West Side Recorder Volume 7 No 6

              WEST SIDE RECORDER
Volume 7—Number 6
Monthly Newspaper of the West Side, Denver, Colorado
October, 1970
These pictures show the pool pf water at Fifth Avenue and
Elati Street. They were taken on October 12. The last rain had been
two days before on October 10.
Funds Requested for New Building
Denver General Hospital is requesting $1,004,750 in
city and Federal funds for construction of a new five story
building. The new building would house a health assessment
center and an alcoholism and drug addiction center.
The health assessment center part of the project would
cost $472,375. It would provide facilities for thorough
physical examinations on an assembly line basis. A patient
would go through a series of testing areas in each of which
he would be subjected to particular tests. In this way a
patient could be tested for more things in a shorter period
of time than is now possible.
The alcoholism and drug addiction portion of the new
project would cost $532,375. It would provide forty beds
for in-patient care: twenty-five for alcoholics, ten for juvenile drug users, and five for narcotics addicts. In addition to
in-patient services the center would provide out-patient
services for 1,000 alcoholics, addicts, and drug abusers per
year as well as day treatment services for 500 patients per
year. Counseling and emergency services would be provided.
Promises Not   ELMWOOD SCHOOL ONE OF
Alv!ays Ke?f   FIVE TO BE REBUILT IN CITY
In February of this year
Waldo Benavidez, Chairman of
the West Side Improvement Association, showed Roger Olson,
Assistant to Mayor McNichols,
the pool that existed most of
last winter at Fifth and Elati.
At the time Olson said that he
would have city crews fix the
drains in the area right away.
The pool, however, is still there.
Asked about the drainage
problem on October 15, Mayor's
Assistant Olson said that in
February he had instructed the
Public Works Department to
take care of the problem and
that they had told him that the
problem was solved. When the
continued existence of the problem was brought to his attention this month Olson said that
he would see that the drains
were fixed "immediately."
Residents of the area report
that there is also a drainage
problem at Fifth and Fox. A
problem that exixsted at Fifth
and Inca has been corrected.
JUNKYARD IS
MOVING OUT
The junkyard that has
been operated at 814 Mariposa Street may soon be gone
according to Ralph E. Livingston of the City Zoning Administration Office. According to Livingston, the property has been ordered cleared
of used cars and automobile
parts.
The operator of the junkyard, Tony Cisneros, was ordered to appear in County
Court October 9, but he failed to answer the summons.
The land on which Cisneros
has been operating the junkyard is zoned R-2 which prohibits junkyards. R-2 is a
residential zone for homes
and small apartments.
In Cisneros' absence the
owner of the property, Raymond Bartelson of 3055 So.
Milwaukee Circle, was ordered to remove the cars and
junk. Work now seems to
have been started on cleaning up the areas, but as of
October 18 there ware still
five cars and assorted auto
parts on the lot. Hopefully,
though, this dangerous eyesore will soon be gone.
Stumps off elm trees cut down alone: 13th Avenue beside Lincoln Park. See related *tory on this page. Also note cartoon on
page*.
West Side Losing Trees
The West Side is one of the
areas that has been hardest hit
by Denver's infestation of Dutch
Elm disease. Concentrations of
trees with the disease have been
located at Lincoln Park, Sunken
Gardens, along Bannock in the
vicinity of Fifth Avenue, and
along Acoma between Third and
Fifth Avenues.
The Department of Parks and
Recreation recently removed
over thirty elms from Lincoln
Park. According to City Forester, George S. Stadler, most
of the trees that were removed
(Continued on page 6)
At its October 15 meeting te School Board unanimously voted to accept a staff recommendation that planning
begin on five school projects including a new Elmwood and
major addition at Fairmont.
The recommendation made to the Board by Assistant
Superintendent Charles E. Armstrong was for immediate
planning of four completely new schools and of a new wing
at Fairmont. The new schools in addition to Elmwood would
be in the Southeast, Southwest, and Montbello sections of
Denver.
In recommending construction of a new Elmwood Dr.
Armstrong said, "Although the City Comprehensive Plan
shows a change in land use from the present residential to
commercial and industrial development, there will be a need
for school facilities in the area for some time.,, He added,
"If pupil membership in a    	
proposed new Elmwood
School declines, other uses
for the building can be
made.
Concerning Fairmont, Dr.
Armstrong recommened that
the site be expanded and that
additional classrooms and a
lunchroom be constructed.
Such an expansion of Fairmont would, he said, permit
the abandonment of Alameda School at West Byers
Place and Bannock Street.
The five projects for
which planning will now begin should be ready for construction by 1972. The planning and construction sched-
dule which the School Board
adopted shows construction
beginning on the Fairmont
addition in   January,    1972
with completion in December, 1972. The schedule for
the new Elmwood shows construction beginning in February, 1972 with completion
in September, 1973.
Only funds for planning
and working drawings for
these projects will be budgeted until a year from now.
New Buildings: Montbello, Southwest, Southeast, and
Southeast.
Replacements: Elmwood,
Alcott* Berkeley.
Additions: Fairmont, Whit-
tier.
Junior High School—
New: Southwest.
Additions: Gove, Byers,
Skinner.
Senior High School-
Additions: East, West.
New Yield Lane Cancels Out Effect
Of New Light at Navajo and 13th
A truck using the new no-stop right tuii i lane at Mariposa and
13th. This is directly in front pf the Mariposa Child Care Center.
A new pedestrian crosswalk and traffic light have
been installed on 13th
Avenue midway between O-
sage and Marisposa. Down
the block at the intersection
of 13th and Mariposa a new
traffic island has been installed making the eastbound
right turn lane of 13th Avenue a yield lane.
The pedestrian crosswalk
was installed at the request
of neighborhood residents.
A young boy, Armando Alvarez, 10, was killed at this
location on October 30,1969.
Many   children   from   the
North Lincoln Park Homes
cross 13th Avenue in this
vicinity to get to Lincoln
Park.
Unfortunately the added
safety of the midblock pedestrian crossing is cancelled
out by the increased .risk
caused by the new traffic island at 13th and Mariposa.
Children crossing 13th at
Mariposa must now cross a
lane of traffic that is never
required to stop. In the past
the traffic in what is now the
yield lane had to stop when
the light on 13th was red.