Wave Of High Water Bills Floods Country Club Residents

Questions Swirl As Denver Water Bills Top $1,000; Calibration, Other Meter Issues Anger Residents

by Laura Lieff

While increasing water rates are nothing new, some Cherry Creek Valley residents have recently been dealing with more than a simple increase over the last few months. In the Country Club area, residents, who are accustomed to receiving water bills for two digit sums, have been receiving water bills for $900 to $1,000 one month out of a 12 month period.

Leading the fight to find answers is real estate broker Sonja Leonard of Leonard Leonard & Associates who has been in business for 28 years. After receiving water bills for $40 on a property located at 1111 E. 3rd Avenue, Leonard received a bill for just over $1,000 in February 2008 and another bill for just over $900 in September 2008. Outraged at the “spike” in her water bill, Leonard said she called Denver Water to find out what was going on.

“I’ve received these spikes in water bills in 2007 and 2008 and every time I call Denver Water they either don’t call me back or tell me that they checked the water meter and report that it’s fine,” said Leonard. “It’s so frustrating because none of this makes any sense. The high water spikes come out of the blue and no one knows why.”

Fishing For Victims

When Leonard received the first high water bill for the 1111 E. 3rd Avenue property, the house was vacant and no one was living there. She said that there was no running water, no kitchen, no working toilets or sprinkler systems yet she still got a large bill. After calling Denver Water and getting no response other than referring to the meter, Leonard, the self-proclaimed “activist against high water bills” sent out a letter around the neighborhood “fishing for other victims” who had suddenly received high water bills.

Leonard’s letter indicated that she had recently renovated the house at 1111 E. 3rd Avenue and that she received a bill for $885, while a family at 6th and Lafayette received a bill for more than $800 after street digging had occurred. Leonard pointed to the fact “their plumber verified that there were no leaks on their property.” The rest of the letter asked for others to come forward and contact her if they believed they were victims of high water bills or knew of someone who was. Three neighbors responded saying they had the same problem.

“Yes, our city’s water prices are going up because of all the big mansions in the suburbs but the prices shouldn’t be spiking and then going back to the original amount,” noted Leonard. “This is not a water rate increase; this is a huge, unexplainable spike.”

Water Meter Issues

Leonard and the other people that called her about their high water bills all had plumbers and sprinkler experts come to their respective homes to check on leaks or breaks but found nothing.

Ryan Gies, owner of Colorado Rhino Plumbing & Pipefitting, said that he has had two clients in the last few months that have had water bills that exceeded $1,000. After checking around both houses and finding no leaks or breaks, Gies did some research and found out that both clients had water meter issues regardless of what Denver Water stated.

“I had one client who received a huge water bill because their meter hadn’t been calibrated properly,” explained Gies. “Apparently Denver Water has changed their arrangement to a drive-by system — meaning that instead of the technician personally checking the meter (sight reading) — the technician drives by the house and there is a radio frequency that tells them what the meter says without them having to get out of the car.”

Meter Issues

Gies continued to explain, “Unfortunately, not all meters have been changed from sight reading to radio transmission and they don’t correlate, resulting in incorrect meter readings and incorrect bills.”

Gies also said that if there was a toilet running or there was a broken faucet a plumber would know right away if that were the problem. He pointed out that he comes across meters that aren’t calibrated properly and that if there is a house that is vacant and the address receives a high water bill that it has to be a meter issue.

Leonard clearly agrees. “They [Denver Water] always claim that their meter has been checked and that it’s fine, said Leonard. “That’s their M.O.”

What To Do?

Leonard says her biggest frustration is that she, along with the rest of the water bills victims, can’t do anything about her situation.

“It’s like having the mafia in the middle of city government,” she noted. “Should I just assume that there will be a $1,000 bill on my doorstep one month out of the year every year?”

To get the other side of the story, the Chronicle called Denver Water to see what they had to say. Media Relations Specialist Stacy Chesney explained that “Denver Water structures its rates based on water usage and that after the summer months people see higher water bills because of the amount of water used to water their lawns.”

Water Issues

Chesney went on to say that Denver Water gets a lot of calls in the fall about high water bills from summer water use. She also pointed out that “we live in an arid climate and wasting water isn’t acceptable; therefore we want people to use their water wisely.”

When asked about procedures concerning high water bills, Chesney said that if customers call about their bill, Denver Water goes to the address to check things out. If the customer asks for a water audit then technicians perform a more in-depth review of water use (they check for inside and outside water use) that is free of charge.

