Denver in 5 minutes: What you need to know today, Aug. 14

Andrew Kenney

Aug. 14, 2016, 10:44 a.m.

Today’s rundown includes Sunday afternoon events, big changes to water bills and the plan to fix Denver’s streets and sidewalks.

For fun

It’s time for yet another taco festival. (I’m not complaining.) Westword’s Tacolandia kicks off at 3 p.m. today. Tickets are $40.

Warm Cookies of the Revolution is hosting a scavenger hunt and walking tour around the Five Points, Whittier, Curtis Park and Cole neighborhoods. The event runs 4:30 to 6 p.m., kicking off at 2900 Downing Street. (Denverite)

Your bills

Denver’s biggest water consumers are paying cheaper rates under a new billing structure. Meanwhile, some of the smallest consumers’ bills have gone up. (Denver Post)

Streets and sidewalks

The temporary bike lane on South Broadway opens on Monday. Illegal Pete’s is hosting a celebration.

Also, the Denver City Council is looking at ways to fix the city’s sidewalks. Currently, individual property owners pay to maintain sidewalks, which hasn’t exactly produced a walkable city-wide network. (Streetsblog)

Crime

A man was fatally shot by a SWAT team in Lakewood on Saturday. He reportedly was armed and resisting arrest. (Denverite)

An apartment building near Cheesman Park. May 7, 2020. (Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite)

Denver metro’s average rent dropped by almost $18 toward the end of 2021. Here’s what you could buy with that

(Not a full tank of gas.)

Cebastian Gomez speaks to his North High School classmates protesting Denver Public Schools' COVID policies at Highland Park. Jan. 20, 2022.

North High School, Thomas Jefferson students walk out over district’s COVID-19 rules

Students are asking the district to provide high-quality masks, weekly testing and better access to remote learning.

The Park Hill Golf Course. Northeast Park Hill, Sept. 23, 2021.

Denver leaders axed Save Open Space from the committee working on the future of the Park Hill Golf Course

“It’s about as subtle as a heart attack,” said SOS Denver member Lisa Calderón.

Garbage and tons of birds atop the active dumping site. Denver Arapahoe Disposal Site, the landfill owned by Denver and operated by Waste Management. Jan. 26, 2018. (Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite)

Paying for trash collection in Denver? The city has started getting serious about the idea.

Monthly fees would start at $9 a month for the smallest bins and up to $21 for the largest.

Fifty years in, Tattered Cover is still having growing pains

For some employees, the bookstore's expansion has meant more work with little reward.

Bannock Street Façade of Kirkland Museum of Fine and Decorative Art designed by Jim Olson of Olson Kundig. Featuring Bob Mangold’s 1982 Double Tetrahedralhypersphere No. 41 (mounted at left), and a view into the indoor and outdoor sculpture galleries at Kirkland Museum. Edgar Britton’s Yin and Yang bronze sculpture, 1964, is visible at center.

‘Josef Hoffmann’s Vienna’ brings the work of a modern design pioneer to the Kirkland Museum

The exhibit will highlight the work of the Austrian architect and designer who helped pioneer modern art and design in the 1900s.

A single banana in the produce section of the Safeway at Broadway and Alameda on January 18, 2022.

Safeway and other grocers see bare shelves as King Soopers strike pushes shoppers elsewhere

Supply chain issues aren't helping either.

M. holds his infant daughter in the home he now shares with the Cheverton family. Dec. 22, 2021.

The Afghan refugee crisis is still happening, and it’s spilling into Denver

Gretchen Cheverton has been getting hundreds of desperate messages every single day.

All of the 3,124 wrecks that took place on Denver streets with speed limits 25 miles per hour or lower in 2021, outside of downtown. There were 329 more in the Central Business District and Union Station neighborhoods that year.

Denverite Maps

So how many traffic “accidents” occured on Denver’s neighborhood streets in 2021? This many

Numbers show it's low-key scary to drive, ride or walk in Denver.

Charlie Fleming, AKA Diamond Starr, helps Aeshleigh Sheren learn their way around a wig during Fleming's Drag Teen-Tween Fashion class held in Stanley Marketplace's Factory Fashion. Jan. 13, 2022.

A new drag program at Stanley Marketplace for teens and tweens gives young people a fun, safe space for self expression

“Unfortunately, there’s still a lot of bigotry in this world, and there’s still a lot of kids who are disowned and hurt. Having a safe space to be yourself is just so important.”