Shopping & Services

Think bureaucrats are all wet? Think again. Last summer, musical members of the Denver Water team joined together as the Splashstreet Boys, recording “I Water That Way” (a variation on the Backstreet Boys’ “I Want It That Way”) to promote proper summer watering rules…and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house once it hit the web. A sampling of the lyrics: Yeah…my yard needs water when it gets hotter Believe these dry days that I water that way But we want lawns to survive Concrete just won’t fly So I say, I water that way

Our long nightmare will finally end this fall, when the last blocks of the 16th Street Mall renovation project will be completed. Yes, that’s reason to celebrate, but it’s no reason to change the name of that mile-long-plus stretch through the heart of downtown. While malls have gone the way of Forever 21 and the city has spent $100,000 to come up with a new name, there’s already a perfectly serviceable one. Forget any cute branding: Just drop the “mall” and leave it at Sixteenth. Sweet!

We’ve been assured that it’s too late to stop the $280 million (the feds kicked in $150 million) Bus Rapid Transit project that’s supposed to transform East Colfax Avenue…and is screwing over businesses in the meantime by removing parking and blocking easy access. So for now, while those businesses await grants that could be too little, too late, there’s only one way to aid them: Shop there! Get there by foot, bike or flying car, but get there and patronize the mom-and-pop stores that give this city so much character. And don’t miss the Colfax Bar Crawl on April 12!