City Council - Regular Meeting

Hey, Denver. It's time for the weekly general session of your Denver City Council. Tonight's coverage of Denver City Council starts now.

Thank you for taking the time to join us for Denver City Council's meeting. Today is Monday, 04/27/2026. Tonight's meeting is being interpreted into Spanish. Sam or Jasmine, would you please introduce yourself and let our viewers know how to enable translation on their devices?

Yes. Of course. Thank you. Hello, everyone. My name is Sam Guzman, joining you virtually through Zoom.

And along with my colleague, Jasmine, we will be interpreting today's meeting into Spanish. Please allow me a quick minute while I give instructions in Spanish on how to access interpretation. And thank you very much.

Thank you very much, Sam. Welcome to the Denver City Council meeting of Monday, 04/27/2026. Council members, please join council member Gilmore in the pledge to leave this.

Pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic for which

it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Councilmembers, please join councilmember Gilmer as they lead us in the Denver City Council land acknowledgment. The Denver

City Council honors and acknowledges acknowledges that the land on which we reside is the traditional territory of the Ute, Cheyenne, and Arapaho peoples. We also recognize the 48 contemporary tribal nations that are all or that are historically tied to the land that make up the state of Colorado. We honor elders past, present, and future, and those who have stewarded this land throughout generations. We also recognize that government, academic, and cultural institutions were founded upon and continue to enact exclusions and erasures of indigenous peoples. May this acknowledgement demonstrate a commitment to working to dismantle ongoing legacies of oppression and inequity inequities and recognize the current and future contributions of indigenous communities in Denver.

Thank you. Madam secretary, roll call.

Council members Parity?

Here.

Alvidrez? Here.

Flynn? Here. Gilmore?

Here. Gonzales Gutierrez? Here. Heinz? Katzman? Lewis? Here. Romero Campbell? Here. Sawyer? Here. Torres? Here. Watson? Here. Madam president Sandoval? Here. 11 members present.

11 members present. Council has a quorum. Approval of the minutes. Are there corrections to the minutes of April 20? Seeing none, the minutes stand approved. Council announcements. Are there any council announcements this afternoon? Council member Alvidrez, start us off.

Thank you so much, council president. I just wanted to take a moment to acknowledge that pouring of concern that my office and I know others have gotten about the Asia Center in District 7 potentially being just demolished and the small business impact there. And I just want people to know that we are working with community to find ways to work together and find a resolution that's good for everyone. And we will be at the meeting that will be held this Wednesday, the twenty ninth at 2PM. Please contact my office if you want to attend district7@denvergov.org. Thank you, council president.

Thank you. Council member Watson.

Thank you, madam president. I wanted to state again. I think last Monday, spoke to the number of folks within our communities that are dealing with senseless gun violence. We've had three individuals that have been shot and and killed in District 9 only solely. We had another person that was shot on Friday near about two blocks from my house in the Whittier community.

We wanna thank the neighbors in the Cole neighborhood for hosting a community dialogue specific for our Cole neighbors and folks surrounding to have a a place of space to speak to what they're feeling and how they are dealing with this, and also to hear from Denver police on the steps they're taking to make sure that families are safe and that they are protected. Wanted to inform folks that we there will be another meeting this Friday at in Curtis Park for five points for community members that want to engage in dialogue. And then this Saturday from ten to 12:00 at the Clayton Early Learning on on Colorado and MLK.

We're having

a discussion with Denver police led by the Colorado Black Roundtable, senate president James Coleman, and many others, the community members, faith communities, as well as Denver police will be there to provide an update on what's occurring and will be also be there to answer questions and discuss next steps and to help to elevate community thought on things that we can do together together to combat this. I want to share clearly to neighbors. There are neighbors who are feeling scared, feeling sad. What you are feeling is fine. You have a right to feel how you are in your community.

Know that our community, city council members were here to listen to you and here to move forward on things we can go do together to reduce this crime. So on Saturday, please come out to the Colorado black roundtable from ten to twelve at Clayton Early Learning to speak, to listen, to heal, and to get clear next steps from Denver police and all of the city partners that will be there on to hear your thoughts and to take some action. Thank you so much. Thank you, madam president.

Thank you. Council member Flynn.

Thank you, madam president. This Saturday is the first of what we hope will be every weekend, every Saturday through October of the new Harvey Park Farmers Market. This is a complete volunteer effort. I'm very impressed with the the energy in the community to put this together. Local vendors, local products sought out specifically because they are locally produced.

And so it will be every Saturday morning from this Saturday, May 2 until the October at the Kunz Miller Creative Arts Academy in the middle of Harvey Park at on the North Northeast side of the school at Patton And Iliffe. And so come on out. There'll be music. There'll be crafts. There'll be food, produced goods, and enjoy yourselves over 50 local vendors. And we'll see you there. Thank you.

Cool. Councilmember Gonzalez Gutierrez.

Thank you, madam president. I now I'm forgetting which week we're in, but I can't remember

if

it was last week or the week before. But I wanted to congratulate council president on your receiving of the North High School alumni I know we forgot. North High School alumni award at the at the alumni North High School alumni dinner. You know, the alumni association at North High School gives out millions of dollars of scholarships every year to students at North High School. It's really amazing.

I think they said they have around almost $3,000,000 right now in their coffers for her to give out for scholarships. So it's really it's a good organization, and and they continue to support the North High School community and the broader North Denver community. And the award was was for that. It wasn't just about the school, but it was about the Greater North and Northwest Denver community.

Council member Gilmore. Thank you, council president.

I also wanted to share that on Sunday, April 12, approximately 10:20PM, there was a shooting in Green Valley Ranch that resulted in a homicide, and the family and police are looking for any leads, that might, lead to arrest and justice, for Dia Carter, and her family. This gun violence throughout the city, is definitely impacting, every part of the city, and I think it's important that we continue to speak out, on this and encourage, folks to talk to their folks. And, you know, if you have guns in your household, make sure you have gun locks. Make sure that you're locking them up. Make sure that you're not leaving them in your vehicle overnight because that's the only way you think it's safe, reach out reach out to a council office.

We're not gonna report you to DPD. We want you to be able to lock up your weapons safely so that they don't get into the wrong hands. And then as we approach warmer weather, I encourage constituents to be very vocal with mayor Johnston. This is mayor Johnston's job to make sure that we have appropriate funding for parks and rec programs, for sport programs, for science projects, to fund nonprofits that are community led and community based so that there is already a built in trust to make sure that we can keep everybody in our city safe, especially as we're seeing this uptick in violence. And if you see something, say something.

We need everybody to be helping us make sure that our city is safe. And if you have a park that you think is too dark or a section of your neighborhood with public transit, reach out again to your council person so that they can work with the proper entities to light up those places. I think there's a false narrative that is being perpetuated across our city that police and that surveillance is the only thing that will keep us safe. That is not true. That is false.

Police are reactive. Youth programs, mentoring programs, all of our other programs are proactive in helping families, helping others get access to resources. And so I don't want the public to think that the police are always going to keep you safe. We in community need to keep others safe. And so just wanted to make sure that that was being brought forward knowing that people are worried, rightly so, but that you have more power in your community to to do something and to help out and so wanted to inspire folks to do that as well. Thank you, council president.

Thank you. Council members. Thank you so much.

I just wanna see you.

Thank everyone who had the opportunity to come to one of three meetings that councilman Gonzalez Gutierrez, myself, and council member Parady hosted regarding sentencing. So thank you for the discussion. It was deeply appreciated. And then the second is to thank everyone who had the opportunity to attend our community panels over the weekend. I'm gonna shout out to my staff member, Jesse Carey, and his work in his leadership and ensuring that our communities have a voice in developing our budget priorities. So thank you.

Thank you. So this Friday is the grand opening of Larasa Park. We hope to see you there at 04:30. We will have a mariachi band from Brent Webster, traditional blessing ceremony, and also keep an eye on the weather. 75% chance of rain. So bring an umbrella or a weather or a rain poncho, but just come out. It's It's gonna be great even if it rains. Alright. Seeing no other announcements in the queue. There are no presentations. There are no communications. There's one proclamation being read this afternoon. Council member Watson, would you please read proclamation zero five seven one?

I move that oops. I don't wanna move it yet. Let me read it first. Proclamation number two six zero five seven one, recognizing the Colorado Spartans and honoring the team's commitment to community accessibility accessibility and athletic excellence. Whereas arena football is a fast paced, high scoring professional indoor sport that provides athletes with a competitive platform while delivering an engaging fan first experience that blends sport and live entertainment.

And whereas Denver has a distinguished arena football legacy, including the Denver dynamite, champions of the inaugural arena bowl in 1987. Y'all were around 1987. I know I was. That's when I moved to Denver. And Colorado Crush, who I love and loved Arena Bowl champions in 2005, establishing the Mile High City as a historic center for the sport.

And whereas the Colorado Spartans were established as a National Arena League franchise in 2023, began play in Loveland, Colorado, and have since relocated to the Denver Coliseum. Returning professional arena football to Denver and building on the region's strong football tradition. And whereas the city and county of Denver is recognized as one of the premier sports cities in The United States and the addition of Colorado Spartans further strengthens Denver's identity as a dynamic destination for sports, entertainment, and community centered events. And whereas, Denver Coliseum serves as a historic and accessible civic venue that provides residents and visitors with the opportunity to experience professional sports in an intimate high energy setting that emphasizes connection between players and fans, and whereas the Colorado Spartans are committed to delivering an engaging family friendly fan experience that combines the intensity of professional football with interactive entertainment, in game fan engagement, player accessibility, and community centered programming designed to welcome fans of all ages while championing and investing in youth, public health, resilience, and well-being across the communities they serve. And whereas arena football provides one of the most successful forms of professional sports entertainment, offering opportunities for family, youth, and community members to experience live sports in an inclusive and affordable environment.

And whereas the Spartans roster features accomplished athletes playing quarterback Paxton Lynch, 2025 NAL defensive player of the year, Sam Hammond, and standout wide receiver Steven Newbold, who collectively represent excellence in athletic performance and sportsmanship. And whereas the Colorado Spartans are committed to building strong ties across Denver and a broader region by supporting youth engagement, pro pro promoting health and wellness and fostering community connections through sport. And whereas home games at Denver Coliseum contribute to local economic activity by supporting nearby restaurants, small businesses, and hospitality establishments while activating the surrounding communities and reinforcing Denver's vibrant entertainment economy. And whereas the Spartans leadership, including owner Tony Thompson, has demonstrated a clear vision to establish a team as a lasting civic asset rooted in community connection and long term impact across the Denver Metropolitan Area. Now therefore be it proclaimed by the Denver City Council that the Denver City Council recognizes the Colorado Spartans as a valued and welcome member of Denver's professional sports community and section two that the clerk and recorder of the City And County Of Denver shall affix the seal of the City And County Of Denver to this proclamation and that a copy be transmitted to the Colorado Spartans and the National Arena League.

Thank you. Council member Watson, your motion to adopt.

I move that proclamation two six zero five seven one be adopted.

It has been moved and seconded. Comments by members of council. Council member Watson.

Thank you, council president. I just wanna share. I am a massive arena football fan. I used to go bonkers for the Colorado crush, go to almost every one of their games. I've ridden my bike over to the Coliseum several times since y'all opened up. Y'all allowed me to ride on a field in a what was it? It wasn't a Ferrari. Was the ones with a the a McLaren to ride on a fields and a McLaren to deliver the opening ball for arena ball last year, and I love it to death. The thing I love the most is the accessibility. The amount of kids running around screaming their heads off during the game, just loving the excitement and the fun of, sports, within our community.

It is amazing. We have professional players at all levels that are with our team, and look forward. I know you made it to the playoffs last year. Let's make you a champion this year. Let's go all the way. I am ecstatic, excited, and so happy to put forward this proclamation for my Spartan fans and Spartan crowd and Spartan professionals. So thank you all for all the good you do in GES and throughout our neighborhoods. Thank you, madam president.

Thank you. Madam secretary, roll call.

Council members Parity? Aye. Aventis? Aye.

Flynn? Aye.

Gilmore? Aye. Gonzales Gutierrez? Aye. Aye. Lewis? Aye. Romero Campbell? Aye. Sawyer? Aye. Torres? Aye. Watson? Aye. Madam president Sandoval?

Aye. Madam secretary, close the vote and announce the results.

11 ayes.

11 ayes. Proclamation zero five seven one has been adopted. We now have five minutes for the proclamation acceptance. Council member Watson, who will you be invited enough to accept the proclamation?

I'd to ask Tony Thompson to come on up for your Colorado Spartans. All

right. Well, good afternoon. Good afternoon, Madam President, Councilman Watson, Denver City Council. It's truly an honor to be here before you guys today. On behalf of the Colorado Spartans, our players, our coaches, dancers, staff, and families, thank you for recognizing our organization.

