On The Agenda: Flooding, Colfax, Food Insecurity
New GPHC Chair Tracey MacDermott Details Plans & Goals
By Cara DeGette
GPHN Editor
Longtime Greater Park Hill Community advocate Tracey MacDermott was installed as the new Chair of the Greater Park Hill Community, Inc. during its annual October community meeting. MacDermott’s day job is Clinical Trials Manager for the department of surgery at the CU School of Medicine. In this interview, she detailed her priorities and goals for the coming year leading Denver’s oldest and one of its most active registered neighborhood organizations.
Greater Park Hill News: What inspired you to take the leadership position as Board Chair?
Tracey MacDermott: Many years ago I was asked to serve as treasurer for the neighborhood association. I reluctantly agreed to do this. [My wife] Heather and I had just gone through a re-zoning for our part of Park Hill and I wasn’t sure I had the capacity to do anymore for our neighborhood. Over the years I have seen great changes within the organization due to the hard work of previous chairs and so I owe it to them and our neighborhood to continue the work they have done.
GPHN: Describe your leadership style.
MacDermott: To lead by example. I hope that folks within our community will take on various leadership roles. You do not have to chair this organization in order to be a leader. Leadership can come through heading up a project or serving the community, as Pam Washington has done with our Food Pantry. We have many leaders within our organization and neighborhood. My hope is that we can continue to work together to continue to improve this wonderful neighborhood.
GPHN: What is your favorite thing about Park Hill?
MacDermott: The many individuals who are not afraid to speak up. Park Hill has been presented with many challenges and every time someone from this neighborhood has been a voice and a set of working hands to work through the issue. I am proud to be associated with this neighborhood and the people who live here.
GPHN: If you could change three things in Park Hill, what would they be?
MacDermott: 1) Flooding 2) Colfax 3) Food insecurity in North Park Hill. In regards to the recent floods, I hope to put together a team of people who can work on this issue with the city. Last summer’s flood won’t be the last one we see and we need to update our infrastructure in order to mitigate the damage. In regards to Colfax, I would love to work with the Business Improvement District and Hilarie Portell to make Colfax a street that is vibrant. The BID has many initiatives such as improving the streetscape and safety, which will help attract new business. I also believe that as we improve Colfax we should do this with improving our stormwater problem at the same time. Both the BID and our stormwater infrastructure will need funding. I hope individuals will be willing to work on these issues. Food insecurity in North Park Hill: we have had some dynamic individuals working on this issue. Rebecca Born, Pam Washington and Keith Brown were integral in last year’s Colorado Clinical and Translational Science Institute grant to study food insecurity in Park Hill. They truly care about access to healthy food for our neighbors in North Park Hill but they can’t do this alone. I hope we can continue their work.
GPHN: What other areas will you focus on in the year ahead?
MacDermott: I hope that GPHC can inspire others to take up new projects that help our community, no matter how large or small. As each and every one of us is a volunteer for this organization and this neighborhood, I hope others will also volunteer and take the lead on something that improves this wonderful neighborhood.
GPHN: Recent events highlight big challenges — including inadequate stormwater drainage, whether to pursue historic designation for a portion of Park Hill, affordable housing, huge increases in traffic, a growing number of people who are struggling financially, especially in northeast Park Hill. What can we do as a community organization to tackle these and other pressing issues?
MacDermott: The first thing to do is to start the conversations surrounding each of these issues and help facilitate bringing members of the community together to begin the work in order to resolve them. As you know, our newspaper is a fantastic vehicle to also make our community aware of the problems. The newspaper has already been providing important and ongoing coverage about the devastation of flooding from this past summer. We have begun the process in bringing people together to work on it. We also need members of the community to step up and be active players. I hope community members will contact us and volunteer their time and talents to help solve these problems. Members of this community have worked on many difficult issues before and they have been able to solve them. I am sure members of this community will step up again.
GPHN: How can people get involved? What help do you need to make the changes/improvements you want to make?
MacDermott: There is truly a way for everyone to be involved at Greater Park Hill. I would like every board member to find an area that speaks to them and help guide development in that area. Neighbors can help by looking at our wishlist every month (see Page 2 for this month’s details) to help keep the pantry stocked. Every Monday and Wednesday we need volunteers to help run the food pantry. Last but not least, come to our community meetings – which are the first Thursday of each month with details announced each month in the newspaper – and learn more about what we do and how you can be involved.
Note: MacDermott succeeds outgoing Chairman Dave Felice, who is returning to his previous role as an at-large board member of GPHC, Inc. MacDermott can be contacted at chair@greaterparkhill.org.