VOTER. Denver. Have a Great Summer! LWVUS Convention Highlights. We look forward to seeing all our members at the Kick-Off Meeting in September

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1 Denver VOTER League of Women Voters of Denver Summer Denver, CO Phone: Fax: LWVUS Convention Highlights On Thursday, June 16, twenty-four delegates from Colorado gathered before the first plenary session to strategize about spreading the word about the Behavioral Health Concurrence proposed by the League of Women Voters of Colorado under Barbara Mattison s steady guidance. We distributed buttons and fact sheets Thursday and Friday at strategic points, and we were surprised when President Elizabeth MacNamara called for the concurrence vote a day early on Friday, June 17. It passed with a resounding 463 to 186 vote, even higher than the 3/5 vote necessary! So Colorado s new Behavioral Health position is now available for advocacy use by the national League and any state or local League that needs it. Hooray! Here is the wording: Every U.S. resident should have access to affordable quality in- and out- patient behavioral health care, including needed medications and supportive services that is integrated with, and achieves parity with, physical health care. Other good news, especially for local Leagues is that the proposed per member payment (PMP) will remain at $32 for the next biennium. We also looked at the budget and there has been some belt-tightening because the U.S. League s investment portfolio was reduced considerably this past year due to the types of equities it held. The portfolio has been redirected, but it will take a while for it to fully recover. One casualty is League Easy Web (LEW), which the National League paid the California League to maintain. About a third of local Leagues use this platform for their website, so these Leagues will have to negotiate separately with LWVCA if they wish to continue. It would have cost about $80,000 to continue the LEW contract, and the LWVUS just could not find that money without raising the PMP by $2, a very unpopular alternative. One recommendation caught our attention: turn all Leagues into 501(c)(3) or tax-exempt organizations. If there are two organizations, a (c)(4) and a (c)(3), like Have a Great Summer! We look forward to seeing all our members at the Kick-Off Meeting in September Denver, the recommendation is to combine them. My first concern was that we would not be able to lobby or take action without the IRS taking the tax-exempt status away. However, up to 20% of expenditures can be used for action and lobbying, and volunteer lobby hours do not count towards this measurement. Since every League has a budget and knows where its expenditures go, it would be relatively easy to comply with this requirement. This plan has some definite advantages both legally and for applying for grants. Stimulating speakers gave us some insights about what is happening in this election cycle from what the apparent rise of authoritarianism might mean to how to engage millennials. We also had a serious discussion about how to refer to Hillary Clinton s candidacy while not supporting or opposing it. Since it is a major historic event, the League should celebrate a woman s candidacy for president, not Hillary s candidacy for president. As usual, convention, with the theme of Making Democracy Work for All, was a whirl of activities, networking, socializing and learning about what other states are doing. What an opportunity to carefully rethink where each of our Leagues is heading and why. Bobbie Heisterkamp LWVD Delegate

2 Denver VOTER, Summer Volume 2016, Issue #6 Periodicals postage paid at Denver, Colorado Denver VOTER (USPS ) Published twice in September and monthly October through June by: LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF DENVER Denver, CO Fax: info@lwvdenver.org A one-year subscription is included in annual membership dues. Director of Organization Marge Fisch Director of Program Marty Sloven Director of Communications Pearlanne Zelarney Secretary Carol Andersen Treasurer Catherine Decker Denver VOTER Editor Pearlanne Zelarney Denver VOTER Assistant Editor Marty Sloven Office Manager Heather Colliander Postmaster, please send address changes to: Denver VOTER LWV Denver Denver, CO State Council in Montrose Marge Fisch and I left the noise and chaos of Denver early on a May morning and four hours later we spotted the dramatic, snow-capped spires of the San Juan Mountains. After checking in, we headed to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison for a series of short hikes. Our attitudes had been properly and positively adjusted by the time the Colorado League's Council began the next day. The highlight of the Saturday sessions was the Making Democracy Work in Colorado presentations. Christina Mathey opened the session with a description of Jefferson County League's forum on Climate Change. Their League drew 170 people to the forum and managed to generate a discussion of more light than heat on this controversial topic. Ruth Nerenberg of the Pueblo League described their decision to address the local