In the summer of 2007, several hundred volunteers worked to give Manual High School a face lift and ready it for re-opening. Manual High School is in a predominantly black and Mexican neighborhood with very few white residents. However, the bulk of the volunteers that worked on this school were whites. Locals are too apathetic (or perhaps possess a strong sense of entitlement which relinquishes them of personal responsibility) to pitch in to care for a school their own children attend, while they at the same time complain about the school system and poor results.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
DIA's Baggage Boondoggle Still Haunting City
As recently as January, 2008, the city of Denver is still throwing money into the DIA baggage system money pit which has haunted local politicians for some 15 years, and it is still wringing its hands over installation of a permanent baggage system.
Quotes from the Rocky Mountain News' story of January 12, 2008:
Source
Back in 1994 or so when DIA was not yet open and the city of Denver was already in damage-control mode, free public tours were offered of the airport and I was one who pounced on the opportunity to wander the place. In one of the concourses, I noticed that some signage was wrong and pointed toward things that weren't there, but the most entertaining part of that day was when in the terminal I came across the baggage test area in what is now the Frontier Airlines check-in counters. The area in front of the counter was a literal graveyard of baggage; mangled bags, torn, missing sides, wheels either torn off completely or partly ripped off, belongings such as clothing, blenders, and hair dryers lying either loose or sticking out of mangled bags, most bags were either barely holding together and those that were not were duct taped shut. Some suitcases missed zippered tops that were either a few feet away or nowhere visible at all. Some bags even had dark skid marks on them. Few bags showed no damage at all. If only I'd have taken a camera, what delights I could have recorded! About 30 of us viewed the scene, alternately laughing and shaking our heads.
Quotes from the Rocky Mountain News' story of January 12, 2008:
The system, once touted as the most advanced in the world, had problems from the start and never worked as intended. Officials planned it as the main system to serve all airlines at DIA, but United was the only carrier that used it and then only for outbound luggage.
It was one of the reasons DIA opened 16 months behind schedule and almost $2 billion over budget. Some estimates say the system's price tag has stretched to $700 million, compared with initial projections of $250 million. The airport doesn't have exact figures but has said it will compile that data for council members.
United stopped using it in 2005 and reverted to a manual process. The airport then struck a deal to pay off $110 million that United owed on the system.
DIA is now laying plans to install a new baggage system in coming years, one that will use more conventional technology and methods.
Even to this day, the old baggage system haunts Denver.
"The news keeps getting worse," Councilman Charlie Brown said at a recent City Council meeting, referring to the fact that DIA will have to spend more money to remove part of the system. "I mean, we can't get away from this baggage system. This is unbelievable."
Airport albatross
Costs of a baggage system that never worked right:
$250 million initial projected price tag
$100 million additional construction costs
$341 million additional interest payments to try to get the system working and build a separate, manual one for other airlines
$18 million maximum for steel removal, including parts of the baggage system
$700 million estimated actual cost
Source
Back in 1994 or so when DIA was not yet open and the city of Denver was already in damage-control mode, free public tours were offered of the airport and I was one who pounced on the opportunity to wander the place. In one of the concourses, I noticed that some signage was wrong and pointed toward things that weren't there, but the most entertaining part of that day was when in the terminal I came across the baggage test area in what is now the Frontier Airlines check-in counters. The area in front of the counter was a literal graveyard of baggage; mangled bags, torn, missing sides, wheels either torn off completely or partly ripped off, belongings such as clothing, blenders, and hair dryers lying either loose or sticking out of mangled bags, most bags were either barely holding together and those that were not were duct taped shut. Some suitcases missed zippered tops that were either a few feet away or nowhere visible at all. Some bags even had dark skid marks on them. Few bags showed no damage at all. If only I'd have taken a camera, what delights I could have recorded! About 30 of us viewed the scene, alternately laughing and shaking our heads.
Tornadoes Near DIA
Here is a video and photographic montage of tornadic activity near Denver International Airport.
