Letters To The Editor February 2024

Anger Was Misdirected

I was disappointed to read a letter in the January issue from a long-time Central Park resident who is rehashing the fallacious YIMBY arguments concerning the proposed development of the Park Hill Golf Course land.

As proven by three landslide votes by Park Hill residents and the city at large, the needs of this neighborhood would not have been addressed by sacrificing this land to development.

As covered in recent news articles, there is a looming glut of luxury apartments in the metro area (121,000 under construction or in the pipeline). Westside Investment Partner’s Park Hill Golf Course project would have only made the glut worse, adding at least a couple of thousand more luxury apartments, along with years of construction dust and disruption (potentially as much as 15 years due to staggered development allowed by their agreement with the city).

The real needs in housing are for workforce and affordable homes of the type that has already begun, with two major projects within walking and biking distance of the park that will someday come. Mayor Johnston has committed to make that dream happen. The need for a full size regional park for Park Hill was documented by the city’s own recent study, indicating a deficit of at least 183 acres, of which the golf course’s 155 acres would substantially fill.

The letter writer’s anger over the condition of the property is misdirected. That is fully the responsibility of Westside to fulfill their contractual obligations with the city to maintain the property as long as they own it. If they are unable or unwilling to maintain it, I can suggest a willing buyer who will. That is the real issue and worthy of angry letters to the editor and to our elected city leadership.

As to the City Park Pavilion, the letter writer apparently disagrees with the District Court judge who ruled that it was illegal to turn the historic building into headquarters offices for the Parks and Recreation Department. She also apparently hasn’t spent much time in City Park participating in or observing the many events held in the restored Pavilion and the active public uses around the Pavilion.

Harry Doby, Park Hill

Our Neighborhood Heroes

In last month’s issue, letter-writer Sarah McGregor seemed to imply that Penfield Tate and Woody Garnsey are somehow responsible for the current miserable condition of the Park Hill Golf Course land. I take exception to besmirching, even circuitously, these two extraordinary Park Hill activists.

Yes, the golf course land is a neglected disaster right now, but that’s because Westside, having lost in two elections on the matter, is pouting like a petulant two-year-old. The developer has broken their agreement with the City of Denver regarding the land’s maintenance (an agreement Westside willingly signed). And the City of Denver, as of yet, has done nothing to enforce that agreement.  Westside and the City of Denver are the culprits here, not Tate and Garnsey.

McGregor also laments the preservation/restoration of City Park’s Pavilion.  Perhaps, given that her own neighborhood, Central Park, has over 1,100 acres of parks and open space within its boundaries, McGregor doesn’t make it over to City Park very often. I do. It’s lovely to witness the Pavilion as a pre-prom meeting place for East High seniors and as an extremely popular site for quinceañera photos and wedding photos. And — my favorite — to witness the Pavilion as a place for fathers to hoist their toddlers up on their shoulders so they can marvel at the vista. So many simple, joyous moments and I am incredibly indebted to Woody Garnsey for that.

Nan Young, Park Hill

Denver’s Crown Jewel

I was shocked to read that the letter writer could not “understand how… the City Park Pavilion (has) benefitted the Park Hill community.”

Denver District Judge Flowers found in his 1990 decision that the proposed use of the pavilion as an office building did not qualify as a “legal dedicated park use.” As a plaintiff in that case, I could foresee that an office building would bring excessive traffic, exhaust fumes, parking issues and safety concerns for runners, walkers and bicyclists to the historically pastoral center of Denver’s largest park.

Today I see citizens from all over Denver using the Pavilion as a backdrop for celebrations and events like family photos, quinceañeras, weddings and jazz concerts. The view of our skyline and mountains across Ferril Lake and City Park Pavilion is known as the “crown jewel” of Denver. This did not happen overnight. Community volunteers and dedicated Denver Parks and Recreation employees worked years to raise the funds and restore the Pavilion and bandshell to the public asset that is now a fitting and well used centerpiece of City Park.

I look forward to the day when the Park Hill Golf Course will also be restored and provide another green jewel in Denver’s crown.

Patty Paul, Park Hill

Bewitched By Dowitchers

Anyone who enjoys great photography will appreciate Mark Silverstein’s beautiful images. Mark’s photo of Long-billed Dowitchers in the January issue is only one example of his extraordinary eye of capturing the essence of the world around us. We are so lucky to have him share his visions with us.

Robert and Jungoak Haddock, Park Hill

A Continuing Legacy

We want to thank you for the very excellent and timely full-page article covering Martin Luther King, Jr.’s visit to Denver and Park Hill  in January of 1964. We were honored to be a part of Dr. King’s visit, and you honored our community by reminding us all of the important message he gave us so long ago, but which we must carry with us always.

Dick  and Lorie Young, Park Hill

Core Values In Action

Your January article “A Rocky Start” about migrant housing at Mosaic Community Campus was great coverage of an important community development. I was struck by St. Elizabeth’s School Head Adriana Murphy’s thoughtful, wise and generous comments.  How wonderful it is to have in our neighborhood a highly successful school that not only proclaims but also teaches and puts into action its core values of compassion, curiosity, courage and connection.

Clark Strickland, Park Hill    

Hold Their Feet To The Fire

Thanks to Tracey MacDermott for her fine column last month that called attention to the urgent need to reduce fossil fuel emissions.  Indeed, we should all take measures to reduce our carbon footprint, conserve energy, and limit our contribution to the massive amount of waste that ends up in landfills.

Yet this being an election year, there is an additional step we can take: We must demand that every individual seeking public office answer the following questions: “Do you agree with the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that Global Warming/Climate Change represents an existential threat to life of earth, and that the predominate cause is human reliance on fossil fuels?”

Furthermore, “Will you agree to promote policies that reduce carbon emissions and expedite the transition to renewable energy sources, primarily solar and wind?”

Those who cannot give positive answers should be regarded as unqualified for public service, and those who do should have their feet held to the fire (pun intended) to ensure that public policy is consistent with the goal of limiting the earth’s temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

We have two objectives: Reducing greenhouse gas emissions (carbon dioxide and methane); and removing from policymaking those who reject long-established scientific reality and would gaslight the public for corporate and personal profit.

Frank and Jan Tapy, Park Hill

We love your letters, and give preference to those that address an issue that has been covered in the newspaper, or a topic that is Park Hill or Denver-specific. Send letters to editor@greaterparkhill.org, and include your full name, and the neighborhood in which you live. Deadlines are the 15th of each month, for the following month’s issue.