When I brought the Spartans to Denver, you know, we didn't just bring a football team. You know, we brought a commitment to the city. We brought a commitment to its families. We brought a commitment to showing up and being positive role models for the youth. And now, I would say we're proud to be a part of the National Arena League, but more importantly, building this as a small business the right way.

We're building it one fan at a time, one family at a time, and one relationship at a time. You know, everything that we do is intentional. We build something, we're building something that's family friendly, it's affordable, and it's built around entertainment. We want every person that walks into the Denver Coliseum to feel like they belong. Denver already knows what arena football could feel like if for those who were around in '87, I was in '88, maybe, but the Denver dynamite, and then the successful Colorado crush as well.

And so fans remember that action packed arena and feeling really close to the entertainment, and that's what we're bringing back. But, you know, this is bigger than football. It's something that, it gets kids active and it gets them off the sidelines into the game, whether it's football or we have some amazing dancers as well, whether it's football or dance, or any activity that builds confidence and teamwork. Our players and our dancers understand that this is something that we we we take very important because our our players and our dancers are not just performers, but they are role models, and it's something that they take very seriously on and off the field and in the community. We believe in building something building strong and safe communities, touch on what you guys were talking about.

This is why our final game on May 30 is themed Colorado Strong Communities Night. And it's a night that we recognize first responders, nonprofit organizations, and community leaders who work every day to keep Denver strong and safe and connected. Now, vision is simple. We want families in Denver to be able to afford professional sports experience. We want kids to meet the players, get the autographs, and believe in something that's bigger that that's possible for these kids.

We want the Spartans to be come a part of the rhythm of the city. We want a place where people can come together, feel connected, and be proud to represent their hometown. We are grateful to play at the Denver Coliseum. It keeps us connected to the communities. Every fan who walks through those doors, they also help support local restaurants, small businesses, and the surrounding neighborhoods. If you've never experienced arena football, I know councilman Watson's been there a couple times, but I'm a tell you this. It's high energy. It's interactive. It's built for fans. Our players dance not as good as our dancers do, but I tell people if you catch a football, you can keep that.

But if you catch a player, you're throw him back into the game. Alright? You know, we're not you know, I tell people as the Spartans, we're not just building a fan base. We're building good partnerships to support the neighborhoods. And I wanna just I wanna thank this council for welcoming us, believing what we're building, and recognizing the impact our team like ours can have. And thank you again for this for for this honor. You know, as as someone who comes from the Yankton Sioux Reservation in South Dakota, this is an honor, and I'll I'll never forget it. So thank you. Thank

you.

Madam secretary, please read the bills for introduction. Introduction.

From the finance and business committee 26 dash zero three six seven, a bill for an ordinance approving a proposed funding and assignment agreement between the city and county of Denver, Denver Health and Hospital Authority, DHHA, and DHHA Westside Clinic, QALICB, to provide vibrant and bond proceeds for DHHA to construct a new Denver Health Sam Sandoz Westside Family Health Center to provide affordable medical services and increase availability of care in Council District 3. And from the health and safety committee, 26 dash 0492, a bill for an ordinance approving a proposed intergovernmental agreement between the city and county of Denver and and University of Colorado hospital authority to provide care, treatment, and supportive services to individuals living with HIV and AIDS in the Denver transitional grant area, TGA, citywide. Thank you. Council members, this

is your last opportunity to call out an item. Council member Gilmore, will you please make the motions for us this evening? Yes, council president. You. Now I will do a recap. Under resolutions, council resolution zero four nine one has been called out for a vote vote by council member Gonzales Gutierrez. Council resolution zero five six nine has been called out for comments by council member Lewis. Council resolution zero four seven nine has been called out for comments by council member Gilmore. Under bills for introduction, no items have been called out. Under bills for final consideration, no items have been called out.

Under pending, no items have been called out. Madam secretary, please put the first item on our screens. Council resolution zero four nine one, a resolution approving a proposed contract between the city and county of Denver and Larasa Services Inc to provide care, treatment, and supportive services to individuals living with HIV AIDS in the Denver transitional grant TGA citywide. Council member Gilmore, would you please put council resolution zero four nine one on the floor for introduction for adoption.

I move that council resolution 26 dash zero four nine one be adopted.

It has been moved and seconded. Comments by members of council on council resolution zero four nine one. Council member Gonzales Gutierrez.

Thank you, madam president. I just told that so that I can abstain from the vote just because of fam familial

relationships? Yeah.

I'm sorry. I might might sign a drink say yes.

Madam secretary, roll call on council resolution zero four nine one.

Council members, Parity. Aye. Aldidres? Aye. Flynn? Aye. Gilmore? Aye. Gonzales Gutierrez?

Yes, same.

Lewis? Aye. Romero Campbell? Aye. Sawyer? Aye. Torres? Aye. Watson? Madam president Sandoval?

Aye. Madam secretary, close the voting, announce the results.

Nine ayes.

Nine ayes. Council resolution zero four nine one has been adopted. Madam secretary, please put the next item on our screens. Council resolution zero five six nine, a resolution authorizing and approving the expenditure and payment from the appropriations account designated liability claims. The sum of $80,000 and no cents made payable to Kolishke Law plc in full payment and satisfaction of all claims related to the civil action captioned Paul Turner versus Samuel Powell Powell, which was filed in for in the district court for the city and county of Denver case number 2024C v 034013.

Member Lewis, please go ahead with your comments on council resolution zero five six nine. Thank you.

So after a consistent feedback from my constituents, I see it as my responsibility to ensure that the public is aware of every tax dollar being approved as an expenditure and payment of funds for a settlement with the city and county of Denver. My office is tracking every dollar by department and has a running total. With your approval of 260569 tonight, the city will approve settlements in the amount of $80,000 to settle cases brought against the Denver Police Department. The approval of these items tonight brings the twenty twenty six total for taxpayer dollars and city settle settlements to $559,500. This funding is drawn from a liability claims pool of money that is refilled when necessary from the city's general budget and does not come out of agency specific budgets.

We must therefore pay extra attention in this budget environment that we are watching out for how the city spends our money and that we are making decisions for the future with this knowledge. Thank you.

Thank you. Councilwoman Gilmart.

Thank you, council president. I appreciate my colleague calling these these liability claim settlements out and tracking the amount that the city pays out on them. I'm sure that a lot folks have been tracking in the news recently the almost 15,000,000 that has been awarded to George Floyd protesters. And I just want to remind the public that these settlement dollars, by the time they get to us, there has been a lot of front end work that has been done. But most importantly, in the city and county of Denver, we have the office of the independent monitor.

And the office of the independent monitor is, for all intents and purposes, the police watchdog group that is a city agency that makes sure that the police are following proper protocol to reduce officer involved issues, especially use of force. And so that is important because last week, there was a meeting with the citizen oversight board, which is a group of community members just like anybody that would be watching the city council meeting that they have applied to be a member, a volunteer member of the citizen oversight board. And so last week, there was a meeting of the citizen oversight board, and it turns out that it was admitted in the transcript that anybody can go watch that there are no privacy laws on the books for drones that were gifted to Denver Police Department. And so this came up a lot during the conversation with counsel on the Axon Axon cameras because they also do our body worn cameras, and they do our tasers. And so in that meeting, it was admitted that we don't have privacy laws for the drones, but what I want anybody who's listening this to take away is that there was a policy change, a rule change that was implemented by the Department of Safety on April 14.

It has since been rescinded. I say that with confidence because I was on the road this afternoon and I called Chief Ron Thomas and asked him what is going on with this because we pay these out. They are taxpayer dollars, these liability claims. The George Floyd protests are liability claims that are paid by your tax dollars, the public. And so, there was a change that was suggested on when tasers will be deployed, active aggression or defensive resistance.

Now there was a lot of conversation amongst this council during the George Floyd protests about whether or not a cell phone is a weapon. And so if I raise my cell phone and I'm recording, that is one thing. If I pull my arm back to throw it, that is another thing. But the Denver Police Department is not including the citizen oversight board, the office of the independent monitor, thereby the department of safety, fully informing this city council what they are doing. And so we have got lots of questions, and so I just wanna bring that forward for the public because this is our job as counsel is to ask these questions so it reduces the officer involved uses of force so we're not paying out your hard earned tax dollars for these settlements.

Thank you, council president.

Thank you. Madam secretary, please put the next item on your screens. Council resolution zero four nine seven, a resolution approving and providing for the execution of a proposed grant agreement between the city and county of Denver and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment for the Colorado Natural Resources Trustees Rocky Mountain Arsenal Recovery Program and the funding therefore. Council member Gilmore, please go ahead with your comments on council resolution zero four nine seven.

Thank you. This is a project that is being funded, through the natural resource, damage funds that were created, when the attorney general sued the US Army and Shell Oil Company for dumping pollutants into unlined basins out of the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge. Denver Parks and Rec applied for a grant that they are proposing to naturalize the entire length of 56th Avenue on the south side of the roadway and Chambers Road from 56 all the way to I 70. And so we have gone through a pretty good process, I think, with the Denver Fire Department to ensure that Parks is not planting plants that might catch fire easier, thereby putting those single family homes at risk along that entire stretch of 56th Avenue and Chambers Road. I also just recently talked with the Denver Fire Department, and they are interested in looking at doing some volunteer based training for community members to maybe help out with alerting them to any urban wildfire risks that we might see in large open spaces across the city.

And so I wanted to make sure that my constituents knew where we were at with that process and all of the protections that had gone in. Thank you, council president.

Great. Councilwoman Sawyer?

Thank you, madam president. I really appreciate council member Gilmore bringing this up. This is a question that we receive from our Lowry residents pretty frequently as well because of all the Lowry open space that is directly across from single family homes. And especially this year, given the risk of fire wildfire that's happening because of the drought, you know, this is something that our residents have been really, really concerned about. And I just wanna thank Parks and Rec, and I wanna thank the Denver Fire Department.

Both of those agencies have been on the phone with my office, are doing outreach to our constituent, having conversation with them actually tomorrow night. So if you're resident of East Park Lowry and you would like to join us tomorrow night, please do online, 05:30. But I just wanna acknowledge all of the work that they have done in partnership with our office on this, and I I really appreciate it. And I know that our residents really appreciate it too. So thanks for bringing in up council member Gilmore. Thanks. Thank you.

This concludes the items to be called out. All bills for introduction are ordered public. Council members, remember that this is a or block vote, and you will need to vote aye. Otherwise, this is your last chance to call out an item for a separate vote. Council member Gilmore, will you please put the resolution for adoption on the floor?

Yes, council president. I move that the resolutions be adopted in a block for the following items. Twenty six zero four three six twenty six zero four eight seven twenty five dash seventeen three six twenty six dash zero four eight four twenty six dash zero four eight eight twenty six dash zero four eight nine, 26 dash zero four nine zero, 26 dash zero five six nine, 26 dash zero four nine seven, twenty six six dash

zero two five four, 26 dash zero two five five, 26 dash zero two five six, 26 dash zero two five seven,

twenty twenty six dash zero two five eight, 26 dash zero two five nine, 26 dash zero two six zero, 26 dash zero two six one, 26 dash zero two six two, 26 dash zero two six three. The rest series of 26, zero two six four, zero six two five, 0 60266, 0 267, 0268, 02690270027102720273027402750276027702780279, 0280, 0281, 0282, 0283, 0284, 02850286028702880289029002910326047304740493049404950496. And that is it. You.

Move has been moved and seconded. Madam secretary, roll call.

Council members, Parody. Alvidrez?

Aye.

Flynn? It's a I

p r o.

Gilmore? Aye. Gonzales Gutierrez? Aye. Lewis? Aye. Romero Campbell?

Aye.

Sawyer?

Aye.

Torres? Aye. Watson? Aye. Madam president Sandoval?

Aye. Madam secretary, close the voting, announce the result.

11 ayes.

11 ayes. The resolutions have been adopted. Tonight, there will be a required public hearing on council bill zero three zero two three zero for classification for 4211 North Hooker Street in Berkeley neighborhood, and a courtesy public hearing on council resolution zero four seven one, approving a proposed agreement between the city and county of Denver and Dream Center to occupy and provide programming at the former Global Rec Center in Council District 9. If there are no objections from members of council, we will recess until 05:30. Before convening the regular meeting, city council will provide a half hour general public comment session to hear from the public on city matters except for any matter that is scheduled for a legally required public hearing.

The general public comment session will begin at five. You.

Hey, Denver. Here's what's happening around the mile high this week. Bring your gently loved reads to fiction beer company for a book swap. It's the perfect way to keep your pile fresh. Bring two or more books and leave with at least two new ones. Show up by 6PM to get first pick from the selection. This free market is filled with local vendors and eco conscious inspiration. Explore the vendor market, enjoy live music, and sip on themed cocktails. Plus, don't miss out on giveaways like pollinator packs, hotel stays, and more. This gentle class combines principles of Vinyasa and Hatha yoga and linking the movement with breath.

