Privatizing the Trash, Drones Delivering Pasta, and How to PorchFest

0:00This episode is brought to you by Shalot Hattin and Banker. Denver is built on people who look out for each other. At Shalot Hattin and Banker, that's how they approach personal injury law. For more than 40 years, their attorneys have represented Coloradans seriously injured in car accidents, skiing snowboard collisions, and other personal injury cases. Every injury is different, and every client deserves experienced personalized representation. For more at ShalotLaw.com, that's CHALAT Law.com, or call 720-792-7322 for a free consultation. This episode is brought to you by Blue Sky Plumbing. Halloween is creeping up Denver, and Blue Sky Plumbing is bringing you some seriously spooky savings with their Friday night special. With $300 on a tankless water heater install, get 10% off plumbing repairs or installs

1:01over $500, with up to $200 in savings. Save $125 on hydro jetting from main lines, and get 10% off electrical repairs or installs over $500 again up to $200 in savings. Plus, take 15% off all indoor air quality products, and save $500 on the installation of a water softener or whole home carbon filter. Let's service problems become a Halloween horror story. Finish the scary stuff and schedule today at BlueSkyPlumbing.com. Welcome to CityCast Denver. I'm Brideavis, and here's what Denver's talking about. Today, we're talking about the potential to privatize Denver's trash service, delivery drones, entering suburban airspace, a preview of this weekend's porch fest in our wins and

2:06fails of the week. Green Tilly correspondent and Democratic candidate for House District 5, Justin Sandeval, hello. Hey, Barry, how's it going? So we are talking today about paying for trash. As far as I know, and as far as I ever remember, trash was a public service here in Colorado. And the Denver Gazette reported this week that Denver's trash program is facing a growing budget gap. The city is spending about close to $43 million to provide the trash service while bringing in only about $33 million a year in the fees that we pay. Again, this is on a scale, depending on the size of trash can you have, which is something new they introduced over the last couple of years. So you can have a smaller trash can and a bigger recycle bin if you want, which is what we have. And there's also programs to help support folks economically to pay for it, but it's still not the numbers. The math is not mapping. So some council members have talked about privatizing trash altogether.

3:08Before we get into that, the who's and what's going on, what do you think about this idea of a private company being our trash service, which is not uncommon, by the way, in other, in other like municipalities around the metro, I should say. Yeah, well, I think so there's always the battle between privatization and whether we should do that or not. And I'm not totally against it because actually some of it works already with private and public. So the trash, the people who collect our trash, collect their recycling and the compost all work for the city of Denver. And then those services go out to someone to process who are like contracted. So you know, it can work. Like we can have this relationship where it works. I've seen other like places, my like, Bestie lives in Englewood and she pays a private company and she's always complaining. That's always missing days.

4:09She's like, their system never works. They like messed up like her credit card thing and then she kept repaying and they kept like double charging her. It was just a nightmare. I was like, Oh, no. I have heard similar things from friends and outlinks to urban areas where it's made me concerned. And I will be honest, I have talked quite a bit on this show about how compost is real hit or miss here in terms of pickups in in Denver and there have been miss pickups. But the thing is when I go to talk to someone about it, there is someone to talk to. I mean, I can go through three, one, one, I can do the app. I can make a phone call. I can talk to a person. I have to be honest, the socialist in me is like, I don't love the idea of privatizing something that is, I mean, it's necessary 100%. And it's already provided by the city. Would I take a rate increase? I could say I would, but I don't know if everybody could afford that. However, we move into the private sphere. That kind of is out of our control. Yeah.

