting back to a more relaxed life in Denver sooner rather than later. Stay well.

Paul Kashmann represents District 6 in the Denver City Council.

District 6 covers southeast Denver, which includes the Washington Park, Virginia Village, Indian Creek neighborhoods and more. He can be reached at paul.kashmann@denvergov.org.

Local Focus. More News.

our united cause peacefully; our demands for justice must be justifiable in their own right.

Our caucuses together ask that all Coloradans stand up against racism, speak up and report hate crimes in your communities; and support each other as neighbors, as communities and as Coloradans to build a brighter, less fearful Colorado for our increasingly diverse children and future generations. Join us in putting in the effort to make Colorado more inclusive and welcoming for all people: the effort we put in today will save lives tomorrow.

Rep. Leslie Herod chairs the Black Democratic Legislative Caucus of Colorado, and Rep. Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez and Sen. Robert Rodriguez co-chair the Colorado Democratic Latino Caucus Black Democratic Legislative Caucus of Colorado State Representative Leslie Herod State Senator Rhonda Fields State Representative Janet Buckner State Representative James Coleman State Representative Tony Exum State Representative Dominique Jackson State Representative Jovan Melton State Senator Angela Williams Colorado Democratic Latino Caucus State Representative Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez State Representative Monica Duran State Representative Adrienne Benavidez State Representative Alex Valdez State Representative Bri Buentello State Representative Yadira Caraveo State Representative Sonya Jaquez Lewis State Representative Donald Valdez State Representative Kerry Tipper State Senator Robert Rodriguez State Senator Julie Gonzales State Senator Leroy Garcia State Senator Dominick Moreno

Environment FROM PAGE 10

the economy and improve public health, which lowers costs on our healthcare system, too.

In this vein, The Denver Climate Action Task Force is expected to release recommendations following their last meeting on June 11. The task force was assembled to strengthen Denver’s work to address the climate crisis equitably. You can tune in at the Denver Climate Action, Sustainability and Resiliency Facebook page to watch meetings live or review the process. Here is a quick recap: the task force is looking at three phases of implementation and multiple revenue sources that will be recommended. Without funding, we will not be able to actually meet any of these goals.

We know the sums may give people sticker shock, but they are likely to be eclipsed by the costs of response to cascading global disaster.

One last thing: Don’t forget to take the census and to vote in the Colorado primary by June 30.

Ean Thomas Tafoya is a climate and government activist. He can be reached at @BelieveEan on Twitter.

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12 Washington Park Profile

June 2020

Grasmere Lake: murky no more Wildlife, anglers enjoy a clearer lake in Washington Park

By Kirsten Dahl Collins Special to Colorado Community Media

T The wetlands at Grasmere Lake in Washington Park are becoming a wildlife sanctuary, popular among anglers, bird watchers and all sorts of different animals.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF TIM COLLINS

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his spring, visitors to Washington Park can glimpse a startling sight: striped bass cruising through the clear waters of Grasmere Lake. The bass are not new to Grasmere, but water clarity is. Once murky and dominated by Canada geese, the park’s southernmost lake is being reborn as a wildlife sanctuary.

Romantically named after the stomping grounds of poet William Wordsworth in the English Lake District, Grasmere was built in 1906 as part of the park’s master plan. Grasmere’s northern neighbor, Smith Lake, originally featured a bathing beach and bathhouse, while Grasmere was always intended as an ornamental wildlife sanctuary. But over the decades, urban run-off and too many Canada geese took a toll. Until recently, the soupy brown lake water held little attraction for people or wildlife.

Now Grasmere is making a comeback — and the change seems especially evident this spring. Redwing blackbirds chirrup among the rushes and a great blue heron stalks the shallows. A fishing party of white American pelicans perform synchronized dives.

Chubby muskrats, perpetually hungry, paddle around the lake, looking to dine on waterweeds and crayfish. Western painted turtles bask on a log. All sorts of ducks, from buffleheads to mergansers, drop in for a spot of foraging on their way north. And a cacophony of squawking, gurgling and cooing drifts across the water from Monkey Island, where large numbers of snowy egrets and black-crowned night herons have begun to nest.

It’s not just wildlife who are flocking to Grasmere. Local anglers are showing up with coolers and tackle boxes. They arrive in quest of the bass, bluegill and channel catfish stocked by Colorado Fish and Wildlife.

What accounts for the change? The relative quiet during the pandemic has lured more wildlife into the open, but Grasmere’s renaissance actually began in 2011. In that year, the city of Denver created a master plan to restore Washington Park, which was suffering from age and its own popularity.

The improvements gathered steam six years ago, when Denver Parks and Recreation planted stands of bulrushes and cattails at several spots around Grasmere, Smith Ditch, Smith Lake and the Lily Pond, a children’s fishing hole in the park’s northeast corner.

In effect, the lakes now have a series of mini wetlands, marshy areas that filter runoff and serve as nurseries for Mother Nature. According to the Colorado Wetlands Information Center, wetlands occupy only 3% of Colorado’s landmass — but foster up to 80% of the state’s wildlife.

“Wetlands have so many benefits,” said Vicki Vargas-Madrid, a wildlife biologist with Denver Parks and Recreation. “They help with storm runoff, absorb pollutants, improve water quality and provide habitat for wildlife and plants.”

In a way, these marshy areas are like secret hideouts for vulnerable creatures.

Down in the watery labyrinth of rushes, fish lay eggs, tadpoles hide and muskrats conceal the underwater entrances to their dens.

Although the new wetlands provide an outsize benefit to the lake, they aren’t doing it on their own. Aerators and a switch to environmentally-friendly fertilizers also improved water quality.

Fewer geese following the 2019 culling appear to have given Grasmere some breathing space. According to VargasMadrid, “the geese compete for habitat and push out other species,” limiting diversity in the park.

While Denver Parks and Recreation still grapple with problems like algae blooms and proliferating geese, Grasmere Lake has come a long way. Water quality is at its highest in years, according to the Department of Environmental Health, which tests the water annually. Anglers can now choose to eat the stripers they catch. On many mornings, bird watchers haunt the wetland areas, field guides in hand.

You can actually hear the difference, especially from Monkey Island, which now seems like the Manhattan of the bird world — noisy, busy and teeming with diversity.

Nowadays, many waterfowl seem to share the opinion of picky Mrs. Mallard in the children’s classic, “Make Way for Ducklings.”

On the hunt for an inviting nesting place with no foxes or little boys on bikes, she flew over a spot rather like Monkey Island.

“That,” observed the story’s mama duck, “looks like just the right place to hatch ducklings.”

A snowy egret hangs out on Monkey Island at Grasmere Lake in Washington Park.

Washington Park Profile 13

June 2020

Creative souls face challenges amid pandemic

By Ellis Arnold earnold@coloradocommunitymedia.com

Maybe they’re waiters and waitresses.

Maybe they drive for Lyft. Maybe they teach their own art classes.

Whatever an artist’s gig is, it likely was turned upside down by the coronavirus pandemic’s arrival in Colorado.