Sequences include sitting, standing, and inverted postures and suggest challenging variations for more advanced students, yet fun and non intimidating options for newer students. At Local Listens, playwrights share two short plays inspired by the stories of our LGBTQ community. This reading is part of the new play cycle from spark of inspiration to development to stage reading where you can participate in the process. Following the reading, there will be a host facilitated conversation on the themes and topics expressed in the plays. Get ready for an adrenaline pumping night of live pro wrestling action in the beer hall.

Witness jaw dropping moves, intense rivalries, and electrifying entertainment. It's the most fun you can have in Denver on a Friday night. Bierstadt Lagerhouse brings you all the action from high flying aerial maneuvers to bone crushing submission. The mini derby is back. Get your best dress on and check out the horse races, corgi races, plus live music and entertainment all day.

There is going to be a best dress contest for men, women, couples, and even a best hat category. To top it all off, you'll also get bottomless mint juleps. Get into the Cinco de Mayo spirit with a limited time taco crawl. This walking tour hits four taco spots across the city with a lineup that mixes old school local staples and newer favorites worth knowing. It's less tourist checklist, more great tacos, and a reason to spend an afternoon eating your way across the city. Stay up to date with what's happening in Denver by following Today,

please join us at our next session or submit your comments in writing. The next session will be held on Monday, May 4. Sign up again at 5PM on Thursday, April 30. We look forward to hearing from you again, and thank you for attending. Madam secretary, do we have to wait two minutes to start till 05:30?

Yes. Okay. I

think Flora is. I think Flora. Flora, she's

Captain Ami is.

Alright. Council will now convene reconvene from our earlier session. There is no unfinished business from the earlier session. There are no proclamations being read this evening. We have one required public hearing and one courtesy public hearing this evening. As a reminder, council members need to turn their video on during the vote. For those participating in person when called upon, please come to the podium on the presentation monitor on the wall. You will see your time counting down. For those participating virtually when called upon, please wait until our meeting host promotes you to speaker. When you are promoted, please accept the promotion, turn on your camera if you have one, and your microphone.

All speakers should begin their remarks by telling the council their names and cities of residence, and if they feel comfortable doing so, home addresses. If you have signed up to answer questions only, state your name and note that you're available for questions of counsel. Speakers will have three minutes. There is no yielding of time. If translation is needed, you will be given an additional three minutes for your comments to be interpreted.

Speakers must stay on topic of the hearing and must direct their comments to counsel as a whole. Please refrain from profane or obscene speech and refrain from individual or personal attacks. Council member Gilmore, will you please put council bill zero two three zero changing the zoning classification for 4211 North Tucker Street in Berkeley on the floor for final passage?

I'm hearing that council bill 26 dash zero two three zero be placed upon final consideration and do pass.

It has been moved and seconded. The required public hearing for council bill zero two three zero is open. May we please staff the staff report?

Good afternoon, counsel. My name is Admiral Ramos Alcillo. I'm here with Community Plan Development, and I'm here to present the rezoning for the aforementioned property at 4211 North Hooker Street. Quick agenda for the presentation as most of you are familiar with. We'll start with the request, move on to location and context, which is just existing conditions, then we'll talk about the process for this rezoning to date, then lastly, the the review criteria that was used to analyze this rezoning request.

The property is 12,500 square feet or about point 29 acres. Currently on the site, there is a single unit home and a detached garage. The property is located in Council District 1 in the Berkeley neighborhood, and it is zoned P u D five four seven surrounded by exclusively u s u c c o six. So that's urban single unit c conservation overlay six. The proposed rezoning is to align the property with the surrounding Zone district to go to USUC C 06.

This conservation overlay is meant to preserve the low scale residential neighborhood, And in this case, it's also referred to as the Bungalow Conservation overlay. So the allowed building forms are the urban house, and there is a tandem house that is also allowed. However, that is on select sites, but that does not apply to this property. Similarly, we look at the land use, and it is predominantly single unit. There are some two unit and multiunit uses in the area.

However, the block is primarily single unit. The the building form and scale, as we could see, the the the site itself is in the bottom right with the red arrow, and it is covered by a lot of trees. There's a lot of trees in the area, specifically for this site given the PUD or PUD's requirements. And then to the north, we see a similar building form with just single unit or single and a half story buildings with pretty decent lot size yards. The process to date, we had the informational notice for this rezoning back out in December.

Planning board was noticed in February and heard also in February. There was a unanimous vote to move this forward with votes eight to zero. Then we had the committee hearing back in March, and today we are here. Today, we have not received any r and o letters outside of what was received during the engagement process, and we have also not received any comments from the public. The the review criteria will start with the consistency with adopted plans, starting with comprehensive plan 2040.

There are a number of vision statements that are met through this proposed rezoning. So they are providing housing that is close to transit. They are promoting infill developments where it is already allowed, and then they are offering a mix of housing, which could be facilitated with the allowance of an ADU if on this property. With Blueprint Denver, it is remaining consistent requesting urban. That is what the u stands for in the USUC.

They are consistent with the residential low that is predominantly single and two unit uses. And then with the growth area strategies, it is accommodating the 20% of housing growth that would be coming into the area. Lastly, there is there are additional strategies in Blueprint Denver that call to rezone properties from former chapter 59 into the current Denver zoning code, which this property does. And then by implementing our citywide adopted plans, it is in it is acting in public interest. And then lastly, looking at the consistency with neighbor context, zone district purpose, and intent statements, it is meeting all of those statements.

Similarly, it is meeting the purpose statement of the conservation overlay for the Harkness Heights area. So based on the criteria for review in the Denver zoning code, staff recommends approval of the of the application 2025 rezone zero zero zero zero zero one six by the full city council. And the property owner and the representative are also present to answer any questions.

Thank you. I think that was the quickest CPT. I was like, wow. Okay. This is a rarity. We have no individual signed up to speak on council bill zero two three zero this evening, so we will move to questions from members of council on council bill zero two three zero. Council member Flynn.

Thank you, madam president. After I read the staff report, and I just wanna make sure I understood that it seems to me that approving this rezoning makes that property fit in exactly with the rest of the neighborhood because the PUD allowed for one use. And because of that, they cannot build an ADU in the back because it's a PUD, not SU. Exactly. So yeah. So

the PUD was written explicitly for the theater that used to be there in the basement, and then it had limitations on what the accessory structures could be used for. And then with this rezoning, they are just facilitating the opportunity to build the ADU if they were if they were ever interested in that. So, yeah, it's it's couldn't move forward.

Yeah. Rezoning from many years ago that stands in the way of the owner doing what everyone else is doing around them. So thank you. That's that's what makes sure I understood.

Thank you.

Seeing no other questions. The public hearing is closed. Comments by members of council. One council bill zero two three zero. This meets, I feel, all the criteria. I worked on that bungalow overlay with this neighborhood for a lot of years, so I would just ask your support for this property as we move forward. Madam secretary, roll call on council bill zero two three zero. Council members Parody?

Aye.

Albitrez?

Aye.

Flynn?

Aye. Gilmore? Aye.

Gonzalez Martinez? Aye. Lewis? Aye. Romero Campbell?

Soye? Aye. Torres? Aye. Watson?

Aye.

Madam president Sandoval?

Aye. Madam secretary, close voting. Announce the results.

10 ayes.

10 ayes. Council bill zero two three zero has passed.

We go

for 10.

Thank you. Council member Gilmore, will you please put council resolution zero four seven one approving a proposed agreement between the city and county of Denver and Dream Center to occupy and provide programming at the former Global Recreation Center in Council District 9 on the floor for adoption.

I move the council resolution 26 dash zero four seven one be adopted.

It has been moved and seconded. The courtesy public hearing for council resolution zero four seven one is open. May we please have the staff report?

Good evening, members of council. This is Sarandia, community engagement specialist with Denver Parks and Recreation. I will try to do the staff report just as quickly as the previous one. So as mentioned, we are here to present a use agreement for the former Globeville Recreation Center. This is resolution four seventy one.

This is for a three year use agreement with Denver Dream Center for $90,000 for use of the former Globeville Recreation Center in District 9 at 4496 Grant Street. Just some information on the request for participation. The request for participation that was sent out last year in that was published on 07/01/2025 used the previous 2017 RFP as a basis for this one. What was included is making sure the use of the recreation center is a more traditional recreation center with a lot more rec activities, sports activities for the community, opening it up for active older adults, youth, and people of all ages. The RFP closed on 08/28/2025.

There were three responses that were scored by DPR staff, including two directors and administrative staff that did the scoring. The evaluation criteria is here. You can see what was actually scored on these applications. The first is the qualifications and experience. This included details on what type of programming and activities, how it's going to be scheduled, what the actual applicants would do at the recreation center.

The next was capacity and capability that included making sure that they have experience managing a building and programming of this size. Really where it was a lot of focus was on the operations. So this included how many hours the center would be open, how they're maintaining the recreation center to make sure that the building is in good standing, and if they offer childcare, how that would be. Compensation was also a part of it. This is a rental use agreement, so there are dollars coming to Denver's.

So a percentage of the criteria was what they would be paying, and then how they are how they include diversity and inclusion in their organization. It was also a portion of the criteria that was scored. The selected vendor was Denver Dream Center, who is also here in case there are any questions for them. They are a local nonprofit with over fifteen years of experience working in with individuals with high impact programs. Their headquarters are in Five Points.

They offer free resources and wraparound services addressing immediate and long term needs. Since then, they have served over 50,000 they serve 50,000 people annually and have distributed over $1,000,000 in meals since 2018. They have a lot of strong partnerships both in the community, in community groups, and then some groups that are much larger than just within Globeville. These are the terms of the agreement. There is a three year agreement from the date where this contract is executed.

You could see the payments. Every year, there's a a small escalation in payment totaling $90,000 at the end. There's gonna be about ninety five hours of of operation at the recreation center that includes seven days a week that they will be open. And then they have year round activities to make sure that the facility is being used. This is some of the programming that is going to be offered both at the youth, adult, and senior programming.

Most of their days, they will be open from 7AM and go till 08:30PM. And so they start their programming really early starting with seniors and some of the programs that are offered to them, followed by some of the adult programming, and then youth later in the afternoon when they're out of school. The recreation center, since the previous tenant moved out, we've been working on making sure that the rec center is ready to be moved in by a new tenant. It is now ready, so if this contract is approved and executed, the rec center will be ready for the new tenant to move in. Again, we are requesting approval of 0471, which is the use agreement for $90,000 and three years to occupy the former Globeville Recreation Center in Council District 9.

We do have both the executive director and deputy executive director here to answer any questions of DPR, and our director of real estate is also here in case there are any questions for

public hearing. We have, I think, eight people signed up, so we'll have a sixteen minute public hearing. So each person gets three minutes. I'm not gonna cut them off. Yes, ma'am.

Thank you, council president.

I've read

in the email that you had responded that to myself and councilman Watson that you would be open to a full half an hour courtesy public hearing if we had folks to fill the time. There's eight people, three minutes apiece. That's twenty four minutes that I would hope that we can have to hear from the entire community as your email specified that you would be open to a half an hour. To hear from.

If everyone's here, yeah. Yeah.

Great. Thank

you. When I got the information, not everyone had signed up. So I was going off of what I had at 01:00. So first up, we have pastor Brad. Brian, pastor Brad Seedel.

Brian Cedarwall, incoming pastor b. I'm the executive director of the Denver Dream Center. And, our goal and hope was to be able to just expand services and support in the city when the proposal for the Globeville Rec Center was opened. We do a lot of youth and kid programming, and so this is an opportunity to look at a center that was specifically for this and and provide the hours. And so our goal was and hope was to provide more services in a community where we could bring the sports and the rec from adult through kids back to the recreation center.

Thank you. Next up, we have Aaron Thatcher. Tim, is Erin online? Erin? Erin?

Raise your hand. Thank you. Hello? Yep. Yep. I hear you. Go ahead.

Okay. Hi. My name is Aaron Boettcher. I'm a resident of Centennial, Colorado, and I'm here today to speak about the Globeville Rec Center and the Birdsea Collective. The Denver Park and Rec advisory board has a mission statement, and this mission statement drives their decisions and is the principle that they are beholden to, and it's it's as thus support the values of sustainability, equity, engagement, and sound economics as detailed in the Denver Park and Recreation game plan.

I think that all of us here today want what is best for the community in Globeville. I think we are all here today because we want what is best, and we want what is fair and equitable in the process as well, and that we all want to hold the values of Denver Park And Rec to be true and choose the best to occupy and provide the best services for the Globeville community. My concern, and I think, something that if we my friends and I, we've sort of wondered about too is the the RFP scoring has not been shared. The rationale for choosing Denver Dream over bird seed has not been transparent, and now Denver Dream is sitting waiting to provide services for the community. And, in the presentation today, there's a lot of talk about making sure these, kids were able to get a lot of activities and sports.

