PRAGMATIC ISSUES

In February, Denver shut down a small liquor store on Federal Boulevard. The city rolled out the usual script: “drug activity,” “public nuisance,” “protecting the community.” Cameras clicked, officials beamed, and the store’s immigrant owners were left ruined — another family business tossed into the grinder.

Fast forward to today: the Papa John’s at 1111 E. Colfax Avenue, a property owned by the Catholic Church, is still slinging pizza and turning a blind eye to the same open-air drug trade everyone in the neighborhood can see. Where’s the raid? Where’s the padlock? Where’s the mayor bragging about how tough Denver is on crime? Nowhere — because the Church owns the land, and City Hall doesn’t dare pick that fight.

Here’s a black eye for the Mayor and if it’s not it should be, Reddit has quite a few threads going about this issue like the one below. Even the picture I used for this article came from Reddit.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Denver/comments/1lw2lpg/papa_johns_on_colfax_wtf/

Reddit · r/Denver

180+ comments · 1 month ago

Selective Enforcement at Its Worst

Denver loves to put on a show when it comes to “cracking down” on drugs. Small businesses on Federal? Easy targets. Immigrant-owned corner shops? Fair game. Independent bar owners without lawyers on retainer? Perfect photo ops.

But when it comes to powerful landlords like the Church? Suddenly the city goes mute. Suddenly the “war on drug activity” becomes a polite whisper. The same officials who gleefully padlocked a liquor store in February pretend not to see what’s happening on Colfax — even though neighbors, cops, and reporters all know that the Papa John’s is a revolving door for deals, fights, and chaos.

The Catholic Church’s Golden Shield

Let’s not mince words: the Catholic Church owns the property at 1111 E. Colfax. And that makes the pizza shop untouchable. If it were a Somali-owned store on Federal or a Mexican-run bar on Alameda, Denver would already have bulldozed it under the banner of “community safety.” But because it’s the Church? The city tiptoes, smiles, and looks away.

That’s not justice. That’s cowardice.

Mayor Mike Johnston’s Hollow Promises

Mayor Mike Johnston loves to talk about “making Denver safer” and “restoring trust.” But trust doesn’t come from crushing small, family-run businesses while letting politically protected institutions skate by. Trust doesn’t come from a city that punishes the powerless and protects the powerful.

If the mayor really believes his own speeches, he’d hold 1111 E. Colfax to the same standard as that liquor store on Federal. Instead, Johnston’s Denver looks like a city where the law is applied based on who owns the land — not what happens on it.

A City Complicit

Here’s the truth Denver doesn’t want to admit: closing one liquor store doesn’t solve the drug crisis. Leaving a notorious hot spot untouched because the landlord wears robes makes the city complicit in the very activity it claims to fight.

Every Denverite walking down Colfax can see it: the drug trade flourishes under a neon Papa John’s sign while City Hall pretends it’s invisible. And until Denver finds the courage to take on all offenders — even the Catholic Church — every future business closure will reek of hypocrisy.

And it is not just the Church, the property borders Colfax’s famous “Crack Ally” owned by the city, talk about not policing yourself. And the property also borders RTD bus stops. One on Colfax which is now shut down for a time, and one right beside it, on N. Downing where now a lot of activity seems to be happening.

The bottom line? Denver doesn’t have a drug enforcement policy.

It has a political protection policy.

And the only people paying the price are the powerless.