ORLANDO, Fla., Feb. 3, 2007
Orlando: Please Do Not Feed The Homeless
Law Limits Feeding Large Groups Of People In Parks
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Photo
Chelsea England, lower right, of the group "Food Not Bombs," serves dinner to a homeless woman in downtown Orlando, Fla., on Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2006. (AP Photo/Joanne Carole)
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Then there are the signs.
DO NOT LIE OR OTHERWISE BE IN A HORIZONTAL POSITION ON A PARK BENCH ... DO NOT SLEEP OR REMAIN IN ANY BUSHES, SHRUBS OR FOLIAGE ... per city code sec. 18A.09 (a) and (o).
Visit the park's restrooms, and you'll find this sign on the wall above the hand dryers:
BATHING AND/OR SHAVING IN RESTROOM IS PROHIBITED ... per city code 18A.09 (p) ... LAUNDERING CLOTHES IN LAKE EOLA PARK IS NOT PERMITTED.
Since joggers and dog walkers tend not to snooze in flower beds, and because employees at the glittering office towers around Lake Eola don't scrub laundry in park sinks, it's clear, says Monique Vargas, at whom the notices are targeted.
“They're talking to us, to the homeless,” says Vargas, 28, who says she has lived on the streets, in parks or under overpasses, since age 16. “It's a way of saying, 'Your kind isn't wanted in our city.’”
Orlando, population 200,000, works hard to conjure the image of a true-life Pleasantville. But its spotless sidewalks and twinkling skyline belie a real city with real maladies — most notably, a surging homeless population that authorities are struggling to control.
After a law that banned panhandling was struck down by the courts, the city tried to discourage aggressive beggars by obliging them to carry ID cards, and later by confining them to 3-by-15-foot “panhandling zones” painted in blue on sidewalks downtown.
Despite these laws, the number of people living on the streets of the metro area swelled, from roughly 5,000 in 1999 to an estimated 8,500 today, dwarfing the city's shelter capacity for 2,000 people.
So in July, the city commission tried a “supply-side” approach: It passed an ordinance regulating the feeding of large groups of people in Orlando's downtown parks.
Those who wished to feed more than 25 hungry individuals at parks within a 2-mile radius of City Hall could do so, but only if they obtained a “Large Group Feeding Permit” from the parks department — and no one would be granted more than two feeding permits a year.
For the first time anyone in Orlando could remember, not only would panhandlers find themselves in the crosshairs of the law, but so would those trying to help them.
A week before Orlando's ordinance took effect, Las Vegas criminalized giving food to even a single transient in any city park.
In August, the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit challenging the Las Vegas ban, saying it violated constitutional protections of free speech, right to assembly and right to practice one's religion. A federal court in Nevada has prohibited the city from enforcing the ordinance until a final ruling is issued.
Advocates for the homeless feared it wouldn't be long before other cities passed similar laws.
Already, the cities of Dallas, Fort Myers, Fla., Gainesville, Fla., Wilmington, N.C., and Atlanta have laws restricting or outright prohibiting the feeding of the homeless. In Fairfax County, Va., homemade meals and meals made in church kitchens may not be distributed to the homeless unless first approved by the county.
BY TODD LEWAN © MMVII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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See all 58 CommentsThankfully, in the time period where my husband and I were homeless, jobless, we had others willing to assist even for a short time period. There are thousands of men, women, and children living on the streets, who have no one. Several philosophers and theologians elude to the idea, if you ignore that which is easily seen, your ignorance shall be your downfall. Peace, prosperity and comfort are attainable, if we realize we can deliver it one hungry person at a time.
Apparently, voluntarily feeding poor hungry people is a threat to our national interests.
What a totally evil empire they are creating in those places.
I realize panhandlers, especially organized, can be a real problem. Not having food is also a problem. What are the cities doing about the problem of people not getting any food? If they don't help to resolve the problem (hunger and shelter) then they are part of the problem. And they are obviously making it a bigger problem, judging by those statistics. The ever-increasing lack of compassion amongst us today is sickening...... and frightening when they actually pass laws against compassion and mercy. They will get theirs in due time but that doesn't help those in need now.
Hell, maybe a dollar or two can come out of the War Corporate Profit Machine, I mean, the Iraq War.
The measuse of an evil, fascist, sick, tyranny of the rich is best measured by how Prisoners and the Homeless are treated.
AMERICA IS A HORRIFIC, SICK FASCIST TYRANNY.
