10/1/25 Blog: Weather Wednesday And Denver Bought A Mall

FOX 31'S DAVE FRASER AT 12:30 For Weather Wednesday so get your questions ready.

ROCKIES GM BILL SCHMIDT IS OUT And good. I've got nothing personally against Mr. Schmidt (I've never met him) but he's done a lousy job. I've got voice of the Rockies Jack Corrigan at 1 to discuss. Read more about his exit here.

I SPOKE TO A GREAT GROUP TODAY It was a South Metro Republican meeting and it was GREAT. We talked about what needs to happen to get Republicans elected and there were even fireworks when I and others pointed out that a certain group was wreaking havoc within the party. It was wonderful. Then I met Liberal Chad the Truck Driver on the way out and we had a great conversation about his concerns and what he'd like to see or hear. What a great morning and then I come here to the office and the internet will not work so we'll see how the show prep goes. We need to do better than shenanigans like this from the latest vacancy committee. OOF.

DENVER IS IN THE MALL BUSINESS NOW I have to give it Mayor Mike Johnston, he never runs out of great ways to spend taxpayer dollars on stuff that the city has no business being in the business of (homeless hotels, I'm looking at you). Now we find out that the Denver Downtown Development Authority (DDA) has decided to purchase the Denver Pavilions, long the mall of downtown. Except like the rest of retail, the Pavilions is in bad shape. Tons of empty storefronts and whatnot, and now the DDA is going to somehow revive it. I looked around to see where this sort of development has been successful in the past and it can work, but generally speaking why can't we have private industry do this? Why not incentivize developers who do this for a living? In this story this quote leaped out at me about the two parcels the city is buying:

The authority is also working to purchase the parking lots connected to the mall for $23 million, the DDA announced last July.

“Many developers for decades have been trying to unify these two properties,” Johnston said, adding that it hindered any plans to add on to the mall.

So why aren't they making it easier for a developer to buy them? What is the holdup? I do agree with the Mayor on one thing, and that is letting the Pavilions fall into disrepair is a bad idea. My guess is the owners couldn't find a private buyer because they were asking for more than it's worth but the DDA paid it. Just a guess. My fear is that the Mayor is wrong about bringing the mall back to its former glory because of significant shifts in the retail market. But I hope he's right and I'm wrong. For real, I do.

THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN IS UNDERWAY And we'll see how long this stalemate lasts. It really depends on if the Democrats get enough crap from constituents to cave, because I don't see the GOP buckling on this one. The things the Democrats want "restored" are some of the things that most need to go. Read more here.

WHAT FEDERAL GOVERNMENT FUNCTIONS WILL GO ON? A whole bunch of them. Read it here.

DENVER PUBLIC SCHOOLS IS GOING TO WANT MORE MONEY Because they have pretty much allocated the billion or so dollars from the last bond from LAST year. Their buildings are old, they have deferred maintenance which means repairs will be even more expensive and this is all against the backdrop of declining student enrollment. They are also going to have to deal with their Lease Option Agreements where they SOLD some of these old buildings and are leasing them back. What a mess DPS is.

DECENTRALIZING THE AG DEPARTMENT IS GREAT FOR COLORADO I think moving government employees closer to the things they manage is a great idea. Also great is moving them out of DC. That is exactly what the Trump admin announced in July and 2,600 employees are supposed to moved to Fort Collins soon. This editorial explains more.

WHEN DID HOOLIGANS START WATCHING GOLF? I blame Happy Gilmore and the Waste Management Open. Now the nasty fan behavior that used to be completely verboten at golf events has been featured on the world stage at the Ryder Cup. This is a great column about it. The column does have one flaw, and that is to compare the bad behavior of the drunken crowd at Beth Page to President Trump's scorching speech at the UN. One was well deserved and long overdue.

