Your Guide to Community, Politics, Arts and Culture in North Denver DenverNor thStar.com
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Volume 1, Issue 6
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Feb. 15 - March 14, 2020
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ALWAYS FREE!
Hancock Opens Bikeway
Beer Makes Better Pot Local Brewer to Capture Carbon Emissions that Will Help Cultivate Cannabis
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DINING Thai Explosion PAGE 8
PHOTO BY DAVID SABADOS
Denver Mayor Michael Hancock announced the opening of the West 35th Avenue bikeway near one of the concrete barriers designed to promote cycling and walking by calming vehicular traffic.
Traffic Circles Raise Tensions
COMMUNITY The Man Who Founded Berkeley PAGE 5
KIDS & EDUCATION Home Alone PAGE 13
POLITICS Pit Bull Ban PAGE 14
HEALTH & WELLNESS Heart Health PAGE 11
ARTS & CULTURE Inconspicuous Consumption PAGE 10
By Sabrina Allie orth Denver’s very own Denver Beer Co. has joined a state pilot program to capture carbon dioxide (CO2) produced during the beer brewing process and use that carbon to cultivate cannabis and stimulate plant growth. On Jan. 29, Denver Beer Co. co-founder Charlie Berger joined Governor Jared Polis at the capitol to announce a pilot program focused on energy usage and environmental responsibility in the cannabis and beer industries. The state said the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s Carbon Dioxide Reuse Pilot Project is the first of its kind
By Sabrina Allie and David Sabados enver’s Vision Zero plan aims for zero traffic related deaths by 2030, but fatalities have increased every year since 2011 with the exception of 2017. A new dedicated bikeway in North Denver is one way the city is hoping to reverse that trend by creating a safer way for cyclists to cross from Sheridan to I-25. New traffic calming measures that make the route friendlier to cyclists make it less convenient for cars. While neighbors and bike advocates are celebrating the new route, some neighbors are raising concerns that traffic circles and other traffic calming measures don’t actually slow traffic and may be making the streets less safe instead of more. Mayor Michael Hancock spoke at the unveiling of the new route in January after several of the concrete medians that stop car traffic from traveling east-west on West 35th Avenue were installed. “Vision Zero can’t just be a slogan,” Hancock said. “Our mobility system is going to provide multiple ways for people to get around.” City officials pledged 125 miles of new bike lanes by 2023.
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BIKEWAY TRAFFIC CALMING EFFORTS In August 2018, the City and County of Denver installed three temporary neighborhood traffic circles along West 35th Avenue at the intersections of Julian, Newton and Raleigh streets. They were the first-ever traffic circles installed by the City and County of Denver (different than roundabouts primarily in the size of the intersection), and they were intended to calm traffic heading east and west along the corridor. People traveling north and south on Raleigh, Newton and Julian must come to full stop at the traffic circle before crossing West 35th Avenue. The circles were part of the Denver Moves plans to convert West 35th Avenue into a neighborhood bikeway. The mostly-residential corridor is 2.6 miles long. It was already a designated bike route, and the upgraded bikeway status gives priority to non-motorized and bicycle traffic on the road. The West 35th Avenue and other neighborhood bikeway plans are available at denvergov.org/neighborhoodbikeways. According to the website, the roadway design,
signage and traffic calming measures of neighborhood bikeways are intended to emphasize multimodal travel, and discourage through traffic for motorized vehicles while preserving local access needs for residents. “To maneuver around the circle, you need to slow down,” said City Traffic Engineer Emily Gloeckner. “And the reason we put them on a neighborhood bikeway is to slow vehicles down to a comfortable speed similar to cyclists.” She said the city wanted to pilot how well the traffic circles would reduce vehicle speeds. The city conducted a before and after study about the effects of the traffic circles just one month after installation. The 2018 report said “the traffic circles do not appear to have a large impact on vehicle speeds.” “Based on the speed study and data we received to date, the circles haven’t slowed traffic down the way we need them to,” Gloeckner acknowledged. She said the city wants to conduct another speed study now that other traffic calming (like media ns a nd signage)
See TRAFFIC, Page 12
See BEER, Page 7
PHOTO COURTESY OF LAUREN MIMS, THE CLINIC
Kaitlin Urso (Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment), Amy George (Earthly Labs), Brian Cusworth (The Clinic) and Charlie Berger (Denver Beer Co.) check the valves for Denver Beer Co.’s Co2 tank and Earthly Labs’ Co2 recovery equipment that will later be used in The Clinic’s cannabis plants.