Arvada neighborhood gathers to protest potential navigation center

[ad_1]

ARVADA, Colo. (KDVR) — Dozens of people living in the Arlington Meadows neighborhood in Arvada protested outside of the city of Arvada building ahead of a city council meeting.

This comes after they learned about a month ago the city was considering placing a navigation center in the old Early College of Arvada building, which is now vacant.

“We have several reasons: health, danger, cost, you name it: We just don’t want it there,” said Renee Cornell, a longtime resident of Arvada and Arlington Meadows.

The city said the navigation center would give people experiencing homelessness a hand up, rather than a handout while providing them with tools they need to get back on their feet.

But residents said there are already holes in this plan. Lily Allish said she recently bought a home that shares a fence with the vacant building.

“It has already brought a homeless individual right up to my fence, claiming that he’s going to be waiting there until he receives housing,” Allish said.

As a young woman working from home whose partner is gone most of the day, she said she would feel unsafe if this would bring more unhoused individuals around.

“I’m home alone for 24, sometimes 48 hours at a time. And it’s concerning, they’re wanting to bring homeless people right behind the house,” Allish said.

Karen Deaguero, who also lives in the neighborhood, said this area is also not conducive to housing or supporting hundreds of people experiencing homelessness.

“We have a grocery store close by, but that’s about it. I don’t think that’s enough to sustain a navigation center and give 200 to 300 homeless folks the resources that they need to help get them with their feet on the ground in the way that they deserve,” Deaguero said.

Despite voicing dissent, community feels unheard by city

Many of the folks who came out to protest also seemed to agree that it seemed like their voices were not being heard.

“We’ve just been kind of forgotten for a long time. And the residents of Arlington Meadows who have been there for 45 years have the same story,” Deaguero said. “They call us the red-headed stepchild of Arvada because nothing ever gets done there the same way that it does in A West or other more prosperous areas of Arvada.”

Residents said they are hoping their questions can be answered as the city considers this decision, and their voices can be heard.

“They’re not taking in any ideas from other people and saying, ‘You know, that’s a great idea. Let’s look into potentially making this into a recreation center. Let’s look into maybe making this into a library or an education center.’ They’re just saying, ‘Well, we’re going to keep pushing forward this navigation center idea,'” Deaguero said.

During the city council meeting, some city council members said they agreed they should give this some more thought and discussion, and invited the community to come up with ideas on how they should move forward with that.

Monday night’s city council meeting was more about listening to the community, but Sharon Davis, city councilmember at large, looked at the other side of the coin. She said the reason for the navigation center was to drive the homeless population away from Olde Town Arvada since many of the businesses in that area are suffering.

Nothing has been decided yet, and the city is encouraging people with concerns or ideas to reach out to it on this.

[ad_2]

Rachel Saurer

Source link