City of Boulder Ballot Issue 302 (2023)
NO / AGAINST. “Safe Zones” is a citizen-led petition that wastes resources on ineffective enforcement rather than solutions.
City of Boulder Ballot Issue 302
Safe Zones 4 Kids
Shall Section 8-3-21, B.R.C. 1981, be amended to add a provision to prioritize removal of prohibited items, such as tents, temporary structures, or propane tanks, within five hundred feet of a school or fifty feet of any multi-use path or sidewalk pursuant to Ordinance 8586?
NO / AGAINST. The measure intends to codify in law what is current policy around the removal of encampments in the city but in a poorly written and unhelpful way. Rather than improving safety, “Safe Zones” will tie the hands of our local government and police chief with a mandate to enforce on every sidewalk in the City of Boulder rather than addressing root causes of homelessness and encampments. We need safe cities, not “safe zones,” and this only makes it more difficult for our city to make progress on the issue.
It’s important to understand why this ballot measure exists despite the fact that it provides no money and no improvements in policy. The main purpose of “Safe Zones” is to politicize our kids as an election issue in order to help elect a conservative city council slate. This slate includes longtime Republican [now unaffiliated as he runs for Mayor] Bob Yates as well as candidates Brncic, Robins, and Marquis. Some of the key goals of this conservative slate is are to implement more punitive policies to address encampments, to increase bail for low-level offenses, and to increase the police budget citywide.
Here’s a post from Boulder Nextdoor in May where a lead organizer and booster of “Safe Zones” publicly talk about their plan to politicize kids for an election:
“Safe Zones” has a few notable endorsements, including the Boulder County GOP. While the Boulder County GOP opposed every other measure on the ballot this year – No on funding our schools, No on affordable housing, No on open space – they gave an enthusiastic Yes on “Safe Zones.”
I’m joining these groups of people voting No on Boulder Ballot Issue 302. Additionally that includes the Boulder Weekly, Daily Camera, Yellow Scene Magazine, and nearly half of the BVSD school board.
Additional Reporting, Commentary, and Sources
City of Boulder Ballot Question 302: Safe Zones 4 Kids – Boulder Beat
Editorial: Tough ballot questions ask important questions about our priorities – Daily Camera
Opinion: No on 302 – Boulder cannot displace its way out of homelessness – Boulder Beat