March Month-in-Review

Blurbs:

A Boulder food truck park could become reality after two years’ planning. Boulder Food Park organizers have had to overcome political hurdles like convincing city council to exempt them from an ordinance prohibiting food trucks from operating within 150 feet of brick-and-mortar restaurants. On March 10, Boulder Food Park organizers finally resubmitted their proposal for a 15,000-square-foot indoor and outdoor staging area, bar and venue. Currently, 20 food trucks have signed on as vendors, with food entrepreneurs like Rollin’ Bones BBQ owner Eric Holinger expressing optimism for the project. “It’s going to be a big draw for people,” Holinger said. “Hopefully it will create a more accepting attitude toward food truck culture in Boulder and make it easier for them to find space in town.” More college students are considering tuition insurance as an extra fallback for recovering tuition costs in the event of a withdrawal. Companies like Allianz Global Assistance, who got into the tuition insurance business in summer 2015, offer plans ranging from $150 to $600. Coverage can include full refunds for circumstances like illness, injury, psychological disorder and student death. CU-Boulder Bursar Jean Thomson, however, points out the university already has means of seeking tuition refunds. “I don’t know that our students feel a need for insurance,” Thomson said, identifying financial crises, unanticipated medical issues and family emergencies as extenuating circumstances included in CU’s dispute process. “We work with [students] as needed on their individual circumstances and try to do what’s right for them.” Luciana and Adriana, characters of Shakespeare’s “The Comedy of Errors”, will become Luciano and Adriana as the Colorado Shakespeare Festival includes gender-bending in their 2016 selections. Veteran actor, director, and fight coordinator Geoffrey Kent, who has been tasked with directing the 2016 production of the play, has some reservations about agendas. “I’m not a big fan of agenda-driven Shakespeare. I think the agenda can take over the story,” said Kent. However, Kent believes the gender-swapping, an admitted attempt at including more Shakespearean actresses, will mesh well with the classic playwright’s comedic stylings. “There is comedy to be had just by swapping the relationships. Our goal had to be to add value, and I think we’ve got a concept that does that,” Kent said. Boulder County has reached a five-year peak in HIV infections, according to a report showing a 219-percent rise in 2015. Though lower than state rates, the statistic still dismays local health experts like Dr. Heather Pujet to see an upward trend when most of Colorado and the United States are seeing declining HIV rates. “This is a very disturbing slide backwards,” said Pujet, of Boulder’s Beacon Center for Infectious Disease. County public health spokeswoman Chana Goussetis attributes the trend to a lack of outreach to non-white and to mountain communities. “Our services are absolutely available to everybody in Boulder County,” Goussetis said, “but we aren’t able to get into these communities because of funding.”

Facts and figures:

$4,862 invested by local realtor Julie Carpenter into 30 mobile homes with unpaid liens.

25,000 Boulder County Democrats turned out to caucus, 10,000 more than anticipated.

$20,000 crowdfunding goal for Steps for Success, a CU-Boulder violence prevention program.

12 juror votes for death penalty sentencing, should bill SB 64 pass, removing the unanimous requirement.

Quotes:

“Doing nothing at no cost to me is so much worse than doing something that costs me everything.” – Edward Snowden reflecting on leaking NSA documents

“When families can’t afford a healthy number of diapers for their babies, they’re faced with a choice between buying diapers and paying for food, rent, or utilities like heat. That’s a choice that no family should have to make.” – White House blog post on the “diaper gap”

“There’s no candidate who has talked more about poverty in this country than I have. White poverty, black poverty and Latino poverty. Now it would be nice if every once in a while the media paid attention to those issues, which we don’t.” – Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders

“There’s no way that from Boulder we can have the depth of understanding of environmental and human rights in the [Central African] region.” – Terry Odendahl of Boulder-based Global Greengrants Fund