Man barges into charcuterie store demanding free food as news crew interviews owner about homeless crisis eroding sales



A man barged into a Denver business looking for free food while the owner was being interviewed by a news crew about the drop in sales over the homeless crisis.

The bizarre incident was included in a report from KMGH-TV that included other interviews with business owners who were frustrated by the garbage and crime driving away customers from their businesses.

Melanie Flint, the owner of Cheese Meat Board, appeared bewildered as she addressed the man.

“What can we do for you?” she asked.

“I was just gonna grab a sample, sorry,” the man replied.

“We have sandwiches,” Flint responded.

"I don't know, I was just gonna grab a sample," he repeated.

“We don’t have samples,” she reiterated.

The man abruptly grabbed a waffle cookie from the store counter and claimed it as a sample.

“No, those cost money,” a staff member says off-camera.

"They're samples," he argued. "That's what those are."

"No, no," Flint said, laughing nervously.

“This costs money?” the man says angrily. “$0.25 cents. Get out of my way.”

The man then tossed the front door open and stomped away.

“That is it,” Flint said. “Fortunately, we don’t see that non-stop, but we see it enough that it’s a little discouraging.”

The report included interviews with owners of the British Bulldog bar and The Triangle Bar, a decades-old gay bar. They all reported that sales were down about 40% over the homeless encampments that had engulfed their block.

“This corner smells like fetid urine in the morning,” said Scott Coors, the owner of The Triangle Bar. “It’s fairly off-putting. Would you like to park here and walk through that? I wouldn’t. To be honest, I wouldn’t.”

The mayor's office said the city was expanding services to homeless encampments that included trash pickup and bathroom access. It also touted the fact that 26 homeless people were going to be moved into housing.

The video of the bizarre interview can be seen at the YouTube channel for KMGH-TV.

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Report: Denver spends far more money on each homeless person than the cost of renting an apartment



A report on government spending in Denver, Colorado, found that the city spends far more money on services provided to each homeless person than it would cost to simply house each one in an apartment.

The report was conducted by researchers at the University of Colorado Denver in conjunction with the Common Sense Institute, a free enterprise advocacy group.

They found that Denver spends between $42,000 and $104,000 per homeless person on services by the local government and from local charities.

Those figures are far higher than the $20,000 per year it would take to simply rent a one-bedroom apartment for each person.

The researchers pointed out that the government was spending far less to teach students in Denver Public Schools, which comes to about $19,000 per pupil in 2019.

The Denver Post reported that a spokesman for Mayor Michael Hancock responded by saying they do not keep track of spending on a per-capita basis.

Since December 2020, Denver has taken the unusual step of setting up city-sanctioned campsites with 24-hour security and daily meals. The Colorado Coalition for the Homeless has called for new taxes to raise millions more and pay for the support of the homeless.

Frustrated property and business owners are setting up their own barricades in order to keep homeless encampments from taking hold and bring crime and drugs to their neighborhoods. In a particularly frustrating development, the city began to fine businesses for not cleaning up feces, garbage and hypodermic needles left on their property.

Denver City Council member Chris Hinds told KCNC-TV that the homeless crisis is the number one issue concerning his constituents.

"We're telling them they have to move along, and they go a block or two, and it's like whack-a-mole," said Hinds. "The current approach isn't working."

Here's a local news report about the Denver homeless crisis:

As Homeless Encampments Proliferate, Property Owners Express Frustrationwww.youtube.com