Denver Direct: “bits of fried meat or blackened cinder”


Wednesday, February 4, 2009

“bits of fried meat or blackened cinder”

This just in from Tom Anthony, President of the Elyria Neighborhood Association. Reprinted as received.


“Full Suncor fuel tankers all over the neighborhood, along the Platte River Greenway, in the middle of the River North Entertainment District, near art studios, homes, restaurants and businesses.”

Dear neighborhood folks,

If you don’t want to know about it, fine, but we have a tremendous couple problems in Elyria neighborhood here in Judy Montero’s District 9. She won’t help us get CDOT to study a partial tunnelization of I-70 as part of the solution to the bottleneck here, although we’ve asked her for 5 years and gave her almost 600 signatures 4 years ago and asked a dozen times. She absolutely refused to write a letter on our behalf and now the EIS is in the final comment period. For God’s sake, what would it cost her to write one sentence? She wouldn’t do it.

Since the neighborhood went to court with the city over two years ago because the city approved a 10 million gallon a year fuel refinery on the Platte River Greenway between an entertainment district and a residence, we have spent almost $20,000 in court costs. I’m sure the city has spent about the same. Meanwhile the city is saying they can’t keep our recreation center open without getting a private contractor to run it. The rec center is pretty much right in the way of where CDOT is looking at putting a new I-70 alignment. Amazingly right in the same spot the North Metro Fastracks team says is the best location for a commuter rail stop. Which would you rather have, a 12 lane highway or a commuter rail station? We can’t have both, but, we can’t get Judy to help CDOT see the tunnel vision.

Of course since the elected officials turned their backs on us, and I’m being all inclusive here because so far not one has bothered to write so much as a word on our behalf in five years, and believe me we have stuck sheafs of petitions into many hands in the past five years, suddenly a new business has quietly started up in the neighborhood. It’s the business of storing full Suncor fuel tankers all over the neighborhood, along the Platte River Greenway, in the middle of the River North Entertainment District, near art studios, homes, restaurants and businesses. Since I am the main “gadfly” you might say, my family wakes up every morning to these mobile napalm bombs sitting ourside our breakfast nook. I’m attaching an article from two days ago showing how a fuel tanker exploded in Kenya and you could feel it for miles, and there were hundreds of casualties that were “so gruesome Red Cross workers were being offered counseling.”

But here in Elyria, all the city and county of Denver can offer are winks and nods.

It doesn’t pay to question authority in Denver. So, let this serve as a lesson to you all: keep quiet or you may get on the hit list too. Don’t be surprised if we’re on the helicopter news one of these days. It’ll be much too hot up here for a fire engine.

So here’s my request (obviously I had one, it’s in the title line.) Remember us when we’re nothing but bits of fried meat or blackened cinder.
Tom Anthony, President
Elyria Neighborhood Assn.
303-299-0202