 WYOMING WINDS |
|
If charitable groups want to feed the homeless in Orlando, they'll
have to find someplace other than Lake Eola Park -- or any city park,
for that matter -- to do it.
The City Council effectively banned serving food to homeless people in
parks, after a 3 1/2-hour public session June 19, 2006, that included
testimony from more than two dozen homeless activists as well as
crime-weary residents and business owners who called for action.
The meeting was preceded by a protest of about a dozen homeless people
and their supporters in front of City Hall.
But they had less sway than the residents and business owners who
complained that charitable groups are using Lake Eola Park, the
centerpiece of downtown Orlando, as a soup kitchen. Other complaints
were that the homeless are aggressively panhandling in and around the
park, breaking into cars and causing other problems, including using
bushes as toilets.
"Feeding the homeless is a good thing, a civic duty," downtown
businessman Robin Stotter said. "But it needs to be done in the right
place."
The ordinance as passed on first reading was modified from an
original proposal and now encompasses city property, although the
intent is parks. It states that no one can feed groups of 15 or more
people without a one-time-use permit, and such permits would be issued
no more than twice a year to one person, and the city would dictate
the location of the group feeding.
The decision faces likely legal action from the Central Florida
chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union and outright defiance
from at least one group that is feeding the homeless in Lake Eola
Park.
"If they want war, they've got one," said Eric Montanez, 20, a
volunteer with the charity Orlando Food Not Bombs. "This is not over.
Believe me."
Montanez, while not speaking officially for the group, said that he
and others have no intention of not feeding the hungry in a public
park.
The group has at least a few weeks of breathing space. The ordinance
must go before the City Council for a second vote before it becomes
law. That hearing is expected in July.
"This hasn't been easy," said Commissioner Patty Sheehan, who drafted
the ordinance after receiving numerous complaints from residents and
business owners.
"What's heartbreaking is that I do support delivering services to the
people who need them," she said.
The point of the ordinance, Sheehan said, isn't to hinder charitable
work, but to take control of unregulated events and direct them to
proper venues.
"I don't think it's fair to be told that we don't have a say" in how
the parks are used, Sheehan said.
While the ordinance is poised to pass on its second vote, the City
Council wasn't unanimous in its support. Commissioners Sam Ings and
Robert Stuart voted against it.
Ings said the city should step up and help the homeless, not create obstacles.
"I encourage that we stop this now," said Stuart, executive director
of the Christian Service Center. "This is bad city policy."
However, he said he would vote for it on the second reading, but he
hopes to add an amendment to sunset the ordinance in a year, meaning
it would come up for vote again.
Roberto Dijols, 49, who said he is homeless and was protesting outside
City Hall before the hearing, asked how a group of homeless people
eating in the park could be treated differently from a big family
holding a picnic.
"It's not a crime to be poor, to be hungry," he said. "Well, maybe it is."
The bums have gathered at the designated feeding spot here on Lake Eola, waiting for their handout.
And here it comes. The kindhearted arrive with bags of food -- bagels, rolls and bread.
Some panhandlers get aggressive and demanding. It is not a pretty sight. But still the city allows the feedings to continue.
Such is not the case on the other side of the lake, where a crackdown on free meals is about to take place.
Feeding pigeons at Lake Eola is allowed. Feeding humans is not.
That is about to become Orlando's official position as it prepares to pass an ordinance that would stop social-service groups from providing meals at the lake.
Is this cause for moral outrage?
Orlando certainly is not alone. Cities nationwide are cracking down on the homeless in downtown areas.
It is part of the movement to revive downtowns into bustling urban centers and tax cash cows.
The homeless have gone from being annoying to being expensive. I'm not talking about the cost of providing services, but the cost they create by scaring away investment.
A study by economists at the University of North Texas showed that a downtown Dallas area inhabited by the homeless was considerably underdeveloped.
It had the unrealized potential to support enough commercial, office and residential development to create 5,000 jobs and millions in property-tax revenues.
Business owners contacted for the study complained that the homeless increased security and cleaning costs and scared away customers. That scares away businesses.
This is why you see cities such as Los Angeles, New York, Pittsburgh, Seattle, St. Louis, Las Vegas and many others cracking down on the homeless.
It sounds cold, possibly even cruel.
But the reality is that people sitting at an outdoor cafe don't want to be confronted for a handout.
