Mayor and Denver City Council Meeting on Safe Denver and Youth Violence Prevention - April 2, 2024
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Mayor and Denver City Council Meeting on Safe Denver and Youth Violence Prevention - April 2, 2024
This meeting of the Mayor and Denver City Council on April 2, 2024, featured presentations and discussions on two major initiatives: the Safe Denver place network investigations to reduce violent gun crime, and the city's youth violence prevention framework. Council members provided feedback, raised concerns about data, funding, and community engagement, and the Mayor committed to sharing data and incorporating community input. The meeting began with announcements and introductions, followed by presentations and extensive council discussion.
Announcements
- Councilwoman Amanda Sawyer announced a spring parks cleanup day on April 21, 2024, at 8:30 AM at Montclair Recreation Center.
- Councilwoman Alvidras announced a celebration of the Broadway bike lane on Saturday at 11 AM and a parking town hall.
- Councilman Cashman congratulated the University of Denver Pioneers hockey team on their NCAA tournament run.
Discussion Items
- Safe Denver Place Network Investigations: The Mayor presented a strategy to reduce violent gun crime by 20% and improve customer satisfaction. The approach focuses on changing environments (e.g., lighting, traffic calming, economic activation) in high-crime areas. Pilot sites (2020-22) showed a 27% decrease in violent crime at West Alameda and Federal while citywide crime increased 27% (net 54% difference). Five new sites were identified for community engagement starting in summer 2024. Council members raised concerns about funding alignment (Councilwoman Sawyer noted DOTI rolled over $2 million for streetlights but did not fund requests), data transparency (Councilman Gilmore questioned whether crime data supports the 47th and Peoria site), and the need for a broader set of metrics beyond gun violence (Council President Torres noted drug use and deaths at Paco Sanchez).
- Youth Violence Prevention Framework: The Mayor and Melissa from the Office of Children's Affairs (OCA) presented a framework pyramid from primary prevention to reintegration. Current efforts include serving 25,000 youth in 2024 through partnerships, summer youth employment, and community hubs with DPS. Council members discussed funding gaps (Councilman Cashman noted child care costs and the need for sustainable revenue), the lack of programs in Districts 4 and 7, and the need for outcome data. Councilwoman Parady suggested revenue strategies such as a real estate transfer fee, vacant property tax, and cigarette tax.
Key Outcomes
- The Mayor committed to sharing detailed crime data by location and age with council members.
- Community meetings will be held in each of the five identified Safe Denver sites to gather resident input before summer 2024.
- OCA will provide a breakdown of funding distribution along the prevention pyramid and by district.
- The Mayor's office will connect Councilwoman Parady with Dominic Marina to discuss revenue options.
- No formal votes were taken; the meeting was informational and set the stage for continued collaboration.
Meeting Transcript
Welcome to this meeting of the mayor and Denver City Council. At this weekly session, city agencies brief the mayor and council members on various proposals and projects across the city. This meeting of the mayor and city council members begins now. Great to see you all. Thank you, and welcome to Mayor Council. Um let's start with some introductions. Maybe distinguished gentleman to my right. Did you got a haircut? You got a haircut, didn't you, Councilman? Just shrugged it back. Okay, just checking. Can I also be the distinguished? You are always distinguished. Amanda Sawyer, District Five. Uh good morning, everyone. Sarana Gonzalez Cuquillarez, uh, one of the council members at large. Good morning, Amanda Catalon District One. Chantal is District Eight. Good morning, Stacey Gilmore, District Eleven. Uh, good morning, Kevin Flynn, Southwest Denver District Two. Jamie Torres, District Three. Well, good morning. Great to see you all. Uh, let's start off this morning with announcements. If there are folks that have announcements they would like to share for the members that are gathered or for the listening audience at home. The distinguished councilwoman. Thank you very much. Uh, I just want to remind everyone that um spring parks cleanup day is coming up. So twice a year we um gather volunteers and clean half of the parks in District Five in the spring and half in the fall. Um it's coming up uh an April, Sunday, April twenty first, I believe, eight thirty AM at Montclair Wreck Center. So please come out and join us, get some breakfast and your supplies, um, and then head up and help us clean up our parks a little bit. It's a really fun event. Thanks. Thank you so much. Councilwoman Alvidras. Thank you. Good morning. Shout out to Dottie, all of their hard work on the Broadway bike lane will finally be celebrated this Saturday at 11 a.m. Follow uh Dottie or our social media to find out more, but we're excited for that on Saturday, followed by also a parking town hall in Platt Park Overland area. There's been some concerns about parking, just um finding out if you need a permit, where people need permitted parking, and how they could start that. So hope to hear from people on Saturday. Thank you. Thank you so much, Councilman of Vidres. Councilman Cashman. Thank you, sir. As we are the city counsel for the city and county of Denver, I just think it's important that we give another shout out to our University of Denver Pioneers hockey team as they work their way to toward a record 10th NCW AA championship. They uh beat uh Massachusetts, I believe, two to one. They'll be playing April 11th against Boston in the core in the semifinals. So two more games and they break the tie with Michigan for the most NCAA championships ever. So go pyOs.
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