Above photo: Protesters celebrate Palm Restaurant’s
**STAFF NOTE: Planned protests at Palm Restaurants are cancelled today.**
DENVER, CO. (October 18, 2013) – The Boycott the Urban Camping Ban Coalition is pleased to announce that The Palm Restaurant has officially withdrawn support for Denver’s Urban Camping Ban Ordinance passed in May 2012.
On May 6, 2012, Occupy Denver held their first Boycott in protest of the Urban Camping Ban at Snooze A.M. Eatery.1 It was attended by not just members of Occupy Denver, but activists from Denver and surrounding areas who were concerned about the treatment of their fellow human beings, the homeless. The “Urban Camping” Ban Ordinance was passed by the Denver City Council on May 14, 2012, at which time an ongoing weekly protest lead by Janet Matzen and Occupy Denver began at Snooze A.M. Eatery and later attracted coalition partners. On April 5, 2013, Snooze issued a statement reversing their position in support of the Ban.2
On April 26, 2013, the Boycott was moved to The Palm Restaurant Denver and a weekly Friday night boycott began.3 Despite concerted efforts by the Denver City Council through the Denver Police Department to quash Boycotters’ Constitutional rights to free speech and protest, the protest continued strongly and garnered International support. 4
Today, we are pleased to announce that The Palm Restaurant, who we truly believe cares for the plight of the homeless, announced they no longer support the “Urban Camping” Ban Ordinance. We thank The Palm Restaurant for standing with the homeless and calling for the repeal of the “Urban Camping” Ban in Denver.
Once again, we urge all businesses and organizations in Denver to review the Denver Homeless Out Loud Report5 on the implementation and impacts the Ban has had and call for its repeal.
Janet Matzen
Boycott The Palm
Occupy Denver
MoveOn Denver Metro
Special Thanks to:
International coalition of citizens and groups concerned for our homeless communities
Colorado Foreclosure Resistance Coalition
Occupy London
International Socialist Organization
PopularResistance.org
Statement released on Palm Denver Facebook Page, which will be sent via e-mail and letter to Mayor Hancock and the Denver City Council:
“Since opening in 1996, The Denver Palm has supported the city’s homeless community. Currently, The Denver Palm teams up with WeDon’tWaste.org to distribute nutritious food to vulnerable populations, donating our restaurant grade leftovers every Friday morning. We believe it is important to help lift up our homeless neighbors. In 2012, when the Urban Camping Ban (“the Ban”) proposal was presented, we believed it would provide more support in the form of shelters, mental health services, and general assistance for Denver’s growing homeless population. There are far too many homeless people in metro Denver, and many of them have no option but to sleep outside on the streets. Since the Ban became law in May 2012, service providers have failed to meet the overwhelming need for safe places to sleep. The stated goals of the Ban included improving the business climate and appearance of central downtown areas; police being able to offer service alternatives that help connect homeless people to healthy alternatives to the street; and improving the quality of life as they move off the streets, into shelters, and access needed services. However, a recent survey of over 512 homeless individuals reported that the Ban,while achieving an improved appearance of central downtown, has done so at the expense of the well-being of Denver’s homeless population. It says that rather than accessing more services, it’s been shown they have moved to less safe locations and become harder for those offering services to find. “The inability to wrap oneself in a blanket when exposed to the difficulties of winter seems unjust.” We believe the Ban should be amended or repealed to more effectively meet the needs of our homeless community. We urge immediate action to help the homeless community of Denver, for example, dialogue between city officials and the homeless commissions, advocacy groups and homeless people themselves.”
https://www.facebook.com/PalmRestaurantDenver/posts/666061866745554
For more information about the Urban Camping Ban and Supporting links:
1 http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2012/05/occupy_denver_snooze_urban_cam.php
2 https://www.facebook.com/BoycottUCB/posts/527052630670236
3 http://occupydenver.org/boycott-palm/
4 http://www.popularresistance.org/stop-criminalizing-homelessness-international-boycott-of-palm-restaurant/
5 http://issuu.com/denverhomelessoutloud/docs/surveyreport
For media inquiries:
Send messages to the official Boycott the Urban Camping Ban Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/BoycottUCB OR Email to BoycottUCB@gmail.com
###