George in Denver

George In Denver is Moving as of March 9, 2007 - Click Here

2007-03-09T12:26:00.000-07:00

Yes, I am moving. Blogspot has been good to me for almost three years. But, I'm ready for something new, different. And, besides, I am a complete dunce when it comes to inserting HTML (or whatever that code is), to enable greater functionality. So, I'm here now.

Thanks for your interest in the old blog. Hope to see you on the new site.

George

Sarah's Happy Friday

2007-03-09T08:01:00.000-07:00

This Morning - Berkeley Lake

2007-03-08T08:52:00.000-07:00

"Gray skies are gonna clear up..."

Red-Winged Blackbird

Great Blue Heron

Mount Evans (Some mornings you can almost touch it.)

Our Canadian Friends

Community Forum on Neighborhood Zoning Issues - You Will Behave!

2007-03-06T14:11:00.000-07:00

Missive from the City:

Just a reminder, that the Community Residential Zoning Forum is scheduled for 6:00 – 8:00 PM on Wednesday, March 7, in the Atrium of the Wellington Webb Municipal Office Building, at 201 West Colfax Avenue. Please note the Forum is designed to address city-wide residential issues and will not be a forum on individual zoning applications. Sponsors of the Forum include the Zoning Code Task Force, the Denver Board of Realtors, the Metro Denver Homebuilders Association and Inter-Neighborhood Cooperation. The Forum will begin with an introduction by CPD Manager, Peter Park, and then proceed through 3 rounds of broadly based questions to a panel of representatives from the sponsoring groups. The questions will address current zoning policy, the zoning process and its effects and next steps in the Zoning Code Update. We hope to see you there.

Methinks the message here is that you crazy-assed, wild-eyed neighborhood activists dare not disturb the scripted agenda. You WILL sit quietly and your questions WILL address what the city intends them to address. Got it!

Just Askin' - Community Forum on Neighborhood Development in Established Neighborhoods

2007-03-04T09:47:00.000-07:00

The Community Forum on Neighborhood Development in Established Neighborhoods is, as noted in prior posts, this Wednesday, from 6p.m. to 8p.m. in the atrium (first floor) of the Webb Building at 201 W. Colfax.

Interestingly, it appears the home page of the City's Internet site, as well as the Mayor's page contain no reference to this important forum. I note that Councilman Rick Garcia's site (District 1, which includes West Highlands and Sloan's Lake) finally made note of the event, both on his home page and in his March newsletter under "Upcoming Events." Unfortunately, Garcia's information does not provide the revised meeting location from the fourth floor to the atrium of the Webb Building.

Given the immense interest in this forum, why was it not showcased in the Mayor's pages?

Just askin'.

(Methinks those pain-in-the-ass citizen activists who have a very personal stake in the maintenance of the "character" of their neighborhoods are, for the Hickies, yes, a real pain-in-the-ass!)

George Bush: Worst President Ever

2007-03-01T13:29:00.001-07:00

Lest we forget...

Denver Politics - New Blog You May Want to Check Out

2007-03-01T07:55:00.000-07:00

Community Forum On Residential Development - Location Change

2007-03-01T07:35:00.000-07:00

Because of the enormous interest in the city's community forum on residential development (March 7th, 6-8 p.m.), the location necessarily had to be changed to a large space in the Webb Building, per a piece in the Rocky Mountain News:

By Rocky Mountain News
March 1, 2007

A community forum March 7 to discuss residential development in Denver has been moved to the atrium of the Wellington E. Webb Municipal Office Building to accommodate the large crowd.

The move comes after residents were put on a waiting list and told they might not be able to attend because of a lack of space.

"What kind of public 'community forum' is it that cannot accommodate the public?" Larry Ambrose, president of the Sloan's Neighborhood Association, wrote in an e-mail to the city obtained by the Rocky Mountain News.

Julius Zsako, spokesman for the city's Community Planning and Development Department, said today that the atrium can hold "many hundreds of people."

However, the city is still asking people who want to attend to RSVP by contacting Valentina Guereca at 720-865-3223 or via e-mail at Valentina.Guereca@ ci.denver.co.us by Friday. The forum will be held from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Webb building, 201 W. Colfax Ave.

More Snow (Hooray!) - 1-4 Inches in Denver Today

2007-02-28T09:36:00.000-07:00

"Soulful" Sarah is really thrilled about the prospect of more snow. Really!

The Honorable (??) Larry Manzanares, Denver's (Hickenlooper's) City Attorney

2007-02-27T08:13:00.000-07:00

In spite of the fact that everybody and their brother, their first cousin and next door neighbor is posting about Denver's City Attorney, Larry Manzanares, and his "purchase" of a city-owned (actually could be state-owned, as it was the property of the District Court) laptop from some guy in a parking lot near the City and County Building, I've got my two cents to offer.

In an earlier post that dealt with alleged purchasing fraud at Denver International Airport I noted:

Suffice it to say, within any organization, public or private, there are and forever will be those who will not hesitate to take advantage of any opportunity to "beat the system;" to exploit any weakness in established process or procedure to protect the integrity of that system. I contend that the exploitation of such a weakness in a public sector system--specifically a public sector purchasing system--where public monies (local, federal or state taxes, fees, surcharges, grants, public/private co-op funding) are expended, is a crime of higher order than those perpetrated upon private sector entities. I contend that the fiduciary responsibility to protect the best interests of "the people," rather than the best interests of the corporation, is tantamount.

The point here, of course, is that public servants--a low-level clerk at the airport as well as the City Attorney--must necessarily be held to a higher level of accountability than those in the private sector. Why? Precisely because the contravention of trust in the public sector is a breach against the people.

Recalling my own twenty-three year slog through the, at times, onerous womb of the City and County of Denver, it was my habit to bring city-owned pens home from work. They were nice pens--velvet tipped or something like that. Invariably, my partner would grab the pens and proclaim them superb, with the unsaid but obvious suggestion that they would serve us well at home. My partner was just pushing my buttons, as he understood that keeping the pens for home use was something that would keep me awake at night; was something unthinkable given my--admittedly anal--fixation on preserving my own integrity as well as the best interests of the city. Sure, it was only a pen. But, it wasn't mine. It belonged to the people.

You all know the story. Manzanares allegedly purchased the laptop from some "guy" in a parking lot near the Denver City and County Building. The "guy" said he was "...trying to make bail..." and had some audio speakers to sell--Manzanares said he didn't need speakers--so the "guy" then offered the laptop. As Manzanares tells the story, he bit at the offer of the computer, shelled out the cash (how much?), and, wallah!, he became the proud owner of a Gateway laptop valued at about $1600.00.

The computer was reported stolen from the Denver District Court in January, and through Internet investigation (the software pings back to the mother ship, I guess), the Denver Police Department traced the laptop to Manzanares's Comcast account. He was using the laptop in his home.

A Harvard-educated attorney who served on the bench both as a County Court judge and a District Court judge and who also teaches law at the University of Denver, Manzanares explains that his weak moment in that parking lot was the product of naivete. Uh-huh, sure. (Wondering now how many defendants who appeared before dah judge in either the County or District courts pleaded naivete as a defense?)

Brilliance from Denver City Councilpersons. Councilman Charlie Brown: "I know personally from friends that he [Manzanares] spent Saturday just over at his house crying. This is horrible." From Councilwoman Kathleen 'Mack-the-Knife' MacKenzie: "I'm sick about it, but I have to say that his version of events shows an astonishing lack of judgment. He just took office as city attorney."

Oh, well... I really haven't come to expect much more the Hickies than daft diatribe well-greased with snake oil.

Innocent until proven guilty? Sure, that works. But, gotta note here that I got a wee bit of a feeling we're being patronized by this "naive" Harvard grad. I mean, how stupid do we look?

P.S. Update (Thanks, Jeffrey):

Mayor Hickenlooper Issues Statement on City Attorney’s Resignation

(DENVER) Larry Manzanares notified the Mayor’s Office early Tuesday afternoon that he has decided to resign his position as City Attorney. Mayor John Hickenlooper accepted the resignation and issued the following statement:

“We fully respect Larry’s decision and wish him and his family the very best during this difficult time. The fact that he did not want the ongoing investigation or questions surrounding this situation to interfere with the important work of the City Attorney’s Office speaks to the character and integrity he demonstrated during his respected career as an attorney and District Court judge.”

Manzanares was sworn in as Denver’s City Attorney on January 4, 2007. Deputy City Attorney Arlene Dykstra will serve as Acting City Attorney until a new City Attorney is appointed by the mayor.

A public statement issued by Manzanares is below.

# # #

Statement from Lawrence A. Manzanares: “Current events which have been highlighted by the media have created an untenable distraction for the Mayor's office and the position of Denver City Attorney. The position of City Attorney should be uncompromised by such distractions, and it would be unfair to the City and to the many fine attorneys in the City Attorney's Office to allow such a situation to continue. Therefore, I believe it is in the best interests of the City and the City Attorney's Office that I resign my position as City Attorney. I have had very many well-wishers and supporters encourage me to ride out the storm, and while I am grateful for their support, I believe the continued effectiveness of the City Attorney's Office must come first.”

On Berkeley Lake This Morning

2007-02-25T10:01:00.000-07:00

A Black-Crowned Night-Heron (I think). The body color is certainly that of a Great Blue Heron, although the short neck and thicker head reflects the Black-Crowned.

P.S. The more I think about it, this beautiful specimen probably isn't a Black-Crowned Night Heron. I've contacted the Colorado Birding Society for help with the identification. My hunch is that this is a Great Blue Heron whose distintive long, curved neck is hidden by the rear-view shot I took. We'll see...

P.P.S Okay, definitive information from the Colorado Birding folks: "Your photo is of a Great Blue Heron that is hunkered down. Notice long two toned bill, blackish head plumes, and blackish feathers on bottom of throat. A Black crowned Night Heron has a white throat, white plumes if present, and bill about the same length as its head.

Good birding!

Rebecca Kosten and all!

Sarah's Happy Friday

2007-02-23T09:22:00.000-07:00

Rawhide chews make for a very happy Friday.

Community Forum on Residential Development in Denver's Established Neighborhoods

2007-02-22T14:11:00.000-07:00

This appears to be a comprehensive explication of the city's approach to zoning issues, landmark preservation, "Areas of Stability," and other concerns that many of us have with regard to our neighborhoods.

Please note, they're asking that you RSVP if you're planning to attend.

P.S. Norwest Denver residents may want to check out this site which provides very relevant information with regard to the preservation of the quality of life in our little corner of the world. (Thanks, Anon!)

Letters to Melissa - A Thousand Times

2007-02-21T14:19:00.000-07:00

Sweet Melissa:

Oh, I miss you, Nettie Moore,
and my happiness is o'er
winters gone, the river's on the rise
I loved you then, and ever shall
but, there's no one left here to tell
The world has gone black before my eyes...

Bob Dylan, "Nettie Moore"

A week of wondering what this--my thousandth--post (counting those never published, still in edit mode), would entail has led me back to you, Sweet Melissa. So much leads back to you...

You recall, of course, the beginnings of this old blog (June, 2004) when, after our morning run, we'd return home and I'd create the rant of the day that seldom meandered further than another denunciation of the tragedy that was and is and forever will be Dubya's war; a conflagration not only on the other side of the world, but in a world a thousand, ten-thousand years removed from the whole diapason of Western civilization. The duplicity of it all conjured a rage that, almost daily, spilled over into my little posts; my meager entreats meant for the unseen, unknown, perhaps unengaged eyes and minds of those who might catch a glance, here and there, of what jutted from my mind to my fingers out into what remains for me the unknowable mystery of cyberspace.

Yes, and then there were the short stories I shared with what became a small bevy of cyber friends, gay men who took some little interest in more than two decades of representations in prose of what gay life was when I was enmeshed in its trappings; before, during and after the appearance of the bogeyman--Old Mister A who began his insidious visitation upon us all, probably well before many of my so-called cyber friends were even born. Those short stories (many of which had been published in, um, esoteric mags), surely shocked the casual browser who might have stumbled onto my blog, not really knowing what they were getting themselves into until the rawness of the truth of those times was revealed. At that point--in my life and certainly within the safe anonymity of my blog--I really didn't care who thought what with regard to the content of my posts. I was, after all, in the process of becoming a more fully honest person; a more self-accepting person.

Dare I smile, Sweet Melissa, with the affirmation that I have been posting rants about my perception of Mayor John Hickenlooper's shortcomings since the beginning of the old blog, since June, 2004? Yes, I smile. Those rants continue to this day.

Perhaps there is some devolution from the sublime, noble rant to the whiny. In the beginning, as I said, the good fight promulgated on the blog focused mostly on the war, on Dubya, on the killings, on the insanity of it all. Now, well, I write about zoning issues and snow removal. Where's the nobility in that! But, then how long can one begin each day with the macabre images of insanity before one, himself, becomes encased in some adamantine shell where even the simple joy of a scarlet sunset or the majestic nobility, the essential worth of life reflected in the eyes of, yes, dogs becomes less than what it surely ought to be: miraculous?

Ah, but the pictures. So many pictures. A thousand posts means little when compared to the worth of pictures and the thousand words each of those pictures communicated over these past several years. The trees, the ducks, the geese, the Cormorants and the Pelicans, the camping trips, the scaling of a Colorado Fourteener, the old houses, the rivers, nieces, nephews, family, friends, the deer, the mountains and, oh, yes, each of you, Melissa; David's and my children, our babies.

Has the devolution, with this post, slip-slid into syrupy? Perhaps.

So, Sweet Melissa, I end this portentous post--my thousandth--with Sarah. You, of course, wouldn't like her. She is, like you were, the Queen Bee of her realm. She insists no others (critters, not people), tread near either David or me. But, unlike you, she is possessed by secrets--perhaps demons--that David and I will never know. We are the third family she has known, and her secrets surely have come from those prior lives, if you will, that do so haunt her, at times. I have come to call her "soulful" Sarah. Her eyes, if you study them for a moment, communicate something deep, something abiding that we--David and I, as mere mortals--will never fully understand.

In ending this post, Sweet Melissa, I can tell you that the quote from Bob Dylan, with which I began this piece, rang true for some time after your passing. Yes, I miss you still; I loved you then and ever shall. But, please know that the world remains a sphere of beauty and dread; a lovely and an ugly place.

Perhaps, my next thousand posts will reflect a more reasoned attempt to grasp more beauty than dread.

How About a Property Tax Increase -- That Would Go Well With Your Latte!

2007-02-15T09:35:00.000-07:00

Twice last week, Sarah and I were stuck behind the dull rumble of the snail's pace plodding parade of heavy equipment--with the exception of the cute, little Bobcat front loader leading the pack--that chugged down Tennyson, across 38th and beyond 46th. Mayor Hickenlooper's too much, too late so-called snow/ice removal effort was, as Sarah and I witnessed last week, burning up the bucks (in the aggregate, 5$ Million, at least), with impressive, manly panache. Yes, twice last week, there was the Bobcat, two graders (you know, the huge praying mantis things), a massive front-loader and two dump trucks and, of course, Sarah and me in the old Explorer taking up the rear.

Turning at 46th (on our way to Berkeley Park for our morning ritual), I wondered, of course, where the hell the expensive parade was going? Streets/gutters looked pretty clear to me. "Maybe over the next rise, Kemo Sabe," said I, to Sarah who was obviously cogitating the same thing as she sniffed the diesel-fume laden air as we turned away from the procession.

(Being intimately familiar with city contracts and the contracting process, I knew that the operators of all that equipment and the charges for the equipment itself, began the moment the parade commenced from wherever it was they had staged their equipment the night before. The maddeningly slow slog along Tennyson--I concluded--was costing a small fortune.)

Wishing I'd had my camera (it's never there when I really need it!), Sarah and I, on foot--rounding the east end of Berkeley Lake--saw the contracted armada we had followed to 46th, gaggled-up just a block away on the little street--maybe it's 47th???--that connects Tennyson with Lowell along I70. The Bobcat was working on a smidgen of ice at an intersection. The other equipment? Well, it just rumbled idly, awaiting the little tike's completion of that little task on that little street.

***

My recent rant with regard to Mayor Hickenlooper's decision to spend down Denver's General Fund contingency to the tune of between $5 to $10 Million (the total contingency is 2% of the city's total budget, or about $16 Million), for the purpose of providing the above-described too much, too late snow/ice removal taxpayer funded bombast, included the following speculation:

One wonders, of course, if--in spite of your [Hickenlooper's] almost certain reelection to a second term (God, knows why they still love you!), this too much, too late response to ice and snow removal is a cute little gambit that--political genius that you are!--provides the foundation for something dark and dangerous in the future.

I say "dark and dangerous" because I'm a home owner and do pay property taxes and, ahem, do not want to pay more property taxes. But, sir, do I see the beginning of some very dire writing on the wall that you and your minions are most likely discussing behind closed doors (without, one assumes, wafts of hot cigar smoke hanging palpable in that oval office on the third floor of the City and County Building. Perhaps the sweet smell of lattes permeate the room now.)

Ah, the Hick is becoming so predictable. Comes Lou Kilzer's column in the February 9th Rocky Mountain News, where we're told: "Denver should raise property taxes for the average homeowner by $61 a year if it hopes to maintain, expand and build vital city structures, a panel formed by Mayor John Hickenlooper has concluded."

Kilzer goes on:

"Without at least $27 million a year in new tax funds, the city will fall hundreds of millions of dollars short of what it needs to maintain basic city assets, according to the panel's report obtained by the Rocky Mountain News.

"The group of 10 business and civic leaders reached a grim conclusion: If voters turn down the increase 'there will not be sufficient funds to address the deferred capital rehabilitation and maintenance needs and there will be no new funding available for expansion, upgrades or new projects beyond current levels."

Hickenlooper's cast of thousands who serve on blue-ribbon committees, task forces, advisory councils, special commissions, this and that and the other feel good assemblages of the usual suspects who can be relied upon to prop-up Hizzoner on that lofty foundation of big money, big egos, big--let's save the world, essential city services be damned--ideas; yes, Ol' Hick surely stirred his latte--a wonderful beam of a smile across his face--as he felt his bowels wrap themselves around the "...grim conclusions..." of said "...business and civic leaders..." Yes, what joy it would be (for a politician) to have a pot of green--"...at least $27 million a year..."--to spend, not according to the public weal, but according to the priorities of the politicians. Suffice it to say, a property tax increase would accrue to the city's General Fund, where, yes, it would be left to politicians to allocate monies to projects that would generate the most prolific political hay from, yes, once again, the usual suspects who infest this mayor's administration like bees to a hive. Got Honey!

Take, for example, Kilzer's piece (in the ever-shrinking Rocky Mountain News), which showcases the need to accomplish a "do over" for the Boettcher Concert Hall. Yes, Kilzer uses several paragraphs to explain an estimated $100 million is required to rebuild the concert hall because-- Jack Finlaw, the director of the city's theaters and arenas division, reports--"...too many compromises were made when Boettcher...was built in the 1970s." The problem with Boettcher: the sound from the Colorado Symphony Orchestra disperses itself inappropriately, 'cause the hall-in-the-round is not immediately enclosed, because it was originally meant to be a multi-use space, not just reserved for the orchestra. I agree that the sound in Boettcher sucks. The orchestra performs well, but the sound meanders and, therefore, one's symphony experience is compromised. But, $100 million?

Dare I mention that the disgusting negligence of Denver's parks alone amounts to an estimated $100 million? Yet, Kilzer devotes one line to Denver's parks; a line that notes Hizzoner's "...civic and business leaders..." have identified $10.5 million for "Park improvements" and have placed that line item on a "wish list."

Then there's the case of the fifth floor of Denver Health Medical Center being included as one of the pressing needs that a property tax increase would alleviate. Wait a minute. Denver Health is an independent (under state statute) authority, which it's half-million-dollars-a-year CEO, Patty Gabow, touts as being the shining model of a totally in-the-black (as opposed to financial red), public entity that, because it was able to break away from the onerous bureaucracy of the City and County of Denver in 1996(?), is self-sustaining and ridin' high. Well, hot-damn! then, Ms. Gabow, whadaya doin' lookin' to the city, the taxpayers of the city to hand over $5.8 million to redo the 5th floor of your independent (from the city), health authority? I'll bet you've just become a little too fond of the city's continuing--in spite of your "independent" status--funneling tens of millions of dollars a year into your totally in-the-black operation. Right? Just makes sense, huh. I mean, this year the city's General Fund in handing over about $43 million to your totally in-the-black operation. Why shouldn't the city redo your 5th floor, then? Makes sense to me. NOT!

Well, I could go on. But, to what end?

Listen, sales taxes are regressive. (Yeah, I know, that didn't bother the Hick with his pre-school thing, last May!). The necessity to space substantial bond issues to every 7 to 10 years just ain't cuttin' it. Property tax increases are probably the most distasteful of all tax increases. (Ya'll on fixed incomes know this better than I.) But, what the hell are we going to do? The city's infrastructure is crumbling to the tune of what some estimate currently sits at about $1 billion. What the hell are we going to do?

Yet, Hickenlooper fiddles; sending kids to pre-school, ending homelessness, attacking snow and ice a wee bit too late for a wee bit too much; basking in the "genius" of his Parks and Recreation Department (read Kim Bailey) restarting those wonderful, pretty fountains while they, Parks and Recreation, can't even water the lawn because the irrigation infrastructure is gone, kaput! I could go on, but what's the use.

