It’s already July! Time to get out and enjoy the Fourth of July celebration at Civic Center Park.
Speaking of celebrations, thanks to everyone who attended UpDoNA’s Annual Meeting at Terra Denver on Monday, June 12th to acknowledge and celebrate all of UpDoNA’s successes over the past year. And, since game 5 of the NBA finals, between our now World Champion Nuggets and the Miami Heat, fell on the same evening, we handled our business and then we had our own private watch party. UpDoNA business members were very generous in their donations of prizes for the evening. Prep Beauty Bar donated a HydraFacial valued at $130, Fortissimo donated two VIP tickets, Night Out on the Town Package, valued at $80, Terra, on top of everything else that it did to host our meeting, donated a $75 gift card, and Non-Plus Ultra donated two tickets to Sensatia. Non-Plus has also offered a discount to all UpDoNA members to the Sensatia show using the code “Sensatia.” As if that weren’t enough, Dazzle also gave everyone who attended the meeting two tickets to a show and a bottle of wine!
Introduction of New Board Members: I’d like to introduce everyone to UpDoNA’s New Board of Directors and the positions for which they were nominated: Lisa Pope, President, Rob Squire, Vice President, Jack Murphy, Treasurer, Donna Mosely, Secretary, Carol Wayne, City Liaison, Gil Vondrasek, Director, and Jerry Shupe, Director. I am excited to get to work with this new Board. A very special thank you to Ron Townsend and Bennett Parsons for their time serving on the Board of Directors. Both Ron and Bennett will continue committee work.
Police Chief Advisory Board. Recently, I was nominated and appointed to the Police Chief Advisory Board. The new board had its first meeting on Wednesday, June 14th, at Police Headquarters. Chief Thomas outlined his three priorities for the Denver Police Department: 1) lower crime, 2) reduce response times, and 3) increase public trust. To address response times, the Police Department has instituted a Telephone Reporting Center to screen and categorize calls for appropriate response, e.g., emergency, and non-emergency. The Center is being staffed by police officers who are currently on inactive duty due to injury, etc. DenverTrack is a new program used to track stolen vehicles using a car’s GPS data. Car owners can voluntarily enroll in the program which gives the police authority to use the car’s GPS system to locate it. To be clear, the police will not track your car until you report it stolen. If you are interested in enrolling in the program, use this link: Departments-Offices-Directory/Police-Department/Safety-and-Crime-Prevention/Auto-Theft-Prevention In the next few weeks, I plan to form a subcommittee comprised of UpDoNA individual and business members, so that I can better represent the concerns and needs of Upper Downtown to Chief Thomas.
Downtown Denver National Night Out, August 1st, 4:30-7:30 p.m., at Skyline Park. Plans for National Night Out continue. We are very proud to announce that we currently have SIX Gold Sponsors for our event: Visit Denver, the Colorado Hotel and Lodging Association, the Denver Performing Arts Complex, Hensel Phelps, Bimbo Bakeries USA, and Mark Callaghan Real Estate. Our Planning Committee is making plans for a fun and interactive evening. More details will be announced but mark your calendars to attend so that you can show your support and appreciation for those who serve and protect us.
Clean-Up Day Expansion: We are very excited to announce that our monthly clean-up has expanded. Please join us for our July 8th Clean-Up Day at One Lincoln Park. We will meet at 9:00 a.m. at the corner of 19th and Welton. Let’s show our support for our One Lincoln Park members and help them clean up their part of Upper Downtown.
Finally, most of us live in downtown Denver because of all that there is to see and do. So, we have a new section of our newsletter called “Why I Love Living in Downtown!” Please take a picture of something that you see or do that shows why YOU love living in downtown and submit it along with a one-sentence explanation to Rob Squire at robsquire@updona.org.
Have a wonderful July.
Lisa