“It’s hard enough being an artist in general,” said Collin Parson, director of galleries and the curator at the Arvada Center, a nonprofit arts hub. He’s seen festivals and classes get canceled that often serve as a financial lifeline for people like one of his colleagues, a ceramics instructor at the center.

“A lot of artists piece together to make a life,” said Parson, a 37-year-old Lakewood resident who also works as a professional artist. He added: The fallout from COVID-19 has affected artists’ livelihoods “as artists and as people.”

In mid-March, Colorado ordered bars and restaurants to stop dine-in service for 30 days.

Theaters — including movie and performance venues and concert halls — also were among the businesses required to shutter. The state soon extended that shutdown, and it was still unclear as of mid-May when theaters could open back up. Bans on gatherings have made event cancellations of all kinds commonplace.

Theater gets help Amid the economic spiral, relief funds and other assistance for artists have come forward to ease the blow. In the case of Miners Alley Playhouse in downtown Golden, the city government and local organizations stepped up to support the theater, whose landlord provided a month of free rent, said Len Matheo, executive and artistic director at Miners Alley Playhouse.

The “small, mighty theater” prides itself on connecting people through the art of live shows, Matheo said. “People come together to have a theater experience, whether that makes them laugh, cry (or) think.”

Since Miners Alley shut its doors, its normal income streams dried up. Roughly $20,000 in donations since then have helped keep it afloat — its yearly budget is about $730,000 — and it also snagged a federal Paycheck Protection Program loan to help pay its handful of staff for two months.

But the roughly 100 actors, designers and other artists Miners Alley hires as contract workers in a typical year are having to navigate a more treacherous economic path.

“These actors are out of work. A lot of theater actors, their other job is in the restaurant business because of the flexibility of the hours,” Matheo said. Contract workers have had challenges accessing unemployment benefits because of conflicts caused by their other sources of income, Matheo added. n Pandemic unemployment assistance has worked out for Emily Tuckman, an artistic director and actor with the Boulder-based Misfits Theater Company.

“Right now, I have very little work,” said Tuckman, who lives in Boulder and whose company performs in Boulder and Denver.

“Ordinarily, I tutor SAT and ACT prep, neither of which is happening right now. Additionally, I’m a teaching artist,” but schools are closed.

Emily Tuckman is an artistic director and actor with the Boulder-based Misfits Theater Company.

COURTESY PHOTO The federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act provided pandemic unemployment assistance to those not ordinarily eligible for unemployment benefits, including gig workers— such as Lyft drivers — and the self-employed and contract workers, among others whose work was interrupted by COVID-19 in other ways. Tuckman is a self-employed artist.

Identity comes into question Even with the welcome financial assistance, Tuckman, whose “entire identity stems from being able to act, produce and teach,” has struggled with the identity of being a stayat-home mom, she said. Others are grappling with “the loneliness of solitude, and the unknown,” Tuckman said.

“It is so hard not to know when we will be safe and when society and the arts will come back,” Tuckman said. “I’ve gotten this message both from friends, and from fellow Misfits. We are all ready to get back out there and work emotionally and physically, but there’s this huge wall in the form of a pandemic, and we all want to keep one another, and ourselves, safe.”

Still, Parson, the Arvada Center curator, wants to project a message of hope. He pointed to the center’s call for submissions that any artist in Colorado can enter for free. It aims to portray artists’ thoughts on the pandemic and how they are responding to it, Parson said.

It’s called “Viral Influence,” and submissions will be considered for inclusion in a physical exhibition at the center in 2021.

Crisis spurs change Some people who are artists but haven’t had time for art in the bustle of everyday life may be able to work on art amid society’s halt, Parson said.

Parson has seen unfamiliar names responding to the call for submissions — an exciting development for him. Some artists have “exploded with creativity” from reading the news, learning about the virus and simply being outdoors.

“I know a couple artists I’ve talked to who think this’ll be a cultural renaissance, like (with) World War I or World War II,” Parson added.

Tuckman also believes current challenges could strengthen the arts.

“I just think the Denver community is such a special community,” Tuckman said. “I really, truly, believe that we will get through this, and we will be stronger as an artistic community because of it.”

A large heart bearing the word “hope” sits on the wall of the building that houses The Englewood Tavern on South Broadway May 20. Artist Koko Bayer has placed the hearts throughout the Denver metro area — including a 12-foot-by-12-foot version of it on the Arvada Center building, according to Collin Parson, the center’s director of galleries and curator. “It’s things like those that give me hope and energy to keep getting art out there,” Parson said.

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14 Washington Park Profile

June 2020

Using creativity to display art in a new environment MSU art students’ Spring 2020 thesis exhibition moved to virtual gallery

By Christy Steadman csteadman@coloradocommunitymedia.com

Lauren Bassett created a performance arts piece that she intended to perform on opening night of the Spring 2020 Metropolitan State University of Denver’s BFA Thesis Exhibition. However, Bassett filmed the five-minute presentation for the online exhibition, which entailed her removing chains — representing a veil — from her face, which symbolizes acceptance and moving forward from the past.

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A benefit for having an art student exhibition online is that all world has access to the work.

The downside, however, is that a thesis exhibition is often one of the first experiences an art student, and/or recent graduate of the arts, has to exhibit his or her work in a gallery.

“It’s a huge deal to have a gallery showing for students who don’t have a lot of experience with that,” said Celeste Utke, a Capitol Hill resident who graduated in May from Metropolitan State University of Denver with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in drawing.

The BFA Thesis Exhibition is the apex of MSU’s Studio Art and Communication Design students’ education, states a news release. It typically takes place at the Center for Visual Art, 965 Santa Fe Dr., in Denver’s Arts District. However, the Spring 2020 event had to be moved online because of the COVID-19 closures.

“The promise of exhibiting in a coveted gallery space motivates students who often plan their work to respond meaningfully to that site,” said Deanne Pytlinski, chair of MSU’s Department of Art, in a statement on the website for the online BFA Thesis Exhibition.

“When we are thrown a curve just before the thesis exhibition gets installed, it can feel like a jarring crash where all of our plans lie piled up in a ruin. But, as artists and designers, that is when we have to use all of our creativity to find solutions, to shift to a new environment, to use new tools.”

So, that is what the students did.

“We all came together, and made something that seemed impossible, possible,” said Lauren Bassett, who earned a BFA from MSU in art education and is looking into doing her student teaching this fall.

“Students made adaptations that in many cases strengthened their work,” Pytlinski added in her statement, “responding now to their own domestic spaces or a virtual environment in thoughtful and poignant ways.”

Utke, for example, whose piece is titled “Of The Echoing Self,” created nine 2 ½ by 5 foot canvasses — about the size of her body — with depictions of nature-themed elements and on them, such as roots and topography maps.

“They (the patterns) came from different places in my head,” Utke said, “representing emotional wavelengths when I’m in nature.”

