Has Johnston 'solved' the newcomer crisis?

🚏A-Line Down This Weekend

If you’re headed to or from the airport this weekend, be prepared to hitch a ride other than the A-Line train which will be offline for maintenance from 2:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Saturday. [RTD]

• Bonus: Here are some other tips for navigating DIA efficiently. And if you’re going to be stuck there for a little while, why not do some exploring? [Hey Denver]

⛺ Sweep Scheduled for La Alma Lincoln Park Encampment

Next week, the City of Denver has scheduled the sweep of a homeless encampment that, according to the mayor, will be the first in six months that doesn’t also come with an offer of housing for the 140 residents who will be displaced. [Westword]

🏠 The Mayor’s New Newcomer Program

Mayor Mike Johnston is changing his approach to aiding new arrivals from Central and South America with a new program he’s calling the Denver Asylum Seeker Program. Shifting gears from an emergency response, the new strategy is to offer low-barrier resources to newcomers to help them establish their life in the U.S., such as six months of rent and food assistance. [Axios Denver]

🚒 Single Stair Apartments? Not in Denver

State lawmakers have axed a bill that would have allowed developers to construct apartment buildings up to five stories tall around a single stairway (rather than at least two stairways, as required by current building codes). Proponents claim the change could allow for higher density development, but the bill could not overcome staunch opposition from firefighters. [Denver Post]

Last week’s answer: Lakeside Amusement Park (which will open for the 2024 season in May!)

• This ticket booth at the historic Denver amusement park was designed by the late renowned local architect Richard Crowther. His repertoire of work across the Mile High has featured many recognizable structures throughout the decades, including the Golden Lantern restaurant, the White Spot Drive-In, the Esquire and Fox theaters, and perhaps most famously, the Cooper Cinerama. His touch can be seen all over Lakeside Amusement Park in the art-deco-meets-mid mod designs of the ride entrances. Crowther is also noted for pioneering solar architecture before it became the movement that is today.

👏 A round of applause for our quickest correct guessers:

• Tom G. was the first to write in with the correct answer!
• But Ben R., Heidi C., Ruth P., Mike, Jon E., and 17 others (!) weren’t far behind!

This Week’s Photo:

🕵️ Do YOU know know where to find this colorful fish mural? Be among the first to respond with the right answer and you’ll get a special shoutout in next Friday’s newsletter!

A special thanks to reader Colleen A. for sharing this pic! ✨

📸 Want to submit a photo? Send me a snapshot of somewhere in Denver, and I’ll consider it for an upcoming photo trivia segment!

Xcel's Big Fail, A $25K Facebook Block, and The ‘Chile Crunch’ Trademark

Former Denver school board member Auon’tai Anderson was recently embroiled in a lawsuit after he blocked a parent from his Facebook account, testing the lines between the right to privacy and freedom of speech. Similarly, local governments across the Front Range have set new limits on how and when they hear from the public, citing repeated instances of public-comment takeovers. Plus, Gov. Polis calls for a high-level investigation into Xcel Energy’s preemptive energy shut-off that left 55,000 metro Denver customers without power for days.