For the weekly general session of your Denver City Council.

Tonight's coverage of Denver City Council starts now.

Good afternoon, everyone.

Thank you for taking the time to join us for the Denver City Council's meeting.

Today is Monday, December 15th, 2025.

Tonight's meeting is being interpreted into Spanish.

Sam or Jasmine?

Sam.

Sam, would you please introduce yourself and let our viewers know how to enable translation on their devices?

Yes, of course.

Thank you for having us.

Good afternoon, everyone.

My name is Sam Guzman with the COC joining you virtually through Zoom.

And along with my colleague Jasmine, we will be interpreting today's meeting into Spanish.

Please allow me a quick minute while I give instructions in Spanish as to how to access interpretation.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much, Sam.

Oops.

Welcome to the Denver City Council meeting on Monday, December 15th, 2025.

Council members, please join Councilmember Flynn in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Council members, please join Council Member Flynn as they lead us into the uh the Denver City Council land acknowledgement.

The Denver City Council honors and acknowledges that the land on which we reside is the traditional territory of the Ute, Cheyenne, and Arapaho peoples.

We also recognize the 48 contemporary tribal nations that are historically tied to the lands that make up the state of Colorado.

We honor elders, past, present, and future, and those who have stewarded this land throughout generations.

May this acknowledgement demonstrate a commitment to working to dismantle ongoing legacies of oppression and inequities, and recognize the current and future contributions of indigenous communities in Denver.

Thank you, Councilmember.

Madam Secretary, we'll call.

Council members Heinz.

Here.

Romero Campbell.

Here.

Torres.

Here.

Albitres.

Here.

Flynn here.

Gilmore.

Gonzalez Gutierrez.

Here.

Cashman.

Here.

Lewis.

Present.

Parity.

Here.

Sawyer.

Here.

Watson.

Here.

Madam President Sandoval.

Here.

Thirteen members present.

There are 13 members present.

Council has a quorum.

Approval of the minutes.

Are there any corrections to the minutes of December 8th?

Seeing none, the minutes down approved.

Council announcements.

Are there any council announcements this afternoon?

Councilman Soyer, start us off.

Thanks, Madam President.

Just wanted to remind residents of District 5.

Our annual survey is open until December 31st.

So if you are a resident of Council District 5, please go online and take our survey.

You can find the link at Denvergov.org/slash district five.

We actually use the information you give us to shape our work plan for the following year.

So please go online and take our survey by December 31st.

Thanks so much.

Thank you, Councilmember Alviderez.

Thank you, Council President.

Um I wanted to share that Athmar Park Rec Center and our office is work are working together for the Athmar Christmas market.

So you can join us in celebrating the spirit of the season with a special holiday event designed especially for families and children.

This Christmas market is a free event that gives each child in attendance the opportunity to select a meaningful gift to give towards two people in their family.

They will get to wrap it themselves and experience the joy of surprising someone they love with a gift this holiday season.

This event will be happening Monday, December 22nd from 4 p.m.

to 6 p.m.

at Athmar Rec Center.

I want to shout out Michelle at the Rec Center for coming up with this really great idea.

Something different than giving kids a gift is teaching them to actually give.

And then lastly, I want to share again don't forget to vote vote for CityCast Denver's uh Denverist Awards because we have lots of district seven uh fun things that were nominated this year.

Thank you, Council President.

Thank you.

Councilmember Gilmar.

Thank you.

I would like to um thank the community uh for joining us.

It wasn't last weekend, but it was on the 6th of December.

We had over 1400 people join us in the District 11 community for our annual holiday party.

And so want to thank the community for coming out to that event.

And then thought this afternoon I would be able to solidify some information for the community that we're waiting on, but we will as soon as possible confirm what the meeting location is for the Denver International Airport meeting that they are proposing to hold on Wednesday, December 17th.

Um Excel Energy uh will be there representing as well, answering questions, and again, apologies to the community for um the back and forth as far as locations, but we're trying to get them to confirm that so that we can make sure and accommodate our seniors, um, make sure that they have um a parking lot such as Montbello Rec Center that they can park very closely to under lights and not have to walk in the dark to another parking lot.

Um, and so appreciate um them getting that information out so that we can let people know so that they can uh join us on Wednesday.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Watson.

Uh thank you, Council President.

I wanted to first start off by uh wishing everyone a happy Hanukkah for those that celebrate.

Um, and then I want to follow it up with a public service announcement.

Uh I ran into uh this meeting tonight uh because I was uh completing my annual physical as a 56-year-old black man.

Um we are at a heightened um um uh um uh we have heightened uh uh impact from cancer, from colon cancer as a cancer survivor.

I make sure every year before the year ends that I do my checkups.

Um, and I'm encourage everyone that's watching.

If you haven't had your annual physical, you still have a few weeks to go.

I also got my COVID and my flu shot.

So thank you uh so much to Kaiser and my uh primary physician for keeping me on task.

Um, and to everyone else that's out there, uh please heed.

Um, uh diseases and cancer doesn't wait for anyone.

Um, make sure you're doing your annual checkup, especially African-American men who are more susceptible to these cancers.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you, Councilwoman Lewis.

Hi, excuse me, thank you.

Uh I wanted to make a quick announcement, thanking the folks who were able to attend um the 42nd annual Hiawatha Davis luncheon.

Um, I wanted to give a special thank you to all of our volunteers, the department, um, the Denver Police Department, the Denver Sheriff's Department, and the Denver Fire Department, um, as well as my lovely staff for all of the their work that they put into the luncheon.

I also wanted to thank all of our vendors and our sponsors, um, and then finally, congratulations to all of the lifetime achievement award winners, um, including Miss Stella Nash, who I know is watching these proceedings tonight.

Um, and so thank you for that.

And then I also wanted to make a second announcement regarding an event that's happening in my council district in partnership with the Denver International Airport on December 17th from 6, or Wednesday, December 17th, excuse me, from 6 to 7:30.

Um, it's an opportunity for communities to learn about the plans that um the Denver International Airport has as it pertains to um alternative and studying um alternate energy sources.

And so I hope you all can attend.

It's at the environmental learning for kids um location right in Montbello, not too far from our council office.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Council Pro Temeral Campbell.

Thank you, Madam President.

I just had a real quick announcement for December 20th is the last day that the Ross University Hills Library will be open before they close for renovations.

We're excited about those renovations, and we have a plan for being able to have people still receive their services.

So we've been able to work with Denver Public Library to secure to secure a new bookmobiles to help serve the Southeast Denver area while both of the libraries are closed.

That's Hampton Library as well as the Ross University Hills Library.org forward slash southeast to find out the schedule for the bookmobile and all the rest of the programming that has um that will be occurring um with the library in Southeast Denver.

So please do check that out.

That's Denver Public Library.org forward slash Southeast.

And then one final um thank you for Denver Parks and Rec, did the Donuts with the Grinch this weekend.

Um it was fantastic and fabulous.

So thank you to all of the DPR staff as well as all of the community members that came out.

Super fun and very Grinchy and a great time for all.

So it'll happen again next year, and I just want to thank everybody for such a great event.

Thank you.

Thank you.

It's member Flynn.

Thank Madam President.

Just a quick note.

Um my office held our annual holiday lunch for the solid waste drivers in Southwest Denver to thank them for the uh work that they do year in and year out, but particularly this year.

Uh, we held it at Toros Restaurant on Federal.

And it was great to see them all together.

It's kind of strange to see the parking lot, like 18 solid waste trucks back in the parking lot.

So if anybody in Southwest Denver had their trash picked up late, it's my fault this time.

But I want to recognize the drivers who have had to operate, especially this year under some really difficult conditions.

I know that they were held, I believe they were held uh harmless from the layoffs that we had, but still with what happened Thanksgiving week and the rearrangement of the schedule, they took a lot of un misdirected criticism.

Um the folks in the field do an excellent job, in my view, and I don't like to see them take heat for decisions that are made high above their pay grade.

Necessary as those decisions might have been to rearrange schedules.

But thank you to our solid waste drivers.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you.

Councilmember Cashman.

Yeah, thank you, Madam President.

As uh Councilman uh Pro Tem Romero Campbell said, a number of South Denver and Southeast Denver libraries are going to be closed in addition to the ones in D4, the Field Library in District 6 will be closing for renovations to help pick up the Slack, the Virginia Village Library at Dalian, Florida will be open seven days a week to try to uh get services to those who need them.

So just wanted to let folks know.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you.

Councilman Gonzalez Gugdez.

Thank you, Madam President.

Um, I just wanted to remind folks that there is a public uh comment survey open um through the Denver Police Department regarding the education-based development.

Uh excuse me, it's an alternative to some of the discipline process uh for certain types of violations that uh our law enforcement officers may um have.

And so there's it's a very important uh community public comment because it would change um some of the discipline process for our law enforcement officers.

It closes uh on December 31st, so you can go to Denvergov.org and just type in the search education-based development and it will pop right up.

Thank you, madam president.

Thank you.

Um, just as a reminder, it is snow angel time.

So if it if it ever does snow again, and you need help, there's a program in Denver where you can volunteer to help your neighbors um shovel their snow.

So it is bitly backslash snow angels 25.

So I encourage everyone to help out.

And just want to give a shout out to my council aide um Ali Sandra for helping with the food drive today at Saturday Choos, and she went and picked up a whole entire car full of food in Northwest Denver to help those who are still suffering from SNAP.

So thank you, Alessandra, for doing that.

I really really appreciate it.

Seeing no other comments in the queue.

There are no presentations, there are no communications, there are no proclamations being read this afternoon.

Madam Secretary, please read the bills for introduction.

From the community planning and housing committee 25-1991, a bill for an ordinance changing the zoning classification for 8250 East 40th Avenue in Central Park from the Health and Safety Committee 25-1978, a bill for an ordinance approving a proposed fifth amendatory agreement between the city and county of Denver and Denver Health and Hospital Authority to provide care, treatment, and supportive services to individuals living with HIV and AIDS in the Denver Transitional Grant Area, TGA.

No change to contract term citywide from the South Platte River Committee, 25-1552, a bill for an ordinance approving a proposed stadium property agreement between the city and county of Denver and Denver Real Estate Ventures LLC and Broadway Station Metropolitan District number one.

25-1553, a bill for an ordinance approving a proposed first amendment to intergovernmental agreement between the city and county of Denver and Broadway Station Metropolitan District No.

Amends and Intergovernmental Agreement 2017 IGA between the City and County of Denver and the Broadway Station Metropolitan District No.

1 in Council District 7.

25-1554, a bill for an ordinance making recisions from and appropriations in capital improvements and capital maintenance funds.

25-1850, a bill for an ordinance approving a proposed first amendment to intergovernmental agreement versadium site project between the city and county of Denver and Broadway Station Metropolitan District No.

Amends the 2025 Intergovernmental Agreement for Stadium Site Project 2025 IGA between the City and County of Denver and the Broadway Station Metropolitan District number one in Council District 7.

25-1974, a bill for an ordinance approving the termination and dissolution of the phase two Broadway Pedestrian Mall Local Maintenance District and directing that the remaining funds thereof after payment of outstanding expenses be transferred to and used by the Broadway Denver General Improvement District within the property formula located within said local maintenance district.

25-1976, a bill for an ordinance approving the termination and dissolution of the Broadway Pedestrian Mall B local maintenance district and directing that the remaining funds thereof after payment of outstanding expenses be transferred to and used by the Broadway Denver General Improvement District within the property formerly located within said local maintenance district.

25-1989, a bill for an ordinance revoking the revocable permit granted by ordinance number 1915 series of 2024 to Denargo Market Metropolitan District No.

From the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee 25-1975, a bill for an ordinance approving the termination and dissolution of the Broadway Pedestrian Maintenance District A and directing that the remaining funds thereof after payment of outstanding expenses be transferred to and used by the Broadway Denver General Improvement District within the property formerly located within said local maintenance district and 25-2009, a bill for an ordinance amending the Denver revised municipal code section two-428 concerning the purposes and allowed uses of monies in the city disposable bag defund.

Thank you, Madam Secretary.

Council members, this is your last opportunity to call out an item.

Councilmember Flynn, will you please make the motions for us this evening?

I guess I will thank you, Madam President.

Now I'll do a recap under resolutions.

Council resolution 1971 has been called out for postponement pursuant to rule 3.6 by Council Member Parity.

Council resolutions 2080, 2081 have been called out for comments by Councilmember Parity and Lewis.

Council Resolution 1998 has been called out for comments by Councilmember Lewis.

Council Resolution 1958 has been called out for comments and a vote by Councilmember Alvidres.

Council Resolution 1585 has been called out for a comments and a vote by Councilmember Lewis.

And council Resolution 1938 has been called out for a vote by Councilmember Gilmore.

Under bills for introduction, Council Bill 2009 has been called out for a vote by Councilmember Lewis.

Council bills 1552, 1553, 1554, and 1850 have been called out for a vote by Councilmember Gilmore.

Under bills for final consideration, Council Bill 1556 has been called out for amendment by Councilmember Parity and by Councilmember Lewis under pending no items have been called out.

Madam Secretary, please put the first item on our screens.

Council resolution 1971, a resolution approving a proposed seventh amendatory agreement between the city and county of Denver Versa Term Public Safety Inc.

for the continual use and support of the Versa Dex Records Management Software supporting the Denver Police and Sheriff's Department.

Councilmember Parity, what would you like to do with Council Resolution 1971?

Thank you, Madam President.

I'd like to call it out for a one-week postponement.

To the next regular council meeting on December 22nd.

No motion is required.

Council resolution 1971 has been postponed to next week.

Madam Secretary, please put the next item on our screens.

Council Resolution 2080, a resolution authorizing and approving the expenditure and payment from the appropriation account designated liabilities claim, the sum of 150,000 made payable to the ALR civil rights, C O L T A F account and full payment and satisfaction of all claims related to the civil action caption gestion shags versus city and county of Denver, which was filed under United United States District Court for the District of Colorado.

Council resolution 2081, a resolution authorizing and approving the expenditure and payment from the appropriations account, designated liability claims, the sum of 325,000 no cents made payable to Beam and Leslie C O L T A F trust in full payment and satisfaction of all claims related to the civil action captioned Fink versus a city and county of Denver, which was filed in United States District Court.

Councilmember Parity, please go ahead with your comments on council resolutions 2080 and 2081.

Yeah, I just as always when we're resolving claims involving the police or sheriff's departments, because uh people who are in litigation with the city um are represented through council and have to communicate in that way.

I always like to make a point that umce cases are completely resolved and tied up, um, it's helpful to me as an outled representative to hear from plaintiffs in those cases or people who pursued claims or were injured about both that underlying experience and then the experience of um pursuing claims against the city.

So my door is wide open for that in case folks are listening tonight.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you.

Councilmember Lewis.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um, so after consistent feedback from my constituents, I see it as my responsibility to ensure that the public is aware of every tax dollar being approved as an expenditure and payment of funds for a settlement with the city and county of Denver.

My office is tracking every dollar by department and as a running total with your approval of 25, 2080 and 25, 2081 tonight.

The city will approve settlements in the amount of 1,050,000 150,000 and 325,000 to settle cases brought against the Denver Sheriff Department and the Denver Police Department, respectively.

The approval of these items tonight brings the 2025 total for taxpayer dollars in city settlements to $8,514,000.

This funding is drawn from a liabilities claim pool of money that is refilled when necessary from the city's general budget and does not come out of agency specific budget.

We must therefore pay extra attention in this budget environment that we are watching out for how the city spends our money and that we are making decisions for the future with this knowledge.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Madam Secretary, please put the next item on our screens, council Resolution 1999, a resolution approving a proposed contract between the city and county of Denver and East Colfax Community Collective to allow for households to be served in the 2026 program year city by Councilmember Lewis.

Please go ahead with your comments on council Resolution 1998.

Thank you.

So I called this off to shout out the East Colfax Community Collective or EC3.

This item will assist 175 households with housing navigation, which includes cultural competency assistance and language support, which is really important in East Colfax, if you know East Colfax and why these services are needed.

I see EC3 in our community putting in the work with our most vulnerable populations, and I would just like to thank them for the excellent work that they do and continue to do.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Madam Secretary, please put the NICS item on our screens, council resolution 1958, a resolution approving the proposed agreement between the Sydney and County of Denver and Bay Ad Works LLC to operate a congregate cold weather shelter at 375 South Zunai Street.

Councilmember Filin, will you please put council resolution 1958 on the floor for adoption?

Yes, Madam President.

Thank you.

I move that council resolution 25-1958 be adopted.

It has been moved and seconded.

Comments by members of council.

Councilmember Alvidres.

Thank you, Council President.

I wanted to speak to this cold weather shelter that has been in the Athmar Park neighborhood and some conversations that we have been having since.

This has been a very challenging time and a very challenging thing to work with.

And the outreach that the administration claims happened wasn't really outreach, attending a meeting and not being able to say anything or not having decision makers at the table with community doesn't really feel like genuine outreach.

However, today I have decided to do the hard part and the hard thing, but I need more partnership from the administration.

I am going to be voting to support this cold weather shelter in my neighborhood, one that directly backs up to family homes.

And I'm not doing this because I believe this is good policy.

I am doing this because there are lives at risk across the city.

This when this was first turned into a cold weather shelter, I was told that was not what it was for.

It was for housing to actually resolve homelessness, and that this was a one-time thing last year, last winter.

However, again this year, oh, we just can't happen to find anywhere else in the city.

Not to mention we have this $90 million post building sitting there that we now hold, not to mention that we have the McNichols building available, but not in our backyard, not right here downtown.

But we can continue to put this out into a low income neighborhood.

This is not an endorsement by any means of the decisions and the strategy around homelessness that this has administration is putting forward.

The way this administration casually dismisses council's concerns, fails to inform my colleagues about what's happening in their district, and pushes responsibility downward.

This is not accidental.

Yes, maybe downtown seems to be being cleaned up, and people experiencing homelessness are being pushed into low-income, formerly red line neighborhoods that don't have already food access, that don't have public transit, and I'm sick of it.

The shelter operators are put in this impossible situation when people are dangerous, unruly, or under the influence, they just get pushed out of the shelter into my community with no resources and no plan.

And who pays the price?

It's families that are paying the price.

It's landlords that are getting people that need help that have no resources that are paying the price.

And I take responsibility for what happens in my district.

That's why just last year, during a cold weather closure, when I saw a person in crisis throwing objects at an elderly neighbor's home, I intervened because no one else is gonna help us.

I call 911 and I'm on hold until my phone dies.

I tried to de-escalate the situation.

I'm not a trained professional by any means.

I don't know what to do, but I know what not to do, and that's nothing.

So I walk up to this person in the middle of the street, throwing things, and try to have a conversation.

They asked me for a cup of coffee, I offered help.

I brought them to my home into my front porch and offered them coffee.

Things escalated.

The person ended up inside my house.

They started grabbing alcohol bottles until I felt extremely unsafe, and I texted all my neighbors so they could come help me in this situation because I couldn't count on anyone else, and my neighbors came to my home and they helped me talk this person into getting outside of my home.

And of course, I don't want to call 911 because I don't want to criminalize this person.

So we call the star van.

The star van comes and the person freaks out worse because they know the star van and they're used to running for the star van.

So what happens at that point?

The star vet people start chasing the person up and down my street.

They can't take the person unless they're willing to go with them, and the person's not willing to go with them.

So this problem just got pushed down the street.

We are not providing the resources we need to in this shelter system, and pushing the problem out into our low-income neighborhoods into the inverted L is not the answer.

So this is the last time I'm supporting this contract in my community.

We need to re-look at this and come up with better options with better services.

We do have other buildings, we have again the post building, the McNicholbus building, but those not here, not downtown.

I'm voting yes tonight for one reason, and that's to save lives.

But this system is broken, and my constituents shouldn't have to pay this price.

Thank you, Council President.

Thank you.

Councilmember Gonzalez Gutierrez.

Thank you, Council President, and I want to thank Councilwoman Alvidrez.

I really appreciate sharing your concerns.

Um, and I'll just, you know, just to reiterate, I think we are continuing to see a pattern with lack of planning and regard for how these shelters are being stood up without proper resources.

Um I think we hear that from the people who are utilizing shelters, from the advocates, um, from people that work in these sectors, and how incredibly important is that us as the city that we are doing a better job in um in the planning of these things.

I will just also reiterate that, you know, we saw this play out last week in another council member's district, and the concern for the lack of communication, um, and that lack of regard, and I think we did we owe it to people in our communities to do better.

Um, and so we need to make sure that we are having more foresight, more planning on where these shelter locations are going to be throughout the city.

You know, when we when uh House 1000 was initiated, it was oh, we need to have uh a shelter in every single council district, and we all have seen how that has played out, and it did not happen.

Um, and here we are now with the cold weather shelters, which are incredibly important.

Uh, and this provider mayad does a really good job working with uh the population, but we can't keep doing it this way.

Um, we can't keep doing things to community, uh, and without regard to not only the council members of those districts, but the community members that live there.

And so um, councilwoman Alvidres, I'll you know, of course, support your efforts because I agree with you.

We need to make sure people have um places indoors that they can go.

Um, but there does need to be an end to this, so thank you.

Thank you, madam president.

Thank you.

Councilmember Lewis.

Thank you.

Um, just wanted to also offer my support of Councilwoman Alvidas, and I know how difficult it is as a council member to be put in this position where um you are not being communicated with and you are having to choose between people's lives and representing your constituents, and it's a very difficult balance.

And sometimes it's difficult to go into all of the districts and say we're going to spread out these shelter services and these locations.

But it's not impossible.

And I find that it's a lot easier to stick these solutions into communities of color into low-income communities where they don't have social capital, political capital, or actual financial capital to be able to push back against these.

And so I hope the administration is working towards figuring out how do you build a more equitable system across the city and not just concentrate the responsibility of us taking care of all our unhoused folks on just a few districts.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilwoman, for bringing this up.

I mentioned in my briefing that communication needs to, we need to work on that, and I vow to work on that with you.

So let me know how I can be helpful.

You know I'm here for you.

So that if this doesn't continue, and we all vote on these things, so we all should be at the table talking about how it impacts all of us.

So I appreciate I appreciate the sentiment.

Madam Secretary, we'll call on council resolution 1958.

Council members Hines.

Aye.

Romera Campbell?

Aye.

Torres?

Aye.

Albidres?

Aye.

Flynn?

Aye.

Gilmore?

Aye.

Gonzalez Cutieres?

Aye.

Cashman.

Aye.

Lewis.

Aye.

Parity?

Aye.

Sawyer?

Aye.

Watson.

Aye.

Madam President Sandoval?

Aye.

Madam Secretary, close the voting and announce the results.

13 ayes.

13 ayes.

Council resolution 1958 has been adopted.

Madam Secretary, please put the next item on our screens.

Council resolution 1585 of resolution approving a proposed fifth amendatory agreement between the city and county of Denver and the Salvation Army to provide immediate access to family shelter, rapid resolution services, housing assessment, and cold weather support to families experiencing housing instability and homelessness.

Councilmember Flynn, will you please put council resolution 1585 on the floor for adoption?

Yes, Madam President.

I move that council resolution 25-1585 be adopted.

It has been moved and seconded.

Comments by members of council.

Councilmember Lewis.

Thank you.

