People & Places

Significant Opportunities in Atmospheric Research and Science, a mentoring program offered by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, recently received a Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring, one of ten handed out nationwide, for the way it allows students in underserved communities to get a shot at a career in the sciences. Last year, 43 students participated, including 21 who took part in a ten-week internship in Boulder. Several students who’ve utilized the program in past years are now working full-time in the field.

Roland Madden, a research scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, won the 2002 Jule G. Charney Award from the American Meteorological Society “for pioneering investigations of atmospheric predictability, global waves and the intraseasonal oscillation.” Given the inaccuracy of so many of his media brethren, maybe he should be on TV.

After September’s terrorist strikes, security changes at Denver International Airport caused security checks at the facility to last as long as a screening of Titanic. Shortly thereafter, KOA added reports about the length of the wait to the tail end of newscasts, tossing out times along with mentions of current temperatures and road conditions — for which the city’s travelers owe the station a debt of gratitude.

Channel 4 devotes a half-hour every week to entertainment reporter Greg Moody’s all-positive, all-the-time entertainment show, Show. That’s a commendable commitment to culture. And Show‘s better than ever these days, since veteran TV man (and recent Channel 9 escapee) Ed Greene started contributing his own offbeat, opinionated looks at Denver in a segment called “Ed’s Favorites.” Ed man talking!

Life is different in the People’s Republic of Boulder — oh, excuse us, that’s the Independent Republic of Greater Boulderia, according to the mondoboulder Web site, the most excellent work of Old Boulder Bozo Peter Aretin. Full of far-from-gratuitous insults, a few nostalgic pieces, up-to-the-minute commentary and a listing of the first annual Dillies — awards named in honor of the infamous Boulder Public Library dildos — mondoboulder’s aim is true, and it hits its target dead-on. Take this from the home page: “Events of the last year have raised serious questions in the minds of many Boulderians concerning our security. The Broomfield-County/FlatIron-Crossing Axis of Retail continued to wage unrelenting economic warfare on Boulderia. Security forces and loyal partisans clashed repeatedly with upholstered-furniture terrorists in the troubled University Hill region. Boulderian elementary schools fell under siege from deadly prairie dogs. Pro- and anti-dog-poop factions clashed openly on Boulderian open space, as pro- and anti-goose-poop parties began to loose trial rhetorical salvos in the next big poop-oriented brouhaha. There was the much-wrangled refugee problem, and Boulderia has recently come under mounting pressure to shoot most of the deer to stop chronic wasting disease. The Counter-Intuitive Agency urges citizens to maintain their usual saint-like calm and wishes to reassure Boulderia that we take these things seriously!” For a seriously good time, call up www.mondoboulder.com.

When idling up Floyd Hill at half-speed and with a full load, truckers from Allied Van Lines apparently don’t have much else to do than take in the view. That’s why, in a recent survey of more than 300 of these professionals — men and women who prowl the interstates from coast to coast — they voted Colorado’s I-70 the most scenic stretch of asphalt in the nation. Of course, motorists stuck in gridlock — and between a couple of diesel-puffing big rigs — near Georgetown on a ski-weekend afternoon probably have another way to describe the scene.

Keep your eyes on the road! Scott Yates does, and the result is MyTrafficNews, an amusing, informative, highly opinionated Web site. “Our corporate philosophy is that the world could use a little less of the corporate mindset,” reads the site’s fine print. “Traffic is a drag, and we just want to do what we can to help, starting with trying to treat readers like human beings.” A good example of that treatment: Readers can get personalized afternoon e-mails that predict problems on their commute home that day. Sponsored by RTD with an assist from 9News (and its helicopter), MyTrafficNews dispenses current traffic and construction information with a humorous twist: “Unless a volcano erupts underneath the Mousetrap,” read one posting on March 11, “we’re figuring today will be a better drive home than it was Friday.”

Lynn Carey and Luan Akin have garnered respect for a few years now for their traffic acumen — Carey for her radio updates and Akin for her eye-in-the-sky TV work. So, putting them together was the equivalent of creating a traffic all-star squad, which helps explain why Channel 4’s traffic coverage has left the competition in the slow lane.

Located on the only Rocky Mountain News page in the Sunday Denver Post, “Talk Back to the Media” allows disgruntled information consumers and assorted insiders to air their grievances in a public forum — and members of the journalism community have been responding in kind. For instance, Channel 7 was recently taken to task by four members of the publicity staff at Denver International Airport, prompting reporter John Ferrugia to reply with the sort of venom that’s usually reserved for nasty phone calls the public never gets a chance to hear. The results give viewers, listeners and readers a fascinating look at the men and women behind the media curtain.

Since announcing last year that he’s dying and that he planned to document the process, media veteran and longtime Rocky Mountain News columnist Gene Amole has become unexpectedly energized, churning out far more copy than he had in ages. These days, he’s returned to writing about topics other than himself, like current events, and has even taken a trip to Hawaii. When you’ve got a purpose again, why die?

Mike Littwin, columnist for the Rocky Mountain News, is the town’s finest writer. He tackles more varied subject matter and is capable of being amusing and incisive at the same time. No wonder he wins in a walk.

While it’s easy for daily newspaper columnists to take on obvious targets, like scandal-plagued Enron, it’s a lot harder to attack the companies in their own back yards. The commentators run the risk of outraging the company’s employees and being blamed for the loss of advertising when angry CEOs yank their ads out of the paper. That makes Denver Post business editor Al Lewis all the more remarkable. During the past year, he’s taken on the likes of Qwest and Level 3 with gutsy delight, aiming his acerbic wit directly at the CEOs who helped lead both companies into stock-market meltdowns. Here’s hoping Lewis keeps his pen sharp and his words aimed directly at the heart of corporate arrogance.

It’s debatable whether the joint operating agreement between the Rocky Mountain News and the Denver Post saved the News from sure death — but it certainly seems to have lit a fire under the staff. The Post has the edge in terms of resources, but the News is doing more with less. We’re glad Denver remains a two-newspaper town, and the Post definitely is capable of making a comeback. But if you only have time to read one daily these days, make it the News.

Radio ratings people call KDKO-AM’s sound urban contemporary, but from 7 to 8:30 a.m. every Sunday, the station drifts back in time when Old Ship of Zion, which has been on the air for nearly four decades, sets sail for gospel ports of call. Hosts Beverly and T.C. Young are married gospel performers who sing His praises at services around town. Now, jump up and say Hallelujah!

No matter how many times we say it, the fact remains that KVCU/Radio 1190 is far and away the most exciting station on local radio right now — an outlet that consistently features the best, most intriguing popular music in existence. And unless something changes, that’s likely to remain the case for the foreseeable future. Deal with it — or better yet, find out what you’ve been missing.

A former Marine, Bob Newman hit KOA like a rocket following the September 11 attacks, offering blood-and-guts commentary that blew everyone else off the airwaves. More surprisingly, he’s evolved into a lower-temperature correspondent whose investigations of terrorism-response readiness at facilities like DIA have actually provided a public service. He’s also an often-controversial contributor to the Post and an occasional expert commentator on Fox News. Bombs away.

Mike Haynes, the voice of the Colorado Avalanche, doesn’t have a standard sports-talk gig, but before each game he hosts Between the Pipes, a preview show in which he takes calls, answers e-mails and otherwise demonstrates his enthusiasm and expertise. The show is as entertaining as it is informative; both hockey experts and novices usually learn something new every time Haynes takes to the air. And that’s what good talk radio is supposed to be all about.

With the swearing in of a Republican administration last year, Mike Rosen seemed likely to lose most of his subject matter. But since then, he’s been his old, persnickety self, castigating those who don’t fit his definition of conservatism, no matter what political party they belong to. Nobody cuts off a caller to deliver a lecture like Big Mike.

Investigative reporter Maass, who’s had quite a run of scoops lately, frequently leaves his jacket unfastened during in-studio standups and live reports — the better to give himself the appearance of having just rushed in with a breaking-news story. As a result, viewers regularly get a full-length gander at his ties, most of which are enormous; he favors neckwear that’s unfashionably thick at the bottom, and ties them so that they hang past his beltline, like an especially stylish bib. Now that it’s spring, let’s hope that he unbuttons on the air more often. No, not those buttons…

Susie Wargin gets around. In addition to hosting a regular show on KBPI, she provides updates and random banter during The Sports Zoo on KOA and handles assorted sports-reporting duties for the station. And now she’s the high school sports reporter for Channel 9 and is doing a more than competent job there. Where does she find the time?

Tom Green got jobbed in 2001, leaving Channel 7 to join Fox Sports Net, only to have the position melt away before he could take it. So it’s nice to see Green, one of Denver’s sharpest personalities, back in front of the camera, where he belongs. Channel 2’s morning show remains a bit of a mess, but if anyone can clean it up, Green can.

A 9 News photog, Brian Willie was following basketballer Nick Van Exel to the locker room after another loss by the Denver Nuggets when he caught then-coach Dan Issel hurling his now-famous insult at a fan. Which is why Issel is a former coach.

Tim Ring has a big job: He’s got to hold together half-hour broadcasts that are filled with nothing but sports news — and to make matters worse, he’s got to deal with irritating co-host Gordie Hershiser. But he accomplishes both tasks with aplomb. He’s smart, quick-witted and funny, though he knows when to reel in the humor and concentrate on the matter at hand, seldom going too far over the line.

Okay, we surrender. With her features about big fish and photos of sunsets, Kathy Sabine, Channel 9’s veteran morning weathercaster, can be so relentlessly perky that those of us who have a tough time waking up occasionally feel the urge to throw something heavy at her televised image. But Sabine also happens to be a smooth and professional weather-info deliverer — and for morning people, she’s like a nice cup of coffee.

Unlike so many of her peers at local anchor desks, Anne Trujillo is not about glamour. Rather, she simply and straightforwardly reports the news — which is supposed to be her job, right? Because she’s on Channel 7, which has been ratings-challenged for a generation, she hasn’t gotten the attention that’s routinely showered upon her rivals. So even if the return of Channel 9 alum Mike Landess doesn’t reverse the station’s slide, Trujillo is still a great reason to tune in.

No local newscast is perfect, but Channel 4 is the one that most consistently puts the focus on news and has scored more memorable scoops than its competition — with the loafing cops at DIA at the top of the list. Given Aimee Sporer’s impending departure, change is in the wind. But as of now, this is one telecast that definitely doesn’t blow.

Channel 9’s morning program, co-starring Gary Shapiro, Kyle Dyer, Drew Soicher, Gregg Moss and Kathy Sabine, remains the a.m. show against which all others must be measured. And right now, none of them measure up.

A producer and fill-in anchor in Channel 31’s sports department, Todd Mansfield isn’t balding in the manner of, say, Channel 9’s Gregg Moss, whose hairline is still visible, albeit apparently so frightened of his forehead that it’s racing in the opposite direction. No, Mansfield’s head is totally shaved and remarkably translucent; when the studio lights hit his pate at just the right angle, you can practically see his brain. Quite a different look for Denver TV — although it would fit in just fine on an episode of Star Trek.

It’s way past time that Tony Kovaleski, one of Channel 7’s investigative reporters, used his dogged journalistic skills to plumb the depths of a great mystery: his own hair. Is it real? A wig? A weave? A welcome mat? Dunno — but the story behind the follicles could be a ratings blockbuster.

Shaul Turner doesn’t have TV-news hair. She’s got entertainer hair, show-business hair, Grammy Awards hair, Diana Ross and the Supremes hair. Her hair is so fabulous, in fact, that sometimes it’s hard to pay attention to certain details, like the news she’s delivering. But with hair that great, who cares?

Back in the ’70s, the Mountain Gazette was required reading for all the people flocking to Colorado, eager for a groovy Rocky Mountain high. Twenty years after its death, the magazine was revived last year by longtime journalists John Fayhee and Curtis Robinson. The Mountain Gazette‘s endearing mix of crunchy adventure stories and oddball attitude emerged from the hiatus relatively unscathed, and the free bi-monthly earned first place this year in the Utne Reader‘s annual alternative-press awards.

