Plans In Place As Park Ranking Plunges; Promising Or Political Ploy?

by Mark Smiley | Sep 23, 2019 | General Featured

Denver Slips To 29th Place In National Park Ranking; City Pays $5.1 Million For Park Property; Pair Launches New Trust

by Glen Richardson

Denver parks have skidded to 29th place in the latest national ranking of 100 big city parks. That is for a city that hovered just beneath the top 10 at number 13 in the park hierarchy in 2015, just four years earlier.

This year’s Trust for Public Land ParkScore® released May 7 reveals just how fast and far Mayor Michael Hancock and Denver Parks & Recreation Director Happy Haynes have dragged down Denver, once known as the city within a park. As the administration sells or gives away park space to developers, the amount of Denver’s city land used for parks has dwindled to 8% compared to this year’s national median of 15%.

The city’s acreage average is rated 52.5 out of 100 with investments rated slightly higher at 60 out of 100. The only thing that buoyed Denver’s ranking was the wide distribution of its 314 parks, giving the city an access score of 82.5 out of 100.

Trust, Park Purchase

The dramatic drop in Denver’s city park ranking comes as the launch of a new nonprofit known as the “Denver Park Trust” was announced. It is a joint venture by Denver City Councilwoman Kendra Black and Frank Rowe, a member of the Parks & Recreation Advisory Board.

It joins the ranks of cities such as Portland and Minneapolis that have park foundations that help raise money and keep an eye on public parks. According to Black and Rowe the trust will have an annual budget of $250,000. The trust will provide added revenue to the funds raised by voter passage of Measure 2A that added a .25% tax increase for park projects and land acquisition. Black says even that increase can’t support Denver’s parks system. “That’s where Denver Public Trust comes in,” she explains.

Coincidently the Denver City Council has approved a resolution for the $5,100,000 purchase of property at 4301-4307 E. Iliff Ave. in Black’s district for future use as city park land using 2A funds. It is the 2.26-acre site of Groundcovers Greenhouse located two blocks south of Evans Ave. and three blocks east of Colorado Blvd. The retail-wholesale nursery-greenhouse owned by Alison Tyler and Gary Luster closed at the end of July. It is the first piece of land purchased using revenue from the 2A park sales tax.

Greenhouse Site

Nestled in a quiet residential neighborhood just east of Colorado Blvd., the property operated as a greenhouse for nearly 40 years. The city approached greenhouse owner Gary Luster with an offer. “As many of you have heard, our property is being purchased by the city of Denver and will be turned into a park within a couple of years,” he reported on Groundcovers’ website.

Luster told area news outlets he had never put the building up for sale and had vowed that he never would. In the past decade he reportedly turned down at least a dozen offers. “But we got the right offer for the right reasons,” he concluded.

Councilwoman Black and Parks & Recreation officials say they had been scouting the neighborhood for a park location for the last seven years. “Additional park access in the University Hills North neighborhood is critical to supporting an active, healthy lifestyle for the residents who live there,” says Black. The closest parks in the neighborhood are Observatory Park, Eisenhower Park, McWilliams Park and Prairie Park. All would require a 20 to 30-minute walk.

Few Year Project

While there are parks near University Hills such as Mamie D. Eisenhower Park, the goal of 2A is to have parks within walking distance of all residents. Many residents in University Hills also had to cross major streets like East Yale Ave. This is something many parents are hesitant to let their children do, according to Black.

Black says it will be a few years before a park is built. First, the city will look at logistics and clear any buildings that won’t be used. Parks & Recreation’s Gordon Robertson says the city may keep the 0.63-acre greenhouse space to support the department’s main greenhouse at City Park. Any garden equipment left behind also may be repurposed.

The new park will then go through a public process. Either late this year or early next year, the city will host an open house with residents to determine what amenities they would like on the two-acre space, which is a decent size for a typical park with a playground, according to Robertson.

