City Forum Turns Into Episode of Parks and Recreation Starring Pickleball

There were government officials trying to figure out what the community wants, citizens who were unexpectedly passionate about what the city is doing — specifically when it comes to pickleball — and sitcom-esque technical difficulties, complete with a door alarm going off in the crowded La Alma Recreation Center room where the event was held.

There was also plenty of the joy that people love about NBC’s Parks and Recreation, including some applause for points well made and playful back-and-forths between moderators and attendees.

“Young people!” praised those in attendance, after one of the younger audience members fixed a problem with the microphone.

The meeting was one in a series of 28 gatherings that mayor-elect Johnston’s transition team has used to get feedback from citizens to shape the first 100 days of his administration, which start on July 17, when Johnston is inaugurated.

According to the people at this meeting, Johnston’s Parks & Rec team needs to focus on Denver’s most controversial sport: pickleball.

About two-thirds of the people in the room on Monday night indicated that they were there in support of the paddle sport, which has caused hubbub among neighbors and city officials alike over the last few years.

“What I’m going to challenge you with tonight is to not only think about the thing that you’re most interested in, but to also think about what are the larger issues? What are the larger concerns that you have as it relates to Denver Parks & Rec under this new administration?” implored Connie Rule, co-chair of the parks transition committee.

In addition to pickleball, there were lots of other things to discuss — starting with outgoing Mayor Michael Hancock’s decision to change Scott Gilmore and John Martinez, deputy executive directors of Denver Parks & Recreation, to Career Service Association status in 2021. The roles had previously been appointed by each incoming mayor. Now, the pair will be part of Johnston’s administration, since CSA employees are protected.

“The new head of this department is going to be swimming upstream,” blasted Kelly Kitts, a longtime Denver resident who spoke at the forum.

Kitts said she’s seen previous mayoral transitions and thinks the fact that Johnston will inherit a department already set in stone, save for its executive director, could make the parks department one of the most difficult points of transition.

Kitts’ comments earned her whoops and claps from the entire room.

Deborah Saint-Phard, a doctor of sports medicine and active pickleball player, added that she has qualms about the raises Gilmore and Martinez each earned — along with job security. Both make $170,000 or more annually, according to city records.

“That is an issue that has come up in many meetings in terms of the feedback, and it’s been documented in the report we will give the mayor-elect as a primary issue that needs to be addressed,” Rule reassured the audience.

Kourtny Garrett, CEO of the Downtown Denver Partnership and a member of Johnston’s transition team, asked the crowd to focus on how Johnston should select a leader for the department, and what values and qualities that leader should have.

“One of the things that I think would be very helpful for our committee is to help us find a candidate who will be flexible when new sports come up,” said Leslie Twarogowski, who served on the Parks & Recreation Advisory Board for a decade. “What we need to do tonight is to try to help find a candidate who will be more flexible when new uses of our parks come up because they will always come up. There will always be a new sport.”

In her time on the PRAB, Twarogowski said, she saw conflicts between soccer, lacrosse and football players as different sports got more popular. That’s similar to the push and pull between tennis and pickleball players now, so she argued that the new executive director needs to be able to adapt.

They’ll have plenty of eyes watching them with Marisol Rodriguez, of Civic Consulting Collaborative — the project manager for facilitators for Johnston’s transition public forums — telling Westword that the parks meeting was the highest-attended yet by her estimation.

These citizens weren’t all just there to gripe about pickleball and Career Service employees, though; they also wanted to express their love for Denver’s parks. Residents cited their pride in the city’s legacy parks, such as City Park and Washington Park, as well as the city’s mountain park system. They also praised employees of the department, going so far as to say they should get raises under the new administration.

Activities and events in parks earned the group’s support as well, as did pollinator gardens and car-free parks.

Resident John Hayden said the department could make it easier to get permits for events in parks, in order to keep the good work going. “You have to be very well-educated and have a lot of free time to get a permit in our parks,” he said. “Making that process easier would be great.”

People at the meeting, whether in person or online, also called for more investment in areas that haven’t historically been given as much funding.

“If you compare rec centers in Globeville and Swansea to Central Park and Carla Madison, you will see the inequity of rec centers across the city,” said resident Frank Sullivan, who joined the meeting remotely.

Dennis Ryerson, who spoke in person, noted how the community and history of the areas where parks are going should be front and center when being put in. “Throw away the damn cookie cutter,” he declared. “Parks should reflect the neighbors, the neighborhood, that they’re located in. There’s a great diversity in the city.”

Other suggestions included making sure marginalized groups can access mountain parks and easily sign up for programming, as well as more cross-collaboration between departments — and a better alignment with Denver City Council.

More accessibility to department officials was a major theme.

Jessica Newton, executive director of Vibe Tribe Adventures, which aims to make outdoor exploration more accessible for Black people, said that a liaison between businesses like hers and the parks department would be helpful. “It’s very difficult getting in touch with someone to have a conversation about how we incorporate our processes into the community that we’re serving,” she said. “We cannot get in touch or build a relationship with our Parks & Recreation department.”

Transparency is key, many commentators added.

Saint-Phard said the city’s decision to shut down the Congress Park pickleball courts instead of going through with a project to relocate them away from homes because of noise concerns is what pushed her to advocate for change at the department.

“The lack of openness, the lack of fairness, the lack of justice, the lack of engaging, no transparency,” Saint-Phard listed. “To have leadership disengage from his public is Machiavellian… That is why there was such an uproar. It’s about the process.”

For many of the picklers at the meeting, having their favorite courts scrapped illuminated bigger problems related to access to city officials and information on how taxpayer dollars are used.

“We acknowledge that compared to real city issues that our mayor’s dealing with, like affordable housing and homelessness, parks and pickleball is not necessarily up there,” concluded resident Maria Girsch. “But guess what? Of all the departments in the city of Denver, Parks & Rec should be the happiest, funnest department.”

While department officials don’t always feel like that, Girsch believes Denver can be the city that eventually figures it all out — particularly when it comes to pickleball.

Perhaps Johnston can find Denver’s Leslie Knope to lead its parks department and get that ball rolling — or that paddle swinging….