Letters to the Editor

Was That A Lie?

As I sit here with my newborn son at 2 a.m., living adjacent to a beautiful piece of green open space I can’t stop but think of the ones who have plotted away, behind closed doors, to scheme up such a deal to transfer the Park Hill Golf Course land into the hands of developers.

Clayton Early Learning, congratulations on your $24 million sale to go to the benefit of underprivileged youth. I hope you can sleep at night knowing your hard earned money did nothing to protect the climate and the air quality for those kids you say you serve. Your efforts to get the community “involved” in a visioning process of what to do with that land throughout the past couple of years was quite a beautiful PR stunt, quite a distraction, and quite a waste of time.

Westside Investment Partners, congratulations on your purchase. I hope you’re not just looking to find a way to tear up the conservation easement, get approval to rezone for development, then flip the property for a large profit. Please don’t waste our time with another PR stunt pretending you care about the local community and their opinions of what to do with the land. Please use that time and effort towards doing what is right.

Denver Mayor Hancock (who supposedly is a big proponent of green space), and city council, do what’s right to protect this concrete jungle from expanding onto the last significant piece of green space left in Denver. Do what’s right to protect that $2 million of taxpayer money you collected in 1997 in exchange for relinquishing development rights on the land forever. Or was that a lie?

Every piece of concrete you add to this great city is contributing to the poor air quality and 100-degree summer days, not allowing nature to do its job of cooling the atmosphere due to your buildings retaining too much heat.

As you justify the need for more development by a commuter train, affordable housing, and whatever else it is you’re cooking up, understand none of that matters when the citizens can’t breathe in healthy air (besides the fact that there’s plenty of other land in that area open for development).

As I sit here with my newborn son at 2 a.m., I think about those ozone alerts I saw earlier posted across Denver. I think about my weather app telling me it’s another poor air quality day in Denver. I think about this excessive summer heat that we can’t even get a break from in the wee morning hours due to this heat failing to escape from this concrete jungle we call Denver.

Thanks to all those involved with this landmark sale of the Park Hill Golf Course. Congratulations. Your move, Westside and City of Denver.

Jeff Romeo, Park Hill

Preserve What We Love

I thank Brenda Morrison and Geoffrey Chappell for their insights in the August issue of the newspaper on Denver growth and lack of accountability from our city leaders.

Denver is overgrown. City council has its own agenda and relationship with developers. I’ve had many conversations with my district councilman, Chris Herndon, about over-development in Denver and Park Hill. But considering that I’ve lived in Park Hill (50+ years) longer than Councilman Herndon has been on the planet, I am not surprised that he and many others see continual growth as progress. As Ms. Morrison pointed out in her “Thoughts on Leadership” guest column last month, city council neighborhood outreach often occurs only after they have already made decisions that detrimentally impact our neighborhoods and preferred way of life.

Despite the results from the Spring municipal elections, our city leaders have forgotten that they are accountable to us for the decisions they make. And when we do not like their decisions, We The People should remind them. I have an idea about how we can do that:

• Use Lakewood Initiative 200 language as a template for an initiative in Denver to slow down growth.

• Download petition forms from the Denver Election Commission. 8,265 valid signatures need to be collected from registered Denver voters. The petitions must be turned in by June 2020 to place an initiative on the November 2020 ballot. 10,000 signatures would better insure enough valid ones.

I’m willing to bet we could collect enough valid signatures just between Park Hill, Montclair, and City Park residents. We are only a small part of the city that’s being overrun. Denver does not need more residential buildings and residents. There are plenty of surrounding cities in which to live.

City officials and business people will tell you that limiting growth will adversely affect the coffers. Don’t believe the hype! Denver has all the major sports venues. Denver has a major theatre complex. Denver has more marijuana dispensaries (revenue!) than any other Colorado city. Denver will do just fine without filling every square inch of it with residential buildings.

To quote Peter Finch’s character in the movie Network, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!” Let us try to preserve some of what we love about Park Hill and Denver. 

Peggy Nicholson, Park Hill

Kniech Lays Out Priorities

It is with deep gratitude that I begin my third term as your councilwoman at-large. I am feeling refreshed, excited, and motivated to continue partnering to address challenges and lead change for a more equitable and sustainable Denver where our residents can access good jobs, affordable housing and enjoy our quality of life.

Since the May election, my office is hitting the ground running with:

• Passage of a stronger process to govern large developments, which ensures that a community informational meeting must take place before any official applications are submitted, and requires a city-run planning process if no adopted plan provides guidance. I will adamantly fight to ensure this rule is implemented where any conversation about Park Hill Golf Course takes place — only a city-led process would be appropriate to discuss its future under this new policy.

• A Temporary Tiny Home Village amendment to the Denver Zoning Code recently passed the planning board. It now moves to council’s Land Use, Transportation, and Infrastructure committee.

• Laying groundwork for a community conversation on raising Denver’s citywide minimum wage.

• Re-starting the Council Housing and Homelessness Work Group to continue discussion of renter protections and other new council-led initiatives.

• Advocating for provider-funded community education on safety and respect prior to any re-authorization of dockless scooter permits in Denver.

• Supporting new energy efficiency “performance contracts” to ensure Denver reduces energy demand while we transition to renewable energy for electricity.

• Ensuring we meet and exceed electric vehicle goals through facility upgrades, charging stations, and vehicle purchasing.

We’ll need your continued energy and engagement to achieve all this and more. Stay in touch!

Denver Councilwoman Robin Kniech,
Park Hill, Robin.Kniech@denvergov.org

Editor’s Note: We love your letters, and give preference to those that address an issue that has been covered in the newspaper, or a topic that is Park Hill or Denver-specific. Send letters to editor@greaterparkhill.org, and include your full name, and the neighborhood in which you live. Deadlines are the 15th of each month, for the following month’s issue.