The piece, she said, is a “self-reflection of how my body interacts with the natural world.” Originally, in a gallery setting, the works would have been displayed in a circle, to create the idea of the interconnectedness of humans and nature. For the online gallery, however, Utke set them up outdoors and photographed them. It changed the perspective a bit, Utke said, but it provided the opportunity for the canvasses to interact with nature.

Bassett created a performance arts piece that she intended to perform on opening night, but ended up filming it for the online exhibit.

Entitled “The Chain/The Veil,” Bassett, 33, made a chain of 12,040 individual links — one for each day of her life up to project completion — that symbolized “the chain

VIEW THE VIRTUAL EXHIBIT There are 35 students who have work displayed in the online Spring 2020 Metropolitan State University Denver Bachelor of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition. A variety of of media is represented, including ceramics, communication design, digital media, painting, photography and sculpture.

The exhibit went live on May 1 and is available for viewing through October. The link to the gallery is https://www.msudenverbfathesis.com/.

COVID-19 caused the Spring 2020 Metropolitan State University of Denver’s BFA Thesis Exhibition to be moved to an online platform. For Celeste Utke’s work, this required her to photograph her work in nature, rather than its intended circular display as it would have been in a gallery setting. reaction of thoughts, behaviors and consequences that have led me to this point in the present,” she said.

“The chain, the veil of my past, needs to be removed, in order for me to heal and move forward in life,” Bassett said.

A friend helped her apply the chain to her face, which Bassett wore for about three-tofour hours prior to filming its removal. In the five-minute video, Bassett removes the chain piece-by-piece, which symbolizes acceptance and moving forward from the past.

For Bassett, it was a reflection on the loss of her grandfather and her divorce, but also good events in her life, such as her travels in Europe.

“There was a lot of reflecting and pain, but healing, also,” Bassett said. “We all have a past and experiences that might burden us and keep us from moving forward. It’s OK to accept and reflect, and let go and move forward.”

Madison Sierra Faulkner, who graduated in May with a BFA from MSU in communication design, had an image in her mind of people interacting with her work at the gallery.

“Luckily, I had started work on my project SEE ART, P15

Washington Park Profile 15

June 2020

Vote to split United Methodist Church postponed Metro area pastors respond as decision on LGBTQ issues is pushed back

these churches. It’s this clash and others that have brought both sides of the UMC to seek a resolution.

“The postponement of the UMC General Conference is disappointing to everyone involved, but certainly understandable,” said Rev. Bob Kaylor of Tri-Lakes UMC in Monument, which follows the more traditional belief.

For the past few months, Kaylor’s and other

a knitted suit that serves as body armor, and using craft as a coping mechanism.

“One method of coping I’ve adopted to overcome CPTSD symptoms, is craft,” Faulkner said. “If I start to feel the familiar waves of dread or if I catch myself wide awake in the middle of the night, I turn to creation.”

Most of the students who have work displayed in the online exhibition are hoping to someday display their pieces together in a gallery. It may be that they rent a space in Denver somewhere after COVID-19, Bassett said.

For Faulkner, the online exhibition acts more as the educational element “to introduce audiences to the invisible trauma of living in a narcissistic environment,” she said.

“I am eager to show my work in its originally-intended state,” Faulkner said, adding she feels her work can truly help someone process trauma. “I’m willing to wait for the right opportunity for that.”

Madison Sierra Faulkner, whose work is titled “The Wall Protecting Me from You” and takes on the issue of complex post-traumatic stress disorder, feels moving the Spring 2020 Metropolitan State University of Denver’s BFA Thesis Exhibition to an online exhibit is the educational part that introduces audiences to her work, but is also hoping for an opportunity to display it in a gallery so people can interact with it as Faulkner intended.

COURTESY PHOTO

By Casey Van Divier and Elliott Wenzler cvandivier@coloradocommunitymedia.com ewenzler@coloradocommunitymedia.com

This May, the United Methodist Church was slated to end 50 years of disagreement over the role of LGBTQ people in the church.

But because of the pandemic, which postponed a scheduled vote to potentially split the church, now, they have to wait a bit longer.

If the vote went through, the church would have been divided in two: one group would allow LGBTQ people to get married and ordained in the church and another more traditional group would not.

But with the vote postponed as the denomination plans to set a new date for 2021, each local church in the UMC will continue as one entity for at least a year, even as some practice sacraments that are technically against the church’s laws. The UMC’s Book of Discipline, the church’s codified rules, disallow the ordination and marriages of LGBTQ people, but some churches oversee these practices anyways.

Colorado’s own bishop, Karen Oliveto, goes against the rules by refusing to reprimand

Art FROM PAGE 14

last fall and was mostly complete by the time we were asked in March to move to the online exhibition,” she said. “I was able to reorganize my small, one-bedroom Capitol Hill apartment in order to hang and document my crafted empathetic environment.”

Her piece, “The Wall Protecting Me from You,” incorporates positive coping mechanisms for those who suffer from complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD), which can develop in adulthood when a child is raised by narcissistic parents in a mentallyabusive environment, Faulkner said.

There are three elements to Faulkner’s work — a quilt that expresses the relationship between dysfunctional family dynamics and mental health; the word `YOU,’ representing anxiety for which the wall protects; and

is going to demand of the church at large a lot more focus on things that include sexual orientation but also go beyond that,” Feldmeir said. “Our problems are going to be much more complex ... and this complicates it even more, which is somewhat tragic.”

Despite some negative fallout, pastors also expressed there are potential silver linings to pushing the vote back. The General Conference typically occurs every four years, meaning it consistently falls on the same year as a presidential election. Holding the vote a year after the election could ease some tensions, Hensley said.

As for Feldmeir, he believes that extra time to mull over the issue could also be beneficial.

“There are good conversations happening,” he said. “Even as we push the pause button on the General Conference, I think we are having good conversations about how to push the debate further.”

Hensley agreed, saying the pandemic has highlighted the perks of being a united body.

Small UMC churches have had quick access to resources, guidance and grants because of their affiliation with the large entity of the UMC, and that may ultimately change how these churches feel about pulling away, he said.

“This is kind of a wake-up call for churches right now, and with that comes a renewed perspective on the importance of our connection as a Methodist church,” he said. “I’m willing to hope that even if we still end up separating, (we separate) in a more holy, more effective way than the way we would right now.”

Methodist churches in the metro area have set their focus on addressing the effects of the pandemic first and foremost.

“There’s a lot of time and energy figuring out how to be the church right now. That has completely and utterly taken up the oxygen in the room,” said Rev. Ben Hensley at Lakewood UMC, which holds the more progressive belief. “Six months from now, perhaps the sentiment will have changed.”

But even though the postponement is not currently the churches’ primary focus, they’re still grappling with its effects.

With the issue unresolved, the disagreement within the international faith community will continue to fester. Some churches will continue to break the rules — Hensley, for instance, said he will oversee LGBTQ unions if asked — and others will continue to find frustration with the inconsistencies in the denomination.

Rev. Mark Feldmeir of St. Andrew UMC in Highlands Ranch — whose church also subscribes to the progressive belief — worries ordinations could also be affected.