I don't know. I'm just some nut who posts to a blog. (Sometimes with a smile: ; - ] )

Scrape-Offs - "New Urbanism" - The Gluttony of Property Rights - Part 1

2007-02-09T13:10:00.000-07:00

In 1982, I was a computer operator, working at what was then still referred to as Denver General Hospital (now Denver Health). I worked the 11p.m. to 7a.m shift in the basement of a building (one of the oldest on the hospital's campus), called "Unit 9." And, yes, I was working when the Christmas snow storm of 1982 commenced. I was on the clock, I believe, more than forty hours because it was impossible for anyone else to get to work. The storm dropped more than two feet of snow; the city was unprepared to deal with it and, consequently, the sitting mayor (Bill McNichols, who had already served almost fourteen years in office), was a victim of the storm and was summarily voted out of office.

The point of this little history is relevant.

At one point during my 40+ hours in that dark, deserted, somewhat scary basement, I needed to get out; I needed to take a shower; I needed a break. A friend of mine lived not far away in the historic Baker neighborhood, just south of the hospital. The house my friend owned, by that time, had already been designated a historic landmark, being the childhood home of Mary Chase who wrote the play "Harvey," about a six-foot tall imaginary rabbit (Pooka). The play opened in 1944 and ran for more than 1,700 performances. The play was made into a movie that starred Jimmy Stewart.

I don't remember at what point (night or day), I grabbed my beeper, abandoned the basement of Unit 9 and headed for the Mary Chase house. Once there, I took a shower, ate microwaved pizza and took a nap in one of the upstairs bedrooms. Suffice it to say--even though Mary Chase didn't write "Harvey" in her childhood home--the seed of her imagination (the birth of her muse), was surely nurtured there, and I can tell you the presence of playful spirits--surely a Pooka or two included--whispered softly to me as I slept--their warm, comforting breath against my cheek as they studied my unusual presence in their sphere.

It is instructive to provide the current requirements for designation of a structure or site for preservation under "landmark" status. It may also be instructive to
correct Tom Noel's description of the Mary Chase house (see Mary Chase link, above). Mr. Noel, noted Denver historian, describes the house as a "...small, one-story cottage." Well, it's clearly small, but unless my eyes--and my memory of twenty-five years ago--deceive, it's at least a story-and-one half, if not two stories. No big deal, but I thought you ought to know.

From Chapter 30 of Denver's Revised Municipal Code:

Sec. 30-3. Criteria for designation of structures and districts for preservation.

A structure or district may be designated for preservation, if it meets at least one (1) criterion in two (2) or more of the following three (3) categories:
(1) History. To have historical significance, the structure or district shall be thirty (30) or more years old or have extraordinary importance to the historical development of Denver, and shall:
a. Have direct association with the historical development of the city, state, or nation;
b. Be the site of a significant historic event; or
c. Have direct and substantial association with a person or group of persons who had influence on society.
(2) Architecture. To have architectural significance, the structure or district shall have design quality and integrity, and shall:
a. Embody distinguishing characteristics of an architectural style or type;
b. Be a significant example of the work of a recognized architect or master builder;
c. Contain elements of architectural design, engineering, materials, craftsmanship, or artistic merit which represent a significant or influential innovation; or
d. Portray the environment of a group of people or physical development of an area in an era of history characterized by a distinctive architectural style.
(3) Geography. To have geographical significance, the structure or district shall:
a. Have a prominent location or be an established, familiar, and orienting visual feature of the contemporary city;
b. Promote understanding and appreciation of the urban environment by means of distinctive physical characteristics or rarity; or
c. Make a special contribution to Denver’s distinctive character.

Whether or not the Mary Chase house, under current requirements, would be categorized as a historical landmark is unsure. But, it is a historic landmark and, consequently, cannot be substantially altered or "scraped" without the completion of a labyrinthine bureaucratic process. I'll leave the details of that process to your inquisitiveness (or masochism!).

Now, to West Highlands (my little corner of the world).

Seems two gentlemen, John Locke and Keith Swanson, owned/own (the house is obviously vacant now), an 1886 Queen Anne or Victorian (even the architectural style is a point of contention), which was the former home of Elwin T. Webber, a Civil War veteran who, in 1886 platted the Highland Place subdivision; William F.R. Mills, Denver's 30th mayor (1918-1919, Wow! Short incumbency!) who, when he was the mayor, didn't live in the home. Spring Byington, a film and tv actress of the 1930s, '40s and '50s also lived in the home as a child, as well as one of Denver's first female doctors, Mary Ford who lived in the house between 1903-1951.

Well, Locke and Swanson, the two gentlemen who owned/own the house (they may still own it, given the chaos engendered with regard to historic landmark designation sought by the West Highlands Neighborhood Organization WITHOUT the knowledge of the two gentlemen who owned/own the home), wanted to sell it, most likely, to a developer whose intent was to "scrape" it and build condos on the land. The offer to the two gentlemen from the potential buyer was $719,000. When the landmark designation was filed by the neighborhood organization, the buyer/developer backed out of the deal. Locke and Swanson then had to knock at least $45,000 off the asking price.

From a Rocky Mountain News story about this little imbroglio over in our little neighborhood, it was reported that the twenty-two page application for landmark designation of this home noted, among other things, that it "...meets the required two of three criteria -- architectural and historic significance -- for landmark designation. It's called a model of the Queen Anne-style..."

During a meeting of the Landmark Preservation Committee that took up the application for landmark status for this structure, the Committee staff noted that, "The application for landmark designation...is found to be complete. The period of significance is 1886. The applicant is the West Highlands Neighborhood Association. The Webber/Mills/Ford House meets the criteria for designation in the following categories: History, 1a, and c, and; Architecture, 2a."

Now, before we move ahead, let me provide a shot of what a real Queen Anne style home in the West Highlands neighborhood looks like. Note the flourishes, the spindles, towers, the irregular roof, classical columns, the asymmetrical shape of the house
itself.

Now, compare this excellent representation of the Queen Anne style with the house in question. Can we really buy the assertion in the landmark designation application that the house in question is in the style of Queen Anne? I can't. You are left to your own conclusion.

As usual, I do go on...

I did not anticipate this post would become a multi-series extravaganza. But, knowing your time is limited (and, maybe, your attention, also, unless you're involved in this particular issue or happen to live in the neighborhood), let me end this initial dip into the controversial subject as provided by the title of this post and, with the best of intentions, I hope to continue it in the not too distant future.

By the way, across the street from the house in question, is this monstrosity, rising from the good West Highlands earth along the 3900 block of West 32nd Avenue. What does this--the proverbial, "a picture is worth a thousand words"--have to say about the albeit noble, but most likely--in this case--misdirected argument that raising the house in question would encroach upon the the maintenance of the character of areas of stability (read neighborhoods) of West Highlands? Methinks "encroachment" has already occurred.

Sarah's (Green-Eyed) Happy Friday Smirk

2007-02-09T09:13:00.000-07:00

Dear Mayor Hickenlooper (You're Kidding, Right?)

2007-02-06T07:47:00.000-07:00

Sir:

It's reported that you are raiding the city's contingency (reserve) funds to the tune of between $8 million to $10 million to dig yourself out of the rut you and your manager of Public Works, Bill Vidal, have gotten yourselves into by fumbling the essential city service of snow removal during the past several snow storms. You're kidding, right?

It's also reported that, last year, you raided the city's contingency (reserve) funds to the tune of $15.8 million for a "...variety of areas." I'm not certain what "areas" you pumped funds into in 2006, but it has been my experience that former mayors have raided these funds (certainly, not to the extent you have), for their own pet projects, most of which enhanced their standing with a particular constituency. I have no doubt your discretionary spending of these contingency (reserve) monies mirrors the political haymaking of past mayors.

Taking up to two-thirds of the city's contingency (reserve) funds--now that the snow storms have abated and we're likely to have near sixty-degree weather today and probably tomorrow, as well--to do what could have been avoided had you and Mister Vidal conducted the said essential city service properly in the first place, is lunacy. It's stupid. It doesn't make sense.

One wonders, of course, if--in spite of your almost certain reelection to a second term (God, knows why they still love you!), this too much, too late response to ice and snow removal is a cute little gambit that--political genius that you are!--provides the foundation for something dark and dangerous in the future.

I say "dark and dangerous" because I'm a home owner and do pay property taxes and, ahem, do not want to pay more property taxes. But, sir, do I see the beginning of some very dire writing on the wall that you and your minions are most likely discussing behind closed doors (without, one assumes, wafts of hot cigar smoke hanging palpable in that oval office on the third floor of the City and County Building. Perhaps the sweet smell of lattes permeate the room now.)

It is, sir, no secret that the cost to just touch the surface of remediating the obscene neglect of Denver's parks is--most likely on the low end--over $100 million. Remediating the disgusting policy of deferring repairs and maintenance to/of the city's infrastructure will cost, according to some city councilpersons, close to $1 billion. In spite of that, you championed a pre-school initiative to raise the city's sales tax (which passed by slightly over 1%. And, boy howdy, didn't you luck out by the DEC effectively disenfranchising about 18,000 well-intentioned citizens, many of whom, I suspect, would have said no, um, hell no to a sales tax increase...a regressive tax for, yes, one of your pet projects). What about the rest of us, sir? Do we matter in your perception of what really matters in the whole scheme of what is called the public weal?

So, back to your closed door machinations. Let's spend down the city's contingency (reserve) funds to next to nothing; let's get out there and melt that damnable ice; let's make the people happy and then--heh! heh! heh!--let's hit 'em in May with the absolute necessity to raise property taxes to take care of all that other baloney (read: essential city services), that , well, we just can't seem to fund 'cause we're busy housing the homeless, sledding down those great ice mountains and sipping hot cocoa, and taking care of all those kewl feel-good pet initiatives that the "business mayor"--you, sir--find so engaging.

You know, it's been my understanding that the city's bond rating depends, in part, on the health of the city's reserve funds; that those who rate city bonds take a wee look at a municipality's reserve pot in determining what rating that municipality's bonds will receive. Does this worry you, sir? If it doesn't, it should.

I used to chuckle every time you'd appear before some group and say, "Well, you know, I've only been here for three months, or six months, or two years;" a kind of ah shucks, folks, give me a chance to figure out what the hell I'm supposed to be doing up there on the third floor of the C & C Building. I don't chuckle any more. After all this time in office, sir, you still seem to be flying by seat of your skinny-assed pants. Your nerdy personae doesn't play any more...with me, at least.

Well, anyway, sir, I've got to tell you that your snake oil approach to calming and pacifying the masses does not--and never did--play well with me. See, you were gonna--By golly! By gee!--turn the city around. You were gonna purge the city of those incompetent slugs (read bureaucracy), and bring a hot-damn business approach to the administration of this city. When is that going to happen, sir? It clearly hasn't happened yet. Still waiting. Perhaps you've discoverd that the sitting bureaucracy knows what the hell it's doing much better than you, sir.

Poor old Mel Thompson--the city's Budget Director--reflecting on your plan to spend down the contingency (reserve) funds by two-thirds--was quoted in the News the other day as saying, "It's a pretty big task right now. I do not know the magnitude right now because it's ongoing. But it is my sense that we will have to look at '07 pretty hard. We will have to sharpen our pencils and look at those areas where we may be able to reallocate existing budget items in order to do this."

"...reallocate existing budget items..." Do you know, sir, what that means? Do you know, Mister Mayor what Mel is telling us? Let me inform: Mel is telling you and all of us that unfilled positions in agencies will probably have to remain unfilled. Mel is telling us that vehicle replacement, computer replacement, hell, maintenance and repairs of the city's infrastructure are going to have to be sharp-penciled out of the budget because of your skewed, fairytale perception of what it is you're supposed to do as mayor of this great city.

How sad. How very, very sad.

In closing, sir, I've never had much confidence in you, albeit I'm apparently in that pathetic little minority who hasn't assumed you walk on water. But, then, that doesn't bother me. I know what I know. I believe my instincts about things political are pretty right-on. I've never bought your snake oil salve-for-the-masses.

Sir, you've got a problem. And, believe me, it ain't gonna be solved by paring down the city's contingency (reserve) funds to next to nothing. That's dangerous. And--Good Lord have mercy!--you really ought to know that by now.

Sincerely,

George

P.S. If it's not too much trouble, sir, would you kindly take my share of the $8 to $10 million and use it to put that pedestrian crosswalk in on Central Avenue; you know, the place where the Highland Bridge abuts the Highland neighborhood. Or, maybe better yet, could you just pave the decrepit, neglected, sorry-assed trail through Highland Park that is now not so much a trail as an obstacle course. Yes, that would work for me. But, then, I don't represent one of your constituencies, do I. Guess I'm shit outa luck, huh?

P.P.S. In the interest of accuracy:

The City and County of Denver's contingency fund is 2% of the total General Fund. The General Fund totals approximately $800 Million. So, the so-called contingency fund equals about $16 Million. The city's "reserve" fund amounts to about 15% of the General Fund. Therefore, the reserve fund amounts to about $120 Million. There is a distinction between the "contingency" fund and the "reserve" fund. The reserve fund is what, generally, bond raters will take a peek at in setting the bond rating for the city. The contingency fund is what is raided for projects or supplementals to agencies when no other source of funding can be identified.

Denver mayors (and I have no reason to believe this one is different than any other) will--to fund pet projects--grab unspent agency funds for that purpose. Those agencies that are targeted (via the Budget Office) for "contributions" to non-budgeted mayoral initiatives, will invariably find themselves, toward the end of the year, seeking supplementals in order to make up for what was taken from them earlier: a kind of rob Peter to pay Paul kind of cooking of the books.

The reserve fund is sacrosanct except, of course, if the city depletes it's contingency fund. Now, it's only February, and Hizzoner (with, most likely, the support of the city council) is positioning to dip into the contingency fund for up to $10 Million for the above explained snow/ice removal lunacy. Doing the simple math, then, leaves about $6 Million in the contingency fund for the remaining ten and one-half months of the year. Seems problematic to me. You are left to your own conclusions.

Ellen DeGeneres Calls Gladys Hardy

2007-02-04T10:43:00.000-07:00

Just a respite from the polemic. Gladys Hardy in Austin is a hooot!

Bureaucrats and Public Servants - A Tale of Ruts

2007-02-01T09:48:00.000-07:00

Consistently--over twenty years of public service--I've made a distinction between bureaucrats and public servants. In spite of the demonization of bureaucrats and bureaucracies, the voluminous interest Max Weber devoted to the same is enlightening, if not tedious. Suffice it to say, as the word itself implies ("bureaucrat" is derived from the French word, "bureau," which means desk), a bureaucrat sits at a desk, applies rules and regulations in the performance of his/her daily duties and leaves self-judgement with regard to the efficacy or propriety of any particular rule or regulation on the nightstand before he or she leaves for work in the morning. A bureaucrat does his/her duty, collects his/her paycheck and, above all, shuns any extra effort or initiative to pierce the adamantine shell in which he/she--usually quite happily--envelops themselves within.

Public servants, on the other hand--my view--fear not the, at times, courageous, onerous--what they perceive as--duty to question the heavy heap of bureaucratic baloney that has been enshrined, codified, coddled and hurrahed by politicians and policy makers. Yes, if one is comfortable with the demonization of bureaucrats, then one must also be comfortable with the undeniable fact that the bureaucracy is a creature of politicians--whether the politicians (such giants of the intellectual realm), realize it or not.

Can I hear an Amen!

A story in this morning's Rocky Mountain News, provides an illustration. Seems the residents in an upscale neighborhood in Denver (Crestmoor Park), have had enough of Mayor Hickenlooper's and his minions inability to remove the layer upon layer of ice that has been left on residential streets for, um, almost two months now. Driving down those streets--not unlike most residential streets in Denver--is best left to the most adventurous of us. The foot or more deep ruts in the streets provide a thrill a second, especially when one vehicle encounters another approaching from the opposite direction. See, one must plant their tires within the ruts. If two vehicles meet--going the opposite direction--one brave soul has to pull his or her vehicle out of those ruts to let the other vehicle pass. Then, of course, the brave (or stupid?) good Samaritan who pulled out of the ruts--once the other vehicle passes--must attempt to reestablish his or her vehicle back into those ruts in order to get on down the road. Problem is, it's a wee bit difficult to climb over those ice hills that straddle those ruts.

The good, certainly affluent folks over in Crestmoor Park decided they'd waited long enough for Hick and company to dig them out, and they took it upon themselves to hire a contractor to do the job which, by the way, is an essential service relegated to the City and County of Denver. So, the independent contractor is working away, clearing the streets and along comes an unnamed city employee, a bureaucrat, who tells the Crestmoor neighbors and the contractor that they can't do that; that they aren't allowed to plow streets. "That was the irony of the whole thing," said John Sadwith, President of the Crestmoor HOA (Home Owners Association). "They [the city] won't come out and do it, but they don't want to let us do it."

Now, methinks a public servant upon arriving in the Crestmoor neighborhood and seeing independent contractors undertaking a task the city is unable to accomplish, would have turned his city vehicle around, and, smiling hugely, looked at himself in his rear view mirror and given himself a little winky-winky and thanked almighty God and the well-healed folks over in Crestmoor for taking care of something that he and his crews (I'm assuming this unnamed Public Works employee was a supervisor), couldn't. End of story.

It is probably instructive to recount the source of the Crestmoor neighbor's frustration with the city. From the News story, comes this: "We had many e-mails with (Councilwoman) Marcia Johnson, and the e-mails back from her were always the same, which was the city says they'll get to everybody in two weeks. That was on the 10th. The 24th rolls around, and we haven't seen a plow yet. We're just getting doublespeak from Public Works." And, I'd add, from Councilwoman Marcia Johnson, as well.

To be fair, the Hick and City Council are hustling to abolish a rule or regulation with regard to private contractors having to "pull a permit" to to clear a city right of way.

P.S. Over here in West Highlands, over here in our little old Northwest Denver neighborhood, over here on our little old street, neighbors have spent uncounted hours chipping the ice out of the street. The few nice days we've had in the past three or four weeks, has seen pretty much each of us--in happy groups or individually--take the initiative to chip, chip, chip away at the accumulated mounds of ice that cradle those damnable ruts in the road.

Go figure! Guess the good folks over here on the North side, have a little less faith in the city (and certainly, a little less disposable income) than those in Crestmoor Park.

P.P.S. After more than twenty years in the public sector, there are some things that even the public servant cannot, should not, must not evade with regard to rules, regulations, codified edicts. Those "sacrosanct" imperatives generally reside in the area of financial matters (including purchasing process/procedure), and other functions where the best interests of the city require absolute adherence to established (codified or not), requirements that preserve the integrity of system; that demand ethical behavior from all public sector employees--hired, appointed or elected.

Sarah's Happy Friday (Sort Of!)

2007-01-26T08:55:00.000-07:00

After chasing her tennis ball for a half-hour
and walking the lake this morning, Sarah
contemplates yet another snow storm this
weekend (our sixth in as many weeks).

So, You Want To Vote in Denver -- Good Luck!

2007-01-23T08:51:00.000-07:00

Ruminating now on the Denver Election Commission's Keystone Kop performances, backed up by the stalwart scurrility Sequoia Voting Systems has inflicted on the citizens of Denver (aided, certainly, obviously by the woo-hoo collaboration of the DEC), it has become expected that yet another effort to disenfranchise Denver's electorate, or a goodly portion thereof, is inevitable. Could we expect anything else?

Dare I provide the litany: here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Seems the DEC may have disenfranchised about 17,600 of Denver's citizens for this coming January 30th "Special Election," that will decide the fate of the Denver Election Commission itself... the single ballot question asking whether or not to disband the Denver Election Commission and establish an elected Clerk and Recorder who would then hire a Director of Elections.

Please recall that it is estimated that 18,000 of Denver's citizens were disenfranchised during the most recent General Election on November 7th, 2006, due to the DEC's bungling and reliance upon Sequoia Voting Systems (the above links provide the whole sordid tale).

Reports today from the Rocky Mountain News and Colorado Confidential, explain that --here we go again--the DEC relied upon Sequoia Voting Systems to prepare ballots and envelopes for the January 30th election (an all-mail election). Problem is , the DEC didn't update voter addresses by cross-checking current voter lists with the National Change of Address database, as suggested by the United States Post Office, before mailing the Sequoia produced packets to voters. The consequence: 17,600 ballots were returned to the post office an undeliverable as addressed. Further, the return envelope produced by Sequoia was identified by the US Post Office as "non-compliant" and could not be read by the Post Office's automated machines, thus requiring hand-sorting by postal employees, costing the taxpayers of Denver at least $22,500.00.

US Post Office district manager, Dean Granholm advised that nine teleconferences were held to assist county election offices with mail ballot procedures, none of which saw the participation of the Denver Election Commission. Additionally, Granholm said, "Unfortunately, Denver City and County did not provide communication needed to achieve success [with the all-mail ballot]. They did not send any information regarding the date of the election, volume of the mailing, the design of the absentee ballot envelopes, the final packet, or the actual date of mailing until it was too late to make any needed changes."

The DEC's response: Alton Dillard, DEC's spokesman, was quoted in the News as saying the DEC "...is aware of the letter [from Granholm] and will meet with USPS [United States Postal Service] officials when time allows. These are the kinds of issues that can occur when turning around an election in three weeks." Do the word "smug," come to mind, ya'll? "When time allows..." Give me a fuckin break!

"Man who trip over same stone twice, deserve to break neck."

I had reservations about abolishing the DEC via the January 30th "Special Election." No reservations now, bro.

The More Things Change... 32nd Avenue - Highland Park - Fags Beware

2007-01-22T09:55:00.000-07:00

Supposing, not surprisingly, that the more things change, the more they stay the same (as they say), I can report that evidence of this supposition has, of late--for, at least, the past three or so months--materialized (as Medusa arising before Perseus), as David and I walk, each workday, the stretch of road on 32nd Avenue between Federal Boulevard and Tejon. Yes, David walks to work every day from our old house near 32nd and Lowell to 17th and Lawrence. Each afternoon, Sarah (our Alaskan Malamute) and I walk the same path David takes in the morning, where we meet him on the other side of the newly opened Highland Bridge, over I25, just this side of the South Platte River. We then walk back home together.

