by Mark Smiley | Nov 21, 2016 | Main Articles
by Glen Richardson
As first shockingly disclosed by the Washington, D.C., based news publication The Hill, the highly prominent and powerful Denver based law firm of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP has filed under the federal Foreign Agents Registration Act to represent the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. A copy of the Fee Agreement between the Brownstein firm and the Kingdom was leaked to 710 KNUS radio host Peter Boyles (who writes a column for the Glendale Cherry Creek Chronicle and found on page 2 each month).
Under the Fee Agreement the Kingdom is paying Brownstein $100,000 per month for a minimum of four months “to act as policy counsel . . . in connection with legislative issues of importance to the U.S. – Saudi Arabia bilateral relationship.”
The representation according to The Hill is to reverse the rights of the victims of 9/11 just granted under the Justice of Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA) to sue the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for its alleged complicity in the 9/11 attack. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 were from Saudi Arabia.
The Brownstein firm is not just any law firm in Denver. It was started in 1968 by 
Norm Brownstein, Jack Hyatt and Steve Farber fresh out of the University of Colorado Law School. Both Brownstein and Farber grew up from highly humble beginnings on the west side of Denver. The firm has grown into the second largest firm in Colorado and the second largest lobbying firm in Washington, D.C. The firm has over 250 attorneys and has offices in 11 cities across the United States.
Nationally the firm is known for its political connections and locally for its philanthropic activities. It represents The Denver Post, Mayor Michael Hancock, and Governor John Hickenlooper. Both Brownstein and Farber are highly active in the Jewish community in Denver, and in the Cherry Creek Valley.
But Brownstein himself has not escaped scandal in recent years. His son Drew “Bo” Brownstein was forced to pay a $4.7 million fine in June 2012 by the Securities and Exchange Commission for insider stock trading for securities purchased in h
is and his father’s names. He was later sentenced to one year and a day in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Robert Patterson, but Norm himself managed to escape any punishment.
What is so alarming to many is the fact that the Brownstein firm came to prominence as a lobbying powerhouse in Washington, D.C., due to its strong connections with the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). It is a highly powerful group that lobbies for pro-Israel policies to Congress and the Executive branch.
JASTA was passed over the veto of President Barrack Obama on September 28 by a 97 to 1 vote with the only dissenting vote being Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, and passed the House by a 348 to 77 vote. It is expected to be the only veto overridden during Obama’s eight years in the Presidency.
Notwithstanding the overwhelming votes in the Senate and the House it has been speculated that after the November 8 election and during the lame duck session, a way would be found to amend and render the legislation moot. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia hired at least 13 other lobbying firms to get the legislation reversed including such other heavyweights as the Podesta Group and Patton Boggs.
Under the Fee Agreement the lobbying would be headed up by Alfred Mottur, Marc Lampkin and two non-lawyers. Mottur and Lampkin are among the 2016 top Washington, D.C., “hired gun” lobbyists as ranked by The Hill. Mottur works the
Democratic side of Capitol Hill having been a senior staffer for Senator Ernest F. Hollings (D-SC). Conversely, Lampkin is called a part of “Team Boehner” named after the recently retired Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner, as well as having been Deputy Campaign Manager for the George W. Bush for President Campaign.
Mottur called into the Peter Boyles Show on 710 KNUS and somewhat quixotically attempted to assert that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia had hired him to protect U.S. servicemen abroad from possible lawsuits. Retired Army veteran George Athanasopoulous who served four tours in Iraq as an infantryman was in studio when Mottur called. He later called Mottur’s dissembling on air who and what he was hired to lobby for “comical if it wasn’t so tragic.”
He went on to note, “He was destroyed on air by Peter [Boyles]. I don’t know how anyone would want the Brownstein firm to legally represent them knowing that they were registered foreign agents for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia working to screw over the 9/11 families. Mr. Brownstein and Mr. Farber should be ashamed of themselves.”
by Mark Smiley | Nov 21, 2016 | Main Articles
Local Judges Provide ‘Get Out Of Jail Free Cards’ To Honduran And Mexican Drug Cartel Members
by Charles C. Bonniwell
The City and County of Denver has become, according to federal law enforcement authorities, one of the leading centers of heroin distribution in the entire western United States. One need only walk along the Cherry Creek Bike Path which is littered throughout with used heroin needles to bolster this assertion.
Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman has declared, “Heroin use in Colorado has reached epidemic proportions, as witnessed by a thriving market for brown powder heroin and criminals willing to risk a lifetime in prison to profit from the demand in opioids.” Local authorities state that there has been a tenfold increase in heroin addiction and deaths in the last several years in Denver.
Local and federal drug enforcement agents also inform the Chronicle that the portion of Ms. Coffman’s statement concerning “a lifetime in prison” is not factually correct. In fact, in the City and County of Denver, Honduran and Mexican drug dealers have virtually no risk of any jail time even after having been arrested for heroin dealing multiple times due to bail procedures adopted by Denver courts as they apply to individuals in the United States illegally.
According to Barbra Roach, Special Agent in Charge of the Denver Region for the federal Drug Enforcement Agency, the Sinaloa drug cartel based in northern Mexico and once run by El Chapo Guzmán controls hero
in distribution in Denver and throughout Colorado. Roach states that “the Sinaloa cartel is in control of the Denver area.”
The cartel utilizes 17- to 20-year-old Honduran and Mexican nationals it transports to Denver to distribute the deadly drug. If a cartel member is arrested for heroin distribution by the Denver police he is taken to the City and County jail where bail is determined by the Denver County Court system headed up by Presiding Judge John Marcucci. At the bail hearing it is deemed irrelevant that the cartel member is in the country illegally, that he has no known address or any valid identification or even the severity of the crime. Given the fact that most cartel members are taught to state that they are indigent, no bail is req
uired of any amount and the cartel drug member is released on his own personal recognizance (PR) which one drug enforcement agent called it little more than a “pinky swear” to return to court.
The cartel members, of course, seldom show up for their next hearing. While many of those arrested would then be moved on to another city by the cartel to distribute heroin the situation has gotten so egregious in Denver that few bother. The mere fact that you have failed to previously appear for a court hearing is also not considered at the subsequent bail hearing if you are arrested once again. Thus cartel members are regularly arrested for heroin distribution, released on personal recognizance bond, fail to appear for the next hearing, be arrested again and then released again in a never ending revolving door.
Since Denver is a “sanctuary city” legal status of someone arrested is never sought to be determined and if known never conveyed back to federal immigration authorities. Thus there are advantages for Sinaloa cartel members to admit they are here illegally and have no permanent address or place of abode in the United States.
According to a report by KDVR Channel 31, over the last several months, 26 heroin dealers have been arrested in Denver and have asserted they were here illegally from Honduras or Mexico. Seventeen of these dealers were released on personal recognizance and 14 of those did not return for their next hearing.
One such person was Armando Diaz, age 21, arrested on April 30, 2016, at a routine traffic stop. Diaz had no ownership paperwork for the vehicle o
r any driver’s license and the VIN number on the automobile had been altered. In the car was a bag containing methamphetamine as well as a large quantity of money in separate bundles along with a brick of narcotics. Also there were socks filled with narcotics in the glove compartment. Searched at the jail, Diaz had a small bag of heroin visibly hanging from his rectum. Several hours later Diaz was released on a PR bond never to return.
Another one of those individuals was 20-year-old Sergio Garcia Reyes who was arrested in June of this year with a balloon of heroin in his mouth as well as containers in his glove box. The car he was driving had a fake temporary license plate and the only identification he had was apparently a fake one from Mexico. He did not speak English but through an interpreter stated he had been in the United States for two months. He was quickly released on personal recognizance. He failed to appear for his arraignment, but was rearrested in August. Somewhat amazingly this time bond was set at $2,000 which the asserted indigent Reyes quickly had posted by another apparent cartel member and he has not been heard from since.
Heroin distribution is not a victimless crime. Matt Lazarus, son of Denver resident Chris Lazarus, was sold a lethal dose of heroin by a Honduran cartel member. She stated “they are putting the people that killed my son . . . back on the streets. Why in the world would you let them go?”
