As we kick off a new month.

We are starting a big year ahead for Colorado this Friday.

Colorado day are 149th birthday and the countdown is on till next year's 150th and our nation's 250th.

Now, birthdays aren't just about looking back.

They're also an opportunity to look forward.

In Colorado, we've got a lot of work to do to make this state a place where more people can afford to live, raise families, build businesses and feel connected to one another and a part of something great.

So let's get going with this week's Colorado Inside Out.

Hi, everyone, I'm Kyle Dyer.

Let me get right to introducing you to this week's insider panel.

We start with Patti Calhoun, founder and editor of Westword.

Alton Dillard, principle consultant at The Diller Group, senior advisor at Rockford Gray, and newly appointed political analyst at Denver seven Adam Berg, senior policy advisor at Foster Graham law firm.

And Christy Burton Brown, executive vice president at Advanced Colorado and former chair of the Colorado Republican Party.

As we start August, before we know it, it is going to be Monday, August 18th, and that will be the day or sometime that week when the special legislative session is expected to begin.

And the 18th is also expected to be the day that City of Denver employees will find out if they have jobs or not.

Despite the budget issues facing both the state and the city, the push is also on for some more spending and some new projects.

Patty, I think it's dizzying because there seems to be this push to move forward.

Yet there's still like, you know, we can't really go full steam ahead.

A million here, a million there soon.

You're talking about 1 billion shortfall in Colorado, which the legislature is going to have to deal with.

So of course, we're going to have to have a special, special session.

And if they can do it on the 18th and get it done, good luck to them.

But as everyone says, they've had to cut a billion last year.

So now looking at another billion, 1.2 billion is what they're not expecting to get because of the big beautiful bill that's going to be so hard.

Then you look at Denver, which is also going through maybe half a quarter of a billion in cuts that are leading to layoffs.

We're not going to know which those are for several more weeks.

But on Wednesday, I went to the announcement about the downtown Denver Authority spending spree.

It's great because that's not coming out of the coffers, that's paying for salaries, but it's a big disconnect when you think we can pay for these projects, but we can't pay for our employees.

What you have to hope is some of those projects and some several of them are very good, will bring in more tax revenues.

So Denver will do better, but it's still going to take a long time till we see those coffers fill up again.

Allen.

And between the especially the state budgetary issues are a reminder to me of why I'm unaffiliated.

You've got the Democrats blame congressional Republicans for getting the big beautiful bill through.

And then you've got the other folks saying, well, you know, Coloradans were better fiscal stewards if the Democrats in the legislature were better fiscal stewards, we wouldn't be in this situation.

And, you know, like, Senator Moberly said the other day, there's going to be, you know, it's going to be pain.

You're talking is Patty mentioned already that 1 billion shortfall and having to find another billion?

But I really would like to hear people, especially during this special session, think more in terms of solutions instead of all the finger pointing.

And then on the city side, as a former city employee, you know, I've been through a couple of, you know, furloughs and things like that, but never a situation where you get to sit around and if you get the email you were out that day and I just want to send out, you know, thoughts to all city employees who are having to go through that.

It seems like a rough way to find out you're no longer needed.

Right?

It would seem like there'd be a little runway in there, but that literally, from all accounts that I've seen, is you find out the day and then you're.

Yeah.

Adam, it does feel like budget woes all around.

I mean you look at the city, we're talking about potentially hundreds of positions being hit by these layoffs.

We know the city already did about 9000 employees with mandatory furloughs.

Save them about $10 million.

But we're talking about that $250 million budget hole.

And I cannot imagine a world where they make that up simply through layoffs.

So it means there's going to have to be other, other constraints or factors at play.

And then we also have a, you know, billion dollar bond potentially coming to the city, which some argue when you're in a fiscal crisis, a bond is the way to actually generate revenue and complete projects.

Others would say probably not a good time to to go out and seek a bond.

For the state financial situation, I think the larger question is what are they going to do?

They can reduce reserves.

