Welcome back to this monthly meeting of the parts, Arts and Culture Committee of Denver City Council.

Join us in the Parts Arts and Culture Committee starting now.

Good afternoon, everyone.

Thank you for your patience.

We had to postpone starting committee a little bit, but we can start with.

I think if you all want to head over to the table, and while we while you walk over, we'll introduce our council members.

I'm Flora Alvidres, Chair of the Parks Arts and Culture Committee and Councilwoman for District 7.

Council President.

Oh good morning.

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

Great.

And we have some members of our arts and venues team here.

Tadiana, do you want to start introduction?

Sure.

Tariana Namaste, Deputy Executive Director for Arts and Menus.

It's great to be here.

I'm Richard.

I'm Gretchen Holler.

I'm the executive director of Denver Arts and Venues.

I'm Brooke Gilling.

I am the director of Cultural Affairs.

Hi, my name is Megan Gildy, and I'm a senior program manager.

Thank you all.

Great, we're already set up, so take it away.

I just I will kick off just by thanking you for making the time for this.

We are so excited about our new cultural plan.

And I'm gonna turn it over immediately to Tariana, who helped develop this work over the past many years and brought it to fruition.

And she and Brooke will be doing our presentation today.

Thank you.

And I know that some of you um we had the opportunity to share a briefing back in April, but I'm very excited that today we'll also share some.

We've been busy, but so some of the things that we've been doing and then what's upcoming.

So uh Denver creates a collective commitment to the arts is the city's cultural plan.

And you may remember that is a refresh of Imagine 2020, which was the cultural plan we launched in 2014.

And what is unique about this plan is the approach we took to planning and how we will use the plan as a roadmap to uh support the creative sector in our community.

And we took a bottom-up approach, meaning that traditionally cities engage the community, but then they basically share their own vision.

What we did was we decided to not only listen to the cultural sector and our residents, but we're not filtering what we heard, the data that we capture, basically bringing in our vision.

We decided to unfilter, share that directly with uh with you, with the uh collective sector, and then come together, be a convener to then say how are we all gonna respond to what we hear.

So if you could go to the next slide.

So a quick agenda.

Um, we're gonna take you back a little bit so that you can uh understand the context of our work, where um this culture plan is rooted in data, so we want to talk to you a little bit about uh the research methodology, tell you where it got us, um, tell a little bit about our role as an agency because again, what's unique is that this is not just arts and venues plan.

We are sharing what we heard with all of you, and then we'll guide and steward the plan.

And then the most exciting part, which is what have we been up to and what do we have to look forward to?

So, next.

So uh speaking of of data, um, we do know that uh the arts inspire a sense of pride and is a strong economic driver.

Um, and floor uh councilman, we've had those conversations about again that strong economic driver.

Uh, and we also know, as we saw, especially during 2020, that arts plays a significant role in improving our mental health.

And what it's really inspiring is that we actually learned that 84% of Denver residents believe that arts and culture improve our quality of life.

And I'm not gonna go through all the data, but it was really positive that even during difficult times, there was still that belief that we need the arts, and that um we actually this is one of my most favorite questions uh when we ask, is Denver an arts town, a sports town?

I don't know councilman, a cow town.

And every time since 2014, people have said we are an arts town.

So I think it's that's really inspiring.

Uh next, so our connection to the history of cultural planning.

Um, I started with the agency in 2012, and I learned that the first cultural plan for the city was in 1989.

So it had been a minute.

Uh so at that time, we uh brought the first cultural plan in over 20 years.

And in 2014, we launched Imagine 2020, and then which was a seven-year plan, and that's why I always joke that we did not imagine 2020.

Um we arrived, and I would definitely do not recommend doing cultural planning during a pandemic, but there we were.

So what we thought at that time is we knew that was a critical time and we needed to capture that moment, because if that was the moment that we could hear what are the greatest needs and the hopes of the sector in our community, because we believe that there was a after-pandemic, right?

That we would get through it.

Uh, next.

And I think that was um that was significant uh based on a decision that we took at the time that was actually when you talk about pivoting.

I've never done a sharper pivot than at that time, because we said in 2020, frankly, we cannot just talk about cultural planning because frankly, who's gonna care when we are just trying to survive?

And we thought we need to connect and listen and come together to just hear what we must do.

So we went deep and rigorous in terms of our research methodology.

Um we actually, since 2014, we've done a statistically valid survey over sampling for Latinos and African Americans, and this was connecting with residents.

How do residents in Denver feel about arts, culture, and creativity?

What do they want more of?

Uh, how can they best access this?

And we had done that every three years.

What was unique in 2020 and then in 2024 is that we brought in qualitative data.

It's not new that ideally when you when you trust data, you want quantitative and qualitative.

And what we did was the quantitative focus on our residents, and then the qualitative allowed us to go deep to listen to our cultural sector.

And that's something that it was both very exciting and also it was it was a risk because again, we had made a decision to not filter what we learned and share exactly what we learned.

So we were ready to say, they say that we're in bad shape, we're gonna share it, right?

So we connected with our 2500 community members, as I said, we went in deep with our uh cultural sector, and as you can imagine, with the cultural sector, we connected across disciplines, uh great diversity in every sense of identity uh council district.

We conducted again more than one hundred in-depth interviews, we studied regional and national data, and then we engaged in collaborative planning from the beginning, just checking ourselves as we developed uh next.

So that took us to Denver Creates, and that uh that title actually is very uh intentional because again, this is not Arts and Venues Creates or Acts and Venues Leads, but it is Denver, and we wanted to really elevate the thought that we are collectively creating a response, right?

A solution to what we then learn that are the the hopes and aspirations.

So this guiding vision that came from the voices of the sector, and when I say those voices, is um I'm not gonna get into it, but we will learn in November about the magic of qualitative data and grounded theory and all of up and big data nerd, and what is fascinating about that is that it truly connects you to those voices, which means that what you will learn, it's literally like quote quotes, right?

It elevates the voices of who we heard.

Um so we know that we will grow and strengthen Denver's Arts and Culture ecosystem for everyone to enjoy, and as you can see, equity access, it's really driving this.

Next.

So, to achieve the vision, how do we go about this?

And as we say, we are representing, we are sharing what we heard, and really what it provides is a guide to how can we collectively respond to what we're learning?

And collective action is necessary.