Women who work in downtown Orlando sometimes leave their buildings in teams for fear of being confronted by aggressive panhandlers.
A beautiful plaza in front of the Orange County Regional History Center was taken over by the homeless. And so the benches were removed, eliminating a wonderful spot for people to gather for lunch.
If a city or business invests money in creating nice venues, only to have them taken over by the homeless, they will stop investing.
That said, a crackdown is not the sole solution. It simply is the cheapest and easiest alternative.
A better approach is the Miami-Dade Homeless Trust. Set up in 1993, it is funded by a small restaurant tax and coordinates homeless programs with nonprofit agencies. A multitiered system of services works to get the homeless back on their feet.
Ten years after it started, the Miami homeless population dropped from 6,000 to 4,000, while numbers in other cities went up. Faced with the same problem of outdoor feedings, the county substituted indoor feeding locations. Not only is this more dignified and sanitary, it brings the homeless to social workers who can help them.
The homeless are a long-term problem. We should deal with them using such a long-term solution.
For the first time in about a year, Urel Horton, 60 years old and homeless, had a place to be and a reason to arrive early.
Horton was among the first in a long line of people at the St. Paul Armory to take advantage of the city's first Project Homeless Connect, billed as a one-day, one-stop shop for the homeless.
By 11:30 a.m., just a half-hour after the doors opened, Horton had met with people about employment opportunities, talked to a health care volunteer about having his teeth checked, connected with a veterans' service agency and tucked a new green sleeping bag under his arm. He was on his way to another table across the armory to ask about housing.
"I've just been living on my wits, on the streets, so finding that steady place — well, housing's the big problem for everybody here," Horton said. "Hopefully, some of us will leave here today with a place to live."
Two officers with the downtown precinct of the St. Paul Police Department took their cues from similar efforts in other cities to launch Project Homeless Connect. They brought in Ramsey County officials and dozens of charities and support agencies that regularly work with the homeless to have a presence Monday in the armory. There, hundreds of people, ranging from teens to the elderly, walked into a veritable mall of opportunity.
Giant signs beckoned people looking for employment, education, advocacy, legal aid and youth services. One side of the armory was dedicated to health care, where people could get eye exams, foot and wound care, psychiatric help, dependency counseling and urgent care. Boxed lunches were available in a food line, though by noon the line was longer for free haircuts. It was difficult to find a table or booth without giant bowls of Starburst candies, Tootsie Rolls and wrapped mints as lures. Organizers raffled off 20 bicycles.
Three girls who appeared to be in their late teens browsed at a booth for Breaking Free — "sisters helping sisters to break free" of prostitution. There, Doris Johnson, who came to the agency five years ago while she was a prostitute, rattled off a stream of slogans and statistics — "prostitution isn't a profession, it's an oppression'' — in the couple of minutes of face time she had with the girls before they moved on to another booth.
"They got me housing, and that was crucial, or else I'd still be out there on the streets," Johnson said of Breaking Free. "They showed me love, and that was crucial, too, so I could give love back to women who are in the same shoes I was in five years ago."
There was no official count late Monday of the number of people who had come through the doors seeking help, but of the few hundred at the Armory in the early afternoon, men seemed to outnumber women about 10 to 1. Many of those women were pushing strollers.
One of them was Marvella Baker, who stood near her husband, Vicente Serrano, and their children — the youngest 1 month old. The family arrived from Seattle earlier this year to help and stay with Baker's sister, selling all of their possessions to pay for the move. The family didn't have money to retrieve their car after it was towed, and a dispute with Baker's sister drove the family from her house.
Now the family is split among shelters — Serrano has been staying at the Union Gospel Mission while Baker and the children are at a family shelter. A certified nursing assistant, Baker is confident a job will come once the family finds housing.
"There's a lot of places I could stay with the kids, but we need to be together as a family, and that makes it a lot harder," Baker said. "I don't know what it's going to be like from one day to the next."
Sgt. Paul Paulos, a 13-year veteran of the St. Paul police, organized Project Homeless Connect with another officer, Dean Koehnen, after they attended a similar event in Philadelphia. Other American cities have followed suit — Minneapolis held its first such event in March — but St. Paul's is the first organized by police.
While a few wore daily patrol uniforms Monday, Paulos and other officers at the armory wore bright yellow T-shirts to help the homeless and the people working with them see the police as on their side.
The downtown police precinct will soon start a program to look at alternatives to jail for the homeless and those in "transitional housing" who come to officers' attention.
"We're always there for the bad things, so we want to build that trust and bond," Paulos said. "A lot of the things that normally end up (with people) in jail don't need to end that way. It costs the taxpayers thousands of dollars, and there are better ways to handle it."
From Urel Horton's vantage, Project Homeless Connect was a tremendous first step. Organizers see Project Homeless Connect as an annual endeavor, balanced on the calendar opposite the spring event in Minneapolis, which attracted many of the same people.
"There are a lot of things out there to help us, but a lot of times you can't get there or you don't have the energy to go do everything you need to do. Here it's all staring us in the face," Horton said. "All this help goes a long way."
VALPARAISO | The Porter County Public Library System imposed new limitations on temporary shelter residents' access to materials, including restricting the number of items they can check out at a time.
The new rules give temporary shelter residents library cards for three months and can only check out three items -- either print or audio visual -- at a time. Juveniles age 17 or younger will no longer be able to receive a library card.
The library system implemented the new policy May 10 after a growing problem of materials being checked out but never returned. The library lost nearly $4,000 worth of material in the past five years, Assistant Director James Cline said.
"We tried to figure out a way to be more fiscally responsible to the taxpayers," Cline said. "We didn't want to not allow these people to use the facility or to check things out, so we tried to come up with a policy that would still allow them to do that."
Directors of local shelters say punishing those who need the resources the most isn't fair.
"You're really getting at people that can really be hurt," said Tim Sullivan, board director of Gabriel's Horn in Portage. "It's bad enough that you have to humble yourself to ask for help and then to top it off you feel you're not part of the community."
Neither Sullivan nor Tom Isakson, program director for the Christian Community Action that runs Spring Valley Shelter, were contacted about the problem prior to the policy change.
Isakson said he would like to talk with the library board about other solutions, like having a drop box at the shelter or asking the shelter residents to sign information release waivers so the directors could better track their use.
"If we had spoken in advance, I could have suggested other measure that may have met the same goals in a way that's more respectful of my clients' rights," Isakson said.
(APN) ATLANTA – Homeless advocates are planning a fabulous redesign of the Peachtree and Pine Homeless Shelter into a major community hub, where the homeless will eventually run a coffee shop, restaurant, market, art studio, and rooftop garden, to enhance downtown culture and provide themselves a way out of poverty.
Everyone at the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless, which runs the Shelter, is excited about all the possibilities for the future. Currently a lot of space there is simply not being utilized.
“We’re trying to create a neighborhood right on the corner, something excellent, cool, attractive, and fun,” Anita Beaty, 64, Executive Director of the Task Force, said.
Beaty is like Atlanta’s Godmother of the homeless, having led campaigns against Mayor Franklin’s panhandling ban and the city’s mass eviction of the homeless during the Olympics. She formerly served as the President of the Board of the National Coalition for the Homeless.
But she wants to do more than serve the homeless. She wants to empower them to create a better community for everyone. It is this philosophy that makes the Task Force’s vision so special and important.
In drafting the current Master Plan, staff members at the Task Force asked residents “What would make their hearts sing?” Beaty told Atlanta Progressive News.
The Task Force, founded in 1981, is implementing its Master Plan to redesign the organization’s 95,000 square foot headquarters on Peachtree and Pine Streets.
The Task Force will roll out a coffee shop and commercial kitchen this Fall, both of which will serve as examples of what can be done when people come together for the common good.
The commercial kitchen and café, located in the rear of the Task Force, can serve nearly 600 people and are nearing completion.
The new kitchen and café will not be a soup kitchen, but a place where the homeless and residents in the community can come together and have a meal, Beaty told Atlanta Progressive News.
The Cathedral of St. Phillips on Peachtree Street donated $30,000 to purchase tables and chairs for the café, Jules Dykes, Development Director for the Task Force, said.
There is also the possibility a catering service will be run from the kitchen and Beaty wants the kitchen to be run by residents.
The bottom floor of the building contains empty retail space that the Task Force will utilize. “Blend,” a coffee shop currently under construction, will take advantage of that space. Many people working to complete the coffee shop are doing so pro bono or at a discounted rate.
Blend will help the homeless by providing job opportunities and will provide a place for people in the community to relax and share ideas. Snacks and treats produced in the kitchen will be sold at the new coffee shop.
