by Mark Smiley | Dec 22, 2014 | General Featured
by Brent New
Writer for and on behalf of the City of Glendale
There’s an awakening in Steve Lynch’s eyes — a feeling that after a seven-week journey in rugby-stalwart New Zealand, Lynch has grasped onto a whole new level of understanding for the sport that he has loved for more than a quarter of a century.
The longtime Glendale Raptors coach was encased in something of Rugby Rhapsody, calling his recent trip to play in the prestigious Four Nations Maritime Rugby Cup one of the most valuable experiences of his coaching career.
“I learned more about rugby in the past seven weeks in New Zealand than I have in the past 10 years I’ve coached,” Lynch said. “The experience and the people I met were unbelievable. It’s something I’ll never forget.”
As far as what it means for the Raptors’ growth and success, time will tell. And when and if it does, it will probably be hard to sort his experience from all of the other happenings that will go on to define the organization.
Nonetheless, Lynch is eager to spread his newfound knowledge in an effort to help better the Raptors.
“We realized what things we really need to focus on with our guys,” Lynch said. “We saw what it takes to be elite ruggers and I am excited to bring that experience back here.”
Lynch, who is also the Director of Rugby for the Navy, transformed 28 active-duty service men with rugby experience into full-time ruggers to compete in the 30-year-old tournament in Devonport, New Zealand.
Certainly a slim-to-none favorite in the tournament, and maybe even less than that, his patched-together team actually held its own through most of its matches against the seasoned navy teams from New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Australia. But eventually the U.S. fell in all of its matches and watched rugby power New Zealand upset the United Kingdom for the tournament championship.
The next Four Nations Maritime Rugby Cup will take place in 2017.
“We kind of knew that these were teams who were on another level than we were,” Lynch said. “We had players who played on different temporary club teams around the world, while these teams were full of full-time players that have been together for years. These players have been playing the game their whole lives. It’s like being Alabama in football and playing the Broncos.”
Didn’t feel like a loss though. At least once things settled.
Josh Barry, a homegrown Raptors youth star who played on the U.S. military team, said the tournament helped him realize what it takes to compete at an elite level. When asked about it, he vowed to learn from it and bring his skills to the Raptors’ organization this winter.
“Just the technique and skill of those players was unbelievable,” said Barry, who finished his service two months ago and is currently trying out for the Raptors’ Pacific Rugby Premiership team. “We weren’t elite like the other teams. We definitely saw what it takes to be the best.
“You never want to lose, but we were able to take away experiences that changed all of us for the better. We’re better and smarter players because of this trip, even if we didn’t get the result we wanted.”
The U.S. team’s biggest prize may have come before the tournament anyway.
The makeshift squad spent more than three weeks of training for the tournament, some of it with the likes of international rugby talents such as former New Zealand All Blacks captain and renowned rugby coach Buck Shelford.
The feedback was eye-opening, Lynch said. The international stars said they were impressed with the conditioning and athleticism of the U.S. players, but were just as astounded with the lack of technical skills that accompanied that raw talent.
The team’s focus was clear from there.
“Shelford is a celebrity in the rugby world. To work with him was so invaluable,” Lynch said. “These guys helped us really see that we don’t have the fundamentals down like we need to. I mean the great players perfect it and practice the fundamentals relentlessly. We aren’t close to where we should be in those skills.”
Lynch, who returned to Glendale late last year to coach the High-Performance Academy and help with the men’s team, has already been a pioneer in growing the game of rugby in the United States.
Now, he said he is eager to help take the sport he loves to the next level. And luckily for the Raptors, he’ll start in Glendale.
“Had a couple of drinks with the coaches over there and they believe America is kind of a sleeping giant in rugby,” Lynch said. “If we start perfecting the fundamentals to go along with our superior athleticism, we would dominate the sport. That’s exciting to hear.”
by Mark Smiley | Nov 24, 2014 | General Featured
Timely solutions for getting your house ready for the holidays
(BPT) – The fun chaos of the holidays is right around the corner. Family gatherings to plan, delicious meals to prepare, gifts to find and purchase, and a house to decorate … the list goes on!
With entertaining season approaching at warp speed, it’s time to get your home spruced up and looking like new. Your time is precious around the holiday season, so to help make the most of your days – and budget – try these easy solutions to prepare for the holidays while keeping your sanity.
