A proclamation celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s visit to Denver’s Park Hill Neighborhood. A proclamation reflecting on the January 1964 visit of Martin Luther King, Jr. to Denver's Park Hill neighborhood. 
It was great to hear all the good news. I wish that all of 2014 will have such exciting and wonderful news as the council members have given us today. Okay, let's go on. Let's go to presentations. Madam Secretary, do we have any presentations? And then Madam President, communications man. President We do have one proclamation this evening, and I will ask Councilman Herndon to please read it. Thank you, Madam President. Proclamation 2014 0007 Celebrating the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr visit to Denver's Park Hill neighborhood. Whereas, as a nation, we celebrate the American federal holiday marking the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr, which is observed on the third Monday of January each year. It is a day to reflect on one person, one person's pivotal role in leading nonviolent activism for the civil rights movement beginning in the mid 1950s until his death on April 4th, 1968. And. WHEREAS, Martin Luther King Jr continues to be remembered for his work in ending the segregation of African American citizens in the South and the nation, as well as crafting the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and also receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 in Oslo, Norway. And. Whereas, Denver's Park Hill neighborhood also fondly remembers that 50 years ago this month, Martin Luther King Jr spent a historic three days visiting with various leaders in Denver and the metro area and delivering a powerful message of delivering powerful messages at two churches in Denver, Macedonia's Baptist Church, in my view, Boulevard Presbyterian Church, where more than 3000 people came to hear him talk of change and the future and its founding to all within its reach, that the problem of racial injustice is a national problem and not a sectional one. And we're. RATH Part of the impetus of Dr. King's visit to Park Hill was the neighborhood's position at the forefront of the national movement to integrate communities from housing to public schools. And. WHEREAS, Park Hill resident Dick Young, the 1964 chairman of the Denver Commission on Human Relations and sponsor of Dr. King's visit and his wife, Laurie, hosted Dr. King and shared his commitment to breaking down racial barriers in our great city and across the nation. And. Whereas, Denver churches and organizations are planning various events to mark the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr. Three day visit to Denver now therefore be proclaimed by the Council of the City and County of Denver. Section one that the Denver City Council joins Park Hill residents as they celebrate this moment of history in Denver and to remember the work of Martin Luther King Jr that created change for all people. Section two that the Denver City Council encourages residents of the city and county of Denver to remember the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr and the words he spoke to spur collaboration among all people stating that the ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. Section three that the clerk of the city and county of Denver shall testing affix the seal of the city and county of Denver to this proclamation, and that copies be transmitted to Dick and Laura Young, Rever Victor Lamont Lane, Macedonian Baptist Church and Reverend and Gregory Cummins, Mont View Boulevard Presbyterian Church. Thank you, Councilman Herndon. Your motion to adopt. I move the proclamation 0007 2014 be adopted. It's been moved and multiple seconded comments from council. I'll call on Councilman Herndon first. Thank you, Madam President. Several things I want to put out. First, I want to give a thank you to care to get in the greater park Hill News. I was reading their their January issue when I learned about this video 50 years ago, which spurred the idea of having this proclamation so sincere thanks to them, as well as my other Park Hill Council members that I represent Park Hill as well, Councilmember Sussman and Brooke, we the three of us, sponsored this together, as well as other council members for supporting this. It's rare that you see a proclamation receive so much sponsorship from other council members. So I sincerely thank them for that. And there's really I can't think of a more fitting way as we start to honor the life and legacy of Dr. King, who was taken from us way too soon at the age of 39 with this proclamation. And I just think about the life and legacy that he left. And because he was taken from us, he didn't have the opportunity to travel to as many communities and make the impact that he could have had. But Denver was one of them and Park Hill was one of them. And that is remarkable. And one of the reasons Park Hill was a was a location for him, because during that time, Park Hill was the only neighborhood in Denver, as the article talked about in one of the premieres In The Nation, to allow integration between minorities and whites because other communities white flight was happening as minorities were moving in and whites were leaving. And Park Hill was a neighborhood that fought against that to work integration together. And I think that is something that is remarkable and a testament to the great city and the great community that we have here in Denver. And so I'm honored to represent that. And I also think to when you meet people and you have dialogs, people sometimes ask the question, if there's ever a celebrity alive or dead that you could meet, who would that be? And a lot of times, Dr. King, is that answer. Well, for Dick and Laura Young, they don't have to say that because they had the honor of hosting them in their house. And I think that that is that is remarkable. I'm just in thinking about that. And that is living history. And so to you both, I say thank you for that as remarkable. And I just will I will stop there so that other colleagues can give their comments. Thank you, Madam President. Thank you, Councilman Herndon, Councilman Brooks. Thank you, Madam President. Thank you, Kathryn Hart. Herndon, for for ma'am. Bringing this to our attention, this is incredible. And now I know why District Gate is so great is because Martin Luther King came through and hung out with some of our constituents. You know, I'll just say this time of year is for me is always a special time when I get a chance to read through Dr. King's Testament of Hope, which is a collection of all of his his essays and all of his speeches. And it's just an incredible opportunity for all of us to begin to consider the challenges. What are the societal challenges that we face, face today? And look look deep inside of ourselves, inside of this nation and in our country and in our city, and how we can be doing things better. And so, you know, I hope we all pause this month and really challenge each of ourselves and us as a body and as a community to say what is the things that we can begin to grow in and we can begin to take risks on. And so, you know, I think about Dr. King, I'm 34. And when he came on the scene, he was about 34, 35. And at that age he raised the social consciousness