Friday, November 29, 2013

NEWS MEDIA NEGLIGENT, PUBLIC UNINFORMED ABOUT TREATY SCHEME

Commentary by Dave Felice

Dave Felice
Coloradans who get their news from local media won’t know much about the secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a so-called international trade agreement. Only Denver Direct is carrying news and comment about the TPP.

Daily newspapers ignore or dismiss news coverage. The story is too profound for broadcast media. Community newspapers have not yet realized how a treaty with Pacific nations can devastate local government and the local economy.

For example, most Coloradans don’t know that members of the state’s Congressional delegation declined to join 194 House members, Democrats and Republicans, in signing joint letters against the treaty.

Congresswoman Diana DeGette made a weak statement about opposing the “Fast Track” approval process. Rep. Ed Perlmutter said the bipartisan letters had “too many adjectives,” and composed a tepid letter on his own. Congressman Jared Polis issued an unpublished statement about “transparency and balance” in the negotiations. The Republicans from Colorado stayed silent.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership could destroy a just-launched state program to boost Colorado exports, especially agricultural products.

In another instance, Colorado residents who care about how and where food is produced would be shocked to learn that TPP promotes importation of products from Vietnam, a totalitarian nation with substandard health requirements and no limits on child labor. TPP also eliminates “country of origin” labeling.

Because the Fourth Estate has betrayed the public by ignoring the story, I have set up two online petitions: http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/denver-post-dont-ignore

and http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/denver-post-meet-obligation.fb40?mailing_id=17327&source=s.em.cr&%3Br_by=4060277&r_by=124

These petitions are similar. One is a “short” version and the other is slightly longer. Anyone can sign both petitions. Both petitions demand better news and commentary about TPP.

Sign one or both petitions. It’s one way to make your voice heard in opposition to the unbalanced secrecy surrounding the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Some 600 corporate "advisers" have online access to the TPP text, while members of Congress must sit in a locked room somewhere in the Capitol building to read it, with a
guard stationed outside. And because the text is classified "secret," it is kept completely from the American people. The public is considered a "trade barrier" by the U.S. Trade Representative, Ambassador Michael Froman. Media that once scrupulously guarded the public trust by publishing The Pentagon Papers and reporting almost non-stop about Watergate are not only negligent, but complicit in keeping the story away from the public. Some newspapers, such as the Los Angeles Times, add insult to injury by giving valuable space to commentary from Secretary of State John Kerry, whose "insights" about trade amount to nothing more than love letters to the TPP. At the same time, the paper slices well-crafted rebuttals from TPP opponents, such as Sierra Club's Michael Brune, down to a few paltry lines. The daily publication in Denver, however, can’t even manage to do that much. The Denver Post has rejected independent commentary which included links to substantiating data. Daily newspapers all over the country and other mainstream media – with few exceptions – have done a terrible job of covering this story. The public has a right and a need to know that TPP has very little to do with trade. It's simply a convenient end-run around pesky regulations – "barriers to trade" in corporate parlance – that keep multi-national corporations in check. TPP would encourage sending more "middle class" American jobs overseas and undermine nearly every regulation protecting workers, consumers, public health, and the environment. TPP would further deregulate banks on a global level, help drug companies extend patents indefinitely, and turn our Internet service providers into the thought police. In short, it's a terrible deal for everyone except a few heads of state and the collection of multinational corporations who stand to profit, and handsomely, if it passes. And sadly, the whole nasty scheme is supported by President Barack Obama, a Democrat elected as a champion of populism.

Join the campaign to demand that news media do their job and cover the TPP story. Sign the petitions now.

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

THE SHRINKING OF PUBLIC OPEN SPACE

From the INC President, Larry Ambrose

Larry Ambrose, INC President
For better or worse, I came to INC after years of involvement with many neighborhood zoning and open space skirmishes. In recent years, however, it seems that the public has become used to -- even numbed to -- Mayors and City Councils who seem to have become uncompromising cheerleaders for powerful development interests. If you are fortunate enough to live in a stable neighborhood not overrun by the stampede toward density, you probably don't live in the inner city.

