All the News About Denver’s Best Residential Community Since 1961 • Volume 58, Issue No. 3 • April 2019
Four years ago, District 8 City Councilman Chris Herndon strolled into a second term in office without a whiff of opposition. Four years ago, Denver Mayor Michael B. Hancock skipped into a second term with barely a breeze. A lot can happen in four years. Heading into the May 7 Denver munici-
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Proponents, Opponents Weigh In On The Right To Survive In Denver
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GPHN Editor
pal elections, five challengers are taking on Herndon, including Blair Taylor and LaMone Noles, both of whom serve on the board of Greater Park Hill Community, Inc. Other candidates are catering manager Miguel Ceballos-Ruiz, former legislative aide Patrick Thibault and Erik Penn, who works at Children’s Hospital. The district includes all of Park Hill, Stapleton, East Colfax and parts of Montbello. As Hancock runs for a third term, he
Earth Matters: Amid Climate Change Grief, There Is Hope
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By Cara DeGette
East High Lady Angels Lacrosse Start Season In No. 2 Ranking
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Hyper-Development, Spike In Homelessness, Frustration With Status Quo Factors In Denver’s May 7 Municipal Elections
Talk of the Neighborhood: Watch Out For Drunk Skunks, Park Hill Turning 50, Parade Turning 10
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City Of Discontent
Inside This Issue PAGE 2
Denver City Council District 8 candidates make their pitches to voters during an East Colfax Neighborhood forum in March. From left, Moderator Jeff Fard, incumbent Chris Herndon, challengers Erik Penn, LaMone Noles, Miguel Ceballos-Ruiz, Blair Taylor and Patrick Thibault. Photo by Cara DeGette
has five opponents of his own – including Penfield Tate III, a former longtime legislator from Park Hill, and community activist Lisa Calderón. Hancock’s other challengers include Jamie Giellis, former president of the RiNo Arts District, disabled artist/ activist Kalyn Rose Heffernan, and activist Stephan Evans, who goes by the name “Chairman Seku.” In this season of discontent, no fewer than 52 candidates are running for city offices, including 13 city council seats as well as mayor, clerk & recorder, and auditor. Also on the ballot is the Right To Survive initiative, which would repeal Denver’s urban camping ban, and a measure – the first of its kind in the nation – that would make psilocybin mushrooms (aka “magic mushrooms”) the lowest law enforcement priority for Denver police. Several issues have fueled peoples’ frustration with the state of the city, and ramped up interest in the election. Out-of-control development, traffic congestion, a lack of affordable housing combined with a noticeable increase in the city’s homeless population, are all topics that have stood front and center during several candidate forums held in March in District 8. Attendees also expressed dissatisfaction with city leaders whom they charge are too heavily influenced by developers and other special interests. A common thread for many is a sense that Herndon, along with other elected and appointed officials, have moved forward with long-range plans for the city – specifically the extensive “Denveright” plan – with little input from residents and neighborhood groups.
Elonda Walker Vaughn: A Snapshot of A Quarter Century With DPL
Upcoming GPHC Meetings Thursday, April 4 and Thursday, May 2 at 2823 Fairfax St. at 6:30 p.m. All are welcome to attend.
education Update | Lynn Kalinauskas
An Uncertain Future Dropping Enrollment, Departing Principal Highlight Emerging Crisis At Denver Discovery School
Pippin At East High
This spring, the East High School theater department presented the much-celebrated musical, Pippin. In this photo, a Leading Player uses puppet strings to control a victim of war. Check out page 11 for more photos from the production, plus an exclusive interview with East theater director Matthew Murphy, on the rewards and challenges of teaching.
• A list of supports that DPS has provided The milquetoast announcement – that the school; community meetings were planned for the • A clear statement about how much extra future of Denver Discovery School – did not hint at the gravity of the situation. In money DPS has poured into the school reality, the gatherings in mid-March were to keep it functioning; about a school in crisis that faces an uncer• Butcher paper and colored markers tain future. placed on tables where the community During the 2019 Round 1 of would have small discussions about Choice only 20 incoming 6th gradthe future of the school. ers selected DDS, which is in the What wasn’t said Stapleton neighborhood and one of six middle schools in the Greater What was missing from the prePark Hill Stapleton enrollment sentation, however, was a clear exzone, as their first choice. About planation of what went wrong at 30 percent of DDS’ current stuthis middle school, which is only in dents requested transfers from the its fifth year of existence. school for next year. Hasira Ashemu, who goes by the Lynn The enrollment projections are Kalinauskas name Soul, has two children at the critically low, the newly-hired school. The founder of an activist principal is leaving at the end of the movement called Our Voice Our year and the school’s community appears Schools, which seeks quality education for to be in free fall. black, brown and indigenous children, Soul called out DPS during the first two meetDown a similar path ings and in a Facebook Live session. The first of last month’s meetings, at the Soul terms the state of the school a “manschool, was eerily reminiscent of the meetufactured crisis,” and describes the school’s ings run by the former chief community predicament the result of the district’s own engagement for Denver Public Schools that policies and procedures. Specifically, Soul preceded Smiley’s closure some eight years points to the following: ago. This was the similar path: • The opening of the Denver Green School, • A prepared Power Point to guide the disa sixth middle school in the zone, which cussion; syphoned students away from DDS. • The head of family and community en• A crisis in leadership at the school that gagement for DPS, now Theresa Becker, set the stage for a revolving door of prinvowing that this was a new dawn, that cipals and teachers. the district was hearing the demands for • A subsequent influx of minority stutransparency; dents at the school that was exacerbated • Presentations by those who crunch the by a high number of white parents seeknumbers about the dire situation at hand; continued on page 16