5:09And we don't know. But one of the things that raises a flag to me is we're going to see a rate increase no matter what. It's going to happen. And even if we privatize, if the cost is going to go up, but like what's the benefit of that? We haven't seen any hard data that it would be more cost effective or more timely. I mean, it's just one anecdote I heard from my friend, but we hear that from people who do have private trash services. So I'm like, unless there's like this hard data, like first, I really want to see if it's worth it. Because we also come into a labor issue, I think, with our workers here who work for Dottie, which is part of the Department of Infrastructure and Transportation. Yeah. Transportation and Infrastructure, I should say. All the acronyms, if you remember. So and actually news this week is that the Dottie workers, which includes our solid waste workers and the Denver crime lab workers, join the teamsters local 17 union.

6:13So they actually unionize. And that makes me think like, well, what happens if we privatize to these pickup services? Will these people get me guaranteed a job? Will they be in a better deal with the private company than they are now that they're moving towards that they've unionized? So that's something that I kind of thought, you know, we should really look at before we move this decision, being a better decision for the city. Essentially, if we're going to have a rate increase, then, you know, well, then let's just figure it out. And we'll close that gap that way. I don't know. All works. So I might just be talking out of my. No, you bring up the point too of like, we need some hard data. And Denver is required to conduct a rate study by 2020, seven to determine whether and how much trash fees need to change. So that is something that's on the horizon that we may have actual numbers for pretty soon. That would at least make me feel better to understand that the economics of the situation. I mean, we can look at it right now.

7:14We're spending almost $43 million to provide the service and only making $33 million in fees. So it's not, it's not paying for itself by any means. But the trash program is also slated to receive a $6 million general fund subsidy next year to hope close some of that gap. A reminder to trash fees, like I was saying, they can, they're, I think there's three different trash cart sizes for trash, which range in price from nine to $21 depending on size. And I believe in the story from Denver, because that they said that we have some of the lowest trash rates in the country. So it may be that we need to catch up here a little bit. And that's a big part of the problem is we're just not getting charged. But most of these are being charged for what trash collection actually costs. Yeah, I ran that and I was like, wait a minute. Like, we're, it's really low. And then when I checked in with my suburban friends, they were like, oh, yeah, you all pay nothing. Like, at all, like it's so low. I mean, I'm into, you know, it's low.

8:16Consider if you're on a fixed income, it's not low. But yeah, I mean, there is room to change and make sure that we're, you know, charging what we need to actually provide that service to people. Well, and thinking about what you were saying about them joining the, joining the union, one of the issues that I think council. So councilwoman Sandevol and councilwoman Sawyer are two of the council people exploring this idea of privatizing it. She said, first of all, she said we should just go private. I'm tired of getting calls about mistrash, which is funny to me, because you and I have both heard this about private companies as well. But she also said, Sandevol noted that a number of long-serving employees, particularly Latinos, have left to work for neighboring cities, which to me says we're not paying competitively enough, which again would kind of fall into the rate conversation. And the other concern was they only observed six city holidays and they work other holidays that other city employees don't work. But again, if it's privatized, that goes out the window too.

9:17I mean, private companies don't have to observe those holidays necessarily either. I mean, I know a lot of companies that don't. I think that was a really interesting thing to say because they actually voted almost unanimously the workers to work on those days and then they get overtime on those holidays. So it was their choice to work on those holidays and they have the opportunity for overtime, which I don't know if they would get that time and a half, I'm sure. Yeah, I don't know if they would get that from a private company. And I think that if it was their choice to work on those days, talk about labor rights. Like you want to work on that day and get time and half. Well, that's what MLK and CISO play their days for. Yeah, no, I think it'll be interesting to see. I'm struggling with the argument for privatization when the issue at hand is going to be rate increases no matter what. Yeah, it sounds like so I'll be curious to see how this works.

