(Orlando) Mayor drops charges in homeless-feeding arrests

[Roland99]

Source: Orlando Sentinel

Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer announced Friday that the city is dropping criminal charges against more than two dozen anti-poverty activists who were arrested after feeding the homeless in Lake Eola Park.

The first of a series of trials was scheduled to begin Monday morning for members of Orlando Food Not Bombs, the group that's fought Dyer and the city over a controversial ordinance restricting the distribution of food in downtown parks.

Dyer said he made the decision not to prosecute the group's members because they moved their feedings out of Orlando's signature park last month. The group now shares vegetarian food twice a week on the plaza in front of City Hall, just below Dyer's office.

"Since the issue has been resolved I'm going to show a little good faith, and I've asked the city prosecutor to dismiss the charges," Dyer told the Orlando Sentinel. "The intent was never to arrest people; the intent was always to balance the needs of the users of Lake Eola Park."

Read more: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/os-homeless-feeding-charges-dropped-20110819,0,2178580.story

[PoliticAverse]

1. Good. n/t

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. Glad the food is getting distributed. Not sure if the needs of the

users of the park has truly been balanced, or if the homeless have just been moved.

[quaker bill]

8. The homeless were never in Eola Park

People crashed there 20 years ago. It has been illegal to crash there for 20 years. The landscape was changed, it is heavily lighted at night and patrolled on bicycle and horseback. Anyone crashing there is arrested. The homeless come there to use the public restrooms and to get food when OFNB was sharing twice a week. City Hall is two blocks away and just as convenient for the homeless who want food as the park was, perhaps more so, as most now crash on the west side of Hughey Ave, where arrest is unlikely and where most of the shelters are located. City Hall would be less of a hike for most. City hall is also a much higher traffic location, so the protest will be more visible.

I think it is a win-win situation.

[GreenPartyVoter]

16. I think the visibility thing is definitely good, as is the shorter hike.

[salib]

3. What's going on in Florida?

I thought Kansas was bad.

[Jamastiene]

4. What kind of world do we live in...

where feeding hungry people is punishable by law?

[cutlassmama]

5. we can't feed people in the US, only Somilia???

[mia]

6. There are others feeding the homeless in Orlando .

I was able to participate with a group who distributed delicious food (I know, because I tasted it.)to the homeless a couple of weeks ago through my daugter. It was an unforgettable experience. Plus, I met man who inspired my dormant art. I wish Miami had a similar group. It was faith-based, but real. People ate. People loved. Even if I didn't fullly appreciate the belief system, my experience of the world was expanded. I was able to know, to hug, and talk to people I never would have known.

[The Northerner]

7. It's about darned time n/t

[rasputin1952]

9. That feeding people became a "crime" in the first place...

is appalling.

Nice touch though that the meals are now distributed at City Hall under the mayor's office.

[quaker bill]

10. This is the intentional confusion

It was never illegal to feed people. People are fed daily in a parking lot across the street from the park, no legal problems at all. This was about conducting a peace protest in the park 2 times a week, 52 weeks a year. The peace protest involved feeding the homeless, by choice of the activists. It was never about whether the homeless can be fed, they are fed in many nearby locations completely legally. The homeless do not live in this park, because they will be arrested if they try. It is and always was a peace protest. Conducting a peace protest in front of City Hall will work just fine.

[rasputin1952]

11. So, in a public park, people can't "protest"?

That is another item I find appalling.

[quaker bill]

12. They can protest there

with a permit, just like in most parks anywhere. A single group simply can't get 104 permits a year for one park. There are art shows, film festivals, heritage festivals and a great variety of other gatherings in that park with something almost every weekend, each one of these events gets a permit. There are other parks. OFNB has been allowed to protest in front of City Hall in a perfectly fine plaza, two blocks away, as often as they like. The City Hall plaza is a higher traffic and more visible location.

The city regains control over the use of its parks, OFNB gets a higher visibility location to do their protest, and no one goes to jail, sounds like win-win to me.

[rasputin1952]

13. No one goes to jail and higher visibilty is certainly a win-win...

as I posted above, I thought it was a nice touch to do this under his office.

[quaker bill]

14. Mayor Dyer is a Dem

I think it is more accurate to say you can protest in the parks all you like, as long as you are not serving food at the protest. I have been to large peace rallies there and other than bottled water for safety, (it gets really hot here), I have never been at a rally with meals provided. Large gatherings do require a permit, food or not. Doing food service in the parks to serve more than 25 folks requires a permit, whether you are serving the rich, homeless, or middle class, does not matter.

The City Hall plaza is one of the venues I have used when organizing / participating in peace rallies. It works just fine.

Some of the OFNB folks are friends of mine. I am glad to see none of them going to jail over this. It is a shame this could not have been worked out while the Casey Anthony media circus was in town. The media was camped only a block or so away and the protest would have been in easy camera range. The reporters would probably tripped over it going to bistros for lunch.

[rasputin1952]

15. I'm a big advocate of food at rallies and other situations...

while not always practical, feeding people breaks the ice and creates an atmosphere of commonality. Some of the best situations I've been in have been "pot luck protests"; but naturally, it all depends on the local culture and staying w/in the ordinances of the municipality.

[lovelyrita]

17. The intent was to keep the homeless away from the rich

people who live downtown.

We have tent cities in Orlando but Disney likes to keep a lid on that.