Mayor Johnston kicks off series of town halls on homelessness in Denver's Curtis Park neighborhood
At 27th and Arapahoe Streets Tuesday night, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston discussed homelessness and heard from Curtis Park residents. For people who live and work in the area, the issues created by the unhoused on the streets in the area are daily.
Glenn Lyons lives in Curtis Park, which he describes as beautiful. He calls those experiencing homelessness his neighbors, not his enemies.
"They're not evil. They're not all good, they're not all bad," he said.
"Neighborhoods are like eco-systems too. They need to have a balance and right now I think the balance is a little out of whack," said John Hayden, who spoke at the meeting and lives in nearby Five Points.
Living in the area he knows to expect a homeless population, but as crime has increased he worries more, and not only about himself.
"The people in most danger are the people who are homeless themselves," said Hayden.
Joe Kogan has been visiting from Washington, D.C. He's been renting a place at Park Avenue West and Curtis and working remotely for three months. What he's seen has not been pretty.
"I've seen drug deals right in front of my staircase. I leave them alone and they leave me alone," said Kogan.
He still likes Denver but is amazed by the degree of problems with people experiencing homelessness and the failure of sweeps. "The sweeping would come and would take their tents and all this stuff and they would all leave and within a day they'd all come back," he said.
Downstairs is Randy's Recycled Cycles, a bike shop that specializes in repairs and used bikes. A great location for business says Ian Carsten, because it's an area where many people do not own cars and depend on bikes. He's been making a go of it in the area for ten years.
"It was a much older crowd before. When we first moved down here, it was a lot of old primarily men," he explained. "It's a much younger crowd now, it seems like a lot of people rightfully so are fairly upset maybe with society," said Carsten.
The tide of crime has risen. Bars have been added due to break-ins.
"Last year we got broken into three times," Carsten related.
Shoplifting has risen, so now the door stays locked and workers let people in. Criminal activity like drug dealing is common and action about it lacking.
"Those need to be addressed. That's not an attack on homelessness itself. That's just crime," said Carsten. "We're supposed to be under the understanding that you're supposed to be prosecuted for that crime and so that's the part I would like to see."
Glenn Lyons understands the problems of the people he sees as well as the need for more services.
"Because one has mental health issues or drug addiction, it doesn't make you evil, it just means you have problems that will affect all of us in the long run if not addressed," said Lyons.
There needs to be a place to go for those moved. Part of living in the city is expecting some homelessness notes Lyons.
"I think the people in the city are a little bit more tolerant, they have no choice but to be," said Lyons.
But he believes people will only go so far. "A homeless person isn't going to go to Centennial," he said.
