Farewell, 2020

Some Have Been Saying That For Nine Months

Compiled by Cara DeGette

Editor, GPHN

Whew. This is a year that has tried the patience of many. Hobbled since March by COVID-19, we collectively lived through wildfires, police killings, the wackiest political season in memory, and heated debate over wearing masks. Some took their grievances to social media, stirring up firestorms of virtual anger. Others took their pent-up energy outside, to packed bike trails or the solitude of the mountains.

Many lost close friends and family members, businesses have struggled mightily. No one was not touched in some way, in this pandemic. The following are highlights — and lowlights — of the past year, which many people have been begging to say goodbye to since March.

December, 2019

‘Not Just The Loudest Voices’

Park Hillians love green space, preserving the character of the neighborhood, and a vast majority want to keep the Park Hill Golf Course land entirely green space. These were the results of an extensive, scientifically sound survey conducted by the Boulder-based research firm National Research Center (NRC), gauging the opinions of the 30,000 residents of the neighborhood on several hot topics. Heather Shockey, treasurer of GPHC, Inc., noted that the purpose of the survey, which cost $20,000, was two-fold: “One, to ensure that the Board’s positions are aligned with resident expectations – not just the loudest voices – and two, use data to inform the Board’s strategic priorities.” The complete 55-page survey results can be reviewed at greaterparkhill.org.

Among the findings:

• Three-fourths want the Park Hill Golf Course land to remain entirely green space/park or golf course.

• 9 in 10 support increased parks and green spaces and preserving the architectural character and style of the community.

• Three-quarters would like the community to focus on improving traffic safety over the coming two years.

• More than 8 in 10 prefer keeping Park Hill a mostly residential community.

• Only 1 in 10 feel they have excellent or good access to affordable quality housing.

All Eyes On Max Bresler

The word “clothes” is inadequate to describe the creations of Maxwell Bresler. The Park Hill-raised Bresler landed his first runway show during Denver Fashion Week’s National & International Designers program, showcasing his Electro-Pop Space Club designs. The colorful three-dimensional objects look like wearable sculptures – some sprout pointy protuberances, like the fins of a stegosaur, or have the sharp spikes of an insect. Others are straight from outer space, like his creation on page 1.

Kiss And Go Zones

GPHC Board Chair Tracey MacDermott highlighted the battles in Washington over Donald Trump’s efforts to dismantle climate action programs — including the efforts to establish the Clean Air, Healthy Kids Act to combat air pollution and help our children breathe cleaner air. Closer to home, Park Hill schools, including Park Hill Elementary and McAuliffe International School, have installed “Kiss and Go” zones to help reduce the number of idling cars from grown-ups dropping off and picking up children at school.

January

Quebec Street Budget Slashed By $20M

Denver scrapped plans to add two traffic lanes on the clogged corridor along Quebec Street, slashing the project’s budget from $23 million to $1 to $3 million for improvements. It’s the latest pothole in the street that serves as the easternmost boundary of Park Hill, which currently narrows to two lanes between Montview and 13th Avenue. In addition to bottlenecked traffic, the majority of the stretch has no sidewalks.

What’s On Your Mind?

Holy Letters to the Editor, Batman! We love your letters, and Park Hillers had a lot on their minds this month. Residents wrote in responding to a multitude of issues happening in the ‘hood, including criticism over the proposed East Area Plan and Bus Rapid Transit along Colfax, to a column that then-GPHC Education Chair Lynn Kalinauskas wrote about the long road that culminated in a historic flip of the DPS school board. We love your letters, and give preference to those that address an issue covered in the newspaper or a topic that is Park Hill-related. Include your full name, the neighborhood where you live. Deadlines are the 15th of the month, for the following month’s issue. Send letters to editor@greaterparkhill.org.

February

This House Has Seen It All

When George and Beverly Dennis bought their home — now a historic landmark — at the northeast corner of 26th and Clermont, they knew it needed a lot of work. What they learned as they started researching the Mission Revival style house, built in 1911, astonished them. Three past owners of the house had contributed significantly to early Denver and Colorado — in vastly different ways. They included:

• Charles Marble Kittredge, a banker and developer whose influence on early Denver helped establish it as a city of substance;

• Attorney Charles Ginsberg, who conducted a crusade against the Ku Klux Klan during Denver’s period of social discord, corruption and violence during the 1920s;

• Mountaineer Bill Forrest, whose inventions helped establish Colorado’s reputation as an outdoor wonderland.

