City Cast Denver

Since last June, the City of Denver has been trying something new with its 911 emergency response system. In an effort to reduce violent conflicts with police, some calls are being redirected to a new team of paramedics and social workers, called STAR, or Support Team Assisted Response. The pilot program has proven enormously popular, with the team responding to almost 1,400 calls over the course...

The local theater community is slowly emerging from its pandemic-induced hibernation, and they’ve got some wild new ideas to share. Like Control Group Productions, they’re putting on a new show starting next week called After the Flood. It’s an “immersive nature stroll” that combines live dance, music, history, and ecology in Littleton’s South Platte Park. City Cast Denver’s resident theater buff...

When The Center on Colfax announced that law enforcement agencies would not be allowed to participate in this year’s Pride, CEO Rex Fuller said the response was “largely negative” — despite the long history of tension between police and the LGBTQ+ community. And if these tensions stretch back to the days of Stonewall — Pride’s origin story — then why do this now? Host Bree Davies sits down with Re...

The NBA is known for elite athleticism, but it’s also the storylines, off-the-court fashion, and personal drama that make pro basketball so fun to watch. And it’s also why Denver Nuggets superstar (and presumptive NBA MVP) Nikola Jokic stands out. He plays an unorthodox style for a big man and is known for his lack of ego. Yet, it’s all but certain that he’ll be named MVP of the NBA this season. T...

Denver’s best known bookseller is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, and it’s come a long way from that very first shop in Cherry Creek. As of last December, Tattered Cover has new owners. And as of this summer, they’ll have a new flagship location at McGregor Square, that fancy new development going in across from Coors Field. Host Bree Davies sits down with one of Tattered’s new owners,...

Almost a year after George Floyd's murder, communities across the country are still grappling with police accountability. In Denver, a group of civic leaders, non-profit organizations and community members came together to address this issue, creating a Task Force to Reimagine Policing and Public Safety. They’ve spent the last year working on a massive report with more than 112 recommendations, an...

If the past year has left us with anything good, it’s a feeling of righteous urgency to make the most of the time we have with our loved ones. Enter: Mamabird Interviews, a new company founded by a local teacher and some of his students to help families embrace and preserve their histories. When we heard about the work they’re doing, we needed to know more, so we had City Cast Denver’s very own Pe...

Denver’s urban camping ban has been controversial to say the least. Though it has remained popular with a majority of the voting public since it was implemented in 2012, the ban has led to the near-constant sweeping of encampments and displacement of the people living in them. The ban has stoked distrust and exacerbated the precarious nature of life for our unhoused neighbors. So when Aurora Mayor...

It seemed like a simple request to the city: Shawn Johnson and his husband Ben wanted to build an ADU, or accessory dwelling unit, at their Sunnyside home so Shawn’s disabled mother could live close. But little did they know, this plan would send them down a rabbit hole of bureaucracy and bring them face to face with an inconspicuous board that holds a lot of power when it comes to zoning — the ci...

After less than two years on the job, Denver Public Schools superintendent Susana Cordova resigned last fall. She said it was because she got an amazing job opportunity in Dallas, Texas, but some think she was pushed out by a school board that disagreed with her vision. At the center of that conflict? Education Reform, a nationwide movement that found a fertile testing ground here in Denver about...

Basically no one wants to keep a golf course on those 155 acres of open space in Northeast Park Hill, but that poses a big question: What do we want? Should we restrict development, as former mayoral candidate and open spaces advocate Penfield Tate argued on the show last week, or should we aim for a new kind of people-first development? That’s the case today’s guests are here to make. In part two...

There will come a time this summer when you’re hanging out in a park or walking around downtown, and someone with a clipboard is going to approach you about the future of the Park Hill Golf Course. They’ll talk about the need for more open space in the city or maybe they’ll allude to the Big Bad Developer coming in to change a historic neighborhood, and they’ll ask for your signature. What are you...

When it comes to barbecue, Colorado tends to get left out of the national conversation. But it turns out, we have our very own barbecue story to tell, and our Black community is at the center of it all. James Beard award-winner Adrian E. Miller has that story and more in his new book, “Black Smoke: African Americans and the United States of Barbecue.” He joins host Bree Davies on the show today to...

