Baby Doe’s Matchless Mine is Gone – Denver Colorado

Baby Doe’s Matchless Mine Restaurant opened in 1978 at 2520 W. 23rd Avenue in Denver Colorado. The restaurant overlooked I-25 and downtown Denver from its location on a bluff on the west side of the highway. The restaurant operated until approximately 2004 and then was used sporadically as a reception and banquet facility after that.

Baby Doe’s and its sister operation, The Chili Pepper, were landmarks on the Denver skyline, until yesterday afternoon. Chili Pepper was demolished last week and Baby Doe’s was demolished yesterday to make way for a huge new apartment complex called Pinnacle Station to be constructed by AG Spanos, a California corporation. The dirty work of the demolition was done by E-21 Engineering. The neighborhood associations in the area gave up a good fight, but in the end the developers won.

Who would the City of Denver allow rezoning of this landmark property for very dense housing by an out-of state developer? This will have a huge impact upon this residential neighborhood. The restaurants were a proper use of this property and the sale of them to various restaurant holding companies, and eventually to the developer, should have been stopped a long time ago.

In the process, Denver has lost one of most noticeable landmarks, as well as a fabulous restaurant. The story of Baby Doe Tabor has a huge resonance to the state of Colorado, and this Californicated apartment complex is an insult to this. The huge pile of rubble on the Baby Doe’s lot is not a tribute to progress, but rather an indictment of the perils of overpopulation and overdevelopment.

I will be posting additional history and photos on my site.

The Sad Story of Victor Harris

I read with quite a bit of interest yesterday the Supreme Court’s ruling in Scott v. Harris, where SCOTUS ruled that police may use deadly force to stop a speeding motorist who ignores warnings and poses a danger to the public. This ruling stems from a lawsuit brought by Victor Harris, a 19-year-old Georgia man who was left as a quadriplegic after a police car rammed the back of his car and sent it off of the road in order to end a high speed chase. The teenager had sped away from police and led them on a high-speed chase down narrow two-lane roads.

With regard to the ruling, I agree with the Supreme Court’s decision. The video of this car chase is horrifying. I don’t consider driving recklessly on a crowded road to be any different than waving a gun around in a crowded room, and I support the effort of law enforcement to end the situation and save innocent bystanders from harm.

That having been said, I am baffled and mystified, and honestly saddened, at the actions of Victor Harris in this situation. How did he come to the decision to try to drive away from this situation, in the end becoming a quadriplegic? I have read that he was driving on a suspended license and feared that his car would be impounded, and that this was the reason for trying to evade the police. Wouldn’t it have been far preferable to stop, as is typical in a situation like this, instead of embarking upon a high speed chase, in which he ended up not only losing his car which he was trying to save, but essentially losing his life (as I feel being a quadriplegic would be). Honestly, why run? – once the police had ID’d his car, there wasn’t any hope of escaping the charges anyways. I’m a little bit morbidly fascinated and curious by what went through his mind when Harris decided to do this. To further compound this, Harris was driving without a seat belt on during the chase, almost certainly complicating, if not outright causing, his injuries.

I have looked for information about Victor Harris online extensively in the last day or so. He would be 25 today and I understand that he lived in assisted living in GA, and was not present for the trial. I’m just intensely curious about what he was/is like, trying to get some insight into how a person could possibly decide to do what he did that night, at such a high cost to himself.

How much is enough, LAUSD?

I have had frustration and anger with the LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District) for years over their attempts, and eventual success, in obtaining and destroying the Ambassador Hotel in order that schools can be built on the site.

The Los Angeles Times for Sunday April 1 2007, had an excellent, if alarming op-ed piece by Marcos Villatoro titled Don't destroy my neighborhood, LAUSD regarding LAUSD’s desire to forcibly condemn homes in his Van Nuys neighborhood, for yes, yet another school.

I don’t care about the “greater good” and am unmoved by cries of “but it’s for the children!”. People who move into any of the neighborhoods where LAUSD currently buses students to the Valley have made this situation for themselves and for their children through CHOOSING to live there, well knowing that there is no room in the schools for their kids. What I do care about are the rights of individual property owners and the value provided to a community by its historic landmarks, neither of which should be sacrificed in the name of imminent domain.

LAUSD can have their schools, by building upon whatever vacant land there is – or by purchasing the land of willing landowners at the market price stated. Not through forcible destruction of a city’s homes and history. After all, don’t they preach against bullies in school?

Health, Wealth, and Happiness?

3.27.07

I have always heard the medical bill horror stories, and honestly, thought they were caused by people’s own negligence by not having insurance.

After getting my mail today, I may have to change my tune about that. I had two foot surgeries, one in 10.06 and the other one last month. The surgeries were totally successful. I traveled to California to have them done by Dr. Richard Moy in his Foothill Surgical Institute, which adjoins his office. I have Aetna insurance through my employer, and on paper, it is a really good plan.

I received a preauthorization approval letter from Aetna before the 1st surgery and later phoned Aetna to confirm that the 2nd surgery would be covered before having it done as well. I was told that there were no problems.

Fast forward to today, when I received a bill from Foothill Surgical Institute for a bit over $40,000 in my mailbox when I got home from work. I was flabbergasted. After calling Aetna, they contend that the fees for the surgical center are not covered since it is an outpatient surgical center and not a hospital, and they are unable to negotiate with it since it is out of network.

So…. I have called the billing office and heard nothing, and Dr. Moy’s office manager and heard nothing (although it was almost 5 in CA so I suppose it is to be expected). As much as I hate to do it, I think I am going to have to hire a lawyer and pursue this legally. Aetna was very unyielding when I spoke with them on the phone, despite the fact that I have a letter from them saying that the surgery is authorized (and the outpatient surgical center is COPIED on this letter.) Plus, I cannot believe that the doctor’s office has never handled any claims for Aetna before. He does hundreds of surgeries a year and I can’t possibly be the first one ever to use Aetna. There has to be a way in which this can be handled. But I am willing to force it to have the preauthorization honored if I have to.

I was despondent about this when I first got the bill this afternoon, but now I am ANGRY. More to come…

17 Reasons Why!

3.26.07

Sadly, another season of The L Word has come to an end. The seasons of this show always seem so short.

Even though I'm a straight girl, there is so much to love about this show for me. More than anything, I love the strong female friendships, which is something sorely lacking in my own life. Also, being a frustrated Californian, it gives me wishful thinking for a leisurely life living in LA in my WeHo bungalow with a pool in the backyard.

In the season finale last night, I loved the sign 17 Reasons Why! I Googled it today and it was a real sign for a department store in San Francisco. The sign was torn down several years ago. It was just so cryptic and positive - "!" not "?".