Georgetown Loop Railroad
St. Anne’s Episcopal School
BID Fight In Five Points
November 8 Vote Pits The Politically Connected Against Local Property Owners
by Megan Carthel
Five Points has been a neighborhood plagued with improvement promises and nothing to show for them. In 1994, the D Line was built through the middle of Welton Street by RTD, bringing less than satisfactory results.
A cultural center for decades where Jazz and Black culture used to thrive along Welton Street, there now stand empty buildings, ghosts of once was. Now, the city and residents are hoping to revive the once robust area — the question is whether a business improvement district (BID) or the free market should kick-start this inevitable change.
On May 31, 2016, the Denver City Council approved the formation of the Five Points BID, but come November 8, 2016, the commercial property owners will have the final say with a vote.
Currently the Five Points neighborhood has the Five Points Business District (FPBD) that has focused on business development and cultural promotion and preservation. Tracy Winchester, Executive Director of the FPBD, has helped to aid the start of a BID along the Welton Street corridor. The BID will supplement City services like security, maintenance and beautification for the 10 blocks of Welton Street from 20th to 30th streets.
“I think it’s important that we have a business improvement district in the Five Points area along the Welton street corridor, which has always been a historically commercial corridor,” Winchester said. “And I think it’s important that we mobilize ourselves as businesses that do have a vested interest in seeing the survivability of this corridor and not only for the businesses that are here, but also for the residents that are here.”
Myron Melnick, a commercial property owner in the district since 1996, opposes the BID. He even wrote a piece in Brother Jeff, a local media outlet. Days after his piece was published, his building was tagged with spray paint.
“I think these people [who are for the BID] are reacting to what’s best for them,” Melnick said. “I’m neutral as far as that goes. What’s best for the neighborhood is what’s best for me, but I don’t want to see McDonald’s there, I don’t want to see Kentucky Fried Chicken there.”
When asked about the tagging, Councilman Albus Brooks said the following:
“I can’t think of a better way to support this effort,” Brooks said. “There’s no security there today. This allows security to be in place. This allows security to see something going on and securing the area and calling the police. That’s a problem with Welton; there’s just not enough eyes right now in all of these locations.”
The Five Points BID will focus on maintenance, security and beautifying the area.
“We’re pretty much following the path of other neighborhoods, business corridors that want to see improvement in their neighborhood as it relates to the business area,” Winchester said.
“I don’t want to pay more taxes, more property tax,” Melnick said. “What do I need the city or this organization to shovel my walk and pick up litter? I don’t need that.”
The BID has an estimated budget for 2017 of $161,988, with $156,996 coming from a 10 mill levy on commercial property owners. The other $4,992 comes from a Local Maintenance District currently in place that will be removed if the BID is approved. The FPBD will assist with administrative needs for two years and then will no longer be active. The BID board will then have to decide how those administrative needs will be met.
Dr. Renee Cousins King, Paul Books, John Pirkopf, Nathan Beal and Carl Bourgeois were appointed to the BID board. Together, the board makes up over 15 percent of the total acreage and over 16 percent of the total value of the Welton Street BID boundaries. In order for a BID to pass, 50 percent of both the acreage and assessment values must be in favor. In total, the BID received just over 56 percent of the acreage and 62 percent of the assessment value in favor.
Some commercial property owners see a different vision than what they feel the BID board sees. Blair Dunn, commercial property owner on Welton Street, feels with a BID in place, larger commercial chain businesses will come into the area, pushing out the smaller businesses, and with it, the historical cultural importance.
“I think losing that identity would be the worst thing in the world,” Dunn said. “It kind of identifies the area, and what I hear from the BID is zilch as far as keeping that, keeping Black businesses, keeping kitchy stuff. It’s almost like the message is that ship has sailed and we’re going for intense hipster growth.”
Dunn also owns property on Colfax, where there is a BID in place. Before the BID was instated on Colfax, he paid $1,500 in taxes, now he is paying over $4,000. Dunn and Melnick both said they would prefer an organic growth of the Five Points neighborhood. Chuck Sagere, a close by resident who visits the Welton Street corridor often, thinks a BID would help to revitalize the area and is worth the cost.
“I think it’s beneficial. It does need to be revitalized. I particularly would like to see the nostalgia of the era when this place was thriving and keeping things clean and neat only brings it back to life,” Sagere said. “Nostalgia costs. I think it’s a benefit of a hundred times the amount (commercial property owners) pay out.”
