Happily married & Trying to Live not by Lies in Denver, Colorado. Picture of the lake and boathouse, City Park 9/2014
Denver
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It’s time for American civic strength training.
@thepalmerworm recommended this book (give her a follow too). It’s a concise collection of essays that will jumpstart, renew, invigorate and strengthen your understanding and love of our intellectual and moral framework.
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This is so sad.
To the woman who ran Do Better Denver, thank you.
You inspired me to speak up. You inspired me to pay attention to Denver government.
You helped me realize that we the people could make a difference.
Godspeed.
And finally, Vote NO on the Vibrant Debt scheme.
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A man cannot become a woman.
I will not play your pronoun games.
I reject the unconstitutional restraint on my speech codified in HB1312.
I reject the unconstitutional establishment of a state religion by the signing of HB1312.
Leave the kids alone.
Brian Titone is a man.
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Hi @ShellyBradbury and @denverpost,
I’m @dobetterdnvr.
I’m a Denver native who wants our city to return to sanity. I know we can do better, because we can’t do worse.
Our utopian policies have had the predicted results—disorder, business closures, fiscal crisis.
Rather than investigate a citizen-sourced account, why not:
—look into the Vibrant Denver bond boondoggle, a billion dollar giveaway to NGOs, developers, and banks, covering up for underfunded and mismanaged Capital Improvement Projects, taking on debt for deferred maintenance, and a few projects actually worthy of a bond (e.g., viaduct repair).
Or,
—get curious about the real state of Denver’s economy. Why sales tax revenues have been flat and declining since 2021, the real impact of 30%+ downtown office vacancy, how many businesses have closed on Colfax since BRT started,
Or
So many other stories worthy of investigation.
Are you journalists or flacks? Do Better.
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Five Points is losing its grocery store.
Why?
The # 1 reason is theft.
From my reader (who lives in a Coalition for the Homeless building):
“Heartbroken...My Safeway is closing at 757 E 20th. Employees told me, yeah the store is old, and undersized, but number 1 reason...The city flooded neighborhood with homeless apts and they cannot stop the theft…This is a nasty hit to the honest working folks in this neighborhood.”
This neighborhood has always had a very high concentration of public housing. That Safeway thrived.
Poverty is not the problem. State and City policy is.
Under the feel good banner of “social justice” CO Dems in the legislature made theft de facto legal. Law after law erased any hope of legal deterrence. Polis signed every bill.
Denver and our social justice DAs piled on, choosing no enforcement and no consequences for theft.
Housing First ideology amplifies the problem, concentrating deeply troubled addicts in the neighborhood who steal to feed their habit, often pawns of organized crime rings.
Denver’s sales tax crisis will only deepen as lawlessness reigns. At some point, the only way to stop the financial hemorrhage is for a store to close.
This follows the closure last year of Natural Grocers on Colfax, just a few blocks away, for the SAME reason.
Vote NO on EVERY Denver Vibrant Debt bond issue and every State tax increase. Do not reward these failed leaders. NO is a vote for NO CONFIDENCE.
See my reader’s full statement in the next post.
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In Colorado, a person with a 1st time DUI conviction with a BAC greater than 0.20 comes with a minimum of 10 mandatory days in jail.
No crash involved. Drunk dude gets popped, that’s mandatory.
Yet no jail time is mandated for child r&pe convictions? 70% get PROBATION?
WTF.
They think this fight is over and it’s just beginning. They have NO IDEA the fury that has been unleashed…..sit back and get your popcorn ready, because they’re all about to be exposed……
These are the facts. 70% of people who commit sexual assault against our children go straight to probation. Probation. To earn your way to prison for raping children in Colorado, you either have to repeatedly - an average of 3 times - repeatedly violate your opportunity in the community by violating conditions meant to keep our children safe, squander our faith in you to be safely in the community, or you are one of the 30% where the facts are so damning that the court sent you straight to prison. No one - no one - has spent more than 25 years in prison for sexually assaulting a child since we enacted our current sentencing structure. No one. And yet, 73% have been paroled. The overwhelming majority. And in an average of 8 years. 8 years. And the 27% that are still there? Some of those are there on these crimes sure, but also on other crimes - because the court gave them 300 years because their crimes were so egregious, or they murdered their victims, or committed other crimes of violence and that is why they aren’t eligible for parole. I could knock on the door of 100 of your constituents in any district in this state and they would be SHOCKED. Absolutely flabbergasted that you can get probation for sexual assault of a child in the first place. That you might not spend a day in jail. Remember the outrage in California over the Stanford swimmer? Every one of those 100 doors would not only be shocked that most get probation for these crimes, they would support prison for these crimes. And not a one would be alarmed at how long any of these offenders have spent in prison if they knew the facts of those cases. Not one. It is unconscionable that we do not do better. That we do not side with protecting children. Be better.
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Why would Denver City Council delete their X account? You’d think they’d want to share information about their work to the broadest audience possible.
So why delete?*
1. Hide from public criticism.
2. Increase the difficulty for citizens to realize they are not alone in objecting to a Council action.
3. Increase the difficulty for citizens to know and share what Council is doing.
*These apply to both deleting the Council account and members of Council, like my own rep, Chris Hinds, leaving the site.
h/t @PaigerCO
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This Westword article about violence on the 16th Street Mall is really well done.
They pulled the data and found 65 violent crimes along the mall in the last 6 months.
That doesn’t include non-violent or property crimes.
Access the full article below. 👇
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This is the Walgreens I keep writing about. Colfax & Race.
This is worse than usual. God, I want it to stay open, but how can they? They are robbed every day, all day, and no one at the city gives af.
Is it the City’s intention for every business on Colfax to close???
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I keep deleting the words I really want to type. Not out of self-censorship, but because I went to confession yesterday and I don’t want to go again tomorrow.
Biden-Harris, Polis, Den. City Council, Mayor Johnston are responsible. They enabled & supported this. They want this.
NEW VIDEO armed group at troubled #aurora #colorado apartment complex now home to many migrants. Councilmember @DaniJurinsky says gangs have taken over the complex @KDVR @AuroraPD
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Denver taxpayers funnel millions to the Community Economic Defense Project. CEDP placed 5 tenants into Christina's building on 13th and Adams.
"What followed has been nothing short of a nightmare."
Housing First is a disaster.
We must stop funding this insanity.
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Walking home from a haircut, I ran into two Colfax business owners I’ve known forever. We couldn’t believe how much things have changed on Colfax since we came together to create the first Boo & Brew 20 years ago when we were first opening our businesses.*
I asked how they were doing.
