Council members pushing new effort to decriminalize jaywalking in Denver

There's a new effort in Denver to decriminalize jaywalking. 

While many people do it, not everyone is ticketed for it which is a part of the reason why some city council members are moving to decriminalize it.

"Oftentimes we have many streets that don't have any sidewalks at all or don't have marked crosswalks, and people are walking on those streets today," said Jill Locantore, the Denver Streets Partnership executive director.

Locantore also said many roads have crosswalks that are too far apart, sometimes 10-15 minutes, making people walk long stretches to get to their next destination. 

Also, many people who have to catch the bus find themselves in challenging situations when trying to cross the street. 

Locantore says oftentimes, people don't have a choice but to walk in the street.

"Or the sidewalk is so broken or covered in ice, that it's impassible, particularly for a person with disabilities, they have no choice but to walk or roll their wheelchair in the street and we shouldn't be punishing people for that," Locantore said.

Data from the city shows that since 2017, at least 135 citations were given out to people crossing the street illegally. Of those ticketed, about 41% were given to Black people, despite being only 10% of the city's population. 

The council members behind the proposal are council president Jamie Torres, councilmember Jolon Clark and councilmember Candi CdeBaca. They said the data shows citations given are out unproportionable.

"We want to make sure we're focusing on the right things, and that we're not spending time, legislating or criminalizing pedestrians who are just trying to get to and from places that they need to, and really leave the judgment to them that they know when to cross and where," Torres said. "Citations are also, often a way to create a police encounter, and we also want to diminish that."

But the proposal is seeing some opposition. 

At the committee meeting on Tuesday, councilmember Kendra Black says she doesn't believe decriminalizing jaywalking will make streets safer.

"Now we're going to say it's OK to jaywalk?" Black said. "I just have huge concerns about this sending a dangerous message that puts pedestrians in danger."

With the proposal passing in committee, in two weeks it will go to the city council, where members will vote on it.