Valentine

The tall man stood in front of the camera that broadcasted his image over a closed circuit to a courtroom he could not see. All he could do was imagine the turn out of people in that room who saw blood at the mention of his name. His clear blue eyes, described in local newspapers as “haunting,” wanted so badly to cry—but, he knew better than to let that unknown room see him become emotional. All of those people felt victimized by the turn of events that he had been accused of. In certain seats there were actual victims of the assaults sitting there, crying, as they did their best to recognize the man who entered their apartments on hot summer nights and did unmentionable things to them—things that they couldn’t or would not tell their fathers. What the man couldn’t understand is how he got pulled into this mess; how they could accuse him of such things, a man who had followed the law his whole life.
As these thoughts passed through his mind, the judge had begun his hearing. The honorable Terrence S. Mead had a few smaller cases to deal with before he could arraign the man present on the closed circuit screen. Drug addicts, drunk drivers, speeding tickets—every day hubbub that Mead didn’t exactly enjoy dealing with. On most days, these cases were as big as it got in this small town. Other days, he sat in his chambers reading novels and watching day time TV. This was a sleepy town he lived in, and he liked it this way. It was the man who stood stone faced and ridged that made his day interesting. He, like many others in the community, was out raged at the thought that this man could come into their town and cause such a giant wave of fear. And now, Mead had his chance to begin the healing process for a community that had been left in limbo for the past year.
“Case 3579, the city of Mayfield vs. Mr. Rory Valentine,” Mead called out from his case list. Now, he thought, we can get this ball rolling. He mustered up the sternest voice he could and said, “Mr. Valentine, this is your arraignment. Do you understand what is going to happen here today?”
“Yes sir.”
“I am sitting here reading over your case Mr. Valentine and as I look over this sheet I count over twenty counts the prosecution is filling against you. I plan on reading every one to you and all that is present here in the court house. Do you understand, son?”
“Yes sir.”
“There are eight counts of sexual assault, nine of aggravated assaults, six counts of breaking and entering and four of burglary. Because of these counts we are planning on holding you with out bail until your pre-trial hearing this Monday. You will be present in my courtroom Monday where we will go over the trial process for this case. Any questions Mr. Valentine?”
“No sir.”
“Monday you have to opportunity to plead for either your guilt or innocence, if you choose to do so,” Mead felt proud to evoke such a response from this man who appeared to be the cause of all evil present in Mayfield.
The screen turned off, and the haunting figure of Rory disappeared from the court room. He was lead back to the tiny cell in the city jail house, where he would remain until further notice from the judge or perhaps his lawyer. Once the guard left, it was then that Rory felt he could cry.

Joanne was the one who turned Rory in. The man was weird. He kept odd hours and went for walks in the pre-dawn hours—the time when most people should have been sleeping. Why anyone would voluntarily walk places was beyond Joanne. She had always been a little over weight, but never looked bad—until Vinnie died. She was pregnant at the time, which was weight she knew she would never lose; however, she gained a little more after Brian was born and had been adding pounds as the months went on and Vinnie’s death buried itself further into her past.
She probably wouldn’t have ever noticed his odd habits if she did not get up every two hours to feed both her newborn son, and Roxy’s puppies—the dog her late husband and she bought when they moved into their first apartment together.
She did her best not to act like the nosy neighbor, but with a neighbor as weird as Rory it’s hard not to watch his every move. The man lived alone, and appeared to be in his early thirties—but, not once had she seen him bring a woman home. He went places, but was satisfied coming home and working in his garden or on his truck. That’s not normal. Men his age should be throwing parties, getting drunk, bringing random women home—not acting responsible like Rory. Or so Joanne thought, that’s what Vinnie did even while they were married.
“Turning him in was her civic duty,” she rationalized to herself every night before putting her son to bed. Rory looked similar to the composite drawings posted all over the city. True, she disrupted a quite man’s life who had never bothered her—in fact, he had been helpful enough to watch Brian on Saturday nights when she went to visit friends—but, she was protecting her community, neighborhood and all of womankind. Isn’t that worth something?