Vision For Trust

According to Frank Rowe — the only staff member and executive director of the new Denver Park Trust — “Our vision is to acquire land for new parks in high-density and high-need neighborhoods. We’ll also work on providing ‘gap funding’ for projects within parks.”

Rowe says the nonprofit will focus on communities where there isn’t a park within a 10-minute walk. One of Trust’s first projects will be raising gap funding for renovation of St. Charles Park in the Cole neighborhood. Phase one is complete, but funds are lacking to begin phase two, he explains. Another early project taken on by the nonprofit is the addition of a shade structure at Lindsley Park in the Hale neighborhood.

Black believes donors feel more comfortable writing a check to a nonprofit rather than a governmental body. The Trust also aims to garner public support and awareness of the city’s parks, Rowe adds. “I think if you talk to most folks, they love their parks. And a lot of people want to get engaged in their parks, participate and give back, so we can be a conduit for that.”

Pair’s Background

Prior to launching the trust, Rowe worked for six years at the nonprofit news outlet Chalkbeat. He was appointed to the Parks & Recreation Board by Councilwoman Black when she was first elected to city council in 2015. His wife Anne Rose represents southeast Denver on the Denver School Board, just as does Parks & Recreation Director Happy Haynes. Anne Rowe served as Vice President of the School Board from 2013 to 2015.

While pursuing a park in her district, Black has been less aggressive in support for parks and open space citywide and is considered extreme pro-development. She supported the controversial drainage project at Park Hill Golf Course and along with two other councilmembers supported some development at the golf course. Some bloggers have scolded her for voting to spend money to tear up City Park.

A study commissioned by The Park People, Greenway Foundation and Kaiser Permanente with Denver’s support, reveals city parks deliver $7.1 million of revenue to the city while increasing resident wealth by $48.7 million.

Highway 36 Sinkhole Exposes Pressing Questions, Conflicting Answers

by Regan Bervar | Aug 23, 2019 | General Featured

Written by Luke Schmaltz

The sweltering months of 2019 were bumper-to-bumper trouble for U.S. Highway 36 commuters.

If you are one of the 107,000 motorists or public transportation customers who traverse this corridor daily, here’s hoping your vehicle has air conditioning, your playlist is extensive, and your boss knows you’re going to be late.

A considerable crack in the surface layer appeared July 12, 2019, prompting Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) crews to close the eastbound lanes at Church Ranch Blvd. The decision was indeed prudent, as the fissure soon gave way to a gap that eventually ruptured into a ditch-like sinkhole in the road.

By July 15, 2019, traffic in both directions had been diverted to two respective lanes of the westbound corridor — resulting in a bottleneck effect in an already heavily congested zone. This allowed some traffic flow, however sluggish, so that CDOT crews could access the area, analyze the damage and embark on a massive repair project.

Meanwhile, the event sparked several issues, as area residents, CDOT personnel and daily commuters began to ponder the obvious. How long would it be before the damage was fixed, why had a new stretch of road caved in like the top of a half-baked cake, and perhaps most importantly, where would the money come from to pay for the reconstruction?

A Dubious Timeline

Lateral and aerial photos revealed a multi-dimensional calamity, as the horizontal depression in the road was countered by a vertical eruption of retaining wall concrete slabs, debris-ridden soil and mangled rebar. On July 15, 2019, CDOT chief engineer Josh Laipply was quoted by several news outlets including Colorado Public Radio (CPR) as stating that it would be “weeks” before the highway would be returned to an operational condition. Several days later, that statement was amended by CDOT Executive Director Shoshana Lew, who offered that it would be “a matter of months” for the repair to be completed.

Meanwhile CDOT Communications Director Matt Inzeo via phone interview declined to comment on a projected timeline. He pivoted instead and offered that the retaining wall-supported embankment upon which the highway was built sits next to a “wetlands area that used to be a lake.”

A Sinking Feeling

The aforementioned information, perhaps inadvertently, placed a certain gravity on a statement issued by CDOT spokesperson Tamara Rollison, who explained “It appears water has gotten underneath the section that’s collapsing. It looks like it’s unraveling.”

