by Punky

    As you know, the effort to end houselessness and poverty has been going on since before you were born, before your parents were born, and before that. People in America have been trying to end the absurdity of such low living and wage standards since our country began. Of course, there have been some wonderful movements on the matter, and if we did not have those past attempts, matters would most likely be worse than they are now. Unfortunately, these movements for success did not move far enough; _houseless people and folks living in poverty continue to be "moved along" in no-such directions towards success. 
    It seems as though almost any efforts we put in today to try and change these circumstances are redundant. Our children and our children's children will most likely be putting in almost the exact same efforts for the exact same cause. And it will continue like this--UNLESS we change the direction of our efforts towards what is really making us repeat these generations of blood, sweat and tears.
    We must learn from our history or we are doomed to repeat it--that's not just a fancy saying, it is complete truth. This redundancy must end if we really want to change things--but to change our environment we must also be prepared to change ourselves and LEARN new things. Since the beginning of recorded history humans have grown in mind, innovation, and technology. So what happened? Our thinking and social processes have been pretty much the same since the 1800's. The only thing that has grown immensely over the years is the technology. 
    Humans are capable of much more than what we’ve accomplish so far--much MUCH more. But why haven't we grown? I'd love to share my explanation, but instead I implore you to LEARN and find out for yourself and create your own explanation.
    There are so many "nonprofits" and "grassroots" organizations working to the bone to make circumstances better for those in poverty and experiencing houselessness. Bless their souls for their efforts and hard work. 
    Grievously, it seems that most of them do not understand that their efforts only help momentarily, and the plight of living inequality that they want so badly to end will not end if they continue to run things the way they are now. _"Nonprofits" are actually profitable for the government--and of course for the folks working for them. "Grassroots" organizations claim to be getting to the "root" of the issues of poverty and houselessness--when quite frankly the root is systemic and immoral. Unless they change some things, these grassroots orgs only have a chance at addressing the immoral root--but unfortunately immorality is a matter of opinion. 
    What grassroots orgs and nonprofits can do is educate EVERYBODY on the true roots of poverty, try to diminish the stigma and change the stereotype, and of course help people momentarily- but only based on where their money comes from....
    There is a reason why we have redundantly been doing the same things to create only small changes. Systemically, the only change that is meaningful in capitalism is change in profits. In a system whose philosophy is based on income, people who are rich have more freedom and more control. Government-funded nonprofits and government affiliated foundations that fund nonprofits only fund those that can follow their guidelines--which often limit what the money can be used for. 
    For example, _the Ford Foundation (super-rich people collaboration) might give an organization a $100,000 grant--but only if that organization supports what the foundation supports. Another example is government-funded housing. Say the government gives some money so people can get housing--but it excludes people with felonies, even if the felony was from 20 years ago... and the wait lists could last for months...unless of course you have a mental "disorder" or you PRETEND to have a "mental disorder" and PRETEND to take medication for a faked mental "disorder." They wouldn't care if you faked it or not either--because that just helps perpetuate the stigma of all houseless people being "crazy"--which scares the public away from helping people and promotes wage segregation.
    Personally, I know I might have some behavioral problems--according to the government... but I would never lie about having some kind of special diagnosis just to have a home--since that home would come with its own set of freedom-diminishing guidelines. It would take away my honesty and dignity, and limit my freedom, and I would rather be apartment-less than give those qualities up just to perpetuate the cycle of blood sweat and tears. Maybe I just want a yard--or maybe I just have high standards--but maybe this America just lives by the ol' "get what you get (sometimes by lying and giving up your dignity) and you don't throw a fit!”
    Another name for what I am talking about is the “nonprofit industrial complex.” There are so many different industrial complexes--it's what America's run by and it's disgusting. Industrial complexes are inhumane systems of using the people to make money for government--and completely duping the public in the meantime.
    If we truly want to make some significant changes and help ourselves and others--the best thing to do is educate yourself on the system that spawns this poverty and houselessness. In other words, you cannot truly fix something unless you figure out how it became broken. We can keep putting our efforts towards redundancy and basically give up or we can actually friggin' do something. Once we have enough people with the same general knowledge of industrial complexes then we can formulate a plan that will actually work. We need hope, we need motivation--which we can find in ourselves if we look hard enough, but most importantly, we need you.

