Denver Direct: Unhappy Campers: Westword is Denver’s best in-depth news source

With this in-depth look at homelessness on the Mall, Westword once again distinguishes itself as Denver’s best news source.

Today I’m housed and sober, but I still don’t get why any homeless person would bother with downtown. So last Monday night, I packed my bag and a thermos of coffee and headed for the 16th Street Mall, ground zero in this city’s fight over “urban camping” — an odd term to describe a practice that has historically never involved a single s’mores cookout. A proposal to ban urban camping — and so to ban the homeless from sleeping on the mall and in any other public spots that aren’t already off limits — is grinding its way through the machinations of bureaucracy toward a vote next month. It’s already been the subject of endless discussion, but one group has been conspicuously absent from the proceedings: the homeless themselves.

See also: Councilman Albus Brooks discusses the proposed ban on urban camping