It cannot be just a group of arts organizations, it cannot just be tier twos or tier ones, it cannot just be arts and venues.

It has to be collective in order for us to be successful.

And three shared commitments came about, and again, very intentional that is shared, right?

We have, we are committed to one another.

The first one is broaden access to arts and culture, and as it feels, it is really about access and supporting our communities and supporting that our communities are going to be able to enjoy the benefits of the arts.

And how do we go about this?

Of course, not surprising, we heard that we need increase in funding.

We also heard, and especially when we see that the way audiences engage since the pandemic has changed, the way why they decide what to do.

So we also heard that we need to increase audience engagement.

We obviously saw a huge dip during the pandemic, obviously, but now we are in quote post-pandemic, but we haven't seen audiences come back the same way.

So we need to address that.

And then last, and this we've heard from residents since 2014, people want more arts and culture in their neighborhoods.

They want to have closer access to that.

Next, our second commitment, shared commitment, is cultivate the culture community.

Again, we want, we are rich in artists, creatives, cultural workers, and we want to make sure that they have the infrastructure and the support to stay in Denver.

So we are committed to strengthening Denver arts and culture sector by.

So, how do we leverage our relationships to make sure that we're partnering with the Colorado Hill Foundation, right?

With the state.

So making those relationships come together and support our sector.

And then ensuring artists again that they have a future career remember.

So moving to what our role is, it is, I think is a dual role.

Some of the things you heard, we have ways in which we actually are responding to those specific, right, in terms of artists at the table in terms of funding.

But beyond that, how do we shepherd this forward?

And we are excited that we're gonna bring the sector together.

We're partnering with the state.

We're gonna have a biannual summit.

We also will have speaker series.

That's a way in which we, in a way, uh bring learnings to the sector in a way that is accessible.

Not everybody can go and hear a speaker, right?

So we're bringing speakers here.

We also will be developing impact teams.

Again, this is collective.

So we're gonna bring people around the table and look at these are all the things that we heard that we need to address, and then how are we collectively going to address that?

But we want to do it together.

And then finally, we want to track our progress, not just arts and venues progress, but we want to track what other organizations are doing.

So we'll be keeping you informed and keeping ourselves in check and accountable with year-in-review reports.

Um then some uh key highlights of this is just highlights because again, there's a lot of ways in which we're supporting implementing this, but we talk about a creative economy.

We actually are gonna be doing some uh research studies on the creative economy, uh, and we continue to find ways to identify areas within that creative economy that we want to learn more about.

Um we also again want to elevate the role of arts and culture, so we're going to collectively look at how do we promote, how do we brand this, and at the same time, how do we learn more about how to engage audiences?

We will also explore a cultural trust uh model, which is addressing space, affordable spaces, uh supporting youth arts, and then last but not least is uh we will be launching soon.

Uh so stay tuned, a culture partner program at the arts complex.

So stay tuned, is very exciting, and I think a thread that connects through all of these um highlights is access is at the heart of it, equity is at the heart of it, because we want to ensure equity from a place of everybody at the table, right?

Not just our ideas, but then making the resources and the assets that we have as a city, meaning city organizations, right, just in general, uh, to our communities.

Um, and now I I am this is the most exciting part, I think, in my opinion, which is we've been busy since May.

I know some of you were able to join us at the lunch uh celebration, but there's been a lot that has happened.

So I want to pass the microphone to Brooke to share and then what's coming up.

Thank you.

So we just focus on those Denver Arts and Venues initiatives, which is the work that as an agency we are doing that tied directly to Denver Creates.

One of the ones we just discussed was arts and youth.

Um, and as you heard in the plan, it's really important for our young people to see themselves with arts and culture careers or have access to the arts at a younger age.

We're also looking at data that shows that out of school time, particularly for 12-year-olds and older, is a challenging time.

There's not a lot of after-school opportunities.

What are ways that we can combine these together?

So we worked with Parks and Recreation, who, yay, parks and recreation, and put a $30,000 investment.

And this year, that uh funding has been focused at La Alma Rec Center, which is um in a zone that has experienced higher violence and crime.

And so we're focusing in particular with youth 12 years and up during out of school time for arts and culture.

And so that funding this year has gone to night moves.

Um, they're programming at La Alma in particular.

Uh, through June through August, there were 71 young people that participated in arts and culture activities.

And it was a partnership with Youth on Record, and they brought in music to those night moves events for June, July, and August.

That will continue into the fall, and they're also doing some digital art in La Alma, and that's been working really well for them.

So they're expanding the digital art to a few other recreation centers that I don't think have been shared with us.

And there will also be some additional fall programming tied to the Colorado Symphony and the Denver Center for Performing Arts, where they will be taking students to some performances.

So we're excited to see what continues with that $30,000 investment, the number of students that are engaged, and then we will look to what happens for next year with our youth investment.

We talked a little bit also about the impact teams, which is that collective leadership.

And what you heard today, and what we heard over and over is that audience engagement seems to be really challenging since the pandemic, and that people don't necessarily know how to access arts and culture.

So we brought a group of people together that we ended up calling the Big Ideas Group because it was this big idea of one of our philanthropic partners to start looking at some of these challenges that he was thinking about and hearing about, and we were like, oh, too soon, we haven't launched the plan.

So that group got brought together initially prior to the plan, and then once we launched the plan, we brought them back together again around these ideas of audience engagement and branding.

And we brought in a facilitator from Alchemy Group to really try and define what is the problem we're trying to solve for.

That happened on September 5th, and that group of stakeholders started to identify priority areas that will determine a path forward for our first impact team.

So we're still working with that initial group to dial in on the actual ideas we're trying to solve for, which will lead to then the formation of the impact team.

And we see this as work that is going to take time and some reiteration, but we're excited about the energy in the room and the collective commitment to trying to find solutions for what everyone can agree are things that have changed since 2020.

And before we leave that, I just want to say what's important about this, and I think what you hit on is that we've broadened the table beyond arts.

So visit Denver joined us for that.

Richard Sharf was there as a partner to think about how we talk about Denver and we talk about 300 days of sunshine a year.

But how do we talk about the arts and how does that resonate for our residents, for our visitors nationally?

How are we positioned to really support that is what it's going to take to lift up our cultural sector and make sure that they are in a place to survive?

Thank you.

And CAS is the community art stabilization trust.

