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Graffitti, Crime, and Alley Cleanup
 
We continue to make steady progress by working with the community leaders, law enforcement, and local businesses to remove and prevent graffiti within Council District 3. Since taking office in 2007, we have increased graffiti removal by 109 percent and by passing laws that have doubled fines and sentences for graffiti vandalism. The minimum penalty/fine for graffiti vandalism has been doubled to a maximum of $999 plus 80 hours of community service and/or jail time.
 
Successful reduction of graffiti is based on 3 principles:
 

1. ABATE graffiti immediately. We will not tolerate graffiti vandalism in our community. Last year the City of Denver removed over 4.6 million square feet of graffiti compared to 3.3 million square feet in 2007. In District 3, this number was over 1.2 million square feet in 2008 compared to 830,000 square feet for 2007, a full 50% increase. The budget for graffiti removal in 2007 was $1.07 million and in 2008 it was $1.2 million.

2. ENFORCE graffiti ordinances and make it clear that we will be tough on vandals if they are caught destroying and vandalizing property in our neighborhoods. Last year the Denver City Council passed new provisions of the Graffiti Ordinance that doubles the minimum penalties and fines for graffiti offenses.

3. PREVENT graffiti through education and the funding of alternative youth programs. Prevention also involves educating parents and neighbors of our youth, so they can instill community pride and ensure that adolscents understand the harm to their family, schools and neighborhoods when our community is vandalized and property is destroyed.

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Help Remove and Report Graffiti

To report graffiti for removal, call 3-1-1 or come by our office and pick up free paint and materials to do it on your own.  Reporting graffiti immediately allows crews to remove it promptly and discourages reoccurrence.  District 3 residents work hard to maintain our community pride and maintain our homes. We do not tolerate graffiti vandalism in our community and will be tough on individuals caught destroying property in our neighborhoods.

Step 1: Report graffiti immediately by dialing 3-1-1 and make sure that your neighbors are doing the same.  If you witness vandalism in progress, please call the Denver Police Dispatch line at 720-913-2000.

Step 2: Complete a graffiti removal waiver authorizing the City to remove vandalism from your property free of charge.

Step 3: Become a “Partner” against graffiti and adopt an area by agreeing to keep it free of graffiti on a regular basis. Councilman López’s District office has a free Paint Bank for residents.

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Violence Prevention Update

Councilman Paul López serves as Co-Chair of the Gang Reduction Initiative of Denver, a multi-agency effort to prevent youth and gang violence in Denver. Councilman López has partnered with the Gang Rescue and Support Project (GRASP) and the Metro Denver Gang Coalition to support “The Barrio Unity Mural Project”, a program that uses murals as a call to action and brings to the forefront the issues of youth violence and the effects that gang lifestyle have on our families and the community. 

To date, we have commissioned 5 murals by local artists in the Westwood, Mar Lee and Barnum neighborhoods calling for an end to youth violence and to mobilize community leaders to take back our neighborhoods. The murals have been met by an overwhelmingly positive response from the community.  For more information about Gang Violence or know someone who wants to leave a gang and needs help, please contact GRASP at 303-777-3117.

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Neighborhood Safety Update

For the 3rd year in a row, Councilman Paul López and Commander Joe Montoya are holding meetings with parents at all of District 3’s elementary and middle schools to discuss neighborhood safety, identify local priorities in the surrounding areas, and recruit neighborhoods residents to form neighborhood watch groups. The meetings have been successful and have led to identifying drug houses and brothels that were shut down and prosecuted due to this increased parent involvement. 

According to the Denver Police Department, “Overall, since 2007, reported crime in District 3 has decreased by 23.6%. Comparing months we have data for, January through October, there has been a decrease of 12.1% in reported crimes from 2009 to 2010.”  However, we must continue to report criminal activity and become involved in preventing crime by forming neighborhood associations and neighborhood watch groups. Theft from motor vehicle is still on the rise, so make sure to lock your cars, and never leave valuables like cell phones, purses or briefcases in your vehicles. 

Here are a few important numbers:
• For all emergencies please dial 911
• Non-Emergency Dispatch 720-913-2000
• District 4 Police Station 720-913-0200
• District 1 Police Station 720-913-0400

Attend monthly community meetings with Commander Montoya at the District 4 station, and are a great way to identify priorities and learn how to prevent crime on your block:
• Morning meetings are every 1st Wednesday of the month
• Evening meetings are every 3rd Wednesday of the month
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Citizen Appreciation

 

 Thank you to Michelle Schoen and Mark Hoffart, spectacular District 3 residents who have spent hundreds of volunteer hours keeping West Denver beautiful by cleaning up and reporting graffiti and being active in improving our District. We are grateful for your work to our neighborhoods!
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District 3 Recycling Rates Surge Again!

Last summer Councilman Paul López received the Colorado Recycling award for the dramatic increase in recycling participation in District 3. Because of the door to door recycling “blitzes” started by Councilman López in 2007, now over 35% of the households in District 3 have signed up for the recycling program. Prior to the effort, our participation rate was only 12 percent! This effort kept tons of recyclable material from becoming landfill pollution. Thank you and keep up the fantastic work – we are not finished until District 3 is number one in recycling! To order your purple recycling cart, dial 3-1-1.
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