Denver term-limited District Attorney (DA) Mitch Morrissey blames
the local judges and, in particular, County Court Presiding Judge John Marcucci. He told Channel 31, “It’s the judge that’s responsible for what happens after they give someone a PR bond.” Essentially, the DA argues, the local Denver judges have made heroin distribution legal in Denver if performed by some cartel members here illegally from Honduras or Mexico which in turn fuels 
the heroin in Denver and throughout Colorado.
Judge Marcucci, in turn, apparently blames Denver District Attorney (DA) Mitch Morrissey who he deems to be a duplicitous individual stating that the DA never sends anyone to the bail hearings to demand a fiscal bond even though there are public defenders there demanding that the suspect be released on his own personal recognizance. Marcucci also points out when county court judges were sued in Denver District Court in 2013 for requiring fiscal bonds, Morrissey’s office refused to defend them and left the matter to the largely incompetent City Attorney’s Office who lost the case.
Both blame the system stating that the Colorado State statute determines what can be considered in a bail hearing. Moreover, the United States Justice Department has argued in a federal court case that requiring a fiscal bond of any kind for a person alleging that he is indigent may be a violation of the U.S. Constitution.
But Arapahoe County District Attorney George Brauchler points out in no other judicial district other than the City and County of Denver are heroin dealers routinely let go on personal recognizance bonds.
In the meantime, the heroin epidemic grows and grows and an increasing number of young people are dying of lethal heroin dosages in the City and County of Denver and throughout Colorado. As stated about the ever increasing death toll from the AIDs epidemic in the 1980s, “the band plays on” while local authorities simply point fingers.
by Mark Smiley | Oct 21, 2016 | Main Articles
Residents And Disability Activists Demand Change
by Megan Carthel
Twenty-four floors high in the sky, the 4550 Cherry Creek luxury apartments in Glendale, have stood tall, but for some residents, the building is falling short. The skyscraper apartment complex was built in 2002, as the first truly luxurious rental property in Glendale. Its massive outline dominates the skyline along Cherry Creek Drive and its height so chagrined Glendale residents that the city revised its Zoning Code to impose height limits.
Tall Prison
But now the 24-story building has at times become a virtual prison for some residents as its elevator system has become a nightmare. For those inside the elevators when they break down, it means waiting seemingly endless hours until the City of Glendale can come rescue them. For residents who are disabled with mobility challenges they are trapped in their apartments or simply cannot return to their apartment homes for hours on end.
Longtime residents say they can point to the day when all the problems began — January 12, 2011. On that day sprinkler lines on the 18th and 2nd floors broke, causing water to run down the elevator shafts, resulting in extensive damage.
The elevators have never been the same. Since that date there have been 13 calls to the Glendale Police and the Fire Department regarding people trapped in the elevators. From November 2014 to July of this year alone the City of Glendale has had to make seven rescues from the elevators at 4550.
Threatened Lawsuit
But it is not simply the residents trapped in the elevators themselves that are affected. Resident Jessica Peck has progressive vascular malformations and reflexive sympathetic dystrophy. In 2015, treatment led to extreme and sudden bone loss culminating in an amputation below the knee on her left leg. Peck said all four elevators were down when she came home one evening. Her two daughters, ages eight and 11, were in their unit, 11 flights up. Peck had to hop on one leg up 11 flights of stairs to reach her kids.
“I thought if I fall I’m dead,” Peck said. Only days later, Peck was in the hospital with inflammation of cartilage in the breast plate. In April of this year she was diagnosed with pulmonary embolisms.
“To me, as an attorney, as a disability activist, to be in a position where I am scared of retaliation and I am honestly hurt to my core. I have a thick skin, but living in this environment every day is being told that I don’t matter, that my children don’t matter, and they don’t care if I get injured,” Peck said.
Peck has retained one of Colorado’s most famous and feared litigators David Lane of Killmer, Lane & Newman, LLP who is investigating bringing suit under Federal statutes if the problems are not fixed.