So, how do we create spaces for artists and arts and culture organizations that become permanent spaces in Denver?

What we see over time sometimes is that artists come into a city, the city becomes cool.

Artists get priced out of the city, everything falls apart.

We keep doing this over and over.

What if we could bring artists to the city, keep artists in the city, and just stay cool forever?

Um, so CAST is in Oakland.

They're doing great work in Oakland with expanding arts and culture spaces, and they have now have their first office outside of Oakland here in Denver.

For those of you who may know Louise Marterano, who is with Redline, she is cast in Denver.

They will be based in 1245 Champa.

We're working on a real estate option to have a no-lease part of space for her to be there, and she will then be helping organizations and artists figure out how to have a long-term lease for a space or to buy their property, and we're really excited about what this will look like.

It's a collaborative effort with Bonfi Stanton Foundation, which is an arts philanthropy here that is helping to fund the work that Louise is doing and getting cast stood up here.

I'll just mention that I think when I think about smart investment, is that this is actually based on a proof of concept.

Like it's already working through Redline.

Louise has been working actually with us back, right?

Um in a satellite program.

So we already have examples throughout the city that we know work.

So it is great that this will allow for a more infrastructure and support from others, right?

For it then to to actually be here strategically develop here and get to more spaces.

So thank you.

So that's what we've been doing up until now.

And then I'm gonna spend a couple minutes just talking about what comes next from here.

Um we will have a Denver Creates Conversations event.

That's that speaker series we talked about.

Our first event is on November 19th, and while we have launched Denver Creates to a select group of our cultural sector, we haven't really done a public launch that was open to everyone.

So we we will use that time to reintroduce Denver Creates to the larger public, and we will dig into the data that we've just touched on today and that we just touched on back in May.

So we'll have an opportunity to really get everyone familiar with the plan and how it's grounded in data and get people excited about what comes next from here.

Next year in 2026, we will also have two to three Denver Creates conversations events.

We're exploring hosting them in locations throughout Denver.

You heard that people would like to see things in their neighborhood.

So, how do we highlight some great neighborhood locations and get people to come to new spaces and really branch ourselves out around the city instead of just focusing where we are located in downtown Denver?

The first summit that we're talking about will be in 2027.

CCI, which is a state agency, Colorado Creative Industries, hosts a summit every year across the state.

They never do anything in Denver because they want to make sure that they are out in communities, and we feel like it's an opportunity to really bring our core community here in Denver together.

They might not be able to go to CCI every year.

How can we do something every year to really allow people to network, share what's happening, hear from great speakers?

So that first summit will be in Denver in 2027.

Megan is doing a great job leading the work as we figure out what that will look like, and we're excited about some collaborations that are in place to make that happen.

We've also done the mayor's awards every year, and what we're looking to do now is have the mayor's awards be in line with the summit.

It will be a part of the summit.

So we will highlight what's great about arts and culture as part of that summit, and it will be a biannual event.

Um, we see uh commission involvement for our Denver Commission on Cultural Affairs as potential on that planning group or reviewing session proposals, helping to announce some of the sessions.

So we're excited about how we partner with our commission in the work ahead.

That is all we have.

Great, thank you.

This is amazing and well-timed.

I think just on last night at City Council, we had young people talking about needing third spaces and things, and in such a divided time.

I think arts is what can bring us together.

So thank you so much.

Um I will start with a council pro tem Romero Campbell.

Oh, I'm first.

Great.

Thank you.

Thank you for the presentation.

Um, there were a few things that came up that I was hearing this this ability to be in all parts of Denver and to have those spaces.

Um, really interested in how I can partner and and we I know we've talked about this previously.

Um, there are artists that need space.

Um there are places that are needed for young people that we just don't currently have built out yet, and so I would love to be able to talk to you more about how that could happen there.

In turn, I also do a series of summer events and engagement and engagement throughout the year, so um thinking about how maybe we could partner um for events that that I'm already putting on with arts and venues to to further promote um arts and culture because I think that that is something, especially in Southeast Denver, it is a truck to get downtown.

People often don't leave the neighborhood and community or don't see themselves reflected there.

So those were my big pieces and things for Southeast Denver.

We also have three closed theaters.

One is going to be torn down, but we have vacant theaters, theaters.

One is the Sheratist and the Old Elvis.

Again, as you're looking at places and spaces that could be attached, or you know, they've just left holes in the community.

And so that's something that we are dealing with and trying to figure out, and so far don't have any takers of wanting to do something with them.

But I think it's a tremendous opportunity and potential there.

The timing is, I think, perfect.

And you identifying especially those, and that's my neighborhood to share.

I know, right?

Um, I think those are the type of opportunities that somebody like Cass Colorado is always looking for, right?

That's what they do.

They do that in Oakland, they've done it for a very long time, very successfully, and now that is the kind of work that they would identify and then investigate like what are the what is the potential?

And that's their expertise.

Uh so I I definitely look forward to making those connections, and you're always very engaged.

Um, again, it's my neighborhood, so I really appreciate the continued just discussion and collaboration as we move forward.

So my follow-up question to that is so are you rolling it out?

Are you contacting us next?

Like, what's our next step to be able to make this happen?

Well, CAST technically has been announced.

Uh, the CAS Oakland announced, uh, and we're just finalizing because there will be physically that is our contribution that we'll be physically at Campa Arts, but they're already working, so um, we're happy to connect you with uh with CAST with Luis, who you may have already met, and she's cast Colorado.

Um, so we will uh follow up with making that connection.

Thank you.

The cast resources, uh, she has a connection to the Oakland office.

They have real estate attorneys, they have some pretty deep um financial folks, and so they create deals where acquisition and or long-term leases are made possible for artists, often in a mix with commercial um operations there too, or or revenue generating.

So it can be a blend 50-50 to sustain the arts, but in a long-term proposal, and so this is the thing we've been waiting for with constrained city resources.

Um what CAS does there is they bring in other other people's money, open investors, philanthropic dollars, Colorado Health Foundation was already announced supporting this.

Bombe Stanton Foundation is a part of this.

We can offer offices right now and a place to um incubate with us, but they are actively searching for those properties right now, so I think a meeting sooner than later because this is when they are doing their exploration, yeah.

Perfect, yes.

Okay, I'll send you an email now.

And Ariana is running point on this as our executive sponsor from the department for this work.

Very exciting work, thank you.

