Today I would like to address something that has bothered me greatly since I read about it in the USA Today newspaper yesterday.

"Cities set limits on serving food to homeless people"

Nationwide, cities have started to crack down on charities and people who provide food to the homeless. They are instituting rules such as requiring them to obtain a permit, take food handling classes, and even so far as limiting the number of meals they can provide, among other things. It appears that these changes are the result of citizens pressuring city officials to do something about crime and food safety (read food safety as a lousy excuse for the former).

What the f*ck? Seriously...what the f*ck?

It appears that we are now trying to criminalize being homeless. If you are homeless, you have become persona non-grata, an outcast, an unwanted person. In other words...you shouldn't exist in my tiny, little universe and I'm going to do anything I can to make sure that happens.

How? Well, the police won't enforce the historical vagrancy laws we have on the books and I'm glad they don't because if they did, they'd have to use MY tax money to house and feed them in the local jail so what else can we do? Hey, I know! Wildlife officials tell you not to feed stray animals because they'll keep coming back as long as you feed them, so let's not feed the homeless and maybe they'll go away!!!

YooHoo!!! I just solved the problem for how to increase my property value and more importantly, I don't have to look at them everytime I go downtown shopping!!!

Does my sarcasm reflect how angry I am right now?

Some would mistake my position and accuse me of being a socialist in a capitalistic society. They think that I am a proponent of dividing the wealth equally among all of the working class citizens. Power to the people!!!

Horse pucky.

What I'm talking about is philanthropy, pure and simple. The simple act of promoting human welfare, of lending a helping hand, of doing something that is right. You know...helping someone that is less fortunate than you are.

There are a few myths surrounding homeless people and the reason for their lot in life. Homeless people are lazy. Homeless people are society's leeches. Homeless people are drunks and/or drug users. Homeless people are psychotic. As with any segment of society, you're going to have your bad apples. Characterizing the population based upon these bad apples is inheriently flawed.

If what I'm talking about is lost on you, then there is nothing I can say that will in any way affect your lust for greed and your belief in "who has the most toys, wins" attitude.

If what I'm talking about strikes a cord in you, then perhaps some good can come of this post. I'd like to invite you to read this webpage on homeless people.

The next time you see a homeless person on the street asking for a handout, don't automatically assume that he's going to go buy a 40 or some smack.

Sometimes people like to make a big deal out of nothing.

For the most part if you wanna give someone some food, no ones gonna care. Thats a fact. If you look at what laws there putting into place objectively, instead of the way the schmuck that wrote the article, youll see that these laws are promoting a little bit of a safer place for bums.

Ever seen bum fights? Its on the same kind of line as that, basically kids find it fun to get together now adays and bake up a batch of cookies full of chocolate exlax and watch what happens. Some have even gone to farther depths than that to mess with the homeless.
What happens when the bum reports them to the police, if they even do? Nothing. The cookies were given as a gift and the cookies had nothing actually harmful in them, so the little punks dont get into trouble. With a law like this cops will actually be able to cite the perps and a little justice might be found in our ugly ugly world.

Now that ive pointed out the purpose of the bill from an objective stand point......I have to agree that the law is going too far and that some restrictions are ok but for the most part these laws are garbage.

I still stand on the fact that if you give cash or food to a bum no one's gonna give 2 ****s.

In principal I agree with you Rob. Here in the Virginia town where I live which is pretty much a mattress town for DC, the health safety laws for charity cooking facilities are pretty much enforced to deal with clean kitchens and use/quality of donated food. I think this is good. In some cases outdated food from super markets is donated which can be a bit iffy but it's usually permitted. Prepared food given by outside individuals also is usually not permitted. As a consequence charity kitchens where I've helped over the years are pretty decent and safe.
Where houseing for the homeless is concerned the situation here is apalling. It's doesn't begin to meet the needs, as I think is pretty much the case, sad to say, in many communities. The facilities are so over crowded that the fire laws tend to be virtually ignored and once an inmate catches a bug all the others get it.
In this town and a few others I've seen, the homeless shelters often have the funds to enlarge their facilities but every time they find a plot of land in town the local residents find a way to stop them from building. Then they have to go outside the town centers where there is no public transportation, to build.
Free rehabilitation facilities are non-existant and down and outs with drug or alcohol problems are definitely not the only ones in need of such help.
State funded job training for these people is not publicized which doesn't help.
The hypocrisy behind the whole bloody situation sickens me and I can't hold our goverment totally responsible for a solution. Oh, but no matter, we continue to flaunt our wealth and power as a christian nation by God.

this is a mixed emotion topic for me...

i have been homless... i got help, got a place to stay and got back on my feet, havent been homeless since.

there is a really big confusion that people have.. people are always confusing pan handlers /w the the homles. Yes, there are people that "dress down" and then stand on the roads around rush hours and rake in cash... then they walk back to thier car and go home.

one thing i have learned, is to look at a persons shoes, you can learn alot about a person.


another thing... not all bums are lazy... some people are crazy... others are sick and cant hold a job... and then there are the bums in seattle.. there are a bunch that live in tents and in shelters.. they work 40 to 50 hours a week. the cost of living out here is just to high. what makes it worste is if they make above a certin amout, they get cut off from receving assistance.. and that assitance barley pays for housing, they still need food, water, electricity... and other basic essentals...