WAKE UP!!!
The hell of it was that he was employed at the time. You just cannot find reasonably priced housing in the area to rent for someone making minimum wage or a little above.
Once he was returning from Disney, where he worked through a personnel pool, to the pool office. After he got onto the office grounds, he was mugged and so badly assaulted that he had to have rods and screws to piece together his arm together and he now has seizures from the head trauma.
He will never be homeless again if I can help it. He now lives with me!
Have none of us been without at some time in our lives? If not, you are very fortunate. Many more than you would ever think have been there. And many more of us are only a paycheck, Social Security check, or Disability payment away. Oddly, there are those of us who feel that people in those situations are somehow not deserving...or are to blame. Remember, there but for the Grace of God.
Some of the homeless are on the streets by choice, yes, but most are not. They are often not employable; and they have no means access to a place to call home and they are starving. If no one can feed them the garbage cans of the community will be the only option for them. And so, you think, they will move away from our backyard. Everyone is someone's brother, sister, daughter, son, father, mother. How can we do this to our fellow human beings?
Please remember, There but for the grace of God go I or someone dear to me.
* Most%u2014about 80%%u2014exit from homelessness within about 2%u20133 weeks. They often have more personal, social, and economic resources to draw on than people who are homeless for longer periods of time.
* About 10% are homeless for up to two months, with housing availability and affordability adding to the time they are homeless.
* Another group of about 10% is homeless on a chronic, protracted basis%u2014as long as 7%u20138 months in a two-year period. Disabilities associated with mental illnesses and substance use are common. On any given night, this group can account for up to 50% of those seeking emergency shelter.
There are also several individual risk factors that may increase people%u2019s vulnerability to becoming homeless and experiencing homelessness on a longer basis.8
* Untreated mental illness can cause individuals to become paranoid, anxious, or depressed, making it difficult or impossible to maintain employment, pay bills, or keep supportive social relationships.
* Substance abuse can drain financial resources, erode supportive social relationships, and can also make exiting from homelessness extremely difficult.
* Co-occurring disorders. Individuals with co-occurring mental illnesses and substance use disorders are among the most difficult to stably house and treat due to the limited availability of integrated mental health and substance abuse treatment in most localities.
Many of the homeless refuse to go to these charities because of the rules they impose:
* no alcohol
* no drugs
* no crime
This is the real issue. The "hard core" of the homeless have (at a very high percentage) mental illness(es) and/or substance abuse issues that make being "homeless" their only option.
Remember. You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink.
I tried (for years) to help my ex-girlfriend's father (who was habitually homeless). Every opportunity given him he squandered and ruined. He opted to instead live a life filled with drugs and alcohol.
His addictions killed him last year.
Posted by karlagolay
You are about worthless! The area hit by the storms is NOT in Orlando! They have nothing to do with the laws passed in Orlando. None of the counties mentioned are Orange County which is Orlando's county. You should be ashamed to declare yourself a "highly trained disaster relief" anything!
Re: "We CAN feed the homeless and do every day. Across the nation through various charities funded by your tax dollars and private donations."
You are cllearly falling well short of meeting the need. There are still a lot of hungry Americans out there. It is understandable that some people would not choose to be bainwashed with religious dogma, just to get something to eat.
Orlando is trying to eliminate charitable groups like "Food Not Bombs", shown in the picture- a group that does not rely on tax dollars and that does not judge people before they will give them food.
Orlando leaders are attacking a valuable community service for no good reason- a service which local officials are obviously failing to address themselves.
You are absolutely right on the mark on all counts.
The problem is the majority of the homeless - drug addicts, alcoholics, people with serious mental problems - all of which don't want to change. Sure, they'd like a free meal, but every free meal is more encouragement, more money they panhandle to use on drugs or booze, more support to keep slowly killing themselves, more time before they hit that rock bottom, and realize they have to change.
Until they are ready to change, I see no reason we should ruin our parks, our downtowns with homeless feeding stations. Sadly, a lot of homeless steal or hurt people (due to feeding addictions, or their existing mental problems - until we kicked them out of the insane asylums, they had a good place to live where they couldn't hurt others), and we do need to think about where to encourage and discourage them to be.
Just read the papers, talk to the police - and get a look at the real face of the homeless. I'm all for as many services as possible to help them out, but real help, not help in staying on drugs, on alcohol, on the street.
I'm not saying outlaw them from going there, but from living there, sure. And preventing well meaning (IMHO, naieve) groups from encouraging these homeless to be there is about the only way to work on that.
