Both make $170,000 or more annually, according to city records. Kitts’s comments earned her whoops and claps from the entire room.ĭeborah Saint-Phard, a doctor of sports medicine and active pickleball player, added that she has qualms about the raises Gilmore and Martinez each earned - along with job security. Kitts said she’s seen previous mayoral transitions and thinks the fact that Johnston will inherit a department already set in stone, save for its executive director, could make the parks department one of the most difficult points of transition. “The new head of this department is going to be swimming upstream,” blasted Kelly Kitts, a longtime Denver resident who spoke at the forum. Now the pair will be part of Johnston's administration, since CSA employees are protected. The roles had previously been appointed by each incoming mayor. In addition to pickleball, there were lots of other things to discuss - starting with outgoing Mayor Michael Hancock’s decision to change Scott Gilmore and John Martinez, deputy executive directors of Denver Parks & Recreation, to Career Service Association status in 2021. “What I'm going to challenge you with tonight is to not only think about the thing that you're most interested in, but to also think about what are the larger issues? What are the larger concerns that you have as it relates to Denver Parks & Rec under this new administration?” implored Connie Rule, co-chair of the parks transition committee.
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The meeting was one in a series of 28 gatherings that Mayor-Elect Johnston’s transition team has used to get feedback from citizens to shape the first 100 days of his administration, which start on July 17, when Johnston will be inaugurated.Īccording to the people at this meeting, Johnston’s Parks & Rec team needs to focus on Denver’s most controversial sport: pickleball.Ībout two-thirds of the people in the room on Monday night indicated that they were there in support of the paddle sport, which has caused hubbub among neighbors and city officials alike over the past few years. "Young people!" praised those in attendance, after one of the younger audience members fixed a problem with the microphone. There was also plenty of the joy that people love about NBC's Parks and Recreation, including some applause for points well made and playful back-and-forths between moderators and attendees. There were government officials trying to figure out what the community wants, citizens who were unexpectedly passionate about what the city is doing - specifically when it comes to pickleball - and sitcom-esque technical difficulties, complete with a door alarm going off in the crowded La Alma Recreation Center room where the event was held.
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He said the small court has created a community of people who love the sport and bond over it.Mike Johnston’s Vibrant Denver transition team held a public forum on Monday, July 10, for the Parks & Recreation committee that played out like a scene from the hit TV show. "We have some boisterous pickleball players… we try 'Hey, remember our neighbors.'” Nelson said the large group tries to police itself, once banning someone who consistently parked illegally in the alley next to the court. “This is a new thing that’s kind of sprouted out since the pandemic and these courts were here,” Nelson said. The group’s chairman, Marc Nelson, said people come from all over the metro area to play on the small court. More than 1,400 people belong to the Congress Park Pickleball Club on Facebook. Gilmore said it would be "irresponsible" to bring pickleball back to Congress Park, but he said the department would look to find a park that's right for the sport. "I am saddened to write you today that the noise emanating from pickleball played in this beloved park has become illegally loud, unhealthy - and simply untenable," another neighbor wrote. "It has taken my true joy of living on the park away as now the noise and continuous congestion has become a true nuisance to my family and me,” one neighbor wrote in a complaint.
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