Public Amenities Committee - Regular Meeting

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I don't eat stew. Good morning.

I love your dress. Well, now I gotta check out John when he gets here.

Today's his first day back from vacation and he walks in the office like, I appreciate it. You two are one. I just like let you be. How are you? Thank you. My back hurts. I feel it so deeply. Yeah, you do. I will make you laugh.

Good morning. Hi. Good morning, good morning, good morning council members. We're gonna go ahead and get started. I know people are coming in. Council President is joining us, so I'm gonna talk very slowly. Welcome to Mayor Council. Thank you for joining us this morning. We will start with introductions as we get settled in from our city council members, and then we'll jump into announcements. We don't have our distinguished gentleman to my right, so we'll wait. We'll go ahead and pass over to Councilwoman.

Good morning, everyone. Amanda Sandoval, Northwest Avenue District.

We are also a distinguished family.

We are very. And esteemed.

Diana Sawyer, District 5. Laura Ramirez, West Denver District 7.

Jamie Torres, West Denver District 3. Kevin Flynn, Southwest Denver District 2. Good morning, Daniel Watson, Fine District 9.

Serena Gonzalez-Gutierrez, Councilmember-at-Large.

Chantel Dez, District 8.

Good morning, Diana Romero-Campbell, Southeast Denver District 4.

All right, I will go right into announcements from our council members, if you all have any. Yes, councilor.

I'd like to share that we have our Houston Lake Town Hall this Thursday at 6 p.m. at the Habitat for Humanity headquarters at 430 South Navajo. If you are concerned about the future of Houston Lake, come on by. Thank you.

Yes, councilor. Thank you so much. Well, thanks to the lovely person sitting next to me, Councilwoman Lewis, as well as Councilwoman Sandoval, Councilman Hines, Councilman Cashman. Councilwoman Lewis started up this last year, the budget book club series as the budget is rolling out. And so this is an event that allows us to get meaningful public engagement on what is or is not in the city's budget. And as community panelists, we would love to have you all attend. The schedule this year, we will have this Thursday, will be the virtual event. It'll be the City Budget 101. It's a 30-minute crash course on how Denver's budget functions, followed by 30 minutes of open community Q&A. Then on Friday, September 25th at Flight Co Tower in District 8, From 5.30 to 7 is the budget happy hour. So it's more of an informal get-together session. And we'll review what council members heard during the budget hearings. So budget hearings are next week. So this will just come on the heels of that. And we'll be taking into consideration constituent questions, feedback. and want to make sure that people sign up if they're wanting to attend. And then on Saturday, October 3rd, location is to be determined. So stay tuned. That will be from 12 to 2 p.m. And that will be a community convening and workshop. So again, we'll be gathering additional feedback, hearing from folks what they want to see in the budget. So feel free to follow Councilwoman Lewis's page and link tree, and that's where you can find the places to sign up.

Thank you.

Any other announcements? Councilman Watzman?

Thank you so much. I wanted to share one event that's happening on September 26th. It's called Hoop for Safety. It's going to be at the Metro State University. It's a collaborative event. It's not in 5 District 9, but it's an important event that is free to all community members to come out and have a free day working with community to encourage community. health as well as sports within our communities. It's sponsored by the Nuggets, by MSU Denver, and I think it's going to be a great event. So it's Saturday, September 26th from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. I made a public service announcement last night. I want to look into the camera and make it again today. There's been some articles written up about a proposed 400-capacity shelter in the Swansea neighborhood. On the border of Clayton, I do not support building a 400 room shelter in the Swansea community on the border of the Clayton neighborhood. I look forward to having future discussions where in discussions with community now to set up a separate community meeting just to discuss this item. Tonight, we're having a discussion about family shelter that's going to be at 4180 Columbine Street. It is a community information meeting. I'm encouraging community members to come out. There are hundreds of families that are waiting for shelter. Winter is coming. A solution is necessary, and I am willing to lean in with community to look for a solution for these families that have been asking for shelter for well over a year. Thank you, ma'am.

Council President. Thank you. I, okay, so we do our summer series, our South by Southeast concerts in the park. Our concert in August had to be, we canceled it because of severe thunderstorms and lightning. And this week we are planning on having the concert in the park, but we are scheduled to have whole bunch of rain all week long and they are predicting rain right in the middle of the concert. So we are pivoting so we don't have to cancel last minute. We want people to know that we are, and everyone in District 4, that we are going to do something a little different. We are going to have a Fall Fest on October 24th. We are location TBD, connect with the Scoop newsletter, but it's going to be on October 24th. We're going to do a Fall Fest. We're going to have fun. We're going to bring people together, and it will be fantastic. We just won't be doing it in the rain. So for those who are planning on coming to the concert this Saturday, Eisenhower Park, it is canceled and rescheduled for October 24th. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. President. Councilwoman? Thank you. I'm having a park cleanup this Saturday from 10 to 11 at Berkeley Park. The reason why we picked Berkeley is it's on the border of Lakeside, six sides across the street, and it intersects with I-70, and we get lots of complaints about... trash along the I-70 interstate. So it's kind of, I'm working with the mayor's office on these areas in Northwest Denver that are kind of like no man zones where people don't want to take care of them. So we're going to focus on Berkeley Lake. Meet us there. at the playground from 10 to 11. We'll have free coffee, snacks, and tickets. You'll get a free ticket to a concert at the Federal Oriental Theater. And then this weekend also, we're celebrating the Jamming on the Jetty from 1 to 8 p.m. at Sloan's Lake. And as many of you heard, we have figured out with the help of the Department of Finance and our partners at Denver Urban Renewal Authority how to find $50 million to have work on the lake clean up. So it's gonna be a really exciting event this year with a lot of different type of momentum as we've been working on this project for, let's just say my whole life to figure out how to clean up that lake. So thank you, I hope that we all come to the Northside and I see you this weekend, thank you.

All right, any other announcements? All right, we will move into executive session then. Oh, I'm sorry. I will now entertain a motion to move us into executive session. I was waiting for the light to go off. I will now entertain a motion to move us into executive session pursuant to DRMC 2-34A.

I will submit. Second.

Wonderful. For the purpose of, sorry, I didn't read the whole thing. I'm off today. I didn't have enough caffeine. For the purpose of receiving legal advice regarding negotiation of contracts and discussing the use of real estate by the city. Sorry, now I will just ask for a motion and a second.

Motion.

Second. Wonderful. All in favor? Aye. Thank you for your patience.