DENVER -- Curbing crime in Downtown Denver is coming with a cost to other shops that rely on daytime business during the weekends. One of the areas feeling a big crackdown is on Market between 14th and 15th Streets where we have seen a number of shootings, including one that was deadly.
Normally there is no parking allowed on the block from midnight to 6 a.m. but now, starting on Friday nights, the parking meters along the stretch are getting bagged for the entire weekend. Some businesses said that's making it tough for their customers.
"It’s definitely 100 percent something we are dealing with,” said Janet Kammer.
Kammer works as a hair stylist at Foushee Salon Spa on Market St. While businesses open later at night, she said they are seeing less criminal activity, and the parking limitations are making it difficult for the shops open during the day.
“When our services run about 30 minutes at a time and a client is 15 to 20 minutes late because of parking, because of the availability out there it makes it really hard on us to say, 'I am sorry I can't service you today,'” said Kammer.
This is part of DPD’s plan to ramp up enforcement in the area to cut down on violence and crime. As bars and clubs let out late at night, the block was becoming a common place for shootings and long investigations shutting down nearby streets.
“It has been pretty effective,” said Ron Thomas, Division Chief for the Denver Police Department. “We have managed to clear up the block and create additional space and safety for officers and patrons of those establishments down there."
DPD plans to continue using spotlights, extra patrols and the bags on parking meters to keep the area safe, but Kammer hopes there can be a compromise on the parking limits for her customers and the potential foot traffic on the weekends.
“Yes regulating that, please - that is something that needs to be cared for obviously,” said Kammer. “But at the same time during the day we are all being very effected by it as a retail space."