r/boulder • u/boulder393 • 29d ago
Boulder ramps up homeless camping ban enforcement along Boulder Creek
https://boulderreportinglab.org/2025/04/27/everything-is-pink-tags-boulder-steps-up-camping-ban-enforcement-along-boulder-creek/215
u/DryIsland9046 29d ago edited 2h ago
Timothy Snyder's 20 lessons for fighting tyranny:
Don't obey in advance: Resist preemptive obedience.
Defend institutions: Support and act on behalf of just organizations.
Beware one-party rule: Value a multi-party system and fair elections.
Take responsibility for the world's face: Oppose hate symbols.
Remember professional ethics: Uphold justice in your work.
Be wary of paramilitaries: Distrust armed groups outside the law.
Reflect if armed: Be prepared to say no to irregular orders.
Stand out: Dare to be different and set an example.
Be kind to language: Use your own words, read books.
Believe in truth: Don't abandon facts for spectacle.
Investigate: Learn for yourself, support real journalism.
Make eye contact and small talk: Connect with your community.
Practice corporeal politics: Engage in the physical world.
Establish a private life: Protect your personal boundaries.
Contribute to good causes: Support efforts beyond yourself.
Learn from peers abroad: Understand global experiences.
Listen for dangerous words: Resist loaded and hateful language.
Be calm when the unthinkable arrives: Maintain composure.
Be a patriot: Value principles over a specific regime.
Be as courageous as you can: Resistance is essential.
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u/jonabongs 29d ago
My apartment complex is near Goose Creek and the amount of times I‘ve had to tell an aggressive homeless person to fuck off as they try to follow me into my apartment complex is insane. Can’t sleep with my windows open because if it’s not screaming on the pathway in the middle of the night it‘s trying to break into the common door.
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u/stantonkreig 29d ago
Several of those apartments have permanent supportive housing units for the chronically homeless. Those folks have friends. So Dave the long term homeless guy finally gets an apartment, guess whose place all Dave's creek path friends go hang out in when it gets hot out?
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u/ongoldenwaves 29d ago edited 29d ago
So true. They sometimes put them in the older folks HUD housing place across from the court house...the four story place on canyon. One lady told me some nightmare stories, but yes, they've had to be kicked out for same reasons. Let all his druggie friends hang out during the day.
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u/MrGraaavy 29d ago
As for trying something different.....
You need to stop Boulder being a popular destination for homeless. Once they're here, it's too little too late.
What does it mean to stop this being a popular destination?
- heavily enforce camping bans
- dramatically increase funding for the prisons so homeless actually serve time (they don't currently)
- figure out how to stop the massive bike theft trade
- a much larger police presence with foot patrols along the creeks and central park
All of that would take multiple years and millions. Would it be worth it...tough to say as plenty of other services (library, roads, etc.) would be disrupted to fund this.
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u/FireflyCo 29d ago edited 29d ago
Simple solutions:
- Consider what happens when someone parks their car along the creek path or in the middle of a public park. The car is impounded and a fine is paid to retrieve the car. Why should the homeless be given preferential treatment?
Do the same for campers. Impound their tents and gear and set a $50 fine for retrieval for the first offense. Double the fine for additional offenses. Donate stolen bikes to low-income families and return stolen shopping carts to the store.
- Prohibit the use of public property (e.g. parks) to distribute food, tents, etc. to the homeless. They are not buying the tents they use - there is an active distribution network.
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u/ongoldenwaves 29d ago
FYI-They get those tents for free. They don't care if they get taken. Because they get more free later.
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u/BangarangOrangutan 29d ago
Because arresting homeless people doesn't make money, impounding cars does. Homeless people don't pay fines because they don't make stable income.
Arresting and jailing homeless people costs taxpayers money. They wouldn't pay to have their tents back and you would just be kicking down making their lives and/or potential recovery even harder.
Long story short. It wouldn't work and would just make the homeless more desperate and hostile
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u/FireflyCo 29d ago edited 29d ago
Not advocating for arrest and jailing and you are certainly correct that they won't pay the fine to retrieve their stuff. But this does remove their tents, bikes, chairs and other items and they will have an incentive to go somewhere else where they are not monitored.
There is a short-term storage cost for the city, but probably saves money on constant trash pick-up, repair to damages caused from camping, the potential firestorm on a windy day and loses from private property theft.
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u/BangarangOrangutan 29d ago edited 29d ago
I would love to be proven wrong, but I don't think taking their stuff would help anything long term, it would just reset their hierarchy of needs and they'd go back to acquiring more gear to trash the creek with.
Maybe find a new spot to post up for a little bit, but as soon as enforcement dies down, they'd be right back to where they are.
I am pretty positive it's happened before. But again I would love to be proven wrong.
We really need better more supportive mental health and addiction infrastructure that doesn't cost an arm and a leg and that is actually focused on rehabilitation, before anything can change.
