Jumping for joy in wake of DNC

Officials giddy after pulling off historic event

By Kevin Vaughan, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published August 29, 2008 at 11:45 p.m.

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Photo by Matt Mcclain / The Rocky

As crews took down stages at Invesco Field at Mile High on Friday, Stephen Hearding of All Phases Construction leaps from one small platform to another. The work followed Barack Obama's Thursday night acceptance speech as the Democratic presidential nominee. Television media had used the small stages.

In the beginning, they didn't even know whether they could land the Democratic National Convention. And toward the end, they didn't know whether they'd be able to raise all the money, or keep traffic moving, or maintain the peace among swarms of protesters promising to make their voices heard.

So Friday morning, in the glow of a convention gone mostly right, the men and women who brought it to Denver and worked to make it happen wore self-satisfied grins on faces that, just days before, had been etched with stress.

"To make it very clear, I'm not glad it's over," said Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, who admitted in the spring that the strain of fundrasing was getting to him.

"The Chicago Cubs used to have a second baseman named Ernie Banks. And every day he'd come to the ballpark and they'd say, 'How you doing?' And he'd say, 'Let's play two.'

"So I'm ready to have the second one start tomorrow."

They could laugh about it Friday morning, gathered in Denver's performing arts center to assess the convention the morning after it ended with Barack Obama's historic acceptance speech at Invesco Field at Mile High.

But pulling it off was a long, difficult job that began 21/2 years ago when Elbra Wedgeworth, a member of the Denver City Council, began asking why the DNC couldn't be brought to her hometown.

And it continued as Howard Dean, head of the Democratic National Committee, wondered whether Denver could find the $40 million - or more - needed to put on the convention.

"I'll never forget the day Howard Dean called and said, 'It's yours,' " said Denver attorney Steve Farber, a key fundraiser for the convention. "He said one thing. He said, 'Will you commit to raise the money?' I said, 'Chairman Dean, no issue at all.' "

It turned out that it was an issue.

The host committee missed two of the four deadlines for raising money and was roughly $11 million short in June when it was supposed to have $40.6 million in the bank.

But in recent weeks it all came together, and Hickenlooper and Mike Dino, chief executive of the host committee, said they now had more than $50 million in the bank - enough, they say, to cover all the costs associated with putting on the four-day convention.

"I don't anticipate we'll have any problem paying our bills," Hickenlooper said.

So Friday, it was all giddiness. The streets had been reopened. The weather had been perfect the night before. Downtown had seen an energy not common in these parts.

"Words really can't express how I feel right now," Wedgeworth said.

And while it was too early to measure the economic impact, Hickenlooper said he saw benefits that can't be quantified in dollars and cents.

"A huge part of the benefit is not just how the world looks at us but how we look at ourselves," Hickenlooper said.

He recalled one of his 2003 campaign themes: "Federico Pena imagined a great city, Wellington Webb built a great city; now it's time to be a great city."

"If there was some way we could do a measure of people's minds around the metro area, we'd see that they do believe," Hickenlooper said.

DNC by the numbers

26,000 miles ridden on loaner bicycles.

5,552 trips taken on loaner bicycles.

154 arrests.

81 percent of waste was recycled from Saturday night's media party at Elitch Gardens

• August 30, 2008

  9:24 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  solar_satellite writes:

  RMN, YOU PANDERING SCUM:

  I'll tell you what, you keep publishing your disinformative retread of an article (Denver officials giddy after pulling off historic DNC / Jumping for joy in wake of DNC), and I'll keep telling the truth: Denver's media and government whipped up unreasonable fears of protest, mustered an army on our streets, and committed false arrest en masse; this is what just happened in our city.

  Placing more riot police in Civic Center Park and on the Mall than visitors to those places, macing a protest march, falsely arresting 100 participants in it -- if Denver's aim was to express its reactionary and obsessive concern with law and order in the face of small, peaceful protests, it succeeded brilliantly. The spectacle of our public spaces being patrolled by thousands of riot police suggested that a public safety emergency was underway, as opposed to the Democratic National Convention. There were no feces or urine bombs, no assaults by radical anarchists, there weren't even any significant acts of civil disobedience. Many citizens were dissuaded from even going downtown during the convention, for fear of nonexistant unrest (or perhaps our own police department). You lather on the balm of self-congratulation when you yourselves encouraged the city's absurd overreaction. Even if Denver were to spend another $50,000,000 in settlements with those it assaulted and falsely arrested I doubt that its monumental complacency would be shaken -- thanks so much for doing your part, RMN. Denver officials are giddy all right; giddy from the abuse of power! It's long past due for citizens to stop reading your pandering, and reform City government.