“Retail wants to locate in places that are free of crime,” Brooks said. “This BID will hire security; this BID will have clean streets. This BID will bond against itself to do a two-way street. So, it’s about changing the environment and infrastructure, and that’s where retail wants to go.”
There are multiple developments going into the Five Points neighborhood. Star Mesa Properties is currently conducting a $1 million renovation in hopes to house retail, office or restaurant space at 2801 Welton St. Pirkopf and his partner bought 2737 Welton St. where a barber shop and salon once stood. The 109-year-old single-story building will be replaced with a two-story structure.
On November 8, 2016, a TABOR election will be held for commercial property owners, either solidifying or rejecting the BID.
The Fight Against Zika Needs Sufficient Federal Support
by Congresswoman Diana DeGette
Congress has returned to Washington, having failed throughout the spring and summer to take meaningful action on some of the nation’s most pressing problems. Thanks to Republican legislators’ intransigence, we are now confronted by an issue that grew substantially worse while we were away: the spread of the Zika virus on American soil.
Fortunately, Colorado faces little threat of an outbreak, as researchers at Colorado State University recently proved. The mosquito that spreads the disease doesn’t thrive in our climate. There could be isolated cases involving travel to Zika-affected areas or intimate contact with people who have traveled there, but no mass spread is expected.
However, in meetings and at events throughout August, constituents raised justifiable concerns with me about Zika. They’re rightly concerned that the country is grappling with an ailment that only recently emerged on the world’s consciousness and is directly affecting Americans now.
Throughout the year, I’ve vocally supported President Obama’s request for nearly $2 billion for Zika research, prevention and treatment. Democrats throughout Congress have done the same. But the majority refused to fully fund that effort. In fact, in late summer as Congress prepared to reconvene, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said current Zika funding would run out when the fiscal year ended on September 30.
Nevertheless, there was delay in DC at this critical point in our fight against this persistent and pernicious disease, and the funding effort fell short.
Clinical trials on a possible vaccine, which have just gotten under way on a limited scale through the National Institutes for Health, can’t be carried out with no funding. In fact, NIH says it’s irresponsible to start any larger trials unless we can see them through.
There are infants in Zika-affected areas who show no signs of the virus now, but may do so as they develop. Longitudinal studies tracking their progress will be impossible without sufficient support.
And even though infection rates will drop with the arrival of cooler temperatures, they won’t go to zero. The Aedes Aegypti mosquito that carries the illness has been shown to effectively survive the winter and come back in the next year.
Earlier this summer, President Obama addressed the nation about the Zika threat once it began to spread in parts of the continental United States. He reassured us that public health experts don’t expect to see the kind of widespread outbreaks that had occurred in Brazil, Puerto Rico and elsewhere. However, he noted that “we cannot be complacent because we do expect to see more Zika cases.”
Congress must provide sufficient Zika funding immediately to state and local authorities along with federal agencies such as the CDC so they can do what’s necessary to combat Zika. And the funds shouldn’t come from other important health efforts, such as developing a vaccine for Ebola, nor be weighed down by provisions that are likely to cause needless controversy.
With the right support, we can speed the development of a vaccine, allow more people to get tested and get a prompt result, and ensure that states and communities have the resources they need to fight the mosquito that carries the virus.
Congress shouldn’t drag its feet, borrow funds from elsewhere, or do anything less than fully support this effort. We must ensure that we have the resources we need to take every step necessary to protect the American people from the Zika virus.
Diana DeGette represents the people of Colorado’s First District in the United States Congress.
Halloween Horrors
Valley Brewing Horrifying, Hilarious Month Filled With Terror-ific Goolish Fun
Straddling the line between fall and winter, plenty and paucity, life and death, Halloween is a time of celebration and superstition. It has become a quintessential month of celebrations in the Cherry Creek Valley. It is a month when people project their fears in a safe and playful way. When else will you see images of death on suburban lawns? It is thought to have originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off roaming ghosts.
In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III designated Nov. 1 as a time to honor all saints and martyrs; the holiday, All Saints’ Day, incorporated some of the traditions of Samhain. The evening before was known as All Hallows’ Eve and later 
Halloween. Over time, Halloween evolved into a secular, community-based event characterized by child-friendly activities.
Here’s the Chronicle’s monster month list of bewitching places to go and things to do to have a fang-tastic time to keep “spirits” bright:
Brewing Adult Fun
Coloween
Curtis Hotel, Oct. 29, 9 p.m. -2 a.m.