And I wanted to welcome council member Watson from the Fine District 9 to the meeting.

Um, Council President.

Yeah, thank you.

Um just I found it interesting that in all the surveys that um when you listed what Denver was that it says art.

I I agree with that, but I think we're all of them.

Right.

Like I do think that when we're at the stock show, I I wear more cowboy boots and cow boots and hats and things, and then um during other seasons I end up wearing more.

Um I think they do say we are all of those things, but arts does rise up to the same with, I mean, we're sports, we're arts, we're a cow town, but arts is in there.

Yeah, no, I get I I got that.

I was just saying that I think that's interesting perspective.

Um, so one of my questions is, how do we how do we promote that more?

I mean, I know through this plan, right?

Um, but I serve on the visit Denver board.

Um, I was just in um another country and I was exploring what they had for art.

So I went down and we did a tango dance and we did wineries.

Um, I was just this past Sunday, it was my 23rd wedding anniversary, and so I was looking through Denver to do something with my husband, and I will say it's not as easy to find.

It's really not like when I was in Argentina, I was able to get on their Instagram sites, and I was able to find really different things.

When I was here, and I had just been there for a while.

I was here and I was like looking, exploring, doing the same things, and I was like, Oh man, we need to bump this up a little bit.

Um, they're just not it's not as connected.

So I know we're in a budget deficit, but how could we utilize and leverage the amazing like I have the bug theater in Northwest Denver, I have the new federal theater that was just open, I have the Oriental theater, um, I have the Yates theater, and I don't see, I don't hear that through line all the time.

Um, with all of the work that we're doing.

So I'm not trying to criticize, I'm just saying that I think that we could be better at bumping that up because even when the um federal theater was opening, I didn't see it on Visit Denver.

I didn't see it on arts and venues.

I don't see a lot of I don't see us cross-promoting as much as I think we can that I think other cities might do a little bit different job at cross-promoting all of those sectors because the federal theater is a huge deal for me.

So this is why the impact team.

These are, and that is one of the first things that came out of the data.

It's like interviews, we agree.

We that's what we heard.

Yeah, so that is what we are working on, and that is where we do need visit Denver as a partner, and the conversation was both do we need a central place to look for things or people just using AI?

And how do we cross promote and how do we up-level what what is the rising tide that's gonna lift all votes across the cultural sector?

So we are in the early parts of that work, okay, and we will be building this team.

We'd love to have participation.

Yeah, I would love to figure out how to connect because I get meetings um, especially with the Yates Theater.

I met with the group at the Yates Theater who's looking at wanting to do the Yates Theater.

And so I was talking with them, and I, you know, I feel like on my job often time is a conduit.

I don't always have the answers, but I can lead the conduit to get them information.

And so I was talking to her and her husband about all of the film, all the different things in Denver, and they were they're somewhat attached, but they're not.

And so I was like, Have you talked to Arts and Menus?

Have you figured out?

Like, is and they're like, 'What?

Who?

' And I was like, Oh, okay, let me help you figure that out.

Um, we also have, I think it's called it's like Bollywood, but maybe it's Bali something, um, 33rd in Tihone that's opening.

Um, and they have a huge, they're doing um coffee in the front, co-working space, and then have turned in all these studios and have a huge theater in the back off of 33rd.

And I've asked them, and they're just there's this weird intersection where we're just not all connected.

So let us figure out and remember that you don't have to do that work alone.

When you have these things, reach out to us because we have tons of people who come to us.

They come to us for permitting issues mostly, like with licenses and permitting issues, and then in those conversations when you're dealing with permitting issues or change of use permit, um, I connect them to other things, and one thing I have found like a through line that I have found in having these conversations, is a lot of creatives don't know how to talk bureaucratic language, so maybe it might be helpful in that impact is to have someone who's in arts and venues talk bureaucrat to the CPD person who's looking over their change of use permit because they're really often creatives, right?

And I'm like, Well, did you talk about ask them this?

And they're like, what does that mean?

And I was like, Oh, who's helping you on this?

And they get usually a lot of them get architects that don't know just change of use.

I mean, it's change of use permit, right?

It's super complicated, and so I'm oftentimes my my staff or me, I'm the conduit for all of that, but I feel like there's just this missing link because arts and menus is part of Denver, CPD is part of Denver, excise and license is part of Denver, and how do we get those creatives and help like do um a concierge and support them more?

Because then oftentimes they're like they get so frustrated because they're so creative that they don't want to talk bureaucracy and talk zoning permit that they give up, um, then they go away and they feel stifled and they feel like they they're not being heard, and that's my experience to the Federal Theater, the Bollywood.

My staff's gonna probably come and saying it wrong, and the Yates Theater in my lived experience in Northwest Denver is there's just and then even um some Beau Art Julie Boards, I think is she has a dance studio, is just how do we um how do we just love them a little bit more and get them all connected because it's really hard.

Okay, thank you.

And I think what I would say is I see I saw it in Five Points when I was down there with the restaurants.

I see it in my neighborhood.

There's a restaurant that just opened, and it's this permitting is so hard.

And so they're like help us because they're not we're hearing it from you, they're not coming to us saying, Oh my gosh, like this permitting is really hard, and we don't know what we're doing because they probably don't think of us as being able to help connect them to the right folks.

But a lot of the work that actually the team does, and I think they do really well, is you know, even through grants or even through uh neighborhood projects, they don't just hand the check, like they literally take it from beginning to end so that artists feel like they don't know our what CPD, they don't know, right?

Like CFO, they don't they don't know how the city works.

We do, so a lot of the time that the team spends is actually guiding them.

So I think that's that's definitely something that they naturally do.

So how do we expand that and how do we promote like give access more of that?

So and yes, that's exactly what we heard.

So we're amplifying that through the impact teams, and that's something that the team does really well into.

Thank you.

Um, anybody else before?

No, thank you so much.

I'll keep my remarks brief because our parks team has been waiting for quite a while, but I'm really excited about this work.

Um, I am still curious to hear more about the music and film, especially with the Sundance coming to Colorado.

I think the opportunities are endless, and it does allow for little kids that are getting their dreams squashed.

I know when I told my parents that I wanted to be in the arts, they were, but that's not a realistic career.

Um, I also tried out for Denver School of Arts and didn't make it, and then you kind of think, okay, that's it.

