Denver's Cherry Creek Community At It's Finest!
There is a whole world of Technology, Entertainment and Design where ideas worth spreading inspire talks by some of the world’s greatest thinkers, and doers. Watch and listen to this video of historian and philosopher of science, George Dyson, as he takes a clear and highly researched view of our recent scientific past — while showing where it may lead us.
The Fed meets December 15th & 16th.
A growing number of analysts now predict that the economy is so weak that the Fed will have to reduce its official target to zero if it wants to jump start the stalled economy, as it said in its last policy statement.
Japan’s central bank reduced its benchmark interest rate to zero for five years, from 2001 to 2006, primarily to combat a persistent case of deflation (a broad-based decline in consumer prices) and to revive economic growth. The jury’s still out on the move’s success.
Some analysts here see signs that the United States faces a similar threat. American banks have become so decimated by losses in real estate that they are either unable or unwilling to resume normal lending practices. And as prices for oil and many other commodities have crashed during the past two weeks, these same analysts now warn that deflation might be a threat here as well.
If the Fed funds rate does drop to zero, it would not mean free money for consumers or businesses. The zero rate would only apply to the reserves that banks are required to maintain and that they lend to one another. Customers would still have to pay some
interest, but the rates could be extremely low for some business borrowers.
I.O.U.S.A., the critically acclaimed film about the rapidly growing national debt and
its consequences for the United States economy, is on the short list for an Oscar
nomination in the Best Documentary Feature category.
Directed by Sundance veteran Patrick Creadon the film is among the 15
documentary features that will now advance in the voting process designating the final
five nominees for next year’s Academy Awards.
Educators are bringing the film to their classrooms as a vital teaching tool, while
young Americans are using the film on college campuses to raise awareness among their
peers on fiscal issues crucial to all their futures.
Eerily topical and surprisingly nonpartisan, I.O.U.S.A. paints a vivid and alarming
profile of America’s current economic situation and drives home the message that the
time to begin addressing America’s financial future just may be now.
The film follows former U.S. Comptroller General David M. Walker and Robert Bixby of the Concord Coalition as they crisscross the country explaining America’s unsustainable fiscal policies to its
citizens as part of the Fiscal Wake-up Tour. The film also features candid interviews
with noted experts such as Warren Buffett, Alan Greenspan, Paul O’Neill, Robert Rubin,
and Paul Volcker, as well as with everyday citizens.
The record-setting August opening included an unprecedented town hall featuring
financial and policy experts such as Warren Buffett and Peter G. Peterson Foundation’s
Chairman Pete Peterson and CEO Dave Walker, which was beamed via satellite to over 350
movie theaters in 42 states across the country.
The Academy Awards nominations will be announced on Thursday, January 22, 2009. The 81st Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2008 will be presented on Sunday, February 22, 2009.
I.O.U.S.A. Screens at Starz Film Center, 900 Auraria Pkwy. here in Denver on Tuesday November 25, 2008, at 7:00 PM.
For those unable to attend the Denver premier, Cherry Creek Today is pleased to offer this 30-minute synopsis of the film through the film’s producers, by way of Youtube :
At 8 A.M. Eastern this morning, President George W. Bush signed into law an extension of unemployment benefits, according to the White House.
It gives seven more weeks of unemployment payments to workers who have exhausted their current jobless benefits. For those in states with the highest unemployment rates, an additional 20 weeks will be allowed.
On Thursday, the government reported the number of workers filing new claims for jobless benefits last week was at its highest level in 16 years and more than 4 million people were now receiving unemployment benefits.
With more Americans filing jobless claims than at any time since the 1992, the Senate’s passage of the House’s unemployment insurance extension legislation will help speed a few weeks of relief to more than 2 million workers who continue to search for jobs in tough economic times.
The House passed the bill in October.
6,000 loyal customers of Sonny’s Diamonds & Jewelry, 100 Fillmore St., in Cherry Creek North, received an email earlier this week, saying the once venerable retailer is going out of business.
Sonny’s building lease is ending after nearly 30 years in business, and the owners said they were unsuccessful in finding a suitable new location.
Michael Nedler started the business with his father in the late 1970s. At the time, customers’ tastes trended toward black-tie affair showpieces and high-fashion jewelry.
Sonny’s will keep its doors open until it has liquidated its entire $4 million inventory. The skittish economy, which is taking a toll on luxury goods retailers like Neiman Marcus and Saks, factored into the decision to close Sonny’s, but apparently it wasn’t the principal reason.
In his 29 years, Nedler has seen “some pretty tough times,” though he added that Sonny’s never had an unprofitable year.
“It’s certainly as tough as I’ve ever seen it,” he said. “But the one thing in business that I’ve learned is appreciate the good years because they don’t last forever, but don’t despair with the bad because they don’t, either.”
Six Sonny’s employees will lose their jobs.
Liquidation begins today with a 2.6-carat yellow diamond set among 1.3 more carats of diamonds marked down to $46,400 from $58,000. A strand of Tahitian pearls is 70 percent off its $14,000 original price, and all Oris Swiss-made watches are 20 percent off.
The United States Marine Corp Silent Drill Platoon, a model of military precision, performed at the Pepsi Center in March 2007, during half time at a Denver Nuggets basketball game. Since then, the now famous Youtube Video has received more than three million eight-hundred thousand hits.
