A bill for an ordinance approving the Game Plan for a Healthy City 2019, which plan shall supplement the Comprehensive Plan 2040 for the City and County of Denver. Adopts Game Plan for a Healthy City, as part of the city’s Comprehensive Plan. The Committee approved filing this item at its meeting on 4-30-19.
Please refrain from profane or obscene speech. Direct your comments to council as a whole and please refrain from individual or personal attacks. Councilwoman Ortega, will you please put Council Bill 4 to 4 on the floor? Yes, I move that council bill 4 to 4 be placed upon final consideration and do pass. It has been moved. And second in the courtesy public hearing for council bill 44 is open. May we have the staff report? Good evening. I'm Kathleen Leveque, assistant director of Parks Planning. Kathy Haines would like to be here tonight, but she has a graduation that she needs to attend. Tonight, we're presenting to you the game plan for a healthy city, which is the long term strategic plan to guide the Parks and Recreation Department. The game plan has been part of the Denver art process, which is a suite of plans coordinated from departments across the city, including community planning and development, public works and Parks and Recreation. And the plan also aligns with the new Denver comprehensive plan elements. This is provides a highlight and overview of our system. We have our mountain parks system, which has over 14,000 acres. And then in our urban parks, we have over 6000 acres. These include ten regional parks, 45 community and special use parks, as well as 137 neighborhood and pocket parks. We also have rec centers, indoor and outdoor pools, over 80 miles of trails and athletic complexes and golf courses. The game plan process began nearly three years ago, starting in summer 2016. This included robust engagement, many meetings and public review drafts of the plan. We're very excited to present the final plan here tonight for your consideration. Throughout the process. At each stage of the plan, Parks and Recreation conducted outreach and engagement through meetings, surveys, workshops, events and task force meetings. We received thousands of points of impact of feedback, and at each stage of the plan and with each public draft, we were able to incorporate and dress and address most of the comments, concerns and questions that we received. Our vision is a game plan for a healthy city. A healthy city includes healthy residents, and this means providing access and opportunities for healthy lifestyles, access to the parks so that everyone is within a ten minute walk to a park , providing something for all ages and abilities, and making sure that our our programs and the places that we create connect with people of diverse backgrounds and interests. It also includes a resilient city, which means a city that's ready for climate change adaptation, enhancing biodiversity, particularly along our waterways and our forests, and making sure that we have strong stewardship of our resources. From this vision for a healthy city, the input that we received developed into four guiding principles. Those are every drop, every person, every dollar. And uniquely Denver. And these led into our implementation pillars. This is really our call to action, how we translate a strategic plan into actions that we can carry out to make a difference in the community. Every drop translates into adapting to our changing climate and limited resources. This means water conservation, making sure that our waterways and lakes are healthy, maintaining our tree canopy and reducing our energy usage. Every person is about diversity with enhancing our programing to connect with different ages, cultures and abilities, and improving outreach and community engagement. And it's also about growing our system, including access to the parks and expanding the system. Every dollar is about reinvesting. This includes strategies that address equity. Leveraging partnerships and our funding and operations. And then, uniquely, Denver is about connecting with what makes Denver so special and unique. This includes enhancing our parkways, our tree line, streets and trails. Continuing to innovate across our system. And also providing access to nature, outdoor recreation and arts and culture. From these specific strategies, actions and recommendations follow. An important thing to note about the game plan is that it ends with a three year action plan that's very specific about what our department can do in the next three years. It also provides some metrics, and then that allows us that over time we can evaluate our progress and then plan for the following three years after that and so on. And finally, I'm available and as well as some of my other colleagues from Parks and Recreation, if you have any questions. Thank you. Thank you very much. We have eight individuals signed up to speak this evening, so I'll call the first five up if you could come up to the front bench so that we can get through everyone in a timely manner here. The first five are Florence Navarro, Chairman Sekou Jesse Pierce, Joel Noble and David Richter. If you want to come up to the front bench, that would be appreciate it. And first of all, you're up first. Good evening. Let me begin by thanking you for the opportunity to speak in support of the game plan. My name is Florence Navarro, third generation resident of North Denver. Tim attended Columbia and Skinner North School's North High School, graduated from the University of Northern Colorado and have