epidemic of heroin addiction. Their cause was compelling, their process during a series of three public forums was impressive, and their plan to address heroin addiction is being implemented. Finally, Mary Dietrich, of the Larimer County League, capped off the session by reviewing 30 years of the Cross Currents Community Video Program. Their commitment over a long period of time to providing vital information to their citizens through a pro/con panel discussion on many, many important topics was impressive. As the Council finished it was clear that making new friends, networking around programs and an outstanding natural environment made for a very successful two days. The only thing left to say about the state conference is Wonder, Wonder Wachara that is. This young woman of African heritage (who was brought to this country as a child) was the Keynote speaker on Saturday evening. Her articulate, compelling presentation addressed important issues facing the nation and League. She embodies civic engagement, thoughtfulness and commitment, boding well for the next generation and our country. Betsy Daniel Planning for Already has Begun Seventeen Leaguers attended the first planning session for the League year. Ideas were plentiful and varied, and we have a good list of topics to pursue at our next meeting. For our Kick-Off meeting in September we hope to focus on this unique election year. Details will follow, but we want to emphasize during the year the national League theme of Making Democracy Work. October will focus on ballot issues because we expect a large number of state issues and maybe as many as four Denver issues. Other topics we brainstormed about were Denver Public Schools, Gun Violence, Public Participation in Government, the Flood Plain plans, just to name a few. We have scheduled another meeting for Tuesday, July 19 at 1:00 p.m. in the League Office. All Leaguers are welcome. Marty Sloven, Director of Program Peggy Pitchford, Assistant

3 3 Denver VOTER, Summer 2016 The 2016 Annual Meeting drew the largest attendance we have seen in the last few years. The Park Hill Golf Course venue continues to be comfortable to our members. Peg Oldham introduced the keynote speakers Joe Wismann- Horther, Integration Partnership Coordinator for the Colorado Refugee Service Program, and Melissa Thessen, Managing Director of the African Community Center. They spoke on the Refugee Resettlement Process. Joe presented a historical background and some of the misconceptions about resettlement efforts. A persistent one is that refugees pose security risks. In fact, refugees must pass through a series of 17 steps aimed at ensuring that they will not pose a security risk to the United States, and biographic and biometric information is examined to confirm a refugee s identity. In 2016, Colorado Springs, Denver and Greeley will resettle about 1780 refugees; the national number is about 85,000. Melissa told us about We Made This, a selfsustainable sewing initiative, providing training and Annual Meeting 2016 Your Board economic opportunity to African refugees and operating through the African Community Center. Their products can be found at two locations in the Denver area. The business part of the meeting followed and if you were unable to attend, the reports of all the officers can be found online or at the office. Special awards to members were presented and can be found following this report. The Denver League History Committee, chaired by Jan Burns, updated us on the progress of the research being done towards the goal of a formal history on the Denver League. The report was concluded by a short song fest. You had to be there! The membership welcomed two new Board members, Andrea Mitchell and Glenda Prosser, while saying thank you to Marion Colliander, Betsy Kester and Cindy Sestrich for their years of service to the Board. Marge Fisch, Director of Organization Special Women of 2016 Jan Burns Rona Shor presented the Marty Sloven Mother Lode award to Jan for special effort and contributions during the past year. This honor was based on her active leadership in the Denver League History project that is updating the written history of our local League. She has doggedly pursued former League leaders for written information and for their oral histories. The group also spent rewarding hours of research in the Western History archives of the Denver Public Library. She previewed the update at the annual meeting and the group will present the printed report next year. Mary Werner The Shirley Weaver Suffragist Award for lifetime achievement was presented by Glenda Prosser to Mary for her many years of involvement in League activities. Mary was the secretary of the board for many years and also served as VP of Program. Recently, she worked on the Agricultural Study Committee. Mary labored with this committee studying, writing, presenting at briefings, field trips to the capital and urban farms. And last year Mary worked on the complex Constitutional Amendment committee. She is a team player, a consensus builder, and always there for us. And kudos to the Whiteman Unit both special women are members!

