Hopefully everyone was able to enjoy the 16th Street Grand Reopening. More than 30,000 residents and visitors took part in the event enjoying music, food, dancers, free haircuts, and $16 business deals. Personally, I enjoyed Chez Maggy’s $16 deal that included a cheeseburger and Veuve Clicquot! I saw several members while attending the celebration. At least two had their picture appear in news articles!
POSTPONED TOWN HALL – Thanks to everyone who signed up to attend our Town Hall with Senator Ball, CM Parady, CM Hinds, Erin Atencio, Director of Roads to Recovery, and Sterling Simms, D10 Mayoral Representative. The homeless on 16th Street suffering from mental illness and drug addiction are serious issues that need to be addressed by our leaders. Gil and I are working with the panelists to get the Town Hall rescheduled as soon as possible. You will receive an email with the details as soon as we have them. Thanks for your understanding and patience.
Mayor Johnston’s RNO Leaders Meeting: On Monday, October 20, UpDoNA, LoDoNA, and LoDo District, hosted Mayor Johnston’s first quarterly RNO leaders meeting. More than 60 leaders from across Denver met to discuss pressing issues in their neighborhoods. It was a great opportunity to connect with our neighbors and to learn about the issues that they face. Some issues are very different from ours, e.g., prostitutes, open-air drug markets, having to request funds for trash removal/streetlight repairs, and more. Gil and I plan to organize and strengthen communication between Denver RNOs. Thanks to the Downtown Denver Partnership for allowing us to host the first meeting at their offices.
Planning Board and City Council Public Comments: Recently, I provided public comment before City Council in support of the Aloft Hotel’s requested expansion of the Denver Theatre District. As you recall, Home2 Suites requested the same expansion. Both requests have been approved. The next phase is for the electronic billboards to be designed and approved through the same process – City Planning Board and City Council.
NOTE: Neither sign will affect residential buildings, and UpDoNA will be able to request funding for art projects from a portion of the revenue generated from the signs. During my comments, I informed the City Planning Board that an electronic billboard was recently installed on the former Social Security Building, and that its light pollution is negatively impacting Aloft Hotel rooms. The City Planning Board will be adding language to the Denver Comprehensive Sign Plan to ensure that residential and hotel buildings are not negatively impacted by future signs.
I also provided public comment before the City Planning Board in support of the Downtown Area Plan. The Downtown Area Plan was approved by the City Planning Board. On November 17th, it will be before City Council for approval.
Flock Cameras: Have you heard about Flock cameras? Currently, the City of Denver has 111 Flock cameras. The cameras take pictures of license plates and that data is stored in a database. The Denver Police Department is using that data to find stolen cars (decrease of 40%) and to solve homicides and non-fatal shootings. However, there are some who have concerns about the types of agencies that can access the data. Denver has some safeguards in place, e.g., the license plate data is not shared with any agency outside of Denver. However, there are concerns that the data is not sufficiently protected, can be leaked, or used for unintended purposes. On Wednesday, October 22, Gil Vondrasek, David Howard, and I attended a very heated and contentious meeting hosted by three Denver RNOs. City Council Members Parady, Lewis, and Gonzales-Guiterrez attended the meeting and expressed their opposition to Flock cameras. Yesterday morning, Mayor Johston extended the Flock camera contract through March of 2026. The UpDoNA Safety Committee will continue to gather information, and we will keep you informed.
NEW!! – Community Engagement Link on the UpDoNA website. UpDoNA volunteers do so much good work in our community, and we want everyone to know about it. Look for our new Community Engagement Link underneath Announcements to see what you’ve been up to. Thanks to Rob Squire, Outreach Chair, for his work on this great addition to our website.
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Have a wonderful Thanksgiving. I talk to you again in December!
Lisa L. Pope
President UpDoNA
Thumbnail attribution: Leo Marce