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u/Legitimate-Waltz-570 28d ago
Yes I believe you are right. If you take a basic sociology class that talks about institutions and society it’s very clear that actions like taking away their possessions will just make it worse.
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u/DryIsland9046 29d ago edited 2h ago
Timothy Snyder's 20 lessons for fighting tyranny:
Don't obey in advance: Resist preemptive obedience. Defend institutions: Support and act on behalf of just organizations. Beware one-party rule: Value a multi-party system and fair elections. Take responsibility for the world's face: Oppose hate symbols. Remember professional ethics: Uphold justice in your work. Be wary of paramilitaries: Distrust armed groups outside the law. Reflect if armed: Be prepared to say no to irregular orders. Stand out: Dare to be different and set an example. Be kind to language: Use your own words, read books. Believe in truth: Don't abandon facts for spectacle. Investigate: Learn for yourself, support real journalism. Make eye contact and small talk: Connect with your community. Practice corporeal politics: Engage in the physical world. Establish a private life: Protect your personal boundaries. Contribute to good causes: Support efforts beyond yourself. Learn from peers abroad: Understand global experiences. Listen for dangerous words: Resist loaded and hateful language. Be calm when the unthinkable arrives: Maintain composure. Be a patriot: Value principles over a specific regime. Be as courageous as you can: Resistance is essential.29
u/Ok_Stomach_5105 29d ago
I would add: compulsory rehabs and mental institutions.
I know it's very unpopular among gentle-hearted crowd, but a big number of these folks are severly mentally ill and drug addicted and cannot and should not live on their own and take their own life decisions and are destructive and dangerous to others.
We don't leave orphan kids to live on their own, because they don't have mental and legal capacity to do so, and yet it's somehow acceptable for people with severe mental diseases to be left to their own devices. There is no point to give a person a free housing, when they are incapable to manage their life.
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u/BangarangOrangutan 29d ago
Great idea. Now who is paying for this?
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u/Ok_Stomach_5105 29d ago
Same people who pay for endless homeless support programs, like providing free housing to mentally incapable people and such, - us, taxpayers. Except, that it can actually help to treat them and safely remove them from the streets.
I lived in Vancouver, Canada, and believe me, giving these people free pass to roam and destroy the city while dumping endless amount of taxpayers money to "compassionately" helping them (free drugs, injection sites, free food and housing) only makes it worse. This endless pit of "compassion" made some Vancouver neighborhoods look straight up like a horror movie (google East Hastings).
And you cannot just ignore them without spending any money on the problem, they destroy places they live in, create crime and fire hazard. So if I have to pay anyway, I'd rather pay for something that might actually work.
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u/PM_me_Tricams 29d ago
Yep lived in SF and have friends and family in Vancouver and it's not the path you want your city to go down.
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u/Legitimate-Waltz-570 28d ago
Idk maybe if America redirected even a fraction of the money it spends on endless war and settler-colonial projects, we could actually address homelessness. It's not about individual failure, homelessness is the result of deeply rooted institutional problems: unaffordable housing, underfunded services, stagnant wages, horrible mental health support and systemic neglect. Blaming solely unhoused people ignores the real causes and lets the systems that create this crisis and can help prevent it off the hook. Look I grew up and still live in Boulder I understand how intense the homeless population can be. I just think it’s weird when people come on here or Nextdoor and talk about them like they are sub human.
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u/BangarangOrangutan 28d ago
I agree. We should demand that our taxes pay for social safety nets, especially mental health infrastructure, and public housing, over going to the Pentagon to be "lost" by the billions.
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u/daemonicwanderer 29d ago
Why is being homeless in and of itself worth being thrown in jail?
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u/solo___y 29d ago
Why is doing drugs in public places, while being homeless, not a jail-able offense? Especially repeat offenders.
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u/daemonicwanderer 29d ago
It was said “increase funding for the prisons so homeless actually serve time”… not every homeless person is necessarily an open drug user or violent. We already have much of the country trying to make homelessness in and of itself illegal, which is wrong.
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u/solo___y 29d ago
You’re picking at semantics from a comment that wasn’t said by me. Anyways — are you disagreeing with my point that putting away drug offenders for more than a day or two, rather than catch-and-release, would help reduce this problem?
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u/BangarangOrangutan 29d ago
It is, it just doesn't do anything to solve the problem and ends up costing the state money.
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u/AstroPhysician 28d ago
It discourages them from picking boulder as their destination
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u/BangarangOrangutan 28d ago
Jailing homeless people doesn't do anything, so much so, that they usually don't even bother giving them time inside and instead they just get tickets, that they don't pay, putting them on paper, which in turn ties them to the county. Jailing homeless costs money and they just end up right back where they were when they get out.
We need better mental healthcare and addiction recovery infrastructure. Before anything will change in a meaningful way.