For several years, homeless artists have been using the empty space where Blend will be to paint. One homeless client of the Task Force can be found creating beautiful masterpieces each day of the week with paint on canvas, and he has been doing so for several months. The artist declined an interview request for this story.
Beaty said the Art Studio will remain in the rear of the shop.
Even after Blend is complete, Beaty told Atlanta Progressive News the Task Force might use the remaining extra space on the bottom floor to create an urban market where arts, crafts, furniture, and possibly produce are sold.
This way, the homeless can in effect work for themselves, and own the means of production of so many community goods. Why work for poverty wages to help a big corporation make a profit, many in poverty ask themselves. The Peachtree and Pine Center may thus help restore work as a positive and meaningful experience for many clients.
The organization will roll out a comprehensive design plan, unveil two new additions, and begin a fundraising campaign this Fall, Beaty said.
Since its inception, the Task Force has helped people in need by providing transportation, shelter, outreach, housing referrals, health care, employment, and more. Their goal is to prevent homelessness and to seek affordable and safe housing and services for everyone.
They are equipped to handle 976 people at one time but serve more than that during the course of any given day. There are approximately 500 beds for men and an overflow lobby for women. The Task Force is currently not licensed to provide beds for women.
Since 1994, the Task Force has brought over $20 million in federal grants to Atlanta for serving the homeless.
The Task Force moved into their current building, an old car dealership located in the South of North neighborhood (SONO) along the Peachtree corridor, in 1998.
Since then, the surrounding neighborhoods have developed to include upscale residential and retail options for increasingly affluent residents.
Some residents have become wary of such a large facility that serves the homeless in their neighborhood.
The Master Plan, thus, is also an attempt to alleviate those concerns by simultaneously improving the services to the homeless and creating a place that the community will seek out.
“Communities of inclusion are everywhere and that’s what Atlanta needs,” Beaty said. “We need street life and street vendors.”
Atlanta Progressive News currently works closely with the Task Force, empowering homeless clients there to vend our newspapers in public spaces in Downtown, Midtown, and Little 5 Points. We have trained over 25 homeless vendors and some have been able to make extra money while providing independent media to the public. APN ultimately hopes its Street Vendor Program, to be expanded along with The Task Force, will be just one piece of many exciting opportunities, for the homeless and the public, involving Peacetree and Pine.
The Task Force wants both members of the surrounding community and clients to have ownership and is making sure that notion is part of the design process.
Larry Broner, who has been at the Task Force for three years and works on fiscal and administrative issues, recalled early meetings of all the departments called by Luke W. Perry to address concerns about the future.
“Everybody put their concerns on the table,” Broner told Atlanta Progressive News.
Mr. Perry then took those concerns and figured out the best way to address them.
Broner himself is working on improving administrative services such as how to save money by reducing the power and water bills, which he said are enormous. He also finds other short cuts to saving money and is in charge of making sure grant money is spent properly.
“When I do find time to help out, I give 110 percent,” Broner told APN.
Since then, an Advisory Committee has formed, which is comprised of students, lawyers, university professors, architects, developers, community members, and clients staying at the Task Force.
This Committee advises and guides the project and has brought together people who might not otherwise come together and share ideas, perhaps one of the most important long-term goals of the Master Plan.
It is hard to demand things from people when they are generously working for free or at a discounted rate, which could lead to a delay in the completion of the coffee shop, Dykes said. Beaty is optimistic about construction remaining on schedule, however.
Ideas are also being tossed around as to how to improve the physical structure of the building in an attempt to blend the facility better with the rest of the community.
Beaty told Atlanta Progressive News all the windows will either be replaced or redesigned, awnings could be added to cover the retail areas, and an atrium could be added in the front of the building to serve as a visitor’s entrance.
There is unused space on the top floor, portions of which will be turned into single occupancy rooms, the “holy grail” of Task Force housing, according to Dykes.
Other portions of the top floor will be made available to Americorps, which has partnered with the Task Force for about 12 years, for meeting and working.
Available at Blend and possibly other retail venues across the city will be herbs and vegetables grown in the planned 28,000 square foot roof garden on top of the Task Force headquarters.
Task Force residents as well as other community members participated in the design and will help construct and maintain the space. The food grown in the garden can help produce up to 500 meals a day in the new kitchen.
The garden is currently under development. Experts are currently exploring the whole idea to see how it can be done, Dykes said.