I’m gutted.
Colfax BRT, Denver’s Minimum Wage, and CO’s Family Leave Act are pushing them to the brink of closing.
They are cutting jobs and getting back behind the counter because they can no longer afford to pay staff. Anyone they hire is at manager level, because wages and Family leave make it too expensive to have part time, less experienced staff.
“I feel so bad for the East High kids looking for jobs; I can’t afford to hire them.”
But she could, for years, until Council and the Legislature passed these bills.
“Thank God we don’t have a kitchen staff. There’s not enough customers. That’s why the Goosetown isn’t open for lunch anymore.”
“We just lost QHouse, Middleman was a blow.”
“I don’t know what we’re going to do.”
We talked about how we need new leadership. For someone to run and repeal these laws. How the Family Leave Act applies even to a worker who works one shift a month that my kindhearted friend can’t bring herself to fire. How the employees they have would much rather have money in their pocket than subsidizing Family Leave they have no intention of ever using.
“I don’t know what we’re going to do when Minimum Wage goes up again in January.”
“I would never start another business in Colorado.”
Denver and CO’s economy is in serious trouble from self-inflicted wounds. Council and the legislature must get serious and repeal these onerous bills. Denver should stop BRT and learn the lesson from Colfax.
And we, the citizens, should not give these leftist utopians a penny of new debt until they restore economic freedom. Vote NO on every bond, every tax increase. Let them ask us for money again AFTER they prove they can change course.
*My Colfax business closed in 2009 because I didn’t have their grit and talent for running a business. But I sure had fun in the early days of the Bluebird District.
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A typical day on Colfax.
How long can these businesses keep going with an open air drug market on their stoop?
Across the street, the ground floor retail of the Coalition’s Renaissance Uptown building is boarded up; only the chicken shop survives.
This is blight by policy.
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I was at an event downtown tonight. Nice night. Interesting people. 15th street looked nice (but dead) all the way from Platte to Colfax.
Once I hit Colfax, everything changed.
Highlights from 15 blocks going east on Colfax:
-three pharma entrepreneurs hit their sales targets at three different intersections
-nearly every closed/vacant storefront entrance blocked by people settling in for the night and giving their butane torches a workout
-a dude relieving himself on the sidewalk at Washington—aiming at Colfax. I really wish that I hadn’t missed the green light there.
-the complete takeover of both sides of Colfax and High extending to The Gathering Place’s front door by an encampment spreading out from the bus stop and an open air pharma mart along the B&B’s wall.
I feel so bad for the people who live on Williams. Truly. It must be hell.
-and last but not least, a dude getting a zipper inspection by a woman who may or may not charge by the task in the very well lit pedestrian walkway along the All-In (formerly the Rock Bar)
The policies that enable this disorder and criminality and the ideology that lies and tells us this is normal city life are civilizational sabotage.
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Good news from the Denver City Council meeting this far:
Amendment to cut police budget by $2 million to fund another Denver Basic Income experiment FAILED 5-8 👏
Amendment to cut police budget by $9 million to fund a family shelter HOST didn’t even want FAILED 5-8 👏
Many thanks to my friend doing the yeoman’s work watching this lengthy process and sharing the results.
At least 15 more amendment to go, but those were the two biggies cutting major funds from police.
Good news! Hopefully more to come!
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You’re not only spot on about not assuming racial bias but I would wager that was his way of paying you a compliment. historically at least, looking like a musician is cool.
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I couldn’t be more delighted that Matt is suing you. Rather than argue the substance of his reporting, you went for the cheap, defamatory smear in the hearing. Nice that you decided to put it in writing on social media; I bet his lawyers giggled with glee.
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On seeing mostly empty shelves I asked a clerk, “Did you get robbed or are you closing?” He said, “Actually, both. Pretty much why we’re closing.”
Staff are being transferred to other stores.
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Terrible new. I pray all the officers shot by this MS-13 gang member—who should have been in jail—fully recover.
Do read the whole article. Pueblo PD is rightfully angry with the CO Democrats advancing the DSA’s agenda to “abolish the carceral state.”
Pueblo man wanted by police fired 80 rounds and injured 3 officers before he was killed, chief says
buff.ly/3a0R8w5
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I found the Mayor’s presentation to the media on City of Denver’s job cuts.
Our general fund revenues began to fall in 2022, dropping further in ‘23 and ‘24.
Weird. I thought all of this was Trump’s fault.
The data suggest otherwise.
The City is taking no action to repeal, reconsider, or address the structural problems in our local economy caused by local policies. Denver and CO politicians, aided by Biden’s inflation and open border, made this mess.
Will they have the humility to change course?
🔗👇
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Colfax & Pearl, and Colfax & York, July 2025.
I am @dobetterdnvr
#dobetterdnvrday
Today is DBD Day - post a video or pic of the decline in Denver with the caption "I am
@dobetterdnvr
#dobetterdnvrday"
RT all DBD Day tweets
We won't be silenced
h/t @dnvr_is_burning
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This is fucking insane. Pardon my language, but I simply cannot comprehend the level of reckless fecklessness without swearing.
Rather than unleash our economic potential by enacting growth spurring regulatory reforms and prioritizing basic essentials like POLICE he does this.
‼️Denver’s crime is bad enough—now Mayor Johnston wants to slash @DenverPolice’s budget by $55,000,000 (or 20%)‼️
Johnston’s reckless spending on drug-addicted criminals and migrants is forcing devastating cuts to city agencies and public services.
The mayor’s office is reportedly demanding 20% budget reductions from every police district, even discussing reducing fuel use for patrols! 🤯
Reportedly, they are considering demoting detectives, leaving vacant positions unfilled, banning overtime, and delaying buying new patrol cars—with some already clocking hundreds of thousands of miles.
Civilian staff, including crime analysts critical to solving cases, face mandatory furloughs. This leaves our police and detectives dangerously understaffed.
Denver deserves safer streets, not budget cuts to public safety!
🗣️Email Mike and tell him to FUND Denver Police and DEFUND HOST‼️ Mike.Johnston@denvergov.org
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I would not bet against you. I wonder which style of prosecutor she’ll try to play?
In the hopes that you and Matt are going to stream it, some fun could be had turning this prediction into an ATW bingo card/drinking game.
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Do not reward current City leadership—Mayor AND Council—with another penny to spend. The bond packages are bloated with more utopian feel good stuff, giveaways to NGOs and politico pals.
Vote NO. Tell the City to come back next year with a lean package or nothing at all.
