A proclamation honoring Mark Upshaw for his service to the City and County of Denver. Sponsored by Council members Robb, Faatz, Brown, López, Montero, Lehmann, and Susman.
Yes. Thank you, Madam President. Proclamation number 1504 28 honoring Mark Upshaw for his service to the city and county of Denver. Whereas Denver City Council wishes to recognize our parks colleague Mark Upshaw, who has provided thoughtful community leadership, vision and service for his 25 years working for the city and county of Denver. And. Whereas, Mark Upshaw values the importance of community involvement, he has actively worked as a neighborhood leader on the board of the Inner Neighborhood Cooperation and guided to community involvement and project delivery process for 26 streetscape projects in the 1989 bond program. And. Whereas, Mark wrote in initiated grants, resulting in a total of $377,000 used for renovations to the Mercury Montclair Civic Building and City Park Pavilion. And. WHEREAS, Mark has provided project management for nearly all of Denver's iconic park buildings and park structures, including Cheesman Pavilion and Fountain Reconstruction, Washington Park, Boathouse Rehabilitation, 2011 Fleming Mansion in Platte Park and City Park, Pavilion and Bandstand. And. Whereas, Mark Upshaw, a national leader in restroom design, developed and implemented the park's restroom master plan 2006 with prototypical design guidelines, which directed the implementation of ten new restrooms and 26 restroom rehabilitations, or, as my mark identifies them, little landmarks. Whereas Mark Upshaw, ever the outgoing personality, broke down communication barriers in the Department of Public Works in Denver Parks and Recreation. Through creation and implementation of a program used to identify, summarize and coordinate all public works projects to minimize impacts on park lands and amenities. Whereas. Mark Upshaw leaves a legacy of strategic and physical plans and studies, including the Burns Park Master Plan. Eddy Most Masters Park Vision Design and Implementation Restroom Master Plan 2005 and Recreation Center Assessment. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed by the Council of the City and County of Denver, Section one, that the Council of the City and County of Denver congratulates and celebrates Mark for his long, distinguished career in service to the preservation and improvement of Denver's parks, historic resources and unique public amenities in Section two that the Clerk of the city and county of Denver shall a test and a fix the seal of the city and county of Denver to this proclamation and that a copy be transmitted to Mark Upshaw. Thank you. Councilwoman Robb, your motion to adopt? Yes. I moved that proclamation for 28 series of 2015. Be adopted. Thank you. Comments by members of Council. Councilwoman Robb. Thank you. Called my name before I rang in. It really is a pleasure to recognize Mark at the time of his retirement. I first met Mark thinking back as Councilwoman Layman did just a few minutes ago, but I first met Mark when I was working in Council District five for the Honorable Paul Phillip flowback, and I barely knew what the mockery was. And they were trying very hard to find the use for that Montclair Civic Building, which has been beautifully restored and is now used for a number of events, including once at Council Christmas party, as I recall. And then Mark and I have shared over the time I've been in office both real plans, real construction problem projects, not problems projects, and actually some great dreams, some of which have it all taken place, whether for Cheesman or Pulaski Park. But they're still out there most recently for Burns Park. So it's it's my pleasure to support this proclamation, to read it and ask for your support. Thank you. Councilwoman Robb, Councilwoman Fox. Thank you, Madam President. Mark. I deeply appreciate all of your areas of expertize. Every single one she mentioned. And I also am very grateful that you, a resident of Southwest Denver. You make us proud. Thank you. Any other comments? I also would like to take the time to say hi. Marc and I first worked together when I was at Parks and Recreation and. And we worked on the Eddie Masters Park, which is located in the Ball Park neighborhood, and there were many, many challenges with that space. And you were open and helped us work that through. Hopefully, that space now is it's turned into a community garden. We have a new pavilion and it's had its ups and downs in terms of and it's currently in an up position regarding the park and the issues that exist there in the ballpark area around that particular triangle . But I want to say that I want to thank you so much, because as the elected outgoing elected official for District nine and working in the ball park neighborhood that many times, our strength is only as strong as the city workers that we have that help us. We can never do any of that alone. And you helping us find the funding and doing the master plan, especially for Eddie Masters Park. It has been it's been it's been a positive change to the neighborhood. So I want to thank you. You know, look like you should be retiring. I can't believe that it's 20, 25 years or starting over. But thank you so much, Mark. And thank you, Scott Gilmer also and Laurie, for all of the support that you've been able to lend to all of our districts with Mark. So thanks. Thank you again. Madam Secretary, roll call, please. Rob I. Shepherd i. Brown. I. Fought I. Liman i. Lopez Ortega. Madam President. I. Madam Secretary closed the voting and announced the results. Eight eyes. We have eight eyes. Proclamation for 28 has been adopted. Councilman Robb, is there someone you'd like to call up to the podium? Yes, thank you. Council President Monteiro, I'd like to ask maybe a couple at least of the parks guys in blue shirts sitting out there. I'll start with our deputy director of Parks and Recreation, Scott Gilmore. Come on up, Mark and Mark. So thank you very much. Council members. I'm Scott Gilmore. I am the deputy executive director of Parks and Planning. I have had the joy of working with Mark for quite a while. I was actually on the Parks Board for eight years, Parks and Rec Advisory Board, and I got I've got to work with him on a lot of different projects. The one thing that really I enjoy about Mark is, you know, I can come in and most people don't think I get down, but you know, there's days that are tough and you know, you come in and you see Mark. And he was always a joy to see because he was always happy and he was always he took a pleasure into coming into the office and really helping people enjoy the park system. He would go and go that extra mile for those residents and their concerns about the park system. So I just really, really have enjoyed working with him and I don't know if people understand that this gentleman right here has one of the most amazing photographic eyes in the world. He has taken some some of the most amazing images of our park system that I've ever seen. If you walk into our Parks Department and you go to where the managers offices, there's a very, very large picture of City Park of the Prismatic Fountain. Mark Upshaw took that picture. It is huge. And if you walk around our department, there are some very, very beautiful images of Alamo Casita and Cheesman Park and other images of and just other buildings in our park system. And Mark has taken all those pictures and donated those pictures to our department. So it's just been amazing to be able to work with this gentleman. And he's taught us so much. So I think Mark Upshaw would like to say a word. Mark Taber I'm sorry, are these Mark's Mark's work? I'm Mark Taber, Assistant Director Planning. And Mark, I had the pleasure of working with you for a number of years in capital projects and design and construction and I have two. Mark already knows this, but you'll never find a public employee that that not only takes his job as seriously, but also kind of embodies the soul of the city, both in its history and in its culture, as Mark does. And so it's just been an inspiration to work with you and and a great pleasure. Thank you, sir. Thank you very much. I really can't find the words to express how happy I am and how grateful I am. And I'm especially grateful that you mentioned the restroom master plan. Jane Reiber I lobby to do that. I want you to know that. And at the time it was done, it was the only one in the country. So we set new territory there. I think I'll just be I'll just say I open my heart to all of you. I thank you from the deepest part of my being, the highest part of myself. I love you. And I love this city. Thank you. Resolutions. Madam Secretary, will you please read the resolutions. From infrastructure and culture? 364 A resolution accepting and approving the plot of Tower 160 Subdivision filing number two. Thank you, Bill, for your introduction. Madam Secretary, will you please read the bills for introduction.