“We want people who have concerns about their water bills to call us,” explained Chesney. “There is no general answer when it comes to high water bills because each case is different.”

Grass Is Greener

That being said, Chesney checked on several addresses including Leonard’s 1111 E. 3rd Avenue property. Chesney said that technicians had been out to the property six times since October 2007 and that when the house was vacant, Denver Water noticed that the lawn was very green and there was new sod in place. Chesney said that the amount of water it takes to make grass grow that well is extensive, which probably accounted for the large bill.

Upon being informed of Chesney’s response, Leonard simply replied, “That’s b.s. We used existing sod that didn’t require that much water.”

When customers have high water bills and technicians conclude that their meter wasn’t reset properly, Chesney explained that the customer can ask for a hearing to get their bill adjusted or to dispute the bill. She said that there are standard investigational procedures that Denver Water follows prior to granting a hearing as rereading the meter, checking for constant flow, pulling and testing the meter and recommending a Water Audit.

“As a result of the investigation, the problem typically is identified and sometimes resolved without a hearing,” Chesney explained. “We also may attempt to reach a solution to the billing problem with the customer so that the customer is satisfied without going to a hearing. This can include adjustments for billing errors, equipment failures or leak adjustments.”

Chesney further explained that while a number of factors can result in a hearing, the customer does need to have a substantive reason for requesting a hearing beyond “my water bill is too high.”

In response, Leonard indicated that it’s totally up to Denver Water whether or not they like your “substantive reason.”

What’s Recourse?

Although Chesney claims that if customers call Denver Water they will get a response, Leonard says otherwise. “What irritates me is that there is no recourse. They just rely on the meter and then they’re done with it. There is a lack of responsibility and accountability and no one seems to have any answers.”

Leonard continues, “They [Denver Water] know that there is nothing you can do because if you don’t pay the bill they will just shut your water off.” In the meantime, Leonard is encouraging other high water bill victims to come out and say, “I’ve got the spike.”

“We need to hear from people who have also had the problem,” explained Leonard. “I love this area and I’m not going to let a big corporate water board push around people who live in this beautiful neighborhood. It makes you wonder how many people are blindly paying these bills.”

For more information from Sonja Leonard, give her a call at 303-744-6200. For Denver Water Customer Care call 303-893-2444.

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Editorial

Michael Bennet And The U.S. Senate

Governor Bill Ritter made a truly surprising choice in Denver Public School head Michael Bennet for the United States Senate seat vacated by Ken Salazar. We are not aware of a single person who had predicted his selection by the Governor, but we cannot think of a more brilliant choice. True he has never held elective office, but being a career elected official is, in our opinion, not necessarily what Colorado needs for its newest U.S. Senator.

Bennet graduated from Yale Law School as an editor of its law review, worked in the private sector heading up Phil Anschutz’s investment firm, and was Mayor John Hickenlooper’s chief of staff until he was appointed to be Superintendent of Denver Public Schools in 2005. Having experience in the private sector, helping to run a major city and heading up a public school system seem just the type of variegated work experience that should hold him in good stead in representing Colorado in Washington.

A career politician would have been an easier choice for Governor Ritter. Moreover such a pick would probably have a better chance of ensuring that the Democratic Party holds on to the seat in the 2010 election. But successful career politicians tend to have their finger in the wind and often lose their political principles for political expediency.

Bennet has proved as the Superintendent of Denver Public Schools that he is willing to fight for what he believes is right. He was willing to take on teacher unions on the question of merit pay; he was willing to be called a “racist” by the entrenched civil rights community for having the temerity of closing a failed high school; and (as highlighted by our editorial in June 2008) willing to take on Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey when his office ran a political correctness criminal witch hunt against DPS principal Nicole Veltze. If the Denver Public Schools are not appreciably different from when he first became Superintendent it was not because Bennet wasn’t willing to fight the good fight.

People in Glendale got to know Michael Bennet pretty well when he was the chief of staff for Mayor Hickenlooper. Bennet headed up the negotiations on behalf of Denver (along with his second in command Sarah Kendall) for the successful merger of the Glendale Fire Department into the Denver Fire Department that resulted in savings of millions of dollars for both cities. The Publisher of this paper was appointed by the City of Glendale to head up Glendale’s negotiating team aided by Deputy City Manager Chuck Line.