Some of Vail’s highest-profile locals decided to grin and bare it all for Vail Undressed, a 2002 calendar that benefits the Vail Valley Charitable Fund, which helps pay for medical care for those who can’t afford it. The calendars raised awareness and plenty of eyebrows in this upscale mountain town. But all for fun — and a cause. As for the photos, props were placed strategically enough to make the calendar kid-friendly. Some of the folks who took it off include Dr. Teresa Cherry wearing nothing but a stethoscope; members of the fire department; the Powder-8 synchronized ski team; and the world-famous Vail Precision Lawn Chair Demo Team, sitting on lawn chairs with their legs crossed. That’s the naked truth.

It doesn’t get any more achingly small-town suburban than the City of Lone Tree’s 2002 calendar. Norman Rockwell’s stuff would look positively raunchy next to this wholesome piece of work, produced by the City of Lone Tree (founded in 1995) and Mike’s Cameras, which held a photo contest to select the pictures. Each month features one of the winning photos and a brief biography of the winner. May, for instance, boasts a picture of flag-waving local kids dressed in red, white and blue and standing around or sitting in a patriotic sleigh; the shot was taken by Sue Foels. It looks like Lone Tree is going to have a positively great year.

This year, following the lead of legal eagles in other states, lawyer Jim Scarboro brought together attorneys and law students to form the Colorado Innocence Project, a volunteer effort that will look into selected prisoners’ cases to determine if the evidence merits a court challenge.

At this high-security prison, the guards encourage inmates to share needles. That’s because these prisoners, some of the most difficult-to-supervise men housed at Limon — are learning to knit as part of a therapy and rehabilitation program. Convicts have to earn their way into the program, now in its tenth year, with good behavior. The results of their labors, created on both needles and knitting machines, are sold at cost to nonprofit groups around the state that help homeless and poor children.

Senior U.S. District Judge John Kane is erudite, wise (he’s taken a controversial, and eminently reasonable, stance opposing the War on Drugs) and witty. In a recent bankruptcy ruling, he noted that the appellant “presents a version of the three little pigs who outsmarted the big bad wolf, and despite all his huffing and puffing kept a house and sold it for a profit.” The judgment concluded:

Alas the tale is done

Truth be told, no one won

This court has simply tried to resort

That which is to what was before

(The defendant) paid the price

For what the deeds of trust thrice

Deviously sought to take away

And such is the fate of claims made of hay.

Smile! You’re on not-so-candid camera. In the wake of several controversial Denver Police Department actions, including the shooting of Ismael Mena, Denver activists took the Neighborhood Watch concept a few steps further and banded together as Denver CopWatch, a citizens’ watchdog group that keeps an eye on the Denver Police Department. Founded by activists Stephen and Vicki Nash, the group has taken its cause to the streets — including some of the town’s meanest — where members inform teens, the homeless and assorted hangers-on of their rights. Since CopWatch acquired a camera, it’s started capturing cops on film, issuing quarterly reports and coming up with enough evidence that the ACLU has picked up a dozen cases documented by the citizen snoops.

Give these kids extra credit in civics: Students 4 Justice, a group of Denver-area high school students affiliated with the Colorado Progressive Coalition, takes on issues ranging from Nike’s use of foreign labor to profiling in the Cole community to a shortage of federally subsidized lunches at West High. Along the way, they rate high marks for their eloquence and enthusiasm.

History class might be boring, but the history of South High School — that’s a different subject. Tucked into the school’s bell-tower attic and its basement are huge collections of photos, clothing, trophy cups, scrapbooks and other mementos that tell the history of this 101-year-old institution. And thanks to the dedication of South alumni, they’ve been recorded and displayed in an actual museum that is open to the public; call the school to find out the hours. Don’t know much about history? Here’s your chance to find out.

For half a century, Arvada’s men and women in blue have been enforcing the law and protecting the citizenship of this Denver suburb. Now some of that history can be viewed in the Arvada Police Department’s display in the lobby of its building. It includes dozens of photos, uniforms, badges and other memorabilia donated by retired cops — a most arresting exhibit.

The home of late socialite Tweet Kimball is arguably the most spectacular in Colorado. Modeled after a Scottish castle, it sits on a bluff that offers mind-boggling views of the Front Range, from Pikes Peak to Longs Peak. Kimball could have sold the 3,000-acre property for millions of dollars but instead chose to create a foundation that has preserved the ranch as open space; it recently opened the stone castle to the public. A devoted Anglophile, Kimball lived in England for several years, and the castle’s designer, Denver architect Burnham Hoyt, included a cavernous Great Hall, complete with a minstrel balcony for visiting musicians. One whole room is filled with photos of Winston Churchill and Princess Anne, who visited the ranch and rode horses there. A winding stairway that circles up inside a turret is reminiscent of the Tower of London. The antique furniture and art are suitably grand, with overstuffed armchairs and elaborately carved serving tables. Cherokee Ranch and Castle is also a perfect place for afternoon tea, which is served every Thursday in the Great Hall and includes salmon, scones, clotted cream, jam and sweets. Tours of the castle are offered several times a week, but call ahead, because reservations — and directions to the hard-to-find mansion — are required. If you want to be king or queen for a day, this is the place.

St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral is a Capital Hill institution, but even longtime churchgoers were wowed by their guest in January. The Reverend George Carey, better known as the Archbishop of Canterbury — spiritual leader of 92 million Anglican Christians around the world — had come to town to preside over the installation of the Reverend Peter Eaton as the ninth dean of the 142-year-old congregation. The stately processional inside the cathedral was led by a church member swinging an incense-filled censer, but with a Western twist: Lakota and Kiowa Indians in full regalia joined the procession, along with representatives from the Catholic church and a local mosque. Parts of the celebration were even in Spanish. Denver may be a long way from England, but we still have a connection to the sceptered isle.

In December, the following advertisement for the Denver Bible Church appeared in a Denver daily newspaper listing the “Top Ten Reasons Why Liberals Hate the Holidays.”

10. Thanksgiving is mass murder for turkeys.

9. Too many SUVs traveling to grandma’s house.

8. College bowl games encourage competition.

7. Millions of Christmas trees are cut down.

6. The Pilgrims thought up Thanksgiving, not the Indians.

5. Christmas lights waste electricity.

4. People are giving thanks to WHO?

3. Winter lull in global warming hype.

2. Daycare centers are closed.

1. Christmas celebrates a birth, not an abortion.

A monument of the Ten Commandments has stood proudly in front of Grand Junction City Hall for over forty years, but last year a group that saw it as a violation of the separation between church and state demanded its removal in a lawsuit. Grand Junction’s elected officials countered by creating a “Cornerstones of Law and Liberty Plaza” featuring a section of the Bill of Rights, the preamble to the U.S. Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Mayflower Compact and the Magna Carta. The ploy worked: Last month, the protesters dropped their lawsuit, thereby guaranteeing that the commandments shalt not be removed.

Anchored at either end by the Denver City and County Building and the Colorado State Capitol, Civic Center Park is home to the People’s Fair, the Taste of Colorado and Colorado Avalanche Stanley Cup celebrations. It’s also home to scores of drug dealers who ply their wares 24/7 behind the pillars of the Greek Theater. Anyone curious about who’s buying weed, opium and crack in Denver these days is advised to pack a picnic lunch, head down to the park on a sunny day and take up an observation post on a concrete bench close to the flower gardens. The action’s usually heaviest around lunchtime, when the men in neckties come in search of a midday hit.

Thanks to T-Rex, last year ListenUp was forced to leave one of its longtime homes, a building on South Logan Street, and move its offices to East Evans. To let customers know about the relocation, Walt Stinson, the owner of this venerable home-electronics store, had the rear of the Logan building (the part visible from I-25) covered with a giant mural featuring an especially groovy and nasty-looking dinosaur tearing up the interstate. It was his commentary on T-Rex and on his forced move. And the image rang true for motorists stuck in construction-enhanced traffic jams, too.

Residents who’ve watched their neighborhoods get eaten alive by the T-Rex highway-widening project will soon get a concrete consolation prize: Art on the Highway. Local artists Barb McKee and Carolyn Braaksma, whose experience on massive public-art programs inspired them to form a company called Surface Strategy, convinced T-Rex planners to include images on the giant sound and retaining walls going up alongside I-25 — and then won the job of creating them. About 675,000 square feet will be textured with the artists’ work, stylized designs ranging from native birds and grasses to tepees and modern city maps.

To raise money for the soon-to-be-renovated Union Station — the Denver landmark that, with the addition of light rail, has been re-energized as a transportation hub — the nonprofit Lodo District is selling 8,000 engraved bricks that will form a plaza at the station’s entrance. The price of this immortality? A mere $75 — to a major $1,500. Like the station, the Lodo District is enjoying a surge of energy, too, having just hired hardworking board president and historian Barbara Gibson to serve as director. All aboard!

World-class, our ass: We’re just looking for a place to park it. And here at the corner of 14th and Champa streets, like a struggling, spindly daisy peeking out from the surrounding weeds

of greed that charge up to $2 per twenty minutes, we’re feelin’ Allright, uh-huh. Bordered on one side by a light-rail station and only steps from the performing-arts complex and the convention center, this centrally located oasis of sanity is the cheapest lot within a six-block radius, charging $1 per half-hour, with a $4 maximum on weekdays; on nights and weekends, the rate goes up and down depending on what events are taking place nearby. On theater nights, this best-kept secret means you’ll miss the crawl to get out of DCPA’s parking garage. And as an added touch, there’s a four-story mural of a flower — courtesy of the Denver Botanic Gardens — painted on the side of the Davis & Shaw building next door, which gives off a warm, welcoming vibe that says Denver isn’t a city that has to steal from its citizens to feel like it’s come up in the world. That means a lot.

There are plenty of charming mountain towns in the area, but none as close to Denver as Golden. Washington Avenue, the main drag, features a justly famous welcome sign (“Howdy folks!”) and numerous noteworthy attractions, including the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum, the Foothills Art Center and Foss Drug, a sprawling general store stocked with everything from novelty toilet paper to restored gas pumps. As an added bonus, there’s also Old Capitol Grill, a watering hole and eatery on the site of what was once Colorado’s pre-statehood territorial capitol; it’s among the handful of places in the country that serves Barmen Pilsner, an authentic German-style golden pilsner by Coors.

Coloradans have become dispirited over the last few years as they’ve watched wall-to-wall subdivisions creep over the Front Range and pristine mountain valleys turn into gated communities filled with trophy homes. Now the Nature Conservancy is trying to do something about it. The group has launched a $75 million campaign to protect fifteen unique Colorado landscapes, from the dry plains of eastern Colorado’s Arickaree River to the sandstone canyons of the Western Slope’s Glade Park. The group has made a priority of buying land along rivers, which are often abundant with wildlife but also popular places for vacation homes. In addition, the Nature Conservancy plans to work closely with ranchers and farmers to protect both wildlife and agriculture in rural Colorado. In a state where growth often seems out of control, that’s a development we can all cheer.

Just a few years ago, the Platte River Valley behind LoDo was a nearly empty space. But the Sixteenth Street Mall was recently extended right to the edge of that area, and with it came lots of development. Three of the most handsome of the new buildings, Park Place, Promenade Lofts and the high-rise Riverfront Tower, were built by East West Partners; all are distinctly different yet stylistically compatible residential buildings. Hopefully, the stylish designs, by the Urban Design Group, will set the tone for future development in the Riverfront Park neighborhood. Connecting these buildings to the western terminus of the 16th Street Mall is the nearly completed Millennium Bridge, by Steve Chucovich; the pedestrian suspension bridge is held up by a single pole canted at a jaunty diagonal. Add to this the recently built Commons Park, and the residents of the South Platte Valley have the beginnings of a neighborhood to be proud of.

