Editor:
Immigrants aren’t the problem in Aurora at Aspen Grove Apartments, 1568 Nome St., where the city boarded up the dilapidated apartment building owned by CBZ.
I have owned an apartment building nearby since 2015. The trouble on the street was from pervasive and existing fentanyl abuse among longstanding residents and citizens, and also home-grown, U.S. born petty criminals. There’s been enough said about the absent property owner, who deserves the most blame, but what actually plagued the neighborhood was drug dealers, pimps, prostitutes, and their customers – the johns and addicts – who were using that place as a base.
These two dozen or so street-crawlers and their customers all spoke English, and to all appearances were a mix of every demographic except straight Latino (for those who might wonder).
Individually they were mostly harmless and irrational, but all together they made a bad scene.
I don’t know what kind of hellhole the immigrants inside Aspen Grove had to put up with (although I’ve heard about rot and sewage and black mold blooms you could bury a hand into) but outside of 1568 Nome St., they and their neighbors (including children) were constantly witnesses to the saddest forms of human degradation and addiction.
Residents were resigned to a constant background of fear from the crazy behavior, yelling, intimidation, urination, drug paraphernalia, theft, having their parking spots taken over by drug and sex customers, and occasional shootings.
That is, until various city organizations including Aurora Police, code enforcement, and city licensing finally cleared the problems in one fell swoop, by boarding up the nightmare building. But that only came after months and months of giving the CBZ owners every possible chance to take steps to fix things.
My point: The troublemakers at Aspen Grove and the immediate area were born-in-the-USA English-speakers.
It may well be true that some Tren de Aragua gang-linked people smelled opportunity and moved in, but the real problem to the neighborhood was the home-grown petty criminals, and the American property owner who tried to wash his hands of any duty or responsibility.
We are very grateful to the persistent efforts of the police and other city agencies to bring civic peace, lawfulness and a return of tranquility to those who remain in this neighborhood.
Jim J. Hannifin
Aurora
Related
link