Here's a website to get you started: 
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2011/01/eisenhower-military-industrial-complex
If you need help--I will be there for you--to give you advice if you want some-- punkyiatrist@gmail.com

Much love, good intentions, and good luck- we can do this ya' know--
you just have to believe it and never give up.

by John Claybaugh
    In late June the Denver Police Department and the Denver Department of Parks and Recreation conducted sweeps along the Platte River and also the Cherry Creek. These areas are readily accessible because of bicycle trails that were built adjacent to them, and so many people experiencing homelessness sleep there each night. (In a recent meeting, outreach workers estimated this number to be between 95 and 130.) Many of these individuals call the area home.
    These areas are technically part of the park system here in Denver. This means that, even without the urban camping ban legislation that was passed just over three years ago, laws like the park curfew make it illegal to sleep and hang out there at night. Therefore, the police will tell them to move along next week. There is a plan to clean up trash and other items in these areas.
    And by "other items" I mean personal belongings. This could mean bags of clothes, blankets, court paperwork, and forms of identification, including state IDs and birth certificates.
    Any belongings lost during this process will have to be replaced. Individuals will go to clothing rooms and similar service providers with the hope of replacing clothing and blankets. These items are typically donated by the general public. Many of these items sit around in garages until someone makes the decision to donate them to people who are less fortunate. However, I know a few people who buy items from second hand stores in order to give them to people who need them. Wherever these items come from, what does throwing them away solve?
    Legal papers are needed to remind people of court dates and such. When these items come up missing, it increases the likelihood of a warrant being issued because of a missed court hearing or other appointments within the legal system. Also, some of the paperwork may be related to child visitation. The loss of such documents may cause even further stress on families. This means that children, who may also be experiencing homelessness, may also be negatively affected when their parent misses an appointment or is unable to keep other commitments.
    And then there is the issue of identification. Birth certificates and state IDs cost money. Many times, when these need to be replaced, the individual is able to go to various service providers or churches and get a voucher with which to obtain these documents. But this is a huge waste of public resources (read money) when the reason these items need replaced is due to the police or parks department confiscating them. 
    Also, the individual may be in the process of getting permanent housing. These documents are needed. In most situations the housing provider will work with an individual as long as there is proof that the documents have been ordered, but sometimes that isn't the case. Also, an individual may be forced to wait until the beginning of the next month due to the fact that many service providers run out funds after the first week or two. Without funds, they cannot issue vouchers, and most funding that is set aside for purpose of obtaining identification is used up in the first ten days. A crazy catch-22 here is that police spokespeople said bags containing IDs would be considered “not trash” and would therefore be taken somewhere for safekeeping--but in order to retrieve them the owner would need to show ID…!
    All of this leads to a poor use of funds, as providers are paying for the same necessities multiple times. These funds could and should be used for housing. While other services are important, we will never end homelessness without housing. And yet we continue to spend money in other areas because of waste. 
    And what about the going-nowhere-fast cycle of sweeping people from the waterways and elsewhere, usually in the middle of the night, thereby disrupting their sleep, and telling them they have to “go somewhere else”--even though there’s nowhere for them to go--only to have them “move along” to yet another location--and eventually return to where they started?
    
