gerard—Actually, I thought your comment was rather perceptive.  I suppose that’s why I go out, in fact—I have to do something, ineffective as it may be.  One could consider it an easing of conscience.

Anarchissie:  I didn’t mean to denigrate Food Not Bombs people or their work.  They are doing what they can the best way they can. I DO NOT lump them in with the millions who allow themselves to be divided against each other, and thereby effectively immobilized, de-activated and made ineffectual. I guess the crack about salving consciences was my mistake—though I sometimes think that’s about all I’ve benn able to do in my lifetime of “political action.”  (And not even that, if you dig deeply).

gerard, June 30 at 11:19 am:

‘... Trapped in the divisions are millions of people who doubt these socially destructive values but are confused as to how they can preserve their own precarious status and at the same time do anything about the divisiveness—except feed hungry people in parks to ease their consciences and suffer any “disorder” that ensues. ...’

One of the most successful tactics of the Civil Rights movement was to present people with a living example of the world they desired, to which people could relate as they chose.  One example of this was the famous Greensboro sit-in: the sitters-in desired a world in which Black persons could sit at the lunch counter at Woolworth’s and be served.  Another was Mrs. Rosa Lee Parks’s desire to sit in the front of the bus.  These events were not chance occurrences; they were carefully thought out and planned in advance.  Their aims were equal rights within the existing liberal polity, which their White neighbors already enjoyed.

I don’t know who doing the food distribution in Curmudgeon99’s park, but the people I know who do this sort of thing are practicing a similar form of direct action.  They are not just feeding the hungry and homeless, which they could do by throwing sandwiches off the back of the truck and driving away, or by herding the indigent into concentration camps and having social workers do it.  They eat with them and with anyone else who comes along, because they want to manifest a society that is free, not only of homelessness and hunger, but of class divisions.  It is non-violent, but it is certainly confrontational, because the social order in which they find themselves obviously has a strong class system.

This is why they are not likely to cooperate with schemes whose desired result is simply to expel certain people from the parks.

However, I’m not understanding why this sort of thing would attract drug dealers.  In New York City, where I live, street drug dealers are usually found selling their wares to people who have money, as in the financial and business districts and near tourist attractions.

curmudgeon:  Your PS below: “P.S. Sometimes it is
hard for people to admit they are part of the problem - not a solution.”  That’s worth serious consideration!

Fundamentally, capitalism is an economic system which
is based on class difference according to degrees ranging from extreme poverty to extreme wealth. We are running on the capitalist economic system.  In fact, we are taught that is the only viable and proper system and anything else is dangerous, even sinful. People are punished if they do not believe it and try to promote some other system, or regulations on the present system.

Ironically, that very divisiveness helps to promote that system. When moral values are attached to economic status. it further destroys unified thinking and action.  Ideas flourish such as: The rich “deserve” what they “earn” and the poor are “undeserving” because they are “lazy”, “choose to be poor” “don’t care” etc.. 

Trapped in the divisions are millions of people who doubt these socially destructive values but are confused as to how they can preserve their own precarious status and at the same time do anything about the divisiveness—except feed hungry people in parks to ease their consciences and suffer any “disorder” that ensues.

Further distraction is caused by political wrangling, religious moralizing, self-protective evasion, authoritarian threats etc.

The false gods of capitalism truly laugh all the way to their banks.  Ignorance is not bliss. Silence is not golden. Injustice is extremely unstable.

P.S.
Sometimes it is hard for people to admit they are part of the problem - not a solution.

Monkeymind,

Nope have not given up. We are working hard to address the situation and get buy-ins from ALL parties including the homeless.

Articles like this don’t help when they glorify a group that (in our experience in our area) uses the serious problem facing our neighborhood and city to further their political goals.  In our area, the group absolutely refuses to work with other charities, the city, or anyone trying to coordinate an community approach.  They refuse to acknowlege how their actions in reality undermine a coordinated effort to really address the real needs of the homeless.

