{"id":7409,"date":"2017-05-20T21:32:27","date_gmt":"2017-05-20T21:32:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/?p=2656935"},"modified":"2017-05-20T21:32:27","modified_gmt":"2017-05-20T21:32:27","slug":"denver-420-rally-organizers-receive-3-year-ban-after-event-left-civic-center-park-trashed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/denver-420-rally-organizers-receive-3-year-ban-after-event-left-civic-center-park-trashed\/","title":{"rendered":"Denver 4\/20 rally organizers receive 3-year ban after event left Civic Center Park trashed"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/denver-420-rally-organizers-receive-3-year-ban-after-event-left-civic-center-park-trashed\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><p>Denver Mayor Michael Hancock\u2019s administration banned the organizer of this year\u2019s 4\/20 rally from hosting the event for three years citing a series of violations at the marijuana celebration.<\/p>\n<p>In a letter released Saturday, the administration identified \u201csubstantial violations of city requirements\u201d after <a href=\"http:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2017\/04\/24\/michael-hancock-permit-420-event\/\">conducting a review<\/a> of the 2017 event and imposed $11,965 in fines and $190 in damages in addition to the temporary ban.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe will continue to ensure that events in our parks are safe, compliant and of high quality,\u201d said Happy Haynes, the executive director of Denver Parks and Recreation in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>An attorney for the Denver 4\/20 rally organization called the three-year ban \u201cextreme overkill\u201d on the part of Hancock\u2019s administration and suggested the real explanation is the mayor\u2019s opposition to marijuana. He pledged to get the decision overturned on appeal.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"related right\" \/>\n<p>\u201cI think we\u2019ll be able to show \u2026 the city\u2019s motivation is to silence the message (of the event) because there aren\u2019t any actual concerns or problems, they are all technical in nature,\u201d said Rob Corry, the group\u2019s general counsel.<\/p>\n<p>The city outlined five concerns in its 11-page letter to the 4\/20 event organizers \u2014 enough to trigger the three-year ban for future event permits. The violations of the city\u2019s public event policy included four noise complaints, untimely trash removal, limited security guards, unlicensed food vendors and street closures.<\/p>\n<p>Corry disputed each issue and the city acknowledged in the letter it never notified the organizers about the noise complaints.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNone of these things remotely come close to justify revoking the event,\u201d Corry said.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2017\/04\/21\/civic-center-420-celebration-trash\/\">The trash issue<\/a> received the most attention after <a href=\"http:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2017\/04\/21\/denver-420-rally-civic-center-park\/\">piles of rubbish<\/a> remained in Civic Center Park the morning after the event concluded. The rally attracted several thousand people for the 4:20 p.m. marijuana smoke-in and a concert by rapper 2 Chainz.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLeaving the trash overnight in the park, even if bagged, is not effective or timely removal of trash from the park,\u201d the letter states.<\/p>\n<p>Corry said the permit issued for the event allowed them to continue the cleanup the day after, and in the end, \u201cwe leave the park cleaner than we received it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Denver 4\/20 rally organizers have 15 days to file an appeal, and Corry said if the violations are not overturned, then they will also consider taking the case to court.<\/p>\n<p>In the meantime, the controversy surrounding this year\u2019s festival is drawing attention from outside organizations \u2014 particularly the Centennial Institute, a think tank of Colorado Christian University, the faith-based school that stood against recreational marijuana sales in its home city of Lakewood.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2017\/04\/28\/dear-mayor-michael-hancock-end-denvers-420-rally\/\">Jeff Hunt<\/a>, director of the Centennial Institute, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2017\/03\/07\/federal-marijuana-enforcement-trump-administration-experts-questions\/74933\/\">told The Cannabist<\/a> earlier this year that his organization would become more proactive in \u201chighlighting what\u2019s happening with Colorado in the legalization of marijuana.\u201d The Centennial Institute is planning an Aug. 11 summit on that topic, featuring speakers from law enforcement, education and the medical community.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not just one thing, it\u2019s a series of things that have gone wrong with this rally,\u201d Hunt said.<\/p>\n<p>Hunt said he walked through this year\u2019s 4\/20 event and was disheartened to see cannabis consumed openly in public and in the view of children. He said he and others were concerned about reports of gunshots near the event as well as people pushing down a perimeter fence to gain access to the event.<\/p>\n<p>The Centennial Institute drafted an anti-4\/20 petition that was later circulated via email blasts, social media, radio ads, and via CCU\u2019s website. \u00a0The petition asked Hancock to disallow future 4\/20, claiming that the rallies \u201chave become unsafe, flaunting blatant illegal activity, and trashing a national historic landmark, and with incidents of a knife attack and gunshots, the rally is a threat to attendees and the people of Denver.<\/p>\n<p>Police incidents included the arrests of two individuals after at least one shot was heard a block away from Civic Center Park; five arrests at the event; civil citations given to 20 people; and a report at 10:45 p.m. of a man threatening the post-event clean-up crew.<\/p>\n<p>On Wednesday, Hunt delivered the petition and 4,091 signatures to Hancock\u2019s office.<\/p>\n<p>Colorado residents represented about 40 percent of those 4,000-plus signatories, Hunt said. It was unclear how many of those signatures were from Denver residents, Hunt said his office would need more time to tabulate those numbers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe felt like it was time to strengthen our voice and tell our mayor there\u2019s a strong contingency of people who are opposed to this rally,\u201d he said, noting that opposition is from people both inside and outside as well as prominent members of the public such as Archbishop Samuel Aquila.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Denver Mayor Michael Hancock\u2019s administration banned the organizer of this year\u2019s 4\/20 rally from hosting the event for three years citing a series of violations at the marijuana celebration. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5502,6811,6813,77,9,5019,1,3,61,1736],"tags":[5505,6816,6818,2655,5022],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7409"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7409"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7409\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}