Sightseers made a comeback in Denver’s Civic Center Park Wednesday along with 19 young crab and oak trees, brighter streetlights and sophisticated surveillance cameras, as the green space reopened to the public after seven weeks of deep cleaning.

Denver’s Parks and Recreation Department fenced off the historic park in September, clearing the grounds of trash, drug paraphernalia and scampering rodents after it became a hot spot for crime.

“It was pretty bad,” said Kris Betts, of Portland, who visited before and after. On Wednesday, she sat in the sun on a park bench with her husband, unafraid. “Portland parks are bad, but this was worse. The last time I was here, the park was sketchy. But I felt safe today. It’s nice and clean.”

The $600,000 makeover included $350,000 for security cameras, $200,000 for graffiti removal on 100-year-old Turkey Creek limestone, $42,000 to install new lighting, nearly $20,000 for pest control, plus $5,000 per month for fence rental. Additionally, $1.5 million will pay the salaries of eight park rangers who will patrol the area night and day and for 11 park maintenance workers.

Downtown Park Ranger Supervisor Jodie Ehrich says there will be no arrest powers for the rangers assigned to the Civic Center area. But if they see a crime being committed, they are trained to disperse crowds and call the Denver police. And, as winter approaches, rangers are prepared to keep people from setting up camp on park grounds, which is illegal. “There are no structures allowed in the park, period,” said Ehrich.

Rangers also have the ability to administer Narcan, a medicine used to treat opioid overdoses. This year alone, Denver park rangers used it 40 times on park visitors in distress.

For Denver Parks and Recreation Deputy Executive Director Scott Gilmore, who grew up in Denver and was married at the Denver courthouse across the street, the decline of Civic Center Park was personal. “Homeless people sitting in the park is not bad, but when you walk by somebody and they have a needle in their arm or they’re sniffing fentanyl off of tin foil that is not OK!”

The open-air drug market in the 130-year-old park was also disturbing for Parks and Rec spokeswoman Cyndi Karvaski. “The needles and trash were piling up and that was overwhelming. City employees were picking up needles and getting drugs on their skin every morning.”

And that’s exactly what was happening when Gilmore was assaulted by a stranger in a Denver park on the very day he was set to show off a new beginning for his department’s pride and joy.

Ironically, Civic Center Park’s grand reopening was tarnished when a parks worker who had found needles in a neighboring park called Gilmore to check it out. “I was assaulted in one of my own parks. A man struck me with a stick!” said Gilmore, who followed his attacker and had him arrested. “I’m the head of the parks department. If I go into a park and I can’t feel safe, that means I’ve got work to do.”

Besides increased patrols, Gilmore plans to install a high-definition, infrared camera system called “Milestone,” for which he got approval this week.

“We will be able to identify people who are doing illegal activity in the park. If you’re going to come into this park, you will be under surveillance,” warned Gilmore with a sweep of his arms toward a pole where the outdated halo cameras keep watch. “This park is for everybody from the person who has nothing to the person who has everything. It’s going to be challenging, but we’re going to do the work.”

On Wednesday, landscapers were planting trees, irrigating and filling rat holes. Across the street, workers on ladders were tucking nutcracker holiday decorations into corners of Denver’s City and County Building. The Greek Amphitheatre, which endured an endless splattering of graffiti over the past couple of years, has been thoroughly washed with a promise to host this year’s Christkindlmarket Nov. 19 through Dec. 23.

If that goes well, the theater, which hosted a million visitors, Peyton Manning and the Lombardi trophy when the Broncos won the 2016 Super Bowl, will reopen for other special events.

On Wednesday, a group of tourists from Arizona on their way to the Denver Art Museum took photos of themselves in the park unaware that this was reopening day until a reporter told them.

“It’s so sad to think this happened to the park. But just think, we are witnessing history!” said Terri Thorben as she took in the horseshoe of green grass bordered by fences and warning signs. “Power to the people!”