Snowy May 1, 2013
...the shooting...that resulted in the injury of an 8-year-old may involve an altercation between rival taggers... ...a known...tagger...had shot at another tagger before. A female passenger told responding officers...that she "has enemies" as well. An attendee asked for...help with ongoing graffiti that she believes is retaliatory as her husband is a city employee. ...the homicide at Denny's...there doesn't appear to be any relationship between the victim and the suspects. An attendee asked about...a suspected gang house... An attendee...reported...a complaint of a homeless woman camping out on the attendee's front porch... - Nextdoor Westwood (neighborhood social network)
Before I read this, I rolled past that Denny's with a bus load of passengers at 5:30 am. All we saw were five police cars in the parking lot.
It's the Friday before Cinco de Mayo. I am on a bus to work a half day shift. We are rolling past places such as a prep school where the students study Greek antiquities. There are two women on the bus with a child in a stroller. One is looking at her phone. It sounds as though either she or they all are looking for another place to live. Every minute, she asks the other woman where this or that street is, as if she has never heard of them. The streets which she is rattling off are locations all over the greater metro area. Some of the streets to which appear to mean nothing to her are a significant part of my past two decades here in the big city. I am spending an hour before work in a neighborhood shopping center; having lunch at a place which makes handmade pizzas, with a grocery with products "direct from farm to market". It's a feel good place full of dreams of sustainability. Both the city mayor and the governor would love this place, with their own visions of a "world class city". I can feel the distance here from my own neighborhood, a world away from the yogurt shop here with its kids in little league uniforms. Every time that I am here, staring at the homes and lawns, it brings back memories of growing up in places just like this. I try to imagine where the two women grew up; where the child will grow up...
I think it's the next day. I get off the bus home and decide to walk home. I pass a medical marijuana dispensary. A woman is outside washing out a plastic bin. She has long blonde dreadlocks.
On another day, I am waiting for a bus for the short ride home, down the street. Down the sidewalk comes a guy in clothes which appear new. His head looks like a red-brown tomato with hair on it. He sits down after a bit of difficulty being able to tell where the bench is. After a minute, as if from a TV script, he says in slurred speech, "Hey buddy, can you spare any change?" When I say no, on cue, tomato-head is on his way. On another day after this, I am on a train to work. On an interior panel is an advertisement. It reads, Change Happens Here. In the foreground of a photo is a man with a grey beard. Next to him are a line of young people. Everyone is in caps and gowns. It strikes me that this ad is implying that the man in the foreground either is or recently was homeless. The "Here" in this ad is the Denver Rescue Mission. It's asking me to donate my car. To help the homeless get a degree? I have no car to donate, but I do have an MFA. And a couple of drycleaning certificates. On the train, a beautiful young woman is looking at her reflection in the window, mirrored by the inside lights against the pre-dawn sky. She checks her makeup, removes her beret and tosses her hair. On a packed bus home, I sit next to a guy with a grey beard, and a tattoo on his neck as so many others I see. I wonder if the tattoo is recent.
The following day, I am on a bus home in a neighborhood across town from where I live. The majority of passengers appear to be both African-American and high school students. I hear a young woman behind me who is white. She asks one of the students if she can ask her some questions as a part of her own studies to become a teacher. Sure. What grade is she in? Ninth. What's her favorite subject? Math. "That's cool. No one likes math." Are there teachers who you love, or one who leave you just feeling dejected? She's lost her. "Do you have any teachers who don't suck?" Before I head home, I grab some Chinese food from across the street. A local regular drunk is panhandling by the front door. I remember watching several people getting on a bus he was on, as they were telling him how sorry they were that his sister had passed away. He's wearing a T-shirt which reads "dogs rule". As he often does, he talks to a dog on the other side of a fence. On a connecting bus is a young woman talking to a guy behind her, telling him stories about her life which sound as though they were former mole hills which she is speaking about with much ado. It sounds as though she is trying to come off as street wise, making dramatic expressions with her face. She sounds as though she is from the sticks. If she hadn't gotten off at the next stop, this would have been a long ride. Sitting across from them is a young guy with hair I can only describe as a combover with everything shaved off except the combover. He is wearing a hoodie with a crude drawing on the back, of a boom box from decades ago.
It's before 5 am on a Friday morning. There are a couple of guys at the train station who appear to be on their way to work. One guy is coughing, and the other is prattling about his life, which includes drunks asking him for money. His voice is echoing around the train station on this quiet morning. "I was there myself, I was drunk, I didn't want to face responsibility." After they get on a train, a regular train came down the track, hauling bodies of airliners. After work, I am back at the same train station. There is a middle-aged guy sitting on a silver chopper bicycle. Five Ethiopian teenaged girls come along and sit on a bench, next to the guy on his bike. They are dressed in colorful robes and all speaking their native tongue. On a bus with others listening to the scene, I hear someone remark, "You're in America; speak English." The guy is going back and forth with his bike on the platform...
