Needing Your Emotional Animal W/ You? For eligible people who need their emotional support animal to accompany them at/or away from home, I am available to provide the documentation and counseling. Call Elaine Lustig, PhD at 303-369-7770 CREDIT CARDS ACCEPTED Urban Design continued from page 8 Central Station in New York City. While the renovation of Union Station, with its restaurants and upstairs hotel and big open space, has been hailed as a major success, there have been more issues with the bus station that was installed at the back of the building. Over the last eight months, the Denver Police Department has been keeping a close eye on “homeless individuals who congregate and shelter there, becoming bit further by walking, and you’re going to decide to not take your car as much.” Confl uence Park Continuing into the Central Platte Valley, we stroll over to Confl uence Park, close to where gold was discovered and Denver was founded over 150 years ago. We start talking not just about the city’s past, but about how Di Girolamo envisions some of the work she’ll be doing for its future. “The way I worked in New York is that I was able to work on all aspects of plan- Girolamo proclaims that “it’s a gorgeous park.” And that gets her thinking about something else that makes Denver special. “Driving, sometimes you get a view of the mountains, and it’s so nice,” she says. “I do love that about Denver. You are in the city, that urban environment, but you can still see the mountains and get reminded that they are there and that they’re so close by.” The confluence of two waterways in the heart of the city was another pleasant surprise. “I love how Cherry Creek and Platte River trails offer a great commuting route for many people in Denver,” she notes, complimenting the “infusion of the work from local artists in public spaces in many of the neighborhoods I visited so far.” Tennyson Street With RTD free for the month of August, we hop on a bus bound for Civic Center. “Public transit in Denver is a great asset,” Di Girolamo notes, “and I would love to see service expand as more people use it to get around. It is important to capitalize on the ex- isting and planned transit access so that new development can be less reliant on car use.” Still, we get in Swartz’s car to head over to DEBT & IRS PROBLEMS? SET UP YOUR INITIAL CONSULTATION BEFORE THE IRS AND OTHER CREDITORS ENFORCE COLLECTION EFFORTS. MICHAEL M. NOYES ATTORNEY & CPA 303-756-6789 While Confl uence Park is a “gorgeous park,” Tennyson Street deserves another look. prey to drug dealers.” Entrance to the bus terminal and its facility is now limited to passengers; RTD is installing gates. After enjoying the ambience of the Great Hall, we walk outside and across the tracks to the back of Union Station and the bus terminal. “It feels relatively seamless to me,” Di Girolamo says, praising the transition.“It feels very approachable.” She’s happy to see taller residential build- ings around the back of Union Station, in what was once a dusty railyard, and praises some of the nearby businesses, including a restaurant, that have spilled onto the side- walk and street. “I think density is always great around transit — to really make sure you’re capi- talizing on transit infrastructure and really enticing more and more people to use it be- cause it’s so conveniently located,” she says. But Di Girolamo does wonder whether some of the ground floors of buildings around the back of Union Station could be better activated. “In urban design, something that we’re 10 always striving for is activating the front- ages as much as possible with uses, but also, from a design perspective, making sure that we don’t have blank walls,” she explains. “We really limit the amount of entrances to parking from the major streets. When you have businesses that face the street and you can see inside and out, you really feel a lot more safe, and you’re willing to go a little Tennyson Street, one of the neighborhoods that has become ground zero for the city’s current urban design debates. One of the worst aspects of new develop- ment in the area over the past decade or so has been the construction of slot homes. The term is unique to Denver, but the concept is not: A slot home is a “multi-unit residential structure consisting of attached dwelling units arranged side-by-side and primarily ning, so both from visioning studies [and] rezonings, but also application review and inter-agency coordination,” she says. “So I do think that urban design expertise and an eye on a project could be helpful at any stage.” A friend had told her she needed to check out the fl agship REI store in the old tramway building next to Confl uence Park, so she’s already been in the area. Di Girolamo plans to buy hiking shoes from REI soon, since she didn’t have any back in NYC. As we gaze at the people staying cool as they splash around in the South Platte, Di perpendicular to the street,” according to Community Planning and Development. Developers began building hundreds of slot homes along Tennyson after Denver City Council adopted the 2010 zoning code. While council essentially banned the con- struction of slot homes in 2018, there were plenty already in place. While the slot homes have damaged the main-street appeal of Tennyson, Di Girolamo has some suggestions to improve on the situation. “Something in continued on page 12 AUGUST 18-24, 2022 WESTWORD | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | NEWS | LETTERS | CONTENTS | westword.com WESTWORD WESTWORD
