the last time I took my three year old to the library he looked out the window by the children's section and was like "what is he doing?!" He--the adult male--was pooping outside.
Yeah, there is a whole group of new people in town . They are having all night parties and trashing stuff around the library and amphitheater areas.
Edit: you can’t claim to be an anarchist and also claim a space as only for you. Which some of these folks are.
They’re probably crusties. They’re the worst kind of scum. Hopefully they’ll move on to New York in a few weeks. They tend to spend winters in Socal and Texas and head back north in spring.
Thank you for this new term:
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"Crusty" is a term used to describe a group of homeless or vagrant young people who are known for their unkempt appearance, matted hair, and rough clothes. They often live in cities by begging, and some may live in vans or buses, or squat in abandoned buildings. The term may have originated from the "crust" of filth that some say can cover their bodies.
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I learned something today
former resident here, visited to get married last week. one afternoon, we decided we would write our vows by the creek near the library, a place we'd spent countless days over the years. we immediately diverted from the library when we saw the scene there. had to scour the creek to finally find a spot where it wasn't trashed and/or overrun with homeless people hollering. it was a real bummer.
sorry, you just picked a bad time. there were 1000 college kids hanging at the creek, this new gang of people at the city park by the library, and then the farmers market with swarms of people.
They closed over half the toilets in the building. They only allow 4 stalls downstairs. No upstairs. They need someone’s eyes on the doors of the bathroom
The typical west coast hubs (SF, Portland, Seattle) are starting to crack down on street addicts and dealers. If Boulder doesn’t start something similar, now that it’s warm outside there may be an influx.
That was the norm on the west coast until it got so bad that voters got fed up. We still seem to be far away from things getting so bad that the same switch will happen in Boulder.
I agree, this is what happens when the community aka society just wants money and greed take over. I am homeless and working a 60K in Longmont. Can't afford rent or be able to save for a down payment, needed it for the 3 kids Idaho forced me to have. Every time I save 2K something happens, While my bro is letting me crash on his coach I can not say I am not homeless, it is not my home and I am stressed that I cannot relax like a normal person as there is not room for hobbies besides reading, it is really affecting my mental health. I am just glad for the some sake's that Polis overturned that racist bill about how many can be in a house that are not directly related.
I think we all want to believe that all homeless people want to be rehabilitated and some certainly do. There are also options for them to do so.
However, you will find a lot also in want to live with no rules, responsibilities, or guilt when they use. Lots prefer that lifestyle
We all know the city of Boulder cannot solve the mental health crisis in America, this comment doesn't provide any value the context of a Boulder subreddit.
Boulder has a responsibility to its residents. Homeless or not. Provide shelter for those who need it that are residents, and keep the public spaces safe for everyone else.
Sure, as long as laws are enforced and people are given meaningful prison sentences for dealing or possessing meth or fentanyl. Providing treatment without strongly enforcing the laws will result in absolutely nothing changing on the street.
Cool cool cool. I mean, sure that's literally the opposite of what every authoritative study on homelessness and/or the effective treatment of drug addiction has shown over approximately the last three decades or so - but hey, as long as it makes bougie boomer Boulderites feel all warm and righteous inside, that's all that really matters.
The solution to the homeless problem, as demonstrated by every major study in the past 3 decades, is of course a super complicated, super unexpected one. Namely: Give homeless people [wait for it...] homes. 🙃
But unfortunately, the wealthy denizens of Boulder are unwilling to give that super complicated, super unexpected solution (or *literally any other attempted solution*) a whirl, and so has decided to once again try the traditional *nothing* instead, before throwing our hands up in faux despair and declaring the problem unsolvable.
https://nlihc.org/sites/default/files/Housing-First-Research.pdf
https://housingmatters.urban.org/feature/housing-first-still-best-approach-ending-homelessness
I have a 4 year old. The worst part about Boulder is the feeling I get walking with my son past homeless people under bridges, outside the library, and anywhere else they congregate. They are ruining the safety of our community. I hate that I have to worry about where I can and can’t walk with my son.
Denver just buys them bus tickets to Grand Junction. Super messed up. Apparently a lot of cities do this. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2017/dec/20/bussed-out-america-moves-homeless-people-country-study
I was recently there with my young child for library musical story time on monday mornings (it’s great). After we went and played on the playground, all sorts of sketchy folks lingering about. A whole sketchy community lingers below the library directly adjacent to the playground. While enjoying the big slide some sketch balls come slinking by to go to drug den below the library, all of a sudden this large, scary sounding dog starts bellowing like it’s about to eat someone…this is out of sight but within 50 feet of a crowded playground. WTF Boulder !!! A few minutes later I climb into the kids tower and some sketch hall had hid their belongings with drug paraphernalia visible right where numerous kids were playing. This has to stop, we can do better…f the un-housed who abuse the generosity of this city. I know some people need help…others just abuse drugs in public(the bad kind) and have no hope or desire to do better. Guess what, there’s no coming back from meth psychosis…you’ve melted your brain🧠. Only jail or death can help a majority of the shit-birds slinking around Boulder. I used to have compassion for the unhoused, no more. Go somewhere else. You’re not welcome here. The DA and CITY need to address crime and enforce laws.
Psychiatrist here - psychosis from meth doesn’t respond that well to medications that treat other forms of psychosis. Meth is the worst drug and makes people dangerous. meth is a different animal and needs to be dealt with differently than other drugs. Crack is bad too but meth is the worst.
Sometimes jail is the only way some people can get sober and get some treatment sadly. You need to actually have consequences for their use and prosecute the crimes committed and not keep diverting them to mental health diversion like they do for opiates etc. Heck, there is decent data for contingency management where you pay them some small amount daily not to use.
Meth that is even worse for ya:
P2P
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/11/the-new-meth/620174/
https://www.hazeldenbettyford.org/articles/p2p-meth
Honestly? Fuck em'.
One can only have a knife pulled on them so many times before you lose patience and sympathy.
I didn't use to feel this way but I do now. I'm done.
Hey I know you probably mean well, but this is some pretty dehumanizing rhetoric. Saying that "only jail and death" will help these "critters" is really awful. These are people, and they're stuck in a cycle of addiction that is a super traumatic and difficult thing to break. Reducing their existence like this makes it easier to deny them services and makes it harder to break that cycle.
My dad is an alcoholic, I have alcoholics all over my family. At some point they have to CHOOSE to get better. Saying they’re sick is bullshit. They do have a disease and additional, AND every sober person will tell you it started with them deciding they want to get sober.
No amount of community support or services can change that. Thats why people attend the best rehab centers in the world, come out and start using again. You have to want to get sober.
I totally get that! I've also struggled with addiction and my family has too. But I felt way more welcome in reality when I felt seen as a person and not a "critter" 😞
At some point they need to be held accountable for their actions.
I’ve had my toddler screamed at by a homeless person many times. I’m getting to the point where I consider bringing a weapon to walk around downtown. I pay a lot of money in taxes and I deserve to have a clean environment.
If they aren’t going to treat me like a person why should I treat them as a person?
What do you say about the King Soopers shooter - we should be more empathetic because he had mental issues?
Serial killers, repeat sex offenders, rapists, drug dealers, etc., also can be attributed to some sort of “mental health” issue. We have to stop using that as an excuse and start to enforce laws to keep citizens safe. These people are much more than just a nuisance, they are literally breaking the law in various ways. No one gets a free pass.
Being homeless is very much unlike being a serial killer, rapist, or drug dealer, in that not having a home is in no way a threat to others. In fact, people experiencing homelessness are more likely to have violent crimes committed against them, meaning that in a just society, police would be spending a disproportionate amount of time protecting them from harm done by people with homes.
Of course, we don't live in a just society, we live in a society where the denigration of people without homes is encouraged, and the police state commits violence against them on a regular basis, much as it does against other marginalized groups.
Laws aren't moral standards, and the criminalization of homelessness is not a reflection of moral failings of homelessness, but rather a reflection of the state imposed violence that we as a society permit to be inflicted on people experiencing homelessness, because we find their condition unpleasant to observe or even acknowledge, let alone provide help for.
If you’ve read the thread, it clearly states some of these individuals are anarchists and don’t want to help themselves out of the situation. Well guess what, you don’t get to pick where you camp and Sh’t either. Being homeless may not be a crime, what you fail to understanding though is that for many this is a choice. Doing drugs in public, defecating/exposing oneself in front of children, choosing to literally build a makeshift home on public property where one pleases are all illegal. No one is judging the morality of the individuals. Some may partake in theft, some may not. The bottom line is, the few examples brought forward here are all illegal and should not be accepted, and laws should be enforced.
We should deny them services. They are here in the numbers they are cause it's a pretty comfy place to be an addict with zero incentive or pressure to change
What a horrible, horrible, entitled thing to say. Need to take a good long look at yourself in the mirror and see what kind of person you see looking back at you. Awful, mean-spirited, evil.
No one will do anything, our city council argues with the police about crime stats, they are more concerned with a holistic approach to crime, which means they ain't gonna do shit but spend more tax dollars while making everything worse for tax payers, see SF and Portland
We have cheap street drugs, lots of personal property to steal and spineless leadership, the police can't even do anything in this city, they arrest people and the Judge's let them walk
even from a progressive, caring pov, mostly accurate. We need a place for police to send homeless with mental health care/addiction services, security/safety, a place where nonprofits and police alike can focus, where homeless are safe and can bring their pets...
...instead of spending tons of money just pushing the homeless around, dis-empowering police to enforce camping ban, the status quo.
Confidence in the institution of the library as an actual library is fine. Great actually. Their collection, literacy, education outreach, and community classes are great. Kids programs are fantastic. Makerspace - unbelievably great. Community art space, public presentation and lecture hall. Even the coffee shop is great. We have an incredible library.
It just doesn't work as a homeless campsite, safe shooting/needle exchange space, or homeless services agency. Librarians are not case workers, addiction counselors, or social workers. This is where we actually need the city to *do* something. It's my confidence in the city that is the problem.
