City council woman Crystal Gray shocked ! Boulders Homeless Freeze SHAME

• IT HAS HAPPENED AGAIN!!! #Boulder homeless left out to freeze in Boulder Snow storm.

  by Boulder Channel 1 news

  February 1, 2011 Boulder city council woman Crystal Gray was shocked to hear that the city does not have an overflow day shelter program in place since the near fiasco on New Years eve. In a phone interview with Boulder Channel 1 News, she said that she will specifically” ask the city manager for 10 days worth of $250 dollars or $2500 to be designated to go to Day warming centers for the rest of the winter”. She will also ask the city” to publicize what facilites are open to the public on very cold days.” These include all three Rec centers, all of the libraries, the municipal building, the county court house on the mall. Today the Boulder Mennonite Church is open. The Carriage house is open too, but it fills with single parents, children and women first so it is a poor resource.

  January 31, 2011 City finally gets off its but 8 hours later and opens Day warming center . Scrambles to avoid pr nightmare: In an Email to Boulder channel 1 News Sarah Huntley city of boulder Official damage control gal, said “During the cold snap predicted for tonight and tomorrow, Carriage House day center will stay open until 5:00 p.m. and the overflow warming center will open at 5:00 p.m. to provide 24-hour shelter. BOHO will open a back-up overflow day shelter tomorrow at Boulder Mennonite Church in anticipation of the very cold weather predicted for tomorrow.”

  January 31, 2011 It is snowing again in Boulder. Temperatures are dropping, The city is on Accident alert and THERE ARE NO WARMING CENTERS OPEN FOR THE HOMELESS AS MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN FREEZE ON OUR STREETS. According to Boulder Police department dispatch there are no warming centers open for homeless as temperatures drop to zero. Carriage House overflowing.
  Karen Rahm city of Boulder Human services director told Boulder Channel One News several days ago that they have no budget to give the churches money to open on days like this. She said there is no emergency plan in place . She also said that it has been a struggle and an accomplishment to get warming centers open this year in the evening hours. This is a disaster in the making. Boulder lost 14 men and women last year to alcoholism and the elements.

  Boulder Channel One News has learned that the Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church on Mapleton and Methodist Church leave their doors open during freezing cold days like this. Homeless can sit in the pews. The city of Boulder let Homeless people sit in the Lobby of the Municipal building, All three Rec Centers and the public libraries.But the city won’t publicize any of this, because they really don’t want the homeless ruining the day for the rich. Meanwhile, the rich aren’t doing a thing to help the homeless. Twitter tech stars count their money while people freeze. It is a disgrace to us all . Shame on all of you.

  January 13, 2011 In a conversation with Boulder Channel One news City of Boulder press relations official Sarah Huntley expressed concern and frustration over the lack of help the city receives from the County and other local municipalities. “Boulder spends 3 times the amount in percentages than any other city in Colorado to fund our human resources work. Do you think this should land on the city of Boulder? ” Huntley also, said that” during extreme cold weather the lobby’s of the city rec centers are open and the municipal building lobby is open”. Huntley said she would bring the idea of an immediate meeting or Summit to the city managers attention. Boulder does not have an emergency plan for when the temperatures fall below 20 degrees. The Carriage House is shockingly overwhelmed during extreme cold daytime weather. BOCO , the overflow warming centers organizers have done little to make sure the Homeless have other options for extreme cold daytime weather. They did not answer BC! news calls or emails. Boulder shelter “has it rules” accorlding to Mayor Susan Osborne. Nobody is real happy with them. Boulder shelter director did not return phone calls The police do a remarkable job of” finding drunk homeless and taking them to the ARC or injured homeless to the ER” Huntly said. Boulder PD has taken all calls for information as has the city communications department, but none of this solves the problem of freezing homeless on the streets of Boulder.

  January 12 2011 The situation remains serious here in Boulder Colorado.Daytime temperatures are below freezing. The Boulder Shelter for the homeless remains closed during the day. Over 500 huddled masses of homeless lean against the homeless shelter, churches, and city buildings to shield them selves from the wind and cold. Staff members with college educations bar the doors They then sip tea and have high minded conversations about the poor bastards peering in at them. The same has happened at the city building where human service staff speak in Spanish about why they let these fithy being freeze.

  Meanwhile Boulder rescue has been scouring the streets to pick of cats and dogs, bring them to the humane society where they are fed and kept warm. One homeless man we spoke to sent his dog to the shelter while he lay freezing to death in front of Downtown Boulders offices. It is time to fire the Boulder Shelter board of directors and revamp the city human services. This is a national disgrace. One downtown restaurateur recommended that we kick all of the animals out of the shelter and let human beings in. He also suggested we cook and feed the cats and dogs to the humans since they are starving .

