Hi everyone.

I'm Kyle Dyer and welcome to Colorado inside out on this Friday, January the 3rd.

Quite often this holiday week is a quiet one when it comes to news.

But we have had the deadly truck attack in New Orleans this week.

The Colorado Springs Army sergeant found dead inside the Cybertruck that exploded in Las Vegas, and the death of the 39th president of the United States.

Our flags will be at half staff for most of the month because of the passing of Jimmy Carter.

While all of us are returning to work, our state leaders are going back to work next week, and the new administration will be going in a few weeks from now.

With all that being said, let me introduce you to this week's insider panel.

We have Patti Calhoun, founder and editor of Westword.

Tyrone Glover, civil rights and criminal defense attorney here in Denver, Chris Rourke, consultant with Rourke Media.

And Laura Aldrete a city building consultant and former planning director for the City and County of Denver.

The 75th Colorado General Assembly will convene this coming Wednesday.

New members meet up on Monday, but a number of committees have already been meeting during the off season, but also right before the start of the session gets going.

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser has announced that he wants to run for governor in 2026 to succeed Jared Polis.

Patty, this is the first candidate probably amongst many, and we're just starting 2025.

The first candidate to officially announce you can tell that others have been posturing for some time.

General Griswold, for example, and and US poll last month surprisingly showed that she was more favorably regarded than some of the other big names.

Big names like Joe Neguse, who actually pulled higher as a potential to win Ken Salazar back.

You know, he left his Senate seat in 2010 to go into the cabinet, but he is still rumored to be making a run.

But Phil Weiser did not let any grass grow under his feet at the start of 2025 because he came out on Thursday, January 2nd, and said, I'm definitely running and we will see.

I'm guessing at least half a dozen other candidates jump in, some who might be in the legislature.

That starts just next week.

They're already meeting.

One of the big issues was the secrecy issue, which they got hit on legislators last year for exempting themselves from some open meetings.

So let's hope, at the very least, this next session is conducted in daylight, with the public able to see what's going on.

And there'll be a lot of talk about the budget too.

So that is important stuff that we all need to know about.

Oh it's grim.

Yeah.

Tyrone.

I'm, you know, AG wiser announcing recently I think is really going to get this kicked off and it's going to be, I think, a very dynamic and, crowded primary and election.

And there's lots of, I think, precedent.

if you look back, as, you know, for an AG or a lawyer ascending to this position, you know, Governor Ritter and Roemer were both legally trained and currently, you know, on both sides of the political spectrum, you know, we have Greg Abbott in Texas, who's the former AG, you know, in California.

previously prior to Newsom, we had Jerry Brown.

And so I think, you know, it makes a lot of sense for him to enter and maybe his, his entrance kicks off a whole bunch of momentum and ultimately gets people into this race and gets people excited.

as a lawyer, oftentimes I feel like, you know, the AG and some of in the D.A.

and those sorts of races get overshadowed.

So maybe even that gives a little bit of attention to, sort of where some of these folks have come from and some of these down ballot issues as well.

And you said you worked with him at the law school that you went to.

So when I was at C.U.

law school, go buffs.

Phil Weiser was the dean there as well.

I have known him for a long time.

I know a number of the, I think candidates who are probably going to announce.

So I think this is going to be a really exciting race for all Coloradans.

Okay.

All right.

Chris.

Well, with Phil Weiser running, no surprise there.

I mean, it's been long talked about that he would eventually run.

What would be interesting on the Republican side, does, Senator Barb Kirk Meyer get involved in the race or, representative Congressman Greg Lopez, who will be coming off his six month stint in Congress, will he parlay that into a run?

But as to Patty talking about the open meetings issue with the Colorado lawmakers, there was a hearing this week that is required by the law.

It was SB 24 157 that was passed last year that there would be public feedback on the law.

a lot of testimony.

Kevin Dale from CPR made the point of the important thing about being a part of open meetings laws.

Complying with them is not necessarily knowing how people voted on things.

Things, but what is the how behind the decision.

his comments were stellar.

Public policy needs to be conducted in public, period.

Okay, Laura.

Well, I'm going to have a different opinion about about the, the open meetings law and should it should there be the public, engaged in the process of government?