And I wonder if that was an opportunity that was provided to the Birdseed Collective, and they knew that that was something that was expected out of them, considering that this was all done off of a existing RFP that Birdseed was approved for. And I'm just wondering if this was all something that they knew about as well. Today, I think a pause should be put on this process because the selection process has not been clear, and the timeline going back to July 2025 and the first mandatory meeting is unclear and not transparent. And at this point, I think the stakeholders involved are feeling left out of this process. This whole process should be done again with input of the Globeville community.

It should be transparent, and the scoring for the RFP should be, public as well. Too much of this been has been behind closed doors and I believe has eroded the trust that the community has with the Denver Park And Rec Leadership. And, thank you for your time.

Thank you. Next up, we have Milo Milo Vazquez. Vazquez. Vazquez. Vazquez. Sorry.

Good evening. Good evening. My name is Milo Vazquez, representing GloVeil First. We also put in for the RFP as an applicant. We do a lot of things in the neighborhood.

One of the biggest concerns that I like to address to everyone is the facility not being utilized right now. It's it's been sitting there for over four months since this RFP had come out and decision decision was was made. Made. And now we've sat here and we've talked to mister Watson, we've talked to Parks and Rec about a partnership with Brian and the Dream Center to start bringing sports and those kind of programs and resources back to the community and help bridge that gap for the community outreach. As you guys all know, there's a lot of growth going on in that area, and there's a lot of organizations that are really capitalizing on not having the outreach properly engaged.

With that being said, we would utilize the space there to start having these kind of meetings and and to inform the community of not just this type of situation, but of the changes they wanna make with our streets, the data center. You know, there's there's quite a few different things going on in that area, and a lot of organizations ain't really keeping the majority of the residents there informed. You have a lot of outsiders coming in and forming opinions about it, and well educated, well spoken. But what our focus is is to get the people who actually been there for generations, such as, you know, myself. I mean, I don't reside there as of today.

I live in Northland, but I have a father-in-law, brother in laws, aunties, uncles who still reside in the Gloville area, Swansea area, so I have strong ties there. And then the nonprofit is based out of Gloville. But one of the biggest current concerns I have right now is it's wasted space. The community hasn't had space of its own to be informed to have meetings. I know everyone here has probably attended a meeting there once or twice where you have maybe three people from the community and then you have nothing but organizations making these type of decisions for the community.

And we're trying to flip that over and have a majority of community members attend and then the organizations be the minorities there instead of the majority making these type of decisions. So that's one of the biggest focus I wanna put on is, oh, let's utilize that space. Let's let's get it to the community, and this has been delayed for some time already. We're looking forward to the partnership that, again, we've been reassured of from mister Watson, from Parks and Rec, that and Brian and all of us had worked together, you know, to get some sports and programming back to the community.

Next up, we have Marcus Weaver.

First, I wanna thank everyone who reached out, calls, texts, and messages behind the scenes. Many of you said the same thing I'm about to say today, and you're glad I spoke up. But you also understand why people stay quiet when funding and relationships are involved. Let's get to the truth. What is a white savior complex?

A white savior complex shows up in an organization, positions itself as the solution in communities it's not rooted in, controls resources, access, and the narrative relies on visibility, events, photos, and outreach over measurable outcomes. Fails to document impact while still receiving funding and recognition. Repackages or replaces work already being done led by community based organizations. This is a pattern that nonprofit sector, recognizes. How?

It applies here. This didn't start yesterday. How many of us have seen limited historical presence in the community, sudden visibility once funding and facilities appear, claims of serving tens of thousands without documentation, outreach heavy programming without structured trackable services, expense expansion that outpaces even proven results. Let's be direct. If you say you serve 5,000 people, prove it. Where's all the reports? Where is the data? Where are the outcomes from the Dream Center? I mean, Denver Dream Center. I don't wanna confuse it with the real one.

What the public record shows is according to a report from Collard Public Radio, the Denver Dream Center received $693,000 through Caring for Denver Foundation, Funding that was designated for behavioral health services including clinical support. When asked, they could clearly not clearly report how many people were served. Outcome and follow-up data were never provided. The funder itself expects disappointment in those results. If funding is allocated for behavioral health services, especially service that imply licensed care, then the explanation is clear.

Who provided those services? Were they licensed? How many individuals were treated? What were the outcomes? Those are not optional questions. That is the baseline for accountability. Where the disconnect is, we continue to see outreach events, food distribution, photos of visibility, but not documented pathways to employment, verified housing placements, measurable behavioral health outcomes, and long term stability matrix. And that issue's and that's the issue because outreach without outcomes becomes optics. And when images of struggling black and brown communities are used to represent impact without data to support real change, that raises a concern. Why this matters to these neighborhoods?

Communities like Gloville, Green Valley Ranch, and others don't need more visibility based programs. They need jobs, licensed trackable services, organizations rooted in community. So the question is, why are community based culture rooted organizations being overlooked while organizations without clear military outcomes are continuing to be funded like the Dream Center I mean, the Denver Dream Center.

Thank you. Next up, we have Rebecca Trujillo.

I'm a little nervous. I'm not good with public speaking, but I'll do my best. I'm Rebecca Trajale. I'm from Globeville first, but more importantly, I'm representing Globeville. I am a long time resident of Globeville, many generations of Globeville in my family.

And I think the important thing here is community. There have been times where I was a kid and sports was the thing. Being involved in sports, having a place to go to, having a safe place after school, you know, in between school, that's where a lot of things can happen in a negative way. So I think the main thing to focus on is mainly our youth. You know, that's the generation that we're bringing up.

That's the next to be in line to be citizens of this community. And like Milo said, you know, right now it's just wasted space. We could be doing so much running a lot of different programming out of there and I feel like right now it's just it's being wasted. We got big hopes that this partnership will allow us to bring a lot of programming in there because right now we don't have a space. Me and Milo, we're literally boots on the ground.

It's a different feel for us because most of the residents, they know us on a personal level. They've seen me and Mila grow up in that neighborhood. They've seen my mom grow up in that neighborhood. So we have a lot of deep roots and really great ties to this community. And it's our obligation as community members to uphold, you know, what they need. And right now, they need a space. They need programming. A lot of programming that we offer is kind of being limited because we don't have like a dedicated space to meet and those kind of things. So thank you.

Next up, we have Scott Gilmore.

Hello, city council members. Thank you very much. Scott Gilmore. I just wanted, speak to you about this. This handling of this contract shows the clear pattern of disrespect of the Denver community by Denver Parks and Recreation.

Years of building trust with communities around this city have been destroyed in such a short time by the lack of accountability and transparency from the current leadership of this department. Over the last year, numerous issues and concerns have come to light. The nonrenewal of the small business minority owned will will fund by DPR under the guise of expanding outdoor recreation. DPR expanded outdoor recreation opportunities in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the city, Wash Park, and put it in to a minority owned business to generate revenue. The question is, should DPR be concentrating so much on generating revenue?

And shouldn't those opportunities for outdoor recreation be concentrated toward neighborhoods that are of need? We'd I just don't understand that. The underdesign of the Curtis Park Pool, which is now going through a redesign after a public outcry costing a lot of additional funds. The illegal theft of $5,400,000 from my neighborhood in District 11, which no park maintenance shop with no park maintenance shop to build a massive park office complex downtown and the funding of over $17,000,000 in District 1 up for park shops. Exclusion of a LGBTQ swim team from a rec center.

All these are issues that have come up just recently. You now have in front of you this questionable three year contract selecting Dream Center to occupy the Globeville Rec Center. I am going to thank Milo and the Globeville first for being here. I know I've worked with them trying to build the 44th And Pearl Park, and I hope that gets built because I don't trust this department to build it to be in there. Birdseed, a longtime community organization, was the only group to submit RFP.

But after this administration decided that they want a Dream Center in the building, it seems like this RFP was met just managed. The RPS was reopened to allow Dream Center to apply and be selected for this three year contract. DPR says there is only authentic community engagement in three years. They're gonna have engagement in three years for the next group to select the next occupant of this facility. You can now see why no one trusts DPR at this time.

I have worked with Glowville community members, Eleria and Swansea, and this is why they have to say, we can't criticize Dream Center or they will be they will be forced out and will not be allowed access to the building. It feels like we have just invited in the colonizers to our our neighborhood. It feels like DPR is handing out smallpox blankets. That's what community members are saying. They're they won't say that out loud, but that's what they're saying.

There are additional concerns that have arisen. They're having a meeting. Dream Center's having a meeting this week with Al Gardner, and it just seems like it's quid pro quo. There are just some real concerns about how this contract came about, and please hold DPR accountable.

Thank you. And our last speaker is Kyla great Greathouse.

Madam president?

Yes, ma'am.

We skipped one speaker.

Oh, do we? Oh, Kyla Greathouse. Yeah. But we I'm make a rule. You have to have your name match what's

you signed up for it.

Kyla, if you'll accept the promotion. Oh, she's not here? Okay. That ends our public comment. That concludes our speakers. We have questions from members of council on council resolution zero four seven one. Council member Watson.

Thank you so much, council president, and thank you to everyone that signed up for the public hearing. I thought it was important to hear community voice, so thank you so much councilmember Gilmore for putting this forward. John Martinez, we've got two questions for you. Director Clark, I'll have questions for you. And then pastor B, I have a few questions for you.

John, during the committee discussion, I asked you these same two questions. Can you clarify why no prog public process occurred for this RFP? I know that Jesus spoke to that a little bit, but I'd love for hear from your voice. And then can you restate your commitment for public process if this is passed, what that timeline is for that public process if this three year contract is passed for any future contracts within Global Elderis Wanza?

Good evening council members. John Martinez. I'm the deputy executive director of Parks and Recreation. As I mentioned in committee, I made this decision personally to not do a community engagement process. Hindsight 2020, I dropped the ball, right, on that, and I take full accountability. I was going off to 2017 when we did a very robust community engagement process, and the scope of work was still relevant to what we were looking for in a traditional rec center. So again, I take full responsibility and ownership. As far as my commitment, if this is passed, day one, I will be working with the Dream Center and GloVeil First on a community engagement plan. A year and a half into it, again, that's when we're gonna go out to the community and make sure that we get it right the next time.

Thank you so much, mister Martinez. Director Clark, I've got two quick questions for you. Had some community questions on this, so not specific to this contract, but I think is pertinent. My first question would be, can DPR sell the center to community? That's the first question. And the second, why has it taken five months for this to come for a vote? The center has been closed for five months. Can you please provide some information on that?

Thank you, council member. Good evening. City council, Joel Clark, executive director, Denver Parks and Recreation. The answer to your first question is no. This center cannot be sold. This is on designated parkland, and so it has to remain with the city. The only way that could change is through a vote of the people. So I guess, technically, to your answer, someone could propose to go to the voters to get approval to sell the land, but otherwise, absent that, no, and not something we would be supportive of. And then your second question oh, five months. Yeah. A

lot

of different things. We try to move as quickly as we can, but, obviously, moving from one vendor to the next, we gave extra time to the folks who were in there to get moved out. We had to renegotiate, you know, negotiate this new contract with a new vendor. Our mighty team who does all of our contracting on hundreds and hundreds of things in our processing and DPR is only five people, and we had two of them who moved on to new jobs during that same time period. And so, you know, our staffing level with all the reviews was as quick as as we could get

it to you.

Thank you, director Clark. And, madam president, I have just one final question for pastor b. Sir, can you share your plans for coordinating with community, specifically, Birdseed, Global First, and other members if this contract is approved? Yeah. Absolutely. Again, we're

our purpose is to support the community. And so we've reached out and had extensive time with Anthony and Birdseed and have actually worked on multiple projects over the last couple of months for the community supporting his work. He's been at the Dream Center. We've been in the community together. We're doing an event next Saturday. So the conversation is supporting the work that he's doing and in collaboration. We've got a extensive proposal from Milo and Rebecca from Global First of programs, hours to fulfill ninety plus hours in the community center is gonna take multiple organizations to to facilitate that. And so we've been meeting pretty extensively with all the conversations coming together.

Next up, have councilman Parody.

Yes. Can you all hear me? I've had some audio issues this evening.

We can. Yeah. You're good. You're good.

Thank you.

I wanted to ask pastor B a few questions about other city contracts that the Dream Center has held. And in particular, I'm aware because of being a member of the Crime Prevention and Control Commission that the Dream Center has received funding through CPCC for, I believe, like, reentry related work. And then I have a memory that the Dream Center also had received a contract to do, like, community ambassador street outreach type work in the Ballpark District, I think. And then I believe that maybe there was also a caring for Denver grant at some point. And so I just would love to know if you could outline for us, like, what different city contracts you have had in the past and and what the status of those are now.

