"Every time I go on a walk, I start to notice empty tree wells and broken street lamps," Sunnyside resident Matt Levesque told Denverite. "And over the course of my time here, I would report it to the city through [the Denver Department of Transportation and Infrastructure] or 311, but nothing was ever being fixed."
His complaint makes more sense once you know how the work is divided. On a typical Sunnyside block, the empty tree well, the dark light pole and the cracked sidewalk look like one city problem. In practice they belong to three different owners. One of those owners is often the person who lives next to the tree well.
A Website Built From Photos Taken on Sunnyside Walks
Levesque started by photographing gaps around his corner of the neighborhood. He then applied for a grant from the Denver Community Active Living Coalition and DOTI to build thisshouldbe.org, a public site where anyone can upload a photo of missing or broken walkability infrastructure. In a Sunnyside photo from late August, he had stenciled "this should be a tree" in temporary paint next to a tree plot covered by a planter.
The project is growing fast. When Denverite published its story on September 1, 2026, contributors had uploaded about 150 photos across seven neighborhoods. As of this month, the site's homepage shows 333 reported issues and 27 active neighborhoods.
Denverite reported that the grant itself was $500. Levesque planned to turn it into fifteen $50 Illegal Pete's gift cards, with the local chain matching his money, for "completed walkability audits." A completed audit meant photographing at least 10 missing or broken items and reporting them to the proper authority. The site's homepage doesn't currently advertise that offer, so it may already be claimed.
The audit rule asks people to report each item to "the proper authority," and that's the part most people skip. On a Sunnyside street, the proper authority changes from item to item.
Three Gaps, Three Owners
| What you see on the block | Who's responsible in Denver | Where a report goes |
|---|---|---|
| Empty tree well or missing street tree | The adjacent property owner, under city code | Planting needs a free Office of the City Forester permit |
| Dark or removed streetlight | Usually Xcel Energy | Xcel's outage form or 800-895-4999; 311 if ownership is unclear |
| Cracked or missing sidewalk | The city, through DOTI's sidewalk program | 311, the Online Service Hub, HEY311 text or Sunny |
The Tree Strip Belongs to the City. The Tree Is Yours to Care For.
Denver owns the public right-of-way, which includes the strip between the sidewalk and the curb. The Office of the City Forester says city code requires property owners to maintain trees on their own land and any trees in the right-of-way next to it. That care covers planting, pruning, cleanup and removal. So the city often isn't the party that would fill an empty tree well in front of a Sunnyside bungalow.
Planting or removing a right-of-way tree requires a permit from the Office of the City Forester. The permit is free, you request it through an online form, and review can take up to five business days. If you can't tell whether a tree or an empty plot is public, you can search the city's public tree inventory by address, or contact the Forester's office.
Sunnyside does show up on one city tree list. Denver's Equitable Community Tree Planting Initiative names Sunnyside among its prioritized neighborhoods. The city says the first phase is complete and that the program will return in 2026, but the page doesn't yet give dates for the next round.
Fall Planting Is Over. The Next Street-Tree Window Opens in January.
For anyone hoping to fill a tree well this season, the timing doesn't work. The Park People's Denver Digs Trees fall 2026 application has closed, and its September 12 pickup offered yard trees only, with no street trees. The calendar that matters for an empty tree well is spring:
- January 5 to February 15, 2027: Denver Digs Trees spring application window, which includes both street trees and yard trees.
- April 23 to 24, 2027: Spring pickup and planting, marked as tentative.
A standard Digs Trees tree costs $50. Trees in listed low-canopy focus neighborhoods cost $15, but Sunnyside isn't on that published list, so the $50 price is the one that applies here.
There's also a free option. Be a Smart Ash takes requests for free right-of-way trees, and an arborist reviews each site and recommends a species. Its page doesn't list an application deadline. The same group runs an ash removal and replacement program for qualifying declining or dead ash trees up to 12 inches in diameter in the right-of-way. Its posted schedule lists west Denver for 2026. Both pages were last updated before this year, so check current capacity with the Office of the City Forester before counting on a spot.
The Dark Light Pole Is Usually Xcel's
Streetlights are where a 311 report most often lands with the wrong owner. Denver's street maintenance page says Xcel Energy maintains the city's streetlights and points residents to Xcel's outdoor lighting outage form. Xcel also takes reports by phone at 800-895-4999 and has an online tool for checking the status of an outage.
A separate city transportation page adds a caveat. Depending on the fixture, responsibility can fall to DOTI, CDOT, RTD or a private owner, and 311 is the fallback when nobody's sure. ThisShouldBe follows the same split. It asks people to log "broken lamp posts (not maintained by a utility)" and sends sidewalks, potholes and traffic signals to 311. Denverite's photos of a removed Sunnyside light pole, with its exposed wires covered by a traffic cone, are the kind of case where ownership isn't obvious.
Sidewalks Moved to the City, and Sunnyside Is Getting New Ones
The sidewalk is the one item where responsibility recently shifted away from homeowners. Under Denver's sidewalk program, building, widening and repairing public sidewalks moved from adjacent property owners to the city. DOTI's 2025 annual report, published in February 2026, says the program built or repaired 41.9 miles of sidewalk in 2025.
Property owners still help pay for it. For 2026, the sidewalk fee is a $150 annual base charge plus $3.50 per frontage foot beyond 230 feet. It's billed in two half-year installments on the stormwater bill.
DOTI says sidewalk repairs aren't done on demand. It ranks 311 damage reports by severity and groups them by area, so a contractor can get the most done within the repair budget. The 2026 repair areas named so far are Washington Park, Washington Park West and Clayton. For Sunnyside blocks, that makes it more important to file reports, because the ranking is built from them.
Sunnyside does appear on the city's list for new sidewalk construction. DOTI anticipates building a new stretch on the north side of W 45th Avenue, from Federal Boulevard to Eliot Street, sometime in 2026 or 2027. The city notes that segments may change as design is finalized.
Where ThisShouldBe Fits
ThisShouldBe says plainly that it's not a replacement for 311. It's meant to "track and quantify" the issues the city isn't yet responding to, so the data can support grant applications and raise awareness. You can still file a city report through Denver's online report form. Levesque told Denverite he hopes to keep the project going after the gift cards are gone.
For a Sunnyside resident looking at an empty tree well, the most direct route is a free Forester permit and an application to Be a Smart Ash now, or to Denver Digs Trees between January 5 and February 15, 2027.
When you buy or sell a home in Sunnyside, the tree strip, the frontage and the sidewalk fee come with the lot, and they're easy to miss on a listing sheet. If you'd like to go over what comes with a specific property, Joaquin Avila offers a calm, plain-language walkthrough. Schedule a Free Denver Market Consultation. Hablamos español.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
