A Denver judge ruled to dismiss a lawsuit filed in an attempt to block a safe outdoor camping site from going up at a neighborhood church for those experiencing homelessness.
Yes, overwhelmingly Democratic Denver does have a Republican Party. And the Denver Republican Party has a new chair, Garrett Flicker, who s openly gay, Jewish and just 25. He also identifies as a very moderate Republican, and isn t afraid of taking on tough issues, including homelessness.
Last month, Flicker received approval to begin collecting signatures for a ballot initiative that would require the city to set up safe-camping sites for people experiencing homelessness, while also granting Denver residents power to sue the city if it doesn t ameliorate complaints about outdoor camping. And, just as many people are surprised to find out that the city has an active Republican Party, Flicker has been surprised by how many messages of support he s received for the initiative.
Counters Sarah:
If homeless people camping in front of the Capitol where politicians work every single day won’t change anything, I don’t see how this will. Responds Patty:
Some people will never understand as they regurgitate Republican/Conservative anti-poor stereotypical talking points about houseless people. Bunch of bootlicking rich people pawns. Still, it should be done because it s the right thing to do and people without homes still deserve dignity and safety. It s sad that this needs to be said. Suggests Gregory:
Homelessness won t get solved until people can find a way to make money from the solution; until then, they stay.
Garrett Flicker, the new chair of the Denver Republican Party, is pushing a proposal for the November ballot that would allow for up to four city-funded, sanctioned homeless encampments and could also increase enforcement actions at unsanctioned encampments. We wanted to ensure that the encampments have basic services, such as sanitation, hygiene, running water and safety lighting. Due to these services costing more in your camps compared to your traditional pop-up encampments, and combine that with the ability to patrol these four encampments, we decided on four, Flicker explained during an April 16 meeting with city staffers to answer questions about the proposed initiative.
Now, some neighborhood advocates are pushing to ensure that when the pandemic subsides, the safe-camping concept doesn t disappear in Denver, which has at least 1,000 people sleeping on the streets every night.
In March, a collective of representatives from neighborhood organizations that cover Capitol Hill, Uptown, City Park West, RiNo and Curtis Park, among other areas, signed on to a letter sent to Mayor Michael Hancock and Denver City Council members pitching the idea of keeping safe-camping sites as a tool going forward. The two existing Safe Outdoor Space (SOS) sites.have had some remarkable success in their short tenure and it is time to scale them to provide temporary, yet sustained support to our most vulnerable, Frank Locantore, executive director of the Colfax Ave Business Improvement District, wrote to the elected officials in the March 10 letter. Proponents of the safe-camping site model say that it helps homeless individuals connect more easily with services whil