by M.T. Hazard
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 ...
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 ...
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