The new Swing High ”universally accessible” playground on the edge of Prospect Lake in Memorial Park, east of downtown, is open. 

I went by to see if it really is all that different than other playgrounds. 

 It was swarming with kids. 

Most were 5th grade students from Rockrimmon Elementary School, enjoying  a picnic. My son, Ben, was among the students. So was his classmate, Abby Farrell. 

I left wondering why every playground isn’t built like this one. 

Michelle Farrell and her 10-year-old daughter, Abby.

As you approach, the play structure, it really  doesn’t look much different than other modern playgrounds. 

But then you take a closer look and see all the things that make this playground so unique. 

 I received a tour of the playground from Abby’s mom, Michelle Farrell, who quit her job at the U.S. Olympic Committee in 2006 to raise the $1 million needed to build the playground. 

 Abby has spina bifida and uses a wheelchair as well as crutches and leg braces to get around. 

Abby Farrell, 10, celebrates at the Swing High "universally accessible" playground on the southwest corner of Prospect Lake in Memorial Park.

Abby’s childhood has not included many happy trips to the playground. 

Most were frustrating experiences because most playgrounds are virtually inaccessible to her.

 Doesn’t matter that they meet requirements of the Americans With Disabilities Act, or ADA.

Typically, playgrounds are surrounded by wood chips, gravel and sand. Might as well build a croc-infest moat if you are in a wheelchair.

And most have stairs. Might as well put razor wire around it.

To find a truly accessible playground for Abby, Michelle had to drive to Aurora or Broomfield or Fort Collins. 

Frustrated, Michellel, a former Olympic gymnast, decided to take a plunge into fundraising. 

She vaulted herself into the public limelight and began a campaign to raise awareness and money for a playground in Colorado Springs. 

Abby Farrell, 10, in the foreground, plays with her sister, Zoe, 7, at the Swing High "universally accessible" playground at Prospect Lake in Memorial Park. Abby uses a wheelchair, crutches and leg braces because she was born with spina bifida. The playground opened to the public on Saturday, May 22, 2010

Four years and $1 million later, we have a playground where everyone can play. The money came from private donors, Trails, Open Space and Parks funds, Greater Outdoor Colorado or GOCO grants, and generous donations from foundations including El Pomar, the Gates Family and Phil Long dealerships.

And this playground is not just for kids.

Folks at city Parks and Rec say they know of injured military veterans in wheelchairs who are looking forward to playing with their children, climbing to the top of the structure and putting them on the slide.

Although the hardest part is done, Michelle says it’s not quite finished. The nearest parking area remains unpaved. She said it will take $100,000 or more to pave it and create needed handicapped accessible parking spaces.

I’m hoping the money surfaces soon.

Here’s a link to a previous column I wrote and a blog on the project.

Thanks, Michelle! 

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SWING HIGH PLAYGROUND REALLY IS DIFFERENT is a post from: Side Streets

Mary Lou Makepeace knows a little bit about governing and earning the trust of voters.

She spent 18 years on the Colorado Springs City Council after her appointment in 1985.

In 1997, she became the city’s first female mayor, re-elected in 1999.

Her re-election coincided with voter approval of an $88 million bond issue to pay for a variety of civic projects from police and fire protection to street and bridge repair to drainage to parks and community recreation centers.

Stop laughing. This is no joke.

Springs voters just 11 years ago actually agreed to spend millions on parks and recreation centers.

 In fact, the $88 million bond issue, called the Springs Community Improvement Program, or SCIP, included $11.1 million to build the 21-acre America the Beautiful Park as well as $12 million for pools and rec centers!

Is this a time warp or a space continuums?

Makepeace, 70, is saddened by the dismantling of the city’s parks department, the closing of pools and the threat to its community centers and services.

She calls it “tragic” and worries it will be hard for elected officials to rebuild the trust of the people.

In my chat with Makepeace, she had this to say:

“I think SCIP was very successful and the reason is so many citizens stepped forward took advantage of chance to give their input in community. Hundreds of citizens were serving on committees.