Several times now--in as many months--as we walk 32nd Avenue from Tejon to Federal Boulevard back toward our West Highlands neighborhood, epithets have been hurled from passing vehicles and from passersby on the other side of the street. The epithets, of course, emphasize the word "fag," or "faggot," and, just this past Thursday, the tag-end of the now familiar harangue was: "You don't deserve to live!" Another epithet opined that faggots shouldn't be allowed to have that kind of dog.

Why faggots should not be allowed to have an Alaskan Malamute, slips beyond my--albeit feeble-- ability to understand the cogencies (or lack thereof) of those who strut their stupidity with such superb temerity. But, of course, such is the democratization of a politically correct society (or segment of society), where absurdity of thought is necessarily wrapped in respectability and given credence in spite of better minds suggesting the same is baloney.

Like Perseus, David and I do not directly confront the innate wickedness of the those who toss the epithets they surely, likewise toss as off-hand, extempore, screeching harangues at the face of their color teevees when one quarterback or tight end or wide receiver fucks the play. No, they are safe from a retort--perhaps physical-- from the little men in the teevee . They are also safe from David and me who, of course, intellectually conclude--without a word between us--that life is too short; dipshits will be dipshits and, besides, I don't have a conceal/carry permit for my Colt .45 automatic pistol which I may or may not (I'm not tellin!) carry with me on my daily trek down 32nd Avenue.

It is instructive, perhaps, to link here to pieces I wrote more than two decades ago with regard to the particular kind of hate lately emerging (or, perhaps, it's been there all along?), along 32nd Avenue. Suffice it to say, hate spewed from Latinos along 32nd Avenue and the "love the queer, hate the sin," hate from the religious Fundamentalists isn't much different, isn't much removed, one from the other.

Curiously, for more than the last three months, our daily trek has seen--beginning in Highland Park, at 32nd, between Grove and Federal Boulevard--drunks and derelicts, druggies and delinquents carousing, passed-out; smoking, popping, injecting their particular ticket to Nirvana in Highland Park while, on 32nd Avenue itself--usually along the stretch that borders North High School--soliciting funds (spare change, a dollar, a quarter), of passersby. Um, yes, they even side-up to the faggots (who, surely with such incredible disposable income, can spare what they've got in their pockets!), unabashedly claiming they need change for the bus or, incredibly, in one case, a young man claimed he had diabetes and he broke his blood-sugar tester (grabbing it from his pocket and holding in front us), and that he could buy a new one for nineteen dollars and couldn't we help him out 'cause he had to check his blood every other hour and ...

To the point: Stuff is goin' down on 32nd Avenue and in Highland Park.

Happy Friday from Sarah (There's a smile in there somewhere!)

2007-01-19T07:38:00.000-07:00

Ah...

2007-01-15T11:35:00.000-07:00

In spite of (or, perhaps, because of), it being only 19 degrees in Denver today, this is something you will probably never see in LA or NYC.

Now, that's blue!

Denver's 311 - Don't Hold Your Breath! (RE: Highland Bridge)

2007-01-15T10:38:00.000-07:00

Accessing the new Highland Bridge that crosses I25, is possible, or course, from either end of the bridge by crossing Platte Street from the sourth or Central Street from the north. (I know, it's not technically "south," or "north." But, you know what I mean.) Problem is, CDOT and the City have yet to mark the crosswalks, install PED CROSSING signs or--as the case with Central--four-way stop signs. Crossing Platte Street is usually no problem. Platte Street fronts the charming apartment/condo/business development just north of the Platte River and, on most days (yes, Sarah and I cross Platte Street five days a week--from 34th and Lowell--to meet David who walks to and from work every day), and traffic there is relatively light and slow. Central Street is, however, an issue for the pedestrian. Central Street is one of the access/outlets to/from the 20th Street ingress/egress to/from downtown Denver, with on and off ramps along the way to/from I25. Suffice it to say, most traffic on Central Street past the Highland Bridge mirrors the proverbial bat-outa-hell. The pedestrian who crosses Central Street had better beware. Not only is the traffic fast and furious on Central, vehicles turning onto Central from 16th Street ignore the stop sign. Drivers seldom "totally pause" when making the turn from 16th to Central unless they fear mayhem from the oncoming flow down Central.

Okay. Still with me?

Back in July, 2006, John Hickelooper's (Mayor of Denver) administration ballyhooed the establishment of "3-1-1: Denver Gets it Done." In the mayor's words and the accompanying hype, here's what this "revolutionary" service to citizens was supposed to accomplish:

“The 3-1-1 system will revolutionize Denver’s approach to customer service by enabling residents and businesses to reach a live, knowledgeable person with just one call to City Hall,” said Mayor John Hickenlooper. “Gone are the days of sifting through over 1,200 listings for Denver City services in the phone book’s ‘blue pages.’ Whether you need a park permit application, a pothole filled, or merely have a question, all you need is one number: 3-1-1.”

When calls come in to 3-1-1, trained customer service agents will provide information on the spot or assign a tracking number to the inquiry if a service is requested, such as fixing a broken traffic light. The tracking number allows citizens to follow their requests for service through the City system online at www.denvergov.org. Callers can also find out the status of a specific request or add more information or comments by referring to their specific 3-1-1 tracking number by phone, e-mail or fax.

In preparing to launch the 3-1-1 system, the City documented business processes in agencies throughout the City to find opportunities for greater efficiency and accountability. By assigning a tracking number to service requests, the City is able to better evaluate its performance.

So--you know me!--I thought, okay, I'll try it. So, I opened a case via Internet with the online utility the mayor told us all was a "...revolution[ary]...approach to customer service..." I opened a case (regarding the pedestrian issue on both sides of the Highland Bridge) on January 4th. And, each day since then, I've checked my case to see what resolution the city would provide and, to date, the only notation in the "Manage Case" functionality is, and I paraphrase, "No solution found for this case." Now, I had to paraphrase because, for two days now, the full functionality of the online 3-1-1 has been down, dead, unresponsive. Here's the menu that hasn't worked for two days.

"Revolutionary," huh. The Hick must use a different dictionary than I.

Hedging my bets a bit, on the same day I opened a "case" on the 3-1-1 system, I sent an email to Councilwoman Judy Montero as follows:

Sent: Thursday, January 04, 2007 11:09 AM
To: Montero, Judy H. - City Council District #9
Subject: Highland Bridge

Dear Councilwoman:

I am perplexed by the absence of stop signs, crosswalks at both Platte and Central Streets, at either end of the Highland bridge. Are these forthcoming? It is very dangerous crossing both of those streets, to access the bridge.

Thank you

Six days later--there was an weekend in there--I received this response from Councilwoman Montero's aide, Kim Kucera:

Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2007 1:09 PM

Subject: RE: Highland Bridge

George:

The information I have is as follows:

On the Central Street side CDOT is saying the curb ramps are in place for the crossing. Brian Mitchell, Traffic Engineer for the City of Denver is coordinating with the project team to get the stop signs in place. I will try to find out a more definitive timeline for you and e-mail that shortly. Once the stops signs are in place the city has agreed to place the crosswalk.

Platte Street: the curb ramps are in place, the crosswalk and ped warning signs (not stop signs) have been ordered but have been delayed because of the recent weather. They should be there shortly.

Kim

Way to go, Kim!

As for the Hick's "revolutionary" customer service enhancement; an enhancement hyped by Hick 's Administration as something that had evolved from a thorough review of "...business processes in agencies throughout the City to find opportunities for greater efficiency and accountability..." All this to better serve citizens, taxpayers of Denver. Well, um, it ain't workin' guys. At least, in my case, it didn't.

Snake oil hype--in case the Hickies don't know it--creates expectations in the minds of those who buy it. I never have bought it. But, the curiosity of this whole thing is that a vast majority of Denverites still just love the Hick; this cocoa and sleds, Vespas and Saturns, Happy Holiday's--oops!--Merry Christmas mayor.

Go figure!

P.S. This morning, January 16th, the 3-1-1 site was again functional. Here's the 3-1-1 "Manage Case" verbiage, verbatim (note the "solutions considered comments):

Manage Case
Case
439356

Case Information

Customer
George
Status Routed to Agency

Construction
Problem Summary

Date Created
01/04/07 1:55PM
Date Closed
Incident Address

Notes Summary

Summary Added By Date

Highland Pedestrian Bridge - No Pedestrian Walkway
At either end of the newly opened Highland bridge across I25, there are no pedestrian walkways (stop...
George 01/04/2007 1:55PM

Solutions Considered

There are no attempted Solutions for this Case

Sequence Number

Quite Frankly, I'm Over This Weather -- Snow is Fine -- Below Zero Ain't

2007-01-13T08:23:00.000-07:00

Ah, More Snow - Really Cold in Denver

2007-01-11T10:39:00.000-07:00

This, verbatim, from this morning's Rocky Mountain News
(Pictures--not from the News--are of Denver's measly 19" in 1913)

Snow forecasts run 1-12 inches Only agreement: It will be bone-chilling, with subzero lows

By Laressa Bachelor, Rocky Mountain News January 11, 2007

Forecasters remain a bit at odds on exactly how much snow the next storm will bring to the area, but they do agree frigid weather is on the way, beginning today.

Meteorologists said the storm will likely start with light drizzle before it turns to snow. A second arctic front is expected on Sunday, and it will keep temperatures near the zero mark before things start to warm up on Tuesday. Winds could be a problem, though not all forecasters agree. Some forecasters say that gusts of up to 30 mph will create visibility problems. Others said they don't believe that winds will be a factor. Predictions for when the storm will move out of the area range from Saturday to Monday, with the worst-case scenario for snow-weary residents being one that has flurries lasting through Monday. Snow totals are all over the map, with the National Weather Service saying that as little as 1 to 3 inches might fall in the Denver area, while others expect from 6 inches to a foot. Predictions Forecasts by different agencies on the storm arriving at the end of this week are:

National Weather Service Thursday night 1-3 inches Friday high 13, lowminus 8; Saturday high 6,low minus 1; Sunday high 12, low minus 4 Sunday nightinto Monday

Accuweather.com Thursday night 4-8 inches Friday high 20, low 6;Saturday high 21, low 7; Sunday high 18, low 3 Sunday afternoon

Weather Central Thursday night 3-6 inches Friday high 8, lowminus 10; Saturday high 7, low minus 4; Sunday high 12, low minus 4 Sunday night

CBS 4 News Late Thursday into Friday 6-12 inches Friday high 9, lowminus 7; Saturday high 6, low minus 5; Sunday high 11, low minus 4 Sunday

Denver's 7 Late Thursday into Friday 3-6 inches, 6-12 in foothills Friday high 17, low zero; Saturday high 10, low minus 2; Sunday high 3, low minus 7 Sunday

9News Thursday night into Friday 5-7 inches Friday high 12, lowminus 5; Saturday high 10,low minus 3; Sunday high 13, low minus 4 Monday night

A Visit From Flat Stanley

2007-01-09T08:06:00.000-07:00

I suspect there are a whole lot of parents with small children who have heard of Flat Stanley. I have no children--except, of course, for the four-legged ones-- but I do have nieces and nephews and one of them, Jack from New Jersey, has asked his Uncles George and David to participate in his third grade project centered on the adventures of Flat Stanley.

Flat Stanley emerged from a children's book which chronicles the unfortunate incident of a bulletin board falling on Stanley, thereby flattening him. At first, Stanley was distraught about the inability of the doctors to "cure" his flatness. However, he soon found out that being flat had its advantages. For example, he found that he could mail himself to his friends and, therefore, partake of adventures anywhere in the world.

My nephew, Jack, mailed Flat Stanley to me and David. My mission is, therefore, to provide an adventure for Flat Stanley--in words and pictures--that will be sent back to Jack where he can share Flat Stanley's adventure in Denver with his classmates.

All of this to explain that posts to this blog will necessarily be sporadic until I can put together the greatest adventure ever for Flat Stanley on behalf of my precious nephew, Jack.

So, for the few who check-out this blog on occasion, I'll be back...just as soon as I give Flat Stanley a memorable adventure.

Hooray! More Snow! Sarah's Happy Friday!

2007-01-05T12:23:00.000-07:00

From "Shock and Awe," to "Stay the Course," To "Surge and Accelerate," To "Sacrifice"

2007-01-03T07:33:00.000-07:00

MSNBC's Keith Olbermann (video) provides yet another articulate, pointed (stabbing, even), denunciation of George W. Bush's war. And, the metamorphosis of John McCain--now, taking on the neocon mantra; courting the neocon base of pundits and preachers, warmongers and profiteers--does not escape Olbermann's eloquence.

The video linked above (more than ten minutes), provides, in part, the following:

"And our sons and daughters and fathers and mothers will be sacrificed there tonight, Sir, so that you can say you did not 'lose in Iraq.'

"Our policy in Iraq has been criticized for being indescribable, for being inscrutable, for being ineffable.

"But it is all too easily understood now.

"First, we sent Americans to their deaths for your lie, Mr. Bush.

"Now we are sending them to their deaths for your ego.

"If what is reported is true — if your decision is made and the "sacrifice" is ordered — take a page instead from the man at whose funeral you so eloquently spoke this morning — Gerald Ford: Put pragmatism and the healing of a nation, ahead of some kind of misguided vision.

"Atone."

Dah Plows! Dah Plows!

2006-12-30T10:55:00.000-07:00

Like an episode of "Fantasy Island," we awoke at about 2:30 a.m. to the fantastical, unbelievable sound of diesel engines revving and plow blades scraping asphalt. So, our little street (which looked like this yesterday)

Looks like this today!

Then, later, we found out that it wasn't heavy equipment at all, but it was our neighbor, Owen, who,of course, had been up all night with his little shovel. Thanks, Owen. Good job!

Hick's Plan - Um, I Keep Waitin', Hopin'

2006-12-29T10:25:00.000-07:00

From the Rocky Mountain News this morning: "Mayor John Hickenlooper on Thursday launched a new program to plow neighborhood streets... Under Hickenlooper's new plan, plows are being sent into side streets during the storm, not after, as had been the case in the past."

This is a very wet, heavy snow that is collecting on tree limbs and power lines. And, it's only 10:30 and the real snow is supposed to begin about noon.

Glorious Snow (Don't tell anyone, but I love it! Except, of course if I have to drive somewhere!)

2006-12-29T08:29:00.000-07:00

From last night and this morning. And, more snow is coming...up to four, five, six, eight more inches by tomorrow.

More Snow, More Spin -- the Hickies Whine

2006-12-28T14:15:00.000-07:00

With Denver expecting about 18 more inches of snow by tomorrow--and probably more by Saturday--Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper's administration (and family) just seem to be digging themselves deeper and deeper into a rut. Ah, "rut." Good word. Dare I mention Denver's citizens have been attempting to dig themselves out of those ruts for an entire week with little help from Hick's minions.

Let me just note some quotes:

From Councilwoman Rosemary Rodriguez, reflecting on Hickenlooper: "He looks at snow and disaster and sees cocoa and sledding. [At the height of the last storm, Hickenlooper urged citizens to visit one of four parks for sledding and hot cocoa.] He looks at election problems and sees the voters willing to stand in line for three hours and not the ones who left without voting. In a leader, you want someone who can see both."

From Diane Wolta, a community activist: "My biggest concern about his (Hickenlooper's) political situation is that he made seemingly crazy statements like all residential streets had been plowed, and they clearly weren't. Yeah, I'd be worried if I were him. It doesn't show a good grasp of what's going on in the city."

From Bill Vidal, Hickenlooper's Manager of Public Works: "At this point, we're getting so many complaints about neighborhood streets that we're listening to our customers. We're going to deal with it." [AHA! Gotta complain before anything gets done. Gotta complain before Vidal and company LISTEN to you.]

From the Mayor's wife, Helen Thorpe, an e-mail to the Hick's friends: "I really think John needs all of his supporters to write a letter. And would you each consider asking people that you know to do the same?" She noted that she didn't think "negativity" should be preeminent in the discussion as to how well her hubby and his minions did in taking care of the leavings of the last storm.

Well, this time tomorrow, I'll let you know how it's going. Not holding my breath!

Hickenlooper's Promise, um, Snake oil & Spin - Denver's Streets

2006-12-26T08:26:00.000-07:00

Another op'nin, another show
Across the city, a shitload of snow
A chance for stage folks to say hello!
Another op'nin of another show.

(Another Opening, Another Show - Cole Porter)

To paraphrase something from W.F. Buckley, Jr. (of forty years ago): I thought I had seen everything--I hoped I had--in Mayor Hickenlooper's repertoire of show-stoppers; his snake oil "businessman's" approach to big-city mayorship. But, the grand champion effrontery occurred this morning with his pronouncement that he believes he wants to study how other cities remove snow from streets. This in spite of his pronouncement on December 21st that Denver is better prepared to handle a storm of this magnitude than it was six years ago. Um, well, apparently not so.

Egads! This is Denver, Hick. But, yes, I understand. Your MO never fails, no matter what the issue happens to be. Another committee, another task force, another study, another way to slip slide a decision, a MAYORAL decision onto the backs of others, to tap dance your nimble way out of the fray; to disenthrall yourself from the whole nasty mess.

Hick promised, if you recall, that all residential streets would be taken care of, i.e. cleared, by noon on Saturday which--well, let's see--was three days ago. Then, on Christmas day, the Hick and his Manager of Public Works hedged a bit and admitted that, well, yes, every street has not been hit but that a "large majority" of them have.

Not in my neighborhood!

As if to invalidate all the reports of lousy snow cleanup, impassable streets, impassable mush churned up in intersections, Hick took his front-wheel-drive Saturn station wagon out and tooled around the city and did just fine except for a little issue in the alley near his home.

Okay, so all the rest of us gloomy gus complainers; all of the enormous litany of citizen reports about the "...heck of a job..." Hick and boys did on the streets, well, we had just better get ourselves into a front-wheel-drive Saturn, 'cause, by gosh, by golly, them little scooters got balls!

Hick had--dare I use the word "temerity?"--the temerity to give the snow removal effort an "A" for major thoroughfares, but a "C" for the condition of neighborhood streets. "We have not gotten the kind of clearance of snow that we were striving to get," he said. "It's difficult driving, to say the least."

No shit, Sherlock. How about an "F" for residential streets. At least, let's be honest about my neighborhood: an "F." No doubt about it.

So, okay, here we go again. The Hick--Denver's business mayor--is going to look at how other cities remove snow from their streets.

I'm sorry, but shouldn't other cities be coming to Denver to see how we remove snow from our streets? Shouldn't Denver--being Denver, for Christ's sake (sorry), where it snows in the winter--know how to do it by now? Shouldn't we be the model for the rest of the country?

Well, "...another op'nin, another show..." Another study in mayoral chaos that, predictably, results in a snake oil salesman's pirouette that turns the tables, repoints the finger somewhere else rather than where it ought to be pointed, to the empty, useless rhetoric predictably spewed by Hick's administration that can't find it's ass for...

You get the point.

P.S. By the way... I have nothing but admiration and thanks for the City and County of Denver employees--both the street crews and those at DIA--who gave everything they had and more in attempting to accomplish their mission; to serving the citizens of Denver and the traveling public. There is, however, a huge disconnet between these good folks and the administration of this city. The empoyees "get it." The administration doesn't.

Merry Christmas from George (Click here)

2006-12-25T20:13:00.001-07:00

Merry Christmas!

2006-12-25T09:08:00.000-07:00

Sarah is NOT spoiled! Just, um...indulged a little bit.

Edible Christmas card.

What a Difference a Day Makes! (In Denver, that is...)

2006-12-22T09:37:00.000-07:00

"You need a blue-sky holiday..."
Daniel Powter, "Bad Day"

And, It's Still Snowing!

2006-12-21T08:20:00.000-07:00

This is where I left you at 4 p.m. yesterday.

And, here we are at about 7 a.m. this morning.

More shots here.

It Snowed! It Snowed!

2006-12-20T16:35:00.000-07:00

Expecting 18 to 24 inches by tomorrow noon.

8:00 a.m.

10:00 a.m.

12:00 p.m.

2:00 p.m.

4:00 p.m.

Highland Bridge Dedication

2006-12-18T08:58:00.000-07:00

Avoiding the drudgery of listening to politicos pontificate at any public assemblage, David and I kept to the outskirts of the crowd where I took pics when I had a clear shot (the clear shots were available just for an instant before someone walked in front of me). The Highland Bridge event and its significance is detailed here. Suffice it to say, Saturday morning was sunny and crisp, an intermittent frigid breeze keeping us all awake...in spite of the politician's rhetoric. So, here are a few shots of the significant event in our little corner of the world.

Councilwoman Judy Montero (District 9) began the dedication ceremony. Gotta say she reminded me of a high school cheerleader, admonishing the crowd that their "Good Morning," was not loud enough and that, "It's okay to be rowdy. We're rowdy in North Denver." Suffice it to say, Councilman Rick Garcia (District 1), whose district skirts Montero's (and who really should have been visible for this significant occasion), didn't show up.

Denver's elected Auditor, Dennis Gallagher, did show up for the event. This larger-than-life character dressed typically for the occasion, probably quoting Shakespeare as he rose to take his bow.

Mayor Hickenlooper and his son, Teddy, did show up for the event. (Is Teddy still in his jammies?)

There was a mariachi group from Bryant-Webster Elementary school. They were wonderful. But, several shots of this young man on the violin (his expression never wavering) gave rise to the question if he was just angry about the whole shebang, scared to death or really, really having to pee and can't we just get this damned thing over with!

