Cole Neighborhood Memoirs is getting the band back together

Man, has it been a while! So much has changed in my life, and in the neighborhood in the five or so years since I last posted. Many of my old neihbors-- both ones I loved and some I didn't-- have left. The neighborhood drama has largely died down, only occasionally punctuated by staccato gunfire or a murder.

With the recent increase in affluence and density, the bigger concerns are burglaries and parking. Oh, and for some, gentrification, but I'll leave that for another post.

Tosh's Hacienda, which became Kiva, which became Blackberries, which became Swallows, which became Eden, which then became Downing Street Grill have been replaced by the Denver Wrangler. While I've heard their patronage has gone down since they moved into the neighborhood, they thus far have added a little stability in that property.

Jake's is gone, replaced by the swanky new Rino Beer Garden.

Hell, come to think of it, last time I posted here River North wasn't even a freaking neighborhood.

And just west of the neighborhood there now are all kinds of new establishments, including Chuburger, Fish-n-Beer and Hop Alley.

Blocks of warehouses are gone, replaced by offices, apartments and a shiny new light rail station.

Phil's Place is still there, more on that in another post.

And then there's the perpetually shitty Down-and-Out Super building. That's really the last bastion of the old Cole. Downright shocking.

I'm still here. Am I happy with the new neighborhood? Hell yes, unapologetically so. If you're looking for a resident that suffers from white guilt or loses sleep at night about gentrification, you're in the wrong place. Sorry. And more on that later.

Well, to those of you that have read and been offended by my posts previously, I'm baaaack.

And to those of you new neighbors that discover me now,  you're in for a ride.

#NEWEASTSIDE

Denver Partners Against Graffiti Rules

Folks,

Do you hate graffiti as much as I do? I hate it so much I think we should consider implementing some sort of medieval or middle eastern punishment for graffiti painting. Cut off a gang-banger's hands and I'm pretty sure you won't be seeing his signature painted on a dumpster near you anytime soon. But that's another story...

I just wanted to share with the rest of the barrio that the folks at Denver Partners Against Graffiti (DPAG) have been just stellar as of late in addressing graffiti in our neighborhood. The Downing Street alley between Bruce Randolph and 35th has been particularly nasty in the last couple months (pretty sure it's due to a neighbor of mine and his little punk friends) and as such I've had to call DPAG at least four times to re-paint the dumpsters on that block. They literally get there within two days and get the stuff painted over.

They're even getting pro-active now in cleaning the stuff up--For example, when you used to call in a specific address, they'd come out and clean it up, but if there was graffiti right next to it on a dumpster or light pole, they'd ignore it. Not only that, they didn't even have an inspector to follow up on complaints--They just sent out a request for removal of the graffiti to the homeowner, and if they didn't respond, nothing happened. Not anymore.

Now, it seems that they're (finally) keeping their eyes open coming and going from specific addresses, and removing and documenting other graffiti when they see it. I know, it sounds obvious, but this is the city of Denver we're talking about and I'm darned surprised and thankful they're that on-the-ball now.

So there you go folks... can't blame graffiti on the city anymore. You've just got to call it in or report it through the DPAG website.

And while I have no life and in all honesty have a lot of time on my hands relative to most folks, I can't cover the entire neighborhood. If we each take our block (or two) and are diligent about calling in the tagging when it happens, we all win, by each doing our own little part.

And trust me, it's worth it--The faster you get graffiti removed, the less likely the little idiots are to come back and tag it again--It may take a few times, but you can win the battle and the war, at least on your block--But you have to be diligent, and call the stuff in.