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Yahoo
28-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Historic Denver calls proposed Lincoln Street walkway ‘wasteful,' ‘functionally useless'
DENVER (KDVR) — In 2026, Colorado is set to celebrate its 150th birthday, and the state is planning to construct 'an iconic pedestrian walkway connecting the Colorado State Capitol, Lincoln Veterans Memorial Park and Civic Center,' but some have concerns. The walkway would form a loop in the northern part of Lincoln Veterans Memorial Park before crossing Lincoln Street and ending at the steps to the Colorado Capitol building. On Facebook, Gov. Jared Polis touted the walkway as making it easier for visitors to the Capitol to 'access and enjoy Lincoln Veterans Park while enjoying and learning from art from local artists.' FOX31 Newsletters: Sign up to get breaking news sent to your inbox 'This interactive experience will showcase Colorado's history and look to our even stronger future,' Polis wrote on Facebook on Sunday. Others are not quite as sold on the idea, including Historic Denver, a nonprofit that focuses on preserving urban history. The organization stated in a release that it does not believe the proposed design 'aligns with federal guidelines, city policy, nor the State's own 2019 Cultural Landscape Report.' 'Functionally, the raised walkway does not follow the paths naturally followed by pedestrians as they make their way between two places,' the organization said in a press release. 'Historic Denver questions whether the bridge will be utilized by most pedestrians, who will continue to utilize the at-grade crossings at Colfax and 14th Avenues. Indeed, many urban pedestrian bridges, once common in cities such as Minneapolis and Cincinnati, have since been dismantled due to underuse, safety issues, and their negative effect on street-level vitality.' The Governor's Office said the design reflects Colorado's topography, 'specifically the state's flowing rivers.' The walkway will include Colorado materials, like sandstone, marble and granite, and will also feature viewing platforms, sculptural monuments and new artworks from Colorado artists. Historic Denver also questioned whether the bridge would impact civic protests staged at the Capitol, such as the recent 50501 protests. 'Denver Civic Center Historic District is one of the city's most historic places, afforded the highest possible level of recognition at both federal and local levels,' wrote John Deffenbaugh, president and CEO of Historic Denver. 'Historic Denver supports the State's desire to use art to celebrate the anniversary, but we believe this is the wrong way to go about it. Plowing a functionally useless bridge through this historic site serves no purpose but does extensive damage.' These scenic train rides through Colorado are among the nation's best: USA Today Deffenbaugh added that he's aware that the Denver Landmark Preservation Commission must approve the overpass bridge before the project can move forward. 'We urge the Commission and the public to oppose this wasteful proposal and, instead, consider measures to prioritize pedestrians, enhance crosswalks, and calm traffic to create a safer and more pedestrian-friendly environment at street level,' Deffenbaugh said. To that end, Historic Denver has started a petition. Historic Denver also says the construction of the walkway would cost up to $20 million, and could be expanded to also span Broadway. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Colorado could allow longer time to fulfill open records requests
A view inside the Colorado Capitol toward the entrance to the Senate, Feb. 6, 2024. (Quentin Young/Colorado Newsline) Colorado could soon allow governments to take longer to fulfill requests subject to the Colorado Open Records Act under a bill in the state Legislature, but it includes a carve out for journalists. Senate Bill 25-77 passed a House committee Monday and now heads to the full House chamber for consideration. It passed the Senate on a 27-6 vote in February. The bill would give custodians of government records five days, instead of three, to respond to CORA requests. It would extend that timeframe to 10 days from seven if 'extenuating circumstances' exist, such as if a request that encompasses a large quantity of records that could not reasonably be gathered in five days. It would add an extenuating circumstance if the record custodian is not scheduled to work within the response period. 'For a lot of our smaller entities, it is really hard to comply with three days,' Rep. Matt Soper, a Delta Republican, said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Soper is running the bill with Democratic Rep. Michael Carter of Aurora, Democratic Sen. Cathy Kipp of Fort Collins and Republican Sen. Janice Rich of Grand Junction. It comes after a failed effort last year to amend CORA by labeling some people 'vexatious requesters.' A high volume of records requests can interfere with the ability of school boards and government offices to perform their core functions, sponsors and supporters say. Karen Wick, a lobbyist for Jefferson County, said that the county saw 217 requests in 2019, but that jumped to 650 in 2024. A recent request sought information about the number of acres affected by a tree removal, resulting in 36 hours of work that yielded over 1,000 emails and 300 documents, she said. 'When Colorado law requires us to respond within three to seven days, with this number of requests, we end up having to put our other normal work aside so we can fulfill them,' she said. Media would still be subject to the three-day timeline. Soper said that is because journalists are often very specific about their records requests, making them easier to complete. When Colorado law requires us to respond within three to seven days, with this number of requests, we end up having to put our other normal work aside so we can fulfill them. – Karen Wick, a lobbyist for Jefferson County But that provision is a sticking point for opponents of the bill, who argue it gives journalists preferential treatment over regular citizens who request records. 'Us citizens get to put up with a lot of the policy that the government puts out. But bills like this make citizens second class to the media and I question the fairness of that,' said Cory Gaines, who runs the Colorado Accountability Project Substack newsletter. Jeffrey Roberts, the executive director of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition, testified that an extended timeline creates another obstacle for records requests. He said that there have been more efforts to restrict, rather than expand, access to records in recent years. 'Fees already are a significant barrier to obtaining public records, which is why governments don't need a reason to take longer to process CORA requests,' he said. If a custodian determines that a request is 'for the direct solicitation of business for pecuniary gain,' such as a business wanting to reach out directly to people identified in a records request, governments would be able to charge the 'reasonable cost' of fulfilling the request, other than the $41.37 maximum hourly rate, and take 30 days to complete the request. The bill would not prevent those types of requests. Other provisions in the bill would let governments treat two similar CORA requests made by the same person within two weeks of one another as one request. It also would require that governments put their CORA process and record retention policy online, give a requester a breakdown of the cost for record retrieval if requested, and allow electronic payments for CORA requests if the government accepts electronic payment for other services. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
