District 10 residents had the chance to air their safety concerns with Mayor Mike Johnston during a town hall on Tuesday, June 26. The discussion was a part of Johnston's Community Conversations, a series of public events focused on topics laid out in his city goals for 2024. About sixty residents visited Morey Middle School to break off into groups with a dozen city officials, who later read comments aloud to the whole room.
In addition to Capitol Hill and Congress Park, the boundaries of District 10 also wrap around City Park West, Union Station and the Golden Triangle — but most of the comments focused on Colfax Avenue and the parallel residential roads between 13th and 17th avenues. Groups asked for speed bumps on the roads to combat the "bad speeding" that takes place there.
Councilman Chris Hinds, who represents District 10 and lost the use of his legs after being hit by a car while cycling, tells Westword that he and Councilwoman Amanda Sawyer have told the mayor that they're "still incredibly concerned about 13th and 14th and the speed."
"Cars keep ending up in houses," Hinds says, noting that one house in his district has been hit by multiple vehicles. "There have been rollovers, there have been crashes."
"Cars keep ending up in houses," Hinds says, noting that one house in his district has been hit by multiple vehicles. "There have been rollovers, there have been crashes."
Resident suggestions included more street lights on streets such as 13th and 16th avenues and reducing 14th Avenue to two lanes.
"How do you stop traffic from coming into the neighborhood anytime a road is under construction?" asked one resident.
"I'd like to see more 20-mile-an-hour speed limits and speed bumps in Cap Hill and Congress Park," commented another.
Denis Moynihan attended the meeting to caution people about construction of Bus Rapid Transit. The construction of the high-capacity, fast-moving bus will close parts of East Colfax Avenue, and Moynihan says the city has yet to tell him or his group, the Citizen Action for a Livable Metro (CALM), how it plans to control the traffic that it redirects into nearby neighborhoods.
"We don't want them to break any ground until they address the existing concerns of the five avenues that will be affected by BRT," Moynihan tells Westword, referring to 13th Avenue through 18th. "We want meaningful traffic-calming measures, and there's nothing like a ticket handed out by a human cop that you have to go to court to fight."
"I'd like to see more 20-mile-an-hour speed limits and speed bumps in Cap Hill and Congress Park," commented another.
Denis Moynihan attended the meeting to caution people about construction of Bus Rapid Transit. The construction of the high-capacity, fast-moving bus will close parts of East Colfax Avenue, and Moynihan says the city has yet to tell him or his group, the Citizen Action for a Livable Metro (CALM), how it plans to control the traffic that it redirects into nearby neighborhoods.
"We don't want them to break any ground until they address the existing concerns of the five avenues that will be affected by BRT," Moynihan tells Westword, referring to 13th Avenue through 18th. "We want meaningful traffic-calming measures, and there's nothing like a ticket handed out by a human cop that you have to go to court to fight."
Several residents were also upset with electronic scooters. "We're terrified when they're coming at us on the sidewalk," a resident commented.
"Who's accountable for the scooters?" another asked. "Is it the scooter company? How do we solve the problems we have with them?"
Congress Park resident Diane D'Angelo tells Westword she went to the meeting to talk about "scooters using sidewalks and clogging it up for folks who have disabilities."
"I don't understand why those have been able to run amok and rampant," she adds.
Councilman Chris Hinds of District 10 says that he is seeing an improvement to homelessness in his downtown district, but like his constituents, he's "incredibly concerned" about speeding.
Bennito L. Kelty
Homelessness in Cap Hill, Golden Triangle
Homelessness came up during the meeting, as well. One resident who lives near Elati Village, a micro-community in the Golden Triangle that helps people transition from homelessness, said her neighbors are "dealing with violence, screaming in the middle of the night," and demanded "more outreach."Another resident said he noticed "fewer encampments since our new mayor took office." One grateful resident said, "I thank everyone who's worked diligently to reduce encampments. It's making a difference."
Not all comments were positive, however, with one upset resident saying, "I would like to see a fix to homelessness and not see any more overdosing in public."
Hinds tells Westword that "now we have no major encampments in the center city, and we had lots of major encampments in the center city until right at the end of 2023." According to the councilman, residents complaining more about speeding than homelessness is "a compliment [that] we've done something right" in his district.
Some residents referenced the area around Ogden Street and Colfax Avenue as a "hot spot" for crime, with one saying "there's always something going on there, like drug trading." Denver police had so many reports of crime and drug use on Ogden Street between 14th and Colfax avenues that officers and mental support professional are conducting eight-hour foot patrols in the area two days a week through the summer.
"It seems like sometimes it gets better, and then bad again, and then better," one resident said. "I can't figure out why these hot spots keep getting bad."
"It seems like sometimes it gets better, and then bad again, and then better," one resident said. "I can't figure out why these hot spots keep getting bad."
Mayor Johnston spoke at the beginning of the Community Conversation and listened to a few groups. He left before all groups finished sharing their comments, which has bothered some residents and councilmembers at past Community Conversations.
More Community Conversations will take place in July, with the next series focusing on affordability, according to the mayor's office. Future topics for the series will be vibrancy and great government.
Johnston promises at the start of each Community Conversations that the feedback will sway his policy decisions. A rollout of road safety improvements along Alameda Avenue and Federal Boulevard that he announced on Monday were motivated in part by his safety-focused meetings, where speeding has been the most common concern.
