Observations on Colfax Rec Center‏

Message to: Jeff Green,
Public Relations Divison,
Denver Parks and Recreation
Jeff.Green@denvergov.org

Thanks for asking for our (online survey) input on the Recreation Center on Colfax.

Would you please share copies of your research to date on demographics of the area where you intend to build the new rec center with City Park Friends and Neighbors (CPFAN)? That will help to illuminate the needs of the citizens and make for good planning.

I would like to suggest that you include services that will allow the many homeless families and children as well as the old and sick who inhabit Colfax Avenue neighborhoods, to take advantage of healthy opportunities at the new rec center. For example, showers and washing machines so they can clean up and not offend other people. Maybe the use of multi purpose rooms as day care center, shelters etc. Secure toilets that are open 24/7 would go a long way to alleviate the problem of poor, homeless people having to relieve themselves in public because there are no public facilities available. Santa Monica, CA managed to design and build secure, attractive toilets in the parks and other public places that went a long way to helping people maintain their human dignity while not offending the housed public. We need to look at the reality of our homeless population. Their numbers are not decreasing.

Just like the increasing numbers of Canadian Geese who, as a result of global warming, crowd our parks and make walking difficult due to the huge piles of goose poop, the number of homeless people is going to increase as a result of an unfair economy and tax structure. The goose poop and homeless problems are not going to go away until something is done about the underlying issues and we all know that it will be a cold day in hell before that happens. There are just too many of them, geese and homeless people, to try to hide the results of our own folly. So, we might as well take our heads out of the sand and deal with it. I am sure your research shows a growing number of homeless people around the rec center location.

By the way, I hope that Parks and Recreation isn't thinking about relocating the dog park that is now located on the land where the rec center is to be built, to historic City Park. A dog park is not an acceptable use of an underfunded, historic park that struggles to just maintain its rotting infrastructure and scale and original, lovely design. It (dog park) didn't work in Cheesman Park and it isn't right for City Park.

As a last thought, please, whatever you do, find an architect to design the rec center who has some sensitivity to its historic location. Something open and welcoming. Do not look to the people who designed the Museum of Nature and Science, who were inspired by the Soviet school of architecture, producing massive, unimaginative buildings that had absolutely no connection to their historic site. (DPR gifting them more precious park land to expand their blight was shocking.) And I would suggest that you also avoid the firm that designed the entry to the Botanic Gardens. The work looks more like the inmate visitor entrance to a federal penitentiary than anything to do with a lovely botanic garden. And run away from whoever designed the "back door" of the Zoo on the park. It has ruined that entire area of City Park. Institutional insensitivity at its worst. Just my opinion. Maybe the folks who designed Coors Field? It is a lovely structure that fits into its historic site.

We are so happy that some other deserving area of the city is going to benefit from all of the hard work you have put into City Loop. Contrary to what Lauri Danemiller might think, we in the neighborhoods adjoining City Park do care about health and fitness but we also realize that we have a responsibility to protect a beautiful, historic asset from the well meaning but misguided ideas of every politician who manages to make his way into office.

We need a thoughtful 100 year plan for City Park to protect it from political pressure and misguided, temporary fixes.

Warmest regards,

Bridget Eileen Walsh
Charter Member,
City Park Friends and Neighbors.

THAT I-70 CUT AND COVER

from Jude Aiello

Dear City Council members, I urge you to vote against the proclamation Council woman Montero will be presenting at the City Council mtg this Monday, April 7. 
After attending both the hastily arranged stakeholders mtg on Friday, March  24th (it was announced the previous afternoon), and the LUTI mtg on April 1, I was made aware of additional reasons this proclamation should be denied:  One being that it violates the Title VI Environmental justice standards as there was no meaningful outreach to the community, the other that CDOT  had put a deadline of April 1 to get a decision of support from the City in order to reach out to private sector partners (for the toll lanes planned for the I-70 projects).

Obviously CDOT is leading City Council by the nose so that it can get the funding, both private and Federal (i.e. all of us taxpayers), it needs for it's supposed 1.2 billion dollar addition to I-70.  Since the cut and cover will actually triple the width of the highway (by the time all the exits lanes, service roads and extra barriers are in place), my guess is that the price may also triple.  Below are additional reasons this proclamation should be denied:

Read more »

DENVER CENTRAL RECREATION CENTER - And then there is the question of architecture

Ed: This is the most recent info I could find - dated 6/27/2013

via Dave Felice
by Holly Joyce

A message to Jeff Green, Denver Parks and Recreation's Communication Specialist:

I do not know what you really want to find out by your Online Survey.

But I did take the survey. And as I worked my way from first page to last, I realized that it made me very uncomfortable because it felt like a restaurant menu and I was choosing what I would like to see on my plate or in our future rec center-- choices based on whimsical personal preferences, not on demographics and meticulously gathered facts about the community in which the rec center is to be built. Would you agree that proper planning and development of the site and its programming takes in-depth, scientific research?

Census, City and County data would certainly yield invaluable, timely information concerning ages, ethnicity, and economic factors about the people actually living in the surrounding areas. We are a diverse community, that's for sure, with many populations and our area is growing and changing fast. New apartments and high rise developments are being built up and down Colfax. It is becoming a popular as well as even higher-density neighborhood in which to live, work and play.

So who needs to be served by this centrally-located rec center?

