# Another reason to hate Fort Lauderdale, you'll get arrested for feeding the homeless.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-reason-to-hate-fort-lauderdale-youll-get-arrested-for-feeding-the-homeless/703794
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [November 5, 2014, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-reason-to-hate-fort-lauderdale-youll-get-arrested-for-feeding-the-homeless/703794 "2014-11-05T19:38:49Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2014, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-reason-to-hate-fort-lauderdale-youll-get-arrested-for-feeding-the-homeless/703794/41 "2014-11-06T02:24:50Z")
Fort Lauderdale homeless could be given a place to sleep at the local animal shelters, and _secure their own food_ supply by picking up and Bar-B-Queing any illegal stray dogs and cats.
Gainful employment in law enforcement, food shelter, not so many cats roaming the streets.
Where’s the downside? It might even count as an improvement in the town’s moral rectitude.
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### Author:  [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2014, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-reason-to-hate-fort-lauderdale-youll-get-arrested-for-feeding-the-homeless/703794/42 "2014-11-06T02:28:30Z")
Feeding the homeless encourages homelessness?
I can see that. If I knew that I could get free food from strangers on the street, I’d gladly quit my job and live under a bridge.
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### Author:  [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2014, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-reason-to-hate-fort-lauderdale-youll-get-arrested-for-feeding-the-homeless/703794/43 "2014-11-06T02:43:21Z")
> [@FXMastermind](#):
>
> What’s the other reason [for hating the city](http://bit.ly/1uwPgew)?
I think [this article](http://www.theonion.com/articles/obama-speechwriters-unsure-how-theyd-praise-fort-l,32364/) sums it up.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2014, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-reason-to-hate-fort-lauderdale-youll-get-arrested-for-feeding-the-homeless/703794/44 "2014-11-06T03:03:12Z")
> [@Aquadementia](#):
>
> They could collect revenue by having those things that dispense a handful of feed like at a petting zoo, and they would only use special tokens sold or given out by the tourist bureau. Solves two problems with one stone.
> :dubious:
> I think I’ll claim this was your idea.
Are you, perchance, a Republican?
:rolleyes:
---
### Author:  [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2014, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-reason-to-hate-fort-lauderdale-youll-get-arrested-for-feeding-the-homeless/703794/45 "2014-11-06T03:08:57Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#):
>
> So, the city, being compassionate and such, will set up a shelter and feed the unfortunate? Or are they simply hoping to make it another city’s problem? We’re talking about sharing food in a public park, some of us call that a picnic, but I guess those are illegal now too.
Ft. Lauderdale already has shelters, just for the record. I’m not saying this is a good or a bad law, just that the city and county already have other services, both public and private, that feed and shelter the homeless.
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### Author:  [@Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emtar_KronJonDerSohn)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2014, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-reason-to-hate-fort-lauderdale-youll-get-arrested-for-feeding-the-homeless/703794/46 "2014-11-06T03:27:16Z")
> [@davidm](#):
>
> Feeding the homeless encourages homelessness?
>
> I can see that. If I knew that I could get free food from strangers on the street, I’d gladly quit my job and live under a bridge.
This law is more likely intended discourage seasonal homeless migration to Fort Lauderdale when it gets too cold to panhandle in the liberal northeast.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2014, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-reason-to-hate-fort-lauderdale-youll-get-arrested-for-feeding-the-homeless/703794/47 "2014-11-06T03:28:55Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#):
>
> Ft. Lauderdale already has shelters, just for the record. I’m not saying this is a good or a bad law, just that the city and county already have other services, both public and private, that feed and shelter the homeless.
The city wants to make money at the expense of hungry people.
Let them eat cake.
The library I worked at in my teens and early twenties, the job I liked above every one I have had, wanted to rid itself of the homeless using the library bathrooms. The doors were locked, and an ID was required to get a key.
I got into trouble with management for asking for an ID from everyone, not just the homeless.
How the hell do you drive a Mercedes to the library without a drivers license?
But I digress.
Perhaps Fort Lauderdale, the home of Travis McGee, could provide shelter and food for the homeless so that the revered Tourists would not encounter them.
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### Author:  [@Bruce\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Wayne)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2014, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-reason-to-hate-fort-lauderdale-youll-get-arrested-for-feeding-the-homeless/703794/48 "2014-11-06T03:47:42Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#):
>
> The city should not have the power to zone in such a way that prevents people from sharing food in public. That’s just stupid.
I think this law probably started as a round about way of getting rid of panhandling. We’re going the same thing here because panhandling has become a problem. Because of the first amendment and recent court rulings cities have been unable to pass ordinances banning street beggars so the local governments have started to target the enablers instead.
