The Denver North Star October 15 2022 Online Edition

All Aboard the ‘Freak Train’ at The Bug Theatre

North High’s Sawyer Klein Misses Golf State Championship by Inches

By Eric Heinz

By Toni Tresca

Freak Train at The Bug Theatre is billed as a cross between a variety show and an open mic night in which the first 12 people to sign up get five minutes to do anything they want on stage.

Well, just about anything. They can’t harm anyone in the theatre, but it is uncensored and—as the host joked—often unrehearsed.

Freak Train recently celebrated its 22nd anniver sary in August as the theatre’s longest-running tra dition and it claims to be the longest-running im prov show in Denver.

The Bug Theatre is a kooky, intimate space. Three glorious Greek coliseum columns frame the stage. Two disco balls hang from the ceiling, and there is cheeky, col orful lighting throughout.

GerRee Hinshaw hosts Freak Train and is just delightful. Hinshaw’s energy and impressive crowd work light up the room and keep the show moving at an entertain ing pace. Hinshaw was assisted during August’s performance by “The Guy in the Booth,” Alex Weimer (also the theatre’s execu tive director), who humorously interjected audio gags and controlled the performer’s tech.

This performance was a smaller-than-usual Freak Train. Instead of the usual 12 performances, there were only eight acts. As one might expect, the quality and subject matter varied from act to act.

Yet, regardless of materi al, each act provided an in triguing look into the hap penings of local community members. One performed

heartfelt poetry, another told a story about his time in Mexico, and a daughter gave a presentation about her “Bad Ass Mom,” complete with photos.

One performance, "Richard,” which was a slam poetry clap-back to the male comedians who had ex clusively discussed their “Richards” at last month’s Freak Train, really landed with the crowd.

Another highlight was Freak Train regular Aar on the Entomologist’s discussion of Thrips. There is no punchline to this act.

Aaron is just a guy that loves bugs and wants to share that knowledge with his community.

The evening concluded with Hinshaw teaching the audience harmo nies to the group’s new closing song. Hinshaw is a gifted vocalist who welcomed patrons to the church of Freak Train through song.

She freestyled to the crowd that “we all have five minutes ... then an other. So, put what you want into the world for five minutes at a time."

Though participation was initially timid, Hinshaw built the crowd’s confidence so that by the end, the entire audience was singing and clapping together.

Admission to the event guarantees patrons free beer courtesy of local Denver brewery The Great Di vide, contributing to a Dionysian atmosphere. Five bucks can rarely get you anything, so thank you to Bug Theatre management for keeping the price low and accessible so the entire community can get in on the fun.

Freak Train occurs on the last Monday of every month. Signup is at 7 p.m. and the show starts at 8 p.m. The next Freak Train happens on Oct. 31. For more information, check out bugtheatre.org.

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awyer Klein was oh so close. Maybe one putt drops here, another there, and the high school golf state championship would have been his.

After Klein shot the lowest score (a 3-un der 69) of the first round of the Colorado High School Athletic Association’s 4A State Golf Championship at Pelican Lakes Golf and Country Club, the second round proved to be a blustery and difficult trek.

Facing a back-left pin, Klein found himself in a greenside sand trap with 20 yards to go.

“The playoff hole was 18, and you can’t hit a driver,” Klein said. “I really hit a good tee shot, but I still had about 230 (yards) left to the green. So I hit a punchy hybrid into there and I just lost it way left. I was basical ly dead after that.”

Klein stumbled out of the gates on day two with a bogey on hole 1, a double bogey on hole 4 and another bogey on hole 8 to shoot a 4-over 40 on the front nine. He was able to corral two birdies on the back nine, but after another bogey on 16, he finished his round with a 3-over 75, making him even par for the tournament.

His chances had all but faded. Or had they?

Due to a scorecard issue with one of the players who finished 2-under for the tour nament, Klein and three other players had new life.

But Klein couldn’t muster a par on the first playoff hole, and Riverdale Ridge’s Bradley Weinmaster took home the title.

Klein’s coach, Ron Ramirez, said this is the best finish “in recent history” a North High student has had in a golf season, al though seeing Klein lose in a playoff was “very, very heart-wrenching.”

“It was a tough day for a lot of kids on that front nine,” Ramirez said. “There weren't a lot of red numbers from anyone in the field.

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PHOTO COURTESY OF BRENT MURPHY Denver North High School’s Sawyer Klein, a senior, hits a pitch shot during a round of the CHSAA 4A State Championship in early October at Pelican Lakes Golf Course and Country Club in Windsor.

GerRee Hinshaw, far right, leads the audience in the show's opening number.

PHOTO BY TONI TRESCA

Two plots at Olinger Crown Hill Cemetery

Spook-Tacular Happenings This Month in North Denver

By Basha Cohen

rom Halloween costume balls to boo-

F

zy chills and thrills to haunted hous es for the creep-seekers among us to family-and-pet-friendly trick-or-treat festiv ities, Halloween 2022 is a witchy cauldron of activities.

For the best trick-or-treating in the neigh borhood, check out the heart of the Highlands “Ghost District” from Irving Street to Low ell Boulevard between 29th to 31st Avenues, where adults revel in creating spooky theater in their homes and gardens with a bubbling cauldron of shrieks for your little ghosts and goblins.

Oct. 15, 11-6 p.m. Growl-o-ween, Three Dog Bakery, 1503 Boulder St.

Oct. 27, 7:30-9 p.m. Halloween Im prov Comedy Duel, The Bug Theatre, 3654 Navajo St.

The Parker Players' Annual Halloween Costume Show will feature improvisers per forming in costume and in character for the entire show. Tickets are $10.

Oct. 28, 7-10 p.m. Monster Mash BOOOONGO & Boogie, Little Man Ice Cream Factory, 4411 W. Colfax.

Get all gussied up for a raucous night of cos tumery, bingo, and a Monster Mash boogie. Enter the costume contest to win great prizes. Categories include spookiest, most creative, cutest, and best family or group.

Open for Personal Training

Bring your furry family members dressed in their best costumes for trick-or-treating for your dog around the LoHi neighborhood. Costume contest categories for dogs include small, medium, large, and best group cos tumes. Special treats and goodies will be avail able at the bakery.

Oct. 21-22, 6-11 p.m. Witch Fest 2022, Elitch Gardens, 2000 Elitch Circle

Calling all spiritual beings and the curious for Colorado’s largest pagan festival. The cel ebration will include a Mystical Market, tarot readings, performances by Nordic Daughter and DJ Howl, and a live ritual to honor the dead. Plus, some pretty wicked witch net working! Purchase tickets online at moontem pleschool.com/witchfest.

Oct. 22, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Colorado Ladies of Lowriding Trunk or Treat, Joshua Station, 2330 W. Mulberry Place

For an offbeat trick-or-treat experience, don your costumes, decorate cars, and go low rider-to-lowrider for goodies galore. Bring an unwrapped toy to donate to the Santa Cruz.

Oct. 29, 10 a.m.-noon. Sloan’s Lake Clean Up in Costume with Odell Brewing Co, 1646 Perry St.

Protect our Rivers and Odell Brewing Co. are wrapping up the Lake Love Cleanup Series this season. Come in costume, clean the lake, and enjoy a free beer at Odell’s Sloan's Lake Brewhouse for your good deed. Free. Sign up at protectourrivers.org/events.

Oct. 29, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tennyson Fall Fest & Pet Parade, Tennyson Street From 41st to 43rd Avenue

Trick-or-treat with local businesses from the Tennyson Berkeley Business Association (TBBA). Dress up with your pet for the pet costume parade. Live music with The Cop per Children, beer, artisans, and more. $12 admission includes two complimentary bev erages (21 and older), Kids under 10 are free; $5 per pet to enter the parade. All proceeds benefit TBBA.

Oct. 29 2-3 p.m. DIY Trick-or-Treat Bag + Costume Party, Denver Public Library, Smiley Branch, 4501 W. 46th Ave.

Stop by Smiley before trick-or-treating on Tennyson this year for a Halloween costume party and to decorate your own candy bag! Materials and refreshments will be provided.

Oct. 29 5 p.m.-1 a.m. The Denver Witches Ball, Highlands Masonic Lodge, 3550 Feder al Blvd.

Get on your broom for the 30th Annual Denver Witches’ Ball, Denver’s premier pagan Halloween Masquerade Ball. Magic, music, shopping, the occult, and more. Bring the kids in the early hours. $30 online/$38 at door.

More information at: denverwitchesball.com/ event/denver-witches-ball-2022

Oct. 29, 6 p.m.-2 a.m. Elks Club Hallow een Costume Party, 2475 W. 26th Ave.

Denver #17, the “Northside Adult Play ground,” presents the 6 Million Dollar Band, the Ultimate 80s experience. DJ Nes spins in the club room, which in cludes a complimentary late-night nacho bar. $40 advance/$45 at the door. 21 and older only.

Oct. 30, 9-11 a.m. Highland HUNIween

Parade, 2835 32nd Ave.

Meet at the Gardens of St. Elizabeth for this family-friendly parade. Kids will walk down 32nd Avenue to Erie Street for a trick-or-treat street and a party at Recess Gardens including face painting, food, crafts, and more. Free.

Oct. 30, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. 14th Annual Pumpkin Carving & Costume Competition, Little Man Ice Cream, 2620 16th St.

Join an after-party from the HUNIween Parade. Buy a pumpkin in the patch or bring your own. Little Man has the carving tools, but bring your own carving knife if you choose. Winners for pumpkins, people, and pets (spookiest, most creative, cutest and best family or group) will be announced at 2 p.m. Free.

