A Triad of Community: Globeville and Elyria-Swansea
By Michael Frazier
Sometimes, the Denver of today feels like a race of expansion and growth, its housing prices and development keeping all of us just abreast of that cresting wave of soaring rental markets and crushing property taxes. Such is especially true in the Globeville/ Elyria-Swansea trifecta of neighborhoods that are basically sandwiched between Commerce City and the northeast wing of the mousetrap. The recently waxing hispanic neighborhood was once the home to mostly Eastern European immigrants of German, Polish, Russian, and Scandinavian heritage who worked in the areas’ heavy-metal-smelting factories, and slaughterhouses who left their marks on the neighborhood in the form of orthodox churches, chapels, parks, and local waterways. Globeville’s proximity to downtown has put it on the map for urban-renewal projects like the commercial redevelopment of the National Western Stock Show Complex, various high-priced housing developments, and (let’s be honest) the dreaded gentrification. Currently one of the last bastions of lower-working-class affordability in the downtown area, Globeville/Swansea/ Elysia is arming itself with new zoning laws, public parks, new policies, and many community outreach programs that are participated in and funded by the residents and business owners housed there.
Since Denver razed 70 percent of its prime and historic downtown buildings in the late 70s (allegedly to curb crime and meet the growing demand for surface parking), families of color and the working poor have routinely settled in surrounding neighborhoods with less- than-optimum standards of services and civic resources. The Globeville/Swansea/Elysia neighborhoods spent the 90s in and out of the news as a highly contested territory for gangs, resulting in many years of unnecessary violence, fear, and community outcry often surrounding the perceived racism of Denver’s Police system and public policy makers. More recently, the gang violence has declined thanks to many public initiatives that simply added street lamps and sidewalks to large swaths of the neighborhood as well as an updated public library with after-school programs for elementary schoolers. Community-lead initiatives to sink sections of I70 underground and reunite sections of the neighborhood that have been divided since the late 60s are also aimed at curbing the community division. Still, at last census, the areas combined 288 instances of criminal activity per 1000 residents, allowing the area one of the highest crime rates of any neighborhood in Denver.
One of the ways the township is investing in community unity is through initiatives to assist the poor and protect neighborhood youth. Argo Park recently saw a renovation and now consists of two soccer fields, basketball courts, skate practice area, and children’s play area. To the southern end of the park is Globeville’s outdoor community swimming pool which, during the summer, is free to neighborhood kids and almost impossibly cheap for grownups. (The community pool features indoor bathrooms, on-duty lifeguards, two water slides, and a 16+ hot tub as well as some really wonderful Maya-inspired murals that tweak your perspective … literally.)
An interesting business addition to the area has been The GrowHaus, which you won’t be faulted for confusing with yet another weed dispensary, but is instead a large-scale indoor food farm that offers the residents of zip code 80216 access to an abundance of fresh-grown, weekly produce harvested on site or provided to them through their urban agrarian partnerships and bakeries. For $20, you get roughly 30 lbs of seasonal produce along with your choice of extras from their front-of-the-house store. The Growhaus also offers gardening classes, health and nutrition lectures, and summer programs for youth and others interested in learning to grow, harvest, cook, can, pickle, and produce their own food in the Colorado climate. All services, classes, and products are available in English and Spanish, and are offered on a sliding scale which allows everybody in on the fun.
The rising tide of Denver’s urban expansion will inevitably overtake this area and others like it, but the best defense against future dispersal is a strong, organized, and active community with good political representation and a single-minded vision of self- advocacy. As a resident here, I’m happy to say I see all those elements equally activated.
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