by Valley Gadfly | Jan 29, 2016 | Valley Gadfly
If your head is spinning around and you can’t see clearly any more you’re love-struck. Yes, February is Valentine month where everyone shows up to dinners, dances and single extravaganzas wearing scarves, boots, gloves, hats and jackets. It’s apparently much easier to fall in love when it’s bitter cold outside and the snow is falling.
Evidently giggling, smiling, cold, wet, rosy creeks are warm hearted and loving. A few hot toddies and peppermint schnapps no doubt boost that affectionate feeling.
Here are our radiant choices for shopping, dining and entertainment to fill those snowy days with romance as you bundle-up together and sit by the fire:
3 Love, magic and mischief collide as the Symphony marks 400 years since the Bard’s passing with music you’ll adore during the Shakespeare Fest in Boettcher Concert Hall, Feb. 4-5, 7:30 p.m. Information: 303-871-7720.
3 Enjoy a romantic dinner and overnight stay at the Ritz Carlton to benefit Rocky Mountain Children’s Health Feb. 6-7. Information: 303-839-6782.
3 Help kids make geodesic domes and sculptures at the English Teacup’s Valentine’s Day Gum Drop Feb. 13, 11 a.m. Information: 303-360-7505.
3 Warm up with dinner and an overnight stay in the Inn at Cherry Creek with Valentine weekend getaway package. Information: 303-377-8577.
3 Let Dr. Fred Grover Jr., M.D., re-energize your love life in just 45 minutes. You’ll experience the regenerative benefits of Platelet Rich Plasma from this Cherry Creek physician. Information: 303-355-2385.
3 Treat your Valentine to the first ever Denver concert by Jimmy D. Lane in the Riviera at the Breakers Resort Feb. 14. Information: 303-888-5455.
3 Get a running start on the love season by participating in the Valentine’s Day 5K run in Wash Park Feb. 14, 10 a.m. Information: 303-522-4387.
3 Get your heart pumping by attending the Denver Heart Ball in the Hyatt Regency (Convention Center) Feb. 27, 6 p.m. Information: 303-801-4655.
3 Make an impression and win the hand of your Valentine by attending the Queen of Hearts Ball in the Ellie Caulkins Opera House Feb. 25, 5:30 p.m. Broadway singer-actor Tom Wopat entertains, including songs accompanied by the Colorado Ballet dancers. The enjoyable evening includes cocktails, appetizers plus a three-course meal by Kevin Taylor in the Chamber Grant Salon. Information: 303-837-8888.
Love reaches the highest heights and deepest depths this month as Valentine blows in to create a loss of balance, slipping and falling. When stumbling and fumbling you are in jeopardy of meeting someone and falling in love. Meteorologists call it Dynamic Turbulent Advection or behavior that entangles adjacent people particles.
With just the right amount of velocity the resulting steam and fog plus a warm push permits the atmosphere to cause a turbulent and chaotic cupid response.
The potential for storm clouds, high wind and downbursts exists in February. Should you forget about your Valentine a deep low may form over your head. High winds could come from the affected person’s lover or spouse and cause severe damage. So simply slip-slide through the month whether you’re fond of the weather or not.
— Glen Richardson
The Valley Gadfly can be reached at newspaper@glendalecherrycreek.com.
by Peter Boyles | Jan 29, 2016 | Blasting with Boyles
A couple weeks ago we all suffered through Barack Obama’s final State of the Union address. No one really has any idea who the person will be to deliver next year’s speech but please, please, please, don’t let it be Jeb Bush or Hillary Clinton. I could probably survive just about anyone else including, ta-da the “Bern.” The Bern, makes a good place to jump off to talk about today’s Denver media. Remember how quickly the Bern surrendered the microphone to a bunch of hacked off women who charged the stage, and the Bern (weenie that he is)is supposed to be the radical who can take on Vladimir Putin, and ISIS?
But, I digress. The present El Presidente proclaimed the state of the union is strong. Well, I can tell you the state of Front Range media is in hospice care (and the cat is just walking into the room).
Let’s take the press first. With the exception of this rag and Ms. Calhoun’s fish wrap, newspapers are dying. The Denver Post each day seemingly can’t get worse, or smaller, continues to surprise even me. Dean: where do you and Greggy find these little scamps that keep writing these stories? We all know you’re not paying your reporters or columnists anymore. Why don’t you just give The Denver Post to Phil Anschutz?