There seem to be a number of reasons why people now perceive development interests to have carte blanche in Denver. Most obvious is the tradition of “courtesy zoning” about which I have written before. Despite Council's quasi-judicial responsibility, this is the very real, but unwritten rule, that a large majority of Council members will support and vote on site-specific zoning matters according to the wishes of the Council member whose District is effected. As a result, developers have learned that it takes only one vote to get a zoning change in Denver. Perhaps the most notorious example of Council's allegiance to courtesy zoning was the Lowry Vista rezoning in 2009. Despite the fact that the subject of the rezoning was an unmitigated, toxic waste dump, and that opponents stayed until 2 a.m. to voice objections to it being developed, the Council overwhelmingly (12-1) followed then Councilwoman Marcia Johnson's lead to approve a massive 400,000 sq. ft. commercial mixed-use development.

WE WAS "ROBB"ED

Also from Westword As seen in the fotochop illustration above, City Councilwoman Jeanne Robb, who has confessed to pot smoking during a public hearing of medical marijuana dispensaries, could be featured as The Chronic Woman.
Councilwoman Jeanne Robb now has an amendment named after her - The Robb Amendment. This amendment redefines "public", when it comes to smoking cannabis, to be anything that can be seen from a public space, e.g. your front yard, your back yard if you don't have a privacy fence, and even the inside of your house if it can be seen through a window from a sidewalk or street.
Moreover, the draft defines "openly" and "publicly" as, respectively, "occurring or existing in a manner that is unconcealed, undisguised or obvious" and "occurring or existing in a public place; or occurring or existing in any outdoor location where the consumption of marijuana is clearly observable from a public place," with the latter including but not limited to "streets and highways, transportation facilities, schools, places of amusement, parks, playgrounds and the common areas of public and private buildings or facilities."
As usual, go to Westword for the whole story. Denver Post coverage here.

Monday, November 25, 2013

THC NEWSLETTER UPDATE from JESSICA LEROUX - November 25, 2013

I hate the DEA... I blame the MMED for us seeing them.
I wanna state something on my posotion on last week's raids...
It enrages me that local regulatory incompetence has brought us to the problems faced in other states with federal scrutiny...
I personally have no problem with who was targeted. long time readers of my newsletter know I warned about the target being somebody to avoid repeatedly... as i have watched these guys cut a swath of destruction across many good clients of my business. many of us have been waiting and hoping the $$$ paid to the STATE regulatory agency in good faith would be used to clear out this cancer from our industry... I am positive of at least a dozen formal complaints about Lazlo Baggi filed with the MMED going back to early 2012... In my one on one meeting with then new director Laura Harris in Feb of 2012 I was questioned about his business practices and told the truth of what I knew... YET we must wait over 20 months and two directors of the STATE agency with NO action taken or proof any investigation ever happened, and its a jewelery bust and some damn guns that finally take the dirtbag down??? SO basically the do nothing MMED allows this fuck with dozens of complaints of flagrant violations of regulations to swallow up a dozen honest mom and pop operators for over a year, and their incompetence brings in the FEDs instead of the proper regulatory agency doing their job using their funds to clean up the ranks and protecting local industry from Federal scrutiny... BTW Vertical integration is what lead to this guy (with the big ass yucky buggy grow of weed too nasty to sell instate) stealing businesses from the orginal owners... And the fuck Lazlo didnt even get arrested...

THE MYTH OF PUBLIC INPUT: ONE HOUR COURTESY PUBLIC HEARING

Join in the hilarity on Ch. 8 or online.
Snipped from FB.


