Gov. Polis vs. the NIMBYs, Preserving History, and Sister City Trivia
It’s Friday, and we’re rounding up the stories that caught our eye this week. Housing has been top of mind for Coloradans and finally, Governor Jared Polis was poised to do something about it — in the form of a massive housing and land-use bill. But SB213 was gutted this week, thanks to Republicans and Democrats standing up for “the Colorado Way,” as they put it. So what went wrong? Producer Paul Karolyi is joined by host Bree Davies and returning favorite Jo Ann Allen to chat all things housing, along with a rousing round of Two Truths and a Lie inspired by Denver hosting the inaugural Cities Summit of the Americas this week. Then newsletter editor Peyton Garcia has some sweet recs for your weekend!
For the full backstory behind Governor Polis’s big push for housing density, catch up with all our coverage of housing at the Capitol this year:
- What You Need to Know About the ‘More Housing Now’ Bill (4/13/23)
- Does Denver Need Rent Control? (2/15/23)
- Can Governor Polis Fix Our Housing Problem? (1/30/23)
Paul mentioned Nick Campion’s concession video in the D7 City Council race, and Bree mentioned an editorial in the Aspen Daily News about the supposed “Californication” of Colorado.
Check out Jo Ann Allen’s podcast, Been There Done That!
Follow our weather guy for all your weekend weather needs: Rain or Shine, it's Andy Stein!
Here are the events we discussed happening this weekend:
- REI Pancake 5k and Nutrition Fair (Sat)
- Denver Astronomical Society open house at Chamberlin Observatory (Sat)
- Día del Niño (all weekend)
- Healthy Kids Day (Sat)
We are so sad to be saying goodbye this week to our producer Erin O’Toole. Erin helped us uncover the mystery of Denver's lost tunnels and took us inside Denver’s many sex rooms. We’ll miss you, Erin!
For even more weekend event recs and local stories that matter, subscribe to our weekday morning newsletter Hey Denver online or by texting “Denver” to 66866
Follow us on Twitter: @citycastdenver
Or instagram: @citycastdenver
Chat with other listeners on reddit: r/CityCastDenver
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