They talked about 15% to 9%.

They can simply just do straight cuts and pass a lot of responsibility to local governments, who will have a hard time making up shortfalls?

They can look at ballot measures to raise revenue locally.

But again, the complicated thing is when we're looking at tax code, which is largely statutory, the state does have some ability to make change.

But we also have Tabor, which means they can only do so much and are confined by the rules at play.

So it's going to be, as often said, a very painful special session.

Right.

And they have to meet for three days.

Is that right?

A minimum of three days to pass a bill.

That seems like a lot to do in three days.

Okay, Christy.

So I think what's interesting is the complaints you hear from legislators, specifically the liberals in charge of the legislature, often don't match what you hear from the people.

Like the legislators are out there blaming Tabor, saying, oh my goodness, we can't raise revenue because Tabor doesn't allow us to do it.

They actually ask the voters to allow them to raise revenue time after time.

Again, voters say no.

70% of Coloradans consistently support Tabor, which means it's Democrats, unaffiliated, and Republicans like they want our legislature to live within their means.

And they keep saying, oh, we can't do it.

When you look at $1.2 billion shortfall, if you look at the size of the entire budget, it's a $44 billion budget.

That's 3% of the budget we're asking you to cut as a legislature.

How many families across Colorado have had to cut 3% from their budgets because of inflation?

And yet you see leaders in the legislature complaining that this is just impossible.

I think it's not.

And I think the second point is that where's this $1.2 billion going?

It didn't evaporate.

It's not lost.

It's going into the pockets of families.

Part of it, 500 million of it is the overtime, the cut in overtime taxes.

You no longer have to pay taxes for the 2025 year.

That car.

The legislature said you're going to pay it again in 26, in state taxes, but it's in the pockets of people, and people want their money.

They don't want the government to have it.

That's the reality.

I think our legislature needs to live with em.

All right, well, it will be interesting month and I assume there are people working as we speak trying to get everything in order.

So when they do all come together, we'll see what happens.

All right.

This week, the town of Palmer Lake released all of what the retailer Buc-ee's is promising to do in order to acquire land and build a massive travel center and convenience store in El Paso County.

It's a much debated project in Palmer Lake.

Open space versus commerce is now moving north to Denver.

There is another land parcel, much more urban, a historic railyard, which is being eyed as a possible site for New Denver Bronco Stadium.

You've heard about this.

Now, those behind this evolving real estate deal are not as transparent as in fact, last weekend, some buildings were dating back to the World War Two area Ara were torn down.

Alton, this is very interesting.

They didn't do anything wrong really tearing these buildings down.

But a lot of preservations are like preservationists are like, wait, what are you doing?

This is history for our city.

Yeah.

And I've always, you know, I love Denver, but our refusal to sort of really incorporate our past is concerning.

We are getting almost into a cookie cutter look where we understand we need things like housing density, etc.

but everything is starting to look the same.

I've got a good friend who moved to Cleveland 25 years ago, and anytime he comes out here, I drive him around.

It's like, oh well, for me, this is gone.

Oops.

Well, the old Sears building is gone.

Oops.

The old Montgomery Ward's building is gone.

Think of the architecture.

So as you mentioned, they folks did not do anything wrong.

But you really don't set up a lot of goodwill.

If one day you just wake up and the records are there, and on a Saturday morning and on a Saturday morning, and so, you know, I like some of the work that I've seen in places like Kansas City.

When they redid their Union Station, they modernized it a little bit, but they also kept the things that gave it the charm.

You know, the exposed brick, the high ceilings, things like that.

And I just think in order to keep Denver being sort of the Queen city of the Plains, that it is that we need to do a better job of incorporating both the modern and the historic.

Adam, I agree, I think as was know that these buildings were not designated on the state's historic register.

So hypothetically is the purchaser of this property.

They had every right to tear them down.

But the things we're talking about are the women's locker room.

