Photo: An Occupy Denver protester walks outside the home of Tami Door, CEO of the Downtown Denver Partnership. The group, which assembles outside Door’s house at 3 p.m. every Sunday, plans to picket her residence until a ban on urban camping is repealed. (John Leyba, The Denver Post)
Occupy Denver protesters have set up camp outside the head of the Downtown Denver Partnership’s Park Hill home, accusing her of criminalizing homelessness.
Every Sunday afternoon, picketers who hold Tami Door, CEO of the partnership, responsible for the ban on urban camping chant and carry signs on her quiet residential street.
“You should be considered a criminal for taking the blankets away from homeless people and children,” protester Janet Matzen shouted at Door’s home.
Matzen, holding a sign that said “Wanted! Tami Door,” has been protesting every Sunday since November, when the group first targeted Door’s residence. Matzen said she attended the City Council meeting when the ban passed and saw Door speak in support of it.
“It’s the nastiest thing I have ever seen. People who do this should expect us at their houses,” Matzen said.
The group, which assembles outside Door’s house at 3 p.m. Sundays, plans to picket her residence until the ban is repealed. Members of the group said they are making progress, according to protester Fillmore Lankford.
“I think it has raised a lot of awareness and opened the lines of communication,” Lankford said. “We are just asking her to please talk to us.”
The nearly 20 people who gathered Sunday planned to protest until 5 p.m.
Police confirmed that they monitor the protest every weekend and have installed a HALO camera outside the residence as a “safety measure,” according to Denver police spokesman Sonny Jackson.
“We have to respect the rights of everyone involved. There is a First Amendment right to assemble and protest,” Jackson said.
The ban makes it illegal to camp on public and private property in Denver. The City Council voted 9-4 to pass the ban in 2012.
Door declined to comment.