DENVER — For generations, the South Platte River has been Denver’s dumping ground, so the people and businesses that nobody wanted have ended up alongside its banks: smelters that processed ore during the gold and silver mining days, post-World War II factories that dug in later, and junkyards and auto industry companies in more recent times. Immigrant families lived nearby in previous decades, while the unhoused find places to sleep near the river today.
But now, the city has taken a small, if somewhat soaring, step to bring the waterway back into people’s lives, not as a dumping ground, but as a place to sit and stay for a while.
Denver Parks and Recreation cut the ribbon on the three-block-long Arkins Promenade, and its centerpiece, a winding 400-foot-long elevated walkway, complete with benches, a picnic table, porch swings, overlooks and a suspended net for kids to play in.