You know, that was our only thing that we had for young people, and so I think we've come a long way and we have a way to go, and the opportunities are endless.

So thank you.

This is fun and exciting work.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So I said that's I just used it.

Great.

Thank you guys so much.

I think we're an art city and we're a tree city.

I think every council member probably hears about the trees in their district, and so really excited to have our Denver Forester here.

If you all can introduce yourselves, and thank you for your patience.

We're all really excited to hear about this.

Good morning, and thank you guys for having us.

My name is Luke Taloren, and I am Denver City Forester.

And Elizabeth Jedd, I'm the urban forestry planner.

We are excited to give you guys an update on our strategic plan.

Um, but just to back it up, we are very much a tree city, and we definitely celebrate that, and we have been for decades on decades.

So thank you for recognizing that.

But for today's purposes, um, we're gonna split this presentation of them, take the first half.

Uh Elizabeth is gonna take the second.

Um, she's been more involved with this process from the beginning since I have.

I'm relatively new, so she's gonna help facilitate and answer some of those questions.

But to paint a picture for you guys of what Denver's urban forest looks like, uh, we've provided uh on the screen for you guys some statistics.

We are responsible for, excuse me, there's about 2.2 million trees across Denver.

That includes public and private.

So internally, the city of Denver, we manage about 300,000 of those.

So a lot of people are surprised when they ask us what's what.

You'll notice the majority of our urban forest is on private property.

So that's why it's part of the process, but I would say our private stakeholders and public stakeholders are just as important.

But you'll notice that it's not equally divided.

So we have about a 15% canopy cover.

Uh, this is from our 2020 uh canopy assessment.

So we expect that this assessment has grown.

We just haven't had a complete updated assessment on that, but expect to eventually soon.

So uh Denver is unique.

We have over 400 different uh species across the community.

Um, if you guys have seen our urban strategic plan in there, it was uh it was commented that we have 100.

That wasn't accurate.

Um we are very proud that we are a diverse community.

We have over 400 different types of trees out there, and that continues to grow.

Um as we rec as we recognize that our community and our environment is changing, we are recognizing that the trees that we have planted, excuse me, planted in the past, aren't always the best options, and so we're constantly evaluating, we're looking for new options, new opportunities to include new species into our environment that we can expect to grow successfully for the future.

We have uh a goal of about 10% species, and we have about a 20% genus.

So across the community, our you'll notice our canopies vary quite a bit.

So, definitely areas of greatest need are lacking in our canopy cover.

We have about on the low end 3.6%, on the high end, 37.5.

Uh, that varies, and unfortunately, you guys have heard of the inverted L, the red lighting districts.

That's where our areas of greatest needs are, and that's where we really want to focus our efforts on our planting.

But we need our community to help us with that.

So I do want to note that there's been several media outlets, uh, different canopy assessments recently that have claimed that our canopy is not what it says it is.

Um, a lot of that is relative to what's incorporated into that assessment.

So, for example, if we incorporate DIA, we only have an 11% canopy cover.

Uh, we know DIA is a no-fly zone, they have a very strict no-tree policy for obvious reasons, but without that, we have that 15%.

So, when you guys hear, you know, there was a recent Washington Post announcement challenging what our actual canopy was.

We know what our canopy is, this is what we're we're working with.

So this is a screenshot of our inventory.

I wanted to ask you guys are you guys all aware that there's a public inventory for all residents, all members of the public to view.

It's open to them.

It is a tool, it is a wonderful, fantastic tool that we would encourage all of you guys to check out.

Um, it's linked to our website.

Please visit it.

If you guys have constituents who need help navigating, we're happy to help.

But what I would say it is very user-friendly.

Uh, it is a fantastic tool to understand, you know, specifics about where in the community and what our canopy looks like, even down to the micro micro level of, hey, what tree's in front of my house?

So oftentimes we get the basic question of, hey, what tree is that?

Or, you know, unfortunately, hey, we noticed this tree got hit by a car.

Uh, it's easy for our team to pull that information up.

It's it's an incredible tool to help us quantify everything that we need to, and a very, very, very valuable tool that if you guys haven't checked out, uh, we have a QR code on there.

Please check it out, and uh, we're happy to answer questions if you have that.

Um, this is a very unique slide, and uh Elizabeth created this and I wanted to point this out.

If you guys look at the data on this, this is not too long ago of what downtown Denver looked like.

And to me, it's pretty pretty dramatic, right?

It's hard to say that as a community, we are growing when we have only gone so far.

So, looking at this, you know, we have a 15% tree canopy.

Downtown Denver, we only have a 4% canopy.

And that is because we have a very limited amount of spaces that we can actually plant.

And the planting locations that we have, you guys have seen at those five by five typical grates that are in the sidewalk.

Unfortunately, not the best or welcoming environment for our trees.

Uh, we'd really like to see larger soil volume areas for those trees.

We're expanding that, we're changing the planting process to incorporate that that extra room for those tree roots so these trees can develop and expand into a healthy canopy and they can actually mature to establish a successful tree.

But we're just as responsible for that, right?

So, important, I wanted to point out here if you guys look at the 333, excuse me, 330,000 trees, those are the trees that we manage that we're responsible for.

So about 200,000 on our public right away and 100,000 internally within our park system, public properties, facilities, stuff like that.

But you'll also notice the um the total benefits.

I don't want to to skip over that, but you notice how valuable our trees are.

Trees are one of the only assets that actually increase in value.

So when we compare our urban forest to other assets across the community, we talk about replacement value.

We are talking about over 1.5 billion dollars that our urban forest contributes to our community.

That's more than all of our curbs and gutters.

That's more than our trail system, that's more than our rec centers.

Um the list goes on and on, right?

But to point out to you guys, as an asset, as part of our infrastructure, trees are an incredible resource, and it's one of the only resources that grows in value.

So EAB, you guys may have heard of it.

I hope you all are very well aware of it.

Uh, a couple updates on it.

Um my team discovered it, officially confirmed it in Congress Park, um, downtown Denver proper.

We found it on private property.

Our inspectors um basically found a tree that looked suspicious.

We confirmed and collected samples, uh, confirmed with um Colorado State Forest Service and Colorado State University that it is here.

So if you guys aren't familiar with our BS Smart Ash program, it started over 10 years ago.

The program itself was a proactive uh approach to preventing the Emerald Ash bore's arrival.