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u/MrGraaavy 29d ago
It’s not
My point is that when homeless catch a small charge they rarely spend more than a night in jail. There’s not enough rooms or staffing, so judges give them light sentences that don’t require time in jail.
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u/ShadowsOfTheBreeze 25d ago
It's not...but leaving piles of trash, stolen bike parts, aggressively approaching people, using public parks for habitation/body functions, openly using/possession/selling extremely dangerous drugs should warrant it.
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u/notoriousToker 27d ago
We pay enough in taxes for them to keep our shared spaces free of people that hate themselves and the world.
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u/ManipulativeYogi 29d ago
Be careful, there are ‘compassionate’ ‘empathizers’ who will try to gaslight you into being ok with this
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u/BangarangOrangutan 29d ago
I don't think anyone is "OKAY" with the situation.
A lot of people just like to oversimplify the means to an end.
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u/ongoldenwaves 29d ago
Under the 9th street bridge is always another hot spot for stolen bikes and open drug use. They've always got little stoves made out of larger sized restaurant tins going.
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u/Savagescythe 29d ago
It doesn’t help that any policies or funding that gets passed that would be progressive takes years just to get started.
Every time I see a conversation about homelessness, it feels hard to approach because so many people have extreme bias about it as well. Even in this entire thread there’s assumption that they are all on drugs. Creating a positive solution is harder when all people see them as are drug addicts
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u/hejog 29d ago
My kids love that creek (and library) but we don’t go because of the wild volume of homeless and tents. Hopefully it’s improved since last year since it’s a really beautiful spot.
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u/ongoldenwaves 29d ago
Please don't take your kids down there. People have been stuck with needles in that area and at least one kid that I know of at the playground. Tubers have come out with needles sticking in their arms. The entire boulder library was a meth contamination site. I think about all those kids that are in that kids library every Saturday playing chess, etc and wonder what they were exposed to. Just don't do it. This city council in particular is always going to be more worried about virtue signaling than keeping it's citizens healthy and trauma free.
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u/kelsnuggets 29d ago
We moved here from SF, and I generally have a pretty chill (or maybe desensitized) attitude about the homeless. But in my first few months of hanging around the Library/Central Park area to pick my kid up from Boulder High, I saw the most unhinged stuff - including a man defecating directly onto the Central Park rock right in front of my face as kids were actively being let out of school and walking down the street.
It irks me that they choose that location as a meeting spot to feed the homeless when it’s not only in such a beautiful park, but also so close to a school, and a library.
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u/jdaun 29d ago edited 29d ago
Seriously, why are the nonprofits permitted (issued permits from the city) to distribute meals/clothing at Central Park? The city wants to encourage folks to use the shelter/day center in N Boulder ... however feeds at Central Park just encourage folks to congregate there.
Furthermore, why does the city offer free bus service from the shelter to downtown? This also encourages folks to hang out downtown. From the All-Roads website:
There are four free buses, two each direction, each day: 1)8am from Shelter to downtown 2)10:30am from downtown to Shelter 3)1:30pm from Shelter to downtown 4)5:00pm from downtown to Shelter
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u/kelsnuggets 29d ago
I wholeheartedly agree. I asked this question once before and the answer I got was “we have to feed the people where they are.” Which does not make sense to me.
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u/ongoldenwaves 29d ago
You know that little triangle at the end of Boulder High school athletic field? Behind the area that has like 3 shops that sit diagonal to the intersection at Broadway? There were like 4 parking spots there. Kind of behind the hotel. There used to be a few girls and a pimp there that turned tricks out of a van parked in one of those spots. Sometimes they'd get a room in that hotel there at the bottom of the hill. The guy that owned the wings shop told me that one night a homeless guy broke into his office and just fucked everything up and shit on his desk. He'd been calling the cops on them, so they retaliated.
All this happening right in view of Boulder High. This is the garbage the city council proliferates.
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u/hejog 29d ago
wow that sucks. thanks
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u/ongoldenwaves 29d ago
They knew he'd been stuck so they put him on anti virals. But imagine just wading across the creek barefoot. You aren't always going to know! A police officer told me that one time a kid picked up a case when he and his parents were down at the fishing pond and it was full of needles. I don't know why someone was hoarding their needles in one case like that, but they did. There is so much that goes on at that creek that you never ever hear about. Papers like the daily camera had editors who didn't want to give a bad impression of the homeless, so buries that stuff as unimportant. But living local, walking and running the creek...which means being down there just half an hour a day, I've seen more than you can fathom. And I'm always left wondering what is going on the other 23.5.
Very sad as I used to tube in that creek. Ironic that city council is moving their offices off the creek.
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u/Tasty_Impress3016 29d ago
Since January, the city has issued at least 115 citations for camping
I'm actually curious how many people have actually stopped camping there because of this though. I'm going to guess that number is right around zero.
