Open Letter To City Council
GPHC Board Highlights Concerns About Denver’s Proposed RNO Changes
On May 7, the board of Greater Park Hill Community, Inc. approved the following letter be sent to members of the Denver City Council. The resolution was unanimously adopted by a vote of 14-0.
Dear council members,
As you may know, Greater Park Hill Community, Inc. (GPHC) is a registered neighborhood organization (RNO), which represents all of the Park Hill neighborhood. The Park Hill neighborhood is represented on Denver’s City Council by Districts 8 and 9.
The Denver City Council effort, called Your City Your Voice, is described as “a citywide process to develop recommendations that improve how the city of Denver works with registered neighborhood organizations and community members.” After reviewing the report, released on the Your City Your Voice website on April 19, GPHC feels that many of the points are valid.
However, the following recommendations in that report are the most concerning to the GPHC:
1. Eliminate overlapping boundaries of RNOs.
Our position: Park Hill, like many neighborhoods, has more than one RNO within its boundaries. Different RNOs reach different people and voices within the same neighborhood and serve a valued purpose.
2. Establish term limits for RNO Board Members and Officers.
Our position: This recommendation ignores how difficult it is to simply find and retain engaged people who want to be a part of an organization. Putting a forced time limit on these individuals’ participation is misguided at best.
3. Prohibit membership dues as a condition for participation, voting, or representation.
Our position: Membership dues are vital to GPHC; we use these fees to support our building, food programs, and newspaper. Losing membership funding would be devastating for us. Moreover, GPHC has always allowed members who are unable to pay to fully participate in GPHC.
4. Require RNOs to maintain basic documentation of members (e.g., names, addresses, contact information) as part of the registration and renewal process.
Our position: Requiring this documentation of contact information for all residents, property owners, and business owners inside an RNO’s boundaries is unrealistic and impossible to achieve due to the number of residents and owners. There is no single repository of this information and to require an RNO to obtain this information is unduly burdensome. We would note that the city itself does not have all this information.
We respectfully request that you provide us with a clear timeline for the drafting of any potential legislation and/or directives over the coming year regarding a new RNO ordinance.
GPHC looks forward to continuing to work together with you in supporting our Park Hill neighbors. We appreciate your attention to this request.
Sincerely,
Board Chair Shane Sutherland
Members of the Board of Directors
Greater Park Hill Community, Inc.
Editor’s note: The 130-page Your City Your Voice report can be read at tinyurl.com/DenverRNOReport.
Who We Are, What We Do
The Board of Directors of GPHC, Inc.
Greater Park Hill Community, Inc. is a volunteer-based registered neighborhood organization that promotes the character and vibrancy of Park Hill, provides resources, information and advocacy, and preserves quality of life and the history of the neighborhood through community participation.
GPHC world headquarters is 2823 Fairfax St. If you have an issue you’d like to discuss about the neighborhood, reach out to your board representative. Representatives can be contacted via the main office, at 303-388-0918 or
info@greaterparkhill.org.
If you are interested in volunteering for a board position or serving on a committee, contact GPHC Board Chair Shane Sutherland at chair@greaterparkhill.org.
• Board Chair Shane
Sutherland
• Treasurer Heather Shockey
• Secretary Bernadette Kelly
• District 1 Kevin Doyle
• District 2 Brenda Morrison
• District 3 Heather Shockey
• District 4 Currently Vacant
• District 5 Bernadette Kelly
• District 6 Currently Vacant
• District 7 Jon Bowman
• District 8 Nam Henderson
• District 9 Terry Brewick
• District 10 James Korn
• At Large Bruce Campbell
• At Large Mona Estrada
• At Large Maria Flora
• At Large Tracey MacDermott
• At Large Louis Plachowski
lplachowski@gmail.com
• At Large Shane Sutherland
• Blessed Sacrament Betsy Boudreau
• Park Hill UMC Jacqui Shumway