Denver, CO

Parking lot battle puts two Denver restaurants at odds

Published

5 months ago

August 23, 2024

Parking lot battle puts two Denver restaurants at odds

Parking is rarely easy in Denver, but it’s causing a larger problem for business owners and their customers along Denver’s West 29th Avenue, where CôNu’s Corner Cafe & Bánh Mì Sandwiches owns a parking lot that is the focal point of neighborhood drama.

The tension exploded earlier this month when a bicyclist was videotaped cursing and yelling at the sandwich shop’s staff over parking issues, calling owner Thuc-Nhu Hoang “an ugly, nasty piece of garbage” on top of race-related slurs.

“I don’t feel safe anymore,” Hoang said in a phone interview with The Denver Post. She called the incident “very racist.” CôNu’s Corner posted footage of the rant on its Instagram page.

Her shop sits at the corner of Tennyson Street and West 29th, where the Sloan’s Lake neighborhood transitions into West Highland. CôNu’s Corner Cafe, 4400 W. 29th Ave., is just one business along a small corridor (where bike lanes have already caused some agitation) that includes Quarterback Liquors, Leroy’s Bagels and SloHi Coffee + Bike.

On a recent Tuesday, only a few of the dozen-plus spaces in front of CôNu’s were available. Posted signs warned drivers that only customers are welcome and violators will be towed.

For over four years, that wasn’t the case. When Hoang’s business operated solely as a convenience store, she said she let it slide when her neighbors’ patrons parked there. That changed once she opened the sandwich shop last year.

There wasn’t enough room for her customers to park, too, Hoang said, and she worried about the potential for lawsuits during snowy months if clients of other businesses slipped and fell in her lot.

But once Hoang began booting and towing violators, she experienced harassment. Her shop is currently rated 4.7 stars out of five on Google reviews, but Hoang says she’s contended with “fake” one-star reviews written by parking offenders.

“They lie,” Hoang said. “It’s really hurt our business.”

Quarterback Liquors now pays to share several spaces in the lot, but other business owners haven’t agreed to the offer. Hoang declined to provide the cost for monthly parking rent.

“I don’t know what else to do,” she said. “They should let their customers know. That’s their job to do that.”

“Being able to be neighborly again”

Sarah Green, the owner of Leroy’s Bagels, works in her shop on 29th Avenue in Denver on Aug. 20, 2024. Green along with a few other businesses in the area are upset with the owners of CôNu’s Corner Càfê nearby who made their parking lot accessible only for CôNu’s Corner Càfê customers. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)

Sarah Green, who owns Leroy’s Bagels, 4432 W. 29th Ave., depicted the turmoil as uncharacteristic of their community. “We’re all small businesses, and we’ve all been able to coexist really peacefully over the years,” she said. The shop opened in 2015.

In Green’s opinion, the neighborhood rift started with a lack of signage at CôNu’s, which left drivers in the dark about the towing risk. Local business owners met to discuss the issue and asked Hoang to put up signs, Green said.

“There was a good amount of time that there were no signs, and there was still a lot of towing happening, which felt unfair,” Green said.

During that waiting period, entrepreneurs posted their own notices in their storefront windows to notify customers. Green said she’s never encouraged her patrons to park in the lot, adding that she can’t afford to pay the cost to rent the allotted spots.

Future talks are planned between the parties, which Green hopes “will at least be able to get us to a point of being able to be neighborly again.” Representatives of SloHi Coffee + Bike didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Regardless of the strain between neighbors, Green shames the person who berated Hoang and hopes for accountability.

“No one should ever, ever be able to say something like that to another person, especially seeing that in our corridor, because we always have been tightknit,” Green said.

Originally Published: August 23, 2024 at 6:00 a.m.

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Denver, CO

(CSG print) Denver Nuggets ride Nikola Jokic’s triple-double to down Philadelphia 76ers in Rivalry Week dud (copy)

Published

3 hours ago

January 22, 2025

Press Room

(CSG print) Denver Nuggets ride Nikola Jokic’s triple-double to down Philadelphia 76ers in Rivalry Week dud (copy)

The NBA’s third installment of Rivalry Week started with a dud in Denver.

“What do you mean, Rivalry Week?” Nuggets coach Michael Malone wondered prior to the Nuggets’ 144-109 win over Philadelphia on Tuesday at Ball Arena.

