City Desk ~ An insider’s view of the policies and politics of Colorado Springs city government

Archive for the 'Parks' Tag

City seeks input on plan to renovate Mountain Shadows Park

January 7th, 2013, 10:40 am by

The city’s Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Department is seeking public input on a plan to renovate Mountain Shadows Park after the Waldo Canyon fire.

The city is holding two neighborhood workshops to receive citizen ideas and input.

The first workshop is from 6:30-8 p.m. Wednesday at Chipeta Elementary School, 2340 Ramsgate Terrace. The second one is from 9-10:30 a.m. Saturday, also at the elementary school.

“The park will be improved with extensive input from the citizens living within the community and with the involvement of the Mountain Shadows Community Association (MSCA) and many of the neighborhood homeowners associations in the area,” the city said.

The project is expected to be completed by September. A timeline and more information can be viewed at SpringsGov.com/MSMP.   A park survey and a drawing sheet for children to submit ideas can also be downloaded from the webpage, the city said.

The park is adjacent to Chipeta elementary, so the parks department is working with School District 11 and project sponsors to integrate the school grounds and facilities “where possible to provide a wonderful asset for the community,” the city said.

“This project has been made possible thanks to Colorado Springs Together, several generous corporate sponsors and the involvement of other organizations and businesses across Colorado Springs,” the city said.

 

Posted in: Civic Participation • Fire • Meetings • Parks • • • | Post a Comment »

New parks director left old job amid criticism

April 17th, 2012, 12:07 pm by

Karen Palus

Mayor Steve Bach announced today his appointment of a new Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services.

Karen Palus, who was among more than 120 applicants for the job,  has more than 20 years of parks and recreational experience with city and county governments, the city said.

Palus most recently served as director of Parks and Recreation for the City of Tampa, Fla., where she worked for seven years.

According to the Tampa Bay Times, Palus and another high-ranking parks employee left their jobs “amid a city effort to make the oft-criticized department more responsive.”

“It was a mutual parting of the ways,” city chief of staff Santiago Corrada told the newspaper of Palus.

“She offered her resignation, we accepted it, thanked her for her years of service and wished her well in the future,” Corrada said.

Here’s another account of Palus leaving Tampa “without any fanfare.”

The mayor’s office characterized Palus’ time in Tampa differently.

“During that time, Karen successfully attained National Accreditation by the Commission of Accreditation (CAPRA) for the City of Tampa’s Parks and Recreation Department,” the city said.

“Ms. Palus developed a park in the downtown core of the City of Tampa, after which time the park received numerous awards and was named one of the top ten new parks in the country for 2011.  She was the recipient of the Fellow Award, Achievement  Award, Outstanding Service Award and  Agency Excellence Award from the Florida Recreation and Park Association,” the city said.

Palus, whose appointment must be confirmed by the City Council, is scheduled to start June 18.

Her salary would be $128,000 a year.

“Karen’s extensive experience in park and recreation, as well as her leadership at the local, state and national levels will be a great asset to Colorado Springs,” the mayor said in a statement.

 

Posted in: City Administration • City Council • City employees • Parks • • • | 4 Comments »

Facebook contest awards $10K to city park

February 15th, 2012, 10:37 am by

Nate Nicoll of Vladimir Jones/Photo by Daniel J. Chacon

Freedom Honda is holding a contest in which a Colorado Springs park with the most votes will receive $10,000 for improvements.

The rules are easy:

First, go to Freedom Honda’s Facebook page by searching for FreedomHondaCS.

Second, hit “like.”

Then click on the “10K Park Makeover” tab.

Finally, vote for one of 15 pre-selected parks.

The park with the most votes will get the $10,000 makeover.

The contest starts today and runs through March 15.

The winner will be announced on Facebook on March 16.

Freedom Honda, which opened in early October 2011 and has 53 employees, is part of the Piercey Automotive Group family of dealerships. The 40,000-square-foot car dealership is located at 4955 New Car Drive in Powers Auto Park.