“The disappointment comes from knowing there were people all across the country who were hoping to pursue ordination and because this has been delayed, they will have to wait another year or longer,” Feldmeir said.

And once the pandemic subsides, it still may not be an ideal moment to confront this disagreement.

“Post-pandemic, we still have to deal with this when in fact, the post pandemic world

Bishop Karen Oliveto of the Mountain Sky Conference — which includes Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and Montana — is the first openly lesbian bishop elected to the office.

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16 Washington Park Profile

June 2020

Virtual Juneteenth Music Festival celebrates freedom Former two-day festival will present full day of online programming including panels Staff report A full day of online programming that includes panels, performances, a marketplace and the Dream Big awards will make up the newly imagined virtual Juneteenth Music Festival.

The 2020 online festival will take place June 18 on www.JuneteenthMusicFestival. com. According to a news release, the goal of the festival is to educate the larger population about the American milestone and mobilize to make Juneteenth a national holiday.

The Dream Big awards honor individuals who have set high standards for achievement in business, education, arts, and service, as well as community activists, leaders and entrepreneurs who dream big enough to have a positive impact on their communities and the African American community as a whole, the release said.

This year’s recipients include Joy Ann Reid,

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of the “Reid This Reid That” Podcast and MSNBC; Tiffany Aliche, “The Budgetnista”; Chanel Turner, founder of The Black Owned Wine and Spirits Festival; and John Burns, founder of Icon Talks.

The 2020 Virtual Juneteenth Music Festival acknowledges the importance of the arts and the role music played in communication among enslaved African Americans. This year’s platform is a global stage for musicians, vocalists and artists to celebrate the importance of art, storytelling and inclusion.

The full day of programming will include live content such as a women’s panel, LGBTQ panels, an “Icon Chat” with Sen. Rhonda

Remote literacy provided for K-3 students, families Read With Me at Home lessons taught by statewide master teachers Staff report

A neighbor sets up a fox adorning a mask to represent the nightly 8 o’clock howling that people participated in to honor healthcare workers. The howling ritual took place throughout April and most of May. PHOTOS COURTESY OF SANDY SCHUSTER

Dressed in scrubs, a tin-person represents a healthcare provider on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic tending to sick patients.

Fields and more celebrating the African American and Black experience and Juneteenth history.

Historically, Juneteenth takes place in the historic Five Points neighborhood of Denver and is the largest Juneteenth celebration in the country. Presenter JMF Corp takes on the challenge of continuing this tradition amidst social distancing guidelines. Those interested can sign the Change.org petition https://www. change.org/p/united-states-congress-makejuneteenth-a-national-holiday-in-2020 to make it a national holiday. Follow @JuneteenthMusicFestival on Instagram or visit www.

JuneteenthMusicFestival.com for updates.

Children in kindergarten to third grade, along with their families and caregivers, have access to remote literacy learning through Colorado Classroom - Read with Me at Home.

The direct-to-home learning initiative, which began May 18, is a partnership among Gov. Jared Polis, the Colorado Department of Education, the Colorado Education Initiative and Rocky Mountain Public Media.

“I am thrilled to announce this partnership with Rocky Mountain Public Media to provide high-quality, standards-aligned literacy instruction for K-3 learners across Colorado,” Polis said in a news release. “This programming will be available to families across Colorado to help close the digital divide and prevent learning loss during this critical time for children. I want to thank all of our partners, as well as the incredible, creative teachers that have helped make this a reality for Colorado children and families.”

The learning initiative will be broadcast in English with Spanish subtitles and is available for free because of support from Gary Community Investments, the release said. It will be shown on Rocky Mountain PBS stations in Denver (KRMA), Pueblo/Colorado Springs (KTSC), Steamboat Springs (KRMZ), Grand Junction (KRMJ) and Durango (KRMU).

During the COVID-19 school closures across Colorado, this remote learning initiative will provide continued early literacy development and provide K-3 learners with access to free educational reading resources at home on television and online, regardless

of their ability to access broadband internet services, the release said.

“Colorado Classroom - Read with Me at Home” will connect teachers with students in their homes from 8-10 a.m. Monday through Friday. Customized lessons on Tuesday and Thursday will leverage expert teachers to support students with language development needs.

The Colorado Education Association has provided the funding for stipends for the expert teachers. Viewers can watch or record the lessons, as they will be rebroadcast overnight to allow for DVR recording. Accompanying lesson plans and work packets will be posted on Rocky Mountain PBS’s website for parents and caregivers to use, adapt, and build upon.

Access to the lesson plans and student work packets available at rmpbs.org/ColoradoClassroom or by calling 800-274-6666.

“Particularly for the 15 percent to 20 percent of children who live in rural areas without access to high-speed internet, RMPBS offers a way to ensure every child has a place to continue learning in the framework of Colorado’s curriculum outside of the classroom,” Amanda Mountain, president & CEO of Rocky Mountain Public Media, said in the release. “Partnering with the State of Colorado Governor’s Office, the CDE and Colorado Education Initiative is such an important collaboration to ensure we can reach all Colorado families with this important early literacy development initiative.”

PBS Kids programming will continue to be available all day on the 24/7 PBS Kids subchannel or on the free PBS Kids Video or Games apps. For information about how to access channels based on location, visit http://www.rmpbs.org/channels.

Lesson plans and student work packets can be found at www.rmpbs.org/ColoradoClassroom. Other guidance documents and resources developed specifically for district and school leaders are available at https:// www.cde.state.co.us/safeschools.

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Washington Park Profile 17

June 2020

Colorado janitors rally to raise awareness May 19 car rally took place in downtown Denver

By Christy Steadman csteadman@coloradocommunitymedia.com

Janitors from across the metro area participated in a car rally in downtown Denver on May 19 to raise awareness of their struggles and to demand justice for the essential workers who are keeping buildings clean and sanitized during a public health crisis.

The work that janitors do is important all the time, but became especially crucial during the COVID-19 pandemic, said Eva Martinez, who has worked as custodial staff at Denver’s Republic Plaza, 370 17th St., for 25 years.

“We’re on the frontlines, cleaning all the buildings,” she said. “We want to demonstrate a message to our cities that the janitors are here, but we need additional protections.”

About 2,500 Colorado janitors are members of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 105, which organized

the car rally, said David Fernandez, a spokesperson for the SEIU. According to the SEIU website, Local 105 represents more than 8,000 people who are employed in healthcare, janitorial, security and airports throughout Colorado and the southwest U.S. Internationally, the union consists of 2 million people throughout the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico, states the SEIU website.

Negotiations for a contract extension “that will set the tone for how companies respond to compensating essential workers for their hazardous labor during this pandemic” are currently taking place, Fernandez said.

He added that contract negotiations occur every four years, but this year, the negotiations happen to be occurring during a global pandemic.

On topic of the negotiations this year are personal protective equipment, including gloves and masks for janitors; proper cleaning and sanitizing disinfectant; wages; and maintaining healthcare benefits, Fernandez said.

