Inter-Neighborhood Cooperation/Denver INC MINUTES – Monthly Member Meeting

July 11, 2015 9-11:30AM, Washington St Community Center, 809 South Washington St,

The meeting was called to order at 9AM with Larry Ambrose, INC President, presiding. A Quorum of members was present.

Welcome

Larry welcomed the Delegates and Guests to the Washington St Community Center/WSCC, and introduced the West Washington Park Neighborhood Assoc /WWPNA. WWPNA President Comments:

The WWPNA appreciates everyone coming out including Tony Hinkle, resident of WSCC and president of the WSCC Board of Directors. WWPNA has monthly Board meetings at the WSCC the first Tues of the month at 6pm. The WWPNA holds many events at the WSCC, and the Community Center serves as the home base for “BEE SAFE.” BEE Safe is growing quickly and its mission is to support cultivation of and link together pesticide free gardens that offer safe habitat for bees

Minutes

The Minutes of the June 15, 2015 Delegates meeting were approved as submitted.

Treasurer’s Report: Bibi Alexander, Treasurer

Certificates of Deposit = $12,200, Savings Account = $14,500, Charity Account = $1,928, Checking

Account = $3,127. Total of all accounts= $31,755

INC Physical Offices & Other Meetings

INC now has physical offices at Southwest Improvement Council/SWIC . INC will continue the tradition of convening the regular monthly Delegates meetings in different neighborhoods throughout the year, along with benefitting from the stability of the donated office.

Warm Cookies of the Revolution

Larry met June 10 with the founder of Warm Cookies of the Revolution/WCOR, who had approached INC through Jane Potts, delegate from Rosedale Harvard Gulch. The roles and missions of INC and WCOR are symbiotic in that WCOR is engaged in developing civic engagement. WCOR has agreed to become an affiliate of INC.

Chris Getzan, Program Manager from WCOR, addressed the meeting. WCOR makes civic engagement fun through theatre, comedy, and art performances, among other things. There is almost always activist follow-up to WCOR events such as letters to editors, direct engagement in neighborhood actions, etc.

And, the WCOR events always have cookies and milk for the participants!

All of INC was invited to the next WCOR event on July 21, the Opening Ceremony for the “Stomping Ground Games,” a yearlong program starting in October 2015, with a goal of visiting at least one neighborhood in every Denver City Council District over the course of 12 months.

WCOR welcome all ideas for this year long Stomping Grounds program from INC delegates and RNOs.

Candidate Introduction

Michael Carrigan, Candidate for District Attorney and member of the Colorado Board of Regents for 11 years, was permitted to present. He was a Prosecutor for years, and then ran a private law practice. He recognizes prison reform is emerging as a national issue, and wants to lead this conversation as Denver’s next DA. As other candidates surface, they will be given equal time.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Zoning and Planning/ ZAP: Margie Valdez, ZAP Co-chair.

 The next ZAP meeting is July 25, and this will be the final Committee meeting on Short Term Rentals, also called the Shared Economy. Mary Beth Susman will be presenting. ZAP gathers information and engages in discussion to assist participants with making informed and intelligent decisions on issues. All are welcome to ZAP Committee meetings, both INC members and non-members.

 Information on the lawsuits involving the Colorado marijuana industry will be uploaded to the INC Cloud library ZAP has developed. These four lawsuits are linked to the Supremacy Clause of the US Constitution. The intention of ZAP disseminating information on these issues is to inform people about the issues.

 Fracking is coming to Denver, and this is an issue ZAP can address.

Transportation. Joel Nobel, Co-Chair.

 The majority of the last meeting was the review of the Transportation Platform, which has been

a 6 month effort. The Transportation Platform will come to the INC delegates meeting for consideration in the next couple months. The guest at the July 9th meeting was Jeff Dunning, Service Planning Manager with RTD. See Transportation Committee Notes.

 The RR Crossing over Alameda at Santa Fe has had massive flooding during recent heavy rains. There is a lot of interest in the neighborhood regarding this and how an action plan can come about considering what the RR owns, what RTD owns, and what is owned in the vicinity by private parties.

The recent approval of the IGA between CDOT and Denver by City Council was discussed. There was concern over the rapid passage of an IGA with CDOT by City Council. It was discussed that the IGA has a lot to do with solving flooding issues, which even neighborhood residents testifying against the IGA at City Council supported in principle.

 Discussion brought up the similarities between the development and failures of the TRex project and the I70E project. Joel noted that there are a lot of groups addressing this issue, and that the Transportation Committee might do best to steer people toward those active discussions as it meets only every other month.

Parks and Recreation/PARC: Maggie Price Co-Chair.

