Denver, CO

Denver adding vans to expand STAR program

David Heitz

https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=2kwEu2_0fJzdZe800
City and County of Denver

By David Heitz / NewsBreak Denver

(Denver, Colo.) A Denver City Council committee will approve an agreement Wednesday with Denver Health and Hospital Authority to spend $526,318 to buy five vans for its Support Team Assistance Response program.

The item is on the consent agenda for the Public Safety, Housing, Education and Homelessness Committee meeting. Consent items are considered routine and usually not discussed before a vote.

The STAR emergency response teams include a social worker and a paramedic instead of a police officer.

STAR began as a pilot program serving people with poverty, substance abuse and mental health problems. People in duress often need help but usually aren't breaking the law.

Instead of sending a police officer when someone is in distress, 911 operators can dispatch a STAR unit that can help provide services.

Mental Health Center Denver manages the program, but Denver Health supplies the paramedics.

An intergovernmental agreement allows the city to purchase the vans via Denver Health. Denver Health will work with several subcontractors to equip five 2022 Ford transit cargo vans with computers, wheelchair lifts, Wi-Fi, and more.

STAR staff expects the vans to arrive this fall. Then they will need to be customized.

Denver City Council voted in February to expand STAR citywide. But obtaining the vehicles needed to support those services has proven difficult due to supply issues, city staff told the council.

According to a city staff report, when all five vans operate, STAR can serve as many as 10,000 people per year.

Read full story in "NewsBreak" App
# STAR program# Denver Police Department# alternate police response# Denver police# people experiencing homelessne

This is original content from NewsBreak’s Creator Program. Join today to publish and share your own content.

Comments / 1

Published by

I've been in the news business 35 years, spending much of my career in editing roles at community newspapers in Southern California and the Quad-Cities of Illinois and Iowa. Upon moving to Denver in 2018, I began experiencing severe mental illness due to several traumatic experiences. I became homeless on the street for about a year before spending time in the state mental hospital. I am proof that people can rebound from even severe mental illness with proper treatment. I consider myself a lucky guy to live in a great place like Denver. I hope my writing reflects the passion I have for living in the Mile High City. You can email me news releases and story ideas at NewsBreakDave@gmail.com

Denver, CO
14K followers

More from David Heitz

Denver, CO

Migrants becoming homeless as Denver struggles with new influx

If Denver continues to absorb migrants at its current rate, the city will blow through its $20 million 2024 migrant response budget in just four months, Mayor Mike Johnston said this week.

Read full story
13 comments
Denver, CO

Denver considers $33.5 million in homeless services investments

The Denver City Council will consider buying the Park Hill Best Western Hotel Monday for $26 million to house people experiencing homelessness . The council also will consider another $7.5 million in contracts for services to support people experiencing homelessness.

Read full story
25 comments
Denver, CO

Denver police staffing goals ‘wildly optimistic,’ councilman says

Denver City Council member Kevin Flynn on Thursday called Police Chief Ron Thomas’s goals for getting the department up to full force “wildly optimistic.”. During the City Council budget hearing for the police department, Thomas explained he wants to spend more than $8.2 million on three classes of police recruits. He estimated bringing 167 recruits in the door in 2024 and having just 90 officers leave.

Read full story
1 comments
Denver, CO

Denver Health operates at $32 million loss, 90 days cash on hand

Denver Health operated at a $32 million loss in 2022 on a $1.4 billion budget, according to figures presented Thursday during the City Council’s 2024 budget hearings. What’s more, its cash on hand would only last 90 days, up from 75 days last year.

Read full story
8 comments
Denver, CO

Denver homeless shelters will get remodels in 2024

Denver’s homeless shelters will see improvements in 2024, according to a budget hearing Thursday for the Department of Housing Stability. The 2024 budget for HOST includes $2.8 million in improvements at the shelter at 4600 48th Ave. The budget includes $1.1 million in improvements at the 4330 48th Ave. shelter.

Read full story
8 comments
Aurora, CO

Trucker blasts Aurora mayor’s proposed parking laws

A proposed Aurora law that would crack down on truckers parking illegally in the city has raised the ire of at least one driver. On Monday, Mayor Mike Coffman introduced legislation at a study session that would make stricter Aurora’s laws regulating how long truckers can park. Denver recently changed its truck parking ordinance and Coffman wants Aurora’s to be at least as strict. ”You got to love how this works,” driver Charles Bolin said in an email. “Denver doesn't want trucks parked on the street outside of warehouses so they ban the trucks. We go to Aurora because it's the only other place left and they decide they don't want us so they pass an ordinance kicking us out, too.”

Read full story
11 comments
Denver, CO

“Happy” Haynes legacy includes 30 bur oak trees in Denver

After serving more than three decades in public service on the City Council, School Board and as executive director of Denver’s Parks and Recreation Department, Allegra “Happy” Haynes is retiring.

Read full story
1 comments
Aurora, CO

Aurora proposes new rules for trucks, RVs

The Aurora City Council during its study session Monday advanced to a regular council meeting a proposal by the mayor to crack down on semi-tractor trailers and RVs parked illegally in the city.

