Denver, CO
Letters: Downtown Denver is struggling and restaurants need a little help
 
																								
												
												
											 
Downtown Denver isn’t doing as well as city auditor claims
Re: “Gutting Denver’s minimum wage is bad for workers, business, and city,” Feb. 16 commentary
With all due respect to Timothy M. O’Brien, Denver’s city auditor, perspective is everything. Thriving? I don’t think so. O’Brien cites statistics outside of downtown Denver, where property and sales taxes have seen a 35% decline, costing the city over $45 million since 2020, according to a 9News report. Yet as property taxes, labor costs, and food costs steadily increase, the city of Denver offers little relief. Crime, homelessness, and declining traffic downtown continue in a downward spiral.
A once-thriving and welcoming city has become a ghost town for most of the last five years. Sure, there are spikes, but too few to matter. No one will come downtown and pay for parking and a $25 hamburger if they can find something similar in their local neighborhoods. Convention traffic has also declined.
Perspective: Your capital city is in disrepair and could use a little help. As a third-generation small family business, it’s not that we forgot how to operate, but we can’t operate on a level playing field. Please don’t tell me I can’t keep people and treat them unfairly. We have dishwashers that have been with us for over 15 years. We treat people well, which is why when you visit one of our shops, you see familiar faces and know their names. This city has some work to do and House Bill 1208 is a good place to start.
Sam Armatas, Denver
Editor’s note: Armatas is vice president and operator of Sam’s No.3 Downtown.
Calling out commentary’s false equivalencies
Re: “Like it or not, Washington needs creative destruction,” Feb. 23 commentary
I’m writing to call you out on allowing a sloppy editorial in your Sunday paper. David Mastio’s op-ed was filled with implied false equivalencies. Because Trump correctly stopped minting pennies, it’s OK to have massive firings of government employees. Because the Pentagon wastes money (and it does), it’s OK to have an incompetent Secretary of Defense.
No one who follows our government believes that it doesn’t need reform, but to imply that stopping the minting of pennies is a great reason for the “creative destruction” of the federal government is dangerous and misguided thinking, and you should use better judgment when you select editorials for publication sources other than your own editorial board. Just saying.
George Burson, Louisville
The concerns about Senate Bill 3 are “rubbish”
Re: “If Colorado bans some semiautomatic weapons, women will be less safe,” Feb. 23 commentary
The state director of Women for Gun Rights writes with the usual gun lobby hyperbole that Senate Bill 3 will undermine the right of self-defense, especially for women and minorities. Rubbish.
If one actually goes to the Colorado General Assembly website, one will find that the firearms covered by the legislation are quite limited. “The bill defines a “specified semiautomatic firearm” as a semiautomatic rifle or semiautomatic shotgun with a detachable magazine or a gas-operated semiautomatic handgun with a detachable magazine.” Please note that women and minorities can still purchase revolvers, semiautomatic pistols that use the “blowback” method of operation, pump action shotguns, bolt action and lever action rifles, and every other type of firearm not listed above.
One would have thought that an NRA-certified instructor would not have a problem with a training requirement for weapons listed in the bill. Instead, by using classic anti-regulatory language, these are “onerous requirements” that are “burdensome and exclusionary.” Apparently, the only good gun law is no gun law. Please contact your legislator and ask them to support Senate Bill 3.
Guy Wroble, Denver
Same old tired fear-mongering from the NRA. Now, it’s crime waves involving Venezuelan gangs that are targeting our communities and women specifically, and only the NRA and semiautomatic weapons that increase the rate of fire, essentially assault-style weapons, will keep us safe. If Barbara Miller is dedicated to education and safety, I suggest she take the carveout to Senate Bill 3 for individuals who complete a state-regulated training course. Apparently, essential safety training is too “burdensome and exclusionary” for the NRA.
According to Brady United, during the 10-year period the federal assault weapons ban was in effect, mass shooting fatalities were 70% less likely to occur. After Congress let the ban expire, the organization reported that mass shootings in which six or more people were killed increased by 347%.
