Torched strip mall's neighbors hopeful

They envision family-friendly rebirth for troubled Holly Square

By Lisa Ryckman, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Originally published 09:00 p.m., May 21, 2008
Updated 07:33 a.m., May 22, 2008

Preston Gannaway / The Rocky

An investigator from the Denver Fire Department examines the rubble after an arson fire early Sunday destroyed the Holly Square strip mall in the Park Hill neighborhood. Neighbors say they hope something safe and family-friendly will be built there.

There's not much left of the Holly Square shopping center now except memories of the way it once was, the sad reality of what it became and the hope that something better might rise from its ashes.

The North Park Hill strip mall destroyed by arson early Sunday wasn't the same place Patricia Trader and Kristie Cook remember as kids, the neighborhood gathering spot where families shopped and parents sent their children without worry.

"I used to hang out here as a child, but my kids would not, will not and won't. They're not allowed in this direction at all," said Cook, who has been in the neighborhood since she was 5 and now has two children of her own.

"You connected with people in those days," said Urban League President Sharon Alexander- Holt, who lived nearby as a child and works a few blocks from Holly Square. "Those days are gone."

In recent years, the shopping center on Holly Street between East 33rd and East 34th avenues got the reputation as a hangout for gang members and drug dealers, and even the addition of a library on the corner and a recreation center across the street couldn't persuade some people to come around.

'Blessing in disguise'

"The library is 50 feet from drug dealing, prostitution, gang-bangers and drunks," Cook said as she had lunch in Taqueria Sanchez in the Holly Square parking lot with three children she baby-sits. "You can't put something as beautiful and positive as this library is right here in the heart of the ghetto, where there's nothing but negative."

There's hope in the community that that might change, that something safe and family-friendly will be built.

"Personally, I think it was a blessing in disguise," said Taliah Abdullah, librarian at the Pauline Robinson branch, a pristine modern brick building. "I do a lot of outreach in the community, and when I tell students to come to the library, they say, 'We can't go there, it's a scary place.' I tell them, the library is a safe place. It's almost like two separate worlds. That's the reality of it."

But even people who considered Holly Square dangerous sometimes had to rely on it - it was the only shopping center they had. Cook misses the liquor store; Trader, who works at Miss Linda Down Home Meals across the street, wants the Dollar store back.

Now that those businesses and Tyson's Food Store are gone, residents have to go 13 blocks in either direction to shop. It's a double hardship: the neighborhood needs the stores, and it needs the jobs.

Tyson Muhammad left his native Israel and opened his Holly Square store three years ago. It wasn't always easy; his nephew had a gun pulled on him, and Muhammad said he had to call the police at least 10 times a day because of the activity around his store.

But he had a loyal clientele he knew by name, people he would give cigarettes or milk when they were strapped for cash because he knew they'd be back with the money the next day.

'I hope they do rebuild'

"I left the war back in the Middle East, the bombing and the booming and everything. I come over here - this is what I get," Muhammad said, gesturing toward the remains of his store, which investigators have pinpointed as ground zero for the blaze. The fire-ravaged shops have been surrounded by chain link, with signs attached to the fence declaring the scene "Arson" and offering a $5,000 reward for information.

"So they catch the guy, and he gets life in jail," said Muhammad, who worries about how he's going to make a living now. "What good does that do me? Everybody's got bills to pay."

Trader said she was devastated when the shopping center burned, but she also thinks something better might take its place.

"I think God had a lot to do with it, because they were just getting too buck wild over there," she said. "Park Hill is a great place to live, and I'll be here for the rest of my life. I hope they do rebuild.

"We deserve that over here."

ryckmanl@RockyMountainNews.com

• May 22, 2008

  3:21 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  happymike44 writes:

  The sad part of this is the person who destroyed this place.Well they have made it more difficult on the community.Why because now they have destroyed a landmard in people's lives.Also now people will hve to drive further to get what they need.Hope they catch whomever did this and nail their hide to the wall.All you can hope for is better days in the community.

• May 22, 2008

  8:29 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  steel writes:

  The locals are probably pretty glad to see the bloods' hangout gone.

