A bill for an ordinance renaming Barnum North Park located north of 6th Avenue/U.S. 6, west of Federal Boulevard and east of Knox Court as “M.L. ‘Sam’ Sandos Park”.  (INFRASTRUCTURE & CULTURE) Re-names Barnum North Park (between West 6th Avenue, Knox Court and Federal Boulevard) to “M.L. "Sam" Sandos Park” in Council District 3. The Committee approved filing this bill at its meeting on 6-29-16.
And he always worked with both sides. Even if you didn't even if he was on opposing. He always would go to the opposition and shake their hands and would talk to them. So that was Sam. He was he I just can't tell you how much I appreciate and love Sam. And so thank you for naming. The park. After Sam. Thank you. Thank you, Debbie dryly. You know, as I said a minute ago, the drilling family met Sam because he became the councilman and she was browbeating him to work on the park. And Saturdays were spent with their family and our family cleaning up trash with that park. And Sam was a lifelong friend of Lucille's. Ethel has just been a wonderful, wonderful neighbor and helper with my brother in law that still lives there. You know, the parks and so forth wouldn't be there. Sam has a huge legacy. We participated in the Christmas basket, and if any of you have never participated in the Christmas basket, you need to do that one year. It is absolutely, completely amazing. We put together boxes. We were part of the group. She talked about that. We're delivering to people that couldn't. Lucille always had a list of neighbors that were a little bit less fortunate, and we would take the boxes over to them because most of them were elderly and couldn't drive. So again, we've been friends with them for all of these years and I am. Proud to support. The renaming of that. Ballpark. For Sam. Thank you. Thank you. Bill dryly. Yes. Thank you. Sam Santos and Ethel Santos were great friends of my mother, Lucille, and they worked together to help the community. Every day. Every day they could. My mom would have a problem. She would call Sam. He'd be over there running, and Ethel would be with him most of the time. They're just the greatest people. And I'm so proud to stand here and say that. I hope you named this park after Sam. Thank you. Thank you. Paul Santos. I'm gonna start with that. Of course I'm the work force, so I got to come up there first for the family. Thanks, Mom. This is part of the project that you have. I am of the proud principal of Lester Arnold High School and a lifelong educator serving children, much like my father and mother. For most of my adult life in Denver, public schools as well. Who is my Sam Sanders and why is he deserving of this park naming? Manually Sam Sanders was born in Denver, Colorado on June 16th, 1927, the son of a Greek coal miner and a Hispanic mother. He was a lifelong resident and community leader in Denver's West Side. In 1941, you do the math. Now we know that in World War two, the age for induction was dropped to 16, but Sam was 14. In 1941, he lied about his age and joined the Army's 82nd Airborne as a paratrooper. He sustained crippling injuries at the Battle of the Bulge, resulting in several decorations for valor, including the Purple Heart and Silver Star. While recuperating, he met and married Ethel Mae McCants, and they raised nine children in the Villa Park and Barnum Park neighborhoods. They built a home in Villa Park where they raised their children and sheltered 14 foster children over the course of 40 years. Sam served on a plethora of boards and committees. His love of the Airborne Rangers and the military led him to be part of the American GI Forum. He worked tirelessly for the Veterans of Foreign Wars and for the American Legion. He loved effortless countless efforts for projects, especially want to admit scholarships for children. Westwood Community Center, who worked tirelessly for a lot of boys clubs and girls clubs of Denver. Sam was an amazing my dad. I never called him Sam in my life. What a problem I got. And Manuel was an amazing speaker on how to interpersonal skills. He brought a lot of money into Denver from state and federal coffers, including the National Summer Youth Sports Program. We knew growing up that our father's work was very important because of the people he worked with. We understood Martin Luther King. My father had worked with them. We knew Hubert Humphrey. He brought him home to have tacos. The best in Denver made by his Irish wife, of course. Tim Wirth. Schroeder often visited us and we played catch. Many people don't realize, but the Baltimore Colts used to have their training center at the Colorado School of Mines. He brought Johnny Unitas home and we got to play catch. But it wasn't those folks that turned his clock. It was his constituents. And I know how to count some of my family. What kind of hours you guys keep? And those incessant calls that come at all the wrong time and the doorbell being rang all at the wrong time. We shared our father with his constituents. Thank you for considering him for this. Thank you, Tim Sanders. Thank you, Mr. President. Members of council. I'm going to go to the next page, which is actually a very telling page. It was my father walking with young people, leading a march back when they were much more militant. Young people were getting their voice, and