How long must this go on? How long will we continue the cycle? 

by Lynn Thompson
    On August 26th, the Fort Collins City Council decided not to pursue a sit-lie ban ordinance for the downtown area. This victory comes after weeks of hard work by Fort Collins Homeless Coalition(FCHC) members and other allies and advocates throughout the community, and deserves to be celebrated. The Fort Collins newspaper the Coloradoan wrote: "Council members Tuesday voiced concerns that the ordinance would cause negative public perception, negatively affect vulnerable members of the community and cause legal issues."
    The sit-lie ban ordinance was first aired publicly in early August, and was formally proposed during a community presentation given by City staff on August 13th. Given the euphemistic title of the "Shared Public Spaces Ordinance," this law would have made it illegal to sit or lie down in downtown Fort Collins under certain circumstances. No text of the ordinance was ever made public, but similar ordinances in many cities across the nation are used to try to drive people experiencing homelessness out of business areas. They are inhumane, costly to enforce and, like other criminalization measures, impose great burdens while doing nothing to reduce homelessness. 
    A recent study of a similar ordinance in Honolulu concluded: "[T]he city's policy of "compassionate disruption" and its accompanying sit-lie laws cause significant property and economic loss, physical and psychological harm and very likely violate certain constitutional rights. Not only that, they make it much harder for houseless people to get off the streets and into permanent housing."(2)
    Fort Collins already has laws that criminalize homelessness, including bans on sleeping in public spaces and/or vehicles and restrictions on sleeping on private property even with the permission of the property owner. FCHC believes that these laws should be repealed, and that the City should stop writing tickets for camping, sleeping, and resting. As the Department of Justice recently opined, "It should be uncontroversial that punishing conduct that is a universal and unavoidable consequence of being human violates the Eighth Amendment. . . Sleeping is a life-sustaining activity-i.e., it must occur at some time in some place. If a person literally has nowhere else to go, then enforcement of the anti-camping ordinance against that person criminalizes her for being homeless." FCHC has been making this argument to the City for over a year, asking them to cease and desist in the practice of issuing tickets to homeless people for camping in public spaces, for sleeping in their legally-parked vehicles, and for sleeping on private land with the permission of the property owner. Throughout this time, the City has not changed its camping laws or its practice of issuing hundreds of tickets for sleeping outside.
    In sharp contrast to this history of slow response and inaction, City management responded to the complaints of a few business owners this summer with a sudden rush of proposals, including the sit-lie ban (or "Shared Public Spaces Ordinance"). Several of these proposals would have had severe and drastic repercussions for people experiencing homelessness in Fort Collins, and yet the City appeared ready to proceed with very little time for public input and discussion. FCHC members were very concerned, and responded by writing and calling city council members and staff, by attending community presentations and city council sessions, by speaking to city staff and during opportunities for public comment, by seeking support from others in our community, by holding signs and wearing stickers (pictured above), and by making sure our voices were heard. Thanks to everyone who took action, city council decided not to move forward with a sit-lie ban at this time.
    (1) Kyle, Sarah Jane. "City Council says no to "sit-lie" ordinance," The Coloradoan,    August 25, 2015: http://www.coloradoan.com/story/news/2015/08/25/city-council--shuts-down…(just include this in e-version?)   
    (2) "Study shows sit-lie laws have worsened Honolulu's houseless problem," The Hawaiian Independent, June 15, 2015: http://hawaiiindependent.net/story/study-shows-sit-lie-laws-have-worsene…(just for e-version?)
    
    Lynn Thompson is a member of the Fort Collins Homeless Coalition (FCHC). This article originally appeared on the FCHC website. Ten Denver Homeless Out Loud and Prax(us) members traveled to Fort Collins to oppose the proposed sit-lie ban and support FCHC’s efforts.

    Rise up all transients and down trodden- DO NOT SIT DOWN: All Hail Suthers!
It must be true: you can’t keep a good hobo down. Unhappy with the current city ordinance making lying down on the sidewalk or on benches or within the city limits a crime (City of Colorado Springs Ordinance Article 9.2.104), the Mayor’s office is in the process of drafting a proposed new city ordinance that would outlaw sitting on sidewalks, tiled or cement planters and any area not designated for sitting. It appears to me that this would leave the sidewalk benches all nice and forest green for sitting, not for lying on, but benches would seem to be a legal sitting area. This will last as long as it takes the Mayor’s office to order the removal of those benches.
    Billie Stanton Anleu wrote for The Gazette on June 13, 2015 that the Mayor of Colorado Springs, John (All Hail) Suthers was like a ‘racehorse pushing at the gate’ to begin work on his agenda: one of the top items listed by Ms. Anleu was about  forbidding the “homeless” from sitting in the downtown area.  According to a June 27, 2015 follow-up article, the Mayor stated that he does not see this as a civil rights or human rights issue. DO NOT SIT DOWN Mayor. It is not just about protecting people’s rights; it is also about the Government targeting a particular group of people and discriminating against that group.  Did she refer to the Mayor as a stallion? If it’s an equine metaphor  being used for him he is more like a mule kicking people when they are down and stomping on these people’s rights  to rest and sit or sit and watch the people go by, or whatever they do while sitting without causing a stir except for appearances.
    The businesses and some hardened people of the Springs have pleaded with city officials to have “these people” removed from the downtown area and Old Colorado City. They don’t like people in need asking for spare change (as old as “alms for the poor”); these grounded pilots flying signs are there for a legitimate purpose. Panhandling is protected speech under the Constitution of the United States.  Businesses may demand protection for corporate Constitutional rights as “persons;” however, as far as the rights of people in poverty are concerned, “these people” must go somewhere else. The claim that “these people” who sit and panhandle interfere with business revenue has no supporting data. Maybe they could help people by putting a sandwich board around his or her neck for a cup of coffee in the morning. DO NOT SIT and take a break. No sitting for those workers coming out to smoke and if he or she does, they better be one of the pretty people. Don’t get up, please rest.
    One might think that a former Attorney General of the great state of Colorado, “the people’s attorney” would be more inclined to protect those people who are in the most need of being safeguarded against those who have more than the clothes on their back and don’t wish to see the realities of our society.  One would think that he would understand the limits of government instead of using the office to pursue people of a different life circumstance. Who would be allowed to sit or who would be ignored by authorities when sitting in the wrong spot? DO NOT SIT except …
    The movement here in the Springs appears to be to rid downtown and Old Colorado City of shabby clothed undesirables. I suppose we could have a downtown dress code for people. Nah, that would irritate people who have choices and they would complain. I got it: Mayor (All Hail) Suthers could start requiring people to have homeless tattoos for proper identification by the authorities. Maybe they will just start shipping “these people” out to remote areas like Lepers (colonies), or Jews (camps) or Indigenous (reservations).  That’s it! We need a homeless homestead on some barren patch of land away from civilization. Round ‘em up, head ‘em out. 
    This leads me to ask where this “civilized” state is headed. We need to be wary of the slippery slope that has led this country to repeated acts of bigotry and isolation.  We are about to slip again folks. Rise up!  All ...