been a member of the Denver Parks Recreation Advisory Board for many years. As a resident of Denver. I went to the recreation centers to hang out with my friends and play foosball. I also remember going to Berkeley Park to watch the fireworks from Lakeside. All our friends were there, a meeting place, great memories, a place to hang out was a good thing. But more importantly, I played organized sports and learned the importance of team and healthy life activities. I still go to Ashland and Iceland on a regular basis. My participation in the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board was a way to ensure that our youth of today have the same opportunities to learn those life skills and be able to go in there to their neighborhood centers and parks as I did. That's why I'm excited about the future of Denver Parks, and I'm asking you to support the game plan for a healthy city that is in front of you tonight. As a tenured member of Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, I had the opportunity to participate in the development of the first game plan and recently participated as one of the co-chairs of the task force, along with Darrell Watson in the three year process to develop this plan. In this process, we were thoughtful and deliberate in the discussion of the role our city parks and recreation system can have in the health of all Denver residents. Excuse me, I'll get to the second page here. Discussions to develop the vision and guiding principles were also deliberate and robust. Another key factor was equity was naturally integrated throughout the game plan. The Voices of Denver residents helped share game plan help shared in the game plan. The process included extensive outreach in the collection of input and in comments that ultimately led to the game plan as we know it today. The timing of having completed the game plan for a healthy city and the implementation measure of two was incredible and something that could not have been orchestrated any better. The game plan is what supports and is the foundation for two way. My fellow Park and Recreation Advisory Board members voted to support the game plan as I encourage you to do the same this evening. Again, thank you very much for this opportunity to speak on behalf in support of the game plan. Thank you. Next up, Chairman CQ. Good evening. My name is German Siku. Organizer, founder of the Black Star Action Movement. And. Successful candidate. For Mayor of the city, Kermit Denver. Adolf Hitler made a statement just. That if you want. Allowed to be believable. Make it big. Make it huge. And then organize the people around the lie because they're never going to look at who's going to implement it. So you say one thing over here, but in the deep background, you have people who are going to do something totally opposite. So let's talk about who is going to do this beautiful presentation and this wonderful vision. In this current election. I was arrested three times for defending it. Keep your comments on the subject at hand, which is the game's. Subject, because we're talking about the background. So I'd appreciate if you would allow me to speak without interrupting me. I'll be happy to not interrupt you if you. Thank you very much, because we're going to form the decorum, which means that there's a decorum that you have to do to allow the people freedom of speech. Do you have something to add on this issue? I have. To say, if you stop talking. I talk? You listen when you talk. I'll listen. That's cool. The core. So who's going to do this? When you defend the right of people to participate in this process equally with equity, who don't do this to you because you are silent on the issue of free and fair elections. You said nothing. And then you come here and I come in. You try to shut down the conversation. Where's the fear at? Where's the integrity at? Yeah. Hypocrisy. No democracy. Hypocrisy. So as we do this thing. Poor people have nothing to do with this because we are not organized in our plight and know we're on there because there's no process of building us up and lifting us up. So we say one thing. I'm sorry, but your time is up. Next up, Jesse Pearce. Jesse Perez, representative for Denver Homicide Law. Black Starts a movement for self-defense and Positive Action Commitment for Social Change. And I was on top of the ballot for our large almost 15,000 votes with no money. We are neither for or against this for the reasons that were already previously stated for people who are not on the table for any of this. You want to beautify the city for who? Who is this benefiting? The transplants that just moved in yesterday or actual natives that helped built this city? You did a proclamation earlier for public works. So, oh, we commend you for building the city. We can't even afford to live in this city. So really, who is this benefiting? And you keep preaching this equality equity madness. And it's not true. It's a lie. And like I said, who said, you keep telling a lie long enough, people start believing it, but it's clearly a lie. There's nothing inclusive about this plan, and this is why I spoke against this plan in the first place, because there's not nothing inclusive about the 2040 plan. And you rushed it through without giving people enough time to actually read through to what it actually is. So, yeah, we're neither for or against this, but I want the voters to know that this is not benefiting poor people at all, especially when you have an urban camper van that's criminalizing people just for