University of Colorado Hospital
5 great skincare tips for cooler temperatures
(BPT) – It’s that time of year again, the time of year when you forget about sunburns and start worrying about windburn. Yes, sadly, the cooler months are here and winter is in full swing. That means long coats, scarves and an entirely different skincare routine.
Skincare you say? True, it’s easy to forget about your skin when it’s covered by all those extra layers, but dermatologist Dr. Anne Chapas, who is the founder and medical director of Union Square Dermatology, says cooler months are when skincare, particularly lip care, is most important. “The skin is our first line of defense against environmental elements, but the skin on our lips has extremely unique properties. It is one of the most sensitive areas of skin, so they require special attention in order to maintain a healthy appearance,” says Dr. Chapas.
With that in mind, Dr. Chapas offers these tips to help you keep your lips and the rest of your skin feeling and looking healthy no matter the temperature.
* Nurture your lips. The cooler months are hard on your lips. Not only are they exposed to cooler temperatures daily, behavioral habits like biting or licking your lips can also be damaging. “What most people don’t realize is that common behaviors such as drinking wine or coffee and eating salty or acidic foods can dry out the lips,” says Dr. Chapas. “But drinking plenty of water to stay hydrated and applying a moisturizing lip balm can help counteract the effects of these activities and improve your lip health.” Chapstick Hydration Lock Moisturize and Renew is a dual-ended lip balm that delivers long-lasting moisture to the lips and works great to keep the skin on the lips moisturized and replenished in the cooler months.
* Protect your hands. Your hands are often left exposed during the cooler months, especially if the cold air has dried your skin, making gloves or mittens painful to wear. Dr. Chapas says products that contain shea butter and lanolin are great for counteracting the abuse your hands endure.
* For your scalp. A thicker, moisturizing shampoo will reduce dryness on your scalp and prevent itchiness as temperatures drop.
* Remember the time of day. Don’t use the same skincare products for day and night. Instead, use products with protective, moisturizing benefits to guard your skin during the day. At night, switch to heavier creams that offer more hydration. Your skin will absorb this extra moisture while you sleep. For example, ChapStick Hydration Lock Day & Night contains two distinct formulas specific for day and nighttime use.
* Don’t forget the sun. Just because you’ve traded in your sunburn for windburn doesn’t mean you don’t need SPF. “UV damage can happen year-round,” says Dr. Chapas. “In fact, we are closer to the sun in the wintertime, and the sun can reflect off the snow, further amplifying its rays and causing sun damage. This makes it so important to incorporate sun protection into your skincare routine, regardless of the season.” Areas like the lips where skin is thinner will need even more attention and protection, since they are so sensitive.
On those coldest days when you’re bundled in layers, remember your skin needs extra protection and these simple tips will help your skin stay healthy during the cold weather season. To learn more about protecting your lips visit ChapStick on Facebook or Twitter. For more information on Dr. Chapas visit the Union Square Dermatology website.
Lynch Eager To Use Newfound Knowledge With Raptors
by Brent New
Writer for and on behalf of the City of Glendale
There’s an awakening in Steve Lynch’s eyes — a feeling that after a seven-week journey in rugby-stalwart New Zealand, Lynch has grasped onto a whole new level of understanding for the sport that he has loved for more than a quarter of a century.
The longtime Glendale Raptors coach was encased in something of Rugby Rhapsody, calling his recent trip to play in the prestigious Four Nations Maritime Rugby Cup one of the most valuable experiences of his coaching career.
“I learned more about rugby in the past seven weeks in New Zealand than I have in the past 10 years I’ve coached,” Lynch said. “The experience and the people I met were unbelievable. It’s something I’ll never forget.”
As far as what it means for the Raptors’ growth and success, time will tell. And when and if it does, it will probably be hard to sort his experience from all of the other happenings that will go on to define the organization.
Nonetheless, Lynch is eager to spread his newfound knowledge in an effort to help better the Raptors.
“We realized what things we really need to focus on with our guys,” Lynch said. “We saw what it takes to be elite ruggers and I am excited to bring that experience back here.”