“They’ve come here not only to help our community with some really fine automobiles, but also they want to be a corporate citizen, and they certainly are that,” Mayor Steve Bach said Wednesday morning during a press conference at America the Beautiful Park.

“This really sets the pace for the business community,” Bach said. “I hope other businesses will look at this as an example of how companies can partner with the city of Colorado Springs and do great things.”

Amy Triandiflou of PR agency Vladimir Jones said Freedom Honda worked with the city’s Parks and Recreation Department to identify parks that needed some “TLC.”

“It’s based on traffic and need at the park,” she said. “As a pilot program, we launched this using their recommendation. And who knows? It will hopefully evolve in the future.”

 

Posted in: Civic Participation • Parks • • | 10 Comments »

Julie Penrose Fountain will operate 6 1/2 hours a day

May 18th, 2010, 12:24 pm by

The towering O-shaped Julie Penrose Fountain in the America the Beautiful Park will operate 6 ½ hours a day for the next three months, the Parks Department said today.

Between May 23 and Aug. 22, the fountain will spray water from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Kim King, parks administration manager, said in an e-mail.

The fountain will continue to operate from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. between Aug. 23 and Labor Day, but only on weekends, she said.

The Friends of the Julie Penrose Fountain are inviting the public to a “Turn on the Fountain” celebration in the park this Sunday from noon to 2 p.m.

The friends group, which raised the $25,000 needed to the fountain on this summer, is still asking for donations “to ensure the fountain’s continued operation.”

“People are already asking if we still need donations now and we definitely do!” Kristen Downs, chair of the friends group, said today in an e-mail.

“Please direct people to visit our website at www.juliepenrosefountain.org to donate,” she said.

Posted in: Budget • Civic Participation • Parks • • • | 1 Comment »

Quote of the day

April 5th, 2010, 9:52 am by

“Not formally. We take a pickup and bags to our neighborhood park and kind of do a sweep of the grounds to get the major stuff picked up. That is easier than going through 450 pages of city paperwork.”

– Rick Wehner, when asked today whether he was among the residents who adopted a park after he said he was headed to his local park this morning to pick up windblown trash

Posted in: Parks • • | Post a Comment »

Foul! Jocks less likely to pick up their trash, official says

April 1st, 2010, 3:46 pm by

Julie Penrose Fountain at America the Beautiful Park

Earlier this year, Colorado Springs made national headlines after the city pulled out nearly 400 trash cans from about 128 neighborhood parks as a cost-saving measure.

At the time, city officials asked park users to be considerate of the budget crunch and take their trash home rather than just leave it behind.

Although the parks will be much busier in the summer, which will really put the city’s request to the test, most people have been complying with the request so far, Kurt Schroeder, the city’s Parks, Trails and Open Space manager, said today.

“Generally speaking, the trash is about what you would expect to see on the ground about this time of year,” he said.

But there is one exception, Schroeder said.

Baseball, soccer and other sports teams that use the neighborhood parks for practice are leaving more trash behind than the average citizen, he said.

“Their trash isn’t finding the way home quite as well as with the general public,” Schroeder said. “We probably need to try to reach out to them and ask them to be a little more thoughtful about how they leave their park.”

Posted in: Budget • Parks • • | Post a Comment »

Springs inventor wages war on doggie doo-doo

March 17th, 2010, 12:36 pm by

A Colorado Springs woman says she has a solution to the city’s doggie doo-doo dilemma.

Anita Pendleton, who read last week that irresponsible dog owners were throwing bags of dog feces into the city’s storm water drains, said she came up with an invention several years ago that makes it easier for pet owners to carry dog poop until they find a trash can.

It’s called the Zippity-Poo-Da, a portable clean-up system.

The Zippity-Poo-Da is a pouch with two compartments that can be placed either near the dog’s neck or closer to the dog walker’s hand.

The pouch is designed to carry unused poop bags. In a separate compartment, the pouch carries the bagged dog feces “so you don’t have to,” according to Pendleton’s Web site, http://www.zippitypooda.com/.