10:17There was there was a tiny there was a tiny shining light here though in the trash conversation this week that I did want to bring up was composting, which is for technically, quote, free from the city because we pay for trash now. We just actually pay for compost. I mean, two of one, I don't know, whatever, half of the other. I know it never says the same like the whole system. It's not, yeah, it's like I'm still paying for something, which is fine. But something that they did announce is that compost has now gone back to being able to accept things like greasy pizza boxes, paper plates that are uncoded, coffee filters, paper napkins, things that over the last three years, you haven't been able to compost. So initially when they introduced composting here in Denver, you could. And then I think I really struggled with this too is the composting company. I can't remember what they're called. They said too many people are putting too many things in the compost that are screwing up our compost that don't belong in there. So we're trying to scale back what people put in so that we can better monitor and have a better

11:19system because the problem with composting and recycling is when things get into those bins that don't belong there that can't be processed, it can screw up the whole batch. And so I was really frustrated like, okay, so we're even making things less, less opportunities for us to compost because truly if you compost all of those things and you compost obviously food waste and things like that and then you recycle things that can be recycled, your trash is actually pretty tiny if you like get it down to the science. So on a positive note, you can now start composting those things again. So if you haven't been now's the time. Do you compost, are you composting your justine? Yes, I mean, I think I have the same problem a lot of people in Denver have is like the system does change a lot. So I remember there's times when you have to sort everything like three bins and you know, so I've been a lifelong, you know, trying to understand and trying to figure

12:20out how it works. So when composting came around was really for it and then it got kind of a confusing. So I mostly just use it like for all my yard trimmings and stuff now. Yes, but I love that we're able to do this and I think we're streamlined, easy for people to, you know, oh, I could put the pizza box in now, the napkins, the coffee grounds, whatever that they're letting you is makes it so much easier and people are more likely to do it. And when I do it, yeah, your trash is very minimal if you can get it and that's the goal and waste no more and all these things that Denver is trying to do are actually like initiatives to get us to throw out less trash. Less trash, we pay less to dispose of it as a city and we bring the prize down. I feel, I feel your bestie in Thomas Tafoya of Green Latinos just shouting at the shouting at us right now being like, yes, please encourage folks to compost. So yes, I mean, well, that's what they thought for and like, you know, we have to do it and a lot,

13:20there's other, you know, municipalities around us and they can't recycle. My partner is Conno, they don't have recycling and I like make him pack up this stuff and they get to my house. I just would do that too, which is bring it over because their place doesn't recycle, which is a whole other thing in itself. Well, we'll be watching for this data to come through, see what city council is really thinking about. I, you know, they have to do this study, we'll see how it goes. So it's not going to change anytime soon, but I would love to hear from listeners, especially if you live in one of these connecting municipalities, maybe you are in an Inglewood or Thornton or Westminster, let us know, do you pay for trash? Do you feel like it's better than a public service? Let us know 720-500-541-8. We're going to take a quick break and when we come back, a special preview of Porchfest.

14:21This episode is brought to you by Denver Film. The Denver Film Festival returns October 22nd through November 1st, 2026 for its 49th year. The program is officially here. Check out the fully curated lineup of over 120 films, community conversations, special guests, and parties you won't want to miss. No, seriously, Molly, the parties are like, they're legendary. What can I say? There's some good DJs, there's always good drinks, and what else? You can sit around and talk about amazing films you saw, and also I'm just going to say those are probably going to be hot people there. That's a film festival. Come on. Even Colorado itself gets the spotlight in films this year, like the Melaniers, the story of the once thriving town of Rocky Ford, and the wrestling team keeping the honeydew melon towns pride alive. Check out this local story on screen and more than a dozen other features, narratives, and short films with local roots at this year's Denver Film Festival. Discover hidden gems, award winners, future Oscar contenders, and meet the talent behind the films,

15:21all for the love of film. Tickets are on sale now at Denverfilm.org. That's Denverfilm.org. This episode is brought to you by Enjoy Illinois. Illinois is in the middle of everything. Go big this fall in Illinois, whether you're chasing big city energy, getting outdoors or hitting the road to somewhere new. Visit Chicago and soak up lakefront views, explore neighborhood streets, indulge in iconic cuisine, discover world-class museums, and dive into the city's packed calendar of events. Chase changing colors across state parks, forests, and trails with hikes, bike rides, and drives worth taking the scenic route. Take to the water with winding rivers, quiet canals, and wide open lake Michigan. Hit the streets of small town Illinois for quaint shops, cozy eateries, harvest markets, and seasonal celebrations. Turn up the nostalgia along Route 66 with neon lit diners, vintage motels, roadside giants, historic landmarks, and more.

