It’s an odd thing, getting a building named after you — while you’re still alive.
“I still consider myself very vibrant,” longtime civic leader Elbra Wedgeworth, 58, says with a chuckle. But she’s humbled that Denver officials want to rename a Five Points city building after her.
Soon the Tremont Building, 2855 Tremont Place, could become the Elbra M. Wedgeworth Municipal Building.
That’s near where she grew up and part of the district she represented on City Council for two terms, through 2007.
Formerly a Denver Human Services office, the building since fall has housed a Motor Vehicle Division branch, some administrative offices and Council District 8’s office.
A council public hearing on the renaming proposal is set for May 12
, after a committee unanimously signed off this week.
“I think it’s important in a neighborhood like Five Points that (the building name) contribute to the DNA of that neighborhood,” said Wil Alston, a city finance spokesman, when he presented the proposal to the panel.
He said Wedgeworth served on the council as “a fervent and very thoughtful representative” for the area.
Albus Brooks, the councilman in Wedgeworth’s former seat, said nearly 650 people signed a required petition in support of the renaming.
Before joining the council, Wedgeworth worked in key roles for Wellington Webb when he was Denver auditor and then mayor. Wedgeworth, a former council president, also served as clerk and recorder.
More recently, she has played key roles in Denver’s hosting of the 2008 Democratic National Convention and on the Denver Union Station Project Authority. She now works as Denver Health and Hospital Authority’s chief government and community relations officer.
“I grew up in a housing project in Curtis Park,” she said. “Coming from very poor beginnings, to be in this position has been a very humbling experience. It’s kept me grounded. … My reward has always been in the work that I do.”
Jon Murray: 303-954-1405, jmurray@denverpost.com or twitter.com/denverJonMurray
