East Colfax neighbors work to shed Denver neighborhood's image as the rough part of town

When you think of East Colfax in Denver, chances are you think of drug dealers, transients, and prostitutes.

But the neighborhood is increasingly home to young families and professionals, and they are working to shed the area's reputation as the "rough" part of town.

"There's a lot of first-time homebuyers here. The market has gotten very expensive," says Noeli Rodriguez, who is one of those first-time homebuyers. She moved here from out of state for a nursing job only to realize her neighbors were sex workers and drug dealers.

She says the carport-turned-crack house behind her served more than 900 customers in 21 days. While most people may have moved, Rodriguez says she's not going anywhere, "I've worked so hard to own a house. I don't want to give up so easily."

She's witnessed assaults, a woman being raped, and had three break-ins in three years, "I've been going to the police this whole time. I've trying to communicate with them, there's a problem, there's a problem, and they're like, Noeli, no one else is complaining. I was like, okay well, I'm going get some people together so, I basically went door to door introducing myself to neighbors." 

Within three months, she had a neighborhood watch and the attention of Denver Police, who stepped up patrols, shut down the crack house, and secured money for additional lighting in the neighborhood. 

Meredith Quinlivan has lived in the East Colfax area for 10 years and says seeing neighbors band together gives her hope, "To hear the community rally together against a problem that we've all know about, was really, I think, a goal."

While they're making progress, neighbors say, they want parity. They say the city should address the homeless problem on East Colfax like it has in downtown Denver.

"They squat against the wall and poop on the floor. It's trash, we clean up trash every morning," says Chanelle Simmons, a business owner in the neighborhood. "Busting our windows and us having to pay for those, breaking into our storage, it's bad. They're camping out everywhere."

That includes a vacant house that's caught fire twice in three weeks. The first fire spread to Deacon Rodda's place, "The property has just been full of squatters. People use drugs every day. People started another fire in that same space."  

Rodriguez blames the city in part, noting it's opened two transitional housing facilities within blocks of each other in the neighborhood, "All you've done is displace the homeless population up to an area that they think people would not complain."  

But she says the people of East Colfax have found their voice and are using it, "Basic safety is what we're asking for in this neighborhood."