Regretfully, Goodbye Stapleton. You’re too expensive.

Goodbye Stapleton

As I’m getting ready to move to Aurora, I want to say goodbye to Stapleton, where I’ve lived for over three years. I will miss it here. I, a single professional who makes a six-digit salary, can no longer afford to live here due to ever increasing rent. Something is wrong when a neighborhood starts to force out upper middle-class single-earners. The low-income threshold for qualification for “affordable” housing here in Stapleton and soaring rents and home values will soon make this a neighborhood of only the rich and the poor. Only those people who bought homes a long time ago will be able to afford to stay. A neighborhood loses a certain something when this happens, and it is sad to see. Affordable housing is not an issue that concerns only the poor, but also the middle class and especially single-earner households.

-Lindsay Kaun

Thanks to SUN President Amanda Allshouse

An open letter to Amanda Allshouse and my NE Denver neighbors

I want to take a moment to thank Amanda Allshouse, the President of SUN. We have been in regular contact and I’ve thanked her via private text messages and also publicly at the Listening Sessions, but I wanted to write a letter for the greater NE Denver community to receive, especially after seeing how it was Amanda that initiated honoring Marlon Green using graphic screens in Eastbridge (https://frontporchne.com/article/marlon-green-jackie-robinson-commercial-aviation/ ). That action exemplifies the Amanda that I regard, and I wanted to share why with all of you. I view Amanda as genuine and thoughtful. She paid tribute to Marlon Green’s achievements, before drafting the letter in response to Charlottesville; the letter that unintentionally reawakened the #ChangeTheNameStapleton movement. In spite of its beautiful message that, “there is no place for these displays of hatred in our neighborhood,” the letter created a spark in our community and reignited an issue that has never been resolved. It was printed on SUN’s letterhead, which displays the name Stapleton.

Amanda is passionate about public health and, as President of SUN, wants to address the disparity between health in the Stapleton neighborhood vs. that of surrounding communities. The Rename St*pleton for All initiative has taken time away from this. Amanda is suddenly, and very publicly, in a leadership role during an incredibly necessary conversation about racism in our society and in our neighborhood. She realizes how much community members have to say about this issue, and was instrumental in planning the Listening Sessions, facilitated by Dr. Nita Mosby Tyler, on December 11. She has shown that no matter how uncomfortable this may be for her, and regardless of her own opinion, she continuously shows up, is open and honest, cares about her community, listens, and strives for fairness. She is proving herself to be a President we can be proud of.

-Sincerely, Genevieve Swift
Rename St*pleton for All
www.renameforall.com