Yeah. Our first contract for Caring for Denver involved, as was referenced earlier, the youth Caring for Denver contract with with behavioral health. Unfortunately, NPR did come do a report. We invited them in to see what we were doing, and the information relayed to the news wasn't a 100% accurate. We did have a licensed clinician. We use Harvest Therapeutic. We have all the reports and submitted resources with that. We met with Juan. Their oversight every month to do our reports. Again, we'll be honest, that was a struggle to fulfill the quota, but the the requirements were met.

Our host engagement actually started as a merging contract in 2023 when the city was facing the homeless crisis, primarily twenty first and Curtis at the post office. So we formed a team with the mayor and the city to engage that. That became a contract underneath host, and that was about two years, but that ended in December. We had a contract for OCVS doing gang intervention prevention work for two years, but the funding for that was running short, so that contract ended through OCVS. And then the CC or the CPCC, we are part of for the last couple of years. So those are the four contracts we've had with the city.

Okay. And I don't know whatever NPR reporting you just referenced. I actually wasn't aware of that, so I might need to ask for some clarity about that too. But I just the the reason that I'm asking is because I was a little bit surprised to see this contract coming up for a rec center given that I've seen I've interacted with Dream Center mostly around a really different kind of set of issues, which isn't to say that a nonprofit can't do more than one thing and do it well. But I also, in transparency to colleagues, in the context of the CPCC grant, there was a concern, and I my colleagues who are also on that commission were, I believe, also in this meeting about reporting not having been received from the Dream Center for those contracts.

And I know there was also that concern for Caring for Denver, such that Caring for Denver, I believe, would not fund the Dream Center again. So can I ask director Clark or or mister Martinez if that came up at all in the RFP process? Like, is that something that we look at is sort of successful reporting under past city grants? I know you wouldn't have access to Caringford Denver because they're not technically part of the city, but is that it was that part of the process?

Thank you, councilwoman. I just checked with the team here, and no. That was not part of the or that did not come up during the RFP.

Yeah.

I I really I I sort of can't believe that this was done without public process if you're gonna switch who's providing these kind of services to a neighborhood. Yeah. I I'll just say this. There's no way I can vote yes on this given the lack of a public process and my confusion about going from Birdseed, which had been operating, to my understanding, successfully for six years in the space, to another organization that, you know, would be new. Right? So, I think that's all my questions. Thank you, madam president.

Thank you. Councilwoman Gonzalez Gutierrez?

Thank you, madam president. Okay. Let me ask Parks and Rec, and

I don't know

if that's director Clark or mister Martinez, but it's, a couple questions about, like, the RFP piece. And, I guess my first question is is what happens if this doesn't pass? What what is the next steps?

Great question, councilwoman. If this does not pass, that building, we would have to start over, and that building could sit vacant for another six months or so. Okay.

Can you tell me for the the RFP? Was trying to look for I just keep seeing the the lease agreement or the agreement language. What what was that request for? Like, what were the parameters of the RFP? Like, what were you all asking for for the space to be

filled with? So a lot of that was like a traditional recreation center. So youth programming, senior programming, all the things that we offer in a in a traditional rec center. And so also with, you know, having a food pantry. And so that was just some the criteria. And Jesus is actually on the selection committee. So Jesus, if I missed anything, please come and add.

I do wanna say thank you for for just being forthright about, you know, the decision that was made. It is unfortunate. I did have members in the community that reached out and and said we were told that there would be a community process when this came up for an RFP. And so I thank you for for, you know, making the statement that you made. And I guess that part of that question then is is if this doesn't pass and you start all over, would you would you then engage a community process?

Absolutely. And one one thing I wanna state for the record, I'm actually from Global Swanson, Hilarious. So I do have connections to the community. My my folks still live there. My family lives there. Again, I own I own my decision, and if I had to do it again, I would have a different different decision.

I thank you for that. My other question is, is there any consideration as far as the community that this isn't? Right? So whether it's a rec center in Southeast Denver or, you know, where it's at right now in Bloomfield, like, considering the the neighborhood and the residents of that neighborhood aside from a community process. But when you're reviewing an RFP for a a specific neighborhood, are you taking into consideration the people who live in that neighborhood as far as, like, what might be because I'm reading things about, like, cultural this and all of these things, and I'm not of of the work that I know of the Denver Dream Center, I'm not aware of their involvement and, like, the things that I know that the Globeville community community is involved in, if that makes sense.

Like, I don't know if there's a connection there, like, those pieces. And so are those things taken into consideration?

They they are. And so we referenced the 2017 when we did did that robust community engagement process. And so that's what we went off of that scope of work. And, you know, Denver Dream Center, when you looked at the proposals, they checked a lot of those boxes. And it was really around access and opportunities, number of hours.

And so one of the things that, you know, after the fact, I made you know, I'm actually gonna manage this partnership agreement, you know, and I grew up with Milo and Gloville first, you know, making those connections, working with Pastor B to make sure that we have more partners. Because at the end of the day, my priority is to to provide service to the community, whether it's one partner or 10 partners. So that's what I've been doing behind the scenes is getting those groups together, to make sure that day one, we don't miss a beat.

Are we able to get access to those documents? Like, the the 2017, like, what you utilized from the 2017 RFP? And then also, are we able to get access to the the response from the Denver Dream Center, your RFP response?

Jason or Jesus? I know the 2017 RFP was sent out to counsel, I believe. Jesus, but, Jason, if you wanna answer the about the proposals.

So we we could provide both the 2017 and this RFP. I will try to attempt to to respond to to your second question of because this is still an open procurement, right, the contract has not been approved, has not been executed, those cannot the scoring cannot be released. So so we would not release the the scoring of any of the three proposals that were scored.

I'm not asking for the scoring. I'm asking to see what they responded. Like, what was their proposal that they submitted?

That would still fall under the open procurement.

Of After, depending on how this pans out tonight, then we could access the information?

I will let Jason respond to that since that's more of a legal question. Thank you.

Hi. Jason Morse, city attorney's office. The agencies will keep their procurement documents confidential until the contract is signed. They usually include the scoring and the proposal in that. That's in case if this did have to go back out, that nobody is curbing off of each other's proposals to to resubmit. Okay.

Thank you so much.

I was gonna ask some questions for the Denver Dream Center, pastor V. Can you tell me what your familiarity is with the Gouldville community when you when deciding to to to submit a proposal?

Yeah. We do a a program called adopt a block. So we've been in several communities in the city of Denver for about twenty years in building relationships, networking with Denver Police Department, Denver Housing Authority, Denver Police Department, whatever whatever agency organizations are in there so that we can meet the needs of the community. And then we work closely with that community. We do a lot of that in Westwood, Westridge, Quick Newtons. So it's very community based in a very meticulous process. We have people that volunteer and have been part time with us at the Dream Center. Pat Rodriguez and his family from Globeville. So we've done over the years events in Argo Park. We've done Christmas distributions and supplied to them and their families.

So we've been in the neighborhood and the community, and, you know, we're on 21st And Curtis, so we're not far from that neighborhood and from that community.

So it sounds like there's a lot of work being done to collaborate, you know, if this were to go forward and to come up with a, I guess, a plan for what kinds of things would be put in place at the center. I guess, did you have plans that you were already looking at implementing or programs that you were looking at implementing?

We submitted the proposal. So in there, there's a whole breakdown of ninety five hours a week of adult, family, youth, everything from food bank to sports to rec

to

art, but also having a proposal from Global First of forty plus hours from them. So it's a collaboration in combination of community based from what we know and then the sports and rec pieces that we think would benefit.

Is there consideration to how the space was being utilized before? I know there were the danzantes, I think, that used the space to practice. There's murals. I don't know if those ended up getting painted over or not that were in the gym. I'm just curious, like, that space that was you know, the way that it was curated was was intentional. Are any of those things still going to be considered?

Everything is considered. Nothing's been changed. I mean, don't have a contract, so we don't have ownership or authority to say yes or no to anything in the facility. We fielded emails from people that were in there before. We've let them know that it's an open conversation, whether it's floor hockey, basketball. I came and met with the ESSEC dancers that were there and saw them do their their Tuesday or Thursday night, whatever it was when they were there. So, yeah, we've had conversations, but we're not in a place of authority to say yes or no to anything.

Alright. Thank you so much for answering the questions. I do have a question. I don't know, mister Martinez. This is probably you or Jesus. Because I had heard a rumor that the murals were painted over for the changing of the, like, ACs. And so I'm just curious. Did that happen?

We've actually only painted over two that were not in line with our mission and vision as far as what we allow in our rec centers, but everything else was was stayed the same. And we just redid the gym floor, but only two mirrors were painted over.

Okay. Alright. Thank you so much. Thank you, madam president.

Thank you. Councilman Gilmer. Thank

you, council president. My first question is for director Clark. Director Clark, how many years was the Birdseed Collective in the Globeville Health Center?

Thank you for that question, Councilwoman Gilmer. We put the RFP out in 2017. They got in the building in late twenty eighteen. When COVID hit, they actually had to shut down. And so we actually did an extension after COVID to keep them in there longer to give them their full service.

Were they shut down during COVID? Because that was literally a couple of months, and then we started doing remote food drives, vaccinations, etcetera. As far

as full access to the facility, they were not allowed to do it. I mean, that was a city rule that we weren't having they were doing some food boxes, but other than that, they weren't functioning as a traditional community center.

So since 2018, '27?

Late twenty eighteen. I can get through the exact timeline of when they were and when we shut down and when we expanded extended that time.

That's good enough. Before the pandemic, they were serving the community. You take full responsibility, which is much appreciated for not doing a public outreach process. Why would you have just assumed that the criteria that was okay for the RFP prior to a global worldwide pandemic would not require any public outreach when you're proposing to release an RFP in 2025?

Again, Councilwoman, we were going off the scope of work from the 2017, which checked a lot of the boxes around what a traditional rec center offers. So youth programming, arts and culture, food distribution, all the programs that we do in the traditional rec center.

All right.

Thank you for that. So who was on the decision making committee? You had mentioned Jesus was on there. Could you just, for the public record, take who was So Jesus, who is

part of community engagement team. We had two recreation directors, and then we had our contract and appliance officer.

Okay. Were you one of the recreation directors who was on that decision making?

I was not. I recused myself because my relationships with Global First, Birdseed, and the Demerjean Center.

Okay. And then with the pre bid meeting that was well, you know what? I'll go ahead and go to Jason. Thank you for that. Jason, I've got a couple follow-up questions on that. So when was the first pre bid meeting held? I don't know. Okay. It was 07:16. It was 07/16/2025. Why was there a second pre bid meeting held?

I don't know that there, the details and kind of the specifics of their process and the timeline and so on, I was not. No one consulted with me about it.

Okay. Great. Awesome. Okay. Thank you, Jason. Appreciate that for the public record. Director Clark, these questions are for you then because this is your you sign off on these contracts ultimately and where they go. So why was there a second pre bid meeting held? And go ahead, Jesus, if you have to answer it for the director, introduce yourself.

Again, Jesus Aronte, community engagement specialist with Denver Parks and Recreation. Thank you, council member, for the question. So the first pre bid meeting, one applicant attended. Because this is a competitive process, it is best practice to open up the process again. So the RFP had an addendum where it got extended for a second meeting, and it also extended the time for when people could go to the RFP. At that second meeting that happened on August 7, there were three potential applicants that came. And we received three applications on August 28 when the proposals were due.

Were there any emails, text messages, or contact with the Dream Center asking them to submit an RFP?

None that I'm aware of and none from those that were scoring.

Okay. But we do not have representatives from the Department of Safety or the mayor's administration here unless somebody is here that could answer those questions.

They were not part of the RFP process, so I don't know of any communication that happened outside of the the selection process and what we were doing in in the recreation center.

Alright. I appreciate that. So there were two pre bid meetings held, one where Dream Center was the sole entity, but it went out over Bidnet. It went out to the entire community, but then Parks and Rec decided to hold a second pre bid meeting, whereas it was Dream Center, Globeville First, and Birdseed Collective were the three organizations that were there. And so this question is definitely for director Clark.

I'm not gonna ask you to answer this question, Jesus. Director Clark, are parks buildings going to be used for the Department of Safety now?

We have no plans for park buildings to be used by the Department of Safety that I'm aware of.

Are you currently using parks buildings in City Park for homeless outreach, all in mile high uses, etcetera? Etcetera. There are parks buildings currently being utilized for the all in mile high program. Correct?

Not that I'm aware of. GS is occupying a building that was going to sit empty, something that was worked out by Scott Gilmore when he was with the department. But I'm not aware of any other buildings in City Park being used to review that.

Okay. All right. You're on the record for that. So Okay, good deal. So how can you actually say that parks buildings are not gonna be utilized for the Department of Safety when we know that these services that are being provided by the Dream Center historically have been utilized to help issues in parks.

