Sometimes, you just have to say “Enough is enough!”

Back in 2006, I caught the mainstream media’s attention with my June 8 blog about the disgraceful condition of the Fontius Building at the corner of 16th and Welton on Block 162. Several article were written about the topic, including this excellent editorial piece by respected Denver real estate consultant Don Hunt: A Vision for Downtown.

After several months of planning, the Downtown Denver Partnership, in cooperation with the City of Denver, has recently formed the Revitalizing the Core Task Force. The Task Force consists of 16 prominent Downtown Denver business and government leaders, with a mission of dealing with vacant and run-down properties and addressing safety and security perceptions on the 16th Street Mall. At the top on their list… Block 162.

Here are a couple of articles on this topic: First, for a bit of background on this issue of vacant and poorly-maintained properties in the core part of Downtown, here’s a recent article by Paula Moore of the Denver Business Journal, 16th Street Mall Seeks to Fill Gaps Before ’08 Convention. Regarding the creation of the Task Force, here’s an excellent article from March 15 by Janet Forgrieve of the Rocky Mountain News, In Search of Revitalization.

The Task Force has been organized specifically to make things happen. This isn’t a group of people getting together to sit around and chat about the issues. Each month they will identify a specific goal to be accomplished before the next month’s meeting. In their first month, the Task Force identified an increase in police presence on the Mall as an appropriate first step. The result: a recent commitment by the City to immediately assign several additional police officers to full-time beats along the 16th Street Mall.

For the first time, there is now an organized, determined group of influential people empowered by the City of Denver and the Downtown Denver Partnership to specifically devise and implement an action agenda relating to vacant properties, undeveloped parcels, poorly-maintained storefronts, deteriorating streetscapes, and Mall safety issues. After speaking with several people associated in some manner with the Task Force, I can tell you they mean business.

The city government and Downtown business interests are now aligned and committed to solving issues like the disgraceful conditions of Block 162, and all that’s missing is the grassroots public component. Denver citizens (i.e. YOU) must also speak their minds about these issues. That’s where DenverInfill comes in. I’ve done it before and I will continue in the future to do my part via this blog and my website to help promote a grassroots public campaign to demand change regarding the quality of our Downtown environment. I’m asking each of you: please join me in helping with this effort.

For now, the Downtown Denver Partnership has asked everyone who cares about our Downtown to please write a letter to the newspaper editor voicing your support for taking action to improve Downtown’s built environment. Here’s a press release about this request from the Partnership: Letters to the Editor.

In the near future, I’ll be blogging and adding content to the main DenverInfill website about this issue. And to kick things off, I think I’ll start with a certain building located at 16th and Welton…