I don’t see how feeding people in the park collects drug dealers and gangs, who surely do not need free food.  Of course I suppose it depends on what kind of feeding is going on.  Food Not Bombs tends to collect what you might call ‘middle-class’ types, even among the indigent, among whom food is shared on an equal basis.  (I know that seems like a contradiction in terms, but try to dig it poetically.)  On the other hand, some charity operations throw ham sandwiches from the back of a truck, and drive off.  This sort of thing collects another kind of people, more in the wino/hobo class.

Gang behavior and the drug business do not emanate from personal poverty or from charity, however; they are the outcome of government policy and prevailing social conditions.  Abolish the Drug War, and you will have an end to drug-dealing, at least.  Gang behavior is more complicated, so I don’t have an easy, pat solution for it, but there are reasons why gangs appeal to young men among immigrants and other discriminated classes, which probably have a lot to do with the discrimination.  One might consider an effort toward integration—remember integration?  But it is very difficult to get people to treat others fairly, especially in groups.

curmudgeon99,

Sounds like you’ve given up and from what you describe your response is understandable.

Still, it is not exceptable is it?

I wish I had a solution.

I am not in the US any longer. Haven’t been for years. But from what I see the US isn’t Czechoslovakia 1968. Nor is it LA circa 1992. You won’t wake up tomorrow morning to find tanks in your street. Nope. It will be more subtle than that. The ideology will drift slowly.  First the mood will change and with it how people treat each other. Then lines will be drawn, sides taken, dividing interested groups on either side. Sooner or later one group will take a stronger position, begin to speak in louder tones, and the other will react, respond, fearing they will not be heard. One side may stop talking all together, just knowing in their hearts that they are right, while the other side is left shouting at empty chairs. In frustration someone might pick up a rock and toss it. Things will break and people will become afraid. Then the tanks will roll in and you will welcome the tanks. You’ll be glad they’re there, they’ll make you feel safe again, and the drift will be complete… the drift to totalitarianism.

Sounds like you are already feeling the drift. Sounds like everyone is.

Perhaps these homeless are too far gone. It seems they are being dealt with as if they are commodities, chunked into the silo of the unemployed, underemployed, uninsured, single mom, single dad or returned veteran.

As a person of religion, working in the world of a religious based charity, I know in my heart that we as a people, as a species, are marked not by our achievement in science or affections of material wealth as has become the global norm, but on how we treat each other.

“Human existence is … a radical and profound tension between good and evil, between dignity and indignity, between decency and indecency….”

––Paolo Freire, Pedagogy of Freedom

Our purpose is to foster then celebrate beauty’s triumph over the ugliness of the world.

You’re right.  At issue is EVERYONE"S rights, etc.

It is not merely a question of wanting anyone to just ‘disappear’. Granted, there is a need by homeless for food, medicine, shelter, etc.

That said, in an area blessed with good weather, many choose to live outdoors along streams, etc….many don’t.

The problem is that wherever homeless congregate for services, drug dealers follow, using the homeless as ‘cover’, lookouts, ‘ho;ders’ in exchange for drugs.

We now have a new problem added to the mix.  Groups of young adults have banded together into tribes and staked territories in the park - both for places to hang together and deal drugs from.  These are NOT nice groups and have been known to harass others who previously have crossed the park on their way to work or leisure.  One of the letters I posted alludes to the ongoing fights that break out between the groups. These people would NOT be there without ongoing illegal food handouts, usually from organizations from ‘somewhere else’ who do not care about the problems that their ‘beneficiaries’ are causing the surrounding area. 

There are many individuals who need help..but cannot be bothered to go anywhere else to receive it.  Local residents mostly realize that assistance is needed - but why won’t the ‘good samaritans’ help them in their own neighborhoods?  At least some of the time?