Turning to TV local news, it hasn’t been this funny since uncle Milty, and as the SDS of the ’60s and ’70s all tried to out Mao each other. It’s fun watching these jokers fight it out to who loves the Broncs the most. My vote goes to the pro Ramsey station Channel 9. They can out Bronco everyone while John Bowlen, the self-described “blood of the city” awaits trial in Glendale on domestic violence charges. Let’s see which television stations dare to cover that story.
Last, but not least, comes my home court; radio. Can they screw it up even more? So let’s start with the last place I was fired, Clear Channel, now known as iHeartMedia, which is 20.7 billion dollars in debt. These geniuses managed to destroy one of the most wonderful labor intensive, profit making media groups in the history of Colorado — Lee Larson’s Denver radio complex.
Once Lee Larson, (one of the finest men I’ve ever known in my life) was pushed out of Clear Channel, and replaced by a little corporate button man Pat Connor, the bloodletting began. In a very Old Testament way, what goes around comes around. In November, the Clear Channel assassins took Paddy boy to breakfast and never let him back in the building. As Bob Dylan said, “How does it feel?”
So one of the true greats in our business, Mike Rosen, is gone. Mike got jacked, and frankly, I think Mike just had enough. Good for you Mike, you walked out with honor and dignity.
I told you once before in this column, some days the fish gets to eat the whale. Believe me when I tell you if iHeartMedia had been beating me financially on the KNUS Morning Show they never would have gone to the Kampgrounds of America and replaced Mike Rosen.
Alan Roach, one of the true great voices, was fired. Donna Hendricks, one of the great behind the scenes women in our business, was fired after packing up Pat Connor’s belongings. Stan Kroenke, big time sports owner, has moved into the market. He’s buying AMs and FMs. I wonder what he’s going to do with those markets?
So I’ll end it with this, I don’t know how iHeartMedia will survive, because like ENRON, they’re the smartest guys in the room. I don’t know what’s going to happen to newspapers, local TV news or radio. I’ve spoken my mind about the media. Thank God for the Internet.
Happy Valentine’s Day. I’ll see you on the radio.
by Mark Smiley | Jan 29, 2016 | Glendale City News
by Marco Cummings
An old mountaineer’s proverb says: “Even though you have reached the summit, you haven’t reached your final destination.”
It’s an adage that can be applied to the Glendale Raptors men as they enter the 2016 Pacific Rugby Premiership (PRP) campaign.
League titleholders following their 25-11 home 
win over San Francisco Golden Gate in the PRP Final, the Raptors still have work ahead, with this year’s goal set on pushing for a second-straight league crown.
“Our main goal is to retain the title and just play a brand that’s good enough to see us back at the top,” said Raptors head coach Andre Snyman. “Our second goal is to keep developing the depth of the club and the quality of the players.”
The task of bolstering the club’s depth will be a challenge for Snyman with the team losing several key contributors from last season’s championship run.
Among the key losses are lock Austin Welch and prop Nick Wallace. Welch, a former Santa Rosa Junior College standout will be returning to his home state of California. Wallace will also mak
GLENDALE, CO – MARCH 7: Glendale Raptors vs Denver Barbarians at Infinity Park in Glendale, Colorado on March 7, 2015. (Photo by Seth McConnell)
e the trip west. The bay area native and graduate of St. Mary’s college is rumored to have his sights set on playing club rugby in Australia.
Max Statler retired during the offseason, but the 29-year-old’s status remains up in the air as the rugby bug has begun itching.
“He says he misses the game too much,” Snyman said of Statler.
The club will also be without prop Ben Tarr, who suffered a season ending knee injury last March.
Despite the turnover, the Raptors coach is confident in his roster: “Those are the main guys that we’ve lost but I’m confident we have enough depth to replace them.”
In their place, the Raptors have brought in reinforcements. The team’s most promising new recruit is up and coming USA Eagle scrum-half Niku Kruger. The 24-year-old joins the club after unexpectedly seeing playing time for the Eagles in the 2015 Rugby World Cup.
“Being new to the team, I have a lot to prove to my new teammates,” Kruger said of the Raptors experience. “My goal is to make the No. 9 jersey mine and not only be a great teammate on the field but off the field, too. I would like to bring all that I have experienced through the World Cup and playing for the Eagles to Glendale and help us improve as a team.”
Snyman has also brought in several other players, but training and grading performances in a pre-season “Battle of Champions” between Glendale and the Seattle Saracens, champions of British Columbia Rugby Union (BCRU) will determine whether those recruits are of PRP quality.