Lynch, who is also the Director of Rugby for the Navy, transformed 28 active-duty service men with rugby experience into full-time ruggers to compete in the 30-year-old tournament in Devonport, New Zealand.
Certainly a slim-to-none favorite in the tournament, and maybe even less than that, his patched-together team actually held its own through most of its matches against the seasoned navy teams from New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Australia. But eventually the U.S. fell in all of its matches and watched rugby power New Zealand upset the United Kingdom for the tournament championship.
The next Four Nations Maritime Rugby Cup will take place in 2017.
“We kind of knew that these were teams who were on another level than we were,” Lynch said. “We had players who played on different temporary club teams around the world, while these teams were full of full-time players that have been together for years. These players have been playing the game their whole lives. It’s like being Alabama in football and playing the Broncos.”
Didn’t feel like a loss though. At least once things settled.
Josh Barry, a homegrown Raptors youth star who played on the U.S. military team, said the tournament helped him realize what it takes to compete at an elite level. When asked about it, he vowed to learn from it and bring his skills to the Raptors’ organization this winter.
“Just the technique and skill of those players was unbelievable,” said Barry, who finished his service two months ago and is currently trying out for the Raptors’ Pacific Rugby Premiership team. “We weren’t elite like the other teams. We definitely saw what it takes to be the best.
“You never want to lose, but we were able to take away experiences that changed all of us for the better. We’re better and smarter players because of this trip, even if we didn’t get the result we wanted.”
The U.S. team’s biggest prize may have come before the tournament anyway.
The makeshift squad spent more than three weeks of training for the tournament, some of it with the likes of international rugby talents such as former New Zealand All Blacks captain and renowned rugby coach Buck Shelford.
The feedback was eye-opening, Lynch said. The international stars said they were impressed with the conditioning and athleticism of the U.S. players, but were just as astounded with the lack of technical skills that accompanied that raw talent.
The team’s focus was clear from there.
“Shelford is a celebrity in the rugby world. To work with him was so invaluable,” Lynch said. “These guys helped us really see that we don’t have the fundamentals down like we need to. I mean the great players perfect it and practice the fundamentals relentlessly. We aren’t close to where we should be in those skills.”
Lynch, who returned to Glendale late last year to coach the High-Performance Academy and help with the men’s team, has already been a pioneer in growing the game of rugby in the United States.
Now, he said he is eager to help take the sport he loves to the next level. And luckily for the Raptors, he’ll start in Glendale.
“Had a couple of drinks with the coaches over there and they believe America is kind of a sleeping giant in rugby,” Lynch said. “If we start perfecting the fundamentals to go along with our superior athleticism, we would dominate the sport. That’s exciting to hear.”
Denver Councilmembers Push For More Photo Radar Cameras
As Ohio And Other States Seek Ban
by Glen Richardson
Various members of the Denver City Council are reportedly pressuring the police to expand the city’s photo radar camera operation in light of the city raking in over $34 million in less than five years from citizens. The city has red light cameras at four intersections and five roaming vans to ticket speeders.
The push is being made notwithstanding various states are considering banning their use including Ohio which would require officers to witness any violation first-hand. The bill passed the Ohio House 58-31 and is expected to pass the Senate and be signed by Governor John Kasich. A similar statewide ban was passed by the Colorado State Senate last year only to die in the State House due to pressure from Denver Mayor Michael Hancock and Governor John Hickenlooper, a former mayor of Denver. The State of Missouri may put a ban to a statewide vote pursuant to bill introduced to the Missouri General Assembly.
At the same time the so-called “bagman” for red light camera company Redflex Traffic Systems, pleaded guilty to bribing a city worker to rig a $124 million contract in return for kickbacks. It is expected he will testify against Redflex CEO Karen Finlay on bribery charges. Redflex operated in Denver and other cities in Colorado in the past and the possibility of bribery charges being brought in Colorado is still purportedly a possibility.