It was built during World War two for women entering industrial work, roundhouse foreman's office, which was historically used by black workers during segregation, a steel car shop, a coat shop and the testing laboratory, which represent early 20th century rail infrastructure.

And I think what is sad is exactly we're all to know that which is to come to terms with our history and understand our history and reconcile our past.

We need to have landmarks like this that we preserve, and they remind us of Denver's roots.

They remind us of racial reckoning and gender reckoning.

And it is sad to not see more of an engagement with the community around these properties, and potentially desire to integrate them into the future of that site.

But again, we go back to, you know, it is a privately bought property through CDot and it is their right to also develop the site as they see fit.

Yeah.

Christy.

Yeah I think that's right.

It is really a question of how it should be done, not a question of how you have to do it.

Legally they're within their rights.

But I think all people want to live in a community.

And that's whether you're from an inner city like Denver or whether you're from a small rural community like I grew up in, and people want to feel part of it.

And so I think when you have big developers or big companies coming in and just wrecking everything and changing everything, there's a huge difference in whether or not you wrap the community into it and say, hey, these plans are going forward, whether you like it or not.

We're going to walk you through it.

And that is kind of what Bucky's is doing.

I think in Palmer Lake, I am partial to them.

My son loves their pulled pork barbecue sandwiches.

He thinks it's the best food on Earth.

But, I just think they are walking the community through it.

And so it's something people in Palmer Lake will probably learn to accept or probably learn to appreciate it.

But I think the hesitancy of the community should be valued actually by developers when they come in.

And you should say, hey, we actually want people to like what we're doing, not not make them feel like they're forced to accept it.

And so it's just a better way of dealing with people.

And then I think, of course, in a place like Denver, sometimes the government is blamed for it.

And so then you just widen the disconnect between people and the government.

And that's really never helpful in today's society.

Gary.

Well, the Bucky's situation is hardly a peaceful walk in the park.

That beaver has gone rabbit.

And we've already lost the mayor.

Yeah.

Who wound up calling opponents the project Terrorist.

And there's a good backstory in that.

But I want to ask you about Christie, but Bucky's is is peaceful compared to what we're going to see, I think, over at the Burnham Yard, because we have to remember who's looking at it.

It's not a big beaver.

It is the Denver Broncos is what we're seeing might be going there.

You can see many ways a stadium could have been built, a stadium in the bars and the other things they want to have around it.

It could have been built incorporating these buildings.

I don't know if anyone's ever been down there, but I have fascinating area, plenty of space to use those buildings.

But now they can't because they're gone.

And let's remember, this was not Bucky's that knocked down those buildings.

It was Colorado Department of Transportation that is a state agency.

They didn't do anything illegal, but they were sneaky.

So now we just have to see what else are we going to do?

Are we going to pay for the Eighth Avenue viaduct come down to in a very convenient way for just, oh, the next owner who might be in the Broncos and that is in vibrant Denver, the bond package, right?

Yeah.

130 million of that package would benefit Burnham Yard.

Okay.

All right.

So this week Men's Health made a lot of headlines along with the urging that we need to talk about it.

So let's talk about it.

See you above.

Football coach Deion Sanders made that call loud and clear this week when revealing that he had dealt with cancer and that he no longer has cancer.

And then the reality of mental health played out in the fatal shooting in a New York City office building.

And even here in Colorado this week, men are the majority we're finding out of the ones who are calling a state mental health hotline.

They are, you know, nine, eight, eight is something that's been established in recent years to address mental health.

To be candid, it's a number I used.

I'm in recovery and co-occurring mental health.

And, there was a time in my life where I was glad to have it to call and be able to talk to someone.

And if you don't think the need is there, you know, this is a good place to bring in some statistics.

So, Colorado, we face persistent high rates of alcohol addiction, binge drinking and alcohol related deaths compared to other states.

And the lack of access to treatment.

An estimated 2623 deaths annually in Colorado are attributable to excessive alcohol use, with a death rate of 26.5 per 100,000 people.

That is sixth highest nationwide.

That's from the National Center for Drug Abuse Statistics.

