Immigration and education are big issues in Colorado this week.

There is uncertainty around the state of both.

And that uncertainty has led to people coming together in protest.

But Colorado is also seeing some other coming togetherness this week.

And the common thread is sports.

Professional women's soccer and college basketball.

It is time to tip off this week's Colorado Inside Out.

Hi, everyone, I'm Kyle Dyer.

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

We have Patty Calhoun, founder and editor of Westword, along with Chris Rourke, consultant with Rourke Media, Carly West, vice president of government affairs at the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, and then also Laura Aldrete, a city building consultant and former planning director for the City and County of Denver.

This week ushered in a lot of reaction to President Trump invoking the power of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport suspected gang members and flu, and they were flown back to Venezuela.

The legal fight surrounding that continues.

While a top official with the DEA called out Colorado as being ground zero for some of the most violent criminals in America, and also calling our area command post for a Venezuelan gang, TDA.

Now, on Monday, a woman who is not a violent criminal, but who did enter the US illegally.

First, back in 1997 and has since become an immigration activist in our metro area.

She was picked up by Ice on her break from work and detained.

Patty, I will start with you.

We've had the saga of Jeanette because this Clara, for a long time, because since 2017, when she went into sanctuary in two different churches in Denver because her visa had expired, she has four kids now.

She'd been here since 1997, and when she got out of six, she did leave sanctuary.

She had temporary visas extended both by Bennett and Hickenlooper, had gone, had pushed Biden to help extend her visas.

But she's been a great not legal citizen.

But I think a good asset in Colorado.

She's helped other people.

She has been well behaved with everyone.

She has been so kind and gentle by every account.

She is really the kind of person you wish could figure out her path to citizenship.

Hasn't worked out so far, but we just heard one of our one of the employees here actually saw her getting arrested.

She behaved herself well.

She did not try to escape, unlike, say, the two people who were residents of the geo ice facility in Aurora who escaped while people were protesting her being arrested.

Well, you know.

I think in this situation, she is caught in amid bad policy.

I think the only the only policy worse than immigration policy is perhaps our tax code.

yeah.

She was here undocumented for 30 years.

I know there have been visa problems.

Kind of curious why that visa process has not been approved.

She is of good moral character as they as they describe.

But there's so many people that do come to this country and are undocumented, so with this policy change, I'm not advocating for amnesty, but there should be a pathway forward for people who do come to this country.

Maybe they haven't come in legally, but let's correct the problem and let's give them an opportunity to establish residency and perhaps get a path to citizenship.

We need that clearly defined, and it needs to benefit all at the same time.

Those who don't belong here need to go.

All right, Carla, your thoughts.

To the point on policy as our legislature looks at this situation at other Ice raids, that things that are happening there also looking at their own immigration bill to address some of those challenges and have Colorado take a step on that policy area.

And what we're seeing right now is a pretty big omnibus type of bill that would aim to provide more protections to immigrants in Colorado.

And one of the questions that we have in the business community is, are there inadvertent impacts from that?

Are we going to see Colorado law that's in conflict with federal law in this area, or that directs Coloradans to not comply with federal law for a business?

You can't be in conflict like that.

You can't be in violation of either state or federal law.

So really concerned that the state's very well-meaning intent to protect people in Colorado and make sure that there is not overstep on the federal side.

It's really important that policy, not inadvertently put our businesses in a position where it is impossible to be in compliance with the law one way or another.

So a lot of concerns there.

Okay.

All right.

Well, I appreciate that.

The state, is looking at trying to create policy to navigate the space.

You refer to the new policy that the federal government has around immigration.

I would suggest that it actually isn't policy.

It is just straight up dictator, intimidation tactics.

and that is not policy.

So it's disappointing to see it.

There's no due process.

They are not following the law of of the land of the United States.

and we are in closer keeping with the Duarte's, the Putin's and maduros of, of the world than we are, as being, you know, upholding our American democracy now!

I do think that on the flip side, the system is broken 100%, and it is a cycle.

it is an unhealthy cycle of immigrants abusing the system and the system, abusing immigrants.

it's Democrat and Republicans at fault for not having a good policy.

