Reply #19: it is a crime to help the poor [View All]

In Orlando a while back, they arrested someone for feeding the homeless. Not only is it a crime to be poor, it is a crime to help the poor.

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Denver

...The Mayor of Denver, John Hickenlooper, said that he used to bring food to a homeless man living near him, but then he "began to realize the amount of harm that just giving food or money to homeless people does." While the Mayor has done some positive things for the homeless population, this perspective shapes much of his downtown policies.

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Orlando

With an estimated 8,000 homeless people, Orlando has one of the highest populations of homeless people in the state of Florida. In early 2006, the Orlando City Council passed an ordinance that prohibits sharing food with more than 25 people in city parks without a permit and limits permitted groups to doing so only two times a year. In October of 2006, the ACLU filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging the constitutionality of the ordinance. While litigation continued, in April 2007, a member of Food Not Bombs was arrested for distributing food in violation of the anti-feeding ordinance and was found not-guilty in October 2007. In an article in Street Roots, Montanez's attorney, Jacqueline Dowd, explains that food sharing restrictions are a new trend, "Instead of going after the homeless, they're going after people who serve the homeless." Most homeless advocates have spoken out against these ordinances, however some local homeless service provider groups insist that the “ordinance is not against homeless people” and that “homeless people do have a place to eat” in Orlando.

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Tampa, Florida

Tampa has a “standing policy” against sharing food with homeless persons in city parks. Tampa police have taken steps to stop individuals and groups who have attempted to distribute food in defiance of this policy. In 2004, police arrested Food Not Bombs (FNB) members for serving food in a downtown city park without a permit. However, due to the advocacy of two attorneys, Michael Maddux and Joseph Jackson, the city dropped the charges against the FNB members and agreed to cease enforcing the ordinance.

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http://www.nationalhomeless.org/publications/foodsharing/cities.html

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Arrested for feeding the poor. Seriously.