Weather radar spots tornado over DIA, April 2003. http://www.thedenverchannel.com/weather/2120991/detail.html
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Weather radar spots tornado over DIA, April 2003. http://www.thedenverchannel.com/weather/2120991/detail.html
.jpg)
Monday, March 16, 2009
DIA Propaganda Machine Rolls (Lipstick on a Pig)
Every negative story about DIA is met with a combination of denials and lies by the City and County of Denver and the nearly complete rosy-eyed journalistic ramblings of the local Denver media. One of the silly ways to offset negative news about DIA is the creation of DIA's own YouTube channel featuring videos with raving reviews about the airport, such as this one:
There are so many things about this video that any Denver resident, especially one with a memory longer than a beer commercial, could knock down in 2 seconds. The "eco-friendly" hype is mythological in the extreme; how can an airport with such a stupid fabric roof on it's terminal be heated in freezing winter temperatures such as we saw in late 2008 when the airport hit as low as -19 degrees? Imagine the energy required to keep everyone and everything under the circus tent from freezing solid!
Since the city smartly built the airport on a convergence zone, which is where warm air masses from the plains collide with cooler ones coming off the Rocky Mountains, the airport area is noted for its meteorological instability and proneness to severe thunderstorms with tornadic activity. More than once DIA has had to shut down temporarily during tornado warnings and passengers are told to hide in airport bathrooms which double as tornado shelters. Eventually, you can bet, the airport itself will be hit by a tornado. Its only a matter of time.
The airport itself was built by construction companies and financiers with close ties to local political elites; excessive prices were paid for land to people with similar connections who snatched up tracts in a hurry and made a killing; delay after delay in opening the airport due to the shoddy animated baggage system sent airport bonds spiraling into near junk bond status, and grossly high operating fees collapsed several local airlines and sent others packing, leaving United Airlines a monopoly (Denver is the largest UAL hub outside Chicago) which sent air fares skyrocketing in a city whose former airport (Stapleton International) was known for affordability and frequent "air fare wars" between carriers. Only in the past few years has Southwest Airlines been willing to fly out of DIA, after having barred the airport from its routes since the airport's debut. Continental Airlines had a hub at the old airport, but not at DIA, and that has kept fares higher.
If anyone is familiar with the way the City and County of Denver is operated in terms of its emergency and medical services, you'll know that the city are cheapskates of the highest order. Consequently, the city refuses to furnish DIA and surrounding environs with local ambulance service, instead preferring to send ambulances from the city-owned ghetto hospital just south of downtown, which is a whopping 26 miles from the airport. Consequently, after the crash of Contiental 1404, the first ambulance did not reach the scene until 33 minutes after the crash happened, and it was sent code 10, that is, non-emergency! The second ambulance arrived seven minutes after that. Generally speaking, the farther you are from downtown Denver, the shittier your ambulance service will be. You'd think with the 4th busiest airport in the US that the city would have the brains and decency to station at least a small fleet of ambulances in the DIA area, but no! Under much pressure after this crash, the city has apparently kindly stationed ONE ambulance at the airport, for use only in aircraft emergencies, leaving people in the airport itself to die, literally, as has already happened. Today a half-hour long investigative documentary aired on KMGH channel 7 titled, "33 Minutes to 34-Right." The city has previously denied repeated complaints about airport-area service and insisted that its service to DIA is "excellent." Just how stupid do they think we are? Very, apparently, and with good reason: Rocky Flats officials have flip-flopped and fed us pure quality horse shit for decades and people are still willing to live near that cursed land.
Watch the entire DIA documentary 33 Minutes to 34-Right here.
By the way, DIA's website at http://www.flydenver.com always says, "Security Wait Time: 5 Minutes." They're lying!
There are so many things about this video that any Denver resident, especially one with a memory longer than a beer commercial, could knock down in 2 seconds. The "eco-friendly" hype is mythological in the extreme; how can an airport with such a stupid fabric roof on it's terminal be heated in freezing winter temperatures such as we saw in late 2008 when the airport hit as low as -19 degrees? Imagine the energy required to keep everyone and everything under the circus tent from freezing solid!
Since the city smartly built the airport on a convergence zone, which is where warm air masses from the plains collide with cooler ones coming off the Rocky Mountains, the airport area is noted for its meteorological instability and proneness to severe thunderstorms with tornadic activity. More than once DIA has had to shut down temporarily during tornado warnings and passengers are told to hide in airport bathrooms which double as tornado shelters. Eventually, you can bet, the airport itself will be hit by a tornado. Its only a matter of time.