🚨 Denver Taxpayers, Wake Up! 🚨
💰Initial Bond Amount: $950 MILLION
🔄 Total Repayment (with interest): Up to $2 BILLION
📈 Tax Impact: No rate hike, but you'll pay WAY more over time due to a BILLION of interest!
Is this really a good idea for Denver’s future? We deserve transparency and fiscally responsible city leadership. These projects should be funded through current tax money.
Vote NO on 2A-2E in November.
Message brought to you by DoBetterDNVR and not authorized by any candidate or committee.
#DoBetterDenver #VibrantDenver #DenverTaxes #BondBreakdown #ColoradoPolitics
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Homeless #fire on Josephine and Colfax, burning now, Saturday 1/11/25 at 6:21 p.m.
Denver, our Mayor is just fine with this. Are you?
@dobetterdnvr
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In 2018, the cause of 32% of all homeless deaths in Denver County was overdose.
It rose to 43% by 2020.
‼️ It was 74% in 2024. ‼️
We have an addiction crisis on our streets. The bodies don’t lie. This is not about housing. It’s drugs.
When we pluck people off the street and drop them in hotel rooms or apartments, the addiction goes with them. We hide homeless addicts them away and harm their neighbors.
We need to put recovery first. Taxpayer funded housing should be earned through participation in recovery-oriented, accountable, structured transitional programs, with the goal of restoring people to sanity, self-sufficiency and a return to dignity and citizenship.
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Another Colfax business bites the dust.
RIP Starbucks.
In the early 2000s this was a check cashing store. When Starbucks came in, we celebrated it as a sign that corporate America believed our plucky street was worth investing in.
This closure is partly due to the crazy notion that turning Starbucks into a day shelter was kind…which led to chaos, employees being assaulted, which led to removing the tables and chairs and finally a major remodel last year made it pick up and drive thru.
BRT was the final nail in the coffin.
Now, we’re facing an even more challenging future. Where once we hoped for better than check cashing and liquor stores, we’re now faced with a growing stretch of vacants with years left to go on this utopian experiment to take the car off Highway 40.
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Am I reading this correctly?
APD were alerted in 9/23 that:
-Tren de Aragua gang members were operating in Aurora
-TdA members were claiming asylum
-TdA members wanted housing from Papagayo—the org Denver taxpayers funded to house “newcomers”???
The police knew about the TDA gangs taking over our properties - as early as Sept 22, 2023 - and didn't warn us!
Worse, they put the onus of security on our employees without us knowing the danger!
(We just confirmed the authenticity of this leaked police email.)
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I went down a rabbit hole on the DPS website and found a current job posting for an Assistant Principal at East. Since it’s my neighborhood, I took a look.
Woke is alive and well at DPS.
This candidate requirement an ideological (Marxist) litmus test.
—What does “leading for racial and educational excellence” mean? Educational excellence I 💯 support, but racial excellence?
—What are the systems of oppression and inequity that need to be dismantled in my neighborhood?
(If they mean Colfax BRT, I’d be a fan. I doubt that’s what they mean.)
Anyone know what % of DPS kids read at grade level? At the end of the ‘23 school year, a whopping 37% in grades 3-5 and
40% of 6-8 graders read at or above grade level.
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That this was from 2015 honestly shocked me. Yes, I am naive.
It reminds me of descriptions of struggle sessions in Lifton’s book about survivors of Mao’s prisons. Twisted ideas aimed to destroy all that is good, to kill the soul.
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I used to listen to NPR on my commute. The programs at the time were left-leaning, a bit smug in a “we’re so educated, well traveled, affluent” way, but there was still a curiosity or modest appreciation for people from different walks of life. That changed. Curiosity turned to contempt.
That the response to Uri’s piece misses his point so completely, is not a surprise. They hired the perfect CEO who shares their values, which are no longer journalism or even story telling. They are the propaganda arm of the American aristocracy, working to keep middle management singing the same song and the peasants in their place.
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In Denver and Colorado, most of our elected officials see landlords as the enemy. Year after year, the legislature places more burdens on them. We’ve made it impossible to evict problem tenants, and we fund their defense. This landlord basically bribed the tenant to leave and now bears the cost of remediating the unit.
This happens in both private buildings and those bought or built with taxpayer money.
The continued allegiance to Housing First—that an apartment must be the first step after chronic street homelessness—is increasing housing costs for all of us. And that’s only one aspect of the hidden costs of this failed policy.
We need to move to congregant shelter or treatment first, followed by transitional housing earned by demonstrating some ability to be a good tenant with a time-limited subsidy to help people get on their feet.
How many Denver eviction filings are for clients of taxpayer-funded housing who bring chaos or are not able to afford the rent when the voucher runs out?
Our entire approach is wrong, sowing chaos like that shown in DBD’s video or setting people who need help up to fail because we do not intervene and require them to accept help.
Who in their right mind would be a Denver landlord?
But maybe that’s the point. Perhaps real reason for these destructive policies is to chip away at private property ownership and tenants are just cannon fodder for the cause. ✊
Update: The problematic CEDP tenant I posted about on 10/29 has finally vacated the apartment via an MLR, known as the cash-for-keys program by landlords, which cost management $1,500. But before leaving, he let his drug-addicted vagrant friends squat in the unit. 😡
CEDP dragged their feet on the complaint and eviction process, fighting to keep this drug addict housed right next to hardworking families.
They also did zilch to remove the trespassers, even with clear ties to the evicted tenant. Shoutout to @denverpolice for stepping in and clearing them out, handing the unit back to management.
Inside? A toxic chemical stench and mountains of junk left behind. It looks like this tenant moved a whole homeless camp into this apartment. Damages? This apartment must be fully stripped to the studs before it can be safely occupied again. Each remediation like this takes months and costs tens of thousands of dollars. Drug contamination reduces affordable, livable housing for everyone.
Mayor @mikejohnstonco is fumbling Denver hard and spreading chaos into apartments citywide.
🚨 Take action: Hit up your City Council rep and demand a NO vote on Bill 25-1580, which funnels millions more to CEDP for eviction defense. We deserve better oversight on housing placements and taxpayer dollars!
#DenverHousing #StopTheChaos #DenverPolitics
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🚨Denver, tonight 8 Denver City Council members voted to advance 24-1791 which removes the cap on the number of needle exchange programs and REMOVES the restriction on locating these programs within 1,000 feet of schools or daycare centers.
Final vote is next Monday, 1/17.
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Tonight Denver City Council voted to lift the cap on the number of needle exchange programs in the city and remove the 1,000 foot buffer around schools and daycares.
