Denver is land-locked by the Poundstone Amendment, and can’t sprawl beyond its present boundaries, so residents may feel the pinch of too many neighbors. Our beloved city parks, free and open to everyone for 140 years, will be essential to maintaining quality of life, offering respite from built-up areas, recreation and enjoyment of nature. Open green spaces will be precious.
But these public properties are being seen as real estate instead of an irreplaceable legacy to nurture. For three years, the Hickenlooper administration’s parks department has wrestled with turning parts of some parks into money-makers, with fenced-off events that can be enjoyed only by paid admission to private, for-profit businesses. That “pay to play” policy would squander our inheritance.
The parks department also keeps trying to permit alcohol to be sold in Denver parks, even though many neighborhood groups and the police testified against it.
The proposal to show movies by a commercial group this summer in Civic Center was the tip of the iceberg, but now it’s canceled, reportedly for lack of sponsors. Considerable citizen opposition might have tipped the scales, too.
The parks department has identified 10 festival permit sites, four event facility permit sites and five special occasion permit sites in city parks, all of which could host admission-based events to benefit commercial businesses.
At a Feb. 11 meeting of the department’s advisory board, 10 representatives of 80-plus neighborhood groups registered with the city repeatedly pointed out that the Denver City Charter would not permit closing off part of any park to benefit private for-profit businesses. (Each had one minute to speak on this most significant change.) The charter states that no park nor portion of any Denver park shall be sold or leased at any time, without the approval of a majority of those registered electors in a special election.
Someone always wants to make money off public lands. New York’s world-famous Central Park, built in 1859, by 1910 had attempts to use “the waste space” for “better” uses, such as homes, businesses, burial grounds for distinguished citizens, military activities, cultural institutions, or to expand streets.
Our parks must be kept for the people, not for profit.
Of course, there are alternatives. We may need to create a specific park that can accommodate admission-based events as well as large events held by non-profit groups. The People’s Fair, A Taste of Colorado, etc., wreak havoc on Civic Center. A centrally located park with easy access, planned for large groups, could be useful.
Elitch Gardens might be a possibility. Last July, The Post ran an article on that amusement park’s declining attendance and often-changing ownership, and asked if its time were over. But it’s in a prime location in the South Platte Valley, offers easy accessibility, and high-rise housing fills the valley. Developers must yearn to acquire the park’s 67 acres.
However, Denver has a definite vested interest, too. In 1995, when Elitch Gardens moved from West 38th Avenue and Tennyson Street, the city provided one-third of its $95 million in relocation costs to help activate the run-down area.
If Elitch’s sells, the city could call in its debt, in dollars or land. What do you think?
Joanne Ditmer has been writing on environmental and urban issues for The Post since 1962.
