Kate McKenna, clad in maroon and black, stood in front of a freshly painted white storefront with green accents.
The color scheme is that of the Ballpark neighborhood, which has spent the past year putting the initial pieces of its general improvement district into place. McKenna, the executive director of the GID, addressed the crowd of neighbors and dignitaries that gathered at the corner of 21st and Larimer streets last week to commemorate its one-year anniversary.
The district, financed by taxes within the neighborhood, is bounded by Coors Field to the west and 20th Street to the south, with some spillover past Broadway to the north and east.
“Like a fresh baseball, we’re going to work to stitch together Ballpark by repairing the gaps in the built environment and ensuring that itap truly a walkable urban area. … Itap going to be built for 24/7. Itap inviting and itap entertaining both day and night, while continuing to be anchored by the stadium, but no longer just existing in its shadow,” McKenna said.
Moments later, flanked by the neighborhood’s city councilman and other officials and volunteers, McKenna cut the ribbon on the Ballpark community office.
The space at 2101 Larimer St. spans 1,400 square feet. Previously home to an STD testing facility, the site has a few offices, a conference room open for community use and a break room for Ballpark Ambassadors, the neighborhood’s street cleanup and outreach team.
“The ambassador team has put up major league numbers,” McKenna said. “They have removed 22,000 pounds of litter. … They’ve power washed 300 blocks, watered 1,000 trees, had 3,000 hospitality interactions with visitors in our neighborhood, and they have helped connect over 1,750 people in need of social services.”
The district has been working over the past few months to make subtle aesthetic changes to the neighborhood, like freshly painted light poles and new signage.
McKenna said Ballpark is working to break ground on a “green infrastructure” project at 21st and Larimer. It will include planting trees, installing pennant canopies over the street and improved bike infrastructure.
The hope is that it will serve as a pilot project for the proposed 5280 Trail, a citywide trail that will run through Ballpark along 21st Street.
Long-term, the district is looking at similar improvements where Blake and Larimer streets intersect with Broadway.
“It is our Ballpark strategic playbook. … It is going to be about 85 pages, so buckle up if you’re into that,” McKenna said.
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