Speaker 1: This morning, as I was making my coffee, I was
Speaker 1: perusingex dot com, as I often do as I'm making
Speaker 1: my coffee, and I saw a post by a guy
Speaker 1: named Taylor Romero, and it is an email that he
Speaker 1: sent to his landlord yesterday said I live in the Highlands,
Speaker 1: and I'm going to encapsulate it for you, though I
Speaker 1: did put it on the blog today, so you can
Speaker 1: go over to the blog and read it there. But
Speaker 1: the long and short of it is, and I'll read
Speaker 1: this one paragraph to get you started. Homeless and druggies
Speaker 1: are now a common occurrence in the back alley, one
Speaker 1: even going so far as urinating in the small space
Speaker 1: between the house and the neighbors. I confronted him mid act,
Speaker 1: and he hasn't been back. I could hear the girls laughing,
Speaker 1: playing with a friend just feet away, but inside, so
Speaker 1: they had no idea what was happening. Then he goes
Speaker 1: on to talk about the last sixty days that he
Speaker 1: and his family have had to endure, watching a young
Speaker 1: woman be chased, watching little girls get her scooters stolen
Speaker 1: in broad daylight, watching drug activity and things of that nature.
Speaker 1: And I reached out out and Taylor has agreed to
Speaker 1: join me on the show. He says he's just an
Speaker 1: average dad and husband living in the Highlands who's hoping
Speaker 1: things changed before they end up being forced to leave
Speaker 1: the state. Taylor, welcome to the show.
Speaker 2: First of all, yeah, Mandy, thank you so much for
Speaker 2: having me.
Speaker 1: So how long have you lived in the Highlands?
Speaker 2: Uh, cheesy, less than ten years?
Speaker 3: More than seven And it's been a while now. My
Speaker 3: two daughters are kind of now comfortable to the area
Speaker 3: of their friends in the area, and so those kind
Speaker 3: of those commitments make it really hard for.
Speaker 2: Us to mobile or to move. But it's it's been
Speaker 2: maybe near a decade now.
Speaker 1: You talked about your wife being chased by someone while
Speaker 1: she was walking around slungslake and you having to leave
Speaker 1: work and go pick her up. That has to be very,
Speaker 1: very unnerving. That was there one particular incident and everything
Speaker 1: you laid out in this in this letter to your
Speaker 1: email or a landlord, was there any one particular incident
Speaker 1: or was it really an accumulation?
Speaker 2: Gosh that that is such a good question.
Speaker 3: It's been an accumulation and I don't know how much
Speaker 3: time we have, but I can, I can, I can
Speaker 3: walk through the progression yeah, and share that. So the
Speaker 3: first kind of experience that comes to mind was maybe
Speaker 3: like four years ago. I'm on thirty second in Federal
Speaker 3: heading West. I'm up next at the red light light
Speaker 3: turn screen. I start to pull forward. I'm a halfway
Speaker 3: two thirds away through the intersection.
Speaker 2: And I get t boned. I get t boned hard.
Speaker 3: The car that hits me, it's big suburban, hits me
Speaker 3: kind of banks to the to their right. So now
Speaker 3: they're in front of me, and I start to do
Speaker 3: what I think is kind of Carmen Harlance at this
Speaker 3: point when you get hit, is to pull over. And
Speaker 3: I started to see they were accelerating, and I was like, oh,
Speaker 3: oh no, And so I think I'm going to take
Speaker 3: out my phone and I'm going to take a picture
Speaker 3: of the license plate.
Speaker 2: They don't have a license plate.
Speaker 3: So they start to accelerate. I am like, well, I'm
Speaker 3: just going to call the police and I'm going to
Speaker 3: follow them.
Speaker 2: And I start to.
Speaker 3: Press on the accelerator and my car's like nah and sputters.
Speaker 3: So I call the police. A bunch of witnesses come around.
