Otherwise, Civic Center Park is hosting a school group playing soccer on the great lawn, a church group having lunch under the red oaks, mothers picnicking with their kids after visiting the library, a few groups of friends lolling about on the grass (some smoking grass), a couple of girls playing guitar and some homeless men finding respite in the shade. What's so obviously missing are any city workers who could be using the park for coffee breaks, lunch breaks.
"The high concentration of vagrants and the perceived threats to personal safety are the most frequent complaints about the park experience from residents and visitors," reads the city's master plan. "Crime, especially drug dealing, is a persistent problem in the park."
Kenny Be
Kenny Be
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At the moment, the biggest crime seems to be how the park looks at midday. The magical quality that it took on at night has vanished, leaving the brown grass and bare dirt exposed. The sun beats down on the great lawn and glares blindingly off the Greek Amphitheatre. The only real escape is under the grove of trees near Broadway.
Still, the master plan calls for culling the trees to expose more open lawn and adding a new "gravel promenade" along the upper terrace, which sounds like bad news for shade lovers and high-heel-wearers, not to mention those who'll have to clean cigarette butts out of said gravel. On the upside, the plan also calls for removing the porta-potties and replacing them with public restrooms. It also recommends a better crossing at Colfax and 14th avenues, since cars whip around those curves as though the Grand Prix were still taking place there. The Voorhies Memorial and Seal Fountain are also up for restoration, and there's a recommendation that a new, neo-classical pavilion be built near the Greek Amphitheatre, a feature that MacMonnies conceived of nine decades ago.
It's a very ambitious wish list, and one that Libeskind is supposed to have taken into account when creating his dream for the Civic Center. But so far, no one knows what he'll reveal on June 15 -- though rumors of a 330-foot tower refuse to die. "I haven't even seen it yet," says Parks and Rec spokeswoman Tiffani Moehring. "It's going to be a surprise to a lot of people. The fun thing is, that element of surprise will be there."
Libeskind's vision could even surprise the mayor. "He saw some kind of initial conceptual ideas that were very preliminary and gave some initial feedback so that it would be consistent with the master plan," says Eichenbaum-Lent, "but we haven't seen the final proposal."
After the open house at the Colorado Convention Center, the parks department will hold a series of forums, lectures and study sessions through the summer to collect public input on the vision and determine where it works for Denver and where it doesn't. And if none of his ideas work, the city will thank Libeskind for his time and return to the master plan. "The Civic Center Conservancy raised the funds for Daniel to come up with some kind of inspiration-type plan, but if it doesn't fit, we say sorry, that doesn't fit," Moehring says. "The city will have right of refusal."
Besides, it's up to the city to figure out how to pay for whatever is done to Civic Center Park. Although Mayor Hickenlooper pushed through a bond issue to build a new justice center (complete with jail) at the park's edge, any renovations will be funded by the standard city budget, as well as money raised by the Civic Center Conservancy to finance those pieces of the master plan and Libeskind's vision that make the cut.
"Daniel Libeskind is an amazing creative thinker who can bring in some fresh ideas," Eichenbaum-Lent adds. "Perhaps they'll get people to think in ways they weren't thinking before."
7 p.m.For the first time, I am scared in Civic Center Park. One giant-ass cockroach just scuttled across the steps of the Greek Amphitheatre, inches from my toe. Now, that's some scary shit.
My fear is short-lived, however. It has started to rain, and the skies have gone dark except for a small area of sky over the State Capitol. The dome is luminous in the fading sunlight. Slowly, a double rainbow appears, one end touching down just to the south of the dome, the other to the north.
The magic is returning.
