Colorado Sen. Mike Johnston Update

I spend most of my update time talking about my kids, not just because they are funny, but because they are omnipresent.

But this one is about my parents.

My parents have been married for 41 years; they are both fervent Catholics but were not originally married in the Catholic Church because my dad was married once before. Since I was in high school, they have been talking about getting married in the Catholic Church and renewing their vows. But along the way they were too busy worrying about everyone else, raising us, supporting a community, building a business. There was never time.

Seven years ago, my dad was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. This past November, his care became serious enough that we had to move him to a memory care facility, and last month he was hospitalized with pneumonia and we were worried.

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Finding of No Significant Impact

24-AH 64 "Apache" helicopters

The Department of Defense (DOD) and Department of the Army (DOA) announced two public meetings next week to discuss their plans to issue yet another Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the 238,000 acre Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site (PCMS) in southeastern Colorado. 

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Proposed Changes to Rules and Regulations Regarding Marijuana

Civic Center Park 4/20/2014

City & County of Denver

Department of Parks and Recreation

Notice of Public Hearing regarding

Proposed Changes to Rules and Regulations

Notice is hereby given that effective June 12, 2014 the Parks and Recreation Rules and Regulations amendments will be amended to address the following issues: 

8A.0    Marijuana. (39-10)  The prohibition of the consumption, use, display, transfer, distribution, sale, or growth of marijuana, as specified herein, is important to the safe and harmonious public use of Park Facilities.

            8A.1:    Violation: The consumption, use, display, transfer, distribution, sale, or growth of marijuana in a Park Facility is prohibited.

The Administrative Citation Rules and Regulations for the Denver Department of Parks and Regulations, as adopted May 11, 2012, are hereby amended with respect to Attachment B (Penalty Fines) to add the following fine for violation of Section 39-10(c), D.R.M.C., regarding marijuana, which fine is in accordance with Section 39-10(d), D.R.M.C.:

Section 39-10(c)                     Marijuana                                $150.00

The existing provisions in Attachment B pertaining to a second offense within one year and a third offense within one year shall be applicable to violations involving marijuana.

A copy of the Rules and Regulations, as amended, is on file with the Manager of Parks and Recreation and is available for public inspection on the websitewww.denvergov.org/parksandrecreation. A public hearing will take place June 12 at 5:30 p.m. in the Wellington Webb Municipal Building located at 201 W Colfax Ave., 4^th floor, room 4.F.6.

By:  /S/  LAURI DANNEMILLER

Manager, Parks and Recreation

a

LAST MINUTE NOTICE

She's 81-years-old Black and afraid. The neighbors have received hateful flyers against Blacks and Jews. She is willing to stand with the community. Are we willing to stand with her and the neighbors? We will gather at 2700 Lafayette at 4:30 pm and canvas the community at 5:00 pm. Stand Against Hate! Period! Share.

Saturday, 1:pm, April 26th at the Denver Capitol Building - NoKXL

From:	rtraversoestes@gmail.com on behalf of Roberta Traverso Mooney (Roberta.T.Mooney@gmail.com)
Sent:	Fri 4/25/14 2:35 PM
To:	350denverannouncement@lists.riseup.net

REMINDER:

Mark your calendars: tomorrow is the #NoKXL #RejectAndProtect action in Denver! 

On April 26th, thousands of people around the country will stand with the Cowboy Indian Alliance currently in DC to send a message that we must reject the Keystone XL pipeline!

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UPDATE FROM FRIENDS OF DENVER PARKS - APRIL 25, 2014

Newsletter from Renee Lewis - President
Friends of Denver Parks

Just wanted to take a moment to let folks know about a new Facebook page

Denver Alliance for Public Education



As you probably have noticed that the only way to get real news these days is through our community newspapers and neighbors. We are going back to the era of "Fence Talk" to find out what's really happening in the neighborhood. I think at this time in our history that it is important to form up groups such as the Denver Alliance for Public Education, so that everyone can get information beyond the polished campaigns designed to sell ideas that are for profit-making and not the welfare of school children.

The Hampden Heights North Park fiasco is a good example. The safety of this site for a school is absolutely unacceptable. Neighbors from the very beginning expressed concerns about the safety for the children in this plan. Now it appears that the Culture of Deceit continues as we have learned the contract for Rocky Mountain Prep School has likely been decided behind Tom Boasberg's closed doors without fair process. Are we surprised? Clearly this idea was designed for profit and not for the children. Seems there's a lot of that going around these days.

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CAN TPP BE DEFEATED?

