Opinion & Commentary

In December 2008, would-be candidates — a dozen of them, by casual count — were all counting on Governor Bill Ritter appointing Denver mayor John Hickenlooper to the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Ken Salazar, a move that would opened up the top job in City Hall. Ritter went with…

Scott McInnis, who’s really the frontrunner for governor now, doesn’t know his mountain ranges, and he apparently doesn’t know his Western art, either. This summer, the Republican gubernatorial candidate took a hit when his campaign website debuted with a lovely panorama of the Rockies — the Canadian Rockies, as it…

They weren’t just blowing smoke. Last night, all thirteen Denver city councilmembers agreed to send Councilman Charlie Brown’s proposal to regulate medical marijuana dispensaries in the city to a public hearing and official vote next Monday night. But not before Councilwoman Carol Boigon raised the same spectre of her unpleasant…

Its inevitable demise was long rumored, but Bump & Grind managed to hang on until the very end of 2009, when a “closed indefinitely” sign appeared on the door of 439 East 17th Avenue and this message on its voicemail: “We are closed, and quite possibly forever. Right now it’s…

Charlie Brown’s proposal to regulate the city’s medical marijuana dispensaries will be presented to the full Denver City Council at tonight’s meeting. Since the council’s Safety Committee first started considering his proposed ordinance in November, the number of sales-tax licenses issued to medical marijuana dispensaries has more than doubled, to…

State senator Chris Romer has released the latest draft of his proposal to regulate the state’s medical marijuana industry, which will be introduced after the legislation convenes on January 13. You can read the current draft of Romer’s bill here. He’s trimmed close to thirty pages from the original proposal,…

Are there no limits to the talents of Jared Polis? During his first year in Congress, the Boulder Democrat starred in a wonky reality show, demonstrated a beer bong on Comedy Central, and came out swinging on several controversial proposals. But as 2009 draws to a close, it’s time to…

My first view of Denver was from a train — the Denver Zephyr, which a group of families had boarded in Chicago one afternoon in the mid-’60s. The kids had commandeered the dome car, where we slept on the floor under the seats, and as the sun rose, we got…

In this corner, Gary Hart, the former senator who turned out to be very prescient on terrorism, stumping for Michael Bennet: “My twelve years serving Colorado in the U.S. Senate provides a unique perspective in defining an effective senator. Like most Coloradans, I take very seriously who represents us in…

The January issue of Cooking Light features Denver, “once left off the culinary map for its admittedly tired take on cowboy cuisine,” the magazine advises, but “catching up to food trends fast.” For proof, it name-checks chef Alex Seidel of Fruition, who recently purchased a farm to supply the kind…

On the Latest Word, we’ve been counting down some of Denver’s best moments over the past decade. But this city did not start 2000 with a bang. In fact, while the rest of the world threw a huge party to welcome the millennium, Denver officials — with visions of Y2K…

Yesterday I visited Phil’s Place, the great dive at 35th and Larimer — which suddenly boasts a fancy new back bar. From the photo, several readers thought I was at Don’s Mixed Drinks — which has also undergone an unexpected upscaling that did not stop at the bathrooms, as promised…

Visit Denver spent $50,000 creating a city-boosting window for New York City’s Times Square last Christmas season. It was unveiled on Good Morning America by holiday-sweater Mayor John Hickenlooper, who cut the ribbon and subsequently cut up with the GMA team. The display — already a historic relic, since it…

Think the lines at the airport are long? They’re nothing compared to the lines at the Denver Treasurer’s office, where would-be dispensary operators are lining up to get their sales-tax licenses before any city ordinance might put limits on dispensaries. But the dispensaries will definitely keep coming. Although on Friday…

What’s growing faster than the number of medical marijuana dispensaries in Colorado? The number of proposals to regulate them. But while it now looks like competing concepts will collide at the Colorado Statehouse when it convenes the second week in January, Denver’s keeping its steady pace toward regulation, with the…

How do you know it’s December? Not just by the holiday lights popping up all over town. No, you know the end of the year is near because as you exit your favorite Mexican restaurant — El Tejado, Rosa Linda’s Mexican Cafe, Mexico City Lounge — you get a calendar,…

Give North High School extra credit for its graduation rate, which increased 12.1 percent in 2009 — compared to the overall Denver Public Schools increase of 3.2 percent, up to a sad 52.7 percent of high school students graduating on time this past year. I came down hard on Ed…

Twenty-seven businesses entered the first annual LoDo Aglow: Scenes of the Season window-decorating contest, lighting up for the holidays (and through the Stock Show, like the Denver City and County Building). And the winners, announced this week by the LoDo District, provide a very delicious reason for a trip to…

Denver City Councilman Charlie Brown has spent the last three months thinking about medical marijuana — perhaps this city’s only real growth industry — and it showed yesterday, when council’s safety committee approved his proposal for regulating dispensaries in Denver. The proposed ordinance will go to the full council on…