The next morning is the day before Mother's Day. Shortly after 5 am, I am coming back from the deathburger. I glance at the entrance sign for a Diary Queen across the street. It's in the shape of a big ice cream cone. For a split second, it looks from the side as if it is a statue of the Virgin Mary. Less than a half an hour ago, I walked out of my front door and immediately heard someone across a street arguing. It turned out to be two drunks, each with an open beer can. One was telling the other loudly to "mind your own business." (Perhaps the other was telling him to quit drinking, and he didn't want advice from another drunk. Where is Shakespeare when I need him?) The two part company quickly, yet none too soon. A couple of young women in party dresses at a gas station across the street are fueling their SUV. They are doing so pensively.
...I saw my neighbor chasing two girls down the alley...having caught them peeing. ...a young man... We...found... peeing on the side of the house... Then while we were talking to him, a man...we...found...peeing on the side of a garage, and he ran off as we approached. ...a police car arrived, we pointed to...another man...peeing, and they...gave him a ticket for consumption of alcohol (he was carrying his beer can)...asserting his right to pee. - Washington Park Profile, May 2013
...from Harvey Park The house...gets tagged almost weekly... I...have tried to catch the kids in the act, but have stopped smoking so I am not out front as often as I was. - Nextdoor Westwood
...there are a ton of people who would do their own little dance if they never heard another note ring through their town or neighborhood. ...in Boulder last month...a...quiet outdoor barbecue and live show...was shut down due to neighborhood complaints. ...going through a small battle within its town board that could shut down music festivals and many other gatherings for good in that burg. From an economic perspective alone, it's not a very bright idea. That wasted dude who pissed in a resident's garden? He'll be under that guy's skin until the festival goes away. The town conservatives who whiffed a bit of pot in the air? They won't be happy until they "Save the Children" by shutting it down. - The Marquee, 5/13
On Mother's Day, I decide to spend a few minutes cleaning up a six-year-old pile of dirt, as well a throw away some junk from my basement. As I am carrying the refuse out to the dumpster in my parking lot, I hear more arguing directly across the street. Two men are at the far corner of a building, in the alley. One is changing his shirt as he sounds agitated about I know not what. When I get back from celebrating Mother's Day, with my mom and sister in the car, the drunk panhandler who lives down the street appears to be holding himself upright by holding onto my fence with both hands. He is there with three teenagers who live in my complex. A police car comes and stops in the entrance to my place. It appears as though the officer is asking him some questions. The guy sits on the ground. He looks worse than I have ever seen him, bloodshot and swollen eyes. He lives with a woman who may be his mom. This is how he spends Mother's Day?
The next day, I get of a bus and am walking home. I hear someone yelling. I recognize a local drunk, who I see yelling at a woman walking ahead of him. He is walking parallel to her through a field. He has a fresh cut over his right eye, which is bleeding down the side of his face so much that it makes his right eye appear as if it is gone. When he comes out from behind the side of a building, he is suddenly joined by a teenager. They appear to know each other, and the teen is helping him walk. A half hour later, I see the pair across the street, pretending to fight with each other. The following week, I am at a bus stop, waiting to catch a bus home. There is a middle-aged woman selling bus transfers. She has several in her hand. She makes a sale to a young man with tattoos and no shirt on.
...slum dwellers who wake up to neatness and order are much more likely to keep it that way. - Steinem
I am downtown after work, to grab a new bus pass. I'm now on a train which is waiting to depart downtown. I am looking out of the window at a homeless guy sitting on a concrete base. He appears to be without belongings and not in a hurry to go anyplace. He sits in a simple T-shirt, not watching anyone or anything. In the time it takes me to eat half of a leftover hamburger, the guy is surrounded by three transit security personnel, and a supervisor. In a sweater. When the train gets going, a couple of young white men get on. A guy wit tattoos and a tank top is talking to a shorter, quieter guy who appears more as a student. The first guy says something to the other, about, "having a baby at 13 or 14. Your life is effed-up. I mean, that's the nicest thing to say about it." He is looking at a newspaper or something, when he mentions that Alice Cooper and Marylin Manson are coming to town. "A real freak show, huh?" he asks the other guy. At the next stop, transit security gets on to check fares. Both of these guys had no clue that they needed to pay fares before getting on. This is their first time on the train. The first guy thought that transit security were fare collectors. The following morning, I am up with the dawn patrol at the deathburger. At the counter is a middle-aged guy in an NFL cap, a hoodie with the name of a high school followed by "seniors" on the back, and untied sneakers. On the bus, we roll past a guy curled up right in the middle of the sidewalk. The driver puts the bus in park, steps out to ask the guy, "Sir, are you okay?" before coming back on to say, "He's alive, so we're all good."