The George Bush presidents, both of them, you know, talked about it often, but there was no set policy that allowed, say, dreamers.

And, and people who are in this country contributing to our economy to come out of the shadows and, and have a path toward citizenship.

And again, I'm not talking about amnesty, but I am saying the difference between getting rid of criminals who don't belong here and allowing the people that have come to our country to contribute, to be able to remain here and eventually become citizens.

Okay.

All right.

This week state economists confirmed the not so good financial forecast for Colorado.

There was some good economic news but mostly bad and really uncertain.

That is the word of the time isn't it.

Uncertain the assessment of where Colorado stands came as legislators are trying to make enough cuts to the budget to fuel that state's $1.2 billion shortfall.

Now, next week is when the state Senate is going to look at the long bill, which outlines the funding for all the various departments and programs.

Chris, I'm going to start with you.

This is tough.

Yeah, it is.

And just to back up, you know, every March the legislative economic forecast comes out and it sort of informs along Bill, the things that were brought out where there's anticipated lower tax revenue, higher unemployment, lower consumer confidence, higher inflation, likely due to tariffs and then fears of recession.

there was a prediction that there's going to be a drop in the general fund revenue.

By the way, if the general fund revenue drops, so does the potential for Tabor refunds under the taxpayer Bill of rights.

The interesting thing is that last, we are in the last year of pandemic funds and one time federal funds that total about $1 billion.

And the gap is $1.2 billion to fill.

Under Governor Polis, we've seen a 41% expansion in the budget, 41%.

And now that short term money has run out.

So you got to cut back.

There have to be tough decisions made and cuts have to be made.

You can't have long term programs dependent on one time or short term money.

Carley.

We're seeing that exact scenario play out in a number of ways.

Our state over the years since Tabor passed has become more and more reliant on fees and funds that are outside of that Tabor limit to fund all of the programs that the state would like to see money put into.

And we've seen a jump from 46% of funds from being outside the Tabor limit.

When Tabor passed to now, 71% of state spending was exempt.

It adds up to $8,400 per coloradan and we are seeing several attempts this year, lots of programs that are looking to either increase an existing fee or create new fees to fund ongoing programs or fund new programs.

We're seeing it in a health care affordability fee that's already hitting Colorado families with about $60 a month, and, additional costs for their health insurance.

We're seeing a proposal to increase that and other areas where we're seeing proposed fee increases.

So as the state looks to determine how they're going to make cuts in other areas of the budget, they really are looking more and more to these fees to fund programs as well.

All right, Laura, your thoughts.

Well, having lived through some significant budget cuts as a public sector appointee, I understand the pain that that everyone's about to go through.

The state's about to go through, and it's not fair.

And this world is not fair.

So it's going to happen.

I think the best outcome is everybody takes a haircut.

Everybody has to pay that price percentage, you know, with a shared percentage.

I think, Chris, I think you kind of noted the there are some bigger, headwinds at, that are coming towards the state of Colorado and I would say potentially the United States.

And, I wonder if we are keeping an eye on what what is our long term economy for the state of Colorado, for the jurisdictions?

And are we thinking about that in terms of having long term success?

and if it's bad now, it is only going to be worse when you think about it next year.

When we're looking at the budget now, we're not really dealing with what's going to happen when the federal money goes, but when we could be punished for being what, the game capital of the universe, by the feds who have made threats, they made threats to Denver.

They made threats to the state that we will lose some of our funding, so that next year could make things even trickier than they are right now.

But you're seeing right right now nickel and diming in the legislature for programs that are so worthwhile, some that are not so worthwhile, but some that are like the student advocacy program where students learn how to go in and write bills and in fact, have actually put forward bills that have been passed.

And that program, although not particularly expensive, is going to go almost, almost surely, except I'll finish out this term.

But we want people to be involved in governing because they're going to be the ones who are going to have to pick up the pieces when we're all gone, and they are dealing with even worse budget issues.

Yeah.

Okay.

Speaking of potential budget cuts, Thursday was the no more cuts statewide day of action.