4 Denver VOTER, Summer On Monday, June 13, the Denver City Council considered a bill to increase the wastewater fee in order to make improvements to the city s drainage system. At least it was on the agenda for the meeting, but the discussion and the one-hour courtesy hearing didn t begin until 12:00 a.m. and ended at 2:30 a.m. Tuesday morning. Several Council members, as well as several speakers, asked that a decision on the fee increase be postponed until further information was available and questions that had been left unanswered could be addressed. Councilmember Espinoza, for example, had received new information from CDOT on the same day as the hearing that he was only able to very briefly discuss. Councilmembers Kashmann and Flynn also objected to both the lack of Raise your hand if you plan to vote on November 8. Now leave your hand up and volunteer to help with Voter Registration activities! National Voter Registration Day is September 27. Betsy Daniel, new member Jeanette Scotland, and I are planning to reach out to as many groups as possible to offer help with voter registration. So if you are active with an interest group, a church or synagogue, ask if you can announce or have printed a reminder about registering to vote. Call the office and leave a message or contact Betsy by to help with these efforts. Betsy and I also need two people to be trained by the Briefly Noted information and apparent discrepancies in it. They joined Councilmember Espinoza in voting no on the bill. The bill was approved by Councilmembers Herndon, Gilmore, New, Lopez, Susman, Brooks, Black, and Clark, with Councilmembers Ortega and Kniech absent. The hearing itself was not well attended, no doubt due to the lateness of the hour and the two-minute limit for individual speakers. Although these midnight hearings are not uncommon, it would seem a wise move for Council members to spend two minutes thinking about ways to quit holding hearings in the middle of the night. As one seasoned observer said, this is no way to run a government. Carol Andersen Voter Registration Update Election Division to be certified to help people register. It's easy to do, but we need someone to have a current certificate. And yes, LWVD, working with Inter-Neighborhood Cooperation and Denver 8, will telecast LIVE candidate forums for State House, two Denver-based State Senate Seats, and District Attorney. We'd love to have you organize a "watch" party as these tapings will not be open to the public. All forums will begin at 7:30 p.m. Look for more details in the September Voter. Nancy Ulrich & Betsy Daniel (betsy151@gmail.com) Voter Service Strong Sisters A total of 30 people attended a showing of the new documentary film Strong Sisters: Elected Women in Colorado on Channel 12. One of the directors, Laura Hoeppner, spoke before the movie began while Senator Lucia Guzman spoke following the film. Senator Guzman spoke about her early upbringing and the influence of her grandmother. Strong Sisters: Elected Women in Colorado tells the extraordinary story of elected women in Colorado. The compilation of oral histories from past and current female elected officials is the foundation for this documentary film. The showing was followed by a dessert bar hosted by Glenda Prosser and Marge Fisch. Senator Lucia Guzman and Laura Hoeppner Welcome New and Returning Members! Anne Duncan, 3030 Clermont Street, 80207, , anned47@msn.com Ali McCray, 2950 Albion St., 80207, , alimccray@aol.com Steve Nissen, 528 N. Pennsylvania Street, 80203, , pennissen@cs.com Kathleen Wells, 660 Humboldt Street, 80218, Kathleen.wells@case.edu

5 5 Denver VOTER, Summer 2016 We will all Participate in Creating Affordable Housing We will soon know the final details of the Mayor s proposals to fund the city s $150 million, 10-year plan to subsidize more affordable housing projects. The proposals, being prepared with analysis from David Paul Rosen & Associates, a consulting company from California, will include both development impact fees and a property tax hike. The housing-linkage fees will be collected upon permitting, based on total square footage of a new or remodeled commercial and residential building project. The more stable and distributed source will come from an increase in our property taxes, commercial and residential, up to 1 mill levy. The proposals will be presented at a July 21 public meeting at North High School. If passed by the council, both the fee and the tax would take effect in The nexus study, required before imposing an impact fee, analyzed