Despite its name, new urbanism isn’t exactly new. The highly vaunted style has turned out to be little more than old suburbanism in most places — except that the buildings are closer together. And although most of the development at the old Lowry Air Force Base looks like a tight Highlands Ranch, a group of sensitive and intelligent townhomes and flats has been constructed by National Properties in the area of Fourth Avenue and Rosalyn Street. Called Officers’ Row Lofthomes, the residences were designed by Christopher Carvell Architects of Denver and constructed of buff-colored brick, just like some of the historic buildings nearby. If most of the buildings that have mushroomed up at Lowry look like toadstools, the Officers’ Row Lofthomes are the porcinis.

One of the big Denver success stories of the last five years is the adaptation of historic industrial and commercial buildings into lofts — the word ‘condo’ being so ’80s. Lofts are now all the rage, which means that the city has begun to run out of appropriately sized old buildings; thus new buildings, often in the style of the old, have been built. Unfortunately, most of these are little more than also-rans from an architectural standpoint. Not so the Renaissance Off Broadway Lofts, which just opened on the edge of the Ballpark Neighborhood. Designed by Humphries Poli Architects, the building is thoroughly urbane, featuring fancy, polychromed brickwork and a skeletal steel cornice that seems to wittily comment on the historic buildings that were originally used for loft conversions. But visitors will be surprised to learn that this isn’t a luxury building, but rather a project for low-income residents that was developed by the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless.

Built on the cheap for less than $7 million, the genius of the brand-new Brighton Police Department and Municipal Court building is the way its designers, Denver’s Roth & Sheppard Architects, orchestrated ordinary materials into a chic, sophisticated whole. The masonry block they used is the kind of thing usually employed for a Wal-Mart, but here it was used to create a structure that both reflects the high-plains topography of this agricultural town (through its exaggerated horizontality) and is thoroughly contemporary at the same time (also because of its exaggerated horizontality). Brighton now lays claim to one of the finest neo-modernist works in the region.

Mary Chandler’s goal was to research 400 buildings in and around Denver, put her comments into book form and get the whole thing published before the American Institute of Architects met in Denver last summer. The task was made more complicated by an ever-changing cast of characters who served on a succession of advisory committees from the Denver Foundation for Architecture, the group that sponsored the book. Then there was the on-again-off-again funding, which came through just weeks before the AIA meetings. But the result, Guide to Denver Architecture, published by Westcliffe Publishers, was worth the wait and the effort. The result is an indispensable handbook that’s at least as valuable to our skyline as some of the buildings constructed in the past year.

Ocean Journey was just hours from going extinct when it was pulled back from the brink on April 1. Let’s hope that Ocean Journey, the aquarium, survives bankruptcy, because Ocean Journey, the building, is a very fine structure that was conceived to the nth degree when it was built in 1999. Not only does it sport state-of-the-art technical features that support the wide array of aquatic life inside, but it also contains artwork specifically made for the place. Odyssea, a once-only collaboration between Anderson Mason Dale and RNL Design, two of the city’s most respected architectural firms, designed the Platte Valley building. The principal designer was Ron Mason. His concept, a brick core partly surrounded by undulating steel and glass walls that form a grand porchlike atrium overlooking the Platte River, created a monumental presence that goes way beyond the structure’s actual size. We fell for this building hook, line and sinker.

The concrete building that is now the Colorado Business Bank was originally constructed in 1907 for Charles Boettcher’s Ideal Cement Company. Twenty years later, it was completely redone by the premier Denver architects of the time, Fisher and Fisher, who converted the ordinary building into a remarkable structure encrusted with terra-cotta decorations and lined with luxurious surface treatments, including metal and plaster bas-reliefs, engraved metals, and terrazzo in elaborate multicolored patterns. Although the building was fairly well maintained, time eventually took its toll on the paint and plaster — and even the terrazzo. That’s why Evan Makovsky, who bought the building a couple of years ago for the bank, asked Sprung Construction to give it a thorough going-over last summer. The interior and exterior were restored beautifully, and the heavenly ceiling was expertly touched up by the International Fine Art Conservation Studio. Makovsky took a personal interest in the project, and it shows.

The Reyes Building is just a shell of its former self, a circa 1889 storefront that housed the once-bustling Paso del Norte, an early Mexican cafe that catered to all the folks who frequented the markets, resale shops and little businesses in the 2100 block of Larimer Street. But after a fire hit the building over a decade ago, it sat boarded up, a blight on the ever-brightening Ballpark Neighborhood. And then along came Karle Seydel, former head of the Ballpark Neighborhood group, who’d watched all the development going on — and up — in his back yard and decided to get in on the game, too. But he did it right. Working in conjunction with the building’s owners, Marcellino and Elisa Reyes, Seydel stripped the structure down to its initial components and is building two lofts and commercial space into an essentially new building that will fit right in with the character of Larimer Street’s old roots. What’s new is old again.

Charlie Woolley, who specializes in rehabbing historic buildings, has earned a reputation as one of Denver’s most creative and thoughtful developers. For his latest effort, he poured $20 million into the three former Karmen Western Wear buildings on Wazee Street between 15th and 16th streets — which he’s dubbed the Hardware Block — and turned them into lofts, offices and stores. But the project was no ordinary one. With the help of architect Josh Comfort, Woolley has transformed the former eyesores into showplaces. For instance, the tawdry fake stone that long covered one of the buildings has been removed, revealing red brick, and a long-lost cornice was restored to another of the structures. That’s a nice development in a wonderful part of town.

Historically known as the Gates Mansion, the fabulous house that sits high above the corner of Fourteenth Avenue and Josephine Street is an easy-to-recognize landmark. Built for merchant Russell Gates in 1892, the fine Richardsonian-Romanesque residence is noteworthy for its monumental stone arches and elegant massing. The identity of the designer is unknown, but it’s thought to have been architect H. Chatten. Unfortunately, the house was divided into apartments nearly twenty years after its completion, and it later became a boardinghouse. In 1984 it got a slight rehab and was turned into an office building. More recently, the building was acquired by the Del Norte Neighborhood Development Corporation, which completely renovated and expanded it last summer. The mansion is now a housing-and-care facility for formerly homeless people with HIV, and it has been renamed Dave’s Place. Surprisingly, the neighbors didn’t complain as they might have done in another neighborhood when faced with the combination of homelessness and HIV. Location, location, location.

Annex I was used for decades as offices for the City and County of Denver, but it was originally built in 1949 as part of a never-finished and ultimately abandoned downtown campus for the University of Denver. It was designed by local architects Smith, Hegner and Moore, with G. Meredith Musick. And although Annex I is radically different from the older neo-classical buildings in the Civic Center, it blends in because it’s been appropriately clad in a similarly cut gray stone. Despite the many architectural plaudits Annex I has received, however, over the years it became a sport among amateurs to hate it, and the administration of Mayor Wellington Webb threatened to demolish it. So it was a surprise when Webb actually saved Annex I, including it in the city’s plans for the new Civic Center Office Building. Government work has become a little easier to look at.

One less ugly, crumbling parking lot; one more nice Denver building. For the last several years, the Civic Center Office Building, a gleaming new twelve-story edifice, has been rising at the north end of Civic Center Park. When it opens this summer, the structure, designed by David Owen Tryba with RNL Design, will provide badly needed office space for the City and County of Denver. The building — especially the main tower, a contemporary neo-modernist confection with dramatically curving walls of aluminum and glass — will also provide a nice complement to the rigidly rectilinear 1949 city-owned international-style Annex I, which will be connected to it by a large atrium. The new building’s height allows a graceful transition between the relatively low profile of the monumental public buildings of the Civic Center and the much taller commercial skyscrapers just behind it in the central business district.

In the wake of September 11, security experts decided that the main entrance to the City and County Building should be locked and all traffic funneled through a side door. Besides being a big pain in the neck for workers and visitors alike, it smacked of a siege mentality gone too far. The decision to finally reopen the doors of City Hall on January 28 afforded Mayor Wellington Webb an opportunity to do a bit of grandstanding: “This is the people’s building, and we are not going to let the terrorists win,” he said. But the plain fact was that taking off the locks and chains provided a minor but significant sign that normalcy was returning.

The city’s official Web address, www.denvergov.org, has been pumped up of late. Real-estate property-tax records have become searchable online, as have contractors’ license records — and businesses can even file their personal-property declarations using the site. That’s your government working for you.

This past January, 30,000 people marched from City Park to Civic Center Park in Denver’s Martin Luther King Jr. “Marade” (a word that combines the civil-rights leader’s name with ‘parade’) to remember one of the greatest men in American history. The annual event — one of the biggest MLK celebrations in the country — is also just plain fun. For one day, differences between people seem to melt away, as black grandfathers march with Hispanic teenagers and white mothers pushing strollers, politicians rub shoulders with labor leaders and teachers march with students. The whole thing makes Colfax Avenue seem like the friendliest place on earth.

It feels great to put on a fresh, clean pair of pants and a shirt, and according to Mike Miller, it feels even better to hang a fresh, clean United States flag from your home or car. That’s the way Miller has felt ever since he bought Carousel Cleaners 32 years ago and began offering flag cleaning for free. “We’ve always done it, but not too many people took us up on it until September 11,” says Miller, who served in the Air Force during the Vietnam War. “But after September 11, we’ve cleaned hundreds. I don’t think we did it with the idea of profit. We did it with the idea that America is America. I’m a patriot and I love my country. After September 11, everybody wanted to do something, but what can you do? You can’t bring those people back, but if you can bring nationalism back, then why not?” Miller says his employees will even press, hang or fold your star-spangled banner if you want them to. Old Glory may be old, but at least it will be clean.

Big flags, small flags, car flags, tall flags. If you still need a flag — and by now, you may have already picked up a couple — Flagworld is the place to pledge your allegiance. “We have flags of all sizes, and everything related to flags, jackets, T-shirts, clocks, stickers, key chains,” says Imad Ardah, who has been part owner of the store — which also sells sports memorabilia and is located on the third level of the Tabor Center — for nine years. There are even different kinds of fabrics for the finicky flag owner to choose from: Cotton gives an old-fashioned look, nylon is the cheapest, polyester is strong, and “super-poly” is the most durable. The biggest United States flag they have is twelve feet by eighteen feet, large enough for even the bulkiest blowhards in the state legislature to wrap themselves in.

In an attempt to bring some humor to the topic of capturing the mother of all terrorists, Colorado entrepreneurs Mark Simmons and Dan Frazier have created Where’s Osama?, a game in which players look for Osama bin Laden by traveling through the caves of Afghanistan as U.S or Afghani military personnel or as a “Geraldo-like” reporter. Available on the Internet, the game also features picture spreads in which you can try to find Osama in a crowd, and outfits — a tutu, cowboy costume or burka — that you can dress him in. Play, and make Osama pay.

Maybe it was the cold. Maybe it was the lack of oxygen at 14,110 feet. Maybe it was the stunning view from the top of Colorado’s most famous mountain. Whatever it was, something clicked in Katharine Lee Bates’s brain on July 22, 1893. As she stood at the summit of Pikes Peak, and as a carriage carried her back to the bottom, she scribbled down the first lines of what would eventually become “America the Beautiful.” Although not as well known as the national anthem, of course, the rousing song has made a major comeback since September 11; it’s been sung since then at nearly every professional sporting event (in addition to the “Star-Spangled Banner”) and other events of all kinds. But the best place to belt out the lyrics — “O beautiful for spacious skies/For amber waves of grain/For purple mountain majesties/Above the fruited plain!/America! America!/God shed his grace on thee/And crown thy good with brotherhood/From sea to shining sea!” — is amid the majesty of Pikes Peak itself, on the very spot that inspired those words.