* A fresh coat of paint is a quick and easy way to give your home a new look at an affordable price. Consider starting with the rooms most frequently used, but don’t forget the guest bedrooms and bathrooms. To make the most of your effort, use a paint that has the durability and color-lasting qualities you need. Valspar Reserve, available at Lowe’s, resists stains and fading and allows you to easily wipe away marks without taking off paint, even if your guests accidentally scuff walls with their suitcases.
* A simple way to decorate for the holidays year after year is with an artificial tree. Lowe’s offers four trees pre-lit with color-changing LED lights, meaning you can change the look – and color – of the tree with just a push of the pedal making your decorating process much easier. For a formal dinner event, glowing white light sets a perfect ambiance. Switch to the multi-color option to delight the kids.
* Use holiday decorations in unexpected ways to add festive cheer in every room of your home with minimal effort. Try hanging ornaments to decorate live plants, light fixtures, doorway overhangs, stairwells, mirrors and even the mantel. For this project, don’t use expensive or family heirloom ornaments – just purchase coordinating ones that work with the color pattern you already have in the room.
* Guests in the house mean more foot traffic and chance for a mess, but you don’t have to worry about those inevitable spills or stains. STAINMASTER carpets available at Lowe’s are 30 percent more resistant to stains than other brands, and with new carpets on the floor, you’ll have a fresh new look in your home that won’t cause you stress when everyone arrives for the holiday parties.
* Potted evergreen plants decorated with lights bring plenty of festive feelings into a room. The best news is that when spring arrives, you can plant them outside in your backyard, or donate them to a community project that needs evergreen trees. Using live plants infuses the room with light and good, clean oxygen, and it’s the subtle touches your guests will appreciate and remember.
With these timely tips, you – and your home – will be ready for a holiday season of celebrations.
by Mark Smiley | Oct 24, 2014 | General Featured
The Holiday Season’s Fast Track To Fitness
by Amy Thompson, National Director of Personal Training Services, Colorado Athletic Club
There are three key ingredients to keeping the holiday season a time of success in reaching your fitness goals: accountability, consistency and fun. Making sure you have a program in place that incorporates these three pieces will help you steer clear of the holiday weight gain, and also keep you on track into the New Year. That’s a lot better than having to start over.
There are many ways to hold yourself accountable. Set goals with your friends and hold each other to them. Schedule your workouts on your calendar for the visual effect. When you feel like you have an excuse, write it down, put it aside and keep pressing on. And maybe all you need is something new and different to keep it interesting.
Try our Holiday FitExpress program, where you’ll get to work closely with a personal trainer. You’ll meet three times a week for the next three months, which is a perfect way to ensure you’re staying on track with the goals that you set together. It will also hold you accountable to going above and beyond your expectations. Program designs from personal trainers in a small group class setting are evidence-based and guaranteed to get you results.
Consistency is what keeps you moving forward in small steps to see big results. Every class, every week and every month, your consistency in the program will lead to increased confidence that you can do more the next time. And doing more on a regular basis, under a supervised FitExpress program, will increase your conditioning, endurance, strength and mobility, as well as improve your eating habits. The holidays are an ideal time to create awareness around your diet so your indulgence doesn’t lead to binging. Consistency doesn’t mean instant gratification, but it does turn into positive change.
FitExpress is a fun program. We take the concepts of fitness and come up with a routine so you don’t have to think, you just have to do. While taking that aspect out of the equation, we can team up as a group to have a good time. The creative and energetic workouts truly become a release from stress and a busy holiday, and emphasize enjoying what you are doing while reaching your goals.
We’ve made it easy for you to dedicate yourself to a program and get results during the holidays. FitExpress will hold you accountable, keep you consistent, and drive a lot of great energy into your workouts. Stay fit going into the New Year and keep yourself active and goal oriented. Sign up and commit to Colorado Athletic Club’s FitExpress program today — you won’t regret it.
by Mark Smiley | Sep 29, 2014 | General Featured
by Mark Smiley
It is the fastest, coolest, most beautiful trike in the history of trikes and it turns out that it is perfect for community policing according to the Glendale Police Department. The Department has already purchased and is employing one of these beautiful vehicles in day-to-day police work. It’s called a Can-Am Spyder Roadster and it goes up to 125 miles per hour and performs 0-60 mph in just 4.5 seconds.
