President’s Message -June 2025

What a great upcoming weekend for Downtown!  In addition to the Summer Kickoff that will bring thousands of people to 16th Street, the Outside Festival at Civic Center Park is expecting 24,000 people.  For the Summer Kickoff, UpDoNA’s table will be located on Glenarm Plaza at 16th and Glenarm.  We’ll have great summer music (thanks to Sal Tripodi), hula hoops, corn hole, snacks, and more.  Please join us in celebrating the grand opening of 16th Street and the beginning of summer.  

UpDoNA has been very busy since my last message.  We’ve had meetings with the Department of Excise and Licenses, the Denver District Attorney’s Office, the Denver Economic Development & Opportunity Office, and City Council’s Land Use Transportation and Integration Committee.

City-Established Consumption Permits.  The Department of Excise and Licenses contacted UpDoNA to inform us of a pilot permit program for Glenarm Plaza.  On Friday, 5/16, we attended the hearing in support.  These permits may, in fact, already be approved and operating before you receive this June newsletter.  There will be two public consumption areas on Glenarm Plaza, one on the north side and the other on the south side of 16th Street.  On the north side, the consumption area encompasses Glenarm Street within the permanent street closure – 16th Street to mid-block.  West Saloon and Bar and the Paramount Theater will be the only permitted businesses on the north side.  On the South side, the permitted restaurants will be: Maggiano’s, 5280 Burger, Henry’s Tavern, and Qué Rico.  The Pavilion sidewalk between those establishments will be the consumption area.  The permit requires that alcoholic beverages be served in a specified container, and that the consumer may not leave the consumption areas.  

Since Glenarm Plaza has been designed as a gathering spot for Upper Downtown, the common consumption permit not only elevates the Plaza, but it also supports our businesses.  

Deputy District Attorneys Assigned to Downtown:  During the Mayor’s announcement on April 2nd outlining the additional resources for downtown safety, District Attorney John Walsh announced that there would be two Deputy District Attorneys assigned to downtown.  To learn more about those roles and what it means for downtown, we met with District Attorney John Walsh and Chief Deputy District Attorney Matt James.  For information about our meeting, please read Gil Vondrasek’s Safety Committee article in this newsletter.  

Denver Economic Development & Opportunity Office (“DEDO”).  On Thursday, May 15th, UpDoNA met with Michael Hartman, DEDO, to learn more about the Downtown Denver Development Authority process in determining which projects will be approved using the DDA expansion funds.  So far, DEDO has received approximately 70 applications for projects.  Applications are divided into four buckets:  1) private projects which are large and transformative projects such as building conversions to housing, 2) public projects which are also large projects but involve parks, transportation, or city-owned properties, 3) business incentives used for business retention, ground-floor retail, and commercial tenants, and 4) activation projects which are projects/events that bring people downtown asap.  The review process takes approximately 90 days.  The hope is that the $570m generated from the DDA expansion will turn into $3-7B in investment in downtown, especially Upper Downtown.  

We will be coordinating an UpDoNA member meeting with DEDO and City Planning so that you can learn more about this process and the plan to transform Upper Downtown. 

Land Use and Integration Committee.  Congratulations to the Scooter Committee led by David Kurth.  Over the last couple of years, the Scooter Committee has been working with the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure, the Department of Safety, Denver Police Department, and Councilman Hinds on scooter/pedestrian interactions.  In addition to holding meetings with city leaders, the committee has designed and displayed PSAs on several electronic billboards throughout Upper Downtown, has designed and distributed scooter safety materials to hotels, and has provided input on upcoming contract negotiations between the City and scooter companies.  On Tuesday, May 6th, David, along with Joe Capello and Gil Vondrasek, attended the Land Use and Transportation Infrastructure Committee hearing.  They testified in support of CM Hinds’ proposed scooter legislation.  On Monday, May 19th, City Council unanimously voted to pass the legislation.  For specific information about this legislation, please read David Kurth’s Scooter Committee article which will appear in the July newsletter.  

UpDoNA Business Member Meet and Greet.  Thanks to Carly Ebenstein, Carol Wayne, and UpDoNA Business Member, Jerry Lopez at Colorado Credit Union, for planning and hosting our first UpDoNA Business Member Meet and Greet.  The Colorado Credit Union went out of its way to make the event a success by providing delicious charcuterie boards, beverages, and door prizes!  Carly is already planning another event for our Business Members.  Stay tuned!

Finally, the ANNUAL MEETING.   You should have received notice that this year’s Annual Meeting WILL NOT be held on Wednesday, June 4th.  Gil and I have been working on something a bit different for this year’s meeting, so we have postponed it until the last full week of June.  Details are being finalized now, so watch for your emails for an Eventbrite Link so that you can save your spot.

Thanks to all members who voted for UpDoNA Board of Directors’ candidates.  The board members will be introduced at the Annual Meeting in June.  

Lisa L. Pope, 

President

Thumbnail attribution: Lisa Pope