Founded in 1899, VFW John S. Stuart Post No. 1 was the first VFW post in the nation, and all 103 years of its history can be felt inside. But while the post’s (dwindling) membership is limited to veterans of foreign wars, the restaurant and bar are open to anyone in the mood for a great burger, some good old-fashioned French fries and a couple of cold beers (the sevice may be a little slow, but it’s service for your country). Sit yourself down amid flags, photographs of servicemen, military mementos and actual hardened veterans themselves, and soak up the atmosphere of a bygone era. Sidle up to the guys who served in Vietnam and Korea, or challenge a grizzled gadfly from WWII to a rousing game of billiards, and you’ll know why this is the place to be when you’re feeling warm, fuzzy thoughts about the U.S. of A. on holidays or any old day of the week.

After his twelve years as Colorado’s leader, no one expected former governor and spry septuagenarian Roy Romer to move to a retirement community and break out the shuffleboard. But to take over as the superintendent of Los Angeles Unified Schools, one of the largest and most troubled school districts in the nation? Some guys just can’t get enough. Yet after a number of hiccups involving students, teachers, politicians, unions and, well, just about everyone else, Romer, who started his new assignment in the fall of 2000, has generally received good grades; he’s even scored some points for his periodic appearances on live radio. But that’s not surprising, as Colorado’s leather-jacket-wearing ambassador has always done the job with typical honesty and a touch of class.

Gary Hart’s not afraid to say “I told you so,” and he did just that, beginning with a Playboy interview in February in which the magazine called him the “former senator who predicted the attacks on America.” In fact, Hart got lots of play because of a report he issued in 1999 when he was co-chairman of the U.S Commission on National Security/21st Century. The conclusion of that report read: “Americans will become increasingly vulnerable to hostile attack on our homeland, and our military superiority will not entirely protect us. Americans will likely die on American soil, possibly in large numbers.” Yikes! Will Hart’s newfound popularity be enough to boost him into the national political spotlight or even compel him to run for office again? It sounds like Monkey Business to us.

Most people think politicians are all the same, so instead of voting, why not flip a coin to determine who should win an election? Or better yet, have the candidates pick a card, and whoever picks the highest card gets to hold the office. Sound like a neat trick? Well, it worked in Telluride after town-council candidates Stu Fraser and Jenny Russell each garnered 410 votes in last November’s election. Since state law mandates that election ties be broken by “lot,” town clerk M.J. Schillaci had the two candidates pick cards. Amazingly, Fraser picked the ace of spades. Welcome to politics.

Joyce Foster knows that skateboarding is not a crime, which is why she pushed and pushed and pushed for the construction of the Denver Skatepark, a state-of-the-art facility that finally opened in the summer of 2001. Situated on a prime piece of real estate in the Central Platte Valley, the park was designed with the help of a national team of architects and consultants, including Thrasher magazine’s Kevin Thatcher. Judging by the masses of kids who turn up to ride in it, even on days when the weather is less than ideal, the place turned out just fine. The popularity of the skate park, especially with teenage boys, proves that Foster was right to lobby for it so passionately. The only way Foster could top her present cool status would be by taking the half-pipe herself.

Last summer, when the City of Denver revoked a class of permit that allowed underage patrons into cabarets, Elbra Wedgeworth was the first councilmember to stick up for the kids and venues affected by the change. Soon after, she organized and supervised a community task force that recommended an overhaul of the cabaret-licensing code. In the end, the city council approved an ordinance that allowed sixteen-year-old music fans into local entertainment establishments, a piece of policy that pleased everyone from Mayor Wellington Webb to concert promoters. For her diplomacy, her tenacity and her recognition of youth’s need for positive social outlets like music, we think Wedgeworth rocks.

When the boundaries of Colorado’s new 7th Congressional district were announced, many people dubbed it the “Perlmutter district,” assuming that state senator and popular Jefferson County Democrat Ed Perlmutter would leap at the chance to run for U.S. Congress. But those people didn’t know Perlmutter’s ten-year-old daughter, Zoe. When the legislator consulted his family about running for the seat, Zoe voted no, saying politics made her father “grumpy.” That was all it took: Perlmutter won’t be running. Nevertheless, as state Senate president, Perlmutter has made a heroic effort to get the legislature to pass laws that will guide growth in Colorado. And while those efforts weren’t successful, Perlmutter has emerged as one of the most passionate advocates for Colorado’s future. He may not be on his way to Washington, but we hope he’ll play a role in Colorado’s politics for years to come.

Colorado voters probably wish that getting help from their elected representatives in the State Capitol was as easy as pushing a button. Unfortunately, things don’t work that way. The lawmakers themselves, however, are always a mere arm’s length from assistance — at least when they are traveling up and down in the Statehouse’s notoriously rickety elevators. Press the alarm button, and a signal automatically sounds at the fire department. In the meantime, another button with the words “Help is on the Way” lights up, assuring elevator riders that some things actually do get done in the Capitol.

Karl Rove has come a long way since his days as the fresh-from-Colorado head of the College Republicans in the early ’70s. He made a critical connection during that early political stint: He met George W. Bush, whose father was in charge of the Republican Party. And when Dubya finally moved into the White House, he took Rove with him as an advisor, putting him right in the office previously occupied by Hillary Clinton. “Rove is President Bush’s political Svengali, Robespierre and wizard all rolled into one,” said an analyst with the Hudson Institute just six months after Rove hit town. But he’s not much of a diplomat — or a demographer. In hot water over a crack he made about a small New Hampshire town’s intellectual capabilities, Rover told the Berlin Daily Sun: “Were I ever to belittle small-town America, I would have to do a lot of explaining to my friends and neighbors in Golden, Arvada and Kokomo, Colorado…the places where I grew up.” He’d really have a lot of explaining to do in Kokomo: It was buried under a Climax Mine tailings pond over two decades ago.

The wife of Colorado’s junior Republican senator, Wayne Allard, is her husband’s greatest asset. She accompanies him to every one of the town meetings he holds each year in every one of Colorado’s 64 counties, getting a feel for the serious issues even as she chats casually with constituents. And not only can Joan Allard save her husband’s bacon, but she can fry it up in a pan: After Nebraska senator Ben Nelson, the loser in a CU-Nebraska-game bet, delivered a box of steaks to Senator Allard’s office, Joan prepared “Colorado Peppered Nebraska Steak” — a recipe she cooked up for the occasion — for her husband’s staff.

There she was, Miss America, visiting the Colorado Legislature for her cancer-awareness campaign. Reverend David Meek was back at the State Capitol on a mission from God — to hand out a letter apologizing to any lawmakers he’d offended the week before, “Christian Greetings, Precious Lady Senators” — when he heard that Katie Harmon, the former Miss Oregon, was in the building, and decided he’d like to have his picture taken with a really precious lady. But Miss America’s handlers spirited her out of the Capitol before Meek could get too close. There she goes…

Invited to offer a prayer before the state Senate, Reverend David Meek, pastor at the Assembly of God Glad Tidings Church in Greeley, offended almost everyone when he asked the one Christian God to help make the Pledge of Allegiance mandatory in public schools, to help convince lawmakers to make abortion illegal and to help guide male senators to watch over the “precious ladies” who somehow had been elected to public office.

The fur was flying when the still-recovering Westy, a cat set on fire and thrown to the side of the highway by two ne’er-do-wells last year, showed up at the State Capitol to testify for Senator Deanna Hanna’s SB 48, which would make cruelty to animals a more serious criminal offense. As if to illustrate the severity of the crime, Westy was more testy than a gun lobbyist whose proposal had just been shot down — screeching at strangers and spitting at a seeing-eye dog stationed under one chair. Meow.

Oooh, that sneaky Bob Schaffer: If he weren’t keeping his initial campaign promise and getting out after his third term in the U.S. House of Representatives, we just might have to spank him. Ever since he was elected back in 1996, Schaffer, a conservative (and then some), has been sneaking the letters “AMDG” onto his official congressional stationery — and even some of the pages of his Web site. Separating the church from the state, the initials stand for “ad majorem Dei glorium,” which translates to “for the greater glory of God.”

Republican Bob Schaffer, whose third — and final — term representing the 4th Congressional District ends this year, is going out with a bang. His haiku on www.yourcongress.com:

Rocky Mountain Highs

Might be outlawed by this guy

Good thing Denver’s dead

The 2nd Congressional District rep is one tall drink of non-contaminated water, but on www.yourcongress.com, Mark Udall’s haiku is short and sweet:

Looks like his old man

Environmentalist, too

Not a bad combo

According to www.yourcongress.com, Scott McInnis, who represents Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, ranks only 66th for power, but rates this haiku:

Hey Scott! Relax pal

Just what color is your hair?

It has changed often

Since September 11, security screeners at Denver International Airport have confiscated enough scrap metal — in the form of nail clippers, scissors and letter openers — to build a 747, and fondled enough underwire bras to get second jobs as mammographers. But according to Denver police officers stationed at DIA, the most suspicious and potentially dangerous item confiscated to date were some deer antlers. What, did they think a terrorist might rut his way into the cockpit? D’oe!

When he retires as House Speaker this fall, state representative Doug Dean should have a lock on any future opening Home Depot might have for a greeter. After all, Dean knows how handy the right tools can be. With a screwdriver he just happened to find in his car, for example, he was able to break into his then-fiancée’s home last May (reportedly to retrieve his cell phone), netting him lots of embarrassing headlines, a domestic-violence investigation (no charges, though), and, this past fall, a new wife. Ain’t love grand?

Sorry, wrong number. Coloradans have lots of ideas for what current Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio should do next — and most can’t be published even in this newspaper. But if we really want Jumpin’ Joe to feel our pain, a position as a prison janitor, or a checkout clerk for Kmart blue-light specials, or an Arthur Andersen accountant, just isn’t bad enough. Much better that he be demoted to Qwest customer service, where he can listen to customer complaints for all eternity without a hold button as an option.

Hey, if Time magazine could sell Jefferson County Sheriff John Stone a bill of goods, there’s no reason why he shouldn’t be able to return the favor. Back in the fall of 1999, when it seemed as though the wounds of Columbine might actually start healing, Sheriff Stone got snookered by a Time magazine reporter, who got Stone to pose for an embarrassing photo with the killers’ guns — and also let Time see tapes that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold had made in Harris’s basement, tapes that Jeffco hadn’t yet shown the victims’ families. The magazine used him as a dupe, Stone said. Or was that dope? With a dozen candidates now running for sheriff, almost all of them on Stone’s record, the current sheriff should soon have plenty of dialing time.

Denver’s short on seafood restaurants, and Wynkoop Brewing Co. owner John Hickenlooper is long — very long — on lost causes. Could any cause be more lost than Ocean Journey’s? If the place does tank — and it’s only barely keeping its head above water in bankruptcy court — Hickenlooper could be the one to pull it up from the depths, turning the fried fish house into Long John Hickenlooper’s, a restaurant where diners get to watch their favorite fish become the catch of the day. Come on, John, take the bait!

Westward ho! Bright lights, big titties! Come see her mountains! We put the strip in strip-mining! Georgetown: Where the scenery is on us, and the mayor is on you. Thanks to a mayor with a penchant for inflating both her stories and her breasts, Georgetown wound up in the media G-spotlight this past year. Stripper-turned-hairdresser-turned-mayor Koleen Brooks kept the old mining town hopping with her attempts to oust city officials, her admission of pot-smoking, her insistence that she’d been assaulted (CBI investigation to the contrary). But in the end, her antics were self-defeating and her career self-deflating, another in the series of endless boom-and-bust and boom-boom-and-bustline tales that abound in the West. The results of an April 2 recall election may keep things quiet in Georgetown for a while, but damn, it was fun while it lasted.

Significant Opportunities in Atmospheric Research and Science, a mentoring program offered by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, recently received a Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring, one of ten handed out nationwide, for the way it allows students in underserved communities to get a shot at a career in the sciences. Last year, 43 students participated, including 21 who took part in a ten-week internship in Boulder. Several students who’ve utilized the program in past years are now working full-time in the field.