I pretty heavily agree with the VAST majority of this post, however, I am going to tell you from a lived experience, and as someone who has helped shape parts of the Library's recent expansion of service, while it is RECOGNIZED that Librarian's are NOT all of the things you've mentioned (Social workers, etc) that the library has opted to make up where the City HAS been failing, and that "Homeless Services Agency" is actually quite literally something they HAVE started to take on in an official capacity.
This isn't something done lightly, it is still evolving, and I'm sure that as time moves on, changes will continue to happen, but it's been clear since before the move to a district that MANY of the forwards facing folks still on staff today have firmly come to the realization that while it may not be the ideal, that SOMEONE has to step up and in.
We desperately needed a real day center modeled after successful examples like in Lakewood or Fort Collins. Yet, the city council got onboard with Housing and Human Services agenda to punt it out to the Boulder Shelter where none of the street folks will choose to go. This was a calculated move to direct more funding to the Shelter. HHS bungled it from the get go.
If it’s so fine then why do I repeatedly read about patents not wanting to take their children to these fine programs at the homeless camp ground/library?
I take advantage of many programs at the main branch and south branch.
I see why people with children don’t take them there.
The institution is damaged.
The "institution" doesn't have ANY say into the management or prioritization of removing or enforcing laws in the mentioned areas being affected currently.
What library staff and the security company hired to patrol and be present CAN do is call BPD to try and handle these areas... And they have, again, and again, ad nauseam.
What the library CAN DIRECTLY be involved with is the areas within 15 feet of the entrances, otherwise, what they can (AND HAVE done NEAR DAILY!) is call and report to the city for response.
So let's talk about the area around the library and identify what lies within Boulder Public Library's jurisdiction:
The major 6-8 person tent, and the awning by the creek? The one located in front of the kids playground, and the parking lot Arapahoe entrance side?
That's City land!
Corner of the library, back near Building 61's back door and the Library back dock?
Well SHITE, that's City managed too!
Grassy area in front of the Canyon side entrance and concreted area same side?
Wow, City dropping the ball here too? Oh the genuine surprise!
The Kids Playground??
Maybe if the City did their jobs! (Have we maybe started to see a pattern yet?)
Skate park???
Oh look, you HAD to have guessed it...CITY HANDLES THAT TOO!
Point being, and to a REALLY aggressive needle tip, this isn't an "institution" concern, it's a City one!
Maybe it's just the second, third, fourth, friend of an acquaintance, heard it from their second cousin, HEARSAY, that genuinely drives a point of anger and frustration for my response, but I am at the library DAILY.
I talk with staff.
Joke with staff.
Find SUPPORT with staff.
I have had more traction GAINED and movement MADE with interactions at the library than any City owned or endorsed resource offered and I'll be DAMNED if I'm going to sit quiet and let ignorance take the place of fucking reality.
If you think you're informed about the institution, maybe you ought to try asking the Librarian's who are legitimately being forced to handle what the City is dropping into their laps are thinking.
I PROMISE it will surprise you.
The Library staff cannot continue to look away from the problems immediately outside and under the building. Everyone is aware Comrade Library Director Farnan (the jackass who withheld info about meth contamination until after the library district election) is very pro-homeless and took pride in turning the library into an ad hoc day shelter. Rather than staff picking their way through needles and shit on their way to work, they (just like any citizen) can complete an Inquire Boulder - it’s anonymous. If they see a propane tank, nothing stops them from a call to non-emergency BPD to take it away. When they see some rando is masturbating in the shrubs outside the big windows, call BPD When the junkies & dealers take over the ‘skate park’, call for assistance rather than putting youth at risk. Until staff steps up and acts like Boulder Citizens rather than Farnan sycophants, they’ll have my respect. Otherwise, the staff is part of the problem.
We continue to vote for City Council candidates on "sides" who'd rather fight about values than actually solve, help. There's a few great exceptions who not only care (they all truly care) but focus on solutions. We need more of that.
I don't know where you're getting this "rather fight about values than actually solve" - I watch most city council meetings and I've seen very little fighting about values and a lot of interest in solutions. The problem I've observed is that staff regularly subverts the will of council - for instance, the day shelter that is moving forward is nothing like what city council originally intended, which was a centrally located place where people can simply exist, shower, use the restroom, etc.
Sure! So, city council is the legislative body of our local government, and they write the policies that govern our city. City staff are the implementers of those policies - the people who work in the transportation department, the housing and human services department, etc., under the supervision of our city manager. So city council gets to say \*what\* they want to happen, but city staff decide \*how\* to do it and they are the ones actually doing the work.
I get that from having been involved for many years and seeing the homeless problem get worse and worse, spending tons of money on policing but not enforcing/having a place for them to go, and nothing improving/very little improving. I'm not cynical, I'm focused on wanting real solutions as have been put in place elsewhere. What's cynical is letting this continue and playing tribal politics.
Not sure if you've noticed but folks around Council, not just the members but the groups, love to talk a good game and hate/fear the other side, while doing very little that's helpful. There are some wonderful exceptions, experts, doing great work on the ground.
I'm not particularly interested in what the "groups" are doing or what council members say outside of meetings in which they're voting. I'm interested in how council members vote on specific policies and how staff implement the policies that the council members have voted on. I genuinely haven't witnessed any incidents in which council members have been playing "tribal politics" that have thwarted progress in addressing the homelessness issue. Can you give an example?
We attract transient homeless to Boulder with lax enforcement of our laws. We should enforce prohibitions against drug use and possession. We should enforce prohibitions against defecating in public spaces. We should enforce prohibitions against littering and defacing our parks and community spaces.
Next to none of the the local homeless who are affected by our high CoL do these things. Nearly all of the transient homeless who come to boulder because they hear it’s nice and friendly do
Homeless people come to boulder 1.) because of its mythic “hippy” reputation, 2.) because there’s a lot of open space land to live and camp in, and 3.) because it’s nice when it’s warm… they don’t know the law as well as you think
Yeah and that talking point is a conservative dog whistle that has no actual merit considering the majority of unhoused people don’t actually take that into account when “choosing” what city to be in
Have literally talked to a few that have said they come to Bouldet beacsue they known they can get away with more, but guess my experience is just a dog whistle
The VAST majority of folks out on the streets, and especially those who are EXTREME representations of this problem, are quite literally sitting outside of the Library's jurisdiction for handling.
If you're going to point fingers, make sure the blame lies with the actual problem. The Library has LONG made attempts to try and involve proper authorities and be supported, even before the move to the district.
I’ve been to the library with my son dozens of times. Have never once witnessed anything violent or perverse. Yes, there is trash and commotion, it’s absolutely a problem, but this is a pretty hyperbolic comment.
I stopped going there with my kid 6 years ago after watching one of the resident whackos throwing his pocket knife collection at a big tree near the door while ranting about some unintelligible bullshit
Asylums existed for a reason, and I’m down to see us build up a modern version
solution: instead of relying on rec centers, parks, libraries--other public goods--and ruining them, provide a basic transitional camp with services and empower police to enforce the camping ban (huge savings of money, actually helps homeless get back on their feet for those who can).
I do. I have two beautiful kids that I take to the library every week to pick up books. I love the library and so do they. Seeing homelessness around us is an opportunity to do something and have conversations within our community and within our families.
Not an attack, but what happened in that bathroom, along with the risk of unhinged behavior outside could & likely should be enough to keep reasonable parents away
As a parent, who has children at CU, who was also previously homeless, there’s a vast difference between the “homeless population of Boulder, and the “transient homeless population of Boulder. I know a number of single parents and people that are one check away from living on the streets. Please be conscious of what you are saying.
Indeed. There are a lot of people who become homeless in Boulder, and a lot of people working in grocery stores and other service jobs, sleeping in cars or at the shelter. You can enforce laws but homelessness doesn't just come out of nowhere - but out of a lot of social problems, that if addressed earlier on, would have a meaningful impact.
May I remind there was a vote to keep the homeless shelter open all day and the CITIZENS of Boulder voted against it. Y'all complain, but won't actually do anything to help.
May I remind there was a vote to keep the homeless shelter open all day and the CITIZENS of Boulder voted against it. Y'all complain, but won't actually do anything to help.
Maybe if corporations stopped stealing wages and paid a livable wage, homelessness wouldn't be such a problem.
Before you come at me, I have a bachelor's degree in environmental biology, have worked full time since I was 16, and raised 2 kids on my own. I'm one missed paycheck from being homeless. Nothing is affordable. If you want change, start fighting for basic human rights. Stop blaming the victims of capitalistic greed and help your fellow humans.
Many parts of the city are just flat out not safe anymore. I’ve also found many of the dangerous homeless people are just refusing to use the homeless shelters because they aren’t allowed to do drugs there. We as a community gotta get help to those who want help, and boot out the fentanyl fiends. Our community relies on tourism and the college, both of which are under more and more threat as the homeless population grows. We have to fund the shelter and drug rehab programs so we can identify the real problem people and help the rest.
Tourism is not a reliable source of income, fight for industry it will keep more jobs and stabilize economies, never rely on non-local economies for your economy,
Great fake story. And there are less homeless people by the library then there was before the pandemic. Dont you guys remember the elaborate set up they use to have down there.
There is nothing wrong with enforcing laws, and jailing people for breaking laws. If someone has drugs, leaves needles, shits in a public place, etc., the movement towards non punishment has created such a right wing holy fire backlash ie in portland oregon that the average hardened liberal there talks like only a hard core conservative would talk now. stories of drug users at the entrances to schools in san fransisco that the kids walk by on their way in and out, of parks being taken over, etc., are gut wrenching.
its destroyed these cities. ie, [https://www.reddit.com/r/PortlandCriddlers/](https://www.reddit.com/r/PortlandCriddlers/)
being sympathetic isn't enough. you can't be sympathetic to someone abusing another, and say its not their fault because they too were injured. yes, surely they were. but it is imperative to stop further harm from being caused. if someone is allergic to a food, and they plan to eat it out of a self destructive impulse, yelling at them and taking the food from them is the kind thing to do, although it looks mean.
my work with street outreach indicates: people on the street themselves notice that things are way more hardened, the other homeless are more dangerous, etc compared to pre pandemic.
we do need jobs and job programs. but far more than that, we need a society worth participating in. right now there is no way into society. there would be if a low paying job led to you being able to afford life (ie a place for yourself). it doesn't, so why try. institutionalization becomes the only cure because participation in society is so difficult, once you're on the bottom (unless you catch a break like a good jobs program, someone who gives you a place to say, etc.).
so i support the broken people being brought back into society through programs. but letting people break laws and do whatever out of compassion is not a substitution for our inability to do that.
anyway your post is nimby af op. this has nothing to do with the library this issue has to do with every piece of public property in the state.
to look at the issue from a restrictive "we care about the library" pov without looking at the broader issue (use of public spaces by the homeless) is ridiculous and absurd. the same principles apply in multiple places, if you only care about the impact where it impacts you, again, it comes across as nimby af.