Um calling this contract off tonight to vote no.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Madam Secretary, roll call on council resolution 1585.

Council members Hines.

Aye.

Romera Campbell?

Aye.

Torres?

Aye.

Alvides?

Aye.

Flynn?

Aye.

Gilmore?

Aye.

Gonzalez Gutierrez?

Nay.

Cashman?

Aye.

Lewis?

Nay.

Parity?

Nay.

Romera Campbell?

Oh, I'm sorry.

Sawyer?

Aye.

Watson?

Aye.

Madam President Sandoval?

Aye.

Madam Secretary, close the voting and announce the results.

10 ayes.

10 ayes.

Council resolution 1585 has been adopted.

Madam Secretary, please put the next item on our screens.

Council Bill 2009, a bill for an ordinance amending Denver Revised Municipal Code Section 2 through 428 concerning the purposes and allowed uses of monies in the city disposable back fee fund.

Councilmember Flynn, would you please put Council Bill 2009 on the floor for publication?

Yes, Madam President.

Thank you.

I move that Council bill 25-2009 be ordered published.

It has been moved and seconded.

Comments, questions and comments by members of council.

Councilmember Lewis.

Thank you.

I have three questions for the Department of Finance.

The first one is how often is it that council is asked to pass a long bill that is contingent on companion ordinances in order to be in order to make funding permissible?

So that's my first question, and I'll let them answer.

Good afternoon, Laura Swartz, Department of Finance.

Off top of my head, I don't have the answer, but I can follow up after this meeting.

Okay.

So if council had decided that they didn't want to utilize the bag fee in this way, how could they have changed it in the long bill?

Would it be an amendment?

Would an amendment have been operable here?

Yes, as part of the budget process last year.

A budget amendment?

Yes.

Okay.

And the it's a longer question, so prepare yourself, Laura.

How is it that we can pass a long bill that authorizes expenditures that are not permissible at the time?

The long bill is passed.

The uh my understanding, and I can follow up afterwards on this too.

Uh, is that there was conversation at the time that this budget was passed that uh discussed this, and then the the authorization was to um allow the city and make this transfer at any time during 2025, but that it was contingent on the code itself, the ordinance being updated for the allowed uses.

But it sounds but the expenditure came before the ordinance, but the ordinance or the companion ordinance should have come before the expenditure, no?

The authorization to make the transfer came, and it was contingent on the ordinance being updated for the allowed uses on bad fee ordinance being updated.

Okay, so but the transfer has not occurred, correct?

Yes, so council could pass a long bill that has a bunch of inappropriate expenditures, but as long as we change the rules before the appropriation is made, it becomes allowable.

I will follow up and confirm that for you after this meeting.

Okay, thank you.

Councilmember Flynn.

Thank you, Madam President.

I want to uh thank a Department of Finance for listening to us at the committee meeting and narrowing down the scope of this to uh essentially to the uh the most important item, which was the transfer to the uh what do we call the volume-based pricing?

I call it the trash fee, uh, because we've been subsidizing it from the general fund uh for the first two years because the fee isn't covering the cost of the program, uh, which is one of the reasons I voted no on the program, but uh narrowing it down from the original 4.7 million ask that was in the budget to I believe 1.5 million, because the fees are coming in a little higher than uh than expected.

But thank you for listening and narrowing it down.

And uh the I think the companion ordinance would have been done earlier in this year, uh, were it not for CASER wanting to look at other uses and holding up the uh uh the which is its right uh holding up the uh introduction or bringing it to council until late in the year because they had all these other things that they wanted to make changes to, and it had it not been for that uh councilman, I think we would have uh done this in January or February, and it would have been done already.

And now those other things have most have been stripped out, and so I'm happy to support this main purpose, which is to make that uh transfer from the bag fee to the trash fee so that we don't have to ding the general fund one more time.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Parity.

Yeah, so I want to put a final point on this.

I'm not I don't serve on this underlying committee, so I wasn't in the committee meeting.

Um, have been playing catch-up to understand what happened here, and I just want to underscore that um it has never been my understanding during the budget process that we can budget contingent on an ordinance.

If one of us tried to bring a budget amendment and said we're gonna run an ordinance later in the year, and it'll probably pass, and so we're gonna budget for this on the presumption that some ordinance is gonna pass, even though it's impermissible right now.

Department of Finance would be at that mic, making us out like we didn't know how to do our jobs.

I mean, I'm uh I'm actually shocked.

Um, I am actually very shocked by this.

So um the fix is fine, um, but that that's we can't budget that way, and we certainly can't gooscan their budget that way.

So I really hope we never see this again.

My yes vote is because we do need to pay back the general fund not to reward this.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um, and thank you for the commit the committee members who worked on this.

I worked on it with Tim and sent it out.

You're correct, Councilmember Parity.

I should have probably sent it out to all council members because it was amended from um committee to city to first reading right now.

Um, so appreciate that feedback.

Councilmember Lewis.

Yeah, thank you.

And thank you, Councilwoman Parity, because that's what I was getting at with my questions.

And I appreciate the work that Council President Sandoval and Councilmember Heinz did to try and improve this bill, including lessening the amount withdrawn from the bag fee fund in support of the volume-based trust price pricing.

Um, still a no on this item today.

As I do not approve of the methodology that got us here, I recognize that council has approved this method in 2025.

At that time last year, I was recovering from surgery and COVID, and I regret that I did not have.

Yeah, it's fun times.

And I regret that I did not have the wherewithal to object to this back then.

However, even if I had council does not have the power to disapprove the budget, it would have been adopted either way.

I'm also worried that we are changing the allowable uses of the SRS to authorize what is being described as a one-time budget move, but that these changes to the allowable use will be permanent, and I do not feel comfortable allowing the SRF to be siphoned to other uses in other budget years.

And if council does not make an objection via an amendment that changes the proposed funding source in tight budget years like 2025 and 2026, it would have been very difficult difficult to come up with the alternative source of funding for volume-based funding, volume-based funding, excuse me.

If DOF had selected this fund, so thank you.

Thank you.

Councilmember Parity.

Yeah, I just, Madam President, I actually wasn't, we all watched the committees that were not on.

I was just describing my thought process when I saw this, not implying that anyone needed to hold my hand there.

Thank you though.

No problem.

I'm picking up what you're throwing down.

Um Madam Secretary, we'll call on Council Bill 2009.

Council members Hines.

Romero Campbell.

Aye.

Torres?

Aye.

Albidres?

Aye.

Flynn?

Aye.

Gilmore?

Aye.

Gonzalez Gutierrez?

Aye.

Cashman?

Aye.

Lewis?

Parity.

Aye.

Sawyer.

Aye.

Torres.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Watson.

Aye.

Madam President Sandoval.

Aye.

Madam Secretary, close the voting and announce the results.

11 ayes.

11 ayes.

Council Bill 2009 has been ordered published.

Madam Secretary, please put the next item on our screens.

Council resolution 1938, a resolution approving a proposed agreement between the city and county of Denver and Key Lime Air Corporation for a ground space lease with rates and charges to park equipment in support of their operation at Denver International Airport.

Councilmember Flynn, will you please put council resolution 1938 on the floor for adoption?

Yes, Madam President.

Thank you.

I move that council resolution 25-1938 be adopted.

It has been moved and seconded.

Comments by members of council.

Councilmember Gilmore.

Thank you, Council President.

And have been monitoring what's been going on with them.

And I believe that we talk a lot in these chambers and in Denver City Council of living our values and that what we invest in is a value document.

And at this point in time, with the current actions by Key Lime Air, there is no way, ethically or morally, that I can vote affirmatively on this expansion of space.

And so I respectfully ask all of my um council colleagues to please vote this down.

I think that it is very, very concerning that given the state of the world and the state of the country right now, that Denver International Airport did not come to council members to give us a briefing or to alert us as to the deportations that are happening in Centennial.

We don't know if airplanes are being fueled up at Den, if they're landing at Centennial, if what exactly is going on, but you know what?

It doesn't matter because by the time it gets up here to us, we get to have the say on it.

And I know that folks are gonna hear tonight that the FAA might be a little bit disappointed with us in Denver for taking this stance, but I think it's an important stance to say that it is not an allowable use on city property, the city and county of Denver's property, to have a vendor out there that is actively breaking people's constitutional rights and their due process.

We have no idea who they are flying out.

For all we know, they could be Denver folks that are living in the city and county of Denver that have been caught up in ICE activities, and they're being flown on a plane in the town right next to Denver.

And so I respectfully ask my colleagues to vote this down.

I think there's a lot of ways that the airport will try to say that we can't do this.

Well, I think we need to test those waters.

And this might uh impede on some FAA ground or FA grant dollars that um Denver International Airport might get.

But you know, Denver International Airport, they're very, very proud of their over 800 days of operating that they hold.

And so I truly believe uh to make sure that we're protecting people's rights, that we're upholding the oath that we took when we were sworn in to defend the constitution, and when we know that people's constitutional rights are being violated by a greedy air carrier, that they're trying to fill a gap and they're deporting people, it's an easy no for me.

Thank you, Council President.

Thank you, Councilmember Perity.

Yeah, so um I think for members of the public who are here tonight, um, I'm gonna be careful not to share any legal advice the council has gotten, but I'm gonna share factual information that we've gotten.

Um, what we have been told, although I have not seen these underlying documents, is that the airport receives um 90 million dollars in FAA grants.

It wasn't clear to me if that was over a one-year period or a two-year period, and that there's a provision in those grants that says we can't uh treat different carriers differently.

Um basically that you know there's a principle that any air carrier has to have the same access to Denver International Airport as any other that is reflected in those grants.

Um, like my colleague, Councilmember Gilmore, that's a large number, but um it's a large number that's coming out of um an extremely healthy airport budget that has to be by law contained off from the rest of the city.

So it's a self-contained budget.

Um these FAA grants, they're large.

They would be large if they were in the context of the rest of the city.

Um, but when you look at the um airport operating budget, first of all, um I am a lot more concerned with um with the wave of deportations that we're seeing in the country in Colorado.

We had someone up here at the mic just last week talking about her sister being deported.

She's now caring for her sister's children, um, and that the expense of doing that has been close to um putting her out on the street.

She's facing eviction now because she can't afford rent and afford to take care of her her the traumatized children of her sister who has been sent out of the country.

So she's taking care of these kids and um about to be addicted, and and she is not the only one.

Um, so this is where the rubber starts to hit the road when we start to talk about um what are we gonna do in Denver about what's happening at the federal level.

Um, I am an attorney, so it's always very uncomfortable for me to do civil disobedience and break the law, and I'm up here having taken an oath.

Luckily, this isn't the law, this is a grant agreement, it's just a condition of a grant.

Um, and so if we are not interested in maintaining that grant, um, then that's a decision that we can make.

So, to me, um there is no difficulty in what my vote will be here tonight.

I will also say that um some of the many immigration nonprofits that track deportation flights have tracked um 190 deportation flights since the beginning of this year, coming both into and out of Den.

When I asked the airport about that, um I didn't get any further information, but this appears to be the only carrier that we can track with that does deportation flights to anybody's knowledge.

So the other main carriers that do that um in the country do not appear to have contracts with Den.

We asked the auditor's office to look for them, and this seems like the only one.

So, again, to not know what's happening um is pretty disturbing.

Um, but we know, for example, that planes plane loads of people have been sent out of the United States to El Salvador and put in COT, which is um a prison that you can famously never leave through a deal that the Trump administration did with that country with that country, people who were not even from El Salvador.

We know that people have been deported to countries that they've never been to, um, have been deported to incredibly dangerous parts of the and have been deported completely erroneously.

Um I have no interest in supporting this deportation machine, and if an aviation grant um is what's on the line there, um, I it's very clear to me where the city should stand on that and where my obligations are to people in this city and around the country.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you, Councilmember Lewis.

Thank you.

Um, so I'm also no on this item tonight due to this company's participation in deportation flights.

It's that simple.

I find myself thinking that it's strange that there is so that there are many, many federal grant rules that cover so-called economic discrimination that protect the interests of corporations without consequence for consequences for their actions, but few rules and regs that protect basic human dignity, and I cannot support this imbalance, and I cannot support this lease agreement tonight as a result.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilmember Flynn.

Uh thank you, Madam President.

Um, like those who have spoken before, I am appalled and horrified by the unconstitutional and illegal actions that I've seen taken uh by the federal administration in carrying out these awful uh deportations uh masked unidentified people just grabbing folks off the street based on nothing more than the color of skin, which apparently the Supreme Court is allowing.

I don't know how that came to be.

Well, I do know how they came to be, and we all do.

Um the consequences of voting this down are not what we think it is or what they will be.

Uh Key Lime has been operating at the airport for a number of years.

Uh this contract is to make them pay for a 35 foot by 35 foot square piece of concrete on the apron to store their equipment.

If we vote it down, the consequence is only that they have to store it in the common use area of the cargo apron and not have an area that's all their own.

So voting it down means they won't be paying us.

They'll be using it for free.

And so uh our grant agreements with the federal government are that we have to provide equal access.

We can't kick Key Air out of the airport.

Uh, but we can make them pay to use the piece of concrete that they want to use.

Voting this down means they use the common use area for free.

So when I think it through, um, I don't see I don't see that we gain anything.

In fact, uh we're not gonna be collecting any money from them, they're just gonna be using it for free.

So I think it's sort of a pyrrhic victory.

Uh if to vote it down.

So I'm gonna vote, I'm gonna vote yes and make them pay for it.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Watson.

Uh, thank you, Council President.

Do we have anyone from Den?

Yeah.

We do.

If you don't mind introducing yourself and provide kind of background for folks who are watching what the nature of this contract is and why are we why is this before Denver City Council today?

Thank you, Councilman.

My name is George Kerriganakis.

I'm the senior vice president of Airline and Commercial Affairs.

Yeah, thank you.

Hi there, George Karianakis, uh Senior Vice President of Airline and Commercial Affairs at Denver International Airport.

This is a um ground lease, as Councilman Flynn mentioned for 1200 square feet on the apron at South Cargo, where Key Lime Air, an airline that's operated here at least as far back as 2006, um, would like to um lease it exclusively so they can uh pay to store their equipment in that area.

Um, did Den provide the opportunity for briefings to council members uh to walk through the why for this contract?

I'll look at my government affairs uh colleague on that.

And yeah, if you don't mind coming forward and not shake your head, I just want to make sure it's on the record.

Good afternoon, Kevin Forgett, uh state and local legislative advisor for the Denver National Airport.

Um we did provide uh field of some incoming questions, and um, I believe through the city attorney's office we did mention if there are further questions that we were happy to uh provide briefings.

All right, thank you so much.

Thank you both.

Um, I'll be a no vote on this tonight.

I want to be clear.

Um no matter whether this was for that ground lease or not, I think it's essential when we're looking at the impacts to communities.

We now see the uh targeting of uh folks.

I'm West Indian.

Um we are now seeing folks targeting our Haitian, folks who are targeted at our Ethiopian for these illegal um um raids on our communities.

And the bottom line is this will continue.

Um, as a city council member, I serve my people within District 9.

Um, they are not supportive of us supporting any action that could even uh provide any credence to the administration and these illegal um raids on our communities, and um um and this vote and this company we know that that has been tracked that they have been a part of deportations, um, which I consider to be illegal deportations, and so I'll be a no vote tonight.

Thank you, Councilmember Torres.

Thank you, Madam President.

Um, this item was brought to my attention by a reporter, and I'm just want to thank them.

I'm grateful to them for um bringing my awareness to it uh coming through the council process um and their reputation and what has been um taking place across the country by this and other private carriers.

Um it may seem like any other business decision to the private airlines that are contracting with the federal government, but it's just not um we know that people are being deported without due process.

Uh it isn't standard business.

Um, and history won't be kind to those who participated in these removals because we know that uh several folks are getting caught up who um should not be there, who should be afforded an opportunity to defend themselves.

And uh they are so come up committed to deporting as many people as possible that uh they are purchasing their own fleet of Boeing 737s, so um I will also be um a no tonight.

Thank you.

Thank you, Member Gonzalez Gutierrez.

Thank you, Council President.

Um I just want to make a couple of points.

I so I did request a briefing from Den um when this came to my attention in the same way um as Councilwoman Torres, through um a reporter who reached out to me to ask about it, and I was not aware, so I did some digging.

Um, and I you know did learn what Councilman Flynn had indicated that this is about um, you know, a land contract for them to be able to store equipment.

Um, but I want to be clear that if this is voted down, it's not gonna stop the flights from coming in and out.

I just want to make sure that community knows that um and is aware of that.

I'm not going to support this contract tonight, and that is because um, you know, when we're talking about the values of our city, and we stand up here and we say, you know, time after time that we support our immigrant community, um, that we are a welcoming city.

I cannot support a um a corporation, a company that does not prescribe to that.

We have to make those changes, and this is you know one of those steps, but it doesn't negate the fact that these flights will probably still continue, and I did not feel that I received firm verification that there are not deportation flights happening through um Den.

I feel like it was um I didn't get clear confirmation that that was not happening, and so I just want to be clear about that, um, and I will not be supporting this either.

Thank you, Council President.

Thank you.

Councilmember Alvideres.

Thank you, Council President, and thank you.

I was alerted to this by councilwoman parity and councilwoman Gilmore, so thank you for bringing this to my attention as we have so much on our plate, it's so important to catch these little things, and thank you to Den for the communication.

I really appreciate it.

It's we we have to send a message and we have to push back in any way we can because what is happening is absolutely horrible to our community.

And with that, I'll just say I'll also be a no on this.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Council Pro Temer Mario Campbell.

Thank you, Council President.

I appreciate the opportunity.

So I appreciate you bringing it to our attention.

I just wanted to thank Den and also our attorney John for answering a lot of questions and follow-up.

I think that these are these are uh conversations that we probably need to.

I'm glad that we're having the conversation, but I also think that this probably isn't the first one that we're gonna have, and so um beyond tonight's uh conversation about um key lime air.

I think we should probably sit down and have a more um thought-out approach or ways that we are going to approach future contracts or something that we can do in collaboration not only with city council but also with the mayor's office of how we will look at these um grants moving forward and look at um how these contracts are coming through the city.

Um I am also gonna be a no on this tonight, but um I just appreciate uh the time that people have spent in doing the briefings and answering all of the follow-up questions.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Parity.

Um, that's okay.

I got back out of queue.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um, this was when I found out about the this contract.

I went back to 2020 and 2019 when the city and county of Denver was investing in geo and core civic facilities, and they are detaining um people, and one died of diarrhea, like just recently in 2020.

And so what we did at City Council is we divested.

We voted and we took all of our taxpayers' dollars, and we no longer have a contract with core civic and geo facilities.

Now, what has that done to us in Denver?

It means we do not have as many beds of people coming out of the carceration system.

We really do.

It has a long-term ripple effect, and I know that I realize that, and at the same time, I realize that I am not going to fund the deportation industrial complex anymore with our city dollars.

I grew up boycotting.

I stood in solidarity with our farm workers, and so I will not do that, and I will devest in key lime, and I do not even want to have a contract with them.

I understand, council member, that they're gonna pay us.

I don't want to have my name, I have to sign these deals when we're done Tuesday morning.

I wake up and the first thing I do is I sign all the bills from the night before.

I will not have my name as Amanda Soundwall on a key lime thing that says we are deporting people and we support that.

And I feel very, very, very adamant about that.

So I would ask all my colleagues to please vote this down as a body that has six Latinas on here.

Let's not show let's not do this.

We I cannot do this, Madam Secretary.

Roll call on council resolution 1938.

Council members Hines.

Romero Campbell, nay.

Torres?

No, Albidares, nay, Flynn, aye.

Gilmore, nay.

Gonzalez Cutieres, no Cashman, Lewis, nay, Parity?

Nay.

Sawyer?

No.

Watson?

Nay.

Madam President Sandoval.

Nay.

Madam Secretary, close the voting and announce the results.

Eleven nays.

11A's council resolution 1938 has failed.

Madam Secretary, please put the next item on our screens.

Council Bill 1556, a bill for an ordinance concerning implementation of the collective bargaining rights for certain city employees and in connection there within amending chapter 18 of the code.

Councilmember Flynn, will you please put council bill 1556 on the floor for final passage?

Yes, Madam President.

I move the Council Bill 25-1556 be placed upon final consideration and due pass.

It has been moved and seconded.

Councilmember Parity, your motion to amend.

It has been moved and seconded.

Comments by members of council.

Councilmember Parity?

This simply fixes a drafting error.

It's in a portion of the bill that throughout refers to the auditor or court because it's functions that either could end up performing.

And in one spot we missed auditor or before court.

Okay.

Madam Secretary, roll call on amendment one to council bill 1556.

Council members Heinz.

Romero Campbell.

Yes.

Thores?

Aye.

Albidrez.

Aye.

Flynn.

Nay.

I believe the drafting error was including the auditor at all.

Thank you.

Gilmore.

Aye.

Gonzalez Cutieres.

Aye.

Cashman?

Aye.

Lewis?

Aye.

Parity.

Aye.

Sawyer?

Aye.

Watson.

Aye.

Madam President Sandoval?

Aye.

Madam Secretary, close the vote and announce the results.

11 ayes.

11 ayes.

Amendment one to council bill 1556 has passed.

Councilmember Parity, your motion to amend.

I move that Council Bill 25, 1556 be amended in the following particulars.

One on page 12, strike lines 17 through 24.

Two on page 18, line 17, strike and punitive.

Three on page 18, line 20, strike and punitive.

Four on page 18, strike lines 21 through through 26, and renumber accordingly.

Five on page 18, line 34, strike or punitive.

Six on page 19, line three, strike or punitive.

It has been moved.

And seconded.

Comments by members of council.

Councilmember Parity.

This amendment removes a provision that would have governed a midterm bargaining from the bill to leave that for bargaining and removes the ability to assess punitive damages on an individual employees' claim against the city or a union for violations of the other portions of the bill.

Thank you.

Any other council members?

Councilmember Flynn, do you no?

Okay.

Madam Secretary, we'll call on amendment two to council bill 1556.

Council members Hines.

Aye.

Romero Campbell?

Aye.

Torres?

Aye.

Albidres?

Aye.

Flynn.

Aye.

Gilmore.

Aye.

Gonzalez Cutieres.

Aye.

Cashman?

Aye.

Lewis?

Aye.

Parity?

Aye.

Sawyer?

Aye.

Watson?

Aye.

Madam President Sandoval?

Aye.

Madam Secretary, close the voting and announce the results.

13 ayes.

13 ayes, amendment two to council bill 1556 has passed.

Councilmember Lewis, your motion to amend.

I move that council bill 251556 be amended in the following particulars.

On page one, line 13, insert the following.

Section one, the section two seven one of the revised municipal code shall be amended by adding the language underline to read as follows.

Section two two-271.

Confidentiality of home addresses and home telephone numbers of city officers, officials, and employees, dash policy.

A, it is the policy of the city to protect the home addresses and home telephone numbers of city officers, officials, and employees, so that they may perform their duties without fear of reprisal, retribution, or intimidation.

To this end, it is hereby declared that it would be substantial injury to the public interest to disclose the home addresses and home telephone numbers of any city officer, official, or employee without the prior written consent.

B, notwithstanding the above, employee information shall be provided to an employee organization or bargaining agent as provided in section 1885, unless an employee directs the city not to release all or some of the information.