surviving on the streets. You can't occupy any of these parks. So really, who is this benefiting? So in closing, we're neither for or against, but we actually do not vote yes on this because. We will show you we'll show everybody who this truly is for, and it's not for poor people. And this whole campaign, we made everything about poor people. We put us at the forefront when y'all turned a blind eye. You're going to continue to turn a blind eye because the city is not for poor people. It's more exclusively rich white folks. Thank you. Thank you. Next up, Chernobyl. Good evening, counsel. My name is Joel Noble. I live at 2705 Stout Street, speaking on my own behalf. I'm here to speak in support of adoption. Of the game plan for a Healthy City as a supplement to the. Comprehensive plan. The Plan for Parks and Recreation in front of you was developed along with the Comprehensive Plan Blueprint. Denver and the new Denver Moves. Plans as part of the umbrella of Denver. Right plans. As with Blueprint Denver, this plan has specific strategies to achieve the goals of the plan with 25 priority strategies identified and as with Blueprint Denver. The Game Plan concert includes a series of metrics which also deeply incorporate the comprehensive plan's focus on equity with all applicable applicable metrics. Having an equity overlay to focus attention on equity during implementation. As with Blueprint Denver, this plan updates a plan from the early 2000s. That plan looked out about 20 years and we're just about to the end of that horizon. This plan looks out the next 20 years. Most plans have one key goal. That if the public's heard about it, they could tell you, oh, I know that plan that has the one key goal and the one key goal from this plan that I expect the public is going to remember. Even though there's so much more to the plan. Is everyone, no matter where they live in the city, having access to a park with an easy ten minute walk, that's a goal to be proud of. And the way the plan's written, that goal was informed by equity and implementation and informed by the Blueprint Denver Growth Strategy to make wise decisions about investment in the park and make wise use of the money that the voters have recently voted on to increase our parks capacity. I ask for your support in adopting a game plan for a healthy city. Thank you. Next up is David Richter and I'll invite Darryl Watson, Leslie, Tory Gorski and Andrew to come up to the front bench. Good evening. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, counsel. Demons. David Richter. I reside in the Sphere neighborhood. I'm Councilman Clark's rep on the Parks and Rec Advisory Board. I just want to speak for a couple of minutes about my own personal observations and involvement with the development of game plan. I guess I'd say over the last several years at least, I've kind of observed the process. I've participated in it. I've gotten updates from both the department as well as the co-chairs, Darrell and Florence, who have or will speak. I think they've done a great job from the public sector to support and to steer to the best of their ability on the outside. And I really would like to thank them for their work on this project. Personally, I've participated in online surveys, community presentations, had direct correspondence with a number of members within the department. I've always felt like my issues have been listened to, addressed. I've given them lots of suggestions and I see continually that they at least appear to accept that and to really create a healthy dialog in terms of trying to assimilate comments from the public. In addition to the myriad of other. Plans throughout the other Denver write programs to integrate all this together. I think the process in general has been very open, responsive, objective, inclusive, and I'm very much in favor of the current version of game plan and I hope you will support it. Thank you. Thank you. Next up, Darrell Watson. Good evening, members of Council. Council President John Clarke. My name is Darryl Watson. I'm a 23 year resident of District nine. I'm honored to co-chair the game plan for a healthy city with Florence Navarro. Thank you to council President Clark and Councilwoman Debbie Ortega for your leadership within the task force. Thank you to each of the members of the task force that are here tonight and that have participated for almost three years on this process. I'd like to thank the Parks Recreation Employee Ambassadors. This was a unique process that included employees, too, and throughout the process. And then manager Haynes and her leadership team, specifically Dodie Erickson and Mark Taber, who managed the process for almost these three years. We ask for your approval tonight for the 20 year Parks, Recreation and Mountain Parks 2019 game plan for a Healthy City. Based on the three criteria developed by Denver City Council to consider for adoption. They are an inclusive community. Process was used and developed the second. The plan is consistent with the vision, goals and strategies of comprehensive plan 2040 and a third. The plan demonstrates a long term view. First, equity was the capstone on which our almost three year community process is built on received almost 6000 unique user inputs into this process, hosting three public forums in 11 separate locations throughout the city. This plan through the Denver AI process was co-developed with Blueprint Denver. We coordinated our efforts ensuring that we were placed appropriate focus on how growth as described within Blueprint