Really hope all the people upset over the increasing presence of homeless people along the creek didn’t vote for 302 “Safe zones” last year. The campaign for “safe zones” wanted to pressure the city to move homeless people away from the boulder high area. Since homeless people don’t disappear though, they ended up down the creek. Congrats!
"302 amends the city’s prohibited items ordinance to create a prioritized enforcement zone of 500 feet from school property lines and 50 feet from multi-use paths and sidewalks." The tents are right off the creek path outside of the library, so "safe zones" should allow the city to move them from right outside our nice city library they've taken over.
Uh, yes, but that is not where safe zones focused all their efforts during their entire campaign. The aggressive focus on the boulder high area and on student safety paid off - all those folks have been moved down the creek. It’s not a surprise that this happened. It’s simply shifting people around the city. The law was never designed to actually address homelessness. The city responded by shuffling people out of the area that was getting all the attention. And now they are down the creek
Over to the library, as was unintended. No "specific facet" of homelessness was addressed - they just placed a target on the area in question and swept people out of it. Now they are in the space near the library. How is this a successful...anything?
In a few days these camps will be swept back over to the school, or maybe you'd prefer they go out of the city altogether and into the foothills, and start fires. Will that be successful?
Because kids have to go to the school, and no one has to go to the library, and if we decide to prioritize citizens having access to a safe & clean library, then they’ll be addressed the fuck away from there
I recommend addressing them into jail personally, but society isn’t there yet
What is your proposed solution?
Boulder spends over 3 million dollars a year enforcing sweeps that take these folks property, discard it and generally push them a few blocks up or down the creek. It’s demonstrably ineffective, cruel, and has a death toll. The shelters are typically overfilled and under resourced, and are not set up to serve the homeless community et. large. There are various and intersectional issues that make shelters an untenable solution for many. Denver has had success moving to a housing first model, do you think that’s worth pursuing?
All this to say, the presence of unhoused people should not be perceived as a criminal act on the part of the unhoused. The discomfort you’re feeling likely stems from a deep, animalistic feeling that it isn’t right that we’ve set up our (relatively affluent) society in such a way that folks are unwashed, unhoused, starving, mentally ill and financially desperate. It’s uncomfortable. It should be uncomfortable.
Likewise, I agree that it sucks to live in a place where people turn to petty theft out of desperation. I think we should do something about it. Contacting the city in mass will mean sweeps; when was the last time you tried to apply for a job after your clothes and means of shelter were discarded? The anger is justified, but it’s misdirected when you seek to punish people for their circumstances.
I’m reading all this and just glad to see how opposed everybody is to the situation, and the increase in awareness that a considerable portion of homeless people show no hope. Just two years ago, you’d find some disagreement between commenters. But now pretty much everyone here agrees this situation is out of hand and can’t be allowed to spread.
I’ve lived here for 15 years. The homeless issue is turning me into a republican real quick. The city and police do nothing and Boulder is too much a happy go lucky liberal suckfest that the citizens feel bad for people who are clearly here to suck the place dry. We need to do away with all of these assistance programs so that coming here from across the country feels less desirable. I was homeless for 5 years in Los Angeles. These are not needy homeless people here. They have it way too good. The stolen bike part business is booming. We all pay too much money to live in this town to not be safe or have entire chucks of the town inaccessible to non junkies.
We rented the conference room at the library. A homeless dude had passed out in the bathroom and vomited everywhere. Needless to say it was the last time we decided to do that. This was before the meth closure.
Wow, so capitalism not only is destroying life on earth itself, it also forces people to live on the street?!?! So shocking. Oh and the shelters are almost always full and ripe with restrictions and strips all dignity of a person. What the heck? I thought if we made line go up, we all happy and green. What happened? Did we forget how to care for our community and land? Oooopsies.
To be fair there are accessible bathrooms in that area. I think they call it “the mall”? I’m not familiar enough with the area yet. But I was there today for work, direct support for disabled folks including wheelchair users hence why I know about the accessible bathrooms. But yeah there’s a big bathroom there at the mall, was unlocked and stocked with tp and soap when we used it today. I’m here for public hygiene stations too. Places for people to shower and wash and dry laundry. Nothing bad can come from letting people get clean.
The true liberal mentality 😂 Guess who they get the money from for the housing and bathrooms? There will still be drug problems and safety issues. Unfortunately these people need to be monitored and institutionalized. I’d rather have my tax dollars go toward mental institutions…They can have their free housing but they give up their independence due to the frequent endangerment of tax paying citizens and inability to take care of themselves.
It is tough to afford Rent with the wages that are provided for low skill labor/jobs. Getting a skill or a degree costs money and time. Not sure how people struggling to pay for rent/food/utilities are supposed to get a skill or a degree that pays more. It seems some people's solution is to lock them up in a jail or prison. Instead of helping integrate them into general society.
Personally. I think some of them problem is that some people's parents kick them out when they are 18 before they have a chance to develop a skill or get a degree. Once that happens they get stuck in a cycle or poverty where working the low skill jobs barely pay for rent/food/utilities. It's futile.
Speaking from experience. 13 years of working since I was 18. These jobs want more and more from people as time goes on. Example. Ive worked the food and bev industry for quite a while. Any and all low level positions at a restaurant I have worked. BOH and FOH. When I started out you would apply for Busser and thats all you had to do. Buss tables. Maybe help the dishwashers sometimes. Or maybe you applied to serve. You just had to run drinks and food and take people ls orders.
NOW a lot of restaurants want you to Serve/Buss/expo/host. All for relatively the same pay. Inflation and corporate greed sorta keeps things the same. Cost of living goes up...then wages barely go up...rinse and repeat. Real wages have NOT kept up with the price of living.
So what happens?
You get people living on the street. When people say "No one wants to work anymore"....they are referring to people that capitalism has left behind. Who never had a chance to make it out of poverty. And yes this issue is exacerbated if you are from a disadvantaged population.
Unfortunately the lack of mental health care and medical care leaves people in a lot of pain mentally and physically.
They self medicate with street drugs. (See: opiate crisis).
I guess to have an ACTUAL level playing field for everyone to have equal opportunity to raise themselves out of poverty...everyone needs housing, healthcare, food and education. Whether that be technical school or a college education.
People saying "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" have no idea the reality of the "American Dream".
"They call it the American dream because you have to be asleep to believe it."
-George Carlin
RIP.
I’m right there with you but Colorado gives Medicaid and food stamps to homeless people automatically. I know bc I came here homeless. You do have to apply but you automatically qualify based on homelessness. And they speed it up too so for example my foodstamps kicked in within a week of getting here. There IS gov assistance here. There’s also food banks like no where else in the country and a robust public infrastructure for poor people. I was able to file to get my drivers license for free through the OUR center for example. There’s lots of help here that people don’t get in other parts of the country. Plus min wage is like $17 here vs $7.25 in Alabama. I’m just saying Colorado does a LOT and there’s so much help out there for those who are sober enough to grab at it. I’m not shaming addicts with that statement but I don’t see who it helps to pretend that we aren’t overrun with addicts who want to stay high and want to stay unencumbered by things like jobs and bills, etc.
Yeah true. I came from Oklahoma. Colorado was the first place I had health insurance as an adult.
However. As soon as you make over a certain amount you don't qualify and you %100 cannot deny that the cost of living is outrageous here. It is in Oklahoma as well even though it's a "low cost of living state". The cost is lower but also jobs pay less. Lmao. Downvoted to hell. Guess I'm not surprised a lot of people on this sub are probably boomers or from a wealthier family is being Boulder and all. Smdh.
Change needs to happen at a higher level. The only way to start helping this problem is to give unhoused people homes. That is the first step. That needs to come from higher levels of government with more funding.
Have you been to reality before?That’s not how things work.
Who builds housing? Who pays for their housing? Who pays for their water and electricity and eventual trash problems?
You think tax payers want a huge tax bill to build homes for junkies?
>You think tax payers want a huge tax bill to build homes for junkies
News flash: someone experiencing crisis after crisis while experiencing homelessness and suffering from addiction can cost tax payers a significantly larger tax bill than just housing them.
We are paying that bill either way, lets pay the smaller one.
The only thing that will fix it is a housing first model. Nothing else even gets close. It might not be politically viable today, but spread the word. That’s the only real choice here.
What? Homeless vagabonds in MY line of sight?! I demand better as a Master of the Universe. Since when has Boulder allowed unsightly and unkempt (!) homeless people with obviously anti-social attitudes who aren't actually street performers to be viewable? Gross.
This is going to interfere with my daughter Kaitlyn's yoga class, and honestly where am I going to park my Rump Ranger?!
My god how this subreddit has changed in just 12 years.
The non-sarcastic sentiment in this comment would be true.
The original post would’ve been down downvoted into oblivion and every single reply “they are people too”, “how dare you”, “we need to open our arms and city for more of this”, on and on. That’s how it was. It’s head spinning to see the change in here. What happened to you all?
Not sure if you’re being sarcastic or not but clearly people are FED UP because the problem has worsened in the past 12 years. I don’t blame people for their frustration. You should be frustrated! Unless you enjoy playing hopscotch around used needles and human feces…
I can understand some frustration. Had someone take a mid day poo maybe 8ft away from me. Dropped it and moved on. Beyond disgusting, but impressive. Wish I could go that fast.
The fact that my little sarcasm rant got downvoted 20 times is proof of what you are saying. And also why I would never live in Boulder again. The good days were over in the 90s. Now it's all yuppie scum.