Changing The Rules
The rise in revenues was in part generated when the red light camera, Xerox State and Local Solutions, was allowed to redefine what was running a red light from actually entering the intersection to touching any part of the preceding white crosswalk. Denver remains the only jurisdiction in Colorado that defines running a red light as just touching a white crosswalk. In Florida and other jurisdictions red light companies discovered that by shortening yellow lights by small amounts they could dramatically increase revenues although it also dramatically increased accidents.
Denver never adopted this technique due to the fact that the shortened yellow light gambit became a national scandal in places it was secretly implemented. The Denver Police Department claimed the four locations where red light cameras were installed, cut down accidents by 65 percent. But ABC Channel 7 News discovered the real reasons accidents were down is that at the same time, they increased yellow lights. In four other intersections in which longer yellow lights were also implemented, but no red light cameras installed, accidents were down 57 percent.
Denver also has five photo radar vans that bring in the majority of funds for the city. In theory the vans can be moved anywhere in the city, but are not. One van is almost incessantly parked on Speer Boulevard/1st Avenue across from the Denver Country Club. The reason is readily apparent — the six lane road does not appear to be a road where the speed limit would logically reduce from the standard 35 mph to 30 mph. Motorists often travel at what they believe is a reasonable 40 mph and get regularly ticketed providing literally hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenues to the city. It has been noted that if the city had one of its photometric speed display trailers, which informs the motorist how fast he or she is traveling above the posted limit, it would be much more effective, but would provide no money to the city coffers.
Chief Of Police White
Destroys Personal Credibility
City Auditor Dennis Gallagher’s office reviewed the city’s photo radar in 2011 and found that it had done little to clearly show any purpose other than bringing in revenues. The report declared, “Unfortunately, DPD [Denver Police Department] has not demonstrated that the photo radar program has a positive impact on public safety. Because these programs were sold as public safety enhancements, but are widely viewed as a cash grab, it undermines public trust to maintain photo enforcement programs that are profitable, but whose safety impact has not been conclusively shown. If this situation persists, then the photo enforcement programs should be shut down.”
In response DPD refused to provide any studies and simply claimed no study could be conducted that would satisfy the auditor’s concerns.
Notwithstanding Chief White’s claim, the Chicago Tribune on December 19 in a front page story reported that a scientific study was in fact just performed on the country’s largest red light camera program in Chicago. It found, despite Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s claims to the contrary, red light cameras did not reduce injury-related crashes overall, but simply resulted in more rear-end accidents, while reducing so-called “T-bone” crashes.
As the photo radar enforcement program is highly unpopular among some voters, elected officials in Denver have generally refused to go on camera to try to justify its retention. The task has been delegated to Chief of Police Robert White who is appointed by the mayor. He has gone on Channel 7 and other stations and claimed the sole and only purpose of the program is “public safety.” Since such an assertion appears on its face wholly or at least partially untrue, he has lost credibility with some citizens at a time when police are under fire across the country.
“White is clearly lying. We know that at least part of the rationale is money and for him to claim otherwise is pathetic,” stated Denver resident Trish Abbott. She also noted, “White goes on Channel 7 and gives a bald lie right to the camera. In an age of ‘you can keep your doctor, if you like your doctor’ and the ‘United States doesn’t torture’ we are sick and tired of lying politicians and bureaucrats. At a time when the police department badly needs to build public trust, he throws it all away for nothing to provide cover for Hancock and members of the City Council.”
Citizen Revolt
Denver citizens are increasingly refusing to pay the photo radar enforcement tickets they receive in the mail as only 65 percent of the tickets are now paid. Under the applicable statute, Denver tickets must be sent by certified mail or personally served within 90 days of issuance and if not the ticket must be expunged. The Gallagher report suggested the law be changed, but to date it has not been.
City Council Extends
On December 15 the Denver City Council approved by a vote of 12 to 1 the extension of the existing contract, in theory, to allow competitive bidding for an expanded program with more red light cameras and more photo radar vans. The only dissenting vote was that of Jeanne Faatz who pointed out the absurdity of the crosswalk violation and the lack of any conclusive evidence on public safety. “Some people love them, I don’t,” City Councilwoman Faatz said. “…my feeling is that issuing tickets for people who cross the white line is knit picking. It’s more of a revenue raiser than a safety measure.” On December 16, City Auditor Gallagher sent out a letter in which he noted at the public hearing that “I never heard any talk about proving that these two programs actually improve public safety.”