Marching For Justice, MLK Style

In January, 1964, Martin Luther King, Jr. made an historic visit to Denver and Park Hill. One of his stops was to Montview Boulevard Presbyterian Church. There, the civil rights leader shared his message of equality and justice to an overflow crowd. Six years ago, the Greater Park Hill News wrote about that event, which had been forgotten by many over time. Since then, local educators have organized what has become its own Park Hill tradition: an annual students’ MLK marade. This year, an estimated 600 kindergartners and first grade students from Hallett, Smith, Stedman and Park Hill elementary schools gathered at Turtle Park. Hand-in-hand, waving homemade signs, they marched to Montview Presbyterian, gathered on the steps where King had stood many years before, and they sang “We Shall Overcome.”

Everyone’s Running But Mom

Political columnist Penfield Tate highlighted the crowded field of Colorado Democrats running for the U.S. Senate, hoping to make Republican Cory Gardner a one-termer. In the running were Diana Bray, Lorena Garcia, David Goldfischer, Andrew Romanoff, Stephany Rose Spalding, Michelle Ferringo Warren and Trish Zornio. Park Hill resident John Hickenlooper ditched a bid for president and joined the Senate race, creating its own ripple effect of Democrats who bowed out of the race.

Group Living Changes Proposed

At January’s GPHC community meeting, Denver City Planner Andrew Webb detailed changes to Denver’s code governing group living. The city currently allows two unrelated adults, plus an unlimited of related minor-aged children, to live in residential homes. Denver is proposing the code be modified to allow up to eight unrelated adults and unlimited minor relatives to live in homes that are at least 1,600 square-feet. Webb said the planning board would take up the debate in late March/early April, with final recommendations likely to go to the City Council in June. (That timeline was subsequently put on hold. Check out more at denvergov.org/groupliving.)

March

Sign Me Up

Sports writer and photographer Reid Neureiter profiled 13 graduating East High School athletes who were off to play sports at colleges across the country, from lacrosse to diving to basketball to softball.

‘This is Outrageous’

Woody Garnsey, co-founder of Save Open Space Denver, detailed the city’s obvious push to support developing the Park Hill Golf Course land — even though it is supposed to be protected by a conservation easement for which taxpayers shelled out $2 million. Two months earlier, on Jan. 25, the board of GPHC voted to reaffirm its longtime position calling on city officials to preserve the conservation easement. The board’s position reflects the findings of its 2019 community survey showing that more than three-fourths of Park Hill residents want the land to remain entirely green space/park or golf course.

View From The Clubhouse

Scott Rethlake, director of golf for the city, provided a preview of the nearly finished clubhouse at City Park Golf Course just west of Park Hill. The new clubhouse provides stunning views of downtown Denver and the mountains beyond. The golf course had been closed since 2017 as part of a controversial plan to reconfigure it as part of the Platte to Park Hill stormwater drainage project. It was set to open on Sept. 1. (City Park Golf Course should not be confused with the Park Hill Golf Course, at 35th and Colorado Boulevard.)

Shades Of What’s (Not) To Come

The newspaper published announcements highlighting a slew of upcoming events and public gatherings — from Denver’s huge, annual St Paddy’s Day Parade to the Park Hill Garden Walk planned for June, to the neighborhood’s 4th of July Parade. A global pandemic changed the landscape of these, and many other events for the remainder of the year.

April

The World Has Changed

By April, the world changed. The global pandemic, declared  on March 11, hit local businesses like a locomotive. In March Colorado Gov. Jared Polis ordered all restaurants, bars, gyms, salons and spas, performance and music venues, movie theaters, and casinos closed for normal public use, at least through April 30. Restaurant take-out, delivery, and curb-side pick-up became the thing. Local businesses suddenly – in many cases literally overnight – found themselves in a world of hurt and chartering unnavigated waters. The stock market went into freefall, store shelves were completely stripped of pasta, rice and flour. Cleaning supplies and hand sanitizer were scarce. People began hoarding toilet paper. More than two million people in the Denver metro area were ordered to stay at home, at least through April 17.

Denver’s One-Hour Prohibition

Park Hillians largely responded to the pandemic with resilience, and even good cheer. Messages of encouragement and support were shared on local social media pages. Comic relief included warnings of an impending toilet paper “Charmageddon.” People began going outside to howl from their front porches every night promptly at 8.