Saturday, November 23, 2013

GOOSE POOP IN THE LOOP? Bright blue plastic tubing doesn't belong in City Park

Thanks to Linda Drake for this excellent report. (Pictures from the Re-imagine Play presentation added)
Editor's captions: What is this nonsense? 
11/21/13  Denver City Park Loop  Meeting with (Park Hill) Philosophers: Larry Drake,Frank Sullivan, Wick Downing, JD MacFarlane, Bill Juraschek, John Mullens, Al Haggerty, Bill Sullivan, Dick Young; not philosophers: Linda Drake, Shirley Schley,Tom Morris, Councilman Albus Brooks, and Deputy Manager of Parks & Planning Scott Gilmore.
We were very fortunate to have both Scott Gilmore and Albus Brooks meet with us on this past snowy Thursday morning at Bogey’s. The responsiveness to our initial contact with Albus last week, after first learning about The City Park Loop Project, was terrific. 
At our meeting Scott Gilmore presented most of the information and the Parks and Recs point-of-view, with Albus Brooks arriving late (snow traffic), but also offering thoughts and information. Both are supportive of the City Park Loop development, replacing and expanding upon the broken-down Justin Redd Playground.
While the Park Hill Philosphers group & friends continues to have concerns, one of our greatest frustrations was the lack of communication and information about the project to this point, which has been restricted - though not purposely - to small-audience settings, like neighborhood organizations, and important meeting times during the summer, occasional articles in neighborhood papers. Both Albus and Scott repeated that they have reached out numerous times - they have done their job in communication, with the inevitable implication that we have not done ours in receiving the information. 
Scott introduced himself and talked a little about his background, which included working for the Department of Wildlife teaching youth how to fish, serving on the Parks and Rec Board for 8 years, living at 26th and Ivy for a time, and earning a degree in Biology, born of his love for the parks and outdoors.  
He told the story of the City Loop project development: in 2010 (1/2011 on Re-Imagine Play Public Outreach Schedule) the Department received a grant from the Colorado Health Foundation [ The Colorado Health Foundation Grant was $75,000 from what group researchers could find on the internet http://www.coloradohealth.org/Map/grants_search.aspx?id=274&Cod=3807 ] to develop a replacement for the Justin Redd Playground, which is deteriorating and requires inordinate amounts of maintenance from the City. 
With this grant, P & R put out a request for proposal (RFP) and 12 firms came back with concepts. “The public” narrowed those proposals from 12 to 8 to 3 over a period of time. Then “the public” determined that the Loop was the preferred design. P & R hired the architect “almost a year ago” and held meetings throughout the winter of 2013 to obtain feedback on design details. 

Friday, November 22, 2013

Twenty story buildings - Sloans Lake

by Larry Ambrose
 
We are inviting you to join with us, a group of residents of West and Northwest Denver who have organized under the name, Sloans Lake Town Center to work for reasonable development of the St. Anthony Hospital site based upon the St. Anthony's Redevelopment Task Force Plan and the West Colfax Plan of 2006.   The General Development Plan for the former site of St. Anthony Hospital in the West Colfax/Sloan's Lake neighborhood is currently scheduled to go before the Denver Planning Board on Wednesday, December 18.
 
What is planned is pictured below. Twenty and 12 story buildings along 17th Avenue, directly across from Sloan's Lake Park. Up to 1750 units, more than 2,500 new residents and a tiny, 1.4 acres of internal open space surrounded and shaded by tall buildings. Click here for pictures. The plan is the exact opposite of what was envisioned by more than 100 community participants in the St. Anthony Task Force Plan iand we need your help to prove this before the Denver Planning Board on December 18.
 
Larry
 
 
 
The owners of the 25 acre development site, EnviroFinance Group (EFG), are subdividing it, overpricing it and trying to sell it off in parcels. Their game is to put a plan in place that will have density and heights will justify the high asking price. The Hancock Administration is endorsing this outrageous, downtown-size development on a site which has the potential to revitalize the neighborhood and be a project of regional and national importance.  
 