• May 22, 2008

  8:34 a.m.

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  Finding_Forever writes:

  This act of ignorance affects so many people, so many families, and Park Hill as a whole. A prominent part of my neighborhood gone, and for what? Park Hill STAND UP!! Its time for the original and true residents to take our neighborhood back and show those that are less appreciative of it we will not take this sitting down. This kind of malice will not be tolerated.

• May 22, 2008

  8:36 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  steel writes:

  Finding-forever... are you calling for retribution?

• May 22, 2008

  8:50 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  Finding_Forever writes:

  The residents of Park Hill know who is responsible for the torching of the Holly, and they know the real reasoning behind it. The original and true members of my community aren't the gang members, the yipheads and the prostitutes. They are families just trying to live a decent life without having to worry about getting caught in the middle of the unnecessary BS the gang members, yipheads and prostitutes brought to the area. When I say its time for Park Hill to stand up, I’m saying its time to clear the ashes and rebuild a bigger and better Holly, without the liquor stores. I’m calling for more grocery stores, more libraries and more establishments that will be fundamental to the success of my community. Retribution? Definitely not.

• May 22, 2008

  9:44 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  frontpage writes:

  One would think Tyson was giving away more than milk and cigarettes.

• May 22, 2008

  11:15 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  sky_is_the_limit writes:

  Not giving away. But rumor has it that there was more being sold there than groceries.

• May 22, 2008

  11:16 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  joe_leezey writes:

  Is anybody investigating the Surenos (S.S., Sur 13, X3, XIII, Southerners, Southsiders) for their possible involvement in the arson at The Holly? They had foot soldiers in the neighborhood the day before the fire, and they were putting up their gang grafitti on fences, garages and dumpsters.

  Don't think this is just Bloods -vs- Crips, the Mexican gangs want to get that crack money too and they are much more viscious in their tactics.

• May 22, 2008

  11:51 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  JINX writes:

  finding forever - I applaud you and support you in taking back your neighborhood. Take the cuffs off your police and let them do their job.

  Quit believing the media hype on rogue officers. It sells papers and makes money for the so called "activists." It's funny how much money the activists make every time they come to the rescue of the "wrongly and unjustly accused."

  Those officers show up every day with the intentions of helping your neighborhood, let them do their part. Until gangs know that the public will not tolerate the senseless violence and degeneration of their own society, they will continue to inflict your community with their virus. Make gang members afraid to show their face in red and blue.

  I have no heart burn watching these vermin get handed what they inflict the community with on a daily basis. The public will scorn the police for excessive force and look the other way when these idiots torch an establishment, or shoot an innocent 4 year old standing on the corner. I remember when criminals were afraid of the police, now the police are just a nuisance. It's a joke.

• May 22, 2008

  12:34 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  Finding_Forever writes:

  When is Sur13 NOT ****ing up the neighborhood?? They didn't have anything to do with the Holly.

• May 22, 2008

  1:09 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  tm3869 writes:

  Finding and anyone else who cares about the state of the neighborhood:
  We are having a march for the community tomorrow (May 23rd) at 6:30 p.m. We will meet at my church, Absolute Word, which is located in the Urban League Building. Please join us.
  Also, a community awareness meeting will be held at the church on Saturday (May 24) at 12 noon.....

• May 22, 2008

  1:09 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  tm3869 writes:

  Finding and anyone else who cares about the state of the neighborhood:
  We are having a march for the community tomorrow (May 23rd) at 6:30 p.m. We will meet at my church, Absolute Word, which is located in the Urban League Building. Please join us.
  Also, a community awareness meeting will be held at the church on Saturday (May 24) at 12 noon.....

• May 22, 2008

  1:10 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  tm3869 writes:

  Finding and anyone else who cares about the state of the neighborhood:
  We are having a march for the community tomorrow (May 23rd) at 6:30 p.m. We will meet at my church, Absolute Word, which is located in the Urban League Building. Please join us.
  Also, a community awareness meeting will be held at the church on Saturday (May 24) at 12 noon.....

• May 22, 2008

  1:11 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  tm3869 writes:

  sorry, Guys:
  my pc was slow.....