Pilot will Offer Free Transit Service between Cherry Creek Shopping Center, Capitol Hill & Civic CenterDENVER – Mayor Michael B. Hancock, members of Denver City Council and leaders from Denver’s transportation and business communities came together today to launch a new on-demand shuttle service that will provide a convenient new option for people commuting in and around the Cherry Creek, Capitol Hill and Civic Center neighborhoods. The six-month pilot service, offering free rides, will give retail, hospitality and service workers, as well as neighborhood residents, more ways to get around central Denver, especially during the forthcoming holiday shopping season.
“RTD is the foundation of our mass transit system and does a fantastic job, but we can't sit back and expect RTD to solve all our transportation problems,” said Mayor Hancock. “Cities like Denver need to step up, take the initiative, and be more innovative to enhance or supplement the service our regional transit partner provides so well." Starting tomorrow, three City Shuttle vehicles will operate on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from 7:00am to 10:00pm. Each shuttle will be operated by Chariot and can hold up to 14 riders, with one shuttle having ADA accessibility. To use, riders download the Chariot app, available on iOS and Android, and reserve a seat on the City Shuttle of their choice (see service route map attached). “Chariot is designed to help cities ease congestion and parking challenges in dense and busy neighborhoods like those in and around Cherry Creek," said Chariot CEO Dan Grossman. "Denver has welcomed Chariot as a solution and we are excited at the opportunity to offer a new and convenient way for those working in the Cherry Creek area to get to and from work." According to a Transportation Solutions survey conducted last year, about 12,000 people work in the retail, hospitality and service industry in Cherry Creek and have an average income of about $30,000 per year. During the pilot, City Shuttle will be free for all riders. “My neighbors across the city need convenient, affordable transportation,” said Councilwoman Mary Beth Susman. “Transportation is important to our quality of life, and the more choices, the better. This is a great step forward. Denver’s City Council is proud to partner with the Transportation Solutions Foundation and Chariot to get people moving to work, home, and out enjoying our beautiful city.” “We are thrilled to welcome Chariot to the area and are proud to be working with our partners to introduce this much-needed ‘microtransit’ service,” said Julie Underdahl, President and CEO of the Cherry Creek North Business Improvement District. “Within Cherry Creek North there are thousands of retail and service workers and Chariot will help get them to their places of work. The connection to the surrounding neighborhoods and Cherry Creek North is vitally important to our community.” Increasing access to technology to make trips easier and faster aligns with Denver’s Mobility Action Plan, which is providing people with more transportation choices, so they feel more comfortable utilizing other ways to get around town. “The City is very enthusiastic about the implementation of ‘microtransit’ as a complementary component of our transit system,” said Councilman Wayne New. “Chariot will give greater flexibility in transportation planning as we address the critical first and last mile to our light rail system.” “Chariot for Cherry Creek and Capitol Hill is a transit-supplement,” said Chris Nevitt, Board Chair of the Transportation Solutions Foundation. “Its greatest value in the future may be as a transit-enhancement to connect more of our citizens, more seamlessly, to more of our existing transit network.” Denver Public Works will gather data during the pilot to better understand usage and see if “microtransit” can help fulfill a first mile-last mile connection between Capitol Hill and the Cherry Creek Shopping Center. The $250,000 pilot is funded through the Denver Smart City program, which is working to connect people to mobile, affordable and environmentally-sustainable city services through leveraging strong partnerships, technology and innovation. About Denver Smart City Denver’s Smart City program has the vision that Denver citizens have immediate, complete access to city services in a manner that is mobile, affordable and environmentally sustainable. To achieve the vision, Denver Smart City will connect people to mobile, affordable and environmentally-sustainable city services by leveraging strong partnerships, technology and innovation that are holistic, inclusive, equitable and sustainable to enable people-centered, performance-driven, real-time solutions. For more information, please visit denvergov.org/denversmartcity. About Chariot Chariot is reinventing transportation with a microtransit solution that is fast, reliable and affordable for people living in today’s cities. Riders can easily reserve a seat on a Chariot via the iOS or Android app, and hop on one of the company’s 14-passenger Ford Transit vehicles operated by friendly, professional employee drivers. After launching in San Francisco in 2014, the company participated in Y Combinator’s Winter 2015 class and was acquired in September 2016 by Ford Smart Mobility to serve as the cornerstone for its global shuttle services business. Chariot runs more than 100 daily routes serving San Francisco, New York, Austin, Seattle, Columbus, Denver, Chicago, Detroit and London. For more information, please visit www.chariot.com. 2018 Sip & Savor Benefit Overview
