I went walking through Denver's Washington Park the other day and spent some time in the garden there. And I must say, it is very impressive this year, as seen in the photograph above. Standing in that garden reminded me that two years ago, Denver eliminated spring flowerbed planting in most of the parks to address the city's migrant crisis, which was projected to cost the city $120 million. I never paid much attention to the flowers in Denver's parks in the past, but you sure noticed it when they were gone. Over 43,000 undocumented immigrants arrived in Denver starting in January of 2023, thanks mainly to the governor of Texas busing migrants to Denver, Chicago, and New York, and the city needed to provide shelter, food, and other services for them. It had to be done, of course - most of those people were facing winter dressed for the tropics and with no means of support. The flowers came back the following year - I did take notice - and it is estimated that half of those immigrants decided to stay in Denver. Although with the Trump administration's mission to deport "the worst of the worst," which to them seems to mean all undocumented immigrants, who knows what their numbers are these days. Regardless, it is time to stop and smell the roses, or any kind of flowers, for that matter. Especially these days.
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