All the News About Denver’s Best Residential Community Since 1961 • Volume 57, Issue No. 5 • May 2018
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
The first phase of the Park Hill Commons project on the 2800 block of Fairfax Street was originally slated to be finished this January. Construction has yet to begin. Photo by Cara DeGette
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News You Can Trust
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Editor, GPHN
If time were money, the tiny pocket park on Fairfax Street might already be built. But the long tug-of-war continues over a proposed deal to give developer Ben Maxwell a parcel of land that was slated for a
small public park in north Park Hill. In exchange, Maxwell would build the park inside his upscale development project – called Park Hill Commons – on the other side of the street. Despite city officials’ denial that a deal had already been made, the Greater Park Hill News has learned that in early Novem-
ber, the developer and the city entered into a formal “Letter of Intent” to move forward with the land swap. Yet, the city’s Parks and Recreation department subsequently paid $30,000 to an outside landscape design firm to conduct continued on page 11
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By Cara DeGette
City Park, And All That Jazz
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Rift Deepens Over Proposed Fairfax Land Swap; Deal Gets Political
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PITTING NEIGHBOR AGAINST NEIGHBOR
Balancing Rocks With A Man From Limerick
Bee In Your Backyard? Keep Calm And Swarm On
Park Hill Library’s Secret Weapon
UPCOMING GPHC MEETINGS Thursday, May 3 and Thursday June 7 beginning at 6:30 p.m. at 2823 Fairfax St. All are welcome to attend.
EDUCATION UPDATE | Lynn Kalinauskas
A Moment Becomes A Movement Rising Voices Echo Through A House Divided At DPS Two events that took place in mid-April encapsulate the state of education in Denver: the brief return of Antwan Wilson and the rise of Vanessa Quintana.
Antwan Wilson’s brief return
knowledged that it had indeed hired Wilson as a consultant. Wilson was to be paid $60,000, plus expenses, for 12 two-day workweeks. Shortly thereafter, DPS announced that Wilson won’t be a consultant after all.
On April 11 a photo of Wilson walking Vanessa Quintana takes on DFER through the corridor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Early College, a high school in On April 14 at the Colorado Democratic far northeast Denver, emerged on State Assembly, Vanessa Quintana Facebook with speculations that he put forth a proposal to remove the must have been re-hired by Denver word “Democrat” from the ColoPublic Schools. rado chapter of Democrats for In 2014, Wilson’s title with DPS Education Reform, a pro-reform was Assistant Superintendent for education group. Delegates overPost-Secondary Readiness. Among whelmingly approved the proposal his actions, he was directly inamidst cheers and applauses. volved in the closure of Montbello DFER is a political action comHigh School. He left DPS to become mittee founded by hedge fund manLYNN superintendent of Oakland Uniagers. Also known as Education KALINAUSKAS Reform Now, it backs education fied School District in California. In Oakland he attempted to carry reform agenda and policies. On its out some of the reforms Denver has impleboard is former state Sen. Mike Johnston, mented: closing schools, increasing the who is currently running for governor of number of charters and a single application Colorado and who authored Senate Bill 191 form for both charter and district schools. that tied student testing scores to teacher In November 2016, amidst pushback and evaluations. DFER was also active in the budget controversies, Wilson left Oakland last round of school board elections in Denfor Washington D.C., where he was apver Public Schools, promoting pro-reform pointed Chancellor of the District of Cocandidates with large sums of money. lumbia Public Schools. He resigned from Although the Democratic State Assemthat position this February, when news bly vote may not translate into concrete leaked that he had violated the district’s action, it points to a growing schism in policy by transferring his daughter to a Denver’s political scene around education. school without following the proper proWhat is equally significant is the fact that cedure. continued on page 8 Two months later, on April 12, DPS ac-
Pop Show Pops At East Theme This Year Is Female Empowerment Story and photos by Reid Neureiter Special to the GPHN
The Denver East High choirs performed to nearly packed houses for three straight nights in April with their annual “Pop Show,” a celebration of young musical talent. This year’s theme was “Female Empowerment” with a large blue painted female gender sign dominating the stage. More
than 200 choir members sang 31 tunes, starting with a Fleetwood Mac medley and finishing with a medley featuring the songs “I’m Every Woman,” “You Gotta Be,” Beautiful,” “Female,” and “Perfect.” The East program actually consists of a number of different choirs including, among others, Seraphim - an advanced women’s ensemble; the Honors Choir, the advanced concert choir; and Angelaires, a continued on page 15