by Mark Smiley | Oct 24, 2014 | Editorials
An old proverb declares that “It’s a foolish bird that fouls its own nest.” Brad Buchanan, the beefy, bloated, ethically challenged, new executive director of Denver’s Department of Community Planning and Development is no one’s fool. Prior to taking on the top job in planning Denver’s future growth he moved out of the city, over an hour away to a 1,500 acre ranch on the Eastern Plains beside Kiowa Creek so he would not have to personally suffer from what he and the city government are doing to Denver’s neighborhoods one at a time.
Larry Ambrose, president of the Inter-Neighborhood Cooperation which is the umbrella group for all of Denver’s neighborhood associations, summed the situation up well when he told The Denver Post, “It’s very easy for Brad to come into the city and shove this density down our throats and then drive back home to his ranch.”
Considered by some an uninspiring and somewhat hackneyed architect he eventually became highly politically connected. He was the chairman of the Downtown Denver Partnership but hit real pay dirt when he was appointed to the Denver Planning Commission by then Mayor Hickenlooper. He eventually was made chairman of that entity. The 11 member board advises the mayor and Denver City Council on land use matters including making recommendations on rezoning requests.
There was no direct remuneration for the positions he held but he made the appointments highly profitable for himself. He became the man developers hired when they had a questionable project that had to get past the Planning Board. He was hired for the highly controversial Red Peak development at the Denver Highlands that many in the neighborhood considered the buildings to
o high and the density excessive for the historic area. The citizens unsuccessfully sued to stop the project.
He was also hired for the redevelopment at the St. Anthony’s Hospital site on West Colfax where his design included downtown density and heights in a single-fam
ily residential area. Ethical questions were raised by his actions including a formal complaint filed by former Denver City Council President Cathy Donahue who objected to his making presentations to the Planning Commission shortly after leaving as chairman, but to no avail. In Denver, ethics appears to offer little or no constraints to politically connected individuals like Brad Buchanan.
Mayor Michael Hancock declared that Buchanan was his “dream pick” which is very bad news for Denver’s neighborhoods. Buchanan has preached the need for ever more density in the form of high rise apartments and condos in every neighborhood across Denver. At the same time he opposes open space requirements that exist in the present code and intends to bring forward controversial amendments which will drastically limit open space requirements in large developments despite vociferous objections by neighborhood groups.
Upon being appointed executive director in March, Buchanan threw a bone to the neighborhood associations saying they will be notified of a rezoning application after it has been submitted a second time as opposed to after it has been formally vetted and approved. But neighborhood groups understand that the concession was one without any real meaning as they will have no possibility of any real input unless they are notified when the Planning Department first receives a request to rezone.
Neighborhood groups moreover realize the deck is stacked against them no matter when they are notified. As it stands the Denver Planning Department is little more than a minor speed bump today for well connected developers. The Planning Board is packed with pro-developer advocates appointed by Mayor Hancock who learned his lesson when a majority of the Denver Parks Board stood up to him over the Hentzell Park giveaway. He made sure anyone who opposed him was replaced by individuals who will do what they are told.
At one time being appointed to a volunteer board in Denver government was a mark of true honor and distinction. Under Hancock it has become something of a badge of shame as appointees are viewed for the most part as pliable hacks that will do the Mayor’s bidding without question or independent judgment.
Buchanan has expressed his admiration for cities that have incorporated “incredible density” such as Singapore. He has also repeatedly toted “walkability” by which he means citizens in new developments with minimal required parking will be forced to walk in the shadows of towering apartment and office buildings. The walking will be in an urban setting devoid of trees or grass or anything else that once served as open space. Under Buchanan paved streets are in some cases argued to be what serves as open space in the new Denver.
He has personally helped in the design of some of the worst projects and ugliest developments in Denver from the Highlands to Sloan’s Lake. His appointment means no neighborhood is safe from a high density makeover as the denizens of Cherry Creek, Observatory Park and the Country Club areas have discovered, to their chagrin.
Buchanan wants to place the majority of the residents of Denver into dense vertical structures with families living in 1,000 square feet or less of living space while he and his wife and two children enjoy the luxury of 1,500 acres of land in Strasburg, at his Flying B Bar Ranch. As the pig Napoleon declared in George Orwell’s Animal Farm: “All animals are equal; but some are more equal than others.”
Brad Buchanan most definitely sees himself as being one of the “more equal” animals. His appointment was a disgrace — what he is doing to the formerly livable neighborhoods should be a crime. Instead, it is deemed “progress” in Michael Hancock’s Denver.
— Editorial Board
by Mark Smiley | Oct 24, 2014 | Feature Story Middle Left
“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
— Ferris Bueller
I was channeling my inner Ferris during a recent trip through Denver International. It was early as in even earlier than Toddler App wakes up. To put the earliness of the morning in some perspective, Toddler App wakes the roosters up. Maybe all of the people I observed were on East Coast time. I just wasn’t interested in anything except getting to the gate on time and drinking my Dunkin Donuts coffee. For once, I was looking around rather than staring at my phone. Have you tried this? Did you know there are other people in the same vicinity as you? I counted 15 people that walked by without picking their heads up. Do they have sonar? How are they all not crashing into each other?
