Thread by @shayshinecastle

Open comment next. Here's the list: www-static.bouldercolorado.gov/docs/March_16_…

Sorry I'm not tweeting much. Just kinda over it tonight. Gonna save my energy for later discussions.

Lisa Nelson is the first speaker to link the Uni Hill riot with Marpa House, which is set to be turned from co-housing to individual units, possibly for students. Council may tonight vote to call up Planning Board's unanimous approval of that project.

Ross Cronin, from Full Cycle, talking about crime. "Most cities would have addressed these more seriously," he says. "It seems like our policies are encouraged to find more criminals a place in our town."

Doug Burdin also linking Marpa House to the Hill riot. He lives across the street. "The riot makes it more imperative that you call up this decision ... and, somewhere down the road, reverse the approval."

Chris Norris, who operates a hat cart on the Pearl Street Mall, is opposed to a state bill to keep non-violent offenders out of jail and curb cash bail. Boulder officials have also spoken in opposition of this effort.

I'm reluctant to call the police, Norris says, for fear I'll be targeted by the ppl I'm reporting, who are released. Cites one particular man who often is near his cart talking to himself "I suspect about me."

Norris carries pepper spray and keeps a baseball bat on his cart. Considering getting a concealed carry gun permit. "This scenario would be very regrettable but perhaps inevitable if police are unable to incarcerate these troubles individuals," he says.

Hope Michelsen, also against the Marpa House re-use. Reminder: This building was landmarked by council, so it can't be redeveloped. Just used in a different way. boulderbeat.news/2020/05/08/bou…

Jon Banis, another downtown biz owner (Japango) opposed to SB 62. "This has been a year I have never seen anything quite like it before," he says.

Joelle Rossback, also repping downtown Boulder biz owners, quoting a number of them opposing SB 62. "We basically have to be our own security. ... We are getting a taste of what's to come if SB 62 passes."

Robert Mess, owner of Fast Eddie's hot dogs, also recounting numerous threats he has received from a man who was continually arrested and released. Police told him to consider closing down for a couple days, he says.

"I had to make a choice: My safety or my business." I have been closed since Oct. 3, but will reopen in the spring. Will I be safe? "Not if we tie the hands of police and prosectors and just hope for the best."

Diane Brenton, coordinator of equity and partnerships at BVSD: "It's no longer safe to go to the Pearl Street Mall."

Deborah Hailey: "I hope police will steer away from enforcement and toward safety and services. ... Just tell us what resources you need."

Shares a very sad story of Ryan Stoops, who was found outside in the early February cold. He as not unhoused, Hailey says. His father had died a week before. dailycamera.com/2021/02/17/cor…

Samantha Shortt, who works at Zuni, also recounting "acts that have been terrorizing" businesses "up and down the Pearl Street Mall.

Connie Brenton: I call the police 2-4X a week. Today, she tried to ask a man "visibly on drugs" to leave her downtown store.

"He came toward me. I thought, oh my goodness, this is the time."

"I implore you to bring additional police presence down to the downtown mall."

That's the end of open comment. Lots of heavy stuff tonight.

Young addressing opposition to SB 62: What can the city do?

Weaver: We will be having a legislative committee meeting on Thursday, who will give direction to the city's lobbyist. It will be discussed by all of council on April 6 at the lobbying check-in.

"It is a bill which has a few elements to it," Weaver says. "City staff has testified on this bill, at least once. It is common for city staff to testify."

Carl Castillo, the city's lobbyist: SB62 would create restrictions on the ability of police officers to make arrests for petty offenses, misdemeanors and Class 4, 5, or 6 felonies UNLESS officers conclude the person is a threat to safety or unlikely to stop offending.

"It basically requires a higher threshold" for cash bond as well, Castillo says.

The ACLU supports SB62, as a majority of ppl in jails are there pre-trial. That is, they can't afford cash bail.

Legislative action might happen before the April 6 council meeting, Castillo says. It already passed the Appropriations committee on a 3-2 vote in the Colorado Senate.

Young: It sounds like there are disparate parts of this bill.
Weaver: There is a bail and bond reform component, and an arrest standards component.

Friend: If the city is going to start advocating before the full council weighs in, can we as individual council members can weigh in? There are some very redeeming qualities of this bill. I would like to see an amendment to add some "gray" to the "black and white"

Friend: We heard a lot about crime on Pearl Street, and ppl not feeling safe. Do you feel we're getting at this, moving in the right direction?

Herold: The community "has had a rough go-round this last year with the jail restrictions." I'm giving the downtown "everything I've got." PD working on ways to change response.

"I'm really sorry. A lot of community ppl telling me the same terrible stories."

Friend: Can we do anything for more rapid response?
Herold: "Here's the truth. We have a team that's established down there. ... We are responding and making significant arrests. It's just, the whole criminal justice system on the back end is not working."

Trials are restricted, jail is restricted, all the services that go with that system — therapy, addiction treatment — are all down, Herold says.

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