“Under ADA they have to reasonably accommodate people with disabilities, meaning they have to provide access to people with disabilities — curb cuts are required by law, working elevators are required by law, handicapped access doors which can be opened by pushing a button have to be working by law, they have to have parking spots for disabled people by law, they do none of the above on a regular basis,” Lane said.
Lane and Peck would be filing suit under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Fair Housing Act and Warranty of Habitability.
Elevator Background
Mike Pattison, Denver branch manager for Kone, the company that installed and maintains the elevators, said his crew members are contracted to perform preventative maintenance weekly on the elevators.
“Our guys are out there all the time,” Pattison said.
Pattison said the elevators in 4550 are four-geared traction passenger cars with a mipromST control system. He said hundreds were installed in 2002 and 2003, but are no longer being currently installed. Pattison said to upgrade the elevator system, it would cost between $175,000 to $250,000 per elevator.
Chuck Line, Glendale Deputy City Manager, said usually elevators shut down because a safety feature responded to an error.
“From a safety point of view, every time we go, all the safety mechanisms are functioning perfectly and everything, but there’s a big difference between safety of an elevator and operationally if it’s reliable or not. Because if it’s unreliable, it means its safety mechanism has kicked in, but it means maybe they’re not maintaining it to the degree that they should,” Line said.
Upset Residents
Tina Roussin has had to walk up 17 flights of stairs with groceries when all four elevators were down, a frequent event according to her. She was once stuck in an elevator early in the morning after taking her dog outside. The elevator she was in does not have a call phone or button, and she did not have her phone on her. Roussin said she began kicking and yelling in hopes someone would hear she was trapped. Eventually the elevator returned to the first floor. When Roussin brought her incident to management, she said she received a less than satisfactory answer.
“I was told you need to make sure you have your phone on you when you go on the elevator,” Roussin said.
Elevators are inspected twice a year. Randy Pabst, elevator inspector with Colorado Consulting Code, said a two-way communication system is required that can dial a 24-hour service such as the elevator maintenance contractor, 9-1-1 or an answering service for security company.
This is not Roussin’s only run-in with the elevators. Her dog’s leash got caught in the elevator doors and was suspended from the top of the elevator, hanging there until the leash broke while Roussin tried to free her dog, Chloe. Another resident who is afraid of retaliation from the complex in the form of rent price raises who wanted to keep her identity private, said the elevators are a major issue.
“This is supposed to be a luxury building, it’s not inexpensive to live here and we should have a reasonable expectation that we can go up and down 24 floors on at least one elevator all the time,” the resident said. “I lived in Manhattan for a long time and these are the kinds of issues that come up with slumlords in New York.”
The residents said in general they like living at 4550 and praise concierge and front office workers in general but many have a problem with the management company Monogram Apartment Collection. The owner of the building, according to the real estate records of Arapahoe County, is Behringer Harvard Cherry Creek out of Dallas, Texas, who acquired the building in 2010 for $52 million. The seller Sentinel lost $26 million on the sale from its purchase price of $78 million in 2005.
Resident Kandie Landers told the Chronicle, “When a building has 24 floors, having the elevators down as frequently as they do is inexcusable . . . . Other than the elevator issue, I have been extremely pleased with the community.” She notes, however, that “the management really needs to invest in getting the elevators fixed and/or replaced.”
Management Response
According to Peck and her attorney David Lane, the time for 4550 to voluntarily perform the needed work may be running out.
In an email statement sent to the Chronicle, the management company Monogram Apartment Collection stated, “At [4550] Cherry Creek, we’re committed to providing the highest quality service for our residents. When a resident has a concern, we maintain a culture of transparency by communicating how we are remedying the situation. Our residents shared feedback around the need to update our elevators, so we are in the process of replacing the mechanical systems in all four elevators. We anticipate starting work very soon and are doing everything we can to ensure that this long and complex process is as painless as possible.”
by Mark Smiley | Oct 21, 2016 | Main Articles
Tapes Caught Her Allegedly Dissembling In Front Of City Council
by Mark Smiley
Jeanne Price often sits next to Mohammad Ali Kheirkhahi, principal of M.A.K. Investments
Denver resident Jeanne Price, who many allege to be a paid operative for Mohammad Ali Kheirkhahi of M.A.K. Investment Group, LLC (M.A.K.), has been seen as a highly unpleasant fixture at Glendale City Council meetings ever since the dispute arose over M.A.K.’s desire to build a massive apartment complex on Colorado Boulevard. The City Council finally decided at the August 16, 2016, meeting to begin to expose Price for who they believe she really is.
