Not entirely satisfied with new opera house
Having purchased season tickets for the opera season at the new Ellie Caulkins Opera House, I’d like to offer a caveat. My daughter and I chose “box” seats offered in the second most expensive category. This is a misnomer. There is no “box” involved. These seats are along a rail, and should the action take place far left or far right, it disappears. Not so, my neighbor’s head, which was what I saw the back of for about a third of “Carmen.”
Below us, people were laughing at the clever Bizet libretto. We were straining to unsuccessfully read the one monitor 20 feet away, which carried the translation in an all-too-small font.
Ah, intermission. Of course, to the bathroom and a serpentine queue which led to a five-holer reached through a mirrored lounge where no one could, because there were no chairs. Perhaps in the future, they might equip this totally wasted space with more loos. I can’t tell you how many of us wobbled back on crossed legs.
Ellie may be glamorous, but I think she’s still a little rough around the edges.
Ann Westerberg, Littleton
Council’s crackdown on downtown panhandlers
Re: “Cracking down on panhandling; Council backs restrictions,” Dec. 6 news story.
Denver’s elitist City Council, echoing hollow claims about being compassionate, has once and for all made life safe in Denver for conventioneers by toughening up its ordinances – making it illegal to be homeless, broke or just so tired you have to sit on the sidewalk. With the passage Monday night of three ordinances aimed at sweeping the untidy homeless and panhandlers away from the Convention Center and the downtown area, the City Council is once again attempting to sweep a problem under the rug. It will be years before the Denver homeless plan even begins to make a dent in the problem.
Sadly, it’s the same business-bottom-line-at-all-cost attitude that also refuses to cough up the tax dollars to create more institutions and put more people on the street to help the homeless and the impoverished who are forced to beg on the streets. These business interests pushed through ordinances that will make it illegal even for firemen to stand in the street to collect money for Jerry’s Kids. Just how much more of this “compassion” can this society stand? Denver already has an aggressive panhandler ordinance. What happened to its enforcement?
Richard J. Schneider, Denver
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Thanks to the Denver City Council’s bold action, our holiday shopping and merrymaking will be less troubled by the untidy sight of old women with frozen fingers pleading for bus fare or bare-headed old men in thin jackets begging a last quarter for a pint of warming wine.
It’s ironic that the council passed its toughest anti-poor-people ordinance on one of the coldest nights of the season. Did the 12 degree chill – felt by all outside whose future was being decided – affect anyone in those cozy chambers? It seemed not. Bowing to powerful business interests, the council voted to “Keep Denver Beautiful” by pushing poor people further off the streets, out of sight. Now, if a hungry man or woman sits on a sidewalk, steps off a curb, or gets close to a trendy sidewalk bistro to accept a dollar, they are criminals.
The City Council alone isn’t to blame. When business lobbies, the City Council listens. But where were the church folk? Where were our friends and neighbors? Where were you and I? I’m ashamed. And I’ve resolved to look for, and give to, every needy person I see on the streets and curbs this winter. Want to join me?
Tom Rutter, Denver
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Thank you, Councilwoman Kathleen MacKenzie, for having the courage and logic to vote “no” on the ordinance forbidding sitting and lying in precious downtown Denver.
This bill did not contribute anything to Denver’s 10-year plan to end homelessness, because it did not offer anything to homeless folks. Homelessness can be combatted by programs addressing root causes, such as covering medication for medically indigent folks who need lifelong meds to keep them functioning, and insisting that all businesses in Denver pay liveable wages with adequate health care benefits. Both of these would allow many individuals and families to maintain housing.
The City Council needs to come up with plans to address causes of symptoms, and not just push symptoms out of the way.
Kathy Glatz, Denver
Post’s coverage of 9/11 commission report
Re: “Former 9/11 panel says U.S. less safe,” Dec. 5 news story.
I wonder if anyone at The Denver Post thought for even a minute that the report of the Sept. 11 panel, which was on page 8A on Monday, might be a little more newsworthy than football or tree-cutting, which were on the front page.
The citizens of this country are not being served by a president and his team or the Congress of the United States (Republican or Democrat). Take a moment to consider how we are not united by these elected servants of the American people and ask some of the hard questions.
The football team was rightfully on the front page of the sports section and the Scene section might have been an appropriate section for tree-cutting. Check out the Scene section for a showing of “Good Night, and Good Luck.” Maybe you can pick up a few ideas about news coverage.
John Cooper, Arvada
Wildlife sanctuary
Re: “Sanctuary, animals facing extinction in Colo.,” Dec. 5 news story.
I was astounded and saddened by your report about the potential euthanasia of animals at the Rocky Mountain Wildlife Conservation Center. I visited the sanctuary earlier this year with my son, my sister and her family. We were all impressed with the facility and its efforts to give formerly abused and neglected large wild animals ample space to live, lounge and play. These tigers, mountain lions, wolves and bears deserve more than the negligent treatment that brought them to the animal sanctuary. Their stories of animal abandonment and starvation are hard to take – but harder to take is that continued human negligence may cause their demise.
I sent out a check this week to help the sanctuary and urge everyone to do the same. My 13-year-old son included money from his allowance as well. It will take many more such efforts to protect these magnificent animals.
Gloria Nikolai, Colorado Springs
Saving taxpayer money
Re: “Ideas free up space in jails,” Dec. 5 news story.
Kudos to the sheriff’s departments of Jefferson and Weld counties for implementing innovative, money-saving ideas. And kudos to The Denver Post for reporting it. These kinds of ideas demonstrate that there are plenty of ways for government to cut spending that also improve service. As a libertarian, I hope more government employees will demonstrate their creativity by finding useful ways to save the taxpayers money.
David Aitken, Denver
Qwest’s priorities
Re: “Qwest looks to make mark; Colorado Rapids stadium could be next naming deal,” Dec. 4 news story.
So, Qwest is entertaining the idea of acquiring the naming rights to the new Colorado Rapids Stadium. It has already named three other stadiums – in Omaha, Seattle and Boise – and now it wants one in Denver. But when is Qwest going to spend money to improve telephone service in its rural service areas? If Qwest followed up on all the bragging it does about how good a service it provides, I would at least be able to get voice-mail in Fairplay, where my phone service is based.
Roy Peters, Hartsel