data based on today's economy for the link between different types of new commercial and residential development and the need for housing they generate in the city by creating jobs. It looked at prototypes of existing projects from residential 2-story, single-family infill to 20-story multifamily rentals and commercial 5- story office buildings to warehouse space. Building a commercial building, such as a 74,000 sq. ft., 5 -story office building, would require 225 total employees with 91 Public mee ng on Affordable Housing Thursday, July 21, 6:00 8:00 p.m. North High School, 2960 Speer Blvd. Call for more informa on. Addi onal informa on on Affordable Housing has now been posted on the Office of Economic Development s website, including a new study on gentrifica on. employees living in Denver in 57 households. Of these employees, 40 are assumed to be earning under 120% AMI (average median income). This building is expected to produce an affordability gap of $4,255,434, which equates to $56.74 per gross square footage impact on Denver. Here are some other examples: 66,700 sq. ft. hotel -- $ ,000 sq. ft. retail space -- $ ,000 sq. ft. warehouse space -- $ ,000 sq. ft. manufacturing -- $29.57 Per square foot impact fees to help offset housing pressure were also developed for residential projects. For instance, building a 5-story, 224,100 sq. ft. residential building could produce an affordability gap of $4,712,416, which equates to a $23.66 per square foot impact fee. Other residential examples include: Single family project (2,800 sq. ft.) -- $9.60 Townhome (2,000 sq. ft.) -- $ story apartment building (975 sq. ft. avg. in 233 units) -- $ story rental building (747 sq. ft. avg. in 300 units) -- $ story rental building (810 sq. ft. avg. in 285 units) -- $21.37 Questions remain. How feasible are these fees and property tax increases? What will the developers tolerate in additional fees to get their projects built in Denver? Is this plan too modest in light of the need? Will the impact fee increase the costs of development and therefore the cost of housing in general in the city? Plan to attend the public hearing to find answers! Cindy Sestrich In Memoriam Our heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of Janis Falkenberg a long-time League member from the Cheesman unit who passed away in May. One of the more interesting accomplishments of the last legislative session was the re-establishment of an advisory committee to oversee the accountability and efficiency of CDOT s financial practices. The new advisory committee is to include a representative of a good government organization, like the League of Women Voters for example. It will also include four legislators, one in each party in both the House and the Senate, representatives of counties and municipalities, and other interested parties as well. Membership on the committee offers an opportunity to CDOT Advisory Committee better understand CDOT s use of its financial resources. Importantly, however, it s also an opportunity to share more widely CDOT s use of limited resources, allowing the public to become more involved in efforts to address statewide transportation needs in this period of rapid population growth. Interested parties should contact Andy Karsian, CDOT s legislative liaison (andy.karsian@state.co.us), for more information. Mr. Karsian anticipates that the committee will be formed this summer and will hold its first meeting early in the fall. Carol Andersen,

6 Denver VOTER, Summer Unit Meetings: A place for lively conversation! Look for the fall schedule here in the September VOTER and on our website. If you are not a unit member, consider visiting one or two meetings this fall. You re sure to be welcomed. Volunteer Opportunity Denver Commission on Aging This commission advises Mayor Hancock on issues affecting the 60+ community in Denver. The commission is seeking individuals with a passion for working on issues facing metro Denver s aging population. Applications are due by July 8. Contact information: Amanda.Gregg@DenverGov.org or Member Contact Changes Glenda Prosser, 8155 E. Fairmount Dr. #416, 80230, Andrea and Hall Skeen, 8300 Fairmount Dr. Unit V102, Janet Burns, 7390 W. Eastman Place, 80227, Patricia Horoschak, 350 S. Poplar Street, Help Us Find These Members We think they ve moved and we can t find them. Do you know where they are? Lois Schafer or Sheila Lehrburger Summer Office Hours Office hours for June and July will be flexible, though s and phone messages will be checked regularly. Regular