Skip to content
Archive of posts filed under the Media category.
« Older Entries

Denver Union Station: Portal to Progress Film Premiere

Posted by Ken on February 2, 2010

Havey Productions, one of Denver’s leading film production companies and producers of several historical and cultural documentaries of significance, will premiere their new film, Denver Union Station: Portal to Progress this Friday, February 5, at the Hyatt Regency Denver – Convention Center Hotel.  You are invited!

2010-02-02_dus_film

At Union Station Advocates, we’ve been working for over a year to help raise funds for the film’s production. Along with many other community groups and contributors, we are thrilled that this feature-length movie on Denver’s Union Station is now ready for its big debut. General Admission tickets are $15 and available at 6:00 PM. Patron Level tickets are $100 and include a hosted bar and hors d’oeuvres reception at 5:30 PM. To purchase tickets in advance or to check out a trailer of the move, click here.

Denver’s Union Station redevelopment has been a long time in the making. First, Lower Downtown blossomed in the 1990s. Then, the Central Platte Valley emerged in the 2000. Waiting patiently in between those two vibrant districts has been our historic Union Station and its neighboring parcels, which is now poised to be the star of the 2010s.

The excitement about this project is palpable. This past fall, 800 people packed Union Station for a party the likes of which the old station hasn’t seen in generations. Fundraising is underway to bring back the Welcome/Mizpah Arch to the Union Station site. New projects like the relocation of IMA Financial’s headquarters to the Union Station site are being announced. Design work for the massive project is nearing completion and the project authority, DUSPA, has a new website with all the latest renderings, plans, and diagrams. And now… Denver Union Station-The Movie… is set to premiere. Please join us this Friday to celebrate not only a movie, but the launch of Denver’s most important civic project since Denver International Airport.

Filed under Events & Meetings, History, Media, Union Station.
5 Comments

Kevin Flynn’s Inside Lane

Posted by Ken on January 13, 2010

Transportation is a big part of urbanism, as is evident by the impact the automobile has had on our cities in the past 60 years, the impact that streetcars had on our cities in the decades before that, and the way transit and other alternative modes of transportation influence the design of our cities today and in the future. Nevertheless, transportation issues (plans, funding, design, construction, policies, etc.) have been generally underreported by the mainstream media. One exception was Kevin Flynn’s transportation column in the Rocky Mountain News.  The Rocky may be gone, but Kevin is still reporting transportation news, this time at his own blog, the Inside Lane. But unlike before when Kevin had maybe an article a week in the newspaper, he’s now posting great content on a daily basis.

Here at DenverInfill, we’ll cover transportation news in Downtown and Denver’s urban core, as well as major transportation issues impacting urbanism elsewhere in the region. At the Inside Lane, Kevin covers the full spectrum of transportation news from throughout the state, making it a great complement to DenverInfill for all you transportation geeks out there. Thanks, Kevin, for your exceptional coverage of a topic that is critical to Colorado’s future.

Filed under Media, Transportation, Urbanism.
1 Comment

Welcome to the New DenverInfill Blog!

Posted by Ken on December 20, 2009

Surprise! The DenverInfill blog has a new look and is now powered by WordPress. Here’s the story behind the change and what’s in store for DenverInfill in the year to come.

You may have noticed the new tagline above. It used to say: “News, ideas, and commentary about Downtown Denver and its urban infill developments.”  Now it reads: “News, ideas, and commentary about urbanism in the Mile High City.”  With the new wording, two differences are evident:

First, the new focus of the blog will be urbanism, the mix of physical, political, economic, geographic, cultural, and other factors that together create the wonderfully messy places we call cities. Infill development is obviously a big part of the urban environment these days, so that aspect of urbanism will continue to get a lot of coverage here at DenverInfill. But now the full spectrum of urbanism will be up for discussion: transit, public spaces, architecture, sustainability, urban policies, and so on.  I’ve been heading in that direction anyway in my blog posts over the past year or so; now I’m just making it official.

