by Mark Smiley | Sep 22, 2025 | Main Articles
by Mark Smiley
Leaving Soon: The popular Belcaro King Soopers will close in 2026. What will replace it is presently being reimagined by the Kentro Group after its original plans had fierce opposition by neighborhood groups due to height and density concerns.
Empty Center: All of the stores in the Belcaro Center with the exception of King Soopers have been closed for months awaiting redevelopment.
Neighbors in Denver’s Belcaro community are breathing a sigh of relief after developers dropped plans for a 12-story residential tower on the site of the former King Soopers. Plans to redevelop the former King Soopers property have been scrapped after strong pushback from nearby homeowners. City planners, who had been reviewing the rezoning request, said the withdrawal halts the process for now. The future of the prominent corner lot remains uncertain.
Many blame the Denver Community and Development Department for the debacle. Critics of that Department are blaming it for constantly harassing developers to add more and more density and height to virtually all projects in contrast to the residents living in the project areas.
Earlier this year, the Kentro Group, Denver based developers, unveiled a plan for a mixed-use building that would have brought apartments, shops, and a few retail shops to the 7-acre property. Kentro admitted it was the city that pushed the proposal and not the developer. One resident proposed that it should be “defund Commu
nity Planning” rather than” defunding the police” She also wondered “who exactly does Community work on behalf of? It is certainly not the residents of Denver.”
Many nearby homeowners worried the project was simply too tall and dense for the neighborhood. At packed community meetings, residents spoke out about traffic, parking, and blocked views, demanding the developer to rethink their and the city’s approach.
“This isn’t about being against growth,” said longtime resident Carol Simmons. “It’s about keeping the scale of development in line with the character of Belcaro.” Councilwoman Amanda Sawyer, who represents the district, said she was glad neighbors’ voices were heard. “This site is important, and it deserves thoughtful planning,” Sawyer said. “We need solutions that both address Denver’s housing needs and respect the character of existing neighborhoods.” She did not appear to have weighed in or supported residents until Kentro withdrew its plans.
This is the second major victory for neighborhood groups this calendar year. The first of which was the battle over the Park Hill Golf Course (February 2025 edition of the Chronicle, “Park Hill Golf Course Miracle”). It is rare for neighborhood groups to claim such victories as some people call it a David vs. Goliath atmosphere with city planners appearing to attack residents and their concerns. That is why this second victory in the span of six months is monumental.
In a statement, the developer confirmed it has pulled its rezoning request and will go back to the drawing board. Representatives said they still see the site as a strong candidate for housing and retail but want to work more closely with the community before moving forward.
Kentro Group’s full statement is as follows:
“With the proposed zoning change, we had hoped to create a friendly neighborhood gathering spot with personality generated from new residents mixed with retail, restaurants, and services, and combined with green space that all could enjoy. But we listened with care to current neighbors who didn’t prefer the additional zoning heights required to achieve this vision and decided not to pursue a zoning change. We remain committed to delivering a great project.”
King Soopers, a division of Cincinnati based Kroger Company, has operated a grocery store at the aforementioned 7-acre site, 825 South Colorado Blvd., for over 65 years. It elected to sell the property to the Kentro Group and build a new 113,000 square facility a mile south in the Virgina Vale neighborhood. The 13.5-acre site once housed the CDOT campus headquarters between Arkansas and Louisiana Avenues and was purchased by the Kentro Group in 2018 for $19.3 million.
The proposed project, which included a 12-story residential tower with ground-floor retail, was introduced earlier this year as a way to repurpose the vacant grocery store site near Colorado Boulevard and Exposition Avenue. Developers pitched the building as a mixed-use hub designed to bring housing, shopping, and new energy to the aging retail corridor.
But neighborhood residents quickly mobilized, citing concerns about traffic congestion, blocked mountain views, and the scale of a high-rise in an area dominated by single-family homes and low-rise apartments. At recent community meetings, dozens of homeowners voiced frustration over what they called a lack of transparency and compatibility with the surrounding neighborhood.
“The density and height simply didn’t fit the character of Belcaro,” said one resident during a public forum. “We’re not opposed to development, but we want something that respects the scale of our community.”