“It has been difficult for us,” Martinez said of being an essential worker in the janitorial industry during the pandemic. “But it’s our job. We have families and we need to be able to put food on our tables.”

A man wears a mask as he drives his car in the downtown Denver area during a car rally on May 19 hosted by the Service Employees International Union Local 105 to bring awareness of janitors’ needs during a global health crisis.

Sandra Lopez participates in a car rally on May 19 hosted by Service Employees International Union Local 105 to demand better wages, improved health care benefits and necessary safety protocols and resources janitors need to provide services during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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18 Washington Park Profile

June 2020

Vail Film Festival connects audiences and stories Five independent films to keep an eye out for

By Clarke Reader Special to Colorado Community Media

D

uring the COVID-19 quarantine, most of us have become exceedingly comfortable with foregoing the movie theater experience and streaming films from our couch. As familiar “Asking For It” There are numerous ways to a point across in storytelling, but few are as effective as laughter. Which makes Amanda Lundquist and Becky Scott’s hilarious and insightful dark comedy “Asking for It,” the perfect film to highlight the discrimination, threats and precautions women (both in the public eye and not) have to take on in their daily lives.

Stephanie Hsu (so good in “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”) brings pitchperfect comedic timing and fire to the character of Jenny, a female journalist dealing with an internet stalker. Think of it as a blend of “Heathers,” “Sweet/ Vicious” and Kevin Smith at his most irreverent. The film will hopefully inspire thoughtful conversation while avoiding the kind of moralistic tone that turns some people away from the topic. Attention should be paid.

as that’s becoming, its still strange to have the film festival experience without leaving the house.

But like everything else in the world, the 17th annual Vail Film Festival had to adapt to a new scenario, and the end result was still as informative and entertaining as ever. The streaming only model allowed viewers access to more movies a day than would be possible in person, and organizers still managed to connect filmmakers and audiences through pre-recorded Q&A’s and “Driveways” Some films just exude warmth. Not only in the story and characters, but in the way they’re shot. Such is the case with Andrew Ahn’s “Driveways,” which feels absolutely bathed in light.

Lead actress Hong Chau gives a wonderfully subtle and moving performance as Kathy, who brings her son Cody to clean out her late sister’s home.

They meet neighbor Del (Brian Dennehy), and together get through a tough time in each other’s lives. All actors give thoroughly strong performers, but it’s particularly bittersweet as its one of Dennehy’s last performances. Just like the film, he breaks your heart in the best possible way.

live-streamed discussions.

All of which supported the idea that has kept the festival going for nearly 20 years, and made it even more important it occur this year - the power of storytelling to unite.

As Robin Bronk, CEO of The Creative Coalition, said during a panel, “We’re all just people who need that moment of connection.”

In three days, I was able to check out 13 movies and two collections of short films “Asking For It,” “Barbara Adesso,” “Beautiful

“Drought” When a film is a passion project, that dedication comes through every frame. Such is the case with “Drought,” which made its world premiere at the festival. Written, directed by and starring Hannah Black and Megan Petersen, the film takes audiences to the drought-stricken Texas of 1993. Carl - an amateur storm-chaser on the autism spectrum (stirringly played by Owen Scheid), his sisters Sam and Lillian (Black and Petersen) and family friend Lewis Drew Scheid, who practically walks away with every scene he’s in) go after a much-needed storm Carl predicts is coming.

Along the way this family sees first-hand the power of acceptance and love. At one point a character says, “there’s no such thing as normal.”

That applies to this film as well. It’s something special.

in the Morning,” “Driveways,” “Drought,” “Fresh Tracks,” “Film For My Father Who,” “Love Type D,” “The Miseducation of Bindu,” “Ruth Weiss, The Beat Goddess,” “Seasons of Change on Henry’s Farm,” “Vasy Coupe” and “What Lies West” - and there was nary a dud among them. All are worth your time and support, and I selected five from new filmmakers to highlight.

(As they are all independent films, most of their release dates are still to be determined, but some are currently available).

“Ruth Weiss, The Beat Goddess” The beat writers of the late 1940s and 50s played an enormous role in the development of American culture and the arts. And yet - as is so often the case - the contributions of women have largely been pushed to the back. “Ruth Weiss, The Beat Goddess,” - lovingly directed by Melody C. Miller - takes a step toward redressing that fact by vibrantly exploring the life of legendary poet, actor, and innovator Ruth Weiss.

After Weiss fled Germany, she made a name for herself as one of the preeminent poets of the beat generation, pioneering the marriage of poetry and jazz. At nearly 92, Weiss remains a moving beacon of truth and the power of art. Watch this film, and you’ll come out of the film a wiser person. I know I did.

“Vas-y Coupe” A truly lovely and intimate look at a group of laborers spending the harvest season picking grapes in France “Vas-y Coupe,” not only explores how a product so many enjoy gets made, but touches on a changing economic and environmental climate.

The film is lyrical in its beauty, poetic in its cinematography and most importantly, celebrates the humanity of its subjects. At one point, one says, “I work the fields because I love it.” This film shows why.

Reuse program aims to meet demand for N95 masks

T Site manager Bartosz Koszowski points to six boxes of treated, decontaminated N95 masks from a Denver area hospital that are waiting to be picked up and sent back to the hospital.

he Federal Emergency Management Agency has set up shop for an N95 mask decontamination operation inside Brighton’s Adams County Fairgrounds’ Exhibit Hall. Crews there can process up to 80,000 used N95 masks a day, converting discarded personal protective gear into reusable safety equipment. The site has been in operation since May 4, and as of May 21, was one of 45 that FEMA set up around the country with national logistics consultants Battelle.

Staff members at Battelle’s N95 decontamination site in the Adams County Fairgrounds Exhibit Hall take delivery of two boxes of used N95 masks. The boxes will be taken into a decontamination chamber before they are opened and then treated to make them reusable. The service is available to all hospitals, medical centers, doctors offices and first responders as a way to make the nation’s supply of protective equipment last.

PHOTOS BY SCOTT TAYLOR

Washington Park Profile 19

June 2020

It’s theater! It’s a drive-in! It’s giant grasshoppers!

The trickster theater troupe will offer ‘The Grasshoppers’ to help get your mind off the coronavirus

T

By Donna Bryson, Denverite

heater artist Erin Rollman started with the literal.

Rollman was trying to come up with an idea for a show that her Buntport Theater troupe could do after rules imposed to stop the spread of the coronavirus made it impossible to gather audiences and performers inside.

So what’s outside? Grass. And what lives in the grass? Insects.

“I was thinking about the phrase `six feet,’” Rollman said, referring to the distance that public health experts advise we keep apart in public to try to stop the pandemic.

Well, kind of thinking about it.

“What little creatures would be out on the lawn that have six feet?”

She settled on grasshoppers. Some might quibble over whether grasshoppers have feet.

