The LWVD Newsletter
March 2023 | Special Briefing to Learn about Referred Question 2O:
Whether or Not to Lift the Park Hill Golf Course Conservation Easement
Tuesday, March 7, 5:30 - 7:00 p.m.
On March 7, LWVD will hold a zoom briefing to hear representatives from those who want to lift the conservation easement and those who want to keep the easement in place. This is a complicated issue that can greatly impact people living in the Northeast Park Hill area of the city. Woody Garnsey and Maria Flora, both attorneys, will discuss the reasons why Save Our Space advocates to keep the easement in place on the 155 acres of the now-closed golf course. Noah Stout, an attorney advising the nearby community organizations on drawing up a Community Benefits Agreement with the developer, along with Norman Harris and Dr. Carol Watkins Ali, both residents of NE Park Hill, will discuss why they feel the vote should be to lift the easement to allow building of affordable housing and business opportunities on 55 acres and recreational park space on the other nearly 100 acres of land.
This briefing will require registering on LWVD’s website. Each group of speakers will have 20 minutes to present and a 25-minute Q&A to follow each presentation. Our Q&A in this briefing will come from questions posed in the Chat which will be asked of each group of speakers by a moderator.
There has been a lawsuit filed regarding the golf course easement, but this briefing will not address that court proceeding. There will be a link on LWVD website giving information about the lawsuit and links to materials provided by our presenters if briefing attendees would like to refer to these either before or after this voter education event.
Sue Stark, Board of Directors | March Briefing
Reproductive Health and Abortion Access in Colorado: Legislative Initiatives
Tuesday, March 21, 5:30-7:00 p.m.
Colorado’s 2022 Legislature passed the Reproductive Health Equity Act. With this law’s passage last April, the right to an abortion is officially encoded in state law. The Act provides three things:
- legal right to abortion and contraceptive medicines,
- defines embryos, fertilized eggs and fetuses as lacking any standing under state law, and
- forbids public entities in Colorado from restricting access to contraceptives or an abortion.
The 2022 Act left in place the requirement that minors must notify at least one parent if they get the procedure and that state health insurance cannot pay for an abortion unless the patient’s life is at risk. Other than that, there are no waiting periods or restrictions, and abortion is allowed at any point in the pregnancy.
Even before last April, Colorado clinics saw a huge rise in out-of-state people seeking abortions here. Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains reported that its abortion services for out-of-state women rose from 11% to 38% after surrounding states passed more restrictive laws. This has put enormous pressure on abortion clinics here to say nothing of the significant difficulties experienced by people coming long distances to Colorado for reproductive health care.
At the same time, there has been a proliferation of “crisis pregnancy centers” in the state, most noticeably in rural areas where healthcare access is limited. These centers often represent themselves as “clinics,“ but their stated purpose is to limit abortions. They may also provide misinformation and may not protect a client’s rights to privacy. One of the bills being brought during the 2023 session addresses these concerns.
On March 21 at 5:30-7:00 p.m., we will hold a briefing to hear about current issues in abortion provisions and legislative initiatives this spring to further strengthen abortion rights in Colorado and protect people accessing services for reproductive health. Speakers will include Karen Middleton ( President of Cobalt Advocates), Claudia Perez (Public Affairs Manager of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains), and a representative from COLOR (Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Justice). We will also hear about the activities of the Abortion Access Task Force of the LWV of Colorado.
Please join us for this important educational opportunity. Registration for the briefing will be required and you can do so at our website lwvdenver.org
Susan Stark, Co-Director of Program
| Save the Date(s)!
April 18 - The April briefing will feature speakers from the Denver Basic Income Project. Guaranteeing a baseline income for unhoused people, the Denver Basic Income allows them to make their own decisions to best suit their needs and offers assistance with dignity and personal agency. Such programs in other parts of the country have shortened the path to stable housing and stable employment.
