Opinion: I Am Proud to Work at Civic Center, but I Dread This New Construction Project

In Patricia Calhoun’s October 29 Wake-Up Call, she warned that Civic Center Park was about to become a dead zone, with a massive construction project scheduled to start today, November 19. In response, a worker with the Denver Parks & Recreation Department sent a lengthy letter. We shared part in our November 6 print edition and are publishing the entire response below. (The city employee’s name is withheld on request.)

I work in the Denver Department of Parks & Recreation as a field worker, and I work at Civic Center most days. I have been dreading the construction at Civic Center for a long time now, and a lot of my co-workers are not happy as well.

Westword’s articles about Denver Parks & Recreation often feature commentary from Stephanie Figueroa, a Parks & Recreation spokesperson and, more recently, Jolon Clark, the head of Parks & Rec. Upper-level management does not speak for all of Denver Parks & Rec.  Most, if not all, the entire Civic Center crew is not happy about the closure and new construction. It is more than just being unhappy.  We are pissed off, depressed and saddened about what will happen to Civic Center.  

In one of your articles, you described the construction as a “present” that we need to wait a little longer to unwrap.  I would describe it more as a punishment, because they are going to take one of the most beautiful urban parks in the country and make it uglier.  

The rotating of the stage is completely unnecessary.  It has worked for people for years, and if you don’t like it, go someplace else. The canopy that is planned for the new stage is hideous, does not match the rest of the park, and will look like metal tentacles are sticking out of the amphitheater.  If some people have sun in their eyes, buy a canopy and erect it when you need it and take it down when you are done with it and buy some temporary chairs that you can face in any direction.  

They plan on cutting down a few trees near the amphitheater and getting rid of some of the green space, making way for more concrete as well as a new entrance (whatever that is supposed to accomplish).  All my coworkers are saddened about what is going to happen to the flower beds.  You can kiss the flower beds as we know them goodbye forever, and I am sure the public won’t be too happy about that as well. 

Some of the planned “upgrades” aren’t just ugly, they interfere with parks maintenance.  According to some of the designs, the amphitheater will have permanent benches in the center.  We use trucks to pull up to the maintenance storage because we have heavy equipment and supplies that we need to be moved around, which will not be possible with benches in the way.  It will also be harder to plow snow because we usually just use trucks to quickly plow the amphitheater, but that won’t be possible anymore.  That is just one example of how we won’t be able to do maintenance on Civic Center, but there are plenty more examples, like how there is a plan to install an elevator at our storage shed.   

When you want to punish somebody, you also take some of the most precious resources away from them.  As somebody who works at Civic Center every day, I know that people come from all over the country and all over the world to admire Civic Center’s beauty.  But now some people want to take that away (both the beauty and opportunity to admire it) while at the same time trying to find ways to get people to visit downtown Denver.  

Additionally, we just finished the 16^th Street Mall project and are still dealing with the construction on Colfax Avenue.  In my opinion, this whole project is only meant to serve a handful of people, who think it is okay to spend $50 million for themselves and treat this project like it is the most important thing right now. Denver has some real problems that need to be fixed or dealt with, and the amount that they are putting into this project is a slap in the face for those who work for the county and had to face layoffs.  It doesn’t matter where the money comes from.  We have better uses for the millions of dollars that are going to be spent on a project that we don’t need.   

Personally, I would love to have leaders who listen to both the public and workers. Instead, we have a bunch of leaders who live in their own fantasy world, where they think they are a bunch of architects who believe they know what’s best for Denver for the next 100 years.  What if they are wrong?  Then it will be the next 100 years of regret, and we would have wasted $50 million. We can all see examples of regretful renewal actions during the ’60s, with the Denver Urban Renewal program.  I don’t even think most of parks management would be here in the next ten years.  

Jolon Clark said that Civic Center “isn’t exactly what we want.” Well, Jolon, maybe you should find a new job, because it works for everybody else. Civic Center is a great park and there is nothing wrong with it ,and I am proud to work there.  And it doesn’t stop at Civic Center, because there are plans for construction on a park right off 16^th Street at Arapahoe. They want to start construction in December, something that nobody asked for. 

I am sorry on behalf of Parks & Rec. I am sorry that some people are going to ruin Civic Center, and I am sorry that some people want to spend the county’s money recklessly.  But as I said: Workers never wanted any of this to happen, and there is another side to Denver Parks & Recreation that does not get mentioned in any of your articles.