Who is the winner trying to fix Denver's homelessness problem, and one for fun since it's Friday!
Who is the winner?
The article below details another hotel bought to be converted into homes for the homeless in Denver.
Some numbers from the article (all are quotes, but I'll suppress the quotation marks for simplicity):
Finally, in December city officials brought forth a $9 million purchase agreement for the property and two adjacent pieces of land located at 3835 and 3805 Peoria St.
IH Holdings bought the property for $3.8 million in 2019 according to city records. City officials originally projected the purchase price would be $7.8 million in May 2021.
The four-story building has 96 bedrooms, 95 of which will be converted into supportive housing for people experiencing homelessness and one will be set aside for an on-site property manager, according to a city news release.
Here's what I wonder. Who won here?
IH holdings made a cool $5.2 million to sell a hotel that was rundown.
The homeless people will get a nice room, and, depending on where you look and who you ask, some pretty decent services too (if the contracts are the same as they were for the last hotel for the homeless I reported on).
Taxpayers (both Federal and in Denver) get to pay $9,000,000 / 95 = about $95K a room (PRIOR to necessary renovations which will only add to that number) for homeless people.
So who is the winner here?
https://www.denverpost.com/2023/01/18/stay-inn-hotel-purchase-approved-denver-council-homeless-shelter/
Last one of the day on the last day of the week and you know what that means!
It means something for fun and not related to politics.
I was thinking of a funny story from my former school the other day and wanted to share.
I am not Catholic, but I started my career at a Jesuit School in Denver. Part of the mission of the school was to help students (that wanted to--as evidenced by my hire, the school was open to both non Catholic teachers and students) grow in the Catholic faith generally and Ignatian (Jesuit) spirituality in general.
There were multiple times through the year that students got the chance to do this. Every student had 4 years of Theology class. We had mass once a month. All four grades would have a retreat once a school year (the Juniors got the big one where they went off campus for a week, the rest were just a day taken out of the school year where the students would go to the church and community center across the street from the school).
One time I was sitting in the church with the Freshmen, supervising while the Assistant Principal (a Jesuit priest) lead the students through a quick exercise in Ignatian Contemplation.
If you're not familiar, I'll outline it quickly and I also put a link below if you're curious to know more. If you are of a mind to, Jesuit or not, you might consider trying it once as part of your spiritual practice. It's not something I do, but having done it a few times as part of my time at that school, I find it a compelling exercise.
The exercise for our Freshmen that day was to sit quietly in the pews of the church--spread out to keep mischief to a minimum--and imagine their way through the Biblical scene where Jesus is walking at the head of a crowd that is leaving a city and he encounters someone by the roadside. I forget the exact verse of the Bible we were contemplating, but it goes something like this.
Assistant Principal (AP): Now you see a crowd approaching. There's a figure at the head of it. Is there a dust cloud? Is it a sunny day? Hot? Are there any clouds in the sky?
AP: As the crowd nears, can you make out individuals in it? Who is there? Who is at the front? Who is around him? What do those people look like? Are they happy? Focused?
AP: The crowd keeps getting closer and now you can make out that Jesus is at the head. What does his robe look like? Is it dusty from walking? What do his feet look like? Is his hair moving? Does he look your way?
AP: Now Jesus draws near to you. What color are his eyes? What do you see in them? What is his facial expression? Is he taller than you? Shorter? ...
Now at this point, I have to interrupt to tell you that while this school was in a neighborhood that was quickly gentrifying, it was far from fully gentrified and still rough around the edges. The church we were in backed up to an alley that sometimes had some rough characters in it.
AP: You can see that Jesus is moved to speak and say hello. He opens his mouth, what does he say ...
That last word in the above was almost nearly cut off by the bleating of a drunk in the alley behind the church; His "BWWWAAAAGGGGHHHHHHH" was perfectly timed to answer the priest's question and startled us all.
Decorum, of course, prevented anyone from laughing at the time, but I can't think of the story now without laughing.
Have a good Friday!
https://www.ignatianspirituality.com/ignatian-contemplation/