Residents of Rosedale and Harvard Gulch want a louder voice for their neighborhoods and are organizing in hope of getting it.
An exploratory panel has been meeting for several months with the intention of applying in January for formal status as a Registered Neighborhood Association (RNO) with the city of Denver. The RNO, which doesn’t yet have a name, hopes to begin meeting regularly starting with a community meeting in January. No date is yet set.
“The concerns of Rosedale and Harvard Gulch were growing and we thought we could meet those issues,” says Ellen Winiarczyk, one of the organizers.
“We’ve moved beyond the ‘should we do this’ phase,” says Brian Elizardi, another organizer.
The new RNO hopes to represent about 500 households south of Evans Avenue to Yale and west of Downing Street to Broadway. There isn’t yet a specific issue agenda, Elizardi says, only the sense that schools, parks and recreation need more structured attention than they’re getting.
“We want a political organization for neighbors and some sort of voice,” he says.
The neighborhood is presently represented by the West University Community Association (WUCA). WUCA board members wish the new venture well.
“I hope it helps the neighborhood come together a little better,” WUCA co-chair Rick Schutz says.
For more information, contact Winiarczyk at ewiniarczyk@gmail.com or Elizardi at brian.elizardi@du.edu.