The Chronicle reported on her activities in the February 2016 issue (“Persian Rug Merchants Have Denverite Jeanne Price Digging Hard for Dirt”).
What outraged many of the members of Glendale City Council was that fact that she approaches the podium to speak at most City Council meetings and makes what they believe at times outrageous and scurrilous allegations about City Council members and city employees during the “Public Comments” section of the meetings.
Glendale Mayor Mike Dunafon stated, “The ‘Public Comment’ section of every meeting is supposed to allow for everyday citizens to be able to present their thoughts on the city and issues of concern to them. It is not for a paid operative from Denver to libel the city and everyone in it with outrageous allegations.”
Among the accusations by Price that the City Council believe to be false and libelous are, that (1) the City Council had met in “Executive Session” over half the time in the last four or five years; (2) the City Council had refused to state what matters the Executive Sessions concerned; (3) in violation of the Colorado Open Records Act, Price had been denied access to the minutes of the City Council over the last several years; and (4) the City Clerk had willfully misrepresented what she had said in prior Council meetings.
It is illegal under Colorado law for a city council to meet in executive session e
xcept for a very limited number of instances such as personnel matters or to receive legal advice concerning pending or ongoing litigation. It is also illegal not to state what subjects are to be discussed at an executive session. Finally, it is illegal under the Colorado Open Records Act to refuse to supply copies of records clearly in the public domain including minutes of public meetings.
At the August 16, 2016, meeting when Price approached the lectern to harangue the Council, the mayor indicated he wanted the City Clerk to read her exact accusation at a prior Council meeting concerning the Council convening in Executive Session over 50 percent of the time. Price quickly denied she had ever made such an allegation declaring, “I said I’d been here over the last seven or eight months and it seemed to me you spent a lot of time in Executive Session. I did not say in the last five years.”
The City Clerk then read from a transcript the recording of the meeting of what Price had, in fact, said which was, “More importantly, it’s just my observation having read four or five years of your minutes, that this Council spends more than half of its time in Executive Session, and that is a unique situation in my experience.”
Caught in what would appear to be a direct lie did not appear to phase Price. She declared, “I have a recording of what I said and what I said was ‘this Council’ with great emphasis meaning the people sitting up there last September were spending a lot of time in Executive Session, compared to other times. I have the recording. I am happy to share it with anybody.”
At the City Council meeting on September 6, 2016, the deputy city manager played the actual tape in which Price declared exactly what the City Clerk had read and not what was alleged by Price. She then told an incredulous audience that what was played was just 20 seconds of a three-minute statement. The mayor indicated the city would play the entire three minutes at the next city council meeting which would show that Price was lying once again but Price had no response.
As to the actual Executive Session allegation itself, the city clerk reported that in the last five years the City Council had met for a total of 9,660 minutes and only 395 minutes were in Executive Session or 4 percent of the time. The City stated that almost all such Executive Sessions regarded receiving legal advice concerning lawsuits filed against the city by Price’s alleged employer M.A.K. and Mohammad Ali Kheirkhahi. Moreover, in contradiction of her allegation the City Council did, in fact, state what subjects were to be discussed in Executive Session each and every time.
Finally, as to Price’s allegation she was illegally denied access to copies of Council minutes, the City Clerk noted that all the minutes from 2013 forward were, in fact, up on the city website for anyone to look at and moreover pursuant to Price’s CORA request she was provided the minutes going back to 2002, as well as the actual recordings in many instances.
Councilman Scott Brock
Mayor Mike Dunafon indicated that “it was important for the public to see who and what Jeanne Price really is, but even I did not expect to see her incredible sad pathologies so fully on display.”
