Community Announcements
Fairfax Land Swap Heads To City Council July 16
The Denver City Council is scheduled to vote whether to move forward with the proposed Fairfax park land swap on Monday, July 16. The controversial issue passed through the city council’s Land Use, Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on June 26. Specifically, the city’s Parks and Recreation Department wants to trade the former Xcel power station on the west side of Fairfax Street between 28th and 29th avenues with the developer of the residential and retail project Park Hill Commons on the east side of the street. In exchange, the developer will build a public park inside Park Hill Commons. The full city council will hear the matter on July 16, beginning at 5:30 p.m. at the City and County Building in the 4th floor Council Chambers. It is open to the public. Read complete coverage of the proposed deal, and the timeline for how it evolved, at greaterparkhill.org.
Two Park Hill Golf Course Meetings Set For July
Two public meetings are scheduled in July to talk about the future of the Park Hill Golf Course. In late June the current golf course operator, Arcis Equity Partners, LLC, gave notice that it intends to renew its lease for five years. Clayton Early Learning, which owns the 155-acre parcel and leases it to Arcis, has been in the process of deciding whether to sell the property, at the northwestern-most area of Park Hill. It is unclear what impact the lease renewal will have on Clayton’s plans. The first community forum will be Tuesday, July 10, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Clayton Early Learning campus administration building, 3801 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. The second meeting is Thursday, July 19, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Clayton Early Learning Campus training center building L-3975, in the Meera Mani Room, 3801 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. The meetings are open to the public and there is no need to RSVP.
An Evening of Birdsong
Bird Conservancy of the Rockies is partnering with the Lowry Speaker Series for a talk about the importance and wonders of birds in Colorado. Bird Conservancy of the Rockies works to support birds and their habitats through an integrated approach of science, education and land stewardship. Topics include what species of birds are typically seen in the state, how they are divided and organized (field marks, sounds, behaviors, location) and how researchers learn about birds, in general. The event is Tuesday, Aug. 7, from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Eisenhower Chapel, 293 Roslyn St. Admission is free; no tickets or reservations are needed. For further information, contact Karen House at 720-955-8833 or at https://birdconservancy.org/.
Dealing With Disaster
Lisa Gardiner, author of Tales from an Uncertain World: What Other Assorted Disasters Can Teach Us About Climate Change, will share her quest to learn how people deal with disasters and how people can draw upon their experiences in an attempt to quell the climate catastrophe and be resilient. The event, co-sponsored by GPHC, Inc., is at the Park Hill Library at Montview and Dexter on Saturday, July 21 beginning at 2:30 p.m. Books will be available for sale and signing.
Walk The Catwalk
The Denver Dumb Friends League will host Catwalk, a showcase aimed at educating local cat owners about programs offered by the shelter in addition to making those felines available for adoption. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased at ddfl.org/catwalk. Admission includes access to local food trucks, beer tasting from breweries in the area, cat-themed merchandise for sale and chances to win other prizes. Designated driver tickets will also be made available for non-drinking patrons at $10. Catwalk takes place at the Denver Dumb Friends League on Saturday, July 7 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at 2080 S. Quebec St. The cats will be stars of the show, so the shelter is asking people to leave their other pets at home.
1968: Chaos & Conflict
The group Active Minds is hosting a lecture, “The Year 1968: Chaos, Conflict & Change,” which will start chronologically in January of 1968 with the Tet Offensive in Vietnam, and cover other notable events such as the Apollo 8 moon orbit to the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy. The discussion is at the Tattered Cover, 2526 E. Colfax Ave. from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 10. An encore presentation will be July 26 at the Sam Gary Library, at 2961 Roslyn St. from 6:45 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. The lectures are free to the public.
Hive Minds
Active Minds dives into the importance of bees and their decline in recent years in a lecture called “The Future of Bees.” The discussion covers the role bees play in the pollination of many foods, as well as their drastic population declines since the 1990s. The lecture is at the Sam Gary Library, at 2961 Roslyn St. on July 12 from 6:45 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. There is no cost.
Seeking Outstanding Latinos
The Denver Public Library is seeking nominations for its annual Latino Community Service Awards to honor individuals who have made a deep and lasting impact on the Latino community. Each year, the library offers three awards to honor four Latino leaders. Nominations are due Friday, July 20, at DenverLibrary. org or mailed to: Denver Public Library c/o Latino Awards Committee, 10 W. 14th Ave. Pkwy., Denver, CO 80204. Award winners will be celebrated during a free public ceremony on Sept. 22.
For more info: https://www.denverlibrary.org/latino-awards.
• The Lena L. Archuleta Community Service Award: The recipient is a female Colorado resident who has taken an active role in the community.
• The Eric J. Duran Community Service Award: The recipient is a male Colorado resident who has taken an active role in the community.
• The César Chávez Latino Leadership Hall of Fame Award: This award celebrates the induction of one male and one female into the library’s César Chávez Leadership Hall of Fame.
It’s Summer: Let the Block Parties Commence
On Saturday, June 9, firefighters from Denver Fire Department Station 15 paid a visit to the annual Leyden Street block party. The firefighters brought their ladder truck and gave demonstrations of the 100-foot ladder. According to department spokesman Greg Pixley, the ladder can reach as high as an 8-story building. Block parties – in which a street is barricaded from traffic and neighbors spend time socializing and getting to know each other – are a Park Hill tradition. In recent years the City of Denver has encouraged such block parties as part of Denver Days, which this year runs from Aug 4-12. During that time the city will waive permit fees, will provide barricades and organize a clean-up for hundreds of events across the city. Check out http://denvergov.org/denverdays to learn more and find out where a party is happening near you – and yes, you can also put in a request for fire truck to visit your block. Photos
by Reid Neureiter