Hickenlooper confident city will be ready for convention - and world - despite changes

By Sara Burnett, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Friday, July 18, 2008

Barry Gutierrez / The Rocky

Qwest technicians work inside the Democratic National Convention Committee server room at the Pepsi Center. Although there are myriad details to coordinate, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper says the city absolutely will be ready for the convention Aug. 25-28. Its success could be a boon for Denver.

Denver will be on the world stage for four days in August, as thousands of people and a whole lot of television cameras descend on the Democratic National Convention.

Is the city ready?

Mayor John Hickenlooper says the answer is an unequivocal yes, even with the 11th-hour decision last week to move the convention's final night to Invesco Field at Mile High.

"From the beginning, we didn't have any illusions that this wasn't going to be a major undertaking," Hickenlooper said this week.

Sixteen different committees have tackled everything from police training to a convention-themed film festival in the 18 months since Denver was selected as the DNC's host city, the mayor said.

"I think we are fully prepared for this," Hickenlooper said.

Yet the process hasn't always been smooth, and loose ends remain - many critical to a successful convention, such as security and deciding how tickets will be distributed for Barack Obama's acceptance of the Democratic presidential nomination at Invesco.

If things go poorly, it could mean a permanent scar for the city and Obama, said Henry Brady, a professor of political science and public policy at the University of California, Berkeley.

Think Chicago and 1968, which still evoke images of bloody clashes between police and protesters at the Democratic National Convention.

On the other hand, if things go well, it could be a major boost for Obama and the city.

"Certainly planning to make it work well is important," Brady said.

"This is the one time the (Democratic) party has the attention of the nation."

Fundraising woes

Key among the unfinished business is raising enough money to pay for the convention.

Last month, the committee responsible for fundraising missed its final deadline by $11 million.

Under a contract with the Democratic National Convention Committee, the Denver 2008 Host Committee was supposed to raise $40.6 million by June 16. Officials have said the convention will cost more than that, however, with some estimates at $50 million.

Organizers aren't commenting on what's in the bank now.

But Hickenlooper said pumping donors for cash - something he's been doing "every day" - has gotten easier since the protracted primary season came to an end.

"I'd say it's night and day," he said.

Jenny Backus, a senior adviser and spokesperson for Obama, said the campaign isn't worried.

"I've actually . . . been really impressed by how much money Denver and the community has been willing to give," Backus said, noting that Denver isn't as large as other cities that have hosted conventions, and that Colorado is not as solidly Democratic as places like Boston.

The other major unanswered question is the move from the Pepsi Center, where the first three nights of the convention will be held, to the much larger Invesco Field for Obama's Aug. 28 acceptance speech.

The short turnaround means planners must do in about seven weeks what it took 18 months to accomplish at the Pepsi Center.

There already is talk of closing Interstate 25 for at least part of the night, and neighbors are bracing for parking problems and "chaos," a man who lives within walking distance said.

Meanwhile, RTD must figure out how to get more than 50,000 people to the venue, where the large stadium parking lots will be closed for security reasons.

The Obama campaign must work out a plan for distributing tickets and getting more than 15,000 media to the big event.

"It's going to be a logistical feat to fill a stadium with minimal disruptions," Backus admitted.

Denver Public Works Director Bill Vidal said organizers have learned a lot from planning at the Pepsi Center - lessons that will speed the process for Invesco.

"We'll have no trouble coming up with a plan in the next few weeks," he said.

Strategic release of info

Hickenlooper said that the city has been strategically timing the release of information about the DNC.

The city, DNCC, police and Secret Service don't want to release information too early because it may jeopardize security, Hickenlooper said.

He pointed to an ordinance that went before the city council this week that would ban protesters from carrying things like quick-setting cement or bolt cutters.

Hickenlooper called the timing "perfect," saying the new law was planned "ages ago" but that authorities didn't want to give protesters planning to cause trouble too much warning of what the rules might be.

Meanwhile Katherine Archuleta, a senior adviser to Hickenlooper who has been overseeing much of the convention planning, said the work has been "pretty phenomenal."

"I have a list that I created at the very beginning 18 months ago of things that we would like to do," Archuleta said. "I went back about two weeks ago and looked through that, and I'm amazed of all the things on that list that we've completed."

But a lack of information is causing problems.

U.S. District Judge Marcia Krieger told lawyers for the city and the Secret Service this week that too many delays in releasing plans for a protest area at Invesco could work against them.

"It's not good enough . . . to just say, 'We're working on it,' " she said.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which represents 13 protest groups, is challenging restrictions on demonstrators at the Pepsi Center and Invesco Field.

Krieger has set a July 29 trial on the challenges, and she wants to address issues at both venues that day.

But the Secret Service still hasn't completed a threat analysis for Invesco, and the city can't designate a protest area without it. That's put Denver "between the proverbial rock and a hard place," an attorney for the city said.

Krieger told attorneys the timing is critical, and that one factor in her decision of whether any restrictions are "reasonable" will be the amount of notice the ACLU receives. If she decides the restrictions aren't reasonable, Krieger could throw out the city's plans, or order changes.

Questions remain

People living and working near the Pepsi Center in lower downtown also are looking for more answers.

About 150 people attended a meeting at the Wynkoop Brewing Co. on Wednesday night, the same day the city announced which traffic routes would be closed during the convention.

While the audience was assured it would have full access to homes and businesses, there still were unanswered questions, such as how delivery trucks and guests would get to areas of LoDo where credentials will be required.

Then there was one of the more bizarre incidents of the summer - military choppers suddenly swooping low over Denver last month, with armed commandos inside.

On the third day of flights, the city and U.S. military officials acknowledged that giving residents or the media some warning or explanation for the counterterrorism training exercise would have been a good idea.

Authorities insisted the helicopters had nothing to do with the DNC, but Park Hill resident Lloyd Burton, who directs the emergency management and homeland security program at the University of Colorado at Denver, wasn't buying it.

The professor of law and public policy said he hadn't heard choppers like that since he was serving in Vietnam.

"That one didn't quite pass the sniff test," he added.

burnetts@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5343