With the Democratic National Convention coming to Denver in August 2008, our city leaders are shifting into a higher gear. For some, that means makeovers for Denver’s parks and people – as in Civic Center and the homeless.
Of course, it’s understandable that our city leaders would want to present a sparkling vision of Denver to the world. Unfortunately, I’m pretty sure that, near the beginning of their urge to give Denver a nice makeover, they’ll ask – again – “How do we deal with the homeless?” It’s already been asked, repeatedly, in terms of Civic Center.
Recently, at a meeting of Denver’s Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, a presentation was made of a Parks and Rec survey taken about the Civic Center redesign proposed by celebrated architect Daniel Libeskind. Libeskind’s design was rejected, but the survey was informative, showing that, after security and maintenance for Civic Center, the No. 3 concern gleaned from the 577 respondents was: “Deal with the homeless.”
“Deal with”? To me, that phrase is offensive. It implies that homelessness is a human blight, a contagion upon our society, as though the homeless are to be eradicated like rats.
That sounds harsh, I know. But there are precedents in Colorado history of such treatment of the helpless. These days, regarding the homeless, there are mostly small, well-intentioned ordinances aimed at cleaning up Denver’s downtown. They seem to be working. No more drunks lying in alleyways off the 16th Street Mall.
And less begging. A recent report from Denver Police Department records found that, around the 16th Street Mall, arrests for begging had decreased from 104 in 2005 to 82 in 2006, for the same nine-month period. In other words, for 2006, fewer beggars to bust.
That’s good for the Democratic National Convention. Good for business. No harm in that.
But when all those conventioneers’ spouses wander through Civic Center over to the Denver Art Museum, what will they see? If the Civic Center Conservancy is true to its word – that the park should be “for all the people” – there might actually be some homeless-appearing folks reposing there.
Some think the police should rid Civic Center and the library-museum complex of the apparently undesirable. For “undesirable,” substitute “visually unseemly.” From there, it’s just a short hop over the Constitution to “profiling.”
That’s basically the issue. The homeless will continue to exist as a visually identifiable population over the next two years, and Civic Center should continue to be “for all the people.” Having the Democratic National Convention in town shouldn’t change that. But some will try.
Last year, according to the Metro Denver Homeless Initiative, we had about 9,000 homeless men, women and families in metro Denver. The draw-down of the homeless by Denver’s Road Home is planned over a 10-year period – which means that, even with intensive annual housing activity, there won’t be enough low-income housing to get the homeless off Denver’s streets by 2008. Not hardly.
So there’s a need for some innovative thinking. Here are two ideas, simplistic perhaps, but at least a start:
If, to many, outward appearance indicates homelessness, change the outward appearance of the homeless. For those who’ll accept it, provide a makeover. During the second half of August 2008, have a shelter-instigated offering of haircuts, hairdos, shaves, and some neat, clean, summer clothes.
And I’d have a makeover of attitude among those in Denver who, given their own gifts of relative wealth and health, should show generosity and warmth not only toward our convention visitors, but toward Denver’s less fortunate citizens as well.
Stephen Terence Gould (stgould@peoplepc.com) is an independent scholar in Denver.