“Is that what this is?”

That was the NBA’s intent, but the association once again paired the winners of the last two Most Valuable Player awards – Denver’s Nikola Jokic and Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid. The problem was Embiid missed another game in Denver due to knee injury management. The last time Embiid played in Denver was 2019.

“I’ve only been here for one game so far where they’ve played against each other. It was a hell of a game, right? Sadly, we’re not going to have it again tonight,” 76ers coach Nick Nurse said pregame.

“All of us – fans, me, you – love to see the big rivalries and two great players go at it like this, for sure. So, it’s disappointing.”

The way the Nuggets’ coach sees it, the modern NBA isn’t made for healthy rivalries. That wasn’t the case when his father, Brendan, spent 30 years from 1986 to 2016 coaching in the NBA. There was a healthy hatred between his father’s Knicks teams and the Heat or Pacers or the Pistons and Bulls when there was less player movement, the Nuggets’ coach said.

“It’s so hard, because the landscape of the NBA has changed. Players change so often. Teams change so often. The dynamics of the Western Conference change,” Malone said.

“It is what it is. That’s just the current state of affairs in pro sports in general.”

That player movement was highlighted during the game’s first timeout. Former Nuggets guard and Palmer High School product Reggie Jackson received a warm welcome when a video celebrating his two years in Denver was played on the videoboard during the game’s first timeout.

The only sign of animosity was a “Where’s Embiid at?” chant that briefly broke out once in the first half and again in the final minutes.

Without Embiid, the Nuggets led by as many as 15 in the first half and cruised after halftime. Nikola Jokic went to work against Andre Drummond and Guerschon Yabulsele and finished with 27 points, 13 rebounds, 10 assists, four steals and a block in three quarters of work, while Julian Strawther added 23 points, making 5 of 9 attempts from 3-point range off the bench. Christian Braun (20), Michael Porter Jr. (19), Aaron Gordon (19) and Russell Westbrook (11) also scored in double figures for Denver.

Tyrese Maxey led Philadelphia with 28 points and 10 assists. The Nuggets held Paul George to 11 points on as many shots.

The Nuggets play a second nationally televised game as part of Rivalry Week on Saturday in Minnesota. The Timberwolves and Nuggets have met in each of the last two postseasons and have shared plenty of personnel recently. Still, it comes up short of Malone’s definition.

“Would I call that a rivalry?” Malone said. “I don’t know if I’m there yet.”

NUGGETS 144, 76ers 109

What happened: Denver led by eight after the first quarter and owned a 77-67 advantage at halftime. It was a 23-point game after three quarters. Denver improved to 27-16 and 8-2 in its last 10 games.

What went right: Denver’s offense was firing on almost all cylinders in the first half. The Nuggets shot 64.1% from the field, including a 9-for-16 mark from 3-point range and made all 18 of their free throws in the first half.

What went wrong: Guerschon Yabusele scored 22 points on 13 shots off Philadelphia’s bench. He made 4 of 5 shots from 3-point range. The 76ers still lost Yabusele’s 24 minutes of playing time by five points.

Highlight of the night: Nikola Jokic and Aaron Gordon aren’t playing as many minutes together while Gordon works his way back from a calf strain, but the chemistry is still there. Jokic tossed a no-look lob up to Gordon, who finished with a two-handed dunk late in the third quarter. It completed Jokic’s triple-double and gave Denver a 23-point lead.

Up next: The Nuggets stay in Denver for Thursday’s game against the Kings at Ball Arena.

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Denver, CO

Tell us: What do you want to see at Denver’s newest city park in Park Hill?

Published

11 hours ago

January 21, 2025

Press Room

Tell us: What do you want to see at Denver’s newest city park in Park Hill?

Denver will soon open its newest park after the city announced a plan to acquire the 155-acre Park Hill Golf Course, a long-debated property in northeast Denver.

The city will give a plot of land it owns near Denver International Airport to the former golf course’s owners, Westside Investment Partners, in exchange for the future park, Mayor Mike Johnston said earlier this month.

Denver Parks and Recreation plans to open the area to the public this summer but will continue to develop amenities there after soliciting input from the community about what residents want to see in the space. It will be one of the largest parks in the city.

Let us know what you want to see at the park and what you think it should be named using the form below:

Originally Published: January 21, 2025 at 3:06 PM MST

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