The mayor circulated to southwest Denver for the seventh meeting in his Community Conversations series of town hall events, which have all focused on the topic of safety. As in nearly every other part of Denver that Johnston has visited so far — including Highland, West Colfax and the Ballpark District — speeding came up.
City Councilman Kevin Flynn, whose District 2 covers southwest Denver from Harvey Park down to Fort Logan, says that speeding "has always been an issue" as motorists escape the narrower downtown roads.
"When you look at the streets in Capitol Hill versus, say, Lowell Boulevard in Harvey Park, it invites speeding. We have invited people to speed, and we're not doing enough to prevent it," Flynn said after the town hall. "A lot of the streets here were built in the late ’40s through the ’70s. That's when we grew up, and that's the age of the automobile."
Johnston told Westword that his office is formulating a plan to tackle the most common safety issues mentioned by residents during the town halls, which include open-air drug dealing and homelessness. Johnston says he plans to "deploy" road safety improvements across neighborhoods simultaneously in the coming weeks — something he describes as "the next generation of our Vision Zero," a city initiative to eliminate traffic deaths by 2030.
"We're looking at a series of interventions, and what we're looking at is how we can deploy those interventions together," Johnston said. "It's a whole combination of road improvements. You can do everything from rumble strips to narrow lanes to bike lanes to the timing of lights from speed cameras. There's a whole range of interventions you can do, and they get even more effective as you deploy them together."
Johnston compared the upcoming rollout of road safety improvements to a "peanut butter approach, spread out a little bit all around the city." He said Denver officials will lean on data when deciding where to put the new interventions.
During Community Conversations, residents form groups with at least one city official and share positive and negative feedback, after which the groups' comments are read out loud to the rest of the room. The May 30 Community Conversation took place in Harvey Park at the Church of All Saints, at 2559 South Federal Boulevard; about sixty to seventy people attended, including a dozen city officials. Johnston stayed only briefly because of a busy schedule.
Councilman Kevin Flynn said that his district has been negatively impacted by outdated streets and homeless people coming from downtown.
Bennito L. Kelty
While residents did acknowledge Sanderson Gulch, which starts in Ruby Hill and provides a trail across Mar Lee, they asked for more parks, dog parks and "third places," which a participant described as "a place for neighbors to get together," like a bar or cafe. One resident used the term "walkable economic development" to explain that he wanted to see plazas or areas where people could shop, eat and hang out.
"I would like to see better trails and for this area to be more walkable," another commented. "There are not a lot of third places like bars to walk to. I would like to see more."
One resident called on the city to "revitalize" South Sheridan Boulevard, and another called the thoroughfare "underutilized." Participants complained that the sidewalks are narrow, which Flynn explained as having to do with the area being developed during the "age of the car."
"The sidewalks are only two and a half feet wide. When my wife and I were campaigning, we couldn't even hold hands and walk side by side," Flynn said. "We also don't have places to walk to. I'm not going to walk to a King Soopers eight blocks away."
This year, the Denver Department of Community Planning and Development is starting two Neighborhood Planning projects in the southwest part of Flynn's district, studying local neighborhoods for possible improvements and an updated plan for future rezoning. Flynn anticipates that a conflict will arise between residents who want more housing in the district and those who want more shopping.
Residents also voiced displeasure that all the light rail stations in their district were near Santa Fe Drive, so crossing Federal Boulevard — and Sheridan Boulevard for residents farther west — requires miles of walking for most of them.
While some residents noted that they were happy with development in some areas, especially Loretto Heights, even more were worried about an increasing number of homeless residents, including a vacant lot where a Walgreens used to be at West Florida Avenue and South Federal.
According to Flynn, this is the result of Johnston's effort to move 1,000 homeless residents indoors before the end of 2023, known as House1000. Johnston has launched a similar effort to house another 1,000 people in 2024 called All In Mile High.
"House1000 cleaned up a lot of the large encampments downtown," Flynn said. "Those who didn't go to a hotel or a micro-community ended up being pushed up-river and up Bear Creek, and we have some very service-resistant homeless individuals."
One resident commented about Johnston's migrant plan as well, saying, "I feel like the newcomer program provides a lot of assistance up front, but then just adds people to the homeless population."
The mayor's office has scheduled four more Denver neighborhood safety conversations over the next three weeks. A community conversation in Council District 10, which includes the Golden Triangle, was rescheduled to June 25 after being canceled in early May because of Johnston's mother's health; she passed away earlier this month.
Johnston expects to hold additional town hall series focusing on city vibrancy and affordability, but said he wanted to start with public safety first in his Citywide Goals 2024.