Speaker 3: They're like, hey, we'll hang out for the police. I
Speaker 3: call the police and the dispatch says, asked me, did
Speaker 3: you get a license plate?
Speaker 2: And I was like no, they actually didn't have one.
Speaker 3: And the person online goes, oh, well there's nothing we
Speaker 3: can do. Sha, Well, are you going to you going
Speaker 3: to send you need to send someone out or.
Speaker 2: It's like no, there's nothing we can do. Fill out
Speaker 2: a report online. Okay. So I thought about this.
Speaker 3: What do you call getting t boned by somebody, having
Speaker 3: your property damaged by somebody who is driving illegally and
Speaker 3: the police being called but putting in zero effort.
Speaker 2: I call it foreshadowing.
Speaker 3: So then the next I didn't know at the time, right,
Speaker 3: I had no idea at the time. I thought that
Speaker 3: this is really this is not awesome, and I fill
Speaker 3: out a report online so I can deal with my
Speaker 3: car insurance.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 3: Sometime passes in the measure of months, and I am
Speaker 3: walking on thirty second and Lowell in the little of
Speaker 3: the shopping district Love that area, and I am I'm
Speaker 3: confronted by a really nice young lady who I've helped
Speaker 3: describe as a clipboard warrior. You've seen them out there
Speaker 3: that's got their clipboards and they're trying to get you
Speaker 3: to sign something or to fill something out.
Speaker 2: So I'm talking with her. There's a whole story about
Speaker 2: my conversation with her.
Speaker 3: But about fifteen minutes into our conversation, or I think,
Speaker 3: she starts to realize, oh my gosh, maybe I'm on
Speaker 3: the wrong side of the clipboard here she I hear, help, help, help,
Speaker 3: And I look up and I see two homeless people
Speaker 3: grappling on the sidewalk in front of one of the
Speaker 3: coffee shops that I don't think I think just went
Speaker 3: out of business in the past week. And he's screaming help.
Speaker 3: So why, I say, all right, I was awesome talking.
Speaker 3: Excuse me for a minute. Someone's calling for help.
Speaker 2: It's uh.
Speaker 3: My wife hates it, like it's my instinct if someone's
Speaker 3: in an emergency and asking for help to go investigate.
Speaker 2: So I go.
Speaker 3: I walk up, and I see these two homeless guys
Speaker 3: on the ground, one on top of the other. Someone's
Speaker 3: calling for help, and I'll never forget. I set my
Speaker 3: backpack down. I start to walk over and one of
Speaker 3: the shop owners steps in front of me, puts her
Speaker 3: hand on my chest says, no, stop, just just stay
Speaker 3: out of it.
Speaker 2: Let them finish. And I was like, uh no, so.
Speaker 3: I lightly just kind of push her hand to the
Speaker 3: other side. I straddled both of them. I did like
Speaker 3: the weapons inspection, like, okay, I'm seeing knives on seething.
Speaker 3: I grabbed the guy on top, got him into a
Speaker 3: hole to kind of secure him, and it was like
Speaker 3: a glass wall was broken because at that moment, three
Speaker 3: or four.
Speaker 2: Other guys jumped into help them, right right, And.
Speaker 3: So we pull them apart, we extract them, we de escalate.
Speaker 3: We one of the ladies there says, I've called the police.
Speaker 2: They're on their way.
Speaker 3: Five minutes past, ten minutes past, the guy who was
Speaker 3: the attacker just gets up, walks away. Yeah, another five
Speaker 3: minutes past, another ten minutes past, the guy who was
Speaker 3: being attacked, I just turned him.
Speaker 2: I'm like, I don't think they're coming, dude.
Speaker 3: And so we're all looking at each other like we
Speaker 3: don't think the police aren't The police aren't coming, and
Speaker 3: so we all just leave.
Speaker 4: Taylor. This this is we call this is this is.
