Park near Colorado’s Capitol to reopen soon

The park adjacent to the Colorado Capitol will reopen perhaps as early as next week, city officials say, minus two dead trees that had housed many of the rats infesting the area.

Denver Department of Public Health and Environment closed the stateowned area, officially called Lincoln Park, in mid-January amid increasing reports of human and animal waste, drug paraphernalia, food waste and fears that a worsening rat infestation could spread directly across Broadway to Civic Center.

“It was pretty severe. The rats really had lost their fear of being close to humans,” said Doug Platt, spokesperson for the state’s Department of Personnel and Administration.

Sections of one tree scattered the park’s southeast corner Tuesday afternoon as a small crew chain-sawed a dead tree there.

A second tree will likely follow, said Tammy Vigil, spokesperson for the public health department.

Campers at the park and even some city employees had come to colloquially refer to them as the park’s “rat trees.”

The rodents “find places to burrow and hide and nest and reproduce, and primarily we think that it was in those two trees,” Platt said.

After the park was closed amid fears that the rats could bite people, city and state officials worked to exterminate the rodents, Platt said. Removing the trees will cost about $7,500, but a cost estimate for the ongoing extermination efforts wasn’t immediately available, Platt said.

Vigil said the park will probably reopen next week, but Platt was hesitant to speculate.

“We’re just continuing to monitor the grounds until we feel that it’s safe and healthy to reopen,” Platt said.

Both organizations will coordinate after the park opens to the public again to ensure that the rats don’t return, Platt said.

The infestation surfaced most recently as tents and other makeshift shelters popped up in the area, an uptick that began after Denver County Court Judge Johnny C. Barajas dismissed a homeless man’s ticket for violating the city’s urban camping ban. In his rulings, Barajas said the law amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.

Denver police temporarily halted enforcement as a precautionary measure, but resumed about three weeks later. The Denver city attorney’s office has appealed Barajas’ ruling and pledged to defend the ban.