This week we seemed to score a few in the win column - all things considered. We started off with the New York Times Editorial Board finally taking a position on TPP that reflected some critical analysis, and the L.A. Times running a TPP Op-Ed penned by Congress Members Louise Slaughter, George Miller and Rosa DeLauro - giving these vocal opponents of Fast Track and TPP nearly as much space as Secretary of State John Kerry had for his "TPP love letter" several weeks back.   

Then we heard that President Obama this week failed to smooth out the TPP rough spots with Japan so he could return from his four-nation Asia trip with his hoped for TPP "agreement in principle." (Because the information source requires a paid subscription, the link above is to my post on the Global TPP Team Facebook page. Thanks to CTC's Arthur Stamoulis for sharing the original article.)   

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Anthony responds to LiveWell re: I-70 relocation

Rachel,

While you have taken it upon LiveWell to remove I-70 from its current location and put it in a new one, a wonderfully admirable task known as NIMBYism, which you will find, if there ever is a new EIS opened for that concept, won't be universally welcomed in Adams County; oddly enough nobody from your group seems to realize that moving a school is less expensive than moving an interstate highway.

You've also conveniently ignored the additional 6-8 years of planning which would be involved, thus putting the 650 children in Swansea Elementary in limbo underneath the viaduct to no good purpose, because a boulevard at grade next to the school will be a much worse disaster than the below grade, covered highway. But, you're the expert in our neighborhood, since only 4% of us have a college degree (just read the Piton Foundation report.)

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STUDENT DEBT PROTEST - FRIDAY AT THE CAPITOL

 Students and Labor Allies to Protest

Department of Education

 on Anniversary of $1 Trillion of Student Debt

Denver, Colorado – April 25, 2014

Two years ago this month, American student educational debt passed the $1 trillion mark ― a level that is unmatched in any other country around the globe.

Therefore, on Friday, April 25, 2014, the Colorado Student Power Alliance (COSPA) and supporting organizations ― including Colorado Jobs With Justice ― will protest this unjust situation. Demonstrators will gather at 9 a.m. at the Denver Capitol building at 200 E. Colfax and then march to the U.S. Department of Education building at 1244 N. Speer Boulevard.

Students and their supporting demonstrators will demand that Arne Duncan, the head of the U.S. Department of Education, make four key changes to the current system of higher education that continues to drown students in crippling debt and long-term economic hardship:

1.   A mandatory increase in Pell Grants, which serve low-income students.

2.   Full disclosure of banking products used by colleges and universities;

3.   That all students be informed about federal repayment loan opportunities, including the Income-Based Repayment and Pay-As-You-Earn programs, which provide low-cost alternatives for repaying debt.

4.   That the regional Department of Education refuse to resign contracts with Sallie Mae, one of the largest lenders in the nation that profits from student debt. 

Finally, students will share their stories about how educational debt has negatively impacted their lives and, in many cases, their families’ lives.

The Colorado Student Power Alliance wants to make the American public aware of the troubling nature of student debt in the U.S., its damaging effects, and workable ways we can reduce it in order to protect future generations from repayment default and economic hardship.

Tom Boasberg and a Culture of Deceit

To say there is a Culture of Deceit in our school system is a lesson that Friends of Denver Parks learned very early on when we encountered the back room dealings of Superintendent Tom Boasberg and Mayor Michael Hancock. Then we learned that those who didn't go along with the plan promptly lost their positions. To say there is a Culture of Deceit is an understatement.

I was so saddened to see voters agree to support Tom Boasberg this last election and provide him with more "bobble heads" ie yes men when we had regular folks running for school board seats who live in the community, and were clearly ready to question the status quo. I guess they didn't have shiny shoes and a slick story, so they didn't win. I hope that everyone will think clearer next election and gets some real scrappers to fight this craziness.

In case, you thought it was just me that noticed, take a look at the feature WestWord
article this week. It is as grim as it gets as our experienced teachers are being layed off in droves to fit the new models of low-wage pay for teachers. This is our community and the action of Tom Boasberg is going to hurt us all.
Just this Friday, Friends of Denver Parks sent out an article we found from the Colorado Chalk Beat.

"A perception at Hampden Heights lingers that Rocky Mountain Prep, a high-structure charter school, is a shoo-in for the campus.
The charter’s own actions may have exacerbated those feelings. The school recently posted a job listing for a “Founding School Leader: Hampden Heights Campus.” They have since changed it to the more generic “Founding School Leader: Second Campus."

Colorado Chalk Beat, April 18, 2018

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