Advocacy Alert: Downtown Denver Partnership Urges City, Mayor Hancock to Consider Rapid Street Activation
On May 7, 2020, the Downtown Denver Partnership issued a letter to Mayor Michael B. Hancock asking him and his administration to consider rapid activation of commercial streets. The proposal is an innovative approach to bringing vibrancy back to our city’s small businesses and neighborhoods while prioritizing the healthy and safety of our citizens.
In order to provide a safe and manageable space for restaurants and retailers to comply with physical distancing measures, the Downtown Denver Partnership is requesting that Mayor Hancock and his administration create an accelerated process that allows business districts and property owners and managers to apply for the removal of private vehicle through-traffic access and parking-freeing the space for greater use by a greater number of Denverites in key downtown and neighborhood commercial districts.
This street closure pilot program would help create safe spaces for consumers to make their way back to the vibrant places they love.
“We are in a time of tremendous opportunity to think creatively about how we keep people safe and make them feel safe,” said Tami Door, President and CEO of the Downtown Denver Partnership, “Now is the time to innovate and take time to learn how we can do things differently to the benefit of public health and our economy. Many of us just went through an extraordinary, voluntary effort to stay at home to help protect our family, friend and neighbors. Now by strategically closing a several streets, we are asking some of us to make a couple extra right turns so that our small business friends can re-open their business more successfully and more safely.”
The Partnership’s proposal suggests initial implementation on specified spans of streets like Glenarm Place and Larimer Street downtown; Tennyson Street in Berkeley; and Pearl Street in Platt Park close between Memorial Day and October 31st as a pilot period.
Click here to read the letter in its entirety.
Read more about these efforts in the news:
- Downtown Denver Partnership suggests closing some streets to help businesses struggling due to coronavirus – Denverite
- Downtown Denver Partnership proposes closing some city streets, allowing businesses to expand outside – Denver Business Journal
- The near future of Colorado’s restaurants could depend on our biggest asset: the outdoors – Denver Post
- Denver may shut down streets to allow more restaurant seating during pandemic – FOX31