They definitely have six legs, and a backstory that resonated with Rollman. Grasshoppers are usually shy creatures, but they become ravenous locusts when they’re around their peers. Physical changes accompany the new behaviors, with the creatures growing stronger and changing color.

During the pandemic, Rollman said, humans “can’t get together in big groups without, metaphorically, turning into locusts.”

As is the tradition at Buntport, she turned to colleagues to brainstorm, via Zoom before Denver’s stay-at-home transitioned to safer-athome orders. Thus was born “The Grasshoppers,” a short play to be performed on a strip of lawn outside Buntport’s theater at 717 Lipan Street in the Lincoln Park neighborhood to audience members watching from their cars.

It’s not too much of a spoiler to divulge that Rollman, Erik Edborg, Brian Colonna and Hannah Duggan all will be wearing green grasshopper costumes sewn by Rollman, who is also a Buntport co-founder.

Drive-in style, audiences will hear a prerecorded script via their cell phones as they watch the four grasshoppers interact. The script sounds like a nature documentary’s narration, but “the learning factor is probably lower,” Colonna acknowledged.

This is, after all, Buntport, whose performers have been described by Denver Post theater critic Joanne Ostrow as “tricksters.”

Colonna said he hopes “The Grasshoppers” will offer a bit of respite from “the monotony some of us have felt in quarantine.”

A performance during a pandemic can’t be all fun. Safety was a priority as “Grasshoppers” developed from an insect egg of an idea to a show. Rollman, Edborg, Colonna and Duggan will keep a social distance on their lawn stage and have minimized sharing of props. Masks will be needed if you plan to roll down your windows during the show because cars will not be six feet from each other. Anyone who would like to see the performance without a car should contact Buntport for details on how that can be done safely (stuff@buntport.com or 720-946-1388). The theater bathrooms will be open during the show, but the performers kept “The Grasshoppers” to 35 minutes in hopes no one will need to go.

Erin Rollman and Erik Edborg are part of Buntport Theater’s “The Grasshoppers,” a play you can watch from your car.

PHOTOS BY KEVIN J. BEATY/DENVERITE

The collaborators had to consider whether audiences might be willing to come to a live performance.

Within days of the May announcement of the show’s June 11-27 run, the eight available parking spaces were reserved (on a pay-whatyou-can basis) for each of the 12 performances initially scheduled. Buntport is working out a schedule for additional shows, which will be announced on its website. Still, even if each car holds five people, the response to “The Grasshoppers” doesn’t compare to the 150 seats inside the Buntport.

While shops and restaurants have started to reopen under restrictions, it’s unclear when theaters will be welcoming audiences inside and under what guidelines.

For now, “a closed room with 150 people … doesn’t seem cool,” said Sam Schmitz, another member of the Buntport troupe.

Schmitz said her theater has some loyal fans who are used to coming as often as once a month. While it’s not quite the same as the pre-coronavirus performances, “The Grasshoppers” offers something more than the online material Buntport has recently offered.

“I personally think there is something about live theater you can’t always translate to online,” Edborg said.

Windshields will be between the performers and the audience, and the actors won’t be speaking during “The Grasshoppers.” But without bright theater lights, Rollman expects to be able to see each audience member, something she’s rarely able to do from stage.

“We can connect in a different way,” she said.

“This is its own thing. It’s not a replacement for a show that you can see inside a theater.

We’re trying to make it as intimate and fun as we can,” Rollman said. “I suspect that even though we have barriers, it will feel emotional.”

This story is from Denverite, a nonprofit Denver news source affiliated with CPR News. Used by permission. For more, and to support Denverite, visit denverite.com.

Brian Colonna participates in a “Zoom meeting” for the Buntport Theater’s production “The Grasshoppers.”

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20 Washington Park Profile

June 2020

Budget cuts revive debate about district administration

By Melanie Asmar, Chalkbeat Colorado

Faced with having to cut tens of millions of dollars from the school district budget next year, some Denver school board members are asking questions about the size of the district administration and just how much the superintendent shrunk it last year to pay for teacher raises.

After a three-day teacher strike, Superintendent Susana Cordova said she would cut $17 million and 150 positions from the Denver Public Schools central office. The district did cut millions of dollars in staff positions and saved millions more through consolidating different functions.

But skepticism about the depth of the cuts has remained. Many central office employees were rehired into new jobs, sometimes with higher pay, as part of a broader reorganization.

Critics who long accused the district of being top-heavy don’t think enough has changed.

The issue has gained urgency as the coronavirus decimates the Colorado economy. School districts are bracing for steep decreases in state education funding next year, and the Denver school board is discussing drastic budget cuts, including possibly freezing teacher pay.

“Unless we can get this cleared up, it’s going to overshadow everything we do with the budget,” school board President Carrie Olson said of the central office cuts.

Denver Public Schools is Colorado’s largest school district, and it operates on a $1.1 billion budget. A Chalkbeat analysis based on historical data found that Denver had more administrators than the statewide average in the 2016-17 school year and had gotten more top-heavy over time.

The Denver teachers union went on strike in February 2019 for higher wages and a different pay structure. They won both. Cordova, a former teacher who’d been hired as superintendent just a month earlier, vowed to cut

from the top to pay teachers.

By June, the school board approved a budget for this school year that included $17 million in cuts from the academics division of the central office and an increase of $53 million in school budgets, most of it for teacher salaries, according to documents provided by district finance officials.

Almost immediately, teachers and community members began checking whether the district had done what it said. Retired Denver teacher Margaret Bobb, in particular, filed several open records requests in search of information about the administrative cuts.

She spent over a year analyzing the data, and recently posted her findings on social media.

Bobb compared a list of people whose jobs were cut to a list of people who currently work in the central office. She found that more than 90 administrators who were cut are still there.

In addition to getting new jobs and titles, she found that many of them got raises.

All in all, Bobb calculated that the staff cuts were less than $17 million. She found that the salaries of the central office employees who left the district for good added up to just $6 million. Other central office employees whose salaries accounted for $4 million got jobs in schools as teachers and principals. Total staff cuts to the central office added up to $10 million, she found.

Already distrustful of the district, Bobb said her findings only further cemented that belief.

“They claim they’re poor, they claim they’ve streamlined, they claim they’ve cut, and they’re giving each other raises down in the executive level,” Bobb said.

Bobb’s salary data is correct, and her count of employees is close to the district count.

But district officials said her analysis doesn’t account for other savings that add up to more than $17 million.

In the end, Denver cut the equivalent of 117 full-time positions from the central office, said Jim Carpenter, the district’s chief financial

officer. That number is lower than the 150 positions originally cited because some people worked part-time and other positions were funded by grants. Cutting 117 positions from the district’s general fund saved $10.8 million, Carpenter said.

Another $6.9 million in cuts came from savings other than district salaries, officials said.

The central office cuts were part of a bigger administrative reorganization by Cordova, who made streamlining the organization one of her objectives. For instance, she collapsed several departments in the academics division into one.