PAY ATTENTION TO SCHOOL BOARD RACES This article shines a light on the talking points used by union candidates this year. I heard them from a couple of the union backed candidates in DougCo and now we're seeing them in JeffCo. Do NOT be distracted by talk of mental health. Mental health is a buzzword designed to bring emotion into a discussion that should be logic based. Are kids reading on grade level? Why or why not? Is there enough security at our schools? Why or why not? How are you going to help children succeed academically? These the things we need to pay attention to. Look at how much of this article is "mental health". Teachers are NOT mental health professionals, schools are not therapists, and we need to stop putting this on them and put it back on families.

WHAT IS THE REAL PURPOSE OF DOXXING ICE AGENTS? I'm asking this because I know the answer. An Aurora woman is facing one count of conspiracy and one count of publicly disclosing personal information of a federal agent after following the agent home and live streaming his address on the internet. What was her motive here? What was she trying to accomplish? This, like it or not, is a form of terrorism. We shall discuss today.

WHERE DOES YOUR PAYCHECK GO THE FURTHEST? In a list of the top 100 markets where your paycheck goes the furthest, Denver comes in at #29. How? Because incomes are higher. The cost of living is a good bit higher in Denver, so our cost of living seems more manageable.

IS HUNTER S THOMPSONS' DEATH WHAT IT SEEMS? The family of Hunter S. Thompson has asked for a new review of the case that was declared a suicide in 2005. There is no new evidence to suggest his shooting death was anything other than self inflicted but the Colorado Bureau of Investigation is obliging the family's request. We'll see if they uncover anything new.

THIS LITERALLY MADE MY STOMACH HURT Watch below or click here.

THIS IS AN ILLUMINATING LOOK AT THE MIND OF A VOTER Watch below or click here.

I AGREE WITH JAKE TAPPER ON THIS this is what I do not like about President Trump. What he says MATTERS and he should stop acting like a thirsty influencer trying to get clicks. Watch below or click here.

MR BEAST GOES BEAST MODE With this stunt that was actually a STUNT stunt with professionals.

DON'T THREATEN ME WITH A GOOD TIME JOY REID

SHOULDN'T WE BE TRYING TO HELP THIS POPULATION THE MOST? People with various disabilities were at the RTD meeting last night to argue against raising the cost of Access on Demand services. This program provides door to door service for people with disabilities and it seems to me that this is the group we need to have mass transit for. Blind people can never drive. Prices will go up and new limits on reimbursement will be put in place. Why not raise the fares on Light Rail? Just a thought.

IT'S TIME TO EMBRACE THE ZIPPER MERGE and now CDOT will have signs that clearly explain to Coloradans how to use this extremely efficient means of putting two lanes of traffic into one.

ARMY, NAVY, AND AIR FORCE ALL HIT THEIR RECRUITING GOALS and they are only halfway through the year. The Marines say they've met their goals by keeping standards high and I have to agree with the notion that the Marines attract a very specific kind of recruit anyway. Read the rest here and draw your own conclusions but one must recognize that a change in leadership will have an impact, though the total value of that impact is in question.

ARAB NATIONS PRESSURE HAMAS To accept the peace deal that has been floated by President Trump. Qatar, Turkey, and Egypt are pressuring the terror group to accept a deal that would release all of the hostages and put the US in charge of Gaza for a bit. Hamas has already indicated they would reject the deal. Fine by me. Let's see how your Arab neighbors respond now. It would be cool if Qatar kicked them out of their cushy digs in Doha.

ALIENS MAY BE COMING TO KILL US But I'm sure it will be fine.

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BEWARE VENEERS FOR YOUR TEETH There are absolutely people for whom a mouthful of veneers on their teeth make sense. But Hollywood made them popular without telling people they permanently mess up your actual teeth. Read more here.

HAPPY TRAILS, PAT WOODARD! One of the finest news people I have ever worked with is retiring. You may see him on the trail of a 14er soon, now that he has all this free time.

A POSSIBLE SOLUTION TO THE NFL TIE PROBLEM I sort of like some of these. Watch below or click here.

NUGGET FOREVER His agent is probably screaming but the Joker is gonna Joker however he wants. Watch below or click here.