My wife works 2 blocks from our house ...but on the opposite side of the park.  She only walks during the day and never through the park, but around the perimeter.  If she works after dark, I have to pick her up since the homeless and the dealers rule the streets…for example, even though the posted law states the park is closed at sunset, I just now counted a group of 15 people hanging out at one of the memorials and 3 others sleeping on benches and the ground. A pot club has opened in her building so usually when I go to get her, at least 10-15 individuals are camped across the street waiting for handouts or someone to fill their ‘prescription’ and seel them some.  These are the same ones who I see in the park at other times..some of them selling what they received.

So you tell me who has rights.  My wife used to walk to and from work, any time of day until 18 months ago when the feeding in the park began, clothes given away, etc.

You tell me.. don’t judge if you are not exposed to the same conditions.

curmudgeon99—I don’t think you’ve defined the ‘entire issue’ very well yet.  No doubt some people wish other people would vanish—this is not news.  But all sets of people mentioned have rights (so far).  What do you suggest?

I am also disappointed in Amy’s ‘rush to judgement” without considering the entire issue.

Part 2 of 2

This is more detailed…again don’t judge until you read..

All suggestions in handling this reality greatly welcomed !!!!!!!

“More than a year ago when I tried getting the Police involved in addressing the feeding of the homeless in the park, they told me it’s a public park and they cannot do anything.  I then called the Health Department and told them what was occurring in the park.  They did accommodate my request and visited the park on the weekend to identify who was serving the food.
There is a church that does this and a family who prepares food from their homes and serves it at the park.  The Health Department spoke to them and stated that it was a violation of health codes to prepare food and serve it to people at the park.  The groups were informed of this and citations could be issued but that wasn’t done.  I told the Health Department that one visit wasn’t going to stop them and it hasn’t.  I was also told by the Health Department that these two groups were aware of the residents’ complaints.
The irony in all this is that if any restaurant downtown wanted to set up a booth in the park, they would need a permit.  There is a disconnect between the Health Department, Police and enforcement.  The Police will not stop the serving of food because it isn’t their responsibility. The Health Department could issue citations but won’t enforce the groups from stop serving food.
Yes, there should be some code changes but that takes time and is not a priority.  I passed the name of the groups, contact information, etc. over to XXX’s office last year and I believe they are working on this.  I also met with Captain YYYYYY who has responsibilities of that area (but since, has been promoted and moved on) and he stated he had meet with some groups that were serving in the park.  Basically the Captain said the groups feel committed to helping the homeless and feel worthy in doing so.  He was making efforts but no change.  I even called the Police when I see all the illegally parking, wrong-way parking, double parking, etc. for more than an hour while the food distributors set up in the park.  No response.  So no headway has been made in speaking directly to the groups.
A letter campaign could help but the situation is the park has gotten worse.  I volunteered to do the homeless count in the park on Monday at 4:30 a.m. for the 1000 Housing project.  That program plans to get 1000 chronically homeless people into homes before 2013.  My limited experience in interviewing the homeless is that there is no incentive for them to leave the park.  In fact, I was told no one goes hungry.  The reason they chose ZZZZZZ Park to gather is that it’s central to where they get services.  Other parks are not.  They get feed, clothing (new with tags on them), blankets, etc.  Employees from the Outreach Services go to the ZZZZZZ Park regularly and tell them where to get medical attention, housing, etc.  In essence, ZZZZZZ Park has become a campground for the homeless, so why move.
There were allegedly four fights that broke out Sunday and the police were called.  Along 111th St. past Saint Claire the homeless now sleep on the building cutouts, along the sidewalk, etc.  There’s more than 20 each evening that I’ve witnessed and it’s growing.  I met with CLEANERS and spoke to them about this and they agree it has become a real problem.  They have to clean up the mess every day.
Yes, the homeless have taken over the children’s playground.  That’s where they sleep now and do a lot of other things.  It’s sad for a number of reasons.  I’ve seen the number of families in the playground drop dramatically.  I believe this was a $500K project the city paid for and now it’s been given to the homeless…..
......Anyone up for a neighborhood picnic in the park?”

(1 para removed to fit max characters)

Part 1 of 2

There is an old Native American saying:
“Don’t judge anybody until you have walked an hour in his moccasins” !!!!!

