All the News About Denver’s Best Residential Community Since 1961 • Volume 56, Issue No. 3 • March 2017
Owner Nixes Plan For Kearney Street Distillery And Restaurant Editor, GPHN
Birdland | Mark Silverstein
Facebook post, Bardenay Chief Operating Officer Joely Ward Rhodes wrote the following: “We are super bummed about this, but our attorneys gave us [the above] statement to release and this is all we can legally say at this time. Park Hill is greatwish everyone the best.” The building, at 2245 Kearney St., has stood empty since the Korean Full Gospel Church, which leased the space, moved out in early 2012. For decades before that, until 1982, the building was the home of the Tower and Crest movie theaters.
The Stormwater Bill Has Arrived. It’s Time To Act
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from Greater Park Hill News. A statement posted on the Bardenay website suggested several possibilities: “For a number of reasons, including concerns with the building’s compliance with Denver’s stringent noise ordinance and the close proximity to the condominiums, Bardenay has notified the landlord that we will not be moving forward with the lease. We had always intended to be compliant with all laws and regulations and would only have proceeded if we could be.” On a Park Hill Neighborhood group
Talk of the Neighborhood: Neighbors Weigh In On 28th & Fairfax Project
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‘Boycott Bardenay’ signs began to pop up in yards about a week before the owner announced he was abandoning plans to move forward with the project. Photo by Cara DeGette
Op/Ed: Say ‘No’ To Pretty Pictures, Big Talk
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In late February, the owner of Bardenay abruptly abandoned plans for a 236-seat distillery and restaurant in the old Tower Theater space on the business block of Kearney Street between 22nd and 23rd Avenues. The project, first detailed in the October, 2016 issue of the newspaper, was supported by numerous Park Hill residents. But it drew criticism from many nearby business owners and vocal neighbors living in surrounding residential areas, including in the condominium complex next door. Specifically, there were concerns over the size of the proposed restaurant and distillery, the lack of a parking lot, the impact on neighboring businesses and concerns over noise. The news came about a week after yard signs began popping up in the neighborhood to “Boycott Bardenay,” though it is unclear whether or how much the opposition spurred the decision by the distillery’s Idaho-based owner to halt plans to move forward. “I am afraid that due to the possibility of litigation, I can only confirm that Bardenay is not moving forward,” owner Kevin Settles wrote, responding to an email inquiry
Community Announcements: Clayton Trust Mulls Options For Park Hill Golf Course
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By Cara DeGette
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Bardenay Pulls Out of Park Hill
Inside This Issue
Check Out The Chromebooks At The Library
Next GPHC Meeting is on Thursday, March 2 at 6:30 p.m., 2823 Fairfax St., Denver All are welcome to attend
Schools Update | Lynn Kalinauskas
Flawed Process Leads to Gilpin Closure One Point Change Decides Fate Of Historic School
There is a steady and constant board members on Jan. 19 about churn of school closures and openthe shuttering of Gilpin Montesings in Denver Public Schools that sori, the only neighborhood eleis affecting primarily minority and mentary school in the Curtis Park low-income communities. In its efand Five Points neighborhoods, forts to create “great schools in every west of Park Hill. neighborhood,” DPS has shuttered “If you close that building, not numerous neighborhood schools only will you be slamming the door and created large enrollment zones on 300 of the greatest kids’ faces in Lynn that have cut a swath through Denthis town, but you’ll be closing anKalinauskas other door, another chapter in Five ver’s social fabric. That point was driven home by Points’ great history as the historic Erik Troe, host of the KUVO radio show black part of town.” Jazz Caravan. Troe was speaking to DPS continued on page 10
Sign of the Times
Hate Has No Home Here Project Benefits Project Worthmore, Colorado ACLU By Cara DeGette Editor, GPHN
The Cormorants Are Back It’s March, and that means the gangly, prehistoric-looking Double-crested Cormorants have returned to Duck Lake in City Park. Dozens of birds are pairing up and sprucing up their nests, made of sticks and grass and sometimes trash, in the island rookery trees. Both cormorant mates work on the nest, with the male hauling in the sticks, and the female doing the building. They’ll generally have one or two broods a season. Photo by Park Hill resident Mark Silverstein
It started as a simple post on the Park Hill Neighborhood Facebook page. To say it took off was an understatement. “The original Facebook post asked if any neighbors would be interested in a yard sign that says Hate Has No Home Here’ in English, Urdu, Arabic, Korean, Hebrew and Spanish,” noted co-organizer Margaret Fogerty. “Within an hour more than
200 people indicated interest, so a couple of neighbors got to work organizing a Go Fund Me page to raise funds and place the yard sign order.” In one day, $4,000 was raised to cover the cost of printing 500 signs and metal stakes. As of press time, another 150 signs have been printed and distributed in Park Hill and surrounding neighborhoods. $1,000 in donations was raised, with 25 percent going to the Colorado ACLU and 75 percent to continued on page 8