Dan Clore
2007-09-24 05:54:09 UTC
News & Views for Anarchists & Activists:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo
http://tinyurl.com/ypbofz
Meal program for homeless faces ban
By JANE MUSGRAVE
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Sunday, September 23, 2007
WEST PALM BEACH -- As children splashed in a nearby fountain, Jordan
Hunt pulled a couple of metal tables together in front of the library
Saturday, loaded them with trays of rice, beans, fruit and donated
pastries, and began handing out heaping helpings to anyone who happened by.
It's been a weekly ritual for Hunt and other members of Food Not Bombs
since March.
"I see a need," the 27-year-old West Palm Beach resident said of the
reason he spends his time and money to feed people generically referred
to as homeless. "There's not a whole lot I can do to help the community
around me. If I go out once a week and feed people who are hungry, I
figure at least it's something."
However, Hunt and his fledgling organization's "something" could soon
become nothing.
In what some civil libertarians say is unconstitutional and others say
is just unnecessary, West Palm Beach is poised to outlaw Hunt's handouts.
A measure that city commissioners will consider Monday would make it a
crime, punishable by a maximum $500 fine or 60 days in jail, to give out
"food or meals to individuals without charge or for a nominal charge" in
front of the library or at the nearby city-owned Meyer Amphitheatre.
"Guess I can't share food with my friends when we go to the fountain for
lunch," joked lawyer John Pauly, chairman of the Palm Beach County
chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.
But Mayor Lois Frankel insists the situation isn't funny for downtown
residents and workers who say they are constantly accosted by homeless
people who are drawn to two of downtown's gems by groups handing out food.
Such claims are in stark contrast to the scene Saturday afternoon, when
small groups of people sat at picnic tables quietly talking and eating.
Still, Frankel produced an e-mail from a downtown resident to emphasize
her point.
"For the last year I have been afraid to go outside whether it's day or
night due to the aggressiveness of many of the homeless people," the
woman wrote. "Please pass this Feeding Ordinance for the safety of ALL."
Frankel, who said she was appalled to lead a group of Santa-crazed
children through a group of homeless people at one of last year's
city-sponsored Christmas events, said there are plenty of churches and
other agencies that provide food to the homeless.
"I don't think it's conducive to the quality of life of the city," she said.
She said the city isn't being heartless. Workers have identified 14
churches in the downtown area that either have food pantries or offer
free meals.
"It would be very unfair to portray us as heartless or insensitive,"
Frankel said. "We're trying to take a balanced approach."
It's an argument cities across the country have made while adopting
similar ordinances that have spawned court fights. Orlando and
Jacksonville are embroiled in lawsuits over their efforts to restrict
feeding programs.
Both of those cities adopted measures requiring groups to get permits to
feed people in public. A lawsuit was born in Jacksonville when a member
of the Christian Homeless Ministry was slapped with a possible $100 fine
for feeding the homeless in a church parking lot with the pastor's
permission.
The city is in the process of exempting churches from the measure, which
officials say was adopted to protect the homeless from "eating spoiled
or contaminated food or from disease spread by rodents."
Attorney Jacqueline Dowd, who is suing Orlando over a less sweeping
measure on behalf of a religious-based group and the city's chapter of
Food Not Bombs, said the constitutional issues in the various lawsuits
are essentially the same: freedom of religion, freedom of association,
due process and equal treatment under the law.
In Orlando, officials adopted the measure to stop Wednesday evening
feedings at the city's equivalent of New York City's Central Park. It
now requires groups to get permits to distribute food at city parks. But
groups can get only two permits a year at each park.
Mindful that courts in some cases have required cities to provide at
least one location for feedings, the city also said groups could hand
out food at a fenced-in area under a highway overpass.
West Palm Beach is suggesting alternative locations as well. All are
churches.
Dowd questioned whether that would pass constitutional muster.
"We have a separation clause in our Constitution," she said. "I know a
lot of homeless people who don't want religion with their meals."
Further, groups such as Hunt's aren't affiliated with a church and don't
want to be.
Pauly, of the ACLU, said his bigger concern is why such a draconian
measure is needed. If the people handing out food or those they are
feeding are interfering with others, the city has an ordinance on the
books to address it, he said.
More important, with or without the possibility of snaring some free
food, it is likely homeless people will gravitate toward the Centennial
Fountain and the amphitheater. "The library is a wonderfully hospitable
place," he said.
The real intent seems to be to hide the problem, he said.
City Commissioner Kimberly Mitchell, who opposes the measure, agrees. If
the city would build or help sponsor a homeless assistance center, such
as the one in Fort Lauderdale, it wouldn't have to worry about the
outdoor feeding programs.
"Until we can figure out something else - somewhere they can go and be
welcome -- we shouldn't do this," she said. "We can't just say, 'Go. Be
hungry.'"
--
Dan Clore
My collected fiction: _The Unspeakable and Others_
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/1587154838/ref=nosim/thedanclorenecro
Lord Weÿrdgliffe & Necronomicon Page:
http://www.geocities.com/clorebeast/
News & Views for Anarchists & Activists:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo
"Don't just question authority,
Don't forget to question me."
