Side Streets ~ Neighborhood people and issues

Archive for the 'Memorial Park' Tag

LIFE’S A BEACH, WITH SHADE, AT PROSPECT LAKE

July 6th, 2012, 12:31 pm by

The Prospect Lake Beach is open again for swimming after being closed two years due to city budget cuts.

After a couple weeks of fire-induced stress, I needed some beach time.

I got it Thursday at Prospect Lake.

That’s right, the swimming beach is re-opened after being closed two years due to city budget cuts. And it’s as good as ever.

The Eni R. Jaspersen Beach House is gleaming with new paint, renovated locker rooms and showers.

New sand was hauled in along the waterfront. Picnic tables were hauled out of the water.

Life guards are in the towers and it’s like old times.

It was quiet Thursday after a busy Fourth of July at the beach. Megan Quiggle was enjoying the water with her kids. They had come from Minnesota for a family reunion.

Some of the family wanted to fish. Others wanted to swim. Prospect Lake in Memorial Park was the place they could do both.

“It’s really nice,” she said.

Samantha Griffin was catching some rays on a beach towel near the water.

A west-side resident, Samantha said she bought a summer pool pass from the YMCA, which is operating the Prospect Lake Beach, as well as the re-opened Monument Valley Pool, Portal Pool and the Wilson Ranch Pool under a contract with the city. The Y also operates the city-owned Cottonwood Creek and Memorial Park recreation centers.

“I think it’s awesome,” Samantha said, adding that her 4-year-old daughter also enjoys the beach. “The bath house is nice and the life guards do a really good job.”

That sentiment echoed across the 400-foot-long beach, including from the Swimmin’ Women, a group that has been swimming at the beach for decades.

Rita Rosenberg, Trudy White, Ursula Kahkoska, Rosemarie Belz and Chris Conboy

No kidding. Trudy White started bringing her kids to the Prospect Lake Beach in 1968. Several knew Eni Jaspersen, namesake of the beach house.

Trudy and the rest of the Swimmin’ Women — Rita Rosenberg,  Ursula Kahkoska, Rosemarie Belz and Chris Conboy — praised the Y and its aquatics director, Marti Wallner, for getting the beach back in shape after two years of neglect and vandalism took a heavy toll.

“We come almost every day,” Rosemarie said with a big smile. “The Y is doing a great job.”

They especially praised the Y for changing its fee structure at the beach to recognize the economics of the residents of the surrounding Hillside neighborhood.

“It was way too expensive,” Chris said. “It was $7 for adults, $5 for kids and $25 for families. Now it’s $5 for adults, $3 for kids and $15 for families.”

To my eye, the buoys of the swimming area need to be expanded. And city crews need to get in and mow some weeds along the fence. But otherwise it looks great.

And the Swimmin’ Women want everyone to know it’s a great place for families.

Just don’t take the picnic table in the southwest corner. The Swimmin’ Women had it fished from the water.

So they called dibs!

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Follow this link to the pool website of the YMCA of the Pikes Peak Region.

Here’s the YMCA brochure for all its swimming facilities.

To read about the Prospect Lake Beach during its closure, click here.

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SCRUFFY OLD HILLSIDE PLAZA UP FOR SALE

December 29th, 2010, 12:01 pm by

The Hillside Plaza has seen better days. Better decades, actually.

It was built in 1958 on South Hancock Avenue, near Costilla Street and the entrance to Memorial Park and Prospect Lake.

It has been an institution in the Hillside Neighborhood.

In the 1980s, a young minister and neighborhood organizer, Promise Lee, envisioned it as the centerpiece for his efforts to drive crime and criminals out of the neighborhood and revitalize the area.

Fred Bland

So he convinced some of the elders in the neighborhood to back his plan. Federal grants were obtained and he raised money from neighbors, like well-respected longtime Hillside resident Fred Bland, and buy the center.

The idea was to create a small-business incubator for minority entrepreneurs who might not be able to find a reasonable commercial rent.  

The Hillside Plaza on South Hancock Avenue was built in 1958 and has been the focus of neighborhood revitalization in the 1980s and a power struggle in 2005.

A liquor store, barber shop and shirt shop have been longtime tenants. But several spaces have been vacant and the plaza has been mostly run down.

 

The plaza and Lee’s plan for it helped Hillside earn national honors as an All American community in 1997.

But the energy of the neighborhood could not be sustained once Lee and his followers succeeded in driving out the gangs, drug dealers, prostitutes and pimps who had taken over the neighborhood in the 1970s.

Lee turned the Hillside Neighborhood Association over to others while he built his Relevant Word Christian Cultural Center church.

And apathy gripped Hillside as everyone got comfortable again. Meanwhile, the plaza languished.

In 2005, Lee decided he wanted to take over the plaza. It disturbed him that a liquor store was the primary tenant. He didn’t think the liquor store was a healthy business for the neighborhood. So he convinced the board of the neighborhood association to turn ownership of the plaza over to him.

This enraged Bland, who saw it as a theft from the neighborhood. He mounted a battle for control of the neighborhood association and ultimately sued Lee for the plaza.

Ultimately, the lawsuit ended with the plaza being returned to the neighborhood association.

Here’s a story I wrote in 2005 about the fight for control.

Here’s a column I wrote in 2007 after the lawsuit was resolved.

Now, it is for sale. The neighborhood association’s volunteer board doesn’t have the time to serve as its landlord and says no one in the community is willing to volunteer to help.

Bland is disappointed but understands the burden of running the neighborhood and the problem of apathy.

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SWING HIGH PLAYGROUND REALLY IS DIFFERENT

May 30th, 2010, 12:00 pm by

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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FRIENDS of AQUATICS REFUSES TO THROW IN THE TOWEL ON CITY POOLS

March 10th, 2010, 1:55 pm by

The Friends of Aquatics is a group of people who love to swim.

And they want everyone in Colorado Springs to have the chance to learn and enjoy the water, regardless of the economic condition.

That’s why the group founded in 1998 and has, ever since, paid for poor kids to Learn to Swim.

The group also has supported other swimming programs for seniors, handicapped, Junior Life Guard training and others.

Now, the group is trying to keep Colorado Springs swimming pools afloat in the face of a budget crisis that threatens to pull the plug on all six pools.

So they are trying to raise $250,000 and convince the City Council they can operate the two indoor pools — Memorial Park and Cottonwood Creek — as well as the Wilson Ranch outdoor pool in Mountain Shadows.

Here’s a look at the brochures they are circulating:

In addition, they have printed postcards seeking donations. Here is one of the cards.

 

They are taking questions at 385-6032 and will respond to inquiries e-mailed to FriendsofAquatics@gmail.com

The primary movers behind the Friend group are Deb Barry and Daisy Chun Rhodes.

 Barry retired in December after 20 years running the city’s aquatics programs.

Rhodes is a longtime city activist, serving on the Parks Advisory Board, and a founder of the Friends group back in 1998.

Both are passionate about the pools. They are doing everything they can think of to raise money for the pools. They are seeking grants. Asking for donations. Even selling coffee to raise money. Here’s a look at their offerings:

They have until March 31 to convince the City Council their plan will work to at least keep the three pools open. They are hoping to get more time from the council to pursue their fundraising efforts.

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