Sunday, October 3, 2010

Problems when Boulder Street alcoholics make it unsafe for a local non-profit

Dear Internet
Over the past few weeks I have written about what happens when do gooders get over run by street alcoholics. In their naive attempt to help them, these do gooder have caused a dangerous situation. That has happened at Boulder One Foundation which holds 12 step meetings of all kinds for all sorts of Boulderites who are looking for support. Boulder one is located out in the industrial zone of Western Avenue near Ball Aerospace on East Arapahoe avenue here in Boulder.

One of the mistakes they have made over the past decade is they let hardened street alcoholics camp in and out side of their facility. With no supervision these street pirates have, robbed, stolen, broken into neighboring business, vandalized the facility, dealt drugs, run off unsuspecting new members, caused unsanitary conditions inside, and generally been a menace. It is unbelievable that the board of directors have let this go on. They do it of course in the belief that they may actually be able to help this hard core population. That couldn’t be further from the truth. What has happened is that Boulder One foundation has become unsafe at night for anyone unsuspecting. It is especially dangerous for women coming in alone at night or worse for children. No one is around at night when most of the evil deeds take place. In the morning these street pirates come into the facility at 7:00 am when it opens. They are treated like MASCOTS, patted on the back, given a few bucks so they can go out and drink and drug some more. Worse STILL, they victimize people who are trying to get help. I equate them to rapists who con the staff in the daylight hours who terrorize the streets at night.

Some of these hard core sit out AT THE PICNIC TABLES AT BOULDER ONE at night drinking or taking drugs and when some one comes in to ask about serviceS they are verbally or physically pounced upon and driven off. I have personally witnessed this. When I brought up my concerns to their Chair, he told me to buzz off and that he “refused to legislate behavior.” What??!! Today he told me to stop complaining. He apparently does not know me well ENOUGH. once i sink my teeth into an issue of human injustice I am not likely to quit.

So, what I have done is contact the police for some community policing of the public areas of this facility. Boulder one chair Chris balked at it calling it using a bully pulpit. He wants to protect the rights of these people who work the system where ever they go, but he denies the rights of the vulnerable.

The Boulder police department told me they run into this scenario all of the time. What?? Yep. In order for the police to put a stop to hard core alcoholics over running a neighborhood, they have to get what is called an affidavit of Trespass signed by the lease hold of every business victimized by these people. Many business’s resist until the situation becomes unbearable as it did recently at the harvest House and Safe-way shopping center, when that private property became a huge homeless drinking camp.

Since Boulder One refused to co operate with me and the police, I went to all of the neighbors and got the affidavits filled out myself. I also filled out a personal complaint that Boulder One was allowing street alcoholics to camp outside during closing hours. That hasn’t made me real popular with the Boulder one board or the drug dealers they allow to do business, but I don’t really give a fuck. This is when one person can make a difference, when a community will allow crime to go on in the neighborhood. Don’t get me wrong here now. I am not talking about out of work homeless citizens who want a hand up. I am talking about harden street alcoholics who will rob , steal or rape their way into your life. People who will rip you off anyway they can.

Jann Scott
Boulder Colorado

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