Opinion & Commentary

Why are the choices for the ninth One Book, One Denver so much better than the previous eight rounds? That’s the question I asked Kristin Rust, spokeswoman for Denver Arts & Venues. She pointed to the commitment of Mayor Michael Hancock, as well as a hard-working committee that came up…

The ninth time’s the charm. After years of serving up the literary equivalent of a Happy Meal for the One Book, One Denver program, the city finally has three great choices for 2012: Through June 22, you can vote for Denver, Enrique’s Journey or The Worst Hard Time, Timothy Egan’s…

I live in the belly of the beast, Denver’s hottest restaurant neighborhood: Lower Highland, or LoHi, as developers have dubbed it. (In response, I refer to my particular block as SoLola — south of Lola.) And with the news that Tavern Hospitality Group plans to put a Tavern LoHi here,…

Congress won’t pass the DREAM act and the Colorado Legislature killed ASSET. But Metropolitan State College (soon to be Metropolitan State University of Denver) is ready to do the right thing for would-be students who are living here illegally, kids who were brought to this country by their parents years…

There were definitely signs. When Westword was working on “Mr. Right?,” our cover story on Ali Hassan, the son of a political powerhouse couple who was recruited by the Republican Party to run for the House District 56 seat in 2008, the 27-year-old candidate took a break from the interview…

“Wilderness, Wildlife and Wonder.” That’s the slogan the feds chose to mark the centennial of Rocky Mountain National Park, which was founded in 1915. Personally, we’d have gone with “Crags, Crowds and Crappy Souvenirs” or “Treks, Tics and Traffic,” but they didn’t ask us. Not for a slogan, at least…

“I wonder how newspapers like Westword survived without weekly stories promoting gay, marijuana, and goth newslines! Patty, you should be ashamed!” So writes The Wilk in response to our current cover story, “Over the Rainbow,” which details efforts to stop the bullying of gay teenagers…

While the city contemplates what to do with Triangle Park, the sliver of land at Broadway and Park Avenue West that was officially renamed Eddie Maestas Park and is now a mess known as the Bumuda Triangle, the Stout Street Children’s Park just a few blocks away makes urban planning…

Gustavo Arellano, author of Ask a Mexican, returned to the Su Teatro stage last night, where eighteen months ago he’d discussed immigration with Tom Tancredo. Before that debate, Tancredo and Arellano had met across the street for dinner at El Noa Noa. And no matter how he feels about Mexicans,…

“Denver has the most gabacho gabachos in the United States,” Gustavo Arellano, author of Ask a Mexican, proclaimed yesterday, name-checking Tim Tebow (briefly), John Elway and Tom Tancredo, with whom he’d debated immigration eighteen months ago on the same Su Teatro stage…

The list of Colorado celebrities is short. John Elway. Don Cheadle. Jessica Biel. John Elway. Amy Adams. Judy Collins. John Elway. Tim Tebow didn’t last a season as a Broncos starter; John Denver has been dead more than a decade, even if he keeps getting added to local halls of…

Artist Richard Vincent was memorialized at a service Saturday at the Denver Arts Student League. His sculpture that once graced the 16th Street Mall is just a memory, too, as is the legendary landmark it was designed to complement. Both are consigned to the storehouse of history…

Urban camping is now banned in Denver. But the city’s controversial new ordinance designed to cut down on the unpleasant problem of the homeless sleeping on sidewalks and along the 16th Street Mall doesn’t solve the puzzle of Triangle Park — better known as the “Bumuda Triangle.” Back in the…

Parking at Smart meters can be stupid. After encountering two dumb problems in the space of a few hours downtown, we asked people to submit their most stupid parking story — for the chance of winning a $50 Smart card to the city’s meters. But anyone looking for parking on…

This is National Small Business Week, but local entrepreneurs should think big. “Better cities, better entrepreneurs…and vice versa,” proclaims [i4c], and the venture is putting its money where its mouth is, with a contest that will give three ventures not just investment money, but support that will galvanize the businesses…

The 500-space, three-month parking pilot project that’s installed sensors under many of the meters downtown may enable Denver to teach its Smart meters new tricks — including zeroing out any time left on a meter when a car pulls out. But those sensors weren’t smart enough to fix two dumb…

With the city facing a $94 million shortfall in its 2013 budget, every penny counts. As part of the pilot project that recently installed sensors in 500 parking places downtown, Denver is now zeroing out its Smart meter the moment a car pulls out. And keeping the change…

Aurora’s tourism efforts got a big boost Friday, when the state’s Economic Development Commission approved $81 million in Regional Tourism Act incentives for the hotel/resort/convention complex planned by Gaylord Entertainment Co. The project could open by 2016 — which means Aurora has a few years to roll out a real…