The airport itself was built by construction companies and financiers with close ties to local political elites; excessive prices were paid for land to people with similar connections who snatched up tracts in a hurry and made a killing; delay after delay in opening the airport due to the shoddy animated baggage system sent airport bonds spiraling into near junk bond status, and grossly high operating fees collapsed several local airlines and sent others packing, leaving United Airlines a monopoly (Denver is the largest UAL hub outside Chicago) which sent air fares skyrocketing in a city whose former airport (Stapleton International) was known for affordability and frequent "air fare wars" between carriers. Only in the past few years has Southwest Airlines been willing to fly out of DIA, after having barred the airport from its routes since the airport's debut. Continental Airlines had a hub at the old airport, but not at DIA, and that has kept fares higher.
If anyone is familiar with the way the City and County of Denver is operated in terms of its emergency and medical services, you'll know that the city are cheapskates of the highest order. Consequently, the city refuses to furnish DIA and surrounding environs with local ambulance service, instead preferring to send ambulances from the city-owned ghetto hospital just south of downtown, which is a whopping 26 miles from the airport. Consequently, after the crash of Contiental 1404, the first ambulance did not reach the scene until 33 minutes after the crash happened, and it was sent code 10, that is, non-emergency! The second ambulance arrived seven minutes after that. Generally speaking, the farther you are from downtown Denver, the shittier your ambulance service will be. You'd think with the 4th busiest airport in the US that the city would have the brains and decency to station at least a small fleet of ambulances in the DIA area, but no! Under much pressure after this crash, the city has apparently kindly stationed ONE ambulance at the airport, for use only in aircraft emergencies, leaving people in the airport itself to die, literally, as has already happened. Today a half-hour long investigative documentary aired on KMGH channel 7 titled, "33 Minutes to 34-Right." The city has previously denied repeated complaints about airport-area service and insisted that its service to DIA is "excellent." Just how stupid do they think we are? Very, apparently, and with good reason: Rocky Flats officials have flip-flopped and fed us pure quality horse shit for decades and people are still willing to live near that cursed land.
Watch the entire DIA documentary 33 Minutes to 34-Right here.
By the way, DIA's website at http://www.flydenver.com always says, "Security Wait Time: 5 Minutes." They're lying!
Friday, November 21, 2008
Idiot Shoots Man on RTD Bus
Passenger Shot on RTD Bus
Usually the deranged that herd onto the Rough, Tough and Dangerous tend to prefer merely brandishing their weapons than actually using them. Some are just happy to talk about their weapons and the gangbangers they associate with. Of course, certain routes are more heavily populated with 2-legged cockroaches than others, namely the 15, 31, 16, 30, 7, 28, 38, 44, and 43. The Denver area has a large number of public transportation routes. Good news for working people. Bad news for people who move into nicer areas where bus routes bring garbage from downtown and its environs.
Cameras have been put on most buses due to incidents like this (including the one where a passenger boarded the bus, got into an altercation with a driver, threw the driver head-first out of the bus and onto the curb and killed him). The older Gillig buses still are left without cameras, and RTD has been foolishly using those buses on routes popular with Mexican gangbangers, such as the 31 and 30.
Usually the deranged that herd onto the Rough, Tough and Dangerous tend to prefer merely brandishing their weapons than actually using them. Some are just happy to talk about their weapons and the gangbangers they associate with. Of course, certain routes are more heavily populated with 2-legged cockroaches than others, namely the 15, 31, 16, 30, 7, 28, 38, 44, and 43. The Denver area has a large number of public transportation routes. Good news for working people. Bad news for people who move into nicer areas where bus routes bring garbage from downtown and its environs.
Cameras have been put on most buses due to incidents like this (including the one where a passenger boarded the bus, got into an altercation with a driver, threw the driver head-first out of the bus and onto the curb and killed him). The older Gillig buses still are left without cameras, and RTD has been foolishly using those buses on routes popular with Mexican gangbangers, such as the 31 and 30.
Monday, November 17, 2008
What Is It With Denver and Loud Music?