Speaker 1: I want to a couple of things about that story
Speaker 1: that I want to just interrupt really quickly. You, first
Speaker 1: of all, running towards danger, congrats ands off to you,
Speaker 1: And I think that a lot of your neighbors needed
Speaker 1: you to break that glass, right because they don't want
Speaker 1: to be the first one in, but they will help
Speaker 1: if someone else jumps in. Secondarily, that instinct will be
Speaker 1: beaten out of you when nothing ever happens at the
Speaker 1: end of it. You know what I'm saying, Like the
Speaker 1: police not bothering to respond. And I know Denver police
Speaker 1: has been undermanned, understaffed for a long time now, but
Speaker 1: to your point, when it feels like they're not even trying,
Speaker 1: it beats the instincts in citizens like you to try
Speaker 1: and help.
Speaker 4: That's very frustrating to me.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it changes like if we were like kind of
Speaker 3: focused on what's the light at the end of the tunnel.
Speaker 2: It does not involve law enforcement.
Speaker 3: And I think that's good to know, at least in
Speaker 3: my experience back to back, which is why we get
Speaker 3: into my email all of these things that I'm seeing.
Speaker 2: We've stopped calling the police.
Speaker 3: And fact, after some of this stuff has happened, my
Speaker 3: wife and I spoke, we said, well, shall we call
Speaker 3: the police, Like what would be the point? Like, yeah,
Speaker 3: file report online, like they're not going to do anything,
Speaker 3: not going to show. Well, I was at Walmart in Lakewood,
Speaker 3: and they have a fully like clothed, vested armed police
Speaker 3: officer that is on duty there.
Speaker 2: And so I had.
Speaker 3: Overheard him talking to one of the guys that worked
Speaker 3: there about something with the holidays and his wife. And
Speaker 3: so after he was done talking, I approached him. I said, hey, man,
Speaker 3: I had a question as like a husband, and.
Speaker 2: I don't know if you have kids. Is me talking
Speaker 2: out if you have kids?
Speaker 3: But it's like a husband and as a father, like,
Speaker 3: here's some things that are happening, what what do I do,
Speaker 3: Like if i'm if, I'm if one of my responsibilities
Speaker 3: is the safety and the protection of my of my
Speaker 3: family and property.
Speaker 2: What do I do?
Speaker 3: And he says, well, you could, and he talks about
Speaker 3: calling and reporting, and I responded, I said, man, none
Speaker 3: of that, none of your answers. Did I hear any
Speaker 3: confidence in what you were saying? Yeah, I like, give
Speaker 3: me an answer. You're confident and no joke. He looks
Speaker 3: me up and down. He goes, well, I think given
Speaker 3: what you're wearing, you could probably have a concealed fire arm.
Speaker 3: You should probably go that route because and this is
Speaker 3: a quote unquote unfortunately that's where we are.
Speaker 1: Dang so you know, So, how did you are? You
Speaker 1: sent this to your landlord? The letter, and again I
Speaker 1: linked to it on the blog, so if people want
Speaker 1: to go read the whole thing. But I think anybody
Speaker 1: who lives in Denver who has been continually gaslt about
Speaker 1: what is actually happening in neighborhoods, and that's one of
Speaker 1: the reasons I wanted to have you on.
Speaker 4: I need more.
Speaker 1: Denver Rights to come forward with their story because what
Speaker 1: I think is happening is that a lot of people
Speaker 1: feel very isolated when they are experiencing some of these things.
Speaker 1: They don't want to be the neighbor to call the police,
Speaker 1: or they don't want to be that neighbor that seems
Speaker 1: judgmental or whatever. There's a whole bunch of like social
Speaker 1: pressures that go into this. But I think that Denver
Speaker 1: Rights have to stand up and say this is enough.
Speaker 1: We're not going to put up with us anymore. What
Speaker 1: did your landlord say when he read the letter or
Speaker 1: she read the letter?
Speaker 2: Uh, well, no joke.
Speaker 3: I got their response, Uh just before we start our call.
Speaker 2: So I have not read it yet.