Denver could impact our four guiding principles. Every drop, every person, every dollar. And uniquely Denver. The co-development allowed our planning process to remain consistent with a vision. Elements within comprehensive plan 2040 while building on both game plan 2003 and Blueprint 2002. Finally, this plan has a 20 year planning horizon with a clear milestones review process called the three year Action Plan. The game plan for a Healthy City has already inspired a community driven ballot initiative to finally develop a dedicated funding source for our park system. As of this moment, DPR is acquiring land to build two new parks with more to come. Thank you to Councilman Price, our president for our city council and many folks in this room for leading that charge. Manager Haines rightfully states that parks are important pieces of our city infrastructure, and we believe that this plan would lead us to a process that will ensure that this occurs. In my closing, this may be my last public hearing that I speak to, that I address two council persons that are currently on council, and Councilman Espinosa and Councilman Lopez, I wanted to thank you so much for your leadership throughout these years. I know that you've dedicated your life and your family's lives. That is great work. So thank you for all that you do and God bless you and God bless the next stage of your journey. Thank you. Next up, Leslie Tarkowski. Hi. My name is Leslie Torrey Gorski. I've served as president of the Denver Parks and Recreation Advisory Board since 2013. We've been working hard on this game plan since November 2016. And first, I need to start by thanking you sincerely, Councilman Clark, because when we first started working on this project, we had a wish list of projects that had been identified through the bond process. And frankly, it was very depressing because we knew that our game plan at that time didn't have anywhere near enough money to address our needs. So, again, thank you and Councilman Clark for leading the charge on Tuesday. And thank you to all the Denver voters who agreed to create a dedicated funding source for our parks. Now we have a plan, a great plan, and we have the funding to make our plans a reality. I respectfully request that you pass this game plan without delay. I want to thank Darryl Watts and Florence Navarro and others for spending countless hours working on this plan, including Denver Park staff, specifically Dodie Erickson, Laura morales, Yoli Quezada, Mark Tabor, Kathy Levesque and director Happy Haines for their strong commitment to the future of Denver City and mountain parks. Finally again, I urge you to pass this wonderful plan so we can get to work without delay. Thank you very. Much. Thank you. Next up, Andrew since. But thanks. I don't have a lot to add. I think everybody said a lot of great things. I just wanted to be here to voice my support for this plan. I also wanted to say thank you for adopting the Blueprint Denver plan a couple of weeks ago. I couldn't be here for that. I was a member of that task force, and I'm grateful that you were able to move that forward. So thank you for that. I just wanted to also speak to the fact that I do believe this was all the plan's blueprint and the game plan were focused on equity first. That was my perception. I think the public process could not have been better, and I really want to commend the city staff for that. I think every time I had a chance to interact with them and to see the process that they set up, I could not have been more impressed and I cannot imagine a better process . I think if I could maybe air a little grievance here briefly, it's been frustrating in this election cycle to see some candidates asking for you to delay this until after the election. It seems like that's a I remember I think four years ago I was here talking about a zoo thing or something like that. And Charlie Brown took particular issue at some of the folks who were asking for the same thing. So I think this is just sort of a right of every four year passage or something. I thank you for overcoming those appeals and I thank you for your adoption of these plans. Thank you. Thank you. Could you just state your name officially? Because my name is Andy, since I live at 1554 Forest Street in Park Hill. Thank you very much. All right. That concludes our speakers this evening. Are there any questions from members of council? Councilman Espinosa. I have a question for. Staff, I think, and I apologize. I was just trying to look research and this is related to a conversation I was having earlier today. What is the game plan talk about with respect to maintenance facilities and in in our open spaces going forward? Sure. Just to clarify, the question is at about both maintenance facilities and open spaces. Maintenance facilities located within open spaces or within parks, I should say dedicated parks. Sure. Our game plan does acknowledge that we need to keep up on our maintenance facilities and certainly we are also looking at opportunities to expand maintenance facilities. For instance, in northeast Denver, we have one maintenance shop and we have crews that have to drive tractors and other equipment on street for several miles, which is a safety concern . So we are looking at opportunities to create another maintenance shop where strategically needed so that we can best serve the parks and the residents that benefit from them. And potentially, for instance, at 47th and Walden, which is a master plan that will be coming up soon, that is an