Denver Rescue Mission. (Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post)
Re: “Judge rules in Ballpark neighbors’ favor in homeless center dispute,” Sept. 4 news story.
The “not in my neighborhood” syndrome has struck again! The recently arrived residents of the Ballpark neighborhood in LoDo, who live near the partly built Lawrence Street Community Center, have legally challenged its existence.
Just drive past the corner where the Denver Rescue Mission and Samaritan House have served for many decades. You’ll see dozens, and often hundreds, of men and sometimes women and children killing time or hoping to find shelter for the night.
The concept of drop-in centers has worked well in many American cities where I’ve studied homelessness. It is a place where the homeless can get a break from the very hard life of the streets while getting a shower and tending to other personal needs while possibly getting help with jobs and personal problems.
The homeless have been pushed out of most of LoDo and itap time they get help, not hindrance, from those such as the Ballpark Neighborhood Association.
Ron Vander Kooi, Arvada
This letter was published in the Sept. 9 edition.Letap see. Years ago we (and I admit to being one) moved to the suburbs to get away from “urban problems” — poverty, violence, substandard housing, homelessness. So no room in the inn for the homeless in suburbia, even today.
Now we, in large numbers (I’m not included this time), are moving back to the city because itap trendy and convenient. In your article, we read that the Ballpark Neighborhood Association doesn’t want a community center to serve the homeless built in their area. No room in the inn for homeless near Ballpark condos and apartments, in the city parks or on the 16th Street Mall.
Where, then, is there room for the homeless? Perhaps in a stable in the backyard? No, not even there — “not in my backyard.”
“Where?” is the challenge for us all as we try to build a more just and compassionate society. (More affordable housing is a good start.)
Rev. Linda Gertenbach, Lakewood
This letter was published in the Sept. 9 edition.
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