In Denver, officials spread the sugar to keep homeless off the streets during Democratic convention

A portent of things to come?

An estimated 4,000 homeless people make downtown Denver their stomping grounds on a normal day. To ensure none of them are hanging around on street corners making a mess of Denver’s grand photo op next month during the Democratic National Convention, city officials are spreading money and freebies around as urgently as John D. Rockefeller used to repel street urchins by flinging dimes at them.

According to the Rocky Mountain News, "The Colorado Coalition for the Homeless plans to get 500 movie tickets as well as passes to the Denver Zoo, Denver Museum of Nature and Science and other cultural facilities for the people it helps. Bus tickets will be provided for events beyond walking distance, said John Parvensky, the non-profit’s president. Many day shelters will have expanded hours during the convention, and big screen TVs are being donated to some shelters so patrons can watch convention goings-on without being caught up in the mayhem."

This largesse comes courtesy of the Denver mayor’s office, as LAT’s Top of the Ticket blog notes: "All the events will be free to [the homeless], funded by Denver Road Home, a branch of the mayor’s office dedicated to ending homelessness in the city. The organization got the money for the convention events from the United Way."

Naturally, many of the homeless and their advocates see this for exactly what it is. As our sister site Colorado Independent has reported this week, there’s plenty of anger about orders to move meals programs administered in city parks indoors during the convention, at least one group–Food Not Bombs–is refusing to move its operation indoors.