“My whole concept is not just to try and get free advertising from you,” she said this morning. “I did this to try and clean up our trails. That’s why I made this product.”

The compartment for the dogged feces has a Velcro strip that runs from top to bottom.

“I knew people wouldn’t want to reach in there and have all sorts of catastrophes,” she said. “You just rip that sucker open, and it’ll drop right in any receptacle without you having to handle it again.”

The compartment, which also has a Velcro “choke strap” so the bagged dog feces doesn’t fall out, can carry a heavy load, Pendleton said.

“I have an Australian shepherd. I’ve had German shepherds. I know their poop would fit in there,” she said.

Pendleton said “of course” she wants people to buy the Zippity-Poo-Da.

“But I really, really did do this because I wanted those darn things picked off my trails,” she said.

“I can’t stand the smell or stepping in it,” she added. “It’s just not responsible for the runners and the people who don’t have the dogs. And it’s not responsible for our dog. Our dog doesn’t want to walk out on all that mess.”

Check out a video demonstration here:

Please enable Javascript and Flash to view this Brightcove video.

Posted in: Parks • | 9 Comments »

Doggy doo-doo continues to hound the Springs

March 15th, 2010, 11:20 am by

Colorado Springs is dealing with a doggy doo-doo dilemma.

Last week, a city spokeswoman said city street inspectors have been finding a large number of bagged dog feces in storm water drains, especially in the Broadmoor Valley area and Mountain Shadows, two of the city’s more affluent neighborhoods.

The story generated dozens of responses over the weekend, including a call from some fed-up residents for dogs to be banned from public parks.

In a letter to the editor today, Anna Whelan said the problem is out of control.

“While walking, I have noticed more feces not being picked up and if they are picked up, some owners are leaving the bags by the posts for extra bags,” she stated in the letter.

“I have a 10-month-old who just started walking, and I would love to bring him to the park without worrying too much where he is stepping or falling,” she said.

The city’s Public Communications Office issued a plea today to pet owners: be responsible.

“While one pet might contribute only minor amounts of pollution, the combined effect of a neighborhood and the city is serious,” city spokeswoman Julie Smith said in a news release.

“Being a responsible pet owner not only reduces contaminants in storm water runoff, but it keeps the areas you walk clean for everyone,” she said. “Everyday personal actions can have a significant impact on our community, and managing pet waste properly is something that everyone can do to make a difference.”

According to Smith, doggy doo-doo stinks when it isn’t properly disposed because:

Pet waste ends up in city storm drains where it travels through the city’s streams and creeks untreated, putting water quality and your health at risk.

Diseases that can spread from pet waste include:

Salmonellosis – the most common bacterial infection transmitted from animals to humans. Symptoms include headache, fever, muscle aches, vomiting, and diarrhea.

Campylobacteriosis – a bacterial infection – causes diarrhea in humans.

Toxocarisis – roundworms transmitted from animals to humans. Symptoms include fever, rash, vision loss, and cough.

It is unlawful to leave your pet’s waste in our city’s parks, catch basins, storm drains and streets. Code of the City of Colorado Springs 2001, as amended 9.9.301.

The decay of the pet waste in our waterways releases ammonia that can kill fish and other aquatic life.

The odor and site of pet waste makes walking along a trail or playing in a park unpleasant for everyone.

Posted in: Parks • Uncategorized • | Post a Comment »

Congratulations in order for Parks and Rec Department

October 27th, 2009, 9:30 am by

flowers

The Horticultural Arts Society of Colorado Springs is making history today.

For the first time in its 47-year history, the society is giving its highest award not to a person but to an agency: the city’s Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Department.

“We’ve always given it to a person in the past,” President Pam Hamamoto said. “This is the first time we’ve ever given it to an entity.”

Hamamoto said the nonprofit decided to recognize the department “for all the support we’ve had from them” over the last 47 years.

Posted in: Parks • • | Post a Comment »