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@dobetterdnvr This judge needs to go

🔥 Caleb Bishop arrested for burning down Hideaway Bar & Grill. The bar had banned Bishop after an incident on Saturday night (5/9). Early Monday (5/11), he was caught trying to rob the same bar…but the judge quickly released him. That same night into Tuesday morning (~12:30am), he allegedly set the first fire. Two days later, Wednesday morning (~3:30am on 5/13), he came back and started the second fire that destroyed the bar. Bishop was already on 3 years probation from a property damage case out of Castle Rock (arrested 1/5/26). He also has a history of similar arrests in Virginia and it appears he may have moved to Colorado to run from the law. He is now being held at Douglas County Detention Facility on a $10,000 bond. This is exactly why the system is broken. Catch, release, repeat. Keep criminals in jail. denver7.com/news/local-new…

@DenverPolice @CrimeStoppersCO Is there any information on the suspect? Estimated sex, age, race, etc?

#Denver, do you have any information about this shooting investigation? If so, call @CrimeStoppersCO at 720-913-STOP (7867). Tipsters can remain anonymous and earn a cash reward!

@foopoosh @dobetterdnvr @CNeff683935 @TGPdenver This shelter and many others do more harm than good. I can only imagine how many city resources are spent taking care of a relatively small percentage of the population leaving nothing left for the rest of us. Not to mention the constant chaos they inflict on taxpayers.

I live in the block. Not surprising at all. Constant drug use, drug dealing, aussaults, fighting and OD’s on @TGPdenver property. They have been begged to hire a 24 hour security guard for years, but refuse. TGP costs the city of Denver millions a year in constant service calls for the chaos they allow on their property. This place is the absolute least safe place for women and children in the entire city. It is an absolute disgrace what they have allowed this place to become. A hub for drug use, drug dealers, predatory men, assault, murder, overdose deaths…. It is an absolute blight on the neighborhood and city. Do not donate or support this failed NGO.

Colfax is closed at High for a STABBING investigation. One victim was sent to the hospital. Reports indicate that this stabbing happened at the Gathering Place which “provides low-barrier, trauma-informed care” to women and children that “address(es) the root causes of poverty, marginalization, and oppression, offering comprehensive services that guide our members from crisis to stability.” @TGPdenver @MikeJohnstonCO @denverpolice

@CBSNewsColorado This is unfortunately no surprise. If you want something done right, do it yourself. When you expect the government to do it for you, you might not like the result. Good luck getting the city or their contractors to fix it.

Denver sidewalk replacement program's unintended, unpopular consequences; "I did nothing to cause this," homeowner says cbsnews.com/colorado/news/…

@GenXJenDen I appreciate you sharing these updates and making it easier to stay informed. 🙏

Budget season is kicking off for the City of Denver. This week Council heard a presentation from Finance. Key takeaways for the 2027 budget: ▫️Revenues are flat ▫️2026 cuts must be sustained and likely expanded Why is sales tax flat? ▫️No growth ▫️Higher costs for housing, insurance, services are squeezing budgets, so spending that comes with sales tax is down ‼️This is structural and without action won’t change. ‼️The sales tax slump started in 2022; the structural issues are largely Colorado and Denver-made (e.g., tariffs didn’t help but are not the cause and getting inflation under control impacts sales tax in no-real growth times)

@KDVR I’ve gotten 3 so far today 😡

Colorado State Patrol warns of 'unpaid' ticket scams kdvr.com/news/local/col…

@dobetterdnvr That’s sick

The “yes” votes voted to downgrade “extreme indifference” murders like spraying bullets into crowds, drive-bys, or reckless shootings that only kill one person from first degree murder (life without parole) to second degree (24 to 48 years, parole possible). Great work protecting public safety, Colorado progressives. Vote them all out.

@DenverAuditor HOST needs a leadership change. Cole is part of the failed system and thinks he knows better/doesn’t need to follow policies/show zero accountability for his programs that harm communities and keep addicts and the mentally ill in a doom-loop.

The Department of Housing Stability is not ensuring enough affordable rental units for low-income individuals and made this decision without council approval, according to a follow-up report by Denver Auditor Timothy M. O’Brien. denvergov.org/Government/Age…

@dobetterdnvr Seeing this person suffer is so sad. Why Denver allows this is beyond comprehension. This is the opposite of compassion.

