In a sluggish economy, we should be encouraging growth, right? Not in Downtown Denver.

More on that in a moment on the Face The State Radio Minute.

Denver developer “Buzz” Geller wants to build a big, beautiful high-rise apartment building in Lower Downtown. At a time when new housing starts are down and construction companies are looking for work, that’s good news, right?

You’d think so, but Geller recently pulled the plug on his project after investing nearly a million dollars in planning costs. Various unelected planning commissions, design committees and other draconian government panels have slowed the project to a halt, and he’s had enough.

It shouldn’t be that hard to build a high-rise in Downtown Denver. It’s not as if the project is an unconventional use of urban land. But no good deed goes unpunished, and the Rocky Mountain News recently editorialized against this bureaucratic nightmare. Allow me join in that chorus.

For FaceTheState.com, I’m Brad Jones.