“It’s going to take a better economy and a deliberate rebuilding effort to regain that trust. A big part of it is engaging people in government. Government has to get a lot closer to the people. And not just listen to the few who comes before them at council.

“If people feel ownership, they’d be more interested in participating. The ultimate goal is people feeling good about their community.

“People have to participate. The council has to communicate. If they don’t, the form of government — manager or strong mayor – won’t matter.

“We do have a great community. Come on folks, let’s figure this  out. We can’t just depend on nine people on City Council. We have a lot of brains in the community. We need citizen input.”

Makepeace had a clear vision for Colorado Springs. She wanted to create a vibrant downtown with a centerpiece park, convention center and major hotel. She envisioned a downtown were people could find a variety of restaurants, shops and entertainment options. An urban soul for the growing city.

Although the convention center never materialized, most of her vision did and America the Beautiful Park is her crowning achievement.

Here’s a link to the history of  the park.

 At its heart is The Continuum – the Julie Penrose Fountain. It is a four-story tall sculpture of steel and weighs 24 tons. It is equipped with 366 jets that spray a curtain of water as the entire structure rotates, taking 15 minutes to make one revolution.

LISTENING IS THE KEY TO REBUILDING TRUST, FORMER MAYOR SAYS is a post from: Side Streets

The Friends of Aquatics are at it again!

And that is good news for folks who can’t afford swim lessons or just want ot take a dip on a summer day in Colorado Springs.

The Friends want everyone to know they will still help pay for lessons for anyone who can’t afford them at the city’s only public pool at the Cottonwood Creek Recreation Center.

Lessons are $45 for 10 sessions, 40 minutes each.

The Friends also will help pay for punch cards to Cottonwood’s spacious indoor wave pool, lazy river and water slide. They are $35 for 10 visits. That’s a discount from the normal $4.50 per visit fee for children.

In addition, Friends of Aquatics is still trying to raise $250,000 to subsidize pool operations in 2011. The city has only agreed to keep Cottonwood open this year. It closed public pools at Monument Valley Park and Valley Hi as well as the Prospect Lake beach.

The city pool at Monument Valley Park will be a quiet place this summer. It is closed due to budget cuts. This is a 2010 photo by Carol Lawrence.

The city has contracted out to a private company three facilities: Wilson Ranch and Portal pools and the Aquatic and Fitness Center at Memorial Park. 

Here’s part of a letter the group is sending out soliciting sponsors who might want to buy a banner to hang at Cottonwood:

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Here is a link to a previous blog I wrote on the group.

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EVERY SWIMMER NEEDS FRIENDS LIKE THESE is a post from: Side Streets

                        UPDATE

GIFTS FROM THE HEART is available for purchase at the UCCS Bookstore, at Hooked on Books and the Friends Bookstore at the East Library.

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I had a chance today to remember an old friend and colleague, Lou Gonzales.

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The occasion was the release of a new book “Gifts from the Heart – Stories, Memories & Chronicles of Lucilile Gonzales Oller.” 

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It was published by the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs .where Lou attended night classes as a nontraditional student 20 years ago.

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The book is a look at the woman in all her incarnations through her own words.

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UCCS English professor emeritus Alexander Blackburn pulled together a wonderful collection of her columns and stories, plus some things she wrote for him in night classes she took starting around 1989.

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Here’s a photo of three key collaborators on the book, Toni Knapp, Alexander Blackburn and Inés Dölz-Blackburn.

The photo was taken Wednesday by The Gazette’s Linda Navarro at the luncheon honoring the Unstoppable Women, winners of the Karen Possehl Women’s Endowment Scholarships at UCCS.

On hand for the book release was Lou’s sister, Bonnie Gonzales.

Here is a photo of Lou as a child in Colorado Springs. It’s included in the book:

Lou was a reporter/columnist for The Gazette from 1994 through 2002. She was a nontraditional journalist.

That just means she came to the newsroom as a middle-age  woman, unlike those of us who started writing immediately after college as snot-nosed, know-it-all kids in our early 20s.