“Jeanne Price’s wild accusations have become tiresome,” said Councilmember Scott Brock. “The public needs to know that these allegations are obvious lies. She has lost all credibility with this Council and she digs herself and M.A.K. a deeper hole every time she gets up to speak.”
When inquiries were made to Jeanne Price soliciting a response on her accusations and her conduct at the last several City Council meetings, she declared in an email to the Chronicle for attribution that “I love October.”
by Mark Smiley | Oct 3, 2016 | Main Articles
Mayor Dunafon And Former Councilman Jeff Allen Fully Exonerated
by Mark Smiley
In a startling reversal of fortune Russell Kemp of the law firm of Ireland, Stapleton, Pryor & Pascoe, PC has had an ethics grievance lodged against him with the Colorado Supreme Court’s Office of Attorney Regulation. The complaint against Kemp (Case No. 16-7526) alleges that he violated Rule 4.5 of the Colorado Rules of Professional Conduct when he filed what was found by the Glendale City Council to be a frivolous complaint against former Glendale City Councilman Jeff Allen for voting to approve the City’s general 2016 budget.
Rule 4.5 prohibits attorneys from presenting administrative charges “solely to obtain an advantage in a civil matter.” Kemp is the attorney for M.A.K. Investment Group, LLC whose principals own Authentic Persian & Oriental Rugs. He and his firm have brought two lawsuits in state court and one in federal court in Colorado against the City of Glendale relating to the Glendale 180 project which involves building an entertainment district on East Virginia Avenue where MAK owns land. Kemp and his firm have also filed over 15 separate open record requests resulting in almost 100,000 city documents being produced.
Allen indicated that “MAK and its attorneys and agents have been at war with Glendale for several years which includes filing frivolous ethics complaints against myself and Glendale Mayor Mike Dunafon. Ireland Stapleton through its litigation has cost its client hundreds of thousands of dollars for no discernable purpose or gain other than greatly enriching the law firm. The ethics complaint against me was a joke and this type of litigation tactic by Kemp simply should not be tolerated by the Colorado Supreme Court or the legal community as a whole.”
On March 18 Kemp and Ireland Stapleton filed a complaint against Allen that by voting along with a unanimous City Council to approve the 2016 City Budget, Allen violated the Glendale Code of Ethics Section 2.14.040(B) by performing “official act directly or substantially affecting to its economic benefit.” It was purported by Kemp since Allen works for the Chamber of Commerce and the Chamber of Commerce gets funds from the City he could not vote on the general budget. But City Attorney Jeff Springer pointed out that the budget does not break out anything for the Chamber but simply has a line for possible allocation to non-profits and further any money to the Chamber comes from a pre-existing 2004 Ordinance. The City Attorney indicated that the complaint was so obviously meritless that he did not deem it worthy of even referring it out to an outside independent council.
MAK is also alleged to have gotten Colorado Ethics Watch to file an ethics complaint against Glendale Mayor Mike Dunafon claiming he should not have voted to approve a site plan of a company one of whose shareholders was his wife Debra Matthews for a marijuana dispensary. Colorado Ethics Watch has been accused by some of being a “left-wing litigation machine” that has a “pay for play” model whereby it will file complaints against targets proposed by those who fund Ethics Watch’s 
activities.
The complaint of Ethics Watch was dismissed as “frivolous” by a unanimous City Council after outside legal counsel Nathan Chambers pointed out that Ethics Watch didn’t even bother to check whether Dunafon and Matthews were in fact married at the time of vote. Chambers noted that he had checked the applicable records and had confirmed that they were not married and therefore there was absolutely no basis for the complaint in the first place.
Dunafon stated, however, that the frivolous filing had its intended effect. “MAK and its attorneys and publicity agents had the complaint splashed all over the local and even regional press. The finding that the complaint had no merit and was frivolous got absolutely no publicity. They knew what they were doing and it’s repugnant.”
