Downtown events marred by violence over weekend (Denver: buy, school)

[KaaBoom]

Originally Posted by Scott5280

Anyone who spent much time in downtown Denver in the 1980's remembers the scores of homeless punk rocker teens hanging around the mall and Writer Square; think Hollywood Skid Kids .They would hang out around some of the old school places like Calvins (pool hall). The rave scene brought out a fair number of drifters between the true underground ground clubs (not the poser scene that followed) between Denver and Boulder. Between the last of the real hippies, rainbow people, punk rockers, there was some serious panhandling

For the record, the punk rock scene in Denver was very impressive in the 1980s, but most of those kids were not homeless. In the daytime maybe about 50 of them would hang out in Skyline Park near 16th and Arapahoe. Some of them were high school dropouts, and some of them were just ditching school. Then after school, all the suburban kids would take the bus Downtown, and the numbers would swell to probably 200 or 300, and they would hangout into the evening. By 10PM the numbers would be down to a couple of dozen. By that time most of the kids had gone home, to go to bed. I don’t know how many actually stayed in the park over night, but i think it was a very small number. The police mostly ignored them, as long as they stayed in the park and didn’t cause any trouble.

[Scott5280]

Originally Posted by KaaBoom

For the record, the punk rock scene in Denver was very impressive in the 1980s, but most of those kids were not homeless. In the daytime maybe about 50 of them would hang out in Skyline Park near 16th and Arapahoe. Some of them were high school dropouts, and some of them were just ditching school. Then after school, all the suburban kids would take the bus Downtown, and the numbers would swell to probably 200 or 300, and they would hangout into the evening. By 10PM the numbers would be down to a couple of dozen. By that time most of the kids had gone home, to go to bed. I don’t know how many actually stayed in the park over night, but i think it was a very small number. The police mostly ignored them, as long as they stayed in the park and didn’t cause any trouble.

Skyline Park is the place I was trying to think of where those teenage punk posers hung out They.used to play sound loops of strange sound effects from under the street. The real homeless rockers I knew hung down by the old 23 Parrish circa 1980-1984.
I agree Denver had a great punk scene,,Boulder was pretty decent too..I saw tons of shows at The Blue Note, Boulder ' s Coast..When I referenced posers I was referring to that scene after the early to mid 80's.
Anyway more on. topic, I have never seen this level of homeless in the metro with camps even in Golden, Lakewood,Littleton hard core panhandling. Starting to look a lot more like West Coast cities in that regard .

[skins_fan82]

It's one thing to have a lot of homeless and crazies around downtown, that's every big city in America. But it's another thing to where people don't feel safe. that's not okay. Whatever the city of Denver has to do to clean up the 16th street mall, I'm all for it. Even if it means hurting homeless people's feelings.

[lovecrowds]

Originally Posted by skins_fan82

It's one thing to have a lot of homeless and crazies around downtown, that's every big city in America. But it's another thing to where people don't feel safe. that's not okay. Whatever the city of Denver has to do to clean up the 16th street mall, I'm all for it. Even if it means hurting homeless people's feelings.

They will just go to another area.

The jails are overcrowded so they can't really do much on that end. The police can arrest all they want but they will likely be released the same day and back in the same area.

It just doesn't seem bad to me in Denver. It seemed worse in 2010, it's likely a bigger issue then historically but I don't notice it as much when I am down there.

Salt Lake City and Las Vegas seem to be at more of a breaking point from my experience then Denver.

Denver is really, really good at keeping bad behavior at bay compared to most cities, especially in the public eye.

I heavily doubt a desperate homeless person really cares want visitors, residents, workers and the police think. They feel isolated from society largess so they don't really care if people feel uncomfortable.

[SQL]

Originally Posted by lovecrowds

It just doesn't seem bad to me in Denver. It seemed worse in 2010, it's likely a bigger issue then historically but I don't notice it as much when I am down there.

Trust me, it was bad. I don't know how much time some of you people spend downtown (it really doesn't sound like much), but I have noticed a significant change in atmosphere since I moved here in 2008. It was definitely getting worse.

I actually thought to myself how clean and clear the Cherry Creek bike path looked this morning on my commute in. The coppers must have cleared it out, because I didn't see a single vagrant at all.

[ajr1995]

Originally Posted by SQL

Trust me, it was bad. I don't know how much time some of you people spend downtown (it really doesn't sound like much), but I have noticed a significant change in atmosphere since I moved here in 2008. It was definitely getting worse.

I actually thought to myself how clean and clear the Cherry Creek bike path looked this morning on my commute in. The coppers must have cleared it out, because I didn't see a single vagrant at all.

It flooded last night too.

[mic111]

Another attack on 16th street mall.
Video shows man violently attacking people on 16th Street Mall | FOX31 Denver

[wong21fr]

Originally Posted by mic111

Another attack on 16th street mall.
Video shows man violently attacking people on 16th Street Mall | FOX31 Denver

Attack? More like hoodlum street brawl.

The police and additional security making like miserable for these lowlifes can't come soon enough.

[hawkbill]

Originally Posted by ajr1995

It flooded last night too.

They were still out in force between 13th and where the trail splits into bike/pedestrian today. It's been the worst I've seen on the trail in the 3 years I've been commuting daily on it.

[sammy87]

Originally Posted by mic111

Another attack on 16th street mall.
Video shows man violently attacking people on 16th Street Mall | FOX31 Denver

They put dogs down for less. Just saying.

16th street mall sucks. Its a tourist trap full of idiots and bums. There are some decent spots around Denver but the city itself....not sure what the big deal is.