  January 10 2011 warming centers and Boulder shelter remained closed to the homeless today while their staffs sat inside drinking coffee. What has become a huge human rights violation in Boulder Colorado has turned sinister. Homeless men, women and children wandered the streets today in12 degree weather. To top that off, the Boulder library now has a zero tolerance policy against the homeless. Of course the library is the wrong place for a day shelter for the homeless. It is a library. But mostly the place smells bad from being over run by smelly drunkin homeless mentally ill. What a mess.

  The homeless non profit industry which makes a profit off of others misery have their apologists too. Max Weller a Daily Camera columnist has written in the Camera attacking our expose here, praising the social tinkerers who let the misfortuneate freeze. Neil Colbert another homeless pimp has been beating the drum praising the work of the master degrees who let people freeze on Boulder streets. In final analysis they are all mass murderers, trying to exterminate the homeless by letting them freeze to death during the day. To quote Germanys Doctor of Death when commenting on the homeless in 1937. ” freezing to death is a warm comfortable feeling and it is better for them. seig heil ” We at boulder channel 1 have walked the homeless path and there is nothing comfortable about frost bite.

  January 9 2011 IT HAS HAPPENED AGAIN!!! #Boulder homeless left out to freeze in Boulder Snow storm. It is unthinkable, but ever since our last series of stories on How the Boulder Homeless Shelter, city and Christian churches left the defenseless homeless out to freeze to death on New Years Eve, nothing has changed. As of 10:00 am this morning the streets are a killing zone. Reporter Jann Scott toured the downtown streets, found one man dying of pnuemonia huddled in a building. Scott let two men stay in his heated car garage to get out of the storm.

  One homeless man who was covered in snow and wet, stood in front of Sacred Heart of Jesus church on Mapleton. ” I’ll go in here as soon as the mass gets out” he said. He said the homeless sometimes seek” shelter in the Catholic church or Methodist church”. ”It depends on the minister” he said. “Some are real Christians and help the poor.” And the others we asked? ” Oh I don’t thinkl they know Jesus at all”, the man said.

  Jesus of Nazath was from the war torn Middle East under Roman rule. He was known to feed the poor, hang out with homeless, criminals, thieves, soldiers and the destitute. He claimed to be the son of God sent to earth to preach the good news of salvation. He was executed for his beliefs in the year zero. Coincidentally, Boulder has built several large buildings in downtown to honor Jesus and his work, but one has to wonder why these churches let the son of Gods children freeze to death out side their doosr. It is an extraordinary breach of Christian values.

  Boulder Channel 1 has put calls again into city council members to see if they can get some warming center open .

  How New years weekend in Boulder almost became a deadly weekend for the homeless: It started on Thursday December 30th when we received reports that Boulder was the first city to go on acident alert on the front range at 10:30. This snow storm was proving trouble early on.

  By the afternoon Jann Scott and David Degraw headed out to video the roads and catch scenes of this storm . Thats when they came accross cadres of Homeless men and women wondering the streets in what had now become a raging windy cold snow storm. What they learned was there was no emergency shelter for them during the day.

  The next day Friday new years Eve the temperatures were bitterly cold approximately 2 degrees. We started making phone calls early on to see what was open for the homeless. What we found was astounding. The city, county, homeless shelter nor any agency had a plan in place for emrgency sheltering of the homeless. They were left on there own to freeze to death during the day time hours in sub freezing weather.

  Boulder Channel 1 finally called every city council member at home. Only two of them responded. But they were enough. Mayor Osborne and Crystal Gray took it upon themselves to get the wheels of government turning and make sure the so called church warming centers opened up. By one O:clock in the afternoon they were open.

  Both Gray and Osborne did not conceal there displeasure with the Boulder Homeless shelter for having staff in the building , yet letting people freeze out side their doors. ” they have their rules, but not rules I would abide by” said Gray. Mayor Osborne said ” the homeless shelter should be helping these people”

  The city and county of Boulder had complete lack of co ordination in this crisis. They have no plan in place. The police didn’t know who was opened or closed. Turned out they were all closed. No one was in charge. There was no plan. We at Boulder Channel one initiated a response.

  But now the Boulder city council must take this issue up on retreat and make damn sure the city has a plan and response in place for daytime hours when the temperature drop below a critical mark. The story as it unfolded is below in reverse date order.:

  UPDATE 10 1:00pm January1 2011 With temperatures at 7 degrees in Boulder today the city contracted with all of the warming shelters to have at least one church open. Cornerstone church at 1190 Lashley is open until 4:00pm Then Crestview Church at 3665 Madison opens from 4:00pm til 10:00 am. The boulder shelter opens tonight, but will be at capacity. The city will immediately look at why people were left out in the cold by the warming centers and Boulder Shelter and make sure it does not happen again. We shall see.