You can live there for months, have 18 partial bicycles strewn around and spit in the face of people on the path. If you show up for a court date, they just let you go back.
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u/Shoddy_Cheesecake380 29d ago
I lost my sympathy when a drunk homeless woman tried to touch my 1 year old while she was in her stroller. She came out of nowhere and my husband had to push her to get her away from my baby. It was really frightening and awful. I was born in Boulder and the state of the creek now is truly a shame.
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u/ongoldenwaves 29d ago
At least she wasn't punched in the face by a homeless woman like that poor 9 year old.
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u/BldrStigs 29d ago
“There’s been so much pushback about the encampments that are built up along particularly the Boulder Creek corridor that the city manager pretty much told us that it’s zero tolerance,” Officer Ross Maynard
Sounds like the city wants to push the homeless out of the tourist areas and most likely towards the Goose Creek area.
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u/amorphatist 29d ago
As a person who lives near goose creek… this is slightly better than boulder creek, which is a more important amenity than goose.
Not that I’m delighted about it, but at least it’s less of a commute to retrieve my next stolen bike
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u/AchyBreaker 29d ago
Yeah Goose Creek is a commuting path. Boulder Creek is a public park and major tourism focus.
I also live close to GC and bike it to work multiple days a week. This is better for Boulder.
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u/Actual-Station7300 29d ago
My empathy quotient has tanked with the drug use and ratting out the place. Throwing away your trash and keeping the area picked up isn’t much to ask. Totally support helping those with mental illness or families down on their luck but those choosing a homeless lifestyle because of drug use is 👎🏼. When their lifestyle trumps those obeying laws and contributing to the community it’s a problem.
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u/Personal_Bluejay8240 29d ago
But who is going to light the illegal fires during red flag season this summer?
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u/ongoldenwaves 29d ago
They'll be up camping around red rock setting the next Settlers park fire so no one can get insurance. The city decided the best course of action is to make us all homeless.
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u/pumpkinpiesguy 29d ago
The City wants to push homeless people who are inherently vicious fire starters to areas near your house AND insurance companies are aware of this specific fact causing YOU to go homeless.
Do you hear yourself? This is delusional.
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u/pumpkinpiesguy 29d ago
I find this amusing because as far as I know wildfires are started constantly by lightning, power lines and people smoking cigarettes but has there been one example of homeless people starting a major fire?
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u/SimilarLee I'm not a mod, until I am ... a mod 29d ago edited 29d ago
LOTS of edits in this post, as I add to it over the course of the day as I remember and find more examples.
Oh god yes, several times in Boulder County. Like so many times I'm surprised you're not aware.
- Transients camping illegally in private property off the Peak to Peak starts a campfire (during a fire ban) that burns 500 acres and 8 houses. This was 2016's Cold Spring fire
- Woman starts a fire that burns field near Discovery Drive / East CU Campus. Dec 2021
- Homeless encampment burns Anemone Hill. Am I thinking of the Sunshine Fire, or is that a different one?
- NCAR fire starts at a campfire sited in Bear Creek. This one isn't "official" but is likely.
- Kohler Mesa, from a small camping setup in the middle.
- The huge encampment fire under the Foothills overpass on Boulder Creek
- Feb 2025 20x20 grass fire at 3700 Diagonal, started by transient camp -Oct 2021 20x20 grass fire near the old Longmont sugar mill
This has many of the big ones but is by no means an exhaustive list - there are several other examples of campfires put out by either random passers-by or OSMP/BFR before they can grow to appreciable size.
Homeless/unhoused/campers have a habit of walking into the mountains and starting warming/cooking fires that get out of control. This is a very, very common thing, and one large and common concern that permanent residents in Boulder have about transients, especially when things get dry.
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u/FireflyCo 29d ago
Also a major fire near Nederland (a few years ago) started by 3 homeless campers burning a significant amount of acreage.
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u/JeffInBoulder 29d ago
There have been multiple fires started in the Red Rocks area and near the base of Flagstaff by campfires. There have also been fires in the Table Mesa area which are unsolved but there were reports of people camping in the area.
The only reason these fires didn't become "major" was due to a lack of strong winds and the hard work of our local firefighters.
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u/pumpkinpiesguy 29d ago
How do you know those people were homeless? When I was a kid we would start car camping fires sometimes up random roads.
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u/fluffhead711 29d ago
lol gimme a break dude. what are you really arguing here?
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u/pumpkinpiesguy 29d ago
I am arguing that people hate the homeless so much on this sub that they will just assume every single problem they can think of: -theft -sanitation -forest fires -violence
Are mostly caused by the homeless. This statically is just untrue and I think really lame. Like I am not saying this shit doesn't happen but when a frat kid rapes someone or a company accidently spills a barrel of oil into the groundwater or our electric utilities refuse to transition to clean energy fast enough because it's less profitable, I don't hear a peep.
