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Denver Update - April 25 - May 1, 2008 City News Briefs  Finance Committee    Dnc Insurance   “I would like to know plan B, you have a well thought out Plan A but sometimes Plan A doesn’t always work out exactly as you anticipated.”  Jeanne Faatz City Council Member District 2   The Democratic National Convention comes roaring into town in just a few short months, and in order to provide security for the convention, Denver will be entering into agreements with approximately 40 other jurisdictions.  But before that happens, the City must secure workers compensation and liability insurance.  This week the Finance Committee wanted to make certain those costs don’t come out of the pockets of Denver taxpayers.  The Mayor’s Office has been pushing the Department of Justice for a firm answer on a reimbursement plan.    “It’s a new situation for them at DOJ and they’re taking every step they need to take to make sure they’re doing it properly.  We’re working with them, as I said this morning we’ve engaged all of our resources to help persuade them that this should be an allowable cost . But we’re doing that with a number of different things as well, I don’t want to pull this out as being the issue that is the most important to them.  This is part of a $50 million dollar package and they’re looking at each one of them.” Katherine Archuleta Senior Advisor on Policy & Initiatives Mayor’s Office   $50 million is the estimated cost that’s been earmarked for city security activities related to the Democratic Convention.  And it’s that number which opens the issue to larger questions of cost containment.   “If the amount exceeds $50 million, you build a budget, if you haven’t allocated enough and the cost runs over, I absolutely insist on finding out whose going to pay the excess and I’m asking could the host committee be the place to go and get that money because nobody’s identifying anybody else. “ Jeanne Faatz City Council Member District 2   The purchase price of the insurance policies themselves is only a small part of the full security costs:  a little over $972 thousand for workers’ compensation, $850 thousand for police professional liability insurance and $25 thousand for fees and taxes.  The upfront costs for these policies total about $1.85 million. In addition, supplementary automobile insurance might also be needed.  But the total cost for all insurance policies is not to exceed $2 million.  Though many of the committee’s questions are still unresolved, members felt that they needed to keep moving forward. Next, the ordinance will go to the full council.     Artistic Democracy  Denver residents will be treated to a first of its kind event at a party convention during the DNC this summer. It will bring world class artists to town to create a series of innovative commissioned works throughout the city’s neighborhoods. At a news conference earlier this week, Mayor Hickenlooper said the DNC has inspired the event created around the notion of what democracy means.It’s a chance, he says, to bring Denver’s cultural vitality into the limelight…   “And shine a very bright light on our ability to have discussion such as what does democracy mean to you in a very productive way.I think our business community, our cultural institutions are capable and have shown this is the kind of stuff we do all the time and to allow them to do this on a much large, more profound, more powerful stage is good not just for our city and our residents  but really serves a benefit to the entire country."   John Hickenlooper Mayor City and County of Denver   Ten art installations designed to inspire public discourse will be placed throughout the city August 21st through the 29th.   "The mayor is right, we have a truly remarkable slate of artists coming to Denver in August to help our community engage in the political dialogue of the day." Erin Trapp Director Denver Office of Cultural Affairs   The mayor adds that the program brings an extra dimension to how the community will experience the convention.   “We all have spent so much time and over the next four months will continue to spend a remarkable amount of time making sure this is a safe, sustainable great convention.  We also want to make sure the convention has a variety of very positive and very powerful impacts on our community.  When we think about what Dialog: City means it really is in many ways the first time we have had a city-wide arts festival across the whole metropolitan area.” John Hickenlooper Mayor City and County of Denver   As a sneak preview, conceptual artist, writer and musician D.J. Spooky – also known as New York artist Paul Miller, was in town to discuss his upcoming event.   "One of the things that I really want to say is thank-you to the Mayor for being such a progressive. It’s a very important thing to think about, the idea of the city as being a place of communication.” Paul Miller Artist/Writer/Musician   His latest multimedia work is called Terra Nova:  The Antarctic Suite – it captures the acoustic qualities of Antarctic ice forms. All the Dialogue:City exhibitions will be concurrent, but each will have a dedicated opening, allowing the public to attend  every event. Museum Ideas  Future architects are being given the chance to help with design plans for the Buffalo Bill Museum. At the CU College of Architecture and Planning, students had a chance this week to explain their projects to guest reviewers. The city’s Parks and Recreation Department has asked the school to have landscape architectural and architecture students come up with proposals. There were many, varied ideas.   “The intent of my design was to instill the sense of Buffalo Bill. the sense of adventure and the sense of the expansive views he felt sitting on top of Lookout Mountain” Mike Siniscalchi Landscape Architectural Student   Parks and Rec is taking a comprehensive look at the future of the museum. Mayor Names New Director of Legislative Services  In other City news, the Mayor recently named R.D. Sewald the new Director of Legislative Services.  Sewald currently works with the City Auditor as Director of Government and Community Affairs.  