City Cast Denver

Way back in 2018, the theater wizards behind Control Group Productions started dreaming about what it might feel like to live in a not-so-distant future Denver wrecked by climate change. Then the pandemic came along and, as they say, “helped with that.” This weekend, they are premiering The End, an immersive bus tour of our local culture and ecology — just, you know, a heck of a lot drier, meaner, and set in that imagined future. City Cast producer and resident theater buff Lizzie Goldsmith got a sneak peek behind the scenes of The End, talking with cast members Caroline Sharkey and Krista Zozulia. Today on the show, she brings us along for an early preview of the apocalypse.Producer Paul Karolyi mentioned Denver’s public pools and the application to become a lifeguard. Please share it far and wide so our public pools can stay open longer!Looking for a good way to help stave off climate catastrophe? Peyton Garcia takes a look at lawn replacement and native plant alternatives in today’s CCD newsletter: https://denver.citycast.fm/newsletter/Hang out with us on Twitter @citycastdenverLearn more about the sponsors of this episode: Denver Film presents Film on the Rocks CU Boulder’s Master of Arts in Journalism Entrepreneurship  Looking to advertise on City Cast Denver? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads at citycast.fm/advertise Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s no secret — Denver’s a car-centric place. But it doesn’t have to be! Today on the show, we’re bringing you a conversation with transit advocates and experts about what we could do differently when it comes to embracing multiple modes of getting around, while keeping equity and the climate in mind. Host Bree Davies is joined by Marcus Robinson, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Ride for Racial Justice; Grace Rink, Chief Climate Officer for the City of Denver; and Skyler McKinley, Regional Director for Public Affairs at AAA. The conversation recorded in front of a live audience as part of the Transportation Solutions Foundation’s annual Road Ahead conference, which took place yesterday at the Denver Botanic Gardens. Fill your long weekend with all sorts of cool stuff to do using our handy dandy events round-up in today’s City Cast Denver newsletter. Read and subscribe: https://denver.citycast.fm/newsletter/Just a note: We’re out for Memorial Day, so you won’t see a new podcast or newsletter until next Tuesday!On Twitter: @citycastdenverLooking to advertise on City Cast Denver? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads at citycast.fm/advertise Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

During World War II, the U.S. government incarcerated more than 10,000 Americans of Japanese descent at a concentration camp smack in the middle of desolate, hardscrabble southeast Colorado. It’s an ugly chapter in American history that has, in the last few years, been subject to renewed interest and attention from archaeologists, historians and, most recently, horticulturalists. Colorado Public Radio’s Ryan Warner has been following a surprisingly heartwarming story to come out of this dark time. Today, he sits down with Host Bree Davies to talk through the legacy of Camp Amache, the story of the Amache rose, and what it has meant to at least one survivor.For more on the story, check out Warner’s original story and his update from earlier this week. Also, stay tuned to the end of this episode for a note from Bree on our recent episode about Denver’s new concealed carry ban. We are heartbroken by the mass killing at an elementary school in Texas earlier this week. In our newsletter today, Peyton Garcia has got a bunch of links to help if you want to help out or get involved: https://denver.citycast.fm/newsletter/. Join us on Twitter: @citycastdenverLearn more about the sponsors of this episode:Denver Film presents Film on the Rocks Looking to advertise on City Cast Denver? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads at citycast.fm/advertise Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If there’s anything constant about Denver, it’s change. Recently, Host Bree Davies was driving down Colfax and noticed that a lot of things about her favorite street in the city were in flux. Block after block, recognizable buildings were now holes in the ground; other familiar parts of the built environment had been fenced off; and many beloved businesses were closed. Bree took her woes online and Frank Locantore, Executive Director of the Colfax Ave Business Improvement District, reached out with an offer — a tour of the strip by foot, to offer a different perspective on the block-by-block transformation in progress. Today on the show, Frank, Bree, and producer Paul Karolyi wander together and talk about what the street has been up to and why we should be embracing the Colfax of the future. For more on the long-awaited Colfax bus rapid transit system — or BRT — discussed in this episode, check out all the details on the City of Denver’s website.Bree mentioned the sexual assault allegations against jam band promoter and notorious dingdong Jay Bianchi. Here’s our episode about those allegations from last summer.Remember a couple years back when Denver nearly tore itself apart over the effort to cull our flocks of geese and use the fowl to help feed families in need? Peyton’s got an update on how that’s been going: https://denver.citycast.fm/newsletter/We are on Twitter: @citycastdenverLearn more about the sponsors of this episode: Denver Film presents Film on the Rocks Optimum Joy Looking to advertise on City Cast Denver? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads at citycast.fm/advertise Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Starting on June 17, Denverites registering a phone number might get a new area code: 983. Yes, it can spell W-T-F, but that’s not what’s got people talking. Old Denver heads are proud of their 303 and, to a lesser extent, 720 area codes! So host Bree Davies (720), producer Paul Karolyi (614), and newsletter writer Peyton Garcia (720) are wading into the messy native/transplant conversation and uncovering some neighborhood history along the way. In the newscast, we mentioned the latest developments in the creation of the Office of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives. Check out our episode with Raven Payment from last month for more of that backstory.The Avs’ playoff run is getting ugly, but the worst of it is playing out off-ice. Paul has the latest on the racist threats made against Avs center Nazem Kadri in today’s newsletter: https://denver.citycast.fm/newsletter/We're also on Twitter @citycastdenver!Learn more about the sponsor of this episode: Denver Film presents Film on the RocksLooking to advertise on City Cast Denver? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads at citycast.fm/advertise Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Denver City Council voted last week to ban the concealed carry of guns in city buildings and parks, with the goal of making these areas “gun-free” zones, according to City Attorney Kristin Bronson. But Anubis Heru, co-founder of 1770 Armory and Gun Club in Five Points, doesn’t think that’s the answer to the problem of rising gun violence. Today on the show, he talks with Bree about racial profiling, the importance of gun training and education, and why he thinks concealed carry in parks especially actually keeps people safer.Did this weekend’s snowstorm wreak havoc on any trees in your yard? If so, you’ll want to check out today’s newsletter, where Peyton has the details on getting those branches included in your trash pickup this week: https://denver.citycast.fm/newsletter/What’s your take on the concealed carry ban? Let us know on Twitter: @citycastdenverLearn more about the sponsor of today’s episode:Optimum JoyLooking to advertise on City Cast Denver? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads at citycast.fm/advertise Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Stan Kroenke-owned Colorado Avalanche are tearing up the NHL playoffs, but the billionaire tycoon still won’t make a deal with Comcast to allow most Denverites to watch. Now, Kroenke wants to tear up the parking lots around Ball Arena in favor of a brand-new 55-acre downtown neighborhood — which could mean some downtown Denverites would lose their views of the mountains. So today on the show, host Bree Davies, producer Paul Karolyi, and Westword editor Patty Calhoun are pulling back the curtain and talking about all the things Mr. Kroenke doesn’t want you to see.We talked more about the new Pueblo-themed bar at the beginning of this episode, including John Rodriguez’s op-ed for Westword. Here’s a link to that piece: https://www.westword.com/restaurants/pueblo-appropriation-brand-fuel-iron-colorado-14042148Wanna pack your weekend with fun stuff? Peyton’s got you covered in the City Cast Denver newsletter. Read and subscribe: https://denver.citycast.fm/newsletter/Tell us your hope and dreams for what the sea of parking lots around Ball Arena could be on Twitter: @citycastdenverLearn more about the sponsors of this episode: Denver Film presents Film on the Rocks Optimum Joy Looking to advertise on City Cast Denver? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads at citycast.fm/advertise Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When we heard about a new bar opening in downtown Denver themed after the city of Pueblo, we were skeptical, to say the least. Who would want to theme a bar after a Colorado town? Would this place make a mockery of our southern Colorado cousin? And really, how could you even capture the essence of such a misunderstood and overlooked place like Pueblo, anyway? Host Bree Davies wanted answers, and she knew just who to call: her best friend, David Casados, a born and raised Puebloan. Today on the show, Bree, David, and producer Paul Karolyi head down to Fuel & Iron in the heart of LoDo to sip on a fancy cocktail named after the Pueblo neighborhood of Aberdeen, dig into a version of Pueblo’s famous “slopper,” and try to figure out if this place is legitimately Pueblo. At the top of the show, we mentioned John Rodriguez’s editorial in Westword about the bar: https://www.westword.com/restaurants/pueblo-appropriation-brand-fuel-iron-colorado-14042148Fuel & Iron’s owners response to that editorial: https://www.westword.com/restaurants/pueblo-denver-fuel-future-investment-opinion-14087932Check out our newsletter, where today, the City Cast Denver crew shares their hottest takes on Denver’s new area code. Read and subscribe: https://denver.citycast.fm/newsletter/Are you a Puebloan living in Denver? Tell us what you miss about your home city on Twitter: @citycastdenverLooking to advertise on City Cast Denver? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads at citycast.fm/advertise Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Styler Rising opened Metamorphosis Fitness in 2015, they focused on creating a place that embraced exercise, strength, and transformation. But what Styler didn’t realize was that they were also providing something else — a safe, queer-affirming gym environment. So, the fitness business went through a transformation of its own, and things really took off after a TikTok about the gym went viral. Today on the show, Bree talks with Styler about all the work they have done to create a cool, welcoming place for all bodies who want to get fit.Want to own 800 pounds of prime Denver history? Bree’s got an exclusive lead on a very interesting opportunity in our newsletter today: https://denver.citycast.fm/newsletter/What do you love most about your gym? We’ll share all the local love on Twitter: @citycastdenverLooking to advertise on City Cast Denver? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads at citycast.fm/advertise Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the waning hours of their 2022 legislative session, the Colorado General Assembly finally reached a compromise on a bill meant to stop the spike in fentanyl-related deaths across Colorado. After months of debate, they agreed to toughen punishments for possession of smaller amounts of the synthetic opioid. Just like the lawmakers, we made this bill our top priority for the legislative session, so Bree and Paul are looking back at how it all went down, unpacking what made it into the bill, and what’s next. To get a full picture of how this debate played out, here’s a rundown of our recent coverage: “More Like Poisoning than an Overdose” with Attorney General Phil Weiser (February 22, 2022) “Why the New Fentanyl Bill Has Harm Reductionists Concerned” with Harm Reduction Action Center executive director Lisa Raville (March 29, 2022) “Inside the Fentanyl Fight at the Capitol” with State Representative Leslie Herod (May 2, 2022) Here’s a few of our sources for this conversation:  For a breakdown of all the little things that were included in the final version of the fentanyl bill, check out this piece from Colorado Public Radio. This Denver Post article has a good explanation of the closing minutes of the legislative session, when a flurry of compromises led up to the final vote. Bree mentioned a new repatriation effort underway at the Denver Art Museum. For more on that fascinating story, Peyton’s going deep in today’s CCD newsletter: https://denver.citycast.fm/newsletter/How do you feel about the fentanyl bill our lawmakers delivered? Share your thoughts on Twitter and tag us @citycastdenverLearn more about the sponsors of this episode:How to Buy a Home PodcastLooking to advertise on City Cast Denver? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads at citycast.fm/advertise Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices