Rick Scott slashes support for the disabled
Gov. Rick Scott has slashed payments for group homes and case workers who help people with severe mental and physical disabilities to address a ballooning agency deficit, a move advocates said will be devastating for care.
The announcement came the same day Scott ran with Special Olympians and law-enforcement officers in the annual
Special Olympics Law Enforcement Torch Run. He praised the athletes for their dedication in a short post-run ceremony at the Capitol courtyard.
Scott's emergency order to cut payments to providers by 15% is aimed at covering a $170-million shortfall at the
Agency for Persons with Disabilities. Advocates for about 35,000 disabled patients said the cut in payments through June 30 would cause some care centers to close their doors.
Read the
Orlando Sentinel report
here.
Escambia County's panhandling ordinance
challenged as unconstitutional
Does Escambia County's controversial panhandling ordinance unconstitutionally prohibit free speech?
The ACLU of Northwest Florida is helping to represent Mark Brune, 49, a homeless man who was arrested Feb. 1 on a charge of violating the ordinance.
The ordinance prohibits soliciting and panhandling under certain circumstances, including after sunset and before sunrise, at bus stops, within 20 feet of ATMs and bank entrances or from a driver in traffic. It does not ban someone from holding a sign that asks for money as long the person does not make a request to a specific person.
Brune was arrested when an Escambia County deputy saw him step from the median to get money from a motorist. He was holding a sign that read: “Stranded Broke Hungry Please Help God Bless.”
"Escambia County's ordinance is a clear case of government explicitly banning a particular kind of expression," attorney Benjamin Stevenson said. "The First Amendment prohibits exactly this kind of government restriction to our rights. Holding a sign in public is free speech, not a crime."
Read the
Pensacola News-Journal report
here.
Church suspends minister for defying order
to close homeless shelter
A church has suspended its minister 15 months after he defied orders to close a homeless shelter.
Rev. Hedley Fihaki from the Cairns Emmanuel Uniting Church in Australia has been suspended for three months.
But members from his congregation called the suspension a “bully move” by the Brisbane head office who disciplined him for challenging directives and helping the homeless by delaying the eviction.
In December 2009, the church was told to eject the homeless from the Good Samaritan Ministry Centre due to fire safety and building compliance concerns. Just weeks before Christmas, the 26 people staying at the shelter faced being left with nowhere to go.
Dr. Fihaki defied the deadlines for eviction until new accommodation was found at a motel and a promise made for negotiations to reopen the facility.
But the old shelter remains vacant and now the minister of more than five years is being punished for his stand.
Read the
Cairns Post report
here.
Thanks to
@homelesslaw for the link.
Activists still fight to eliminate meal limit
for Gainesville homeless
The
Independent Florida Alligator takes a look at the dispute over the legal number of meals Gainesville soup kitchens can give out every day. It's a long-running disagreement in which supporters have drawn lines in concrete, where city commissioners are called uncaring and a soup kitchen owner is seen as irresponsible and victimized, depending on who you talk to.
St. Francis House, at the center of the dispute, is asking for a change to a three-hour time limit instead of the current 130-meal limit.
Read the
Alligator article
here.
City considers homeless exclusion zone
A downtown exclusion zone is being considered in Ashland, Oregon, as an alternative to the growing list of citations and thousands of dollars in unpaid fines accumulated by the city’s homeless population.
The police are frustrated that repeat citations for nuisance violations like urinating in public and sleeping on private property are ignored by the homeless.
Police Chief Terry Holderness said some homeless people who do find jobs must pay off thousands of dollars in fines from their paychecks before they collect any money, possibly contributing to long-term homelessness. "We’re creating an impediment to people changing their lives,” he said.
An exclusion zone would ban people with multiple violations from downtown, and allow police to arrest them for criminal trespassing if they return. The zones are already in effect in parts of Portland, Eugene and McMinnville.
“If we catch you downtown, the first time you’ll be taken to Medford and probably released,” Holderness said. “The second time, you might spend two days in jail. The next time, it could be a week or two in jail. There would very clearly be a negative consequence for repeat offenders.”
People who are arrested for criminal trespassing can be jailed for up to six months and fined $2,000, although that would probably happen only to a repeat offender, Holderness said.
The newspaper spoke with at least three men who said they were homeless and living in Ashland, but the men refused to give their names. They said the city’s downtown belongs to the public, and creating an exclusion zone would be unfair.
Read the
Bend Bulletin report
here.
Teen on house arrest for beating homeless man
skips out and heads to the beach
A 16-year-old Lakeland boy serving two years of house arrest for the fatal beating of a homeless man is accused of violating the terms of his punishment by taking a trip to the beach.
Now Cody Lee Osborne is back in jail -- at least until a hearing on the house arrest violation case set for March 31.
Osborne was originally charged with second-degree murder.
