FOX31 (KDVR) is out with a story from Hanna Powers about Aviation Park in Lakewood, where the city cleared an encampment and families are back using the playground. The piece captures that brief moment of relief when a public space feels usable again, and then immediately points out the reality a block away: the tents, trash, and the problem itself did not disappear.
A local mom, Sadie Montano, tells FOX31 it feels safer not having drug use, tents, and public urination right by where kids play. But she also says the comfort does not extend far, and that nearby shopping trips come with pressure, discomfort, and a sense that residents are being asked to just accept a new normal.
The story also includes advocates arguing that clearings in Denver have pushed people into surrounding communities, and that cities like Lakewood need more services and regional coordination, not a one-neighborhood whack-a-mole approach.
The Bullet Point Brief
- Aviation Park gets cleared, kids return, and everybody breathes for about five minutes. Then you walk one block and meet the “same problem, new address” version of progress.
- Residents cite sanitation and safety issues, including suspected drug use, and one mother describes having her kids “look away” when they encounter people living rough in public spaces. That is not compassion. That is coping.
- The park has a resource number posted, but FOX31 calls and hits a voicemail warning it may take up to three business days to respond. If your system needs a “please leave a message” to address crisis-level street conditions, your system is not a system.
- Lakewood police and outreach groups did not respond to FOX31’s request for comment, and city offices were closed for the holiday. Meanwhile, neighbors are living the reality in real time.
- An advocate with Together Denver says Denver clearings have pushed people into suburbs that were not prepared, and argues other municipalities need to “step up” with services and wraparound support. Translation: this is regional whether we admit it or not.
My Bottom Line
I have watched the homelessness conversation grow, ebb, and flow in Colorado for years. It feels like we used to not have this kind of problem, and maybe that makes me sound like an old coot. But pretending it is not worse than it used to be is the kind of lie that only works in a committee hearing.
This is not one thing. Housing affordability, unchecked immigration, mental health, addiction, and the breakdown of accountability have all poured gasoline on the fire. And I have watched the responses swing from turning a blind eye, to spending hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars, to launching shiny new “initiatives.” And somehow, the sidewalks keep filling back up.
I have always said homelessness is not just a government problem. It is an “all of us” problem. Government has a role, but it should be the role adults play: ease barriers, cut red tape that blocks housing and treatment, use targeted tax credits, and coordinate with the people actually doing the work. What it should not do is roll out yet another program that history suggests will eat money and produce press releases.
Non-profits should be empowered to act, not smothered in paperwork and perverse incentives. And once again I’ll ask the question that nobody wants to answer out loud: where is the church? If this is a humanitarian crisis, then it deserves a response that is bigger than government and more personal than a hotline that sends you to voicemail.
I’m compassionate. My heart hurts over this. But government alone is not the solution, and clearing a park without a real, workable path off the street is just moving misery around the map. Colorado can do better than whack-a-mole policy and three-day voicemails.
Source: Fox 31
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