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2014, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-reason-to-hate-fort-lauderdale-youll-get-arrested-for-feeding-the-homeless/703794/49 "2014-11-06T03:54:26Z")
Well, the perp _did_ break the law. Sure, it’s a stupid law that should never have been passed, but if you can’t do the time, then don’t do the crime.
Here’s hoping the publicity will help get the law rescinded.
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### Author:  [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2014, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-reason-to-hate-fort-lauderdale-youll-get-arrested-for-feeding-the-homeless/703794/50 "2014-11-06T04:41:23Z")
Tough shit about the law or his arrest …
> [@](#):
>
> A 90-year-old Fort Lauderdale man arrested last Sunday for violating a new city ordinance which restricts feeding the homeless, returned to the street with food today, defiant.
>
> – snip –
>
> Arnold Abbott was greeted like a rockstar when he arrived today, ready to give away more food to more hungry people, but the applause was short-lived. Police quickly rearrested Mr. Arnold, who vows to fight on.
[http://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/uncucumbered/90\_year\_old\_arrested\_for\_feeding\_the\_homeless\_returns\_in\_defiance\_of\_the\_new\_law](http://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/uncucumbered/90_year_old_arrested_for_feeding_the_homeless_returns_in_defiance_of_the_new_law)
This is going to get interesting.
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### Author:  [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2014, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-reason-to-hate-fort-lauderdale-youll-get-arrested-for-feeding-the-homeless/703794/51 "2014-11-06T05:05:10Z")
> [@Bone](#):
>
> So if someone sets up a food giveaway program that makes everyone sick, doesn’t adhere to basic safety rules for people and staff, and is in a part of the city not set up for the traffic pattern, and types of property in the area, that should be fine?
If that was the issue, they would have instated regulations and control of the food being served and its preparation, not on the place where it is served.
Getting your meal more than 500 feet/yard (can’t remember) from a residential area doesn’t make it any safer.
The intent is clear, and isn’t even hidden. So don’t argue that’s it’s all intended to protect the health of the homeless. Not even the people who voted it try to pretend that.
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### Author:  [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2014, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-reason-to-hate-fort-lauderdale-youll-get-arrested-for-feeding-the-homeless/703794/52 "2014-11-06T05:22:12Z")
> [@Bone](#):
>
> When they create a gathering of folks, do you think they should provide bathrooms? A lot of folks gathering for meals are going to produce human waste.
_Cities_ should provide free bathrooms. I Don’t know how it is over there, but over here they have all but disapeared. And apparently it’s the same in Fort Lauderdale, and they are going after people defecating and urinating in public. If people defacate in public, the solution is obvious to me and doesn’t include arresting people.
> [@](#):
>
> Should the people providing the food be regulated like other food service providers - following standards and protocols of food safety, handling, preparation, etc?
Certainly. I would bet a lot of money that “not serving food anywhere near a residential area” isn’t part of the regulations these other food service providers are subject to. I’m pretty sure restaurants try to open shop close to residential areas, not in the middle of the woods.
And if the city wants to be 100% sure the food served is totally safe, they just need to organize itself the food distribution programm.
> [@](#):
>
> Should the people providing the food respect the neighborhood and it’s zoning? Certain neighborhoods are zoned residential - no other businesses will be able to operate storefronts, etc. Should this group be able to do so?
>
> I’m sure the church can still provide food to the homeless - they just have to follow the rules, no? That’s the whole point of allowing zoning, and mandating health and safety standards. I personally think the use of zoning and standards enforcement should be much more narrowly tailored, but that’s not the situation we are faced with.
It is obvious that the issue isn’t safety standards or zoning law. The city doesn’t even hide its decision behind this fig leaf. They want the homeless out, period. So, that’s what should be adressed and discussed, not the theoretical reasons why, if it weren’t the case, they might decide on similar regulations.
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### Author:  [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2014, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-reason-to-hate-fort-lauderdale-youll-get-arrested-for-feeding-the-homeless/703794/53 "2014-11-06T05:30:58Z")
> [@Bone](#):
>
> I’m talking about zoning in general. If zoning is allowed, then it can be used by those in power to zone out things they wish. It sounds like you’re against zoning. I’m guessing you’re not though, except when it impacts things you like.
> .
Because you think that if food distributions were all taking place right in front of the restaurants were tourists are having dinner (where presumably serving food is allowed), the city would be fine with it and would never have come up with these regulations?