Those changes resulted in sizable savings, said Chuck Carpenter, the district’s executive director of finance. Instead of rolling over the previous year’s budget, each streamlined department started at zero and built a budget from there. Certain third-party contracts were canceled, and fewer employees meant less money allocated for travel, technology, and copying.

The first statement a district spokesperson made about the cuts in February 2019 mentioned streamlining. “We will consolidate or realign central office teams to align with Superintendent Cordova’s vision and core beliefs and eliminate redundancies in our work,” it said.

But while the cutting of positions got a lot of attention, including from central office employees who felt vilified by the call to cut them to pay teachers, the non-salary savings did not.

A department-by-department comparison of the 2018-19 and 2019-20 budgets recently prepared by district finance officials and provided to Chalkbeat shows the changes.

But that document wasn’t available at the time. Instead, district officials summarized the budget changes in slide decks they reasoned were more understandable for the general public.

“We thought it was more digestible to move to the more summarized schedules,” said

Chuck Carpenter. But he acknowledged that sharing more detail is sometimes necessary: “The more that folks question things, the more you need to get into the raw detail.”

Board members have been frustrated by o how difficult it’s been to sort this out — and 2 at least some of them still have questions t about how Bobb’s analysis compares with the i district’s explanation. Olson said she spent the better part of a recent Saturday trying to n understand it. r “I have a Ph.D. in quantitative research. I sat a here and I thought, `I don’t get it,’” she said. t “At the end of the day, I don’t believe that the c people in the budget department are trying to s pull a fast one on us,” Olson said. But when sheh started digging into which positions were cut, b she said she found herself wondering, “Is this r really what we intended?” t Olson and board Vice President Jennifer Bacon said Bobb’s detailed analysis drew their attention to aspects of the reorganization that r — hadn’t been as clear before, including that, on average, lower-paid central office workers t were laid off while higher-paid administrators C were hired back into new positions as part of r Cordova’s reorganization.

As the board looks to slash what could be as t much as $60 million from next year’s budget u in the face of decreased state funding, it has enlisted the help of a budget advisory commit- s tee made up of teachers, principals, parents, 6 and community members. While further cuts o to the central office weren’t initially identified o as a possibility, the district is now listing it as s l an option.

“What we spend money on is a demonstration of our values,” Bacon said. “Have we seen t i what we want to see from that investment?

That, for me, is what this whole conversation has opened up.”

This story is from Chalkbeat Colorado, a nonprofit education news source. Used by permission. For more, and to support Chalkbeat, visit co.chalkbeat.org.

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Washington Park Profile 21

June 2020

Restaurants get OK to open limited dine-in service May 27

By Ellis Arnold earnold@coloradocommunitymedia.com

A long-awaited step in Colorado’s relaxation of social distancing requirements arrived May 25 when Gov. Jared Polis’ office announced that restaurants will be able to open for limited in-person dining starting in two days.

“We are still a long way from returning to normal, but these updates are a step in the right direction because Coloradans are doing a good job so far limiting our social interactions,” Polis said in the May 25 release. “If we can continue staying at home as much as possible, wearing face coverings and washing our hands when leaving the house, then we will be able to slow the spread of the virus while reigniting our economy.”

But he warned: “If not, it will cost lives, and the economic pain will also be worse.”

Colorado on March 16 ordered bars and restaurants to stop dine-in service for 30 days — still allowing delivery, take-out and drivethru service — in a bid to slow the spread of COVID-19.

But extensions of the shutdown have kept restaurants and bars closed — except in counties with waivers from state requirements — until now.

Restaurants will be able to open with limited seating, with different parties spaced at least 6 feet apart, and the state is encouraging local officials to allow expanded outdoor seating options. Polis has suggested cities and counties should consider seating on sidewalks, parking lots and even streets.

“That’s really the only way, with the spacing, that were going to have a thriving restaurant” industry, Polis said at a May 18 news confer-

STATE MAY CONSIDER SMALL-BUSINESS RELIEF FUND Gov. Jared Polis acknowledged “the pain our restaurants have been through” during the state’s closure of dine-in service.

“And that means everybody,” Polis said at a May 26 news conference. “It means of course restaurant owners, but it also means chefs, sous chefs, bussers, wait staff, greeters” and other workers associated with restaurants.

In response to a Colorado Community Media reporter’s question during the news conference, Polis didn’t say the state could provide immediate financial assistance to help restaurants survive. But he expressed desire to work with the state Legislature on a small-business relief fund and hopes the

federal government can offer more help.

“Many restaurants are participating in the (federal) Paycheck Protection Program, but as originally constructed, it didn’t work perfectly for them because they didn’t have a big payroll or any payroll in some cases during the time period where they were closed,” Polis said. He added: “We hope there’s a piece in the next federal legislation that applies specifically to tourism businesses (and) to restaurants.”

Colorado’s restaurant industry accounts for more than 294,000 jobs, or roughly 10% of statewide employment, according to Polis’ presentation.

ence. He added: Restaurants “simply can’t stay in business with a quarter or half capacity.”

Bars, however, don’t all have the green light to open for dine-in service. The state will evaluate in June whether establishments that do not serve food can open, according to a fact sheet from the governor’s office on the new guidelines.

“The intent of this guidance is to open establishments in which people traditionally associate only with those in their party,” the fact sheet says.

Whether a business can open as a restaurant depends on whether it is set up to host patrons for meals, the fact sheet continues.

“There may be some establishments, like breweries with large indoor and outdoor spaces, that want to change their business model to re-open and operate like a restaurant,” the fact sheet says. “In these cases, food must be provided by a licensed retail food establishment.”

A business could partner with neighboring restaurants to provide food or partner with food trucks, according to the fact sheet. Light snacks, such as bar nuts, or things that are commercially prepared somewhere else and heated up in a microwave don’t count as food service. Allowing patrons to bring their own takeout or order food from an app does not count either, the fact sheet says.

Any establishment that can adhere to the state’s guidelines and ensure access to food for on-premise consumption can open, the guidance from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment says.

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Some camps open; skiing able to open Children’s day camps and youth sports camps can open June 1, according to the governor’s office’s news release.

Residential overnight camps will be closed in June, and decisions for July and August overnight camps will be made in mid-June.

Children’s residential camps that choose to operate as day camps must work with the Colorado Department of Human Services and their local public health agency for approval.

Day camps, including mobile, youth sports camps and outdoor camps, must operate with restrictions as specified in the state’s guidance at tinyurl.com/ColoradoCampGuidance.

Effective May 25, private campsites could open, according to the release. If a host county would like to keep campsites closed, county commissioners should consult with their local public health agency and then notify the Colorado Department of Natural Resources and the state health department in writing, the release said. Campgrounds in the state park system are already open.

The state’s Executive Order D 2020-049, which extended the closure of ski resorts, has expired, the release said. Ski resorts may work to secure approval from their local authorities in order to open.

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Washington Park Profile 23

June 2020

Colorado Symphony continues to #PlayOn Virtual concerts, education keeps audience engaged during COVID-19 hiatus

Yumi HwangWilliams, violinist and concertmaster with the Colorado Symphony, is celebrating her 20th year with the orchestra this season.