Denver man shot dead after he complains about loud music
I've never heard so much loud music in my life in apartment buildings since I've lived in the city of Denver. In fact, within 2 weeks of first moving into the city I was left with no option but to call police because a stoned neighbor upstairs would listen to very loud music while toking up on a nightly basis. He got it into his head to ignore the police shouting and banging on his door, so the officers went around outside and boosted each other up into his living room window and turned the music off themselves. The loud lecture that followed was a real hoot.
By experience, I've learned that there is a rule of thumb that chronically loud music is played by certain types of people:
1) Stoners
2) Drug dealers
3) Stoners who deal drugs
In the case of the teen who shot the complainant, he was probably a drug dealing stoner.
Another rule of thumb I've learned by experience: Buildings with lots of noise issues have generally higher incidences of crime as well. Clean out the stoners and the drug dealers, and your building is not only quieter, but safer and cleaner. If you are unfortunate enough to live under literal slum lords like I have, you'll notice that lax enforcement of noise rules tends to go hand-in-hand with increased criminality in the building and generally run-down condition. Its as if street thugs, winos, crack whores, illegal aliens and drug smugglers have antennae which lead them to rent units in buildings where management is lax or non-existent. Perhaps there is an underground rental directory where slum lords and rock hoes link up.
I've never heard so much loud music in my life in apartment buildings since I've lived in the city of Denver. In fact, within 2 weeks of first moving into the city I was left with no option but to call police because a stoned neighbor upstairs would listen to very loud music while toking up on a nightly basis. He got it into his head to ignore the police shouting and banging on his door, so the officers went around outside and boosted each other up into his living room window and turned the music off themselves. The loud lecture that followed was a real hoot.
By experience, I've learned that there is a rule of thumb that chronically loud music is played by certain types of people:
1) Stoners
2) Drug dealers
3) Stoners who deal drugs
In the case of the teen who shot the complainant, he was probably a drug dealing stoner.
Another rule of thumb I've learned by experience: Buildings with lots of noise issues have generally higher incidences of crime as well. Clean out the stoners and the drug dealers, and your building is not only quieter, but safer and cleaner. If you are unfortunate enough to live under literal slum lords like I have, you'll notice that lax enforcement of noise rules tends to go hand-in-hand with increased criminality in the building and generally run-down condition. Its as if street thugs, winos, crack whores, illegal aliens and drug smugglers have antennae which lead them to rent units in buildings where management is lax or non-existent. Perhaps there is an underground rental directory where slum lords and rock hoes link up.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Stiff Found in Barrel in Da Hood
Headline reads, "Body Found In Barrel In LoDo."
Along with Curtis Park, LoDo is another eupemistic reference to the southern end of what is geographically Five Points. Five Points' southern boundary begins at 20th Street and goes northward. It is not LoDo. Five Points has such a long and notorious history of criminal activity that anyone remotely familiar with the city of Denver wouldn't touch Five Points with a 10 foot pole. Quite a problemo. Easy solution! Euphemistically call the southern part of Five Points "LoDo" and the northern part "Curtis Park!" Voila! Just avoid the F word.
It began being called LoDo when Coors Field was built as a way of not scaring off baseball fans and developers. The media even admitted as much; there had to be a complete neighborhood image overhaul. Coors Field was built at 20th and Blake in area which at the time was literally overridden with human trash. The area was home to many homeless camp sites and when breaking ground for the stadium, at least 1 murdered body was found on the land. Now the area around Coors Field is full of yuppie bars instead of ghetto bars. Ah, progress!
23rd Street, renamed some years ago to Park Avenue West (again, to spiff up the reputation), continues to be the epicenter of drug activity so intense that heroin addicts are passed out on sidewalks like flocks of sleeping pigeons. The area is also home of numerous homeless shelters and slum bars. Stiffs being found in this area are like America and apple pie. The only real improvement in the area in the last 30 years is the absence of race riots and Black Panther Party standoffs with police. Its a street where if one must travel it, he will do so with his windows rolled up. No shocker to anyone familiar with the area that a stiff was found at 22nd and Lawrence.
