Feeding the homeless illegal

[Kat Kanning]

Las Vegas marshals ticket 7, arrest 3 amid homeless protests

KEN RITTER / AP | Aug 1 2006

City marshals blocked a radio personality from feeding homeless people at a City Hall park Monday, and issued summonses to a television news crew covering a publicity protest against a ban on "mobile soup kitchens."

Three people were arrested and seven were issued summonses at two parks, city officials said, including a reporter and a cameraman ticketed for trespassing while covering the protest for KLAS-TV, the CBS affiliate in Las Vegas.

Beth Monk, a KKLZ-FM radio morning show personality, became the first person to receive a summons under a new city law that makes feeding the homeless a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of $1,000 and six months in jail.

"The idea was to go out there and show the mayor this ordinance makes no sense whatsoever," said Monk, 24, a traffic reporter and radio comedy team sidekick who has engaged in publicity stunts including mud wrestling on the job.

Monk said city marshals confiscated food and water she set on a cement wall at Frank Wright Park - a patch of green wedged between a downtown bus terminal, a historic post office building and Las Vegas City Hall. She was threatened with arrest if she did not leave.

"I think right now everyone's realizing how outrageous this is," Monk said in a telephone interview.

Two people also were arrested Monday for trespassing before 7 a.m. at Huntridge Circle Park, city spokesman Jace Radke said. Huntridge is an urban park several blocks east of downtown where city officials first acted against so-called soup kitchen meals for homeless people.

"The ordinance makes it illegal to run mobile soup kitchens or feed the homeless in city parks," Radke said. "Marshals are going to enforce the law."

Bob Stoldal, vice president of news for KLAS, said he had not decided whether to fight trespassing summonses issued to reporter Kyla Grogan and photojournalist Jorge Montez.

"We're going to continue to cover the story very aggressively at all public parks," Stoldal said.

The staged protest came less than two weeks after the Las Vegas City Council passed a law criminalizing charity in parks, and a month after the city began rounding up homeless people for 72-hour mental health evaluations.

Officials, led by Mayor Oscar Goodman, say they want a long-term solution to homelessness rather than stopgap measures in a city with limited resources for those living on the streets.

"Rather than giving someone a sandwich once a day, the city supports efforts to end the cycle of homelessness and address the issues that keep these individuals on the streets," the mayor's office said in a statement Monday. It calls for the homeless to seek aid at social service agencies.

Activists and civil libertarians called the crackdown unfair and unconstitutional.

"They are treating people in public spaces in a way that is inconsistent with the First Amendment and our nation's history," said Lee Rowland, American Civil Liberties of Nevada public advocate in Las Vegas. She promised a lawsuit challenging the city law.

Linda Lera-Randel El, longtime executive director of Straight from the Streets, a Las Vegas area homeless advocacy group, said she distributed water, sandwiches and bus tokens at the City Hall park Monday, but was not issued a summons.

"I'm not saying feeding people in the park is the answer," she said. "But I don't think people in power can just pass an ordinance every time they don't like something or they're frustrated by the inability to fix it."

[Braddogg]

WOW.  They're actually enforcing this!  Disgusting!   

[mvpel]

Never been in downtown San Francisco, eh?  Fishing human feces and hypodermic needles out of a public fountain surrounded by smelly, snoring bums - now THAT'S disgusting.

[Pat K]

What does that have to do, with the fact that they passed a law you can't give people food?

[Braddogg]

Never been in downtown San Francisco, eh?  Fishing human feces and hypodermic needles out of a public fountain surrounded by smelly, snoring bums - now THAT'S disgusting.

Let's just allow people to shoot the homeless in the face.  Get rid of those disgusting people.

[Dreepa]

Never been in downtown San Francisco, eh?  Fishing human feces and hypodermic needles out of a public fountain surrounded by smelly, snoring bums - now THAT'S disgusting.

Let's just allow people to shoot the homeless in the face.  Get rid of those disgusting people.

Where did the Mayor of NYC put all the homeless people? ???

