(You can listen to this column, read by the author, here.)
For all the attention it gets, you’d think ending “homelessness” was the primary purpose of Denver government. The term is an all-inclusive generalization. It includes those who’ve had a sudden setback, are recently out of work, are down on their luck, temporarily having a tough time making ends meet, or even a college grad who’s out of work and has moved back in with her parents. Only a small fraction of the homeless are street people (the “unsheltered” in politically correct lingo) but they’re a major part of the problem. As a compassionate society we do what we can for them. Unfortunately, most reject treatment and rehabilitation. They say they just want their freedom.
But we can’t ignore the damage they cause for the 700,000 other residents of Denver and the 3 million who live in the metro area, especially downtown. To put it bluntly, bums, vagrants, beggars, squatters and drug addicts camping out in public and private property, parks, and sidewalks infringe on the welfare of the people who make this city thrive, and they make Denver a less desirable place for tourists and folks who live in the metro suburbs to visit, dine out, recreate, and work.
In other words it’s bad for business. A recent study by Colorado’s Common Sense Institute finds that the combination of crime, homelessness, and high office vacancy rates in downtown Denver has caused it to lag behind other downtowns around the country in economic recovery after the pandemic. Locally, the DTC, Boulder, Colorado Springs and Fort Collins are doing much better.
To borrow a title from Charles Dickens, the comparison of Aurora’s handling of street people and Denver’s provides an instructive “Tale of Two Cities.” The approach of Denver’s government —with its radical leftist dominated city council and rookie liberal Democrat Mayor Mike Johnston —is steeped in its philosophy of “social justice.” They call it “housing first” without conditions or mandatory substance abuse rehab programs.
Aurora’s Republican Mayor Mike Coffman and his conservative city council majority have taken a more practical approach to homelessness. They call it “work first,” designed to elevate people to self-reliance with conditions for treatment, rehab and job training to qualify for free housing.
Denver is spending hundreds of millions on “affordable housing” and actually becoming a landlord, taking ownership of apartment houses. This can lead to even more homeless people flocking to Colorado to cash in on the goodies. Similar programs in Chicago and NYC led to the dreaded ”projects,” low-income ghettos with dilapidated buildings, crime and drugs. To finance its benevolence, Denver is on a tax-increasing binge.
A progressive activist group that advocates for street people, the Housekeys Action Network, has protested police enforcement of the camping ban and of trespassing laws. But their demands are entirely self-interested and they don’t give a damn about the overall welfare of Denver residents.
There’s an economic truism: what you tax you get less of and what you subsidize and encourage you get more of. In this case, Denver will get fewer business enterprises, fewer jobs, fewer ambitious taxpayers, fewer outsiders paying sales taxes, and even fewer self-reliant residents than it has now. Instead, it’ll get many more people dependent on government handouts. Overtaxed and over regulated people vote with their feet, as seen by the exodus of productive citizens from California, New York and Illinois en route to limited-government states like Texas and Florida. Denver’s priorities are self-destructive. A city in economic decline is even less able to serve those in need.
Denver city council members afflicted with climate change paranoia and hell bent on “urban density” have bragged about making driving an aggravating ordeal for motorists. They succeeded. Big mistake. Those stupid bike lanes that steal auto lanes —especially on Broadway and 15th Street — clog traffic, are a mortal danger to cyclists, are under-utilized, and will never be a significant mode of public transportation. Let’s get rid of them. Also, return speed limits to what they used to be. Twenty mph on city streets and 30 mph on four-lane divided roads are too slow.
As for Democrats who control state government, their delusional goals and timetables for carbon reduction and electrification are unattainable, unaffordable, and undesirable. Oil, gas, and coal will be essential for the foreseeable future. Wind and solar will always be minor players. And nothing Colorado does will have a significant impact on the planet’s climate.
Longtime KOA radio talk host and columnist for the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News Mike Rosen now writes for CompleteColorado.com.
