by Mark Smiley | Aug 3, 2015 | Editorials
On July 20, a brand new Denver City Council was sworn into office. A majority of the members of the Council (seven) are new. The Denver City Council over the last decade has increasingly been seen by the citizens it purports to serve as utterly corrupt and controlled by real estate developers and unions that fund most of the members’ campaigns. Few people believe that the public quasi-judicial hearings before the City Council are anything more than a form of kabuki theater, with the decisions made behind closed doors prior to the hearings, in violation of state and local law. The public now knows that their participation before the City Council is a sham.
A lawsuit filed by seven citizens, Whitelaw v. The Denver City Council, Case Number 2015CV3247, threatens to unmask the entire corrupt process by which zoning decisions are made in the City and County of Denver. It is assumed the office of the City Attorney will do anything and everything it can to prevent this case from ever getting its day in court. The City Attorney’s Office played a similar blocking role in the case of Hunter v. The City and County of Denver. In that case the City Attorney’s Office’s role in hiding evidence and conducting phony investigations concerning the Denver Sheriff’s Department and the City Jail were exposed. As a result, the City Attorney Scott Martinez was threatened by Federal District Court John L. Kane to have his law license revoked for his part in the cover-up.
A key difference in the two cases is the Hunter case was in United States District Court while the Whitelaw case is in the District Court for the City and County of Denver. It will take a Denver state court judge who is as brave and intrepid as Federal District Court Judge John L. Kane to ferret out the dishonesty that takes place on land use votes at Denver City Hall. Is there such a person on the state bench? If the past is any indication it is not encouraging. In case after case state court judges appear to be part and parcel of the cover-up, refusing to allow even a single instance for a claim to ever go to a jury. But it took years and years of Sheriff’s Department malfeasance at the City Jail before the Hunter case reached the desk of Judge Kane and then everything blew up. Before the Hunter case many people also assumed reform at the Sheriff’s Department was virtually impossible.
What about the City Council reforming itself and the way it conducts business? On the encouraging side, the voters voted in
three individuals — Rafael Espinosa, Wayne New and Paul Kashmann — dedicated to reforming the system, as well as an auditor, Tim O’Brien, who is not under the control of Mayor Hancock and real estate developers. But there are 13 members of the Denver City Council. Six returning council members rushed in the final days of the old council to approve every corrupt decision possible before the new council members were sworn in. In addition the Mayor and the developers were able to elect two new members, Kendra Black and Stacie Gilmore, who good government advocates have labeled the “Dirty Duo” for their absolute craven obsequiousness to the most revolting aspects of the Hancock administration.
Part of the problem and the difficulty of the system reforming itself is that some of the checks and balances that were built in the City Charter have been thoroughly compromised. The City Charter provides for an 11 person citizen Planning Board pursuant to which residents can bring their thoughts and concerns and the Board, in turn, advises the mayor and Denver City Council on land use matters, including planning and zoning. Unfortunately under the Charter the mayor gets to appoint every Board member. Mayor Hancock, instead of appointing representatives the community has chosen, developer controlled hacks and people under his control are appointed. At one time, being on the Planning Board was considered an honor, but today is a black mark disqualifying a former member for elective office in Denver as Anna Jones found out in this last election in her race against Wayne New.
In theory Denver employees and elected officials are supposed to, under the City Charter, “adhere to high levels of ethical conduct so that the public will have confidence that persons in positions of public responsibility are acting for the benefit of the public.” A five person board is supposed to enforce the Denver Ethics Code. That has become a joke. The only thing that citizens can be assured of is that the persons appointed to the Ethics Board by the mayor and the City Council are void of any personal ethics or they would not have been appointed to the Board in the first place. The Board’s latest disgrace, in a long line of disgraces, is its opinion concerning Councilwoman Stacie Gilmore, a close friend of the mayor and wife of the acting head of the Denver Parks and Recreation Scott Gilmore, who is also a close friend of the mayor.
Some people assumed that being on City Council while your husband heads up Parks and Recreation would present various conflicts of interest — but, not a problem. On cue, the Ethics Board issued an extraordinary opinion coming to the absolute opposite conclusion.
The Ethics Board claims its hands are tied by a too permissive Ethics Code including the conflicts of interest rules and that it will be making recommendations to beef it up. We would suggest that the Ethics Board recommend abolishing itself as it has lost any and all credibility with the citizenry who now knows it serves only as a fig leaf for approving the most corrupt of practices of the Denver city government.
Is the government of the City and County of Denver in fact capable of reforming itself? The answer is probably not anymore than the Sheriff’s Department was capable of reforming itself. As a result, the citizens of Denver should watch with a careful eye all the developments in the Whitelaw case as it may represent the last great hope for honest government in land use decisions in the City and County of Denver for quite a period of time.
— Editorial Board
by Valley Gadfly | Aug 3, 2015 | Valley Gadfly
Weather-wise summer has so far been a one-note season conducted with equal parts humidity and rain. I’ve been stomping around the living room sipping iced coffee and swooning at rainstorms filled with hailstones followed by the debut of evening sunsets. Spellbinding and spectacular, her rhythmic tune has soaked up our free time.