Of course, the historical character of the area rears its ugly old head, such as the time several years ago when gangs of blacks were attacking and robbing white people in their automobiles at stoplights as what was suspected were gang initiations. More recently, as I've blogged about, there have been problems with Mexican gangbangers lighting the place up with gunfire. Five Points and Lower Downtown are like a flood plain; you can build pretty things there but eventually nature will come along and reclaim it.
UPDATE: Barrel man sentenced to life after court dismisses insanity plea.
Along with Curtis Park, LoDo is another eupemistic reference to the southern end of what is geographically Five Points. Five Points' southern boundary begins at 20th Street and goes northward. It is not LoDo. Five Points has such a long and notorious history of criminal activity that anyone remotely familiar with the city of Denver wouldn't touch Five Points with a 10 foot pole. Quite a problemo. Easy solution! Euphemistically call the southern part of Five Points "LoDo" and the northern part "Curtis Park!" Voila! Just avoid the F word.
It began being called LoDo when Coors Field was built as a way of not scaring off baseball fans and developers. The media even admitted as much; there had to be a complete neighborhood image overhaul. Coors Field was built at 20th and Blake in area which at the time was literally overridden with human trash. The area was home to many homeless camp sites and when breaking ground for the stadium, at least 1 murdered body was found on the land. Now the area around Coors Field is full of yuppie bars instead of ghetto bars. Ah, progress!
23rd Street, renamed some years ago to Park Avenue West (again, to spiff up the reputation), continues to be the epicenter of drug activity so intense that heroin addicts are passed out on sidewalks like flocks of sleeping pigeons. The area is also home of numerous homeless shelters and slum bars. Stiffs being found in this area are like America and apple pie. The only real improvement in the area in the last 30 years is the absence of race riots and Black Panther Party standoffs with police. Its a street where if one must travel it, he will do so with his windows rolled up. No shocker to anyone familiar with the area that a stiff was found at 22nd and Lawrence.
Of course, the historical character of the area rears its ugly old head, such as the time several years ago when gangs of blacks were attacking and robbing white people in their automobiles at stoplights as what was suspected were gang initiations. More recently, as I've blogged about, there have been problems with Mexican gangbangers lighting the place up with gunfire. Five Points and Lower Downtown are like a flood plain; you can build pretty things there but eventually nature will come along and reclaim it.
UPDATE: Barrel man sentenced to life after court dismisses insanity plea.
Clewis-Green has said Pardue had sex with him for $10 in his apartment. Prosecutors say that when she asked for her money, he backhanded her in the face and beat her with a lead pipe.
Clewis-Green told police the beating happened after he killed his cat and liked the feeling.
His attorney Phelicia Kossie-Butler said Clewis-Green has stepped in and out of reality throughout his life.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Five Points Weenie Vendor's Killer Arrested
This genius, who first beat and then shot to death a hot dog vendor known to peddle weenies and chili around the Five Points (euphemistically called Curtis Park) foodstamp office and city-owned low income health clinic, was finally caught huddling in a closet in Georgia trying to hide from The Man.For some odd reason in television bits about this story, local residents expressed shock that something like this would happen in that neighborhood, as if it's not obvious by looking at the place. Loitering, unemployed adult males and brood-mares swarm the area like a Roach Motel. I guess the Trey Trey Crip graffiti all over the area doesn't signal trouble to some people and they need to be struck in the head with a brick. D'oh.
Source article.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Freakette Enjoys Oral Sex on 2 Year Old Son
Where do they come from and why do they always end up in Denver?
This 2-legged cow decides to add a new twist to diaper changing and is dumb enough to send pictures of it to a friend. Of course the friend was too stupid to call the police, she just forwarded them to the father of the child who called police.
Have you ever noticed that the people most prone to this kind of behavior are also the ones who are also most likely to be semi-literate? Perhaps this woman was a Mohel in a past life.
Source article.
This 2-legged cow decides to add a new twist to diaper changing and is dumb enough to send pictures of it to a friend. Of course the friend was too stupid to call the police, she just forwarded them to the father of the child who called police.
"Did I tell you about my fantacy (sic) about the baby? It is weird but at times when I change his diaper I think of taking it into my mouth to see his reaction."
