DENVER | Main Development Thread #6

[TakeFive]

"16th Street Mall to get private security, extra police to deal with 'urban travelers' "
Jun 27, 2016 by Molly Armbrister - Denver Business Journal

Denver business groups and the city are about to double down on security on the 16th Street Mall by adding a private security force and extra police officers.

So your adding private security to the mix?

The Downtown Denver Partnership and the Downtown Business Improvement District issued a request for proposals in April and received 12 responses. The organization is interviewing companies and expects to award a contract in July, with the first security personnel arriving on the mall in August.

Overall, hiring the security team and staff and executing a safety plan will cost about $1 million a year, said Tami Door, president and CEO of the DDP, at a news conference Monday.

Will the hiring of a Security Company diminish the need for police then? No

In addition, the Denver Police Department will increase the number of full-time officers dedicated to the mall to 20 while also ramping up the "Walk the Beat' program, which hires off-duty DPD officers to patrol the mall.

Increasing the number of Walk the Beat officers will cost $396,000, said Police Chief Robert White. That money will be paid by the city.

I certainly applaud the City and the Downtown Denver Partnership for taking these steps and making the financial commitment.

All you have to do is check the comments on Trip Adviser or Yelp to know there's a problem. To be fair the feedback is quite mixed, some good, some bad. I'm sure that depending on who is making the comment, when they visited the Mall and what part of the Mall they visited, their experiences and/or perception could be very different. Hopefully you want to see only a very few negative comments. Or, if there's complaints about the store mix (for example) that's a whole other but innocuous problem.

As a Public Space it's available for everybody to enjoy which makes it incumbent on everybody to respect the rights of everybody else to enjoy the mall without being harassed. It's not about any age group or how they look but it is a matter of common courtesy. Since they refer to themselves as 'urban travelers' it's good that there be "rules of the road."

[TakeFive]

Same song but different verse.

I know that activating the mall space would go a long ways towards mitigating potential problems. In fact the Downtown Denver Partnership is going to great lengths and spending serious money to do just that. But it's a Catch 22 if other than for special events people don't enjoy being on the Mall.

First, they need to get on top of any harassment problems and then hopefully over time the retail mix and offerings will also improve.

With the 16th Street Mall now running 1.25 miles long it will be a herculean challenge. If they want to put the 'Mall on the map' I think it would be awesome to designate a roughly two (or three) block stretch for an eclectic mix of nighttime venues offering live jazz/blues/piano bar entertainment along with a venue or two for coffee/tea/wine for those that want to hold poetry readings and the like. Add in some art galleries and clothing stores and you've got the makings of successful attraction for visitor and local alike.

Any other ideas?

Originally Posted by mhays

2,000,000? More than that is UC now. Amazon is going to shoot past 10,000,000 sf in this decade for its HQ. That's room for 70,000 people by their multipliers. They also say 20% of their HQ staff walks to work, which relates to a lot of the residential volume.

I was only off by a zero. What's a zero among friends?

Thanks for the correction. I guess it's been too long since I read from the Puget Sound Business Journal.

[Orlando]

Hello Denver forumers,
I'm in town for a day and am looking for something to do that would work for my 72 year old father-in-law, my non-architect nerd wife, and 11-month old daughter. I've explored downtown before, but is Observatory or Genesee Park a good visit? Any other recommendations?

[EngiNerd]

There is always Red Rocks, Lookout Mtn., Mt. Evans drive if you want to do more outdoorsy type activities. Rocky Mtn. National Park & Estes Park can be a little much for one day depending on the amount of driving you like to do, but that can be very nice, especially if you are visiting it in the middle of the week.

[jhwk]

Originally Posted by Orlando

Hello Denver forumers,
I'm in town for a day and am looking for something to do that would work for my 72 year old father-in-law, my non-architect nerd wife, and 11-month old daughter. I've explored downtown before, but is Observatory or Genesee Park a good visit? Any other recommendations?

Depending on your father-in-law's mobility Three Sisters Park in Evegreen has some wonderful hikes of varying difficulty and there are nice places to eat in Evegreen. It's my go-to park with visitors.

[Denver Dweller]

http://www.denverpost.com/2016/06/28/denver-arapahoe-square-high-rise-rules/

[transistor]

Originally Posted by Denver Dweller

http://www.denverpost.com/2016/06/28/denver-arapahoe-square-high-rise-rules/

All of these changes seem really good.

[Scottk]

Originally Posted by Orlando

Hello Denver forumers,
I'm in town for a day and am looking for something to do that would work for my 72 year old father-in-law, my non-architect nerd wife, and 11-month old daughter. I've explored downtown before, but is Observatory or Genesee Park a good visit? Any other recommendations?

Washington park is a great Denver park if you enjoy more urban parks.

Boulder and Pearl Street can be worth a visit for the day with a drive up flagstaff road.


Otherwise, head to the mountains.

[Fritzdude]

Looks like there was an active shooter downtown near 15th and Wynkoop today. Sad state of affairs..

Does anyone work down there?

[mhays]

Gotta love the US...we have a two-word shorthand in "active shooter" that would take a newly-written whole sentence in most developed places.

[lumos]

now in Denver Post

[Orlando]

Thanks for the tips Denver forumers. We drove through the art museum area on our way to visit the Denver Botanical Gardens at Cheesman Park. The gardens were very impressive, and your parks also seem very nice.