There’s a new book out about gang violence in Denver, and it’s causing quite a stir. Award-winning journalist Julian Rubinstein spent seven years reporting the story of Terrance Roberts, a former gang member turned anti-gang activist who shot someone before a peace rally he himself had organized on September 20, 2013. Julian says Terrance’s story has been widely misunderstood, and he hopes to corr...

It’s Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month! And we’re celebrating with a look into Denver’s fascinating Japanese American history with journalist and community leader Gil Asakawa. Host Bree Davies speaks with Gil about his personal connection with Sakura Square, the lasting legacy of former governor Ralph Carr, and special meaning of AAPI Heritage Month this year. Plus, Gil shares a l...

Denver City Council is deciding the fate of the Denver7 building on Speer tonight. Will they side with the owners, paving the way for a sale and demolition? Or will they decide it’s a landmark worth preserving? Host Bree Davies speaks with art and architecture critic Mary Voelz Chandler, who wrote for the Rocky Mountain News for many years, about the architectural merits of the building, the origi...

What happens when a worker at an Amazon warehouse sees something concerning and speaks up? Today on the show, we bring you the story of Linda Rodriguez, a local grandmother who got a job at the Amazon fulfillment center in Thornton right before the pandemic started. Host Bree Davies speaks with Linda’s attorney David Seligman, who portrays her as a woman caught in an impossible situation, compelle...

Punch Bowl Social was a Denver success story — emphasis on the “was.” Starting with that one location on South Broadway in 2012, the arcade/bowling alley/bar quickly expanded across the country, operating 20 locations and raking in tens of millions of dollars per year at its peak. But then the pandemic hit, setting CEO and founder Robert Thompson off on a year of twists, turns, and tough decisions...

It’s Cinco de Mayo and that means cruising — especially on Federal. But over the last year, Chicano car clubs have stopped meeting up along the strip, while at the same time, police have had an increased presence. It looks like a law enforcement crackdown, but is it? Councilperson Jamie Torres joins the show today to help get to the bottom of this issue of vanishing car clubs. We also hear from an...

More than a third of foster children in Colorado will end up homeless by the time they are 21. A new bill making its way through the Colorado General Assembly would allow them to re-enter the system after they’re 18 and get help with things that many of us take for granted — like opening bank accounts and getting a driver’s license. Foster parent Natasha Pepperl has seen first-hand how much this s...

On our show last Friday, we featured a deeply human story from one man, David Gordon, about his experience living inside one of the most important new efforts to address Denver’s homelessness crisis. After a three-month stay at a Safe Outdoor Space, he said Denver should absolutely invest in this housing option.  But the leases at the first two locations are up at the end of the month, and it’s un...

There are more than 4,000 people experiencing homelessness in Denver, according to the latest Point in Time Survey from Metro Denver Homeless Initiative. And that was back in January 2020, two months before the global pandemic caused a massive economic downturn. Last summer, the city sponsored a new effort to help house some of those people, but it’s been controversial to say the least. So this ti...

Elitch Gardens is so much more than a theme park. It’s more like a nostalgia factory with roller coasters, and it’s been in business for over 100 years. The New Elitch’s, as the current incarnation is commonly known, is opening this weekend, so Bree invited three-time Emmy winning comedy writer Hallie Haglund and zero-time Emmy winning City Cast producer Paul Karolyi on the show to talk about ever...

Nadia Bolz-Weber is on the show today to talk about the new season of her podcast, The Confessional, which she describes as “a carwash for our shame and secrets.” Nadia tells Bree about how she helps people process the worst moments in their lives and offers some tips for broaching difficult conversations. Bree interviewed Nadia for the first time in 2012, one year before Nadia published her first...

Even if we don’t always like it, a city’s got to change. And your Denver might look very different from someone else’s Denver. Award-winning cartoonist Karl Christian Krumpholz explores this theme in his new illustrated history of Denver, “Queen City.” He joins host Bree Davies to talk about the book and how he brought places that have closed or been demolished back to life, while paying homage to...