Lucie was a student; a student trying her best to become a writer. She worked hard for the college paper—slowly depleting any thoughts toward a social life, but she didn’t mind. Her plan was to get out of small town living, and implant herself into a big city where the news really happened. Until then, she was satisfied with her life. Becoming a star reporter as a young student didn’t seem to be that tough for her—it was getting the editorship opening up at the end of the spring semester that she viewed as a tougher goal.
Lucie was celebrating her first day off in over a year by celebrating her birthday with her two best friends, Rheannon and Beth. She was finally turning 20, not that she was looking forward to getting older she was just tired of still being considered a teenager while Rhea and Beth went to the bars on Friday nights. While Rhea has been seriously committed to her boyfriend for almost two years now, she had a philosophy about people who went to bars. “They only go to the bars to meet skuzzy people or if they are drug there by a good friend,” she was saying over a margarita at a local Mexican food restaurant. She had deep brown eyes and matching hair with a smile that could light up an entire room. It was that smile that kept the margarita glasses full, and allowed under-aged Lucie to be drinking with the girls as well.
“Ohh, shut up ho!” Beth replied to Rhea’s philosophy—everyone at the table knowing full well that the use of “ho” was with love. “If you hate it so much, just know that in a year from now Lucie will take your place. Huh kiddo?”
“Hell yeah!”
Beth was on a quest to find her soul mate, someone who would treat her nicely and return the unending love that filled her heart for everyone in her life—therefore, she tried the bars. She would come home on Friday nights and immediately call Lucie to talk about whatever happened at the bars that night.
“Luc, I swear there isn’t anyone left out there.”
“There has to be Beth. Otherwise I am in big trouble,” Lucie replied with a sigh.
Beth was beautiful. Lucie couldn’t understand why she was still single. With deep brown eyes and long beautiful blonde hair she seemed to have an almost perfect combination of beauty. She was tall and very thin—she had been a dancer in high school before she got sucked into the world of Journalism in college. She swears she misses the dancing, but Rhea and Lucie knew deep down she loves the journalism a little bit more.
“Luc, you aren’t still tripping over that asshole from New Hampshire, are you?” Beth asked, her eyes burning into Lucie.
“No, of course not,” she lied. But both Rhea and Beth saw right through her lies. Gabe had been her first real love. He was tall, had messy blonde hair that had a bit of curl to it—just the way Lucie liked it—with emerald green eyes that could melt her like ice on a scorching day.
“Goddamnit Luc!!” Rhea said. “He fucked you by moving away and pretty much insinuating that he couldn’t trust you in a long distance relationship, and almost a year later you are still broken hearted. That is not the Luc I know.”
“Don’t you think it is time to get back out in the field and play a few guys?” Beth asked, moving closer to Lucie to give her a huge sympathetic hug.
Lucie hadn’t thought much about getting out there to meet someone new. She had pretty much buried herself in work and writing—fighting against anything that could get in the way of building a protective wall around her broken heart. “I don’t know if I am ready to find someone else just yet, girls.”
The girls left it at that. They knew better than to argue with Lucie about this matter. She would get back out into the dating world in due time—and they knew she would knock every guy out there on his ass. She had shoulder length hair that she dyed a slight auburn color and sky blue eyes. Beth has been known to describe her as having a china doll face—Lucie never saw that when she looked into the mirror.
It was during the gag gifts and the embarrassing song that waiter’s came to sing to her that Lucie’s cell phone rang. Most of the time she won’t answer the phone when she was out to eat with Rhea and Beth; however, it was her desk number at the paper, and she knew something had to be up. “Excuse me for just one minute girls,” she said as she got up and walked towards the front door of the restaurant.
“Josh, what’s going on?”
“Lucie, they just arrested a man who they are accusing with the assaults that have been going on in town all year,” he said rather excitedly. “I was wondering if you wanted to write the story—I will go to the press conference with you as your photographer, but you have to meet me there in about a half hour.”
“Josh, you know I am there. Could you bring my tape recorder from my desk for me?”
They hung up, and Lucie skipped into the restaurant. Beth was supposed to stay with Lucie that night at her apartment because she was visiting from San Francisco. Lucie knew Rhea would take her home until Lucie could get back—and she knew even better that the girls would understand her need to take the story and run. They all knew what was important to one another, and they vowed to never get in the way of something that wasn’t hurting the other.
“Let me guess,” Rhea said as she saw the huge smile on Lucie’s face when she returned to the table. “You just got the story of your life, and have to run to a press conference leaving your best friends here to fend for themselves until you return for Bacardi, Pepsi, Lime and a Lucky Strike on my back porch?”
“You read me like a fucking book; I don’t understand how you do it!! I love you for it though.”
“Don’t worry about a thing, Luc,” Rhea said. “Beth and I will go to the mall and kill a few hours, give me a call when you are through. Good luck.”
Rhea and Beth had been Lucie’s editors in high school. They taught her everything they knew, and were proud of the progress she had made over the years since high school.
Beth got up and gave her a huge hug. “I am so proud of you. Knock ‘em dead.”