  UPDATE 9 3:00pm December 31 2010 A phone call from Mayor Susan Osborne tells the story of the city handing this emergency. No one in the county or city had planned for cold days and how to shelter the Homeless in daytime hours. The Mayor had to call city manager Jane Brautigam who is on a ski vacation to get her to do something before we had frozen dead guys all over the city. At 1:00 oclock today 1 day shelter opened and will remain open through out the weekend. At the same time councilwoman Crystal Gray stayed on top of the crisis . Below is her email thread which she sent to Boulder Channel 1.

  Sent: Friday, December 31, 2010 11:46 AM To: Brautigam, Jane; Fetherston, Paul Cc: Beckner, Mark; Rahn, Karen; Susan OsborneSubject : Warming areas during day for homeless

  Hello Jane and Paul: I received a call asking about warming (from Boulder channel 1 news) facilities for homeless today. The concern was there is a lack of warming areas during the day for homeless with the libraries closed today and Saturday and many other city facilities also closed at noon. The message said the Homeless Shelter is not open during the day and the Carriage House is only open for women and children. I have no idea if that is true but I am concerned about the cold weather and availability of shelter for the homeless during the day until the evening shelters are open.

  Thanks for your response. Crystal

  From: Rahn, Karen Director Housing and Human Services, City of BoulderSent: Friday, December 31, 2010 12:17 PM To: Rahn, Karen; ‘Crystal Gray’; Brautigam, Jane; Fetherston, Paul Cc: Beckner, Mark; ‘Susan Osborne’; Ageton, Suzy Subject: RE: Warming areas during day for homeless

  I talked with Chris Mitchell at BOHO. He confirmed that Carriage House is at capacity. He will try and arrange an opening this afternoon at Crestview Church and tomorrow at Crestview or Cornerstone. He will call back and confirm the locations. We will cover the additional cost for them of @ 500.00 I will email to confirm and let the shelter and Carriage House know where to refer folks. Chris will get the openings out through the network. I will follow up to confirm with you. Karen RahnOn Dec 31, 2010, at 12:42 PM, “Rahn, Karen” <RahnK@bouldercolorado.gov> wrote:

  BOHO will open at 1:00 at Crestview Church on Madison and be open there until 10:00 a.m.Saturday morning. BOHO will determine another location for tomorrow from 10:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. BOHO is contacting Carriage House, the Shelter and their other contacts to let them know where to refer people. I will let you know where the location for tomorrow will be.Karen Rahn Director Housing and Human ServicesCity of Boulder(303) 441-3161

  
  

  UPDATE 8 December 31 2010UPDATE 7 December 31 2010 11:44 Mayor Susan Osborne started making phone calls at 11:40 this morning to try to get a shelter open during daytime hours for the 100′s of homeless men, women and children wondering boulder’s streets..

  UPDATE 6 December 31 2010 10:30 am. There are NO WARMING SHELTERS OPEN FOR THE HOMELESS today in Boulder. Only the Carriage house is open until 3:00 and it has way overflowed and turning people away. What has happened.!!!??? How could this be?? It is 3 degrees in Boulder .

  “None of the churches are open” according to Robbie, daytime on staff at Boulder homeless Shelter. “We are not open either” he said. Even though the Boulder shelter has two staff people in the building right this minute , they won’t open the doors to the freezing homeless people. This is an out rage.! An absolute human rights violation. Robbie said that he was instructed by Shelter upper management not to let freezing people in. What the hell is the matter with Greg harms. He should have his sorry ass down at that shelter and work a shift himself and let the people in. Right God Damn now, Greg!!

  Bill at Boulder Police dispatch said ” we just don’t have anyplace unless a church opens its doors. ” Didn’t Jesus call on us all to offer first Shelter, clothing and food ” to all of gods children. Apparently not in Boulder.

