Letter from Johanna

To:      Mayor Jirsa and the Estes Park Board of Trustees

From:  Johanna Darden, 401 MacGregor Avenue, Estes Park, CO 80517

Re:       Lease of Building at 220 4th Street

I ask that the Town of Estes Park lease their building at 220 4th Street to the Estes Park Senior Services Center (EPSSC), a 401(c)3 nonprofit organization.  

I believe the Community Center senior space and the building on 4th Street are both needed to meet the needs of seniors in the Estes Valley.  Each location would serve different needs.   The Estes Valley Recreation and Park District (EVRPD) classifies people 55 years of age and older as seniors.  With at least a forty-year span in the age of seniors, emotional and physical needs are different.  

Members of the Estes Park Senior Services Center have expressed their wish to remain in the building on 4th Street.   Seniors who don’t feel comfortable with what the EVRPD has decided is best for them have been belittled if they express opposing views.  The EVRPD will make the decisions on what happens at the community center.  Seniors have been accused of being stubborn and unaccepting of new ideas.  Credit has not been given to the seniors who base their views on life experience, and perhaps do know what is in their best interest.

The town will benefit by leasing their building on 4th Street.  The EPSSC plans to cover all costs of maintaining the building, provide staff, and provide programs.  Previously the town paid $300K annually to provide this place for seniors.  Seniors will now take on this responsibility.  We can do this, and we deserve a chance to prove it.

Recently I toured the entire Community Center.  I am able to perceive what the finished center will be like after the furniture, pictures, lights, etc. are in place.  My expectations of a comfortable place to interact with seniors and others will not be met at the Community Center.   Steel and glass modern with high ceilings makes me uncomfortable.  The lounge area will accommodate only a small number of seniors.  There are seniors who like state-of-the-art buildings, and they will be happy at the Community Center.  Those of us who do not would appreciate being able to go to the 220 4th Street location.

I attended the meetings early on when the feasibility assessment company was to help determine whether we could have a community center for our citizens that would meet our needs and be affordable for all.  Other communities have achieved this.  Since the beginning there have been many plan changes.  It was my understanding earlier that the seniors would have everything at the Community Center that existed at the Senior Services Center with significantly more space.  This is no longer true. The EVRPD has not planned to provide daily hot lunches for seniors.  These were healthful meals, served in a comfortable, warm-and-friendly-dining-room atmosphere conducive to socializing at the Senior Services Center. 

On April 1, 2014 citizens of Estes Park voted on Ballot Issue 1A to increase our sales tax by 1% beginning in 2018.  The money is to fund four separate categories:  1) Streets in Estes Park, 2) Capital Acquisitions for Emergency Response Capabilities, 3) Estes Valley Public Trails, and 4) “25% of revenues to help fund construction of a community recreation center, including facilities for the Estes Park Senior Center”.  Ballot Issue 1A passed.  1550 votes were in favor of 1A, 851 votes were not in favor of the bill.  There is no way of telling which part of 1A had strong support, or if citizens voted for or against the bill because of support or lack thereof for individual issues.  It would have been good to have individual ballot issues to vote on separately.

Please lease the building at 220 4th Street to the EPSSC.