City Of Denver Constructing A New Park To Promote Community

The City of Denver is commissioning the construction of new $650,000 park today along the Denver-Aurora border. It will be entirely paid for with grants and will feature basketball hoops, two playgrounds, artificial turf for a soccer field and an urban garden.

From the Associated Press:

City officials and sponsors tell the Denver Post the park will serve immigrants from countries such as Somalia, Burma and Afghanistan and they hope it will give them a sense of belonging.

Sara Davis, manager of the city's Mile High Million said her tree-planting program was contacted by Mercy Housing three years ago. The group asked her to help bring some shade for the children playing in a weed-filled garden along Westerly Creek.

From Westword:

There was a small community garden in one corner of the lot, set up by the refugees and watered with a hose they dragged through the alley. Under shade from a clump of cottonwood trees was a cluster of abandoned couches that served as a meeting spot for neighbors. Kids played soccer in the gravel.

Realizing that what the community really needed and deserved was a park, the city made an arrangement with the Trust for Public Land--a national nonprofit organization that promotes land conservation--along with Denver Urban Gardens and Great Outdoors Colorado to help fund the park.

"It's kind of saying to this one small community, 'We're invested in you.' It's helping create a sense of place and community," Davis told the Denver Post.

Construction on the new park began today at East 13th Avenue and Xenia Street.