Of Lab Mice And Homeless Men

Of Lab Mice And Homeless Men

by | May 21, 2021 | Blasting with Boyles

I’d like to begin this award-winning column with this great quote, “Tell me about the rabbits, George.” Remember Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men? Just before Lennie gets it right through the horns. Get a mirror. Aren’t you starting to look a lot like Lennie?

Now back in 2005, now Senator John Hickenlooper (by the way isn’t it interesting how he turns around to the Front Range and says, “I was never here,” and vanishes now that he’s a Senator?), remember Johnny was going to end homelessness within 10 years. I can’t do math and I can’t do marriage but it seems to me Hickenlooper should have ended it in 2015.

Now maybe you would think this is crazy but what do you think would happen if a bunch of DU researchers treated a bunch of people experiencing homelessness like they were white mice in some sort of a maze in a sociology lab at the University of Denver? You would think, hey, that’s inhumane, possibly racist, where’s the social justice in that? Believe it, this is not Enter the Dragon.

Dr. Daniel Brisson and part of the Denver Basic Income Project want to start giving crackheads, street alcoholics, and the mentally ill, and, depending on who you are, up to $1,000 month. Or if the mouse can find the cheese $40 a day. Or one group gets $1,000. Another will get a lump sum of $6,500, and then $500 a month for the following 11 months. This is some kind of super stupid.

Years and years ago when I first gained my sobriety we were doing a radio show in downtown Denver. I was working at Brand X and came across a guy who had actually worked in the radio business and was a good DJ, but the disease of alcoholism had taken him to the skids. I took two $20s out of my wallet and was handing it to him when a big hand grabbed my wrist, and I heard, “What are you trying to do, kill him?” and that’s how I met the legendary Bob Coté. Coté explained the man would go outside and either overdose on drugs because of that amount of money, drink himself into a blackout, or simply get robbed.

Do these fools have any idea what they’re doing? Coté called it killing them with kindness. He also said they are committing suicide on the installment plan. Now Regis University will host a safe camping site. One of the more brilliant sociologists, Diana DeGette, wants to buy a hotel for two million dollars for the homeless, the Travel Lodge on East 38th Avenue. It will cost $7.8 million overall and the City is hopeful that DeGette’s request comes through.

Another advocate, of course, is outgoing Mayor Michael Hancock. He’s also supportive of another shelter project at 1603 S. Acoma Street, and between he and DeGette they’re going to offer a safety net for those who need to sleep in a safe place. Are you kidding me? All of that money, any money given them, will be money used to get high.

Number two, l read about what happened in Philadelphia, when they tried to give people houses to live in. First, everyone stole the microwave ovens, then the copper out of the walls and then stole the toilets and bathtubs. Mark Donovan is the founder of the Denver Basic Income Project. He’s proclaimed this giveaway is the first study of its kind in the United States researching the effects of giving cash directly to people experiencing homelessness. Mark, my boy, I can save you a lot of money, probably a couple hundred lives, if you and those brilliant researchers from DU just walk away.

P.S. Michael Hancock supports the project. Tell me about the rabbits.

— Peter Boyles