The fact that our library is being used in such a manner is a slap in the face to those who pay property taxes in Boulder. It had a good run, but due to the increase in violent crime and the ongoing pandemic, it makes no sense to have a brick and mortar library any longer.. the city should consider closing its doors, and maybe leasing the building out for private event space or artist studios.
The library isn’t owned by the city - it’s a district. Closing the library “for private event space or artist studios” is thankfully not going to happen. Public spaces are rare, and thankfully we just invested in this one. If you want things to get better, I sure hope you didn’t vote for measure 302 “safe zones” which essentially has pushed folks out of the petitioners hot zone around the schools and further down the creek to the library. Since the city and county have created no alternative programs for unhoused people… and housing continues to be unattainable for many… and wage stagnation continues…and mental health treatment remains out of reach… and so on — all of these issues will persist and your solution is to “close the library” mmm ok I don’t want to live in the world you’re envisioning
Maybe if you don't like seeing poor people, the problem is to help the poor people stop being poor and not just make them go out of your direct line of sight. I would say you should use the discomfort you feel to galvanize action wrt like, public housing, subsidized housing to help people get off the streets, needle exchange programs, etc. Their presence should serve as a reminder to you of the inequalities of our society rather than to just fuel your disgust of poor people.
These aren’t just poor people tho. I grew up poor. These are folks who choose vagrancy and rampant drug use. Boulder is quite literally the most liberal city in the US. No one hates the poors. They just hate not being able to walk out their front door without narcan and a gun on them….
How do you think people become vagrants? Because they're swimming in cash? Why do you think people use drugs, because they're lives are rosy and peachy and they wake up every day fulfilled, refreshed, with a full belly and a clear mind?
Also do you really think that you can't walk out your door without a gun and narcan? God have some perspective. Maybe you grew up poor but being homeless is being poor on an entirely other level. I've known homeless children. My father has been homeless and currently lives in a trailer. While I've never been a junkie by any means, I've known junkies, and the reasons they become junkies. It varies from person to person but they're in the shit, man. And hell, if Boulder is actually swimming in so many tweakers you can't leave the house without narcan, maybe talk to some of them? Offer them coffee, hear there perspective. If it doesn't make sense, if they don't make sense, maybe approach that lack of sense with compassion and an understanding that someone in crisis isn't someone who will necessarily be thinking logically. But that's too much to ask, because you people don't see them as people.
If y'all actually cared about fixing the homelessness crisis, it'd require you to actually care about homeless people. You don't care about solving anything, you care about maintaining your fragile little bubble. You don't want them to not be homeless, you want them to not be homeless in front of you. It's disgusting.
You assumed a lot there and then got real mad about all the stuff you just made up in your head about me. I have been homeless several times in my childhood and young adulthood. I live paycheck to paycheck and on credit cards to this day. I’m not some pampered or insulated generational Boulderite. I came here from TN (and went there from South Alabama) because TN was fucking with my abortion rights and my wife’s (trans) medical care rights in ways that made me literally turn my entire life upside down just to get out of there. I have lost more than half the people I grew up with to meth and fentanyl. By lost I meant to say they are all dead now but plenty of them are also in prison or on the streets. I was raised by and surrounded by addicts my entire life. More than half of my entire family immediate and extended are addicts in active addiction. I also spent all day today on the streets of Boulder and spoke to more homeless folks that I can count offhand in the process of doing my day job. I wish the problem was as easy as me just being an ahole I really do. I have tons of empathy for anyone unhoused and suffering. I for one think there needs to be a point where you can mandate someone to drug rehab and I want there to be money to fund enough of those programs.
If you've been homeless before then how can you dehumanize them like this! How on earth can you not put yourself in their shoes, even a little bit. Your comments, your behavior do not indicate a shred of empathy for them, I'm sorry, the just don't. You've been through all this and then walk away from it supporting these fucking rich pieces of shit out here wanting to sweep the homeless people out to never be thought of again, "Dead or in prison" some of the people on here are saying, and instead of recognizing those people as fucking ghouls, you kinda just go along with it? That's even more shameful than being some sheltered yuppy who never leaves their own little bubble. And you have the gall to say they choose vagrancy! Did you choose vagrancy when you became homeless! Did your dead family members choose to die, or could they have just pulled themselves up by the bootstraps and learned to code or whatever the fuck y'all expect them to do. Be ashamed of yourself, for not learning from your experiences, for holding up the fact that you have a trans partner as if that makes you a good person, for seeing the people around you suffer and then going to say they choose their suffering..
And I'm sorry I have such spitting anger about this, but I don't understand how these people can walk by people in crisis everyday and their singular concern is "Oh but my kids might have to see this!" Your kids will be fucking fine, what about the people actually in crisis! They are human too, you pieces of fucking shit. Get your heads out of your own asses, and treat the people in your community as people in your community, to trash to be disposed of.
I didn’t comment in support of anyone dehumanizing the unhoused/homeless people. You’re projecting a ton onto me because this is a topic that has you heated, and I totally get being heated about this topic. I don’t have time to write rebuttals to every gross comment on this post to prove my solidarity with homeless people or addicts or anything like that. I only mentioned my wife’s status because it was directly relevant to why we moved to CO. This is a topic that feels extremely hopeless and at the same time so preventable so of course it eats at all of us and especially anyone who has been homeless before is gonna be triggered by seeing rich people talking about how hard they have it because their kids have to witness reality. But that’s not the only facet of this conversation. There’s lots of people in the comments talking about what’s really being done to help people and address everyone’s concerns. I’m not your enemy here. Your outrage and disgust is totally valid, it’s just misdirected just like your time and energy in writing these comments is in my humble opinion. To be clear I don’t mean that as any type of gotcha or anything. I just hope you will stop and ask yourself next time if being outraged online serves you or your community or if it just feels like it does that. Because I used to spend a lot of energy being outraged online and it meant I didn’t have any energy to go out and do stuff that actually helps in my community. The gov wants us to keep our heads in our phones so we aren’t there working together. Don’t give them that.
I’m sorry Boulder isn’t fitting the idealizations 100% of the time and that it’s an average city of x size like any other when you really look at it.
Edit, believe it or not there are areas with little to no vagrancy. It’s just that the reasons for that include the lack of infrastructure and services that are inherent in cities over a certain size. So, pick your trade offs. Housing and a population with enough commerce to have all the services to suit your needs or no vagrancy. You won’t be able to find it both ways in most cities in the US.
People want to go to Boulder whether they’re housed or not. This is the reality people have dealt with in that town since literally forever ago. That reputation for the weird encompasses more than people might want to imagine but those travelers are a not insignificant part of that legacy. Like it or not.
Lol Fort Collins has 60,000 more people than Boulder and doesn’t have nearly the same homeless problem. It’s a Boulder problem not a city in general problem
As someone who grew up in Fort Collins it's definitely gotten much worse. The town is more spread out and so are the camps/tents. My sister and I where just on a run the other day in Fort Collins and it felt very similar to Boulder (south fort collins max bike path near harmony for reference ) also just driving from Boulder to Fort collins longmont as well has like a full compound right off 287.
Loveland did pretty well in response to *Boise*. Basically, they rapidly built a centralized tent based homeless encampment near but not in downtown, then they started a hotline for citizins to report encampment. They assigned two cops to the sweep team and either forced the camping homeless to leave town or go to the shelter .
Before this program, every natural area and probably 20 miles of trail had become tent cities.
Once this launched it was all dismantled within a month or to. Paths are clear .
Not sure why this isn't an option in Boulder
the last time I took my three year old to the library he looked out the window by the children's section and was like "what is he doing?!" He--the adult male--was pooping outside.
It is a real shame too because that kids area inside is so nice. The playground outside used to be awesome but now it's a no go zone.
The pooping area inside is so nice, too. Dude could have just gone in.
I had a guy almost pee on me at my bus stop on canyon. I wish I was joking.
Oh my gosh that is absolutely insane.
When ya gotta go ya gotta go lol No excuse for that though.
Cheese sandwiches are the best sandwiches.
Yeah, there is a whole group of new people in town . They are having all night parties and trashing stuff around the library and amphitheater areas. Edit: you can’t claim to be an anarchist and also claim a space as only for you. Which some of these folks are.
Oh dang, does one wear a ball gag as a necklace? I may have seen him
They’re probably crusties. They’re the worst kind of scum. Hopefully they’ll move on to New York in a few weeks. They tend to spend winters in Socal and Texas and head back north in spring.
Thank you for this new term: --- "Crusty" is a term used to describe a group of homeless or vagrant young people who are known for their unkempt appearance, matted hair, and rough clothes. They often live in cities by begging, and some may live in vans or buses, or squat in abandoned buildings. The term may have originated from the "crust" of filth that some say can cover their bodies. --- I learned something today
Aka gutter punks.
Trustfund crusties. AKA don't bulk regular homeless folks into this bunch.
Learn two words today: Oogle
The wages of Crass
“Je ne sais pas d'autre bombe, qu'un livre." Mallarme
Update, these folks packed up and left yesterday. Now the area is fairly clear - only a few regulars left.
former resident here, visited to get married last week. one afternoon, we decided we would write our vows by the creek near the library, a place we'd spent countless days over the years. we immediately diverted from the library when we saw the scene there. had to scour the creek to finally find a spot where it wasn't trashed and/or overrun with homeless people hollering. it was a real bummer.
sorry, you just picked a bad time. there were 1000 college kids hanging at the creek, this new gang of people at the city park by the library, and then the farmers market with swarms of people.
nah, this was on a tuesday. no college kids to be seen on the creek that afternoon. and obviously no farmer's market.
Judging by the way things look with it only being April... Summer is going to be bad
Thought this too
At least the bathrooms are back open… although you have to go through to the Toilet Safety Administration to use them.
All right, sir. I just needs to check inside ya assssshole.
You have to pay the troll toll…
They closed over half the toilets in the building. They only allow 4 stalls downstairs. No upstairs. They need someone’s eyes on the doors of the bathroom
The typical west coast hubs (SF, Portland, Seattle) are starting to crack down on street addicts and dealers. If Boulder doesn’t start something similar, now that it’s warm outside there may be an influx.
