"Feeding The Homeless" Is A Crime In Increasingly More US Cities

I do not under any circumstances give money to beggars. I do, however, give food. This law is immoral and illegitimate, and I will ignore it. Government derives its legitimacy from the consent of the governed, and as with so many disgusting laws these days, they do not have my consent.

The problem as I see it with what Debbie and Chico Jimenez are doing in Daytona Beach is not that they set up a “soup kitchen”; but that they set up an unlicensed soup kitchen in a public park. This is not the case of an individual buying a sandwich and handing it out a “homeless” person, but a well organized effort to feed hundreds complete with other volunteers helping them.

If they want to run a soup kitchen they should partner with a local church that already runs a program for feeding them, or obtain their own space, get the proper permits and run a proper soup kitchen in an area more suitable for such an activity. Setting up in a public park, a park BTW that was recently renovated with taxpayer dollars to make the park a safe and attractive place for the taxpaying residents; families and children to enjoy is being ruined by this couple by making into and promoting it as gathering place for alcoholic and crack and heroin drug addicted vagrants to gather and, no, not just on the Wednesday’s that the Jimenez’s and their volunteers are handing out free food, but now 24/7.

It is not the police hassling them for no reason, but in large part it stems from complaints by the local residents who are tired of being run out of their own park by the intoxicated and drugged “homeless”, who urinate and defecate where ever they want, leave trashed booze bottles and drug needles all over, not only in the park itself, but now in the surround residential neighborhood, and these “homeless” are now also harassing and begging for money from the park goers and committing car and home break ins and other petty crimes.

Daytona Beach Police Chief Mike Chitwood said Mr and Mrs Jimenez had been warned a week earlier to stop throwing their so-called 'birthday parties' for the homeless at the park after nearby residents complained about vagrants relieving themselves on the ground and stumbling around drunk.

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In this picture, notice that these so called “homeless” don’t look like they are hard core and or actually “homeless” or starving, but they are type of people who want to stay drunk or high all the time and spend most of whatever money they have to stay that way and expect hand outs of food and money to support their habits. Also notice the play ground equipment in the background. Would any of you take your children to this park now?

If any of you think that what they are doing is such a great thing, I suggest you contact Debbie and Chico Jimenez and invite them to come and set up the same in your local park and children’s playground.

I will also mention that Debbie and Chico Jimenez named their “ministry” - “Spreading the Word Without Saying a Word”. So in other words, they seem to think that by just feeding these alcoholic and drug addicted vagrants, these leaches on society without saying anything about how they might not be in the position of needing a “free meal” or living on the streets in the first place (no judgments on why they are where they are) that by just handing out a meal to them, that will change how they are living or lead them to “God”.

No. what they are doing is called enabling. And I say that as someone whose ex-husband is a now recovering alcoholic so I am not without compassion. I got to know through AA, NA and Al-Anon meetings, a lot of recovering alcoholics and drug addicts who got clean and sober and now live very productive lives, are now fine upstanding and productive citizens who also try to help their fellow addicts. But in nearly all cases, they only got clean and sober by “tough love” and by hitting a “hard bottom” where they were no longer being enabled by well meaning people who fed and supported their addictions. Many I know are actually grateful that at some point, when they actually couldn’t find a free meal and warm place to sleep it off – that this was their “wake up call” that led them to getting clean and sober.

The problem of the homeless who are mentally ill, schizophrenics for example, is a whole other question. We as a society decided to close most of our mental hospitals and we no longer forcibly commit the seriously mentally ill to mental institutions, not only for our protection but also for their own good. Granted many state mental hospitals were poorly run and rife with abuse, real “snake pits” if you will, but on the other hand, turning these people out on the streets to fend for themselves is no better as a solution and IMO even crueler. For them, those who really can’t help their illness; there has to be a better answer.

Good points.

I agree that giving money directly to beggars is the least efficient form of charity and may actually make things worse. I almost never do it. Some cities have actually done ad campaigns to that effect. The city of Berkley had a clever one.
One problem as I see it is homeless activists. It’s too long and complicated to go into here( I will if you want) but I can pretty much prove that so-called homeless activists and their organizations do not sincerely care about helping people, especially if you define help as assisting them to move into better circumstances permanently(for example, a job for those capable of working)
So far we don’t have these activists and organizations in Everett yet. Watch out if they come to your city. They’re very antibusiness and often in bed with the hard left, in fact may be leftist front groups.

Are you sure she wasnt Mennonite? Those are the main Anabaptists we have out west, or Hutterites, of course. Plus I don’t think the women usually wear makeup.

LOL.

Nah, they were on the next aisle, copping sunglasses.

