General disorganization in Denver’s Parks and Recreation Department has led to disrepair of public property across the city, City Council members charged this week.
“As far as the parkways and medians in the city, this is the worst summer I’ve seen since I have been here,” Council President Michael Hancock said.
And he is not alone.
“Everybody seems to be having problems,” Councilwoman Jeanne Faatz said. “They just don’t seem to have it organized.”
Frustration among City Council members came as the group discussed its budget priorities for 2008, and several said the city is not getting a good return on its dollar.
That was of particular concern Monday, just days after the council learned of deeper reductions to the city budget and hours before the group approved sending a $550 million bond package – including $93 million for Parks and Recreation – to voters.
Councilwoman Jeanne Robb said she was concerned residents would see overgrown parkways and say, “And you want me to increase taxes?”
Faatz said she “went ballistic” when she found that the department had embarked on a playground master plan when a playground in her district has been delayed for a year.
“Why are we going to do planning when we can’t seem to catch up with the things that are funded?” she asked. “We are not talking about money. We are talking about management. That is management.”
And Councilwoman Peggy Lehmann said it was “really interesting that we all feel the same way.”
Parks and Recreation director Kim Bailey was not available for comment Tuesday, but spokeswoman Jill McGranahan said part of the council’s frustration stems from this summer’s hot weather.
“The majority of the grass in our parks system is Kentucky bluegrass,” she said. “One of the coping mechanisms for heat … is to go dormant, and when it does, it tends to turn brown.”
She also said the department is working to conserve water, reducing its output by 30 percent since 2001.
But Hancock said it is not just brown grass that is a problem.
“This is being inattentive to an area,” he said, mentioning parkways such as Peoria Street and Chambers Road. “A lack of water would not actually produce what we are looking at – weeds growing wildly in the medians.”
As for the playground Faatz wants built at Bates-Hobart Park, McGranahan said construction is set to begin in the fall.
“Once a playground is funded, time is still needed to plan, design and bid the project for construction,” she said. “Unfortunately, the typical turnaround for this process is more than a year.”
McGranahan said part of the master plan will look at being more efficient. The master plan is being funded with $45,000 from Denver as well as a $40,000 grant from Great Outdoors Colorado.
But Faatz said turnover within Parks and Recreation has led to the problems.
An e-mail explanation Faatz received from the department’s planning office blamed the delay on turnover as well.
“The Bates and Hobart project would have proceeded on schedule, however, we lost three project managers over a short period of time,” assistant planning director Gordon Robertson wrote.
He added: “I hope that I can convey to you that we are doing the best we can with the resources that we have and the many competing demands that a large park system like Denver’s inevitably requires.”
McGranahan said that project would be completed on time, despite the turnover.
But Hancock said the council will look for attention to detail going forward. “You find out that three or four of your colleagues are having the same problems, you start asking: ‘What the heck is going on here?”‘
Staff writer George Merritt can be reached at 303-954-1657 or gmerritt@denverpost.com.
