Friday, June 22, 2012


To Feed or Not to Feed: Advocates Protest Against Philadelphia Public Feeding Ban


The signs are there along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. They are stark, cold. They warn against public feeding of more than three people at any one time on any and all Philadelphia park and recreation areas: “Repeat violators will be subject to $150 fine”.

Jackson Walters, 44, homeless for 11 months, occasionally sleeps at Logan Circle, spends most of the weekday inside the Central Library, and relies on the daily public feedings to survive. To him, the signs bring to mind other park signs.
“It’s almost like, ‘Don’t feed the animals! Don’t feed the pigeons!’” Jackson laughs. “The city doesn’t see what a blessing it is for those of us down and out. I’m trying to get my life together. Need some help. I gotta eat, keep strong. The church people who come out here with food are doing a great service. And it ain’t right for the city to stop what they are doing. It’s not right!” he exclaimed.

START OF IT ALL
The issue began when the city of Philadelphia announced in March that a ban on outdoor feeding in city parks will go into effect. Mayor Nutter stated that the hope was to encourage more indoor meals, which would be safer, healthier and would be able to provide additional resources and services to the homeless population, including physical and mental health care. Deputy Mayor Donald F. Schwartz also stated that the move indoors would help reduce the risk of food-borne illnesses and ensure proper food safety.
The Philadelphia Department of Public Health along with the Parks and Recreation Department held two public hearings in March and heard testimony from over 120 people, most who objected the ban.

Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell testified against the proposal, “It’s just not realistic, this proposal. Yes, it’s great to be able to sit down inside and eat a meal. We do not need to further victimize people in so many ways. This is not the way to do it. It sets up a negative approach to the problem. We need to make an investment in people, a positive investment.”
Blackwell organized a city council hearing on May 31st. More than 50 people attended, including representatives from 14 community groups, many food providers, several homeless individuals and three representatives from One Step Away.

Students from the Mathematics Civics and Sciences Charter School also testified about their weekly feeding program at both Ridge Shelter and at Love Park. The students have been serving hundreds of homeless and hungry people for over 5 years, raising $500 to $1,000 weekly for the Homeless Initiative Program. Gregory Dooley, a MCSCS student leader stated, “It is clear to me that the reason the Mayor has implemented this new directive is that he does not like the way large groups of homeless people and the public looks to visitors and the more affluent residents.”

David Shively who has been on the streets handing out coffee and doughnuts to the homeless for years testified that he was “ready and willing to go to jail if need be” for feeding people. He called on city officials to work “with us, not against us” in feeding the people. “You need us. You may not know that, but you need us.”

In early April, Mayor Nutter agreed to assemble a mayoral task force to regulate outdoor feedings and find sufficient indoor spaces for the homeless. At the May 31st city council hearing, several members of the Task Force complained in frustration that there were not enough organized resources in place, especially viable indoor sites.
Sister Mary Scullion, cofounder of Project H.O.M.E withdrew her earlier support of the mayoral task force until the city was able to provide a viable plan for moving the meals indoors and “appropriate quality dining centers are in place.”

Although the ban officially went into effect on June 1, Altressa Boatwright, Operations manager of Chosen 300 ministries encouraged “every church, every organization, every individual that has been serving on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway to continue serving, despite this law…” Chosen 300 offered to pay the fines for anyone fined as long as funds were available.
The Saturday feedings along the Parkway went on as planned without incident. No warnings were given at any of the weekend feedings. No fines.
No city reaction at all.

LAWSUIT FILED AGAINST CITY
On June 4, The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the law firm of Kairys, Rudovsky, Messing & Feinberg, LLP filed a federal lawsuit against Mayor Nutter and the city of Philadelphia on behalf of several religious groups to block the feeding ban, charging it violates the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The plaintiffs named in the lawsuit are Chosen 300 Ministries, the Welcome Church, the King’s Jubilee and Philly Restart.

“Chosen 300 and many of the organizations attempted to work with the Health Department and Parks and Recreation Department to come up with a reasonable solution to a false claim that this was a health and dignity concern. We have attended four hearings, three meetings, and four appearances before City Council. The city has chosen not to sit at the table with those who serve outdoors to come up with a solution that is equitable and protects our rights as well as those we serve. As a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ it is our responsibility to try to reconcile, but the city has left us with no option but to file for an injunction in federal court,” Boatwright said in a statement exclusively to One Step Away.

Attorney Paul Messing stated that the plaintiffs have been feeding the homeless and the hungry on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and other locations for over a decade and it was an essential part of their religious ministry and Pennsylvania law protects their right to participate in public feedings. “What they are doing is exercising their religious beliefs. A ban on the use of the entirety of Fairmount Park violates their first amendment rights,” Messing said.

On June 13, the city of Philadelphia released a brief press statement that “there will be no effort to enforce the new city policy and regulations until the Court makes a decision at the scheduled hearing.”
A hearing on the preliminary injunction in federal court is scheduled the second week in July.

Posted by Erik Younge & Paulina Malek

The Right to Feed: A National Struggle

 
The struggle against Philadelphia’s public feeding ban has highlighted this civic and religious issue across the nation. More than 50 cities have previously adopted anti-food sharing laws, according to the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty. The list includes Denver, Houston, Atlanta, Phoenix, San Diego, Los Angeles, Miami, Las Vegas and Oklahoma City.  

Heather Johnson, a civil rights attorney at the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty center stated, “We’re seeing these types of laws being proposed and passed all over the country. We think that criminalization measures such as these are counterproductive. Rather than address the root causes of homelessness, they actually serve to perpetuate homelessness.”

City officials across the board argue that indoor feedings are better all around, providing a measure of dignity, expand services, ensure good public hygiene and safety. There is also the “obligation not only to the people in the parks and on the streets but to the wider community to prevent a public health problem,” says James Brooks of the National League of Cities.      

In two striking cases, the Federal Courts have ruled against the ordinances to restrict public feedings. In 2008, Orlando Federal Judge Gregory A. Presnell stated that the ordinance violated the First Amendment rights of the plaintiff, the First Vagabonds Church of God, and struck down the city’s ban. In 2010, the Nevada ACLU also successfully challenged a Las Vegas homeless feeding ban and reached a settlement that required the police to halt ticketing violators unless there was clear evidence of unlawful activity.
In cities, such as Philadelphia, which saw about 38 million visitors in 2011, city officials may believe that long lines of the homeless and the hungry along the Parkway will keep visitors away from the city.

 
Debate on this issue is widespread and growing. More than a dozen petitions online have enlisted thousands of signatures nationally and internationally in support of public feedings. One of the commentators on Alex Jones’ Infowars, a news show website, added this comment to her signed petition: “Sometimes a well-timed sandwich or a cup of hot soup can make a world of difference for a homeless person.”

One of the most surprising statements came from national pundit Glenn Beck who introduced One Step Away as “a Philadelphia-area newspaper which is a voice for the city’s homeless,” quoted me from my testimony at the May 31st city council hearing, “Feeding people and serving the needs of the people is a fundamental right. Erik is correct. Feeding people is a fundamental right because it’s a natural moral impulse. When you see someone in need, you want to help. You do your part. Not because someone tells you, but because you know it is the right thing to do…We have the right to feed. The right to care. And we must exercise it.

posted by Erik Younge & Paulina Malek