Oct. 30, 2-5 p.m. Highlands Harvest Festival, 32nd Avenue from Lowell Boulevard to Perry Street

Make it a full-on day of Northside Boo-ti ful happenings. Trick-or-treating, a parade, bouncy castles, pumpkin carving, and a costume contest for peeps and pets. Free.

Oct. 30-Nov. 1, Noon-9 p.m. Dia de Los Muertos, Little Man Ice Cream, 2620 16th St.

Bring offerings, photos, and favorite mem ories or belongings of your deceased relatives as we create a community altar in honor of their spirits. Day of the Dead is a time of joy to remember our ancestors and celebrate with their spirit.

BookBar Announces Closure, Will Shutter Jan. 31

By Eric Heinz

Nicole Sullivan,

a mixed range

emotions in deciding to close BookBar.

The BookBar owner announced recently that the Tennyson location will close Jan. 31 after 10 years in business.

The owner of the building, Sullivan, told The Denver North Star that she will lease the property in the future after the closure, and she is still looking for a tenant.

“No one was more surprised than I was when it started looking like BookBar would actually make it through the pandemic,”

Sullivan wrote on her business’s website.

“I should have known that our community would rally around us and that readers would change their buying habits in order to keep independent bookstores alive.”

Sullivan said the decision to close was based on a few factors, such as increasing

minimum wages and because she wants to spend more time with her family.

“For us, it comes down to very simple math,” Sullivan wrote. “When I opened BookBar in 2013 the minimum wage was $7.78. In January, it will increase to $17.29. That is roughly a 122% increase in the past 10 years. Compare that to the price of books, which have only increased around 5-7% in the past 10 years. It just doesn’t work.”

Sullivan said the sales from the bar helped the profit margins, but it also increased the complexity of the business. While food and drink competitors can raise their prices, pric es of books are set to the publisher’s standard.

Other ventures of Sullivan are not leaving, however. BookBar owns The Bookies Book store at E. Mississippi Avenue. BookGive, a nonprofit affiliated with BookBar, will con

tinue to operate in its location at 4890 Lowell Blvd.

The BookBar printing press operation is also going to continue to operate at the Tennyson location.

“I just want to encourage everybody to keep supporting local businesses and cer tainly independent bookstores,” Sullivan said. “They're so important for the commu nity, and I feel really bad taking down this community resource. But, at the same time, there are so many creative people out there with great ideas. I feel if there’s a need, it will get filled.”

BookBar’s hours are now 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Storytime hours have also been reduced to twice a week, 4:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and 10:30 a.m. on Fridays.

PHOTO BY LOREN MARTINEZ

PHOTO BY BASHA COHEN

and

Centennial Elementary Launches Fundraising Effort

By Celeste Benzschawel

It’s that time of year again: school fundrais ing season.

Centennial Elementary, like many schools across the country, relies heavily on fund raising and donations to keep their programs flourishing. This year, the school is adopting a new approach, one administrators hope is ef fective as well as more equitable and inclusive.

“We really want to make sure that we’re being inclusive and equitable for all families, and we want everyone to be able to partici pate,” said Kelli Goodwin, the school’s par ent-teacher association fundraising chair.

The name of the fundraising mechanism is Raise Craze: Fundraising Through Kindness.

Raise Craze is a fundraising platform that focuses on serving, not selling, to raise funds for schools. From Oct. 7-27, Centen nial families are spreading acts of kindness and serving others to show their gratitude for donating. Their goal is to raise $40,000 and to spread 1,000 acts of kindness throughout the month.

The PTA is providing a number of oppor tunities for Centennial families to give back to the community, which will include hosting a food drive for Food Bank of the Rockies, writing personal thank you notes for Denver Firefighters, hosting a book drive for Denver Public Libraries, and decorating placemats for Meals-On-Wheels.

They are also writing personal get-well let ters for the babies and their families in the NICU at Children's Hospital Colorado, creat ing inspirational messages and drawings on the sidewalks with chalk, and more.

The funds will be used for school en richment programs, staffing, community events, and other necessities to keep the school thriving.

“There are some important school en richment programs that our school has lost in recent years,” Goodwin said, “and those are really im portant to our fami lies. So, we’re trying to raise money to get these programs back into the school.”

Additional fund ing will go toward classroom support staff and providing teachers an allowance to stock their class rooms with school supplies, Goodwin said.

The fundraiser itself works by having stu dents register through the Raise Craze plat form, who will then spread awareness to their friends, families, neighbors, and communi ties through email.

“Even if somebody donates $5, but it came from a neighbor down the street, it's just so appreciated and it takes the burden off of the immediate families to be funding all of these things,” Goodwin said.

Centennial operates under an Expedition ary Learning (EL) curriculum, which means that all students are taught World Care Habits, said Robin Miller, a PTA committee member.

“Research from Raise Craze shows that the value children see in serving others is super contagious, so when you do something like this at the beginning of the year, most kids continue serving their communities long af ter the fundraiser ends,” Goodwin added.

The PTA will be incorporating their inclu sive and equitable fundraising approach in

other ways throughout the year, one of which is through their Crew Contribution Fund. It’s an anonymous giving platform where parents can donate any amount they’d like through out the 10-month school year. They’re goal is to earn $15,000 through this fund.

The school is also focusing on its corporate sponsorship, Miller said.

“We are running sponsorship packages for marketing for our local businesses. We’re trying to focus on local businesses, again, to pay it back as a big thank you,” Miller said. “We want to get their name out so people know how appreciative we are for the gener ous donations and that our families will be come patrons of these businesses.”

In the end, Goodwin is hoping that Raise Craze will be successful enough to hold it year after year in order to bring back some of the programs they have lost, and to keep the school thriving and their kids flourishing.

The Raise Craze fundraiser is running from October 7-27. More information is available at my.raisecraze.com/give/a99gph1/.

8 p.m.

10

PHOTO COURTESY OF DENVER PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Peaks

As schools settle into somewhat of a rou tine once again, both at the end of this year’s back to school season and in a broader sense after the chaos and dis ruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, local historian and author Phil Goodstein has re leased his newest title on the Denver Public School system.

“Schools for a New Century: 1995-2020,” (2022, New Social Publications), is the third volume of Goodstein’s “The History of Denver Public Schools” series that takes a deep dive into the system’s recent past from the court ordered end of bussing into the beginning of the COVID-19 closure.

The end of bussing claimed to come at a period when DPS had successfully integrated its student body, but time showed the system to be more segregated than ever, both racially and socioeconomically.

The implementation and spread of standard ized testing and school grading systems fueled anxiety over achievement, but as Goodstein notes, “Rather than observing that the schools were very much part of the larger community whereby their performance reflects the values and commitments of society as a whole, many blamed the schools for the result.”

Business interests and politically moti vated groups moved in on the opportunity to push individual agendas advertised as the answers to education problems, but results have proven time and again to be mixed at best.

Goodstein’s newest work is an extremely in depth look at a fairly recent point in our city’s history. As he discloses, the volume does strongly reflect his personal views.

He elaborates: “Schools must not be edu cation factories. On the contrary, they should be places nurturing youngsters … they need

to be a democratic community reflecting the give-and-take of a pluralistic society. This re quires treating students as respected citizens rather than herding them about in a semiprison-like setting.”

His critical eye of the school system is ev er-present in his writing, but is highly support ed by a wealth of information. Details such as the mascots, namesakes of each school, and the racial makeup of student bodies over time share space with the results of school board elections, the political ties of superintendents, financial woes and varied attempts at securing funding, and the opinions and frustrations of countless interviewed parties.

The lowdown on the local school system may seem like a niche topic, but “Schools for a New Century” argues that our education sys tem reflects our community as a whole. While the simple answer as to why everyone should care about our schools regardless of if we have children in them or not is that our community is and will continue to be made up of products of the local education system, the reasons go even further.

Education has and continues to be polit icized, and elected officials far beyond the school board influence our public schools to a greater and greater extent. Goodstein’s book illuminates this not-too-distant history into the present, serving as both a work of historic reference and a reflection on the state of local education.

Check out all volumes of “The History of Denver Public Schools” series from Phil Good stein at your closest Denver Public Library location. Goodstein will also be at the Smiley Branch Library at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 3. to discuss his newest title. Books will be avail able for purchase.

Hannah Evans is the senior librari an at the Smiley Branch of the Denver Public Library.

reflecting the society. This re respected citizens in a semi-

system is ev highly support Details such as school, and over time school board superintendents, at securing frustrations of school system “Schools for a education sys whole. While everyone should if we have community products reasons go be polit beyond the schools to Goodstein’s book history into of historic state of local

History of Phil Good Public Library

Smiley

Saturday, Dec. 3. will be avail

Quality Inn Closure Forces Scramble for Temporary Housing

By Eric Heinz

Denver

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for keeping people housed in Denver have been furious about what they said was an abrupt closure of the Quality Inn at 2601 Zuni St.

motel had been housing people who were at risk of severe health effects from con tracting COVID-19 since Colorado Coalition for the Homeless (CCH) contracted with the city to lease the motels through federal fund ing at the start of the pandemic.

“Early on in our COVID response, we con tracted with a number of hotels and motels, and the city contracted to provide two ser vices,” said Cathy Alderman, a spokesperson for Colorado Coalition for the Homeless. “The first is for people who got COVID and didn’t have a place to recover and the second was a protective action and that was for high-risk people who couldn’t stay in shelter because if they got it they could be hospitalized or die and so we moved people into these protective action motels.”

