Thread by @shayshinecastle

Oh, well now she's addressing it.

Making an equity argument about where this campground will go. Prob not where there are million-dollar homes, but where the working-class ppl live which will "lower that area further."

That's a Young talking point that Joseph was persuaded by, she says.

"We don't have the will of council to move forward with this. There's still a lot of things that have not been answered that I would need an answer to." Joseph says.

Meeting is adjourned, but I have one more point to make.

Joseph and other council members mentioned the National League of Cities. That's where I went to get "the other side" of the debate over camping ban enforcement and removals.

Because every. single. expert. on homelessness said that removing camps is unilaterally bad for ppl experiencing homelessness and does nothing to help.

It was Weaver who suggested National League of Cities. So I made my request. I spend an hour listening to them tell me why removing camps is bad, listing what all the best cities were doing: Expanding services.

Buying hotels. Establishing population-specific shelters (LGBTQ, women, domestic violence, veterans, etc.). Safe camping. Safe parking. More shelter beds.

I asked three separate times about camping bans.

Because I get it. What ARE cities supposed to do about trash and feces and needles?

Every time, the answer was: Invest in services. Find out what ppl want/need and then give it to them.

I followed up with an email asking ONE MORE TIME because I'd already heard all this. I needed "balance."

They gave me the same answer: Services are. the. solution.

National League of Cities did NOT support removal of camps during COVID. They promised a specific statement on camping bans later this year.

People want to accuse me of being biased or not balanced on this issue but I have yet to find any expert outside of Boulder who works on this issue tell me anything differently.

This is not Shay Castle's personal opinion. This is what all the experts have said.

I will end with yet more quotes from Steve Berg, who staff apparently respected enough to quote in their memo.

"I would say that when ppl talk about having a housing-first approach it’s an approach, it’s a system that does those things. It’s not inconsistent with doing thighs to keep people safe while you’re" finding them housing.

"You can’t help everyone is not a true statement. Ppl who work on homelessness at the local level, have found cost-effective programs that work for anybody. Anybody who is homeless, we have program models that can help them."

"It’s not like you can’t help everybody. Whoever is making the budgetary decisions is choosing not to help everybody. "

@threadreaderapp please unroll. Thank you.