In every other way, Lou was an old-school journalist. She was a great writer. Had great news judgment. An eye for detail and compassion for common people and their troubles.

Lou was a compelling writer who tell a story and make you mad as hell, or cry like a baby.

This is an unusual photo of Lou because she isn’t smiling.

I will always remember her smile. She was ornrey and affable.

She was smart and, more importantly, wise from her years not spent along the traditional journalist’s career path. She stood up to bullies and put a comforting arm around the afflicted.

Sadly, her career and life ended far too soon in March 2003 when she died from complications of ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease. She was 55.

Buy the book. It’s just $20. And it’s a great read and a good cause.

All proceeds go to a scholarship to help nontraditional students like Lou at UCCS. It’s named in her honor.

To get your copy, call the UCCS Bookstore at 719-255-3247.

Here’s how I remember her:

Lou was such a wonderful person. I miss her.

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REMEMBERING MY FRIEND, LOU GONZALES is a post from: Side Streets

Indian Heights Casitas is one of the “infill” projects that Colorado Springs has encouraged in recent years. Here’s a look at it:

In this case, developer Bill Skeele took a vacant lot on the Westside at 19th and King Streets and, around 2006, built 15 townhomes.

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 Basically, Skeele built seven duplexes and a single unit.

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It’s adjacent to a large storage complex and surrounded by older homes as well as other housing developments.

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Joyce Truitt and her daughter came along and bought side-by-side units. They were low-maintenance homes. Conveniently located in the city. And not part of a sprawling complex.

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There was just one problem. Skeele never finished the project. Truitt said he left lots of little things undone. Most important was an irrigation system for the common areas.

As a result, trees and shrubs died. Truitt said he was unresponsive to repeated calls for action. So she turned to the city. Again she became frustrtated.

Here’s a look at Indian Heights Casitas from FlashEarth:

So Truitt started calling the city’s development review folks and teh city attorney. Truitt had been married to a banker for years and knew projects like this were secured by bonds. In this case, $57,000 remained locked up until the city released it back to Skeele.

Truitt asked the city to use that money to finish the project. But she said city staff told her the money was a penalty bond meaning it would not necessarily be used to finish Indian Heights Casitas if staff decided Skeele would forfeit it.

That’s when Truitt called me.

She didn’t need to. She had done everything possible to get action on her complaint. And the city had not ignored her. In fact, the city met a week ago with Skeele and he promised to complete the project by June 1.

Truitt is not convinced. But she hopes it’s true.

Stay tuned.

Common areas at Indian Heights Casitas

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INDIAN HEIGHTS CASITAS: Resident solves problem is a post from: Side Streets

I don’t know the story behind this photo, which was emailed to me as spam. It’s pretty obvious there’s an intense political debate behind it.

But it made me think.

Often, people suggest to me that simple conversations between neighbors will resolve most disputes.

Unfortunately, there are too many childish people in the world like this clown.

He’s willing to endanger his neighbor by painting a target on him to potential burglars to make a point. And the moron clearly doesn’t realize he’s also painting a target on himself to any criminal looking for guns.

A lot of homeowners associations have covenants restricting yard signs.

Wonder if the neighbor is wishing he had such covenants and an HOA willing to enforce them?

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BET THIS GUY’S NEIGHBOR WISHES HE HAD COVENANTS is a post from: Side Streets

 HOAs Gone Mild? 

That’s the goal of House Bill 1278, which passed the Colorado General Assembly on Tuesday. 

Eventually, at least. 

First the proposal to create a Homeowners Association Information and Resource Center it must be signed into law by Gov. Bill Ritter. 

That seems a formality given the bill was sponsored by two Democrats and passed the House on Tuesday on a straight party-line vote. 

State Rep. Amy Stephens, R-Monument

Republicans tried to stop it, led by Rep. Amy Stephens of Monument who called it a “terrible bill” and a “ridiculous” expansion of the state bureaucracy. 

She said it will lead to “state-run, state-controlled, state-regulated HOAs” and was unnecessary because there has been no outcry for change. 