Paco Sanchez was one of those parks that the Dream Center, the Denver Dream Center, was very, very involved. That was a multi agency collaboration, but is the Dream Center still involved with Paco Sanchez Park? Question for you. You're the one who handles the contracting and everything. You don't know if the Dream Center is currently involved with Paco Sanchez?

I do not have a photographic memory. I don't know the answer to every little detail. But are are you still involved at Paco Sanchez?

Or You'll have to come to the you can go ahead and sit down, then director Clark, if, Brian, you wanna come up and introduce yourself and answer that question. Brian Segal,

Denver Dream Center. We have permits that we do adopt a block at Paco Sanchez Park and at Westridge neighborhood on Saturdays.

Okay. So it's only on Saturdays then that you're in Paco Sanchez or serving that community? Correct. How often were you there, say, in the last year up to two, three years back, basically when Mayor Johnston started?

At Paco Sanchez? We've been involved in that community for eighteen years. But a couple years ago when there was a spike in violence, DPD was reporting a need there. So we've we partnered with just providing services, I mean, probably once a week for the course of June, July, and August. So sort of the summer activation, just helping do a barbecue, play flag football, just create safety in park.

Okay. Alright. So parks, activities, playing football, barbecue. El Grupo and other cultural programs relevant to Latino, indigenous communities, are you well versed in those, or do you solely rely on partners for that work?

That's a good question. Say those groups again. Not Paco Sanchez.

Well, it it could it it could apply to Paco Sanchez. It could apply to Montbello.

Yeah. I thought sorry. I thought you were asking about roots at Paco Sanchez. We're talking

about I would hope that that community also has those organizations that do that work, but no. Globeville.

Yeah. Again, we we went down and met with their their leadership, got to see them at the Globeville Rec Center, and had initial conversation to see what they do.

Alright. With your organization, you do understand the the history between Christianity or Catholicism and majority Latino communities? Can you tell me a little bit about the history that you understand that way?

I mean, can, but we're not taking on the contract to be and provide religious services. The contract is to provide sports rec community engagement services.

Will you pray in the Globeville Building? Will you have a crucifix up on the wall? Will you have quotes from the Bible?

We have a contract. I have no way to answer that question. Mean, it'd be no different than a mural that's on the wall or something depicting the faith or the dance group that's there now. I mean, we don't have an answer to that. I mean, it's a community center, and we understand the opportunity of of the public space. Alright.

I will leave it at that. Thank you. Thank you, council president.

Thank you. Councilwoman Alvidrez?

Thank you, council president. My questions are for you, pastor Beeb. Thank you for the work that you do in community. But I am a little bit confused just about the organization as a whole. Are you a church? Are you a religious organization? Are you a nonprofit?

We're a faith based nonprofit. Okay.

Then how do you separate religious beliefs or right and wrong from how you serve community?

Yeah. I mean, virtues and values. So anything that comes in that is publicly funded, we don't provide religious services. So when we every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, we feed the community. Thursday night, we do a community feed. We we work with Denver Public Schools. We're in six or seven schools doing mentoring, sports program, and none of that has a religious base to it. So it's just a community based focus outside of specific hours connected to city dollars or community partnerships. Then we have religious activities that are optional if people wanna attend, but it's separate from the community engagement piece.

Okay. And then for all the other services, I know it sounds like the Globeville First is going to be providing things like boxing and things like that. Are those gonna are you all gonna charge for those services, or what services will you be charging for?

As of now, there's no services that'll be be charged for. Will be free? As of now. Yes.

As of

now. Okay. And it

And I believe the contract even specify that there's gonna be any kind of fee for service. It has to be approved by Parks and Recreation.

Okay. I appreciate that. That's all I have for you. Thank you so much. I do have a question for Parks, and I'll just ask the question, and you can let me know who's the best answer. Has Parks ever contracted with a religious nonprofit before? If the city attorney wants to answer, you can feel free Doesn't have to

be Park.

I do see more city attorney's office. From my memory, the city has contracted with diverged diocese, YMCA. Through I JAMES don't I don't think I see a difference with parks versus Children's Affairs or another agency contracting with archdiocese.

JAMES I think it's a public space where people are coming to this particular building. So I'm just curious about that piece, but I appreciate that. Thank you. That's all I have for now. Thank you. Thank you. Next up, we have

pro temer Amaro Campbell.

Thank you, madam president. Just for clarification, I heard and maybe this is for you, pastor B, just that you were offering a little bit more about the youth programming. So thank you, councilwoman Alvidrez. You asked a few of my questions. But kind of along that similar line of without the contract, you have no authority. But what's the intention? Intention? Like, who are the partners that you are hoping to collaborate with, and who do you try to have lined up?

I mean, priority is our conversation with Louisville first and still bird seed collective. Then we work very closely with Denver Public Schools. We work with Denver Housing Authority. We have relationships with the Colorado Rockies and and Denver Broncos to utilize sports camps, clinics to create space and place for organizations to serve. We work with a lot of schools, businesses, Keller Williams, real estate groups, people looking to provide volunteer opportunities.

Thank you. And then can you remind me again the age group that you are kind of targeting within the programming that you are hoping to provide?

Yeah. I mean, list was children through senior adults. Okay.

So children, like, what age are so no no early childhood programs, but, like, school age children or

what are they begin with. Yeah.

We're not

doing child care, so it's not a drop off for child care.

Okay. And then what is the when I think about the young people that were mentioned earlier, and then maybe this isn't a question for you. Maybe this is the Globeville first folks. I don't know. I'll ask the question, then you guys can decide. When you are that first survey, I think that I about in 2017 or when they had been doing the community outreach. Were those services then not provided? Or maybe this is parks and rec. I'm not quite sure who needs to answer this one. But in that first, maybe it's you, John.

My apologies. For that original outreach for a program provider, does that mean that those services weren't provided to young people?

Because it

seems like the juxtaposition is like, where there's gonna be more youth services, more more young people engaged in having sports access. Is that I'm just trying to make sure that I wrap my head around what it is.

Great question, councilwoman. So, yes, so with Birdseed, we had we had a a list of offerings, you know, from youth sports, arts and culture, social enrichment. What Birdseed specialized was in arts and food distribution. And so there was no sports teams coming out of GloVille. And so one of the things that we had actually offered was if they had a team, could participate in Denver Parks and Recreation program, so they don't have to have their own league. That's the same for the Dream Center and Global First. If they have one team, they could actually participate in our DPR leagues.

Thank you. That's really helpful clarification.

And

then is you said, I guess, pastor b, that Birdseed is going to still provide programs? And do you know which programs they're gonna be pulling in? Or We're still working

on it. And, again, we don't have a contract, so it's not clear. But they are on the other side of the freeway now. So we've been talking about the the the need to embrace both sides of the freeway that tends to be a little bit of a gap. Their food services and food distribution, We have access to get volunteers bring food, so we want to just expand that with them and make it more consistent. And then there are programs that are obviously that's their specialty.

Thank you. And I don't think I have any other questions. Thank you, madam president. Thank you. Councilman Lewis?

Thank you so much. So I actually have a few questions because I've had the opportunity to listen to my colleagues. So can you all talk to me about the what community engagement you all have done to say what's in the building, or what will you do?

It's like we're having a little trouble hearing you back there.

Could you

repeat the question a little louder?

Sure. What I think, John, I'm gonna

eat the best of the instrument.

Okay. Thank you. Thanks, John. What community engagement you all have done or what will you do in terms of community engagement to decide what the programming is for the future in the building?

So great question, councilwoman. So part of the RFP, I talked about community engagement and and proposals, and actually, Denver Dream Center has in their proposal community outreach plan. And so what I'm committed to doing is two phases. And and if this is passed and and Dream Center's in there, we're gonna do a robust community process of, like, what does it look like from the first thirty, sixty, ninety, year and a half in. And then what I made a commitment to the committee was the year and a half into this, we're gonna do another community engagement to when we put the RFP out.

So it'll be two two phases, but ongoing community engagement. And one of the things that is gonna be required is they're gonna have to have an annual community engagement plan, and that's what we do in all of our rec rec centers today.

Perfect. And then, actually, I'll wait to come to you with the Dream Center. So can can you all tell me what and how you all are planning to how you all are planning to engage with the community when the contract expires? I know we spoke about, like, what the advisory committee is. Like, can you share more information about that that process?

Yeah. So we're gonna start that a year and a half out before the RFP expires, and we will have community stakeholders. They will not be voting members when it comes to scoring the RFPs, but they will definitely have a voice. From GES? What's that? From GES. Absolutely. From the community. Okay. And that would be one of the requirements. They have to live in the community. They have to have an organization in the community. But, again, we wanna make sure that we have a voice and meet community where they're at. And so it's not just having one meeting at the rec center. It's actually going to events and with the connections with GloVille first. They know a lot of the elders in the community that folks that don't come out, and so that's another opportunity for us to leverage community engagement.

Okay. One of my council colleagues, I don't remember who asked asked about if these contracts were voted down, how much longer would it take for you all to go through the RFP process? And you said six months, and it made me wonder if you all had asked the GES community if they would be comfortable with building empty for six months versus moving this contract forward that they didn't have any parts of in terms of engagement.

So, yeah, six months would probably be the soonest that we would be able to do it. I mean, we have, limited capacity with our contracting team, doing authentic community engagement. And what we've heard from Global First, right, they've already been, no no services provided for the last four months. We're looking almost a year without any services in that community. But, again, I think Global First, they they definitely are boots on the ground, and they've heard loud and clear from community that they want this facility open.

So you all have asked them so the answer is yes is what I'm

hearing. Correct.

Okay. Thank you. Can you tell me why this recreation center has programming through a nonprofit versus city paid for programming?

So at one point, we had three transition centers. So it was College View, Johnson, and Globeville. And I wanna say in twenty sixteen, twenty fifteen, I can get the exact date, I actually approached the the administration and the mayor at the time and said, hey. Can we get some resources to bring some of these centers back online? Because we had nonprofits that were struggling to keep those facilities open. And at the time, GloVille was one that we couldn't fund, but knew that we we can get community support. And so that's why GloVille is the only one that we have today.

Okay. Thank

you. Those are the

only questions I have for you. I do have a a few questions for the provider. If you might come to the podium, I'd appreciate it. Can you talk more specifically about what your commitments are in terms of how you all plan to engage the community? Yeah.

I mean, for us, it's it's a little bit long term vision. We we honestly don't come in as we have the answers for the for the community based on what the needs are. We just know that there are needs, And oftentimes education, food insecurity, the sports and rec programs, keeping kids away from violence, those are things we've been doing throughout the city. So the opportunity for us was to find a place to continue to do that in a consistent manner. We don't we don't own property.

We we rent the building that we're in, so this was another spot to focus on the youth programs. So the goal for us was to be able to do events at Argo Park, bring the community together. Again, Globeville first and Embark Seed have been incredible, and they know more than we do. But we've got people on our team that are from Globeville, that have family that live in Globeville as well.

You mentioned or it it it was mentioned that two of the murals were painted over, and it was because it wasn't mission aligned. And so I have two questions. One, what's what's the mission?

That wasn't that was

a part

of my question.

Oh, my bad.

Then don't come up yet because I have a few more questions for you just so you can stay. Speaking of the youth violence prevention that you just spoke about, do you are you all do you all have partnerships with the Office of Social Equity and Innovation or the Office of Neighborhood Safety regarding the youth piece?

Yeah. I I meet and communicate frequently with doctor Sanders.

Yeah. In terms of what exactly?

Just trying to stay aware of what they're working on and and anything that we do initiatives that can support the work that they do.

So you'll be intentionally planning with the office of social equity and innovation? Correct. What about the office of office of neighborhood safety?

O and s? Yes.

Thank you. Okay. Those are the only questions I have for you. Thank you. Alright. Mission statement. Thank you.

So one of the murals was, around defund the police and handcuffs and didn't align with the recreation, mission, and the other one was, a religious, mural that had the Virgin Mary and some quotes on it. So those things were not allowed in our in our facilities.

I don't know what the murals are in the the rest of the building, but do you plan to keep those or take those away?

At this point, we plan on keeping them. We actually left it up to bird seed if they wanted to have those removed, and and they didn't want them removed. So we're gonna keep those those murals up.

Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Those are my only questions.

Councilman Torres.

Thank you so much. I appreciate my colleagues' questions. Some things have come to light that I wasn't aware of before. Quick question on the RFP process and how it was requested or how it was conveyed. Dream Center's paying the city to lease the building. How was that arrived at in the RFP process? Were you requesting $30,000 a year, or was it open?

Yeah. So the exact amount is not written in the RFP process, but the compensation that was provided was something. So each applicant was able to put what amount that they would be able to pay for for the rent.

Got it. Okay. And you asked that question, how much you could

They had to provide a form that said how much they were able to pay for the three years that they would be occupying the recreation center.