16:23Find what you're looking for and even more at Enjoy Illinois dot com. That's Enjoy Illinois dot com. Okay, we're back. So this Saturday from 12 to 7 pm in the Baker neighborhood on porches, parking lots, lawns, and more across the neighborhood will be transformed into stages for the first-ever porch fest. Here to tell us all about it is producer Shane Franklin, Hello, how are you today? So good. Can't wait to hear about this. This is a brand new first of its kind festival here in the city. You talk to the organizers, you're a musician yourself. Tell us what you know. Yeah, so just like you said, porch fest is Saturday, October 3rd. A bunch of musicians are taking over people's porches. So cool. Which is pretty neat. I was able to speak with the the founder Bradley Schwartz a little bit and here what he was talking about where the inspiration came from. And he wanted to make sure that porch was used loosely. It's a lot of porches, but of course it's parking lots, it's people's sidewalks, it's driveways, backyards,

17:26et cetera. Something that's really cool is him and his band. They performed at a porch fest in Atlanta. And that's what the inspiration was. He said, oh, we should probably bring something like that to Colorado. And of course, shout out to his band five minutes out for playing that and bringing it to our lovely city. I love this idea. Yeah. I think it's getting out in your neighborhood. It's a great way to meet your neighbors, but it's also like it's sort of a really low stakes way too to check out local music. Because I think sometimes it can be a little daunting if you don't know any of the bands or just like walking into a venue. But this is like you can wander around. Catch a little of you know, a couple minutes of one act, a couple minutes of another. Exactly. And I think that's what's really cool. Like of course, with us being musicians and being in the music scene, of course, hustling, being in traditional music venues, trying to get people to buy tickets, get your babysitter, get a drink because the venue needs to make their money on their drinks.

18:27This is a cool template and model because it brings that to the people as opposed the other way around. So walking down the street like you said, you hear something great or you've got your kids, you've got your dog, you're hanging out with some friends, you're experiencing some new music. So that was the biggest thing that I'm rarely kind of touched upon. He said, I'd rather see a show with 100 or 200 people than from across in arena. And I think that's really cool. It's all about connection. And that was kind of the main base of our conversation. I love that. Yeah. I also want to shout out my little friend, Ezzy. My son's friend will be selling lemonade in the neighborhood. So if you come across a lemonade stand, I think he takes Venmo. I'm pretty sure he takes Venmo. I think there'll probably be a lot of those little pop-ups around. Great way to support. But also like you said, it's sort of bringing, it's sort of taking down some of the barriers, right? Where kids are going to be able to go your dog. You can walk, you don't have, you know, there's no, it's just a great open opportunity, I think, for folks. Justine, are you a, are you a wanderer? Are you thinking about this? I love this so much. As an Ezzy started

19:32describing it, I thought of, I've seen this in New Orleans before. And I was like, this sounds like a southern thing, but having bands out in the neighborhoods, just enjoying their time together. One thing that I hear a lot like from my grandparents or from my mom and dad is just like, they're losing that community connection with like just your neighbors and just people around you. And this is yeah, a perfect opportunity. Kids out front playing while music is playing and getting to know your neighbors. I'm like a big advocate for people connecting. I'm like, that's part of what's wrong with society right now is we're like not connection enough and have these like very like just literally in the neighborhood like a porch concert is just such a great concept. I love this. I like want to definitely check it out. And that's the great thing about it. Like we've seen this before. We've seen backyard boogies. We've seen people just hanging out on the street performing. We've seen so far sounds. But to do this on one day at a single location for people