[mvpel]

Ever been to Trafalgar Square in London?  Same basic idea.

The ban is on provision of free food on public property, in particular city parks, which are supposed to be pleasant areas for individuals and families to relax and enjoy the outdoors without being harassed or menaced by panhandling bums turning the park into a permanent campsite, motivated by the lure of free food.

Haven't they ever heard of a soup kitchen?

The problem in this country is that we don't have a working system for helping, or at least dealing with, the crazy, drunk, drug-addicted rabble that roams the streets of our nation's cities.

We kicked them all out of the insane asylums and group homes in the name of compassion, and now we're faced with problems like this where people can't go to the parks that they're forced to pay for because they're overrun with bums.

And any attempts to address the problem "constructively" are either mired in corruption or deemed an "insult to the dignity" of drunk, stinking bums by the bleeding hearts.

And Braddog, you can kiss my ass.

[Pat K]

You can slice it anyway you want= They passed a law saying you can't give food to people.

[Braddogg]

The problem in this country is that we don't have a working system for helping, or at least dealing with, the crazy, drunk, drug-addicted rabble that roams the streets of our nation's cities.

We kicked them all out of the insane asylums and group homes in the name of compassion, and now we're faced with problems like this where people can't go to the parks that they're forced to pay for because they're overrun with bums.

Then let's stop making them pay for the parks, asshole.  My God, do you even realize what you're saying?  You're arguing that people shouldn't be allowed to use the public areas unless you agree with what they're using it for.  What about those "bleeding-hearts" who pay taxes and want to feed the homeless in the public parks?  They're being forced to pay for it too.  And should non-taxpayers be kept out of the parks too?  The whole point of a public park is to take money from some people at gunpoint and provide an area for all to enjoy -- including those subhumans.

And any attempts to address the problem "constructively" are either mired in corruption or deemed an "insult to the dignity" of drunk, stinking bums by the bleeding hearts.

What do you mean, "constructively"?  You mean rounding them up and sending them to the rape rooms jails?  Or how about we just shoot them in the goddamn face and get it over with!  Bunch of drunk, stinking bums, ruining my air.  Fuck 'em!  Kill 'em!  Arrest them and anyone who tries to give them help without taking the dirty, stinking subhumans inside!

And Braddog, you can kiss my ass.

Mvpel, if they ever pass this law in New Hampshire, you're going to have to be my cellmate to do that.  If there was ever a law worth breaking, it's this one.

[KBCraig]

I admit, I'm jaded. I know that the vast majority of those bums sitting at stoplights with a scribbled cardboard sign saying "HOMELESS -- will work for food!" are neither homeless, nor will they work for food. They have cars and motel rooms, and will beg for cash, but they won't work, no matter what the price.

I have personally tested this enough times to have concluded it to be true.

That said, these city ordinances are absolutely insane!

I don't like the idea of "public" anything. I don't want my money being taken from me to provide parks, recreation, schools, or entertainment for others. I acknowledge the common law tradition of "public land", but that doesn't mean I should be obliged to pay for purchasing, developing, maintaining, and providing programs for public parks.

Okay, back to the issue at hand.

If the park is open to the public, then it's open to the public. Would it be illegal to throw a big party open to everyone, where they may partake of food and beverage? No. But if the recipients are homeless (see my "homeless" disclaimer above), then it suddenly becomes a crime?

If the same law was in place in NH, it would be illegal for Ward to serve chili, or Jane to serve lasagna, or me to serve spaghetti or brisket, to our friends or whoever else might happen to wander up, at any gathering that took place in a public park.

At the great UN flag burn in the Keene park, should it have been illegal to offer a roasted hot dog to someone who came by to see what was happening?

I have no love for bums. But I admire those who honestly beg, over those who throw themselves on the public dole without submitting to the "indignity" of admitting that they're begging for help.

Kevin

[Kat Kanning]

I don't think we have any bums in Keene to offer hotdogs to.  There was the chicken-eating vegan though....