At this point in the story, the term “collapsing soils” was introduced as a possible culprit. A blog published by CPR offered a statement from professor of construction engineering management at CU Boulder, Cristina Torres-Machi. It states: “[Torres-Machi] said it looks like a nearly textbook example of what she called ‘slope failure,’ essentially a landslide … She said it’s likely because of collapsing soils.”

Just in case (like most folks) you are not a geology major, collapsing soils are comprised of dry, low-density particles which can withstand significant impact without losing volume. Once water is introduced, however, the particles break apart, densify and undergo a significant reduction in volume. Oftentimes this results in the sudden appearance of a sinkhole.

In early August, a phone interview with Colorado Geological Survey Senior Engineering Geologist Jonathan White revealed contrary information that seemed to muddy the waters. Professor White explained that the embankment supporting the highway was comprised of “highly saturated, already wet soils” and the sinkhole was “most likely caused by a lateral landslide” and “was not the result of the presence of collapsing soils.” Professor White explained further that the wetlands adjacent to the highway were inherently responsible for the preliminary presence of moisture in the soil beneath the highway. He finished by stating that sudden influx of more water did not cause a collapsing soil situation and the disaster was more likely attributable to “an engineering issue.”

Who’s Going To Pay For This?

If Professor White is indeed correct, then upon whose shoulders gets foisted the blame? If it is neither the cause of collapsing soils or the effects of plain ol’ gravity, then by default, human error takes the spotlight. Regardless, the road must be repaired. A massive reconstruction project was launched as soon as engineers determined the debris and soil had ceased to shift and collapse.

This section of highway was completed just over five years ago in a joint venture between Granite Construction of California and Ames Construction of Aurora. By all estimations, it should most certainly not be crumbling, yet until engineering failure on the behalf of the contractors is found to be the cause, other monies have been allocated to pay for the reconstruction.

With Colorado’s massive influx of marijuana-based tax revenue, it is clear the $20.4 million repair and reimbursement estimate should be easy to meet by this revenue stream alone. After all, in 2019 alone, total tax revenue is projected by the Colorado Department of Revenue to be somewhere around the $30 million mark. Some experts believe it stands to reason that coffers swelling with monetary influx that was virtually nonexistent when that section of the road was built should rightly be tapped to remedy its untimely demise. Yet, when pressed for information on where the “contingency funds” allocated by the State Transportation Commission were being siphoned from, representatives of CDOT, Colorado Department of Revenue and Colorado Department of the Treasury declined to elaborate. A representative of the latter (who refused to be named) offered only the tersely toned retort “… well, first of all, treasury is not revenue.” Whatever that is supposed to mean, it sounds about as solid as collapsing soil.

Cirque du Solei’s Corteo Coming To Pepsi Center August 15

by Mark Smiley | Jul 26, 2019 | General Featured

by Mark Smiley

The latest Cirque du Solei show to come to Denver is Corteo, written and directed by Daniele Finzi Pasca. Corteo, which has been seen by eight million people around the world, tells the story of a clown picturing his own funeral, which takes place at a carnival and is witnessed by angels. Corteo, which means “cortege” in Italian, is a joyous procession, a festive parade imagined by a clown.

The show first premiered in 2005 under the big top in Montreal and has been since updated for arenas in March 2018, keeping the original story intact. The show features 51 performers, including acrobats, clowns, musicians and actors.

Cirque du Solei has been entertaining Colorado audiences since 1997. “We always have a great responsive audience there and we love to perform in a place where people react well and enjoy our shows and I think it adds a lot to the show,” said Max Batista, Tour Publicist for Cirque Corteo.

The stage has a unique setup as it will be set up in the center of the arena and audience members will be on either side with good sight views. Set Designer Jean Rabasse has divided the Grand Chapiteau and its rotating stage in two, with each half of the audience facing the other half, so they see not only the performance, but also have a performer’s eye view of the audience. There is one turntable built into the stage, which is about 41 feet long, and the track is almost 120 feet long.

