Congrats to the winners of the first annual Denver Streets Partnership Awards! We are so grateful to these advocates for the amazing work they have done in support of people-friendly streets.
More photos from the Better Block Jefferson Park 10-Year Anniversary Party coming soon.
2022 Community Advocate: Allen Cowgill
A person who is seen as a leader in their community championing access to safe riding, walking, and/or transit. This person actively engages in advocacy by writing government leaders, attending community meetings, testifying, etc.
Allen is a dedicated champion for multimodal transportation not only in his neighborhood in Northwest Denver, but across the city. Over the years, Allen has generously given his time to organize memorials for neighbors who were killed in preventable traffic crashes; serve as a representative for City Council District 1 on the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Advisory Board; support a multimodal advisory group for City Council District 9; help lead the Denver Bicycle Lobby; develop relationships with multiple local journalists reporting on transportation issues; and contribute his own writing on transportation topics to Streetsblog Denver and the Denver North Star. Allen also lives his values, traveling all over Denver by bike, capturing videos on his rides, and sharing his observations on social media. Through his efforts, Allen has helped inspire other community members to join the movement for people-friendly streets.
2022 Policy Champion: Denver City Councilman Paul Kashmann
A person who is a government employee or an elected or appointed government official who has championed access to safe riding, walking, and/or transit.
Thanks to Councilman Kashmann, in December of 2021 Denver City Council passed an ordinance that reduced the default speed limit on Denver’s streets from 25 to 20 miles per hour. On neighborhood streets, where the default speed limit primarily applies, people should feel safe walking their dog, playing with kids in their front yard, gardening in the planting strip, walking to get groceries, biking with their kids to school, or just gathering with their neighbors. Kashmann responded to calls from constituents to slow speeds on neighborhood streets by first getting funding in the City’s annual budget for a study on speed limits, and then following up on the results of that study by introducing the “20 is Plenty” ordinance and building support among his colleagues to ensure the ordinance was successful. While lower speed limits alone won’t get us to zero traffic fatalities, the Council’s action led by Kashmann is a strong statement of our City’s values, that we value the safety and livability of our neighborhoods over the speed and convenience of driving.
2022 Media Award: Steve Staeger, 9News
A journalist whose excellent reporting on transportation issues has shed light on the challenges and opportunities facing our city related to providing a full range of safe, multimodal transportation options.
Steve’s reporting for 9News has gone well beyond the “windshield” bias that has traditionally informed transportation news coverage. Steve walks and bikes and takes transit all around Denver—sometimes on his way to breaking news—and it shows in his thoughtful coverage of the issues that affect all users of Denver’s transportation system, not just people in cars. Steve has done an especially good job reporting on traffic crashes and traffic safety issues. He asks insightful questions that avoid victim blaming and dig into the larger systemic issues that contribute to crashes happening over and over again in the same locations, and what we can do to prevent these tragedies from happening. Steve is leading the way in Denver and nationally, demonstrating the value of quality local journalism on this important topic.
2022 Lifetime Achievement: Gosia Kung
A person who has consistently over the years supported our team and this cause in a variety of different ways (this award may not be given every year).
Just over a decade ago, Gosia participated in a leadership program that asked the question: what would make Denver the most healthy city in the nation? To Gosia, the answer was obvious—making Denver the most walkable city in the nation. As Gosia pointed out, people are pedestrians by design—we evolved to walk, and we are happiest and healthiest when we can walk in our daily lives. Therefore, a healthy city is a city designed for walking. From this basic insight WalkDenver was born. Gosia put forth a compelling vision that brought together numerous volunteers and partner organizations to put on the first ever tactical urbanism project in Colorado: the Better Block Jefferson Park event that demonstrated what a walkable main street could look like. Now 10 years later that temporary demonstration has turned into lasting changes, including a complete redesign of 25th Ave in Jefferson Park. During the last 10 years, WalkDenver grew from a group of civic-minded volunteers into a fully-funded and staffed organization leading change, not just block-by-block, but citywide. Gosia’s fundamental insight—that streets should be designed for people, not cars—lives on in the Denver Streets Partnership’s mission to reclaim streets for people, and our focus on human dignity as our guiding principle. Since moving on from WalkDenver, Gosia has continued her work to ensure that Denver is a people-centered, inclusive city through her leadership on the planning board and with YIMBY Denver.