ROSS EVERTSON, PHOTO (BLOG, INFO)

Littleton, Colo. 2008

The 80216 area code has been called the most polluted zip code in Denver. Residential neighborhoods sit next to (and on top of) smelting plants that have been in operation for over one-hundred years. ASARCO’s smelting facility in Globeville had been operating since 1886. Taken to court in 1983 by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, a settlement was reached in May 1993 and the area was put on the EPA’s National Priorities List that July. Residential clean-up, which included digging up and replacing yards, was completed in 2002.

My interest in the EPA’s Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (aka, CERCLA or more commonly, Superfund) stems from a desire to clarify the nature of these areas in and around Colorado. I have no specific agenda, I do not intend this to be a journalistic exposé, it is more of an attempt to satiate my curiosity surrounding these sites.

The following photographs are from areas around the neighborhood, including the oil refinery a mile or two north in Commerce City. They are from the first visit of the most convenient site…it is hard to speak to the future of the project. I would like to visit every major site in Colo. just to get a well rounded idea of the aesthetic states of these various sites.

From the Bata Shoe Museum, Toronto, Ontario

Toronto, Ontario 2008

Pardon the shake, I was holding it on the steering wheel the entire time. This is mostly the area right after the NE/CO border on 71.

Initially when I started at the paper I wanted to jump in and redesign the whole thing. I’d still like to, but in the time I’ve been there with the new editor (who started as the same time as I did) we have just been working on the back end…Capacity building, getting the schedule to a more reasonable place, trying to figure out how to be autonomous money wise…

Of all the collateral documents that were floating around, the one that should be the most useful and informative is the shipping list, and the one that we were using was neither. It was adopted from another publication at some point. Put together in Excel it was small and hard to read. The first month I was there the issue got rearranged and it took us 2 weeks to realize we were short two pages.

I wanted to put something together that was more accessible, but would still retain all of the relevant information. I ended up making a more visual document, that illustrated spreads, basic layout, word count as well as communicating the names of the writers and artists for each article, and the due dates and acceptance of submissions.

You can see the grey blocks inside of each page which represents the space allocated for each article, and a slightly newer version also includes the word count for each space. Everybody working on the paper gets an updated copy weekly, and everyone has their own way of using the document. I need to keep track of the progress of layouts, and as I get things finished I get to cross spreads out with a sharpie so I have a very obvious read of what is done, and what needs attention. The editor uses it as a way to manage versions and locations throughout the editing process.

It hasn’t been as glamorous as redesigning the paper, but considering we are all dealing with this document all day everyday I wanted to make sure it was as pleasant and useful as possible.

Denver, Colo. 2008

Denver, Colo. 2007

…I photographed Judd Apatow? I bet he doesn’t.

Santa Monica, Calif. 2006