Volume 55, Issue No. 11
A Greater Park Hill Community, Inc. Publication
Massive Redevelopment Planned For 28th & Fairfax Business Block ‘Fairfax Square’ To Include Townhomes, Micro-units, Restaurants, Retail By Cara DeGette Editor, GPHN
For the past several months, Denverbased developer HM Capital has quietly bought up almost all of the east side of the block of Fairfax between 28th and 29th Avenues. The developer is moving forward with plans to demolish the existing structures for a two-story residential and commercial project called Fairfax Square. Current plans include 20-22 townhomes on the south end of the block and 2025 “micro” units on the north end of the block. Two restaurant sites would also be built, along with commercial space, retail stores and possibly a small park planned in the middle of the block. The current zoning allows for that type of development on the block. That side of Fairfax currently includes the Cake Crumbs commissary, a former church and parking lot, two residences, the A&A Fish Market and Restaurant, and an empty retail building. “We’re excited about the project, and have closed on 98 percent of the properties,” said Ben Maxwell, the principal of HM Capital, in a late-October interview with Greater
Preliminary rendering of Fairfax Square, viewed from 29th Street looking southeast. Rendering courtesy HM Capital. Inset: Photo of the view from the street today by Cara DeGette
Park Hill News. All but one of the homes has been purchased, and Maxwell said he is hopeful that he will be able to buy it as well. The developer hopes to secure all building permits within six to seven months and begin construction next year. “Our intention is to build a high quality project,” he said. “We think it’s a great opportunity, and a great neighborhood.” In addition, HM Capital has purchased the former gas station on the west side of Fairfax Street, which currently houses the
CrossFit 1098 gym. Maxwell said he has met with Denver City Councilman Chris Herndon and asked about the possibility of swapping the former Xcel electric substation next door to the gym for future development. In exchange, the developer would include a park area across the street, within its Fairfax Square project. continued on page 15
Standing Rock Lynn Kalinauskas Wins Babbs Award
GPHC Leader Weighs In On Education, Philosophy And Life By Cara DeGette Editor, GPHN
Lynn Kalinauskas is a tireless champion for public schools. Her thoughtful, straightforward, and sometimes edgy contributions to the Greater Park Hill Newspaper reflect an understanding of the issues that affect public education that are both consistent and significant. Kalinauskas was honored as this year’s recipient of the Babbs Award at last month’s Greater Park Hill Community, Inc., annual meeting. Last year’s Babbs award recipient, Heather Shockey, presented Kalinauskas with the award. Shockey highlighted many reasons why Kalinauskas – who for many years has been the education chair for GPHC and writes a monthly column on education issues – was selected. Most cited were her well-researched contributions that help the community understand issues that affect public education. “Lynn makes a real, and positive difference to the residents of Greater Park Hill,” Shockey said.
American Indian Movement Co-Founder Dennis Banks leads a recent Dakota Access Pipeline prayer walk in opposition to the $3.8 billion oil pipeline at the Standing Rock Indian Reservation straddling North and South Dakota. Banks, 79, was a co-organizer of the Wounded Knee occupation in 1973. A firsthand account of recent actions at Standing Rock, and additional photos, are on Page 9. Photo by Paula Bard
Colorado Historians Tackle Heady Subjects
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You Got Turkeys? We Need Turkeys
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Inside This Issue
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April 2016 2016 November
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November 2016
What I Learned In Kindergarten Teaching, Or Logging Data?
schools Update
Lynn Kalinauskas
GPHC Education Chair
On the second and third weeks of school, I met with several Early Childhood Education and kindergarten educators, both teachers and paraprofessionals, from Denver Public Schools. The majority of them did not want to be named fearing district repercussions. To protect their identities, they are referred in this column as Teacher A, B, C, etc. Not even a month into the school year, there was definite frustration regarding assessments. One teacher challenged district administrators to spend a week in a classroom, so that they could begin to understand the level of stress imposed on students and teachers by constant standards driven testing. “All this is doing is damaging children,” she said. Two teachers, each with more than 10 years of experience, said this will be their last year teaching.
Going for gold Senate Bill 212, also known as the Colorado Achievement Plan for Kids (CAP4K), requires that early childhood and kindergarten students have an Individual Readiness Plan. DPS defines this as “an individual learning plan required by the state of Colorado that reflects a child’s development over the course of the year. The district is informed by ongoing assessment of a child’s progress in the development (socialemotional, physical, language, cognitive) and academic literary, math) domains and is meant to be a living document used to inform instruction. Information gathered from TS Gold will be used to inform Individual Readiness Plans.” TS Gold refers to Teaching Strategies Gold, an assessment tool developed by the private company Teaching Strategies. TS Gold requires early childhood teachers document how students are performing in 66 individual categories, while kindergarten teachers evaluate their students in 31 categories. DPS also “strongly recommends” that kindergarten teachers document each of these categories. This must be done three times a year for ECE and at least once—but more likely three times a year – for kindergartners. To document how students are performing on these points, teachers must either upload a photo, a video, and/or enter anecdotal notes. For a kindergarten teacher with a small class (25 students), that is 2,325 pieces of evidence. Once documentation is done, each student also must be scored. In sum, “It’s a ton of work,” said Teacher A. “There is no time to learn routines and continued on page 14
May The Force Be With You At Pauline Robinson
Next GPHC Meeting Thursday,Nov. April 73 atat6:30 Thursday, 6:30p.m. p.m. 2823 Fairfax St., Denver 2823 Fairfax St., Denver
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