NEIGHBORS FIGHT FOR WESTWOOD

City Is Urged To Help In Fending Off Drugs

Wednesday, January 30, 2002 - Jan Belle has seen a big change in the
southwest Denver neighborhood where she played as a little girl. The
area that once lacked paved roads now seems a haven for drug dealers
looking to avoid police attention.

"I believe some people come here to hide out," Belle said of the
neighborhood where last week police raided a house they say served as
a methamphetamine lab. "There's just not enough attention paid to the
area."

Another Westwood resident, Wynne Dimock, last week canvassed her
neighbors' doors with leaflets imploring them to rid the area of drug
dealers and "take back our block." For her efforts, Dimock was
greeted on Saturday with a bloody pig's head near her front door.

"I don't know why people aren't getting upset," Dimock said,
shrugging off what she believes was a threat. "So you're afraid. How
much are you going to take?"

A spate of recent meth lab fires in Denver, Adams County and Castle
Rock has residents in the Westwood neighborhood at the 900 block of
South Utica Street scrambling together against what they see as a
dangerous trend.

"It's a bigger problem than is being acknowledged," Belle said.
"There are lots of children on this block."

Dimock said she made numerous complaints to police before they raided
a suspected meth lab across the street from her house.

"It's not like we didn't call repeatedly to have something done,"
Dimock said. "The place was a public nuisance. So why wasn't anything
done?"

According to Fred Corn, chairman of the Inter-Neighborhood
Cooperation, the key to improving Westwood is city involvement.

"They're cracking down in Adams County, but not Denver," Corn said.
"The most effective way to get help is to make a lot of noise.

Belle, who recently built a series of rental housing units, wants the
city to force landlords to take more responsibility for who rents
property.

"We're trying to add value to the neighborhood," said Belle, who
cited a high number of ordinance violations in her neighborhood but
very few complaints. "Why should we let them do this? Landlords have
to be more responsible."

Jeanne Labuda, Mayor Wellington Webb's neighborhood liaison for
southwest Denver, has worked with Dimock and Belle on ways to improve
Westwood but points to how little landlords are made accountable.

"The difficulty is that a landlord is not required by any law to
screen people they rent to," Labuda said.

Gov. Bill Owens is pushing two pieces of legislation making it
tougher to produce methamphetamine. Owens predicted that nearly 450
meth labs will be shut down this year.

But Belle and Dimock don't want to wait for legislation. They
scheduled a neighborhood meeting next week to discuss the danger meth
labs pose to the area. Representatives from the Denver police vice
squad and drug enforcement division will join renters and landlords
in the area to discuss the supposed meth lab and why residents
weren't notified it was there.

"We could help," Belle said of the interaction between residents and
the city. "Make us a partner in this. But don't leave us in the dark."