And that brought teachers from all over the state to Denver to demand that lawmakers properly funded education.

The Colorado Education Association reports the state's two schools that state schools are underfunded by around $4,000 per student per year.

Carly, I'm going to start with you.

as we saw this protest come together, personally, I was one of the parents scrambling to find childcare for the day to make sure that I was able to, do all of the things on my calendar.

But recognizing the challenges that we have in the state budget, education is critical.

And we at the chamber absolutely recognize that.

But to the point we've talked about already, a lot of critical programs are under the microscope right now.

And everyone's going to have to take a haircut because the budget is such a challenging place right now.

There aren't a lot of good directions to go, and it means that we'll see cuts to programs across the board, even really critical ones.

And that's a challenging place to be.

But we're also seeing, even while we've got those cuts, on the table, we're also seeing proposals that increase spending in other areas as well.

So as a state, we've got a lot of hard challenges and a lot of hard decisions to make about how we do prioritize.

Laura.

Yeah.

So just a few facts to lay out.

I thought it was interesting that 95% of Colorado students are in the public education system, which I, I don't know what the other states are at, but I find that to be high.

and I'm impressed by that.

we also ranked 45th in terms of education.

We have our Colorado teachers.

Average salary is $11,000 less than the state median income.

Just say that again.

Colorado teachers average salary is $11,000.

Below this, the state median income.

And we are, sixth lowest in the graduation rate for our Colorado students.

So one of the things we tout in the state of Colorado is our, the high education rate.

Those tend to be students who come into the state of Colorado, not our home grown kids.

And I think we need to put a folk I want that that I want that population coming in.

But we also need to put a focus on our, on our homegrown kids and, and keep the education funded as highly as we can.

And, Patty, I'm curious about you, because your office is right by the state capitol.

what was it like on Thursday with, many, many, many teachers out.

There, very, very, very crowded.

And, of course, we're just getting ready for Bernie Sanders, who's there right now.

They're just cleaning up that rally.

it's interesting because we are the second most educated, estate.

Many of the people have come in from out of state, but we tied Massachusetts for grade, for degrees, advanced degrees.

And it's interesting.

You'd think someone would have figured out how to work out the funding.

Last year, the legislature was all about.

We were so close to balancing the funding we really needed.

Polis was very proud of it.

To who also came back with a big grant this week, which was a win for education.

But you can't get around how tricky the numbers are, and we are going to wind up cutting some of the budget this year when we really need to pay attention to education.

Now, more than ever, because at the same time, all the Coloradans were out protesting at the state Capitol over Colorado's potential budget cuts.

We have the feds eliminating the Department of Education.

Now, some of the what they did was redundant, but some of those grants are key.

Just even some of the help they gave to the states.

We are really going to miss that.

And another stat for Colorado.

I saw one report.

An additional $4 billion is needed each year to adequately fund Colorado schools.

$4 billion a year.

Chris.

That's a lot of money.

The governor says he has a plan, and he also wasn't really keen on the protests.

which I can understand.

Bless your heart.

I've had children in K through 12.

They're they're out now.

But I understand that difficult challenge.

as far as the teachers taking the day off to protest, you know, I guess I'm getting numb to protest.

I don't know if they really help, but that's a side note.

Apparently in the contract, they can take PTO whenever they want to.

So when a group decides they want to vacate for the day, they can do that.

On the other side of the coin, I want to be able to take PTO when I want to take PTO, and and I don't want people telling me how to spend my PTO.

So it's kind of an interesting quandary there.

I understand that the bus drivers, the kids to and from school were told to either take a PTO day or come to work and just sit around.

So a lot, a lot of interesting things surrounding the issue in the protests.

This week, Denver's new professional women's soccer team, which isn't even named yet, has its sights set on a future home.

And the plans are big.

A 14,500 person stadium will be built at Broadway and I-25 in the Santa Fe rail yards, and be ready to play for 2028 season.

the team's ownership group is paying for the stadium, and maybe that is the way you get things done these days.

it is just like, what, six weeks, seven weeks ago that we even found out we were going to have a team.