“No mama, I swear to you that I didn’t do what they are accusing me of doing,” Rory cried into the phone. He was in a fix, and there was nothing he could do about it. Not even his lawyer knew how to get him out of it. All the evidence pointed directly at him.
“Rory, you see what happens when you leave home?” Rory had grown up in the Bronx. His mom had the stereotypical New Yorker accent that brought Rory’s back whenever he called home. All of Rory’s brothers stayed in the Bronx and had supper with their mom every Sunday after church—Rory, however wanted to see the world.
He left home when he was 19, the youngest of five he was the last to leave the house. He remembered the fight he and his mama had while he packed his bag to leave; she stood on the front porch with her hands on her hips, pulling in her mumu-like attire showing her intimidating, pear shape: You’ll be sorry Rory Valentine. You will either live to regret the day you left your mother alone in the Bronx or you will find yourself in jail!
Finding himself in jail, calling home was the hardest thing he had to do. “You know your face is all over the news. You have brought shame to me and your brothers.”
“You know mama, I didn’t call home to be made to feel worse. I am looking for help from my family.”
“Well, Rory Valentine, you are going to have to look for help from someone else.”

Lucie pulled into the court house parking lot and almost jumped out of her car before putting it in park or turning it off. She was very excited that Josh chose her for the story-- she had been writing for the paper for a little over a year now; however, Lucie was a second year student-- still a rookie in a lot of people’s eyes. First and second year students hardly ever got the good stories. They typically walked into the newsroom and were handed a press release about this club or that club and were told to bring a story back by 4 p.m.; they wrote the stuff that filled the spaces around the ads.
“Lucie! Court is just letting out. I have a couple names of victims, but Judge Mead would like to have a press conference in his office in five minutes to discuss coverage of the case,” Josh said as he ran through the crowd toward Lucie’s car.
They walked up three flights of stairs to the judge’s chambers and when they turned to corner they saw Arnie Ardella and Lindy Ormsbee sitting outside the office. Ardella was the field correspondent for the local new channel. “I am surprised he could get his big head through the door,” Lucie whispered to her editor as they rounded the corner.
Ormsbee was a different case. With her strawberry blonde hair and a meek smile, she covered the crime beat for the small town paper; plus, she was always willing to take a college student under her wing when her story load was small. “Looks like a busy day waiting for you at the Mayfield Correspondent,” Josh said smiling as Lindy stood to shake his hand.
“What is the news editor for the college paper doing out on the field? Don’t you have a desk full of young people chomping the bit to make a difference with the written word?”
“A have a desk full of young people alright, none of them motivated longer than it takes to make a bowl of Top Ramen,” Josh said with a mischievous smile. “However, this young person just might be the next Hunter S. Thompson or Tom Wolfe.”
“Hi, my name is Lucie Gray,” she said, extending her hand to shake Ormsbee’s hand. She admired her work, and was trilled to meet a fellow female-reporter working the field.
“Lucie, I have read your stuff in the paper. You have an eye for the news.”
Lucie felt her face flush. This angered her because she wanted to look smooth, she wanted to look like a professional despite her age. “I appreciate your admiration. I love what I get to do each day.”


... to be continued

Honor the Mood

Melissa Leslie

The summer is over, my naivety is gone
A draining feeling takes over me, like a used battery.
The crisp evening surrounds me as I honor the moon—
Breathing in her energy.

Sifting through the dust of September,
I think about you, so far away—so long ago
A well-beaten path I have traveled before.

The free summer nights are gone—
They took love with them.
I long to take those nights back…

But it’s not really you, or the loss of my innocence I’m missing—

It’s the warm breezes, and soft grasses.
The clear night skies, filled forever with stars.

