Thread: Denver park planned to give immigrants sense of community

Denver park planned to give immigrants sense of community

Posted: 06/27/2011 01:00:00 AM MDT

An new park planned for an immigrant-infused neighborhood near the Denver-Aurora border will feature two play structures, basketball hoops, an artificial soccer field and an urban garden three times the size of some others nearby.

Construction on the project begins today, with a groundbreaking ceremony at 10 a.m., and is expected to be completed by mid-fall.

The project will cost about $650,000, and all of it will be covered by grants, said Tim Wohlgenant, state director of The Trust for Public Land, a national nonprofit group promoting land conservation.

City officials and sponsors hope the park near East 13th Avenue and Xenia Street will give residents — many of whom immigrated from countries such as Somalia, Burma and Afghanistan — a sense of belonging.

"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," said Sara Davis, manager of the city's Mile High Million program, which seeks to plant 1 million trees in the metro area by 2025.

In a way, residents asked for the park.

A worker from Mercy Housing contacted Davis about three years ago and asked her to plant trees in the vacant lot near to their apartments on East 13th Avenue. Children were playing in the lot and needed shade, Davis said.

When Davis arrived at the lot filled with weeds, gravel and a small urban garden, she realized much more work needed to be done.

Even though Westerly Creek runs through the lot, there wasn't a easy way to water the plants in the urban garden, and financing a park was an issue.

"It would take us years, especially under the current budget climate, to construct a new neighborhood park," Davis said.

The Trust for Public Land stepped in to help, pulling in grants from groups including the Helen K. and Arthur E. Johnson Foundation and partnering with local organizations including Denver Urban Gardens and Great Outdoors Colorado.

Denver Parks and Recreation will oversee the construction and bidding processes. Aside from that, "we get a park for free," Davis said.

Trees will provide children with some shade, and the urban garden will double or triple in size if all goes according to plan.

Liz Navratil: 303-954-1054 or lnavratil@denverpost.com

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_18358842?source=rss

Have at the entrance where you get your ticket to come into the park an ICE booth and trailers. Check everyone entering. No documentation...come see the exihibit int he trailer---- Actually a mibile deportation van.

The national leadership talks of stripping our Social Security and Medicare...but they can afford a park named for non-assimilating immigrants? This is a crock of monkey dung....

So now separate parks for "immigrants"? This country has gone mad.