This show also features six musicians and two singers who are on stage with the performers. Typically, musicians and singers are hidden from the audience but in Corteo, they are part of the show. “People can see us all during the show,” said Eve Willems who plays the accordion, guitar, and mandolin in Corteo.

The music accompanies the show and features different styles of music including Spanish and Irish. Willems, who submitted her video application to become a part of the show via Facebook, enjoys being part of Cirque. “At first for me it was to discover all the different talents and I was amazed to see all these people doing their tricks,” said Willems. “Now that we have started, I like traveling with all these people and make people dream and it’s really nice to be part of it.”

The show lasts two hours and 30 minutes  (with a 20-minute intermission) and is packed with death defying feats fans have come to expect from Cirque shows.

Cirque du Solei’s Corteo arrives at the Pepsi Center on August 15, 2019, and runs through August 22, 2019. For tickets, visit www.cirquedusoleil.com/usa/denver/corteo/buy-tickets.

Governor Rocks HOA World With Veto

by Mark Smiley | Jun 21, 2019 | General Featured

As Licensing Disappears For Property Managers, HOA Issues Rise To The Fore

by Ruthy Wexler

Everyone thought HB 1212 would pass.

What House Bill 19-1212 did was reinstate the licensing program for Community Association Managers (CAMs), which was set to expire July 1, 2019. The bill extended CAM licensing for just one year, during which time stakeholders were charged with exploring the issue.

As legislators put HB 1212 together, the usual suspects tried to shape it. Homeowner advocate Stan Hrincevich, pleaded for the inclusion of additional homeowner protections; e.g., ensuring managers document and disclose fees; while the Colorado Legislative Action Committee — legal arm of CAI (Community Association Institute), an international lobby representing management companies, property managers, HOA attorneys and other benefiting vendors — fought to keep such regulatory measures out.

The bill’s sponsors — Representatives Monica Duran and Brianna Titone, Senators Nancy Todd and Rhonda Fields — ended up incorporating most of CAI’s requests, but none from Hrincevich, who voiced disappointment but also relief that “CAM licensing would be kept alive.” The bill passed the Assembly and Senate.

Then on May 31, Governor Jared Polis vetoed HB 1212. Ever since, the Colorado HOA world has been trying to understand what lies ahead.

What’s The Big Deal?

In his two-page veto letter, Polis expressed concerns over “occupational licensing” — the subject of three of the five bills he’d vetoed (out of 460 passed). Such licensing, he said, might “… prevent minorities and the economically disadvantaged from … access[ing] occupations.”

Polis’s concerns, many feel, had little to do with CAM licensing, an issue one homeowner described as the “tip of an iceberg with huge dangerous issues below everyone is afraid to fight.”

“Here’s the essence,” says Hrincevich. “The HOA Property Manager Licensing law was the only path homeowners had to address wrongdoing on the part of a manager.”

Colorado homeowners had no recourse at all — short of going to court, which was too costly and intimidating to be a real option — until 2015, when Colorado passed a law that regulated HOA property managers. Individuals had to pass background checks, get certified, pay a fee and pass an exam, in order to earn a CAM license.

At that point, if a homeowner believed their property manager was behaving illegally, they could file a complaint, citing their CAM’s license number, with the Real Estate Division inside DORA, which had awarded that CAM license — and could take it away.

The process was slow, the results not always to the homeowner’s liking, but, says homeowner and retired financial analyst Barb DeHart, “It allowed homeowners not to feel entirely helpless.”

All Counties Heard From

Post Polis’s veto, reactions varied widely. Legislators, believing they’d done what was necessary to pass the bill, felt betrayed. “I was completely shocked,” said Duran. “Greatly disappointed. The work we’d done to protect homeowners … has been undone.”