Having a gun in the home is risk escalation. Studies have shown that having a gun in the home was linked with nearly three times higher odds that someone would be killed at home by a family member or intimate acquaintance. Post the Supreme Court’s Heller decision, any and all gun safety laws are too burdensome for the NRA. This dangerous and deadly expansive view of gun rights is giving people the tools to injure and kill each other. Maybe a better recourse for women and domestic abuse would be for the NRA to spend time, energy, and resources advocating to strengthening penalties for violent offenders, enhancing mental health support and providing resources for domestic violence survivors instead of promoting gun violence.
Leonard Juliano, Arvada
Car chains are not very helpful when you’re blocked by semis
Re: “Stuck behind spinouts, crashes in I-70 ski traffic? There is a better way for Colorado,” Feb. 21 editorial
Allowing vendors to sell and enable vendors to install snow chains for Colorado drivers by passing Senate Bill 69 makes sense. Sort of.
But what the editorial board doesn’t seem to know, but every driver on the Western Slope trying to get back and forth across Vail Pass and through the Eisenhower tunnel does know, is that selling chains will accomplish only one thing — Colorado cars and trucks will be able to move a few inches forward per hour much easier while stuck between chained up semi-trucks that are not able to negotiate snowy conditions due to weight distribution and size. Period. No matter how skillful their drivers are.
Until CDOT works with federal officials to close mountain passes during snowfall to semi traffic or initiates right lane pilot car guided convoys during snowfalls for semis back and forth across our passes, chains for four, front, and all-wheel drive passenger cars will be useless — because, due to nonstop semi wrecks, there will be no way to move to take advantage of increased traction.
Problems can’t be corrected without actually identifying them.
Leslie Wilson, Collbran
Making the case for Belmar Park open space
Re: “Belmar Park: Going back to the drawing board isn’t always feasible,” Feb. 23 letter to the editor
The answer to the standoff over Lakewood’s Belmar Park property is for the city to use its power of eminent domain and acquire this land before the five-story development is built. The failure of our planning department to do so at the get-go is a major mistake in governance. Eminent domain is usually exercised for a public purpose, and I can think of no more appropriate instance than this, where the majority of Lakewood residents want that area abutting the park to become a part of it. Then, the controversy over fee-for-green space can proceed.
Susan Williams, Lakewood
The citizens of Lakewood should vehemently disagree with the letter. We must all agree that housing affordability is not “a bigger issue than open space.”
Open space is irreplaceable; houses are not.
June Jones Paulding, Lakewood
An example of non-biased reporting
Re: “Neighbors nix plans for homeless facility,” Feb. 23 news story
How lucky are we to have John Aguilar writing for The Post? His article is a great example of what good journalism should be, and at one time was, compared to the biased reporting we get on so many topics — both from the left and the right — these days.
Kudos to John for his ongoing, thorough writing!
Mark Buckner, Firestone
Polis’s mandates are fighting climate change
Re: “Polis’ energy mandates will make heating and cooling costs skyrocket in Colorado,” Feb. 23 commentary
The commentary on energy costs due to Gov. Jared Polis’ mandates ignores the very reason for the mandates: climate change.
The majority of Americans believe that the climate is changing, humans are the primary cause, and many agree that fossil fuels are the primary cause. We are witnessing climate change, with worldwide increased temperatures, storm and fire occurrence and intensity, and drought. All of the sources cited in the commentary are connected to the oil and gas industry, such as PetroNerds (note that name) and the Common Sense Institute (if you look them up, they are hardly non-partisan).
Coal use is rapidly declining due to emissions. While natural gas (methane) will be in use for some time as a backup, it has significant emissions. An MIT study finds that fossil fuel facilities kill many more birds than wind per unit of energy generation.
Marc Alston, Denver
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Originally Published:
 