5 voted No, and I cannot thank them enough. My understanding is 5 No votes were needed for the Mayor to consider a veto.
Please write and call the Mayor and ask him to veto the bill.
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FFS.
Tell me more about the “free” state of Colorado.
Is there nothing the marxists in the legislature won’t regulate?
Are we done with the nanny state nonsense yet Colorado?
Living in Colorado under Democrat control is the worst. Constant meddling in superfluous issues, never actually solving anyone's problems.
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Demoralization in action at the Walgreens at Colfax and Race.
A🧵
Walking in, there’s the usual detritus (e.g., fresh puke on the sidewalk, trash everywhere) and drugged out homeless passed out in the entrance.
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The final break for me was the August 2020 Housing CA conference. Every session was a struggle session, although I didn’t know the term. It was so bizarre, so *wrong*, I took screenshots. Looking at them today, I see them for what they are, thanks in no small part to you James.
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I encourage all the protestors at the Capitol to walk up Colfax a few blocks, maybe just to Logan, to see the devastation that the last 5 years of Democrat policy making has wrought on the small businesses and residents here.
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When I was a little girl, Mom got me a subscription to a Cricket, a 1980s magazine for kids. I loved it, and felt so grown up getting it in the mail, addressed to me! It was mine.
@countyhwy arrived today, and for a moment, I was that girl again. They made mail great again!
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When I started to watch the video from the 11/3/25 Denver City Council meeting, it caught my eye that Councilwoman Lewis didn't stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. So, I looked at all of the meetings from October. If she's there, she doesn't stand or participate.
Why do I care? In Lewis's case, because she is pushing for the subversion of Denver's Charter and our Constitutional republic by instituting Civic Assemblies, empowering randomly selected residents to set policy and binding our elected representatives to adopt Assembly recommendations (see my pinned post).
Councilwoman Parady wasn't visible in the videos I watched from October, but @DavidJohnHeitz1 wrote an article about this in 2024 that includes a lengthy statement from Parady about why she doesn't stand for the pledge. (See next post for his good article; I won't steal his thunder but Parady is not a fan.)
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The weekly Denver City Council schedule just dropped.
Some lucky appointees are getting big raises!!
(I thought times were rough.)
🔗👇
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So if I understand this, I can’t understand it. But, I now comprehend why I was so confused and disturbed when I attended a conference where 90% of panelists were critical constructivists (based on this 🧵). I felt like I’d dropped into an alternate universe. I guess I did.
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Update on Denver's Drug Crisis:
In just 8 years, fatal overdoses in Denver have increased 150%. Denver County ERs have treated more than 15,000 overdoses since 2020. Four out of five people who die on our streets die of overdose.
We need prevention, recovery, enforcement. 🧵
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Think the “defund the police” movement is dead in Denver? Think again.
At Monday’s City Council meeting proposed amendments will strip millions from police to fund NGOs for vague “Community Safety grants” & lefty immigration and eviction lawyers.
‼️Call to Action: Email or call your City Council rep and tell them to Protect the Denver Police Budget.
The Caring for Denver sales tax fund spends millions on youth mental health in community grants. Tell Council to use their oversight and deploy those funds more effectively, and protect DPD’s budget.
At risk:
A police academy class
Funding to enforce “quality of life” crimes, which Parady deems “crimes of poverty” that are better addressed by NGOs 😑 (See video from the Denver Police Budget hearing.)
I haven’t found all the Amendments but a friend found these from Torres, and I found the UBI one.
GenXJen
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Excellent piece by Jimmy.
He dissects the Post’s Do Better Denver hit piece.
The @denverpost doxed 3 sources who don't run @DoBetterDNVR—digging through CORA requests to unmask critics of City Hall.
Why? Because they passed some material to the citizen journalism account that dares to show Denver in decay.
Today @DenverGazette:
denvergazette.com/opinion/co…
"This isn’t straight-news journalism. It's a witch hunt — a pre-baked narrative, bolstered by handpicked journalism 'experts,' to justify the article itself.
DoBetterDNVR never claimed to be a newsroom — just 'a conduit for the citizens of Denver to show what’s really happening.' You don't have to agree with every post to see why citizen journalism like this rattles City Hall."
#copolitics #DoBetterDNVR #Denver
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Such deceptive language in the Gov’s post: “private choice” “keeping costs down”!
You think the Gov is stopping HIPPA violations and billing fraud?
Nope. This bill raises insurance costs for *everyone* and creates a special class of insured treated differently than all others.
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Is the City of Denver hiding our worsening OD crisis?
For years, the Medical Examiner's Office has updated its dashboard twice a month. Friday, 9/5/25--the date of the typical start-of-month update--all dashboards EXCEPT fatal ODs updated.
This has never happened before. 1/
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11 years.
132 months.
4,019 days.
It started with Day 1 on 9/29/14.
I’ve been weepy all day.
Overwhelmed with gratitude.
I was so lost and scared those first few days, weeks, months, desperate to never drink again, terrified that I would. The Anonymous people gave me hope, showed me the way, and saved my life, one day at a time.
Early on, an old timer said I was one of the angriest women he’d ever met. Apparently rage and fear leaked out of my pores once the beer and bourbon was gone.
This morning, driving to my morning meeting, I started to cry, as memories of mornings years ago seeped into my consciousness. How every morning driving to work I was crippled with anxiety, shaking, and needed an Ativan to survive my 7 minute commute. I didn’t recycle because I didn’t want the garbage man to know how much I drank. I rotated liquor stores daily, lest a clerk notice how much I bought, day after day.
My world got small. It was built on lies. I did not want to live.
It all came crumbling down. I woke up sober and scrambled to make plans (yoga! Mindfulness!) while my family wisely planned an intervention. In a moment of grace, I accepted the help I was offered after giving my loved ones the business in the way only a cornered animal can.
A moment’s weakness that was really strength: I accepted help.
From rehab into the arms of my fellows who showed me how to work the steps and build a new way of living.
This morning, a woman I sponsor called me a gentle spirit, a calm in her storm. It’s extraordinary how much I have been changed. I’m not just sober; I know peace. I walk the world a free woman. It is miraculous.
I firmly believe no one is ever too far gone. I have seen people freed from hell, just as I was, and restored to life.
We do recover. God bless you all.
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Yesterday I listened to a @CityCastDenver episode for the first time. The Police Chief basically argued that since violent crime is down, the public—stirred up by @dobetterdnvr—is wrong about crime downtown. Our “perception” is the problem.