That federal funding, however, has now dried up, and since CCH knew it would have to close the four facilities it leased, Alderman said the organization began shutting them down one at a time.

The Quality Inn off Zuni will be returned to the owner, but it’s not clear whether it will become a hotel or motel again.

According to Denver’s Housing Stability department (HOST), the city has authorized nearly $40 million in federal funding for

various motels and hotels that CCH operat ed during the height of the pandemic. It also spent a little more than $25 million to contract with The Salvation Army to provide services at those locations.

Derek Woodbury, a spokesperson for HOST, said the city did not have an individual breakdown of how much was spent on indi vidual properties.

In late September, Housekeys Action Net work Denver (HAND), an organization backed by the Western Regional Advocacy Project, announced the city would pay for another two weeks at motels and hotels for 10 displaced residents from the Quality Inn.

HAND representatives said in their an nouncement that they are “working like hell to find housing for them,” but they said it was not likely that they would find any within that time frame.

“We will need to go back to the city again as we approach that time to continue to ensure safe hotel stays for these folks until housing is secured,” HAND stated.

Terese Howard, one of the organizers with HAND, told The Denver North Star that the CCH’s reasons for ending the lease were inad equate in the eyes of her and other advocates for the unhoused population.

“The lease was running up, which says nothing because they could extend the lease, and they didn’t have enough resources in terms of staffing, and they were definitely

lacking in case management,” Howard said.

Howard said of the 150-some residents who lived at the Quality Inn when it was at its fullest, about 50 have wound up back on the streets, in shelters, or in their vehicles since leaving the inn.

“What we’re doing is we’re making some di rect (requests) of the city regarding the lease to the residents, and there are some folks who are in very vulnerable situations that we’ve been able to help temporarily,” Howard said. “But they need the city to secure them housing and as a broader community to step up with op tions that can work for these folks.”

Alderman said CCH worked with “every single guest” at the inn to make sure they had a safe place to go after they announced in Au gust that it would be closing.

“We kept working with individuals, some times to put them in other motels, transitional housing and in some cases they moved into assisted living facilities because they had high er health care needs,” she said. “Some, rather than go to shelter, said they would prefer to be in their vehicles, and we provided them as much assistance as we could.”

Alderman said if people stop keeping in touch with CCH, it can be hard to track where they’ve gone.

“We’re working with people who are home less every day in housing to make sure they’re safe and taken care of, and we wish we had more resources,” Alderman said.

Finding Ways to Beat Seasonal Lethargy

Here come those days! It’s dark. It’s damp. It’s downright chilly. And my bed cov ers are so delightfully cozy.

Why on earth would I tousle the dog from my feet and leave my cocoon just to get my physical therapy in? Surely, I can make time for it later.

Why, indeed.

If your motivation is waning along with the warmth of summer, you are not alone. When we wake up to darkness outside, it feels less natural to hop out of bed. Metabolisms slow during the colder months. And when the sun sets before we’re home, it may be less inviting to lace up those shoes and head out to move at the end of our day.

Sunlight triggers the release of hormones in our brains, boosting mood and helping us feel focused. Darkness cues our brain to sleep. So no wonder! It is normal to feel a bit “meh” this time of year.*

So, why would we skip the snooze and make time for our wellness practice even in the face of reduced motivation? Why? This is the question we have to answer.

In the colder months, a Paleolithic man would have largely retreated to his cave, hun kered down, and ventured out only when driven by hunger. His life would conform to the natural rhythms of the planet.

But not ours. Our lives don’t slow down in the winter, but since we are no longer spurred to rise before the sun by the need to hunt down our food, many of us struggle to stick with the wellness routines we established during the warmer, brighter months.

The Paleolithic man’s alarm clock was his rumbling tummy. His workout was procur ing food. He didn’t rely on motivational tech niques, coaches, or accountability groups. He moved because he had to. Avoiding starva tion was why he ran. All we have to do today is make a few clicks and our dinner shows up. No running required. So, why would we?

Our list of reasons for practicing wellness

are as diverse as we are. Injury or illness. Becoming a parent. Insurance discounts. Waking up one morning and discovering our favorite pants don’t button. These are all inspiring reasons. And inspiration is a good start.

The word inspire means “to breathe life into.” Things that inspire us make us feel mo tivated. Shedding 10 pounds prior to a beach vacation may be inspiring, but it's not likely to get us out of our cozy beds once the bikini is a distant memory. If we are going to crawl out of our caves when motivation wanes, we need a reason as compelling as our ancestors had. We need a “rumbling tummy.”

A solid “why” is the sense of purpose that compels us to push forward, even when it re quires sacrifice. It guides us in creating hab its. When a client says, “I want to start exer cising,” my first question is always the same. “Why?”

The answer is usually something like “to

Sawyer is really a top top student, so he’s re ally covered in on both ends, and he was our captain this year.”

Klein’s senior year was a gem: his low for the year was a sizzling 3-under 67 at Aurora’s Meadow hills, and his high for the season was a respectable 3-over at Kennedy in southeast Denver.

What makes Klein’s high school career all the more impressive is he only started in high school.

“I really didn't start playing until my fresh

man year,” Klein said, adding he played soccer before golf. “Golf just took over I guess. My dad's golfed his whole life.”

Klein said staying resilient in the face of a difficult round is what he’ll remember most from his senior-year state championship bid.

“My takeaway from this is to just never give up,” he said. “Both days I had absolutely brutal starts. The first four holes on each day I was 5-over on those combined. I didn’t feel like I did too much wrong. It’s just a tough course.”

Klein said his biggest goal going forward is to play Division I golf, with hopes of going to Colgate College in New York or Weber State in Utah.

Lethargy

lose weight” or “to gain more energy.” Again, my question to them is: “Why?” I keep ask ing until we get to the root; something like “I need more energy so I can parent patiently,” or “to control my blood sugar because I am at risk of premature death.”

If you are looking for that thing that will compel you to skip the snooze button, ask: “What do I value? What would being unwell take from my life? Who in my life needs me?”

The answers to these questions may change over time, mine sure have, but they will always help us find that metaphorical rumble in our own tummy. And once we get

that, no snooze button in the world can stand in our way.

*A case of the winter blues and Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) are very different things. SAD is a serious medical condition in which a person experiences major depression. I cannot stress enough the importance of get ting help for this. Talk to your doctor, teacher, clergy, or visit mhanational.org.

Erika Taylor is a community wellness in stigator at Taylored Fitness. Taylored Fitness believes that everyone can discover small changes in order to make themselves and their communities more vibrant. Visit facebook. com/erika.taylor.303 or email erika@tay loredfitness.com.

Northside History: A Tale of Two Neighborhoods

By Rebecca A. Hunt

W hat is in a name?

The lower section of Northwest Den ver has had many names and identities since the 1850s. In the winter of 1858, when William Lar imer and others laid out the western bank of the Platte River, they called it Highland.

In 1874 and then in 1883, parts of it became North Denver as Denver annexed the area be tween the river and Gallup Street (now Zuni Street), south to Lake (Speer), then north to Prospect (now 38th Avenue).

In the 20th century, mapmakers trans formed the neighborhood into Lower High land. Since the 2010s the area has carried the trendy name of LoHi. This name was the brainchild of marketing expert Lu Stasko and her friend, Paul Tamborello, who led early re development of Lower Highland. But in the 19th century it all began as Highland.

An early drawback to settlement of High land was lack of a bridge. The first bridge in Denver came in 1860 and was the project of Thomas Bayaud. It crossed at what is now 15th Street. This should have led to a land rush to the area, but that was not to be.

A few years after maps showed a platted neighborhood with named streets and inviting lots, gold miner José Merival looked the place over to see if it might be a good investment. He

determined that his horse and saddle, which he could have used as collateral, was worth more than the land.

Only a few hardy settlers moved over to the Northside. Esther Frazier and her family had settled at 613 4th Street in Highland by 1861. We know about Esther because of a painting she did of Cheyenne and Arapaho people on the hills overlooking the new town of Denver.

The late 1860s and early 1870s would finally bring in a few more families and business own ers. Over time, North Denver would become a working-class and immigrant section of the Northside.

Some of the land west of Gallup opened up for those wanting to take up a homestead under the 1862 Homestead Act. One of those souls was Walter McDuffie Potter, a tubercu lar Baptist missionary preacher who arrived in Denver in 1863.

The American Baptist Home Society sent him out to Colorado for his health and to set up a church for Baptists who had decided to try their luck in the fledgling city of Denver. But Potter found fundraising difficult and the first set of donations to build a church in Auraria only allowed the group to construct a base ment to a larger planned structure. Dubbed the “Holy Dugout,” it served until a new build

ing could be built in the 1870s.

In the meantime, Reverend Potter began to buy up land, including an area on what is now nineteenth street, near the river. He and his sister Lucy filed on a homestead of 320 acres across the river from Denver.

The boundaries of his property were what is now West 32nd Avenue, north to 38th Avenue, west to Federal Boulevard and east to Zuni Street. He began to lay out blocks and lots, thinking that he could sell them to fund his church project in Denver.

Unfortunately, both Walter and Lucy became so ill with tuberculosis that they had to go back east. Walter died in 1866 at age 29. He left the land to the Baptist Missionary Society for future work in Colorado.

This map shows how Northwest Denver was designed around the turn of the century.

