City Cast Denver

It’s Tuesday, and we’re digging into all the local stories that matter this week. First up, the beloved Japanese restaurant Domo is reopening! But will TikTok ruin it again? Then, host Bree Davies and producer Paul Karolyi check in on the state legislature, where debates are heating up around Governor Jared Polis’s big housing proposal and guns in the wake of the East High School shootings. And finally, can anyone trust the developers promising big things for the Park Hill Golf Course? Their plan for parkland, housing, and commercial development is on our April 4 ballots, and we got tons of feedback from listeners who’ve worked with Westside Investment Partners. 

For more details on the Park Hill Golf Course Community Benefits Agreement, one of the signatories made this website to share the text of the document and explain some of its key provisions. If you have more questions before you vote on 2O, let us know! We’ll try to help figure them out. 

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Learn more about the sponsors of this episode:

• New Era Colorado

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During this school year alone, East High School has been the site of swattings, violent threats, and multiple shootings — some ending in death. The students have led walkouts and protests at the Capitol, forcing lawmakers to confront the issue of gun violence face-to-face. Clara and Gracie Taub are East High sophomores and members of their school’s chapter of Students Demand Action. After a recent demonstration at the Capitol, they sat down with host Bree Davies to talk about what it’s like to be at East High right now, as well as their efforts to end gun violence in schools and across the country.

The tweet discussed in this episode came from Colorado State Senator Larry Liston.

For even more news from around the city, subscribe to our morning newsletter Hey Denver by texting “Denver” to 66866

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Text or leave us a voicemail with your name and neighborhood, and you might hear it on the show: (720) 500-5418‬

Learn more about the sponsor of this episode:

• New Era Colorado

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This year alone there have been two shootings at East High School, prompting mass student walkouts, renewed calls for gun control, and, in a surprising turn of events, the return of police to Denver schools. So we are channeling our outrage with one of our favorite returning guests, Ann Marie Awad, and digging into gun laws, school safety, mental health, and more. Plus, underreported stories from the week and then Hey Denver editor Adrian González joins us to recommend some cool events for your weekend. 

Read more about the stalled appointment of DIA CEO Phil Washington to run the FAA; and the show Bree mentioned featuring teen photography at PlatteForum.

Here are some links to the weekend events we discussed:

For even more weekend event recs and local stories that matter, subscribe to our weekday morning newsletter Hey Denver by texting “Denver” to 66866

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Learn more about the sponsors of this episode:

• Acappellooza!

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Between the mayor’s race and the Park Hill Golf Course, our ballots for the April 4 election are jam-packed! But don’t overlook the two innocuous-looking zoning questions 2M and 2N. They may seem insignificant, but they could have big implications for the literal shape of our city. Councilwoman Amanda Sandoval (District 1) helped get 2M and 2N on the ballot, and she sits down with host Bree Davies to explain where they came from, what they’d change, and why they matter. 

To catch up on the full backstory behind Councilwoman Sandoval’s effort to reform the Zoning Board of Adjustment, you can hear our episodes tracking the story here:

For even more news from around the city, subscribe to our morning newsletter Hey Denver by texting “Denver” to 66866

Follow us on Twitter: @citycastdenver

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Chat with other listeners on reddit: r/CityCastDenver

Text or leave us a voicemail with your name and neighborhood, and you might hear it on the show: (720) 500-5418‬

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Christie Buchele is one of Denver’s hardest working comedians, but her new one-woman show, “Lost & Found,” isn’t about the jokes. Christie is currently undergoing psychedelic-assisted therapy, a revolutionary approach to healing trauma. It features intense talk therapy sessions while under the supervised use of MDMA (aka ecstasy). After Colorado voters decriminalized psychedelics last year, Christie stepped into this new world of treatment and it inspired her to write and create a performance about what she’s learned about herself, her disability, and her experience in the world. Host Bree Davies talks to Christie about how her experience with psychedelics has changed her approach to art and her advice to people curious about psychedelics. 

You can see Christie perform Lost & Found tonight at 7:30 p.m. at Buntport Theater. Tickets are $15. Don’t worry if you can’t make it! She’ll be performing it again at the Denver Fringe Festival in June. 

Follow Christie Buchele on Instagram for more info on her upcoming shows and workshops. Learn more about psychedelics-assisted therapy through the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). Christie also mentioned this study on the impacts of MDMA therapy for individuals with PTSD.

For even more news from around the city, subscribe to our morning newsletter Hey Denver by texting “Denver” to 66866

Follow us on Twitter: @citycastdenver

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Chat with other listeners on reddit: r/CityCastDenver

Text or leave us a voicemail with your name and neighborhood, and you might hear it on the show: (720) 500-5418‬

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It’s Tuesday and we’re talking about the big stories around Denver this week. The Park Hill Golf Course saga gets even messier, as a new lawsuit throws the developers’ trustworthiness into question. Then, just as it celebrated 20 years as a LoDo staple, Blake Street Tavern announced plans to close — but the reason why isn’t totally clear. And of course, Mayoral Madness continues, with one candidate dropping out and another pulling in big bucks from a Silicon Valley billionaire. Host Bree Davies is joined by producer Paul Karolyi to dig into details, plus we hear a hilarious entry from a listener’s elementary school diary! 

Paul mentioned a leaked deposition from a recent lawsuit involving Westside Investment Partners, owners of the Park Hill Golf Course. For more details on the lawsuit, Denverite covered the whole situation. 

Bree mentioned campaign finance reports for the 2023 Denver election, which you can access through the Clerk and Recorder’s website.