Two renumber sequence sections accordingly.

Three on page five, line 23 strike may be provided if the employee provides written consent to the release of that information and replaced with shall be provided unless an employee requests request the information not be released pursuant to section two-271B.

It has been moved.

And seconded comments by members of council.

Council Member Lewis.

Yes, so this amendment requires personal city employee information to be released to an employee organization or bargaining agent unless the employee asked for it to be withheld.

Um this current draft ordinance does not adequately provide a list of eligible workers at the point that they ask for an election for recognition after filing of substantial showing of interest of at least 30 per 3% of the workers.

This list is like a voter file, and it only provided and it is only provided at one time to indicate the eligible workers and how to contact them about the certification election.

This list is required in the private sector and very common in the public sector.

Combined city and counties were made exempt from that policy, but are similar employees and the workers in Denver should have the same rights as workers in Adams or Arapahoe counties.

This amendment would provide for the list and would give workers an opportunity to opt out and would only be made available for the purpose of the union certification election, where the workers are deciding if they want a union in their workplace.

This list is not related to membership in a union.

This happens after a union has been certified to represent a unit and workers are always free to choose whether or not to join or not join a union.

That just makes it so workers can communicate with each other about the upcoming election.

And so I ask for your support for this amendment so that the workers can make an informed decision about whether or not to form a union in their workplace.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilmember Watson.

First for Councilmember Lewison.

And if anyone's here from HR as well, if you don't, well, there's no way to move your way up, but I'll ask the question of Councilmember Lewis first, and then I'll pose it to HR.

Councilmember Lewis, in your consideration of this amendment, what was the consideration or the balance between an opt-in, opt-out versus an opt-in?

What was the thought process on leaning towards an opt-out?

Yeah, I actually probably addressed that question to the unions, but we there were actually three proposals that we had been tossing out.

It was all access of information, an opt-in and then an opt-out, and in order to be able to meet the opportunity to find some negotiation between the mayor's office, the um collabor the collection, excuse me, of union workers as well as um the original, not sponsors, but whatever role councilwoman parity and Torres played in deciding this thing.

Um, this is where we met in the middle essentially.

But the unions actually wanted option one, the one that I gave you, and so this was the compromise.

Okay, okay.

Um, is there anyone from the union who wanted to, Sean?

If you if anyone wants to opine any further, I'm happy to allow that as well.

I'm fine with that as well, and then I'll ask for for HR.

I apologize.

Let me have um, since uh the council member is putting forward this amendment, um, and um I don't need a long response, I just need an understanding between opt-in and opt-out.

Um, this amendment will choose opt-out.

I'll share my thoughts on why I think that's the wrong move, but um explain the difference between opt-in and opt out, how y'all got to opt out as their preference.

Well, uh Sean Hinga with asking me, as the council member mentioned earlier, uh, what is commonplace actually among the uh it's required in the private sector and it's commonplace in the public sector that the employer provides the list without either an opt-in or opt-out option.

Uh, that's the way it works for the county uh uh policy that was passed by the state in 22.

And so in our discussions with the council, the opt-out uh is a compromise uh between that and and that is our preference.

All right, and it allows the workers uh opportunities to remove themselves from the list if they choose to.

And Sean, I appreciate it and I appreciate your offering um uh briefings as well for um our human resources department would love for you to reflect on this, and once again I'll share my comments after um the uh providing of uh city employees' information to any entity, no matter how wonderful that entity is or not.

Um, what is the current policy and why is that the current policy?

Um my name is Kathy Nesbitt, and I am the executive director for the Office of Human Resources here at the city.

Um thank you, uh Mr.

Councilman.

The answer it was already read.

So the intent right now is that we do not provide any home information regarding our employees because of the fear of potential retaliation retribution to our employees.

And I do realize that this was a compromise, and I do realize that this is consistent.

Uh, don't disagree with um common practice, it would be different for the city.

The only question that I have some concern about is one, um, just clarification as to when that information would be provided, um, is one.

The opt-out um also is I would have to right now do a manual process.

So just we only have a couple of weeks before we would have our first opportunity for a car check.

And so I just need time in which to implement something.

So I was seeking some clarification in terms of when that would be available.

So those are the two questions.

Timing as well as process.

And so I'll I'll do an affirmative ask of that question.

And so, for the the amendment, what is the timing for that um opt-out um process and any additional governance piece on how that is managed um will be helpful.

But the first the opt-out, um, what's the timeline for that, knowing that January is is fast approaching.

Yeah, I don't I I would have Sean come talk to you all about that, but I wanted to say it's a certification of the election, but I also don't want to get wrong, so and I'll jump back out.

Thank you very much.

My understanding is there's no timeline written in the amendment.

It would probably be up to HR to determine the actual process by which people would be able to opt out.

You're correct, it is open.

Yeah, it's open.

Yeah, that's right.

Yeah.

Heidi Schramm, Director of Labor Relations in the Office of Human Resources.

Uh, the previous draft of this ordinance said that the um email, the work email addresses would be provided within 10 days of the union filing its petition to represent a group of employees.

So we were, I think, under the impression that that's when the rest of the information would be due as well.

Yeah, I don't think that's how we drafted it, but I will double check with with John in our conversations that we intentionally wanted to leave it open to be able to provide you all with the autonomy to be able to decide what made the most sense from an HR perspective.

Uh Jonathan Griffin, deputy legislative council.

So the way this is written is it would become active with the rest of the bill, so pretty much effective immediately.

Okay, thank you.

Um council president, I see uh quite a few folks in a queue.

I'll jump out.

I have uh several additional questions, and if those questions aren't asked, I'll I'll ask some of those questions.

Got it.

Councilmember Flynn.

Thank you Madam President.

And John, just to follow up, I probably know the answer to this because you drafted it, but it just seems a little unusual that in this bill we are amending a completely different section of the code, but this is the appropriate way to do it without we don't have to provide notice that we're also opening up another piece of the code to that we don't have to advise the public of this or anything else.

Jonathan Griffin, uh deputy legislative council.

No, that's correct.

I mean, this because we're providing an opt out in that conflicts with another city law, it's within the acceptable things.

In the same way that we amend to I don't have the I think believe article or uh chapter nine of the code also gets amended to cover some changes already.

Okay, not that I expect you to go, oh, but you're right.

I did it wrong.

Uh it's happened.

Uh but uh uh Sean, could you uh can I ask you a question on uh one of the things that people are generally concerned about when personally identifiable information is given out to any outside party as security of it.

How do the various labor organizations intend to safeguard people's home phone numbers, email addresses, and things like that, but so that they don't get out generally to a broader, you know, so I don't get you know your car insurance is just expiring and emails and stuff like that.

Yeah, we the the union does not share information with anybody, and uh in this case it would be the employee organization as it's uh specified in the bill.

Right, but that that information would be purely used for the election process and for folks to be informed about uh their choice to either uh certify a union or not certify a union for their parking unit.

Would it be retained?

Is there a retention period that after which you delete it or how does that work?

Um it it would typically be retained, um, but that's just the the common practice.

Okay, because there's a lot of churn and turnover in the course of the year.

So the list at the end of the year is not gonna be the same as the beginning of the year.

Uh, thank you.

Thank you.

At my um holiday lunch for the solid waste drivers, I I raised this question and and generally they were uh happy to have the opt-out option.

Um it felt kind of icky to some of them that you know their their cell phone number might be given out, uh, but they understood the reason why and and were generally supportive.

So I'll we'll support the amendment.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilmember Sawyer.

Thanks, Madam President.

Um really appreciate this.

Just a follow-up question for Kathy.

Um, in terms of what we have just heard here, the testimony that uh without a timeline, this requirement happens when this bill goes into effect.

Is that possible for HR to do?

Without um making significant error, I would say that uh it is possible, but it would not be done to the best of my ability.

Having some time before um the implementation to give me a little bit of time to ramp up because again, we don't have a process for this.

You would have employees just simply let me just give you an example.

We have 10,000 people who are not covered by a collective bargaining agreement.

I have right now no idea how many people the labor partners are interested in organizing.

I could have thousands of people calling me, or I could have hundreds, or I could have 10.

It depends on who they're looking to organize and how many of them do not want their information disclosed.

Right now, I don't have a process.

So they're gonna be calling a blind number or an email and submitting their information.

I will have to have someone in my office manually create a list and pull names before we send it over.

That isn't the best and most proper and good use of our time to do that, having some time for me to create a process working with workday to create a manual list and an opt-out process that is able to be self-served would do us the best due diligence.

But because I just heard about whether this was coming up today, I haven't done any due diligence, but I am happy to do so.

Okay, I really appreciate that.

Um, thank you, Kathy.

Well, Sean, follow-up question for you as well, then um.

You will work with HR or give them time if needed if this should pass.

Certainly.

Great, thank you.

Um, I really appreciate that.

I suspect that there are the votes for this to pass tonight.

Um I am going to be a no, and I will tell you why.

In February of 2020, a member of Yimby Denver took a photo of my house and posted it on Twitter for everyone to see.

I have children, I have had to call the District three police department twice to get a resident off my front porch who would not leave after ringing my doorbell.

I had to move my children up to my dad's house in the mountains in the summer of 2020 because they were so terrified of who might be ringing our doorbell after that experience.

And so I will say I have so much respect for the unions, and I don't think that you're gonna do that.

I don't, and I want to be very clear about that.

But I can't say yes to this.

I cannot put any other employee of the city and county of Denver in a situation to have to opt out of having their personal information shared with anyone.

And so I I'm a little concerned about the process piece.

Sean, I really appreciate you being willing to um, you know, give HR some flexibility and some time on that.

Um I can't look myself in the mirror tomorrow morning, knowing that I said yes to putting a but potentially putting another employee of the city and county of Denver in the position that my family was put in in 2020.

So I will be a no tonight.

Um, but really appreciate the conversation and really appreciate everyone coming to uh a compromise on this.

Thanks.

I respect that.

Yeah, thanks.

Councilmember Perdy.

Yeah, I just a couple of contextual things, and I I'm like, I need a minute to like absorb that awfulness, and I'm sorry.

Yeah, and I know it's having other people up here too.

Um in the context of um private companies, almost all of which can unionize.

Uh, at the point where there's a certified election coming, the union gets the list of all employees without any ability to opt out.

And so that's almost all employees in America.

Um so this really is a pretty routine kind of thing.

Um, and what's more like people have remedies against a union that um does harm to them with that, you know, because we know exactly who got the contact information, so it's not a ghostly person on the internet or whatever.

So I do think there's um I mean, this is sort of there's a reason why it works this way, and why there's um lots and lots and lots of NLRA case law about these Excelsior lists of what I've learned all kinds of things about.

I do want to say um to the HR director, I'm actually pretty shocked and sorry that you didn't hear about this.

We've been talking about opt-in versus opt-out within the you know, working group uh between council and the mayor's office um for quite some time uh months, I would say, um, and going through those things, and it's been quite clear among in our conversations with the mayor's office team that this was still in play, that this amendment was running.

I mean, so I'm really sorry that you weren't I I'm just surprised by that, I guess.

Um, and I want to apologize for that.

So that said, I'm certainly a yes on this.

I um I feel comfortable that um this is just necessary for these processes to work as they're typically established to work.

Um, and I also wanna say that um because of the sort of titration of bargaining units coming online, I actually don't expect I would be pretty shocked if it was sort of thousands of employees on January 1st.

Um I think this is gonna be a measured process because we designed the charter amendment in that way very intentionally.

So um I'll be a yes.

I appreciate Councilmember Lewis doing the lift on this amendment and everyone's consideration.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Watson.

Uh thank you, Council President.

I'll be quick.

Uh thank you to uh Councilmember Lewis for the amendment.

I thank you, Sean and team for providing the opportunity for briefings on this.

I fully understand that the what the regular processes in the private world and wherever else, whatever other counties have taken us on, um, we're asking um within the city and county of Denver for us to vote on this tonight.

And we've not done this.

Um I know when I hired my employees within um my city council office, um, there was an uh explicit uh promise that we will protect um their private information and not share it with anyone.

Um we voted uh several times here in support of collective bargaining.

It would have been my opportunity, my hope that um the concession would have been an opt-in.

Um the expectation is that uh the supermajority from my perspective, I've not been involved in this before, but a supermajority of city employees are going to choose to per to participate.

Um there'll be a small um uh grouping from my perspective that may choose not to participate in this process, which would make a less arduous task for HR to manage a list of a smaller grouping of employees um for um folks who actually are um opting in to not share um uh to share their information.

Um, it would it would have been my recommendation that employees have the choice of whether they provide their information in this process.

I am as uncomfortable as Councilmember Sawyer, my first thought when I heard this as well was um in employees' information, even with the best of intentions from our unions, somehow that information gets out to someone who's held accountable for that.

And that family member that's impacted at that employee who accepted a job at a city with explicit understanding their information remains with the city, without only if they provide an out for HR to give that information up that that information will be giving out.

That is what everyone that we hired at the city um agreed to when they uh were hired, and so I'll be a no on this uh tonight.

Um I appreciate the compromise.

I understand what the process is for private and other um municipalities, but I cannot um vote yes uh to um have employees now have to opt out of a promise I made to my employees when they were hired.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you.

Uh Councilmember Albidares we have four minutes.

Do you mind if I go to public comment and then okay?

Go ahead.

Uh, your mic's not on.

Thank you, Council President.

I was just gonna say I appreciate uh the efforts here, but I did talk to city workers personally and just ask, like what's your opinion?

Are you comfortable with this?

And the overall nobody said they were okay with it that I spoke to.

Um, and so I will be uh no on this as well.

Thank you, Council President.

Thank you, Councilmember Torres.

Do you want to try to go and we can see if we could get the vote in before public comment?

Yes, I don't have to take um any additional time.

Uh I'll be a yes on this.

I think it was a good compromise to give employees the opportunity uh to remove their contact information.

Um so I hope we can move forward with the vote.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you.

Um I asked my I asked city employees as well, and I overwhelmingly heard no, and the reason why is because there's not a way to go on work day right now and hit an opt-out button, and so they would be nervous that in January they would their information would be shared.

Um I too was also doxed, and I had people come to my house, and I've had my mom's house online, and it doesn't feel good, which caused a lot of riffs with my family and my sisters.

Um, so I will be a no because I just protecting city employees.

It's different when you're working at a private company, you're just not a city employee, you're not getting hate emails sometimes because you didn't get somebody's short snow shoveled or got their street paved.

Um so I'll go to the vocal vote and then we'll go to public comment.

Madam Secretary, roll call on Council Bill 1556.

No, appalled yeah.

On the amendment, yep.

Council members Heinz?

Aye.

Romero Campbell, aye.

Torres?

Aye.

Albitrez?

Nay.

Flynn, aye.

Gilmore.

Aye.

Gonzalez Cutieres.

Aye.

Cashman.

Lewis, aye.

Parity?

Aye.

Sawyer?

No.

Watson?

Madam President Sandoval?

Nay.

Madam Secretary, close the voting and announce the results.

Nine ayes.

Nine ayes.

Amendment three to council bill 1556 has passed.

Councilmember Flynn, will you please put Council Bill 5050 1556 on the floor for final passage as amended?

Yes, Madam President.

I move the Council Bill 25-1556 be placed upon final consideration and do pass as amended.

It's been moved and seconded.

Comments by members of council as amended.

Anyone in the queue?

Alright, Madam Secretary, we'll call on Council 1556 as amended.

Council members Hines.

Aye.

Romero Campbell.

Aye.

Torres.

Aye.

Albidrez.

Aye.

Flynn.

Aye.

Gilmore.

Aye.

Gonzalez Gutierrez.

Aye.

Cashman.

Aye.

Lewis.

Aye.

Parity.

Aye.

Sawyer?

Aye.

Watson.

Aye.

Madam President Sandoval.

Aye.

Madam Secretary, close the voting and announce the results.

13 ayes.

13 ayes.

Council 1556 as amended has passed.

Bravo.

Thank you all for working on that.

That was a huge lift.

Tonight will be a there will be a required public hearing on Council Bill 1541, changing the zoning classification of 709 South Delaware Street in Baker.

If there are no objections from members of council, we will recess until um that concludes our general public comment session.

If we did not get to you today, please join us at our next session or submit your comments in writing.

The next session will be held on Monday, December 22nd.

Sign up begins at 5 p.m.

on Thursday, December 18th.

We look forward to hearing from you again and thank you for attending.

I'll give a minute to switch out the room.

Oh, please.

Council will now reconvene from our earlier session.

With all call-outs having been concluded, the next order of business is the block vote.

All bills for introduction are ordered published.

Council remember council members, remember that this is a consent or a block vote, and you'll need to vote aye.

Otherwise, this is your last chance to call out an item for a separate vote.

Councilmember Flynn, will you please put the resolutions for adoption and the bills on final consideration for final passage on the floor?

Uh yes, I will, madam president.

Thank you.

I move that the resolutions be adopted and bills on final consideration be placed upon final consideration and due pass in a block for the following items.

All series of 25.

No, thank you.

Suddenly disappeared.

1880.

1963, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 1961, 2012, 1810, 1969, 1970, 2008, 2080, 2081, 1965, 1966, 1977, 1988, 1990, 2007, 1960, and 1917.

Thank you.

Um seconded, Madam Secretary.

Roll call.

I'm sorry, could we have a verbal uh second?

There's something going on with my software here.

I can't see who it was.

Watson.

Thank you.

The mover was Councilmember Flynn and the second year was Watson.

Thank you.

Yeah, you're welcome.

Council members Hines.

Romero Campbell.

Aye.

Torres?

Aye.

Albitres.

Aye.

Flynn.

Gilmore.

Gonzalez Gutierrez.

Aye.

Cashman.

Aye.

Lewis.

Aye.

Parity?

Aye.

Sawyer.

Aye.

Watson.

Aye.

Madam President Sandoval?

Aye.

Madam Secretary, close voting announced results.

11 ayes.

11 ayes.

The resolutions have been adopted and the bills have been placed upon final consideration and do pass.

All right.

There is one proclamation being read this evening.

Council members Lewis Albidrez Gonzalez Gutierrez.

Parady.

Could you help me please read proclamation 2082?

Yes, Council President.

Whereas Wellington Edward Webb was sworn in by Colorado Chief Justice Lewis Ruvea on July 1st, 1999 as the city and county of Denver's 42nd Mayor and Denver's first Black Mayor, where his road to the Denver mayor's office took several selfless footsteps along the way.

His life's walks to Denver's most prestigious and coveted civic office is remarkable and worthy of recognition and condemnation as documented herein.

And whereas Wellington E.

Webb was elected to three terms of service to the Colorado House of Representatives from 1972 to 1977, where he was unanimously elected by his peers at the Democratic Caucus Chairman, where he simultaneously also chaired the House Health, Environmental, Welfare and Institutions Committee, a dual assignment regularly rarely granted to a House member to fill two positions of leadership at the same time.

His legislative achievements were consistent with his integrity and his values as he sponsored successful legislation that included laws to prohibit discrimination based on marriage, resulting in the victory for the women to be allowed to be granted credit in their own names, and sponsored law prohibiting discrimination based upon physical disabilities and law mandating group health insurance policies to include coverage for alcohol addiction treatment.

Courageous in opening closed doors for many, he introduced legislation where in many cases was not adopted by the Colorado General Assembly.

However, he started the conversation, which led to later adoption of significant anti-discrimination laws.

He was the first lawmaker in Colorado to sponsor anti-discrimination laws to protect and advance women, and he carried laws to protect the LGBTQIA community from discrimination based upon sexual orientation, and he courageously sponsored laws to provide for opening records for adult adoptees in search of their birth parents.

And whereas during President Jimmy Carter's first term as President of the United States of America, President Carter appointed Wellington E.

Webb as regional director of the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare, wherein the department's name was later changed to the United States Department of Health and Human Services.

As the regional director, his scope of leadership service included oversight and direction for the states of Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming, where, as part of his domain, he provided oversight of 23 Native American reservations and visited 19 communities and met with officials and the people of Standing Rock Reservation in the state of North Dakota.

While there, he uncovered an unfairness in the funding of aid to families with dependent children, or AFCD, where the same tribe was located in both North Dakota and South Dakota, but were being unfairly compensated, where one state was allocating more funding than the other state, although it was for the same tribe.

He recommended equalization of this unfair appropriation by utilizing direct funding to each of the two states' tribes.

However, the suggestion was not approved in Washington, D.C.

And whereas in 1981, Colorado Governor Richard Lamb, Richard D.

Lamb appointed Wellington E.

Webb to the Lamb Cabinet as executive director of the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies, which comprises 12 distinct divisions, which were governed by laws for oversight in the matters that protect the public in various contacts of interactions in businesses and services that impact people directly.

Where within Webb's scope of authority, he advocated for stronger penalties for violators of the laws, rules, and regulations, regulations within those divisions of regulatory agencies.

His influence over these divisions is remarkable, where he left undeniable improvements for those areas and endeavors from incorporated business and services.

They are the banking division, the civil rights division, the conservation division, the division of real estate, the division of security, the division of occupational boards, the insurance division, the division of health care occupational boards, the Public Utilities commission, the Office of Utility Consumer Advocate, the Financial Services Division, and the Office of Regulatory Reform.

He drafted an amendment to the Colorado Banking Code that was adopted that provided for Bill Daniels, father of the cable television in Colorado to create and build the young Americans bank in Denver.

He fought successfully for strengthening laws for penalties to violators of this penny stock market.

He strengthened safety inspections of Colorado ski lifts.

Webb was honored by the National Governors Association as public official of the year for his vast improvements for the state regulations in the areas of ethics, safety, and vision, and simultaneously, Webb and his wife, Wilma J.

Webb, as neighborhood activists, led a citizen ballot initiative to provide for the Denver City Council vacancies to be filled by Denver's convening a special election in the district where the vacancy exists rather than by the previous Denver Charter, in which the vacancies being filled was by a mayoral appointment to the vacant seat.

And whereas Wellington E.

Webb was elected auditor of the city and county of Denver in 1987, and was the first auditor to implement strong enforcement of prevailing wage laws, and he implemented a prompt payment ordinance for city vendors, and he challenged the financial agreement with Denver owner Winter Park Ski Resort, which at the time generated an underassessment of a mere thousand to the city of Denver, which was later rectified once he became mayor.

He ordered that Denver enter into an up to 50 plus year lease agreement for Denver's Winter Park ski area in Winter Park, Colorado.

And whereas Auditor Webb, a courageous and energetic visionary who gives his all to make positive differences for people to happen, announced his candidacy for mayor of Denver, although he pulled at only 7%, where one of his opponents pulled at 67% of the electorate.

He and his wife Wilma spent the night in 42 different homes throughout all of Denver.

And where, like a tenacious Olympian, he returned home on election day, where he was victorious and held won the election with 58% of the votes that were cast for him.

Upon completing 12 years serving as mayor of Denver, he left office possessing a 65% approval rating from the people from the people, and he earned the respect of mayors nationwide by being elected by his peers to the only mayor in America to be elected president of the United States Conference of Mayors.

The National Conference of Democratic Mayors and the National Conference of Black Mayors, respected, respected and admired by public servants nationally.

He was also elected vice chairman of the Democratic National Committee and later appointed as our United States delegate to the United Nations by President Barack Obama.

