Dave Walstrom has streetcar envy. He sees the system in Portland, Oregon, and wants it for Denver, specifically the stretch of East Colfax Avenue between Broadway and Colorado Boulevard that is his fiefdom as executive director of the Colfax Business Improvement District (C-BID). He covets the $1.5 billion in private…
The greatest thing about the place was the phones. They weren’t cordless or modern, but a retro red-plastic take on the classic American telephone, affixed right there to the wall in your booth. There weren’t any salty waitresses to deal with, no debating whether to tip 12 or 12.5 percent…
When the city launched its new 3-1-1 service two weeks ago, Off Limits just had to arrange a face-off between Denver’s non-emergency number and the 24/7 statewide information service, AskColorado. Our early money was on 3-1-1, since we asked AskColorado for the state’s motto two years ago and are still…
Joseph Yacteen, arrested in August 2005 after a crime spree that included three attempted car-jackings and a shooting, pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree murder in Denver District Court on July 18. And how did he plead guilty? With “extreme indifference,” son! But Yacteen’s I-just-don’t-give-a-fuck-swagger should come as no surprise to…
How long should a ten-year-old pay for his sins? Local musician Shea Sweeney, 25, thought he was finally out from under $90,000 in debt he piled up in 1991 as a result of a childhood encounter with a box of matches. This past spring, a panel of federal bankruptcy judges…
During his last appearance in The Message in Westword’s June 29 edition, consumer advocate and self-professed troubleshooter Tom Martino explained that ending a national syndication deal with Westwood One was all his idea. Here’s his original explanation, submitted via e-mail: “I decided that I no longer want to do a…
The fifteen-minute span during which each of us is supposed to be famous has been shrinking ever since Andy Warhol first offered his most memorable bon mot. In contrast, the period for which the once-famous or barely famous must suffer ignominy and embarrassment continues to lengthen, as Ace Young, Colorado’s…
Journalists are often criticized these days for simply disseminating statements made by public officials without critically examining what they’ve said — and rightly so. If the media is to truly serve the public, editorial types must provide analysis, rather than serving as little more than a neutral placard for de…
It’s official. On July 13, a press release sent out under the auspices of Channel 9 president and general manager Mark Cornetta confirmed that the station’s new acquisition, Channel 20, will become an affiliate of My Network TV, a fledgling Fox service, as of September 5. The release offers little…
Those readers who are offended each time a sports story dominates page one of a Denver daily were undoubtedly frosted by the sight of the July 13 Denver Post. The day’s main piece, by reporter Marc Spears, involved the signing of Denver Nuggets star Carmelo Anthony to a long-term contract…
The most contentious development proposal ever to hit the town of Vail was finally resolved on Tuesday, July 10. Voters overwhelmingly approved developer Peter Knobel’s plan to tear down the 37-year-old Crossroads building and replace it with Solaris, a 600,000-square-foot condo-and-retail complex complete with a bowling alley and arcade. The…
They rode north on I-25. Two dozen riders lined up in pairs, rolling side by side, bent low — very low — over engines hissing high-pitched whines. One of the riders was 27-year-old Rashad “Rumble” Mims. They were all headed for I-70, and when Rumble saw a fellow rider veer…
Samantha Peters kicks up dirt as she chases the boys around the track. She’s the only girl in this race of about a dozen seven-year-olds riding mini-dirt bikes. Neil Peters bought the $2,900 mini for his daughter’s third birthday, riding it right into her party. “You did?” Samantha asks her…
From a dingy stepstool, the auctioneer announced that he was starting with a bulk bid: one price for everything left in the pale-blue store at 46 Broadway formerly known as Crown Mercantile. He’d let people bid on individual items — vintage furniture, clothes, jewelry, toys and housewares, mostly picked out…
It turns out that 24-year-old Matt Buschbacher already had experience leading underground groups of men when he moved out to Colorado and started the Denver Pick Up Artists Lair earlier this year. He’d also been a leader of the hate movement. Buschbacher had dropped off the radar of the Southern…
A friend recently called me on a Wednesday evening and asked if I wanted to play Capture the Flag. His request was so flummoxing that I was forced to retreat to my regular domicile for such discomfiture: a bunker constructed almost entirely of panic, save for the support beams, which…
Across town last weekend — the first full weekend since smoking was banned in restaurants, saloons, and small family farms if the pigs object — Off Limits came across people throwing nicotine fits. But amid all this chaos, unexpected order: At Paris on the Platte, the coffeehouse that pioneered the…
As practically everyone with at least one functioning ear has noticed, most terrestrial radio stations that concentrate on music take chances less often than Rush Limbaugh fills prescriptions under his own name. Despite the growing popularity of satellite radio, with its enormous number of specialty shows, old-technology outlets (particularly the…
Jock and Jill A most valuable player: In the June 29 Off Limits, Jill Russell is pictured as another Colfax landmark. Her alleged crime is prostitution — providing a blow job to then-Rockies pitcher Denny Neagle for $40. Rather than being subject to a warrant for her arrest and public…
Props to the Fray, who performed last night on the Late Show with David Letterman, successfully finishing off the triumvirate of late-night talk shows. (We know, we know: The band has actually been on four post-prime-time gabfests, but honestly, can you really consider its appearance on the Late Late Show…
After a five-year legal battle, this morning the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office finally released diaries and other documents seized from the homes of Columbine killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. The materials– a melange of the mundane, the thoroughly adolescent, and the sociopathic– will probably keep school-shooting researchers busy for…
When Bold landed at Denver International Airport six years ago, he felt as if he’d gotten off not a plane, but a time machine. Born into a relatively well-to-do Mongolian family — his father ran the country’s largest cement factory, and his mother worked in a hospital — Bold had…
