Another ET ballot bid lands at Denver City Hall

   
      
   
        By
          Daniel J. Chacon, Rocky Mountain News
           (Contact)
       
      
   
   

   
      Originally published 12:02 p.m., September 2, 2008
Updated 12:02 p.m., September 2, 2008
   
 

 
   

Photo by Barry Gutierrez

         
 
 
   
      

Jeff
Peckman says his goals are "clean air, healthy organic food, healthy
buildings, harmony among the different populations on our planet – and
the populations not from our planet."

   
 

Extraterrestrials are invading Denver City Hall again this week.

A proposed ballot initiative to create an Extraterrestrial Affairs
Commission in the Mile High City has been revised, triggering another
mandatory review and comment hearing with city officials.

The hearing will be at 3 p.m. Thursday in Room 391 of the City and County Building, 1437 Bannock St.

Jeff Peckman, who is sponsoring the proposed initiative, which he
plans to place on the May 2009 ballot, said the revamped proposal
ensures that commission members will be more knowledgeable about
extraterrestrials.

"We’ve set the bar higher for the people that would be on the commission," he said.

The commission would now be comprised of seven members, not 11, and
they don’t have to be Denver residents but from "anywhere in the
universe."

In addition, the selection criteria is now more stringent, he said.

"These changes will ensure that the commission produces much greater
benefit for the city of Denver because they’ll all be people who are
extremely knowledgeable about the subject of extraterrestrial
civilizations, of extraterrestrial craft," he said.

The initial proposal would have required the mayor to appoint
representatives from the departments of safety and human services, the
Office of Cultural Affairs and a member of the Denver City Council.

"It would have been a mandate to the mayor to appoint people who may
or may not actually want to be on the commission," Peckman said. "We
wanted it to be purely voluntary."

Peckman, who has gained some notoriety because of his proposal, said
there’s been a "huge shift" toward a more open and serious discussion
about extraterrestrials.

"It’s important that we move beyond the discussion of whether or not
any of these UFOs are from extraterrestrial origin because they clearly
are," he said.

"We need to start getting down to the more serious questions of why
they’re here, how can we interact peacefully and productively with
them," Peckman said.