Here’s why:
The ‘No Child Left Behind”-Blue Ribbon Award for academic excellence has been awarded to Cherry Creek North’s 320-pupil Bromwell Elementary School. This prestigious designation, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, acknowledges those who achieve and maintain a place in the top 10% academically, over a five year period.
Principal Jon Wolfer proudly points out that, “Over the past 26 years the program has honored more than 5,800 of American’s most successful schools, and now Bromwell is one of them.”
Teachers say making learning fun and teaching in small groups are keys to helping children learn. But they add that parents reading to their children in the evenings, preparing breakfasts, and getting to school on time further the learning process.
Bromwell Elementary’s test scores in reading, writing and arithmetic placed them in top positions at both the state and national level.
It’s a lot more expensive to be a real estate broker in Colorado than it was, just last week.
Following an unexpected 60 percent drop in the number of new license applications, The Colorado Division of Real Estate is increasing licensing fees. Erin Toll, director of the division, in a memo said that the division is increasing fees to fund $4.1 million in costs.
“The division is cash-funded, meaning licensing fees pay for the program,” Toll wrote in the memo. The division is increasing licensing and renewal fees for real estate brokers, subdivision applicants beginning Monday.
Toll also noted that the division does not receive any subsidy or other appropriation form the state’s General Funds.”In Colorado, all real estate programs are 100 percent cash-funded,” she said.
She called the increases “significant,” and said they needed to be boosted because fee levels have been too low for the past several years to cover program costs. it is unknown how these substantial price increases will attenuate a 60 per cent drop in license applications, but beginning Monday the Broker Original Application Fees were doubled, from $250 to $500. The Original Subdivision registration Fee was raised, from $1000 to $4000. A three hundred per cent increase. And to change the name of a real estate company, typically as a limited liability corporation (LLC), the cost has risen from $200 to $1000. New corporation, and partnership names also fall under this heading.
Director Toll went on to say, “This year, fees are only covering 65 percent of the program costs, and fees had been raised gradually to match necessary revenues, but changing trends require immediate further adjustment at this time.” Indeed.
In addition to fee increases, the division is managing program costs by such things as reducing printing and copying, permitting telecommuting by staff members, restricting office supplies, foregoing performance pay salary increases in fiscal year 2009 to 2010, and adhering to the state hiring freezes. At this time, the division is not filing several vacant positions.
Despite the agency’s belief that the number of bad guys out there has no relation to the number of brokers, Toll noted that the division is receiving an “ever-increasing number of complaints, due in large part to the housing boom and subsequent credit crisis.” She said the division has dramatically reduced the turn around time for investigations.
“Two years ago, the case back log for real estate brokers was 54 percent,” she said in the memo. “Today, the backlog is only 9 percent. To continue the division’s consumer protection mission in a timely and efficient manner, the program must be adequately funded.”
THe Colorado Association of Realtors, on its website, said it was concerned about the timing of the price increases, since “housing is at the center of our economic crisis.”
But several local brokers think the price increases are a good thing, and that the number of agents who “sell real estate on the weekends” will decline, creating opportunity for those who have truely adopted the profession.
Toll agrees.
“I think the silver lining might be that it will convince some part-timers, who might only have licenses to help family or friends to leave the industry,” Toll said. “That might mean that we only have people who are serious about selling real estate, and improve the overall professionalism. That’s good for the industry and good for consumers.”
New Year’s Eve |
Snow Etiquette, the New Rules
Shop Until, Well, the 25th and then Shop the Sales
|
Banner photo by pbo31, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license.
Before it became an art, there was a history to shaving that would take us back into the Stone Age.
Early man had discovered several ways to remove hairs from his face, but most widely known is that he simply plucked them out using two seashells as tweezers. In fact, tweezers have taken their place in history as the most popular grooming tool ever invented. Used by both “civilized” and uncivilized men to painfully remove body and facial hair. More recently shaving had become one of those glorious male traditions, to be passed down from father to son. But somewhere along the line, shaving became just another mindless morning exercise in Stone Age dignity. But things have changed.
Tucked away on the second level of the Cherry Creek Mall is the “The Art of Shaving”. Developed in 1995, it’s a classic tale of boy meets girl, and both quickly step to the forefront of what would become a revolution in Men’s Grooming. You can read their story here.
Located in the Cherry Creek Mall, at 3000 East First Ave. in Denver, “The Art of Shaving” combines traditional barber services with 21st century aromatherapy solutions and skin treatments. The shops themselves represent as the classic barber-shop, but with service and products that bring together the luxury and care a man used to expect from his favorite barber. Expertly trained technicians use quality botanical ingredients and pure essential oils to raise shaving to an art, once again.
Now the line between looking your very best, and insufferable vanity is of course razor-thin. And so, if during their famous Royal Shave, or as the scented lotions are gently massaged into your temples, you start feeling a little too precious, just think of seashells, and maybe ask for another beer.
Banner photo by pbo31, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license.
| Today | 02/06/2012 | 02/07/2012 |
|---|---|---|
 Partly Cloudy 34°/11° | Partly Cloudy 34°/14° | Partly Cloudy 27°/14° |
|
The Home Cart Team at Brokers Guild - Cherry Creek Ltd"Luxury Brokers" |
|
Are you interested in promoting your business to local customers? |