-- Jello Biafra
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo
http://tinyurl.com/ypbofz
Meal program for homeless faces ban
By JANE MUSGRAVE
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Sunday, September 23, 2007
WEST PALM BEACH -- As children splashed in a nearby fountain, Jordan
Hunt pulled a couple of metal tables together in front of the library
Saturday, loaded them with trays of rice, beans, fruit and donated
pastries, and began handing out heaping helpings to anyone who happened by.
It's been a weekly ritual for Hunt and other members of Food Not Bombs
since March.
"I see a need," the 27-year-old West Palm Beach resident said of the
reason he spends his time and money to feed people generically referred
to as homeless. "There's not a whole lot I can do to help the community
around me. If I go out once a week and feed people who are hungry, I
figure at least it's something."
However, Hunt and his fledgling organization's "something" could soon
become nothing.
In what some civil libertarians say is unconstitutional and others say
is just unnecessary, West Palm Beach is poised to outlaw Hunt's handouts.
A measure that city commissioners will consider Monday would make it a
crime, punishable by a maximum $500 fine or 60 days in jail, to give out
"food or meals to individuals without charge or for a nominal charge" in
front of the library or at the nearby city-owned Meyer Amphitheatre.
"Guess I can't share food with my friends when we go to the fountain for
lunch," joked lawyer John Pauly, chairman of the Palm Beach County
chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.
But Mayor Lois Frankel insists the situation isn't funny for downtown
residents and workers who say they are constantly accosted by homeless
people who are drawn to two of downtown's gems by groups handing out food.
Such claims are in stark contrast to the scene Saturday afternoon, when
small groups of people sat at picnic tables quietly talking and eating.
Still, Frankel produced an e-mail from a downtown resident to emphasize
her point.
"For the last year I have been afraid to go outside whether it's day or
night due to the aggressiveness of many of the homeless people," the
woman wrote. "Please pass this Feeding Ordinance for the safety of ALL."
Frankel, who said she was appalled to lead a group of Santa-crazed
children through a group of homeless people at one of last year's
city-sponsored Christmas events, said there are plenty of churches and
other agencies that provide food to the homeless.
"I don't think it's conducive to the quality of life of the city," she said.
She said the city isn't being heartless. Workers have identified 14
churches in the downtown area that either have food pantries or offer
free meals.
"It would be very unfair to portray us as heartless or insensitive,"
Frankel said. "We're trying to take a balanced approach."
It's an argument cities across the country have made while adopting
similar ordinances that have spawned court fights. Orlando and
Jacksonville are embroiled in lawsuits over their efforts to restrict
feeding programs.
Both of those cities adopted measures requiring groups to get permits to
feed people in public. A lawsuit was born in Jacksonville when a member
of the Christian Homeless Ministry was slapped with a possible $100 fine
for feeding the homeless in a church parking lot with the pastor's
permission.
The city is in the process of exempting churches from the measure, which
officials say was adopted to protect the homeless from "eating spoiled
or contaminated food or from disease spread by rodents."
Attorney Jacqueline Dowd, who is suing Orlando over a less sweeping
measure on behalf of a religious-based group and the city's chapter of
Food Not Bombs, said the constitutional issues in the various lawsuits
are essentially the same: freedom of religion, freedom of association,
due process and equal treatment under the law.
In Orlando, officials adopted the measure to stop Wednesday evening
feedings at the city's equivalent of New York City's Central Park. It
now requires groups to get permits to distribute food at city parks. But
groups can get only two permits a year at each park.
Mindful that courts in some cases have required cities to provide at
least one location for feedings, the city also said groups could hand
out food at a fenced-in area under a highway overpass.
West Palm Beach is suggesting alternative locations as well. All are
churches.
Dowd questioned whether that would pass constitutional muster.
"We have a separation clause in our Constitution," she said. "I know a
lot of homeless people who don't want religion with their meals."
Further, groups such as Hunt's aren't affiliated with a church and don't
want to be.
Pauly, of the ACLU, said his bigger concern is why such a draconian
measure is needed. If the people handing out food or those they are
feeding are interfering with others, the city has an ordinance on the
books to address it, he said.
More important, with or without the possibility of snaring some free
food, it is likely homeless people will gravitate toward the Centennial
Fountain and the amphitheater. "The library is a wonderfully hospitable
place," he said.
The real intent seems to be to hide the problem, he said.
City Commissioner Kimberly Mitchell, who opposes the measure, agrees. If
the city would build or help sponsor a homeless assistance center, such
as the one in Fort Lauderdale, it wouldn't have to worry about the
outdoor feeding programs.
"Until we can figure out something else - somewhere they can go and be
welcome -- we shouldn't do this," she said. "We can't just say, 'Go. Be
hungry.'"
--
Dan Clore
My collected fiction: _The Unspeakable and Others_
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/1587154838/ref=nosim/thedanclorenecro
Lord Weÿrdgliffe & Necronomicon Page:
http://www.geocities.com/clorebeast/
News & Views for Anarchists & Activists:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo
"Don't just question authority,
Don't forget to question me."
-- Jello Biafra