Denver Mayor Mike Johnston highlighted his administration's achievements in reducing homelessness, crime, and revitalizing downtown during a press event. However, he also faced criticism from Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman regarding a Venezuelan gang controversy.
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston wanted to focus on reaching some of his 2024 goals with homelessness and violence, but he couldn't ignore the elephant in the room.
Johnston first laid out an initiative titled Citywide Goals 2024 in late February of last year. He wanted to reach 2,000 people moved indoors from homelessness — a continuation of his House1000 goal from 2023 — while reducing development permitting time by 30 percent and decreasing violent gun crime in the city by 20 percent. The mayor also pledged to, among other goals.
In August, footage of six armed Venezuelan men at an Aurora apartment complex went viral. The video shows men walking with rifles and handguns, knocking on a door and filing into the apartment. The Aurora Police Department later explained that the men in the video were connected with the murder of a man who they thought was hiding in the unit., spurring headlines claiming the city was being taken over by violent Venezuelan gangs.
On Monday, Johnston said"Denver never places anyone anywhere. It's the nonprofit partners that do that." "I'm surprised. Mayor Coffman and I are regularly in touch. He has my cellphone number. He can call me anytime. We have standard calls all the time. We can talk about this anytime," Johnston said."If there's a problem, he knows he can reach out, but we've talked about this multiple times."
Homelessness Crime Denver Mayor Aurora Gangs
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