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Week of May 26, 2022
DENVER, COLORADO
A publication of
VOLUME 95 | ISSUE 27
Five Points Jazz Festival returns in person for 2022
Legislation a ‘gutted’ win for mobile home park residents BY DEBORAH GRIGSBY DGRIGSBY@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Omenai ended up having an abortion when she was 17 weeks into her pregnancy. The months that followed were some of the most stressful of her life. “It was my freshman year of high
As the Colorado State Legislative session came to a close this year, two bills to protect and assist mobile home park residents made their way to the finish line. Co-sponsored by State Rep. Andrew Boesencker, D-Fort Collins, SB22-160 establishes the Mobile Home Park Resident Empowerment Loan Program. It creates a $35 million revolving loan and grant program to provide financing to mobile home owners seeking to organize and purchase their mobile home parks. That bill is on its way to the desk of Colorado Gov. Jared Polis. But when HB22-1287 passed earlier this year, mobile home park residents thought they garnered an important win. The bill, also co-sponsored by Boesencker, would protect park residents from unchecked lot rent increases, some as high as 50%. In addition, it also gave them more time to organize and purchase their community in the event a park owner opts to sell. But last-minute horse-trading at the State Capitol gutted the bill of its core element for the more than 100,000 Coloradoans who live in manufactured housing — the stabilization of lot rent. Together Colorado is a nonpartisan, multi-racial, multi-faith community organization that works to place human dignity at Colorado’s center of public life
SEE PROJECT, P2
SEE RESIDENTS, P3
Purnell Steen and the Five Points Ambassadors are one of many artists performing at this year’s in-person Five Points Jazz Festival, COURTESY PHOTO which takes place June 4.
Music fest boasts about 50 performances STAFF REPORT
The annual Five Points Jazz Festival returns to an in-person event
this year featuring about 50 performances on 11 indoor and outdoor stages. The free event takes place from noon to 11 p.m. June 4 on Welton Street between 25th and 29th streets in Denver’s Five Points neighborhood. “The last time we had an in-person
Five Points Jazz Festival was in 2019, when we drew record numbers of attendees,” said Brooke Dilling, manager of cultural programs for Denver Arts & Venues, in a press release. “It’s exciting to bring folks together in person to SEE JAZZ, P5
Anticipating an end to ‘Roe,’ Doula Project spreads the word about safe, legal abortions BY DANA KNOWLES ROCKY MOUNTAIN PBS
Confidence Omenai knows what it feels like to experience the loneliness and isolation resulting from childhood trauma. At 13 years old, she was raped, became pregnant
and didn’t have supportive environment at home. “I had no idea what I was doing or if I was making the right choice, and there was no one there who loved me or cared,” she said. “That was the worst possible scenario to be in to have to make that choice.”
INSIDE: VOICES: PAGE 10 | LIFE: PAGE 12 | CALENDAR: PAGE 9
THE LURE OF FLY FISHING South Platte a great spot for anglers P12
