A Thousand Cuts
City Chops Hours and Days At Rec Centers, Flowers In Public Spaces & DMV; Migrant Housing At Mosaic Campus On Hold
By Cara DeGette
Editor, GPHN
In February Mayor Mike Johnston announced that programs and hours of operation would be cut at Denver recreation centers and flowers will not be planted in public beds this year.
The Department of Motor Vehicles will also face numerous cuts. Residents will need to renew their vehicle registrations by mail, online or at kiosks instead of in person.
These cuts, $5 million in all, are just the beginning. In February the mayor announced a total of $180 million must be cut to the city budget due to the migrant crisis.
The announcement came after Denver officials were unable to secure federal funding to help pay for a massive influx of migrants. In the past year nearly 40,000 mostly Venezuelan newcomers have landed in the Mile High City. Many of them are being sent by bus by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott with little more than the clothes on their backs.
During a Feb. 9 press conference Johnston blamed Republicans in Congress, who killed a bipartisan border deal to tighten asylum rules and reduce the high number of crossings at the country’s southern border.
“It is clear that the federal government is not going to support our city,” Johnston said.
The influx of newcomers is happening as Denver has already spent tens of millions on Johnston’s program to move houseless people off the streets.
Last year the city spent $45 million — an estimated $45,000 a person — to move 1,000 people from the streets into temporary living quarters. As reported in the December issue of the Greater Park Hill News, most have been moved to former hotels along Quebec Street in Northeast Park Hill and Central Park. The Denver Gazette reported in January that Johnson plans another $50 million will be spent this year to house another 1,000 people.
Several city council members have been highly critical of Johnston’s responses to the crises. They have accused the mayor and his administration of refusing to share critical information and details about his plans. In November Councilwoman Stacie Gilmore resigned from her position as chair of the safety and housing committee.
Councilwoman Shontel Lewis, who represents portions of Park Hill, termed the latest announced cuts to recreation centers and other services as “disastrous.”
“At a moment of crumbling trust, when community needs to come together the most, cutting municipal services like our recreation centers is not the way to maintain neighborhood camaraderie,” she wrote in a February newsletter.
A schedule of the new hours of rec center operations is here: tinyurl.com/DenverRecHours.
The mayor has asked all departments to find additional cuts to programs and services. Denver Clerk & Recorder Paul Lopez, who oversees elections in Colorado’s largest city, described a request by the mayor’s office to cut $1 million from his budget — in a critical election year — as “outrageous.”
Migrant housing on hold at Mosaic
A plan to house 72 migrant families at two former dormitories on the Mosaic Community Campus has stalled, in part due to the poor conditions of the buildings.
As detailed in the January issue, the plan, coordinated by the mayor’s office, had been to move the families into Gaebe Hall and Triangolo Hall for three to nine months beginning the month before, in December.
The three-story brick structures are on the south side of the campus — formerly Johnson & Wales — at 17th Avenue and Pontiac Street. Denver Housing Authority (DHA) purchased the two buildings in 2021 for $9.5 million with the intent to repurpose them into affordable housing. But they have sat empty since then.
In February, Erin Clark, the chief real estate investment officer for DHA, said workers discovered a number of problems inside the buildings that require repairs — including water damage and elevator maintenance. In addition, the plumbing and electrical needed to be checked to make sure everything was in working condition. “Those are all the logistics that are happening currently,” Clark said.
Clark admitted being frustrated by the delays. But she highlighted the need to have better clarity on several aspects of the program, including property management and support services. She expects to have a better timeline in weeks to come, she said.
“We recognize there has been a lot of concern and confusion in the community and we apologize for that, but we’re still trying to figure it out,” she said.
When the plan first surfaced, Councilwoman Lewis and other community leaders and neighbors were vexed by what they described a maddening lack of transparency from the mayor’s office. Though neighbors expressed support and desire to welcome newcomers to the neighborhood, neither the councilwoman or the registered neighborhood organization or nearby neighbors had been notified of any details of the plan.