Denver public works crews and public health inspectors on Monday morning mounted the latest cleanup effort to target homeless encampments downtown near the Samaritan House shelter.
Police officers closed access to some sidewalks along Broadway in the Ballpark area, which has gotten more crowded with tents, carts and other items as people have clustered there in recent weeks. The latest cleanup focuses on an area bounded by 21st, 24th, Larimer and Arapahoe streets.
Denver Public Works spokeswoman Nancy Kuhn said officials were acting because of “severe health and safety issues.” She said people staying in the targeted area were given a head’s up before this latest action.
“What we are doing now is temporarily restricting sidewalk (public right of way) access so that we can get in and clean the sidewalks of feces, urine, needles, trash, etc., while keeping everyone safe,” Kuhn wrote in an email. “Denver had outreach teams out here last week letting them know we’d be here today and trying to connect them to services. There were three fires out here in the last 2 weeks, so (there are) fire concerns as well.”
: Denver Public Works: We’ve got severe health & safety issues near Samaritan House downtown: Fire hazards, feces, urine, rodents, trash. We are supporting Denver Public Health and Environment on a clean up effort. Also concerned about cold weather coming in tomorrow.
— Russell Haythorn (@RussellHaythorn)
The city has engaged in periodic “sweeps” and other cleanup efforts in that part of downtown and along the South Platte River, with each action typically resulting in a shift of camping activity to another area. The crackdowns are the focus of that was filed in 2016 on behalf of homeless people.
If items are left behind Monday, Kuhn said, workers are collecting uncontaminated items for storage at 2100 31st St. The items are inventoried based on where they were picked up, Kuhn said, and will be available for pickup by their owners. One person took up an offer Monday to have the city store items and received a claim check, she said.
With cold weather approaching, officials also were urging those who sleep outside to use shelters.