I see none of you live across the street from such a park. Before you condemn the city, put yourself in the shoes of the immediate neighbors. 

Where I live, we are fighting the same battle..and it is a battle.

Why does only 1 park get involved?  How to get the groups to move distribution of food and other much needed services to other parks and locations and WORK with the community - not be ‘holier than thou’?

Most groups are from more affluent areas who would not allow these folks in THEIR neighborhood.

Let me share 2 e-mails…2 of many I received several hours as part of a discussion between residents, including city reps. 

The first is from a mother. see next post for another view.

“It would be great to get a sign at the play area about the no adults rule.  I think that is really important.  I was once told by the police dispatcher that the park is public area and the police could do nothing.  Really???

Last time I was there, two weeks ago, there was a large group of hobos near the swings.  They were smiling at me and my son and passing around a big bottle of Jack Daniels.  One guy was busy making a trailer out of some old pallets.  They had erected some flag in one of the picnic tables.  Right before I left, they took up a collection and one of them ran off to the light rail.  (I called the police)

Truly, if I was not actively trying to help out I would stay far, far away from this park. 

On the bright side, I haven’t seen too many drug dealers lately.”

I am really having a hard time believing this story is true. I find it hard to even imagine that my old home of charity, the ‘give me your tired, your poor, and pass the hat values, where I once watched total strangers come to the aide of flooding farmland, filling sandbags until dawn against an unrelenting enemy, where I saw grandmothers share homegrown, home canned, Mason Jar post - depression greenbeans with the ‘colored’ folks down the street because, “Grandson, no one deserves to starve.” has really come to this. I read all these stories and the responses that flow in from left and right. I listen to the rage and hope. I see the parting, the leadership abyss, the coronation of capital, corporate, kings and I try to comprehend. But this, this, this, story I can’t comprehend and anyone who can, anyone who sustains such subversion of liberty and right, is either deaf or evil.

Emma Lazarus, dear poet, your sonnet is rust. Read now the new US tabula ansata:

...just like the brazen giants of Rome,
whose want, lust and malice raped their own land;
here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
a mighty whore with a torch, whose flame
is Capitalism’s lightning, and her name shall be
Greed.
From her beacon-hand glows world-wide scorn and hubris beyond equal;
her militarized eyes command the polluted harbors that excrement now frames.
“I’ll take your ancient lands, you heathen mobs!” cries she with drone lips. “Render unto me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,the wretched histories of your once teeming shores.
I’ll these, the homeless, tempest-tost, the minerals and lands and all who wander on them, as mine, and
I’ll piss on them….

For here now with our 3 + wars, our a percentage of GDP spent on defense that is greater than all ‘western’, NATO and Brick countries combined,
our inbreed politic that embraces lobby over single moms, our Federal Reserve that enterprises Wall Street before Main, and our codified rule book of capitalist humanity that welcomes you to prison but closes hospitals and schools, is the true world order.

It is said you remember certain days. Pearl Harbor was just before me belonging to my oldest of brothers. But, JFKs assassination, Neil touching the moon, 9/11 are all days I recall among many others good and bad. But this one, marked by this seemingly sad and simple story that should be lost in the cacophony of American ignorance, tops the list. Please America, remember the good in you.

SoTexGuy, June 29 at 7:57 am:

‘... More seriously.. it is a crazy situation.. yet I fail to believe that if both sides gave a little something.. maybe the Food people moving to somewhere not as in-your-face? ...’

A major purpose of Food Not Bombs is to make a political point.  As one of their leaflets says, ‘SOLIDARITY, NOT CHARITY’.  They think food should be available to everyone, rich and poor.  If you show up at a Food Not Bombs food share they won’t ask you to prove you’re poor or enact indigence, the way bourgeois charities do.  They’ll just give you the same food they’re eating.

There is nothing crazy about the situation.  On one side are the values of property and capitalism, and on the other side is free food given to all who want it, which you can call whatever you like.  Naturally, from time to time the former will ring in the powers of the state to crush the latter, should they become annoying.