I would say it was incredibly successful for what it was designed to do.

For over 10 years, we've held off this pest.

We've created this, I've heard called a magical halo across the community where because of Denver's efforts, because of our investments, we've been able to hold off the Emerald Ash Bore across the front range surrounding Denver, right?

Um, along with six other communities in the front range, we've confirmed the AB is here.

So there's no surprise, it's positive.

Since its discovery in June, we have found it in Fort Logan.

We found it in Harvey Park, Westwood, and then um Congress Park as well.

So it's it's moving, and unfortunately, we expect it to continue to move.

So we've been um very proactive in managing it.

We are looking at taking a different approach now that its arrival is here.

We're asking for our residents to help us, help us take on the responsibility of maintaining those ash trees.

There's 36,000 trees at risk for loss.

It's pretty simple.

If you have an ash tree and you don't treat it, you should expect to lose it.

And that's it's very unfortunate, and that's a very real hard fact that I know we don't want to accept, but the purpose of BASO was intentionally designed to slow that mortality curve.

It was designed to slow Denver having 36,000 dead trees all at once, and it's been very successful at that.

So kudos to my team, all credit to them that this was something that we were ahead of the curve in identifying and taking uh action steps to accomplish.

But um we're gonna continue to treat some of our ash trees.

Uh financially, we don't have the capacity to treat all of those trees, unfortunately.

I wish we did, but we are evaluating and we're protecting and we're making a priority to preserve our most um our larger ash and our sentimental ash and unique ash, right?

So, what that means is preservation for our mature ash is gonna retain our canopy longer.

So, if we didn't treat those trees, we would expect to reduce our canopy because those larger trees have a larger impact.

It's just that simple.

So we're gonna continue to watch it, continue to monitor it.

Um, if you guys have residents who are concerned that they may have it, you know, we are certainly the professionals, we are a resource, we're happy to help answer questions on that stuff.

So please reach out.

Okay, now that you heard what we have, we're gonna talk a little bit about where we're going.

Um, so we completed the city's first urban forest strategic plan a little over a year ago.

Um, that was a specific strategy called out in the game plan for healthy city.

So we're we're meeting that objective, that goal within the plan.

Um, you're gonna hear me shortcut um and often refer to the plan as UFSP, just for some brevity.

We needed another acronym, another acronym.

Yeah, I know.

Planners love their acronyms and engineers.

I did add a shortcut URL here for anybody who hasn't looked through the plan.

We tried to make it pretty user-friendly.

It's fairly graphic heavy.

It's a nice two-page spread.

If you download the PDF, you can open it as a two-page spread.

If you are on a smaller device, one page will work a bit better for you.

We did a lot of outreach and engagement around this plan.

We really consider it to be co-created.

For anybody who didn't see that background data a year ago or more, we did two surveys before we developed this plan.

4,800 responses.

Three open houses spread across the city, about 380 attendees.

10 focus groups also spread out across the city, multiple languages.

We did an external steering committee, four meetings with those members, 11 meetings with an internal stakeholder committee.

So my point being we really tried to hear from a lot of folks before we started getting pen on paper and produce the final product.

In terms of what that plan contains, we did think that we needed more of a definitive vision statement for the urban forest.

We talked a lot about this 20% canopy goal, which is called for in the game plan.

We often reference, but we wanted to dig into that a little bit.

We had a lot of discussions, and there's a lot of product from that discussion around maintenance in the plan.

Something that's really important to us and really important to our residents as well.

So high level, we set the plan up the same as the game plan, goals, strategies, action items, three goals, seven strategies, increase canopies citywide, sort of a baseline, but we think it was important to state, promote and invest in community stewardship.

Luke alluded to this, but I've started using the phrase it takes a village to apply to the urban forest.

None of us can really maintain the urban forest on our own.

And we thought it was important to acknowledge what we need to change.

So recalibrate Denver's urban forestry practices.

And then we get into some details under each goal and the strategies.

I think for time I'm gonna jump into the action items so we can go into detail on what we're working on.

So 38 actions and sub-action items.

Four of those are complete.

15 are underway and have more of a definitive end date to them.

Fourteen are ongoing, and you'll see as you read these in detail, many of them could be said or ongoing.

Not necessarily an end date.

I should also mention we wrote the plan as a 20 year plan.

We also wrote in a very specific five-year update cycle.

So as things change, we wanted to give ourselves the ability to revisit what's in the plan.

So a little more detail on what we're working on.

We have been able to complete quite a few resource updates, and I'll go into a little detail on that.

From all of this work, we formed an ongoing working group.

So the plan did call for some kind of a stakeholder committee.

Didn't specify how formal it should be, if it should be codified or if it should be less formal than that.

We did a deep dive on rotational pruning.

And so this is one of the industry best practices that you'll hear discussed a lot.

But we really wanted to understand what would it take in terms of staff or money to take over rotational pruning for all public trees.

And we did a deep dive on staffing analysis.

So what does it look like to meet all those goals?

What would it take in terms of personnel?

Can I comment?

Are you guys aware what rotational pruning means?

You guys are familiar with that?

Okay, so essentially what it means is if you have a single tree, how long does it take our staff to get back to that tree to either structurally prune it, to do whatever they have to do to address it?

And that was it was very surprising to me to learn what our structural pruning rotation is right now.

And it's 21 years.

So when you think about it, you know, for a four star size.

Yeah, in our park system.

But only on parks.

On parks.

What about what about like right-away back on the ones that parks oversee parkways?

Yeah, are contracted, and they're at about a seven year, and that's considered the industry standard.

That's what ideally we would like all of our public trees to be.

Right, so you're just talking part.

But we're talking with our staffing, our current staffing level and our responsibilities, right?

So it's it's shocking to hear, right?

But it's also encouraging that we can do better, and that's that's what I'm excited to get involved with.

I'm excited to work with our staff.

I'm excited to make that change, and using the strategic plan, it's given us those tools and that insight to having some direction there.

It also sets out some information on how we can start implementing incrementally.

So for any anyone who talks to me for any length of time, you'll often hear me say it isn't an all or nothing approach.

We can do something.

In terms of what's underway, um, you're probably gonna see me late this year, early next year with a package of code changes.

Um, there were quite a few very specific action items that needed a code change.

Um, we are doing some very deep canopy goal analysis right now.

Um we're gonna have some proposed numbers about the end of the year.

