Hating on downtown Denver has become a sport for some, including recent college grads finding Denver’s cost of living to be unsustainable, anyone who has recently navigated Colfax’s construction cones, and yes, our Republican members of Congress who use the city as a political pawn in the debate over Venezuelan refugees.<\/p>\n
But Denver is a big, beautiful city with blemishes and flaws just like any other major metropolitan area — and any small town, for that matter.<\/p>\n
The Denver Post’s three-month-long\u00a0downtown Denver project<\/a>\u00a0made it clear that the city has an uphill battle as it tries to recover from the COVID shock waves. The city is struggling with vacant buildings, a reduction in tourism, cratering tax revenues and other problems.<\/p>\n But if you haven’t visited the city recently, you may have missed some major developments.<\/p>\n First, the homeless encampments have been completely cleaned up. Certainly, there are still people sleeping on the streets during the day and night between Park Avenue and Speer Boulevard. But that has been an issue for every medium-sized city in this state for more than 50 years.<\/p>\n Gone, however, are the temporary structures with tarps and tents and grocery carts marking the territory of someone who had made a shanty structure on public rights-of-way. Mayor Mike Johnston spent millions of dollars getting people in those encampments into temporary housing, and while it wasn’t cheap, the result has been worth it. The encampments were unsightly, unhealthy, and had drawn criminal elements to the city.<\/p>\n A recent survey of Denver’s homeless population<\/a> confirmed that while the number of unhoused people has increased, the number of unsheltered people — those sleeping on the street — dropped a dramatic 35% over the last survey in 2024.<\/p>\n Johnston deserves credit for this notable transformation, and he wasn’t shy about taking it.<\/p>\n\n