HOA homeowners who had been following this issue felt betrayed also, and afraid. “It’s bad enough with [CAM] licensing,” wrote P., a Denver homeowner fearing reprisal from her property manager. “What will [name of manager] do with no oversight at all??”

 “As of July 1,” said HOA activist Andrea Antico. “management companies … can do anything they want.”

Realtors were appalled. Live Urban Real Estate listed possible “outcomes of this loss of consumer protection.” Linda Chapman, realtor for over 35 years, called the veto “unconscionable.” She explained, “Management companies and property managers handle millions and millions of dollars of other people’s money. All other industries performing fiduciary duties are required to be licensed and regulated. Except CAMs.”

HOA attorneys appeared lighthearted. “Community association manager licensing is no more!” wrote Elina Gilbert of Altitude Law, in a blog titled, Why Oh Why Did Manager Licensing Die? One HOA attorney described colleagues as “… happily anticipating lots of business …”

One community manager, Sue McClure, said the veto felt like a “slap in the face to those of us that have made the effort to … be professional,” while another, Joe Felice, said he agreed with the Governor. “I don’t believe licensing helped homeowners or associations in any substantive way. … “

Property manager Alec Hrynevich, of Accord Management, said, “I’m not opposed to licensing. But it doesn’t do in this case what it’s supposed to do.”

More than a few managers and homeowners agreed that abuses within HOAs would not necessarily have been prevented if CAM licensing was in effect.

Change The Conversation

The HOA Office releases a report each year that summarizes the complaints they’ve received from homeowners. In 2018, high on the list was management companies and property managers not following their HOA’s governing documents; close behind were poor manager communication, selective enforcement of covenants and failure to produce records, required under Colorado HOA law.

Accompanying Polis’s veto was an Executive Order, number D 2019 006, directing DORA to “lead a … comprehensive review of CAMs and HOAs.” Many homeowners felt excited at the prospect of an open conversation about HOAs.

Since Polis took office, he’s made it clear how hard he will push for issues he is passionate about, like education and health care. He has not made it clear if HOA reform is one of those issues, although Hrincevich noted, “Leaving out further consumer protections [in HB 1212] is what Polis seemed mostly to object to.”

 What CAI appears to mostly object to is regulation within HOAs. A map on their website resembles a campaign war room, blue outlining the few states with CAM licensing; click on each state and see what stage the legal battle around that issue has reached. “Stay up to date on CAM licensing and its impact on associations,” encourages CAI Senior Vice President Dawn Bauman.

“With the veto of HB 19-1212,” states Polis in his Executive Order, “the State has an opportunity to change the conversation about … CAMs and HOAs.” As per that order, stakeholder meetings will be held on August 14 and 29, September 12 and October 8 at the DORA offices. Registration is open.

Never Let Hate Take Root In Your Heart

by Mark Smiley | May 25, 2019 | General Featured

Holocaust Survivor Shares Memories And Advice

by Ruthy Wexler

At 98, Jack Welner’s face shines with the eager ebullience of a 6-year-old. His eyes twinkle with fun. That’s the kind of boy Welner was back in Lodz, Poland — helpful, fun-loving, excited about life — and by all accounts, that’s the kind of man he became. In between, however, came the Holocaust, and — because Welner is Jewish — unimaginable suffering.

Through Auschwitz, Dachau, labor camps, a death march — how, people ask, did you stay the same person? Looking back over the years, Welner explains how he kept bitterness out of his heart and held onto the twinkle in his eye.

Take This, You’ll Need It

It’s not that Welner forgot what happened. He shares memories so vivid, you are there: watching how fast the Germans turn a corner of Lodz into a barbed wire ghetto; seeing guards shoot Jews in the ghetto streets “just for practice”; pretending — along with the seven other family members crammed into one room with no toilet or running water — that the beet leaves your mother salted and fried taste just like herring.

“We were starving [in the ghetto],” recalls Welner. “Just before we got on the train [for Auschwitz], we got a little piece of bread. Late that night, we arrived. I helped mother down from the train. She still had her bread. She pushed it into my hand. ‘Here. Take this. You’ll need it.’”