Nearly 61% of adults in Colorado report alcohol use in the past 30 days.

Colorado is one of the highest consumption rates in the US, fourth highest consumption rate.

That's from SAMHSa.

And alcohol actually leads to more deaths in Colorado than opioid overdoses.

When you consider a chronic illness and accident related fatalities, and it's something we don't always talk about.

I will tell you one time, 1168 days ago, I was in a much different place.

I'm very thankful to be sober today and being recovery.

But I tell you, I run into people every single day who need a line like nine, eight, eight, and they need mental health access, and they frankly just need support.

Chris, your thoughts on this?

Well, I guess I'd say that I think as a woman, there's things that we can do for the men in our lives to encourage them to use lines like nine, eight, eight, or go to a therapist or get counseling or find a good friend you can talk to.

Because sometimes I think men, they do think they're the they're the providers.

They're the ones doing everything for their family.

There's so much pressure on their shoulders at work, at home.

And we often talk about, you know, women carrying children.

That's our health is constantly talked about as it should be and where we go get help.

We like the talk, but men often it is a hidden thing.

And we don't acknowledge how much pressure men are under to make sure their families are okay and provide for them every day.

So I think, like as a woman who loves the men in my life, and I really admire my dad and how he had to work like paper routes and multiple jobs, and so much was on his shoulders when I grew up, pushing those men in your life to say, you know what?

It is okay to not be strong every single moment.

And in fact, when you reach out and get help, you are being even stronger for your family because you're making sure you can stick around.

And being able to talk to someone I think can lessen the suicide rate.

Men have higher suicide, attempts and successes, unfortunately, than women do, and it's often because they don't know where that lifeline is.

And so I think as women, we can say we admire you and think you're strong even when you need help.

Please go seek it and make sure they know that you don't think less of them because they need help.

Yep, yep.

We have to hope that given all the cutbacks that we are seeing coming, that the services are still accessible.

So nine, eight, eight is taken off very well.

We hope that will keep going.

But you are looking at health cuts, men, women, transgender, whatever.

We are looking at really challenging times ahead for even being able to get health help when you know you need help.

So that's going to be one of the issues.

The other one that's fascinating here is when you look at men's sports and what it's going to mean to have Coach Prime go public with what's gone on with him, especially when you see the shooting in New York City where you're talking about concussion, where you can't even diagnose if you have this condition until after you're dead.

And that's looks like what was the motivation here to get studies.

So we have to look at men that just taking care of their health.

But what kind of burdens sports might be putting on people.

Yeah.

Wow.

Yeah.

And to the coach prime piece, one of the things I admired, two things about that one is how he did it on his own time frame.

I, too, am a cancer survivor and that was part of my ammo.

I waited until I had an idea of how things were going to go before I went public.

No, I didn't just bunker down and try to go it alone.

I did have a very tight, trusted circle that was with me through my radiation treatments and everything.

And the other thing I really admired about Coach Prime was his transparency, about how unfun some of these things can be.

I did a Facebook post after my diagnosis and treatment, where I talked about what it was like being in the stirrups and trying to get men to be more comfortable with some procedures that may or may not be the most dignified.

Now to the New York City shooter who hasn't played a down a football since high school.

I'm really interested to see what that autopsy report is going to show when it comes to his brain health.

But it is important as men, and I am fortunate, especially in my friend circle.

Over the past 20 years, we've had a suicide and a murder suicide, and we just got together as guys and say, we've got to do better about not only sharing our success, but sharing our failures and feeling that we're in safe space to do so.

And also, kudos to the running back at Sea Bluffs.

Charlie offered to all who came out this week at a team meeting saying, you know what?

The last concussion has got to be my last.

I got to leave the team.

He was so well-spoken and so confident.

If you haven't seen that video, I encourage you guys to look at it.

Yes.

And also shout out to see you, football for keeping him on scholarship and hoping to launch him into his dental school.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Okay.

