Weedy medians and parkways and untidy public parks are germinating complaints from Denver residents, prompting elected officials to call for a plan of action.

"I think the general concern is that we're asking for bond money to expand services, and we're not able to keep up with the hours and maintenance of the existing facilities," said Councilman Doug Linkhart, referring to a package going before voters in November that could raise property taxes.

Councilwoman Peggy Lehmann said Mayor John Hickenlooper's administration needs to develop a plan to keep the city's public spaces in better shape.

"If there is somebody at fault here, it's for the mayor and his administration to figure that out," she said.

Council President Michael Hancock said the council wants the city to focus on what one of his colleagues called "investment in the public realm" - or "those little things that the public will notice."

"There seems to be a lack of focus and a lot of turnover (at the Parks and Recreation Department), and those are the things we're asking the administration to pay attention to," he said.

Jill McGranahan, parks and recreation spokesman, said the weather has made maintenance challenging.

"The rainfall and, more importantly, the snow cover from this last year, have made weeds a lot more aggressive," she said.

Also, the heat is making Kentucky bluegrass go dormant and then turning it brown, she said.

In the spring, workers sprayed herbicides at all city parks at the same level as last year.

They couldn't spray more even though they knew weeds would be worse because "it would just end up burning the grass," she said.

Linkhart said the department offers a different excuse every year.

"Last year or the year before, the excuse was that people had stolen some of the sprinkler parts, and then years before that it was the drought," he said.

"One year, Speer (Boulevard) was bad because of renovations that they were doing. But every year there seems to be different reasoning, and it just seems that we've never had a good year for medians and parkways," he said.

The department maintains 100 miles of parkways, 135 miles of greenways and trails and 5,100 acres of urban parks, among other open spaces and facilities.

It employs between 1,400 and 1,600 people, depending on the season.

The parks side of the department hired 110 seasonal employees, the same as last year.

"We feel like we are absolutely trying to do the best that we can with the resources that we have available," McGranahan said.

Eco-friendly areas

Denver Parks and Recreation, which is being criticized for the condition of the city's public spaces, is converting 75 acres of parkland into natural areas.

"It kind of sounds like the way they're starting to look," quipped Councilman Doug Linkhart.

Naturescaping, the process of using native plants for landscaping, is eco-friendly and requires less maintenance.

The city is working on the project with Denver Water, which contributed $300,000 to the effort.

The medians on Monaco Parkway and 20 acres in Daniels Park, a mountain park south of Denver, are among the public spaces that already have been converted.

PLANTS BEING USED INCLUDE:

• Blue grama

• Bottlebrush squirreltail

• Buffalo grass

• Green needlegrass

• June grass

• Sand dropseed

• Sideoats grama

• Western wheatgrassDaniel J. Chacon

chacond@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5099

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