Good Morning!

On August 8th the INC Delegation was hosted by Denver Health and Hospitals at the Rita Bass auditorium which is a personal favorite of mine. I like to imagine we are watching a medical operation in theatre…when I am not paying rapt attention to our own proceedings…we do have occasional lulls in the action. However, our resourceful Secretary, JJ Nieman arrived with all his instruments of surgery,er, that is, video cameras as well as requisite recording equipment, so I shall happily leave to JJ the telling of our Delegates Meeting! Although I was pleased to see us return to the panelist forum with knowledgeable neighbors presenting and responding to questions from the audience about the important but little-known issue of the gasification plant in City Park.

We INC officers and committee chairs attended a Retreat at SouthWest Improvement Council (SWIC) on August 15th, where Joanne Kuemmerlin led us on a journey of self- examination. How well do we understand our roles/positions in INC? What are our INC goals? How do we achieve better communication? There was a definite corporate slant to our instruction, a methodology about which I should learn more.

At the INC Zoning and Planning meeting of Saturday, August 22nd, our lead off guest and presenter was Brad Buchanan, now a year into his job as Denver’s Director of Community Planning and Development. Although he presented us with a Neighborhood Planning Initiative including challenges, goals and Citywide Equity, he was adamant that citizens were the drivers of policy and decision-making in his department and gave us the website address where we can register our feedback, approval or disapproval and where we may leave suggestions about zoning and variances in our individual neighborhoods. Also he left us his own email <Brad.Buchanan@denvergov.org>.

Brad stayed to listen as Caryn Champine of his department further detailed the proposed Zoning Code Text & Map Amendment to “Implement adopted plan goals and objectives from Comp Plan 2000, Blueprint Denver and TOD plans in greenfield locations” beginning by changing the 61st and Pena Station Area Plan. For me a positive Purpose of the Amendment was “…more urban, pedestrian-oriented character for use throughout the city”. She also outlined an important Neighborhood Planning Initiative.

Next, the ZAP committee heard that an undated and unsigned document was posted for pre-hearing and hearing procedures of Evening Hearings for Liquor, 3.2 beer and Cabaret Licenses – with No Input from the RNOs! Only at the last minute were RNO members being notified of the new rules, to the detriment of neighbors trying to participate, testify, or protest in an Evening Hearing. This was a serious breach of an Excise & Licenses and neighborhood collaboration which has been developed over the last 8 years. Please read the ZAP minutes for details as well as a proposed INC motion for the September 12 Delegation meeting .

Merce Lea’s INC Public Safety District 5 DPD meeting of August 25th was held at the HUB in the Northfield/Stapleton Shopping Center at 8230 Northfield Blvd. WOW! What a Cop Shop this is! A bike library with all sizes of bicycles to check out. Desk and office space aplenty. Great corner location for easy street and vehicle access and high visibility. It is a bright space with large windows freely provided by Forest City developers, a far sighted developer which sees the value in giving space to a Cop Shop.

Commander Ron Thomas then told us about his District. The crime rate here is low and directed mostly towards property and District 5 does not have a significant gang problem. Newly appointed here, Commander Thomas seems ready to learn and grow with the burgeoning community. He had selected Sgt. Layla DeStaffany to give an update on the homeless in Denver, including the spillover of transients into this new and shiny neighborhood. She stressed that training in handling these citizens is crucial. Many with mental issues are especially touchy. Mental Health Crisis Line 844.493.8255. We also heard from the head of the town center’s private police who echoed some of the issues common to any concentration of the homeless outside of businesses (as on the 16th Street Mall). Here in Stapleton, some business owners have given food and bathroom access to some of these transients, which they then discover encourages some homeless to “settle down” in locations, ending their transitory nature to the chagrin of their kind benefactors. Ah yes, the bane of unintended consequences.

Thanks for your activism!

Ray Ehrenstein

INC Vice President