Thread: Latino concerns halt justice naming process

Denver's ethnic politics boiled over Wednesday, prompting the City Council president to storm out of a debate over names for the new justice complex.

The tension was prompted by a proclamation encouraging Mayor John Hickenlooper to name a plaza between the new courthouse and jail after former Denver District Attorney Dale Tooley.

At Wednesday's meeting of the City Council's Safety Committee, Councilwoman Judy Montero adamantly opposed the idea because she thought the Latino community had not had a chance to weigh in.

"The Latino community was not part of the conversation," she said.

Montero's objection, joined by those of council members Rick Garcia and Paul Lopez, brought the drive to name the plaza after Tooley to a halt and prompted the council's president, Jeanne Robb, to leave the room.

"It would be wrong not to name some part of the justice center after Dale Tooley," a stern-faced Robb said, stressing that she would not support other naming recommendations for the downtown courthouse and jail without Tooley in the mix.

Robb said she thought she had the votes to muscle her proposed proclamation through committee anyway but was willing to wait in recognition of Tooley's efforts to promote racial harmony and to avoid a "food fight" among council members.

Later, in the hallway, Robb declined to comment further.

The objection by Montero and other Latino council members comes after a string of perceived slights to an ethnic group that makes up 34 percent of Denver's population.

Latinos were either not considered or were not finalists for appointment to recent high-profile state and local jobs, including U.S. Senate, secretary of state and superintendent of Denver Public Schools.

No nominating petitions were submitted on behalf of Latino community leaders during a long-term process hatched last year to name the buildings and plaza. A 12-person mayoral task force, which included four Latinos, sorted through the petitions they received and forwarded recommendations to the council, including a recommendation that the plaza be named for Tooley, who was district attorney from 1973 to 1983.

Still, Montero said she believed not enough consideration was given to prominent Latinos for names on the buildings.

"There are champions in the Latino community as well, and that did not come forward," she said.

The person Montero suggested that the plaza should be named after, former state senator and retired district judge Roger Cisneros, was one of six co-chairs of the group that pushed Tooley's name.

Cisneros said Tuesday evening that he had agreed to allow Montero to forward his name.

"Some equitable process"

Latino activist Veronica Barela, who was a member of the task force, said the lack of a Latino among the nominating petitions had concerned her but that other task-force members stressed that the council could always solicit additional suggestions.

"I'm pretty sure what will happen is some equitable process that will include a Latino, probably in the plaza area," she said. "I think they are all really working together at this point to come to a solution that would include a Latino."

Ultimately, the safety committee Wednesday recommended naming the new courthouse after former County Judge Benjamin Lindsey, who pioneered a stand-alone juvenile court system in Denver, and James Flanigan, the first black Denver district judge.

The committee also recommended naming the detention facility after former District Attorney Philip Van Cise, who prosecuted mobsters and the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s, and former Denver safety manager and former director of corrections John Simonet, who is still alive.

Those recommendations now move to the full council, which under city ordinance has the responsibility for deciding the names of those buildings. The full council will probably act on those recommendations March 2.

The mayor has the sole authority to decide the name of the plaza that was the subject of so much debate Wednesday. Late in the day, Lucia Guzman, director of the city's Agency on Human Rights and who staffed the task force for the mayor, released a statement saying the administration would work to consider other possible naming opportunities, but stressing that the process had been inclusive so far.

Christopher N. Osher: 303-954-1747 or cosher@denverpost.com
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_11735472

So has this 34 percent of the population done anything to earn community recognition, or are they just trying to usurp the honor of those not of Latino heritage who achieved. Quit whining it you did not submit an application for the naming of the center. And quit whining, when the mayoral committee includes 4 Latinos who did their duty to nominate someone whose name had been put into nomination. The next building-naming, do some paperwork, instead of crying of unfairness. Jerks!

What does this have to do with illegal immigration? This should go in News

moving to other news