Mayor Hickenlooper says Sewald’s experience with City government and his strong working relationships with City Council make him a good addition to the team.   “He knows as much about the City as anyone and he is I think one of the most genuinely honest, kind thoughtful people that I know.  He approached us and he was interested in getting involved over at the Mayor’s office and he likes to see all sides.  I hope you all will look forward to working with him as much as we are. I know some of you don’t know him that well, but he’s a great, wonderful person.” John Hickenlooper Mayor City and County of Denver   Sewald joined the Mayor’s office May 5th.  He succeeds City Council Liaison Roberto Venegas, who moves to a new post as a policy advisor to the Mayor. First Female Sheriff Division Chief The Denver Sheriffs Department reached a milestone recently. Marie Kielar, a 23 year veteran of the department was promoted to Division Chief on March 14th. She is the first female Division Chief in the department’s history. Chief Kielar will be assigned to the Technology and Special projects division where she will oversee the Justice Center Project, the Training Academy, Homeland Security Credentialing among other projects. Second Historical Milestone for DSD Within a Month The Sheriff’s Department achieved another historical milestone April 11th when Venessie Murray was promoted to Major, becoming the first woman African American to hold the position.  Murray is a 16 year veteran of the Denver Sheriff Department.  She’s been the Commander of the Community Corrections Unit since 2006, and has served in various other supervisory positions at the Pre-Arraignment Detention Facility and the County Jail.    HUD, VA to Provide Permanent Housing for Vets Homeless veterans in Denver are getting some much needed help. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development this week, announced $75 million to provide permanent supportive housing for an estimated 10 thousand homeless vets…175 of them in Denver. HUD’s Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing Program, will provide rental vouchers to local public housing agencies.  Those agencies will work with the VA Medical Center to identify eligible homeless veterans.  Veterans who receive Denver City Council approves facility improvements for community corrections.

Denver Update - Weekly Council & Council Committee Meetings Denver City Council Meeting   Challenging Changing Neighborhoods "I'm very concerned about the level of drama that this has created. “   Judy Montero City Council Member District 9   Plenty of cheers, jeers and tears at Monday night’s marathon City Council meeting.  Emotions ran high for nearly 10 hours as Council heard both sides of a divisive zoning issue.   “It was my father’s wish that my future be secured.  That is why he entrusted my home to me for my welfare.  I already lost my father, should I also lose my property rights.”   Betty Kadovitz   The big issue, re-zoning a large part of West Highlands and a neighborhood surrounding Sloan’s Lake taking them from R-2 to R-1.  First a little zoning lingo lesson.   R-1 is a residential zoning district that allows for single family homes with a minimum of 6-thousand square feet of land for each unit.   R-2 allows for multi-units; typically duplexes but sometimes triplexes.   The battle over the ordinances has been brewing for years. That’s why hundreds of the very passionate people sitting in these benches signed up to speak for or against what many called down-zoning.  Some of these people say changing from R-2 to R-1 will keep developers from ruining the character of their neighborhoods by scraping off homes and putting up big multi-family properties.   Others watching the battle believe not allowing the developers in will lower property values by making the neighborhoods stagnant and therefore undesirable.    “This is not a threat to these neighborhoods, it is to reinvigorate them, it is to renew them, to re-establish them, to re-invest in them, and to reinvent these neighborhoods.”    Peter Pappas   “This is beautiful and I wouldn’t want to change it but I’m also not an owner here, I have no say about it, but I am an owner, the American dream, who would have ever thought I would have owned a home, not everybody gets to, and now I’m defending my piece of dirt.  You don’t buy a neighborhood, you buy a house, I don’t like these curtains, but that’s not mine to say.”   Barbara Welsh    “I’m a little concerned that if some areas are down-zoned it will just force builders into other areas.”   Beth Scherer   “We’re really very, very alike. Some of us are fearful our investment in our home is threatened by change in character, and some of us are fearful our investment in our home is threatened by a change in zoning.  There’s a lot of fear.  And I would be willing to guess that the positive developments that come into this neighborhood as a result of down-zoning will surprise each and every one of us.   Christine O’Conner   The people who asked for the zoning change are just regular neighborhood residents who wanted to have a say in what was being built.  In applying for the re-zoning a couple of confusing things happened.   First, almost $40,000 worth of filing fees were waived. Many of the opponents thought this action showed a bias by the City in support of the zoning change.    A spokesperson for the City’s Community Planning and Development department says one reason the fee was shelved was because the application was in compliance with the tenants of Blueprint Denver.   As a reminder, Blue Print Denver is a voter-supported vision plan which “…encourages and promotes more efficient use of transportation …” as well as “…appropriate and mixed land uses and the revitalization of declining neighborhoods.”  In doing so the plan identifies Areas of Change and Areas of Stability throughout the city.   The Community Planning and Development spokesperson also says the filing fees weren’t paid because a recent rule says that if 20 percent of people involved in a zoning application sign a petition in agreement, then the fees can be waived.  And, in the case of both council bills, that did occur.   