SANDY: No. I mean we’re back there all the time. And we’re clean and quiet. None of us are drinking. We’re not doing what other people do- shooting drugs and leaving their needles lying around, causing too many problems. They caused problems for the rest of us. TOM: Yeah, we kept a pretty clean spot, didn’t bother anybody. INTERVIEWER: And now where are you staying? TOM: We found an O.K. spot- a little piece of sidewalk, on the heating grates. It’s kind of dangerous. I mean we burn ourselves, on the fingers, toes and arms, but it’s our only spot. It’s hot, but it’s what we got. We can’t stay on the Mall, and we have to stay dry. INTERVIEWER: So is the place you sleep now more safe, or more dangerous, or about the same as the Mall? SANDY: It’s definitely more dangerous.
The Denver Camping Ban
INTERVIEWER: Describe that. TOM: There’s people and things; these fools run around smoking their stuff and shooting their stuff. We don’t do none of that. We’re just trying to sleep and they come hassle us like we were criminals. SANDY: Well, there’s a bar on one corner and a bar on the other corner. TOM: Now it’s a more precarious situation.. We can’t go anywhere now. Not in the alley, not anywhere. INTERVIEWER: Have the police ever helped you in any way? TOM: No. SANDY: Never. Unless you call writing me tickets some kind of help, no.
40 Photo: Kendra Kellog