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Our mission is to reverse the trend of mass incarceration in Colorado. We are a coalition of nearly 7,000 individual members and over 100 faith and community organizations who have united to stop perpetual prison expansion in Colorado through policy and sentence reform.

Our chief areas of interest include drug policy reform, women in prison, racial injustice, the impact of incarceration on children and families, the problems associated with re-entry and stopping the practice of using private prisons in our state.

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Thursday, February 19, 2009

Naming Of Justice Center Halted

The Denver Post

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.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You say Denvers population is 34 percent Latino??? How many are illegals?? Who is stuck paying for the building?? I for one am disgusted with the continued use of the term, Ethnic group. I happen to be German and i am sure there are thousands more. What percentage do we make up of Denvers population? As a taxpayer I think it should be named the, ROBBED CENTER. If the justice that comes out of the new center is like the old one, were being ROBBED. djw

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