'Open-Air Drug Market' and Homelessness Top Ballpark District Safety Concerns

Residents were happy with some of the mayor's policies during a recent town hall, but brought up several glaring problems.

Last night's town hall took place at Asterisk, 1075 Park Avenue West. Between sixty to seventy residents attended last night's meeting at Asterisk event venue, including about a dozen city officials and Councilman Watson. The Ballpark District hosts Denver's largest service providers for homeless residents as well as a mix of popular small businesses, offices, apartments, condos, homes and Coors Field.; the district sits entirely in the Five Points neighborhood.

"At this meeting, we had the chief of police, chief of the fire department, the sheriff — not a single person from the District Attorney's office, not a single person here to talk about crime and safety," he says."I don't know if they think they're above this and they're doing their job very well, but I would say there are parts that have clearly fallen through the cracks that need to be remedied.

"That is occurring. There are folks who are selling drugs on our streets," he says."And folks are threatening business owners and residents that go by there. That has been happening.", according to Watson, but he's not seeing much progress in issues with drug dealing out in the open near Arapahoe Road and Lawrence Street.

Positive comments from residents included praise for the success of Johnston's House1000 plan, with one group saying that"it's working great." Watson calls the plan"a step forward."

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