I know you're super excited, Laura, as a huge soccer fan, but also as a city planner, I'm interested in your thoughts on this.

I am super excited about this project and I will say that I either as a consultant working for a developer or on the public side, in my role as planning director, have worked on this project, on this 40 acres three times over the course of 20 years.

So it is a very difficult project to, to bring to life, mostly because of the environmental remediation that was required.

You will recall it had the gates rubber plant on it for for decades and decades, was a great contributor to to the city of Denver.

but it also was because of its location.

It disconnected Atama from Wash Park neighborhoods.

Right.

And so, this stadium, this development will be able to, to connect those neighborhoods back across, one another, which is which is a huge win in particular for afar, I also say it's right next to a transit station.

And this is transit oriented development, which is a great opportunity.

but the public sector needs to get move, go in first.

whether it's through Tiff or through metropolitan districts to enable the development.

And once the stadium's in place, the rest of the 40 acres will come along and you'll see that development, actually happen.

Okay.

All right.

Patty.

Well, the factory closed down in 1999, so we've been looking at what to do with these blocks for decades.

And I remember Dana Crawford said one of her biggest regrets is that gates had never been developed.

Now, she wanted to save a lot of the buildings that are now gone and remediated, but I think she would salute what's going to come in, because it will enliven pretty much central Denver.

I mean, it's in the South, but still pretty close to central Denver by transit.

We're going to have a women's soccer stadium that will hold 14 over 14,000 people.

You're can have lots of opportunity for redevelopment.

That's walkable.

And in areas that I think will really enjoy it.

And people will want to go celebrate the game, watch the sports and then be in the city and enjoy it.

So it's a win.

And the fact that so much of it was already set up for the potential for financing, I think we'll see it move pretty quickly and they will be able to play there by 2028.

Things are moving quickly and those drawings look amazing.

Chris.

Well, it it comes at a very exciting time.

but it comes right as Denver City Council has voted to give the 16th Street Mall another $1.5 million.

There's an area that isn't very vibrant.

They want to, enliven it.

We've heard this talk for, you know, since the pandemic.

How do we bring back the 16th Street Mall?

The city has lost about $45 million in tax revenues because of of lack of people being downtown.

Now, I did look at the downtown Denver Partnership survey that they have on there.

They said they surveyed people to find out, you know, what would bring you downtown more.

And it was more greenspace.

What they provided the canopy space at the 16th Street Mall, more parking, but they want these evening activations.

However, what deters people from coming downtown is lack of safety and security, cleanliness and then the construction.

The construction will be wrapping up soon.

downtown Denver Partnership is going to put about, half million dollars towards their safety and security team.

But the cleanliness issue really needs to be addressed.

When you look at Colorado and our impact on professional sports, we truly punch above our weight.

We are going to have nine professional sports teams.

the economic activity that comes from those, we recently hosted an inaugural title fight that brought in $18 million of economic activity.

And as we look at this development, the mix of retail and restaurants and things that will bring people out and have them stay, it truly is a great opportunity for the state.

I will say, as we look at our existing assets and we look at 16th Street Mall, you know, part of the puzzle that needs to be solved for is people and a big aspect of that are workers.

We have not seen the downtown workers rebound from the pandemic.

The way we've seen other sectors come back.

I'll mention our state government has not brought their employees back to the office, and they are a huge employer.

They are one of the biggest employers.

So we need everybody to do their part when it comes to making sure that there is activity downtown, because if the people are there, everything else follows the restaurants, the retail, that economic activity all follows.

Let's go down the line now and talk about some of our highs and the lows of this week.

I will start with Patty and start on a low note.

So again on a good note.

So speaking of low, if you are digging for a project, whether it's infrastructure construction, or whatever they were doing by the Eastern Masonic Home for seniors, be careful because as it turns out, there was a fire.

These women, these people have had to leave because of carelessness in a project.

Such a scare that was right.

And, you know, and they they're displaced.

They've found they've now housed everyone either in temporary housing or in relatives.

But still, this is not what they need at the end.

The last chapter of their lives.

That's too stressful.

Yeah.

The good news is we have near-normal snowpack this year.