Welner’s eyes fill with tears. “Those were the last words my mother said to me.”

Look For Luck

After the war, when Welner was in a safer place — Denver, CO! — and heard “even a little bit of antisemitism” he’d speak up. “I left Poland to get rid of SOBs like you, so you better shut up.”

“Later,” he adds, “we’d become friends.”

But back when hatred of Jews was law, Welner searched for small ways to survive. In a labor camp near Dachau, a guard kept beating Welner with a 2×4 so brutally, “I knew I would die if he kept it up … so I sank to the ground and began crying. Not so much from pain, but I had to … do something.”

Welner adds emphatically: “In my mind, I was saying, ‘I will survive you, you SOB!’”

Later on in that camp, “… my luck changed. A machine operator took a liking to me. I was suffering from an ulcer. He let me lie down. He brought me rinds of bread to eat.

“He saved my life,” concludes Welner, who, after the war, traveled twice to Munich to bring food to that guard.

Welner was still able to feel empathy.

Many had lost that capacity.

“I had a cousin, blonde, she survived by working as a maid in a Warsaw hotel, disguised as a Christian,” Welner recalls. “When the [Warsaw] ghetto was burning, someone laughed, ‘Look, the bedbugs are frying.’ Her family was inside that ghetto and she had to stand there, crying, saying nothing …”

Welner shakes his head. He tells how, upon arriving back in Lodz after being liberated, the first words he heard from a Christian were, “Oh, a lot of you Jews are still alive.”

 L’Chaim (To Life)

Welner shares such memories seriously, like one delivering a valuable package. Now one more person knows and will not forget. But he is not inclined to dwell on or analyze the horror. Asked about antisemitism, Welner shrugs. “That’s how it was. Always the Jew was the scapegoat.”

When the subject turns, however, to his three children, six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, Welner’s face lights up like a 100-candle birthday cake. He enthuses at length about each one. It glows when he converses about travel or music. And when he sings.

Welner loves to sing.

 “I love Italian,” he rhapsodizes. “I still remember songs from Italy [where he was in a DP camp].”

In the ghetto, Welner recalls, there was a Jewish composer who wrote satiric songs. Welner sings one in Yiddish, then translates: “Such a disaster, you have to eat every day, the stomach always wants more and more…

“We needed to laugh,” he recalls.

Welner adores jokes. Laughing uproariously (but never ruining the punch line), Welner tells a joke about the cow from Minsk. The farmer and the bull. The one where two friends enter a bakery: “‘Moishe, look at that wonderful bagel!’ ‘Oh, but it’s got a big hole in the middle!”’

Optimist

“I see the bagel, not the hole,” Welner explains. “I’m an optimist.”

At 31, Welner anticipated a happy future when he met a beautiful girl, Adele. They married and moved to Denver. Seven years later, Adele died, leaving Welner with three small children and a broken heart.

Welner moved to Israel for five years to be near his sisters, then back to Denver, where he worked as a carpenter and raised his kids. Despite the disappointment of a subsequent marriage not working out, “My father always enjoyed life,” recalls Welner’s daughter Beverly. “Our home was filled with love and laughter.”

As a Holocaust Survivor, Welner spoke to schools and groups in Denver and surrounding areas. Then in 1995, the Shoah Foundation sent Lori Goldberg to interview Welner.      

The two connected.

“We became best friends, sharing life’s joys and challenges,” says Goldberg, who, coincidentally, in the first years of their relationship, saw Welner on Tuesdays.

“He was my Morrie,” she says, alluding to the book, Tuesdays with Morrie. “From Jack, I learned about courage, resiliency, hope, and love.”

My Motto

“Jack has taught me, no matter how difficult life can be, one should never give up hope, one should never stop loving,” said Goldberg.

“My motto,” Welner says, “is, ‘Don’t let the past ruin your future. If you live in the past, you don’t have a future.’”         