it was the first time that they felt that they had an opportunity to talk about their culture, their people, where they're at. So you see the picture there of my father looking like the gruff man he used to be at times with a cigaret in his mouth. At that time. What he was doing is helping young people understand how they could be a part of their community. They could express their voice. Unfortunately, during these times, he had to be there because many times people were attacked and he was there to protect the young people to ensure that there was safety. So I'm here to talk about the community activists and commitment to children and families that this picture portrays, but as it's specific to what was part of their culture, what we used to call the goalie at the time. Why did they decide to work on the Gulf to change the environment? Well, my brother mentioned that I've got seven brothers, two sisters, 14 foster brothers and sisters. Quite frankly, we needed some place to play. And so I also want to recognize, because we're speaking about my father in such eloquent terms, that it was really my mother who drove my dad to do the things that he did. So it was my mother who would say, Well, then, Sam, you need to do something about it. And there's that their filled over there that nobody's using, they dump trash. Why don't we talk about going and cleaning this up now? This was prior to being on the Denver City Council. So, again, you know, 14 Sanders kids in the back of the van go in, clean up the gully and wear a gulch and use it for baseball fields and four soccer fields. It was really creating a quality of life for the kids in the neighborhood and giving us an opportunity, some place not only to play, but to be proud of. So we combine that with the Mayor's Commission on Youth to create summer employment, and it used to talk to us all about, okay, we're going to work hard, we're going to clean this up, but then we're going to play hard too. So we got to have the balance in life and understand that if you give, you get back as well. Those were the key lessons that were being taught to each and every one of us in the family and in the community. Then he decided at one point that he could do so much more if he was elected to the city council. And as my brother mentioned, he was elected in 1975 and served 12 years on the Denver City Council. Channel nine News did a story talking about Barnum, and they said Barnum features a heavy Hispanic influence both in business and presidency. Denver's first Hispanic City Council representative Sam Santos, elected in 1975, represents District three, which includes Barnum and Barnum West. He served for three terms, and this is really the most important points of nine news story. He was a preeminent leader in building relations between the white and Hispanic communities. If you remember the early seventies, it was a time of turmoil. There was not a lot of people who are willing to step into that void to create commonality among people. My father was one of the first. So we come to the legacy and the legacy of the things not only that he did then what he taught his children and what was touch of the rest of the community . So these things wouldn't stop when he passed away, but his work would continue on. And so I'm looking forward to hearing from my brother Dan, who will share a little bit more about those things. Thank you very much. Thank you. And with that Segway, Dan Santos. Thank you. Thank you for entertaining us tonight and considering our presentation. I want to. Thank the Honorable Paul Lopez. As well as Adriano and his suits for everything that you guys have done. You guys are incredible. I'd like to thank Happy Haine. She's been a family friend of ours forever, and I appreciate you carrying the ball happy. I'd like to offer my congratulations to Ruth. Darling and her. Family. She was incredible. And you guys. Are deserving of what. You've done. I want to talk about just a couple of things, the SAM Sandals website, Health Health Center. I know all of you guys know about that. I don't have to tell you about how great it is and what a tremendous community asset it is. What I do want to say is thank you, because I know you guys work your butts off and I know that after a tough day, after a tough week, after a tough month, you're sitting here wondering, man, what am I doing here? Am I doing any good, guys? The West, South, the west side, the Sam Sanders West Side health centers is is testament to what great. Work you guys do. So thank you. I'm going to tell you about two nonprofit 501 seat threes that our family runs. One is the Hispanic annual salute. I am the president of the Hispanic and Salute. We are in our 37th year of providing scholarships that reward that recognize and reward volunteerism for high school seniors. It's important for us to do this because as Tim talked about, there's a few things that our father left for us in terms of legacy and the legacy and volunteerism is one of them. He believed and so do we, that if we find our community's brightest and best volunteers, if we hold them up and say, look at what these tremendous human beings are doing, it will inspire others to do more community service work. If all of us in this room today did one more thing for our community, how great