20:38to come and just enjoy and be immersed in what Denver has to offer is super cool. That's another thing that he talked about. It's a hundred ninety three X. Wow. As a lot in seven hours of course. But I wrote a article about it on our website. Had a navigate Denver's first porch fest. Go check it out because there's a there's a lot that you can do and I give you just steps on how you should check out all of this cool music. But understand you're not going to see everything. Yeah. Even if you try. But go out and enjoy it. It's free. But you can donate. Folks that organize these things are generally not making any money. So any donation you can make towards it would probably help it make it happen again next year. That's the biggest thing. He was artists are getting paid. Don't worry about that. Of course it's free. But sponsors, fundraising and donations help cover those festival expenses and compensate the performers. I thought it was really cool as a portion of the proceeds also go to support E seventh. And they're expanding

21:40access to art and music therapy for children with autism. So I said, shout out to that, Bradley. I like that. They're really they're really resonated with me. Yeah. I also love the intergenerational aspect of this that you are speaking to, Justin, because a lot of times too, I mean, if you think you go to a show and you look around and it's generally people your age, right? Whatever the music is for you, you find people your age. Or if it's not your age, it's very obvious to you that you're like the odd man out, you know what I mean? And so I love this idea that those various barriers also kind of will be removed. And like you can bring your grandma, you can bring your mom, you can bring your baby. And like that's the community part is getting to connect with people across generations is I don't know. I found that really valuable in the last couple years, for sure. Well, we'll put links in the show notes. You can learn more about Porchfest. You can donate. You can look at the lineup. You can read Shane's article to learn more. Thank you so much, Shane. This was awesome. Well, yeah, thank you. When we come back, it's our bonus segment for our city cast

22:45Denver neighbors. If you are a member, you can go to membership.citycast.fm sign up today and hear this segment. If you are not already a neighbor, if you are a neighbor, come and join us. Justine and I are talking about the latest in drone technology and what suburban area might be getting it soon. We're back. Winds and fields of the week, things that rule, things that suck. As always, we start with a fail so we can end on something happy. Justine, what's your feel this week? One of Colorado's iconic spots, St. Mary's glacier has completely melted. The first time since we have been aware of it, it may have melted before, but we have never seen it. This is like a huge moment for people. And it's actually not a glacier. It's like a semi-permanent snow field, but it feeds the ecosystem around it. And it's like really iconic because it's

23:45this patch of snow that's their year round. It's very popular spot people go to and it's right near Idaho Springs. It's really accessible for people and they go year round and yeah. It's the realities of climate change right in our face. It's really, I talked about this last week with David Sturoda and it to me at the interesting part is this thing of our identity here in Colorado, right? And it makes you think. Well, the good news is it's not necessarily gone forever. There could be a big snow year and it'll come back, but scientists are saying that this is not the last time we will see it melt that we're probably going to see it return and melt. Year after year, depending on how the snow pack looks. I'm crossing my fingers for a real classic Colorado blizzard this year. I'm ready. I've got my boots all lined up. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go too. My fail this week is also very depressing. A student of color is suing a liquid charter school

24:46after he says the school failed to protect him from racial bullying. Jalen Davis now 18 filed a lawsuit in US District Court against the school, the principal, and its former executive director arguing that they took no action to prevent or stop the harassment and did not investigate regular incidences of bullying, not only himself, but other students of color at the school. He says the bullying culminated last May when racist phrases, including threats of sexual violence against the student and for other male students of color were written on the wall in the boys' bathroom. The graffiti also suggested a slave auction during lunch period. So not only school districts do better and school leadership do better. Parents do better. It's 2026 and I know we're continuing to grapple with some really terrible stuff, but as a person currently raising a young boy in this world, there's a lot of things you can do to have conversations with your kids about this kind of behavior. And the fact that he was unchecked by administration is appalling to me. It is also incredibly

