DNC community forum

By Carrie Porter, Rockly Mountain News

Published July 31, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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More Denver Democratic National Convention 2008

About 35 residents gathered to hear from city and DNC officials at a community forum Wednesday at North High School. Mary Lou Smith, 81, sporting a "peace junkie" button, added some spice by asking, "I just keep thinking about when the pope visited Denver and how big that was. Is this bigger than World Youth Day?" Michael Battista, Denver's deputy chief of operations, explained that the DNC is larger in terms of law enforcement. "What we're doing here is protecting a venue that houses 26,000 people."

Other questions raised:

* Most difficult question:

Why is there no one from RTD here tonight? "Moving to Invesco on Thursday added another layer, and RTD asked us to communicate that information will be coming soon," said city official Kathryn Archuleta.

* Most useful question:

How do we handle parking downtown? "First, we encourage you not to use your cars, but most downtown parking lots will be open and the majority of meters will be unbagged," Archuleta said.

* Most sobering question:

There have been far too many shootings near Invesco Field in the past few weeks. How can we expect you to address that?

"We've been actively working these investigations, and we know the bad guys," Battista said. "There will be a substantial increase in police both inside and outside the event Thursday."

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