East Central partners,

Thank you for your patience and grace as our city and community navigate through challenging times. As you know, over the weekend, thousands of protesters locally and around the world marched to express rightful outrage over the murder of George Floyd at the hands of police officers in Minnesota. Community Planning and Development joins Mayor Michael B. Hancock and everyone in Denver in remembering Mr. Floyd and all those who have been victimized by racism across the United States. The city urges protesters to demonstrate peacefully and observe the curfew established over the weekend to curb night-time violence and vandalism.

Resources:

Next steps for East Central Area Plan

Given that East Central neighborhoods have been directly affected by this weekend’s protests, we know there will be questions about the ongoing planning process. From the start, our goal has been to be flexible and responsive to community needs and that remains true now. In response to community feedback, we extended the public review period for the draft plan several times, added opportunities for input and are now making a second draft of the plan available to give community members a chance to see how the document was updated according to your feedback.

These last few months have shown us that, now more than ever, we need to continue the work of creating equity in our city and complete neighborhoods that offer quality-of-life amenities and housing options for all people, safe streets and sidewalks, and access to opportunity, from schools to healthcare to healthy food choices to recreation centers, parks, and libraries that offer innovative programming and great facilities that promote participation and better health outcomes – particularly in underserved neighborhoods. Thank you for your partnership and we look forward to continuing to collaborate on your vision for the East Central Area.

About the East Central Area Plan

The East Central Planning Area neighborhoods—Capitol Hill, North Capitol Hill, Cheesman Park, Congress Park, City Park and City Park West—contain a rich mix of amenities, jobs, and housing options, and remain among the most dynamic places in the city. The area’s outdated plans coupled with additional changes on the horizon—including plans to improve City Park, add Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) along Colfax Avenue, and new amenities such as Civic Center Transit Station and the Carla Madison Recreation Center—make East Central a top priority for engaging the community in a new plan.

The Neighborhood Planning Initiative provides a great opportunity to establish the community’s vision for maintaining and enhancing the quality of life in these neighborhoods for decades to come.

For more on how to get involved and stay up to date on plan news: