Urban Dweller

September 2023

9/6/2023

Letter from our President

We at CHUN hope you all enjoyed a fun-filled long Labor Day Weekend with family and friends.

Scroll down to check out the September and October community happenings listed in this month’s Urban Dweller. Join CHUN and your neighbors at some of these exciting events.

Included in this month’s Urban Dweller is an open letter from Denver’s new mayor, Mike Johnston, on the issue of homelessness. As we all know, there are no easy answers for this complex issue. If there were easy answers or quick fixes, someone would have found them by now. The Mayor is meeting this month with the leaders of Denver’s many Registered Neighborhood Organizations (RNOs), like CHUN, to discuss the homelessness issue. If you have constructive ideas you want us to share with the Mayor, please send them to our email address, chun@chundenver.org.

Next month, on October 10th, CHUN is hosting a Happy Hour at Wild Taco - 215 East 7th Avenue - from 4:00-6:00pm. Come and meet your neighbors who are engaged in many activities to make our city a better place in which to live and work.

Peace!

Christopher

Community Member of the Month

Saint Paul's Health Center

CHUN business member, Saint Paul Health Center provides short-term rehabilitation and long-term care in a gracious environment in the heart of Denver. They are known for their customer service, individualized care and services and excellence in short-term rehabilitation.

Saint Paul Health is a diverse, caring community and through person-centered relationships with each individual, they provide a healing environment with spontaneous and creative growth.

If you or a loved one is in need of short-term or long-term rehabilitation, contact Saint Paul Health https://saintpaulhealth.com/contact/

CHUN Area News and Updates

September 8: Teller Elementary Block Party

September 9: Colfax Pub Crawl

Come crawl with the Colfax Ave BID on Saturday, Sept. 9th and explore the dives, bars, and pubs who call Colfax home. The stretch of Colfax Avenue from Grant to Josephine Streets has no shortage of bars – from some of the oldest dives in the city to breweries and cocktail bars.

New this year, they've curated five different tracks you can choose from - Dive Bars, Queer Bars, Beer Lovers, Wine & Cocktails, and a Wildcard route! Your wristband will get you into every participating bar, so you can also choose your own adventure. Route cards will be available at registration.

Come explore them all at the 2023 Colfax Crawl. Get your $25 tickets at this link.

October 6: Good Shephard Fall Carnival

This is a fun annual event for the whole family with a beer tent, food trucks, bouncy house, face painting and carnival games.

The event will be located on Elizabeth St. between 7th and 6th Ave.

Event Activities: Friday, Oct. 6, 4 – 8 pm

Find event details and updates at goodshepherdpto.org

October 10: CHUN Happy Hour

Join your friends, neighbors and CHUN members as we explore our neighborhood spaces and savor cocktails, conversations and new connections.

Wild Taco is a new restaurant in Governors Park. The Wild Taco team wanted to create the ultimate Mexican restaurant-bar-patio experience with friendly service, creative menu, exquisite libations and great atmosphere.

Tuesday, October 10
4 to 6 p.m.
Wild Taco
215 E. 7th Avenue

See you there!

Coming this Fall: Fall Neighborhood Clean Up

Watch this space for more details on CHUN's Fall neighborhood clean up!

Coming Soon: Information and Discussion on Prop HH

Watch this space for more details on an upcoming CHUN-sponsored discussion on Prop HH.

Ballot text: SHALL THE STATE REDUCE PROPERTY TAXES FOR HOMES AND BUSINESSES, INCLUDING EXPANDING PROPERTY TAX RELIEF FOR SENIORS, AND BACKFILL COUNTIES, WATER DISTRICTS, FIRE DISTRICTS, AMBULANCE AND HOSPITAL DISTRICTS, AND OTHER LOCAL GOVERNMENTS AND FUND SCHOOL DISTRICTS BY USING A PORTION OF THE STATE SURPLUS UP TO THE PROPOSITION HH CAP AS DEFINED IN THIS MEASURE?

Weigh In on the Cherry Creek and Speer Boulevard Vision and Reconfiguration Feasibility Study

The City has begun the Cherry Creek and Speer Boulevard Vision and Reconfiguration Feasibility Study, which is taking a close look at one of Denver’s most important corridors, Speer Boulevard and the Cherry Creek trail between Colfax Avenue and I-25. This study aims to develop a realistic vision, vetted for technical and financial feasibility, to improve how people move through and experience this area. This is not a construction project.

Take a brief, 5-minute survey on your experience using Speer Boulevard and the Cherry Creek trail between Colfax Avenue and I-25

Colorado Public Radio Moving to Capitol Hill Neighborhood

Colorado Public Radio has purchased a 72,000-square-foot building in Denver’s historic Capitol Hill neighborhood to consolidate its metro offices and provide space for community events.

The six-story building at 777 Grant Street will become home to CPR News, Denverite, CPR Classical, Indie 102.3, Audio Innovations and the organization’s production and business offices. It will include an auditorium for live events.

Denver News and Updates

Letter from Mayor Mike Johnston on Homelessness

As you are aware, we are working diligently toward our goal to help 1,000 people experiencing homelessness get indoors by the end of the year. I am proud to share that we have identified a list of potential sites for hotel units and micro-community locations – see the list of sites here and the map here. We anticipate that this list will expand. We plan to have sites within each city council district.

These sheltering options are just one piece of our plan to house 1,000 people. While we continue to work with landlords to utilize existing housing units and bring hotel units online, adding micro-communities will help us scale our transitional housing stock quickly and cost-effectively.

Micro-communities are parcels of land around a half-acre or more that can house between 30 to 100 residents in pallet shelters or tiny homes. Within these sites, each resident will have a private space with a bed to rest their heads, a desk and storage for their belongings. Residents will have access to community spaces which include restrooms, showers, a kitchen, and gathering spaces. These sites will be operated by service providers and staffed 24/7 with access to wrap-around services, including addiction, behavioral health, and workforce training services.

The preliminary list of potentially viable sites will continue to go through evaluation, processing, and vetting over the next few months. We will continue working to identify additional locations beyond this first set of sites. We will also hold public meetings throughout the city to share more details about each of these locations, how to welcome new neighbors and what hotel units and micro-communities would look like within each community.

We recognize that introducing something new, like micro-communities, in already established communities can feel worrying to residents. However, studies and data analyses show that these micro-communities work both for the neighborhood and for those living in the community. Studies of Denver’s tiny homes communities show that the surrounding neighborhoods did not see any increase in crime, residents felt safe and undisturbed, and the communities have been successful in residents moving into longer-term housing.

I’d like to share my gratitude with all of you in this effort. It is astounding what we can do when we support each other to make a difference in our city and create a truly vibrant Denver. I look forward to sharing more news with you all about this initiative.

Visit our homelessness webpage to find more information on our efforts.

Denver Water Project

Denver Water will replace nearly 5 miles of aging pipe along East Colfax Avenue, between Broadway and Yosemite Street, working in two- to three-block segments at a time. The entire project should be complete by the end of 2024.

Local access to residences and businesses will be maintained throughout the project.

Commuters should expect delays in this area. For more information or to sign up to receive updates, we encourage folks to visit denverwater.org/Colfax.

Recording of last Outdoor Places Program Community Meeting

There was a lively discussion on the future of the Outdoor Places program and the details of Below Curb patio requirements. If you missed out and want to watch the meeting recording, click one of the links below.

Watch the English Recording
Watch the Spanish Recording

Stay tuned for public review of requirements surrounding structures and enclosures, final Below Curb patio requirements, and Below Curb patio application date!