An ambitious plan to revitalize one of Denver’s poorest neighborhoods displaced 1,000 people. Fewer than 20% have returned as rebuilding drags on.
Sun Valley
Posted inColoradans, Education, Environment, Equity, News, Outdoors
Plastic hippos are out. Colorado playgrounds are getting a more natural makeover.
Before 2016, Grant Frontier Park was touted as a place where prospectors first discovered gold in the South Platte River near Denver. No one seemed to care. “I never saw anyone in the park,” Gordon Robertson, director of planning design and construction at Denver Parks and Recreation Department, said of the three-block long park that […]
Posted inEconomy, Growth, Health, Housing, News
One of Denver’s poorest, most diverse neighborhoods was a food desert. Until now.
When Selena Ramirez was growing up, shopping for groceries was an hours-long ordeal that involved riding the city bus miles away with her mom and little brother and lugging home bags of food. On days when that was too much, they bought instant noodles or Hot Pockets at the 7-Eleven on Federal Boulevard, the only […]
Posted inEnvironment, Health, News
There’s a shady (and leafy) divide between Denver’s whiter, wealthier neighborhoods and everyone else
Summer days are for shady strolls down a tree-lined street and picnics under a canopy of leaves. But how many trees — and how much shade — a person can find in their neighborhood might depend on how rich it is. Not everyone has equal access to trees and the endless benefits they provide, especially […]
Posted inEnvironment, Health, Outdoors, Water
To bridge the cultures of Mexico’s border region and a neglected Colorado neighborhood, just add water
SAN LUIS RIO COLORADO, MEXICO — Under the red girders of a nondescript toll bridge, waves gently lapped coarse sands in a gritty corner of this northwestern Mexican border city. “There is usually no water and vegetation, and the ground looks like this,” local conservationist Alejandra Calvo-Fonesca said, gesturing toward the dusty shoreline of the […]
Posted inColoradans, Growth, News, Politics and Government
As development plans flood Denver’s poorest neighborhood, fear of gentrification lingers
Carolyn Chavez has called Denver’s Sun Valley neighborhood home for 66 years. It’s where she raised six children, and eventually, five of her 10 grandchildren. For decades, she watched friends and family move elsewhere; neighborhood children go off to college or fall into the grips of addiction. She was there when the new Mile High […]