Committed To History
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Penfield Tate and Woody Garnsey Honored With 2023 Babbs Award For Community Service
Ed. Note: Woody Garnsey and Penfield W. Tate III, who led this year’s efforts to protect the conservation easement on the Park Hill Golf Course, are the recipients of this year’s Babbs Award. The two were honored during Greater Park Hill Community, Inc.’s annual meeting on Oct. 5. The following remarks were delivered by GPHC, Inc. Board Chair Shane Sutherland.
Dr. J. Carlton Babbs was a minister at Park Hill United Methodist Church from 1955 until his death in 1978. He helped organize the Park Hill Action Committee and was a key supporter of integration in Park Hill. On the same Sunday in May of 1956, all of the ministers in the community preached sermons on the need to eliminate all the barriers to church membership and housing on the basis of race, sex or national origin.
The Park Hill Action Committee, organized and sponsored by these churches, subsequently became the Greater Park Hill Community, Inc. (GPHC). Historically, GPHC’s impact on integration, zoning, schools, justice and legislation for the community has been widely recognized.
At the time of Dr. Babbs’ death, the clergy of Park Hill met and decided that a community service award in his memory would be a fitting tribute to the neighborhood’s outstanding leaders.
This year’s recipients of the Babbs Award (rarely do we name two people in the same year) are Woody Garnsey and Penfield W. Tate III. I would like to highlight both their efforts for you.
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Woody Garnsey
Woody Garnsey is an exceptional member of the Park Hill and Denver community. Over several decades, he has made an outstanding impact in preserving our parks and open space.
Garnsey, an attorney, successfully represented the “Save the Pavilion” group in a lawsuit to preserve the City Park Pavilion for public use. At the end of 1989, Denver Parks and Recreation proposed using bond funds to develop and renovate the pavilion in City Park so it could be used as the department’s administrative offices. Several community members wanted the pavilion to remain as an open-air shelter and eating area. Garnsey represented “Save the Pavilion” in a lawsuit against the co-managers of Denver Parks and Recreation, the head of zoning, and Mayor Federico Peña to prevent the pavilion from becoming office space. Judge Clifton Flowers ruled that converting the pavilion to office space would be an illegal use of the City Park land. In 1992 the outside of pavilion was refurbished and is now listed as a historic landmark.
More recently Garnsey has fought tirelessly (and successfully) to preserve the city-owned conservation easement protecting the Park Hill Golf Course land from development. Beginning with the Clayton Early Learning “visioning” process in 2015, Garnsey has spearheaded the effort to preserve this open space. When developer Westside Investment Partners purchased the land in July 2019 subject to the conservation easement, the City and Westside sought to break the conservation easement. Through the grassroots groups Save Open Space Denver and Yes for Parks and Open Space, Garnsey led volunteers in a multifaceted campaign to protect the easement. A successful petition drive placed Initiative 301 on the ballot in 2021, to require that development of any property protected by a city-owned conservation easement be approved by a citywide vote. Denver voters approved 301 and defeated Westside’s Initiative 302, which proposed excluding the PHGC land from the citywide vote requirement.
Ignoring the will of the voters, the City and Westside forged ahead to rezone and develop the land and remove the conservation easement under Referendum 2 O. The measure was soundly defeated this spring. The conservation easement remains in place, protecting the golf course property.
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Penfield W. Tate III
A longtime Park Hill resident, Penfield W. Tate III represented Park Hill as a state legislator and continues to strive to make Park Hill and Denver a better community and city by serving as a community leader. Tate, an attorney, has worked tirelessly toward justice and fairness for all.
He has served in various public roles, including at the Federal Trade Commission, in the administrations of former Denver Mayor Federico Peña and Governor Roy Romer, and for six years in the Colorado House of Representatives and Senate. He has served on numerous boards, including the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority and the Denver Water Board.
For the last several years Tate and other community activists played an integral role in leading the charge to save the Park Hill Golf Course. In addition to assisting with the legal challenges, Tate served as the primary spokesperson for the effort appearing at countless forums, and interacting with friends, foes, and members of the press. While this issue was divisive, Tate always modeled civility and decorum — even when others did not.
Throughout his career, Tate has shown an unwavering commitment to acting with integrity, working for the common good, and crafting common-sense, pragmatic solutions.
Tate is a passionate public servant who has dedicated his career to making Park Hill, Denver, a better place for all its residents. He is also a past regular newspaper columnist for the Greater Park Hill News, and has been honored with multiple journalism awards for his keen observations of politics and civic affairs.
Working tirelessly on the Park Hill Golf Course issue, Garnsey and Tate have attended meetings, spoken to City Council, garnered resources for two lawsuits against the city, spoken to neighborhood associations, raised funds, and much more. They would say that these were group efforts, but without their energy, leadership the effort to preserve the conservation easement would likely not have been successful.
Working Toward Justice
Past Babbs Award Recipients
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Named in honor of Dr. J. Carlton Babbs, the award has been presented every year since 1980 to a resident who has made a significant contribution to the neighborhood.
1980 – Robert Hickman
1981 – Helen B. Evans
1982 – Jules H. Mondschein
1983 – Marjorie Gilbert
1984 – Madeleine Hegarty
1985 – Issac and Marie White
1986 – Karen Saliman
1987 – Art and Bea Branscombe
1988 – John and Gladys Bates
1989 – Mary Ann McClain
1990 – Henry Turner
1991 – William R. “Bill” Turner
1992 – Gerald “Jerry” Kopel
1993 – Cynthia C. Kahn
1994 – Emmett F. Wallace
1995 – Liz Cruder
1996 – Patricia B. Clarke
1997 – Dr. Robbie Bean
1998 – Lewis and Bernice Watts
1999 – Algene and Odell Holleman
2000 – Richard Pickett
2001 – Ann Long
2002 – Marietta “Jo” Mosby
2003 – Sarah Lee Foster
2004 – Geneva Goldsby
2005 – Linda L. Elliott
2006 – Bob Homiak
2007 – Roz Wheeler-Bell
2008 – Roberta Locke
2009 – Lyle Hansen
2010 – Susan Schneider Homick
2011 – Lynn Smith
2012 – Tracey MacDermott
2013 – Bernadette Kelly
2014 – Kate Sultan
2015 – Heather Shockey
2016 – Lynn Kalinauskas
2017 – Claudia Fields
2018 – Blair Taylor
2019 – The Bresler Family
2020 – LeAnn Anderson
2021 – Pastor Nathan Adams
2022 – Deb Rosenbaum