While the merger made all the sense in the world the negotiations were tough and prolonged, but Bennet was always looking for innovative ways to make the negotiations work and overcome what appeared to be insurmountable roadblocks. Glendale’s one non-negotiable demand was that its firemen, many of whom had worked for the city their entire professional lives, be offered the right (if they wished) to join the Denver Fire Department provided they could pass any test that was imposed on Denver firemen. The Denver City Attorneys’ Office declared that the same was a deal breaker as the Denver City Charter prohibited any lateral transfers.

The two sides were at loggerheads and ready to terminate negotiations when Bennet got up and declared that this seemingly impossible barrier would be overcome. Denver would simply go to the voters and change its charter. And that is exactly what happened in May of 2005.

During the heated fire department negotiations Bennet and his team never lost their wry sense of humor. At a meeting prior to the signing ceremony his second in charge, Kendall, with Bennet’s approval, declared she had perfected what she viewed as our Publisher’s negotiating technique on behalf of the City of Glendale. She then proceeded to take her shoe off and, a la Nikita Khrushchev at the United Nations in 1962, started pounding it on the table repeatedly declaring at the top of her lungs — “We Will Bury You!” For his part our Publisher laughingly stated in actual fact he always strove to emulate the style of Mr. Rogers of PBS fame and then broke into a version of Roger’s signature song “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”

If, as a United States Senator, Bennet can retain his sense of humor and undertake innovative solutions to difficult problems as he has shown in the past, Colorado will have one great representative at the nation’s Capitol.

            — Editorial Board

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Midnight Madness At The Movies

Cherry Creek’s ‘The Matt’

Is Maestro Of Cult

by Janet Manley

Video might have killed the radio star, according to the song by The Buggles, but the Esquire movie theatre is keeping cult movies at midnight alive on Friday and Saturday nights. Located at 6th and Downing the Esquire hosts packed crowds of some of the Valley’s most diverse audiences. Host to the salubrious revivals of cult films such as The Goonies, Gremlins and Nightmare on Elm Street is local personality, “The Matt.”

Born and bred in Indiana, Matt Morris recalls that his father was one of the first to purchase a VHS player. A family passion for films led to jobs at a video shop and as manager of two different theatres. After moving to the Cherry Creek Valley in 2003, he began working for the Mayan theatre, taking over the Midnight Movies series that had been running since 1997, before bringing the lineup with him to the Esquire. Midnight showings of cult films had begun in Landmark theatres across America in 1987; a manager at the Mayan by the name of Keith began Denver’s midnight tradition.

A Film-Literate Town

As people cut back on their entertainment budgets, crowds at the Esquire have nevertheless swelled — in two out of the last three years the Esquire has experienced the largest increase in business of all the Landmark Midnight Movies series and Morris gives credit to those who show up each week, many of whom are regulars.

“I think Denver has a great sense of film,” noted Morris. “People understand the philosophical film, which is why The Goonies is still so much fun and they appreciate the cheesiness. As film aficionados they don’t get the credit they deserve.”

In recent years the Denver Film Festival has grown to an enviable size and this has contributed in part to the heightened enthusiasm for great movies often overlooked by multiplexes.

“It’s great to be in a city where you can do what you love, bring so many great, fun films, and have people appreciate it with you,” says Morris, who has brought in such directors as David St. James and Troma Lloyd Kauffman of Toxic Avenger fame to address the audience.

Costumes To Be Murdered By

But the cult movies are only a part of the show as aficionados of the films come dressed to party and have a great time. “The Matt” encourages midnight attendees to come dressed up as their favorite characters from the film, although most of the moviegoers need in fact no such encouragement. Many also come dressed in outrageous costumes unrelated to the films themselves. Morris explains that fancy dress improves the experience of everyone at the screening, himself, on a recent outing, looking something like a zombie butler.

“I have a couple of different blood splattered shirts, it varies with the film,” he says. “Certainly I have some good midnight attire, going along with the theme. If people dress up I might throw them a free pass or whatnot. Everyone enjoys it when people dress up.” At a recent screening of Labyrinth, Michael Yancey of Boulder and his friend Cassy Brown of Castle Rock rendezvoused at the theatre, both dressed to the teeth in exact replicas of characters from the film. Together they had attended the annual Labyrinth-themed “Garden of Jared” party in L.A. earlier this year, named for David Bowie’s character in the film. Interestingly to “The Matt’s” evident disappointment, no one had chosen to don Jared’s trademark tights, codpiece and mullet for the screening.