The orchestra is looking forward to performing live again, once it is safe to do so following the COVID-19 pandemic, HwangWilliams said.

By Christy Steadman csteadman@coloradocommunitymedia.com

Whether it is performing at a Rockies baseball game or a Broncos football game, composing original music for the state government or putting on a small concert at a brewery, the Colorado Symphony is uniquely Colorado.

“We celebrate what we are as a community and all things Colorado,” said Anthony Pierce, the Colorado Symphony’s chief artistic officer.

“The orchestra is committed to doing everything it can to be there for the community.”

The Colorado Symphony is a not-for-profit organization that consists of 80 full-time musicians. Though based in Denver, the orchestra performs more than 150 concerts across the state to fulfill its mission to “inspire, educate, support and entertain,” Pierce said.

Social distancing orders because of the COVID-19 pandemic have prohibited gathering of large crowds, including live music and concert venues, so the Colorado Symphony has gotten creative on its offerings to fulfill its mission during this time, Pierce said.

One way is continuing to provide music virtually through various social media platforms, as well as the orchestra’s website, with the hashtag #PlayOn. Its March 23 posting of #PlayOn: Colorado Symphony’s Digital Ode to Joy generated 559,037 views as of May 11.

“Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony is an ode to humanity, to peace over desperation, to universal kinship and, of course, to joy,” the Colorado Symphony posted. “We hope that this small tribute stands as a reminder that community is powerful and together, despite the anxiety and separation, we will come back stronger than before.”

Expanding on its weekly #PlayOn Virtual Music Hour, the Colorado Symphony is also launching its MusiCurious Instrument Interview Series. MusiCurious is one of the symphony’s education programs.

“Sharing the art is one thing,” Pierce said, but “education is also a big part of what we do.”

The MusiCurious Instrument Interview Series is an online exploration of the orchestra featuring video demonstrations by Colorado Symphony musicians on their respective instruments. The videos are available for streaming on ColoradoSymphony.org and will be released on a bi-weekly basis.

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The Colorado Symphony is a not-for-profit organization that consists of 80 full-time musicians. Though based in Denver, the orchestra performs more than 150 concerts across the state to fulfill its mission to inspire, educate, support and entertain.

The first one launched on May 13, and features Yumi Hwang-Williams, violinist and concertmaster of the Colorado Symphony, who is celebrating her 20th year with the orchestra this season.

The Colorado Symphony continues to be a progressive ensemble and is “in the forefront of the symphonic world,” Hwang-Williams said, pointing to movie score performances and projects involving collaboration with local artists.

“When we’re on stage, the most important thing is to deliver our best and share our love of music,” Hwang-Williams said. But for now, she added, “we’re happy to be working on the

The Colorado Symphony is a not-for-profit organization with a mission to inspire, educate, support and entertain the community.

To continue its mission during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Colorado Symphony has launched its #PlayOn — a collection of videos available for free streaming found on the orchestra’s website and various social media platforms.

virtual offerings and keeping the audience engaged during this time.”

The Colorado Symphony’s musicians truly care about their audiences, said Jason Shafer, the orchestra’s principle clarinetist.

“We’re doing something that makes them very happy (and) we’re looking forward to bringing live music back to everyone as soon as we can, safely and creatively,” he said. “But it’s amazing what we can do with technology.

It is wonderful that we can still bring the happiness and emotions of a live concert to your home computer.”

Because the Colorado Symphony is adventurous with its programming, it offers some-

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thing for everyone of all ages, said Carolyn Kunicki, second horn with the Colorado Symphony. Everything from symphonic classics to performing with well-known rock bands such as The Flaming Lips or The Lumineers, for example; and featuring up-and-coming artists as well as performing alongside local musicians such as a tango group and others, Kunicki added.

“People need to experience live music (and) that emotional level and community will all be there when we get back,” Kunicki said of live performances. “An orchestra is a cultural necessity. Denver would not be the same city without its world-class orchestra.”

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24 Washington Park Profile

June 2020

City Park Golf Course anticipated to open this September

By Christy Steadman csteadman@coloradocommunitymedia.com

Playing golf at Denver’s City Park Golf Course will be a modernized blast from the past.

There will be some nostalgia, said Scott Rethlake, director of Denver Golf, adding that playing the new course will remind players of the old holes.

The City Park Golf Course has been closed since November 2017 to undergo a water detention project. The Denver Golf website states that “City Park Golf Course was selected for water detention because it will protect significantly more homes and businesses, enhances an existing city asset, reduces the need for private property acquisition and provides for future stormwater needs.”

Currently in the phase of turf grow-in, anticipated opening for the new course is this September.

The turf “has to have a whole growing season before it can withstand the stress of people playing on it,” Rethlake said.

Nighttime temperatures need to reach 60 degrees for the turf to grow properly, which usually doesn’t happen until May and continues through August, Rethlake said.

The property is 135 acres and the course is 18 holes par 70. Though it will be reminiscent of the old course, Rethlake believes the new

City Park Golf Course closed in 2017 to undergo a water detention project. Now in the phase of turf grow-in, the golf course has an anticipated opening of this September.

COURTESY OF DENVER GOLF course will be a more interesting experience for golfers.

The new design incorporates a lot of the existing corridors, but it also includes new landscaping with water features and bunkers — not to mention a brand-new clubhouse, maintenance facility and a full driving range.

Budget for the project was $45 million with a $4 million retainage, and the project was on budget as of mid-May, Rethlake said. Because it was a water detention project, the funds came out of the city’s stormwater fund.

City Park Golf Course attracts golfers of all levels who come from

at City Park Golf Course when she moved to the Capitol Hill neighborhood.

“I love being outdoors,” she said, “and the challenge of the shots.”

Bater is also involved with a women’s golf league — the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Amateur Golf Association — which, prior to its closure, played the City Park Golf Course every week in the summers, Bater said.

She served on the course’s Design Committee, which consisted of neighborhood residents, golfers and people with knowledge of the course’s history.

Bater believes the new course in-

about a five-to-10-mile radius of the course, Rethlake said. Prior to its closure, it entertained about 48,000 rounds a year, Rethlake added. The course also hosts youths involved with the First Tee, a youth development program that uses the game of golf to “build character and instill life-enhancing values,” states its website.

Built in 1918, “people grew up playing on it,” Rethlake said of City Park Golf Course. “We wanted to save those memories (in) the new design.”

Jennifer Bater has been playing golf for about 30 years, and about 25 of those have been spent playing

cludes the best of both worlds — the familiarity of the old course paired a “fantastic, exciting and challenging” new design, she said.

As soon as it opens, the first thing Bater is going to do is book a tee time, buy a bucket of balls and hit her driver on the new driving range, she said.

But she added she is also looking forward to the 19th hole with the others on her women’s league.

The 19th hole is what golfers say in reference to enjoying a drink after a game, Bater said.

“The city has many nice courses, but City Park is close to my heart,” Bater said. “It’s a city treasure.”

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