would that be? I want to tell you that that. Process works, that that. Organization does a great job of doing just that. We recognize high school seniors that perform hundreds of hours of volunteer work throughout the year. We believe that those high school seniors are leaders today. We believe that they're going to be leaders in college. And we believe that they're going to be leaders after they finish their education and transition into their professional lives. Guys, we want to give those kids a little help up. So we give them a couple of years of scholarships and a computer. We do everything we can. We're an all, all volunteer organization. All of. Our profits fund, our. Scholarships. The second 501c3 that I want to tell you about is the Sam Sanders Christmas Basket program. Many of you know about this. The pictures that you'll see here represent a lot of the people that do the work. What you'll see there is Ruth driving spirit. You'll also see some of Ruth Grayling's children because they've been coming forever. In addition, you'll see some leaders from from our community the governor, the mayor, the honorable councilman Paul. We've seen Mr. Flynn the past couple of years. I want to thank Mr. Espinosa and Debbie, because these people have supported us forever. So when you look at that picture, guys, I want you to see what I want you to look at, what you're really seeing. What you really see is Denver. Tim talked about legacy, our legacy as a family, as volunteerism, but our legacy as a community is this organization and what it has done. We provide 2500 families with baskets per year on an average. Out of those baskets, the family can get ten meals. That's 25,000 meals multiplied over 40 plus years. It's a tremendous effort. And we're very proud of it. And we know that this. Is our legacy. But what I want to tell you all, you are all owners. This is really Denver's. Legacy. With the amount of work that we're doing and the amount of good that we're doing is really this community's legacy that we get to operate every year. So with that, I want to thank you. And I look. Forward to seeing you all again at our Christmas Basket program last Saturday before Christmas every year. We'll be there. Thank you. Thank you. And our last speaker is Ethel Sanders. Here I am again. I'm so glad to see all of you here. Some of you I know. Some of you I don't know. Some of you are too young to have known Sam Sanders. And so I'm going to tell you just a little bit about him. I mean, my kids have already said just about everything. What else can you say? But Sam Sanders was in the military at age 14, like the kids said. And they didn't say that when he was in the military and was a paratrooper, he jumped into the back of enemy lines and was frozen from the hips down. And he spent over a year in Fort Carson Hospital recovering from those injuries. So anyway, the funny thing was he finally was able to get a bus and come to Denver to see his mom and one of the neighbors seen him out there and decided that he must be a draft dodger because he had to be at least 18 by then. And so he must be a draft dodger. So they called the Department of the Army. And so here they came in their big car. And how surprised they were to see Sam Sanders standing there in uniform and on crutches, they were a little embarrassed because people, you know, are really eager to say bad things. Now. Sam was. He wasn't a saint, but I kind of think he was. I go to Mass every morning at 630, and the other morning there was a little old lady, a little older than me. Nobody's older than me. But anyway, her and her daughter were coming across a lot, going into the church. And so she came and started hugging me and talking in Spanish. And I heard her say something about Santos. Well, I knew I wasn't a saint, so she must be talking about Sam. Well, her daughter came and said, You have to forgive my mom, but she thinks that your husband is a saint as well. I kind of do, too. But anyway, he had saved her house at one time. And all of the things the many things that he did. He did so much for so many people, such as I don't know. He was I think he was a great city councilman. And I think that he probably was a saint. But over our years, we we were very poor. I mean, he made 21,000 a year. You guys make a lot more than that. But he made 21,000 a year and paid his own aid. He was the first one to do that. But we didn't have a whole lot of money, so everybody had to participate. And I am so thankful for my children. You can see what great people they are. Pat isn't here tonight, but he took over the Christmas basket program when Sam died and and Dan took over the Hispanic annual salute where we give scholarships to many young children. And you should hear the things that they say. They're so appreciative of help. So and then a lot of things happened over the years. And a priest we know and I thought he was a friend. I'm not sure now, but he came by my store one day and he said, Ethel, I just dropped off two Mexican boys aged 17 at your house, and they don't speak a word of English. I said, Father, I may have to kill you. I said, Sam's in Washington, and I don't speak a word of English. He says, you'll you'll think of something. Well, of course we did. We always thought of something because we were survivors. And