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Neighborhood Life
N e i g h b o r h o o d L i f e • AU G U S T 2 0 1 5
City Park West • Whittier • San Rafael • Uptown • Curtis Park • Five Points • RiNo
AU G U S T 2 0 1 5
USA Pro Challenge Adds Two New Host Communities By Jason McKinney ow that the Tour de France is finished, cycling enthusiasts can look forward to another sporting opportunity in their own backyard. The USA Pro Challenge, one of the most popular cycle races in the world, will take place in Colorado from Mon., Aug. 17-Sun., Aug. 23. Now in its fifth year, the Pro Challenge begins in Steamboat Springs, making its way through eight host cities before ending with the finale in Denver. The Pro Challenge attracts over a million fans every year and the fact that Colorado has 28 of the 50 highest peaks in the U.S. might have something to do with that. “[This year] we have added new cities and a dramatic mountaintop finish that will prove to be a fierce battleground for riders eager to show that they have what it takes to compete on a new climb up Loveland Pass,” said Shawn Hunter, CEO of USA Pro Challenge. The Pro Challenge has grown into the largest spectator event in Colorado history over its five years of existence and new additions to this year's race include: Arapahoe Basin, Loveland Pass, Copper Mountain and a lung buster time trial in Breckenridge. The seven stages of the race include: Stage 1: Steamboat Springs (Mon., Aug. 17) – This 49-mile circuit includes quiet roads with straights, twists, and some steep surprises. The circuit will be completed twice. Stage 2: Steamboat Springs to Arapahoe Basin (Tues., Aug. 18) – In its first year, the A Basin route will go from Rabbit Ears Pass, through Kremmling, around the Green Mountain Reservoir and then into Silverthorne and Dillon. The course then turns east for a grueling trek up Loveland Pass to Arapahoe Basin. Stage 3: Copper Mountain to Aspen (Wed., Aug. 19) – Another new spot on the Pro Challenge this year, Copper Mountain sends rac-
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See USA PRO on page 2
Brighton Blvd. – Soon To Be Friendlier for Bikes & Pedestrians By Keith Lewis
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he Brighton Boulevard Redevelopment Project is just taking off , and is in its initial design phase, but the ambitious project aims to modernize Denver’s trendiest thoroughfare by 2017. The project will be led by North Denver Cornerstone Collaborative (NDCC), Mayor Michael Hancock’s effort to coordinate a half dozen converging projects around River North Arts District (RiNo), Swansea, Globeville, and Elyria neighborhoods. NDCC hopes to eventually implement Mayor Hancock’s vision of a 23-mile long corridor of opportunity of mixed use, modern, and multimodal streets stretching from DIA to downtown. The redevelopment of the Brighton Blvd. corridor will be central to that dream. The project is only in its conception, but the plan is already an ambitious and exciting one for the thriving RiNo neighborhood. Construction is slated to begin by the end of 2015, with 2016 seeing the heaviest phase of construction. Completion is expected sometime during 2017. The overall aim is to transform Brighton Blvd. into “a gateway to Denver,” according to the City and County of Denver’s website. On completion, the redevelopment of the corridor will balance the often-competing interests of vehicles (including parking), pedestrians, cyclists, and environmental issues like water drainage. After the redesign, the road will reopen as a multimodal thoroughfare with pedestrian-friendly crosswalks, modern intersection signaling, dedicated bike lanes in both directions, left turn lanes, and off-street parking. One emerging dispute about the project became very apparent at the June 18 public meeting on the redevelopment plan for the area. Currently, Brighton Blvd. provides two travel lanes in each direction, but many want that reduced to only one lane in each direction in order to accommodate more walkability with larger sidewalks. A few also noted that wide travel lanes encourage faster driving, and thus interfere with the goal of creating a more pedestrian-friendly environment. Planners claim the current volume of heavy truck traffic See BRIGHTON on page 2
RACERS VIE FOR POSITION in last years USA Pro Challenge in Colorado, one of the most popular cycle races in the world. PHOTO BY JEFF HERSCH
KUVO Celebrates 30th Anniversary May the music play on! By Nancy Foster
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azz, often called one of America's original art forms, is abundant with colors, textures and sounds reflecting a zesty gumbo which reveal strong influences from Europe, Africa and Latin America, along with connections from our own nation's Native Americans. It's a lovely melange. Helping to support this with culture, community and music is KUVO, 89.3 FM, a radio station in Five Points that will celebrate its 30th anniversary August 29. The celebration has had several events throughout the years to honor a radio station
that has endured financial ups and downs, staff changes and a merger, but through it all has survived three decades offering listeners not only great music, but also a learning experience, no matter the genre. The station operates 24-7 with overnight jazz programming. KUVO got its start when a local group of Denver citizens interested in starting a radio station controlled by Latinos, had the opportunity to develop a station with the 89.3 FM call letters, but procrastinated for seven years, before steps were finally taken to move the project forward, according to Flo Hernandez-Ramos who served as
KUVO's leader, President and CEO beginning in 1985. Hernandez-Ramos, who hails from Lamar, is a University of Colorado-Boulder graduate and also attended law school there, but didn't finish. “I decided that I didn't really want to be a lawyer. And while I didn't have much media experience when we started the radio station, I learned, and honestly, it was the most fun 27 years I've had in my whole life,” said Hernandez-Ramos who is pintsized, good-humored and possesses a ton of energy. She was KUVO's chief executive officer for 23 years. “Before, I just had jobs to do the job and make money, but at KUVO I got up early, stayed late and it became a way of life, almost 24-hours a day,” she added. She recalled the early days of the station when they started making plans for the station at a See KUVO on page 4
PROPOSED DESIGN FOR BRIGHTON BOULEVARD BETWEEN 31ST AND 33RD. IMAGE SOURCE: CITY AND COUNTY OF DENVER.
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