We love a good city! For years we would come up to Denver for a “night away”. We loved getting out of the “burbs” and checking in to our fave hotel, eating out, and sometimes catching a show or walking to the movie theater. We even liked coming down during the holidays and doing some shopping. What has happened to our inner cities? I will mainly speak of Denver since that is our home base, but all over our country, the cities are becoming less desirable place to live and play. The fact is that Denver was recently ranked the “worst place to raise children”. How sad is that?
Sure, we have it pretty good. The suburbs where we raised CTB’s had excellent schools, low to no crime (2 squad cars came once to help us get rid of a giant snake in our garage and the officers looked sincerely happy to have a call!) and nice, solid, good people. This is not a bash on one city or another, but a reflection of a post-covid/defund the police society and what a difference a few years can make.
Last night we attended an amazing party downtown. Let’s start with the hotel. Our pick was @Hyatt because of the proximity to the event and we tend to use Hyatts after all the years of travel from CTDad. There are no longer the amenities once provided in hotels. Gone are the days of Regency Clubs and free breakfast. After covid, they closed them down and have yet to reopen them. The hotel restaurant was closed. It opened this morning for a buffet only breakfast where hundreds of people swarmed the tables of fruit and eggs for the low low price of about $30 pp. Many hotels now add 20% automatically to the check, then still have a line for “tip”…so be careful with that one! We also loved the nice sized bottles of lotion replaced with ziplock bags with a mask and antibacterial gel.
The walk to the theater area was non-eventful, mostly because we were in a group of 6 laughing and talking and not taking in the occasional tent or trash. The lights of the city at night are beautiful!
This morning I took a walk down 16th street mall and WOW…It’s not like I haven’t been down here in years, but what a mess and what a change! Starbucks is closed and many shops are boarded up having never rebounded from the Covid years. The majority of 16th street mall now are cheesy t-shirt shops and chain restaurants. The homeless and drug addicts abound. I saw one police officer the entire walk, and men, women have a sixth sense, and mine was saying, “Maybe you should walk yourself right back to the hotel”. In the past, I would have walked alone for miles.
Denver is not the same place as it once was. I am sure businesses have to take into account insurance, loss from theft, vandalism and security to maintain a place of business downtown. With all of the issues that plague the owners, it is easier for them to leave and take up in the suburbs where they have fewer threats. Also, many of the high rises in major cities are empty because their workers never returned after Covid and were offered more work-from-home opportunities. Fewer workers mean fewer people to fill restaurants and shops.
SO…what now? There is always hope. In talking to a business owner last night he said, “ALL of my employees are required to come into the office EVERY day for the first 6 months, then maybe they can earn a day at home”. I think the tide is changing on the all-or-nothing, “quiet quitting” of the work-from-home generation. Once they become business owners themselves, they will see the benefit of face to face interaction and necessity of the teamwork environment. Denver is shoveling in money to refurbish downtown, widen the walkways, add trees, etc… I am hoping this is a dark moment and not a forever trend. In the meantime, some areas of downtown closer to Coors Field , the Dairy Block, and the train station have been revitalized and hopefully will draw tourists, workers, and families back into the area.
You can put all of the money in the world back into the area, but, if you don’t feel safe, it’s useless. If police cannot arrest anybody for anything, it’s a society gone astray. Crime isn’t nice and punishment isn’t “fair” , but it works. Unfortunately, laws have been changed that hurt law enforcement which, in turn, hurts the general communities of citizens wanting to support downtown businesses. Maybe it’s time to forget about legislating jaywalking and build and support our police officers. Come on, Denver…we are rooting for you!!