Oh, and you ought to invest a few bucks in a dictionary so you don't look like a total *** when you post a blog.
So please, stay home and sit on your *** watching CNN. We'll take care of ourselves. We always do.
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If you have never been broke, down-and-out, abandoned or dumped by society or family, mentally ill, handicapped, disregarded or any other reason for being homeless, then don%u2019t condemn those who want to provide a meal or to now and then to the homeless.
You assume way to much responsibility to make the remark, %u201CWe'll take care of ourselves%u201D. Weeeeeeeee probably could do just that if weeeeee did not tend to take care of the WORLD. However, that is a whole issue in itself.
About the spelling, unfortunately one does not need the %u201CWebsters%u201D all he/she has to do is a simple spell check prior to committing a blog. Oh, and I say unfortunately because people currently depend on the computer for way to much as spell-check.
I fully agree with your last remark. Why don't you just stay the hell home and away from Florida. They do not need your kind, buckoo.
The impression I get is that Florida is a place that renders very hard treatment to anyone down on their luck in any way.
There is very little compassion to be found in the State of Florida, it's govenmental systems or the overwhelming majority of it's citizens.
HOW DO YHOU THINK MENTALLY ILL PEOPLE CAN CONTROL THEIR ILLNESS OR MAKE IT BETTER. DO YOU WANT THEM TO STAY SO DRUGGED UP IN MENTAL HOSPITAL THAT THEY DON'T KNOW NIGHT FROM DAY. I THINK YOU ARE VERY STUPID TO MAKE THAT COMMENT BOUT THE MENTALLY ILL, YOU COULD HAVE MENTALLY ILL CHILD OR GRANDCHILD ONE DAY AND HOW WOULD YOU FEEL ABOUT THAT.
If you knew what the definition of *** is you would be labeled as on because you are a very ignorant person. I know not all homeless people are black you dumb *** by the way that's how you spell dumb!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Other races besides blacks are homeless, you should be to know how it feel and to let you know not all homeless people are black.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We used to take care of them - some problems, yes, some things that needed to be improved, but instead greedy people decided to eliminate the whole system, and now they're out there, killing themselves when we're lucky, killing others when we're not. Yes, absolutely, 100%, I would want myself, my husband, my mother, my sister, my daughter to be in one of those hospitals, rather than out on the street, imprisoned rather than making their own decisions based on insane delusions and paranoia.
Oh, and I do know someone who was confined, wrongly, to one of those hospitals when she was younger. Even so, even she doesn't think that her case meant the whole system should have been broken!
Where did they go ? THE STREETS.
Fact: Filthy Repubiscum Governor Jeb Bush and his ilk in the state of Florida enabled the august Burghers of Orlando to put forth this rotten set of laws that discriminate against those most unfortunate members of our society. Instead of giving them a leg up, they get a bootintheass.
Republishit Family Values.
Suggested resolution for Florida: Take the most sickly of the homeless and carve them up into stew-size chunks...brown lightly in olive oil until uniformly brown, put in pot, cover with red wine, add carrots, potatoes and greens - and - voila! - Poor People Stew that they can ladle out in the public parks to the rest of the homeless! In a matter of months, the "problem" should be solved !
I'm sure there are a bunch of shallow minded idiots talking about how great this new law is on here, I didn't read it because there is always some buffoon who claims to be a good Christian (while they hang out with their meth-using gay pastor) who's narrow mind can't go beyond "it's not effecting me" so why should I care? Regardless, it's hard to imagine the city council is that self-centered... or is it self-righteous? I really, truly hope that every single one of those schmucks who supported this bill suffers the pain of a seriously mentally ill family member or at least loses their gay pastor in a typical scandal. It's shameful. Really, truly, incredibly shameful.
The Bush administration is insane and inhumane.
This ordinance would work if they already had in place mass housing, medical care, job programs and enough people working on this to ensure that no one would go hungry.
I can see how having feeding programs like this would encourage the homeless to stay homeless and have a place to eat. Many are already complacent with their situation and don't want help, just food. They have the right idea but with their governmental blinders on, they don't see the whole picture. Are you surprised?
Good question. Perhaps, you might also like to ask why Americans repeatedly vote for the same party knowing full well what their policies are. They give generous tax breaks for the rich and run on borrowed money. With the loaned money, they give away billions to foreign states like Israel that isn't even a third world country. With loaned money, they wage war against foreign states that did NOT invade America let alone threaten it. Don't you think money and time would be better spent if whatever available resources is first directed to solving internal problems?
