by Heather Brecl
Noisy late-night car rallies in Denver parking lots in residential neighborhoods are causing residents to feel unsafe and unnerved at home.
Loud mufflers and cars peeling out in a never-ending parade of people coming and going from the rally in front of residential buildings.
Denver residents living next to the big box store parking lots in Denver and Glendale are sadly familiar with sleepless nights caused by racecar rallies that seem to never end. Beginning long after dark and lasting until the wee hours, the loud and highly disruptive car rallies pop up monthly on a seemingly unexpected weekend night.
Unfortunately, these gatherings are becoming a more regular occurrence and are creating a sense of lawlessness, making residents fear for the safety of themselves and their loved ones returning home late at night. Denver resident Margaret W. (last name withheld upon request) lives in apartments that overlook the parking lot where Best Buy and Hacienda are located, at the corner of I-25 and Colorado Blvd. She said that her teenage daughter works at a local restaurant and often works the evening weekend shift. She is extremely fearful for her safety as she returns home from a long night’s work not knowing what she’ll encounter and cannot safely make her way up the street to the parking lot of their building.
From her balcony, she watched the cars screech both into and out of the parking lot circling up and down the street, completely ignoring any pedestrians walking by or residents trying to come and go in the neighborhood. So far, the police have been unable to do anything to stop the madness. “The people who gather at these rallies on nights when there is usually a big event somewhere downtown — they know that the cops won’t come since there are bigger problems to address,” said Margaret W. “They are getting braver, louder, and more reckless as the weeks go on. I’m getting to the point where I dread the weekends, knowing that there might be another rally.”
Glendale City Manager and attorney Chuck Line stated that “these late-night car rallies are examples of the general lawlessness created by the decriminalization of everything. They are just symptoms of the same disease. By decriminalizing things like shoplifting, people feel as if they can get by with whatever they want and they participate in behavior that they wouldn’t normally do. There just aren’t consequences anymore for doing the wrong thing.”
He recalled seeing gatherings of car enthusiasts that he saw posted in the neighborhood decades ago that were called “Coffee and Cars” with sanctioned gathering spaces. People who thought about peeling out for the thrill of it stopped doing it because they didn’t get by with the behavior. The late-night car rallies today teeter constantly on the edge of illegal behavior with reckless driving, noise violations, and endangerment of people living in these communities.
Margaret W. said there was yet another pop-up late night rally in the Best Buy parking lot with hundreds of cars, food trucks, and screeching tires as people slowly but steadily entered and then exited the lot lining up on East Mexico Avenue on their way back to I-25. Distressed and unable to fall asleep until 2 a.m., Margaret listened to the deafening music and roaring engines for over four hours, followed by the sounds of cars peeling out and racing one after the other onto I-25 headed northbound.
Discouraged and feeling helpless, Margaret has made countless calls to the non- emergency police number, hoping to get some peace back in her neighborhood where she has lived for over seven years. “I am very sad to see what is happening on a regular basis right across from my doorstep. I don’t feel safe anymore and wish I could do something to make the nonsense stop.” To her dismay, her calls to authorities have been fruitless and she has been unable to get any police presence to try and control the situation.
Line emphasized that the city is deeply committed to the welfare of their residents and community. “We are and will continue to be vigilant in responding to any calls we receive about these rallies and will take measures to do whatever we can to keep people safe. We encourage anyone witnessing these happenings and who have concerns to make calls to the non-emergency police number to report what they see and hear. Together we can get on top of this. If you feel like there is something illegal happening, please call.”
For local businesses, dealing with the rallies is a precarious situation. While they are not sanctioned by the businesses, the public is free to both park and gather in the parking lots. And certainly, not everyone participating in the car rally is engaging in criminal activity. This puts business owners in a difficult position as they do not want to discourage people who may be there just to stop or do business but want to make sure that their community remains a safe and welcoming place for their patrons.
Margaret W. remains hopeful that other residents will speak up letting authorities and business owners know how they feel so that her neighborhood will continue to be a place that she wants to call home.
The non-emergency police number for Glendale is 303-759-1511 and for Denver, dial 720-913-2000.