At the same time, the local Baptists claimed Potter Highlands, as it was now called, for their work. Many years later, after much negotiation and litigation, the land went to the local First Baptist Church. Sale of that land helped fund a bigger church, and even tually the current building at Grant and 14th Avenue near the state capitol.

Potter Highlands eventually became a core neighborhood for an independent town

/// EDUCATION /// LETTERS FROM MISS JILL

named Highland. Next month we will ex plore the stories of Highland, Potter High lands, and Highland Park.

Dr. Rebecca A. Hunt has been a Denver resi dent since 1985. She worked in museums and then taught Colorado, Denver and immigration history at the University of Colorado Denver until she re tired in 2020.

Model Neighborliness to our Children to Improve the World

JILL CARSTENS

When I moved into my neighborhood in North Denver, my child was four. I was single and worked a full time job. I could barely keep my head above water.

In and out of those early days, my elderly al ley neighbors, in their 90s, would bring donuts over every Sunday and often came out with a ladder to help me change the light bulb on my security light.

A few years later, noting my struggle in keeping up my yard, my neighbors across the street spent a whole day helping me plant tree seedlings that have now grown to transform the “curb appeal” of my house. I am grateful every time I look at these now flourishing trees.

As my child grew and I was able to be more independent, I have sought to, in turn, serve my neighbors old and new; paying it forward, as they modeled so easily to me.

But our neighborhood has been changing a lot. It has been sad to witness historic homes get flattened by bulldozers and watch the omi nously large new homes take their place. Even tually we are losing the character, familiarity, and diversity of our neighborhood.

I recently witnessed a new business owner in North Denver, who by the way does not live in our area, scream and yell at a Latino man who was selling popcorn as a fundraiser for his church. North Denver, not too long ago, was primarily a Latino neighborhood. I wonder how being screamed at by this white man felt to this person who was just trying to help out his church in an area that was once his home?

My concerns have also been in small de tails. Cars on our main thoroughfare go faster, sometimes not stopping at stop signs, render ing me a nervous dog-walker. It seems, also, that less and less folks are picking up after their dogs, which makes me feel like people just don’t care.

When passing people on the sidewalk, so many are looking down at phones instead of perhaps boasting a friendly face.

What will become of us if we do not become better neighbors?

There are many benefits to neighborliness. Communities that know each other are saf er, happier, and healthier. There are even re cent studies, many administered by the Pew Research Center, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, self-described fact tank, which show that re storative community activities as simple as

a trash clean-up day can create foundations for broad, positive social changes, sometimes even provoking better government policies.

Perhaps if we begin trying a little harder to be good neighbors in front of our children, teaching them about community, we can make substantial changes in our world. Here are some simple ideas for you to consider: Walk your neighborhood, put your phone down and get to know your surroundings; say hi to folks. When sitting on a porch, give a friendly hello to passersby (sometimes you have to remember to sit on your porch).

If you are walking your doggie, please pick up their poop.

Use your turn signal, stop completely at stop signs, and drive the speed limit. Try not to park directly in front of your neighbor’s path to their door so that they can easily get out and unload groceries.

If you have moved into a new-build house in our old neighborhood, be mindful that your house perhaps replaced a couple of his toric structures, radically changing the look and landscape of a block. This is not your fault, but being the first to reach out can help diffuse those feelings. Introduce yourself, make con certed efforts to meet your neighbors. Remind them of street sweeping days or bring them over a plate of cookies. These simple actions can ease that tension of the changes.

If you have adolescent or teenage kids, en courage them to shovel neighbors’ walks on snowy days. Remember when the neighbor kid mowed lawns or babysat?

Please and thank you go a long way.

Don’t let your dog bark early in the morn ing or late at night. Definitely do not leave a barking dog out all day–so many of us work from home.

Try not to block the alley, or if you must, give your neighbors a heads up. Volunteer for community events or attend neighborhood association meetings so you know what is go ing on in your area.

Start your own community event, like an alley potluck or happy hour. Patronize our local, independent businesses before they are replaced by Starbucks or Olive Garden.

And let me pose this question: what if you need something? A favor, such as help from someone to grab your mail or a package, or you suddenly need to jump the battery on your car?

If you have developed relationships with your neighbors, none of this will be an issue!

North Denver is a great part of town, let’s make it sustainably great by modeling neigh borliness and encouraging community to our kids. In return, we might change the world for the better, one good deed at a time.

Jill Carstens taught for 30 years and now en joys writing for this publication! Email her with comments or story ideas at jill@denvernorth star.com.

COURTESY

Residents Frustrated by Speeding on Sheridan Boulevard

By Allen Cowgill

K

elsey Costales and her husband pur chased their first ever home on Sheridan Boulevard just south of 38th Avenue in the summer of 2020 because they wanted to be in the neighborhood and the home was af fordable.

Since then, Costales has experienced frus tration with excessive speeding on the road and frequent accidents, sometimes destroy ing the fences and property of neighbors. Costales also mentioned how unfriendly the street is for pedestrians.

“You can’t really walk two people side by side,” she said. “You don’t really feel super safe walking a dog, and now we are expect ing a child and I’ve said to my husband many times, ‘How are we going to walk this kid?’”

With their first child on the way, Costales has upped her effort to make the street safer.

She recently delivered letters to 125 neigh bors along the street to build a coalition fo cused on safety improvements.

“I’ve spoken with dozens of homeowners and renters in the 10 blocks south of me, and there is a common theme—why won't they do anything about this?” she said. “It feels as though there's a lack of accountability from CDOT, Denver, and Wheat Ridge/Jefferson County to keep the residents safe.” A lot of neighbors agreed to help and wanted to know what they could do.

Living on the west side of the road, Cos tales reached out to Wheat Ridge police. She said they were empathetic but cited a lack of resources to dedicate time to patrol the small stretch of road that borders the city. Costales suggested they implement speed cameras, something she has seen in other cities that she has lived in. The Wheat Ridge Police told her they were unable to implement them be cause of current Colorado laws.

She also reached out to the Colorado De partment of Transportation (CDOT), which controls Sheridan Boulevard as Colorado State Highway 95, and requested that safety improvements be made.

Luke Kroack lives on the Denver side, one block off of Sheridan on Zenobia Street. He was one of the people that connected with Costales. He often hears vehicles speeding down Sheridan. He moved to the residential street hoping to find a quiet location that would be good for his two kids, ages six and eight. Recent construction on Sheridan has spilled cut-through traffic onto his street. He has also expressed frustration with drivers speeding.

Frustrated residents will be excited to hear that improvements may be coming in the future.

“CDOT is looking into safety and multi-modal improvements on Sheridan from 26th Avenue to I-70,” CDOT Spokes person Tamara Rollinson said. “We are in the early stages of this process to conceptu alize what those improvements would look like. Our goal is to improve transportation for all users while minimizing right-of-way impacts. Among the improvements would be ADA compliant sidewalks among other safe ty features.”

CDOT has also made some recent improve ments with a new traffic signal, ramp, signage, and sidewalks near Sheridan and I-70.

Further south, the city of Edgewater re leased details in September on a Multimodal Corridor Plan for Sheridan between 17th Av enue and 26th Avenue that includes potential traffic calming, additional crosswalks, and a new landscaped median.

Denver Police Department officials said they use speeding photo enforcement vans on a weekly basis along northbound Sheri dan Boulevard. Their traffic enforcement of ficers in regular patrol cars have not written any electronic tickets for speeding between Colfax and 52nd Avenue this year on north bound Sheridan.

A search of court records could not verify if any paper tickets were written by officers in patrol cars by The Denver North Star’s print deadline.

Jill Locantore, the executive director for the Denver Streets Partnership, a local non profit advocacy group for safer streets, said she is not surprised by people frustrated over speeding on Sheridan.

She said the street is on Denver’s high-in jury network and is designed for speed, not safety. Locantore said dedicated transit lanes may improve safety on the corridor in the long term by calming traffic.

The street has been identified in Denver’s Department of Transportation and Infra structure in their Denver Moves Transit planning as a Bus Priority Corridor, so en hancements could be on the way.

Locantore mentioned that the Denver Streets Partnership and Bicycle Colorado are lobbying for modernizing Colorado’s laws around automated speed enforcement to allow for permanently installed cameras that enforce the speed limit, which are not allowed today.

Right now, cities like Denver and Wheat Ridge can’t use automated speed cameras on streets like Sheridan. Denver can only use

DPD’s photo enforcement van, which state law requires to be staffed. Locantore also high lighted there are not many safe places to park the photo enforcement van along the road.

She mentioned that cities like Washington, D.C. have used automated speed cameras as a tool to get drivers to go the speed limit. She said permanent speed cameras are much more effective than police giving out tickets or hav ing the photo enforcement van there for a few days because speed cameras work at all times.

“The data shows very clearly that it reduc es speeding, it reduces crashes, it reduces injuries, and what happens is most people get a ticket once, or maybe twice, and then they know if (they) go over the speed limit on that street, they are going to get a ticket,” Locantore said. “And so you see very few peo ple getting repeat tickets. Which is, again, the intended outcome. Our goal is not to be pun ishing people but to have them engage in safe behavior in the first place.”

Locantore said her organization isn’t looking for officer-initiated enforcement, but rather to make people more mindful of speed limits.

Pack Your Bags, Men. Aging is an Adventure

Aging is many things, and for six men I spoke with on the topic of men and aging, it’s added up to an adventure.

As years accumulate, so too have new expe riences and new ways of finding wonder in their lives. And like any good adventure, each also spoke of moments of trepidation.

