"Asphalt Jungle," Alan Prendergast, August 19
My compliments on Alan Prendergast's story — another top-notch writing job from a real pro. The problems continue in LoDo, and it is not only gang members in half-empty parking lots at Let Out causing it. Several weeks ago my daughter was beaten up by a woman outside a LoDo bar. Excessive drinking all around was the fuel.
Bars should be slapped with a heavy fine and lose their license after a set number of citations for continuing to serve already intoxicated customers. The bartenders and waitstaff know when they are serving someone who has had too much to drink, but in the never-ending chase after that last dime, they continue to serve people who are obviously drunk. More security, cameras and dress codes are not the answer. If people cannot police themselves, then it is up to the bars licensed to serve the alcohol to do so by limiting the alcohol intake that is the fuel for much of this violence.
Yvonne Barcewski
Denver
Why does Alan need to describe everyone involved as "black, white, mostly black, possibly one Hispanic" in his article? I did not see where he described the cops and paramedics as "black, white or Hispanic." Do you not see what you are doing?
LM
Denver
Give me a break. Yes, this is a terrible tragedy — but the bigger tragedy is using this to distract, minimize or justify the unforgivable belligerence and violence that permeates the Denver police force.
John Miller
Denver
I bounced at a bar on the same block as Club Bash for four years, and kudos to Alan Prendergast for pretty much nailing this story. Every other bar in the vicinity hated the Bash clientele and is glad the club is gone, I'm sure. Bash catered to the lowest-common denominator of humans in existence: gang members, underage wannabes and even younger wannabes who could only hang out in the parking lot. I always emphasized to my girlfriend to not park in this lot, and if she had to park there, to have at least one friend with her. Even then, I was never comfortable and would escort them back to their vehicle at Let Out.
From my perspective, the problem was not with the Bash management, nor the lack of security in the lots (most lots in LoDo have no security), nor the hip-hop music itself. However, I've always said that "where there is hip-hop, there is violence."
I don't see any difference in the MO's of street gangs and the KKK. It's not ironic that when white people are targets of racial hatred, it is never treated as such; it's just sad. Not to belittle the victims of 9/11, but more people, of all races, have been killed by gang violence. Gangs are the USA's homegrown terrorists. Until we as a society come to the realization that gangs are racist organizations terrorizing our streets, Westword will be writing more stories like this.
Jack Quinn
Denver
"The Governor's (Nude) Clothes," Kenny Be, August 26
Oh oh, John Hickenlooper violated at least two DWD rules in his ad: "Single use" and "wasting water." Since no candidate who might dare criticize him has any money and there is no Denver media not edited by liberals, I suggest John reprimand himself and take his next shower on the lawn of an abandoned home, where at least the water would be put to "beneficial use" -- rather than wasted down the drain. My old home on South Irving Street is a candidate. My suggestion (to deaf ears) was that trees on abandoned properties planted in the city right of way get watered enough to keep "good trees" alive via a tanker truck. I would not water Chinese elms or medical-marijuana plots.
Bill the property, but soak three times a summer...damn, I hate driving in my old neighborhood and seeing so many dead and dying lawns and trees. No water on three lawns in a row, the trees die. There were virtually no trees in Denver pre-water-irrigation except for a few along the rivers. This old tree-hugger would not waste water for a quirky, and I think illegal, political cartoon. How many gallons exactly did the commercial send down the drain? Really.
Steve Schweitzberger
Littleton
"Red Riders," Off Limits, August 19
Look, B-cycle is not "bike-sharing." "Bike-sharing" means something altogether different than requiring that users pay $5/day or $65/year for "membership" and $65/day for the use of a bicycle. This is a very predatory sort of bike-sharing! We are permitting public right-of-way to be used for a bike-rental scheme and for advertising. "Intermodal transportation" sounds so very sophisticated and progressive, but it fails to obscure the essential deficiency of this program's conception. Denver B-cycle should remove its credit-card machines now, or remove its advertising-laden bikes from the public right-of-way. We could set about creating a much cheaper, publicly subsidized, citywide cooperative bicycle program, which would develop the vocational skills of Denver youth, of the sort that would really get Dan Maes hot and bothered.
That last seems a pretty pathetic motivation, but Westword and others apparently think that Maes's disapprobation somehow means that B-cycle is a good idea.
Robert Chase
Denver
"Paradise Found," Laura Shunk, August 26
Did you ever notice how every review about a Mexican restaurant is about the "family" aspect of Mexican culture? Could you imagine if we reviewed Mexican restaurants like grown-up places to eat, instead of treating them like an exotic, kitschy Chuck E Cheese?
Kevin Villegas
Denver
Letters about "Dining Alone," August 19
Whether Laura Shunk's original piece on Rodney's was intended as a review or a personal recap of her time at the venue, she has the right to report however she chooses. Get over yourselves and the self-indulgent view of your reality that somehow should be above and beyond another's view of the same picture. You say Laura is biased — but so are you! Wake up and smell your own coffee.
We are entitled to our own opinion, but some come from thought and a broader perspective — and the others come from the other place we all share! If anyone cares to do valued research on the reviews of the crowned Rodney's on the Internet, one would find truth rather than personal opinion, and that certain "dives" live on for that fact and others live on for food, service and ambience. And at those prices, isn't that the goal of a dining experience?
David Beckwith
Denver
"Seized," Monica Alonzo, August 12
As long as we ignore the lack of border security, we will enable these vile, disgusting excuses for human beings to continue to exploit illegal immigrant crossings of our border. Every coyote who is caught should be hanged from our thirty-foot concrete border. The border would be built by the money we would save by deporting the illegal immigrants out of our prisons...or a special assessment tax! I'll chip in the first twenty dollars! I want my country back. We are being exploited and we have become weak.
I have no problem with proper immigration; after all, we are all immigrants here.
David Allman
Posted at westword.com
Ask a Mexican, Gustavo Arellano, August 26
Is this one of the worst times to be a Mexican? That all depends on how you look at: If Mexicans (including Mexican-Americans) want to sit back and moan and groan about their victimhood, then, yes, it is a rotten time to be a Mexican. For me? I have always enjoyed being a Mexican-American regardless of the political climate because I will not be a victim and I will not surrender my cultural and linguistic autonomy and I do what I am able to do to fight back in small, but meaningful, ways.
Are we faced with dangerous, daunting challenges and racist assaults on our culture and language and our very right to be? You bet! Playing victim robs us of power. Time to get moving.
Paul N. Rubi
Glendale, Arizona
"Bye-Bye Biennial," Michael Paglia, August 26
Emma Hardy's "Packages" installation at Walker Fine Art, while extraordinarily beautiful, it is also a meditational experience to be taken slowly. The heartbeats are integral to the work. It is a combination of relating to the figures orbiting the central tree, viewing parts of yourself not normally experienced through viewing into the many different mirrors on the tree, and looking into the tree. Seeing into the rabbit hole, listening to the heartbeats of many, you feel a sense of oneness and connection to the whole.
Dee Meyer
Denver
Barback, Jon Solomon, August 26
The Oriental has the problem that the Bluebird and Gothic have -- no parking -- but it's not on a main drag like Colfax or Broadway, so it has never broken out as a performance venue. I wish it well; it was the neighborhood second-run theater when I was a kid.
Victoria Lundy
Denver