Got it. Okay. Thank you so much. Pastor b, how did you arrive at 30,000 a year?

Or at 90, whatever it is.

Yeah. Just honestly looking at at our budget, knowing that all the services we're providing are free, that we're paying for the staff to operate the facility is free, and I have to raise the money separately through individuals to pay for the staff and the programming. And so for us, that was just a number that we felt we could start with.

Is there anything that's provided in the building that helps mitigate that cost for you? Is it, like, anything revenue based?

No. No.

Okay. Were you pay are you paying more for wherever you're currently

at? Extensively.

Oh, okay.

Alright. Thank you for that. I think thank you. Yeah. I can see I can do questions or comments now. Are we

just doing questions? Yeah. Okay.

Thank you. I can see the difficulty the difficult position that Parks is in in wanting to activate space and wanting to activate in a particular way. She said we're

I have to close the public hearing.

I misheard you.

Questions, and then I'll close the public hearing. Your comments? Your please hold your comments. Thank you, councilor Torres. Councilwoman Gilmore?

First time, I'm a listener.

Thank you, council president. A question for Jason since you're the legal counsel for Denver Parks and Rec. Would it have been possible, or is there an allowance for the director of parks to extend the contract for Bird Seed Collective, say, for a twelve month term for there to be extensive community outreach. Is that

That's possible. That would have been a business decision. Okay. So

not a legal decision. It would have been a business decision. Okay. Thank you, Jason. Appreciate that. Doctor. Clark, this is a question to you because you're the director of Denver Parks and Rec. Why did you not extend the contract of bird seed for twelve months so there could actually be community outreach and engagement.

Yeah, again, practice when we are reletting an RFP that is based on

the

same scope of work is not to do another community outreach. We do the community outreach to redefine that scope of work, to go to community and say, hey, this is what you told us that you wanted. As long as we're still delivering that on any of our stuff, we don't then do a community outreach. It's when we're pivoting to say, hey, that RFP's gonna change and it's gonna look different that we do. And so hindsight is always twentytwenty, as John has said, looking back, that decision, but that is not standard practice to engage at that point. By the time, again, that decision was made to look at that, it was after we already had bidders and realized there was going to be a change in operator, which was not at the time.

Okay.

Somebody mentioned, and this is for you, director Clark. Are you aware of the sports programs that Bird Seed Collective did have going on at the center in the community? Because it's been mentioned a couple of times that there were no sports going on, and I do not believe that's correct. Were you aware of the sports that Bird Seed Collective was doing?

I'm not aware of the full gamut of the sports that they had to offer, but I do know the a couple groups who were doing athletics in there have reached out, so I was aware that they were doing some of that.

Okay. So you were aware. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Council President.

Councilwoman Parody?

Yes. Thank you. How's my audio?

You're good. Fantastic.

Great. I had one other question for the Dream Center arising from the mention of OSEI and ONS. And I'm just pausing because I don't know who's at the mic because I'm not in the room. But basically, I'm curious, in the context of those conversations with Doctor. Sanders, if you discussed plans for a program that was called GAIN. I think it was gang something intervention.

I'm not sure what you're referring to.

Okay. Well, I can explain kind of the model of the program, because I yeah, it just makes me curious. A time, OSCI was talking about starting to implement a program that would involve sending letters out to any youth, and I guess adults as well, but that whose name came up in connection with any gang involved crimes, and basically asking them to sort of, work with police and threatening them with prosecution. And so it it was a, startling kind of program to hear about. And I'm just curious if that rings any bells for you from your conversations with doctor Sanders or if that's something the Dream Center was consulted about or would be involved in if it went forward.

That that I've never heard of, so I'm not familiar with that one.

That was it. Thanks, madam president.

Councilwoman Lewis? Yeah. I just

have one quick follow-up. Director Clark, the question that you just answered is actually different than the answer that I received in my briefing with, mister Martinez. And so if you will, if you both can come here, I just wanna clarify because on Friday, I asked about the opportunity to extend the contract and it was my understanding that you all could only extend the contract for two months because that was you all's protocol. But it sounds like that's different than your understanding, director Clark.

I could address that. I just actually conferred with Jason on on that. My understanding, and and I think I still need some more clarification, was that we did extend it for a holdover clause, and all of our contracts have a holdover clause. And I was not aware that I could extend it for another twelve months, but that's something that I still need to to explore with with mister Moore on that piece. Because my understanding with the contract was, we could only do a holdover clause for two months.

So, mister Moore, what's the what's the what's the actual answer?

It depends. Is it pot it is possible. You asked a lawyer.

What you did.

Exactly right. It

depends. I didn't I've I've I've lost the plot. I apologize.

It's okay.

But but, yes, it's the business decision on what they wanna do with the building. If they need to continue services and they need to contract over that, they can with an amendment. Another business decision, not the one they made or intended to make, they could shut it down and then put the RFP out and then do a new contract, but they didn't wanna they didn't wanna do that.

Business decision by mister Martinez? Exact decision.

It's the it's the department. It could be John or Joel and it did they figure out how they make that decision within the department?

Was Birdseed Collective aware that there was any opportunity that it could have been extended beyond the two months? Did anyone make them aware of that?

I don't

know. Do you mean through the holdover?

Well, so the holdover, my understanding and you can correct me if I'm wrong. It was my understanding from the briefing that the what was put on the table for the holdover was two months. And but it sounds like it could have been two months, four months, twelve months.

I don't know what the holdover clause actually said.

Does anybody?

I don't know if

it's helpful to what you're asking. And not to cut that off, we'll look and see if we have it. But again, the holdover period was designed to allow birdseed wants. We let them know that we had a different bidder who had won enough time. They they didn't they didn't they said, hey, can we have some more time to move out? And so the discussion was about making sure that they had enough time to move out, not a discussion about extending services beyond. So that was where we got into, can we legally allow them to stay and pass the termination of their agreement because they are asking for more time to move out and find where they're going to. So that was the decision that was made with the holdover period.

Much clear. Thank you so much. Because it was my understanding that the two months was to allow them to be able to give more program programming versus two months to give them time to

They had a termination in their agreement, and we and they said, hey. That we we would like more time to figure out where we're going to get our stuff moved out. And we did that hold. Where they were able to continue providing services during that period of time that they're in there, and it it extended that. But the design of that was to give them the time to find their new landing spot.

Okay. So there was never any discussion at least amongst folks about extending the contract longer than the extending the contract longer than the expiration date, but you only extended it longer than the expiration date because of the two months that they requested in order to be able to move out. Correct. Thank you.

That's it. Thank you. Thank you. Council member Thwane?

Yeah. Just a quick

question to follow-up on that. The lease with Birdseed the contract with Birdseed is terminated already. Correct? Correct. And they're not in the building? Correct. Okay. Do you know if they're operating anywhere?

Yes. They are. They are.

Okay. So if the contract Jason, if the contract is terminated and no longer in effect, a holdover provision wouldn't really apply, would it? Or could it?

It could. That's exactly what a holdover would be for if

But the termination date's already been passed.

Correct. But a holdover will add terms to that and say, if you stay past the termination date, then you stay month to month, generally. That's the concept of a holdover. So again, I don't recall exactly what this holdover said, but it's a it's a, I guess, a typical lease term or real estate term in a in a lease. Sounds

kind of unusual. Sorry.

I don't think it is.

Thank you. Were you guys about the holdover now that they're already moved out and it's already sorry. My understanding, were you were asking about could we extend that holdover now?

Right.

No. The holdover is contiguous with their operation. But once they moved out, we did all the move out. We did all the closeout. John's team went in and and fixed the court. So the holdover was a continuation if they were still in there that was negotiable, but not any

couldn't be used to allow them back in for Alright. A Thanks. Thank you very much.

Thank you. My questions are for GlobeBill first. So whoever wants to come up or the two of you? Thanks. So when my question's gonna start with a little bit of a comment.

I was a council aide in 2012 to councilman in Montero when we were having issues down in Globeville, and we actually helped find birdseed to go into this rec center, and then they did the procurement to have bird seed go in there. Basically, my question to you all is, in my years of experience of working in Global, same as you, I have grandmas down there. I did ballet flocorico down at the church right by the the park. What's your outreach to your community? Because 13 of us have to sit up here and make a decision for your community.

You live in North Gwen. I I didn't catch where you live. Okay. You live in Global still. So what is your touch point to the community? Because we're at being asked 12 of 12 of us up here to make a determination on your future here.

We knock on doors.

You know, when we have an event, when we we're also helping with some of the surveys going on out there. We knock on doors whenever we're trying to inform of anything we have in in the up and coming or in the works to let the people know directly. We fly her sometimes, but for the majority of everything we do, we'll we'll knock on doors.

And I think what sets us apart is we're not here to look good in front of other organizations, and I feel like that's happening all too well. There's a lot of organizations that claim to do services, use our names, and they're they don't know the people. They don't know the real history. They can get the history by reading stuff off the Internet, but they don't know our community. To know the people is to know our neighborhood.

And like I said, you know, we have people to where they watch us grow up as kids. We make it we're we're a big family. We're very personable with the people that we interact with, and we feel that our community is getting overlooked by popularity. And our elders in the neighborhood that have been here built lives for us, the generations that are here today, and they don't get a say in anything. And that crushes my heart right now because that's who we want involved in community.

That's who needs to be. When we talk about culture, our elders hold our culture of whatever is left in our neighborhoods. That's where you get culture from. You don't get culture from other people coming in and telling you how to do this and how to do that. No. Our culture is in Gloville and our elders. So if anybody wants to know about culture, they need to speak to our elders, and that's who is always getting overlooked. They don't get to say what happens in the neighborhood. Organizations are getting to say what happens on in our neighborhoods. That's what sets us apart from all these other organizations that are operating in our neighborhoods today.

I think that's my concern about this contract is I know how hard it is to work in Global Elerian Swansea. I know the factions that have been in Global Elerian for a while. The first time I met Anthony was when we worked on those murals on Lincoln on to connect one side to the other. So how would you work with the Denver Dream Center if we were to approve this? My first question. My second question to you is if this doesn't get approved, what happens to you all and what happens to that activation of that essential part of Globeville that literally is cut off between the Platte River and I 70? It's really isolated and I 25.

Well, just to let everybody know and be completely upfront, we've been trying to get space in the Glenville Rec Center way before LARFP came up. It's very unfortunate that we weren't able to do that. The rec center wasn't fully operational. They didn't open till 03:30. We were trying to provide services between the hours of 10AM up until 2PM.

And and we were getting a lot of pushback. There was a lot of obstacles. And we're we were just, you know, trying to provide free services, and it was like a monetary, you know, kind of approach on us getting space in there. So we've been trying to get space in there, and we're still trying to get space in there. We put in for the RFP. So how we get space in there right now, honestly, I feel like if we were in there, we would do a lot of great things. And at this point, it's just a matter of how we get in there.

To add to that, I think, you know, just keeping everyone honest. You know? If you're saying you're coming to provide resources, programming, you know, us being in that facility, we'll actually be able to see what services, what programmings are being provided to be able to to vouch for that because of us right now, there's a lot of things going on which nobody knows one way or the other, you know, what's going on in there. If this was not to go through, I mean, as far as us, we continue. You know, this hasn't deterred us from our goals so far, so we'll continue to do it. You know? We love our neighborhood.

Are is Global First a nonprofit, or is it a neighborhood association? Because sometimes in the North Side, my neighborhood associations have to turn into a nonprofit so that they can actually go out and bid, and they can do work. So just it I'm not quite familiar with Global First. You weren't there when I left in 2015. So just tell me a little bit about your organization so I can understand what you all represent in there, meaning your fiscal structure. Does that make sense?

Yeah. So we did become a five zero one c three nonprofit. So GloVille First is a a nonprofit organization. The as far as the r and o o goes, I mean, you know, it's it's a struggle to find space. You know, we're meeting kinda one on one with peoples in their, you know, in their homes.

Right now, we have meetings in the park. You know, that's where our office is most of the time. You know? And it's a struggle because we don't have space. So we've been trying and trying, you know, to look for space, collaborations, partnerships, something that will help us to be able to have that space for community to come in and us gather because it's a lot of the times, you know, all of these other meetings, it's like people they don't know, so they don't feel welcome. They don't feel a part of the neighborhood. They're just like, oh, these people are meeting on our behalf. You know? And it's not true community.

Okay. Thank you both. For pastor b, for a question for you. In your experience, how do you partner? You hear Global First wanting to be in there. You know that they were a competitor. Birdseed already found a home in the old clinic at Tapaya. I've heard they're settled. I've heard they're happy. I heard they like it. How would you partner with Global First? What does that look like? I I understand you don't have the contract now, but we all dream. So what's your dream? Because this is a really important center for me.

It's a really important center. It's it's literally where I started my work city in June 2012, was literally at that rec center, one of my first first meetings as a council aide. And it has a lot of meaning to me. So what's your dream of how you would work with Global First?