Neighbors and city leaders alike have debated what should replace the longtime grocery store once it closes (sometime in 2026). While some residents have pushed for a new market, others say the area is overdue for fresh housing and retail options — but on a more modest scale.
by Valley Gadfly | Sep 22, 2025 | Main Articles
Spooky Trunk Or Treat Returns; Halloween Parade Hikes On Broadway
by Glen Richardson
Ghostly Gardens: Denver Botanic Gardens has indoor displays such as this, plus Open Air Scare Oct. 10-12, 17-19, & 30th.
Perfect Pumpkins: Pick your perfect pumpkin during Four Mile Park’s annual Pumpkin Harvest Festival, Oct. 18-19.
Fright Friday: Fearsome holiday falls on a Friday this year. The last time Halloween fell on a Friday was in 2014.
Trunk Or Treat: Plan to take the family to Glendale’s Halloween Trunk or Treat at Infinity Park Oct. 13, 4:30 p.m.
Black cats will prowl and pumpkins will shine on Halloween 2025. That’s because the frightening, fearsome holiday falls on a Friday this year. The last time Halloween fell on a Friday was in 2014.
This year’s “Fright Friday” is sure to send shivery shivers down your spine. Ghosts and goblins will ring your door chime. Beware and be scared! It’s a night when anything can happen.
You’re not going batty; the moon does hang low in the sky like a ghostly lantern. Dogs guard, and cats watch during grave’s delight night. Ghosts and demons frighten people the most in local cemeteries. Around Halloween, some locals even claim to hear footsteps and voices when visiting boneyards.
Trunk Or Treat
Get an early start to this year’s Halloween holiday happenings by taking the family to Glendale’s Halloween Trunk or Treat at Infinity Park Oct. 13, 4:30 p.m. No, it isn’t Friday the 13th, but there are games, a costume contest, plus candy for the kids. Don’t forget to bring a picnic blanket and chairs. Food trucks will be on site. Free parking is in the P1 lot at the NE corner of Kentucky Ave. & Cherry St., in Glendale.
The evening includes Movie Night featuring the film Monsters, Inc. starting at
Parade On Broadway: Denver’s 9th annual Halloween parade steps off on Broadway, October 25, beginning at 6 p.m.
6 p.m. It’s a great film because of its original and creative concept, which reverses the typical monster-under-the-bed trope to show monsters who are afraid of humans and power their city with scream energy.
The movie features strong, well-developed characters like Mike and Sully. Plus, a humorous and witty script has memorable one-liners. The groundbreaking animation still impresses today. It’s a heartfelt story with relatable themes of overcoming fear, the power of laughter, and combating fear of the dark.
Broadway Parade
For charming, family-friendly fun, plan to attend the Broadway Halloween Parade hosted by the Broadway Merchants Association and City Council District 7. The 9th annual parade steps off on Saturday, October 25, beginning at 6 p.m.
The parade attracts more than 30,000 people — many in creative costumes — to see the pageantry and view the floats. The parade runs along Broadway from 5th to Alameda. Viewing areas are available along the entire route on both the East and West sides of Broadway.
It features a variety of spooky floats, cars (including a flame-shooting 1971 Cadillac Fleetwood Hearse), lively bands, and marchers. Event organizers say the parade spotlights the good in the neighborhood, connecting people to businesses they never would have known were in the area. Viewing areas are available along the entire route on both the East and West sides of Broadway. Many of the restaurants and bars along Broadway say the parade is their busiest night of the year. Be wise and get there early for best viewing and a spooktacular good time for all ages.
Four Mile Park
Enjoy the annual Pumpkin Harvest Festival at Four Mile Oct. 18 & 19th, followed by Halloween Haunt on October 28th, 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. At the Harvest Festival you can pick your perfect pumpkin. There will be 40 vendors on site, plus live music and performances.
Haunted Halloween will be in a heated building and heated tent. This enchanting evening features creepy crafts, pumpkin decorating, face painting, crawly critters, and games to fascinate both kids and adults. Don’t miss the double feature — Halloweentown & Halloweentown II, Kalabar’s Revenge — under the tent.
Hankering for even more chills and thrills? Join the women of Denver’s XX Paranormal Communications as they investigate Four Mile House Oct. 31, 8:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. You’ll wander the grounds of the 1859 historic house, and learn about the lives of those who once lived there. Moreover, in the Bee House you can speak with the spirits who remain. A unique evening of history and mystery.
Botanic Gardens
Celebrate 10 years of magic at Denver’s most luminous Halloween celebration, Glow at the Gardens™ annual Open Air Scare Oct. 10-12, 17-19, & 30th from 5:30-10:30 p.m.
