Globeville, Elyria and Swansea could be erased
Next month the GES Coalition Organizing for Health and Housing Justice organized in the neighborhoods of Globeville, Elyria and Swansea will release a report titled “The Crisis,” which documents the threat that an entire community of color in northern Denver could be erased.
Despite that crisis, the popular narrative in Colorado today is of “a robust labor market” and “one of the most dynamic economies in the country.” The median price of a home sold in Colorado last year rose 10 percent. Unemployment rates are so low — just 2.3 percent — that only four other states have been so low in the last four decades. Marijuana sales topped $1 billion in Colorado last year, and more than a thousand newcomers are flocking to Denver each month.
The diversity, opportunity and prosperity that are emerging must be overwhelmingly welcomed by residents new and old, right? Wrong. Home affordability in Colorado’s largest metro counties, including and especially in Denver, dropped to the lowest levels witnessed in this decade; wages are not rising quickly enough to meet the skyrocketing cost of living. The unusually low unemployment rate reveals our deepest, darkest
secret behind the narrative of alleged success: with all the new growth, we are unable to meet the demands of our growing city. We don’t have enough people to fill the jobs that need to be done. And that is because most of the jobs do not pay enough for an employee to afford the most basic of needs, housing. That is the fatal flaw.
In my neck of the northeast Denver woods, Swansea is a microcosm of the larger issues. We are an 84 percent Latino community where 50 percent of residents have lived for more than 10 years and 50 percent are homeowners. In a historically immigrant community that has in many ways built the city we know today, 83 percent of homeowner households make below $50,000 annually.
In the 80216 ZIP code’s 15 square miles, we have 321 marijuana licenses and 10,000 people, meaning that for every 30 people there is one marijuana license and for every square mile there are 21.4 marijuana licenses. In 80216, home values were up 30.1 percent in 2016 and 250 percent in the past five years. We are witnessing unprecedented “public” development in one of the most neglected communities in Denver, a community that is the most polluted ZIP code in America. The city of Denver is investing $2 billion in developing the National Western Center, the Colorado Department of Transportation is investing at least $1.2 billion in tripling a nearby 2mile stretch of Interstate 70, and Denver is investing over $26 million into redeveloping Brighton Boulevard.
The GES Coalition concluded that the “public” investments, hailed as cornerstones of the “Corridor of Opportunity,” are creating a crisis of displacement in our community. The study notes substantial private investment often coming from predatory investment companies and developers.
These forces are acting upon people who happen to be the very workers who are desperately needed to keep our economy moving forward. Yet they are also renters and homeowners being forced out of tight-knit, stable communities due to rising costs directly related to the public development and private business. The families most vulnerable to displacement are not only the anchors who have been in the community for generations, they happen to be black and Latino families. Gentrification threatens the erasure of cultural enclaves, inclusive communities and any trace of ethnic identity, which is the greatest loss for a growing city like Denver. Denver lacks its own identifiable culture without the people who are being displaced.
As the face of the U.S. changes, cities that are not intentional about embracing and growing diversity will find themselves struggling, with people of color searching for communities that affirm and invest in equity and diversity. As it stands, Colorado is 45th in the U.S. News 2017 Equality Rankings and 44th in per pupil funding of public education — two indicators that suggest Colorado’s growth is in vain and does not lift the most vulnerable populations. Again, reasons why even lovers of Denver who can afford to stay might leave if we do not direct our focus toward creating a city that is open to all.
The problem is snowballing. Very complex interconnected forces are at play, yet the fatal flaw is glaring: people are not at the core of city planning. Planning matters. Politics matter. We elect leaders to protect people and cities that are open to all. In times like these, leaders we select must be driven by the love of a city, the potential for inclusive and connected communities and truly functional ecosystems.
I fear that we are eroding the very communities and qualities that made this place worthwhile to begin with. Our judgment is clouded by greed and our policy solutions only differ slightly from proven failures elsewhere. In a Wild West state historically familiar with unexpected economic booms, can we afford a lack of vision and intention? Will we let the boom fuel our intentional shaping of place and community or will we continue to ride the wave of short-term profits disregarding the inevitable crash? Nothing we are building in this city matters more than the building of people, the loyal core who will always pick up the pieces and rebuild something stronger.