Your help is needed to defeat this scheme so that a legitimate plan can be approved which will result in a neighborhood compatible, human scale, market driven development that will actually be built.  We stand for correcting the plan to include three things:
 
            ►  Adequate open space
 
            ►  Pushing the buildings back from the Park and tiering them up toward Colfax
 
            ►  Creation of a multicultural Town Center
 
What you Can Do
VERY IMPORTANT - You can help by doing any or all of the following:

► Help pass out flyers door to door.  You may pick up packets Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday  November 25, 26 and 27.  During that time, you will be able to pick them up from the home of Cam and Lynn Cornish at 1941 Lowell Blvd. (720-375-0888).  Please feel free to knock, however, should no one be at home, the packets will be left in a box in a conspicuous location near the door.  Packets of 30 flyers, along with a script and map of the blocks households to contact will be made available.  Also, rather than asking that you pass them out at a specific time, you may chose to pass them out at any convenient time between Monday, November 25 and Sunday, November 31.  Please feel free call 720- 490-1991 or email  LDA@earthnet.net  if you have any questions. (Copy of Flyer attached)
 
 Let your opinion be known at a Public Meeting sponsored by the City of Denver, Community Planning and Development and EFG Tuesday, December 3, 2013from 6 to 7:30 pm at Cheltenham Elementary School, 1580 Julian Street
 
 Attend the Denver Planning Board Public Hearing, Wednesday, December 18, 2013, 3:00 p.m., Webb Building, 201 W. Colfax, Rooms 4.F.6/4.G.2.
 
With enough support from civic minded Denver residents like you, we can prevent this train-wreck which is now on a well greased track that will be a disaster for Sloan's Lake Park and NW Denver. Please go to
www.SloansLakeTownCenter.org (website to be up by Friday, November 21)  and/or join the group Sloans Lake Town Center on facebook (https://www.facebook.com/groups/684379171586669/687741181250468/?notif_t=like)

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Bad Breaking News

While I was giving an interview on Skype regarding Cannabis in Colorado, the DEA, IRS and local gendarmes were Pounding the Plant (tm) at as many as 20 local dispensaries in Denver. As usual WESTWORD has it covered here. Be certain to read the comments.

Friday, November 15, 2013

MORE LOOPY CITY PARK PLAN

Yikes!

"Super-dramatic elements are a true measure of what a 21st century civic space can be."

Take 19 minutes to get the whole picture. You'll be amazed.



Wednesday, November 13, 2013

In memory of Edward F. Trumbule - born Nov. 13, 1913

Edward F. Trumbule at 18

My nephew, Steve, pointed out that today was the 100th anniversary of my father's birth in Pittsburg, Kansas. 

In the 1930s, Kansas was in the dust bowl and the country was in the Great Depression. One of "Eddie's" early ventures was with the Civilian Conservation Corp. He was sent by train to Camp 787 in Schley, Minnesota in 1933 to plant trees. I remember two stories he told of those times. 

- The temperature got down to -55F and it was so cold you had to hold your breath when running between buildings.
- They lived in barracks, military style, and ate at the mess hall. Once, at dinner time, they were served a goulash that no one wanted to eat. They were told they had to eat it all. When no one was looking, Eddie dumped the pot under the table. Upon being discovered and asked his name, Eddie replied "Patrick Henry" and, much to the delight of his fellows, the Sgt. wrote it down. He never did take to authority very well.

More photos from that era:



Back in Pittsburg, the only work available was at a local truck farm for $1 per day. There he met my mother, Adele Folle, and they married in 1936.
On a whim, and at the urging of a friend, he took the Government Civil Service exam, and was surprised with an offer to move to Washington, D.C. to train as a sheet-metal worker. He worked for The Bureau of Engraving and Printing for the next 38 years.
I am forever grateful that he was adventurous enough to make that move in a time of hardship and uncertainty, for it surely changed my destiny in a very positive way.