  The Carriage House phone was busy, but their voice mail said that their” first priority are “women and child” That lease hundreds of men n freezing on our streets. Dave a homeless guy told us ” I don’t know if I’ll make it through today with out freezing to death before the shelter opens”

  Boulder County cares only looks for homeless between 6pm and 10pm. Boulder PD, thankfully has their eye out for them” 24/7 during this bitter cold”. said dispatcher Bil.

  l Boulder Over flow churches are not open during the day and only shelters the homeless at night. So all of those so called warming centers you hear about are not open! Where are the Christians when we need them?? They are not open . People are freezing to death on our streets and the entire city staff and council are vacation. Shame on them all

  UPDATE 5: December 31 2010 HOMELESS LEFT OUT IN COLD VIDEO:

  City of Boulder announced an official accident alert at 10:20 am this morning. UPDATE 11:45 AM ” The city of boulder closes it’s offices today at noon” according to city PIO Patrick Von Kieserling,” butthe transportation department is in full swing with all snow plow trucks out.”UPDATE 11:11 AM ” The streets have been unusually slippery this morning even with thew temperatures above freezing” according to Traffic Sargent Jim MacPherson of Boulder Police department. ” We go on accident alert when we run out of resources and that’s what happened” Sargent MacPherson said. We’ve had over a dozen accidents already since this morning and it is only going to get worse.” he said. This is the kind of slippery snow where people really need to slow down, not text and be careful. People often mistake their all wheel drive vehicles as billet proof , but when the streets are “very slippery” everyone is prone to wreck. Bicyclers need to be especially cautious today. Cars cannot stop and your chances of getting run over are heightened. 10:20 AM ACCIDENT ALERT MEANS THAT BOULDER POLICE DEPARTMENT DISPATCH IS ALREADY INUNDATED WITH more calls than the department can handle. So minor accidents with out injuries will not get a police or fire response. Those involved should exchange insurance information, call a tow truck themselves and deal with it. Police and fire will respond to serious accidents only” or where there is a dispute, drugs, alcohol, hit and run, dissabled vehicles or intersection blocked” according to Sargent Jim MacPherson Boulder PD Traffic. This means , however, that Boulder is getting smacked pretty good by this storm , the roads are slippery and people are driving into one another according to Boulder PD dispatch.

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  • Neil Colbert 1 month ago

    Good News, the homeless have made it one more day, homeless. I appreciate the responsiveness, enthusiasm, and down home caring Jann has shown for the homeless during this winter storm. However some of his concern is short sighted as these people have not just been without shelter today, or just during the holiday, but all year round, and i can assure you for most of these people without shelter, this is not their first rodeo. Yes resources in the county are stretched, and services are spread thin, and that is how it goes in hard economic times. It does not however warrant accusations of Human Rights Violations, or badgering of the services we already have in place to assist those without shelter. I would like to thank Robbie for all his hard work up there at the shelter, I know that him, along with the entire staff are well trained, certified in CPR and First Aid, and do an excellent job at sheltering 160 people every night from the middle of October through the end of April. Yes it would have been nice to be able to open up the shelter doors to let people in from the extreme cold but there are many pieces which would need to be in place before such decisions could be made. The shelter is a trust based facility, it is a private business with specific goals and measures to it's success. Two staff people are not enough to monitor and house 160 people during the day. It would not be safe for staff, and potentially dangerous for those coming in. Incidents involving intoxication, mental illness, and personal conflicts between individuals would be very taxing on the people providing services, and stretch even thinner the resources Boulder county already provides. Thanks Jann for mounting that soap box over the 5 homeless people you found yesterday, but please keep in mind that point in time surveys show that in Boulder City there are approximately 568 homeless, and that in Boulder County there are over 1500 people who do not have stable or consistant shelter. Spotting 5 on the street corner is a drop in the bucket of those who do not have shelter, so instead of attacking services like the carriage house or shelter they should be praised. Their hard work daily assists those who do not have shelter like the rest of the privileged in Boulder, and this is everyday, not just when it is below 0. Thanks to everyone who works in these non profits, for their hard work and dedication prove to be more helpful time and time again when placed up against the ignorance of persons like Jann Scott. Thank you everyone, and Happy New Year.

    3 people liked this.

  • channel_one_networks 2 weeks ago in reply to Neil Colbert

    Neil.. The problem is The Boulder Homeless Shelter, churches, County and all agencies are letting people Freeze today. they give better treatment to dogs during cold weather. Don't defend these people. They are Cretins .

  • channel_one_networks 1 month ago in reply to Neil Colbert

    Jann and Boulder Channel 1 work with the homeless population on a daily basis. Jann actually started Boulder cares with Austin Gibson and Sheriff Epp 15 yeas ago. He is probably one of the most active people in the community when it comes to saving lives in this regard. Yesterday was a serious crisis because the library was not open, none of the churches were open and people were literally freezing. Because of this story Crystal Gray and Mayor Osborne got on the stick and got the warming centers to open.