Allen concluded, “It is sad and pathetic what Mohammad Ali Kheirkhahi, Nasrin Kholghy and the rest of the vicious crew will do to people in order to try to force a rezoning of a parcel of land that is opposed by almost everyone in Glendale and all the surrounding Denver neighborhoods. People like Russell Kemp are the reason why Americans have such an incredibly low opinion of lawyers and their ethics. He should not be practicing law.”
by Mark Smiley | Oct 3, 2016 | Main Articles
Highly Esteemed Hirschfeld Wants To Build 108 No Parking Micro-Units On Historic Street
by Charles C. Bonniwell
The Humboldt Street Neighborhood Association was formed in 1992 during the summer of violence to fight gangs, drugs and frequent gunfire on the block of central Denver running between Park Avenue and Franklin Street. The block 
was designated a Historic District in 2004. But the neighborhood is now facing one of its greatest threats from powerful, well-regarded and politically connected developer Barry Hirschfeld, who wishes to build on two small lots five-story micro-unit apartments which will have an incredible 108 units as well as a restaurant while not providing a single parking place.
The residents of Humboldt Street and the surrounding restaurants and commercial establishments believe the project will create a parking nightmare, lower property values and badly hurt businesses in the area.
The Humboldt Association joined forces with Curtis Park Neighbors to fight Hirschfeld. Curtis Park also faces no parking micro unit projects including one believed to be associated with Hirschfeld. David Engelken from the Humboldt Street Neighborhood Association stated, “We would like to sit down with Mr. Hirschfeld to try to work out a ‘win-win’ scenario, but after one meeting, he has totally stonewalled the neighborhood groups on this matter.”
Millennials Never Own Cars?
Hirschfeld and other similar developers have claimed that millennials who will live in the extremely small units will not own cars and therefore their projects will not result in an endless fight over a very limited number of on street parking spaces. That claim has been refuted by, among others, Denver Councilwoman Debbie Ortega who went on a fact-finding mission to Seattle concerning micro unit projects
several years back. She noted in a letter dated January 27, 2016, that: “The developer claimed that tenants did not own cars, but we met some of the tenants who were car owners and they described their frustrations of having to park blocks away to carry groceries home.”
UCLA urban planning professor Donald Shoup has also noted the inner city traffic congestion is often caused “by people who have gotten where they want to be, but are cruising around looking for a place to park.”
Zoning Loophole
Several years ago high density real estate developers discovered what they believed was a loophole in the Denver zoning code which was revised in 2010 to permit lots equal or smaller than 6,250 square feet to be exempt from any and all parking requirements. The amendment was apparently envisioned to allow redevelopment of small commercial spaces such as exist in the Washington Park area and on South Pearl Street.
But it turns out there are over 4,000 such lots all over the city from downtown to the Country Club area. Horrified what such developments would do to the parking in many residential neighborhoods, the City Council placed a moratorium on such developments and appointed a task force to see how the code could be modified but quixotically grandfathered in some 12 existing projects including three from the highly connected Hirschfeld’s. Since the 2010 exception already exists in the Code, no City Council approval is needed for any proposed micro-unit project without parking, including Hirschfeld’s projects. Only a simple building permit is required from the Community Planning and Development Department.
Hirschfeld had a no parking micro-unit project planned for 135 Adams Street in Cherry Creek North which he had made public but had to retreat from, due to overwhelming neighborhood opposition.
However in 2015 Hirschfeld, through an entity titled Pando Holdings Inc., acquired two small lots of 6,250 square feet each at 1570 and 1578 Humboldt Street that housed two small, historically significant, medical buildings. The opposition to Hirschfeld points out that his project is on what is in effect a 12,500 square foot lot and once again is in violation of the spirit if not the language of the 2010 amendment.
Ethically Challenged Brad Buchanan
Denver’s Community Planning and Development Department, however, is generally deemed to be controlled by high density developers through Executive Director Brad Buchanan, a developer himself. The Department apparently gave the go-ahead for the micro units on the Humboldt lots and Hirschfeld quickly mowed down any trees in the area and leveled the buildings which finally gave the alert to the neighborhood association of the project. While a demolition notice would be required by law to be posted on the properties none was ever noticed by any resident of the neighborhood.