I can't thank my children enough. You know, little kids, they. They took these guys aside and explained what we were having for dinner and and all of that. And so it was just just a wonderful thing. And then after Sam and I were married, I don't know, a couple of years and still poor, I had my my diamond ring for a down payment on a house, and I went and done all the paperwork on the house. And on Saturday, we were to do the closing. So we went for the closing. And of course, Sam worked construction then, and he worked without a shirt and he was brown is a very and so when we went in the office, this great big guy stood up and he said, We can't sell you that house. And I said, Why not? I gave you the money for my ring. He said, Well, because it's a restricted area and we don't sell to Mexicans. I said, Well, but he's half Greek and I'm Irish. And he said, I don't care. He still have Mexican. That was the first time I'd seen my husband cry. We both sat down on the curb and cried our hearts out. But we finally got to know their house, so it was even better. So it all worked out all right. We went through lots of lots of trials. Sam was well, he was a volunteer from the heart. And like Joanne told you that he'd call you any time of the day or night because he needed help with this. And he worked on both sides of the aisle with the different city council. And then we got to be friends with all of them. After 12 years, of course. So anyway, I appreciate you listening to us and to our stories and thank Paul for following her by harassing him. And of course, Debbie. We loved Debbie. And I know that Happy Haines is part of my family. Has always been. She just so wonderful. And then we adopted Kevin Flynn because he is my new councilman and we're happy and pleased. And I want to thank all my children for doing what they've done to support me. Sam died way too young. He was 60 years old, and so he died way too young. And he hadn't finished all the projects that he had started. I guess that's why you have children to finish the projects that you never had time to finish. Thank you so much for your concern. Thank you. Thank you. That concludes our speakers. Are there any questions from members of the Council? Councilman Espinosa. I sort of just having to ask, can Dan and Tim or whoever come up and just say where you can find out more information about both charities if you want to donate or support in any other way? You're very kind. And one thing we'd like to point out, thank you for the request, Councilman Espinoza. Both of these organizations are 100% volunteer, and we raise all the money for those ourselves or with our volunteers. So there's not a penny of contribution coming from any other nonprofit or other organization or source that set down one. And we depend on volunteers, 700 plus volunteers for the basket program alone. So it's a tremendous outreach. We. WW W Sam Sanders Christmas Basket program dot org and WW W Hispanic Annual Salute. Georgie And both those websites are operational all the time and we take contributions forever year round. So if you know anybody right now and I would add one other thing, we participate in Cinco de Mayo, September 16th, selling sodas and beverages to generate revenue for our scholarships and our Christmas basket program. We do that every year. So thank you for more volunteers. Please volunteer. Yeah. The if you want to be humbled. Look at the kids that received these scholarships. They really all make you feel like you're not doing enough. But so thank you for both organizations. And I'm glad that the Sam Sanders Christmas baskets are are based in district one and continue to be and and looking forward to being there this last Saturday before Christmas. I'll see you guys there. Thank you, Councilman Espinosa. The public hearing for Council Bill 474 is closed. Comments by members of Council. Councilman Lopez. Thank you, Mr. President. Again, it is an honor to be here and to see this come up in front of us. You know, when when I think of, you know, I made my comments to Councilman Santos and his family and in the park, but I'll wrap both up and the excellent time that we have here that you're seeing in front of you. You can't be what you can't see. And for Sam Sanders for a lot of us in the community. Sam Sanders, Carpio Rubin Well, there's a lot of those folks in our community. Were that which we could see. But it doesn't surprise me. To hear the story and it messes with my heart every single time. And tears rushed to my face. To think of the fact that Councilman Santos was turned down. Because of him being Mexican. And it hurts because I know that that's still happens. I know that it's still happens. I know what that feels like. And it happened to me as a councilman. It. Is happening to people all over our city. And you look at the national politics and when you happen to catch the convention or some of the comments that that Mr. Trump is saying, you would think that a mexican is a very horrible thing to be. And they're doing a very good job of scaring the heck out of everybody of us. But what is there to really be afraid of? Mm hmm. The fact that you want to improve the neighborhoods we live in or represent them and represent them with integrity, represent them with. With courage. And yes, with great because