It is now illegal in 33 cities to feed homeless people

www.kulturekritic.com ^ | June 3, 2014. | Liku Zelleke

[coldphoenix]

The next time you can be bothered enough to feed a homeless person you might find yourself at odds with the law. Yes, you have to be “bothered” because you are under no obligation to help your fellow mankind, who has fallen on hard times and on harder concrete slabs.

That’s right, because if you help homeless people in cities like Daytona Beach, Florida; Raleigh, N.C.; Myrtle Beach, S.C.; and Birmingham, Alabama you could be fined, physically removed and/or be threatened with time behind bars – and they have actually done it.

In fact, 33 cities across the United States have implemented similar policies, according to the National Coalition for the Homeless.

Recently, there were reports that a couple, Debbie and Chico Jimenez, were fined $2000 by the police just because they were feeding the homeless people in Dayton Beach Park on a weekly basis. The couple and two other colleagues refused to pay the ticket and the police eventually dismissed it, but still, it proves that the city is intent on making criminals out of homeless people and also, because of guilt by association, those that try to help them.

The argument that was posed by the city was that the efforts being done by the couple actually worsened homelessness. They claim that by giving food to the people in the parks, Debbie and Chico are coaxing them away from city-run, centralized programs and when they were handing the food out some of the homeless people mistreated the park and frightened other patrons.

Of course, feeding the homeless shouldn’t just be seen as the ultimate solution as it doesn’t address the underlying issue. Robert Marbut, a national homeless consultant makes a point when he says, “You’re never going to get anywhere arresting, priests, pastors and imams in the street.”

But, he also thinks a midway should be found to address the issue.

“Give me a name of one person who got a job because they were fed,” Marbut said. “Feeding alone or giving out clothing or camping equipment doesn’t address the core issues of being homeless.”

[ThunderSleeps]

I don’t think that’s sarcasm. Sadly, I think it is all too true. The government doesn’t want you helping the needy directly because then they (the power hungry government types) don’t get their cut.

[fr_freak]

I'm against government over-regulation of everything on principle, but let me give you guys another perspective:

Being a Californian, I live close to Ground Zero of the infectious communist wasteland that is San Francisco. San Francisco, while always elitist, as left-wingers always are, is, at the same time, intellectually incapable of justifying ANY restrictions on homeless, despite the fact that they actually do implement some (hello cognitive dissonance!). Homeless are like saints to left-wingers, the ultimate end-game of all left-wing policies: people who pose no threat to the elite but are completely dependent on them and actually serve to make the elite feel MORE elite.

Policies that I can recall San Francisco implementing and then repealing due to their foreseeable (to any sane person) results: no prosecution of vagrancy laws, no restriction on homeless "encampments", and best of all, a program that actually PAID homeless something like $20 per week, dispensed from a public service window (I'm not making that up).

Well, the San Franciscans were shocked (shocked!) when their homeless problem grew instead of shrank. The pay-out program only lasted a couple of months, as I recall. Nowadays, I bet the seriously gentrified San Francisco cracks down on homeless in the "good" neighborhoods, but since I avoid that place like the Lucifer's Toilet that it is, we'll have to hear from an SF Freeper to know for sure.

Here is the problem for the rest of California (and the US): those San Francisco people, having soiled their own nest, move and take their asinine, LSD-induced, communist ideals with them and, as they have done in my town, they gather in large enough numbers in a new place to take over the local governments, and then they treat homeless as saints again! My town, which used to have a great downtown atmosphere, now literally has homeless camping 24x7 on the city plaza, and even the city courthouse lawn. Businesses get no sympathy when they ask that cops remove urinating, abusive homeless from their doorsteps, and, as a result, downtown now appeals mostly to the young, drunk, and the left-wing self-styled "elites" who revel in the result of their benevolence. But have no doubt, when the problem gets bad enough, they'll move to an unsoiled place because "this town just isn't the same".

I bet San Francisco has less of a homeless problem than my town now, and I wouldn't be surprised to see the laws listed in the article applied there, because that's what left-wingers do - they create a problem with their low-IQ, left-wing fantasyland BS, then "solve" it with draconian government control.

