Say what you mean. Mean what you say. It’s a simple idea that should guide Denver Mayor Michael Hancock and his administration in their dealings with Occupy Denver protesters who flout rules on what can and cannot be done on public property.
Take a walk along Broadway and watch as pedestrians are forced to step into one of its five lanes of traffic as the collection of tarp-covered domiciles erected from cardboard and scrap wood encroach upon the sidewalk. Glance at the trees to see branches festooned with red plastic tape and adorned with — we kid you not — a kayak, an oscillating fan, a traffic cone and other manner of junk placed there for no good reason. Then ask yourself why the city didn’t make good on its plans to rid the area of the illegal “encumbrances” on Thursday as promised in notes delivered by police to protesters the day before.
Instead, protesters got a Thursday visit from new Police Chief Robert White, who was given a rude and profanity-laced reception. “I wanted to come and tell you personally that the encumbrances are a violation and at some time we will have to enforce the law,” White said of the structures at Civic Center. That “some time” should have been on the date promised.
Stay in the race. Colorado has as strong a resume as any state in the country when it comes to education reform, though you’d be hard pressed to figure that out based on a string of defeats in attempts to capture a portion of $4 billion in federal Race to the Top money. Race to the Top was created in 2009 as a means to spur states to pursue school reform. Colorado has been rejected on three applications for money to help pay for various reform-minded endeavors — most recently on Friday. It didn’t take the carrot of federal money to set Colorado down the path toward reform, and the continuing snubs shouldn’t stop us from continuing efforts to make strides.
Going for the gold. There as many “o’s” in “Colorful Colorado” as there are colorful rings in the Olympics logo. That happy coincidence is our way of saying that the winter Olympics could fit right in with the Centennial State in 2022. Gov. John Hickenlooper and Denver Mayor Hancock on Friday launched a committee to explore a potential bid for a future Olympic bid. We wish the group well in their efforts.
Short Takes is compiled by Denver Post editorial writers and expresses the view of the newspaper’s editorial board.