																	
																															Denver, CO
Broncos vs Texans: 3 Keys to Victory
 
														 
We’re hardly two years removed from the last time these two teams faced off but the embarrassment from that ugly loss still dampens the hearts of those unfortunate enough to still remember that game and all 100 opportunities they wasted.
But there’s good news: the Denver Broncos are a lot better now than they were then.
Let’s dig into how the Broncos can keep their momentum going and extend their winning streak to six games.
1. Find a way to make up for Pat Surtain’s injury
One positive I want to take away from their game against the Cowboys is that Surtain missed the entire second half against one of the best passing offenses in the league and Denver did just fine. Their secondary held up against two of the best receiving threats in football. And while Nico Collins is a legitimate threat, the Texans don’t have that 1-2 punch like the Cowboys do.
One way to keep that going is to get pressure on CJ Stroud. Their offensive line is only giving up just above two sacks a game this year, but they’ve also benefited from a somewhat sub-par schedule. The schemes that Vance Joseph has in store for them will be lethal. I expect everyone up front to eat.
There’s also the added bonus of Dre Greenlaw making his second return to action this season, following a bogus suspension. Having him being able to secure the middle of the field and let the DBs give a soft shell over the top should make things that much harder for Stroud to deal with as well.
2. Keep running that dang ball
Believe it or not, the Broncos currently boast the third-best rushing attack in the league with 1,102 yards on the season (137.8 YPG). This was not the case last season, the season before, or the season before that. And it’s this running game that’s completely elevated the offense, and it’s what kept them on the field last week as they went three-and-out the least amount of times in a game as they have all year long.
On first downs against the Cowboys, when the Broncos ran the ball they averaged over six yards a carry. On the game they averaged nearly seven yards per carry when adjusting for kneel downs and scrambles. JK Dobbins himself averaged 7.4 YPC.
This team is a running team through and through. And when you have an offensive line that dominates as much as Denver’s does (specifically looking at you, Quinn Meinerz) you have to keep pounding that rock. And the Texans only make up the fifth-best run defense, and out of the seven teams Houston has gone up against, only one team currently has a rushing attack that ranks in the top half of the league.
Truly this is a defense that is untested in the run game and the Broncos by-far boast the best rushing attack the Texans will see all year outside the Bills and the Colts.
A great way to keep a good defense guessing is the frequent use of both run and pass options. Bo Nix has been good at both of these this season. Against the Cowboys he was really carving them up with his pass options. Sean Payton does a great job switching up motions and formations to give the offense a numbers advantage, and Nix has been able to read the majority of these and make the proper call.
If they can keep these type of plays sprinkled in throughout the game, then that’s just another wrinkle the Texans have to come up with a plan for. And this is not something they’ve really encountered this season.
Sean Payton is a great offensive coach and he’ll show up on Sunday.
Denver, CO
RTD bans ads covering windows of metro Denver buses and trains
 