these are the politicians. These are the leaders that had grit. They weren't afraid to roll up their sleeves and make it happen. But most of all, with love. And you know, this this March, Debbie and I kind of looked at each other, and I did this with one of the Sanders, uh, men, the one where the counselor was leading this march. Apparently, Che Guevara was in there and talking with him. There's a guy in a beret, had long hair look like Che Guevara. And very rarely do I ever I will quote because I think it's a very important quote in saying that a true revolutionary is guided by great feelings of love. At the at the risk of seeming ridiculous. The true revolution revolutionaries guided by great feelings of love. And that is what the Santos family is about. That's what Councilman Santos was about. There are some people in our community, in our world that draw these circles around themselves. And there are some that draw their circles around themselves, in their family. And then there are others who draw a huge circle. And in that is their entire people. Their entire world. And that's the kind of person that Councilman Santos was. And, you know, I. Councilman Santos was born in the same time my grandfather was. They both served in the Army together and probably maybe ran into each other. But my grandfather was from old northern Colorado. And, you know, there are some of us who. For whatever reason, the father role was played by somebody other than the father. And for a lot of these kids and a lot of the folks and to know that 14 foster children in and out of 40 years. The dedication and the love. You have to have to be able to do that to raise them. To shape them. You're basically raising a community. And what a better what a more better opportunity than this park, which he helped create. And like Ruth dryly, I like Ruthie. We had nothing. There was nothing. There wasn't a park to be played in. And they made it. They turn a goal, a turn, a gulch filled with tires and shopping carts and muskrats and crawdads. To this day, I cannot eat crawdads. You know the crayfish? I can. They just look the same. And I've named all of them. And you're not supposed to name them, but. They made it happen and we are continuing to do that. And yes, it's sad that that Councilman Santos could not see that some of his project projects complete are completed. But guess what? They are being completed this last week here on this dais, we implemented the Westwood Neighborhood Plan, the first one since Councilman Martinez and Sam Santos, and they worked on it. The first one since the now 30 years. For the first time in 30 years, we've had three new parks open up in the district. The first time in 30 years was Ali's councilman Santos, with a scourge of his own. He wanted them paved simply not with diamonds or concrete, but with asphalt. There paved those streets for the first time. Every single street and that district is paved right and one right in front. That's right. Every single one of them. And it's those things that build communities. These are community builders that we are honoring. These are city builders that we are honoring. And, you know, it's not when people say they're proud of Denver, it's not with a sense of nativism that it's mine and not yours, because that's very dangerous. That line of thinking is very dangerous. But it is. It's this neighborhood for everybody. Right. And it's a sense of of of selflessness and to to say, you know, there's this protection of Denver and the what makes us this is it's our roots. It's these stories. It's it's these these legacies. And that's the reason for these two naming. And the reason that we're renaming and Barnum North to Sam Sanders Park. Right, because these kids who are playing on this ball field, these adults who are playing on these ball fields, these teams that are playing on these ball fields. Owe it to folks like Senator Sanders and the fact that you have so many kids now benefit benefiting from scholarships. You have one kid who remembers a Christmas basket coming to his door because they were too poor to afford it. That was me. We were in that program, we were on that list. And then to be able to give back, I played on that playground. As a matter of fact, the first time I chipped a tooth was on this playground. And that's when when playgrounds were fun because they were a little bit dangerous. All right. And it was actually the street where I chipped it right in front of it. But that's where we would play. That's where my daughter played. And the reason why we are working the way we do, we never forgot. We never forgot the ask of of a Lucille drilling when she came and said, can you please name this park? Can you can you do that in my honor, I ask you very humbly, she said. There's no other flowers that would make me happier in this world. And when Ethel Sanders script on when we sat down says, you know, we have to do something about that, golly, you you have to remember this. You cannot let this. Fall by the wayside. We've wanted it for so many years. We wanted to honor him in so many different ways and to see all these kids playing here, we have to do something and it's being done. And tonight we will have two new names was shiny signs on those parks will not tonight, but we will install them . I wanted to