“Hey, Hey, It’s about to go down.” The Summer’s Gone lyrics refers to the sun not rain. But our usually amiable summer months are about kaput as fall begins Sept. 23.
Here are our serene late summer choices for shopping, dining and entertainment to keep you cool, unflappable and dry whether the heat or a downpour hits you:
3 If you’re a wine aficionado and foodie chill out at the 7th Annual Cherry Creek North Food & Wine evening on Fillmore Plaza Aug. 8, 6-9 p.m. You’ll enjoy food from more than 20 eateries. Information: 303-394-2904.
3 Catch Lowry Foundation’s cool Artists in August show in the Rampart Medical Office Bldg. Aug. 9, 2-5 p.m. Information: 303-344-0481.
3 Allow your business to grow, adapt quickly in the just opened Premier Business Center in the Belcaro Place Bldg. Offers executive suites, meeting rooms plus skilled professionals. Information: 303-991-5865.
3 Warm up to the Chichester Romp as the Colorado Hebrew Chorale sings at the Hebrew Alliance Aug. 10, 7:30 p.m. Information: 303-355-0232.
3 Celebrate summer to Rodgers & Hammerstein’s show-stopping tunes by the Colorado Symphony at Boettcher Concert Hall, Aug. 15, 7:30 p.m. Information: 303-623-7876.
3 Rocky Mountain Jewgrass, Atomga and Southern Exposure close season’s Shady Grove Picnic Series Weds., 6:30 p.m. Information: 303-777-1003.
3 Unwind in fashion at Urban Nights Fashion Show benefiting Urban Peaks at Mile High Station Aug. 22, 8 p.m. Information: urbannightsdenver.org.
3 Catch the biggest Valley sports event of the summer season, the Serevi RugbyTown Sevens at Infinity Park in Glendale Aug. 14-16. A total of 17 teams are competing for a $10,000 purse including three national teams and five military branches. The games begin with a Free Fan Friday Aug. 14, 1-8 p.m. Then on Aug. 15 join fans and beer aficionados for Glendale’s Bruises & Brews Beerfest. It is being held just south of Infinity Park on the Festival Plaza Aug. 15, 12-4 p.m. The thrilling finals are Aug. 16, 12-5:30 p.m. Information: www.rugbytownusa.com/serevi.
Will summer shake its soggy slumber this month? The Old Farmer’s Almanac says this month “will be hotter than normal with above-normal rainfall.” The length of the day is decreasing. From the start to the end of the month the length of the day will decrease by 1.09 hours, implying an average day-over day decrease of 2.2 minutes.
Precipitation probability is most likely early in the month, occurring in 47% of days. Toward August’s end rainfall will only occur in about 39% of the days.
Even with a power nap after a long day in the office many of us have struggled to get comfortable due to the unusually high humidity. Weather prognosticators say the humidity will rarely drop below 12% this month and will reach as high as 96%. It has been a finicky yet pleasant summer. I hope you enjoy listening to the sound of rain!
— Glen Richardson
The Valley Gadfly can be reached at newspaper@glendalecherrycreek.com.
by Mark Smiley | Aug 3, 2015 | Feature Story Middle Left
I’ll share a secret, which obviously will not be a secret any longer. I actually don’t mind going grocery shopping. It feels like a secret because Mrs. App and I debate this each weekend. It’s a nice back and forth of, “No, it’s not a big deal. You can go to the grocery store today.” Or, “I’ll go, but you have the kids.” Or, “Wait, I have the kids? You take the kids. Where are the kids?!”
Then it’s the blue or red cart debate with Toddler App. The visit to the lobsters. Oh… is there a run on lobsters in Glendale? Their tank has usually one really sad, lonely lobster. Next, off to the free cookie. Thank goodness, I’m almost out of the produce section. The long checkout line, which is followed by watching my groceries get thrown together in a pre-ripped plastic bag. No, that’s fine. The dish soap, lettuce and frozen popsicles should go in the same bag. Maybe in your house, the dish soap goes in the fridge with the perishables. Sorry, I served nearly five years at Stop & Shop in beautiful Chelsea, Massachusetts.
It’s not all bad. Toddler App gets to ride the horse for a penny. There’s an adult beverage section, and I get to make my weekly state donation… I mean check my lottery scratch tickets. Yes, I know there’s an app for checking Colorado Lottery tickets, but I really enjoy having the cashier scan them for me. The reality is, I would just rather be hanging with the kiddos than spending 90 minutes at the grocery store.
So, we tried online grocery shopping. I think I’m hooked. First up, Instacart. We picked King Soopers for our order, however Instacart offers Whole Foods, Costco, and others. I didn’t test, but apparently buying in bulk from Costco is allowed without a membership. Good to know. We created our grocery list, including substitutions. It was fairly straightforward.
