by Mark Smiley | May 27, 2014 | General Featured
by Keith Thompson
Glendale is one of the oldest towns in Colorado formed in 1859 with the building of what is now called Four Mile House by the Bratner brothers who sought to provide meat and produce to the just established city of Denver. The building became known as Four Mile House in the 1860s as it was the last stop on the stagecoach route before Denver, and the house was located four miles from the stage terminus at Broadway and Colfax. Four Mile House is today a park located in both Glendale and Denver.
Rite Aid, the third largest drugstore chain in the United States, is in the process of bulldozing two of the most historic buildings remaining in Glendale to put up a drugstore.
On the chopping block is the 4500 block of Leetsdale Drive just west of South Cherry Street that contains two of the four single family homes in Glendale, and the historic Chicago Dairy barn that, since 1967, housed the oldest sports bar in Denver, Four Mile Bar.
Rite Aid’s History
Rite Aid was founded in 1962 by Alex Grass with the first store called Thrift D Discount Center. In 1968, the name officially changed to Rite Aid Corporation and they made their first public offering and started trading on the American Stock Exchange.
In 2004, Rite Aid’s CEO Martin Glass (son of the founder) was sent to federal prison along with other Rite Aid executives for accounting fraud relating to the company. The company also agreed to pay $7 million to settle allegations that it had engaged in submitting false prescription claims to the federal government relating to United States health insurance programs.
Martin Grass was released from federal prison on January 18, 2010. Founder Alex Grass died of cancer on August 27, 2009.
Historic Glendale
Long before Glendale became Rugbytown USA it was known as Cowtown for the extraordinary number of dairies within the community. At the entrance to the town was a sign on a gas station that declared “Welcome to Cowtown — Where the West Remains.” Among the houses to be bulldozed is the one built by Agnes Riddle, a German dairywoman who was the first female state senator in Colorado. She is also credited for coming up with the name Glendale for the town. Glendale’s prior Recreation Center was named in honor of her. The house sits directly across Leetsdale Drive from the old Glendale Grange building that was built in 1897 and now is a commercial property.
In addition to destroying the Agnes Riddle home the development of the area will also scrap the former Four Mile Bar. The bar was located in a historic barn of the Chicago Dairy founded in the late 19th century by Harvey Sender and built by C. W. Snyder. It was purchased in 1903 by Lee Gasier.
The Chicago Dairy was closed down in 1967 and the old barn was converted into one of Denver’s first sports bars — Four Mile Bar. It was operated by Jack Casey for the next 46 years as a bar until last year when repeated liquor license violations forced the city to revoke the establishment’s liquor license and the property was put up for sale.
The Rite Aid Look
Rite Aid’s at times imperfect reputation extends to the physical look of its stores. “drugstores have never been known for their beauty,” stated John Gay, downtown resident. “But Rite Aid seems to some at times to have almost an intentionally shabby quality to them. Just look at their stores around Denver including the one at University Hills South Shopping Center on Colorado Boulevard. Their seedy look makes you assume that the prices must be rock bottom whether they are or not.”
On the remaining undeveloped ground it has been suggested that a bank might locate on the property. But Gay states, “I don’t see a bank wanting to house next to a Rite Aid. Perhaps a pawn shop or a payday loan operation might be a lot more synergistic.”
After the destruction of the Riddle home and the old Chicago Dairy structure, historic Glendale structures within the city limits are limited to the old Glendale Grange and the manor home of the Cambridge Dairy which was originally located on Colorado Boulevard and Cherry Creek Drive South. When that property was developed in the 1960s the manor home was moved to South Dexter near the Bull & Bush Pub and Brewery.
Few experts believe that the city of Glendale could have done anything to save the historic buildings even if it wanted to. “The property owner gets to develop his property any way he wants within certain parameters and Glendale is in general a fairly libertarian city,” states John Gay. “A drugstore is clearly a legal use. If Leetsdale Drive is now going to be a denser, uglier place what do you think is happening in the Denver portion of that roadway? It’s a brave new world and that is just the way things are today in the area.”
Rite Aid is projected to open in Glendale sometime in 2015.
by Valley Gadfly | May 27, 2014 | Main Articles
The jaw-dropping Glendale Fireworks — considered the Valley’s premier Fourth of July display — will again light up the Valley Basin on July 3.
One of the oldest and largest in the area, the powerful display of pyrotechnics has become a Cherry Creek Valley Independence Day tradition. Families and friends gather at eateries, bars, patios and porches from LoDo to the Dam to view the dazzling aerial display. The mega fireworks show will flicker across the skies at dusk (generally between 9 and 9:30 p.m.)
