November 2000 Update

Hi everyone,

Well, it has been a roller coaster ride this past month.  We started out with the bad news that Public Works doesn't want to transfer the land to Parks and Recreation because they might want them for future transportation improvements.  This didn't sit well with those of us directly involved.  We met with several members of Public Works in July and they indicated that they didn't even know that the land was theirs and didn't have any plans for it, but wouldn't allow the land to be transferred without a request from Parks and Recreation.  Even after the request was made, we still couldn't make progress.  The first idea floated was that the meadow may be needed for additional lanes on Union.  This of course doesn't make any sense because it would be the shortest freeway around.  The limits to the street size are the narrow right of way through the apartments to the north and past the new medical center to the south.  Plus, the land is obviously shielded behind the bluff and just will be a significant factor.  Recently, a second idea to use the meadow as a staging area for the Austin Bluffs/Union overpass construction has been floating around.  Being more than 1/3 mile north of the intersection and across the stream, our wetlands just don't appear to be a plausible storage space for trucks and cement.  A more positive idea is to go all the way up to the church property and use it as the staging area.  Part of the land would be purchased with SKIP money and reclaimed after the construction period.

The great news is that we are making slow steady progress.  Most of the City Council is aware of our project and interested.  The local open space community is also much more aware of our project.  Steve and I were awarded a Citizen's Participation award at the Trails and Open Space Coalition annual meeting.  This is the non governmental organization supporting open space and trail projects throughout the Pikes Peak region.  They also asked for our group to have a seat on the TOSC Board of Directors and I will be helping from the inside.

We got a very positive boost several weeks later when we met Councilman Jim Null.  With the huge growth to the north of the city, the city council districts are going to be redrawn early in 2001.  Jim Null will most likely become our Councilman.  He came out for a long hike all over the properties and was very positive about taking our cause to City Council.  He was very well prepared and had done some home work before arriving.  As the plan for bringing our park to Council's attention becomes more apparent, I will bring everyone up to date.

Another very positive step for our project was recognition by Scenic America as one of their Last Chance Landscapes 2000.  We read about the program in the Denver Post one Sunday in April.  Steve put a ton of work toward our application and everyone needs to commend him on the effort.  As you start looking around the country, our project is more valuable than it first appears.  How many other big cities have 50 acres of open space right in the middle of the geographic and population centers?  Getting national recognition is wonderful because it significantly increases awareness of our project.  So Steve and I decided that it was important to jump right on it and attended the Scenic America press conference in Washington DC.  We would have made ABC World News Tonight except for all the Presidential politics.  Still, several excellent articles appeared in the Denver Post and even the Grand Junction Sentinel.  They sent photographers out to check up on us and make sure the area was really as valuable as we said.  With national recognition of the projects worth, we are continuing a full court press to try and make some significant progress.

Scot