Part of this also has to do with the limitations of the DenverInfill website. I created it in 2004 sort of on a whim and as a hobby. At that time, I didn’t think much about the issue of keeping it up-to-date over the long haul. Building it was a lot of work, but it was fun and, for the first few years, I was able to keep the website relatively current tracking new projects, updating construction photos, and whatnot, despite the fact that just adding one new project to the website involved a complicated, time-consuming, multi-step process of rasterizing this and cropping that and html-ing this and FTP-ing that. But for the last two years I have been much busier both at work and with the various boards and committees I’m on; consequently, the project-updating aspects of the website have suffered. I’ve generally kept up with things via the blog, but over time the blog and the website have grown farther apart from each other. Anyway, here’s the deal:  Given the website’s baseline is the start of 2000 and the end of 2009 is at hand, that makes a nice even decade.  Now seems like a good time to stop. The DenverInfill website will remain as a permanent online archive documenting Downtown Denver’s infill boom from 2000-2009, but its project-tracking days are over. New infill developments, however, will continue to be enthusiastically covered on the blog.

Second, in addition to expanding the focus from infill developments to urbanism in general, the blog will expand its geographic coverage. The DenverInfill blog will be no longer tied to the rigid boundaries of the website. Topics relating to urbanism and city-building from throughout the greater Denver region are now fair game, although most of the discussion will probably remain centered on Denver’s urban core, because that is where my heart is.

Yet another change starting in 2010 will be the introduction of new contributors to the DenverInfill blog. I’ll be inviting people with expertise in a variety of areas—architecture, transit, urban design, real estate development, etc.—to join me in posting about Denver’s urbanism. This will increase both the breadth and depth of the discussion and, hopefully, expand DenverInfill’s reach and influence in the community. It should also increase the frequency of posts to the blog, so that when I’m super busy or out of town, you won’t have to go days on end without a new DenverInfill post. Eventually, the DenverInfill blog will transform into Denver’s online magazine for urban planning, design, and development issues, or something to that effect. I’m also collaborating with someone on another blog/website that will be a nice complement to DenverInfill. More about that when the time comes.

Because the old version of this blog was a self-hosted Blogger blog, there were some limitations to the features available to me. With WordPress, I’ll have more flexibility and options regarding blogging tools and other web gizmos. For example, you’ll notice on the right sidebar we now have Categories. Currently, there are over 500 “Uncategorized” blog posts because, with the switch to WordPress, we imported all 580 posts from the previous Blogger format and all of those came over uncategorized. I’ve edited the most recent 20 or so posts to add the appropriate categories and, over the course of the next month or two, I’ll be working my way backwards in time to eventually categorize all 580 posts. The categories reflect broad urbanism topics or geographic areas and should help make the blog more user-friendly. If you’re looking for something more specific, such as a project name or a particular street, please use the “Search” function at the top of the left sidebar.

Finally, let me end with a few thanks. First, to Patricia at Keynote Support for the great job on importing the old posts from Blogger and customizing the new WordPress template. In 2010 we’ll be adding more features and maybe tweaking the design a bit, but I’m very happy with the new look. Also, let me thank all of you out there who visit DenverInfill. I have run into so many of you at various meetings and events around town and I genuinely appreciate all of the compliments you give me on DenverInfill. I never expected DenverInfill to be as popular as it appears to be, which tells me that there are a lot of people out there who love our city and have a strong desire to see it continue to evolve and grow into the best urban center it can be. That is extremely gratifying and makes my effort totally worth it.

I will conclude with what my mission continues to be in this new era for DenverInfill:

  • To inspire Denver citizens to envision and strive for exceptional urbanism in their city and region
  • To inform and educate on topics relating to urban planning and city-building
  • To serve as an online resource of notable urban projects, plans, and programs throughout Denver
  • To promote and showcase Denver and its opportunities to the world
  • To advocate for positive changes to Denver’s existing and future built environment

And, finally, DenverInfill still loathes surface parking lots and seeks their eradication from Denver’s urban core!

Filed under Media, Urbanism.
19 Comments

5280: The Future of Denver

Posted by Ken on December 1, 2009

In their just-released December issue, 5280 Magazine has a nice collection of features by Patrick Doyle regarding the Future of Denver. Topics range from FasTracks to pedestrian improvements to Denver’s new zoning code to urban infill developments. You can read some of it online, but to get the whole package, including the neat graphics and photos, pick up a copy at the newsstand. The article even includes a few words from yours truly. Overall, it’s a comprehensive and optimistic look forward as Denver heads into a new decade. Nice job, Patrick!