opportunity where we're looking at the possibility of a maintenance shop in that within that park space. So is there any talk in the plan language about sort of efficiency of space? You know, and granted to a wasn't known at the time the planning effort was was happening that it would be successful. Where I'm going is that, you know, we could do acquisition with the to a funds at some point does it you know is there anything in the plan language that sort of talks about looking at the facilities that are located on parks and open space and or dedicated parks? Let's talk about that and and going well, do we need all this dedicated parkland to to have these functions storing trash, storing materials, storing large vehicles and fuel tanks? Or does it actually make sense to use to a money to acquire sort of industrial lower cost industrial land to maybe offload some of those facilities? I mean, some of those those space needs and reactivate existing parkland for park pulp mill. Granted maintenance is part purpose but but actual amenity space as opposed to park, I mean, as opposed to storage and other things. So does it speak to to that notion or does parks in general, are they having this this conversation strategically? Because some of our leased most expensive parkland would actually be something that we actually already own, just recapturing it and maybe turning building a to a facility that sort of both houses, some function of maintenance and some new amenity. Sorry. Sure. So the the game plan doesn't speak specifically about any certain maintenance shops or maintenance yards to convert, but it does certainly talk about where we have undeveloped parkland or underutilized parkland that we already own to to make it usable space. And also currently or as you know, we have an a commitment that all residents should be within a ten minute walk to a park. So, for instance, if if a DPR owned property is a maintenance facility, that would not count as that ten minute walk access. We want to make sure that residents have true access to a real park amenity that serves recreational purposes. Does that answer it or. Yeah, I mean, this is something going forward as you're starting to think about this and how we do acquisition and what sort of land is available is that not all recreation facilities are open space. And so if you're looking at something that is that is is more of a hardscrabble space for a maintenance facility like that, is there is there other recreation functions that we could co-locate in that that would create, you know, growing opportunities, health opportunities in those communities sort of where we never would have expected. So yeah. And I think as a department, we are definitely looking at opportunities, certainly where we already own land and we don't have to acquire it, that we could provide more there for residents to enjoy and use if possible. So thank you. I just literally that was a conversation I was having earlier today with a constituent. Thanks. Thank you. Councilman Espinosa. Councilwoman Ortega. Thank you, Mr. President. Excuse me. I just wanted to ask. I'm not sure if, Tony, you might be the right person. Maybe. Skye, if you can tell us how many people within Parks and Rec have actually been through the recent equity training that a number of our city employees have gone through, so that when we talk about really applying the equity piece, that we actually have people that understand how to do that. So I'm not sure which of the two of you might be able to. Sort of give us a. But if you could come up to the microphone to answer it because everybody watching can't hear you. Sorry to put you on the spot. Oh, that's okay. I don't have that answer, but we could certainly get. That for you. Okay. I think that would be helpful to know so that as we move the plan forward, we have a clear understanding of how many of our especially upper management people who will be sent in the direction and in moving the projects forward. Understand the. Impact to the adjacent neighborhoods, the importance of including them in the conversation. You know, all of that that is covered in the training that is done. Right. Okay. Could you could you introduce yourself for the people. Watching you to. ERICKSEN Denver Parks and Recreation Special Projects Director. Thank you very much. And sorry to put you on the spot again. Anything else. Councilman? That's it. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Councilman Cashman. Yeah. Cathleen, when we passed a blueprint in the comp plan, we passed an amendment that included a paragraph saying that policies and processes should be designed to reduce Denver's carbon footprint, to eliminate our contribution to the climate crisis. Staff assured me it would be added to this plan as well. Can you confirm that it has been? Yes. That is part of the final plan. All right. Thank you very much. Mr. President. Thank you, Councilman Cashman. Seeing no other questions. The public hearing for Council 4 to 4 is closed. Comments by members of Council Councilwoman Ortega. Thank you, Mr. President. I first want to thank Jack Patterson for my office, who sat in on meetings that I was not able to attend. I want to thank our two co-chairs, Florence Navarro and Darrell Watson, as well as our city staff, our team of staff, people who were at all of our meetings. Tony, Yolanda. I don't know why I'm forgetting your first name, but. We had an incredible amount of people who stuck through the process for the full three year time frame that came and gave their