He and two others were arrested in the beating death of Joseph Ruba, 52, during an April 17 fight outside a Lakeland restaurant.
In exchange for house arrest and four years of probation, Osborne pleaded no contest in January to manslaughter.
His probation officer filed an affidavit earlier this month that Osborne took an unauthorized trip to a Clearwater beach on Feb. 27. The officer also wrote that Osborne has not completed any of his court-ordered 100 hours of community service.
Read
The Ledger report
here. And see previous posts
here,
here,
here and
here.
I hope it's not someone I know
A man was found dead early this morning behind a Save Rite store, in an area where many homeless people have camps, the Orlando Police Department said.
Detectives called the death suspicious and said a homicide investigation has been opened.
The man's identity or cause of death has not been determined.
Read the WFTV report
here.
Update: The man has been identified as Richard Raymond Lynch, 52, known on the street as "Richie Rich."
Giving money to the homeless might actually work
A charity selected 15 homeless people, asked them what they needed to change their lives -- and then bought it for them.
Of the 13 who agreed to take part, 11 are now off the streets. Several have entered treatment for addiction and mental health issues, some have reconnected with their families, and all are exhibiting an enhanced ability to function independently in society (such as paying bills, signing up for welfare, and turning up for training courses).
The
Joseph Rowntree Foundation, a UK-based nonprofit, selected 15
* homeless people that outreach workers had found the hardest to reach (one had been on the streets for an astonishing 45 years), asked them what they needed to change their lives -- and then bought it for them.
One asked for sneakers and a prepaid cell phone, one needed cash to pay off a loan, one wanted a TV and a comfy chair (to make the move into hostel accommodation more attractive), and one requested a camper van. Each of them received the money to purchase exactly what they asked for, with the condition that they also had to choose a personal "broker" who would help them write a budget.
The upfront expense of a budget and the cost of providing personalized one-on-one "broker" support are easily outweighed by the amount the taxpayer will spend over time on police, prison, and medical bills.
Read the CNN report
here.
---------------
* Two refused to engage with the pilot project altogether.
Crackdown on "soup runs" for homeless sparks anger
Campaigners have launched an attack on plans by Conservative-controlled Westminster council to outlaw charity-led "soup runs" for rough sleepers, as fresh evidence emerges that spending cuts will have a savage impact on services around the UK aimed at keeping homeless people off the streets.
Westminster's proposed bylaw will enable authorities to fine people in and around the Westminster Cathedral piazza if they "lie down or sleep in any public place," "deposit bedding" or distribute free food and drink.
Alison Gelder, director of
Housing Justice, a charity that represents faith-based homelessness projects, said the bylaw was an attack on civil and religious freedoms and would do nothing to solve the growing problem of street homelessness.
Read the
Guardian report
here.
Thought for the day
"If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich."
--from President John F. Kennedy's
inauguration speechHat tip:
@bkirby816 of
The Spencerian
Police end protests over park closing
Richmond police broke up an encampment of 20 anarchists and homeless people who had camped out in Monroe Park near Virginia Commonwealth University for nine nights to bring attention to homeless issues.
Nine people were issued a summons for remaining in the park after dark, a violation of a city ordinance. Seven of them refused to identify themselves to authorities and were taken into custody and charged with obstruction of justice, a misdemeanor.
Advocates for the homeless have been objecting to the city's plan to temporarily close Monroe Park for renovations, saying the work would disrupt feeding programs in the city's oldest park. The renovations have not been scheduled because the estimated $6.2 million renovation project is not funded.
The fight to chase the so-called "vagrants" from the park has been going on at least two generations. In 1959, a physician was murdered while walking through the park on his way to meet his wife. The park benches were taken up temporarily. There was talk of closing the park, which served as an open-air hospital during the Civil War.
Fifteen years ago, the park started closing at sunset to thwart the many who camped there. That shift coincided with the rapid expansion of Virginia Commonwealth University. Now the park is all but surrounded but university buildings and dorms.
Read the
Richmond Times-Dispatch report
here. And for more perspective on the issues, check out the
monroeparkoccupation blog.
Teens beat and kick sleeping homeless man
Their shoes were so bloody that police seized them as evidence.
James Marino and Marc Sico, both 19 and from Medford, Massachusetts, were arrested after they and a third man kicked and beat three homeless men near the Back Bay subway station in Boston. The third man is still being sought.
Marino and Sico were charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, a shod foot, and unarmed assault. They were released on personal recognizance and told to stay out of Boston between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m.
Officers on patrol around 3:15 a.m. spotted three men beating a fourth man outside the station. When the men saw police, they ran. Police chased and caught them.
The victim, who was bleeding from his face, nose and mouth, told police he was sleeping when three men awakened him by punching him repeatedly in the face. Two other homeless men also said they had been attacked.
