‘They need to take action’: East Colfax businesses buried between trash, crime plead for more help from police

DENVER — Excessive trash and open drug and alcohol use are just a few of the problems that have become part of daily life on the sidewalks outside East Colfax businesses.

Cuttin’-up Beauty Academy is located at the intersection of East Colfax and Ulster Street in Denver. Karen Hall started the beauty academy in 1996. Cuttin’-up offers cosmetology, barbering and esthrrtician courses for students preparing to get their license. Today, Cuttin’-up is a family business, Hall’s daughter, Chanele Simmons, serves as the Director.

Simmons told Denver7 that issues with the unhoused, drug use and trash collecting on the streets are progressively getting worse.

She said she usually starts her day by picking up trash from around her building, and asking anyone sleeping outside of the building to leave. She reports whats happening on East Colfax to Denver police, but is growing exhausted with the lack of change.

“I always fear for their safety, especially with a lot of us being women, a lot of the customers being seniors or even children. If they’re looking at the environment around another school, and then they’re looking at the environment around ours, I feel like it puts us in the back seat, said Simmons.”

Businesses we spoke with agreed that the 2020 relocation of a covered RTD bus stop is exacerbating the issue.

The bus stop is located in front of Sarahi’s Kitchen, a new restaurant on East Colfax serving authentic Mexican food. Customers sitting next to the window have a full view of the bus stop.

“I’ve complained. I filed several complaints to both the RTD and the police department. They haven’t done much. They do come and do some patrolling, but at this point they need to take another action, said owner Jesus Pasion.

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Christian Zamora is the manager at El Chalate, which has been on East Colfax for 15 years. Over the years, they changed the hours they operate to close the restaurant earlier. They also installed a gate for more separation for the sidewalk.

“They would harass my customers to the point where my customers did not even want to come in. They didn’t want to even come eat our food here, just because they were scared of the things that could happen to them just walking from their car to our doors,” said Zamora.

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DPD told Denver7 that they are working to address the ongoing issues along East Colfax. They found that patrolling and arresting people does not stop them from coming back and committing the same crime. According to police, they use Place Network Investigators, or PSI, which focus on the larger area to find the network where these crimes are built and dismantling it.

In the meantime, businesses along East Colfax are eager to have the streets cleaned up.