And whereas, upon entering the mayor's seat, safety was a major concern of all Denver residents.

Twelve years later, under the Webb administration, crime had been reduced by 40%, and new police stations had been built in Northwest Denver, Northeast Denver, Southeast Denver, a new police station, District 6 was created for downtown Denver for Capitol Hill.

Under the Webb Administration, plan for crime reduction was effective in reducing crime in Denver, where the administration had imposed a curfew program for children under the age of 18, and Safe City program was established that included a summer jobs for youth program for teenagers between the ages of 14 and 18 years old.

Because of these implementations and other crime in Denver decreased significantly.

The administration, in working with the Denver public schools, also created the Mayor's Office of Children and Education, where the Mile High Scholars Program and after-school programs were created and implemented.

And whereas the Webb Administration successfully completed 85% of construction of Denver International Airport and signed United Airlines as its first major tenant and opened on February 28th, 1995, and established nonstop international flights to Toronto, Canada, Frankfurt, Germany, London, England, Mexico City, Mexico, and brought seven new airline carriers to Denver, including Lutanza, German Airlines, British Airways, JetBlue Airways, Alaska Airlines, AirTran Airways, Horizon Spirit, Spirit Airlines, and Mesa Airlines, and created a concessionaire program at DIA that enabled businesses to participate in the economic benefit of the airport, including small, disadvantaged, and local businesses, achieving one of the highest percentage participation percentages of women and minority businesses in the country, second only to Atlanta, and his admin and his administration completed the sixth runway extending 16,000 feet, making it one of the longest commercial runways in the country.

And whereas the Webb administration increased open space and acreage in Denver by 97% and implemented construction and successful completion of Red Rocks Amplitheater Restoration in Red Rocks, Colorado, and successfully implemented completion of Denver's skateboard park, which extends the largest public skateboard park in the USA.

And successfully constructed and completed Commons Park in the South Platte River Corridor, and successfully restoration of Daniels Park in Southeast Denver, and successfully constructed Centennial Park of Gardens in the South Platte River Corridor, and successfully completed designation of Cuernavaca Park, in which Cuernavaca is Denver's sister city in Mexico, and successfully completed implementation of the designated designation of Axam Park located in Northeast Denver, in which Axum is Denver's sister city in Ethiopia, and implemented the successful construction and completion of Fishback Gates Park in the South Platte River Corridor, and the successful completion of planning and development of skyline park renovation and restoration in downtown Denver, and completion of the new Denver Zoo renovations and parking garage, and construction of the new therapy pool addition to the Martin Luther King Jr.

Recreation Center in Northeast Denver, and implemented construction of the Ashland Swimming Pool, the new Rudy Recreation Center, and the Hiawatha Davis Recreation Center.

The new Montbellow Recreation Center in Northeast Denver and construction and completion of the Josie Acosta addition at Alama Recreation Center in West Denver and expansion of the Cook Park Recreation Center, the New City Park Golf Clubhouse, and expansion of the Montclair Recreation Center and the remodel and expansion of the Southwest Recreation Center, and helped sponsor the Denver Police Brotherhood Boxing Ring at Globeville Recreation Center.

And whereas the Webb administration established the Northeast, Southeast, Northwest, and the Southwest Motor Vehicle Offices, and eliminated use of sand icer and replaced it with liquid deicer to reduce air pollution.

And he also created early snow plowing of neighborhood streets and the Webb administration created Denver Health, formerly Denver General Hospital, as an independent authority, resulting in national praise as a model for public health care, taking the authority from a 39 million deficit to a $50 million cash balance.

And the new authority was able to issue 142 million in bonds to develop Denver health facilities, including a new Denver La Casa Family Health Care Center, an expansion of the Sam Sando's Westside Family Health Center, a new Westwood Clinic, and three major expansions at the hospital campus.

And the hospital expansion included a new hospital tower, new operating rooms, and a new radiology area with state of the art equipment, and whereas the Webb administration executed a deal with Forest City Corporation for the 30-year build-out and redevelopment of 47 of the 4,700 acre former Stapleton Airport as a national model for sustainable communities.

And the Webb Administration initiated and completed a successful redevelopment of Lowry Air Force Base into a mixed use sustainable community where 4,000 homes are currently occupied, and successfully brought to completion an opening of the Human Services Crisis Center for Children in West Denver, and established the first ever earned income tax credit offered by a city for the working poor and launched the Best Babies Program, a home visitor program for at risk first time pregnant women, serving them from pregnancy through the child's third year, and successfully completing development of a substance abuse care facility for the residents of Denver, and further established the Mayor's Office of Drug Strategy to combat drug and alcohol abuse, and the Webb administration in 1995 successfully initiated construction and completion of the expansion of the Denver Public Library, in which was built in 1955, being the main branch in downtown Denver and successfully constructed and completed the Art Museum expansion in downtown Denver and established the mayor's Office of Art, Culture, and Film, and successfully commissioned, constructed and completed the new Dr.

Martin Luther King Jr.

I Have a Dream Monument in City Park, and acquired and displayed numerous sculptures by world-renowned artists, including Botero's Man and Woman, Lipskey's The Yearling, the Yearling, De Suvero's Lao Tzu, and Borofsky's Dancers, and envisioned and successfully constructed and completed the Blair Caldwell African American Research Library and the Pauline Robinson Branch Library, and implemented the completion and opening of the Schlesman Library in Southeast Denver, and successfully constructed and opened the new parking facilities for the Museum of Nature and Science and the Denver Zoo.

And whereas the Webb administration won federal appeals court victory in its supporting Denver's Minority Business Program.

And Mayor Webb in Progressive Acts appointed Judge Mary Celeste, Denver's first LGBTQIA plus judge, to Denver County Court in July of 2000.

And Mayor Webb also appointed Judge Melvin Okomoto to Denver County Court in December of 1998, who is the first Asian American County Court judge, and Mayor Webb appointed Judge Claudia Jordan to Denver County Court in July of 1994, who is the first African American woman judge in Colorado.

And Mayor Webb renamed the Quig Newton Auditorium and renamed the McNichols Building and named the Richard T.

Castro Human Services Center and named Minoro Yasui Building and renamed Kerrigan Hall and named Pena Boulevard and renamed the Bill Schider Rec Center and renamed the Hiawatha Davis Recreation Center and named the Ari P.

Taylor Municipal Building and successfully secured and dedicated Cable Land, the official residence of the mayor of Denver, and created the gallery of Denver's Mayors and named the Blair Caldwell African American Research Library in honor of Omar Blair and Elvin Caldwell.

And whereas Mayor Wellington E.

Webb and the Webb Administration hosted World Youth Day with Pope John Paul II in 1993, and hosted the Denver Summit of Eight, the annual Global Economic Summit in 1997, and hosted two Super Bowl victories, celebrations won by Denver's champion professional football team, the Denver Broncos, and hosted two Stanley Cup victories.

Celebrations won by Denver's champion professional hockey team, the Colorado Avalanche.

And whereas, as a result of Mayor Webb's vision and successful transformation of Denver, he has been honored by numerous organizations, including the U.S.

Conference of Mayors' highest award, namely the Mayor's Award of Distinguished Public Service in June of 2003, and his receipt of the 2003 initiative for competitive inner city, namely the Mayoral Inner City Leadership Award, and the Americans for the Arts 2001 Government Leadership in the Arts Award for his dedication and support of the arts in Denver and the American Institute of Architecture and 2001 award for contribute contributions to professional architects in improving Denver and the National Wildlife Federation and 1999 Achievement Award for Mayor's Redevelopment of the South Platte River.

And Mayor Webb is the recipient of the 2002 Stockholm Partnership Awards for Sustainability for the Stapleton Development.

And in 1999, Mayor Webb was named Chevalar de la Legion de Honor, the highest and most prestigious honor bestowed upon a civilian by the country of France.

The award was made by Jacques Serrac, President of the French Republic in recognition of Mayor Webb's leadership in organizing the Denver Summit of Eight.

And in 1998, Partners for Livable Communities awarded Mayor Webb and President Clinton their prestigious bridge builders award at a ceremony in Washington DC in recognition of their national efforts to promote understanding and economic opportunities between Africa and the United States.

And the Denver City Council named the Wellington E.

Webb Building in honor of Mayor Webb for his service and leadership as Denver Mayor.

And the Denver Health Authority Board named the Wellington E.

Webb Center for Primary Care Building in honor of his creation of the Denver Health Authority and its contributions to health care to the city and county of Denver and to the state of Colorado.

And the Webb administration's downtown agenda included breaking ground for a 23-story Denver Owned Hyatt Hotel, and the May Company building was remodeled and expanded in to the Sheraton Hotel.

The Denver Dry Building was restored and renovated.

The Denver Broncos signed a new Mile High Stadium 25-year lease and successfully constructed and completed a new Mile High Stadium in Denver.

And the Colorado Avalanche and the Denver Nuggets signed a 25-year lease with Denver.

And Denver was the only city in America who had a right of first refusal on new basketball team ownership.

And Denver the Mayor Webb successfully implemented completion of the Pepsi Center, home of the Denver Nuggets team and the Colorado Avalanche Hockey Team.

And the city of Denver entered into a 50-year lease agreement with the Denver Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Denver.

And Mayor Webb authorized the city permit building to be leased to the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless for a dollar a year for 30 years.

And Mayor Webb authorized surplus Denver public safety equipment of a fire truck, which was donated to the city of Cornovaca, Mexico, and two police cars were given to the city of Winstonville, Mississippi.

And Mayor Webb has always recognized and appreciated his administration, not for the buildings that they built together, but for the dedicated service of the people who worked for the Webb administration, those who passed away, and those who went on to make a difference in always in making Denver a better city, and he always acknowledged and expressed gratitude to his wife Wilma, his immediate family for the sacrifices that they endured for his commitment to public service.

Now, therefore, do you have it?

I do.

Okay, scrolling.

Be it proclaimed by the Denver City Council.

Section one that the Denver City Council honors and recognizes Mayor Wellington Webb and his administration for the visionary leadership, historic accomplishments, and enduring contributions to the Sydney and County of Denver as dedicated and transformative public servants.

And section two that the clerk and recorder of the city and county of Denver shall affix the seal of the city and county of Denver to this proclamation and a copy be transmitted to the honorable Wellington Webb.

Thank you.

Councilmember Lewis, your motion to adopt.

I move that proclamation 25 2082 be adopted.

It has been moved and seconded.

Is your vocast working, Madam Secretary?

Yep.

Awesome.

Comments by members of council.

Councilmember Lewis, want to start us out?

Yes, I will.

Thank you.

It is my honor and privilege to sponsor this proclamation, honoring Mayor Wellington E.

Webb, excuse me.

I get nervous.

For me, this is deeply personal.

Mayor Webb's leadership has shaped my own career path, and his courage has inspired countless others.

I remember as a child watching his election unfold, seeing him walk through the entire city and connected with people face to face.

That image showed me that leadership is about presence.

Leadership is about being among the people you serve, and leadership is about listening with humility while acting with boldness.

Mayor Webb was the first black mayor elected in this city, and today I sit here as the first black openly queer woman to serve on city council.

Breaking glass glass ceilings is a birthright.

His courage opened doors, and my presence here is proof that those doors remain open for new voices, new perspectives, and new generations.

I often speak on the importance of giving people their flowers while they're still here to smell them.

And today we are doing just that.

Mayor Webb's legacy legacy is not confined to history books.

It lives in the opportunities he's created, the leaders he's nurtured, and the communities that he's uplifted.

As I reflect on his journey, I'm hopeful that my own legacy will carry even a fraction of the lasting influence that Mayor Webb has had.

I aspire to inspire future generations with the same boldness, same courage, and unwavering commitment to communities that has shown us that you have shown us.

Today's proclamation is both a tribute and a promise, a tribute to Mayors Webb's extraordinary life of service and a promise to continue building on his foundation, ensuring that his work echoes through generations to come.

Maybe Mayor Webb, we thank you, we honor you, and we celebrate you.

And I have to say, we just had the Hiawatha Davis luncheon, and I love the story that you share about Hiawatha.

I'll leave that to you and your remarks if you'd like to share that with folks.

But it's a testament of who you are as a human and the humanity that you pour into this world.

So thank you for your leadership.

Thank you.

Next up we have Councilwoman.

Councilwoman Gonzalez Gutierrez.

Thank you, Madam President.

Um, Mayor Webb.

I reached out to my Aunt Nita, who I know um wished she could be here this evening, and she sent me some words that I wanted to make sure I relayed to you from really from her and from the Gonzalez family.

Um, thank you for honoring former Mayor Wellington Webb with this richly deserved proclamation.

As someone who has known him for many years, I want to offer a personal reflection on the depth and meaning of his leadership and legacy.

Mayor Webb and I have shared a long-standing friendship, one that endured even when we found ourselves on opposite sides of specific policies or actions.

Throughout those years, his support for me never wavered.

He stood with Escuala Tlate Loco, supported me when I ran for office, also when I ran for office.

So yeah, thanks, Mabel.

And took the courageous step of appointing uh me as in my Aunt Nita to the Denver Housing Authority at a time when many preferred that she would not be there.

His trust and willingness to make space for my voice and civic leadership is something I have never forgotten.

His support extended beyond me.

He consistently demonstrated respect and solidarity for our Chicano community.

He recognized the importance of our struggles, our cultural institutions, and our leaders, including my father, my grandfather, Rodolfo Curky Gonzalez.

I vividly remember uh when my grandfather, she remembers when my dad, I know I'm saying this sounds weird.

When my dad, when her dad committed um to Wilma Webb, the honorable Wilma Webb, to support the Dr.

Martin Luther King Jr.

holiday bill, and that the Crusade for Justice and Escuela Tal de Loco would stand with them every single year.

And I can attest to that there is somebody always, more than one of us of the Gonzalez family that are there, even in the freezing cold.

We honored that commitment, and our Escuela students, including actually my own children and myself when my student my kids went to Escuela, has and yours have marched and organized in partnership with the Webb family.

Mayor Webb also believed deeply in building strong alliances between the black and brown communities.

Alliances that have shaped so much of Denver's history.

He worked alongside us, listened to our concerns, and helped create space for our shared efforts for equity and justice to move forward together.

Over the years, he and I have also stood behind several candidates whose leaderships we believe in.

And more often than not, our instincts prove correct.

Those victories reflected our shared values and commitment to Denver's future.

Your recognition of him today honors not only his remarkable public service, but also the decades of community building, cross-cultural bridge work, and principled leadership that he has embodied.

Thank you for lifting up this history and ensuring it remains part of Denver's living hist living story.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you.

Councilwoman Nelvidres.

Thank you so much, Council President.

And uh thank you, Councilwoman Lewis, for inviting me to be a part of this great proclamation.

It's an honor to honor such a great mayor, the first mayor I really remember in my lifetime.

And uh I'm so proud of the picture that I've shared with you and um Wilma as a child.

One of my favorite most important days was when the airport opened.

And I was promised if I cleaned my room by a certain time, we would get to go there and meet the mayor, which was such a big deal.

Um and I didn't make it in time, but my mom had mercy on me because I was so sad, and I was able to go.

And I just love looking at that photo because as a little girl, it was such a big deal to get dressed up and be able to meet the mayor, and for the mayor to be a person of color was also such an important part of that.

That's my first real version of looking up at a mayor, and so I think about that a lot and what that means to our young people today.

My son gets to watch professional women's sports team, he gets to watch um movies that the woman is the main hero.

And so I also want to say to me, one of the best men in the world is one that uplifts his woman.

And every time I talk to Mayor Webb, he talks about you, Wilma, and speaks of all the things that you've done and how proud he is of his whole family.

And being a family is what gets us through this hard time, and sticking together gets us through hard time, and you don't see that often anymore.

So to see you two sitting here together in this way, uh, is so meaningful to a young person like me.

So thank you for all that you've done for our great city, and also I just want to recognize how many firsts that you did for others.

I did this for other communities, and that's something that I'm learning in this position.

What can we do for not just my community, the community I live in, the community that looks like me, but what can I do for other communities to see them take steps forward?

And so thank you for leading in that way.

And it's an honor to watch and learn, uh, continue to learn about the great things you do.

So thank you.

Thank you, Council President.

Thank you.

Councilmember Flynn.

Thank you, Madam President.

It's great to see you here, Mayor Webb and Wilma, and so many people who worked for your administration.

Thank you all for being here.

Um, maybe not well known except to some of us who've been close to to all this, is that Mayor Webb is is one of the primary reasons I'm sitting up here right now.

After the uh Rocky Mountain News closed, and uh I was out of work for about 15 months before I got on at RTD.

Uh Mayor Webb reached out to me, uh, which was surprising to me.

Uh, because it teaches us lessons about how people work together uh even when you have to fight sometimes and he called me and said he would uh like me to consider coming on board a political campaign uh out in House District 7 which is far afield from my house district one uh but Angela Williams was running for the House District 7 seat at the time and uh Wellington I'm sorry the mayor thought that I could contribute to her communications and I remember writing a four color full-color pamphlet that was used for all the precinct organizers to go out and and work for her in the primary but I particularly remember the uh organizational meeting at uh at uh gentleman's house in uh in out in the central park neighborhood and we were I think there were maybe 12 of us sitting around that big dining room table and the mayor introduced me to some of the folks I hadn't yet met and he said uh Kevin used to work at the Rocky Mountain News in fact he covered my administration then he looks at me and he says matter of fact I didn't like very much of what he wrote about me I don't have to remember that and the only thing I could say in response mayor was well what could I do you just handed me too much material to work with you know and so uh I reg I covered your 1983 race a lot of folks don't recall that mayor webb was one I think seven candidates who ran uh when Bill McNichols was defeated for his uh his last run for office and um I'm looking at the article here from uh May of 1983 and I wrote that uh uh Wellington Webb was Mayor McNichol's harshest critic uh at the time and I think you said that uh the administration treats City Hall like it's a retirement home because people come in and they never leave I don't know if you remember making that statement mayor.

But then I believe and the reason I brought that up that when you did run and got into the runoff in 91 I believe Mayor McNichols supported you.

And that's the lesson that I want to talk about you can fight like cats and dogs Monday night but you pick up the phone Tuesday morning and you say what can we work on to bring us together and so much to the chagrin of many people I think mayor webb is primarily responsible along with my wife Harriet for my being up here I know that's something that Andrew Hudson has never quite accepted but uh but uh your walk of Denver very innovative uh you know Mike Dino and uh uh Jim Martinez started in my district in Beaumar Heights Park and I'll never forget that coming out and following that and catching up with you every day and that's what catapulted you over your opponent essentially gained no more votes in the runoff and I believe that Don Bain also supported you mayor McNichol supported you and that's how things get done in Denver that's how we do it in Denver.

In fact you used to say this is how we do things in Denver and so uh thank you for for all that you've done for the city and um thank you for your service not just for the city but for the state and for the federal government in your positions there.

And thank you to Wilma for being at your side every step of the way thank you madam president.

Thank you.

Councilmember Cashman Yeah thank you madam president uh Mr.

Mayor good to see you as always uh Mrs.

Webb I also want to recomm recognize our former uh executive director of safety Stephanie O'Malley good to see you here um I I have uh having been a journalist before coming on council I have some similar stories to uh councilman Flynn um you know covered mayor webb for an I think we met the first time when you were auditor but uh um you know covered what you did as mayor and agreed with you on some stuff and disagreed with you on other stuff so I I was kind of surprised.

Uh back then the mayor had uh television show on channel eight where he would interview other people and he called me and wanted to interview me as a uh you know a local journalist, which he did, and you know, went went down to the station and we sat there and we chatted for a while, and it got to intermission, and the cameras turned off, and he looked at me, he said, Well, what do you think of this?

I said, Well, I'm kind of uncomfortable, you know, and I don't really enjoy the camera.

He says, you know, me neither.

He said, you know what this is good for?

I said, what's that?

He said, uh, is your mother still alive?

I said, yeah.

As a matter of fact, she is.

She was at the time.

He said, Well, we'll get you a copy of this to send to your mom.

She's gonna love it.

And uh, I still show you how long ago that was.

I still have that VHS on my bookshelf.

So my uh my kids uh always try to dig the VHS machine out of a closet and play it once in a while.

I always appreciated that.

Um, the other um thing that was very important to me in uh uh what I'm honored to call our friendship.

Um, you know, when I decided to run uh for council in 2015, went around talking to people and seeking endorsements, and one of the people uh I was advised to speak to was uh former mayor Webb, and uh so I got an appointment with him, went and sat down and talked and we talked for a while.

He asked me some great questions.

I felt like my God, I don't know if I'd vote for me.

I don't really think I'm ready for this job.

But in any event, we had a great chat, and he said, excuse me.

He said, you know, call me in three months.

And I thought, oh, okay.

Well, that's quite the brush off.

That's all right.

And uh I'm sitting at my desk at my office, and it's one of those long ago, but you can remember where you were sitting, what you were wearing, and the phone rang, and he said, Paul, it's uh Wellington Webb.

I said, Oh, Mr.

Mayor, what can I do for you?

He said, Uh, well, there's something I want to do for you.

I want to endorse you for for your counsel seat.

That was the first endorsement I got, and I believe that was a very important kick off to what has been without question the the greatest honor um uh uh work wise of my life.

Uh being in these chairs as well as being in the mayor's office or as uh director of an agency or the state house, it truly is an honor, and and I thank you very much for that.

Um uh besides that uh I just uh uh want to thank your entire family once again.

Uh there's lots of we can look at it.

We honored Mayor Payne a little while ago.

Uh, we named the chambers after Kathy Reynolds.

There's lots of important people, but you got to go a long way to find another family that's had the collective contribution of the Webb family, and uh uh honor you for that.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you.

Councilmember Watson.

Uh thank you so much, uh Madam President and Mayor Webb and First Lady Webb and your family uh congratulations on this one of many honors uh duly earned.

And thank you to the sponsors for bringing this forward.

Um I have to share, I um did my four-year term at CU from 87 to 91, and economy sucked, and so I moved to Nebraska because I knew I could find a cheap apartment and still be closing up to Denver until the economy got better and come back.

Um, so I was living in Nebraska and uh in Lincoln, and um I can't remember the name of the Lincoln newspaper and the race with uh Norm Early, um the um district attorney and um and um mayor Webb uh came up and I think there was a news story on on the news, and I I was aware of both of these amazing men, black men in our community.

And I sat in the extra Lily White Lincoln, Nebraska, where I was living, and I followed through the newspapers and I followed.

There is no internet.

There was no way to pull this up, and I follow from the few stories that were um shared on uh the newspaper um and on it on TV.

Extremely proud uh that my adopted home had two of the most qualified people running for mayor, and it happened to be two black men.

Um I watched the uh or read the narrative of your walk and understood the power of ensuring that folks knew that this office um is powered by the people, and that walk you did you did uh demonstrated that, that it wasn't uh the money raised, it may not have been so much have been the message.

It was the folks who came out and believed in you, believed in someone that looked like them for the first time, having his chance and having a shot, and go forward a few years, move back to Colorado.

Um, my mom who is watching right now, she watches Channel 8 like it's her soap opera, and so hi mom.

Um she decided to uh move to Denver unbeknownst to me.

She said she's coming for Thanksgiving.

