Reservations now required for Bancroft Park pavilion; vagrancy issue cited
A sign that Colorado Springs Parks put
up in early November states that reservations are now needed to use the
Bancroft Park pavilion.
Westside Pioneer photo
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Visitors to Bancroft Park in early November encountered a new sign on either side of the pavilion stating “Pavilion use by reservation only,” followed by a phone number.
Attached by Colorado Springs Parks, the signs reflect a “proactive” response to the city having received “more and more complaints,” according to Vanessa Zink of the City Communications Office, related to vagrancy issues in the pavilion.
Making it illegal to use the pavilion without a reservation “gives police more options for enforcement,” she elaborated.
Located in the center of the one-acre Old Colorado City park, the open-air structure is scheduled for demolition in early 2019 as part of a major Bancroft reconstruction project. A primary reason for tearing it down, according to past statements by City Parks officials, was problems with vagrants.
Even if the new reservation strategy lasts for only a few months, City Parks officials believe it's worth it “to benefit the community and try to do something to help,” Zink said, in answer to a question.
The Bancroft pavilion rental cost has not yet been announced, but at Thorndale Park - also on the Westside - that cost is $75 (plus tax) for a day, according to city information.
Currently, however, anyone thinking about renting the Bancroft pavilion under the new regulation will encounter a procedural problem. Parks staff had not yet implemented a reservation process for the structure, either by phone or online, as of Nov. 7 (when this article was posted).
A Nov. 6 phone call to the number on the sign (385-5941) was answered by a Parks employee who did not know the signs were up and said that the process was still “first come, first served” - as it had been since the Bancroft pavilion was built in the late 1970s.
A related City Parks website, coloradosprings.gov/pavilions, also had not been updated as of Nov. 7 to include Bancroft's pavilion among those in the city that can be reserved online.
Evidently, according to Zink, all elements of City Parks were not “on the same page” as to the timing of the new Bancroft signs being placed. However, she said, that effort is now in the works, and all aspects of the reservation system for the park's pavilion should be ready within a week.
Westside Pioneer article
(Outdoors:
Bancroft Park)
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