Mayor Michael Hancock's Message To Everyone: Don't Abandon Downtown Denver
DENVER (CBS4) - Downtown Denver is in crisis. CBS4 has reported on situations this year where persistent criminal activity has people changing their habits and tormenting business owners. Earlier this week the manager of SportsFan told CBS4 he is instituting a new 1% fee on purchases at his downtown Denver stores which he calls the Denver Crime Spike Fee.
Mayor Michael Hancock recently unveiled an aggressive new crime-fighting plan, and this week he talked with CBS4's Jim Benemann about convincing people not to abandon downtown.
Big cities present big challenges, and front and center now is convincing people it's safe to come back to work and play in Downtown Denver.
"Our central business district is our heart and soul. We can not, we will not let it slip. And we're going to do all we can have to do all we can to keep it vibrant and safe for everybody."
But it has slipped. Badly. Crime has turned a part of Union Station into an eerie shell of what it was just two years ago. Just a few blocks away, a business owner showed CBS4 the drug use, fights and even gunfire that have been happening right outside the front door.
The mayor has gone into full "sales mode" to keep businesses there.
"We're doing a survey now of all the leases in downtown Denver, this is in partnership with the Downtown Denver Partnership. We are going to visit with those companies who may have a lease renewal coming up to stress the importance of their presence and our desire to have them there," he said.
"We are leaning in with a lot of our grants and a lot of our recovery dollars going to restaurants (saying) 'How can we help stabilize your business here?'"
The mayor also says the city will invest $190 million this year on initiatives to help the homeless and also partnering with developers to get more affordable housing units built.
"My own children are saying how expensive it is to live here. I mean, I get it," Hancock said. "We've just got to keep doing everything we can to get out of the way in terms of our regulations to help builders provide affordable housing because the margins are so thin. And the user dollars that we have to help offset those costs."
Hancock says he's seen firsthand the cauldron of crime that's now affecting the Union Station bus terminal and its surrounding entrances. He calls it unacceptable, and says it's now designated one of the new crime hotspots the police department will be focusing on.
"We are going there and we are going to partner with community organizations and we're going to focus on cutting the crime, particularly violent crime, in those areas."
Pazen says this precision policing is already cutting crime in several areas. Still, the number of homicides in the city reached a 30-year high last year.
The mayor's new crime-fighting plan will target illegal guns on the street, youth violence, the fentanyl scourge and the increasing use of personal recognizance bonds that's putting drug dealers and many violent criminals right back on the street.
"So of course we want the ATF and the DEA and the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office. They are our partners (in this)."
The mayor says stepped-up law enforcement has to be coupled with city resources to help those who are in trouble find a better path.
"Whether it's homeless, people who are challenged mentally in our city, people who are dealing with the other behavioral challenges including drugs and addictions in our city. We're going to do everything we can to help those individuals. It's what I call the firm compassion. But we also have to have guardrails, in other words we've got to have accountability."
Hancock knows Denver residents demand accountability from their elected officials, too, and they're growing impatient with the state of downtown.
"We're getting it under control. Our police department and other agencies have moved in and (we now have) a tremendous presence to clean up Union Station. We recognize how important the hub of our transportation system is. We cannot lose it and we won't lose it."