Joe Parker walked the Sheely neighborhood in central Fort Collins on July 20, answering questions about the under-construction stadium that loomed just to the north.

Barriers and bread were broken that day at a community block party that would have seemed impossible five years ago when Colorado State University decided to build a $220 million stadium in the heart of its nearby campus. Cordiality permeated the neighborhood as Parker, CSU’s athletics director, and other representatives of the university and the city of Fort Collins mingled with residents.

Sheely, the historic neighborhood one block south of the stadium, became ground zero of opposition to the project in 2012. Longtime residents already besieged by the issues of a growing city lamented the stadium as yet one more scourge to their quality of life.

They, and numerous others, aired their grievances in letters published in the Coloradoan, in open forum in front of the Fort Collins City Council, and, frequently, in front of CSU staff.

Read more at The Fort Collins Coloradoan.