Each year CCNNA organizes the Sip & Savor Benefit to raise funds for local non-profit organizations. The 2018 Sip & Savor Benefit will be held Thursday evening September 20th at Room & Board located at 222 Detroit Street. Swirls and sips are compliments of The Vineyard Wine Shop and Vinue Food and Wine Bar. Delicious snacks are provided by Milwaukee St. Tavern, The Thirsty Lion, Grind, North Italia, and Maggie and Molly’s Bakery. These generous sponsors are donating their goods and services for the benefit and all proceeds from ticket sales will be donated to Urban Peak and the Ross-Cherry Creek Library equally. Urban Peak is the only non-profit organization in Denver that provides a full complement of services for youth ages 15 through 24 experiencing homelessness or at imminent risk of becoming homeless. It’s a Colorado organization so all the dollars go directly to serve Denver Metro youth. Urban Peak’s goal is to help these young people become self-sufficient adults. The Ross-Cherry Creek Library connects people with information, ideas, and experiences to enrich lives and strengthen the community. The Ross-Cherry Creek Library will use these funds to support ongoing programs at its local branch, such as discussion groups, book groups, community conversations, story times and much more. The Benefit is open to all. Tickets are $45 for non-CCNNA members and $30 for CCNNA members. Tickets may be purchased at https://ccnneighbors.com/. At last night's meeting, we discussed the plan for Verizon to install 30'1" tall cell towers in and around our neighborhood. This has been a hot topic debate throughout Denver. A representative from Councilman Wayne New's office provided an update on the status of this project, and offered the following recommendations for action for anyone in the neighborhood who is interested: "We sympathize with the community’s concerns and continue to make this issue one of our office’s top priorities. Councilman New has been working with Public Works to improve the location requirements for small cell infrastructure, with an emphasis on co-location. He was successful in pushing these poles to the edges of properties, corners and alleys (when possible), establishing distancing requirements for new poles and imposing a notification requirement to adjacent impacted residents. There are not many viable ways for homeowners to block the installation of these poles in their right-of-way. Federal and State regulations require the City of Denver to permit these poles in the right-of-way. You are welcome to provide your input on the individual encroachment permits as part of the permitting process. (Unfortunately there is not a way to directly link to a specific encroachment/permit. Interested parties will have to search for the encroachment that contains the poles they are would like to comment on – for example 2018-ENCROACHMENT-0000054. At the top of the specific encroachment page is a grey button, clicking that will take you to a place to provide comments.) But note that Public Works has very limited reasons that a permit can be rejected. We understand that there are health concerns from many neighbors as well. The Executive Director and Public Health Administrator for the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment provided this response: "Radiofrequency (RF) signals, such as those used with cell phone communication and cell towers, is not the same type of radiation one would be exposed to when receiving an x-ray. RF fields are non-ionizing radiation, meaning it is not strong enough to change the structure of atoms it contacts. Ionizing radiation can result in chemical changes in the body but because RF fields have lower energy they cannot cause ionization or cell damage. Hundreds of new research studies have investigated whether health problems can be linked to cell phone use or proximity to cell phone towers but to the best of my knowledge, none of those studies have been able to definitively link the two." Frustratingly, local municipalities do not have the legal authority to block installation of small cell infrastructure based on health concerns. Section 704(a) of the 1996 Telecommunications Act expressly preempts state and local government regulation of the placement, construction, and modification of personal wireless service facilities on the basis of the environmental effects of radio frequency emissions to the extent that such facilities comply with the FCC's regulations concerning such emissions. 47 U.S.C. §332(c)(7)(B)(iv). We encourage residents to call or email our office with any questions or concerns.” You are welcome to contact Verizon as well. We would like to encourage all interested parties to express their desire for Verizon to quickly reach an agreement with Xcel on co-location and to prioritize co-location in their 5G rollout. Note: this would help to reduce the number of poles being constructed. The contact for Verizon is: Debbie Essert Verizon Wireless Engr IV Spec-Real Estate/Mountain SubMarket 3131 S Vaughn Way #550 Aurora, CO 80014 Please see the attached files, including the current entrance requirements, FAQ information sheet and design guidelines on small cell infrastructure.