They brought security and constancy—
Something I found with you.
But you left me alone, taking my heart with you.
My soul is here, jagged and frayed.
But it will heal, and so will I.

Living alone has brought about many lessons--
Lessons in love, lessons about myself
Revelations that have made me cry.

I have learned to need,
And I have learned to want,
But above all—
I’ve learned I don’t need or want you.

Transit-oriented Development

(as published in the April issue of Colorado Construction magazine)

Doing TOD Right
Local planners weigh the advantages and disadvantages of transit-oriented development

By Melissa Leslie
Local developers are buzzing about the future of transit-oriented development as projects like FasTracks bring a multimodal transportation system to the Denver metro area and aim to change how the general public lives, works, commutes and plays.
Conscientious local planners, architects and developers agree that Denver's growth needs to be upward and inward, not out. That's why planning for good transit-oriented development is becoming a critical local issue.
Development on the existing RTD transit system is growing rapidly, according to a TOD status report released in December by FasTracks. “10,999 residential units, 3,729 hotel rooms, 2.8 million sq ft of retail, 4 million sq ft of office space and 1.6 million sq ft of convention/sports space have either been built or are currently under construction at station areas and bus transfer facilities,” the report says. “The TOD product delivered to the real estate market in 2007 represents 7.5% growth in residential units, 17.6% in hotel rooms, 4.3% in retail space, 7.2% in office space and 7.6% in institutional space.”

More TOD on Horizon
In 2004, Denver-area voters approved $3.95 billion for the construction of 119 mi of new commuter rail and light rail, 18 mi of bus rapid transit and other improvements throughout the region in an effort to alleviate the growing burden and congestion along the city’s roadways.
“FasTrack’s expansion will spark an increased interest in TOD,” says Charles King, president of King & Associates, which has worked on projects like Stapleton, Belmar and Loveland’s Centerra. “That interest will only increase because of the huge volume of new stations and new lines coming to the metro area in such a short period of time that will leave the market open for new development.”
“Voters took a big step when they passed FasTracks, and they will begin to see the benefit and value this project will bring,” says Jerry Jaramillo of Kiewit Building Group of Englewood, which played an instrumental role in helping to launch TOD with the completion of Denver’s T-REX project. “But it is going to take a mentality shift. TOD forces us to focus the development in the metro area. It helps keep infrastructure costs down and discourages sprawl.”
With increased high-density living choices available in Denver through projects like One Lincoln Park, Glass House, and the new condos at the Lincoln and Belleview stations, to name a few, options to create transit-oriented developments have also taken off.
“We are in a transit building boom,” King says. “I think everyone in Denver is beginning to understand that the more transit options we have available, the more competitive the area will be when companies like ConocoPhillips look to buy land and invest in a new workforce.”
Jaramillo adds, “Those who do understand what TOD is are focusing on medium- to high-density projects, but the key is putting these projects on a transit line.”
The FasTracks project is ambitious because of the ground it will cover 119 mi of light rail built in 10 years.
“Eventually, more people will use transit because it will be readily available and hopefully the access will motivate people to get out of their cars,” says Michael Leccese, executive director of the Colorado chapter of the Urban Land Institute, which has hosted a number of workshops since 2004 designed to spark good TOD.
“There has been a lot of talk about TOD, but not a lot of people have done it here, just yet,” says Ferdinand Belz, president of Cherokee Denver, developer of the approximately 7-million-sq-ft, mixed-use project located on the former site of the Gates Rubber Factory in Denver. “But, in general, what we have begun to recognize is there are more people moving back to the city looking for an environment that offers the opportunity to live, walk, shop and play in a centralized place outside of an automobile.”

