Colorado FriendShip has received a permit from Boulder County allowing the longtime, volunteer-run meal program to resume serving food in the Justice Center parking lot on Sunday evenings.
The approval comes after the county ordered the group to stop serving meals in November over a permitting issue, temporarily disrupting a program that has provided weekly hot meals to people experiencing homelessness for more than 25 years. At the time, Colorado FriendShip leaders said the decision would leave dozens of people without their only reliable Sunday meal as the group scrambled to find an alternative location. The organization had operated at the site for 27 years without a permit and without prior enforcement action.
For about three weeks, the organization did not serve hot food while it applied for a permit and updated its insurance policy to meet county standards, according to Liz Friedenson, the executive director of Colorado FriendShip.
Throughout that time, she said county employees were helpful, informing them when they were missing documents and providing the organization “temporary permission to serve” for several weeks while their permit was processed.
“We got the impression that they were kind of on our side,” Friedenson said.
The permit approval followed Boulder Reporting Lab’s Nov. 20 reporting on the enforcement decision. In the days before publication, Boulder Reporting Lab’s questions prompted about a dozen emails between county permitting staff, county attorneys, Deputy to the County Commissioners Natalie Springett and county Public Information Officer Gloria Handyside.
Those emails were released to Boulder Reporting Lab with significant redactions under the state’s deliberative-process privilege, which is intended to “assure that subordinates within an agency will feel free to provide the decisionmaker with their uninhibited opinions and recommendations without fear of later being subject to public ridicule or criticism.”
The stated reason for the redactions was: “Internal discussion regarding response to operator and press regarding food truck operation on county property without a permit.”