At Margot Flats on Broadway and 10th, deeply addicted people are left to suffer, trapped in endless cycles of addiction. Acutely addicted individuals often lack the capacity to recognize the devastation drugs are causing in their lives. Instead of connecting them to treatment and a path to recovery, organizations like the Harm Reduction Action Center hand out drug use supplies like meth pipes, straws, and foil, enabling continued use rather than recovery. This isn’t compassion. @MikeJohnstonCO you have the power and the responsibility to end this suffering. Why are you allowing our most vulnerable to rot in addiction and despair?

@JJB_man @dobetterdnvr It's crazy that anyone would say anything besides offering support, concern or sympathy for the person randomly chased by someone with a machete. The virtue signaling is unreal.

@dobetterdnvr Why are woke people bothered by the "homeless" adjective? Why do they feel the need to correct someone who was running for their life from a homeless dude with a machete?

Westminster resident gets chased down the Big Dry Creek Trail by a machete-wielding homeless man because he dared skateboard past his camp and ask if he was okay. Resident calls 911. Cops show up with as little urgency as possible, get shown the vagrants camp spot, shrug it off with “he’s just having a bad day” and bounce. @reddit: “Don’t call him homeless… he’s UNHOUSED”. 🙄 Be safe out there. Helmet + chainmail recommended near 128-136th & I-25. @WestminsterPD reddit.com/r/WestminsterC…

@dobetterdnvr And they will call you entitled if you dare complain.

Colfax & Reed. Neighbors report that local churches are feeding, housing, and clothing the vagrants at this camp. This means they are actively attracting more vagrants, open drug use, and chaos to this area. True compassion doesn’t mean enabling addiction, lawlessness, and street camps that destroy neighborhoods. We need accountability and treatment, not endless handouts. #DoBetterLakewood

@dobetterdnvr Sadly, Lisa Calderon would be even worse than mayor mike.

DoBetterDNVR Community, I’m deeply concerned about Mayor Mike Johnston’s massive ego. It’s quite the phenomenon to be so blindingly confident in your own rightness that you tune out every criticism, skip self-reflection, and refuse to let actual results interfere with the glorious fairy-tale reality you’ve decided exists. Push back with reality? Mikey just blinks in genuine confusion. How could anyone question his flawless priorities and ideas!? That insanely expensive “All-In” Mile High program? A colossal disaster. Drug addicts are quietly walking away from their free housing and right back to the streets. Bodies are turning up all around town from overdoses and gun violence. The only “murder prevented” lately was that homeless hero applying pressure to a man’s neck wound just blocks off the 16th Street Maul. DDA basically told Mikey to pound sand on another half-baked office-to-residential conversion fantasy. Turns out borrowing hundreds of millions to house drug-addicted criminals downtown doesn’t magically revive businesses, it just drags in more crime and chaos. I wonder if his Silicon Valley sugar-daddy Reid Hoffman is getting cold feet watching the actual results after those million-dollar campaign checks. 😬 Recent sales tax numbers must be stinging. All that reckless spending is likely to force even deeper cuts to city employees. Calderon has to be smiling in anticipation. Johnston’s already polling to see how scared he should be of a Lisa Calderon run. Those survey results are probably landing on his desk right about now. And the cherry on top: he just put his Golden Boy Cole Chandler, the ultimate “housing first, consequences never” guy, in charge of the entire homeless industrial complex. Doubling down on the same failed approach while ignoring every realist in town? Classic Mike. If you’re out with Wash the City, give lil Mikey a big hug while you’re picking up the trash and literal sh!t his beloved drug-addicts leave behind. Meth Camp Mike shoving fake optimism down our throats while ignoring reality is getting real old, real fast. DO BETTER, MIKE.

@dobetterdnvr @ColeChanD He is an expert at gaslighting so I see why mike selected him. He’s very qualified in that regard.

