DU Pioneers BBall Tix $5

DU's Pioneers basketball team plays Texas Arlington at 7PM on Thursday March 7 at 7PM and they play Louisiana Tech at 5PM on Saturday March 9. Tickets are $5 online for either game, using the promo code MADNESS. Or you can call the box office at 303-871-2336. (Note: all tickets are subject to applicable fees). If you prefer to buy tickets in person trot over to 2240 Buchtel Blvd., Denver.

FREE Concert at DU Wed. Jan. 25

Head over to DU's Gates Concert Hall for a FREE Lamont School of Music Concert on Weds. Jan. 25. Dr. Joseph Martin, conductor. Featuring guest artist Vincent Di Martino on trumpet. FREE admission.  No tickets necessary. FREE parking. Newman Center for the Performing Arts,2344 E. Iliff Ave.

University of Denver Medical School Scheme

The University of Denver is looking to capture a piece of the lucrative medical school market and mainstream news outlets across the city are trumpeting the good news accordingly, which means no one is asking any hard questions about how this proposed  move would impact the surrounding community.

So far, news coverage echoes DU chancellor Robert Coombe’s well-orchestrated announcement that the college is launching a feasibility study on medical school expansion. The announcement was fashioned as an email sent to DU students and faculty earlier this week, and today the happy news banners the front page of the Denver Post, which apparently was the first to officially break the story.

DU claims that its interest in medical schools is altruistically spurred by a nationwide doctor shortage, particularly a shortage of primary care providers.  It is all about the “public good” says the DU brass, again quoted by obedient media outlets across town.

However, even the sketchiest research shows that plenty of med students already exist – but they eschew primary care medicine in favor of more lucrative specialties such as obstetrics, radiology, surgery and dermatology. And in a way you can’t blame them - according to the Association of American Medical Colleges in 2010 the median debt for graduating med students was $150,000 at public institutions, $180,000 at private, and $160,000 combined. That’s a challenge to payoff on a relatively modest primary care physician’s salary. But if you were a university looking at that money…well, it would appear to be a lucrative business. Follow the money kids, and that’s where DU’s real interest lies.

Coombe is quoted in the Denver Post story as saying DU’s feasibility study will be conducted by consultants. I haven’t heard anything spelling out who, exactly, these well-heeled and highly-paid consultants are, or who they will be talking to for their “study,” but it is a foregone conclusion that the study will be pleasing to DU’s Coombe & Co.  I also feel confident predicting widespread city council support as well, especially here in District 7.

You’d like to think the quality of living in the neighborhood would be a consideration,  but it never played a major role has in past DU expansions and I don’t see why it should now. Indeed, DU has never been required to provide levels of on-campus parking or housing to match its ambitious goals.

We’d like to see the City of Denver require a connection between enrollment increases and on-campus DU housing availability, along with mitigating traffic and parking impacts on the neighborhood. (Sorry, dismissively suggesting the city implement neighborhood street-parking passes doesn’t really mitigate a damn thing. It just heaps another layer of inconvenience on local residents.)

Those of us who live here understand and appreciate the value of having a world-class educational institution in our midst. But without a plan for responsible growth DU assumes the role of neighborhood bully, forcing the adjacent neighborhood into decline.

New DU Restaurant Twisters Joins the Scene

There's a new restaurant in the DU neighborhood, Twisters. The newest link from this New Mexico chain is inhabiting the space at  1535 East Evans Ave., where once stood Carl's Jr., and before that Weinerschnitzel, and before that...well...let's just say that this spot hasn't been successful for several restaurants (an irony for those of us who remember the mighty battle Franklin Street neighbors originally waged against the site being developed as a fast food spot). Ah well.

The newly opened Twisters seems to be doing good business, with most items in the $5-$8 range. The menu features hand-held and smothered burrito options, stuffed with beans and cheese or carne adovada. The restaurant's signature burrito is topped with french fries and smothered with New Mexican green or red chile. The massive burrito and tiny enchilada we ordered was pretty good, albeit a bit tepid. The green chile was quite good, but again a bit tepid. Give them a couple of weeks to get the glitches out of the kitchen and I think they might actually win over the neighborhood. Still, competition will be stiff with Illegal Pete's, the Border and even Chipolte (the least Hispanic burrito of all, albeit yummy).

FREE Carillon Concert @ DU July 6

The University of Denver will host four more FREE carillon summer concerts at 7PM on Wednesday July 6, July 20, Aug. 3 and Aug. 17. DU's carillon features 65 bronze bells, the largest of which weighs six tons! Concert will play rain or shine. Guests are encouraged to bring their own lawn chairs or blankets.The best place to enjoy the bells is between the Williams Tower and Stapleton Tennis Pavilion, and in the courtyard at the south end of the Ritchie Center.

Andy Warhol Exhibit FREE at DU Through March 13

Don't forget to check out the Warhol in Colorado exhibition at DU, which closes on March 13. The exhibit relates to Warhol's trips to Colorado in the 1970s and ’80s. The University of Denver’s  Myhren Gallery is extending its hours from12 noon to 6PM for the rest of the exhibit, which explores the use of photography as integral to the pop art icon’s work and his social relations. Admission is FREE. Check it out! 2121 E. Asbury Ave. (off S. University Blvd.). Denver; 303-871-3716.