I'm glad David and I went. It was our little historic event for our little corner of the world. The festivities went on into the evening, culminating in a celebration of light across the bridge by the good folks from both the lower Platte Valley community and the Highland's neighbors on the other side.

REMEMBER - Highland Bridge Opening Ceremony/Festivities Today

2006-12-16T08:27:00.001-07:00

PEACE ON EARTH!

2006-12-15T08:30:00.000-07:00

I borrowed this link from Suz-At-Large which provides the essence of the uproar about a Home Owner's Association (HOA) in Pagosa Srings, Colorado objecting to the display of the peace sign on the front of one the resident's homes. (Actually, it was the president of the HOA who objected to the display of the peace symbol. See Suz's comment below. Thanks Suz.)

Every morning--about 6:15, as Sarah and I head for Berkeley Park in Northwest Denver (walkies around the lake and off-leash tennis ball wind sprints), we pass two houses along the way that display...well, see for yourself (only one was lit this morning).

A wish for Peace on Earth reigns unopposed in Northwest Denver. Apparently, not so in Pagosa Springs.

Sarah's Happy Friday!

2006-12-15T08:22:00.000-07:00

Ten days until Christmas!

Who's been nice!

Aha! Soy Made Me Gay!

2006-12-12T14:02:00.000-07:00

But, now that I think about it--fifty-eight years ago--mom didn't even know about soy, or use it, or yearn to imbibe it and consequently MAKE ME GAY!

But, oh my, here's the TRUTH!

Archbishop Chaput - Charley's Theocratic Revisionism of democracy

2006-12-11T15:23:00.000-07:00

A piece in yesterday's Rocky Mountain News by Jean Torkelson (the News' religion writer), entitled, "Chaput: People of faith are the backbone of democracy...Catholic leader calls secularism 'actively destructive' to system," not only provides a sublime insight into the essential theocratic revisionist philosophy of Denver's Archbishop, but exposes the aggressively political (hungering for that Cardinal red, perhaps???) psyche of this "prince" of the Roman church.

Ms. Torkelson reports: (Let me include some salient pufferies from the little guy. Uncanny would be the nice word to described Chaput's view of democracy. Weird would be a little more to the point.)

Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput slammed secularism before a Southern California audience last week, calling religious faith essential to democracy and secularism "actively destructive" to it.

"Democracy does not mean putting aside our religious and moral beliefs for the sake of public policy; in fact, it demands exactly the opposite..."

"Democracy depends on people of character fighting for their beliefs in the public square - legally, ethically and nonviolently, but forcefully and without apology." [I agree. Without qualification!]

Meanwhile, secularism "isn't really morally neutral," Chaput said, according to his prepared text. "It's actively destructive. It undermines community. It attacks the heart of what it means to be human. It rejects the sacred while posturing itself as neutral to the sacred.

"It also just doesn't work," Chaput added. "In fact, by its nature it can't work as a life-giving principle for society."

Chaput, who speaks frequently around the country, said Americans have confused the principle of maintaining nonsectarian public institutions, which is proper, with the secularist destructive view, which calls for a religion- free public square.

"Whenever you hear loud fretting sparked by an irrational fear of an 'established church,' somebody's trying to force religious believers and communities out of the public discussion of issues..." [Ah, does George perceive a wee bit of bullshit here? Who, I wonder, actually trembles with "...irrational fear of an 'established church'..."???

The nation's core principles, such as inalienable rights and equality under the law, are traced to Christianity and its Jewish roots, he said, lamenting that "as a country we're losing the Founders' perspective on the meaning of our shared public life." [Yes, indeed, theocratic revisionism at its best!]

He also blasted common cultural bywords such as "tolerance" and "consensus," saying they are of less value in making civic choices than charity, justice, faith and truth. [Oh, my...]

Even the word "community" has been corrupted, Chaput said.

Okay, then... Let's look at the facts, shall we.

The Constitution contains no reference to a deity. The Declaration of Independence proposed the outrageous conclusion that the divine right of kings (read: God-given) was anomalous to the essence of democracy.

Thomas Paine
“I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church” (The Age of Reason, 1794).

“Of all the systems of religion that ever were invented, there is no more derogatory to the Almighty, more unedifying to man, more repugnant to reason, and more contradictory in itself than this thing called Christianity” (Ibid.).

Benjamin Franklin
“Scarcely was I arrived at fifteen years of age, when, after having doubted in turn of different tenets, according as I found them combated in the different books that I read, I began to doubt of Revelation itself ” (Franklin’s Autobiography, 1817–18).

“Some volumes against Deism fell into my hands … they produced an effect precisely the reverse to what was intended by the writers; for the arguments of the Deists, which were cited in order to be refuted, appeared to me much more forcibly than the refutation itself; in a word, I soon became a thorough Deist” (Ibid.).

George Washington
The false image of Washington as a devout Christian was fabricated by Mason Locke Weems, a clergyman who also invented the cherry-tree fable and in 1800 published his Life of George Washington. Washington, a Deist and a Freemason, never once mentioned the name of Jesus Christ in any of his thousands of letters, and pointedly referred to divinity as “It.”

Whenever he (rarely) attended church, Washington always deliberately left before communion, demonstrating disbelief in Christianity’s central ceremony.

John Adams
Adams, a Unitarian inspired by the Enlightenment, fiercely opposed doctrines of supernaturalism or damnation, writing to Jefferson: “I almost shudder at the thought of alluding to the most fatal example of the abuses of grief which the history of mankind has preserved — the Cross. Consider what calamities that engine of grief has produced!”

Adams realized how politically crucial — and imperiled — a secular state would be: “The United States of America have exhibited, perhaps, the first example of governments erected on the simple principles of nature; and if men are now sufficiently enlightened to disabuse themselves of artifice, imposture, hypocrisy, and superstition, they will consider this event as an era in their history. … It will never be pretended that any persons employed in that service [forming the U.S. government] had interviews with the gods, or were in any degree under the influence of Heaven, more than those at work upon ships or houses, or laboring in merchandise or agriculture; it will forever be acknowledged that these governments were contrived merely by the use of reason and the senses. …Thirteen governments [of the original states] thus founded on the natural authority of the people alone, without a pretence of miracle or mystery… are a great point gained in favor of the rights of mankind” (A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America, 1787–88).

Thomas Jefferson
It’s a commonly stated error that U.S. law, based on English common law, is thus grounded in Judeo-Christian tradition.

Yet Jefferson (writing to Dr. Thomas Cooper, February 10, 1814 ) noted that common law “is that system of law which was introduced by the Saxons on their settlement in England …about the middle of the fifth century. But Christianity was not introduced till the seventh century. …We may safely affirm (though contradicted by all the judges and writers on earth) that Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law.”

Jefferson professed disbelief in the Trinity and the divinity of Jesus Christ, while respecting moral teachings by whomever might have been a historical Jesus. He cut up a Bible, assembling his own version: “The whole history of these books [the Gospels] is so defective and doubtful,” he wrote Adams (January 24, 1814), “evidence that parts have proceeded from an extraordinary man; and that other parts are of the fabric of very inferior minds.”

Scorning miracles, saints, salvation, damnation, and angelic presences, Jefferson embraced reason, materialism, and science. He challenged Patrick Henry, who wanted a Christian theocracy: “[A]n amendment was proposed by inserting ‘Jesus Christ,’ so that [the preamble] should read ‘A departure from the plan of Jesus Christ, the holy author of our religion’; the insertion was rejected by a great majority, in proof that they meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mohammedan, the Hindoo and Infidel of every denomination” (from Jefferson’s Autobiography, referring to the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom).

The theme is consistent throughout Jefferson ’s prolific correspondence: “Question with boldness even the existence of a God” (letter to Peter Carr, August 10, 1787).

“[The clergy] believe that any portion of power confided to me, will be exerted in opposition to their schemes. And they believe rightly: for I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man” (letter to Dr. Benjamin Rush, September 23, 1800).

“I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which…thus[built] a wall of separation between church and state” (letter to the Danbury [ Connecticut ] Baptist Association, January 1, 1802).

“History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government” (letter to Alexander von Humboldt, December 6, 1813).

“In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own” (letter to Horatio G. Spafford, March 17, 1814).

“[W]hence arises the morality of the Atheist? …Their virtue, then, must have had some other foundation than the love of God” (letter to Thomas Law, June 13, 1814).

“I am of a sect by myself, as far as I know” (letter to Ezra Stiles, June 25, 1819).

“The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus… will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter” (letter to John Adams, April 11, 1823).

JAMES MADISON
Although prayer groups proliferate in today’s Congress, James Madison, “father of the Constitution,” denounced even the presence of chaplains in Congress — and in the armed forces — as unconstitutional. He opposed all use of “religion as an engine of civil policy,” and accurately prophesied the threat of “ecclesiastical corporations.”

“Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise” (letter to William Bradford, April 1, 1774).

“During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What have been its fruits? More or less in all places, pride and indolence in the Clergy, ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution” (Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments, Section 7, 1785).

“What influence in fact have ecclesiastical establishments had on Civil Society? In some instances they have been seen to erect a spiritual tyranny on the ruins of the Civil authority; in many instances they have been seen upholding the thrones of political tyranny: in no instance have they been seen as the guardians of the liberties of the people. Rulers who wished to subvert the public liberty, may have found an established Clergy convenient auxiliaries” (Ibid., Section 8).

“Besides the danger of a direct mixture of Religion & civil Government, there is an evil which ought to be guarded agst. in the indefinite accumulation of property from the capacity of holding it in perpetuity by ecclesiastical corporations. The power of all corporations ought to be limited in this respect. …The establishment of the chaplainship to Congs. is a palpable violation of equal rights, as well as of Constitutional principles. … Better also to disarm in the same way, the precedent of Chaplainships for the army and navy. … Religious proclamations by the Executive [branch] recommending thanksgivings & fasts are shoots from the same root. … Altho’ recommendations only, they imply a religious agency, making no part of the trust delegated to political rulers” (Monopolies, Perpetuities, Corporations, Ecclesiastical Endowments, circa 1819).

The incisive quotes above are detailed, of all places, in Ms. Magazine (fall 2004), the full text of which is here.

As to Chaput's thoughts on "...common cultural bywords such as 'tolerance' and 'consensus...' May we conclude that not even the Archbishop--or the Pope, for that matter--has the divine right to tell us how to interpret English grammar--the meaning of words. I think we are quite capable of determining that for ourselves.

Bye, Bye Libeskind - Civic Center Park Will Be Just Fine Without You

2006-12-11T08:42:00.000-07:00

Researching material for my current writing project, I've huddled in the Denver Public Library's Western History section, in the "restricted" area of the Western History section digging into primary source documents, doctoral and master's theses, microfilm, and anything else that might provide a clue, a hint where my next studious step should go; a kind of forensic adventure. That aside, I suppose I was not surprised to see the Libeskind rendering of his Civic Center "conceptual vision" sitting there, behind the library staff's counter/work space and just before the entrance to the "restricted" area of the Western History stacks. My first thought upon first seeing the balsa wood model was a sincere appreciation for whoever put the thing together--it's really cute. My next thought was, of course, that grotesque was probably too lean a word to describe the desecration of Civic Center Park the cute little tiny town mock-up represents.

If you're interested, the Western History section of the Denver Public Library is on the 5th floor of the Central Branch at 14th and Broadway.

Mary Voelz Chandler's piece in last Saturday's Rocky Mountain News, "Time to put Libeskind ideas away," reports that:

Three diverse community organizations recently weighed in with opinions opposing the concepts presented last August by Daniel Libeskind for Civic Center.

I was not surprised that the Downtown Denver Partnership's Denver Civic Ventures Board, Capital Hill United Neighborhoods (CHUN), and Interneighborhood Cooperation (INC) all focused on the same two aspects. But I was taken aback that the trio shared a negative opinion in both areas:

Ms. Chandler goes on to explain that those "...two aspects..." these groups found unsavory were content and process.

• Content: That is, the groups oppose the elements Libeskind showed that would change the character of Civic Center.

• Process: The groups think this has been undertaken from the wrong direction, since a private organization (not the city) hired an architect to offer ideas to remake the place. Instead, INC asks that design ideas come from a "public, transparent design competition;" the Partnership calls for "an open, thorough and transparent process," and CHUN wants "a public, transparent design competition."

The three documents sound as if the writers were sitting next to each other that day in class. In fact, half the INC statement is exactly the same as the CHUN position.

The Civic Center Conservancy may have hired Libeskind to devise "inspiration ideas," but by and large, those concepts have sunk like a stone. Sure, they've prompted people to talk about Civic Center and what the city could do to make improvements in our civic core. But even more, these repetitive presentations of Libeskind's ideas for a Civic Center facelift have stirred people to offer their own. I'd call it the "enemy of my enemy is my friend" effect.

For many of us, the answer lies in simplicity when dealing with this exemplary Beaux Arts assemblage:

A: Restore the park's historic elements, do a better job of maintenance and irrigation, boost policing.

B: Do not add a canopy to the Greek Theatre, build a pedestrian bridge, or tear out the green space at the center of Civic Center to put in a large water feature doomed to double as a bathtub and make a dangerous, uneven surface when empty.

If there is one piece people can agree on, it is to find a new, public use (restaurant, cultural center, city museum) for the McNichols Building. That would draw more people into the park without tipping it over into a state many of us fear: a derivative, miniature version of Millennium Park in Chicago.

While Mayor Hickenlooper sticks with his consistent spin that the Libeskind debacle for Civic Center Park got folks thinking about what needs to be done with Denver's "city beautiful" quietly dignified space (my words, not the Hick's), Ms. Chandler observes:

If the city and the conservancy really want us to believe that this exercise has been a tool to get people talking about Civic Center, it worked. Now, let's move on to something more concrete: It is time for the Libeskind "concepts" to be put away. It seems the conservancy agrees. When I asked the conservancy president for a response to the three organizations' negative positions on those concepts, board member Susan Kirk responded.

"The Libeskind design is off the table, so we don't replay it again and again," she said. "It got us what we wanted, but it was never meant to be a legitimate proposal to be looked at. It was a vision of what someone might do. It is off the table. Nobody wants to endorse that vision."

That is good news. Even people who want to make more- than-simple changes in the park haven't been able to warm up to those concepts. Such as Richard Farley, who was among those who presented ideas Wednesday in a Conservancy program on Civic Center. Here's how he explains why Libeskind's proposals are flawed:

"He's tried to solve fundamental things with geometric forms," the architect and urban designer said. "Whether on purpose or inadvertently, (Libeskind) has taken away the ability to do festivals in the park. He's eliminated the center of Civic Center. Fundamentally, it's not a sustainable idea."

What's next? Perhaps the conservancy should now consider raising money to either begin restoration of historic elements in Civic Center, beef up maintenance, or fund a legitimate competition for ideas. That would be a competition with real rules and real goals, in a full, open, transparent manner. The group also might want to lead the lobbying charge if restoration and retrofitting to a more public use of the McNichols Building winds up as part of an infrastructure bond issue.

Ms. Chandler reports that Kim Bailery, Denver's Manager of Parks and Recreation, (the person Mayor Hickenlooper identified as the person who would make the decision on the Civic Center Park reformation/redo/repair/remake/renaissance or whatever you'd like to call it), said:

"My intent from all this is to clearly articulate a substantial understanding of the common ground that has been generated by the public in this important dialogue."

Okay. Not even suggesting here that city folks, from the Mayor on down, were quite giddy with the Libeskind kerplunk of junk into Civic Center Park which, by the way, was initiated by the Civic Center Conservancy, a private group who, with Bailey along for the ride, shelled out $75,000 for the "conceptual vision;" no, not even suggesting that such a non-transparent endeavor by a private group with city folks happily cuddling up to that backroom, closed door process was counterproductive to what should have been a very conspicuous public process. Nope. Won't even go there.

Ms. Chandler ends her piece:

Here's a wish for the new year: Remember that phrase, common ground. Because when it comes to Civic Center, what better way to describe the meaning of a place that belongs to all of us?

Sarah's Happy Friday! Tennis Weather!

2006-12-08T10:32:00.000-07:00

Highland Bridge Over I-25 - Opening Celebration

2006-12-08T08:32:00.000-07:00

P.S. I provided Councilman Rick Garcia's office with a copy of these two fliers with the hope they would post them on their site. Although the pedestrian bridge is not in Councilman Garcia's district, I thought the event would be of interest for those of us who live in the West Highlands neighborhood. But, nope, the councilman's office doesn't apparently think the event is worthy of their effort to place the information on their site. (Not wanting to modify original posts, please note the comment below from Anon which explains what may be occurring with the Councilman's website.)

The picture of the arch over I-25 was taken in August of this year. Now, the walkway is suspended from the arch and is almost complete. This pedestrian bridge will link Lodo (Lower Downtown Denver) to the North Denver community, notably the Highlands and West Highlands neighborhoods.

P.P.S. Thanks to Anon (see comments) for providing this great site that details everything you'd ever want to know about the Highland Bridge/Project.

A Dog Story (Video)

2006-12-05T10:00:00.000-07:00

Denver's Justice Center - A Study in Mediocrity

2006-12-01T15:15:00.000-07:00

Michael Paglia, an art and architecture writer for Denver's Westword weekly (a very well-written, hip tabloid that never shirks from taking on the mainstream media) provides an incisive historical perspective on the Denver Justice Center's slip-slide into apparent mediocrity. He writes, in part:

Mayor John Hickenlooper's predecessors made that whole mayoral-legacy business look like a snap.

Paglia then provides a litany of the significant legacy projects that the two Denver mayors who preceded John Hickenlooper left behind: Federico Pena--Coors Field, the Colorado Convention Center, the Denver Central Library extension, Denver International Airport; Wellington Webb--Pepsi Center, Invesco Field at Mile High, the Colorado Convention Center extension, the Hyatt Regency, the Wellington Webb Municipal Office Building, the Ellie Caulkins Opera House and the Hamilton Building of the Denver Art Museum.

Paglia notes:

Hickenlooper decided that he wanted to make lasting contributions to Denver as well, and his additions would be made in the most prominent place in town: in and around the Civic Center. However, two of Hick's future dreams for the area have turned into nightmares over the past couple of months.

Paglia then describes the series of unfortunate events that have plagued this legacy-seeking Mayor, Hickenlooper, in his drive to live up to, and perhaps surpass the accomplishments of his predecessors.

Writes Paglia:

The first disturbance came in September, when superstar architect Daniel Libeskind, just weeks before his new Hamilton was to open, shot himself -- and the mayor -- in the foot by unveiling his ridiculous ideas for "enlivening" the Civic Center. To say that Libeskind's proposal has gone over like a lead balloon would be charitable.

...The second disaster involved another superstar architect, Steven Holl. On October 2, during the very week that the Hamilton opened, Holl's contract to design the courthouse portion of the Justice Center project was terminated. So there will never be a building by the New York architect on the site, even though Holl's firm was selected as part of a competition and his design was well on its way to final form. In this case, the mayor -- or, more properly, his underlings -- screwed things up with no help whatsoever from Holl. But the citizens of Denver are the losers, because Holl's proposed building was incredibly imaginative -- which is astounding, since it came out of a bureaucratic process that was anything but.

In both cases, Hickenlooper was ill-served by those he put in charge. In the case of the Civic Center, it's the Civic Center Conservancy, a bunch of people who have few credentials when it comes to dealing with the city's most important set of historic buildings, art and landscapes. And it's essentially the same names and faces who are associated with the Justice Center fiasco, notably project manager "Calamity" James Mejia, who is also a member of the Civic Center Conservancy.

Mejia's public life began only a few years ago, when he was a member of the Denver Public Schools Board of Education. When discussions were under way to build a school of the arts, Mejia pulled the race card to suggest that the school had discriminatory entrance policies. The allegations weren't true, of course, but it did get his name in the papers.

Then Mejia was appointed by Webb to be interim director of Denver's Parks and Recreation Department, and in that capacity turned off the city's public fountains. Left in disuse for several years, the mechanical elements of the fountains deteriorated. Mejia's decision will eventually cost the city more than $1 million.

Shutting down the fountains was a response to the drought, as was Mejia's decision to cut the system's water use by half. The results were to be expected: Thousands of trees and bushes died. With no expertise in the cultivation of plants, Mejia apparently didn't realize that if you don't water them, they die. (The rumor that Mejia may wind up at the helm of the Denver Botanic Gardens makes my blood run cold. Earth to the DBG: The guy doesn't know that plants need water!) Then, as if that weren't enough, Mejia was the key player in the destruction of Lawrence Halprin's Skyline Park, which has been replaced with sod. (Which, of course, takes water.)

At the time of Skyline's demolition, I pointed out that it was amazing how much damage a single person like Mejia could do. But as low as my expectations of him were, I didn't expect Mejia to cost us a world-class public building. And don't forget, the city still had to pay the architect almost three-quarters of a million dollars for work that will never be implemented. Oh, and there's the several-month delay in the design process, which will cost money, too. I'll never understand why Hickenlooper put Mejia in charge of the Justice Center.

Paglia then details the specifics of Steven Holl's untimely departure from the Denver Justice Center project:

In September, Holl made a presentation of his progress on the schematic design, which was at 50 percent completion. The building that emerged was elegant, sophisticated and clever. It even took green issues into account.

...But Mejia didn't like it from the start, nor did his fellow travelers, Guillermo Vidal, director of the city's Department of Public Works, and Charles DesMoineaux from Jacobs Facilities. The three coordinated their responses. In a sharply worded letter to Brian Klipp back on August 17 -- weeks before the Holl presentation -- Mejia objected, among other things, to the building's "geometry" (its curves and cantilevers) and to the interior materials, confusing the terrazzo-like surfaces Holl suggested with cast concrete. It wasn't my understanding that Mejia, a freelance bureaucrat, had been hired to make aesthetic calls -- or, worse yet, to second-guess the guy who was.