Roland Madden, a research scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, won the 2002 Jule G. Charney Award from the American Meteorological Society “for pioneering investigations of atmospheric predictability, global waves and the intraseasonal oscillation.” Given the inaccuracy of so many of his media brethren, maybe he should be on TV.

After September’s terrorist strikes, security changes at Denver International Airport caused security checks at the facility to last as long as a screening of Titanic. Shortly thereafter, KOA added reports about the length of the wait to the tail end of newscasts, tossing out times along with mentions of current temperatures and road conditions — for which the city’s travelers owe the station a debt of gratitude.

Channel 4 devotes a half-hour every week to entertainment reporter Greg Moody’s all-positive, all-the-time entertainment show, Show. That’s a commendable commitment to culture. And Show‘s better than ever these days, since veteran TV man (and recent Channel 9 escapee) Ed Greene started contributing his own offbeat, opinionated looks at Denver in a segment called “Ed’s Favorites.” Ed man talking!

Life is different in the People’s Republic of Boulder — oh, excuse us, that’s the Independent Republic of Greater Boulderia, according to the mondoboulder Web site, the most excellent work of Old Boulder Bozo Peter Aretin. Full of far-from-gratuitous insults, a few nostalgic pieces, up-to-the-minute commentary and a listing of the first annual Dillies — awards named in honor of the infamous Boulder Public Library dildos — mondoboulder’s aim is true, and it hits its target dead-on. Take this from the home page: “Events of the last year have raised serious questions in the minds of many Boulderians concerning our security. The Broomfield-County/FlatIron-Crossing Axis of Retail continued to wage unrelenting economic warfare on Boulderia. Security forces and loyal partisans clashed repeatedly with upholstered-furniture terrorists in the troubled University Hill region. Boulderian elementary schools fell under siege from deadly prairie dogs. Pro- and anti-dog-poop factions clashed openly on Boulderian open space, as pro- and anti-goose-poop parties began to loose trial rhetorical salvos in the next big poop-oriented brouhaha. There was the much-wrangled refugee problem, and Boulderia has recently come under mounting pressure to shoot most of the deer to stop chronic wasting disease. The Counter-Intuitive Agency urges citizens to maintain their usual saint-like calm and wishes to reassure Boulderia that we take these things seriously!” For a seriously good time, call up www.mondoboulder.com.

When idling up Floyd Hill at half-speed and with a full load, truckers from Allied Van Lines apparently don’t have much else to do than take in the view. That’s why, in a recent survey of more than 300 of these professionals — men and women who prowl the interstates from coast to coast — they voted Colorado’s I-70 the most scenic stretch of asphalt in the nation. Of course, motorists stuck in gridlock — and between a couple of diesel-puffing big rigs — near Georgetown on a ski-weekend afternoon probably have another way to describe the scene.

Keep your eyes on the road! Scott Yates does, and the result is MyTrafficNews, an amusing, informative, highly opinionated Web site. “Our corporate philosophy is that the world could use a little less of the corporate mindset,” reads the site’s fine print. “Traffic is a drag, and we just want to do what we can to help, starting with trying to treat readers like human beings.” A good example of that treatment: Readers can get personalized afternoon e-mails that predict problems on their commute home that day. Sponsored by RTD with an assist from 9News (and its helicopter), MyTrafficNews dispenses current traffic and construction information with a humorous twist: “Unless a volcano erupts underneath the Mousetrap,” read one posting on March 11, “we’re figuring today will be a better drive home than it was Friday.”

Lynn Carey and Luan Akin have garnered respect for a few years now for their traffic acumen — Carey for her radio updates and Akin for her eye-in-the-sky TV work. So, putting them together was the equivalent of creating a traffic all-star squad, which helps explain why Channel 4’s traffic coverage has left the competition in the slow lane.

Located on the only Rocky Mountain News page in the Sunday Denver Post, “Talk Back to the Media” allows disgruntled information consumers and assorted insiders to air their grievances in a public forum — and members of the journalism community have been responding in kind. For instance, Channel 7 was recently taken to task by four members of the publicity staff at Denver International Airport, prompting reporter John Ferrugia to reply with the sort of venom that’s usually reserved for nasty phone calls the public never gets a chance to hear. The results give viewers, listeners and readers a fascinating look at the men and women behind the media curtain.

Since announcing last year that he’s dying and that he planned to document the process, media veteran and longtime Rocky Mountain News columnist Gene Amole has become unexpectedly energized, churning out far more copy than he had in ages. These days, he’s returned to writing about topics other than himself, like current events, and has even taken a trip to Hawaii. When you’ve got a purpose again, why die?

Mike Littwin, columnist for the Rocky Mountain News, is the town’s finest writer. He tackles more varied subject matter and is capable of being amusing and incisive at the same time. No wonder he wins in a walk.

While it’s easy for daily newspaper columnists to take on obvious targets, like scandal-plagued Enron, it’s a lot harder to attack the companies in their own back yards. The commentators run the risk of outraging the company’s employees and being blamed for the loss of advertising when angry CEOs yank their ads out of the paper. That makes Denver Post business editor Al Lewis all the more remarkable. During the past year, he’s taken on the likes of Qwest and Level 3 with gutsy delight, aiming his acerbic wit directly at the CEOs who helped lead both companies into stock-market meltdowns. Here’s hoping Lewis keeps his pen sharp and his words aimed directly at the heart of corporate arrogance.

It’s debatable whether the joint operating agreement between the Rocky Mountain News and the Denver Post saved the News from sure death — but it certainly seems to have lit a fire under the staff. The Post has the edge in terms of resources, but the News is doing more with less. We’re glad Denver remains a two-newspaper town, and the Post definitely is capable of making a comeback. But if you only have time to read one daily these days, make it the News.

Radio ratings people call KDKO-AM’s sound urban contemporary, but from 7 to 8:30 a.m. every Sunday, the station drifts back in time when Old Ship of Zion, which has been on the air for nearly four decades, sets sail for gospel ports of call. Hosts Beverly and T.C. Young are married gospel performers who sing His praises at services around town. Now, jump up and say Hallelujah!

No matter how many times we say it, the fact remains that KVCU/Radio 1190 is far and away the most exciting station on local radio right now — an outlet that consistently features the best, most intriguing popular music in existence. And unless something changes, that’s likely to remain the case for the foreseeable future. Deal with it — or better yet, find out what you’ve been missing.

A former Marine, Bob Newman hit KOA like a rocket following the September 11 attacks, offering blood-and-guts commentary that blew everyone else off the airwaves. More surprisingly, he’s evolved into a lower-temperature correspondent whose investigations of terrorism-response readiness at facilities like DIA have actually provided a public service. He’s also an often-controversial contributor to the Post and an occasional expert commentator on Fox News. Bombs away.

Mike Haynes, the voice of the Colorado Avalanche, doesn’t have a standard sports-talk gig, but before each game he hosts Between the Pipes, a preview show in which he takes calls, answers e-mails and otherwise demonstrates his enthusiasm and expertise. The show is as entertaining as it is informative; both hockey experts and novices usually learn something new every time Haynes takes to the air. And that’s what good talk radio is supposed to be all about.

With the swearing in of a Republican administration last year, Mike Rosen seemed likely to lose most of his subject matter. But since then, he’s been his old, persnickety self, castigating those who don’t fit his definition of conservatism, no matter what political party they belong to. Nobody cuts off a caller to deliver a lecture like Big Mike.

Investigative reporter Maass, who’s had quite a run of scoops lately, frequently leaves his jacket unfastened during in-studio standups and live reports — the better to give himself the appearance of having just rushed in with a breaking-news story. As a result, viewers regularly get a full-length gander at his ties, most of which are enormous; he favors neckwear that’s unfashionably thick at the bottom, and ties them so that they hang past his beltline, like an especially stylish bib. Now that it’s spring, let’s hope that he unbuttons on the air more often. No, not those buttons…

Susie Wargin gets around. In addition to hosting a regular show on KBPI, she provides updates and random banter during The Sports Zoo on KOA and handles assorted sports-reporting duties for the station. And now she’s the high school sports reporter for Channel 9 and is doing a more than competent job there. Where does she find the time?

Tom Green got jobbed in 2001, leaving Channel 7 to join Fox Sports Net, only to have the position melt away before he could take it. So it’s nice to see Green, one of Denver’s sharpest personalities, back in front of the camera, where he belongs. Channel 2’s morning show remains a bit of a mess, but if anyone can clean it up, Green can.

A 9 News photog, Brian Willie was following basketballer Nick Van Exel to the locker room after another loss by the Denver Nuggets when he caught then-coach Dan Issel hurling his now-famous insult at a fan. Which is why Issel is a former coach.

Tim Ring has a big job: He’s got to hold together half-hour broadcasts that are filled with nothing but sports news — and to make matters worse, he’s got to deal with irritating co-host Gordie Hershiser. But he accomplishes both tasks with aplomb. He’s smart, quick-witted and funny, though he knows when to reel in the humor and concentrate on the matter at hand, seldom going too far over the line.

Okay, we surrender. With her features about big fish and photos of sunsets, Kathy Sabine, Channel 9’s veteran morning weathercaster, can be so relentlessly perky that those of us who have a tough time waking up occasionally feel the urge to throw something heavy at her televised image. But Sabine also happens to be a smooth and professional weather-info deliverer — and for morning people, she’s like a nice cup of coffee.

Unlike so many of her peers at local anchor desks, Anne Trujillo is not about glamour. Rather, she simply and straightforwardly reports the news — which is supposed to be her job, right? Because she’s on Channel 7, which has been ratings-challenged for a generation, she hasn’t gotten the attention that’s routinely showered upon her rivals. So even if the return of Channel 9 alum Mike Landess doesn’t reverse the station’s slide, Trujillo is still a great reason to tune in.

No local newscast is perfect, but Channel 4 is the one that most consistently puts the focus on news and has scored more memorable scoops than its competition — with the loafing cops at DIA at the top of the list. Given Aimee Sporer’s impending departure, change is in the wind. But as of now, this is one telecast that definitely doesn’t blow.

Channel 9’s morning program, co-starring Gary Shapiro, Kyle Dyer, Drew Soicher, Gregg Moss and Kathy Sabine, remains the a.m. show against which all others must be measured. And right now, none of them measure up.

A producer and fill-in anchor in Channel 31’s sports department, Todd Mansfield isn’t balding in the manner of, say, Channel 9’s Gregg Moss, whose hairline is still visible, albeit apparently so frightened of his forehead that it’s racing in the opposite direction. No, Mansfield’s head is totally shaved and remarkably translucent; when the studio lights hit his pate at just the right angle, you can practically see his brain. Quite a different look for Denver TV — although it would fit in just fine on an episode of Star Trek.

It’s way past time that Tony Kovaleski, one of Channel 7’s investigative reporters, used his dogged journalistic skills to plumb the depths of a great mystery: his own hair. Is it real? A wig? A weave? A welcome mat? Dunno — but the story behind the follicles could be a ratings blockbuster.

Shaul Turner doesn’t have TV-news hair. She’s got entertainer hair, show-business hair, Grammy Awards hair, Diana Ross and the Supremes hair. Her hair is so fabulous, in fact, that sometimes it’s hard to pay attention to certain details, like the news she’s delivering. But with hair that great, who cares?

Back in the ’70s, the Mountain Gazette was required reading for all the people flocking to Colorado, eager for a groovy Rocky Mountain high. Twenty years after its death, the magazine was revived last year by longtime journalists John Fayhee and Curtis Robinson. The Mountain Gazette‘s endearing mix of crunchy adventure stories and oddball attitude emerged from the hiatus relatively unscathed, and the free bi-monthly earned first place this year in the Utne Reader‘s annual alternative-press awards.

