LOST AND FOUND: Haunted mazes and scary treats P8
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October 19, 2017
DENVER Since 1926
DENVER, COLORADO
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16th Street Mall gets step closer to smoking ban Some fear impact on homeless and effect on adjacent areas BY ANDREW KENNEY AKENNEY@DENVERITE.COM
dition has spread well beyond. Neely, who then claimed to be the only full-time tattoo artist in the state, worked on Colfax until 1960, when he moved his business to 281 S. Pearl St. Turns out that was as good a time as any to leave the area. By 1968, Denver had adopted the Skyline Urban Renewal Project, which eventually demolished 30 blocks of downtown.
A proposal to outlaw smoking and vaping on the 16th Street Mall produced both strong criticism and strong support at a recent meeting of a Denver city panel. On one hand, health experts, business leaders and Denver City Council President Albus Brooks said that the ban could make one of Denver’s busiest pedestrian areas more pleasant by reducing secondhand smoke and vapor. On the other, some councilmembers were concerned that the law might disproportionately affect people who are homeless and that it could push smokers onto other downtown streets instead. The city’s housing and safety committee ultimately sent the ordinance to the full Denver City Council, but not without some serious consternation. “First and foremost, this is about the health and wellness of the City and County of Denver,” said Brooks as he introduced the ordinance. As it’s proposed, it would allow police officers to issue tickets up to $100 to anyone smoking or using an ecigarette on the mall or within 50 feet of either edge. Failure to pay the tickets would mean that people could be hounded by collections agencies, and their credit could suffer. It would not be possible to be arrested for violating the ban.
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SEE SMOKING, P7
Tattoo artist Ryan Willard at work inside Marion Street Tattoo on East Colfax Avenue. KEVIN J. BEATY
Tattoo shops in Denver have come long way Colfax reputation has caused some businesses to locate elsewhere BY MEGAN ARELLANO DENVERITE.COM
Back in 1956, if you wanted to get a professional tattoo in Denver, there was only one option — William “Frenchie” Neely’s shop near Colfax Avenue and Speer Boulevard.
The location was a “deliberate move to avoid rough, tough clientele,” the Denver Post reported at the time. Over the next 50 years, tattoo shops proliferated across Colfax, but they became associated with the rough clientele Neely hoped to avoid. Today, Colfax is still home to quite a few, but it’s not the only place you can go — Broadway actually has just as many licensed tattoo shops, according to the city’s data. Colfax will always be the birthplace of tattooing in Colorado, but the tra-
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‘Forgiveness is freedom. Forgiveness is freeing. Forgiveness costs us nothing — it is free.’ Michael Norton | columnist, Page 6 INSIDE
VOICES: PAGE 6 | LIFE: PAGE 8 | CALENDAR: PAGE 2 VOLUME 90 | ISSUE 51