Denver mayor announces new downtown safety plan; business owner's perseverance could pay off

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston announced Wednesday a new downtown safety plan. The plan includes increased police and outreach resources to increase public safety. It's meant to address safety concerns, particularly along the 16th Street Mall. Over the past five years, the area has struggled through pandemic-era shutdowns, damage from rioters, crime and long-term construction. 

"Starting in 2019, I saw and experienced a totally different environment," said Derek Friedman, a Denver business owner. "We suffered from a massive increase in theft."

Over the past few years, the 16th Street Mall has developed a reputation for crime. 

"If I was living in what i was living through in 2020 and 2021, we wouldn't be extending leases," said Friedman. "We would be focused on expanding outside the state."

CBS News Colorado has been following Friedman's journey for years as he's tried to keep his businesses downtown afloat. Friedman has three retail stores on 16th Street Mall and has been vocal about the area's decline, even sharing surveillance video of robberies with CBS Colorado in the past, and implementing a 1% "Crime Spike Fee" on every sale to make up for it. Wednesday, he announced the end of that fee.

"Because I started to see a transformation happening on the 16th Street Mall," Friedman said. "I saw people coming back at the end of last year and I thought, 'OK, it's time to recognize things have actually changed.'"

Now, Friedman is working to extend leases for his three stores, including two Sportsfan shops -- something he says he wouldn't be doing if the area hadn't improved. 

Mayor Johnston also announced increased police presence to help keep the area safe and cut down on crime. That includes the creation of a new downtown police unit, designating DPD's mounted horse patrol to downtown, and establishing a kiosk at 16th and Arapahoe Street that will serve as a hub for officers. 

"We both want to make sure that we are keeping downtown safe every single day, and we want to make sure folks feel like it's safe for them to come back downtown, either to live to work or to play," Johnston said. 

Friedman is also extending an invite to the community to visit his businesses and see the changes. 

"That's really the only way that folks are going to understand whether or not things have changed," Friedman said.