Some of Vail’s highest-profile locals decided to grin and bare it all for Vail Undressed, a 2002 calendar that benefits the Vail Valley Charitable Fund, which helps pay for medical care for those who can’t afford it. The calendars raised awareness and plenty of eyebrows in this upscale mountain town. But all for fun — and a cause. As for the photos, props were placed strategically enough to make the calendar kid-friendly. Some of the folks who took it off include Dr. Teresa Cherry wearing nothing but a stethoscope; members of the fire department; the Powder-8 synchronized ski team; and the world-famous Vail Precision Lawn Chair Demo Team, sitting on lawn chairs with their legs crossed. That’s the naked truth.

It doesn’t get any more achingly small-town suburban than the City of Lone Tree’s 2002 calendar. Norman Rockwell’s stuff would look positively raunchy next to this wholesome piece of work, produced by the City of Lone Tree (founded in 1995) and Mike’s Cameras, which held a photo contest to select the pictures. Each month features one of the winning photos and a brief biography of the winner. May, for instance, boasts a picture of flag-waving local kids dressed in red, white and blue and standing around or sitting in a patriotic sleigh; the shot was taken by Sue Foels. It looks like Lone Tree is going to have a positively great year.

This year, following the lead of legal eagles in other states, lawyer Jim Scarboro brought together attorneys and law students to form the Colorado Innocence Project, a volunteer effort that will look into selected prisoners’ cases to determine if the evidence merits a court challenge.

At this high-security prison, the guards encourage inmates to share needles. That’s because these prisoners, some of the most difficult-to-supervise men housed at Limon — are learning to knit as part of a therapy and rehabilitation program. Convicts have to earn their way into the program, now in its tenth year, with good behavior. The results of their labors, created on both needles and knitting machines, are sold at cost to nonprofit groups around the state that help homeless and poor children.

Senior U.S. District Judge John Kane is erudite, wise (he’s taken a controversial, and eminently reasonable, stance opposing the War on Drugs) and witty. In a recent bankruptcy ruling, he noted that the appellant “presents a version of the three little pigs who outsmarted the big bad wolf, and despite all his huffing and puffing kept a house and sold it for a profit.” The judgment concluded:

Alas the tale is done

Truth be told, no one won

This court has simply tried to resort

That which is to what was before

(The defendant) paid the price

For what the deeds of trust thrice

Deviously sought to take away

And such is the fate of claims made of hay.

Smile! You’re on not-so-candid camera. In the wake of several controversial Denver Police Department actions, including the shooting of Ismael Mena, Denver activists took the Neighborhood Watch concept a few steps further and banded together as Denver CopWatch, a citizens’ watchdog group that keeps an eye on the Denver Police Department. Founded by activists Stephen and Vicki Nash, the group has taken its cause to the streets — including some of the town’s meanest — where members inform teens, the homeless and assorted hangers-on of their rights. Since CopWatch acquired a camera, it’s started capturing cops on film, issuing quarterly reports and coming up with enough evidence that the ACLU has picked up a dozen cases documented by the citizen snoops.

Give these kids extra credit in civics: Students 4 Justice, a group of Denver-area high school students affiliated with the Colorado Progressive Coalition, takes on issues ranging from Nike’s use of foreign labor to profiling in the Cole community to a shortage of federally subsidized lunches at West High. Along the way, they rate high marks for their eloquence and enthusiasm.

History class might be boring, but the history of South High School — that’s a different subject. Tucked into the school’s bell-tower attic and its basement are huge collections of photos, clothing, trophy cups, scrapbooks and other mementos that tell the history of this 101-year-old institution. And thanks to the dedication of South alumni, they’ve been recorded and displayed in an actual museum that is open to the public; call the school to find out the hours. Don’t know much about history? Here’s your chance to find out.

For half a century, Arvada’s men and women in blue have been enforcing the law and protecting the citizenship of this Denver suburb. Now some of that history can be viewed in the Arvada Police Department’s display in the lobby of its building. It includes dozens of photos, uniforms, badges and other memorabilia donated by retired cops — a most arresting exhibit.

The home of late socialite Tweet Kimball is arguably the most spectacular in Colorado. Modeled after a Scottish castle, it sits on a bluff that offers mind-boggling views of the Front Range, from Pikes Peak to Longs Peak. Kimball could have sold the 3,000-acre property for millions of dollars but instead chose to create a foundation that has preserved the ranch as open space; it recently opened the stone castle to the public. A devoted Anglophile, Kimball lived in England for several years, and the castle’s designer, Denver architect Burnham Hoyt, included a cavernous Great Hall, complete with a minstrel balcony for visiting musicians. One whole room is filled with photos of Winston Churchill and Princess Anne, who visited the ranch and rode horses there. A winding stairway that circles up inside a turret is reminiscent of the Tower of London. The antique furniture and art are suitably grand, with overstuffed armchairs and elaborately carved serving tables. Cherokee Ranch and Castle is also a perfect place for afternoon tea, which is served every Thursday in the Great Hall and includes salmon, scones, clotted cream, jam and sweets. Tours of the castle are offered several times a week, but call ahead, because reservations — and directions to the hard-to-find mansion — are required. If you want to be king or queen for a day, this is the place.

St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral is a Capital Hill institution, but even longtime churchgoers were wowed by their guest in January. The Reverend George Carey, better known as the Archbishop of Canterbury — spiritual leader of 92 million Anglican Christians around the world — had come to town to preside over the installation of the Reverend Peter Eaton as the ninth dean of the 142-year-old congregation. The stately processional inside the cathedral was led by a church member swinging an incense-filled censer, but with a Western twist: Lakota and Kiowa Indians in full regalia joined the procession, along with representatives from the Catholic church and a local mosque. Parts of the celebration were even in Spanish. Denver may be a long way from England, but we still have a connection to the sceptered isle.

In December, the following advertisement for the Denver Bible Church appeared in a Denver daily newspaper listing the “Top Ten Reasons Why Liberals Hate the Holidays.”

10. Thanksgiving is mass murder for turkeys.

9. Too many SUVs traveling to grandma’s house.

8. College bowl games encourage competition.

7. Millions of Christmas trees are cut down.

6. The Pilgrims thought up Thanksgiving, not the Indians.

5. Christmas lights waste electricity.

4. People are giving thanks to WHO?

3. Winter lull in global warming hype.

2. Daycare centers are closed.

1. Christmas celebrates a birth, not an abortion.

A monument of the Ten Commandments has stood proudly in front of Grand Junction City Hall for over forty years, but last year a group that saw it as a violation of the separation between church and state demanded its removal in a lawsuit. Grand Junction’s elected officials countered by creating a “Cornerstones of Law and Liberty Plaza” featuring a section of the Bill of Rights, the preamble to the U.S. Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Mayflower Compact and the Magna Carta. The ploy worked: Last month, the protesters dropped their lawsuit, thereby guaranteeing that the commandments shalt not be removed.

Anchored at either end by the Denver City and County Building and the Colorado State Capitol, Civic Center Park is home to the People’s Fair, the Taste of Colorado and Colorado Avalanche Stanley Cup celebrations. It’s also home to scores of drug dealers who ply their wares 24/7 behind the pillars of the Greek Theater. Anyone curious about who’s buying weed, opium and crack in Denver these days is advised to pack a picnic lunch, head down to the park on a sunny day and take up an observation post on a concrete bench close to the flower gardens. The action’s usually heaviest around lunchtime, when the men in neckties come in search of a midday hit.

Thanks to T-Rex, last year ListenUp was forced to leave one of its longtime homes, a building on South Logan Street, and move its offices to East Evans. To let customers know about the relocation, Walt Stinson, the owner of this venerable home-electronics store, had the rear of the Logan building (the part visible from I-25) covered with a giant mural featuring an especially groovy and nasty-looking dinosaur tearing up the interstate. It was his commentary on T-Rex and on his forced move. And the image rang true for motorists stuck in construction-enhanced traffic jams, too.

Residents who’ve watched their neighborhoods get eaten alive by the T-Rex highway-widening project will soon get a concrete consolation prize: Art on the Highway. Local artists Barb McKee and Carolyn Braaksma, whose experience on massive public-art programs inspired them to form a company called Surface Strategy, convinced T-Rex planners to include images on the giant sound and retaining walls going up alongside I-25 — and then won the job of creating them. About 675,000 square feet will be textured with the artists’ work, stylized designs ranging from native birds and grasses to tepees and modern city maps.

To raise money for the soon-to-be-renovated Union Station — the Denver landmark that, with the addition of light rail, has been re-energized as a transportation hub — the nonprofit Lodo District is selling 8,000 engraved bricks that will form a plaza at the station’s entrance. The price of this immortality? A mere $75 — to a major $1,500. Like the station, the Lodo District is enjoying a surge of energy, too, having just hired hardworking board president and historian Barbara Gibson to serve as director. All aboard!

World-class, our ass: We’re just looking for a place to park it. And here at the corner of 14th and Champa streets, like a struggling, spindly daisy peeking out from the surrounding weeds

of greed that charge up to $2 per twenty minutes, we’re feelin’ Allright, uh-huh. Bordered on one side by a light-rail station and only steps from the performing-arts complex and the convention center, this centrally located oasis of sanity is the cheapest lot within a six-block radius, charging $1 per half-hour, with a $4 maximum on weekdays; on nights and weekends, the rate goes up and down depending on what events are taking place nearby. On theater nights, this best-kept secret means you’ll miss the crawl to get out of DCPA’s parking garage. And as an added touch, there’s a four-story mural of a flower — courtesy of the Denver Botanic Gardens — painted on the side of the Davis & Shaw building next door, which gives off a warm, welcoming vibe that says Denver isn’t a city that has to steal from its citizens to feel like it’s come up in the world. That means a lot.

There are plenty of charming mountain towns in the area, but none as close to Denver as Golden. Washington Avenue, the main drag, features a justly famous welcome sign (“Howdy folks!”) and numerous noteworthy attractions, including the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum, the Foothills Art Center and Foss Drug, a sprawling general store stocked with everything from novelty toilet paper to restored gas pumps. As an added bonus, there’s also Old Capitol Grill, a watering hole and eatery on the site of what was once Colorado’s pre-statehood territorial capitol; it’s among the handful of places in the country that serves Barmen Pilsner, an authentic German-style golden pilsner by Coors.

Coloradans have become dispirited over the last few years as they’ve watched wall-to-wall subdivisions creep over the Front Range and pristine mountain valleys turn into gated communities filled with trophy homes. Now the Nature Conservancy is trying to do something about it. The group has launched a $75 million campaign to protect fifteen unique Colorado landscapes, from the dry plains of eastern Colorado’s Arickaree River to the sandstone canyons of the Western Slope’s Glade Park. The group has made a priority of buying land along rivers, which are often abundant with wildlife but also popular places for vacation homes. In addition, the Nature Conservancy plans to work closely with ranchers and farmers to protect both wildlife and agriculture in rural Colorado. In a state where growth often seems out of control, that’s a development we can all cheer.

Just a few years ago, the Platte River Valley behind LoDo was a nearly empty space. But the Sixteenth Street Mall was recently extended right to the edge of that area, and with it came lots of development. Three of the most handsome of the new buildings, Park Place, Promenade Lofts and the high-rise Riverfront Tower, were built by East West Partners; all are distinctly different yet stylistically compatible residential buildings. Hopefully, the stylish designs, by the Urban Design Group, will set the tone for future development in the Riverfront Park neighborhood. Connecting these buildings to the western terminus of the 16th Street Mall is the nearly completed Millennium Bridge, by Steve Chucovich; the pedestrian suspension bridge is held up by a single pole canted at a jaunty diagonal. Add to this the recently built Commons Park, and the residents of the South Platte Valley have the beginnings of a neighborhood to be proud of.