25:50frustrating and angering to me that parents, kids that, kids are not getting proper guidance to say maybe we shouldn't treat each other this way. Oh yeah. And this is just a pattern of negligence amongst administration. And I'm wondering where this disconnect is. What are we doing as a society? And yeah, and teaching your kids that being a participant, even though might not be directly doing it, but being a bystander, not standing up for the right thing, is also contributing to this. Like I'm not a parent, but I care about kids. This is this awful through line I'm having in almost every conversation I have in the last couple of weeks is obviously the Cornell 7 rape case and the fact that there were dozens of men in a group chat witness essentially to what was happening and said nothing. Also raise your kids stand up. It's insane. It's always been that way. But right now there's like it's extra rotten and it's getting into younger people's brains and

26:55they are just like so bold, so ignorant. And they're picking this narrative and this hatred and like, yeah, racism is alive and well. And it's ignored. And because of the society we live in, we don't pay attention to people who are like saying, hey, they're being racist, like straight up racism from these kids. I'll put a link to that in the show notes. Also, the administrator told this kid to fight back. I'm like, okay, whatever. I'll tell you that I'll just die back. Let's talk about some good stuff. What's your win this week? The Denver Nuggets had their media day this week and it looks like the band is getting back together. Okay. It sounds like Nikolai Yokek is going to resign with the nuggets and they asked him if he was going to, if he was thinking about resigning, he was like, yeah, I'll resign. If you'll have me. And I think the answer is yes, we will have you. So we can't not have you. You are now an institution in this city. He is an institution, Denver. We love him. We got Jamal Murray and Eric Gordon and they seem completely

28:01unfazed by all the offseason noise. I'm feeling like good vibes and I'm excited. I know you're a big Nuggets fan. I am writing a piece about the Nuggets for an upcoming book that a friend is putting together, which I'll share more about as it comes to fruition. But I got into the Rockies as a kid because I understood baseball. But as an adult, I really felt affinity for the city when I started to understand. I don't know when I just started paying attention to the Nuggets and like it just connected me to the city in a new way and it was really refreshing and Yokek is a huge part of that. I know there's no L.O.A. another L.O.A. but to me, I think at the end of his run, his legacy will be something comparable to that for us as an identity in the city. So I love it. My win this week, my old friend, my old editor, Dave Herrera is back at Westard as music editor. He wrote a great piece about coming back to the city as well. He's been back for a little while. But he was a music editor starting in 2003. He brought me on to Westard as a freelance

29:04music writer in 2010, I believe. Really shaped a lot of what I am today as a writer. He's truly a champion for the music scene here. I'm so excited for him to be back. His wealth of knowledge about the scene's history is huge. So I was at the Westward 50th anniversary party last night. I saw him watching this band dog tags. They're local. They're amazing. And I saw him watching them so intently. And then afterward, I saw him talking to all the members. This man is just ready to dive back in and learn about everything that's new. So hit up, David at Westward at Dave Herrera. If you're a new band or you're an established band or you have something cool happening, let Dave know about it. He's a great writer. He's a great editor. He's a great voice for music in the city. And just want to cheers. Dave Herrera's back, baby. Just team. Thank you so much. This was so fun. Thank you, Brie. That's all for today here on CityCastember. Our producers this week were Shane Franklin and Olivia

30:04Jewel Love. Adrienne Gonzalez is our post producer. Molly Smith writes our morning newsletter. Paul Carole is our executive producer. Grace Zahn is our audience development manager. And Maggie Azaleini is our senior ad executive. I'm Brie Davies your host. Our music is by Los Mococetes with additional mixing by Tyler Lindgren. Our ad music is by Kuba Cortet. courtesy of epidemic sound dot com. If you haven't already, subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Follow us on Instagram and TikTok. And tell Nicola Yokicch about us next time you see him. You can support this show and get great perks by becoming a CityCastember neighbor today at membership dot citycast dot FM. You can sign up for our daily newsletter and learn more about us at denver dot citycast dot FM. See you next week.