Really, does anything which speaks to the idealization of American values and the supposed virtues of our constitution come from that cesspool of bastardized christianity, ignorance, hate, and bigotry AKA “The South” or, more accurately, the confederacy and its matastsized adherents? Perhaps this “Union” is ungovernable when one considers the albatross around the neck of those who would try to govern in a rational, sane, and humane way and perhaps should be allowed to split along the lines of advanced humanity and paleolithic throwbacks!

I read about this FNB group and immediately looked them up in my city (Albany)to volunteer. This is my kinda people. Maybe they should rename their Orlando campaign: “STARVE MICE NOT MEN”.

This story is unbelievable! Warm, fuzzy, and cuddly—NOT! Shame upon our psychopathic leaders.

c-post

Have compassion for all beings. Feed the poor. Help the hungry.

How can anyone, any ideological or political group, not take exception to the actions of the Orlando Government?

There is no basis for such action in nature or religion. Only one mode of existence could foster such action: un checked capitalism.

Was Buddy Dyer requested to become a member of the U.S. Conference of Mayors signing last week’s resolution?  If not, why not? If so, why did he not sign? And has the Conference sent him any recent communication to discourage his reaction? Why not?

Was he asked by the local Ecumenical Council to publicly reconcile what he meant by “food terrorists” with the directive of Jesus to “feed my sheep?”

Were Orlando authorities asked to define for the public what “gentrification” means?  Was there any conference or panel discussion held to get businessmen together with local churches to discuss
“gentrification”?  Or, if “gentrification” was decided upon behind the scenes without public discussion, why was public discussion avoided?

So much of the time, issues clash because from the beginning possible flash-points were ignored or hidden from view.

RE: SoTexGuy, June 29 at 7:57 am Link to this comment

These Food Not Bombers are intentionally breaking the law and giving aid and comfort to the enemy. They are being civilly disobedient just to make a point, and they should be squashed unmercifully, not coddled. Those such as you are being duped by their treasonous treachery, and you too should be investigated for insufficient patriotic fervor.

What’s the big deal? These incidents are nothing out of the ordinary. Those who man the flotillas that seek to bring food and supplies to Palestinians are terrorists. All social programs are un-American. Food Not Bombs is a subversive counter insurgency organization made up of terrorists. All those associated with Food Not Bombs should be subjected to Enhanced Interrogation Techniques, and those who donate to Food Not Bombs should be arrested by the FBI or Homeland Security, and be given Indefinite Detention for giving material aid to a terrorist organization.

Those who are not with us are against us and they must be unmercifully squashed for the sake of freedom. Make war not love!

If they we’re giving out 1/2LB sirloin burgers smothered in sauteed mushrooms, onions, crisp dill slices, ripe tomato, romaine lettuce and with a slab of swiss.. I’d be in line over there and maybe getting arrested too. Vegan food? :(

More seriously.. it is a crazy situation.. yet I fail to believe that if both sides gave a little something.. maybe the Food people moving to somewhere not as in-your-face? Probably a little planning on their part would have also sufficed.. say, get multiple members to apply in advance for the permits.. no hassles, no confrontations.. That’s what they would do if their primary goal was feeding hungry people..

Then too the authorities could help by providing a suitable venue and other support, not just reading the ordinance and arresting people.

Seems both sides are feeding their egos and own agendas as much as anything.

Adios!

The situation is not peculiar to Disney’s turf.  A large number of municipalities, maybe most, have laws which make it illegal to give away food in public spaces in deference to the Total State.  Generally, the police look the other way, but in San Francisco several years ago thousands of people were arrested in a long and ultimately unsuccessful campaign to wipe out Food Not Bombs there.

Orlando is a ‘company town.’  Disney is ‘the company.’  The hungry and homeless
simply have no place whatsoever in the perfect virtual world that is “Fantasyland.” 

How is this not an unCONstitutional interference with the faith-based duty of
Christians (if any) in the Food Not Bombs group to “Feed the hungry”?

HokaHey!