Denver city council approves increase in penalties for owners of abandoned properties

CBS News

16-07-2025

Denver City Councilman Paul Kashmann has served in his role for a decade and says complaints about neglected and abandoned buildings have consistently been an issue throughout that time. That prompted him to team up with his colleagues to make changes.
Boarded up walls, garbage and graffiti are rarely a welcomed sight.
"It really degrades quality of life in the community," said Kashmann.
Yet hundreds of these abandoned buildings exist throughout Denver.
"A neighborhood nuisance ranging from 'Gee, it just looks terrible,' to we had an abandoned bank on East Evans Avenue where a murder took place," Kashmann said.
In an effort to hold the owners of these property accountable for issues, Kashmann and Councilwomen Jamie Torres and Amanda Sawyer co-sponsored an amendment to update the city's neglected and derelict buildings ordinance.
"One of the first things that I put forward was a suggestion that we raised the fines applicable," he said.
The update passed with unanimous support and increases fines for violations from $999 to up to $5,000 per day and also creates a service response fee of up to $5,000 per response by first responders when three or more calls for service occur within six months.
"We've come up with a system that's going to put much more pressure on property owners to be good neighbors when we're not asking them to jump through hoops, just asking for them to be good neighbors," Kashmann
Kashmann hopes this will also bring change to a problem property in his neighborhood.
"I'm actually losing my patience on that particular property," said Kashmann. "The weeds are four feet high, and there's graffiti, and, you know, junk's piling up on the property. And it's not just me, every council member will tell you the same story about properties in their district."
The new ordinance won't take effect until February, which gives the owners of roughly 300 of these properties in Denver to act. Meanwhile the councilman says he's already receiving thanks for work the city council has done to tackle the issue.