  • Neil Colbert 4 weeks ago in reply to channel_one_networks

    Lets ask them what they do all year to help the homeless? human rights violations just because those workers and the shelter is not able to do more? did you invite your brothers freezing on the street into your SUV to warm up? or drive them to the warming center which opened?

    2 people liked this.

  • channel_one_networks 4 weeks ago in reply to Neil Colbert

    Yes He did. They are in his heated garage right now. stop defending people
    who screwed up this week end. we did something about it. we got the warming
    centers opened for you . You did what?? put down those of us who tackled a
    broken system and got it fixed.

  • channel_one_networks 4 weeks ago

    from twitter
    MonkeeRench Lou Puls
    Thankful Kudos to alert folks @BoulderChannel1 for waking up Boulder politicos to save homeless on the streets from freezing to death!

  • channel_one_networks 4 weeks ago

    FROM E-MAIL
    SETH BRIGHAM
    Ten years from now they expect to have 100 units for the homeless, and I'm sure the ones that would qualify are not the ones you'll find outside on a freezing night.
    
    I would guess that the homeless population will be larger in ten years than today, by more than 100 hundred.
    
    "Housing first" has been proven to be the most effective... But, The City of Boulder's plan is housing nearly none that won't keep up with the homeless population.
    
    As if we don't have a PUBLIC warehouse or storage like housing ??? The new gym at College and sixth, the elementary school, is huge and the lights are bright, as I look in while passing every morning as I walk my dog?
    
    One example of wasted space.
    
    Other, more conservative municipalities, have shown to be more compassionate than our Council, and, Crystal Grey has shown to play the old game of "how much we spend for human services,"
    
    blah blah blah, excuses excuses excuses, obvious "play politics" when discussing the matter...
    
    and think of the children first!!!... As if their are higher priorities just within the needy that we also are not attending to.
    
    How much on business incentives and a millions for the Visitor's Bureau, another name for the Chamber of Commerce.
    
    We taxed ourselves to help non-profits but our City Government would rather please their wealthy constituents.
    
    Lisa has asked for a "plan" from the City Manager again and again, but all we get is silence when asked ???
    
    Seth

  • channel_one_networks 4 weeks ago

    BY E-MAIL
    FROM ROB SMOKE:
    
    There was no mention of the homeless in preparation for the Council retreat.
    
    They'll spend a little time on Decorum Rules, though...
    You don't understand...it's a "ten-year plan" -- ask Ken Wilson.
    Ten years from now, they'll be able to help people freezing outside in the cold on New Year's.
    
    Before then, they're going to play it by ear, and ticket people sleeping outdoors if they've got a blanket over them --
    after all...a blanket...no...can't have blankets. Bad homeless person! No blanket for you!
    
    rs
    
    

  • Butterflygirl319 1 month ago

    I felt horrified after reading your "article" about the Homeless Shelter and watching this video. I am astonished at your lack of knowledge about our homeless, especially when you are claiming to have been affiliated with Boulder County Cares. The men and woman at the shelter work very hard for little pay to help our homeless population make a better life for themselves, if they so choose. How dare you make it sound as if they don't care and are turning desperate people away. If you are so outraged at what you think is going on, why not open your home? Start a NON PROFIT of your own to help alcoholics in our community? What exactly,Sir, are you doing to help?
    Your "facts" are wrong. They are many churches in the area that open their doors nightly to the homeless (which, by the way, BCC is driving them there!) and many prefer this over the shelter. The shelter is open every night as well. If you actually spoke with the men in your video you would find out that that daytime hours is when homeless men and woman are out making money. They are also informed and prepared for bad weather. Yes, we lose a lot but most of these are alcohol related deaths.

  • channel_one_networks 2 weeks ago in reply to Butterflygirl319

    Jann Scott and Austin Gibson lead the way to the first Boulder county Care. They directed Sheriff George Epp to Denver Cares. Then Jann and Austin would go out on nights like this to find homeless in the cold. You are a relative new comer to all of this as is Max Weller. So listen and learn. There ARE ABSOLUTELY NO WARMING CENTERS OPEN DURING THE DAY AND PEOPLE ARE FREEZING TO DEATH. Now stop apologizing for the homeless industry here in Boulder. They are letting people freeze to death while their staff sits fat and warm . WAKE UP!!!!

  • Cogoldenboy 1 month ago

    Nice Work.

  • really? REALLY! 1 month ago

    . You gotta lot of nerve demanding people to "work shifts themselves" .

  • channel_one_networks 2 weeks ago in reply to really? REALLY!

    YES WE DO. OPEN THE DAMN shelter during the day now!!!!~

  • channel_one_networks 1 month ago

    Jonathan Graham
    
    That sounds quite serious!