 Cult Classics

“The Matt’s” midnight lineup is personally sourced from Landmark backlogs and under-exposed foreign or independent films. Following somewhat in the footsteps of the infamous Rocky Horror Picture Show screenings, it is often the worst films of the previous decade which come to “maturation” in later years and attract big audiences.

“Sometimes it takes a while for a movie to become popular,” explains “The Matt.” “A lot of the movies from the ’80s are big because people remember growing up with them, or they are now funny in a different way. Most need to sit around for five to 10 years before they get picked up.”

The support for grind house or slasher flicks like Evil Dead is testament to the unpredictable odyssey of a cult film.

“Some films bomb, then after they are released on DVD or video people become aware of them, like Fight Club or Donnie Darko, which took three or four years to catch on,” he pointed out. “On the other hand, Sean of the Dead was immediately popular.”

An Experience Set Apart

Lending to the excitement have been such attractions as a couple of Dolorians, pre-screening comedy and burlesque acts, and even roller derby girls handing out posters at midnight screenings. In February, Morris plans to host the Denver premiere of the Thai film, Chocolate.

What sets the experience apart is undoubtedly “The Matt,” who as host and programmer is up until around 4 a.m. or 5 a.m. each night, and sleeps through until after noon.

“I don’t want to be falling asleep at the screenings”” he explains. “I’m so passionate about the movies, and programming is about getting people’s suggestions, and finding out what is out there. I also like finding films that didn’t come to Denver.”

At each screening, Morris introduces the movies and upcoming events, and generates a few laughs before the film. “It’s a lot of fun,” he says. “People can see that I’m the guy who runs the midnight movies and they can come up to talk to me.”

Somewhat of a departure from a darkened, alienating theatre experience, a night at the Esquire is denoted by audience enthusiasm and the unpredictable segues of “The Matt.”

“They say everyone does three things great and I think two of mine are talking,” he explains.

Halloween Everyday

“My favorite film as a kid was Raiders of the Lost Ark,” recalls Morris. “I mean who doesn’t want to be an archaeologist? Well, not me, but it’s a great film.”

“The Matt” is also a lifelong Mel Brooks film fan, and counts Young Frankenstein among his favorites; a movie whose influence is visible in Morris’s persona. Dressing up reinforces his off-kilter mantra of “live like it’s Halloween every day.”

On a more serious note, the films that “The Matt” promotes are often little-known labors of love, afforded little publicity and given no support by studios.

“Studios don’t see this as profitable anymore,” says Morris. “That is how you get directors who want to come and discuss their work. People who go around have a lot invested in their film. It’s something more of a personal project.”

You suspect it is the same with “The Matt,” named by a friend because he stood out from the masses of guys named Matthew. “I’m ‘The Matt.’ I do the Midnight Series,” he says. He’s got that right.  

The Esquire, a Landmark Theatre, is located at 590 Downing, and screens movies at midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. For screening times, visit www.landmarkthea tres.com.

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Glendale Mayor Larry Harte Elected Chairman Of Four Mile Historic Park Board

by Laura Lieff

Glendale Mayor Larry Harte was elected Chairman of the Board at Four Mile Historic Park and officially takes office this month. Appointed to the Four Mile Board in June 2002, Harte has done a lot of work to assist the recent growth of the park.

“The good news for us is that there is no term limit for this position and with Larry Harte’s appointment we really benefited greatly with his dedication and support for the park,” said CEO and Executive Director Barb Gibson.

Gibson went on to explain that as chairman, Harte’s duties entail preparing the agenda and presiding over the meeting of the board and the executive committee, nominating the chairmen of standing committees and special committees and acting as a liaison between the corporation (the board) and the CEO (Gibson). Harte will also be the main host for all events and public happenings that are put on by the park for the public and he will also host the annual fundraising dinner called the Four Mile Fling.

Glendale/Denver Landmark

Four Mile House was originally built in the summer of 1859 as part of a working ranch, and in the 1860s also served as the last stage stop up the Cherokee Trail before entering Denver. Stagecoaches would change teams of horses at Four Mile House to their finest show horses as part of a grand entrance to downtown Denver.