May 13 or 20 (TBD) - First in-person Annual Meeting since 2019 at Montview Blvd. Presbyterian Church on Saturday morning with a continental breakfast provided by Leaguer Marge Fisch | All Things
2023 Municipal General Election
April 4
With the move of election day this year to first Tuesday in April, March is stacking up to be a busy month!
| VOTE411
Anne Duncan and Cath Perone have been working hard to get local voter information in to the League's national VOTE411 website. This site, brought to us by the League of Women Voters US Education Fund, provides personalized voting information through the hard work of local Leagues. It can also help people register to vote, verify voter registration and make a voting plan.
As Leaguers we are often asked for help at election time by our friends and neighbors; be sure to point them to VOTE411.org
| Fair Election Fund Candidate Forum
Another change this year is the availability of Fair Election Funds (FEF) for candidates. The Fair Elections Fund Act was passed by Denver voters in the November 2018 general election. It is an $8 million fund generated by an annual transfer from the City and County of Denver General Fund of $2.88 for each Denver resident. The fund provides public matching funds to candidates for municipal offices for donations of $50 or less at a ratio of 9 to 1 for candidates who voluntarily agree to raise money in lower amounts and take contributions only from individuals and small donor committees. Candidates for mayor may receive up to $750,000 from the fund. Candidates for at-large council seats, clerk and recorder, and auditor may receive up to $250,000. Candidates for district council seats may receive up to $125,000. 63 candidates are participating this year.
FEF candidates must agree to participate in at least two, one-hour public debates with opponents in the general election within a specific time period. The Office of the Clerk and Recorder selects a community sponsor or sponsors to host the debates. The sponsors may not be affiliated with a political party, a candidate, or an officeholder. They turned to us for the District 4 forum.
 In conjunction with the University Hills Neighborhood Association (UHNA), we hosted a hybrid District 4 Forum on Wednesday, February 15, a very snowy night. It went well for our first time doing a hybrid event on Zoom. Pearlanne Zelarney moderated, Diane Young got out cards for audience questions, then arranged them for Pearlanne to use, and Jeannette Scotland acted as timer. The candidates stayed on time and there were no shouts or interruptions. We also had a Spanish interpreter present. Representatives from the Clerk and Recorder's office were there and were pleased with the effort. We go back to working with Denver Decides for the rest of the forums, but now we know that we can handle a candidate forum ourselves.
Pictured above, left to right: Diana Romero Campbell (candidate), Donna H Wickham (UHNA), Tony Pigford (candidate)
| Denver Decides
 Once again, the League is working with Denver Channel 8 and Inter-Neighborhood Cooperation (INC) under the Denver Decides umbrella to bring candidate forums to Denver Voters. Denver Decides is a non-partisan community consortium dedicated to an accessible, transparent, and participatory election process. The League and INC provide questions and participate in discussion about how the forums will be conducted. For instance, we agreed to have all 21 mayoral candidates instead of a subset because we didn't want to seem to be making decisions for the voters.
The Candidate Forums will be live face-to-face events moderated by Denver 7’s Russell Haythorn or Micah Smith. They will be available to the public via Denver8.TV, Denver’s municipal cable television station; Denver 7’s News On-Demand online service; online on the Denver Decides website (www.DenverDecides.org); Comcast Channel 880; and live on Facebook (CityandCountyofDenver).
Here's the schedule of the live events, but remember they are all available on-demand anytime online.
| Wednesday, February 22 |
Districts 1, 2, 3 |
| Thursday, February 23 |
Auditor, Clerk and Recorder, Districts 6 and 11 |
| Friday, February 24 |
Districts 2, 5, 9 |
| Tuesday, February 28 |
Districts 7 and 10 |
| Wednesday, March 1 |
District 8 and At-Large |
| Thursday, March 2 |
Mayoral candidates |
We will be back for the run-off elections as well! | Three City Issues will be on the April Ballot
There will be three issues for voters to consider on the April 4 ballot:
Referred Question 2M Board of Adjustment
Shall the Charter of the City and County of Denver be amended concerning zoning to remove existing Charter language regarding the Board of Adjustment and require that procedures for appeals, variances and exceptions from the zoning code be addressed in city ordinance instead of in the Charter?