Want to hear more embarrassing childhood stories? City Cast Denver is co-hosting Mortified on April 13th, and you can watch host Bree Davies and a line-up of fellow former angsty teens read directly from their diaries. You can buy tickets or win a pair by sharing with us the cringiest, angstiest teenage memory you’ve got. Bonus points for a Denver twist! To enter, call the Teenage Angst Hotline and leave a message at (720) 500-5418‬.

For even more news from around the city, subscribe to our morning newsletter Hey Denver by texting “Denver” to 66866

Follow us on Twitter: @citycastdenver

Or instagram: @citycastdenver

Chat with other listeners on reddit: r/CityCastDenver

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Images of our Wild West past often evoke the work of men: miners, railroad titans, fur trappers, cowboys, and land speculators who wandered the dusty streets of early Denver. But on those same streets we now call LoDo, women were at work, too — businesswomen known as madams ran parlor houses and brothels that catered to a growing city. While life for these women may have seemed glamorous, the sex workers they employed often inhabited a much darker existence. Host Bree Davies sits down with History Colorado’s Assistant Curator of Serials, Ann Sneesby-Koch, to dig into the nuanced, complicated, and fascinating world of early sex work in late 1800s Denver.

Bree mentioned the Denver Art Museum’s decision to take Emma Bunker’s name off a gallery; be sure to check out our episode with Denver Post investigative reporter Sam Tabachnik, who broke the story last year. 

Read more on the transfer of bison to the Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone tribes. 

For even more news from around the city, subscribe to our morning newsletter Hey Denver by texting “Denver” to 66866

Follow us on Twitter: @citycastdenver

Or instagram: @citycastdenver

Chat with other listeners on reddit: r/CityCastDenver

Text or leave us a voicemail with your name and neighborhood, and you might hear it on the show: (720) 500-5418‬

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Robert Treta is the owner of Treta Design and Build Inc., a contracting company, and he wants to be mayor. He talks to host Bree Davies about why he loves electric vehicles, Chipotle vs. Illegal Pete’s, how to make Denver less “fugly,” and his plan to build a neighborhood out by the airport to house our unhoused neighbors.

We are inviting all 17 candidates for interviews before Election Day on April 4. So far, we've talked to:

Renate Behrens

Leslie Herod

Lisa Calderón

Ean Thomas Tafoya

Trinidad Rodriguez

Thomas Wolf

Chris Hansen

Mike Johnston

Kelly Brough

James Walsh

Kwame Spearman (Dropped out on March 16)

Terrance Roberts

Debbie Ortega

Keep up with Mayoral Madness on our site! And if you’ve got a question you’d like us to ask the candidates, or one candidate in particular, email it to us at [email protected].

For even more news from around the city, subscribe to our morning newsletter Hey Denver by texting “Denver” to 66866

Follow us on Twitter: @citycastdenver

Or instagram: @citycastdenver

Chat with other listeners on reddit: r/CityCastDenver

Text or leave us a voicemail with your name and neighborhood, and you might hear it on the show: (720) 500-5418‬

Looking to advertise on City Cast Denver? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads at citycast.fm/advertise

Debbie Ortega is currently an at-large representative on City Council. She has served on council and worked in local government for more than 40 years, and she wants to be Denver’s next mayor. She sits down with host Bree Davies to talk about her support for the failed 2021 bond to build a new arena at the National Western Center, her vision for our transportation network, and Casa Bonita.

We are inviting all 17 candidates for interviews before Election Day on April 4. So far, we've talked to:

Renate Behrens

Leslie Herod

Lisa Calderón

Ean Thomas Tafoya

Trinidad Rodriguez

Thomas Wolf

Chris Hansen

Mike Johnston

Kelly Brough

James Walsh

Kwame Spearman (He dropped out on March 16)

Terrance Roberts

For even more news from around the city, subscribe to our morning newsletter Hey Denver by texting “Denver” to 66866

Follow us on Twitter: @citycastdenver

Or instagram: @citycastdenver

Chat with other listeners on reddit: r/CityCastDenver

Text or leave us a voicemail with your name and neighborhood, and you might hear it on the show: (720) 500-5418‬

Looking to advertise on City Cast Denver? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads at citycast.fm/advertise

It’s Friday and we’re talking about the local stories that mattered this week — which of course involves the mayor’s race. Ballots are out, so producer Paul Karolyi and host Bree Davies invited Axios Denver reporter Alayna Alvarez to tease apart the narratives jammed into all the candidates’s TV commercials. The crew reviews campaign fundraising totals, messaging, music, and what voters might glean from these 30-second intros to just some of the 17 names they’ll be facing on their ballots. Then, newsletter editor Adrian González rounds up his picks for the weekend, which involve alpacas, brunch and ballots, crawfish boils, and bug-eating!

We organized the candidates in reverse order based on overall fundraising (and who has published a campaign ad, of course). See all the fundraising totals for yourself here: https://denver.maplight.com/public

After we recorded this episode, we heard back from the city’s planning department on our question about street addresses. Here’s what a spokesperson said:

“In 2018, the City and County of Denver began adding directional designations to north and east addresses in the city and encouraged residents and property owners to do the same. The goal was to increase the accuracy of addressing in our city!

While people on Denver’s west and south sides were already accustomed to including a W or S in their address to more clearly indicate their location, directional designations for addresses on the east and north sides of town were something new.

A property or home on a street that runs north/south and is located north of Ellsworth Avenue would include an N in their address.

Example: 3880 N Newport Street instead of 3880 Newport Street

A property or home on a street that runs east/west and is located east of Broadway would include an E in their address. 

Example: 2401 E Colfax Ave instead of 2401 Colfax Avenue

With these additions, we aimed to create improvements for everyone:

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