Speaker 4: Oh God, surely they know.
Speaker 1: I mean, surely if they own the properties, they know
Speaker 1: what's going on in the neighborhood, you know, and it's
Speaker 1: got to be incredibly infuriating for the landlords who are
Speaker 1: who are probably understanding of your position while also needing to,
Speaker 1: you know, keep keep people in their in their properties.
Speaker 1: So it's you know, it's a very difficult situation. And
Speaker 1: where are you looking to move to? Have you even
Speaker 1: thought about it?
Speaker 3: We want to get some more closer to golden Yeah.
Speaker 3: So one of the things and I have got so much,
Speaker 3: there's so much to share here, but I've one of
Speaker 3: the things I've seen is that wealth disparity is a
Speaker 3: precursor to violence. And when the people who run your
Speaker 3: city import an immense amount of people in a different
Speaker 3: socioeconomic bracket, violence is inevitable. And uh, for the for
Speaker 3: the first time ever, And I and just like young
Speaker 3: me can't even believe I'm saying anything like this is
Speaker 3: I need my family and my family we need to
Speaker 3: be at a place with there is not wealth disparity,
Speaker 3: because what ends up happening is when you bring in poverty,
Speaker 3: you import poverty, it makes.
Speaker 2: For a good justification for violence. Oh they stole your jacket, Yeah,
Speaker 2: but they couldn't afford one. Yeah, they hurt and broke
Speaker 2: into your house. Yeah, but that's because they don't have one.
Speaker 2: So once you end up in a situation.
Speaker 3: Where, uh, you have really good reasons for really bad things,
Speaker 3: it gets it's really hard because and we've I think
Speaker 3: felt this just more generally over the past at least
Speaker 3: four or or more years, where it's like just saying
Speaker 3: common sense things can get you attacked, like hey, maybe
Speaker 3: we shouldn't be like stealing things from little girls.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: But then when the response is yeah, but those people
Speaker 3: have nothing, you start this debate of justifying aggression, violence
Speaker 3: and theft, and and so I actually think I might
Speaker 3: I kind of think the situation Denver is in is
Speaker 3: really interesting because the people that run Denver no doubt
Speaker 3: have a good reason, noble purpose for everything they're doing. Unfortunately,
Speaker 3: my family and my family safety is the sacrifice, and
Speaker 3: I believe they believe it is a worthy sacrifice. It's
Speaker 3: okay if a middle income, middle American family has to
Speaker 3: run because we were able to house x amount of
Speaker 3: people or feed y amount of people. And there's this
Speaker 3: false dichotomy that I think a lot of people, especially
Speaker 3: I would describe as the political class, get themselves in
Speaker 3: where they think that the sacrifice of the average citizen
Speaker 3: is a worthy sacrifice.
Speaker 2: So it's like, I don't even know. I don't think
Speaker 2: that they don't know.
Speaker 3: Well. I think they just see it and go, yeah,
Speaker 3: but you've had a great life, So let me give
Speaker 3: someone who needs it more.
Speaker 1: Let me give you a little more perspective from perhaps
Speaker 1: further down on the right side of the aisle, just
Speaker 1: to give you a little bit of this.
Speaker 4: I think you're absolutely right.
Speaker 1: That people are justifying criminal behavior because of the circumstances
Speaker 1: of the people that are committing it. However, most of
Speaker 1: the time those people are not being impacted on a
Speaker 1: daily basis they themselves, And I would say that my
Speaker 1: frustration with the City of Denver. First of all, I
Speaker 1: think they're pursuing some measures that are short term effective
Speaker 1: at one thing, long term failures and others. When we're
Speaker 1: talking about housing, people living on the streets and things
Speaker 1: of that nature. I would do all this differently, just
Speaker 1: to get that out there. But that being said, you're right,
Speaker 1: their intentions are very very good. Their intentions are that
Speaker 1: they want to prove that we are a welcoming city.