Filed under Media, Plans & Policies.
2 Comments

Denver Living Streets

Posted by Ken on November 22, 2009

Vincent Carroll and the Denver Post just don’t get it. In an October 15 editorial, the Post criticizes Denver Living Streets, the City and County of Denver’s new policy initiative based on Complete Streets principles that provides a balance in how we use our public rights-of-way throughout the city.

The editorial, which you can read here, agrees with most of the arguments in favor of the Living Streets initiative. The editorial correctly points out that “…much good could come from re-imagining how we structure our streets and roads, bike paths and transit systems to make them more pedestrian-friendly…” and that “…our reliance on the automobile has disadvantages aplenty. Though cars have become more fuel-efficient and cleaner, millions of vehicle trips per day have an enormous environmental and societal impact. The obesity epidemic and its mushrooming medical costs show us that our communities ought to be more walkable. Major roads lined with big-box stores, chain restaurants and parking lots aren’t pleasing to the eye.”

Nevertheless, the Post challenges the Living Streets initiative because it would allow for vehicle lanes to be reduced or converted to other transportation uses. Thus, according to the Post’s reasoning, any pro-bike/ped/transit policy that could conceptually increase automobile traffic congestion or inconvenience motorists is an ill-conceived policy. Basically, the Post’s editorial position boils down to: we’re all for fixing the problem as long as the solution doesn’t affect what’s causing the problem. The philosophy of “automobiles first, everything else second” is what has gotten us into this mess in the first place. We’ve spent the last six decades inconveniencing (to put it kindly) bikes, pedestrians, and transit within our public realm. If the city’s new policy of providing a balanced approach to the function and design of our streets occasionally results in an inconvenienced motorist, so be it. In fact, some inconvenience for motorists is exactly what we need to begin changing the dysfunctional behaviors that have resulted from the mindset that the only way to get around town is by private motorcar. Denver Living Streets doesn’t aim to just better organize our streets; it seeks to fundamentally alter our attitudes about our built environment and how we choose to transport ourselves within it. To do anything less than that is to maintain the status quo, and the automobile-fixated status quo is unhealthy, inefficient, inequitable, and unsustainable.

As part of its rationale, the Post states that “…Denver already has been constructed as a sprawling city over a large geographic area and that the overwhelming majority of us get around in cars.” Not only does the Post rely on faulty logic by citing automobile dependency as the reason for not solving automobile dependency, it doesn’t even get its premise right. Denver is sprawly in places except for the big chunk of the city that isn’t, such as the dozens of mixed-use, walkable, center city neighborhoods built originally around streetcar stops that are (not coincidentally) some of the most desirable places in the city to live. And, while a lot of people do use cars to get around, a full one-third of the population doesn’t even own a car and 20% of car owners don’t drive to work.

The Post editorial board says they can’t “see how Colorado Boulevard could ever become the kind of walkable LoDo environment that springs to mind when folks say they want to trade traffic lanes for bike paths and pedestrian malls.” Maybe Denverites in the 1930s didn’t envision that 40 years later their extensive streetcar system would be completely gone and that half of their Downtown would be demolished and replaced with parking lots, but that’s what happened. Maybe Denverites in the 1960s didn’t envision that 40 years later their blighted Lower Downtown skid row would be the city’s hippest entertainment district with million dollar lofts and a major league baseball stadium, but that’s what happened. Maybe the Post editorial board can’t envision streets like Colorado Boulevard as anything more than they are today, but many of us can envision such a thing. It won’t be easy and it may take 40 years, but there is no reason why the Colorado Boulevards and Hampden Avenues out there have to be condemned to a future that looks like the present. With Denver Living Streets, at least we increase the odds that those streets will someday become something better than they are now.

Last week, Denver Post opinion columnist Vincent Carroll posted an article that also questions the Denver Living Streets initiative. Like the editorial, he acknowledges the shortcomings of our current automobile-dominated environment and agrees with many of the goals of the initiative, but then warns that “Living Streets also seems determined to restrict our mobility, although it doesn’t put it that way, of course.” Mr. Carroll falsely accuses a policy initiative specifically designed to increase mobility of intending to do the exact opposite, and then criticizes it for being dishonest. Also, Mr. Carroll’s phrase “our mobility” tells us a lot about his remarkably narrow perspective: his “our” means only “those who drive cars” and his “mobility” means only “driving around by car.”