Um, we are working on drafting some kind of a legacy tree program.

Um we really heard the public say we want more tree recognition, we want more private tree protections.

Yes, yes.

Um, we are working on improving partnerships and stewardship, um, and then there are some very specific things like the community asked for planting instructions, so I'm gonna talk a little bit more about that.

And we do only have like 10 ish minutes left, so okay.

So, one of our items was to develop a public resource hub.

Um, we are taking steps towards that.

Um, some things that we've been working on that you all may not be aware of but might be useful.

Um, we recently updated our city approved street tree list so that it's interactive, it's available to anyone.

You can now go in and start sorting by different features.

So if somebody's like, I don't know anything about trees, how do I pick one?

That might help.

We did a pretty major uh website reorg.

So for anybody who's ever been on the OCF site, couldn't find something.

I would encourage you to check it out, see if we find that it's been improved.

We're doing a series of informational educational videos.

We have two complete.

Um, one is fairly introductory on tree protection, another one is a deep dive, really oriented more towards the contractor, but I think still available to the general public.

We're gonna have a third one end of the year on how to plant a tree, um, and really how we think you should be planting a tree.

In English and Spanish.

English and Spanish, yeah, full English and Spanish version.

Um, I also wanted to point out we now have uh a public-facing annual report with interactive maps.

So if you have an interest in canopy cover change by neighborhood, you can take a look at that.

It'll give you species some species diversity information.

Um pretty user friendly again, it's built on a story map platform for anybody who knows that software.

In the interest of time, um, one of the other great things that came out of the plan was a priorities map.

This was really developed interdepartmentally, and I'm very happy to see that it is already being referenced and incorporated in other departments goal setting and project planning.

Again, I won't go into detail because of time, but if you have more questions about how the map was developed, there's a very detailed appendix in the plan.

You can really see all the data that went into it.

On the topic of canopy goals, I don't know if everyone will recognize this area, but this is Park Hill.

This is the Park Hill golf course on some of the surrounding neighborhood.

This data is not fully public, but we have started sharing it on a project basis.

And so for the Park Hill project team, we shared what we believe to be all available existing planting potential around the site.

Private parks and public right of way.

So they could get a sense of where there is actually planting opportunity.

And this is based on all of the real world data we have.

So utilities, paving, existing canopy as much as we can get.

I also wanted to remind you that for anybody who does not want to look at the full hundred page plan at the end, there's a very nice two page spread that will give you a summary of everything I just showed you.

And that is it for us.

I don't know if we have any time for questions.

But we'll definitely give it a shot.

And if you all can stick around, that would be great.

A few minutes over, and I'll start with Councilman Hines.

Thank you, Committee Chair.

Thank you so much for the presentation.

I think the first, so I was inaugurated in July 2019, and I think the first golden shovel event that I went to or silver shovel, whatever.

Not sure why we'd use a soft metal like gold.

Steel shovel event.

Anyway, was with kicking off the downtown urban forest initiative.

And we've done very little with it since.

So I'm really excited to see that you have a strategic plan and are moving forward with it.

Downtown is my district, so is Congress Park.

So yay and not yay at the same time.

Sorry, but uh it just I mean it is what it is.

Um, one of the questions that I've gotten, and I think I've shared it with forestry is um we have had funding in the past via Smart Ash for some treatment.

I think that the funding is not as much now as it once was.

So what are your thoughts about how do we prioritize the limited resources we have to and and you've mentioned that the strategies now change now?

The idea was to prevent uh the Emerald Ash 4 to come here now that it's here.

Do we do we still treat trees or yeah?

No, great question.

And I think it's gonna be a sensitive subject because ultimately when we were tasked with you know budget reductions recently and considering you know the alternatives to staffing reductions.

Um we evaluated the chemical applications that we spend on public right-away trees, and we decided, you know, we're gonna hold and we're gonna ask those adjacent property owners to be responsible according to chapter 5718.

It's their responsibility to maintain those trees.

So while we've been able to do it for them proactively, I think that is a fantastic resource.

It's not sustainable for us to continue to do so.

And the program itself has evolved from, you know, I think it was we started with we're treating 12-inch ash and larger.

Um, now we're treating 15-inch ash and larger.

So we're going to be, and we still just just to share, you know, I'm very proud that we were able to treat 1800 trees this season to preventively, you know, reduce the Merlashbar population.

And this is our tenth application for it.

So we've been, you know, very successful at what we were intended to do, but moving forward, we can't continue to do it on ourselves.

Um, we need to ask the public's assistance.

We need the advocates from the community to speak up to say, you know, hey, we recognize trees are important and we want to support that, or we want to see more budget added to that.

Um but what I would say is that we're going to be reevaluating what those dollars are next year, and we're going to be reevaluating where those application treatments are.

And we're going to be doing it as equitable as possible, but we're also going to be doing it strategic and identifying those larger, more mature ash because they contribute to the canopy compared to the smaller trees or so.

So a couple of details to keep in mind too.

Our general ash population has actually come down quite a bit.

So part of the BASTA program is also removing smaller, poor quality ash, trying to get better, more diverse options in.

So we've gone from about a one in six to a one in ten public trees being ash, so pretty good reduction.

So that helps us.

And we do that, yeah.

We still can we're still planning to do R and R the remove and replace.

So residents can still call us, contact us, we'll remove if they have an ash tree 12 inches and under, and we'll place it for free.

Uh we're just scaling back that program.

Um last question, um, you know, we have uh constituents who are on fixed incomes who have trees um in the right of way, and um I was an aging elm on Josephine, and the uh the constituent um got a quote for removal of five thousand dollars.

Uh, of course, our budget is uh we're asking to do more with less.

Um, I thought I'd ask anyway.

Um, is there is there a process where forestry has uh a contract and can fill it better rates, or is there something like because it's on an uh arterial um city would um has responsibility for removing that uh engine elements if it is in fact close to death.

So I would just say it it depends on the location, and what I would share is that we have an FNI program where we have resources, we have funding available for those that that need it and those that qualify for it.

So we do provide and we will continue to provide assistance for those residents, but it it's site-specific, and what I would say to that is like let's reach out, let's talk about it, you know, offline if there's an individual tree of concern.

But we certainly, you know, we recognize you know the safety aspect of things.

We don't want to, you know, enable unsafe trees in our community.

