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JOHNSON: Homeless say DNC diversions not for them

By Bill Johnson, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published July 17, 2008 at 9:05 p.m.

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Debbie - and this is merely a hunch - will probably be going to jail next month.

Unless they are giving away free booze and marijuana at the movies, the zoo or the Nature & Science museum - along with the free tickets to those venues they plan on giving the homeless during Democratic National Convention week - I can't see Debbie budging from the dirt beneath the Speer Boulevard bridge she has called home the past 26 years.

She and scores of others like her are what triggered the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless to seek some 500 movies, zoo and museum tickets and passes to distribute to Denver's homeless in late August.

Some have derided the plan as a sugar- coated way of hiding the Debbies of Denver while the national spotlight is trained on the city. This is outright silly since the coalition pretty much is the only outfit in town that cares a whit about the homeless.

It knows, as any thinking organization would, that Debbie and others who inhabit the banks of Cherry Creek not far from the Pepsi Center are going to get rounded up once the security men arrive next month and the area is cordoned off.

I just wanted to know if they had any interest in going to the movies, strolling the zoo or making a day or four of it at the museum.

Trust me, I'd have never done it were I not getting paid for it. I have driven that section of Speer unimaginable times but never walked it. Oh, my. The smell of urine and feces in some sections nearly drop you.

Only a few feet away at 10 a.m., boulevard traffic roars, yet a few dozen men and women sleep soundly, splayed out in the grass and weeds, their backpacks serving as pillows.

Debbie has just awakened, wobbling on unsteady feet. She had spent the night in detox, she said, outfitted in filthy black pants and a purple tank top that fails to cover the prison tattoos scattered like confetti about her neck, arms and cleavage.

She immediately asks for a quarter. Only after I give it does this stocky, late-40ish woman insist she is going nowhere. She has lived under that bridge since getting out of prison in '82, she said, where she returns every time they release her from jail.

"I don't care who is coming," she slurs, "they try to move me, I'll kick someone's ass. I hate the movies, can't stand the zoo.

"You buy me breakfast?"

It goes like this all morning. The big rumor on the creek bank is that everyone has to be gone by the last day of July. And that a stupid newspaper guy will give you a quarter if you just talk to him.

I am down to my last six bits when I walk up on Theresa Huestis, 49, and Mike Weaton, 55.

She has been living on the creek for a week and a half now, she says, after a stint of living on the streets in Pueblo. She is well-dressed, her long, auburn hair well-kempt. Only the backpack she leans against gives away her plight.

She long ago lost her New Jersey driver's license, a fact she says keeps her from gaining admittance to a shelter. Besides, the last time she was in one, she said she had to mediate fights, protect the young girls and endure a couple having sex the next bunk over.

Her plan is to not even be in Denver when the convention comes to town. The city is a tough one, she says. She tried panhandling for the first time a night ago, she says, managing to raise only a couple of bucks.

"Unless you are strategically placed at the right moment, there is no money," she laments. "I honestly feel I'm being forced into prostitution here. I've been offered lunch multiple times since I've been here, for example, but there always were strings attached."

So she is thinking of moving on to either Arizona or Louisville, Ky. She's heard nice things about both.

Of the movies, zoo and museum offer, she says, "That sounds sweet and all, but I would really rather have a laundry voucher or a gift certificate to McDonald's, you know, to treat myself to a burger.

"I understand it, though. Most of us don't want to be out here, either. It's degrading, not safe and totally humiliating. People don't want us here. It's offensive to them. I understand that."

To Mike Weaton, it all sounds like a setup.

"It's not being ungrateful. It's called having to survive. People will see you at the movies or the zoo, and the next day out here with a sign in your hand. You'll never get a penny. They'll think you're faking this. I like the movies and the zoo, but I think I'll pass."

John Parvensky, president of the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, said much of the ticket idea has been misconstrued. It is only part of a plan to find the homeless - particularly those living in what will be a secure area come August - a safe place to be.

"We don't want there to be a police sweep," he said. "And even though we have been given assurances from the city that the homeless there will be treated with dignity, we are trying to stay ahead of it all."

What of people like Debbie, I ask. He sighs and nods knowingly.

"We're doing the outreach," he says. "Every day we are out there . . . it isn't a simple matter of trying to hide any homeless person.

"We just don't want someone getting caught up in something even they won't want to get caught up in."

A long morning-into-afternoon and a pocketful of quarters later, I can tell John Parvensky this:

He better have more than just movie and zoo tickets. I've long reminded him he's doing God's work, but this time, heaven knows, he's really got his work cut out for him.

Comments

  • July 18, 2008

    2:47 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    BlueC writes:

    But why are they trying to hide them, arnt these the people the democrats are trying to help. The homeless are the poorest of the poor. Barack should have them up on stage behind him not hidden away in a theater. The hypocrisy is just rich. Were just trying to keep them comfortable my @ss.

    If they really cared they'd bring them out of the shadows and focus on their plight. Or at the very least let them come to the convention and fleece the dumb@ss protesters. The homeless would make a killing at the convention panhandling. Imagine all those fools just aching to give a couple bucks so they can feel all warm and fuzzy. I'm special, i really matter and i'm better then you because i gave that bum 50 cents and i have this big sign i made.

    I'm tempted to get out some old cloths,not shave and dirty myself up and go get some money. Hell maybe even donate some to the GOP hehe

  • July 18, 2008

    4:42 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    arby writes:

    BlueC

    The homeless don't vote. End of story.

  • July 18, 2008

    9:01 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    vet64 writes:

    I thought Denver was above this, hiding the homeless just for a bunch of rich politicians. Homelessness is a fact of life, seen in every city in the nation. Not only do you see those who have lost their jobs and homes but homeless Veterans also, all treated like scum. My suggestion would be to offer them a safe place to stay, a shower, laundry, three meals a day and a little respect and dignity.

  • July 18, 2008

    12:18 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    SL10 writes:

    Here is a great idea. Give the homeless a job cleaning up after the DNC is over. The homeless in Denver make it a point in NOT working for a living. Plus, I am a vet and never played fake homeless after my discharge. I got a job EVEN with my disabilities from service. FYI here many vets don't panhandle we are taught in the military on how to survive and take pride in being self suffient..

  • July 18, 2008

    3:07 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Hazardous_T writes:

    When this plan fails to get rid of them, and it will fail, don't be surprised when some dimwit democrat comes up with a plan to identify (yellow stars maybe?) and isolate the homeless (concentration camps?) during the convention.

  • July 18, 2008

    6:47 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    fastnloose writes:

    SL10,you hit it on the head in your last statement"take pride in being self sufficent".Pride is the only way to get out from living under a bridge.There are plenty of programs out there to help you,once you provide a little pride.End of story!

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