HALLOWEEN IN THE PARK
-Jenny Bazzetta
Our board members had such a wonderful time meeting everyone in Papeton, Cragmor, and beyond who came out to trick-or-treat with us at the Flanagan Park Pavilion on Halloween. We had so much fun decorating the space and giving out special treat bags packed with goodies, including ” teal pumpkin” bags with toys, stickers, spooky rings & pencils, glow sticks, and glow-in-the-dark temporary tattoos.
The remaining 70 bags from the event were donated to One Nation Walking Together ( ONWT), a non-for-profit located in our area just north of Fillmore on Nevada. ONWT provides food assistance, family aid, medical supplies, and emergency services to some of the most underserved and misrepresented people in our country living on reservations in Colorado and neighboring states.
We hope this year’s event encourages our neighbors to make Papeton even more dynamic by celebrating the season, decorating, and handing out treats to kids in the neighborhood next year. We highly encourage participating houses to list their location on Nextdoor’s Treat Map so Papeton can become a hotspot for Halloween again. Keep your eyes peeled for a Halloween decoration contest in 2026!
COLORADO SPRINGS RECEIVES GRANT FOR PORTAL PARK
-Bob Falcone
Colorado Springs Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services (PRCS) has received a $700,000 grant from the Colorado Department of Reclamation and Mining Safety (DRMS) to examine and mitigate mine subsidence in Portal Park.
The funds for the grant are from 2021’s federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) that made over $11.2 billion available for national abandoned mine land programs over the next 15 years. The City of Colorado Springs is interested in upgrading other facilities at the park and requested DRMS involvement to determine the best use, considering public safety and possible subsidence occurrences that may damage infrastructure. In short, building new facilities in the park without first identifying and mitigating future subsidence events would not be safe, nor a good use of taxpayer’s money. The project would be completed in two phases, the initial investigative portion that would include drilling up to thirty borings to a maximum depth of 115 feet below ground surface (bgs), for a maximum total of 3,450 linear feet of rotary drilling.
Once the investigative portion of the project has been completed, the subsequent grouting phase will use the information from the drilling program to design a grouting program to advance borings to the bottom of the mine workings and use pressure grouting to provide safety support for the ground surface to ensure that the area will not collapse in the future.
Because the grant is from federal funds, a National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) study must first be conducted, which is estimated to take up to two years. PRCS anticipates the test boring and mitigation in Portal Park will start in the spring of 2027.
NEIGHBORHOOD PARKS PROJECT
Last Thursday evening, neighborhood organizers from Cragmor and Papeton met to discuss the issues with our neighborhood parks. We agreed that the future of the neighborhood should be decided and led by people who live here! We want to hear neighbors’ voices and perspectives on the neighborhood parks. To that end we are working to organize a neighborhood meeting for neighbors to meet and discuss ideas for the parks. This will allow us to have consensus among neighbors for a plan and requests when City officials host a follow up meeting to the September meeting at Edison Elementary.
We will send an email once we have a date and location for the neighbors meeting. Please reach out with any comments or suggestions!