Explained Snyman, “We’ve got a few new faces but we’re not sure what their qualities are like. They’ve trained well but haven’t played for us yet so it’s hard to say whether they’re going to have an impact or not.”
However, the coach will receive something more established with the return of veterans like Luke White, Chad London and team captain Zach Fenoglio.
Like Kruger, Fenoglio experienced rugby on the world’s biggest stage with a trip to the World Cup in London, England last fall. He too hopes to translate that experience and bring it back to the club level back at Infinity Park.
“I am very blessed to have had some amazing experiences in my rugby career and my goal has always been to pass my knowledge on to as many people as possible,” Fenoglio said of his World Cup experience. “I look forward to starting another year with Glendale and helping all of us to continue to become the best players we can be.”
Strategies, knowledge of structures and live game experience have been boosted for the pair with exposure to world class competition, but Snyman is focusing on one crucial quality that Kruger, Fenoglio and others bring to the squad.
“They’ve been taking leadership of the training sessions and that’s exactly what I would like to see,” he emphasized. “Guys like Chad London have also been a part of that [USA Eagles] group. Although he didn’t go to the World Cup, [London] is also a leader. We have a good group of senior players with good players around them. I’ve seen some good signs and I’m happy with how the team is training.”
Even with solid leadership in place, winning a second championship and back-to-back titles will be no easy feat, with the opposition locked onto Glendale as its target.
All of the teams provide us with a big game. I think the other coaches will definitely look at our errors from last season and try to analyze us and see how they can beat us,” Snyman said.
“I think it’s going to be tough. There’s no easy game in the PRP anymore. All of the teams are conditioned now and they know what’s at stake.”
by Mark Smiley | Jan 29, 2016 | Travel
56 Units And ‘ZERO PARKING’
by Glen Richardson
The City and County of Denver has become nationally known for approving apartment projects with extremely low parking requirements under the apparent theory that it will force its residents to walk, ride a bike, take public transportation or utilize taxi cabs/Uber vehicles. Families with kids are apparently not deemed likely to want to move to Denver anytime in the immediate future, just young single members of the millennium generation.
Denver is also believed to be the only major city planning department in the United States that as a matter of public policy refuses to consider the impact of increased traffic because of a development. Real estate developers are said to control both the office of the mayor of Denver, Michael Hancock, and the majority of the 13 member Denver City Council which must approve real estate projects according to the City Charter. Most developers want as little required parking as possible since it significantly increases the price of a project. Often the lack of parking becomes a major problem in the future for such projects, but the developer is usually long gone from the scene.
One of the newest projects in one of Denver’s oldest neighborhoods, Curtis Park, is slated to have 56 micro-units of 300 square feet each and no parking to the outrage of Curtis Park residents. The on-street parking in the area, according to neighborhood residents, is already extremely tight.
Apparently there is not a plan filed with the Denver City Planning and Development Department for the project. However, there have been numerous meetings between the developer, Gaddis Properties, and Councilman Albus Brooks who, according to insiders, has all but given a green light to the project.
The small property is located at 32nd and Stout Street and the residents indicate that a purported exemption for parking was intended for a small commercial business and not a 56 unit apartment house. City records indicate that the property was once used for an auto service garage. In fact residents also indicate that six more square feet and the exemption would not even apply to a small commercial business.
At a heated and angry meeting between Doug Gaddis and resident Andrew Kowalyshyn, reports are that Gaddis stated the residents were lucky he didn’t build a 70 unit building and that no parking was needed anyway as none of the future tenants or their visiting friends or family would ever use a car, a proposition met with incredulity with the people at the meeting. Summing up the feelings of the neighborhood Kowalyshyn stated of Gaddis, “This guy is just a complete bullshit artist.”
Councilman Albus Brooks told local television stations that neither he nor the city could force Gaddis to provide parking. City insiders indicate that virtually any development in Denver requires some variances and waivers by a city and the city could refuse to grant the same without Mr. Gaddis providing some parking, but is simply unlikely to do so.
Neighborhood activist David Johnson noted, “The fix is in, as always. The Planning Department does not plan and Denver councilmen like Albus Brooks don’t represent the residents. There is no part of the city that the epidemic of overdevelopment corruption is not affecting and destroying our neighborhoods. With Gaddis we are evolving from the ‘limited parking’ stage to the ‘absolutely no parking’ stage. How to change a beautiful city with wonderful neighborhoods to an overcrowded dump.”