hours, 9:00 a.m. 1:00 p.m., Monday through Thursday, will begin August 8. If you need to meet with Heather, make those arrangements directly with her. Any questions or problems, call Marge Fisch, Largest Bulb Order Ever! Thanks so much to all Leaguers who bought, sold, or donated to the bulb sale. We sold (with some significant help from Jefferson County League and Boulder County League) over $27,000 worth of flower bulbs. The last time we came close to that figure was 2001 when we sold over $26,000 worth of bulbs. We also had close to $400 donated to Beautify Denver and over $1600 donated directly to the Denver League. Because of last year s sale, we were able to pass a balanced budget at Annual Meeting without taking money from savings. Denver Leaguers really stepped up again. We had 52 sellers, which was also an increase. Special thanks to those who featured the sale on NextDoor.com, which meant they had to drive all around various neighborhoods and connect with customers they didn t even know. Special thanks to Ruth Cambier who helped set up the original sale and spreadsheets for the first sale in 1994 and who has continued doing the computer work for the sale ever since. Every single sale is important, but traditionally we recognize those who have totals over $200, and those sellers or donors are Carla Bennett, Twyla Boe, Ruth Cambier, Josephine Carpenter, Mary Ann Casey, Bonnie Clarke, Betsy Daniel, Catherine Decker, Mary Ann Feldman-Lang, Beth Kieft, Cindy Sestrich, Susan Stark, Margaret Velarde, and Mary Werner. Two Leaguers sold over $400 Marge Fisch and Rose Tanaka. Over $500 sellers include Sally Augden, Barbara Ann Ford, Paula Frease, Norma Heinz, Andrea Mitchell, Peg Oldham, and Nancy Ulrich. Over $800 sellers were Patty Cordova and Bobbie Heisterkamp. Pearlanne Zelarney and Sarah McCarthy sold over $1300, Marty Sloven over $3500. Finally the largest seller of this year s sale was our own office manager, Heather Colliander, who sold over $4000 worth of bulbs and got a new member in the process. Sarah McCarthy also wanted to acknowledge that over $500 of her sales were actually customers of the late Roberta Long-Twyman. Thanks again to everyone. Now we get to package close to 24,000 bulbs in October. We will need a crew for that for sure. Marty Sloven Bulb Sale Chair

7 7 Denver VOTER, Summer 2016 More LWVUS Convention Notes As convention was called to order, Jenny Lynn Moyer sang the Star Spangled Banner and the audience joined in. I found it a moving moment. We had excellent speakers on the topic of Protecting the Right To Vote and Expanding the Electorate. Kristen Clark, National Lawyers Committee President, spoke about how in 2013 the Voting Rights Act was gutted allowing states to pass new restrictive voter registration laws. Georgia s effort was pointed out as particularly egregious. Arturo Vargas, Executive Director of National Association of Elected Latino Officials, spoke about how Latino voters are being kept from voting. His organization estimates that up to 15 million Latino voters are being kept from the polls in Florida, Colorado and Nevada. Christine Chen, Executive Director of APIAVote, representing Asian & Pacific Islanders, spoke of language challenges, among others. Colorado Leaguers at Convention And, as is well know, voters in the District of Columbia have no representation in Congress. Nancy Ulrich, LWVD Delegate Members, offer this application to friends and neighbors! League of Women Voters of Denver Denver, CO JOIN LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS NOT FOR WOMEN ONLY! Name(s) Address City Zip Phone (H) (W) (C) ANNUAL DUES: (for Denver, State & National) Regular member... $60.00 Two residing at same address... $90.00 Sustaining member... $ Two sustaining members at same address... $ Student... $25.00 CONTRIBUTIONS: To LWV Denver... To Dues Assistance Fund... $ $ Make check payable to LWV Denver. (Dues are not tax-deductible. Tax-deductible contributions may be made by separate check to LWVD Education Fund.) THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT! TOTAL ENCLOSED $

8 League of Women Voters of Denver Denver, CO Periodical Postage Paid in Denver LWVD History Committee The members of the History Committee are proudly wearing suffrage sashes. The colors are from the early suffrage movement and have the following meaning: Purple The royal cause for which we strive White The purity of the home Gold The golden crown of victory Jan Burns, Betsy Kester, Barbara Ann Ford, Lorie Young, Rona Shor, and Bobbie Heisterkamp.