Update from StopCityLoop.com

From our community meeting on Dec. 6 to hundreds of your petitions, the Hancock Administration appears to have heard the voices of City Park’s neighbors:  the citizens who use the park and who care deeply about the benefits our natural City Park provides.
Parks and Recreation has declared their intention to re-evaluate City Loop and outline steps they plan to take, including hiring local landscape architect Tina Bishop, whose firm authored the 2001 study Revitalizing the Legacy of City Park, to lead the effort.
While we are optimistic about recent developments, we remain cautious, since the Hancock Administration went on the record on Dec. 19 in the Denver press saying:
“It’s our intent to build a version of this project … It’s not a bond project.  It’s what we’ve decided we want for City Park at this time.”  (Westword, Dec. 19.)
We hope that the Hancock Administration has recognized the importance of neighborhood involvement right from the beginning of the process to re-evaluate City Loop.  In fact, according to the City’s Master Plan for Play, cited by Parks and Recreation as its guideline for City Loop:
The community in each neighborhood should determine its own priorities for play areas. Denver neighborhood groups should be given the tools to do their own local assessments and work with DPR staff… (page 132, Denver Play Area Master Plan, June 2008)
It is our view that City Park needs:
A child’s playground no larger than 1 acre in size on the west side of City Park.  This could be a repair, renovation, or replacement of the Dustin Redd Playground.
Preservation of the natural character of the park.
Judicious use of General Fund monies to repair and maintain City Park, including gardens and plants, trees, playgrounds, fountains, and statuary.
Since we expect to receive an invitation to participate, StopCityLoop is pleased to announce that we have named Hank Bootz and Phil Hainline as our representatives to the City Loop design team.  We look forward to joining Ms. Bishop, the City, and the representatives named by Registered Neighborhood Organizations (RNOs) of the neighborhoods adjacent to City Park.
We will keep you informed as the process unfolds.
Editor’s note: For details of the proposed City Park Loop, see the Page 1 story in the December, 2013 issue of the Greater Park Hill News, at http://issuu.com/greaterparkhillnews.