Notified — Pueblo’s Convention Center Economic Impact, Latest in D60 Crisis & Darryl Glenn’s criminal record

July 29, 2016

This week there’s still little known about Pueblo D60 Superintendent Constance Jones’ resignation. Board members are keeping quiet saying they don’t want to violate any privacy rights. We have the full update for you this week in Notified.

But what really caught our attention was a presentation to the Pueblo Urban Renewal Authority on what kind of impact the Pueblo Convention Center has on the community. The luncheon didn’t attract a huge crowd — just two reporters. And there were no Pueblo City Council members present. But the results are important to piecing together the future of tourism and economic development, particularly downtown.

Pueblo RTA

The Pueblo Convention Center Finally Knows its Economic Impact

While reporting on Pueblo’s Regional Tourism Act project — PBR University, a convention center expansion and water park — PULP wondered what the actual economic impact of the convention center is in its current state.

For years Pueblo Urban Renewal Authority officials said for every $1 put into the convention center, the community got $7 back. When pressed, PURA told PULP it had no evidence to back that up.

This week a Chicago-based consulting firm presented the economic impact findings of the convention center at a PURA luncheon.

Following is the main findings from the report:

C.H. Johnson, the consulting firm, said Pueblo’s convention center is operating at where it should be for its geographic location and market.

PULP is digging through the numbers and asking questions about how the report’s findings apply to the expansion and economic development of Pueblo.

Find more coverage of the Pueblo RTA project here:

Pueblo City Schools Crisis

D60 Board of Education, “No comment.”

The board of education at Pueblo City Schools has nothing to say on the resignation of superintendent Constance Jones. They’re citing privacy rights as grounds for their collective no comment.

Find the update here:

The final countdown

The CSU-Pueblo Foundation has a month to raise $6 million

Todd Kelly, president and CEO of the CSU-Pueblo Foundation, says he is confident the $25 million goal for the ‘On the Move’ campaign will be met by the Aug. 31 deadline.

The $25 million will be going to scholarships, helping renovate the student center and atheletics.

Theresa Wolf has the story here:

ICYMI

There were a lot of DNC emails leaked. Colorado’s rain barrels was among them.

Hillary Clinton officially became the first woman to be a presidential candidate this week, but not after some good old fashion American political controversy. WikiLeaks published 30,000 internal DNC emails that showed the committee was actively trying to demise the Bernie Sanders campaign. Then the FBI got involved, the Russians so far are assumed the hackers and Republican nominee Donald J. Trump has called on Russia to leak even more emails. You can’t make this stuff up.

Well, we searched the WikiLeaks database to see what kind of Colorado mentions there were. After all, Colorado was totally team Sanders at the March primary. And Colorado is still kind of an important state this in presidential elections. Though, there has been some argument otherwise this month.

We found just one political nugget with ties to Colorado in the 30,000 emails. Rain barrels. And it was just an update email from a state representative.

Find the story here:

Speaking of elections

Senate Candidate Darryl Glenn does have a misdemeanor, and a story behind it

Colorado Republican Senate candidate Darryl Glenn said he had a clean record. But earlier this week the Denver Post published a story claiming that was actually false. The DP dug up a 1983 police report that shows Glenn faced two misdemeanors just a month after his 18th birthday for hitting his father in the face.

Glenn promptly told the paper he did not know the person at the center of the report. Probably a different Darryl Glenn.

But Wednesday the senate candidate published a note on his campaign’s Facebook page telling the whole story because, yes, that report was actually him.

“I understand why some people might say, ‘How can he not remember?’ I want to do my best to explain: My parents’ marriage was very violent,” Glenn wrote. “This was not the first time my father attacked my mother, and sadly, it was far from the worst time.”

He went on:

“My father hit my mother, and I got between them to try and protect her. The police were called. He claimed to the police that I hit him. I do not believe I ever hit him. My mother swears I did not hit him either, but it wouldn’t have been beyond him at the time to claim I did. I do not remember ever talking to a police officer. I do not remember signing anything for the police.”

You can see Glenn’s entire note here: