The Homeless Go to the Zoo

With the Democratic National Convention coming to town, city planners and police have had to wrangle with questions about the fate of the homeless during late August. Many rumors have spread that homeless people will be removed during the DNC. People have reported incidents of increased police harassment. None have seemed to create a workable plan.

According to the opening line of Allison Sherry's Power to the Street People During the DNC featured in todays Denver Post:

Denver police Cmdr. Deborah Dilley has a message to the 3,900 homeless people who live in the city: You can stay where you are between Aug. 25 and 28.

Dilley is attempting to reverse rumors that police will be shipping people out of the city to remote suburbs. The idea that homeless people could be swept indicates the violent power the state has over the public imagination.

The article goes on to state:

One man has loaned five flat-screen televisions for shelters so the homeless can watch the action live on cable television. An advocate is pushing for vouchers to movies, museums and the Denver Zoo so the population can enjoy the city's cultural scene for free. There are plans for a voter-registration drive. One of the city's ministries will run bingo games at night.

What homeless people should have is not a free trip to the zoo, bingo, a picture show, or a museum. The homeless should have direct line of communication to the centers of power within the Democratic Party. Of course, the DNC, committed to bolstering the security of the middle class has little room for poor people.

Dilley goes on to say:

"We have never hid the homeless in the past, and we won't hide them now," said Dilley, who works in District 6, which includes downtown. "This is going to be a traumatic time for . . . them."

Of course it will be traumatic as 56,000 people come to be wined and dined by corporate power while poor people suffer, starve, and die from a lack of basic social services the world over.

Dilley does remind us that homeless people will be targeted for typical homeless behavior.

The article goes on to state:

While Dilley is adamant that it will be business as usual, she emphasized that some activities typically engaged in by the homeless are still illegal, and people could be cited.

In the city's "Business Improvement District" — which roughly spans Speer Boulevard to 20th Street and Wynkoop to Grant streets — it is illegal to sit or lie on the ground during the daytime.

Panhandling is legal, but there are almost a dozen restrictions, including asking for money too close to a restaurant or a bar, a bus stop, or an automated teller machine.

So no, homelessness will not be illegal during the convention--rather, sitting or lying down will continue to be a crime. Asking for help near a restaurant, bar, bus stop or ATM will continue to be a punishable offense. Dilley is defending the City of Denver's doublespeak by stating that on the one hand, homelessness is not a crime, but rather, homeless behaviors are crimes.

Will the city's homeless population buy these ludicrous laws, take free trips to watch monkeys and lions, avoid sitting or sleeping in certain areas, and spend long days and nights in shelters that are forced to be open? Or will the city's homeless population be amongst those people in the streets who've had enough of the spectacle of electoral politics in a capitalist oligarchy.

Time will tell.


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