Denver take city's homeless to the movies during DNC

The nonprofit Colorado Coalition for the Homeless is working to secure 500 free movie tickets to provide a temporary refuge for homeless people who might be uprooted by convention activities.

Earlier plans to provide free passes to the Denver Zoo have been scrapped, said coalition spokeswoman B.J. Iacino. 

Iacino said shelters also are extending their hours so people who are usually on the street won't get hassled.

It's not about hiding the homeless while Denver is in the national media spotlight, she insisted.

Denver wants to put its best foot forward during the Democratic convention, which means they want to get the homeless out of sight while the media focuses on the city.  Instead of making panhandling illegal, which might solve at least some of the problem, Denver will pay for its homeless to ride buses and visit tourist sites.

On one hand, it’s not a bad plan, if Denver is more interested in hiding its homeless problem than in solving it. It gets people off the street and into places where delegates and media will be least likely to find them. However, given the opportunity to panhandle a large number of visitors to the city — and risking their strategic positions on the streets — the plan has little likelihood of success. In fact, Denver can almost certainly count on increased numbers of panhandlers during the convention in order to take advantage of the large jump in supply.