A proclamation in Opposition to Initiative 303 and the Extraordinary Taxpayer Liability it Would Create.
Thank you, Councilmember Flynn. All right. There are we're going to go ahead and move on. There are no presentations this evening. There are no communications. We have three proclamations being read this evening. And the first one, Councilmember Hines, will you please read Proclamation 21, dash one, one for one, please. Thank you. Council President Proclamation 20 1-1141 titled Opposition to Initiative 303 and the Extraordinary Taxpayer Liability It Would Create. WHEREAS. Whereas, in all cities across the US, unsheltered homelessness and encampments have grown invisibility in numbers not seen in almost a century, exacerbated by the COVID 19 pandemic, with at least 1000 people living on the streets of Denver . And. Whereas, the voters of Denver and the city agencies have recently dramatically expanded shelter, hours and services, hotel and other transitional housing innovations and funding for permanent housing with services. But permanent housing solutions take time to implement, and the people of Denver are frustrated and want the city to do more, better and faster. But managing street homelessness and associated public health and safety risk is far more complicated than a sledgehammer approach can deliver. And. Whereas, in July 2021, a signature gathering effort that would become known as Initiative 303 was deemed sufficient by the Denver clerk recorder after the campaign paid signature gatherers over $100,000 from a source of unknown origins. And. WHEREAS, Initiative 303 would require the city to enforce the unauthorized camping ordinance, section 3880 6.2, within 72 hours of receiving a complaint, with no exceptions. And. WHEREAS, Unauthorized camping is already illegal in the city of Denver, and the 72 hour requirement runs counter to a federal court legal settlement and a federal judicial order requiring the city to provide seven days notice of large scale encampment cleanups and. Whereas this initiative would require the city to set up four sanctioned homeless camps but does not lay out how the public does. Designated camping locations would be acquired or determined and provides no comprehensive service standards. And. Whereas, the city already has the legal authority to establish and has already established several highly regulated and staffed safe outdoor spaces for unsheltered individuals, and has done so with extensive health, mental health, housing and other services that go far beyond the barebones and unfunded approach called for in this measure. And. Whereas, this initiative would require the city to allocate millions of dollars more to the Denver Police Department to attempt to comply with the 72 hour enforcement requirement. Fails to include material terms, but authorizes authorizes on a word. Of course, the attorneys fees for each individual action against the city to enforce the ordinance and provides for undefined and vague injunctive relief that may bind the city and unforeseen waste. And. Whereas this initiative establishes a nebulous and vigilante like private enforcement for any unauthorized encampments after 72 hours, with no exception for court orders or processes designed to protect constitutional rights that would result in taxpayer liability of millions of dollars. So now therefore be proclaimed by the city, by the Council of the City and County of Denver, Section one that the Council of the City and County of Denver opposes initiated. Ordinance 303 on November's hour, Denver's November 2021 ballot and urges voters to reject Initiative 303 and the extraordinary taxpayer liability it would create Section two that the Clerk of the city and county of Denver shall affix the seal of the city and county of Denver to this proclamation. All right. Thank you. Councilmember Hines, your motion to adopt. I moved to adopt proclamation number 21, dash 1141. All right. Thank you. It has been moved and seconded comments by members of Council Councilmember Kenny. Thank you. Council President I would like to thank my colleague, Councilman Hines, for reading the proclamation so that I didn't have to do two in a row tonight and to demonstrate the breadth of the interest in this topic. I have to review the law of the land a little bit, because as we've heard from people about these initiatives, there is confusion in our community. It is not illegal to be homeless, but it is illegal to camp on the public or private spaces in the city of Denver without a permit. And it is illegal to block the right of way, such as a sidewalk or a place where people go. It violates our public health code to have conditions that are unsafe or unsanitary. So many things about encampments in Denver are illegal today, and there's a big debate about that. The second thing that is a fact is that camps are being cleaned up every day in Denver. I have notice after notice required under a federal settlement and a federal court order. Such notice is required and so council receives copies of those. I have six from just the last few days where the conditions were verified as being in violation of the law and the camp was cleaned up. We have people who come and testify every day and we heard some of them today who don't like those laws. But that's not what this initiative is about. This initiative has nothing to do with whether it's legal or not legal to camp or block the right of way in Denver. Those things are the law and they will remain the law regardless of what happens with Initiative 303. So what is it about? It's about massive taxpayer liability. That's what it's about. It's about whether or not a city initiative can override the federal Constitution and federal court orders. And I have a preview for you. It cannot. The city of Denver is bound by the highest law in the land, the Constitution. And that has been interpreted by federal courts to say that we have to give notice before we clean up large encampments. We are headed for liability. And I want to be really clear. We councilmembers don't pay for those lawsuits. The mayor doesn't pay for those lawsuits, except to the extent we are taxpayers of the city and county of Denver. So every lawsuit that would be filed under 303, it won't allow us to go any faster and violate the Constitution. It will simply require us to pay lawyers fees and pay for litigation. And what else will it do? It will disappoint the people of Denver who thought they were maybe voting for a faster, easier solution. So we have invested in those solutions. The mayor's budget, to his credit, continues to expand investments in many of those solutions based on priorities that we as a council set and based on their own prioritization, safe outdoor spaces and other things, none of which none of which are meeting this initiative to be expanded. So this initiative. As as I stated during committee, exploits the sincere desire for residents for an easy solution, and it delivers false promises that the taxpayers will be paying for. We cannot override federal law with city initiative, so we will be spending court costs trying to sort all that out. Instead of focusing on helping folks. So I want to be clear, there are folks who are opposed to this who are also opposed to the camping ban. There are many people who are so opposed to this who supports the camping ban. This is an area where both sides can agree. Right. That either way, whether you like or don't like it, it is the law. It is being enforced on a daily basis. And 303 simply confuses and creates expensive liability. So with that, I will ask my colleagues to please respectfully join in supporting the message to the voters of Denver that this proclamation is intended to send. Thank you. Thank you, Councilmember Kenny. Next up, we have Councilmember Hines. Thank you. Council president on its face. Three or three looks promising for demarais. Denver writes I know that when I first saw it and I read the ballot language, I thought, Hey, this makes a whole lot of sense. However, the devil is in the details, and the details here will create a legal quagmire. It's an unfunded mandate, and ultimately it will hinder, not help the city's approach to housing and homelessness. Thank you. Thank you. Councilmember Hines. And I'll go ahead and chime in here. I'm happy to support this. I think it's important that Denver City Council comes forward and speaks out on initiatives that may, at the end of the day, cause more harm than good and cost taxpayers more money around this issue. And so I am happy to support it. Madam Secretary, roll call. Can each. I. Ortega. I. Sawyer. I. Black. See the Barca. I can't. All right. Flynn. I. Herndon. Hines. All right. Cashman, I. Madam President. I. Madam Secretary, closed the voting and announced the results. 11 Eyes. 11 Eyes. Proclamation 20 1-1141 has been adopted. Councilmember each We have 5 minutes for a proclamation. Acceptance. Is there anyone you'd like to invite up? Respectfully pass. Thank you.