Confusion Over Right to Survive Initiative Isn't Easily Put to Rest

Bright-yellow lawn signs dotted front yards in the Cherry Creek North neighborhood on Tuesday, March 26. “BALLOT INITIATIVE 300,” they proclaimed in bold lettering. “Meeting tonight, 7pm, Bromwell School.”

Nantiya Ruan noticed the signs, little neon flashes as she drove her car past on her way to the very event they advertised. This was not the University of Denver law professor’s first time speaking to a neighborhood group about Initiative 300, better known as the Right to Survive, and what it would change in the city if passed by Denver voters on May 7. But the meeting at Bromwell was easily the largest that Ruan had attended. More than a hundred community members showed up at the event organized by the Cherry Creek North Neighbors Association, everyone crowding around an elevated stage inside the school gymnasium. Ruan couldn’t help noticing that, as far as she could tell, she was the only non-white person in the entire room.

The initiative’s language promises to guarantee the rights of all people to sleep, rest, eat and share food in outdoor public spaces in Denver.

But the people on whom the initiative really focuses — as does much of the discussion of I-300 — are Denver’s homeless citizens. If it passes, I-300 would bolster protections for the city’s homeless and ultimately overturn Denver’s urban camping ban, a controversial ordinance that has been in effect since 2012 and has been used to force homeless individuals to “move on” in more than 12,000 instances, according to recent Denver Police Department statistics.

Read more: https://www.westword.com/news/denvers-right-to-survive-initiative-raises-questions-not-easily-put-to-rest-11292222