Thread by @ConorMichael28

Spending tonight in a tent at the safe outdoor space in Uptown. Residents move in tomorrow. The ice fishing tent I’m staying in has a heating pad and a heated blanket. Excited to let y’all know what it’s like.

I definitely didn’t forgot to bring a flashlight and am not sitting in a dark tent right now.

I got here at 4:15. There were about a half dozen staff from the Colorado Village Collaborative milling about, putting the finishing touches on the site so it’s ready to welcome guests tmrw. The site has capacity for 40 folks. The site manager says she already has 50 on a list.

There’s an encampment just across the street. Staff expect to start filling the safe camping site with many of those staying at that encampment, which is comprised of dozens of tents.

There are portapotties and handwashing stations on site. There’s also a big tent with warm air pumping in where I’m chilling right now. We are about to heat up some water for tea.

There’s gonna be 24/7 staffing at this site. Two of the staff members are residents at the tiny home village in Globeville. And the site manager is Cuica Montoya, who previously worked as a peer navigator for the Denver Public Library.

I’m chilling in my tent now. Not inside my sleeping bag at this moment since I’m going to eat dinner in a little. It is still pretty cold in here. I can see my breath.

I’m lying on my cot with my back resting on the heating blanket. That feels nice.

Here is the safe camping site now as some snow is coming down.

I just had dinner & now I’m back in my tent. I’ve bundled up. I’ve got leggings, sweatpants, & pajama pants on, plus two pairs of socks, & also a long sleeve shirt, with a fleece on top of that, & then a fleece-lined flannel to top it off. Also have a neck warmer and ear warmer.

And I’m in my sleeping bag, which is good to 35 degrees. Wish I had a better one, but the heating blanket on top is helping. And then I have a heat pad on the floor underneath my cot, so it’s not so bad.

It’s weird. I can still see my breath but I really feel fine now that I’m in my sleeping bag. The only thing that’s bothering me is that my feet are still cold.

Listening to the snow flakes falling onto the tent. I love experiencing precipitation up close while not getting wet or cold from said precipitation.

There’s an encampment across the street. The city is going to sweep it later this week. Tomorrow, the folks running this site are going to be welcoming the first residents. They’re making a big push to get those staying in the encampment across the street into this site.

When I visited the safe camping site at 14th and Grant a couple weeks ago, the folks that were about to begin welcoming guests at that site were saying the heating pads in each tent would get it cookin to 70 degrees. But the heating pads turned out to be somewhat ineffective.

So the service providers audibled to the heating blankets. I think the heating blanket is making a difference. I don’t feel like an ice cube. I also have the heating pad underneath my cot. Maybe that’s making a difference? It’s tough to tell.

I was supposed to stay at the other site last Monday when the weather was super nice. A fire inspection there got pushed back, however, & I wasn’t able to make it work with their scheduled opening. But I feel like I lucked out. A cold night is the more authentic experience.

It’s important to know what sleeping at the safe camping site feels like during the winter. A 60 or 56 degree night would be a breeze to sleep through. But that’s not a Denver winter.

Another wild thought is that when proponents of the safe camping site concept were first readying to set up sites, they planned on putting in shade tents! That’s because they thought these sites would be up and running during the summer. Took a bit longer than expected...

I’m up. I never felt freezing cold as I was sleeping throughout the night, but I also woke up periodically throughout the night and had to put the heated blanket back on me after it had fallen off. I think I lost some heat each time it fell off.

I was camping in the mountains over the summer and it got cold at night. I remember having so much trouble sleeping because of how cold it got. I didn’t feel that level of discomfort here. That’s kind of my reference point.

It’s tough to know what exactly helped me stay warm enough to sleep last night. I had the heating pad underneath the cot, the heat blanket on top, and then I was wearing so many layers. Maybe the combo did the trick.

I think the biggest thing to improve would be figuring out how to get the tents warm in the inside. Maybe more heating pads. Or maybe better heating pads.

I’m in the basement of the Denver Community Church where the congregation offers breakfast every Tuesday and Thursday. Colorado Village Collaborative executive director Cole Chandler and the site coordinator Cuica Montoya are announcing that the site is opening in a few hours.

I’m home now. Just in time to start listening to the evidentiary hearing in the homeless sweeps lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Colorado.

Cole Chandler says that on its first day of being open, the safe camping site at 16th and Pearl welcomed 39 people as new guests. Thirty-two of those people were living at the unsanctioned encampment located across the street, which the city of Denver plans to sweep on Thursday.

Additionally, two dogs and a cat are living at the safe camping site, which is pet friendly. I should've brought my two cats last night. We would've had a blast snuggling in my sleeping bag. 🐈‍⬛🐈