Back in the ’60s, the Civic Center proposal was to dig up the 16-acre park, put in a vast network of underground parking, shops and restaurants, replace the greenery, and add a large circular fountain. The Denver Planning Office said: Not in our Civic Center.
For several years now, Denver’s city administration has been flirting with how it can “activate” this irreplaceable space, though the true motivation is more about getting rid of transients than improving the beloved 89-year-old park.
Now we have a proposal to move the Colorado History Museum into Civic Center across from the City and County Building. A “twin” to the existing old Carnegie Library would be built, and most of the gallery space would be underground between the two buildings, parallel to Bannock. The handsome Carnegie, now property tax offices, might become a cultural center.
The museum must relocate because the State Supreme Court wants all the block they share at 14th and Broadway, across from the Denver Public Library and the Denver Art Museum. The history museum should certainly stay in this Civic Center cultural neighborhood. But that doesn’t mean Denver should give away parkland, especially since this is our most significant site.
At the Aug. 29 relocation meeting, I asked if they had looked at Lincoln Park, state property directly west of the Capitol. They hadn’t. A week later, a high-ranking city employee suggested an even more ambitious proposal to me: Why not nestle the state history museum into the hill in front of the Capitol?
Extend the upper terrace of land at the Capitol west over Lincoln Street, forming a tunnel from 14th to Colfax, and drop the terrace down halfway in Lincoln Park. The museum would be underground, with a sweep of lawn on its roof.
In reality, neither the State Capitol hill nor Civic Center should be considered a building site. That sweep of parkland is the heart of the city, a priceless and irreplaceable oasis in an urban desert of buildings. Both city and state should do everything possible to protect and maintain this splendid space
There is another much-discussed site, the state-owned corner at Colfax and Lincoln, now a parking lot. That corner, a block from the 16th Street Mall and RTD bus center, has a great view across Civic Center to the Rocky Mountains.
The city-owned Permit Building at 14th and Bannock is being considered for the state museum too, but would have to be purchased; it’s empty, used for night housing for homeless in bitter cold. There’s little comment on where any money will come from.
The countless meetings continue: At the Colorado History Museum, 1300 Broadway, Tuesday, Oct. 2, 6 to 7:30 p.m. and Oct. 24, 10 to 11:30 p.m.; Councilwoman Jeanne Robb hosts meetings in the City and County Building, room 391, Mondays, Oct. 1, 8 and 15, from 8 to 9:30 a.m.
All discuss how they can “utilize” Civic Center, not protect it. But many Denverites want protection for this grand space, support restoring and maintaining Civic Center, and finding a valuable use for Carnegie. They’ve founded the e-mail SaveCivicCenter@aol.com to share information.
“I went to lots of Civic Center meetings,” explained Brad Cameron, who opened the e-mail site and is also a Capitol Hill United Neighborhoods board member.
“The message from the public is: ‘We love Civic Center as it is — let’s clean it up, make it safe, don’t screw it up.’ But the city seems to keep ignoring that. This gives people who want to protect love Civic Center a place to be heard.”
Or write or call Mayor John Hickenlooper; he needs to hear our passion.
Joanne Ditmer’s column on environmental and urban issues for The Post began in 1962 and now appears once a month.
