Denver is about to deploy several short-term strategies to deal with the ever-present nightlife problems in Lower Downtown — heeding some recommendations that have been on the table for months.

For years, the city has wrestled with how to handle the large numbers of bar patrons — many of whom are drunk — who spill into LoDo streets between 1:30 and 2 a.m on weekend nights. With the crowds, confrontations begin, fists are thrown and occasionally guns are fired.

In July, a 19-year-old Buckley airman was shot to death at 15th and Market streets during a closing-time melee in which another man was severely beaten. Last month, two people were shot at a bar at 22nd and Blake streets near Coors Field at about 1:30 a.m. Most recently, at 2:30 a.m. Saturday, also at 15th and Market, a man was shot in the leg.

Thirty-three violent crimes occurred in August and September, including simple assaults, aggravated assaults and robbery.

Two-thirds of those happened between Thursday and Sunday nights, according to an analysis by the Colfax Community Coalition that is working to quell violence around the city.

The analysis showed a person is more likely to be a crime victim between 1 and 3 a.m. in LoDo than in any other part of the city.

“When you get a lot of people in one place with alcohol, there is a potential for bad things to happen,” said Josh Davies, president of the Lower Downtown Neighborhood Association. “You will never eliminate that. That’s part of the culture we are in. We need to find ways to mitigate that.”

Over the next few months, the city will “enhance oversight” of liquor law compliance to make sure clubs aren’t overcrowded and patrons aren’t being overserved, and it will enforce city rules that forbid food peddlers and food trucks after midnight from the Downtown Business District, according to the mayor’s office.

Flexible taxicab stands also may be set up, allowing cabs to queue up to quickly whisk people out of the LoDo throng, said Amber Miller, press secretary for Denver Mayor Michael Hancock.

Some of these recommendations were made to Hancock’s administration months ago after several meetings with stakeholders, according to documents obtained by The Denver Post.

An Aug. 1 memo titled “comprehensive safety proposal” for LoDo recommended amending the city’s licensing to allow bars to stay open after 2 a.m., limiting food peddlers and food trucks in LoDo and creating flexible taxi stands.

“There hasn’t been a delay,” Miller said. “This has been an issue that has been ever-evolving. The city has been working on this.”

The goal is to “keep our downtown a welcoming entertainment core for patrons, neighbors and businesses; that means making sure our people feel safe,” Miller said.

“Overcrowding of patrons coming out of the bars and clubs between 1:30 and 2 a.m. creates traffic and pedestrian congestion and sets the stage for possible altercations,” she said.

Hancock is directing his administration to work with businesses, neighborhood groups and residents to “create an all-encompassing plan to address this on a global level to take in consideration all the proposals over the years,” Miller said.

“This is a long-standing issue. We want to gather all of those recommendations and fully understand what the unintended consequences are of each one.”

Denver City Councilwoman Judy Montero has been meeting with city officials, including the police chief and licensing officials, to find solutions. Montero said she didn’t know about the recommendations, nor had she heard about the short-term solutions being offered by the mayor’s office.

“If they have a plan, OK,” she said. “Of course I am frustrated because I haven’t seen it.”

Holly Barrett, executive director of LoDo District Inc., also wasn’t aware of the city’s short-term solutions. On Wednesday, she met with bar and restaurant owners to discuss the possible changes that have been recommended.

Most of the owners, she said, opposed the idea of keeping bars open past 2 a.m. without being able to serve alcohol.

“Many of the venues wouldn’t participate, simply because keeping doors open and staff on payroll while not being able to create revenue is a bad business practice,” she said.

Her organization will push state legislators to consider changing state liquor laws to allow alcohol to be sold after 2 a.m.

“We have all sorts of evidence from Malibu, New York, Dublin, Berlin that stay open late or don’t close at all,” she said. “We have seen it work in other cities. We are a city of that caliber. We need to look at it in LoDo.”

With the exception of simple assault, violent crime in LoDo is down about 13 percent for the first nine months of 2013 compared with the same period in 2012, according to an analysis of Denver police statistics.

Simple assaults, however, have increased from 62 in 2012 to 85 in 2013, a 37 percent increase.

George Mannion, a managing partner of LoDo’s Bar & Grill near 19th and Market streets, said the notion of the neighborhood being violent is not true.

“It’s way blown out of proportion,” Mannion said. “Crowds are so much less than they have been in the past. It’s just not that big of a deal. In the fall and winter, it’s even less of an issue.”

Mannion thinks with more options throughout the city with neighborhoods adding bars and clubs, people have more and more entertainment options in Denver.

Miller, the mayor’s spokeswoman, said police have also done a good job of reducing crime, adding more officers and being more visible.

Police are effectively managing traffic and pedestrians, including encouraging patrons at the end of the night to head home. They are closing streets at varying times to reduce cruising and congestion and working with off-duty officers.

Police officials regularly meet with downtown business owners to promote the benefits of staggering their hours voluntarily, the dangers of overserving and how to use their security team to move patrons to their cars at closing time.

And the Downtown Denver Business Improvement District, along with LoDo District, raises money for a dedicated sheriff’s office scout car to help transport people to jail on summer weekend nights.

“We all agree that it takes all of us to create a solution to keep downtown thriving,” she said.

Letters have recently come in from people visiting from out of town, saying they are dismayed by the vagrancy, drug use and sketchy characters they have seen downtown.

At a recent meeting, Councilman Charlie Brown read aloud one complaint from a couple visiting from New York City.

“We took a day trip to Denver this past Saturday and were appalled at the number of mentally ill, drug addicted and alcoholics I saw in downtown Denver,” said Steven D’Angelo. “Reminded me when I was a small boy in the 1960s, New York City Bowery, but worse because I saw open illegal drug usage on your streets. … Your Mayor should study how New York City turned itself from a rundown seedy city in the ’70s to one of the worlds best (in my opinion).”

A letter to The Denver Post from Dee Barrett of Chicago expressed shock about the number of homeless and drug-addled people seen downtown.

“Next time I come to Denver, I will bypass the city and head straight for the mountains,” he wrote.

On a recent night, however, several people downtown seemed suitably impressed by what they saw.

George Castaneda of Chicago said he found the city to be “very nice and clean. … In fact, I just told some of my clients they are in for a treat when they visit.”

Castaneda said he felt safe being downtown. He noticed the police presence with patrols along the mall and how well lit areas were. He said it reminded him of Chicago, which he said is surprisingly safe.

And this Friday, the LoDo crowd didn’t seem to be scared.

Craig Jeske said he sometimes feels that downtown and LoDo are being overrun with “obnoxious drunks,” but he said that could just be because he is getting older.

“I don’t stay out until 2 a.m. anymore,’ he said, adding that he is more selective when going out, paying a little more money to go to nicer bars.

Megan Cofer and Lisa Swart both said LoDo hasn’t changed one bit.

Cofer said there have always been drunk people and trouble if you went looking for it.

“It’s always been a little sketchy down here,” she said.

Jeremy P. Meyer: 303-954-1367, jpmeyer@denverpost.com or twitter.com/jpmeyerdpost

Staff writer Ryan Parker contributed to this story.