The Highlander

Media Credit: Graham Hunt Gloria Rudden has lived in the neighborhood since 1933.

Media Credit: Highlander Editor On the corner of 52nd and Tennyson.

Regis student Alison Davenport has lived in the Regis Place apartments on 52nd and Sheridan for the past six months. She lived on campus for one year and decided to move to the apartments because it was cheap and off campus. Ali lives with three other Regis students and one non-student. When Ali moved into the apartments during the summer she immediately found herself getting to know people that lived around her. She and her boyfriend Steve immediately made a bond with a four year old named Alias.

Alias lived next door and would come over to color and play with Steve and Ali. They also met 24 year old Nano. Nano came from a completely different background than Ali, but as with all of the other neighbors, they became friends.

Steve and Ali said there have been some issues at the apartment complex, but note that all apartments are going to have their problems. They both agreed that for the most part, they have been treated like most tenants living in other apartment complex. They believe that living at Regis Place apartments has given them insight into a life different than their own. It has showed the diversity of our society, and that people are just trying to get by, just trying to make a living.

Currently, 30 percent of the population at the Regis Place apartments is Regis students; the other 70 percent are people from diverse backgrounds. The Regis Place apartments were built in 2000 by Real Asset and are managed by Hast & Company.

Manager Kenneth Cardinal says that since joining the company in 2005 a lot has been done to make this a better place to live. "We have installed cameras and built gates to make sure our people at Regis Place know the strides we are making, to keep them safe," he says. Before the apartments were built in 2000 the land was occupied by poorly maintained rental houses that were demolished.

One big selling point for the apartments is Willis Case Golf course, across the street. Kenneth says that it has been great having the Regis students living at the apartment complex. He believes that the apartment complex has turned around in the past couple of years, and Regis students have helped the environment.

One block from Regis Place, at the corner of 52nd and Tennyson, sits a liquor store, The Whole Enchilada restaurant, and Handy Market. The owners of the market and the liquor store came from Africa with hopes of making a better life for themselves. Sarah Woldemarin, a native of Sudan, has owned and managed the Handy Market for three years. Mesfin Andermicheal, another Sudan native, has owned the Sunnyside liquor store for three years. Juan Ruiz has owned the small restaurant The Whole Enchilada for three years, on a month to month lease. Juan is a Colorado native and lived in Denver his entire life. These buildings are owned by Gloria Rudden.


Local Mom and Pop stores

Gloria Rudden, a native Coloradoan, has come to know this urban area as her home. Since moving into the neighborhood in 1933, Gloria has resided at 52nd and Tennyson. She remembers Denver before all of the development, highways and city street lights. Her parents leased a square block of land, and started their life as small farm owners. She lived in a very close knit society, the local mom and pops stores held people and credit and trusted they would come and pay their bill.

Gloria remembers riding her horse as a teenager, down to a local bar. She and her friends would tie the horses up, go inside and drink cherry coke.

She remarks that times were very different; people could get rides from complete stranger and trust they would be safe. She recalls many times being able to go out on the open land and ride horses with her friends Gloria said she didn't do anything about the development, she said there was nothing she could do, and she had to just let things happen as they would. Then in 1964, CDOT wanted to put up I-70 right through the center of this town. They auctioned off homes and tore down others and began building I-70 where it now stands, around 54th and Sheridan.

At this point, Gloria became very concerned about the area; she saw all that was once land, now being taken over by developers. The strip mall on 54th and Sheridan was built on a pasture of land. The Shriners leased out about 69 acres, partly to a gravel company that eventually bought it and turned it into the Denver landfill. After a couple of years it was turned into the strip mall and a trailer park. Today it iincludes a small trailer park, restaurants, and a flower shop.

When Gloria heard that developers want to build on 87 acres off of 56th and Tennyson, Gloria was outraged and wanted to stop the development. She called two of her friends and asked them to help; they agreed and tried to get an open space tax. An Open Space tax was the only thing they could do to preserve the land.

They called Crystal Gray, of the Parks Department, and she told them exactly what they needed to do in order to preserve this land. They would need to get the open space tax put on the ballot, and get it passed by the people.

Gloria and her friends got the open space tax on the 1996 Adams County ballot, but the tax failed. She was determined for it to pass, and in 1998, it was back on the ballot. This time the open space tax passed and now generates millions of dollars a year. Just recently the open space tax passed for another 20 years, and Gloria has high hopes that someone is going to continue preserving the land.

Gloria has continued to preserve the area. She has been on the Adams County board for many years, and has hopes of passing the reins. Gloria knows that we cannot change everything, but also recognizes that we have the opportunity to take things into our own hands.

"People have more power than they think; they just have to know how to get there," said Gloria. She believes that we must use all of our resources, and once we do, outcomes are inevitable. Gloria loves her home, and believes she will live in the Berkeley neighborhoods for the rest of her life.

This article was first published in the April 7, 2007 issue of the Highlander.