Officials try to ease gang fears at City Park Jazz

Jeff Kass, Rocky Mountain News

Published June 16, 2007 at midnight

Text size

More Local News

Go to the City Park Jazz series this Sunday.

That was the message from some civic leaders who met Friday to discuss escalating gang tensions at the popular concerts.

"The park will be safe," vowed Denver Police Capt. Mike Calo, who leads the gang unit and will work the festival Sunday. "Come and enjoy it and bring friends."

Calo, who said his family will attend the festival, added that "a few additional" officers will be patrolling this Sunday, compared with the summer's first concert. But the same number of officers will be there as last Sunday, he said, declining to give specifics.

At the first jazz fest June 3, up to 40 people paraded around, showing gang colors. At the second concert last Sunday, a fistfight broke out and one person was arrested.

About 50 people attended Friday's meeting, which was moderated, and called by, community organizer John McBride.

The meeting was as much a discussion of what's being done to curb gangs in general as it was to address the specific situation at City Park. Like others, Al LaCabe, Denver's Manager of Safety, noted that the gang problem is longstanding and "it didn't start at City Park."

Among the speakers was Regina Huerter, executive director of the city's Crime Prevention and Control Commission. She said that the city reinstituted the Metro Denver Gang Coalition in January after the shooting of Denver Bronco Darrent Williams and various gang issues. The coalition tries to improve communication among some 70 groups working to reduce gangs.

Activist Alvertis Simmons said that he is tired of hearing from politicians. "I did not come here to hear y'all talk about what positions you got," he said.

Amid questions about what was being done to address gangs, people from the city and various community organizations touted their work: The Prodigal Son Initiative, for example, offers both tutoring and field trips for elementary school kids, said executive director Terrance Roberts. Attendees also stressed that numerous factors contribute to the recruitment into gangs, including a lack of jobs.

JuJu Nkrumah, who introduced herself as a mother of eight children, said that young blacks were being unfairly singled out.

"You're assuming that because they are coming together as a group," they are causing trouble, she said. "These black kids are great. They're passionate. They're intelligent."

One solution came from where the recent tension surfaced: City Park Jazz. Board member Lynn Sibbet said that the group has tried to diversify but told the meeting that it is "probably too white." She invited people to volunteer for the jazz series.

Subscribe to the Rocky Mountain News