... it's time for local leadership to get *out* of the "don't feed the hungry" business. I don't know how we got into this mess where people are being treated like pigeons (or seagulls, to give it more of a beach flair) to whom you are not to give the french fries for fear that everyone will get pooped on.
Or maybe I do. Down here in southern Florida, it is not uncommon to be accosted at intersections by the downtrodden or to see folks sleeping in city parks, surrounded by the last of their belongings. (Although, come to think of it ... that happened in Chicago as well. And I'll admit that I always thought ... if one ended up homeless, why didn't one head somewhere warm in which to live the lifestyle without added weather concerns?) Slowly, local government by local government is passing anti-pan-handling laws, in an attempt to NIMBY the whole scenario (you know NIMBY, right? not-in-my-back-yard?).
Which leads us to Ft. Lauderdale leaders ... who started with a no pan-handling regulation in 2012 and then added the current careful-how-you-feed-the-homeless laws just this year in a late night/early morning session (one of the wisest things my employer told me once was to refrain from doing official business in that part of the morning most associated with coming in from the bars ... just sayin'). By the way, the current laws are not set out to starve the homeless, but to basically force their feedings indoor (outdoor feedings require port-a-potties to be present and require food safety things like maintaining proper and consistent food temps).
But local nonagenarian celebrity Arnold Abbott simply wants to make hungry people be not hungry, rules and regulations be damned. To which I say, let the man break bread. For a town that worked for years to get rid of the spring break stank in order to become an international tourist destination, this PR nightmare needs to be avoided.
And, most importantly, hungry people need to be able to eat and those rising to the call of action to take care of their fellow man and woman need to be let alone. Stop being so stubborn and embrace the backpedal on this one, mayor and friends ... politicians flip-flop all the time (it's now called "evolving"), so you even have an easy way out of this ridiculousness ...
FIRST COMES THIS:
http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2012-05-02/news/fl-lauderdale-panhandling-ordinance-folo-20120501_1_anti-panhandling-ordinance-homeless-man-homeless-advocates
THEN COMES THIS:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/fort-lauderdale/fl-lauderdale-homeless-feeding-sites-20141021-story.html
AND NOW THAT'S IT A PR NIGHTMARE, THEN COMES THIS DEFENSE:
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/op-ed/article3726105.html
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