If you’re a man wondering if you’ve packed everything you’ll need for the adventure, these six fellas—ranging in age from 30-ish to 80-plus—are here for you.

“Meaning is at the essence of aging well,” Rabbi Dan Roberts said.

Roberts retired from 50 years in the rab binate in 2019 and has since moved from Cleveland to Denver, adjusted to life in a re tirement community during the pandemic, and has written two books.

“One needs, while you’re younger, to build up a cadre of all kinds of interesting things that you would like to do when you, for exam ple, retire,” Roberts said.

Roberts has written a new ritual to mark the transition from work into retirement. It includes gathering with family and friends to acknowl edge life’s accomplishments and to share about dreams and plans for the next stages of life.

Rick Olderman, a personal trainer and pilates instructor, sold his physical therapy clinic recently and is now exploring ways to deliver his downloadable home programs that help people with pain.

He’s leveraging 25 years in the profession while also challenging himself to learn new

skills. And now, with several books behind him covering topics in his field, he’s trying out new forms of writing.

“Curiosity is an important mindset for men as we age,” Olderman said. “It fuels ad ventures, it keeps us exploring and active.”

Olderman’s career has given him a unique vantage point on aging.

“When we’re younger we like to focus on strength training, and how our bodies look. As we age, our bodies become tighter. That tightness can lead to problems. If we start building flexibility components into our fit ness routines early on, we set ourselves up to shift the balance toward greater flexibility as our bodies come to need it.”

Dr. Garrick Greear, a urologist at Colorado Center for Urology, echoes the important role choices play.

“We’re seeing the impacts of lifestyle and dietary issues throughout life,” Greear said. “The Western diet is not very healthy in gen eral and so I think the most important thing men can do is to try to be proactive, to main tain daily physical activity, and try to eat as healthy as possible. Changes now will pay dividends later in life.”

John Young, a community resource navi gator with the Center for African American Health, said keeping active is also important.

“The physical body is meant to move,” Young said. “It’s like a car or a plane. A plane wasn’t meant to sit on the ground. A car wasn’t made to stay in the garage. Bodies need to be active, they need to be moved, stretched, fed good food.”

Dr. Robert C. Springs, who opened his family medicine practice at 41st Avenue and

Federal Boulevard in 1975, gets to the heart of what several of the men I spoke with admitted to: a hesitance to visit doctors.

“There are a number of illnesses that can be either prevented or ameliorated if one goes to the doctor,” Springs said. “There are risks from high cholesterol, high blood pressure, kidney failure, prostatic enlargement. All of these issues arise particularly with men as they age, and these can be helped by consul tation with a physician.”

“Changes that occur in your body will of ten be subtle,” Greear said. “It is important to be mindful of those changes, to look for warning signs of more serious issues. For ex ample, urinary symptoms progress fairly in sidiously. Maybe I only wake up once a night, and then it becomes 2 or 3 times a night. This can be a sign of prostate enlargement, which can cause issues down the road.”

Greear said by the time men reach the age of 40, they should really have a primary care physician and check in with them yearly.

“Delving into sexual health, studies like the Massachusetts Male Aging Study have shown that erectile dysfunction can be the first harbinger of cardiovascular disease,” Greear said. “Paying attention can prompt a more holistic workup, checking into choles terol and other risk factors.”

Peter Strauss, founder of Nurture, the wel fare marketplace at 29th Avenue and Federal Boulevard, adds another component.

“For men to focus on their physical well-be ing is more accepted by society,” Strauss said. “Emotional well-being, not as much space. The relationship between men and them selves and self care is different than women.”

“I think it’s all about how you look at it,” Strauss said. “I’m aging, sure. It beats the alternative, right? And at the same time I’m convinced that some of my best days and memories have yet to happen.

“For me, personally, it’s attitudinal. What’s available to me? Fitness, sleep, hy dration, sexuality. Those things that keep us feeling alive and bring us joy, whether that’s travel, music, nature. Physical health, nurturing the soul and heart, and keeping your mind sharp, strong and engaged, and purpose in work.”

For Young it’s also about perspective.

“At a certain age you get to the point where you are going to say what needs to be said. Ask what needs to be asked,” he said. “I’d rather say it than regret not saying it. But that came with time.

“In hindsight, now that I’m in my mid60s,” Young said, “I’d encourage men to go into each new situation knowing or accepting that you don’t know everything, and that it’s okay to ask questions. It’s okay to ask for help. It’s important to realize that you are forever a student, forever learning something. You can’t fill a full cup.”

Kathryn has lived in North Denver since around the time the Mount Carmel High School building was razed and its lot at 3600 Zuni became Anna Marie Sandoval Elemen tary. She’s raised two children in the neighbor hood, worked at several nonprofits, and vol unteered with the Alzheimer’s Association Colorado Chapter.

Do you have story ideas for The Gray Zone? Email thegrayzone.denvernorthstar@gmail.com.

Vehicles drive by at night along Sheridan Boulevard near 38th Avenue.

PHOTO BY ERIC HEINZ

Valdez Faces Ambitious Challengers in State HD 5 Race

By Eric Heinz

R

ep. Alex Valdez, D-5, who represents part of North Denver, is finishing up his sec ond term in the Colorado House, spearhead ing a number of environmental policies along the way.

This November, he faces two ambitious opponents in Republican Johnnie Johnson and Unity Party candidate Troy Brekke.

Johnson is looking to undo a number of policies that were fronted by the Democratic Party at-large over the last four years, with a particular emphasis on public safety and criminal justice measures.

Brekke said he recognizes although his party has only held “minority status” since 2017, he thinks this is an opportunity to bring both sides of the aisle together on a number of issues in the spirit of compromise.

The heavily democratic-leaning House District 5 covers all of the Globeville, Elyria, and Swansea neighborhoods as well as North Denver neighborhoods including Chaf fee Park, part of Sunnyside, and Highland. It also stretches down through and past the Auraria Campus, all the way to West Mississippi Avenue.

JOHNNIE JOHNSON, REPUBLICAN

Johnson said is sues most critical to him include revers ing Colorado’s can cellation of cash bail for low-level offenses, making possession of certain drugs that are currently misde meanors felonies, and increasing penalties for possession of fentanyl.

“I grew up here, and Denver has never been this way,” Johnson told The Denver North Star. “When (former Denver Mayor Welling ton) Webb was there, he was a fantastic guy. When I was a Democrat, I voted for him.”

Johnson said he thinks Denver went into decline starting when former Mayor, Colora do Gov., and current Sen. John Hickenlooper was elected, and continued with those who followed him.

“They just decided to trash Denver. To me, this is ridiculous, what they have done and can still sleep at night,” Johnson said. “I would reverse everything that I can get my hands on that these guys have done to get Denver to this place.”

Taking aim at one of Valdez’s signature bills from last session, Johnson said he would try to repeal the program starting the process for municipalities to develop a plan requir ing certain buildings to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“Instead of sponsoring bills that would put money in the pocket of the solar panel cor porations, I would reverse that and promote more of the gas and the oil that is working now,” Johnson said. “This long-range wish list that these guys have may happen in the

future, but we’re not ready for it.”

Johnson said he also wants to make it eas ier for parents to transfer their students to schools that are excelling, and he criticized districts that aren’t able to adequately teach students to read and write.

Regarding campaign finances, he would propose removing the cap on individual do nations from people, as he said some candi dates need more financial support than oth ers, which creates an uneven playing field.

Johnson has been legally blind since he was six years old, according to his website. His motto is “Blind, but not Blindsighted.”

ALEX VALDEZ (INCUMBENT), DEMOCRAT

As chairman of the House Energy and Environment Com mittee, Valdez over saw a number of bills last session in addi tion to the building emissions bill, includ ing those that require more space for electric vehicles and continue regulations of asbestos.

“I've been working on both air and water pollution issues in the Globeville area, and I think we need to continue to find ways to ensure that the folks in the Northside of my district continue to get environmental justice on the issue of air quality, especially,” Valdez told The North Star Valdez said a shortage of workers across Denver has been an issue many constitu ents have brought to his attention. He said particularly on the Northside, there are a lot of amenities, but not enough income-re stricted housing for workers. He said the leg islature needs to be more inventive when it comes to creating and retaining those kinds of residences.

“In general, it’s a system out of balance kind of across the Metro Denver Area,” Val dez said. “There's a good restaurant scene. There’s lots of stuff to do, but without afford able housing, we don't have the people living here that can do the jobs.”

Through his work on the State, Civic, Military, and Veterans Affairs Committee, Valdez pointed out his successful effort to have the Ridgeview Youth Services Center in Watkins repurposed for residencies for the unhoused, and he hopes more local govern ments will take the lead to create more res idences.

“I'm excited to see if that works, but I think there’s certainly more that can be done on the local level,” he said. “I think what the state needs to do is just continue to be supportive of those programs, both financially and by working with local governments.”

Valdez is also trying to get more medical facilities and training facilities for mental health across the state, and he said there needs to be more mental health resources for

people who have been incarcerated.

“That's a major issue. It's one that every body on that committee has been continu ally trying to find a solution (for),” he said. “If we don't have people to work in the facil ities, that’s no good. They'll come to Den ver if there are jobs, but we’re just frankly not training anybody to do the jobs. We’re missing people.”

TROY BREKKE, UNITY PARTY Brekke and the Unity Party are taking a different approach to conventional Amer ican politics. While Brekke said he is focused on the ma jor issues of the day, such as homeless ness, drug policies, and others, the goal is to bring parties together to find a solu tion, rather than let otherwise bipartisan bills languish.