I think he meant it. That’s because his definition of a crime has changed. Did you know that using illicit drugs in taxpayer-funded housing is no longer “criminal in nature”? Elders like @MaryAnnaT08 have no legal recourse to protect them from addicts and their dealers causing harm in their own building, that our tax dollars built and fund. Eviction can take months or years, if it is pursued at all. We pay for lawyers and activists to defend against such evictions, while leaving the law abiding to suffer.
We have made the people who most need and deserve our help prisoners to a failed ideology—housing first, harm reduction—that refuses to hold addicts accountable for their harmful behavior and ignores the criminality that goes along with it. We enable it.
Not too long ago, using hard drugs in public housing was not tolerated, just as it wasn’t tolerated on our sidewalks. You can’t smoke a cigarette in your public unit, but toxic substances that require costly remediation are fine.
Progressive policies like decriminalization have many downstream effects, including what is happening to Mary Anna.
Shame on the legislators who brought these bills. Shame on Polis for signing them. Shame on DHA and @CHFA and @HUDgov and the City of Denver, Mayor and Council for going along with them.
Housing First and Harm Reduction do not cure addiction or criminality. They simply hide and concentrate the problem among the most vulnerable members of our community!!! We need accountability and recovery, and tenant standards that protect the other tenants and our investment in these properties.
Do better.
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You were rude, smug, and made sure your pharma pals got their money’s worth.
RFK has been a superb leader, working to depoliticize HHS and demand transparency and integrity in medical research. He has my full support.
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Cool. When will you share your letter to Hickenlooper and Bennet urging them to vote on the clean CR?
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I like the way the blocker of all (even lil old me) tried to spin “accost” as a a friendly, respectful conversation.
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Did the Mayor or his surrogates pressure Denver Police to investigate Do Better Denver?
The content of a CORA request by the Denver Police Protective Association is a strong indicator the answer is yes. 🚩
An investigation is meant to silence her speech, intimidate her sources, & threatens her anonymity.
@ADFLegal
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
I, @DoBetterDNVR, Demand Accountability from Denver Mayor’s Office Over Alleged Coercion of Denver Police to Investigate My Protected Speech
Denver, CO – July 25, 2025 – I am @DoBetterDNVR, an anonymous voice advocating for Denver, and I’m blowing the whistle on what appears to be a disturbing attempt by the Mayor’s office to coerce DPD into investigating my identity. Reports received in June suggest these investigations were conducted “off the books,” raising serious concerns about violations of my 1A rights and an abuse of power.
On 6/30, I emailed city officials, demanding confirmation of any such investigation, its purpose, scope, legal basis, and assurances that my safety—especially in light of death threats I’ve received—would not be compromised.
DPD denied the allegations, stating: “The police department is not investigating DBD’s social media accounts, and has no reason to do so, at this time.”
But yesterday, I received a shocking document from a CORA request submitted on 6/30 for all emails to/from Chief Thomas containing the keywords “dobetterdnvr” showing that the Denver Police Protective Administration (DPPA) submitted a CORA request on 6/23 with 12 inquiries related to investigations into DBD.
This CORA contradicts DPD’s denial of an investigation and suggests the Mayor’s office pressured DPD to target my protected speech. I suspect this CORA request from the DPPA is a bold shot across the bow, signaling to the Mayor’s office that DPD won’t stand for being asked to illegally investigate free speech.
On 7/3, DPD denied requests 1-11 of DPPA’s CORA, citing: “the disclosure of criminal justice records is discretionary and can be denied where the custodian believes disclosure would be contrary to the public interest.” For request 12—DPD said they found 4,346 potentially responsive emails. The catch? They want $5,951 to process that part of the request. 💰
Has Johnston, now caught red-handed, started nudging media to snoop into my identity to cover his tracks? This doesn’t just feel wrong—it feels like some authoritarian nonsense.
🗣️CTA email oim@denvergov.org and tell them to investigate Mayor Johnston for allegedly pressuring DPD to go after protected speech.
🎯Send me a DM if you feel that you’ve been targeted by this investigation.
👩💼Anyone know a solid 1A/privacy lawyer?
Media Contact:
DoBetterDNVR
Email: dobetterdnvr@proton.me
X: @DoBetterDNVR
IG: @DoBetterDNVR
About Me, @DoBetterDNVR:
I’m an anonymous advocate for transparency, accountability, and positive change in Denver. Operating under my First Amendment rights, I amplify community voices and hold public officials accountable.
Note: This press release reflects my perspective as @DoBetterDNVR based on the information I’ve uncovered. For inquiries or to arrange an interview, contact me at dobetterdnvr@proton.me.
@denverpost @CBSNewsColorado @KDVR @DenverGazette @9NEWS @chrisvanderveen @DenverChannel
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The timing of this full court press against @dobetterdnvr is interesting. I wonder if internal polling on the bonds is looking weak so extra effort needs to be dedicated to silencing the Mayor’s most effective critic.
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Why are people not coming downtown as much Mr. Mayor?
What changed?
City policies.
Allowing downtown to be an open air drug den and asylum has consequences.
Making it near impossible and unaffordable to get downtown by car has consequences.
Building a socialist utopia on the backs of businesses has consequences (they close or move).
Finally, work from home is a structural change we must contend with if we want downtown to survive.
Mayor Johnston says people not coming downtown as much , not spending money there, impacting city tax revenues:
Q: about raises for Mayoral appointees. Why did he propose big raises in this budget situation?A: explains it was a dozen appointees, they dont get regular raises..
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I met a young guy this morning. He kept relapsing and blowing up his life back home. He set out for the West Coast, planning to lose himself there.
21 days ago his car broke down in Denver.
Living in his car, he called sober living places, but he had no money.
One of them referred him to STEP Denver. He’s a few days sober, doing the deal, participating and sticking to their strict rules, and he has HOPE in his eyes.
As he told me this story, he saw grace in the car breakdown, grace in not having the cash for a room; both made him more willing to try things STEP’s way.
There is no cost to enter the program.
If you’re planning to make end of year donations, please consider giving to STEP. The program is free for the men, and STEP gets measurable results, restoring lives day by day. Link below.
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This is the message people need to hear. “It’s ok to vote Republican.”
You are not a bad person for wanting merit to matter more than identity. It’s ok to vote Republican. You are not a bad person for wanting our country to have a border. It’s ok to vote Republican in 2024.
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Another autoethnography. I cannot believe “Dear Diary” is a valid research methodology.
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Fantastic news!!!! The Mayor VETOED the needle exchange expansion.