What TOD Should Be
“TODs provide people with options so they can choose where to live, work, play and mingle. In the most successful TODs, transit stations integrate seamlessly into the community,” says TOD project manager Tom Boone with the Denver Regional Council of Governments.
Integrating TOD into a community is just one of the many key challenges that developers face. Other elements include a change in the public lifestyle, working with a number of investors and committing to the long-term construction schedule to fully develop a successful TOD.
“The TOD lifestyle is catching on with those tired of long car commutes, newcomers to the job market used to having transit options, empty-nesters and senior citizens ready to give up the hassle of owning a car,” Lecesse says. “But, in the end, we are encountering a change in the way communities are planned, and TOD will become part of the answer on what to do about increased congestion and how to sustain quality of life in Colorado.”
What TOD Is Not Denver has a handful of examples of successful TOD projects, including the 16th Street Mall and City Center Englewood. And, as more people in various demographics move into more urban environments, communities like City Center Englewood will become growing population centers, Jaramillo says. “But TOD isn’t something that people should depend on to restart economic growth. Rather, it has the adjunct effect,” he says.
One example of adjunct growth is the Englewood Station at Santa Fe Drive and Hampden Avenue. Located on the site of the former Cinderella City Mall, the light-rail station offers a park and ride for communities in the surrounding >> area, and it has been a key driver for the creation of a thriving walkable, mixed-use development.
“Denver’s Riverfront Park is also a project that is doing well,” Lecesse says.
On the other side, Nine Mile Station in Aurora offers ample parking for commuters but is an example of a transit station that has not yet sparked mixed-use, residential or other forms of development around Interstate 225 and Parker Road, King says.

Why It Can Work
“The Southwest Corridor Light Rail system is a great example of why developers need to be smart about the master development of TOD,” says Jaramillo, who cites the lessons from the corridor as an aid in the success of future development along RTD’s FasTrack corridors. “If you work early with government jurisdictions and run the plans by the public and private sectors, you will have a better idea of how to piece together the TOD within the community,” he says.
TODs must go through a public process, where everything can be pieced together with the surrounding community. Existing residents want to know what changes their neighborhoods will face through increased traffic, both vehicular and pedestrian, and what benefits will come along with that increased traffic, says Jaramillo.
“When developing TOD, you don’t want it to become a stand-alone development,” he adds. “Each station is like a patch on a quilt with the common thread being the track line.”
Key challenges that coincide with the creation of a TOD are the number of ownerships invested that all may have a different goal. In many cases, transit stations must meet the rules and regulations of multiple jurisdictions, be created through partnerships between the public and private sectors, meet the needs of the neighborhood and there’s always the question of what to do about parking.
“There are many challenges to TOD due to the different product types,” says Belz. “We must always question if it is a pedestrian-friendly environment with sufficient density, and we must recognize that individual markets associated with TOD move at their own pace.”
Through the entire process, developers must always look to future and its unknown demands. “You can’t think that TOD is fast or easy,” Belz says. “A single-product development in the suburbs is difficult enough, but the variables of TOD compound on themselves and create a truly challenging experience.”

Talk of the Rockies, Mcgraw-Hill Construction blog

CDOT Recovers from Rough Winter

CDOT Recovers from Rough Winter
Posted by melissa_leslie at 5/30/2008 3:52 PM CDT @ www.colorado.construction.com
Though the Denver metro area did not experience the back-to-back blizzards that plagued the city in late 2006 and into 2007, areas around the state have experienced record numbers of snowfall that has kept the Colorado Department of Transportation busy well into the spring.
CDOT plowed 7.4 million mi this winter, with just over 6 million plowed through mid-March. This is up from the 7.1 million mi plowed last winter and the 5.2 million mi plowed during the 2005-06 winter season.
“This season has been record setting and is the most expensive season we have ever had,” said CDOT spokeswoman Stacey Stegman. “It’s definitely challenging in that we’ve seen record amounts of snowfall as well.”
Typically, CDOT re-opens Independence Pass on State Highway 82 for the season on the Thursday before the Memorial Day weekend. The pass is 12,095 ft above sea level along the Continental Divide. This year, with the snow pack well above average, crews set a new target opening date for sometime in June.
“Our crews are working extremely hard to open Independence Pass and Mt. Evans, but the large amount of snow combined with the potential for more snowstorms and the need to conduct avalanche control work is slowing us down,” said Fred Schulz, CDOT maintenance superintendent, who oversees crews on Mt. Evans.
Crews on both the east and west sides of Independence Pass have been working since the week of April 21 to clear the roadway. Crews on the east side are working with snow pack at 230% of average, measuring 12 to 15 ft high on the road in some areas.
On the west side, snow pack is up over 200% of average, with 12 ft of snow on the roadway.
“Typically, the snow has warmed by this time of year and we’re able to bring it down and clear it from the roadway,” said CDOT maintenance supervisor Jim Pitkin, who oversees crews on the east side. “Since the snow is still cold and firm right now, there’s a potential that a rapid warming trend will bring snow down that we’re not able to bring down with our avalanche control work.”
Given the difficulty of predicting snow season budgets, the state Transportation Commission sets aside a contingency fund to cover costs that exceed the year’s snow and ice removal budget. Any monies left in the contingency fund are typically rolled back into projects or programs, but that will not be possible this year.
The state’s original snow plowing budget for the 2007-08 season was $43 million, but the department had spent $53 million by mid-March, and due to seasonal clearing projects like Independence Pass, is projecting to spend $71 million by the end of Colorado’s snow season.
During the 2006-07 season, CDOT spent $51.5 million for snow plowing costs.
“This is a much bigger winter than what we’ve experienced in a very long time—since the ‘80s,” said D’Wayne Gamon, CDOT maintenance supervisor in Glenwood Springs. “It snowed for two months starting in early December, either every day or every other day. The accumulation kept building, with low temperatures continuing—this is the first time in decades that I have seen snow stay on the ground for months at a time.”