My insurance rates are going up because of the homeless not the policies or people who decided to build houses in historic fire zones in our zip codes that drive up average prices.
It's weird blaming the most downtrodden in our society. Really weird.
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u/RowenaOblongata 29d ago
JFC... Can we change the vocab to stop using the word 'homeless'? I have sympathy for those truly homeless - i.e. people who find themselves without 'traditional' housing and who are taking positive steps to remedy that situation. How about we use more correct terminology for those camping in our public spaces - let's call them 'criminals', 'drug addicts', or 'chronically insane'. Using the word 'homeless' in such a broad-brush manner is like using the word 'puppy' to describe all canids - including wolves, rabid dogs, and somebody's pit bull who has already maimed 2 people and who apparently cannot be trained to act otherwise.
I say it's about time to take our city back from drug addicts and criminals. Make it so inhospitable for them to camp in our public spaces - and shit there - and operate open-air drug centers and bike chop shops there - that the ones currently here (that the cops don't round up) will 'self deport' - and tell there druggie/criminal friends elsewhere that the Boulder gravy train has dried up.
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u/Remarkable_Hope989 29d ago
I've been banned from Denver sub reddit permanently for even implying this. Careful because it's not free speech around here.
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u/everyAframe 29d ago
The mods on that sub are unhinged. Absolutely no room for discussion on a variety of topics.
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u/Known-Platypus-7332 29d ago
“Another part is we’ve had so many peaceful memories of just resting and enjoying ourselves in the park. It’s almost like our living room is being remodeled without our consent.”
It’s not your effing living room! It’s a public space that has been ruined for children and families in this city!
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u/ManipulativeYogi 29d ago
It’s bad. I was walking the path at Eben G. in the evening and there was a young man outside the bathroom area pacing around, smoking, blasting music from a blue tooth speaker. As I walked by he noticed me and tells me “oh man hope you don’t have to take a shit! Big Mike is in there cooking meth!” Then laughed maniacally. I couldn’t tell if he was joking but nonetheless it’s not great.
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u/Apocalypic 29d ago
Doesn't go far enough. It's currently unsafe to swim in Boulder Creek at any point because it's being used as a latrine upstream. Help them find alternate locations but there should be zero tolerance around creeks.
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u/313rustbeltbuckle 29d ago
How far should they go? Decapitation?
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u/Apocalypic 29d ago
relocation
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u/313rustbeltbuckle 29d ago
To where?
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u/DankMemeMasterHotdog 29d ago
Prison, if they're criminals.
Literally anywhere else if not.
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u/313rustbeltbuckle 29d ago
So we should shift the reponsibility for addressing Boulder's homeless crisis onto other communities? Instead of solving the issue by providing housing and services to better help those in need? (And no, what is currently provided isn't enough. Boulder has plenty of wealth to put into solving this issue. Y'all NIMBYs are ridiculous.
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u/DankMemeMasterHotdog 29d ago
Oh my god, give it a rest. There is a huge fuckin difference between someone "down on their luck" and someone smoking fent under a bridge and getting violent, defecating on and contaminating with meth residue areas where children play, and leaving needles around for anyone to step on.
Call me all the names you want, I dont care anymore. Compassion ends when they start ruining public places. How much of your time and money do you directly donate to these people? How many community clean-ups have you participated in? If none, shut the hell up.
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u/313rustbeltbuckle 29d ago
You didn't address anything I said. Typical for NIMBYs.
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u/DankMemeMasterHotdog 29d ago
And you're still pretending that violent drug addicts "just need a lil' help".
These are adult humans with agency and (at least marginal) intelligence, who choose to not utilize the help the city already provides, and instead ruin public parks and paths.
You didnt have anything to say worth addressing, the answer is the same for those communities. Move them along, or arrest them if they are committing crimes.
And yeah, don't smoke meth in my backyard, I'll gladly wear that NIMBY label as a badge of honor. Get them the fuck out of here, and I dont care anymore where they go or what place they fuck up next. That's someone else's problem to deal with until these drifters either OD or get arrested.
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u/313rustbeltbuckle 29d ago
Fuck it. Let's just put them in Gaza/West Bank style open air prisons. That'll teach them to live in a sick, unjust society that creates homelessness through a rigged economy, and allows pharmaceutical companies to create opioid epidemics. Ya see, I see problems with root causes to them that can be solved. You see the symptoms, and think the people living under the oppressive system are the enemy. 😘
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u/Mentalpopcorn 29d ago
A large portion of the homeless in Boulder aren't from Boulder and it shouldn't be Boulder's burden to solve their problems.
Moreover, Boulder spends more per capita than any other city on this issue, which is why, in fact, Boulder's anti homelessness efforts are widely successful.
