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■ Outdoor film festival to be staged in Civic Center Park for 30 consecutive nights
BY RORY SEEBER
City Council has approved a contract with Massachusetts-based US OpenAir (USOA) to present paid-admission movies in Civic Center Park for 30 consecutive evenings this summer and a similar period in City Park the following two years.
The approval came with an 8-4 vote Jan. 19 after an approximately 90-minute public hearing followed by about two hours of discussion. Council representatives Jeanne Faatz (District 2), Doug Linkhart (At-Large), Paul López (3) and Judy Montero (9) voted against the contract. District 6 Councilman Charlie Brown was absent.
Seventy people signed up to testify at the hearing, but only about half of them were able to do so in the time-limited courtesy hearing. Council president and District 10 representative Jeanne Robb noted that 31 people signed up to talk in favor of the ordinance while 39 opposed it.
In her remarks just before the vote was taken, Councilwoman Robb
said that the discussion was “a perfect example of ‘good minds can
disagree.’”
The contract calls for the films to be presented July 14-Aug. 12
this year in Civic Center Park on the “great lawn” directly east of the
City & County Building at 14th & Bannock. A grandstand seating
1,400 will be constructed facing east towards the Capitol Building and
a three-story screen will be raised each evening. An estimated ten days
will be spent both before and after the film series setting up and
dismantling the necessary equipment.
The city will be paid $300 per day by USOA ($15,000 for 50 days
each year) as well as $45,000 for restoration of the grounds and the
10% “Seat Tax.” A possible percentage of the sales... 2% or 4%
depending on the number of tickets sold... is scheduled to be paid in
the last two years of the contract. Admission will be $15 in advance or
$20 at the door for each movie.
The city could earn upwards of $100,000 per year from the event.
Half of the revenue from the Seat Tax will be applied to the park that
is used and the other 50% will be allocated to capital improvements in
all of the city’s parks, primarily for maintenance needs.
The films will be current, first-run blockbusters, art-house films,
and classics celebrating anniversaries. Some of this year’s movies will
be associated with the city’s inaugural “Biennial of the Americas”
celebration, which will be centered in the McNichols Building at Civic
Center Park’s northwest corner.
That event could also use the grandstand during the day, according
to USOA’s managing director Julie Frahm, who spoke both before Council
and at a Jan. 13 Capitol Hill United Neighborhoods’ (CHUN) neighborhood
assembly.
Food and drink, including alcohol, will only be available from
concessionaires, all of which will be local companies. Frahm said that
almost the entire staff for the festival will be hired locally. She
characterized the event as “a celebration of the home city.” Denver
will be the first US city to host USOA.
In Civic Center the grandstand will be erected so it prohibits most
viewing by anyone who has not purchased a ticket. Bannock will likely
be closed in front of the City & County Building during the
screenings.
Arguments raised against the event have included: it’s a bad
financial deal; as a lease of a park for more than 30 days it should
required a vote of the electorate as some opponents believe is
specified in the City Charter; it commercializes the parks; it’s a
“special interest” ordinance; it’s elitist because of the pricing;
moviegoers will park in residential neighborhoods; the contract may
lead to a lawsuit; the proposed Parks & Rec Admission-Based Special
Events Policy (ABSEP) should have been finalized before the contract
was approved; the grandstand will spoil views along the east-west axes
in the parks; it will allow corporate advertising in the parks; the
sound levels may be too loud; the area will be fenced; movies are not a
“park use”; and the deal sets a bad precedent, among others.
Several registered neighborhood organizations (RNOs) passed
resolutions opposing the contract. They include Inter-Neighborhood
Cooperation (INC), the Alamo Placita Neighborhood Association (APNA),
Greater Park Hill Community, Inc., the Whittier Neighborhood
Association, Friends & Neighbors for Cheesman Park, and the Friends
& Neighbors of Washington Park. Colfax on the Hill supports the
project.
Opponents who testified before Council included onetime Parks
& Rec manager Caroline Etter and former City Councilwoman Cathy
Donohue.
Those in favor of the festival have said: it will “activate” the
parks, especially Civic Center, in which open drug-dealing is prevalent
despite police efforts; it will provide maintenance funds for all of
the city’s parks; it will create jobs; it could attract customers to
neighboring business districts; the festival could become an “iconic
institution” such as the Denver Botanic Gardens’ summer concerts and
therefore attract tourists; 30 Dolby speakers will be pointed inward
and tests have shown the sound will not violate noise ordinances; there
is almost no financial risk to the city; and it is not
precedent-setting because Council would have to vote on any similar
event, among other arguments.
Both supporters and critics of the contract have questioned its
legality, with opponents saying the City Charter requires a vote on the
matter since “no park or any portion of a park” can be sold or leased
without prior approval of the majority of voters.
Assistant City Attorney David Broadwell told Council that no voter
approval was necessary according to his interpretation of the same
paragraph of the City Charter, since the contract can be considered as
a lease to a “concessionaire” for “park purposes.”
A similar dispute concerning the city’s granting of an exclusive
franchise to Mile Hi Cablevision in 1982 eventually led to a court
decision that resulted in a special election, in which voters approved
the deal.
“I don’t care what you call it, I think this is a lease,”
Councilwoman Faatz commented before the Council vote. “This is an
honest disagreement, but it is a huge disagreement.”
Councilwoman Carla Madison, whose District 8 includes City Park,
noted, “No matter how you vote, you’re going to disappoint half the
crowd.”
“The claims that all parks are free and open to the public at all
times are not made by people who spend any time in the parks,” Madison
stated.
Architect David Tryba, a supporter of the deal, said to the
Council, “I ask you one question: If there were no movies in the park
would you ask...your wife, ‘Honey, can we grab the kids and go down to
Civic Center tonight?’.”
Councilman Linkhart said, “I’ve come up with more ‘cons’ than
‘pros.’ The reason USOA wants these places is the same reason I do.
It’s because they are sacred places. We have about 100 days of summer
and this will use half of them.”
“We’re desperate for money,” Linkhart added, “but I’m not that
desperate. I agree that we should activate Civic Center, but this is
only (for) one year.”
Councilwoman Robb said, “I don’t think this begins the commercialization of our parks. It’s a question of scale.”
“The negative has been the Parks (& Rec) process,” she noted.
“It angers me because it makes our jobs harder. Up until tonight, the
process was bad.”
Parks & Rec manager Kevin Patterson, who was heavily questioned
during the nearly four-hour discussion, said, “It’s fair to say that we
had a public process that could be improved upon.” He explained that
part of the reason for the rush was to allow USOA enough lead time to
prepare for this summer.
Patterson said that he wants to work out the details with neighbors
of the parks now that the contract has been approved. Several Council
members noted that the relatively short length of the contract made it
a good test of the concept. Many said that if the effort is successful,
they’d like to see it return to Civic Center.
“I’m struck by the conflicting images of Civic Center Park with and
without this,” District 7 Councilman Chris Nevitt said. “I don’t
understand why we wouldn’t give this a crack. It could be that this is
decided in the courts at the end of the day, but that’s a decision we
want to get.”
Councilwoman Madison concluded her comments by saying, “People will vote (on this) with their feet and their wallets.”
For information, contact a council representative, Parks & Rec’s Chantal Unfug at 720-913-0670 or
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or Jill McGranahan at
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, or call 311. Details of USOA can be found at usopenair.com.
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