Denver Mayor Michael Hancock announced that the city was going on lockdown. During the live address, reported in the April issue, the mayor said all “nonessential” businesses — including liquor stores and marijuana dispensaries — would be forced to close. That action elicited immediate panic, sending droves of people to stock up on their favored vices – and presumably spread the virus in crowded stores. Hancock reversed his order. In an instant, a meme began making its way around the internet: “Denver 2020 Prohibition lasted one hour. Never forget.”

The Last Ride

Reid Neureiter detailed the 40-mile training ride by a group of local elite and amateur cyclists on the plains south of DIA. It was the last time the Frustrated Dads’ Ride (FDR) would meet for a while — the next day USA Cycling issued a statement recommending canceling all sanctioned events and group rides immediately.    

Earth Day Turns 50

Tracey MacDermott marked a significant milestone: the 50th anniversary of Earth Day.

The annual April 22 event was started in 1970 by Gaylord Nelson, a Democratic senator from Wisconsin, in collaboration with Pete McCloskey, a Republican from California.

May

Park Hill’s Pandemic Past

Historian Stephen Leonard provided a detailed account of the last global pandemic that seized Denver. On Sept. 27, 1918, Park Hill secured a dubious place in the city’s history when Blanche Kennedy, residing at 2070 Birch St., became Denver’s first reported victim of the Spanish Flu, which was then ravaging the world. Kennedy, a 21-year-old University of Denver student, supposedly contracted the disease in Chicago, and brought it home. Kennedy’s death was to be the first of more than 1,500 Denver residents who succumbed to the influenza.

Traffic Jams Move To Trails

With schools, gyms, and ski resorts closed and sports leagues shut down, cooped-up Denver residents moved outside to get their exercise – which led to unprecedented numbers taking up walking and cycling on the city bike paths. The result: Unusual levels of traffic in Denver’s parks, and on the city’s sidewalks and bike trails. In addition, bicycle sales skyrocketed, leaving shortages and long waits for tune-ups at overwhelmed bike shops.

June

Life Goes Virtual

Park Hill’s annual welcome to spring — the Garden Walk — was set to turn 20 this year. Instead, the event got cancelled, joining a growing list of events that fell victim to the pandemic. High school and college graduations and birthday celebrations became lawn and drive-by affairs. Faith services went virtual. Libraries programs went virtual. Sunday City Park Jazz nights went virtual. Realtors took their open houses online. Denver planners offered a “Virtual Town Hall” to discuss the controversial East Area Plan. The event drew 142 participants, many of whom do not live within the plan’s boundaries. The East Colfax Neighborhood Association, which covers one of the four neighborhoods in the plan, voted to ask the city to wait until after the pandemic to adopt the plan.

History Repeats Itself

Historian Stephen Leonard continued his GPHN exclusive coverage of the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic, detailing the striking parallels between the public response 100 years ago and now. Then, as now, theaters and churches were closed, parties were cancelled, and people were instructed to wear masks — called gauze germ catchers.

Support Local Businesses

A push by the Cherry Tomato restaurant to open up to sidewalk dining led to one humdinger of an online controversy on a local Facebook page, inspiring the board of Greater Park Hill Community, Inc. to formally adopt the unanimous position of support for all local businesses that are facing hardship due to the pandemic.

July

At The Breaking Point

The May 25 murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis sparked what became an extraordinary rise of the Black Lives Matter movement protesting police brutality and racial injustice. Tens of thousands of people turned to the streets in all 50 states for more than 15 days straight protest. The vast majority of protesters were nonviolent, but they were joined by rioters who looted and damaged public property — including the Colorado Capitol and many other downtown buildings. The Denver Public Schools board voted unanimously to remove police from all schools, opting to redirect funds toward social workers, psychologists and for restorative justice.

Stapleton Changes Its Name

After years of discussion and in a summer punctuated by demands for anti-racist action, leaders in Stapleton agreed to change the name of the neighborhood just east of Park Hill, eradicating ties to the former mayor of Denver who was active in the Ku Klux Klan. More than 300 replacement names were submitted, which were then whittled to nine: Mosley, Meadowlark, Concourse, Peterson, Park Central, Central Park, Tailwinds, Randolph and Skyview. Central Park it is.

4th of July Parade Cancelled

Park Hill’s annual parade was halted, and organizers issued this statement: “The COVID-19 pandemic means that we can’t safely hold the event, and the recent protests and much-needed discussions about the historical problems of racial inequality lead us to believe that this year’s holiday is better spent reflecting on our history and what it means to be American.”

Colorado Bans The Death Penalty

Sen. Angela Williams, in her final term representing Park Hill, weighed in on several new statewide laws that would have gotten far more attention in most other years: The Colorado legislature abolished the death penalty and enacted numerous police reform measures designed to establish better police accountability — including mandating the release of body webcam footage, prohibiting chokeholds and eliminating qualified immunity.

August

Downtown Denver, Tent City

As the protests of June and July retreated, camps of people experiencing homelessness began to flourish. The city block between the state Capitol and Civic Center downtown, was filled with tents. Dozens more lined the hell strips around Morey Middle School, around the Governor’s Mansion, and elsewhere. One night in July volunteers from Denver Homeless Out Loud counted 664 tents, erected in 30 different camps in Denver. Most of those living in the encampments had no access to trash or sanitation services. An estimated 5,000 or more people were estimated living without homes in Denver. Mayor Michael Hancock agreed to erect several city-sponsored camps for people without homes. At the end of the year, none had been built.

Hopes For Johnson & Wales

In June, Johnson and Wales University announced plans to close its Park Hill campus at the corner of Montview and Quebec at the end of the 2020-21 school year. The 26-acre campus once housed Colorado Women’s College, and JWU has invested an estimated $48 million in improvements since taking over the property in 2000. Numerous neighborhood leaders responded with calls for the city to jump at the opportunity to purchase the land, provide affordable housing through adaptive re-use of the buildings, gain parkland and add a possible recreation center.

September

Home Tour Moves Outside

In the past no one gave much thought about having people walk through the featured homes in Park Hill’s largest annual fundraiser, checking out how neighbors live and how they decorate. Due to the pandemic, this year’s tour was an outside affair, a walkabout showcasing the exteriors of 30 homes highlighting the history and architecture of the neighborhood.

The Heat Is On

On Sept. 19 Denver broke its all-time record for most 90-degree days in a single year — 74 days. The record-breaking heat came a little over a week after the city’s first snow of the season, which followed a Labor Day weekend of triple-digit temperatures. Colorado faced its worst wildfire season in recent history. Three of the largest fires in the state’s history occurred this summer — including the Cameron Peak Fire, the Pine Gulch Fire and East Troublesome Gulch, which burned hundreds of homes near Grand Lake. In Park Hill, the sun burned blood red from the fires for several weeks.

October

$190 Million More Cuts

Denver Mayor Michael Hancock announced the city is facing another $190 million more cuts, on top of the $220 million in pandemic-related cuts to the city budget already made this year. Among some of the direct “pain point” cuts to residents: reductions in large item trash pickup service, ongoing closure of recreation centers and the elimination of garbage removal in parks — leading to an increase in complaints about people not packing out their dogs’ poop, and leaving behind big messes for others to clean up.

No Stopping Halloween

Park Hill has a citywide reputation for celebrating the ghoulish and freaky. This year proved there is no stopping determined goblins — pandemic or no pandemic. Houses across the neighborhood were in full-on Halloween decorating mode all month. When the witching hour finally arrived, neighbors turned to creative ways to hand out the candy, including building elaborate candy chutes that delivered the goods from safe distances.

November

An Election To Remember

Penfield Tate described this year’s presidential election as the the most important — and the most bizarre — of our collective lifetime. Many agreed. A record 87 percent of active registered voters turned out, turning Colorado decidedly blue. John Hickenlooper easily dislodged U.S. Sen Cory Gardner, and Colorado overwhelmingly voted for President Joe Biden.

Hancock Flies To Mississippi

Denver Mayor Michael B. Hancock outraged constituents and made international news when he urged everyone to avoid travel as COVID-19 cases were spiking — just before hopping on an airplane to fly to Mississippi and spend Thanksgiving with family members. After 9News broke the story, state Rep. Kyle Mullica, who is also a nurse, said “I don’t expect people to be perfect, but I think there is an expectation that you essentially try to practice what you preach.”

We Turned 60

The Greater Park Hill News marks its diamond anniversary – 60 years reporting the neighborhood successes, the controversies of the moment, and yes, its tragedies and occasional failures. The newspaper, delivered for free to 12,000 homes and businesses in Park Hill, was the product of the men and women who banded together to establish one of the first purposely integrated neighborhoods in the country. The newspaper launched a campaign to raise cash to help offset the cost of publishing in a pandemic. To donate, go to greaterparkhill.org/newspaper/support.