Downtown Denver 20 years ago. City spent a fortune on the 16th Street Mall and LoDo. The ferals, bums and "crust punks" made things interesting.
Reading this article, however, I suspect it isn't the behavior that has gotten worse, it is the younger millennials' who now live downtown inability to tolerate it.
The 16th St Mall is a tourist trap. It’s nice enough, but the parasites are thick there and it’s fruitcake city.