Referred Question 2N City Zoning Authority
Shall the Charter of the City and County of Denver be amended to clarify City Council’s authority regarding zone districts and require that zoning protests can only be initiated by property owners in Denver?
Referred Question 2O Park Hill Conservation Easement
Shall the voters of the City and County of Denver authorize the release of the city-owned conservation easement on privately owned property known as the Park Hill Golf Course, which requires the land to be used primarily for golf-related purposes, and allow for commercial and residential development, including affordable housing and public regional park, trail and open space?
More information and the pros and cons on these three issues will be on the League’s web site and a published ballot information pamphlet by mid-March.
Diane Young, Voter Service Committee Member | Follow-Up from our February Briefing
February’s briefing on the Denver Preschool Program (DPP) introduced us to Elsa Holguin, the impressive CEO and President of DPP. If you missed her presentation, it is now available on our website. We learned shortly before the briefing that Elsa is one of the finalists for 9News (KUSA) Leader of the Year award.
If you are interested in voting for Elsa for this award, here is some additional background on Elsa (https://dpp.org/about-us/staff/elsa-holguin/) and the link to vote. Cast your vote today!
Sally Augden | Book Signing by Kali Fajardo-Anstine
 The Miller Chapel at Montview church was the perfect location for Kali, the League’s former Office Manager, to share insights about the writing of her new book, Woman of Light. Kali spoke of its birth ten years ago as an avenue to dispel feelings of isolation and to share the family stories on which she grew up. She also read several passages from the book that introduced her characters. One character came to her in her dreams. Others represent her aunties and uncles or some combination of them plus their own fictional personalities. The main character, Luz, the Woman of Light, was suggested to her by her grandmother, the matriarch of Kali’s family. All the stories are the gifts her family gives their community through Kali’s writing. Kali also hopes to inspire other Latina women writers to use their talent to share their culture and history in Colorado with the world.
 Kali thanked the League for giving her the job as Office Manager while she was writing the book. It gave her the opportunity to ask League members for details and insights about the culture from which as a child she was excluded as a person of color. It was during her position with the League that her first book, Sabrina and Corina, was published and Kali was finally able to devote herself to writing full time. We in the League truly appreciate the time she so generously gave us this past Saturday to enable us to raise funds for all our work and to connect more directly with the Latina culture and Colorado history.
A big thank you to West Side Books for making the book signing part of the occasion happen. We highly suggest you visit their store on West 32nd Avenue.
Jeanette Scottland, Development Committee | Keeping in Touch with the Colorado Legislature
Here's a handy article that lists the House and Senate Committee Assignments:
https://coloradonewsline.com/2022/12/15/colorado-house-senate-committee-assignments/
Barbara Allen Ford
Co-Director of Program |
ACTION ALERT: Tell your Representative that Incineration is not Advanced Recycling
The plastics industry and the American Chemistry Council are pushing legislation in Congress that would reclassify incineration as "advanced recycling." Classifying plastic incinerators as "advanced recycling" would allow them to avoid Clean Air Act requirements, taking an insidious part of our waste disposal and sweeping it under the rug (1).
There's no easy way out of the mountains of plastic trash humans have generated. We especially should not burn plastic as the solution. If the plastics industry gets its way, this would perpetuate the cycle of waste in our country, allowing companies to keep producing more and more plastic that would eventually be dumped into an incinerator. Burning plastic releases dioxins, a highly toxic type of air pollution that can lead to cancer, damage the immune system and cause reproductive issues (2,3).
We need real solutions to deal with the plastic waste piling up in our oceans and landfills. An obvious one is to ban the single-use plastics that we use for a few minutes and then go on to pollute our environment for centuries. Allowing plastic incinerators to go unregulated would be like throwing lighter fluid on the plastic flames. We can stop companies from getting away with burning plastic. The first step is to make sure incineration is not treated like recycling.
