Re: homeless camp at South Platte river (Denver) FWD

Virginia Sellner (wych@tcd.net)
Tue, 20 Jan 1998 21:25:31 -0800 

They also removed homeless camps from under bridges along Cherry Creek in
Denver.  I'm not sure which removal came first, but I think it was Cherry
Creek and then the S. Platte -- if the S. Platte is where Clintonville was
located.  A lot of the people are still down there and camping, just in
different places -- they moved further out.  The South Platte near downtown
has been developed and they want to develop more and that must've had a lot
to do with the removals.  I read an article I think when they moved people
out from under the bridges on Cherry Creek that a lot of people indicated
that they did not feel a threat from the homeless, but they were moved
anyway.  i haven't read anything about this recently -- we do take the
Denver paper and try and keep up with what's going on down there.
>
>Virginia
>
>
>At 08:38 PM 1/20/98 PST, Theodore Latham wrote:
>>Tom,
>>
>>     I have seen this sort of thing first habd in 1996 when I was 
>>homeless i Phoenix, AZ.  There were encampments of homeless people all 
>>along the Rio Salido, under the 7th Ave. or 7th St. (I forget because 
>>Phoenix's streets and avenues are East-West coordinated) bridge 
>>underpass.  The majority of them were anti-shelterist like the ones you 
>>mentioned in your posting.  They literally had canvas tents pitched, and 
>>occasionally the Phoenix Metropolitian Police would come in and harass 
>>them and write a few citations.  It is sad that media & anti homeless 
>>activist can be so down on a person bathing in the river when Jesus 
>>Christ and the gang knew no other way to clean their bodies, all those 
>>many years ago.  Nuff Said!
>>
>>Regards,
>>
>>Tedrico
>>
>>
>>_________________________
>>TEDRICO'S PAGE
>>http://members.metrocity.net/Alternative/tedrico/homepage.html 
>>Education, Shelter, and Food Assistance for the Homeless!
>>[mailto: tedrico@hotmail.com ]
>>
>>>From hpn-owner@aspin.asu.edu Tue Jan 20 16:39:19 1998
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>>>To: hpn@aspin.asu.edu
>>>From: wgcp@earthlink.net (Tom Boland)
>>>Subject: homeless camp at South Platte river (Denver) FWD
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>>>
>>>FWD  CC Replies to richj@fc.hp.com (Rich Johnson)
>>>
>>>It would be nice if homelessness were simply a matter of people not
>>>having a place to stay. If that were so then we could simply build
>>>enough shelters to house them. I don't think the answer is that simple,
>>>though. As an example, I'll use a somewhat recent controversy in 
>>Denver.
>>>
>>>Along the South Platte river there used to be a sort of camp that was 
>>the
>>>home of a couple of hundred homeless people. The city decided to make 
>>the
>>>area a park which had the effect of driving off the people who were 
>>living
>>>there. Further, the reason the city made the area a park was to drive 
>>off
>>>the people who were living there.
>>>
>>>Anyway, the whole thing was being discussed on the radio one morning 
>>when I
>>>was on my way to work. The radio hosts were taking calls form people to
>>>solicit opinions. One caller was a man who said that a couple of years
>>>before he had lived in the camp. He said that the reason the people 
>>were
>>>there and not in the shelters was because they didn't like the rules 
>>that
>>>the shelters required them to follow. Particularly onerous was the rule
>>>against drunkeness in the shelters. So they found a piece of ground 
>>where
>>>they could live as they see fit.
>>>
>>>The city could have left them alone, except that the area had no sewage
>>>system and that constitutes a threat to public health. Also, there were
>>>complaints from commuters about people bathing nude in the river. 
>>Finally,
>>>violent crime was a problem. For these reasons, and perhaps others, the
>>>city decided to break up the camp.
>>>
>>>Now, I don't know what the right answer is here. I suspect there isn't 
>>one.
>>>How can money be spent to battle this problem?
>>>
>>>Rich
>>>
>>>END FORWARD
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
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>
______________________________________________
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Fire".