Best places to watch the mesmerizing fireworks are north of Virginia, south of Cherry Creek Drive South, west of Colorado Boulevard and east of Cherry Street. Many families gather in and around the parking lots at CitySet and at Whole Foods for close-in viewing. The City of Glendale sponsors the fireworks show. Rain date is July 26. Information: 303-759-1513 or www. glendale.co.us.
by Peter Boyles | May 27, 2014 | Blasting with Boyles
I can’t think of a time in my life that I didn’t want to have a gun. When I was a little boy I thought toy guns, real guns and guns in general were the coolest thing in the world.
The only benefit I ever had in life is that I could read. I started reading quite early and the other gift was a wonderful mom who knew we were dead broke, but always took me to the library. (Thank you Andrew Carnegie. You did a lot of rotten things to really decent people but you made it up by giving me a library card in 1950.) I read James Fenimore Cooper. Thanks to my Uncle Barnie I read Zane Grey. I read books about the American Civil War, the American Revolution, the Second World War, taming the Old West and gangsters.
Pretty simple trivia question, what do all of those books have in common? Simple answer, guns.
I have a theory the only reason the First Amendment stays where it is, is because of the Second. And of course both of those cornerstones of our liberty are under attack. And that same group of intellectual nincompoops wants to feminize and take away from little boys in this country their constitutional, God-given right to have a toy gun.
Hunting became part of my life when I was about 12-years-old. I always wanted to hunt, but my father was not a hunter. So by saving my money from paper routes, working in pool rooms and bowling alleys and a stint in a delicatessen, I raised enough money to buy a BB gun and eventually my first .22.
I bought a .22 single shot JC Higgins rifle. It had a little stinger on the back of the barrel that you had to cock to enable it to fire. Thanks to my friends and me there probably wasn’t a wren or a songbird that was safe from our hunting expeditions (Yes I know Atticus Finch — never shoot a mocking bird).
Guns and boys are an intrinsic part of life, but with the advent of what’s happening to young boys in America today, toy guns are becoming a thing of the past.
The picture we have used to illustrate this column relates to a 1961 Ideal Toy ad starring Roy Rogers. It’s a sneaky little ad that every guy I’ve ever shown it to loves. The Derringer is hidden in the hat so you can easily shoot another kid when he approaches you. Who among us didn’t play army or guns or cowboys and Indians (or the politically correct cow persons and Native Americans) and really love it?
I can’t imagine myself at 10 years of age learning to play cooperative games and how to play well with others. Toy guns, pretend swords and rubber knives are the arsenal of a childhood democracy.
Why do you suspect that the progressive educators throw first graders out of school for turning their hands into little pistols? I’m a great believer in Lenin’s saying, “the purpose of terror is terror.” When you throw that little boy out you’re setting fear in the hearts of other little boys. The word comes down. Don’t be that kid. These people believe that these boys are influenced, predisposed, if you would, to violent behavior simply by possessing a toy.
Kids can make almost anything into a gun. I watched my son make a banana a gun once. Oftentimes as a kid we didn’t have any money for real toy guns. But that didn’t matter. A stick made a good rifle. Two fingers extended from the fist made a perfectly fine pistol. And you know what? The good guys always won.
There were lots of guns in my neighborhood when I was a kid. It didn’t turn anyone aggressive and of course there were no school shootings. Banning toy guns — do you really think it’s the same as putting armed guards in a school to protect children against people with real guns? Do you think throwing a little boy out of school for drawing a gun will prevent a sick and deranged individual from committing those acts of violence?
And how about squirt guns? My God, when spring hit it was baseball and squirt gun season. Rather than avoid the subject and pretend there’s not guns all around us, let your kids play guns and when they become old enough, do as my dad did. Find one of his drunken buddies to take me hunting. One of the greatest days of my life.
Keeping guns from kids doesn’t mean they’re never going to shoot someone else. It’s the forbidden fruit. My mother’s warnings during summer vacation to all of us was “Don’t go near the river. “ When I was a boy the Allegheny River was a lure. I was in my period of reading Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn and no power on earth was going to keep me from the river. My mother’s warning, “don’t go near the river” — first place we went.
Kids who play with toy guns use them to fight bad guys. How’s that a bad thing? I actually think it can help a kid feel safe and make sense of the world around them.
So if you’re teaching your children all of these nonviolent, politically correct new speak thoughts, remember this. In the words of Mike Tyson, “Everybody’s got a plan till they get punched in the nose.” And then maybe it would have been better to teach your son to fight back.
Happy trails.
