Posted on 07/02/2008 8:40:26 PM PDT by Libloather
Power to the street people during DNC
The city says it has no plan to hide the homeless during all the hoopla. Some officials hope they'll be part of the dialogue.
By Allison Sherry
The Denver Post
Article Last Updated: 07/01/2008 06:20:24 AM MDT
Denver police Cmdr. Deborah Dilley has a message to the 3,900 homeless people who live in the city: You can stay where you are between Aug. 25 and 28.
Responding to rumors that Denver's homeless would be bused to Pueblo or hauled out of the hip Lower Downtown area during the Democratic National Convention, city officials say they'll bend over backward to treat them, well, democratically.
One man has loaned five flat-screen televisions for shelters so the homeless can watch the action live on cable television. An advocate is pushing for vouchers to movies, museums and the Denver Zoo so the population can enjoy the city's cultural scene for free. There are plans for a voter-registration drive. One of the city's ministries will run bingo games at night.
"I think the city is saying the right things," said John Parvensky, president of the Colorado Coalition of the Homeless. "The wild card is when the rubber meets the road — when the Secret Service, the FBI and other federal agencies are putting pressure on the local police. I think there is some queasiness of people on the street."
The work on this front began in April, when Jamie Van Leeuwen started hearing concerns from homeless people about the projected hordes of expected visitors downtown during convention week.
The director for Denver's Road Home — the city's homeless initiative — convened a committee to find ways to assuage worries.
Officials expect up to 50,000 conventioneers downtown, excluding protesters.
Shelters are opening doors during the day so people — particularly those agitated by large crowds and robust security presence — have a place to go. Donations would cover the programs, Van Leeuwen said.
Two police officers devoted to the city's homeless population will remain on those duties through the convention.
"We have never hid the homeless in the past, and we won't hide them now," said Dilley, who works in District 6, which includes downtown. "This is going to be a traumatic time for . . . them."
While Dilley is adamant that it will be business as usual, she emphasized that some activities typically engaged in by the homeless are still illegal, and people could be cited.
In the city's "Business Improvement District" — which roughly spans Speer Boulevard to 20th Street and Wynkoop to Grant streets — it is illegal to sit or lie on the ground during the daytime.
Panhandling is legal, but there are almost a dozen restrictions, including asking for money too close to a restaurant or a bar, a bus stop, or an automated teller machine.
This is all fine for Randle Loeb, who was homeless on Denver's streets for six years. He knows that most homeless people stay out of the limelight and try to avoid trouble.
"They want, at all possible costs, to stay away from that," said 58-year-old Loeb, who now works for his shelter at St. Paul United Methodist Church.
What Loeb wants is dialogue.
Denver will have all the movers and shakers in the country talking about everything from global warming to health care to preschool, he says — so why not make a platform for homelessness? Why not get some of the people in their darkest days, those right out of jail or foster care, in on the discussion?
"We have a new generation of homeless people. . . . What are we going to do to put this front and center?" Loeb asked.
Van Leeuwen understands. He's going to try to promote the success of Denver's Road Home while everyone is in town. Since it began in 2003, the organization has helped 972 people by providing housing and eviction assistance.
Van Leeuwen is working to get an audience at the convention, but it's "been tricky," he said, "trying to confirm the logistics."
Allison Sherry: 303-954-1377 or asherry@denverpost.com
Didn't the ultra-rich idiot RAT Barbara Streisand and the other ultra-rich idiot RAT Alec Baldwin want to move to Canada because of the "queasiness"?
(Say, what are the chances that both Streisand and Baldwin show up @ the RAT convention in a Prius?)
"Mommy, what is that dirty man doing to those penguins?"
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Where do you think they draw the delegates from in the first place?
Michigan and Floriduh have already taken a beating. You've got to pile on?
Heck, let one of them speak at the convention!
'Saying' and 'doing' are the same things?
Walking in downtown LA from the convention enter to the subway (not the restaurant but a under ground train) I have met and had a chance to talk to a few homeless people. The sanest of the lot was a man who quite his job and lived on the street to avoid alimony payments. One man told me he would never vote for republican because of their pro abortion stance. It think CNN will end up using fake homeless for their reports if they try to use them.
Why not? They have already made it impossible for the taxpayers to use the city parks and the main library. Let 'em have the museums and the Zoo too. Does my family get a free voucher to the movies too???
Are you homeless? (This is your turn to say, "YES!")
Don’t they have a hard enough life already?
Yes, burning the flag is speech. Donating money is speech.
Nope. The Democratics are about to put them where they belong. I would say that they'll be left out in the streets but that would be incorrect.
POWER TO SOME PEOPLE!
No. But if you can lie semiconvincingly about being a Katrina victim you can get a nice trailer for your deer-camp! /SARC
Denver’s in the process of building $100,000 apartments to house the homeless (I believe close to downtown if memory serves). Maybe I can lie convincingly about being homeless long enought to score a free great apartment, close to work and Coors Field.
Don't worry. I'm sure they'll be respectfully grateful and they'll take very good care of their new lodgings.
Do I really need a SARC tag? I mean I threw up in my mouth a little while typing that!
“Heck, let one of them speak at the convention!”
And in two years he can run for president!
Will they be able to watch porn or steal the TVs?
Yes...indeed. This may need some satirical attention.
Time for a quiz.
Let's say you're a bum in Denver. Down at the local shelter they've just put in a brand-new flat-screen TV WITH cable.
(1) What are you going to watch: the Dem convention or the latest breastfest flick on Cinemax?
(2) What are you going to do with the money you got by pawning the flat-screen TV you just stole from the shelter after the breastfest flick was over?
Assessing RAT potential? Of course, the answer is, 'yes'. (Say, what is Unca Teddy up to these days?)
Something I just thought of - Obomber being 'serviced' with his young RAT staff. (Will the so-called wife complain?)
Just great. Does that mean Michelle in 2016?
Well Alec’s brother Steven said he will leave the country if Obama is elected...lmao. Can you imagine dinner between these guys?
I guess it would be asking too much to help the homeless to get a life.
How about the homeless moving into the buildings the illegals are occupying in this wonderful sanctuary city. It seems to me of those they are discussing, perhaps 2% are truly homeless. The others are just panhandlers, scam artists, addicts, bums, and the mentally ill (whom law enforcement can’t help without their consent). Makes sense to me. Who better to make decisions for themselves than mentally ill, homeless addicts.
My mother and sister are guzzling Obama's flavor aid, and my father and I think they are clinically insane.
We will neutralize their Obama votes in the General Election, though.
Looks like a great opportunity for patriotic Americans to buy a bus ticket for a homeless person to see Denver. Free widescreen TV, free food, free shelter. It would be great to see 10 homeless persons assigned to every democrat delegate to care for, feed, house and show a good time on the town.
In 2 years he could be Emperor.
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