“Downtown is far from being dead”
Re: “Cherry Creek is thriving while other commercial districts are struggling,” April 8 business story
I have shopped and lived in Downtown — BCC and ACC [before and after the Cherry Creek shopping area]. The reopening of Cherry Creek eviscerated the downtown retail clothing and housewares market and replaced it with the generic “high-end” mall experience. The pandemic made the experience both in downtown and the mall worse.
A lot of us urban Denver dwellers have chosen online shopping rather than having to return to The Cherry Creek zoo. We reject the image of our neighborhood being awash in crime and homelessness. The homeless were here when we displaced them with our upscale condominiums. We just keep displacing them.
In the meantime, we can safely walk to the grocery stores, hardware store, dentist, dry cleaner, theaters, sports venues, restaurants, and art museums — and never get in the car. The city is slowly encouraging unique retail venues to recreate the vitality of a BCC Downtown and bring a less generic Cherry Creek North-like vibe downtown. Also, the light rail has allowed us to visit other neighborhood malls easily. Downtown is far from being dead and we happily have alternatives to Cherry Creek when we want them.
As for shopping in “The Creek,” it would be more attractive if we still had the bus service that linked downtown with the mall. In the late ’60s, when our family came to Denver to shop, we would visit both downtown and the Cherry Creek Mall. It wasn’t either-or. It shouldn’t be today, either.
A. Lynn Buschhoff, Denver
Fraudulent election fraud claims
Re: “Trump supports embattled House speaker at Mar-a-Lago,” April 13 news story
It would appear U.S. House Speaker Michael Johnson and former President Donald Trump are teaming up to spread long ago, debunked falsehoods. The 2020 election was not stolen; Trump’s own election integrity staff and his attorney general have stated there was no discernible fraud as was alleged, and it was one of the cleanest elections seen.
Also, the United States of America was not founded as a Christian nation. Nowhere in our founding documents is the term “Christianity“ seen. It would be more fair to say that our founding fathers were Deists, who believed in a creator, no matter what their personal religion was. It is scary to think what would happen if these two were allowed to team up starting in 2025, given their worship of falsehoods.
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John W Thomas, Fort Collins
Hope for Larimer County air
As a representative of the Larimer Alliance for Health, Safety, and Environment, I wholeheartedly support House Bill 1330, which aims to address our dire air quality issues in Larimer County. With an “F” grade in ozone from the American Lung Association, we are in crisis. Science, including findings from the Front Range Air Pollution and Photochemistry Experiment, has shown that emissions from oil and gas facilities are a primary culprit of our unhealthy air, particularly when combined with regional airflow patterns that transport pollution into our county.
HB 1330 is a beacon of hope for not just Larimer County but all of Colorado. It promises a shift towards honest emission assessments, acknowledging the significant cumulative impacts of so-called minor sources. By requiring new emissions to be offset, it introduces a practical approach to reducing pollution and, crucially, offers better protection for communities directly impacted by air pollution.
The oil and gas industry must prioritize the health of our environment and communities over lobbyists and advertising. Supporting HB 1330 is supporting the health and well-being of every resident in Colorado.
Doug Henderson, Larimer County
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