The granting of the permit to construct the micro units has been appealed to the Denver Board of Zoning Adjustments on the basis that the no parking exemption was for small, commercial developments and existing buildings. While the Board of Adjustment was intended to act as a check and balance on the Community Development Department, in recent years it has acted as little more than a rubber stamp. It is not known when, if ever, the present Board has overturned the granting of a building permit.
Moreover, like the Board of the Community Planning itself, all of the members of the Zoning Adjustment Board have been appointed by Mayor Hancock, making it highly unlikely they will vote to overturn anything deemed important to the mayor. Mayor Hancock has a strong reputation for removing anyone who acts independently from the wishes of his office on boards throughout the city.
Hope Springs
The opposition to the Hirschfeld project was headed up by Dave Engelken and Bob Hickman from Humboldt Street and Matina Soutsos and Kim Nytes from Curtis Park organization. While successfully challenging Mr. Hirschfeld is deemed by many to be a difficult proposition, even obtaining a moratorium itself was originally considered a long shot. The representatives of the Humboldt Street and Curtis Park organizations approached Councilman Albus Brooks (who represents the Humboldt Street area on City Council) with a complete draft of a proposed moratorium. Brooks is generally deemed to be highly pro developer, but also desires to succeed Michael Hancock as mayor of Denver.
While initially resistant, Brooks suddenly acquiesced to carry a moratorium resolution and in fact set it for first reading without notifying the proponent neighborhood groups that their proposal was being considered by the City Council. The Denver Post on July 20 came out with an editorial supporting the moratorium without speaking with anyone in the neighborhood groups. The City approved the same by a unanimous 12-0 vote. Councilwoman Mary Beth Susman who had vocally indicated her likely opposition to such a moratorium strangely was not present for the vote.
While the moratorium would never have occurred absent the hard work and diligence of the Humboldt and Curtis Park members, observers of the City Council have surmised that a fix must have been in for a 12-0 vote to occur putting a moratorium on any type of real estate development in the City and County of Denver. Larger developers may have been upset that small micro unit projects would take up most of the on-street parking in many neighborhoods making their larger developments with some, but inadequate, parking commercially unviable.
Pat Hamill, the Chairman and CEO of Oakwood Homes, LLC, who alle
gedly controls the mayor and the city, would have had to approve the same. Hamill is the co-chair of Colorado Concern a group of business leaders whose critics accuse them of being a little more than high powered crony capitalists claiming to be looking out for the public interest.
Hirschfeld serves with Hamill on the Board of Directors for Colorado Concern and it is assumed that it would have been easy for him to arrange with Hamill to exempt out his projects from the proposed moratorium. Logically if the parking exemption was for traditional small business commercial projects and not residential units there would be no purpose in grandfathering in Hirschfeld’s and the other projects.
Hirschfeld’s Sterling Reputation
Hirschfeld’s family owned for generations A.B. Hirschfeld Press, one of the largest commercial printers in the Rocky Mountain region, which closed its doors in 2009 after operating for 102 years. Unlike Denver developers such as Peter Kudla of Metropolitan Homes who are viewed by some as the dregs of humanity, Barry Hirschfeld himself has a strong reputation for philanthropy in the community and is held in high regard throughout Denver.
But the Humboldt micro unit project has damaged that reputation for some. He is accused of rank hypocrisy for going on community television adamantly opposing any high residential density for the church property located at Colorado Boulevard and Bayaud near his Hilltop home while pushing massive density with no parking in other neighborhoods in the city for his own profit.
Andrew Gutshall of Denver perhaps typified the disappointment in Hirschfeld felt by many when he commented on the website featuring a petition opposing the project:
“I live in the area and will be negatively impacted by this development’s lack of parking for cars or bicycles. Obviously Mr. Hirschfeld won’t be impacted as he lives in a much more affluent neighborhood. I’m disappointed that a member of a family (4th Gen) of Denver would have such little regard for his fellow citizens all for the love of profit. Mr. Hirschfeld is an example of what is wrong with our economy and how developers are raping Denver in this latest ‘growth’ spurt. Deplorable!”
Mr. Hirschfeld did return the call from the Chronicle to get his perspective on the dispute, but politely indicated that he did not believe any useful purpose would be served in publicly commenting on the matter.