Great news for Denver. Thank you all who contacted the Mayor. Thank you to the 5 Council Members who voted no.
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“Will no one rid me of this troublesome [account]?
Rather than contend with the quality of life challenges, fiscal irresponsibility, and negative consequences of the Mayor’s idealist policies, it appears a deliberate effort was made to silence an influential critic.
That this hit piece debuted just before massive City layoffs and as the Vibrant Denver billion dollar debt boondoggle was being finalized and rushed through Council is interesting too.
I have been informed that the Mayor’s office were the ones that looked at all the CORA requests over the last two years and tried to figure out who I am based on CORA requests and my posts (based on who was requesting them).
The Mayor’s office narrowed it down to three names and FED the story to the @denverpost and told their contact at the Post to CORA the CORA requests in hopes of outing me and getting the media and my followers to turn on me.
The Mayor’s office said that @mikejohnstonco wants DoBetterDNVR gone because ‘I am ruining his narrative’. Is it legal for government officials to try and silence me via doxxing? Or engaging the Denver Post to do so? #Yikes #IsThisLegal #DoBetterDNVR
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In the Denver7 article, they report that the professional association for flight attendants is moving their crews out of downtown hotels and into DIA hotels. That’s a serious indicator that does not bode well for downtown.
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Activists are pushing Denver Council to create a $10 million dollar Community grant fund for mini-grants to NGOs to address the root causes of crime.
What you won’t hear is that Denver voters already created the Caring for Denver fund, that raises ~$45 million from sales tax to do just this. Since the fund is administered by the Council-created Caring for Denver Foundation you don’t see this money in the City budget.
I suspect Councilwoman Parady wants this to come out of the Police budget, to starve them of the resources to enforce “quality of life crimes” like theft.
Unlike housing, social services, art and cultural institutions, and even climate, the Denver Police Department does not have any protected funding stream for operations (they have one for pensions).
Denver City Council should reject calls for giving even more millions of dollars to feel-good programs and protect the Police budget. Council should also take greater care to scrutinize how Denver taxpayer funds are spent by Caring for Denver to ensure they are funding effective programs. (If you spin through what they grant, there is a LOT of room for improvement.)
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I won’t speculate as to the soundness of @denverpost ‘s books, but their decision to pursue breaking the anonymity of @dobetterdnvr contributors speaks to the same rot in Matt’s post.
DBD breaks stories, shredding the propaganda veil to tatters. Local power wants them silenced.
Please keep believing these outlets are failing because of censorship or a political conspiracy! The longer it takes for corporate-backed media to realize their problems are rooted in deception and misreporting, the more audiences will flow to independent sites
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The day I woke up sober and hadn’t drank by the time I got home from work, I was crawling out of my skin, and desperate not to go to the liquor store.
I walked to City Park and I, an atheist since my teens, began to pray. I took this picture that night, 9/29/14, my sobriety date.
Walking around the lake, sobbing, terrified, a prayer from childhood poured out, “Hail Mary, full of Grace the Lord is with thee…”
Like Tom and my fellows, for nearly 11 years, prayer, seeking a God of my understanding, working the Steps, and helping others has kept me free from booze for nearly 11 years.
Prayer is a gift available to all of us, right here, right now. Sometimes the perfect prayer is simply, “Help me God.”
For many of us in recovery, we wake up every day and do two things.
1. We tell ourselves: "I'm not gonna use today."
2. We thank our higher power (God) for giving us another day.
Basically, we pray. 🙏
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Our City’s priorities are out of whack.
Rather than nip a planned mob action in the bud, one of the City’s major tourist destinations will close early.
Sorry about your plan to spend the day with your family at a cultural treasure. We won’t stop rowdy teens from being fools.
The Denver Zoo said it will close early Saturday over concerns about a planned 'City Park Takeover' by teenagers. 9news.com/article/news/local…
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Setting aside the wishful thinking and rosy view of the available stock for such moves to be made, you miss a key point that many of us with aging parents wrestle with. Home is more than housing; one day I hope you’ll understand that. My mom was widowed in ‘21 after nearly 50 years of marriage that began in the home she still lives in. That roof and walls to you, is a lifetime of memories, and where she feels closest to the love of her life. My Dad planted the peach tree and roses, designed the kitchen, and filled the garage with tools. Life would be easier for me and my brother if she’d take your advice; less maintenance, no stairs. But she would suffer. So as she ages, we bring in help for the work we can’t do, and make modifications as needed. She keeps her memories, and her church, her neighbors, her grocery stores, and the park she loves. One day she’ll die there, God willing.
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Your friendly reminder to vote NO on all the Vibrant Denver bond proposals.
Do not reward current city leaders and their pals who pursue failed utopian policies, misallocate funds, prioritize social(ist) agendas over maintenance, economic opportunity, and real public safety.
Wewatta & Speer. @TheCityofDenver leaders want more families to live downtown and are going to use taxpayer dollars to subsidize office buildings being converted into “affordable” housing.
Only 4% of households downtown have children - Would you feel safe bringing your kids to this park? @mikejohnstonco #denver #milehigh @denverparksrec
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Not ONCE in HOST's nearly two hour budget presentation did they mention addiction.
We have a drug crisis that City agencies providing housing and homeless services refuse to directly address. They'd rather talk Equity.
Addiction does not discriminate. Housing does not cure it.
10th & Corona. They called it a housing crisis: “Build more!”, they demanded.
Denver delivered, flooding the market with new apartments, leading to vacancy rates hitting 7% in Q1 2025, the highest in 15 years. The real issue? Not a shortage of roofs, but a devastating drug epidemic fueling unsheltered homelessness. hey @denverpolice Cap Hill neighbors would really appreciate if you cleared this encampment. @mikejohnstonco #Denver #VibrantDenver #visitdenver
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We have. Until leadership in the Gov’s office and CDOT prioritize road maintenance over mode shift/climate goals, the roads (and bridges) will continue to deteriorate. If memory serves, the primary qualification of CDOT’s head were her political connections and hostility to cars.
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Hey Denver 👋
Did you know that recycling service is being cut back to biweekly starting tomorrow?
When the move away from dumpsters occurred, the City promised 2 benefits in exchange for quarterly fees and the hassle: weekly recycling and compost.
It was a bait and switch…
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Pete’s University Park Cafe (Evans & University) is closing Nov. 9.
They hope that closing this DU mainstay will help their other restaurants, including Pete’s Kitchen, survive.