— Peter
by Mark Smiley | May 27, 2014 | Editorials
Notwithstanding the general popularity of the Cherry Creek area, the reasons some people give for not wanting to visit Cherry Creek North include the lack of off-street parking and, more recently, traffic jams. Luckily a Cherry Creek Zoning Technical Task Force was put together to look at the problems in the area. The Task Force is composed of residents, city planning officials, a Cherry Creek North Neighborhood Association representative, landowners, business owners, developers and, of course, City Councilwoman Jeanne Robb, whose district includes Cherry Creek North. After months and months of study what did the Task Force come with?
Yep, you guessed it. Parking problems can be solved by providing even less parking while approving even higher buildings than the six behemoths that are already being built. Brilliant!
Currently zoning mandates 3.3 parking places per 1,000 square feet of commercial area which has created severe parking problems in Cherry Creek North in the first place. Adjoining Glendale in line with recommendations from the Urban Land Institute mandates four parking places per thousand feet which Deputy City Manager Chuck Line calls “anemic” at times, noting that major retailers in Glendale often require five to six parking spaces per thousand feet of commercial space. The Cherry Creek Mall has 5,000 parking spaces or five parking spaces per thousand feet of commercial space as major retailers demand adequate parking before they will consider leasing in a commercial mall.
So what does the Task Force suggest? Cut the 3.3 to 2.5. Even better the Task Force also recommends cutting the parking in half for residential units from two per unit down to just one. Where in the world are all these people going to park? The business district has a grand total of 555 on-street metered parking spaces. The single family home areas of Cherry Creek North will soon be flooded with overflow parking from the commercial area regardless of whatever signs are posted or how many parking tickets are handed out.
At the Cherry Creek Chamber of Commerce luncheon held on May 8, the keynote speaker Ajay Menon, Dean of the CSU Business School, noted that in urban areas one-third of the traffic backups are created by motorists looking for parking places. With the Task Force’s recommendations in place a shopper finding parking in Cherry Creek North will be like the Kingston Trio song “M.T.A.” where the commuter “couldn’t get off” and “never returned.”
Of course, the pro developer members of the Task Force were giddy. Even Wayne New, the representative from the Cherry Creek North Neighborhood Association, is quoted as declaring, “We studied parking backwards and forwards and the (proposed) parking ratios fit very well.” If these parking ratios fit “very well” perhaps eliminating any and all parking spaces would work even better.
Wayne New is a veteran of many wars with developers in Cherry Creek North and we have, in the past, praised his efforts, but perhaps they have finally beaten him into submission. He recently announced his candidacy for City Council to replace the term limited Jeanne Robb. The whole point of his candidacy for many was that he would not sell himself out to developers as has Ms. Robb.
But this sad, if not pathetic, effort of the Task Force does away with any reason to vote for him. His opponent Roger Sherman is a CRL lobbyist and that firm represents its fair share of Denver real estate developers. Of course, once elected, he will sell the residents out in favor of real estate developers, but he doesn’t pretend otherwise. He is already bought and paid for and he doesn’t try to kid you about it.
One wonders when the Task Force’s recommendations are adopted what will there be left to destroy in Cherry Creek North? Councilwoman Robb helped developers to build a road destroying the only open space in Cherry Creek North, Fillmore Plaza.
The Task Force is also recommending that developers get even extra density and height if they are kind enough to provide open spaces like plazas, accessible to the public at street level. Gee, sounds a lot like Fillmore Plaza. We are sure the developers are savvy enough to figure out what has gone on in the past. They will get the extra density and height and then later come back and get the duly elected representative to roll over and allow the developer to destroy it.
The recommendations face public hearings and must go before, and be approved by, the Denver Planning Commission and the Denver City Council. You know, the public hearings where the commissioners and councilmembers utterly ignore anything the public has to say while surfing the Internet on their cell phones. In the case of the City Council, as recently confessed by former City Councilwoman Marcia Johnson, the process is a matter of simply paying “due deference” to the elected representative where the land is located (Ms. Robb) and voting whatever way she tells them. This rigged process even has a nice name, “courtesy zoning.”
Now that she has helped to destroy the Cherry Creek North neighborhood, Councilwoman Robb still has almost a year left in her position representing the 10th District. What to do with her time?
There is, in fact, plenty of time for her to do a Hentzell Park on Cheesman Park or other open spaces in her District. Just declare them “urban blight” as Mayor Hancock did with Hentzell Park. We are sure Assistant City Attorney David Broadwell can direct her on how to get the open space areas done away with notwithstanding what would appear to be very difficult legal constraints. He has done it before and he can do it again. Just ask the folks living over in the Hampden Heights area.
— Editorial Board
