Posted on 11/08/2014 4:31:25 PM PST by Mortimer St. Hubbins
Do-good fine. Police in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., again cited a 90-year-old man for feeding the homeless in a public park, in violation of a city ordinance. Arnold Abbott, who runs a ministry called Love Thy Neighbor Inc., was first cited on Sunday along with two pastors working with him. They face up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine. Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler said the ordinance is not designed to punish the homeless or those who serve them but to balance the needs of all the city’s residents. Abbott, who has been working with the homeless for 23 years, told a local TV station the city wanted to ignore a very real problem. “You can’t sweep the homeless under the rug,” he said. “There are 10,000 homeless in Broward County, most of them in Fort Lauderdale, and there isn’t a rug large enough to sweep them under.”
(Excerpt) Read more at worldmag.com ...
You subsidize it, you get more of it.
Wow, when W was Pres. never saw any homeless here. Miami yes. Not Ft. Lauderdale.
ordinance is not designed to punish the homeless or those who serve them but to balance the needs of all the city’s residents...
Sorry, I am too dumb to figure this out, unless...its just a pile of BS?
They keep their homeless on a tight leash in Florida, don’t they?
I feel sorry for the cop. He’s supposed to enforce the law and he’s probably hating every minute of it.
Wow, when W was Pres. never saw any homeless here. Miami yes. Not Ft. Lauderdale.
Then came Owebama - it was necessary for people to go homeless ya know.
Kinda like the DOJ going after the Little Sisters of the Poor. You win ...you beat up some nuns so you lose. You lose...you lose.
It’s just a heaping pile of..............
Frankly, I don’t feel sorry for him. The officer could have easily said, “Carry on”, just as they do with attractive looking women who have been cited for speeding.
Creating a homeless kitchen in a public park? Depriving the taxpayers of the unhassled and safe use of the park?
90 days in jail?
Seems about right.
Thankfully the Lilttle Sisters won a partial victory in the case.
Public parks are for everyone, not just the homeless. There are many shelters they can go to for a meal.
They are all over and get very aggressive.
There is a popular boat ramp in town which has 10 or so good concrete ramps, rest rooms and plenty of hassle free parking. There is a good size pavilion which is inhabited most days by the homeless. Sometimes the Sheriff comes by and rousts them or makes them pour their booze out.
Families steer clear of the pavilion for obvious reasons. I too have been hassled by these people for food, money etc. One guy would not leave me alone at all - he couldn’t believe I had no food for him.... I don’t mind helping out, however these facilities shouldn’t be a permanent hangout for the homeless and derelict..
How did you arrive at, “Creating a homeless kitchen in a public park”?!
Handing our food isn’t the same as “creating a kitchen” now is it? Since when is it a crime to had a hungry person whose in dire straits against the law?
“Seems about” wrong, to me.
According to this site http://www.homelessshelterdirectory.org/cgi-bin/id/countyfb.cgi?county=Broward-County&state=FL
There are at least 21 food banks in Broward County plus just as many shelters.
Get the hell off the street. Its bad for them and for the public.
The guy has willingly broken the law and apparently has plans to keep doing so. I can’t dredge up much sympathy.
You have to think this group was out to make a statement - they could have obeyed the law and fed them in a side street! They wanted to bring the plight of the homeless to people’s attention and so took this action. They got what they wanted! I admire their pluck but when you knowingly break the law to make that point there is no point in complaining about the outcome.
“Since when is it a crime to had a hungry person whose in dire straits against the law?”
Since they passed the ordinance.
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