Yes.

And lawmaking.

I think the intent of the law that passed last year was really to clean up a 50 year old law, Should the caucuses have been open up 100%?

And so and I think there was egg on the Democrats face for sure.

And they are trying to make up for that.

however, having been in a position as an appointee in public government and local government, It is very difficult to brainstorm, to have bad ideas and to create out of those bad ideas, good ideas and then strategize around that.

When somebody is always like peeking into your business and then putting it in the papers, right.

Like you become very cautious.

And so I would just say, I think there's a balance here.

And I think this law is trying to, get at that.

And I'm seeing all the steering from all of my panel guests here who are disagreeing with me.

But it's it is a very difficult to, to govern with, with everything peeled back.

Okay.

All right.

This coming week will be one of honoring the legacy of former President Jimmy Carter, who died last weekend.

His life will be honored tomorrow in Georgia ahead of next week's state funeral in Washington.

Carter made an impact on various communities in Colorado, yet there was still some controversy that erupted this week when a Western Slope state representative took to social media to be negative about the former president, for which he later apologized, apologized.

But Tyrone, no matter what side of the fence you're on, there is no doubt that this man worked very hard to make this world a better place.

Yes, indeed.

Kyle, in reflecting on President Carter's legacy, especially during this most contentious time, I'm just reminded that it is powerful to lead from a place of compassion, from empathy, from centering humanity.

I heard a kind of metaphor today that we are in this, like, cage match sort of political time.

Right?

And as a former, cage fighter, I kind of take offense to that because in training for that type of thing, there is an immense amount of respect, compassion and empathy you have for your training partners, your, fellow athletes.

And, so I think looking deeper and kind of juxtaposing those two things, and with what the, representative from the Western Slope said, I think going into what is likely to be a very turbulent time, we have to remember, you know, President Carter and his compassion, his entity.

and we have to center that and realize that we can come from a place of strength and we can overcome anything if we come together and we really center humanity.

Okay.

I was really disappointed by the tweet or whatever we call it now on X, I thought, really, really poor judgment, you know, that said, a lot of my views politically were shaped by the Carter administration.

I am the child of Reagan Democrats, so I'll leave that there.

I don't necessarily have to agree with somebody, however, to acknowledge what great things President Carter did post-presidency.

He was involved.

He was very involved in Colorado.

A man who lived by his faith.

He gave he got involved in and causes.

He believed in the adaptive sports center in Crested Butte, which services those with disabilities, to allow them to ski and do the things that we love to do here in Colorado largely is successful because he gave seed money in the late 80s to that that program, and it's alive and well today.

what it's taught me is that there are good people on every side of an issue.

And if we can acknowledge that, think of how many great things we could get done instead of the infighting and what we see in the polarization of politics right now.

what strikes me about, President Carter is he was clear, rational, practical, not interested in drama or chaos, which is how I would define how we engage as citizens, how our politics are engaging today.

So it's a moment for us to reflect on his, on his ability to to be that humanitarian to come at, the issues of our country in a way that is for the betterment of all of us and not for the drama that we unfortunately tend to draw, are drawn towards this day.

I do think in terms of habitat for humanity.

I mean, he called that out.

He called out the issue of affordable housing well before the rest of the country realized that we have a tremendous housing crisis in our country now.

And he was well ahead of us, trying to solve that problem.

That there was another issue that Jimmy Carter was really ahead on, and it was during his presidency.

So he looked at the energy crisis, the coming energy crisis and decided we needed to pursue alternative energies.

So he put solar panels on the white House, which Reagan immediately took down when he moved in.

But he believed in looking into renewables.

And he came to Colorado in 1978.

Westwood was eight months old at the time, and he went to Rick's Cafe, a swing and singles joint.

He was accompanied by then Senator Gary Hart, and he wanted to go see at this swinging singles joint.

They had a solar operated dishwasher, dishwasher.

So Jimmy Carter came checked out how that was going.

He also is responsible for NREL being here.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory, which got its start as Siri, the solar energy research lab.

So the Colorado has a lot to thank him for.

Indeed.

for a comprehensive look back at the life and work of Jimmy Carter, there's a compelling video biography that's currently streaming on PBS.