Customers from Blend can take their coffee to the roof and enjoy the view of the city and their new surroundings that will include an outdoor performance space for films, live performances, and discussions as well as a sculpture garden and a “plein air” studio space for artists.
The rooftop garden will serve several environmental purposes as well. The vegetation will provide insulation and reduce the rooftop temperature. Water that filters will be recaptured and reused throughout the building. Rainwater will be collected for irrigation. A skylight will allow natural light into the building, reducing the need for electric light.
In addition to growing flowers and vegetables, residents and community members may get a chance to attend classes in landscaping, horticulture, and carpentry, according to Beaty.
There are several smaller, but just as important, initiatives that will be described in detail in the comprehensive plan the Task Force will roll out in October or November, along with the unveiling of Blend, the kitchen, and café.
Beaty said the Task Force wants to “show people first that we can do something excellent right there without excluding people we serve.”
The underlying message from a summit on employing people with disabilities in a South Burlington conference room Monday, June 19, 2006, was one of hope and possibility.
The inspiration came largely from the Vermonters who presented their life stories, including candid insights into the challenges of their disabilities. Actor Robert David Hall, a star of the hit television show, "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," and a disabled rights advocate, was clearly so impressed with the presentations of the speakers who preceded him that he continually referred back to them during his keynote address.
The event was the Governor's Summit on the Employment of People with Disabilities, the fourth such conference to recognize the accommodation efforts of state businesses and schools and to spread the word about this important and sometimes forgotten labor pool.
Vermont's record of employing people with disabilities is strong. The state ranks third in the nation in the percentage of people with disabilities who are employed, according to the Agency of Human Services. As Gov. Jim Douglas told the audience, however, the estimated 7,500 Vermonters between the ages of 14 and 22 who are disabled face an uphill battle to reach that goal of employment. They are more likely than their able-bodied peers to drop out of high school, get in trouble with the law and not go on to college, Douglas said.
Schools and workplaces should pay attention to these young people and offer them a chance to prove themselves. It is well worth looking beyond the disability to see the person. Nate Besio of South Burlington, one of the speakers, uses a wheelchair after a diving accident at age 14, but he exudes an infectious can-do attitude. After earning his MBA in 2002, he now works as business manager at the Vermont Genetics Network at the University of Vermont. His success today was achieved through a positive approach to life, his supportive family and friends and accommodating educators and employers along the way.
"I made people see me, not the disability," Besio said.
Sean Plasse told the audience that the Stern Center for Language and Learning in Williston was the key to his breakthrough. Plasse described how he made it all the way through a Bachelor's degree from McGill University in Montreal before dealing with his dyslexia.
With the help of a tutor and scholarships that he eventually paid back to the Stern Center, he made the tough climb up to literacy. He now runs his own building and remodeling business.
Investing in people with disabilities, Plasse said, is also an investment in "families, communities and Vermont itself."
Businesses and schools should ensure they are as accessible as possible and open to the possibilities that a person with disabilities can offer.
As Vermonters, let's make that important investment. See the ability, not the disability.
BATON ROUGE, La. -- Mounted police on horseback will soon be dealing with the growing problem of panhandling by the homeless near downtown Baton Rouge.
The reinstated mounted patrols also could be used at festivals and at college football games, city-parish officials said Monday.
"We are going to re-institute policemen on horseback, who are primarily going to be utilized for the downtown area," said Walter Monsour, the mayor's chief administrative officer.
The police department unloaded its five horses in 1987 because of increased costs in maintaining mounted patrols. But Monsour said mounted police have proven to be effective in other major cities such as New Orleans. He hopes to have four mounted officers operating by August or September.
"The capital costs of acquiring the horses and the tack isn't really that much. And with the price of gas these days, oats are cheaper," Monsour said.
The horses will be specially trained for police duty, and will provide police with access to areas that neither police cruisers or bicycles can reach, Monsour said.
One of the duties of the police on horseback will be to help control panhandling and other activities associated with the homeless.
"We recognize that post-Katrina, our homeless population has, in fact, grown. We want to protect the rights of these individuals, but we certainly want to protect the citizens from any harassment," Monsour said.
Metro Council member Mickey Skyring said some of the panhandlers are becoming aggressive.
"I've noticed since Katrina that there has been a huge influx of for lack of a better word, tramps or bums or panhandlers. And they're very aggressive," Skyring said.
Wyoming Winds is published by the Wyoming Coalition for the Homeless |
