CU Hospital’s move from Denver to Aurora
It’s wonderful to keep reading the glowing reports of spanking new medical facilities with fabulous mutual accessibility and state-of-the-art care, providing 66,000 jobs (at the new Fitzsimons campus) and 6,500 jobs (at the new St. Anthony campus). It would be slightly more wonderful if these were all “new” jobs and “new” beds, but a lot of them are simply moving. And where are they moving from? The city and county of Denver, which has a goal to provide 25,000 new jobs that it’s been struggling to meet for more than four years.
One way the Hickenlooper administration could hit a home run here is by generating a brand spanking new user for some of the land and “holes” opening up in the medical job market in Denver. I doubt this will happen, as there has been a national trend of medical facilities moving to the suburbs, and one factor which has been attributed to this exodus has been the frantic use of core city medical facilities by uninsured and non-paying patients. For instance, 75 percent of the patients at Denver Health are either uninsured or Medicaid recipients.
Hickenlooper can prove me wrong by finding a hospital willing to locate to the Central Denver market. Failing that, maybe he could push to detour the East Corridor FasTracks line about 30 blocks south.
As a last resort, Denverites can all quit getting sick and start a new trend toward midwifery. After all, we are the “creative class.”
Tom Anthony, Denver
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It is sad to see University of Colorado Hospital abandon all of its establishments in Denver. When the CU Health Sciences Center announced that it wanted to expand in Denver, then-Mayor Wellington Webb held up to his campaign slogan to, as I recall, “save the neighborhoods” and refused UCHSC’s plans. For a while, some of us were led to believe that some CU facilities would remain in Denver. That was wrong. Why would Denver let a hospital facility leave? And be followed by more?
Denver has lost a lot lately, and I cannot see how this is for the better.
Debbie Narrod, Denver
Nuggets’ K-Mart an inspiration to stutterers
Re: “Martin honored in NYC,” June 10 sports brief.
As the parent of a child who stutters, I want to thank you for printing the article about basketball star Kenyon Martin being honored in New York by the American Institute for Stuttering.
I personally owe a great deal to Kenyon Martin because my teenage son is both a basketball player and an NBA fanatic. To say that my son’s struggle with stuttering has been difficult is an understatement. However, we had the great fortune to be given a “Famous People Who Stutter” poster, which was put out by The Stuttering Foundation. My son was ecstatic to learn that Mr. Martin also stutters. It gave him a whole new perspective on his disability. Kenyon Martin was also a spokesman for the Stuttering Foundation for a couple of years and took precious time from his hectic schedule to speak to countless children who stutter and give them encouragement.
The Stuttering Foundation’s website has an extensive list of famous stutterers, which includes many pro athletes from baseball, golf, hockey, basketball and football. The sports names on the list are astounding, as are the ones from the field of entertainment. In my opinion, children who struggle with stuttering can read a list like this one and know that they can also achieve success in life, or that in many cases the speech disorder can be overcome through speech therapy.
In my opinion, Kenyon Martin’s multimillion-dollar salary is not commensurate to the outstanding philanthropic work he has done to help children who stutter. He is an all-star in the truest sense of the word.
Edward S. Herrington, Longmeadow, Mass.
Appreciation for hunters and the hunted
Re: “Ducks on the wall,” June 3 Writers on the Range column.
As someone who fishes year-round and hunts when the state says I can, I appreciate Julianne Couch’s attitude. In these days of political correctness, it was great to read a rational, well-thought-out article on a subject that affects so many people emotionally .
While I don’t have heads on the wall, I know what she means about remembrance, admiration and respect for the animals who gave their lives so we could eat.
Most of my protein consumption comes from hunting and fishing, and it is only through the good work and conservation of hunters and fishermen that this is an option. I keep the hides and take pictures of animals I hunt for food. I even have T-shirts with pictures of animals on them. The diverse world of hunters and fisherman should be celebrated.
Scott M. Briggs, Federal Heights
Threats from terrorism vs. global warming
Re: “Summer ’07: America asleep,” June 3 John Andrews column.
I could not agree more with John Andrews. The climate issue has truly become a political issue that celebrities and others seem to rally around rather than the harder issues at hand, namely an enemy that repeatedly threatens to destroy us. I fear that it is much more likely that we will be destroyed from within by passivity and finished off by Islamic radicals rather than by an Earth that might be a degree or so warmer at some point for an unknown period. We have already witnessed what our known enemy is capable of, and it is truly frightening.
Pat McTavish, Eagle
City motorcycle noise
Re: “City sound should be loud, proud,” June 7 David Harsanyi column.
David Harsanyi is incorrect that Denver’s motorcycle ordinance amendment was the result of a “handful” of complaints. Motorcycle noise is one of the most common motor vehicle noise complaints in Denver, and it’s growing.
Reasonable people agree there are reasonable limits to construction noise, loud music and traffic in the city, which is why we have a noise ordinance. An Environmental Protection Agency stamp on a motorcycle muffler (standard after 1982) is proof that the bike meets federal noise standards for on-road use.
Given the many other responsibilities of the police, I can’t envision a scenario where police will now be scouring the streets for these stickers. The EPA stamp is simply an objective way to certify the noise level without the use of an expensive noise meter. Any motorcyclist who is operating in a reasonable manner will not be ticketed or face a fine.
Nancy Severson, Manager, Environmental Health, Denver
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We live at 17th and Larimer, so we know “big city” noise. And for the most part, we love it – it’s all part of the hustle and bustle of downtown living. The scream of the fire engine, the racket of a blaring rock tune from an open car window on a summer eve, even the not-so-distant blare of a coal train – none of these disturb. But one noise will wake us out of a sound sleep at 2 a.m. when the LoDo bars let out: the deafening sound of a motorcycle deliberately modified for the purpose of being the loudest and most annoying denizen of the neighborhood. We have complained for years, but the police haven’t the time or equipment to monitor such nuisances despite blatant illegality. Now, at last, they have an easy way to identify offenders and possibly reduce such gratuitous sociopathic behavior.
Herbert G. Allen, Denver
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I think if the Denver City Council is going to make motorcycles quiet down, then they should also make those cars with stereos that rattle the pictures off of my walls all day long illegal. I would rather hear loud motorcycles than one more car going by my house with a boom box.
Tami French, Thornton
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