Elaborate and condescending e-mails were sent to the Holl/klipp team from Vidal and DesMoineaux, requiring elaborate responses. In one sad if hilarious exchange, DesMoineaux labels Holl's work as deficient, with a reply from Holl's Chris McVoy saying it wasn't, and then DesMoineaux responding back defensively, wondering if McVoy was calling his professional abilities into question. Then there were the wildly different cost estimates, with Holl admitting that his design was about $3 million over budget, or less than 3 percent over, while the city's estimates were $30 million over, because their equations included expensive materials that Holl hadn't called for.

On September 13, a week after his presentation, Holl took his last shot and wrote a plaintive letter to Hickenlooper, asking him to intervene and replace the city's team, whom he refers to as the project managers, because he felt that they were endangering the quality of the project. (Holl apparently bought the hype about Hickenlooper being interested in architecture.)

But no, with the letter and subsequent teleconference with Hizzoner, Holl was out. And the administration circled the wagons, badmouthing Holl to the press. The worst offender was former city councilwoman Susan Barnes-Gelt -- a Denver Post columnist and the informal public-information officer for the Hickenlooper administration on this issue -- writing on October 15 that Holl's splitting town was actually good news for the city. Talk about serving chicken shit and calling it chicken salad!

The terrible situation Holl describes in his letter to the mayor surrounding the design of the Justice Center courthouse is still true. Unlike a lot of people, I think klipp is capable of doing a first-rate building, but the question is: How is klipp going to come up with something excellent when the people running the project only understand mediocrity?

Michael Paglia's work on the Denver Justice Center and Civic Center Park (here and here) is, as I noted, incisive and quite revealing as to the behind-the-scenes machinations of the major players. I urge you to take a look. He says it all so much better than I do.

Sarah's Happy Friday

2006-12-01T08:12:00.000-07:00

Hickenlooper: "Is there anyone here who doesn't believe there were a lot of bad decisions made?"

2006-11-30T07:37:00.000-07:00

First of all, let's talk about Denver streets and inclement weather, shall we.

At 2:19 p.m. Tuesday, I got a text message from a friend in Lakewood reporting that it was snowing over there. Yes, Lakewood is not Denver, but close enough to be contiguous to our southwest border. After receiving the text message, I headed outside here in Northwest Denver and, yes, the little white buggers were beginning to float to the ground from that gray-white sky that had whispered the coming of something significant all morning (my morning begins at about 5:15 a.m.). So, by shortly after 2 p.m. on Tuesday, it was beginning to snow in Denver. Didn't need a weatherman or a weather service contractor to confirm that fact. I just looked outside.

Now, something about magnesium chloride. From usda.gov, just a little snippet: "The liquid magnesium chloride is sprayed on dry pavement prior to precipitation or wet pavement and prior to freezing temperatures in the winter months to prevent snow and ice from adhering and bonding to the roadway."

With me, so far?

Each weekday, Sarah (our Alaskan Malamute) and I walk from our home in Northwest Denver (at about 4:15 p.m.) to 15th Street and I25, where we meet my partner, David, on his way home from work. We hit Highland Park--32nd and Federal--at about 5:00 p.m. on our way back home. Guess what! By the time we reached the park, it was snowing like hell. (I guess "hell" is probably the wrong word, here. But, you get the drift. :- ] )

This morning's Rocky Mountain News, under the banner, "Slow response sluggish (City blames forecasts for lagging other jurisdictions), reports that, "Denver officials blamed faulty weather forecasts for not fully mobilizing to handle Tuesday's heavy snowstorm until midnight, at least six hours after crews from other jurisdictions had kicked into high gear.

"By the time snow started falling during the evening rush hour, Denver had less than half the number of plows on the streets that would be operating by midnight."

A spokesman from Denver's Department of Public Works, Dan Roberts, said, "...the city relied on faulty weather forecasts from a private contractor and early reports from local television stations."

Not to belabor the point, but do you get the feeling that all Hickenlooper's minions have honed in on hizzoner's penchant for declaring, "Ain't my job, man," and then proceeding to point the finger elsewhere; certainly not at themselves?

Hell, they could have called me at about 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday and I could have told them, "Ah-yup, it's snowing."

Don't know how long the News will keep the story active on it's site, but here's the link.

Yes, Mister mayor, with regard to one of the core functions of a city--duh!--I don't think "...there's anyone here who doesn't believe there were a lot of bad decisions made."

Now, to the election debacle that hizzoner is addressing with yet another committee/task force/assemblage of good ol' boys and gals.

The story in the News is here.

I'm frankly sick of this election mess--my rants (posts) on the subject are prodigious. Suffice it to say, the Hick is, once again, using what I guess is the only tool he believes he has at his disposal , (to assure deniability, and give the impression that, by God, he's digging into the thing) another committee/task force/assemblage or, what I characterized in another post as "...another opening, another show..." (Cole Porter).

Time after time after time, the Hick was warned by Auditor Gallagher and Councilwoman Rosemary Rodriguez and others as well, that an election "tsunami" was looming just around the corner (warnings given in ample time to correct or, at least, alleviate, the disaster of November 7th). Did the Hick act? Nope. Instead he simply espoused the lame echo, "Ain't my job, man."

So, not wanting to string this out any longer (I'm sick of it!) let me just end this by saying, yeah, mayor, I really don't believe there's "...anyone here who doesn't believe there were a lot of bad decisions made." I would include, however, that I don't believe there's anyone here who doesn't believe there were a lot of bad omissions and failures to act, by you, sir. You are a "strong mayor," under the Charter. But, alas, you haven't yet really latched on to that concept, have you.

Votes and snow. Bad decisions. Yup, gotta agree.

Snow in Denver Today - Sarah's Delight

2006-11-29T10:25:00.000-07:00

Denver Justice Center - Klipp Concept

2006-11-29T09:55:00.000-07:00

A piece in this morning's Rocky Mountain News (Mary Voetz Chandler) provides:

Conceptual images of Denver's new courthouse, the first since architect Steven Holl was dismissed from the project, show a precast concrete building with a glass facade.

The design, by Denver-based klipp Architecture, is still evolving, said Denver Justice Center policy manager James Mejia.

Suggestions from a Citizens Advisory Committee of future tenants and neighbors who met last week have yet to be fully incorporated.

And, the klipp design:

As opposed to the Holl design:

Well, what can I say? Precast concrete with a glass facade? James Mejia, the Mayoral appointee who is serving as the Project/Policy Manager/Director observed of the klipp design: "I like the efficiency of it. I like the aesthetics of it, and I like the process," Mejia said.

"The klipp team really has taken to heart comments from the Citizens Advisory Committee."

Klipp observed:"My sense is that, as with all the work we do, our work is redefined and reinvented as we go along," [he] said of any future refinements. "The framework stays, but the translation changes." Hmmmm... Gonna have to think about that one.

What do I know about architecture and design? Not much. But, precast concrete? Hey Susan (Barnes-Gelt), ain't lookin' like an "iconic" structure to me. But, again, what do I know.

Denver Justice Center - Finally, Peer Review

2006-11-26T10:23:00.000-07:00

Two pieces in this morning's paper (The Denver Newspaper Agency running both the Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News, operating under a JOA--Joint Operating Agreement) provide interesting contrasts--with regard to perceptions of its purpose--to the recently established peer review group that will contribute to the review of the design for the Denver Justice Center. You remember the Denver Justice Center? You remember Steven Holl's exit from the process?

Susan Barnes-Gelt, writing in this morning's Post, notes that "...in an attempt to reinforce confidence in the ability of local architect Brian Klipp to lead the courthouse design, the city last week assembled a peer review team to critique the project as it moves through it design stages..."

An editorial in the Rocky Mountain News provides that "James Mejia, the project's policy manager, said panel members [of the peer review group] should have an interest in assisting the design process, rather than merely critiquing it."

It's that word "critique" that seems to bother Mister Mejia. You may recall that it is most likely the unfortunate exit of Steven Holl from the project was Mejia's operational and political demands as opposed to the design and architectural passions of Holl. To quote Holl: "The director of the project under the Mayor effectively rejected our design. In fact, he says that in a sentence in one of the recent newspaper articles. Here is the problem focused. How can a city which invested so much effort in selecting an architect put the decision for the architectural design in the hands of those who were not partial to the ideas of the selection committee and not sympathetic to an intense work of public architecture?"

Barnes-Gelt quotes architect and Golden Triangle leader Dennis Humphries: "The Golden Triangle [area in which the Denver Justice Center will be built] neighbors made that suggestion three years ago [peer review], but it took the national Urban Land Institute site review team to persuade the city it was the right thing to do. I believe outside experts will be more candid in their criticism than a local review committee might be."

Barnes-Gelt reports that the peer review group will consist of three national and three local architects. Bruce Kuwabara, a partner with Toronto's Kuwabara Payne McKenna Bluberg; John Ellis, a principal with Solomon ETC in San Francisco; Laurie Olin, who teaches landscape design at the University of Pennsylvania.

Barnes-Gelt opines that, "If these three experts can help harmonize the relationships of the buildings in the justice center campus to one another, to the neighborhood and to the city, the extra time and money will be a wise investment."

What Barnes-Gelt didn't say was that it may be more difficult for the peer review team to get past Mister Mejia's aversion to that darned cumbersome, democratic concept embodied in the word "critique," than it is to provide a final plan for the Justice Center complex.

Mister Mejia is, by the way, a political appointee of the mayor. And, let it never be said I even suggested he's a wee bit out of his element here. Nope! Never said it!

Denver Union Station - Rebirth

2006-11-26T09:37:00.000-07:00

The conceptual vision on the left has been chosen for Denver's Union Station "remake." DenverInfill has a great recap of the competing designs, costs, efficiencies. Most folks, myself included, were enraptured by the losing vision, below.

A piece in this morning's Denver Post provides a good overview of anticipated transportation needs that will, in part, be fulfilled by the Continuum and East West Partners design.

Happy Thanksgiving (Eve) - This Morning at Berkeley Lake

2006-11-22T09:49:00.000-07:00

Denver Election Commission & Sequoia - Historical Perspective Part II - Just Food for Thought

2006-11-18T09:49:00.000-07:00

Seems I've been trumped by this morning's Rocky Mountain News on the follow-up to my earlier post.

A piece, by Jeff Smith, in the News this morning provided the following:

There's no shortage of election conspiracy theories, and Internet blogs have been intrigued over the years with the relationship between Sequoia and Mike Frontera, Denver's former election commission executive director.

Frontera was hired by Sequoia in 1998, two years after Denver agreed to purchase $6.6 million of equipment from the company.

Denver election officials at the time defended Frontera, saying that only the three election commissioners are involved in the purchasing decisions.

Frontera added Friday that he was public information officer at the time of the purchase, and a year later became executive director overseeing the implementation of the Sequoia system.

He said he had applied for a job at U S West in 1998, using Sequoia as a reference, and that Sequoia then offered him a job when they realized he was looking.

Frontera made headlines again in 2004, when he and another Sequoia employee were spotted in the vote-counting room in Riverside County, Calif., during a spring election. Early results in a county supervisor race indicated the likelihood of a runoff, but by the end of the counting, one of the candidates had narrowly won a majority of the votes.

Frontera said the contract called for Sequoia employees to support the system, and that the two were helping upload voting results to the California Secretary of State's Office.

"We could have been helping out with a problem with our system," Frontera said. "It was all in public view. That's why people looking through the glass saw we were there."

He characterized the Internet blog reports as "lingering and annoying," adding that "it's a little scary that someone can Google you" and this is what they'll find.

Let's be more precise, shall we.

From the 2002 recodification of the Denver Charter (as in the prior codification):

§ 8.1.6 Appropriations to support Commission.
The Council shall appropriate sufficient funds to the Election Commission to enable the Commission to conduct elections and to obtain suitable offices, supplies, and employees to perform its duties. The Commission may, in its discretion, utilize the services of City and County departments in making such acquisition.

So, the News conclusion, or what they were told by someone that: "Denver election officials at the time defended Frontera, saying that only the three election commissioners are involved in the purchasing decisions," begs the question why procurement professionals, i.e. the city's Purchasing Division was not involved--were not called upon by the three Election Commissioners in 1996-'97--to conduct a bid or RFP (I still don't know what purchasing"best practices" process was utilized by the Election Commission to purchase the initial Sequoia equipment) which, by Charter, they certainly could have done. Why, was the Election Commission in 1996-'97 not interested in the transparent and unquestionably public process utilized to procure anything; from nuts and bolts to street sweepers and airport snow removal equipment to, yes, voting machines that the Purchasing Division could have provided to them?

History provides clues, not necessarily conclusions, as to what the dynamics were that brought Mike Frontera to the Denver Election Commission, first as the Public Information Officer and then to the position of Executive Director.

In my earlier post, I noted that Marcia Johnson (President of the election Commission in 1996), now City Councilwoman Marcia Johnson, was the moving force behind the search for new voting equipment for the City and County of Denver. At that time, Arlys Ward was the Executive Director of the Denver Election Commission, a position that serves at the pleasure of the two elected and one mayoral appointed Clerk and Recorder, who is the third member of the Election Commission.

It is important to note that on July 21, 1997, the Denver City Council passed an ordinance (No. 472, Series of 1997) that reads: "...the Council of the City and County of Denver hereby approves and authorizes the expenditure and payment from the 1997 appropriation account designated as 'Liability Claims,' the sum of Thirty-Five Thousand Dollars ($35,000), made payable to Arlys H. Ward and David C. Feola, Attorney at Law, as the full settlement of Ms. Ward's employment dispute."

The nature of the "employment dispute," is, of course, not known and, unless Ms. Ward is forthcoming, may never be known.

Enter Mike Frontera. He replaced Arlys Ward as Executive Director of the Election Commission either during or sometime shortly after the "employment dispute between the Commission and Arlys Ward was commenced or settled.

Historical perspective does not necessarily provide conclusions, just facts upon which conclusions can be made or rejected.

Finally, a few historical notes. You can make your own conclusions.

Sequoia project manager Mike Frontera said his company's equipment is being used in some 40 counties nationwide and only Hillsborough has experienced this glitch.

Frontera and two helpers replicated the problem Thursday, watching a laptop computer freeze when a cartridge was prematurely pulled from a reader. But he still could not rule out transmission line failure or hardware problems.

So on Thursday, Frontera sent a Dell laptop computer and an Antec data reader to Oakland, Calif., where company technicians were to give the hardware the once-over.

"I think the solution will be one of those things where you slap yourself in the head and say, 'Ah, that was easy,' " Frontera said. "Or maybe it was something like the full moon." St. Petersburgh Times, April 6, 2002

and,

Section 18575 of the California Elections Code makes it illegal for anyone other than an election officer to handle, count, or canvass ballots:

Every person is guilty of a felony, and on conviction shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for two, three or four years, who at any election:
(a) without first having been appointed and qualified, acts as an election officer,
(b) not being an election officer, performs or discharges any of the duties of an election officer in regard to the handling, counting, or canvassing of any ballots

This section provides that only authorized people, such as an election officer, may count votes. To the extent that an unauthorized person handles or counts votes, he or she is in violation of section 18575.

... Who are the men from Sequoia who accessed the central tabulator on election night, during the middle of the vote count?

Michael Frontera is a former Denver Elections Commission executive who took a position with Sequoia shortly after placing $6.6 million in Sequoia orders with Denver. Eddie Campbell is a Sequoia employee who lives in Denver.

What were they doing to the tabulator when Frontera was typing information into it?

I called Mischelle Townsend to ask this question, and she did call back, but I was in my car and could not take notes. I arranged to call her back shortly after 1:30 p.m., when she said she would be getting out of a meeting. I made four follow up calls, but she did not answer, and I called her office three times, but was told she is not there. I will keep this question open so that we can get an answer, and will update this site - (http://www.blackboxvoting.org) with Townsend's response.

I called Alfie Charles of Sequoia, three times, but he did not take my call. He e-mailed me to say that I must submit my questions in writing in order to get a response, a poor option for any journalist, as this does not allow you to ask any follow up questions or ask for clarification. I will keep this question open for Mr. Charles as well, and will update this site with his response.

Additional questions for Townsend and Charles:

1.When, how, and by whom were Frontera and Campbell "appointed and qualified" as elections officers? My fax number is 425-228-3965, and I will await the faxed documentation on this.

According to the California Elections Code section 18564,

"Any person is guilty of a felony, punishable by imprisonment in a state prison for two, three, or four years who, before or during an election:...
(b) interferes or attempts to interfere with...ballot tally software program source codes..."

Thus, it certainly looks bad, and deserves a full written explanation, when a person who does not work for the County and is not even a resident of the state of California is typing instructions into the central tabulation program during the middle of a count on election night.

But could "typing into the computer" interfere with the software program source codes?" Scoop, Independent News, April 2, 2004

More here

I think I've had enough of this mess. Still, it is estimated that, at least, 18,000 citizens were denied their right to vote in Denver on November 7, 2006. That ain't right, folks.

P.S. No, Mike, the moon was not Full on November 7th of this year. That occurred on November 5th. And, Jeff Smith of the Rocky: no consipiracy theories here, my man. Just facts.

Ed Stein - Rocky Mountain News - A Disenfranchised Voter

2006-11-18T09:46:00.000-07:00

Sarah's Happy Friday Pose

2006-11-17T07:55:00.000-07:00

Denver Referred Question 1A - Preschool Initiative - Update

2006-11-16T15:48:00.000-07:00

Apparently only 5,000 "provisional" votes remain to be counted by the Denver Election Commission. And, if I'm not mistaken, by statute, the votes have to be counted by the end of the day, today.

Denver Question 1A

Votes-------Total Votes------ % Votes
YES ------- 74684/147,658--- -50.58%
NO -------- 72974/147,658---- 49.42%

P.S. Anon (see comment) corrected me. Apparently, the DEC has until Nov. 21st to provide the final tally.

It's Good to be the Mayor - Hickenlooper's Grandstand

2006-11-16T07:40:00.001-07:00

Mayor Hickenlooper, for years, ignored warnings from Councilwoman Rosemary Rodriguez, Auditor Gallagher and others that the Denver Election Commission was screwed up beyond redemption and that the election process in Denver was doomed to failure (as was so grossly demonstrated on November 7th). So, what does the "business mayor" do? Well, yes, he forms another "blue ribbon" committee to study the issue. Unfortunately, many of the members of the committee don't have a clue about the Denver Election Commission or the election process itself. Witness a quote by the Hick himself from the Rocky Mountain News this morning, "You've got people like Dick Notebaert, who runs Qwest, and Ralph Peterson, who runs CH2M Hill--they don't know what the (Denver) Election Commission is," the mayor said after the 90-minute meeting. "That's not part of their universe."

Duh!

A couple comments from my prior post seem relevant this morning:

Anonymous said:

Old Hick is good at public hearings and blue ribbon panels. What went wrong with the elections? It should be fun. The City fucked up. Next election don't fuck up. Do the opposite of what you did this time around. Some good letters in the Rocky this morning. Where was the City's Legal Department with that Hiawatha (or whatever the name of that company is) contract? If we are to believe the Auditor, they completely dropped the ball and rubber-stamped the vendor's interests.

In olden days a glimpse of stocking...Anything Goes!

Anonymous said...

Another panel another show....

The most productive thing the panel members could do would be to TALK to every Election Commission employee that ran Denver's well run elections from 2001 to 2003.

A scant few are still employed at the Denver Election Commission and they are easy to find. JUST WALK ACROSS THE STREET from the City & County building and have a little chat.

Others are still in Denver and would LOVE the opportunity to say what REALLY happened after Interim Denver Election Commission director - Lynn Wolfe - was pushed aside in June 2003 and new Executive Director Karon Hatchett took charge of the commission along with Commissioners Sandy Adams, Susan Rogers and Wayne Vaden.

Nope. The Hick Administration has, from day one, relegated those public servants who have collective experience and knowledge spanning decades, to little more than insignificant bureaucratic slugs who have nothing to offer and can be ignored, shoved to the corner to wallow in their (as is the case with the Denver Election Commission) little particular corner of hell. A hell, by the way, perpetuated by the reprehensible failures of a mayor who seems intent on dismantling Denver's "strong mayor" form of government. Indeed, love or hate Wellignton Webb (Denver's prior mayor), I'll bet a bottle of Maker's Mark that he would have had a, or several, little tete-a-tetes with the Denver Election commissioners using some downhome expletives to get the point across. The power, influence of Denver's "strong mayor" used to be immense. Today, we've got the Hick who just explains, "It ain't my job, man," and puts together another "blue ribbon" committee that really doesn't know what the hell it's doing.

The Denver City Council, Rosemary Rodriguez and Auditor Gallagher have already told the Hick what needs to happen. So, make it happen, Mayor. You can do it, buddy. Make a decision for yourself once in a while.

Ed Stein - This Morning's Rocky Mountain News

2006-11-15T06:18:00.000-07:00

Denver Election Commission - a Punxsutawney State of Mind!

Another Committee, Another Show - Denver Election Commission Woes

2006-11-15T05:46:00.000-07:00

Another op'nin, another show
In Curtis Park, West Highlands and Belcaro
A chance for stage folks to say hello!
Another op'nin of another show.

Another job that you hope will last
Will make your future forget your past
Another pain where the ulcers grow
Another op'nin of another show.

Four weeks, you rehearse and rehearse
Three weeks, and it couldn't be worse
One week, will it ever be right?
Then out of the hat it's that big first night

The overture is about to start
You cross your fingers and hold your heart
It's curtain time and away we go -
Another op'nin
Just another op'nin of another show!

