Platt Park
Residents' Coalition

Community Bulletin Board
Contents:
ARC Thrift Store at 1515 S Broadway is requesting neighbors' support
Denver Department of Environmental Health (DEH) is proposing to update and revise the City’s air pollution control ordinance
Contract Negotiations Update from the Superintendent of Denver Public Schools
Abandoned Pets in Foreclosed Homes
Transition to Digital Television
Tree Care
Recycle CFLs (compact fluorescent bulbs) at Ace Hardware Stores

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The Washington Park Profile is pleased to announce the launch of its new web site:
www.washparkprofile.com.

 
 
ARC Thrift Store at 1515 S Broadway is requesting neighbors' support as they go through a Variance Request with the City. 
     If you wish to write a letter of support, click here for formatted letter. If you like being "Green", support thrift stores! Copy of the Variance Notice from the City.
The ARC store is currently going through a variance request with the City and County of Denver. We are schedule to go before them on Oct 7. Our request is to allow us to continue to operate as we have over the past 40 yrs, receiving donations through our back alley, and hold them there till we can bring them in for processing. The other variance request is to allow us to continue to operate even though we cannot physically fit an additional 7 parking spaces in our lot.

This location is the first over 40 years, and not only have we been able to provide services to our neighborhood, but also support our mission, of supporting the developmentally disabled. A strong argument in our favor for this variance, would be to present as many letters from our neighbors to the City and County Board Meeting, showing your support and that you have no issues with how we currently operate. We desperately hope you can assist us, by sending the word out to your association for this help. I am attaching a formatted letter, to minimize the inconvenience of your members, in hopes to get as many letters returned as soon as possible. All they would have to do is fill in their information. They of course are more than welcome to draft their own if they would prefer. They can either return the e-mail to myself at emartinez@arcthrift.com, mail to the main office arc Thrift Stores, 7721 W. 6th Ave. Unit G, Lakewood CO 80214, to my attention or simply drop it off at the store to my attention as well.

Again, we thank you immensely and appreciate anything you can do for us.
Sincerely,
Erick Martinez
arc Thrift Stores,  District Manager
303-947-4124

"Through high standards and a commitment to excellence and integrity, the mission of the arc Thrift Stores is to enhance the lives of individuals with developmental disabilities and their families, by providing funding to support the ARC and ACL programs of Colorado
 

The Denver Department of Environmental Health (DEH) is proposing to update and revise the City’s air pollution control ordinance this fall.  In the attached summary matrix, you will find the reference to the section, the current requirement(s) in the existing ordinance, the proposed changes, and the important considerations. 

The link to the current municipal code can be found here: http://www.municode.com/resources/gateway.asp?pid=10257&sid=6
 
Issue Current Citation Existing Ordinance Proposed Changes Important Considerations
Civil or administrative penalties None This is a new provision to the ordinance. Allows the department to administer civil or administrative penalties to persons who violate provisions of the ordinance or any order required by the department.  -- Modeled after other city agencies and other municipalities.
-- Administrative and civil penalties may be given as opposed to issuing a general violations summons to appear in court.
Registration of Air Pollution Device, Facility, Process 4-9 Every device, facility, or process that emits air contaminants through a stack or chimney shall be registered with the department Delete Entire Section -- Duplicative of State permitting process
-- Never been used
-- Administrative resources don't exist to do this work
-- Burden on business
-- Little to no air quality benefit
Nuisance Odors 4-10(c) Violations exist if one (1) or more odorous air contaminants leaves the premises where it originates for a period exceeding 30 minutes. -- Violations are defined as 5 or more verifiable odor complaints from separate properties, received within a 8 hour period and founded through retrospective meteorological analysis, or