The Adventures of Nate

I remember the exact moment I became a mom. It wasn't through the typical labor pains and a long stay at the hospital; at least not the first time. I remember the look on my son's face the minute I realized that I was a mom. The gappy-toothed smile on his face melted my heart just as quick as the wrinkled face of a swaddled new born could melt the heart of its exhausted mother. My soul was so quickly filled with love, I am still reeling from it to this day.
But, I guess I should explain how it is I became a mom, since it wasn't in the traditional manner.
I met Nate when he was 4 months old. He is my husband's son from a previous relationship. I met Nate's dad when I was 16 and he was 19, when my mother set us up on a blind date. At that time, aside from a mutual physical attraction, we didn't have much in common. The relationship didn't last much longer than a year, but we remained best friends. Nate's dad saw me through many good times and many bad over the next six years. My senior year in college everything aligned perfectly for us to be together. And, this time, baby made three.

The situation with Nate's mom was one step worse than strained. For the first four months of Nate's life, his dad took care of him. Nate's mom didn't want him, didn't want to be burdened by him and had dissapeared. Now, when they found out Nate was coming, his parents were already separated with no hope of getting back together; but, her disappearance made things that much more difficult.
Nate's dad called me a lot during those first four months. He wasn't sure what to do with a new born. He was scared, worried, frustrated, tiredall the emotions that first time parents feel all at once. We cried together, we laughed together, we learned together.
When Nate was 4 months old, his dad brought him to my college town to meet me. We went to lunch and then spent the afternoon at my apartment playing with the baby. Nate immediately took to me, and kept giving me the full-body smiles that babies that young are known for. Two months after that, Nate's dad and I were dating again.
When Nate was 8 months, his dad's best friend was killed in Iraq, and I was asked to go with them to the funeral which was three states away. I agreed to go, if not to be with the man I love, to at least help him care for his son in a time of need. And so, we loaded the car with baby gear, our luggage for a couple of days and enough snacks to keep the growing baby satisfied and hit the road.
About half-way through Kansas we all needed a breakand Nate needed out of the car seat before he had a melt-down. At 8 months he wasn't walking, but he wanted to. I took him into the restroom at the truck stop to change his diaper and freshen up myself. As we left the restroom, he was holding my fingers and walking out the door. He kept saying "da-da-da," and I said, "Yes Nate, we are going to find Daddy." He stopped, looked up at me, and with the gappy-toothed smile of a baby said, "Sa."
At first, I wasn't quite sure what he was saying. His dad picked him up and went looking for drinks and snacks to help us on our way, and I went out to the car to clean up some trash. As they walked out to the car Nate's smile was so big and he yelled, "Sa!"

Despite the fact that Nate's mom is in and out of his life, his dad and I agreed that we wouldn't teach him to call me mom (even after we were married). So, I had been teaching him to call me "Lissa." When he called "Sa," he was recognizing my name "Sa" later became "Sissa," which is what he still calls me.
But, that smile and that yell was the first time I felt like a mom. The love in his eyes melted me and I was immediately wrapped around his finger.
Since that time, Nate's dad and I decided to marry. We had a baby girl two years after that, and have grown into a happy "little family." Nate is such a blessing in my life that I could never think of him as anything other than my son. I may be his step-mom, but I love him just as much as I love my daughter and couldn't imagine life without him.

To be continued...