April 9, 2024
Melissa Dickey called the meeting to order at 7:06 p.m.
President’s Report. Melissa said she has spent time with Jerry Guida the last two years discussing how to serve as president of Association. She wants teams and committees to help do things. Gary Wright has offered to be the vice president. Jessica Wright is back working on the newsletter, our Facebook page and all the technological stuff. Ingrid Stiver will serve as treasurer, Barry Roseman as secretary, Loredana Ottoborgo to work on the issues involving the parks, and Amin Muldarres as our new historian. She thanked everyone for offering their time and service.
Denver Health. Tanya Nathan from the Heart of Denver, an informational company for Denver Health, said she is going to neighborhood groups to discuss Denver Health and its future. One-third of all babies in Denver are born at Denver Health. It has 19 school-based clinics, most of them in high schools, four mobile clinics, and is the largest statewide provider of behavioral health. Denver Health serves 52 out of 64 counties in Colorado.
Twenty percent of Denver Health patients are people experiencing homelessness. It has started a partnership with a couple of groups to provide transitional housing for people who are on the streets. Denver Health provides opportunities for youth through medical care in the schools and programs to bring students into the hospital to teach them about providing health care.
Denver Health, the former Denver General Hospital, and the City split in the ‘90s and became its own independent hospital. Its expenditures have increased by 550%, but money from City hasn’t increased. It has a $1.4 billion budget, just less than the City’s budget. While uncompensated care is also growing, Denver Health is not reimbursed for everyone. It is reimbursed by 30 cents on the dollar for uncompensated care. While it has been able to do that up to this point, it is looking for other revenue sources. The State has offered $5 million per year, which Ms. Nathan said would be great, but is still not adequate. Denver Health hopes that the community comes together and invests in these services, so that it doesn’t have to cut services. It needs to take care of the homeless population and doesn’t want to turn people away because they aren’t able to pay for the services they receive.
In response to a question from Jessica about how Denver Health interacts with other City agencies, Mr. Nathan said that it partners with the STAR program and works with other agencies on a program-by-program basis. Ambulances are all dispatched in shifts, but drive through the city during the day and are assigned to different parts of city during their shifts. They take people to the nearest hospital.
Councilwoman Sandoval. Alessandra Dominguez of Councilwoman Sandoval’s office discussed the next virtual office hours for that office. She informed us about Sunny, which is 311 through text messages. She discussed the seasonal beginning of street sweeping, the 23rd annual Cesar Chavez march and celebration, a vacancy in the Denver Head Start Policy Council, and an opportunity to provide feedback about the West 29th Avenue bike lanes. She informed us when and where trees would be for sale on at Sloan’s Lake Park.
Ms. Dominguez said that the I-70 soundwall replacement is finally happening and will be completed in 2026, starting between Lowell and Pecos and with work on the north side of I-70. She informed us about the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure’s street paving plan and where to find information about which streets it will be repaving over the next six years. She said that the U.S. Forest Service is kicking off its training program, that the City’s residential rental property licensing program is now in effect and how landlords can apply for a license. She told us when free tax help is available at the Corky Gonzales Library; about the online availability of “Kesher” is available online, which provides information about the 150-year history of the Jewish community in Denver; and about City Council’s preparations for the City’s 2025 budget. In addition, she advised about opportunities to participate in City agencies’ advisory groups.
Inspiration Point Park. Alfredo Cantu, who has lived in our neighborhood since 2001 thanked Melissa for extending an invitation to him. He discussed the history of the settlement of the West, from the thousands of years during which indigenous peoples were the stewards of American land and maintained it in pristine condition. After more than 200 years since the Louisiana Purchase, our climate is in disastrous, irreversible condition. Alfredro believes that, if we were to ask every elected and appointed official, whether they have been an honored and respected steward of these lands, their answer would have to be no.
He proposed that our Neighborhood Association adopt a statement of purpose that says that we will work to elevate our community’s environmental awareness through programs and activities that embrace the benefits of renewable energy, using all the resources available, to implement an aggressive tree-planting and care program, with solar-powered lights along the walkways. He also proposed additional signage in the Park, including welcoming signs and a sign about the Park’s elevation. Mary Ann Terrazas asked about a Park clean-up, which Melissa said is not planned right now. Mary Ann suggested that the community could help prune the trees in the Park. Alyssandra suggested calling 311 and getting on the Parks and Recreation advisory board.
Loredana said that while Parks and Recreation promised us a pollinator’s garden, all we have now is weeds. She said the City cut down blue spruce trees in the Park. The Park used to have bluegrass and more trees in the north side of the park. She added that the City could have irrigated and trimmed the trees, all along the northern ridge in the Park. She suggested that the City plant clover seeds and get rid of the eight-foot tall weeds. She added that when the City bought the Camp Rolandet property in 2001, it promised to have a walkway through the property, but has since chained up the gate to Camp Rolandet.
Alessandra suggested that we go to the Park and Recreation advisory group. She added that there’s a new Executive Director for that Department. She suggested that we make a big fuss, and said that she will let Councilwoman Sandoval know about our concerns. Jessica proposed gathering all this info and to let the person who’ll be our representative at those meetings know what we want to do.
Alfredo said our goal is to elevate the conversation with climate deniers. He added that the Department of Parks and Recreation lost a great opportunity to make changes to the Park that reflect our climate desires and needs. He feels that adopting and embracing an environmental awareness plan would be an open invitation to all governmental officials to join us in regaining our status as stewards of the land. He believes that the question is addressed to all of us, whether we cherish the park, to make it welcoming. He believes this is our opportunity to seize this moment with urgency and optimism. He feels we cannot choose to do anything.
Ingrid said that she and Jerry Guida did a walk-through in the Park with Mike Kaiser of Parks and Recreation. She explained that City contractors last year were responsible for the Park being overwatered, a year in which there was a lot of rain. She said she complained, and within two days, the City mowed the edges of the lawn a little bit. She and Loredana both submitted tickets to Parks and Recreation and complained that someone was setting fires in the fire pit on a regular basis. The Department finally visited the fire pit every morning to make sure that any fire would not get out of control. Alessandra discussed the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board and said that that Board needs to hear our tangible concerns. That Board’s meetings are on Zoom
New business. Melissa told us that Katie Hoover has an idea for a market in the Park, but Melissa wasn’t sure of the details.
A home on Clear Creek caught fire, was cleaned up and the owners were contacted. The Association is also working with the City and County of Denver, Adams County and Jefferson County on dealing with the dumping of trash on West 52nd Avenue. Jefferson County, she said, cleaned up some of that trash up.
Melissa told us that the community garden clean-up would be held the following Sunday. We are planning to show movies in the Park, starting on May 18. We will also have a party in the Park in August.
She wants to have a block captain program, but it is hard to find people to fill those positions. Jessica asked if we’ve ever done a neighborhood services program, with a directory of people who provide babysitting, weed yards and perform other services. She said we could fit this into a block captain program. Art Zamora said he was a block captain and said that one problem is that renters don’t care. He said that the program is now morphing and getting bigger and bigger.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:01 p.m.
Sincerely,
Barry Roseman
Secretary