She stayed for six months, and I was like, Lady, I was in a uh studio apartment on 17th and stout de Banklos, um, and she just stayed with me in a loft.

Young man, mom moved up, told me she doesn't want to leave.

And uh I knew then I had to find a home um for us um to buy a place for the first time.

And it was sir, you and your family, uh, First Lady uh Wilma Webb and your family living in Wheatier, as well as the honorable uh Elber Wedgeworth that texted me tonight and said she couldn't make it and wanted me to send her her thoughts.

Um, but it's because you lived in Wheatier.

Um, is why I told my realtor um if I'm bringing my West Indian mom to live in Denver is gonna be in a place where the roots of this city was built, where the legacy of the African American leadership, your leadership, sir, and that of your family, um uh was rooted.

And my mom is called uh Whitdy and Five Points her home her entire time since 1998 until now, um, and it's because of you.

And I I share those two anecdotes because uh representation matters.

It mattered to me, a little West Indian boy in Lincoln sitting there being extremely proud, not just of the good works of this man, but the fact the audacity to run and believe that this humongous city would choose him to be their leader and choose him to take this city in a place it needed to go while it was struggling.

Um I always know where Mayor Webb stands, I always know.

Um I know where you stand, sir.

And it gives peace and hope to many of us that aspire to lead in ways that leave something behind when we're gone.

You are a man of your word, so is First Lady Webb.

I am honored, sir, to not only be a neighbor, I'm honored, sir, to learn from your history, your wins, and the legacy that you've left for us.

And I look in the audience of so many of my friends that I have done so much stuff with uh from your administration.

I thank you, sir, for your leadership, for your love of city, and for your demonstration of how a black man in leadership should not only build coalitions but should lead when it's not easy, but also lead.

Um, thank you.

Thank you, First Lady Webb, for always loaning this great man to us.

Um, thank you for this opportunity to stand in shoulder in solidarity with my council members in honoring you with this proclamation.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you.

Councilmember Carody.

Um it is a huge honor for me to uh get to sponsor something like this, um, because as you guys know, I'm new in town.

I've only been here a little under 20 years.

Um, and the thing that has made this city a home for me, I come from rural white America.

Um, when I was a kid up in Wyoming, um, a young man named Matt Shepard got murdered in Laramie.

Um there was just casual racism, sexual violence, the methamphetamine epidemic, gun deaths.

Um, and I don't know what people are talking about when they talk about cities because I came here to find a home um and a place that was safe.

Um I had gone back to school back east, you know, big cities.

I'm a westerner, but I couldn't go back to where I came from, so you know, I needed to find a home.

The kind of roots that the webs have in Denver that people with surnames like Sandoval or Gonzalez have in Denver, I don't have anywhere.

And so I was just looking for somewhere that where people can come from all over and have for generations at this point to find safety, to find respect, to have a fighting chance, and where you wouldn't see the kind of um terrifying cultural conformity that's really gotten its hands around the kind of places that I come from.

And so I am so grateful for this city.

Um I came here to work for Carlos Lucero on the Tenth Circuit, who's another uh great Denver mensch, we could say, um, and there hasn't been a day since then that I haven't been grateful for the culture of this city for the openness.

Um I was able to start a law firm when I was 30.

I couldn't have done that in my hometown.

I couldn't have done that in New York City.

I would have been shut out in both of those places as you know, a young woman.

Um, and that's the city that you made, the anti-discrimination laws, the first.

Those things aren't just paper.

That's why we have this city.

Um, this stuff matters so much.

Your support for working people through your entire career at every level, all of the little things that you did to get people on equal footing, um, and here we are just having past, you know, implementing collective bargaining for our city workers.

Um, all of that builds up to the day-to-day lives that we can have here that I hope that my kids will get to have here.

Um, and I'm just so grateful.

So I promise I'm going somewhere with this.

You know that you met my dad once and that you remind me of my dad.

He was an elected um official up in Wyoming.

At that time, he was a Republican.

By the time he passed last year, he was a Democrat.

Either way, he was a tall, cheerful guy who commanded the room and just always seemed like he was having a great time.

You could not upset him, he was having a great time.

He loved it, he loved public service, he loved leadership, and he loved people, and he would remember every single person that he ever met.

Well, when he came down here to help me knock doors, he didn't knock that many because he would talk for like an hour at each door.

So, you know, hopefully I got those votes, but it wasn't that effective.

But he he saw you speak, and then he wouldn't stop.

I like that Wellington guy.

You should meet him, you should be learning from him.

I'm like, I know dad, I would if I could, you know, like, yeah, we we all know about about Wellington Webb in Denver.

But um, I told you about this at the Hiawatha Davis last year, and you told me to read your book.

So since I'm not from here, I have to read about a lot of this stuff in a book.

Um, your book is pretty amazing as far as Denver history goes, and I'm gonna um take a moment and read a couple of things from this that um I think are really wonderful.

Um there's a little passage about how you got your name.

Um you say when you were young, um, you didn't like your name because it was too long.

Um, but as you got older, you appreciated it.

Um, it made sense that my grandfather Webb, who I only met once, chose a unique name.

He had a gift for words, and he was an advocate of education.

He graduated as a tailor because Tuskegee at that time emphasized liberal arts and learning a craft.

He was also an extemporaneous speaker, which sounds familiar, and people loved to hear him speak.

Um, and then you talk about how both sides of your family um identified with um both the sort of Du Bois and Booker T.

Washington sides of the great debate back then.

Um you talk about all of the just intellectual and professional and um pretty incredible accomplishments on both sides of your family, your grandmother um graduating with a teaching degree, working as a dressmaker, um, and instilling that passion for education.

Um, and your grandfather Webb, um, being a tailor, but also an intellectual just on the side, read about the Duke of Wellington defeating Napoleon in the Battle of Waterloo, and that's why he named your father Wellington and why you have that name.

So I really loved reading about that.

I also um really enjoyed reading about some of my colleagues in this book.

So, Councilmember Flynn.

Some of those, uh some of those memories that that you two apparently have talked about over the years.

Um, page 251 here, newly elected mayor.

One mistake I immediately corrected was the vehicle that I would use as mayor.

I drove a city-owned Mercury as auditor and knew the police department had ordered a Lincoln for me to use as mayor.

When the car arrived, it was cherry red.

No one in the police department admitted who had ordered the color, um, and I said someone must have known that red isn't my most flattering color and asked them to reorder one in Black Urban Knight Blue, which they did.

When Kevin Flynn of the Racking Out News inquired about the switch of vehicles, we didn't tell them it was because of the color, but that I needed more seating space because of my height, which was true.

Flynn actually went out and measured both vehicles.

Colleagues, is this familiar to us?

Despite his report that both vehicles were the same size, I still believe the second car's back seat not only had more headroom, but also was a more appropriate color for a mayor.

And there's also some really beautiful little notes in here about a walkout that included uh Paul Sandoval and Mayor Webb.

Um protesting gubernatorial policies at the time that were um out of line with divestment from South Africa.

Um, and I just I thank you for that.

Um that's a country that I've spent a lot of time in and love and have friends in to this day.

Um, and then a reference to um one of your jobs early on, working for the job opportunities center, a precursor to the neighborhood youth corps.

Um, as part of the program, I began going to neighborhood meetings with activist Corgi Gonzalez.

They hung out at Joe's buffet on Santa Fe, where you had your first Mexican hamburger and jalapeno poppers.

So I am really lucky to live in this city.

I'm not from here.

I'm not from these storied Denver families.

Um, and I just um everything about the culture of Denver that I love, you fought for, and I love and respect that so much.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Council Pro Temeral Campbell.

Hi, um, thank you, Madam President.

Um, I just want to say I'm sorry that I'm not there in the council chambers this evening to be able to be there for the proclamation.

I just appreciate my colleagues' words.

Thank you so much for bringing this proclamation forward.

Um, you know, I born and raised and grew up in Southeast Denver, and my family um has always been a big supporter of um Mayor Webb, and you know, very proudly, you know, putting out our signs.

Um I just appreciate the the staff that you've had.

It's so incredibly bright and talented, and I think you've always surrounded yourself with, you know, people who add to and bring um so much good thinking to um to the process.

Uh I will I I will tell just a brief story.

We met um for breakfast the other day.

Um it was it was actually a couple months ago at the Bagel Deli, and we had such a good time and started talking.

It turned into lunch.

Um we had multiple people who uh were stopping and saying hello, um, who remembered you so fondly, um, who recounted stories, uh, and the conversation was just so um so easy and so fun.

And uh talking about, you know, when you walked through Southeast Denver and who you stayed with, I just just appreciate you.

Um you and both Wilm, I think, um, Webb, sorry, I'm the first lady Webb, uh, I just appreciate that you do it as a team, and that is something so incredibly special.

Um, so I just wanted to say thank you and glad that this came forward and sorry I'm not there to give you a big hug.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you, Count Sawyer.

Thank you, Madam President.

Um, I'll be quick.

Mayor Webb, I just I need to say thank you.

Seven years ago, I got a hair in my bonnet because I was mad about something and I decided I was gonna run for office.

And I wasn't supposed to win, and I wasn't supposed to be sitting here, but I did.

And I had a lot to learn.

And every time I see you calling on my phone, or every time I reach out to you, you give me the most fantastic advice.

Um, and I'm so grateful for that.

In the last six years, you have been a sounding board, um, an idea generator, and a person who says to me, Sawyer, what did you learn?

Never let them see you cry.

And uh I just, I'm so grateful to you, for your openness and your willingness to teach me to be a leader for me.

You know, even though you have been out of the game for a long time, and I am just coming in, you have always made time to answer my questions, to give me your advice.

And I just I so appreciate you and just wanted to say thank you so much for that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So gonna do my very best not to cry.

So for those who don't know, um, when my dad died of pancreatic cancer, um, the person who walked my dad's ashes down the aisle was one of his best friends, Wellington Webb.

And I remember being at the cathedral and standing next to you because I walked, you said you're not gonna walk behind me, you're gonna walk with me.

Because the plan was to have Wellington walk first, and us girls walk behind him, and I remember looking up, and I wanted my dad to be there so bad.

I would have given anything for my dad to still be alive, and I'll never forget that feeling of you commanding that things were gonna change and that we weren't gonna walk behind my dad, that we were gonna walk with him.

So I don't think I've ever told you that, but I looked up at you, and for a moment I felt my dad.

And um right before my dad passed away, he called his friends, one of them being Wellington, and asked if they would watch over me.

A group of people, and there hasn't been a day where I haven't ever called you, and you haven't answered, or Wilma, when I've just needed help.

One time I was having a really hard time, and I dismissed my dad something fierce, and he just stayed on the phone with me, and then the last story was I got really sick after my dad passed away, to the point where um it was grave, and I got uh let go of the ICU.

I'd been in there for a long time, and you'd come and visit me, and the first thing I remember seeing when I got released down out of the ICU into the next room were flowers from you and Woma, and they were roses, and had a card on there saying that we had already lost one sound of all and we couldn't lose another one, and I know how you were there calling the doctors.

I know that you went and saw my mom.

I know that you went and saw my kids.

So thank you for being there in one of my hardest, darkest moments of my entire life and my family's with my dad, and then me.

And thank you for all the support you've given me.

You've literally said that you were like my godfather, and that's how I think of you, Wellington.

Is you are like my godfather, and I'm so honored to be part of this proclamation, and I love your family so so dearly.

Um, so my dad would be upset that I was crying, but he would be so proud to have you here.

He would be standing in that back with RD, beaming, just beaming with that beautiful smile that he had, and he would be so proud of everything that you've done, sir.

So thank you.

Thank you for this, and thank you, Chantal, Councilwoman Lewis, for I don't think you all knew this story, so thank you for letting me be part of it.

But this man has been and his family have been a rock in my life that no one else has.

So thank you all.

Madam Secretary, roll call on Proclamation 2082.

Council members Heinz.

Romero Campbell.

Aye.

Torres.

Albitrez.

Aye.

Flynn.

Aye.

Gilmore.

Gonzalez Gutierrez.

Aye.

Cashman.

Aye.

Lewis.

Aye.

Parity.

Aye.

Sawyer.

Aye.

Watson.

Aye.

Madam President Sandoval.

Aye.

Madam Secretary, close the voting, announced the results.

Ten ayes.

Ten ayes.

Proclamation 2082 has been adopted.

We now have time for the proclamation acceptance.

Councilmember Lewis.

Yeah.

Councilman Lewis, my uh heart is full.

It um I'm very honored to receive this proclamation by all of those of you on city council that have voted affirmatively for it.

It uh for me it's always not been about me.

It's always been to me more befitting that it's about the people that worked with me or worked for me.

That uh I always believed that we could move mountains.

I learned part of that from one council member's grandfather.

Uh and then another council member's dad was my best friend, and we fought through the trenches together.

I did often surprise my staff.

They were all shocked.

So I'm still shocked that I hired Kevin Flynn at one time.

But I said that's why I was mayor.

I'm a little smarter than most people, most people.

But let me let me just share two or three things with you.

I have a handout here I want to share with you, and it is the makeup of my staff, this is before DEI.

And if a member of staff can get this, somebody from City Council staff.

Thanks, Blair.

I just wanted people to see that this is what people say can't be done, and we did it.

Some often ask, what is the project I'm most proud about?

I'm most proud about Beth McCann taking over Safe City and then being elected district attorney.

I'm most proud of the fact that Judy Montero, Carol Boygan, Elber Wedgeworth, and uh, and uh who would I leave out?

Elbro, Carol, Judy, and Rosemary Rodriguez were elected to city council.

I'm most proud of the fact James Mahia was elected to the school board.

I'm most proud of the fact that Wayne Cawthon was appointed city manager for the city of Kansas City, Missouri, and DJ Brooks was the head of parks in the city of Seattle, and others like uh that set up their own firms and went to work in the private sector, whether it was Mike Dino at Patton Boggs, RD getting together with Josh Hafling or with Bill Mitchell or um uh Eric Haraga or Phil Workman.

And also that the one that came with me in night in 2003, Tish Mays, who all of you know who was off my office manager, and then from office manager, she was chief operating officer, and then from that she set up her own firm where we're gonna do some business projects together, Protto Mays and the Webb Group International.

Um the things we did, we tried to do to demonstrate government could work, and I came up on the east side, so there's a roughness about me as well, but uh my grandmother always told me two things.

One, Wilma will smooth out some of your rough edges, which she's done.

And the second thing is she was a dressmaker, and she said every speech and presentation you make should be like a woman's making like the dresses I make, it should be long enough to cover the subject, but short enough to be interesting.

So she said, don't talk too long, but be substantive in what you say.

So for all of those people, and I'd also like to pay tribute to a few people that are here, like Virginia Sandoval, one of the many widows of people like that worked for us, Don Sandoval won Jim Martinez, another.

We lost more than 20 people over the years, which that's what life does.

Lastly, I'd like to apologize to my children.

Um they never got the full breath of me because I was gone.

Uh and I would say to each of you if there's one thing to protect, it's your kids.

Uh, in fighting for them, even with the press, because other children are not always kind, and sometimes they get picked on.

Uh, and during the summer of violence, I don't know how many of you remember Wilma's car got shot up 16 times in a drive-by shooting and a gang initiation, and then we had to go beg the press not to put witnesses' names and addresses in the newspaper, because people were wondering why some people weren't testifying.

Bill Scheitler and Hiawatha Davis, I gave them their last job because they worked for city council.

They didn't have enough money to be buried, and I thought they needed to be buried with grace and dignity.

I didn't know if it meant fit career service news rules, but I didn't care.

Um, we were gonna do it anyway, because I'm a seniority person.

I'm also a public service person, because I think many of us in public service have given more than what's required, and we have to also protect our kids when we're doing that.

So if you look at me in the photos and that uh handout, a lot of those folks are here today, and I want to just ask them to stand.

Um, uh a lot of them also got first, Roger now, first fire fire chief, black fire chief.

Um, everybody that worked for the Webb administration, would you please stand on they did it, they did it right.

Also, there were a couple of people that uh I made a mistake in the book, always said Ferrari Martinez now Ramirez, also got me a room in some uh uh where was it?

I know you didn't do it, but where was the room?

Anyway, Valerie told me she didn't do it.

Our secretary blamed it on Valerie because she got me a room for the Super Bowl in Mexico, and so Wilma and I had to drive from Mexico back to San Diego to uh to get to a room.

Uh I'd like to have members of my family stand that are here.

Uh my grandson Alan, my son Anthony, my uh our daughter, the first elected clerk and recorder, who uh she always reminded me that uh she didn't want to stay on the elected side because she didn't like the drama, and I do.

She was much smarter than I.

And and lastly, in closing, for all of you that know, because you've already seen it, um the lady of my life, the one I've been married to more than 50 years, the one that has uh uh always been the person that has been the encourager, uh, the fighter if necessary.

She went to Manuela as well.

Um, whatever's required, and I'll just share two anecdotes.

Um after 83, Kevin, I said that Woman, I was sitting on the top row at Red Rocks.

I got in their mayor's race in 83 with four weeks left, which was really kind of stupid.

Uh it said ego out of control is what it said.

Um, and I told Wilma, I said, you know, I'm gonna be mayor there one day.

And rather than her saying that's a crazy thought, that's she said, I know, we'll do that.

The second, the second point of note was um, I always laugh because in our family room there were six of us at the meeting.

Wilma and I sat on one couch on the other couch was Mandy Grumwell, who made her fame uh doing media for Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton and Al Gore and a poster.

And Bob Ozinka was on the uh step behind me, and Mike Dino, the campaign manager sitting on a bar stool, and they came out and they said, We advise you not to run.

Then Ozinga gave me this big bear hug and said, We're with you no matter what happens, and I told Wilma, now I know what happened to Jimmy Hoffa.

They gave him that big bear hug just before he disappeared.

And then after everyone had left, um, Wilma said, I only have one thought.

If you don't run, you can't win.

Yeah, turns out.

And the rest was history.

And to the young ones that came up with the idea of the walk, our son Keith, who uh went through his troubles, and then I'll just close on this.

I'm also Baptist and sometimes I have trouble closing.

This is when I said you got to fight for your kids, no matter what office you hold.

Our oldest son was black, but he's gay.

He had a 3-2 bar.

The law changed that you couldn't do 3-2 bar, you had to have six percent.

We had to go down and beg the publisher not to have our son as the lead story in this in the article.

If a hundred people declared bankruptcy, why does Keith's name have to be the top mayor's son declares bankruptcy?

Why can't it be a hundred people declared bankruptcy?

And then we had another incident where one of our other kids was accused of something, and then after it made the papers, and the woman dropped the charges.

But I say that to say that the most as you serve in public life, the other thing that is most important is to take care of your kids and your family and your loved ones because no one else can do that but you.

I do better than Trump, I know that.

We agree.

We're gonna take a five-minute break to go um take a photo out front in the hallway, and then we'll come back and we'll start the public hearing.

Here's what's happening in Denver this week.

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While restaurants up and down the street offer up delicious cuisines.

Westwood is home to several prominent festivals throughout the year and is an excellent place to enjoy Cinco de Mayo.

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All right.

Thank you all for giving us a little bit of time.

We have one required public hearing tonight.

As a reminder, council members need to turn their video on.

Wait, hold on.

We have one required public hearing tonight.

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So before I start the public hearing, I'm just gonna make an announcement because once we open up the public hearing, it has to be it's all for very formal.

We're postponing the final vote for this item until next week.

So what we're gonna do is we're gonna open up the public hearing.

We will have staff report, we will have comments from all the speakers, we'll have questions from council members.

Then I will close the public hearing and we will postpone the final vote to next Monday when all of the other bills come together and it will be a big package.

So for those of you who are wondering, that second vote, the final vote will come at the 530 session next Monday, the 22nd, not the 3:30 session, because it had it's land use, so I have to open it back up or no, not open it back up, I have to vote on it.

We'll vote on it next Monday.

Um Councilmember Flynn, will you please put Council Bill 1541 changing the zoning classification of 709 South Delaware Street and Baker on the floor for final passage.

Be placed on final passage and do pass.

It has been moved and seconded.

The required public hearing for council bill 1541 is open.

May we please have the staff report.

Yeah, good evening.

Uh council members, members of the public.

My name is Tony Lechuga.

Uh I'm a planner with community planning and development, and I'm here to explain uh the process for changing the zoning classification as 709 South Delaware Street, which is also known as Santa Fe Yards, which is also known as the proposed home of a future National Women's Soccer League stadium.

Um before we dive in, I want to note we have a lot of media here, we have a lot of people from the public here.

Uh this is a very nuanced and bureaucratic process, and I generally try to do a good job explaining things, but I might try even harder tonight to make sure that this uh highly bureaucratic process is understandable to uh to everyone involved.

So let's start with what the actual request is.

Um, so on the map here you can see the property in question, and the applicants are proposing to take that piece of property from a zoning of CMX 16, which stands for urban center, mixed use buildings up to 16 stories.

And what they're proposing to change the zoning to is what is called PUD G39.

That stands for Planned Unit Development General, number 39.

What that means, a planned unit development is kind of fancy planner speak for.

We are writing some customized zoning rules that would apply to this piece of property.

And the 39 just means that it's the 39th one of these that we've written in the city of Denver.

Um, so you can see the property outlined in red there.

It's uh just about six acres of land.

Uh right now it's notably vacant and has been for quite some time.

It's formerly the home of the Gates Rubber Company, which operated on this site from the early 1900s until around 1991.

Um, at the peak of uh its placement here, it housed their headquarters, some manufacturing, and at its most, employed about 5,000 people at this site, quite notably, one of those employees was my grandfather who worked here from 1967 until 1995 when he retired from the Gates Rubber Company.

But the site has largely been vacant for the past 30 years.

Since the Gates Rubber Company left, site remediation has happened, but large-scale development of most of this area has remained absent.

Let's talk a bit broader about its location within the city as a whole.

So this is actually located in Council District 7, which is represented by Council Member Alvidres, and it's located within the bounds of the Baker statistical neighborhood.

Quite notably for us as city employees, as well as council and the public.

This is actually at a crossroads of many neighborhoods, though.

Valverde, Athmar Park, Ruby Hill, Overland, Platte Park, Washington Park West, and the Spear neighborhood all have a stake in what happens on this land in the future, as it's at the crossroads of them.

And let's talk a little bit about the existing zoning.

So as I mentioned, it's CMX 16, that stands for Urban Center Mixed Use Buildings Up to 16 Stories.

And you can see some of the surrounding area has very similar zoning.

Just to the north also has that mixed-use 12 districts.

Immediately to the east are properties that will retain that CMX 16 zoning.

But a couple of outliers for people who aren't familiar with zone districts, you'll notice to the northwest, an IA district, that's an industrial district.

And immediately to the east and or the west and the south, you'll notice districts that are OS, those stand for open space.

Quite notably OSA is for active open spaces like parks.

OSC is for conservation, such as the Platte River that we see right here.

You'll notice it's right at the crossroads of I-25 and Santa Fe.

Immediately to the east, you'll notice a purple line that's zoned IB.

That is the consolidated main line.

Those are train tracks that are utilized by both Union Pacific and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe lines, as well as RTD.

And I want you to note its proximity to parks, both those built and unbuilt.

Notably that park land immediately to the south has not been built out as a park, but will, as part of this project moving forward.