    Recently the Denver Post printed the article, “Study to revitalize Denver's 16th Street Mall seeks ‘linger’ factor,” by Steve Raabe. It put into words what most of Denver’s residents know, but have not verbalized: the 16th Street Mall is heavily invested in, and underutilized. This ought to be of great concern to the public, whose tax dollars are spent maintaining the place. Our public assets ought to be spent only on that which is enjoyable and beneficial for the public as a whole.
    There is one fatal flaw, however, in how planners are attempting to make the mall more inviting to ‘“lingerers”: over-policing. In  the urban planning classic, ‘The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces’, William H. Whyte points out the obvious truth--you cannot make an environment uninviting for some people, whom you deem “undesirables,” and expect it to be inviting to a more “desirable” crowd.
     Whyte, who helped write New York City’s zoning code for plazas and parks, studied numerous such spaces around the city and interviewed hundreds of pedestrians who utilized those spaces to find out why some areas were popular while others weren’t. He found that when people were asked to verbalize what they liked about their favorite parts of the city, they said things like ‘It’s a retreat from the chaos of the city,” “It’s secluded,” “it’s quiet” and “it’s safe.” Yet, in reality, the parks and plazas that were most frequented by visitors, and the spaces that people hung out in longest, were in fact the busiest, most congested open spaces in the city, where there was lots of noise, people and surprises.
    Whyte found that it was best for plazas to be adjacent to public streets, and to have lots of surface area for people to sit. It helped also if the seating was movable as that gave people the opportunity for choice in seating arrangements. Spaces were most utilized if there was both open space and activity, such as music or eating.
    What doesn’t help? Security guards, police officers, regulations, and surfaces that people can’t sit on, lay on or relax upon. Whyte points out the obvious truth: while many people feel like urban spaces ought to be sterilized and clean and orderly, the fact remains that people are attracted to spaces that feel relaxing and natural. Having a police officer patrol the environment not only scares off drug dealers and thugs, but also makes the space feel uninviting for the common citizen.
    The truth is that criminal behavior, such as drug dealing, happens in shadows and in dark places, precisely because there are not a lot of people to witness it. The remedy: make the space attractive so the space will be filled up with people. It’s as simple as that.
    But city planning is often driven by fear and ignorance. And so cities pass ‘quality of life’ ordinances like the Sit/Lie ordinance, the camping ban and anti-loitering ordinances. And they hire police officers and private security to enforce those laws, assuming that once we get rid of “undesirables” who sit on the sidewalk and sleep outside and loiter, then we can make the space more inviting to the people we want to be in that space.
    Unfortunately, it has the opposite effect, making spaces feel artificial and tense. I.e.: The 16th Street Mall. Nobody wants to hang out in a space where the police are watching to catch you sit down. And sadly, it says something about the moral character of a city, when people who have no other option than to sleep outside, and to exist in public spaces, are regulated out of a city center for the sake of business, even when it doesn’t actually improve the business climate.
    The 16th Street Mall is not underutilized because of panhandlers and “undesirable people.” The 16th Street Mall is underutilized because there are not that many interesting things to do there. Small walking malls in Europe are busy because each store is unique and has a cultural history associated with it. The 16th Street Mall, on the other hand, has Taco Bell, Ross, 7-11 and Walgreens.
     If you want to make the 16th Street Mall more interesting to people, let them sit, lie down, hang around and relax, regardless of economic status, appearances or any other status. And put something more genuinely unique than “The Tilted Kilt” on the mall. Otherwise, the 16th Street Mall will continue to be an embarrassing reminder of how Denver spends its money, and the Downtown Partnership will continue to look like a cut-throat organization that wants only certain types of people to enjoy their downtown.

by Billie Bramhall
(An edited version of this Letter to the Editor appeared in the August 23rd issue of the Denver Post.)

    I feel the Denver Post editorial supporting camping bans as essential to the life of cities is incorrect. Through several periods of hard times, including the great depression of 1929, Denver has had to make adjustments to unforeseen serious economic hardship that befell thousands of its citizens. We are in one now -- on the heels of a serious recession in which thousands of people in Denver lost jobs and homes, housing prices have risen sky-high with development and gentrification leading the way. We are almost leading the country in the absence of affordable housing for working people. 
     Knowing how sensitive the Denver Post has often been to the plight of troubled people/groups/etc., I take strong issue with the "local homeless alcoholic" reference in your editorial. Among the thousands walking the streets I urge a discussion about actions that need to be taken now to meet homeless housing needs and working people's for that matter. Denver needs a serious discussion on how to get housing for the unhoused, and how to adjust some of our city's use of public land in this crisis. We need to acknowledge the need to share public space with those with no space of their own, as hopefully we work through solutions.

by Debbie Brady

  I just got in from a “Know your rights training. This is probably at least the 10th one that I have attended in the last 50 years. I'm a lifelong activist. The one thing I have noticed about these talks over a fifty year span is that they all tell you that the only way to retain your rights is to ignore your contempt for the people trying to take those rights away from you. Not only do you have to ignore your contempt, but you are also must show undeserved respect for these brutes.  The biggest problems I see with cops is that they are terrified of the people they sworn to protect and serve. Everyone knows that anyone who is scared shitless and has a gun is very dangerous. That is why all these trainers tell us to kiss their ass.
    I don’t know about you but I have never been very good at kissing ass.  
 
