Denver Mayor Mike Johnston on Monday rolled out an initiative aimed at creating a “safe, clean and joyful” downtown Denver, whose image has been battered in the last several years by incessant woes, notably homelessness, drug use and crime. 

Homelessness and housing affordability have perennially topped the list of priorities for Denver voters, followed by crime and public safety and the cost of living. A poll last August said voters were more pessimistic than optimistic about the progress being made to revitalize Denver’s downtown.

Calling downtown Denver the “living room of Denver,” Johnston said he wants “every resident and guest to not only feel safe, but also to feel inspired by the creativity, innovation, and genius that is Denver.”

He said his new program – the Clean and Safe Downtown initiative – will “help deliver on our promise of a vibrant Denver by bringing together partners from across the city in a first-of-its-kind collaboration to bring forward our joint vision for a safe, clean, and joyful downtown.”

Johnston isn’t the first mayor to try and restore the public’s faith in the safety of Denver’s downtown area. Late in 2022, then-Denver Mayor Michael Hancock brought together city and state leaders in announcing a public safety initiative that included hiring more officers and prosecutors, as well as expanding a city program that sends behavioral health clinicians, along with a paramedic or emergency personnel, to “low” risk calls. 

Hancock’s administration touted a “clean and safe app.”

Johnston’s plan also includes several components, notably partnering with the Downtown Denver Partnership to launch a “Clean & Safe app,” which the city described as an “easy-to-use app that allows any resident or visitor to notify the city and community partners when they see something that doesn’t make Denver feel safe and clean.”

Part of the plan is a “fast response” system, which Johnston’s office said would allow the city to send the “right request to the right person for the right support.”

Another component of the initiative is a “Denver Ambassador Program” – folks wearing a yellow vest who can answer questions and provide support.

The plan also includes getting businesses to “strategically activate their buildings, blocks, and neighborhoods and contribute to a vibrant downtown.”

Johnston’s administration vowed to work toward bringing “joy,” saying “safety is not just about the absence of crime, but about the presence of joy.”

A cornerstone in Johnston’s new initiative is ensuring “clear and safe sidewalks.” The administration said homeless encampments are “unsafe for the folks living in them, and unwelcoming to the people who live around them.”

That’s why the administration hunkered down to get more than 1,000 homeless people off of the city’s streets, adding that, “for the first time in what many of us can remember, there are no tents in downtown Denver.”