The three-wheeled motorcycle is manufactured by Canadian company Bombardier Recreational Products better known for their work with snowmobiles and jet skis. The vehicle has a single rear drive wheel and two wheels in front for steering, similar in layout to a modern snowmobile. In fact, it rides more like an ATV or snowmobile rather than a typical motorcycle. The futuristic-looking three-wheeled vehicle, equipped with state-of-the-art radar and camera systems, has been on the prowl since April. More are on the way.
Residents love to stop Glendale police officers riding the Can-Am Spyder to admire the vehicle and talk about its attributes. Just don’t call the vehicle a “trike” to an officer’s face as the Glendale Police are a little touchy about what they deem is a pejorative word for their pride and joy.
With the Riverwalk concept on the horizon (now known as Glendale 180), Captain Mike Gross looked for alternative ways to patrol the area which will be heavily pedestrian. The department has bicycles in its fleet but needed something faster that could still maneuver through tricky terrain, especially from Colorado Boulevard to Cherry Street. After testing a variety of different modes of transportation including electric motorcycles and segways, Gross found a rental company in Sheridan that had the Can-Am Spyders.
The time required to train the officers in the operation of the vehicles is less than traditional motorcycles. The training is held at the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s track. The motorcycle license endorsement is still required in order to ride these new vehicles. “This gives us an alternative to a patrol car,” said Chief William Haskins, Glendale Police. “We train our officers in one half day as opposed to the two weeks of motorcycle training.”
The normal two-wheel motorcycle became a hazard to police officers in Glendale. Approximately 50 percent of officers going through the two-week training would “graduate” and become certified. Chief Haskins points out that shorter statured officers could not place their feet firmly on the pavement with the motorcycles. A fair amount would sustain injuries that would shelve them for an indefinite period of time. In contrast the anti-lock braking system allows the Spyder to stop on a dime making it safer for officers to ride.
The Police Department has sold its last motorcycle and you will not find any more on the streets. Currently, there are 27 sworn in officers on the force and 23 of them are eligible to ride the new Spyder.
Glendale is the only police department to have such a vehicle in Colorado, and is one of only a handful in the entire country to utilize them. Branson, Missouri, has two in their fleet and they are the only department in Missouri with them. The police chief in Branson, Kent Crutcher, says the vehicles “offer better stability on the hills of Branson, and better safety ratings than traditional two-wheeled motorcycles.” Glendale’s police chief’s main focus and mantra is to “take officers out of the metal box and have them be more approachable.”
“O.K., O.K.” Police Chief Haskins conceded at the end of the Chronicle interview. “If you want to call it a ‘trike’ you can call it a ‘trike.’” He went on to explain, “It was Shakespeare who correctly noted in Romeo and Juliet that a rose by any other name still smells just as sweet.”
by Mark Smiley | Aug 29, 2014 | General Featured
Rules Hatched By City Council Also Allow Homegrown Sales In Kitchens, Yards Until Dusk
by Glen Richardson
Have you heard the buzz?
If not, step into your backyard and listen for the hum of bees. If you pay close attention you may also hear the sounds of chickens, ducks and goats! They’re some of the reverberations to expect as the Cherry Creek Valley rototills into full-fledged backyard farming. What’s more, anticipate that your street will also become one big Farmers’ Market as neighbors begin to sell their farm produce in their kitchens and from their front yards.
In July the Denver City Council approved a new law that allows residents to both raise and sell fresh produce they have grown themselves and “cottage foods” such as jams and honey they have made themselves in their home kitchens. Under the new law which took effect July 18, residents are required to purchase a permit but then will be able to sel
l from home raw and uncut fresh fruit, vegetables and herbs that were grown by the seller either on site or in a community garden.
City Farming Rules
Urban farmers will now be able to sell whole eggs produced by chickens or ducks kept by the seller at home or as un-refrigerated food products made on-site such as spices, teas, honey, jams and certain baked goods made themselves in their home kitchens. Under the law people can sell from inside or outside their home from 8 a.m. to dusk and can sell up to $5,000 worth of goods and produce a year.