-- A single odor is detected at 7 (or more) volumes of odor free air to 1 volume of odorous air (per state regulation 2).		 -- Modeled after other municipalities, though there are only a small number (i.e. 3 violations, 8 violations).
-- Denver odor complaint history was also used
-- Provides better clarity and removes the vagueness regarding when a violation exists.
-- Have had difficulty with enforcement as written (vague; measured at what level?; how many complaints constitute a nuisance?)
 -- Anticipate numerous comments from businesses and public.
Issue Current Citation Existing Ordinance Proposed Changes Important Considerations
Air Quality Permits and Fees 4-21 Requires existing and new facilities to obtain an air pollution permit from the City. City may require emission offsets if ambient air standards (NAAQS) or other health benchmarks are exceeded. -- Deletes permitting requirements

-- Retains ability of DEH to review conditional use zoning permits

-- DEH approval/disapproval does not guarantee fate of zoning permit. 		 -- Duplicative of State permitting process
 -- No permits ever issued
-- Resources don't exist to do most of this work
-- Burden on business
-- Conditional review assures public that environmental impacts are considered.
Emissions Offsets 4-22 May require emisisons offsets up to 1.5:1 from industrial facilities based on emissions levels, an air quality review, or  an inhalation risk assessment. -- May require offsets of 1.1:1 (tied to federal New Source Review provisions of Clean Air Act). 

-- Ties this only to industrial facilities that undergo an air quality  review. 
-- Eliminates emission credit "cap-n-trade" provisions 		 -- Still leaves DEH with discretion to require offsets in adversely impacted areas
-- Never been used
-- Removes some administrative burden.
Solid Fuel Permits 4-24(c)2 Requires city permit for EPA/State approved solid fuel burning devices to burn on red days. -- Removes city permit requirement. 

-- Devices will still have to meet CDPHE Phase III (i.e. clean burning) requirements.		 -- No cost permit is an administrative burden
-- Only have ~100 registered devices in Denver (out of tens of thousands that we know exist).
Fugitive Particulate Emissions 4-25 Violations exist if particulate matter leaves an unenclosed operation such as a construction site, and enters onto an adjacent property or right of way. -- DEH may require a Fugitive Particulate Control Plan for large construction sites and activities where the department has received one or more verifiable complaints.

-- Plan must address periods of construction inactivity including weekends, evenings and holidays.  		 -- Modeled after other municipalities 
-- Covers sites less than 25 acres
 -- Only required if founded complaints are received
-- Encourages builders and developers to anticipate particulate control strategies from the inception of the project
 -- Anticipate numerous comments from business and public.
Issue Current Citation Existing Ordinance Proposed Changes Important Considerations
Sulfur Dioxide Emissions; Storage of Petroleum Products; Ozone Depleting Compounds 4-26, 4-27, Article V Outdated provisions that are covered by other regulations developed over the past 20 years. Delete entire sections -- Redundant with State Health Department regulation
-- Denver currently uses the State's authority.
Asbestos 4-28 Limits asbestos emissions to Denver developed Table A limits for different types of asbestos fibers.   Delete most of section and adopt by reference Colorado Air Pollution Regulation 8.  Leaves Denver some flexibility to deal with emergency asbestos "spills." -- Current ordinance language pre-dates State Regulation 8 
-- Denver currently uses State's (Reg 8) authority.
Idling Vehicles 4-43 Limited to 10 mins per hour; exceptions for cold temperatures, emergency equipment, and auxiliary power equipment Change idling limit to 5 mins per hour; keep same exceptions. -- 5 mins is among top 1/3 of other states/locals. 
-- Consistent with EPA Model Idling Rule.
 

Contract Negotiations Update from the Superintendent of Denver Public Schools

Dear Denver Public Schools Parents: 

On behalf of everyone in DPS, we want to thank you for sending your children to the Denver Public Schools.  This is a very optimistic time for DPS. Our achievement rates are up across the district and the annual cycle of budget cuts that we suffered for five years are at an end. Of great significance, we have refinanced our pension, allowing us to invest millions of additional dollars in our schools and classrooms this year. And thanks to Mayor Hickenlooper's preschool initiative and the support of Denver's voters, we have expanded full-day early childhood education from 500 to 2,000 children, and full-day kindergarten by 25% this year.  This means that for the first time in Denver's history, over 90% of our five-year-olds are in full-day kindergarten.