🚨 Meth Camp Mike just handed Denver’s entire homelessness empire to his hand-picked crony Cole Chandler. @ColeChanD Same failed playbook, bigger salary, more grift. This is why nothing ever changes. Today’s press release names Chandler the new Executive Director of HOST (Department of Housing Stability). This is the same guy Mike personally created a $160k Senior Advisor position for in July 2023, a job that didn’t exist until they needed a fat taxpayer-funded parking spot for their guy. Revolving-door grift timeline: 🏠 2017–2022: Co-founder & ED of Colorado Village Collaborative (CVC) which pushed tiny home “safe” outdoor spaces that spread chaos & crime city-wide. Pulled ~$80-82k. ⛺️ 2022–2023: State Director of Homelessness Initiatives at CDHS. 📈 July 2023: Mike creates custom $160k role for him (highest-paid on the mayor’s homelessness team at the time). 🤯 April 2026: Promoted to HOST Executive Director…salary range up to $289k. Chandler’s whole career is “housing first, consequences never”…the same model that’s failed Denver taxpayers for years. CVC has spread encampment-style disorder under the guise of “compassion”. The last two HOST directors jumped ship for cushy nonprofit gigs after only a few years with the city: - Britta Fisher → President & CEO of Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, pulling $335k in 2024. - Jamie Rife → Senior VP at Housing Connector (nonprofit that’s pocketed $10M in city contracts). City insiders create the crisis, funnel six-figure contracts to their former orgs, then cash in with even bigger paydays at those same nonprofits…while Denverites foot the bill and live with the chaos. This is one big cesspool of corruption.

@GenXJenDen Why is this anyone’s focus given Denver’s many challenges? Can we please focus on the health and safety of humans first?

Heads up Denver Voters, an initiative to ban foie gras will be on the ballot in November. If it passes, no foie gras can be raised, made, or sold in Denver. You can't order from out of state and have it delivered to your house. It gives the Department of Public Health subpoena powers to make sure tricky foie fiends haven't made any illicit purchases! Retailers, markets, and restaurants selling fois gras will face harsher fines than street dealers! Here's how it will appear on the ballot: "Shall the voters of the City and County of Denver adopt an ordinance prohibiting the force-feeding of birds and, in connection therewith, prohibiting the sale of products derived from force-feeding birds, including foie gras?" If you can't tell, I'm a no on this. Full disclosure: I don't even like foie gras (the texture squicks me out tbh) but I totally support the freedom to grow, produce, craft, create, sell, and delight in this food. PETA and their pals can suck it.

@Denver_Fire Suspected cause? There have been a lot of fires lately.

Fire crews were busy this morning extinguishing a fire in a building used for fencing storage near 39th and Fox St. Fire was contained to the outbuilding with no injuries reported. Fire investigators are responding.

@GenXJenDen @dobetterdnvr It is encouraging, yet surprising, to hear your review. You are a great representation of fair reporting/ sharing of information. I can tell you really care about the best interest of Denverites . 🙂

We might need a new name for the Trouble Tree hotel. A tour I took today left me cautiously optimistic. Background: @dobetterdnvr has done incredible work exposing the myriad problems with the operation of All-In Mile High hell hotels by Denver’s branch of The Salvation Army. Search her feed and you’ll find 18 months of serious issues. Denver City Council parted ways with Salvation Army, and a new operator—Urban Alchemy—took over in January. I was very skeptical when Urban Alchemy was selected; problems with U.A. personnel and accusations of fraud or money mismanagement in their San Francisco operations are easy to find. A senior HOST staffer had a prior professional relationship with U.A. that also made me leery. First Impressions: Pictured is the security entrance to the hotel. Everyone goes through the metal detector and has bags searched. The guy running the show when I arrived was friendly and efficient. The lobby was impressively clean, neat, and even had live plants. The encampment that has plagued the site for 2 years is gone, but a few non-guests linger on the corner just off the property. Leadership: Before the tour, Director of Operations Tyler Thompson gave a brief presentation about UA and their responsibilities in Denver. He and Deputy Director of OPs, Carrie Bell, also led the tour. I’m really impressed with Tyler and Carrie; both moved to Denver for their new roles from U.A. sites in L.A. and Culver City respectively. In keeping with the U.A. model, both have a past that hotel guests can relate to. Each has recovered from that life, and their passion for helping others restore their lives shines through. I’m pretty good at telling the difference between people who have truly recovered and reformed from those still finding their way (or running a con); I think these guys are the real deal. The Tour: 258 rooms are in use, with 2 available and 40 offline. EMS was responding to a situation on the first floor when we started the tour. No drama, just a medical issue. The elevator was broken, and apparently this is an ongoing problem. The City of Denver’s General Services Department is responsible for maintenance. Between the elevator and having 40 rooms uninhabitable, it suggests that either Denver’s General Services can’t keep up or has not been given the resources to swiftly resolve issues. The hallways, stairwells, public bathrooms, eating area, etc. are spic and span clean. A testament to the commitment to maintain a safe and clean space. Food is brought in 3X a day. Every floor has a room converted into an office staffed by UA case managers whose clients are guests on that floor. They formally meet with each at least once a week. As we passed people in the halls, Tyler and Carrie greeted each by name; each floor was quiet and calm (at 11:00 in the morning). We saw the 1st, 2nd, and 5th floors and visited with the case managers. Rather than make “referrals” where clients have to take a few buses for an appointment, the U.A. team brings service providers into the hotel to meet with people directly. U.A. staff have a key to every room and checks in on their people regularly, if not daily. This is partly to make sure people are ok and to keep an eye out for trouble but also to encourage people to want to move out into a place of their own once. (I’ll post separately on the voucher process, and changes Denver could pursue). The vibe is warm, friendly, and safe. Staff are visible and available on every floor. Final Thoughts: Leadership matters. Tyler and Carrie have a recovery mindset and seem committed to helping people stabilize and jumpstart restoring their lives. They are firm and don’t tolerate nonsense, but that’s delivered with genuine love for the people they serve. 3 months in and the change is apparent. In future posts I’ll explore the outreach process and what happens when clients get a voucher.