You know, as I mentioned at the top of the show, it is August 1st, Colorado day, which is kicking off a big year leading, as we've talked a lot about at this table, the 150th birthday of Colorado in 2026.

Colorado is such a diverse place.

When you think about the people and the geography and the history, which we've talked about a little bit tonight, today.

So I'm curious, what's one story, what is one moment from Colorado's past, be it the last ten years or last 149 years that you think people should know?

We have so many new people moving here every day.

Our population is growing a lot of younger people.

What do they not know that they need to know?

I'm going to start with Christy.

Okay.

So I'd go back to 1893 Colorado was the second state in the nation to give women the right to vote, well over two decades before the entire nation did it through a constitutional amendment.

But what's particularly interesting about this piece of Colorado history is how we did it.

It wasn't our legislature.

It was actually our people through the ballot initiative process.

And so if you think about it, that really connects to today, because today the ballot initiative process is so key for Coloradans.

That's often how we pass laws on public safety or other issues.

So we pass Tabor things the legislature isn't willing to pass, but are very, very popular among the people across the political spectrum.

We're one of the few states in the nation that allows any citizen or any citizens group to go before a title board.

You get your title set, you put your issue out there, you make your case to the people, and you can pass a law.

And so I think going back to our history, it's one of the first ways that started was giving women the right to vote.

So just a really great connection that applies today okay.

All right.

That's a good one.

Patti, I'm curious about you.

I will go back even further to 1864 and the Sand Creek massacre.

Really the darkest day, I think, in it was territorial Colorado at the time.

But Colorado's history, this wasn't taught in schools at all until the last few years.

The anniversary, at the anniversary 150th anniversary, John Hickenlooper, then governor, stood up and said apologized on behalf of all the living governors.

But we're still looking at an empty spot by the Capitol that's supposed to have a statue erected for the indigenous tribes.

The people who lived here before they were booted out, before they were massacred by Colonel Sherrington.

And we haven't seen that yet.

We've seen an action to try to take back the Mount Evans name.

It's now blue sky because John Evans was the man who he didn't kill the people at Sand Creek, but he made the massacre possible, is what investigations have found.

So people should know about the Sand Creek massacre.

They should be prepared to talk about it because it will certainly come up in the next year.

Often.

And for me it is Lincoln Hills.

So for a state with a 4% black population, a lot of people don't know that there is a historical black enclave that was formed in the 1920s up in the area where Gilpin, Jefferson and Boulder counties kind of intersect.

It's up past like pine Cliff and Wonder View and up in that area and moving forward to more recent history, people forget that in places like Denver, there was active redlining well into the 50s, 60s and 70s.

So one of the reasons Lincoln Hills was so important to black heritage is when you would have, you know, big performers or Duke Ellington or Lena Horne's perform in Denver, but they couldn't lodge in Denver so they could finish their show, and then they'd go up Coal Creek Canyon.

And it is a place that is now got his National historic designation, due to some work that we've done with the people over at History Colorado.

And there's also a new exhibit at the History Colorado that's been recently refreshed.

So I encourage people to get by and see it.

But that, to me is a big part of Colorado's history.

Okay.

And Adam, I have the legislature on the brain.

So there's a book in 2010 that was published that's called The Blueprint How the Democrats Won Colorado and Why Republicans Everywhere Should Care.

And when I was working campaigns, this was the quintessential must read for any campaign worker.

And what it talks about was in the early 2000, and before Colorado was very purple, very much a, you know, red and blue state.

We had mixed and, shared legislatures where Republicans would have the majority in one chamber.

Democrats and the other, in the early 2000, for prominent Democrats, it was Jared Polis, Tim Gill, Pat Stryker and Brett Bridges got together and created a group called the Roundtable, and they created a plan aimed at the 2006 and 2008 races to basically turn Colorado blue, and was very data driven.

It was the creation of PACs and using large funders to drive political money.

And you look now, you know, some 20 years and you look at Colorado, it's pretty blue.