I also want to note in the area there is a new bridge located at Kentucky Avenue that was built immediately south of this property, connecting both sides of Santa Fe Boulevard and creating new access to the South Platte River.

There's a new ish pedestrian bridge that was built over the consolidated mainline, just to the south of this site where Tennessee crosses those train tracks.

And there's a planned pedestrian bridge immediately to the east of this site, going from the station, which is marked on the map with a T across the consolidated mainline.

A couple of things just about general context.

So this land does have urban design standards and guidelines that are applied to the entire sort of Broadway station area.

Those set aside a vision for land use, urban design, what the public realm should look like, and various infrastructure improvements.

And those will continue to be applicable to this site, whether the site is rezoned or not.

And it includes some guiding principles, some various intent statements about what things should look like.

There are a couple of prescriptive standards, as well as guidelines for various sub-areas.

And there is a design review process.

So any future development that goes through here is reviewed at the staff level against these design standards and guidelines, and staff can determine if something is following them or they need changes made in order to better adhere to our design standards and guidelines.

There's a viewplane that affects this property.

Notably, it begins at Washington Park.

So the city has a number of viewplanes that are meant to preserve panoramic views from an origin point, and they do that by limiting height within what is otherwise kind of a V shape.

So from that origin point in Washington Park, we should preserve panoramic views, which limit heights on this property to somewhere between 150 and 170 feet in height.

Quite notably the planned unit development that we're proposing here tonight, caps heights at 150 feet, so that they would remain under that viewplane.

In terms of existing context for land uses, so there is a diverse set of land uses in the area.

Notably to the north, you can see some commercial retail spaces.

I think quite notably, there's a home depot right there that people notice for my 25.

There's also some uses that are listed as industrial.

When you look immediately to the east, you can see the Broadway corridor, which is noted for having a diversity of uses that include commercial retail, some residential uses, some public and quasi-public.

And then you look to immediately to the west and you notice those open spaces, and then some industrial lands to the east.

And then when you look to the south, you notice that gray color that is known for being vacant.

So this really does highlight the vacancy of the former Gates site and the Broadway station area.

All right, this is just another visual of the existing context, just to give people some familiarity with where the proposed stadium would lie.

You can see immediately to the east where the train tracks in the station are, and then you can see the existing Vanderbilt Park to the west.

So the property is large enough that it was considered for large development review.

When this development review committee sat down to determine if large development review should apply to this site, they determined that it was not applicable to this site.

And the reason for that was that there is an existing infrastructure master plan that was negotiated years ago for plan development here.

There was an existing master engineering plan for the site, and there's an existing development agreement with Broadway Station partners.

Given that all of this planning had been occurring over the past decade or two, it was determined that there was enough plan guidance to determine what development could look like, and so it did not go through the formal large development review process.

Because I mentioned it, I just wanted to highlight there is a development in a housing agreement that currently covers the land and is subject to a number of things that the city and Broadway station partners have agreed to.

And that has agreements on how much open space should be within the larger area, what sort of transportation commitments should be made in the larger area, some things about environmental remediation, and prevailing wages for anything that happens within there.

The area is subject to a housing agreement also between the city and county of Denver and Broadway station partners.

At the time that that was negotiated, this site in particular had no planned housing on it, and so the rest of the property still will achieve its already negotiated housing agreement while potentially removing this property from housing or from the existing housing agreement.

So let's talk a little bit about the proposed zoning.

So again, what they're asking to go to is a planned unit development, which is customization of the Denver zoning code.

The way we do that is we pick a base district that is a standard zoning code district, and then we create some tweaks to that.

So in this case, the PUD intent is to facilitate dense mixed-use transit-oriented development, aligned with our plan guidance.

It also is meant to allow uses and building forms that could allow for a potential sports stadium within an otherwise mixed-use district.

So the intent was not to create what people often think of as a stadium, which is a large stadium surrounded by 60 acres of parking.

The goal really was to create design standards within the PUD that would embed a stadium in an otherwise dense mixed-use district.

So, what we did is we picked the campus entertainment district as our base district, notably because it allows for the construction of a stadium, which the existing CMX 16 does not allow.

The campus entertainment district also required very few deviations in order for us to achieve similar design outcomes as those we would see in the surrounding area.

And so to that end, the PUD allows for a couple of things.

In terms of building forms, it does allow for a sports andor entertainment arena or stadium with the customized zoning of the PUD, or it allows for buildings that otherwise comply with the building form regulations of the existing CMX 16.

So we can anticipate one of two things: a stadium or buildings that look like CMX 16 buildings.

And the customizations that we built in that would apply to the building if it is built out as a stadium, include things like a maximum height of 150 feet, which I said.

There are no upper story or street level setbacks.

So notably our campus districts, when they were designed back in 2010, did sort of envision buildings set back really far from the street, potentially surrounded by open space, greenery, or parking.

This actually doesn't imagine that.

We are only rezoning the small six acres where the site would be, where the stadium would be located, and as such, we imagine that the stadium would be built lot line to lot line.

And so removing those upper story or street level setbacks allows them to build right at the street line, which is actually consistent with what we expect out of development in our CMX districts.

We added some transparency and street level active use requirements, notably on the southern and eastern edges, the ones that front the park and the ones that face the station and will face future mixed use districts.

This was to build in some of those urban environment environmental standards that we expect from our urban center districts.

So again, requiring that there be some activation along especially that eastern frontage near the train station.

And then we built in a couple of other unique things.

So customized fencing.

Denver's fencing rules are typically written anticipating that people will be building fences around residential properties.

Here we had some unique requirements, kind of dictated from safety concerns by the National Women's Soccer League.

So we are allowing for some taller fences around the site, but in order to ensure that we don't have a 12 foot brick wall surrounding the site that you can't see in on, we also built in some transparency requirements.

So a certain percentage of the fencing does have to be transparent.

So while it can achieve a 12 foot height for security reasons, you should be able to see through it from a reasonable eye level based on the standards written in here.

So we could imagine maybe a three to four foot brick wall and then you know metal fencing on top of that so that you could actually see into the stadium.

And then we built in some customized sign allowances for the stadium.

So our current sign regulations are not very um inclusive of the types of signage that we would normally see around a stadium.

And quite notably for this stadium, it's envisioned to only be enclosed on three sides.

So when you think about mile high stadium, you think about course field, from wherever you are surrounding them, you largely cannot see into the stadium, and there is a lot of signage inside stadiums.

If that signage is visible from the public realm, it is subject to our sign standards.

And so inside of a place like Mile High, you might see lots of little signs that are uh selling items or telling you how to get to this part of the stadium, and those signs are generally not subject to our sign standards because they are enclosed within a structure.

For this development, which is imagining having an open southern end, all of those signs would be visible from the public realm.

And so we needed to write in standards to say, how are we controlling for those signs to allow them in a place where they might not otherwise be allowed, but also make sure that they are not creating problems within the public realm.

And so, we do allow for some larger electronic multimedia displays on the property.

Quite notably, we prohibited those on both the western and the northern sides, which front on major thoroughfares and could be a huge distraction to drivers, but we also didn't want the stadium to just be a billboard visible from those streets.

So we do allow those on the southern and eastern sides.

We allow for animation, flashing, and advertising on those signs, which are common things you would see on large displays at a sports stadium, but then we also built in regulations to minimize adverse impacts of those.

And we built them in in a few ways.

They're built into standards within the PUD, but then this property is also gonna be required to complete a comprehensive sign plan.

That's typically a voluntary process that property owners go through.

It's very robust in that it will require the property owners to create diagrams that show every side of the building.

It shows every possible location for a sign to be included.

That is reviewed at the staff level at community planning and development.

It's then presented to planning board, and planning board agrees to um sort of accept or adopt a comprehensive sign plan.

And while it shows every possible location for a sign, that does not mean that they are allowed to put a sign at every one of those locations.

So there will be consistent staff oversight of location, size, content of those as it moves forward.

Now let's dive into talking a little bit about process.

So informational notice about this application was sent out back in July of this year.

This went to Planning Board in October.

It came to committee in November, and that brings us to our city council public hearing tonight.

Over the process, we've received a number of public comments, and the slide is outdated, but I do have some accurate numbers here in front of me.

So at the time of its planning board public hearing, we did receive one general comment letter from the organization negotiating a community benefits agreement, otherwise known as WeNU.

They did note that they were having ongoing and productive conversations with the applicant team and suggested that planning board move this forward.

Since that time, they have executed a community benefits agreement with the property owners, which you should have in your records.

We've also received a letter of support from the Lincoln Broadway Corridor RO as well as the Platt Park People's Association RNO.

And while they are not an RO, we did receive a letter of support from the Greenway Foundation, who is also a member of that CBA committee, and they provided a letter of their support.

We've received one official letter of opposition from someone noting that they believed the team should just play at an existing stadium instead of building a new one.

And we've received 132 letters of support from residents of the neighborhoods, the city at large, and the region in general, as well as various business owners along the Broadway corridor and in adjacent neighborhoods.

Many of those commented on key themes of connectivity, activation of long vacant land, and the economic impact this could have on adjacent businesses.

As I mentioned, this went to Planning Board in the middle of October.

They voted unanimously to recommend approval, noting that they it met the plan guidance and was an appropriate application of a PUD.

And that brings us to the review criteria.

So for those who are unfamiliar with the process, typically a rezoning has to show that it is consistent with three review criteria.

So we as staff, the planning board, and city council are all asked to weigh whether or not that is consistent with these three criteria.

I'll note up front that a PUD, because it is unique in customizing our zoning, actually has five additional criteria that have to be met.

We're gonna start by going through the standard criteria of these three right now.

And for us, we do have good uh adopted plan guidance for this area, which is great.

We have the comprehensive plan 2040, which is a citywide narrative-based plan that shares citywide goals.

We have Blueprint Denver, which is the city's citywide land use plan, so it provides a little more nuance than comprehensive plan 2040 because it's focused on land use typologies and goals.

And then luckily for us, we also have the I-25 and Broadway Station Area Plan, which was adopted in 2016 and provides even more nuanced guidance on what type of development we should expect right here around the I-25 and Broadway station area.

So let's go through each of those individually.

And while I will be putting a lot of text up on the screen, I'm not gonna read it out loud to you, it's there for the record if people want to read them.

But I do want to note that we believe that uh this would advance many of the goals for equitable, affordable, and inclusive, specifically this one, and that it would improve quality of life cultural amenities that people would have access to, including open space, parks, recreation, and cultural amenities.

In terms of building strong and authentic neighborhoods, we believe that this proposed zoning would create a good people-oriented place with good design outcomes that would help improve the sense of public health and safety around what is otherwise been uh vacant land.

In terms of building better connected, safe and accessible city, we do believe that this would strengthen multimodal connections by locating mixed-use development and what is typically considered a transit-oriented development type of development near transit.

In terms of making the city more economically diverse, we do believe that this would broaden job access.

Quite notably, the stadium would have a diverse set of jobs, whether you are a soccer player, whether you are a ticket collector, whether you are one of the vendors, whether you are part of the grounds crew.

And then finally, we believe that this would advance some of our environmentally resilient goals by supporting mixed-use communities and allowing for their growth near transit, which is very important.

And then notably Blueprint Denver or Comp Plan 2040 has a number of regional goals that don't get referenced often because we don't have too many projects that have such robust regional impact.

But we are called to demonstrate the benefits of compact mixed-use development for the region, and we believe this would help achieve that around one of our transit stations.

We are asked to direct significant growth to regional centers and community centers and corridors that have strong transit connections, and we'll get into some of those terms in a minute here, but we do believe we would be achieving that.

And we are called on to leverage regional investments in RTD's fast tracks program to develop transit-oriented centers at rail stations.

And we believe that it would help achieve all three of these regional goals that we've set to be one of those regional leaders.

So now we'll turn to Blueprint Denver, which, as I said before, is the city's land use plan.

So this is more refined land use guidance.

So the property, as you can see here, is that sort of yellowy mustard color, which is called for to be urban center.

That's where we get the C at the beginning of its existing zone district, and the C for all the properties immediately to the south.

So urban centers notably are called out for being dense, vibrant, supporting residents and visitors, having high-intensity residential and significant employment, and having a mix of uses, street activation, and connectivity.

So in designing the PUD, this is why we built in things like the zero-foot setbacks with no upper story setbacks.

It's why we built in some of the transparency and activation standards to say if our plan guidance is calling for this dense, vibrant, mixed-use community, let's try to make this stadium feel that same way.

It's called for to be a future place of regional center, notably everything to the north and the south, all the way to Broadway, is also called this.

That type of place within urban centers has a high mix of uses, large-scale buildings, a high degree of urbanism, and its heights are generally the tallest in its context.

So again, the PUD allows for a 150-foot building with zero foot setbacks.

It would call for a slight mix of uses by requiring some of those ground floor activations along the eastern edge, and ultimately having a high degree of urbanism.

And when we talk about that high degree of urbanism in a stadium, I do kind of want you to imagine walking along Blake Street near Coorsfield, and the stadium does sort of rise straight up from this from the street level there.

We don't have it set back by, you know, 500 feet of parking.

And then the final map that we reference in Blueprint Denver has to do with where we should be targeting growth in our city.

And you can see most of the city where we have existing low-scale residential is just called all other areas of the city.

But for this area, it's very much called a regional center, which is where we're directed to target the highest growth of both housing and jobs.

And so it does anticipate in this type of area, seeing 30% of new housing, 50% of new employment.

And while the proposed development of a soccer stadium would not create new housing, it would create a diversity of new jobs, which would help us achieve this goal.

Quite notably, the PUD also allows for diversity of things besides the soccer stadium, which could be housing, offices, or other high-intensity things that we would see in a CMX district.

So we believe that it helps achieve this goal as well.

Because of its size, because of its location, we did put this through our standard equity analysis to consider what we should be focusing on in terms of making sure that we have equitable outcomes from our rezonings and our development.

And quite notably, the site does not have great equity data because the site itself has long been vacant and is surrounded by long vacant land, as well as train tracks and open spaces.

So for us, there weren't a lot of good values to be pulled from the site's existing data, but there's a lot of great values from all of those surrounding neighborhoods that I mentioned at the beginning of this presentation.

And for us moving forward with this project, it was really important to consider the equity of all of those neighborhoods and try to make a decision about how can we make sure that this process and this outcome is as most is as equitable as possible within our regulatory framework.

And we do believe that this proposed development and the proposals for the surrounding infrastructure would improve access to open space, improve access to transit, it would create those diverse jobs, and good diverse jobs also impact people's access to health care and general health.

We were also conscious of its impact on these surrounding neighborhoods to say would this type of development create adverse negative impacts on surrounding neighborhoods, or can we help try to ensure that it would create more positive outcomes?

And that brings us to ensuring that we were also implementing some of the narrative goals from Blueprint Denver, which do attempt to advance many of our equity goals, which is why they exist in the plan in the first place.

And so the first of these is that we do have these general goals, such as this one that says we should use zoning and land use regulations to encourage higher density, mixed-use developments in transit rich areas.

And we believe we're achieving that through the proposed regulations here.

In terms of economic goals, we do believe that we would also be capturing job growth, improving access to jobs, and building on national and regional entertainment options, which are all called for in Blueprint Denver's economic goals.

In terms of mobility, we believe that this would help achieve mode shift.

Denver has a number of goals around mode shift.

That's again good planner talk for getting people out of single occupancy vehicles and into utilizing different forms of transit, whether it's carpooling, whether it's using a bike, a scooter, walking, and we believe that this type of development in this proximity to neighborhoods and a good transit station would produce more trips to achieve our walk, our mode shift goals, create a more walkable neighborhood, and create a transit-friendly neighborhood.

And we believe that it would also improve quality of life through this particular policy, which calls for us to work with public and private partners to improve access to a number of amenities, such as entertainment venues and services that meet a variety of daily needs for Denverites.

In terms of meeting some of our climate goals, we believe that this would, through promoting in-fill development.

In field development is any development that happens where we do sort of already have robust infrastructure and services.

So this is surrounded by existing neighborhoods that have roads, that have water lines, that have access to fire, police, all of those things that make for a safe neighborhood.

It would encourage mixed-use communities.

Those are important because it's places where people can live, work, play without having to drive many miles to get where they need to go.

It focuses growth in your transit.

It does help alleviate the redevelopment of brown fields.

So as I mentioned before, after Gates left, this was in fact what's considered a brown field, which means that it's land that had environmental concerns.

Now that those environmental concerns have been remediated, we now have the potential to redevelop that old land into something useful and productive for all Denverites.

And again, expanding the use of transit helps us achieve our climate goals.

All right, this brings us to the final plan, which is the I-25 and Broadway Station Area Plan, which was adopted in 2016.

So, quite notably, the I-25 and Broadway plan has a few different land use typologies that it calls out, whether those are parks or TOD residential or TOD office.

Now, TOD stands for transit oriented development.

So again, anything that is helping to support transit use.

So this piece of property was called out as TOD office.

It's language within the plan says that it should be utilized by land uses that correlate to mass transit.

We do find that our mass transit system is pretty well utilized by folks who are attending sports games, whether it's the Broncos, whether it's the Nuggets at Ball Arena, and it does call for a high density of office uses, thus the name TOD office.

But I also want to call out two specific quotes from the plan.

One is that this framework is conceptual, and it does not, it is not meant to allocate specific land uses or intensities.

So we do believe that building in a the allowance for a soccer stadium still meets this goal because it correlates to mass transit use and it correlates to building in this sort of high density network, especially with the design standards we've built.

And then the final thing I want to quote is that it says the plan allows the latitude to pursue unforeseen opportunities that will arise.

Now, as I mentioned, this land has been vacant for many decades.

This plan was adopted in 2016, and the land is still vacant, and we believe that this does rise to that occasion of an unforeseen opportunity.

And we believe that the standards we've built in still align with many of the goals from Blueprint and this plan.

In terms of building economic resilience, the plan has a number of different narrative goals, and we believe it would achieve those quite notably through programming and signage, flexible development, and responding to market conditions.

This would help support economic resilience for what is otherwise been some vacant land.

We believe that it would enhance social sustainability by creating a more well-connected area with a variety of uses, as well as design ranges in height and respects our viewplane, as called for in this very specific goal.

And then in terms of the plan saying we should incorporate high-quality urban design, I want to reiterate that the existing urban design standards and guidelines will still apply to the site.

It does call for us to create a quality skyline with unique architecture, which we believe a stadium would create.

It does call for us to front development with plazas, which this one would be fronted by, to create active edges, and to create ground floor active uses with transparency, all of which we took directly from plan guidance and built into the PUD to ensure that we were achieving the ends that this called for.

And then the plan also calls for the creation of a new and distinct district.

So building in design features that are distinct to this space to create somewhere that people would want to go to as a destination.

And we believe that we've achieved that through the allowance for a tall building that could be a new skyline feature, as well as unique architectural features that we've built in by allowing for a dense urban stadium, allowing for some unique sign features as well.

The second criteria is public interest.

We believe that this does advance this criteria through implementation of our adopted plans and the many narrative goals that I just mentioned, including fostering a walkable, mixed-use transit-oriented development and facilitating entertainment and cultural destinations within this part of the city.

It would be consistent with the neighborhood context of the urban center, as we mentioned before.

And as I'll go through in the next criteria, we believe that it would be consistent with the zone district purpose and intent statements that are required of a PUD.

And so, as I mentioned before, we won't linger on these too long, but there are five additional criteria that apply to PUDs, and we'll go through them one at a time.

So the first of which is says that when we're implementing a PUD, it needs to be consistent with the intent and purpose of PUDs, as outlined in Article 9, Division 9.6 of the zoning code.

And we believe that it does because this site has unique and special characteristics related to the scale and development project that demand sort of a more customized approach, which is outlined as one of the intents and purposes of a PUD.

It will also result in the diversification of land uses, exemplary pedestrian amenities, and advance numerous city goals, which are also called out as things that should be the intent and purpose of PUDs.

Criteria B says that a PUD must comply with all the applicable standards and criteria for PUDs.

That is written into the PUD that they will comply with everything that is part of Division 9, PUDs.

Criteria C says that the development on this property is not feasible under any other zone district and would require an unreasonable number of variances or waivers and conditions.

As I mentioned before, there are very few districts within the Denver zoning code that allow for this type of stadium use, and the ones that do allow for it generally imagine a 2010 version of it, which is set back far from streets surrounded by a sea of parking.

So we did not believe that we have a zone district that achieves this type of dense urban stadium without requiring an unreasonable number of waivers and variances.

The final two, so the PUD must establish permitted uses that are compatible with existing land uses adjacent to the subject property.

We do believe that's true.

While it allows for the construction of a stadium, it also allows for the potential construction of multi-unit residential, office, various things that we see in the surrounding contexts.

And then the final criteria is very similar, and that the PUD needs to establish permitted building forms, so what the building looks like that are compatible with adjacent existing building forms.

We believe that is true as well.

We built in really unique standards that say it has to be built at the street line, which is similar to the adjacent CMX districts.

We built in that it needs to have a certain amount of transparency and street level activation, which is also similar to the adjacent CMX districts.

And so we believe it achieves both of those criteria as well.

That said, finding that it does meet all eight criteria, CPD recommends approval.

I'm happy to answer any questions after the public comments as well as many other people.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, Tony.

You do such a great job with land use.

Thoroughly enjoy your presentations.

We have 30 public speakers signed up.

So I'll call up, like I'll say the first five so that if you all want to get ready to come up, then you can.

And then we'll take questions from members of council.

So first up, the first five I have, please.

All right.

Shelby Truis, Anita Bonuelos, Zachary Siegel, Brittany Spinner, and Connor Shea.

Shelby first.

Thank you.

Good evening, Council members.

My name is Shelby Drollis.

I live in Council District 7, and I'm a president of the Platt Park People's Association, RNO, and we refer to ourselves as 3PA.

It is in this capacity that I serve as a member of the CBA Steering Committee.

And I'm here this evening to ask for your support for the IGA and rezoning of the new women's soccer stadium in Santa Fe Yards.

At our first meeting as a CBA committee, Rob Cohen joined us to talk about the team's philosophy in constructing a stadium and how it would address systemic gender inequities that exist in sports venues across the country.

This would be a women's soccer stadium built by women for women, with women in mind as fans.

It is an unfortunate reality of our world and especially our built environment, that our built environment is primarily constructed by men with a goal of accommodating men.

Denver has a chance to have a precedent-setting example of a place where women and women's sports are celebrated in our city that will draw fans from the surrounding region and states, especially in a national climate where regressive politics and misogynistic violence are on the rise, a commitment to move forward with this project and in a neighborhood that has historically seen underinvestment shows that Denver will continue to serve as a beacon of equity and justice.

Recognizing how important this commitment is, the team has committed to through the CBA to engage with women-owned contractors for the stadium and to reach out to female artists to help tell the story of the cultural and indigenous history of the land that the stadium sits on.

As a neighborhood organizer and community leader who lives just down the street on Broadway from the stadium site, I'm here to bring you an overwhelming message of support from our community.

Since the unveiling of the stadium location, I, along with a three PA board, have spoken with hundreds of residents in Platt Park, and we have not received any complaints or spoken with anyone who's opposed to the stadium being built in this location.

The enthusiasm for having the summit play in our backyard is off the charts in Platt Park.

