Reader: Snooze has seen that camping ban doesn't work

It's early Monday morning, so you can count on two things: People are already lining up to eat breakfast at the original Snooze in the Ballpark neighborhood, and outside the restaurant, the homeless are already lining up to wait until the shelters open their doors again tonight. It's a scene...

By Patricia Calhoun

April 15, 2013

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It's early Monday morning, so you can count on two things: People are already lining up to eat breakfast at the original Snooze in the Ballpark neighborhood, and outside the restaurant, the homeless are already lining up to wait until the shelters open their doors again tonight. It's a scene that hasn't changed much over the past year -- which helps explain why Snooze recently announced that it had changed its position on the camping ban, and now opposes the ordinance passed by the city a year ago.

Says Denver Becca:

Super excited they have changed their stance. It was presented with carrots and sticks. The sticks have held. The carrots haven't. Because Snooze is literal neighbors with Denver's homeless, they've been able to see that this approach does not work. Telling people they can't sleep in the city of Denver does not find them homes.

What do you think of Denver's urban camping ban? Post your thoughts below, or join the camping-band conversation already under way here.

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Patricia Calhoun is editor-in-chief of Westword, the alt-weekly she co-founded in September 1977. She’s been inducted into the Colorado Press Association Hall of Fame, the Association of Alternative Newsmedia Hall of Fame and the Colorado Restaurant Association Hall of Fame. She’s also received dozens of local, state and national awards for writing, including first place for feature writing and first place for column writing with the Society of Professional Journalists. Patricia is a weekly commentator on Colorado Inside Out, PBS 12's public affairs roundtable, which has won two Emmys.

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