														 
Regional Transportation District directors voted Tuesday night to ban the bright wrap-around advertisements that partially block views out windows on metro Denver buses and trains, resolving to give riders the same chance to see their surroundings as people in cars and make public transportation more appealing.
The prohibition means losing revenue — RTD officials calculated that window-blocking ads brought in $786,000 between April and September this year — at a time when agency officials are grappling with financial constraints.
Thousands of tiny holes, each half the size of a frozen pea, spread across RTD’s adhesive vinyl ad wraps allow riders enough visibility to know whether they’re nearing stops, but the ads obscure landscapes and prevent would-be riders outside buses and trains from assessing safety inside before boarding.
“It is worth the trade-off,” RTD Director Brett Paglieri said, campaigning for the ban as a step to help riders savor beauty.
Selling out RTD windows for commercial messaging “assumes us to be second-class citizens. We are equal to people who choose to drive private vehicles,” Paglieri said. “When you cannot see out the windows clearly, it denigrates the experience of riding. We want our riders to know we care about their experience.”
The elected directors approved the ban in a 9-4 vote.
They decided amid rising concerns about lagging RTD ridership, including criticism from state lawmakers invested in urban densification housing projects, who say viable public transportation is essential to manage vehicle congestion on roads.
RTD directors also voted Tuesday to prepare for a restart of special bus service to Denver Broncos and Colorado Rockies games downtown next year as a way to attract more riders.
Meanwhile, RTD directors are grappling with projected revenue shortfalls despite a record $1.2 billion budget, expected to increase to more than $1.3 billion next year. RTD executives have said services may have to be cut to manage costs, based on financial forecasts that RTD’s primary source of revenue from sales taxes paid by residents across eight counties will decrease.
The ad-wraps issue arose in recent years as directors heard rider complaints.
“The ads are truly obnoxious. They obliterate a full view of your surroundings,” longtime RTD employee and regular rider Bob Brewster, 79, said in an interview.
“Looking out those tiny little holes in the ad wraps doesn’t give you the full picture. It limits your vision,” Brewster said. “Being able to see out the window is an enjoyable part of riding public transit,” he added, and using buses and trains for commercial messaging “uglifies our public transit vehicles.”
RTD officials have displayed ads on buses and trains for more than 50 years. RTD Director Michael Guzman, opposing the ban, argued it will cut revenue needed to maintain service. “RTD is not about the vibes. RTD is about moving people.”
The grassroots advocacy group Greater Denver Transit welcomed the decision.
“People who ride public transportation deserve the basic human dignity of being able to look out the window without obstruction,” the group’s co-founder, James Flattum, said. “The revenue RTD has generated from ad space on vehicle windows over the last decade has been so small that it is effectively irrelevant to supporting RTD’s operations. But it comes at a dear cost to the rider experience.”
RTD officials said their customer satisfaction surveys have not included questions about wrap-around ads since 2012. A Greater Denver Transit survey of riders found that 84% felt ads covering windows degraded their transit experience.
Ads that cover windows have been placed on 493 buses (out of 955 in the fleet), 128 light rail trains (out of 201) and 48 commuter rail trains (out of 66), according to agency records.
RTD officials said ad revenues totaled $4.9 million in 2023, $4.4 million in 2024 and $3.1 million this year through September — the bulk of it from ads that do not cover windows and still will be sold.
The agency recently terminated a contract with Lamar Advertising and has received bids from competitor agencies as part of an effort to rethink ads as a source of revenue. Public transit officials in St. Louis, Missouri, and Albuquerque, New Mexico. have decided to remove ads from the sides of buses and trains.
“Advertising revenue is used for RTD’s general operations,” RTD officials said in a statement relayed by spokeswoman Pauline Haberman. “Any potential reduction in revenue will need to be considered and accounted for in the budget.”
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Denver, CO
Denver City Council seeks to block Flock cameras contract due to concerns about
 
														 
The battle over Denver’s Flock camera surveillance system escalated Tuesday with nine Denver City Council members asking the city auditor to step in and essentially block Mayor Mike Johnston’s proposed extension of a contract with Flock.
In a letter dated Oct. 25 and obtained by CBS News Colorado, the nine council members asked Denver City Auditor Tim O’Brien to not sign a five month contract extension with Flock that Johnston announced last week.
                          
                   
              
“We have serious concerns about Flock Group Inc’s ethics, transparency and credibility,” reads the council letter. “We do not believe the City and County of Denver should continue doing business with a company that has demonstrated such disregard for honesty and accountability.”
The council members accuse Johnston of deliberately evading city council oversight of the Flock agreement by violating city contracting rules.
Last week, the Mayor announced he was unilaterally extending Flock’s camera contract with Denver through early 2026, with measures in place to prevent federal authorities from accessing data from Denver’s Flock cameras.
In response to the city council letter, a spokesperson for Johnston on Tuesday released a statement saying, “It is the Mayor’s job to keep the city safe. License plate readers do just that, and there is nothing about this no-cost extension that is beyond the scope of the Mayor’s responsibilities or authority.”
Auditor Tim O’Brien said on Tuesday he would perform due diligence “by considering whether this contract is intentionally split in violation of city contracting rules and assessing if it subverted City Council’s independent oversight.”
Some city council members have expressed privacy concerns around the use of the cameras.
Denver City Council’s Health and Safety Committee is planning to discuss the Flock issue again on Wednesday with an update scheduled on the Surveillance Task Force.
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