Those denizens of downtown Denver without the foresight to take vacation time during the Democratic National Convention, are paying the price in inconvenience, delays and uncertainty.
The police have conflicting orders on what street is open when, and where it is legal to walk and where it isn't. If you want to do something and don't like the answer from one officer, go ask another one and you'll probably be allowed. With the main drag into downtown Denver, Speer Boulevard closed, and other lesser streets in various stages of restriction, the smart locals stay far from downtown.
Those intrepid souls who ride the bus or light rail are even more lost. Schedules have been turned upside down, as well as stations closed close to downtown. One downtown worker who normally has a one block walk from the light rail stop to work now has 11 blocks--each way.
The press seeks out the happy people, who are gaa-gaa over having so many celebrities in town, so to watch TV or listen to the radio, you'd think everything is ducky. This is just the first day, so you can imagine how thin patience will be after four more days of this.
Particularly pathetic to see are the professional protestors trying to whip something up in the parks and the caged-in area where they are allowed near Pepsi Center, site of the conventioin. Many of them are downright elderly, and their shopworn cliches from the 1960s and 1970s have gotton old along with them. The public long ago saw the folly of the protests and attempts to foment violence, and gives them short shrift. They are wasting everybody's time.
To see the media, you'd swear everybody was singing FDR's old tune, Happy Days Are Here Again. But if you actually live and work in downtown Denver, it's a whole different matter.
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