We don't want to do that by any means, but uh we would certainly be open to you know evaluating that.

I don't I don't know if this individual received a notice to remove the tree.

There is an option to use a city contractor and be built for it if they do receive a notice, and so that can sometimes get them a better rate than prior a private contractor quote, and they can always compare and then choose.

Yeah, but they don't have a notice to remove, then they don't have to remove it just yet.

So they can sit on it.

We could ask, I mean, anyway, yeah.

So we can chat about that.

Yeah, there's some details.

Thank you.

And we don't have any action items.

If anyone needs to leave, feel free, but I would love to get to everyone's questions.

So, Council Protum, you were also in the queue.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Um, your presentation, and thank you for the presentation.

Um, and for coming out to Southeast Denver, we spent a lot of time on the Highland Canal.

Uh there are slides in there that I think were really helpful as far as you know, folks being able to identify trees and what to plant, how to plant um the ash, uh, just how to some people don't know if they have an ash tree.

I'm not sure now, like maybe I have an ash tree.

Um in my yard.

I think that's what I'm like, handy handy website.

So, yes, it's an ash tree.

Um, so being able to use that.

Um, but in Southeast Denver, the it's it's a little bit of a juxtaposition, right?

So, um, we do have a tree canopy and the deferred maintenance on the street, the broken ranches, the um number of things that are within uh the parks, uh that's what I often get called about.

Um, also within the medians um and the watering of the median.

So we had a lot of trees, and now they're dead in the medians, and so can you just talk a little bit about that or maybe we could follow up offline too?

About the median specifically, or oh, about the medians and then also being able to make sure that the trees, you know, we've got branches that are coming down, we have you know, the trees just haven't been maintained, so it's a lot of different maintenance.

Yeah, I I would say when it comes to the medians that that's a unique subject.

Um, I know there's been conversations about responsible parties, and if that's is that park's responsibility, is that Daddy's responsibility?

Um, and especially with just the topic of conservation in general.

Um, that's a tough area, and I don't have an exact answer for you today.

I can certainly follow up with you and get back on it.

But one of the things I would say about medians is that it's a hard place to grow trees.

Um, and we recognize the urban heat island effect.

We understand, you know, what impact that has on our communities, and you know, our goal is to grow that canopy to prevent that and reduce that.

So, what I'd say is we were actively working on it.

Um, but unfortunately, those areas are often neglected.

Um, they often have irrigation issues where water's shut off, and maybe we're not made aware of it.

So, unfortunately, that the trees decline, they become more susceptible to insect and disease issues.

But when it comes to some of the other topics you talk about, you know, whether that's um hangars or dead wood and trees.

If if you guys are seeing something that we're not aware of, you know, certainly please reach out.

You know, it's our responsibility to protect and maintain a safe environment for all of our park users and our public.

So if if there's certainly areas that need it more than others, um, we can revisit that and we can you know apply more uh resources to that area.

But when it comes to that rotational cycle, that's where you know I struggle to say that you know we know about everything, you know, with a community our size and a hundred thousand trees that our internal operations team manages, it's hard.

And we can only be in one place at a time.

And our team is incredibly talented, they are very well educated, they're fantastic individuals, but they're limited in the capacity of what they can do, and that's where you know the topic of preservation is so important because we understand, you know, people want to just throw a tree in the ground and feel good about it, right?

We love that, but there's more to it, and that's the maintenance side of things that is so critical that you know we we understand and we're made aware of that information so that we can respond if we need to.

But unfortunately, while I wish we were more proactive about that stuff, you know, with a pruning cycle like that, we have to be reactive, and that's where again, if we don't know about it, it unfortunately goes unseen.

Um just one last real quick comment.

Uh so I was at the Denver Zoo, and there are a number of our zoo animals that eat the leaves and the you know the different trees of barks, and I don't know if there's already a relationship to be able to take some of the pronines that we have from our Denver parks to be able to send to the zoo for it seems like there's it could be a symbiotic relationship there as far as we have supply, they're also flying in trees and leaves and things from other states.

Um but I just I don't know if we already have that connection or if we can we'd decrease it.

We do, and I'm very proud to share that you know the relationship between the Denver Zoo and our Denver Parks is very close.

So when we have removals or when we have vegetation that qualifies, they have a very specific list that they can accept.

We're certainly you know wonderful partners in make in reaching out and making that connection to facilitate that fresh vegetation for them so that it helps them.

Um we recently participated in a large day of service at Fort Logan National Cemetery, and uh the Denver Zoo is on site to collect and retrieve uh any vegetation that they could use.

Um the challenge with it is that because of the restrictions that they have and the sensitivities that the animals, whether it's dietary restrictions, it really limits what we can provide them in capacity.

Um but whether it's you know leafy brush or whether it's you know large logs for like the elephants to kick around or chew on or whatever they do, uh we love that relationship, and we're very proud to work with Denver Zoo, and they're a great uh great partner.

Um can we expand that to the Highline Canal?

That would be a great place to be able to.

So, what I would share is that you know, one of the challenges, one of the gaps that I've heard about this relationship is as the actual relocation of the vegetation.

So oftentimes I need it like day of, right?

It's it's that important, it's that fresh.

Um, if there's any potential chance that maybe it stays too long, then it doesn't become as valuable.

So I would say there's there's a transportation um issue there that I think you know, if we could resolve that, that would be helpful.

But oftentimes when we have one contact within the Denver Zoo that we literally call day of, or you know, if we know and we can schedule and say, his name's Quinn, say Quinn be here, pick up this stuff.

Happy to facilitate that, or if you know, if we're working in City Park because it's right next door, you know, we can move that stuff over.

But the challenge would be, you know, moving the brush vegetation from Highland Canal to Denver Zoo, physically getting it there.

I think we'd have to explore more.

Great.

Thank you.

Thank you for the presentation.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Wonderful, thank you.

Lots of excitement around trees.

I know others had questions they didn't get to ask, so hopefully they follow up follow up with you.

I definitely want to learn more about the education process.

I have a tree in the right-of-way that I'm happy to take care of, and I think most people want to help.

And my neighbors get very upset, and I don'm excited to hear more about.

And definitely the tree protections and other legislative type stuff.

So excited for future conversations.

Thank you so much for all your time, it's devastating when an older tree gets removed and and we will continue to talk about all these things.

And with that, we are adjourned.

Thank you, everyone.