(Another Opening, Another Show - Cole Porter)

Two communications to City and County of Denver employees with regard to the Mayor's and Denver Election Commission's botched, reprehensible performance on November 7th. Yes, I include the mayor, John Hickenlooper, here, although the spin from the Mayor's Office remains, "Not my job, man." Warning, after warning, after warning about the deficiencies extant with Denver's election process were apparently ignored by Hizzoner. The spin continues. Another committee, another show, another gathering of the usual Joes (Janes).

From: CCD Employee Bulletins
Sent: Tuesday, November 14, 2006 2:14 PM
Subject: City Council Public Hearing on Election: 12/2

Denver City Council

City Council Hosts Public Hearing on December 2nd to examine November 7, 2006 Election
Meeting to gather citizen input on election issues and experiences; Denver Election Commissioners invited.

(DENVER) The Denver City Council will convene a public hearing on Saturday, December 2nd from 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. in the Denver City Council Chambers to gather comment on the conduct of the recent November 7th election.

This session will give Denver citizens the opportunity to speak to City Council members about their election experiences, as well as offer recommendations to Council for restoring public trust in the Denver election process. Denver Election Commissioners Wayne Vaden, Sandy Adams and Susan Rogers have been invited to respond to citizen comments at the meeting.

City Council members agreed through a proclamation offered at their November 13, 2006 Council meeting, that the election process in Denver on November 7, was unacceptable. Voters experienced extremely long lines at many vote centers, due to breakdowns in the new “electronic poll book” at the 55 voting centers that replaced 210 neighborhood-based precinct polling places. The Election Commission is still in the process of counting many provisional ballots received in the now week-old election. In the proclamation, Council also thanked Denver citizens for their patience and devotion to the democratic process, despite the overwhelming inconveniences suffered.

Citizens not able to attend this meeting may direct their election concerns to Council members via electronic mail at DENCC-Election@ci.denver.co.us . The Denver City Council Chamber is located in the City and County Building, 1437 Bannock St., Room 451, Denver, Colorado.

###

From: CCD Employee Bulletins
Sent: Tuesday, November 14, 2006 2:14 PM
Subject: Investigative Panel on Election - Update

Sent on behalf of the Mayor's Office and CityCouncil...

Mayor Hickenlooper and Council President Hancock Launch Investigative Panel on Election Troubles

First Meeting on Wednesday, November 15, 2006

(DENVER) This Wednesday, November 15, 2006, at 3:00 p.m., Mayor John Hickenlooper and City Council President Michael Hancock will convene the short-term, action-oriented investigative panel announced last week to quickly analyze Denver’s election problems and develop actionable solutions that are expected to form the foundation of a proposed charter reform amendment. The hour-and-a-half meeting will take place in the Mayor’s Office (City and County Building, 1437 Bannock, Suite 350), and will be the first of five weekly meetings for the panel. This quick timeline will provide ample time for City Council to consider any Charter change recommendations for the May 2007 municipal ballot.

The broad-based panel of community leaders will review feedback and hear testimony from groups affected by or with perspective on the November 7 election including technology experts, FairVote Colorado, the disabled community, and the political parties. Summaries of feedback from election judges and voters will be provided to the panel, whose members will also have the opportunity to hear public input at City Council’s December 2, 2006, public hearing on the election. More details on the investigative panel’s meeting schedule are included below.

The investigative panel will be composed of the following individuals:

Co-Chairs
John Hickenlooper Mayor, City and County of Denver

Michael Hancock President, Denver City Council

Members

Dr. Paul Burleson President, Greater Metro Denver Ministerial Alliance
Scott Doyle Clerk and Recorder, Larimer County
Hubert Farbes Attorney/Shareholder, Brownstein, Hyatt & Farber; Former CO Asst. Atty. General
Jenny Flanagan Executive Director, Colorado Common Cause
Dennis Gallagher Auditor, City and County of Denver (invited, participation not yet confirmed)
Dusti Gurule Director, Latina Initiative
Rosemary Marshall Colorado State Representative, House District 8
Richard Notebaert Chairman and CEO, Qwest
Ralph Peterson Chairman and CEO, CH2M Hill
Dan Ritchie Chancellor Emeritus, University of Denver
Rosemary Rodriguez Denver City Councilwoman, District #3; Former Denver Clerk & Recorder
Paula Sandoval Colorado State Senator, Senate District 34
Sandra Shreve President, League of Women Voters of Denver

“From the Charter-mandated governance of the Election Commission to the processes by which they conduct elections to the technology itself - all options are on the table; nothing is sacred,” said Hickenlooper, when he announced the panel last week. “The goal of this group is to evaluate the disconnection between the City’s intentions, our fully expressed expectations and the unacceptable outcomes. We must remove politics from the equation, probe deeply and act quickly.”

By City Charter, the Denver Election Commission is an independent agency over which the Mayor and City Council have no direct control or authority. Currently, two of the three Election Commissioners are independently elected by Denver voters. Together with the Clerk and Recorder, they hire and manage the DEC’s Executive Director.

"While the Mayor, City Council and the community at-large agree that change is necessary, we want to ensure that any proposed reforms fully address all electoral needs without unintended consequences that do more harm than good,” said Council President and Panel Co-Chair Hancock. “This process will provide vital information on which to build reform efforts, and the public airing of information will help to restore public trust in our electoral systems."

Investigative Panel on Elections – Meeting Schedule

Wednesday, November 15 - Establish Context/Governance Assessment: Mayor’s Office

Introductions, overview of panel’s specific goals and objectives of the panel

Overview of current election governance/structure in Denver and history of Denver election process

Review of best practices and process alternatives that comply with legal and regulatory guidance

Discussion of governance alternatives

MEETING TWO - Election Process and Issues: Location TBD

Overview of 11/06 election planning, systems, processes, technology, etc.
Detailed overview of problems that occurred

MEETING THREE – Discussion of Critical Failures: Location TBD

Technology issues: software, servers, voting machines, counting machines
Process issues: capacity, participation, check-in, absentee ballots
Assessment of potential causes for critical failures and needed changes

MEETING FOUR – Discussion of Possible Changes: Location TBD

Oversight/Governance
Management/Staffing – qualifications, compensations, staffing levels, poll workers
Leveraging City’s technology expertise
Elections Process – vote centers vs. precincts vs. mail, etc.

MEETING FIVE – Development of Final Recommendations: Location TBD

# # #

Colorado's Marriage Amendment - Same-Sex Equal Rights

2006-11-13T14:03:00.000-07:00

"Amendment 2 classifies homosexuals not to further a proper legislative end but to make them unequal to everyone else. This Colorado cannot do. A State cannot so deem a class of persons a stranger to its laws. Amendment 2 violates the Equal Protection Clause..." Justice Kennedy of the U.S. Supreme Court writing for the majority in the Romer v. Evans case of (1996).

First, the numbers: (These are incomplete totals, as Denver is STILL counting!)

Amendment 43 provided (via amendment to the Colorado Constitution) that marriage is a union only between one woman and one man. (A Yes vote, for argument sake, is bad!)

Statewide --------------------------------City and County of Denver
Yes: 768,700 - 55.67% ----------------Yes: 57,306 - 37.64%
No: 612,155 - 44.33%------------------No: 94,936 - 62.36%

Referendum I provided that same-sex partners would be granted the same spousal rights as married couples. (A Yes vote, for argument sake, is Good!)

Statewide ----------------------------------City and County of Denver
Yes: 641,443 - 48.86%------------------Yes: 101,268 - 66.99%
No: 727,433 - 53.14%-------------------No: 49,901 - 33.01%

It is, perhaps, instructive to look at Colorado's Amendment 2 (1992) that would have prohibited: "all legislative, executive, or judicial action at any level of state or local government designed to protect the status of persons based on their 'homosexual, lesbian or bisexual orientation, conduct, practices or relationships'."

Amendment 2 passed statewide by a margin of 53.4% to 46.6%. After going through the state courts, the U.S. Supreme Court, in 1996, declared Amendment 2 unconstitutional...re: the quote from Justice Kennedy that began this post.

Looking at the numbers, can a conclusion be made that the mindset of the Colorado electorate with regard to "gay rights" has not changed since 1992? The numbers tend to indicate an affirmation of the same. However, a comprehensive look at "gay rights" attitudes in Colorado is provided here from Ciruli and Associates, a Denver-based political polling/thinktank entity.

It is, of course, evident that if one is gay or lesbian in Colorado, Denver (or Boulder) is probably the most friendly city to settle in or stay in, if you're already here. Northern and Northeastern Colorado--the good folks who have sent Marilyn Musgrave back to the U.S. House and just love the dickens out of Senator Wayne "Potted Plant" Allard--is probably not the best place to hold your gay pride parade. Colorado Springs (Southern and Southwestern Colorado, the home of James Dobson's "Focus on the Family," and the Reverend Ted Haggard's megachurch) are also probably not the best place to plan your next wine and cheese "white" party. (A "white" party is... Oh, well, my brothers and sisters know what I'm talking about.)

Suffice it to say, Amendment 2 from 1992 and Amendment 43 from 2006, are decidedly, uncompromisingly regressive and--dare I suggest--unconstitutional. Amendment 2 was, of course, already adjudicated by the Supremes. We'll wait and see what transpires with Amendment 43.

On final note. Mike Davis' (the male prostitute who outed Ted Haggard) stated intent to influence the Amendment 43 and Referendum I vote in Colorado was, in my humble opinion, grossly misguided. Human beings have this silly habit--beginning deep down in their gut and the consequential fluxing up into the gray matter--of forming what are called "stereotypes." I believe Mike Davis provided a surly, distasteful view of the underbelly of sexuality; not only gay, but straight, as well. The down home folks just get a little uncomfortable with that image, that reality and, yes, form that irrepressible stereotype. Sure, the down homers weren't really that uncomfortable with, for example, Jimmy Swaggert (or Ted Haggard) messing around with a prostitute, then bawling about it before his congregation, then continuing on, forgiven, no big deal. But, with those of us who ain't "normal..." Well, you get the point.

The Denver Election Commission and Sequoia - Historical Perspective Part I

2006-11-12T11:04:00.000-07:00

There is history here that may be of interest. Suffice it to say, the Denver Election Commission's relationship with Sequoia (DRE voting machines) is long-standing.

It was April in 1996, when the President of the Denver Election Commission, Marcia Johnson (now Denver City Councilwoman, Marcia Johnson, who represents the 5th Council District) tied up a task force established to select a new voting system for the City and County of Denver. Ms. Johnson chaired the task force (I don't recall if there was a co-chair). Denver's Executive Director of the Election Commission (serving at the pleasure of the Commission) was, at that time, Arlys Ward. Ward would soon be replaced by a young man named Mike Frontera. The mayoral appointed Clerk and Recorder, who was also a member of the Election Commission, was, at that time, Elbra Wedgeworth (now Councilwoman Elbra Wedgeworth, representing District 8).

A supervisor from the City's Department of General Services, Purchasing Division, served on the task force in an advisory role. A memorandum to Ms. Johnson from that procurement professional dated April 26, 1996, noted the following:

SUBJECT: Task Force - Voting Machines/Process for Procurement

The following observations and discussion of purchasing processes may be helpful in determining what course the Election Commission wishes to follow pursuant to the completion of the Task Force’s responsibility in reference to the above.

1.) Bidder’s Proposal: A Bidder’s Proposal is issued, most generally, by the Purchasing Division when the “scope” of the requirement for goods or services is absolutely defined in such a manner that the “award” can be made on the basis of the lowest net price from a qualified, responsive bidder.

2.) Request for Proposals (RFP): A Request for Proposal is issued, most generally, by the Purchasing Division when the “scope” of the requirement for goods or services may be defined as a specific need or goal (we know what we want to accomplish) but the solution (the means to get there) is not so well defined. The RFP, therefore, requires the proposer to provide the means or solution to accomplish what we identified as our specific need or goal. An RFP is, most generally, awarded on the basis of cost and subjective evaluation criteria. Further, RFPs are issued, most generally, for what are referred to as “professional” or “technical” services.

3.) Responsive Bidder/Proposer: The “responsiveness” of a bidder or proposer is determined by a number of factors. Did the bidder or proposer offer what was specified in the “scope” of the bid or proposal? Did the bidder or proposer provide all information pertinent to financial stability; qualifications of personnel; appropriate staffing, etc.? Did the bidder or proposer provide a bid bond, if required?

4.) Qualified Bidder/Proposer: A “qualified” bidder or proposer is one who is able to verify that they meet or exceed the “threshold qualifications” set out in the bid or proposal. For example, if the bid or proposal requires that the bidder or proposer have no less than five (5) years experience in the manufacture of voting machines, then a “qualified” bidder or proposal must provide verifiable proof that they, indeed, have five (5) years experience in the manufacture of voting machines.

5.) Election Commission Purchasing Authority: The Charter provides that the Election Commission, “...unless otherwise provided by ordinance, may provide for the use of mechanical or other devices for voting or counting the votes...” (Charter C1.21); and, “The Board of Councilmen shall appropriate sufficient funds to the election commission to enable the commission to obtain suitable offices, supplies, and employees to perform its duties. The commission may, in its discretion, utilize the services of city and county departments in making such acquisition,” (Charter C1.24). Therefore, I believe it is clear the Election Commission has the “discretion” to utilize other city and county departments in making purchases that are essential to its operation. And, of course, I believe it is clear that the Election Commission has the “discretion” not to utilize other city and county departments in making purchases that are essential to its operation.

6.) Discussion of State Certified Voting Systems: A point was made during the last Task Force meeting that the State of Colorado has certified several (I believe the number was four) voting systems for use in the counties of Colorado. The systems certified include both DRE and paper ballot systems. The significance of this point was well-taken and probably provides the most fundamental dilemma for the Election Commission. If a system has been certified by the State, then does it naturally follow that any one of those certified systems is appropriate for use in the City and County of Denver? And, therefore, any specification written for the purchase of a new voting system must be inclusive of all systems certified by the State and any subjective criteria applied to an RFP issued for the purchase of same must, therefore, preclude criteria that will eliminate or more heavily favor one system over another.

I suggested at the last Task Force meeting that it was my opinion that the State of Colorado includes counties that are significantly varied in demography and even though the State has certified differing voting systems for Colorado counties, what may be an appropriate, workable system for Paonia may not be appropriate or workable in Denver. I, therefore, concluded that I believe the Election Commission is charged with determining what voting system will serve to fulfill the best interests of the City and County of Denver.

I suggest that this issue will provide the basis for argument from providers of systems that have been determined by the Task Force to be “lacking” in several important needs the Task Force has identified as, at least, important if not essential.

7.) Makeup of Evaluation Committee Pursuant to an RFP: The makeup of the evaluation committee pursuant to an RFP would, most appropriately, be persons in positions of knowledge and experience with voting in the City and County of Denver. Certainly, I would expect that Election Commission staff, Clerk and Recorder staff and persons intimately familiar with and involved in voting in Denver be included on the evaluation committee. I do not believe private citizens who have served as Election Judges would be precluded from sitting on the evaluation committee (although I would suggest an inquiry be made to the City Attorney for guidance on this issue). As an example, if the Purchasing Division issues an RFP for widgets, the evaluation committee would consist of using agency personnel who have knowledge and experience with widgets and/or the application for which the widgets are to be utilized.

8.) Involvement of the Purchasing Division in this Procurement: I made the point at the last Task Force meeting, that if the Purchasing Division were to be asked to issue the RFP for a new voting system for the City and County of Denver, then the process of the procurement might be viewed as being more “open.” I did not mean to imply that if the Election Commission chooses to pursue the procurement on their own that same may be viewed as a “closed” process which would preclude genuine “competition.” My point was simply that the Purchasing Division has the expertise to write an RFP that, hopefully, would best serve to preclude “proprietary” or “exclusive” specifications or subjective evaluation criteria. In either case -- whether the Election Commission or the Purchasing Division issues the RFP -- the dilemma described in point 6, above, will be an issue.

cc: Elbra Wedgeworth, Clerk and Recorder
Arlys Ward, Executive Director, Election Commission, Ron Bernstein, Deputy Manager of General Services - Purchasing

The Purchasing Division was not called upon by the Election Commission to conduct a bid or RFP process. They conducted their own process--the details of which were not likely shared with the Purchsing Division--that led to the initial purchase of Sequoia DRE (direct-recording electronic) machines.

This initial purchase of Sequoia voting machines was accomplished utilizing "borrowed" funds through an entity called the Denver Capital Leasing Corporation (DCLC). (Note: The link will take you to the Colorado Secretary of State database. Click on "Home," then "Search Business Database," then input "Denver Capital Leasing Corporation." At the bottom left of the screen, click on "View Documents and History.) If memory serves, this corporation was, in part, the brainchild of J. D. MacFarlane, a former Colorado Attorney General who became, under Mayor Federico Pena, the Manager of Safety. At the time of the incorporation, in 1986, strapped for cash but desperately needing new police equipment--namely fleet vehicles--the DCLC purpose was articulated as:

(a) To acquire by purchase, lease or otherwise, interests in personal and real property, to construct, renovate or install imporvements and to lease or otherwise convey said interests in personal and real property and improvements to the City and County of Denver...

(b) To borrow money, to become indebted, and to execute and deliver bonds, notes, debentures, certificats of participation in lease or other revenues, or other securities, instruments or obligations for the purposes of acquiring, selling or leading such interests in personal and real property, constructing, renovating or installing such improvements, and for such other purpose or purposes as may be necessary or desirable to accomplish the objectives of the corporation. Such indebtedness may be unsecured or may be secured by any mortgage, trust deed or other lien upon the property to be acquaired or any other property of the corporation...

The utilization of the DCLC mushroomed through the years, enabling the purchase of a plethora of stuff, including equipment for what was then Denver Health and Hospitals (now Denver Health Medical Center). Of course, title to what was purchased through the DCLC remained in the name of the DCLC until the City satisfied the debt through periodic payments authorized by the Denver City Council.

The initial purchase of Sequoia DRE voting equipment in 1997, was accomplished via the DCLC funding mechanism. The Ordinances passed by the Denver City Council authorizing the purchase of the DRE mahcines were 303 and 304 (which, for some reason cannot be linked from the Denver Clerk and Recorder site???) , both Series of 1997. An expenditure (financed with the issuance of certificates of participation, "COP Funding") was $5,297,400. The DRE machines authorized to be purchased were AVC Advantage manufactured by Sequoia.

Part II: The curious ascendency of Mike Frontera to the position of Executive Director, Denver Election Commission.

P.S. More from VoterJones here.

Mayor, City Attorney Apparently Ignored Early Warnings of Incompetency at the Denver Election Commission

2006-11-11T08:55:00.000-07:00

VoterJones, this morning, expounds at length on the fact that Mayor Hickenlooper and his City Attorney, Cole Finegan were warned as early as March, 2005, that incompetency reigned supreme at the Denver Election Commission. Yes, of course, the pirouettes the Hickenlooper administration have been engaged in for the past few days are typically misleading; the doublespeak of the Hick's hired hands. But, in its entirety, here's VoterJones latest piece:

The Talented Mr. Rainey

November 11, 2006

Screamingly bad personnel decisions are at the root of Denver's Election Day Debacle. Today's Rocky Mountain News offers a stunning portrait of an incompetent employee who was retained and protected by top officials despite "well-known" concerns about his job performance.

The Commission's "technology expert" Anthony Rainey was in charge of the computer systems that crashed on Election Day, outraging thousands of Denver voters including Mayor Hickenlooper. But Hickenlooper and his staff were well aware of Rainey's incompetence and abetted it with their inaction.

DEC Executive Director John Gaydeski is on record defending Rainey. When I questioned Rainey's qualifications months ago, Gaydeski assured City Council that "Anthony Rainey's background is IT and he is an expert in that field."

More damning, Commissioner Wayne Vaden openly admitted his own jawdropping abdication of managerial responsibility with regard to Rainey. According to the Rocky:

"I was hearing Sara (Harmer). . . walking out saying he doesn't want to talk to me," Vaden recounted. The city clerk said he ordered Rainey: "Yes, the hell you will (work with her), because this is going to be my a-- if everything falls apart."

Vaden said after 15 minutes of "back and forth," he felt he'd gotten assurances that Rainey and the tech specialists would work to solve the problem.

In most workplaces, insubordination results in disciplinary action and, possibly, immediate termination. But not at the City, apparently. Instead of taking charge, Vaden haggled "back and forth" to cajole a subordinate whose behavior was inappropriate by most workplace standards. In the private sector, Rainey would have been shitcanned in a heartbeat.

Also in today's paper, the Rocky editorial board cited problems with switching to an all-mail election. One significant concern is that the Election Commission has no system for verifying voter signatures.

The editorial didn't mention it, but Rainey was in charge of the interminable, costly "signature scanning" project at the DEC to create a signature verification system. As you might guess, there is no system.

So, um, how were election judges verifying voter signatures on tens of thousands of absentee ballots cast in this election? Did the DEC just decide to skip that part of the whole "election integrity" thing?

My impression is that controls and procedures have broken down beyond repair, especially in the DEC's panic to count the remaining ballots. Fox 31 News reported on their website: "In Denver, election officials now estimate there's one-thousand more uncounted [ballots] than originally thought. They say there [are] more ballots in each storage tray than they originally thought."

Truly alarming. "Oops, we weren't really keeping track of the ballots and found some extras." When done correctly, procedure requires that each ballot and the numbers of ballots in batches be tracked every step of the way through the process. Clearly, that's not happening right now.

Below are the two letters cited in the Rocky about Anthony Rainey. They were written by a City Council aide who had worked at the DEC. One was given to Mayor Hickenlooper and one to Chief of Staff Cole Finegan last year.