input that were in attendance at many of the public meetings to, you know, just kind of ensure that not only the word was getting out, but that people were actually showing up to the public hearings across the city. And, you know, I think the the recommendations that are in the plan clearly reflect that broad input. And there were a lot of low income people from neighborhoods across the city. It was not, you know, something that just targeted certain neighborhoods to get people out. We were all utilizing social media to share with the public, to encourage them to come to the meetings and give their input about what they wanted to see in this game plan document. And the document actually reflects that input. So I just want to say hats off to everyone who was involved in helping to move this forward and to reflect that genuine input from the public. Thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman Ortega. Councilman Lopez. I wanted to thank all of you for your hard work, to see this thing actually be actualized. And when we talk about equity and we talk about Healthy City and looking at the entire city, and when you're talking about that, that's that's that's what gives me some confidence that this is going to actually have be a plan that doesn't just sit on the shelf. Right. It actually has legs. That's usually me, by the way. So with a different song, right? Elvis. Oh. That's so. So I, you know, I'm very happy about it. Hopefully the plan can be amended to include the Westwood Rec Center and its utilization and how we go about, you know, programing and the work that's been done on the West Side and just just connecting it to the park system and parks. Attention to the west side has been amazing in the last in the last 12 years. Right. And I think every single one of you for believing in that vision and for really working to achieve that. Right. You both have been working so hard out there, so I really appreciate that. Leslie, Daryl, everybody, you know, I just hats off to you. The crab is a. Parab is a non-paid board. It's completely volunteer, right? It's completely volunteer. You catch a lot of help and you have something that's so precious to us as as residents of Denver. And that's our parks, our parks systems, our recreational facilities. They are amazing. So hats off to you. Thank you. Thank you all for. Bringing this up. I'm sorry, Mr. President. It's like I will say, it's like I'm Sam by every time. I just. I'm just happy to see this come forward and pass. All right. Thank you. Councilman Lopez, I think you broke broke some hearts when you announced the probe was not paid. I think we have a few people who have put in decades of work hoping a paycheck was coming at some point. Councilman Brooks. Yes. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank everybody for being a part of such an important process and and really shaping our future in the city of Denver and shaping our future for progress. You know, all the other major players in in northeast Denver are in the room speaking with John Noble and their Watson and Leslie, Tara Gorski and Andy. And so I've got to vote for this and I'm just joking. But, you know, I think about District nine, I think about what the Parks Department has done in District nine, in every park in District nine has been redone. And because of that, there's revitalization and connectivity. And for you know, one of our folks up here was saying, if people can't connect to the parks, you know, what good is it? You know, it's not diverse. I challenge anyone in this room to come and see our parks in District nine as some of the most diverse, vibrant parks in the city. You can't get backyard barbecues, you can't all quinceaneras. You're going to get all kinds of stuff because it is about the inclusivity. And that's what I love about our park system is everyone matters and everyone makes a difference. And so thank everyone for for for being a part of this. You're really changing the perspective of what we look like as a city. And so I just want to thank you. Thank you, Councilman Brooks. I will just add my thank you's to staff to our task force members. I mean, look at it. Look at this back row here and the number of decades of service and dedication to this cause. What a great process. It was awesome to be a part of the task force and work with all of you and the broad community. I mean, we had some of those meetings where we, you know, there were 40 stakeholders and it was it really was all the people have been working on parks and in parks and on these issues for so long. And to see, you know, the final draft of this coming forward and know not only can we adopt this and not only is this aspirational, but now we're going to start implementing and we have the money to do that. So this is an implementable plan that is going to shape parks right away. And so it's so exciting. So thank you all for all of your time, for your effort, for taking time to be here and speak once again about the importance of this. We are lucky to have all of you. And with that, let's vote. Madam Secretary, rock on. Black eye. Brooks Espinosa. Hi, Flynn. I Gillmor I. Cashman Lopez. I knew Ortega I assessment. Mr. President. I. Madam Secretary, please close the voting. Announce the results. 1010 eyes counts. Bill 4 to 4 has passed. All right. On Monday since. On Monday, June 17, Council will hold a required public hearing on Council Bill 407, changing the zoning classification for 7698 Jewell Avenue and 1901 South Ulster Street in Indian Creek on Monday, June 24th.