“I receive so much more from Jack than I could ever give,” says Welner’s caregiver, Linda Chambers. “It is an honor to know him. He will not allow hate to grow in his heart.”

Hey Mama: You’re The Best

by Mark Smiley | Apr 29, 2019 | General Featured

Chronicle’s Guide To Showing Your Mom How Much You Appreciate All She Has Done For You

Mum’s the word in May. The English idiom expressed by William Shakespeare in Henry VI reminds us May 12 is Mother’s Day. It’s the special day when you get to celebrate your first best friend and the person you turn to when you need advice.

Mothers are like glue. Even when you can’t see them, they’re still holding the family together. For most women motherhood is a joy — a least some of the time. It is the catalyst that opens new connections as well as new stresses in a woman’s relationships with her partner, siblings and friends.

The idea of honoring mothers with a special day dates from the 19th century; In 1908, Anna Jarvis led a campaign to celebrate Mother’s Day in May. In 1914 a resolution by Congress and a presidential proclamation established the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day. Here’s Chronicle’s guide for showing your mother, grandmothers, sisters, aunts and friends how special they are:

Afternoon Tea

Let mom relax in style at the Brown Palace’s Traditional Afternoon Tea in the historic hotel’s legendary atrium lobby. You’ll be served tea, scones, pastries and dainty sandwiches, all artfully prepared by the hotel’s culinary staff. More: She’ll enjoy the soothing sounds of a harp or pianist playing classical, jazz and pop standards. Information 303-297-3111.

Or, take her to Mother’s Day afternoon tea at the historic Molly Brown House where she will love the savory sandwiches, sweet treats and specially blended tea, plus a chance to stop in the museum store. Information: 303-832-4092.

Dining With Mom

Mother’s Day only happens once a year so it’s best to make the most of it by bringing the family together at the Monaco Inn Restaurant. A dining experience like no other, specials include Lamb Shank, Lamb Chop & Grilled Shrimp, New York Steak & Fried Shrimp and Grilled Trout all priced under $25. The regular dinner menu is also available for mom and the family. Brunch is being served from 10:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Information: 303-320-1104.

Mother’s Day brunches are happening all over the city. A top choice is the Dom Perignon champagne brunch at Ellyngton’s in the Brown Palace downtown known for its carving stations and seafood selections. Information: 303-297-3111. Or, dazzle your mom this year at Dazzle Restaurant & Lounge on Curtis St. with live jazz performed by the Julie Monley Quartet from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. on Mother’s Day. Information: 303-839-5100. Other choices are the Tavern Lowry (303-366-0007) serving a brunch buffet from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. and the Del Frisco’s Grill (303-320-8529) in Cherry Creek.

Flowers

Present mom with a fragrant bouquet of freshly cut, elegantly arranged flowers. Choose from these top floral shops that can help you find the perfect arrangement for mom:

Bloom — Upscale florist offering chic floral arrangements plus accessories for mom on 3rd Ave. at University Blvd. Information: 720-941-2862.

Bouquets — Located in lower downtown, it was named one of America’s top 10 florists by Bon Appetit Magazine. Information: 303-333-5500.

Flower Power — A cozy, unfussy Wash Park neighborhood florist offering a sizable selection of flowers. Information: 303-777-6266.

Perfect Petal — Creative Highlands florist providing custom arrangements plus a boutique section with gifts for mom. Information: 303-480-0966.

Theater

Treat mom to an afternoon of exhilarating musical theatre with Sweat or Wicked at the Denver Performing Arts Complex or indulge her love for classical music during a performance of Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique at Boettcher Concert Hall also in the DCPA. Information: 303-893-4100.

Or for a hilarious comedy both you and mom will enjoy, get tickets to Noel Coward’s silly, rebellious 1925 comedy Hay Fever. It opens Mother’s Day weekend and plays at the John Hand Theater in Lowry each weekend through June 8, Fri.-Sat. 7:30 p.m., Sun. 2 p.m. Information: 303-455-7108.