I’ve just glued the last symbolic image into my 2005 scrapbook. There were a couple of very good ones. Others were strangely out of focus and a few weren’t worth printing. Here’s a sampling of the best and worst:
City Park’s Thatcher Fountain in late August was extraordinary. The historic fountain gushed water amid stunning flowers and plants. It’s an image that should be replicated next year for all of Denver’s fountains. The Thatcher represents not only the virtues of Colorado – loyalty, learning and love – but also what’s best and most beautiful in Denver’s public realm.
Denver voters approved the $385 million Civic Center Justice Center, and the selection of two high-profile architects to design the courthouse and jail is complete. Steven Holl and Hartman Cox join garage architect AR7 and master urban design architect David Owen Tryba Architects on the project. The jury is still out on whether six design firms and several general contractors can deliver the Justice Center on time, on budget and without sacrificing quality. It’s a very complex program on a high-profile site, demanding materials and a coherent design approach that will hold up for a century.
Fifty-two percent of Coloradans said it was OK for the state to retain TABOR refunds for heath care, education and transportation. Whether the state legislature can avoid partisan posturing in an election year and instead pay attention to a very tight budget and pressing capital needs remains to be seen.
The 2005 What’s Wrong With This Picture Award goes to the Denver Police Department, for demonstrating blatant inconsistency by using civilian volunteers to investigate crime while paying senior police officials thousands of dollars in overtime to manage traffic at the airport.
Through the third quarter of 2005, more than $2.2 million in overtime was paid to officers working at the airport. Though airport security requires police officers to patrol at the airport drop-off areas, why not activate retired cops? Doing so would put more police on the street and enable able former officers to buy health insurance at reasonable rates. It wasn’t a pretty picture when the police union cut retired officers out of the police health insurance pool – making it unaffordable for many too young to qualify for Medicare.
(An early favorite for the 2006 What’s Wrong With This Picture Award is the RTD. Why did the agency hire activist Alvertis Simmons on a no-bid $185,000 contract? Did it check his references or police record? Legitimate minority businesses ought to ask why they didn’t have an opportunity to bid.)
Denver Department of Public Works’ traffic engineers need a better focusing lens if what they did to Cherry Creek Drive South, between University and Colorado, reflects their current vision.
The street, notwithstanding its adjacency to Cherry Creek, has neither sidewalks nor creek access. Denver recently installed a right turn lane at Colorado, taking out parkland and failing to build a sidewalk. This move is myopic, though entirely consistent with Denver’s “do as I say, not as I do” approach. When a private party builds on vacant land, the property owner must improve the street, adding sidewalks and alley.
This sloppy treatment on the west side of Cherry Creek South at Colorado is made worse because Glendale has improved its portion of the drive with sidewalks and terrific creek access. Shouldn’t Denver be a better neighbor?
It’s time to refocus, particularly if this decision reflects the principles that will inform decisions about FasTracks, Union Station and the redevelopment of the Broadway-Lincoln couplet adjacent to the old Gates plant. It’s enough to make one shudder.
A picture we’d like to see developed is Denver’s proposed 311 information call center, scheduled to begin in July. Program manager Steve Stroud describes the system operator as “someone who is motivated, energetic, very flexible and personable, yet professional.” That’s a tall order – but well worth duplicating.
Kudos to Rocky Mountain News columnist Mike Littwin, winner of the Funniest Portrait Award. His picture of Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper riding his motor scooter while dressed as Hamlet ought to be a comic book. Let’s hope the mayor’s fate is more salubrious than that of Shakespeare’s hero.
Time will tell.
Susan Barnes-Gelt served eight years on the Denver City Council and was an aide to former Denver Mayor Federico Peña. Her column appears two Sundays a month.