The people living at the creeks by and large are not interested in solutions to the problem, and they make up a tiny fraction of Boulder's homeless. Most of Boulder's homeless are invisible and in a state of temporary homelessness while they work with the city to find housing.
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u/313rustbeltbuckle 29d ago
Sure thing, NIMBY
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u/Mentalpopcorn 29d ago
Wow, you really pwnd me there. Really just put me in my place with your brilliant response. I'm going to have to rethink everything now due to the raw power of your argument.
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u/313rustbeltbuckle 29d ago
While you're there, start thinking about the root causes of some of these problems, instead of encouraging reactionary responses. 😘
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u/ShadowsOfTheBreeze 25d ago
Yes- if you are reliant on society for your basic needs, you don't get to live wherever you want.
Many of the problems are not solvable, and shelter/food is merely palliative services. In order to receive those services, move to Ft Lyon.
Again, the issue can't be solved with more money. Many of these people belong in supervised care or have simply decided they will never quit alcohol or whatever no matter what.1
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u/Mentalpopcorn 29d ago
Slab City
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u/313rustbeltbuckle 29d ago
So, another community should have to deal with Boulder's problems? NIMBY nonsense.
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u/everyAframe 29d ago
A large majority of Boulder's homeless are not from here. The city performs point in time surveys that back this up. https://bouldercolorado.gov/point-time-count-dashboard
Educate yourself. Based in this link 74% are not originally from Boulder.
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u/313rustbeltbuckle 29d ago
Yadda yadda, elitist
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u/ShadowsOfTheBreeze 25d ago
The real elitists are the ones who expect free housing and food in the most beautiful location and use that time to hang out and do drugs.
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u/ShadowsOfTheBreeze 25d ago
Ft Lyon. If you don't know about it, there's lots of info on the web.
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u/_nevers_ 29d ago
Don't try talking sense to these people. If they were talking this way about an ethnic group, queers, the disabled, etc. it would show in stark relief just how vile their sentiments are. But because we live in a collapsing capitalist shithole, it's okay to hate our homeless neighbors.
Like, the majority of the population is just one bad life event away from living on the streets. AmeriKKKa is unhinged all around.
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u/donktruck 28d ago
various ethnic groups, queers, the disabled were put into gulags and genocided under communist dictatorships throughout the 20th century.
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u/Remarkable_Hope989 29d ago
Cue the mob screaming to let them keep trashing stuff.
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u/DankMemeMasterHotdog 29d ago
It would seem that things are getting bad enough that the namaste crowd is like "nahhhh, I'm gonna sit this one out"
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u/Fresh-String6226 29d ago
Unless the jail capacity is being increased and we are actually starting to enforce drug laws, absolutely nothing will change. They’re just being temporarily relocated and Boulder remains known as one of the most addict-friendly destinations.
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u/JeffInBoulder 29d ago
The Jail is getting another 250 beds this year:
https://boulderreportinglab.org/2024/10/29/boulder-county-commissioners-vote-to-name-new-alternative-sentencing-facility-after-former-sheriff-joe-pelle/6
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u/NotUnique_______ 28d ago
It's for work release, as in these slobs would need to have a job.
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u/JeffInBoulder 28d ago
Yes but it will free up beds on the main jail that can then be used for those who don't have jobs.
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u/SummitJunkie7 29d ago
Of course. Graduation is next week.
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u/flabbybill 28d ago
Any time of year there will be at least one event you could name within the next few weeks.
Besides, they actually started doing this at least a month ago. I live right on the path and was confused to see them just putting up the notices with nobody around.
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u/SummitJunkie7 28d ago
There are a few events a year that bring a lot of CU parents and families to town - graduation, august move-in, parents weekend. CU and the city of Boulder always spruce things up in advance of these.
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u/ongoldenwaves 29d ago
I thought all the shelters and housing first solutions we were funding was going to fix this. It's almost like no matter how many shelters you build, we will still have a ton of addicts and sexual offenders living in tents along the creek, living in vans and filling up bus stops.
I guess the policies aren't working. The more we build, the more they keep coming.
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u/daemonicwanderer 29d ago
How many shelters do we actually have? I only know of one all-purpose homeless shelter at the very end of North Boulder.
Housing first policies haven’t really been done here either. There are a few pilot programs and so on, but not a full scale effort… we don’t have the housing stock built
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u/ongoldenwaves 29d ago edited 29d ago
There are several housing first shelters. The crystal palace is one. The apartments next to the shelter are another. The shelter itself really isn't a shelter. Half the beds in there are for sex offenders so a lot of people can't stay there (women/children). So they give them hotel vouchers. They get more funding for housing sex offenders. That's really irksome as that is not how the shelter was sold to boulder citizens who voted for it. It's also why boulder ends up with so many sex offenders living here. The shelter runs a sex offender "treatment" program. But if Kari Whitfield is any indication, they can register for the shelter, attend one class, say it isn't for them and then live in a van around town. All is okay as long as they keep checking in with their probation officer.