But, some council members were concerned over how many of those signatures were actually counted.  If the petition signatures were missing, for example, a middle initial, they might differ from how a homeowners name appears on their property title, and were therefore thrown out.  Some council members thought this offered a skewed view regarding the number of people on either side the debate. Still, the petitions were deemed legal.   “Regardless of whether or not a list of deed of trust holders was attached to the original application, regardless of whether that requirement was waived, or whatever happened a year and a half ago when that piece of paper was submitted, I believe council has full legal authority to act on the proposed re-zoning on the merits tonight.”   David Broadwell Assistant City Attorney Denver City Attorney’s Office   Another issue involved the City Staff presentation itself.  In quoting from the Blueprint Denver document, members of Community Planning and Development abbreviate a quote without identifying what part was omitted.  Some opponents saw this as an attempt to hide pertinent information regarding the zoning proposals and their compatibility with Blueprint Denver.    “Here’s the part that was left out. Those that are found to be incompatible…to reflect the zoning map amendment…the application should be recommended for denial”   Daniel Markovsky    “What Mister Markovsky read was correct and I’m still not sure what the point is or how it’s relevant.”   Deirdre Oss Senior Planner Community Planning & Development   Let me help you then, normally in scholarly work when you make a quotation if you leave out important material there’s a punctuation nark that indicates you’ve deleted material because it does change the meaning of the paragraph…without indicating you’ve left something out it looks like the paragraph means the opposite.   Carol Boigon City Council Member-at-Large   Staff said that while the report may not have contained the correct punctuation, the meaning of the words and the conclusion for approval that they came to would not have changed. Still both the signature and use of the quote left many council members uncomfortable.    “We’re looking for a clean Democratic process and to just toss out eight percent, I just don’t think that sends the right message.   Charlie Brown City Council Member District 6    “Are we being given fair materials from our staff or aren’t we?”   Carol Boigon City Council Member-at-Large   While both bills passed by a vote of 11 to 2, it was not without a lot more comments and concerns.    “The process itself I alluded to earlier - clearly different, unusual, has been challenged all along the way – suspect.  Many thought I have been driving the train behind the scenes and that the planning department and the zoning administrator have all been in a conspiracy to move this thing forward in a way that was inappropriate - …  well that’s not true, clearly not true.”   Rick Garcia City Council Member District 1    “It’s certainly true that the constitution guarantees us a right of property as it does the right to free speech and many other rights. At the same time, the right to property is not absolute.”   Doug Linkhart City Council Member-at-Large .  “The interesting thing about this issue is where we as council members could see on both sides the value of your argument. ”    Michael Hancock  City Council President  District 11   You can see each of these hearings again on Denver 8 TV.  To accommodate neighborhood interest in the proceedings, we will replay one hearing on Saturday and the other on Sunday.  Council Bill 160 focusing on West Highlands airs at 1 p.m., Saturday.  Council Bill 161 concerning Sloan’s Lake airs Sunday at 1p.m.  As is the case for all Council meeting coverage, you can see the entire meeting anytime on www.DenverGov.org/Denver8TV.   Bond Implementation Committee   Your money and how it’s being spent was the subject of Monday’s meeting of the Bond Implementation committee.   Cashing In You’ll recall that Denver voters passed several general obligation bonds last November.  Now, the city needs to sign legal agreements with some of the organizations which will be receiving funds for those bond supported projects.  Right now they’re looking at signing deals with Denver Health and Hospitals, and the Museum of Nature and Science.   Museum Money First the Museum deal, which will require a total of $49 million. The facility will get 10 percent of the cash up-front for maintenance and another $30 million for new construction.   The Museum of Nature and Science also needs to raise $23 million to match the construction money it’s getting before they get anything to start building.  Improvements won’t be finished until 2012.   Hospital Bed Boost The agreement with Denver Health and Hospitals is a little different in that they are required to provide matching funds.   The money would be used to add more medical and surgical beds to a specific area, raising the number of spaces from 13 to 36. The total price tag on this project is $5.8 million.  The addition will be completed by 2010.   Bond Deal Requirements As with an agreement already reached regarding Denver Botanic Gardens, all of the entities are asked to start and maintain a public communications and out-reach plan.  They must also get the okay from the City for its design plans, be responsible for all of the bidding and contracts, provide adequate insurance and keep City officials updated on the project.  Both items were moved out of committee.   Better Denver Dates Also on the agenda, an overview of the first draft of the 5-year Better Denver Bond Plan. This is the schedule on how the construction and engineering firm Ch2M Hill plans to work with the City to coordinate and complete all of the bond projects within 5 years. The prime concern…that the company sticks to it’s time-line, and budget.   Each Councilmember will also get an individual update regarding projects in their district.   When to Watch - Watch for complete coverage of the Bond Implementation Committee on the 4th Monday of each month at 3:30 p.m.  The meeting replays the following Saturday at 8:00 p.m.