The HOLLY: Five Bullets, One Gun, and the Struggle to Save an American Neighborhood
, which was released May 11. This excerpt from The HOLLY picks up as Rubinstein is looking for the answer to a question that echoes through the book: Why did activist Terrance Roberts shoot Hasan Jones? As a steady rise in Denver’s gang violence continued, the city’s federal anti-gang effort was conspicuously absent from public reporting. I couldn’t find any mention of it since the prestigious grant had been announced in 2010. One night, I went to a public meeting of the Holly Area Redevelopment Project (HARP), held in the old Safeway building at the top of Holly Square. District 2 commander Mike Calo was there, in uniform. He had a broad chest and a high forehead. His black-and-gray hair was combed to one side. Afterward, he told me he’d be happy to discuss his work. “What we’re doing here is a model for the nation,” he said, and gave me his card.