Convert hospital to affordable housing
There have been quite a few conversations about the need for affordable housing with possible solutions, but the cost of providing them, being too great, has been the stumbling block.
Possible solutions have been old motels, tiny homes, and now, vacant office buildings.
There was a recent news story about an existing building complex being retired because the owners were moving to a new modern campus. It wasn’t that the building and all the mechanical backbone were broken; the owners just needed their facility to be more modern.
That old campus, which has a vast part of the mechanical infrastructure with computerized control already in place, could come to life as an affordable solution.
Lutheran Medical Center in Wheatridge just moved to a new modern facility and “turned off the lights” on the buildings they had used for years. The buildings are still intact. The interior of each floor would need to be remodeled. But the main feed lines of the electric, plumbing, HVAC, elevators, sprinkler system, communication, and fire alarms are all in place.
This could have provided a real potential fix at a reduced cost. It seems like a lost opportunity.
Mark Stahl, Hartsel
Don’t underestimate the extremes
Re: “Election 2024: Buckle up, and be kind,” Aug. 23 letter to the editor
The letter writer recommends that we “don’t buy into the loud 10% at the extremes.” Since there are only two principal presidential candidates, and one of them accused the other of being a radical Marxist and that she “turned Black” for political advantage, I propose that the percentage at the radical extreme is around 50%.
David Wolf, Lakewood
Screaming motorcycles
Re: “How loud is too loud?” Aug. 24 news story
Thank God someone is finally talking about noise in Denver. Unfortunately, the article didn’t mention those extremely annoying crotch rockets (squealing motorcycles of all sizes) that are a true assault on the senses. You can hear them from blocks away, and they make your skin crawl as they go by in full force. They must give the riders some perverse form of pleasure or power to terrify and annoy people all around them. (See me! Hear me!)
As far as enforcement, how about an app for citizens to film the event (along with license plates) and send it to law officers? Or how about making it illegal to sell motorcycles that emit that level of sound? I am all for lowering the level of noise so that we can enjoy our lives in peace.
Lynne Charles, Denver
Big number, small percentage
Re: “Medicaid department overshot last year’s budget by $120 million,” Aug. 29 news story
The headline for this article could have been “Medicaid department overshot last year’s budget by 1.16%.” If that were the actual headline, I would expect that many readers would react not with shock and cynicism over wasteful government spending (after all, $120 million is a lot of money to the average person) but rather with admiration that the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing did a solid job managing the complex programs, competing needs, and massive budget it is responsible for.
Sometimes people only read the headline and form their opinions on that information. Headlines should attempt to be as factual and unbiased as the article.
Jan Winkler, Denver
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