Despite its name, new urbanism isn’t exactly new. The highly vaunted style has turned out to be little more than old suburbanism in most places — except that the buildings are closer together. And although most of the development at the old Lowry Air Force Base looks like a tight Highlands Ranch, a group of sensitive and intelligent townhomes and flats has been constructed by National Properties in the area of Fourth Avenue and Rosalyn Street. Called Officers’ Row Lofthomes, the residences were designed by Christopher Carvell Architects of Denver and constructed of buff-colored brick, just like some of the historic buildings nearby. If most of the buildings that have mushroomed up at Lowry look like toadstools, the Officers’ Row Lofthomes are the porcinis.

One of the big Denver success stories of the last five years is the adaptation of historic industrial and commercial buildings into lofts — the word ‘condo’ being so ’80s. Lofts are now all the rage, which means that the city has begun to run out of appropriately sized old buildings; thus new buildings, often in the style of the old, have been built. Unfortunately, most of these are little more than also-rans from an architectural standpoint. Not so the Renaissance Off Broadway Lofts, which just opened on the edge of the Ballpark Neighborhood. Designed by Humphries Poli Architects, the building is thoroughly urbane, featuring fancy, polychromed brickwork and a skeletal steel cornice that seems to wittily comment on the historic buildings that were originally used for loft conversions. But visitors will be surprised to learn that this isn’t a luxury building, but rather a project for low-income residents that was developed by the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless.

Built on the cheap for less than $7 million, the genius of the brand-new Brighton Police Department and Municipal Court building is the way its designers, Denver’s Roth & Sheppard Architects, orchestrated ordinary materials into a chic, sophisticated whole. The masonry block they used is the kind of thing usually employed for a Wal-Mart, but here it was used to create a structure that both reflects the high-plains topography of this agricultural town (through its exaggerated horizontality) and is thoroughly contemporary at the same time (also because of its exaggerated horizontality). Brighton now lays claim to one of the finest neo-modernist works in the region.

Mary Chandler’s goal was to research 400 buildings in and around Denver, put her comments into book form and get the whole thing published before the American Institute of Architects met in Denver last summer. The task was made more complicated by an ever-changing cast of characters who served on a succession of advisory committees from the Denver Foundation for Architecture, the group that sponsored the book. Then there was the on-again-off-again funding, which came through just weeks before the AIA meetings. But the result, Guide to Denver Architecture, published by Westcliffe Publishers, was worth the wait and the effort. The result is an indispensable handbook that’s at least as valuable to our skyline as some of the buildings constructed in the past year.

Ocean Journey was just hours from going extinct when it was pulled back from the brink on April 1. Let’s hope that Ocean Journey, the aquarium, survives bankruptcy, because Ocean Journey, the building, is a very fine structure that was conceived to the nth degree when it was built in 1999. Not only does it sport state-of-the-art technical features that support the wide array of aquatic life inside, but it also contains artwork specifically made for the place. Odyssea, a once-only collaboration between Anderson Mason Dale and RNL Design, two of the city’s most respected architectural firms, designed the Platte Valley building. The principal designer was Ron Mason. His concept, a brick core partly surrounded by undulating steel and glass walls that form a grand porchlike atrium overlooking the Platte River, created a monumental presence that goes way beyond the structure’s actual size. We fell for this building hook, line and sinker.

The concrete building that is now the Colorado Business Bank was originally constructed in 1907 for Charles Boettcher’s Ideal Cement Company. Twenty years later, it was completely redone by the premier Denver architects of the time, Fisher and Fisher, who converted the ordinary building into a remarkable structure encrusted with terra-cotta decorations and lined with luxurious surface treatments, including metal and plaster bas-reliefs, engraved metals, and terrazzo in elaborate multicolored patterns. Although the building was fairly well maintained, time eventually took its toll on the paint and plaster — and even the terrazzo. That’s why Evan Makovsky, who bought the building a couple of years ago for the bank, asked Sprung Construction to give it a thorough going-over last summer. The interior and exterior were restored beautifully, and the heavenly ceiling was expertly touched up by the International Fine Art Conservation Studio. Makovsky took a personal interest in the project, and it shows.

The Reyes Building is just a shell of its former self, a circa 1889 storefront that housed the once-bustling Paso del Norte, an early Mexican cafe that catered to all the folks who frequented the markets, resale shops and little businesses in the 2100 block of Larimer Street. But after a fire hit the building over a decade ago, it sat boarded up, a blight on the ever-brightening Ballpark Neighborhood. And then along came Karle Seydel, former head of the Ballpark Neighborhood group, who’d watched all the development going on — and up — in his back yard and decided to get in on the game, too. But he did it right. Working in conjunction with the building’s owners, Marcellino and Elisa Reyes, Seydel stripped the structure down to its initial components and is building two lofts and commercial space into an essentially new building that will fit right in with the character of Larimer Street’s old roots. What’s new is old again.

Charlie Woolley, who specializes in rehabbing historic buildings, has earned a reputation as one of Denver’s most creative and thoughtful developers. For his latest effort, he poured $20 million into the three former Karmen Western Wear buildings on Wazee Street between 15th and 16th streets — which he’s dubbed the Hardware Block — and turned them into lofts, offices and stores. But the project was no ordinary one. With the help of architect Josh Comfort, Woolley has transformed the former eyesores into showplaces. For instance, the tawdry fake stone that long covered one of the buildings has been removed, revealing red brick, and a long-lost cornice was restored to another of the structures. That’s a nice development in a wonderful part of town.

Historically known as the Gates Mansion, the fabulous house that sits high above the corner of Fourteenth Avenue and Josephine Street is an easy-to-recognize landmark. Built for merchant Russell Gates in 1892, the fine Richardsonian-Romanesque residence is noteworthy for its monumental stone arches and elegant massing. The identity of the designer is unknown, but it’s thought to have been architect H. Chatten. Unfortunately, the house was divided into apartments nearly twenty years after its completion, and it later became a boardinghouse. In 1984 it got a slight rehab and was turned into an office building. More recently, the building was acquired by the Del Norte Neighborhood Development Corporation, which completely renovated and expanded it last summer. The mansion is now a housing-and-care facility for formerly homeless people with HIV, and it has been renamed Dave’s Place. Surprisingly, the neighbors didn’t complain as they might have done in another neighborhood when faced with the combination of homelessness and HIV. Location, location, location.

Annex I was used for decades as offices for the City and County of Denver, but it was originally built in 1949 as part of a never-finished and ultimately abandoned downtown campus for the University of Denver. It was designed by local architects Smith, Hegner and Moore, with G. Meredith Musick. And although Annex I is radically different from the older neo-classical buildings in the Civic Center, it blends in because it’s been appropriately clad in a similarly cut gray stone. Despite the many architectural plaudits Annex I has received, however, over the years it became a sport among amateurs to hate it, and the administration of Mayor Wellington Webb threatened to demolish it. So it was a surprise when Webb actually saved Annex I, including it in the city’s plans for the new Civic Center Office Building. Government work has become a little easier to look at.

One less ugly, crumbling parking lot; one more nice Denver building. For the last several years, the Civic Center Office Building, a gleaming new twelve-story edifice, has been rising at the north end of Civic Center Park. When it opens this summer, the structure, designed by David Owen Tryba with RNL Design, will provide badly needed office space for the City and County of Denver. The building — especially the main tower, a contemporary neo-modernist confection with dramatically curving walls of aluminum and glass — will also provide a nice complement to the rigidly rectilinear 1949 city-owned international-style Annex I, which will be connected to it by a large atrium. The new building’s height allows a graceful transition between the relatively low profile of the monumental public buildings of the Civic Center and the much taller commercial skyscrapers just behind it in the central business district.

In the wake of September 11, security experts decided that the main entrance to the City and County Building should be locked and all traffic funneled through a side door. Besides being a big pain in the neck for workers and visitors alike, it smacked of a siege mentality gone too far. The decision to finally reopen the doors of City Hall on January 28 afforded Mayor Wellington Webb an opportunity to do a bit of grandstanding: “This is the people’s building, and we are not going to let the terrorists win,” he said. But the plain fact was that taking off the locks and chains provided a minor but significant sign that normalcy was returning.

The city’s official Web address, www.denvergov.org, has been pumped up of late. Real-estate property-tax records have become searchable online, as have contractors’ license records — and businesses can even file their personal-property declarations using the site. That’s your government working for you.

This past January, 30,000 people marched from City Park to Civic Center Park in Denver’s Martin Luther King Jr. “Marade” (a word that combines the civil-rights leader’s name with ‘parade’) to remember one of the greatest men in American history. The annual event — one of the biggest MLK celebrations in the country — is also just plain fun. For one day, differences between people seem to melt away, as black grandfathers march with Hispanic teenagers and white mothers pushing strollers, politicians rub shoulders with labor leaders and teachers march with students. The whole thing makes Colfax Avenue seem like the friendliest place on earth.

It feels great to put on a fresh, clean pair of pants and a shirt, and according to Mike Miller, it feels even better to hang a fresh, clean United States flag from your home or car. That’s the way Miller has felt ever since he bought Carousel Cleaners 32 years ago and began offering flag cleaning for free. “We’ve always done it, but not too many people took us up on it until September 11,” says Miller, who served in the Air Force during the Vietnam War. “But after September 11, we’ve cleaned hundreds. I don’t think we did it with the idea of profit. We did it with the idea that America is America. I’m a patriot and I love my country. After September 11, everybody wanted to do something, but what can you do? You can’t bring those people back, but if you can bring nationalism back, then why not?” Miller says his employees will even press, hang or fold your star-spangled banner if you want them to. Old Glory may be old, but at least it will be clean.

Big flags, small flags, car flags, tall flags. If you still need a flag — and by now, you may have already picked up a couple — Flagworld is the place to pledge your allegiance. “We have flags of all sizes, and everything related to flags, jackets, T-shirts, clocks, stickers, key chains,” says Imad Ardah, who has been part owner of the store — which also sells sports memorabilia and is located on the third level of the Tabor Center — for nine years. There are even different kinds of fabrics for the finicky flag owner to choose from: Cotton gives an old-fashioned look, nylon is the cheapest, polyester is strong, and “super-poly” is the most durable. The biggest United States flag they have is twelve feet by eighteen feet, large enough for even the bulkiest blowhards in the state legislature to wrap themselves in.

In an attempt to bring some humor to the topic of capturing the mother of all terrorists, Colorado entrepreneurs Mark Simmons and Dan Frazier have created Where’s Osama?, a game in which players look for Osama bin Laden by traveling through the caves of Afghanistan as U.S or Afghani military personnel or as a “Geraldo-like” reporter. Available on the Internet, the game also features picture spreads in which you can try to find Osama in a crowd, and outfits — a tutu, cowboy costume or burka — that you can dress him in. Play, and make Osama pay.

Maybe it was the cold. Maybe it was the lack of oxygen at 14,110 feet. Maybe it was the stunning view from the top of Colorado’s most famous mountain. Whatever it was, something clicked in Katharine Lee Bates’s brain on July 22, 1893. As she stood at the summit of Pikes Peak, and as a carriage carried her back to the bottom, she scribbled down the first lines of what would eventually become “America the Beautiful.” Although not as well known as the national anthem, of course, the rousing song has made a major comeback since September 11; it’s been sung since then at nearly every professional sporting event (in addition to the “Star-Spangled Banner”) and other events of all kinds. But the best place to belt out the lyrics — “O beautiful for spacious skies/For amber waves of grain/For purple mountain majesties/Above the fruited plain!/America! America!/God shed his grace on thee/And crown thy good with brotherhood/From sea to shining sea!” — is amid the majesty of Pikes Peak itself, on the very spot that inspired those words.

Founded in 1899, VFW John S. Stuart Post No. 1 was the first VFW post in the nation, and all 103 years of its history can be felt inside. But while the post’s (dwindling) membership is limited to veterans of foreign wars, the restaurant and bar are open to anyone in the mood for a great burger, some good old-fashioned French fries and a couple of cold beers (the sevice may be a little slow, but it’s service for your country). Sit yourself down amid flags, photographs of servicemen, military mementos and actual hardened veterans themselves, and soak up the atmosphere of a bygone era. Sidle up to the guys who served in Vietnam and Korea, or challenge a grizzled gadfly from WWII to a rousing game of billiards, and you’ll know why this is the place to be when you’re feeling warm, fuzzy thoughts about the U.S. of A. on holidays or any old day of the week.

