Editor’s Note: If We Don’t, Who Will?

Why The GPHN Is Writing About A Sewer In Green Valley Ranch

By Cara DeGette

GPHN Editor

Readers of the Greater Park Hill News may be wondering why they are seeing a news story about a sewer project in Green Valley Ranch in this month’s issue.

Let me explain.

First off, we are lucky in Park Hill, to have a community newspaper, to keep citizens informed  and, when necessary, to speak truth to power.

Not every neighborhood is so lucky. Denver’s Green Valley Ranch, 12 miles northeast of Park Hill, has a population of about 36,600. That is larger than the roughly 27,500 population of Park Hill, and far bigger than many of Colorado’s cities. Yet Green Valley Ranch has no independent newspaper to inform citizens of issues and events that impact their daily lives.

This is not a big surprise. For the past 20-plus years community newspapers have been struggling, with many of them going the way of the dinosaur. These days, living in a news desert is a common reality for many people, not just in Colorado but all across the country.

So what happens when a community has no newspaper? Who is left to cover the news?

Earlier this year, Park Hill-based photographer and writer Mark Silverstein headed to the First Creek open space area in Green Valley Ranch, one of his favorite spots for photographing birds and other wildlife. What he encountered instead gave him an unexpected jolt. Bulldozers had carved a swath of destruction through the trees and wetlands.

The area may not be as popular as, say the Platte River bike trail or the Highline Canal. But it is a destination for many outdoor enthusiasts, including those from Park Hill. So Mark started digging. Turns out the City of Aurora is building a sewer pipeline through the area — including previously protected open space.

Just imagine, if you will, a project of this scope happening with little warning to neighbors in another part of Denver where residents have more clout — and a newspaper. Imagine the public outcry, for example, if the City of Glendale decided to bulldoze the Cherry Creek trail through Denver, chopping down hundreds of trees in its path.

In the past, Denver residents were lucky to have competing daily newspapers, the Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News, which provided thorough coverage of these types of major municipal projects. Suffice to say that daily newspaper coverage of Denver’s municipal government has not been occurring for some time.

Though the sewer project is not happening in Park Hill, the story is relevant to our readers — indeed all of Denver. It certainly raises questions about Denver’s recent policies regarding environmental protections and open space.

Yet the only other coverage of this project we’re aware of is a CBS News Colorado story that aired in April focusing on a wildlife photographer’s unsuccessful efforts to protect fox dens that were in the construction zone.

We realize we don’t have the resources to cover every single story in our own back yard — much less the rest of the city. But we will follow up on this story. Because if we don’t, who will?

All that said, while we do occasionally venture outside the neighborhood, our main focus of news coverage continues to be Park Hill. In the months ahead, expect updates on the Bus Rapid Transit project on Colfax, the latest on sidewalks along Quebec, numerous affordable housing projects underway in the neighborhood, and the latest on the Park Hill Golf Course. And yes, there is a critical Denver school board election heating up this fall.

Thanks for supporting community journalism, and your neighborhood newspaper.

If you have a news tip to share, email editor@greaterparkhill.org. We welcome your feedback, and your letters to the editor.