Remarks by Nancy Henjum
109 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 4 of 5
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
“Okay. Well, I was at Idlewild yesterday, but I go to Lincoln Center all the time and am very appreciative of the use of that old school. My question is, and it was interesting to hear that and be reminded from Kim that some of our regular partners who visited this property didn't even submit a proposal. And I kind of wonder if that's because it was originally built for commercial purposes and that kind of makes sense for it to be used again in that way, but based on your experience with Lincoln Center and how you've engaged with the community, my question is would you be willing or have you…”
“there are a lot of people in that neighborhood who are excited about what's possible for their own, obviously for their use of that and what they need, but also some entrepreneurs and some folks who might enjoy starting a business there or you know, I think they are interested in wealth creation and really uplifting that neighborhood to be more vibrant. So I just share that with you, having spent some time with a lot of them and hope that you will do the same.”
“Yeah, yes, I'm a thumbs up. I would like to hear from the Parks Department what might be possible. I mean, it's not ours to direct how the money gets spent, and what percentage, or if all. I mean, I would love to see all of it go back to that neighborhood. But I do want to support Parks' expertise on this.”
“Councilman Hingem. Thank you, Madam President. I wanted to thank you for being here. It's Steve, right?”
“Steve. I have said quite a number of times, I think the work that the Parks Advisory Board does is really critical. And we haven't heard much from the board over the six years that I've been on council. So you being here today, for previous agenda items, speaking to this obviously very significant and important thing that we'll be voting on is very important and I appreciate the time that you took to, well that you take to serve on the board, to lead the board and to come to us today. So I just really wanted to thank you.”
“Go ahead. You're still up? Are you still up? Yeah. Okay, Council. Unless anybody else wants to go before me. No, go ahead. Okay. So thank you, Lana. There clearly is a tremendous amount of work that has gone into this, and I too am really excited. I want to highlight, you know, it really stands out to me that 65.8 people basically said they're willing to pay for what they see that we need, and I think that's fantastic. The $52.2 million figure of annualized funding gap, that's not a one-time funding gap, that is annual, is really significant, and we need to pay attention to that as a council.…”
“Okay, great. I'm glad to hear that's your interpretation. I wasn't quite sure, but I completely concur. I don't think we've been transparent enough as a city across the board about some of our needs in our various departments and certainly in parks. So here's an opportunity for us to correct that and to start educating the public. On page 27, very specifically, and maybe I'm getting a little bit into the weeds, so my apologies, but I loved the PRCS system at a glance. And there's a list of, you know, from one to four million, which is kind of fun. And I realize you can't put everything in…”
“Okay, just if you would check that, and maybe if the numbers have it in there, you could call it out, because I think we need more senior centers, but we have an incredible one. And I think it's worth calling out for that population. I just would like to see you do that. And then the other kind of amenity, if you will, that I think is really unique to our city. And, you know, we heard earlier from Sports Corps and it speaks to cycling, but we have a velodrome in our city. And I think it's worth highlighting that we have a velodrome. So this might be kind of an easy place to pop that in there…”
“Okay, well, that leads nicely then into my really my, at least at this point, until other council members weigh in and maybe it spurs more thinking. My final thought, and it really is in the, you know, how we move forward around funding. And clearly, and in the, by the way, thank you, Steve, for the letter from Parks. The last sentence in the letter to City Council from the Parks Board is, We respectfully ask City Council to approve the 2026 Parks System Master Plan, and just as importantly, to support the work that follows, making sustainable PRCS funding a priority, working collaboratively…”
“Well, okay. So super quick, and it just has to do with the plan of how we're going to start working on funding. And at what point does it make sense to start, whether it's a president's commission or something, for this body to work collaboratively with Parks, with the mayor's office, to look at starting to address how we're going to be funding. I know you have your Wheel of Fortune, and I know that's in the works, but part of this is going to be at some point going to the voters. So my question simply is, You know, if you have a quick answer, we can talk about it more later. But I just want…”
“Great. We do have April 27, our elections, and it's an election year for municipalities. It's a good time to also interject this into that conversation. Thanks.”
“Councilman Hinchum. Thank you, Madam President. Allison, the first line here says description of services that maintenance of the private roads, perimeter fencing, entrance gates, and so forth are covered, but not an IGA isn't required. But the standard language is that the parks and trails are open to the public. So how is that managed, given that this is a gated community? How does the public access the parks in this area? Gotcha.”
“So in the plan, it has, just for the applicant's awareness, it has standard language that parks and trails are open to public free of charge. But if it's a gated community, I don't know how the public accesses that. If you could explain that, that'd be helpful.”
“You mentioned paying into District 1 to cover a park that's maybe more of a neighborhood park, but you also mentioned it sounded like there's parkland in your gated community. Is that...”
“So, and this might be a question more for Allison or Kevin, I'm not sure, but technically then, there are no assets inside your gated community that fall under the standard language that would cover what's accessible to the public.”
“Is that accurate from the city's side as well?”
“So going back then to the mill levy, the cover letter frames that there are really no changes, but the new plan does look like the operating cap. You said you're going down, but it looks to me like it's going up from 10 mills in the 2008 limit to 20.”
“Your 2008 was 20 mills and you're going down to 10?”
“I have, and I'm not going to ask them now, I'll send them to the planning department and they can share with you. I have a number of other more detailed questions that I'm sure we can get answered before the vote. As long as you're here, though, what I really want to emphasize, what I think I've heard from you, and this is a citizen-run board, you all have control of the board, that you voted as a board and your residents are fully aware of the changes that you're requesting and you have majority support.”
“I think that's the main thing that matters the most. I'll ask my other questions. I'll put those in writing to the planning department and they can share those with you. And again, I would suspect this probably shouldn't go on consent because I would like to, unless, at least for me, unless those questions are answered by email before they may or may not need to happen in public session. Thanks.”
“Thank you. My comment is really directed to each of my fellow council members, and I don't know when I'm going to get this out tonight, but I obtained the transcript of the special hearing that we had, the very long meeting that you all will remember, and have done some comparisons of that against the minutes. I've shared some gaps, I think, with our city clerk who is reviewing those, and I want to make sure that what I think needs to be changed in the minutes, she's okay with. And it's a lot, well not a lot, it's not a lot, but the work is significant. And I will get that out before my head…”
“moving on to item 5b will the clerk please read item 5b into the record a resolution recognizing september 26 through october 4th is creek week 2026. councilman hingem thank you madam president and uh i i am presenting the uh resolution recognizing september 26 through october 4th as creek week um and i would love it if emily if you could put the image that I asked you to put up on the screen for me. For those of you who don't know, take a look. This is an illustration of the Fountain Creek Watershed. And a watershed basically covers all the land where any water source comes into a major…”
“Thank you, Mary. I'm going to hand it back to the president for the rest of this process, but I do want to say she brought all of us, and I'm on the board, so I have all this swag, but I've got a poop bag for dogs and some other good things that I'm going to leave back here in the back by Sam. If anybody needs a poop bag or other swag, you're welcome to pick it up. Madam President, I'll take it back to you.”
“Thank you, Madam President. I just simply want to say thank you, Chris, and CSFT. What I really appreciate about this particular resolution is, for me, it is the public doing our part. You put your lives on the line every day. We celebrated that just this last weekend. But this is about our responsibility as residents of the community both for you and reducing the amount of risk that you all face, but also for each other. So I love that aspect of it, and it has changed some of my behaviors in terms of how I charge. So thank you. Thank you very much.”