Denver As ‘China Town’
From the Glendale Cherry Creek Chronicle
Raises Funds And Awareness
A few months ago on December 7, 2016, more than 100 people attended the showing of the movie Chinatown, at the Sie Film Center, in support of the lawsuit to stop the destruction of historic City Park
Golf Course and the Globeville Landing Park. Both parks are part of the Platte to Park Hill Storm Drainage project (P2P) being done to enable expansion, undergrounding and partial cover of I-70 and the
massive public/private development of the Platte Valley north of the River North Art District (RiNO).
The movie, set in 1930s Los Angeles, is really about the sinister development of the then agricultural San Fernando Valley. Jake Giddis (Jack Nicholson) stumbles upon a secret plan to divert water to dry
up farm land to buy it cheap and use it for massive commercial and residential development.
The panel discussion that followed featured River North (Taxi) community based developer, Mickey Zeppelin; attorney Aaron Goldhamer; and citizen activist, Christine O’Connor. Zeppelin is gratified by
the grassroots momentum building to stop the current plan for I-70 and the further degradation of the Globeville, Swansea and Elyria communities. He pointed out that Giddis, a private detective, tries to
fight the evil of municipal corruption by himself without the benefit of community, which results in tragic consequences. Goldhamer outlined the lawsuit against the City of Denver challenging the use of
City Park for the non-park use for storm water retention for I-70 and the Platte Valley and asked for community support for the effort. O’Connor outlined the history of the project and how it coincided
with the decision to underground I-70 and expand the Stock Show.
Globeville Swansea Elyria: Victim Of I-70, Stepchildren To The Stock Show and River North