The coming of the railroads to Denver in 1870 ended the stagecoach business, but the Four Mile House ranch continued to serve as the center of farming and ranching activity for the community of Glendale. Levi Booth acquired the ranch in 1864 and expanded it to over 600 acres and acted as the unofficial mayor of Glendale until the beginning of the 20th century

When Glendale formally incorporated in 1952 the then owner of that portion of the ranch containing the house and a portion of the surrounding acreage opted out of being brought into Glendale, much to the distress of the Glendale town fathers.

At the height of the extreme animosity between Glendale and Denver, the City and County of Denver physically bought Four Mile House and part of the acreage, much to the disgust of many Glendaleans. One old-time Glendale resident said the acquisition would be like the State of Texas buying the Colorado State Capitol and noted that old Levi Booth very much did not like Denver or its urban ways.

Healing Of Wounds

Starting in 2002 Glendale and Denver began a rapprochement greatly assisted by Larry Harte and Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and the two cities today have a close, working relationship. Four Mile House Park is now located on 12 acres, 11 owned by the City and County of Denver and one owned by the City of Glendale. It is operated by a non-profit organization called Four Mile Historic Park, Inc. and Four Mile House itself is deemed the oldest standing home in Colorado.

“It’s a real honor to be appointed chairman because there have been some incredible people who have held the position before me,” noted Harte. “Those people left behind a proud legacy which will be an exciting challenge to try to follow.”

 “I think the joint operation of Four Mile Park by the two cities exemplifies how well the cities work together,” added Harte. “The park is a huge asset to both cities and Glendale is very proud to be part of Four Mile’s history.”

Variety Of Programs

Offering a wide variety of programs that include heritage and special events, guided museum and ground tours, day camps, children’s birthday parties and site rentals for special occasions, Four Mile is dedicated to presenting programs that celebrate the diversity of the men, women and children who lived and worked in the west. The park’s biggest events of the year include their 4th of July event, the Pumpkin Harvest and Colorado Christmas, along with the very popular summer camp series and winter camp series.

“The programs offered by the park are primarily designed to educate people of all ages about the history of the area,” said Harte.

In addition to being a Glendale resident for nine years, Harte has also been an active member of the Glendale community. A 40-year-old graduate of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., Harte earned his degree in civil engineering in 1990. He was elected to the Glendale City Council in April 2002 and then elected Mayor in April 2004.

Active In Community

He represents Glendale on the Board of Directors of the Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG) and participates regularly in the Colorado Municipal League (CML) and the Metro Mayor’s Caucus. Additionally, he serves on the Glendale City Planning Commission, the Metro Denver Health and Wellness Commission and on the Boards of Directors of the Four Mile Historic Park and the Glendale YMCA.

Larry is also the Executive Director of the Greater Glendale Chamber of Commerce and encourages the business community to become more involved with the city’s residential community and with the city government.

“I’m really excited to have Larry take over in the chair position and I look forward to working with him this year,” noted Gibson.

New Buildings

With his new position as chairman, Harte says that he is planning on continuing with the same mentality as former Chairman Dave Sheldon.

“Dave encouraged the board to participate in Park events and as a result, the relationship between the board, the staff and the volunteers is as strong as it’s ever been,” Harte explained. “I intend to continue Dave’s hands-on approach and I’m very excited about this year at Four Mile.”

In addition to a new chairman, Four Mile Park has also built several new vernacular buildings including a horse barn, a blacksmith shop and a restored windmill. Harte says the buildings are very authentic and that the volunteers are excited to showcase all the new buildings that will be used for classes, workshops and public events, among other things.

Rural Oasis

A father of a three-year-old and two-year-old, Lara and Harrison, Harte views Four Mile Park as a 12-acre enriching and educational experience for children.

“The park is a great place for our kids to run around and have a real hands-on, educational experience,” noted Harte. “They can see animals, pan for gold and play in a teepee, all of which are things that museums wouldn’t necessarily be able to offer. The Park is an oasis in our urban environment.”

Now that the New Year has come and gone, Harte says that his goals for 2009, with the help of Volunteer Coordinator Mary Jane Bradbury, are to expand the park’s programs and to facilitate the volunteers’ enthusiasm and to continue to provide an atmosphere that allows the board to make the park as authentic as possible.

“We have a passionate group of staff and volunteers who are the backbone of Four Mile Park,” said Harte. “The board wants to encourage them to play and use all of its new facilities. It’s time to take the park out for a spin and show people its assets.”