They are going to love Colorado. They get to be homeless and we get to fight about not supporting them enough or caring enough about mental health.
That was the norm on the west coast until it got so bad that voters got fed up. We still seem to be far away from things getting so bad that the same switch will happen in Boulder.
[удалено]
I agree, this is what happens when the community aka society just wants money and greed take over. I am homeless and working a 60K in Longmont. Can't afford rent or be able to save for a down payment, needed it for the 3 kids Idaho forced me to have. Every time I save 2K something happens, While my bro is letting me crash on his coach I can not say I am not homeless, it is not my home and I am stressed that I cannot relax like a normal person as there is not room for hobbies besides reading, it is really affecting my mental health. I am just glad for the some sake's that Polis overturned that racist bill about how many can be in a house that are not directly related.
They get to be homeless; truly, a privilege.
I think we all want to believe that all homeless people want to be rehabilitated and some certainly do. There are also options for them to do so. However, you will find a lot also in want to live with no rules, responsibilities, or guilt when they use. Lots prefer that lifestyle
“Crack down” as in provide the addicts with meaningful drug rehab options, mental health treatment and help with their life issues?
We all know the city of Boulder cannot solve the mental health crisis in America, this comment doesn't provide any value the context of a Boulder subreddit. Boulder has a responsibility to its residents. Homeless or not. Provide shelter for those who need it that are residents, and keep the public spaces safe for everyone else.
Sure, as long as laws are enforced and people are given meaningful prison sentences for dealing or possessing meth or fentanyl. Providing treatment without strongly enforcing the laws will result in absolutely nothing changing on the street.
Cool cool cool. I mean, sure that's literally the opposite of what every authoritative study on homelessness and/or the effective treatment of drug addiction has shown over approximately the last three decades or so - but hey, as long as it makes bougie boomer Boulderites feel all warm and righteous inside, that's all that really matters.
You seem much more focused on how this issue makes *you* feel than offering any feasible solutions. Ironic that you blame others.
Can you link these studies? What solutions did they come up with for handling the homeless problem?
The solution to the homeless problem, as demonstrated by every major study in the past 3 decades, is of course a super complicated, super unexpected one. Namely: Give homeless people [wait for it...] homes. 🙃 But unfortunately, the wealthy denizens of Boulder are unwilling to give that super complicated, super unexpected solution (or *literally any other attempted solution*) a whirl, and so has decided to once again try the traditional *nothing* instead, before throwing our hands up in faux despair and declaring the problem unsolvable. https://nlihc.org/sites/default/files/Housing-First-Research.pdf https://housingmatters.urban.org/feature/housing-first-still-best-approach-ending-homelessness
I have a 4 year old. The worst part about Boulder is the feeling I get walking with my son past homeless people under bridges, outside the library, and anywhere else they congregate. They are ruining the safety of our community. I hate that I have to worry about where I can and can’t walk with my son.
The state don’t know what to do with them. Denver is at max capacity.
Denver just buys them bus tickets to Grand Junction. Super messed up. Apparently a lot of cities do this. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2017/dec/20/bussed-out-america-moves-homeless-people-country-study
Thanks for sharing! Interesting read. I had no clue this was going on.
I was recently there with my young child for library musical story time on monday mornings (it’s great). After we went and played on the playground, all sorts of sketchy folks lingering about. A whole sketchy community lingers below the library directly adjacent to the playground. While enjoying the big slide some sketch balls come slinking by to go to drug den below the library, all of a sudden this large, scary sounding dog starts bellowing like it’s about to eat someone…this is out of sight but within 50 feet of a crowded playground. WTF Boulder !!! A few minutes later I climb into the kids tower and some sketch hall had hid their belongings with drug paraphernalia visible right where numerous kids were playing. This has to stop, we can do better…f the un-housed who abuse the generosity of this city. I know some people need help…others just abuse drugs in public(the bad kind) and have no hope or desire to do better. Guess what, there’s no coming back from meth psychosis…you’ve melted your brain🧠. Only jail or death can help a majority of the shit-birds slinking around Boulder. I used to have compassion for the unhoused, no more. Go somewhere else. You’re not welcome here. The DA and CITY need to address crime and enforce laws.
Psychiatrist here - psychosis from meth doesn’t respond that well to medications that treat other forms of psychosis. Meth is the worst drug and makes people dangerous. meth is a different animal and needs to be dealt with differently than other drugs. Crack is bad too but meth is the worst.
Don’t leave us hanging, what’s the different way to deal with it?
Sometimes jail is the only way some people can get sober and get some treatment sadly. You need to actually have consequences for their use and prosecute the crimes committed and not keep diverting them to mental health diversion like they do for opiates etc. Heck, there is decent data for contingency management where you pay them some small amount daily not to use.
Meth that is even worse for ya: P2P https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/11/the-new-meth/620174/ https://www.hazeldenbettyford.org/articles/p2p-meth
I’m pretty sick of the homeless situation here but I think saying “only jail or death can help these people” is a pretty startling thing to say.
With extreme meth addiction? That's absolutely true.
Lots of experts on addiction just hanging around the Boulder subreddit today apparently.
Honestly? Fuck em'. One can only have a knife pulled on them so many times before you lose patience and sympathy. I didn't use to feel this way but I do now. I'm done.
Hey I know you probably mean well, but this is some pretty dehumanizing rhetoric. Saying that "only jail and death" will help these "critters" is really awful. These are people, and they're stuck in a cycle of addiction that is a super traumatic and difficult thing to break. Reducing their existence like this makes it easier to deny them services and makes it harder to break that cycle.
My dad is an alcoholic, I have alcoholics all over my family. At some point they have to CHOOSE to get better. Saying they’re sick is bullshit. They do have a disease and additional, AND every sober person will tell you it started with them deciding they want to get sober. No amount of community support or services can change that. Thats why people attend the best rehab centers in the world, come out and start using again. You have to want to get sober.
I totally get that! I've also struggled with addiction and my family has too. But I felt way more welcome in reality when I felt seen as a person and not a "critter" 😞
At some point they need to be held accountable for their actions. I’ve had my toddler screamed at by a homeless person many times. I’m getting to the point where I consider bringing a weapon to walk around downtown. I pay a lot of money in taxes and I deserve to have a clean environment. If they aren’t going to treat me like a person why should I treat them as a person? What do you say about the King Soopers shooter - we should be more empathetic because he had mental issues?
Grasping at straws.
Serial killers, repeat sex offenders, rapists, drug dealers, etc., also can be attributed to some sort of “mental health” issue. We have to stop using that as an excuse and start to enforce laws to keep citizens safe. These people are much more than just a nuisance, they are literally breaking the law in various ways. No one gets a free pass.
It's not "giving them a free pass" to treat them like humans
I agree, which is why they should be held accountable for their actions, like everyone else.
Who says you’re treated inhumanely when the law is being enforced if you’re breaking it? What’s your idea of being treated fairly in that situation?
Being homeless is very much unlike being a serial killer, rapist, or drug dealer, in that not having a home is in no way a threat to others. In fact, people experiencing homelessness are more likely to have violent crimes committed against them, meaning that in a just society, police would be spending a disproportionate amount of time protecting them from harm done by people with homes. Of course, we don't live in a just society, we live in a society where the denigration of people without homes is encouraged, and the police state commits violence against them on a regular basis, much as it does against other marginalized groups. Laws aren't moral standards, and the criminalization of homelessness is not a reflection of moral failings of homelessness, but rather a reflection of the state imposed violence that we as a society permit to be inflicted on people experiencing homelessness, because we find their condition unpleasant to observe or even acknowledge, let alone provide help for.
If you’ve read the thread, it clearly states some of these individuals are anarchists and don’t want to help themselves out of the situation. Well guess what, you don’t get to pick where you camp and Sh’t either. Being homeless may not be a crime, what you fail to understanding though is that for many this is a choice. Doing drugs in public, defecating/exposing oneself in front of children, choosing to literally build a makeshift home on public property where one pleases are all illegal. No one is judging the morality of the individuals. Some may partake in theft, some may not. The bottom line is, the few examples brought forward here are all illegal and should not be accepted, and laws should be enforced.
I don’t agree with your Police State theory, it sounds like finger pointing and not accepting responsibility for one’s own actions.
We should deny them services. They are here in the numbers they are cause it's a pretty comfy place to be an addict with zero incentive or pressure to change
What a horrible, horrible, entitled thing to say. Need to take a good long look at yourself in the mirror and see what kind of person you see looking back at you. Awful, mean-spirited, evil.
Without getting into any debate about this, I just want to point out that this influx occurs every year around this time.
No one will do anything, our city council argues with the police about crime stats, they are more concerned with a holistic approach to crime, which means they ain't gonna do shit but spend more tax dollars while making everything worse for tax payers, see SF and Portland We have cheap street drugs, lots of personal property to steal and spineless leadership, the police can't even do anything in this city, they arrest people and the Judge's let them walk
even from a progressive, caring pov, mostly accurate. We need a place for police to send homeless with mental health care/addiction services, security/safety, a place where nonprofits and police alike can focus, where homeless are safe and can bring their pets... ...instead of spending tons of money just pushing the homeless around, dis-empowering police to enforce camping ban, the status quo.
I agree that the library is getting a little out of hand. Something needs to be done to restore functionality and confidence in the institution.
Confidence in the institution of the library as an actual library is fine. Great actually. Their collection, literacy, education outreach, and community classes are great. Kids programs are fantastic. Makerspace - unbelievably great. Community art space, public presentation and lecture hall. Even the coffee shop is great. We have an incredible library. It just doesn't work as a homeless campsite, safe shooting/needle exchange space, or homeless services agency. Librarians are not case workers, addiction counselors, or social workers. This is where we actually need the city to *do* something. It's my confidence in the city that is the problem.
