It seems many people have been listening to the admonition to avoid downtown. Each morning this week, the traffic reporters on the local morning news have marveled on how light the traffic has been. With a large number of street closures in the Lower Downtown area (what we call LoDo) it was expected that the rush hours this week would be nightmarish.
But with the city council urging businesses to allow flex hours and telecommuting, and the fact that many people who work downtown taking vacation this week, the impact has been minimal. We'll see if that holds for tomorrow night's rush hour!
The decision made by the presumptive Democratic candidate to address a huge crowd in the football stadium, the secret service has decided to close the interstate that runs past Mile High. The closure will come just as the early afternoon rush hour would normally begin and continue until after the candidate has left the area. We'll see how that works out!
In other news, the people arrested for "allegedly" threatening Barack Obama the other day has received almost no air time here in Denver. In fact, the only time that I have even heard the story is on the national news services. Interesting...
Something else I find interesting is the number of private parties that are being thrown for the conventioneers and specifically for the elected officials. The recent change in lobbying laws should have curtailed these activities. The problem is, of course, that there are so many loopholes in the law that it's more of a colander than a prohibition. There was an interview with a restaurateur this morning that was proudly displaying her way of getting around the law. She was not allowed to serve any "Meal" (which for some reason was described as items served on a plate and eaten with a fork) so she would be offering the guests at her catered event food that had already been cut into bite-sized pieces in a specially designed spoon. It looked something like one of those oriental soup spoons that are made of ceramics and stand with their handles elevated off the table.
She was also offering her guests nuggets of fish, steak, roasts, and vegetables on a round flat bread with a slightly raised rim (like a pizza without the topping) and a toothpick to eat it with. It could be argued that this is nothing more than a plate made of bread, but as it is edible, it is not technically, a plate.
Splitting hairs with the rules seems to be the main game of the week The protests go on and it seems that they are all being fairly well behaved. The parks are awash with people speaking out against this or for that. The population of Denver has swollen greatly and navigation has gotten to be a challenge. But all-in-all, we're dealing with the disruption of the convention. One does what one must and plods on!
Wherever you are today, I hope that you have a good day!
Don Bergquist - August 27, 2008 - Lakewood, Colorado, USA
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