Read full story
12 comments
Aurora, CO

Aurora may lower marijuana tax as number of cultivation centers plunges

Two Aurora City Council members intend to bring to study session in two weeks a proposal to lower the city’s marijuana tax. Mayor Pro Tem Curtis Gardner and council member Danielle Jurinsky will sponsor the bill. At the request of council member Steve Sundberg, the council heard a sobering presentation Monday on the marijuana industry, which is suffering a sort of hangover from an influx pandemic-era revenue. Cannabis users were stuck in their homes, where they could privately partake all the time.

Read full story
2 comments
Denver, CO

Feisty Denver council extends homeless emergency declaration

The Denver City Council voted Monday to extend the homeless emergency declaration in the city, but not unanimously. Council members Flor Alvidrez and Amanda Sawyer voted no. Alvidrez said she does not believe it is fair for her district to have to host two of the micro-community sites. She said her district already hosts safe outdoor spaces and is the site of the new Warren Village Apartments and Urban Peak youth homeless shelter. She said all the talk about “equity” in deciding where to place the micro-community sites was just talk. “I don’t buy it,” she said. “Concentrating poverty is not the answer.”

Read full story
6 comments
Denver, CO

Denver may buy Quality Inn on Zuni

The City and County of Denver may buy the Quality Inn Hotel on Zuni, where the city currently is housing migrants from the southern border. Council member Flor Alvidrez referenced the purchase Sept. 13 during a town hall in her district with Mayor Mike Johnston. The pair discussed the mayor’s House1000 plan.

Read full story
8 comments
Denver, CO

Denver considers $950 million contract with Coors

The author used artificial intelligence in the creation of this article. Obviously, it’s home to Coors Field. And a City Council committee will consider this week extending Coors’ beer sponsorship at all Denver Arts and Venues locations.

Read full story
3 comments
Denver, CO

Homeless emergency continues as Denver unveils $1.74 billion 2024 budget

The Denver City Council will vote Monday whether to extend the mayor’s emergency declaration over homelessness in the city. Meantime, the mayor has outlined his budget for 2024.

Read full story
23 comments
Denver, CO

Opinion: Denver mayor’s signer steals the show

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston has a disciplined, level demeanor when making public speeches. That might be why he stands out against his American Sign Language interpreter, who aggressively and flamboyantly signs alongside him.

Read full story
2 comments
Denver, CO

Denver to pay out $825,000 in police class action lawsuit

The Denver City Council will vote Monday to award $825,000 in a class-action lawsuit. The lawsuit stems from a man being wrongfully arrested by Denver Police. According to 9News, Juan Valenzuela, a prison guard, showed ID to Denver Police at Denver International Airport that they determined to be fake. However, the ID was not fake and had simply been through the wash.

Read full story
10 comments
Denver, CO

Ballrooms may be used as homeless shelters in cold, snowy Denver weather

Denver homelessness czar Cole Chandler said during the Mayor-Council meeting on Tuesday that Denver may shelter the homeless in hotel ballrooms during cold snaps this winter. The topic came up when the mayor’s office explained it does not plan to use city recreation centers for emergency weather homeless shelters this year. Instead, they’re considering hotel ballrooms, Chandler said.

Read full story
8 comments
Denver, CO

Denver committee expresses homeless contracts concerns

Some Denver City Council members expressed concerns Wednesday over two homeless contracts approved by the Safety, Housing, Education and Homelessness Committee of the council. The committee agreed to award Colorado Coalition for the Homeless a $6.4 million contract for relocating encampments. Council member Amanda Sawyer asked how this contract would be different from other contracts aimed at doing the same thing. “We already have dumped significant amounts of money into this exact same thing,” Sawyer said.

Read full story
3 comments
Denver, CO

Colorado’s first Black person has name affixed to Denver Park

Denver opened a new park Saturday named after the first Black person born in Colorado, William H. Whitsell. The park at 40th and Kirk in Denver hosted a ribbon cutting, guest speakers and a commemorative unveiling. It is in the Green Valley Ranch neighborhood of District 11, City Council member Stacie Gilmore’s district.

Read full story
15 comments
Denver, CO

Opinion: Denver's new homeless road: Housed quickly, helped back on feet

A lot of people have accused Denver Mayor Mike Johnston of making an impossible promise – to end homelessness in his first term. It sounds like former Mayor John Hickenlooper’s “Dever’s Road Home,” they say, a failed 10-year roadmap for ending homelessness that spanned 2005 to 2015. But much has changed since Denver’s Road Home. In some ways, even bigger challenges exist now, starting with the fact the homeless population has grown 300% since 2015, according to Johnston.

Read full story
14 comments
Aurora, CO

Justice sought for 14-year-old killed by Aurora police, Jor'Dell Richardson

For the family and friends of Jor’Dell Richardson, the 14-year-old shot dead by Aurora police in a botched alleged robbery attempt, the pain is still fresh. Richardson, armed with only a pellet gun, took a fatal bullet when an officer thought he might fire first. District Attorney John Kellner determined the handgun bore striking resemblance to a real gun.

Read full story
25 comments

Comments / 0

Community Policy