• August 30, 2008

  10:35 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  Chadley25 writes:

  While I agree that the pepper spray incident was ridiculous, and Denver's police have a long, checkered history of abusing their power, I can also see the flip side and think, "Well, maybe the mere presence of all those police in riot gear helped prevent some real problems." I saw two officers in full combat gear walking into a Starbucks on Larimer Street to get themselves a latte and thought it was about the funniest thing I had seen that day.

  Having experienced downtown during the convention, I think Denver did a great job hosting the DNC. There was a terrific energy present. The streets and sidewalks remained clean, the weather couldn't have been much better, visitors said the people of Denver were gracious and friendly overall, and I think we put on a really good show for the nation to see and should be proud of our city.

• August 30, 2008

  10:53 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  redwhiteandBLUE writes:

  It's wonderful..that Rush Limbaughs vision didn't come to pass, he visioned a mass riot, a nightmare for Denver. There were more police then needed, but it was better to be safe than sorry.
  Other than the minimum arrests, I think Denver came out shinning to out of state visitors. Maybe they'll return for vacation sometime.

• August 30, 2008

  7:30 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  tahoeglider writes:

  As a visitor from Reno, Nevada I just wanted to say how much my wife and I loved Denver. We stayed at the Marriott Courtyard on 16th. Everyone we ran into was great, and very helpful. We spent our share of money and are planning to come back some day with our daughter to see the aquarium, the amusement park, the art museum, etc. The only issue was getting back from Invesco but even that ended up being fun. Some how we ended on a bike path that led us around the back of the amusement park, past REI and the aquarium. As I got close to my hotel my wife called who was a delegate and had missed her bus. I walked back halfway to Invesco and met her. Let me tell you that beer back at the bar tasted great, and taking part in history will leave memories of Denver in my mind forever.

  Thanks for a GREAT and AMAZING week. We will return!!

• August 30, 2008

  10:23 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  Dustoff76 writes:

  Tahoeglider--I ended up on the same path along the train tracks and behind the aquarium after the acceptance speech, but that was the only hiccup I experienced. I was proud of the city, the organizational committee, and the job that the Denver police did. Every person that I knew who came in from out of state commented on how much they enjoyed themselves. Several people asked me if the police were always so friendly, and every officer I spoke with was exceedingly polite and helpful. I watched three officers defuse a confrontation between opposing groups of protesters on 16th street by remaining calm, polite, and non-aggressive. When the two groups headed their separate ways, the cops got a nice round of applause from the crowd. In another incident, I saw an officer talking and joking with two men in handcuffs while they waited for a car to transport the men. I didn't see what led to the arrest, but several people said that the officers had done everything possible to calm the situation before they made the arrests. Afterward, the cops treated the prisoners with dignity and respect. All things considered, DPD and their partner agencies handled the protests as well as could be expected and managed to head off any serious problems before they started. The city has every right to be proud--events like the DNC invite troublemakers and malcontents, and could have easily been a disaster. They planned for every contingency, which is their job, and they did a brilliant job of it. Hats off to the city, the police, and the volunteers--you did yourselves proud.

• August 30, 2008

  11:20 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  solar_satellite writes:

  I'm not denying that most individual police officers behaved well, or that the city provided for the needs of convention-goers -- but no one has denied the charges I have made. The mass false arrest of 100+ protesters was not simply "ridiculous", nor was it necessary or excusable. Denver's leaders grossly overestimated the scale of the threat posed by those few who wanted to force the DNC to heed their protests, and placed an army of riot police in the middle of the city, especially Monday, when the mass arrests took place. Hickenlooper and his administration should be judged not by the fact that people came to Denver and had a good time, but by the excesses of the DPD. Craven Doug Linkhart, angling to be our next mayor-dictator, suggested on CPR that the mass arrests somehow justified the overwhelming police presence, which I find incredibly specious and dim reasoning. His recent actions on the City Council and these comments are completely inappropriate; he has attempted to use law enforcement to his own political advantage at a time when Denver already faces serious allegations of widespread misconduct of law enforcement in Denver (recent assault on a bicyclist by two vice squad detectives, ACLU suit charging false arrest, false imprisonment, and denial of due process). I don't want him in charge of public safety. It is important for Denver voters to realize that the manipulation of public perceptions of the risk of unrest at the DNC served specific political interests.

• September 2, 2008

  11:01 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  byteme writes:

  Great job Mayor, the city showed well. Now how about keeping the flowers alive and potholes filled for the rest of us little taxpayers/constituents?

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