Speaker 4: We are a welcoming country.
Speaker 1: But they do so because they're not living with the
Speaker 1: daily impacts that you and your family are living with.
Speaker 4: And that's the frustration and the.
Speaker 1: Disconnect, and that is what Denver rights across the spectrum
Speaker 1: who are dealing with this need to be emboldened and say,
Speaker 1: we too, are compassionate. Nobody wants the family to starve,
Speaker 1: nobody wants the family to suffer. You can look at
Speaker 1: some of these people coming across the border with little
Speaker 1: children and your heartbreaks, but you.
Speaker 4: Also have to enforce the rule of law.
Speaker 1: Because those people are being victimized too. Right, it's not
Speaker 1: just white middle class Americans. We've seen what's happened in
Speaker 1: these apartment complexes. We're the same people that we're supposed
Speaker 1: to feel sorry for are the.
Speaker 4: Ones being victimized.
Speaker 1: So we we have to get back to establishing the
Speaker 1: rule of law and order so we can have a
Speaker 1: society that is capable of supporting the people that need
Speaker 1: our help, because what happens is the schism starts to
Speaker 1: happen where normally people who would one hundred percent say
Speaker 1: this is great, we're compassionate, we want these people here.
Speaker 1: Then go, but wait a minute, my daughter's scooter just
Speaker 1: got stolen.
Speaker 4: So your heart starts to turn, your.
Speaker 1: Heart starts to harden, and that in the long run
Speaker 1: becomes a huge problem for the very people that we're
Speaker 1: here to help. So to your point, I think you're
Speaker 1: totally right. You're absolutely right that there are justifications being
Speaker 1: made for this criminal activity. Whether it is they're addicted,
Speaker 1: it's mental illness, so they can't help it.
Speaker 4: Great, then we need to help them. We need to
Speaker 4: help these people.
Speaker 1: We need to do this, but we need to do
Speaker 1: it in a way that doesn't sacrifice our own safety
Speaker 1: as a community. And I think that's kind of what
Speaker 1: you just said in a different perspective.
Speaker 4: So, you know, so.
Speaker 5: What are you.
Speaker 4: Looking to do now?
Speaker 1: You said you want to move closer to golden but
Speaker 1: that ultimately doesn't necessarily solve the problem.
Speaker 4: Did you put this why did you put this letter out?
Speaker 4: Let me ask that question.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think, well, so, I think there's a part
Speaker 3: of me that is hopelessly optimistic, and I've seen that
Speaker 3: in the process of solving a problem, it has to
Speaker 3: start with discussions, and.
Speaker 2: So let's talk.
Speaker 3: And I think the problem is a major problem is
Speaker 3: that there's no way to talk about this without being
Speaker 3: embroiled in the ideological battle of our time, and so
Speaker 3: what happens is I am I would say if anybody
Speaker 3: very apolitical, I actually haven't even voted since Obama the
Speaker 3: first time. I have a lot of reason for why
Speaker 3: that was my I'm out of this moment.
Speaker 4: Yeah, a lot of people feel that way sometimes.
Speaker 1: Yeah, But you know, does this inspire you to pay
Speaker 1: more attention at least at the local level. And this
Speaker 1: is something I talk about on the show, Like I
Speaker 1: could talk about federal elections all day every day, But
Speaker 1: the reality is the people we put on the city council,
Speaker 1: the people we put on the school board, the people
Speaker 1: we put in these boards and commissions at the local
Speaker 1: level have far more impact on your day to day
Speaker 1: life than anybody at the federal level.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 1: It's like the people whoever's president is going to have
Speaker 1: way less impact on you as a citizen of Denver
Speaker 1: than the Denver City Council or or the Denver Police Department,
Speaker 1: like finding out what's going on there. So I'm really
Speaker 1: glad and I hope that this inspires you to be
Speaker 1: a little more engaged, because you're great at presenting what's
Speaker 1: going on in a way that I think a lot
Speaker 1: of people would go, yeah, that's pretty damn accurate. That's
Speaker 1: what's happening in our communities, and we don't know what
Speaker 1: to do about it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well I will say, yeah, we give a little
Speaker 3: like a little framing as a thought experiment, because it'll
Speaker 3: really capture what I'm facing when I talk when I
Speaker 3: speak about this stuff. So, okay, imagine this. Imagine we
Speaker 3: went to a time machine. We jump back three four
Speaker 3: hundred years into into the UK and the and the
Speaker 3: ideological battle the time was Protestants and Catholics.
