Along with Curtis Park, LoDo is another eupemistic reference to the southern end of what is geographically Five Points. Five Points' southern boundary begins at 20th Street and goes northward. It is not LoDo. Five Points has such a long and notorious history of criminal activity that anyone remotely familiar with the city of Denver wouldn't touch Five Points with a 10 foot pole. Quite a problemo. Easy solution! Euphemistically call the southern part of Five Points "LoDo" and the northern part "Curtis Park!" Voila! Just avoid the F word.
It began being called LoDo when Coors Field was built as a way of not scaring off baseball fans and developers. The media even admitted as much; there had to be a complete neighborhood image overhaul. Coors Field was built at 20th and Blake in area which at the time was literally overridden with human trash. The area was home to many homeless camp sites and when breaking ground for the stadium, at least 1 murdered body was found on the land. Now the area around Coors Field is full of yuppie bars instead of ghetto bars. Ah, progress!
23rd Street, renamed some years ago to Park Avenue West (again, to spiff up the reputation), continues to be the epicenter of drug activity so intense that heroin addicts are passed out on sidewalks like flocks of sleeping pigeons. The area is also home of numerous homeless shelters and slum bars. Stiffs being found in this area are like America and apple pie. The only real improvement in the area in the last 30 years is the absence of race riots and Black Panther Party standoffs with police. Its a street where if one must travel it, he will do so with his windows rolled up. No shocker to anyone familiar with the area that a stiff was found at 22nd and Lawrence.
Of course, the historical character of the area rears its ugly old head, such as the time several years ago when gangs of blacks were attacking and robbing white people in their automobiles at stoplights as what was suspected were gang initiations. More recently, as I've blogged about, there have been problems with Mexican gangbangers lighting the place up with gunfire. Five Points and Lower Downtown are like a flood plain; you can build pretty things there but eventually nature will come along and reclaim it.
UPDATE: Barrel man sentenced to life after court dismisses insanity plea.
Clewis-Green has said Pardue had sex with him for $10 in his apartment. Prosecutors say that when she asked for her money, he backhanded her in the face and beat her with a lead pipe.
Clewis-Green told police the beating happened after he killed his cat and liked the feeling.
His attorney Phelicia Kossie-Butler said Clewis-Green has stepped in and out of reality throughout his life.
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