Denver Skatepark Operating Costs

 

First lets review the Denver Post article.

I have spent hours scouring the Denver Post search engine for the article. I even called the Denver Post and told them that the link to the story was dead. Here is the link, go ahead and try it...

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~53~1621558,00.html

They called back with the actual title of the story and the authors name. They said they cannot email me the story since it is against their rules.

The title of the article is "Event fee proposed for city skatepark", by Mark P. Couch. It ran on Wednesday, September 10th edition of The Denver Post.

I did find this on the web, a quick synopsis of the article.

September 10, 2003
Event fee proposed for city skatepark

by Mark P. Couch, Denver Post Staff Writer
Denver Post

Denver - Denver officials plan to set aside money collected from special events at the city's popular skatepark to help pay for its high maintenance costs.

 

I called the Denver Parks and Rec Dept last week, asking why they had such a high cost in operating a skatepark. They said the Denver Post article was using the info for the first two years of the park being open, and the costs are WAY less now. Part of the problem is trash cleanup. There was an unauthorized hot dog vender operating at the park. The city really didn't have a problem with the vendor other than the trash the vendor was generating and all the wrappers and napkins the skaters were leaving on the ground. The city made the vendor sign a contract to clean up all it's trash. Another major cost was sod for park. They installed sod and a irrigation system, that had to be removed and re-installed because the irrigation system was inadequate. The skatepark also went through an expansion. Some of those costs are in the report.
The Denver Parks and Rec folks sent me a spread sheet with all the costs involved. (Thanks Tiffany and Leslie!) Thanks also to Kent Dahlgren from Dreamland Skateparks for turning the info I received into a nifty html document. There were some repairs to the concrete (cracked edges, etc) but compared to cleanup costs, it is a very small amount when compared to the cleanup fees. Keep in mind the size of this park... it is huge! I imagine that the modular companies would love to use the Denver Post article in their scare tactics. Well, here is the truth to rebuke their claims... enjoy!