South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone recently admitted that their dream of reopening Casa Bonita had turned into a “nightmare.” What seemed like a very cool project and the way to relive a childhood dream has turned into an astronomical cost for renovations to get the place up to safety codes for when that new waterfall starts flowing. This goes back to mid-2021 when the pair announced that they bought a Denver-area location, and to get into the spirit, Parker bought a nearby house on South Park avenue. Those sopapillas still evade everyone, though, but the pair previously stressed to The Denver Post that they’re pouring “all our money” into this project, and “[w]e absolutely should bail and stop spending money, but we’re committed now.”
Now there’s another potential wrinkle. As Parker and Stone try to get things done, it’s worth noting that their original purchase agreement points toward “The Beautiful Opco, LLC” as the company under which Casa Bonita’s now owned. And this company has now sued to shut down the release of construction details (including building plans) as renovations continue. Now, this might sound like they’re building ridiculous underground tunnels for secret ceremonies or something, but that sadly does not appear to be the case. Rather, they’re concerned about a public records request that was set to make a lot of sensitive information public. Via KDVR:
“This information, in the wrong hands, could be used by a person intent on doing mass harm in a public space,” the company’s lawyers argue in the complaint.
According to the suit, a trove of public records on the Casa Bonita renovations was set to be released on Tuesday after a Colorado Open Records Act request. Casa Bonita’s lawyers recognized the request was “likely in furtherance of an innocent human interest news report.” But they argued that the documents in question include “sensitive schematic and security information” that’s protected from disclosure under state open records law.
Apparently, the public records request would have covered 800 pages of the construction details in question, and Casa Bonita is particularly concerned about “a fraction of those materials.” And in the age of regular mass shootings, any move by owners of a place where people will gather has every right to worry about the safety of their patrons. So while we await further word on how the legal filings go, please enjoy Twitter user Erich Brock’s newly snapped photo of a freshly pink-painted palace.
And made a trip to see Casa Bonita, still under reconstruction. You can see the differences between the new paint and the remnants of the old paint #SouthPark pic.twitter.com/fsm1d1QZy7
— Erich Brock (@Cake_Mage) August 11, 2022
(Via KDVR & The Denver Channel)