Coloween is one of the Valley’s best nightmares. Revered as one of the top Halloween costume parties in the state, the 9th annual event summons Denver’s seasoned partygoers as downtown’s Curtis Hotel is transformed into a frightfully fantastic open bar hotel takeover experience! Party if you dare, through two levels of haunted hallways and hair-raising entertainment as you make your way into three ballrooms featuring DJs, live musical acts, festival-quality sound and lighting production, sexy theatrical performers and 28 bartenders. Information: 303-571-0300.
Denver Halloween Costume Ball
Mile High Station, Oct. 29, 9 p.m.-2 a.m.
You won’t find a spookier place to attend a costume party than the century old Mile High Station. Located in the heart of downtown, the venue includes an elevated mezzanine, oversized patio and complimentary parking. The open bar ball offers an all you can drink party package with a premier open bar all night, a $1,000 “Best of The Ball” Halloween costume contest, live Halloween entertainment and DJs. In
formation: 720-946-7721.
Halloween Boo-Lesque Show
Lannie’s Clocktower Cabaret, Oct. 28-29
Join the adorable Clocktower Clockettes at Lannie’s Clocktower Cabaret as they pay a spooky burlesque tribute to all the thrills and chills of America’s spookiest holiday! You’ll see zombies, vampires, witches, black cats and even The Blob… s
cenes so frightening they’ll scare The Clockettes right out of their shirts. The event features aerial feats, jugglers, magicians, comedy and camp by Lannie’s very own host Naughty Pierre. It’s old-fashioned fun with interactive comedy and costume-contest prizes. Two shows nightly, 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. Information: 303-293-0075.
Victorian Horrors
Molly Brown House Museum
Oct. 14-15, 21-22 & 28-29, 6-9 p.m.
“I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity.” Enter Poe’s nightmarish world as featured at the Museum’s 23rd event every 15 minutes from 6-9 p.m. Take a literary journey of fright with such authors as Poe, Wells and Lovecraft, hearing tales of unspeakable horror and madness. Event is suitable for ages 12 and up with parental discretion. Information: 303-832-4092.
Pumpkin Hunts & Haunts
Pumpkin Harvest Festival
Four Mile Historic Park
Oct. 1-2, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
Build your own scarecrow, select the perfect pumpkin from the patch, dance to live music, play pioneer games, and more. Historic demonstrations and tours of the Four Mile House Museum will highlight how families lived and prepared for the season during the late 1800s. Horse-drawn wagon rides will be offered each day. Stay refreshed with delicious offerings from local vendors and food trucks. Admission is free but additional charges apply for refreshments and some activities. A beer garden (21 and up) will be on site courtesy of Copper Kettle Brewing Company. Information: 720-865-0800.
Glow At The Gardens
Denver Botanic Gardens,
Oct. 19-20 & 26-27. 6-9:30 p.m.
The Gardens light up the night with hundreds of carved, glowing jack-o’-lanterns. Luminaria-lined pathways wind through the Denver Botanic Gardens to reveal-larger-than-life pumpkin displays. In addition, enjoy indoor activities including live music, costume contests and hands-on crafts. Seasonal food and beverages are available for purchase. Each week features a different theme: Fables & Fairy Tales Oct. 19-20 and Spooky Hollow, Oct. 26-27. Information: 720-865-3501.
Goblins On The Run
Scream Scram
Wash Park, Oct. 21, 6:30 p.m.
A Halloween-themed 5K treat-filled run-walk in Wash Park to raise funds for the Boys & Girls Club. Bring the family (and the dog!) and put together your best costume for this Halloween-themed event that begins with a costume contest at 5 p.m. a
nd a kids spooky sneak at 6:15 p.m. Consider forming a team with your colleagues for a fun filled Friday night. Race t-shirts and a treat-filled post-race expo will leave you or your company feeling great about helping low-income youth live healthier lives. Information: 303-892-9200.
Terror-ific Theater
The Crucible
John Hand Theater, Weekends Oct. 8-Nov. 5
The Crucible playing at the John Hand Theater in Lowry is a Halloween masterpiece. Written as a parable of the McCarthy “witch hunts” launched against supposed communists in the 1950s, Arthur Miller’s timeless drama about the Salem witch trials is a powerful statement about the American tendency toward mass hysteria. Set in 1692 Massachusetts, The Crucible explores the frightening paranoia that takes hold when five young girls claim to have been visited in the night by the devil. A chilling psychological stage play about the disturbing effects of mob mentality during intellectually unstable and confronting times. Information: 303-562-3232.
Night Of The Living Dead
The Bug Theatre, Oct. 7-29, 8 p.m.
