A proclamation observing September 15 through October 15 as National Hispanic Heritage Month in the City and County of Denver.
It's a great project. Thank you, guys. Okay. Communications. Madam Secretary, do we have any communications? None. Mr. President. We have one proclamation this evening. Councilman Ortega, will you please read Proclamation 909? Absolutely. I'd be happy to. Proclamation number 909, observing September 15th through October 15th as National Hispanic Heritage Month in the city and county of Denver. We're, as Americans, observe National Hispanic Heritage Month from September 15th through October 15th by celebrating the histories, cultures and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America. And. Whereas, Colorado's history, culture, economic and civic like have been shaped by the end, influenced by the contributions of people of Hispanic descent over many generations. And. Whereas, Denver is home to a large, vibrant and growing population of Latinos, whereas Latinos represent 32% of Denver's population. And. WHEREAS, The city and county of Denver has benefited from many contributions made by inspiring Latino leaders, including the recent recipients of the Denver Public Library, Latino Community Service Awards pilot Castro, Reno, Frank Priscus, Marlene de la Rosa, Luis Torres and the Colorado Latino Hall of Fame will be including Dr. Jose Vigil, Rad Tafoya, Salazar Family Foundation , Honorable Federico Pena, Susan Cordova, Casimiro Barela at their October 18th event. And. Whereas, Latino residents have contributed immensely to Denver's culture and economic mosaic as laborers, service workers, chief executive officers of companies, large and small performers, artists, musicians, athletes, city employees and political leaders at all levels of government. Government as exemplified by Secretaries Federico Pena and Ken Salazar. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed by the Council of the City and County of Denver, Section one. The Denver City Council, in recognition of National Hispanic Heritage Month, Please, pays tribute to the generations of Hispanic people who have positively influenced and enrich the lives of all people in the city and county of Denver. In Section two that the city clerk of the city and county of Denver affix the seal to the city and county of Denver to this proclamation. Thank you, Councilman. Or take your motion to adopt. I move for the adoption of proclamation number 909. It has been moved and seconded comments from the Council Councilwoman Ortega. Thank you, Mr. President. I thought it was important to bring this forward. I'm not sure that council has been doing this historically. I know when I served on the council before we did this on a regular basis, just to draw attention to the fact that there have been many contributions. And although that has occurred, there are still many challenges and disparities that exist within our communities. Some of the very neighborhoods that we have been struggling to help people keep people in their housing or we're seeing gentrification and displacement happen. And the work that was done by Councilwoman Kennedy. And you, Mr. President, in creating a dedicated funding stream for affordable housing, is really vital to keeping people in the city who have helped build this city, you know, whether it's laborers, you know, as I mentioned, Mayor Federico Pena, who played a big role in the building of DIA and the huge economic engine that that is for our entire not just metropolitan area, but this entire region. So. I would just ask that my colleagues support this. We don't have anybody here to speak to accept this tonight. But I think in light of one of the other bills that we have on our agenda tonight, there is a huge correlation between many of our Native Americans and our Latinos. Many share both both cultures, both heritages. And I'm excited about that bill that is is before us tonight. But I just want to take this moment tonight and acknowledge the many, many contributions that Latinos have. Mexicanos have have played throughout the city and county of Denver over many, many generations. Thank you. Thank you. Councilman Ortega. Councilman Lopez. Thank you, Mr. President. And thank you, Councilman Ortega, for it. She tapped me on there, but she really wrote this and move this forward. And I'm glad I'm glad to co-sponsor this with Councilman Ortega. And I agree. I think, you know, it's important to celebrate. It's important that we have a proclamation. But it's it's not just a cute we're talking from this dais. And what we're trying to really exhort is that, you know, the celebration of our people and of the contributions of their people, their celebrations of our our history, our own, all of our history together. And how that you know, how that fabric was worn. You know what I can say and I'm glad you brought up I'm glad we're talking about real issues because. We don't celebrate Hispanic Heritage Day by popping open a corona. Or by going to eat a taco salad bowl, we celebrate the Hispanic community, the Latino community by our actions and not just as as council members or elected officials are appointed officials whose constituency is Latino. Right. But we honor them by by making sure that this community is not invisible. That when we walk by these buildings and construction sites, we see the people that build them. When we walk through these hallways and whether they are lawyers or clerks or council members or janitors, that we see them and we acknowledge people. Right. And we honor that. And I would say the same thing for our Asian American, our Muslim, our African-American, our our Anglo American brothers and sisters. It is, you know, this month just really highlights the history. Right. And there are so many different people from different cultures that make up this Latino group, just to say Latinos really are a huge umbrella term. But. We do it in our actions. And, you know, if I mention a couple, I mean, it's just really the tip of the iceberg and how we affected on city council. It's, it's, it's understanding zoning and how zoning affects culture. Our signing code in our community mural ism is a big deal. And if you don't think