The only concern I've heard is when the summit have their first championship parade, do you think it'll come all the way down to our part of South Broadway?

Platt Park residents have asked us to prioritize sustainability and transportation in our CBA conversations, and I'm extremely proud to report that the team is committed to ensuring that the stadium receives lead certification for both building and operations.

Additionally, the secured bike parking and agreement to engage with future RTD programs to provide reduced fares for ticket holders are huge wins for our both our residents and our environment.

3PA's previously submitted written testimony speaks to how Santa Fe Drive has cut a scar through the heart of South Denver that has exacerbated a cultural and socioeconomic divide in our neighborhoods.

We're beginning to see a healing of this wounded community with projects such as the West Jewel Avenue Bridge, but this stadium will serve as the centerpiece to bring our neighborhoods together.

As part of the CBA, the summit will partner with the community to host both host both cultural and soccer-related events of the stadium outside of MAC Shay Fixtures.

In closing, I ask you to support the rezoning of the stadium and the IGA to match the support of our constituents.

Thank you.

Next up, we have Anita Bonuelos.

Can you hear me?

Okay.

Yes.

Go ahead.

Anita Banwillos, Athmar Park.

Good evening, Council members of Denver City Council.

My name is Anita Banuellos, and I'm the president of Athmar Park Neighborhood Association, and I also served as one of four core chairs of the West East United WNU.

As I shared last week, we are here again this evening following many months of work and dialogue.

As I stated previously before South Platte River Committee, WNU has contributed more than 100 volunteer hours to this process, and we now are reaching the conclusion of that effort.

I am proud to share WNU and Denver Summit FC have reached a community benefits agreement.

This was not an easy task, and it required persistence, compromise, and good faith negotiations on all sides.

I am proud of what we have accomplished, and together and hopefully this agreement marks not an ending but a beginning of ongoing collaboration between WNU and Denver Summit FC as we work to improve implement and build upon the commitments outlined in the community benefits agreement.

Despite the many challenges, setbacks, and time constraints we encounter along the way.

This process resulted in meaningful outcomes for our neighborhoods.

Therefore, tonight I am speaking on behalf of both the Athmar Park Neighborhood Association and West East Neighbors United in support of proving the rezoning request for the future Denver Summit FC Stadium.

Thank you for your time and your consideration.

Thank you.

Next up we have Zachary Siegel.

Is there anyone online, Tim Zachary?

No.

Next up we have Brittany Spinner.

My name is Brittany Spinner, and I'm a resident of the South South Lincoln Street and West Wash Park and Vice President of the Lincoln Broadway Corridor RNL.

We are a stakeholder with WNU, the collective organization working alongside Denver Summit FC to support the community benefit agreement as part of this rezoning.

We are here to express our strong support for the rezoning of this site.

For more than 20 years, neighbors within our community and surrounding neighborhoods have wondered what would become of the former Gates Rubber Company site.

At times it felt as though it might never be redeveloped at all.

The quick turnaround from the announcement of the National Women's Soccer League coming to Denver to its project completion in a couple short years is a welcoming and exciting surprise for this community.

This has brought real momentum, hope, and excitement to cheer this on.

What's even more exciting is to see a stadium being brought back to the same area where the historic merchants baseball park helped tie this neighborhood together a hundred years ago.

The Denver Summit FC has built a partnership with our neighborhoods.

They listen carefully to community priorities and work with us to shape this community benefits agreement.

The most significant outcome of this agreement is a long-term commitment to provide hundreds of thousands of dollars in direct financial support to our neighborhoods each year for the foreseeable future.

That level of investment is truly life-changing for the communities surrounding the stadium.

It will allow us to address long-standing needs, support underserved neighborhoods, improve street safety, invests in new parks, arts, cultural sites, and other amenities identified directly by residents themselves.

This kind of sustained neighborhood direct, neighborhood directed investment is not something that is typically achievable through city funding or grants alone.

For that reason, we are deeply thankful for the team's commitment to reinvesting in the people and places that surround this stadium.

Thinking about this impact, what this impact will have and the long-held wishes of neighbors that will finally be realized fills us with enormous gratitude for the Denver Summit FC.

And importantly, this partnership does not end today.

It establishes a foundation for collaboration that will continue for years to come.

This process demonstrates what is possible when development is shaped with communities rather than around them.

And we'd like to thank the City Council for advocating for all of our neighborhoods to get involved in the CBA as part of this momentous development.

For these reasons, we respectfully urge the City Council to adopt the rezoning and the WNU Community Benefits Agreement.

Your support will not only honor the extensive community-led work that has brought this agreement forward, but will also help secure a more prosperous future for our neighborhoods.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next up, we have Connor Shea.

Let's see, is this working?

There we go.

Uh my name is Connor Shea, 357 South Bannock Street.

I live about a mile from the stadium site, and I'm one of the four co-chairs on the CBA.

I'm also a member of the Baker RO board, and represent Baker.

It's hard to connect this last six months of my life into three minutes, but I'll do my best.

I appreciate that a lot.

I'm here on behalf of the Baker neighborhood and on behalf of WNU to strongly ask you to vote in favor of this rezoning and this stadium.

This is an opportunity to set a precedent for how we want our city to look in 20 or 30 years.

In regards to the contents of the CBA, I started hoping to get a clause in there that said the team needed to have a winning record more like the Nuggets and less like the Rockies.

Our lawyer advised me that was not advisable, that was legally questionable.

I grew up going to games at Corusfield and Ballerina and Mile High with my family.

My hope is that when kids visit this stadium after a win, they get to walk home to a train and experience that feeling of community with other fans of the sport rather than getting stuck in a car waiting for the 5,000 other families at the game to also leave the same parking lot with them.

And so I focused on transit for this.

And I've been very happy with what the team has committed to in terms of transit and transportation access to this stadium and the importance of this to our community's long-term success and health.

I'd like to highlight a few of those things that I'm most proud of in the contract.

Pending RTD's cooperation, every summit game ticket will be bundled and usable with an RT as an RTD pass.

Some will prioritize transit options and their marketing materials and ensure that that option is always front and center to visitors.

Secure bicycle parking will be available for stadium attendees.

And in regards to the North Pedestrian Bridge, the team has committed in the CBA to working with the city to get it built, and I've been happy to see a change in tune on that front in the last few months with active work being done by the team to get funding for it.

We can show every other project like this, including some big ones that I'm sure you can know are coming.

We don't need our sports stadiums to be surrounded by a sea of asphalt.

We can do things better than that.

We can make our city safer, and we can make our city better.

I'm happy to answer questions on the CBA process or the CBA contents.

If any council members have them, thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Next up, we have Keith Meyer.

Good evening, Council members.

My name is Keith Meyer, and I'm the current president of the Denver Interneighborhood Cooperation.

But I stand here tonight as a proud member of the West East Neighborhoods United Steering Team.

Together, we have worked over the past six months to create an agreement that creates unprecedented opportunities for Denver's neighborhoods, especially those in a historically under-resourced area of the city.

This community benefits agreement also secures a historic lead silver certification requirement, placing the project among the strongest sustainability commitments for professional sports stadiums in the country.

In fact, we've had our three uh DU law clerks pouring over CBAs from across the country and cannot find a professional sports stadium CBA that has achieved this level of sustainability of commitment from an agreement like this.

It sets a clear precedent for what Denver can and should expect in future community agreements and major development projects.

LEED is more than just a checklist of sustainability standards.

It is a holistic framework for designing and operating buildings in a way that supports the health, resilience, and well-being of the surrounding community.

In addition, the CBA commits to transparency by requiring the public sharing of performance data through annual reports and a publicly accessible online sustainability dashboard.

Requires an all-electric building design that uses electricity for all heating, cooling, hot water, cooking, and operations, eliminating on-site fossil fuels and reducing emissions while improving efficiency and indoor air quality.

It centers community livability and quality of life by laying the groundwork for long-term green infrastructure, planning and investment across the metro district, and in neighborhoods surrounding the stadium.

And it begins all this with a three hundred thousand dollar investment to support the creation of a high canopy urban forest around the stadium site and across southwest Denver to help mitigate heat island effects.

You know, I'm proud not only to be standing here with my colleagues, but also to offer my my full support for Denver Summit FC's entire bid.

I'm the proud loyal fan of my niece's high school girls soccer team in Columbus, Ohio.

Um I'm easily their number one YouTube supporter.

Um and over the past four years, I've watched those players grow from freshmen into seniors and from young athletes into confident leaders.

Uh when I was at their um graduation this past May, I actually wanted to ask them for some autographs.

Um, soccer has helped shape them into a strong connected group of young women who lead on the field and in their community, and that's exactly the kind of impact this team and this project can have here in Denver.

I also want to thank my colleagues on the steering team for their incredible amount of time that they've spent um over the last six months, and their families who I don't think really get a whole lot of um recognition because um as many a side eyes as I've gotten um with my wife, for yet another meeting.

All right, thanks.

Next up we have Jesse Paris.

Yes, good evening, members of council, those watching at home, those in the council chambers.

My name is Jesse LaShawn Paris, and I'm representing for Black Star Action Movement for Self-Defense, positive asset commitment for social change, as well as the Unity Party of Colorado, the Northeast Denver Residence Council, Frontline Black News, Dr.

Spence enhanced the revolutionary agenda, and I reside at the Roach and Bedbug Infested Legacy Laws and Councilman Darrellman, Daryl uh Watson's district of District 9, historically five points and historically black district of five points.

Um I am heavily against this.

Um, this is the biggest waste of 70 million dollars I think I've ever seen the city ever do.

Um I have several questions.

What guarantee do we have that this land has actually been uh what is it called, remediate it?

As you know, this used to be gay thrubbers plant.

And you said that this get this land has been remediated.

What proof do we have of that?

One.

Has there been a traffic study?

Because that stretch of Broadway is atrocious, and you keep talking about everybody's just gonna take the train and everybody's just gonna take the bus and everybody just gonna ride their bikes.

No, when people take that train, they're taking that train to Nuggets games, they're taking that train to Avalanche games, and they're taking that train to Bronco games.

What are you doing to mitigate any of that?

Are you gonna increase the ridership?

I mean the use of trains to the station because it's already like what four lines that service is facing.

So, like I said, when you have rocky games, when you have the nuggets games, and when you have the Broncos games, those trains are to capacity.

So, what are you gonna do about that?

What are you gonna do about the infrastructure along South Broadway?

Are you gonna increase more lanes on South Broadway?

Like, what are you gonna do about that?

It sounds real good about this tree canopy, all that sounds real nice.

Little protect pedestrian bridge, all that sounds real nice.

But um, I'll believe it when I see it.

Like all this stuff really sounds too good to be true.

I don't see how this is better in any uh any of the public interest.

Any of the neighborhood context, any of that.

Every time you put these stadiums up somewhere, it deplaces the people that call the area surrounding home, like we think with Mile High Stadium, the people that lived around Mile High Stadium got displaced.

The people that lived around Coorsville got displaced.

The people that lived around, um, even Dick Sporting Goods Park, which we already have a stadium.

I don't understand why you need a stadium, but we have Dixport and Goods Park.

Okay, what I call that area surrounding, got this place.

So I don't want a more unattened consequences from any of these rezoning.

Thank you for your time.

Next up we have Thomas Toparo.

Good evening, Council.

My name is Thomas DeParo.

I am a resident of the Spear neighborhood of West Washington Park Neighborhood Association, which has uh formally submitted a letter of support for this stadium and the CBA and everything involved with it as well.

There is no reason to not approve this zoning.

Our neighbors and residents, with the support of very generous advisors, did a huge amount of work in a very short amount of time with virtually no resources.

While your statements of gratitude are appreciated, we need action.

We've done the hard work to set the ball in the goal area with an open net.

Please just tap the ball for a goal.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next up we have Kendra Black on Zoom.

Kendra, are you there?

I'm here.

Good evening, everyone.

I am Kendra Black.

Um, it's nice to see you all.

I was actually down in the city and county building for a couple of hours tonight, but the meeting went really late, and so I needed to leave.

So that's why you are getting me from home.

But it is nice to see you all virtually.

Um I am Kendra Black.

I am a Denver native.

I'm a resident of Southeast Denver and a former Denver City Council member representing District 4.

I'm also a dedicated parks advocate serving on parks advocacy boards.

Um I'm here tonight to support the rezoning.

Uh, most importantly, because it meets the legal criteria.

But also important is the story and the soul of the area.

I lived in South Denver nearly all of my life, and this site is part of the Denver that I know intimately.

It's also a huge part of Denver's history.

It's the history of Denver's population growth, its economic expansion, its economy, and so much more.

The iconic gates factory was a true Denver landmark.

In the decades since Gates left, which I think was over 30 years ago, Denver has seen incredible growth and change, including in the neighborhoods surrounding the Santa Fe Yards, as we all well know.

And yet, this property in the heart of our city strangely remains vacant and inactive.

The soccer stadium proposal will breathe life back into this area.

The proposed site is super challenging for a lot of uses because it's wedged between two highways.

Fortunately, the site actually works for a stadium, and it's a stadium dedicated to women.

And what makes me really excited as a parks advocate is the potential for the designated parkland, which I think has been designated for seven decades, to actually become a park.

I'm also really excited as a cyclist and runner about the access to the South Platte River Trail for biking and walking.

This project will transform the blighted brownfield and bring new life and activity for the next generation.

I hope you'll support this rezoning and this investment in our great city, and I wish you all a happy holiday.

Thank you.

Next up, we have Brandy Major.

Next up, we have Lindsay Cutler.

Hi, good evening.

Thanks for having us all here today.

My name's Lindsay Cutler.

I am speaking on behalf of the park people and also as a nonprofit member of the West East Neighbors United.

The Park People is a nonprofit working with communities to plant and care for trees and improve parks for a healthy resilient future.

Y'all received my emails, so nice to see you.

And we are currently Denver's primary tree planting nonprofit.

We work across the entire city of Denver with deep engagement in Denver's Southwest neighborhoods, where our new headquarters is actually located.

The Park People supports Denver Summit's rezoning request.

The community investment fund in particular can provide year upon year funding to implement community priorities, including the establishment of a healthy tree canopy.

This community's decision to allocate a total of $300,000 from the community investment fund over the course of six years, beginning in 2027 to high canopy tree planting and or green infrastructure, has the capacity to really change and demonstrate investment in our communities.

Change takes time.

So when you see this type of investment that provides money year upon year for community-led greening and other community initiatives, I believe that is the direction that truly supports a healthy, vibrant community for all.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Next up, we have Laura Aldretti.

Sorry, put my shirt on.

Sorry, I wasn't quite prepared for you guys.

Good evening.

My name is Laura Aldrete.

I live in uh District One up in North Denver.

Members of council, uh, thank you for your service to our city.

I'm here tonight to support the Denver Summit Football Club Stadium rezoning.

Besides being the previous planning director and professionally in agreement with the department's findings for meeting the criteria for rezoning, I am here to speak to three additional core reasons for my support.

Number one is if not now, we will wait a long time.

Having worked on two previous iterations of the redevelopment attempts on the former Gates rubber factory site, I can tell you firsthand how challenging the site is to bring something out of the ground.

In the first attempt in the early 2000s and then in 2014, the development proposals could not overcome cost of remediation, costs of infrastructure while also meeting the economics of the real estate market.

Without City Council's approval of rezoning and accompanying agreements, it will be another 10 to 15 years before the real estate market economics allow for another run at this proposed development.

Number two, this is the moment for your city leadership to shine.

As a political governing body, you have the ability to lead this city into an era of uh prosperity, not just for the fans of women's soccer, but for the food vendors, the merch vendors, the bar owners and staff who gain from this stadium at the former Gates site.

Let Denver do what we are great at doing, leading the way economically for our communities in our region.

Number three, you cannot be what you cannot see.

As an early beneficiary of Title IX in the 70s, I was part of a ragged group of little girls across the United States, scrambling across half-baked soccer fields with coaches that didn't understand the game, but knew the importance of sports in women's lives and girls' lives.

I was also blessed to have a Mexican father who only knew one sport, and that one sport was football.

And that's all we had all the time in our house.

I played high school, college, women's leagues, co-ed leagues, I had babies on sidelines and partners with them along with side with them.

I played until I could not play anymore.

My father and I had the good fortune to attend the 1999 World's Cup final at the Rose Bowl, where 80,000 fans, women, men, children, girls, and boys, all on the edge of their seats cheering for women's women's team that was in the US on our own soil, and we won.

And I cried on that day.

It was an amazing event to see, but I had never seen that before.

I have been a small part of the success of Title IX, but this stadium is the ultimate success for Title IX.

That's your time.

Thank you for your support.

Next up we have Tim Lopez.

Good morning or good afternoon.

Maybe I should say good evening.

Madam President and City Council members.

My name is Tim Lopez.

I live in Baker neighborhood.

I've lived there all my life.

I've moved twice from 355 Aladdin at 367 Bannock.

So I know this Gates Project Inside and Out.

I must say how fun was that with Mayor Webb and Wilma.

I mean, looking at everybody in the room, it was like an alumni reunion.

The guy who spoke about zoning and uh all the changes and the PUD.

Let me tell you, we were there as the West East Neighborhood United at the CPD hearing and presented a letter there.

So we were involved with that.

I will tell you that I've been involved with all the zoning at Gates because I sit on the zoning board for Baker.

And so CMX 16 and everything like that.

I'm glad the guy had to explain it, not me.

The only thing he probably left out left out was that Gates actually sits in a bowl.

So the height of the buildings will be different sizes depending on what part of the location you're at.

So, and it is affected by the Washington Park viewplane.

I'm here to say I was left out some very important people, and Mayor Webb would remind me is that I didn't welcome uh Rob Cohen and Jim Millet to the Baker neighborhood.

And I believe that they will be a part of the Baker neighborhood from here on out.

I would encourage you guys to pass this zoning piece, get it done, and let's move forward.

As you know, I've been involved in 2005 and in 2017, and now again here.

A lot of the things that we negotiated in the CBA, we weren't far off.

A lot of this stuff was already written in in both 2005 and in 2017.

We just didn't have to recreate the wheel, we just added more traction to it.

You know, I will tell you that as the chair, one of the forward chairs, we did all we could.

The steering committee was there, community has showed up, and I'm proud of the work that we've done.

So I thank you for all of my colleagues that have made this effort, and I thank all of you for taking the time.

I will tell you when we came to signing that CBA, I think we needed it in by 330, and I signed at 328.

So, you know, that's how much fun we've had lately.

But it's been rushed, but we've done our due diligence, and I appreciate that all of you will do as well.

So with that, I'm gonna end here, say please move this forward.

Let's get it done, and thank you, and I'm happy to take questions now or at any other time.

Thank you.

Next up, we have Jen Grieving.

Good evening.

My name is Jen Grieving, and I'm from the Overland neighborhood in City Council District 7, and I'm here to express my support for the rezoning of the proposed soccer stadium site at 709 South Delaware.

Like many women, I wear many hats.

I'm a wife, I'm a mom of two boys who are soccer fans.

I'm a teacher, and I'm the president of the Overland Park Neighborhood Association.

And I'm also a doctoral candidate at the University of Colorado, Denver, researching how we can better understand and support mothers enrolled in higher education.

I'm here tonight because since May of this year, I've also worn a hat as a member of the steering committee for the summit FC CBA.

When the news first broke about the stadium project, I was excited not only about a women's soccer team here in Denver, but the opportunity to collaborate with other neighbors and neighborhoods on the project.

Because you see, my neighborhood and other neighborhoods surrounding this site have been divided by a river, by highways, and by historical red lines.

This summit stadium project offers the chance for building both literal and figurative connections between our neighborhoods.

Over 50 organizations participated in the overall process to determine our areas of impact, and representatives from 15 neighborhoods and organizations served countless hours on our steering committee.

Throughout this process, our work with the team has shown us that the name Denver Summit FC or Football Club is very apt.

The use of a football club in the teen name calls to mind the tradition of local football clubs emerging in a community and knitting themselves into the local fabric.

This community benefits agreement will provide, among other things, internships and workshops for students and young people, vendor and mentorship opportunities for local minority and women owned businesses and ongoing funding for local priorities through a community investment fund.

A yes vote on this zoning will help to establish the Denver Summit women's soccer team's place in Colorado's history of championing women.

Joining other Colorado women, such as the Unsinkable Molly Brown, Emily Griffith, Dr.

Justina Ford, Mother Cabrini Guadalupe Brissano, and countless other women who have done the often invisible labor and care work to support, empower, and improve their communities.

Whether you call it soccer, football, or football, globally, soccer is known as the beautiful game because of its simplicity, its complexity, and its ability to bring people together.

Tonight I ask for your support in the rezoning for this site and the intergovernmental agreement.

Your approval will bring our neighborhoods together through community investment, continued collaboration, and based on the roster so far, some heckin' good soccer.

Thank you, and please vote yes.

Thank you.

Next up we have Arthur Lopez.

Here I am again, feeling all important.

Anyway, um my name is Art Lopez, and I'm a member of the Valver Community Neighborhood.

And I'm proud to say that I'm a native of Denver, raised in Baker and Balvert.

So I have a foot in both neighborhoods.

I'd also like to say that I am here tonight to strongly support the new construction of the soccer state to be built.

I think it's important not only for the neighbors, but the economy for the years to come.

I think it's very important that we move this thing forward.

I really would love to see this happen.

And I really appreciate your time and consideration.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next up we have Yvonne Lopez.

Hi, City Council.

Thank you so much for your service to the city.

As a native of Denver and a Mestisa, I come before you to ask you to support this community benefits agreement with the FC Summit.

But I would be remiss if I didn't also bring up that, you know, like our ancestors, our tribal leaders, indigenous peoples who stewarded the land and took such good care and taught us about the precious water that we drink and enjoy every day, and the beautiful wildlife that we have still and the mountains and the beautiful sky and most importantly the magic of trees.

So we want to partner with the team and continue this work, this environmental justice work, and we look forward to the future in Denver.

So I ask you to please support this.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Next up, we have Gary Mobile.

Mobile.

Is Gary on Zoom?

Yeah.

Gary, if you accept the promotion.

If you unmute mute yourself, Gary.

Yes.

There you go.

Now we can now we can hear you.

Go ahead.

The floor is very.

Good evening, Council members.

My name is Gary Mobel, and I'm here representing Blue Bonnet Restaurant.

I'm also here to strongly support the rezoning of the South Broadway Stadium site for Denver's National Women's Soccer League team.

This decision is a strategic investment in economic development, small business, community vitality, and enthusiasm for a local sports team.

All values Denver has consistently supported.

From an economic standpoint, soccer specific stadiums produce reliable repeat activity, not just occasional surges.

That kind of consistent schedule creates predictable foot traffic, which is exactly what locally owned restaurants, cafes, shops, and service businesses need to thrive.

Cities with established National Women's Soccer League teams such as Portland, Kansas City, and Louisville have documented increases in game day sales, evening pedestrian activity, and neighborhood visibility for nearby small business.

These venues tend to attract fans who arrive early, eat locally, and stay after matches, generating spending that stays in the community.

South Broadway is especially well suited for this kind of development.

It already has a strong base of independent businesses and access to transit.

Rezoning the site transforms underutilized land into a steady customer engine, supporting existing businesses rather than displacing them.