We flew out of DIA last night and I was interested in seeing the new Calatrava/Gensler hotel addition. I gotta say that from a distance it is a huge eyesore to the airport. It doesn't go at all with the airport. It's bulky and blue, and it's form just takes away from the white tent tops of the airport. I was impressed with the large curved canopy interacting with the airport and up close and by itself it's not so bad. I think Calatrava's white version would have looked better, but it's similar form and bulkiness as the current one might still have been bad. Anyways, just my and my wife's, and father-in-law's opinion. I am curious to know what you locals think of it, though.

[COtoOC]

Originally Posted by TakeFive

Award for best "in a nutshell" summary.




So the issues or problem can vary depending on circumstances and likely the perception of one's sensitivity. Time of day, time of year etc can factor in. BTW, someone playing the saxophone (or similar) actually adds an interesting flavor to the mall.

Being more of a big picture guy let's take a different look at things.

Is this more of a Red State vs Blue State problem?
Seriously though where is this MORE of a problem as opposed to LESS of a problem? Part of the answer I suppose is presence of urban density but that falls short of understanding the differences or suggesting a solution.

Create a bigger artificial pond and you'll attract more fleas
While Denver is approaching 700,000 population, Phoenix is approaching 1,600,000 in population. Leaving accurate specifics aside, I'll guess that Phoenix has roughly twice the level of poverty (per capita) yet half the "vagrancy" problem of Denver. Denver has dutifully spent millions upon millions for "transitional" housing and other services. Phoenix? Very little that I'm aware of.

Of course Phoenix has a big city homeless problem, panhandlers on street corners or intersections with signs. They also have a shiny new big Salvation Army facility due to a generous donation of millions. There's no shortage of food banks and outreach groups (AFAIK) which I believe are privately funded. Of course Phoenix takes advantage of HUD housing grants to do those sorts of things.

The most basic of issues boils down to tolerance, some liberal notion of obligation and priorities. Make the city overly homeless friendly and the homeless will come. Allow more aggressive panhandling and the news will spread. Some have thicker skin than others. Does Denver want the 16th Street Mall to be welcoming and comfortable for all or just for the more hardened visitor and citizen?

Agreed! I remember a few years ago reading about San Francisco actually giving the homeless money (don't recall how much) which, in turn, just attracted more homeless to the city and made the problem worse. I do think liberal cities tend to be kinder to the homeless (and people tend to give more $$ to them at street corners), which attracts more homeless people.

I was up and down the full length of the mall yesterday and again, zero issues. But where I, as a more urban-minded person have no problem with the more oddball types of people and even appreciate what many of them add to the urban fabric of Denver, someone from a conservative suburb might perceive them to be "scary, dirty people". But anywho, downtown was lively, the A Line train worked perfectly for me, and I'm still amazed at how "Big City" Denver feels compared to 25 years ago.

[Orlando]

Double post. Oops.

[CherryCreek]

Originally Posted by Orlando

We flew out of DIA last night and I was interested in seeing the new Calatrava/Gensler hotel addition. I gotta say that from a distance it is a huge eyesore to the airport. It doesn't go at all with the airport. It's bulky and blue, and it's form just takes away from the white tent tops of the airport. I was impressed with the large curved canopy interacting with the airport and up close and by itself it's not so bad. I think Calatrava's white version would have looked better, but it's similar form and bulkiness as the current one might still have been bad. Anyways, just my and my wife's, and father-in-law's opinion. I am curious to know what you locals think of it, though.

Glad you enjoyed the trip. As to the Airport Hotel, seems to be mixed bag. I love it and think it's a stunning addition to the airport and blends perfectly with the tent structure of the main terminal.

Many others share your view or even think more poorly of it.



Different strokes, I suppose.

[COtoOC]

Originally Posted by Orlando

Thanks for the tips Denver forumers, we drove through the art museum area on our way to visit the Denver Botanical Gardens at Cheesman Park. The gardens were very impressive, and your parks also seem very nice.

We flew out of DIA last night and I was interested in seeing the new Calatrava/Gensler hotel addition. I gotta say that from a distance it is a huge eyesore to the airport. It doesn't go at all with the airport. It's bulky and blue, and it's form just takes away from the white tent tops of the airport. I was impressed with the large curved canopy interacting with the airport and up close and by itself it's not so bad. I think Calatrava's white version would have looked better, but it's similar form and bulkiness as the current one might still have been bad. Anyways, just my and my wife's, and father-in-law's opinion. I am curious to know what you locals think of it, though.

Eh... I tend to like it. But then I've looked at it many times now. I'm glad Denver takes architectural risks now and then (other than our skyscrapers lol!).

[The Dirt]

I love the hotel, but it's best appreciated from the inside. Especially when you're standing in that hotel bar.
http://denverinfill.com/blog/2016/04/den...uth-terminal-expansion-final-update.html

[RyanD]

Originally Posted by The Dirt

I love the hotel, but it's best appreciated from the inside. Especially when you're standing in that hotel bar.
http://denverinfill.com/blog/2016/04/den...uth-terminal-expansion-final-update.html

You're even posing in one of those photos! You're like... blog famous now!

[bunt_q]

It would've looked better with more white. But blame Calatrava's ego for that.

[RyanD]

Guys, it's an easy fix...