Services For Civic Leader Chuck Warren Held At Saint John’s Cathedral

Services For Civic Leader Chuck Warren Held At Saint John’s Cathedral

Leading Light: Civic leader Chuck Warren, who led many of Colorado’s leading cultural institutions from the Denver Zoo to the Park People, passed away on July 29, 2018.

by Mark Smiley

Widely respected and beloved by many, civic leader Chuck Warren died at age 92 on Sunday, July 29, at his home in Denver. Memorial services were held at Saint John’s Cathedral on Washington Street where Warren had been a parishioner for most of his adult life. Eulogist Bill Houston remarked that Warren was known for his extraordinary ability to “make and retain” friends as the packed nave at the cathedral for the service demonstrated.

Warren grew up in Fort Collins, and after serving in the Navy during World War II returned to Colorado to earn a degree in Business Administration from the University of Colorado and later a master’s degree in Mass Communication from the University of Denver. He was a stock broker for Merrill, Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith for 20 years and after the death of his father in 1978 he took over as president of Moody Warren Company, a company started by his grandfather who homesteaded farms in Colorado starting in 1966.

Having made his fortune at a relatively early age, Warren retired and spent the rest of his life giving back to Denver and Colorado. He served as the president and/or board member of an extraordinary number of civic organizations including, but not limited to, the Denver Zoo, the Denver Foundation, Children’s Hospital, the Park People and the Colorado Wildlife Heritage Foundation.

He is best remembered as Chairman of the Steering Committee of the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District from 1985 to 1988, and setting up the passage of the multi-county sales tax supporting many key institutions throughout metropolitan Denver.

A talented musician, he played drums with groups from his early teens to the end of his life. An enthusiastic member of the University Club, he was Club president and a prolific songwriter, performer and leader of the University Club Band. He played the drums at the Twelfth Night Show for an extraordinary 64 continuous years.

Veteran: Chuck Warren served in the Navy during World War II.

He was also a highly active member of the Denver Country Club for virtually his entire adult life. He helped longtime friend Bill Wilbur with the publication of the award-winning The History of The Denver Country Club (1888-2006).

His daughter Robin Warren Buckalew noted at the memorial service her father’s almost infatiguable energy and good humor. Hoping to slow him down just a little she bought him a hammock for the backyard which had to be returned as he refused to ever relax in it.

Chuck Bonniwell, publisher of the Glendale Cherry Creek Chronicle, who wrote the history of the Denver Country Club stated, “Chuck Warren was an extraordinary human being who made everything he did and participated in literally fun. One would go through the most exhausting and contentious negotiations over the printing and publication of the book with third parties and at the end he would laugh and say, ‘Boy, wasn’t that one great donnybrook! Hey, who do we have to take on next?’” Bonniwell went on to note, “Everyone who ever knew Chuck will greatly miss him. The world he inhabited is a little less joyful with his passing. I wish we could have cloned Chuck and his wonderful spirit.”

Denveright. Their Voice. Your Future.

Denveright. Their Voice. Your Future.

In 2002 Denver went to great lengths and time to compile Blueprint Denver to guide future growth in Denver. It envisioned “areas of change” and “areas of stability.” In areas of change rezoning for more density and height would be envisioned while in areas of stability, like many of the city’s highly prized neighborhoods, rezoning would not be permitted for other than single family homes. It also envisioned high-density around the many new light rail stations where, because of that public transportation, residents would not need a car, at least in theory.

The problem was Denver’s crooked high-density developers had not yet bought their very own mayor in 2002. Developers do not want to put high-density upscale apartments and condominiums in lousy neighborhoods that were considered areas of change. Nor did they want the expensive units they were building by the light rail stations which were not the fav of people who could afford to buy the upscale units … The developers could make a great deal more money by exploiting and raping the traditional highly prized areas including Country Club, Crestmoor, Virginia Vale, Cherry Creek North, etc.

In 2011 the high-density developers like Pat Hamill found the extraordinarily horny and intellectually vapid Michael Hancock and installed him in City Hall as the 45th Mayor of the City and County of Denver.

But when developers got rezoning they wanted in violation of Blueprint Denver through the Orwellian named Denver Community Planning and Development headed by the clinically obese rancher Brad Buchanan as Executive Director and the obsequious City Council they were subject to lawsuits. And sued they were over Crestmoor Park, Cherry Creek North, Hentzell Park, Denver Highlands, etc. etc. None of the lawsuits were successful because you can’t as a practical matter sue City Hall on development matters even if you have a valid claim for some unwritten rule of Denver municipal politics.

The problem was the well-grounded suits took time and money out of the developers’ pockets and who knows, one of these days the citizens might find an honest District Court judge in the City and County who would rule in their favor.

What to do? Well, change Blueprint Denver to squash any legal basis stopping high-density developers from doing whatever they want to do in wide-open Denver.

Well, of course, you can’t tell the sucker citizens that is what you are doing so you pretend you went out and sought public input from thousands of citizens or as Sarah Showalter, Citywide Planning Supervisor noted, numerous think tank meetings, 21 task force meetings, 25 street team events, eight community workshops, and over 8,500 contacted.

What did all these people indicate they wanted? Well, of course, their neighborhoods destroyed with high-density development while making driving in Denver the equivalent to transporting down the rings of Hell in Dante’s Inferno.

When politicians and city bureaucrats in Denver say they consulted thousands and thousands of people, they mean they are going to do whatever developers like Pat Hamill and his cronies at Colorado Concern tell them to do.

On August 28 at City Park Pavilion at 5:30 p.m. your betters will share with you the details of what they are going to do to you, your family and your city. The slogan for Denveright is “Your Voice. Our Future.” Rest assured your voice is irrelevant to the politicians and planners in Denver.

We could tell you all the awful things they are planning to do to you under the wonderful sounding rubrics like “affordable housing” and “pedestrian friendly transportation,” but why bother? You won’t be able to do anything about it anyway.

As the early Greek historian Thucydides stated: “The strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.”

The high-density developers and the politicians they own are the “strong” in the City and County of Denver while the citizens of the city like you are the “weak.” We have watched the suffering of our neighborhoods ever since Hancock became mayor and the suffering will continue for the foreseeable future and get much, much worse under Denveright.

As you can’t do anything about it, just sit back and accept it. Be as happy as you can and pretend “your voice” in fact matters at all in determining “our future.” As it turns out ignorance is in fact bliss in today’s City and County of Denver.

  • Editorial Board

 

Pat Hamill

 

Mayor Michael Hancock