of the world really did. And so got a lot of work to do. Okay, we got to get. Got to get busy. Yeah. So thank you, Councilman Herndon. And I hope everybody will approve this. Thank you. Councilman Brooks, Councilwoman Robb. Thank you, Madam President. My husband and I moved to Denver in 1974, so maybe ten years after this. And one of the first places where we sat community was Mount View Boulevard Presbyterian Church, which has been a very important institution in the life in my life, in the life of my family . But, you know, sometimes you just get lucky. It was amazing to stumble into a church that was at the forefront as Parkhill was. There was a whole coalition of churches that led this in Park Hill, and I am so proud, even though I've never lived in Park Hill, but to feel like I'm part of it through this institution and I'm so proud because it was an important part to Denver's future, I think. So while my colleagues certainly none of us will ever forget Martin Luther King, but I. I really wanted to give kudos to Park Hill, the leadership there at the time, and our city, for picking up on that leadership. So, Councilman Herndon, thank you very much for reminding us of our history. Thank you, Councilwoman Robb. Councilman Lopez. Thank you, Madam President. I wanted to thank Councilman Herndon and Councilman Brooks and Councilman Susman for your sponsorship sponsorship, bringing this proclamation forward. You know, I, I, too, as a 36 year, I wish there were some people I could have seen in person. I wish there were some speeches. I wish that I could have been at and I wish I was around in the sixties and seventies to be part of that part of those moments. But we shouldn't talk about Dr. King and other people like him who were revolutionaries, who were the real deal, who fought against serious social injustice , and despite being threatened, despite paying the ultimate price, despite losing their jobs, despite being thrown in jail, as Dr. King in one of his speeches that said some of the things that we are going to be up against. It's not civil rights and social justice isn't a thing of the past. This is today. And they fought not just for racial equality, but they fought for economic equality. They fought and they took to the streets. And they were faced with with fire hoses and dogs and and cruelty from a police baton and cruelty from the public because of those revolutionary ideas of equality. And I want to make sure that when we remember people like Dr. King, when we celebrate neighborhoods and people like that, or the allies that made these things possible and filled those marches with shoes and boots on the ground. Right. That we embody that spirit every single day in whatever we do, whether you're a janitor, whether you're somebody that works for Parks and Rec or whether you're a council person or whether you're someone sitting in this very room, you know, supporting a cause that you believe in. We do not talk about this as something of the past. It's a wall alive today. There are a lot of struggles that we're fighting today, and it's that spirit that we have to carry forward. And that's how we honor people like Dr. King and people like folks that, you know, we sang in our own chambers today. And even down downstairs when when our manager of safety was being sworn in, there were so many people in that room. And as people in this room, I know that have struggled for the same cause. So thank you, Councilman Herndon. Thank you, Councilman Brooks. Thank you. Council on Assessment for bringing this proclamation forward. I'm glad to support this. Thank you, Councilman Lopez. I was alive during the sixties and seventies, sixties and seventies of the 1900s, not the 1800s. And I have to admit that I am very surprised that he was only 39 years old because he was, of course, an old soul. And his impact was so great that we all would have been sure that he must have been with us much longer. And I am honored to be able to do this proclamation day. I thank Councilman Herndon for bringing it to us and thank Park Hill and the folks that we'll hear from soon for being there with him . And thank Martin Luther King for what he did for our country. Madam Secretary, roll call herndon, i. I lost my place. You can eat. I Liman. Hi. Lopez. Hi, Monteiro. Nevitt. Hi, Ortega. Hi. Rob Shepherd. Brooks. High Ground. Hi, Fats. I. Madam President, I. Madam Secretary, close the voting. Announce the results. 3913 eyes. The proclamation is adopted. Councilman Herndon, who would you like to call up to the podium? Thank you, Madam President. I would like to call up Dick and Laura Young to the podium to accept this proclamation. Madam President, my name's Dick Young, and in 1953, I've been appointed the chairman of the Denver Commission on Community Relations, and it was that organization that brought Martin Luther King for that weekend. Obviously, it was the most memorable weekend that our family ever had and ever will have. I was fortunate that I was able to accompany him on most of the schedule. We had arranged it and it turned out extremely well. But I need to know others have expressed growing a lot of details as to what impact he had on the United States and on the world. And they're all true. But I want to spend just a minute thanking some people who are not here, but who had a major role. One is Helen Peterson. She was our executive director of the commission. And. Just did an outstanding job. And if all our public servants would be half as good as she was, would be so good. She was just so excellent. Manya Suey. Was. On our commission. He served as my vice chairman and later he became a director of the commission. And I think there's a building named after him. He did tremendous work here. Bill Roberts, who was a member of the city council for many years and played a major role. Roger Cisneros, who was very active and very much involved. Jim Reynolds, who ended up with the state heading the State Commission on Human Rights. Fred Thomas, another one, a park named after Fred. So really, we're here speaking, I think, on behalf of an awful lot of people who played major roles in making Park Hill and Denver what it is today. Well, the reception, of course, was one of the highlights of our life to have him in our home to sign the Time magazine of where he was Man of the Year. And all I did, I think, was clean the house and make sure our four children did not stumble into him. They all claim they sat on his lap, and I'm not sure that's true, but he did inspire us to go on even as Dick was working in fair housing. As you'll remember, the integration of our Denver public schools came later, and I had the opportunity to serve on the on the Community Education. Council, which was appointed appointed by the court. And all of our children have gotten a wonderful education in our beautiful area of Park Hill. So I thank you, Councilman. For for doing this for us. We appreciate it very much. Thank you. Thank you. It was lovely. Madam Secretary, I think it is time for us to read the resolutions from business, workforce and Sustainability 991 Resolution in the Mayor's Appointment of the Colfax Business Improvement District Board of Directors 994 a resolution approving the Mayor's reappointment, the Denver Convention Center Hotel Authority from Health