After his twelve years as Colorado’s leader, no one expected former governor and spry septuagenarian Roy Romer to move to a retirement community and break out the shuffleboard. But to take over as the superintendent of Los Angeles Unified Schools, one of the largest and most troubled school districts in the nation? Some guys just can’t get enough. Yet after a number of hiccups involving students, teachers, politicians, unions and, well, just about everyone else, Romer, who started his new assignment in the fall of 2000, has generally received good grades; he’s even scored some points for his periodic appearances on live radio. But that’s not surprising, as Colorado’s leather-jacket-wearing ambassador has always done the job with typical honesty and a touch of class.

Gary Hart’s not afraid to say “I told you so,” and he did just that, beginning with a Playboy interview in February in which the magazine called him the “former senator who predicted the attacks on America.” In fact, Hart got lots of play because of a report he issued in 1999 when he was co-chairman of the U.S Commission on National Security/21st Century. The conclusion of that report read: “Americans will become increasingly vulnerable to hostile attack on our homeland, and our military superiority will not entirely protect us. Americans will likely die on American soil, possibly in large numbers.” Yikes! Will Hart’s newfound popularity be enough to boost him into the national political spotlight or even compel him to run for office again? It sounds like Monkey Business to us.

Most people think politicians are all the same, so instead of voting, why not flip a coin to determine who should win an election? Or better yet, have the candidates pick a card, and whoever picks the highest card gets to hold the office. Sound like a neat trick? Well, it worked in Telluride after town-council candidates Stu Fraser and Jenny Russell each garnered 410 votes in last November’s election. Since state law mandates that election ties be broken by “lot,” town clerk M.J. Schillaci had the two candidates pick cards. Amazingly, Fraser picked the ace of spades. Welcome to politics.

Joyce Foster knows that skateboarding is not a crime, which is why she pushed and pushed and pushed for the construction of the Denver Skatepark, a state-of-the-art facility that finally opened in the summer of 2001. Situated on a prime piece of real estate in the Central Platte Valley, the park was designed with the help of a national team of architects and consultants, including Thrasher magazine’s Kevin Thatcher. Judging by the masses of kids who turn up to ride in it, even on days when the weather is less than ideal, the place turned out just fine. The popularity of the skate park, especially with teenage boys, proves that Foster was right to lobby for it so passionately. The only way Foster could top her present cool status would be by taking the half-pipe herself.

Last summer, when the City of Denver revoked a class of permit that allowed underage patrons into cabarets, Elbra Wedgeworth was the first councilmember to stick up for the kids and venues affected by the change. Soon after, she organized and supervised a community task force that recommended an overhaul of the cabaret-licensing code. In the end, the city council approved an ordinance that allowed sixteen-year-old music fans into local entertainment establishments, a piece of policy that pleased everyone from Mayor Wellington Webb to concert promoters. For her diplomacy, her tenacity and her recognition of youth’s need for positive social outlets like music, we think Wedgeworth rocks.

When the boundaries of Colorado’s new 7th Congressional district were announced, many people dubbed it the “Perlmutter district,” assuming that state senator and popular Jefferson County Democrat Ed Perlmutter would leap at the chance to run for U.S. Congress. But those people didn’t know Perlmutter’s ten-year-old daughter, Zoe. When the legislator consulted his family about running for the seat, Zoe voted no, saying politics made her father “grumpy.” That was all it took: Perlmutter won’t be running. Nevertheless, as state Senate president, Perlmutter has made a heroic effort to get the legislature to pass laws that will guide growth in Colorado. And while those efforts weren’t successful, Perlmutter has emerged as one of the most passionate advocates for Colorado’s future. He may not be on his way to Washington, but we hope he’ll play a role in Colorado’s politics for years to come.

Colorado voters probably wish that getting help from their elected representatives in the State Capitol was as easy as pushing a button. Unfortunately, things don’t work that way. The lawmakers themselves, however, are always a mere arm’s length from assistance — at least when they are traveling up and down in the Statehouse’s notoriously rickety elevators. Press the alarm button, and a signal automatically sounds at the fire department. In the meantime, another button with the words “Help is on the Way” lights up, assuring elevator riders that some things actually do get done in the Capitol.

Karl Rove has come a long way since his days as the fresh-from-Colorado head of the College Republicans in the early ’70s. He made a critical connection during that early political stint: He met George W. Bush, whose father was in charge of the Republican Party. And when Dubya finally moved into the White House, he took Rove with him as an advisor, putting him right in the office previously occupied by Hillary Clinton. “Rove is President Bush’s political Svengali, Robespierre and wizard all rolled into one,” said an analyst with the Hudson Institute just six months after Rove hit town. But he’s not much of a diplomat — or a demographer. In hot water over a crack he made about a small New Hampshire town’s intellectual capabilities, Rover told the Berlin Daily Sun: “Were I ever to belittle small-town America, I would have to do a lot of explaining to my friends and neighbors in Golden, Arvada and Kokomo, Colorado…the places where I grew up.” He’d really have a lot of explaining to do in Kokomo: It was buried under a Climax Mine tailings pond over two decades ago.

The wife of Colorado’s junior Republican senator, Wayne Allard, is her husband’s greatest asset. She accompanies him to every one of the town meetings he holds each year in every one of Colorado’s 64 counties, getting a feel for the serious issues even as she chats casually with constituents. And not only can Joan Allard save her husband’s bacon, but she can fry it up in a pan: After Nebraska senator Ben Nelson, the loser in a CU-Nebraska-game bet, delivered a box of steaks to Senator Allard’s office, Joan prepared “Colorado Peppered Nebraska Steak” — a recipe she cooked up for the occasion — for her husband’s staff.

There she was, Miss America, visiting the Colorado Legislature for her cancer-awareness campaign. Reverend David Meek was back at the State Capitol on a mission from God — to hand out a letter apologizing to any lawmakers he’d offended the week before, “Christian Greetings, Precious Lady Senators” — when he heard that Katie Harmon, the former Miss Oregon, was in the building, and decided he’d like to have his picture taken with a really precious lady. But Miss America’s handlers spirited her out of the Capitol before Meek could get too close. There she goes…

Invited to offer a prayer before the state Senate, Reverend David Meek, pastor at the Assembly of God Glad Tidings Church in Greeley, offended almost everyone when he asked the one Christian God to help make the Pledge of Allegiance mandatory in public schools, to help convince lawmakers to make abortion illegal and to help guide male senators to watch over the “precious ladies” who somehow had been elected to public office.

The fur was flying when the still-recovering Westy, a cat set on fire and thrown to the side of the highway by two ne’er-do-wells last year, showed up at the State Capitol to testify for Senator Deanna Hanna’s SB 48, which would make cruelty to animals a more serious criminal offense. As if to illustrate the severity of the crime, Westy was more testy than a gun lobbyist whose proposal had just been shot down — screeching at strangers and spitting at a seeing-eye dog stationed under one chair. Meow.

Oooh, that sneaky Bob Schaffer: If he weren’t keeping his initial campaign promise and getting out after his third term in the U.S. House of Representatives, we just might have to spank him. Ever since he was elected back in 1996, Schaffer, a conservative (and then some), has been sneaking the letters “AMDG” onto his official congressional stationery — and even some of the pages of his Web site. Separating the church from the state, the initials stand for “ad majorem Dei glorium,” which translates to “for the greater glory of God.”

Republican Bob Schaffer, whose third — and final — term representing the 4th Congressional District ends this year, is going out with a bang. His haiku on www.yourcongress.com:

Rocky Mountain Highs

Might be outlawed by this guy

Good thing Denver’s dead

The 2nd Congressional District rep is one tall drink of non-contaminated water, but on www.yourcongress.com, Mark Udall’s haiku is short and sweet:

Looks like his old man

Environmentalist, too

Not a bad combo

According to www.yourcongress.com, Scott McInnis, who represents Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, ranks only 66th for power, but rates this haiku:

Hey Scott! Relax pal

Just what color is your hair?

It has changed often

It was enough to give you a very bad case of indigestion: There was Denver’s mayor, Wellington Webb, performing meatball surgery at Maggiano’s, a restaurant in the Denver Pavilions whose home base is in Chicago — the city that had just stolen Boeing’s new headquarters from us. But Webb, our biggest meatball, continued to pour on the sauce: “I offer thanks and congratulations to Maggiano’s for their millionth meatball, and best wishes for a million more meatballs!” Yeah, and how about a million more peculiar proclamations — Bill Stuart Day! Sister Ignatius Day! — which the mayor’s office spews out like an endless strand of spaghetti confetti.

Since September 11, security screeners at Denver International Airport have confiscated enough scrap metal — in the form of nail clippers, scissors and letter openers — to build a 747, and fondled enough underwire bras to get second jobs as mammographers. But according to Denver police officers stationed at DIA, the most suspicious and potentially dangerous item confiscated to date were some deer antlers. What, did they think a terrorist might rut his way into the cockpit? D’oe!

When he retires as House Speaker this fall, state representative Doug Dean should have a lock on any future opening Home Depot might have for a greeter. After all, Dean knows how handy the right tools can be. With a screwdriver he just happened to find in his car, for example, he was able to break into his then-fiancée’s home last May (reportedly to retrieve his cell phone), netting him lots of embarrassing headlines, a domestic-violence investigation (no charges, though), and, this past fall, a new wife. Ain’t love grand?

Sorry, wrong number. Coloradans have lots of ideas for what current Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio should do next — and most can’t be published even in this newspaper. But if we really want Jumpin’ Joe to feel our pain, a position as a prison janitor, or a checkout clerk for Kmart blue-light specials, or an Arthur Andersen accountant, just isn’t bad enough. Much better that he be demoted to Qwest customer service, where he can listen to customer complaints for all eternity without a hold button as an option.

Hey, if Time magazine could sell Jefferson County Sheriff John Stone a bill of goods, there’s no reason why he shouldn’t be able to return the favor. Back in the fall of 1999, when it seemed as though the wounds of Columbine might actually start healing, Sheriff Stone got snookered by a Time magazine reporter, who got Stone to pose for an embarrassing photo with the killers’ guns — and also let Time see tapes that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold had made in Harris’s basement, tapes that Jeffco hadn’t yet shown the victims’ families. The magazine used him as a dupe, Stone said. Or was that dope? With a dozen candidates now running for sheriff, almost all of them on Stone’s record, the current sheriff should soon have plenty of dialing time.

Denver’s short on seafood restaurants, and Wynkoop Brewing Co. owner John Hickenlooper is long — very long — on lost causes. Could any cause be more lost than Ocean Journey’s? If the place does tank — and it’s only barely keeping its head above water in bankruptcy court — Hickenlooper could be the one to pull it up from the depths, turning the fried fish house into Long John Hickenlooper’s, a restaurant where diners get to watch their favorite fish become the catch of the day. Come on, John, take the bait!

Westward ho! Bright lights, big titties! Come see her mountains! We put the strip in strip-mining! Georgetown: Where the scenery is on us, and the mayor is on you. Thanks to a mayor with a penchant for inflating both her stories and her breasts, Georgetown wound up in the media G-spotlight this past year. Stripper-turned-hairdresser-turned-mayor Koleen Brooks kept the old mining town hopping with her attempts to oust city officials, her admission of pot-smoking, her insistence that she’d been assaulted (CBI investigation to the contrary). But in the end, her antics were self-defeating and her career self-deflating, another in the series of endless boom-and-bust and boom-boom-and-bustline tales that abound in the West. The results of an April 2 recall election may keep things quiet in Georgetown for a while, but damn, it was fun while it lasted.