Sunday Dec. 30, 2012, marked eight months of the Boycott Snooze campaign led by Janet Matzen from Occupy Denver. Boycott Snooze began when co-owner of Snooze, Brianna Borin advocated for the Denver urban camping ban in April 2012. Borin spoke in "strong favor" of the urban camping ban regarding their Ballpark location on 2262 Larimer St. At the City Council meeting she explained that their employees did not feel safe and often had to contact police for disruptions around their location. "We also spend the first hour of our day as managers, walking around our property and picking up any leftover trash or debris from our neighbors who have camped out overnight," Borin stated.
Snooze also mentioned that they wanted these individuals to get the help they need, saying they have become friends with many homeless individuals and even employed some of them. The urban camping ban went into effect on May 28, 2012, and prohibits unauthorized camping on public or private land in Denver.
Homeless advocates have criticized Snooze for their actions because they opened their restaurant near multiple homeless shelters and then petitioned to have urban camping banned. One of Denver's largest homeless shelters, the Samaritan House Homeless Shelter is directly across the street. "The urban camping ban is an attack on poverty and a war on the poor," stated James Duncan who came to support Boycott Snooze. Duncan explained how starting a dialogue with customers attending Snooze has caused a lot of people to question the urban camping ban and Snooze's participation in supporting the bill.
"I want people to be aware that there are women and children out here hiding under bridges from the police so they don't get a ticket for being homeless," explained Matzen who also stated that homeless shelters are currently at capacity. Matzen said she spoke with the owner of Snooze, Jon Schlegel, who explained that he would attend an Occupy Denver general assembly in Dec. to resolve the issue but she explained that he never followed through.
The Denver Post reported that Denver Police officers have contacted "386 people on reports of illegal camping" since the first four months of the urban camping ban. Denver Homeless Out Loud (DHOL), is a coalition of Denver residents and organizations stated, "Though we know the official data regarding numbers of contacts between policy and homeless individuals, Denver stakeholders do not have data from members of the homeless community regarding how the ban is affecting their lives." DHOL is currently conducting a survey of the homeless community in an effort to provide the impact of the urban camping ban on the lives of the homeless.
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