Denver is making huge cuts in order to pay for the overwhelming amount of migrants who have flooded the city. Denver Mayor Mike Johnston announced the first changes will be to reduce costs at Denver Motor Vehicle offices and the Department of Parks and Recreation. Those will be the first $5 million in savings and more cuts will be coming.
The Center Square reports that as part of the reductions, the Denver Motor Vehicle offices will no longer take vehicle registration renewals in person and drivers must complete registrations by mail, online or at kiosks. Five locations will have rotating weekly closures.
Spring recreation programming will be reduced by 25%. Recreation centers will go from operating seven days per week to six and neighborhood centers will be reduce hours of operation.
The city also plans to make changes to migrant services provided and decrease the number of newcomers served. Denver has supported 38,380 migrants at a cost of more than $42 million during the last few months, according to Johnston’s office.
Johnston has been begging the federal government for more money and claiming it is Republicans who are to blame for the liberal city’s mess. “I’m here to talk about the devastating impact of the failure of Republican leadership in Congress this week to pass comprehensive immigration changes and the impact that will have on both city budgets and on services that we can provide for newcomers in the city,” Johnston said to open the press conference.
“Despite broad bipartisan support, I think [former President Donald] Trump and Republican leaders saw this as a chance that, if this bill actually passed, it would have successfully solved the problem facing cities on the border,” Johnston said. “They would have rather seen it fail so they could exacerbate these problems, extend the suffering of American people and of newcomers for their own electoral chances in this November.”
“This was solvable with bipartisan support and we would not be facing these challenges,” Johnston said. “I want to be clear to Denverites: Who is not responsible for this crisis we’re in? The folks who have walked 3,000 miles to get to this city.”