“I've taken what’s called the best democ racy pledge,” Brekke told The North Star “It's just a series of rules saying about how I will only take small counter donations, how I'm fighting for proportional representation and trying to make sure that the diversity of voices across the political spectrum are actually heard.”

Brekke said although mental health has recently been discussed at great length throughout the nation, public policies are be hind the need.

“We've sort of started the conversation as a society more openly about mental health, but I feel like legislation is lagging behind to get people help,” he said.

Brekke has a background in management consulting as well as information technolo gy, and he said that experience gives him the unique ability to communicate across vari ous political and industrial lines.

“I spend a lot of time having conversations across a lot of different levels of organiza tions meeting with a lot of different people,” he said. “Through my career experience, I’ve just had a lot of opportunities to build con nections and reach out to people.”

Brekke said although he hasn’t explored the specific issues in North Denver, he is aware of “environmental racism” in the area that forces lower-income communities to fight against corporate polluters.

“As a larger, macro topic, climate change and the environment and how we do better as a culture and within the state of Colorado, to maintain the natural beauty that we have, is something that's very important to me,” he said.

Brekke said although he’s a major un derdog in this election, he hopes his party’s ideas are recognized and that he would like to try again in 2024 if he’s unsuccessful this time around.

Denver Seeks Changes to Elections Process

By Eric Heinz

Aballot measure initiated by Denver City Council would make several changes to the elections process, including adjusting certain filing timelines, narrowing the focus of citizen-initiated ballot question, and more.

The ballot measure, noted as 2L, was ex amined by the Ballot Access Modernization working group that included Denver Clerk and Recorder Paul Lopez and District 4 Coun cilwoman Kendra Black as its co-chairs. It also included a number of former city clerks, mem bers of nonprofit organizations, and college political science professors.

“It’s just, very simply, to improve some elec tion processes and provide the most clear and concise information for voters,” Black said.

Currently, there are no rules that restrict the breadth of a ballot measure question and the number of things it can ask. The city’s ordi nance would limit that to one subject that must be “clearly expressed in its title,” according to the measure the council approved in August.

A single subject requirement for initiated ballot measures makes initiatives clear and easy to understand.

A single subject requirement is consistent with the Denver City Council single subject requirement for referred ballot measures.

“Multiple subjects can be problematic as they can be contradictory and confusing, can complicate fiscal analyses and can be used to bundle policies that may not garner majority support on their own,” Black said in an email to The Denver North Star

Additionally, the measure would authorize the Denver City Clerk and Recorder’s Office, city council and Denver City Attorney’s office to review ballot titles to make sure they are “concise, accurate, impartial and easy to un derstand,” Black stated in the email. “ Unnec essary detail will be removed from the char ter to allow details regarding ballot question wording to be addressed by city ordinance.”

A petition for an initiated ordinance would be allowed to be filed at any time, but if 2L passes, a petition for referendum would need to be filed within 90 days after final passage and publication of an ordinance.

Another portion would change the timeline to fill a council vacancy through special elec tion, requiring an election no less than 75 days and no more than 89 days (rather than 30 and 60 days, respectively) after a vacancy is deter mined. Candidates would also have 75 days instead of 55 to gather 100 or more signatures of registered electors.

This was recommended to align with the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, which is also why the city moved the election from May to April.

Other language in the ballot measure would clean up the city’s various numbers and letter ing on ballot measures, as some of them have been used in past elections.

Abbie Tanner,

Tanner,

Abbie Tanner,

Davis Tanner

Michael Guzman is RTD Board District C’s Lone Write-In Candidate

By Eric Heinz

With one vote, Micahel Guzman will be the Regional Transporta tion District’s Board of Director’s District C representative.

The Colorado Secretary of State’s office announced Aug. 1 that none of the candi dates for the Regional Transportation Dis trict’s (RTD) Board of Directors District C seat had gathered enough signatures to qual ify for the Nov. 8 general election ballot.

The candidates were Kathryn E. Van degrift and Guzman, but because Guz man filed as a write-in candidate 110 days before the election, he qualified for that designation.

“While there was no sufficient candidate petition for RTD C, there is one write-in can didate for that race,” Annie Orloff, a spokes person for the Secretary of State’s office, told The Denver North Star in an email. “So, as long as they get at least one vote, they will be the winner and the next RTD Director for District C.”

For RTD races, candidates have to get 250 eligible voter signatures from their district to be nominated on to the ballot, but neither Guzman nor Vandegrift were able to do so. Guzman is the only candidate who filed as a write-in.

“I've always been into public service, but I was also asked to run by community members who knew that the seat was going to be vacant,” Guzman said. “In conversa tion with them, they thought that I would be a good person to run for that seat, and I said ‘yes.’”

This, if elected, would be Guzman’s first foray on a decision-making board.

“I’m from Denver and I’ve ridden the bus with my grandmother since I was a child,” he said. “I take the trains to the airport to other cities, and I’m an avid rider. So that’s my ex

perience with RTD.

I'm willing to learn, and I think I bring the perspective of customer to that board, which is re ally important.”

The seat will be vacated by Angie Ri vera-Malpiede, who is not running for another term.

Guzman said he is eager to see how the new RTD chief of police, Joel Fitzgerald, will address safety issues the transportation dis trict has faced, but he also said he wants to address issues that are related to seniors and young people.

“We want to see an increase in ridership, but I also think we need to do some work in communication with the Spanish-speak ing community,” Guzman said. “A lot of the workers that I talked to while I was trying to get signatures to get on the ballot were con cerned about when routes start.”

Guzman works at the Starbucks at 51st Av enue and Federal Boulevard, and shifts there can start very early in the morning.

“There's not always a route that runs here early enough to get somebody here on time, so walking is the option if they don't drive,” he said.

Guzman said he enjoyed the month of no fares on RTD in August, but as cities across the nation mull free transportation services, he said he doesn’t have the answer as to how to make that sustainable.

“I took my cousins that came from out of town all over, and they were excited because they didn't have to pay for private transpor tation,” he said.

Library System Asks Voters for More Funding

By Sara Martin

Aballot measure this year asks voters to increase the city’s public libraries’ fund ing, which could add services and decrease wait times.

The suggested property tax increase is focused on funding Denver Public Librar ies’ (DPL) future resources and provided services. The measure, 2I, asks for voters to decide whether to increase Denver’s mill levy property tax rate by a total of $36 million in 2023 and would cost the average Denver homeowner $4.19 a month.

The funding would increase pay for staff, supply additional forms of media and books, and allow for an expansion of current branch hours.

“2I is about strengthening and sustaining the Denver Public Library, for this generation and future generations,”said Michelle Jeske, Denver’s city librarian. “It is a dedicated property tax increase to ensure that the li brary has resources it needs.”

On July 11, Jeske asked the Denver City Council to place the question on the Novem ber 2022 ballot to increase library funding in order to meet the demands of a growing and changing city.

Jeske said that the needs of DPL are divid ed into three priorities: people, community, and spaces.

According to DPL’s studies, librarians and library staff members are currently making below average market wages. If passed, the

measure would increase pay for their em ployees.

Most DPL branch libraries are currently open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays. Six branches are additionally open Mondays from 10 a.m to 6 p.m. Before the pandem ic, all libraries were open a minimum of six days a week with a handful of branches open for seven.

One of DPL’s largest libraries, Central Li brary, located across from Civic Center Park, is operating on reduced hours due to renova tions and budgeting reasons.

“Coming out of COVID, I think there is an exacerbation of the inequities in Denver that already existed, there's certainly a lot bigger digital divide than there was even before the pandemic, which was already significant,” Jeske said. “We see a need to have more tech nology, more outreach, certainly more hours to serve kids that have had a lot of learning loss through the pandemic.”

If the ballot measure passes, people will see newer items available either online or in person, Jeske said, who also cited that wait times would be reduced. Library customers would also see improved technology such as checked-out laptops and Wi-Fi hotspots which could be used at home, outside of the libraries. Residents would also be able to ob serve refreshed buildings and better main tained properties.

PHOTO BY ERIC HEINZ

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Ballot Question to Ask City to Reduce Waste

By Talia Traskos-Hart

In the years of knocking on doors around Denver for environmental causes, Ean Ta foya, the co-author and co-campaign director of this year’s “Waste No More” ballot initia tive, began to notice a common complaint coming from tenants in apartment buildings.

“We were petitioning people to start put ting in solar panels, and people were saying, ‘I don’t even have recycling or composting in my building,’” Tafoya recalled. “That’s how we got the idea for Waste No More.”

If the initiative 306 passes, Denver build ings ranging from hospitals to apartment buildings to hotels and restaurants, all of which currently pay for their own trash dis posal, would be required to properly separate all recycling and compost from other waste, or face a fine for non-compliance.

The Waste No More initiative is designed to reduce the amount of trash produced by large buildings by filtering out recyclable and compostable materials. Currently, commer cial waste accounts for 82% of overall waste in the city.

The initiative would require that infor mation be provided in English and Spanish on how to properly utilize new recycling and compost capabilities. It would also specifically require restaurants to properly dispose of food waste such as oil and grease as well as requir ing the proper disposal of materials such as concrete, asphalt, and scrap metal.

Grocery stores, sports venues, farmers mar kets, office buildings, and country clubs also made it onto the list of relevant “food waste

Priorities Highlight Two Different Candidates in HD 4 Race

By Eric Heinz

A

s state Rep. Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez, D-4, wraps up her second term in the Col orado General Assembly, she will face Republi can Jack Daus in the Nov. 8 election.