We are writing you today regarding the current contract negotiations with our teachers' union.  We know you have heard many rumors over the summer about the possibility of a strike. We want to assure you that we will do everything we can to avoid such an occurrence.  We believe the vast majority of our teachers feel the same way.        

Our only goal in these discussions is to create a compensation system in Denver that will better attract and retain teachers to the Denver Public Schools.  We have no other interest here. 

Three years ago, Denver's taxpayers took a huge step forward to achieve this objective by passing ProComp, a new pay system for teachers.  Unfortunately, ProComp is not working as it was intended.  This year alone, we are collecting $31 million in taxes and interest into the fund - but are only spending $7 million of it.  If we don't act now, in ten years, ProComp will have over $300 million just sitting in the bank.  Our fundamental issue is that this will not help our teachers and will certainly not help our children.

If our main goal is to improve our children's education, then this is a particularly critical time.  Under the current system we are losing junior and mid-career teachers to higher paying suburban districts at an alarming rate.  Our kids can't afford this.  The fact is that we need to be investing today's tax dollars on teachers who are supporting today's students.

In our proposals, we seek to:

  • Use the ProComp money to pay teachers more;
  • Reward teachers for teaching in high-poverty schools, teaching difficult subjects like science, math and special education and driving student achievement;
  • Make these incentives available to many more teachers and many more schools than under the current system; and
  • Honor our commitment to senior teachers by continuing to offer high salaries and total compensation in later years.

We believe strongly that this proposal best reflects the voters' intent when they passed ProComp.  Moreover, under our proposal, DPS would have the highest starting compensation of any district in Colorado; while providing a 16% average pay increase to all teachers - at a time when many people in the country are facing wage freezes.  

Click here to read a detailed description of our proposal, the A+ Denver report and newspaper articles.

Although we have a long way to go, we are very optimistic about the future of the Denver Public Schools.  We hope that, as more people understand the facts of our proposal, we will be able to move past the current conflict and enter into an era of renewed cooperation for the benefit of all of Denver's children. We will keep you posted as the current discussions unfold.

Thank you again for sending your children to the Denver Public Schools.

Sincerely,

Theresa Peña                                                   Michael F. Bennet

President, Board of Education                       Superintendent

Denver Public Schools                                    Denver Public Schools

 
Abandoned Pets in Foreclosed Homes
Attached is an article that the Department of Environmental Health wrote for RNO’s to include in your newsletters regarding abandoned pets in foreclosed homes. This is becoming more and more of an issue across the Front Range and the more awareness we can bring to the issue the sooner we can affect change. * Read Article *
Heather Barry
Neighborhood Liaison
Office of Mayor John W. Hickenlooper,
City and County of Denver
720-865-9103 phone,  720-865-9040 fax,  www.denvergov.org

Transition to Digital Television
Please read the attached documents regarding the City’s efforts to educate residents on the upcoming transition to Digital Television.
  
Tree Care

Take care of the Trees…So they can take care of you! Public comment requested for new rules and regulations

Denver’s tree-lined streets are a testament to the lasting care that street trees have received from Denver’s residents. For more than 100 years, this responsibility has been placed on Denver’s residents (DRMC §57-18b). Just as it takes a village to raise a child, it takes the care of every citizen to maintain a healthy urban canopy of trees.

The care of Denver’s street trees is important because a healthy urban forest contributes to the livability of our city on the high plains. Denver’s Forestry Department strives to clearly communicate with property owners about specific code discrepancies and allow them to respond accordingly.

While this model of residential care for street trees has been largely successful, occasionally property owners are unwilling to perform their obligations to keep Denver’s streets safe and free of hazards.

 To encourage timely compliance with tree safety requirements, Forestry plans to implement a system of fines directly toward those refusing to fix a safety problem. Public comment is currently requested as rules and regulations are developed. Draft regulations can be viewed through September at www.denvergov.org/forestry.

Recycle CFLs (compact fluorescent bulbs) at Ace Hardware Stores ...find sites that accept them at:
  
 

 
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