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]]>Contact:
Colette Carey
EJ Reilly & Associates
(720) 815-6800
[email protected]
DENVER, CO (September 28, 2021) Deep-pocket real estate developers, Westside Investment Partners – who are attempting to eliminate an existing conservation easement and develop the protected Park Hill Golf Course open space- have some explaining to do.
On June 9, 2021, Westside created a non-profit, Empower Northeast Denver (END), a group being held up as a ‘grassroots’ organization to ‘protect the voice and the future of our community.’ The creation of this group is nothing more than a cynical attempt by Westside to oppose Ballot Initiative 301 (one would preserve the Park Hill Golf Course land as designated green, open space). In addition, according to the END’s August Campaign Report, Westside has contributed all $280,305.00 in cash and in-kind financial contributions to this ‘grassroots’ organization.
“This blatant and brazen attempt by deep-pocket developers to steal protected open space from the City of Denver is over the top,” said Tony Pigford, a spokesperson for YES for Parks and Open Space. “We don’t do it this way in Denver. Denver citizens are too smart to fall for these political tricks. If they had true grassroots support, they wouldn’t need to create a phony organization to try and pull the wool over Denver voters’ eyes.”
Empower Northeast Denver is actually just a Westside alter ego formed and fully financed by Westside:
(1) Westside Investment Partners formed Empower Northeast Denver as a Colorado non-profit corporation on June 9, 2021, soon after it began the process for Election Division approval for Initiated Ordinance 302;
(2) Empower Northeast Denver’s principal office and registered agent are located at Westside’s corporate offices in Glendale; and
(3) as of the filing of its August campaign finance report for Initiated Ordinance 302, all $280,305 of the cash and in-kind financial contributions reported for Initiated Ordinance 302 were provided by Westside Investment Partners and its subsidiary ACM Park Hill JV VII LLC.
YES for Parks and Open Space continues to be an all-volunteer organization with no single member of the group taking any payment for their work on this campaign.
About YES for Parks and Open Space
YES for Parks and Open Space is an initiative launched by a group of concerned citizens who want to ensure that the voters in the City and County of Denver have a voice in how the land in our designated parks and open spaces, protected by conservation easements, can be used – starting with the 155 acres former Park Hill Golf Course.
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Contact:
Colette Carey
EJ Reilly & Associates
(720) 815-6800
[email protected]
DENVER, CO (June 22, 2021) The YES for Parks and Open Space ballot committee received notice of sufficiency today from the Clerk and Recorders office, confirming that their initiative has secured a spot on the November 2nd ballot.
“This is great news for us and great news for Denver,” said Penfield Tate, leader of the YES for Parks and Open Space initiative. “Ensuring protection for park land and open space in this city is something that every citizen should have a voice in – and our “Green” initiative gives them that voice. There is a very clear choice for Denver voters, green space versus concrete and asphalt. Now, onto a victory in November!”
The YES initiative language is simple:
“Shall the voters of the City and County of Denver adopt a measure prohibiting the following without the approval of voters in a regularly scheduled municipal or special election:
YES for Parks and Open Space submitted well over 14,000 petition signatures, well beyond the 8,265 needed to make the November ballot.
About YES for Parks and Open Space
YES for Parks and Open Space is an initiative launched by a group of concerned citizens who want to ensure that the voters in the City and County of Denver have a voice in how the land in our designated parks and open spaces – protected by city-owned conservation easements – can be used.
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]]>DENVER, CO (June 7, 2021) The YES for Parks and Open Space ballot committee today submitted a letter to Denver’s Clerk and Recorder, Paul Lopez, officially challenging the proposed initiated ordinance presented by Westside Investment Partners, at a June 4 “Review and Comment” hearing with City officials.
On Wednesday, June 2, YES for Parks and Open space submitted more than 13,000 signatures to the Denver Election Division for its proposed initiated ordinance designed to preserve Denver’s parks and open space. The YES for Parks and Open Space ballot language is simple and easy to understand:
“Shall the voters of the City and County of Denver adopt a measure prohibiting the following without the approval of voters in a regularly scheduled municipal or special election:
The petitions submitted by YES for Parks and Open Space contain enough signatures to ensure that the proposed initiated ordinance will make the November 2 ballot.
In what appears to be a desperate move, Westside Investment Partners is submitting its own initiated ordinance proposal (referenced above). While nearly identical in language to the YES for Parks and Open Space proposed ordinance, the difference between the two proposed ordinances is that the one initiated by Westside Investment Partners redefines a “conservation easement” to conveniently exclude a conservation easement – such as the easement on the Park Hill Golf Course land – that the City purchased with taxpayer monies, clearly to further their own interests.
If their initiative gets on the ballot and passes, it has the potential to set a dangerous precedent for taxpayer-funded conservation easements to be eliminated at the will of developers.
Representatives for the grassroots community organization, YES for Parks and Open Space said that Westside’s use of identical language to the YES for Parks and Open Space proposed initiated ordinance, save one element, reflects the intent of the developer to do one thing and one thing only – confuse voters.
YES for Parks and Open Space representative Penfield Tate explains that “we are writing out of profound concern that there will be a strong likelihood of voter confusion regarding the two proposals.”
Tate goes on to say, “The potential confusion caused by Westside’s proposed ordinance is that, on one hand, it would appear to voters that the ordinance protects from development without voter approval, identical to that provided by the YES for Parks and Open Space proposed ordinance. However, Westside’s proposed amendment to the definition of “conservation easement” would significantly limit the voter approval protections provided by our YES for Parks and Open Space proposed ordinance.”
A link to the full letter can be found, here:
About YES for Parks and Open SpaceYES for Parks and Open Space is an initiative launched by a group of concerned citizens who want to ensure that the voters in the City and County of Denver have a voice in how the land in our designated parks and open spaces – protected by conservation easements – can be used.
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