it is, think of Orozco or Rivera, you know, mural ism is throughout our neighborhoods. So having a sign code that doesn't make it illegal to have a mural that has your sign on it right in our sign code, that's just zoning . Right. When you look at affordability and you look at small businesses, there's different ways in which we touch this and how culturally we have to all become aware. Right. And so this is one of those things where, you know, it's not necessarily is it's what our officers. Right. Or in our data collection as a city, when they make us check a box that says white, black or other. And I said, Well, you're a mexican, all right? She got on. Great. But are you black or are you white? Well, I'll Mexican. Are you black or you're white? Okay, if you're going to make me pick, I'm going to put indigenous. Because. Just because I have a last name that's Spanish doesn't mean I'm from Spain. If you have a notice and you look in the mirror and look like a Spanish dude. Right? But it is our actions in in our policies. But it's all of us, all of our partners, everybody in this city that provides us services that government falls short in doing or cannot do or relies on that is truly celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month. It's looking at our own actions and every single day it's making sure we do not see human beings as somebody other than human beings that they're in. They're not invisible, that they live and breathe in our city no matter what they look like or what their last name is. So in that, I proudly support this proclamation and. Are moving forward. Thank you. Thank you. Councilman Lopez. Councilman Espinosa. I swear it wasn't some sort of conspiracy, but there were a lot of names mentioned in that. And I also wanted to sort of say, because I'm sort of sensitive right now as we approach a general election about some of the things that have been said towards many minority groups in our country. And, you know, when you dropped names like Ken Salazar and more particularly to Denver, Federico Pena. What's important is that when you know he's synonymous with our airport, that's not a Latino airport. That's Denver's airport. And it's a it's a it's a it's the place on the map in this country and that sort of vision, you know, the sensitivities, whatever, you know, his upbringing was, you know, to sort of have that vision and. And bring forward. And marshal the political muster, whatever it takes to get to that to to implementation and reality and realization in the things that we do as individuals with our backgrounds to move this country and our and our and everybody forward. You know, I don't wasn't prepared, right, to talk, but what I'm getting at is that we don't make these decisions. I have a Hispanic heritage. Yeah. And that shapes who I am and where I stand on my principles and who I but I work for everybody. If you saw who was spearheading my campaign, it wasn't a huge Latino outpouring that said we want you elected. It was it was a large group, a very wide cross-section of Northwest Denver. And I'm glad that in the end, we had huge support from from across the the area. But I'm working for everybody. And yeah, my heritage matters because it is a is a perspective. But I think that we all bring it into sort of dismiss or disregard anybody in this country for where they come from. Is, is not how we we get to a great place. And so I'm happy to support this proclamation. But when we think about the people that that were mentioned, they're all doing great things for everybody in this city, in this country. And that's what I'm here for, is to do my best for you. So thank you for bringing this forward. Thank you, Councilman. Councilwoman Gilmore. Thank you. President Brooks. I wanted to say thank you to Councilman Ortega and Councilman Lopez for bringing this proclamation forward. You know, being a fourth generation Coloradan with family from Trinidad and from New Mexico, it's amazing the diversity of our Latino communities in Colorado. And really, you know, I used to always ask my grandparents, where did we exactly come from? And they were like, we've always been here. We didn't come from anywhere else. And so this is our home. And so from that perspective, I'm honored to, you know, support this proclamation tonight and that we continue the conversation about all of the many accomplishments that folks from our multiple, you know, diverse and inclusive Latino heritage have provided and continuing, I think, to provide the opportunity to make sure that their voices are heard. The one thing that I feel like I can do is at least open the door or pull out a seat at the table and make sure that folks are able to communicate exactly their own experiences. And if that's the least that I can do, I think I'm doing a pretty good job. So thank you. President Brooks. Thank you. And I'll just make a couple of comments in saying that, you know, what strengthens proclamations like these and is allies? Allies are different people, groups and and African-Americans. You're mentioned in this, Councilman Lopez, have intertwined relationships with Latinos and native people from the African Aztec alliances that used to happen. And I, I, I stand with this proclamation. But more importantly in this city is so important. We recognize what people have done in this city. I always say this because a lot of people don't believe it when they come to Colorado, but Denver is 50% people of color and it has a rich history and we need to talk about it and we shouldn't be ashamed to talk about it. Matter of fact, we should celebrate it. And so thank you, Councilman Ortega, for putting this forward. And I hope that we can begin to celebrate all of us amazing people's heritage, especially Hispanic and Latino. So with that, Madam Madam Secretary, roll call Ortega I. But I. Clark by Espinosa. Flynn, i. Gilmore. I. Herndon. Cashman. I can eat. Si. Lopez. I knew. Mr. President. I please close voting, announce the results. 12 eyes. 12 eyes for commission narrow. Nine has passed because when I take it you do not have anyone to bring up. But thank you for bringing this forward. All right. We have a resolution. Madam Secretary, will you read the resolutions?