Denver City Council Up For Grabs
Will RNOs Weigh In On Election May 5?
by Mark Smiley
Denver’s municipal election is set for May 5 which includes the mayor and the entire 13 member City Council. While there is dissatisfaction with Mayor Michael Hancock in some neighborhoods throughout the city, he has not drawn any serious election opposition. Thus all the attention and funding has shifted to the Denver City Council races. Five present City Council members are term limited and Chris Nevitt has decided to run for the city auditor position.
RNOs
Denver has over 100 registered neighborhood organizations (RNOs) as well as an umbrella group called the Inter-Neighborhood Cooperation or INC. Average citizens interact with the government of the City and County of Denver through their neighborhood organizations or direct contact with their city councilmember or the member’s staff. During election season council members tend to be very solicitous of the neighborhood groups and are happy to attend their meetings. Following the election and for the next four years many council members want nothing to do with neighborhood groups and often privately disparage them.
Many Denver council members between elections also refuse to interact with average citizens except in highly orchestrated group meetings arranged by their respective staff. Citizens who attend city council meetings to oppose an action the city wants to take are often ignored or even harangued or laughed at by some city council members. The reason is simple. Incumbent Denver City Council members virtually never lose re-election no matter how incompetent or corrupt they may be. Thus what citizens and neighborhood groups think of their city representative is generally irrelevant.
Who Controls Denver And Courtesy Zoning
The people who do matter are real estate developers and unions who are the overwhelming source of campaign funds. Only they would have the resources to challenge an incumbent. The primary power that a city council member has is control of all zoning revisions and development in his or her district. City Council has informally adopted the practice of “courtesy zoning” whereby the councilmember in whose district a development is located will be deferred to. Thus when citizens attend a Denver City Council member to oppose a development they are literally wasting their time.
If a rezoning or a development is before the City Council it means the city council member has indicated that he or she approves of it and it will pass by an overwhelming margin regardless of the merits or citizen opposition. Since Denver City Council members are required by law not to decide on so-called quasi-judicial matters until after all of the public input the concept of courtesy zoning would appear to be illegal or even criminal according to some municipal experts. Nonetheless, the practice of courtesy zoning continues unabated in 21st century Denver. The practice allows a real estate developer to grease the pocket of only the city councilmember in whose district his development is located, saving a great deal of time, money and effort.
Labor Union Controlled
Two of Denver’s 13 council members are elected at large and do not have defined districts. Thus developers are uninterested in these at-large seats leaving the positions to be controlled by the labor unions, particularly SEIU. At-large elections can be very expensive since they cover the whole city. A challenge to an incumbent at-large councilmember who has remained in the good graces with the unions is generally considered an almost impossibility. Denver’s two at-large members, Robin Kneich and Debbie Ortega, are generally considered in the back pocket of the labor unions and are viewed by some as poorly informed council members. Nonetheless they are running unopposed this election.
There are however potentially highly competitive races for many of the remaining 11 seats. In addition to the six open seats there may be additional competitive races due to redistricting. According to Denver law, the city must be redistricted at least once every 10 years to ensure that each Council member is representing a similar number of residents so that the concept of “one person, one vote” is maintained. In 2011, City Council reconfigured the boundaries for Denver’s 11 City Council districts creating a great deal of controversy. These new boundaries will take effect this coming election, May 5, 2015.
While it is generally held that a viable candidate needs to be engaged by the beginning of the new year, legally speaking March 11, 2015, is the deadline to submit petitions which need at least 100 signatures for council and 300 for auditor, mayor, and at-large seats.
District 10
One of the most interesting races is in District 10, located in central Denver. Jeanne Robb is completing her third and final term in office which will leave her seat available for a viable candidate. Recently, Roger Sherman, an executive at the public affairs firm CRL Associates announced he was withdrawing from the race. His initial candidacy papers were filed in March 2013 and he was considered to be a strong candidate for developers.