Monday, November 11, 2013

LOOPY HANCOCK PLAN FOR CITY PARK


Loopy Plans v3 from PH on Vimeo.

THC NEWSLETTER by Jessica LeRoux - November 11, 2013

Hey Now! 



I know its been a while since I wrote to you guys, but I don't have to tell any of you how crazy October through election day was… 
i realized why halloween and election day are so close together... its when politicians pretend to be something they are not, and go all over town with their goody bag asking for handouts... they only call it tricking as they are the 2nd oldest profession and there are no treats... they woulda done it on actual halloween but y'know gubment never have their shit done right on time...
anyway I'm back and I have a bunch of new stuff to catch you up on, so lets get started…. 

Deliveries for the holiday week will be as follows, so please plan in advance ok! Delivery to: suburban front range, Boulder & Denver will occur on Tuesday the 26th, Delivery to ALL mountain communities will occur on wednesday the 27th (yes i will be driving these deliveries on one of the worst traffic days of the year!) this way everybody will be Fully stocked before the holiday weekend, and I can eat leftovers on Friday! 

Saturday, November 9, 2013

Congressional oversight of foreign trade is essential

Commentary
By Dave Felice
These days, bipartisan agreement on anything in Congress is big news.  So, it is worth noting that many members of the House of Representatives from both parties are trying to preserve Congressional authority over trade agreements.
One reason is that today’s “trade” agreements include provisions allowing foreign corporations to skirt U.S. laws and courts and drag the U.S. government before foreign tribunals to demand compensation for environmental and health laws the corporations think undermine their expected profits.
Under past deals like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), more than $400 million has been paid out to corporations for toxics bans, land-use rules, regulatory permits, water and timber policies and more.  Just under U.S. pacts, more than $14 billion remains pending in corporate claims against medicine patent policies, pollution clean ups, climate and energy laws, and other public interest polices.

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

DMV NEWS

DMV’s Welton Street Office to move to city-owned Tremont Building; but remain in Five Points
Denver—The Denver Motor Vehicle Division (DMV) announced today their move-plan for the Welton Street Office.  In November, the office will move to the city-owned Tremont Building located at 2855 Tremont Place in what use to be the Denver Human Services Building.  The move is part of the city’s ongoing effort to better utilize taxpayer resources and will save money and allow for expanded services.

CLASS: GROWING MEDICINE UNDER ANY CONDITIONS


WE ARE DENVER

It's been 2 and a half years since Michael Hancock became mayor proclaiming "we are Denver."  Now it's time that we who are Denver check in with this administration and ask what works well and what could be better. Who better to lead the discussion than long time columnist and city watchdog Susan Barnes Gelt . Join us and Ms Barnes Gelt as we examine the Hancock administration.

FORMER CITY OFFICIAL FILES ETHICS CHARGE AGAINST PAST PLANNING BOARD CHAIR

Former Councilwoman and first female Council president, Cathy Donohue, claims former Planning Board Chairman Brad Buchanan violates ethics rules in the redevelopment of the old St. Anthony’s Hospital site in west Denver.
Donohue, who served 19 years on Denver City Council and was Deputy Manager of Public Works under Mayor Wellington Webb, has filed an ethics violation charge against Buchanan, an architect and former, long-time Denver Planning Board Chair.  

PERLMUTTER ON TPP


Monday, November 4, 2013

Denver International Airport Opens 10 Electric Vehicle Charging Stations in Parking Garages

Customers who park their plug-in electric vehicles in the east and west parking garages at Denver International Airport (DIA) can now charge up at one of 10 new electric vehicle charging stations.

MILLION MASK MARCH - November 5, 2013

Million Mask March (Denver)

 Tue Nov 05 2013 at 09:00 am Add to calendar
Venue : Colorado State Capitol, 200 East Colfax Avenue , Denver, United States
Created By : American Revolution: Colorado Springs