Mr. Carroll concludes his column with the line: “Living streets? By all means. But not at the price of personal mobility.” Apparently Mr. Carroll doesn’t believe that pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit riders are pursuing personal mobility when they occupy the public right-of-way. Apparently Mr. Carroll doesn’t even recognize pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit riders as being members of the public for which our public rights-of-way exist to serve.

Fortunately, our leaders and policymakers at city hall have more vision and a more enlightened perspective than the Denver Post editorialists. For several generations, we have mistakenly advanced policies counter to the city-building principles that gave us the urban environments we treasure the most. Nationally, that trend is reversing and locally, the city of Denver is doing its part through the proposed form/context-based zoning code and initiatives like Denver Living Streets. While the motor vehicle remains an important and necessary component of our transportation system, we can no longer afford to allow its use to monopolize our public realm. Living Streets is a big step in the right direction.

Filed under Automobiles, Bicycles, Media, Pedestrians, Plans & Policies, Streets, Transit.
28 Comments

New DURA Website

Posted by Ken on July 31, 2009

For many years, the Denver Urban Renewal Authority’s website was a modest effort based on the generic denvergov.org template. Now that’s all changed. DURA recently launched a spiffy new website that is a major improvement over the old one. Check it out at: www.RenewDenver.org

The new website has a ton of information about how urban renewal and tax increment financing works and an overview of the Authority’s housing rehabilitation program–a big part of DURA’s mission that a lot of people don’t realize. Also, take a look at the “DURA’s 50th Anniversary Report” document available at the bottom of the home page. It’s well done and very interesting.

Of note is the section that presents an overview of all of DURA’s redevelopment projects since the 1990s. A lot of people may still think of the old Skyline wrecking-ball days when they think of DURA, but it’s amazing what DURA has accomplished in the past 20 years. In particular is how DURA is responsible for saving a bunch of historic buildings downtown that were in rough shape and facing probable demolition. DURA came to the rescue by providing funding assistance that made the restoration and conversion of these historic buildings pencil out for developers.

Imagine how different Downtown Denver would be if these buildings weren’t there and were vacant lots instead:

All six of these buildings are now in the Downtown Denver Historic District and will be around for generations to come. Thank you DURA!

Filed under Media, Plans & Policies, Revitalization.
6 Comments

CNU Video Winner: Built to Last

Posted by Ken on June 17, 2009

Denver just hosted the 17th Congress for the New Urbanism. We’re the first city to ever host the CNU for a second time (cuz we’re so awesome). Anyway, they had a video contest for the best “New Urbanism” video. Here’s the winner:

The video, entitled Built to Last, was produced by the team of First + Main Media from Julian, CA and Paget Films from Buffalo, NY. Members of the team include John Paget, Dr. Chris Elisara, and Drew Ward.

Great video! Funny yet serious and gets the point across.

Filed under Media, Plans & Policies, Sustainability, Urbanism.
9 Comments

DenverInfill Does Facebook

Posted by Ken on March 22, 2009

Are you a fan of DenverInfill.com? If so, now you can be its friend too!

I just created a Facebook page for this website (it’s listed as two words: Denver Infill) so that all you urban enthusiasts out there can show who you are and see who else shares your passion for our fair city. There’s strength in numbers and we need everyone’s help to continue the transformation of our urban core into the best place it can be—so let’s see how many friends of DenverInfill we can get!

Filed under Media.
2 Comments

A Sad Day for Denver

Posted by Ken on February 27, 2009


Goodbye, Rocky Mountain News.
Filed under Media.
9 Comments

Jon Talton on Denver

Posted by Ken on August 27, 2008

One of my favorite urban commentators is Jon Talton, formerly with the Arizona Republic newspaper, who now lives in Seattle. While at the Republic, Jon frequently wrote about the urban condition in Phoenix and that city’s uphill struggle to overcome a half-century of widespread sprawl and an anti-urban political mindset. Jon also lived for a time in Denver and wrote for the Rocky Mountain News. He now has a blog that features both political commentary as well as observations about urban development in Seattle, Phoenix, and elsewhere. Recently, Jon wrote about Denver and its success in maintaining and improving its urban core. It’s a good read and it affirms that we’re on the right track in Denver.

Filed under Media, Urbanism.
2 Comments
« Older Entries