[HPN] Homeless NIMBY in "liberal" communities like Boulder - Why? FWD

[Tom Boland]

What might explain why, even in "liberal" communities, more and more
neighbors seem to say "I have nothing against homeless people, but Not In
My Back Yard"?

http://www.bouldernews.com/news/talbott/12cclin-.html
FWD  Boulder News - February 12, 2000

     HERE COME THE NEIGHBOR HOODS

     Clint Talbott - Camera Columnist

In big cities across the nation, officials are trying to sweep the homeless
out of town or out of sight. In some cities, it's illegal to sit on a
sidewalk or haul a bundle of personal belongings. Society seems largely
indifferent, if not downright hostile, to homeless people. In such a
climate, it's not surprising that a Boulder neighborhood isn't welcoming
our homeless shelter.

The Boulder Shelter for the Homeless hopes to move from north Boulder to
777 Broadway, just over a tall fence abutting the practice fields at Base
Line Middle School. On Thursday, the school hosted the first of three open
meetings on the topic. There was scant middle ground between fearful
opponents and fervid proponents.

Amanda Steinhardt, chairwoman of Base Line's parent group, said she's
"sympathetic" to the homeless. Opponents commonly prefaced their comments
that way. But there was the inevitable "but," as in, "But I feel the choice
of location is very poor."

Sometimes, the criticism was more bombastic. Daily Camera classical music
critic Wes Blomster, speaking at the meeting as a prospective neighbor,
lambasted Ron Stump, the University of Colorado's interim chancellor, who
said the relocation would be a "good move."

"Who was that jerk quoted in the Camera? Is he here? No? Typical." Blomster
said he's appalled that people who live elsewhere shape his neighborhood.
As for Stump, "You can rest assured he lives in a $2 million home on
Sugarloaf," Blomster said. Stump actually lives in a $300,000 home in
northeast Boulder, but never mind.

One parent said he couldn't support the move if neighborhood safety weren't
guaranteed. Boulder County Sheriff George Epp answered that while he
couldn't "guarantee" safety, the shelter is probably no more dangerous than
the university, which is across the street. Verne Graham, a longtime
Boulder resident, said he opposed the move because his taxes are too high.
"I don't believe in giving these guys a Marriott," he said. After Graham
left, Epp noted that the shelter is a nonprofit agency funded mostly by
donations.

Thomas Lange, who lives in the building next to the proposed shelter site,
criticized plans to install an elevator in the new shelter. He said his
hard-working friends use the stairs. Nobody mentioned that the shelter must
install an elevator because the Americans With Disabilities Act requires it.

Others worried about the homeless drinking, taking illegal drugs, not
taking their psychiatric drugs and aggressively panhandling. Some said they
were happy to learn that 40 percent of the shelter's residents work each
day. But they wondered about that other 60 percent. Were they dangerous?
How many are sex offenders?

Some homeless are mentally ill, alcoholic or both. Some are even sex
offenders. In other words, they resemble the rest of the population. Of the
94 sex offenders on the Boulder sex offender registry, five list their
address as the homeless shelter. Three of them stayed only one night, the
shelter says. But critics needn't cry "aha!" Twenty-one men who are
registered sex offenders live within one mile of Base Line Middle School.
Year round.

Apparently, many neighbors want to interact with the homeless as little as
possible. Friday morning, the shelter's director suggested some means of
accomplishing that. In the mornings, the shelter could escort its residents
to the bus stop. During the day, they could be contained in an obscured
courtyard on the shelter's grounds. At night, the shelter could provide
additional means of finding beds for those turned away.

Some opponents might never be swayed by such measures. That's too bad. If
any place could exemplify tolerance, Boulder could. That's the conventional
wisdom, at least. Maybe it's wrong.

END FORWARD



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