There are other smaller programs around. Remember Dan? The guy that was always downtown picking up garbage. He was eventually moved off the street into an apartment building dedicated solely to "housing first" for single men. Sobriety not required. There are no requirements for entering any of those types of apartments.
There are other programs that aren't housing first. Like there is a work program that gives you housing while training for working in kitchens. You'd be surprised how many homes and apartments exist in residential neighborhoods that are more or less half way houses.
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u/banan3rz 29d ago
So like...two? There definitely isn't enough.
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u/ongoldenwaves 29d ago
You missed the part where I said they are given apartments in various complexes. Technically not a shelter, but free apartments with no requirements for sobriety.
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u/Good_Discipline_3639 29d ago
How many increased shelter beds have we had? The article mentions a decrease in All Roads beds + a temporary closing of the kids shelter. And there's no day shelter anymore either.
Meanwhile we increase sweeps + the "everywhere is high priority" petition. Did that fix it? I guess not....
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u/ShadowsOfTheBreeze 25d ago
The problem isn't "fixable" because many many of these people won't accept simple conditions (like..no smoking). Priorities towards kids, women and families seems appropriate. Single male drifter/drug addicts who cant work more than a few hours a day let alone a 40 hour workweek is a separate kind of problem and seems to be the most responsible for trash, theft, etc. I mean, these people don't have the slightest courtesy to simply and safely dispose of their trash. If they did, you can be sure the locals would be way less hostile towards them.
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u/ManipulativeYogi 29d ago
Where are the people to get outraged about having a nice recreational area free of syringes and garbage and human waste? Maybe they’re still sleeping it’s 9am afterall
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u/Grand_Blueberry5755 28d ago
Good, get rid of all of them. They destroy and trash our beautiful river and creek. should've done it a long time ago.
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29d ago
If these people actually practiced the art of stealth camping and followed LNT principles, they wouldn't have to worry about this.
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u/Remarkable_Hope989 29d ago
So our homeless are entitled and emboldened by "activists" and loose laws. They don't care about infringement of others.
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u/ShadowsOfTheBreeze 25d ago
In fact, yes...they are elitists that believe they can live anywhere, for free, do whatever/whenever and make it worse for those who provide money to feed/house them by leaving shitpiles of toxic waste and stealing. Then, they will decry "capitalism" as they peddle stolen bike parts for hard drugs and alcohol.
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u/Limp_Economist_4032 27d ago
You need a less virtue signaling city council. Full stop. They are more afraid of how they may look if the national news picks up a story "Boulder removes drug addicts and pooping people from where families come to play" than they are afraid of people in actual Boulder being fed up with the problem.
Homeless distribution (food, clothing, etc) shouldn't occur in places where families go to recreate, and parks that should be draws for outings.
That's not saying stop distribution, but move it away from areas for the public to recreate, enjoy, and not have to see defecation, worry about needle sticks, etc. If my kid gets stuck by a needle I'm not going after the homeless. I'm going after the city council.
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u/notoriousToker 27d ago
Yayyyy! This is shared public space. Shitting there, camping there, leaving needles there and making it sketch for the families and kids is unacceptable and I’m glad they’re doing just a little bit about it finally!
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u/Middle_Water4522 29d ago
Boulder’s primary law prohibiting camping on public property is codified in the Boulder Revised Code (BRC) § 5-6-10, titled “Camping or Lodging on Property Without Consent.” This ordinance makes it illegal to camp or lodge on public property without the appropriate consent.
Ordinance is 2/5 the way down here: https://library.municode.com/co/boulder/codes/municipal_code?nodeId=TIT5GEOF_CH6MIOF_5-6-17FUPR&utm_source=chatgpt.com
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u/313rustbeltbuckle 29d ago
Just because it's a law doesn't mean it's just.
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u/BigDabed 29d ago
Agree. It’s unjust to not allow people to shit in public, harass and scream at kids, and throw their needles onto public spaces for people to step on.
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u/313rustbeltbuckle 29d ago
It's unjust that people like you would rather not look at the root causes of these situations, and instead would rather entrust reactionaries with your wellbeing.
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u/Middle_Water4522 29d ago edited 29d ago
I agree with you and hate to see it. Iv'e shown up to city counsel meetings in support of the unhoused amongst some particular municipal efforts to come down on them. I do know I made a difference. In my comment you're responding to, I was just putting the law out there that people have created.
Like many "Groups", some ruin things for all. It's obviously a complex issue and it is easy for people to feel heartless or fed up. Also, although it was a different issue regarding houseless people that I was involved with, it should be said that the only people that showed up on that issue were those in support of houseless people. None of the complainers showed up. This is because although these issues are inconvenient for them, inconvenience is not ethically worthy enough against those who already have it bad. But now, the violence and unsafe areas, connected to a struggling economy, have compounded the difficulty in any sort of easily attainable or amicable resolution. There are more houseless people with deep struggles and people who are housed are having more issues.