 PARC is looking for some change up with new Council Members. The City is on a search for anew Manger of P&R by September. PARC wants Denver Parks & Rec to be fully aware of the sodium level that’s being created by current watering practices. Also, at the July 21st PARC meeting there will be more discussion of the gasification/incinerator in City Park. July 21 6pm is the next PARC meeting.

 Susan Danemiller’s resignation was discussed, and it’s uncertain if that means a policy shift.

 A delegate who attended the public Q&A with the County Librarian finalists wondered if INC could ask P&R to do the same with the finalists for the P&R Manager position. INC is submitting a letter making that request.

 The implications of the Planning Board giving up certain decision making power to P&R, and how that has allowed an Industrial Use permit, leading to the planned incinerator at the Zoo, was touched on, and this discussion will continue at next month’s INC meeting.

Public Safety: Merce Lea, Chair

 The INC annual Safety Expo will be at East High on Saturday, September 12. It features displays from Fire, Police and other related safety organizations and highlights a parade of 3000 Cruisers which starts at Mile High Stadium, and proceed along Colfax to East High School and back to Mile High Stadium.

 The last Public Safety Committee meeting at District 3 was great – and graffiti was a major topic. These District meetings would be very valuable for RNOs to attend. District 4 headquarters at 2100 S. Clay St. is the location of the next meeting, July 28.

Communications: Dave Stauffer, Chair

Dave reported the newsletter is out. It turned out well this month, and he hopes people feel they can share more news with INC. INC is a voice for RNOs, and there are many issues with contrasting opinions under discussion. INC should present the information and if people want to put an alternative view forward to the delegates, that’s to be supported so that the balance is created and everyone can draw their own conclusions from the discussions.

Dave acknowledged Linda Dowlen and Maggie Price, who are managing most of INC’s FaceBook updates.

Membership: JJ Niemann, Chair

We have 80 members, 100 is the goal. You can join at a discount of $20 for the next year.

Charitable Works, Joanne Kuemmerlin, Co-Chair

The critical need for school supplies for kids in the Clayton and Cole neighborhoods was recently pointed out to INC, so that assistance is underway. Please bring school supplies to the next meeting. The Cole Community Coalition will take the supplies to their block party and distribute them to kids. Pre-paid gift cards from office supply stores and donations by check help as well.

Education Committee: Meg Schomp, Chair

 DPS elections were discussed, and INC is making an effort to activate candidate panels through the Denver Decides process. INC is part of a Denver Decides committee that includes TV 8. INC is in search of a volunteer that has marketing experience to encourage more people to watch the Denver Decides programs, and to make sure INC is acknowledged as a sponsor in these productions.

 The Education Committee is seeking members. See Meg for information

SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKER: Chief Eric Tade, Denver Fire Dept

Elevator Inspections: Tade reported that DFD has taken over Elevator inspections, which used to be handled by Oil and Gas. This change makes sense because the FD is out there and the FD is the Dept that depends on elevators when something goes wrong and becomes an emergency.

Rapid Deploy Teams: The FD has also created rapid deploy teams to fight wildfires, using a self-sustainable business model. Without subsidy from tax payers, Denver’s FD can now dispatch expertly trained teams to wildfires across Colorado and to help other states. An excellent example of the success of this rapid deployment team strategy was the Black Forest/Waldo Canyon Fire. Denver’s FD had the teams ready to go. This has really helped relationships around the state through building partnerships and sharing resources. While saving money, it is creating a lot of good will for the city and county of Denver.

Englewood Incorporation: DFD also just took over the Englewood FD. These deals are structured to cover 100% of the cost of operations as well as and future anticipated/unanticipated costs. Through the associated IGAs, (Internal Governmental Agreements) Denver has been able to fill in the corners of the city – Denver’s boundaries are not a square. When asked about Englewood ambulance services and how that is structured in relationship to how ambulance services are handled with Denver Health, it was explained that Denver worked out an agreement with Englewood that puts Denver Ambulances in the Fire Departments under a contract between Englewood and Denver Health. The preservation of the Englewood Firefighters’ pensions and how that transfers with Denver taking over Englewood’s FD was also discussed. The cost of purchasing rigs and replacing rigs was discussed. In Englewood, when their lease purchase on the equipment is paid off, then the equipment transfers to Denver.

Maintenance: Denver FD has their own maintenance shop at 54th and Quebec, with 14 mechanics. The shop makes a lot of the tools the FD uses, and Denver Fire holds a number of patents as a result. Call Capacity: Engine Companies serving downtown Denver and Capital Hill have been taking up to 6500 calls per year whereas 5000 calls is considered ‘very busy’. The FD addressed this overload, and that strategy was explained. There were 112,000 calls last year. Plus, neighborhood Fire stations handle 25,000 commercial fire inspections annually. And, all stations need to find time to train.

