XPost: alt.government.employees, alt.politics.usa.republican, co.politics XPost: talk.politics.guns
On 17 Sep 2020, Rudy Canoza <
j_carlson@gmx.com> posted some news:rk06sv$1fsu$
1@neodome.net:
Denver is a self-declared left-wing woke shithole. Let them wallow in
the sanctuary city invader turds.
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston on Friday said the city will be scaling back Department of Motor Vehicle and Parks and Recreation services to cut
costs in the wake of the $42 million crisis sparked by the unprecedented
influx of immigrants arriving in Denver over the past 14 months.
Some DMV locations will also see rotating closures.
The belt tightening, Johnston said, will not require staff cuts but is
expected to save the city $5 million.
“This is a plan for shared sacrifice,” he said.
Last month, Johnston warned council members that the city had reached a breaking point responding to the humanitarian crisis at the U.S.-Mexico
border, which now threatens the fiscal health of Colorado’s most
populous city.
Johnston has said that the costs could reach up to $180 million this
year.
He instructed department heads to find 10% to 15% in cuts.
At the time, Denver was seeing hundreds of new arrivals daily and was sheltering nearly 5,000 immigrants.
While that wave has since receded — the immigrants have been arriving in
surges after illegally crossing the border — the cost to the city now
means direct cuts to services.
Johnston said during a Friday press conference the city will reduce DMV
hours and will eliminate in-person vehicle registration renewals.
Starting March 4, those will need to be done through the mail, online at mydmv.colorado.gov or at kiosks in grocery stores around the city.
Denver’s five DMV locations will also have weekly closures on a rotating
basis every four weeks.
The Department of Parks & Recreation, meanwhile, will reduce operating
days starting on Feb. 20 from seven to six days weekly, according to the mayor's office. While neighborhood centers will remain open six days a
week, their operating hours will be reduced.
The city will also pause new permit applications for public events,
special occasions and tournaments.
The city will also forgo planting flower beds this year.
Moreover, city officials are not expected to fill numerous open
positions and will review city contracts and programs.
Additional department cuts are expected.
Last month, Denver began reallocating funds for the immigrant influx
response, which included pulling $10 million from the city’s contingency
fund, as well as $15 million from the Richard T. Castro building
remodel.
This, combined with the $5 million savings from changes to DMV and parks operations, means Denver will have roughly $30 million set aside for the humanitarian response, officials said.
Johnston blamed Congress' failure to pass a proposal unveiled by
senators a few days ago. The proposal — which is practically dead —
sought to overhaul the asylum system at the border with faster and
tougher enforcement, as well as give presidents new powers to
immediately expel immigrants if authorities become overwhelmed with the
number of people applying for asylum. The new bill also sought to invest
in U.S. defense manufacturing, send $14 billion in military aid to
Israel, steer nearly $5 billion to allies in the Asia-Pacific, and
provide humanitarian assistance to civilians caught in conflicts in
Ukraine and Gaza.
“What is true now, is we're entering into a different stage, which is
without any federal support, without any work authorization, without
changes to policy,” Johnston said. “We are going have to make changes.”
Those changes include decreasing the number of immigrants served by the
city. Johnston provided no additional details, except to say the city
would not be “shutting the door” on new arrivals.
Others in Colorado put the blame squarely on the Biden administration.
"The Biden administration has placed the safety of all Americans at risk
with their open border policies," U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn recently said
on Twitter. "(Homeland) Secretary (Alejandro) Mayorkas has been the
architect of this neglect. It's time for accountability."
As of Friday morning, the city was sheltering roughly 3,500 immigrants.
While Denver officials have been reticent to say what the city’s shelter capacity is, Jon Ewing, a Denver Human Services spokesperson, has said
the city is tapped out at about 5,000 sheltered.
Denver has imposed length-of-stay caps to ensure enough shelter space
for new arrivals.
Over the past 14 months, Denver has welcomed more than 38,400 immigrants
from South and Central America, particularly Venezuela.
Early in the crisis, city leaders decided that Denver would feed and
shelter arriving immigrants and provide transportation to their final destination.
That decision has come at a staggering cost: more than $42 million, and counting.
To date, the state and federal government have reimbursed the city
roughly $14 million.
Johnston — along with the mayors of Chicago and New York City — has
become the face of the nation’s immigration crisis. He has repeatedly
advocated for federal assistance, saying the country also needs a
coordinated entry plan and work authorization.
Politically polarizing, a solution that addresses illegal immigration
and protects the nation’s southern border has eluded lawmakers for
decades.
While 600 miles from the international border in El Paso Texas,
officials have speculated immigrants are drawn to Denver because of its relative proximity to the Mexico border while others believe the appeal
is its status as a so-called “sanctuary city.”
Generally speaking, a sanctuary city is a designation given to
municipalities and counties that establish policies discouraging local
law enforcement from reporting an individual’s immigration status to
federal authorities.
https://denvergazette.com/news/denver-immigrant-influx-causes-city-servic es-cuts/article_89270388-c6fd-11ee-8bb6-0f94128edd5a.html
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