It's not a way of saying it is directly saying it- get out of our WHITE, RICH right wing spotlessly clean manicured lawn city so we don't have to look at dirty people in cardboard boxes in the parkand streets.
We ship off BILLIONS of dollars, container ship loads of FREE food, supplies and all else to Africa, Afghanistan, Iraq and everywhere else- but *OUR* people who live HERE!
We have always pulled that krap, it's time we look after OUR people not some US hating morons in Iraq, Afghanistan, or people who don't have enough food, water and resources yet keep popping babies out by the dozen per South Africa etc
From my experience dealing with many homeless people, many have simply learned to work the system to get freebies, and they have no interest in getting off the street or changing their lives.
In a sense, it's what many do for a living, and they've learned to work the system in a way that shows they have plenty of initiative and drive to get what they want. I've seen people put so much effort into concocting a story or scam it makes you wonder why they can't put that effort in to changing their lives. But the truth is, they don't want to.
For every person who is homeless and really wants to get out of that lifestyle, there are 100 others who have no interest or desire to change. They are simply working the system and will take advantage of your sympathy in a heartbeat until you wise up. Then they move on to someone else.
And that's the cold hard reality of it. If you don't believe me, go volunteer in a shelter for awhile. You'll wise up real quick.
One can't help but wonder if your view could be skewed. Can you cite one reliable statistic to back your claim? Homelessness is not only a problem in the United States, it is an eyesore in Tokyo too. People are more incline to believe the opposite of what you quoted. That is, for every homeless person that elects not to change their position 100 others desire a way out of it. If they are so smart to work the system to their advantage as you say then, why are they not smart enough to work for a warm shelter in winter? Living in a cardbox in winter can't be very comfortable. You see one apple and you assume the whole bushel is bad. But everything isn't what it seem on the surface. In fact. it often does not. I believe the general view is that they are victims of discrimination, of a system that is unsympathetic to their plight. Especially a government that cares more for its image rather than helping the needy. And that is the truth.
So please be aware that there ARE places and ways that the Homeless are being feed and provided shelters in Orlando. However the city could do a better job in providing more help. But I agree with the ordinance that a public park is NOT the place. Everyone should be allowed to enjoy the use of our parks. The Homeless have every right to enjoy the parks too. However this is NOT the place to bathe, wash clothes, sleep overnight etc.
The city offered the group who is suing over the feeding in the park to help them find an alternate place. There has been little cooperation and compromise. The real issue is, how much does this group really want to help the Homeless? They are fighting over the right to feed in the park. Instead they should be fighting to ensure that the Homeless are provided with the help they need by being willing to work with the city in finding a better location. There is no need to sue the city. There is EVERY need in finding a way to work together.
"The city offered the group who is suing over the feeding in the park to help them find an alternate place. There has been little cooperation and compromise. The real issue is, how much does this group really want to help the Homeless? " Sounds to me like they don't want to help the homeless, they want to sue.
Set up places where they can have food and shelter, but must follow rules, like no crime (theft, assault, rape), no drugs, no being drunk (only really enforcable as no drinking), and some simple work to do, or spend time job hunting or taking courses to help become employable.
Of course, these places do exist. But that's not what these activists want... out of naivete, thoughtless compassion or arrogance, they just want to give the homeless what they ask for, without thinking about if it's what they need, or if it's the best way to help them.
I could do the same for my daughter - she'd eat only candy and ice cream, if I gave her what she wants. And she's hungry, so shouldn't I feed her? Whereever she wants (in bed!)?
You try it for awhile and you'll learn firsthand exactly what I'm talking about.
If all the indignant people of this blog were to do the same for one family then it would be the start of a great revolution in our country called "we the people". Obviously most of you have enough money to own a PC and internet use. So don't blame the government, just look in the mirror, your wallet, and your heart.
PS. I am white, Christian, American, and a business owner who pays taxes. Sorry to ruin your stereo-type.
Of course there are those who work the system - duh. I know of many who work the disability system, the dole, whatever you want to call it - they are bone lazy. They are also living in homes, own cars and etc., courtesy of our system that doesn't really check up on them adequately. So, therefore, let us never help anybody in genuine need and as they and their kids get ill, stepped on or die, we can feel good all over about it because of the ones you are talking about. I've heard Pharisees fxrt under water before, They all sound the same.
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