Stapleton name change - here we go again (Denver, Aurora: house, zip codes)

[2bindenver]

And then there were two.

Soon, the Stapleton neighborhood will have a new name. The original list of more than 300 choices has been narrowed down to two finalists: Central Park and Skyview

[BarryK123]

Originally Posted by 2bindenver

Central Park

NYC wannabees.

[abbottkd71]

Eh, Neither of those really appeal to me. Of the original suggestions, I preferred Concourse.

[emm74]

and Central Park it is. Silly name if you ask me, the area isn't at all central in the overall context of the city as a whole. And I think it's a huge loss to have a name with no connection whatsoever to the history of this area as an airport. But a majority of my neighbors didn't agree. Still glad to have it done with and leave the old name behind.

[Therblig]

It's nothing much to me either way, but I do sigh at pointless renamings — the 'need' is often that of a vocal minority, not even limited to residents or those directly affected; the outcome is usually a community-committee blandiferousness like this.

I grew up in an old development known (when it needed to be known as anything) as Laurelhurst... a nice enough name, typical of the 1940s developer names, on every map and more of an in-word with locals than anything else.

About twenty years ago, there was a huge movement to assign hard names and boundaries to the sprawl of civilization across the unincorporated county, and — again by community-committee please-everyone-annoy-no-one logic — it was decided the area was the clumsy, meaningless "Arden-Arcade." A sibling still owns the old family home there and goes into a rage when this pointless, late-comer, committee stamp is mentioned.

But in particular to choose a name quite quite famous as something else is mob IQ at work — divide the lowest IQ in the mob by the number of feet.

It's bad enough being from Sacramento... Pennsylvania. Or Mexico... Maine. Or Paris... Texas. But "Central Park" assigned to old runway turf in the middle of the Denver sprawl is never going to generate anything but confusion and rolling eyes.

[emm74]

Originally Posted by Therblig

It's nothing much to me either way, but I do sigh at pointless renamings — the 'need' is often that of a vocal minority, not even limited to residents or those directly affected; the outcome is usually a community-committee blandiferousness like this.

I grew up in an old development known (when it needed to be known as anything) as Laurelhurst... a nice enough name, typical of the 1940s developer names, on every map and more of an in-word with locals than anything else.

About twenty years ago, there was a huge movement to assign hard names and boundaries to the sprawl of civilization across the unincorporated county, and — again by community-committee please-everyone-annoy-no-one logic — it was decided the area was the clumsy, meaningless "Arden-Arcade." A sibling still owns the old family home there and goes into a rage when this pointless, late-comer, committee stamp is mentioned.

But in particular to choose a name quite quite famous as something else is mob IQ at work — divide the lowest IQ in the mob by the number of feet.

It's bad enough being from Sacramento... Pennsylvania. Or Mexico... Maine. Or Paris... Texas. But "Central Park" assigned to old runway turf in the middle of the Denver sprawl is never going to generate anything but confusion and rolling eyes.

As a Jewish resident of the [now] Central Park neighborhood in Denver, I am very glad to not have the name of a bigoted KKK member for my community. My Black neighbors felt the same. Most of our community who felt strongly enough to participate in the process agreed. There was nothing pointless about it. The fact that it was IMO a poor choice in no way means it's not better than what it replaced.

[Therblig]

Originally Posted by emm74

As a Jewish resident of the [now] Central Park neighborhood in Denver, I am very glad to not have the name of a bigoted KKK member for my community. My Black neighbors felt the same. Most of our community who felt strongly enough to participate in the process agreed. There was nothing pointless about it. The fact that it was IMO a poor choice in no way means it's not better than what it replaced.

I don't disagree with the motivations. As I'm not even a long-time resident, nothing about it bother/ed/s me. I guess I just (distantly) mourn any loss of individuality and history for "please most/offend none" developer-name blandness, especially when the mob settles on silly appropriation instead of any degree of continuing individuality.

Maybe "Scarsdale" would have been a better fit all around.

[Texas Ag 93]

Originally Posted by emm74

and Central Park it is. Silly name if you ask me, the area isn't at all central in the overall context of the city as a whole. And I think it's a huge loss to have a name with no connection whatsoever to the history of this area as an airport. But a majority of my neighbors didn't agree. Still glad to have it done with and leave the old name behind.

Obviously, as a former resident, I don't get a vote (and I'm not sure how I would have voted if I still lived there, TBH). I understand your point about it not being "Central" to anything geographically, particularly compared to elsewhere in Denver, but the name Central Park is certainly relevant and historical to the neighborhood and its residential development. Central Park Blvd runs right through the center of the development as the primary East/West boundary and was the name/descriptor for the first phase of homes there, wasn't it? With regards to other options, I will say I think the entire airport/aeronautical theme is kind of played out, what with all the pools and many other things already named accordingly.

[emm74]

Originally Posted by Therblig

I don't disagree with the motivations. As I'm not even a long-time resident, nothing about it bother/ed/s me. I guess I just (distantly) mourn any loss of individuality and history for "please most/offend none" developer-name blandness, especially when the mob settles on silly appropriation instead of any degree of continuing individuality.

Maybe "Scarsdale" would have been a better fit all around.

Or perhaps since you aren't a long-time resident, you aren't aware that Central Park was the name of the largest of the more than 50 parks in the neighborhood from the time the community was started, the RTD station here, the Rec Center, and the main north/south thoroughfare that runs the length of basically the entire area from Montview Blvd up to Commerce City.

If any appropriation was done, it was a couple of decades ago but the reality is that a large number of other areas have a Central Park, NYC doesn't own it.


oh and btw way, the percent of Black residents is roughly comparable to the City of Denver as a whole.

[emm74]

Originally Posted by Texas Ag 93

Obviously, as a former resident, I don't get a vote (and I'm not sure how I would have voted if I could have, TBH). I understand your point about it not being "Central" to anything geographically, particularly compared to elsewhere in Denver, but the name Central Park is certainly relevant and historical to the neighborhood and its residential development. Central Park Blvd runs right through the center of the development as the primary East/West boundary and was the name/descriptor for the first phase of homes there, wasn't it? With regards to other options, I will say I think the entire airport/aeronautical theme is kind of played out, what with all the pools and many other things already named accordingly.

There was a long winnowing process from over 300 suggestions and there were many that I thought would have been nice names that still had a connection to the airport or the general theme of aviation. Given things like the names of the pools and the public art in the area, I personally wanted to preserve the connection.

As per what I just posted, I do understand why Central Park was a popular choice. And admittedly a very safe choice. But IMO also a boring choice and I had hoped for something a little more interesting.

But overall I'm still happy and glad to be moving forward with the new name.