The Westword piece mentions that the Mayor brought up restaurant hardships in his State of the City speech. Big deal. He’s all talk and no action.
In today’s DEDO presentation, staff mentioned “we hear it’s so hard to keep a business open” and the response was 🦗🦗🦗.
Denver’s Minimum Wage law is set to increase AGAIN in a few months. City Council did this. If the Mayor really wanted to open Denver for business again he’d be pressuring Council to roll it back.
His own administration is imposing numerous onerous regulations that increase costs for restaurants (and most businesses) and not a whisper about any of them during the Economic Development Department’s budget presentation. And this doesn’t include the wreckage on Colfax resulting from the City and Council’s bus obsession.
Every one of these socialist policies inflict a wound on our privately owned businesses. Based on their policies, this Mayor and Council only support ego businesses owned by their pals (women’s soccer stadium) that need taxpayer $ to come to fruition. Otherwise they only have eyes for NGOs—that require our tax dollars to operate.
Vote NO on all the Vibrant Denver Debt. Do not reward these failed leaders with a $1 billion bloated bond package that is largely a goody bag for their pals and NGOs. We are in dangerous economic waters. More debt is not the answer.
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Exceptional thread. I’m very much looking forward to the conference videos when they are released. Free speech and free inquiry are essential to a functioning society. We must have the freedom to wrestle with policy, data, and ideas across all domains.
The Stanford Pandemic Conference last Friday was an enormous success. Experts who supported early school closures reasoned together with those who didn't. Experts who oppose the lab-origin theory of covid reasoned with people who support it.
healthpolicy.fsi.stanford.ed…
1/n
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Vibrant denver meeting:
Starting out with a lengthy Land Acknowledgment and Labor Acknowledgment
🙄
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Tomorrow, Denver City Council will hear a presentation by Councilwoman Lewis to fund and support the creation of a Civic Assembly on Affordable Housing.
It sounds benign, like an in-depth community engagement process, but it really is a SUBVERSIVE effort to shift local governance authority from our elected representatives to a "co-governance" model of deliberative or participatory democracy--global governance models endorsed by the OECD (the source for Denver's proposal), the EU and UN.
As one of the people I consulted about the presentation described the Civic Assembly: "It injects and infuses global governance mechanisms from within, effectively dissolving the constitutional republic in function and using the cant of ‘democratic processes’ and ‘participation’ to elicit public buy in. Global democracy - soft power totalitarian tyranny essentially."
This isn't an "advisory" group of citizens. This isn't a survey of resident preferences, a design charette, or community engagement seeking citizen input.
It is an NGO-designed*, facilitated process with an "Information Committee" of expert stakeholders that forwards policy recommendations, including legislation, to Mayor/Council, explicitly challenging our elected representatives to explain to this UNELECTED body why they are not 100% adopting all their recommended policies. Built into the proposal is the assumption that Mayor/Council will sign off on proposals.
Denver City Council MUST reject this proposal to shift the sovereign power that rests in WE the People through our elected representatives to this global governance model of "deliberative" or "participatory" governance. We do not vest our power in randomly selected residents (note: not even CITIZENS) guided by NGOs to shape policy for our representatives to rubber stamp.
If Denver wants more community engagement on affordable housing policy, go for it, but not this way.
*Note that this $450,000 proposal does not identify a funding source. I suspect that the costs are being born by a donor or grant by one of the "partner" organizations listed in the presentation. Again, WHOLLY inappropriate.
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Did you know the audio recording of your testimony on the legislature’s website goes SILENT the just after you said Duane’s name? It does not resume until midway through the next speaker. But for this video there would be no audio record. How is that legal???
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Read the story Walter links.
It makes what I’d previously imagined “kafkaesque” to mean look like a pleasant Sunday morning stroll. If this is true, and I suspect it is, a public, transparent reckoning must occur.
This man is going through a kind of hell I've never seen depicted in an American TV show, film, or book. Not even close. A relentless meat grinder of harassment that seems excessive even for East Germany.
We are woefully ignorant in the US of our social & political reality.
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This is deliberate subversion of civil society—this tolerance of crime and disorder. This is intentional. Our Democrat (and DSA) supermajority in City and State elected office, the DAs and the Judges choose this.
They choose criminals over workers every day.
Ballots are out. Send a message of change.
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I hate notifications (too much chaos), so I created a list of just the people I don’t want to miss. That’s where I always find TES. And a new feature lets me pin it to the top of my screen.
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I find it odd that your report includes a quote from Gov Polis but fails to mention he refused to submit a waiver to prevent this increase. This tax is on him. Why not tell the people the complete story?
coloradopeakpolitics.com/202…
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Great 🧵.
I’d add that here in Denver, everyone in City leadership waves the flag of Equity, in everything they do. Same with the NGOs they fund. When you hear it in a meeting or read it, understand that Equity is the flag that today’s communists wave to run their scam on us.
It's very important to understand that above all else, Marxism is a scam. This includes Woke Marxism. A lot of Woke or Woke-sympathetic people today do not realize that Marxism is a deliberate scam that uses the apparent plight of the less fortunate to gain power for itself. 🧵
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This week I need to register my sole-proprietor 1 person business with FINCEN or face $500 (daily?) fines, while people who commit assault, steal, or deal drugs are released on their own recognizance in my city.
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One final note: one of Denver’s first EV charging stations is in Walgreen’s parking lot.
In a fitting coda, it is not just out of order, but the working parts have been removed, replaced by a steel plate.
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One more reason to Vote NO on every single Vibrant debt bonds 2A-2E.
Do not reward this administration with another cent.
Thank you Brian Maass and CBS4 for continuing to expose the Mayor’s poor decisions and lack of transparency.
#BREAKING @CityofDenver cut deal with Park Hill Golf Course owner giving him 14% more land near @DENAirport than previously disclosed per @CBSNewsColorado Investigation. @denversmayor responded today to our findings:
cbsnews.com/colorado/news/de…
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Hey Denver, I wonder what we’re on the hook for with the Mayor’s All-In Mile High hotels? We bought the buildings and allow the same behavior.
Your friendly reminder to vote NO on all the Vibrant Denver Debt bonds. Do not reward current leadership with more money.
The Civic Hotel in Seattle was rented by the city and county since 2020 to house homeless people.
When the property was vacated and returned last year, the owners found their building contaminated all over with deadly fentanyl and meth residue. A baby that stayed in the hotel died with fentanyl in his/her system. The group the city enriched to manage the hotel-turned-shelter apparently didn't do anything to prevent drug abuse in the taxpayer-funded rooms.