The Bug Theatre and Paper Cat Films are back to bring the biggest and best Halloween treat to the Bug stage. Back for an eighth bloody year, it plays Friday and Saturday evenings. Theme for this year’s show is Urban Legends. Expect the classic story of seven people trapped in a farmhouse, surrounded by flesh-eating ghouls. One has the virus, one has a gun and one has lost her mind. Plus, there’s a lunatic hook man, spiders in a beehive and calls coming from inside the house. A unique aspect of the show is that the entire action-taking place inside the famous farmhouse is on stage, while all the action outside the house is projected onto an overhead screen, utilizing sequences re-created and shot by Paper Cat Films. Information: 303-477-9984.
Frankenstein
Stage Theatre, DCPA through Nov. 12
Given life from a man with a troubled heart, a creature assembled from corpses sets out into the unforgiving world to discover his humanity. As he uncovers both kindness and cruelty, he seeks out the doctor who created him to demand answers about his troubled existence. Frankenstein features two lead actors alternating performances in the roles of Victor Frankenstein and his creature, allowing man and monster to intersect with every chilling performance of this U.S. premiere. Information: 303-892-4100.
Creepy Tours
Capitol Hill Haunts
Friday & Sat., Oct. 1-31
Expect encounters with angry apparitions, spirit wanderings and grisly accidents at one of Denver’s most haunted locations, Cheesman Park! Tour departs from the southeast corner of N. Gilpin St. and W. 13th Ave. on the north side of Cheesman Park at 7 p.m. on Fridays and 8 p.m. on Saturdays. You may be a skeptic when you start but goulish guides will have you convinced by the end of your walk that Denver is full of spirits from times long ago. The two-hour tour is suitable for ghouls and humans ages 12 and up. Information: 720-372-3849.
Escape Denver
Pumpkin Festival Trains
Georgetown, Oct. 1, 2, 8, & 9
Georgetown Loop Railroad’s ever-popular event is back with a new location for your enjoyment on the first two weekends of October. The festival is set up at the Silver Plume car museum, with a “Bouncie” castle, pumpkins for kids to decorate and take home, games, face painting plus wonderful characters to entertain the little ones. Information: 888-456-6777.
Emma Crawford Coffin Races
Manitou Springs, Oct. 29, 12-4 p.m.
Each year more than 10,000 people travel to Manitou Springs for the fun and festive Coffin Races. Teams of five — one Emma and four runners — push their coffins 195 yards to the finish line. There are trophies for Fastest Time, Best Emma, Best Entourage and Best Coffin. There’s also a separate fire department division. The races start off at noon with a parade of all the coffins and teams as well as authentic hearses. Information: 800-642-2567.
Kids & Family Treats
Trick or Treat Street
Children’s Museum of Denver,
Oct. 28-30, 9 a.m.-6 p.m.
The Children’s Museum of Denver at Marsico Campus is hosting a spooktacular wonderland of fun. Families can march from one Treat House to the next and collect goodies, create Halloween crafts, play carnival games and walk in festive parades. Bursting with excitement, it’s the ultimate safe and delicious Halloween adventure for youngsters and their family. Information: 303-433-7444.
Hauntings In The Hangar
Wings Over the Rockies, Oct. 29, 12-4 p.m.
Werewolves, witches and wandering spirits of all ages are invited to spend a spooky Saturday in the hangar at Lowry. Kids will get pleasure seeing Sci-Fi characters while enjoying space treats in the spooky hangar. They can tumble down an inflatable slide and work their way through an obstacle course. And, of course, kids can show off their Halloween costumes in the costume parade. Information: 303-360-5360.
Boo At the Zoo
Denver Zoo,
Oct. 22-23 & 29-30, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
The animal park offers 20 trick-or-treat stations, creepy crawly animal demonstrations and exciting family-friendly entertainment under the canopy of the beautiful fall foliage of the Denver Zoo. For those who love Boo at the Zoo but prefer to trick-or-treat in the evening, Boo After Dark is offered the same days from 6:30-9 p.m. Information: 720-337-1400.
Halloween Event
Glendale Sports Center, Oct.31
Bring the kids to the Glendale YMCA Sports Center for an evening of spooky fun. Enter the costume contest, or travel through the haunted house if you dare. Information: 303-639-4711.
Jeepers Creepers Music
Covenhoven & King Cardinal
Eisenhower Chapel, Nov. 4, 8 p.m.