12.org.

As part of the award winning The Presidents series I recommend you check it out.

A new law passed by the legislature is getting some extra attention this first week of January, as the second phase of this law is taking effect.

Back in 2020, Colorado's cage free egg law passed mandates mandating that all eggs sold in Colorado be from a cage free facility.

But that is not the reason there are fewer eggs in grocery stores, or why prices have been higher over the holiday season.

A lot of people have been very vocal on social media about this.

Chris, you are tapped into the ag industry.

You know, a lot of people in that world.

So let's just start with you on this topic.

So I'm going to disagree with you.

Just you.

Are.

Okay a little bit okay.

Okay.

I think it's more nuanced.

And here's why.

This new law does add cost to producers, right?

Because they have to pay more labor to keep the animals clean because they're not in a confined space.

Now, I'm all for the the ethical treatment of Animals, but to say that it's not going to really contribute to what we're experiencing now, I think is a little shortsighted.

However, they are talking about the avian flu, typically blamed was blamed last year for the egg shortage as well.

it takes 4 to 6 months for a chick to reach maturity and start producing eggs.

So let's get breeding some chickens, I guess is the solution.

Let's find a cure for the avian flu.

But also let's acknowledge that there is more cost due to now having this law in place, right?

So there is an added cost.

Was kind of like a double whammy because it's a double right?

Perfect storm.

the, the there are less eggs because they're good.

So we need more chickens.

We need more chickens.

We do healthy chickens.

This is a supply and demand response, right, that we're experiencing.

That has a couple different factors coming into it.

and if we go back to drama and crisis reactions, people are going to want to find one answer for why everything's wrong or, and that's unfortunately what's been happening on, on X, hopefully they are doing additional research.

but we live in a capitalist society.

And when there is a shortage on, a shortage of supply, whether it's avian flu, whether it's also an increase in price because labor costs have gone up, they estimate 17 to 19%, in labor costs, there's going to be an increase in cost.

Is it does it deliver for all people better eggs that are a great protein and a great source of protein?

Yes.

you know, it's easy for me to say I can afford 17 to 19%, but not everybody can.

And for many, many, you know, poor working families that might that might pinch them pretty hard.

Patty happier eggs.

But the chickens, you know that will never be borne out of those eggs.

Although as of January 1st those chicks can't smoke flavored tobacco either in Denver.

So I'm glad our legislators are spending so much time on some of these things.

The avian flu is something we're really going to be watching in the new year.

There is no question that is the lion's share of the cost increases, but when it's cured, we're not going to see the price of eggs go down much.

But we have to keep an eye talking about lion share in the wild animal sanctuaries in California.

We've heard about it in Colorado that the avian flu is now showing up with some of those animals.

So this is really going to be a scourge outside of the dairy shelf at your supermarket.

Okay.

All right.

Tyrone.

Yeah.

And then on top of the avian flu, which I think decreases the supply, you have that really high seasonal demand, you know, around the holidays, everyone's baking and making delicious Christmas desserts.

Everyone's, you know, got eggnog production.

And so, you know, at a time when probably have record use of eggs, you have this huge shortage because of the avian flu.

But unfortunately certain, you know, actors are trying to take advantage of this and stir up a bunch of drama.

I think the reality is, you know, this is going to become the new normal.

We're not talking about, you know, chickens roaming around acres of sort of free range lands.

They're just not allowed to be in those cages stuffed next to each other, like they unfortunately have.

And in sort of decades past.

And I think we might see what we saw in California when they did this in 22, where, yeah, you saw the price going from $2.23, a dozen going up to $2.87 a dozen in January when the law went into effect.

But by February, it it sort of recalibrated.

People had gotten used to the new conditions, and it was back down to $2.24, a dozen.

So hopefully we see everything sort of stabilize the market, get used to this.

It's really, as everyone has said, I agree, the avian flu is what we're going to need to deal with in the future.

Well, and hopefully if there are more chickens producing eggs we should see a difference by the summer.

You know 4 to 6 months maybe there will be a difference.

I read that Colorado is near the bottom when it comes to egg production.

And so we also the cost is bringing the eggs in from elsewhere.

I can't read drives the cost.

All right we will see.

But you're right.

We'll continue talking about the avian flu.

Now let's talk about the development that is needed in 2025 to address addressed our area growth.

Affordable housing will continue to be a big issue for many years to come.

And one problem that we hear over and over is how long it takes to get permits.

Well, Denver's Office of Community Planning and Development is planning to spend over $1 million into artificial intelligence tools, which Laura are said to reduce review times by 50%.

So, well, let's break that down a little bit.

So $1.3 million and over $1 billion budget for the city is a drop in the bucket.

yes.

It's a good first step, and it will eat at the edge of that.

That extended the permitting time.

Will it reduce it by 50%?

I would say no.

and the factors that really influence, you know, the the review time is first and foremost, what we experience right now is the interest rate.

If you think about how few cranes are out there in our city right now, it is a direct response to the fact that the interest rates are still too high, and it is hard for developers to to borrow that high dollar amount.

So that means the submittal.

There are fewer applications.

That means the wait time review times decrease.

And so then that the administration reports on increased review, you know, decrease in review time.

So good news.

It's not really a factor.

I mean, not to, you know, throw shade here, but it's not really a factor of people doing faster reviews or I it's a it's a it's the stock market is construction costs.

It's interest rates.

It's geopolitics influencing cost of gas, cost of anything.

That all goes into building a building.

So we just need to take a minute here to recognize that there are multiple parties and multiple factors in this development review.

And I would also of just pitch for continued reform of zoning code and into all the rules and regulations of which there are more than 40 agencies that have input into development review, and that needs their needs.

There's a great opportunity for reform there.

a lot of it is all the factors, Laura said.

But simply nonsense.

I talked to one restaurateur.

It's taken him eight months to get a permit for an awning.

I would say cutting that in half isn't reasonable.

It should take a week.

And I'm hopeful that the city has just announced that Bill Mosher is has been contracted to be the city projects manager to oversee a lot of what's going on, including the downtown Denver program that we just passed in November to have a five over 500 million in a pool for projects downtown.

What I like about Bill Mosher is he the he this is the end of his career.

He's not fighting to get a new job.

He doesn't need the retirement benefits.

He really wants to make Denver work better.

I think he knows enough of the players and the processes to do it, but we're going to want to keep an eye on him and everything else to make sure that money goes to the right places to bring back downtown.

Tyrone.

And Kyle I think this this issue is multifaceted as everyone has said.

But I do think I drop in the bucket investment.

I you know can really yield I think some, some exponential return on that investment.

Is there going to be 50%.

Maybe they're drawing from some of the other, statistics they've seen in other industries.

you know, probably not.

But I think that, you know, the nature of I, as a small investment can lead to some great, administrative efficiencies, a reduction in friction.

And it should not take that long for folks to get permits.

So I do applaud them, you know, for it, which is a very small investment that could yield, something really, I think monumental potentially.

and at the end of the day, what really needs to happen is we need to see, more engagement with, you know, some of these community partners, to make sure that some of these projects that are moving forward, we do have community buy in.

And hopefully by taking away some of these, I think, junior reviewer tasks, we can focus more on that.

Okay.

All right.

I've spoken to large developers who don't want to do business in Denver anymore because it takes so long to get a permit through.

I'm all for bringing efficiency to the process, if I can help that.

Excellent.

I think it should be have the human oversight, which they say it will.

regulation.

Laura brought that up.

Regulation is a way of bringing more efficiency.

Why do we have so many laws regarding what we are building if if they can be reviewed and simplified, maybe that makes the process simpler.

So.

Okay.

And, apparently this these review tools will not go into place till this summer.

So we still have some a few months that I.

Think I've said before on this show that the there is a pace of government that happens and it is not quick and but it is thorough and it is checking with community.

It's having open meetings with all the constituents to make sure they got it as close as they could, as they go into into new new formulations of of review.

So, okay, all right.

Let's talk about some of the highs and lows from this week.

There are quite a few lows.

We will start with the lows.

So we end on a high note.

And I will start with you Patty.