The city requires that urban farmers apply for licenses to sell their food. The city charges a one-time fee of $20 for the license. Urban farmers setting up indoor or outdoor farmer markets are not required to provide parking spaces. No sales tax is required and the seller determines the sales prices. For neighborhood farmer markets only temporary, portable furniture is allowed — tables, stands and umbrellas — for outdoor sales and they must be taken inside between dusk and 8 a.m. daily. Signs for home sales must be flat, attached to a wall or window of the home, and cannot be more than 100 square inches in size. One sign is allowed per street front (one sign for most lots, two signs for a corner lot). No moving signs and no lit sign(s) are allowed.
Several city restaurants currently grow produce in gardens and farms they own and sell them in their local eateries. Now those plus other restaurants that don’t have gardens and farms will be able to buy vegetables, eggs, jams, and fruits being grown in the neighborhood by backyard farmers.
Hatching Big Ideas
As the backyard chicken craze spreads like wildfire it’s beginning to seem like the chicken coop is the new doghouse. Increasingly Valley fidos will have to share the yard with the ladies. But before getting in a flap with your pup be aware that sales of whole, fresh chicken eggs are limited to less than 250 dozen per month.
According to rules hatched by the city, egg cartons must include the origin of the eggs and the packing date. Unless the eggs were treated to prevent salmonella, the label must include safe handling instructions: To prevent illness from bacteria, keep eggs refrigerated, cook eggs until yolks are firm, and cook any foods containing eggs thoroughly. Cartons must be labeled: “These eggs do not come from a government-approved source.”
Eggs, produce and other products sold by urban farmers must have a label and be traceable to the seller. Labels must list the name of the product, the producer’s name address, telephone number and email. Items must also include where the food was prepared or grown, the date the food was produced and a complete list of ingredients. If a product was produced in a home kitchen that is not subject to state licensure or inspection and that may also list common food allergens such as tree nuts, peanuts, eggs, soy, wheat, milk, fish and crustacean shellfish, labels should read: This product is not intended for resale.
Who’s Digging In?
Who are these upstart urban farmers with enthusiasm for having dirt under their finger nails, bees and chickens in their backyard, and fresh food in their bellies? It’s locals like Brenna Brooks-Larson, a Valley elementary school teacher who helped launch Celebration Community Farm in the Virginia Village neighborhood on the corner of Iowa and Birch. She grew up in Denver and is now a board member of UrbiCulture Community Farms. Her love for farming began in Nicaragua as a Peace Corps volunteer where she managed three school gardens. Or gardening volunteers like Maggie Rice, the second woman in Colorado to become a Certified Working Chef. She is building a Permaculture Institute on 1.5 acres 10 minutes from downtown Denver.
Also among the back-to the-land group is James Bertini, a lawyer turned farmer whose backyard on Fourth Ave. and Kalamath has chickens, rabbits and a garden plot. His interest in farming began with his wife Irena’s dissatisfaction with the prevalence of processed foods. The pair own and operate Denver Urban Homesteading — a year-round farmers market on Santa Fe — selling locally grown produce and foodstuffs. A horde of backyard farmers can be found buying chickens, rabbits and other backyard critters at a livestock exchange sponsored by the couple each month.
Many like Jason Plotkin — Farm Manager at Lowry’s Ekar Farm & Community Garden — got into farming to help neighbors and society in general. The farm hosts 50 community garden plots within the diverse Lowry neighborhood. Ekar engages 1,000 community volunteers in growing 25,000 pounds of urban organic vegetables. The farm donated 85 percent of the vegetables grown — with a market value of $95,000 — to Jewish Family Service, Weinberg Food Pantry and other food relief agencies that feed 2,500 people a month during the harvest season.
Cultivating Change
The Valley’s backyard farming boom began more than 25 years ago when the nonprofit Denver Urban Gardens (DUG) began working with the community to build and support gardening. The organization currently organizes and manages well over 100 community gardens, including 35 at Valley schools. By 1993, DUG was coordinating 21 local gardens, and by 1997, 32 new gardens and DeLaney Community Farm were established. Within the past decade it has created multiple ongoing youth and community education programs designed to assist community involvement and long-term garden sustainability.
Another significant backyard farming venture is the community farm at Valley-based Denver Green School, run by Sprout City Farms. It is a one-acre organic farm located along East Virginia Ave. Produce from the farm is used for the school salad bar as well as in cooked meals for about seven out of the nine months during the school year. The farm is able to meet nearly all the produce needs for the school kitchen from August to October. Sprout Farms believes the future of urban agriculture requires a shift in thinking, eating and acting.
