Letter to Diana Romero Campbell, Denver City Council

 

Dear Ms. Campbell,

Yesterday when I wrote, I was unaware of the ballot measure Affordable Denver that the City Council plans to put to the voters.

Having read a summary on the Council website as well as The Denver Post editorial about it, I wanted to urge  you to stick with this plan.

Yes, it may be roughly sketched out at this point, but, as I mentioned in my email, the situation has become too dire to wait for a perfectly outlined plan. In a way, we need something loose and flexible to be able to deal effectively with problems and opportunities as they  present themselves. As long as we have the basic directives in place, i think this is something to move forward with.

I particularly like the fact that this plan proposes to preserve existing homes and apartments, and to acquire apartments. At this time, the urgency I see is, not so much to convert more expensive places to affordable housing, although that's important, but to save the ones that are on the brink but still have potential.

While accommodating the middle class renters is important, I think the lower class are most urgently in need of having their housing preserved.

This situation has devolved even since July, when this proposition was created. We are no longer just looking at increased housing. We're looking to save housing that is rapidly becoming unlivable due to unwillingness or inability on the part of landlords to correct living conditions.

We're in need of swift action.

I understand if you were among those on the Council demanding more specificity as to how this would work. That's natural, and in an ideal world, that would be the best course. This is not an ideal situation. Unfortunately, for many years the problem has not been addressed, so we find ourselves on the brink of disaster. I hope this is too extreme a way of putting it, but I fear not.

I hope you all can be putting together a plan that will address the needs that we see developing as we speak.

The Denver Post urged us to wait, saying "Rome was not built in a day." But we are not building Rome. We are trying to save it from falling.