Welcome to Westwood: Denver's Newest Recreation Center

A very special episode of Denver Playcast!

In this episode, learn how Denver Parks & Recreation is making Civic Center Park fully accessible for the first time in its history, and hear from Barry Rosenberg, a Denver disability rights advocate who was present at the Gang of 19 protest in 1978.

Denver Parks & Recreation has officially launched a transformation to a more sustainable and resilient future at the Denver City and County building.

Meet John Martinez, DPR Deputy Director of Parks and Recreation. John has (literally) grown up with the department and is now leading a team of around 1,800 staff. With 30 recreation centers, 32 pools, 8 golf courses, and even more ways to play, Denver Recreation keeps the city moving. In this episode, John shares his insights on how Denver recreates, and what make our programs so unique.

Denver Parks and Recreation and Denver Mountain Parks, have worked closely with surrounding indigenous communities on projects and initiatives to not only honor those who have stewarded this land for generations, but to hopefully begin to repair and rebuild relationships between government, andindigenous Peoples. Host Stephanie Figueroa had two separate conversations for this episode, with three very important voices in these efforts. She first sat down with former deputy Director Scott Gilmore, who is no longer with DPR, but has and continues to shepherd these efforts , and Lewis Tallbull jr, a member of the Cheyanneand Arapahoe tribes of Oklahoma and utility worker for Denver mountain parks forestry division. Stephanie also spoke with Shannon Dennison, Director of Denver Mountain Parks. Shannon was able to listen to Lewis andScott’s interview, and throughout this episode, you’ll hear excerpts from both discussions.