Thanks to all of the neighbors who turned out for the meeting last night! We felt like it was a productive conversation and really covered a lot of issues, from the cell towers to parking to Landmarks to alcohol in our Parks.
Further to the last point, we received the following information from Councilman New's office earlier this morning: Denver’s Parks and Recreation Department is trying to simplify and unify regulations for the sale and consumption of alcohol at events in all of their parks. They are piloting a program which starts Jan. 1, 2019 and expires Dec. 31, 2019 before permanent rules go into place for 2020. The City of Denver has an extensive page of answers to Frequently Asked Questions as well as the latest version of the proposed changes at https://www.denvergov.org/content/denvergov/en/denver-parks-and-recreation/parks/park-rules-public-policy.html Dear SANA Residents:
We hope you are all enjoying summertime in Denver and are taking full advantage of all that our neighborhood has to offer during the warm summer months. Your gardens all look lovely! The Parkway is in full bloom and you may have noticed that some bright yellow signs have also sprouted up. That means it must be time for our next General Membership Meeting! Please join us at 7pm on Wednesday, July 18th at the Parish Family Center of the Good Shepherd Church to meet and mingle with your neighbors while discussing important community news. Councilman Wayne New will be on hand to update us on his recent activities and any news or upcoming decisions that affect our community. Our board committees will provide key updates, including Traffic, Crime & Safety, and Landmarks and Zoning. On the subject of Landmarks and Zoning, we will discuss the 3101 E 7th Avenue Parkway construction project and associated Landmarks file/decision. We have invited a representative from Landmarks to attend and hope they will be able to attend. We will also seek consensus regarding Verizon's proposed 30' tall cell towers within SANA and Congress Park neighborhoods. Other new business will include a review of Denver Parks & Recreation's alcohol policy and parking challenges within the neighborhood (i.e. limited parking available). Is there any new business you would like to discuss? Bring it up at the meeting or feel free to email us in advance at [email protected]. We hope to see you on Wednesday night! Warmly, Your SANA Board 3101 E 7th Avenue Parkway Construction Project HEARING NOTICE
1 pm on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, 201 W. Colfax Ave., room 4.F.6 To our SANA Members & Constituents: This communication is intended to inform our members of our understanding of the status of the home renovation project at 3101 E. 7th Avenue Parkway, and to notify you of an upcoming Landmark Preservation Committee (LPC) hearing on the project’s proposed new scope. The purpose of this notification is to ensure that any interested party, either in support or opposition of the project, is informed and can participate if so desired. From the communications our Board has received and/or reviewed, the City describes the status of the project as follows:
First, from the information we received in the hearing notice it appears that the scope of work that has been performed outside of permit and without Landmark review or approval has been extensive. Specifically, the work includes “Violations- Basement windows, Kitchen window, skylights, addition changes”. Second, the Landmark Review recommendation is “Denial”, which means that if that recommendation is accepted by the commission it would require the homeowner and their professionals to start over again with the design review and permitting process, public notification, etc. LPC meetings are open to the public, with an opportunity for interested or affected parties to speak on a project at the meeting. As outlined above, we want to make sure that anyone who is interested is informed of this hearing and can participate if so desired, either in support or opposition of the project. However, because SANA has not been asked to get involved in any significant way other than to inform our members, our organization does not intend to take a position on the project. We hope this information will be useful to anyone who is interested in this project. Any further questions can be directed to our Landmark & Zoning Committee Chair Svein Reichborn-Kjennerud using the email address [email protected]. To visit the LPC website for more information, click here to see the staff report and submittal. Thank you, and we look forward to seeing you all (and the neighbors you’ll bring with you!) at our next general membership meeting on July 17th! Sincerely, Your 7th Avenue Neighborhood Association Board In appreciation of our patience and understanding during the recent renovation, Good Shepherd Catholic Parish has extended an invitation to the East 7th Avenue Parkway Neighborhood for a concert on Sunday, April 8th at 2pm. Note: This is not a religious service but is instead a kind gesture to the neighborhood and a way of saying thanks. We'll see you there! We are happy to announce a reinvigorated Real Estate Update, courtesy of Rob Kishbaugh and Kentwood Real Estate in Cherry Creek North. We'll send out monthly updates on the Denver housing market as well as SANA-specific neighborhood analysis. Click this link for the full report. |
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