thank those family members. Thank you to the Santos's for your work, for your dedication, for your volunteerism, for your grandchildren, your kids, everything that you do for our community. And thank you to the drilling families. Thank you both families for for lending your matriarch and your patriarch to not only just father, your families and mother, your families, but also to do that for our communities. It is a heck of a sacrifice. And families don't understand when a lot of people don't understand that, it really impacts the family. And it's hard. It's very hard. But at the end of the day, those circles are drawn around so many people and we have to understand that. So on on our behalf and on behalf of the City Council, District three, thank you. Thank you for that time away from you and with us. We appreciate it. And thank you to Parks and Rec. Right. Yolanda Quesada, who all of a sudden who had this huge workload. And we just came to her with a bunch of, hey, we want to rename a couple of parks or what? Yeah. Tell us how many signatures all about a lot of them or we're going to bring twice that many right and happy hands. Right. And we came to Happy Hands and Scott Gilmore, he's not here, but Scott really understood. And he said, okay, if you do the work, great. And you know, right away the Dukes go up, protection goes up because the last few park renaming have been highly controversial. Right. In the fact that we don't have any single islands, a country, we couldn't find one person who was and against against this. Right. And thank you to my staff, Adriana and his suits. You worked your souls to the to the ground to make this happen for our community. And, you know, on my behalf, right when we were out here organizing, pulling companies, clipboards out, it doesn't happen automatically. It happens with grit and it happens with that with those souls on your feet. So thank you. Thank you, everybody. And thank you to my colleagues. I am asking you humbly, on behalf of my district to pass this so we can. Give something for kids to see. Thank you. Thank you. Councilman Lopez. Councilman Flynn. Thank you, Mr. President. This is this is really a West Side kind of nightlight, isn't it? The West Side. This is great. This is great because at one time it wasn't so easy to get to and from the west side over to town limit. I remember when I when I first came to Denver, the Colfax Viaduct was still one way you could get out of the west side, but you couldn't get back. Right. They closed off Third Avenue. You couldn't get across Third Avenue anymore. When the Valley Highway went in Sixth Avenue ended. Kind of kind of came around the rim of the of the of the hillside there. And you had to come into town on eight on the old eighth Avenue Viaduct. Right on the old. And that's before the freeway went in. And so it's much easier to get to and from the West Side anymore. And so it's great to see to remarkable people from the west side being recognized. I thank you, Councilman Lopez, for bringing that forward, Ethel. I first met Sam sitting over at that table when I was covering city council meetings as a reporter for the News, Rocky Mountain News. And Sam was sitting, I think, at the site at the time he was sitting on that side. But so he had a sit with Paul Swan and John Silkier and people like that. And that's where I first heard, where I first learned about the culture of this body, about the customs, about the processes, about the practices and the issues, and seeing men like Sam and women like Cathy Reynolds and Cathy Donahue and others who came on board around that same era. In 1975, in fact, the two Cathy's were elected in the same election as Sam, weren't they? I learned so much about how this body functions from seeing that that group of people and and to have you, Ethel, come to me a little over two years ago and suggested that I run for office. What were you thinking? But I just want to tell you that it's. It was an honor to know Sam and to learn something about the about this body from watching him, watching him reach out to people like my predecessor, Ted Hackworth, and how even though as different as night and day in their politics, they could find ways to work together to accomplish what was right for Southwest Denver and to do good things together. And and I learned a lot of lessons from that. So I just want to say I feel that Harriet and I very much value your friendship and your support. And we love you. And it's a pleasure on behalf of the the residents of District two, of which you are now one that moved down to Brentwood. It's a pleasure for me to honor your husband this way and to Tim and Dan and the rest of the family. Thank you very much for. For lending your your husband and your father to this city's betterment of its civic life. Thank you. Thank you. Councilman Flynn. Councilwoman Ortega. Thank you, Mr. President. I first want to thank Councilman Lopez and his staff for the work they did in bringing this forward and all of you who participated in helping to circulate the petitions. I did not know Ruth driving, but I want to congratulate the family in having the park named after her. Clearly. She left her mark in this city and touched the lives of a lot of people. I had the benefit of knowing Sam and working for Sal Carpio, who was