LWVCO Climate Emergency Task Force
1. Elizabeth Claire Alberts, "Experts decry 'funny math' of plastics industry's 'advanced recycling' claims," Mongabay, September 28, 2022.
2. Joe Brock, Valerie Volcovici and John Geddie, "The Recycling Myth," Reuters, July 29, 2021.
3. "Learn about Dioxin," Environmental Protection Agency, last accessed September 29, 2022.
| LWV Denver Units
A great place for meaningful conversations (and funs ones too!)
Units meet after each briefing in members’ homes or local public places to get to know one another personally and discuss in greater depth the most recent briefing topic. Units are still meeting and welcome newcomers. Geographic designations are not rigid; come when you can!
- Cheesman (Central) meets on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month at 9:30 a.m. on Zoom or in-person. The leader is Bobbie Heisterkamp (303-333-6818, bdheistkmp@aol.com).
- Cherrington (Northeast) meets on Thursday following briefings at 1:00 p.m. on Zoom or in-person. The leader is Peg Oldham (720-220-3988, hamnpeg@msn.com).
- Highland/Woodbury (Northwest) meets in-person on the 3rd Wednesday at 1:00 p.m. The leader is Sally Augden (303-455-5800, saugden2@comcast.net).
- Observatory (South-Central) meets on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. on Zoom. The Leader is Jeanette Scotland (303-479-4368, jscotland@gmail.com).
Feel free to contact Terry Cookro at 303-455-2405 or inforocks@gmail.com for more information (please write in the subject line “LWV Questions”).
Terry Cookro, Unit Organization Chair | Welcome New Members
Cassandra Bishop, cassandrabish@gmail.com
Kelly Reeser, Kelly@kreeser.com
Lynn Tipton, ltipton@mac.com
| Voter Registration
We will be doing training for voter registration Monday, February 27 at 6:30. Contact Anne Duncan at anned47@msn.com for the Zoom link. | A Recommendation from a League Member
I've been attending the University of Denver Korbel International School virtual panel talks. They are very informative with international and US speakers at a high level. Denver is hosting the Cities of the Americas April 25-28. It's a big event that brings all the mayors together to help coordinate our society's future. Below is the schedule and opportunity for the public to hear some of the highlights with speakers from the State Department on Zoom. I think the agenda fits the topics LWVD members are interested in knowing more about.
February 23, 2023 | Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation
March 9, 2023 | Cultural Preservation and Economic Development
March 23, 2023| Migration
April 6, 2023 | Disinformation and Elections
April 20, 2023 | Youth Engagement at the Cities Summit of the Americas
People join from all over the world. The panel presentations last one hour from noon to 1:00 p.m. You can register to receive information about more of the presentations from the renowned faculty and others: https://korbel.du.edu/news-events/events.
Cindy Sestrich | Please Renew Your Membership or
Become a Member
If you received this email and are not a member, please consider joining us. If it's time to renew your membership, consider doing it online.
Follow this link to join or renew at one of our membership levels and remember that it covers Denver, Colorado and National membership. Also, please consider renewing at the sustaining membership level. Membership dues are tax deductible.
| Regular Individual Membership |
$60 |
| Sustaining membership (includes an additional donation) |
$125 |
Two regular members at the same address
|
$90 |
| Two sustaining members at the same address (includes an additional donation) |
$150 |
Member needing assistance with paying dues
|
$5 |
| Part or full-time student |
$10 |
Members: Forward this VOTER and encourage your friends and neighbors to join! | Consider a Sustaining Membership
We appreciate all those who pay $60 to be a member. However, the LWV Denver can only keep $8 of that $60 and the rest goes to Per Member Payments to the LWVCO and LWVUS. For those who are able, think about paying a sustaining $125 membership that gives the LWV Denver $73 to use for our education activities, to support our office and to continue our voter service resources for the city of Denver. Thank you!
| | www.LWVDenver.org
info@LWVDenver.org | | 1980 Dahlia Street, Denver, CO 80220
303-321-7571 | | | |