Lakewood Reconsiders Closing Parks Early

Last year, in an effort to curb vandalism, Lakewood City Council voted to close the Madison and Kauffman parks early — an hour after dusk.  

Now, a year into the legislation, council will have a second look.  

Council president Brian Powers said he’s looking to revisit the issue, if for nothing else, to “have a public discussion” on the matter.  

“This is in no way a position that suggests whether or not we should or should not change the hours of the park, but merely to revisit the issue,” said Powers.  

He and Mayor Michael Summers introduced the measure to have a “community dialogue” on the issue.  

“We’d like to have public input, police input and public works input,” said Powers. “We’d like to engage the community on what the hours should be.”  

At the time of the vote last year, Ward 1 Councilman David Anderson was the only dissenting vote.

“I appreciate the effort into making our parks safer,” he said in March 2012. “The symbolism in closing parks earlier in an effort to curtail vandalism is hard for me to accept.”

The discussion is expected to take place at an upcoming public works committee meeting.