SERENA GONZALES-GUTIERREZ, DEMOCRAT, INCUMBENT

Gonzales-Gutierrez served this last session as the Colorado house assistant majority leader.

“Based on some of the things I worked on last session, that really had to do with kids and families, just making sure that people can afford to live, whether it’s issues around housing or healthcare, just affordabili ty all the way around,” Gonzales-Gutierrez told The Denver North Star

Some of the bills Gonzales-Gutierrez was able to get passed last session include one to increase revenue for healthy meals in schools.

“It’s important for our students and how im portant nutrition is to developing children and kids for their brain because we know that if the child is hungry, they're going to struggle in school,” she said.

She also was a sponsor of bills to create com prehensive systems to improve access for people to find affordable housing, as well as another that prohibits judges from ordering juveniles to pay restitution to insurance companies.

Gonzales-Gutierrez said she wants to see the money that she’s had allocated through last ses

sion’s bills put to use quicker than it has been, specifically, she notes that there needs to be more support for the homeless population.

On abortion access, she said there’s still “more work we can do to really ensure that we are safe in Colorado.”

“We’re hearing overwhelmingly from con stituents about the importance of having that right,” Gonzales-Gutierrez said. “We’re en couraging folks to get out and vote and really consider what they’re voting for and what those individuals represent and what they are saying.”

JACK DAUS, REPUBLICAN

Daus did not respond to requests for inter views by The Denver North Star, but his website provides an insight into the candidate.

According to the site, jackdausforhd4.com, Daus works in the construction industry, selling tools to specialized trades.

“He travels all over Colora do calling on his customers. He talks to blue-collar people on a daily basis,” the website reads. “Nearly all of his customers talk about their concern for the State of Colorado and the United States.”

At the top of Daus’ list of topics, he said he would end the state’s ability to teach critical race theory (CRT) in schools and he would promote more school choice initiatives.

“It appears the public school system is

Thank

our generous Denver supporters who have helped Bienvenidos

Bank during

Congressional District 1 Candidates Challenge Long-Time Incumbent

By Talia Traskos-Hart

Congresswoman Diana DeGette is run ning for her 14th term representing Denver’s Congressional District 1 in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Having held this seat for 22 years, DeGette is now the longest-serving member of the Col orado delegation in Washington, D.C. Her re cord includes serving as a member of the im peachment team for former President Donald Trump’s second impeachment and working on the committees for Energy and Commerce and National Resources.

In a statement to The Denver North Star, DeGette emphasized her ongoing commit ment to addressing her constituents’ most pressing concerns.

“I have been an advocate for the people of Denver and Colorado my entire career, and my focus is always the same: to represent the values of my constituents and serve them to the best of my ability,” DeGette wrote.

Still, her challengers—a republican, a lib ertarian, and a write-in unaffiliated candi date—have hoped to raise attention to their policy priorities and get to know the world of Denver politics over the past few months on the campaign trail.

GOP nominee Jennifer Qualteri was the sole republican who ran in the primary. Qual teri was born in Congressional District 1 and has lived in or near the district for the past two decades.

Qualteri said over the course of this race, she has come to recognize the barriers to win ning as a republican candidate in this district.

“I know it’s only been a red district a couple of times since 1935,” she said. “But what’s good

is you can bring up issues that eventually are looked at because you’re somewhat in a posi tion of competing for the public’s attention. It’s a blue district, but so what? You get to talk about policies.”

According to a blog Qualteri posts, she is an advocate for making schools safer with more security measures.

She’s also a proponent of revising social security distributions that would benefit peo ple who are working past the age of 65 and she would sponsor a Social Security Fairness Act bill.

Qualteri noted that she has collaborated with other members of the Colorado Repub lican Party over the uncontested primary pro cess and throughout the fall.

“The Colorado GOP has done a really good job making us collaborators,” she said.

Qualteri identified her main policy priori ties as dealing with the rising rates of crime and inflation. Qualteri hopes that Congress will do more to provide alternative forms of rehabilitation for drug users, including ex panded mental health resources.

John C. Kittleson, who is in this race as the libertarian candidate, decided to run after becoming frustrated with the polarization he sees on both sides of the aisle in Washington, D.C. He wanted to bring issues of education to the forefront in his campaign.

As an alumnus of the Cherry Creek Public Schools system, Kittleson noted his hope that education in cities like Denver could be better funded and more equitable.

“The fundamental (topic) of my platform is education,” he explained. “Nothing is a better

indicator of a child’s future than the education they receive.”

Iris Boswell, who is running as an unaf filiated write-in, noted that her main goal in running was to gain familiarity with running a political campaign.

“It’s been my experience that there’s a lot of obstacles to running for office for regular peo ple who don’t know what they’re doing,” she observed. “For myself, I sort of saw this as a testing ground to learn about this process, and then run again with this under my belt.”

Boswell decided to run this summer after the Supreme Court released its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which reversed its earlier ruling in Roe v. Wade.

“The Supreme Court is really in a position to legislate on the bench,” Boswell said. “My pri mary policy priority would be reforming this.”

Congresswoman DeGette herself has been outspoken about reproductive rights. Most recently, she has worked to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would guaran tee all Americans the right to access to abor tion care no matter where they live. DeGette wrote that reproductive care will remain one of her foremost priorities over her next term.

“Right now, my top priorities are promot ing access to quality health care, including the full range of women’s reproductive care, pre serving civil rights for all communities, pass ing comprehensive immigration reform, and promoting environmental justice and fighting climate change,” she wrote. “I look forward to continuing talking with voters about my re cord of accomplishment and fighting to bring important resources to the district."

Voters to Decide on Making Property Owners Fund Sidewalks

By Corbett Stevenson

education

an unaf main goal in with running

there’s a lot of regular peo doing,” she saw this as a process, and belt.” summer after the in Dobbs v. Organization, which Wade. position to said. “My pri reforming this.” has been rights. Most Women’s would guaran access to abor live. DeGette remain one next term. are promot including the care, pre communities, pass reform, and and fighting forward to about my re fighting to bring

A cross much of Denver, sidewalks are damaged or simply absent, leaving pe destrians to travel in the grass, across bro ken pavement, or in the street.

This November, voters will be asked to vote on Initiative 307 that aims to complete and repair Denver’s sidewalk system.

The ballot measure, named “Denver Deserves Sidewalks,” was created by the Denver Streets Partnership, a coalition of community organizations dedicated to “people-friendly” streets. Denver Streets Partnership’s executive director Jill Lo cantore has been working on the ordi nance since before they began gathering signatures in July.

“The initiative would publicly fund the construction and repair of sidewalks city wide, allowing everyone to get around freely and safely,” Locantore said. “It is a departure from the current policy which places all of the responsibility for build ing and repairing sidewalks (on) adjacent property owners.”

Instead of property owners shoulder ing the full cost of their adjacent sidewalks to be repaired and maintained, the ordi nance proposes an annual fee based on the linear footage of sidewalks adjacent to the property.

If passed, the measure would require homeowners with corner lots to pay a larg er fee than those with center lots, but Lo cantore explained that the larger fee is still less than what the current system asks of property owners.

“Forcing residents to shoulder the full

cost of sidewalk construction and repair is a huge financial burden—it can often cost thousands or even tens of thousands of dol lars to cover the full cost,” Locantore said.

In an effort to ensure the annual sidewalk fee is not overly burdensome, Locantore ex plained that there is a 20% discount applied to low-income neighborhoods, and an op tion for homeowners to defer the fee until the point of sale on the home.

The ordinance would also mean the hir ing of contractors and other professionals to repair the sidewalks would fall back to the city in the same way as other forms of public infrastructure.

The current system, Locantore said, just isn’t cutting it. With 40% of Denver streets having no sidewalks or sidewalks too nar row for wheelchair use, the current pace of construction and funding has the city on track to finish the sidewalk system in 400 years.

The Denver Deserves Sidewalks initiative would change that projection to only nine years to complete the sidewalk network.

“We hear all the time from communi ty members that the lack of sidewalks in their neighborhood is a major barrier to be ing able to walk safely … and low-income neighborhoods where people are most likely to depend on walking are least likely to have safe sidewalks,” Locantore said.

“People walking in Denver are 30 times more likely to die in a traffic crash com pared to people in cars and the lack of safe, usable sidewalks is a major contributor to that huge safety issue,” she said.

WASTE LESS DENVER

TOGETHER WE CAN

Citywide composting is coming to Denver!

Starting in 2023, we can all help reduce what goes in the landfill. By using your compost cart to dispose of food scraps, yard debris, and non-recyclable paper, you can help limit the amount of trash we throw away by as much as 75%. The city will charge customers based on the size of their trash cart, so go small,

and save more.

DenverGov.org/SkipTheStuff

#SkipTheStuff requires all restaurants and third-party delivery services to only provide single-use condiments and single-use service ware upon request.

REQUEST ONLY WHAT YOU NEED AND LEAVE THE REST.

REDUCE WASTE I PREVENT LITTER I PROTECT WATERWAYS

Denver Voters Asked to Continue Tax for Homelessness Fund

By Corbett Stevenson

City Asks Residents to Retain Funds for Climate Change

By Sara Martin

Denver is looking to lift the TA BOR rule on sales tax to com bat climate change.

I

n 2020, Denver voters passed the Home lessness Resolution Fund—a 0.25% sales tax increase dedicated to city and coun ty-wide programs assisting people experienc ing homelessness.

This November, Denver will be asked to vote on the fund again through measure 2K.