Read more »

REGARDING LION DEATHS FROM CANCER AT THE DENVER ZOO

From: Gerald Trumbule 8/14/13
To: tbarnhart@denverzoo.org

I read with dismay the Denver Post story regarding the recent cancer deaths of lions at the Denver Zoo. Given your extensive use of "reclaimed" water at the Zoo (as reported on your website), and the many reports of carcinogens in that water (as reported here), I wonder if you have investigated a possible link between this "reclaimed" water and these deaths.
Please consider this a CORA request, and let me know when you have gathered documents for my inspection.
Your prompt attention to this matter is appreciated.

Gerald Trumbule
trumbule@msn.com
*********************************************************************
From: TBarnhart@denverzoo.org
To: trumbule@msn.com
Subject: RE: Regarding the cancer deaths of lions at Denver Zoo
Date: Thu, 15 Aug 2013 22:02:49 +0000

Dear Mr. Trumbule,

The Denver Zoological Foundation (DZF) is a private not-for-profit Colorado corporation that acts solely as an independent outside contractor to the City and County of Denver for the purpose of operating Denver Zoo. As such, in the opinion of our legal council, the DZF is exempt from the provisions of the Colorado Open Records Act and therefore is not legally required to provide access to any records or information.

Read more »

EQUAL PAY

9to5 News National News   April 4, 2014

What is equal pay worth to you? Is it worth $10,784 - the amount that women in the U.S. are paid less than men?  Or what about $431,000 -  the amount that the typical woman working full time will lose over the course of her career due to the gender pay gap? Pay discrimination is a real and persistent problem that continues to shortchange working women and their families across the country.  When women and their families lose thousands of dollars in critical income each year, they have less money to spend on food, gas, rent and other basic necessities, and our economy suffers as a result. What if you knew that you could help secure equal pay for women around the country?  Is equal pay worth $20?   When you become a member of 9to5 at the special rate of $20, you are directly contributing to 9to5's efforts to guarantee equal pay for equal work.    Your membership will help 9to5's work to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act.  This national legislation will eliminate loopholes that have undermined the effectiveness of the Equal Pay Act of 1963, and will protect workers who share wage information with each other. April 8th is Equal Pay Day, the day that represents how far into 2014 women must work to earn what men earned in 2013.  Join or renew your membership with 9to5 today and help put an end to gender pay discrimination. Isn't that worth $20?   In Solidarity, Linda Meric, National Executive Director

CONNECT WITH US    VISIT OUR WEBSITE NOTE: Do not use your email program to forward this message to others as it has been personalized with your account information. To spread the word about this issue, please use the ''Forward to a friend'' link below.

TRANSPORTATION SUMMIT

Police Alert - Daytime Residential Burglaries

You Stopped the Loop! Now Join CPFAN‏

Our Voices Stopped the Loop!

We came, we tailgated, we conquered!  Thanks to you, on a cold March morning at the Denver Zoo, Lauri Dannemiller announced that City Loop will not be built in City Park and No City Loop live stream.

Join CPFAN! Sign-up Available Now

Membership sign-up for City Park Friends and Neighbors (CPFAN) is open! CPFAN is the new Registered Neighborhood Organization (RNO) that brings together neighbors surrounding City Park to support and advocate for the park.
New City Council district boundaries will split City Park neighbors across several Council districts in 2015, and CPFAN will be an important way to unify our voices on City Park issues. So please join CPFAN! The website is bare bones, because we’re just getting started. Bring your voice to CPFAN to help define priorities and bring your commitment to work on behalf of City Park!

Dustin Redd Volunteer Day April 12
We don't know what the City has planned, but they have announced a Dustin Redd Volunteer Day on April 12.  Unfortunately, they've also chosen a day when the most politically active will be nominating their parties’ candidates for national and statewide elections.  Guess our elected politicians won’t be joining anyone at City Park.

If you are available on April 12, we encourage you to come to City Park.  We don't know what you'll be doing, since the City hasn’t provided specifics on what they have planned for Dustin Redd, either on the Volunteer Day or beyond. Join CPFAN to get involved in citizen-based initiatives for Dustin Redd.

As always, Thank You for supporting City Park!

SCREWED AGAIN

There will be a protest rally and march at 5:00 today (Wednesday), in Denver,
starting at Colfax and Broadway.

Today's McCutcheon v. FEC narrow 5-4 ruling just overturned nearly 40 years of campaign finance law.

The Court struck down critical limits on the amount a wealthy individual can give to candidates, parties, and committees. Prior to McCutcheon v. FEC, a wealthy donor was limited to a cap of $123,000. Now, that same donor can give more than $3.5 million.

Survey on new Colfax rec center

Hello!

We need your feedback!  In January, Mayor Hancock announced that funding had been identified, allowing the City of Denver to move forward with the design and construction of the highly anticipated Central Denver Recreation Center.

On March 5, Denver Parks & Recreation hosted a public meeting at East High School to discuss possible programming and site use of the new center, which will be located at Josephine Street and Colfax Avenue.

While this gave several members of the community an opportunity to share their thoughts, we still would like to hear from many more of you.

We know life keeps us all busy with family commitments and work schedules, so we’ve created the CDRC Online Survey  to gather additional feedback and keep our lines of communication with the community as open as possible.  With your involvement, we can better determine programming needs and understand how you envision both the current and future use of this site.   

If you can take a few minutes for a survey, it will help us plan appropriate programming and develop other features of the site.  

At the end of the survey, you can opt to leave us with some of your contact information.  When you do this, you will be entered into a drawing for A FREE REGIONAL MEMBERSHIP for one year.

This will give you full access to all 27 Denver recreation centers and 16 outdoor pools, just in time for the summer season!  At the end of the survey, simply leave your name and email address.

Thanks for your time and we look forward to your feedback.

Regards,

Denver Parks & Recreation