News in Brief
Sierra Club Sues To Stop I-70 Expansion, Citing Poor Air Quality
On March 16, the Sierra Club and a coalition of Denver neighborhood organizations filed suit in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals against the Environmental Protection Agency to stop the Interstate-70 East Project.
As detailed in numerous news stories and columns in the Greater Park Hill News and elsewhere over the past year, the Colorado Department of Transportation plans to expand the current 6-lane highway to 10 travel lanes and 4 frontage lanes. The plan has been endorsed by many elected officials, including Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper and Denver Mayor Michael Hancock.
According to a release announcing the lawsuit, the Sierra Club noted that, under EPA’s earlier Clean Air Act requirements, the project could not qualify for federal funds because it would cause particulate pollution to violate the air standards on high pollution days. Under EPA’s latest guidance, multiple high pollution days would not be counted against the standard, allowing the project to receive federal funds.
The suit, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, challenges EPA’s revision of the methodology for determining compliance with the standard.
Denver Environmental Health reported in 2014 that residents in the north Denver neighborhoods adjacent to I-70 experience a 70 percent greater rate of mortality from heart disease than other neighborhoods in Denver, and 40 percent greater frequency of urgent care for children suffering from severe asthma compared to other parts of Denver.
The Sierra Club maintains that the proposed I-70 expansion would further degrade the air quality, and exacerbate health impacts, especially on seniors and children in the primarily minority and low-income communities of Globeville, Elyria and Swansea, just northwest of Park Hill.
“CDOT now has a golden opportunity to correct a half-century of harm done to Denver citizens,” said Becky English of Sierra Club’s Rocky Mountain Chapter. “We hope this lawsuit causes CDOT to investigate removing the traffic and pollution from north Denver neighborhoods.”
Community activists have agitated to reroute the highway farther to the north, away from residential neighborhoods. Officials, however, have argued that option is too expensive.
The organizations joining Sierra Club in the suit include Citizens for a Greater Denver, the Elyria and Swansea Neighborhood Association, and the Cross Community Coalition.
The groups are represented by Robert Yuhnke, a former senior attorney at Environmental Defense Fund.
Hickenlooper To Kick Off Service Day At McAuliffe Int’l School
Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper will be the keynote speaker at McAuliffe International School on its 4th annual school-wide Service Learning Day on Friday, April 8. The governor will speak to more than 700 McAuliffe students and staff during the Penny Harvest grant presentation to local non-profits.
Last fall, McAuliffe students raised more than $5,500 to fund charitable causes chosen by students, with local and national grant recipients selected by students serving in the school’s Penny Harvest Leadership Group. The grant ceremony begins at 8:30 a.m., and all students will spend the remainder of the school day working together at more than 20 local nonprofit organizations.
Causes chosen by McAuliffe students for these grants and service learning work include animal welfare, cancer, world health, women’s rights, child welfare, homelessness, clean water, fire prevention, and concussion awareness.
Penny Harvest is a program organized through the Young Philanthropists Foundation. All activities including fundraising and decisions regarding what causes to fund, are student-directed.
McAuliffe is an International Baccalaureate Denver Public School serving grades 6-8 in the shared middle school boundary of Stapleton and Park Hill in Denver. The school is on the Smiley campus in Park Hill, at 2540 Holly St.
DIA Light Rail To Begin April 23
Commuter rail service from DIA to Central Park Station will officially kick off on Saturday, April 23 with a family friendly street party that is free and open to the public. There will also be plenty of speeches and an art dedication.
The Central Park Station Street Party will commemorate the opening of RTD’s University of Colorado A Line, via themed “runways.”
A series of activities, community vendor displays and public interactions will be experienced in five settings: Worldly Cuisines (food trucks serving international cuisines), Global Arts & Culture (Native American Blessing, Ethiopian Dancers, Drum Line and more), Kid Adventures (ring toss, face paint, climbing wall), Healthy Living (fresh-pressed juice, local fitness groups, urban farming information) and Community Resources (booths from local businesses and registered community groups).
The event will be at the Central Park Station Park & Ride, at Ulster & Smith Road, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The Taxman Cometh: Free Help Available To Families
This tax season’s filing deadline is only a couple weeks away. According to a survey by the National Society of Accountants, the national average fee for returns filed by commercial preparers is around $270, which is 11 percent higher than previous years. Add in RACS, aka “refund transfers,” additional tax forms, and add-on fees and low-income families may not be receiving the refund dollars they need to make ends meet.
The good news is, free tax help is available through Tax Help Colorado, a program of The Piton Foundation and the Community College System that is operating seven free tax preparation sites across the state. Families with incomes less than $53,000 can get free tax assistance. In addition to the Tax Help Colorado program, there are additional, IRS-certified free tax sites in communities across Colorado that offer free tax filing support.
A full list of free income tax assistance sites in Colorado can be found by dialing 2-1-1 (it’s a free call), visiting www.piton.org/eitc, or finding Tax Help Colorado on Facebook at www.facebook.com/taxhelpcolorado and Twitter at @TaxHelpCO.
Denver Cops En Espanol on Facebook
The Denver Police Department, in collaboration with Telemundo Denver and Univision Colorado, has launched a Facebook page in Spanish.
The page will be used to share crime prevention tips and relevant stories of what’s happening in Denver and with Denver Police officers. It also provides an opportunity for the Spanish-speaking community and the Denver Police Department to interact via social media.
Check out the Facebook page at Denver Police Department En Español.