This project also sends an important message about who Denver chooses to invest in.

Women's professional sports are experiencing rapid growth, and the National Women's Soccer League is one of the fastest expanding leagues in the country.

Supporting this team places Denver among forward-thinking cities that recognize the long-term economic and cultural value of women's athletics.

In closing, approving this rezoning is a measured data-supported decision that strengthens South Broadway's small business, increases local economic activity, and reflects Denver's commitment to growth.

I urge you, I beg you to approve this rezoning and help bring the National Women's Soccer Leagues home to Denver and the South Broadway corridor.

Thank you for your time and service.

That was a great speech.

I've spoken to this body before on numerous occasions.

Most recently to ask for your approval of the Broadway General Improvement District.

As Broadway continues to find ways to bring foot traffic back to our street, women's soccer stadium has been top of mind for all of us the last 12 months.

We've spent about a hundred K each year and nearly six months of planning to execute the Broadway Halloween parade.

That event brings around 42,000 people to shop, eat, play, and support our businesses.

If the proposed stadium brings even one to two thousand people to our street 20 times per year, with zero dollars or effort from our small merchants association, that would be a huge victory.

The total attendance of those events would be equal to an additional 40,000 plus people per year eating and drinking before and after games.

From an economics perspective, I understand your hesitation to authorize taxpayer dollars for this project.

Admittedly, I would also closely scrutinize this.

It is your obligation and duty as an elected official.

My concern is that if we do not help fund a public-private partnership, this vacant lot will remain as such for another 30 years.

I also think there's value in noting that the city will still own this land and any improvements should the team ever vacate this location.

We're allowing a private entity to take on 300 million dollars in debt to improve land that we own to pay us residual sales tax dollars and stimulate the local economy of businesses around the site.

Dare I say it?

That sounds like a good deal.

Most importantly, I genuinely think it will spur development of the rest of the dirt on this site.

It is hard to estimate how much of the city uh how much the city and taxpayers will receive in new property and sales tax generated by other developments adjacent to this stadium.

I often wonder if we don't approve this project.

Will we be here again in five years with a different project?

It also needs public funds, and will it be 120 million instead of 70 million?

I have heard many business and property owners in favor of this project.

I've asked business owners to notify me if they're opposed to this project, and I have not received any emails or phone calls.

I've also participated in the CBA negotiations for this project, and it has been arduous and time consuming.

I'm honestly shocked that the team is offered seven million dollars in community benefits.

There are a number of benefits for small businesses, but I am particularly happy to see that the team will guarantee opportunities for small businesses to operate inside the stadium.

On behalf of the Broadway Merchants Association, I urge each of you to approve this measure to support not only the stadium but also the small businesses around it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next up we have Julia Duncan.

No, Noah Stout.

Sorry.

Skipped ahead.

Good afternoon, good evening.

Uh my name is Noah Stout.

I live at 3468 Albion, and I am honored tonight to be here to represent WeNew as their attorney.

Um I've been in front of you for a number of CBAs, including the Ball Arena Um CBA, and I ask you tonight to support the rezone and also related um approvals.

When I think about CBAs, they were ultimately designed and envisioned as tools to advance equitable development.

And I think about especially on this site, which had, you know, what I call the OG CBA at the gates on the gates site, and I think about um advancing equitable development, and I think about this as a relay race, where um some of our elders that sat at the table 20 years ago and negotiated, and then they helped handed the baton off to the next group, um, the developed capacity, gathered community, asked for tremendous sacrifices, and I think about the National Western Center.

I think about the Park Hill CBA, think of the ball arena, and I think about this group.

And each time, for my study, for my personal experience, they've advanced equitable development in the city and beyond.

One thing that was pointed in, I'd like to uh point out that I'm really proud of is that I will put this CB up at any CBA in the country in terms of its environmental benefits.

And that I what I'm particularly proud of is that came directly from the history of this site and this community and the impact it has had on the community, and that was a demand from day one that our community did not back down from I know that this group has taken the baton and handed it off to a future CBA process, and they will have advanced equitable development.

And I will say, as a dad of two girls, I'm so proud, I'm so proud of this group, and I will take those my two daughters who are are young, but they're they're uh tempted soccer players right now, and I look forward to attending games with them and knowing the commitment, the hard work, and I think about the world right now.

There's not a lot of things that give me hope, unfortunately, but it's seeing the commitment of your community members, unpaid, and and unbowed ultimately, and standing up and saying this is what we need and advancing equitable development gives me hope.

And I look forward to taking my daughters there and telling them the story, and I hope you do as well, and for that, I ask you to support.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next up, we have Julia Duncan Rutman.

Good evening.

My name is Julia Duncan Reutman, and my husband and I own Joy Hill, a restaurant just two blocks south of the proposed National Women's Soccer League stadium site.

I'm here once again to express my strong support for this stadium zoning.

First, I want to thank the city council for your thoughtful and detailed work around the stadium development.

Well, I'm here in support, I'm also a Denver resident and taxpayer, so I fully recognize the importance of the decisions you're making and how they affect us all.

My family has been part of Denver since the 1970s, and my child attends DPS schools alongside my nieces.

This is our home, and I care deeply about the future of our city and our community.

I understand that this is a complex issue with tax implications and important considerations to weigh.

I appreciate that the city and community is taking the time to ensure that all aspects of this project are thoroughly reviewed.

It is important that you have all the necessary information to make the right decision.

Today, as I drove to work down Mississippi, I passed the dirt lot that is currently the proposed stadium site.

I couldn't help but reflect on the contrast between the blight of the trash-strewn vacant lot and the immense potential that lies in transforming this space.

The idea of a dedicated women's soccer stadium is powerful and meaningful.

It represents more than just a sports venue.

It's a chance for our stretch of South Broadway to be part of something unique and impactful, something we can truly be proud of.

One of the greatest opportunities this project presents is its potential to bridge the divide between the two sides of South Broadway.

The proximity to the Broadway station makes it an ideal location for people to utilize public transportation.

Right now, that area, especially near I-25, feels dark and disconnected.

The stadium can change that.

It will bring light, activity, and a sense of safety and purpose to an underutilized part of our neighborhood.

For those reasons, I believe this stadium is an investment not only in our local economy, but in the very character of our community.

It will support businesses like mine, attract people who care about locally owned, unique businesses, and provide the kind of vibrant environment that we need to revitalize South Broadway.

I appreciate your time and your continued attention to this project.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next up, we have James Roll.

Hello, I'm James Mole.

I'm uh live in West Swash Park.

I am on the supporters group for the 14ers here in Denver.

We are very excited by the opportunity to have a women's team here in Denver.

I'm personally excited to be a part of a community that I have met so many new people across the city who are gathering together to appreciate the sport that we all come to love.

We went to Yukon women's basketball growing up, and I look forward to a day when I can take my nieces and my nephews or family members or friends to women's sports here in Denver.

I was recently talking to a co-worker, and she was just like, it's about time.

We had a team here in Denver that we can all go to, and we all became seasoned ticket holders.

I think we are all very excited for the opportunity to say for me personally to walk to McGane from West Wash Park to hang out in the neighborhood to be able to enjoy an eating out to bring people into the community and into the neighborhood.

And I think that's one of the things that's I think we've heard so many people talk about the opportunity here.

Heard about the opportunity for community.

We've heard about the opportunity for a centralized location and for a central place for our transportation to be able to get to and from the stadium.

And I think that I appreciate the one to the at this city council for being able to explore all of the economic challenges or benefits that come with such an opportunity.

And I think it's something that we have an opportunity to step forward into a new era where we can all continue to build this community.

We can all continue to appreciate the people that we are meeting through this new endeavor here in Denver and to appreciate what this can be for the future and who this will inspire, whether it is my nieces and nephews or any of the other women in my life who are thrilled that this is a potential opportunity for Denver.

Thank you all.

Thank you.

Next up we have Matthew Wickham.

Thank you all.

Matthew Wickham, resident of your district, president and West Highlands.

I'm speaking on behalf of the measure.

I would like to say definitively, as a former resident of Jefferson Park and current resident of West Highlands, I love the liveliness culture and community that having a stadium in my neighborhood brings.

I'm sad that we'll be losing ours to Councilwoman Torres in District Three.

I can say definitively, as someone that runs a soccer park in Skyline Park in the heart of downtown Denver, that every time a young girl steps onto that pitch and they see that in the heart of their city is a small bit of soccer, there's a spark of joy.

When I tell them three years down the road, there's gonna be a much larger, larger soccer pitch just for them, eyes widen.

When I tell them three years after that, that big soccer pitch in your district is gonna host the world and raise a cup, an explosion of wonder.

I think what we can all agree is that there's a lot of diligence that's been done, a lot of minutiae that's been covered, but that the heart of this, we're giving a zone a purpose, we're giving a city a soccer stadium, we're giving girls uh a Filipina descent, an alley, black girls, an Abbey, Denver Metro Girls, a Jordan, girls from foreign shores, a Nahikari.

Just in this room through this process, we're giving girls a Molly, a Sarah, uh, a Joanne, a Bianca, a Kama, uh Kaylia, Jen, role models, goals.

We're giving them a Sarah, we're giving them a Chantel and Amanda, we're giving them a floor and a Serena.

And what we've seen from Colorado women is when you give them a goal, they reward you with a World Cup.

We won't remember much of this process after the stadium has long lifted a championship.

We'll remember that Councilwoman Parody had good diligence throughout this process and held her charge and defended her constituents.

We'll remember that Councilwoman Alvidres raised the tent and invited the community into her district.

I will remember your callback to Mayor Frederico Pena in that of times of uncertainty and maybe scarcity.

Denver bets on Denver.

And on Monday, what we'll remember is that Denver bets on women.

You will bet with that vote on the women of your community on Monday and every day after.

And I promise you, this team, this community, it will reward you.

You will have trophies, you will have cups, but you have women with a vision on the mile-high skyline of who they're going to be when they grow up.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next up, we have.

Okay.

Thanks, Matt.

Hate to follow up on that.

Hi.

My name is Sarah Ingram.

I'm a Littleton resident, and I come to you today to share a lesser-known benefit of bringing the stadium to Denver, and that's supporter group culture.

Sporter Group is an organization of hardcore dedicated fans, some of whom have already spoken tonight.

Not only am I a heavily invested soccer coach, player, and fan, I'm an officer of the 14ers, which is the supporter group for the Denver Summit FC.

I'm also a mental health professional.

So I understand the concern.

There is a desire to invest in social programs.

And I can attest to the numerous stats that support having a professional women's team and the way it positively impacts the surrounding communities, such as bringing more role models for non-male athletes, especially in marginalized communities.

And CBA and fiscal benefits aside, bringing Denver Summit FC to Denver will open up more opportunities for community-led projects because soccer fan bases are different than other sports, as you've probably seen today.

They are deeply community-based.

I've volunteered with the Orr Foundation, which is the 501c3 section of the Centennial 38, the Support Group for the Rapids, where we have worked to help raise funds, collect canned food and equipment from everything for Food Bank of the Rockies, Soccer Without Borders, Colorado Name Change Project, and my favorite Urban Peak.

And that was with the Rapids-based organization.

Imagine what an organization with a more female-led group can do.

For example, the 14ers have already helped run a canned food drive and support a local toy drive as well.

And we've only just appointed a board a month or so ago.

We, the 14ers are here to support the players in the community, and we enjoy finding ways that we can help support said communities, such as females in sports, BIPOC, immigrant, queer, and unhoused populations.

I do want to also throw out a quick note that I would like to echo what was stated in the last committee meeting to everybody that volunteered on the public side of the CBA.

Thank you all so much for the work that you did and the sacrifices that you all put in.

And while I want to acknowledge your due diligence in making sure that the budget and the city spending is done in a transparent and fair manner, I hope that you'll keep us, the fans and the supporter groups in mind as you weigh your pros and cons for this project.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next up we have Britt Deal.

Good evening, members of council.

I'm Britt Deal.

I am a resident of District 10, and here this evening in my capacity as Senior Director of External Affairs at the Downtown Denver Partnership.

And I'm pleased to be here tonight to urge your support of this rezoning.

While this site sits outside our downtown boundaries, we know that great cities are built through strategic investments across the entire region and most importantly, across neighborhoods.

The proposed stadium transforms a currently underutilized site into an economic engine that will activate the South Broadway corridor and create spillover benefits for surrounding neighborhoods, including downtown.

We know from our work downtown and across the region that destination investments like this don't just serve their immediate area.

They drive foot traffic, visitor spending, and economic activity across multiple corridors, strengthening the small business ecosystem our entire city depends on.

Catalytic infrastructure like this project benefit the whole city and region when South Broadway thrives, downtown thrives, and so on, and Denver's economic fabric only grows stronger.

This rezoning paves the way for a project that will deliver far beyond game days, bringing critical critical infrastructure improvements, new parks and open space, and enhanced connections that will stitch neighborhoods together.

It creates a true destination, accessible by foot, by bike, and by transit, and creates the kind of place that will only strengthen our city.

We consistently see the reverberating effects of our existing sports venues like Ball Arena and Power Field and Course Field.

We see foot traffic increases, meaningful boosts for ground floor businesses, both immediately adjacent and throughout the entirety of downtown and beyond, and harder to measure in numbers, but we certainly see a more connected community too.

On behalf of the Downtown Denver Partnership, thank you so much for your consideration and hope you'll support this rezoning.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next up we have Tarmigan Emery.

Madam President, City Council, thank you so much for your time and service.

So I'm a Denver native.

I was born at Rose Hospital, raised here, still proud to call Denver home.

I grew up playing soccer for Cherry Creek Lightning, and now I'm a hospice nurse.

Something most people don't realize is that nursing doesn't look good on a balance sheet.

We are considered a cost.

We don't generate billable revenue.

I can't charge for holding someone's hand for hours.

I can't charge for catching a medication error and saving someone's life.

And I can't charge for picking up the phone and calling the doctor before a situation turns serious.

Yet us nurses are the ones who make sure you don't get the wrong medication.

We are the ones catching problems before they become emergencies.

We are the ones at the bedside day and night, making sure you are safe.

Without nurses, healthcare doesn't function.

Our value is real, it's just not easily quantified.

Community-centered stadiums are similar.

They rarely show a return on investment on paper, especially in the short term.

But their impact is broad, human, and shared.

I grew up in a generation of girls who played sports because our moms and grandmothers made space for us, often without recognition, without funding, and without anything built for them.

They showed up anyway.

This team honors that legacy.

And that location matters.

I've driven past Santa Fe Yards for the past 25 plus years, empty, ugly, forgotten, defined by what it is not.

Turning that space into something alive and welcoming is not just redevelopment, it's renewal.

The stadium doesn't discriminate.

It's not just a place to watch a game, it's a park, a gathering space, somewhere seniors can walk, families can sit, neighbors can meet, kids, especially girls, can imagine themselves playing on that field.

It's accessible to people who might not be able to get to a suburban stadium, and who also may not be able to afford a Broncos nuggets or avalanche ticket.

Denver shows up for our sports.

We always have.

We've built entire ecosystems around our men's professional teams.

This is Denver's first major professional women's team competing in a national league.

So here's the question.

What kind of city do we want to be?

As a hospice nurse, I can tell you that people don't remember spreadsheets, they don't remember budgets.

They do remember whether the city showed up, whether it invested in all its people, whether it created places that made them feel valued.

Thank you.

Next up we have Victoria Kandi.

I think I virtuated that last name.

Okay, next up we have Julian Aguilar.

Thank you, Madam President, members of council.

My name is Julian Aguilar.

I'm born and raised in Denver, Colorado, and I currently reside in Council District 2.

I'm speaking today on behalf of the Colorado Building and Construction Trades and IBW Local 68.

Together, we represent over 30,000 union members and their families in our great state of Colorado.

I'm here tonight in support of the rezoning of 709 South Delaware Street for the Summit FC Stadium Project.

And while the community community benefits agreement does not include any labor requirements, we have received assurances from the ownership group of Summit FC that unions will be given an opportunity to participate in building this project.

And that commitment matters.

Our members are skilled, experienced, and ready to deliver safe, high-quality craftsmanship when given the chance.

We also have multiple contractors that are women-owned and women ran.

Union trades would get us closer to our goal.

We believe Denver deserves projects that not only serve the community but also provide fair opportunities for the workers who build them.

We believe if you work in Denver, you should be able to thrive in Denver.

We offer support for this legislation because rezoning helps move things forward and has the potential to provide opportunities for union labor, the working class.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next up we have Adriana Lopez.

Hello, good evening, Council members.

I'm Adriana Lopez, president of Valverde Neighborhood Association, and one of the four chairs on West East Neighbors United.

With my family's over 60 years of living in Valverde, one of Denver's most underserved neighborhoods and a Ness neighborhood, we are deeply committed to Denver and our community.

My goal as a representative of this committee has always been to remain objective, consider all points of view, advocate for those who didn't who do not have a voice at the table, and to make sure every voice is heard, particularly from an equity perspective.

Many people have spoken today, and I sincerely thank all of their support.

I align with this support to move uh this development forward.

Um I also want to thank the team that has dedicated countless efforts at the end of the day.

We could always agree that women and women in sports matter.

I appreciate all the neighborhoods that have participated and wanted to and want to acknowledge the unpaid volunteer labor dedicated to this effort.

As recently as today, during our day jobs and working hours, so we can deliver this CBA on time to all of you.

I would be remiss if I didn't thank Noah Stout, Jonathan Capelli, and Lucas Hagen for their deep commitment to deliver CBA on time.

We have gained invaluable insights into each other's lived experiences as neighbors on this committee, whether people are new to Denver or have lived in this community for generations.

This is especially true for our generational leaders in Denver who served on this community, who have led, coached, and guided along the way.

Art and Yvonne Lopez, Tim Lopez, and Jean Granville, your perspectives and lived experiences are irreplaceable to Denver and for generations to come.

This highlights the importance of every voice being heard, especially as we work for the first time in generations to unite East and West Denver to address the challenges that affect both sides of the historical I-25 divide along Santa Fe.

This is the essence of our name, West East Neighbors United.

Regarding next steps, we've still got more work to do.

I look forward to working with the team and committee and being part of what we said we would do in this CBA, implementing an authentic, fair, community first process that truly benefits the community in an equitable way.

This has been one of the most uh community first councils I've ever witnessed growing up as a former kid in Denver, and I just wanted to thank you all as well as council people for your support.

Thank you.

Next up, we have Mari Bella Bellos online.

Good afternoon, everyone.

Council, thank you so much for the opportunity to speak.

My name is Maribel Avalos.

I am the president and the founder and executive director of Albion Denver and Albion Colorado.

I am here in support of the women's pro stadium.

I live in District One, and this matter deeply to me and to the community I serve.

I came to this country at a very young age.

I knew America was a land of opportunities, but I didn't know yet how to act these opportunities of how to navigate the system.

What made the difference for me when I came was coaches and teachers.

With their support, I would earn a college scholarships through both soccer and academics.

That changed my life.

More importantly, it showed me how difficult the path can be when information, resources, and guidance are not equally available to everyone.

When I got graduated college, I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

In 2008, I founded Casa, now Albion, a nonprofit organization serving boys and girls, ages four to 18.

We use soccer not just as a sport, but as a tool for education, discipline, leadership, and life skills.

Our goal is simple.

To keep student athletes engaged, thriving at home, succeeding in school, and growing both on and off the field.

This work exists because too many communities are in disadvantage.

Not because of the lack of talent, but because of the lack of assets, the lack of information, the lack of support.

My mission has always been to ensure that no young person feels alone or uncertain about how to reach higher education, leadership, and opportunities.

By the time our players graduate high school, our greatest success is not the wins, not the trophies, is that they continue their education.

And yes, for some of them, they might play college, they might even play professional.

But the greatest thing is their education.

I strongly believe that you must see what you can become.

That belief is especially important for girls.

In many communities, girls are still expected to come sucking, especially in sports.

I will know.

I was one.

We must be intentional about giving them the same tools, the same spaces, and the same visibility that we keep boys.

We constantly support men's sports.

Nothing wrong with that.

There is nothing, nothing wrong with that, but we want to do the same for women.

It is time to do so.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Our last speaker is Jonathan Capelli.

My name is Jonathan Capelli, resident of Capitol Hill, executive director of the neighborhood development collaborative, and my organization did the facilitation for this CBA.

Just by way of background, we knew it's a collective of 15 organizations, many of which you've heard from tonight, seven ROs and eight nonprofits.

It had fresh start.

As someone who's worked on two uh previous CBAs in Denver, uh Ball Arena and Park Hill, I can tell you that the team and the community have a lot to be proud of here.

Uh both found themselves with half the time that other recent CBA-related projects had to craft their CBA.

But rather than be discouraged, they simply resolved to meet twice as often and work twice as hard.

They toured the site on foot, poured over previous CBAs, researched how stadiums worked, and listened deeply to each other.

After hundreds of volunteer hours and dozens of meetings with stakeholder, the stakeholder engagement list uh that was about 50 orgs long, um, as you've seen, folks are really proud not just of what they accomplished, but how they accomplished it together.

Um process aside, uh there's also a lot to be proud of in the CBA as well.

Uh the diversity of voices from East and West side uh resulted in an agreement with a remarkably wide scope, which as you've heard includes deep sustainability, strong business labor equity, innovative transportation equity, authentic art and cultural representation, and meaningful youth and family initiatives.

Uh, all told, uh, if you combine the total value of community benefits in this agreement over 10 years, it uh equals 7 million dollars, with about three million of that coming out of the first or second year, mostly paid out of team revenues.

Uh, this is a sizable um percentage of the total you know gross revenues of the project.

By comparison, the much larger ball arena project levies a 1% fee on retail tenants that raises about 16 million dollars over a longer period of time.

Um the projects are kind of apples to oranges.

Uh ball arena is much larger, and there's a lot of other things they could do because of the scope.

But the point is to show that in terms of absolute numbers and in proportion to its scale, since it's about a tenth of side of other size of other recent projects, the stadium functions uh far above its weight.

Um so I really want to thank the team for their flexibility and creativity in helping turn community priorities into actionable benefits, and the community for never holding back from speaking loud and dreaming big.

Um as you know the site's already zoned appropriately for other potential uses, so future development might not have the benefit of a CBA.

I doubt any other project will be as cool as a women's soccer stadium anyway.

So uh urge you to pass the zoning um and uh and other approvals so that the team and we knew can start to fund dozens of initiatives, plant hundreds of trees, and pour millions of dollars into the surrounding neighborhoods, setting a clear precedent for how community and development should work together for good for our city.

Thank you.

Thank you.

That concludes our speakers.

Do we have questions from members of council on Council Bill 1541?

Councilwoman Alvidas, why don't you start off start us off?

Thank you so much, Council President, um, and thank you to all the speakers that came today.

Um it's very meaningful to hear from you all and for bearing with us uh till 9 p.m.

tonight.

Um I did have a couple questions for the city attorney.

Uh the first one is if you can confirm for the record whether bondholders in the Broadway station metro district remain first priority for repayment under existing bond covenants.

Uh the those aren't uh city bonds, so I'll have to defer to the district.

Okay.

Good evening, City Council.

My name is Mark Tompkins.

I'm the president of the Broadway Station Metropolitan District.

Uh Councilwoman, we have three different sets of bonds outstanding.