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How millions in tax money has failed to deliver a change to Denver’s mental and behavioral health needs
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Approved, Colorado Public Radio, Local

How millions in tax money has failed to deliver a change to Denver’s mental and behavioral health needs

By Ben Markus | CPR News The campaign’s premise was simple: For nothing more than a modest sales tax increase, Denver could create a $45 million-a-year stream of grants to nonprofit mental health and drug treatment programs. “This initiative will give us the capacity to get everybody who needs help into a place where they can get the help that they need,” said Dr. Carl Clark, the president and CEO of WellPower, a large Denver community mental health provider.  “It's the type of thing that is a gamechanger.” Voters enthusiastically bought into the concept. And after six years and more than $170 million in tax dollars granted, a year-long review by CPR News found that the game has indeed changed, but perhaps not in the ways supporters and voters envisioned. READ THE FULL ...
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Upticks in Denver COVID, RSV, flu, norovirus cases brewing a post-holiday quadruple punch
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Approved, gazette.com, Local

Upticks in Denver COVID, RSV, flu, norovirus cases brewing a post-holiday quadruple punch

By Deborah Grigsby | Denver Gazette It’s not unusual for health officials to see a rise in the standard trifecta of co-circulating winter viruses — influenza, RSV and COVID-19 — particularly as people return from extended holiday travel and gatherings. But this year officials with the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment (DDPHE) said norovirus, a highly contagious stomach bug that causes vomiting and diarrhea, is a fourth component joining the mix. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE DENVER GAZETTE
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Denver’s Crestmoor residents hit panic button as a bollard bikeway heads their way
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Approved, coloradopolitics.com, Local

Denver’s Crestmoor residents hit panic button as a bollard bikeway heads their way

By Mark Samuelson | Colorado Politics Bollards — waist-high white plastic poles that line the new bike lanes popping up in downtown Denver and in several city neighborhoods — are headed for streets further from the urban core. And neighbors aren’t happy about it. “This project, far from enhancing our neighborhood, threatens to destroy the very qualities that make it a desirable place to live,” residents of Denver’s Crestmoor Park neighborhood wrote Mayor Mike Johnston last week, with a copy forwarded to the city’s Department of Transportation and Infrastructure. DOTI is a well-known agency to residents in Denver neighborhoods further west that are coping with bollards installed on their streets during recent years. READ THE FULL STORY AT COLORADO POLITICS
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Audit finds ongoing misuse of taxpayer funds in Denver’s Technology Services department
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Approved, coloradopolitics.com, Local

Audit finds ongoing misuse of taxpayer funds in Denver’s Technology Services department

By Deborah Grigsby | Colorado Politics, via The Denver Gazette A follow-up audit has revealed ongoing misuse of taxpayer funds within Denver's Technology Services department, stemming from inadequate policies and poor administration of its employee purchase card program. Auditors from Denver Auditor Timothy O'Brien's office found the department failed to enforce Executive Order 18, which clarifies the mission, role and authority of Technology Services and specifically prohibits technology purchases using city government purchase cards. A 2023 audit, which reviewed departmental transactions and processes from Jan. 13, 2021, through Oct. 31, 2022, found that “city leaders and employees bypassed required approvals for purchase card use and expense reimbursements.” READ T...
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Incoming Denver DA to get pay bump to oversee 6,000 felony, nearly 8,000 misdemeanor cases each year
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Approved, coloradopolitics.com, Local

Incoming Denver DA to get pay bump to oversee 6,000 felony, nearly 8,000 misdemeanor cases each year

By Deborah Grigsby  | Colorado Politics, via Denver Gazette Incoming Denver District Attorney John Walsh hasn’t even been sworn in and he’s already set to get a pay raise — although he’ll have to wait a year before it shows up in his bank account. In its last meeting of the year on Monday, the Denver City Council voted, 9-2, to approve an amended version of his plea for an annual pay increase for his office. Walsh first brought the request to the Dec. 4 Safety, Housing, Education & Homelessness Committee, where he asked for a 4% annual pay raise beginning next year, which would have placed his starting salary at $254,609 instead of $244,816. He said he had to ask for a pay raise now — otherwise, that window is foreclosed for the next four years. READ THE FULL STORY AT COLOR...
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Denver fails to meet emergency response time goals, audit says
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Approved, denvergazette.com, Local

Denver fails to meet emergency response time goals, audit says

By Deborah Grigsby | Denver Gazette A city audit concluded that Denver's emergency first responders are failing to meet their own response time goals — a situation that managers partly blamed on new laws that resulted in having less control over how often staffers could take a leave of absence. Emergency managers also said that, as a result, the city needs to hire more 911 operators.       Denver Auditor Timothy M. O’Brien said he sought to evaluate several key aspects of the city’s 911 emergency response system, including alignment with industry standards, adequate staffing levels, oversight and monitoring, the reliability of data used for decision-making, and compliance with contractual obligations. READ THE FULL STORY AT DENVER GAZETTE
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Mayor claims Denver has ended street homelessness among veterans
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Approved, denvergazette.com, Local

Mayor claims Denver has ended street homelessness among veterans

By Noah Festenstein | Denver Gazette Brian Asbeck, a Navy veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan from 2003 to 2007, found himself living on the streets of Denver a little over a decade later. Asbeck said he moved to Denver three years ago, “hoping for a fresh start.”  “But (I) quickly found myself living out of my vehicle after a hardship,” he said. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE DENVER GAZETTE
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Downtown Denver set for $570M tax-funded investment in housing, jobs, culture, parks, mobility
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Approved, Denverite, Local

Downtown Denver set for $570M tax-funded investment in housing, jobs, culture, parks, mobility

By Kyle Harris | Denverite The Downtown Development Authority is set to revamp the central city with hundreds of millions of dollars in spending. The authority previously funded the revitalization of Union Station and the surrounding area. Earlier this year, voters approved changes that will allow the organization to take on $570 million of debt and spread the spending across a broader swath of downtown Denver. On Monday, the Denver City Council approved more detailed plans for how the money will be spent over the next 13 years. READ THE FULL STORY AT DENVERITE
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Illegal immigrants straining education and healthcare, Common Sense report finds
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Approved, Local, Rocky Mountain Voice

Illegal immigrants straining education and healthcare, Common Sense report finds

By Jen Schumann | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice  Illegal immigrants have targeted Denver as a key destination since late 2022. The rate of new arrivals may have decreased in 2024, but the fiscal impact on the city's finances, schools and healthcare systems has not. A recent report by the Common Sense Institute (CSI) shows the fiscal burden on Denver. It found that, as of November 2024, $79 million was spent on services for illegal immigrants. This figure represents about 8% of the city’s 2025 budget. These funds were allocated to a variety of essential services, including: Temporary shelter and housing assistance. Transportation and food distribution. Childcare and other support services. City officials initially projected spending of $180 million through 20...
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Property owners in Denver to pay fees for own sidewalks beginning Jan. 1
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Approved, kdvr.com, Local

Property owners in Denver to pay fees for own sidewalks beginning Jan. 1

By Heather Willard | Fox 31 News Denver will begin charging property owners in 2025 for sidewalks across the city, and most will be charged a flat fee of $150 each year — but there are exceptions. The sidewalk fees will be used to fund repair and construction programs in the city. The fee was initially approved by voters in 2022 and faced a few setbacks as the city ironed out how the fee would be implemented. Property owners subject to the fee will be charged the first half of the annual fee during the first six months of the year and then will face the second portion of the fee in the second half of the year. READ THE FULL STORY AT FOX 31 NEWS
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