How the hell did we get here?
    In more civilized societies, if you were accused of an offense against the people, you were allowed to confront your accuser and defend yourself, in the presence of your peers.  Not today. Not in the good old USA.
    Today if you are pissing off the powers that be, whether it’s because of what you are doing or who you are, you have to take whatever these cops want to dish out, while respectfully saying, “yes Officer” or “no Officer”, until you get your day in court, that is if they don’t just shoot you down in cold blood. Then you have to sit and listen while the cop lies his ass off and everybody believes him. Your court appointed attorney will of course tell you how sorry he is as the bailiff hauls you off to prison.   
     This is the fate of anyone who comes to the notice of the powers that be in any negative way, unless of course you’re rich. The filthy rich, ala Bill Gates, are a dwindling but very powerful minority. Nobody screws with them. There are many people though that are rich enough to fight off the legal problems of an errant relative if they want to. Ninety percent of these people are white, heterosexual men and women. These folks are also more than well represented at the top of the corporate and government ladders.  As a class they have a lot of clout.  In fact they have all the clout.
    If you do not fit their cookie cutter, white bread perception of what a real American is, you not only have no clout, you have no rights!
   If  you don’t believe me, check out the ratio of white heterosexual men and women in prison, compared to everyone else. Never mind, the numbers are too depressing to contemplate. 
    Another example: When a college sports team wins or loses a big game, a riot may ensue. Police are assaulted, cars are turned over and fires are started by screaming kids running through the streets. These are usually white kids though, so the cops and judges are tolerant and few if any penalties are assessed.  If however, some black folks are peacefully protesting the murder of an unarmed teenager by police, look out! The robo cops with their body armor, shields and bully clubs are out in force. These guys mean business and if you happen to be anywhere near them you are going to get hurt bad. I know, I’ve been there. And when you wake up, maybe in the hospital, your troubles are just beginning. I’ve been there too.
    The thing is, we outnumber these people by a growing and large majority. Their numbers arediminishing. It's just a giant game of monopoly where the best cheaters are gathering in all the money and forcing more and more people out of the game with the resulting loss of clout.  That’s it folks, you are out of the game and your life no longer has meaning. Many of us never even got a seat at the table to start the game. If you are not in the game, you have no clout and no rights. You are much less than a second class citizen, you are a target and sooner or later you will be hit.  What can we do? How about something simple, like vote. I’m a firm believer in the KISS principle, Keep it Simple Stupid. This is a right most of us have, thanks to the true heroes of our experiment in Democratic Government, the men and women who fought and sometimes died to give every citizen the right to vote.  
    This is a battle that is ongoing and will never end as long as there are those of us who continue to vote for humanity’s best interest and oppose the winners of that elusive big game. They are the guys who scrape all that phony money into their fat greedy pockets and then decide to dictate the rules to the rest of us.  We outnumber these guys by a bunch, ten to one, one hundred to one, who knows? The only thing they have is money. We have the numbers.  The current US Congress, one third of the US Senate, many governors and hundreds of State Representatives were elected by 34.8% of the eligible voters in this country. Come on guys, this is exactly what these pooh bahs want. 

They don’t want us to vote. The fewer of us that vote, the greater their power is. They retain their clout and we are all still targets.  I don’t know about you, but I don’t like being a target. So do us all a favor and VOTE!  Let’s get rid of these assholes, and return power to the people, us. We are the people, not those damn clowns pushing all that phony money around on their stupid game board.