Activists for anti-government chalk expression Regan Benson returned to the Englewood, Colorado, Civic Center for the latest city council meeting where she managed to display a single anti-city council sign in protest without getting arrested by local authorities.
Benson said she was at the event to support her friend Candice, a homeless woman who was planning on speaking at the meeting. She had previously been featured on a Benson stream at the Littleton, Colorado, city council meeting where Benson attempted to confront her friend about a recent episode with Littleton police that resulted in a temporary involuntary hold.
Candice carried through with her planned address of the council during the public feedback portion of the meeting. She addressed her concerns about the port-a-potty in front of the Civic Center being locked during most of the day and night, leaving homeless in the area having to find other public resources.
She also addressed her concerns about AI facial recognition software that she said was used to identify patrons at the Englewood library. She also complained about the use of a metal detector in the area leading to the city council chambers and suggested placing lockers outside of the building for use by the homeless.
Mayor Othoniel Sierra questioned Candice about the need for lockers and wondered if other cities provided them. Candice said that she did not know if they did and Sierra seemed to table the idea as something an outside party would need to provide for the city.
City council member Tena Prange asked about the port-a-potty issue and if it was locked during the day. Candice confirmed that it was outside of the library on the lower level of the civic center and it seemed to be locked at all times and confirmed it was padlocked.
Mayor Sierra would later return to the locker idea in his response to public comments, stating that he would inquire as to if there was some sort of legal reasoning to prevent placing lockers in the city.
Benson largely praised Candice as the two exited the building together, then quickly changed the subject as Candice left the area.
The free-range grandmother’s goal for the evening was to bring attention to the signs that she was carrying into the building. One of them read, “Welcome They Don’t Care So U Shut Up & Pay Up It’s For the Children on City Council.” The back of the sign contained scribbling that Benson attributed to her grandchildren, who she directed to draw pictures of a responsible city council person.
The other two signs directing people to contribute to her 501(c)(3).
Benson stood outside the civic center after having to park outside of the building due to the closure of the nearby parking garage. She complained that the city had closed the garage as it was too expensive to provide repairs to the structure and indicated that the city council would likely put the expense of fixing the structure on the taxpayers.
As she stood outside the building, she declined to chalk, instead she expressed her messaging by waving her signs at passersby and virtually pan handling. In at least one occasion, successfully getting a donation to her organization from a passerby who said she did not have cash on hand.
Benson would eventually make her way to the city council chambers, where she would place her signs on chairs near the press area at the back of the room. She quickly grew tired of holding the largest sign and left the chamber to return to her car to attempt to make a makeshift sandwich board out of the sign.
Finding it difficult to have the sign attached to the front of her body, she opted to tape the sign to her back, which quickly fell off her body as she climbed the stairs back up to the city council chambers.
After all of her work and her stressed desire to get her messaging out through the oversized sign, she deposited near the garbage at the security station outside of the city council chambers. She then largely abandoned her plan to bring attention to herself through use of signage.
Benson declined to make a public statement at the meeting and left with Candice after Candice made her statement to the council.
Returning to her car, Benson ended the stream by stating that even if she were to leave the state, the cities of Englewood, Denver and Littleton would not be rid of her. Focusing on Littleton, she stated that she wanted to replace the city’s main judge, a prominent public defender and the city council itself.
Benson is expected to go live again later this week.