One great thing about Instacart and Home Shop from King Soopers is the total calculates while you shop. Try accomplishing that feat while juggling free cookie crumbs in aisle three! Instacart assigns the order to a personal shopper who retrieves the order from King Soopers, and delivers to your door. During shopping, Instacart sends alerts asking for substitution approvals and provides a delivery time.
Think of it this way. You hand your grocery list to a stranger, tip them 20 percent of the bill, ask them to send you texts while they shop and ask them to be back within ‘x’ period of time. The downside, the grocery prices seem high, and then add in delivery fee and tip. Instacart advises that their prices may be higher, but I’m not sure there was a huge cost to time savings. Nonetheless, a guy named Jeff showed up with our groceries as ordered.
Next, we tried Home Shop from King Soopers. There are some similarities between Instacart and Home Shop, such as easy to order through their sites and delivery times are reasonable. There were a few things that stuck out with Home Shop over Instacart, such as the prices were the same as in store (including weekly specials), ability to create a weekly list and push the items to the checkout cart, delivery fees were lower and a larger selection of items.
I think we’ll continue the Home Shop service. The kiddos will miss the free cookies, but will not complain when we hit the pool or zoo instead of the grocery store. It feels nice to pull into the driveway a few minutes before the delivery van shows up with your groceries. I haven’t stepped inside a bank in a long time. Grocery store. It was nice knowing you! Call me if you fill the lobster tank.
I don’t believe I’m alone in checking my phone throughout the day. Waiting in a line. Walking to my car. On the treadmill. While pouring my fourth cup of coffee. All the time. I’m not sure what I’m expecting to see. In fact, there was a moment in June that I checked USA Today, Twitter, Sports Illustrated and my email, then realized nothing changed since I checked them last. It felt as though I reached the end of the Internet.
As an experiment, I enabled an app called Checky. It runs in the background, and I’m convinced it drains my battery, but it records how many times the phone is checked. To my surprise, on day two of running the app, I checked my phone 92 times. 92! I entered my passcode 92 times. I checked it every 10 minutes while I was awake. Do you think your eyes are always pointing down to your phone? Try this exercise! Yikes, I (we) need to be more present.
I’ve mentioned in the past that it is a good practice to embrace cloud solutions for storage, music and photos, but share the content amongst a few apps. The news in June that the app, Lastpass, a password storage app, was hacked was concerning. As consumers, we’re not reviewing the security data sheets of our storage apps. OK, maybe there are a few outliers that enjoy reading agreements and 60 page security briefs. Just know, that these sites are targets. Have your passwords and content readily accessible from your preferred sites in case a breach does happen. If you are in need of changing and or improving your passwords, check out: http://goo.gl/qCLwcE.
I’m off to change my password from 12345 to something stronger. Maybe 54321. Enjoy the sunshine!
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 20 years in the telecommunications and software industry. Businesses often have the same concerns: How do I increase my revenue and profit? How do I attract great talent? Am I easy to do business with? Is it simple to access my business information? If you’re a business that would like to learn how Box, GoPro, Groupon and FitBit have used NetSuite to answer these questions, then please contact Brian.
by Mark Smiley | Aug 3, 2015 | Feature Story Bottom Left
The similarities between dating and politics are uncanny. Much like politicians, people in the dating world seem to have these “political” tendencies.
- Politicians customize their stances and communication to whomever is listening in fear of not being liked or being scrutinized for expressing their true thoughts.
- Much like politicians, some daters will just plain lie to your face in order to further their own personal agenda.
- Just like party politics, most daters won’t step outside of the box and date people who may differ from their typical “type,” those with whom they usually associate. If you don’t try something new you’ll always get what you’ve always had.
- Politicians are always on their best behavior until they are elected. Once voted into office all bets are off and they do whatever they want. This is much like dating because some people, once they settle into a relationship, stop doing all the things they used to do until they gain emotional power over you.
- Politicians dress to the nines and they focus more on their public appearance than the quality of their character. Daters tend to do the same thing… It’s great to look good, but not so great if that’s the only thing they have to offer.
Those are just a few similarities I see between politics and dating, and you know the saying, “never trust a politician.” I believe the same thing should be said about people who are dating. Never trust a dater.
So why do I have my face on Donald Trump this month? However you feel about Donald Trump’s politics is irrelevant. The Donald is speaking his mind and the realness in his messages and stances are straightforward and he doesn’t care who he pisses off. You will love him, hate him, take him, or leave him, but he is not pulling any punches.
I wish daters would do the same as The Donald when it comes to dating and building relationships. It would make things much easier for people when they are trying to wade through the shark infested dating pool. Single people everywhere would benefit greatly all the way around if they would just be themselves at all costs, regardless of how it is received. Take a chance and be yourself and you may just be surprised by who is attracted to you because of it.
Trump is gaining steam with American voters in his presidential run because he isn’t afraid to do what’s tough and isn’t concerned about what he loses along the way. That’s a big risk, but this approach may pay dividends for him down the road. If you’re a dater looking for love, this style of all costs transparency may just be the way to go if you want to come out ahead in the long run.
Keep focused on the dating trail.
Your pal, Sheik
