Downtown Colorado Springs employees express concerns toward homeless population

Homeless-related issues are one of the biggest complaints the city of Colorado Springs receives on a daily basis, but many business owners believe those complaints are being ignored.

Walking around Tejon — you’re bound to see panhandlers and homeless people. Some say the problem has gotten so bad, businesses say they’re losing money and customers because people are too afraid to walk in.

It’s an issue most people can agree on. The homeless population downtown is getting out of hand.

“As the years go by, it progressively gets worse,” said a downtown store employee.

On a Thursday in Acacia Park, you can find not one, but several people sleeping and sitting in the grass. So who are the people getting hit the hardest? You guessed it — businesses.

“It would be hard to be a business owner down here. I think it has an effect on them,” said local Todd Williams.

Esther Starcher is a clerk at Carlie’s Convenience store on the corner of Tejon and Pikes Peak.

A spot where you can find people laying down or holding up signs asking for money.

“I’ve had coffee thrown at me because we didn’t give them free stuff. Or they tell us we should have courtesy cups. But they take advantage of that,” she said.

And she’s not the only one who has dealt with aggressive homeless people, Devon Kwande has too.

“For the employees that work downtown, there is a little bit of harassment that goes on. If people are trying to get to restaurants for lunch they may have to think twice about it,” Kwande said.

Another problem? Crime. Willy Galvan, who works at a nearby ice cream shop, says he has to be extra vigilant while working.

“A lot of them loiter here and try to steal some of the ice cream that’s on display. It’s inconvenient when I’m trying to help actual customers and they come in and make a ruckus,” Galvan said.

It’s a big problem that’s not going away immediately, but it’s a continuous one the city is working on.