You may ask: what are the guiding principles for our Colfax Ave Streetscape Plan? View the eight principles on page 11 of the plan here. The very first one is “Tell The Story.”
Streetscape design elements should celebrate the history of Colfax – be it places, people, or stories. “Bread crumbs” of history should be experienced throughout the district by means of using signs and public art. Historic and iconic buildings also help tell the story of the corridor.
The streetscape process included collecting feedback from nine focus group sessions with various community stakeholders, online surveys, and community events — all of which provided over 500 bits of data. From this data we did a SWOT assessment (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) and began to group the feedback into a total of eight principles. The first one, Tell The Story, reflects the love that everyone has for Colfax, warts and all.
This principle is already being reflected on the street and more is to come. Our new logo is a 21st-century interpretation of the neon signs that were once ubiquitous on the Avenue. We are working with other Colfax BIDs and the City to bring neon back to the street. The banners on the street using that branding tell the world, “We are Colfax proud.” The Characters of Colfax blog, our sister website, profiles the people, places, and events that have made Colfax, well, Colfax. The BID and Historic Denver are co-hosting a forum on Colfax’s Grit & Glory on Tuesday March 20th (more details to come soon). And, this spring, Denver artist Pat Milbery is working with East High School Honor Society art students to do a series of murals along Colfax.
Next, our board of directors have begun getting prices for signage on Colfax. Our intention is amplify the Colfax branding and pride with wayfinding directional signs, monument signs at the ends of our district, and potentially branded bike racks, benches, and trash cans. While installing these signs, we’ll be considering the work that the City will be doing so as not to install something that the City needs to remove during their construction.
To that point, the Colfax Ave BID is going to implement the major streetscape elements in a fiscally-wise approach by working closely with the City. We want our installations to happen as soon as possible but we want to balance speed with minimizing construction disturbances. Also, by coordinating our installations with when the City makes safety improvements to intersections and the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system is constructed, we are able to make our BID funds go further and reduce construction disturbances.
Contact Frank at frank@colfaxave.com if you have any questions.