In a message the next day, she wrote, "DID IT!!././.He giggled a lot. I think it tickled him. I will try again tomorrow. I think if I do it enough he will get use (sic) to it."
Have you ever noticed that the people most prone to this kind of behavior are also the ones who are also most likely to be semi-literate? Perhaps this woman was a Mohel in a past life.
Source article.
Stabbing Near Infamous Crackhead Bus Stop
Gather the kids and head out to Lincoln Park! Prime crackhead sighting season lasts year-round!
Lincoln Park and its near environs, especially the public bus stops, have been for many years a magnet for the gross and profane. If you ever want to go people-watching of the barrel scrapings of society, the bus stops at Colfax and Broadway are the place to go! The one on eastbound Colfax is particularly pungent and this coincidentally is the stop closest to where this stabbing took place. If you want cess, crack pebbles, an entertaining street fight or just a good sniff of an unwashed body, this is the place to be!
Look at those droopy drawers.. That's gangsta!
Source article.
Lincoln Park and its near environs, especially the public bus stops, have been for many years a magnet for the gross and profane. If you ever want to go people-watching of the barrel scrapings of society, the bus stops at Colfax and Broadway are the place to go! The one on eastbound Colfax is particularly pungent and this coincidentally is the stop closest to where this stabbing took place. If you want cess, crack pebbles, an entertaining street fight or just a good sniff of an unwashed body, this is the place to be!
Look at those droopy drawers.. That's gangsta!
Source article.
Monday, September 1, 2008
MSNBC & Al Sharpton Bullhorned by Alex Jones at DNC
.jpg)
Quite accidentally, while heading to Union Station to catch a light rail train to Invesco Field on the 4th and final day of the Democratic National Convention, I happened upon the outdoor 2-story MSNBC broadcasting booth. Noticing a gathered crowd with some rather agitated (and swearing) onlookers, I was drawn across the Wewatta Street to take a closer look. There was goofball Alex Jones of infowars.com and prisonplanet.com fame with a small entourage of early 20-somethings holding signs that proclaimed "9-11 was an inside job." Jones was bullhorning the hell out of the live broadcast on the 2nd story of the MSNBC booth. I had no idea at the time who was broadcasting from the upper floor, until after I got home and looked at my pictures. I recognized Al Sharpton's head sticking out next to interviewer David Gregory. Good work, Alex! Its hard to think of anyone more deserving of being bullhorned than shakedown shyster Al Sharpton. Someone on YouTube clipped and published the MSNBC broadcast during the time period I was there photographing. Good times. Hopefully Jones bullhorned Obamagasmeister Keith Olbermann also.
A continuation of this segment where Sharpton himself is bullhorned by Jones and his entourage:
Earlier the same day, Jones also bullhorned Obamabot Chris Matthews (I know it was the same day because of the red-haired guy in the bright orange #44 shirt that appeared in some of my day 4 photos.)
The crowd was quite irritated with Jones' bullhorn racket. He was pelted with insults most of the time he was there. His chants of "Google Inside Job" were met with "Google a brain," "Google a life," and sporadic chants of, "O-ba-ma!" Sometime after I left, some Obamabots ganged up on Jones and smashed his bullhorn. I have photographs of his entourage with a spare bullhorn, no idea why they didn't use it, and also no idea why the 11 police officers nearby didn't intervene.
See the complete MSNBC/Alex Jones picture set at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/DenverNative666/DemocraticNationalConventionDay4
Final Update: Invesco Field "Open House" Hoax
On Thursday the 28th of August, the "historic" day of the Barack Obama speech at Invesco Field (NOT "Mile High Stadium" as Obama and MSNBC kept calling it) I made my way to the stadium with the herds of ticketholers and press and was absolutely unsurprised by what I saw. Not a single anti-Obama or pro-McCain tshirt or button. Strange considering that "everyone" was welcome at a "first come, first serve" event. On top of this, during the speech itself, not a single heckler or boo could be heard. The media will never touch this one, of course, but it's still worth noting that this open house myth is arguably the largest hoax of the 2008 election season. For someone who keeps repudiating the claims of being a media darling, Barack Obama was perfectly comfortable pulling off such a massive stunt.
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