Stephens said the bill was a response to a few people in extreme conflict with their HOAs.   

But Democrats pushed it through, giving victory to its sponsors, Rep. Su Ryden and Sen. Morgan Carroll, both of Aurora. 

Colorado Rep. Su Ryden, D-Aurora

Carroll is a familiar name to folks who follow HOA law in Colorado. She co-sponsored the 2005 Homeowners Bill of Rights. 

Colorado Sen. Morgan Carroll, D-Aurora

 Here’s a link to a blog I wrote recently detailing her work to regulate  HOAs and to rein in the covenants that govern life in the associations.  

Here’s another link to an interesting blog, HOA Legi-Slate, on the Hindman-Sanchez website where the Denver law firm monitors bills in the General Assembly  including the Ryden-Carroll bill.

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STATE WOULD MONITOR HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATIONS is a post from: Side Streets

This is a farewell to Paul Butcher, the patron saint of neighborhood parks. And trails. And open space. 

He’s one of the good guys of government. It’s popular to bash bureaucrats. Don’t bash Butcher. 

In fact, next time you are riding one of Colorado Springs‘ many trails, or hiking open space, or just watching your kids play in a neighborhood park, take a sip from your CamelBak and toast Paul. 

From 1994 until he retired April 30, he directed the Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Department. 

 During that time, he presided over the largest expansion of parks, trails and open space since Springs founder Gen. William Jackson Palmer was donating land up until his death in March 1909. 

Butcher benefited from passage in 1997 of a one-tenth of a percent sales tax to pay for acquisition, construction and maintenance of Trails, Open Space and Parks, or TOPS, which generates about $6 million a year. 

The numbers are impressive: 5,000 acres of open space acquired; 100 miles of trails built; 48 neighborhood parks added to the inventory; dog parks; skate parks; swimming facilities; spray grounds; countless ballfields, sports courts, playgrounds and picnic areas. 

Paul decided to retire after watching his department gutted by severe budget cuts. 

In 2007, his agency had 225 employees and a budget of $19.9 million. Today, it has 140 employees and a budget of just $6 million general fund dollars. It generates about half that amount. 

And the future looks grim. 

“If we stay on the course we’re on, there’s a complete inability to maintain the park system to the level we did five years ago,” Butcher said. “It would be foolhardy to build any more parks if the city is required to maintain them.” 

That’s because irrigation systems, grass, playgrounds are expensive. So are the people needed to mow them, empty trash cans and fix sprinklers and repair vandalism. 

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Paula and Paul Butcher kneel on the front row, on the right, surrounded by their family in this 2008 photo.

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“It was an opportune time to retire,” he said, explaining he will be maximizing his time with his wife, Paula, their six kids and four grandkids. 

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It can’t get much worse. Sure, the city could cut the remaining funds. But it would be foolish. Only about 12 people on staff are paid from the city general fund. The agency is doing the bare minimum at this point. 

Cutting more would jeopardize the $4 million it receives in lottery funds, which can only be used for parks. They can’t pay for someone to attend City Council meetings. Or for electricity. Or the water bill in the administration building. 

And there’s little to be gained, he said, from selling park property. Most parks have clauses in their deeds requiring them to remain parks or revert to the previous owners. 

“It would be very difficult to sell off parts of the parks system,” he said. 

So he is off to pursue his volunteer work, family life, daily runs with his lab, Shadow, and relax a bit. He considers the city’s acquisition in 2003 of the 789 Red Rock Canyon Open Space a highlight of his career. 

Read a 2007 story I wrote at this link. Here’s a map of the park. 

Here’s a look at the canyon in a 2004 photo by The Gazette’s Bryan Oller: 

NEIGHBORHOODS LOSE THEIR PATRON SAINT OF PARKS is a post from: Side Streets

Prairie Vista Meadows is one of dozens of subdivisions scattered around the outskirts of Colorado Springs in eastern El Paso County. 

It’s just 63 lots, carved out of former ranchland, where folks trying to get away from the city go and buy five-acre ranchettes. 