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### Author:  [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2014, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-reason-to-hate-fort-lauderdale-youll-get-arrested-for-feeding-the-homeless/703794/54 "2014-11-06T06:05:50Z")
> [@clairobscur](#):
>
> It is obvious that the issue isn’t safety standards or zoning law. The city doesn’t even hide its decision behind this fig leaf. They want the homeless out, period. So, that’s what should be adressed and discussed, not the theoretical reasons why, if it weren’t the case, they might decide on similar regulations.
What solutions are you suggesting? I don’t know anything about this except for a couple articles I read after I saw this on the news and read this OP, so maybe I’m missing what you’re seeing.
From what I can tell, the problem is [this](http://voxxi.com/2014/04/25/fort-lauderdale-homeless-law/):
> [@](#):
>
> Fort Lauderdale’s homeless population has becoming increasingly visible in recent years, prompting the recent legislation. Mayor Seiler, speaking to the Sun Sentinel, said that part of the issue is the “revolving door between jail and the street.”
>
> According to Seiler, because the majority of people arrested and incarcerated in Broward county end up being released into Fort Lauderdale, the city has a high number of homeless people “‘from around the county. That’s not right, not the way it should be.’”
>
> Those who are homeless often have no means of getting out of the city, compounding the problem. While the city used to fund a bussing program to get homeless people “out of South Florida”—which was, in and of itself, controversial—it no longer provides money for that, leaving impoverished men and women with few options other than staying on Fort Lauderdale’s streets.
There’s a bunch of homeless people who end up in Fort Lauderdale from all across the county because that’s where people are released from jail. The city is then tasked with accommodating all of them or finding ways to transport them.
I’m not suggesting that criminalizing the problem is the right solution. But I haven’t seen any other viable ones offered. I don’t know anything about the city’s budget, but I would think there would have to be some consideration to that in the solution.
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### Author:  [@wedgehed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wedgehed)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2014, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-reason-to-hate-fort-lauderdale-youll-get-arrested-for-feeding-the-homeless/703794/55 "2014-11-06T06:13:19Z")
How can something like this occur in a [Democratic stronghold](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broward_County,_Florida#Politics)?
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2014, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-reason-to-hate-fort-lauderdale-youll-get-arrested-for-feeding-the-homeless/703794/56 "2014-11-06T11:48:08Z")
> [@Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](#):
>
> This law is more likely intended discourage seasonal homeless migration to Fort Lauderdale when it gets too cold to panhandle in the liberal northeast.
Is that really “a thing”? Like the swallows and Capistrano is a thing? I’m having trouble picturing this mass orderly exodus of people. Do they summer in Montreal?
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### Author:  [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2014, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-reason-to-hate-fort-lauderdale-youll-get-arrested-for-feeding-the-homeless/703794/57 "2014-11-06T13:35:30Z")
> [@Bone](#):
>
> Keeping the homeless away from tourists is bad because…why? For places that rely on tourist revenues, it seems prudent to take steps to attract tourists.
> [@Bone](#):
>
> I’m talking about zoning in general. If zoning is allowed, then it can be used by those in power to zone out things they wish. It sounds like you’re against zoning.
Keeping the homeless away from tourists isn’t a zoning issue.
Keeping the homeless away from tourists is bad because homeless people are human beings who have rights. They have the right of movement, and freedom to peaceably assemble. Using the police to keep them from public view is direct assault on their freedoms.
What’s really sad is that the “homeless problem” here is focused on the impact of the homeless on business instead of the fact that these are human beings living on the street.
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### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2014, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-reason-to-hate-fort-lauderdale-youll-get-arrested-for-feeding-the-homeless/703794/58 "2014-11-06T14:11:18Z")
A similar ordinance was passed in Orlando in 2006, and was struck down in 2008 on [freedom of expression and religious exercise grounds](https://www.aclufl.org/pdfs/OrlandoHomelessOrder.pdf). The area in the question (a city park) is not touristy, though; it’s surrounded by Important Businesses and some hoity-toity neighborhoods.
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### Author:  [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2014, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-reason-to-hate-fort-lauderdale-youll-get-arrested-for-feeding-the-homeless/703794/59 "2014-11-06T14:59:24Z")
> [@Oxymorons](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oxymorons/91434/7):
>
> Perhaps Fort Lauderdale, the home of Travis McGee, could provide shelter and food for the homeless so that the revered Tourists would not encounter them.
They do. That was the point of my post.
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### Author:  [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2014, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-reason-to-hate-fort-lauderdale-youll-get-arrested-for-feeding-the-homeless/703794/60 "2014-11-06T15:47:30Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#):
>
> My least favorite flavor of toothpaste.
I was trying to think hard serious thoughts here about homelessness and you ruined it! Now I’ve got to start over.
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