This week on Your City Now,
A new homeless shelter is approved,
there's help for suicide prevention,
and how about a movie at Red Rocks?
These stories are just ahead on Your City Now.
On Monday, Council gave quick approval to a nearly 20 million dollar contract
to open a new homeless shelter in Northeast Park Hill.
The shelter is located at 4600 East 48th Avenue
and it will serve up to 450 people as wintry weather approaches.
Renovations on the 82 thousand square foot space
will begin in September with the aim of opening in late December.
Then on Tuesday after years of outreach
and final approval from the planning board,
Council's Land Use Committee suggested pumping the brakes a bit
on the proposed changes to the zoning code regarding group living.
Two and a half years is quick if you're trying to undo
historic, systemic racism in housing.
There have been some, quite honestly, missteps
in true, authentic engagement of
black and brown communities.
and this is indicative of it.
7 of us, Andrew as you know, 7 of us
twice requested when COVID hit
that this be slowed down because the public engagement had to be cut off precipitously.
Instead you forged ahead without regard for the fact that from that point on
the public could only react to what was drawn up.
Discussion is scheduled to continue on October 6th.
Across the board, suicide rates in Colorado
are higher than the national average
with teen suicide rates being nearly double.
A 2019 Healthy Kids Colorado survey
found that nearly 8 percent of youth surveyed
had attempted suicide within the past 12 months.
I started self harming in 7th grade,
and I attempted to take my life when I was 12 years old.
I had lost my 15 year old son Jack
Padilla February 14th of 2019.
Suicide can touch people of all ages,
And it's effects can devastate families and communities.
But be aware that the signs might not always be obvious.
Don't be afraid to reach out to your family and friends
to see if they're OK.
My mother reaching out saved my life.
It's OK to talk about suicide. Better to have the conversation than to lose them.
It's OK not to be OK.
But if you yourself are struggling,
don't be afraid to reach out to friends or family for help.
Suicide is never an answer.
And you should just go ask for help even if it's embarrassing.
There are plenty of resources for those in need.
Call or text the Colorado Crisis Services line for help.
Denver is set to resume certain parking enforcement activities
that had been suspended due to COVID 19.
This includes enforcement of expired license plate tags and registrations.
The city encourages residents to make sure their registrations are up to date.
Booting of cars will resume as well.
If a vehicle owner has 3 or more unpaid or overdue parking citations,
their ride is eligible for booting.
National Preparedness Month is recognized each September,
to promote family and community disaster planning
Now and throughout the year.
Denver's Office of Emergency Management encourages everyone
to create a personal plan for the next unforeseen disaster.
So we encourage all residents to
make a plan, to build a kit,
to prepare for the disasters that face us here in Denver.
So I think for the City and County residents
the best thing they can do is to
keep visiting our website
denvergov dot org
We have a list of items that
that you should have on your emergency kit.
in any kind of emergency and especially in this pandemic.
Keeping informed is key.
For help forming an emergency plan, go to denver gov dot org.
If you build it, they will come.
And come they have, by the carload,
to this year's socially distanced, drive-in verison
of Red Rocks' classic film series, Film on the Rocks.
Guests enjoy movies on a huge LED screen,
from the comfort of their front seat or truck bed.
Ticket prices include movie snacks that are distributed to each vehicle upon entry.
along with additional on-site food items for purchase.
Film on the Rocks: The Drive-In continues through September 20th.
So be sure to check out their website for the full lineup.
and get your tickets before they disappear.
You can catch new episodes of Your City Now every Friday.
Thanks for watching, Denver!