The spooky outdoor event features hundreds of hand-carved jack-o-lanterns lighting the way through the garden’s dark paths. A perfect spooky experience for a date night, a friends’ outing, or family fun (especially for older kids and teens!).
The Botanic Gardens are stunning in the daylight, but at night they come alive with glowing displays and soft, atmospheric lighting that guide you through each eerie stop. Along the way, storytellers share the chilling tales of the gardens’ legendary ghosts, making the experience both spooky and fun.
Boettcher Concert
If you are a music fan or concert-goer, don’t miss the Colorado Symphony’s Halloween Spooktacular at Boettcher Concert Hall Oct. 26, 2:30 p.m.
A spooktacular event for all the boys and ghouls, this family-friendly concert features spooky classical favorites alongside music from films and television. Costumes are encouraged, making this a ghastly good time for every little monster and their mummy.
Featuring witches, pirates, and skeletons, you’ll hear music from Dream of a Witches’ Sabbath (Berlioz, Symphonie fantastique) plus Danse macabre (Saint-Saëns). The afternoon also includes The Flying Dutchman Overture (Wagner), and the Medley from Pirates of the Caribbean.
Bloody Mary Festival
Finally, taste the craftiest, most delicious Bloody Marys at the 9th annual Bloody Mary Festival at RealWorks October 26, 12:15 to 2:20 p.m. Featured are unlimited Bloody Marys, food and drink samples, plus one vote for the People’s Choice Award. Event includes selections of the best Bloody Marys from the metro area’s finest bars, restaurants, and craft bottled mixes.
Also included are food tastes for local eateries. But if you’d rather skip the lines and the crowds, you can always head to Sam’s No. 3 in Glendale or downtown.
by Ashe in America | Sep 19, 2025 | Feature Story Bottom Left
ASHE IN AMERICA — OPINION
Let’s go back to the beginning… to January 20, 2017.
“What truly matters is not which party controls our government, but whether our government is controlled by the people. January 20th 2017, will be remembered as the day the people became the rulers of this nation again.”
I wasn’t die hard MAGA on that day, but I still get chills when I read or hear that speech. During his first term, President Trump very quickly earned my support for two reasons: (1) He was the first President in my lifetime to do the things he said he was going to do, and (2) he made all the right enemies.
The unprecedented attacks on President Trump, by every previously trusted institution, are not because President Trump is a terrible person or a predator or a super serious threat to democracy.
The attacks on President Trump are because he is giving the power back to the people.
But what does that mean?
Since the explosion of cable news, Americans have been slowly transferring their attention, and outrage, from their local communities to Washington, D.C. It’s been about 30 years, and the results are measurable.
People know their congressman, but they don’t know their state rep. Coinciding with this shift is strengthening of party tribalism — even as party membership has declined — for both parties over a decade in Colorado.
In many ways, party has replaced community. Parties rose as a way to organize and make change based on shared values, but parties today look more like each other than the communities and value systems they claim to represent.
You do not exercise your power by joining a party. You exercise your power by standing on your rights.
I learned this lesson intimately over the past several years fighting leftist lawfare from three leftist NGOs (and their pals in local, state, and federal government).
The claims were voter suppression, intimidation, coercion, and threats under the Voting Rights Act and the KKK Act. They claimed we were sending armed agents to people’s homes to intimidate and interrogate them about their votes. In reality, we simply canvassed the 2020 election, in a 100% volunteer effort, to check the government’s work. The real reason for the lawsuit, based on the evidence and arguments at trial, is that we were “election deniers” daring to exercise our First Amendment rights.
The case went to trial last July, I defended myself, and the judge entered judgement in our favor and awarded us costs. The plaintiffs appealed, and the case is docketed for November in the 10th Circuit. (24-1328)
Your rights are meaningless if you don’t hold the line on them.
There are many other examples of Colorado patriots standing on their rights in Colorado. Tina Peters is in prison for nine years. She was convicted, essentially for lying to public officials about a person who was in her office. The part of the story that you don’t hear is that Peters had the authority to have whomever she wanted in her office — until Secretary Griswold invented emergency rules for COVID.
Dallas Schroeder and Rhonda Braun in Elbert County also took images of voting equipment, and Griswold libeled and slandered the officials and imposed baseless and retaliatory sanctions on the county. No crime has ever been found in Elbert County. And no retractions or clarifications were ever issued by the Secretary.
