Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman Won't Move Forward On Camping Ban After Spending Week On The Streets
AURORA, Colo. (CBS4)- Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman will not move forward on his camping ban after he camped out on the streets for week with no food and no money. Coffman has received some backlash from homeless advocates who called his week on the streets a "political stunt."
Camping Ban Proposal pic.twitter.com/0rDVR903nO
— Mayor Mike Coffman (@AuroraMayorMike) January 11, 2021
Coffman tweeted out a statement about not going forward with a camping ban on Monday.
"I've decided to suspend moving forward with a camping ban until I better understand what its impact will be on Aurora. The City and County of Denver has a camping ban and it has a significant encampment problem while Aurora does not have a camping ban and only has a modest problem. I think the question that I have to answer is whether or not a camping ban actually aggravates the problem because there are so many requirements that a camping ban must meet in order to survive a court challenge."
Homeless advocates and some elected leaders in the Denver metro area lashed out at Coffman, saying he can't understand homelessness from one week on the streets and in shelters.
Coffman has said that many of the people living on the streets are involved in drug abuse and don't have a plan for rehabilitation.