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DENVER (KDVR) — Residents in Valverde are hoping the community comes together to help keep the neighborhood safe.

“We just built this a few years ago. It’s due for a coat of paint now, I’m getting ready to paint it and reseal it,” Gilbert Gutierrez said standing on his porch.

“It was my dream man. I used to ride my bike down here on the bottom, next to the river and it was all farmland,” he said.

He said he’s lived in the neighborhood for 63 years and has been a homeowner for 40 of those years. So, when he sees one story or another about violence, he takes it personal. 

“It’s not all about people dying, it’s about the unity in the community,” Gutierrez said. “Come outside and you hear the beautiful canción Mexicana playing. We love the community and it’s becoming even more diverse, and I think that’s incredible.”

Maureen McCanna said she’s lived in the neighborhood for about four and a half years. It’s the neighborhood where she bought her first house. 

“I sometimes just sit on my stoop and take in the sounds, take in the passers by,” she said. It’s quickly become home, she added.

“It’s the people, it’s the culture. It’s the community,” she said. “It’s a perfect home and I think I’m going to continue to love it more and more over the next years.” 

Maybe even as long as her neighbor, Gilbert. “Moved in as the young guy and now I’m the old guy,” Gutierrez said.