A few weeks ago, we asked our readers for ideas and questions for future Planet Money newsletters and podcasts. We got a bunch of great submissions, including an intriguing one from Karl Baumgartner.

Baumgartner is a 29-year-old internal medicine resident in Denver, where home prices and rents have been falling. Depending on which data you look at, the Denver metro area is experiencing one of the steepest — if not the steepest — housing price declines in the nation. Home prices have fallen more than 2% year over year, according to the S&P Cotality Case-Shiller Home Price Index, and even more if you adjust for inflation. Rents have fallen even more dramatically.

“As a renter myself, I am ecstatic about the falling prices,” Baumgartner writes. In fact, he just moved “to a bigger apartment with nicer amenities that I previously couldn’t afford, but now can because rent has fallen.” One of his friends, meanwhile, recently renegotiated her lease for about $500 less per month by showing her landlord that comparable apartments in her area were now going for much less.

“With almost all of my friends being in a similar position at the beginning of our careers with plenty of debt, we are all very excited about the decrease,” Baumgartner says.

So, yeah, falling rents are obviously a win for Denver renters. But Baumgartner is wondering about the broader economic picture.

“We know that negative inflation is bad for the economy in general, and we try to shoot for 2% annual inflation in general. What about negative inflation in the housing market specifically? Are there any downsides to falling prices, or is this just a sign of the market working as it should, with supply finally catching up to demand?”

It’s a great question because economics doesn’t seem to provide a simple answer on whether falling housing prices are good or bad for the economy.

Denver will use $3 million of its contingency fund money to help pay out settlements this year under an ordinance the City Council approved Monday.

The council makes a similar transfer every year, but the amount varies depending on the settlements reached, said Laura Swartz, the spokesperson for the city’s finance department.

“It is difficult to budget for settlements in advance because the amounts and timing can be unpredictable based on each case’s own scheduling, negotiations and court decisions,” Swartz said.

Every year, the city sets aside $2 million for settlements in the budget. Officials request a transfer from the contingency fund for anything needed above that amount. The 2026 transfer brings the amount that will be used to pay out settlements this year to $5 million so far.

This year’s allotment will leave the city with $30.5 million remaining in its contingency fund. The contingency fund is separate in the annual budget from the city’s reserves, which officials have been working to replenish from a recent low point.

The city has been ordered to pay millions of dollars in settlements in recent years related to the Denver Police Department’s actions during the George Floyd protests.

Earlier this month, the council approved about $2.87 million in payments for 13 people who alleged that local police violated their constitutional rights during the 2020 protests.

In April, a federal appeals court ruled that the city must also pay $14 million to another group of protesters, upholding a jury verdict. The city hasn’t yet said how it will pay out that amount.

There’s a semi-controversy brewing in the underground about whether or not banana suits are appropriated concert attire. After the Baltimore hardcore band End It recently directed its audience to rip one such costume off of a fun-loving fan, the dividing lines have been defined — hardcore isn’t so fruit friendly, while metalcore openly encourages dressing however you want for the occasion.

Dance Gavin Dance guitarist-vocalist Andrew Wells confirmed the metalcore ethos, as the long-running band is used to seeing people in all types of garb, particularly bananas, whenever and wherever they play.

“There’s a ton of banana people in our audience,” he says, referencing the group’s recent Warped Tour DC stop that was especially yellow. “I was like, ‘Yo, banana people, you’re welcome here. You’re weird. You’re an outcast. You’re what society deems as weird because you want to dress up in a banana costume. That’s what rock is for.’

“Rock’s historically been since the dawn of time an oasis for the outcasts. You’re welcome here. Come fly your freak flag with us, and we’ll have a good time,” Wells continues. “Honestly, if I played a whole show and everyone was in a banana suit, I would be stoked. That would be sick.”

In reiterating the stance, he calls for everyone in Denver to show up in their banana best when Dance Gavin Dance takes the Fillmore on Monday, June 22. Horse the Band, Wolf & Bear and Novelists are also on the bill.

The metalcore machine — which also includes vocalist-guitarist Will Swan, drummer Matt Mingus and harsh vocalist Jon Mess — is riding high with a twofer of fresh material in 11^th studio album “Pantheon,” released in September, and last month’s “Tree City Sessions 3,” another collection of revamped takes on classics and deep cuts.

Wells, who’s been with the band in some capacity since 2015, saw the “Tree City” process as an opportunity to put his spin on some of the older tracks that vocalist Tilian Pearson first laid down, such as “Bloodsucker” from 2018.

“That was a suggestion from me. I wanted to polish up my higher register and showcase what I could do on the Tilian stuff,” he explains. “That was a song Martin [Bianchini, touring guitarist] and I had written on the ‘Artificial Selection’ album, so we were able to play and record the song that we wrote.”

Looking back also allowed Dance Gavin Dance to forge forward with “Pantheon,” a more reflective album than recent releases, Wells admits.

“It was an opportunity for us as a band to revisit the roots of the band, when the band was playing to 100-cap clubs and it was just this alternative style of music that was very unique and different. Some people hated it, some people loved it, but it was this authentically post-hardcore sound, that come from these roots,” he shares.  

“When we were revisiting these older songs and doing ‘Tree City’ and also writing ‘Pantheon,’ it was that full-circle moment of doing what we’re passionate about again, exploring new themes and musical territory and getting back to the roots, so to speak, especially as a collaboration,” Wells continues. “It was all of us in the same mindset together working towards the same goals.”

And in Year 21, the band is the “happiest and healthiest” it’s ever been, as he sees it.

“We’re a group of musicians who’s committed to making the best art that we possibly can,” Wells says. “There’s a perseverance to this band.”

But, he adds, they wouldn’t be anywhere if it wasn’t for the people in front of the stage, dressing up as bananas and whatever else.

“The external factor is our fans,” Wells concludes. “I think the fan’s abilities to rally and support the band and come out to shows can’t be overstated.”

Dance Gavin Dance, with Horse the Band, Wolf & Bear and Novelists, 5 p.m. Monday, June 22, Fillmore Auditorium, 1510 Clarkson St. Tickets are $60.