Power To The Street People During DNC

It would have been interesting to see how they were going to bus hundreds of homeless people on parole to another jurisdiction.

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.

Responding to rumors that Denver's homeless would be bused to Pueblo or hauled out of the hip Lower Downtown area during the Democratic National Convention, city officials say they'll bend over backward to treat them, well, democratically.

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.

"I think the city is saying the right things," said John Parvensky, president of the Colorado Coalition of the Homeless. "The wild card is when the rubber meets the road — when the Secret Service, the FBI and other federal agencies are putting pressure on the local police. I think there is some queasiness of people on the street."

The work on this front began in April, when Jamie Van Leeuwen started hearing concerns from homeless people about the projected hordes of expected visitors downtown during convention week.

The director for Denver's Road Home — the city's homeless initiative — convened a committee to find ways to assuage worries.

The Denver Post