Bessemer residents tell council they want neighborhoods back as city leaders discuss enforcement and services

Bessemer residents presented detailed complaints about public-safety problems they say are concentrated in the Bessemer neighborhood and other parts of Pueblo, telling the City Council on June 23 about drug use, fires, stolen property and large encampments.

Two presenters who identified themselves as representing a Bessemer safety group described neighborhood damage, property loss, and fears about needles and crime. Betty Finley told councilors, “We want our neighborhoods back because the homelessness are taking over their neighborhoods,” and showed photographs she said documented trash, open fires and damage to private property.

Other residents added testimony about repeated break‑ins, an increase in new people arriving on buses, and specific disturbances near commercial strips. Joel Latina, a commenter, thanked PURA…