|
I was born in 1957 in Bedford, Ohio where my dad,
a career Army officer, was stationed. The family moved often—as
a child I also lived in Kansas, Michigan, Virginia, Maryland,
Texas, and Germany. I
graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor
of Fine Arts degree. In 1980, I married my husband, Don, and we
moved
from Austin to Denver in 1985. Don and I have two children—Chloe,
17, a senior at Denver School of the Arts and Camden, 10, a fourth
grader at McKinley-Thatcher Elementary School. Don, a pharmacy technician,
works at Denver Health Medical Center. We have lived in
the
Athmar Park neighborhood of Denver since 1988.
I am a founding board member of the Athmar Park
Neighborhood Association (APNA) on whose board I currently serve
as Membership
Secretary. Over the years, I also have served as Newsletter
Editor, Vice President, and as an At-Large board member. Since
APNA was
formed in 1991, I have been a committed community volunteer
initiating and organizing many projects to deal positively with
quality-of-life issues such as crime, property maintenance and code compliance,
graffiti, zoning and prostitution.
To balance working on these difficult
issues, I "keep my bowl full" by building community through
numerous life-affirming projects like:
- Organizing the annual neighborhood
association picnic
- Conducting site inspections for Denver Digs Trees
- Heading two Neighborhood Culture of Denver grant art projects
- Leading a Camp Fire Boys & Girls Club
- Organizing the Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) projects
at my kids' schools
- Teaching art to at-risk and under-served children through
ArtReach
- Teaching art at a local Montessori school
A graphic designer and fine artist by education and training,
I continue to make my own artwork
When I am not busy being a wife, a mom,
volunteering in the community, or teaching art, I spend my time
reading, gardening, rock hounding, and hiking.
TRACK
RECORD ON QUALITY OF LIFE ISSUES
-
Neighborhood
Watch block captain since 1992
-
Attend
District 4 Police Commander's meetings
-
Organize
volunteers for police graffiti stings
-
Wrote
an article for the Athmar Park Neighborhood Association newsletter
calling for Broken Windows policing
in May of 2005
-
Worked
with Denver Police Department to close three prostitution "spas" in
my neighborhood
Graffiti
- Founded APNA's
Graffiti-Busters committee in 1992 removing graffiti for neighbors
and businesses for years
- Recruit volunteers
for and participate in graffiti stings with the police
- Serving on the abatement
subcommittee of the Graffiti Task Force
Property maintenance and code compliance
- Long-time
advocate of Neighborhood Inspection Services (NIS) going proactive
with code enforcement
- As a member of
the NIS Partners Task Force:
- Helped
identify and correct problems relating to unresolved
and lost
complaints
- Suggested
new staffing for complaint-intake personnel and
inspectors
- As APNA
newsletter editor, secured funding and annually published
APNA's Good
Neighbor Guide (en
español) which educates
neighbors about common code violations and directs them
to the right
department for
remedy or assistance
Zoning
|
|