[familyop]

Well, that's one project pushed by political regulators in efforts to sweep some of the evidence of their evil deeds into crematories. While those state and local socialists claim to be conservative in politics, let's have a look at their other activities.

Heavy Hitters: Top All-Time Donors, 1989-2014
http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/list.php
American Fedn of State, County & Municipal Employees $60,949,129 [Democrat] 81% [Republican] 1%”

Leviathan (Uncle Sam employs more people than you think)
National Review ^ | 02/03/2011 | Iain Murray
"...nearly 40 million Americans employed in some way by government."

[bamahead]

Libertarian ping! Click here to get added or here to be removed or post a message here!

[PA Engineer]

Very evil state of affairs our country has turned to. This is America's judgement.

A minimum requirement to be human is to feed the hungry. Not by government fiat, but by humanity and G*d's laws. We have become so lost and evil.

[KJC1]

Very evil state of affairs our country has turned to. This is America's judgement. A minimum requirement to be human is to feed the hungry. Not by government fiat, but by humanity and G*d's laws. We have become so lost and evil.

What?

[PA Engineer]

What?

When someone is hungry and unable to meet those need, you feed them. Forget "government." What is the "What?" you find so confusing?

[KJC1]

You are right, and I am in agreement. Somehow I read your comment the wrong way. My fault.

[PA Engineer]

You are right, and I am in agreement. Somehow I read your comment the wrong way. My fault.

I do that all the time.

[ruesrose]

Please read Matthew 25:35

[2ndDivisionVet]

Please read post #6. I was referring to the “hippie” comment, not the feeding part.

[Gene Eric]

Restrictions on farming and feeding... not a winning ticket for govt.

[DH]

It is now illegal in 33 cities to feed homeless people
______________________________________________________

The next illegal act will be to offend them by asking them if they wanted to do a little work for you to EARN their food.

Naw! That would be discriminatory since the welfare cheats don’t have to work but they would.

Ah, forget it and remember “no one is responsible for their own acts....everyone else is.”

[Rockingham]

Streetside mass feeding of the homeless provides an opportunity for moral preening by the meal givers, but, unless precautions are taken, it causes a host of problems with substantial burdens and costs: litter; the gathering of the homeless in large numbers, often in areas that are unsuited to their presence; and sanitation issues as the homeless relieve themselves in public soon after having eaten a meal.

It is not hard-heartedness but practical cnd compelling considerations of personal safety and quality of life that make the homeless generally unwelcome as individuals and feared when they congregate in significant numbers. Many of the homeless have mental or substance abuse problems, health issues, dismal personal sanitation and grooming, significant criminal records, and a pattern of behavior that is disruptive and menacing.

The best and most caring approach to homelessness requires structured, well-designed programs staffed by experts. Although expensive and complicated to develop and administer, some success has been had in recent years with supervised living arrangements that combine single occupancy apartments in a group setting with individualized counseling and treatment that is delivered on site.

Even at that, many homeless like the freedom and excitement of street life. I have a schizophrenic cousin who is that way. Her deeply caring and forgiving family are always ready to help her out of a jam, to take her in, or to get her into one or another residential programs. Yet such periods of stability always lapse as the influence of mental illness and drugs draws her back to the streets.

[moovova]

Undercover cop...

[gunsequalfreedom]

I get your point but try opening a soup kitchen in one of those cities.

Now if they were creative they would call it a restaurant and charge 10 cents per meal.

[AppyPappy]

1. There is no such thing as “feeding homeless people”. If you offer food, you have to feed everyone.
2. The government will not allow you to feed people willy-nilly. They have their regulations that must be obeyed.

[GOPJ]

The law pertains to do-gooders who open up a “soup kitchen” on the street with no regard for the community at large.

Ding, ding, ding... we have a winnah!

[JimRed]

It should be legal to offer them one-way bus tickets to San Freaksicko, though, and a box lunch to take along!