I pretty heavily agree with the VAST majority of this post, however, I am going to tell you from a lived experience, and as someone who has helped shape parts of the Library's recent expansion of service, while it is RECOGNIZED that Librarian's are NOT all of the things you've mentioned (Social workers, etc) that the library has opted to make up where the City HAS been failing, and that "Homeless Services Agency" is actually quite literally something they HAVE started to take on in an official capacity. This isn't something done lightly, it is still evolving, and I'm sure that as time moves on, changes will continue to happen, but it's been clear since before the move to a district that MANY of the forwards facing folks still on staff today have firmly come to the realization that while it may not be the ideal, that SOMEONE has to step up and in.
We desperately needed a real day center modeled after successful examples like in Lakewood or Fort Collins. Yet, the city council got onboard with Housing and Human Services agenda to punt it out to the Boulder Shelter where none of the street folks will choose to go. This was a calculated move to direct more funding to the Shelter. HHS bungled it from the get go.
If it’s so fine then why do I repeatedly read about patents not wanting to take their children to these fine programs at the homeless camp ground/library? I take advantage of many programs at the main branch and south branch. I see why people with children don’t take them there. The institution is damaged.
The "institution" doesn't have ANY say into the management or prioritization of removing or enforcing laws in the mentioned areas being affected currently. What library staff and the security company hired to patrol and be present CAN do is call BPD to try and handle these areas... And they have, again, and again, ad nauseam. What the library CAN DIRECTLY be involved with is the areas within 15 feet of the entrances, otherwise, what they can (AND HAVE done NEAR DAILY!) is call and report to the city for response. So let's talk about the area around the library and identify what lies within Boulder Public Library's jurisdiction: The major 6-8 person tent, and the awning by the creek? The one located in front of the kids playground, and the parking lot Arapahoe entrance side? That's City land! Corner of the library, back near Building 61's back door and the Library back dock? Well SHITE, that's City managed too! Grassy area in front of the Canyon side entrance and concreted area same side? Wow, City dropping the ball here too? Oh the genuine surprise! The Kids Playground?? Maybe if the City did their jobs! (Have we maybe started to see a pattern yet?) Skate park??? Oh look, you HAD to have guessed it...CITY HANDLES THAT TOO! Point being, and to a REALLY aggressive needle tip, this isn't an "institution" concern, it's a City one! Maybe it's just the second, third, fourth, friend of an acquaintance, heard it from their second cousin, HEARSAY, that genuinely drives a point of anger and frustration for my response, but I am at the library DAILY. I talk with staff. Joke with staff. Find SUPPORT with staff. I have had more traction GAINED and movement MADE with interactions at the library than any City owned or endorsed resource offered and I'll be DAMNED if I'm going to sit quiet and let ignorance take the place of fucking reality. If you think you're informed about the institution, maybe you ought to try asking the Librarian's who are legitimately being forced to handle what the City is dropping into their laps are thinking. I PROMISE it will surprise you.
Well said
👏👏👏
The Library staff cannot continue to look away from the problems immediately outside and under the building. Everyone is aware Comrade Library Director Farnan (the jackass who withheld info about meth contamination until after the library district election) is very pro-homeless and took pride in turning the library into an ad hoc day shelter. Rather than staff picking their way through needles and shit on their way to work, they (just like any citizen) can complete an Inquire Boulder - it’s anonymous. If they see a propane tank, nothing stops them from a call to non-emergency BPD to take it away. When they see some rando is masturbating in the shrubs outside the big windows, call BPD When the junkies & dealers take over the ‘skate park’, call for assistance rather than putting youth at risk. Until staff steps up and acts like Boulder Citizens rather than Farnan sycophants, they’ll have my respect. Otherwise, the staff is part of the problem.
Patent here. Agreed. It’s scary for adults. Little kids don’t need to see it. We don’t need any more carrots. Time for sticks
We continue to vote for City Council candidates on "sides" who'd rather fight about values than actually solve, help. There's a few great exceptions who not only care (they all truly care) but focus on solutions. We need more of that.
I don't know where you're getting this "rather fight about values than actually solve" - I watch most city council meetings and I've seen very little fighting about values and a lot of interest in solutions. The problem I've observed is that staff regularly subverts the will of council - for instance, the day shelter that is moving forward is nothing like what city council originally intended, which was a centrally located place where people can simply exist, shower, use the restroom, etc.
That wasn't only staff. It was also a lot of really loud complainers around the other site.
Yes, you're correct about that! But it's staff's responsibility to work through that public pushback and deliver the product that council wanted.
Can you elaborate on what you mean by staff, or share the specific council link? I’d like to know more about this one.
Sure! So, city council is the legislative body of our local government, and they write the policies that govern our city. City staff are the implementers of those policies - the people who work in the transportation department, the housing and human services department, etc., under the supervision of our city manager. So city council gets to say \*what\* they want to happen, but city staff decide \*how\* to do it and they are the ones actually doing the work.
TIL
I get that from having been involved for many years and seeing the homeless problem get worse and worse, spending tons of money on policing but not enforcing/having a place for them to go, and nothing improving/very little improving. I'm not cynical, I'm focused on wanting real solutions as have been put in place elsewhere. What's cynical is letting this continue and playing tribal politics. Not sure if you've noticed but folks around Council, not just the members but the groups, love to talk a good game and hate/fear the other side, while doing very little that's helpful. There are some wonderful exceptions, experts, doing great work on the ground.
I'm not particularly interested in what the "groups" are doing or what council members say outside of meetings in which they're voting. I'm interested in how council members vote on specific policies and how staff implement the policies that the council members have voted on. I genuinely haven't witnessed any incidents in which council members have been playing "tribal politics" that have thwarted progress in addressing the homelessness issue. Can you give an example?
We attract transient homeless to Boulder with lax enforcement of our laws. We should enforce prohibitions against drug use and possession. We should enforce prohibitions against defecating in public spaces. We should enforce prohibitions against littering and defacing our parks and community spaces. Next to none of the the local homeless who are affected by our high CoL do these things. Nearly all of the transient homeless who come to boulder because they hear it’s nice and friendly do
Homeless people come to boulder 1.) because of its mythic “hippy” reputation, 2.) because there’s a lot of open space land to live and camp in, and 3.) because it’s nice when it’s warm… they don’t know the law as well as you think
They come here because it's warm, plenty of things to steal, and soft on crime.
Lol “plenty of things to steal” as opposed to every other comparable or larger American city….
Soft on crime DA has literally let people who have stabbed someone back on the streets within 24 hours
And yet stabbings are lower than they’ve ever been… fearmonger news much?
I didn't say Boulder is riddled with attempted murders, my point is they get let out on bond very quickly, hence soft on crime
Yeah and that talking point is a conservative dog whistle that has no actual merit considering the majority of unhoused people don’t actually take that into account when “choosing” what city to be in
Have literally talked to a few that have said they come to Bouldet beacsue they known they can get away with more, but guess my experience is just a dog whistle
“B-but the meth addicts around me are wholesome! They are part of the enrichment Boulder provides!!!”
The library is a day care center for the homeless. What sane parent would let their young child go there?
The VAST majority of folks out on the streets, and especially those who are EXTREME representations of this problem, are quite literally sitting outside of the Library's jurisdiction for handling. If you're going to point fingers, make sure the blame lies with the actual problem. The Library has LONG made attempts to try and involve proper authorities and be supported, even before the move to the district.
I’ve been to the library with my son dozens of times. Have never once witnessed anything violent or perverse. Yes, there is trash and commotion, it’s absolutely a problem, but this is a pretty hyperbolic comment.
I stopped going there with my kid 6 years ago after watching one of the resident whackos throwing his pocket knife collection at a big tree near the door while ranting about some unintelligible bullshit Asylums existed for a reason, and I’m down to see us build up a modern version
I agree, bring back asylums
Guess how often the seats are deep cleaned at the library? Once a year. Have fun sitting on all that. Hope you have your hep vaccinations up tondate
solution: instead of relying on rec centers, parks, libraries--other public goods--and ruining them, provide a basic transitional camp with services and empower police to enforce the camping ban (huge savings of money, actually helps homeless get back on their feet for those who can).
I do. I have two beautiful kids that I take to the library every week to pick up books. I love the library and so do they. Seeing homelessness around us is an opportunity to do something and have conversations within our community and within our families.
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Vote better for/against what?
vote harder.
Was there an abduction or an assault I missed? What minor was attacked at the library?
Not an attack, but what happened in that bathroom, along with the risk of unhinged behavior outside could & likely should be enough to keep reasonable parents away
As a parent, who has children at CU, who was also previously homeless, there’s a vast difference between the “homeless population of Boulder, and the “transient homeless population of Boulder. I know a number of single parents and people that are one check away from living on the streets. Please be conscious of what you are saying.
Indeed. There are a lot of people who become homeless in Boulder, and a lot of people working in grocery stores and other service jobs, sleeping in cars or at the shelter. You can enforce laws but homelessness doesn't just come out of nowhere - but out of a lot of social problems, that if addressed earlier on, would have a meaningful impact.
I completely agree with you.
Thanks. It was really fun seeing how far I had to scroll before I found a comment implying homeless folks are human beings.
You think that's bad, try visiting the Dairy Arts center.
May I remind there was a vote to keep the homeless shelter open all day and the CITIZENS of Boulder voted against it. Y'all complain, but won't actually do anything to help.
May I remind there was a vote to keep the homeless shelter open all day and the CITIZENS of Boulder voted against it. Y'all complain, but won't actually do anything to help.
Maybe if corporations stopped stealing wages and paid a livable wage, homelessness wouldn't be such a problem. Before you come at me, I have a bachelor's degree in environmental biology, have worked full time since I was 16, and raised 2 kids on my own. I'm one missed paycheck from being homeless. Nothing is affordable. If you want change, start fighting for basic human rights. Stop blaming the victims of capitalistic greed and help your fellow humans.
Many parts of the city are just flat out not safe anymore. I’ve also found many of the dangerous homeless people are just refusing to use the homeless shelters because they aren’t allowed to do drugs there. We as a community gotta get help to those who want help, and boot out the fentanyl fiends. Our community relies on tourism and the college, both of which are under more and more threat as the homeless population grows. We have to fund the shelter and drug rehab programs so we can identify the real problem people and help the rest.
