Residents Face Fresh Challenges As Denver Responds To Hardship Budget

by Mark Smiley | Jan 22, 2021 | Main Articles

Cash Crunch Cuts City Snow Plowing, Paving, Trash Pickup; RTD Slashes Costs By $140 Million, Change/Cut Bus-Rail Routes

by Glen Richardson

Help Heave-Ho: Expect to endure shoddy streets, service as Denver’s Department of Transportation & Infrastructure axes 100 staffers. Department will spend $21 million less than it did in 2020.

A sense of uneasiness lingers over the Mile High City despite the Governor lowering the pandemic dial to orange and the Mayor applying for Five Star Certification. As the New Year gets underway residents and business owners are fearful the “feel good” moment won’t last. As the city-county responds to the pandemic it has triggered a mounting budget crisis with revenues declining abruptly and costs rising sharply.

Moreover, many businesses have closed while others continue to operate at reduced hours. People are continuing to spend low amounts of money in Denver and tourists aren’t showing up. As a result sales and tourism taxes are down, forcing the city to severely cut spending. Despite uncertainty about the path ahead, much is known about how the scissor effect of Denver’s reduced budget will impact residents and visitors in the months ahead.

Paving Perishes: Denver has cut street maintenance crews by 17 workers this year. The city-county expects to pave 465 miles of lanes this year, about the same as in 2018.

Here’s how the economic tailspin will impact everything residents are accustomed to from street paving, trash pickups and snow plowing, to reduced train and bus service:

Budget, Staff Cutbacks

The services residents enjoy and have come to expect from the City & County of Denver requires people and money to make them happen.

Nowhere is the economic shock being felt worse than at the Department of Transportation & Infrastructure, formerly known as Denver Public Works. Denver’s budget cuts will mean the department will have 100 fewer staffers. That’s due to the city offering early retirement to employees — workers with more than 1,000 total years of department experience and knowledge — plus vacant posts that are going unfilled.

Current city workers are being required to take on the duties of retirees as tax dollars have dried up. Department officials claim city workers “will do more with less.” The department’s chief financial officer Seth Runkle anticipates, or is at least hoping, the department can deliver the same service with fewer staff. “It can be a little easier when the coffers are flush, but it doesn’t always mean we’re doing it at the most efficient level.” The department still has about $128 million to spend, but that’s more than $21 million less than in 2020. The budget cutback will mean less overtime, training, travel and tools to work with.

Here are the changes residents can anticipate they will undergo and endure this year as the city works with less money and staff:

Snow Plowing

Snow-Money Mix: City Council was told snow plowing of residential streets is “at risk” this year. Later officials declared the city “is fully prepared to handle major snowstorms.”

Denver’s City Council was told by Todd Richardson, the department’s head of operations, that the city’s residential street and bike lane plowing programs are “at risk” this year (2021). He based the cautionary calculation on reductions in overtime allowed plus hiring freezes.

Department officials Eulois Cleckley and Seth Runkle, however, downplayed the statement declaring the city “is fully prepared to handle major snowstorms.” Their prediction is apparently based on the fact Denver is now training Parks & Rec employees and parking enforcement people to plow.

The city expects to have two full shifts of 60 to 70 plows available plus the option to add a third shift for severe snow storms. The department also claims they are “fairly good” at maintaining equipment despite reduced staff.

Street Sweeping

If you live or work downtown don’t expect streets to

City Chucks Downtown Dust: Spotless streets are a thing of the past in downtown Denver as street sweeping has been cut back in the Central Business District.

be as spotless as they have been in past years. Reason: The city is cutting back on street sweeping in the Central Business District.

Official reason given by the city is “there will be less wear and tear on downtown streets” due to less foot and vehicle traffic.

Despite spending less to keep downtown streets clean, the city will continue to spend millions of dollars for bike lane construction and things being built in the right of way of streets.

Paving & Potholes

Residents can expect only about 465 miles of lanes to be paved this year as the department has cut 17 workers from its street maintenance crews.

That translates to about the same miles of lanes the city paved in 2018, but significantly less than even the 579 miles of lanes paved in 2020.

During the last couple of years (2019-20) street crews have been taking an average of four days to fix potholes. While it may take the same amount of time this year, the department is hoping to get the number down to three this year. The optimistic outlook is based on the theory there will be fewer cars on the road and therefore less stress on city streets.

Trash Pickup

Jumbo junk – belongings such as couches — residents want to dispose of will take twice as long as the city cuts big-trash pickups. The department’s solid waste arm is cutting pickup of oversized trash to every eight weeks in 2021. Last year they were collected every four weeks.

As the pandemic struck last year causing people to stay home more, city garbage trucks hauled 30% additional trash, recycling items and compost. Waste Management division’s Margaret Medellin told city council the increase nonetheless didn’t cause a slowdown to regular pickup schedules. Unless there is a significant additional increase this year, trash pickups are expected to remain normal.

Implementation of the city’s “pay-as-you-throw” program — that would charge residents a fee for trash pickup while making composting free — is being delayed. Originally scheduled to begin this year, the city has decided this is not the year to charge people extra money.

Bus & Rail Service

Trickle Down Transit Travel: Expect significant bus-rail service slowing as RTD slashes $140 million from its 2021 budget. At least 22 bus routes have been modified and rail lines are adjusted, reinstated, or suspended.

Residents and visitors will also see significant changes in bus-rail service as RTD has slashed $140 million from its 2021 public transit budget. Additionally, RTD’s current pandemic service plan provides about 40% less service than was offered in Jan. 2020. Nearly 400 employees are likely to be terminated and 300 vacant positions have been eliminated. Cuts also include furloughs and wage reductions for employees.

