The sixth of our eight design principles for the Colfax Ave Business Improvement District (BID) is to Enhance Safety. As we all know, there is no one safety strategy. Rather, it is more akin to a well-crafted “recipe” in which safety is baked into the overall Streetscape Design Master Plan.
Since this is a multifaceted topic, we’ll discuss it in two separate blog posts. In Part One, we’ll focus on the general principle of safety in numbers. Part Two will discuss how the design can affect real and perceived safety.
No one’s alone on a “24-hour” street
When the businesses and community are mingling and interacting on the street at all hours of the day, no one is ever alone. Knowing that someone is nearby provides a sense of security. That’s why the Colfax Ave BID is promoting is the “24-hour block.”
Achieving this means there are destinations and attractions for every segment of the day and year-round. A mix of business and recreation types help. Imagine a single block that includes a bakery, bar, lunch spot, and offices and/or residences.
The bread baker and staff will be arriving at 4:00 in the morning to prepare for their 6:00am customers. A lunch cafe and restaurant would be opening by 11:00am and serving until 9:00 or later in the evening. The local bar wouldn’t be closing until 2:00 in the morning and their staff cleaning up until around 3:00am.
In this prototypical block we’d have an active place for 23 hours throughout the day. Consider the Colfax block between Lafayette and Marion. It has 14 businesses with one more on the way and includes a couple of coffee shops, lunch/dinner locations, and four bars. It’s buildings also include two to three floors of additional offices or residential units. That density supports and is supported by the businesses. And, the many people coming to and from the offices, residences, and businesses help to provide a constant flow of energy and watchful eyes that act to both deter crime and provide a level of security for others on street.
Contrast that to a block that is either primarily a parking lot or may have a business that is only open for a few hours a day, or in some cases on Colfax there are businesses that are open only one-third of the year and completely vacant for the other eight months. In that situation those storefronts are empty and nothing is generating any activity or “eyes on the street.” Therefore, anyone walking by that block is feeling alone and potentially vulnerable.
It is worth repeating that our efforts to enhance safety for the community is a “recipe” of different tactics. The 24-hour block is one ingredient that dramatically reduces the chances of someone feeling “alone” and vulnerable on the street. The BID can work with property owners to encourage a mix of business types on the block in addition to policing.
Colfax Works program adds strength in numbers
Having a visible and accessible police force is important, no doubt. But not every incident calls for a “gun and badge” response. Like every major city, Denver, and by extension, Colfax, has problems related to mental health and people experiencing homelessness. To be clear, these are not crimes and must be addressed appropriately.
Sadly, this population also feels alone and vulnerable. They are often preyed upon by drug dealers who take advantage of their addictions and insecurities. The homeless and mentally ill populations are too frequently conflated with criminals. Such a misdiagnosis will result in an ineffective response. Our Colfax Works program addresses these challenges with the right approach and improves the perception of security in the community.
We have partnered with Ready to Work / Boulder Bridge House with the objective of providing clean team services to the district (removing litter, trash, stickers, and graffiti) by hiring people who are experiencing or emerging from homelessness or incarceration. Ready to Work trains them for employment, gives them work, housing, meals, and wrap-around support services. Within one year, team members will graduate into full employment and housing so that they are at a place of stability and independence.
This is another “ingredient” in this safety recipe to increase the “eyes on the street” and our strength in numbers. Already in 2019, one person experiencing homelessness talked with the Colfax Works crew and soon after applied for and entered the program. By increasing the opportunities for people to get off the streets and to their own home help makes these individuals safer and demonstrates a path that others could take. We continue to work with the homeless and mental health communities to have sufficient and appropriate resources on Colfax.
Increased presence at “hotspots”
Helping people feel safer by not being alone also includes having a visible and responsive policing force. The BID has been working with Denver Police District 6 (DPD6) Commander Sanchez and his team to focus on the perennial “hotspots” for crime, instituting and increasing bike patrols, and a more robust collaboration with the homeless and mental health outreach professionals.
One recent effort is still underway in area of Pennsylvania and Pearl Streets. While this block has great potential for active street life, vacancies and other reasons have prevented real activation. Therefore, the “void” of good street activity provides an opening for “bad” street activity. It is this drug-dealing situation that the police are focusing on and they made a lot of progress in removing some of the criminal activity.
Now, the BID and DPD6 are working closely to sustain this effort. By engaging the businesses and property owners we’ll determine the best tactics to use that we can sustain over time. Some of our tactics will include activating more street life, preventing trespassing on private property, neighborhood watch and “pups on patrol” programs, and training employees on how to help create a safe environment. Additional actions will focus on the design of the built environment.
Being or feeling alone can be stressful and make a person feel unsafe. The discussion so far has been about how we can create a lively and active community that creates a sense of security by virtue of many other people being in the street space with them. This also includes the presence of our Colfax Works crews, community policing and training, and street activation.
In Part 2 of this Enhance Safety blog we will focus on the built environment and how design can also improve one’s sense of security. Stay tuned and please contact Executive Director Frank Locantore at frank@colfaxave.com with any questions.