My favorite moment was the grandmother giving an Academy Award performance of voice to text. Beep Beep. A pause as she reads the text. Then, beep beep, followed by yelling the text into the phone. Beep Beep. Another pause. More yelling. This continued for five minutes or at least long enough for the first group to board the plane. I openly laughed while watching and sipping some caffeine. Of course, the Frontier flight proceeded to run into an owl on an aborted take-off and a return trip to the gate. Once at the gate, everyone took out their phones. From the back of the plane, beep beep, the same woman yelling “We’re delayed. Send.” Serenity now! Be cognizant of your surroundings for the love of others!
iOS8 — The Ocho is a disappointment. Maybe I was expecting the interface to change like previous upgrades. It feels like the same software as iOS7. Maybe I just haven’t played around with it enough. Maybe I’m getting cranky as I approach 40. Not sure what it is, but the best feature with the new software is that my battery doesn’t drain. Do you have a favorite iOS8 or iPhone6 feature?
More apps were built around the Notification Center with iOS8. What is the Notification Center? From the locked screen, drag the dash straight down to open “today’s” notes and reminders, and notifications. The dash is replaced with the current time when the phone is unlocked. Drag straight down from the time to open the Notification Center. This area has the ability to display active information from your apps. Interested in trying some apps? Try App in the Air, which lists flight info. Vidgets, displays the battery meter and available storage. The battery meter may be redundant, however the storage is helpful. Waiting for the storage availability to load through the settings takes a few minutes. And we can’t possibility wait a few minutes for anything now-a-days, right? For the sports junkie, use this area for ESPN SportsCenter, which shows sports scores and a button to listen to live ESPN radio. Quick-Tap allows shortcuts for activities, such as Text Wife, Call Mom, and Directions to Home. Think of Quick-Tap as the iPhone’s version of adding an icon to your desktop on your PC.
Cool Apps
BlackFriday… It’s that time of year again. This is still the app leader for the best deals. Can you believe stores are open at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving? Is it really necessary to stand in line to grab a $100 flat screen or duke it out over a Teddy Ruxpin? | Trello… it’s a whiteboard. Wait. It’s a to-do list. Wait. It’s both!| MailDeck… an email app that merges multiple accounts in one, which is handy. It allows for sorting by sender, which is better than the Apple version. Better yet? It’s a Denver-based startup. | Litely… Edit your photos to look professional | Fleksy… customize your iPhone keyboard. | For the person two cubes down from my cube, Post-it Plus. Take a picture of your Post-it note and the app turns the written note into an interactive board allowing you to move the notes around and brainstorm. Free up that poor monitor that has 34 post-it notes taped along the screen edges. | Swype… swipe your finger across the keyboard to type rather than pressing the keys. Now iPhone users can be like Samsung users. | PopKey… send a GIF (picture) with your text.
Beep Beep. Happy Turkey Day. Send.
How are you, and or your business using mobile technology? Are you using this technology to entice new hires to join your company? Are you eliminating hardware and going cloud? Has it allowed you to hire employees from outside your area? I’d like to hear your story for a future column.
Do you have a favorite app you’d like to share? Contact Brian at brian@brianzabro ski.com, on Twitter @BrianZab or LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/brianzab.
Brian, a Corporate Account Executive with NetSuite, has spent nearly twenty years in the telecommunications and software industry. Businesses use NetSuite software to run and manage all of their business applications. It’s web-based, so businesses can access their information from anywhere; It’s flexible, which allows the software to be customized for their business; and, it is built on a single platform, which businesses appreciate since they can often eliminate multiple software solutions. Trending companies, such as Box, GoPro, FitBit and Dropbox use this software to run their business. Reach out to Brian to learn how your business can benefit with this software.
by Mark Smiley | Oct 24, 2014 | Feature Story Bottom Left
I don’t know about you but this has been the most profound year of my life. The life lessons that I have experienced have truly been like nothing that I have ever witnessed before. Without question I have felt both sides of every situation and scenario you can imagine — personally, professionally, physically and emotionally. I’ve felt more confident than ever and I’ve been unsure about everything, I received more love than I thought was humanly possible and I’ve never been so alone. I discovered sides of me that I love and cherish and sides of me I never want to see again.
I’ve learned we are all doing the same thing, running the same race and facing the same life challenges. We’re all just trying to make our way through this life as humans, fallible human beings. We are people who depend and rely on each other in various capacities, physically, financially, and emotionally. We do and should expect a certain amount of safety from those with whom we associate in our romantic and platonic relationships.
So, undoubtedly as humans, we all will be let down by someone else’s actions, or by someone exercising their free will, if you will. The will, or need for someone to do something or fulfill something burning inside of them, may affect others’ lives because of their actions. The outcome of someone exercising their humanly free will can be positive or negative depending on the perception of the affected recipient(s).
You, me, us, the recipients, can either understand each other as humans. People are emotionally driven and on any given day we can be happy, sad, healthy, sick, loving, twisted, functional, crazy, you name it… If the emotion exists, you’re not excluded from feeling it.