For more information on Four Mile Historic Park visit the Web site at www.four milepark.org or give them a call at 720-865-0800. The park is located at 715 S. Forest St.

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Planners And Businesses Driving To Make Leetsdale Drive More Than A Travel Corridor

Many Believe Street Can Become The Retail Spot For Hilltop, Crestmoor And Other Neighborhoods

by Laura Lieff

With the City of Denver growing on a seemingly daily basis, questions have come up concerning the best transportation corridor from Lowry and Aurora to downtown Denver. While most of the city’s population uses I-25 to make their way north and south, there is no official transportation corridor that runs east and west and the City of Denver is looking for a candidate in Leetsdale Drive.

Interviews with Senior City Planner and Co-Project Manager for the Living Streets Initiative Gideon Berger and others involved with Leetsdale, indicate that at least from a city planner’s perspective, the corridor has a positive future.

The Living Streets Initiative is a project of the City and County of Denver that purports to combine context sensitive development with complete streets that promote active living, increased mobility, and stimulate economic development in Denver’s most traveled urban corridors.

Berger explained that a consulting team is currently looking at the segment of Leetsdale that runs from Colorado Boulevard to Quebec Street to figure out how the corridor could accommodate resident, commercial and mixed use development while maximizing its use as a transportation route for multi-modal access. Multi-modal access includes private automobiles, transit, pedestrians and bikers.

Leetsdale Drive was built in the early 1890s to provide a road from Colorado Boulevard to a real estate development of Denver City Councilman John E. Leet called “Leetsdale” located at the southeast corner of what is today Leetsdale Drive and Quebec Street. The development failed as a result of the silver crash of 1893, but the name of the road remained.

Corridors Of Change

Because the City of Denver won the Smart Growth Implementation award from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the cost of the consulting team working on Leetsdale and 12 other transportation corridors in Denver is being underwritten by the EPA. The preliminary findings of the consulting team will be shared with stakeholders in the area this month.

“By looking at the road configuration and the road transportation network, we can figure out how we actually utilize the right of way and how we can improve the corridor,” said Berger. “This EPA study is intended to give us ideas about projects in the future and we are very excited for that.”

While the downtown Cherry Creek corridor was chosen as the pilot corridor because of its diversity, additional enhanced transportation areas other than Leetsdale include Colfax, Colorado Boulevard and Federal Boulevard.

More Than Travel

“These corridors have lots of different uses and different types of traffic but they already have a good bus service,” explained Berger. “Between the EPA and the Living Streets Initiative, we are trying to create a policy to help implement the goals of the strategic transportation plan which is to move both people and cars more efficiently.”

Berger believes that Leetsdale, along with the 12 other transportation areas, can be more than just a travel corridor.

“Living Streets sees these 12 transportation corridors as places to connect travel uses to the street,” noted Berger. “These corridors are untapped resources for the city as they have lots of activity and people, but they are not necessarily functioning at an efficient level and the City of Denver hopes to change that.”

FNBC Developing On Leetsdale

While everything is currently in the “study phase” and Living Streets is trying to get ideas on how to enhance all the transit corridors, other companies are getting involved to make Leetsdale the best street it can be.

This month, FNBC Colorado Commercial Real Estate Group Broker Mark Hernandez is planning on breaking ground on a new building on Leetsdale. Hernandez says that his project will help “raise the bar for the caliber of businesses on Leetsdale” and that his building exemplifies the “architectural improvement that is necessary for the enhancement of Leetsdale.”

The new building will bring a mixed use of retail and professional office space, which Hernandez hopes will “set precedents for the other property owners to look at improving their properties.”

Next Great Spot

While Hernandez thinks that Leetsdale has lots of room for improvement, he thinks that it has the potential to be more than just a transportation corridor. He points out that with the street’s proximity to Hilltop it will provide that neighborhood, among other surrounding neighborhoods, with retail services they would normally have to go to Cherry Creek to find.

“In order to be successful, Leetsdale needs a genuine effort by the property owners to improve the aesthetics and condition of their buildings,” Hernandez pointed out. “The street has so much to offer with its wide array of culture, restaurants and shopping that it could be the next great spot in Denver!”

Although Hernandez has high hopes for Leetsdale he does recognize the challenges the corridor presents including the fact that it’s a state highway as opposed to a city street meaning there are more people with which to coordinate.

