Denverites will consider many taxes this November
Eleven months ago, generous Denver voters passed a $937 million bond package for civic improvements, including parks. Now we’re asked to increase taxes by $116 million for improvements to, among other things, parks. You could build another Disneyland for $116 million.
I realize that the concert promoters and other private interests who like to use our parks may be disappointed that the parks aren’t ideal for their purposes, but maybe we should see what we can do with that first $937 million before spending more.
Dan Danbom, Denver
This November, I encourage City of Denver residents to vote “yes” on Ordinance 302 to help feed and educate kids.
Healthy Food for Denver Kids is a citizen-initiated ballot measure geared towards feeding Denver’s low-income kids and making healthy options more accessible.
This measure would increase sales taxes by .08 percent (less than a penny on a $10 purchase) to provide millions in funding for healthy food and food education programs in Denver over a ten-year period.
In the last 30 days, one in seven Denver kids missed a meal because they could not afford to eat. Research shows that children and teens with uncertain or limited access to nutritional foods are more likely to have high blood pressure than those who don’t. Hunger indeed has lifelong impacts on the health of our kids.
To learn more, visit healthyfoodfordenver.com. Vote YES for Ordinance 302 and invest in our kids.
Julie Hill, Denver
In 2017 alone, Colorado lost the equivalent of seven classrooms full of students (ages 10 to 24) to suicide. Colorado is unfortunately among the 10 states with the highest suicide rates in America.
As pediatricians, we support increasing access to mental health and substance use services for both children and adults that care for them.
Children with mental health issues have an increased risk for suicide. Kids with caregivers that struggle with mental health conditions and substance use disorders have an increased risk of developing heart disease and cancer, in addition to depression.
In November, Denver County has the opportunity to take a positive step in the fight for mental health with Ordinance 301 (Caring 4 Denver). For the price of ¼ of a penny on a dollar purchase, Denver will be able to fund services that improve the quality of life of its residents and prevent children from dying by suicide.
Drs. Anthony Mayen and Kimberly Uchida, Denver
Golden’s teens deserve respect and the right to vote
Re: “Letting children run the government is adorable,” Oct. 14 commentary
Columnist Jon Caldara’s ill-considered commentary on young adults voting in municipal elections got only one thing right: “the good people of Golden” will soon decide whether “to allow … teenagers to vote in municipal elections, by lowering the voting age to 16.”
In casting their ballots on the issue, Goldenites will reflect on their own civic interests at 16 and their experiences with Golden’s engaged high school students (not one intentional Tide Pod eater in the bunch).
Particularly, they may rely on neuroscience indicating that, in situations like voting which call for unhurried decision-making and consultation with others, adolescents’ judgment is as mature as that of adults.
And, unlike columnist Caldara, “the good people of Golden” know that our shared democracy rejected any requirement that voters “own property” long before the founding of our historic town.
Finally, Caldara is oblivious to the many advantages that come with lowering the voting age. Among these are: developing a lifelong voting habit by encouraging the exercise of civic rights and responsibilities on hometown issues and candidates, with guidance from parents, teachers, and other trusted adults; establishing a voting pattern before the transitional and unsettled circumstances of the 18-25 year-old age group, which has an extremely low voting rate; and renewing interest in municipal elections across the age spectrum.
Marjorie Sloan, Golden
Editor’s note: Marjorie Sloan is mayor of Golden.
Jon Caldara mentions the founding fathers setting the age at 25 for a U.S. representative when the average life span was only 38 years.
Somehow, according to Caldara, two-thirds of one’s life was needed for enough wisdom. For one thing I doubt they had any idea what the average life span was then. For another the increase in life expectancy from then until now is mostly from far fewer people dying as children.
Plenty of people lived quite long then. Our first four presidents lived an average of 82 years. These days, 21-year-old representatives are not unheard of. About two-thirds of other countries with similar positions allow 18 to 21-year-olds to hold office.