And I think it tells the history of the last 20 years of how we got to the place we are politically in Colorado.

And this really intentional effort to address, and drive political change by one party.

So if you haven't read it, I would, I would recommend it.

Fascinating.

Okay.

Blueprint.

Okay.

Now let's go down the line and talk about some of the highs and the lows of this week.

We will start in a low note with Paddy, not a low note.

So much is sad when we're talking about people with health problems facing a diagnosis with dignity.

Andrea Gibson, Colorado's poet laureate.

Really unbelievably talented, talented writer.

They passed away this month.

Horrible situation with cancer, but really into the end said I'm a winner because of I'm how I'm able to go out and take charge of my destiny and left so many great words for Colorado.

Okay?

And I'm going to have to stick with one of my old favorites, the, platelets vehicles saw one just turning into the studio today.

We Denver cannot continue to be this island where we turn a blind eye to platelets, vehicles, and people who haven't re-up their registration since 2024.

Just can't keep, can't continue.

Someone in this building in this parking lot.

Oh, no no, no.

Pass.

There I was I was turning.

Yeah.

And I ran out of you win.

Okay.

Thank you.

All right.

Adam, mine was easy.

The state budget situation and the forecast we got this week.

It's it's bad.

It's not good.

They're gonna have to figure out a way to address it and quickly.

Yeah, I actually bring up wolves.

There's a story out today saying that they're going to probably have to put down another wolf in the Coal Creek attack because they continue to kill cows on ranches.

And so I just think that entire situation has become a complete debacle.

And in one particular county, over half $1 million has been spent paying back ranchers for their dead cattle.

And it's cost taxpayers a total of already three times the amount they were promised.

Yep.

All right.

Something good.

Patty, I just want to point out all mine expires on August 1st.

But that is today.

It's Colorado Day.

So you have the month have a month.

But let's not take advantage of that because that might spank you but instead go out on August 2nd when so many of the history Colorado exhibits and facilities around the state are open, and go out and think about what the state is like.

Yeah, thank you all for sharing.

Those are great.

By the way, Alton, my high is human nature.

It was about this temperature in one of my recent exercise classes at Cook Park Recreation Center.

And a woman took ill. And the way the staff responded, the way the fellow classmates responded to make sure she was okay, the first responders.

And it just really gave you some hope about humanity.

That's great.

Oh, that's good to hear.

Not that she got hurt, but that she was out.

Got help.

Yes, mine is the actually the rollout of the DDA funding.

It feels, you know, whether some of these projects or good or bad man downtown needs some reinvestment badly.

When we look at vacancy rates and other issues.

So I'm glad to see that they're finally starting to actually move, some of these funds into the community.

Okay.

And, Christy, we've talked about coach crime throughout the show, but just the fact that he really did beat cancer on my husband's also a cancer survivor and the type of cancer he had killed his grandfather.

But because of medical advances, instead of 5% of men living for this kind of cancer, now 98% live and my husband's one of them.

So anytime I see someone survive cancer, it is absolutely a moment to celebrate.

Oh, that is wonderful.

I'm glad to hear that with your husband.

And he's doing good.

My high is Durango's Quinn Simmons, who just finished the tour de France.

He may not have finished the stage when, but he had grit and personality.

The 24 year old Coloradan got the nickname Captain America, during the race for his Stars and Stripes on his jersey.

But his big win came on Monday at the end of the race on the Chantilly.

Say he proposed to his girlfriend, Sydney Berry, and she said yes, because it was so distracting.

He said the last mile was just a killer for him.

And he says, I finished the tour in the best possible way.

I don't think anything will ever top this.

I would say.

So.

I like to end it on love.

Right.

Let's end the show on love.

Thank you.

Lovely panel.

I appreciate you, and congrats to the couple.

Thanks for you all for watching.

Happy Colorado Day.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Don't forget, we've got our podcast that you can listen to when you're walking someone somewhere enjoying Colorado.

I'm Kyle Dyer, I will see you next week here on PBS 12.

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