Everyone in a position of responsibility -- from the mayor to Vaden to Gaydeski -- knew that Rainey was a detriment to the DEC. Yet they put Rainey in charge of technology for the most technology-dependent election in city history.

Whose fault is that?

*

March 1, 2005

Mayor Hickenlooper,

There is a large management problem at the Denver Election Commission. The management problems led to major cost over runs and errors in the November election. The situation has continued to deteriorate.

Months ago the employees came to me with their grievances. They came to me since they knew me, had worked with me, knew I understood the work of the election commission, and felt that since I had moved to employment with the Denver City Council that I could do something about the situation.

The Council has no power over this independent agency. The Election Commission Executive Director serves at the will of the three Election Commissioners; Sandy Adams - elected, Susan Rogers - elected, and Wayne Vaden - clerk and recorder appointed. I told the employees that the best avenue for having their concerns addressed was through the Election Commissioners.

The employees put their specific concerns in writing, delivered them in person to the Election Commissioners and had the opportunity for a discussion. It has been two weeks since that discussion took place, the employees see no action being taken and have again contacted me. I have attached my own resume' so you could see that I have a thorough working knowledge of the Denver Election Commission on which to evaluate what the employee's are relaying to me. I worked at the Election Commission under the same Executive Director and under the same conditions. I have read through the employee four page list of concerns and know that the concerns can all be further substantiated and are in no way an exaggeration of the working conditions.

As always happens with badly managed agencies, the good employees resign. Recently this small agency lost two long term excellent management level employees who were no longer willing to tolerate the Executive Director. The Executive Director, Karon Hatchett, recruited a personal friend from her church, Anthony Rainey, for employment in the agency. Anthony Rainey has been elevated to a management position through a re-structuring that now has most of the agency directly reporting to him. He manages in much the same way as she does and has personally threatened employees. This has only compounded and exacerbated the problems. Additional long term experienced employees are actively seeking other employment, many of the employees are discussing a "blue flu" until the Executive Director and Anthony Rainey are removed from the Election Commission.

I bring this to your attention because I care very much about the agency and its employees. Denver must continue to conduct elections in a manner that assures public confidence in the accuracy, efficiency, and fairness of the outcomes. Under the current working conditions I believe that is becoming increasingly impossible.

*

E-mailed on August 1, 2005 at 11:29pm

To: Mr. Cole Finegan - City Attorney

Mr. Finegan,

Councilwoman Johnson told me this evening that Carrie Kellogg, Logistics Director, has now resigned from the election commission.

From my experience at the commission, I believe that there is absolutely NO way the current staff of the election commission can properly administer a November election.

I've attached a resume so you can see that I have a thorough knowledge of this agency. Also, I have copied below the text of a letter I handed to Mayor Hickenlooper 5 months ago. In the Mayor's files should be the 4 page employee grievance document that I attached to that letter. I can forward you a copy if the Mayor's office no longer has the document.

What to do now?

In my opinion the only way to save the November election is to:

1) Hire an Executive Director from the Secretary of States office, a nearby county or someone that has managerial experience and a thorough knowledge of the election process.

2) Hire someone with Absentee Ballot experience.

3) Hire someone with Logistics experience in confirming and setting up polling places.

4) Send the current Executive Director, Karon Hatchett, home as well as her "deputy", Anthony Rainey. This must be done even if the City has to pay their full salaries while they are forced to stay away from the election commission.

There is not a moment to lose.

Yes, the election is not until the first week of November but there are many many deadlines where mailings, early voting, etc. must occur. Unfortunately there is not the time to hire and train.

There are many many problems now occurring with "controls" at the Election Commission. Much of the work that has been done is inaccurate and will have to be re-done, and quickly.

I realize that the City Council, nor the Mayor or his Cabinet has any jurisdiction over this independent agency but somehow someway there must be a way for Denver to administer a fair, honest, accurate, and cost effective election in November.

I am very disappointed that the failure of the Commissioners and the Commission is being reported in the press. If the voters don't have full faith and confidence in the process I believe that to be a disaster.

If there is anything I can do to help in this effort please just let me know.

Larry King Bill Maher Gay Talk

2006-11-10T10:42:00.001-07:00

Apparently, a part of this interview (outing of Ken Mehlman)was not shown on Larry King. Incidentally, Mehlman resigned today as Chairman of the GOP.

Sarah's Friday Pic - Refuses to Share Her Space with the Denver Election Commission (or the Hick!)

2006-11-10T09:32:00.000-07:00

Referred Question 1A - Denver's Preschool Initiative - And, They're Still Counting

2006-11-09T08:40:00.000-07:00

As of today, there is no final total on the vote for Denver's Referred Question 1A, that would raise Denver's sales tax by .12%.

The Rocky Mountain News reports that one of the machines utilized to count absentee ballots failed and, therefore, 40,000 absentee ballots remain to be counted.

1A, at this time, is ahead by about 590 votes. (Now, at 3:50 p.m. the lead has dropped to 293.) (Friday morning, 7:30 a.m. the lead has dropped to 255. It is reported that the automated counting of absentee ballots will, most likely, continue through the weekend.) (Okay, it's now 2:10 p.m. on Friday. The numbers haven't changed since I first looked at them at 7:30 a.m. today. Maybe another failure with the machine that reads the ballots? Maybe a "time out" for the DEC? Maybe we'll never know the final count.)

If memory serves, the organized support for 1A raised about $1.2Million for the campaign. There was no organized opposition.

About 65% of Denver voters actually cast ballots, and the latest figures I have on 1A show the following: 55,890 yea (50.27%) to 55,300 (49.73%) nay. At this time, a 590 vote lead for this ill-conceived boondoggle--supposing that it passes--does not speak well for either the popularity of the initiative or the snake oil advocacy of the initiative by Denver's mayor, John Hickenlooper.

More to come when the final count is, some day, completed. (And then, how can we be sure the final count is accurate, given the immensity of the Denver Election Commission's colossal failures this past Tuesday?) And, how many of Denver's citizens who may have opposed this initiative were disenfranchised by the DEC's incompetency?

We'll see...

P.S. If you wish to check the latest count from Denver, this site will provide those numbers...such as they are.

Hickenlooper Grovels as Perhaps Thousands are Disenfranchised - Denver's Election Tsunami

2006-11-08T09:37:00.000-07:00

Denver's elected City Auditor, Dennis J. Gallagher, wrote to Mayor John Hickenlooper on June 20, 2006, and advised:

I am extremely concerned. I am extremely concerned that the situation at the Denver Election Commission is such that the August Primary election --and concurrent municipal election--as well as possibly the November General Election are in jeopardy...

...there are serious problems at the Commission that in all likelihood may negatively impact the conduct of elections this year. When the situation was being described to me by one informant regarding the ability of the Commission to successfully conduct the upcoming elections, the word "Tsunami" was used. It was stated: "A Tsunami is coming and we are not prepared."

...There is no strategic plan--no road map, no blueprint--for successfully conduct this year's elections. ...Moreover, conducting an election under normal circumstances without a strategic plan would be problematic; doing so under a brand-new untried system without a strategic plan is a huge mistake and a recipe for disaster.

...the mock election that needs to be conducted in advance of every election to test procedures and identify problems in sufficient time before the election to be fixed has not occurred.

...Because of the extent of the problems that exist at the Commission and the urgency in resolving those problems that may negatively impact the August election; and because you have the only direct managerial oversight of the only full-time Election Commissioner -- the Commissioner responsible for the day to day operations of the Commission -- you provide the only real and immediate authority to see that these problems are addressed before the Tsunami hits.

These are extraordinary circumstances that require extraordinary measures to ensure a trouble free election and instill citizen confidence.

...The sacred right of the vote is fundamental to our way of live and government. As I wrote to you last week, the cynicism and growing lack of faith in our democratic institutions is of great concern and we must do everything in our power to restore that faith and ensure that our elections are fair, above-board and trouble-free...

From the Denver Post:

Voting problems overwhelm city

By George Merritt and Katy Human
Denver Post Staff Writers

Frustrated voters stood in lines as long as three hours at several of the more concentrated centers. By 10 p.m., long after media outlets had declared Bill Ritter the winner of the governor's race, problems in Denver and Douglas counties left voters stuck in lines still waiting to cast their ballots.

Some people simply left without voting. Others tried three centers or more in an effort to vote as they faced lines that wrapped around the block.

The Denver Election Commission ran out of provisional ballots at one vote center and began using sample ballots - printed as practice sheets for people waiting in line - as substitute provisional ballots.

Finally, one of the city's two ballot- scanning machines broke, further delaying the count of absentee ballots.

"The count is going to take a few days," Election Commission Executive Director John Gaydeski said. "That's assuming we get the machine fixed."

"The computers have been up and down all day," said Denver Democratic Congresswoman Diana DeGette. "This is a nightmare throughout the city."

A recent city auditor's report cited the Election Commission for a lack of written procedures and planning.

Denver's woes went on all day long.

The lines moved slowly all morning, but around noon the problem grew worse as the system for verifying voter registration went down at centers around the city.

As early as 7:30 a.m., election judges checking in voters on laptop computers began noticing problems that slowed the system.

At Denver Botanic Gardens, more than 200 voters backed up in a line that stretched out of the gates and down the block toward 11th Avenue.

"We will not get to vote today," said a frustrated Lauren Brockman as he left without even getting through the garden's gates. "Some people have to work."

This was the first general election in which Denver used vote centers rather than traditional precincts, trimming the number of places available for voting from nearly 300 to 55. And the problems became apparent early in the day as lines stretched around blocks.

Denver election officials made an emergency call for volunteer election judges to help, while the Ritter campaign and nonpartisan groups tried to shuttle voters from crowded centers to less crowded centers, or entertain voters with long waits.

Dillard said up to 100 city employees and other Denver residents were sworn in as election judges and deployed at mid morning.

Unfortunately, none of it seemed to help. By nightfall, lines at vote centers around the city once again grew.

There was a line of 275 people at the Tattered Cover Book Store on 16th Street, and the wait was about three hours.

The setbacks throughout the day and the estimated 66 percent turnout - much more than expected - led to a shortage of provisional ballots, which are used when voters can't register or provide identification.

So election officials at one center began using the yellow sample ballots they had printed for voters to practice on.

The quotes:

Denver Democratic Congresswoman Diana DeGette: "The computers have been up and down all day. This is a nightmare throughout the city." DeGette also said that she had advised Hickenlooper of voting issues after the primary election. "Frankly, he (Hickenlooper) didn't seem very concerned."

Democratic political analyst, Steve Weichert: "The lack of oversight, from the mayor's office on down, is just reprehensible. We better change the voting style in this city, or change the City Council in May."

Dr. Cecil Rose who waited in line at the Denver Botanic Gardens: "I'm completely outraged. It's an attack on the American system. Hickenlooper needs to be accountable."

Denver City Councilwoman, Rosemary Rodriguez, the City's former City Clerk and former member of the Denver Election Commission who has advocated for changes in election oversight for years: "The mayor didn't support anything but the status quo."

And, finally, from the pirouetting snake oil salesman (Hickenlooper) himself:

"I'm here groveling and apologizing on behalf of a grateful city for all of you sticking it out..."

"I don't control the election commission. They don't report to me, but by the end of tomorrow, they may wish they did. Trust me, it will never happen again." (Um, ahem, Mister Mayor, Wayne Vaden, the only full-time election commissioner and the City's Clerk is your appointee, as was so aptly pointed out by Auditor Gallagher in his letter of June 20, 2006.)

"This," the Hick continues, "has been the most frustrating day since I was mayor." (Isn't he still mayor?? Freudian slip, maybe.)

"I want a thorough explanation of why these things were not anticipated." (Well, sir, they were anticipated, not only by Auditor Gallagher, but others as well. Indeed, a comprehensive audit of the election commission conducted by Auditor Gallagher ANTICIPATED this Katrina, this Tsunami many, many months ago.)

Them's the facts, y'all. No need to editorialize. Make your own conclusions.

P.S. More from VoterJones here.

Ed Stein's View - Rocky Mountain News - Denver's Election Debacle

2006-11-08T07:45:00.000-07:00

CHAOS!

2006-11-07T15:15:00.000-07:00

The Denver Post reports:

election 2006
CHAOS: Problems worsen, Dems seek voting extension
By George Merritt and Jeffrey Leib
Denver Post Staff Writer
Article Last Updated:11/07/2006 02:58:45 PM MST

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill Ritter stood in a long line at the Washington Park Recreation Center in Denver to vote on Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2006. He arrived about 7:45 am and left at about 9:30 am after voting on computerized voting machines which contributed to the delay.

On a day already rife with computer glitches, long lines, and legal appeals to extend voting in Denver, provisional ballots are now running out at some Denver voting centers.

Westerly Creek, 8800 E. 28th Ave., ran out of provision ballots before noon, and as of 2 p.m., still had none. Voters who were seeking shorter lines arrived, and quickly the line grew to more than a hundred people long.

FairVoteColorado.org reported provisional ballot shortages at numerous other sites as well, including Glenarm Recreation Center, Park Hill Methodist, Manual High School, and Montbello Recreation Center.

Widespread computer problems were reported, some shutting down entire voting centers, but the problems appeared to ease after 2

Democratic party leaders are in court this afternoon, seeking a two-hour extension for voting in Denver, because many were kept from casting their vote.

Party spokesman Brian Mason said the motion was in response to "the huge problems in Denver this morning."

Democratic Party representatives came to Parkhill Methodist this afternoon to ask people standing in line if they would go downtown to testify in the court case seeking the extension.

Denver Election Commission spokesman Alton Dillard said there was no systemwide failures and that the delays were being caused by heavy voter turnout combined with "congestion" in the computer network used to confirm voter registeration. "it's our application. It got overloaded," Dillard said.

But voters experienced a wide range of problems, that began right when the polls opened at 7 a.m.

Officials at Manual High School said their computers had crashed three times today. They were running at 2:30, but more than 99 people were in line.

At lunch time, Denver voters waiting in line at the Botanic Gardens vote center were urged to go to Manual's site because the wait at the Gardens might be at least another hour.

When Kim Smith, one of the relocated voters, arrived at Manual, she found a long line that crawled for at least an hour just to get to the door to the school.

Once she got just inside, election officials said the voting process was stopping because of computer problems.

When officials tried to form two lines out of the one stalled line, people started yelling because it put some voters ahead of others who had waited longer, said Smith, who lives in Washington Park.

Election officials did not know how to handle the crowd, Smith said. Shortly after 1 p.m., Denver Police arrived to calm restive voters.

Earlier, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper emerged from inside the Manual voting site and said This can't happen again, recalled Smith, who finally voted around 1:30, nearly two hours after she arrived at the Denver school. NOTE TO HICK: IT SHOULDN'T HAVE HAPPENED THIS TIME!

Vaishali Patel, who lives in Denver s Capitol Hill neighborhood, arrived at her voting center near East Eight Avenue and Downing Street after 11 a.m. and was told the wait would be two hours. She was urged to go to the Botanic Gardens site.

There, officials told her the wait also would be two hours and she was urged to go the Manual.

Like Smith, she arrived at the Denver school a little before noon and endured nearly two hours of lines moving in fits and starts before she reached the voting booth.

I feel like I have to; I made it this far, Patel said, when she was about 20 people away from the booth.

As of 2:15 p.m., the line at the Botanic Gardens was just as long as it was this morning, snaking down the street to 11th Ave.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill Ritter waited an hour and a half to vote at the Washington Park Recreational Center this morning. When he arrived at about 7:45 a.m., there were more than 150 people in line ahead of him. Several people said they were frustrated by the long lines. Paul Barsa, a 35-year-old who said he works in accounting, said he was "grouchy" and wished that he waited until the afternoon to vote.

Ritter said, "I hope that people will be patient. It's important for them to vote."

The Denver Election Commission reported that problems began right at 7 a.m. as computer problems at the voter-check in stations bogged down, creating a bottleneck in the first hour of voting as a rush to the polls overloaded the system.

Power failures slowed voting at some locations, commission spokesman Dillard said.

Voting machines had backup power and weren't affected, but laptop computers used to verify voter registration were knocked out, forcing workers to call the central office for the information, he said.

Mark Coles, a computer technician with the Denver Election Commission, said the election system had to be split onto three separate servers to handle the backlog.

"It's just like traffic on (Interstate) 25," Coles said. "It's as if we are building two more I-25s right next to it" to ease the traffic congestion.

But the fix did not come in time to help some voters who hoped to vote before heading to work.

At Denver Botanic Gardens, a line several hundred voters long stretched out of the gates and down the block more than half way to 11th Avenue.

"We will not get to vote today," said a frustrated Lauren Brockman as he left the Botanic Gardens.

He lined up at 6:45 a.m. hoping to beat the rush, only to stand in line for close to an hour before leaving.

But an hour wait was short, compared to some.

At Corona Presbyterian Church, voters were being told to expect about a two-hour wait as they snaked around the building.

"All my friends, I told them to vote between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.," said Rob Weil the election judge supervisor at Corona. "But if it keeps being this slow, this line will stay."

Several people left the line at Park Hill Methodist Church after they were told equipment was broken.

Lines of up to 300 people formed at some Denver polling places.

This is positively ridiculous, said 82-year-old Jack McCroskey, clutching his cane while waiting at the Washington Park polling place in southeast Denver. At 82, I don't deserve to have to stand out here. What if it had been 10 degrees today?"

Johnson Recreation Center at 4809 Race St. in Denver reported all its voting machines were down at 1:15 p.m.. "I'm just waiting on my IT man to call me back," said Nathan Martinez, the center's election supervisor. Service was restored by 1:45 p.m. During that time his line grew from just a handful to over a hundred.

Augustana Lutheran, 5000 E Alameda Ave., also reported its machines out of service at 1:15 p.m., with no estimated time for repair. By 1:50 p.m., a secretary said the machines were working but wasn't able to provide details.

As of 2 p.m., Tattered Cover Lodo's voting line was about an hour long, and machines were working.

At the Athmar Recreation Center in southwest Denver, polling station manager Frank Lujan said the voting computer system was down twice today, once for about 30 minutes and once for about 45 minutes. As of 2 p.m., the system was running and voters report wait times of about 45 minutes.

"Any time you have new technology you have challenges," Mayor John Hickenlooper said, at midday, just before the system began experiencing even wider outages. "We've got dozens of city employees out volunteering asking people if they want a lift to a vote center with a shorter line." Hickenlooper conceded the situation "is not good."

The problems weren't limited to Denver. On the Post's West Watch blog, Karen A. reported waiting two hours and 45 minutes in Parker at Southeast Christian Church. "Sometimes 10 of the 12 voting booths were unoccupied while voters were processed," she said.

In Douglas County, where wait times at some places extended to three hours, the Republican Party had not yet decided whether to file an injuction to keep the polls open, said spokesman Bryant Adams.

At 1:30 p.m., Secretary of State Gigi Dennis released a statement saying that things were going smoothly, statewide, and saying that voters should not count on the Denver court extending voting hours.

"Please do not depend on polls being kept open late," Dennis wrote. "If you are at the polls by 7 p.m. you will cast a ballot. All voters in line will be able to vote."

She advised voters to be prepared for an after-work surge at the polls.

Keith's special comments

2006-11-06T14:27:00.001-07:00

Keith Olbermann, once again. A more articulate commentator on our times cannot be found.

Letters to Melissa - Hope

2006-11-06T07:36:00.000-07:00

Sweet Melissa: When we lost you, dear heart, we placed your ashes (encased in pewter), one of my favorite pictures of you and a good-bye note into a plastic bag. We placed the plastic bag at the bottom of a hole we dug in the middle of the back yard. We then eased the root ball of an Autumn Blaze maple upon the precious leavings of your life. Carefully, David and I packed the good earth around the root ball. We then soaked the new planting with water, stood back, sobbed a bit, held each other, hoped to see the wonder of the tree's new spring growth next year.

This morning, after Sarah's short legs carried her like the wind, over and over again, chasing her squeaky tennis ball, returning it to me with insatiable enthusiasm, we then ran the circumference of the lake. We came home and, as Sarah ate her breakfast, I touched your tree.

Every day since we planted your tree, I've touched it, held it. There is something in me that believes something of myself, some strength that is within me can be somehow passed into your tree, perhaps drawing from what I know is the immensity of your essence that may hover about your tree; your strength and mine melding. Each day, as I touch your tree, I hope for its health, I hope for its vitality.

This morning, as I touched your tree, I saw amongst the detritus of the season at the base of your tree, the final repose of a butterfly. We see, if we take the time to look, the simple miracles of our days surrounding us, everywhere, sometimes in the most unlikely of places. As I considered the presence of the butterfly, there within the clutch of your leavings, I knew, Sweet Melissa, that your pull, your warmth, the miracle of your life still lives. If I were to choose where to make my final rest, I, too, would wish to ease myself into that holy realm of humble repose where the miracle of the now halcyon-winged wonder now rests.

Hope, as they say, springs eternal. I hope for so much. Believing my hopes will not be realized-- certainly not tomorrow at the polls--and perhaps not before I pass from this realm, I do still believe that as I caress your tree, each and every day, that comfort, joy may reside only in the simple things: my love for David, Sarah, our friends, our families; for you, Sweet Melissa, and for the wonder of flight, of butterflies who make their final stop within your warmth, your promise of new life; amongst the hope of a new season.

Ted Haggard "Dismissed" By Investagatory Board

2006-11-04T19:06:00.000-07:00

This from the Associated Press.

Sarah's Happy Friday Pose

2006-11-03T11:21:00.000-07:00

One of the things that, for me, sustains some modicum, some semblance of what is right in the world is Sarah and, of course, all those precious creatures that have preceded her in my life.