@COLawandOrder I imagine the number is actually quite a bit higher. I don’t think all the fires started by the homeless are categorized as arson but should be

SHOCKING: In the first half of 2025 arson jumped +5.1% (29 more cases).

@DenverAuditor Thank you Dawn 🙏

This Women’s History Month, we celebrate women leaders. Dawn Wiseman, Audit Director at the Denver Auditor’s Office, oversees independent audits that enhance city programs and services, managing the annual risk assessment, audit plan development, and the quality of audit reports.

@dobetterdnvr @DarrellBWatson why are you letting @nnburke get away with lying to her neighbors?

The St. Francis Center, a daytime homeless shelter in Curtis Park, quietly ENDED after-hours security patrols starting in early February. Residents report more camping on the block and safety concerns that weren’t an issue when off-duty officers were present for several hours after closing previously. A draft good neighbor agreement called for good-faith efforts to fund security + quick responses to neighborhood concerns. Neighbors say the shelter STOPPED communicating after mediation ended last year, and no heads-up was given on this change. The shelter received $1.4M from the city for 2026 operations (79% of its day shelter budget), with $145K earmarked for professional services like security. What is SFC spending our taxpayer dollars on? 👀 SFC please restore after-hours security immediately.

@dobetterdnvr @DenverAuditor Exactly! Thank you for summarizing the failure of Denver leadership so well

The City Auditor just exposed Mayor Johnston COSTLY & INEFFECTIVE All In Mile High homelessness program. @DenverAuditor “The public’s questions about the spending and effectiveness of this program led to my office looking into this initiative. Our audit AFFIRMS THEIR CONCERNS,” Auditor O’Brien said. “Housing thousands of people is a noble ambition, but our audit’s findings do NOT encourage confidence All In Mile High is delivering effective results.” Major findings: 💰They underreported costs by $20.1M!! The city claimed it spent $158M but actual expenses were $178.1M. ❌ No one is tracking citywide expenses. Each department just spends however they want with no consistent rules. ⁉️ They launched the program without doing a real needs assessment. ✅ Success metrics and goals keep changing. The public dashboard throws in EVERY homelessness program (not just AIMH), counts TEMPORARY hotel rooms and couch surfing as “permanent housing,” and doesn’t care if those people end up back on the street weeks later. Mayor’s office response? ‼️ They disagreed with 5 out of 12 basic accountability recommendations. 🙄 Called the $20 million gap “unintentional.” 🤐 Refused to hand over their expense spreadsheets to the Auditor, claiming they’re “deliberative planning documents.” And then there’s Cole Chandler, still out there gaslighting the public nonstop. Telling everyone that everything is great and that we have moved thousands indoors. Uh..housing thousands of drug addicted criminals with taxpayer dollars forever is not a success, Cole‼️