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LETTER: Colorado Springs turning into 'bum heaven' Oct. 14, 2017Colorado Springs has become a trash dump. The once pristine streets, parks, and paths are now full of litter, trash and people sleeping and begging. Downtown is a bum heaven with bums on every street corner and laying in the parks. The city, county and Forest Service are spending thousands of dollars cleaning up after these bums. Yes, they are down on their luck and do not have any money, but could they at least clean up their mess, not leave trash everywhere? I am a liberal-leaning person who came to this town for the outdoors. I love the hiking, the parks, the bike paths and nature. Now most of these areas are trash dumps and I have had run-ins with the beggars sleeping in and by the paths. I now only go out armed to protect myself, something I never thought about till recently. I called the police on some encounter and was told to take care of it myself; the police could not be bothered, so now I am armed. I no longer shop downtown and less and less in Old Colorado City. Uintah Gardens has become an off-limits area, also with a camp in and behind the parking lot. There are dozens of beggar camps or townships in most areas of this city. This hurts local business, which I used to love to support. I do not want to walk around and be accosted by beggars if I go shopping. So I shop on line and have it all bought to me - Amazon will deliver anything I need. I am thinking of moving and most likely will soon. I want to live in a place where people respect each other and the environment. Rick Snyder (Opinion: Letters) Would you like to respond? The Westside Pioneer welcomes letters at editor@westsidepioneer.com. (Click here for letter-writing criteria.) |