Unconditional love trumps all the machinations of hypocrites and liars, politicians and pundits.

"Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them unto thy soul with hoops of steel." Hamlet - Shakespeare

Suffice it to say, Sarah is my friend.

Ted Haggard Admits "Some" of what is Alleged

2006-11-03T08:01:00.000-07:00

This from ColoradoPols this morning updating the Haggard mess.

Interestingly, the accuser, Mike Jones, showed "deception" when given a polygraph test this morning. Jones, however, stands by his accusations, with voice mail, handwritten letter and envelope (possible DNA) evidence to support his claims.

Curiouser and Curiouser.

In any event, none of this will be beneficial to the passage of Ref. I (afford same-sex couples with the rights of married couples) and certainly not to the defeat of Amendment 43 (to place in the Colorado Constitution that marriage is a union only between a man and a woman).

God, I'm weary of this stuff...politics included.

Ted Haggard - Another GOP Closet Case?

2006-11-02T11:35:00.000-07:00

Denver's 9News, KUSA, reported today that Ted Haggard is accused of having had a three year relationship with a male escort (read prostitute). Haggard is the founder and pastor of a Colorado Springs Evangelical congregation--New Life Church--with 14,000 members. He is also the president of the National Association of Evangelicals whose membership is in the millions. Haggard is a staunch Republican and is said to have a close relationship with George W. Bush.

The male escort, Mike Jones, claims to have two voice mails and a hand-written letter from Haggard. He also claims that Haggard used, in his presence, methamphetamines. Jones also claims that Haggard explained that his "fantasy" is to have an orgy with college-aged boys/men.

Right now, I'm just a little tired of all this sleaze, sexual and political (is there really any distinction?). So, for now, I'll just leave this post as it is. Maybe more later.

P.S. The story from AlterNet is here.

Forget 1A (Preschool Referred Question) And Get Back To The Basics

2006-11-01T13:05:00.000-07:00

The Rocky Mountain News this morning opined: (This verbatim, as the piece will probably shortly be archived)

Preschool tax diverts city from core duties

November 1, 2006

Over the next several years - and likely starting as early as 2007 - Denver voters are going to be presented with huge bills for repairing and upgrading the city's infrastructure.

From Civic Center Park, which has been growing shabbier and shabbier as the years pass, to potholed streets, to rapidly growing new neighborhoods that need libraries, the evidence is everywhere that the city scarcely has the resources to meet its core responsibilities.

Yet on Election Day, Denver is asking voters to pass Initiative 1A, which would raise the sales tax so the city can take on the additional responsibility of making sure more 4-year-olds have access to preschool. There's nothing wrong with that as a goal, although the purported benefits have been overhyped. But city government has never been in the education business. And if Denver can't handle the responsibilities it already has, it shouldn't be taking on more.

The Hickenlooper administration has established a number of task forces to examine the city's needs in such areas as public safety, cultural facilities, community planning, upkeep of city buildings, parks and transportation. It's a daunting list - even before the price tags are attached. For instance, the Museum of Nature and Science needs work on "fire detection and suppression systems, electrical wiring, elevators, sewer lines, public address system, kitchen improvements, lobby expansion and conservation facilities," one task force believes. Sounds comprehensive, doesn't it? Expensive, too. And that's only one of dozens of projects, large and small.

When architect Daniel Libeskind was in Denver to present his concept for Civic Center Park, someone asked Mayor John Hickenlooper what it would cost. Maybe $100 million, he said. On another occasion, he gave an estimate of $50 million to replace the aging and ineffective irrigation system in the city's parks.

With numbers like that, pretty soon you're talking about real money. Former Councilwoman Susan Barnes-Gelt believes the total could be $1 billion or more.

Current Councilwoman Jeanne Faatz, one of the few city officials willing to say in public that Denver shouldn't be tackling preschool, says it will probably be a lot more than $1 billion. She believes voters should have been informed about "what's coming down the pike" before they were asked to decide on the preschool tax.

In isolation, better access to preschool may sound like a decent idea. But in the context of all the city's core responsibilities that aren't being fully met, the measure doesn't make sense.

Vote "No" on 1A.

Prior posts on this matter: Here and here.

Electronic Voting in Texas - Good Luck if You're Voting for Dems (video)

2006-11-01T10:49:00.000-07:00

The Fat Lady Ain't Singin' - Marilyn Musgrave & The Art of Arrogance (Video)

2006-10-31T07:47:00.000-07:00

The Fat Lady doth protest too much, methinks! (And, her flatlander defenders, as well!) Video

Update on Denver Election Commission Ballot Mistakes, Um... "Vendor Errors"

2006-10-30T10:36:00.000-07:00

Referred Question 1A - Preshool Plan a Dog

2006-10-30T10:02:00.000-07:00

It's beginning to appear I'm my own little Media Matters watch on Susan Barnes-Gelt. I didn't intend for that to occur; it's just that Barnes-Gelt has been so vocal with regard to "iconic" architecture and "eureka moments" relative to Denver's skyline, that her words simply crystallized the polemic for me.

However, this past Sunday's Post provided, in part, this from Ms. Barnes-Gelt. Since I'm not sure when the Post will archive this piece, here's a bit a what she said in opposition to Referred Question 1A, a .12% raise in Denver's sales tax to fund a pre-school program.

Ms. Barnes-Gelt begins by asking, "...why not vote for Mayor John Hickenlooper's Referred Question 1A...? Here's why not:

Denver has a whole menu of unfunded new and deferred capital needs, perhaps totaling $1 billion or more. They range from serious structural problems with the Botanic Gardens' historic Boettcher Conservatory and long-deferred new libraries and parks improvements to the city's inefficient, obsolete irrigation system, vulnerable tree canopy, roads, bridges and antiquated public building systems.

...Is now the right time to increase Denver's sales tax? Or should voters be presented with the full picture of the city's needs?

...The Denver Preschool Program must adopt an evaluation protocol to measure the quality and accountability of early childhood programs. There is not yet a statewide, metro or even Denver program that evaluates all preschools, matching family needs with school quality. Setting up a comprehensive program will be costly and time-consuming. And though 1A touts language limiting administrative costs to 5 percent, will a projected $600,000 cover the cost of designing and implementing a program or even contracting with an expert?

...Denver Public Schools offers 4-year-old preschool in all but three of its elementary schools and serves 4,000 Denver children. The program is free to kids who qualify for reduced lunch according to federal guidelines (a family of four earning about $35,800 annually). Families earning more than $100,000 per year pay $195 a month for half-day, weekday preschool.

DPS contracts with other Denver providers to serve families needing all-day preschool, meeting the needs of nearly 500 of these families.

There are waiting lists at numerous DPS schools. Why didn't 1A supporters expand this program instead of re-inventing the wheel? There are advantages:

* DPS is governed by an elected board that is fully accountable to e taxpayers.

* DPS can blend a variety of funding mechanisms - tuition, federal Head Start funds, private grants, etc. - to meet the diverse needs of Denver families.

* DPS has administration in place, already funded with public dollars.

Preschool for 4-year-olds is a noble idea. The benefits are well-documented. But however well intended, Question 1A is not the right approach.

Preschool is not part of the city's basic mission and a daunting list of infrastructure improvements is a higher priority. The regressive, Denver-only sales tax portable to metro preschools is inappropriate. Like all school funding, the preschool tax should be property-tax-based, applied to the region and available to all metro families.

Finally, there are too many unknowns. Who are the private citizens administering public dollars? What are the governing rules, policies and regulations? How will preschool programs be fairly and universally evaluated?

Too many questions and not enough answers. Vote "no" on Denver's Initiative 1A.

Ms. Barnes-Gelt has a remarkable record with regard to community activism and as an advocate for the poor, the disenfranchised. If I did not already have a very strong opinion against this ill-conceived boondoggle, her words alone would convince me that Referred Question 1A is a dog.

P.S. The use of the word "dog" is, of course, used to indicate "...an investment not worth its price," as provided by Merriam-Webster. Since "Dog Is My Constant Copilot," I thought I'd just clarify the use of that word. This dog, Sarah, is well-worth the investment, the price.

Steven Holl's Work - "It is poetic..." - Denver Justice Center

2006-10-30T09:26:00.000-07:00

George Hoover, a professor of architecture at the University of Colorado - Denver and a practicing architect, provided in this past Sunday's Denver Post an eloquent view of the Denver Justice Center imbroglio; a view that is tempered by both reason and experience.

Since I'm not sure when the Post will archive this piece, please let me provide some of what Hoover said:

Architect Steven Holl's schematic design for Denver's new courthouse imagined a building that could be a wonderful addition to our city.

Proposed relationships to Civic Center, downtown, the Front Range and the city's essential qualities strongly suggested a building respectful of the context, scale and material character of Denver's urban fabric. There is no hint of the "iconic, object building" decried by some local critics.

...Thus, hyperbole such as "ego- driven icons designed by the famous" is not only misleading, it distracts from the core issue here: how we define, value and realize excellence.

To give merely the sparest of examples of excellence in architecture, I return briefly to Steven Holl. Holl's work manifests excellence, in large part due to the degree it exhibits qualities of which most architects are unaware and to which they do not aspire.

For example, it is little recognized that Holl's work is founded in an important strand of modern thought known as "phenomenology," which concentrates on re-achieving for human experience a direct and primal contact with the world. Holl's most well-known work, the Chapel of St. Ignatius in Seattle, links those who experience it directly with the movement of the sun, the flickering patterns of natural light, the shimmering ripples of a dark pond on a windy day, the real quality of stone, the graininess of wood, the echoes of footsteps and the fragrance of beeswax. It is poetic work.

Holl also emphasized the importance of such relationships in his Justice Center design - moving patterns of dappled sunlight on a courtroom wall, views of distant peaks, surprise vistas into the heart of downtown and a beacon of light.

...From what I have been able to glean about the inner workings of the Justice Center project, the problem appears to lie neither with Denver's infatuation with internationally acclaimed architects, nor with a design unresponsive to Denver's needs. It lies with the inability of the individuals on this particular design team to work together as colleagues.

...Ultimately, the greater good for our city as a whole can only be achieved if we as individual citizens are willing to be truly present for one another, to listen carefully to the heart of meaning inherent in one another's words and actions, to tell the truth without judging or blaming those around us, and to be open to and supportive of how things turn out - even though we may favor and hope for a different outcome.

It's in this spirit that I suggest Mayor John Hickenlooper convene a small advisory group of experienced, diverse, flexible, committed and creative people who have been involved in projects similar to those that Denver has successfully built in recent decades.

Such a group would assist him with the creation of a notable new Justice Center by finding a course of action likely to resolve the present short-term problem in a way that does not compromise Denver's long-term vision for excellence.

The temptation is always to decide in favor of the short-term, expedient solution. We must resist this temptation in favor of the long view and our city's legacy. History has shown that what is practical in the short term is often immeasurably impractical in the long run. What happens next with the Justice Center will affect not only the project itself but also critical civic ventures yet to be.

We have achieved excellence many times before. We must do so again.

Mount Evans This Morning from Berkeley Park

2006-10-28T08:31:00.000-07:00

How Stupid Do You Think We Are, Mr. President?

2006-10-27T13:54:00.000-07:00

Stay the Course

Um, "We've never been, 'stay the course,' George."

Limbaugh - Oxy-MORON (Video)

2006-10-27T09:00:00.001-07:00

Happy Friday - (Sarah's Halloween Costume - Yoda)

2006-10-27T07:34:00.000-07:00

Oh My... Incorrect ballots will be counted correctly; correct ballots will be made incorrect - Your Denver Election Commission At Work For You!

2006-10-26T10:38:00.001-07:00

And, if the above linked story wasn't enough, take a look at this!

A Little Snow This Morning - West Highlands, Denver

2006-10-26T08:06:00.000-07:00

Yup, gonna be a few trees snapping their branches.

Denver Election Commission Ballot Woes Just Keep Truckin'

2006-10-25T09:48:00.001-07:00

Congressman Barney Frank - Gay Republicans

2006-10-25T07:14:00.000-07:00

This from YouTube. Frank, an "out" gay Congressman from Massachusetts speaks to the inherent hypocrisy (among other things) of closeted "Gay Republicans."

Yes on Referendum I - Equal Protection - Equal Rights

2006-10-24T09:56:00.000-07:00

"We must conclude that Amendment 2 classifies homosexuals not to further a proper legislative end but to make them unequal to everyone else. This Colorado cannot do. A State cannot so deem a class of persons a stranger to its laws..." Supreme Court Justice Kennedy writing for the majority, re: Romer v. Evans (1996)

Referendum I

Shall there be an amendment to the Colorado Revised Statutes to authorize domestic partnerships, and, in connection therewith, enacting the "Colorado Domestic Partnership Benefits And Responsibilities Act" to extend to same-sex couples in a domestic partnership the benefits, protections, and responsibilities that are granted by Colorado law to spouses, providing the conditions under which a license for a domestic partnership may be issued and the criteria under which a domestic partnership may be dissolved, making provisions for implementation of the act, and providing that a domestic partnership is not a marriage, which consists of the union of one man and one woman.

David and I will celebrate our twenty-fourth anniversary this November. In those twenty-four years we have

purchased two homes
raised six (four-legged) children, grieved the loss of five
paid our taxes
laughed, cried
mowed the lawn in summer and shoveled the walk in winter
shopped for groceries once a week
helped our neighbors
endured together the 120 days (each and every day) my mother suffered 'til death from a stroke
endured together the loss of my father
worked hard in our careers, reaching significant positions
supported our community, our parks
caregivers to one another in sickness, surgeries
grumbled about politics and politicians
made wills, powers of attorney, medical powers of attorney
saved for our retirements
remodeled our house
landscaped our yard
voted, voted, voted
shared joy, sorrow, ups, downs
valued the preciousness of friends
valued the preciousness of family
marveled at the beauty and brightness and miracle of nephews and nieces and grand-nephews and grand-nieces

And, we have loved and shared. We have been as one for all these years. How, dare I ask, does this threaten a good marriage between a man and a woman? Why, dare I ask, is Justice Kennedy's wisdom not as relevant today as it was a decade ago?

"A State cannot so deem a class of persons a stranger to its laws..."

No on Referred Question 1A - Denver Preschool Program

2006-10-24T08:45:00.000-07:00

Councilman Rick Garcia's office was kind enough to email to me the complete text of Council Bill No. 532 (Ordinance) which provides:

For an ordinance increasing the sales and use tax by a rate of .12 percent and dedicating the revenue derived from the tax rate increase to fund the Denver Preschool Program, subject to the approval of the voters at a special municipal election to be conducted in coordination with the state general election on November 7, 2006.

The full text of this misguided legislation is instructive.

It is estimated that at least $12Million will be dedicated to this program, with 5% ($600,000.00) of those monies authorized for "...administrative expenses.." for each year of the program.

Dare I mention that deferred maintenance and improvements to Denver's parks and recreation facilities now totals over $100,000,000.00? But, that's another story.

The guts of 1A consist of establishing an unnamed Colorado non-profit corporation, the "..sole purpose of [which] as reflected in the corporation's articles of incorporation shall be to administer the Denver Preschool Program under contract with the city..."

The corporation's articles of incorporation shall provide for a seven member board of directors. Six members of the board shall be appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the city council. One member of the board shall be a member of the city council appointed by the city council.

Okay, so far? With me? Let's go on (as if the prospect of seven political appointments by the mayor and one city council person constituting the board of directors doesn't rub a wee bit the wrong way):

The corporation's articles of incorporation shall provide for a twenty-five member board of advisors to make non-binding recommendations to the board on policy issues regarding early childhood education in general and the administration of the Denver Preschool progarm in particular. Members of the board of advisors shall be appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the city council.

It just gets better... Yeah, I know, thirty-two political appointees running a program with $12Million in sales tax revenue--the major trough from which Denver's General Fund feeds--is not only a little scary, but absurd, given what the City and County of Denver (as a municipal entity) was established to do. And, it wasn't set-up to run a preschool program. Isn't that the job of the Denver School Board?

Here's a few of the objectives this political boondoggle is slated to achieve:

*Tuition Credits [Vouchers???]
*Outreach to parents and assistance with enrollment in preschools...
*Technical assistance and direct grants to preschool providers...
*Contracting with qualified experts to design and assist with the implementation of a quality improvement system for preschools...
*Measurement of the performance of the said program...

The "Contracting with qualified experts to design and assist..." is troublesome because there is language in the ordinance that states: "The term 'administrative expenses' shall not be deemed to include any fees or expenses paid to third-party contractors or consultants to assist in the development or administration of the Denver Preschool Program." Um, then where is that money going to come from? And, isn't the explicit prohibition against such "third-party" expenditures in direct conflict with the "Contracting with qualified experts..." language?

What is called "tuition credits" in the ordinance would apply to "Any Denver resident who is a parent or legal guardian of any preschool-aged child who is also a Denver resident..."

Forgive me, but let me interject a PI moment here. The language says "resident" not "citizen."

Now, these "tuition credits" are not really nailed down in the ordinance. The ordinance speaks to a "...sliding scale..." related to both family income and the "...quality of the preschool provider..." But, here's the politics again: On both the "...sliding scale..." portions of the ordinance, there's a little qualification to that language that provides, "...this sliding scale [will] be more specifically determined by the board of directors."

So, who knows? How much we talkin' about here? The ordinance leaves it wide open, with the decision left in the hands of the mayor's political appointees to the board.

Lastly, the ordinance leaves it up to the parent or guardian to determine where they're going to enroll their little tikes for preschool. Yes, the preschool has to be licensed under the State of Colorado, but if the parent or guardian wants to take little Johnny to Brother Bob's Baptist Temple or Sister Mary Jo's Catholic Catechism, well, that's just fine. Indeed, if the parent or guardian wants to take the kids to a preschool in Arvada or Commerce City or Lakewood or Broomfield, that's fine, too. No restrictions on where Denver's sales tax revenue is spent.

Reading through Council Bill 532 (which, if Referred Question 1A is passed will become the basis for this preschool program) gives one the distinct impression that a whole lot of folks, including the mayor and all but one city councilperson (Jeanne Faatz) instructed the city attorney who wrote the thing to be as vague as possible because they really don't know what the hell the program is going to turn out to be and the hell with the details; they'll work on the details later.

Well, the devil is in the details and Council Bill 532 is sorely lacking in detail. And, please, do you really want to depend on mayoral appointees to fill in the blanks on this expenditure of $12Million?

Referred Question 1A was not ready to be put on the ballot. It should not be on the ballot. And, I don't trust this open-ended (design/build) concept being thrust on the voters with the implied mantra: Just trust us (the politicians) to do the right thing. I want to know exactly what I'm voting on before I vote. Referred Question 1A fails this simple test.

City Plan for Denver Justice Center: No, that's not good enough. It's not what Denver was promised.

2006-10-23T14:01:00.000-07:00

The below is verbatim from this Morning's Rocky Mountain News.

More oversight for justice center
Panel of top architects should have a role

October 23, 2006

A legacy building designed by a signature architect - that's what Denver was promised, with great fanfare, when the process for selecting the architectural firms for the new justice center was announced. Ten noted architects were invited to present their work at public meetings late last year, and more than 2,000 people attended the presentations. A jury of 15 stakeholders considered the proposals and announced their choices in December, again to broad acclaim.

Now the signature architect for the courthouse, Stephen Holl Associates of New York, is gone, and without any public process whatever, his place is being taken by his local partner, klipp Design.

No, that's not good enough. It's not what Denver was promised.

Our first impulse is to say, "start over." But Denver Justice Center policy director James Mejia says it's too late to do that now. The goal was to design the justice center campus as a whole, and the courthouse is already months behind the detention center.

If that's correct, and it may well be, why was the situation allowed to fester so long? After all, the first-choice architect for the parking structure now under construction south of 14th Avenue didn't work out either, so the city eventually contracted with the runner-up. But that happened months earlier in the process.

Why weren't the City Council and the community stakeholders brought into the courthouse picture much sooner? Mejia said it's because the committee of city staff members considered it a contract management issue. On most contracts, that might be reasonable, but on such a high-profile building, which will anchor the Colfax Avenue civic corridor for decades, it was a bad judgment call.

The City Council should have had a full and public discussion of the best course of action before allowing klipp to proceed without Holl - and it still should. Could the runner-up architect for the courthouse step in? That may not be practical, but at least it should be explored.

And if it isn't possible, and Denver does proceed with klipp, what next? Councilwoman Jeanne Robb, who not only represents that district but was also a member of the 15-person jury that recommended the architects, suggests that there should be a peer review panel of distinguished architects, experienced with this kind of project, who can provide feedback on the design and how it works with the rest of the justice center campus.

We're not saying klipp can't do the job. We have no reason to believe that, and the firm has had considerable success, including the new Hyatt Hotel at the Convention Center. But it's reasonable to believe that if klipp had competed for the courthouse design without Stephen Holl as part of the team, it wouldn't have been chosen. Holl wasn't just a subcontractor, no matter how the contract was written; he was the star attraction.

This project needs input from other professionals of comparable caliber.

Schoolmarm Doug Lamborn - Dubya's and Dobson's Choice for Congress

2006-10-21T09:49:00.000-07:00

Doug Lamborn is running for Colorado's 5th Congressional District seat in the U.S. House. The district includes Colorado Springs and is home to Jim Dobson's, Focus on the Family. This little clip is from a 50 minute debate between Lamborn and Jay Fawcett, the Democratic candidate. During the debate, the whiney schoolmarm chastised someone in the audience with, "...why don't you just keep you mouth shut!"

The entire debate is included as a link at the bottom of this post.

The Lake This Morning - Snow Again Overnight

2006-10-21T08:59:00.000-07:00