Sometimes, they envision themselves as gentlemen farmers, with a horse or a cow or maybe another farm animal or two. 

One of the big selling points is the spectacular views they enjoy of Pikes Peak and the Front Range from their vantage 10 miles or more from downtown Springs. 

But folks trying to get away from the city sometimes take their issues with them to the countryside. 

 That’s the case at Prairie Vista Meadows where a couple homeowners are complaining about the homeowners association, covenants and architectural control committee governing life in the subdivision. 

They are angry that the rules limit the number and types of farm animals to just two horses or cows. 

Homeowner Chris Meier wanted a llama to guard his two cows from coyotes that roam the plains. And a goat would be nice. Or maybe some chickens. He wants his eight children involved in 4H programs and that might mean raising any variety of barnyard animals. 

Neighbor Shannon Rogers wanted a third horse to go with her original two.  And maybe a horse arena. And she wants to store a trailer behind a screen of Blue Spruce trees.

Noreen and Craig McConnell

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Both said they were misled by developer Craig McConnell to believe the HOA would be relaxed and willing to waive covenants and let them bend the rules. 

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McConnell sells real estate with his wife, Noreen, through Avalar Real Estate Solutions in Falcon. 

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McConnell said they misunderstood. He said the rules are the rules. Most of the 24 homeowners in Prairie Vista Meadows like the rules and want them enforced. He said five-acre lots are not big enough to allow many animals. 

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Here is a look at the subdivision from the El Paso County Assessor’s website: 

 McConnell said he’s trying to maintain the quality of the development by enforcing the covenants. He accuses Meier of wanting to take control of the HOA and rewrite the covenants to suit his lifestyle. 

He says Meier has been out of compliance with covenants since he moved in last June for failing to paint his barn and for not screening his RV behind a fence or in a building, as rules require. 

Meier counters that he likes the covenants and simply wants residents of the neighborhood to control the HOA, not a developer and his partners who don’t live in Prairie Vista Meadows. 

The moral of the story is a classic: read everything before you buy and get all promises in writing. 

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‘GUARD LLAMAS’ AT HEART OF COVENANT DISPUTE? is a post from: Side Streets

Is it a coincidence?

Or is it fate? 

Jeanne Barclay Sellon, left, and Arlys Gould Ferris

 Arlys Gould Ferris and Jeanne Barclay Sellon both live on the seventh floor of Freedom Plaza in Peoria, Ariz.

It’s an independent living retirement center with 344 apartments.

Both women are 82.

They were excited to meet because both had lived in Colorado Springs.

They never dreamed they had done more than just cross paths at the base of Pikes Peak during their long lives.

Turns out they had lived in the exact same house at 1611 N. Weber St. Here’s the house.

The revelation shocked the women and they began comparing memories of the place.

 Jeanne Barclay Sellon said her family rented the house in 1932-33. Her parents were immigrants from Scotland and her dad worked as a coal miner.

The family moved a lot, following work in the mines. In ’32, he took a job at the Pikeview Coal Mine and rented the place on Weber. It was near the old Santa Fe Railroad tracks on the edge of the North End Neighborhood.

Eventually, she met and married Don Sellon, an Air Force pilot, in 1947 and she followed his career to various Air Force bases and later as a United Airlines pilot.

Arlys and her husband, Robert Gould, came to Colorado Springs in 1952 upon the advice of a doctor. Two of their children had respiratory illnesses and needed a dry climate. They bought the house on North Weber in January 1953.

They lived there until November 1956 when they moved to a house on five acres in Woodmen Valley. Over the years, Robert Gould became a builder who developed the Eastborough neighobrhood, among others, with Bob Willis, his partner is American Builders. He also was the lead partner in development of the 2,000-acre Crystal Park Christian Community above Manitou Springs.

Today, the house on North Weber is owned by Ross Gresham and Jessy Randall who are renovating the place and raising their two children there.

They have refinished the hardwood floors and restored the fireplace in the living room.

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THAT WAS MY HOUSE! NO! THAT WAS MY HOUSE! is a post from: Side Streets