Yeah. Mean, the dream is to keep the center open as many hours as possible to serve the community, far bigger than any one organization. So in our conversation with Birds Birdsea, but specifically with Global First, I think the the presentation was over forty hours, forty to forty five hours that they have programming and services that they wanna provide in the center. So for us, the dream is that it is a community recreation center. It's not gonna have Denver Dream Center's name on it because we don't own it. We're we're a service provider. So Global First will have offices. They'll have space. They'll run classes. We'll strategize on programs.

I mean, the goal is to think through what the needs are. Again, they know better than us, but we can bring resources that support the programs, the sports that that can happen. So the dream is to make it a collective of multiple organizations. Like, we are, again, still in conversation with Birdseed. They've got a great space, but there's a lot of limitations. And they've lost touch. Again, was talking to Anthony last week. They wanna make sure they don't lose touch to that side of the freeway. And so the food distribution, they're they're mobilizing that now, their new new space, but they wanna make sure that they get it back from the rec center space.

Okay. And then one of my other questions is for whoever from Parks and Recreation. So I hear that you all decided not to have community outreach, which hindsight's twenty twenty. Mistakes. What's your commitment on moving forward? One, question one, if this fails, are you gonna open it up for a community process? Question two, if it passes, are you gonna open it up again when the r because it's a three year contract, or would you open it up again and restructure the RFP?

So first question, thank you, madam president. So if it doesn't pass, then we'll have to go back to to square one and and start, you know, with the community engagement process, you know, get it out to RFP. So we're looking at a six month period, and and that building will sit vacant, which we've heard, you know, from Global First. They just want access. If it is to pass and Dream Center gets it, I'm gonna be at the table.

I'm actually gonna manage this partnership, which I normally don't manage. I have my directors manage partnerships because I know how important it is. And so bringing the Dream Center, bringing Global Ill First, bringing Birdseed, bringing other organizations in in the community together on day one of what it looks like for the first year and a half. And then I made a commitment to councilman Watson, you know, a year and a half into this. We're gonna start it over to when we go back out to RFP in three years to make sure that we heard loud and clear from the community of what they wanna see in the future.

Okay. So then one other question I have. I don't understand how a 2017 RFP went out in 2025. Like, when I think about when I started at the city in 2012, I was working councilwoman Montero, then I worked for council member Espinosa. The time has changed. When I worked for Espinosa, I couldn't work virtually. I didn't have a laptop. I had a desktop. I mean, I can't even start talking to you about the differences that I've experienced working in the city since for fourteen years. Why would a 2017 RFP go out today in modern time when it's after COVID, things are virtual, everything's changed.

I just don't understand how that decision was made not to even update the RFP. Like, some of the wording in here, it doesn't even exist. I mean, like, honestly, I've been looking at this the request for proposal. It literally some of it doesn't even exist. And so I'll just say, when I update an ordinance, I look at all the antiquated language and I update it so that it's current. How could why why was that decision made to put out an antiquated 2017 ordinance when I think two city council classes have already been elected since 2017? 2017, my predecessor was on, and I've been elected twice since then. So how how is that why was that done?

Yeah. Again, councilwoman and, madam president, I I made that decision, right, in hindsight 2020. But a lot of the stuff that's in the RFP is what we wanna see in a traditional rec center. I think that was one of the whole when we made a decision as an agency to transition these centers, we wanted to make sure that there was still some level of of recreation center component to that. Doesn't mean that everything that on that list has to to be included in a in a proposal.

And so, again, I think that was worth the decision I made. Yeah. Things have changed. I've been in this department since 1993, and I've seen it evolve. And, you know, but there's some things that stay consistent, and that's around youth programming, which is always a priority for the agency, and then also around our active older adults. And so looking at those opportunities was still in that RFP. And when the proposals, if this has passed, come out, it'll clearly show that this community is gonna get a a greater level of service than it's had since 2017.

Thank you. Okay. Seeing no other speakers in the queue, let me go back to my script. The public hearing is closed. Comments by members of council on resolution zero four seven one.

Do

you want me council member Watson, do you want me to start with you or you wanna go last? I'm gonna go last. Okay. Councilman Gilmore. Thank

you, council president. So I have a a point of clarification. I don't know where our city attorney maybe they're online, or Jason's not our city attorney. He's for Parks. But anyway, am I able to make a motion to make this a one year contract for the Dream Center so that there can actually be authentic outreach done with the community after twelve months versus the community having to wait three years before there can be the authentic community outreach.

Madam secretary, is John Griffin online? Yeah. I believe he

just stepped out at a very important time. He

probably had to use the facility. Very He probably had to use the facility, so we just have to wait for John Griffin to come back.

Okay. I can go ahead and get in the queue. Get back in the queue.

Councilwoman Liz?

Yeah. So

Oh, wait. Hold on. Hi, John. John, we have to phone a friend. So councilwoman Gilmore had a question for you.

Yes. Thank you. John, I wanted to make a motion to amend the Dream Center contract instead of a three year contract at $30,000 each year to amend it to a one year twelve month contract for 30,000.

I'm not

the great for

deputy legislative council. Council doesn't have the ability to amend contracts.

Okay. All right.

Very good. I wanted to ask the question to get it on the record. And so I'll go ahead with my comments then. I have gotten to know Anthony Garcia in a very, very good way through this process and, quite frankly, feeling retaliated against and intimidated by members of the city in how this all played out. It was said on record tonight that it was a business decision that Park's leadership undertook to not extend Birdseed's contract by twelve months to have an outreach process.

They just decided internally to terminate their contract with the city, and that's troublesome. There are a lot of reports floating around that the mayor's administration and partners that are working with Denver Parks and Rec, we have to remember that director Clark is an appointee of mayor Johnston. And so we just got a flyer that on Thursday, April 30, with special guest Al Gardner, the executive director of the Department of Safety, is going to be part of a community engagement experience that Dream Center, the Denver Dream Center, is hosting. And it's only for church leaders and pastors. Do I need to go online and get ordainment for me to prove my credentials that I can go to this Denver Dream Center host hosting a community engagement experience for church leaders and pastors?

Is this what we're utilizing rec centers for now in our city or a way to police within our neighborhoods. It was stated tonight that the Dream Center, one, were not keeping accurate records, had used the excuse that they were a faith based organization, thereby they didn't need to keep records, which is ridiculous. If you're getting tax payer funds, no church, no faith based organization gets a pass on group based on metrics, government funding. The way in which this was done was Parks and Rec didn't get the bidders that they wanted at that first pre bid meeting. Parks leadership decided, well, we're gonna notice a second meeting.

We're gonna let Birdseed Collective know, but we're also going to get Dream Center there. There is no way through CORA requests that a council member or anybody else for that fact is going to get that email that says, hey, Dream Center, we want you to apply for this because the all in mile high program is not providing recovery services for their clientele. We hear it at public comment every night. And if this council allows Denver Parks and Rec to just feign, oh, gee whiz. Golly.

Sorry. We didn't do community outreach. Somebody who has worked for Denver Parks and Rec since 1993. That is over thirty years. It's mind boggling, but that is the excuse given.

And I am hearing from Globeville First and Birdseed Collective that they were never told, especially Birdseed Collective was never told of some of these additional options that might be available to them, that they were able to ask for more time. But certain folks aren't here because they already feel like they've been retaliated by within the city, and so they're worried. And what Parks does in Globeville, I am very concerned that this sets precedent and that Parks Parks and and Rec Rec is is gonna gonna try try to to do do this this in in Montbello, Montbello, in Green Valley Ranch, in other parts of the city. And this is not the way the contract procurement should go down in the city ever. And I will be a no on this tonight because it could have been a one year extension.

There could have been a requirement within that one year extension that you open up the building from nine until three and you work with the surrounding RNOs to build up partnerships. That would have been the leadership role that parks could have played. Instead, they played divider in the community and silence the community. I will be a no on this tonight. I appreciate the time for community to to share their concerns and very, very troublesome the relationship between Denver Parks and Rec, the Dream Center, and the Department of Safety, quite honestly, because if kids come into Globeville Rec Center wanting help for recovery services, wanting help for whatever issues they're under, or it might be an issue at home that they're trying to deal with.

Who is the Dream Center going to call? The police. That's who they've been working with. And that in communities of color is very, very concerning. Thank you, mister president.

Councilman Lewis. Thank you

so much. So when this came to committee, mister Martinez admitted that DPR had messed up this process. And then again during this conversation, which I I told you during committee, I have a deep appreciation for, and that you understood that this actually should have gone to community. And the reason that it did not go is because you wanted to be sure that there was no gap in gap in service. And the very thing that you all tried to avoid, you created the conditions for it by not involving community in this process.

And so the community has gone for a month without programming in this building, and that's incredibly disappointing to hear. I'm disappointed to learn that the partnership with CASR and that there was no consideration of the climate promotoras program, NGS, which is one of the most polluted area codes in the country. And Birdsea was not only on the list of the climate promotoras, but a trusted community member. And it's so hard to build trust with community, particularly as historically governmental agencies have been unkind to communities like GES, such as building highways through their neighborhoods. And so that trust, when that is established, should never be taken for granted.

Furthermore, the community shared that they were asked about what programming the community desired, and we wanted and I just wanna make sure that we're being careful about make not taking a paternal approach in our decision making when it comes to communities like GES as well. Let's see here. You also shared during this conversation that the holdover clause actually could have been extended to allow for bird seed to continue, and then you all could have had the opportunity to have a robust community engagement process and and atone for the harm that was created in GES. And I think this could have been a really good opportunity for for DPR to reset because you all had already determined that the process didn't go as you all desired desired it to, that this would have been a good opportunity for you all to reset and and work with the GES community to arrive at maybe even the same answer. Like, you all may have gotten to the same conclusion with with the this set of partners, but you would have arrived at that answer with community versus in conflict with community.

And I think that's really important for me to know. And so with that, I will be a no again. I was a no in committee. I did tell you all something else came up that I could be moved to a yes, But just based on what I've heard in this conversation, I'm still in now.

Thank you. Thank you. Councilman Thurston.

Thank you so much. I I can see the pressure that Parks was under to get the space activated. And there's probably a lot of continuity in terms of what a neighborhood might always need, particularly if they don't have a lot of resource centers or community centers. We face the same thing in West Denver. One of the things that I think was different and councilman Watson, I'll send our report to you so you can take a look at it.

You know, our I took it upon myself to go through a visioning process with my community for the Westwood Community Center. It was in a similar state. Right? A long term nonprofit was in the space. A lot of community groups felt like they had no access to it.

So we set out to interview everyone who operates in the Westwood neighborhood, to find out what their vision of that space could be. I do feel like this was, a necessary kind of process for this space. And it became the backing that helped propel every next step that we took, even the current steps that we're undertaking right now to establish new, a new FRRP just, went out. We're identifying that person who's gonna or that organization that's gonna be there, but they're still delivering on that community vision. And I I do feel like that's the missing kind of element here that would make me feel a lot better about any city venue, any city owned building and its utilization by other nonprofits.

And I don't I don't claim to know which ones are the better ones or which ones are not. That's not, I think, what I'm coming away from this conversation with because I know the Dream Center to be outstanding. They showed up in West Colfax and Lama Lincoln Park, and I didn't have to ask them. They said, what do you need? How can we help? We'll come by. We'll activate your park. We'll bring food. We'll help coordinate events. Activation is what's helping save Paco Sanchez Park, and the Dream Center was a huge part of And they didn't just start that a couple years ago.

They'd already been in West Colfax. Those neighbors knew them. So it was a real godsend to see somebody come in and already have those established relationships with residents. So my decision today is absolutely not a knock on the Dream Center. You do great work.

You my community recognizes you, and we partner with faith based communities all the time, faith based organizations. That's who resettle refugees. That's who provide housing for our homeless. Like, that's not what this is about for me. I think it is about making sure that there's a guidance plan for Globeville residents, that they know what to expect, not just with this decision, but with the future decisions.

And I I feel like that's something that we've leaned on really heavily in programming the Westwood Community Center. It's rocky. Like, it is not easygoing trying to establish shared spaces. But I I I do think there are folks out there who really do wanna put in the effort. You're among them. Globeville first, you're among them. Birdseed's among them. So my vote will be a no tonight because I do think it does feel cleaner to start with that and really let that guide the rest of the decision making process. So I hope you understand that. And and Parks as well, I hope you understand where I'm coming from on that one too. So thank you. Thank you.

Council Menzel Torres?

Thank you, madam president. And council Mentorres, you go in before me. I always tell you're the council Yoda because I think a lot of what you said is is very much similar of where I'm landing on this as well. I know I'd reached out early on when I had received a phone call from one of the elders in actually in Globeville, and she reaches out to my office all the time and says, hey. Did you know this is happening?