A Mean Season Postponed in Florida

In the meanest of all of the states in the land — at least so says the National Coalition for the Homeless — a mean season looks to have been put on hold. If only for a time, if only in this mini-metropolis by the beach called Ft. Lauderdale, a respite from meanness might even last until the next season of change arrives in the Sunshine State. Sticking to the script, other Florida cities have not fared so well.

June has brought to St. Petersburg an ordinance  — highly democratic in its inclusion of not just the homeless but the most respected non-profits and even the St. Pete Times — banning all public solicitation. Miami, despite the courageous efforts of a group of Take Back the Land activists, last week added to its homeless population as it stood by and watched the evictions of tenants from a building which had been foreclosed by a management company backed by the infamously bailed-out JP Morgan Chase.

But when September takes its turn, a time of year generally imperceptibly different from the preceding months, it may come to pass that the next season of change will bring an unwelcome transformation for Ft. Lauderdale's homeless as well.

As it stands, in the wake of weeks of horrendous summer heat, hurricane threats or worse, the daily deluges of rain and indifference and the ineluctable dues extracted by life on the street, another mean season may be in the offing.

Last September, the City Commission appointed a task force to find one or several fixed indoor locations to feed the downtown homeless population, estimated to be anywhere from about 1,000 to well over several times that number, depending on who is providing the data.

After all, need it be written, Florida is very hot. It rains hard and a lot. When the local Food Not Bombs contingent and other groups feed the homeless in downtown's Stranahan Park, the weather does not care. But the city commissioners do, as does the city attorney. So do the powerful downtown business elite as represented by the Downtown Development Authority (DDA). And it seems that, while the fixed feeding location(s) may on the surface look like a good proposal, that's not all the commissioners, the city attorney and the DDA have in mind.

Public records dating back at least to February 2009 clearly suggest the agenda of at least some commissioners, including Mayor John P. "Jack" Seiler and City Attorney Harry Stewart, includes banning the Stranahan Park feedings.

Early last year, a prospective feeding location, the city's old heliport, had been suggested by then-Mayor James Naugle six months prior to the establishment of the task force.

Stewart, the public record shows, "recommended staff be requested to determine the cost for water facilities and to make the site ADA compliant. With such a designation, there could be a prohibition in the downtown parks." The heliport proposal was later scrapped for being too costly.

More recently, in a February 2010 conference meeting involving the task force, Mayor Seiler, the official meeting record shows, "confirmed for Commissioner [Bobby] DuBose that the goal is to prohibit feeding in the parks." The mayor's office did not return a call requesting comment.

Commissioner and current Vice Mayor Romney Rogers, another ban advocate, noted in January that "he wanted to designate a place, provide for feeding at that place and prohibit feeding where it is not appropriate."

Rogers, however, acknowledged in an interview that he was unaware of litigation which is awaiting a ruling in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, stemming from an effort to ban public feeding by the City of Orlando, the outlines of which are virtually identical to the situation in Ft. Lauderdale.

The original ruling in that case, handed down by a U.S. District Court in September 2008, noted the city's ordinance banning feeding in an Orlando park violated the First Amendment rights of Food Not Bombs Orlando along with the First Vagabonds Church of God. The city appealed the ruling to the higher court shortly thereafter.

Upon learning of the Orlando case, Rogers said, "I'm not going to proceed unless it's approved by our city attorney."

But proceed they will, though not until they settle on a fixed location which, nine months into the task force effort, is no sure thing. At the June 15 conference meeting, the task force presented four prospective locations, only one of which seemed to pique the interest of the commissioners. Still, no action was taken.

Owing to the scaled back summer schedule of the city commissioners, who only convene once before meeting again in mid-August, it will likely be at least until September before anything happens, before some fixed indoor spot is used to justify a public feeding ban in Ft. Lauderdale despite guarantees from both local and ACLU attorneys that a legal challenge will follow. In the end, the timing really won't matter. The State of mean has its reputation to protect. A season of change is never that far off.

Photo credit: Amy the Nurse