Here's the link to Coyote Gulch's coverage of Tuesday's General Municipal Election. Additional links and coverage from Fail the Jail, and Safe Denver.com, DenverGov and the Denver Public Library.
You can find the address for your polling place at DenverMaps or download a .pdf of locations from the Election commission.
Opponents of the new justice center are questioning the construction schedule, according to the Denver Post [May 2, 2005, "If OK'd, jail still years away"]. From the article, "Construction of the justice center is scheduled for completion in 2009. That will allow the city to shift inmates awaiting trial from the Smith Road jail to the new jail downtown. In turn, sentenced inmates could be moved from the older, obsolete portions of the Smith Road jail to newer areas. After opening the justice center, the city would embark on a renovation of the Smith Road jail. Those plans call for razing old buildings containing 464 jail beds and replacing them with modernized facilities with 384 beds. Thus, the Smith Road renovation would amount to a net reduction of 80 beds, but it would add safer, more humane facilities."
The Rocky Mountain News editorial staff is urging voters to approve the new Justice Center [May 2, 2005, "Vote 'yes' on Denver's justice center"]. From the editorial, "Public safety is central to the role of government, yet Denver's Smith Road jail is overcrowded, unsafe, inhumane and expensive to operate. Planning for a facility adequate to meet the city's needs for decades is prudent and responsible. Denver is what it is today, in large measure, because planners in the past took a similarly long view about what it should become."
Colorado Pols: "Some politicos watching the jail campaign in Denver think that Republicans are behind some of the anti-jail efforts as a means of damaging Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper's mystique. We've mentioned this before, and when you look at some of the new anti-jail mail being sent out, that theory makes a lot more sense."
Category: Denver May 2005 Election
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