“Detoxing in jail would definitely send some folks packing…”
Leslie Chandler lives in Boulder, Colorado, is the owner of Flow ReDesigned and is an active member of the anti-homeless group Safer Boulder. Leslie’s husband, Russell Chandler, is the owner of Full Cycle bike shop.
Shari Roth lives in Boulder, Colorado, is one of the most active members of the anti-homeless group Safer Boulder, and acts as an intermediary to Boulder City Council member Bob Yates.
“Zayd and Sammie knew exactly what they were doing.”
Jillian Lloyd is an attorney and yoga instructor in Boulder, Colorado. Jillian is one of the most active and racist members of Safer Boulder.
On two separate occasions, Jillian promoted a documentary about race and homelessness in Denver called Denver In Decay by Steffan Tubbs, the fascist adjacent radio host on the right-wing 710 KNUS talk radio station.
Steffan Tubbs and 710KNUS made national news last year when news broke that Tubbs’ executive producer Kirk Widlund had neo-Nazi ties and social media posts around the same time that 710KNUS host Chuck Bonniwell wished for a “a nice school shooting” to interrupt the monotony of covering Donald Trump’s impeachment hearings.
To date, Steffan Tubbs has not denounced nor acknowledged his producer’s neo-Nazi ties, chalking it up to an elaborate hoax to manufacture two years worth of social media posts by Colorado Springs Anti-Fascists, despite the posts being verified by Westword and 9News.
Steffan Tubbs continues to regularly feature guests from SPLC and ADL designated hate groups like Louie Huey of the Proud Boys and Michelle Malkin of the white nationalist publication VDARE.
Judging by Jillian’s posts on race in Safer Boulder, it is no coincidence that she is drawn to media produced by a man who surrounds himself with white nationalists.
Here is Jillian Lloyd stating that Zayd Atkinson and Sammie Lawrence, two Black men who were subject to racist treatment by Boulder PD, “knew what they were doing.”
Zayd Atkinson was the subject of a viral video in which he was surrounded by 8 Boulder Police officers, some of them brandishing firearms, as he was picking up garbage outside of his home. Mr. Atkinson was repeatedly ordered to put down his “weapon” which was a trash grabber and plastic bucket. The City of Boulder settled with Mr. Atkinson and the officer who initially instigated this harassment resigned before being disciplined.
Sammie Lawrence was tackled to the ground for refusing to put down his cane while he filmed an interaction between two Boulder Police officers (one of whom participated in Mr. Atkinson’s harassment) and a group of people experiencing homelessness.
In a hypothetical example identical to Sammie Lawrence’s case, Todd Root proposed duct taping someone practicing their First Amendment right to film the police and placing them next to a five gallon bucket of feces. Jillian gave this suggestion a Thumbs Up reaction.
While the City of Boulder found no wrongdoing in Mr. Lawrence’s case, the officer who pushed him to the ground and arrested him recently resigned amid controversy about social media posts glorifying police violence.
Surveillance, Brutality, & Imprisonment
Frustrated that frequent homeless sweeps haven’t reduced poverty in Boulder, Jillian has proposed surveillance cameras around Boulder in Safer Boulder’s “war” on people experiencing homelessness.
Jillian even proposed Safer Boulder providing security for what sounds like a concentration camp for people experiencing homelessness.
She has also said she would order police to tear gas a homeless encampment downtown if she was the chief of police.
Racism and Policing
Black Americans are disproportionately stopped and killed by police than White Americans. A study from researchers from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health published in PLOS One found that Black Americans are up to six times more likely to be killed by police than White Americans depending on their geographic location.
According to the Boulder Police Department, Black people in Boulder are twice as likely to be pulled over than white people, and twice as likely to be arrested after being pulled over.
Ableism
Responding to a homeless Boulder resident requesting marijuana to calm seizures, Jillian suggests they may be lying, despite the fact the people experiencing homelessness are 8 times more likely to suffer from epilepsy.
Jillian regularly doubts and mocks poor people’s ability status. Here she is with Todd mocking (and misgendering) a transgender homeless person named Dan, suggesting that Dan is pretending to have epilepsy to get away with… not having anywhere to live.
Polite Bigotry
Safer Boulder is very concerned about appearing and believing that they are good and decent people. Here is Jillian asking everyone not to use the term “sweep” to refer to homeless sweeps because she thinks it makes them sound cruel.
This is all unsurprising, coming from someone who believes that the majority of people experiencing homelessness don’t “care about themselves or others.”
Craig Thomas Books is a co-owner of Mama Bear’s Brews and is one of the most active members of Safer Boulder.
Craig’s rhetoric about people experiencing homelessness is noticeably violent and morbid.
On September 19th, 2020, Craig joked about homeless people being attacked by “Bears or Mountain Lions”
On August 20th, 2020, Craig, Todd, Flatiron Views, and Katharine Hauge brainstormed methods of physically attacking a homeless encampment downtown, from shooting them with rubber bullets, to starving them, to using a torture technique employed at Guantanamo Bay.
On September 19th, 2020, Craig took a photo of someone sleeping on a corner and complained about having to see them. Todd Root chimes in to say it might be worth calling 911 to do a welfare check, but he wouldn’t bother.
Craig goes on to say that while a few years ago he would have cared about this person’s wellbeing, all he can do now is restrain himself from honking at a person that he believes may be in danger.
Craig also seems to think all homeless people should be kicked out of town or thrown in jail.
When speaking about imprisoning people experiencing homelessness, Craig sometimes adds the caveat that this treatment should be reserved for the “thieves” while also suspecting most people experiencing homelessness of being thieves.
Craig Book’s consistently violent rhetoric towards people experiencing homelessness makes him an active threat to the poor and those he may believe are poor.
“Tie the kid up in duct tape and leave him next to a five gallon bucket of feces.”
Todd Root works as a fleet technician for Boulder Bike Sharing and is one of the most active members of Safer Boulder. According to his bio on Boulder Bike Sharing’s website, Todd moved to Boulder from Akron, Ohio in 2005.