At least 22 bus routes have or will be modified this year. Some routes will also have Saturday-Sunday hours reduced. In addition, certain weekday bus hours are being reduced. Three bus routes were eliminated for 2021. Riders should continue to check RTD schedules.

Due to higher demand for rail service to downtown, C-Line service has been suspended and D-Line service reinstated. Adjustments are being allowed for northbound transfers to Union Station, and southbound transfers toward Littleton at    I-25 & Broadway. Rail service on five other lines has been adjusted.

Problems Piling Up In City Parks

by Mark Smiley | Dec 18, 2020 | Main Articles

Budget Squeeze Nurtures Shabby Lawns, Fewer Flowers Plus Whiffs Of Funky-Foul Odor As City Cuts Garbage Pickups

by Glen Richardson

Lovely, clean running paths. Beautiful landscaped parks that are unrivaled in the Mountain West. As the pandemic has surged, Valley residents have become increasingly worried about the rippling effect the epidemic and ensuing economic tsunami will have on Denver’s park system.

As the virus and subsequent stay-at-home order wore on during the summer, residents of all ages embraced city parks and neighborhood streets as a way to reduce stress-anxiety and as an antidote to cabin fever. Life literally and factually became “like a walk in the park.”

The big question now: What will Denver city parks look like this winter and into next spring?

Double-Barreled Jolt

With more than 200 parks totaling over five-thousand-acres within the city and county of Denver, the twin crises of the pandemic and an economy in free fall are putting Denver parks under punishing pressure. The crunch is principally due to the sharp drop in all forms of city tax revenue.

Steps under consideration or already being implemented include hiring freezes, furloughing or laying off employees, putting projects on hold and foregoing planned purchases (including new park space). The city is trimming another 6% from the department’s budget this year (2021), the Parks Department’s second consecutive austerity year.

Although cuts to the department’s previously rosy budgets are hard-hitting, the impact of the cutback will most likely be felt due to the dramatic drop in the number of experienced employees. At the end of summer two dozen of Park & Recreation’s most experienced employees were offered retirement packages. Combined those retirees had 535 years of service-experience, averaging 25 years with the department. Look for their loss to erode the places where Denver’s outdoor-loving residents work and play, hike and bike more than all other factors combined. Another 19-20 full-time employees are likely to take the incentive retirement program if it is offered this year.

Fading Facade

The initial reaction to the changing appearance of nearby parks for many residents will simply be, “They cut cost but not the grass.”

What’s realistic?: Expect a reduction in mowing, fertilization and irrigation to impact the appearance of lawns and gardens in parks around the city. More: Also anticipate a major increase in litter and trash accumulation.

The bottom line: Longtime park employees still remaining say that park spaces around the city will become scrappy, patchy and disorderly. But, “without deteriorating significantly,” they add hopefully.

Fewer Flowers

The cutback will be most noticeable from a distance or when riding in a car as residents notice longer grass, more weeds, fewer flowers and more snow.

Park lawns and turf fields — grass to play sports on — that were aesthetically pleasing in previous years will be considerably less eye-catching. The reason is the department is now weeding weekly and trimming every three weeks. In addition, the department will plant fewer flower beds come flower bed season. Without shoveling, residents will also observe that the snow is sticking around longer.

The city also watered park lawns less last year, but say they don’t plan to reduce irrigation in 2021. The department also won’t let up on planting trees as they fear many are doomed once the emerald ash borer hits Denver. Already confirmed in Arvada, the invasive beetle preys on ash, the second-most prevalent tree in the city.

Garbage Buildup

Those walking near parks, even when wearing a mask, are likely to notice a funky, foul odor coming from within.

Reason for the whiffs of rank, putrid scents within and along the parameter of parks is due to a dramatic cut in garbage pickups, including dog-poop trash cans.

The department slashed trash removal by 1,800 hours per month last year, and is foregoing scheduled garbage pickups again this year. In addition to garbage within parks, Parks & Rec has scaled back maintenance of all city parkways and removed all dog poop trash cans.

Rec Center Hours

For families with youngsters at home, however, shorter hours and fewer programs at some of the city’s 30 rec centers will be felt the most since many homes rely on them after school. Community spaces for kids are, of course, currently shuttered. Closure, however is not due to budget cuts but because of COVID-19 public health orders.

Current plans call for reopening of city rec centers on April 15, 2021. If and when they do open, eight will have shorter hours. They are what the Parks & Rec Department consider Denver’s bigger, regional centers that can absorb more cuts with fewer negative effects than most “neighborhood” rec centers.

The eight major rec centers that will have shorter hours when they do reopen are: Scheitler, Washington Park, Rude, Montclair, Montbello, Central Park, Carla Madison, and Athmar Park. Officials say that centers serving lower-income areas will not have their hours cut upon reopening.

Bathrooms, Vehicles

Bathrooms in city parks are normally closed during the winter since most don’t have heat. This year, of course, they were shuttered due to the pandemic. The Park & Rec Department’s original plan was to keep them closed to save money even if public health gave the go ahead to reopen. Councilwoman Robin Kniech, however, secured money from the Hancock administration to open restrooms and portajohns with handwashing stations this spring.

Currently Denver has seven parks closed to vehicles: Cheesman Park, City Park, Congress Park, Inspiration Point, Ruby Hill, Sloan’s Lake and Washington Park. Expect them to remain closed to cars during the pandemic, but a final decision won’t be made until after a public process this summer.

During the current crisis, Denver’s parks have provided a relatively safe respite from our stressful, often isolating lives during the pandemic. They’ve provided recreation when the city’s usual venues — museums, theaters, schools, stores, movies, bars, and just about everything else — have been closed. As the New Year begins it is unclear whether the city’s budget woes will wallop Denver parks beyond functional use.