Thursday, March 27, 2008

The handwriting is on the wall
for Orlando's homeless-feeding law

Orlando's restrictions on feeding the homeless in public parks don't seem to serve any purpose other than spreading the problem around and discouraging the homeless from showing up, a federal judge said Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Gregory Presnell made his opinion known while hearing arguments from a city lawyer, who wants a lawsuit challenging Orlando's homeless-feeding rules thrown out.

"How does moving the problem around address any legitimate public interest?" Presnell said. "You're not solving the problem, just moving it around and perhaps making it worse."

Presnell isn't expected to rule on the request to dismiss the lawsuit for a few weeks. But if his questions and comments were any indication, he doesn't think much of the city's argument that the rules are needed for reasons of public safety, park crowding and litter.

Read the Orlando Sentinel report here.

1 Comments:

At 1:57 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ms Dowd,

On behalf of all of America's 3.5 million homeless - all of who, I'm sure like the idea of having a meal at least once a day... Thank you

A victory in Orlando, FL will be more than local.

It will help, not only those who are moved by their compassion to feed the homeless, but every homeless person throughout our nation.

Four Gold Stars...

 

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