When I lived in Baltimore I used to go to the Fells Point area fairly regularly with friends to have dinner at one of the many really great restaurants and or just walk around for the day, along the old waterfront and shop at many of the unique specialty shops or browse one of the antique and 2nd hand stores and book stores, browse the small art galleries of which there are many and in particular a record store with an incredible collection of old, rare and hard to find vinyl records and used CD’s.

If you like these types of stores, the somewhat off beat, sometimes rather funky, artistic and very unique and locally owned and run specialty shops, the antique and book shops along with some very fine dining or just a good ole style Baltimore crab house, not to mention some good music venues, and if you like Pre-Revolutionary architecture and history; Fells Point is, with some cautions from a former "Baltimoron”, a really great place to go if you ever visit Baltimore. Just be aware of your surroundings and keep your “street smarts” about you.

Fells Point is the oldest section of Baltimore and has a rich, if not sometimes a sketchy and rough and tumble history as the original point of settlement and of the site of the original port of Baltimore, played a big part in not only the American Revolution but also in the War of 1812, but in recent years, while it has become a more “upscale” destination and now has a lot of upscale and very quite expensive and exclusive real-estate developments; while still keeping a lot of its original architecture and “charm”, it’s also has become a magnet for many vagrants and scam artists mostly because of the increase in tourism and because of its wealthier residents who these people like to prey on.

There has been over the years an increasing problem with these vagrants (a lot of them chronic alcoholics and drug addicts or just plain scammers) not only aggressively panhandling and harassing people but also with pick pockets, purse snatchers and these scam artists running valet parking scams or “car protection scams”, not unlike what happened in and around the Inner Harbor attractions which has made attractions like the National Aquarium and Science Center, the USS Constellation and other downtown Baltimore attractions, that are very worthwhile attractions to see if you ever visit Baltimore, unless you are willing to run the gauntlet of aggressive panhandlers. : (

Being concerned that these aggressive panhandlers and scam artists was hurting their business, the Fells Point merchants formed an association and among one of their initiatives was to not only ask the Baltimore Police to do something about it and enforce the already existing vagrancy laws, but they also launched a campaign to discourage their customers from giving money and other hand outs to the so called “homeless” or falling prey to their scams. The last time I was there, a few years ago, nearly every restaurant and shop had posted signs imploring people not only to not give money to the panhandlers but to also not fall prey to one of their various scams.

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1995-10-25/news/1995298043_1_money-to-panhandlers-aggressive-panhandlers-panhandling-law

As noted in the article there is also a rather big problem with rowdy drunken bar patrons after the bars close; mostly with the young and college age kids, but from what I understand, the police in cooperation with most of the bar owners, have pretty much cracked down on this.

But…

In 1994, a U.S. District judge struck down a city law on aggressive panhandlers, saying it unfairly targeted homeless people and beggars but not others who aggressively solicit money.

Major Gavrilis said that police Commissioner Thomas C. Frazier will meet with the American Civil Liberties Union to determine if some middle ground can be found to salvage the panhandling law.

The best way to get rid of panhandlers, many Fells Point residents and merchants said, is to stop giving them money.

"The people that are down here I can say are not homeless," said Nicholas J. Filipidis, owner of Jimmy's Restaurant on South Broadway. "The panhandlers are parking valets. This is a job to them. It's a scam. Do not give them money and they will leave."

Residents and merchants also complained that problems are not limited to panhandling but include a general increase in crime. They made several references to the Oct. 15 mugging of U.S. Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski in front of her Fells Point rowhouse.

So the ACLU got involved and tried to make the claim that cracking down on the aggressive panhandling and the scams being run by the so called “homeless” was in violation of their civil rights to do so. (eye roll). The ACLU doesn’t care one wit about the rights of the merchants or the residents or their customers.

But I have to admit that I did get a very big laugh when I learned that the very big lib, Barbara Mikulski got mugged. IMO nobody deserved a good mugging more than her after what she’s done to us while in Congress. Karma! It’s a bitch and so is she. : )

Philly was like that when I visited in 1989, not only panhandling but things like parking scams, as you mentioned. I was looking forward to visiting a vibrant, history-rich American city, but was somewhat disappointed. Pittsburgh is probably actually nicer.

I do love those funky old walkable neighborhoods, though. We have a lot of them in Seattle, and smaller versions in places like Port Townsend.

Certain parts of downtown Vancouver BC are not to be believed, and I don’t mean that in a good way. I mention it because people need to think twice before adopting “harm reduction” practices with heroin addicts. I was there in 2006. It may have improved, but East Hastings was like something out of a zombie movie.