June 20, 2010

Hello Neighbors:

Finally, the warm sunny weather is here and with it comes great events. This weekend is Juneteenth, PrideFest, City Park Jazz with Hazel Miller, Park Hill Garden Tour, North City Park block party, and those are just the activities in and around the District. Unfortunately, along with the warm weather is the increase in gang activity. We’ve had a couple of shootings recently on Welton and there was one last Wednesday night a couple of blocks to the east of Five Points. I will be scheduling a meeting to discuss the increased gang activity with the Mayor and the Denver Police Department. Be extra vigilant and call the police if you see anything suspicious.

The District 8 Ice Cream Social/County Fair was a tremendous success! It was well attended and all the entertainment and vendors were kept busy. The hat station again was a huge success, with lines that kept on long after the fair was over. I want to thank all the volunteers who helped with the cake walk, hat station, postcard slide show, field games, scooping ice cream and everything else. I also want to thank all of you who came and made the event the lively success it was. I’m already looking forward to next year!

Monday is the public hearing and final reading of the New Zoning Code. Please see the news letter for times to sign up if you wish to come down and speak. We are hoping that it is not too much of a marathon, because we feel many of the issues have been handled. Members of the Park Hill neighborhood still have concerns as to the added home occupations in the R-O district. Council and CPD will continue to work with them to see if these can be resolved, but that change will come as an amendment to the code after it has passed. It will feel great to get this new Code in place, so that future development can be more in line with City goals.

Open Air Cinema is continuing their public outreach at neighborhood meetings across the district and they are doing a good job of addressing the issues of concern: parking, noise, and obstruction of the view plane. I will be keeping my survey up on this webpage up for a while longer. If after hearing the new plans and location for this event in City Park, let us know how you feel and respond to the survey. If you’d like to change a previous vote, please let us know that’s what you are doing in the comments section.

I am the Grand Marshall in the Juneteenth Parade that starts at 9:00 am and goes from Fuller Park at 29th and Williams Street, down 29th to Downing Street and then down Welton Street right through Five Points. The event itself will be located on Welton Street from 10:00 am - 6:00 pm. Come on down and enjoy this resurrecting event that many have worked hard to make happen.

The Biennial of the Americas will be a great month-long event that starts on July 1. Its center is the McNichols Building in Civic Center Park, but will involve most of the cultural institutions around the City. The Roundtables sound particularly interesting to me and I encourage you to check out the entire event at: www.biennialoftheamericas.org

Enjoy these warm summer days!

Carla

Please check the links to find out what is happening in the district and to learn basic information that you might need as far as our boundaries, zoning chart, crime statistics, police or fire districts as well as political boundaries. Get information about joining your local neighborhood association. We also hope to help inform neighbors of the businesses in the district with reviews and maps of local theater and restaurant reviews.