Wayne New, a former president of the Cherry Creek North Neighborhood Association, is now the only declared candidate, at press time. Two other individuals have revealed an interest in running. Anna Jones, a Congress Park resident and a community development consultant who is vice president at Progressive Urban Management Associates, says she plans to launch a campaign. Alicia Economos, vice president of outreach and development for the group Democrats for Education Reform, also indicated plans to file her paperwork, but apparently has recently changed her mind.
Wayne New’s message focuses on what he sees as the over-development of Cherry Creek and a disregard for neighborhood interests in city planning decisions. “For years, our neighborhood voices have not been respected or even welcomed in City planning and decision-making,” said New. “I have a proven record of almost 15 years of strongly advocating the need for “balance” to protect our neighborhoods from excessive traffic, inadequate parking, and over-development that adversely impacts our quality of life. I will help lead us toward a more responsive, more accountable City government.”
District 6
Another district of note to Chronicle readers is District 6 in Southeast Denver. The owner of the Washington Park Profile Paul Kashmann faces Elizabeth Adams to succeed term limited Councilmember Charlie Brown who has served on the council since 2001. The redrawn District 6 will now represent the following neighborhoods: Harvard Gulch/Rosedale, Washington Park, University, Bonnie Brae, Cory-Merrill, University Park, Virginia Village/Ellis, Virginia Vale, Cook Park and Indian Creek. Portions of the new District 6 stretch as far west as Broadway, east past Quebec Street, as far north as Speer Blvd., and south to Dartmouth Ave.
Best Of The Rest
Six candidates have stepped forward to take over Chris Nevitt’s vacated seat in District 7, located in South-Central Denver. Luchia Ann Brown, Jolon Clark, Aaron Greco, Ian Harwick, Mickki Langston and Jacob Hunter Viano have declared their candidacy.
Far Southwest District 2 is vacated by term limited councilmember Jeanne Faatz. Five individuals have declared their candidacy: Nathaniel Cole, Fran Coleman, Kevin Flynn, Corrie Houck and John E. Kidd Jr. Far Southeast District 4 has been represented by Peggy Lehman since 2003. Four candidates have declared: Kendra Alexis Valis Black, Jeffrey Allen Garcia, William George McMullen and Halisi Vinson.
Judy Montero from District 9 has served on the council since 2003 and is term limited. Albus Brooks, who currently represents District 8, is now running in the new District 9. He is faced by Michael Borcherding, the founder of a sport and social club called Mile High Gives.
With Chris Herndon now running for a council seat in District 8, District 11 has five challengers: Sean Bradley, Shelli Brown, Samaria J. Crews, Stacie Gilmore, and Tea Schook.
Potentially the most endangered incumbent is District 1’s Susan Shepherd running against challenger Rafael Espinoza. Shepherd was elected as a labor union candidate but once in office quickly also became the friend of real estate developers. When she supported a massive redevelopment of a portion of the West Highlands citizens protested and eventually sued the city. While the lawsuit was ultimately dismissed her and her husband’s thuggish behavior toward neighborhood activists enraged the district.
Espinoza emphasizes that he is an architect and community activist who has fought the city administration before and running on a platform putting constitutes first. Shepherd will have the strong financial backers of the labor unions and the real estate developers which have successful rebuffed citizen-backed candidates many times before.
Role For Neighborhoods?
The question is what role RNOs and INC will play in the election as a possible counterbalance to the labor unions and real estate developers. It is not expected they will have an overt role since they are not per se political entities, but individual members of the groups are organizing to fight what they see as a corrupt and dishonest zoning and development process.
Moreover, INC has developed a platform for allowing neighborhoods to have a bigger role in developments across the city. The platform would prohibit higher density developments where the same would worsen traffic and parking. A city council candidate’s support or refusal to support the platform will help inform voters of where that person stands on reasonable growth in Denver’s neighborhoods.
Will 2015 be the year of citizens and neighborhood groups or the usual formidable duo of labor unions and real estate developers? For the first time in many a year the answer to that question is not clear, which should make this spring’s Denver municipal election an interesting one.
