DENVER — Excessive trash and open drug and alcohol use are just a few of the problems that have become part of daily life on the sidewalks outside East Colfax businesses.
Cuttin’-up Beauty Academy is located at the intersection of East Colfax and Ulster Street in Denver. Karen Hall started the beauty academy in 1996. Cuttin’-up offers cosmetology, barbering and esthrrtician courses for students preparing to get their license. Today, Cuttin’-up is a family business, Hall’s daughter, Chanele Simmons, serves as the Director.
Simmons told Denver7 that issues with the unhoused, drug use and trash collecting on the streets are progressively getting worse.
She said she usually starts her day by picking up trash from around her building, and asking anyone sleeping outside of the building to leave. She reports whats happening on East Colfax to Denver police, but is growing exhausted with the lack of change.
“I always fear for their safety, especially with a lot of us being women, a lot of the customers being seniors or even children. If they’re looking at the environment around another school, and then they’re looking at the environment around ours, I feel like it puts us in the back seat, said Simmons.”