DENVER: No plans currently to address growing tent city near Capitol.

The area in question causing heartburn for Colorado Republican lawmakers is Lincoln Park, a piece of land that is owned by the state and bordered by Broadway and Lincoln streets on the east and west and 14th and Colfax avenues on the north and south. It lies just west of the state capitol building and just east of Civic Center Park.

There are no public bathrooms, the sprinkler system has been shut off because campers have broken sprinkler heads, rats can be seen in the park. Campers are defecating in public, and they are obstructing sidewalks.

“This is just another consequence of a lack of leadership in the metro area,” said Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg, the Republican senator who represents multiple counties across eastern Colorado. “Officials don’t support the police, so law and order take a back seat.”

According to Colorado State Trooper Josh Lewis, his office is aware of the issues, and despite being the law enforcement division that oversees the one square block park, there is nothing troopers can do.

Denver is such a lovely city, it’s a damn shame what its voters and leadership are doing to it.