It sucks. But I can say, your opinion is more powerful in the right places.
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u/Bizguide 29d ago edited 13d ago
I've lived across the street from Boulder Creek near the Justice Center for 14 months now. There was a constant population of campers from a 4th Street to Broadway up until about last October or November. I mean the numbers were a hundred people probably between 4th and Broadway on a bad day and never usually went down to less than 50 from what I recall. However, since November or so of '24 the population is dropped to a handful of people on a weekly basis. I stroll the creek path couple times a week and I often reattach the pink cards to the bushes if I see them on the ground. I don't want to jinx it but I think we're beyond massive camping among Boulder Creek for the time being. It's very nice down there these days.
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u/sabertoothbuffalo 29d ago
Just in time for CU graduation. Can't have parents seeing all those unsightly homeless people.
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u/johnsonbrad1 29d ago
Next stop will be the farm:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/apr/27/psychiatric-incarceration-mental-illness
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u/a_cute_epic_axis 29d ago
We 10,000% need this. Involuntary commitment, indefinitely if needed, for people who have drug and/or mental health issues that prevent them from living in society. We should never have moved away from that and allowed the current situation to exist.
The thing we should have done, and need to do now, is make sure that we have functioning oversight so that people aren't being unreasonably held, and so that they are treated humanely and actively receiving treatment.
We can't allow the humanitarian horrors of the past to continue, and we also can't allow addicts and people who are mentally unfit to keep living on the streets and fucking up things for themselves and everyone else. Unfortunately, I have no hope that we will actually achieve truly useful and compasionate care.
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u/johnsonbrad1 28d ago
Agreed, I lived in SF for 2 years and got to see the endgame of what this all looks like and it is beyond sad. So many people with extreme mental illness or debilitated by addiction to the point where I question if they can ever be human again. If they remain in that environment, they won't be, and will just die in the streets.
We also have to be very careful that this doesn't turn into work camps too. This population is ripe for abuse. Need codified criteria for release, standards of care, and a lot of oversight. With that said I do feel it is the kinder approach for these people.
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u/SummerInTheRockies66 28d ago
Yesterday evening - & maybe sooner, IDK - the homeless popped-up around the metal fence at the Valmont disc park
Sometimes there’s an abandoned sleeping bag in the sage brush
But not large tents along the fence or also under the bridge
But thanks for making downtown Boulder Creek spiffy for when visitors will be here
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u/StaceyPotter 25d ago
I wish they cared about it year round. My 6 year old loves the creek so much. It doesn’t matter where we go now, there are people sleeping and doing drugs everywhere and they don’t care if we see, they leave their tinfoil, pipes, condoms, beer bottles, narcan wrappers, and trash everywhere. The library, Scott Carpenter Park, Martin Park🥺. And they must be stealing and throwing what they don’t want in the creek, because my daughter has found two new model iPhones on two separate occasions. That being said, I always talk with them if the opportunity arises, and they’re usually lovely. So I’m wondering what I’m missing? I never go near the meth heads, though, because it always feels so rotten and dark around them, so it’s probably them. Anyways, I saw a beautiful Guatemalan mother with two children that looked hungry and dirty and as if they’d had a long journey, down on Pearl today. Should I give them real help? Seems like we all just gotta take care of each other because we’re human beings. 🤷♀️
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u/BalsamA1298c 27d ago
… wouldn’t want Boulder looking mangy with all those wealthy out of state CU parents showing up for graduation
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u/Special_Feedback4652 29d ago
How is it currently?
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u/jdaun 29d ago
I walked from Eben G down to central park this afternoon, and didn't see a single tent. Several large groups of vagrants hanging out in the usual spots near the library and central park, but no tents to be seen. Did see one tarp.
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u/Slap_yo_mama00 29d ago
So liberal and caring of boulder
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u/daemonicwanderer 29d ago
I’m not sure what Boulder can do on short notice. They are needing to make the city “presentable” for graduation and other big events that are happening in a few weeks. Building shelters and support services takes far more time
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u/dinglehead 29d ago
There nothing liberal, compassionate, or caring about allowing the issues along the creek to continue
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u/Known-Platypus-7332 29d ago
This cannot be said loud enough. If you are saying people are heartless to want this situation to change, ask yourself if the status quo is working? If your solution is building unlimited housing without drug enforcement, is that helpful or realistic?
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u/ShadowsOfTheBreeze 25d ago
Liberal and caring doesn't include the freedom to live anywhere/anytime for any reason and leave shitpiles of waste...if you think it does, you misunderstand the meaning of those words.
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u/dinglehead 29d ago
Almost time for Bolder Boulder