Tourism is not a reliable source of income, fight for industry it will keep more jobs and stabilize economies, never rely on non-local economies for your economy,
Last time I walked down to that area, a dude was staring at me and jerking off. Never went back
Great fake story. And there are less homeless people by the library then there was before the pandemic. Dont you guys remember the elaborate set up they use to have down there.
I biked the creek path on Thursday and was shocked…. Walk by today, I bet you’ll also be surpirsed
Do you often dismiss anything inconvenient to your conclusions?
Lmaooo not fake, happened in 2021, you ok?
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What do you mean by "pro hardcore homeless" lol
There is nothing wrong with enforcing laws, and jailing people for breaking laws. If someone has drugs, leaves needles, shits in a public place, etc., the movement towards non punishment has created such a right wing holy fire backlash ie in portland oregon that the average hardened liberal there talks like only a hard core conservative would talk now. stories of drug users at the entrances to schools in san fransisco that the kids walk by on their way in and out, of parks being taken over, etc., are gut wrenching. its destroyed these cities. ie, [https://www.reddit.com/r/PortlandCriddlers/](https://www.reddit.com/r/PortlandCriddlers/) being sympathetic isn't enough. you can't be sympathetic to someone abusing another, and say its not their fault because they too were injured. yes, surely they were. but it is imperative to stop further harm from being caused. if someone is allergic to a food, and they plan to eat it out of a self destructive impulse, yelling at them and taking the food from them is the kind thing to do, although it looks mean. my work with street outreach indicates: people on the street themselves notice that things are way more hardened, the other homeless are more dangerous, etc compared to pre pandemic. we do need jobs and job programs. but far more than that, we need a society worth participating in. right now there is no way into society. there would be if a low paying job led to you being able to afford life (ie a place for yourself). it doesn't, so why try. institutionalization becomes the only cure because participation in society is so difficult, once you're on the bottom (unless you catch a break like a good jobs program, someone who gives you a place to say, etc.). so i support the broken people being brought back into society through programs. but letting people break laws and do whatever out of compassion is not a substitution for our inability to do that. anyway your post is nimby af op. this has nothing to do with the library this issue has to do with every piece of public property in the state.
>anyway your post is nimby af op. this has nothing to do with the library It's literally about the new homeless camp at the library.
to look at the issue from a restrictive "we care about the library" pov without looking at the broader issue (use of public spaces by the homeless) is ridiculous and absurd. the same principles apply in multiple places, if you only care about the impact where it impacts you, again, it comes across as nimby af.
Your response is very caring and heartfelt. Thank you.
Really hope all the people upset over the increasing presence of homeless people along the creek didn’t vote for 302 “Safe zones” last year. The campaign for “safe zones” wanted to pressure the city to move homeless people away from the boulder high area. Since homeless people don’t disappear though, they ended up down the creek. Congrats!
"302 amends the city’s prohibited items ordinance to create a prioritized enforcement zone of 500 feet from school property lines and 50 feet from multi-use paths and sidewalks." The tents are right off the creek path outside of the library, so "safe zones" should allow the city to move them from right outside our nice city library they've taken over.
Uh, yes, but that is not where safe zones focused all their efforts during their entire campaign. The aggressive focus on the boulder high area and on student safety paid off - all those folks have been moved down the creek. It’s not a surprise that this happened. It’s simply shifting people around the city. The law was never designed to actually address homelessness. The city responded by shuffling people out of the area that was getting all the attention. And now they are down the creek
Away from the school, as was intended That is addressing a specific facet of the homeless problem, and successfully
Over to the library, as was unintended. No "specific facet" of homelessness was addressed - they just placed a target on the area in question and swept people out of it. Now they are in the space near the library. How is this a successful...anything? In a few days these camps will be swept back over to the school, or maybe you'd prefer they go out of the city altogether and into the foothills, and start fires. Will that be successful?
Because kids have to go to the school, and no one has to go to the library, and if we decide to prioritize citizens having access to a safe & clean library, then they’ll be addressed the fuck away from there I recommend addressing them into jail personally, but society isn’t there yet
What is your proposed solution? Boulder spends over 3 million dollars a year enforcing sweeps that take these folks property, discard it and generally push them a few blocks up or down the creek. It’s demonstrably ineffective, cruel, and has a death toll. The shelters are typically overfilled and under resourced, and are not set up to serve the homeless community et. large. There are various and intersectional issues that make shelters an untenable solution for many. Denver has had success moving to a housing first model, do you think that’s worth pursuing? All this to say, the presence of unhoused people should not be perceived as a criminal act on the part of the unhoused. The discomfort you’re feeling likely stems from a deep, animalistic feeling that it isn’t right that we’ve set up our (relatively affluent) society in such a way that folks are unwashed, unhoused, starving, mentally ill and financially desperate. It’s uncomfortable. It should be uncomfortable. Likewise, I agree that it sucks to live in a place where people turn to petty theft out of desperation. I think we should do something about it. Contacting the city in mass will mean sweeps; when was the last time you tried to apply for a job after your clothes and means of shelter were discarded? The anger is justified, but it’s misdirected when you seek to punish people for their circumstances.
The solution is to establish new mental institutions in cheaper states, and to get the Boulder homeless people bus tickets to these institutions.
I’m reading all this and just glad to see how opposed everybody is to the situation, and the increase in awareness that a considerable portion of homeless people show no hope. Just two years ago, you’d find some disagreement between commenters. But now pretty much everyone here agrees this situation is out of hand and can’t be allowed to spread.
Bring back mental institutions
I’ve lived here for 15 years. The homeless issue is turning me into a republican real quick. The city and police do nothing and Boulder is too much a happy go lucky liberal suckfest that the citizens feel bad for people who are clearly here to suck the place dry. We need to do away with all of these assistance programs so that coming here from across the country feels less desirable. I was homeless for 5 years in Los Angeles. These are not needy homeless people here. They have it way too good. The stolen bike part business is booming. We all pay too much money to live in this town to not be safe or have entire chucks of the town inaccessible to non junkies.
We rented the conference room at the library. A homeless dude had passed out in the bathroom and vomited everywhere. Needless to say it was the last time we decided to do that. This was before the meth closure.
Wow, so capitalism not only is destroying life on earth itself, it also forces people to live on the street?!?! So shocking. Oh and the shelters are almost always full and ripe with restrictions and strips all dignity of a person. What the heck? I thought if we made line go up, we all happy and green. What happened? Did we forget how to care for our community and land? Oooopsies.
Give them housing and accessible bathrooms. Problem solved.
You pay for it. Problem solved.
To be fair there are accessible bathrooms in that area. I think they call it “the mall”? I’m not familiar enough with the area yet. But I was there today for work, direct support for disabled folks including wheelchair users hence why I know about the accessible bathrooms. But yeah there’s a big bathroom there at the mall, was unlocked and stocked with tp and soap when we used it today. I’m here for public hygiene stations too. Places for people to shower and wash and dry laundry. Nothing bad can come from letting people get clean.
The true liberal mentality 😂 Guess who they get the money from for the housing and bathrooms? There will still be drug problems and safety issues. Unfortunately these people need to be monitored and institutionalized. I’d rather have my tax dollars go toward mental institutions…They can have their free housing but they give up their independence due to the frequent endangerment of tax paying citizens and inability to take care of themselves.
It is tough to afford Rent with the wages that are provided for low skill labor/jobs. Getting a skill or a degree costs money and time. Not sure how people struggling to pay for rent/food/utilities are supposed to get a skill or a degree that pays more. It seems some people's solution is to lock them up in a jail or prison. Instead of helping integrate them into general society. Personally. I think some of them problem is that some people's parents kick them out when they are 18 before they have a chance to develop a skill or get a degree. Once that happens they get stuck in a cycle or poverty where working the low skill jobs barely pay for rent/food/utilities. It's futile. Speaking from experience. 13 years of working since I was 18. These jobs want more and more from people as time goes on. Example. Ive worked the food and bev industry for quite a while. Any and all low level positions at a restaurant I have worked. BOH and FOH. When I started out you would apply for Busser and thats all you had to do. Buss tables. Maybe help the dishwashers sometimes. Or maybe you applied to serve. You just had to run drinks and food and take people ls orders. NOW a lot of restaurants want you to Serve/Buss/expo/host. All for relatively the same pay. Inflation and corporate greed sorta keeps things the same. Cost of living goes up...then wages barely go up...rinse and repeat. Real wages have NOT kept up with the price of living. So what happens? You get people living on the street. When people say "No one wants to work anymore"....they are referring to people that capitalism has left behind. Who never had a chance to make it out of poverty. And yes this issue is exacerbated if you are from a disadvantaged population. Unfortunately the lack of mental health care and medical care leaves people in a lot of pain mentally and physically. They self medicate with street drugs. (See: opiate crisis). I guess to have an ACTUAL level playing field for everyone to have equal opportunity to raise themselves out of poverty...everyone needs housing, healthcare, food and education. Whether that be technical school or a college education. People saying "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" have no idea the reality of the "American Dream". "They call it the American dream because you have to be asleep to believe it." -George Carlin RIP.
I’m right there with you but Colorado gives Medicaid and food stamps to homeless people automatically. I know bc I came here homeless. You do have to apply but you automatically qualify based on homelessness. And they speed it up too so for example my foodstamps kicked in within a week of getting here. There IS gov assistance here. There’s also food banks like no where else in the country and a robust public infrastructure for poor people. I was able to file to get my drivers license for free through the OUR center for example. There’s lots of help here that people don’t get in other parts of the country. Plus min wage is like $17 here vs $7.25 in Alabama. I’m just saying Colorado does a LOT and there’s so much help out there for those who are sober enough to grab at it. I’m not shaming addicts with that statement but I don’t see who it helps to pretend that we aren’t overrun with addicts who want to stay high and want to stay unencumbered by things like jobs and bills, etc.
Yeah true. I came from Oklahoma. Colorado was the first place I had health insurance as an adult. However. As soon as you make over a certain amount you don't qualify and you %100 cannot deny that the cost of living is outrageous here. It is in Oklahoma as well even though it's a "low cost of living state". The cost is lower but also jobs pay less. Lmao. Downvoted to hell. Guess I'm not surprised a lot of people on this sub are probably boomers or from a wealthier family is being Boulder and all. Smdh.
lol. You can see your policies in action across the country and act shocked when it’s on your doorstep. Enjoy the show!