Britta Fisher, Denver’s chief housing offi cer and the executive director of the Depart ment of Housing Stability, explained that the funds generated from the tax since 2020 have been used to make large improvements to Denver’s systems.

“In these first two years of the fund, we’ve made really significant investments into housing, shelter, and services for those ex periencing homelessness in Denver,” Fisher said. “It’s allowed Denver to transform our shelter system to be 24/7 which was real ly important during the pandemic rather than just the overnight shelter system that existed before.”

According to a Homelessness Resolu tion Fund update in May, the funds were used to transform the city’s shelter system from an overnight services to 24/7, fund ed thousands of households to keep peo ple safe during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it provided funding for two supportive housing projects that combined will add 129 income-restricted homes for people exiting homelessness.

HOST stated in its report that the initial

supportive housing developments are part of a plan to build more than 1,800 income-re stricted housing units within the next decade using the resolution fund.

The uses of the funds are guided by Den ver’s Five-Year Strategic Plan to increase housing and decrease homelessness. It made up about 15% of HOST’s projected expendi tures for 2022, according to the plan.

Fisher explained that the fund generat ed more money than the city had initially predicted—about 3% over the originally projected $40 million.

“The ballot item this November is to reau thorize the Homelessness Resolution Fund and to allow the city to retain the addition al amount collected in excess of the initial projection,” Fisher said.

If the measure doesn’t pass, the money would return to voters.

“One of the things that’s great about the Homelessness Resolution Fund is its ability to help us with supportive housing—the re markably successful housing type that we’ve found here in Denver where you take housing and wrap it with supportive services,” Fish er said. “We plan to deliver more than 1,800 supportive housing units in the next 10 years with the help of this fund.”

“(This housing) will help people exit homelessness and stay stably housed and I think that’s just the kind of thing Denver vot ers had in mind with this fund,” Fisher said.

In the 2020 election, Denver vot ers passed a 0.25% sales tax increase, which created the Climate Protec tion Fund estimated to accrue $40 million per year.

But with the first year of tax col lection in 2021, it had already ex ceeded the estimate by $1.3 million.

Due to Colorado’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights, or TABOR, the city is now required to return the revenue that was obtained through taxes.

TABOR requires the city to ask voters if they want the surplus funds to be put toward the Climate Protection Fund. The measure, 2J, would allow the city to keep the $1.3 million to further fund climate projects and still collect the tax without the $40 million cap.

“It’s very technical in nature. It doesn’t make the original ballot initiative go away, and all it does is ask if we are allowed to keep the money that was raised over the original estimate,” said Grace Rink, Denver’s chief cli mate officer.

The climate fund has been available to Denver residents in a variety of ways, such as rebates on electric-powered bikes to help cut carbon emissions.

Money collected from the Climate Protec tion Fund tax also helps fund electric cars for the Montbello Connector, a microtransit pro gram -providing free ride-sharing for neigh borhood destinations and transit stations.

An ordinance mandates that the city invests at least 50% of the fund directly into commu nities to enhance racial equity and environ mental social justice.

In October, the city will break ground on 10 large solar panel arrays supplying community solar. City buildings are the anchor subscrib er to those arrays, but low income households will also be fully subsidized subscribers with reduced electricity bills. Next spring, residents will start to see new trees planted in commu nities around Denver thanks to the city’s new tree planting initiative.

For 2022, the appropriated estimated tax collection is a little more than $40 million, and for 2023, the estimated sum is about $48.8 million, according to city numbers.

“We definitely want people to see how their dollars are being used instead of just having to go to our reports and have us tell them how it's being used,” said Rink.

Waste Continued

producers”

The Waste place on the 17,000 signatures. ly embarked environmental pay-as-you-throw will be phased year and recycling weekly rather Tafoya noted been overwhelmingly tle “organized initiative gained endorsement

“There contractors can we comply Some groups cern with rick, the senior affairs for ro Denver, issues of this and other downtown

“Imagine a single trash there for

PHOTO FROM SHUTTERSTOCK

Voters to Decide on Funding Legal Eviction Defense

By Talia Traskos-Hart

This November, Denver voters will deter mine whether to establish a legal represen tation fund for tenants facing eviction.

The ballot initiative in question, Initiative 305 titled “No Eviction Without Representa tion,” would establish an eviction defense fund through a $75-per-unit annual property tax levied on landlords. In total, an estimated $12 million would be generated to fund representa tion and a review board for eviction cases.

Wren Echo, one of the leading members of the campaign for the initiative, noted her hope that this measure could reduce incidences of homelessness in Denver by allowing those fac ing eviction to better understand and defend their cases.

city invests into commu environ ground on 10 community subscrib households subscribers with residents in commu city’s new estimated tax $40 million, about $48.8 how their having to them how it's

“The most important thing to know is that this measure would keep a lot of people off the street,” Echo said.

Currently, tenants being evicted from their homes do not have a universal right to legal representation, although the city provides legal assistance for families and individuals making at or below 80% of the area median income. But Echo explained that barriers to entry to the current program can often be ex orbitantly high.

“Even if people qualify, they may not know they qualify,” she said. “When you put up these barriers to entry instead of just making it a uni versal right people don’t access that service.”

Between 2014 and 2016, as proponents of the measure reported in their petition to get on the ballot, over 95% of tenants did not have legal representation in eviction cases. This amounts to thousands of unrepresented ten ants, as nearly 5,600 eviction filings were re ported in Denver in 2022.

In New York City, Baltimore, Boulder, San Francisco, and other cities across the nation,

Waste

Continued from Page 11

producers” in the initiative.

The Waste No More initiative found its place on the ballot after garnering more than 17,000 signatures. It follows other recent ly embarked upon measures to focus on the environmental impact of waste in Denver: a pay-as-you-throw system for waste collection will be phased in for single-family homes next year and recycling pickups will be switched to weekly rather than biweekly across the city.

Tafoya noted that the general reaction has been overwhelmingly positive, with very lit tle “organized opposition.” In September, the initiative gained an overwhelmingly positive endorsement from the Denver Democrats.

“There are even architects and housing contractors who have contacted us saying how can we comply with this,” Tafoya said.

Some groups have expressed points of con cern with the measure, however. Drew Ham rick, the senior vice president of government affairs for the Apartment Association of Met ro Denver, noted his worry about the spatial issues of this change for apartment buildings and other often crowded buildings located in downtown Denver.

“Imagine a high-rise downtown that has a single trash chute. There’s no mechanism there for recycling,” Hamrick said. “We’re

HD 4

Continued from Page 11 broken,” his website reads. “It is unclear if it is broken statewide, but once the Republicans gain more control of the State House, we will be able to get an idea how much of Colorado has been exposed to CRT.”

Daus lambasted the City of Denver’s Home lessness Resolution Fund, which he called a “40 million a year slush fund” that doesn’t address the unhoused population’s needs.

legal representation has been granted as a uni versal right in cases of eviction. In San Fran cisco, studies on the results of the measure have shown higher rates of success in court for potential evictees by as much as two times.

Drew Hamrick, the senior vice president of government affairs for the Apartment Associ ation of Metro Denver, noted opposition due to what he sees as “over-lawyering” of what is, in essence, a supply problem.

“There's a huge swath of people that haven't made up their mind on the issue,” he said. “I really do think that what’s wrong with the Denver housing market is there’s not enough housing out there to go around.”

Hamrick also noted his concern that the $75 fee on landlords would fall on tenants, in creasing rent prices.

Echo countered that the exemption for small landlords would cause the cost of the measure to fall more on large real estate com panies than individual renters.

“Real estate companies are the ones evict ing people in the first place and who can af ford to pay that tax,” Echo said.

The measure has garnered support from external legal groups, such as the Colo rado Poverty Law Project. Jack Regenbo gen, a policy and advocacy staff attorney at the project, noted that representation can help ease the burden of eviction hearing processes on tenants.

“Although most tenants do not currently have access to legal assistance, those who do are much more likely to remain housed, have additional time to locate more housing, or avoid having an eviction entered onto their public record,” he said. “Everyone deserves to have meaningful due process before experi encing the potential loss of their housing.”

now going to be requiring a compost facility on top of a recycling and trash facility … that’s going to be staggering.”

Tafoya noted that the initiative will be phased in, allowing buildings time to adapt to the changes required of them.

“We wanted to start with the largest busi nesses making the biggest impact on waste and then move down to the smallest square foot businesses, so that hopefully for the smallest businesses we’ll actually be bringing down the cost overall,” Tafoya explained.

Heading into the final month before election day, Tafoya noted his hope for both this initiative and the power of ballot initiatives in the future.

“You never know until election night, but we’re feeling confident,” he said. “We’ve knocked on the doors of tens of thousands of Denverites who are in favor of this.”

Recalling his experience working on simi larly environmentally-oriented ballot initia tives in the past, Tafoya explained his excite ment at seeing a new generation of organizers ready to use this unique strategy to influence local politics.

“We always talk about the three branches of government but there’s really a fourth and that’s you and me,” he said. “We’re training the next generation of environmental activists to do this. There’s a new group of leaders who will want to carry this mantle and we’re really excited for it.”

“He sees the changes you do, the ris ing crime, homelessness, and public drug use,” the website reads. “There is a signifi cant rise in taxes with a decline in safety in Denver's neighborhoods.”

If elected, Daus said he and other republi cans would be able to get to the bottom of the spending on homelessness and put that mon ey toward effective programs.

Additional issues his website states that he wants to tackle are the affordability of hous ing and crime in general.