Even the city has gotten into the backyard-farming act with a plot on the grounds of the Colorado Convention Center. Known as Blue Bear Farm, the 5,000-square-foot farm is located on the sunny south side of the convention building. Beds bloom with crops of fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs that are used by Centerplate chefs at the Convention Center. Basil, beans, peppers and parsnips plus radishes and raspberries are among crops grown. The farm has two beehives providing fresh honey to convention attendees.
by Mark Smiley | Aug 1, 2014 | General Featured
by James Bowie
Former Glendale City Manager Veggo Frederick Larsen II died at age 61 at his residence in Palmetto, Florida. The cause of death was not reported other than it was “unexpected.” He was city manager of Glendale in tumultuous times from October 1999 to May 2002. After leaving Glendale he joined a recycling firm in Texas. It does not appear that he was employed at the time of his death.
Larsen was born to a prominent family in Hamden, Connecticut, and was a graduate of the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. He had two brothers and two sisters. The sibling he was closest to, Eric Larsen, passed away several years ago. His grandfather and namesake, Veggo F. Larsen, was president of the Connecticut State Golf Association in 1956 and 1957 and helped to instill a love of the game of golf into his grandson. His father, Edwin Veggo Larsen, was a real estate developer and predeceased his son by less than two years. Prior to becoming the city manager of Glendale, Larsen was in the real estate business in Colorado and then the New York area.
In the spring of 1998 the Glendale businesses and residents formed a political group called the Glendale Tea Party and swept its slate of candidates to office in the City Council. That fall a new city manager was to be chosen. Chuck Bonniwell (publisher of the Glendale Cherry Creek Chronicle) was an old friend of Larsen and proposed him for city manager.
Larsen described his selection in an article in Westword concerning the initial get-together of the six city manager candidates and city officials: “When Chuck’s girlfriend shows up and gives me a big hug. Oh, they knew. They knew there was a rat in the woodpile — they just didn’t know which one.”
Bonniwell’s remembrance of the event was somewhat different. “I supported him along with a majority of the City Council. They were not really any hidden agendas. He was the leading candidate for the city manager position, but he certainly could have unimpressed the council members in which case they would have chosen someone else. Veggo always had a wonderful way of making the mundane seem very fun and dramatic.”
Larsen later led a highly publicized revolt against his original supporters. In 2002 Bonniwell and other members of the Glendale Tea Party supported a new set of candidates who prevailed at the ballot box in 2002 and fired Larsen. Bonniwell noted, “Veggo was an immensely engaging and intelligent individual who could have been an extraordinary city manager in Glendale or anywhere else. But he never wanted to be beholden to anyone, which is fine, but in the end it meant he never worked for or with anyone for very long. He had a job he could have retired at many years later. Instead he was on the street once again looking for employment after just three plus years.”
Former Glendale Mayor Mark Smiley remembers Larsen’s extraordinary gift with words, “He was a National Merit Scholar in high school and was always making up palindromes [words or sentences read the same forward or backward, i.e. civic] when he got bored at City Council meetings. He could be wonderfully fun.”
Present mayor of Glendale and Colorado gubernatorial candidate Mike Dunafon remarked, “I always liked Veggo even after he stabbed everyone in the back. He had everything going for him, but could never quite put it all together. He was missing that piece that makes very talented people successful, which is to see things from more than one’s own limited perspective, no matter how bright you are.”
One of Larsen’s accomplishments while city manager of Glendale was to establish a relationship with the city of Playa del Carmen, Mexico, which became the official “Sister City” of Glendale in 2004. He got the then Glendale Fire Department to donate a fire engine, that the department was in the process of decommissioning, to Playa del Carmen. He even drove the truck down to the Mexican city, a distance of almost 1,700 miles.
Bonniwell summed up, “Veggo was a little like Andy Dufresne in the movie Shawshank Redemption with Playa del Carmen being his Zihuatanejo. Unfortunately, like all of us to a certain extent, the bars of his Shawshank Penitentiary were imposed on him by his own mind. Unlike Andy Dufresne he never really escaped that self imposed prison.”
Larsen left 75 percent of his estate to the “Make a Wish” Foundation.