Businesses Take Notice

“It’s a challenge to get things done and to coordinate between the City of Denver, the City of Glendale and CDOT,” he noted. “There are a lot of entities involved and everyone needs to get on the same page.”

In addition to the new kids on the block like Hernandez, businesses that already reside on Leetsdale including the Egg and I, located at Holly and Leetsdale, and Nonna’s located at Monaco and Leetsdale. In February 2008, the renowned breakfast restaurant added an outdoor patio that seats 34 people when it’s enclosed during the winter and an additional 12 people in the summer when it’s open. In November 2008, Egg and I added a meeting room that seats approximately 50 people.

“We knew that when we purchased the space on Leetsdale that we wanted to add on,” said Assistant Manager Deborah Kaiser. “This street is always busy so it’s definitely been a great location for us.”

Place To Hang Out

Mike Mayer, general manager of another Leetsdale staple Nonna’s Bistro, agrees that having the restaurant on such a busy street is helpful, especially because it’s located right at the corner of Leetsdale and Monaco. However, because people currently use Leetsdale as more of a travel corridor he says that most of the customers at Nonna’s come in as a result of word of mouth and advertising.

“Leetsdale is a major street with lots of traffic but it would be nice if the area could become more of a place to hang out,” Mayer noted. “We’d like to see some more shops around us so all the people traveling on Leetsdale would stop and spend some time in the area.”

With all of the positive feedback concerning Leetsdale, Berger has high hopes for the corridor’s future.

Sense Of Place

“Living Streets encompasses the performance of all transportation elements and the viability of built-in environment and land uses,” he said. “Leetsdale, along with the other corridors, already has great transportation and lots of ridership and we want to make it even better.”

Although Berger explains that Leetsdale is not yet a destination, he says that Living Streets would like to see it become one. They want to get more benefit out of the fact that it’s such a high-volume transportation corridor and take advantage of all the potential customers driving the street.

“We are aiming to create a stronger sense of place with more comfortable sidewalks, better street front stores and better parking,” said Berger. “We are anxious to hear what the EPA consulting team has to say and to share them with stakeholders across the corridor. Needless to say January will be an exciting time.”

For more information on the Living Streets Initiative visit www.denvergov/lsi.

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You Are Invited To

Playa Del Carmen For

A High Season Week

March 1-8 For The Rugby International Cup

by Glen Richardson

For the week of March 1-8 the City of Playa del Carmen, Mexico, is inviting people living in the Cherry Creek Valley to come visit the sister city of Glendale, for a spectacular week of sun, surf and rugby for the inaugural Rugby International Cup. The Greater Glendale Chamber of Commerce has helped arrange rooms at the expansive RIU Resort in Playa del Carmen for all inclusive rates of only $104 to $194.

It will be high season in sun-bathed Playa del Carmen while Colorado will still be in its days of snow. The inaugural Rugby International Cup 2009 will be held at Playa del Carmen’s municipal stadium and teams from around the world have been invited. The tournament will feature international caliber players in the over 35 bracket. Glendale’s director of rugby Mark Bullock notes that “this should be a very high caliber of rugby.”

Glendale’s Andre Bachelet, a former top United States Eagle player, will help head up the American side going down to the tournament. “We are excited. It should be a great tournament. You can’t help but have a great time down in Playa, and it would be wonderful to have folks from the Cherry Creek Valley down there to support us and party with us at the RIU Resort.”

Twenty years ago Playa del Carmen was a sleepy fishing village where you debarked to go to the island of Cozumel. Today it is an internationally famous resort. Just an hour away from the bustling metropolis of Cancun, Playa del Carmen has magnificent white sandy beaches with crystal clear turquoise waters and coral reefs.

In 2007, the City of Glendale and Solaridad, Mexico, (the umbrella city that includes Playa del Carmen) formalized their long-standing ties with a written sister city agreement.

The Greater Glendale Chamber of Commerce is a sponsor for the tournament that in alternate years will be in Playa del Carmen and Glendale. Chamber head Larry Harte stated that “this is a great way for the people of both countries to enjoy an international event together. There is nothing more fun than Playa del Carmen during high season in March. There is so much to do down in Playa from scuba diving to visiting Mayan ruins and learning about ancient Mayan culture. It should be an exciting week.”

A Web site, rugbyinternationalcup.com, is being set up containing all the information on the tournament and how to reserve rooms at the RIU Resort. Interested persons can also call 303-639-4604 for more information.