the councilman that got elected at the same time that Sam did. And the two of them tag teamed on so many things, along with Bill Roberts, who have you Haines worked with. And I think we all learn from the best. You know, we learned what it was to truly be a grassroots leader, to mobilize your community, to get things done. And folks here don't know this, but our community development funds the block grant dollars. We get used to be administered by a group called the Mayor's Advisory Committee, and each council person had an appointee and Sam and Cell and Bill Roberts tag team to make sure that all the projects in their districts always got taken care of . Because, you know, the HUD criteria was you had to address slum and blight and you had to serve low income communities. And that was these districts, right? So they were notorious for tying up all of those dollars to take care of so many projects in these neighborhoods, whether it was trying to get, you know, alleys paved or , you know, sidewalks in some neighborhoods or in some cases it was a rec center or parks. But they really did an outstanding job in representing our community and. I just love Sam. I mean, he was just an incredible human being. That. And you're right. I thought he he did die way too young because. I can remember when he was in the hospital one time. He was actually took his paperwork with them and he was working from his hospital bed trying to take care of constituent complaints. Right. That's the dedication that Sam Sanders had in really trying to just always go the extra mile in representing the people that elected him. I had the benefit of serving with Tim, who then later stepped into his dad shoes and continued that legacy and the contributions that your entire family has made to this city. And I know there are so many people that are so grateful. And if you have never been to volunteer at the Christmas Basket program, it is such an organized machine that really has you show up as a volunteer and there's a role for you. And everything runs like clockwork. And it's it's amazing whether you're there to package the baskets or go deliver the baskets to the families. It's all very nailed down in terms of providing efficiency to the people who are there to volunteer and to get the product out to the families who who are in need. And I know that that program started out serving the West Side, but it serves the entire city and county of Denver now. And so, you know, I know people all across this city are grateful not only for that program, but also for the scholarship program that has been in place for for all these years. I can remember Sal and Sam also working very, very closely with our state legislators, Ruben Valdez, George Sandoval, Don Sandoval, Rich Castro. They would strategize on how to tie up both state and city dollars to address needs in the community, whether it was, you know, work on Eighth Avenue or I-25. They were working very closely together to make sure that, you know, the projects coming in were going to benefit the neighborhoods. And I just am. Honored to be a supporter of this park naming tonight because Sam really gave his life to this city. And I am grateful to the family for knowing the time it took away from you all. For him to be able to serve not only the constituents of District three, but the city as a whole, because when we sit up here on this dais, we vote on issues that deal with neighborhoods all across the city. And Sam was always very thoughtful. He was a good listener to the people who came here that were asking for support of whether it was a rezoning or something else. But he was just an incredible individual, and I'm just very blessed to have known him. So I will be absolutely supporting this tonight. Thank you very much. Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilwoman Gilmore. Thank you, Mr. President. Pro tem. You know, certain folks in the city, when somebody says their name, it's with great reverence and you know that they were a great person and they did amazing things. And, you know, you try to try to figure out and learn a little bit more about them. But I have to say, it was amazing when, you know, kind of looking through the information and that he was the son of a Greek coal miner and a Hispanic mother. My grandfather was born of a Greek goat farmer and a Hispanic mother. And so just immediately having that connection and understanding and you talking about your family and about your dad and your husband and how I can only imagine that your home was very, very loud and full of great food and fun and people, and that when you're doing your life's work, it just becomes part of your life. And you really showed that tonight in sharing that information. And I just wanted to congratulate you on the naming of this park and and the other family as well, because what two great, great, amazing people. I'm honored to support this tonight. Thank you, Mr. President. Pro tem. Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilman Cashman. Thank you, Mr. President. Pro Tem. This has been a bit difficult for me. It's been an extremely emotional presentations, and it started early on. Mr. President, when you read the bill title and when you got to the part of naming Emil Sam Sandoz Park, I saw Tim's eyes get big and kind of choked up a minute. And and I get that. And because, you know, I grew up with the drillings and with the Santos family, except I grew up in New Jersey, and it wasn't the drillings in the sand, it was Mr. and Mrs. Briggs, and it was the ED Acts. And we didn't have a vice president or star football player at the House. But, you know, the cops were always there and the fire department guys, firefighters and you know, the mayor was my next door neighbor and it was all about community. And I loved when Happy started things off by saying that, you know, what you learned from Mr. Santos was not necessarily the most important thing being how to run a city government, but how to create community. And, you know, I'm thinking of our fire chief, Charlie Schilling, you know, who has a fire station in my home town named after him. And, you know, the Mr. Briggs has a Little League baseball field. And so when it's it matters to be a Santos or drilling because the stuff that your father and your mother and grandmother brought to the table, you carry with you, you know. So when I got out of college, I spent a few years doing what I thought I was supposed to do in the world of of business, you know, worked for for a couple of corporations. And then I got out on my own and the places I ended up. I ended up because of how I was raised and who was around me and hearing the things your family is doing and hearing the effect of your relatives on all of you. There will probably be a long, long time before, if ever before, there's no one walking the earth who hasn't been affected by Ruth drilling or Sam Sanders. So, Councilman, thank you very much for bringing this forward. And as my colleague said earlier, this is why this is worth the price of admission. Thank you very much. Thank you, Councilman. Councilman Lopez. Thank you, Councilman. Thank you, Mr. President. I'm sorry. I wanted to ask. I didn't get to it. And you intended to do Councilman Santos, but I want to. I'll do this for you. Came up to me, and I wanted to ask those who are in favor to name that didn't speak or spoke. If you're in favor of the park renaming for Sam Sanders to please stand. Thank you. And so I wanted to do that on his behalf, and I forgot to do that. Thank you. Thank you. Councilman Lopez. Councilman Espinosa. I'm going to be totally off the subject. But since we're talking about history and she might be watching. Um, Susan Barnes guilt. I found your portfolio here. There's a letter in here to Debbie Ortega in Happy Haynes, among other council members. District nine, District 11. So Susan is here. I could pick it up at District one office from 1996 as a 20 year old piece of case that's been hiding between novels in my desk. You're not making any fans in that room with that. All right, Councilman Espinosa, thank you. Councilman Ortega. I just wanted to make one last comment, and it's it's. Why does this matter? Why does this matter that we named Parks after people in this city who have, you know, made significant contributions yet so that future generations who go to these parks, who see these names, can learn about who these people were and what they did for this city. And you know, how I think in both cases, both Mr. filing as well as as Councilman Santos really helped build future leaders for this city in the work that they both did. You know, they were grooming young people to get involved, to be active, and to make a difference for their own communities. And that's why it matters. And I think it was just important to say that. And again, I just think being able to honor both of these individuals is an important way of doing that and continuing the legacy of the contributions they made in this city. Thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman Ortega. Councilman Espinosa. So a serious comment, actually. I didn't know Sam, but I have had the privilege of reading you all. And just based on that, he obviously must have been a terrific leader because you guys also are truly, truly committed to your community and leaders in your own right. So the legacy to me is alive and well, just through you guys. And so I'm happy to see this park naming. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman. What an amazing evening to amazing people. And I just wanted to say thank you to all of you for coming out and sharing your stories and sharing these individuals with us as the city. And it's been a privilege to be a part of it, and I'll happily support this naming. With that, Madam Secretary, Raquel Lopez. I knew Ortega Black. I Espinosa. Hi, Flynn. I Gillmor. I Cashman. But can each. Mr. President, I. Madam Secretary, please close the voting and announce the results tonight. Tonight as accountable for 74 has passed. On Monday, August 22nd, Council will hold a required public hearing on Council Bill 498, providing a moratorium prohibiting the use of the Denver zoning code preexisting small zone light parking exemption for certain projects for a period of approximately seven months , and a required public hearing on Council Bill 541, providing for a moratorium prohibiting the approval of site development plans in the amendment of approved site development plans for construction of buildings using the garden court building form in the Denver zoning code for a period of approximately 12 months.