Then there is Rebecca Lavrens, the praying grandmother of January 6th who prayed inside the capitol, and was dragged into DC court years later. During her sentencing, she was effectively told to deny her faith before the court. Lavrens refused, and she was stripped of her internet access and placed on house arrest.
At this point you might be thinking, “but, Ashe, everyone in your examples had horrible consequences for standing on their rights.”
That’s true.
I’m adapting this column on September 10th. Charlie Kirk was just assassinated. It is, right now to me, profoundly true that standing for American rights and values comes with consequences.
But that’s not just true of our current moment. It’s true of every patriot who has held the line of liberty in the face of tyranny — every patriot since the founding of our nation.
Americans are out of practice on Americanism. Over the past 30 years, our attention and focus have shifted away from our communities, and as we watched the soap opera in the nation’s capitol, murderous despots filled the vacuum.
Along the way, we decided to prioritize comfort over liberty. Our comfort keeps us in fear.
Do you want to be comfortable? Or do you want to be free?
Self governance is our birth right in America — we should never abandon American liberty in the face of fear. Our response should be to get louder.
Charlie Kirk’s assassination is a tragedy that is shaking the nation. Pray for his beautiful family, and for all the students that witnessed his horrific assassination. They will be forever changed, irreparably scarred by such a hateful, deliberate, and gruesome act of violence.
Then get off your knees and get loud.
This month’s column is adapted from Ashe in America’s remarks to Parker Conservatives on September 3, 2025. You can read the full remarks on asheinamerica.substack.com. Ashe in America is a writer and activist. Find all her work at linktree.com/asheinamerica.
by Peter Boyles | Sep 19, 2025 | Blasting with Boyles
OPINION
As a young man there was a so-called Freudian question you would be asked. Do you know the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs? Can you name the Dwarfs? And whatever dwarf you could not name was you. To this day I can’t name the seven little suckers anyhow. But… I have seen them reemerge in the Colorado political scene.
Whether you want to believe it or not, 34 people have tossed their hat into the ring to be the next government of the Centennial State. Which dwarf can’t you name?
On the Democrat side of the ledger there are two declared candidates. Senator Michael Bennet and Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser. Standing in the wings is Ken Salazar, and wisely many of the other potential democrats who have declined to run. The choice is clear; do you want someone who snuffs out the baby (ie: Colorado) with a blanket (ie: Weiser) or slowly starves the baby (ie: Bennet).
Michael Bennet, as the political rumor now has it, potentially wins and then turns around and names Colorado Governor Jared Polis, who is term limited, to replace him as Senator. So, everybody keeps a job as Democrats representing our state.
We’ve been often quoting Barry Maguire in his song Eve of Destruction, and this is when I say, “Look around you boy. It’s bound to scare you boy.” And the Democrat party seems to have us on the eve of destruction.
If Bennet wins, it’s the slow boat to China but if Phil Weiser wins, we’ll be Sacramento in a flash.
Your Colorado Republican Party
There are 34 dwarfs and Barb Kirkmeyer who thinks she’s Snow White. Whichever of the 15 or 20 of the Colorado Republican gubernatorial candidates you can’t name — you are.
I don’t know 90 percent of these people. Do you know a Republican hasn’t been elected governor since 2002 and the GOP has not won a major statewide office since 2014.
Kirkmeyer has garnered a horrendous F/48 rating from the Liberty Scorecard meaning if you elect the leading Republican candidate she will be in essence no different than Michael Bennet.
I have a couple of favorites.
Do you remember Abass Yaya Bamba? He ran for Denver mayor in 2023, and for the president of the Ivory Coast in West Africa in 2020. Receiving 24 votes in his bid for Denver mayor. And God only knows how he did in the Ivory Coast,
You gotta love him. But my real sleeper is Joshua Griffin. The oldest Division I player in Colorado football. He played for CSU as a walk-on at age 33. Also, a combat veteran in the Middle East. Why can’t we pick a guy like that?
So, what do we have?
A lot of people.
Former Congressman (for six months) Greg Lopez. And Snow White. Representative Scott Bottoms, a Colorado Springs pastor fighting against gay marriage and apparently transgender people. All you need to be is anti-marijuana and anti-abortion and you have the trifecta of how not to win here in Colorado.
I realize it’s early in the game, but I thought you’d all like to know what a lineup is coming our way.
No caped crusaders, no heroes, just a bunch of mediocre dwarfs, or worse.
— Peter Boyles
