Denver Direct: An Appropriate Memorial – Opinion by Phil Goodstein


Thursday, September 17, 2015

An Appropriate Memorial – Opinion by Phil Goodstein

 For years, Denver never named public facilities after members of city council. Beginning with the dubbing of the land near 15th Street and Cleveland PlaceMacIntosh Plaza” in the early 1980s, this started to become a trend. It recalled the establishment stalwart who had served on council from 1959 to 1980, never challenging the worst of the status quo. Then, in 1990, council had honored the city’s first black member of the body, Elvin Caldwell, with a small plaza at 26th Avenue and Emerson Street adjacent to the Five Points Community Center. The Blair-Caldwell Library, opened nearby in 2003, further honored him. By this time, the city had memorialized former councilmen Hiawatha Davis and Bill Scheitler with existing recreation centers.

The man who defeated Davis in the race to replace Caldwell on council in 1980, King Trimble, was honored in 2004 with the “Economic Prosperity Center” at 2980 Curtis Street. Failing to bring prosperity to the neighborhood, it soon became the home of a charter school. Elbra Wedgeworth, who was Mayor Wellington Webb’s handpicked candidate to succeed Davis in the seat in 1999, was always a dependable supporter of the administration and the estab-lishment. The city honored her in 2014 by designating a major wing of the Five Points Community Center for her.

Shortly after his death in 2005, Denver Public Schools recalled black Park Hill city councilman Bill Roberts (1971–90) with a charter school near Montview Boulevard and Akron Street. For some years, Roberts clashed with Caldwell. Eventually, he was a right-hand man of Federico Peña, especially in pushing through Denver International Airport. By that time, his early crusades against a racist establishment had long disappeared, especially when he was on the receiving end of numerous government efforts to reward black entrepreneurs who heralded working within the system.

Besides being the political patron of Davis, Caldwell was also something of the godfather of Wellington Webb. As mayor, the latter showed himself an egomaniac. Despite a statute prohibiting naming public buildings for an incumbent, he got his rubber-stamp city council to designate a new city office building for him. For the most part, it was sealed to the public, complete with extremely unfriendly private guards whose primary function was to keep everyday citizens out of the public space. The naming was indicative of a thoroughly insecure politician afraid that he would not have a legacy without having his name attached to a building.

Webb had a point. Lacking buildings recalling them, it is doubtful if many would remember Scheitler or Davis, both of whom served on council under Webb. In office, neither stood out as crusaders working to change bad policies and reorient the direction of the city. Indeed, it is hard to recall any memorable acts associated with their careers on council. To his credit, Davis had been a draft resister who preferred prison to joining the military during the Vietnam War era. In the early 1970s, he had loudly opposed Caldwell when he projected himself as a most militant black nationalist. None of this was part of dedicating what had been the Skyland Recreation Center in his memory.

Now a push is underway to christen a long-delayed, well-over budget, and far less than promised Capitol Hill recreation center for Carla Madison.