'It's Not Worth It': HVAC Company Says It Will No Longer Service Customers in Downtown Denver
WHEAT RIDGE, Colo. (CBS4) - A Wheat Ridge-based heating and air conditioning company says it will no longer service businesses in or around downtown Denver due to crime, drug use and danger to its field crews.
"It's not really worth it to put up with it," said Tony Cirbo, operations manager for AC Mechanical and Engineering. He said the company works up and down the Front Range with about 100 industrial and commercial clients.
But Cirbo said, after hearing from field crews who were "very nervous" working in parts of downtown, the company made the decision to turn down work requests from downtown Denver. Cirbo said the business decision was also due in part to the fact that the company only had two clients in downtown Denver.
But he said his crews complained about coming across needles, drug paraphernalia, feces and were concerned about theft.
"You don't know what's going to happen," Cirbo said.
In a recent email to a downtown customer, Cirbo wrote, "We made a decision as a company not to do any work downtown almost two years (ago). The technicians were tired of stepping over needles, human feces, vans getting broken into, etc."
He told CBS4 ,"You don't know whats going to happen," and he felt thieves in downtown Denver would steal "anything that's not locked down."
CBS4 previously reported on downtown crime issues:
And on one downtown business that implemented a 'Crime Spike Fee' to address rising shoplifting rates:
CBS4 also recently reported on how crime downtown is affecting one restaurant: