AURORA, Colo. — There has been no shortage of conversations about Aurora over the last few months, but during Saturday's State of the City meeting, leaders offered an idea of their plans for the future.
The new Aurora police chief, Todd Chamberlain, said APD will use the strategy of "hot spot" policing more often. He pointed to E. Mississippi Avenue and S. Chambers Road as examples of areas where officers are already focusing on.
"Hot spot policing is where we identify an area that has an incredible problem, incredible crime issues, and then we focus on those areas and put resources in," he said.
The community also heard from Judge Shawn Day about the HEART program, which stands for housing, employment, assistance, recovery, and teamwork.
It was launched at the end of January and changes the system for people experiencing homelessness who are ticketed for trespassing or camping in specific areas. So far, the included target areas are E. Iliff Avenue and Interstate 225 and S. Parker Road and I-225.
Those ticketed are given an option to take a 12-month program to self-sufficiency.
"They'll be completely diverted from next door, the courthouse. They won't have to come back to court. They'll be diverted into the program," Day said. "They'll get wrap-around services and immediate housing."
If the program is completed, the ticket will be dropped. Three citations have been issued in the last month, and so far, none of the individuals have agreed to participate in the HEART program.
Finally, Mayor Mike Coffman outlined his dream for the next big Aurora renovation. He explained he'd like to focus on revitalizing E. Colfax Avenue, particularly on a master plan to renovate the CU-Anchutz Campus.
"We'll be taking retail that is marginally used or boarded up and replacing it with housing, and we're not taking out housing to replace it with more expensive housing, but it has to have a mix, and the mix has got to be what we call market-rate housing and income-restricted housing," said Coffman.
The police chief said those troubled apartment complexes that made national headlines have since been closed, arrests have been made, families who lived there have been moved to other housing, and now there is pending litigation against the property managers.
"People came to this country looking for a better life, and instead, they were placed in squalor. They were given absolutely no idea how to function, no idea of how to work, no idea of how to get processes within the government to work, and that's the beginning and end of why that was such a failure," said Chamberlain.
Denver7 is committed to making a difference in our community by standing up for what's right, listening, lending a helping hand and following through on promises. See that work in action, in the videos above.