However, the state climatologist predicts a drier and warmer May.

And why that's a problem is it will impact runoff.

And we need that water so badly in the summertime for recreation, for agriculture, all kinds of things.

We need water.

Yeah we do Cali.

On the upside, we're halfway through the legislative session.

But that means that there are going to be a lot of really late nights ahead of us.

There are so many major issues that are still out there right now and they keep coming.

We saw a bill that would make major changes to workers comp in Colorado that was not to take hold it well beforehand, so it's a surprise in many ways in terms of what all it entails.

So lots of really big issues.

Not a lot of time left and the nights are going to get very long.

Okay.

All right.

Yesterday there was the military websites beyond taking down any reference to any die that had been on their websites previously, including, whether the Native American, talkers who radio talkers who helped translate, whether it was the Tuskegee Tuskegee group who flew in World War two, and that is I feel like that's one area in our federal government that should not, should have their eyes on the prize and be clear about what their mission is and not, having to waste their time over.

the machinations of this administration is, just adding confusion and not a not not to no benefit for our country, Right.

Okay, let's talk about something good.

In fact, one of the stories was about Jackie Robinson, of all things, taken down.

So let's talk about the people who write those stories.

So it's fast history.

We've lost some of our really good chroniclers of Denver life.

We lost Dick crack, we lost Bill Husted and Norm Clark, who was a columnist here for a long time before sports writer, too, before he went to Las Vegas, just passed away Wednesday night.

Great writer told those stories.

We have to keep those stories alive.

Well, I watched the splashdown of the two astronauts that were stuck in space, and it was picturesque and beautiful, and the capsule falling into the beautiful.

Still see the still see, it was beautiful.

Sunny day.

Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are back on our ground.

They were supposed to go up for eight days.

They ended up being stuck in space for nine months.

There's some politics that surround it, but it was Elon Musk.

space organization that went up and got I'm so glad to have them back.

I guess they have to go through learning how to walk again.

Oh, so many new things.

Yeah, but they were all smiles.

And then you didn't mention the dolphins that were swimming around them when they left.

I heard about that.

Oh yeah.

That was very picturesque.

Cali.

Anyone who has been stuck in a traffic jam on their way to the airport should be excited because there is a proposal that just passed out of committee as city council.

First step in studying how we expand the, opportunities for an additional lane or traffic mitigation to and from, Denver International Airport Boulevard.

anyone who is excited about seeing some changes there, who has had concerns about safety and timing, reach out to your city council person and encourage them to pass that study.

But we definitely need the lanes, and we definitely need to take the first step in that direction.

Okay.

All right.

And Laura.

There was a terrific article in The New York Times opinion piece this week by Michelle O'Connell's, about called the Democratic Party's new recruiter.

And it was about Jason Crow.

And I thought he did such a lovely job of, representing the authenticity of who we are as Coloradans and representing thinking, kindly and thoughtfully about blue collar workers, about education, about gun rights and very reasonable manners.

and he just represented Colorado so well.

And I was so, so proud to be a coloradan as he as he was interviewed for this opinion piece.

In the New York.

Times, New York Times earlier this week.

Yes.

All right.

Thank you.

My high is a mile high.

Welcome to all the tens of thousands of basketball fans who are in town for games that took place on Thursday and also on Saturday at Ball Arena.

This is the first year.

And all the others that we have hosted these games that I haven't been, and I'm sad because it is one of the best things that Denver gets to host, and I hope that our bars, our restaurants, our hotels and shops enjoy the expected.

What is it, $23 million that is expected to come in over this weekend?

it's going to be a great March Madness weekend and I hope everyone has fun and it's gonna be a slam dunk for Denver.

thank you, insiders, for coming this week.

And thank you again for representing for Women's History Month.

We've got an all ladies panel again this week.

Thanks to all of you who are watching along with us or listening to our podcast on Spotify and Apple.

I'm Kyle Dyer.

I will see you next week here on PBS 12.

Take care.

Tb12 believes in the power of original local programing.

Help us bring more shows like the one you just watched by donating at PBS's World Dawgs Program support today.