Read the B
oston Globe report
here.
Does a county have a constitutional obligation
to operate a homeless shelter?
A county in New Jersey insists it has no constitutional obligation to operate a homeless shelter.
Lawyers for Ocean County made that assertion in response to a lawsuit filed by homeless advocates. The county government is being petitioned to open a shelter as an alternative to the encampments such as Tent City in Lakewood that have popped up in the woods off main highways.
"Quite frankly, we feel the programs we currently provide through the Department of Human Services and the Board of Social Services more than satisfies all the requirements to assist the poor and needy," said in Ocean County," Ocean County general counsel John C. Sahradnik.
Jeffrey Wild, a Roseland attorney representing some of the homeless residents in Tent City, argues Ocean County is in violation of the state constitution, which states: "Government is instituted for the protection, security, and benefit of the people, and they have a right at all times to alter or reform the same, whenever the public good may require it."
Read the
Asbury Park Press report
here.
Cops cleared for not arresting officer's son
who sucker-punched a homeless man
An internal investigation into how Sanford police handled the case of an officer's son — who was captured on videotape sucker-punching a homeless man — has cleared every officer on the scene that night.
The investigation began after a bar patron put the video on YouTube. It shows Justin Collison walking up behind a homeless man and punching him in the back of the head. The blow knocked the man out and sent him to the hospital.
Several Sanford officers went to the scene but did not arrest 22-year-old Collison.
Lt. Mike Taylor, who was the watch commander, and Sgt. Anthony Raimondo said that was because the man who was knocked out, Sherman Ware, did not give police a sworn statement. As the
Sentinel observes in
today's editorial: "By that standard, we expect Sanford soon will become the nation's unsolved murder capital. After all, the dead don't tell tales or give sworn statements."
Read the
Orlando Sentinel report
here. And see previous posts
here and
here (with video).
“When people think of him being homeless,
they think nobody cared about him"
With $20 loaned from a friend tucked in his new wallet, Billy Joe Begley headed off to get something to eat.
He told his friend he would be staying with an aunt for a couple days, something he did when he needed a break from life on the street, or to get clean clothes or to shower.
Less than an hour later, the 49-year-old homeless man lay unresponsive in the street -- the victim of an apparent brutal beating in front of a public library. His wallet and the $20 were missing from his pocket.
He was pronounced dead Saturday night, with relatives surrounding his bedside while doctors unplugged life support. He never regained consciousness.
Family members are planning a memorial service. “When people think of him being homeless, they think nobody cared about him. He’s got family that cares and loves him. All of his friends loved him. He wouldn’t change. That was him,” said his cousin, Katie Ronnebaum.
‘Him’ meant a man with an alcohol addiction who shunned his family’s pleas to slow down his beer drinking and to get off the streets.
Read the
Cincinnati Enquirer report
here.
Update: The death of Billy Joe Begley is not being investigated as a homicide, police said. “At this point, there is no indication there was an assault that took place,” said Sgt. Joe Briede of Cincinnati Police Homicide Unit. Read the
Cincinnati Enquirer report
here.
Hillsborough expands panhandling ban to state roads
It's about to get a bit tougher to panhandle in unincorporated parts of Hillsborough County.
Commissioners expanded an existing panhandling ban to prohibit begging for money or selling products such as newspapers from the sides and medians of all roadways.
Previously the ban extended only to county roads, though sheriff's deputies often cited those soliciting on state roads with trespassing with the support of the Florida Department of Transportation.
So, effectively, the 6-1 vote makes it easier for deputies to figure out how to cite offenders without having to figure out what kind of road they're on.
People who violate the ban are subject to fines of up to $500 and up to 60 days in jail.
Read the
St. Petersburg Times report
here.
San Diego spends $16 million
on permanent downtown homeless center
The annual struggle to find a suitable location in San Diego for an emergency homeless shelter during the year’s coldest months may have been resolved for good Tuesday as city leaders committed $16 million in local taxpayer money to a permanent facility in downtown.
The future conversion of the former
World Trade Center building into a one-stop shop to help and house the city’s neediest individuals certainly won’t end homelessness, but proponents say it’s a big step in that direction.
The City Council voted unanimously to support the $32.3 million project by funding half of the initiative with redevelopment tax dollars aimed at eliminating blight in downtown. The remaining costs will be covered by federal tax credits and $2 million from the San Diego Housing Commission.
The center will provide 223 permanent and transitional beds for the region’s homeless population as well as medical, substance abuse and job-training services. It is scheduled to open in December 2012.
The project saw early resistance from business leaders who were concerned the facility would become a magnet for the homeless and lower nearby property values, an area populated with banks, restaurants and office buildings. That opposition faded after a coalition of homeless providers showed a similar facility in Los Angeles didn’t devastate its surroundings.
Read
The San Diego Union-Tribune report
here.
