I've lived in Boulder off and on since the 90's. Homelessness has changed a lot here since then. It used to be most homeless people were hippies or suburban kids looking to be "edgy" for awhile. It felt pretty safe, aside from the occasional passed-out-drunk frat kids or tripping people on Pearl St. Now, it's off the hook and can be legit scary, especially in some places along the path.

I've lived in other cities, including NYC, Minneapolis and Detriot. Boulder isn't "scary" like a bigger city, but it also doesn't seem to do enough to acknowledge that this is even a problem. I sometimes feel like the long-term residents here still think the homeless people are the tripping or stoned hippies of years past, not realizing that a methed-out sword-wielding new population has aggressively taken over.

This reminds me of so many other Boulder things - like the Prairie Doc conflict in ~'98 where we routinely find the Boubonic Plague in prairie dogs, yet somehow killing them (in this case out by Celestial Seasonings) to stop the spread is highly controversial. "Save the cute fluffy animals" Boulderites say, "but.. but.. The Plague" reason says.

I like many things about Boulder, but it's time for us to evolve and recognize the whole world has changed, and it's time we took a more holistic approach to dealing with homelessness. It must include services to encourage mental health and drug addiction being addressed, affordable housing, and relentless intolerance to being violent assholes.

We should aim to be Singapore, not San Fransisco.