From the upcoming September news briefs:
“Two years ago the City of Grand Junction suddenly closed Whitman Park, with no notice or public process. Whitman Park had long been associated with the unhoused, who found community, mutual aid, and public bathrooms there. Numerous organizations and private citizens utilized this gathering place to serve food to the hungry and provide mutual aid and charity. The public outcry against the park’s closure forced the city to rush forward the now shuttered Community Resource Center to serve the unhoused. The Center was plagued by bureaucracy, NIMBYS and an authoritarian rules based model that never met the needs of the unhoused as well as they did for themselves in Whitman.
Now the City’s own website states that “The design project for Whitman Park is currently paused.”
When the park was first closed the City said that Whitman Park would be available to reserve for private functions; two poorly organized city events were held there, but since then it has sat unused for 22 months. Now the link to reserve Whitman Park has been removed from the city website. It now sits as an overgrown homage to municipal cruelty.”
This cruel move in many ways served as a genesis for making the Revolutionist a regular publication. In October of 2023, the city hosted a Halloween event in Whitman.
We made this one-off issue of the Rev for something for protesters to pass out at the event. The Daily Sentinel then reprinted it with permission.
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