Six months after city officials fenced off part of La Alma-Lincoln Park because of drug use and violence, it’s getting a makeover.
The Denver City Council approved a two-year, $1.3 million contract Monday that will pay for architectural and engineering design for changes planned at the park, located southwest of downtown along Mariposa Street between west 13th and 11th avenues. It passed in a block vote.
The redesigned green space will include a new walking loop, expanded skate and playground areas, a new roller loop, a “rhythm skate plaza” and added picnic groves, according to city documents. The project will also relocate the basketball and tennis courts.
In a description of their planned services, Livable Cities Studio, the company that will design the project, said the park “holds many significant neighborhood memories for the community.”
“The conditions of the existing features at the park are severely deteriorated and the available programming is not meeting current recreational desires,” according to the document.
The planned redesign comes after the city solicited community feedback and created a vision plan for the 15-acre park in July 2023.
“This is good timing, I think, for this neighborhood and this community,” said Councilwoman Jamie Torres, who represents District 3, where the park is located. “It’s a really good opportunity for the community to reimagine what the park will look like for the future.”
Last August, the city closed parts of the park as officials attempted to curb rising drug sales, violence and vandalism in the area. Parkgoers and a nearby charter school complained about human waste, syringes and physical fights in the park.
The park was also closed for periods in 2021 and 2022 after several shootings, including a fatal one in which Gary Arellano, 63, was killed while trying to break up a fight in the park.
Last year, Torres said the influx of drug use was related to Mayor Mike Johnston’s All in Mile High homelessness initiative, which closed off portions of downtown known for homeless encampments.
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