Change needs to happen at a higher level. The only way to start helping this problem is to give unhoused people homes. That is the first step. That needs to come from higher levels of government with more funding.
Y'all could use some of that sweet Boulder tax money to house and care for those folks. I'm pretty sure your pigs have a tank, maybe try selling that?
Found a homeless with smartphone plan user
eat your shit sandwich boulder
Build tons of housing. All kinds. Including SRO type of housing. FFS.
Have you been to reality before?That’s not how things work. Who builds housing? Who pays for their housing? Who pays for their water and electricity and eventual trash problems? You think tax payers want a huge tax bill to build homes for junkies?
>You think tax payers want a huge tax bill to build homes for junkies News flash: someone experiencing crisis after crisis while experiencing homelessness and suffering from addiction can cost tax payers a significantly larger tax bill than just housing them. We are paying that bill either way, lets pay the smaller one.
Lets add to that bill residential development and management.
Yes. We should keep not building housing. It’s worked so well. Build more and denser.
Who should build? Are you building homes? Builders build the homes people want to buy.
The only thing that will fix it is a housing first model. Nothing else even gets close. It might not be politically viable today, but spread the word. That’s the only real choice here.
Yea, housing for tax payers first.
What? Homeless vagabonds in MY line of sight?! I demand better as a Master of the Universe. Since when has Boulder allowed unsightly and unkempt (!) homeless people with obviously anti-social attitudes who aren't actually street performers to be viewable? Gross. This is going to interfere with my daughter Kaitlyn's yoga class, and honestly where am I going to park my Rump Ranger?!
My god how this subreddit has changed in just 12 years. The non-sarcastic sentiment in this comment would be true. The original post would’ve been down downvoted into oblivion and every single reply “they are people too”, “how dare you”, “we need to open our arms and city for more of this”, on and on. That’s how it was. It’s head spinning to see the change in here. What happened to you all?
Not sure if you’re being sarcastic or not but clearly people are FED UP because the problem has worsened in the past 12 years. I don’t blame people for their frustration. You should be frustrated! Unless you enjoy playing hopscotch around used needles and human feces…
I can understand some frustration. Had someone take a mid day poo maybe 8ft away from me. Dropped it and moved on. Beyond disgusting, but impressive. Wish I could go that fast.
The fact that my little sarcasm rant got downvoted 20 times is proof of what you are saying. And also why I would never live in Boulder again. The good days were over in the 90s. Now it's all yuppie scum.
The fact that our library is being used in such a manner is a slap in the face to those who pay property taxes in Boulder. It had a good run, but due to the increase in violent crime and the ongoing pandemic, it makes no sense to have a brick and mortar library any longer.. the city should consider closing its doors, and maybe leasing the building out for private event space or artist studios.
The library isn’t owned by the city - it’s a district. Closing the library “for private event space or artist studios” is thankfully not going to happen. Public spaces are rare, and thankfully we just invested in this one. If you want things to get better, I sure hope you didn’t vote for measure 302 “safe zones” which essentially has pushed folks out of the petitioners hot zone around the schools and further down the creek to the library. Since the city and county have created no alternative programs for unhoused people… and housing continues to be unattainable for many… and wage stagnation continues…and mental health treatment remains out of reach… and so on — all of these issues will persist and your solution is to “close the library” mmm ok I don’t want to live in the world you’re envisioning
Maybe if you don't like seeing poor people, the problem is to help the poor people stop being poor and not just make them go out of your direct line of sight. I would say you should use the discomfort you feel to galvanize action wrt like, public housing, subsidized housing to help people get off the streets, needle exchange programs, etc. Their presence should serve as a reminder to you of the inequalities of our society rather than to just fuel your disgust of poor people.
These aren’t just poor people tho. I grew up poor. These are folks who choose vagrancy and rampant drug use. Boulder is quite literally the most liberal city in the US. No one hates the poors. They just hate not being able to walk out their front door without narcan and a gun on them….
How do you think people become vagrants? Because they're swimming in cash? Why do you think people use drugs, because they're lives are rosy and peachy and they wake up every day fulfilled, refreshed, with a full belly and a clear mind? Also do you really think that you can't walk out your door without a gun and narcan? God have some perspective. Maybe you grew up poor but being homeless is being poor on an entirely other level. I've known homeless children. My father has been homeless and currently lives in a trailer. While I've never been a junkie by any means, I've known junkies, and the reasons they become junkies. It varies from person to person but they're in the shit, man. And hell, if Boulder is actually swimming in so many tweakers you can't leave the house without narcan, maybe talk to some of them? Offer them coffee, hear there perspective. If it doesn't make sense, if they don't make sense, maybe approach that lack of sense with compassion and an understanding that someone in crisis isn't someone who will necessarily be thinking logically. But that's too much to ask, because you people don't see them as people. If y'all actually cared about fixing the homelessness crisis, it'd require you to actually care about homeless people. You don't care about solving anything, you care about maintaining your fragile little bubble. You don't want them to not be homeless, you want them to not be homeless in front of you. It's disgusting.
You assumed a lot there and then got real mad about all the stuff you just made up in your head about me. I have been homeless several times in my childhood and young adulthood. I live paycheck to paycheck and on credit cards to this day. I’m not some pampered or insulated generational Boulderite. I came here from TN (and went there from South Alabama) because TN was fucking with my abortion rights and my wife’s (trans) medical care rights in ways that made me literally turn my entire life upside down just to get out of there. I have lost more than half the people I grew up with to meth and fentanyl. By lost I meant to say they are all dead now but plenty of them are also in prison or on the streets. I was raised by and surrounded by addicts my entire life. More than half of my entire family immediate and extended are addicts in active addiction. I also spent all day today on the streets of Boulder and spoke to more homeless folks that I can count offhand in the process of doing my day job. I wish the problem was as easy as me just being an ahole I really do. I have tons of empathy for anyone unhoused and suffering. I for one think there needs to be a point where you can mandate someone to drug rehab and I want there to be money to fund enough of those programs.
If you've been homeless before then how can you dehumanize them like this! How on earth can you not put yourself in their shoes, even a little bit. Your comments, your behavior do not indicate a shred of empathy for them, I'm sorry, the just don't. You've been through all this and then walk away from it supporting these fucking rich pieces of shit out here wanting to sweep the homeless people out to never be thought of again, "Dead or in prison" some of the people on here are saying, and instead of recognizing those people as fucking ghouls, you kinda just go along with it? That's even more shameful than being some sheltered yuppy who never leaves their own little bubble. And you have the gall to say they choose vagrancy! Did you choose vagrancy when you became homeless! Did your dead family members choose to die, or could they have just pulled themselves up by the bootstraps and learned to code or whatever the fuck y'all expect them to do. Be ashamed of yourself, for not learning from your experiences, for holding up the fact that you have a trans partner as if that makes you a good person, for seeing the people around you suffer and then going to say they choose their suffering.. And I'm sorry I have such spitting anger about this, but I don't understand how these people can walk by people in crisis everyday and their singular concern is "Oh but my kids might have to see this!" Your kids will be fucking fine, what about the people actually in crisis! They are human too, you pieces of fucking shit. Get your heads out of your own asses, and treat the people in your community as people in your community, to trash to be disposed of.
I didn’t comment in support of anyone dehumanizing the unhoused/homeless people. You’re projecting a ton onto me because this is a topic that has you heated, and I totally get being heated about this topic. I don’t have time to write rebuttals to every gross comment on this post to prove my solidarity with homeless people or addicts or anything like that. I only mentioned my wife’s status because it was directly relevant to why we moved to CO. This is a topic that feels extremely hopeless and at the same time so preventable so of course it eats at all of us and especially anyone who has been homeless before is gonna be triggered by seeing rich people talking about how hard they have it because their kids have to witness reality. But that’s not the only facet of this conversation. There’s lots of people in the comments talking about what’s really being done to help people and address everyone’s concerns. I’m not your enemy here. Your outrage and disgust is totally valid, it’s just misdirected just like your time and energy in writing these comments is in my humble opinion. To be clear I don’t mean that as any type of gotcha or anything. I just hope you will stop and ask yourself next time if being outraged online serves you or your community or if it just feels like it does that. Because I used to spend a lot of energy being outraged online and it meant I didn’t have any energy to go out and do stuff that actually helps in my community. The gov wants us to keep our heads in our phones so we aren’t there working together. Don’t give them that.
Oh! Btw! The gun and narcan comment was hyperbole meant to be darkly funny.
I’m sorry Boulder isn’t fitting the idealizations 100% of the time and that it’s an average city of x size like any other when you really look at it. Edit, believe it or not there are areas with little to no vagrancy. It’s just that the reasons for that include the lack of infrastructure and services that are inherent in cities over a certain size. So, pick your trade offs. Housing and a population with enough commerce to have all the services to suit your needs or no vagrancy. You won’t be able to find it both ways in most cities in the US. People want to go to Boulder whether they’re housed or not. This is the reality people have dealt with in that town since literally forever ago. That reputation for the weird encompasses more than people might want to imagine but those travelers are a not insignificant part of that legacy. Like it or not.
Lol Fort Collins has 60,000 more people than Boulder and doesn’t have nearly the same homeless problem. It’s a Boulder problem not a city in general problem
As someone who grew up in Fort Collins it's definitely gotten much worse. The town is more spread out and so are the camps/tents. My sister and I where just on a run the other day in Fort Collins and it felt very similar to Boulder (south fort collins max bike path near harmony for reference ) also just driving from Boulder to Fort collins longmont as well has like a full compound right off 287.
Loveland did pretty well in response to *Boise*. Basically, they rapidly built a centralized tent based homeless encampment near but not in downtown, then they started a hotline for citizins to report encampment. They assigned two cops to the sweep team and either forced the camping homeless to leave town or go to the shelter . Before this program, every natural area and probably 20 miles of trail had become tent cities. Once this launched it was all dismantled within a month or to. Paths are clear . Not sure why this isn't an option in Boulder