Journalists around the world have faced a lot of challenges and threats, but to find a journalist being threatened in Mesa County by a disgruntled taxi driver who thought he he who said this is now Trump's America, and didn't take kindly to the fact that this journalist, a TV reporter, happened to maybe have some Pacific Island background.

It's appalling and good for Mesa County to have charged him.

Okay, the report as far as the impact from Yvonne, Missy Woods, who was the DNA, analysis person over CBI just came out and I think it was encouraging how quickly they were able to get it done.

But the impact is a thousand plus cases that are impacted cases.

I guess the silver lining is we have $7.4 million, 3 million for retesting and 4.4 for DA's offices to, to review these cases.

I think that the Innocence Project of in Boulder may be getting an involved in advocating for some of this.

we'll see if that's enough money and how far and why the damage potentially goes.

But yeah, not good.

Colorado GOP keep an eye on this spring as they go into, reformulating the, Central Committee and picking a new chair.

Right now, they're proposing bylaws, which is I'll call it a sleight of hand.

What they are doing is they're changing language regarding who can be a part of this.

The Central Committee now eliminating certain people.

That would be a part of that committee.

And, language regarding opting out of the primary.

If the Republican Party chooses to opt out of the primary, there will be no Republican Party in Colorado.

Okay.

All right.

Laura.

Well, we've had a number of tragedies this week around men making disastrous decisions and injuring or killing, you know, dozens of people.

And, and it's and it happens on a regular basis.

I do want to highlight there is a new American Institute for Boys and Men, based in DC, that has really focused on the conversation that we need to have as Americans with men and boys and women about what is their role, how in this changing society, how do you men and boys, how are they successful and so it's a great time for us to begin focusing on all of us, not just women.

I mean, I'm happy that we've faced a lot of challenges, but men and boys are facing a lot of challenges.

I say this because I have two young men as children, and I see that see some of their challenges and finding their place in this, in this new America.

Okay.

All right.

Good.

Thank you for sharing.

Patty.

Something good.

Get up.

Get out downtown next Thursday.

It's the stock show parade.

If you even if you don't go to the stock show, you've got to go to the.

Parade right down the street.

Yeah.

That's good.

That's a good one.

bumping the minimum wage, at the first of the year in Denver is already all the way at $18.81.

I think that that's just great.

Especially given, all of the price increases we've seen.

I think, you know, higher minimum wage means more job growth, you know, more consumer spending, higher sales tax revenue.

And finally able to, I think, compete with some of this gig economy work.

Okay.

Arc Thrift Stores is having a fundraiser coming up in February to support, inclusion in international and also the arc of the U.S. organization.

they help individuals with development, disabilities put them to work, give them purpose in life.

I am on the host committee for the fundraiser.

Full disclosure if you want to know more information about supporting Arc, you can go to the Arc of Co, meaning colorado.org.

Okay.

Good.

All right Laura.

Well, a few months ago I my disgrace of the week was the buildings at Colfax and Franklin, which were there was a battle to whether to keep them or demolish them.

And having grown up here, I just was like, get rid of these things.

Good news.

They have been preserved.

And, I have a little humble pie to eat.

The, the architect's renderings from SA architecture are fantastic, and the community really came around and rallied and and it's going to be a great solution.

And so I'm happy to see those buildings, those mansions preserved.

Okay.

All right.

Good.

My high was receiving compliments about this show from my priest during Christmas week.

He applauded all of us who work on Colorado Inside out for addressing at sometimes difficult topics, listening to each other's perspectives.

And when we disagree, we do so with respect.

Pope Francis has called for this year to be a time of hope in the world, which is suffering from a lot violence, as we saw this week, to disconnectedness and disagreements, war, climate change, affordability.

We have a lot to discuss this year ahead, and leaders have a lot to attend to as well.

And we all have the opportunity and responsibility to listen to one another, understand each other, and work together as Coloradans do.

So let's get to work with some hope.

Thank you for your insight, panel, each of you, I appreciate it.

Thank you for watching here on PBS, 12 or on YouTube, or listening to our podcast on Spotify and Apple.

I'm Kyle Dyer.

I will see you next week here on PBS 12.

Tb12 believes in the power of original local programing.

Help us bring more shows like the one you just watched by donating at PBS's World Dawgs Program support today.