Steve Connolly, Greeley
Jon Caldara is certainly serving up his elder “wisdom” with a heaping of arrogance and disrespect.
In Golden, we nurture, value and support our young people. While certainly there are always a few reckless teenagers, that is not the norm in our tight knit community.
This 60-year-old personally doesn’t see a downside. I’m just hoping my brain doesn’t calcify like Caldara’s so I can remain young at heart, open to new possibilities, and able to trust, encourage and respect younger generations.
Wendy Hanophy, Golden
Coffman endorsement leaves some readers disappointed
Re: “We must reward Coffman’s morality in this age of Trump,” Oct. 14 editorial
I was disappointed with your endorsement of Mike Coffman for re-election. Your logic was clear, however you missed a very important point.
Despite Coffman’s sometimes independent path from the White House, Congress is not addressing a critical need for our country: controlling the worst and basest instincts of the White House. The swamp is now filled with alligators in the image of Trump and they are predictably acting to help themselves.
Examples abound: denigrating climate change facts, loosening pollution controls for the worst polluting industry, awarding tax breaks to the 1 percent while meting out pennies to the rest, snarling at allies while cozying up to enemies, refusing to solve our immigration issues, continuous pimping of Trump properties. The list is seemingly endless. It is clear a Republican controlled House will not even attempt to rein any of this in; only a Democratic controlled House will slow the president.
Paul Mauro, Castle Pines
I am disturbed by The Postap endorsement of Mike Coffman in CD6.
As a rule, combat veterans do not discuss the bona fides of our fellow vets, but the stakes in the CD6 race are too great for me to remain mute.
Having served in Vietnam as a Marine rifle platoon leader, having been wounded in action, and decorated for valor — much like Jason Crow — I have always rankled at Coffman’s incessant insistence that he is a “combat Marine,” which in his case, is saying that he served behind the front lines at a base during the time of the Iraqi war. He was not engaged in up-close and personal combat as Jason and I were, leaders of Marines/soldiers under fire. I am sure he did good and valuable work in his assigned billet but he was not a hardened-by-combat infantryman. He exaggerates.
Further, I have observed closely Jason’s career since he was in law school. I can testify that the ads documenting his leadership and abilities, are if anything, understated. I knew him when he was young and married, simultaneously working, attending law school and serving our community and particularly veterans and veteran families.
Jason’s kind of smarts and honest understated courage is not only lacking in his opponent, but in the editorial board of The Post, who historically, trade off the better candidate for their own goal of “evening-up” their endorsements in “fair” ways. In the age of Trump, there exists no fairness. The clear choice is Jason Crow for Congress.
Larry Drake, Denver
Your endorsement downplays Jason Crow as a worthy representative for District 6, by stating he should be running anywhere else. It also ignores the fact that Coffman snuck out of a town hall meeting, voted for Trump’s tax give away to corporations and wealthier individuals, and his partisan efforts to stymy President Barack Obama at every opportunity. You also forget his outrageous call for Obama to prove his citizenship.
Michael Heinrich, Aurora
I was disappointed to have The Denver Post endorse Coffman. It appears that this man will not support a ban on assault rifles or a ban on bump stocks. With so many mass shootings in which an assault rifle was used and the horrible Las Vegas shooting in which a bump stock was used to kill 58 and injure hundreds, it is simply wrong to endorse a man who does not support a ban on these weapons.
David Ryan, Montrose
I was so disappointed to see that The Denver Post endorsed Mike Coffman for District 6. It reminds me of the expression I often heard in Texas.
“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you always got.” Mike Coffman did not stand up to Trump, he voted with him almost 100 percent of the time, to the detriment of Colorado and the United States. If you are too afraid to let go of your carousel pony to reach for the golden ring, you just keep going around in circles. Letap reach for what is best in America, our innovation, inclusiveness and integrity. Letap do it differently. Letap elect Jason Crow.
Marcia Gordon, Centennial
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