The FD handles all hazards. Look at the FD as a big giant tool box. The mission of the FD has changed. Although still deployed to the same amount of fires as always (a couple 1000 structure fires in the City of Denver a year), response is now required to thousands of additional emergency, HAZMAT, and rescue calls. Every type of a call the FD responds to needs assessment that will help determine what kind of equipment is appropriate to send on the call.

Budgets: The increase in population in Denver hasn’t been matched by the City with an increase in the budget. However, that is an area where the FD benefits from the IGAs. Under these agreements, Glendale, Englewood, and Sheridan are paying for people. While the budget has not grown commensurate with the population, the FD is trying to grow smarter. Part of the immense growth of population downtown and in North East Denver is due to the concentration of high numbers of smaller living units.

The FD is progressing with an eye toward reinvesting in the city instead of having to always ask the city for more funding. The department does this by increasing efficiency, building up services and training. The expertise is so solid that the FD now delivers fee-based specialized classes in fire suppression training. Clients include Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, firms from the mining industry, and firms operating in the extreme environments in the polar caps.

Marijuana Challenges: When legalized, this caused one of the largest impacts on the FD. Not because of fires – but because of the permit process. The FD does the Hazmat permitting inspections. There are good players out there that follow all the rules and there are a lot of bad players. One common area the FD deals with related to growers is the need for major electrical capacity. A lot of creative electrical wiring schemes like overloaded cords, tapping into other buildings illegally, etc, have come up. The FD helps prevent and resolve these dangers. Adding to the load are dangers associated with butane use to extract THS for edibles. Denver did pass an ordinance: no THS extraction in residential areas. Now the FD has a protocol to inspect extraction systems and impose standards of design. Denver’s Fire Engineers have actually designed extraction systems to help extractors do it safely and legally. Right now three marijuana facility inspectors are funded. The FD has requests in with City for more inspectors.

Denver Challenges: Regarding the issue that comes up in neighborhoods because of Denver’s requirement for wider streets to accommodate FD emergency access: Denver has the narrowest streets in the entire nation. Denver allows sixteen foot width, whereas many other municipalities require twenty feet. Twenty feet is a common clearance for outriggers, but some places in downtown Denver need a 25 foot clearance. When these cities were planned 100 years ago, they were up to code with the smaller clearance. That has all changed now.

It’s important to know building height increases accumulating due to higher density development also increases the need for wider streets. When the building heights increase, the width of the street will also have to increase and the parking on the street will have to decrease to allow room to secure the trucks by extending outriggers in order to safely raise the ladders to the upper floors. In response to a comment that it seems counter-intuitive to widen streets because they become less safe, the Fire Chief didn’t agree in general, saying it’s a well debated issue and urban planners are the segment that handles that.

Regarding future stress on Denver’s electrical grid and the hazards associated with this: There has been an increased demand, but alternatives like solar cooperatives are providing relief in the process. If the marijuana industry were to keep growing as it has been, that would be a problem. However, there is a law of supply and demand in play, so the demand will even out.

Civic Activities: The FD still does block parties and youth events free of charge, but overload has decreased available resources for these events. The FD Smoke Trailer, as example, reached about 29,000children last year; the FD sends it to events with the largest impact. The FD’s best advocate is always the community. Because the community supports the FD the FD has always been very well supported by the city.

Mental Health Interventions: The Denver FD has undertaken extensive training to deal with mental health emergency interventions. The Department is receiving an award from the Spenser Foundation as a result. The FD keeps a staff psychiatrist available at all times. Physical health is one component, mental health is as important.

Zoo Incinerator: The FD’s job connected to the Zoo incinerator approved by the city in 2009 will be to follow closely what the facility is using for fire suppression, the danger of explosion, whether or not they are using hazardous chemicals in the process, and what is their emergency alert technology. The burning element has not been installed yet, they are still working on the design. The building does have equipment installed for the grinder.

Biggest Challenges: The final discussion with Chief Tade touched again on the biggest challenge being street planning. He acknowledged the conflicting wants and needs, and how they don’t always add up, saying we all need to make more decisions as to what we want as a community. Wanting nice narrow streets and more parking does become a trade off in urban planning for emergency response needs. It was pointed out that the FD has a strong influence on urban planning given that its departmental wants and needs are well considered. When asked why they don’t provide their own internal urban planners, the Chief responded that the FD doesn’t provide its own urban planners because the city already has a vast array of development services, and it would be a conflict of interest to do so.

Larry Ambrose thanked Chief Tate, saying it was obvious we have Denver’s finest here and that he is very impressed with his knowledge.

The meeting adjourned on time at 11:30AM

 

Submitted by Open Process