The hotel owners are now suing the city and county.
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In Sept. 2020, a woman I sponsor had a psychotic break, caused by conflicting psych meds, weed, and isolation.
She’d gone to one hospital begging for help. They turned her away. I found her wandering on Colorado Blvd, got her in my car, and took her to St. Joes.
Once in the ER, I explained the situation and used the magic words (danger to herself and others) that got her into the ER room set aside for people in her condition. She was paranoid, screaming, and difficult to calm. By sitting on the floor with her, I got her feeling safe enough to start answering questions, describing symptoms.
She kept taking her mask off. Staff kept telling her to put it on. Eventually, a nurse(?) wearing a plastic shield and mask yelled that if my gal didn’t keep her mask on they were going to strap her to the bed.
This terrified my paranoid friend and she bolted out of the room, only to be tackled and held down by a security guard who waited for 5 other dudes who picked her up and strapped her down.
All because she wouldn’t keep her mask on.
To get her to stop screaming, they injected her with something. It was 6 hours later that she came to and docs were able to assess her.
All because she couldn’t keep her mask on.
She was calm before the nurse made that threat and carried it out.
All because she couldn’t keep her mask on.
So all the soft apologists, the medical professionals who should have known better, the petty public health tyrants, can GF themselves.
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Think about the message this sends to the people who do show up for work.
It says criminals are more protected than you.
That the City, State, Governor, legislators, city council, the DA, the cops, the judges think coddling addicts and the organized criminals who use them as mules matter more.
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The day SCOTUS ruled in his favor about refusing to make a cake for a gay wedding, the plaintiff tried to order a trans cake. It is deliberate provocation meant to erode Jack’s freedom to exercise his religious beliefs. The CO Civil Rights Division is out of control.
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Thank you. This was so thoughtful and honest. You’re not a nobody, but an American. The beauty of this great country is that we’re free to speak our minds. Too many of us have been bullied into silence. I hope your courage is contagious.
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The City of Denver begins its community meetings with land and labor acknowledgements; it is not benign. It is subversive. This is how the nightmare unfolding in Canada began.
ICYMI, this is how Denver started the community process for the Vibrant debt. Vote NO on 2A-2E & 310!
So it begins. This is communist land reform, a.k.a. land justice, a.k.a. expropriating the expropriators, a.k.a. whatever Canadian commies are calling it. Canadian homeowners soon won't be. They'll be subject to eviction from homes they've paid for over most of their lives.
As the thread points out, the bank won't lend *anyone* money to buy this house because the communist government gave title to the land to the Cowichan Native Tribe. Thus, nobody's going to buy this guy out. He's just over a barrel.
Imagine communists sending you a letter telling you that they've transferred title to your land to someone else and you aren't getting compensation. You've just lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in decades of mortgage and interest payments and property taxes and insurance payments. Even if you bought it for cash, too bad.
The United States effectively has communist countries on its northern and southern borders as communists right here at homework overtime to do the same thing here. This is what Zoran Mamdani is going to do to New Yorkers. This is what Bernie and AOC and Ilhan Omar and all the rest want to do to all Americans. The hour is very, very late.
On a side note, how do you buy a house in 1975 and still have a mortgage 50 years later???
Also note at 1:25, "I elected that guy."
Big oof.
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My Thoughts and Favorite Quote from the Denver Economic Development & Opportunity Budget Hearing
I’m a little salty.
Our once dynamic and cool city added 20,000 jobs a year before the pandemic lockdowns. The last few years, we’ve lost 10,000 jobs per year.
We went woke and are going broke.
Despite the declining sales tax revenues, the business closures, the job losses, EQUITY is still the name of the socialist game our Mayor and Council want to play, even in the Economic Development Department.
None of the content or discussion hinted at the causes of our economic problems—with the exception of some honesty about the real economic destruction BRT has wrought on Colfax. (Trump didn’t do that, Denver voters, Council, and this Mayor did. He took the federal funds and started the project. Playing “I’m new! I didn’t know! is BS.)
My favorite quote, a big contributor to my saltiness, and an indicator of the contempt Councilwoman Parady has for business, came as she was complaining about our Business Incentive Fund and that we have a retail business attraction fund:
“Retail jobs, I don't know that those would always fall on my list of kind of the best jobs."—Councilwoman Parady
She sounded like such an absolute snob; my husband has worked retail for most of the last 20 years, at a small, locally owned business. The exact kind she sneers at, the kind that generates SALES TAX.
Vote NO on the billion dollar Vibrant debt bloated bonds. Do not give these failed leaders one more cent.
My summary follows in the post below.
Denver City Council Budget Hearing for Denver Economic Development and Opportunity Office (9/22/25):
"DEDO's mission is to create an economy that works for everyone."
Their work is focused on who the economy isn't working for, for those who "haven't benefitted from the growth Denver has seen in the past 25 years." 🧵
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Don’t forget, the City wanted to *change the law* and allow needle distribution near schools so Denver’s opioid settlement funds could be used to buy this organization a building.
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Like SF, in Denver, the Mayor and Police Chief complain about @dobetterdnvr for sharing citizen-sourced videos highlighting the outcomes of their policies.
The bodies, the crime, the suffering don’t lie. We see them with our own eyes. The cratering sales tax revenues, vacant storefronts, don’t lie.
But our leaders do.
Empowering drug dealers to murder mentally ill people on sidewalks is how San Francisco demonstrates its concern for historically marginalized people. 💕
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I’m super impressed daddy didn’t bust out laughing when the kiddo said “I’m going to cut the cheese!” I, on the other hand, have a middle schooler’s sense of humor and lost it.
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Long ago, I gave a new employee a data entry task before I left on my first vacation in years.
The next day, our receptionist called to ask me a question about the data entry. Apparently, my new staffer thought the task was beneath her so she passed it on to someone “lower” on staff.
When I returned, it was clear the new employee wasn’t a good fit. I agonized about firing her, but concluded it was in the best interest of the business to let her go.
After I gave the news, she proceeded to angrily lecture me about all my shortcomings, especially how I failed to recognize her time was wasted on such lame tasks as data entry.
With each word she confirmed I’d made the right decision. At that business even the partners pitched in to make copies.
Losing a job sucks, whether you earned the firing or are RIF’d. Acting like an entitled brat on the way out the door cements to those who let you go that we made the right decision.
Anyhoo, just something that’s been on my mind today…
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I’m now convinced that any talk of “our democracy” means “our power”.
We’re watching the 2024 version of this article play out.
time.com/5936036/secret-2020…
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