Bedrooms Are For People on direct democracy in Boulder

Bedrooms Are for People organizers Nick Grossman and Chelsea Castellano are part of one of several ballot initiatives that had attempted to get their measure onto the ballot this November. However, after incorrect guidance from Boulder officials gave them the wrong deadline for gathering petition signatures, City Attorney Tom Carr recommended that Boulder City Council "use its own power to refer any petition that hits its signature threshold to voters," according to the Daily Camera's Sam Lounsberry. In this interview, Castellano and Grossman discuss direct democracy in Boulder, what it's like to gather petition signatures during a pandemic, and their initiative. The initiative seeks to change occupancy limits in Boulder so that they would "allow all housing units to be occupied by a number of people equal to the number of bedrooms plus one," as per their website. On July 22, 2020, the Daily Camera's Sam Lounsberry reported that City Council declined "to correct a municipal staff mistake by placing that and other measures on the ballot." Read more here: https://www.dailycamera.com/2020/07/22/boulder-city-council-decides-not-to-take-corrective-action-staff-mistake-ballot-deadlines/ https://www.dailycamera.com/2020/07/10/boulder-bungled-determining-petitioning-deadlines-for-ballot-proposals/ Bedrooms Are For People website: https://www.bedroomsareforpeople.com/ Originally Recorded on July 19, 2020. Interview by News Director John Boughey.