| 8. Blueprint Denver established a holistic vision for a city of complete neighborhoods and transportation networks with a common-sense approach to new growth forged through the lens of social equity. What do you see as the role of parks in attaining this vision? | |
| MAYORAL CANDIDATES | |
| Matt Brady | Open park spaces are needed and within a convenient distance for Denver residents. Hire more park patrol officers and have more surveillance cameras in parks. Put in more dog-run sections in parks and emphasize owner responsibilities. We need simple modifications of our parks to enhance outdoor activities and avoid expensive extensive redos. |
| Jim Walsh | Parks are vital spaces where people come together in a public sphere. They also contribute greatly to the civic health of a community, providing needed spaces of quiet and reflection as our city becomes more dense. |
| Trinidad Rodriguez | High quality public realm—which can be in the form of parks, trails, green space, and/or shared streets—is important to achieving the holistic vision of complete neighborhoods. |
| Mike Johnston | Every Denverite deserves access to open spaces that are accessible, nearby, and safe. For too long, the city has put communities of color last in their efforts to build parks and open spaces and refusing to build open spaces in their neighborhoods. As Mayor, I would continue to push for equitable access to open spaces by prioritizing neighborhoods that do not currently have easy access to open spaces, and investing there first. |
| Chris Hansen | Right now, Denver lacks adequate parks space. We need to invest in parks and as the city grows we need to look for opportunities to expand the park system and make sure every neighborhood has access to these important spaces. |
| Lisa Calderón | As a former appointee of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board who chaired the Outreach Committee to infuse more community input into board decisions, I advocated with INC members for the protection parks and open-spaces. Current discussions too often propose false choices – that we must choose parks or development. Or that we must choose open-space or equity. I reject those false binaries and know that we can reimagine Denver in which both are possible. Parks play a vital role in community health, multimodal transportation, and climate solutions, among other areas. As described above, my vision for Smart Development aligns with the Blueprint Denver neighborhood, in which we develop ‘15-minute neighborhoods’ that ensure equal access to core community needs and services, which include parks. Currently parks, greenspaces, and the presence of trees are very unevenly distributed across communities. Low-income areas, and communities of color, are subject to little greenspace and a lack of trees that exacerbate extreme heat and the impacts of climate change, as well as reduce the quality of living. Parks play a central role in creating ‘complete neighborhoods’ and should be developed with a lens of social equity to ensure all communities receive the benefits offered by greenspace. |
| Kelly Brough | I support the complete neighborhoods concept and see parks as an essential element of that vision. Parks and open space are critical to so many elements that contribute to our overall quality of life – recreation and active living, climate action priorities, natural beauty. As noted in the question, this is an equity issue. All parts of our city need and deserve access to parks and open space. I endorse the Department of Parks and Recreation’s goal of ensuring all Denver residents are within a 10-minute walk of a park. |
| Renate Behrens | increase number of parks/green space as our green LUNGS. Residents in multi-family-buildings need them today more than ever. |
| Deborah “Debbie” Ortega | I am a proponent of our neighborhoods, and believe that the City got it right with changes to Blueprint Denver and the 2010 Zoning changes call for expanding housing opportunities along edges of our neighborhoods including commercial corridors, while moving to include ADU’s across the city. It’s important to change local zoning or permitting policies to allow for the building of more housing in these areas that can help increase our housing supply while balancing concerns associated with density and affordability. I will create this balance with our ongoing housing needs by continuing to prioritize development near transportation hubs that incorporate parks and open space to give people a safe place to gather and recreate. |
| PAUL NOEL FIORINO (write-in) | Those who know Fiorino and the new arrivals, know I defend our Parks and Greenspace. You will continue to see the thread of political involvement and fruition on some levels and frustration upon other concerns that a Fiorino lead Administration with a wealth of talent to choose from including those that challenge the write-in |
| Thomas Wolf | Parks are integral, as one voter told me, they are our country club. I am an active user of many, and I think they can be further enhanced if we can improve the connectivity of all our publicly owned green space: parks, schools, agencies, CDOT, et al. |
| Dr. Abass Yaya Bamba | Parks will play an essential role with more parkways. |
| Terrance Roberts | Parks keep open space for families, especially children and elderly people. Parks promote walking, running, family time, and green space is needed for mental health as well. |
| AUDITOR | |
| Timothy M. O’Brien | The voters have made it clear time and again that preserving Denver’s parks and green spaces is a top priority for the health of our neighborhoods. As a result, I have also prioritized this in my audit work. After a recent audit, I found the city was not fully prepared to sustain sufficient maintenance levels of its parks — even as management worked to acquire new park land. I made recommendations to perform consistent reviews or park maintenance and safety. Later, I directed my team to return to the Department of Parks and Recreation to see whether managers had assessed their needs, requested resources, and used a systematic approach to monitor park upkeep. Unfortunately, our audit team found only limited improvement. Ensuring Parks and Recreation is using voter-approved tax dollars as the public intended, and effectively communicating those uses with the community and other stakeholders, would give Denver voters assurance the department is expanding and taking care of the city’s park system. I hope to see additional improvement on this topic in the future. |
| Erik Clarke | Parks and Recreation serves a pivotal role to building a livable city. The City must ensure that there is equitable access to parks and recreation programs to lift every single Denver neighborhood. Your zip code or neighborhood shouldn’t determine your ability to succeed- and access to parks can make the playing field more equitable. |
