Judge nixes Orlando ban on group homeless feeding

[IDemo]

Source: International Herald Tribune

ORLANDO, Fla.: A federal judge on Friday struck down an Orlando ordinance that barred large group feedings for homeless at downtown area parks.

In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Gregory A. Presnell said the city ordinance violates the constitutional rights of activists who want to feed the homeless.

Activists who had been feeding the homeless in Lake Eola Park sued the city in 2006 over the ordinance passed that year.

Attorney Jacqueline Dowd, who represented plaintiffs including First Vagabonds Church of God and Orlando Food Not Bombs, said they were "thrilled" with the ruling.


Read more: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/09/27/america/Homeless-Feeding-Ban.php

[PDJane]

1. I'm thrilled with it too........

That's good news!

[UndertheOcean]

2. Good News !

[Lorien]

3. Great news! I live within walking distance of Lake Eola

When Food Not Bombs was out serving meals the lines would stretch on and on. The meals are really needed here! I've noticed that many downtown restaurants past out meals through their back doors to small groups of homeless people too. The Orlando city council may be full of assh*oles, but the PEOPLE still care about one another!

[Mojorabbit]

7. As a member of code pink

we take turns helping them out with the feedings. I do it the first wed of each month. It is nice to not worry about being arrested anymore.

[IDemo]

15. A tip of the hat to Mojorabbit from IDemo

Thank you for all you do! :toast: :hi: :yourock:

[Baby Snooks]

17. Just don't feed them in San Francisco...

Nancy Pelosi will have them and you carried off to jail. Her comment rivals Barbara Bush's comment about the Katrina survivors in terms of sheer disregard for those who have nothing but a little hope and the kindness of strangers. This country really needs to get a mirror.

[Trillo]

4. YAY!

I really needed some good news, and this is very good news!

Thank god its still legal to feed people.

[gratuitous]

5. Another church engaging in political activity!

Where are all the folks who like to pile on the bogus separation of church and state threads? Shouldn't the First Vagabonds Church of God be subject to taxation for this political activity? I mean, sure, Jesus said something about feeding the hungry, but this is clearly political activity that makes this church a political actor.

Right?

[flvegan]

6. Food Not Bombs! Nice victory, folks.

If you ever wanted to help people, Food Not Bombs is a great place to start.

[shireen]

8. very glad to hear that.

nice to see some sanity in the justice system in favor of the homeless

[intheflow]

9. In Orlando!

I guess the homeless were keeping the tourists away from the Magic Kingdom. What they fail to understand is that at lot of people who used to be tourists are now homeless. :(

WTG, Food Not Bombs!

[McCamy Taylor]

10. A no Soup KItchen law? Legislate a good economy?

[Trillo]

12. Isn't that ironic?

Legally feeding people takes a Judicial Branch ruling.

Maybe we'd all be better off in a zoo, where at least the animals are taken care of. Sometimes the world does remind me of a zoo, sans the humanity. Even in a prison they feed people for chrissakes!

What a great Civilization.

[undergroundpanther]

11. Yay!

Someone with compassion!!
Good going FNB,and Vagabonds! Y'all Rawk!

[quaker bill]

13. The ruling is a good thing

If the right to give $ to a political campaign can be viewed as protected "speech" under the first ammendment, then giving sandwich to a homeless guy should protected speech as well.

It is important to understand that this case was never about the legality of feeding the homeless. Orlando has many shelters, and I have been a volunteer at several of them in Orlando since the Reagan administration. Orlando's "Coalition for the Homeless" formed during the Reagan years as a group of downtown Churches began opening their sanctuaries for cold night shelters and food distribution. The City did not like this activity at all, for the most part because the Churches were located near Eola Park, which did cause homeless individuals and families to congregate on high dollar downtown real-estate.

The decision was taken at that time to continue over this objection, because the City was doing nothing other than occasionally arresting the homeless, and people were dying of exposure to the cold. The motivation of the City eventually became clear, they simply wanted the homeless services to be provided away from downtown, at that time, in the Parramore district, the historically African American community to the west of downtown. Once it was clear to them that they could not control the Churches and that taking them on was a political loser, the City ponied up 4 million dollars to purchase a building for the Coalition, which was located out of downtown on the edge of the Parramore district. This shelter exists today and serves as an intake point to the shelter system, as they take folks right off the streets in pretty much any condition in which they arrive.

Some folks do not care to go to the shelters, it is also true that on occasion, particularly in the winter, that there are simply not enough beds to go around. There are a number of myths the folks who will not use the shelters will tell, particularly to anyone who might be good for a sandwich or beer money. "They will make me convert to their faith, before they will accept me / feed me...." is one of the most common and clearly false of these. However, virtually all of the shelters do have a single policy in common, you have to show up more or less sober. Having been involved in homeless services in Orlando for over 25 years now, I can assure you that there are very good reasons for this, the major one being safety of the other residents and an attempt to limit the number of 911 calls.

In short, the question was never over feeding the homeless, but where and how to do it. I congratulate OFNB for their win. Keeping the homeless visible is and always has been an important element in getting services better funded. The right to feed a hungry person, where ever you care to do it, should not be abridged.

The City, of late, has been working to move the existing shelters further away from Downtown. The "venues" project will only add more pressure to this effort. Having won this one, what is the next step?

[happygoluckytoyou]

14. no group feedings? what JEB-brained asswipe thought that one up... bother you to see poor people ?

[Inchworm]

16. They did this in Ft. Lauderdale

I think it was beaten before I left there in 2000. Hella letters and participation helped change.

Glad Orlando was shot down.

:hi:

[struggle4progress]

18. Homeless worshippers flock to First Vagabonds Church of God (Street Level Consulting)

ALINE MENDELSOHN
... <Brian> Nichols' church has no pews, no pulpit, no offering, no walls. The church doesn't have a home.
Neither does Nichols. He sleeps behind some bushes downtown, out of sight where he won't be bothered. When it rains, he props open an umbrella and covers himself with a plastic sheet ... http://www.streetlevelconsulting.ca/newsArticlesStats/vagabondchurch.htm

tip o'hat t' www.churchmarketingsucks.com

[geckosfeet]

19. There is a law against feeding people!? WTF!