Speaker 2: So imagine we go and we talk to someone.
Speaker 3: And and they ask us, well, do you think that
Speaker 3: a married couple should be allowed to get a divorce?
Speaker 2: And we would say yeah, and they would respond.
Speaker 4: With what are you Protestant?
Speaker 3: And it's like, well, no, no, no, I'm a time
Speaker 3: traveler from the future who's not captured by the ideological
Speaker 3: battle of your time. Okay, so fast forward to today.
Speaker 3: I say things and someone says, what are you a
Speaker 3: Republican or what are you a Democrat? And I go, no,
Speaker 3: it might be best to think of me as a
Speaker 3: time traveler from the picture who is not captured by
Speaker 3: the ideological battle of our time. I do not care
Speaker 3: what your belief system is. I care that, like I'm
Speaker 3: having to get a can sealed carry license now, and
Speaker 3: that I'm not the only dad in a group of
Speaker 3: fathers that I hang out with now and again talking
Speaker 3: about the armed defense of our family.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and so I.
Speaker 3: Can't speak about this without being called the amount of
Speaker 3: times that's something Republican would say.
Speaker 2: What does that have to do with anything?
Speaker 5: Yeah, Well, as a go ahead, I say, it just
Speaker 5: kills the conversation because once I'm an out group, I
Speaker 5: can be branded and villainized, and then there is no
Speaker 5: conversation to be at.
Speaker 2: Taylor, That's what I am seeing.
Speaker 4: Taylor Ramiro is my guest. I would strongly are.
Speaker 1: Do you to go look at his letter to his
Speaker 1: landlord about why he wants to move out of the
Speaker 1: Highlands after living there for almost a decade. Taylor, I
Speaker 1: think you are great at this conversation. I'm so happy
Speaker 1: I reached out to you, because again, I just want
Speaker 1: to empower people to feel like they can say things
Speaker 1: are not okay and we need to fix it. Things
Speaker 1: are not okay, and this is you know, we need
Speaker 1: to make Denver great again.
Speaker 4: That's what I said on the blog Let's make.
Speaker 1: Denver great again, because I think the health of Denver
Speaker 1: is so critical to the overall health of the state
Speaker 1: of Colorado that no matter where you live, you should
Speaker 1: be rooting for Denver. You really, truly should be rooting
Speaker 1: for Denver. And Taylor, I appreciate you coming on the show,
Speaker 1: and as a concealed carry permit holder myself, two pieces
Speaker 1: of advice.
Speaker 4: Inside the house, you.
Speaker 1: Want a shotgun for home defense, Mary forgiving, won't go
Speaker 1: through the walls, won't hurt anybody, you don't intend, and
Speaker 1: it's hard to miss. But practice practice practice. If you
Speaker 1: get your concealed carry permit, do not be one of
Speaker 1: those people that gets it and never goes to the range. Again,
Speaker 1: just practice practice practice, Taylor. I appreciate your time today.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Mandy, thank you so much. It just does give
Speaker 2: me hope. We'll see.
Speaker 3: I'll know we're on a good path when any of
Speaker 3: the mainstream media and Denver's having this conversation, we shall see.
Speaker 1: Hopefully they'll call you soon, Taylor. Taylor Ramiro, thanks for
Speaker 1: your time, man, thank.
Speaker 2: You, thank you so much. Man. You talk soon.