THE BIG SHIFT: Low Inventory Levels, High Demand...
The 2013 real estate market is in full swing, and it is clear we are continuing the steady recovery that began early last year. Denver, The Mile High City continues to be recognized by the national media outlets as one of the premier cities for several different metrics (arts, cultural center, theater, transportation, employment, housing, 300+ days of sunshine,access to the resort markets, scenery).
There is No Place in America Quite Like The Mile City
Denver appeals to everyone from the young in years t the young at heart. Denver is truly a mile above and beyond mainstream American cities.
Live the perfect day, every day.
...dedicated to finding the most qualified tenants for property owners in order to maximize their income and help maintain and grow property values.
...a vibrant community that offers the benefits of city living and the pleasures of suburban and semi-rural life in beautiful and well-kept neighborhoods.
...electronic Lutron System throughout...elevator, six zoned heating and air conditioning...his and her offices, children's computer room, ice-melt system for the entire driveway, SSI German keyless access system...auto-wash bay in the garage...eleven bathrooms and 10-car subterranean vault garage.
.....among the ten wealthiest suburbs in the country. Here, it has been said, "gravel roads are a matter of deliberate choice rather than a lack of funds." ...raise a family, start a career, retire, run a business, enjoy lunch with friends. - The Gallery - Issue 2 2013
...she was, I told her, the only person I'd ever met, including myself, who liked everything written about them. There was a flicker of annoyance... ...she was never bored... She had worked her way through college, tried to be an actress... The woman in history she most admires...is Mrs. Eisenhower. "Because she meant so much to young people." I was in college during the Eisenhower years, I told her, and I didn't think Mrs. Eisenhower had any special influence on youth. ...she said..."I never had time to think about...who I wanted to be, or who I admired, or to have ideas. ...I...talked with people and learned all their funny little customs. Now, I have friends in all the countries of the world. I haven't just sat back and thought of myself or my ideas or what I wanted to do. Oh, no, I've stayed interested in people. ...the minute I sit down, I write my thank-you notes. I'm not like all you...all those people who had it easy." - in her phrase, "glamour boys," or "buddy-buddy boys" in (her husband's) - would somehow pull gracefully ahead of them in spite of all "their work." - Steinem
It's mid-week at the end of May. I am out the door to work at 5 am. Across the street, I see the panhandler who lives in a house a block away. He's the one who was blind drunk next to my fence on Mother's Day. This morning, he is across the street at a liquor store. I watch him move something away from the front door before he tries to open it. Is he surprised that the front door of a liquor store is locked at 5 am.? He tried a second door, also locked. He lights a cigarette and turns to face the street, standing in the parking lot. On my way up the street, a guy goes by on a ten speed. In the distance, I hear a "fuck you!"
Denver Police District 4 Commander's Meeting Minutes - 5.29/13
A police officer reported a tagger vandalizing property down the street from where I live. ...the tagger...threw spraypaint cans at the officer, who chased the tagger for about 6 blocks - even with 20 lbs of equipment...with the assistance of a civilian... ...the suspect confessed to some 46 tagging incidents and provided "very good information" on other members of the...tagging crew (about 20 members). The officer received a hearty round of applause. ...the problem hooka [sic] lounge...is closing (yea!), but looking to relocate somewhere else in District 4 (boo!) ...Officers have not seen the woman reported to have been camping on various front porches... ...the lockdown of a middle school was the result of a problem ex-student...posting threats on her facebook [sic] page. ...the student had been...arrested. An officer recovered a kilo...of crystal meth... Officers investigated...defrauding a senior, uncovering tens of thousands of dollars...
...cultural...transformations are typically preceded by...alienation...mental illness, violent crime, and...religious cultism...essential steps in the development of civilizations. - The Turning Point, Fritjof Capra, 1982
"A luxury in disguise"
It's the middle of the week. I am preparing to cross the street at another 5 am. With me, I've just noticed, is a woman who rode the bus the short distance up the street with me. She is in slacks and a Hawaiian print blouse. She asks me if I am going across the street. This is the first time in my life that anyone has asked me this. I say, "yeah." We both cross, and I go to and from the deathburger. At the stop across the street, I can see that she is back on the other side of the street, taking tenacious steps down the street. She sits down at a bus stop over there, and the bus comes by and picks her up. The following day, I am a bus home after a ten hour day at work, with a young couple talking to each other about spending time in jail. She is doing most of the talking, about how good it feels to be out. He says that this is the first Spring he has been out of jail, since he doesn't say when. She says, "I'm wearing my own clothes, my own underwear. It's a luxury in disguise."
