Opinion & Commentary

It was the 41st, or maybe the 42nd, possibly the 43rd, mayoral debate of the endless 2011 campaign season. Last night, I moderated a forum featuring all nine remaining mayoral candidates sponsored by a group of downtown/central Denver organizations at Coors Field, which was remarkable for two things: how very…

One last beer bill is still alive at the legislature — and it could be good news for bars and restaurants, not to mention their customers. Although earlier this week Senator Betty Boyd essentially killed her bill that would have allowed convenience stores to sell any beer, not just 3.2,…

It only seems like every resident of District 8 is running for Carla Madison’s spot on Denver City Council. But even with 39 candidates jumping into the write-in race for the seat, that represents less than .001 percent of the 47,265 eligible voters in the district…

Does any other day carry as heavy a load as April 20? The day’s fate was sealed in 1889, when Adolf Hitler was born in a small village in Austria. In the early ’70s, April 20 also became an underground stoner holiday, now so aboveground that it’s celebrated across the…

Thirty-nine. That’s how many people had registered with the Denver Elections Division by last night’s deadline as write-in candidates for the District 8 seat previously occupied by Carla Madison, who passed away two weeks ago today. She was running unopposed, but 39 people were apparently running in place, ready to…

Denver ballots arrived in mailboxes across town this past weekend — and those that went to residents of District 8 still include the name of incumbent councilwoman Carla Madison, who was running unopposed when she passed away on April 5, after the ballots for this all mail-in election were printed…

Wes McKinley has always done his civic duty — even if those in power might quibble with how he defines it. Twenty years ago, the rancher/teacher from Walsh was the foreman of the federal grand jury that wanted to indict eight individuals for environmental crimes at Rocky Flats — but…

A new Marco’s Pizza is about to open in Northfield Stapleton. No, not a branch of Osteria Marco, Frank Bonanno’s restaurant in Larimer Square. And not another Marco’s Coal-Fired Pizzeria. Next month, Nick Costanzo will open a Marco’s Pizza at 8286 Northfield Boulevard; it will be the sixth Marco’s Pizza…

No matter who becomes Denver’s next mayor, it looks like the winning candidate will inherit a tidier, if more pissed-off police department — and he or she will have interim mayor Bill Vidal to thank. Vidal might have had second thoughts about his decision not to run for mayor himself,…

People love looking at food. Food they might possibly make for dinner, food they’ll never get close to — like this “Altitude-high food porn from the Taste of Vail.” That’s why pictures of food are often labeled “porn,” as in Laura Shunk’s “Food Porn: Pizzeria Basta” post that accompanied her…

At their meeting last night, Denver City Council members wore orange in honor of their colleague, Carla Madison, who died last week. But Madison was not just in their hearts and thoughts: She was on the agenda, because people are lining up to run for her seat — even as…

People have already forgotten,” Shirley Garcia says. “They can’t forget what’s there.” Garcia never will. When she and her husband moved from Texas to Jefferson County thirty years ago, they bought a house in the Countryside development – and the realtor handed them some papers to sign acknowledging that they…

The history hunters gathered under the giant statue of Yogi Bear, armed with maps and metal detectors, in what had to be one of the strangest mash-ups ever: Hanna-Barbera meets barbarism. The crew had convened on April 2 at Jellystone Park Camp-Resort, a franchise of the national chain located just…

Across town this weekend, people were mourning the loss of Denver City Councilwoman Carla Madison, not just the council’s most colorful representative, but also one of its active and involved, always appearing at community events, even as her cancer advanced. And now there will be an event in her honor…

Here’s your chief’s hat, what’s your hurry? With many of the mayoral candidates saying that Denver Police Chief Gerald Whitman should go — and Whitman himself saying he would resign if asked — some people, including the author of today’s Denver Post editorial, are calling for the next mayor to…

Dive right in, the water — and beer — is fine! Our list of the town’s Five Best Dive Bars — starting with the Kentucky Inn, winner of the Best Dive Bar in the Best of Denver 2011 — has fans of dive bars and definitions alike plunging into the…

Carla Madison, who died on Tuesday, wasn’t just Denver City Council’s most colorful member. She wasn’t just the most likable, someone who’s inspired an outpouring of heartfelt comments and fond memories. She might also have been its hardest-working, the go-to choice when there was a special job that needed to…

It’s been rumored for years, and the front page of today’s Denver Post makes it official: Denver is doing away with the “Barnes Dance,” the diagonal crosswalks that were invented in this city sixty years ago by traffic engineer Henry Barnes. What’s next? The elimination of the Denver Boot?…

My e-mail this morning contained not one, but two messages mocking Corona Light, my beer of choice. Make that “almost-beer” of choice, corrects a friend. Another wrote that he would not be voting for a certain mayoral candidate, who was photographed drinking Corona — and that bottle was at least…