Here’s where logic can trump emotion and will save you a lot of aggravation and heartache if you break it down in its most simplistic form. It is up to me/you to decide what and who works best in our human lives. It is up to us to seek intimacy and true reality and it is up to us to be actively in charge of our mental and physical health. We must not allow shallow relationships that are based on others reframing our reality by projecting perceptions of euphoria that cater to telling us what we want to hear. Humans have a tendency to do this so that their free will isn’t questioned, judged or challenged.
You, my friends, have the free will to be and conduct yourself in any fashion you desire and do whatever it is that makes you happy without my scrutiny or judgment. All I ask in return is that you offer me unfiltered, unfettered, unencumbered reality so that I can base what capacity you fit in my life.
Let’s face it, if you’re single and actively dating you are dealing with strangers. Strangers who may or may not have your best interest in mind and could potentially turn your life upside down, and most of the time we allow it. We, more often than not, like to give people the benefit of the doubt and sometimes look past things because we refuse to believe people don’t act or react to certain situations. We put it all out there in the manner we would and when they don’t, it’s letdown city. They may not have done anything wrong or they didn’t mean any harm by telling a little white lie, but it hurts nonetheless because we may expect a certain outcome that we’ve created in our minds.
Do me a favor and try this… Try to open up your mind when you’re dating. Allow people to be human, allow them to be comfortable with how they act and what they say. Be more forgiving and understanding to their plight in life instead of yours. Get to know the people you’re dating for who they are, the more comfortable they are the less likely they will feel the need to tell you what you want to hear instead of what they want to say. Watch their actions and listen closely to what they have to say and base if you want to continue your association with them by who they are, not who you want them to be. Stay true to yourself and your needs first, and who knows, if it doesn’t work out you may have just gained a friend, a friend you actually know for who they are!
As a side note: As you may or may not know I have created The Modern Dater Club and it is shaping up nicely! The Modern Dater Club is exclusive to singles who want to go on preplanned excursions with other singles that are created and hosted by me. If you want more information about The Modern Dater Club and how you can become a part of it you can contact me directly at themoderndater@gmail.com. Don’t forget to tune into my dating related radio show every Saturday evening at 7 p.m. on 630 KHOW or grab the podcasts on www. themoderndater.com.
Your pal, Sheik!
by Mark Smiley | Oct 23, 2014 | Featured Stories & Advertisers
by Mark Smiley | Sep 29, 2014 | Travel
by Glen Richardson
Glendale staple Shotgun Willie’s is now open and will be serving liquor until 4 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights thanks to a new Common Consumption law (C.R.S. 12-47-103 et seq.) passed by the legislature in 2011.
State Senator Pat Steadman, a sponsor of the 2011 law that paved the way for Glendale’s extended drinking hours said, “Local governments should be allowed to set the hours of their establishments.” After the law was passed, the Glendale City Council approved the extended hours by a unanimous vote.
Shotgun Willie’s is the first establishment to get approval under the new law although casinos in Black Hawk and bars and restaurants in Morrison are considering it. “Now that casinos are allowed to stay open 24 hours, there is a lot of interest in Black Hawk of having later drinking hours,” said Steadman.
It is perhaps not surprising that Shotgun Willie’s was the first business to utilize the new law as Glendale was one of the prime backers of the new legislation.
The new hours brought the club to the attention of Brian Maass the investigative reporter for CBS4 Denver News. Maass, throughout his career, has made a living on doing specialty pieces on Shotgun’s and Glendale, usually in a negative light, and the latest story was no exception. Maass brought hidden cameras into the club for no apparent reason other than to have an employee on camera confirming the new hours which Maass acknowledged were wholly legal. On camera Maass made a Freudian slip first saying “wholly illegal” before correcting himself.
Westword’s Michael Roberts, in an article on the matter, made fun of Maass’ use of “hidden camera techniques even though everything the club has done is completely overboard [meant ‘aboveboard’].”
Maass then had the male executive director of the Colorado chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving Fran Lanzer, predictably declare that they were against extended hours. He stated what’s happening with Glendale in his opinion is a risky proposition. “If we have a uniform statewide cutoff limit, then every bar has to close by 2 a.m. and that means there is no incentive to leave one bar to try and get to another bar that is going to close later. If there is an option where people could go and potentially continue drinking and continue their night, that would be an incentive for people to drive drunk and take that risk,” said Lanzer.
On his 710 KNUS morning show, Dan Caplis then praised the Maass piece and took calls on the subject. Michael Brown also covered the topic on his drive time radio show on 630 KHOW.
The net effect of the publicity was packed crowds now on the weekends after 2 a.m. “It’s incredible,” said Marguerite Lucas, Shotgun Willie’s spokesperson. “Brian Maass really knows how to gin up business for the club and we are very grateful.”
The club even put in huge letters on their marquee on Colorado Boulevard, “Thank You Brian Maass.” The club indicated thanks to the boost given to it by Maass and the related publicity, they may consider adding some other days of the week to the extended hours program.