Covenhoven’s ethereal balladry evokes a not-too-distant past filled with ghosts and inspiration, and puts listeners on notice that songwriter Joel Van Horne’s voice is one to be reckoned with. King Cardinal’s soulful folk, meanwhile, can slip effortlessly from soft and contemplative to raucous and celebratory all in the snap of a snare drum. Information: 303-777-1003.
Halloween Spooktacular
Boettcher Concert Hall, Oct. 31, 2:30 p.m.
A family tradition of the not-too-scary sort, this Colorado Symphony concert features musical fun for the whole family. Music will include Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone Suite, the Star Wars Theme and the Superman March. Everyone is encouraged to dress up for the Halloween festivities, and the Colorado Symphony musicians will trade-in their tuxes and tails for their own zany costumes. Don’t forget to arrive early for the Halloween pre-concert activities in the lobby! Information: 303-623-7876.
Scary Haunted Houses
The Asylum
Oct.1-31, 7-11 p.m.
This haunted house at 6100 E. 39th Ave. is Denver’s top-rated haunted attraction. Back again for another year of thrills, this 1800s-era themed “hospital for the mentally insane” has been taken over by the patients and prisoners. Tapping into some of our greatest fears, the haunted experience is a head-trip, in which tortured souls scream inside the once orderly insane asylum. Information: 303-355-3327.
The 13th Floor
Oct. 1-Nov. 12, 7-11 p.m.
Hailed by Fangoria Magazine as “the #1 scariest haunted attraction in the U.S.,” the 13th Floor Haunted House at 4120 Brighton Blvd. takes guests through a frightening tour of horror. Brave souls will learn just why the 13th floor is so often omitted from building plans — if they make it through to tell the tale. This year promises new thrills with intricate sets, highly selective casting and incredible special effects makeup that is sure to make reality and fiction blur into terror. Information: 303-355-3327.
Halloween Extremes
Halloween contains trick or treats, haunted houses, witches, ghosts and superheroes designed to amuse children. What about grown-ups than never did grow up?
Instead of accompanying kids and grandchildren for begging on a dark and stormy night, some adult singles still get their own chance at Halloween their way. The exact date of Halloween is two days after the Saturday parties.
Most young parents and non-parents observe the event at bars and nightclubs that will be recognizing the theme. Then there are the private costume parties especially for adults of all ages.
The ultimate and extreme party in Denver is the 8th Annual Paranormal Palace on October 29, 2016. The outrageous party returns this year to the newly renovated McNichols Civic Center Building at 114 W. Colfax Ave. Adjacent to the City and County Building, the former Carnegie Library just re-opened after a $5.5 million remodel.
And the first big event for the historic structure is very scary in many ways.
The Paranormal Palace attracts more than 2,500 costumed guests who will enter through a 25-foot skull entry. Once inside there are 20-foot spiders, two bands, two DJs, and more than 30 performers and models. Music is billed as “Monster beats from Top 40 mash ups to hip-hop ’80s and terrifying grooves that pound the Palace walls.”
The sensory overload has a variety of prices starting at $95.37 including tax but only 958 tickets were available at time of press. The limited consumption tickets are cheaper but sold out. Special seating costs more all the way up to a “three-person couch pit” for $299 plus tax.
This is the eighth year that Kevin Larson has presented this event for the 21-50 age group. This year it is also a fundraiser for the V-2 Education Foundation. More information is available on his very strange website ParanormalPalace.org.
At the other end of the dancing and drinking spectrum is the annual Boomer Social Halloween Dance. This age 50-plus group has already seen their share of Halloween, first through the eyes of their children and now their grandchildren. They also have a wealth of costume background. So, now it is their turn but in a more sedate style.
Far from an open bar, their first and often only drink is included in the $15 admission. Music is familiar, what they remember from different times of their life and is not loud.
Their favorite entertainers are the duo of Tony David and Kerry Edwards who sing recorded songs exactly the way they were written. Costumes are less blood and gore but often sexy and more imaginative. They are still dating so look your best in a costume you like emulating a celebrity they admired.
The crowd dances non-stop but leaves promptly at 11 p.m. on Saturday night so the semi-revelers can rest and be ready for church in the morning.
The adult singles celebration is usually in a sedate Southeast Aurora hotel, but this year it is at The Rendezvous Restaurant, adjacent to Heather Gardens Community Center. Doors open to party guests at 7:30 p.m., after the Early Bird Special is served and cleared. The music starts at 8 p.m. with line dancers filling the floor.
No reservations are required or taken. More information and photos are at www. Boomersocial.net. For more information about Paranormal Palace, visit www.para normal palace.org.
