🔦 Will Xcel shut off your power again?

🌷 Flowers Returning to Civic Center Park

When Mayor Mike Johnston announced city budget cuts earlier this year, park garden beds were one of the first things to get the ax. But rather than face a completely flowerless Denver this spring, volunteers with one local nonprofit are taking it upon themselves to plant fresh blooms at Civic Center Park. [Westword]

• Get involved: Sign up to help with planting!

⚖️ Auon’tai Anderson’s Latest Lawsuit

Denver Public Schools paid $25,000 to settle a lawsuit involving former DPS board member Auon’tai Anderson. The lawsuit claims Anderson violated one parent’s right to free speech after he blocked her from his Facebook page. Although Anderson may have been within his legal rights per new rules set by the U.S. Supreme Court, DPS chose to settle the matter “to avoid additional costs associated with litigation.” [Denver Post]

🤝 Collective Bargaining for City Workers

A group of Denver city council members is proposing a charter amendment that would allow most city employees collective bargaining rights. Currently, only select positions — teachers, firefighters, police — have the right to unionize. This change, if approved by Denver voters, would extend the opportunity to almost everyone else, like library staff and parks and rec employees. [Denverite]

📉 Denver’s Population Decline

Denver’s population has been declining in recent years. But the story’s a little more complicated than people just choosing to move away — housing, aging, and a fluctuating labor force paint a complex picture of who we are. [City Cast Denver 🎧]

💙 Autism Awareness Month

Following a recent Hey Denver article about Autism Awareness Month, Andrea C. shared some important context about an organization that was mentioned:

• “Autism Speaks is widely regarded by the autistic community as harmful. They promote eugenicist ideas and do not involve the voices of autistic people in any of their advocacy. There are many organizations that are doing great work that center autistic folks in their advocacy. Autistic Self Advocacy Network is a great organization that has autistic people leading the organization.”

🌳 Callery Pear Trees

We are (thankfully) not the only ones who think these trees STINK. Some people go so far as to compare the stench to a, um, certain bodily fluid…

• Neil P. says: “I thought the smell was from a type of oak tree. Thanks for clarifying.”
• Erika adds: “I thought I was the only one! Maybe not everyone can smell them? Like cilantro??? Thank you for sharing this so I can stop thinking it’s just my nose!”
• Logan K. confirms: “It's true, I was a maintenance man at a property that has tons of Callery pear trees… It was like there were orgies happening in the parking lots all night.”

😋 Denver’s Best Nachos

City Cast Denver producer Olivia Jewell Love recently asked for some local nacho recommendations:

• One anonymous listener suggests El Tequileño on 64th and Ward in Arvada: “BEST NACHOS EVER!! Nachos Deluxe with pork carnitas. One order serves two people a hearty meal. Paired with a Cadillac Marg … HEAVEN.”
• David K. says: “I like the nachos at Happy Camper. They’re huge!”
• Kevin N. is shouting out the soon-to-reopen Vine Street Pub’s nachos: “Very much the pile-on kind, with great veggie and meaty options, if memory serves.”

Is Denver’s Population in Decline?

Denver’s always been a boom-and-bust town — so are we in the midst of another bust? Data shows our population is trending downward, but there’s a complex picture within the numbers. Colorado’s state demographer digs into what housing affordability, an aging workforce, and John Denver all have in common when it comes to our populace declining.