“The Little Newspaper with the Big Influence” Volume 31 • Number 20 • April 11, 2013
What’s Inside Greenwood Village named a ‘Tree City USA’
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Paying the Fiddler no more
Page 2
Venue reclaims historic name after Comfort Dental’s departure
Page 9
Most Arapahoe County law enforcement skip Obama event
Page 14
Hudson Gardens announces summer concert schedule
Don’t Miss:
seeks Centennial • Turley City Council position Page 7 raising funds • Community for stroke survivor Page 16 hosts grand • Brushstrokes opening: ‘New Space. New Work.’ Page 27
Index
Pages 5-6.........................................Opinion Page 8.........................................Classifieds Page 10.............................Service Directory Pages 12-17....................................Fleurish Pages 18-24......................................Legals
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By Peter Jones s the summer concert season approaches, some may notice that the signs once heralding the Comfort Dental Amphitheater are being replaced by images of a familiar fiddler flailing his bow in a triangular cap. That’s right. Fiddler’s Green is back – again. The expiration of Comfort Dental’s naming contract last year means the Greenwood Village concert venue has reverted to its original name. Well, sort of. Rodney Lontine, the chief operating officer of the Museum of Outdoor Arts, which owns the facility, says the official name – technically speaking – has always been the Museum of Outdoor Arts’ Fiddler’s Green Amphitheater. “The name and title agreement is really just a marketing agreement,” he said. “Like any sponsorship, it’s sponsorship dollars. If companies think it’s beneficial for them to purchase sponsorships for name and title, that’s what they do.” Comfort Dental, a national chain of dental clinics, began it’s two-year contract to lease the rights in 2010, much to the dismay of many music fans who never warmed up to associating concert fun with a trip to the dentist. “There’s nothing wrong with my teeth. Why would I go to Comfort Dental Amphitheater?” quipped retired concert promoter Barry Fey during a 2011 interview with The Villager. Between 1995 and 2003, the name-shifting venue became
The names change, but the amphitheater remains the same. Signage for both Comfort Dental and Fiddler’s Green adorn the box office as the venue prepares for the 2013 concert series. Comfort Dental’s naming rights on the 25-year-old Greenwood Village facility expired last year.
An Alice in Wonderland -themed outdoor art exhibit is the main attraction at Samson Park next door to Fiddler’s Green. The Museum of Outdoor Arts, whose mission is to make art part of everyday life, has owned both facilities since the debut of the outdoor concert venue in 1988.
Photos by Peter Jones
known as Coors Amphitheater as part of the museum’s contract with the Golden-based brewery. In intervening years, the facility reverted to Fiddler’s Green, the original name given by the Museum of Outdoor Arts when it opened in 1988. The pristine outdoor venue – the largest of its kind in metro
Denver – was named for a mythical afterlife full of dancers who never tire and a fiddler who never stops playing – at least until 11 p.m., in keeping with a city noise
ordinance. In recent years, Live Nation has been contracted as the amphitheater’s sole concert promoter,
for electing its top leadership has often been riddled with infighting, vote trading and personality conflicts. “None of us are at our best when that’s going on,” she said. “I honestly don’t think that’s what the citizens expect. I would just as soon see us rise to a higher level.” In recent elections for the mayor, the seven-member council has seldom reached unanimity in its choice. To gain that four-member threshold, many say some candidates have not been above forging behind-the-scene pacts. “The system lends itself to that type of backroom deal making. It can be ugly as hell,” Brinkman said. “There were councilmembers offering other councilmembers votes. It’s completely unethical.” According to Brinkman, the
way to raise the bar would be to remove the council from the proceedings entirely and let the people elect the mayor directly. She says such a move would bring the process closer to the voters and eliminate the kind of personality conflicts that can start off a council term on the wrong foot. “The mayor’s position is a very important position in terms of representing our community,” Brinkman said. “I would rather have the community elect who they want to represent them.” The change to the city charter – including Brinkman’s proposal that the mayor’s term be expanded from two to four years – would itself require a vote of the people, but only if the ballot question were approved by a majority of the council.
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Littleton mayor pushes direct elections City Council currently elects ‘council president’
By Peter Jones As dry as city government may seem to those who have endured city council television broadcasts, a local mayor’s race can seem like switching channels to a soap opera. Just ask Littleton Mayor Debbie Brinkman. “It’s like Days of Our Lives,” she said with some chagrin. According to the city charter, the city council president – or mayor, by more common parlance – must be chosen by councilmembers every two years shortly after the city election. For practical purposes, the position is called mayor, especially at public appearances and in the context of intergovernmental relationships.
Littleton Mayor Debbie Brinkman Despite the procedures of governance described in Littleton’s guiding document, Brinkman says the council’s process
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